Ireland Books

The Bulletins of the Napoleon's Grande Armee was in essence, nothing more then newsletters written for French army personals and their opponents. The author did the Napoleonic community a great service by making this book available in English, the complete set of Napoleon's Bulletins. The book also included other pages of history as Napoleons' decrees, treaties that was signed and even military reports.

The Bulletins shows exactly what it supposed to be, a newsletter written for military consumption, and it was geared not only for the French army but also for their enemies. Thus, you will have not only the truth in those bulletins but also misinformation. It does boggled the mind to realized such effort was made to both informed and misinformed both sides of the battle line. As one previous reviewer wrote, a propaganda sheet. But it seems to work. If I was a French soldier reading these bulletins, it would be informative and if I was a their enemy, I would be misinformed. The bulletins also serves to give recognition to troops for their services or valor, both as an unit or as indivduals. These bulletins and its accompanying documents gives a clear inside view of how war looks to the men fighting it.

However, unlike the other reviewers, I would say this much. I don't think this book is for everyone. Readers with limited background in Napoleonic military history will undoubtfully be totally confused or be misinformed themselves. Most of the bulletins were written with the understanding that people reading them knows who "Duke of Auerstadt" and what corps he commanded. It was written for people who already know what went on previously. I don't believed this is a book for beginners into this subject but someone who already have a good understanding of the Napoleonic wars and its terrains, leaders and troop types.

A valuable book, a "must have" in any Napoleonic library and almost a mandatory reading material for any experienced Napoleonic reader.

Thanks to David Markham, Executive Vice-President of the International Napoleonic Society, we now possess the great treasure from the Napoleonic times - the Bulletins of the Grande Armée, 1805-1815. This is the first time that all of them have been translated into English, assembled in chronological order and put together in one source, and thus presents an important source of information of the epoch. Now, when one is about to read any book on Napoleon's campaigns, Imperial Glory will present an indespensable source of understanding the epoch, including operations and movement of the troops. By all means it should serve as desktop reference book for any serious scholar and student!
True, Napoleon's bulletins were written and published for propaganda purposes, although admitting certain facts, loses and misfortunes. For example, during the First Polish Campaign, 1806-1807, in the first day of battle at Eylau, 7 February 1807, the 2nd bataillon of the 18th Line Regiment lost its Eagle and color to the St.-Petersburg's Dragoons; this loss was admited in the Bulletin!
Generally, this book could serve as a good starting point for anyone who is interested in Napoleonic history. Comparing what's written in this or that document with an actual event of the campaign, one could find very interesting facts which might move to conduct another, more thorough research on this or that event. It is also very useful for re-enactors (the author of this review is one) because it presents important information on all aspects of various troop movements, operations and achievements; it will help them to understand epoch they recreate in more colorful aspects and on various levels.
Overall, we need more books like this! Highly recommended!

Greenhill books and David Markham have hit a home run with this magnificent collection of the Bulletins of Napoleon's Grande Armee. This is the first time they have been collected together and published in English. This book is a wonderful reference work, and if definitely fills in a very large blank in the history of the period.

There are some who would doubt the usefulness of the Bulletins as historical reference. It is true that they were used as propaganda, but it is also true that they were full of accurate information as well as some misinformation, deliberately put in them by the Emperor. There are two things that must be remembered when talking of Napoleon's Bulletins. First, they were never intended as history; second, Napoleon was the first European ruler to speak directly to his people, and the Bulletins was one of the ways in which he did it.

An interesting facet of this volume is that it contains more than just the published Bulletins. There is other relevant correspondence of the period, one of the most interesting is the death warrant issued against Austrian General Chasteler by Napoleon for his conduct regarding French and Bavarian prisoners during the Tyrol uprising in 1809. Apparently, he allowed prisoners taken by troops under his command to be murdered, and did nothing about it. There was a price on his head, but unfortunately he got away. This is but one of the valuable gems that you will find in the pages of this most excellent of volumes.

This book is highly recommended and it should be on the bookshelf of every enthusiast of the period. Much useful information and knowledge can be gleaned from these pages, and the author has definitely made his mark with this volume.

J. David Markham has compiled the first English language translation of all of the bulletins of the Grande Armée from 1805 to 1814. In addition, he has included reports from marshals and the major general of the army, Marshal Alexander Berthier. Markham has written an excellent introduction that he calls "A modern view of Napoleon's bulletins" in which he points out the strengths and weaknesses in the use of these documents. The book also contains the bulletins of Marshal Masséna's Army of Italy in 1805; a selected guide to men and their titles; a partial list of other important individuals mentioned in the bulletins; and a very good index, all of which make it very user-friendly for scholars doing research on Napoleon, his generals, and/or the Napoleonic wars.

These bulletins also provide a real insight into Napoleonic propaganda. They were written for publication in the Monitor, the official government newspaper, to bolster moral and support on the home front and to raise the moral of the troops on campaigns. Thus, when he deemed it wise or necessary, the Emperor was given to exaggerate his successes and accomplishments and those of his armies while playing down his reversals and setbacks.

Nevertheless, the bulletins provide a wealth of information on Napoleon, his armies, and men who fought those wars. Markham has provided a major contribution to Napoleonic studies by making the bulletins available in the English language in one concise volume. It will be a welcomed addition to individual libraries and a must for colleges and universities where French history is taught.

