Europe Books

Unlike Schindler's List, in Divided Lives, a book by Cynthia Crane, the reader is able to put a face with a name and learn about personal experiences before, during, and after the war. No longer are these people just statistics, but they are actual people who had a life that was turned upside down by the Holocaust. Divided Lives is the type of resource that could be used in schools, especially high school, to show the truth about what Holocaust victims went through day after day and the effects it had on the rest of their lives. Divided Lives not only shows students about the uniqueness of this period in history, but children can also connect on an emotional level and learn an appreciation for their own lives and the human race.

I remember reading a poem back when I was a boy about the poet's life in the segregation era south that his father white and his mother black and being subjected to bigots both black and white. Somehow the meaning felt true while reading this book.

From the little boy who was beaten by nazi teachers because his father was Jewish, to the little girl whose Jewish father fled to America but sent divorce papers to his gentile wife, the stories here are in many ways far from pleasant. But not all the perpetrators are from the same group. A husband kicked out of the nazi party because of his wife's heritage, balanced against that of a girl kicked out of the BDM because of her heritage, only to discover after moving into in her new town the local BDM leadress telling her she was going to be in the BDM whether she liked or not 'unofficially'. A girl whose policeman father was driven mad by the stress and murdered by the T4 fiends to the loss of so many Jewish relatives by each, this is a very insightful book.

Life was not happy for these women when they were girls. Being prevented form joining the BDM because of their heritage or kicked out if the BDM found out. Being kept out of many things. Being stuck in the middle of nazi germany with less than politically correct heritage under allied bombs. Somehow they survived to tell their stories.

I didn't think it was up the the standards of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, but that book drew from a larger pool of individuals.
But within its small scale, it's pretty good.

After reading this accumulation of sensitive and very private stories by the subjects still alive in Germany, I recommended to the author that this book should be required reading in high schools across the USA.
The women who dared have their stories told survived an unbelievable period in German history in the 1930s and 40s. Reading the painful recollections of the personal experiences of the subject Jewish women under the domination of the Third Reich reveals an awful human experiment too horrible to fully understand, but important that it be revealed.
Readers will not be disappointed in the revelations extracted by the author, who has a personal connection to this period in history. Her father was a fraternity brother of mine, and I only recently learned of the humiliations he suffered before he escaped to the United states at age ten. Humiliations that have affected him ever since.
The author learned why her maiden name isn't the same as her father's original last name. And that triggered the quest to learn more, and thus the research in Germany and this book.

"Divides Lives" tells the stories of woman living a in a real life "twilight zone" during the Third Reich. Dr. Crane brings her characters to life and the reader is swept into their confusing and frightening world. I am not particularly enamored by Holocaust literature. I have had my fill of books, articles and movies which portray the horrors of the camps. However, this book is different. These stories would stand by themselves regardless of the setting. The implications for our modern world, alluded to in the author's musings, are staggering. Anyone who enjoys short stories or biographies will absolutely love this book. I can hardly wait for Dr. Crane's next work.

Many of the mischling women interviewed in this book state that the young people of today, especially Americans don't have any feeling whatsoever for what happened in WWII. Sadly, they are correct in that we learn about the war, but we don't learn about real life during the war. Facts and technical outlines of battles can only give one the surface of the struggle. To dig deeper, you need to read first person accounts such as the ones given in this book...stories of persecution and oppression that will make the war seem all too real. The paper thin line of distinction between Germans and Jews comes to life here with the children of Jewish/Christian parents who are ranked according to the amount of Jewish blood they carry...first degree half-Jew or second degree quarter-Jew. Most are saved from the concentration camps by their affiliation with their Aryan (German) family, but all suffer some amount of anti-semitism and persecution under the Third Reich. This is a revealing portrait of the fate of the mischlinge, a people who are often forgotten in the gruesome and humiliating saga of the holocaust.

Through the Rug
Through The Rug 2: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)

I am a children's author who likes to read books by other children's authors. I really enjoyed "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When".

Hannah and Alex Diaz and Brandon Clark arrive in England during World War 2, with a mystery to solve. They are unprepared for the world of war torn England. They are faced with air raids, evacuations, and miserable foods that stink. The children also eat dry bread and cakes, and wear hand-me-down clothing that should have been discarded long ago. They are faced with strict rules of behavior and firm punishments.

Brandon, who is black, faces prejudice and is disliked by some who have never before encountered a person of his race.

Alex takes his new environment as a challenge and an adventure. Hannah often opens her mouth and says inappropriate things. Brandon is separated from his friends, not only by being in a different home, but a different time in history.

I recomend "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When", for children and adults. It would be a great book to read to an elementary class for 3rd through 6th graders. This book would also be a good read-together book for a family.

I am adding this book to my list of 'Adventures with Grandma'. Verity's grandmother, Hannah and Alex call Mrs. D, is a harsh disciplinarian and a strict woman, but she is very endearing. She takes Alex and Hannah into her home and under her wing. We later find that Mrs. D has a past and wasn't always sweet and innocent herself. Her personality, as a young woman, was much like that of Hannah Diaz.

Join in the adventure of Hannah, Alex and Brandon, as they travel into the past and bring back lessons they can use in the future.

