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I read this book as a child and I loved all the art work and the wonderful story. In fact, I loved the story so much, some 30 years later I gave my son (now 4) the middle name of Anansi. My son and daughter (age 3) love the story of Anansi and his six sons. Even when we don't have the book with us, we talk about Anansi, his sons and their adventures. This story is great because children learn that we each have a skill that makes us unique and we each contribute something important to the family.

I am a big fan of the Anansi tales, and the spider's adventures are delightful as well as thought-provoking. For edutainment (educational entertainment) and discussion, I include them in my high school / college level introduction to mythology / humanities survey courses. All ages can enjoy a clever trickster hero who possesses many human qualities, the good and bad--who makes us think about our own deeds and behavior.

In Anansi The Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti, Gerald McDermott retells an Anansi story with warmth, cultural sensitivity, and bright, attention-seizing illustrations. Among the children's books about Anansi, McDermott's efforts stand in a unique place because the text is used sparingly and with great effect, conveying important events only and not burying key ideas in lavish descriptions or dialogues. In this book, the elaborate, geometric illustrations paint the "descriptions" that the text omits.

Features that I like...

The map in the opening that shows the continent of Africa and the country of Ghana. (I'm always happy to see a bit of geography dropped into stories, especially those designed for children.)

The Prologue, which describes the importance of folklore, mythology, and legends. I especially appreciate this statement: "Folklore prepares man for adult life. It places him within his culture."

Rather than beginning the story with the familiar "Once upon a time...," the author uses "Time was..." which is cool! :)

Each of the spider sons in the story is unique in design, appearance, and talent, which makes him easy (and fun) to identify as the tale unfolds. The six sons are See Trouble, Road Builder, River Drinker, Game Skinner, Stone Thrower, and Cushions.

The character of Anansi is rendered with an expressive personality and face while his sons' faces are not shown--just their designs, bodies, and talents. Anansi's face changes emotions based on his experiences, and this would be an excellent teaching element for very young children upon hearing / seeing the story.

Themes & Talking Points the book offers:

Counting, colors, shapes, animals, teamwork, family, intro to Africa [Very Young Children]

Reading; Cause & Effect; Critical Thinking & Response; African Culture. How does Anansi get into and out of trouble? // Each spider is an individual with a specific skill or trait; each spider has a place in the family. What does this suggest about the culture of the Ashanti? // The rescue of Anansi is really a team effort by the sons, but who should get the reward? Does the ending solve this problem? [For children 5-12]

Reading & Design; Symbolism; Critical Analysis; Author Intent; Culture. Why did the author / illustrator choose not to show the faces of the six sons in the story? How does this choice affect the story? How does Anansi's face tell his story? What is the relationship between a son's name and his unique design? In what instances is Anansi's face NOT shown and why? What lessons are taught in this tale? What universal themes are present? Does this book deserve its "honor" designation? [For tweens through college students]

Anansi and his sons are popular guys in our home. My son and daughter (nearly 4 and 6) just adore them, and I enjoy the fact that this book demonstrates how well cooperation works. Not to mention that we get to discuss the story, Ghana, and how people are both like us *and* are different from us.

In this story Anansi heads out for a walk only to be besieged by problems, first from a hungry fish, and then from a falcon. He would have been lunch were it not for his caring sons who fortunately have super-arachnid abilities.

Four Stars. Good Read-aloud. Good story with a moral. My daughter even decided to practice reading this fun and exciting story.

Anansi is one cool African trickster, and he does it again in this book! When he tries to determine which of his six sons to reward for saving his life, he becomes responsible for putting the moon in the sky.

The Anansi stories have been handed down through generations of Ashanti culture. This book is a wonderful, vibrant and vivid story for children of all ages. Born in Ghana I left at aged 3, leaving much of the Ghanaian culture behind. At aged 30 I can still remember a song about Anansi the spider, the only remnants left of my native tongue. I was given the Anansi book as a child, it captivated me, I read it over and over again, and it provided a connection to my past. At 16, I spent hours crafting a cushion embroidered an illustration from the book that was a childhood favorite. Sadly, the book was lost and I never thought I could get it again. Now, some 14 years since I last saw the book I can still visualize the pictures and hear the wonderful tale of Anansi the spider, his sons and the moon. I have just bought two copies, one for my niece and one for my two year old daughter. I absolutely cannot wait to read them again and again and pass this memorable story to a new generation.

