Peter Books

"During my whole life, I have not found a happier hunting ground than that in the course of the Somme River." That famous sentence begins the chapter on the Battle of the Somme in Manfred Von Richtofen's autobiography, The Red Baron, first published in 1917 and available in a reprint by Pen & Sword with additional new material. In this edition, Norman Franks summarizes Richtofen's air battles and gives us a fine summary of the life of Richtofen. N. H. Hauprich presents a list of the aircraft flown by Richtofen.

That this work is of historical value cannot be denied. It is, after all, the autobiography of one of the truly great flying aces of World War I. That it is a fascinating portrayal of a gentleman officer in a world long gone cannot be denied. That it is a very entertaining read cannot be denied.

And yet, to the modern reader there is something uncomfortable in Richtofen's describing combat in such a way as to read like the adventure books for boys so popular in his time: "I advised him to fly around the smoke cloud. Holck did not intend to do this. On the contrary. The greater the danger, the more the thing attracted him. Therefore straight through! I enjoyed it too to be together with such a daring fellow."

Richtofen died young, of course, and he died in a fight in the Valley of the Somme, his happy hunting ground. We are not likely to see his type again, and that may not be a bad thing.

--David Lang at Advance Book Reviews

I saw a biography about the Red Baron on tv and thought that he had an exciting life so I wanted to read his book that way I could read about it straight from the person that lived these events. The book is fairly short and you could easily read through it very fast without any trouble. He writes about his childhood,entering the cavalry and the war, then how he became a piolet and the rest of the book talks about his many victories as the best fighter piolet. There are a bunch of black and white pictures of the Baron, other German aces and a few planes. There is also a list of all his victims including the plane type, date, times and piolets and there is also a list of the planes he flew and which victims he shot down in which plane.

I liked the book because it's an easy read, it has some funny parts and exciting moments and in a way you get a feel for the man himself. However there are some things I didn't like such as he doesn't go into much detail through the book it's like he just breezes through some of his fights in a few sentences or so which kind of makes it anti climatic. One example is how his brother just shows up out of nowhere and is fighting along side him and not much is said about him. I'm also sure that there was some propaganda thrown in since this book was released during the war. I bet he would have wrote a far better book after the war had he lived but as we all know he was shot down.

This isn't the book to read if you want to know everything about the Red Baron but if you want to read what he experienced first hand then get this autobiography because it's a good read and it's coming straight from the horses mouth that.

I wonder if some of the fatherland stuff was added by one of the Kaiser's goons. This guy is a wild boar hunting nutcase. A great book if you wonder why Germany keeps starting wars.

This is a fantastic autobiography, because Von Richthofen was an amazing person. Very real (he devotes as much attention to his cousin and him climbing the spire of the local church, as he does to some of his aerial battles), full of good-natured humor and a zest for life. I particularly loved how the early fighter pilots were known as "Knights of the Sky", and kept to the chivalric code, including following downed pilots to ensure that they were all right.

Great book! Great photos and an amazing life told by The Red Baron himself (translated into English, of course!).

Yes, I'm biased. Despite my connection with the authors, I truly promise a fine read. It took me a little over one year to finally finish the book because of my emotional connection. It's really tough to relive some of the most difficult moments of my life. I guess you did your job--reader pathos. Awesomely done, Dad & Krissy!

This book is fabulous. A great introduction to the art and science of paleontology which is easy to follow and reads very warmly. It also tells the maddening story of a justice system gone absolutely berzerk. It is a fascinating example of how a handful of horrible judges, attorneys, agents, and other ne'er-do-wells can ruin lives. It really makes you shake you head in disbelief that this could have possibly happened in OUR country only a few years ago.

