Europe Books

Nazi Germany's spring offensive of 1940 opened a new chapter in warfare -- never before, in the long history of European conflict, had a victorious campaign of such magnitude (and brevity) been seen. Frieser is at pains to demonstrate that the most exhaustive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the opposing forces would not have yielded any basis for predicting such an overwhelming German victory. The book focuses on the tactical details of the "sickle cut" breakthrough in the Ardennes sector and the subsequent exploitation to the Channel coast. (The operations of Army Group B in Holland and northern Belgium barely rate a mention.) Readers will appreciate the abundance of operational and tactical-level maps (in German, of course), and Friesers combat narrative translates well. The German Army, despite deep misgivings within most of the high command, implemented and (for the most part) stuck to a superior strategic concept that was executed with great energy and outstanding tactical skill. Above all, Frieser's account pays tribute to the initiative displayed by German soldiers of all ranks. From Generals down to sergeants, this army demonstrated near-unbelievable energy, adaptability, and presence of mind throughout the campaign. It is a story well-told, with lessons that will resonate with every serious student of military history.

This is the definitive account of the campaign in France and Benelux 1940. Thoroughly researched, myth-busting, superb analysis, easy to read in spite of its academic complexity.

Oberst Karl-Heinz Frieser, an officer in the Bundeswehr and military historian, delivers a detailed and thought-provoking analysis of the Wehrmacht's 1940 campaign in the west in The Blitzkrieg Legend. Frieser sets out to strip away the hype and wartime-era propaganda about Blitzkrieg in order to establish what the Wehrmacht intended to accomplish and how it achieved one of the greatest operational-level victories in military history. The book's main focus is on Panzer Group Kleist and Guderian's corps during the crossing of the Meuse; German operations in Belgium and Holland, as well as the follow-up "Case Red" offensive into the French heartland are addressed in passing. Overall, Colonel Frieser's analysis of the decisive elements of the German campaign is first-rate, as well as his discussion of the related military theory behind the German success.

The author's main thesis is strategic in nature, namely that the Wehrmacht did not plan Case Yellow as a Blitzkrieg, but expected a long, drawn-out attritional struggle against the Anglo-French powers. While the author cites Hitler's directives before May 1940 to suggest that the campaign merely sought to achieve "a favorable position" in northeast France and Belgium, this is less than convincing. Since the author makes little effort to examine German industrial mobilization other than eschewing the notion of a "Blitzkrieg economy", he does not really examine whether Germany was in fact, preparing for a long war. Based upon German production of tanks, artillery, aircraft and U-Boats, it does not appear that the Third Reich was preparing for an attritional war with the Allies. Although Hitler's deal with Stalin and his invasion of Norway do suggest that Hitler was protecting Germany's access to raw materials, the level of military mobilization in 1940 was far below what Germany was capable of achieving. The author also concludes that the campaign was decided by military factors, not social or ideological factors. He says that French generals later tried to use problems of the Third Republic to conceal their own ineptitude, but the poor morale of French troops in May 1940 was clearly widespread. Thus, the author's strategic-level hypothesis is rather weak.

The author is on much surer ground on his assessment of the operational-level factors behind the campaign. Colonel Freiser cites three developments in operational art that laid the foundations for Blitzkrieg: the overcoming of linear thinking of the First World War and the willingness to embrace risky, non-linear operations; the refinement of the stosstruppen tactics of 1917-18 and their adoption by mechanized forces; and the emphasis on schwerpunkt, breakthrough, encirclement and pursuit. The Blitzkrieg outcome in 1940 was a fortuitous result of the convergence of three factors in Germany's favor: better use of technology (communications and mechanization), air superiority and the superior German Auftragstsktik methods. Three specific factors added to the scale of the German victory: the abysmal state of French command and control deprived them of any chance of seizing the initiative; Gamelin's faulty Dyle-Breda plan wasted the French reserves on an useless effort to link up with the Dutch; and German commanders like Rommel committed unauthorized advances that were unpredictable and hence, led to a catastrophic French collapse.

The campaign narrative on the critical period of 10-25 May 1940 is superb and well supported by 48 color maps. This volume clearly surpasses works like Horne's To Lose a Battle in terms of detail and tactical insight. The description of the assault crossing of the Meuse, Guderian's decision to exploit westward and the subsequent destruction of the French armored reserves is superb. Although the author's viewpoint is German, there is still a great deal of new information presented about French operations. For example, the author notes how the French Air Force was underutilized, with one fighter wing sitting in reserve for virtually the entire campaign. In the final stages of the campaign, the author discusses the panzer halt order at great length, concluding that von Rundstedt and not Hitler, was primarily to blame. Throughout the book, the author notes the clash between the conservatives like Halder, Kluge and von Rundstedt who wanted to slow the panzers and the extremists like Guderian and Rommel, who ignored risks. I think the author's easy dismissal of the "flank psychosis" that caused the panzer halt is a bit retrospective, because it certainly must have been very hard to believe that one million Allied soldiers would simply sit there and allow themselves to be surrounded.

The author also discusses the various factors that led to the German failure to close the trap at Dunkirk, thereby allowing the BEF to escape. He then concludes that the escape of the BEF transformed the success of `sickle cut' into an "ordinary operational victory." He concludes that despite victory in France, Germany could not win against the superior economic resources of the Allies and that, "the panzer operations of the German blitzkrieg were very much like jousting against the windmills of superior industrial potentials." This is a bit much to swallow. I suppose that it is now politically incorrect for a German author to even suggest that the Third Reich might have achieved victory if Hitler had only been able to settle for something less than world domination, but the fact of the matter is that England alone could not possibly have defeated Germany. The quick German victory in the West cut the Allied powers down from 4 to only 1 and while Britain had significant air and sea potential, it had no ability on its own to contest Germany's continental power. Even with US involvement, all that industrial potential could only come ashore in France a few divisions at a time, and as long as Hitler kept the war confined to only England, Germany had hope for a win or draw. It was the invasion of the Soviet Union that changed the equation against Germany.

