Europe Books

Tom Tierney has produced a work of art worthy of Diana, Princess of Wales -- the most gracious and lovely woman of her generation.

If you love Diana, Tom Tierney's book is a beautiful addition to your collection.

I first came in contact with this book in a city 800 miles away from home, I purchased it right away. I am looking for more books, and would like to know if there is a catalogue, which I could choose from.

I like this book because it makes me remember the priness and how beautiful and kind she was when she was still alive

This is an excellent book with 1 doll and 31 famous dresses drawn by Tom Tierney. A perfect reminder of just how beautiful Princess Diana was, and her likeness and poise have been perfectly captured.

This book gives a brief history of the dresses. The illustrations are quite good. He actually manages to capture Diana very well in his presentation. If you want to see the dresses that were at the Charity Auction this is definately the one to get. The book is printed on high quality paper so you are sure to enjoy this one for a long time.

Teen-ager Dawid Sierakowiak, imprisoned with his family in the Lodz Ghetto, at first carries on a "normal" life, discussing politics with his friends and keeping up with his studies.
More and more restrictions on the population-- illness, lack of food, hygiene, fuel and money, eventually take their toll on everyone. Existence deteriorates to the point at which Dawid knows he will soon die, and he does so 4 months later.
Every aspect of this slow death to the ghetto residents who are not murdered was planned by the Germans.
There are many photographs, which enhance the narrative.

This book deserves a Five Star "Plus." It is an absolute "must" read for those interested in the destruction of European Jewry. I have read very many memoirs on the Holocaust, some quite good, yet none moved me to tears as much as Dawid's diary. What I found remarkable was that a 15-year old (his age when he started writing his diary) should have so much depth and so much wisdom. His description of his extreme hunger and finally his feelings when his mother was deported are extremely poignant. His love for his mother and the extreme agony he experienced when they took her away defies description.

As Adelson writes in the Foreward, Dawid is "increasingly piqued by the hierarchy of privilege that prevails among Jews in the ghetto." The "privileged" do not lack food or adequate shelter while the "ordinary" Jews (which was the overwhelming majority)literally starve. Dawid, a devout Marxist, writes eloquently about these "privileged" Jews. All this privilege of the few and suffering of the majority further reinforces his Marxist principles.

Simply put, Dawid is an amazing young man. Unfortunately for this world, he probably had to suffer to make a long lasting impact. True greatness rarily comes to those of us who contribute daily to the ENHANCEMENT of life and young Dawid is proof of this. His sometimes yielding but never breaking spirit of joy and hopeful speculation makes him a true hero. While his tragic, and "all too early" death are sad, the important things left behind in his words are timeless. He reminds us all that no matter how (supposedly) bad things get in our (truly) rich lives, a thing such as maniacal tyranny and slavery can never be tolerated. The light at the end of Dawid's tunnel never came to him, but by his words and actions hopefully we will all see that inspiration and determination will also glow.

"A HOLOCAUST VOICE Writings about the Holocaust take many forms--novels, stories, poems, plays, histories. But, as `The Diary of Anne Frank` showed, none has the effect of actual reports left behind by its victims. `The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak: Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto` is quite different from Anne Frank's memoirs because, unlike Anne, who was hidden away from the Nazis for years, Dawid lived openly in the sealed ghetto of this Polish city and was a witness to and victim of the deprivations, humiliations and cruelties inflicted on the Jewish populace. He was 15 years old when he began to keep his notes, and 19 when he died of illness and starvation in 1943. His diary, edited by Alan Adelson and translated by Kamil Turowski, is written with a sardonic humor and growing despair that can still horrify today. It is illustrated by shocking photos of life in the Lodz ghetto, most of them taken surreptitiously."

This book is the most powerful and memorable book on the Holocaust I have ever read. Kids in school read Anne Frank, I suppose because it is so popular. It was the first memoir found, not the most telling or interesting. This book is also a great psychology book as it so graphically shows the heirarchy of needs as the situation becomes more desperate. I wish that teachers of senior or junior honors classes would consider this over Brave New World where the main character gives up. Dawid, is a much more positive book of the human spirit in that he continues to deal with the ever worstening cards he is given and works hard to survive. This book hits on so many topics: history, psychology, the power of the human spirit, man's cruelty and literature as Dawid was an exceptional mind for his age.

Discovery and Conuest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz Del Castilo is a tremendous first hand account of one of histories most amazing achievements. Although the ethnocentricity of the Spainard is patently obvious in most of his descriptions, the story of 500 soldiers of fortune conquering an empire of millions in a newly discovered land is easily able to grab the reader's interest. Written in the late 1500's the language is archaic and romanticized,but this serves to make it a book that can appeal to the ordinary reader as well as be a historical source to the academic. It's not for everyone, but anyone with an interest in history and a love of tales of adventure will enjoy it.

This has to be one of the most interesting journals I've ever read. Like others have said, the detail and adventure in Diaz's life make the text seem almost like fiction. I'm only 1/3 of the way into the book and every time I pick it up it's like I'm jumping back in time. Simply amazing.