"Rex Appeal" is the amazing story of one of the most significant fossil discoveries in the last fifty years. The story of "Sue" the fossil Tyrannosaurus Rex discovered by Peter Larson's associate Susan Hendrickson spins a web of intrigue from the moment the dinosaur's bones are discovered. With splashy headlines and national press coverage "Sue" becomes the darling of science, then the bane of Larson.
The landowner from whom the fossil was "bought" cries foul. Maurice Williams who is one eighth Lakota Sioux had put his land in trust with the United States Government. When Williams realizes the fossil may be worth many multiples of the $5000 he was paid for its excavation, the United States Government gets involved and when that happens it makes an IRS audit look like a toddler's birthday party.
The problem for Larson is that he is not strictly a scientist, but has established a for-profit organization called the Black Hills Institute. Not to say that Larson has nothing to contribute scientifically to the study of dinosaurs. His science is outstanding by current standards. But, the government suspects that Larson has nefarious intentions and pursues him with the fury of, well, of a pissed off T.Rex.
"Sue" is seized by the FBI and the South Dakota National Guard and the ensuing legal battle is extremely one-sided, according to Larson of course. He is confronted with an over-zealous prosecutor and a biased judge. Without hearing the other side of the story it's impossible to pass judgement on the veracity of the case against Larson. But it is safe to say that the judge in the case certainly defied all logic when he declared "Sue" real estate. 65 million year old bones hardly qualify as real estate, especially if the landowner was paid a handsome sum for their retrieval.
In the end Larson winds up in prison for nearly two years, his marriage to co-author Kristin Donnan dissolves, and his Institute is nearly bankrupt. Somehow Larson manages to emerge at the other end of the tunnel a changed man. He still pursues fossils with vigor after learning what many who have gone before him could have told him, "you can't fight City Hall".
The only criticism of the book is the complete lack of any intimations about Larson's relationship with co-author and ex-wife Kristin Donnan. Donnan is a free-lance writer who covers the "Sue" story and eventually falls in love with, and marries Larson. There is nothing in the book about their affairs. Whether that is intentional or not it would have at least contributed something to the story and clarified some of the events.
In all the book is highly recommended. Larson's theories about T.Rex and other issues related to dinosaurs are well thought out and informative. This book is a must for all us amateur paleontologists who can't get off our couches to go out west to do a little digging ourselves.

This is not just another dinosaur book. It is not just another dinosaur book with some fascinating facts about T-rex. This is THE book about T-rex by one of the foremost authorities on this bad boy of the Cretaceous.

Peter Larson's intimate knowledge of this beast comes from excruciatingly hard-earned experience. While it is a recounting of the nightmare saga surrounding the Sue specimen, it is also a manifest of the current thinking regarding T-rex, its lifestyle, and place in prehistory. Despite his own grievous experiences with the legal system, there is no self-pity in Mr. Larson's book. He simply states the facts as he knows them to be, as any researcher worth his salt should.

An A+ all the way.

I found reading Rex Appeal to be highly entertaining and informative book. I learned quite a bit about the people who dig dinosaurs and about the T-Rex itself. The author's legal problems smack with pure malice by the justice department. I wondered why such a thing was allowed to go as far as it did. Highly readable book, it revealed the world of paleontology and its rewards and risks. I wonder if Judge Battey can look in his mirror and see a honest man?

I was intrigued and amused to see another reviewer say her children were obsessed with "Scranimals" -- because that's the same reaction we got with our kid!

Jack Prelutsky evidently knows the secret of how to captivate children, especially when teamed up with illustrators like Peter Sis. Nearly every Prelutsky book that enters our home gets the same treatment: fascination, amusement, and above all, lots of reading and re-reading.

One might say that this is not Prelutsky's most ingenious work, since it's basically a single concept stretched out into a series of variations, not all of which are equally clever. But there's more to it than that. The illustrations are compelling and fun. And much of the poetry is more highly-crafted than one might expect, given the silly first impression the book makes.

A great example is the description of the "Bananaconda" (that word alone always makes ME laugh!) in which the author slathers syballant syllables in silly sequences. I took the opportunity to point out to our first-grader how a poet describes things differently than other kinds of writers.

I then read it aloud to demonstrate that point, sssimply by exsstending each of the esses on the page. At that point, most kids can make the connection between the sound of the words, and their understanding of "S" as the sound made by a snake -- something many of them learn in preschool, if not earlier.

And of course those words were written ABOUT a snake. For a kid to learn that words can have multiple layers of meaning, and to learn that concept at such an early age... well, that's really something. And Prelutsky is one of the best at delivering that kind of depth, even when combined with utter silliness.

In short, Scranimals is definitely a worthy addition to any child's collection, at nearly any age.

During the story a boy and a girl went on a trip the Scranimal Island. They saw a lot of animals such as the RHINOCEROSE, a group SPINACHICKENS, a caravan of CAMELBERTA PEACHES, a lonely POTATOAD, one CARDINALBACORE, couple of HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS, talkative PARROTTERS, a sweet PORCUPINEAPPLE, fierce BROCCOLIONS, a nimble ANTELOPETUNIA, an unsuccessful STORMY PETRELEPHANT, content TOUCANEMONES, then the vicious RADISHARK, a yellow BANANACONDA, the fast OSTRICHEETAH, a shy PANADAFFODIL, and the playful MANGORILLA and his friend the ORANGUTANGERINE. The extinct AVOCADODO wasn't smart, strong, or fast, it is no wonder you are extinct.
This book is my favorite picture book because all the animals were mixed up. The craziest animal was the PORCUPINEAPPLE because it was cute and the poem was funny.

