Ireland Books

This was a happy find: a well-written, thought-provoking book that I had never heard of. The quiet tone and subtly shaded characters are reminiscent of Alice McDermott's best, and not only because they share an Irish heritage. The story moves forward and backward in time, building details introduced in passing into unforgettable characters. I especially admired the silk-dyeing lore -- I didn't know that Paterson, NJ had such a romantic history. A book to treasure.

I am a lover of all things Irish. So when I picked up this book and saw it had to do with an Irish Immigrant I started reading. Houseguest deals mainly with the interactions of people on a personal level and how those interactions impact on one or both of the people. I was especially interested in Edward's reflection on caring for his wife & young daughter. How guilty he felt for wanting to scream/run away. I wouldn't want people to think all Immigrants wind up living with the upper class, rent free for months. Not likely. Very good novel. The references to Edna O'brien are correct.

A friend promised I'd love this, and love it I do--incredibly intimate, and deceptively simple story-telling. Reminds me of Laurie Moore and, a little, of Edna O'Brien--very different writers, obviously, but this writer shares common ground with each.

This is simply a wonderful book, an elegant, straightforward masterpiece. It is a tearjerker without being maudlin, a love story without being overblown, a family drama that is poignant but never cliched. The story of a family pulled apart by death and circumstance‹and reunited in an unpredictable but thoroughly satisfying way, The Houseguest is a book you won't be able to put down‹and won't want to.

I read this wonderful book straight through, lost in the world of an Irish-American family during the Depression. Rossi is an amazing writer: her characters are so honestly and deeply observed that they are haunting, and the things she evokes--Sunday afternoons, a beach house in winter, the tension just before a love affair begins--are rich with clear-eyed but compassionate detail. This is one of the most moving novels I have read in years. It is romantic without being melodramatic, and the ending is so satisfying and lovely that I closed the book crying. The Houseguest will stay with me a long time.

This novel was chosen by Barnes & Noble for the "Discover Great New Writers" program....It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, indicating a novel of unusual merit and interest...Books Ireland said "This is a work of such might and muscle....Buy it."...The Irish Times said "Phelan has taken a...theme, the slaughter of innocence, and by dint of sheer lyrical power has turned it into something you won't forget for a very long time."...Library Journal said "This first novel, an unforgettable exploration of the shattering effects of violence, belongs in most fiction collections.... The French translation, "A La Saison des Marguerites," is published by Editions Balland.

Barnes & Noble selected IN THE SEASON OF THE DAISIES for its "Discover Great New Writers" program. Publisher's Weekly (1996) called IN THE SEASON... a "powerful novel" and awarded it a starred review. Library Journal (1993) said "This first novel, an unforgettable exploration of the shattering effects of violence, belongs in most fiction collections." The Irish Times (1993) said "Phelan has taken a...theme, the slaughter of innocence, and turned it into something you won't forget for a very long time." Books Ireland said "This is a work of such might and muscle....Buy it."

A wonderful and provocative book although some may find the subject matter a bit too rough for light reading. The book combines a graceful lyricism with a whole variety of interesting symbolism which implies the author's depth of human understanding.

One curious example would be the character of Ms. Bevan who connotes pure compassion and understanding; a true Madonna figure. She is modern, monied, dignified and thought to be Protestant by everyone in town, which she is not. This subtle reflection of Irish self-loathing and the fact that Mr. Sheehan, a kind of suffering moral hero, is the only one capable of even speaking to her makes an interesting commentary.

Also of note is the book's ambiguous treatment of Irish Republicanism. IRA members are all damaged characters suffering from their involvement and regretful, neurotic or base and ruthless in the extreme. It is fundamentally a romantic novel whereby the enviable qualities are of a personal nature and the "collective" goals are misguided and taken-up by unfortunate rabble and impetuous youth.

Who is responsible for Willie's death? The English, the IRA, all who where present, only those in favour of the killing, the village that reared the killers? The verdict seems to be that all are guilty, the pain real and perhaps the living suffer most.

I think this book started out a little hard to understand and take in, but once you got down and started reading it, it grabbed you and sucked you in. It was well written and it gave you an idea of grief and love. I think anyone who hasn't read the book should.

Being somewhat of an "Americanized" European expatriate, I've always had trouble understanding the passion and connections inherent to that mysteriously unique Irish sensibility. Perhaps it has something to do with the vast ocean separating the U.S. and Europe.

Mr. Phelan's book is so touching, so powerful, I was moved to tears at one point. It's a deeply emotional account of one boy's personal tragedy... and coming out of it feels like coming off a long and painful relationship gone wrong. I'm grateful for having read it, and even more grateful to Mr. Phelan for writing it, but I hope I never suffer as much in my lifetime as little Seanie Doolin.