I thought Hugh Thomas's CONQUEST, with its hundreds of sources, included everything there was to know (and his wry British wit makes the tragedy of Montezuma's cowardice read like a novel), but Diaz adds a whole new perspective. Thomas, for example, writes that a Castilian castaway who decided to stay with the Maya, Gonzalo Guerrero, was "ashamed" of his tattoos and pierced body parts. We find out from Diaz's account that this is a gross misinterpretation. Upon hearing of his rescue, Guerrero in fact tells his fellow rescuee, the famous Geronimo de Aguilar, "Are you nuts? I have a wife and three kids! Look at these beautiful children!" Aguilar suggests bringing his family along, but Guerrero's happy with his new life [and has a heroic-sized statue in Yucatan for his leadership against the Spanish - wife and children by his side]. How does the conversation end? Guerrero's Mayan wife does the logical thing and tells Aguilar in no uncertain terms to get the [expletive deleted] out of her house.

Diaz's description of how another Spanish castaway, a dog, bounds joyfully into a Spanish boat "leaps off the page," as it were. Historian Thomas gives us a much broader picture, but leaves out details that would only interest a foot soldier (how one gets a pretty girl for the night at Montezuma's palace, for example). The paperback was translated by someone who isn't an historian, which makes the guileless writing of old Diaz all the more immediate. A must-read for those fascinated by the century between the voyages of the Santa Maria and the Mayflower -- the century when everything interesting happened.

This first hand account of Cortez's conquest of Mexico was written by Bernal Diaz', one of Cortez swordsmen. It is perhaps the most interesting and detailed first hand account of a historical event ever written. Diaz' writes about the battles, Cortez' manipulation of the various Indian tribes and his own men, and he provides intimate details on the personality of Montezuma. It is an exciting, powerful, informative, cover to cover, real-life, adventure.

Another good read on this subject are Cortez's letters to the King. As can be seen, Cortez' was in hot water because he co-opted the expedition to serve his own ends, and he was trying to con (And intimidate) the King into favoring him, rather than the governer of Cuba, from whom he stole the expedition. Cortez' tried to convince the king that he could get millions of indians to follow him, and that they could make brass cannons, gun powder, etc. ( Which by implication, could be used against any forces to bring him to justice.) He also bribed the king by sending him some of the gold that he stole from the indians, and implying the he could send much, much more. As can be seen, one of Cortez' other swordsmen went on to conquer the Incas, by using the same methods that Cortez used against the Aztecs.

A very graphic, realistic and shuddering account of the discovery and conquest of Mexico by one who witnessed this major historical event from 1517 to 1521.

Although a lengthy narrative, the reader will find themself vehemently ripping through the pages of Bernal Diaz' reminiscences while anticipating the next turn of events. With a plethora of plot twists, there is never a sluggish moment.

Prior to his experiences with Cortes on the conquest of Mexico, Diaz gives us an account of his two previous expeditions with Cordova and Grijalva to the east coast of Central America from 1517-1518. Battles were fought, different cultures were found, and gold was discovered among the indigenous people. This beaconed the governor of Cuba to send Cortes to these lands for `settlement', with the fundamental motivation for the quest of riches.

We read of how Cortes and his men fought many battles on the trail to Montezuma's city of gold. Cortes was indeed a smooth talker, always attempting peace efforts first by making promises and talking flattery while distributing gifts to the Indian tribes he met along the way, all the time with the underlying theme of Christianity. This lead to a growing number of Indian allies, who for the most part had developed a deep-seated hatred for Montezuma due to his unmerciful plundering of villages for human sacrifices to please their gods. Cortez, after nearly losing main battles to overtake Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), finally comes in with 150,000 Indian allies to conquer the city of gold.
For the armchair adventure seeker, this book has it all.

This masterful political biography traces the life and career of one of the most extraordinary figures of British political history, Benjamin Disraeli. In doing so it gives insight into the whole structure of nineteenth - century British political and social life.
It is told chronologically and moves with a sure and even narrative pace. One particular helpful feature of the work is the detailed chapter- headings, which serve as a kind of summary of the work as a whole.
The story of 'Dizzy's spectacular climb ' up the greasy pole' to the Prime - Ministership, his rivalry with Gladstone, his closeness with Queen Victoria, his brilliance as strategist in defending and extending the Empire is told with quiet sympathy by Blake.
Also there is a close chronicling of Disraeli's personal relations, including those with his somewhat distant literary father, his especially supportive sister, and very close wife.
Disraeli's Jewish origins , his misunderstanding of them and yet his pride in defending them are also part of the story of this sensitive, insightful and supremely 'romantic' political leader.

This is a work of considerable scholarship which chronicles the life of one of Great Britain's outstanding statesmen. The book covers the political life of Disraeli admirably, but also gives a view of the private Disraeli: confidant of Victoria, prolific novelist, inventor of the crouton.