This is an excellent study of the 1940 blitzkrieg campaign in Western Europe and looks at the struggle of the German High Command to adopt the brilliant "sickle cut plan" when they themselves were expecting a long drawn out war and then looks how the campaign unfolded in depth. The book examines how the German victory came about even though the German forces were outnumbered and also contained in some instances inferior equipment e.g. the panzer divisions contained mainly inferior tanks of panzer pzkpfwIs & pzkpfwIIs.

The German advantages however lay in their ability to co-ordinate all arms in their arsenal e.g. airpower, armour, infantry and the German personnel on the battlefield were able to make quick decisions in the field and were always conscious of time and pushed onto their objectives. The author relates this ability to quickly react to the German training in that the German command gave out objectives and missions, but the way in how these were to be achieved was largely up to the individual officers in the front lines. It was also the unauthorised actions of commanders like Guderian and Rommel by relentlessly pushing forward with their panzers and outstripping the supporting infantry that caught both the German and Allied commands of guard. The French & Allied way was to wait for orders but once received they were generally hopelessly out of date, and time and again opportunities to launch effective counter attacks were wasted. The French Command was slow to react, unable to coordinate all arms and could not organise an effective counter attack at the operational level, they could only achieve this at a tactical level.

The author examines how the Germans came out victorious even though they contained large numbers of inferior tanks. The Germans achieved this by concentrating their armour in panzer divisions adhering to Guderians concept of "punching with the fist and not feeling with the fingers". The French tanks were superior in armour and firepower but lacked radio and had small fuel tanks. The French were constantly stopping to refuel from fuel trucks whereas the Germans tried to alleviate this by carrying fuel in jerry cans with them. The German tanks contained radio that enabled crews to better coordinate their attacks and gave them the edge. When the French did manage to mass their tanks it was in a linear fashion with no depth and the Germans were easily able to penetrate. Once the French lines were penetrated and the Germans raced on and reached the French rear areas, panic ensued and the French front virtually collapsed.

The author points out the French Command incorrectly assessed the Ardennes as impassable by armour, neglected the Sedan sector through lack of mines & incomplete bunkers and ignored reconnaissance reports of German movements and of course were far too slow to react. Also, the French airforce was not very effective because a long drawn out war was expected and therefore only a portion of available aircraft were committed.

This is indeed an interesting and well researched book and highly recommended.

This book is both an analysis of whether the campaign in France in 1940 was planned as a "blitzkrieg" and a rather good account of the campaign itself.

The author very convincingly demonstrates that the Germans in general (and Hitler in particular) did not plan the French campaign as a blitzkrieg-style attack. While the high command's conservative plans resembled a revamp of WWI plans, a few new-style officers--principally Manstein and Guderian--came up with and convinced Hitler to authorize the daring plan to attack through Sedan. The campaign would have been an even greater success if Hitler and the senior generals had not lost their nerve and continually reined-in the panzers. In any event, all the German generals were a bit stunned by the quick victory. The author concludes by saying that France was an "unplanned but successful blitzkrieg, while Russia was a planned but unsuccessful blitzkrieg."

The book is also an excellent account of the campaign, and points out many interesting facts, such as:
--the French supreme headquarters was not equipped with a single radio at the outbreak of the war;
--another senior headquarters had a single telephone line, which became inoperable every day betwee 12:00 and 14:00 while the battle was raging because the swithboard girl insisted on her lunch break;
--at the outbreak of the war, the Germans had twelve times more trained radio operators than the French army;
--while the superiority of many French tank models over the German panzers is rather well known, the author recounts an incident in which a panzer commander grew so frustrated that his panzer could not damage a nearby French tank that he dismounted and attacked it (unsuccessfully and with fatal results) with a hammer.

Meticulously sourced, well written, great book. My only quibble is the rather excessive use of the word "astonishing"...

I read this book, here in Brazil.This book is full of correct things, and I must tell you, that this book isn't very biased or ridiculous.This book even has some appendixes about bombers, losts e even one appendix with a letter.
Failures of this book are small.The biggest of them is the fact, that this book has almost nothing, about american bombers and its results.
Even so, this book is good.To example, on page 350 , the author writes:"The two great archivements of the allied strategic air offensive must be conceded to the Americans:the defeat of the Luftwaffe by the Mustang escort-fighter, and the inception of the deadly oil offensive."The British inflicted grevious injurious upon us,'said Milch after the war, 'but the Americans stabbed us to the heart.'

Bomber Command is a great book if you want to know about how bad war can be, and should be read by anyone that thinks there is some glory in war. However, the conclusion drawn by Jerry Saperstein, "as Hastings notes, there was no such thing as an innocent German civilian" is not supported by the text, and is full of hate, and is obnoxious. The statement apparently relates to the rationalization of "strategic" bombing that England the USA chose as being less expensive in US/UK lives, even if more expensive in civilian lives. In fact, at the start of WWII, bombers only got 10% of all loads withing fifty miles of the target, so setting cities on fire and then bombing them made targets that the bombers could find. The rational was that people who live in cities go to work in factories that either produce weapons or produce food, or electricity; something that supports the war effort. If this means that every German was guilty of war crimes, consider these two parallels: (1) Recently Hizboallah was accused by Amnesty International of war crime for firing rockets and aiming some of them cities (Hizbollah did kill more Israeli soldiers than civilians, so they were MUCH better than the British and US in WWII), (2) in August and September (2006) Israeli troops killed 37 children under 18 in Palestinian territory (Gaza, mostly), supported my weapons made in the USA, and by a huge amount of foreign aid from the USA. If Saperstein is correct, every Israeli, every Jew, and every American is guilty of killing each of those children (one was a young boy, killed while playing his own yard. The killing was followed by a call to his parents from Israel telling them to get out of their home). If we are all guilty of shooting children, I want out. Had any number like that of Israeli children been killed, certainly Mr. Saperstein would have found all Palestinians guilty, and it would justify taking more land from them. The facts are, you are responsible only for those things that you can change, millions of Jews/Israelis want Israel to implement UN Security Council Resolution 242, and every German knew that those who stood up the Hitler were soon killed. "Bomber Command" shows, as the war in Iraq has, that a few politicians can make huge decisions without the public even being told the facts, but the public will pay the price, even when they have no control over the actions. Guilt is not something that one person (even a writer) determines, and we have rightly condemned the German army for collective punishment for shooting civilians when they could not find partisans, a lesson we all need to appreciate.