I have never written a review before, but this book has changed my life and I want everyone to read this so I am taking the time to write one now.
I consider myself a healthy person (I workout, eat "right", etc.), however I now even am not buying organic meat anymore and used to drink decaf coffee and now switched to decaf green tea when I read how many things it does right for your body. Also, I had no idea that something like sunflower oil is not optimal for your health compared with olive oil (I was buying organic pretzels that had sunflower oil and thought I was being healthy!)....
He writes his book so that everyone can understand and yet it provides enough medical research to back up his findings and theories that he is proving. It also brings you close to him when he explains how his cancer affected his life.
Cancer runs in my family and I think about growing up how we had to make sure we had protein (meat) at every meal to be healthy and drink milk, etc. Organic was not mainstream in those days!
This is a must read.

Having a family member with a rare cancer with a poor prognosis, I have to admit my hope was drained. Everywhere I looked there were no really hopeful answers and one treatment door after another seemed to be slammed in our faces. I am a person of faith, but I realize my faith was dashed by the very medical science we were looking for a cure in. I also look for evidence to support choices. There are many quacks who are preying on people and we've run into a fair share of them wanting to sell us their useless sugar pills in order to advance their down-line. Predators of the worst kind. We found this book and I admit I was sceptical at first, after all, here is another guy with something to sell. When I read Dr Servin-Schreiber's story and the first few chapters, I felt that here is someone who is interested in helping people. Everything is well documented. What Dr S does best in my mind is to give hope that perhaps with lifestyle changes, we can get a better long term outcome. Nothing looks harmful and the diet is really stuff that we've all heard for years. Dr S has done the work and compiled a lot of research into an understandable format and roadmap for anyone to follow, not only to fight the cancer you're in, but to avoid as best you can getting cancer. Dr S and I agree, we need to keep on doing what medical science has given us, but also do what we can with lifestyle to help ourselves in the battle. I bought this book for myself and my wife who's battling this enemy, and will buy it for our children as well. If you have a friend or loved one who's battling the disease, I would suggest getting it for them as well. If for no other reason than to give them hope that they can live in the tail of the curve.

This is a great book for anyone that has anything to do with cancer. It shows you the benefits of changing your life style, particularly your eating habits. The author had brain cancer, like me, and has lived 16 years since diagnosis. This is unheard of for brain cancer patients. This book applies to brain cancer and all other cancers. It shows you how and what to eat that is healthy and does not invite cancer into your body. As Jim Cramer would say on his "Mad Money" TV show, BUY! BUY! BUY!

this book is excellent. i know people who have beat the odds of survival, and this book sums up how they have done it. i recommend it to everyone, it discusses how inflammation prepares us to be taken over by cancer, and tells us how we can live to reduce inflammation, and our risk of cancer. you really should read this book!! i am in the health care field and this book is based on scientific fact. no wild speculation. i can't say enough good about it.

In "Anticancer: A New Way of Life" David Servan-Schreiber M.D. has written a wonderful accompaniment to Colin Campbell, Ph.D.'s "The China Study. Dr. S-S's writing style is clear and concise. He has the gift of being able to make the scientific understandable to all of us. A comprehensive approach to complementary ways of fighting cancer are presented with warmth and caring. After reading "The China Study", I immediately ordered a dozen copies for family and friends. I will do the same with this wonderful book. As a physician, I understand all too well the profound deficit in nutritional education that plagues our medical schools. Thus excellent physicians are woefully uneducated in how the food we eat affects our ability to either promote illness or contribute to our health and well being. This book is comprehensive, including the scientific, nutritional, exercise/physical and the mind/body in a very user friendly way. It is just as important for those of us who are currently healthy as it is for those of us engaged in a battle against cancer. And the possibilities for changes in our children and grandchildren are very encouraging.

This is one of many Remarque's books, I have read. A friend of mine recommended him as a writer years ago, and I have been hooked. Oddly enough in High school in the US, only recently have I heard of his books as required reading and then only "All Quiet on the Western Front". I consider his work superior to Hemingway. To me his books are a genuine recreation of that time. (No, I don't really know, but he makes you feel like you are there).

DRINKING AND SMOKING ARE MAJOR SYMBOLS IN THIS AND IN MOST OF REMARQUE'S BOOK
One thing that struck me in this book and many others of Remarque's is how much drinking and smoking plays a part of the symbolism. They are props for the characters, in much as they were in real life at the time; drinking and the requisite cigarette to think with. To most American's, born in the last 50 years, this is the major anachronism in the book, the incredible role drinking and smoking play in people's lives. To people I know from Europe, this would not be as much of a surprise. The US non-smoking and drinking in moderation have not yet reached Europe yet. The drinking and smoking by any means, do not detract from the main story. This is a mature romance that captures your imagination none-the-less. I wonder what the props for this century will be; Maybe our cell phones and laptops?

MAIN CHARACTERS ARE ALL REFUGEES IN FRANCE
The main character is a refugee from Germany, a former well-known surgeon, forbidden to operate in France due to his questionable residency status. He moonlights by doing another surgeon's work. He is a haunted man, by both his past persecution in Germany and his unstable status in France. Hardly is this a good basis for a romantic situation that leads beyond living for the day.

