Europe Books

IF you value Irish history, this book will take you into the modern turning point in Ireland. It is a fact filled (if not a tad dry) historical telling of one of the island country's defining moments.
Prepare to tune out distraction and let yourself get absorbed. It is a serious read, and if you are of Irish heritage, requisite.

TIM PAT COOGAN'S BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK ABOUT THE UPRISING FROM A FACTUAL AND ANALYTICAL BASIS. THIS IS THE BOOK TO START WITH. THAT SAID, LET US DRAW SOME LESSONS FROM THIS KEY STRUGGLE OF EUROPEON HISTORY AND LOOK AT A KEY LEADER.

A word. They tell a story about James Connolly that just before the start of action in Easter, 1916 he told the members of the Irish Citizen's Army (almost exclusively workers, by the way) that if the uprising was successful to keep their guns handy. More work with them might be necessary against the nationalist allies of the moment organized as the Irish Volunteers. The Volunteers were mainly a petty bourgeois formation and had no intention of fighting for a Socialist Republic. True story or not, I think that gives a pretty good example of the strategy and tactics to be used in colonial and third world struggles by the working class. Would that the Chinese Communists in the 1920's and other colonial and third world liberation fighters since then had paid heed to that strategic concept.

A word on the Easter Uprising. The easy part of analyzing the Uprising is the knowledge, in retrospect, that it was not widely supported by people in Ireland and militarily defeated by the British forces send in main force to crush it and therefore doomed to failure. Still easier is to criticize the strategy and tactics of the action and of the various actors, particularly in underestimating the British Empire's frenzy to crush any opposition to its main task of victory in World War I. Although, I think that would be a point in the uprising's favor under the theory that England's (or fill in the blank) woes were Ireland's (or fill in the blank) opportunities. The hard part is to draw any positive lessons of that national liberation experience for the future. If nothing else remember this though, and unfortunately the Irish national liberation fighters (and other national liberation fighters later, including later Irish revolutionaries) failed to take this into account in their military calculations, the British (or fill in the blank) were entirely committed to defeating the uprising including burning that colonial country to the ground if need be in order to maintain control. In the final analysis, it was not their metropolitan homeland, so the hell with it. Needless to say, British Labor's position was almost a carbon copy of His Imperial Majesty's. Labor leader Arthur Henderson could barely contain himself when informed that James Connolly had been executed. That should, even today, make every British militant blush with shame. Unfortunately, the demand for British militants and others today is the same as then- All British Troops Out of Ireland.

In various readings I have come across a theory that the Uprising was the first socialist revolution in Europe, predating the Bolshevik Revolution by over a year. Unfortunately, there is little truth to that idea. Of the Uprising's leaders, only James Connolly was devoted to the socialist cause. Moreover, while the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army were prototypical models for urban- led national liberation forces such organizations, as we have witnessed in later history, are not inherently socialistic. The dominant mood among the leadership was in favor of political independence and/or fighting for a return to a separate traditional Irish cultural hegemony. Let poets rule the land. As outlined in the famous Proclamation of the Republic posted on the General Post Office in Dublin, Easter Monday, 1916 the goal of the leadership appeared to be something on the order of a society like those fought for in the European Revolutions of 1848, a left bourgeois republic. Some formation on the order of the Paris Commune of 1871 or the Soviet Commune of 1917 did not figure in the political calculations at that time.

As noted above, James Connolly clearly was skeptical of his erstwhile comrades on the subject of the nature of the future state and apparently was prepared for an ensuing class struggle following the establishment of a republic. That does not mean that revolutionary socialists could not support such an uprising. On the contrary, Lenin, who was an admirer of Connolly for his anti-war stance in World War I, and Trotsky stoutly defended the uprising against those who derided the Easter Rising for involving bourgeois elements. Participation by bourgeois and petty bourgeois elements is in the nature of a national liberation struggle. The key, which must be learned by militants today is who leads the national liberation struggle and on what program. As both Lenin and Trotsky made clear later in their own revolutionary experiences in Russia revolutionary socialists have to lead other disaffected elements of society to overthrow the existing order. There is no other way in a heterogeneous class-divided society. Moreover, in Ireland, the anti-imperialist nature of the action against British imperialism during wartime on the socialist principle that the defeat of your own imperialist overlord, as a way to open the road to the struggle merited support on that basis. Chocky Ar La.

As early as September, 1914, the supreme council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) had decided that an insurrection would take place in Ireland while Britain was preoccupied fighting Germany. Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, was the chosen day for the planned rebellion, which would involve slightly less than 2,000 IRB members and militia, including about 100 women from the Cumann na mBan (women's branch) of the Irish Volunteers. These brave women served as nurses, couriers, and secretaries. Although many other areas of Ireland were supposed to take part in the rebellion, lack of communication between the Irish leaders resulted in the insurrection being largely confined to Dublin.

In the Dublin area, 2,500 British soldiers were stationed, but within 48 hours they were reinforced by 2,000 troops from England who landed at Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) harbour. Also, there were 9,500 armed members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) that were available. Against these odds, the Irish rebels never stood a chance, and on Saturday, April 29, the rebel leaders held a council of war and decided to surrender unconditionally.

It is estimated that during the week of fighting, the rebels lost about 1,350 people killed or wounded, while aprox. 1,214 civilians were killed or wounded. The official British army casualty list gave a total of 516 officers and men killed, wounded, or missing. 16 leaders of the rebellion were court-martialled and executed by the British. During and immediately after the Easter Rising, the Irish population was largely against the rebels, because many Irish men were serving in the British army in France and thus the rebels were viewed as traitors. But the public opinion drastically shifted in favor of the rebels following the executions.

Michael Collins, who survived the rebellion, said afterwards,"It appeared at the time of the surrender to have failed, but that valiant effort and the martyrdoms that followed it finally awoke the sleeping spirit of Ireland." Padraic Pearse, one of the top leaders of the Irish rebels, said at his court-martial,"We seem to have lost. We have not lost. To refuse to fight would have been to lose. To fight is to win."

This gripping book tells the story of the tragic Easter Rising like no other, and Tim Pat Coogan has proved himself to be one of the best writers on Ireland's "Troubled Times". This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in Irish history!

