Switzerland Books

This charming book is presented as a children's book, but is suitable for all ages. The large, beautiful illustrations and reproductions coupled with the whimsical text make this imaginative book a delight to look at and read. Small children will appreciate the bright colors of the artworks, and the parents will appreciate the inventive way the author introduces an artist to children - without pretension or difficulty. Any parent wishing to raise culturally educated children should buy this book today! (PS: I say this with experience, both my 3 year old and my 10 year old love this book, but for very different reasons -- and I even catch my husband flipping through it at times)

If you are in early education this book is great for children to see line and patterns. Paul Klee is know for his childlike artwork and it gives children ideas of what to look for in his paintings. The history of his life is also very interesting and that is on the last 2 pages.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a hefty seven hundred page epic. However, I found the book spellbinding and finished reading it in less than three weeks time. I would especially recommend DUNANT'S DREAM to those interested in human rights or history. Caroline Morehead is a gifted writer who balances objectivity with revealing glimpses at the men and women who have made the International Committee of the Red Cross the premier human rights and relief agency in the world. I came away from Morehead's book with a clearer understanding of the complex circumstances involving humanitarianism during times of conflict and turmoil. I am sorry that this very worthwhile book is now out of print. However, I am glad that is available in libraries and through "out of print" dealers.

I am named after my aunt, a Red Cross nurse who was an Army nurse in World War II. I am also a nurse (and also a Red Cross nursing volunteer, although I have never worked full time for the organization), and a former officer in the Navy Nurse Corps. My speciality is international health; my work has taken me to some of the poorest and least developed places in the world. I have seen first-hand the work of the Red Cross in war zones and after natural disasters. I currently work in a human rights organization. I recently visited the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva, along with its spectacular museum.

All this is to say that I bring more than an casual perspective to this book--and it dazzled me. Despite its incredible length, it felt too short. Ms. Moorehead writes lucidly, compassionately, and well. Her research is scholarly, her documentation is meticulous, her compassion and her critical abilities are always evident. She rightfully praises the individual courage of the Red Cross founders and leaders (not only Dunant, the Swiss banker, but the other significant figures in Red Cross history, including the American nurse, Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross and pioneered its role in natural disasters).

But the book is not just an encomium to the good deeds of idealists. Moorehead is frank in her appraisals of the weaknesses and foibles of both the people and the organization itself. She examines the evolving role of the Red Cross, which began as an adjunct to the gentlemanly wars of the 19th century, grew to a worldwide relief agency in the unimaginable horrors of the 20th century and, most recently, has had to become a competitor for the world's glory in humantarian activities.

Most importantly, she examines the historical record and the ethical dilemnas of an organization which was founded on the Swiss principles of neutrality and quiet diplomacy and was then faced with atrocities in its own back yard: she provides a very careful appraisal of the role of the Red Cross during the WWII Holocaust. It is clear that the Red Cross as an organization provided too little aid to the victims of Nazis, gave it too late and perhaps gave it for the wrong reasons--publicity rather than compassion. (A horrendous, but little known, fact is that the physician who was appointed head of the German Red Cross by Hitler was behind the savage medical experimentation done in the camps. He committed suicide before he could be tried as a war criminal).

Nonetheless, Moorehead is unstinting in her admiration for those individual Red Cross delegates whose independent actions were able to save thousands of Jews and others. There were Red Cross delegates who raced along lines of Jews being forcibly marched to their deportation and death, desperately throwing them food and attempting to rescue anyone they could by bribing, cajoling or fooling the guards.

Moorehead depicts the failures and the multitudinous successes of the Red Cross, and includes enough individual tales and humor to make her account extraordinarily readable. Despite its failings in some arenas, I remain an overall admirer of the Red Cross itself, and I am an unabashed admirer of this book. "Dunant's Dream" can be read for its comprehensive and engrossing history, but readers interested in the larger diplomatic and ethical issues of international aid will find it invaluable. Absolutely recommended.

Wherever I go I use Fodors guides. I just got back from Europe and Fodors found unique places, great restaurants and comfortable hotels all at reasonable (for Europe) prices. Follow the orange or black stars, you can't go wrong.

