France Books

Anyone who wants to understand the history of "French theory" would be well advised to start with Philip Watts's important study of French writers and intellectuals (Sartre, Celine, Duras, Blanchot, and Eluard) caught up in the period known as the Purge, when some 350,000 French citizens were judged for acts of collaboration with the Nazi occupier. Sartre calls for a commited, responsible literature, while Celine clings defensively to style over ideas, and so the stage is set for a debate over the role of the writer that is still raging. Watts reminds us that the literary and philosophical classics we read today were born in a period when words could cost you your life. This is a brilliant essay, elegant and probing. I recommend it not only to students of France but to anyone interested in the interplay of politics, literature, and justice.

A clearly written work on the difficulty of separating art and literature from reality. How far should "art for art's sake" be allowed to go? How far can anyone distance himself from reality? Watts has done an excellent job of analyzing the works of four authors in relation to the reality of the postwar purge, and of dealing with the difficulty of remembering that in this century, in a democratic country, authors could be - and were - executed for their writings. Allegories of the Purge is a very intelligent, well-written work which gives the reader a new and important view of post-war France.

This remarkable study explores the complex interaction which took place in France, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, between the purge trials and literary theory. As French collaborationist writers were tried for treason and intelligence with the ennemy, prosecutors and defenders debated over the role of literature, and the role of the intellectual, in modern societies. After presenting and explaining the stakes of these debates, Phil Watts analyzes how novelists and poets have echoed (and sometimes anticipated) either side of the arguments in their literary works. Celine, Sartre, Blanchot, Eluard are interpreted in a new and powerful perspective which also offers the reader invaluable insights into the literary and intellectual debates held in France during the 1960s and 1970s, all the way to recent events like the Paul De Man affair.

Should civilized nations kill their poets? Certainly not. Should these poets be above the law for the sake of the autonomy of literature, even after they fed and led the anti-Semitic hysteria? "Allegories of the Purge" raises a whole set of fascinating questions at the crossroads of history, literary theory, politics and ethics, without ever succumbing to the temptation of providing oversimplified answers, but avoiding with equal mastery all the traps of escapism. A brilliant and stimulating book!

I bought my copy of this cookbook at a yard sale in the early 80's and have had it ever since. When looking for simple things, like roasting meat, sauces, or boiling eggs no cookbook comes close. Simple and easy to follow recipes that always turn out great. No kitchen should be without this book.

I bought this book in 1966, when it was first published, and it has been a mainstay in my kitchen, even though I have over 100 cookbooks. The end papers in the front and back have such useful information as food equivalents, equivalent weights and measures, substitutions and helpful hints for garnishes and decorations. I always use their roasting tables for meat and poultry, and I have many favorites among the bread and cookie recipes.

Seventeen years ago, when I went off to college, my mom gave me an already dog-eared, threadbare copy of the American Home All Purpose Cookbook. After a 10 year career in the restaurant industry, and a huge collection of cookbooks, it is still the cookbook I turn to for authoritative and traditional recipes, menus, and entertaining advice. Finding out that this book is out of print is awful news and I will have to take my copy to someone for some restoration / repair. If you can find a copy of this book, in any condition, scoop it up.

Christmas 1998 I recieved a copy of An American Treasury of Heirloom Fruitcakes and Puddings by Frances E. Strayer Hanson. I truly enjoy this cookbook, it has so many good reciepts. Now to find a another cookbook by Frances E Hanson, An American Treasury of Heirloom Sweets and Sonnets. It is more then just a cookbook, it has wonderful stories of the authors life and her family. What a delight to find these Heirloom reciepts and how good they taste! I hope Volume 3 will be coming soon.

An engaging cookbook filled with heirloom recipes from yesteryear sprinkled liberally with the histories of particular candies and sweet sonnets! A wonderful gift for any cook!

Rarely have I read sonnets with recipes. Even more rarely have I found a cookbook among my collection of nearly 100 that has food for the soul, as well as the body. Casperite Frances Hanson's latest work, "An American Treasury of Heirloom Sweets and Sonnets--The Language of Romance," follows her Christmas offering of heirloom fruitcakes and puddings recipes in An American Treasury of Heirloom Fruitcakes and Puddings, Vol. 1. Never have I found recipes for jelly beans and marshmallows. But they are in Hanson's collection. The preface alone is reason enough to buy the book. Hanson divides the book into three sections, her grandmothers recipes from 1864-1923, her mothers and from her own collection. Her grandmothers section really serves as a how-to-primer on candy making of all types. Hanson's premiseis that families who cook together are better off than those who scatter before their plates have been removed from the table. And if you serve it all up with a little good prose and poetry, all the better. In addition to how-to's and recipes, she shares poetry and words to think about throughout the book. If love were what the rose is, And I were like the leaf Our loves would grow together, In sad song or singing rain." --Algernon Charles Swinburne

I went to Tulane Med and attribute a lot of the clinical pearls I learned to Wiese. I'm currently an intern and find his student/intern handbook indispensble. He's strength lies in effectively communicating complex teaching points by breaking them down into easily understood concepts that stick for years.