Robert Blake's study of Benjamin Disreali, twice Prime Minister and prolific novelist, is one of the best I've read. Both Disreali's personal life and political career are handled with respect, and there is no unnecessary conjecture to mislead the reader. The resulting biography is both fascinating and informative, advancing chronologically from Disreali's parentage to his death and detailing the aspects of his personality and the extraordinary good luck that enabled him to rise so far in the British political system. Throughout, the reader is offered anecdotes from acquaintances, excerpts from letters, and portions of the speeches that gave Disreali his reputation as a matchless orator. Particularly touching are the stories illustrating the friendship he and his sister shared, and the mannerisms which characterized his personality. Overall, Robert Blake displays great knowledge of both Disreali and the politics that he loved so much. Therein lies the book's only fault, from an amateur's perspective; at times the references to the system can confuse a reader not fully familiar with British politics. However, any admirer of this great statesman cannot afford to miss reading this work, which already shows signs of becoming a necessary reference. Any historian, amateur or not, could easily view this volume as indispensable.

Blake's Disraeli is not only flawless in its interpretation of Disraeli but also in its style. It is a work by which all other biographies must be judged. Simply put, it is the perfect biography.

During the high tide of the Victorian era, the political life of the nation was dominated by two men, Disraeli and Gladstone. Gladstone is an obvious choice for one of the top statesmen of the era, he was elected four times to the premiership. Disraeli was not quite so fortunate. However, given the short period of time that he was in office he accomplished a great deal. He brought the tories back from the dead, passed a reform bill and managed to acquire the Suez Canal. At the Congress of Berlin, Disraeli's command of the situation even impressed Bismark (not exactly a slouch in these sorts of things). Not bad from a rather foppish young man who specialized in "Silver Fork" novels (a fictional version of lifestyles of the rich and famous in the 19th century).

Blake's book is the best one on the subject of Benjamin Disraeli. The complex story of the novelist turned politican is brought out in all of its facets. Disraeli was probably one of the most interesting people to be prime minister (after perhaps Churchill and Walpole) and Blake's book shows the reader how he did it.

Edit of 17 Apr 08 to add links.

This book should be read as an adjunct to the author's other major book along these lines on power to the powerless.

The most gripping and troubling conclusion that I drew from this book is that the United States of America is today much closer to where Czechoslovakia was in 1968 than anyone other than the Chomsky's and Vidal's might be willing to admit. We have both a federal government and a national corporate economy that thrives on elitist secrecy and blatant lies--even our non-profit sector is corrupt, from the Red Cross to United Way to many others. The people, the citizen-voters, truly have lost all power, as well as access to the information that might give them back the power, and this is indeed a black, absurdist-realist situation.

On a more positive note, the author offers up, in the course of a long series of interviews, a number of ideas that are relevant to America today, as well as to any other emerging or re-emergent democracies in the making.

1) Model of behavior. When arguing with the center of power, do not get side-tracked with ideological debates over right or wrong. Focus on very specific concrete things (e.g. term limits, campaign finance reform, neighborhood economics) and stick to your guns.

2) Popular coalitions. Non-violent non-partisan popular coalitions are the core means of taking back the power. They represent a means for bring together groups of people from widely divergent backgrounds, with genuine social tolerance.

3) Informal networks. Even under conditions of repression and censorship, informal networks of dissidents and quasi-dissidents can be effective in sharing information through samizdat publications. [With the Internet, these possibilities explode, although caution must be taken on the fringes since the Internet is easily monitored and the more radical leaders could be declared seditionist "combatants" ineligible for their rights as citizens...speaking of the Soviet Union, of course, not America.]

4) Man versus Machine. Havel reaches his own conclusions founded in Czech literature and his own experience, with respect to the urgency of restoring the kinship and human connections that used to drive politics, economics, and other aspects of organized living. He is at one with Lionel Tiger among many others, with respect to the terribly consequences of the industrial era in terms of de-humanizing decision-making and allowing remote elites to treat individual workers as dispensable cogs in the machine, whose lives matter not a whit.

5) Neighborhoods, Politics "From Below". He joins the authors of the Cultural Creatives (Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson) and of IMAGINE: What America Could be in the 21st Century (Marianne Williamson) in emphasizing the vital role that neighborhoods must play in any democracy. From political self-governance to sustainable economics to low-cost healthy agriculture to cultural cohesion, neighborhoods are the sin qua non of democracy--without active neighborhoods, one can go so far as to say, national democracy is a sham, a false theater, fully equivalent to the centralized, repressive, inefficient totalitarian control states of earlier eras.

6) Small Numbers Can Make a Difference. I was struck by how few were the original dissidents and organizers--in some cases, 20-30 in number, in others 70-80. Earlier studies have suggested that Hitler took power over millions with just 25,000 people. One can only hope that the anti-thesis is true, and that the 50 million cultural creatives can take back the power by getting serious about organizing across neighborhoods and into a national network.

7) Art and theater matter. Even under conditions of severe censorship and control, art and theater can be the manifestation of uncensored life, "life that spits on all ideology and all that lofty word of babble; a life that intrinsically resist(s) all forms of violence, all interpretations, all directives....here stood truth..."

8) Absurdity is a warning. Nihilistic and absurd theater or other works of art are a caution. They "do not offer us consolation or hope (but) merely remind( ) us of how we are living: without hope.

9) Truth can be misappropriated. The author experienced the misappropriation of his words and was both hurt and enlightened, ultimately creating a play about truth, the circumstances in which it is said, and the whom, why, and how of it.