This book is a to the point informative guide to the events leading up to and during the Insurection. It is non partison for the most part and also talks about modern develpments on events in Ireland. I think this is a great book for anyone who wants a basic knowledge of the Easter Rebellion.

Not the same-old, same-old wordy, dry and painful Coogan we've come to know and expect. Concise, succinct and absolutely brilliant. Some of his very finest work details the events surrounding the events of the 1916 rising. This is really a must read and in the current hard cover addition a must-have for any serious student/collector of the troubles. An investment that will no doubt pay dividends.

My husband and I are stationed in Germany. He was so excited to learn that a book like this existed (dismayed he couldnt buy it at his local bookstore!) and was a little kid when it arrived. He's planning MWR trips for our fellow soldiers/families to learn/see more of historical WW2 sites. This book does not put itself out as a historical writing, only one that has coordinated and organized WW2 sites in such a way that a novice or buff can find the sites and learn more. While it ranks the sites (Holocaust sites are not ranked as they could never be stratified against another historical moment in time) it does so based on the ability of one to find the site, location, physical identifiers and the learning possibilities of that site. They do amplify the travel elements with historical facts for the reader to further support their choices.

Great book!

When I have visited Civil War battlefields from Gettysburg to Shiloh I have brought along the respective volumes from the Time-Life Civil War series as a convenient way of recalling what happened. While nowhere as nearly profusely illustrated, Chuck Thompson has put together an excellent guide to "The 25 Best World War II Sites: European Theater" for those who are traveling to the Continent and want to see the best sites. This holds true whether they are brought by memories of serving in World War II, to see where relatives fought during the war, or simply to see the realities behind movies like "The Longest Day" or "Saving Private Ryan" (in fact, Thompson makes a point of referencing dramatizations like "Band of Brothers" and other standard WWII fare).

The goal of this guide is to direct travelers in Europe to those places of greatest importance interest with regards to World War II. Thompson's subjective rankings were determined by judging sites on the basic of three equally weighted qualities: (1) their historical significance; (2) the amount and quality of relics or points of interest remaining at a given site; and (3) the merits of each site as a travel destination, its services, natural beauty and general desirability independent of its association with the war. Consequently, Stalingrad and the Battle of the Bulge make the cut whereas Dieppe and Dunkirk do not, with London, Paris and Rome having an inherent advantage over locales that are not cosmopolitan capitals.

The results of this tabulation is as follows: (1) Normandy I: Utah, Omaha Beaches; (2) Normandy II: Gold, Juno, Sword Beaches; (3) London; (4) Auschwitz-Birkenau; (5) Bastogne: Battle of the Bulge I; (6) Belgium/Luxembourg: Battle of the Bulge II; (7) Pas de Calais; (8) Berlin; (9) Washington, D.C.; (10) South Coast of England; (11) Cassino; (12) Paris; (13) Moscow; (14) Normandy III: The Breakout; (15) Munich; (16) Nuremberg; (17) East Anglia; (18) Volgograd (Stalingrad); (19) Norway; (20) Netherlands: Operation Market-Garden; (21) Rome; (22) Remagen/Eifel Region; (23) Anzio; (24) Kursk; and (25) Auxiliary Sites, which lists everything from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the likes of Hitler's birthplace, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the Maginot Line, Berchtesgarden, the Medinat el-Alamein War Museum and the Treblinka Concentration Camp in between. This last chapter is arranged by country, so if you happen to be in the Balkans, Finland, Italy, Malta, or pretty much any other European nation, Thompson gives you an indication of what there is to see.

For each of these sites Thompson lists the individual points of interest in the area, provides detailed histories and maps of the sites, and gives direction to everything from monuments and city museums to landing beaches and battlefields. The points of interested are rated from ***** (major site, must visit) to * (only if you have time or special interest), although Thompson wisely refrains from rating Holocaust sites. He also emphasizes in his introduction that these ratings are not meant to judge the relative importance of a battle or of the lives lost there, but to indicate the relative value to a tourist. He also provides an interesting perspective by noting that a visitor will notice that nations like England and Russia weave the mythology of the historic conflict into their national identities in decidedly different ways. However, the main concern here is the utility of this guide for visitors to any of these cites.

For example, in the first chapter devoted to the Utah and Omaha beaches in Normandy, we begin with a description of what happened there during the war year (with a short list of sources and other readings), and a map showing 21 numbered sites. After a brief description of Normandy Today, Thompson goes through those 21 sites, where the Utah Beach/Museum, Point du Hoc/Range Memorial, National Guard Memorial/Bunkers, Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, and U.S. 1st Division Monument/Omaha Beach are the five-star rated sites. Cherbourg is listed as one of the Related Sites Beyond Utah and Omaha, while the Bayeux Tapestry is one of the Other Area Attractions. Thompson also covers Getting To/Around Normandy and Accommodations in the area (e.g., Hotel Du Juin 6).

There are several pages of color photographs included to give you an idea of what there is to see, including the Fuhrer's rostrum at Nuremberg, Patton's grave in Luxembourg, Longues Battery at Normandy, the Gate of Death at Auschwitz-Birkenaur, and the Flour Mill in Volgograd. The number of people who will have the opportunity to see most of these sites is going to be relatively small, but even if all you get to see are a handful of sites in various locations, this is still a worthwhile investment. It can also help you determine what you should see, both in terms of desire and opportunity (for example, getting to Poland to see Auschwitz-Birkenaur might be impractical, but there are, of course, camps throughout eastern Europe, from Dachau west of Munich and Bergen-Belsen outside Bergen to Natzweiler-Struthof in France.

The chapter on Washington, D.C. does show that there are some things to see on this side of the Atlantic, but also speaks to the utility of a European visitor coming here to see World War II related sites as well. Yes, there is a companion volume for "The 25 Best World War II Sites: Pacific Theater" by Thompson, which obviously covers a larger area geographically. But it should provide the same level of utility as this book.

Being stationed overseas has allowed us to travel quite a bit. There's much more out there than we thought! Definitely a good book to help you find WWII sites!
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe for the Senses - A Photographic Journal"

[...]

Chuck Thompson has made something special here and I strongly recommend his book to the historically minded traveler. I graduated a semester early from Lehigh University and played the classic college-boy card: Backpacking Europe. My travels were excellent; thanks in part to "The 25 Best World War II Sites: European Theater." It is a thoughtful, thorough analysis of the magical relics of World War II. In addition, it is a superb travel guide. It encouraged me to see things I would not have seen, to go where I would never have gone. For the young American overseas, I can hardly imagine a more satisfying, paperback companion.