Torang Sepah, MD

I went to Tulane Medical School, and Dr. Wiese is my mentor! He's the best teacher I've ever had. This book will be priceless for any medical student or resident.

As a 4th year student who had a terrible 3rd year (poor teaching, malignant attendings/residents), I was dreading my AI. I felt I did not have a good handle at all on how to deal with patients on the wards. I wish I had read this book before my 3rd yr! It points out WHAT TO DO on wards, etc. in a crystal clear way.

Much better than 1st aid for wards or even scut monkey (which is too detailed for a 3rd yr students). For the 3rd yr who needs something quick and easy to read this is it.

Warning: If you are the type who does not like things being told to you and would rather "jump in" without prior knowledge, this book will suck for you. However, if you are like me, and want somebody to tell you what to do and how to do it....this book is great!

Your book was perfect and easy to recite. The kids loved the rhythm and Orville's big fright.

We all learned a lot about antlers on moose. The same things happen when our teeth get loose.

The funniest parts were the beezles he ate. We laughed as we read it and thought it was great!

Fran knows children well: their love of nonsense, their feeling for rhyme and rhythm. Jim enhances this with his captivating drawings. Who could not love Orville Anderson Tarkington Moose? Great book!

Your book was perfect and easy to recite. The kids loved the rhythm and Orville's big fright.

We all learned a lot about antlers on moose. The same things happen when our teeth get loose.

The funniest parts were the beezles he ate. We laughed as we read it and thought it was great!

Fran knows children well: their love of nonsense, their feeling for rhyme and rhythm. Jim enhances this with his captivating drawings. Who could not love Orville Anderson Tarkington Moose? Great book!

Kelly Paul Briggs has written and illustrated the coziest book I have ever read. She makes you want to go and live on a lighthouse island for a while. Her illustrations are so detailed and make you feel like you could really jump into the page and be a part of the scene. I truely loved this book.

This is an authentic voice and readers will be immersed in a superbly crafted and intensely moving plot. The characters live and breathe on every page. There is love, heartbreak, mystery and genuine emotion. Unputdownable until the last surprise.

I would actually give this book 4.5 stars. I really liked the story about Laura trying to find out what happened to her father. Her search for him is very touching and you can almost feel as if you are searching for your father too! The love story part was okay. It kinda irked me how she practically fell into the arms of the guys in the story but thats just me. I also liked the parts where she was with her friends Vee, Grace, and Pansy. It really showed how a strong friendship can get you through anything, even a war. Overall its a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good love story.

This novel brings to life WWII while invoking WWI. The talefollows the wartime exploits of a young woman and brings history vividlyto life. Through descriptions and a compelling voice, the author manages to weave a fascinating tale while animating history. An excellent book for those who are interested in historical events and lives of those who participated.

Armstrong Encore is the best cycling book I have ever read. It does not insult the cyclist intelligence like most other cycling books I have read. It gives in-depth information of day-by-day following the 2000 Tour. It give explainations and insight that can only come from the pro's themselves. This kind of coverage is not found on TV or videos.

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I've read many books about cycling races over the years and this has to be about the best. excellent in-depth coverage of Lance Armstrong and the US Postal squad as they attempt to repeat their previous year's victory. I could hardly put it down. in fact I'm already reading it for the second time.

As someone who has haunted Paris for decades, I can say that there is no more wonderful companion than Thirza Vallois. Her three volumes of Around and About Paris, covering every arrondissement with both erudition and joy, are almost as deep and rich and rewarding as the city itself. They are to be carried about for consulting on foot, and read in your armchair for pleasure and information you will not find in the run-of-the-mill "guide." These books are for explorers and dreamers, scholars and lovers. If you want to know Paris, you can not do better.

Because Mrs Vallois has a love affair with Paris; because she devoted part of her life to this "cause", she is totally convincing. When you read her descriptions of hidden details on houses nobody noticed before, you understand that Mrs Vallois deserves the right to consider herself as co-owner of "the spirit of Paris". Because this "spirit" is something that was invented by the French to be shared with others, feel free to become a "courtisan". Mrs Vallois books are well documented (no need to say). It's like reading an architectural manual plus an history encyclopedia. All this while walking in charming places. I hope the next books will keep this knowledge embedded in a living style and that Thirza will add more illustrations. Buy this book. It will never look old-fashioned!