My daughter says: "This book is lovely and funny" ... "it makes me smile because it is fun. I love reading this book with my mum."

This book is anything but traditional. Scranimals by Jack Prelutsky is a book that allows its readers to be silly. A book of poetry that describes different mythical creatures that live on "Scranimal Island". I think this book is especially good for the present day kid because a child is constantly forced to conform in everyday life; conform to rules, chores, school work, etc. This book goes outside the box and challenges there imaginations with animals that are clearly a fantasy, but they enter this world of make believe and can leave the compliance behind.

During the story a boy and a girl went on a trip the Scranimal Island. They saw a lot of animals such as the RHINOCEROSE, a group SPINACHICKENS, a caravan of CAMELBERTA PEACHES, a lonely POTATOAD, one CARDINALBACORE, couple of HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS, talkative PARROTTERS, a sweet PORCUPINEAPPLE, fierce BROCCOLIONS, a nimble ANTELOPETUNIA, an unsuccessful STORMY PETRELEPHANT, content TOUCANEMONES, then the vicious RADISHARK, a yellow BANANACONDA, the fast OSTRICHEETAH, a shy PANADAFFODIL, and the playful MANGORILLA and his friend the ORANGUTANGERINE. The extinct AVOCADODO wasn't smart, strong, or fast, it is no wonder you are extinct.
This book is my favorite picture book because all the animals were mixed up. The craziest animal was the PORCUPINEAPPLE because it was cute and the poem was funny.

This is a very readable, engaging, and concise look at the U.S. Civil war by Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956). This book first arrived in 1935, but don't worry about its antiquity. This is an excellent account of that tragic conflict, and you should enjoy it whether you are a Civil War buff or one with only a casual interest. Pratt concentrates heavily on the major battles and events, and tells the story of this bloody conflict in concise and readable detail. As one who has read superb in-depth accounts of specific campaigns or occurences by James McPherson and Bruce Catton, I'd recommend these two excellent authors for indepth reading. For a solid, concise, general history, Pratt has the ticket.

Where I thought the book was really outstanding was in the occasional observations about the big picture that the author threw in occasionally. For example, this is the first book where I have read that the North's oft cited advantage in men and machines at the start of the war was not as great as most claim. Also interesting was the observation that it was the battle at Chickamauga that was more important than Gettysburg. Agree or disagree, I really liked these observations when they happened.

What disappointed me was that the battles were dealt with in such a cursory way that they were hard to follow. Probably a necessity when dealing with the entire war in 480 pages. But Gettysburg, for example, took only about 15 pages. It was hard to get a sense of the drama and the personalities involved. Little was mentioned of Stuart's disappearance and late arrival to the battle or of Chamberlains desperate defense and repulse. Also, there were few dates given in the book. If you are already knowledgeable about the Civil War, this may not matter, but if not, it could be a problem... especially since the author sometimes follows one campaign to it's conclusion then backtracks in time to pick up the thread of another campaign.

This book's value, to me, came in those moments where the author put aside simply recounting events and offered up some insights into the bigger picture. I'd recommend this book most to people who know a bit about the war already but want to get some new insights.

I have the new edition of this book, I bought it soon as I saw it sitting on a store shelf, despite already having 5 or 6 copies of the old pocketbook sized editions. I love this book. If you are going to read only one history of the civil war, make it this one. If you are going to spend the rest of your life reading histories of the civil war, start with this one.

It would take thousands of words to express the reasons I love this book. But somehow that wouldn't be appropriate. What I will say is this:

Bruce Canton could spend two pages discribing a muddy campaign, and you will come away knowing it was muddy and what a loggistical problem that was. Shelby Foote could spend a chapter on a muddy campaingn and you will come away knowing it was muddy and how much the troops complaigned about it and maybe a funny incident or two. Fletcher Pratt could spend a paragraph or two on that campaign, and when done you'll notice your leg's hurt. Why? Because you didn't want to get mud on your couch.

What can I say about this book? Well, how about in a lifetime of reading many books on the Civil War, both good and great, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. While more ink than the blood that was spilled has been used by many others to explain this terrible war, Pratt managed to capture the essence of the conflict in a short, brilliant book.
Pratt was a military historian of the first rank, but was also known for clever and exciting high fantasy stories. Perhaps it was this versatility that honed his storytelling ability to the sharp edge that we see here. While not missing a single important detail of politics, causes, battles, and personalities, he weaves an engrossing tale from start to finish, and creates a solidly researched history that is also a page-turner. This book is a joy to the student of the Civil War, but also appeals to those with no particular interest in that conflict, solely on the merit of Pratt's tight storytelling.
This book was written in 1935, and much new material on the Civil War has surfaced since then. Others, such as Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton and James McPherson have written much longer and more comprehensive works on the war that are excellent in their own right. Yet this little book still shines out as a gem among them. With its solid scholarship, sharp storytelling, and precise choice of details, it is the first rate Cliff Notes to the Civil War.

