Europe Books

I teach middle school music and use this book to introduce the video "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" to my students. The text and illustrations wonderfully depict for students some of the idiosyncracies of the great composer. Much of the same ideas are then shown in the video through the eyes of a boy their same age. This book is a wonderful addition to anyone, young or old, wanting to learn insights about Ludwig vanBeethoven.

This is such a creatively well-done book. The words and illustrations are top drawer. Through the mystery of moving 39 times five pianos, children learn the story of Beethoven. Winter's underhanded humor is shown throughout making it a joy to read. I guarantee my kids won't forget who he is and what he did. The author's note in the back gives a nice lesson after the fun. My kids were enthralled through the entire book.

What a great and witty book. Great for K-2 Music Teachers. Excellent.

It's hard to easily categorize this: based on a little-known fact about Beethoven's habit of moving frequently, it offers up a fun story of how he not only moved, but moved all five of his pianos from place to place. The hilarious tale of and why he moved, followed by all those pianos, creates a very different kind of story youngsters will relish.

This book begins with a musical score in Beethoven's own hand. The end papers are an actual photograph of Beethoven's working manuscript for the Grosse Fuge in B flat major, Op. 134.

Jonah Winter recounts the story of Beethoven's pianos and the thirty-nine apartments where he lived in Vienna. So often children's "non-fiction" blurs the line between fact and speculation. Not so in this book. Winter clearly identifies what is fact and what is conjecture and does so with great humor.

Diaries, eviction notices, physical evidence and piano movers' notes are used as a basis for the story he tells. Why did Ludwig change apartments so frequently? Well, there is some evidence to suggest the neighbors complained. As Beethoven moves from place to place, Winter chronicles the music that was composed there. An author's note at the end gives additional information about his deafness and the amazing fact that he composed his magnificent Ninth Symphony after he had completely lost his hearing.

Barry Blitt's illustrations lift the story to a new level. We first see Beethoven as a baby crying in Gothic letters, "wha wha wha WHA." He accurately and humorously depicts the difficulties and incredible logistics involved in moving pianos to the new apartments, over rooftops, through windows and through walls. The composer's effect on his neighbors is depicted in a cross-section where we see the neighbors living above, below and next door to him reacting to the noise coming from his apartment in the middle. Babies cry, dogs bark and people pound on the floor, ceiling and walls as Beethoven plays.

This book is a must have for music teachers, piano teachers and students of music. What a treat!

I believe this book is a wonderful introduction to the history and events leading up to, and including the horrible years of the holocaust. I gave it to my grandaughter who is ten years old. I am a child of a survivor. The book is a valuable part of education of a time that now seems so distant, and when most of the survivors have died. It speaks for them to future generations
nd as always, Elie Wiesel is warm, and honest, but never bitter. We are now the witnesses for those who experienced hell.

Dare to stick you head and heart into the cruelity of mankind and you come away from this powerful book enlightened--and looking over your shoulder at today's racism. An equally moving book is Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Jerry Ellis.

This is the third book I read by Elie Wiesel, first I read "Night" which is my favorite, second I read "The Forgotten" which I thought was very good too. Now this one, is much shorter but the tetimonials by other Holocaust victims and the photographs makes it an excellent book. The generation of WWII survivors are dying and we need books like these to keep reminding us and future generations of the horrors of the war, so we don't repeat it.

Elie Wiesel is the writer who more than any other made the world aware of the Holocaust. He through the years has been a voice of remembrance for the victims, a voice of integrity and courage, a witness of what is the greatest example of Man's inhumanity to Man known in human history. For the Holocaust was the deliberate effort of Nazi Germany, a people sitting in the center of Europpean civilization to wholly destroy, man, woman and child the entire Jewish people. One third of the Jewish people was murdered in the years 1939-1945, and the greatest share of European Jewry destroyed.
Now in this work Elie Wiesel presents a small historical over-view of the Shoah, and accompanies this with testimonies of others who passed through this world of nightmare.
It is a short moving volume, another work of invaluable testimony.

Those who do not believe that there was, and still is, a legend in the name of 'Holocaust' are kindly invited to visit Ghaza and Lebanon (North and notably South) to look and see how such a word is actually pronounced.
They will see a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life through a carnage of fire and cold-blood slaughter of civilians.

Thank you.

I have just read the 7th volume of the amazing Story of Civilization, and continue to be impressed with this series. This volume focuses on European civilization from 1558 - 1648 and focuses on such great minds as Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo and Descartes. From a political perspective, it focuses on the reigns of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, and James I of England; Philip II, III, and IV of Spain; Henry III, IV, and Richelieu in France; and the interesting histories of the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Russia. The book also touches on the Islamic world at this time.