Bomber Command is a great read, full of facts that will amaze you by their brutality, but any theory of common guilt was a rationalization to support collective punishment, just as Israel has recently done to Lebanon. Just as the bombing did not work in Lebanon, it did not work in Germany. Destroying people's homes does not make them stop supporting war, it leaves them with no alternative but fighting. If you are a war buff, or just want to know why Churchill put off invading Europe for so long, this is a must buy.

It is simple really to understand. The Germans started the war, enslaved milllions, killed multi-millions, displaced millions, experimented on thousands and euthanized thousands. Why are the apoligists 60 years later saying that we should not have bombed German cities back to the stone age? In the context of that era what other resolution could there have been? Innocents on both sides were slaughtered.

First of all, it is easy to see how this work won the 1980 Somerset Maugham Award for Non-Fiction. I was totally riveted throughout. After reading the book in nearly one sitting, I felt exhausted and numb. The book is an indictment against the entire theory of strategic bombing in WWII and the wholesale slaughter of civilians specifically. While Max Hastings devotes much time to "Bomber" Harris who conducted the night-air campaign without reflection or apologies, his sharpest barbs are for those politicians (Churchill included) and senior military planners that made policy. These hid behind an unspoken but widely understood policy that wide-area terror bombing was the only avenue available to Bomber Command for most of the war but refused to discuss the subject honestly in the public arena in the hopes that they could maintain some sense of moral superiority over their enemy. Hastings also correlates Bomber Command's policy and operations with that of the USAAF, who he writes also hid behind a pretense that collateral casualties were a regrettable but unavoidable tragedy of war. Of course the hypocrisy of this position was laid bare following the continued slaughter of unprotected German cities in 1945 long after everyone knew that the bombing would make no difference to the outcome or even pace of the war, it became bombing just for bombing's sake, or in the case of Dresden, showing the Soviets what Anglo-American air power could do; slaughtering refugees fleeing from the advancing Soviet horde. In fact, the Associated Press reported in February 1945 that the Allied Air Chiefs had embarked on a terror campaign against the German civilian population, but Hastings points out that this news scoop was 3 years late (it had of course been policy soon after the British realized they could not hit specific targets at night). The most mind numbing account is late in the book in which Hastings describes in detail the bombing of Darmstadt. The Allied armies were within 100 miles of Darmstadt and the civilians were under the mistaken impression that they would be spared. In September 1944 Bomber Command made Darmstadt its next target for destruction. As Hastings makes the point, the horror is not that the attack was particularly special or difficult, it was the routine of it all that made it so terrible. The entire process reminds me of the banal evil more often associated with the murder of the Jews; being led into the concentration camps were "the system" would process and prepare them for organized and efficient death. Such was the case of German cities by late 1944. The Luftwaffe had nearly run out of aviation fuel and could only put up a meaningful defense on occasion. The Anglo-American armies had overrun the Luftwaffe's radar belts, so even when fuel was available, the Luftwaffe night-fighters could receive no warnings or directions. The "system" identified a German city for destruction, the bombers went up, everyone did their job and went home. Numbers were difficult to come by, but perhaps 10,000 died in that raid. 1 out of every 5 was a child under 16. 1.81 women for every man (at this stage of the war most men away from the war fronts were elderly). The casualties inflicted upon the citizens of Darmstadt were less than that of many larger German cities, but demonstrates that no German city regardless of size or importance was immune to terror bombing. In fact, Hastings describes how several German cities were identified for destruction not because they contributed to the German war effort, but because they could be easily destroyed, as in the case of medieval cities with a preponderance of wooden housing. Hastings describes the eventual unspoken shame that the wholesale slaughter of the German civilian population left in the minds of the British royalty and government. After the war, Churchill tried his best to distance himself from it and declined to secure a peerage for "Bomber" Harris (a reward given to many with lesser responsibilities). The Bomber Command aircrew were not awarded a Campaign Medal, though the Luftwaffe night-fighters and flak crews inflicted between 72,000-73,000 casualties on British Bomber Command alone. "Bomber" Harris himself emigrated with his family to South Africa soon after the war, shunned by those that used him to conduct their own policies. Hastings makes clear that nobody wanted to take credit for the terror bombing policies of Bomber Command after the smoke of WWII cleared. Hastings does not fault the young aircrew themselves and has nothing but admiration for them. Even so, during his research for the book, he interviews a surviving pilot who became a teacher after the war. The former Bomber Command pilot asks Hastings if others he interviewed complained of nightmares. Perhaps something for the young to think about the next time their government orders then to bomb civilians. Does a state of war really justify the killing of defenseless civilians? Does it really matter that the other side did it first (though in fact many give credit to Churchill for having a German city bombed first in the hopes of redirecting Luftwaffe focus from the RAF airfields to British cities, giving the RAF a new lease on life at the height of the Battle of Britain. This strategy proved successful). Regardless who bombed who first, can killing nearly a million German (and thousands of French) civilians be morally justified? There seems no doubt that the western Allies gave up much of the moral superiority they seem so fond of taking for granted. The biggest irony of all is a point Hastings makes again and again, would not the war have been conducted more efficiently had the resources lavishly spent on Bomber Command been used to assist the British armies and Royal Navy instead? The morale of the German civilian population and their industrial production levels never faltered throughout the day (USAAF) and night (Bomber Command) bombings, only when the German war machine ran out of manpower and fuel did Hitler's armies finally fall back and eventually become overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. It seems quite probable that the horrors unleashed on the civilian populations did little to actually win the war.

In this era of political correctness and "sensitivity," it may strike many as repulsive that hundreds of thousands of German civilians were the target of tons of bombs night after night from British aircraft. But the reality is that the campaign was intended to terrorize the German populaion into demanding that their leadership end the barbarous war they started. Ultimately, as Hastings notes, there was no such thing as an innocent German civilian. Each in their own way contributed or supported the slaughter and enslavement of millions by German soldiers and bureaucrats.

Hasting's contribution is to strip the British effort down to its barest essentials: its beginnings as the only effort the otherwise defeated and defenseless British could muster to the excesses of the bombing in the last few months of the war when almost everythng that could be destroyed had been destroyed.

Hasting has a wonderful approach, weaving general history into individual stories of the bombers, the planners, the civilians and soldiers.