From the "Big 25-list," I went to the Normandy Beaches, twice, and to London, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bastogne, Belgium/Luxembourg, Paris, Munich, Nuremberg, and Rome. When at these places, this book provided a plan of action based on Thompson's maps, directions, and rating system. In addition, Thompson's textual description of each area included both details and the wide picture, providing a compact history book for the weight-conscious backpacker. The obvious highlights, such as Normandy and Auschwitz, are well covered and worth visiting, but it is in the small, lesser-known areas where I felt the true value of this praise-worthy guide.

Let me highlight several places in particular that won me over:

*The Nazi Party Rally Grounds @ Nuremburg* - Germany's a big place and I may not have known where to go without this book. When I left Prague ahead of schedule, this small German town with the darkest of histories knocked me out. So much and so little remains from this mysterious lost time.

*Maginot Line @ Longuyon* - Yes, I walked 12 miles across the French countryside to hunt out these ancient forts. They were closed when I got there; however, this ranks among my best days. Make sure to check the "Auxiliary Sites" section!

*Patton's Grave @ Luxembourg* - On the same day as the Maginot Line. I walked 3 miles outside of Luxembourg at dusk to pay tribute to this great among Americans. I would have found none of these places without Thompson's book.

*Belgium* - The European nexus of both World Wars, this tiny country is thick with history. When in Brussels, travel outside the city center to the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History. Thank you, Jay Blitzer, for taking me to Liege. Before I close up, the town of Yper in Belgium is *the* place for WWI battle sites. I rented a bike there and had an unbelievable time.


In Thompson's introduction, he warns that, "Outside of major cities and a few noted exceptions, the only way to efficiently visit the battlefields and sites covered in this book is by car." On the other hand, an adventurous traveler can use this book with excellent results without a car. I did.

Here is my recommendation: go to Europe, use this book, and learn about human history. Take a Guidebook (Let's Go, Rough Guide, LonelyPlanet) and this book. I planned my trip using Rick Steves' Europe Through The Backdoor. These books will make a smooth trip, overall. Thompson's travel guide makes World War II battle sites approachable and memorable. A Thompson five-star site is a clear winner, hands down. I slapped myself for not realizing the value of Thompson's guide earlier in my trip. I missed Cassino, for example. When is my next vacation?

I thank the men and women whose sacrifices protected the world in the 1940s. For next trip, pack a Thompson-guide and travel Europe through history. May we always have such an easy way to pay our respects.

Since knowledge of anything older than the last generation of Pentium processor has gone the way of the dodo, this savvy book helps you get up to speed on a bunch of places that changed the course of world history. The names seem dimly familiar--Anzio, Bastogne, Cassino--but the stories of these major Euro battlefields are long gone, buried under a mountain of pop culture trivia. No more. This guide to the most intense hot spots of WWII brings back the heroics, the strategies--and the places themselves, because this is a travel book, not a textbook, with all the info needed to experience these settings first-hand: the military points of interest, local accommodations, transportation and other attractions in the area. It's the kind of information that falls between the cracks of travel guidebooks. Thompson does an excellent job of bringing this period vividly to life, with a slew of anecdotes and nuggets that kept this Vic Morrow-loving "Combat" fan immersed from Normandy to Kursk. Call it as cool as Cage, as comprehensive as Little John.

First of all it is clear why this is a good novel: the excellence of the writing, the palpable description of the sadness and loneliness of life as a spy and particularly a Russian spy in the 60's, and the feelings evoked for the emotional poverty of the Russians under Stalin and Malenkov and their progeny.

In many respects it approaches (but sadly misses) the characterization of Deaver's Willi Kohl in the unheralded but brilliant "Garden of Beasts" and of course the greatest of the Russian detectives, Arkady Renko particularly in Cruz Smith's recent (and fantastic) "Wolves Eat Dogs."

But Steinhauer seems to miss on the people surrounding Sev. We know right off the bat that he's been set up and the "why," like a good poker hand, is kept from us for many chapters. But the people surrounding Sev, his mother, Jan, Jan's wife, Colonel Cerney, all provide great opportunity for deeper analysis but instead we get a bunch of 3" by 5" card descriptions.

Likewise I really had no feelings for Sev. For example, C. W, Sughrue in James Crumley's "The Last Good Kiss" is an irritating, self-abusing protaganist. Couldn't stand the guy. If he lived next door I would move. But you have feelings for him. Ditto Bernard Samson of Len Deighton fame. But Sev is like your ex-sister in law's third husband that you see every Christmas 'OK. Who is this guy? What's he mean to me?'

I will read Steinhauer again (and again) because he is very talented. But 36 Yalta Boulevard was too fragmented and superficial. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

In 1966, Major Brano Sev is sent from his Communist nation to Vienna to uncover Code Name Gavrilo, a traitor leaking information to the West. However, the State Security Officer, who has replaced the murdered Kristina Urben, wakes up with amnesia in a park. He learns that the mission was accomplished, but upon disembarking the plane he is arrested for turning traitor too as his assistant Lochert painted quite a spin on what really happened in Vienna.

Brano lives due to the interactions of his former superior, Colonel Cerny. After six months in a factory, Cerny assigns Brano to visit his hometown of Bobrka to interrogate a possible defector Jan Soroka. Welcomed home by his mother, but no one else as everyone knows what he does for a living, Brano becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Jacob Bieneck. He does little to defend himself against the frame as he assumes this is his cover to enable him to learn the truth. Instead he finds himself back in Vienna wondering who besides Lochert betrayed him and why, but he believes that it is probably too late to prove he did not commit homicide.

This Cold War espionage thriller will remind the audience of the early works of LeCarre although the key protagonist is an Eastern block spy. Brano is a terrific protagonist as he follows orders to such a degree that he jeopardizes himself as he never considered that he was being set up until his forced return to Vienna in spite of Lochert's devastating misinformation campaign. Olen Steinhauer writes another fantastic tale. If you have not read him you are missing quite a suspense treat (see THE CONFESSION and BRIDGE OF SIGHS).