Theo Logos

I first read this book when I was about nine years old, having fished it out of my parents' bookcase to while away some idle hours. Eventually, I wore out its fragile binding and was left with a heap of pages until one day, on a visit to Washington DC, I was delighted to find a fresh copy in a second-hand bookstore. To this day, if I crave entertainment and inspiration, I take this book down from the shelf and open it at random. Whatever chapter - paragraph! - I choose is bound to shine.

Just how accurate or balanced Pratt's account of the Civil War is, I do not know. I have not read any other books about it. But he has made Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Stanton, Davis, McLellan, Hooker, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Jackson, Stuart and dozens of others come alive for me.

Aged nine, I did not understand all the long words by any means. (What on earth was the "Dithyramb of Shiva", and what was an "Experiment in Tauromachy"?) But I loved them, and almost always figured out the meaning by the context.

In a way, Pratt made it possible for me to study history at university many years later. He inoculated me against the idea that history has to be boring, because I had such a stunning counter-example at the back of my mind. There are very few books of fiction that I have read that come anywhere near being so entertaining.

Anyone who hasn't read this book really ought to, if they have the slightest interest in military matters and delight in fine writing. Just one tip: if you can get hold of a hardback, it will last longer. The paperback gets fragile after a few readings, and the pages are apt to fall out unless you hold it very carefully.

If you love soul music and want to understand it from the inside out this book is for you. It is full of facts, myths debunked, and a scholarly yet very sensitive and thoughtful perspective on what the music means to us and why.

In "Sweet Soul Music," Peter Guralnick explains what made soul music great. He views soul as a distinct genre, separate from Motown, which was performed primarily by black singers for a black audience. Soul told the story of the rapid social upheaval transforming the South while reflecting the gains made by the civil rights movement. According to Guralnick, soul was different from other forms of R&B because it involved straining the boundaries of the listener's expectations and hinting at a conclusion without actually reaching it. Unlike Motown, the musicians who performed soul were freelancers and individualists who emphasized the underlying feeling of a song more than keeping the mechanics exactly right. Guralnick says that because the musicians, songwriters, producers, managers, and engineers who created the music worked at isolated regional outposts far removed from the major record labels, they were able to define their own roles within the movement.

"Sweet Soul Music" traces the origin of soul to the song "Crying in the Chapel" by the Orioles, which blurred the lines between gospel and R&B. "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles, which followed, solidified soul as a distinct genre and exerted a profound influence on the future of music in the U.S. Guralnick explains that "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge then brought white fans to the table. The book tells the stories of the heroes of soul, including Sam Cooke, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin, explaining in great detail how each set goals, viewed their careers, related to their peers, and overcame obstacles in order to achieve the extraordinary success that they did. Many of the stories are memorable, enabling the reader to see how a particular event changed an individual artist's view of the world, influenced that artist's decisions, and shaped the music itself.

The book is at its best, though, when telling the stories of the lesser-known talents who paved the way for future artists to succeed. Guralnick explains how Arthur Alexander's single "You Better Move On" was criticized in Nashville for sounding "too black," but eventually found the audience it deserved and opened new doors for other Muscle Shoals artists. William Bell's successful touring to support the single "You Don't Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry)" not only to put Stax on the map, but enabled Bell to set the gold standard regarding philosophy towards fame and stardom. Guralnick explains how Stax's decision to open a record store and carry competing labels' stock gave the Stax musicians an opportunity to study hits closely, learn why they were hits, and discuss what future hits should sound like.

The book concludes that soul never fully recovered from the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an event that caused relationships among many of the movement's key players to become frayed. Guralnick says that soul was a genre that could only exist in a particular time and place because of the influence that the struggle for civil rights had on the music. Overall, "Sweet Soul Music" offers an outstanding look at why soul left such an extraordinary legacy for artists and fans today. The book is strongly recommended for anyone who wants to understand why soul left such a powerful impression on listeners at the time, and continues to do so today.

Like Robert Palmer's superb "Deep Blues," Guralnick's extensive look back at the roots of R&B and soul music combines criticism, biographical profiles and social history into one rich, printed tapestry. Meticulously researched, the book shows its author's deep love of the music without sacrificing objectivity.

Guralnick provides plenty of background on the "race music" that spawned R&B and the great soul music of the sixties and early seventies, on which much of the book concentrates. Like most, if not all, of the great blues musicians, the early pioneers of soul came from humble, mostly southern beginnings, and made little or no money from their work, which was liberally sampled by white musicians.

