History Books

After reading the reviews I knew this book would be great... It greatly surpassed my expectations. If you are a Star Wars fan, you should order it right now!

I bought this book for my husband. He really loves it. Its like a scrapbook collection of 30 years of Star Wars. Very neat! I was disappointed because the shipping caused the book to be dented in the corners. I know its a heavy item, but Amazon should make sure to accomodate.

My husband LOVES all things 'Star Wars' and I don't think there's a single day in his life that goes by without him making at least one daily Star Wars reference. This collection has so much to offer. So many little gems that will surprise even the biggest Star Wars fan. It's so masterfully crafted and quite a show piece! It's like a modern heirloom, and sure to provide hours upon hours of enjoyment.

STAR WARS VAULT BY STEPHEN J. SANSWEET AND PETER VILMUR: Celebrating it's thirtieth anniversary this year, the Star Wars franchise is in a similar predicament to the time after the release of Return of the Jedi: no plans for future movies, apart from a continuing animated series of the Clone Wars. By the same token, fans are in the same state with little to nothing to look forward to. Thankfully, to commemorate the third decade of the blockbuster, internationally bestselling movie series, there's the Star Wars Vault: "thirty years of treasures from the Lucasfilm archives with removable memorabilia and two audio CDs.

This is not just a nicely decorated picture book in a sturdy slipcase; it's an experience, a journey that one is immediately taken one when they open up the cover. Star Wars Vault is part of the new style of picture being published, like that of 1776: The Illustrated Edition, where the book goes beyond glossy, colorful pictures and photos, but incorporates all types of media, and with the rich heritage of the Star Wars franchise which literally revolutionized the world with merchandising, Star Wars Vault is a gift that would make any fan of the series, no matter how old or how much of a fan, respect you greatly in your choice of gift.

Sansweet keeps his story short, taking up little room on the page, and leaving the evidence reproduced here in various forms to speak for itself. He begins with the fascinating tale of how the first movie, Star Wars Episode IV, barely made it to release, and with little support, until the enormous numbers of audience members proved that the studio executives were very wrong. While Sansweet spends less time on the development and release of the rest of the movies, the experience as one turns the pages and relives the history of the Star Wars empire is unlike that of any other. With unique photos, movie posters, and a plethora of pictures from around the world, there are innumerable insets and handouts of unique items like patches, stickers, collectible postcards, film cells, and even two audio CDs with a variety of different pieces ranging from the mid-eighties radio ads, to special interviews, to a recording of the song sung by Carrie Fisher for the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

While the price for Star Wars Vault is considerable, no one will regret it when they turn the page and discover the world within. It is a book that will immediately be quickly read, the stickers and patches possibly used, and added to the shelf to be rediscovered over and over.

[...]

My 8-year-old, who is a huge Star Wars fan, loves this book. Unfortunately, because it's so cheaply made, it fell apart shortly after he got it. The pages have completely separated from the hard cover, probably because the materials/methods used in the binding are too flimsy. For a more-than-$50 "collector's edition," the publisher should have made the book to last more than two weeks. It will cost me $85 to have it repaired.

I recently inherited my uncle's book collection and going through the boxes, I found this stack of 5 books and once I realized what it was I couldn't control my excitement!! I've made no attempt to read straight through but each night I pick up a volume and read about he all the Doctor says concerning the Trinity, the Eucharist, the Immaculate Conception (though he is not entirely accurate on that point), Passions, Virtues, and more!! This is truly one of the greatest additions to my library.

The clarity and insight of the Summa is unrivaled in philosophical theology. St. Thomas is dedicated to finding the truth and attaining happiness. He pursues the truth with formal logic and applies Aristotle, Scriptures, Church Fathers et alia to reach solid conclusions which make perfect sense. Like Euclid, Aquinas requires some postulates, i.e. the existence of God and God's revelation of Himself. Positing these, he builds a solid invulnerable theology which must convince any intelligent reader.

This is the definitive work of Catholic theology and is still studied in all the divinity schools. I had the two-volume set included in the Great Books of the Western World. It isn't the sort of work one goes to for a little light reading, obviously, but as an exercise in applied classical logic as well as theology, it is one of the most important ever written.

Thomas is important to both mystical and non-mystical traditions within Christianity, and for me the most interesting aspects of the work are where he attempts to deduce the various aspects and attributes of God. This was a popular exercise in the area of natural philosophy, and even mathematicians with a religious bent, such as Newton and Leibnitz, had a go at it, Newton referring to God in his Principia (his mathematical theory of universal gravitation) as "...an infinite and elastic spirit." And of course Leibnitz is famous for the ontological argument for God's existence.

In addition, Thomas was also concerned with everyday life and ethics and morality, with a person's natural and supernatural life, countering heretical thinking, and the nature of beauty. He influenced early Renaissance artists such as Fra Angelica, who followed Thomas's three canons of beauty: immaterial purity of form, luminous clarity of color, and harmonious beauty of proportions, and Angelica's paintings are really meditations upon these three principles, in some ways not so different from the way Perugino's paintings (Leonardo's teacher) were sometimes meditations on spatial geometry.

