California Books

Audit yourself with the tech from Advance Procedures and Axioms. Run secondaries, lock scan, and other advanced tech.

I am only half way through this book, and already I have read more truth here than I've ever read elsewhere. And believe me, I've read all the self help books. L. Ron Hubbard is a true genius and certainly one of the most important teachers in this history of mankind, period. Get this book, it will change everything.

I used the techniques from one chapter to quickly recover from a fall on concrete, where I hit my head, and a personal sorrow. I handled the physical aspects separately from the fall and on the memory of both was able to resolve the pain and sorrow so now I can think about it easily--as easily as normal memories. Thank you, L. Ron Hubbard. It works. Get it. Try it. Use it.

This book is very helpful but not necessarily a walk in the park to use. It's all about weeding through various things that make life difficult and how you can work your way to a better state of mind. You have to be willing to work for it and if you follow the steps in the book, you get amazing results. If you don't do what it says in the book or only do it half-heartedly, you really don't get much out of it. I give 5 stars because it really does deliver. In using the book, sometimes you have to examine things about yourself that aren't so easy to face. Once you push through those things using the book, it's pretty beneficial.

This book is for those who are in the need of change in their lives. It isn't about money; it isn't about winning friends and influencing people. It is a self-help book for those people who want to change the conditions of their life by viewing their goals and problems and past situations that relate. It gets a person better acquainted with himself.

It was written many years ago, but the techniques work IF one reads the book throughally and applies each step. The author is deceased, and the book is not published by the author but by the
LRH Library which is run by the Religious Technology Center which is a [type of religion]corporation.

There are many references in the book where you can go for further services--however, you might search out alternatives on the Internet, because there are individuals in what is called the "FreeZone" who can deliver services, too. If reading this book makes you want "more" then shop around.

In this Handbook for Preclears the dynamic principle of existence, which is "survive" is introduced. It is an important datum, because it is what all things have in common...it is the common demonator of existence. Of course, there are degrees of survival from bare to successful, but the datum gives one a way to look at things.

That isn't the only datum that is useful in this book. It isn't a good book for someone who just skims the reading material and doesn't throughally apply the exercises. That is why I rate it a 4 star instead of 5--...

This is a very thick book... and for good reason. It has photos (albeit black and white ones) or photo-rendered sketches of many potential wedding and reception venues. Each venues' pages come with the stuff you need: the seating capacity and approximate prices. There are also other sections of the book focused on vendors for flowers, etc. I recommend this book if you're trying to get a feeling for "what's out there" with regard to venues. It's a great place to start, and you'll probably feel like you've covered a lot of ground once you've gone through this book.

Wonderful book, a must have!

This has been an invaluable book during my wedding planning. When I got engaged in December 99, a girlfriend suggested that I buy the SoCal edition immediately to start finding reception and ceremony locations. I did buy it, and whipped through the whole book one evening. Sitting there reading, I quickly dismissed reception site after site and determined that the book just couldn't help me. I put it aside.

Then I started actually going out, visiting places, and realizing that it wasn't so easy to find the perfect place! I quickly realized I was going to have to work a lot harder than I thought to mesh the right church location, my number of people, and a convenient indoor reception site. So I came back to the Guide--time and again! Soon I had it dogeared and filled with notes as I reconsidered the options I'd been so quick to skip past earlier. The statistics on each site helped keep me focused and helped me and my fiance consider new places when others fell through, and keep the attributes of each place in mind. The descriptions of the reception sites are detailed, positive and generous-but-not-misleading. We ultimately booked a site listed in the Guide and are thrilled to have found it.

Now that I've moved on to choosing a photographer, I went to the Guide again. First I read through each photographer's profile in the book, then went on the Guide's website! It's so easy to use - - it allows you to jump to photographers' websites and see their portfolios, all without making appointments or driving around! I feel satisifed that I don't need to look beyond the professionals listed in the Guide, since the authors have already done the legwork in finding people with high standards and good customer service.

If you really want to explore all possible options for your ceremony, reception, and event professionals, you will love Here Comes The Guide! The hardcopy book and the website are thorough, pleasant to read, and - - most importantly - - really helpful. My mom keeps saying, "I had no idea it was this complicated to plan a wedding in this day and age!" Here Comes the Guide goes a long way towards relieving the complication!

