Ireland Books

This is a slight revision of my review of the hardcover version. Such a good book should be affordable. Hiram Morgan's monograph is an excellent study for any reader interested in early modern British or Irish history. One cannot understand the contemporary Protestant versus Roman Catholic distrust, animosity, and cultural divide in Northern Ireland without understanding the English Tudor's racist Irish policy of colonization.

One of Morgan's major contributions is to put the causes of Tyrone's Rebellion into the even broader context of late 16th century Europe, where the Protestant-Catholic religious divide, intensified by the Catholic Counter-Reformation, shaped national and international politics, while at the same time, the centralizing tendencies of nations like England conflicted with the lordships of Ireland. Morgan places the England-Ireland conflict within the same overarching political and religious context as the Spanish war in the Netherlands. Catholic Spain supported the Irish rebellion.

The author is no polemicist. He has grounded his study in English and Irish manuscript sources and Spanish archives and supplied readers with decent maps, and an important revisionist interpretation of this crucial but strangely overlooked rebellion.

Tyrone's Rebellion was led by the controversial Hugh O'Neil, the earl of Tyrone. This outbreak was the culmination of growing Irish animosity towards intrusive Tudor policy, but as mentioned above, according to Morgan it was not mere "Tudor rebellion." Despite the Tudor's usually successful strategy of divide-and-conquer, the ignorance and heavy-handed tactics of Elizabeth I's English administrators managed to unite the Gaelic chieftans with the Anglo-Irish (English or Norman expatriates who had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves") in opposition to English plantation and pacification under the leadership of O'Neil. O'Neil was his own man, and Morgan refutes the old steretype that O'Neil was the "creature" of Elizabeth's court. The rebellion was fomented in 1593-94, broke out in 1598 Battle of Yellow Ford), and lasted until 1607 (after Elizabeth I had died, and been succeeded by James I).

Tyrone, the "arch rebel," ultimately came to terms days after Elizabeth's death, and went into exile (the famous "flight of the earls"). Robert Devereaux, the earl of Essex, and one of the queen's favorites, was not so fortunate. His personal ambition, military incompetence, and defiance of his majesty's orders cost him his life. While the fate of such elite persons (along with the great apologist of English policy - poet Edmund Spenser) is well known, one of Morgan's minor oversights, which is common in most books about this era, is a lack of attention to the appalling fate of the masses of English and Irish who were slaughtered on both sides of this early version of total war. Half of Ireland was destroyed. The result was famine, disease, and anarchy. The war cost the stingy Tudors a fortune in expenditures and debts. But England prevailed and secured Ireland from being a threatening base of operations for Catholic Spain or France. The "flight of the earls" - the "wild geese" - scattered throughout continental Europe, signaling the decline - but not the end - of Gaelic Ireland.

Hiram Morgan's monograph is an excellent study for any reader interested in early modern British or Irish history. One cannot understand the contemporary Protestant versus Roman Catholic distrust, animosity, and cultural divide in Northern Ireland without understanding the English Tudor's racist Irish policy of colonization. One of Morgan's major contributions is to put the causes of Tyrone's Rebellion into the even broader context of late 16th century Europe where the Protestant-Catholic religious divide shaped national and international politics. The author is no polemicist. He has grounded his study in manuscript sources and Spanish archives (Catholic Spain supported the Irish rebellion).

Tyrone's Rebellion was led by the controversial Hugh O'Neil, the earl of Tyrone. This outbreak was the culmination of growing Irish animosity towards intrusive Tudor policy. Despite the Tudor's usually successful strategy of divide-and-conquer, the ignorance and heavy-handed tactics of Elizabeth I's English administrators managed to unite the Gaelic chieftans with the Anglo-Irish (English or Norman expatriates who had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves") in opposition to English plantation and pacification under the leadership of O'Neil. The rebellion was fomented in 1593-94, broke out in 1598 (Battle of Yellow Ford), and lasted until 1607 (after Elizabeth I had died, and been succeeded by James I).

Tyrone, the "arch rebel," ultimately came to terms days after Elizabeth's death, and went into exile (the famous "flight of the earls"). Robert Devereaux, the earl of Essex, and one of the queen's favorites, was not so fortunate. His personal ambition, military incompetence, and defiance of his majesty's orders cost him his life. While the fate of such elite persons (along with the great apologist of English policy - poet Edmund Spenser) is well known, one of Morgan's minor oversights, which is common in most books about this era, is a lack of attention to the appalling fate of the masses of English and Irish who were slaughtered on both sides of this early version of total war. Half of Ireland was destroyed. The result was famine, disease, and anarchy. The war cost the stingy Tudors a fortune in expenditures and debts. But England prevailed and secured Ireland from being a threatening base of operations for Spain or France. The "flight of the earls" - the "wild geese" - scattered throughout continental Europe, signaling the decline - but not the end - of Gaelic Ireland.

