Bradley Books

Have you ever had premonitions of the future? Been smaller in stature than other people, but able to control them with your mind? Ever wondered where you got your powers, or why you are different from everyone else? This book has ALL the answers. Open the mists with your hand and return home to the island of your ancestors...we're waiting!

This is one of my all time favorites. I bought this copy as a gift for a friend. Nearly every literate person has heard the tales of Camelot and King Arthur. This classic novel expertly focuses on the women's perspective. I've read it several times and find insights into the origin of legends and religions, especially the feminine aspects of the Divine. If you enjoy it, I highly recommend the prequels, The Forest House and Priestess of Avalon.

I read this book years ago, in my 8th grade year of school. It's a big book, but it was so good that I just kept on reading. I could hardly put it down. I've been trying to get my hands on the book for a good price ever since i finished it (I had borrowed from the library). This book really got me into Arthurian legend. It was great, I'm in love with it.

What an amazing book. All of the other 5 star reviews say what I want to say, so I'll leave it at that.

The entire premise behind this novel is a good one. It is the legend of King Arthur, Camelot, and Avalon but told from the point of view of the women involved, particularly the priestesses of Avalon. Central to the plot is that Vivianne, Avalon's powerful high priestess, tricks Morgaine, her apprentice (and the novel's main character), into sleeping with her brother Arthur in order to produce a son that has Avalon running through his veins from both sides. Arthur himself is a product of Vivanne's goal of ensuring that Britian has a High King who will remain faithful to Avalon and keep peace between Christians and the follower's of the Goddess of Avalon. Otherwise Avalon is in danger of diasappearing into the mists forever.

When Morgain finds out it was her brother Arthur who she slept with she turns on Vivianne, leaves Avalon, and goes to live with her scheming sister Morgause in the wilds of Lothian. There she gives birth to Mordred but then falls vicitim to her sister's scheme when Morgause finds out Mordred is King Arthur's son. Morgause takes Mordred from her an does not allow Morgaine to form a bond with her son in the hopes that by raising him it is she who will be the real influence behind the throne when he is High King.

Meanwhile, Arthur has married Gwenhwyfar, a devout Christian and a woman who seems to suffer from one phobia after another. She sees her inability to give birth to a child as punishment from God for Arthur's divided allegiance to both the followers of Avalon's Goddess and the Christian God. She uses Arthur's love for her to convince him to turn his back on Avalon and make Britian an entirely Christian nation. This, Mordred waiting in the wings, and the fallable nature of human being's sets the stage up for conflict and destruction that will destroy all of the orignal plans for peace and unity between Christian's and Avalon. And Morgaine, after years of living outside of Avalon yet longing to return, discovers that leaving Avalon was easy but finding her way back is anything but.

While all these factors seem to be the ingredients for an amazing read, this reader was dissapointd with several aspects of the novel. To start with, the author's pro-Pagan anti-Christian views come shining through each page of this novel. I think it's wonderful that a novel was published with such a different point of view. No matter what your religious orientation, it's always good to question and see things from another vantage point. The problem I had was that after several hundred pages of this it began to grate on my nerves. Eventually it was like, "OK, I get it already!!!" It was just too much and the entire novel would've benefitted from a much more subtle approach.

Then there was the extreme long-windedness of the author. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good long novel but not when it seems to just go on and on and on and on about what, IMO, were not major plot points in the novel. Some serious editing needed to be done here. This novel could've shaved off a couple hundred pages and not suffered a thing.

I also thought the portrayal of Gwenhwyfar as a whiney, wimpy, 'fraidy cat was too over the top. I get that the author was trying to portray the difference and the conflict between her and Morgaine, which represented the heart of the conflict between Avalon and Christians, but she just has no reedeming qualities whatsoever. In what is supposed to be an novel told from the women's viewpoint, the author seemed to do the same thing she accuses Christians of doing, laying the blame for the sins and downfall of the world at the feet of a woman. It seemed that she Gwenhwyfar was the author's scape goat here. I wouldn't have minded the less than flattering portrayal of Gwenhwyfar if would've at least attempted to be somewhat fair and at least allowed the reader to discover some reedeming quality about her.

OK so I know I've waxed verbose about what I didn't like about the novel but there were some things that I thought were great. In fact, overall I didn't hate this novel it's just that the above gripes keep it from getting too great of a score. As a heroine, I absolutely loved Morgaine. She was flawed yet sincere, very human, and yet somehow very spiritual and divine. She was not the typical beauty but yet she radiated with an inner beauty. She made mistakes over and over again and suffered for those mistakes as did others.