My sister is 13 years old and she despises books. After much begging and pleading I finally convinced her to read Don't Know Where, Don't Know When. Here's what she had to say:
That was a really good book. I loved it. I read a lil bit every night. I like those kids in the book. I would so read it again.
Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is the first book my sister has read and actually ENJOYED!!

This brought back my son's love of reading again. We found it under 'Historical Fiction' which is a bit of a stretch. They do talk about history, but not as much as their adventure. I would like to see more history in subsequent novels. My son loved the characters, especially Alex!

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is an amazingly engaging book written very well. A good friend of mine recommended me to read it and after I asked what it was like, she responded that it was a bit like Harry Potter only with history. Now that I've read it, I agree. No, there's no wands or boarding school, but there is the magic of time travel and of characters that take you to another place and time. As I read the book, I marveled at some of the things that the kids, Alex, Hannah, and Brandon, encountered and wondered to myself "could this actually be the way it was then?" I found that these things were true.
Annette Laing is a wonderful writer who grabs you with her style. I highly suggest this book for anyone at all.

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is a story of many people and times. Hannah and Alex Dias, two young teens from California have just been transplanted from the home they have always known to another world, otherwise known as Snipesville, Georgia. With its private luxury communities in the middle of cotton fields and mall known far and wide as the Small, Snipesville is the last place on earth Hannah wants to be.
Brandon Clark, born and raised in Snipesville, has one ambition: to get out, to be one of the "Big Shots" who leave black Snipesville and make a name for themselves in the wider world. However, Brandon's future seems to stretch before him, planned by his parents, like the grim parades of death that leave the family funeral home.
When Hannah, Alex, and Brandon are drawn together by their mutual differences and isolation, unlikely events begin to unfurl. Brandon's discovery of a British World War II national registration identity card and the appearance of a mysterious woman known as The Professor lead the children on a time travel journey spanning two World Wars and nearly one hundred years. The only clue to the mystery: Find George Braithwaite.
Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is author Annette Laing's first foray into the world of children's literature. It is the promising if slightly raw beginning of a series that has the potential to be great. Those familiar with Maiya Williams time travel series (The Golden Hour, The Hour of the Cobra) will find good grounds for comparison. The differences? Laing's use of social and/or cultural history is easier and more accurate, and there is an absolute avoidance of declaring a moral (not that this excludes the reader from finding one (or more).
The Characters: Hannah is a nightmare. I have never met a child like her (and thank my lucky stars that is so), but I have it on good authority that children like her really do exist. She speaks to everyone, regardless of age or relationship, with snotty abandon, no fear of physical punishment, or even as far and I can see, grounding, blunting her sarcastic tongue. Even those of us not in favor of spanking children cheer when one indomitable British dame finally gives Hannah her just desserts. By the end of the book she is not noticeably changed in attitude, but decidedly challenged in outlook by late experiences.
Alex is largely a secondary character in this book, with no real chances for expression. There are, however, hints of future importance and even leadership to look forward to.
The story built around Brandon is very interesting. Both of the father figures in his life, real life and time travel, are named Gordon. The wives are imposing (and in Mrs. Gordon's case, downright nasty) and there is an idolized older brother figure who looms large but is never really seen. It is lovely to see the confidence and self possession Brandon gains with the Gordons's that he seems to lack with his own family. Speaking of the Gordons, the daughter Peggy is a wonderfully despicable and yet pathetic character, because you have to wonder if it is her own weakness of character, an acceptance of family prejudice, or the troubles she has had to endure that have so warped her opinions. Peggy plays an important, if secondary and sometimes unrecognizable role throughout the story.
The real jewel of this Story is Mrs. D, who I will leave you to discover for yourself. She is a lovely and lovingly portrayed example of all the strong, staunch, somewhat undemonstrative women who kept Britain going during the horrendous years of World War II.
Do yourself a favor: read this book and read it carefully. At times it is a bit difficult to work your way through the teenage angst, especially in the first two or three chapters. Children may not find any of this distracting. By the time you reach chapters five and six you won't care any longer; you will be too involved in the lives and worlds being lived on the pages before you.This book is appropriate for the ages specified and beyond. Paying close attention will reward the reader with clues and hints as to the future of the series. Enjoy.

This is a very thorough guide for when you have only a day or two to visit. It actually has way more in it than we could possibly see or do.
Giving the top ten things to see is great for your first visit. It is also great for probably your second or third.

Very helpful, lots of pictures and maps.

the top 10 guides are the greatest books for traveling. they give the top 10 of everything you would like to know-sights, resturants, hotels. we traveled through europe and book several different types of books and the top 10 were our favorites!

This book is ideal in many ways. Read it before you travel - it reviews all of the highlights that you'll want to see while in Venice. It also explains and diagrams the public transportation system, a useful thing to know in advance of your arrival.
This book is a great size to take along while touring the Venice area. I referred to it often because navigating Venice can be a lot like trying to find your way around a labyrinth!
A nice feature of this book is that it cross-references topics in a variety of ways. If you want to see sights in a certain geographic area, you can look things up that way. However, if you have a special interest, like churches, art galleries, or whatever, the book is organized so that you can easily look up your specific interest and locate the sights you want to see throughout Venice. The book lists the entrance fees to the major attractions, as well as the days and times when they open and close.
Another nice feature of this book is the variety of historical information it contains on all manner of things Venetian - from gondolas to glass blowing. My husband and I used this book on our first trip to Venice and truly found it invaluable. I highly recommend it.