Great book!
and now,
Gentle Readers:

You may have noticed that Amazon made some changes to its website. For more information, view that tube place at /watch?v=PvLilHUaDic.

From June 11 - June 17, I, like many other reviewers on Amazon, did not post any reviews and did not make any purchases. This was the only means we have of showing Amazon how much we detest the new reviews format and the overloaded and confusing product pages.
Amazon revised the product pages (if one looked very, very closely) to allow public input re the redesign. Now I am told, although I do not yet see it, that the "improvements" are being scaled back to a more palatable, user/shopper friendly format.

Thanks and Stay Tuned!

/TundraVision

Arzach is classic Moebius. It has all the adventure and action your libido could want plus all the awesome artwork your heart and mind could desire. Why isn't this still in print??!!!

Just like movies (Godfather, Citizen Kane, Annie Hall) there are certain comics you HAVE TO read. Comics like Maus, Dark Knight Returns, and A Contract with God come to mind. For me, Arzach is certainly on that list.

Moebius is an undisputed master of comics, but in the U.S. his work has yet to be seriously collected and made currently available. I suppose at some point (probably after his death, unfortunately) the entire Moebius library will be published properly, but until then it would be nice to see just this one volume of Arzach available again. The art, compostions, mood, atomosphere, and the mechanics of storytelling in these simple but richly detailed short stories are among the most beautiful ever created in the comics medium and should be read by (and made available to) all.

This slim volume contains the early explosive work of Moebius: the classic Arzach stories and The Detour, my favorite story. A handful of pages that revolutionized the comics-- get this back in print!!

The leading Renaissance scholar of our time, Dame Frances A. Yates ("the most life-enhancing historian I knew", Hugh Trevor-Roper) in this enthralling reconstruction gave us the best example of her original scientific method. Using a new approach ("to history through imagery"), she focuses on the symbolism of Elizabethan 'imperial theme'. These allegorical intellectual portraits of Protestant chivalry in England and the French Pleiadist movement seems to contain an inspiring meta-historical documents. The genesis of this far-sighted study on "Queen Elizabeth I as Astraea" goes back to a sermon lecture (on Arcadian 'Virgo-Regina' and her apologists, prophetical poets like Peele, Spenser or Sidney) given in 1945 and first published in the famous "Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute", X,1947. Out of a central essay grew the four "Empire Lectures" originally given at London University Senate House (in January 1952), on the very same theme (imperial political theme in the Middle Ages and Renaissance). Later, it appeared as academic seminars at her favourite "Warburg Institute" and at the Cornell University (1967-70). Summa summarum, this part of Yate's final "Astraea:The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century" have been at first published as a French translation(!). Other texts from the present volume was originally contributed to a various symposiums, colloquiums, Warburg "Journal", "Slade Lectures" and even for a "Annales musicologiques"! Of course, some important parts of the paper were newly written just for this book. Anyway, this is thorough re-analysis of literature, mithology, science and philosophy in Elizabethan (many use to call it rather: "Shakespearian") times. It really challenges the current "modernist" ortodoxies of thinking "without history" and give shape and meaning to traditional ("neo-Hermetic") point of view. Those series of important and inovative essays reflects (through the competitive jugment by thinkers like Charles Schmitt, George Boas, Asa Briggs and Lord Dacre):"one of the most exciting and original of modern English historians: original because she came out of no pre-existing English school but created her own discipline; exciting because, by her enthusiasm and vitality, she inspired pupils who now continue her work...she was essentially a HISTORIAN OF THOUGHT". Or: "Frances Yates is that rare thing, a truly thrilling scholar. Her books on Renaissance history and thinking are alive with poetic instinct and inspired speculation, densely cross-patterned with recurring themes like one huge, continuous tapestry". Believe it or not, you can find at real unexpected places - even in nowadays Serbia - Miss Yates's fans and inspired pupils; just look (if it is anyhow possible) Dragoslav Bokan's recent study on relate subjects titled "Ognjeni Ljiljani" ("Fire Lillies", SKC 1998) or Belgrade translation of her thoughtful "The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age", with extensive preface by domestic authorities. In the context of a dominant,post-modern culture Frances Yates summary-books stands (eighteen years after her death) as the best and concrete proof for abilities of one typical European metaphysical soul to place famous incarnation of mythical "Faerie Queene" Elizabeth in the global (more than) historical context. A superb study!