A good portion of the narrative revolves around the fascinating rise and fall of Stax Records, the tiny Memphis-based label that brought together white executive leadership and musicians with raw black talent from the South. Despite initially primitive recording conditions, Stax developed into a powerhouse that was home to some of the greatest musicians in soul music, from Otis Redding to William Bell to Carla Thomas to Sam and Dave to Johnny Taylor. The label became representative of the growing sense of black pride that defined the era, one in which civil rights, of course, moved to the forefront of America's consciousness.

All of these musicians and many more, including Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, to name a few, are given finely drawn profiles by Guralnick, and he treats their contributions to American music with the respect that they deserve. Throughout, he is intent on letting the artists tell their stories in their own words, and remains content to use his own fine writing to direct and bind together the narrative.

Another great accomplishment of the book, for me, was Guralnick's successful effort to illuminate the ties between white and black musicians during this period. Yes, many of the most successful producers, notably Atlantic's Jerry Wexler, were white, but so were many of the musicians. Most had grown up in the south around blacks and were intimately familiar with African-American music. The Stax house band, which included Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn, was white, and they performed on many songs penned by great black songwriters such as David Porter and Isaac Hayes. Think of the great, ominous organ introduction to Aretha Franklin's "I Ain't Never Loved a Man." The white player is Spooner Oldham. This musical cross-fertilization is a notable point, one not often brought into considerations of the era.

As a young kid coming up in the mid-60s, I loved the music that Guralnick writes about here, and I could tell -- even if he hadn't said so -- that he did too. He goes beyond that love to really dig into its roots and understand it, and succeeds admirably.

'Sweet Soul Music' is a fantastic book, the best book I've read on the subject. Having said that, it isn't by any means a complete history of Soul Music (it completely omits the great music that came from New York, Motown, Chicago and Philly), nor is it a complete history of Southern Soul Music (the book ends with the acrimonious break up of Stax/Volt records, even though great Soul was still being made elsewhere in Memphis). Guralnick's book starts off looking like a history of Soul Music (there are early chapters on Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and an amazing and hilarious chapter on Solomon Burke), but then the book changes emphasis and becomes the story of the involvement of white musicians in Southern R&B.

Guralnick's thesis seems to be that Southern Soul achieved its great creative flowering in the 60s as a result of the partnership between black and white musicians, and even though he interviews a great number of musicians and businessmen - black and white - he can't help himself from empathising with the young white hipsters that made up the house bands at Stax and Muscle Shoals, with the result that the book becomes very much a story told from their point of view (Guralnick calls Dan Penn the "secret hero of this book" - fair enough, but surely James Brown should have been its overt hero). After these white musicians were intimidated out of the business during the racial tension that followed Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968, Guralnick concentrates more on the politics and seems to lose interest in the music itself.

Which is a great pity, since Southern Soul in the 70s went on to even greater heights (James Brown's rhythmic revolution, then Al Green's great synthesis of the sexual and the spiritual). Though I learnt a great deal from the book (my CD collection has mushroomed after reading it) it felt to this reader as though the book had ended just before its real climax.

I bought this book in the gift shop at the newly resurrected Stax Records museum in Memphis... the Satellite Record Shop, next door to the museum. I've lived in Memphis all my life, although I'm about 15-20 years younger than most of those made famous by the Stax phenomenon. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it served to fill in the blanks about many things I had only heard about superficially growing up here. I'm bothered by a lot of factual errors, not noticeable or important maybe to many, but this is about my home. At least the author and/or his editor could have been more sure of producing a factually accurate book. The edition I bought was published in 1999... the original in 1986. Did no one else catch these errors in the '86 edition? Here are a couple of examples: He refers to a Memphis radio station, KWEM, which was and is actually in West Memphis, Arkansas, and whose call letters are KWAM. (Everybody knows stations east of the Mississippi River start with a "W" and all those west of the Mississippi start with a "K".... radio and TV stations alike. Does the author know where Memphis is?
He refers to a naval base in Tipton County, TN, where Booker T. & the MGs would play, when in fact it's in Shelby County, the same county Memphis itself is in. Does this change anything in the big picture? Probably not. Is the book any less enjoyable or informative? No, not really. But if you considered yourself a true New Yorker, and someone kept writing about it, calling it Gethom City, or The Big Orange, well, you get the picture. I do wonder how many other errors the book may contain that I didn't catch?

I bought six of my favorite childhood books for my great-grandson..."Little Black Sambo", "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Henny Penny", "Chicken Little", "The Three Little Kittens", and "Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit". My great-grandie is 2-1/2 and I can't wait to read these wonderful stories to him.

Timely delivery. The book was great. My great grandson loved it.