My girlfriend, a world traveller for 20 years, borrowed this guide from a friend before going to Venice. It was so helpful and easy to carry around, and made her trip so full and enjoyable, that she bought her own copy and plans to rely on this series of travel guides in the future.

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.

If you are traveling to a city and spending only a short time (3 or less days) you need nothing more than an Eyewitness Top 10 Guide. I will never go anywhere without one. It categorizes and boils things down, but the print is large enough to read. If you will be spending longer in your destination (for instance you are studying abroad) you will want a more comprehensive guide. Don't hesitate to buy any of the Eyewitness Top 10 Guides -- I have 3 of them.

the top 10 guides are the greatest books for traveling. they give the top 10 of everything you would like to know-sights, resturants, hotels. we traveled through europe and book several different types of books and the top 10 were our favorites! some of the info is a little off like the hours of the collsium and the prices of somethings so i would confirm

This is an excellent book to walk around with in Rome and it is also a very popular choice. During my recent trip to Rome, I saw many other tourists walking around with this book in their hands. The book is small enough to fit easily in a woman's purse and has a very good and detailed map of the historic centre of the city. There is also a decent but less detailed and less useful map of greater Rome.

Like the other "Top 10" travel guides, "Top 10 Rome" is in the format of top ten lists with related narrative and information for things like tourist sites, hotels, restaurants, etc. The list of top ten tourist sites is followed by lists of the top ten things about each site, and there are maps/diagrams of the Vatican, the Forum, Palatine Hill, and several museums. There are also top ten lists of sites, restaurants, shopping, bars and nightlife for different sections of the city with small maps showing where each place is.

There are top ten lists of "Ancient Sites," "Museums and Galleries," "Squares and Fountains," "Villas and Palaces," "Romantic Spots," "Green Spaces," and "Rome for Children." There are top ten lists for things such as "General Information," "Getting to Rome, "Getting Around Rome," "Eating and Drinking Tips," "Rome on a Budget" and "Things to Avoid." There are eight top ten lists of hotels/places to stay.

There is a top ten list of churches but in Rome you would really need a top twenty-five list of churches. You don't have to worry much about this, however, as most other churches of interest that are not included in the "Top 10 churches" list are included in the top ten lists of sites for different areas of the city, with one noteworthy exception: The book does not mention Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, founded in AD 320, where pieces of Christ's cross and an inscription by Pontius Pilate are on display.

This little book was our bible on a recent trip to Rome. I will always be grateful that DK included San Clemente in their top 10. This amazing little church is like a layer cake of fascinating things to see. The street level is a lovely 12th century church with beautiful floors, columns, and frescoes. Underneath is an excavated 4th century church that includes a frescoe with the first sentence ever written in Italian: "Fili de le pute traite", or "Pull, you sons of whores!" I kid you not. This level also includes the tomb of Saint Cyril, creator of the Cyrillic alphabet, and a wonderful tombstone with a pagan inscription on one side, and on the other, an early Christian inscription -- it was recycled! They have it set up so you can flip it over to see both sides. Finally, the bottom level has ancient ruins, including a Mithraic (pagan) shrine.

The only time the book let us down was its recommendation of Da Augusto, a restaurant in Trastevere. This was their #1 listing under "Cheap Eats" for Trastevere but it was the only unappetizing food we were served in our whole trip.

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.

This remarkably thoughtful and carefully researched study reports on the changes in religious belief and practice undergone by Holocaust survivors as a result of their ordeal. Most valuable are the personal testimonies of the survivors.

A sensitive study, carefully constructed and empirically based, that supplies substantial, balanced insight where before there were only opinions and surmise. The full range of the victims' religious feeling is revealed, often in their own agonized reflections. Everyone concerned about the contemporary religion, responses to catastrophe, and the state of Jewish belief will want to read this book.

What an important piece! This is a very valuable and carefully researched study on the theological meaning of human suffering in the Holocaust. This book focus primarily on how the survivors interpreted their Holocaust experiences and how their experiences affected their religious beliefs and observance. This is an excellent book and a very important study that will be very much appreciated by historians in years to come!

This book/study by Rabbi Reeve Brenner is a great service not only to the victims of the Holocaust but is also a great gift to future generations who are going to see these findings by Rabbi Brenner's research as extremely valuable.

One word: EXCELLENT!!!

The originality of the theme, the accuracy and vastness of the research - over 700 questionnaires and 100 in-depth interviews and the eloquence of language - surely cast this as one of the important books to emerge from the evergrowing literature of the Holocaust.

The author conceived and carried through his project with great skill. His judicious comments about his findings are enhanced by a sophisticated sense of the limitations of this sort of investigation. His balance of history, ideas, data, excerpts, and interpretation is evocative and enlightening, resulting in a text which is, for this sort of work, even pleasurable reading.