I also enjoyed the humanity of so many of the characters. They were so recognizably human, flawed, caring, violent, and yet they yearned for peace. They made mistakes and suffered the consquences. That was painfully depicted here in a way I haven't seen in many other novels. It was very atmospheric and, when I wasn't pulled out of the story by the above irritants, I was swept away into ancient Britian and the world the author created.


I enjoyed reading about the conflict of cultures as Christianity began to spread across Britian. Just the fact that there is a novel with such a different point of view than we are used to, female and Pagan, is a very good thing. I would love to try and read more about the ancient religions. I just wish that, as a whole, this particular novel had been written better. But this is one I'm going to hang on to and reread in a few years and compare my reactions.

Overall I do recommend this novel because of it's very different premise, I love the heroine, and you may not have the same issues I did with the presentation of the story. 3 1/2 stars.

ETA: I don't get the complaint from so many reviewers that this is a "feminist" novel. It's told from the viewpoint of the women involved, does that make it feminist? Even if it was "feminist" what's so wrong with the idea that men and women should be equals? Since when is that a bad thing?

It's the "good Pagans, bad Christians" theme repeated ad nauseum that causes this novel to suffer, not the fact that it's told from a female perspective. And I'm agnostic so I don't claim one religion over another, I just don't like it when an author's personal POV overtakes what otherwise could be a good story.

James Bradley has written a loving chronicle of a battle of almost unimaginable horror that took place on the unlikely volcanic island that has embedded its name in military and our national history as 'Iwo Jima'. His father was caught up in the events that unfolded on that diminutive, blood-soaked island, but also in the well-intention civilian environment back home, where the War Bond campaign seemed noble enough to justify almost any means.

Anyone tempted to bury Iwo Jima in the impersonal language of large, inhuman forces that is characteristic of a historiography which scoffs at the idea that Great Men change history ought to read this book at least as carefully as Bradley has crafted it. Men and women, many whose names now require special effort if they are to be remembered, laid down an incalculable sacrifice to secure this island stepping stone in the Second War's Pacific Campaign. There was nothing romantic about the task they were asked to accomplished. In fact, it was Wartime Romance that disfigured the lives of several of Bradley's protagonists.

Yet somehow, these warriors performed the actions that large men required of them. Most of them would simply prefer to forget what they saw there on Iwo Jima.

They should be afforded that luxury. The rest of us should not.

Something salutatory happens when a nation remembers the sacrifices that made it what it has come to be, particularly when it does so without assigning heroic nobility to men and women who more accurately describe their work as simple duty. A reader, properly in awe of duty's extreme measures, can still stand in awe of it.

This is their due and the responsibility of those of us who wish to be responsible remembrers.

James Bradley helps us on that way as few writers can.

He has written an awesome, astonishing, ennobling book.

I gave this as a birthday gift to my husband and I finished reading it before he did. I thought it was well researched and written. Very sad, but helped me understand what they went through. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the famous picture and statue.

I was very surprised after reading this book to learn that the flagraising on Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima was nothing more than a simple replacement flag implant. These six men were brought together from all parts of the country, assigned to Iwo Jima along with thousands of other young American men and women, and by sheer circumstance, helped one another replace a crippled original flag on top of the mountain. A photographer happened to snap a shot of the flagraising, and instantly became a national symbol of courage and eventually the monument of The Marine Corps Memorial. The book is filled with clear images of life for a World War II soldier (Pacific Theater), strength, love, friendship, humility, fear, courage, and extreme struggle. I recommend this book to every American citizen.

Perhaps the best book I've ever read. This book captures the action, the drama, the immense human sacrifices paid by the soldiers, their courage, the brutality of war, the history of the era and the war, the biographical background of the young soldiers and their families both before, during and after the war. Superb isn't strong enough to describe how well written this book is as it tells an amazing story about our young men you go off to war to save their country and the world from ruthless military dictatorships. The stories are gut wrenching and tear jerking. You will travel into the belly of the beast that is war and be nourished by the courage and committment to the mission's success and emotionally devastated by the carnage and loss of life and limb that followed these poor souls 24/7. The men and women who fought in WW2 truly were American's greatest generation. Read this book.

This book is a poignant reminder that freedom is never free. The book is as much a tribute to the men who gave their lives on the island of Iowa Jima as it is an exploration of the lives of those who raised the flag in one of the most iconic photos of all time. Flags of our Fathers aptly illustrates the bravery of our servicemen in the bloodiest battle in the history of the Marines. Every American needs to read Bradley's description of this battle and the human cost of our victory in WWII.