The leading Renaissance scholar of our time, Dame Frances A. Yates ("the most life-enhancing historian I knew", Hugh Trevor-Roper) in this enthralling reconstruction gave us the best example of her original scientific method. Using a new approach ("to history through imagery"), she focuses on the symbolism of Elizabethan 'imperial theme'. These allegorical intellectual portraits of Protestant chivalry in England and the French Pleiadist movement seems to contain an inspiring meta-historical documents. The genesis of this far-sighted study on "Queen Elizabeth I as Astraea" goes back to a sermon lecture (on Arcadian 'Virgo-Regina' and her apologists, prophetical poets like Peele, Spenser or Sidney) given in 1945 and first published in the famous "Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute", X,1947. Out of a central essay grew the four "Empire Lectures" originally given at London University Senate House (in January 1952), on the very same theme (imperial political theme in the Middle Ages and Renaissance). Later, it appeared as academic seminars at her favourite "Warburg Institute" and at the Cornell University (1967-70). Summa summarum, this part of Yate's final "Astraea:The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century" have been at first published as a French translation(!). Other texts from the present volume was originally contributed to a various symposiums, colloquiums, Warburg "Journal", "Slade Lectures" and even for a "Annales musicologiques"! Of course, some important parts of the paper were newly written just for this book. Anyway, this is thorough re-analysis of literature, mithology, science and philosophy in Elizabethan (many use to call it rather: "Shakespearian") times. It really challenges the current "modernist" ortodoxies of thinking "without history" and give shape and meaning to traditional ("neo-Hermetic") point of view. Those series of important and inovative essays reflects (through the competitive jugment by thinkers like Charles Schmitt, George Boas, Asa Briggs and Lord Dacre):"one of the most exciting and original of modern English historians: original because she came out of no pre-existing English school but created her own discipline; exciting because, by her enthusiasm and vitality, she inspired pupils who now continue her work...she was essentially a HISTORIAN OF THOUGHT". Or: "Frances Yates is that rare thing, a truly thrilling scholar. Her books on Renaissance history and thinking are alive with poetic instinct and inspired speculation, densely cross-patterned with recurring themes like one huge, continuous tapestry". In the context of a dominant,post-modern culture Frances Yates summary-books stands (eighteen years after her death) as the best and concrete proof for abilities of one typical European metaphysical soul to place famous incarnation of mythical "Faerie Queene" Elizabeth in the global (more than) historical context. A superb study!

The leading Renaissance scholar of our time, Dame Frances A. Yates ("the most life-enhancing historian I knew", Hugh Trevor-Roper) in this enthralling reconstruction gave us the best example of her original scientific method. Using a new approach ("to history through imagery"), she focuses on the symbolism of Elizabethan 'imperial theme'. These allegorical intellectual portraits of Protestant chivalry in England and the French Pleiadist movement seems to contain an inspiring meta-historical documents. The genesis of this far-sighted study on "Queen Elizabeth I as Astraea" goes back to a sermon lecture (on Arcadian 'Virgo-Regina' and her apologists, prophetical poets like Peele, Spenser or Sidney) given in 1945 and first published in the famous "Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute", X,1947. Out of a central essay grew the four "Empire Lectures" originally given at London University Senate House (in January 1952), on the very same theme (imperial political theme in the Middle Ages and Renaissance). Later, it appeared as academic seminars at her favourite "Warburg Institute" and at the Cornell University (1967-70). Summa summarum, this part of Yate's final "Astraea:The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century" have been at first published as a French translation(!). Other texts from the present volume was originally contributed to a various symposiums, colloquiums, Warburg "Journal", "Slade Lectures" and even for a "Annales musicologiques"! Of course, some important parts of the paper were newly written just for this book. Anyway, this is thorough re-analysis of literature, mithology, science and philosophy in Elizabethan (many use to call it rather: "Shakespearian") times. It really challenges the current "modernist" ortodoxies of thinking "without history" and give shape and meaning to traditional ("neo-Hermetic") point of view. Those series of important and inovative essays reflects (through the competitive jugment by thinkers like Charles Schmitt, George Boas, Asa Briggs and Lord Dacre):"one of the most exciting and original of modern English historians: original because she came out of no pre-existing English school but created her own discipline; exciting because, by her enthusiasm and vitality, she inspired pupils who now continue her work...she was essentially a HISTORIAN OF THOUGHT". Or: "Frances Yates is that rare thing, a truly thrilling scholar. Her books on Renaissance history and thinking are alive with poetic instinct and inspired speculation, densely cross-patterned with recurring themes like one huge, continuous tapestry". In the context of a dominant,post-modern culture Frances Yates summary-books stands (eighteen years after her death) as the best and concrete proof for abilities of one typical European metaphysical soul to place famous incarnation of mythical "Faerie Queene" Elizabeth in the global (more than) historical context. A superb study!