While the bulk of the Guide is dedicated to reception site listings, the vendor listings in the back are very helpful. The listings are not mere "paid advertisements." If you read the book, The Guide explains how each vendor undergoes a thorough screening process--something even the most persistent bride likely wouldn't have the time or ability to conduct.

As The Guide states on Page 483, their process "involves interviewing 15-20 other event professionals. We call every single reference and ask about the professionalism, technical competency and service orientation of the advertiser in question. ... Those candidates who received consistent, rave reviews made it into The Guide."

Using The Guide as a starting point (combined with the internet, magazine ads, and friends' recommendations), I conducted exhaustive research of my own of wedding professionals in Los Angeles and beyond. I wound up hiring three vendors who had been featured in the Guide (caterer, band and florist, 11-11-00 wedding). All performed beyond my greatest expectations, and my guests cannot stop raving about the "fabulous," "amazing," and "out of this world" food, music, and flowers. Clearly, The Guide got it right.

So don't be fooled by the relative size of the vendor section compared to pages allotted to reception sites. The vendor section may be small because they are the cream of the crop, thanks to the Guide's legwork.

I am so glad that a friend told me about this book. I was so daunted by the search for a location for my wedding, I didn't know where to start. This book (and their fantastic website by the same name) made it really easy. They give great descriptions and the pricing information helped me narrow down the places I could afford. It saved me so much time, I was able to actually enjoy looking for a reception location. Thank you, Here Comes the Guide.

I bought this book along with two others (ie: "Hollywood THEN AND NOW" by Lords, and "PICTURING L.A." by Wilkman). All three books went very well together.

This book by DANGCIl is in black-and-white because all the postcards are authentic reproductions of early photo-cards. The fact that each of the photo(s) are in B&W does not take away from the excitement in looking through all the early photos of Los Angeles & HOLLYWOOD. Each photo is quite sharp.

Each photo has a brief description of the exact angle in which the photos were taken. So if you would love to see what HOLLYWOOD used to look like (from the very early 1900`s to the 1950's) then you'll love this paperback book..... I sure did!

Besides being a good resource guide, the compilation of information is in chronological order. This makes for effortless accessibility. The writing is clear, informative, and well researched. The author took time and care to put these postcards in this format. I can only assume that the author has a love for the movie industry and all the machinations it takes to make the final product. I hope to see more from this author in the future.

I was fascinated by this book! I could not believe the changes in Hollywood over the years. And the captions were so informative and incredibly well written. I felt like I had taken a class in Hollywood History. A perfect present for anyone who loves beautiful books.

I'm Los Angeles born and raised, and this ISN'T a simple book of postcards: it's a fantastic slice of Hollywood history containing fabulous pictures accompanied by informed narratives! It's very cool to see pictures of Old Hollywood and compare what is standing at the same location in the present day. I plan to give this as a holiday present to my many friends who are L.A. natives. In all, A FABULOUS BOOK, and a great gift idea -- especially for someone interested in learning about the history of "Old Hollywood" and Los Angeles in general.

Born and raised in Hollywood, I am facinated by the history of all the places I've visited and seen growing up as a kid. Thomas Dangcil makes you relive what this glitzy town was and how it came to be.
It's great seeing the history of Hollywood unfold before your eyes in this book and how it has transformed itself into a icon of stardom that is re·nowned worldwide.

This book is amazing. The story told is absolutely incredible, but not nearly as amazing as the man who's life is being told. He truly is The Holy Thief and I am blessed to be able to call him my Daddy! He is living proof that miracles do happen!!!!

One of the most remarkable stories I have read, as the other reviewers have noted, it is truly inspirational.
Borovitz grew up in a warm family, but when his Dad died, his world fell apart. Unfortunately, he was also somewhat influenced by an Uncle who was, in reality, a Jewish mobster. Rootless, Borovitz quickly gravitated to a criminal lifestyle, undertaking increasingly more serious criminal acts. Eventually, he is forced to move from Cleveland, his birthplace, to Los Angeles. Once there, he continues his cons, and eventually lands in prison.
This memoir is well-written. In particular, it describes that one important constant that Borovitz had in his life while growing up was Judaism. His going to Synagogue, the family holiday gatherings - all are described so that the reader feels the deep reverance that Borovitz had, despite his criminal life, for his religion.
He also writes so well concerning his Change - when he began to turn away from his life of crime, and toward something far more worthy of his abilities - that of Jewish spirituality. I especially commend his description of how this took place; other authors who have undergone similar "revelations" often depict it as sudden and earth-shaking, and that from that 'moment on' each was immediately transfored from a
low-life loser to a 'saint'! Thankfully, and far more realistically, in my opinion, Borovitz explains that he was changing, but that it was gradual.
After his transformation, Borovitz completed college and then Rabbinical School. Realistically he hesitated even applying, declaring that they would not accept an ex-con gonif (thief) into their program. However, with the support of his friends, and the fact that G-d often works in mysterious ways, he was accepted with open arms.
Today he is a Rabbi for a community of people who were like him once, but also like him, are committing to changing their lives.
If you ever feel like cons, addicts, etc., can't transform their lives - just pick up this book. You will be amazed.