Bradley deftly humanizes the flag raisers, painting their lives with careful detail. He is always fair, portraying their successes and failures with an even, historical tone. At times there is a sentimental quality to his writing, but this doesn't detract from the book as a whole. Who would not have a certain level of sentimentality writing about their war-hero father and his comrades?

This book is a captivating examination of all that is right, and unfortunately, all that is wrong with America and the WWII era. The selflessness of the servicemen both in combat and then as part of war bond drives is both heroic and admirable. The way the US government treated these men, and the way they preyed on their heroism is disgusting and shameful. The US propaganda machine, the racism suffered by the Native American Ezra Hayes, and the failure to offer our soldiers any real counseling or assistance with their mental health after their return to the States are equally disgraceful.

It would be nice, if some 60 years later things had changed, but just go to a movie theater and wait for a National Guard commercial, and you'll realize that as a Nation we are still using our servicemen and women as pawns in political machinations. Research the way soldiers returning from Iraq suffering PTSD are being treated, and it quickly becomes apparent that we have many of the same problems now that we did then. We need to start acknowledging our soldier's bravery and sacrifice without entangling them in the dirty world of politics. We also need to take responsibility for their mental health after we send them to war.

Flags of our Fathers does not take a stance on the modern context of these issues. It doesn't need to. It describes what America did well, what it didn't, and the very real consequences of both extremes in the lives of the men portrayed in the book. It should be a lesson to us all, and this is why I believe every American should read it.

This is a great source of information, whether or not you have taken the Bradley classes. It helped me to get a better feel for the classes and what they contain.

My only complaint is that this has not been revised since 1996.

We were looking for a natural childbirth experience and this book made that dream a reality. We couldn't afford to take childbirth prep classes so I read this text; it included everything I wanted to know and needed to know to bring about a wonderful birth experience. I definitely recommend reading this if you want to avoid taking drugs during labor or if you don't care about drugs but just want an amazing birth experience.

Extremely well written, can't say much for the 1970's pictures *ha* but very detailed about the step-by-step of labor preparations. I remembered it all in labor, which was amazing. I use the techniques even now, not pregnant, but just to relax at night before I sleep.

To make the Bradley Method work, I advise you to get your partner or birthing coach to read it, also!

My whole life I never wanted to have children because I was afraid to give birth. But then after finding out I was pregnant with twins I needed to find some way to calm my fears and move forward. I was strongly against having a c-section, and this book was what empowered me to voice my opinion to my doctors and nurses during my time of need. Even though I ended up giving birth 2 months early (with twins this involved a lot of intervention) I was able to give birth naturally (though not drug free), but that was the most important to me... to let the babies come when they needed to come, and to go with your own body's flow - it is very important to be educated and informed with childbirth decision making!! And to choose an educated doctor as well - mine was fine with delivering twins vaginally, even though they were 2 months early. She was also upset that the hospital wanted to set me up for a c-section even though both babies were head down. This book will let you know where you need to have strength and get through your pregnancy and delivery!!

This book is absolutely wonderful :) Gives perfect instruction for a perfect birth. If you are about to have a baby, this book should be read!

4 1/2 stars, really, but we can't do that. This is the original 1855 version. Whitman added to the collection throughout his life, ending up with an overstuffed and very uneven "deathbed" version, which is better known. There are some good poems in it which aren't in the original, such as When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd, but there's a lot of pretty weak stuff, too. The 1855 has a small number of pretty consistently excellent poems which are highly original and loosely but definitely connected. Reading it is a very different experience from wading through the bloated, inconsistent final version - there's something Whitmanesque (i.e., at it's best) about the original collection as a unit. Malcolm Cowley's introduction is also a bit wild and wooly (written in the late 60s or early 70s), but interesting and enlightening.

Choosing the fullest, most complete version of Whitman's text, before the final editing of the deathbed edition, but following the additions made after the Civil War, the Norton Critical is a must have for students of poetry, or literature, and of nature. The wild, ecstatic hunger for the world, the ravishment of the senses, as Norman Mailer put it (though not about Whitman), the mysticism of the flesh, Whitman is, arguably, the most accomplished poet of American letters.

A must read for poets, students, and pagans (Whitman as spirit of the Green Man himself!).

