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For the amateur historian, like myself, I was pleased that the author separated out the sources contemporary to the events of the Crusades. Also, the author often cites these sources (such as Anna Comnena and William of Tyre) directly and openly evaluates their positions and prejudices. Considering the limited extent of these original viewpoints, that few people were literate in those days, this emphasis helps in establishing some validity to what is a very distant interpretation.

The Frankish barons, who are the major players in the three Crusades discussed here, led a loose mob that included a fighting force of knights and squires along with any number of illiterate fanatics. They were inspired by a central religious authority, the Pope, and certain fiery orators such as Peter the Hermit. The Franks were not much further advanced than the federated tribes they had been when they overran Western Europe. They were hardly more than barbarians, fierce fighters, glorifying War, recently converted to Christianity, who used the Pope's urging to continue their heritage of invading and plundering.

The overland journey of the First Crusade, with Jerusalem as its goal, must have been unimaginably difficult to survive. The Franks fought their way through the insufferable summer heat of the Mideast, conquering and plundering as they went. When their situation became dire, when it became exceedingly difficult to obtain supplies, they resorted to terror. Bohemond, the Count of Toulouse, who became the prince of Antioch, is reported to have actively encouraged the notion that the Crusaders were cannibals.

It was an age of illiteracy, lawlessness, fanaticism, and superstition. There were these material possessions - the Holy Lance (a piece of rusted iron claimed to have been the sword that pierced Christ's side), the True Cross, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - that the Franks used as rallying cries. The fanaticism combined with the brutal conditions of the journey drove them to the point of insanity, to the point of massacring as many civilians as they could once they entered Jerusalem.

The slaughter in Jerusalem marked the beginning of the Frankish occupation of the Holy Land. It is true that in some ways the Franks learned to live with their Muslim neighbors, and for their part the Muslims, although perhaps more civilized at that time, could also reach extremes of cruelty; still, it is hard not to sympathize with Saladin who kicked the Franks almost all the way out of the Holy Land less than a century after they first arrived.

Zoé B. Oldenbourg (1916 - 2002) was both a highly esteemed specialist in mediæval French history and a critically acclaimed and prize winning historical novelist. She is best known for her novels The World Is Not Enough and The Cornerstone. The Crusades (Les Croisades) was first published in 1965.

Concentrating on the period of the first three Crusades Oldenbourg's book is a social, cultural, political and military history of the period, and covers the history of Turkey, Persia, Iran, Iraq, the Bosphorus, the Balkans, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Spain and southern Europe. She makes illuminating references to other phenomenon such as colonialism and pogroms, and is exceptional in that she is able to imaginatively suggest the attitudes, beliefs and limitations of the people she is writing about.

The subject is an immense one: the results of the Germanic invasions; the position of the Papacy; the 'Holy War' and its legacy; the economic effects of overpopulation on a poorly developed agriculture; feudalism; the differences between eastern and western Christianity; heresies and national differences in the east; the history of Constantinople; the rise of the Turks; the divisions and unity of Islam; relations between the Turks and the Arabs, Christians and Muslims; cultural effects of East on West and vice versa; literary influences in both directions; the legend of the Crusader; the subsequent history of 'crusades' such as the Albigensian, the Inquisition and the Conquistadores.

Oldenbourg on contemporary medieval attitudes: it was a time before machines were widely used. 'Man was therefore infinitely closer to physical reality than we can be now. Tools and raw materials had a value and immediacy not easy for us to understand. This direct contact with matter whose laws he knew only empirically made man simultaneously more superstitious than we are today and more skillful and enterprising.'

She is illuminating on the distinction between western and eastern religious feeling, in a way which explains much subsequent Catholic history. She says also that 'men thought of themselves first and foremost as religious beings...'

A plethora of suggestive ideas: that popular religion was (and is) largely pagan (and pagan is used in a non pejorative way); that miracles occupied the space in our lives of science; that war and religion were combined in the Latin west in a way they never could be in the Byzantine east.

'This exclusive, even excessive, exaltation of physical valour was something the Byzantines could never understand. The people of Western Europe believed implicitly that a man's worth was, first and foremost, measured by his prowess in battle. To the Greeks, courage was certainly an estimable virtue... but they did not rate it any higher than many 'civilised' virtues.'

'The fundamental difference lay in the co-existence in the Western mind of two quite separate ideas, the warrior and the Christian. Byzantium never seems to have been affected by any such ambivalence: it was too blatantly paradoxical for the logical Greek mind to accept.'

On the tangle of military and political objectives pursued by both east and west Oldenbourg sheds a clear light.

She suggests a connection between the German tribes who destroyed the western Roman Empire in the 4th century and the Crusaders. The feudal nobility, she says, were of Germanic or Nordic extraction, unlike the Latin peasantry. They preserved their ideals of love of battle and glorious death despite their conversion to Christianity. The union of these two diverse traditions led to the idea of a holy war, and such wars were waged in Syria in the 12th century. The Germanic tribes, many of whom admired Rome as a great civilising power, conquered it. Later, as admirers of Christianity, they attempted to conquer the Holy Land. In 1204 they conquered Constantinople.