Finally, you may know the story that when Thomas was in school, he was very quiet in class and so his fellow students thought him dull. But at the conclusion of one class when the teacher gave the final exam, he was the only one with the right answer. Sort of reminds me of those stories about Einstein. :-) All of which just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by its cover--nor the Summa Theologica, too, I might add.

I purchased this Five-volume set after taking a couple of philosophy courses, which I feel like I should recommend to anyone starting to dive into this hefty text. If you don't feel like taking a class, perhaps some of the secondary texts written by philosophers about Aquinas will help in reading this fantastic set of info.
Aquinas forms his arguments in a way that is almost flawless. I am not Catholic, yet I find this to be an explanation of Catholic doctrine that makes me almost want to convert. For anyone from the atheist to the devout catholic, this text is a window into one of the greateast natural and revealed theologians to ever document his thoughts. Footnotes are aplenty to send you on your way to other documents, especially Augistine, so be prepared for an obsession.

Mike Yandell

Probably the best sys theo work ever. Oh, that more fellow Protestants would pour over this text!

I am new to making armor, but not so much to metalworking. This book gets you started on techniques (although a few could have a little more attention), and has terrific sections on measuring and padding. The illustrations and photos are a big bonus, and most are helpful to some extent. Overall a great example of a master passing on some of his knowledge to the apprentices of his craft.

I have yet to find a better book for armoring. Nearly every fundamental is covered.

Tools, stock, techinque, buying tips, and even history is covered.

The Maille section is somewhat lite but there are other books that are fully dedicated to that discipline.

It's worth every penny. You can't go wrong with this book.

This book is an awsome read, very interesting and the info on constructing armour is just incredable. Every aspect is covered even lining the armour to make it more comfortable, if you are intersted in medieval armour this book is second to none.

Good book. BUT compleatly failed to mention safety glasses. These are IMPORTANT. you need to get a good pair and wear them when you are working in your shop. unless you think you will look good with a eyepatch.

This is a book on how to build armor. Tools, techniques, materials, workspace needed, cost estimates are all part of it. I make leather armor for re-enactors, so much of what was taught here was not directly applicable. However, there are chapters on how to measure, pattern, and cut. These are useful even if the material used isn't metal but leather. There are even some basic instructions on leatherworking. Overall, a pretty straightforward work. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in armor construction, collecting, or re-enacting.

Popular scholarship at its best: engaging, entertaining, and very informative. Magee systematically illuminates some of the most elusive and misunderstood aspects of Wagner's life, work and influences, with graceful clarity. He summarizes and recapitulates just enough so as to ensure that each idea is remembered and understood in light of what proceeded. A broad scope of complex topics are made remarkably easy to digest. A tribute to Wagner both unapologetically celebratory and intellectually rigorous!

People who have learned how to write properly organized essays in school might find the kind of writing that Wagner did rather loose, to say the least. I'm far more interested in rock 'n' roll as an artform that appeals to the contemporaries of those who are moderately talented than in the fine art of Mozart, but favorite songs can be done well no matter where they came from. Not half bad is more likely to be my judgment on anything I would like to hear. I have enough CDs to remind myself of music in many forms, but the creative tension involved in trying to write a review of a book like THE TRISTAN CHORD also reminds me of many things that are not in this book.

THE TRISTAN CHORD ~ WAGNER AND PHILOSOPHY by Bryan Magee starts out strongly with the idea that Wagner's work is based on an understanding of life that exceeds anything within the confines of philosophy or knowledge as it is contained in universities. Clearly Nietzsche acquired so many of his ideas from Wagner because Wagner had realized that ancient Athens was the kind of society he wished to inhabit, and the festivals at which tragedies were performed were so different from the commercial nature of entertainment values in modern global intellectual property that the context has to be explained to modern readers as follows:

... Third, human participation was also maximized, in that the whole community was involved. Dramatic performances were accorded the highest possible importance, a significance that was tantamount to religious - nothing that the community did was seen as mattering more, unless it was fighting a war. This attitude could scarcely be further from that of a bourgeois society towards its commercialized art. When Athens put on a play the entire life of the society revolved around it: the day was a public holiday, all other activities came to a halt so that everyone could go to the play, no one talked of anything else, attendance was free, the actors were maintained by the State; what we would call commercial considerations were totally absent. As Wagner summed it up in his essay `Art and Revolution,' published in 1849: `With the Greeks the perfect work of art, the drama, was the sum and substance of all that could be expressed in the Greek nature; it was - in intimate connection with its history - the nation itself that stood facing itself in the work of art, becoming conscious of itself, and, in the space of a few hours, rapturously devouring, as it were, its own essence.' (pp. 86-87).