Next to the word inspiration in the dictionary should be a picture of Rabbi Mark Borovitz. This is the story of a man whom God chose to send to the deep valley of dispair and addiction so that he would have the experience and wisdom to encourage others to turn their lives around.
Anyone in trouble or who knows someone in trouble should read(no-devour) this book.

Like another reviewer, I don't typically take the time to write a review of books I read. As the wife of an inmate who is changing his life for the better while incarcerated, I seek out inspirational stories of people who have hit rock bottom and have used that experience to reach out to others. I read a short review of this story in Reader's Digest and decided to seek it out.
I read it cover to cover in a Saturday afternoon. The author is so frank, honest, and REAL. His story gives me hope for my husband's future, and proves that good can come after a life of mistakes.

I never take time to post reviews about books, but I had to comment on this one. I couldn't put this book down. I was especially moved by Rabbi Borovitz's definition of love, which you'll have to wait until near the end to discover. But it's so worth the wait. What an amazing story!

I absolutely loved this book. Loved it, and at times, hated it, as it brought up so much stuff long forgotten in my memory. She's an amazing writer. She brings you into her life, her heart and her mind with ease. I would recommend this book to anyone!

Hayward possesses the rare skill of transposing the spoken to the written, especially in the childhood dialog, with an orality reminiscent of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. She draws all of the sights, smells, and feelings of the past into the sharp focus of the present. Even though it is the story of her life, and utterly unique, readers from all walks of life will identify with her story and find themselves unwilling to close the door on 13-year-old Clane at the end. I hope she's writing the sequel!

Wow. I read a lot of books, but this is the first one in a long time that I've read to the point of exhaustion (physical and emotional) and severe "pruniness" (bathtub is the only escape place with 3 young kids).

I finished it last night and couldn't stop laughing at the New Year's party scene. Absurdity/truth at its finest. One of those scenes you MUST read aloud to someone else. And has anyone ever in the history of literature described a dog as polite and pleasant? Just so good.

I am so hopeful that the author will continue her story. I can't imagine a straighter career than the armed forces. I would love to know how sweet Clanie finished out her childhood and even more so, if she ever found kindness and loving hands. Those hair washing scenes were heartbreaking. I've touched my kids more in the last two days than I usually do. I just squeeze them when they walk by me, remembering Clane's (and Haud's and Ki's) experiences.

This book will live at my house and not go to half-price books with the rest of the stacks. It's one of the rare ones that needs to stay close by.

This book is brilliant, comic, heartbreaking, and always authentic. Clane Hayward is a gifted writer, and I highly recommend this book not only for the insights it gives to a unique time and place in our generation's history, but because it is such a compelling account of someone's personal journey.

I'm not a writer myself, but over the years many people have told me I should write a book about my hapless hippie upbringing. Well thank god, now I don't have to, because Clane Hayward has finally written the definitive hippie kid memoir, telling once and for all just what that experience was like. But beyond just capturing a particular time and place, Clane Hayward has, like Frank McCourt, conjured up an utterly authentic, haunting, and poetic childhood voice. Highly recommended.

This book got me a husband! Try it and see what you might get! I read it in 2001 and fell in love with Molly's poetry. I decided to take her class at the UC Davis Extension. There was a very cute guy in the class with me...today I have a handsome husband who writes excellent poetry and two adorable children, all thanks to "Listening to Winter!"

Molly Fisk's volume of poetry, Listening to Winter, is candid, clear and understated as her stories unfold. And the reader, at the end of each line, wishes for blurred focus, hopes the next line will not confirm what has just been read. Themes of survival, abandonment, and truth-telling are interwoven with a rich pictoral landscape. I took away immense strength and admiration for Fisk's facility with language. A must read for students of life, language and women.

