Europe Books

This map is waterproof, wind resistant, easy to fold and easy to read. It probably has more tourist highlights on it than you'll be able to visit in one trip.

After four trips to Rome and being folded & folded & abused, there are still no rips in this map. I get a MapEasy's Guide anytime I can. Easy to read. And, no matter how long between visits, these places never move. Restaurants & hotels may change, but I mark where our favorite places to stay & eat were for future reference.
But mostly I just want to know where an attraction is and the shortest way to get there!!!!

I have 8 of these maps, for cities from Rome to NY. They helped us around in Wash, DC, find the monuments, eating, and points of interest. They are well planned and informative. We just got back from NY and it was just perfect, once again. Having used the "traditional" ones in the past and being a constant traveller, I look forward to our next trips using MapEasy.They are also small enough to fit anywhere.

I navigated my way through Rome for three months using this map. Worked splendidly! The waterproofing and heavy, foldable (and light-weight) construction is brilliant, as I was caught in more than a fair share of rain storms while using the map. Ideal for pedestrians.

My wife and I bought 2 maps for our trip to Rome this one, and the Streetwise Rome map. This one is helpful if you are trying to find places to eat that are inexpensive, but the locations aren't in the same location that it shows you. This happened to us a couple of times, also, some of the stores are closed that it has listed. It is very helpful because it has the Pantheon, Coliseum, and Piazza Navona blown up on the back side which proved to be helpful.

Overall the Streetwise is a better map because it has the names of all the blocks whereas this one misses some of the alleys (which there are a lot of). The Streetwise does have a smaller font but not terribly small like one of the other reviews states.

Also, this map would be much more helpful if it had an index of the streets and piazza's/largos which the Streetwise map does have.

Overall this map is worth the 6 bucks that I paid for it, but the 9 that I paid for the streetwise was better (more flipping the map over because it's two-sided, but better).

Winston Churchill wrote this book during the 1930's while in political exile. His masterful handling of Hitler, Roosevelt, and Stalin is presaged as he tells the tale of John Churchill, who overcame party strife in England, baseness and shortsightedness in coalition partners, and (finally) Louis XIV of France. WSC tell the story with his brilliant flair and style, but he also pauses with the reader to reflect on such matters as how to blunt a violent political storm without being yourself destroyed, how best to handle superiors who will hold you responsible for results but will not let you do the job, and how to act honorably when all of your life's work is thrown away by your enemies. These trenchant insights were pertinent in 1700, in the 1930's, and today. You are in for a treat, read this one.

Winston Churchill was a man who rarely met a topic upon which he didn't harbor a strong opinion that he was willing to share. The Duke of Marlborough is no different. Churchill is clearly enamoured with this relative of his and lets it show. That said, Churchill plainly states that there are two camps on Marlborough and tells the world which camp he falls into. By doing so, he opens up the reader to get a feel not just for Marlborough and his times, but also for the debate by historians that rages around a polarizing historic figure like Marlborough. (Sound familiar to anyone else?) The result is a richly layered work.

Winston Churchill viewed history as something that was alive and tangible and his historic writings capture that feeling for readers. Marlborough's battles - both military and political - come to life in the hands of Churchill. We get to see one of the great military minds of the 18th century push military science closer and closer to its modern form. We also see him perform less well on the political front against his foes there.

Through the entire book, we get to listen to Winston Churchill in his element, telling us a story about a topic he feels passionately about. So many of the trials, trevails, and reactions that Churchill ascribes to Marlborough are so obviously parallels to Churchill's life and his reactions that the book has a clear autobiographical tone to it as well.

Highly recommended for history buffs and for people who want to understand Churchill more deeply.

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, is the uncontested military genius of late Stuart England, the uncrowned political/military heir to William of Orange and the famous ancestor of Winston Churchill. In tandem with Austria's general, Eugen of Savoy, he led the coalition armies in the War of the Spanish Succession, defeating in detail several of Louis XIV's French and Bavarian armies, most famously at Blenheim, but also at Ramilles, Ourdenarde and Malplaquet. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, his wife, the beautiful but intemperate Sarah Jennings, later Duchess of Marlbourough, became a "favorite" of Queen Anne and secured for him (at least for most of the war) the political support that necessary for him to field an army on the Continent for the many years.