Durant's prose is very readable and it is also easy to see his likes and dislikes of the characters in history. I personally like to be able to understand how an historian feels about his subject and I have learned to respect his opinions. I'm amazed at how bloody this part of European history was. I knew that the time of the reformation was filled with wars, but didn't realize how long it lasted after the reformation. This volume also shows how difficult it is for man to accept change, though this time frame does begin to show some positive ideas being accepted. From a religious freedom perspective, it is incredible how difficult and painful of a process it was to arrive at the freedoms we take for granted. Reading history really makes me grateful for what we are blessed with.

I highly recommend this series and volume to anyone wanting to understand the story of our civilization. It is filled with beauty and horror. Let us learn from the lessons of history.

The Durants are gifted storytellers, however sometimes it seems they're more concerned with the art of the tale moreso than the veracity of the facts. That is not to say they are inaccurate, rather that aesthetics dominates their work. My reason for making such a claim is that it seems their spin is more of an interpretation of history than a simple conveying of facts. That spin is based in a materialistic mindset. They see historical figures as being motivated primarily by shallow concerns, which I don't think was the actual case. With that established, there is a lot of material covered in this book which makes for fascinating reading. The era of the King James Bible is described. The Puritans took the Bible as their guide for daily living. "Toward 1564 they began to be called Puritans--as a term of abuse--because they demanded the purification of English Protestantism from all forms of faith and worship not found in the New Testament" (pp. 23-24). The majority of the London Protestants and of the House of Commons were Puritans.
Private libraries among the well-to-do in England were common at this time. Interestingly, public libraries were rare. John Lyly wrote a book in 1579 proposing to show that "mind and character can be formed through education, experience, travel, and wise counsel" (p. 67). The Durands mention "old Parr", who in 1635 was presented to Charles I allegedly still in good health at age 152. There is a lot of history covered in this book. I would recommend reading it with an eye of receptivity to the facts, while disregarding the commentary inserted throughout, and taking into consideration the bias of the historians.

In this, the seventh volume of the unparalleled series "The Story of Civilization," Dr. Will & Ariel Durant have compiled a compelling rendition of historical fact covering nearly a century of Europe's past from the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558 A.D. to the death of Descartes in 1650 A.D..

The reader will be treated to vivid historical recounts concerning: Phillip II of Spain and his "invincible armada." Elizabeth I of England, the "Virgin Queen." The Hapsburg Family. The Thirty-Years' War. The Puritan Revolution in England. Spain's fierce struggle to subdue the Netherlands. Europe's disillusionment following the brutalities of the religious wars. Cardinal Richelieu of France. And much, much more including plates and maps.

The Durants have created a prose which is free-flowing and easy to understand. This book, designed to stand alone or within the series, is a masterpiece of historical accuracy to be enjoyed by professional and layperson alike. I rate it as five stars. Superb!

Fortunately, a PH.d is not required to both enjoy and be educated by the Durants monumental achievement. They are the authors who literally built the Simon & Schuster company. (I hope Carly Simon sends flowers to their graves every year as they largely generated her families fortune!)

It is important to remember that Will Durant was an experimental academic himself (c.f. the "Ferrer School"); and he knew that nothing was so stupid that it could not be found in Academe or academics. He himself is amazingly free of this crippling disease of "institutional" scholar an expert in philosophy as well as history. He was born in 1885, and educated at a time when Truth was still a concept (self-serving misreadings of Nietzche aside) and historians were unafraid to voice opinions other than one's attacking anything and everything not conforming the usual left-wing fad of the moment.

The aesthetic is indeed stunning. The flow or eloquence is rarely interuppted over nearly 70,000 pages of written text. Of course mistakes of detail abound. As I've said in other reviews, the biggest problem area is that of the military. Too often the Durants take, especially ancient, but also more recent military histories at face value. This was due to two reasons: little interest in detailed military history and preference for things "cultural." And sensing their weakness in battle narratives (as opposed to say Keegan or Tuchman or Gibbon), they are largely absent; the concentration is on their causes and effects; the effects of battles nearly always being ephemeral.

To condemn them for "lack of perspective" or "bias" is to reveal one's own. Unlike some reviews, the Durants made every effort to balance controversies by offering both sides. If they drew a conclusion contrary to your sacred cow, it is not an indicator of bias or error (much tho' the Left attempts to conflate the two).

In certain obviously indefensible activities (the Spanish Inquisition, the genocide of Jews before the First Crusade, the Church's deepfrying heretics, Louis XIV's brutal expulsion of the French protestants (Huguenot, a corruption of a German word, "eidgenossen") the Durants' condemn it with the precision of Gibbon and the moral outrage of Barbara Tuchman or Robert Conquest.

Somethings are evil and can never be anything else. To forget that is to invite the next generations of Lenins, Stalins or Hitlers.