The defining 'cause' of the Crusades was the rise of Turkey as a major power. This rise threatened both the Western, Greek and Arab states, although Turkey itself was Islamic. The Arabs, friendly to Christians, had been accepted politically in their position of power in Syria and the Middle East as well as elsewhere for 400 years. Now the Turks were conquering areas towards the Holy Land, and also areas in the Bosphorus - they posed a direct threat to Byzantium. The Crusades were initially launched to protect Byzantium from the Turks. But the Crusaders included Normans, who were more interested in conquering Byzantium than the Holy Land. And the Great Schism had recently separated the Churches of east and west: instead of reuniting them, the Crusades were to widen the gap between them and exploit their differences.

'Alexius saw no reason to fight the Turks simply because they were infidels (he had suffered too much from Christians to share any prejudges of this kind)...'

'the Greeks were trying to use the Latins in order to reconquer their own lost provinces, while the Latins thought the Greeks had a duty to help them in the much more important task of recovering the Holy Places.'

Oldenbourg follows this concept of the holy war through subsequent history. The union of the military culture of the barons and the culture of love and romance of southern France led to the ideal of chivalry. Later this culture in turn was conquered during the crusade against the Albigensians. Relics of these ideas can be seen in the Inquisition - the Church Militant - and in the deeds of the Conquistadores. Most recent was the attempt of Hitler to conquer the Jews.

The more one explores a subject the more there is to explore. Oldenbourg's book suggests this complexity. There are no easy answers, few generalisations. It is both honest and learned, and motivated by a clear and compassionate intelligence. It has had a far greater effect on me than the celebrated study by Stephen Runciman, still a standard work on the subject (strangely, another major study is Gibbon's, 200 years out of date and still an acute analysis despite it). Oldenbourg explores one of the great conflicts between Christianity and Islam so as to show how misleading it is to regard it as a simple conflict between two ideologies and in this way her book can be helpful and relevant to those who wish to see present day conflicts in a broader, less bigoted context.

I thought reading this book would be a daunting dask, at 593 pages, on a subject that I knew nothing about, and considered dry. Was I wrong! Ms. Oldenbourg makes the crusades and the participants come alive. She imbues the participants with personality, so each individual is memorable, the reading better than any novel. From the blonde, blue eyed cunning soldier Bohemond to the tragic love triangle of Melisende, Fulk and Hugh, this book has it all. Scheming clerics, ambitious men, massacres, acts of superhuman strength, love, hatred. Not boring at all! And the great part is that it is not fiction. Well worth the read!

This volume, first published almost thirty years ago, gives an account of the first three crusades along with the history of Jerusalem up to its conquering by Saladin. The author does not view the Crusades as primarily a war of conquest or as a search for new colonies and trade routes. In addition, she wants to contrast the Crusades with the Islamic expansion of four centuries earlier, the goal of the latter in her opinion being the total conquest of the world. The goal of the Crusades was primarily to retake Jerusalem, and this viewpoint makes the author definitely at odds with many contemporary assessments of the origins and reasons for the Crusades. Readers who thirst for an in-depth knowledge of the Crusades will find a book that is well written and easy to read. Whether or not the book constitutes sound history can only be decided by a lifetime of intense study of the historical documents and sources. The general reader will thus have to remain in a state of suspended judgment on the accuracy of the book. Other books, especially those written in the last decade, should be consulted to gain further insight and alternative points of view.

The author wants to emphasize the human aspects of the Crusades, she asks readers to remove themselves from their modern context and try to understand (however difficult this might be) what life was like in medieval times. She gives a highly interesting account of the conditions of life in those times, referring to it as "simple" because of the state of technology at the time. Whether the technology of today makes life more complex is perhaps a matter for debate, but to claim life was more difficult back then is a credible proposition. The expenditure of human energy needed to obtain the basic life necessities was certainly a lot greater than what is required today. But the author reminds the reader that mental abilities were not necessarily diminished, pointing to the "better memories' that were developed in those times, due to general lack of writing skills. But she definitely wants to emphasize that society at that time was based exclusively on masculine ideals, and that the Catholic Church was "resolutely antifeminist." Her evidence for this is somewhat weak, and this position has been criticized vociferously in more contemporary accounts of the Crusades and the history of the Catholic Church.

There are many places in the book where the discussions are particularly interesting or surprising. Some of these include: 1. That "popular opinion" held that Peter the Hermit was the real instigator of the Crusades, having received a "letter" from Jesus Christ that he was commanded to deliver to Pope Urban II. The author reminds the reader that there is no evidence that Peter ever met the Pope. 2. That after the fall of Antioch, the Crusaders, with the assistance of native Christians murdered all the Turks that they could find in the city and believed that the this massacre was "pleasing to God." The author though does not offer the reader any evidence for this view. How does she know that the Crusaders against Antioch really believed this? 3. The author believes that the number of women and children that were murdered in the "Great Massacre" was exaggerated by chroniclers of the time (especially Islamic historians). But she is quick to point out that putting the real number aside, that most of the population in Jerusalem was completely exterminated, with most of these being unarmed civilians. 4. That the Muslims of Palestine did not anticipate the religious intolerance of the Christians. Interestingly, the author states that the Muslims who conquered the area centuries earlier did not attempt to force the conquered peoples to convert to Islam (Mohammed though murdered nearly all of the Jewish peasants in southern Palestine). 5. The author mentions that Baldwin, in the process of conquering the coastal cities, permitted various massacres in some of these cities in order to "terrorize" the defenders of the others. 6. The origin of "Sunnism" and "Shiism" is discussed, where Sunnism represents the "official orthodoxy" and Shiism is the "breakaway sect." At the time of the Crusades, the Sunnites (as the author refers to them) were represented by the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad and the Shiites were represented by the Fatimid caliphate of Cairo. The extreme hatred between these two sects survives to this day. 7. That Bohemond blamed the failure of the Crusades on Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor of Constantinople, and tried to convince the Pope to launch a Crusade against Alexius. 8. The author contends that the concept of a holy war, or "jihad" was alien to Muslim leaders at the time of the Crusades, but that they acquiesced to public opinion and so were not willing to speak out against launching a jihad against the Franks. The thinking of the Muslim chroniclers gradually changed though, and by the time of the battle of Hattin, jihad became part of the consciousness of Muslims, and soldiers became "soldiers of God." Victory in war was the direct cause of God's favor to those who were faithful. 9. That religion at the time was "inseparable from politics" and consequently that any action taken by a statesman had to have a religious motive and must be justified by a religious point of view. The author describes predilection towards religion as a "universally recognized moral necessity." 10. That with the exception of Anna Comnena, the history of the first three Crusades was of minor interest to the historians of Constantinople. The author describes Anna Comnena as being only marginally interested in the events of the first three Crusades. The Fourth Crusade, which is not discussed in the book, was of course of great importance to the Greek Christians.

