Roger Books

William Roger Louis is a giant among scholars of British imperialism. The editor of the "Oxford History of the British Empire", for nearly half a century his scholarship has helped define the field. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Suez crisis he has collected his essays related to that defining episode. These not only cover the incident itself but a number of related topics - for as he explains, "the Suez crisis can be studied as an episode in decolonization and that decolonization itself . . . can best be understood in the context of the long colonial era extending from the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 to the death of Nasser in 1970 and the withdrawal of all troops East of Suez in the following year."

Louis groups these essays into ten categories. After an introductory overview of Suez and decolonization, he provides an essay on colonial empires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and four on "the scramble for Africa". These are followed by four which examine the First World War and the mandates system, two on the British possessions of Singapore and Hong Kong, and four on India, Palestine and Egypt, which are linked together by the theme of impending independence. After five essays on decolonization in general, he includes six on aspects of the Suez crisis itself and four more on Britain's withdrawal from the rest of the Middle East in its aftermath before finishing with three essays on the historiography of his field.

Though all but one of these essays have been published before now, bringing them together allows Louis to draw out three main themes. The first is the one which occasioned the volume - the study of Suez in the broader context of decolonization. This last, failed effort to hold onto the empire through force led the British to attempt to maintain some vestige of their influence through more informal means, which is the second theme of his collection. Finally, as British control gradually slipped, new states emerged throughout Africa and Asia; it is the consequences of their emergence which forms the final theme Louis emphasizes.

Taken together, these essays represent a formidable body of work on one of the key developments of modern times. Though some of the essays have been reworked, the basic scholarship within them remains as informative and insightful as it was when they were first published. Delving into the pages of this book provides insight not only into the demise of the British Empire, but into how it shaped and defined the world in which we live today. No student of British imperial history should be without this volume, and anyone interested in understanding the twentieth century will profit from reading it.

The Ends of British Imperialism provides an excellent survey of how the British Empire rose to prominence in the 1800's and then began a decent after the second world war. This book is a collection of William Roger Louis lifetime essays and focus on different aspects of the process. William Roger Louis is one of the most respected scholar's on this area of British history and these essays are a treasure trove for anyone wanting to understand why the British Empire fell. The collapse of empire is often described as happening in four main events. The fall of Singapore, the independence of India, the Suez Crisis and the winds of change that granted independence to most of Africa. This book covers all of those areas but spends the bulk of the time on Suez and analyzing its importance in the fall of the empire. It is very well written although it can jump around at times due to the fact that it is a collection of essays and not a continuous book. Also for the historians out there it does have a decent summary of historiography in the last three chapters that really give the reader a good sense of what the general historic community has to say on this topic and for those wanting to read more it will be an invaluable guide to finding more books to read on the subject and what their arguments say. All in all a superb book and one that should be read!

Enduring Echoes was written by my father so I am a bit biased, but this is truely a book worth reading over and over. My dad's collection of short stories (all of which are loosely based on actual life experiences) and poems are not only entertaining, but have a whole new meaning and value in "post 9/11" society. From Vietnam to the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Cold War and beyond, this book tells what it's like to be an American and why it is so important to value and protect the freedoms that we have learned to enjoy and that we take for granted. The book has tales of war, romance, family, and much, much more. It will make you laugh, make you cry and make you proud, but most of all it will make you think about what we have, how we got it, and why we must fight to keep it. I feel it is a "must read" for any military serviceman, veteran, or anyone that values the sacrifices our young men and women make every day in the name of freedom and the American way of life. A great gift for any military member, especially those serving overseas and in harm's way as it is a powerful source of inspiration and a reminder of why they are there and what they are fighting for!

