Sweden Books

When planning my trip to Sweden, this was the first book I purchased. In the end, it also turned out to be the most useful of the four Sweden travel books I purchased, not including a detailed Swedish atlas. Gives GREAT detail about some of the lesser-travelled cities and things to do off the beaten path...moreso that the Frommer's book - although Frommer's is certainly worth having. The book is very useful and easy to understand, as well as being divided into sections geographically. The only downside as far as I'm concerned was the lack of photographs, BUT - once I got to Sweden - the real thing was better than anything a photo would have shown me anyway.

This book assumes from the beginning that you'll be travelling by train. Unfortunately, it doesn't bother to mention that fact anywhere on the cover or in the intro. You obviously realize it when you start reading it, but in my case it was already too late. It is one of the bigger guides on Sweden available though, and if you'll be travelling by rail, and don't mind complete lack of pictures, this guide's for you.

I just have to correct one piece of erroneous information. The guide states that you can't buy ordinary painkillers over the counter in Sweden and counsels readers to BYO aspirin. (!) Untrue. You may not find aspirin, panadol etc at the corner market, but you can buy them over the counter at a pharmacy (apotek) without a prescription.

Other than that, the book is of typically thorough Rough Guide quality and for my purposes (a brief visit to Stockholm) it was more than adequate as a city guide (but do invest in a separate street/road map).

This is the best available introduction to Danish and Swedish pottery that I know of. Especially the chapters on "Royal Copenhagen", "Saxbo" and "Arne Bang" are excellent. The material on Swedish pottery are not at all that good but still O.K.

I'll begin by stating that I am an avid collector with extensive knowledge of Scandinavian studio art pottery. And while I don't consider myself necessarily and authority on the topic, I'm not writing a book on it either. I found Hecht's book informative on some levels and largely misinformative or under-informative on others. The information gathered here filled a gap in collector's books that was long overdue. It is unfortunate, however, that this book is littered with very poor and inaccurate references to its topic. It contains either false, nebulous or no reference at all to some pottery marks and their meanings & rarity. Some of the most significant factories and artists are often barely touched on or left out completely while several pages will be devoted to others that are comparatively far less significant. I also found that of those artists featured, many have no reference to their most representative work. Not to mention, 3/4 of the book is devoted to Danish work, with the last afterthought 1/4 to Sweden, which is, in my opinion, diametrically allocated. And as for values, I don't know where these came from -- some are strangely through the roof while the very few absolute hottest collectible artists will be strangely undervalued. I hate to think that the author is providing this to help sell her own collection at terribly inflated values alongside her Fleetwood Mac albums and tour buttons on eBay while picking up the best pieces at lower prices. Some of us are not fooled.

I'm not a collector of pottery of any kind. I saw this book at a friend's and started reading it. The history of the pottery houses and different genres are very well explained here and it's a compelling read. I was able to even see styles and artists that matched my sensibilities. Overall, I learned something new and saw many pieces of art pottery that I enjoy. I understand why Scandinavian art pottery is so collectable now.

This book is full of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) digs at the Swedish welfare state and Swedish "liberal" culture. The goal of a travel writer should be to be even-handed in her treatment of other cultures, even if the culture has practices she doesn't agree with. This book is as even-handed as Fox News is "fair and balanced."

It also displays a frustrating lack of nuance. A trait or tendency that is noteworthy or perhaps fairly common becomes a property that is universally exemplified.

It's not without useful information, but I recommend the Culture Shock book on Sweden rather than this book.

A great little book, easy to read and filled with good information. Perfect as a first introduction, as well as for the one who thinks that he/she knows all about Sweden and the Swedes.

This book gives a lot of insight to the intricacies of Swedish culture without going into too much detail. Especially recommended for anyone going on student exchange.

Fast delivery - thank you! However, the binding of the book was very poor and split almost immediately upon opening - though not the fault of the seller.