Few adults in American society were able to offer young people anything as compelling in the 1960s, when Walter Kaufmann was writing and translating, but rock 'n' roll was having more impact. The Beatles are not listed in the index of THE TRISTAN CHORD, but one of their songs, `All You Need Is Love,' is mentioned on page 60, long after comments about the early Wagner opera `Das Liebesverbot' (p. 24) being in response to the intellectual discontent of the Young Germans:

In the arts they saw the classic figures of their immediate past, people such as Goethe and Mozart, as pre-revolutionary, and therefore antediluvian, no longer speaking to the condition of the young. ... They glorified love as it really was, the sexual intoxication of the young, and they saw it as socially subversive. To express it they wanted an art that was freely and frankly erotic. In opera this caused them to look away from Weber to the unabashed sensationalism of the French, and also, much more seriously, to the sensual, hedonistic lyricism of the Italians. Perhaps most important of all to the Young Germans as individuals, they wanted to live out these principles in their own lives, loving and expressing themselves as liberated beings, innovating boldly in politics and the arts, deriding authority, and free for ever from the stultifying conservatism and conventionality of their elders. (pp. 24-25).

The philosophy of Feuerbach is considered a major source for the setting of Wagner's `Ring' cycle of operas. I tend to associate this kind of catastrophe with the Vietnam syndrome of my generation, but THE TRISTAN CHORD links Feuerbachian philosophy of religion to picturing the gods as a gang of crooks. Just imagine, "Isaiah Berlin used to exclaim complainingly, `But they're just a lot of gangsters!'" (p. 54).

The interesting theme for me is the idea that Wagner did a lot of writing to generate the creative tension which he would like to turn into a form of art critical of his own society by composing music that would maintain a stream of consciousness worthy of the kind of life currently possible or imagined as a future ideal. "Because Wagner believed that we live in `a whole world of injustice' which was about to be swept away and replaced by `a righteous world' there is a sense in which he was living for the future." (p. 59). "Because the drama of ancient Greece is the art he is bent on re-establishing, and the opera of his contemporaries is the obstacle he is determined to sweep away, he is liable in a discussion of almost anything to dive off into the question of how whatever it is he is talking about relates to either or both of those things." (p. 91).

... The musical motives need not simply be repeated, they possessed infinite possibilities of musical transformation - the light hearted could be made tragic, the triumphant hollow, the confident full of foreboding, the loving grief-stricken. The potential for musical metamorphosis was protean, and also endlessly subtle. (p. 91).

Rock 'n' roll has filled many pockets with big bucks, but it is also carrying remnants of more than philosophy could say. The vocabulary was entirely different, but the simplicity of a chorus that kept repeating after verses that can go from bad to worse in so many ways, certain songs could be described as blues. Just one example is a song, `(Down to) SEEDS & STEMS (Again)' recorded in Austin, Texas, November, 1973, written Billy Farlow and George Frayne, who do vocals and piano for a group called Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, which was included on a collection of their songs `Too Much Fun' released on CD in 1990. A looser version on `Marijuana's Greatest Hits Revisited' has someone singing, "I have a few decent memories of what I was going to say. I'm down to seeds and stems again, hurray!" At times, it is nice to discover that the fun is going to stop and life can go back to being about something else. But for us, what else could there possibly be?

This is THE book on Wagner that I hoped would one day be written and which I knew could be written. The author has no use for post-Holocaust axe-grinding or ideological regard, and neither does he indulge in any of the by now ubiquitous but ultimately superficial KULTURGESCHICHTLICH approaches in which Wagner is one more symbol-player to be pigeon-holed and arranged (much like the props in Hans-Juergen Syberberg's "Parsifal" film), nor does he dish up Wagner with a sideorder of Marxist criticism. Instead you get Wagner as a living, breathing, thinking, AND creating human being, a real man (no mere puppet of impersonal cultural forces here!) who encountered ideas and reacted to them in the completely unique way that his personality demanded.

In a way one can only appreciate this book if he has already spent time ploughing through even a fraction of the tendentious trash in print that attempts to deal with this man (e.g. Gutman, Millington, even M. Owen Lee at times). If you have done that, then you will really be in a position to enjoy what Bryan Magee has done, how he has done it, and what a tremendous debt we owe to him for presenting to us Wagner the man in all of his outrageous but fascinating complexity. This is a book for people who are interested in learning more closely what kind of man Wagner actually was (that, for example, he was a 'commanding' personality and what that might mean in real terms, and that, in itself, should not be held against him) and who are equally interested in distinctions being made along the way that really do amount to something and are not just so much critical hot air.

For example, people need to know about Wagner's anti-Semitism, but that fact alone must be seen in relation to the greater fact that he despised so many other groups and that he did so in accordance with his own artistic/intellectual principles. And besides, whence this smarmy assumption that any artist or intellectual must already be some fully formed politically correct forerunner of our own pseudo-enlightened age? It is a woefully dishonest attitude to adopt since it serves to divert us in the end from the demons lurking in our contemporary secular righteousness as it is manufactured and propagated by the literary Left.