Before reading Enduring Echoes I didn't have any idea about how truly dangerous the Cuban missile crisis was to all of us.And how it changed our history.The stories and writings in this book made me at times laugh,and at other times made me have to hold back my tears.It educated me,made me sad,made me happy.It also made me proud.It gave a new understanding of human beings.I'll never again jump to conclusions about people I don't know.I do know I will go back and reread parts of this book over and over again.It is worth more than five stars in its ratings.It is always enlightening and a pleasure to read a book such as Enduring Echoes

Sincerely

Norman Deloge

A colorfully illustrated celebration of the often expensive slot car hobby, with fascinating narrative & anecdotes covering the trajectory & evolution of scalextric product worldwide, from rudimentary beginnings through endorsement by real Formula 1 Champion Jim Clark in the sixties, up to the digital present. Contains a plethora of pictures of the people, cars, sets, scenery, accessories, etc., including detailed historical product line index in the back. For enthusiasts of all ages!

This is a comprehensive recap of the Scalextric toy line. A must have for any collector or someone interested in slot cars. It is a real help in figuring out if something is really a "collector's item" or identifying odd individual pieces. This is the goto Scalextric answer book.

The first thing that hit me in this book was its exuberance. It reminds me of "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony" for its sheer joy in pressing ahead. Miller isn't afraid to let his sense of humor show, either. But, no mistake, this is a serious work of scholarship, deep and detailed.

The book starts off with an evolution of the hero, from the Greeks, through chivalry, the Renaissance, straight on to present day's concerns with the hero as he gets explained by anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

The next chapters deal with elements in the hero's life and adventures: his remarkable birth, strength as a youth, threatening family, problematic sex life and requisite death; his landscape, both exterior and interior, and his relation to the otherworld, to his quest, and to his king. Variations of the quest are laid out, including its structure in time (maturational, sequential, and the effect of the otherworld on times of day and year), and the hero's costars (helper, sovereign and woman).

In a chapter ironically titled "The Hero 'Speaks'" we find the many nonverbal ways the hero is expressed and described, from physique and coloration, to gesture, to weapon and armor, combat, and finally to actual speech, which is generally just as violent as his actions.

Next Miller takes up other characters the hero comes upon (or sometimes is), including the trickster, the smith, and the comic coward. He further discusses color and the hero, with an interesting passage on black, green, and other knights.

The hero exists on the edges of our experience; his relation to the shaman, to the gods, and the line between life and death, are discussed next.

The conclusion draws all this together into a series of graphs that show the connections of different hero types, the hero to royalty or to a trickster, and to the other characters in his life.

I read this book hoping for another point of view after reading Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces" and other related books. I assume most readers who, like me, are not academics, will find this book for much the same reason. So some comments about the two works might be worthwhile.

Miller is not trying to draw all of human experience and mythology into some single linear form. As he says, he isn't interested in the monomyth. He limits his discussion to epics with Indo-European roots. This is a comforting strategy when set against Campbell's inclusion (and shaping) of many many cultures, with the problems that raises.

He also doesn't limit the discussion to what fits. Some heros, for example, will have childhoods that make it obvious they're something special, but some don't fit that mold, and may be entirely unpromising.

The problem (well, my problem) with Campbell is the limitation of the monomyth; not only is the story line constricted, its psychological meanings are too concerned with Freud and Jung. When you hear someone say that in myth, water represents X, suddenly this becomes a game of finding the correct meaning for the symbol, makes *everything* a symbol, and leaves me feeling like I've been watching a fortuneteller explaining away dreams. Surely by now we can subscribe to a different view of psychology, symbolism and meaning.

Miller, by refusing to create a central character and storyline that will explain all his examples, lets the literature be as vibrant as it wants to be, as problematic and multivalent. I found myself wishing at times that instead, he would create multiple spines for stories, a limited but useful number. This would sacrifice accuracy, but would offer more anchors for the discussion. I suppose I came to his book expecting a multimyth rather than monomyth, but that's not his intention. Then again, he gives the apparatus for constructing that kind of multimyth on one's own, so maybe that need can be fulfilled after all.

This is a lively, bountiful book, scholarly, aware of the possible pitfalls, and exuberant in its pursuit of the hero in all his epic forms.

