Europe Books

Drumlish author strikes a chord with his memories of a Longford childhood
By Fergal Quinn - Reporter for the Longford Leader, Ireland.
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A life becomes a great deal less ordinary when it is written down. Happily for the readers and fans of the new book by Arnold J Meagher he is well equipped to do just that.
Sound effects and extravagant hand movements accompany the words as he outlines some of the vivid memories contained in 'Ireland, my Ireland', his debut book of memoirs which skilfully weaves a colourful tapestry of Longford in times past.
The long since emigrated Drumlish native, was back home to do readings of 'Ireland, my Ireland' around the county last week. The book is about growing up in County Longford in the 40s and 50s and has been winning a growing band of admirers and fans.
"Readers make it worth while and it's very gratifying to get such positive feedback", he told the Longford Leader at the home of his cousin Sean Donnelly in Longford Town, where he is staying with his wife Jackie for the duration of his stay.
"It does seem to have brought back memories for people. One woman, who went to the same school as me and also emigrated said 'finishing the book was like leaving home again'".
His wife Jackie, with whom he now lives in Eufaula, Alabama was the principal driving force behind "Ireland, my Ireland, memories from the heartland" being written, says Arnold.
"It was a way of life that didn't exist anymore and he remembered it", Jackie explains, "I wanted our son to have a feeling for the life his father had in Ireland".
"Ireland my Ireland" took five years to finish, and after having been turned down by over 60 publishers, was finally published in 2003.
"The ones who turned me away would say `There's no controversy. There's no scandal. It won't sell'," says Arnold.
"Then Publish America, got back to me with similar concerns, and asked me to write and tell them why my book is different.
"I told them the Irish memoirs I had read were all about dysfunctional families. All about city life. My book is about life in the country, in the heartland."
He felt the time was right to tell a different Irish story.
"There was a scatter of books after 'Angela's Ashes' did so well. Frank McCourt's a great writer and I'd never put him down but I wanted to tell another side of Irish family life that wasn't so dysfunctional. I think Irish people abroad are ready to hear a story they can be proud of, that they can feel good about."
Drumlish is in many ways, 'everytown', says Arnold, now 71 years old, and people who had grown up in rural Alabama got in touch and said they related to it.
Arnold's favourite moments , and the ones which kept the children to whom he was reading to last week enraptured is the account of the football match, the banshee and making hay.
"Tea in the meadow was better than anything from Harrods in London! You'd be picking out the grass hoppers, but the older men, who were not so patient, would simply blow them to one side and gulp it down," he says.
Ireland, my Ireland', reads deceptively simply off the page. But to achieve such a flow was no accident. For Arnold, the writing process was slow and rather painstaking, involving lots of rewriting, sessions of recalling memories and jotting them down, before trying to connect them all together. Ann Donnelly, Sean's wife, was also a help in getting the details Arnold wanted.
"Reading it aloud is an essential part of the distilling process.
To Jackie, or even to myself. You never knew how a sentence was until you heard it aloud," he explains.
"The Banshee concept was hard. I wondered how I'd get across the idea on the page. Feeling dictates how the words flow. "
It's many years since 1957 when Arnold left Longford for America, after having been ordained as a priest. He was stationed in Sacramento for 15 years.
The story of his leaving the priesthood is one which he is admirably frank about. Arnold had his doubts about the issue of celibacy, even having written a celebrated article, anonymously, in the National Catholic Reporter.
"My attitude was that celibacy is a gift that not all priests have, so it should not be expected of every priest," he says.
"I did not doubt my vocation so much but I looked around me and more and more came to realize that I did not want to grow old alone."
When he met Jackie he knew that the celibate life was not for him.
"I met Jackie and fell in love with her and got the reluctant permission from the church to leave the priesthood." Arnold has no regrets on the route his life took. "They were fifteen great years. I was a good priest, in good standing until I left of course. "
The Longford man came late to writing creatively but he's certainly used to writing on other levels. He is exceptionally well educated having done a PHD on 'Chinese Emigration to Latin America', a formidable work which is recognised as one of the best on the subject.
On leaving the priesthood, he set up a company 'Best Writing' which write and phrase things for companies for everything from brochures to proposals for Government Contracts. Words have been his trade for a long time.
Arnold has been a fairly regular visitor to these shores since going abroad especially when his parents Arnold and May, the former a policeman, and the latter a school teacher were alive.
His mother May taught at Gaigue school for 41 years while his father joined the Gardai when they were first being formed at the age of 18.
Arnold and his eight siblings committed after their parents died to having a reunion every four or five years rotating between Ireland, England, where three of them were and the US where another three were.
The ability to write was always latent in him, but Arnold admits that he couldn't have written the same book as he did, had he remained living here. "Distance lends enchantment to the view. The distance in time and geography coloured my writing to an extent", he explains.
"And his appreciation too," Jackie adds.
Of course it's not all fun and light. There are fears and unpleasantness, the dentist, the sometimes cruel school master, the fear of the dead and the little people. But it's all written in an engaging, light style that the reader can almost hum along to.
"The little people I believed in unquestionably as a child, as I did God I suppose. My guardian angels were not as real to me as ghosts were," he recalls.
"The children in the school where I was reading asked me about the Banshee. 'Was it real?' I said it was real in my mind, not on the outside. They understood the concept very well."
He's happy and comfortable with immense change that this little island has undergone in the years since he was a boy.
"Each time I come back I see more progress, more flowers, more nice houses. It's uplifting for me to see this happen and I'd love to have shared in that success," he says.
The book is selling steadily, mostly through word of mouth, and with Arnold essentially publishing it himself. He has been one of the best sellers in the Longford Bookshop over the last year. It's a good start, he says. "People who read it seem to like it. That's the main thing."
Will a young fellow growing up in Longford today, have as distinctive and individual a story to tell if he sits down in 60 years I ask him.
"Absolutely!" he says with conviction.
"Since I wrote the book, I have come to the conclusion that there's one book in everybody's life. A life story is unique, like a fingerprint, and no-one else can write it. It's the detail that makes it come alive and blossom."