The Durants understood the role "bias" far better than a thousand puerile academic critiques (tho' I realize that is largely a redundant remark) and compensated for it by the effort as well as their method of "integral history" which seeks to weave the entire history of European civilization into one seamless, if not stream of conscious, narrative flow.

It succeeds brilliantly and one finds it difficult to believe that any other such "generalists"--historians these days tending to bury into the infinitesimal and cherish minutiae, thus condemning themselves to present and future obloquy--will flash so brilliant across the literary heavens any time soon.

You should always check for youself if you have doubt. The Durants are almost always right and the mistakes are those of haste or, perhaps, the preference (or distaste) for the particular subject. (It is, for instance, difficult to feel much but revulsion for Charles V and his son Philip II and their policies of tyranny, blood and bigotry).

Read with a mind open to learning, not with crosshairs seeking weakness to exploit.

Will and Ariel Durant shine again in their seventh book of their history of European civilization. The given detailed attention to Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, Henri Quarte, Phillip II, Montaigne and many others.

The prose sparkles with wit, verve, pith and an unflagging interest and love for the subject of history and the homeland of my ancestors.

Highly recommended.

This book is a good overview of the main events of the period. Dunn does a great job explaining each event.

This is the second book I've read in the Norton History of Modern Europe (the first was Eugene F. Rice, Jr.'s "The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559"), and I've been highly impressed with both of them.

They both cover the basic events fairly thoroughly and simply, presenting the background but not getting lost in details. Although focusing on political history, they both cover many other aspects of history--military strategy, economics, demographics, art and culture, philosophy--briefly at least.

Speaking as someone who occasionally has to teach the subject, in my opinion organization is the greatest challenge in presenting history, and one of the greatest compliments I can pay to any history book is to call it well-organized. Dunn's book is generally very well-organized; I have only a few minor quibbles, and I doubt that I could improve on his organization without introducing bigger problems.

Other quibbles are much less significant: I would have liked more detail regarding the War of the Spanish Succession, more information about changes in military strategy in this period (since firearms underwent constant improvement, and the nature of seige warfare changed dramatically--but how exactly did these change the strategy and nature of warfare?), more on the culture of Restoration England, maybe something on the culture of the Puritans (he tells us nothing of John Foxe, and almost nothing of John Milton or John Bunyan).

However, I am fairly familiar with the cultural history of Europe (by which I mean art, music, literature, philosophy and religion), so in reading these books my main concern is to fill in the political, military, and economic background, which I don't know very well. If your situation is similar to mine, I guarantee you will find these books very rewarding.

One other thing I find most gratifying is the well chosen illustrations: although printed in black and white, they are often obscure enough to be new to me, while perfectly commenting the text. For instance, the closing pages show a woodcut of Peter the Great cutting a Russian nobleman's beard, in which Peter (actually an impressively large man) is portrayed as a giggling, child-size pest to the large, dignified nobleman; the opposite page features a print from 1698 showing Peter's execution of the streltsy (his elite guard) rebels: row after row of hangings and beheadings on edifying display for the passing carriages. You didn't see it in your art history survey course, but it reveals the nature of Peter's Russia far more effectively than anything that you did.

The maps are also perfect, which enhances any history book.

If you are looking for a history of modern European culture, I do not recommend these books, however, as their focus lies elsewhere. For that purpose, I suggest starting with Jacques Barzun's opinionated but thorough "From Dawn to Decadence," supplemented with a good art history textbook such as Jansen's History of Art. If the religious issues that attended the religious wars are your concern, you should consider the 4th volume of Jaroslav Pelikan's "The Christian Tradition," which is titled "Reformation of Church Dogma."

After this book, if your thirst for early modern European history has not been quenched, I recommend turning to Diarmaid MacCulloch's "The Reformation."

Reads like a story, instead of a series of "facts", like most history books. Highly readable. Very interesting.

When my son began the study of Modern European History in college I decided to reacquaint myself with the subject. "The Age of Religious Wars" is a good place to start. Covering the years, 1559-1715, this tome takes the reader from the End of the Reformation to the beginning of the era of the 18th century balance of power.

This book focuses on the big themes of history. It tells the stories of Kings and warriors, merchants and clerics, artists and philosophers, but very little about the common people of the era.

This book is very well organized. Beginning with the situation in Europe in 1559, the first chapter gives the religious lay of the land in the countries of Western Europe at the start of the era. Chapter 2 outlines the beginning political situation in Eastern Europe.

In Chapter 3 the author studies the economic theories and commercial forms which fueled the economies of the age.

Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the political ebb and flow between absolutism and rising constitutionalism. Although the dominant figure of the era was France's Sun King, Louis XIV, he was the architect of a system which would die in a sea of blood before the 18th Century was out. In his day, Louis XIV lead the superpower of the age, but, toward the end of his long reign, he overplayed his hand, losing much of the territorial gains which he had temporally enjoyed.

