Nicholson Books

This is the first book of Edna O'Brien's that I've read. She is now, obviously, the flavor of the month, so I thought I'd take this book off my shelves where it has been gathering dust for years. Obviously, O'Brien is influenced by James Joyce, but her poetic language is all her own and beautiful it is. One of the stories, though, actually put me in mind of William Faulkner, another writer who can delve mysteriously into the hearts of his characters. All these stories are heartbreaking and charmingly funny and all too real. The characters are living, breathing human beings. I recommend this book highly and hope it is back in print very soon.

David Nicholson is one of the nation's leading authorities on combining media with effective classroom instructional strategies. His clever and witty delivery combined with his theoretical knowledge of this important topic with assist classroom teachers with the integration of media into their classroom repertoire. As an educator, I highly recommend that you read Nicholson's article.

If you have ever heard of this tragedy, or even if you haven't, you should read this detailed account of the murders that took place in 1988, in North Carolina. I remember it, and I also remember the way the media covered up for the politicians and law enforcement; the way the law botched up what could have been prevented; so much of the details never were published. This author, thru many years of research for the truth, delivers it here in this book. The information here can be trusted as being the truth. You see, the author's son was a victim. To have written this account in an unbiased account, thru the pain and anquish that was associated with this case, took someone that truly wanted the world to know the truth. I highly recommend this book; also available on the website of the same name.

Whittall starts with the basic premise that the Wagnerian era, being over, was replaced by two basic schools, that of Schoenburg, Berg, and Webern, and Tonalists such as Stravinsky, Bartok, Sibelius, Nielson, and other mid century symphonists. His approach is to treat these composers as the pivotal characters spanning the very important years between the beginning of post romantic disillusionment and the more modern era.

He treats music after this point in a more brief fashion. Picking seven composer, (amongst them Berio, Stockhausen, Messaien and Xenakis) he discusses them not as the originators of specific schools of thought, but examples of highly individual exponents of very recently developed art. From this point of view, his treatment is highly effective, albeit somewhat brief.

What might be missing now, from the perspective of the passage of about twenty years since this book was originally published, is the inevitable acknowledgement that in fact several major identifiable contemporary movements now exist, and probably merit the sort of treatment in the first section of the book devoted to the giants. Mr Whitalls selection of modern composers shows tremendous foresight - these individuals have indeed become very important, almost as pivotal as the earlier generation of composers documented.

The book is absolutely exemplary in its detail and objective documentation of a very complex and often hard to research subject. I read this when I was 17 and gained an incalculable amount from it.

This book is a must for anyone interested in spiritual tradition. It shows that Islam Suffis have come to conclusions similar to those in famous Taoist Yoga and in the Kabbalah. Please read the book more than once - it deserves it !

I find the book not only informative about the history of the balkans, but it also provides a breathtaking account of the hardships vivited upon the Bosnian people cruelity that was visisted upon Bosnia and its children thanks to the ethnic cleasnisng project engineered and conducted by Serb nationalists. Indeed, Mr Nicholson is not only a good story teller, but he is a jouralist whose account of the Bosnian war is filled with depth, compassion and courage. I have read this book over and over again, and it is simply difficult to put down. I recommened it to students of the balkan history and those who want to follow a career in journalism and creative writing. Welcome to sarajevo is a masterpiece!!!

This is an excellent guide to London. I found it to be helpful, interesting and entertaining.

The title of this book may lead people to believe that it is a dry catalogue of mostly unimpressive historical sites around Britain, when nothing could be further than the truth!

Brian Bailey is eminently knowledgable of the subject matter, and by turns witty, wise, reverent, and irreverent (at one point, he quotes a poem William Wordsworth wrote on one of the ruins, and comments, "If Wordsworth ever wrote a worse poem I haven't heard it"). He brings the history to life, accurately but not without romance. Ascetic holy men set up small huts in the wilderness, and over time lose their humbleness, building mighty monasteries which dissolve into licensiousness and are stripped of their power. Wealthy families war and squabble, their sons disappointing their fathers. The house is burned to the ground by carelessness or revenge.

If you are at all interested in ruins, history, and/or castles and monasteries, this book is a priceless resource. Bailey is a great storyteller matched with an encyclopedic knowledge of place. It's not exactly a picture book (most of the photos are medium to small-sized, and usually black and white) but it is very informative and anything but dull.

4 stars because the pictures could be a little bigger/more artistic, but really, that's nitpicking. 5 stars in my own heart. :)

This is an extraordinary account by an extraordinary British Patriot, who played what he himself called a dangerous confidence trick, to learn in advance of World War II, Hitler's exact (at first secret, but by 1935 increasingly open) plans to rebuild Germany's Luftwaffe.

As a flying ace in World War I, Winterbotham's rickety set up was quickly shot down on July 13, 1917 and he was held prisoner by the Germans for the duration. This gave him a bit of German language, but more importantly, useful insights into German regional characteristics that later came in very handy.

Originally, he thought information collected on frequent trips to Berlin from 1934 through 1939 were "sufficiently bizarre to convince even the most skeptical and unimaginative politician that the details were genuine."

But these were insufficient to surmount the vagaries of politics, democratic elections and public opinion.

With help from Baron William de Ropp, Winterbotham obtained meetings with Alfred Rosenberg, Hermann Goering, Hitler himself, General Walther van Reichenau, many others--and hundreds of details, complete with dozens of photographs from 'Hitler's bible,' 'GEHEIM' (top-secret), multi-volume war plan--including "The Establishment of Flying Schools" and lists of their locations across Europe.

"Obviously you cannot persuade people to take suitable precautions against new strategic warfare methods unless, in the first place, you have convinced them of the dangers," Winterbotham observed in 1978, when this book was published. Of course, Britain made much good use of the information Winterbotham collected.

But even a conservative, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, in May 1935 pretended not to know details of Hitler's rearmament, which if he'd made them public, could have prevented World War II, or shortened it by years and forestalled 10s of millions of needless deaths.

It was political expedience alone that prevented Baldwin from acting--and when he finally admitted in November 1936 he had not taken German rearmament seriously enough, it was too late to do as much as he could even a year earlier.

It is political expedience alone, today too, preventing most politicians from acting to sufficiently protect Western civilization from the latest global threat.

All U.S. presidential and other candidates should read this book, and be forewarned. History repeats itself, all too frequently. And denying facts, uncomfortable though they may be, is never a good idea. The electorate does not forgive such errors--as Baldwin would readily have admitted later on.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

FINALLY a new book that discusses the myths about the early Christian church in a well researched and impartial way. So many believers do not even know what it is they are believing that it was refreshing to find a scholar who took the time to straighten many issues out. Religion truely is a matter of faith rather than facts, and always has been.