As a writer of history, Churchill ranks with Gibbon for his mastery of prose and his ability to use vivid imagery to hold the reader's attention to minute detail. For each year of the Spanish Succession War, Churchill opens with a strategic appreciation of how the Anglo-Austrian forces plotted out each year's campaigns, and goes to great pains to explain the reasons behind Marlborough's various deployments. And he paints on a simply massive canvas: he begins with a detailed account of Charles II's Restoration, of James II's abortive reign (and Marlborough's role in ending it), of William III and Mary II's joint reign (Churchill is NOT a fan of William and Mary) and of the underlying workings of the French monarchy. He is not afraid to address the various failings in Marlborough's character, particularly his secret negotiations with both the enemy and the exiled Stuarts, but does seek to defend Marlborough (and Sarah) from the more libellous charges.

This book was written in the 1930s, politically Churchill's decade of exile (and personally, his worst years of depression). If everyone turned unemployment, financial crisis and depression to such good use, the world would be a far better place.

Winston Churchill, in a relatively well-known bad patch during the 1930s, began to write this history of his famous and much maligned ancestor. The first volume contains the first two books of the original four book set. The life of John Churchill, Duke of Malborough, is both a fascinating look at an historical era as well as a personal portrait of a great military general. Book One consists of a large chunk of history, spanning the downfall of Charles I through Cromwell, to the Restoration of Charles II, through the overthrowing of his brother, the Catholic James II by William of Orange married to James II's daughter, Mary, to the crowning of Queen Anne. The second Book of Volume one concentrates on a mere 3 years of Anne's rule.

I will not reiterate what other reviewers have already said. However, I would add that in the writing of this book, Winston Churchill prepared himself to become even greater than his general ancestor. It can hardly be surprising that as this history was being written, events were conspiring to lead Winston Churchill into the biggest world confrontation ever. After studying the campaigns in Europe of Lord Malborough, it can hardly be surprising that Churchill fully suspected the coming of the war long before his fellow MPs.

This is a scholarly work and shouldn't be undertaken without serious patience. Each of the two volumes are in themselves close to 1,000 pages long. The history is written from the point of view of a defender, though Winston Churchill is careful not to gloss over details that might cast an unfavorable opinion of his ancestor. Well worth the effort.

BOOK TWO -

Since I reviewed Book One, I felt it was important to follow up with a review of Book Two of this work. My initial comment is that sticking with something this huge is a task in itself, but often the reward is hard to describe. For me, I feel each time I finish a huge work like this (or Hegel, or Kant, or ... well, anything "Big") I sense my own mind has been exercised a bit. It's a reward in and of itself.

Firstly, like Book One, this is really Volume Three and Volume Four of the a Four Book series bound together in Two mammoth volumes. Reading these 2000 plus pages is like running a marathon: the beginning is difficult, then you break the pain barrier and coast for quite a long while until the last staggering climb to the finish. In Book Three we continue with the war of Spanish Succession. These 500 pages are essentially concerned with the gigantic battles Marlborough fought. It was a time in which his glory was highly esteemed. As we get into Book Four, much like Book One, the narrative returns to the over all political scene which dominated and brought down the Great Duke. It is also the point where the reader might become overwhelmed again by both the multifaceted political machinations as well as the constantly revolving names (John Churchill becomes the Duke of Marlborough, etc.)

However, for all these difficulties, the overall sense from both volumes is as thorough and detailed and enthralling as history can be written. There can be no doubt that Winston Churchill, as he surveyed the ever-mounting rearmament of the Germanic states and looking over the ancient maps of Europe imagining both the current and past, felt an immense burden of responsibility. By undertaking the task of "reforming" The Duke of Marlborough's image, he delved deep in to the vaults of history and warfare. It was not surprising that at the same moment he should be the first to recognize (at least in Britain) the significance of Hitler's intensions.

One other thing struck me as fascinating about this era. The whole course of European politics, war, peace, and financial stability were tied up in the lives of three bickering women: Sarah (Marlborough's wife), Abigail (cousin to Sarah), and Queen Anne (whom both served and guided with gossip and whisperings.) Out of this small time period bore the seeds of Napoleon, the American discontent with England, and Slavery. Big stuff.

I recommend these Four volumes (two books). The paperbacks are perhaps overstuffed, though. Book One split right down the middle. I was more careful with Book Two, though my hands suffered from it. Perhaps spending the money for the hardback editions in this case is worth it?