I bought this book on an impulse, simply based on the brightly colored illustrations and a brief refrain that that appears when you look inside the book. I couldn't be more delighted with this purchase. The book is a wonderful addition to my fairy tale library and my kindergarten kids absolutely LOVE listening to and participating in the retelling of the story, especially the rhyming refrain..... "I'm a troll from a deep dark hole - my belly's getting thinner. I need to eat and goat's a treat - so I'll have you for my dinner!".

PS - I agree: How lame that Amazon has mixed together reviews for all these various versions of "Three Billy Goats Gruff." They are all so different and all by different illustrators and authors!

Anyway, this is a comment about Marcia Brown's 1957 version, which I found to be incredibly gory. Rather than merely knock the troll off the bridge, this billy goat gruff graphically dismembers him, poking out his eyes and reducing him to "bits, body and bones." Yuck! There are other, mellower version out there... This one's not a favorite. (ReadThatAgain!)

Cute book with pictures that keep their attention. My boys walk around all the time saying "who is going over my bridge" in their gruff little troll voice! "Don't eat me... I too little," they say. I am so glad I added this book to our collection.

I'm doing research on the hope of writing a romance novel based on a story my ex-husband told me about how his grandfather came to America. I found this book fascinating. It gave me a real feel for the time and the place. And unlike many history books, it wasn't boring.

Fred Morton certainly lived up to his reputation in this novel about the waning days of the "Imperial City of Vienna" and all the different personages inhabiting the Empire [Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky] during these turbulent pre WWI years. Excellent for history buffs such as myself or anyone else for that matter who enjoys a good read about the declining days of Empire and the effect of the Great War on European Aristocracy. Also interesting to note that Franz Ferdinand's three surviving children [daughter and two sons] were taken in by a friend after their parents murder by a Serbian Terrorist [not family as they were morgantic children due to their mother's status] and all eventually found themselves sent to a concentration camp [Therienstadt] when Austria was gobbled up by Germany during the Nazi's rise to power..as they did not possess "Imperial Status" Dont hear too much about this in any books. Eventually they were liberated by the Allies and their property restored to them. Sophie outlived both her younger brothers living to the ripe old age of 91. Her desendents live today in Konopiste; the Palace of Arch Duke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek.

There is an historical theory, or perhaps it is no more than a bon mot, that empires at the end of their power and political influence spend their last energies on a showy efflorescence, like a century plant. The prime examples would be 18th century Venice and early 20th century Vienna.

In "Thunder at Twilight," Frederic Morton presents a gossipy and apparently frothy portrait of such a bloom, told as a tragic love story. Like a good Mozart opera, there is a subsidiary, comic love story as well.

The tragic lovers are Franz Ferdinand, crown price of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie Chotek. Because Sophie was not royal, merely a countess, the archduke could not marry her as consort but only as a morganatic wife, and their children would not be in line for succession to the throne,

The comic lovers are Emperor Franz Joseph and the Widow Schratt, who also could not marry but who were so proper that they did not even make out.

The villain is Montenuevo, first court chamberlain, epitomizing the sclerotic empire that after rolling along for 800 years had almost seized its gears.

There is a huge supporting cast: Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin; Freud and Jung; the mad general Conrad von Hotzendorf and the crazed Serb Apis, etc. etc.

With an eye on the weather and the changes of seasons and in a flurry of adjectives, Morton leads them all toward a doom. This is one of the few reviews of the period that treats Franz Ferdinand as anything more than a stage prop.

In fact, in Morton's interpretation, the archduke is practically the only sensible man in the empire, full of fierce words masking a desperate attempt to keep Austria out of war with Russia. Sophie plays the calming influence who steadies her hotheaded lover.

Morton rightly calls Franz Ferdinand's policy appeasement of Serbia. It could never have worked. As we know from a further century of bitter experience, the South Slavs can neither govern themselves nor be governed

Conrad, though incompetent, was right. Serbia needed to be crushed. The problem was, Austria could not do it unless Russia stood aside; and Russia, another dying empire, was as full of aristocratic nitwits as Vienna, and had its own ungovernable Slavs (and Germans, like Lenin).

As hardcore history, "Thunder at Twilight" is too light, too consciously melodramatic. But it is great fun to read and seems to get the big picture more exactly right than more ponderous tomes.

A college professor recommended this to me so I read it in about a day. It is very interesting how Morton weaves history into some sort of a novel that's very easy to read. Inspired by the death of his uncle in World War I, Morton writes about the history and the climax leading up to the very moment when the Crown Prince Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Serbian terrorist youth.