Zoe Oldenbourg's "The Crusades" was one of the first books I ever read about the subject, and still remains an unsurpassed introduction to the topic in my experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is still one of my favourites.

Oldenbourg covers the main events of the major Crusades, and informs the reader in great detail of the situation at hand. Oldenbourg gives a very detailed introductory account of the world and lives of the Crusaders. It will certainly give you enough to decide if you want to learn more on this fascinating topic, or just leave it with Oldenbourg's book.

As an initial introduction to the Crusades, "The Crusades" stands as one of the best available, and will keep you engrossed throughout.

I just want to point out that field marshal von manstain really mistakenly evaluated the situation.

1. The whole German offensive in the north became defensive, and later on model have to abandon Orel which threaten Moscow for two years.
2. Manstain believed USSR depleted all of their reserve, actually soviet still have a complete "grass army" in reserve, the soldier's number change from
1.35 million to some what 2.2 million in the end(stalin even transfer troops who gonna liberate Leningrad to Kursk front).
3. German troops were extremely exhausted and outnumbered. As you described, they had so few tanks in hand and how could they encircle the red army which is sever times greater in manpower, weapons.
4. soviet can produce 1200 tanks during 1943 and they can quickly refit and regroup their amour division while German's factory were bombard by USA, it can't
Recover from the heavy loss to Kursk at all.

My conclusion is: Von manstain never can have a chance in the south wing even if Hitler won't halt the action.
Actually in fact, Hitler allowed him to advance, and most the unit can't transfer to Italy due to the soviet's attack.

I think that this is very good book.
1. Author style is really good, the narrative is gripping.
2. There a lots of maps, which is so material in such type of books that even rather poor quality of them almost isn't a problem.
3. Operations described in "Decision..." are very important in eastern conflict - Nipe did a great job in describing them without all that propaganda stuff met elsewhere.
4. Photos are great.

Now, the dark side (or why I subtracted one star):
1. Maps are of low quality
2. Russians are shown as amorphous mass - which is not true - and sources for them are easily accessible (Glantz, Ericsson etc)
3. Appendices are of no value. I expected some real data, tables, OdBs unfortunately I found almost none. This is I think main weakness of the book. With such effort put in writing "Decision..." I hoped that Nipe would give the reader some hard data in the form of appendicies.

This is an excellent book for the military history buffs and it's also very useful for anyone who wants to thrive into the details of the terrific battles of the Eastern Front in the summer of 1943. Mr Nipe's fine historical research and his vast archical references prove beyond doubt that "the (German) losses at Prokhorovka are a myth, and in fact, the Waffen SS divisions retained sufficient fighting power to destroy Tolbukhin's Mius bridgehead in July and later help III Panzerkorps fight the Soviet 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies to a standstill at Bogodukhov". Although the first 68 pages are devoted to the great tank battle of Kursk and the damage that the Germans inflicted to their enemy, the most interesting part (and that which is most analytically presented) is the Mius campaign, where the weak 6th Army with the help of II SS Panzerkorps smashed the Soviet South Front after grevious battles which lasted for 16 days. The details are abundant and it is clear that the author has a perfect grasp of his subject. The book has many black and white maps (and some very good b/w photos also) which may be not of the finest quality but give the reader a comprehensive picture of the action. The story of battle of Kharkov begins on page 259 and is also extremely interesting. With this book Mr Nipe has covered a little known period of the Great Patriotic War which is usually overshadowed by the Kursk and Dnieper battles and is often less than a paragraph long in other books. Despite its volume this book is easy to read and the chronological presentation of the action, as well as the informative chapter and paragraph titles help a lot! A very highly recommended book!

This book examines Operation Citadel and the linked battles for the Mius and August battles around Bogodukhov. The book is extremely well researched and this research throws serious doubts over Russian claims in regards to the battle of Kursk and especially the confrontation of armour at Prochorovka. Studies of SS records do not substantiate Russian claims of 400 German tanks destroyed at Prochorovka, however a single Panzerkorps effectively annihilated the armour of the 5th Guards Tank Army where between 600-650 tanks were destroyed.