A study on the influencing factors of key decisions made by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and events leading up to the 'Nine Years War" with England. Unlike many other works, there are references to key players in these events including the Earl's brothers Cormac and Airt as well as Hugh Maguire, Red Hugh O'Donnell, and others.
Hugh O'Neill, an Irishman who was taken into custody as a child and trained in the English manner, returns to Ireland. His eldest brother Brian dies leaving him taniste to the title of 'The O'Neill'. Political intrigue ensues when a rival family member claims the title for himself. Meanwhile, the English crown seeks to plant more settlers in Ireland. O'Neill takes the sword for England and earns his title 'Earl of Tyrone'
The temperament and willpower of a man largely ignored by the Crown comes into question as he is dogged by enemies and harrassed by the state. Further problems arise when English troops establish fortifications on his land.
The book becomes a study of the events and circumstances surrounding O'Neills decision to seek aid from the Catholic King Phillip of Spain and turn his back on the tyrannical and genocidal Tudor advance.
The tactics used by O'Neill while negotiating and fighting are the roots of 'guerilla warfare'. The successes at Clontibret, Enniskillen, and the Yellow Ford are mirrored by the Irish failure to win the disasterous battle of Kinsale.
As evidence for the author's conclusions, he includes a letter written by Cormac O'Neill, the Earl's brother, requesting aid from King Phillip II of Spain.
As the author is a historian, all references are cited.
2001 marks the 400th Anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale. This work is a must have for any serious student of Irish history.

A 'must read' for any serious student of Irish history. To fully understand why Ireland is in the political conundrum it is you must first understand where the divisions between religion and politics began. The Geraldine and Butler leagues implemented by Sir Henry Sidney are merely the start, the ineptitude of Tudor officials the catalyst, and the rising power of Hugh O'Neill and his confederacy of Irish Lords and Cheiftans who had been wronged by English policy the vehicle. This book paints the most vivid picture of the people and the events responsible for the conflict. A look at a rare letter written by Cormac Mac Baron to King Phillip II of Spain is used to re-enforce the arguments propounded within the text. The authour, a historian, has clearly done more in-depth research on the subject than any other author to date and accurately describes (for the first time ever) the true story of The O'Neill.

This is an easy read, and a surprisingly thoughtful, careful, and broadly informative book. It dives deeply into the endless, diverse difficulties of modern life in Venice, but with excellent historical context. Its history of Carnival, and its revival, for example, is the best I've read. It's blemished by two or three uninteresting pages of symbolic/semiotic analysis, but these minor problems are vastly overwhelmed by impressive reporting, review and research on important issues of the day.

A must for the regular visitor of Venice. Davis and Marvin show clearly how the historical center and the outskirts (!) are sacrifized to the needs of mass-tourism. They describe how the the city is transformed sytematically into a historical theme-park in which the remaining locals have only a stage-role. And 'resistance is useless': the inhabitants are able to slow, not to stop the process.
The book predicts an ominous future of this cultural heritage site. Food for thought.

As an inveterate traveler, I usually find that books about places I have visited leave me sorry I read them - travel guides are often so filled with tourist hype or stereotypical portrayals or out-dated analysis. But, this is not a travel guide: it is a thoughful and well-researched critique of Venice as both a tourist city and a (struggling to remain) actual city.

Over the years I have related to Venice in three ways: a member of the day-trip brigade (with two children in tow); a more serious tourist making a five day stay of it; a long-term (six month) resident in one of its working class neighborhoods. From all of those perspectives, this book speaks to my experiences.

But, more than a souvenir of my times there (see the excellent discussion of the role of souvenirs in a tourist city), this work has opened my mind to other ways to see my beloved city. I now see the city and its people with new eyes, for the authors' critical eyes and ideas challenged me to experience Venice once again anew.

If, as I would claim, I love Venezia, then I would also want to engage my heart and soul in the challenge they pose for the future of the city: not the worries about "sinking into the sea" but the worries about becoming "lost in the tourists."