The political upheaval of the era which was a harbinger of things to come was England's Glorious Revolution of 1688. For perhaps the first time in history, a monarch's right to reign was made dependent on the support of his subjects. Protestants William of Orange and his wife, Queen Mary, daughter of the late King Charles II, were invited by the nobles to challenge Mary's brother, the Catholic King James II. The resulting overthrow of James, in clear contrast to Louis' absolutism, laid the groundwork for the concept of government by consent of the governed, which would receive expanding application during the succeeding centuries.

In Chapter 5 Prof. Dunn reflects on the Age of Genius which truly this era was. Emerging from the intellectually stagnant Middle Ages, Europe erupted into a creative age virtually unique in history. Science was advanced by the likes of Copernicas, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and Newton. Renaissance art bust forth under the creative genius of da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Durer and El Greco, to be followed by Baroque masters such as Rubens, Van Dyck and Velazquez. Europe still glories in the architectural heritage of Bernini and Wren. Our philosophy and political science still draw inspiration from the writings of Montaigne, Pascal, Hobbes Sponoza and Locke. Theatres of the world still interpret the works of Shakespeare and Marlowe, Lope de Vega and Calderon, Corneile, Moliere and Racine.

The book concludes in its sixth chapter with an analysis of the new balance of power which would carry Europe into a new age. A series of wars, Sweden's moment in the international spotlight and giant personalities such as Peter the Great would all combine to make Europe the place it would be in the 18th century.

Overall, this book is a good survey of the Age of Religious Wars. I had not read a college text in a long time and I had more acclimated to learning history in biographies and books more focused on specific topics. I am glad that I read it and give it 4 stars.

Dunn is an excellent writer. He is not flowery like the Durants, but his prose is elegant and to the point. He covers a great deal in a fair amount of detail. His book is very well organised and full of well chosen illustrations. The book is an easy size to carry around and very competitively priced (this kind of book is often very expensive, this one is not). If you want an introduction to this period, I do not think you could do better than this book. I could not put it down (Dunn knows how to be entertaining) and since completing it have referred to it often.

A very good read. And what makes it fascinating is the fact that they are all actual events. It vividly illustrates what lengths the locals went to to help these airmen. Literally putting their lives at stake to help strangers for a common cause.

Fast paced and very hard to put down, this book really gets you into the WWII evasion experience. The sense of urgency and suspense really comes through...my heart was racing as I read about downed airmen stealing clothes to blend in with the locals and racing away from the scene of the crash, sometimes right through German troops. This book really highlights the efforts and risk of the collaborators, and just how dedicated they were to doing their part in the war effort. A very highly recommended read!

I found this book gives a lot of insight to evaders and some of the less well known facts of the war. The book has a fairly fast pace but also has a lot of detail. The first three stories deal with downed flyers in France and Belgium who eventually made it to Spain and then British held Gibraltar. Spain was sympathetic to Germany, and treated evaders harshly until 1943 when it became politically necessary for them to develop a better relationship with the Allies.

The fourth story is of a later evader in Belgium who was able to meet the oncoming Allies in 1944 instead of going to Spain. The fifth story details the evasion of an entire bomber crew from the island of Corfu over to Albania. They stayed at a guerilla camp in the mountains and eventually escaped by ship to Italy after much hardship. The final story is of of a flyer who evaded through Italy. Originally captured by the Germans upon landing, he was released from jail with many others when Italy signed an armistice with the allies. He spent the rest of his time evading the Germans and travelling around Italy (with much help from Italian partisans) and finally escaping to the Allied lines after many setbacks.

One of the central themes of the book is the sacrifice made by the occupied population to feed and help the Allied fliers escape. Every story has a follow-up at the end about the later life of the evader and what happened to the people that helped them evade (if known).

Do not start reding this book if you have important things to do because you will not be able to put it down. The book chronicles the evasion of several downed airmen in WWII Europe, how they evaded, the people that helped them and the trials and risks they endured. It is well written and informative and will make you glad that you never had to fly in combat, bail out of a plane or crash land and find yourself in a lonely and hostile land.

"Aircraft down" by Philip D. Caine, sub-titled: "Evading Capture In WWII Europe". Brassey's, Dulles, Virginia, 1997

The author is a retired Brigadier General, United States Air Force, where he was once responsible for training at the Air Force Academy for "SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape). This gave him a professional interest in the history of evaders in Nazi occupied Europe. Philip D. Caine has also written books on Americans serving in in the Royal Air Force, (e.g. in the "Eagle Squadron") including "American Pilots In The RAF".