A great read, and suprising page-turner .. an absolutely unforgettable narrative. At times it reminded me (vaguely) of William Faulkner.

This is a well-written and fresh look at John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bremer derives his view of Winthrop from the "Model of Christian Charity" sermon, which Winthrop delivered sometime around his emigration to North America. Rather than the stern, unbending, and judgemental character that is the common perception, Bremer shows Winthrop as a pragmatic leader who often worked behind the scenes to reconcile diverging points of view. As portrayed in this book, Winthrop was a man of humility who strove to include anyone with a "spark of godliness" into the community.

At 385 pages of text, the book moved along quickly. I was sorry to get to the end.

Thanks to an absent minded John Winthrop falling into a foul smelling peat bog and surviving (which he took as a sign that he should emigrate to the colonies) the settlers of the Massachusets Bay Company were blessed with a practical and efficient administrator. Elected Governor many times over, John Winthrop is portrayed as an honest and god fearing a man as any patriotic American would want.
Although a good third of the book describes Winthrop's life in England, it is justified and necessary to see the religious and social preparations for his career in America. Once he came to America, his life was devoted to the preservation of his religion, his family and his colony.
Those readers familiar with Boston and surroundings will enjoy the detail in this biography; the streets he lived on, the configuarion of the city, its growth during Winthrop's lifetime.
And how easy it is to forget how little in the way of goods and services was available to the settlers in the 17th century. John Winthrop was not in the first wave of New Englanders in Plymouth, but even 10 years later he had to bring with him wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas for cultivation, potatoes, hop roots, hemp seed, tame turkeys and rabbits, linen and woolen cloth, bottles, ladles, spoons and kettles, among a long list of other essentials.
In spite of harsh conditions and personal tragedies, Winthrop prevails and the reader will learn much about this "forgotten" Founding Father in this compelling and interesting biography.

This is a wonderful book. The author demonstrates a rich, nuanced command of the period and the players. I especially appreciate how he works to portray the characters from their own perspective instead of juding people who lived four centuries ago by todays ideas. I appreciate that he goes to great length to provide historical context. Indeed, he provides so much context, beginning with the subject's grandfather, that the book starts out a little slowly. But once the book reaches the point of Winthrop's departure for America, it remains compelling up to the end. A wonderful book for a more complete picture of the settlement of our country and a valuable addition to a balanced view of the puritans.

John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father

by Francis J. Bremer

Oxford University Press, published 2003

Millerstown University Professor Francis Bremmer's John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father is the first major work on the Massachusetts's governor in over fifty years. It is an engaging and comprehensive volume serving as the author's attempt to provide a more balanced view of Winthrop than has been seen in other works. Bremer writes, "The Winthrop of modern histories has been constructed to suit particular agendas. It is time for biography that is interested primarily in John Winthrop himself." (pg. xvi) Bremer is well qualified to take on this task, as he is the editor of John Winthrop's papers for the Massachusetts' Historical Society.

The narrative traces all of Winthrop's known ancestors in England. Almost a century before John was born, his grandfather, Adam, was a successful London cloth merchant. Adam profited handsomely from Henry VIII's reformation of the church. He purchased monastery lands from the government and established the family's seat in Suffolk. It was to this estate that Adam retired during the Catholic restoration of Mary I. The Winthrops were staunch Protestants and the move was designed to prevent retribution from the Marian government. The estate was to be the family's headquarters until John's departure for the new world in 1630.

The family estate was located in the Stour Valley, which was a hotbed of reformed Protestantism. Bremer deliberately avoids using the term Puritan because he feels that it carries to strong a connotation to the modern reader. "Godly" was the description used most often by the Winthrop family and their circle. Like many others in Suffolk, the Winthrop's were non-conformists to the Anglican model and hoped for continued reforms of the church.

John Winthrop was born in 1588. He attended college at Cambridge for two years and left without taking a degree. While he considered entering the ministry, his early marriage and family obligation precluded that career path. In 1605, he married for the first time. From 1605 through 1630, John Winthrop lived the life of the minor gentry. He was involved in running his estate, raising his family and practicing law. In 1615, his first wife died in childbirth and Winthrop soon remarried. His new wife died a year later in childbirth; John married again in 1617 to his third wife, Margaret Tyndal.

Winthrop became involved with the civil government when he was appointed to the Court of Wards and Liveries. It was at this time he grew increasingly displeased with the corrupt state of the civil government. After considering emigration to Ireland, he and Margaret decided instead to join with members of the Massachusetts Bay Company and move to the new world. The venture was seen as a way to serve God and to make a profit. The founders of the company decided on John Winthrop as Governor for the colony. This is a reflection of the modest nature of the project in the eyes of the founders because, "if Massachusetts had been a larger, more important venture, he would not have been entrusted with the responsibility." (pg. 170)

As Governor, Winthrop was responsible for seeing the colonists through the bitter early years and for establishing order among the colonists. It was at the start of the emigrating that his famous "Christian Charity" sermon was given. He compared the colonists endeavors to a "city on a hill" that all could see. This biblical reference is Winthrop's most enduring literary legacy and is often quoted by politicians to this day.