After you read this book--and if you have not already done it--read Michael Tanner's "Wagner" and enjoy hearing from someone who actually knows what he is talking about and who has bothered to spend some time thinking about it instead of listening to the clowns who parrot the easy cultural prejudices culled from "The New York Times Review of Books".

Bryan Magee writes with enthusiasm and clarity. He's particularly good at explaining philosophy in layman's terms. According to Magee, Wagner was the most erudite of all the great composers, and his philosophical beliefs profoundly effected his compositions. His intellectual life can be broken into two main periods: the early, one of political radicalism and activism, and the late, one of resignation and mysticism.

As a young man Wagner believed that a revolution - a total annihilation of the existing order - must take place in order for people to start anew to build a free and equal society. This was the intellectual zeitgeist throughout Europe in reaction to the sweeping changes brought about by capitalist industrialization in the early 19th Century. It was, in part, a romantic longing for a simpler past.

In Wagner's first period two figures were his main influences, Mikhail Bakunin, the anarchist, and Ludwig Feuerbach, who taught that mankind created the Gods, or God, in its own image. This was not to dismiss religion but to appraise it seriously as something illuminating about human beings.

After numerous inconsequential attempts at revolution took place throughout Germany in the mid-1800's Wagner became disenchanted with politics. He immersed himself in the philosophy of his contemporary, Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer wrote a great deal about music and it occupied a large part of his philosophical outlook. Both he and Wagner shared an interest in Buddhist thought.

Schopenhauer maintained that human beings are the embodiment of a metaphysical "will", so that willing, wanting, longing, craving and yearning are not just things we do, they are what we are. And he believed that music was a manifestation of this metaphysical "will." Thus, music directly corresponds to what we ourselves are in our innermost being. Wagner's "late" period dates from his extensive study of Schopenhauer.

Schopenhauer wrote that music proceeds by creating certain wants which it then spins out before satisfying. Even the simplest melody makes us want to close eventually on the "tonic" and provokes dissatisfaction if it ends on any other note than that.

Schopenhauer gave special attention to a technical device in harmony known as "suspension," and this instantly appealed to Wagner's musical sensibility. The suspension in music is the penultimate chord, when what we had just heard was what we thought was the penultimate chord. This causes a sense of discord in the listener. Schopenhauer said "this is clearly an analogue of the satisfaction of the will which is enhanced through delay."

This inspired in Wagner the idea of composing an entire piece of music moving from discord to discord in such a manner that the listener was always in a state of tension waiting for a resolution that did not come. This would be the musical equivalent of the dissatisfied longing , craving, yearning that our being is. There could only be one resolution to it, the final chord that was the end of the musical score (and in an opera, the end of the protagonist's life). This would be a musical expression of the essence of humanity in the universe.

The first chord of Tristan is the most famous chord in the history of music: F, B, D sharp and G sharp or any chord of the same intervals. It contains not one, but two dissonances. It then moves to resolve one of the dissonances but not the other, thus providing resolution, yet not resolution. Thus as the music proceeds, in every chord shift something is resolved but not everything. This "partial satisfaction" yet continued "frustration" carries on through the entire work. The only point where all discord is resolved is in the final chord, which is the musical analogue of freedom from striving, freedom from the tension that is existence. It is like a mystical state of nirvana.

What made this double-dissonance chord so famous was that it, in effect, closed the door on the age of classicism. And it opened the door to impressionism, atonalism, and modern classical music in general.

It was under the influence of the Schopenhauer-Buddhist belief system that Wagner's late works, Tristan, The Mastersingers, and Parsifal were written. Actually, since most of his operas were written piecemeal with many interruptions (sometimes years in length), there are traces of the early and late philosophical influences in almost every opera. Tristan is the only opera that Wagner wrote uninterrupted from start to finish.

There are many more aspects of Wagner's life and work contained in this book. New insights are provided into the Nietzsche-Wagner relationship and the vexed anti-semitism of Wagner. It should be noted that although Magee believes the above conjunction of philosophy and music in Wagner, he is not dogmatic. He says late in the book that "one does not have to be familiar with Schopenhauer's ideas, let alone accept them" to appreciate the greatness of Wagner's music.

This book has added a new dimension to my understanding and appreciation of Wagner. I heartily recommend it.

I'm a careful fellow yet I make quite a claim in the title of this review; and I confidently stand by it. Wagner has stimulated an enormous bibliography, but most of it is biography and/or polemics regarding the man himself or else "way out" (e.g. Jungian) interpretations of his art. Surprisingly little criticism of real seriousness pertains to the actual music. Bryan McGee's book magnificently fills that gap.

It is not a musical analysis per se, but a study of Wagner's changing philosophical values and how they influenced his music...and there is no composer in history who was a more acute intellectual than Wagner and more influenced in his art by ideas. You cannot fully understand his art without this book...it is that seminal. And it does not pertain only to "Tristan und Isolde," despite the title. It covers the entire sweep of Wagner's output.