Arnold Meagher's memoir awakened for this Longford native golden memories of her youth. A must read!

Arnold Meagher has written a charming look back at his years growing up in the middle of the Twentieth Century before the Celtic Tiger reshaped his homeland. Arnold's Ireland is a country of small villages, rural landscapes, and a priest ridden school system. As a child, Meagher found happiness in the small features of nature and society. On his grandmother's farm where he helped his uncle with farm chores, he was an inveterate birdwatcher, made pets of many farm animals, loved the smell of hay, celebrated feast days with the neighbors, and surreptitiously eavesdropped on the same neighbors who many nights appeared at his grandmothers to sit before her peat fire and tell tales of the little people.

Meagher's reminiscences relate a timeless cycle of century-old rituals and work in the Emerald Isle. While the official account of Ireland's history is poignant and sad, Meagher's corner of Ireland was full of light, playfulness, and a tightly-knit large family. A pleasure to read!

Wholly engaging and healing for even the hardest of heart. Arnold J. Meagher has provided this hard-hearted German emigrant refugee a glimpse into the heart of youth growing up anywhere in this world, a wee bit of an "Everyman's" experience. Well done, Mr. Meagher. Your pages are a balm for all souls everywhere who have the courage and wisdom to revisit their childhood experience in search of the whole person in a broken world. Your healing insights and reflective prayer has healed us all who read your book, Ireland, MY Ireland. I shall revisit your pages often. I hope you are not done sharing your beautiful soul in writing. I would love to hear the story of an Irish immigrant and Irish-American. Welcome to the hall of Literary Gems.

Dear Arnold:
I just finished reading your book and for the first time in my life, I am writing to the author of a book I had read. It took me back so deeply that I was again living those years and I hated reaching the end because I had to leave home again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the fact that you had the facts exactly as I remembered them and you used the real names of people that I knew, even though some of them were just on the edge of my recollections, made it so much more interesting.

This is a truly amazing story of human courage. Jack and Rochelle were not only brave enough to run away from their Germany captors, but then spent years living in the woods surviving and fighting back. Even after the Russian liberation and their departure from the woods, Jack and Rochelle fought danger constantly until they could get to an American displaced persons camp. They were such survivors. I can't imagine living through what they did, especially at their young ages.

I read this in a day because I couldn't put it down.

Jack and Rochelle is probably one of the best books I have read in the past 5 yrs. It is truly amazing what they endure during the war and how they survive. There truly isn't any words to describe how much I loved this book. Thank you Jack and Rochelle for writing your experiences! This is a well written and easy to read book. The story is very easy to follow and so important to be read! I hope that everyone has a chance to read this book. It makes you realize you need to be a kinder and more understanding person to others. Hate is an awful thing....and there is still too much of it in our world! Thank you Jack and Rochelle! God bless you both!

Ably edited by their son Lawrence, the instructive and inspiring Holocaust narrative of Jack and Rochelle Sutin provides ample proof of both the degradation implicit in the Shoah and the astounding strength and courage Jewish partisans demonstrated in their battle against the attempted Nazi genocide. "Jack and Rochelle" is a deceptively easy book to read; the chapters consist of blended chronological testimonies; Lawrence Sutin honorably avoids imposing his own voice on his parents, instead allowing his mother and father to describe, in their own words, their own cadences, the horrors they faced and the gritty resolve they mustered to fight back. Rarely does a subtitle so accurately depict the contents of a memoir as does their own: "A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance."

Both Jack and Rochelle came from educated and enlightened eastern European Jewish families. As the two of them chronicle the onset of anti-Jewish depradations, they remind us of the rich texture of their pre-war lives. This dimension of humanity, of lives complicated by strained love relations, competitive urges and the deeply felt need for independence, makes the Nazi onslaught all the more unsettling and horrific.

Several themes predominate in the Sutins' braided lives. First is the omnipresence of Jew hatred, whether it be in pre or post war Poland, in the brutally repressive Soviet bureaucracy or the finely honed hatred of Nazi Germany. Indifferent neighbors, vicious anti-Jewish Russian partisans (who commit ghastly sexual offenses against women who want nothing more than to join them in battling a common enemy), and the active participants in human eradication, the Nazis, make the Sutins' world one of constant peril. Survival is never taken for granted, and Jack and Rochelle's descriptions of their physical torment, often undertated, is wrenching to read. Personal sacrifice exists on every level: physical, social and spiritual. Rochelle's first child dies within a day due to exposure when its survival imperils others; Jack is literally covered with pus-filled boils as a result of living outside the boundaries of human habitation.