The author points out at least partial victory may have been acheived by the Germans at Kursk, but Hitler lost the will to continue the battle at the critical moment and his attention focused on the Soviet build up at Izyum and Mius river threatening the Ukraine and the Allied landings in Sicily. However, the Soviet moves were a deliberate deception to distract German armour from the Kursk area when Russian reserves were almost spent in the southern sector. The German reserve of XXIV Panzerkorps was transferred to meet these new threats and subsequently any opportunity to exploit the advantage gained in the southern sector at Kursk was lost. Having lost the initiative, German forces were constantly engaged in trying to counter attack Soviet thrusts and SS Panzer Divisions were effectively used as mobile 'fire brigades'.

The author makes the point that the Germans may have been the masters on the tactical battlefield but the Russians and Stalin were strategically superior and ensured strategic goals were obtained no matter the cost. The last chapter is an excellent summary and review of the previous chapters analysis with conclusions drawn.

This is highly recommended reading

George Nipe has writeen yet another supelative book that debunks all the nonsense about the Kursk battle, as told by Soviet Communist propaganda or crypto-communist historians like David Glantz, recounting all the losses suffered by the Germans, and the heroics of the Russian peasant soldiers in the Great Patriotic War.

Working from unit war diaries and daily returns on losses, Nipe comprehensively proved that the SS were tops in battle, whichever way you look at it. And that by a SS Panzer Korps that received no preferential treatment in equipment ( the much vaunted Ferdinand tank destroyer, and the Panther tanks were both issued to Heer units, whose leadership incompetence and lack of elan resulted in grievious losses, especially in abandoned tanks), was relatively outdated in amour compared to its Russian adversary, yet beat the latter in every encounter.

Compared the SS Panzer Korps singular achievements in the South of the Kursk salient to the miniscule gains made by Walter Model's
armies in the North (spearheaded by Heer units), you notice why the SS was head and shouders above Heer and the Russians in battlefield performance.

Anyone who questions that the holocaust ever happened should read Defy the Darkness. I come from a family of camp survivors. I thought I knew the extent of what went on there, but what I knew did not even crack the surface of what my ancestors experienced, as describe by the author. I honor Joe Rosenblum and acknowledge his courage, wisdom, and tenacity to live through an experience that no one in this lifetime should ever have to live through. The writing of this book is superb. Actually, this is the best book I've ever read on the subject. I wish that I could meet Joe in person and hug him. What an amazing man!

This book is fantastic. Joe Rosenblum's story is inspiring. I have shared this book with many people and every one of them found the book intriguing. Mr. Rosenblum went through hell and emerged a hero and a very decent man. Very well written with co-author Mr. Kohn.

There is no shortage of writing about the Holocaust, fortunately, because nothing so evil should ever be forgotten. In addition to the dry historical accounts, we have many novels, military assessments and first-person accounts.
What Joe Rosenblum gives us is a closeup look at his hometown of Miedzyrzec, Poland, as it is swallowed up by the Nazis, the effects on its mostly Jewish population and the terrible events that upend and destroy his family. Equally important, he tells us how he survived his hellacious odyssey through Nazi death camps, his techniques for survival and the pure luck that kept him from destruction.
I found the writing a little choppy and some of the material was a bit repetitious. The book sometimes read more like an interview with someone eager to spill out the details before it's too late. So what? This is not literature, this is humanity, set down on paper so that we'll all remember and, if we're lucky, have just a little of the courage of this survivor.

Defy The Darkness is the story of the author's (Joe Rosenblum) life before, during, and after World War II. After the Germans invaded Poland, he was, due to his Aryan looks, able to survive by working on the farm of a Polish family who were very kind to him. As a result, he was able to bring food to his own family which helped to prolong their lives. Rosenblum was a very remarkable man. He took his father's place on various slave labor details, he spent time with Russian partisans, and he survived around eighteen months in Birkenau at a time when the average person might have survived eighteen minutes. He had wits; he had strength of character, and, as with most camp survivors he had, as odd as this may sound, luck on his side. The two most indelible images in the book; the gauntlet that the prisoners were continually forced to run at Majdanek, and the prisoners at Birkenau stuffing whole frogs in their mouths due to their incredible hunger. This is a story that had to be told and a book that must be read.

This book was a page turner that I could not put down. It went straight to my heart and I wondered if I could do the same things to survive. Joe's thoughts and actions were absolutely amazing, thinking about my 14 yr old nephew the whole time. Unimaginable acts of bravery and the things he has to overcome just to stay alive. Giving kindness to anyone he could even though it could mean death in an instant. Watching and telling his stories of death all around him and of his family. The work he had to endure, the pain, and the hopes to keep him going.

This book is an excellent read and really opens your eyes to his life and the lives around him.

Having read McCaig's other books, I found this one fascinating, but I agree that you might have to be a border collie enthusiast to really enjoy it. The trip through Scotland and finding Gael held my rapt attention. I agree with the Publisher's Weekly review, that McCaig should have stayed on the theme of his new dog and her subsequent life. He left me hanging on that one and I'm hoping there will be a sequel. Despite that, I loved the book anyway.

The only problem with his books are that they seem to read far too quickly. I find myself putting them down just to make them last. He knows how to pull you into a good story. "Nop's Trials" is a particularly great story. Unfortunately for me I stayed up all night with this one in hand until the very last page. Tired but glad to have read this one.

"Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men" reads great but I'll lose no sleep from this one. A wonderful and captivating read. A real insiders perspective on working dogs and the sheepmen who work with them.

This is a fascinating read for dog lovers.

I have occasionally had friends decide they wanted a Border Collie - friends I knew should not get a Border Collie. I give them this book and it does a great job of changing their minds. And it entertains them at the same time.