John G. Gallaher
Professor Emeritus of History
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Author, The Iron Marshal: A Biography of Louis N. Davout; Napoleon's Irish Legion; General Alexandre Dumas: Soldier of the French Revolution.

Occasionally a new book is released that is so important to the study of the Napoleonic era that it immediately falls into the "must have" category for both Napoleonic scholars and enthusiasts. Imperial Glory is such a book. David Markham has assembled for the first time, all of the bulletins written by Napoleon between 1805 and 1812. Many of them have never been translated into English before, while others were only available to the serious scholar. Additionally, Mr. Markham also checked the translations of those bulletins that had been translated in the 19th Century and found many errors in them.

Napoleon used his bulletins for a variety of reasons: to inform the public and his soldiers of the progress of his campaigns, to praise his soldiers and their officers for the actions, and to ensure his enemies heard of his triumphs. They were published in the government's official newspaper, Le Moniteur, and often hung on doors and posted in public squares throughout the Empire. The veracity of the bulletins has always been open to question, with one of the most frequently used expressions from the Napoleonic era being, "To lie like a bulletin."

Although many of these bulletins were published for propaganda purposes, Mr. Markham does point out most are "reasonably accurate." Furthermore, he writes "[Napoleon's] losses were sometimes described as 'considerable', and he would list specific officers that were lost, along with the numbers of men killed, wounded or taken prisoners."

In addition to all 183 bulletins written from 1805 and 1812, Imperial Glory contains 170 other documents, many of which have never been published in English before. Broken down by year, the book includes:

1805

37 Bulletins of the Grande Armée (complete)
9 Bulletins of Masséna's Army of Italy (complete)
9 Proclamations
3 Decrees
2 Orders of the Day
3 Letters
1 Armistice
1 Treaty of Peace

1806-1807

87 Bulletins (complete)
4 Proclamations
1 Letter
1 Armistice between France and Prussia
1 Armistice between France and Russia
1 Treaty between France and Prussia
1 Treaty between France and Russia

1809

30 Bulletins (complete)
4 Proclamations
2 Proclamations of the King of Saxony
2 Orders of the Day
2 Reports by the Viceroy (Eugène)
3 Letters
1 Treaty between France and Austria

1812

29 Bulletins (Complete)
1 Final dispatch from Paris
1 Order of the Day
1 Letter
21 Field Reports, including:
5 Reports from Marshal Ney
4 Reports from Marshal Murat
2 Reports from Marshal Davout
2 Reports from Eugène
2 Reports from Marshal St Cyr
1 Report of Marshal Macdonald
1 Report from Marshal Oudinot
1 Report from Prince Poniatowski
1 Report from Prince Schwarzenberg
1 Report of Russian General Wittgenstein to Tsar Alexander
1 Report from General Wrede

1813

51 Reports from Le Moniteur, which often include reports from multiple days
2 Proclamations
2 Reports from Marshal Berthier
1 Report from General Vandamme
1 Report from Marshal Ney
1 Report from General Milhaud
6 Letters
1 Armistice

1814

23 Reports from Le Moniteur, including two "bulletins" at the end of the campaign
2 Proclamations
1 Decree
1 Order of the Day
2 Speeches
1 Act of Abdication

The collection of material is by campaign, with a separate chapter covering the different campaigns fought in that year or years. Within each chapter, the material is also arranged chronologically. This is an ideal arrangement, for not only does it permit the reader to follow the campaigns as seen through the official press releases, but it also provides great insight into how Napoleon managed his propaganda campaign.

The supplementary material is fascinating. I found particularly interesting the after-action reports on various battles written by the unit commander to the Imperial Headquarters. These reports were not written for public consumption and often were the first communication between a subordinate commander and the army headquarters. These reports contain information that would not necessarily be placed in the bulletins. Mr. Markham also included all the bulletins written by Marshal Masséna in 1805. He was in command of the Army of Italy and operating as an independent commander. Masséna's bulletins are in chronological order and interspersed with Napoleon's. Reading them together will give the reader a good feel for the two individuals' writing styles.

Mr. Markham and Greenhill Books are to be commended for making available to the public, material that has long been inaccessible to all but those with extensive libraries. Imperial Glory is an impressive collection of documents that every Napoleonic library should own. Do not delay buying Imperial Glory. It will be snatched up quickly and soon will be out of print.

This is one of the most authentic and grim accounts of fighting on the Western Front during the Great War. After three years of constant artillery bombardment, the no man's land between the lines had been reduced to an impassable quagmire. Time and time again, British soldiers were ordered to march through this waist deep treacle as German machine guns raked the men crawling through the mud. Advances of a few hundred yards were hailed in propagandistic despatches as great victories. Thousands of lives were squandered in the process of trying to advance through mires. Ninety years after the guns were silenced, farmers continue to find corpses and skeletons of soldiers who were lost in action. The locals refer to this as occurrence as "the harvest of the bones."

Given the gross ineptitude of command leadership of the British Army, it is nothing short of a miracle that the Central Powers did not prevail in the First World War. The American entry into the conflict on behalf of the Allies served to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. In retirement, Field Marshal Alexander Haig was subject to a tacit blackballing by the British military and political establishment.