If you like doing your own walking tours of cities, this book has many detailed itineraries. Also good on logistics, like getting in to town from the airport.

This is what the U.S. ski team needs-- someone like Gretchen Fraser.

This is a book for any aspiring Olympian. It tells of the early days of skiing in thr United States up to the present time. If you love skiing, ski history, and the people who made the sport, this is a good read. It has won two awards and is the only book published on the life of Gretchen Fraser, America's first gold medalist in Olympic skiing. It's written by multi-award winning ski writer, Luanne Pfeifer of Sun Valley.

This is another "must read" for those truly interested in the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Banking and "Money" and how it all works or doesn't work is another one of my projects. This book is a good example of some of the negative aspects of banking. There are many more such examples. After reading this book I doubt if you will feel any compassion for the "injustice" of reparation payments to those "nasty" Jews.
Whatever these banks and the European communities are paying to Jewish descendents is merely a trifle - a drop in a big bucket of blood, human ashes, hate, cruelty, slaughter, and abuse.
But have no fear it was not just the Swiss - the Americans, the British the French and the Rockefellers should be hearing a big knock on their vault doors in the not too distant future. Of course, they may have already settled "out of court" - that would be the wise choice.

Lebor's analytical look at the long forgotten links between Switzerland's bankers and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the Third Reich's rise to power. Lebor carefully maps out the strategic ties between the two that allowed Germany to rearm after WWI, to launch war against Europe and the Soviet Union and to successfully plan and finance genocide. In a word, this book is a must for any student of history, and for all those interested in understanding how the seeds for the darkest period of the 20th century were planted and germinated.

Until very recently, I had associated "conservatism" solely with "neoconservatism", a line of thought espoused by the likes of National Review and The Weekly Standard. I generally preface "neoconservatism" with adjectives such as "pernicious", but the purpose of this review is not to bash neoconservatism, but rather to point out how the modern notion of "conservatism" differs from its historical precedent. Self-styled "conservatives", as well as lefties who can't see past the likes of Hannity and Goldberg, would benefit from reading John Hinde's "Jacob Burckhardt and the Crisis of Modernity".

Jacob Burckhardt is mostly known as an art historian (his The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance in Italy is considered a seminal work) although his historical expertise extended far beyond the realm of art (he also wrote books such as The Age of Constantine the Great and The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.) Less known are his political writings. The title of this book is a bit misleading: I was expecting something similar to Spengler's Decline of the West, but Burckhardt's critique of modernity is only a small part of this book.

Much of the book is dedicated to showing the unique historical circumstances that affected Burckhardt's thought: the rise of nationalism, industrialism, mass culture, historicism, and the deep-rooted iconoclasm present Burckhardt's home town of Basel, Switzerland. Three concepts are key to Burckhardt's thought: Bildung, Kultur, and Amtsethos. These loosely translate to "general cultivation" (the pursuit of inner knowledge and development of self in the spiritual sense), "culture", and "sense of ethic or duty". Of these three, Bildung is perhaps the most important: to Burckhardt, the pursuit of inner knowledge and self-mastery represented the highest and best of the human spirit.

While Burckhardt held civic duty in high esteem, he had little but disdain for modern forms of "patriotism": during the "Basel Unification Festival" in 1892, Burckhardt wrote that it was "senseless" and that he will be "completely satisfied only if the whole pathetic fraud passes without incident." (p. 131-132). Burckhardt thought such crass displays of "patriotism" were little more than "food for the masses": historian David Gross states that Burckhardt viewed such events as "the sort of culture - perhaps kitsch is a better word - [that] was manufactured for the majority.. designed merely to titillate, not to elevate. It was a pseudo-culture without soul and led to what Burckhardt called `universal falsification'." (p. 132).