And did you know that tourists have been coming here for over 500 years (yes, fellow Americans, that is before any tourists invaded North America), and that tacky souvenirs have been available for at least 300 years? Lots more to know as well as ponder in this work.

If the City of Venice (Italy) ever decides to build a model of Las Vegas, will the model include a little replica of Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel, itself a model of Venice? It's the kind of question I might address to the authors of Venice: The Tourist Maze, this entertaining and rewarding account of what may be the most touristed city in the history of the planet.

You might suppose there is nothing new in a critique of Venetian tourism. Venice first licensed tour guides in 1219 (and right there is a factoid I did not know until I read this book). Any number of others have left accounts of tourism in Venice, and quite a few have left accounts of accounts.

Davis and Marvin do a creditable job of trying not to replow old ground. There's almost no mention of Mary McCarthy, Jan Morris, Viscount Norwich, and other visitors who have done so much to inform and entertain. There's only a bit of Henry James; almost none of Proust and only a glancing reference to that most famous of all sex tourists, Thomas Mann's Gustav von Aschenbach. Instead, they give their primary attention to tourism as an activity, from the standpoint alike of the provider and the consumer. You might almost call it an account of "the enterprise of tourism," except this makes it sound, misleadingly, like yet one more business book.

There is a whiff of the lamp about the presentation, although it never gets overpowering: the chapter on the gondola is called "the floating signifier," which is, I guess, the kind of joke you are bound to get when academics try to have fun. They say they "take advantage" of a notion of one "Appadurai" (who?), although he never makes it to the bibliography. A more obvious progenitor is Dean MacCannell, whose "The Tourist" is one of those rare books to make fancy theory both interesting and plausible. A still better source, though surely unintended, would be the trdition o;f the mystery novel, where the hard-boiled detective sees the great city from the underside (indeed I am a little surprised that they don't say a word about Donna Leon, the Arthur Conan Doyle of the Venetian murder mystery).

But forget about the theory: some of their best stuff is the nuts-and-boats practical. There is an admirable sketch-history of the gondola and its monster offspring, the vaporetto. And I particularly liked their discussion of the economics of the "artisan." They explain that Murano glass "works" because the craft is showy and dramatic, but that Burano lace-making does not "work," because the craft is not showy, and because real Burano lace is prohibitively expensive. Papier-mache masks work especially well, because the price is right, and the technology is accessible to any schoolchild. By the way it appears that those fancy designer masks (confession: I have one on the living room wall) are no part of the tradition of Venice: masks at the /carnevale/ were for the most part mass-produced.

The climax comes, inevitably in a discussion of the other Venice, the Venetian Hotel at Las Vegas (but why can't I find it in the index?). They provide an entertaining account, appropriately fascinated and appalled, of the Venetian as the private obsession of Steve Adleson who has lavished on it (so they say) the sum of $1.5 billion. They seem not to have noticed that from a business standpoint, the Venetian seems to have been a rousing success. If tourists still flock to the real Venice, they seem to descend at a comparable rate on our little Venice in the desert.

Today the city of Venice is associated with love, song, harmless frivolity and the Italian joy of life. Such things are not to be scorned within their proper place-this world's life is not so rich in joy that we can afford to scorn such things. But that Venice is a glimpse of what it was-a fairy princess retaining her beauty but shorn of her power, majesty and menace. There was once another Venice. A city where merchants were kings(as some Victorian poet puts it). A city of furious energy. A city of Empire-builders, Adventurers, mighty in war and magnificient in peace. A city of every virtue except humility and every vice except sloth.
Alvise Zorzi gives a splendid portrait of that city. He writes in an engaging manner expressing a gentle but unashamed local patriotism toward his beloved city. He tells anecdotes of various kinds, and describes various aspects of the life of Venice. Combined with the beautiful photos and paintings, which are given, this book is a marvelous thing.