Yet, neither Jack or Rochelle never complain, never give themselves away to self-pity. Instead, they are infused with the Judaic command to remember and Rochelle's mother's insistence on revenge, to take action to avenge the murder of their people. In this charged atmosphere of sanguine justice and physical erosion, amidst the rank and fetid habitat of primitive partisan surroundings, hope and love survive. Jack dreams that Rochelle will appear. She does. Despite sexual abuse and spiritual depletion, Rochelle gradually accepts and receives Jack's love. He has never stopped loving her.

"Jack and Rochelle" is above all a cry of victory. It is a cry that murder and eradication cannot conquer a people. It is a cry that memory and consecration to life will prevail over death. It is a cry that love can endure, even if it is formed in the absolute crucible of death.

Jack and Rochelle Sutin were Jewish and met during WWII. I have read many stories of the holocaust from the perspective of the concentration camp. But never a story like Jack and Rochelle's!! They escaped from the ghetto and hid out it the woods during the war. (Small groups of Jews banded together in the woods.) Sound idyllic? Their existence was horrific, dreadful, and desperate! They were often reduced to being like animals. If a woman arrived pregnant, no one wanted her in their group - a baby is noisy and would be too risky. (If the woman was accepted into the group despite her pregnancy, she was forced to kill her newborn or someone in the group killed it for her.) Jewish women, who were alone and did not find a group of Jews to join, often had to perform sexual favors to find someone to take them in or help them. (Cruel and heartless Russian partisans were the worst offenders!) Despite the absolute horror of this true story, the story of Jack and Rochelle is inspiring. They met in the woods, and survived - overcoming great odds. They later married and came to the USA. The book is also well-written, and is an "easy read" in regards to the writing style.

A true story well told. An uplifting story about the power of love, faith, and self reliance. The unbelievable resiliance of humans to survive and keep their sanity in a world gone crazy. The book does not dwell on the horrors or even give explicit descriptions. The two main characters had a hard enough time and were not physically tortured or held prisoner. They simply hid out and lived in terror for several years until miraculously making their escape to the West. These were two lucky people who nevertheless suffered years of fear and depradation.

This book is fabulous. I grew up watching these stories come to like on the Jim Henson Hour, and I love having these stories at my finger tips. The stories are very intersting and original. The art work in the book is also fabulous!! They match the television portrail of story exactly. I am so glad that I am able to read and share these stories with my friends and family!

The television series was one of the best things ever to be shown on TV, but it's more than worthwhile to pick up this book just to be able to focus on Anthony Minghella's (yep, he of "The English Patient") way with words. Minghella doesn't just write good narration, he writes good, old-fashioned *story-telling* Like, say, Kipling's "Just-So Stories," Minghella's "The Storyteller" captures the language of the very best tale tellers.

Many years ago my family sat around the television, wide eyed and filled with magic; we were watching the Jim Henson Storyteller series. We waited and waited for it to reappear one day- to no avail. But FINALLY, a book! To be able to relive the "hugs and snoodles" of Hans My Hedghog, the stone soup tale of a "Story Short"- all of it beautifully, and creatively written, with illustrations to match- will take you back to your childhood. I find it hard to believe this has yet to be discovered. Don't miss the videos that are now out, at long last!

Perfection is the TV series that preceded this book. Of course, I must gloat and say that I knew all those many years ago that Anthony Minghella was the most exquisite writer I had ever heard/read. His words coupled with the genius of Jim Henson and company made for the best (no exaggeration) thing ever to be broadcast on television. To be able to read the words from these shows and have them readily available on your bookshelf is heaven. I've been recommending the TV series and this book for years. I still recommend it today.

Just so you know, all 9 episodes of The Storyteller are now out on a single DVD - something many of us have been waiting for for years. This book is, I think, the original screenplay of Jim Henson's Storyteller series because it follows *very* closely to the stories and dialogue seen on TV. The illustrations are also taken from the show and are very nice. The written word is different from television, however, and these stories take on a different light often in one versus the other, and there are some expansions here that didn't make the final editing cuts.

My kid and I love "The Storyteller" series, and this book is a pleasant addition for bedtime reading.

Diane Stanley, author of a series of high-quality biographies for children, does it again: Joan of Arc is intelligent and interesting with eye-popping illustrations. Of course the story is tragic, so this is not a good first biography for the young, tender-hearted child. The only thing missing is a real sense of the supernatural, what drove Joan to do what she did in the first place. If you're looking for the miraculous in your retelling of Joan's story, choose instead Josephine Poole's breathtaking "Joan of Arc."

Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc should be recommended for teens 13-16. I thought it was kind of hard to understand because I got 60% on this Accelerated Reader test. I didn't understand the Crowning of the Kings and Princesses very well. I would rate this a 6/10 in a rating.
It taught me about how some people can get so sick of things that you would do anything to save your country. This book is cool because of the pictures of the war.