Winston Spencer Churchill's biography of his ancestor, John Churchill First Duke of Marlborough, stands out as a restoration of Marlborough's reputation, an account of England under the reigns of Charles II, James II, William III and Queen Anne, and an in-depth military and political history of the War of Spanish Succession.

WSC gives us a picture of the whole man, including his faults. One of WSC's purposes is to rescue Marlborough's reputation from the attacks of generations of historians. The book becomes a brilliant defense and of course it cannot be unbiased. WSC is Marlborough's defense attorney, not his judge.

By the 1920s, Marlborough had been called miserly, greedy, ambitious, duplicitous, disloyal and treacherous. As he recounts Marlborough's life, WSC continually picks up an episode that seemingly illustrates one of these traits, but turns it around.

Where unsympathetic historians saw miserly habits, WSC saw thrift and WSC goes further. Marlborough was miserly when it came to his own needs, such as when he insisted surgeons cut his stocking along the seem so that it could be resown. Yet he paid his army's bills and wages on time; apparently this was unusual in those days. He paid, from his own discretionary funds, which other generals often pocketed as a matter of course, for military intelligence that proved crucial to securing many of his victories.

Where accusers saw ambition needlessly prolonging a difficult war, WSC presents Marlborough has being bound by duty to achieve the best results possible, and to reject a timid peace, which would have left Europe in the hands of a despot.

WSC has a more difficult, but no less successful time defending Marlborough's continued correspondence with St-Germain, the exiled English court of James II and later his son, as recognized by Louis the XIV. The problem here is that today such acts would indeed be treason, but in the seventeenth century they were part of the normal workings of diplomacy, war time or not. After all, if passports and safe conduits were routinely given to enemies to allow them to rest and confer in between campaigns, it could not have been that unusual to keep in touch with people one knew, even if they were officially enemies.

WSC also presents Marlborough's most important relationships: with his wife Sarah Jennings; with his military ally Prince Eugene, with whom he won at Blenheim; with his political colleague Godolphin, who secured funds for his military work; with the kings and queen of England from James II to George I;

But WSC does accuse Marlborough on occasion of having been unwise. He is particularly critical of the Duke's obsession with his palace at Blenheim (where WSC himself was born). Marlborough didnft want an opulent residence, rather he wanted to leave a monument that would survive centuries and remember his name to future generations. WSC writes that as such Blenheim was a failure: it added nothing to the Duke's reputation and the worries it caused may have taken years from his life. Winston Churchill must have felt his biography was a better memorial to his ancestor.

This is an excellent book for parents. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. This book helps you see your weak points as a parent and offers you solutions to fix them. It is very easy to understand and relate to. I would really recommend this book to all the parents and to those who are looking forward to have kids.

I was especially pleased with this book being muslim for only the last year of my life. I can honestly relate to this book as well as begin to understand what aspects of raising a muslim child are important. I am expecting my first baby girl in july and will always hang on to this book. I'm sure I will read it 5 more times in the years come. Easy to read, easy to understand. Thank you.

Salaam'a'lakum,
Ibrahim Hawk

This book is extremely beneficial to existing or soon-to-be parents living in any westernized society. It contains the solutions to dealing with every-day difficulties parents face in managing their familes, as well as numerous real examples that make this book all the more easy to understand. It also demonstrates how Islam provides practical and efficent ways of maintaining good family life.

Alhmadu Lillahi Rabbil 'Alamin ... This beautiful book wasgiven to me as a gift, and I have found it very interesting-andinsightful. I am a Muslim-American, so this book helps me relatebetter to children who grow up in America, following Islam. I amdoing some graduate work in Elementary Education, and I find that thisbook ties in a great deal with that subject, as well. I wouldrecommend this book to a Muslim and a non-Muslim--especially a teacheror parent who's interested in relating better to Muslim children andtheir families. Overall, it is a very positive book.

I purchased this book for parents of one of my students, as a present; and then apologized to them for reading it before they got to see it. I opened it, just to take a quick peek, and found it so interesting I didn't want to set it down.

The excerpts from the Qu'ran, the insights into the values of American Muslim families, the balance of heart and head, make this a wonderful book. This book has nothing to do with politics - it is purely about parenting and the priorities Muslim families place on providing guidelines/boundaries with love, for their children.It has a very good section on the affects of television on all families,and the importance of both setting limits and talking with children about what they see and hear in the media.