If you're searching for the definitive compendium about all aspects of epic heroism, this is the one book to buy. The author quotes famous as well as lesser-known epic stories, drawing mainly from Norse, Welsh, French, Balkanian and Persian sources among others, profoundly analyzing and interpreting the cultural specialities of their protagonists as well as their striking similarities, sometimes pronouncing obscure and even humorous aspects and episodes. The book is academical and down-to-earth with a lot of footnotes and cross-references, don't expect an esoterical, over-simplifying Campbellian take on the subject matter. Thankfully, Miller keeps a certain ironic distance which results in a more entertaining read than I expected. For writers, especially in the movie business, "The Epic Hero" can be a real treasure, a source of immense inspiration - not from the structural point of view, but regarding the many details, themes and characters Dean A. Miller puts on display here in his great effort. I consider it the perfect companion (though not a surrogate due to its different scholaric approach) to Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" of which it sometimes appears to be an accidental yet very valuable continuation.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and that is why I read. It was interesting from the beginning, had me wondering if some was fact not fiction at least until near the end. The book did not get bogged down anywhere. The kind of book I love to hate, one I can't stop reading.

In a word this book was terrific! You don't see the plot twists coming. It is a fast paced, action packed, entertaining book that you can't put down.

An outstanding book. It has given me new insights into creativity. Having read many books on the subject, I feel its consideration of Asian as well as Western ideas about creativity supplies a fresh perspective. It also taught me practical ways of improving my own work, an almost-finished historical novel about British India, the field of my Harvard Ph.D. in history.

Which brings me to another strength of the book: It is accessible to a non-psychologist like myself. It has a minimum of jargon, a fine bibliography, and lucid style.

To solve our age-old problems we need new ways of thinking. Ruth Richard's very valuable collection of authors on everyday creativity show us that creativity is a force that is alive, fluid and interconnected with everything in the universe--it is truly revolutionary. It shows us new ways to think about the world and create a healthy future.
Ilene A. Serlin, psychologist, author of Whole Person Healthcare (2007, Praeger). Whole Person Healthcare [Three Volumes]

I bought this book because I am a big fan of Turid Rugaas and it is on her recommended reading list. I had purchased and watched a Twazer seminar video with Abrantes, in which he is obviously very knowledgeable but too showman for my taste. This book makes some really important and original points, that I didn't find in other great books on canine evolution(i.e. Coppinger's Dogs) about dominance theories. Abrantes suggests that some dogs are innately more dominant,(just born that way, without being anthromorphic) and others less, while still refuiting the outdated classical dominance theories. Abrantes scientifically explains why this innate difference is useful and necessary in dog/wolf evolution.I have studied this argument alot and a light bulb went off and did some serious reflecting. There are some other pearls. I highly recommend.

This little book is a must for everybody who are seriously interested in ethology and especially canine behavior. Most of the social behaviors are described with examples from the wild canids, but it indeed also gives us a better understanding of the instinctual behaviors our domestic dogs show. Even though it is of high scientific quality, it is not too difficult to read and can also be read and enjoyed by regular dog owners.

Great book! Shows delightful examples of pushing form and function of design. A must have in any design book collection.

Great book! Shows delightful examples of pushing form and function of design. A must have in any design book collection.

A good hard sf collection; 'facets' of Williams' talent.

This collection of Walter Jon Williams's output of short fiction from the late eighties boasts a pair of remarkable characteristics: rarely will you see a writer exhibit such a breadth of subject matter (Williams is equally at home a hundred years in the past or millions of years in the future), and rarely will you see a story collection in which every single selection is legitimately first rate. The odds of both of these superlatives intersecting in a single anthology are slight, but intersect they have. This may not be the best single-author SF collection ever, but those who read it will likely find that it is the best collection by an author whose other work they have never read. Shame on whatever forces allow this book to continue to be out of print.