In this book, "Aircraft Down", he has drawn on his training and experience to write six separate stories, of individuals and crews, shot down behind the lines in enemy held Europe. The first three stories deal with Americans who were flying in the RAF. These three were fighter pilots, who came down alone. They were not alone on the ground, however, as they all needed the help of the local populace to escape Nazi searchers.

The fifth story is different: the entire crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress comes down on the island of Corfu, off the coast of Albania/Greece. Here, again, the common thread is that he local populace has to work together to first provide refuge for the evaders and then to provide a means of escape.

In all of the stories in this book, the author has worked to put a human face on the evaders. His research has been sufficient to give a personal memoir flavor to each story, and his follow-up on post war meetings, provides a sense of closure to the story. He relates the excitement when an evader meets the same woman working in the same field as on the day he was shot down, some 40+ years ago.

The book is concluded with a very short chapter entitled, "The Art Of Evasion And Survival", which points up that the personal resourcefulness of the downed pilot is often the key to a successful escape. General Caine has avoided the usual impersonal book, often written by General Officers, dealing with statistics numbers and unit identification, all at the "higher" strategic level. Instead, happily, he has used personal interviews and much research to provide a fine book telling the stories almost as if they were all personal memoirs.

If you truly have an interest in the people of Albania there is no better book available. I have read most of the writing (in English) on Albania and this book always checks out with other sources. It is the one complete, unbiased (important in this reagion) account of the Albania people. If you are only casually interested, you will find it ponderous.

The book has it all. It should a koran or bible for every Albanian and I would urge everyone one to own a copy or at least read it. It is very carefully written and greatly researched, based on classical and contemporary sources of history, archeaology and linguistics. It is also extremely helpful in providing other research sources for related fields or works. Above all, it is true in content and as such unbiased.

The book is a classic for presenting history based on facts. Many thanks to the author for putting such a bright light on historical facts, and the effort to collect all the information pieces that exist around the world and putting them in a fascinating logical way that creates a nice picture of what have happened thousands of years before, mainly in the ballkans, particulary in today's Albania, and all over the world.

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

The author brings the science of history to a new paradigm. The book is written in an excellent way and is result of intensive and extensive experience from the author. He will keep receiving many thanks for his research and publishing work. The book confirms that History is a scientific field and not a dogmatic field. The book must be read by all. The book helps to find answers questions. Reading the book, one can crystally see that the Pelasgian language is the same as the present-day Albanian language. Moreover, it tells what brush paintings had been put on Pelasgian (Albanian) culture and language.

Being my self an Albanian,it has surpassed all my expectations.it is truly true in its content,revealing much of the truth about albania,that even albanians themselves do not know.my deepest sympathy goes to the author with this touching review of albania`s history.i think it made me prouder being an albanian then ever before.i strongly advise all albanians and friends of albania to add this rare item to their collection.

thanks again to the author....deeply gratefull.

Mak draws his history from many quarters with a fine sense of balance and writing skill. In the early part of the book, he details the City's acumen in trade and finance and the rich history of its ferocious effort to build out this wonderful City against the forces of nature. The highlight is the taking of Amsterdam by the Germans in May of 1940; the sense of denial in the Amsterdammers, yet far to the south of the City, a haunting "lowing of the cows" sensing in their animal way the buildup of the German invasion. He writes about the dutiful efficiency of the Dutch bureaucracy aiding the Germans in rounding up the Jews and in his balancing way, the courage of the Resistance.

Een kleine geschiedenis van Amsterdam (the Dutch Title of this book) has been on my friends' must-read lists since it was released in Dutch in 1995. I have finally gotten around now to reading it, and am only sorry that I hadn't read it sooner.

Mak is very good at choosing periods from the life of the city to highlight and also choosing the anecdotes that make them real. Whether his focus is on the portrait of Gerrit Janszoon Peggedochter, or the reaction of modern Amsterdammers to the marriage of (then Princess, now Queen) Beatrix, the stories are always fascinating. I liked how he made an effort to tie the Amsterdam of the past to its current incarnation.

Mercifully, he doesn't overly focus on tulipmania-- that's been covered more than well enough elsewhere.

I have not read the Dutch version, only the English, and I found the translation smooth and sufficient.

This was a very readable account of Amsterdams history. Of course it would take a five volume history to do full justice to the city but this was admirable in its ability to cover high points while not being a dull textbook account.The prose was very good and not dry at all.

I read this book in Dutch, and lived in Amsterdam for many years. Being an (ex)Amsterdammer, I guess there are many things you take for granted, and I certainly subscribe to Mak's explanation that one of them is "being proud of not being proud".
However, having lived away from Amsterdam for so many years now, this book has thoroughly re-established my (not so proud) appreciation for Amsterdam! My next trip to my beloved home town will, thanks to Geert Mak, be an altogether different one.