Harriet Klausner

Olen Steinhauer's Major Brano Sev is part of his Commmunist nation's security apparatus. He awakes in a Viennese park, remembering nothing, an Austrian policeman helping him up. Asked who he is, Sev produces a library card bearing the name Bernard Richter. Richter was murdered last night, but the Austrian policeman doesn't know this - and at the moment Sev remembers nothing, not even his name.

Thus begins the grim tale of this dedicated investigator, torturer and murderer, this agent of a people's republic whose life is devoted to protecting an oppressive regime where, the joke goes, there are only three classes: those in prison, those who have been in prison and those who will be in prison.

As Brano recalls who he is, he remembers that he was to murder Richter the night before, but can't recall if that was accomplished. He remembers as well that he is the intelligence rezident in Vienne for his nation. He makes his way back to a hotel that he headquartered in, having found the embassy riddled with bugs. His assistant shows up and tells him he must leave Austria immediately. At the airport, Austrian agents try to detain him. Escapting, he boards the flight, arrives in his native country and is immediately arrested, interrogated for months and eventually released to become an assembly line worker in some obscure factory, his career in the intelligence and security organs seemingly over.

Sound complex? It become far more so as Brano's mentor intervenes and he is sent to his home village to investigate a returned defector. The corpses and traitors start surfacing soon after Brano's arrival.

Steinhauer's plot is complex, His characters are rich and cover the carnival of nationalities and forces we expect in Cold War Austria. Brano is the center of something, but we never find out what until the last few pages, much to the credit of Steinhauer. There is Dijana Frankovic, half Brano's age, beautiful, bohemian, who shares she is in love with Brano, having known him for but a few minutes. Well, maybe she's a Russian spy. Or maybe not.

Brano is a dedicated Communist: he even drove his father from home, something his mother still regrets. Brano is a creature of the state, thinking nothing of torturing and murdering in the name of the state, not because he is a sadist, but because he is a believer - though that belief is becoming frayed after so long.

Vienna's expatriate society, Austrian intelligence, CIA, religous groups dedicated to freeing Communist countries swirl around Brano. At first, Brano feels abandoned by his masters, but he labors on, knowing that nothing happens by accident. He pursues the scent of conspiracy.

Bit by bit, Brano pulls the pieces together, not without the occasional bit of violence and always with a neat surprise invented by Steinhauer, who is quite a writer.

Overall, a complex thriller about grim countries in grim times where grim men like Brano Sev served a purpose. Steinhauer's portrait of Brano Sev is dark, perhaps depressing. A masterful thriller of a bygone era. If you've seen the film "The Third Man," you'll love this book.

Jerry

Nothing is more exciting in a literary series than charting the growth, maturity, and expanding talents of a writer, especially one like Olen Steinhauer whose first book, Bridge of Sighs, was also the first in this series the author is building. Bridge of Sighs offered a fresh exploration of a fascinating genre, and was immediately nominated for prizes (an Edgar) and lauded by critics. It was difficult to see how Steinhauer could better Bridge of Sighs. But he - in a sense - did, with The Confession that offered a darker (even for noir) literary vision, and a tale and characters even more morally complex and intriguing than that of Bridge. Steinhauer's progression continues with his latest book 36 Yalta Boulevard in which he bolds creates a sympathetic protagonist out of Brano Sev, a decidedly complex and dark figure from his previous novels. Sev, expertly fleshed out in the past, emerges in 36 Yalta as infinitely more complicated. Fascinatingly, Steinhauer breathes new life into Sev amid a fast-paced story that is literally impossible to stop reading. 36 Yalta is a cracking thriller, which is not slowed one iota by the attention paid to Sev's complexities and growth.

Steinhauer could have satisfied his readership by repeating the style and theme of Bridge of Sighs in his future books, a la Dan Brown with Angels and Demons/Da Vinci Code. This is not to say that 36 Yalta lacks the attributes of Steinhauer's previous books. It contains all the gritty communist-era atmosphere, moral complexity, and great dialogue of Bridge and Confession. In this way, Steinhauer's fans feel immediately at home in the pages of 36 Yalta. But clearly Steinhauer, like his characters and his plots, is not content to take the predictable route, no matter how successful. As a result, his readers are treated to a book (Yalta Boulevard) and literary series (his three books together) that startles and intrigues as well as entertains, and - equally as exciting-his readers can witness the progress of a writer who grows stronger and more skilled with each book. One can only wonder: what's next in this series? The answer will certainly be: like 36 Yalta Boulevard, a wild, wonderful ride that brings the reader to a destination he least expects.

Olen Steinhauer's fiction has always confused me. How can it be that such emotionally finessed, intricately plotted, quitely observed and moodily rendered writing has not yet hit the heights it so obviously deserves? After re-reading this, the third of Steinhauer's sequence, the mystery remains: 36 Yalta Boulevard continues in the tradition of brutal excellence encountered in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession; indeed in this latest Sixties installment the author's landscape grows vividly, shifting his pared-down sights to a more clearly defined world of cold-war espionage (his earlier work could be described as a kind of Stalinist-Noir policier fiction) that takes in not only his own fictional East European country, but also Hungary and a confused, confusing, melting-pot Austria.

Unlike the two writers with whom he is most obviously compared, the young Le Carré and the gilded Alan Furst, Steinhauer rides his cluttered communist tram bus down the middle: neither over nor under writing, offering none of the easy romanticism to which both other authors are sometimes prone. Instead his latest work continues to show us the clear (and wonderfully nuanced) evolution of a national psychological mindset: shows us people who must always lie to hold on to their own sense of a personal honesty beyond The Party, the Nation, the Family and even lovers (for who can be sure of anything or anyone in this world?). Perhaps it is the glaring honesty - and imperfection - of his life-battered fateless characters that holds Steinhauer back from the best-seller/Hollywood calling that he deserves. However, for readers interested in a telling, grey-toned mirror image of Le Carré's troubled Goethe-yearning Double-Firsts or Furst's cocksure heroes look no further.

For a true insight into the fatalistic souls of people exiled from their own imagination by communism, Steinhauer's works - filled with the bleak realities of human experience, and ocassional moments of clarity and hope, as well as cracking (and in this case labyrinthine) plots that echo but never merely copy the true history of the Iron Curtain countries in the post war decades - are compulsory reading.

