Hart Books

The book is well documented, which is good, we don't have to just take the authors word for what is stated. The book is just short of 100 pages, so it doesn't take too long to read it, yet has enought information to discribe the subject and shed a little light on it. I found it interesting and thought provoking. I would suggest it for anyone that hasn't already set their opinions in concrete.

Desiring to better understand my Christian religion I purchased this book and found it better than other theology books. Dr. Hart's ability to translate complex theological issues into something that is understandable is helpful. I also enjoy how he connects modern day and historical church figures with various theological belief systems. The book is well written and would be enjoyed and benificial for those who are novices or those who are theological trained. John B

What an incredible collection. A must for any pathologist.

This is an outstanding reference book. A must for any medical reference library

Pollard and Toye are back in harness. This is a good old fashioned British, small village mystery. The characters are well drawn, and even though it is obvious very soon who the "villans" are, how and why they are villans comes as a complete suprise. I did not get the conection until it was spelled out for me in the last chapter. The ending, I will not reveal here how it comes about, is a writers gem. A really good escapist, intelligent mystery.

This book successfully pulls off the difficult trick of being both a serious scholarly text and an enormously engaging introduction to the history and architecture of Crusader castles for the lay reader. The book is an obvious labor of love, which helps to account for its great charm. You first get a sense of this on the dedication page - "For Xana, with love, to remind her of Syrian days" - whereby Kennedy expresses his appreciation for his daughter's companionship on his rovings around Syria. (In his "Acknowledgements," he also credits his daughter with persuading him "to complete the climb to Bourzey when the spirit was willing but the flesh was getting a bit weak.")

If you needed any further confirmation that Kennedy is a scholar with a puckish sense of humor and a droll wit, you get it at the beginning of his "Note on Names," where he wryly observes that, "Like the naming of cats, the naming of Crusader castles is a complicated problem." Kennedy's writing voice conjures to mind images of a cozy library in some great English country house, where your host relaxes in a satin smoking jacket while both of you swirl brandy in your snifters and discourse about the comparative merits of crumbling castles on the western fringes of Asia. The book's first chapter - a survey of the development of Crusader castle studies from the mid-nineteenth century to the present - beautifully encapsulates Kennedy's discursive style and story-telling skills. "[Emmanuel Guillaume] Rey's life is something of a mystery," he muses, and you want to lean forward from your chair on the opposite side of the fireplace and say, "Tell me more." And he does, with an notable eye for the memorable quote, such as T.E. Lawrence's ironic complaint, while traveling around the Levant in 1909, that he was unable to reach Amman owing to "the unthinking activity of some local Bedawin in tearing up the Hejaz railway."

In form, the book consists of a generally chronological survey of the development of the Crusader castle, with individual chapters on siege warfare and the special features of (respectively) the castles of Templars, Teutonic knights, Hospitallers, and the Muslim princes. Another sign of Kennedy's passionate engagement with this project is the fact that he took all of the 90-some color and black-and-white photographs that illustrate the book himself. (There are also another two dozen plans, sketches, and prints illustrating the text.)

The photographs, together with Kennedy's text, cover not only the well-known structures like Krak des Chevaliers, Belvoir, Saone, and Montfort, but will also introduce you to a fascinating collection of lesser-known castles. Among these are the great Hospitaller citadel of Marqat, near the Syrian coast; the two castles overlooking ancient Petra; and - most curious of all - the cave-castle of al-Halbis Jaldak overlooking the Yarmuk River valley, the subject of a siege memorably described by the twelfth-century historian William of Tyre (which Kennedy helpfully quotes in its entirety). Kennedy's enthusiasm also extends to the humbler fortified towers of the lesser Latin nobility.

Kennedy's secret is plainly that he is both a scholar and a romantic - as anyone who wishes to write effectively about the Crusades should probably be. Let me close this review by quoting his own explanation for his enterprise in producing this book:

"There is something fascinating and frequently moving about forlorn and failed enterprises, those `old, forgotten far-off things and battles long ago,' however perverse they may now seem. It is impossible for me to stand on the windswept battlements of Crac des Cevaliers, climb to the remote crags of the fortress overlooking Petra or explore the magical stillness of the deserted valley by Bourzey, without feeling a potent mixture of admiration and nostalgia which breathes excitement and emotional commitment into scholarship."

This book can be enthusiastically recommended to history buffs and armchair travelers, as well as to those with a more scholarly basis for their interest.

I teach Spanish to preschoolers, and typically do not own or recommend bilingual books (too easy to translate). I'm willing to overlook that 'flaw' on this series (camiones, choches and aviones by Simon Hart). The drawings are excellent. My 2 year old son loves these books. Although I am fluent in Spanish, I must admit I had no idea how to say tow truck or dump truck in Spanish, so know I know, and so does my son! I plan to buy more copies of these books for each of my preschool students to take home (ages 2-3).

i guess I am slightly biased as i am Joanna Hart sister to Victoria and younger daughter to elizabeth and Alan Hart.

I was only able to bring myself to read my mum's book 4yrs ago as it was and still is a very painful subject to me.

I felt that my mother described perfectly our childhood through this traumatic time and am very proud of her achievement. I know how difficult it was for her to write about a subject that is so close to all our hearts.

My sister was a real fighter and she never gave up hope, she had a tireless spirit and such an enthusiasm for life that she made us all realise how little time we all have to live.

I certainly would recommend reading this book as it makes you appreciate life and not take anything for granted.

I miss my sister desperatley but her spirit lives on in my heart and in this book.

Thank you for your time

joanna Hart

Some of the nicest features of Cynthia Hart's Victorian Calendar are the quality of the artwork and the diversity of the pictures that, nonetheless, blend in perfectly with the main theme, adding uniqueness to each scene and to the calendar on the whole. Some pictures are true works of art, beautiful enough to enhance any wall, other pictures are well-interspersed collages of themes appropriate for the specific month. However, in addition to all these qualities, to the feast for the eyes, what attracts me the most about her calendars is that they take me back to my childhood and evoke fond memories. Placed in my workstation, my mind's eye is decorated with sweet reminisces that my mind uses to decorate the present with memorable thoughts of the past.

In the developed world, the great battles over sexual discrimination have been won by the feminists, as the 20th century ended. The suffragettes of the 19th and 20th centuries did not strive in vain. Where elections are held, women can vote, and at the same starting age as men. Contraception and abortion are mostly accessible. Women can exist as legal entities, not just as adjuncts of their spouses.

Overt barriers to women have been abolished. Surely feminists can declare the game over? Well not quite. And this is really what the book is about. It has papers from a conference at Cambridge, Britain, with researchers from political science, philosophy and law. The mood seems to be of a field uncertain of its direction. Issues of pay inequity still persist in every country and most professions. At the managerial level, men still vastly outnumber women. Thus too in parliaments. In some contexts, like pregnancy, women might not have full legal status, on a par with men.

How to redress these? The issues lack the rallying clarity of (say) a denial of suffrage, and thusly too there is a lack of consensus on possible solutions. In that, the book seems a good representative of current feminist thought.