RELATIONSHIP WAS NOT SO MUCH PURSUED BUT ONE OF OPPORTUNITY
He meets and helps the woman he is to fall in love with, under peculiar circumstances. He helps her with no intention to see her again. Time passes and he runs into her again. They fall into a peculiar relationship that uses "Calvados" an apple brandy as its symbol. For some reason this drink is frequently mentioned in books of the time. If it were now, I would say it was paid advertising.

ONE ODD TWIST
Only one twist and it is a major one in the story makes no sense to me, why it is included. I might be missing something, but the discovery and fate of the German officer, seems tacked on, added as an afterthought. If you read this story, let me know what you think. I don't see it is so much as part of the same thread, unless it is one of relationships concluded.

BASIC STORY
So as not to ruin the story, I will allude to the fact that the relationship develops and the hostilities of the times, intrude, both outside France and within. These events affect the relationship and the way it changes illustrates the characters of the people involved. The main character you follow with his observation of the things and people around him. You see his girl friend through his eyes and his Russian friend's eyes only. This is enough they are shrewd observers. It is apparent from this observation from day one that the events that eventually unfold were bound to happen.

As usual Remarque weaves a compelling and complete story.

An old favorite of mine.

A friend asked me to recommend a Remarque novel. We discussed 'All Quiet...'. My reply follows: 'Sure, in fact one of my favorites of Remarque's books is a thinly veiled portrait of Marlene Dietrich; or rather the intertwining of her life with his in Paris at the eve the period up to war in Europe, the year before the WW2 broke out.---
The English title is 'Arch of Triumph'. Like with all Remarque's books, the title is full of irony, and undercurrents of double meanings. Naturally, the book is not officially about Marlene, but she is hard to miss. Rather the book is personal,and has a good amount of autobiographical flavor. Yet, it is a captivating and suspenseful novel.

Like the two protagonists in the novel, Remarque and Dietrich were themselves at a desparate point in their lives in 1939.

Side comment: I am afraid that a lot is lost in the translation of Remarque's books. He only wrote in German, even when he lived in the US.

In any case, Remarque is a master of a suspenseful openings, in his novels. This one does not disapoint! Lots of his books are about refugee life of sorts. Another of Remarque's novels I often return to is 'Night in Lisbon', and it is again about escape from a Europe at high noon, just as Europe is going up in flames before WW2.' Review by Palle Jorgensen, September 2004.

I saw the movie with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, and found it incredibly dull. I thought maybe the book would be better. I was right, it was better, but it didn't thrill me or really move me the way All Quiet on the Western Front did. I am not sure if this is partly due to the fact that I read it when I was a bit tired.

I don't really have a lot to say. It's not a book that I can enthusiastically applaud, but I won't say it was horrible. I would advise you to just read it for yourself and decide whether you like it or not! : )

A piercing sorrow that momentary happiness drags on to an individual, an experience that would make everyday boredom look happy and idle, a passion that would never be quenched, someone's tears...

"I'd pretend that I'm a normal housewife... and that you are not in exile, you have a good passport and don't need to hide... and that I cry if you are not home, if only one night, and that we are always madly love in and jealous of each other even when we are old..."

It pounds your heart, and the charm that each individual shines like a precious gem, is never, never to be found by browsing through the superficial plot line. READ READ READ!!! The best book ever. (Perhaps surpassed only by Bronte sisters and Hesse.)

"Arch of Triumph" by Erich Maria Remarque is a wartime love story. This is the classic love story and anyone who reads it, will never forget it for the rest of her or his life. Snip: (...)

"Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer is a great book to read to your kids while having a great time yourself.
This is a story of a young boy who is beyond a mischievous young imp sbut not quite a diabolical genius. He is constantly looking for a way to reprise his once-prominent family's name and in this instance he has discovered an underground world populated with faries, Dwarfs, Goblins and other assorted, magical life-forms. When he decides to kidnap one of the Faries, (who happens to be a police officer for a force called LEPrecon) Artemis clearly underestimates the power of the magical underworld.
Enjoy this book with the entire family.

This book was a great read,I hope someone makes a movie out of it,it's that good.

I'm a 62 year-old grandmother and purchased this book for my teenage grandkids. Ended up reading the book myself and loved it. I don't usually read science fiction or fantasy books. However, this book was so well written with a good plot and interesting characters -- that I would recommend it to adults of all ages.

As I've mentioned in other reviews, I bought this for my kids and picked it up not to set it down. A former avid sci-fi reader, I really like the whole new concept. Brilliant. The characters are done so well.