And now, the contents (all stories originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine unless otherwise noted):
"Surfacing" (1988): A linguist, already able to converse with whales, attempts to decipher the language of underwater behemoths on an alien planet and must also contend with an entity who occasionally inhabits the body of his lover. A fantastic character study, although my suspicion is that whales and dolphins aren't going to turn out to be as intelligent as some people hope. This is set in the same universe as Williams's novel "Knight Moves," in which humanity has attained immortality (other stories and novels may well be set there, too; I'm not familiar with most of Williams's work).
"Video Star" (1986): In a cyberpunk future, gangs war over a supply of stolen drugs, but the real conflict arises as a result of the injudicious editing of a documentary of the crime.
"No Spot of Ground" (1989): Ingenious alternate history tale that sees unsuccessful (though significantly longer-lived) writer Edgar Allen Poe serving as a Confederate general during the Civil War. To say more would be to detract from the artistry of this piece.
"Flatline" (1988): A mild-mannered fellow develops a virus to invade the atificial intelligences that run everything; will the infection make them weaker or stronger?
"Side Effects" (1985): A cabal of drug companies, insurance companies and doctors ignore the interests of patients in favor of the bottom line. While it tends toward alarmism (the real pharmaceutical industry does infinitely more good than harm), I found it bittersweet; despite his nefariousness, the story's central character comes tantalizingly close to a real breakthrough.
"Witness" (1987, originally published in the first volume of the "Wild Cards" shared world series edited by George R. R. Martin): After World War II, four Aces (possessors of superpowers as a result of an alien virus) serve freedom's interests around the world until they become inconvenient and are subjected to the scrutiny of the House Un-American Acitivites Committee. Yet another excellent alternate history tale from Williams, though unfortunately he treads the customary fine line regarding communism. One can repudiate McCarthyist tactics and posturing while still acknowledging the infiltration of communism into America and particularly Hollywood. Communism in all its forms has proven to be dangerous, as millions of restless ghosts can attest.
"Wolf Time" (1987): In yet another future in which information is power, a free agent takes an assignment that requires the latest in semi-autonomous battle armor; but who is really in control?
"The Bob Dylan Solution" (1989, originally published in Aboriginal SF): What can a record executive do when his top artist starts to peak and won't modify his output to remain at the top?
"Dinosaurs" (1987): Far-future tale of a hyper-evolved human ambassador trying to make peace with, and justify humanity's acions to, a less-evolved species. At once epic in scope and deeply personal.

In the interest of avoiding the appearance of hyperbole, I will refrain from heaping accolades on the individual stories; each is a slice of a fully realized world that ought to be enjoyed on its own terms. I will say, though, that I cannot recommend this collection enthusiastically enough. You'll have to locate a used copy or seek out a particularly well-stocked library, but the effort will be worth it.

Seventeen charming poems and large brightly colored full page illustrations make up this wonderful book about the inhabitants of Fairyland which just so happens to be all around us if we have the eyes to see it. This book treats us to the inside scoop on 16 different beings as a little girl searches for the magical folk living around her. You will meet some of the lesser known beings such as the Pointed People, imps, a leshy, spriggans, hobgoblins and the banshee, along with our old favorites the fairies, pixies, leprechauns and sprites. The poems come from the pens of different writers, all wonderfully talented and each gives us a light-hearted private glimpse into the lives of the wee folk. A sample: "And the grayish cobweb under the oak? A scrap torn off of a banshee's cloak." You'll have fun searching the details on each page to spy out the fairies and goblins that are hiding in the nooks and crannies. Children (and fairies) of all different races grace the pages of this book and add to its hopeful and positive outlook. It's entirely possible to find the evidence of fairies everywhere...why not take a look?

This is a great book for kids and adults alike who are fascinated by fantasy. Ms. Rogers' illustrations are wonderful. It was so much fun to spend time pouring over the pictures to find all the little hidden characters hiding in the illustrations. The only difficulty was picking a favorite!