Not only was this an accurate portrayal of Joan of Arc's story, it was wonderfully written and illustrated. I would recommend it for anyone who is starting out in learning of the saint. It is educational and enjoyable for a child.

Once again, Diane Stanley has brought intriguing facts and interesting tidbits to a book about a well known character, Joan of Arc, which makes the reader interested and excited about the subject, no matter what age he or she might be. Joan was born an illiterate, peasant daughter of a leader in a French village during the time of the Hundred Years War between France and England. She was highly disciplined in Catholicism, and was often teased about it by her friends. At the age of thirteen, Joan began having visions, while in the family garden, of various Catholic Saints giving her distressing messages and that she needed to act in order to save the French Kingdom. Joan was so convinced and moved by these visions that she took on a life long task of saving the French kingdom, although a woman doing this would have been unheard of at the time. She was eventually captured by the Burgundies that occupied Northern France and handed over to the English for a ransom. She was put on trial by the church for dressing in men's clothing and for acting on her voices and visitations which should have only been heard by members of the clergy. She was found guilty, although she gave clever testimony and was not easily disrupted by tricky questioning, and eventually burned at the stake. Charles, the ruler that Joan help restore to the crown, made it his personal mission to have Joan's trial declared a mistrial sixteen years after her death. This act fueled by his guilt for not negotiating for her release from prison helped her to be declared a saint five hundred years later.
This book helps the reader realize that although Joan my have appeared unstable with her visions in modern times, she brought hope and life to a battle that was hopeless leaving many French residents in despair. A note at the end of the book indicates that there have been three theories behind Joan's visions, depending on where one's personal beliefs lie.
Included within the book are pronunciations of French names and places and a map, so the reader can follow the path taken by Joan. This book provides interesting and understandable information for readers of all ages, including adults that want a short but informative look into Joan of Arc's life.

A beautiful book! Diane Stanley carefully traces the life of Joan from her humble beginnings to her tragic end. The book even comes with a pronunciation guide to help those of us who haven't been to France. Although the language is at 8+ year old range, my 5 year old daughter loves it anyway!

LET'S OPEN A BOTTLE: MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE SPANISH WINE REVOLUTION takes readers to Spain along with the English teacher/author, who considers the Spanish wine revolution. Murdock is an expatriate living in Madrid the past fifteen years: his background lends to a blend of memoir and travelogue which brings readers into the heart of Spanish wine country politics and winemaking tradition. Travel tips include listings of regional wineries, specialties, and recommendations for destination-bound wine fans. A wonderful, detail-packed read for any interested in Spanish wines and wine region history.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Books on Spanish wine are difficult to find, good books on Spanish wine are rare and books such as Brian Murdock's are unique. Not only is it up-to-date and thorough but it blends a current knowledge of the Spanish wine industry with insights into Spain's history and culture. Robert Parker (aka God), the world's leading wine critic, has said of Spanish wine that,"Spain has done an outstanding job of maintaining respect for its traditions of the past and also looking forward to the future." This wine revolution is perfectly captured in Murdock's book.
However, this is not just a (well above) average reference book on Spanish wine regions and their wines. This book is far more. It is a personal journey, literally, among the highways and byways- most Spanish wineries are on byways- where the author talks to a wide cross-section of individuals involved in wine-making. This allows the reader to hear the voices of those actually making the wide variety of quality wines which Spain is now producing.
In this personal account the author's acute perceptions, deep knowledge, wit and sheer passiopn of and for Spanish wines burns through. At the end of this excellent read Murdock modestly states that he is no 'expert' but '...after a helluvah lot of work, I also should know what I am talking about.' Indeed he does.
As a wine merchant based in Spain and having visited many of the same places and tasted the same wines as the author I can bear witness to its accuracy and insight. This first-class book will appeal not only to all those who wish to explore Spanish wines but also ita charming people and rich culture.

This is a great read and should not be simply thought of as another boring guide to wine. The author weaves plenty of humor and history into this aptly named "Journey Through the Spanish Wine Revolution". The reader learns how and why the vast history of the Iberian Peninsula has shaped today's Spanish wine industry. The end result is not only do I seek out Spanish wines in restaurants and stores, but I also want to travel to Spain to check out the various regions and their unique cultures and geographies. I should also note that I have given this book as a gift to a few people who have loved it as well.

As someone who's trying to learn more about the "wine culture" after years of clueless intrigue, I finally found the perfect source. While it primarily discusses wines from a lesser known country/producer(Spain), this book provides a firm backbone that's easily translatable across wine regions around the world. Not sure what to expect when I started, I was quickly taken by the extreme detail discussing individual wines and vineyards, and how they vary from region to region. As much as I learned about various "reds" and "whites", I received an equally thorough education on the history of each region. Humor and a lighter tone throughout make this a fun, interesting, and very informative read.

When I see this book, I thought "OK, a modern guide for spanish wines, I'll get it". But it's much more than this! It's a really good landscape of the spanish wine culture, with many facts surrounding the wine and spanish people.