Another Henty story! The young hero, along with many other Scots, joins the 3o years war for want of something better to do. During the battles against the imperialists he works on being cool, calm, and collected according to his countryman's advice. Soon he gains the favor of the Danish king (rather improbably) and later, while recovering from a bout of fever saves a besieged castle + fooling the imperialists into thinking he and his followers are the whole Hepburn brigade! Tons of adventures (some gruesome), and in between some historical explanations - have a map ready!
Note: the trust which the imperialist leader and the Scandinavian king have in the hero is improbable, but they do offer a good look at the top leaders of the war.
Another note: I don't think anyone under 10 should read it - sometimes it was hard for me to read. G. A. Henty does not make war out to be glorious or wonderful. He places the remarkable adventures in harsh historical contexts. Many died in the 30 years war, not all of them soldiers, and many die in the story.

I personally did not like this book.It was supposed to be a historical fiction but instead was mostly fiction and fantasy.It wasnt realalistic and put to much weight on the non important things and shruged off the important things.The author had the main character walking around in a daze and had her made unreal desicions and the book barley had deatail.It was like the author streched out the non important stuff and tried to squeeze the important stuff in a few pages.She had the main character liking 5 guys and thinking she was in love but gave it up in a minute for something not important to her.she befriends someone who lies to her and helped destory her family in a few sentences and had her suddenly decide to forgive without nothing to help nut a sentence the first mention of it.Dont waste you time with this book i'v read many historical fictions and this not a good one the author reapeats everything in this book over and over again.

Other reviews by young adults suggest there is no action and that it is boring, but they are missing the true meaning. This book stirs up emotion that makes you want to reach into the pages to help Piri. It makes you want to help like the Rantzows, and you hope there are more people like the Rantzows in our own society. Very moving.

This book begins with the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the Holocaust. Fifteen-year-old Piri and her older sister Iboya have managed to stay alive and together throughout the war, and now they are free. Unfortunately, they have no home. They don't think any of their family members have survived, and they don't even try to go home to their old house, afraid of what they would find.

Instead, the girls are taken by members of the Swedish Red Cross to Sweden, where they are placed in a boarding school until they grow old enough to work. Piri begins to feel like a real person again, going to school and making friends and even falling in love with a young man who has decided to go to Palestine to find a new life for himself.

When the boarding school closes and Piri's love has left for his new homeland, Piri and Iboya start working in a factory, but Piri is a daydreamer who can't seem to keep her machine under control. When a Swedish couple touring the factory take pity on her and invite her to live with them as a daughter, she reluctantly agrees.

To her surprise, Piri fits in with this family. She even begins thinking of them as her own true family, and she is happy with them. She falls in love again with a nice young man, but she is torn. Piri had promised Iboya that they would travel to America to live with their relatives there and begin a new and better life for themselves. Is Piri strong enough to leave her love behind? Is she strong enough to refuse to travel to America with her sister?

It was interesting to get to read about the sorts of things Jews did after the war. It was good to read a story about people being able to get on with their lives. However, the ending of the story was pretty crummy. It didn't really resolve anything, and I thought Piri should have been stronger.

I just finished reading this book and enjoyed, though I did skim some parts that moved a little slowly. Overall, it is an excellent, intimate portrait of a young womans thoughts and concerns after leaving a concentration camp in WWII. It has issues universal to all-- growing up, loyalty yet resentment of an older siblings care, letting go, beginning again, love vs attraction. It also has some thoughts about being a surviver and a Jew and what it would mean to leave her Jewish life behind now that she survived the Nazis...

(Actually, this is a 4.5 star rating.)

This is a very memorable book, like the first book 'Upon the Head of the Goat' (I read them both at age fifteen, in the spring of 1995, haven't reread them yet, and yet can still vividly rememeber a lot of names, details, and events from both as though I'd only finished reading them yesterday). However, in hindsight it seems as though something is missing, and not just all of the friends and family members who were killed by the Nazis. A lot of sequels to books that were about the Shoah, whether fiction or memoir, or whether the characters were in camps, ghettos, in hiding, or just continually on the run, are kind of a letdown. A lot of intense things happened before, what with daily deprivations, increasing regulations, friends, neighbours, and relatives murdered, taken into ghettos, camps, prisons, and death marches, but the sequels to such books seem more like a routine tale of life after the War, no constant "What's going to happen next?" now that the danger is past and the Allies have assumed protective control of the European nations. Though this book, while being guilty of being mundane in comparison with what went before, is one of the better sequels.