The book was very good from the standpoint of showing an uninformed family what the plane I flew in as a combat gunner was all about. Even though he left out a lot about my squadron and slighted us for other units it did not deminish my interest in others who were justly remembered. There are a lot of people who knew nothing about Navy heavy bombers and the book certainly introduced them to our war. Thank you. I have purchased a lot of these books as presents for my family and friends.

Both of his books on this part of the war are more than excellent. There are no more superlatives that can describe the accuracy of the events depicted. Great reading

This is one of the most informative and telling documentation I have ever read. I highly recomend the reading of this book. It would be a great addition to any historian's library. Every page is loaded with personal accounts of what it was really like to fight above the ANGRY SEA! Mr. Carey has captured the true essence of life on a PB4Y. If Spielberg could get a hold of this book, there would be a great movie made.

Mr. Carey has written a great book on a little known aspect of U.S. Naval History. He clearly brings out the suffering and bravery of the combat aircrew that served with Navy B-24 squadrons. His interviews of veterans and the multitude of photographs captures the spirit of fighting above the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Alan Cary has followed up his earlier book (We Flew Alone)and if possible he has surpassed himself with this second volume. I must admit to being a bit prejudiced since I was one of those Navy men who served in the old B-24 that the Navy called the PB4Y1. Prior to these books, the story has only been reported occasionally and not always accurately. These two books by Alan Cary are exceptionally well done.

As one who was there during much of the time that he describes I can testify to the accuracy of his book. He has accurately captured the feelings, the fears, the loneliness, the pride of the men who performed these missions. Almost always a single airplane at the maximum range of the aircraft and over "an angry sea" that was a final resting place for too many brave men.

For anyone who is interested in this phase of the war in the Pacific, these two books are absolutely essential. There are many fine photographs, including many combat action shots and many of the stories are in the actual words of the men who performed so gallantly.

Thank you, Alan Cary and God bless America.

I had been brought up to believe that when a culture mistreats the Jews, that culture inevitably deteriorates (as exemplified, for example, by the decay of the Spanish and Ottoman Empires after the 16th century). But Glick's book discusses a terrifying counterexample: the rise of France and Germany in the late Middle Ages.

The so-called Dark Ages were actually quite pleasant for Jews: in the centuries after the end of the Roman Empire, Jews circulated through western Europe, specializing in international trade. Charlemagne and his successors were quite friendly towards Jews in the 700s and 800s, even using them as diplomats now and then.

But in the 1000s, European agriculture became more productive, thus generating surplus products that could be sold elsewhere. Christians became merchants to sell these products, and formed connections with other Christian merchants. These merchants saw the Jews as competitors, and formed guilds that excluded Jews from commerce. Jews were squeezed into the moneylending industry, thus enabling Christians to use Jewish money without having to compete with Jews.

The ghettoization of Jews into moneylending was a disaster for Jews. Because Jews were allowed to hold money but not large amounts of land, Christian kings soon realized that they could squeeze Jews unmercifully, extorting money in return for protection. Jews tried to pass on the costs to debtors by charging higher interest rates, thus causing Christian borrowers to hate Jews even more than they did before. Borrowers decided that they could avoid debts by the simple expedient of robbing and/or killing their Jewish creditors. (And this easy repayment option ensured that borrowers used Jewish rather than Christian lenders; anyone who borrowed from the latter would actually have to repay the loan rather than killing the banker!) Eventually, Jews were left without assets and were thus useless to Christian kings, who forced them to leave France and most of Germany.

The intellectual revival of Christianity also posed problems for Jews. As Christians became less ignorant, they learned that Judaism had evolved beyond the written Torah, creating a massive corpus of rabbinic law through the Talmud and other works. But in the Christian world, Jews' legitimacy was based on their connection to the Old Testament. So Jewish scholarship other than the Old Testatement was perceived as something akin to heresy, and made the Jews even more hated.

I was assigned Glick's book by my Medieval History professor Dr. Paul Halsall. I opened the book thinking I knew a lot about the experiences of Jews in France and Germany in Medieval Europe; and what I found was that I was wrong.

This book is an excellent book about the cultures of the Jews and the Christians, how these two cultures interacted with each other and how Medieval Jewish culture effects the culture of American Jews, who predominately come from these Ashkenazic Jews.

The book is divided chronologically and this division works. It shows the downward spiral pattern of Christian and Jewish interaction that finally hit rock bottom with the expulsion of Jews from France and in England.

I especially enjoyed reading about the devistating effects of the Crusades on the Jewish communitites of the Rhine river region. I was amazed to read that many of the higher Church officials tried to protect their neighbor Jews from the angry and violent mobs. Bishops tried hiding Jews, tried baptizing Jews, and showed real sorrow and guilt when Jews in their communities were harmed.

I also found the history of the evolution of Christian thought about the Jews very fascinating. The early Christians, who didn't even know they were Christians, clearly saw themselves as religiously Jewish. By the time of the writing of the Gospel of John, this has changed. The Gospel of John is somewhat anti-Jewish. When the Christians began using "rational thinking," especially with the creation of Universities, they became even more hostile toward the Jews.

This book is a definate "must-buy" for any graduate student of European history or any serious undergraduate.

This is not the kind of book I normally would have read (regrettably), but it came to me highly recommended. Having grown up in a Jewish environment but feeling some loss of identity and lack of knowledge of my ancestral history, I took the initiative to try to learn more.

Abraham' Heirs unexpectedly had a profound influence upon how I view my cultural heritage in a way I never anticipated. In a chronological and clear -- yet fair -- manner, the text depicts life and cross-cultural relationships and attitudes between Jews and Christians as central Europe developed. Through the progression of events depicted, the book demonstrates marked patterns which evolved across both time and location, which is crucial towards understanding how and why history regrettably progressed as it did.

Many events are quite disturbing, sometimes difficult to grasp in magnitude, but can't be forgotten nor simply glossed over. Importantly, Glick tells it the way things were, which also made it hard to put the book down. His content is exceptionally well-written, easy to follow, and highly informative, making it appropriate and essential for all readers.

I teach religious high school, and I thought I knew something about the history of Jews in medieval Europe. "Abraham's Heirs" has broadened my knowledge and understanding to a degree that is simply astonishing. Like all really good histories, this one combines compelling primary sources with a clear overall structure. A great read.