I liked this book so much and it stuck with me so when I first read it - the many comments of his "wee bitch" and naming her Gael that my Gael was named from this book. Border collie enthusiasts who see just names on the papers of their dogs may well see some of those names in here. Wonderful people and dogs in real life and an enjoyable read of working dogs, both trials and every day dogs, in Scotland. Loved the book...as someone else mentioned if you're not a fan of border collies you might not find it quite as engaging. Recommended reading for border collie owners!!

A Border Collie owner, I could hardly wait to read this book, and the author's other books, Nop's Trials and Nop's Hope. A one-time visitor to Scotland who can't wait to go back, I eagerly looked forward to this book. And, I was not in the least bit disappointed on either count! The author's style is easy-going and readable, with a subtle humor throughout. His images are brilliant and I just felt like I was present for each scene that he wrote and a part of the action. Someone who has no interest in the working Border Collie might find the book dull. So also might someone who is not particularly interested in the very different lifestyle of the shepherd of Scotland. But for us who love the working Border Collie and find the life of the Scottish shepherd and his/her dog intriguing, this is an absolutely must-read book, over and over again!

Fascinating!!

I only wish more photos, diagrams and website links and/or information (on those specific archeological discoveries and digs) would have been provided, so that we could have researched it a bit more, and tracked any furhter progress.

The listings of the incredible array of artifacts found in these archeoligical digs would have also benefited by some drawings and photos.

That being said, this is a wonderful book that brings the action to life -- I can almost see the ship rise and fall with the waves. The natives (skraalings) and the landscape of the new world is rendered in vivid word pictures. The descriptions of the Viking farms in Greenland and the hazardous trips sometimes needed to be made to reach those farms, gives me a sense of the tremendous resiliency and resourcefulness of those heroic people way back then.

Exceptional -- but would definitely benefit from photos, diagrams, links, -- even a rendering of what Gudrid may have looked like.

Brown gives us a lot of interesting information about Gudrun's life and times in "The Far Traveller." But what is even more interesting is her description of being on archaeological digs in Iceland, describing what archaeologists have to do to torture more information out of the physical remains of the past. Brown's focus on what archaeology has contributed to our knowledge of the Vikings, as well as archaeology's limitations, make this a more fascinating read than the account of what we think we know about Gudrun could have done.

This is an extraordinary acheivement. The author follows the character of Gudrid throughout her journeys through in Viking world of the late 900s and early 1000s and, along the way, paints a vivid picture of life at that time. The writing is engaging and apparently effortless, but the research that supports it is massive, as described in 35 pages of footnotes and references at the end of the book. The author's passion is clear throughout, and further evidenced by her having worked as a volunteer archaeologist one summer in Iceland to excavate Gudrid's home. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the Vikings.

This book enlightens a period of history not well known to date. It is very interesting reading, especially for anyone with Scandinavian roots. The research the lies behing this work is remarkable. I highly recommend this book.

I am just a general reader who happens to enjoy well-written history. I've never read much at all about the Vikings but the NY Times review of THE FAR TRAVELER was enticing and I was not let down by its promise. Nancy Marie Brown has reached back to a place and people obscured by time, doing a decent job of erasing some of the fog and cold desolation that obscure the Dark Ages and Medieval Epoch in Iceland and Greenland. She also succeeds in revealing a lot about contemporary archaeological practice and thought.

Brown turns first to the Sagas, the 10th and 11th century tales of Vikings, for inspiration. Though embroidered, the Sagas, written down some generations later, are regarded as holding historical memories. Brown focuses on one woman who appears in both the Eirik the Red and Greenland Sagas as her guide, Gudrid, who traveled from Iceland to Greenland to Vinland, back to Iceland and remarkably, in later age, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her son Snorri was very likely the first European child born on North American soil, circa 1005. Her personal story reveals much about religion, economics, gender relations, values, world view and other aspects of her culture. Born late in the 10th century AD, she witnessed the spread of Christianity and the fading of the violent marauding male economy as the domestic textile industry spun by women on the farm began to reposition Iceland in the world trade scene. Brown travels to all of the places Gudrid did, reads scholarship on her topic and participates in archaeological digs and recreation of weaving studios.

The digs at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, have been reported on before, but Brown brings a fresh fascination to them in the context of Gudrid's life. She provides strong descriptive passages of the places she visits and there is one map in the front of the book. It would have been nice, however, to have had some illustrations. I would also like to have known a little more about Brown's own context and interest in this subject.

Having met the esteemed Sharanksy and heard him speak many times, this book, which he autographed for me before a speech last year, is priceless. The tales inside, as well as the lessons, are incredibly moving, angering and inspiring.

I recommend this book to all, especially American Jews who should read this man's story to understand what people of our religion have gone through, especially in Europe -- and how lucky we are to live in a peaceful, tolerant and fair place like these United States...where, like ALL minorities, we are treated better than anywhere else we've dispersed during our near 5800 year religious history.

Ignoring this book is why people don't understand history and evil: be that Nazism, Communism, Islamo-fascism or the dangerous left wing media who appeases these animals here and abroad.