10) Great men doubt themselves. Most touching are the author's many retrospective and current references to his insecurities, to his doubting himself even as he made history and became President of Czechoslovakia.

11) Writers live to tell the truth. This is certainly not true of most American writers who write for money, but it reflects the ideal and merits thought.

12) Change the atmosphere. If you can do nothing else, strive for a moral mobilization and a change in the atmosphere of governance, at any level. We cannot even begin to conceive the magnitude of the positive changes that can occur overnight if the people begin to speak truth among themselves. Work toward a process "in which people's civic backbones (begin) to straighten again."

13) Role of the intellectual. While I the reviewer would churlishly doubt that America has many intellectuals right now, the author's concluding words on the role of the intellectual strike me as very important: "...the intellectual should constantly disturb, should bear witness to the misery of the world, should be provocative by being independent, should rebel against all hidden and open pressure and manipulations, should be the chief doubter of systems, of power and its incantations, should be a witness to their mendacity."

Any person concerned about the corruption and misdirection of their government and their corporate as well as non-profit entities, will be provoked and inspired by this book. It speaks to the future of human life as it might be, were we willing to stand up straight and be counted at citizen-voters, active at every level beginning with our own neighborhoods.

Living in Truth: 22 Essays Published on the Occasion of the Award of the Erasmus Prize to Vaclav Havel
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Other reviews are right on the money in terms of this being a very good book and of course it covers many key elements of the events and times during the changes in Czechoslovakia. However the are several key messages, and lessons for anyone interested in managing, motivating and leading people; particularly through difficult or uncharted changes. There are also some good reflections on the role, character and nature of theater and other individual and group activities in the arts.

This is the most insightful book I've ever read on the spirit of political dissent. It was published as Havel's responses to a series of written interview questions smuggled to him while he was under watch in the 80s. From this vantage point, 1989 is nowhere on the horizon. Thus, there is no triumphalism in the way Havel understands his generation. He is deeply meditative, and even-handed, about the human condition. There are no tremendous feats of courage, just a bounteous sense of passion, reasonableness, and brotherhood. This private spirit of solidarity led a community of leaders to establish a civil society in the interstices of an oppressive system. I read this in China, a very different environment that does not share all same characteristics that made Havel's movement successful. To better understand the limits of contemporary dissent in China, I'd recommend Merle Goldman's (dense) "Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China" or Zhang Xianliang's "Grass Soup" -- his un-hyperbolic work-camp memoirs of the Anti-Rightist Campaign in the 1950s. Zhang is now a CCP member, but that doesn't diminish in the least the power of the message.

This is a fine book about an amazing man. I was truly inspired by Vaclav Havel after reading this book. This book is an "easy read" even though it is largely about weighty matters. It is an interesting and enlightening book.

Whenever I need a moral boost I go back and reread Vaclav Havel's
"Disturbing the Peace". This book is a series of essays by the
dissident Vaclav Havel that were smuggled out of communist
Czechoslovakia and translated by a Havel friend in the West. Vaclav
Havel was a playwright who became a Czech dissident who became leader
of the Velvet revolution (which ousted the communists) and who finally
became president of the republic.

Vaclav Havel was the foremost
dissident under the communist regime. He openly challenged the ruling
government with such essays as "Power to the Powerless" and
"The Soul of Main under Communism". (Actually I forgot the name
of the latter essay. I think "The Soul of Man under Communism"
is an essay written by Oscar Wilde. But Havel did address this theme
in "Disturbing the Peace" and in essays he forwarded to the
communist rulers.)

One of the most exciting parts of the book is
where Havel describes the dissident communitie's efforts to publish a
Havel essay advocating that the Czech government adhere to the terms
of the Charter 77 human rights accord to which they were a signatory.
The story is spine tingling thriller complete with car chases and
obscure drop points. It reads like a John le Carre novel except it is
real.

After you read "Disturbing to Peace" I also recommend
"The Magic Lanten" by Timothy Garton Ash. This is a first hand
account of the fall of the communism as the democratic revolution
rolled across Czechoslovakia, East German, Hungary, and Romania.
Garton Ash was privy to the inner circle of people who plotted and
executed these bloodless coups. (Bloodless everywhere except, of
course, in Romania.)

The first was Abraham Lincoln, and thank God he lived to see the Civil War to its conclusion. Unfortunately, Dostoevsky died of smoking-induced emphysema before his genious was able to formulate the aims of a revolution, potentially of comparable historical import to our own. This is my analogy -- not Frank's -- but his "biography" does make my view legitimate, I think.
Dostoevsky's sway over the new generation of radical activists was profound enough that he aimed to transform the ideology of socialist revolution into the ideology of a unique Russian Christian renaissance, in opposition to the secular materialism of the civilized world. In the author's eschatalogical imagination, he envisaged a Russian revolution of sentiment that would have had the opposite effect of France's "liberty, equality, and (compulsory) fraternity" -- but he died before he was able to manifest his positive ideal in its complete force through the character of Alyosha Karamazov. Thus, it would be interesting to find out what the sequel to The Brothers Karamazov would have been and also to see how Russians would have taken such a message.
Frank's "biography" should bolster most people's initial internal response to Dostoevsky's work -- a response that most of us have to struggle to articulate.

Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 is the long-awaited final volume by Joseph Frank, Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Princeton University and Professor of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literature Emeritus at Stanford University.

Previous volumes in the series are: Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 1821-1849; Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859; Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865; and Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years, 1865-1871.

It was during the final decade of his life, 1871-1881, that Dostoevsky wrote Diary of a Writer and his greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov. Many pages of Frank's fifth volume deals with analzying these two works (140 pages for The Brothers Karamazov alone).

With impressive literary scholarship, Frank throws light on the historical, political, economic, social, cultural, and literary setting within which Dostoevsky created his works of art, novels of great psychological depth.

For example, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "Dostoevsky, the only psychologist, by the way, from whom I had anything to learn; he is one of the happiest accidents of my life, even more so than my discovery of Stendhal."

Dostoevsky traced the roots of the evils in Russian society to a loss of religious faith. By "religious faith" he meant specifically the Christian faith of the Russian Orthodox Church. He thought the Roman Catholic Church was a distortion and perversion of true Christianity. (See the harangue Dostoevsky puts into the mouth of Prince Myshkin in Part Four, Chapter VII, of The Idiot.

Of particular interest is Frank's discussion of Dostoevsky's philosophical thinking (framed, of course, within a Christian worldview), such as his ruminations on Russian nationalism, rational egoism, and the freedom of the will, and his grave concerns over the adverse moral and political effects of atheism and nihilism.

Frank soft-pedals Dostoevsky's notorious anti-Semitism, seeking to exonerate his hero as being simply "a child of his time."

Although one finds many things to dislike about Dostoevsky, one cannot help being impressed by his literary genius. Recognizing the excellence of Dostoevsky's art, Frank devotes the lion's share of his volume not to the man himself but to the man's literary production.

While this is surely not the fault of Joseph Frank, one is depressed by the seemingly endless fare of Russian sectarian bickering and murky political maneuverings. One breathes a huge sigh of relief to escape this oppressive atmosphere.

"Dostoevsky : The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881" is the fifth and final volume in Frank's extraordinary biography of Dostoevsky, a remarkable undertaking of more than a quarter century. While every volume has been exceptional and well worth reading, because they share a title and differ only in subtitle Amazon's system tends to muddle reviews of the various volumes together. This final volume covers the last decade of Dostoevsky's life, so don't buy it expecting a one-volume bio of the great writer. If you care about Dostoevsky's work find copies of the first four volumes, read them, then read this book. The series sets a superlative standard for examining a great writer's life and works, but this volume isn't really intended to stand alone, despite a short "story-to-date" intro.

A truly triumphant conclusion to a massive and passionate undertaking. Frank shows the highest standards of scholarship in being objective, fair, yet sympathetic to one of the greatest of all writers. In this final volume, we have Dostoevsky living and breathing the Russian air of his beloved land seething with social, cultural and political issues of the day. An engaged and far-seeing artist if ever there was one. The complexity and paradoxical simplicity of his life presents us a real genius often at odds with the way he would be perceived by many of his readers, yet a humane and sincere human being. Now go back and read the magnificent works he has given us from his pen.

Not until in this the fifth and final volume of Frank's biographical look at Dostoevsky's books is the issue of antisemitism fully dealt with, and good heavens what PASSIM references there are! Finally, Dostoevsky's introduction of the blood libel myth into The Brothers Karamazov got on Frank's nerves (I don't know if Frank is Jewish though): "[T]hat Dostoevsky should have introduced such material at all, no matter how topical it may have been, leaves a permanent stain on his reputation that nothing can efface.....NOW, he gives the widest possible circulation to this age-old vilification, first used in classical antiquity against the early Christians themselves." (p. 670)

Yet Frank's words for the book itself include: "genius," "grandeur," "poetic power," "symbolic elevation," "a monumental power of self-expression to his characters which rivals that of Dante's sinners and saints, Shakespeare's titanic heroes and villains, and Milton's gods and archangels....with the same superhuman majesty as the figures of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel." To save ink Frank might as well compare The Brothers Karamazov to the Old Testament. (This would be appropriate as Christianity is a leitmotif in Dostoevsky's works.)

Such a brilliant book! (Dostoevsky's, that is.) Little wonder that Einstein, someone I admire very much, also liked it a lot, antisemitism notwithstanding.

Frank's biographical criticism runs to almost 3,000 pages from Volume I-V. I'd hoped at least 300 of those pages would be devoted to The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky's masterpiece) but I got half that number.

The "mantle of prophet" which Frank refers to of course has nothing to do with antisemitism: He means that Dostoevsky was, even more than Pushkin, the prophet of the Russian radical spirit.

A long time will pass before another definitive work on Dostoevsky supersedes this multi-volume masterpiece.

I really found the book useful, but I wish it had a method to highlight "must see" things better. I was in Dublin for a very short trip and had difficulty combing through the book to figure out what I should prioritize for my limited time. In retrospect, I wish I had purchased the Ireland guide, rather than Dublin, so it would have been easier for me to pick out the key things to see. On second thought, I might not have had the great, detailed maps if I had done that, so maybe I went the right route!

