Nicholson Books

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.

My boss, who teaches graduate studies at UMD where Professor Jashemski also taught for many years recommended her works to me because he knew I had a keen interest in herbal medicine as well as archeology. A POMPEIAN HERBAL was published in 1999, a few short years after THE GARDENS OF POMPEII, HERCULANEUM, AND THE VILLAS DESTROYED BY VESUVIUS, which Jashemski co-edited with Frederick Meyer -- and a masterpiece on this topic and era -- was published.

The Pompeii Herbal demonstrates that medicinal plants have been around thousands of years, and in use until modern petrochemical compounds came on the scene. Furthermore, when Jashemski was working at Pompeii, she discovered the locals around and near Pompeii continued to use medicinal plants noted by the Romans, demonstrating yet again that herbal medicine and homeopathic remedies in use to day are not new. The book includes an informative text about ancient Roman medicinal uses of plants, many lovely photos of the work site and micron photos of seeds, pollens, etc., as well as illustrations of the noted plants.

I discovered reading Jashemski's book that many of the plants used by the ancient Romans grow in my own back yard or in pots - under my care of course, as they are not native to my area: Artemesia, Calamintha nepeta (cat mint), Centranthus ruber, Citrus limon. Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel) and Petroselinum crispum (Parsley) to name a few.

Who is the young scion of a European noble house Shirley and her brother, Captain Claiborne, see haunting their Grand Tour? Is this the missing son of the Archduke of Austria? Why does he flee the villain in Geneva to the Virginia hills, if not to pursue the Ambassador's daughter? Why does the Serbian villain try to hold him hostage, and how does Count Von Stroebel figure in all this? Meredith Nicholson has done it again in the tradition of Scott and Dumas, Doyle and Malory. Why does the confidant of Bismarck-like statesman Von Stroebel own a ranch in Montana? In turn of the century Europe, why does a wealthy young man wield clues to the missing archduke, while leading the villains astray? Who is John Armitage, "the Englishman who is not an Englishman?" Is he a worse scoundrel than the villain Chauvenet, who affronts his host with offendingly vivid waistcoats, pilfering royal cigarette cases, or does he mean the poetic things his eyes say to Shirley, when they meet between scuffling with spies? I won't tell, even though I reread this book on a regular basis.

Here is the description from the back cover to help you decide if this book is for you: "The Tsar's mistress is what they called Lorna. But she was her own woman and she loved only one man. From colonial America to the dazzling court of St. James and the barbaric splendors of St. Petersburg, here are the riveting adventures of Lorna MacMahon, who was mistress and plaything to three monarchs. But what Lorna really wanted was to find the young Swedish lieutenant who once saved her life and from whome she first learned the meaning of love ..."

This book is a real treat for readers who wish to obtain an intimate glimpse into the customs, society, manners, and life of an upper middle class English family of the 15th Century.

The book presents a series of letters between various members of three generations of the Paston family, residents of the East Anglica area of England, principally Norfolk. The editor (Roger Virgoe) does a masterful job of weaving explanatory material, diagrams, and art work among the letters to make their contents
more meaningful to the modern reader.

The letters are presented in more or less chronological order and their contents reveal clearly the joys and trials of this family as they dealt with marriages, lawsuits, disease, and other relationships and concerns in many cases not unlike those we encounter in our own lives today.

The letters vividly convey an impression of the diversity of peoples and customs of Eastern England in Late Medieval times. The book is eminently readable and can be thoroughly enjoyed by either the casual layman reader or medieval historian.

This is an excellent book for anyone with even a passing interest in Sherlock Holmes. It's a series of essays-- more like discussions, or tributes-- and a few useful lists, with photogrpahs, drawings, and a nice short pastiche (written with as much skill that it might have been written by Watson himself.)
It's currently out of print, but you can easily buy a copy from one of the sellers here on Amazon.[com.] I can't vouch for the harback or first edition copies, but the paperback from 1977 is usually surprisingly [low cost]. Really, you're getting more than your money's worth. The writing is charming and smart. I would say this is a necessary addition to any Sherlockian home library.

I am especially fond of this book because my mother-in-law tells her story as a 6 year old child living in Pearl Harbor and recounts her memories of the bombing. The inclusion of these "personal" accounts of war makes you consider things that you may not have considered before... like a mother trying to maintain her composure while her husband leaves for duty all the while keeping small children quiet, safe, and in complete darkness at night... As children, they have memories that they did not totally understand until they were adults and pieced the pieces together of what had happened. There are many other personal accounts of the tragedies of WWII and the book includes many personal photos, maps, and a war timeline that describes the events that took place. The timeline would be an especially useful source for youth preparing a school presentation or project about WWII.

It is not a long, excessively detailed book (only 61 pages) but is perfect for youth and provides an understanding that they can relate to since the stories told are told by adults who experienced the events as children. As an adult, I, too have enjoyed this book very much, as well as my kids (elementary and middle school ages).

This book is more popularly known as "Kashful Mahjub", and sometimes has been titled in English as Unveiling of the veil (the literal translation of the title).

It is an excellent book on Sufism, and can be in fact said to be a Textbook for the spiritual wayfarer, or Sufi traveller.

It cuts across all boundaries and applies to all levels and orders of Sufism. Non-Sufis can also benefit from this book, as there are many gems of wisdom and spiritual insights to be gained.

This is one of many recent translations of the book, but if you can get the version translated by Wahid Bakhsh Rabbani, it is the best version I have read, since it comes with a commentary and explanation of the difficult passages of the book, and has been translated by a contemporary Sufi -- and is in my mind the easiest and most beautiful version in English.

The road to the stars is a wonderful book which disscusses several important points to keep in mind when thinking about living in space. Some of these points include: faster than light travel, surviving long voyages and setting up a coloney when you got there. Unfurtunatly I have lost my copy of this brilliant book which makes me feel quite sad :-(