A personal aside: my late father was a friend of a gentleman who was related to John McCrae, the poet who wrote "In Flanders Fields." McCrae died on the Western Front.

Mr Wolff has captured the complex details and produced a compelling and interesting account of the bitter fighting in Flanders. This book is one of the very best and ranks beside Middlebrook's classic 'First Day on the Somme'. A must read for any World War One buff.

In these times of compassionate battlefield practices and high tech, the loss of several hundred men would be a great disaster and bring the general under closest scrutiny. It is hard for us to imagine a time when men lived in a sea of mud beneath fortified heights, drowned in shell holes, never saw a tank, and had negligible air support, while the enemy artillery turned over every square inch of ground. The loss of several hundred thousand in one battle was deemed tolerable and was to be encouraged if the general could gain several hundred yards of ground, nor was there any hope of it ever ending. If you read this book, you will understand the ideology, art and literature of the entire 20th century much better.

In Flanders Fields is the most readable World War One book I have yet come across; infinitely more so than Ian Ousby's Road to Verdun which, although starting promisingly soon gets bogged down in academic pontificating. The Road to Flanders, as the title suggests deals with the conflagration that took place there in the autumn of 1917 - also known as he Third Battle of Ypres - when the British Army tried once again to break the stalemate on the western front and push the Germans out of Belgium and away from strategic ports.
In Flanders Fields focuses on three key players - British Army Commander-in-Chief, Douglas Haig; his nemesis British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and mud.
The October offensive against the German lines was an unmitigated disaster and many historians have attempted to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Field Marshal Haig. This is understandable - Haig pressed ahead with his scheme despite the warnings from generals both French and British and the disapproval of the British government. Bur as you read this book you will see that there were other factors that played their part: internal bickering, vanity, bad weather, indecision, false promises, lax security (the British plans were published in advance the newspapers), and No Man's Land where the mud was so deep soldiers and mules drowned by the dozens.
In Flanders Fields is really well written - as well as depicting the whole event clearly, Wolff actually manages to bring the whole event to life and takes us into the meeting rooms and the pages of secret diaries. Entertaining but not for the easily depressed. I recommend this as a first-class introduction to anyone interested in finding out more about World War 1

I've read this book twice the last time being over ten years ago and its haunting images of slaughter on the battle are still vivid in my mind. Although I had read All Is Quiet On The Western Front previously, I was not prepared for what I read here- the senselessness of the killing was unimaginable. How in the world could General Haig (the British commander) and Field Marshall Foch (the French commander) send hundreds of thousands of men to their death? If my memory serves me correctly, up to 20,000 allied soldiers died in one month alone.

This is a highly readable history of the battle, one that will captivate your interest and keep you reading until the end. Simply put, this book is hard to put down. Time after time, you ask yourself, how could they keep up this senseless slaughter, asking yourself what compelled these men to obey orders that meant certain death for no gain whatsoever? Certainly the First World War was one of the most senseless and unless wars ever fought, laying the groundwork for even the more destructive Second World War.

When the United States entered the war, it was to General Pershing's credit that he refused to dole out American troops under the command of Haig and Foch. Pershing knew that they too would be used for cannon fodder under European command. Since the Civil War, Americans have been reluctant to give their sons over to such slaughter.

This is a gripping book. Well written and hard to put down, it will take you back to a time and a war now almost forgotten.