At least as available for the Kindle, this is not the 1855 edition. It seems to be the final edition, which is of course great, but not what I intended to get based on the product description posted. Also, the foreward and afterward mentioned in the description are missing. I don't expect the moon for a low price, but I do expect to get what I pay for.

I bought this and returned it. There must be someone out there with the right voice and reading skills to bring us Whitman's words and rhythms. Ms. Gibson's soprano sing-song doesn't make it.

There seems to be some confusion, both in the editorial reviews and the customer reviews, about what edition is being referred to in this listing. the first editorial review correctly discusses the first edition as shorter and "less bloated" than the deathbed edition. however, the rest of the reviews seem to discuss either edition indiscriminately.

the two are effectively different books. the cover shown is of the first edition including an illuminating essay by malcolm cowley--that's certainly the edition I prefer, and I hope thats what you would get if you ordered this.

This is such a good book. When I first got it I read much of it to my young children and they loved hearing about the Okinawan life and elders. My 10 year old son wanted us to move there!

I have bought more copies of this book than any other because I keep giving mine away. Now I just keep a stash to give.

This should become your textbook for living.

Old age in America is beset with misery. No matter how much money elderly people have, ill health inevitably attacks and then lingers endlessly, making their final years a living hell.

When the authors (Willcox, Willcox and Suzuki) undertook a twenty-five year study of the phenomenon of healthy longevity in Okinawa, they met their first centenurian, Nakajimasan. Upon approaching his small wooden cottage, they encountered a sprightly man of about seventy preparing to garden, who greeted them with a wave and winning smile. They asked this man where his father was, and to their amazement discovered that this energetic man was the centenarian, Nakajimasan, they sought. They conducted full medical testing and discovered that, after 100 years, there was nothing wrong with his body or mind. He was in perfect health.

After reading this opening, I was hooked.

And the rest of the book lived up to this promise. In meticulously researched chapters, the authors show how a diet emphasizing veggies, fruit, soy, grains, fish and legumes, healthy regular exercise, a relaxed, non-time-pressured yet confident, optimistic and assertive approach to life, social support, universal health insurance and an active spiritual life can lead to amazing health up to and surpassing age 100. The Okinawan centenarians (and those in their 80s and 90s) have astonishingly low rates of cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, dementia, diabetes and obesity. They do not require the extensive medical care elderly Americans need. Yet when the Okinawans immigrate elsewhere or just take on a more western lifestyle (as, unfortunately, the younger Okinawans have done), their life expectancies plummet and western diseases emerge.

Throughout the book, the authors give numerous ways Americans can adopt "the Okinawa way" and add joy and health to their final years (and all the years preceding these.)

In 2005 when I first read this book, I was obese, had unhealthy cholesterol and other blood test levels, looked like a rotund pear, and was hopelessly out of shape. Gradually over the next two years I gravitated toward the Okinawa program and a diet of legumes, soy, fruit, grains, veggies and less meat, dairy and processed foods. I did not follow their exact diet (which would require cooking three meals per day - yeah, right), but I incorporated the principles of the diet into my eating and exercised an hour per day five days a week, mixing weights, aerobics and stretches as these authors advised. I have gone from a tight size 18 to a size 6, now can jog the majority of an hour, and feel energized and light-years younger. This plan is pleasant and easy to follow, unlike my previous rigid diet attempts which required counting carbs, calories, points, fat grams, or whatever.

This is the best health book you will ever read. It will guide you toward the health of the older Okinawans, a place the ancients hauntingly described as "a land of the immortals, a Shangri-La."

Wonderful Insight to Change Lifestyle and Live a Healthy Long Fulfilling Life.

as advertised

America isn't a very safe place to live.

I'm not talking about crime rates, but about death rates, or more specifically health expectancy rates, which is the length of time a person can expect to live in good health, living independently and productively with a sound mind and body.

The United States ranks 24th, dead last among all developed countries.

Why? What is so toxic about the American lifestyle?

Well, the old saying goes, if you want to spot a counterfeit, go study a genuine dollar bill.

Likewise, if you want to spot what's wrong with America, why not go study the healthiest people on Earth?

Well, that's what two brothers, one a physician and one an anthropologist, have been doing for the past decade in the islands of Okinawa, studying over 400 centenarians--people over 100 years old. And not decrepit, demented shells over 100 either-- people still living in their homes, gardening, walking to market daily, chatting with friends.

Why are they living so long? Why are their bodies on almost every biochemical measure 20 years younger or more than equivalent American bodies?