Molly plunges you into the terror and humiliation of the greatest personal harm, the most intimate human betrayal, with raw courage and boldness, with the keenest understanding, the clearest, most vivid images, with exquisite, painful, beauty. She tells the truth of it. This is a gift beyond measure. Finally, you're not alone anymore. The closet door has been flung wide open and love becomes possible once more. She makes it so. Molly Fisk is a fine poet. I can't recommend her work highly enough.

"Listening to Winter" is full of wonderful poetry, the poem containing the title line "Hunter's Moon" is so evocative of my youth that I gobbled the rest of the book in an orgy of reading and feelings. Then, hungry for more, read each line again slowly, as if sipping great wine.

"Sugar & Salt" let me FEEL what before I'd only glimpsed. "Couples" made me cry out in pain, yearning to talk to my long dead father. "Veterans" renewed the thrill of having lived when so many didn't, made me rejoice I came back whole enough to be healed by my loving wife. This wonderful book reafirmed my joy of being alive, of being part of this lovely world and in love.

If you love great poetry, buy this book!

Bright Blessing on you Molly, where-ever you are. Thank you.

If you have ever cared for a woman, buy this book.

Thank you Ms. Fisk for your terrifying but wonder insights into the word of pain, shame & humiliation shared by all incest survivors. It is heartening & frightening to realize both that we ALL, all men can & could be betrayers and abusers of trust. Users and abusers of those either in our power or under our protection if we just follow our desires. We could be but are not, are not because we chose to be better than the potential beast within. We are better men because we make conscious choices to be the best we can be instead of taking the easy path of choosing to have all the pleasure we can take, regardless of the pain and damage caused.

Your poetry, your pain ennobles us. It helps us to be the men we should be by showing so clearly the horrible damage caused and pain inflicted by being like your father.

Thank you. For all us us I thank you.

This is such a treasure! It shows life inside Termite Terrace and preserves the history like a textbook. The author shares stories that aren't covered in other books and talks about the people who weren't in the spotlight of the Golden Era. I was amazed to find someone who had lived through it and been there had written this. Any students of Looney Tunes, animation, or cartoon history should read this book.

If you've read any other animation history books, you've gotten a basic idea of how things were during "Golden Age" of the 30's and 40's. But not only is Living Life Inside The Lines one of the few books written someone who actually worked in animation during that period, it's the only book I've seen written by an ink & paint artist, which gives it a point of view of the animation world that other books never mention.

Sigall also tells stories of people like Irv Spence and Phil Monroe who were a big part of animation history, but have never gotten much mention in books. And having worked at numerous studios and ink & paint houses, she has very broad perspective on how the animation industry has changed from the 30's thorough to the 80's. Plus her pleasant demeanor makes for a nice, easy-going read.

If you're interested in animation, this book is a perfect supplement to your library.

I know the son of the writer and was eager to read her book. I have done computer animation and presently am in involved in video production. I found this personal history of the early days of animation to be fun, informative, and came away feeling I had a better knowledge of the people involved in this wonderful form of visual art!

If you love animation, history of early animation days...this book is a wonderful read!

When Chuck Jones received his special Academy Award in the mid-1990s, he wondered aloud from the stage where all the "laughing faces of Termite Terrace" had gone. They're right here in Martha Goldman Sigall's wonderful book. Martha was a central participant in the Golden Age of the animated short: she inked and painted on timeless, classic films directed by Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, Frank Tashlin, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, and others, and almost certainly contributed to more animated films than all of them combined, probably without receiving a single screen credit in that era. But she sketches the men and women who sketched Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry masterfully in this extremely well-written book, which, like Martha herself, is very warm, funny, and people-oriented. Her personal portraits of artists like Treg Brown, Virgil Ross, Ben Washam, and many others are a crucial contribution to animation history as well as a fun and funny reading experience.

This is the best book on the Schlesinger studio (birthplace of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and many others), and provides perhaps a thousand important details about that historic cartoon studio and MGM's that aren't found elsewhere. Martha sketches the 1941 strike, the Red Scare, wartime Hollywood, and other events from the animation community's perspective, and also sheds light on the historic industry locations such as 861 Seward, where six different studios sought shelter through the years; the neat and clean (but long gone) MGM building in Culver City, and the shabby Van Ness home of Leon Schlesinger and his "kids".

In what may be the last major eyewitness account of the classic era of animation, Martha raises the spirit of those long-gone laughing faces, and humanizes the creation of the great cartoons and timeless characters that will last forever. The joy she obviously felt in her career infuses the book and the reader.