Drumlish author strikes a chord with his memories of a Longford childhood
By Fergal Quinn - Reporter for the Longford Leader, Ireland.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A life becomes a great deal less ordinary when it is written down. Happily for the readers and fans of the new book by Arnold J Meagher he is well equipped to do just that.
Sound effects and extravagant hand movements accompany the words as he outlines some of the vivid memories contained in 'Ireland, my Ireland', his debut book of memoirs which skilfully weaves a colourful tapestry of Longford in times past.
The long since emigrated Drumlish native, was back home to do readings of 'Ireland, my Ireland' around the county last week. The book is about growing up in County Longford in the 40s and 50s and has been winning a growing band of admirers and fans.
"Readers make it worth while and it's very gratifying to get such positive feedback", he told the Longford Leader at the home of his cousin Sean Donnelly in Longford Town, where he is staying with his wife Jackie for the duration of his stay.
"It does seem to have brought back memories for people. One woman, who went to the same school as me and also emigrated said 'finishing the book was like leaving home again'".
His wife Jackie, with whom he now lives in Eufaula, Alabama was the principal driving force behind "Ireland, my Ireland, memories from the heartland" being written, says Arnold.
"It was a way of life that didn't exist anymore and he remembered it", Jackie explains, "I wanted our son to have a feeling for the life his father had in Ireland".
"Ireland my Ireland" took five years to finish, and after having been turned down by over 60 publishers, was finally published in 2003.
"The ones who turned me away would say `There's no controversy. There's no scandal. It won't sell'," says Arnold.
"Then Publish America, got back to me with similar concerns, and asked me to write and tell them why my book is different.
"I told them the Irish memoirs I had read were all about dysfunctional families. All about city life. My book is about life in the country, in the heartland."
He felt the time was right to tell a different Irish story.
"There was a scatter of books after 'Angela's Ashes' did so well. Frank McCourt's a great writer and I'd never put him down but I wanted to tell another side of Irish family life that wasn't so dysfunctional. I think Irish people abroad are ready to hear a story they can be proud of, that they can feel good about."
Drumlish is in many ways, 'everytown', says Arnold, now 71 years old, and people who had grown up in rural Alabama got in touch and said they related to it.
Arnold's favourite moments , and the ones which kept the children to whom he was reading to last week enraptured is the account of the football match, the banshee and making hay.
"Tea in the meadow was better than anything from Harrods in London! You'd be picking out the grass hoppers, but the older men, who were not so patient, would simply blow them to one side and gulp it down," he says.
Ireland, my Ireland', reads deceptively simply off the page. But to achieve such a flow was no accident. For Arnold, the writing process was slow and rather painstaking, involving lots of rewriting, sessions of recalling memories and jotting them down, before trying to connect them all together. Ann Donnelly, Sean's wife, was also a help in getting the details Arnold wanted.
"Reading it aloud is an essential part of the distilling process.
To Jackie, or even to myself. You never knew how a sentence was until you heard it aloud," he explains.
"The Banshee concept was hard. I wondered how I'd get across the idea on the page. Feeling dictates how the words flow. "
It's many years since 1957 when Arnold left Longford for America, after having been ordained as a priest. He was stationed in Sacramento for 15 years.
The story of his leaving the priesthood is one which he is admirably frank about. Arnold had his doubts about the issue of celibacy, even having written a celebrated article, anonymously, in the National Catholic Reporter.
"My attitude was that celibacy is a gift that not all priests have, so it should not be expected of every priest," he says.
"I did not doubt my vocation so much but I looked around me and more and more came to realize that I did not want to grow old alone."
When he met Jackie he knew that the celibate life was not for him.
"I met Jackie and fell in love with her and got the reluctant permission from the church to leave the priesthood." Arnold has no regrets on the route his life took. "They were fifteen great years. I was a good priest, in good standing until I left of course. "
The Longford man came late to writing creatively but he's certainly used to writing on other levels. He is exceptionally well educated having done a PHD on 'Chinese Emigration to Latin America', a formidable work which is recognised as one of the best on the subject.
On leaving the priesthood, he set up a company 'Best Writing' which write and phrase things for companies for everything from brochures to proposals for Government Contracts. Words have been his trade for a long time.
Arnold has been a fairly regular visitor to these shores since going abroad especially when his parents Arnold and May, the former a policeman, and the latter a school teacher were alive.
His mother May taught at Gaigue school for 41 years while his father joined the Gardai when they were first being formed at the age of 18.
Arnold and his eight siblings committed after their parents died to having a reunion every four or five years rotating between Ireland, England, where three of them were and the US where another three were.
The ability to write was always latent in him, but Arnold admits that he couldn't have written the same book as he did, had he remained living here. "Distance lends enchantment to the view. The distance in time and geography coloured my writing to an extent", he explains.
"And his appreciation too," Jackie adds.
Of course it's not all fun and light. There are fears and unpleasantness, the dentist, the sometimes cruel school master, the fear of the dead and the little people. But it's all written in an engaging, light style that the reader can almost hum along to.
"The little people I believed in unquestionably as a child, as I did God I suppose. My guardian angels were not as real to me as ghosts were," he recalls.
"The children in the school where I was reading asked me about the Banshee. 'Was it real?' I said it was real in my mind, not on the outside. They understood the concept very well."
He's happy and comfortable with immense change that this little island has undergone in the years since he was a boy.
"Each time I come back I see more progress, more flowers, more nice houses. It's uplifting for me to see this happen and I'd love to have shared in that success," he says.
The book is selling steadily, mostly through word of mouth, and with Arnold essentially publishing it himself. He has been one of the best sellers in the Longford Bookshop over the last year. It's a good start, he says. "People who read it seem to like it. That's the main thing."
Will a young fellow growing up in Longford today, have as distinctive and individual a story to tell if he sits down in 60 years I ask him.
"Absolutely!" he says with conviction.
"Since I wrote the book, I have come to the conclusion that there's one book in everybody's life. A life story is unique, like a fingerprint, and no-one else can write it. It's the detail that makes it come alive and blossom."

Arnold Meagher's memoir awakened for this Longford native golden memories of her youth. A must read!

Arnold Meagher has written a charming look back at his years growing up in the middle of the Twentieth Century before the Celtic Tiger reshaped his homeland. Arnold's Ireland is a country of small villages, rural landscapes, and a priest ridden school system. As a child, Meagher found happiness in the small features of nature and society. On his grandmother's farm where he helped his uncle with farm chores, he was an inveterate birdwatcher, made pets of many farm animals, loved the smell of hay, celebrated feast days with the neighbors, and surreptitiously eavesdropped on the same neighbors who many nights appeared at his grandmothers to sit before her peat fire and tell tales of the little people.

Meagher's reminiscences relate a timeless cycle of century-old rituals and work in the Emerald Isle. While the official account of Ireland's history is poignant and sad, Meagher's corner of Ireland was full of light, playfulness, and a tightly-knit large family. A pleasure to read!