The author weaves an incredible tapestry of historical social commentary. Throughly researched, well written, and definitely well worth the read. You will find yourself unable to put this book down!

A great source of information for the true Francophile who loves Paris and like a great love wants to know her better !!

This is an excellent guide for the independent traveller. Its best use is for details on neighborhoods. I often "study" it before taking off for the day and get a much better feel for the neighborhood I am visiting. I also "study" it after spending time out for the day and clarify or confirm what I have seen. Used it for years.

I own Access Guides to San Francisco and Wine Country and found them to be very reliable sources of information on eating and shopping, so when I was planning a 5-week stay in Paris I purchased this guidebook. Overall, I'm quite pleased.

Access Paris is an excellent guide targeted at a cultured reader that prefers to consider him or herself a visitor to Paris rather than a tourist. The organization emphasizes neighborhoods rather than monuments, and offers excellent information on cafés, restaurants, bars, shops, and other neighborhood attractions. Restaurant listings include a range of prices for each district, though there are fewer budget options than, say, in the Time Out, Let's Go, and Lonely Planet guides. I've gone to a number of the listed restaurants, mostly those in St. Germain and the Bastille with one $ in the listing, and found them to be of high quality, though I was unable to find one or two. And I appreciate the memorable descriptions this book gives--one restaurant is characterized as right out of a Jean Rhys novel, for example--and the frankness of its evaluation of certain restaurants as overrated and overpriced traps for the well-read visitor.

The book's organization, with neighborhood maps followed by entries on each number that appears on the map, is very easy to use while wandering. The neighborhood maps omit metro stops, however, making it difficult to coordinate one's immediate location with the map of the metro that appears at the back of the guide. Also, the local maps don't indicate arrondissements, which makes the guide difficult to use in tandem with a more detailed map book.

This book covers the islands, the Latin Quarter, St-Germain, Eiffel Tower/Invalides, The Louvre and the Champs-Elysées, St-Honoré, Les Halles, the Marais, the Bastille, and Montmartre. These are all well-established eating and shopping districts in the arrodissements that are at the center of the city. There's also a brief section at the end with select attractions in other neighborhoods, as well as sidebars that discuss specific themes or types of sites (Paris in film, representations of Americans in Paris, flea markets, etc.). If you're mainly going to be in the central arrondissements, you'll probably be very happy with this guide. But if you're staying in an outlying arrondissement, or looking for information on offbeat neighborhoods, this may not be the guide for you--as it also may not be if it's your first time in Paris and you want a guidebook that emphasizes a tour of the monuments. I myself have already done the monuments and was looking for what this book has to offer, so I'm very pleased.

The author of the ninth edition offers more Paris travel tips at www.parisland.com

I must say, I am a big fan of all the ACCESS guides, and the one on Paris was no exception. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and there is no ACCESS guide for that city! One of the best things about the guides, Paris included, is that it allows you to break your trip down by neighborhood. While in Paris, we spent one day (or more) in each of the neighborhoods highlighted in the color code system. We had a great time, and the ACCESS guide played a big part in it (as it did in San Francisco and Montreal!). Highly recommended!

It is quite amazing that of all the books that exist on the Protestant Reformation, very few chart the intellectual and theological history as being the primary moving force of the Protestant movement. It is still further disheartening that many books wish to treat the Reformation as if it were some sort of absolute novelty and break with the whole of the medieval Western European tradition. Steven Ozment's brilliant study - winner of the Phillip Schaff Award in 1980 - not only bucks the trend on both of these issues, but even traces relevant facets of cultural history - such as the printing press - as he puts the Protestant Reformation into both context and continuity with the medieval era.

More than half the book is spent detailing the medieval world and various theories that would be of the utmost importance to the Reformers: salvation and certainty of knowledge, in particular. The picture that emerges is one in which the Reformation is, in many ways, the absolutely logical outcome of the major trends in believing and practicing the faith after St. Thomas Aquinas. The harmonious worldview that Aquinas sought to put forth in his synthesis of Aristotle and Catholic revelation is largely rejected after the 14th century (re: after the Black Death, in which nearly 40% of Europe's population died).

It has become popular - and for good reason - to note that the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have a number of trends that are continuous with the Protestant Reformers, although they are rejected by Roman Catholicism. The conciliar movement is well documented by Ozment, as are the tensions between "mystical" and "scholastic" theology that were commonly spoken of at that time. Popular movements such as the Devotio Moderna, which sought to return the Western Church to her more simple foundations of the ancient Councils, Fathers and the Scriptures are also discussed. Medieval "heretics" such as Jan Huss and John Wycliffe are noted as having little influence, however, upon the Reformers - the one exception being Martin Luther, who seemed to be well conscious of his unintentional continuity with a number of the reforming movements of the 14th and 15th centuries.

As Ozment progresses, he notes the major differences between the various Protestant Reformation movements (note the plural!). For example, whereas Luther's movement was started in a backwoods university with a debate concerning the nature of salvation, the Swiss started their Re-formation with a few rebellious priests defiantly eating sausages during Lent! Minor and radical reformers such as John Knox - whose influence would be felt in the later 16th and early 17th century in England - are also looked at; Knox is particularly interesting because his stance on civil matters is so different from that of Luther and Calvin. In short, Knox believed that if the state would not defend a particular form of the reformation - basically, Knox's version of the Reformation - then Christians could rise up and overthrow the state! Luther advocated martyrdom; Knox advocated rebellion. Luther considered people like Knox to be "fanatics" and reformers such as Knox considered Luther to be a failure. Thus, in the end, we can see that the Protestant Reformation has no single legacy but multiple, incompatible legacies that were incompatible from the very beginning.

Of particular interest are the social changes wrought by the Reformation in family life and sexual morality. Despite their differences, all the Reformers agreed that marriage was not a sacrament (it conveyed nothing of God's grace). The huge movement of monks and nuns breaking their monastic vows and being married (which was considered deeply scandalous at the time); the exponential rise in polygamy throughout Europe (its psychological impact was certainly greater than any long-term cultural change); the advocacy of incompatibility as an acceptable reason for divorce among the Protestants; all of these led to what amounts to a sexual revolution for the time period, and all understandings of modern divorce go back to the Reformation.