Burckhardt articulates a common concern among intellectuals at this period in his distrust of both the degenerate aristocracy and Mass Man: Burckhardt held both Bismarck's demagoguery and democracy in equal disdain. Hinde writes that "[Burckhardt] worried about the rise of mass democracy, which, he believed, would lead to socialism and the despotism of the masses... to his way of thinking, the triumph of democracy in 1874 in Basel was just the first step towards the despotism of the masses, and possibly, the destruction of cultural life through the leveling effect of mass opinion and mass culture." (p. 129-130)

Despite his resentment of the "universal leveling" caused by mass culture and democracy, Burckhardt had no illusions about being able to return to a prior era, as change was inevitable. Rather, he stated that we should be suspicious of notions of "universal progress", and not confuse material progress with moral and spiritual progress. Hinde writes that "The meliorist vision of society offered by liberal philosophy was nothing less than self-deception or delusion... it was a sign of spiritual or intellectual bankruptcy, of the triumph of a crude, destructive materialism." (p. 116) In a particularly witty passage that even foreshadows some contemporary environmental concerns, Burckhardt wrote that "We resist illusions - first of all, the illusion that humanity had been eager and longing, in the highest degree, to get out of the Middle Ages... in a large view, the Middle Ages may have been a time of salutory delay. If it had exploited the earth's surface as we are doing, we would perhaps not be around at all. (Would that be a loss?)" (p. 116) The idea of the modern age as one of "moral progress" was "supremely ridiculous" to Burckhardt: neither spirit nor brain has "demonstrably developed in historical times". How far removed is this from the spirit of neoconservatism, which would have us impose our "morally superior" consumer society on the rest of the world through force?

Burckhardt's believed that modern scientific principles were insufficient for explaining history. History was more "poetry" than "science", and Burckhardt held those who viewed history as a mere collection of political dates and names with disdain; this was especially true in art history. "Art, with the exception of poetry, is the spirit which does not talk, but builds... it is the unspoken as such, that which consequently lives in forms and tones because it is not able to live in words." (p. 235). Art communicates through "mysterious vibrations which are communicated to the soul. What these vibrations release is no longer individual or temporal but immortal and of symbolic significance." (p. 235). In his historical work, Burckhardt always strove to uncover the "eternal" and not to fall sway to the prejudices of his time.

While his views on modernity were pessimistic, Burckhardt believed that "...a new existence, built on old and new foundations, will arise out of the storm... our destiny is to help rebuild after the crisis is past." (p. 200). While Burckhardt became disenchanted with Christianity at an early age, he nevertheless retained a highly spiritual outlook: despite the corruption inherent in the world, individuals of excellence can nevertheless strive for self-mastery (Bildung) by adhering to timeless spiritual principles. Hinde writes that Burckhardt sought to preserve a "'spiritual continuum', demystify the crisis of modernity, rehabilitate the past, and to secure future cultural renewal... he and his audience had to be active participants in the reconstruction of historical meaning." (p. 201).

In close, this book is highly recommended to all serious students of philosophy or political history.

This book is meant to be read slowly and inwardly digested. But it will stimulate the mind of anyone who is seriously interested in the fate of history and art in the modern world. Jacob Burckhardt, the great Swiss historian of the Renaissance, is one of nineteenth-century Europe's most perceptive and prophetic conservative cultural critics. Professor Hinde offers us the first scholarly book-length study in English of a key theme in Burckhardt's work.

For Burckhardt, history is a product of our creative imagination, poetry rather than science. Artistic intuition directs every step in our historical thinking, sorting out facts and interpreting those aspects of the past that appear significant to us.

The purpose of history, as of art in general, is to cultivate the human spirit and yield a universally valid wisdom. Burckhardt contends that state support for art threatens its integrity. For the state requires art to serve economic, social and political needs that often clash with those of the individual person. Burckhardt also anticipates and fears the growth of a mass, unsophisticated cultural market that would commercialize and commodify art.

Even those readers who find themselves in disagreement with Burckhardt will find his arguments to be original and thought-provoking. Hinde is a trustworthy, fair-minded guide.

After flailing through guidebooks and handbooks, maps and videos, trying to ensure that our first trip to Switzerland would be a memory to treasure and not a lampoon to forget, we had almost given up. This was an Alp too high to climb. Too many things to see, not enough time, and no simple, tested plan offered by any of the resources we tried. Then we found Karen Brown's Switzerland.

She, or one of her daughters, has been there.

They have eaten the food, slept on the bed, used the facilities.

