Nicholson Books

How does a young English woman experience her new life in Iraq? In 1953, Susan meets the love of her life. His name is Azziz and he is an Iraqi student in England. They fall in love, marry and have a son named John. Iraq is under British rule, and just some few months before Azziz has finished his studies, the British orders him back to Baghdad. Susan writes that this is because the members of the old colonial rule want to keep their good jobs and all that comes with them.

Susan's arrival in Iraq is a shock, and her meeting with her new in-laws an even bigger one. Many don't like her because she is a foreigner and of Christian faith. I guess many married women have experienced clashes and disagreements with their mother-in-laws and other female members of their husband's family, but I believe very few have experienced that any of them have tried to kill them. That is what happens to Susan. One of the older women tries to poison her, and only a good female Iraqi doctor manages to save her. The elderly woman is never sued, but Azziz and Susan decides it is time to move to another home.

Susan also writes about her horror when she sees a man just takes up his robe and urinates up a wall in the city; his bare bottom for everyone to see. When she calls out to her husband, he reprimands her not to look. And even though Susan praises her own husband as a good hearted and kind man, she tells that she sees many women who are beaten by their husbands.

Susan spends 40 years in Iraq. She writes about a society where foreigners are hated and despised. The political terror is increasing, while Saddam Hussein pulls his country into the Iraq-Iran war and Gulf War I. Still, she becomes fond of Iraq.

During Gulf War I her family has to escape, and they drive into the "killing fields" of Kurdistan. In the end her family has no petrol for their car and no food to eat. It is very cold in the mountains in Northern Iraq (which is where the Kurds live). Many mothers see their children die.

One of her sons, Peter, is an Iraqi soldier, and he is afraid that Saddam Hussein is going to execute him as a deserter. He tells his mother about his fears, and they are both relieved when they are told that all deserters are pardoned.

Susan has one big advantage, and that is her British citizenship. She is allowed to return to her home of origin, and later on her husband is allowed to join her.

Susan Francis experienced a lot during her 40 years in Iraq, both good and bad. She writes that she misses Iraq. Her family; children and grandchildren are there, and since she was just over 20, it is where she has spent most of her life. And despite all the troubled times, Iraq has become home.

I enjoyed this book, and it was very interesting to read Susan's story.

When Judith Miller's classic was published, I'll admit I had other things pressing besides the Holocaust.

However, this book is a classic, and should be read by anyone interested in the Holocaust, Shoah, SS, World War II, Jewish history and culture. It documents, country by country, complicity of many nations besides Germany and the Third Reich in the Holocaust. It is well documented and not difficult reading.

I went back to Ms. Miller's book after seeing an exhibition in Berlin at the German History Museum entitled "Myths of the Nations"--that is, the myths developed in many of these countries of ways in which they supposedly helped Jews, or did not participate in the Holocaust. In other words, 60 years after the end of World War II, the Holocaust is not an historical issue, it has currency--not only for the Jewish victims, but also for the political prisoners, POWs sent to slave labor camps (see, e.g., the PBS Documentary "Berga").

This book is as hot today as it was the day it was published--and I highly recommend it for the reasons above.

At last I understand some of the historical background to the Middle East and the problems of Jewish-Arab relations, as well as the background to the terrorist groups and outrages blighting the world today. A clear and fascinating account which brings order to a subject which otherwise would be confusing and difficult: a book which is also both quickly and enjoyably read.

For me it was easy as I am already fascinated by English history, architecture and the land. This book is wonderful! It has breathtaking color photographs of such variety it truly captures the rugged, changing and multiple landscapes of a gorgeous country. This would be a perfect book for your coffee table. The photographs are of high quality and clarity and the authors do a wonderful job of evoking all kinds of emotions from the lonely, dark feelings of northern Yorkshire to the jubilant colorful lifeforce of the coastal towns of southern England. The sheer chalk cliffs of the southeast of England are perfectly captured. Ample justice is made to capturing all that this wonderful country has to offer from the cold to the warm weather, the wet to the even more wet! Light and dark combine to produce a powerful visual image that makes this book one to keep for a rainy day to look at and fall into a dreamlike state. I loved every page!

This book covers a highly neglected topic, that is the German Panzer divisions of WW2. The author is a well respected lecturer at the military academy of Sandhurst, England. At 142 pages divided into 8 chapters, it covers everything you would want to learn about these fascinating & deadly units. From their origins in the 1920's; the problems of developing the most effective tanks; the hostility shown them by other units: & the history of their campaigns are all given ample attention. It is also illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs, some in color.

The Chapters are 1-"The Panzer Pioneers, 2-The Birth Of The Panzers, 3-Blitzkrieg, 1940 4-Operation Barbarossa, 5- Desert Warfare, 6-Stalingrad, 7-The Hermann Goering Division, 8-Defeat. The last 5 chapters were the most intruiging. The difficulties of weather, terrain, & trying to replace lost front line troops was a hopeless task. Although they were fighting for a lunatic with a Satanic ideology, one learns to have admiration for these men who fought in unspeakable conditions with often incompetant leaders & Intelligence gathering. The fact that they were usually fighting far greater numbers of opponents made their triumphs that much more impressive.

Peter Cushing is funny, frank and fascinating in the 2nd volume of his autobiography. Focusing almost exclusively on his life in the movies, his reminiscenses range from working as deranged scientists to Sherlock Holmes. Best remembered for his work with Hammer Studios and Christopher Lee this book will delight all those who have a soft spot for gothic horror and this late, great actor.

This work contains writings of one of the most brilliant spokesman for the Jewish people in modern times. His masterful presentation in the Toynbee debate is perhaps the highlight of this. Unfortunately Herzog a person of tremendous promise passed away when relatively young.

I have found this book very useful in establising, through assessment, what the child needs to learn to improve their reading skills and in providing user friendly steps to implement a programme based on the assessment findings. I did however, find that I prefered to use my own informal reading inventory rather than the one pubalished in this text.

One of America's finest court reporters takes readers behind the scenes to one of the longest running federal court criminal trial - The Pizza Connection. And then takes us on a fascinating journey through lawyers, money, drugs, mafia. An epic courtroom struggle written as a dazzling narrative. The famous players with the"invisible maestro" of the entire prosecution? None other than Rudy Giuliani - now the hero of 9/11 but then the 39 year-od US Attorney who led the entire prosecution. And the Mafia, the FBi undercover agents, capos, and so it goes - with implications for the White House and the power heavies. As fresh a subject in 1988 as it is now. A great, important read.

Poetry for the Unforgiven is a stark realization in poetic and prosaic form of the on-going political crisis in the United States.