The book gives non-Muslims a rare glimpse into the parenting messages of the Qu'ran and to see the similarities in families of ALL faiths when it comes to child rearing.This book is definitely worthwhile reading for teachers who want to be more sensitive and supportive to Muslim students and their parents.

This book provides a powerful message, so much so, in fact, that I bought a second copy just so I could share it with friends. The line dividing western medical practices and those based in nature (Eastern, Native American, etc), is becoming more and more blurred. This book may help open the reader's mind to techniques beyond those that our practitioners provide.

This is an extraordinary book about a conventional nurse executive who is led by her work, her family and her destiny to explore Native American healing to heal her daughter and her family history of traumas around birth in five generations.

In the course of her work in the Sioux Valley Hospital in South Dakota, she met and befriended Wanigi Waci (Spirit Dancer), a Native American healer of the Lakota Sioux who was ministering to patients served by her hospital. Wanigi Waci offered classes to the hospital staff in cultural sensitivity, to help the conventional medical personnel appreciate the traditional ways of healing of his people.

Koerner's daughter, Kristi, nearly died in birthing her first child, requiring an emergency caesarian section. Her son nearly died of an infection due to the prolonged labor. He had repeated hospitalizations for respiratory infections during his first six months. Kristi's second pregnancy was marked by diabetes, hypertension, toxemia and preeclampsia. In both childbirths, Wanigi Waci was present, unbidden, and enormously helpful with his Native American healing treatments.

Koerner went on to study and participate in the healing ceremonies of the Sioux. She shares from her many lessons of the heart and spirit, in a book that is hard to put down.

Koerner is clearly gifted as a nurse and as a teacher of the essence of nursing. She shares many insights around conventional and Native American healing.

Koerner's integrity as a healer who walks her talk is evident in the stories she shares about her healing journeys. What she writes of others is also true of herself.

Hopefully, Koerner's pioneering work with Wanigi Waci will open more nurses and hospitals to healing collaborations and spiritual lessons.

This is a great book and a powerful message. It is a must read for everyone associated with health care.

This book is a wonderful exploration of intergenerational caring and the power of the mother daughter relationship. Willing to do anything to save the life of her daughter, the author, who is herself a well known registered nurse, explores the depths of native american medicine and its healing powers. This is a wonderful book, I have given it as a gift to all the important women in my life.

This outstanding book should push back the horizon for every nurse dealing with persons of differing faiths, healing modalities and cultures. It may help to eliminate bias and lack of information regarding self healing. It should be useful to both the healing professions as well as the general public. I caution the reader against drawing any personal conclusions about the author's content until the entire book has been read for the content is a complicated mix of biography and theory.

My Life is a fascinating book. I was most attracted to the style in which Trotsky took responsibity for his mistakes. He didn't try to blame others for what happened at Kronstadt. My Life is a wonderful show of a great and bizarre life. Since the McCarthy era, it has become fashionable to slander revolutionaries or look for "Physcological" motives. My Life is written from a bias, but it certainly has none of taint of an author who tries to discredit someone smarter than them. My Life also show Trotsky as a complete person- bound by unbreakable ties to an idea. My Life is written as many different things- half autobiography and half history of the revolution. The only thing I found bad about My Life is how absorbed it is in its time. My Life is entertaining and readable, and includes some rather funny incidents- like Trotsky naming his socks after Soviet leaders. The only fault is that My Life requires a basic understanding of events to be fully understood. For instance, if you haven't the foggiest what permenant revolution is, you may need to find out. My Life is idea-based, and challenges readers to discover those ideas- and then to do something about them. Buy the book-it is worth a $1,000

Today we expect our political memoir writers to take part in a game of show and tell about the most intimate details of their private personal lives on their road to celebrity. Refreshingly, you will find no such tantalizing details in Russian Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky's memoir written in 1930 just after Stalin had exiled him to Turkey. Instead you will find a thoughtful political self-examination by a man trying to draw the lessons of his fall from power in order to set his future political agenda. This task is in accord with his stated conception of his role as an individual agent at service in the historical struggle toward a socialist future. Thus, underlying the selection of events highlighted in the memoir such as the rise of the revolutionary wave in Russia in 1905 and 1917, the devastation to the socialist program of World War I and the degeneration of the Russian Revolution especially after Lenin's death and the failure of the German Revolution of 1923 is a sense of urgency about the need for continued struggle for a socialist future. It also provides a platform as well for polemics against those foes and former supporters who have either abandoned or betrayed that struggle.