I've had great experiences with Lonely Planet guides in general, though I also love Let's Go. They don't have as many out there, but I buy the Let's Go version if it's available - better info for people on a budget, and lots of great "off the beaten path" suggestions.

I bought this guide and the Rick Steves book to plan my trip to Dublin. Both were very helpful, but I left Rick's book at home because Lonely Planet has GLBT info in it and has better maps. I used the maps a lot, both to find my way and also to get back on track when I got lost. A lot of the prices for things quoted in the book had gone up, but that's to be expected. I highly recommend both Dublin and this guidebook.

As the other reviewers have said, this is a great guidebook. I used it to plan a three-day visit recently. The hotel I chose was exactly as described, and a good choice. Unlike some guidebooks, it has great maps. There are six detailed colored maps in the back of the book, a map of the Dublin Area Regional Transit trains, and numerous smaller maps inside (e.g., maps of walking tours, of Trinity College, of cathedrals). The book is chock-full of interesting and useful info on all the sights of Dublin. In addition, if you want to do day trips out of Dublin, don't assume you need a different all-Ireland guide - there is a section on "excursions" you can do in a day, and instructions on how to get there (public transport, car, organized tour). I will say that one of the tours I took wasn't quite how it was described, but I should probably take that up with the tour company. A few tips: a) for a breathtaking coastal walk, go to Howth. Malahide, another coastal town, wasn't worth the time for me. b) Glendalough is a beautiful park with two big lakes, and to me was worth more time than the organized tour I chose allotted for it.

My wife and I just got back from Ireland and had a great time, in part because of this book. The guesthouse we stayed in, several of the restaurants we visited, and more than a couple of the sites we saw were drawn from its pages. I'm happy to report that its guidance was uniformly spot on. We tend to enjoy simply being in a place, doing things in a low key way and deciding what to do next as we take our time wandering around. This guide was perfect for that, easy to whip out of a bag over lunch or on a street corner, though I suspect that it would be useful for those who prefer to set down itineraries, too.

For what it's worth, this has been our experience with other Lonely Planet guides as well (including those for Ireland and Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks).

This sweet, compact guide measures only 7" x 3", but packs a wallop in the info department! Went to Dublin last year, and out of 8 city guides I looked at, this was the ONLY one who had info on Bram Stoker (Dracula's author); his house in an historic landmark, and the author also leads you to his beautiful birth residence!

For all of my life, I wondered why I am the way I am. And then I picked up this book and was thunderstruck by the similarities between myself and the dueling class of German Officers at the turn of the century. Blood will tell is what I take away from this book.

Quite a lot of insight into the world of German dueling....Dr. Evil has a mansuer scar....shouldn't you?

Seriously....GREAT read!!!!!!!!!!!!

In addition to the dueling aspect which is the subject of this book, it provides an interesting look into the lifestyle of end of the century europe. A few sections come off a bit dry and must be pushed through but that is to be expected in any informative work. One thing I was slightly disappointed with is a lack of a section detailing actual duels the author researched. Weaponry, style, result, and the pretext which started conflict would make for a nice appendix. I would recommend this book to people who wish to look at history from a different perspective instead of just wars and revolutions.

Insightful, witty, and iconoclastic, Kevin McAleer's study of the duel in fin-de-siecle Germany is essential reading. McAleer brings to light a whole subject essential to the development of the modern mind-set, but which has previously been almost ignored by historians. Read alongside Peter Gay's "The Cultivation of Hatred" and "The Naked Self," one gains new insights into the culture of both the ninteenth and twentieth centuries.

Say you were a young German male, a college graduate, a member of a fine family and while at a party a drunken army officer made a crude comment to your girlfriend. Say the time was 1900. You would be honor-bound to challenge the rouge to a duel and probably would not have even questioned whether it was proper or not, whether you would be better off simply letting the insult pass. As a perceived member of the top five percent of the German population considered able "of providing satisfaction" (it was up to you to make the distinction as to whether you belonged, that the officer belonged was indisputable) you would be required to challenge or thus lose all claim to elite social status. You would have seen the slight has not one against your girlfriend, but as one against yourself, your honor, since the perpetrator obviously expected to get away with this insult unpunished. By offering a challenge you became his equal and by accepting it he accepted you. Honor was in the act of coolly facing death at the hands of a worthy opponent, showing your courage. In all an antiquated attitude as seen from our perspective or to some even idiotic, but worthy I think of tempered respect since it showed despite its faults and trivialities a spirit of nobility and honor largely forgotten and almost incomprehensible in our materialistically-obsessed world today.

Kevin McAleer's book, Dueling, The Cult of Honor in Fin-de-Sièle Germany is a brilliant attempt to dissect a society confronted on one side with rationalized industrial modernity and "traditional" concepts of honor, manliness, courage and duty on the other. In a society increasingly dominated by new elites who achieved their status by making money or acquiring an education, the older Junkers saw their concept of "Standesehre" or class honor, as being one of the few unique qualities they retained. As McAleer points out however, the urge of the up and coming elites to the duel was almost insatiable. German Catholic and Jewish student groups, traditionally considered incapable of giving satisfaction by the Protestant Junkers, were some of the most enthusiastic duelists prior to World War I, while dueling among military officers actually declined.