For everyone with an interest in accurate history, "Bomber Command" is essential reading.

Jerry

My wife is of Calabrian descent -- via both grandparents -- and I bought the book for her. She is delighted with the gift, and reads for a while in bed at night before retiring. She is engrossed in stories of where and how her ancestors managed to stay alive with so little.

Every Italian American should read this book to understand why our forfathers and mothers came here!

This story is more than a tale of a Calabrian family's fortunes and misfortunes, it is an accurate look at a culture during a period of hardship that would eventually lead to great change. The author adds depth to the characters through more than just words, he gives them life through their thoughts and actions. An excellent book for those interested in a true picture of the times and events that shaped the people of southern Italy.

You really feel what it's like to know you will starve once the food you are growing runs out. That overwhelming insecurity was the life of many of our parents and grandparents. The story is fascinating and truly holds your attention. It illuminates our emotional inheritance while it entertains. I want to give this book to all the people who go on about how hard life is these days.

This is a heart-rending story of triumph over tragedy. The characters come alive and invite the reader to see how determination of the human spirit lives on through their valiant lives. Ths story unfolds with a trip through this part of Italy and its history.

Williams does a remarkable job of blending jazz, gender, and history into what I see as an absolutely unforgettable novel. If you thought you knew something about the Holocaust, think again. Williams, in his trademark manner, has a way of telling through fiction the factual history that others are to busy or racist to acknowledge. Certainly one of the best in his oeuvre.

A very interesting construction of a diary kept by a fictitious gay black American jazz pianist, Clifford Pepperidge, incarcerated in Dachau leading up to and during the Second World War, but driven by real events. Upon arrival at the concentration camp Clifford is recognised and selected as a house servant by SS Captain Dieter Lange, a former pimp and low life acquaintance of Clifford's, who is not only interested in the pianist's musical abilities, but also as potential for his own sexual outlet. The strange and dependant relationship that develops between Cliff and Dieter Lange, and Lange's wife Anna, becomes ever deeper as they learn each others secrets.
The diary is very revealing about life in a Dachau, and brings home the horrors of the suffering and struggle for survival of the inmates; how circumstances changed as war broke out and progressed, and the desperation of both inmates and captors as the war was clearly coming to, for Germany and possible for the inmates, a disastrous end.
While I am in no position to confirm the authenticity of such a fabrication, the accuracy concerning the fact that in addition to blacks, and Jews, dissidents, criminals, gypsies, gays etc, from very early on Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps (something rarely acknowledged), and their unique position (their potential freedom was in their own hands), leads me to assume that the John A Williams has carefully research all his facts, supported by the usefully included bibliography.
All in all it makes for a captivating, moving and informative read.

If only half of what is published were half as well crafted. By the way, the Kirkus Review at the top says this is Williams's first novel. But this is John A., the author of The Man Who Cried I Am, right? Does Kirkus have him confused with another John Williams?

It took me twenty years to finally pull Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel, Shosha, about Jews and the Holocaust from my bookcase and read it. One week later I had finished it and moved on to read Clifford's Blues. Two compelling and distinctive plys coil together to offer up complementary perspectives on the rise of Nazism in Germany. Singer puts a face on pre-World War II European Jews, richly depicting what it meant to be a Jew in western Europe in the years prior to and during the Holocaust. For most modern Americans this is a fairly familiar story.

Williams offers up a tale much less familiar. He introduces us to Clifford Pepperidge, a gay, black, American jazz musician who spends a dozen years incarcerated in Dachau prison, one of the many labeled undesirables who were captured as the Nazis rose to power. While other prisoners suffer the misery of prison barracks and captor abuse, Clifford sits in the comfortable home of a gay Nazi officer and his bovine German wife. There as a servant, Pepperidge allows himself to be used sexually and musically by both husband and wife, the price of survival. In his daily interaction with other prisoners he sees that good men, those with the character and ethics to stand up for their fellows, rarely survive long. It is those who capitulate, who sink down into the muck, who lose their humanity, who will endure.

Williams provides us with a fascinating picture of how people react to power and influence, even when it clearly is evil. We see the German burger who blinds himself to the fate of those caught up in the hungry trap of Nazism. The German officer who grasps at every opportunity to accumulate wealth and power. The many who stumbled forward in step with a horror that grows ever larger and more malignant. Where Singer presents a picture of people desperately trying to hold onto their hopes and dreams even in the face of rising oppression, Williams shows us the convolutions that strip away humanity in both victim and oppressor.

The writing is strong, and Williams clearly took the time to do the necesary research to bring his story to life. Richly developed characters hold the reader's interest. It is not a book to be quickly forgotten. Williams holds a mirror up and asks us to look at ourselves and think about how we can be shaped and influenced by people and events. His darkside tale underscores the possibility of our own tumble in inhumanity and evil.

I read this book a year ago and it haunts me still.

John A. Williams has crafted here a story so compelling, so engrossing in its depiction of life lived on a razor's edge, that you loathe putting it down; you may feel chills when you've finished it. It's that disturbing, and that good. CLIFFORD'S BLUES affirms that Williams retains his gifts (fresh as ever in his mid-70s!) and mastery of his craft.

Clifford Pepperidge is triple-crossed: condemned as "decadent" - for being American Negro, jazz musician, and active homosexual (especially impolitic when he's caught in bed with a prominent white man) - and interned "indefinitely" in a German concentration camp by Nazidom as it rises to power in the early 1930s.

This is a historical possibility we'd not thought of. Yet Williams, no stranger to historical fiction (see, for example, his novel CAPTAIN BLACKMAN), footnotes his text with incidences of real life black jazz musicians detained by the Nazis prior to the outbreak of World War II; I'd never heard about this.

John A. Williams has been publishing books, mostly novels, over 40 years. His heroes have tended to be "manly" black men: uncompromising, heterosexual, hard-loving, hard-drinking and cigarette-smoking urbane sophisticates. I've always taken them to be stand-ins for the author himself; perhaps they represent the image of manliness of a day not quite gone by.