In this classic, in the tradition of The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956, Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky, one of the greatest Jewish heroes of our time, tells of his nine years in Soviet prisons and gulags, because of his desire to live in the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.
Sharansky was first denied an exit visa to Israel in 1973. Seperated from his wife, Avital, a day after thewir marriage, in 1974, Sharansky fought for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union as well as the rights of other persecuted minorities such as Pentecostals, Catholics, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and ethnic Germans, which disproves the repulsive charge by anti-Semites that Zionists only care about their own people.
He worked as a translator for Soviet dissident and human rights champion Andrei Sakharov, and his spokesman.
Sakharov never stopped fighting for Sharanky's freedom, for human rights and for the Jews of the Soviet Empire.
Sharanky describes his life in the preface as a Jews growing up in Russia, and his mental liberation from Soviet thought slavery, by his discovery of his Judaism and Zionism. He then details his 1977 arrest, and his nine years of brutal incarceration.
He never bowed to his captors and refused to have anything to do with the perfidious KGB.
A variety of mental and physical tortures were used to try to break Sharansky, but he never flinched.
Always given courage by the word of the G-D of Israel, and particularly guided by Psalm 23:
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil
For though art with me..."
Indeed he did not fear the evil of the Soviet tyranny.
His wife Avital tirelessly fought for his release as his cause became known in the free world, and fought for by all freedom-loving people.
The book ends with Sharansky's release in 1986 and his aliyah to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife.
The book is a testament to the evils of a one party tyranny.
It is a testament to the eternal endurability of the Jewish people, and their unbreakable bond wit the Land of Israel.
Unltimately it is a testament of hope and of freedom of the human spirit.
Today the same Communist ideology that persecuted Sharansky is waging a jihad of intellectual terrorism against Israel and her people.
But the courage of people like Sharansky and the people of Israel has shown that Israel can and will prevail.

Natan is a hero to the human race. He is wise beyond his years and his wife really proved what true love is. No wonder our Oresident sticks to his convictions. We should all be like Natan

Having met Sharansky in Israel (Birthright alumni!), and having had a long time interest in the Soviet Jewry dissident movement - which allowed my own (Jewish) family to emigrate from the Soviet Union in '91 - I had little doubt as to the outcome of Sharansky's imprisonment. As someone who has read a number of books on similar subjects - in particular the Alexander Solzenytsin "Archipelag Gulag" series - I was a bit dissapointed with "Fear no Evil". (Nevermind that Solzenytsin is widely believed to be an anti-semite; I'm speaking of the literary aspect only.)

In contrast to Solzenytsin's breathtakingly vivid literary style and powerful analysis of the core of the Soviet regime and it's criminal code, Sharansky's book read rather like an eagle's eye view of a convoluted social and political order. "Fear no Evil" reads instead like a game of mental swordsmanship, with a self-inflicted narrow focus quite removed from breadth and depth of a much needed analysis on the Soviet system as a whole.

However, Sharansky does not proclaim himself to be a literary guru. This book is a poignant (if dry) portrayal of one man's fight for freedom - both for himself and 2 million of his people. The uncompromising stance taken by the author with the Soviet regime throughout his imprisonment - his life, family and future hanging in the balance - is awe-inspiring in its simplicity and effectiveness.

It has become a cliche in our time that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Yet the Sharanskys of the world have proven that one need not be a terrorist to be a freedom fighter. Where are such men today?

"[Saul] put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on [David's]head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around... "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached [Goliath]".

So begins the story of the famous battle between the future King David of Israel and the giant Phillistine during Biblical times. In Natan Shcharansky's "Fear No Evil" (the title taken from one of David's own psalms), the author is less equipped even than young David in battling the ubiquitous and evil KGB, which maintains an illegal presence in the prisons he's held in (again, illegally), accused of spying for western countries. But because of decisions he makes early in his arrest, he is the victor in the struggle waged over his soul by men who would like him to acknowledge he is wrong, who would like him to implicate others in his "crimes" in order for favors from them, or who would simply like him to stop being the delightful fly in the prison ointment he is.

Shcharansky's only weapons during his trial and during his following prison term, consist of his personal integrity, which remains unsullied; his faith and trust in his family and friends; and a tiny book of psalms that he will spare nothing in reminding prison officials he is entitled to. He sometimes has to wage a hunger strike for these things, but always wins. It is true that his wife, who managed to reach Jerusalem before Shcharansky's arrest, is on a worldwide campaign for his release, resulting in no less than two sitting US presidents mentioning him by name in speeches heard by Soviet officials as a political prisoner, as well as global support, but Shcharansky does not learn this until later, and so believes he is virtually alone in the fight.

This gritty autobiography is a lovely example of human survival, and how one can keep his humanity in a horrific place. Shcharansky's relationships with his fellow "zeks" (prisoners) is especially touching, and we're able to get a glimpse of how even the guards in the system have surrendered their souls in this "police state".

A great read for anyone questioning how to survive while it seems suffering and injustice are towering overhead. Very inspiring.

If there was only one book I could recommend about firefighting, this would be it. It is filled with easy to read, interesting, and quite possibly life saving tips and techniques based upon the real world experience of Chief Norman and the many other leaders in the fire service that he has learned from. I had the first edition, then the second edition, and now the third. If there is ever a fourth, I'll probably buy that too.

THIS BOOK HAS TO BE A CLASSIC AS FAR AS FIREFIGHTING IS CONCERNED. IF YOU ARE A FIREFIGHTER, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE IN YOUR LIBRARY. YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND UPON IT.

It is widely discussed in fire service circles that this text is an amalgom of FDNY tactical bulletins and other internal documents, such as Ladders 3 and Ladders 4. If so, it offers useful information for fire problems most of us routinely encounter. The 3rd edition has hideously tiny print and is over run by wordiness, but does have additional chapters on WMD issues as well as townhouse/garden apartment fires. There is new text intersprised all through out the book. Norman is a tough read - passive voice, run on sentences and double negatives - but the material is still worth digging through. And hey, the bulding classification codes from the 1st and 2nd editions got corrected.
A must for any working firefighter.