From the remarkably eloquent foreword to the beautifully drawn and written stories, each page of this graphic novel shines. The narratives are subtle and Chekhovian in their ability to evoke emotion and mood. They're also just plain funny. A must-read, especially for anyone who's spent time out of U.S.

The humour in this intimately-written graphic novel hits home with its baldly honest, personal stories. Like others, I didn't want the book to end, and found myself slowing the read by spending extra time with the expressive and fabulously rendered comic panels. Very entertaining & excellent to pass on to friends.

What a lovely book! The title conveys the sense perfectly. These finely drawn stories capture the moments any traveller will recognize, when throwing yourself at the mercy of the world leaves you exposed not only to things mind-blowingly new but also to your own template--sensory memories, childhood perceptions, early hurts and wonderings. Any reader who is interested in travel will appreciate this book, whether or not she usually likes comics. A FEW PERFECT HOURS works on so many levels, I've found myself leaving it out and turning to it again and again.

"A Few Perfect Hours" isn't the kind of work you can easily peg: A graphic novel, it's also the kind of compelling travel writing that takes you on a journey both inside and beyond yourself, to off-the-beaten-path adventures in countries that no longer exist precisely the way they did when Josh & his wife Sari once traveled the globe. The result is a journey in time as well as one between borders. With pieces ranging from humorous to thought-provoking, Neufeld shows he is as capable of fascinating us with his writing as he is with his illustrations. Both bear up to several visits. In fact, it might be worth reading the whole book through once for the stories, again for the visuals, and at least once more to explore how the two interact.

A tip-off to the care he took inside, Neufeld packaged his work in an impressive form (paper, ink, and front and back matter) that makes "A Few Perfect Hours" a beautiful book that stands apart on the shelf. The result is a very readable, rewarding graphic novel that would be equally perfect tucked in a backpack or lying on a coffeetable.

Much will be (and has already been) said about Josh Neufeld's journey -- spiritual, emotional, physical, and otherwise -- as he depicts it in this insightful compilation (and indeed it is highly satisfying for a reader to observe -- as a voyeur safely removed from the frequent moral quandaries one faces when travelling abroad -- Josh's struggles while schlepping his American-bred presumptions around the globe). But as gratifying as these anecdotes might be, what really stikes me the most is his journey as an artist. Here is not simply the chronicles of a young man and his adventures in a comic book format, it's also the chronicles of an artist: years of experimentation, study, and refining a singular vision and style. This book did not happen overnight. Look closely, and you'll recognize the Life of The Comic Book Artist -- hidden behind the stories, Josh has provided us with a glimpse of how much art and an artist can change over time, even if ever so subtly. Having read much of his other works, I can now appreciate even more the times he has discussed his stylistic choices, because this book contains it all -- the whole kit and caboodle at my fingertips. So, keeping in mind Josh's own self-analyses from earlier years, I can now smile and laugh even harder when I see Josh in a tight bodysuit or Sari's tiny little feet (p. 61, "How to Star in a Singaporean Soap Opera"). Hergé would be proud...

In early 1942 the Japanese were lords of the Pacific, the Zero the best fighter plane between Tokyo and London and Emperial navy seemingly unstoppable. Lundstrom's story of the first year of the Pacific War and the Navy pilots who first flew from US carriers to blunt the spread of the Empire and take the first steps on the road to victory is by far the best that I have read. As other reviewers have said, Lundstrom's research of the details of the air battles, from both the US and Japanese sides, is unrivaled. His ability to weave these details into a gripping story in which the characters come to life is just as unique. This book and his first volume about Coral Sea and Midway are the kind that you don't want to finish because they are so good.

The bravery of these American flyers comes across well, but so does the the tension (and occasional humor) of this first full year of combat in the Pacific. The F4F-4 Wildcat was a well built, strong plane but could not compete with the Zeke in manuverability or speed. Yet the "First Team" flew their Wildcats from carriers and Guadalcanal's Henderson Field, held their own or better and started the distruction of the Japanese's veteran pilot cadre.

The fact that 10 of 34 pilots from VF-5 (the carrier squadron that flew along side the Marines from Henderson in late summer/early fall '42) were killed or seriously wounded shows that the attrition rate among these pilots was high and points to their bravery and endurance.

Mechanical problems with the F4F-4, bad weather, inhospitable islands, and the endless Pacific Ocean were added to the skilled and agressive opponents to make flying a Navy fighter plane a tough occupation. These flyers were truely a special breed.

You won't find a better told tale of the first year of the Pacific War anywhere. Lundstrom focuses only on the Naval pilots and their battles for more than 500 pages mand it's a tactical story in the truest sense. If you're tired of reading military history that never gets you out of the Admiral's cabin or Washington DC and London, this is for you. "The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign" is a terrific read. Highly recommended.

If you are a casual reader of World War II books, this is NOT the book for you, but if you are a wonk, then you'll love this book and John Lundstrom's companion book which covers the time period of Pearl Harbor to Midway. What sets Lundstrom apart is that he has taken the time to get to know virtually all of the pilots (on both sides) who fought in the Pacific battles in 1942. A theme that runs through both books is that each side had a small fraternity of pilots, and everybody knew each other. These pilots ("The First Team") held the line through the Guadalcanal campaign. Those that replaced them generally did not have the same level of skill.