Artemis Fowl is a delightful mix of an extraordinary child mingled with technology, modern day living, and a fantastic universe of capable fairies. I was dubious when my brother in law first suggested the series, but have really enjoyed every book published to date. This is my favorite in the series, but only by a small margin. The exploits of a genius, his body guard in a magical setting is a wonderful flight on the wings of imagination.

She's now discovering what a joy to read and after reading silly moods, she is excited about this one next.

I gave this book to a friend for her children. We looked at it together and laughed at the passages and illustrations. It is very cute and educational-and her kids love it!

It's about time we start teaching our kids big words like inappropriate, consequences and inconsiderate. Not only are many kids not learning these words "because they are too hard to understand," but they are also not learning the lessons behind these words. Kids can and will understand polysyllable words if we use them in everyday conversations and everyday situations. Plus, they then learn the lessons behind the words. Perhaps when children are taught that their "inappropriate" and "inconsiderate" actions will bring real "consequences" then the words will hit home. As a children's writer, I have also been told to make my wording more kid-friendly assuming that our youth can't learn new words. Hey, as long as there is a glossary, learning new words is a fabulous idea, right!?

So, kudos, for Jamie for teaching some lessons needed and for giving a new generation back some words that some youngsters never learned. The illustrations are vibrant, fun and full of surprises.

This would make a terrific holiday gift...even more so, if you can catch up with Jamie's busy schedule and get it signed like I did at the Orange County Children's Book Festival.

Joanna Keating-Velasco, Author
A Is for Autism F Is for Friend: A Kid's Book for Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism
In His Shoes, A Short Journey Through Autism

This book by Jamie Lee Curtis is WONDERFUL!!!! I bought this book for my nephew, who is in the first grade.... He loves this book and immediately started using 'THE BIG WORDS'...

I love the Jamie Lee Curtis books and this one is as good or better than her other books. She has a wonderful way of speaking to kids on their level, without talking down to them. I plan on using this book in my school counseling lessons as well as reading it to my own children.

No, no.
Yes, yes.
This sheds new light on the meaning of Whip. It's so degrading.

Tom Sharpe, Christopher Brookmyre, P.J. O'Rourke, Stephen Fry, P.G.Wodehouse - they all fall into the category of authors who REALLY make me laugh. If you mix up Billy Connelly and John Cleese, you'll get the idea. In Blott on the Landscape (which was turned into a BBC television series), Sharpe's humour is as sharp as ever (pun intended) and his characterizations are an absolute scream. Of course, it helps if you appreciate British humour which, at times, can be quite black. (A woman getting a lion to eat her own husband?)

Tom Sharpe's 'Wilt' books were comical enough but, in Blott on the Landscape and Porterhouse Blue, he excels even his own high standards of comic writing.

No need to look at of Tom Sharpe's novels if you are looking for refined literature. The man simply pumps out farcical stories which polk fun at the establishment and wealthy folks in particular. As with most farces, the reader can either find it all to be hilarious or simply stupid. Fortunately this reader found it to be hilarious.

'Blott on the Landscape' is about one woman's fight to keep her ancestral home at all costs, with the help of her gardener (Blott). We are exposed to the most improbable characters and actions imaginable, with rude behaviour and language in abundance. It all has a 1970s British television sitcom feel about it. Still I think most Brits will enjoy this book, and fortunately it is still in print over here.

Bottom line: Tom Sharpe in fine form. I'm still giggling.

Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses. He never liked the house and is in a position to earn quite a bit from the transaction. His wife who married him with the promise of children to keep the house and the estate going. The handyman, Lott a German refugee, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. Everyone has their own agenda and watch out for the lions.

Be sure to watch the mini-series also.
Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass the book. All of the characters fit and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood).

Aside from his excellent performance on the audiotape; David Suchet is Blott in the mini-series. This tape is easy enough to follow that you can use it in the car. When following the book you can get a different perspective than the TV series offers. The TV series is now on DVD. I know Tom Sharpe's comedy is similar to other British comedies; however I really identify with the people that he describes. The people are similar in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy". Come to think of it the plot is similar in a domestic sort of way.

This is the first Tom Sharpe I read, and it just seems so much better that the others...I first saw the t.v. series, and was even more impressed by the book. I loved eveything about it, the plot, the exagerrated characters, the way everything fits together at the end. I was a bit disturbed that I could laugh so much about a woman deliberately letting a lion eat her (thoroughly horrible and worthless) husband, but this is the mad world that Tom Sharpe takes you to. Ther way the betrayed wife should become best friend and ally with her husbands mistress is just hysterical! My other favourite character was the poor,bureacratically challenged head of the motorway planning authourity who had none! A great book to escape into.