Stepping out of his usual bounds and into Clifford's skin, however, Williams exhibits an even greater sense of manhood, an empathetic virility. Clifford may not fathom how he managed to get himself into such a mess, but he doesn't make excuses. He's as resolute about his sexuality as his racial and artistic makeup, though all combine to make him particularly alienated - and vulnerable - as he faces down brutal imprisonment with other Nazi-dictated "undesirables" (Communists, gays, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews and gypsies) for twelve long years. He lives to see, almost veritably, the walls of his dungeon shake, practical escape, the possible passing on of his testimony - but at what cost?

I can say, with modesty and with pride, that I've read all John A. Williams' published novels. This is, for my money, his most powerful, arguably his greatest book since THE MAN WHO CRIED I AM.

Williams has always been a thinking person's writer and a darn good storyteller. In this extremely well written and deeply felt book he's rendered the poignant story of a character he made me truly care about. Clifford Pepperidge could be the long-feared-lost-or-dead relative whose tattered diary of surviving hell on earth has just been plopped down in your living room. How can you embrace all of what he's been through? What if it were you? The really eerie question is that, given history, or the record of human events, it's apparent that no one has a corner on inhumane depravity - we're each just as likely or capable of being captor or captive when, if, we allow a new holocaust. But when you look in the mirror, do you recognize the humanity within and extending beyond yourself? Will we remember?

Ann Milholland Webb's THE CONNEMARA BUS is one of those intimate epics that hooks a reader and just doesn't let go. It spins fascinating tales and adventures involving two people, their two cultures and countries and families, and the themes of heartbreak, loss of love and innocence, discovery and hope are not just universal, they become more personal as you read on. This is a ride well worth taking, beautifully told. Truly an intimate story of epic proportions!

I visited Galway, Ireland in June of this year and met Hugh and Annon the Connemara Bus which is now a tourist bus. They were great people.

I highly recommend this book to Irish Americans like myself who are interested in their ancestry and finidhing their relations.

The Connemara Bus is a beautifully well written autobiography which will hold the reader captivated from start to finish. The author describes her childhood, her close relationship to her father and her association with Hugh Ryan and his family. Accompanied by her brother, Dennis, Ann Milholland Webb while on tour in Ireland on The Connemara Bus, chronicals her personal "coming to terms" with the deaths of both her husband and her father in a way which makes the reader feel like they, too, are passengers on the bus and witnesses of her experiences. I am very much looking forward to a sequel of The Connemara Bus by this very talented author.

This is a superb work about greif bearing,roots, and the splendid man Mr. Ferguson. A look at the Connemara Region in times forgotten by many or rather unknown to more. A region of natural beauty not to be missed when you go to Galway. You will consider a tour on the Connemara Bus a bargain. If for no other reason, you will have had the company of Mr.Hugh Ryan, the driver, for an afternoon. Buy the book if you go or not. Ann Milholland has a lot to say in her first book.

Life is full of missed opportunities. How many of us have lamented over that moment of hesitation when we didn't seize the opportunity to speak to an intriguing stranger or take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity? Fortunately there are also those serendipitous moments that can change the whole course of your life. For Missouri native, Ann Milholland Webb, that moment came when she stepped on the Connemara Bus in Galway City. Bus owner and tour guide, Hugh Ryan, offered Ann much more than a tour of the Connemara landscape and history. He provided a glimpse into a simpler time when his grandfather, Andrew Ferguson, used the original bus as a means for women, especially, to come to the city to sell their wares and visit the world outside the narrow confines of village life. For Ann the journey served several purposes, not the least of which was a means of coming to terms with the death of the major figures in her life, her husband and her father. In addition, she found a sense of belonging and acceptanace within the Ryan's close-knit family. Even more surprising, she found a sense of purpose in life and a reason to go on by developing a cottage industry in the Connemara countryside which benefits the local inhabitants. Travel along with Ann on this trip of healing and renewal in the Connemara Bus. It is a journey well worth taking.

and How it Ended up Creating the World as We Know It_ could have been another title of this superb book that is written with cogency, urgency, and a real desire to get across the reader what the author has to say. The synopsis of the story is as another reveiwer has already described below: namely that the kick-off of modernity with Descartes' "I think therefore I am" was not something that popped out of the blue of his profound brain but a working hypothesis in search of a foundation of certainty---to be applied to theology promarily so as to end the sort of savagery that was devastating Europe in the name of religion during his lifetime (the 30 Years War).

Toulmin contextualizes Newton's discovery and Hobbes' political philosophy (briefly but enough to make the connection) in the light of this quest for certainty that held so many of the best minds in Europe spellbound for all these years. With a pace that won't let up, Toulmin takes you on a tour of Europe's social and intellectual transformation: going from poverty and social schism and a sense of doom in 1610 to a confident, unquestionable, and unquestioned, established cosmopolitical paradigm of order that was foisted onto social and political (thus also art) agendas.

So far so good but it sounds like something you've heard before doesn''t it? That's when this book takes off:
Toulmin digs at the 'subtexts' of these common-knowledge events to show you some very interesting presuppositions (seemingly innocuous at first) inherent in these great scientific discoveries that could not but lead to the institutionalization of racism, sexism, and nationalisms that had such traumatic consequences in the 20th century, with continuing severe after-shocks today.

Looking back, we might smugly click our tongues at the insanity that gripped post-Montaigne Europe, and wonder what the fuss was all about. But Toulmin makes his thesis pressingly relevant to us today by drawing parallels with events and situations that are still with us today.

The author rounds out his argument by giving a brief but clear accounting of the major players (French and German) today who are redefining the concept of modernity from mutually opposite ends.

Toumin's assessment of the legacy of modernity--however it may have got started--is one of of hope and optimism as he reminds the reader that in making the distinction between 'power' and 'force' (Hobbes) there is also this thing called ' moral influence' which, he hopes, will serve as the engine of renewal and humanization of 'modernity' in all its possibilities.

Maybe this is not the best or the most comprehensive account of the origin of post-modernism and/or its tendencies, but the book does give you about a 120 degree panorama--through a powerful telescope. Isn't that enough in a book?

The book is a inspiring discussion on modernity and basic aspects of our view of world. It's an essential book in time of the pos-modernity challenge.