Wholly engaging and healing for even the hardest of heart. Arnold J. Meagher has provided this hard-hearted German emigrant refugee a glimpse into the heart of youth growing up anywhere in this world, a wee bit of an "Everyman's" experience. Well done, Mr. Meagher. Your pages are a balm for all souls everywhere who have the courage and wisdom to revisit their childhood experience in search of the whole person in a broken world. Your healing insights and reflective prayer has healed us all who read your book, Ireland, MY Ireland. I shall revisit your pages often. I hope you are not done sharing your beautiful soul in writing. I would love to hear the story of an Irish immigrant and Irish-American. Welcome to the hall of Literary Gems.

Dear Arnold:
I just finished reading your book and for the first time in my life, I am writing to the author of a book I had read. It took me back so deeply that I was again living those years and I hated reaching the end because I had to leave home again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the fact that you had the facts exactly as I remembered them and you used the real names of people that I knew, even though some of them were just on the edge of my recollections, made it so much more interesting.

This is one of those books that you can't stop reading, no matter how late it is. It makes you want to read another, and another...

It will whisk you away to a magical world! If you like romance, you will LOVE Irish Dreams!

"Irish Dreams" is the perfect book to warm your spirit whenever your having a cold, rainy type of day. I found myself wrapped up in the characters and really needed to know all would turn out OK in the end. Also, being somewhat old fashioned, I appreciate that this book avoids the "sleaze" factor you find in so many "modern" romances. This book is truly MAGICAL and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance literature.

The characters are well developed but what I liked mostly was the dialogue! As the main characters bantered back and forth, you could hear them in your head. You wanted to enter the book and get envolved. Sometimes, you wanted the strangle the female lead and sometimes you wanted to hold her. The book was fast paced and the bantering was firey and fun. I read the book in one sitting, which is very unusual. I have recommended this book to many family and friends. I can't wait for Ms. Hewitt Berry's next book.

Erin Maguire is a self-sufficient, fiery tempered young woman who travels to Ireland to visit the homeland of her grandfather and to come to terms with the recent death of her fiancé. On the plane trip she accidentally falls into the lap of Logan Tate, a photojournalist on assignment to Ireland. Thus begins a complicated and amusing dance of romance set against the beauty and magic of the Irish countryside.

Corrine Hewitt-Berry has succeeded in bringing together two people who are seeking the healing power of love but who stubbornly bump up against each other in spite of their mutual attraction. It is a delight to see their prejudices against each other while they fall more deeply in love. Against a vivid description of Ireland and its people, Hewitt-Berry weaves a romantic tale which left me eager to see this country and read her next book.

I have purchased a number of Irish fiddle materials over the last four years. I have played guitar for over 30 years and thought that I would try Irish fiddle. Of all the books and materials I have purchased, this is simply the best. The tunes are challenging, yet playable, (if you put some time in} even for a beginner. Mr. Cranitch's playing on the accompanying cassette is excellent, and the cassette makes for good listening on it's own. I would assume that an intermediate to accomplished violinist who wants to play Irish fiddle would find this book less challenging, but I am confident that he or she would enjoy it. For someone with no knowledge of the violin, it will be very challenging, and maybe discouraging. But, once you have the ability to play in tune in first position, and are comfortable and relaxed with your bowing, this is the book to buy.

I've seen this book at music stores but was reluctent to purchase it because it seemed a little expensive and also didn't include the cds. Maybe it's good not to rely too much on the cds with books like these but I have to admit I feel they are essential. It's like having a teacher giving you a run-through of not only how it sounds but also the feeling of how to play it. I see the top seller on amazon is the Peter Cooper book which I bought but was a little disapointed at what I thought was a bit of an uninspired interpretation of the tunes. I suppose that the fact that its on mel bay and is called the complete irish fiddle player gets it alot of attention but I wasn't all that crazy about it. What I do like is the Kevin Burke 20 Irish fiddle tunes on Homespun and my favorite right now is Ireland's Best Fiddle Tunes by Paul McNevin (Waltons Publishing) which has 110 fiddle tunes and 2 cds. Evidentally you can get this with or without the cds but I got the cd edition of course and it was about 30 bucks. I probably should apologize for getting off track of the book in review but I really need to have the cd or I'm not really interested. Oh, the McNevin book also has the guitar chords. This is the one to get, in my opinion. It doesn't look like amazon has it but I see now that although it's Waltons, an Irish publisher, it's evidentally being distributed through Mel Bay. McNevin also has a guide to learning the Irish fiddle for about the same price but I haven't checked that out.

I understand there is a CD or audio cassette with this book. Is it available through you?

Martha Bishop waltmart@mindspring.com

So you want to learn the Irish fiddle, eh? First find yourself a great teacher and start learning these tunes by ear! Second, pick up a copy of this book and the two CDs that go along with it--if you want to learn a tune on your own this book is a wonderful resource. All of the tunes (from reels to hornpipes to airs and everything in between) are written out with little more than the melody, so that you can personalize each one with ornamentation and bowing. Therefore, this book has a more authentic feel to it than many of the other books out there that seem to leave nothing to the imagination. Aditionally, the CDs offer a great sense of appropriate ornamentation and rhythm for many of the tunes. They are essential to truly making the most out of this book.
This book does offer an overview of basic fiddle technique and starts off with chapters on each seperate style of tune. The back section simply contains a wealth of tunes written out in standard musical notation. Honestly, I would recommend this book as a companion to lessons with a teacher, rather than a subsitute for them, in order to master the technical aspects of fiddle playing. But for most people this book will make a wonderfully comprehensive resource for building up your knowledge of very authentic Irish fiddle tunes. It is truly the best of its kind that I have ever used.