The three primary male characters in this novel are all very different--in age, in attitude, in style--and all are interesting and compelling. At first I liked Hash, thought Keats was cute, but in the end it is Davis that most fascinated me. It will be interesting to see how all the threads of this novel are resolved.

For some reason, other people's failings make delightful reading. Perhaps it's because we are lifted up by their inadequacies. Davis, the incompetent father at the center of this excerpt, is a wonderful character. I loved the opening scenes, in which he's trying to find his keys on a dark pavement, and the deftly brushed relationships with Hash, Keats, and the girl he communicates with. This sounds like someone's life fruitfully plundered for material. The writing is sound, with a nice forward motion, and some excellent description (I particularly liked the "hairy shadows" of the trees). I was eager to spend time with Davis on the "picaresque journey" promised in the blurb. This could be a novel along the lines of Augie March or A Confederacy of Dunces.

Hits all the current Hot Buttons; nevertheless the first chapters make me care enough about the characters (except Keats; didn't get to know him yet) to want to read the rest of the book. All the more impressive because I didn't expect it to be "My Type of Book"

Wow...very engaging from the very beginning. So well done. I hope to read the full story some day. It's very compelling and continues moving. I love how you've connected the characters and at the same time, not disclosing all the details at once. Definitely a page turner.

These are some seriously interesting characters.
One thing I found particularly captivating was how Davis communicated -- sometimes it seemed like what came out of his mouth didn't match what (or how) he'd been thinking. I don't know if that was intentional, but it works. It's well written, the characters are fascinating, it's quirky, it's funny... Well done, Ms. Marwitz.

For the amateur historian, like myself, I was pleased that the author separated out the sources contemporary to the events of the Crusades. Also, the author often cites these sources (such as Anna Comnena and William of Tyre) directly and openly evaluates their positions and prejudices. Considering the limited extent of these original viewpoints, that few people were literate in those days, this emphasis helps in establishing some validity to what is a very distant interpretation.

The Frankish barons, who are the major players in the three Crusades discussed here, led a loose mob that included a fighting force of knights and squires along with any number of illiterate fanatics. They were inspired by a central religious authority, the Pope, and certain fiery orators such as Peter the Hermit. The Franks were not much further advanced than the federated tribes they had been when they overran Western Europe. They were hardly more than barbarians, fierce fighters, glorifying War, recently converted to Christianity, who used the Pope's urging to continue their heritage of invading and plundering.

The overland journey of the First Crusade, with Jerusalem as its goal, must have been unimaginably difficult to survive. The Franks fought their way through the insufferable summer heat of the Mideast, conquering and plundering as they went. When their situation became dire, when it became exceedingly difficult to obtain supplies, they resorted to terror. Bohemond, the Count of Toulouse, who became the prince of Antioch, is reported to have actively encouraged the notion that the Crusaders were cannibals.

It was an age of illiteracy, lawlessness, fanaticism, and superstition. There were these material possessions - the Holy Lance (a piece of rusted iron claimed to have been the sword that pierced Christ's side), the True Cross, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - that the Franks used as rallying cries. The fanaticism combined with the brutal conditions of the journey drove them to the point of insanity, to the point of massacring as many civilians as they could once they entered Jerusalem.

The slaughter in Jerusalem marked the beginning of the Frankish occupation of the Holy Land. It is true that in some ways the Franks learned to live with their Muslim neighbors, and for their part the Muslims, although perhaps more civilized at that time, could also reach extremes of cruelty; still, it is hard not to sympathize with Saladin who kicked the Franks almost all the way out of the Holy Land less than a century after they first arrived.

Zoé B. Oldenbourg (1916 - 2002) was both a highly esteemed specialist in mediæval French history and a critically acclaimed and prize winning historical novelist. She is best known for her novels The World Is Not Enough and The Cornerstone. The Crusades (Les Croisades) was first published in 1965.

Concentrating on the period of the first three Crusades Oldenbourg's book is a social, cultural, political and military history of the period, and covers the history of Turkey, Persia, Iran, Iraq, the Bosphorus, the Balkans, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Spain and southern Europe. She makes illuminating references to other phenomenon such as colonialism and pogroms, and is exceptional in that she is able to imaginatively suggest the attitudes, beliefs and limitations of the people she is writing about.

The subject is an immense one: the results of the Germanic invasions; the position of the Papacy; the 'Holy War' and its legacy; the economic effects of overpopulation on a poorly developed agriculture; feudalism; the differences between eastern and western Christianity; heresies and national differences in the east; the history of Constantinople; the rise of the Turks; the divisions and unity of Islam; relations between the Turks and the Arabs, Christians and Muslims; cultural effects of East on West and vice versa; literary influences in both directions; the legend of the Crusader; the subsequent history of 'crusades' such as the Albigensian, the Inquisition and the Conquistadores.