Martha and her husband Sol, who, happily, is also heard from here, have always been like beloved grandparents to animators in Southern California (one of which this author was for a few years), but in 1996 they kindly donated themselves to the Warner Brothers Museum and are now officially public treasures. If you're not in the area, you can claim your share of them right here in this wonderful book. They should designate a rating higher than five stars for it.

I love reading stories from animations golden age and this book is especially charming.
Most people don't know it, but the ink and paint departments in all the major and minor studios were the real unsung heroes of the cartoon business-many ladies being accomplished artists in their own right and having the ability to take well drawn line drawings and just adding the right touch to each cel that the scenes would really shine. Water effects being one of the areas of animation that without great inkers and painters could tend to look "hokey".
I give this book 5 stars, but I wish it had more pictures!!

Now Los Gatos in Spanish means The Cats. I just would like to say Waaaaasssssssssssuuuuuuppppppp to all my homedoggs. EEEYA I have learned a lot from the grate scool district. It is absolootey the best in the wurld. YA! I go to highschool and I is gettin the beest education that this here town can offer. bi guyz

I live in Los Gatos and this is the most fun I have had looking at a book in a long time. I wish there was such a book for everywhere that I have lived. The research that went into it is incredible. The detail and the photos are great. People interested in writing a book about someplace should use this as a model. I learned a lot about many places that I have wondered about for a long time. Great fun!

I moved to Los Gatos in 1996. Before I read this book I had virtually no idea of the town I lived in. Now I understand it very well. It's actually interesting! By the way, this book was obviously created as a labor of love by someone with a genuine interest in their community.

This book displays a wonderfully compiled history of Los Gatos. The photography is beautiful, and just about every fact is historically accurate. A good section of the book is where the buildings are shown today downtown, and then their original use is displayed below the photo. Anywone who lives in Los Gatos or anywone who loves Santa Clara County history will love this book!

I also live in Los Gatos,and was surprised and pleased to see my house pictured, and written about in the book! I have always wondered about many of the homes shown in the book, and especially about where I actually live. This book has sparked my curiosity even more, and I am looking forward to having more detailed conversations with the owner of the house, to get additional information! A must have book for anyone who lives in Los Gatos, or has visited and enjoyed the town. Also a great book for California history buffs! My only suggestion would be to possibly print some in hard back!

This is an extraordinary book. The author begins telling the reader that even in today's Japanese studies circle there is still bias against those who research such things as this book. With that in mind, I delved into this fascinating book. Before going into the book's contents I want to say that Dr. Leupp writes in a style that is very easy to read while conveying a great deal of information. Before I started reading this book I was worried that he was going to write in such an academic way that it would leave the subject matter quite sterile. That definately is not the case. The author begins the book at first with an explanation of the long hitorical trends of homosexuality that can be found in the histories of China and Korea and he places these histories of homosexul cultures beside those of Greece and other European countries. He then delves into the homosexual tradition of early Japan mainly focusing on the Imperial Court, Buddhist and Shinto monks and priests, and finally Samurai. After setting this precedent, he goes into detail of Tokugawa homosexuality, mainly focusing on Kabuki actors and Prostitutes. He uses examples from both historical records and literature. This is a great book that should be read by those who are interested in not only homosexual history, but those who are looking for a fuller understanding of Japanese hitory.

The history of Japanese homosexuality is full of references to males dressing up as girls and serving powerful men in submissive relationships. Evidently bisexuality was the prevalent norm for Japanese MEN as almost every shogan has several 'beautiful boys' in addition to the women they kept. Many were exclusively devoted to beautiful young men---almost always dressed and acting like girls. This theme practically defines homosexuality in ancient Japan...the Japanese word for homosexuality was NANSHOKU which is loosely translates to english as "Male Colors". Nanshuko was so consistent in it's expression for so many years that it almost qualifies as a artistic expression or preference.

"Bishounen means not only cute, harmonic, lovely boy features but refers to the open feminity of a boy, and the way he can be associated to feminine beauty and delicacy. It involves the heavenly face whose beauty is deeply androgynous though boyish enough to remind us of his male gender, the curvy hips, legs and butt the standard bishounen soprts and make him attractive to both sexes, the evident delicacy of manners and personality and, most important of all, the homosexual tendencies the boy shows by liking other, more masculine males."