Mr. McGee brings to his text the virtues which previously made him an outstanding author in "popularizing" philosophy: clarity, honesty, common sense, and even-handed weighing of the evidence. I hesitate to say he "popularized" philosophy. That could suggest a "dumbing down." And that is definitely not this book. It is crystal clear for a layman yet it is a scholar's dream in substance...a rare combination.

The book is an absolute must for anyone who has ever been moved by Richard Wagner's music...and perhaps even for those who have wondered why the rest of us are so moved by it. I cannot recommend it enough. There are only two other texts in the last century which compare, in my opinion: 1) Ernest Neumann's multi-volumn biography of Wagner; and 2) Deryk Cooke's "I Saw the World End," (first published 1979), which is the definitive (if incomplete) analysis of Wagner's "Ring."

If you love Wagner's music, or want to investigate it, this book is both a delight and a "must."

Dr. Bennett shares American history like no one else. He presents the good, the bad and the ugly of this wonderful tale of building the worlds first free democratic society. He makes you proud to be an American while recognizing that it comes at a very high cost. It is a wonderful review of how our culture developed and from whom it was developed. Soon these brilliantly written books will become High School History Books and that is a very welcoming idea!

A very concise outline of American History - much of which too many seem to have forgotten or never learned. She has made mistakes but has always tried to do right and has succeeded far more than any other country ever.

Mr. Bennett has a gift for making history come alive. It is very interesting and enjoyable to read.

These 2 volumes manage to capture the drama and magic of "boring" history as few have. It has a very engaging and page-turning style that will promise to bring to life the American story for those who have become frustrated with all the names and dates that is the usual fare in history classes. It will fascinate all who will read it with fascinating sidelights, accomplished writing, and appreciated anecdotes. If one has been away from history for a spell, and feels that it would be drudgery getting back into it, you will treat yourself by engaging in these volumes. Bennett has given careful attention to historical accuracy and a short glance at the collected footnotes (Vol. 1 35 pages; Vol. 2 41 pages) will demonstrate that he has followed broad research. And I might add that it brings a refreshing antidote to many textbooks available in schools in this day. Every reader should thrill about this factual, readable, interesting, and emotive tribute to America as "The Last Best Hope."

I read these books and decided to donate this set to each of the four high schools in our area from our Federated Republican Women's Club Literacy Program. This is a set I suggest you buy for your family library. Written by William Bennett, former Secretary of Education and author of The Book of Virtues, it is our country's history in a brief and non boring form. It is a great starting point for anyone wanting to familiarize himself with events from our country's past. It's readable history written by a patriot.

Which means yes. I learned many fascinating things reading this book It is an exciting read and an incredible journey, both physically and mentally which makes the book one you want to read fast, but not so fast that you don't take time for quiet contemplation of all Waterman has to offer in his honest, fresh account of the north. Having been a student of bears for a long time I was engaged by the language of the people who must have lived there before outside influences gave them motors, steel and pollution. The communication interspersed with body language was a key for me to want to do much more research into this culture. There are many things to be gained from this book, the nuts and bolts of kayaking, the intense weather, the camping and logistics of this kind of wilderness, the mental tools to handle isolation, and of course, the means of interacting with the cultures, food and cold. This author is not only and adventurer but he can write!! I found myself stopping to fully enjoy the scenes of the arctic and the sights and smells of the camps.

Jonathan Waterman travels over 2,200 miles across the roof of the World. He tells us about the people, places, and history of the land he moves over. Sometimes moving by boat and sometimes moving by dog sled he absorbs the culture, good or bad, of the Inuit life. Alone for weeks at a time he has to deal with the cold, the bears and the weather. Along with fear and loneliness. Sometimes sad, something wonderful, always truthful, this is the book for people who love history mixed with travel and adventure.

Who was it who said, "less is more"? That's one truth that stands out in Jonathan Waterman's "Artic Crossing" - a epical solo trip of the Northwest Passage done without fanfare, without oodles of sponsorship dough. I liked the author's cool, understated writing style, the wry observations about his sufferings and about the Inuits. No hyperbole, none of self-inflation that is so common in adventure writing, this book is truly believable. A wonderful read.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author keeps you engrossed in his story through thick and thin. He admits his faults and mistakes and you learn along with him. I doubt anyone will not like this book.

Jon Waterman is a writer who belongs between the hardcovers. His explorations and introspection make for compelling reading.