Oldenbourg on contemporary medieval attitudes: it was a time before machines were widely used. 'Man was therefore infinitely closer to physical reality than we can be now. Tools and raw materials had a value and immediacy not easy for us to understand. This direct contact with matter whose laws he knew only empirically made man simultaneously more superstitious than we are today and more skillful and enterprising.'

She is illuminating on the distinction between western and eastern religious feeling, in a way which explains much subsequent Catholic history. She says also that 'men thought of themselves first and foremost as religious beings...'

A plethora of suggestive ideas: that popular religion was (and is) largely pagan (and pagan is used in a non pejorative way); that miracles occupied the space in our lives of science; that war and religion were combined in the Latin west in a way they never could be in the Byzantine east.

'This exclusive, even excessive, exaltation of physical valour was something the Byzantines could never understand. The people of Western Europe believed implicitly that a man's worth was, first and foremost, measured by his prowess in battle. To the Greeks, courage was certainly an estimable virtue... but they did not rate it any higher than many 'civilised' virtues.'

'The fundamental difference lay in the co-existence in the Western mind of two quite separate ideas, the warrior and the Christian. Byzantium never seems to have been affected by any such ambivalence: it was too blatantly paradoxical for the logical Greek mind to accept.'

On the tangle of military and political objectives pursued by both east and west Oldenbourg sheds a clear light.

She suggests a connection between the German tribes who destroyed the western Roman Empire in the 4th century and the Crusaders. The feudal nobility, she says, were of Germanic or Nordic extraction, unlike the Latin peasantry. They preserved their ideals of love of battle and glorious death despite their conversion to Christianity. The union of these two diverse traditions led to the idea of a holy war, and such wars were waged in Syria in the 12th century. The Germanic tribes, many of whom admired Rome as a great civilising power, conquered it. Later, as admirers of Christianity, they attempted to conquer the Holy Land. In 1204 they conquered Constantinople.

The defining 'cause' of the Crusades was the rise of Turkey as a major power. This rise threatened both the Western, Greek and Arab states, although Turkey itself was Islamic. The Arabs, friendly to Christians, had been accepted politically in their position of power in Syria and the Middle East as well as elsewhere for 400 years. Now the Turks were conquering areas towards the Holy Land, and also areas in the Bosphorus - they posed a direct threat to Byzantium. The Crusades were initially launched to protect Byzantium from the Turks. But the Crusaders included Normans, who were more interested in conquering Byzantium than the Holy Land. And the Great Schism had recently separated the Churches of east and west: instead of reuniting them, the Crusades were to widen the gap between them and exploit their differences.

'Alexius saw no reason to fight the Turks simply because they were infidels (he had suffered too much from Christians to share any prejudges of this kind)...'

'the Greeks were trying to use the Latins in order to reconquer their own lost provinces, while the Latins thought the Greeks had a duty to help them in the much more important task of recovering the Holy Places.'

Oldenbourg follows this concept of the holy war through subsequent history. The union of the military culture of the barons and the culture of love and romance of southern France led to the ideal of chivalry. Later this culture in turn was conquered during the crusade against the Albigensians. Relics of these ideas can be seen in the Inquisition - the Church Militant - and in the deeds of the Conquistadores. Most recent was the attempt of Hitler to conquer the Jews.

The more one explores a subject the more there is to explore. Oldenbourg's book suggests this complexity. There are no easy answers, few generalisations. It is both honest and learned, and motivated by a clear and compassionate intelligence. It has had a far greater effect on me than the celebrated study by Stephen Runciman, still a standard work on the subject (strangely, another major study is Gibbon's, 200 years out of date and still an acute analysis despite it). Oldenbourg explores one of the great conflicts between Christianity and Islam so as to show how misleading it is to regard it as a simple conflict between two ideologies and in this way her book can be helpful and relevant to those who wish to see present day conflicts in a broader, less bigoted context.

I thought reading this book would be a daunting dask, at 593 pages, on a subject that I knew nothing about, and considered dry. Was I wrong! Ms. Oldenbourg makes the crusades and the participants come alive. She imbues the participants with personality, so each individual is memorable, the reading better than any novel. From the blonde, blue eyed cunning soldier Bohemond to the tragic love triangle of Melisende, Fulk and Hugh, this book has it all. Scheming clerics, ambitious men, massacres, acts of superhuman strength, love, hatred. Not boring at all! And the great part is that it is not fiction. Well worth the read!

Zoe Oldenbourg's "The Crusades" was one of the first books I ever read about the subject, and still remains an unsurpassed introduction to the topic in my experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is still one of my favourites.