I think Mr. Murdock has done a really good job, and it will be useful for many pepole who loves wine and wants to know more about Spain, its wine and the people who lives there.

5 stars are for all the book if we excepts the part for andalusian wines. They are worth of a full book! :-)

A perfect gift or a perfect self-gift.

We own a copy of 'Little Known Museums in and Around Paris', and after over 18 years of visiting Paris and its many Great museums, we found that we still missed 12 out of the 30 museums listed in her book.Now we can't wait to go back and visit these 12 that Ms. Kaplan has so thoroughly and appealingly described, with the many magnificent photos and well researched text, this is a book to savour in an armchair, or to use to preview your next trip. We have already put 'The Fan Museum' and the 'Maurice Ravel Museum' on our 'MUST SEE', for our upcoming summer trip. Thank you for listening.

Lana & Murray Singer (New York City)

Rachel Kaplan's engaging little book is a fascinating guide to some of the many museums in and around Paris that do NOT make it into the big guidebooks. Everyone has heard of the Louvre, the Orsay, even the Musee Rodin, but what about the others? Some of them are small museums run by devoted individuals; at least one (the Musee de la Marine in the Trocadero complex) is, I believe, run by the French government.

This is a book badly in need of updating. Three years ago, when I used to to visit the Maison de Balzac on Rue Raynouard, the information on transportation, hours, and addresses was of relatively recent vintage and, consequently, more trustworthy.

While Kaplan's contributions are wonderful and the many black and white and color photographs memorable, the publisher did a very mediocre job of presentation. I do not care for the book's alphabetic orientation and deplore the unhelpful single map.

One more negative: There are many other small museums in Paris that are not even mentioned in passing, such as the Musee de la Serrure (locks, keys, and door knockers); Musee de la Poste (mail service); Musee Guimet (Oriental art); the new museum of Jewish history near the Pompidou Center -- to mention just a few.

And yet, I look forward in a couple of weeks to visiting the Musee Delacroix and the Musee Cognac-Jay, neither of which appear in my other guidebooks. This is a very useful book for those who wish to explore lesser-known parts of the City of Lights. I look forward to a new edition which will make it even more useful.

We recently used this guide extensively while in Paris for a week. Having done the usual "big name" tourist stops, we were looking for a convenient way to see Paris in-depth. This book met our needs completely. I am looking forward to more work from this author.

Whether you're on your first trip to Paris, or a regular visitor, Rachel Kaplan's "Little Known Museums in and Around Paris is a gem. Forget the crowds at the Louvre and Orsay! Follow Rachel's advice and seek out Balzac's home, Maillol's or Zadkine's sculptures, Delacroix's paintings ... Rachel's scholarship and lively style make you want to leave the beaten track and head for these less-famous, less-crowded, first-rate museums.

Racheal Kaplan's Little-Known Musemus in and around Paris includes reviews of thirty museums and appealing subjects such as the homes of famous authors (i.e. Dumas and Balzac), museums of science, and the decorative arts. Ms. Kaplan is an exceptional raconteur and brings Paris alive with her use of interesting anecdotes, historical facts, and high quality photographs. For the Paris traveler that wants to put a human face to this beautiful city, I would recommend Little-Known Museums in and around Paris.

As a London Underground enthusiast, I just couldn't resist what this book had to offer. The sections on the history of the Underground were very informative and easy to read.
But there's more to the book than that. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. The author's conversational (and often amusing) tone lend a lightness to a subject that could otherwise be very dull. The book runs the gamut of subjects--from the underground and now mostly mysterious Fleet to the high-speed cables of British Telecom. It's all there.
This book is an excellent resource for anyone doing research, and a great read if you're fascinated by things beneath the surface.

Except for Anglophiles and London Buffs most people's knowledge of the London Underground is limited to its use as a bomb shelter during the World War II Blitz. However, the Underground existed for centuries before WWII. Chapter 1 succinctly narrates the Underground during the Blitz, and concludes stating "....to understand the full complexity of what lies under London, we must begin with her subterranean rivers."

Chapter 2 notes "There are over a hundred miles of rivers in London, fed by over a hundred springs and wells....Hidden from view, recalled only in street names...." As early as 1463 a Royal Act ordered "The covering-in of the Walbook's middle and lower reaches" vaulting and paving it over. These rivers were covered over or diverted into tunnels. Many of the rivers underground became more sewers than rivers. The text also notes "There are several lost rivers under London referred to by London's chroniclers but impossible to trace."

The text devotes several chapters to the development of underground sewers, water systems, gas pipes, trains, and later telegraph, telephone and electricity systems. The text gives captivating accounts of several engineering problems that were confronted, how they were resolved together with thumbnail sketches of the engineers and managers involved. . Tunneling under the Thames River was a major venture taking fifteen years to complete. Most intriguing is the account of The London Hydraulic Power Company founded in 1871where "Raw water (untreated) water was pumped at a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch through the miles of pipes running beneath London, and was used to raise and lower cranes, operated lifts.... theatre safety curtains, wagon hoists, even hat hat-blocking presses...." Amazingly the company survived until the mid-1970s.