The early part of the book is the most compelling, during the final days Piri and her older sister Iboya spend at Bergen-Belsen before the liberation. Piri is very sick and has to spend a long time in the makeshift hospital the Allies set up, and then she and Iboya are off to Sweden to begin new lives, along with their friend Dora (who lost her mother about six months after they were taken to the camp they were in, and is now an einer allen, or one alone in the world) and the two Berger girls, the daughters of the woman who pulled Piri into line with them after she had been selected to stay behind in the camp since she was so weak. Mrs. Berger switched Piri with another woman who had been marching with them in the fünfferreihe (row of five prisoners). They meet a lot of fellow survivors in Sweden, including Herschel, who becomes Dora's boyfriend, and David, who becomes Piri's boyfriend for a short time. Piri and Iboya also discover that one of their four sisters, Etu, has survived too. Etu was living in their old house in Hungary, along with her new husband Geza, but now she wants to go to Palestine, where David and several of his friends are also going.

Maybe it's shellshock or denial, but in hindsight I don't really recall some of the strong emotions displayed in other after-the-war narratives present in Piri or Iboya, at least not for long stretches of time, just an occasional moment of reflection that they almost didn't have one another, or remembering back to something awful that happened, like how Piri lost her best friend Judi. I know that no news was usually bad news, and the longer there was no news, the worse it probably was, but where is the frantic searching for their other relatives that I see so often in other memoirs of this sort, even denying that they died and that maybe the Red Cross got it wrong? Other survivors even hold out hope for decades that that other person miraculously survived and is alive somewhere, constantly wondering, placing ads, asking everyone they see in refugee centers or walking by on the road after liberation. When do they even attempt to look for Rózsi, Lilli, Lájos, Manci, even their stepfather, or try to find out what happened to them if they're pretty sure they're dead? Piri suggests looking for their stepfather, but Iboya says if he survived the Russian pow camp, he knew what happened and wouldn't think any of them survived. So they won't even look for him so that if he DID survive, he'd know at least Piri, Etu, and Iboya are all still alive? Only towards the end does Piri finally seem to be hit by the full emotional impact of what has happened. I also, in hindsight, don't agree with how they decided to go to America to be with some aunt they've never met, over staying in their new haven in Sweden, among all of their friends and surrogate family, or going to Palestine with Etu. Etu hasn't been in any camps, but at least she has more of a shared sense of what they had to suffer through, far more than some relative they've never met in America will ever! And why wouldn't they want to be reunited with their only sibling left, the way Etu wanted it to be? Also, Piri and Iboya obviously went through a lot together, yet Piri is content to live with a childless older couple who adopts her, while Iboya is away living in some type of workers' dormitory? In other narratives I've read, the friends or siblings who went through that sort of thing together were inseparable; they wouldn't have been okay with going in different directions so soon after that intense bonding experience. They came so close to losing one another before, so why live apart instead of sticking extremely close together? The other survivors I've read postwar books by want to be close together for comfort and reassurance that they're still there and together; they wouldn't be fine with splitting up!

I also would have liked to have had at least one chapter dealing with their new life in America, or maybe just one devoted to the emotional turmoil within. It is one of the better postwar books out there, but still leaves something lacking, both in emotions and in the rather bland life they lead in Sweden after getting used to their new home.

the author¡¯s argument move away vague, impressionistic and general arguments about the supposed powerless state which globalization is meant to have induced. However, the concept of state capacity in his book is so vague that will weaken his argument. On the other hand, the states that the author select to support his conclusion cannot represent all the states in world. With the development of globalization, the capacity of multinational corporations is obviously more and more stronger than small states in the world. In Asian financial crisis, some individuals can destroy a nation¡¯s economy and make is backward about 20 years. From this point, the state become more and more powerless instead of what Weiss think in this book.