I read this book in preparation for a visit to Amsterdam, and my visit was far more enjoyable and interesting as a result. You owe it to the Amsterdammers to read this book before spending any amount of time in their city--you'll have a much deeper understanding to inform your stay. Imagine reading stories about Chicago by Studs Terkel before visiting that city.

It's really too bad, though, that such a good book has suffered such incompetent editing. Harvard University Press should be ashamed of itself--misspellings, strange punctuation, inconsistent formatting--did anyone actually look at the copy before it went to press?

The commentary for each selection is informative and clear, and the translations are lucid and lively reading. A complete version of Beowulf is here along with the Anglo-Saxon Elegies and bits of Venerable Bede, Pope Gregory, a story of Caedmon's conversion, and other hallowed texts. I wish this book had been longer--more letters, more entries of the Chronicle, etc.--but as an author I know how size is often constrained by decision of the publisher; still, I would have paid ten times the cover for five times more. Here's to a second volume by the same translator.

This is the book that got me hooked on the Oxford World Classics series, which has not yet failed to provide beautiful translations where even the densest language becomes clearly understandable, all the while still keeping the integrity of the original work. The Anglo-Saxon World gives a sweeping introduction into the literature of the Anglo-Saxons while providing short commentary that places each work into historical perspective. While the information is unfortunately is not in depth, it is adequate enough for those unfamiliar with the history of the period to see the works in the proper context.

Found here are the major works: the epic Beowulf, "The Seafarer," "The Wanderer," and the works of Bede. But also found are the more obscure and, perhaps, more telling examples of their written culture, including (sometimes bawdy) riddles and even the amusing remedy for a woman's chatter: "eat a radish at night, while fasting; that day the chatter cannot harm you" (276). The texts range from deep pathos and solemn wisdom to the light, humorous and superstitious. Most significantly, this collection makes an ancient and foreign culture both easily approachable and readily accessible. For those with even a passing interest in Anglo-Saxon history, this book is well worth the time and money.

I bought this book in an old edition paperback form in Dublin because it contained the major elegies such as the Wanderer and the Seafarer. I ended up being extremely satisifed not only with the beautiful translation of the Wanderer, but with all of the selections and with Crossley-Holland's comments. I was very thrilled to meet him recently at a reading in Seattle, where he was promoting his Arthur trilogy. I'll have to check that out.

I'm a homeschooled student (in 10th grade). I read this book as part of a course on early European history, and have also referred to it while studying the history of the English language. Most of the translations are very accessible to the modern reader on their own, and Mr. Crossley-Holland's insightful commentary clears up those which are more difficult or obscure. Anyone who has a serious interest in the literature and culture of the Anglo-Saxons will not be disappointed in this book.

This book is easily one of the best collections of Anglo Saxxon period texts and as well is a great begining spot for anyone seeking further interest in the subject. As well with the epic Beowulf and Bede's writings this book is easily worth every cent and provides a wealth of additional information from religious writings to epic battle hymns.

I felt that this book did a great job as well as providing for understandable text and in most parts flowed easily enough that the writing proved both interesting and informative. The language is thick in some spots but overall the pure eloquence and spirit of the book compensates for this slight detail. The texts in this collection are as well very diverse so that almost any reader would find an interesting topic; and it proves a good book to read straight through or just pick up from time to time and read.

I just finished reading this book to my 5-year-old daughter as part of her homeschool curriculum. We were assigned to read portions each day and often she would beg, "Please, just a little more!" I hated to put it down, too.

A Newberry winner, the story is well written and powerful. It develops the tale of William Tell from the perspective of his son, Walter, from whose head he shot the infamous apple.

What I most appreciate is that the story helps children understand freedom, and why people would risk their lives to fight for it. (William Tell is the legendary hero of the fight for freedom of what is now Switzerland.)

When my daughter asked, "Why do people have wars?" I struggled with the right words to answer her question. Then this book showed up on our reading list. "The Apple and the Arrow" managed to explain the concept of fighting for freedom in a page-turning, enjoyable way.

The Apple and the Arrow is about an eleven-year-old boy named Walter Tell. He awaits the skillful demonstration of his father William, a Swiss freedom fighter, who will shoot an apple from his head, "Shoot, father, shoot! I am not afraid says Walter". Walter's voice seemed to bring back his father's courage. Walter's father quickly raised the heavy crossbow to his shoulder as muscles rippled on his brown arms. He sighted the apple on his son's head. He pulled back the bowstring...

The legend of William Tell survived for more than seven hundred years. The Apple and the Arrow, winner of a 1952 Honor Medal, tells the story through Walter's eyes, as he and his father struggle for the freedom of their family, their village, and their country.