Lundstrom is good at separating myths from the facts. He must either read Japanese or have a great collaboration with someone who does because his research through Japanese sources is the best that I've seen.

One interesting fact brought to light by Lundstrom: in terms of fighter-to-fighter combat through the Guadalcanal campaign, the A6M Zero and the F4F Wildcat effectively fought to a draw. If you see a reference on the F4F claiming a 5/1 kill ratio or something like that, it is likely based on inflated claims and claims against bombers and seaplanes. The biggest difference between the two types statistically is that a F4F pilot was much more likely to survive the downing of his plane. More of the United State's first team survived to fight again and to train other pilots to fight.

Japan made a mistake in trying to achieve air superiority over Guadalcanal from Rabaul, which is over 500 miles away. Just because the Model 21 Zero could fly that far and fight doesn't mean that it was a good idea to make it a regular practice. The distance was a big factor in the pilot attrition that eventually crippled the Japanese Naval Air Force.

I have no idea how many hours John Lundstrom put in to writing each of these books. I do know that the hours you spend reading them (and in my case re-reading them) will be well-spent.

An excellent follow-up to the "First team". Written in the same style as his previous work, this is the only book you need if you are interested in Santa Cruz, Eastern Solomons and day-to-day operations on Guadalcanal.
It is well known the Japanese were hard pressed to provide enough quantities of aircraft and qualified pilots even before the Midway operation. But Lundstrom shows just how critical this same situation was for the US during the Solomons campaign.
What is surprising is what a poor job Japanese fighter pilots did in protecting the bombers they were assigned to escort. Had they done a better job this campaign could have been much more costly for the US.

Although this book concentrates on U.S. Navy fighter combat during the first four months of the Guadalcanal campaign, it gives so many details of associated events that it should be read by anyone interested in the entire Guadalcanal campaign itself. This book also does a great job of giving details of the Japanese side, even to the point of naming most of the individual Japanese pilots involved in combat with the U.S. Navy and Marines around Guadalcanal. The only criticism (and this is slight criticism) I have of this book is Lundstrom's strong defence, for whatever reason, of Fletcher's actions during the initial part of the campaign which have been heavily criticized by just about every other historian. But, I guess it stands to reason that at least one credible historian would find a reason to defend Fletcher.

Anyway, if I were to name the top three books about the Guadalcanal campaign, this would be one of them along with Richard Frank's "Guadalcanal, the Definitive Account" and Michael Smith's "Bloody Ridge."

The First Team - Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
and
The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign
John B. Lundstrom
Naval Institute Press


I have been studying naval aviation combat since the early 1960s, and I have never come across a book half so comprehensive, from a historical basis - nor half so useful, from a modeling perspective - as this two-volume set recently reprinted by the Naval Institute Press. The title - "The First Team" - refers to US Naval Aviator fighter pilots who were in service at the start of World War II; a convenient way of focusing on naval fighter combat from December 7, 1941 to the end of the Guadalcanal campaign in early February, 1943. This was a time when the F4F Wildcat bore the brunt of the aerial warfare - a few F2A Buffalo fighters served in the Navy during this time-frame, but the only Buffalos that saw combat were serving with the Marines (who are outside the scope of this two-volume study).

This book covers literally every incident of aerial combat that included US Navy fighter aircraft from December 7 through the end of Guadalcanal. I mean EVERY incident, every American shoot-down (and every American shot down) and every American carrier attack on a Japanese island target fought during the first 14 months of the war in the Pacific: the Wake relief force, the Gilbert, Marshall and Marcus Island raids, the assault on Rabaul, and the attacks on Tulagi, Lae and Salamaua - and of course, Guadalcanal. The books also cover every carrier vs. carrier battle that was fought in the Pacific before 1944: Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz. In short, The First Team two-volume book is incredibly comprehensive. Maps and charts illustrate each battle, each significant combat incident, each movement of carriers and air groups - the detail is remarkable. Author John Lundstrom makes these battles come alive in ways that no other history I've read have been able to accomplish. But for all their value as pure history, these books go way beyond that.

For instance, The First Team covers combat tactics - the prime reason why the vastly-inferior F4F-4 Wildcat was able to best the incredible Japanese Zero in almost every encounter (including decisive victories at Midway and Guadalcanal). Pre-war, the US Naval air service - alone among the world's air forces - trained its pilots to successfully use deflection shooting, permitting pilots to attack from beam positions, instead of just from directly astern. To perform a deflection-shooting attack successfully, the pilot couldn't aim at the target; instead, he had to aim for where the plane would be when the bullets arrived.

Deflection shooting is a kind of lead-the-target targeting performed by duck hunters and skeet shooters; a process vastly complicated in aerial combat because both the attacker and the target are moving at several hundred miles per hour, generally in different planes. However, when successfully executed, deflection attacks are almost unbeatable. This kind of deflection shooting permitted American Naval fighter pilots to attack the enemy with limited risk of counter-battery fighter from defending aircraft. Deflection attacks were decisive in attacks on bomber aircraft, but this approach also gave U.S. Naval aviators a significant advantage over the more maneuverable and - at most altitudes - faster Japanese fighters.