As globalization makes its way, the world seems to converge to the neoliberal free market on the global scale. They argue that in such an environment, the room for state to maneuver increasingly shrinks. Reports about the decline of the welfare state and the death of Japanese-style industrial policy have been captured the scene. The author questions ¡®Is it real?¡¯ In the face of challenge from global market, can¡¯t the state chase the goal of national prosperity and distributive fairness any more? Should the state take the role of midwife of global market? The author argues that globalization has been exaggerated. The world economy is still the field that we are accustomed to. In fact, globalization is a stepped-up internationalization, the author argues. The state is still a important political and economic actor. EU integration, Pacific regional integration of production has been taken as example of globalization. But those are project launched with initiatives of strong states like Germany, Japan. The global market can¡¯t be sustained without resolute backing of states. States still pursue their objectives in the world with rigor.
And the convergence toward the model of Anglo-Saxon liberal state is unlikely to come: the author argues that states have different capacities. Sweden has the distributive capacity; Japan has the transformative capacity (so called developmental state); Germany has both capacity. Capability varies from person to person. Just like that, capacities of the state vary. The capacity is how efficiently mobilize which resource. That kind of capacity is hard to attain and take time to shape. Time-proven effective capacity would not be given up. It¡¯s unlikely all the states will converge toward one model. So the state¡¯s ability to adapt to globalization and the path each state will follow must be diverse. The world is still the field where the state competes against each other. In that game, they mobilize resources available to them.

Though globalization has put heavy emphasis on role change of the state and makes state seemingly powerless. But Weiss think that argument will be :1, overstating earlier state power, 2, overstating uniforming of state response,3, the political construction of helplessness ,and he convincingly argues that the greater internationalization of economies has actually reinforced the power of the state based on the comparative study of the economic policies of Sweden, Germany, Northeast Asia and Japan .Weiss propose that :first, state adoption rather than decline of functions. second, strong state as ¡° midwives¡± not victims of internationalization ,3 the emergence of catalytic states, consolidating national and regional network of trade and investment.

Weiss ¡®s book ( the myth of powerless state) strengthen the variety of state response to international pressures and to the sources and consequences of that variety of national property and put forward the idea that the impact of external economic pressures on national economies and public policies depends to a larger degree on the strength of goal oriented state agencies closely interacting with key economic actors. Numerous areas where state involvements in the industrial economy remains important and vital to national prosper even as economic develop and mature. As Weiss said in the book, State will be very important institution capable of coordinating change in leading sectors or technologies. The state can solve many important problems of coordination better than market. The source of state capability state capability is a function of economic openness that the more open or internationalize an economy, the weaker the state¡¯s capacity to govern industrial change. . Domestic and global changes do not understand state capacity in general, but rather producing shifts in the basis of state capacity as transformative tasks alter . Weiss used institutionalism approach for this book. There are four institution capacity for industrial transformation: first, bureaucrative structures of coordination 2, high-quality bureaucrats, 3,intelligence-gathering infrastructure. 4, insulated pilot agencies and policy coordination . Weiss used four definitions to study state capacity: 1, capacity as social bargaining: corporatism;2, Capacity as coercion ¡°the strong state thesis¡±; 3, the critique of statism; 4, capacity as policy instruments; 5,capacity as embedded autonomy: organization of state and society . The author also put forward three concepts to analysis state capacity: corporatism; ¡° a selected embeddedness¡±. Governed interdependence and Government-business Corporation. GI(governed Interdependence) will be a very important concept in his analysis. Forms and dynamics of governed Interdependence will be 1, an alternative to leadership reasons fellowship. 2,disciplined support. 3, public risk absorption,4 private-sector governance , 5, public-private innovation allianu; 6, serving capital or shared project .