These are not the stripped-to-the-bone least expensive places to stay. The book is intelligently laid out in the form of several itineraries, with one to suit any taste or budget. The accuracy of the descriptions, understated if anything, was appreciated. But the most valuable parts of the book were the smaller inns that were recommended. With only 11 days in country, we could never have found that little hotel on the shore of Lake Lucerne, our room overlooking a shaded outdoor restaurant; or the chalet in the middle of a pasture, surrounded by high peaks, a waterfall at our back, and a symphony of cowbells waking us. The denouement was Soglio, a place out of time, a village perched on the side of a mountain range. Our room view was across a chasm to yet another range of mountains.

If these are the types of places you want to be sure to see and stay at during your visit, Karen Brown's Switzerland will take all the guesswork out of your planning. It is worth at least 10 times the cost of the book, not only in time saved but also in nerves unfrazzled.

You'll think you are Heidi.

These books have been very helpful on our two trips to Europe. I have found every hotel review to be accurate. The authors also give great ideas for side trips and useful maps. You can plan your whole vacation using these books.

If you want to find charming smaller hotels in Europe this books is your best bet. If you prefer a larger American Style hotel or resort this is not the book for you.

Karen Brown is right on with her recommendations...besides her books being informative & correct, they are beautiful. The painting on the cover depicts the area around Regensberg where you will find the Rote-Rose...the most interesting, beautiful, comfortable place we have had the pleasure of staying. The best travel guide we have discovered when seeking serene, perfect accommodations anywhere.

These books have been very helpful on our two trips to Europe. I have found every hotel review to be accurate. The authors also give great ideas for side trips and useful maps. You can plan your whole vacation using these books.
If you want to find charming smaller hotels in Europe this books is your best bet. If you prefer a larger American Style hotel or resort this is not the book for you.

This book is lovely!!! Beautiful pictures, well done written sections.
For anyone who has visited the area, loves lakes,lives in area,childhood memories etc. Or is planning to visit the area. Lovely ,Very much recommended!!!

As someone who was raised in Lake Geneva, and one who went to school with the author, it was a delight to see these great pictures of a Lake Geneva that I have been away from for too long of a time. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

Architectural projects illustrated by excellent photos mostly in color; also plans, sections, elevations, hard line axonometric views, hand sketches of excellent quality, and short text descriptions; ISBN: 0312475837 & 0312475829 and ISBN: 0856708925 only.
CONTENTS:
7 Foreword
9 The Early Villas of Le Corbusier in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Geoffrey Baker
COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
8 Art School Drawings
26 Villa Fallet
30 Villa Stotzer
34 Villa Jaquemet
36 Villa Jeanneret-Perret
40 Villa Favre-Jacot
44 Villa Schwob
48 La Scala Cinema
PROJECTS
50 Villa Fallet
58 Villa Stotzer
66 Villa Jaquemet
74 Villa Jeanneret-Perret
82 Villa Favre-Jacot
92 Villa Schwob
102 La Scala Cinema
110 From Feeling to Reason: Jeanneret and Regionalism by Jacques Gubler
120 In Time with the Swiss Watchmakers by Jacques Gubler
128 List of Early Projects in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Lode
130 Selected Bibliography
131 Résumés in French, German, Spanish and Italian

Architectural projects illustrated by excellent photos mostly in color; also plans, sections, elevations, hard line axonometric views, hand sketches of excellent quality, and short text descriptions; ISBN: 0312475837 & 0312475829 and ISBN: 0856708925 only.
CONTENTS:
7 Foreword
9 The Early Villas of Le Corbusier in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Geoffrey Baker
COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
8 Art School Drawings
26 Villa Fallet
30 Villa Stotzer
34 Villa Jaquemet
36 Villa Jeanneret-Perret
40 Villa Favre-Jacot
44 Villa Schwob
48 La Scala Cinema
PROJECTS
50 Villa Fallet
58 Villa Stotzer
66 Villa Jaquemet
74 Villa Jeanneret-Perret
82 Villa Favre-Jacot
92 Villa Schwob
102 La Scala Cinema
110 From Feeling to Reason: Jeanneret and Regionalism by Jacques Gubler
120 In Time with the Swiss Watchmakers by Jacques Gubler
128 List of Early Projects in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Lode
130 Selected Bibliography
131 Résumés in French, German, Spanish and Italian