At the beginning of the 21st century when socialist political programs are in decline it is hard to imagine the spirit that drove Trotsky to dedicate his whole life to the fight for a socialist society. However, at the beginning of the 20th century he represented only the most consistent and audacious of a revolutionary generation of Eastern Europeans and Russians who set out to change the history of the 20th century. It was as if the best and brightest of that generation were afraid, for better or worse, not to take part in the revolutionary political struggles that would shape the modern world. As Trotsky notes this element was lacking, with the exceptions of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and precious few others, in the Western labor movement. Trotsky using his own experiences tells the story of the creation of this revolutionary cadre with care and generally proper proportions.

Many of the events such as the disputes within the Russian revolutionary movement, the attempts by the Western Powers to overthrow the Bolsheviks in the Civil War after their seizure of power and the struggle of the various tendencies inside the Russian Communist Party and in the Communist International discussed in the book may not be familiar to today's audience. Nevertheless one can still learn something from the strength of Trotsky's commitment to his cause and the fight to preserve his personal and political integrity against overwhelming odds. As the organizer of the October Revolution, creator of the Red Army in the Civil War, orator, writer and fighter Trotsky he was one of the most feared men of the early 20th century to friend and foe alike. Nevertheless, I do not believe that he took his personal fall from power as a world historic tragedy. Moreover, he does not gloss over his political mistakes. While one would not want to be on the receiving end of his rapier tongue neither does he generally do personal injustice to his various political opponents. Politicians, revolutionary or otherwise, in our times should take note.

The phrase "Life is Beautiful" in the Italian film came from Leon Trotkys's last testament. It was written in exile in Mexico. At the time Trotsky's friends, family, and comrades were being harassed, slandered and murdered by Stalin, when he himself faced imminent assasination. He also faced death from the growing illnesses that had slowed him. Yet, in his testament he proclaimed that life is beautiful. Life must be cleansed of the evil and garbage Capitalism and Stalinism have left to this world.

Read this book and you will see how Trotsky's life became valuable for him because he decided to fight oppression, decided to learn about the world to fight, and never stopped fighting. Maybe your life can be beautiful if you read this book, and decide to fight like Trotsky did.

The introduction by the late Joseph Hansen Trotsky's secretary in Mexico is worth the price of the book. Joe explains how the household and work center in Mexico functioned, about how Trotsky valued hard work, but also valued celebrating comrades birthdays, hobbies like raising rabbits, trips to sites of Mexican history. Reading this also tells you how Joe organized the staff at World Outlook/ Intercontinental Press, working with him was one of the great privileges of my life.

In these pages and memoirs of Trotsky by Joe, George Novack, Farrell Dobbs, and other comrades who knew Trotskty, you could find how serious Trotsky enjoyed and embraced life. In Turkey if he wanted to go fishing, he went to sea with Turkish fishers in their trawlers. If he wanted to raise rabbits as a hobby, he soon was taking care of something bordered on a commercial rabbit farm. Both in valuing work--chained to his desk was the term Trotsky passed down--and valuing parties and celebrations of new people coming onto the staff and leaving, Trotsky made his life beautiful.

Read this book, valued as much as a literary work as a political statement, and learn how you can make your life beautiful.

This is many books in one. A fine autobiography from a literary point of view, a historical document with brilliant insights into the time period and major players, and, most important, a rich and sustained polemic in favor of a life of commitment to revolutionary, working class politics. Trotsky dedicated his later life to keeping alive the continuity of Lenin and the Russian Revolution, and what a fascinating, courageous life it was, full of prison, exile, escape, insurrection, and more exile. Trotsky was an inspiring man of action, one of two or three figures who matter most to the working class. The politics of the working class struggle for total human emancipation is the piston that drives both the man and his autobiography.If not available from Amazon, booksfrompathfinder will have it. Click on "New and Used" near the top of the page.

When I decided to write this review, I had to choose between the various reasons why it's so beautiful and important. But, above all, I think that, in a world where the necessity of Marxist was supposedly to be more deeply felt than ever, what repels most people that would be liable to lend an ear to it is the repelling Stalinist mythology of the revolutionary as the relentless, ruthless, single-minded, google-eyed fanatical. Trotsky, on the contrary begins by assessing that, although his life was out of the ordinary, he neverthless remained a men with a penchant for a well-ordered ordinary life; that he found pleasure in seeing a well-ordered table or a well-kept fence; that he didn't becomne a revolutionary out of a feeling of opression, but because of being faced with a life that, although prosperous, offered him nothing but grey drudgery and no opprtunity for individual achievement; that he, like all revolutionaries, was a man like any other. I think that would be reason enough to commend this modern classic to the reader of today, outside from the wonderful style, the importance of the events narrated and so much else.