In conclusion , the author¡¯s argument move away vague, impressionistic and general arguments about the supposed powerless state which globalization is meant to have induced. However, the concept of state capacity in his book is so vague that will weaken his argument. On the other hand, the states that the author select to support his conclusion cannot represent all the states in world. With the development of globalization, the capacity of multinational corporations is obviously more and more stronger than small states in the world. In Asian financial crisis, some individuals can destroy a nation¡¯s economy and make is backward about 20 years. From this point, the state become more and more powerless instead of what Weiss think in this book.

The arguments of Linda Weiss's book are very different from the conventional wisdoms of weakening state capacity and the global triumph of neoliberalism. She seems to suggest the ideal model of a 'competitive as well as distributive state' based on the assumption that the nation-states are still the important and capable units of the international economy. According to her discussions, there are many ways to build up such state capacity.

Her analysis is very unique in that she tries to combine in her theoretical construction discussions of the welfare states and those of the developmental states, which is often missed by the authors of either one.

As a student who studied the German and Swedish welfare states in South Korea years ago and now studies the developmental states in the US, I feel that this book is very insightful in dealing with the complexity of social reality in a historical way free from neoliberal ideology, such as state capacity and globalization.

In order for her arguments of the still-not-so-weak state capacity in the contemporary phase of capitalism to get more theoretical strengths, however, it may be better to include in her analyses the external conditions for explaining the different levels of capacities attached to specific states, such as world-systemic position or geopolitical factors because her analyses look to focus mainly on internal factors for the state capacity especailly among the core capitalist states and some Asian NICS. Of course, I agree that this inclusion of external fractors may run the risk of losing some strong points she wants to show, and of making theoretical constuction too messy with naive facts and stories.

In her intention to show the better way to understand theoretically the internal factors of state capacity, I find this book is very fresh and insightful.

Linda Weiss brings an unconventional view of the role of state, which contrasts with the prevailing literature on this theme. She considers the Japanese model as very viable, because of its ability to adapt to changes in international environment and transform its industrial structure according the market demands. According to the author, Japan's succes rests in combination of developmental and distributional fuctions. This fact enables the state better transformation of its structure than in market-led economies like USA or GB. Very interesting is the point, that distributional function doesn't weaken the developmental capacity of the state, rather reinforces it. The low income inbalance, the solidarity of firm with its employers also strengthens the capability of state. On the other hand she finds several difficulties with the German model, which exerts huge adaptibility in already existing sectors, but is weak in introducing new progressive technology industries like microelectronics. The German state has responded to this situation by creating of the new ministry for research and its role increased after reunification whereby it provided the largest amount of investments to the East. On these examples author illustrates that the role of German state in the economic development has increased. In case of Sweden came to separation of development and distribution, leading to problems Sweden is currently facing. Author also presents an interesting opinion, that neoliberal states as USA, Great Britain and New Zealand may due to the large income discrepancies and weak public-private coordination face severe adaptation problems.
The author pays attention to the issue of globalization too. She concludes that globalization reinforces rather than diminishes the state. On the base of evidence on FDI and international trade she concludes, that the claims about the extent of globalization are strongly exaggerated.
The international corporations also remain strongly embedded in their home nation-states which provide them with information and services.
On the ground of this evidence the autor concludes, that nation-state in the economic realm is not weaker, but even stronger. In my opionion is this contention true, but in other realms like that of culture the state's role has been undoubtely weakened.

Hello there! This little book describes perfectly the Swedish people. In a funny but very exact way the author (Mr Berlin, he should know, he is married to a Swede) gives very funny anecdotes of this nordic people. He is at his best in the description he gives of the Swedish woman "While young and single, she travels the world tasting the local delights. Once married, she works and keeps what she makes to herself." Short but very funny book that gives a good insight look of this people "Thriving in their glorious past."