I found this book to be very informative. It helps answer the "what if this happens" questions that every firefighter ponders when they have time to reflect. I definitely recommend picking up this book whether you are an actual officer or firefighter.

I bought this as a text for a class but I'm finding it very thorough and easy to follow with tons of good info.

This book contains four separate sections, one on each of the cardinal virtues. In each of these, Pieper takes a look at the virtue as defined, or often mis-defined by the contemporary world and he contrasts this with how the Church in general and St. Thomas in particular understand that given virtue. What emerges is a picture of true humanity. Often what the world offers us is appealing but insufficient, God calls us to go deeper and strive to reach higher, and in return He promises us true joy. As other reviewers have noted, this is a challenging but rewarding read. The insights it provides leave much to ponder as to how we can truly begin to live more richly in God's desire for us.

Of the three Josef Pieper books I have read (namely i) the anthology and ii) Faith, Hope and Charity and this present one), this has been the best for me. Pieper excels in crystalline clarity of thought; he exudes the wisdom of St Thomas. The brilliance of this book lies in Pieper's ability to see the depth of meaning in things, how we human being are configured towards right order and that when we damage and destroy this order, such as by committing an injustice, we not only damage others but counterintuitively harm ourselves more. Pieper examines Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, shows their ranking in the order of virtues and shows how they interrelate.

Pieper has shown me something I would simply never have come to know myself, namely that prudence (as classically understood, not the cunning of the tactician, as understood in modern times) is the pre-eminent virtue. But, not only that, he shows clearly the true nature of the virtues and distinguishes them from the counterfeit virtues which society labels by the same name. Pieper is particularly good at showing how counterfeits of these virtues are in fact manichaeistic in nature, often showing disdain of the body. Thus, he cites St Thomas as saying that in paradise the pleasure which man derived from the sexual act would have been greater rather than impaired by an over-spiritualism. He is also excellent on anger. The tendency towards an overly spiritualist attitude with disdain for the body has resurfaced in recent years (see, for example, the talks of Anthony de Mello SJ where he indicates that Christ's manifestation of the natual passions, such as anger, is indeed a short coming!). Referring to St Thomas, Pieper shows that "anger" at times may be in fact a manifestation of right reason and the lack thereof may show deep spiritual disorder.

In this book, one finds one continually surprised, almost taken aback by a train of thought. The real star of the book is the Great St Thomas, mediated by the great Josef Pieper!

Simply brilliant reading. Living naturally is what the crux of this book is all about.

The book delves into ethics, civics, justice, philosophy, psychology, and I think it is a healthy tool for understanding classical literature: Shakespeare, for example, and the inner psychology of his characters as this moral plain, that Pieper describes, is so much closer to his than most of what we hear in our modernity.

Pieper, here, spends time defining what the classic moral compass is, taken primarily from the last officially sanctioned church doctor St. Thomas Aquinas. Pieper brings Aquinas and other philosophers' language up to date, for the ears of the modern mind. Christianityfs definition has too much to do with how it's enemies, or alterior users, wish to define it and Pieper spends a short time correcting this in places.

If you liked this you might like Pieper's Virtues of the Human Heart which is a bit less discriptive but more powerful.

Pieper also makes the point that the most important stuggle is the internal struggle for meaning and direction in any organization or person.

Tapping into the core of the western philosophical tradition, Pieper shows the reader how the ancient virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance, have a universal and pressing contemporary application, in the world of human decision making....i.e., the right thinking that clears a path ahead. Formulated out of the Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian traditions, he reminds of their elemental spirtual basis in Faith, Hope, and Charity.

He notes with special emphasis, the primacy of the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence, as the clear eyed and humanly perfectable, effort to take a hard, and as objective as possible, look, at the entire factual context of a decision. And, in one of the most beautiful chapters among many in this wonderful book, is Pieper's elucidation of how this caluclation is aligned and informed by the the Spiritual Virtue of Charity.

I find the book to be both a practical and a spiritual insight into human awareness itself.

I first came into contact with this work because it was a required text for my seminary class on ethics. Pieper is a first rate German philosopher and expert on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas.

If you study this book, The Four Cardinal Virtues (fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence), along with his other book, Faith, Hope, Love (the three theological virtues), you will have a wonderful primer on ethics.

One word of warning. Philosophy is not light reading. I know, it was one of my majors. Philosophy written in German and translated into English produces a book not for the timid. If you are willing to take on the challenge, more power to you. It is worth the effort, but you should know what you are getting into before you put down your money. This is a book for those who want to think and wrestle with ethics. It is not for everyone.

A remarkable tale of Hasidic (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews and the miracles that happened to so many in spite of the ravages of the Holocaust.

A mix of prose and poetry, tears and turbulence, you'll want to read it from cover to cover.

One of the great pieces of literature related to one of the worst times in modern history.

Michael

This inspiring book is one of the best books writeen on the Holocaust. I read the book every year on Tisha B'av, the Jewish day of national mourning and never cease to be amazed, inspired and touched by the myriad of stories in this wonderful book. This copy is being given as a token of appreciation o someone I wish to thank.