The book is well illustrated, with woodcuts in particular, and it serves to place the polemical facets of the Reformation into rather sharp relief. It is interesting to note that Lutherans, for instance, understood themselves to stand in perfect continuity with high medieval saints such as St. Francis of Assisi who is depicted as looking with great consternation at the Roman church from heaven in one of the woodcuts.

This is a thick read. It is a little more than 400 pages, but the pages are all oversized (which helps a good bit with the illustrations) and the subject matter can be quite dense. After all, the Reformers all had Scholastic backgrounds and just as they sought to think against their heritage, they also couldn't help but thinking from inside of it; Protestant theology is just as dense and nuanced as that of the Scholastics that came before them. All who take Reformation studies seriously - whether as a scholar or as an "armchair" historian or theologian - can do no better than to consult this volume for the major and minor trends in high medieval and early Reformation thought.

This is simply a fantastic presentation of the historical, theological, and philosophical background of the Reformation. This book apparently won the 1981 "Philip Schaff Prize of the American Society of Church History" award, and is certainly worthy of it. Ozment traces the course of scholasticism, mysticism, monasticism, the papacy, humanism, etc., all in a masterful way that shows how these diverse and complex movements culminated in the Reformation. The text is well documented, and, thankfully, uses footnotes rather than endnotes so one does not have to constantly turn to the end of the book to view the source of a citation. In my opinion this is one of the best works on intellectual and church history that I have ever read. Be warned, however, this book is not for the feint hearted. It is definitely a graduate level text, or for the serious student of the late Medieval and Reformation periods.

Ozment does a wonderful job of showing that the story of the Reformation does NOT begin with the posting of the 95 theses in 1517. Rather, the events of the 1500s were the culmination of a centuries-old search for truth. Ozment's account of the Reformation as something unfolding out of the Middle Ages is much more instructive than the standard view, which treats the Reformation as a starting point for this or that development. This book grounds Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Ignatius firmly in the tradition of medieval scholastic, mystic, and ecclesio-political thought, as well as Renaissance humanism. Additional chapters are devoted to clerical marriage and resistance to tyranny, two legacies of Protestantism that Ozment finds particularly compelling. To top it off, the author has obviously done his homework; every significant interpretation by previous scholars receives due note here. I think this should the FIRST book anyone reads on the Reformation.

Steven Ozment's writing stands head and shoulders above that of most historians. He makes the difficult and thorny religious issues of this period accessible and interesting. At the same time, he goes in depth and never oversimplifies the complicated issues at stake in this period. Even scholars very familiar with this period will learn from this book. Most histories of the Reformation skim over lightly the medieval background. A great strength of this book is the in-depth treatment of the late medieval religious and intellectual period. Ozment gives insightful treatments of Thomism, late-medieval nominalism, mysticism, Renaissance humanism, anti-clericalism, and how all these contributed to the Protestant Reformation and modernity. Although he focuses on intellectual and religious history, he also discusses the political and social history since religion, politics, and culture cannot be separated in this period. Another notable feature of Ozment's treatment is that he recognizes and discusses the interpretive controversies of Reformation and Renaissance historians. He gives very fair summaries of the positions of the leading scholars, including their strengths and weaknesses; these summaries are very handy for graduate or undergraduate students who need to write an essay on this period. I give this book my highest recommendation. For anyone interested in Christianity and its role in the development of modernity, this book is essential!

Ozment is a brilliantly clear writer, always engaging, never dry or confusing. I've always thought this work is an example of how a textbook ought to be written. Accessible for undergraduates (if a little too information-dense at times) but never oversimplifying the material (a problem with Lindberg's European Reformations). He even manages to tie the whole book together with a narrative structure that keeps you involved as the story unfolds. He was my teacher, so I guess I'm biased, but not TOO biased.

This is a delicious and absolutely reliable guide to the delightful B&B establishments of France. I wouldn't think of traveling without it. The selected accommodations always have some unique feature or special charm.

This volume describes 721 French B&B's in 370 pages, each B&B keyed to one of 18 useful regional maps. An additional 40 pages provide maps, indices, some French vocabulary and advertising for Sawday's other products. The descriptions are very useful and the book's organization conducive to effective planning of an independent trip.

I am using this volume to plan a trip from Nice to La Herradura in southern Spain during during the next few months. This permits me to compare this book to the companion volume, Special Places to Stay:Spain.

After reading the Spain volume I expected French B&B's to be as detailed as that of Spain. Certainly it provides information about B&B's in every corner of France. Yes, it too is a marvelous aid for planning the independent trip. Yes it is much stronger than any Rough Guide to France or Spain that I have read. It provides prices, the number and type of rooms, web site references, e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers. It very briefly describes what each B&B offers and when it is open or closed. What is lacking for my taste buds, compared to the "Spain volume", is the detailed descriptions provided by a pithy writing style descrbing the locale, the owners and of the cooking style that almost makes the roast kid aroma of a described culinary delight jump out of the pages. My wife misses photographs of the interiors of each B&B.

To provide considerable detail for two establishments per page is an ambitious task and the editors carry it off. Not withstanding my "comparative disillusionment", the word descriptions do compensate for the missing photographs, directions to local eating places anticipate culinary delights and "How to get there information" makes it easy to locate a Special Place on a detailed Michelin map.

Based on my personal experiences, the Spanish volume appears to be very reliable, I see no reason why the French B&B should not be equally so.

An American friend resident in France and my wife and I used this guide last May on a trip through much of France. We set out with a fistful of books: three lodging guides in English and three general guides in French including the familiar Michelin. After a few days we used only Sawday. We found it rock-solid: reliable, authoritative, sensible, up to date, well illustrated, easy to use - all we could hope for. We would phone during the day for a place to stay that night and scored most times with our first choice. [A caution: While some proprietors spoke English, we relied on our friend's French for the cell phone.]

All was as advertised: our hosts welcoming, the accommodations clean and comfortable. A few miles from Omaha Beach we stayed in a new extension to a 18th C. manor house on a 100 acre dairy farm. The next morning, after a delightful breakfast, the proprietress gave us a tour of her milking barn. The average cost for was $50 for two, breakfast included.

Some hosts provided dinner for $15 to $30 including wine. On another farm, dinner included home grown vegetables and home brewed aperitif and digestif, all for $14. In Arlanc although we phoned late, the proprietor graciously made a special trip to purchase extra food for a gourmet meal.