Oldenbourg covers the main events of the major Crusades, and informs the reader in great detail of the situation at hand. Oldenbourg gives a very detailed introductory account of the world and lives of the Crusaders. It will certainly give you enough to decide if you want to learn more on this fascinating topic, or just leave it with Oldenbourg's book.

As an initial introduction to the Crusades, "The Crusades" stands as one of the best available, and will keep you engrossed throughout.

This volume, first published almost thirty years ago, gives an account of the first three crusades along with the history of Jerusalem up to its conquering by Saladin. The author does not view the Crusades as primarily a war of conquest or as a search for new colonies and trade routes. In addition, she wants to contrast the Crusades with the Islamic expansion of four centuries earlier, the goal of the latter in her opinion being the total conquest of the world. The goal of the Crusades was primarily to retake Jerusalem, and this viewpoint makes the author definitely at odds with many contemporary assessments of the origins and reasons for the Crusades. Readers who thirst for an in-depth knowledge of the Crusades will find a book that is well written and easy to read. Whether or not the book constitutes sound history can only be decided by a lifetime of intense study of the historical documents and sources. The general reader will thus have to remain in a state of suspended judgment on the accuracy of the book. Other books, especially those written in the last decade, should be consulted to gain further insight and alternative points of view.

The author wants to emphasize the human aspects of the Crusades, she asks readers to remove themselves from their modern context and try to understand (however difficult this might be) what life was like in medieval times. She gives a highly interesting account of the conditions of life in those times, referring to it as "simple" because of the state of technology at the time. Whether the technology of today makes life more complex is perhaps a matter for debate, but to claim life was more difficult back then is a credible proposition. The expenditure of human energy needed to obtain the basic life necessities was certainly a lot greater than what is required today. But the author reminds the reader that mental abilities were not necessarily diminished, pointing to the "better memories' that were developed in those times, due to general lack of writing skills. But she definitely wants to emphasize that society at that time was based exclusively on masculine ideals, and that the Catholic Church was "resolutely antifeminist." Her evidence for this is somewhat weak, and this position has been criticized vociferously in more contemporary accounts of the Crusades and the history of the Catholic Church.

There are many places in the book where the discussions are particularly interesting or surprising. Some of these include: 1. That "popular opinion" held that Peter the Hermit was the real instigator of the Crusades, having received a "letter" from Jesus Christ that he was commanded to deliver to Pope Urban II. The author reminds the reader that there is no evidence that Peter ever met the Pope. 2. That after the fall of Antioch, the Crusaders, with the assistance of native Christians murdered all the Turks that they could find in the city and believed that the this massacre was "pleasing to God." The author though does not offer the reader any evidence for this view. How does she know that the Crusaders against Antioch really believed this? 3. The author believes that the number of women and children that were murdered in the "Great Massacre" was exaggerated by chroniclers of the time (especially Islamic historians). But she is quick to point out that putting the real number aside, that most of the population in Jerusalem was completely exterminated, with most of these being unarmed civilians. 4. That the Muslims of Palestine did not anticipate the religious intolerance of the Christians. Interestingly, the author states that the Muslims who conquered the area centuries earlier did not attempt to force the conquered peoples to convert to Islam (Mohammed though murdered nearly all of the Jewish peasants in southern Palestine). 5. The author mentions that Baldwin, in the process of conquering the coastal cities, permitted various massacres in some of these cities in order to "terrorize" the defenders of the others. 6. The origin of "Sunnism" and "Shiism" is discussed, where Sunnism represents the "official orthodoxy" and Shiism is the "breakaway sect." At the time of the Crusades, the Sunnites (as the author refers to them) were represented by the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad and the Shiites were represented by the Fatimid caliphate of Cairo. The extreme hatred between these two sects survives to this day. 7. That Bohemond blamed the failure of the Crusades on Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor of Constantinople, and tried to convince the Pope to launch a Crusade against Alexius. 8. The author contends that the concept of a holy war, or "jihad" was alien to Muslim leaders at the time of the Crusades, but that they acquiesced to public opinion and so were not willing to speak out against launching a jihad against the Franks. The thinking of the Muslim chroniclers gradually changed though, and by the time of the battle of Hattin, jihad became part of the consciousness of Muslims, and soldiers became "soldiers of God." Victory in war was the direct cause of God's favor to those who were faithful. 9. That religion at the time was "inseparable from politics" and consequently that any action taken by a statesman had to have a religious motive and must be justified by a religious point of view. The author describes predilection towards religion as a "universally recognized moral necessity." 10. That with the exception of Anna Comnena, the history of the first three Crusades was of minor interest to the historians of Constantinople. The author describes Anna Comnena as being only marginally interested in the events of the first three Crusades. The Fourth Crusade, which is not discussed in the book, was of course of great importance to the Greek Christians.