This book is a wondrous thing. It is a coffee table volume in which the author expresses his immense love of his native city. An earlier review called it "unobjective". Quite true. I would regard someone who was not biased toward his homeland at about the same level as someone who is not biased toward his wife.
The author makes no attempt to be objective. On the contrary it is a refreshingly unabashed display of regional patriotism. But it is more. The author writes in a pleasant and amiable manner, and has a great amount of both knowledge and taste. Combined with beautiful photographs and pictures, the writer gives a worthy attempt to describe Venice in all it's splendour.
This is not primarily a book about the new Venice of lovers and tourists. It is about the old Venice, of beautiful women and brave men. Of Traders, Warriors, Statesmen, Adventurers, and Empire-builders. The city of enterprise and initiative. The city of every vice except sloth and every virtue except humility. This is the city from which Marco Polo ventured on his quest to Fair Cathay, and from which the galleys rode forth under the banner of St Mark, to fight for Christiandom and revenge against the Ottoman armada in the bloodstained Gulf of Lepanto. While in many places merchants were sneered at by aristocrats, these same men cringed in terror at the banner of St Mark, a place where merchants were princes. It was cities like this that kept the flame of liberty smouldering through the Middle Ages and if their claims in this matter were often shadowed by injustice, of whom can this not be said?
Zorzi, a descendant of a Venetian Noble family, gives a splendid overview of Venice. He shows it's governmental forms, and it's policies in war and peace. He also shows it's trade by land and by sea. There are also descriptions of such subjects as Venetian cooking and architecture and interesting personalities.
This work is a work of love and communicates the author's love to the reader. It is an old friend of mine, and it can be so for you too.

Jason Taylor(son of John Taylor)

There are many books available on the history of Venice, but there is probably no book as beautifully illustrated as this one. It contains many beautiful prints of paintings, sculptures, etc. as well as excellent photographs of the city. The book also provides a very good general overview of the history of Venice. The author is somewhat biased, by his own admission, about the "glory" of Venice and its history, and, thus, some degree of objectivity may have been lost in the telling of the history. Nevertheless, for anyone who is interested in Venice and its history, this book will provide many rewards.

VENICE 697 - 1797: A City, A Republic, An Empire is as satisfying an overview of the supreme city of Venice, Italy as is available. Other books may be more academically researched, written and presented and other books on the various aspects of this ageless city - its art, architecture, Carnivale expositions, idiosyncratic glass, music - are definitely more complete. But the primary reason for the success of this book is in the writing by Alvise Zorzi, a resident of Venice who treats us to a personal tour of what makes Venice so magical. Richly illustrated, wisely paced with interesting sidebars during the history portions, Zorzi relates the treasures of Venice with an endearing love that makes both known and new facts a joy to visit. At the end of this book he has created glossaries of terms, of the lineage of Doges, a fine chronology, and (with a tender bit of pride) a list of the Venetian Patriciate that of course lists existing families of noble birth as of 1999! Quite frankly Zorzi has the gift to crystallize the stages in Venice's development as a capital of Europe more meaningfully than other writers' compendia. We can only hope that he elects to present us with "Venice 1797 to 2004" and help us understand this enigmatic, slowly sinking jewel that has attracted lovers, poets, painters, musicians and writers for centuries from his present day stance. A beautiful book for any collection!

Although Coatsworth won awards for other books and her Sally series is wonderful, this stand-alone book is my favourite. From the beginning it matter-of-factly addresses the sadness and cruelty of everyday life, but also the beauty of life and people's innate kindness. I remember crying when I first read it because I was sad that it had ended, but it isn't sad in the least.

For my book report I read The Wanderers.I learned from this book that you can never judge someone by there looks.In The Wanderers their is a boy that no one likes because of his looks. I thought that this was a good book. I thought this was a good book because it had a lot of exciting things.Some of the exciting things were a village was destroyed and burned, and a dog saved some people.I think this would be a good book to read for a summer reading book!

I would just like to add that the illustrations, by Trina Schart Hyman, are wondrous and glorious and what made me pick up the book in the first place.

I am a connoisseur of children's books, and this is one of my favorites. How I wish it were not out of print; I would make of it a Christmas present to any person (young at heart) I care about. Positive character qualities are lifted up; negative character qualities undergo fabulous transformation. It is a book of mystical Celtic adventures, but also a book about trusting God. If you've got a soft heart for fantasy and for God, you'll love this little volume!

Donald Grant and his wife, NY journalists, retire and move to a cottage in Ireland. Their experiences and adjustments to their neighbors, to small scale farming, and to the culture of Ireland makes entertaining reading.
They learn goat keeping, rabbit raising, and the ways of bees and geese. The evenings chatting in the pub, the village interactions, the local customs and other trivia of daily life make you feel a part of their Irish experience.

If you loved Under the Tuscan Sun than you will find a great book here! Donald Grant's book will make you reexamine your life and reorganize your priorities all while providing good reading pleasure. A bit dated as it was written in the 70's, but it is more about finding yourself and the cultural life in rural Ireland.