My grandfather served with the Devils Brigade, and since knowing that I wanted to learn more about this extraordinary elite unit of WWII. What I found was perhaps one of the best oral recount's of one of the finest units to ever exist. Having grown up in East Helena (3 miles east of Helena, Montana) and working at one point out at Ft. William Henry Harrison, this book gave me a new found respect for my grandfather and the great men who served in the First Special Service Force. Having finished the book I passed it on to my grandfather and he couldn't let it go. Driving by Memorial Park in Helena and watching the American and Canadian Flags both flying next to the First Special Service Force memorial, day and night, 365 days a year, I can't help but utter a simple, "thank you" everytime I go past it to those that are still living and those that perished for the freedom they helped provide for both countries.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a greater depth of knowledge of this elite unit, or for the military buffs who wish to learn about or learn more of this outstanding unit!

My grandpa happened to pass away about 6 years ago, and he happened to be a part of the Black Devil Brigade. His accounts are in this book, his name is Fred Hubbard, and throughout the book he moves from a 2nd LT to a Captain. The funny thing is, I married a man who just commissioned into the army as a 2nd LT. and will soon be deploying. It is amazing to hear the story of what my grandfather when through captured in a book. The things these men endured for our freedom will always amaze me. I will always wish that I spent more time picking my grandpas brain while he was alive, but I am thankful to have this book to remember these things. This book really captures the essence of what these men went through, and what began what is the special forces today.

Hats off to Joe Springer....! He did the men of 5-2 and the FSSF an honor. My father was a Lieutenant in 5-2 FSSF and one of the main characters of the book, and Joe's Uncle was one of my father's NCO's who was KIA on Anzio. The personal accounts in the book may sound far fetched and exaggerated. However, this is far from the truth. The exploits of the men of the FSSF are a matter of record. Every man who served in the FSSF is a very unique individual. I got to know many of these gentlemen over the years by attending the annual FSSF reunions. And yes, what an honor and a privilege to just meet and speak with them about WWII and life in general. Every man in the FSSF willingly, and knowingly volunteered to join a unit where the odds of being accepted in the unit is less than 20%, and your chances for survival were even less. Thank You Joe for getting my father to open up regarding his experiences during WWII for your book. It also meant so much to him to honor the men in his command who were taken, that were not only soldiers/warriors, but true friends forever.

TAKE ABOUT FIFTY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN WORLD WAR TWO COMBAT VETERANS THAT WILLINGLY VOLUNTEER FOR A WINTER SUICIDE MISSION BEHIND GERMAN LINES. THEY ALL HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF EXPLOSIVES, THEY ARE SKIERS, PARATROOPERS, AND ARE EXPERT SHOOTERS. THEY BECOME THE BEST TRAINED AND HIGHLY MOTIVATED AND FIERCEST SOLDIERS THAT THERE GENERATION AND NATIONS PRODUCED. SEND THEM TO CENTRAL ITALY, ANZIOBEACH, AND SOUTHERN FRANCE WHERE THEY SLAUGHTER FIFTEEN TO TWENTY THOUSAND GERMANS. MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS PASS BY AND THEN THESE SAME FIFTY COMMANDOS INVITE YOU INTO THERE HOMES AND TELL YOU ABOUT THE FUNNY, SAD, AND ASTOUNDING THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THEM IN COMBAT. THAT IS WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT.

Mr. Springer may have been initially motivated by the desire to honor his uncle (killed serving with the First Special Service Force) but his work honors all who served in that unit. One seldom sees an oral history which tells the story of a unit so well. All the contributions by unit members tell the story without the distractions often found in other compilations. Always engaging, you just don't want to put the book down. Not only does one learn about the unit and individuals who made up that unit but one also learns about the equipment used, how it was acquired, and the soldiers' opinions of its performance. An amazing amount of information presented in a way that also entertains and honors the men who served.

I received my copy of this book two days ago and finished it yesterday. For me, it was worth the price of admission. I have been blogging for about 7 months and have purchased two other books on blogging and subscribe to several blogs on blogging. While this book included most of what I have learned from the other books and the blogs, it does a good job of explaining "why." I am a person who needs to know why.

I purchased this book as a resource on blogging for churches and ministries and it does a good job at that also. For instance, I am in the process of starting a ministry blog. I thought that since it is my personal blog that people would understand that what I blog about is my own personal opinion. This book explains that is not necessarily so and some sort of disclaimer should be added to the blog.

Easy to read, easy to understand and not expensive. A Great book for a novice and helpful for an experienced blogger interested in blogging for ministry.

Well organized and full of information for both the newbie and also a more experienced blogger who wants to deepen their effectiveness (or experiment more). I work with synagogues, and found the approach of blogging for "ministry" can be useful and much more broadly defined than for churches alone. Very easy to read, full of practical examples.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with this book. I knew going into this book that I was in for a lot of great information and disciplines in creating and maintaining a blog. I did not expect how creatively it was written. I think we have certain expectations for "how-to" books and this one surpassed my expectations.

If you have started a blog or are just thinking about it, grab this book. There is a lot of focus on churches creating and using blogs, but not to the extent that it leaves the individual out. The writers took time to teach us a little history as well as give us clear detailed info on the how, why and where of the blog world. Chapter 9 & 10 focus on starting a blog and then building a blog well. I love chapter 11 titled "Build A Really Bad Blog". It's kind of the how-to in reverse.