That's the subject of the book The Okinawa Program, and a fascinating read it is. The authors both try to describe the health and lifestyle of the Okinawan culture, try to explain what is healthy about it, and then how to incorporate it into our lifestyle.

The distinctives that the authors bring out chapter by chapter are a healthy primarily vegetarian diet, regular exercise, a low-pressure lifestyle, use of meditation and other forms of stress-reduction, a close supportive social network, and their "spirituality" which is mostly positive and optimistic in nature.

The book itself is well-written and documented as far as this genre goes. It's only downfall (also common to the genre) is tunnel-vision. The authors' enthusiasm for all things Okinawan rarely points out anything negative at all about the culture, to the point that you wonder how objective they really are. Beyond that, they often downplay the very tenuous nature of drawing conclusions about looking backwards and trying to figure out why things are a certain way-- you can use common sense and a little science to make a good guess that eating foods high in flavinoids may extend life, but limited science plus common sense has led us down the wrong path many a time before.

Another major point to be made is that these non-Christian authors cannot perceive the difference between mere religion (which they apparently believe is generically good for both its placebo like effect on the human body and possibly tapping into some generic higher power) vs. a genuine relationship with the genuine God.

Of course, this draws a rather brutal line in the sand for those of us who do name the name of Christ. If our lives have truly been touched by the living God, then why are we dying by the droves in our gluttony and physical laziness and frantically paced American lifestyles, while people who do not know the true God over the ocean are living lives which I suspect more closely model what Christ would have us live? Food for thought, and a worthwhile book to read and ponder.

Circus raised red headed and freckled Tommy Zane is fourteen years old when he begins to achieve his dream ambition, the year is 1944. The son of a circus lion tamer, he has little interest in continuing in his father's footsteps but is intent on being a flyer on the high trapeze. When twenty two year old Mario Santelli, youngest member of the Flying Santellis invites him to try out on the trapeze it is the beginnings of everything Tommy will ever live for.
The dark and handsome Mario is a hard task master and gives no quarter to his young student, but that does not prevent his young admirer idolising him; and when Mario discreetly seduces him he quietly submits. The two become inextricably entwined both in and out of the circus, and the story follows their fraught but devoted relationship and the trials they have to endure as lovers in a society intolerant of a man's love for another, not to mention the fact that Tommy is underage when the relationship begins.
Tommy is a delightful character, as a youngster he is pliant, dedicated and full of enthusiasm, and over the period of the tale we watch him become a man of character. As he is brought into the Flying Santellis act he is also lovingly accepted into the Santelli family. The Santelli family spans at least three generations, and we get to know the members of this proud and exclusive family very well. Mario is very different from Tommy; troubled, moody, often distant, and possessing a fiery temper; despite his frequent aggressiveness towards Tommy, he is unable to live without him.
This is without doubt a most beautiful story. That the relationship between Mario and Tommy will endure we are left in no doubt for the writer skilfully weaves into the fabric of the story how Tommy later looks back on events, but that by no means lessens the drama; for not only do we have all the ups and downs of their relationship and career, but we also have the added tension in the descriptions of the flying.
I must rate this amongst the very best books I have read. It took me a while to read, not because it is long, which it is at nearly 700 pages, but simply because I did not want to hurry it but wanted to truly savour every part of it; and then there were so many passages I simply had to re-read, especially Tommy's intimate dialogues with Mario and occasionally others, for they were so beautiful and moving. I cannot recommend this book too highly

i love this book. the characters are so real, the setting so tangible, the period so deftly evoked, that i have twice stayed up all night reading it. it has its flaws (a little melodrama, some awkward dialogue) but the whole package is so delicious that i don't mind them. if you haven't read it, you have something to look forward to!

Being a Darkover die hard MZB fan, I special ordered this in the 80s when it was first published. It is a shame it was so difficult to find -- if you didn't know about it, you'd be unlikely to find it in a bookstore. I am so glad I did know and so grateful for Ballantine for publishing what had to be a risky venture.

As much of a Darkover fan as I was, this rises about Darkover, even above Mist of Avalon to me, because it paints such a rare and wonderful picture of a circus family, of circus life and the families that make it up. There are very few books that paint such a rich picture, that take you so completely and absolutely into a life, a world, and a family and make you feel a part of it. All of them,Mario/Matt, Tommy, Papa Tony, Angelo, Lucia, Liss, Johnny, Tommy's parents, and the myriad performers in the circus -- it is as if they were real. The detail on flying is impressively researched. All the circus details make you feel you are a part of the circus backyard.