I recommend The Apple and the Arrow as a nighttime story for kids of any age. Although it is a little bit on the long side is goes by pretty quickly.

I really liked this book.This book is about a cruel noble named Gessler, a bowman named William Tell and his son Walter. Gessler didn't believe William tell was as good as a bowman as everybody said he was. So Gessler tied Walter to a tree and put an apple on Walter's head.William Tell had to shoot it with his crossbow. I won't tell you any more you'll have to read, The Apple and the Arrow to find out the rest.

Conrad Buff was born in Switzerland in 1886, studied art in his native country and in Germany, them emigrated to the United States in 1904, settling
in Los Angeles, where he became a noted landscape artist. Along with his wife Mary, he coauthored/illustrated a number of children's book, among
them this Newberry Honor winner, which recounts the legend of the Swiss hero, William Tell.

The story is simply told, from the perspective of twelve year old Walter, who has the famous apple shot off his head. In 1290, the good king Rudolph
has died; leader of Germany, Austria, and the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, he collected taxes yearly but otherwise left the stubborn and
independent mountain people of Uri alone. But his son Albrecht rules with a harder hand, and his deputy, Gessler, who is building a permanent castle
at Altdorf, is particularly despised. William Tell is part of a group, eleven men from each canton, who plan to revolt in 1291, but events get ahead of
him when he and Walter travel to Altdorf. There, Gessler's henchmen have placed a nobleman's feathered cap upon a tall pole and require the men of
Uri to bow to it, which William refuses to do, setting in motion the train of events that bring honor to his name even seven hundred years later.

This is a thrilling story of "one man's revolt against tyranny", with serious themes of independence and freedom and responsibility. Kids, especially
boys, will love it and even parents will learn from it.

GRADE : A

Conrad Buff was born in Switzerland in 1886, studied art in his native country and in Germany, them emigrated to the United States in 1904, settling in Los
Angeles, where he became a noted landscape artist. Along with his wife Mary, he coauthored/illustrated a number of children's book, among them this Newberry
Honor winner, which recounts the legend of the Swiss hero, William Tell.

The story is simply told, from the perspective of twelve year old Walter, who has the famous apple shot off his head. In 1290, the good king Rudolph has died; leader
of Germany, Austria, and the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, he collected taxes yearly but otherwise left the stubborn and independent mountain people
of Uri alone. But his son Albrecht rules with a harder hand, and his deputy, Gessler, who is building a permanent castle at Altdorf, is particularly despised. William
Tell is part of a group, eleven men from each canton, who plan to revolt in 1291, but events get ahead of him when he and Walter travel to Altdorf. There, Gessler's
henchmen have placed a nobleman's feathered cap upon a tall pole and require the men of Uri to bow to it, which William refuses to do, setting in motion the train
of events that bring honor to his name even seven hundred years later.

This is a thrilling story of "one man's revolt against tyranny", with serious themes of independence and freedom and responsibility. Kids, especially boys, will love it
and even parents will learn from it.

GRADE : A

This is a short summary of the killing factory of Auschwitz. The author is a German Professor of History and she details how the killing factory came about. I.G. Farben wanted to locate a huge industrial site in this requistitioned site of former Poland. When they killed off the Soviet Prisoner of War population, they decided this may be a good resettlement site for Jewish population of Europe. In actuality, it was not a resettlement camp but a death camp where the workers either had a slow or quick death. Those who survived the initial train selection process were worked to death on starvation food rations.

Steinbacher details the history of Auschwitz well. This is a tough subject and I think she does well overall. The writing was surprisely good, with many technical subjects covered in layman's terms.

Professor Steinbacher tells the truth and only the truth. There are no embellishments or sensationalisms in her book. This book "cuts to the chase." Again, there are "no" over-the-top sensationalisms(like Rees' book, with too many wondering/airy/undocumented side stories - give me the facts!) This book gives you the facts! Every class and school should have this book. You will learn a whole lot in this book, which is not very long, because it gets to the point and dosen't have the 'personal opinion, un-substanciated endless babble' that other books on this important topic have that cost 4 times as much as Steinbacher's. Steinbacher's book is a "find;" or a "needle in the haystack." It teaches Auschwitz, without the "reckless and 'overly' graphic" details, but brilliantly gets the message across/gets the job done. Highly, highly recommended for "all" teachers and students. A lot of well researched info for a mere $9ish dollars. Again, there's a lot of learning in this concise book. Truly, the most objective and well-written book on Auschwitz. One tip on reading Steinbacher's book; Before reading the whole book, read page "29," and learn something about Auschwitz you've never heard... WOW!!! Solid book.