I will be brief,a man as large as life as Mussolini was , no one but he could write with his vast knowledge of the political turmoil that was slowly tearing Italy apart in the early 1920's.Too bad he came to Italy in the 20th century instead of the 21st!Getting involved with Hitler and his war gives Western writers an opportunity to demean this man.If you take the time to read this you will find the man to be both highly educated and relentless in his faith for the Italian people to move progressively into the 20th century.Buy this book!!!!

This book is actually a compilation of Benito Mussolini's memoirs set approximately 16 years apart: the first being dated c. 1928 only eight years after his Fascisti 'Black Shirts' had assumed power in Rome by plebescite; the second being dated c. 1944 when the Fascist party in Italy was able to retain power only with Germany's occupation and Mussolini's 'rescue' by German forces.

When it comes to Mussolini, most modern readers immediately compare him to Adolf Hitler even though they understand little of what brought fascism to Italy or why Mussolini was so well received at home and abroad. Contrary to what many believe, Mussolini never had a very high opinion of Adolf Hitler and tried desperately to form a political pact with France/England with regards to Italy's future: Mussolini remained opposed to Hitler because Germany was unified with Italy's arch-enemy, Austria: Mussolini formed the ill-fated axis alliance only at the last minute when he was unable to get the concessions he wanted and Germany formally declared war against France in 1940. It would be his demise as Mussolini and his party would lose power in Italy by 1943 and, instead of the great empire they had promised to the Italian populace, Italy had become a vassal state occupied by the German military: Mussolini himself being nothing more than Hitler's puppet and mouthpiece. Thus, through his memoirs, we can follow how he was a favorite defender of freedom against Boshevism in the 20s and 30s adored by the US and England, to becoming nothing more than Hitler's lapdog by 1943.

This is a very important book where, by his own words, one can measure the man for who he was. Unlike Hitler's rambling anti-semitic diatribe in 'Mein Kampf', Mussolini's papers address purely political and social questions adding with his rather pompous flair that he and his Fascisti are an indispensable to the formation and prosperity of the state. He explains why he was motivated to act and describes the political environment he found himself in fighting the socialist, communist, and capitalist interests in Italy. His memoirs are not only interesting from a historical perspective, but also from a political one in that they provide a lot of insight as to the events that were responsible for the development of fascist doctrines in Europe in that period of time.

I bought this book on the belief that it would explain to me the very essence of Italian Fascism. Although some important themes and ideas of Mussolini's fascism were discussed, I was disappointed with the lack of detail and expansion. However, I was enthralled by Mussolini's elegant writing style.I found the Duce's view of his own history - however biased - very informing. It gives an intimate view of early 20th century Italy,and in particular, the mood of the Italian people(especially the war veterans). The book's two parts, the first written well before the Second World War and the second during the war, offer a stark comparison of the different outlooks on the world that Mussolini possessed - he was once popular and arrogant, then hated and bitter. The book offers an extraordinary opportunity to take a deep and intimate look inside Mussolini's soul, as well as a thorough - however biased - examination of Fascist Italy. A must for anyone interested in the Duce, Fascism's general themes or World War II in general.

one of the best book I have read.
You do not have to agree or disagree with Mr. Mussolini to enjoy this book. Because you can learn a lot about the will power, the determination, and the courage of the man.

This book is a combination of several primary sources related directly to Benito Mussolini. The first "My Rise" was Mussolini's account of how he came to power in Italy. It has its uses but the reader should be ware that it does omit several parts of his rise to power and it is worth keeping a good Mussolini biography close at hand to compare the account with. "My Fall" is a compilation of about a dozen articles penned by Mussolini about the time that occurred from the Grand Council meeting to the establishment of the Salo Republic. Overall these provide an interesting look into Mussolini's mind and a chance to understand what he considered important in his life. The accounts are well written and Mussolini does an excellent job of recounting the parts he feels are relevant. It is with an eye towards revisionist history but despite that the documents can still be useful. All of the preface and introductions are done by top notch historians and do an excellent job of putting things in perspective.