Though the novel is long and occasionally repetitive, I understand why it is so, and wouldn't see a word cut, indeed I wish it were longer. I wish she had written a sequel.

To think that she wrote this in 1948 boggles the mind. MZB is known for relationship writing, conventional and not, in depth and with meaning. The choices and consequences, the sacrifices, pitfalls and joys of all the relationships are intelligently explored with a perceptive hand.

It is a treasure well worth reading, that should be acquired, that shouldn't be missed. Sad that too many will miss this underreported gem. Don't be one of them.

This book is certainly one of the best books I have ever read -- and I have read it at least 3 times. Zimmer Bradley really did her homework. The atmosphere in the book is beautifully depicted. You can almost smell the circus. You are drawn into the story, unable to put the book down.
The love story between Tommy and Mario/Matt is essential, yet Zimmer Bradley manages to tell a gay love story in a way that appeals to everybody (who is without predjudices, that is of course). Longing, the difficulties of growing up, beauty, ambition, loss and sacrifices that need to be made mix together and really make you suffer and "live" with the characters.
I was 14 when I first read the book, and still now, at the age of 25, I love it.
The German translation is very good as well, by the way :-).

The people who are browsing through these reviews, wondering whether they will buy the Catch Trap, are very fortunate. They are very fortunate because they have yet to discover something that is very rare and very precious - a book that totally engulfs and captivates the attention of the reader. Only a very few books have done that to me - maybe half a dozen - and it happened mostly a long time ago, when I was about 15 to 20. With the Catch Trap, I felt that way again and for that, I am very grateful towards Marion Zimmer Bradley. So don't hesitate any longer - buy the Catch Trap and enjoy it.

One of the most comprehensive and detailed books ever written about North Korea. I found that while the book was great to read on its own, it helped to have the background knowledge of the development of the South behind you to really understand a lot of what has driven the North Koreans from potentially prosperous into a maddeningly disastrous state. Martin's obvious heartfelt interest for the North Koreans comes through with his writing, as does the fact that he really did his homework.

One thing of note is that if you're going to read the book in conjunction, read Cummings' "Koreas Place in the Sun", Obderdorfer's "The Two Koreas", and Becker's "Rogue Regime. While much of the information is similar, each offers smaller details that definitely added to the enjoyment of Martin's benchmark of a book for North Korea watchers.

This is the most comprehensive and insightful book about North Korea currently in the market. Martin has extensively researched and traveled the country. If you've been there, or you'd like to take a trip from the comfort of your armchair, Martin's book is the way to go.

I became interested in North Korea at the beginning of summer '08 and looked around amazon to find which book is the most highly regarded, well reviewed, popular and otherwise definitive. This one fit the bill.

After purchasing it from a local bookstore (I couldn't wait to have it shipped) I spent the entire summer reading it and regaling my family and friends with curious tales from North Korea. I won't repeat the book's summary--you can get that in other reviews. I'll just say that I came to this book with very little background about North Korea (as I imagine most Americans have) and came out with a pretty good understanding of the history and the current status of the Hermit kingdom. The book didn't exactly turn me into an expert on Korea but it did provide a very thorough background to North Korean history and current events.

One of the strongest points in favor of this book is that it is well written. The writing style is strikingly objective, engaging and coherent. I guess the decades that Martin has worked as a journalist have paid off. He treats the subject with fairness and compassion--not a rose-eyed, everything is fine, we're all the same blah blah blah approach but an approach that allows the reader to see a bit of the big picture and to understand where the sick horrific society of North Korea came from.

As Martin writes in the book on a number of occasions, part of what makes his study unique is his use of defector testimonies. Much of the book is devoted to individuals and their own personal stories. Through groupings of defectors with similar experiences, he describes North Korean society, piece by piece. Martin brings the arguments of those who criticize such an approach but the reader will invariably side with him--that defectors offer a unique, largely objective and invaluable viewpoint on the truth about what is and has been going on in North Korea.

As other reviewers have noted, the book is huge. It took me the whole summer to read but I was sad to finish it. It opened my eyes, not only to North Korea per se, but to humanity and what we can become--or be reduced to.

When one reads about North Korea, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. The leader cult is ridiculous to the outside world yet hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are being tortured and killed for making even the slightest hint of doubting its veracity. And the "good" North Koreans are left to starve.