Yaffa Eliach is to be commended for collecting and publishing these tales. They tell stories of Jews who despite horrible trials and sufferings kept their faith in God, and their decency as human beings. The paradox is often that only when human beings are subject to the worse trials do they reveal their greatness. These stories are stories of inspiration not only for Jews but for all of mankind.

i must say that I am surprised that no reviews I have come across so far adress what appears to me this books most remarkable feature: Its power of inspiring faith. In fact, I would site this book as one of the most concrete proofs of the existence of God in print. Stories of the divine powers that are granted to the compassionate, the devout, and the faithful surpass all description. Please read this book, I treasure it like a scripture, and the courage, profound faith, and integrity of its characters burns in the heart like fire. i have never wept like I wept when I read these simple stories for the first time, and I continue to draw bittersweet emotional sustainance everytime I read and re-read its pages. There is too many brilliant anecdotes to choose examples, But as I write I remeber the story of the boy whose friend apparently died in a forced labour factory. The young man was piled in the frigid cold of night in a pile of corpses after a terrible illness had left no sign of life in him. The grandfather of the boy kept appearing in his friends dream to tell him the his friend must be "woken up". After the third dream, the youth was more frightened of the dream than of risking his life to escape to where the dead were piled to investigate. The youth found his friend amid the corpses, and when he repeated the granfather's invocation to "wake up", he indeed stirred! The story concludes with the boy warming his friend, bringing him to safety, and survival. It is marvelous and breathtaking to discover that these miraculous and spellbinding stories occurred in the darkest heart of humankind's darkest hours, and that they have been compiled in this manner is a fitting tribute to is subjects.

As far as I know, this book was the first collection of Hasidic responses to the Holocaust to make it out of the "Jewish literary ghetto" and into the mainstream, where it remains a popular read in both Jewish and non-Jewish theological circles. It was also the first collection of stories about Jews who did NOT lose their faith during the Holocaust (most of them, anyway -- there are one or two exceptions in the book.) Prior to this, religious Jews in the Holocaust were portrayed by the media as as "cowards who didn't fight back" rather than the religious martyrs that they were. (Most typical of this anti-religious period is the infamous line from the movie version of Leon Uris's EXODUS: "The only god I believe in is a gun.") I won't go into the politics of it here, but, suffice it to say, the post-Holocaust Zionist movement was more interested in freedom fighters than saints.

The Hasidim, however, had a different view of their suffering during the Holocaust. God had not deserted them, even if He seemed hidden in a time of darkness. The Hasidim were telling their own Holocaust stories around the Sabbath table or at community gatherings but, because most of this telling was oral and in Yiddish, it was unknown to the general public. Enter Yaffa Eliach. As a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, she began hearing these tales from her students. Brooklyn College had/has a high percentage of Hasidic students and, through them, Eliach got to know their parents and other Holocaust survivors, including some of the Hasidic Rebbes. The result is a fine collection of true Holocaust stories that will forever change the way you view Hasidic Jews. Courage, as this book demonstrates, doesn't always mean grabbing a gun. It can also mean hiding a child, sharing your food when you yourself are starving, or meeting death with your human dignity intact. To maintain one's faith under such adversity, to continue studying Torah and doing the mitzvahs even in a concentration camp -- these were acts of true resistance that shine through every page of this book. I give it ten stars!

This book is one of two Henri's books I have and the best one. The book to go through again and again. Then go shoot some pictures and go through it again. You'll be surprized how many fresh impressions you'll get every time. Very inspiring book. Highly recommended for practicing fotographers.

As my favourite photographer, Cartier-Bresson has some kind of impayable discernment. His gallery of Paris is his magnum opus. His Leica, his 50mm lens, his mysterious face... all made him a monumental legend. I bought this gallery (hardcover) in 1995 for the price of $US 50 in Hong Kong. What are you waiting for? Just click it and buy it immediately, you will never regret buying this book.

As my favourite photographer, Cartier-Bresson has some kind of impayable discernment. His gallery of Paris is his magnum opus. His Leica, his 50mm lens, his mysterious face... all made him a monumental legend. I bought this gallery (hardcover) in 1995 for the price of $US 50 in Hong Kong. What are you waiting for? Just click it and buy it immediately, you will never regret buying this book.

I have many of Cartier-Bresson's books, but this is the one I find myself drawn to.

Time and again I thumb its pages and find something in the photographs that I never before noticed.

This isn't some book full of "pretty" pictures in the conventional sense. One has to look at each picture to understand what inspired HCB to capture it.

I have a few favorites photos from this book, but those that stand out in my mind are of the picnic by the Marne and of the little boy carrying two large bottles of wine.

The Marne photo is so well layed out that, if one didn't know better, it would seem staged. That simply wasn't Cartier-Bresson's way. Although their faces are not seen, I "know" what each of the people look like.

The opposite is true of the little boy. His face is there for all to see and interpret. What is he thinking? Is he happy? Is he proud to be showing off for the little girls in the background?

Many of HCB's photos force us to read his mind and the minds of his subjects. These seemingly impromptu snapshots not only depict what HCB saw, but also depict it geometrically.

To someone like myself who has dabbled in "street photography", HCB epitomizes the genre.

As my favourite photographer, Cartier-Bresson has some kind of impayable discernment. His gallery of Paris is his magnum opus. His Leica, his 50mm lens, his mysterious face... all made him a monumental legend. I bought this gallery (hardcover) in 1995 for the price of $US 50 in Hong Kong. What are you waiting for? Just click it and buy it immediately, you will never regret buying this book.