Why did dueling last so long in Germany? In Britain it had disappeared by 1850 and in the US died for the most part with the Confederacy in 1865. Here McAleer goes into the importance of the army in German society, in its still intact aristocracy of that time and in the desire of the newly formed middle classes to ape their social "betters" in all forms.

The book describes the whole process of dueling such as the levels of insult (1st, 2nd and 3rd degree), the duties and importance of seconds, negotiations between seconds, different forms of pistol duels, the student Mensur, a strange variant known as the "American duel" and much more. According to McAleer lethality increased greatly with the introduction of rifled-bore pistols. Still, one in four German duels was with sabers, which were hardly ever lethal. Along the way he destroys several myths about dueling that have come to us through Hollywood, such as the free for all sword fight with flying furniture, obstacle course run around and flowing conversation as well as the act of one duelist blatantly firing into the air. As the author points out, any self-respecting German duelist would have seen this latter action on the part of his opponent as an additional insult, an indication that he was not worthy of even participating in the duel. The author also provides the various German and French language terms in italics to aid in further study. In all a very interesting book that should please anyone interested in German History, the History of World War I, or 19th Century European History.

We started reading Duncan's War by Douglas Bond together as a family sometime during the fall. We became so excited about the story that we had to put the children under strict orders not to touch the book during the day, but they had to wait until family reading hour. "No Peeking!" was the command they would hear when their hand would reach slyly for the book on the end table.

Duncan's War is followed by The King's Arrow and then finally Rebel's Keep. This series, called the Crown and Covenant, follows the lives of the M'Kethe family during 17th Century Scotland as they endured brutal persecution at the hand of King James and King Charles. Those that remained loyal to King Jesus called themselves the Scottish Covenanters. This is the story of those who must wrestle with honoring God and applying His word while living amidst a government that is trying to obliterate Christianity.

As a reader, I was particularly struck with what I would do if I were in this situation with my own family. While reading these stories, I had to grapple with the scriptures as I put myself in their shoes. As a father and a Christian, I want to honor God and obey His word above all else. And yet I desire desperately to protect my children from all outside harm. In the story, the children watch their father's actions as he attempts to obey King Jesus above all others, and while they do not fully understand them at the time, they come to appreciate them more fully later as they grow and mature. The father never compromises his integrity in the midst of war. He clearly keeps the perspective that this life on earth is not the only one we live for. There is one to come. How we live and die here will show Whom it is we honor. This is how I want to live. I want to set a strong example for my children as I live out God's word even during difficult times. While reading these stories, I was struck once again that how we live in this life has implications in the next. We are to live for the Audience of One.

Inspiring Scottish heroes, cruel English villains, a courageous uprising, and a secret tunnel will draw readers of all ages into this engaging story. We first meet an immature fourteen-year-old Duncan M'Kethe as he is, in his father Sandy's terms, "playacting" rather than watching their sheep. However, increasing oppression of Presbyterian families like Duncan's forces peace-loving Sandy M'Kethe, along with his son, into a bloody conflict that ends in disaster. Duncan must grow up quickly as he sees the price others have paid for their devotion to the Covenant and Jesus, the only true Head of the Church. And in the end he must take an extreme risk to keep his father from paying that same price. Infused with historical fact, "Duncan's War" makes us believe, for a short time, that we are truly in early Scotland. And it accurately depicts the struggles our predecessors faced to follow Christ.

When I first got Duncan's War, I had no idea about what to expect. It turned out to be a breath of fresh air from the vast inflow of objectionable fiction that is usually sold today. In less than a week I had read it from cover to cover. Along with a fast-paced, excellent plot, this book offers a very Christian worldview, shows clearly the differences between good and evil, and shows how hard it is to obey the Biblical command of loving your enemies. It makes us keenly aware that Christians in the United States today have it easy compared to the fierce persecutions the devout Scots endured and encourages all Christians to stay in the battle.

I bought this for my Scottish history enthusiast child, but after reading them myself, it turned into a must read to the whole family of eight, including Dad. Since then, we have purchsed every Douglas Bond book we can acquire. This is a time of Scotland and Scottish Covenanters that I have found few people are familiar with. It is an important addition to a study of the American Revolution in that so many Scottish Covenanters fought in that in Europe it is also referred to as the Presbyterian Rebellion. Mr. Bond also lines out for the reader at the end which characters are documented nonfiction, and which are not, what of the story is fiction, and what is clearly not, and how he changed them. A very valuable addition to our large family library, and to the education of our children. It also shares principles and values that we very much want to instill in our 6 children.

These are great books!!!!!! There's three in this series, DUNCANS WAR, KINGS ARROW, AND REBELS KEEP. I read them all in six days,and altogether there are over seven hundred pages. This one's about duncan M'Kethe who helps the covenanters fight the cruel British soldiers. When they capture the British Dragoons leader, what will they do with him? Some say shoot him... You'll have to read it yourself to find out. I highly reccomend these books, and if anyone gives them less than five stars, they surprise me a whole lot.