If you are planning to travel (or have travelled) to Sweden then this book is a must! Not only does it allow you to understand the (sometimes strange) Swedish customs and foibles, but you'll be able to poke fun _back_ at the Swedes when they inevitably sit you down and tell you how their "paradise" is the best country on Earth. (And after reading the book you'll see that they certainly DO have quite a few skeletons in their closet). Arm yourself with this book before you meet Inga and Sven. Very very VERY funny book, don't go to Sweden without it !! (reviewer lived in Sweden for some months).

This "book" (really a pamphlet) sounds good from the description but leaves much to be desired after you actually get it. It is small and the text is large; you can read the whole thing in less than an hour. 30 min. if you're a good reader. It gives you only the most superficial glossover of Swedish culture and foibles. If you already know a Swedish person it won't tell you much you don't already know. It might be useful if you knew absolutely nothing about Sweden other than that there was such a country. It doesn't really explain anything or give you any insight into their ways. Basically a lot of expository writing. Don't pay more than 5 bucks for this if you decide you really need it.

If you're on your way to Sweden and you're looking for some insight into the culture, look elsewhere! The references are obscure (historical and political) and the information oblique...it only makes a small amount of sense after you've been there. The entire book pokes fun at the Swedes without relaying any substantial information. Don't waste your money on this one.

The book is okay. It should have been run by the editing department another time or two though as there are a lot of gramatical errors and typos and such.
The story of the Gripen is told fairly well however, with lots of development details and obscure but interesting facts. The text can be somewhat disjointed though and could have been better organized. Even with that there is lots of great info in this book.
For modelers: you're out of luck. Almost 0 detail shots. There is a good section on cockpit development but only a few photos and you can find better ones on the net. Most of the pictures in the book are very nice but are just generic, here's-the-Gripen shots. A few photos are terribly pixilated as well.
Anyway if you want info on the Gripen, go for it. If you want a modeling reference, well, there isn't really one yet.

Ok, this is written from a modelers standpoint.
The big problem is 90% of the pics are flight pics. very few on the ground so as far as getting detail walk around shots for modeling? FORGET it! no useful pics of the landing gear, no line drawings of the cockpit beyong the front panel, no shots of the wheels, no close ups of panel and rivit detail, no usable closeups of engine nozzles. 6 pics I had immediately recognized and had downloaded from the internet, there 2 poorly done pics of pilot/with suit. and the helmets were only lightly addressed. If you want page after page after page of pretty plane in flight shots, then you will like this book. it does do a good textural historical overview of development of the type though.
I bought the book brand new and subsequently saw it available used for 6 dollars. BUMMER! in fact, i have other aerofax titles, and they are VERY useful, dont know what happened with this particular book.

In the world of aviation books, Midland Publishing can be considered a leading authority on a diverse range of civil and military aircraft. The majority of titles published under the Aerofax and Red Star banners deal with Russian/Soviet or British/US aircraft. Some of the best work in the field are the volumes by Russian/Soviet aviation expert Yefim Gordon, such as the recent titles on Soviet Secret Bomber Projects and the Su-24 FENCER. Midland also does an excellent job examining aircraft from other countries, such as this solid volume on Sweden's JAS-39 Gripen multi-role aircraft by Dutch author Gerard Keijsper.

The JAS-39 Gripen was the first of the world's 4th generation combat aircraft to take flight and enter into front-line service. It followed in the famed footsteps of its predecessors, the J-29 Tunnan, J-32 Lansen, J-35 Draken, and AJ-37 Viggen, whose unique and elegant designs made them favorites of aviation enthusiasts worldwide. Designed in response to a 1980 Swedish Air Force (Svenska Flygvabnet) RFP for a multi-role combat aircraft to replace both the fighter/attack and recon models of the Viggen, the Gripen was the winning design of IG-JAS, a joint consortium of Swedish companies led by SAAB that included Volvo and Ericssen. The Gripen's basic design of single engine, side air intakes, and delta wing with canards mounted just under the cockpit was mandated by the unique Swedish requirements that have guided previous designs like the Draken and Viggen: the aircraft should be single-engined to keep maintenance and cost down, must be able to operate from short roadways, and should have a quick-surge capability.