As telegraph lines were developed underground, the Post Office gained control of the telegraph system and later gained control of the telephone system which they tried to suppress. As electricity developed around a national grid, distribution moved underground and by WWII was operating as a national industry. After the dropping of the first atomic bomb, the British government considered operating from the underground but by the 1960s gave up plans to fighting and surviving a nuclear war from under London. The text notes that new water and electricity tunnels characterized the 1980s and early 1990s with "The biggest capital project under London in the last ten years has been the completion of the London Ring Water Main"

This is a fascinating book and the reader will be amazed by the extensive underground systems under London that are still in use today.

This is a fantastic history of what's underneath the ground of today's London. Blending history, geography, and engineering, this book describes the smothered streams and covered rivers, the water pipes and sewers, and the tunnels under the Thames.

A major section is devoted to the London Underground - the "Tube" - and its history. The Post Office's automated mail-handling railway is briefly touched on as well.

The role of London's underground spaces during wartime is reviewed including the underground factories and the Cabinet War Rooms of the Second World War.

The book is profusely illustrated with a heavy emphasis on contemporary cut-away and explanatory drawings. The pictures make the text come alive.

A really great book for the Anglophile or London-buff.

Having spent some time in London, and being a card-carrying historian, I was already aware of the hidden Fleet River, and the government bunkers from World War II, and (of course) the Underground itself. But I'd never heard of the Little Conduit beside St. Paul's, or the pneumatic postal railway, and the 1,500-mile network of 19th-century sewers (on which the metropolitan area still depends) never entered my mind. And I don't know how safe the pedestrian tunnels under the Thames would be these days, in any case. But the authors have done an amazing job tracing a number of "lost" rivers, and scores of independent water company pipelines, and assorted arsenals and crypts and tramways. And now I have a list for my next visit to London!

It's a great book if you're interested in this sort of thing. From the early beginnings of London's sewers to the modern day tube and postal networks, this book covers it all in a remarkably easy to read fashion. Of particular interest to me were the sections on Londons 'lost' rivers as well as the Underground, both covered in this book. Highly recommended.

Thomas B. Costain is one of the most readable of historians because he firstly draws on an awareness, gained in his years as a novelist, of the necessity on the part of a writer to above all reach out to his reader. An even greater praise might be this: Costain is also one of the most intelligent historians I've ever had the good fortune to read.

This is Costain's second volume in his well-rounded four-book history of England during the rule of its most storied dynasty, the Plantagenets. Here, in just under four-hundred pages, Costain concentrates on the events of the thirteenth-century reign of Henry III, who came to the throne in 1216, and who passed away forty-six years later in the autumn of 1272. Beginning his story during the regency of the great and good William Marshal, "right hand man" of four monarchs, and ending it shortly after Prince Edward's crushing of the baronial revolt led by Simon de Montfort, Costain makes the interesting case that the thirteenth-century was perhaps the grandest and most glorious if not in the whole of English history, then undeniably that in the era of the Plantagenets.

This was the first volume I've read so far in the quartet, but it won't be the last.

Costain gives his usual rousing treatment to a period not widely treated.

Costain's entire four-volume history of the Plantagenets, "The Pageant of England," is the reason I became a historian and history teacher. I had liked history before, but I'd never before read history that read like a novel. He brought these figures to life in a way that lit a fire that still burns brightly. In short, an excellent history, which I re-read every few years--especially The Magnificent Century!

I have read this book so many times I have worn out my copy, in paperback. I would and do recommend the book to anyone anyone who wants to start learning the history of England and the Middle Ages. The Late Mr Costain brought the people to life, which was a rare gift, he also being a novelist knew how to tell a tale, both are great for generating an interest in history. He leaves a great foundation for a student to build a knowledge of history on.

I first read these books 20 years ago, and the opportunity to purchase them in a new edition is the thrill of the year for me. Costain makes the period come alive, with all its heroes, villains, and bystanders. While many of Costain's opinions and conclusions are somewhat dated by more recent research, there is no more delightful reading experience amongst modern histories of the middle ages.