(One point for those that have not and will not read the book: the famine that devastated the country was not an "act of God." Radical adherence to Kim Il Sung's farming techniques--stripping hillsides bare without terracing, trying to use fertilizer to farm where it is not really tenable--and utter refusal to cooperate with the outside world (Kim's juche ideology) brought about the crisis and prevented its resolution. Martin bases this claim on defectors who saw the effects directly as well as expert analysis.)

The country is weird but there is more to it than just that--I guess you'll have to read it to find out!

PS Like every review, I can't just say nice things about the book. Some chapters were too long, some observations inconsequential, some speculation not sufficiently backed up with argument and some sentences were just weird! But if any book can deserve 5 stars, this one does.

Mr. Martin's book is one of the most informative books on a country that I've ever read. His written is very informative, but does not overload you with so much information in one setting. He provides a great insight into the very private lives of the Kims. I reccommend this book to anyone who wants to gain a better insight into the Hermit Kingdom.

This book provides exceptional insight into the isolated country of North Korea. With his objective approach, Bradley combines factual data, interviews with North Koreans and descriptions of his own personal accounts to show the world a detailed look into this mysterious country. A must read!

Bradley spins a tale that can't possibly be true. Read on DC to London flight. Time would have been better spent sleeping. Don't waste your time--watch X Files!

Having just finished this latest offering from Mr. Bradley, I am moved to say here and now that he is a wunderkind of sorts. Insight and penmanship abound profusely across his pages.

2/25/2000 Worst Book I Have Read In A Very Long Time!!

I do not know what people are thinking when they give this book a positive review. I could hardly force myself to finish it and I wouldn't have if it wasn't this months book group selection. What terrible writing! Did this guy have an editor? If you like metaphysical fiction stick with Richard Bach or Mary Summer Rain or any number of authors who know how to write. I cannot express more strongly how much I hated this book. Very, very disappointing, but again it's Don Bradley writing this stuff. Bradley--why did you quickly depart Colorado?

The author has again succeeded in writing an epic novel that is at once both an exciting adventure story on a grand scale, as well as an unusually insightful teaching of high spiritual truths.

The story is set in the early part of the 1900s and is simply engrossing. While reading, I found within the pages of this hard-to-put-down book many simple yet profound lessons on practical living, along with the examples of how others have dealt with their spiritual path.

Esoteric history comes alive with vivid detail in this epic story, spanning countries and continents, and including secret teachers in India and magical espionage in Nazi Germany.

In today's market of new-age authors clamoring for recognition, Bradley's books clearly stand above the many. I believe this book will become one of those long sought-after classics of metaphysical literature that are so rare, even in today's climate of increasing spiritual thought.

I do not know what people are thinking when they give this book a positive review. I could hardly force myself to finish it and I wouldn't have if it wasn't this months book group selection. What terrible writing! Did this guy have an editor? If you like metaphysical fiction stick with Richard Bach or Mary Summer Rain or any number of authors who know how to write. I cannot express more strongly how much I hated this book.

The take over of Chrysler by Diamler-Benz was heralded as the "merger of equals". This merger was a joke that was really a buyout of an American icon. The story of the merger is one of intrigue on two continents and is told very well here. It is an interesting book and very well written. I highly recommend it for those who want to see what happened at Chrysler after Iacocca retired.

I don't know how Vlasic was able to get the information in this book. The conversations ring true to me and this story feels as if it really could have occurred the way Vlasic describes it. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. He is able to take a somewhat chaotic true story and assemble a story that flows smoothly yet also seems accurate. His ability to draw a picture of the characters is outstanding and they have proven quite prescient as time has passed.

Sometimes the reading gets boring in too many details, but the facts in this book are INCREDIBLE!
It shows that Juergen Schrempp never wanted to merge, but to buy, Bob Eaton was totally involved and everybody else was taken by surprise. Bob Eaton never actually ran the company, maybe that is why he sold it.

If you are looking to find out exactly how the Germans came in and stole Chrysler out from under its American leadership, this is the book for you. Superbly written and researched, the book is a page turner that kept me up till the early morning hours. I highly recommend it and hope that nothing like this ever happens again in corporate America. "Taken for a Ride" couldn't be a more fitting title.

In 2000, hot on the heels of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz, both of the Detroit Free Press, chronicled the merger and the run-up to it. Being from Detroit, lament pervades an otherwise riveting story full of intrigue from the Chrysler executives fending off raider/financier Kirk Kerkorian, through the unrelenting pace of the merger talks, and finally the aftermath where the former Chrysler executives started to roll over or jump ship.