Winthrop strove to live a good Christian life and to ensure the others the opportunity to so as well. He sought unity amongst the settlers but was willing to compromise and attempt to reach consensus. He was unwavering, however, in his principles and showed no reluctance to expel Roger Williams or Anne Hutchinson from the colony when their unorthodox theologies threatened the stability of the society.

Winthrop served as governor for 12 of the 19 years he lived in Massachusetts. He was untiring in his efforts to promote the growth of the colony. In the winter of 1649, he became ill and died. Bremer sums up the man and his accomplishments, "Zealous but not a zealot ... he helped to prevent his colony from being blown off course by the winds of extremism and from being wrecked on the rocks of fanaticism." (pg. 385)

Accessible to all levels of interested readers, John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father is a valuable portrait of an important figure in American History. Sources are extensive and meticulously documented. They primarily come from the records of the Courts of Assistants in Massachusetts Bay, Official Records of the Governor and Winthrop's own papers and journals. In addition, a host of sources from both sides of the Atlantic is employed in the work. The in-depth coverage of the Winthrop family background can be tedious to readers only interested in American events, but they provide needed insights into the English Reformation and the events that lead to colonization of New England. Bremer's work takes its place as the definitive biography of John Winthrop for the next fifty years.

Bremer has brought us a sensitive and balanced portrayal of Winthrop, one that is at the same time truly gripping. One of the significant contributions of the book is Bremer's attention to Winthrop's forty or so years in England prior to coming to New England, which helps create the sense of organic development and shows points of continuity between English Puritanism and that of the New England colonies. The relationship between Bremer's presentation and other scholarly opinions is covered in many of the endnotes, which makes it useful to the scholar but not burdensome for the average reader. Scholars, history buffs, and even those just interested in the human experience of life, will find this book rewarding. Highly recommended.

. Informative book which is easy for all ages to follow wether reading it themselves or being read to. My children used it for projects and i myself took it into school to show children the system the English have as many think the Queen is voted in. I also enjoyed this book as i enjoy my country's history.

My bible of Royal British successions for almost 20 years, I keep it at my elbow for constant reference. A wonderful thumbnail sketch of each King and Queen, as well as a snapshot of the times in which they lived and the causes of their sucesseses and failures. Great reading--beautifully illustrated.

I bought this book many years ago, and I still pick it up at least once a month. The book gives you the most important information of every king and queen who has ever ruled England or Scotland.

As I turn the pages, I can see that there is something interesting about every regent, and by the way; this book makes you realize that royal scandals are not a new invention.

I have now read through this book twice - once before each of my trips to Great Britain - and have found this book to be immensely helpful in understanding Britain's past and present. The book purports to be about the British monarchy, but in addition to thoroughly covering royalty, this book also covers a fair amount of history so the reader has some feel for the cultural setting of the monarchs as well. There are numerous color illustrations and photographs throughout the text, finely placed, and quite instructive. Each monarch has typically 2-4 pages devoted to their reign, with important dates and events set out in an easy to consult style. Some attempt is made to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each ruler and to assess how the British peoples fared under their guidance. In general, the presentation is fair-minded, following Shakespeare's dictum to comment on each ruler as s/he appeared, "nothing extenuant, nor aught set down in malice."

There are periodically pages devoted to related topics such as the origins of Parliament, the Magna Carta, Chivalrous Orders (such as the Order of the Garter), War of the Roses, coronation of the Prince of Wales, castle construction (explaining terms like motte and bailey), or Empire Building. Events such as the 1381 Peasants Revolt, the 1666 Fire of London, or the Great Exhibition of 1851 (sharing scientific advancements from the Industrial Revolution) are richly illustrated, with commentary provided to explain their significance.

The Kings of Scotland are discussed separately, with historical figures like Robert the Bruce or William Wallace being treated in the narratives. Eventually, the Scottish and English/Welch monarchies converged with with the coronation of James I in 1603.

In all, Plantagenet Somerset Fry has done an absolutely first rate job of creating an introductory book on the British Monarchy. I found it quite helpful in keeping things straight in my mind (e.g. keeping all the Edward's and Henry's and George's distinct.) It is an excellent book to read either for pleasure, for instruction, or for historical guidance while touring the British Isles.

I read this book cover to cover just prior to my trip to England (along with Antonia Fraser's "The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England"). This was a fun and easy read with nice pitcures. It is nice for anyone looking for a brief overview about the English Monarchy and also for anyone who just wants to have a handy reference.