I may be guilty of a little bit of nepetism (Mary Grant being an aunt, a bit removed and seldom seen), but this book has been a family treasure around the house for years. Anyone looking for an inspiring story about a simpler life should look into this one for sure.

Donald and Mary Grant, two well paid journalists living in New York City, decide to do a career change in their late 50's. They purchase a cottage sitting on three or four acres, later to become 11 acres, and live off the land. They visit the local Irish Pub on Saturday nights, chat about farm animals, and throughout the year entertain friends from their previous life who thought them totally "bunkers". Donald for added income writes a column for an American newspaper describing their new life. At a time when Americans have had to make career changes late in life, I would highly recommend this book. I think they added to the success of their endeavor by choosing Ireland, for it is definitely a country where nature has it's way. Untamed, perhaps, but also unspoiled. I believe in my heart that the troubles in Ireland should not be and Great Britian should give Northern Ireland it's freedom just as Donald Grant felt after living there. The Irish are unique, pleasantly unique, and should remain so

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writing from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writings from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

An important collection of essays, interviews and literary texts, providing a richly varied introduction to Bosnia's multi-national and multi-cultural society, while chronicling and analysing its internationally sanctioned destruction. An ideal starting point.

A brilliant and essential collection of high-quality essays ranging from personal accounts to attempts at academic (but never dry) analysis of the components of the evil that preyed on Yugoslavia and destroyed Bosnia. A bitter criticism of the West's failure to play an equitable role informs all the essays. A remarkable achievement for the editors.

Even if you had no prior curiousity about Switzerland, this book would pique your interest. The author's stated aim is to create a multidisciplinary narrative, in the tradition of the Enlightenment (Johnson, Gibbon), explaining...well..."Why Switzerland?" - i.e. how did Switzerland arise, persist, and come to be so aggressively ecclectic?

And the author has some work to do. Not unlike the 'bacterial flagellum,' Switzerland's spectacularly improbable emergence from the fabric of history could be invoked by creationists to support a 'design inference.' It is, to paraphrase Michael Behe, as though a 747 spontaneously assembled itself and took flight.

Of course, Steinberg's answer to "Why Switzerland?" is much more interesting than "God did it." It cannot be summarized, but involves grain prices, the halberd, high-altitude athletic training, cottage industry, credit and interest and William Tell. At the very least, it has something to teach us about federalism, decentralization, peaceful coexistence and martial virtue.

For me the most fascinating part of this was to see how resistance to the Hapsburgs and then Napolean created a culture of decentralized disorganization - the opposite of Absolutist/Enlightenment France. The Swiss come across like the Duke Boys of central Europe ("Someday the mountain might get'em but the law never will..."). But this culture of rebellion also stands in contrast to Germany's stark tradition of blood and soil reactionism. Napolean's influence on Germany sowed the seeds of the World Wars. In Switzerland it acted as a sort of positive selection pressure, perturbing Alpine society and provoking its organization into Alpine civilization.

This is a very dense book, with more obscure names and places than a Russian novel. Some independent reference material (i.e. map, Wikipedia) is useful to figure out just which Johann is which, and to distiguish the various mountain passes from one and other (passes being the primary geographical feature and navigational reference point for most of the nation's history). But a reader's close attention to this book will be very well repaid.

This work, first published more than a quarter-century ago and twice revised, most recently in 1996, succeeds because the national Swiss characteristics which it explores are essentially timeless and unchanging. While tracing the begrudging and belated enfranchisement of women and the gradual integration of Roman Catholic and Jewish minorities who once were isolated, the author conveys the underlying tensions beneath a remarkably successful experiment in coexistence. As one who lived and worked in Switzerland for more than eight years, and whose own memoir, Living Among The Swiss, was published in January 1999, I can attest that Mr. Steinberg's generalizations ring true to my own experience and observations, and that they are supported by a myriad of political and sociological details that one would normally expect to learn only from a highly educated native. The prose, though scholarly, is highly readable, and evidences deep thought and mature reflection.

I work in the US for a Swiss company. Switzerland is unique in Europe and it's hard to figure out why. This book does a very good job of explaining the origins and dynamics of modern Switzerland. I should add that this is not a travel book, rather an examination of Swiss politics, history and culture. For a another, more irreverent, condensed but also insightful book on the Swiss, read the "The Xenophobe's Guide to Switzerland"

This turned out to be an utterly fascinating book, and it explained quite a bit about Swiss behavior and culture. While I of course can't vouch for everything in the book, I've tested a lot of it by observation and questioning the natives, and it seems consistent with reality.