Wow! Toulmin takes the reader on an exhaustive tour of the modernist program, tracing the roots of modern thought way, way back to the 16th century...and before. He makes a compelling case, with some interesting side trips, that modern thought grew out of the religious wars of the early 1600s and the desire for non-sectarian certainty that those wars created. If that doesn't make sense, you should read this book. Fascinating history, and a broad sweep of science and philosophy make this book quite readable, though neither short nor easy. Still, it goes a long way toward explaining why the ground seemed to shift under our feet around 1960. It was an earthquake that was as inevitable as it was overdue. I highly recommend this book to any serious student of culture.

This book is very useful for anyone who tries to understand the phenomenon of modernity, it origin, and its weaknesses.

Cosmopolis brings it all together! Dreary and disconnected readings of Aquinas, Montaigne and Descartes take on new significance with Toulmin's "revised account" of Modernism. By contextualizing prominent figures, Toulmin provides the novice reader with the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the philosophical contribution to the historical idiom. His witty, often humorous discourse is essentially readable and familiar. Philosophy can be tedious and intimidating, Toulmin proves it both fundamental and accessible.

One of the most famous - and infamous - letters in all of literature, De Profundis is a strange little piece of work: either much more than it appears on the surface, or much less. It is something I think everyone should read, if only for its insight into the human character, particularly that of one under great personal suffering. Wilde wrote this extraordinarily long letter from prison to Lord Alfred Douglas, his friend, lover, and the man who - by all accounts - was the reason Wilde was in jail in the first place. Despite repeated assertions in the first few pages alone to the contrary, Wilde seems reluctant to blame himself. He clearly blames Douglas to the hilt, and harbors a certain bitter resentment towards him. And yet... he clearly still hold much dear affection toward - and even loves - Douglas. He still seems to be asking for forgiveness - despite the fact that, by all accounts hardly excluding his own, he was the man wronged. It is quite clear from reading this letter that, desite the view history holds of him, Wilde was clearly a man of very high moral character. Certainly, one would not put Wilde atop a pedastal as the zenith of ethics - he himself says that morals contain "absolutely nothing" for him, and clearly admits - and is proud of - his having lived the high life to the hilt during his youth - but Wilde was a man of principles, and he stuck to those principles to the tragic, bitter end. Perhaps you might say he carried them too far. One gets the sense in reading this letter - or a biography of Wilde - that, not only could he have stopped his immiment imprisonment, but could have severed his ties with Douglas completely - had he wanted to. Apparently, he had his own utterly compelling reasons for not doing so. Whatever the case, Oscar Wilde is one of the most fundamentally and perpetually interesting characters in the whole of history. A self-described man of paradoxes - Wilde was subsequently the true essence of his time, while also being far ahead of his time - De Profundis makes for required reading by one of the most endlessly fascinating individuals you'll ever read about, and also provides a startling - indeed, perhaps too much so - insight into human nature.

De Profundis, though long for a letter, is not a long work in the conventional sense. Consequently, as many editions of Wilde's collected works are available, buying this on its own may be deemed questionable. I highly reccommend purchasing a Collected Works of Oscar if you have not done so already - it's well worth the price - but, should you desire to have more compact editions of specific works, an edition such as this will be privy to your needs.

This is a very moving account of a heartbroken man who was betrayed by a person he loved dearly. The pain, the trauma, the love, the anger, the frustration is evident in every single well-written sentence. This book is not only a window into the mind of one of the best British writers of the late 19th century. It is also a timeless lesson on what can happen when one falls in love with someone who doesn't truly appreciate what they have before them. Of course there are other lessons to be learned in this book but rather than point them out here, I'd much prefer you pick up a copy of "De Profundis" as soon as you can.

Not actually a "letter," though it had to be originally presented as such for him to be allowed to write it while in prison, *De Profundis* is Wilde's masterpiece--one has to have really lived and really, really suffered to have written it and it's amazing that he achieved it.

I only very recently read it--and "got" it. It rings true to me, and is very, very moving and "profound." It ain't summer beach reading.

Wilde is still and will probably always be best known as a "Personality"--that and the author of a couple of decent period plays, a short novel, a few stories, and lots of forgettable poems and such. But THIS--THIS is IT.

He really WAS a great writer, it turns out, after all.

So many people concentrate on De Profundis' accusations cast towards Alfred Douglas. Yes, it's true that the letter was written to him and that Wilde is ruthless in letting Douglas know exactly what he thinks of him but that's not why De Profundis is a great piece of work. It is great for three reasons. Number one - It contains the best account of the life of Christ. Christ as the romantic artist is the only account that has moved me to tears and the only account I can personally embrace. Number two - it is chock full of the Oscar Wilde voice and wit and as a result it reverbates as a true work of art and number three - It is ultimately a work that celebrates the things in life worth feeling - failure, love, injustice, strength and forgiveness.

Don't waste your time with the accusations towards Douglas. He is unimportant. Oscar Wilde is what's important and De Profundis is Oscar Wilde bare.

Ah, me...one doesn't know which to be more irritated
and exasperated with: whether it be Walt Whitman doing
his dissembling shuck-and-shuffle about the children
he had sired (to throw off a probing, serious John
Addington Symonds) -- or Oscar, in this "j'accuse," which
he should have spoken while looking in a mirror, rather
than writing it on paper to Lord Alfred.
This is without doubt a fascinating, horrifying,
and yet in places humorous, "piece de Miserere mei"
(to combine a bit of French with Latin).
If one chooses to believe Oscar, his only fault
was weakness in "giving in" to Lord Alfred. Oh,
come now. Blinded by Eros, reason flies out the
door...if ever reason was in control. There are
some sentences which are devastatingly revealing,
but Oscar doesn't seem to see it. "The trivial in
thought and action is charming. I had made it
the keystone of a very brilliant philosophy expressed
in plays and paradoxes." Ye gods, and little fishes!