One of the coolest things in the book was hearing from bloggers around the country about their take on blogging and how it has affected their lives or the lives of the businesses/churches they are involved with. I enjoyed hearing the real world ideas.

This book really starts from the beginning by asking 3 questions...
-Is it a tool or a toy?
-What problem are you trying to solve?
-What is the return on ministry?

The writers go on to explain that "Blogs are tools, not toys. Blogs help solve real problems. Blogs deliver a true return on ministry."

I also appreciate the hopeful message from start to finish. As churches and Christ-followers, we have an amazing opportunity to share our story with others. The blog world is open and ready for the taking. This book consistently draws you back to intent. The writers want you to be excited about who God is in your life and they want that to burst out on your blog.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone thinking of or already in the blogging world. It's very easy to read. It is not extremely technical. And when it does get technical, they have done a great job of explaining themselves so no one gets left behind. It has real life stories and history. It is a quick read.

I learned a lot that I didn't know about blogging from this book. It would have saved me a lot of problems if I had had something like this when I started blogging a year ago.

If you are looking for some help in defining and establishing a blog for yourself or your ministry you will find this book helpful. It gives some great insight in to establishing a good blog for the right reasons.

I listened to the abridged audio version on CD and thoroughly enjoyed it. Read by the author, it is in interesting study that contains a number of riveting stories.

I have two minor complaints about this audio version. One is that the author's voice sometimes drops into a range that can be inaudible if you are listening in a vehicle with traffic noise around you. The other is that maps are not included in the CD set. Fortunately my public library had a copy of the book so that I was able to examine the maps and various illustrations. The maps were of interest to me since a couple of my great-great-grandfathers supposedly sheltered escaped slaves, one near the Ohio River and another in Philadelphia.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and inspiring book that raises questions about civil disobedience that we must ponder in order to understand the complexity of our history. I wholeheartedly recommend the audio version to those who like audiobooks. It is as exciting as an adventure novel, and you can supplement it with a hardcopy if you want.

BOUND FOR CANAAN should be required reading for every American! Every American! This is one of the most important books about our history and who we are and where we came from.

Bound for Canaan is a fascinating, engaging, book on the "Underground RR" written from primary sources. It describes in vivid, first hand detail the flight of slaves from the south and the changing attitudes of the northern and southern states on the slave issue from the 1820's to the eve of the civil war. Wonderful book.

Harriet Tubman was a great lady, and she did not simply help the slaves to freedom -- she helped move America to a better place. Growing up, whenever I heard or read of the Underground Railroad, Ms. Tubman's name came up again and again. This book expands the vision of the Undergound Railroad and shows it as a part of something much bigger in our history.

First, the book does discuss the railroad and how it works. The reader gets an idea of the perils involved and the logistics behind helping a slave to freedom. This was no easy task, and this books shows the reader not just how brave the conductors were, but how brave the "passengers" were.

Second, the book discusses the fortitude and determination of the different people who tried to make America better by fighting the injustices of slavery. We learn of the battles of the press as well as the battle of the gun. This was a dark time in our history, and the author does a good job in illuminating us to the various people that tried to illuminate their time.

Lastly, the book explains what else happened. In school, we learned that the Underground Railroad helped slaves to freedom. That was about it. There is more to the story, and the author explains this to us. We also see that just getting to the North didn't make things better. There were still things that needed to happen to help the slaves create their new life.

In all, I would highly recommend reading this book. It brings a much more enlightened perspective to this part of American history.

I really enjoyed this book, which fleshes out for the first time, based on significant new research, the numerous heroes and participants who risked their lives for freedom from slavery. A few insights in the book were new to me:

1. I had no idea how crippling and discriminatory the laws were against blacks who lived in "free states." Most of the time they could not vote, own property, needed affidavits in order to move or get a job, were subject to kidnapping by freelance slave catchers -- it was pretty horrible.

2. I did not realize the critical role that radical, truth-to-power religion, in particular but not exclusively the Quakers, played in ending the evil practice of slavery. These folks risked financial ruin, stonings, beatings, and criminal charges to put in practice their moral view -- based on their faith -- that slavery in all forms must end. They deserve our thanks and praise, and we should remember them as we are faced with current moral conflicts that call out for action based on our beliefs.

3. I found especially interesting the debates in Congress in the 1850s in support of the federal Fugitive Slave Act, and the justifications used by supporters of slavery to denigrate the abolitionists. Indeed, Mr. Bordewich makes the point that even in "free" states, a measure of your worth as a politician was how "tough" you were on abolitionists, in the same sense that today politicians are expected to be "tough" on communism.

But what was interesting to me was that slave supporters like Daniel Webster justified the practice based on the Bible (cherry picking quotes that supposedly support the practice); science (blacks were intellectually inferior and like animals who require our feeding and care); inalienable property rights (the slaves were chattel and were necessary in order for owners to make productive use of their land); and also anti-Europe prejudice (the abolitionists are getting all of their crazy ideas from Europe). These concepts are still being used today to justify social policies that may in the distant future seem equally morally bankrupt.