I have read all of the Dearest Dorothy series and they are wonderful. It feels so good to read about small towns and people who care about each other!! Takes your mind off all the awful "wordly" things...

I was very pleased with the promptness of my order. I will not hesitate to order from them again.

I've read all the books in the Dearest Dorothy series and have to say, I found this one to be one of the most enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, I've loved them all but this one really just had an extra special something. Charlene does an excellent job in character development and great story lines. I am hoping that there will be another book out soon and that Dorothy is a bit more prominant in the next. As always, a great read and a book to make you think about life and all there is to appreciate about it!

Let me see if I can remember what I wrote about another one of these Partonville novels. They are simply wonderful; humorous, entertaining and inspirational. They cheer me up and make me feel as if I'm returning to a charming hometown each time. I hope Charlene finds time to pen many, many more sequels of these lovely families!!!

Having read each and every book in the series, I had a pretty good idea what to expect -- enjoyable, pleasant and worth the time. What I got was a surprise; it was terrific !!! While the book continues to have the small-town flavor which makes the series so appealing, it added new characters and twists to the plot that made it a bit more "current" and fast-paced.

The characters are well-developed and the story enchanting. If you have read the other books in the series, make sure you read this one. If you are just picking it up for the first time, enjoy and appreciate.

I first very much liked this book and wanted it to never end. But then I came upon a few stories of people which grated with me because they depicted the person as much too positive. For example, C. G. Jung is described as nothing as a genius and saint. Unfortunately, his real life was far from saintly. For example, he was very nasty to his wife and tortured her by inviting his mistress for years to every family Sunday lunch.
Another story that is much too positive is that of Joseph Smith, the founder of the mormon church. Joseph is described in the most positive way but the fact that he brought untold amount of suffering to thousands of women through introducing polygamy has been left out. Why, I wonder.
It also grated with me that there are a few stories included of soldiers who suffered in prison camps. Their traumas are described in great detail which made them appear as victims. However, the kind of atrocities these soldiers had committed to others were completely left out.
The biggest shocker came when I discovered that the story of Joan d'Arc (the French peasant girl who let the French into battle against the English)was included. Where was the moral judgement of the authors to include a story about 'divinely inspired' VIOLENCE??? They might as well have included Adolf Hitler because he (like so many other dictators) has claimed, as well, to be guided by 'Divine providence'.

All in all, a wonderful book that is marred by lack of honesty and failing moral judgement in places.

Every story seems better than the last. Just an amazing collection of brief biographies, that make you want to read more about each individual. I'm half-way through the book. I may write to the author of my own stories: My wife had a tumor the size of your thumb disappear from her neck after a prayer circle with a gifted healer. Verified with x-ray and ultrasound that is totally gone. Years before, she woke the moment a distant friend of mine, whom she had never met, passed away 350 miles away. In her dream, he shook her hand and died. I confirmed his passing the next morning. It was at the moment she had woken up.

One of Dan Millman's stories is of a skeptical doctor who went to Lourdes, and witnessed a women on the verge of death from advanced tuberculosis be cured in 30 minutes after having water from the Grotto poured over her. The doctor first describes her near death state, and then the implausible minute by minute improvements in her appearance and condition.

DIVINE INTERVENTIONS lifts the spirits as it soothes the soul... it is the perfect antidote to all manner of news media, which more often than not emphasizes things that seem to be going wrong, usually without much of an explanation as to why things happen or what makes them happen in the first place.

This refreshingly inspirational set of fifty stories, each less than seven pages long, that describe amazing events in the lives of people from all continents, spiritual traditions, and walks of life. What these stories have in common is that each of them illustrates something so extraordinary that it changed someone's life... sometimes in ways that would likely not have been predicted.

I love the way stories are told from all walks of life and all parts of the world... with a sense that there are indeed more things in heaven and Earth than most of us have dreamed. All kinds of amazing miraculous events have been occurring for thousands of years, and it's just delightful to read about some of them in one fascinating volume.

I give this book my highest recommendation to everyone interested in spirituality, miracles, and the divine.

This collection of people and their life transforming experiences is simply excellent! Each chapter, which summarizes the experience of a different individual, is just the right length (not too long, not too short, and very well written).

My favorites here are the very interesting stories of Byron Katie, Valerie Vener, and Peace Pilgrim.

Open to any page; after reading a paragraph you're hooked on the fantastic experience another has had in the out-of-the-ordinary.

Dan Millman and Doug Childers have included 50 stories in 50 short chapters about real experiences that inspire the reader to realize there is more to understand than science currently knows.

These life-changing events happened to people of all ages, including those as young as 8 year old Lucia dos Santos, one of the 3 children of Fatima, Portugal, in 1915.

This 5-star book reinforced my value on virtues, while giving me a boost of energy!