The name Auschwitz is so loaded with associations of almost universal evil that it barely occurs to people that there is a reality to be known. Using the name as a shortcut for the Holocaust, for genocide, mass murder, poison gas, crematoria, Nazi SS terror troops, and more actually cheats us. This rather small book takes on the big task of telling in a very straightforward way how Auschwitz came to be, what happened there during the Second World War, and its aftermath.

Auschwitz is the name the Germans applied to a Polish town as they moved to the East to provide "Living Space" and a buffer against the Soviets. At first they moved the Poles out of the town to other prison camps and then brought them back and killed thousands. IG Farben decided it could use the slave labor such camps could provide and so a huge factory was built. But the camp was too far away for malnourished prisoners to travel each day. They had hoped these prisoners would be at least half as effective as a healthy German. The prisoners, starved, beaten, and traumatized, were only about 20% as effective. So, a camp was built next to the plant.

Soviet Prisoners of War by the thousands were also brought to an Auschwitz camp to be slaves, they ended up being useless for that purpose. More than 10,000 of them were killed as well. When the war effort began going badly the camps moved into extermination and a huge third camp was begun with enough capacity to burn more than 4,500 bodies per day. They were never all in service at the same time, but what did exist was so overburdened with use that they became damaged and required repair. Bodies were burned in open trenches during the repairs.

The author teaches us that the 4 million killed in Auschwitz was based by the Soviets on theoretical crematoria capacity. Scholars studying the subject now believe that between 1.1 and 1.5 million were killed there in various ways. There was the Zyklon B and cremation, but there was also shooting, starvation, disease, beating, medical experimentation, and even doctors injecting phenol directly into prisoners' hearts. We are shown how this easily fits in with the number of 6 million Jews killed during the war. In the beginning only about half of those killed were Jews, by the frantic last days it was almost all Jews.

The book also takes us through the trials related to Auschwitz (not all the war crimes trials) and what was uncovered and how punishment was meted out and strangely avoided by some for decades and some escaped entirely. Finally, the author gives us a tour of the revisionists who try to deny the truth about the mass murders at the three Auschwitz camps.

Her writing is clear and straightforward. She tells us these monstrous things without adding emotion into her writing. We don't need any help in feeling the horror and revulsion. We know she feels it, too. The book never gets gruesome or clinical and provides an amazing number of facts in its 168 pages. There are maps of the area and diagrams of the three camps and a picture taken by prisoners in the camp of bodies being burned on the ground.

This is quite an amazing little book and can help its readers understand the realities behind the word that we all use as a brand name for unspeakable evil.

There are many larger and more detailed (and perhaps, more emotional and horrifying) books about Auschwitz, but as a short, factual and accurate rendering of that gigantic horror story, this book is excellent. Sybille Steinbacher covers a surprising amount of detail in a very short space. These days, when current political events have created entire nations of holocaust deniers, this should be a required text.

In this short book, Sybille Steinbacher, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Modern and Contemporary History at Ruhr University, gives a compelling account of Auschwitz. Professor Steinbacher, and her able translator, Shaun Whiteside, writes in a concise, stark, understated, and eloquent way. She avoids the tendency to sensationalize and overdramatize and allows her material to speak for itself. The stylistic, nonsensationalistic excellence of this book adds greatly to its impact.

In brief, measured chapters, Professor Steinbacher discusses the long history of the Polish town of Oswiecim, and its history of Jewish habitation, before it became notorious as Auschwitz. She explains how Auschwitz lay in the path of Germany's eastern expansion and how it inexorably became a killing camp. It moved from a camp for political prisoners and a labor camp to, beginning in mid-1942, a death camp for Jews. She discusses how this change came about as a result of high policy within the Nazi regime and how it was implemented in the camp with mass gasing, shootings, beatings, starvations, and medical torture. She describes the role of the German corporation IB Farben in organizing the camps, using the labor of the prisoners, and providing the cyanide gas, Zyclon B, for the killings. Following her discussion of the founding of the camp, and its development into a site for mass murder, Professor Steinbacher discusses how the Nazi's abandoned the camp, took the remaining prisoners on lengthy death marches, and attempted to destroy the evidence of their brutality as the Soviet Army moved closer and ultimately occupied the camp. She describes the attempt, following the end of the War, to bring some of the perpetuators of Auschwitz to justice, with mixed results. Finally, a short chapter considers those who have denied the Holocaust and the crimes perpetuated at Auschwitz. Professor Steinbacher discusses the extent to which people in the town of Auschwitz, in Germany, and in the outside world were aware of the events in the camp. She also discusses, briefly, the decision of the Allies not to bomb the camp when they learned of the ongoing atrocities. The book includes detailed maps of the complexes at Auschwitz and a good bibliography.

With its tone of restraint, careful factual presentation, and considered judgment, Professor Steinbacher's book was highly valuable in helping me think about Auschwitz.

Robin Friedman