I did think, however, the book could have used a little editing. I found it a bit difficult to keep up with so many historical figures, and perhaps some of their activities could have been trimmed in the interests of narrative flow.

But in all, a highly readable book and a substantial step forward in terms of historical scholarship.

A staggering book on the heroism of people who stood up for the rights of basic human dignity. This book should be required reading in every school in America.

This takes you through the civil rights movement. It is very interesting and proves to be an inspiring historical journey. This is a great audio book. The reader was exceptional.

The Children is David Halberstam's look at the college students who helped make the Civil Rights movement a success. The book is fascinating; Halberstam sweeps you along as events unfold. It is difficult to believe that things were so different just a few years ago. Even at 700+ pages, The Children is difficult to put down.

To me, the best part of The Children is its characters. Halberstam has a gift for making his characters come alive; you feel that you know these young people, warts and all. One of the most fascinating aspects of these biographies is what happened to the characters as the Civil Rights movement ended; some of them were quite successful, others could never find anything as fulfilling. (It is interesting to read Halberstam's take on James Bevel, given that Bevel has been convicted of incest since The Children's publication).

The dust jacket of The Children notes that it is Halberstam's "most personal" book. I think that this works for and against the book. Certainly, Halberstam has a great grasp on "what happened when" and he took the time to get to know each of the Civil Rights workers on a deep level. In other ways, Halberstam's passions work against him. Too often, Halberstam falls for the easy out of caricaturing people he does not like; he cavalierly characterizes Ralph David Abernathy, rival journalists, politicians, college professors, religious leaders, and numerous others as nothing more than one-dimensional simpletons.

Halberstam's opinionated prose reminded me of a review I once read; it stated that Halberstam's gift for narrative can obscure the fact that his approach isn't always 100% solid as history. Given that Halberstam states his opinions as established facts, I think that's a fair synopsis of The Children as well.

On the whole, however, The Children is quite an accomplishment. It tells the story of how a few seemingly-ordinary people helped create a more just society - and Halberstam tells that story in a way that entertains and fascinates the reader.

David Halberstam has written so many great works, but THE CHILDREN may be his greatest achievement. From the outset, this book takes readers on a journey through the civil rights movement through the eyes of both the courageous young people who had decided that our society had to change and the adults who helped them to bring this needed change to America. The book captures readers from the beginning as Halberstam gives a very intimate look at the fear Diane Nash experienced as one of the leaders of Nashville's sit-in movement. The first chapter gives readers a window through which to see the conflicting forces that collided in the heart and mind of Ms. Nash as she contemplated the enormity of what she was doing: changing the south against the wishes of many who, if they had their way, would just as soon hang her as look at her.

The chapters of this work flow so well, and the reader is introduced to so many who made the civil rights movement what it was: Diane Nash, John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette, Jim Lawson, James Bevel, C.T. Vivian, etc. etc. etc. The book, a work of historical non-fiction reads almost like a novel. Readers are drawn in by the stories of these heroes, and their triumphs and tragedies take readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotion as they are thrust into this amazing struggle.

Halberstam tells a great story, but the story he tells in this book tops them all. I have read many, many books on the movement, and this is my favorite. I had the tremendous honor to meet John Lewis last summer, and as we talked about much of what he experienced during this period, he asked me "Have you read THE CHILDREN?" When I told them that I had, he commented about what a great book he thought it was and how Halberstam had perfectly captured, as much as possible, what that time was like for those of us who weren't there. John Lewis is a personal hero of mine, and I can think of no better praise for this book. On that note, I would also highly recommend Mr. Lewis' book WALKING WITH THE WIND for those who haven't read it and want another good civil rights title.

David Halberstam's publication "The Children" is an exciting overview of the Civil Rights Movement from an enamored journalist through the eyes of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. (SNCC) The author focuses on the major players such as Diane Nash, James Bevel, Jim Lewis, Curtis Murphy, Bernard Lafayette and James Lawson, with heavy emphasis on the Nashville Sit-In Movement and Freedom Rides. The strength of his work is that it reads much more like a fast paced novel than an academic analysis. He does however at the same time provide plenty of background material and socio-economic, political and cultural variables within his work. Halberstam also revisits these former SNCC workers after the "high" of the movement and even much later in life. It's quite obvious the work of a journalist within the pages.

This is a good overview of Civil Rights through the eyes of SNCC rather than a broader based examination of the movement. Halberstam's book is quite impressive, and what I admire is the length of information he was able to attain from the vast interviews he received, largely because he had already covered and had known many of the players as a journalist covering the Civil Rights Movement. If you are just starting out or have little knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement this book would be a good starting point. Journalists make great writers because they simply know how to tell a story. Well done!