It was a memorable, and thrifty, way to meet real people. What's more, Sawday maintains a searchable database for pre-planning and a most helpful staff. Overall, a superb resource.

I used this guide to plan my husband's and my last trip to France. Although we've been to France many times, the excellent bed and breakfasts in this book made this the best trip ever. The descriptions were accurate and the facilities all lived up to our expectations and more. This book must be popular in the U.K. because most of our fellow travelers were British and had found the B&B's through the book. The book indicates which B&B's serve evening meals along with the cost of the meals; we enjoyed the lively family style dinners immensely. The places we stayed were outside of the towns and cities but the book gave adequate directions to find them.

Many of the B&B's owners did not speak any English which can make telephone reservations difficult for anyone who does not speak French, however fax numbers are included where available. Although the book did not stress any need for reservations, we traveled off-season in the fall and many places were full and turning away drop-ins. I highly recommend the book for planning a casual trip in the French countryside.

My wife and I used this book as the basis for a planning a vacation driving through Normandy. We stayed in four different B&B's recommended in the book. We found the reality met or exceeded the descriptions and we were able to enjoy excellent stays. We recomend this book to any traveller to France wishing to use small hotels and B&B's.

If you are planning a trip to northern Tuscany (Florence, Pisa, etc.) and want to do some hiking, you must check out this book! It is a goldmine of information on hikes in the Tuscan Alps -- all carefully described and ranked by difficulty, scenic beauty, elevation gain and duration, etc.-- as well as recommendations for places to eat and sleep at the end of your tiring day. I will update this review after putting the book to the test in May 2000.

The level of detail in this guidebook is astonishing. I have walked and climbed this area for 23 years but still found new ideas. I can confirm the accuracy of the descriptions from my experience of many of the routes followed in whole or in part. In this area it is essential to use detailed maps to supplement the route description if only to find starting and finishing points. The maps recommended within this guide are not wholly adequate for the purpose, and maps of the series "Edizioni Multigraphic, 1:25 000" are really indispensable.

I just returned from a trip to the Apuan Alps, where I put this book to the test, and it was quite useful. The hikes are very well described and are very accurate in terms of the terrain and the time and distance. I also agree with their rankings of the various hikes in terms of difficulty and the overall experience. However, this book should be used as a "starting point" coupled with detailed road maps and trail maps, as the directions to the trailheads (and on the trails themselves) can be a bit vague at points. Still, it was an excellent tool that made for a great hiking experience.

This book, which I received as a present in anticipation of a trek to Italy, is fantastic. It is very interesting and well written with lots of good information. I agree with the above reviews; I especially love the menu recommendations for various spots and the guide to Italian behavoir. My one complaint is that it does not have much information for extended (multi-day) hikes, and while it has useful information on trains, the book as a whole is geared towards those traveling by car. All in all a delightful book, that is a fun read even if you aren't actually going hiking.

This guide gives detailed information about 31 hikes in Italy's Liguria region and the Apuane Alps of Tuscany. As an example of its useful detail, it rates the difficulty of each hike as Easy (up to 8 km, up to 500 m elevation gain) Moderate (up to 10 km, up to 800 m elevation gain) Strenuous (up to 14 km, up to 1200 m elevation gain) and Very Strenuous (over 14 km, over 1200 m elevation gain).

Five of the hikes are more strenuous than the climb from Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, to Grand Canyon Village, at the South Rim. And there are just two easy hikes.

As Mrs. Brogan nurses her son along with Dan and Sun Dance, she weaves a marvelous tale of her childhood. It reminds all children that their parents were small once too and thinking that maybe parents are as dull as you might think. The shocking conclusion will leave you waiting on pins and needles for the next book in this funny, exciting series.

Amber Cat was a good book; of course, it was confusing, as all 2 of the 2 books (Dog Friday, Amber Cat) that I read so far by Hilary McKay were. It was confusing as in it didn't exactly give some important details; some so important that you couldn't exactly picture the few scenes, although there were options floating around my head when I read these parts, but none were right, and I will now never know, given to the fact that the author didn't explain the parts and details well enough so that I could see them in my head. But the book made a point, unlike a lot of other books, and it didn't carry on and on with one boring subject, as some other books do also. I also think that Sun Dance's mind was a little jumbled, and that Mrs. Brogan's stories about her childhood were very fascinating and sounded fun. I think that when Robin was going to build a raft, it was not a good idea either. Harriet was very interested and I really enjoyed reading about her and everybody else.

Robin Brogan,Mrs. Borgan Robin's mother and Robin's best friend Dan are the main characters of the story. The Amber Cat is a sequel to Dog Friday and if you like it you will for sure like the Amber Cat. I read Dog Friday first and liked it but if you read Amber Cat first you might not understand it very well. The Amber Cat goes back to when Robin's mother was a kid. Robin's mother has a friend that was alive when her parents were kids. Mrs. Borgan was telling this story when Robin , Dan, and Sun Dance had the Chicken pox. Robin's uncle Charlie was there one summer when they were kids. He hasn't seen Robin since his dad died. Charlie, Robin's uncle, was coming to visit Robin and his mother. The Amber Cat goes back to when Robins mother was a kid.Why I like these books is because they are strange books and thats the tipe of books that I like. Robin finds a dog and since he found him on Friday Robin calls him Friday.

This book is about a mother who stays home with three boys while they have the Chicken Pox. She tells them an amazing story about when she was 11 and played at the beach with her cousins and a mysterious girl named Hillary. The author made me feel like I was right there watching them. I felt like I was in a secret world. There were many characters with interesting personalities. The ending left me thinking everything through again in my mind. I would highly recommend this book!

This was one month's selection for our Mother-Daughter reading group. Half the group couldn't get past the first three chapters (that's never happened before!), and the other half of the group persevered and finished the book, and LOVED it. The beginning is very confusing and there are so many characters introduced, that it's hard to keep track of who's who. Right up until the last chapter, there are things that are unexplained, so it's like putting a puzzle together AFTER you've read the book. This is a book best read silently by yourself---too complex to read aloud. The author does a wonderful job of weaving magic about how we influence the lives of those around us, as well as those who come after, and how others who came before have influenced our lives. My daughters (9 and 10) and I loved this book.