It is amazing that this expression of homosexual desire would exist so long in Japanese history even into a modern Japanese anime genre called "Yaoi"

Not many scholarly works read well, but this one does. Even if you are not a student of Japanese history and culture, "Male Colors" is a pleasure. Yes, there are sections with a lot of Japanese names (particularly when the author cites a string of sources), but by and large, this work is very accessable to us mere mortals who are interested in the history of same-sex love.

Initially, as the author describes, same-sex love in Japan was something practiced by elite groups: first the Zen Buddhist monks who are believed to have imported the practice from China (a curious notion because this also carries the connotation that homosexuality came from "some place else") and then the samuri elite. While factors such as the lack of eligible women may have contributed to the general acceptance of bisexuality, many, if not most, of the practicers of nanshoku had deep emotional ties to their partners. But as urban life began to grow, nanshoku was popularized through a combination of the kabuki theater and the commercial sex enterprises that cropped up.

Also interesting were all the examples of art depicting nanshoku, some of it quite ribald and most of it graphic. But that just lends more weight to the notion that there was no stigma attached to boy love during this period in Japan, at least not a universal stigma; it was quite nearly universally tolerated and any effort to control nanshoku usually was to control violent fights over popular boy prostitutes rather than a governmental decree against homosexual sex.

The book is heavy on male sexuality with little mention of lesbianism, but that's hardly a surprise considering most cultures tend to be strongly patriarchal and it is the men who record history. And as usual, it appears that it was through contact with the West, particularly with Christian missionaries, that the practice of nanshoku was eventually shunned into the crepuscular corners of Japanese culture. More evidence that if there is harm caused by same-sex activity, the harm is caused by a prudish societal mentality orignating in a rigid Judeo-Christian ethic that thrives on domination and guilt.

Gary Leupp's research was clearly thorough, and his end-result benefitted greatly from it. Although I already knew of both the monastic and samurai traditions of same-sex pairings, to see the extent to which this permeated Tokugawa society was fascinating. It also gave strong argument to the constructivist theory of homosexuality, which, when considered alongside biological factors, makes for a coherent picture of sexuality in society. It's clear from the work that more research can and should be done: same-sex pairings among women, and the shift from the Tokugawa to the Modern era in Japan and the resulting changes in sexuality would make for excellent books as well. One curious thing is the appendix of glossed terms in Japanese, Chinese and Korean. I for one would have appreciated more than a vocabulary list; if the notes in the text had contained the original language versions of his text, I'd have been happier.

I bought this book last year when I was doing a study on the construction of modern Japan, and I saw this book and thought it looked interesting. I didn't end up reading it until a few months ago, but once I started it I didn't put it down. This is a really interesting and accesible book. Although it is filled with lots of information, it is well written so that it flows along like a novel. It is easy and interesting to read, without being clogged down with lots of scientific and research terms. Although the topic of Japanese homosexuality isn't one that I have studied too intensly, I found this novel to be very interesting and I think it gives an excellent over-view to the subject.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This book is a very detailed starting point for fans of both the Renaissance & Capitalism. It was originally published in French in 1949. The book has eleven illustrations & fifty four lists of figures & is 643 pages long.It is divided into two huge parts with several chapters & sub chapters in each.

Exs: Part 1, "The Role Of The Environment."
Chapter1-The Peninsulas: Mountains, Plateaux, & Plains.
Chapter2-The Heart Of The Mediterranean: Seas & Coasts.
Chapter3-Boundaries: The Greater Mediterranean.
Chapter4-The Mediterranean As A Physical Unit: Climate & History.
Chapter5-The Mediterranean As A Human Unit: Communications & Cities.
Part2, "Collective Destinies & General Trends."
Chapter1-Economies: The Measures Of The Century.
Chapter2-Economies: Precious Metals, Money, & Prices.
Chapter3-Economies: Trade & Transport.
Chapter4-Trade & Transport: The Sailing Ships Of The Atlantic.

At its heart this is a socio-economic history of the second half of
the sixteenth century Mediterranean world that we owe so much too.
The authors depth & breadth of knowledge can be overwhelming at times, but never dull. The clever inclusion of the often ignored topics like climate and geographic conditions presuasively explained why prosperous Capitalism grew in some regions while others remained stagnant.
Chapter 5-"The Human Unit" was the most informative. Most facets of history are here for the reader to absorb. This is the type of book we all wished we had in school.

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

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