I have this fiddle book and it is very thorough. Matt is an excellent fiddle teacher. There is a CD and a cassette that goes with it, sold separately, usually at music stores. The CD is recommend so you can just hit the track button and replay a tune you're practicing rather than rewinding the tape cassette. Highly recommended for learning Irish fiddle.

Diane Stanley, author of a series of high-quality biographies for children, does it again: Joan of Arc is intelligent and interesting with eye-popping illustrations. Of course the story is tragic, so this is not a good first biography for the young, tender-hearted child. The only thing missing is a real sense of the supernatural, what drove Joan to do what she did in the first place. If you're looking for the miraculous in your retelling of Joan's story, choose instead Josephine Poole's breathtaking "Joan of Arc."

Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc should be recommended for teens 13-16. I thought it was kind of hard to understand because I got 60% on this Accelerated Reader test. I didn't understand the Crowning of the Kings and Princesses very well. I would rate this a 6/10 in a rating.
It taught me about how some people can get so sick of things that you would do anything to save your country. This book is cool because of the pictures of the war.

Not only was this an accurate portrayal of Joan of Arc's story, it was wonderfully written and illustrated. I would recommend it for anyone who is starting out in learning of the saint. It is educational and enjoyable for a child.

Once again, Diane Stanley has brought intriguing facts and interesting tidbits to a book about a well known character, Joan of Arc, which makes the reader interested and excited about the subject, no matter what age he or she might be. Joan was born an illiterate, peasant daughter of a leader in a French village during the time of the Hundred Years War between France and England. She was highly disciplined in Catholicism, and was often teased about it by her friends. At the age of thirteen, Joan began having visions, while in the family garden, of various Catholic Saints giving her distressing messages and that she needed to act in order to save the French Kingdom. Joan was so convinced and moved by these visions that she took on a life long task of saving the French kingdom, although a woman doing this would have been unheard of at the time. She was eventually captured by the Burgundies that occupied Northern France and handed over to the English for a ransom. She was put on trial by the church for dressing in men's clothing and for acting on her voices and visitations which should have only been heard by members of the clergy. She was found guilty, although she gave clever testimony and was not easily disrupted by tricky questioning, and eventually burned at the stake. Charles, the ruler that Joan help restore to the crown, made it his personal mission to have Joan's trial declared a mistrial sixteen years after her death. This act fueled by his guilt for not negotiating for her release from prison helped her to be declared a saint five hundred years later.
This book helps the reader realize that although Joan my have appeared unstable with her visions in modern times, she brought hope and life to a battle that was hopeless leaving many French residents in despair. A note at the end of the book indicates that there have been three theories behind Joan's visions, depending on where one's personal beliefs lie.
Included within the book are pronunciations of French names and places and a map, so the reader can follow the path taken by Joan. This book provides interesting and understandable information for readers of all ages, including adults that want a short but informative look into Joan of Arc's life.

A beautiful book! Diane Stanley carefully traces the life of Joan from her humble beginnings to her tragic end. The book even comes with a pronunciation guide to help those of us who haven't been to France. Although the language is at 8+ year old range, my 5 year old daughter loves it anyway!

At times the stories collected in The Last Eyewitnesses just get to you -- the insanity and cruelty of it all. This book should be required reading for everyone. Those interested in Jewish history, Polish history and Holocaust accounts will find this book indispensible. Beyond that, however, this collection appeals to anyone interested in the human condition and the absolute will to survive. An amazing, amazing book.

A touching portrait of many Holocaust survivors. Expertly translated by the husband and wife team, the Bussgangs.

The 65 personal histories chronicled here represent the scope and variety of experiences Polish child survivors of the Holocaust underwent. They tell of kindness and cruelty, of good luck and bad, of the survival of a complete nuclear family and the survival of one who knows only that he is, by origin, a Jew. Because this these people originally came from all over Poland, they faced persecution by not only the Nazis and their Belarussian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian collaborators, but also from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and various other anti-Semitic, anti-Polish groups.

Most of these chronicles convey the sense of absolute aloneness and isolation their tellers must have felt. However, a number reveal connections among the group of contributors, connections that hint at the scope of the Jewish community that existed in Poland before the Nazis invaded.

The individual stories are compelling. Their cumulative effect is powerful. They bear witness to the spectrum of human capacity for good and for evil, and, above all, to the twists of fate that meant the difference between death and survival. Accounts of the lingering, ever-present effects of suffering resulting from the events of over 50 years ago serve as reminders that the past is, indeed, never really over.

In The Last Eyewitnesses, the editor, Wiktoria Sliwowska, has presented her own testimony of the destruction of Polish Jewry as well as those of her contemporaries. These have been assembled by the Association of the Children of the Holocaust in Poland. The special character of this anthology lies in the fact that these Jews, mostly in their sixties and seventies now, have come together to relate their childhood memories of the Holocaust, when childhood was denied to them. The reader becomes a witness to a unique cathartic experience. The translation of Julian and Fay Bussgang has given the English reader the opportunity to encounter these testimonies, full of the stark details which contradict everything expected from childhood. Primarily, these survivors learned that in their circumstances, it was dangerous to be a Jew. These children spent at least six years of their lives trying to divest themselves of their Jewish identity. They had to change their names, sometimes several times, change their language, in many cases, and learn Catholic prayers and rituals. As one sees by the names listed in the table of contents, many have never really recovered their identities as Jews. The histories provided demonstrate that there can be life after the Holocaust, but there can never be an elimination of its legacy. And this legacy will extend beyond the lives of even these and other last witnesses.