And this man dared to call himself a "Classicist?!"
Yikes!!!
The best exercise for the reader is to just take
many of the things which Oscar accuses Lord Alfred
of, and turn them toward the self-blind, self-
justifying Oscar, to see their devastating hitting
of the mark. Never having met the young man, but
only having the "benefit" of hearsay (mostly from
Oscar's literary defenders) Lord Alfred seems to have
been calculating, temperamental (using anger to get
his way), manipulative, etc., etc., etc. The best
description of him may be Wilde's referring to him
with the lines from Aeschylus' play AGAMEMNON,
about the lion cub being raised in a house and
being let loose to wreak havoc and ruin.
But Oscar bears his share of blame -- more than just
that of the "sin" of weakness which he constantly falls
back upon in his own justification. Even in the midst
of what purports to be some sort of penitent cry from
the depths of hell...Oscar still is ever the poseur:
"And I remember that afternoon, as I was in the railway
carriage whirling up to Paris, thinking what an impossible,
terrible, utterly wrong state my life had got into, when
I, a man of world-wide reputation, was actually forced
to run away from England, in order to try and get rid
of a friendship that was entirely destructive of everything
fine in me either from the intellectual or ethical point
of view...." Er, when was the last time that the
"everything fine" had last seen the light of day?
Was Oscar an "Artist," as he consistently claims?
Was he the wronged, harmed Artist? Perhaps only the
reader can decide that for himself. Without doubt
he was witty, acerbic, funny, cute, clever, perhaps
even charming (to some -- sort of like a Pillsbury
Dough Boy with flair and a clever tongue), perhaps
stylish (in a frumpy, velveteen sort of way). Was
he wronged by a predatory clinger and manipulator,
and a hypocritical social prudery and class power
play (Oscar is no Socrates--that's for sure!)? He
hardly seems worthy, in some ways, of being a poster-boy
for Gay Pride parades. More likely, he is a better
warning poster boy for the self-excusing, and never
take-responsibility-for-your-own-actions crowd.
But this is an incredible piece to read and think
about. There is some of it that is mordantly hilarious.

Unlike Schindler's List, in Divided Lives, a book by Cynthia Crane, the reader is able to put a face with a name and learn about personal experiences before, during, and after the war. No longer are these people just statistics, but they are actual people who had a life that was turned upside down by the Holocaust. Divided Lives is the type of resource that could be used in schools, especially high school, to show the truth about what Holocaust victims went through day after day and the effects it had on the rest of their lives. Divided Lives not only shows students about the uniqueness of this period in history, but children can also connect on an emotional level and learn an appreciation for their own lives and the human race.

I remember reading a poem back when I was a boy about the poet's life in the segregation era south that his father white and his mother black and being subjected to bigots both black and white. Somehow the meaning felt true while reading this book.

From the little boy who was beaten by nazi teachers because his father was Jewish, to the little girl whose Jewish father fled to America but sent divorce papers to his gentile wife, the stories here are in many ways far from pleasant. But not all the perpetrators are from the same group. A husband kicked out of the nazi party because of his wife's heritage, balanced against that of a girl kicked out of the BDM because of her heritage, only to discover after moving into in her new town the local BDM leadress telling her she was going to be in the BDM whether she liked or not 'unofficially'. A girl whose policeman father was driven mad by the stress and murdered by the T4 fiends to the loss of so many Jewish relatives by each, this is a very insightful book.

Life was not happy for these women when they were girls. Being prevented form joining the BDM because of their heritage or kicked out if the BDM found out. Being kept out of many things. Being stuck in the middle of nazi germany with less than politically correct heritage under allied bombs. Somehow they survived to tell their stories.

I didn't think it was up the the standards of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, but that book drew from a larger pool of individuals.
But within its small scale, it's pretty good.

After reading this accumulation of sensitive and very private stories by the subjects still alive in Germany, I recommended to the author that this book should be required reading in high schools across the USA.
The women who dared have their stories told survived an unbelievable period in German history in the 1930s and 40s. Reading the painful recollections of the personal experiences of the subject Jewish women under the domination of the Third Reich reveals an awful human experiment too horrible to fully understand, but important that it be revealed.
Readers will not be disappointed in the revelations extracted by the author, who has a personal connection to this period in history. Her father was a fraternity brother of mine, and I only recently learned of the humiliations he suffered before he escaped to the United states at age ten. Humiliations that have affected him ever since.
The author learned why her maiden name isn't the same as her father's original last name. And that triggered the quest to learn more, and thus the research in Germany and this book.

"Divides Lives" tells the stories of woman living a in a real life "twilight zone" during the Third Reich. Dr. Crane brings her characters to life and the reader is swept into their confusing and frightening world. I am not particularly enamored by Holocaust literature. I have had my fill of books, articles and movies which portray the horrors of the camps. However, this book is different. These stories would stand by themselves regardless of the setting. The implications for our modern world, alluded to in the author's musings, are staggering. Anyone who enjoys short stories or biographies will absolutely love this book. I can hardly wait for Dr. Crane's next work.

Many of the mischling women interviewed in this book state that the young people of today, especially Americans don't have any feeling whatsoever for what happened in WWII. Sadly, they are correct in that we learn about the war, but we don't learn about real life during the war. Facts and technical outlines of battles can only give one the surface of the struggle. To dig deeper, you need to read first person accounts such as the ones given in this book...stories of persecution and oppression that will make the war seem all too real. The paper thin line of distinction between Germans and Jews comes to life here with the children of Jewish/Christian parents who are ranked according to the amount of Jewish blood they carry...first degree half-Jew or second degree quarter-Jew. Most are saved from the concentration camps by their affiliation with their Aryan (German) family, but all suffer some amount of anti-semitism and persecution under the Third Reich. This is a revealing portrait of the fate of the mischlinge, a people who are often forgotten in the gruesome and humiliating saga of the holocaust.

Through the Rug
Through The Rug 2: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)

I am a children's author who likes to read books by other children's authors. I really enjoyed "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When".

Hannah and Alex Diaz and Brandon Clark arrive in England during World War 2, with a mystery to solve. They are unprepared for the world of war torn England. They are faced with air raids, evacuations, and miserable foods that stink. The children also eat dry bread and cakes, and wear hand-me-down clothing that should have been discarded long ago. They are faced with strict rules of behavior and firm punishments.

Brandon, who is black, faces prejudice and is disliked by some who have never before encountered a person of his race.

Alex takes his new environment as a challenge and an adventure. Hannah often opens her mouth and says inappropriate things. Brandon is separated from his friends, not only by being in a different home, but a different time in history.

I recomend "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When", for children and adults. It would be a great book to read to an elementary class for 3rd through 6th graders. This book would also be a good read-together book for a family.