The Making of the Middle Ages by RW Southern
When I asked for suggestions as to what I should read to expand my knowledge of the social history of the Middle Ages, a friend with a degree in Medieval History suggested Richard Southern's The Making of the Middle Ages. I was hoping for a fairly straightforward book about women, warfare, technology, medicine, what it was like to live in a Medieval town and so forth, and The Making of the Middle Ages is not that book. It is, nevertheless, a fascinating and well written volume, and well worth the time and money.
Southern limits his discussion to the period from the end of the 10th century to the beginning of the 13th century--from 972 to 1204 to be exact. The book is divided into five chapters: the first discusses the relationship between Europe and its neighbors--the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic countries. The general European perception of these countries, trade, the Crusades, and the transmission of knowledge all form parts of this chapter. The second chapter is on "The Bonds of Society"; in this chapter Southern treats the emergence of centralized government, serfdom, and the idea of knighthood. The third chapter deals with Christianity and society--the mingling of secular and sacred in the medieval church, the growth of power of the papacy, and monasticism. The fourth chapter is about intellectual and literary changes which took place during Southern's period, and the final chapter "From Epic to Romance" concerns the growing interest in mysticism, in the cult of the Virgin, and in more personal forms of piety. One of the most charming aspects of The Making of the Middle Ages is the astonishing diversity of the anecdotes that Southern relates to illustrate his points. Southern introduces us to a host of interesting and esoteric historical figures: the "nameless traveller" who carried the news of the death of Count Wilfred of Cerdana from Spain through France and into Germany; the elusive Prester John; the heroic Boethius who undertook the Herculean task of saving the entire corpus of Greek scholarship; and the virtually unknown Peter of Blois--poet, archdeacon, and correspondent--whose letters give us a glimpse into the life of a high-ranking ecclesiastical official, to list only a few. Southern also relates, with vigor and style, the history of the bloody and cynical Counts of Anjou and how they slowly and strategically consolidated and expanded their territorial holdings.
Southern's language is also amusing. This is not a dry textbook-style introduction to Medieval history--Southern allows himself to indulge in the colorful turns of phrase which impart so much pleasure to reading, but which have been so rigorously winnowed out of most scholarly and academic writing. My copy of The Making of the Middle Ages is full of underlined passages which are interesting for their writing as much as for their content. In the final chapter of the book ("From Epic to Romance"), Southern observes that "Chretien probes the heart, but it is the enamelled heart of the twelfth-century secular world, not yet made tender by the penetration of strong religious feeling." I don't know if I will ever have occasion to refer to the "enamelled heart of the twelfth century secular world," but I hope I will.
However, from the point of view of an interested layperson, The Making of the Middle Ages is a challenging read. Southern assumes a great deal of knowledge on the part of his reader, and many of the connections he draws are difficult to appreciate for someone who has only a tenuous grasp on Medieval history and who is struggling to assimilate the mass of information on which the author is drawing to support his points. Also, Southern's book has something in common with another book that I continue to enjoy each time I read it: Peter Brown's The World of Late Antiquity. Each time I open The World of Late Antiquity, I am again charmed by Brown's style and by the subtle connections that he draws. Yet as soon as I put it down, the details begin to slip away from me. I am afraid that The Making of the Middle Ages may have the same ephemeral effect on my understanding of the late 10th to the early 13th centuries, but I would nonetheless recommend it to anyone who has at least a Western-civ level of background knowledge to provide a jumping-off point from which to appreciate this book.

In just over 400 pages Mr. Southern manages to cover crucial 700 years of European history. What makes this book a standout study is the author's ability to integrate the demographic, economics, societal, artistic and pholosophic/religious development in a comprehensive picture, which is easy to follow and comprehend. While the book may be a little too narrowly focused for the casual reader, it is an excellent, rich in detail and perspective introduction to pre-Renaissance Europe.

The Making of the Middle Ages is a study of the period 972 to 1204. Before Southern wrote this book in 1952, the period has traditionally been called the High Middle Ages or the "Renaissance of the 12th Century". However Southern sees it as more than a Renaissance (usually thought of as a period of *re* discovery of classical texts and ideas), but also a period of *new* and original ideas and institutions. Southern says the period "had been overtaken by a creative spirit, which was not derived from the past, but nourished by a medley of influences both past and present." What is the "creative spirit"? According to Southern, it is Romanticism, which can be defined as a heightened sense of self-consciousness in perceiving the physical and natural world, both in the secular and spiritual.

It was with the publication of "Making" that decades of subsequent research into the period has focused on Romanticism as the primary creative movement that helped propel European culture from a backwater throughout the early middle ages to a leading civilization by 1500. The Virgin Cult, courtly love, the Arthurian tradition, the origins of Gothic architecture, are just a few of the peculiar institutions and ideas that have been re-examined from a Romantic viewpoint. And it is for that reason "Making" is so often classified as one of the most important medieval history books of the 20th century. Further, it was groundbreaking stylistically because it legitimized speculative and imaginative cultural history, which has found many imitators, such as Peter Brown (The World of Late Antiquity) and Robin Lane Fox (Pagans and Christians). It's influence on generation or two of Medieval scholars can not be over-estimated and it still remains one of those classic books every medieval student is familiar with.

Although "Making" is accessible and readable by anyone, the books intent as described above is subtle and nuanced, in particular outside of the "state of the art" of medievalism in 1952 which saw the 12th century as a Renaissance at best, or a "dark age" at worst. This was a revolutionary and groundbreaking book for its day and is as interesting today for historiographical reasons, some of the actual content has since been refuted. Literary speaking, it is well written and delightful. It does contain interesting anecdotes about the period, but this is not a survey text and those looking for a introduction to the Middle Ages may be disappointed if not bedazzled.

An acknolwedged classic of european history, R.W. Southern's "The Middle Ages" focuses on the period between 900 and 1200 A.D. His geopgraphic focus is mostly northern france, with some asides to Germany, Italy, Southern France and England. His main thesis is the idea that this period saw the emergence of a personal devotion to faith via monasticism that in turn prefigured the rise of invdividual identity in western culture.

No small accomplishment, that thesis, and no small accomplishment this book. Southern's style of writing is charming and concise. You don't get the thesis till the last chapter, but the preceding chapters are entertaining, enjoyable reading.