Switzerland turns out to have a number of unique characteristics that aren't obvious to the outsider. For example, the government consists of an extraordinarily complex nested set of committees with a rotating presidency. The author makes the case that virtually all Swiss institutions, including government at all levels, the church and major corporations, are strongly influenced by an 800-year tradition of committee organization. In spite of having the most stable government in Europe (which my Swiss co-workers do not dispute), Switzerland has one of the most malleable constitutions in the world (which my co-workers do dispute).

I'm personally fascinated by language issues, so I read ahead to that chapter before finishing the lengthy chapter on politics. Again, Switzerland is unique in its treatment of dialects, which have very different social implications and practices in the French, German, Italian, and Romansh areas. According to the author, the urban Swiss Germans gave serious consideration to aligning themselves with 'greater Germany' in the 19th century. This obviously did not take place, and one of the unique results is that the local versions of Schwyzer Tüütsch (choose your spelling depending upon the valley you're in) are universally spoken without significant class variations. In other words, this chapter explains why the Italian Swiss are more likely to be comfortable in standard Italian, and the French Swiss are more comfortable in standard French, than the Swiss Germans are speaking standard German. As any outsider who speaks German is painfully aware, the Swiss Germans read and write standard German (Hochdeutsch), but generally prefer not to speak it.

Swiss seem more willing to discuss politics than religion, but the chapter on religion was enlightening. After all, Switzerland was at the heart of the reformation, with Zwingli in Züri and Calvin in Geneva. Again, the Swiss are unique among European countries in their treatment of religion and the extraordinary compromises they have made to allow the peaceful co-existence of roman catholicism and protestantism.

The Swiss military is, unsurprisingly at this point, another unique institution. Virtually the entire male population is expected to belong to the reserves for most of their working years, and they keep their weapons and ammunition in their homes. It was only recently that 52 year olds were no longer required to serve a short annual duty. I've found that the military intrudes regularly when you are working with the Swiss, so besides being interesting, the chapter on the Army is helpful in becoming more aware of some of the workplace dynamics.

How can a country with 4 different official languages have and maintain a common culture? What do the different regions have in common? Quite a bit, actually. Anyone who deals with the Swiss on a regular basis or spends over a week here would find this book a helpful start on building an understanding of Swiss institutions and culture. This would also be an excellent book for students doing cultural area studies of Europe or Switzerland. It is a good read, and anyone interested in contemporary Europe would enjoy it and find it educational.

This book was introduced to me through a friend and, quite frankly, my first reaction was to cringe at the idea of reading such a bulky historical book. But from the first letter I was transfixed by the dialogue between husband and wife on both political and personal matters. This book brings with it a new aspect of Churchill's personality - he was not only a great statesman but he was a passionate man who loved his wife dearly which is seen clearly in the letters that were intended for her eyes only.

I often wonder how he would have felt to know millions would one day read the letters he wrote to his "clemmie-cat". In any case, its a great read :)

Cheers, Meagan.

When I considered buying that book, I first felt quite uncomfortable about the idea of reading an exchange of private letters between Winston and Clementine. Fortunately, I overcame my discomfort fast. I quickly enjoyed reading that thick epistolary volume about their political and personal matters. The personal letters of the Churchills revealed to me how influential Clementine was on Winston across the board. Their deep love and trust was the secret of their successful marriage, even if Winston was not always an easy husband and politician to deal with. Corresponding by written messages (today perhaps by email) with each other on a regular basis, even when they were together, proved to be an excellent way to help them keep their enduring flame for each other intact. Today, too many marital and extra-marital relationships get dissolved prematurely because of a lack of enough communication between both players. Life is after all a comedy in which men and women play their part and need to know or rediscover how to communicate their joys and pains to one another in order to increase the odds that they will be successful in their relationship.

The real service that this book performs is to remind the reader that great historical figures are not one dimensional. Chuchill was a renaissance man, warrior, journalist, historian, memoirist, politician and statesman. He was arguably the single greatest personage of this century and his name has become a symbol for the indominitable spirit of a free people. The collection of letters sent to and received from his wife are entertaining as well as educational. They provide a feel for the time in which they were written and place many of Churchill's famous accomplishments (and failures) in proper context. Amazingly, unlike today when the more we know of a public figure, the smaller they seem, in Churchill's case one comes away convinced that this was a great man in the truest sense, and that much of his greatness is due in no small part to his marriage to Clementine.