Morton explains the nasty relationship with the Hapsburg Empire (that includes Austria) and the lower Slavic nations and the growing animosity between them. This is a great book for history buffs. My only complaints are that there aren't any citations in the book and that the friendship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud don't seem to have anything to do with the story itself.

This is a favorite of mine, all the info about the Fin du siecle, Rudolph, and why we went into World War 1, and why some young people don't make it somehow!

Amazing and amazingly entertaining book, very very higly recommended. I dont have anything to add to the info of the book itself, go for the editorial reviews.

In Tigerheart, Peter David approaches the Peter Pan mythos with a fresh but affectionate eye, by saying to himself "and then what happened?". The tale of the boy who would not grow up is seen in Tigerheart from the perspective of Paul Dear, a boy from Kensington Gardens who also lives much of his life in fantasy, but has to grow up when he finds himself in Pan's universe.

In Tigerheart, the names of many of the characters have been changed, but not for anonymity - they have been changed to emphasize the universality of the way little boys look at the universe, and to show that little boys, whether going on daring adventures with their loyal tiger companions, fighting vicious pirates or being more brave than an indian brave, are all much the same.

And the book shows how growing up is not a clear cut thing, restricted only to people who have gotten older, but is instead an incremental and highly person process that changes from person to person, and from moment to moment.

Though Peter David has proven his standing as a very good writer in the past, this has proven to be one of his best works, and not only does he capture J.M. Barrie's voice with uncanny accuracy, he also captures his sense of wonder, and then leavens it with his own sense of humor and a dash of realism. If you enjoy classic adventure and appreciate a thoughtful philosophy, you can't go far wrong with this book.

I just recently finished this book and I have to say that yet again Peter David has thoroughly engrossed me in the story and the narrative. Peter Pan is fun again and its just an amazingly fun read and you dont know where its going but your along for the ride and it is a blast.

I dont care if your young or if your old, this is definitely a book for all ages. This book proves to me yet again, anything Peter David writes is always top notch and I will read it. If you want some suggestions I would recommend his Sir Apropos of Nothing series, the Knight Life book series, and most definitely his Star Trek New Frontier book line-and these are just a few of his works that are brilliant. Check them out!

I picked my copy up from Peter David himself in New York. Truely a magnificent book. Every bit as fun as Harry Potter and twice as smart. It works on so many different levels. David explored concepts that J.M. Barrie never even dreamed of. Tigerheart is packed with detail without feeling bogged down, creating a world that the adventurous in everyone will want to be a part of. I hope it gets the attention it deserves.

While reading Tigerheart I experienced many things. I saw the world through reasonable but incorrect explanations that made more sense than anything in the real world. I dealt with the psychiatric implications of "The Boy" to a child. I also nearly curled into a fetal position when misfortune struck Paul's family. That was all in the first 100 pages.

I was reasonably interested in the plot summery of the book and found I liked what I read inside much more. I can't explain it without giving too much away, but it's one of the most depressingly noble quest I've read in a book. Tigerheart is a beautiful blend of both the good and evil that exists in Paul's world, a character who is surprisingly reasonable for his age, sympathetic, and just plain likable.

I give it a 4 out of 5, only because it switches moods so frequently that there is no safe stopping point. Any interruptions were completely unbearable, I just wanted to be rid of my world until I was finished with Paul's world. Though a welcome change from many books I've read lately, the level of addiction I experienced was probably a bit unhealthy.

Good book with a "re-imagining" of the Peter Pan with an interesting twist.

I enjoyed it, even though it is written in a Narrator form that I usually find boring.

I would recommend this to anyone that has enjoyed any of the other Peter Pan stories (movies, books, whatever).

I've read many people give an account for why they believe what they believe. From atheists, I've read Russell, Sartre, Nietzsche, Sagan, Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and Antony Flew (when he was an atheist). From Christians, I've read Craig, Zacharias, Sproul, Strobel, Pascal, Lewis, Blomberg, John Dickson, and Moreland. Although both lists of atheists and theists have good writers who can make vivid points, none is the teacher like Geisler.

Norman Geisler and Bocchino are not poets. They are straightforward and the powerful imagery of their book is using phrases by the authors mentioned above. However, they have packaged a very good text with a wide breathe of knowledge and connected the fact that beliefs have consequences. Those consequences will spill into all aspects of our lives no matter if we realize it or not. This book basically shows the logical sequence of philosophical premises with regards to major worldviews and how those worldviews, if honest and logically consistent, will play out in fields like science, law, morality, and education.

This is a good referance book for any Christian. Specially for College students. It will not get outdated soon. So buy it read it and keep it for future referance. It is very useful. LOTS of information there...