The fact that Trotsky tried to devise a revolutionary strategy to cope with the issues aroused by the existence of a Popular Front government in 1930s France made this collection of short pieces and pamphlets to remain consistently out of fashion for the next 70 years, as Marxists tended more and more to make a fetish out of Liberal Bourgeois political forms. Therefore the relevance of this book, as a discussion of the shortcomings of said Bourgeois Democracy in terms of the overall sclerosis imposed by it on the Body Politic.

Paris, February 1934: tens of thousands of rightists attempted to overthrow the French government in a violent demonstration. The Radical government was soon replaced with a Bonapartist ruler. How could the powerful working class movement respond? The French Communist Party was moving to the "Peoples Front" alliance with the Socialists and the Radicals, in reflection of Stalin's search for alliances with one or other of the imperialist powers moving towards war to redivide the world. Together with the Socialists, the Stalinists politically disoriented the French workers. Six years on from the 1934 demonstrations, Hitler was able to crush France, and the fascist Petain ascended to power. "Leon Trotsky on France", a collection of writings from throughout those six years, brings the light of Marxism and the experience of the Russian Revolution to bear in showing the way for workers seeking a revolutionary way forward. As the 21st century takes us deeper into a situation like the 1930s -- economic depression, political volatility and instability, rapidly sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry, the rise of ultrarightist forces -- the lessons of the 1930s loom large. With each passing year, books like this one are becoming more relevant for workers and fighters for social justice.

More than a history text, this is a compelling day-by-day analysis of the great political developments in France during the 1930s depression-- and incisive arguments for what working class parties needed-- and failed -- to do to fight their way victoriously out of the crisis. The brutal economic depression and the crisis of capitalist political rule, the approaching world war, the fascist uprising in 1934, the rise of Bonapartist-police state regimes, the great workers strike wave of 1936, the stakes in organizing a workers militia, the political basis for alliances in working class struggles-- all are explained clearly and logically, with the aim of helping working people understand and organize to defend their interests.

Trotsky writes with the experience of a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the early years of building an international communist workers movement. He was particularly familiar with the French workers movement from years in exile before 1917, and spent time in France in the 1930s after being expelled from the Soviet Union by Stalin and his henchmen-- this experience helping him give rich political detail to his writings.

Above all, the questions posed here do not belong just to the 1930s. The perspectives of the capitalists, the petty-bourgeoisie, the workers and the peasants, and the question of leadership of the working class, of the forging of a revolutionary party with a correct program and the confidence to act are issues for today and tomorrow. Trotsky's writings here are invaluable in helping understand and organize in today's world.

Best part of the book -- Part Two: A Program for the French Revolution. For anyone who has had to deal with trade union brass who caution that the union membership must be careful not to alienate the friendly wing of management, for anyone who has had to suffer through debates in parties such as Canada's New Democratic Party, this book helps straighten things out clearly. As Europe thrashed its way through the 1930s, socialist revolution or fascist victory was put on the agenda in country after country. Trotsky goes over all the key issues as they arose concretely in France: elections and picket lines, workers armed defense versus reliance on the middle class, the relationship of general strike to the fight for a revolutionary change in government, how to win over the farmers. He hammers away at the fact that while capitalism was degenerating before everyone's eyes, nothing was automatic, nothing would inevitably change for the better without conscious action and organization by the powerful French working class. He pointed out that he was fighting for the lives of French workers who went into the streets in strike waves, who occupied their workplaces, who fought the police and fascist gangs over and over throughout the decade. And went down to defeat. Difficult to read simply as a historical document since so many issues are of burning relevance today.

France in the 1930s was wracked by mass struggles by workers, fascist, monarchist and other right-wing conspiracies two futures: the future of war, Nazi occupation and the Petain regime that aped fascism, and a victory of workers and farmers like the one in Russia in 1917 and Cuba in 1960s. Battles went on that could have prevented World War two, prevented fascism in Spain, and more.
Trotsky's advice here is not just directed to analyzing the big questions, but also discussing how small groups of revolutionists were affected by these big events, how they could deepen their role in the mass struggle.
With war, and what some call a gathering world depression looming in front of working people around the world, the same questions before French workers in the 1930s are coming before workers, youth, farmers and others who want to fight today. We are fortunate to read these writings by Trotsky to fight to avoid a future of war and fascism.

First, as a long-time member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, I always recommend this book to newcomers as a VERY ROUGH GUIDE to feudalism and 12th C. France (and warn folks not to bother with the rest of WSD's work, unfortunately - this was the pinnacle of a strange teacher/textbook author's work, who, near as I can tell, used only tertiary sources (I also tell them to AVOID Will and Ariel Durant like the PLAGUE).
Written as what we would now calla light-read adult-YA crossover, this is a quick-paced tour of life from top to bottom in rigidly-stratified Feudal society, dirt, plague and wonders all. (The second book I tell folks interested in the High Middle Ages to read is A Distant Mirror by Tuchmann.