Other tactical elements explored in great detail were the comparative tactical formations - American transition from four-aircraft divisions to two-aircraft divisions while the Japanese held onto the far more awkward and inflexible three-plane formations - as well as the evolution of the "Thatch Weave," a mutually-supportive defensive formation the Japanese were never able to effectively counter.

The First Team also looks - in depth - at the training of Japanese and US Naval aviators. In 1941, Japanese naval aviators were, man-for-may, the best-trained pilots in the world, yet thanks to different tactical approaches, they were consistently outfought, first by well-trained US Naval Aviators and later even by grass-green Ensigns not long out of advanced training programs. Training and organization were critical - Japanese were taught to move in units of three aircraft, and to take advantage of their aircraft's incredible maneuverability.

American Naval Aviators were trained in deflection gunnery, in pilot-wingman cooperation and in emphasizing mutually-supporting defensive tactics culminating in the unbeatable Thatch Weave - which remarkably was under development before the outbreak of the war, though "conventional wisdom" has held that Commander John "Jimmy" Thatch developed the mutual-support tactics in response to initial combat with the Japanese.

Another factor that The First Team explored which worked against the Japanese was the very different organizational structure of the two countries' carrier air groups. In the US Navy, carrier air groups were fungible organizations - new squadrons and new pilots could be shuffled through the air groups, and these groups could be shuffled from carrier to carrier as needed. By contrast, Japanese carrier air groups trained as a unit, and were permanently assigned to a specific aircraft carrier.

When a Japanese group suffered significant combat casualties, not only were the individual squadrons no longer combat-capable, but the carrier itself was out of the battle. As a result, after the bloody draw at Coral Sea, surviving Naval aviators from the sunken Lexington were able to go back into combat onboard the Yorktown at Midway - less than a month later - effectively replacing losses the Yorktowners suffered at Coral Sea with combat-tested pilots. Even though the Yorktown had been badly damaged, it was patched together and able to field a combat-ready air group that proved decisive at Midway less than a month later.

However, as explained in The First Team's assessment of Japan's carrier air group organization, the Zuikaku - which, unlike the surviving Yorktown, was undamaged but which also suffered heavy pilot losses - was unable to serve at Midway because the Zuikaku's carrier air group had been decimated, and a carrier without an air group is little more than a target. Although sufficient combat-experienced pilots from the heavily-damaged Shokaku had survived and were at least technically available, because of a long-standing organizational policy, the Japanese were unable to restore the Zuikaku's group.

Instead, both air groups had to be restored to full combat capability only after receiving infusions of trainees, which required a long work-up period. The Yorktown's presence at Midway was decisive; the absence of Zuikaku was at least potentially just as decisive. Had two Japanese carriers - Zuikaku and Hiryu - survived the first devastating US Naval attack, their return strike may have done more than just knock out the Yorktown.

The books even get into fascinating controversies, such as the odd decision to put six .50 caliber machine guns into the Navy's new folding-wing F4Fs, even though they'd add a further weight penalty that would - along with the weight of the wing-fold mechanism -cripple the Wildcat's climb, range and overall combat capabilities. The early-war fixed-wing F4F-3 carried four .50 caliber machine guns - which US Navy fighter leaders felt was sufficient to knock down unarmored Japanese bombers and fighters. However, the fixed wing took up deck and hanger space and sharply limited the number of fighters a carrier could handle. With fighter squadrons growing from 18 to 27 to 36 aircraft, the need for folding wings was essential, even though the weight penalty imposed by the folding mechanism would inevitably degrade performance.

The initial decision to go with six .50 caliber guns in a folding-wing Wildcat was made by the British Fleet Air Arm, which did not routinely face fighter-to-fighter combat - minimizing the need for high-end performance - yet rightly felt it needed the heavier firepower inherent in six .50 calibers to swiftly knock down armored and well-armed German and Italian bombers. Oddly, instead of listening to their own fighter leaders, the US Navy's "Brass Hats" listened to the Brits, and decided - in the name of production efficiency - to standardize on the British design.

The result was the F4F-4 - a sluggish, slow-climbing short-range fighter which had six .50 caliber machine guns but fewer total rounds of ammo (and, therefore, a much shorter firing time) than the older F4F-3. This plane had a harder time climbing to a decisive altitude. It had difficulty conducting CAPs of more than a couple of hours or escorting bombers farther than 175 miles; and when it did find targets, this new Wildcat all-too-quickly ran out of ammunition. When front-line Naval Aviators complained about being asked to fight what was arguably the best carrier planes in the world with an increasingly second-string fighter plane, the Navy Brass in Washington told these front-line troops to fly their Wildcats with a 2/3rds fuel load and two unloaded guns - absurd advice to pilots who knew they needed every bullet and every gallon of gas every time they went head-to-head in combat with the best-trained naval aviators in the world, the Japanese.