This book is a must read for all students in a secular environment, and for anyone seeking a reasonable defense of the Christian faith. Evolution and moral relativism are not satisfying answers logically or practically. Geisler does a masterful job of removing the scientific underpinnings of evolutionary faith and establishing a well reasoned defense of Intelligent Design. He further takes on issues such as justice and absolute moral standards vs. relativistic morality and judicial philosophy. THe last section of the book points to every man's need for Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord and establishes the Bible, as God's revelation, as the only proper epistemoligical starting point.

This book sat on my shelf collecting dust for nearly 6 years. It wasn't until I found myself as a first-year teacher needing a strategy to refute evolution and a darwinistic view of our world that I even felt compelled to pick it up. This book is an excellent resource...logical, methodical, and sound-minded in its application of reason to matters of faith. I highly recommend it just as strongly to one longing to worship the Lord God with all his mind, as to another who is still unsure of the intellectual credibility of the Christian faith. In terms of books that have changed my life, this title will rank with the best of them...only coming in behind the Bible itself, and C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.

For many years now, Christian apologetics has been a scattered, unorganized field, full of random facts that didn't really come together to form a coherent picture. As someone who is very skeptical and has struggled with whether or not to believe in the Christian worldivew, that was always very frustrating for me when attempting to do research. Unshakable Foundations has completely changed that, and has in a sense revolutionized Christian apologetics. Most of these ideas were always out there, but Bocchino and Geisler have given them structure, starting with no assumptions (one of the very first topics in the book is whether there is even such a thing as truth) to build an airtight case for Christianity that is just about impossible to get around. Jesus and the Bible are not even mentioned until near the end of the book, undercutting any charges of bias or unreasonable assumptions. It's just basic logic, pure and simple, and it is stunning how the authors take that logic to show how it can only lead to one conclusion. This is a great book for Christians and non-Christians alike, young and old, seekers and believers. For anyone who takes seriously questions about our existence, meaning, a higher power, etc., there is no better starting point than Unshakable Foundations.

This is one of the first books in a long list of fashion books that I own. It is one of my favorites. It is a bit academic as another reviewer mentioned, but I feel that's an important part of what makes this book a keeper. It covers European, mostly English fashion of the aristocracy. There are some great historical anecdotes. My favorites involve Empress Eugenie lounging audaciously around in her red knickers, and some about the rare daring lady to show up to the Ascott races in "pants". The writing isn't as witty as other books, but the historical detail is fantastic. There are quite a few pictures as well. The arrangement of the pictures and text is chronological and very easy to follow. The only drawback is that the pages are matte and not glossy. And the spine falls apart after a few years of hard labor.

A good and informative book. Just looking through it I learned a few things that I hadn't ever heard or noticed before, such as the way that tightlacing of corsets doesn't seem to have been too common before the late 1860s.
The book is very reasonably priced. The only trouble, which probably, were it to be fixed, would make the book cost a lot more, is that I often wish the photographs were printed in better quality.

It is a rare opportunity to see how people dressed in reality so far in the past. By contrast, fashion plates always show the garment in its perfect form, portraits are idealized, and original illustrations change the proportions, whether purposefully or not, to fit the times of the artist, not that of the garment. Photos do not lie.

The pictures feature mostly upper-class people in attractive poses, and the reader can enjoy seeing these people in their clothes, in a variety of settings, in the middle of different activities (cycling, skating, boating, traveling through snowy mountains, playing tennis...). The people sitting for portraits are looking their very best, trying out different positions, picking their finest clothes. As for the garments themselves, the pictures are clear and attractive, and the details are so telling!

The text dissects the pictures and explains costume of the era in detail, discussing the general trends, exceptions, class distinctions, and how the people in these old photos relate to all this. A Very good book for a costume historian.

This compact book is full of photos and it has great explanations from beginning to end. The author explains carefully every photograph, and also each of the fashions worn by the subjects.

If you love old photos of Victorian and Edwardian fashions, then this is a nice book to own for your library. (Also, the price is reasonable).

Dover Publications, monarchs of 19th-century fashion surveys, have hit another one clean out of the park with this superb examination of Victorian and Edwardian fashion from the coronation of Victoria to the early 1900's. Originally published in England in the early 1960's as "The Mirror of Reality", this book was acquired and republished by Dover in a handy paperback edition up to their usual high physical standards (Dover is well-known for the high quality of its paperback books). Alison Gernsheim delves into every single aspect of costume in the period, from buttons to boots, and the accompanying B&W photos, well over a hundred of them, are worth even more words. The fashion-plate books such as Stella Blum's "Harper's Bazar 1867-1898" and Joanne Olian's "Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from La Mode Illustree" are absolutely indispensable for showing the fashions of the era as their designers conceived them, but you need - I say again, _need_ - this book to see how those dresses looked in the real world.