But WSD died in 1930, which should put his books well out of (c) which means the publisher gets full profit for this very expensive paperback - very expensive, given that a decent 1st or 2nd ed. can be had for about the same money! (I purchased an UNREAD first for $10 a decade ago, prices have gone up since then.)

Look for a gold-stamped maroon copy sans dj. as issued. The post-Depression 3rd, bound in gold-stamped green imitation leather is both less valuable and printed on poorer paper owing to the economy of the times. Even if eventually Gutenberged, you will want to own one if you have any love of the High Middle Ages.

Note my connection with the SCA is listed as an indication of my familiarity with, and use of the material, which was also incorporated (while still under copyright unfortunately) into the 1st Ed. of Chivalry and Sorcery, an RPG designed by our first two Canadian knights in the 1970s. This is NOT any kind of endorsement or recommendation of this material by SCA Inc. a 501(c)3 a US/international Educational Not-for-Profit. For more information on its re-enactment activities, see sca.org.

This book has frequently been thought of as a juvenile or children's book, but as an adult, it is still one of my favorites. Professor Davis had a way of discussing the day-to-day life in historic times in a way that was both comprehensible and interesting.
There are many books that purport to discuss the daily life of other civilizations, but they are often so dry and academic that they are not even a trifle entertaining. Davis has shown that it is possible to write amusingly while pouring a great deal of information into the reader's mind.
The book is about the fictional Barony of St. Aliquis--Latin for "Saint Anybody"--in the Duchy of Quelqueparte--French for "Anywhere"--and the politics, wars, religion, marriages, and other aspects of life in what is arguably the cultural flower of Medieval France.
I highly recommend this book for readers of all ages.

I want to leave positive feedback for Keith at chaplinkt, the seller for my book. He was friendly and courteous. The book is in great condition; and it is hardback, which I wasn't sure of when I ordered, and which I much prefer. thanks

This book is written in a conversational style and tells the story of a year in the life of a family in France. The information is detailed and written very clearly. The chronological ordering of the events makes it easy to select the information most applicable to your research. The book covers deaths, weddings, harvest, travelling to visit other nobles, Christmas and other holidays and daily life of all levels of society on the barony. I have done a lot of research in this area and this is my favourite resource and the one I keep rereading.

Life on a Mediaeval Barony: A Picture of a Typical Feudal Community in the Thirteenth Century by William Stearns Davis; Harper & Brothers, 1923

Dr. Davis first had his work published in 1923 while still a Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. The book presents a very interesting and insightful view into the life of a northern French medieval community (certain seigneury of St. Aliquis). This work is 418 pages in length and consists of twenty-four chapters. The book is centered around the time of A. D. 1220. Although depicting French customs, one could assume that many were also indicative of England and Germany.

Topics such as hospitality, women's lives, clothing, cooking, falconry and hunting, literature, education and much more are covered in great detail. This is one of the first texts I used when teaching an introductory course to medieval history. I have found the work clearly written and one of the best books ever written on medieval daily life.

The Preface states, "Northern France was par excellence the homeland of Feudalism and hardly less so of Chivalry, while by general consent the years around 1220 mark one of the great turning epochs of the Middle Ages. We are at the time of the development of French kingship under Philip Augustus, of the climax and the beginning of the waning of the crusading spirit, of the highest development of Gothic architecture, of the full blossoming of the popular Romance literature, and of the beginning of the entirely dissimilar, but even more important, Friar movement."

The work was re-printed in 1990 by Biblo & Tannen Booksellers & Publishers. However, the new edition remains true to the excellent quality of the Harper & Brothers text. The text is a much needed reference work for any medieval historian.

Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren
Professor of Medieval and Military History

What amazes me most is that this book is probably not even known about in most modern educational circles, yet it should be required reading in every 101 history class in academia. In fact everything Chistopher Dawson writes should be on that list. This book is brilliant on so many levels I couldn't address them all in this space. Christopher himself was one of those extreamly rare individuals who had the ability to truely see the 'forest through the trees' and even better he could write about it for the rest of us to understand. Its one thing to know about a giantic and complex topic and a whole different thing to be able to put it into understandable sentences. The amount of books he read, understood and then tied the thoughts together is itself a staggering feat. The bibliography iteslf list the 100's and 100's of books that when into forming Dawson's mind and then the concepts in this book. As Tiger is to golf Dawson is to history, particularly western cultural history. The other reviewers have done a good job of telling you what the contents of this book are about so read them to get the idea, I second all their thoughts and reviews. What I can add for you is about the author himself. He is from England and grew up in a wealthly and privilaged family of book worms. It is important to understand that he came from wealth for one reason only. He didn't have to waste time like the rest of us toiling away to make ends meet. He understood this yet didn't live the life of a rich playboy. He felt an obligation to his fellow man and dedicated his free time to learning history and then teaching it to the rest of us. He read an wrote for 5 to 10 hours each day. Married young and never divored. His uncle gave him a library full of books where he spent most of his time growing up. He went to all the finest schools and was a professor at Harvard later in his life. All I can say is that this book is well worth the effort of working your way though it. It will give you a deep down spiritual-like experience to know so much more about your roots and where you came from. Enjoy!