At the book's core are the merger negotiations and the power struggle that followed. Starkly contrasted are the styles of Jurgen Schrempp, the awesome Daimler-Benz Chairman, and Bob Eaton, his diffident Chrysler counterpart. From the outset, Eaton is cast as a weakling who crumbles in the face of bigger personalities. The horrendous miscommunication between Eaton and Kerkorian on the eve of Kerkorian's acquisition announcement foreshadows Eaton's flaky approach to the negotiations with Daimler. Throughout the book, Eaton is portrayed as hapless and hopeless. An outsider, chosen as CEO because of a clash of egos that disqualified the vastly more talented Bob Lutz (now the septuagenarian Vice-Chairman of General Motors), he, by all the books accounts, failed to ever become part of Chrysler. Time and again, Eaton is shown to be a ditherer and a weakling - indeed he is reported to have broken down in front of hundreds of senior managers no fewer than three times.

Across the table from Eaton is Jurgen Schrempp, a big man with an insatiable appetite for action. Whether against internal Daimler rival Helmut Werner or at the table with Eaton, he comes off as a brilliant strategist with an unrelenting drive who lives for the big moments.

Irrespective of how the market will judge the merger, the book offers useful lessons for negotiators. The Americans proved the negotiator's adage that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The Daimler executives set their objectives and then prepared their strategy meticulously. Schrempp created alternatives to a negotiated solution, including the unlikely possibility of an alliance with the Ford Motor Company. At every step, by the Chrysler management team's own admission, they were out-prepared by as much as eighteen months.

The weakness of the book is the authors' undisguised disappointment with the "loss" of an American industrial icon. It is an absolute hatchet job on Eaton who cannot possibly be as pathetic as he is made out to be. After the merger, the German executives are cast as jealous bureaucrats defending their turf. It is hard to determine whether this is an accurate description or the ever-present regret of the authors.

I bought this book for my 14-year-old son, but needed something to take along with me to the doctor's office and got hooked. I have not read the "extended version", but this youth version is very good. In my opinion this book is about any 6 men who served in the Pacific Theater...I think the selection of any other random men could have brought to light similar stories. This is not to lessen or trivialize the struggles or heroism of the men whose stories are told in this book, but to reiterate what the author says, that "uncommon valor was a common virtue".

Anybody who has read about or has had relatives in the war knows about Iwo Jima. Many sadly get their "knowledge" from TV and or movies. However, the movie made from this book is not bad. Even though Hollywood took a little and made other marines experiences and stories part of the subjects of this book.

James Bradley did a great job with this book and succeeded in putting a human face on the men of the famous picture. Mr. Bradley has the "misfortune" of learning their father or grandfather did much more in the war then they let on. As in the authors case, finding his fathers Navy Cross after he died.

Another good aspect of the book is the picture of battle and the rather horrible deaths that many marines faced on Iwo. I would go as far to suggest it is one of the better battle stories I have read so far.

Iwo was a very nasty affair much more then the fabled "Sands of Iwo Jima" that many of us has seen at one time or another. At least Clint Eastwood's movie does a much better job about presenting what these men went through.

Mr. Bradley also does a good job trying to explain the mindset of the average Japanese soldier of the day. Iwo was the first Japanese soil invaded by the US. It was to be defended no matter what and General Kuribayashi created a brilliant defensive system. He also seemed to understand the American psychy as he decreed that each of his men was to attempt to kill 10 men before he dies. Kill enough American soldiers and the people will loose heart.

However, the Esprit De Cours of the Marines carried them through battle even with the slaughter that went on. Even a nurse once commented that the men she took treated were not beaten no matter how bad their wounds.

One thing that many people (until the movie) did not know was the fact fighting went on after the flag planting. The Marines would loose about 7000 dead with over 14000 wounded. Much higher figures then the blood bath that was Tarawa and the 5 months of Guadalcanal. Even of the flag planters, three would die.

One aspect I did not know about was the lives of the men after the war to where they were basically controlled the photograph for many years. Living with being called Heros when they didn't want to be called that.

This is a great book for any library!

As a teenager at this time I really didn't realize the depth of the struggle in the Pacific. This book really points out the reason for dropping the atomic bomb to end the war.

A fascinating look at a part of our history. It provides an in depth look at the American psyche and the how and why the US was so well served by the young people of that era. A glimpse of the real brutality of the Japanese and why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the ONLY options for defeating a fanatical army command that espoused no surrender.

It's hard to get my 16 year old son to read. He liked the book so much he now wants the movie.