I am adding this book to my list of 'Adventures with Grandma'. Verity's grandmother, Hannah and Alex call Mrs. D, is a harsh disciplinarian and a strict woman, but she is very endearing. She takes Alex and Hannah into her home and under her wing. We later find that Mrs. D has a past and wasn't always sweet and innocent herself. Her personality, as a young woman, was much like that of Hannah Diaz.

Join in the adventure of Hannah, Alex and Brandon, as they travel into the past and bring back lessons they can use in the future.

My sister is 13 years old and she despises books. After much begging and pleading I finally convinced her to read Don't Know Where, Don't Know When. Here's what she had to say:
That was a really good book. I loved it. I read a lil bit every night. I like those kids in the book. I would so read it again.
Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is the first book my sister has read and actually ENJOYED!!

This brought back my son's love of reading again. We found it under 'Historical Fiction' which is a bit of a stretch. They do talk about history, but not as much as their adventure. I would like to see more history in subsequent novels. My son loved the characters, especially Alex!

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is an amazingly engaging book written very well. A good friend of mine recommended me to read it and after I asked what it was like, she responded that it was a bit like Harry Potter only with history. Now that I've read it, I agree. No, there's no wands or boarding school, but there is the magic of time travel and of characters that take you to another place and time. As I read the book, I marveled at some of the things that the kids, Alex, Hannah, and Brandon, encountered and wondered to myself "could this actually be the way it was then?" I found that these things were true.
Annette Laing is a wonderful writer who grabs you with her style. I highly suggest this book for anyone at all.

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is a story of many people and times. Hannah and Alex Dias, two young teens from California have just been transplanted from the home they have always known to another world, otherwise known as Snipesville, Georgia. With its private luxury communities in the middle of cotton fields and mall known far and wide as the Small, Snipesville is the last place on earth Hannah wants to be.
Brandon Clark, born and raised in Snipesville, has one ambition: to get out, to be one of the "Big Shots" who leave black Snipesville and make a name for themselves in the wider world. However, Brandon's future seems to stretch before him, planned by his parents, like the grim parades of death that leave the family funeral home.
When Hannah, Alex, and Brandon are drawn together by their mutual differences and isolation, unlikely events begin to unfurl. Brandon's discovery of a British World War II national registration identity card and the appearance of a mysterious woman known as The Professor lead the children on a time travel journey spanning two World Wars and nearly one hundred years. The only clue to the mystery: Find George Braithwaite.
Don't Know Where, Don't Know When is author Annette Laing's first foray into the world of children's literature. It is the promising if slightly raw beginning of a series that has the potential to be great. Those familiar with Maiya Williams time travel series (The Golden Hour, The Hour of the Cobra) will find good grounds for comparison. The differences? Laing's use of social and/or cultural history is easier and more accurate, and there is an absolute avoidance of declaring a moral (not that this excludes the reader from finding one (or more).
The Characters: Hannah is a nightmare. I have never met a child like her (and thank my lucky stars that is so), but I have it on good authority that children like her really do exist. She speaks to everyone, regardless of age or relationship, with snotty abandon, no fear of physical punishment, or even as far and I can see, grounding, blunting her sarcastic tongue. Even those of us not in favor of spanking children cheer when one indomitable British dame finally gives Hannah her just desserts. By the end of the book she is not noticeably changed in attitude, but decidedly challenged in outlook by late experiences.
Alex is largely a secondary character in this book, with no real chances for expression. There are, however, hints of future importance and even leadership to look forward to.
The story built around Brandon is very interesting. Both of the father figures in his life, real life and time travel, are named Gordon. The wives are imposing (and in Mrs. Gordon's case, downright nasty) and there is an idolized older brother figure who looms large but is never really seen. It is lovely to see the confidence and self possession Brandon gains with the Gordons's that he seems to lack with his own family. Speaking of the Gordons, the daughter Peggy is a wonderfully despicable and yet pathetic character, because you have to wonder if it is her own weakness of character, an acceptance of family prejudice, or the troubles she has had to endure that have so warped her opinions. Peggy plays an important, if secondary and sometimes unrecognizable role throughout the story.
The real jewel of this Story is Mrs. D, who I will leave you to discover for yourself. She is a lovely and lovingly portrayed example of all the strong, staunch, somewhat undemonstrative women who kept Britain going during the horrendous years of World War II.
Do yourself a favor: read this book and read it carefully. At times it is a bit difficult to work your way through the teenage angst, especially in the first two or three chapters. Children may not find any of this distracting. By the time you reach chapters five and six you won't care any longer; you will be too involved in the lives and worlds being lived on the pages before you.This book is appropriate for the ages specified and beyond. Paying close attention will reward the reader with clues and hints as to the future of the series. Enjoy.

This is a very thorough guide for when you have only a day or two to visit. It actually has way more in it than we could possibly see or do.
Giving the top ten things to see is great for your first visit. It is also great for probably your second or third.

Very helpful, lots of pictures and maps.

the top 10 guides are the greatest books for traveling. they give the top 10 of everything you would like to know-sights, resturants, hotels. we traveled through europe and book several different types of books and the top 10 were our favorites!

This book is ideal in many ways. Read it before you travel - it reviews all of the highlights that you'll want to see while in Venice. It also explains and diagrams the public transportation system, a useful thing to know in advance of your arrival.
This book is a great size to take along while touring the Venice area. I referred to it often because navigating Venice can be a lot like trying to find your way around a labyrinth!
A nice feature of this book is that it cross-references topics in a variety of ways. If you want to see sights in a certain geographic area, you can look things up that way. However, if you have a special interest, like churches, art galleries, or whatever, the book is organized so that you can easily look up your specific interest and locate the sights you want to see throughout Venice. The book lists the entrance fees to the major attractions, as well as the days and times when they open and close.
Another nice feature of this book is the variety of historical information it contains on all manner of things Venetian - from gondolas to glass blowing. My husband and I used this book on our first trip to Venice and truly found it invaluable. I highly recommend it.

My girlfriend, a world traveller for 20 years, borrowed this guide from a friend before going to Venice. It was so helpful and easy to carry around, and made her trip so full and enjoyable, that she bought her own copy and plans to rely on this series of travel guides in the future.

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.