A rare book. It is profound, prophetic, insightful, level-headed. Christopher Dawson is one of the few authors whose books are still mandatory reading in university history circles because of the vastness of his knowldege exhibited in his books. Few writers have the ability to say as much so succinctly: reading one chapter gives you almost as much as a book on the same topic written by someone else.

We need to remember that if the West saw far, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants. The giants of our past who, step by step, brought disparate tribes, from many races, speaking many languages and coming from different parts of the world, into one cohesive whole known as Europe. We had better find out how our ancestors did it, before we lose it all.

Catholic University Press of America is coming out with the Works of Christopher Dawson. To my mind, this is one of the most important publishing events in recent memory. In addition, these works are reset and contain solid introductions by experts in the field. This is third in the series (following Progress and Religion; and Medieval Essays).

The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity is an important book, which came out in 1932. Dawson highlights the central factors and contributions in the formation of European unity - the Roman Empire, Classical Culture, Christianity, the Barbarians, the Byzantines and Islam. Although Dawson was a Catholic, the book is balanced and can be enjoyed by just about anyone. I liked in particular the fair overview of Islam. It's fashionable to say that history books of the past ignored the contributions of other culture and only contemporary (and leftist) historians rescued us from the evils of "eurocentrism" and "ethnocentrism." This is silly, as anyone who has read history books from the past knows. (In addition, take for example the success of books in the nineteenth century such as Salambo by Flaubert, or the exaggerated claims of Masons of the contributions of Egyptians, which rival the "Black Athena" crowd).

In particular, I enjoyed Alexander Murray's introductory essay, which updates some of Dawson's arguments in light of current scholarship and also places this work within his oeuvre.

This concise little work attempts to cover the rise of nations from the crumbling Roman and Byzantine empires and the progress of Christianity all in less than 250 pages. Amazingly, the feat is accomplished with entertaining text. There is one shortfall in that there are no maps but the political characters and the events that brought about the European nations are given life. Very well done and a wonderful overview in its brevity and clarrity without paying the expense of literary color.

This book has to be the best survey of the beginnings of European, i.e. Western, civilization in the English language.

It reveals that European culture has its origins in the confluence of four vital elements: (1) the Roman Empire; (2) the classical, or Hellenistic, tradition; (3) Christianity (more specifically, the Catholic Church); (4) and the barbarians who infiltrated the collapsing Western Roman Empire. Each is treated in detail, and the combination of Dawson's encyclopedic knowledge and eloquent diction has the singular merit of making a vast and complex subject accessible and appealing to the educated reader.

To me what makes this book so special is the author's unique capacity to project the reader into the period under discussion without filtering it through the distorted lens of modern mores and attitudes that seem typically to color texts dealing with medieval history. He seems to have an intuitive understanding of what was important to the people of the period, and conveys this to the reader while at the same time he refrains from disparaging the so-called "dark ages" with remarks that emphasize its "primitiveness" by constantly comparing it to contemporary culture. (Aside from technological superiority, I see little basis for superciliousness on our part) Such parochialism of viewpoint is entirely absent from The Making of Europe, and for this, and other compelling reasons, I am sure that the interested and discriminating reader will find that it is, indeed, indispensible.

The Meanwhile Adventures is hilarious. My 10 year old son was getting a cramp and tears were rolling down our eyes with the nonsense and wit of this book. The author, who is Irish, suggests you read the glossary so you understand some of the local terms - do it! The definitions are a riot!!!!
You can picture Roddy sitting in front of you, animatedly telling the story - it's a hoot.

My 10 year old daughter, who HATES to read, enjoyed reading the "Meanwhile Adventures", "Rover Saves Christmas", and "The Giggle Treatment". My son, age 8, burned through them quickly too. They quote from the books. The humor is "different", but it is good for kids to read all types of books. Thanks R. Doyle! Write more!

I gave this book to my nine year old daughter for Christmas. She read it in two days and was thrilled to have gotten this as a gift.

"Who are you?" "Batteries included." I hope you have time to read this book because you will never put it down.

The Meanwhile Adventures is a funny , but exciting story. This book takes you to a silly family that does some amusing things.

The message is that a funny family like this can be a little bit of trouble sometimes.

I think this book is one of the funniest stories Roddy Doyle has ever written.