These limiting factors for the new F4F clearly had an impact in the loss of the Yorktown at Midway, as well as the loss of so many torpedo planes at that same battle - and these F4F deficiencies may have also contributed to the loss of the Hornet at the Battle of Santa Cruz four months later. Nobody from the greenest Naval Aviation Ensign all the way up to Admiral Chester Nimitz had a good thing to say about the F4F-4 - but it was only after the end of the Guadalcanal campaign that the General Motors-built FM-1 reverted to a four-gun armament - too late to face down the Japanese.

Yet remarkably, the US Navy seldom fought the Japanese head-to-head without coming out on the winning end. Ultimately, the Wildcat scored a three-to-one winning margin over the Japanese - not because the Wildcat was a better fighter aircraft, though it did have some advantages, but because American Naval Aviators had better tactics, from the two-plane division to the Thatch Weave.

As noted, while it had dramatically shorter range, at least a marginally lower speed at most altitudes - and it was far less maneuverable than the Zero - the Wildcat that fought the Japanese from December 7, 1941 to February, 1943 did have some significant advantages over its adversary. The Grumman was solidly built - earning for its manufacturer the affectionate nickname "Grumman Iron Works." The Grumman fighter was also well-armored (at least where it counted), and - early in the war - it began to receive functional self-sealing fuel tanks that would absorb a 7.7 millimeter (.30 caliber) Japanese machine-gun bullet.

While it was slow to climb, the Wildcat could dive like a bat out of hell - given enough altitude, American Naval Aviators could always break off combat with Japanese Zeros - and given an initial altitude advantage (hard to come by, but not impossible to achieve), the Wildcat could initiate combat - attack Zeros and other Japanese aircraft - with no recourse by the Japanese. They couldn't escape a diving Wildcat; they could turn and fight, but couldn't run away.

Further, in a head-to-head attack, the Wildcat's rugged structure and .50 caliber armament (either four-gun or six-gun) easily outmatched their Japanese adversaries. The Japanese Zero's 20 mm cannons were low-velocity weapons useful only at short range; the longer-ranged Japanese 7.7 mm (.30 caliber) machine guns had too little hitting power to ensure a quick victory over the Wildcat. On the other hand, the standard American .50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns were fast-firing, long-ranged and hard-hitting enough to knock down any Japanese fighter - or bomber - they could hit.

All of these factors were covered in fascinating detail in The First Team, making them a feast of information, insight and factual data for the historian - and the history buff.

Beyond that, the two "First Team" volumes also offer a great deal to modelers. Each book is heavily illustrated with contemporary photos which show evolving markings on US Navy fighters. Not a few of these photos will also offer modelers display and deck-handling diorama ideas.

In addition, Appendix 3 of The First Team and Appendix 4 of The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign each features side-view profiles of F4F fighters in use during the time periods covered by the books. Together, these let modelers authoritatively paint-and-mark virtually any F4F that fought off one of the USN fleet carriers during the first year of the war - including carrier-based planes that temporarily served on Guadalcanal. With the recent spate of new F4F Wildcat releases in 1/32nd scale (including the soon-to-be-here Trumpeter Wildcat), this kind of reference will prove invaluable to modelers.

Bottom line: These two books are remarkable. For those interested in carrier-based fighter combat during the dark early days of World War II in the Pacific, these are "must-reads." The books have been released in Trade Paperback format by the US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland - it's also available from Amazon.com.

This book provides a wonderful look at the Campania region. I bought it before a trip to Italy, and hoped to use it as a guide of the region that I would be visiting. We stayed in Positano and visited a number of cities, including Vico Equense, Sorrento, Ravello, Caserta, Salerno, Minori, Vietri sul Mare, and several other small towns in the region. The only thing lacking in this book is detailed directions to find the stores. For example, we tried to visit a wine shop in Caserta that the book highly recommended. Armed with two maps with printed directions from Google Maps and Microsoft Live Local, we still had no luck finding it. It is very difficult to find a good map service of the area, and if this book would provide detailed directions to reaching these stores, a few maps, and maybe photos of the storefronts, it would be absolutely perfect!

I lived in Naples for 3 1/2 years and traveled all over the Campania region, but I didn't find this book until our last month and wish I had it from the start. It is very good and we tried several of the locations before we left . Show the book to the stores or restaurants that you visit , they have their own copies.I reccommend it to anyone planning on taking the trip or those who want to see what it is like.

Still waiting for delivery of the book that I paid for over a month ago. Contrary to popular opinion Cape Town is a first world city with a decent postal service. I want the book to accompany me to the Naples area shortly and will be extremely disappointed if I have to leave without it. If a client has opted for expedited shipping perhaps you should take it upon yourselves to check that this is possible otherwise you should remove the option from your website

Fantastic resource for planning gastronomic adventures in Campania. We are using this guide to help us plan for an upcoming trip to a less-traveled area in southern Campania. This amazing book provides great insight for food and wine lovers who want to know where to go, and what to eat and drink when you get there. There is simply no way I could have compiled this information on my own.

We have lived in the Naples area for the past year, but found more wonderful local sources for food and wine in one weekend using this well-researched guide than we found in the whole previous year! Much of life in Southern Italy is governed by word-of-mouth, and Carla Capalbo has done the hard work for anyone interested in the wonderful array of local food, wine, and olive oil available here. Brava!