William Andrews

This small but brilliant volume condenses and crystallizes Jewish thought and Talmudic methods, but one can read it in three hours.

Central to Judaism are Torah and Talmud--which offer democratic learning systems open to all willing to avail themselves. Heschel uses the great Yiddish writer Mendele Moher Sefarim's description of a typical Eastern European Jewish town--"where Torah was studied from time immemorial; where practically all the inhabitants are scholars, where the Synagogue or the House of Study is full of people of all classes busily engaged in studies, townfolk as well as young men from afar...where at dusk, between twilight and evening prayers, artisans and other simple folk gather around the tables to listen to a discourse on the great books of Torah, to interpretations of Scripture, to readings from theological, homiletical or ethical writings...., where on the Sabbath and the holidays, near the Holy Ark, at the reading stand, sermons are spoken that kindle the hearts of the Jewish people for the Divine Presence, sermons seasoned with parables and aphorisms of the sages, in a voice and a tone that heartens one's soul, that melts all limbs, that penetrates the whole being." Study included all: Indeed, a book preserved at New York's Yivo Institute bears the stamp of the Berditshev Society of Wood Choppers for the Study of Mishnah, the earliest part of Talmud.

A Christian scholar who visited Warsaw during World War I saw many parked coaches with no drivers in sight. In his country, he wrote, "I would have known where to look for them. A young Jewish boy showed me the way: in a courtyard, on the second floor, was the shtible of Jewish drivers. It consisted of two rooms: one filled with Talmud volumes, the other a room for prayer. All the drivers were involved in fervent study and religious discussion.... It was then that I... became convinced that all the professions, the bakers, the shoemakers, etc., have their own shtible in the Jewish district; and every free moment which can be taken off from work is given to the study of Torah. And when they get together in intimate groups, one urges the other, 'Sog mir a shtickle Torah--Tell me a little Torah."

European Jews studied in their own language--Yiddish--born of what Heschel calls "a will to make intelligible, to explain and simplify the tremendous complexities of the sacred literature. Thus there arose, as though spontaneously, a mother tongue, a direct expression of feeling, a mode of speech without ceremony or artifice, a language that speaks itself without taking devious paths, a tongue that has maternal intimacy and warmth. In this language, you say 'beauty' and mean 'spirituality;' you say 'kindness' and mean 'holiness.' Few languages can be spoken so simply and directly; there are but few languages which lend themselves with such difficulty to falseness. No wonder Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav would sometimes choose Yiddish to pour out his heart to God."

Heschel's words could easily define the Jewish faith itself. The world he describes was lost in the Holocaust, but the faith was not. This book rekindles it. Alyssa A. Lappen

If I had to pick just one book to explain my inner life as a Hasidic Jew, this would be it. In fact, now that is is back in print, I shall do exactly that in my FAQ on Hasidic Culture.

Not just about Hasidism, this thin but profound volume, written in such beautifully poetic prose, covers the different types of Eastern European Jews in a way that informs and inspires at the same time. Rabbi Heschel explain so clearly how Jewish spirituality is expressd, not in visible cathedrals, art, or monuments, but in timeless words and values as they are expressed in community through both worship and daily life.

Originally written in 1949, it appears that the author, himself a Holocaust survivor, intended this book to be a memorial to a lost world. Yet 50 years later, the book is as fresh and inspiring as the day it was written. The physical Jewish world he describes may no longer be there in Eastern Europe, but the inner world of religious Jews continues to grow and flourish so that I, as a Hasid in the 90's, can read this book and say, "Yes, this describes my inner life, too!" .

Perhaps, as Heschel himself suggests, this Eastern European "golden age" of Jewish spirituality (his words) can now be fully appreciated by the world. An excellent, EXCELLENT, book! Double 5-stars!

A short book in size but a great book in content. It is a description of the spirit of the Jews of Eastern Europe, an exaltation of their culture, their way of life, and above all of the high spiritual development of this ethnic group. The author manifests a certain melancholy for days gone by, for a way of life which he believes no longer exists. Lets leave to the present day Hassids to confirm or deny this statement. Beautiful prose, a must for anyone interested in learning about the essence of Eastern Europe Judaism.

This book gives the niggun( the spiritual melody) of the Jewish soul in Eastern Europe. Heschel writes" The Jews in Eastern Europe lived more in time than in space.It was as if their soul was always on the way, and if the secret of their heart had no affinity with things. .. A niggun, a tune flowing in search of its own unattainable end "
This spiritual music Heschel argues was present in the everyday life of ordinary Jews. In one of the powerful sections of the work he contrasts the elitist static world of the Jews of fourteenth and fifteenth century Spain with that of the Ashkenazim.He talks about the isolation of Ashkenazi Jewry before modern times, and its dynamism in comparison to a more slowly awakening Sephradish Jewry.
The great feeling in this work is somehow sadly underlined when one considers that it was first published in 1945 the year that it became known that most of those who lived in this sacred way were exterminated by the Nazis.

Originally written in 1949, this is a delightful introduction to the spiritual life of East European Jewry.