Winston and Clementine: Happily Ever After

This is the story of a political marriage. In some ways it will be familiar to the contemporary reader, though it began and ended a long time ago.

Both husband and wife in this marriage were interested in politics. The husband was elected again and again over decades to high office. For decades his wife fought at his side, entertained at his table, offered her judgment to him and his colleagues and his enemies. She took his place in his absence, and sometimes in his presence. She became an international figure. She had power, and she used it. Always she had a mind of her own.

Sometimes this couple would quarrel. Once a serving dish was thrown. There was a period, not too long, when one of the partners was out of sympathy with the other, or anyway in sympathy with another.

They knew trouble. They lost a daughter and many friends to death, and some friends to betrayal. They fought political wars at home in which their own party tried to deprive them of office. They fought shooting wars abroad-including the worst ever. More than once, they seemed down and out. Their livelihood as much as their career was threatened. After decades of struggle they reached the summit of power and they knew the adoration of a nation and a world. By then they had grown old together.

Readers of this story will find that wives did not enter politics yesterday, and private lives were influential in politics before last week. But in other respects this story is unlike anything we have known in this time. Here are two people who won every honor that human affairs can offer, and they won them together. Meanwhile they operated upon those natural and traditional lines that involve that deepest of partnerships. Their division of labor augmented the strength of them both beyond what either could do, apart or together, if they both had done the same parts of the job. True, this is the story of a political partnership. More than that, it is a marriage.

The editor of this book is the youngest child of Winston and Clementine, Mary, now Lady Soames. She brings to the work care, intimacy, and insight. She has adopted some of the best devices of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, to make the book available to the reader unfamiliar with the times and the people. Her notes are useful. She lets the letters themselves convey the story.

One sees right away the amazing pace at which these people lived. Winston Churchill was a soldier whose bravery and judgment in battle were beyond doubt. He wrote every line of every speech he ever gave, save perhaps one, and they are not surpassed in eloquence or impact or amplitude. He wrote serious books, nearly forty of them. He served in the British House of Commons, and mostly in the Cabinet. Meanwhile he made his living writing and speaking in publications and before audiences all over the world. Their house teemed all day and much of the night with secretaries, researchers, and colleagues. He wrote once that statesmen should exist in a condition of "stress of soul." Ever he took that advice for himself.

And necessarily, then, he imposed it upon his wife.

Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married in September 1908, and they remained so until parted by death in 1965. Martha Washington, wishing to keep her relations with our Founding Father private, burned most all of the letters that passed between them. The Churchills' letters are preserved intact in their remarkable abundance. Partly because they were so busy, and partly because they took many vacations apart, occasions to write were frequent. In their day the post traveled rapidly-Fed Ex was not necessary; e-mail was unavailable; the telephone came along, but its frequent use developed later. And so they wrote, and well they wrote.

Nuggets are found in every shaft of this mine. Sir Winston is candid with his wife as with no other, especially in times of triumph or stress. When the first war begins, he unveils his character: "Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that? ...Yet I wd do my best for peace, & nothing wd induce me wrongfully to strike the blow." Another time, in a very different mood, he writes: "you have seen me very weak & foolish & mentally infirm this week...." And then the man of unbreakable will proceeds: "I cannot tell you how much I love & honor you and how sweet & steadfast you have been through all my hesitations & perplexity."

Clementine often bears the burden of saying to her husband what others cannot. When the first war begins, she cautions him about the feelings of a dismissed Admiral: "there only remains the deep wound in an old man's heart. If you put the wrong sort of poultice on it, it will fester." When the second begins, she writes: "...there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues & subordinates because of your rough sarcastic & overbearing manner.... Therefore with terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm."

The letters of Winston are often more abstract and reflective than those of his wife. Sometimes they are effectively first drafts of things he will later publish. His life is saved once in the trenches by an annoying general who makes him walk two miles under fire just for a little chat; when he returns his dugout and all in it are destroyed. He reflects: "it is all chance or destiny and our wayward footsteps are best planted without too much calculation. One must yield oneself simply & mentally to the mood of the game: and trust in God which is another way of saying the same thing...."

At the same time, one sees in the husband a sharp need for his wife. It is he who is "lonely among crowds." It is he who has no one but her "to break the loneliness of this bustling existence."