This is a superb book that is well researched & examines the battles fought in Normandy in 1944 from a German stance. The author explains how the Allied invasion was seen as the last opportunity to turn the tide & how Rommel made great strides in his short time in 5-6 months to strengthen the defences. However, the author does not just cover off the strategic & key high command personalities but more importantaly he looks at the Normandy battles from the common fighting German soldier (Landser)& has drawn on many first hand accounts, letters, diaries etc. The book examines how the German soldiers fought on despite been overwhelmed by the Allied material superiority & air supremacy. The Allies command of the air was a key factor in the German defeat as all German movement by day was effectively paralysed & soul destroying to the troops. But as the author points out 'despite the Allied material supremacy, tank for tank, gun for gun, the Wehrmact was more than a match for its enemies'. Unfortunately for the Germans, their losses incurred in men & material could no longer be made good. This is the story of the German soldier & how he fought & endured those battles in the West in 1944 (especially around Caen & Falaise), been driven on by their comradeship for one another. Highly recommended reading.

Most people are fairly informed about the D-Day invasion at Normandy from the American, British and Canadian view. I knew little about the battle from the German side. Book was very informative and interesting. I also have just read Dunkerk and the Ambrose book.

This book is great, and really opens your eyes to the side of losing that war, and what nightmarish things they went through.

Finally a book from the German Soldat's view on D-Day. Or should I say the very few full blooded germans at D-Day. This is a great book with both History and a personal eye view's of ground zero D-day. It also had some new angles that no other German, army books I have read showed. I dont want to take away the surprise but it had some new quotes from Erwin Romell that I had not heard before about d-day to his wife. Also the view of Air superiourity by America and the fear it caused to the mightiest army of World war II is vivid. I give it a 5 star for its UNBIASED account of the german soldat and the average american's view of their enemy.

Santa put this in my stocking. Many adjectives and cliches come to mind: "page turner," "can't put it down," and even just "Wow."

Hargreaves masterfully narrates and is possessed to tell this story from the German view, only turning to an Allies' account of some key event when it is only absolutely necessary. He stitches personal stories, official records, and historical context of June 6, 1944 together for a whole and complete German account of the battle for France.

This detailed perspective of The Germans in Normandy is refreshing and a long overdue addition to the works of Paul Carell's Invasion! and Stephen Ambrose's D-Day works (D-Day, Band of Brothers, and others). If you enjoy WWII history, Hargreaves has written the next book you should read.

This is a very interesting story and well written. It makes you grateful for where you were fortunate enough to be born. The story of this family tells how it had to reinvent itself four times as it escaped communism and war. Highly recommended.

I would highly recomment Goodbye Stalin for anyone trying to get a better sense of Soviet repression in the Baltic nations and how innocent people were caught between the evils of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. While author Sigrid von Bremen Thomas was a Baltic German who fled Estonia with her family as a child, her experiences mirror those of many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. This is a must read for children and grandchildren of refugees who want to better understand their parents' experiences.

We have read many nail-biting escape memoirs about escaping from the cold-hearted Nazis; here is a page-turner that reads like a novel about a world shattered by the pillaging and rape brought to successive countries by the Soviet Army. The memories of a young, beautiful daughter who later comes to the United States and marries Newsweek editor Rich Thomas are indelibly set down as a tribute to her father and, unwittingly, to herself. They are both people of rare courage and intelligence. This is a must read.

Goodbye Stalin chronicles the von Bremen family's travel from "feudal glory under the czars through revolution in 1817, then democracy in Estonia, Nazism in Poland during World War II, communism in East Germany, and finally freedom in West German and the United States." In traveling this tumultuous road the family lived through repeated losses of its holdings, possessions and stature.

It is a remarkable story, one not experienced by many and chronicled by fewer. It is told in a straightforward, highly readable chronology of escapes and recoveries that are truly fascinating and are told in an understated, compelling voice that makes the book very much of a page turner.

The most memorable story that emerges from a reading of the book is a fascinating impression of the author's father. He seems to have had an infinite capacity for adaptability, having moved the family through real peril again and again to reestablish it as a productive and relatively peaceful unit in some other place. As a trained agronomist his ability to identify agricultural opportunities and to take advantage of them might be expected, but his ability to keep his family intact in the face of war and an inflexible and demanding mother were extraordinary.

Perhaps there really are genes for adaptability. Perhaps noblesse oblige actually worked on von Bremen pere, for he exhibited resilience and resourcefulness to an extraordinary degree. Sigrid von Bremen Thomas, his daughter and the author, seems to have inherited or acquired the same traits, for she has shown extraordinary personal strength and flexibility in her life. One of the books several virtues is that it resists drawing conclusions about these traits, leaving the reader to consider their source and relative importance.

Goodbye Stalin is fascinating reading that engenders a great deal of introspection. It also leaves the reader with tremendous respect for its protagonists.

Critically important book about life as experienced on the ground in Stalin's Eastern Europe before, during and after the Second World War. Few accounts are as gripping and life affirming. Well read. Would be great to read outloud to one's children for them to understand just how good most Americans have it today and how so many others have had to fight and survive for what we take for granted.