Oh what wonderful nonsense! Mister Mack has invented a saw that looks like a machine gun, and was arrested after taking it into a bank! Mrs. Mack (actually Billie Jean Fleetwood-Mack) cannot be reached as she is presently trying to set a record by circling the globe. Little Kayla Mack and her friend Victoria have taken off on her talking dog to track down her mother, while Robbie and Jimmy Mack have set out to burrow into prison to rescue their father. Oh, yeah, and the narrator keeps getting into arguments with the reader. Yep, it's a right mess, and a lot of fun!

This book is quite a fun little find. The author, Roddy Doyle lives in Dublin, Ireland, and has spun out a wonderful little book of nonsense, that takes the reader around the world, with his head spinning the whole time! Yep, if you have a young reader (8-10, I would recommend), then get him or her this book, and your young reader will enjoy it as much as mine did. Highly recommended!

The ultimate book when it comes to Irish folk music and amazon.com is one of the few places that stock the full edition not the revised ed. which has many cuts

You really can't not have this book, if you're going to get very deep into Irish traditional music. I think most Irish musicians would agree with me on that, too. (I teach Irish traditional fiddle.) There is another version, edited by Miles Krassen, that I do not recommend (Krassen "updated" the settings in idiosyncratic and often not particularly helpful ways). But I do recommend the other "big" O'Neill's--"1001 Gems." The latter and "Music of Ireland" are *not* the same book, although they have considerable overlapping content, many tunes are in one but not the other.

Basically, while as a teacher and player I don't recommend actually *learning* tunes from tunebooks like this, this great tome is extremely useful for purposes of reminding yourself how tunes go, for acquainting yourself with tunes, for getting ideas about good settings, for practicing sight-reading, etc.

I purchased this for my father, who is a mountain dulcimer enthusiast. It's a nice thick book with soft cover, bound with the cheapness typical of most music publications. It's too big to sit easily on a music stand, so I imagine it's intended as a sort of Irish folk music dictionary. In this capacity, it is excellent. There are nearly two-thousand tunes, indexed by title. These are short- the vast majority only a couple of lines long. A tune consists of melody on a treble-clef staff (if you need tablature, this isn't a good place to start), embellished by 19th-century style ornaments. Each is given both its conventional Irish (Gaelic) and English names and the composer to whom it is attributed. There are no notes about the scholarship behind the collection or how these tunes might be approached in performance. The engraving is nice (done around the turn of the century), and fairly easy on the eyes.

I was in a small pub in Baltimore for the ceili beginner's nights they have, and was asking some of the advanced regulars about good books with Irish music. They showed me a copy of this book and told me it was "the Bible of Irish music," and that's just what it is. With about 240 pages of more than 1000 jigs, reels, slip jigs, hornpipes, set dances, and Carolan's compositions, this book has it all. This is the real stuff too, because many of the songs from the book can be found on various Chieftains recordings, so it gives you the ability to play the music of the greats. Among others, there are versions of "Toss the Feathers," "Soldier's Joy," "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," "The Job of Journeywork," and the list goes on. This is a fiddle book, but the music can be played and sight read by any person of any instrument. I am a flutist and love this book. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a thorough compilation of quality Irish music.

Look no further. Of all the Irish tune books, this is the one to get. It goes by many names, "O'Neill's", the "big O'Neill's", the "1850", and the "yellow book". Like the Fiddler's Fakebook, I am on my second "yellow book", having worn out the first till the pages came out. This collection contains most if not all of the Irish tunes you will hear being played, and many hundreds more you will want to play.

I find it indispensable for several reasons -

It's a reference - when I hear an Irish tune that I like on an album or in concert or a jam session, I look it up in the "yellow book" to determine the canonical version. I'll probably end up playing it my way anyway, or the way I hear it played, but I like to at least see the "official" version.

It's a collection - most of the Irish tunes I have come to love and learned to play are here collected in one volume.

Its an exercise book - the "1850" serves as a seeming endless supply of sight reading material, after I have practiced scales and tunes I know.

It's a diamond mine - there are gems in there, just waiting to be learned. Amazing and uncommon tunes lying between the pages waiting for the curious musician to breath life into them. Grab a tune, take it to a session, set it free.

Get a copy of O'Neill's Music of Ireland, and the Fiddler's Fakebook. There are many other wonderful tune books, but these two are essential.

This excellent volume combines 2 books by the highly readable Viscount Norwich. His history of the Normans in south Italy and Sicily in the 10th and 11th centuries fills a gap in our knowledge of these fascinating mercenaries who-would-be-kings and rings true even today with the impact of Europeans on the Arab world and vice-versa. Remember, the Normans (of Norman Conquest of England fame) were the descendants of Viking raiders who settled in France and their military prowess against the Byzantine Empire and conquests in Italy were just as important as their better known invasion and conquest of England and Ireland in the same centuries.