On 14 September 1982, Gripen took off on its first test flight. Over several years numerous prototypes were tested and dozens of modifications to the digital fly-by-wire systems were made, resulting in a highly capable, dependable, and reliable airplane that has suffered only 3 airframe losses in its entire history. Gripen carries a 27-mm internal cannon and can carry a diverse range of weaponry such as AMRAAM, Meteor, Sidewinder, and Maverick on its eight weapon points. Coupled with air-to-air refueling capability, LANTIRN targeting pods, and AESA radar, Gripen has a bark equal to its bite. The aircraft's single F-404J engine produces 18,000lbs of thrust with afterburner, enabling it to reach speeds of up to Mach-2. Twenty-four years and 60,000 flight hours later, over 200 Gripens are in front-line service with the Swedish Air Force and export Gripens are equipping the Air Forces of Hungary, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. Gripen's low cost and high performance has made it a leading contendor for foreign military sales.

Keijsper's book conforms with the fairly standard Aerofax format. The book begins with an overview, discusses design histories and test regimens, explains weapons and avionics systems, then moves into the aircraft in-service and its export versions and sales. The text is accompanied by a wealth of photographs, with over 250 color and black and white photographs in 176 pages. Three-way design views that effectively illustrate the design process are also included, which helps the reader in understanding the nature of aircraft design immensely. A nice tough are squadron patches from many of the squadrons currently operating Gripen as well as detail on the Swedish Order of the Gripen Knights, which is a professional group of Gripen pilots who are awarded badges based on experience and proficiency. The level of detail offered in this book is incredible, essentially providing everything you could hope to know. It is dated, being written in 2003 and published in 2004, and could stand an update on the major differences in the C/D models over the original A/B, but that is information that can be found elsewhere.

There are some flaws in this book that bring it down a few notches. First, no biography of the author is provided. The only detail offered by the publisher is that Keijsper is Dutch and lives in the Czech Republic. He clearly received large amounts of information from the Gripen Consortium and the Svenska Flygvabnet (in fact the book often reads like a press release) but the author's credentials are brought into question. The structuring of the chapters is a bit awkward. Chapter 3, Improving the Breed would have been better suited as a discussion after Chapter 8, Into Service. There is a 2-page chapter on Extreme High Alpha Test Flying that serves no real purpose, and should have been removed. There are minor errors in the text, such as the comment that the Gripen has supercruise capability, which with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.9 seems hard to believe, but overall nothing too alarming. There is a disconnect between the photos captions and the text which make them feel like two separate narratives and there are numerous grammatical errors, likely the result of translation from Swedish to Dutch to English. Minor stuff to be sure, but something a keener eye should have caught in the editing process. Overall though, this volume on Gripen has a necessary place on the bookshelf of both aviation enthusiast and military analyst for years to come. The photography and design diagrams alone are worth the purchase price, and this book lives up to the standard set by the Aerofax banner.

The next few years will be crucial for Gripen, as it nears the end of its production run and fulfillment of its current foreign order book. Without follow-on orders from the Swedes or a substantial export order, the production line may close and this graceful aircraft will slowly age its way into obsolescence. Conversely, should the US Joint Strike Fighter be delayed, countries like Denmark, Norway, and Australia may look to Gripen as a ready-made affordable solution, ensuring its continued production for many more years. For now though, Gripen patrols the skies over 4 nations, vigilantly watching and protecting against external threats and ensuring a continued place for Swedish combat aircraft in enthusiast's hearts and the world's skies.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis MO

Lonely Planet always does a solid job and this is no different, but having also bought the Rough Guides Sweden guidebook, I would have to strongly recommend the later: ISBN: 1843536854.

Lonely Planet looses in the amount of content (380 pages vs. 500+ in roughly the same size/weight as Rough Guides). The layout is less reader friendly and harder to search through. But in the end what really matters is that on every city Rough Guides has more information, better details and better maps. Plus Rough Guides was for 2006 published more recently and had presumably more update to date information. There is nothing wrong with this version of Lonely Planet, but given that's is the same price why not get the Rough Guides.