In The Last Eyewitnesses, the editor, Wiktoria Sliwowska, has presented her own testimony of the destruction of Polish Jewry as well as those of her contemporaries.These have been assembled by the Association of the Children of the Holocaust in Poland. The special character of this anthology lies in the fact that these Jews, mostly in their sixties and seventies now, have come together to relate their childhood memories of the Holocaust, when childhood was denied to them. The reader becomes a witness to a unique cathartic experience. The translation of Julian and Fay Bussgang has given the English reader the opportunity to encounter these testimonies, full of the stark details which contradict everything expected from childhood. It is chilling to hear of the young who, besides being faced with constant want and privation and witness to violence and brutalization, also have to deal with an immediate and mature realization that their own lives are tenuous and threatened day by day. One individual describes his fear and panic, as he and his sister fled from their pursuers into the woods, as well as the subsequent pain and guilt for having separated from her during their attempted escape. His path led to life, while hers led to death. It is painful to read of children who are clearly aware that in their circumstances, it is dangerous to be a Jew. A new word has entered their Jewish vocabulary, "Action", a raid by Germans and their cohorts to seize Jews for death, either to be killed on the spot or taken to the death camps. One can scarcely imagine living with the ever-present fear of being discovered - afraid of one's dark Jewish appearance, living in cellars or closets, forbidden to approach a window, hiding in the woods. The sad fate of Polish Jewry is revealed in the statement of one teenage girl upon returning home after liberation: "...In my one and only little dress, without a cent to my name, I traveled to where Mama, Dorota, and the rest of the family were sent to the ghetto. Here, after arriving at my destination, I lived through the worst moment of my life. I did not anybody, not a single blessed soul." Not only did they not find many of their loved-ones or any vibrant Jewish community after the War, but they found anti-Semitism still alive, though their families were dead. These children spent at least six years trying to divest themselves of their Jewish identity. They had to change their names, sometimes several times, change their language, in many cases, and learn Catholic prayers and rituals. Many survivors have never returned to their original, Jewish names. As one sees by the names listed in the table of contents, many have never really recovered their identities as Jews. One individual expresses his confusion about whether he is a Jewish-Pole or a Polish-Jew. The histories presented here cover the entire gamut from total alienation from Jewish contacts to strenuous effort to learn about their background and Israel. As one reads the various depositions, one is amazed that any children could have lived through such inimical circumstances. One is amazed at the efforts of courage and sacrifice, love and desperation on the part of these parents to give up their children to strangers in the hope that they might live through the horrible German regime. One is also amazed at the stories of great courage on the part of many Poles in the rescue efforts described. "Antek" Cukierman, hero of the Warsaw Ghetto, has commented that one Pole could betray a hundred hiding Jews, but it took a hundred Poles to save a single Jew. These accounts verify that reality, as does Yad Vashem's recognition of many of them to be included in the ranks of the Righteous Among the Nations. The people who have come forth in the aftermath of the Holocaust to give these accounts of their personal lives and tragedies, as they struggle to define their identities, have gone on to demonstrate that there can be life after the Holocaust, but there can never be an elimination of its legacy.And this legacy will extend beyond the lives of even these and other last witnesses. Abraham Rzepkowicz, Reviewer

Mandie, Celia, Jonathan, Mrs. Taft, and Senator Morton are touring Europe during the summer, and now they're at Belfast, Ireland. Mandie meets a little girl named Molly who is constantly looking for leprechauns. Mandie is eager to see a leprechaun too, so she and Celia join Molly in her search.
But one night something terrible happens. A fire breaks out in a linen mill and Molly and her mother are trapped inside. Mandie dashes inside to save Molly, and they both come out unhurt. And if things couldn't get more exciting, Mandie comes face to face with the mysterious woman who's been following them through Europe!

Of all the books about Mandie in Europe, this has got to be my favorite. Maybe it's because it's not really a mystery, but about a small, dirty girl who wins Mandie's heart. Molly is so cute; its no wonder Mandie loved her!
After reading all about the mysterious woman, it was nice to finally find out who she was.
This book is a must read, and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

This book is absolutely so wonderful! It is a must-read!

This book ends Mandie's trip through Europe in the Summer of1901. Mandie, Celia, Jonathan, Senator Morton, and Grandmother are inIreland when Mandie meets a little Irish girl. Molly is searching for leprachauns, and Mandie and her friends help. Uncle Ned shows up, and helps the search. Their trip is for some reason cut short, and they must return home. Mandie has no idea why, and Grandmother isn't talking. Everyone seems to know something Mandie doesn't. It's a good story, and a great conclusion to the European trip. At the end you also discover who the "Mysterious Women" is, and why she followed them. It is a book that lives up to the Mandie name.