History has more to say of Winston than of Clementine. He saved his country and more in a desperate crisis, and he leaves behind him a written account of prudential wisdom that is not surpassed. Both his words and his deeds exhibit a longing for honor. He fought for it. He met its demands with utter resolve and lifelong resilience. But of course there was more to his life than that. Honor itself is limited by the high purposes that define it, including the promises and affections that make a family. So he could write to her, at one of the lowest points in his life: "the nearer I get to honor, the nearer I am to you."

Churchill ends My Early Life, his explicitly autobiographical work, with the passage: "Events were soon ...to absorb my thoughts and energies at least until September 1908, when I married and lived happily ever afterwards." And so together they did. And do.

I am the founder of a charter school in Michigan. Before deciding to found such a school, I read voluminous texts about the history and purposes of public education. This is, by far, my favorite text on education history.

Most education historians make the mistake of blindly accepting as a premise the common misconception that the intended purpose for the development of compulsory education in Prussia was the mass production of soldiers and obedient subjects. Research proves this to be utterly false. While certainly it cannot be argued that the training of the young has been misused at points in history by tyrants, including Hitler, you can't label an invention by its misuse. All innovations have the inherent danger of perversion for evil purpose.

Compulsory public education has a very interesting and wholesome history. The research of Melton sheds much needed light on the perpetually maligned history of compulsory education. This is a must read for those wishing to learn the intricate truth of the evolution of Prussian/Austrian systems of education. The revelations of this probing research succesfully challenge the commonly held prejudices regarding state-run educational systems.

Melton's view of schooling in Prussia and Austria is both informative and precise. He is an under-rated scholar with fascinating perspectives on 17th century European history.

This is a fine book. Meticulously researched and referenced. My interest in the history of education arises out of the fact that I don't intend to send my daughter to school choosing instead to educate her at home. One reason I'm doing this is that mainstream school, whether state or private, is not primarily about education but about structuring society to create a class system and about mentally programming its participants into some role within society. That's quite a bold statement to make and I made it after only a little research. While I might be totally convinced of it, I have be aware that it might be wrong since my daughter's future is at stake. Hence my desire for further research, a desire most ably satisfied by this book. If you read Melton's book you will be left in no doubt as to the veracity of the statement. Also in the book you will find described most of the mind control and indoctrination methods that we associate with modern school and which in alternative education circles is known as the hidden curriculum.

For me a major benefit of this book is that it is written by someone not involved in the alternative education movement, someone who has probably never heard of us or read any of our material. In 'Absolutism', Melton offers independent verification of some of the ideas circulating among an otherwise small group of people. Melton agrees that Prussia is where the origins of compulsory modern schooling lie, but whereas the movement customarily places them in the Prussia after the battle of Jena round about 1805, after Fichte's addresses to the German nation, Melton has them in the Prussia of the early 1700s with methods under the direction of one August Hermann Franke. A piffling discrepancy you may think which makes no difference to the children with lives blighted by school, but all the difference in the world when analysing the philosophical roots of compulsory school. It should also makes a difference when considering reforms to school or its abolition. With Melton's work we can now make a small but significant correction and state that the origins of the education systems in most countries of the world are attributable to Christian Pietists under contract to the Prussian State. Before, the origins were customarily attributed to solely the Prussian State with the silent implication that the origins are secular.

There is much more in this book. As well as home educators, practitioners of alternative education and education historians, this book will appeal to people interested in other aspects of the history and in the politics, philosophy, and religion of eighteenth century Prussia and Austria. In it you will read about Cameralists, the textile industry, labour shortages, seigniorial authority, the rise of agrarian capitalism and much more. Chapter 3 deals with things like baroque Catholicism, popular comedy and drama, and literate theatre - stretching the relevance to add a bit of colour I suspect but good fun nonetheless.

Be warned though, this book is not a primer. You will need to have some prior familiarity with the material to derive maximum value from 'Absolutism'.

As I said at the beginning this is a fine book. Thank you for writing it James Van Horn Melton. Good health to you and your family.

This book gives a concise biography of Amy's life, yet is written in a way to draw the reader into the circumstances and time in which Amy lived. I gained a great admiration for Amy. She truly lived out her love for the Lord and the Indian people.

This book opened my eyes to see the truth of the children in India. It broke my heart for these children, but I loved hearing the story of Amy's dedication to these children and how she changed thier lives. It encouraged me to see how God worked in the situations that she was in.

A very good approach to the suffering of children in India. It Was well written. Is a very good example of the power of prayer and how people need Jesus