Norwich is a storyteller as much as he is a historian. He resembles Barbara Tuchman -- you might not base a doctoral thesis on his work, but he certaily provides a great read. In many ways, this work is superior to his Byzantium trilogy. This may be because he has bitten off a more managable slice of history. This allows Norwich to go deeper on the main personalities and events he is covering. You really come a way with a feeling for this remarkable adventure of the Normans in Southern Italy and the advanced and powerful state they were able to create. It also highlights thier impact on the crusades, Byzantium, and the broader struggle between the Pope and secular power. I really enjoyed this book -- so much so that I travelled to Sicily to visit some of the many amazing artifacts left behind by this underdocumented "other conquest" of the Normans.

Dull and daunting as this title might seem for the general reader, this is actually a facinating and important episode in European history. For the more cynical it could serve as a primer for any group seeking to achieve political power by taking advantage of the inherent problems of a weak and divided polity. Diplomatically, it proves a brilliant example of a weaker party playing off stronger powers to its considerable advantage. For the more hopeful, it provides one of the regrettably few examples of Christians (Roman and Orthodox) and Muslims not only coexisting, but mutually prospering and profiting, under a pragmatic but culturally informed leadership. Lord Norwich's writing style and sense of what is actually important creates a lively, entertaining and informative look at the period.

The prospect of reading a 750-page tome on the history of Sicily between 1016 and 1194 would probably seem inviting only to the most masochistic of history buffs. That Norwich's book (originally published as two works, "The Normans in the South" and "The Kingdom in the Sun") has enjoyed its well-deserved longevity and such an admiring audience is a testament both to the thoroughness of his investigation and to the enthusiasm of his prose.

By necessity, Norwich populates his history on a crowded and expansive stage. This is less a chronicle of Sicily than the story of Europe during the Middle Ages, with the Normans in Sicily playing a starring role. Popes from Urban II to Alexander III, kings from Henry II of England to Louis VII of France, emperors from Frederick Barbarossa to Manuel Comnenus--they all warily circled the arenas in southern Italy and Sicily, with the Normans of Sicily at the center of nearly every major confrontation of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, from the investiture controversy to the Crusades.

But the real heroes of Norwich's masterpiece are the Sicilian rulers themselves, along with several of their often-insubordinate underlings. We are introduced to a sequence of memorable dukes and duchesses and kings and queens: Robert Guiscard and Sichelgaita, the fearsome husband-and-wife team who led the conquest of southern Italy and the campaign against Byzantium; Roger II, the first king of Sicily and a brilliant warrior, diplomat, and administrator; William the Bad, William the Good, and the final William III, who ruled over the island and its fragile government in its glory days; and Queen Constance, whose marriage to Henry VI, of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, brought Sicily into the Holy Roman Empire.

As the above dramatis personae suggests, "The Normans in Sicily" is largely a history of military campaigns, political intrigue, and diplomatic schemes. Norwich supplements his story, which was purportedly written with the tourist in mind, with doses of cultural history (particularly art and architecture) and with descriptions of the palaces, churches, monasteries, and other sites that have survived eight centuries of upheaval and restoration. He also examines the unusual melding of the three religious traditions (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Islamic) and how their occasional harmony and ultimate conflict affected the society and culture of Sicily in ways not coincidentally reminiscent of Spain during the same period.

Especially notable is his resuscitation of the reputation of William the Bad (or Wicked): "The epithet rings false. There was nothing evil about him. . . . [His] reluctance to face up to so many of his political responsibilities was due not only to his natural indolence but to a genuine conviction that there were others around him better qualified for the task. . . . Perhaps William the Sad might have been a more accurate description."

Of social and economic history, there is (not surprisingly) very little. The sources for such an investigation are limited, and these concerns were barely beginning to blossom among English-speaking historians in the 1960s--and Norwich admits he is not a scholar, though he writes far better than many of them. He was, however, conspicuously ahead of his time both in his assessment of the role of women in the expansion of the kingdom of Sicily and in his even-handed presentation of various religious customs.

"The Normans in Sicily" is, then, a traditional history, but one whose scope and whose value cannot be overestimated. And it doesn't hurt that it's exciting to read.

This is one of the best layman's books about any conquest. Norwich is unputownable history at its best. Witty, wise and taking rather a different view of the Norman Conquest of Sicily and South Italy than Norman Lewis, his is above all a kind of adventure story. It is also a look at a dynasty that makes the Colby family look pathetic. The humour that sparkles throughout the book helps make the whole experience more enlightening. A masterpiece of popular history at its best, it may be unfashionably concerned with the doings of the mighty, but who can resist the corrupt Popes, the machiavellian intrigues of the Byzantines, the gormless Germans and of course the Italians themselves, and the city-states and vassal-states endlessly changing sides, like an Italian football supporter when his own team isn't playing.