I just finished reading this book and I'd recommend it to everybody. It's a real page turner, I couldn't put it down!I was so scared in the moment that Mandie was in the mill that I actually started to shake! I was really surprised by the ending. It caught me completely off guard.I also really liked the chapter that had the play in it.I was also really surprised when a certain character (dealing with Jonathan)showed up. The bible quote at the begining was really showed in this book. It is one of the greatest Mandie books ever wriiten!

I like this Mandie book. I like how they are traveling through Europe. I especially like when they are traveling in Ireland. I'm half Irish myself. I hope you make alot of Mandie books in the future. Because I love them I love them I love them!!

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

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

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

Forget what I have to say, seeing as how I am far from being a kid. Let me tell you what my 8-yr-old hard-sell granddaughter had to say after I read her the first five sentences, "Really? It says that? Can I read it?"
Then, as she read, "This is great! I never read anything like this."
She carried that book with her, laughing, quoting from it, until she finished it the next day, then started over, more laughter, and then eagerly sharing it with her BFFs. Her review went something like this.
"This guy really knows that it is a kid reading the book..."
"How does he think this stuff up? I love the little girl, the one who can only say 'Who are you?' but everyone loves her so much they know exactly what she means, even if she means 'turn left after this corner'..."
And on and on. She will wear the print off the page with her eyes by the time she is finished with this book.
You can't ask much more from a book that a child love it and wants to share it and gets more from each reading (meaning they are reaching, it's not easy.)

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

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

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

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

If you have read more than a few books about the history of our world from 1930 to 1945 you may begin to have questions about the National Socialist Movement and the course and effects of its government of Germany. These are questions like:
- Was the National Socialist movement in Germany a unique event or was it a part of a larger historical process in the terrible 20th century?
- What was the relationship between the Nazi led government and the governance of the German economy?
- Was Hitler the author of all that happened in the Third Riech or was he an enabler of many things that were potentially present in Germany?
- What, exactly, was Hitler's role in the destruction of the European Jews?
- Was German(read Nazi?) foreign policy driven by a master plan for world conquest (or domination?) or improvised and opportunistic?
- Was the Third Reich a socially liberating event to the lower middle class or was it a reaffirmation of traditional hierarchy and power structure in another guise?
- What did German resistance to the National Socialist movement and government actually amount to?
- How is it possible to consider National Socialist genocide as part of a normal historical account?
- How is is possible to do objective and empathetic history in the face of the moral values of the Nazi movement and government?

If you find these questions significant and interesting, there is no better single book to read. Each of these questions is covered by Mr Kershaw more or less in two phases. First there is review of the schools of interpretation promulgated by various historians, most of them professional, and then the author makes his own judgement and evaluation of the contentions at hand. Of particular interest to me is the very thorough coverage of the views and controversies among German historians of the last sixty years as these are rarely reported in the US media. Mr Kershaw does not completely ignore the work of popular historians but it is clear that all the points of view they may have are in fact covered by the range of views among the academic community. The author's personal insights and judgements seem well considered and generally appropriate to me.

I think the only area these professional historians have trouble with is the area of the emotional and psychological appeal of the National Socialist movement to so many Germans. I think to really confront that confronts all of us to acknowledge that there may be a darker side within us that could be touched by the myth structure of racial homogeneity and purfication. Consideration of that question of good and evil is just
beyond the job description of a professional historian and belongs to the philosopher or theologian.

Of particular value, and only to be expected, is the extensive bibliography and the sometimes illuminating foot notes. The concerns of some reviewers about the dense terminology should be noted. Part of that seems to be the result of translating terms from German that come out as rather involved hyphenated words in English. On the other hand the issue is that some of the problems studied here are complex and the answers are not simple and ways of talking about them strech our vocabulary. Ultimately my view is that real knowledge and understanding sometimes involves hard work and digging through this text is work. So be ready to do that or don't bother.

If you have read a number of popular histories of the Nazi period, I recommend this book and The Art of the Third Reich (seperately reviewed) to grasp the tangible and intangible aspects of the terrible and instructive time.

This book does an excellent job of outlining the current historiography of the Nazi regime. It is really only meant for scholars and it is fairly dense even for them. Kershaw does a masterful job of capturing each of the debates and this is really a great book if you want to write about Nazi Germany but don't know what to focus on. It is still relevant even today and does a great job of outlining the current debates that need to be addressed by historians.

Kershaw is God. This book is the bible for any scholar of the Third Reich.

I first read Kershaw's Adolf Hitler: Hubris and Nemesis. I couldn't put it down. I then picked up Kershaw's The Hitler Myth. Also an excellent read. I then moved on to The Nazi Dictatorship and within the first 5 minutes I realized I was in over my head. I am a 38 year old lifelong student of WWII. I have been reading about WWII since I was a kid. And I have a Masters degree. Yet this book was way over my head. This book is a HEAVY read and in my opinion is probably meant for history scholars, not amateurs like me. I'm giving it 5 stars based on the aforementioned works by Kershaw and the assumption that this book is of the same quality. But I didn't read it.

This book is a collection of short and dense summaries of other prominent works written on Nazism. Thoroughly researched and contanining a wealth of information, Kershaw's work is a valuable introduction for any researcher or college student. However, I think the esoteric rhetoric and scholarly details makes it kind of hard to digest for the casual reader not familiar with German history.