If you are going to Sweden I would also point out Rick Steve's Scandinavia book if only for the highlights on the extremely reasonably priced cruise between Stockholm and Helsinki. It's an excellent way to spend 2 nights!

Lonely planet Sweden is not a bad introduction to Sweden, but it is not as reader friendly as it could have been, and it is a little short on content. However, I cannot recommend "The Rough Guide to Sweden" in its place, due to some grave omissions and incorrect and highly subjective information in this book.

There are some minor errors in Lonely Planet Sweden that irritated me. For example, the word "älg" is translated as "Elk" through out the book (dozens of places). This is wrong, "älg" is "Moose" not "Elk". Sweden has moose but no elk (Kanada hjort). Another example is that the river "boat race" in Uppsala on the Walpurgis festival is actually a "float race", real boats are not used. Instead anything home made that floats, including Styrofoam skis, large airbags, and decorated floats are used. It is more of a comic arts and craft event rather than a "boat race".

However, what annoyed me the most was that out of the books 313 pages only 36 pages were devoted to the Northern part of Sweden called "Norrland". This part is 2/3 of Sweden and has probably the most interesting attractions in all of Sweden. That includes wild life (thousands of Brown Bear, 300,000 Moose, reindeer, wolf packs, Lynx, etc.), the famous Ice Hotel (hotel made entirely of Ice), nature, mountains, moose hunting trips, fishing, ski slopes, national parks, Sámi culture, and much more. Central Europeans flock to Norrland to see these things that does not exist in other parts of Europe. This is described very briefly, if at all, in this book. However, the Ice Hotel lobby is depicted on the front cover, which is a consolation.

I am from Norrland, so I may be biased too, but I still think that mentioning nothing about many of the popular tourist attractions in Norrland, while mentioning almost every Pizza joint in the country is imbalanced.

The 2006 (3rd) edition of "Lonely Planet Sweden" has a decent amount of information about Sweden, enough to permit planning for travel to that beautiful country. Sweden, with its viking roots, its briefly imperial past, and its very modern present, boasts a fantastic geographic diversity of farms, lakes, mountains, and islands spread along the Baltic Sea all the way to the Arctic Circle

The format of the guide includes maps, diagrams, some photographs, and summaries of the attractions in each major region of Sweden. The coverage includes the entire country, although the southern portion, especially Stockholm, takes the majority of the content. This guide may be of most use to those looking for a quick survey on Sweden coupled with opinions on what may or may not be worth seeing. Those interested in more detail, or in forming their own opinions, will find plenty of other guides to meet those needs.

This pamphlet was issued as part of a "popular" history series, in this instance written by a don at LSE. The result, unfortunately, is an unduly dense presentation, unlikely to perpetuate, let alone stimulate, interest in the topic. It strays from central concerns, even in the few printed pages. For example, after touching on domestic reforms in Turkey, the author concludes that they "had no connection with the [Great Northern] war." ! Nor does the relevance of this item, among others, ever become apparent. This is, at best a "collector's item."

This is a great book, covering an area of extreme interest. Being swedish myself, doubtless has some influence in my interest of this king and commander. Far from the absolute, rigid and corrupted king which marked many of the contemporary rulers of Europe during that time, the book gives deep insights into a truly remarkable man and his thoughts and actions. He was instrumental for the survival of Sweden, and its powers to influence the course of action in Europe. He was also seen as one of the few men capable of halting russian intrusions into eastern europe. Losing his mother and father at the age of 14-15 he bacame one of the youngest kings ever in swedish history, and without doubt its greatest military commander, who protected his country against hostile forces. Unfortunately this side of him is not very well known in his old homeland, where he's instead seen as a man who dragged us into never ending wars. His importance for neo-nazis member in Sweden, doesn't help his legacy. For any one, remotely interested in 18th century european history, and the tactics of a truly formidable commander this is a great book.