The author who turned me on to this book was the recently deceased Norman F. Cantor in his dishy "The Making of the Middle Ages", which I also recommend for any one who is reading on this subject outside the academy. Cantor's main point was to show how the empire building mind set of the "Annales" school of the history of the middle ages (which concentrates its focus on the role of the peasant in the society of the middle ages), had deprived other "schools" of much needed oxygen. Well, he didn't put it that way exactly, but that's what he said.

Cantor, of course, studied under Southern, so the bias is there. None the less, having read several books from the Annales school and none from Southern and his progeny, I would have to say that the two compliment one another (and Southern cites Marc Bloch, the much revered founder of Annales school).

So read this book if you want to learn more about the history of the middle ages and the growth of invdividualism in the west. You won't be dissapointed.

This is the brilliant book that made Richard Southern's reputation as one of the finest medieval historians. Everything that the two earlier reviewers have said is true and needn't be repeated. The bottom line is this: if you are very interested in the subject, and have already read about it to some extent, then you must read this book. It is astonishly rich in ideas -- almost too much so; and many of the observations that Southern makes in a seemingly casual way can give such blinding insight that you may find yourself stopping for several minutes at a time just to marvel at what you've read.

One the other hand, this book is for serious students of history (it was originally devised for a college course). Those casually interested in finding out "what happened" in the middle ages will find it boring and useless.

You need to have been an apprentice historian in the mid-sixties to appreciate the impact this book had on Europeanists. I was thirty-one years old in 1967. I had taught history in high school for eight years and picked up a master's in history at NYU, and I was starting my Ph. D. program in history at Yale, concentrating on early modern European history, and within that specialty, on medieval and early modern political theory. (Later, when I taught college, my specialty course was on Machiavelli, More, Erasmus and Guicciardini.)

Braudel had just published the second edition of his masterpiece. The book had been significantly rewritten and was about a third longer than the original edition. But it was available only in French, which I read well but exceedingly slowly. The first edition --but not the second-- had been translated into Spanish, my preferred second language, so I swotted the Spanish first edition for orals. Reading it in a foreign language, it was too much in a limited amount of time to absorb and integrate with what I already knew about the times. I more or less flubbed the Braudel question in my orals. (In contrast, I did a killer job responding to a question about Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Liturgy.)

Later, teaching a winter term course in college, I assigned the by-then-published English translation of Braudel's second edition to my students, giving myself --at long last-- an opportunity to read it in my native tongue. I was floored! The masterful use of maps and graphs to show hitherto unnoticed trends in history, the wealth of illustrative detail, the scope of his view! Of all the masterworks of the first two generations of Annales historians --Bloch and Febvre, Braudel's other works, Le Roy Ladurie, Aries, Duby, etc.-- Mediterranean is still the undisputed masterpiece on early modern European economic and social history.

I have been keenly interested in world history for nearly 20 years. I read, on average, 30 non-fiction historical accounts per annum. With rare exception, I have always felt up to the task of both completion and comprehension. Braudel is an entirely different animal. What Braudel has presented in the form of 16th-century Mediterranean history is formidable, innovative, and exhausting.

Braudel's narrative weaves itself through overlays of historical strata that demand as much from the reader as any contemporary written history available. His is not a mere linear schedule of cause and effect, but a finely crafted history of regional parallels which render the methodology as thought provoking as the content.

Fully one-fourth of the book is devoted to economics in such painstaking detail that, while the specialist may revel, the layman may grow foggy, uninterested, and, unfortunately, bored. But, this does not detract from the overall value of Braudel's effort. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World is a singular achievement in written history which offers the reader a vantage point that I have yet to find elsewhere. 5 stars.

This book is a very detailed starting point for Renaisance fans. At its heart this is a socio-economic history. The clever inclusion of climate and geographic conditions presuasively explained why prosperous Capitalism grew in some regions while others remained stagnant. Chapter 5-"The Human Unit" was the most informative. Most facets of history are here for the reader to absorb. This is the type of book we all wished we had in school.

Braudel's text on the Mediterranean is considered one of the contemporary classics of historical writing, and I can see why. It sets out to convey a total history of the Mediterranean world in the latter half of the 16th century, but ranges over so much more territory in order to achieve this objective. Just as Jared Diamond builds a foundation on geography, climate, and local flora and fauna in _Guns, Germs , and Steel_, so does Braudel begin his history. However, he does not stop there, and moves on to cover social and economic history, and, in the second volume, deals with the more standard "history of events" typical of most historical literature. Do not skip the second volume, as the tapestry Braudel weaves is not complete without it. The text is very detailed, too detailed at points, but I believe this gives the reader confidence in the authority of the writer. Clearly Braudel has done exhaustive research. You, too, will be exhausted by the time you finish this magnum opus.

I have written a review of the first volume of Braudel's history of the Mediterranean, and here will only say that it is necessary to read this second volume in order to appreciate what Braudel began in the first volume. The second volume is the more typical "history of events", but as Braudel concludes -- and correctly so in my opinion -- the history of events is founded on geography, demographics, and social and economic history. Braudel builds this foundation in the first volume, and the two volumes must be read jointly in order to fully appreciate Braudel's astounding accomplishment.