In 1919, the international community saw the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, an agreement between the King of Iraq (Faisal) and the eventual president of the World Zionist Organization (Weizmann) that set reasonable conditions for mutual recognition of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an adjacent Arab Nation. Today, a large number of Middle Eastern nations refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. Ever wonder what happened? This book offers a significant piece of the puzzle.

This book focuses on the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, and his influence in funneling anti-semitic, Nazi propaganda into the Middle East. From reading this book, you will learn about Al-Husseini's frequent meetings with the Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, Al-Husseini's push for extermination of the Jews and his responsibility for disseminating volumes of ludicrous Zionist conspiracy theories into the Middle East. You will also learn about Al-Husseini's significant influence on Yasser Arafat and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The appendix of this book also contains a number of historical documents, including meeting transcripts, letters of correspondence and other relevant documents such as the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement and the Balfour Declaration.

I have a few complaints about this book. First, it is too short. Second, there are many egregious spelling errors, which is very unprofessional. Most importantly, although I think Morse has made a compelling case to argue al-Husseini's influence on the modern anti-Israel facet of Islamic terrorism, I think he overlooks the most significant driving force behind Islamic terrorism: religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, this is a common oversight of many religious conservatives, who often seem too overzealous in identifying secular roots for acts of terrorism.

Overall, this book is an important chapter in the ideological origins of Islamic Terrorism.

Author would do better if he was not so repetitive. Still it is worth reading as one realizes that Islamic Terrorism is not a new thing starting in recent years, but has deep historical antecedents.

Haj Amin al-Husseini represented the opposite of the noble Emir Faisal Ibn Husein, the enlightened Arab King of Hejaz who had cordial relations with Chaim Weizmann and wanted to achieve a peaceful Middle East with co-operation between Jew and Arab.

Unfortunately Al-Husseini's ideology of hatred won out. As Grand Mufti of Jerusalem he spearheaded the imperialistic or utopian strain of Islam that has turned into a modern hydra. In 1920 he organised the murder of Jews who were praying at the Wailing Wall, and he never looked back. Throughout the rest of his time in Palestine he furthered his murderous designs because of the British policy of appeasement, with further campaigns in 1929 and from 1936.

In the 1930s Al-Husseini became a proponent of Hitler, eventually settling in Berlin where he encouraged the annihilation of European Jews and planned to become the leader of the Arab world in expectation of an Axis victory. He unceasingly promoted the Holocaust and Nazism amongst the Arabs. This strain of Nazism was a blend of National Socialism and fundamentalist Islam that would make deep inroads into the Arab world.

After the war Al-Husseini fled to Cairo where was instrumental in accommodating fleeing Nazis and organising for the destruction of Israel. The hatred of Israel now took on a Leftist flavour as the Soviet Union became the champion of the Arab cause. Arab leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser, Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat were all influenced by his hateful ideas.

Al-Husseini did not only target Jews, but also moderate Arabs and the free West in general. Nazism was the spiritual and physical bridge by which Islamic extremism became prominent in the Arab world. He introduced the demented belief that utopia could be achieved on earth by the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jews.

This malevolent Islamo-Fascism is the cause of much of the misery in the Arab world today and at the root of the hatred of non-Muslims, particularly the United States and Israel. In this, the extremists are assisted by international leftists. The Western democracies are now tasting the fruit of a decades long policy of appeasement towards this odious movement and its demonic founder.

But there is still a chance that the legacy of Emir Faisal might prevail, although recent developments in France and Europe as a whole do not look promising. Al-Husseini was without doubt one of the most evil personalities of the 20th century as meticulously documented in this revealing book.

Plenty of black and white photographs enhance the text, illustrating Al-Husseini's meetings with Nazi and Arab leaders, and of Bosnian Muslim brigades in World War II.

There are nine indices with documentary evidence of the historical narrative. Appendix A is the Balfour Declaration of 1917, B provides excerpts of the correspondence of King Faisal, C is the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement of 1919, D provides a dialogue between Lord Peel and Husseini from the Palestine Royal Commission Report.

Appendix E gives the minutes of a meeting between Hitler and Al-Husseini, F is an excerpt from the diary of Al-Husseini on his meeting with Hitler, G is a letter in which he asks the Hungarian government to send 1000 Jews to their death in Poland instead of allowing them to escape to Israel, H is his address to Arab-Americans and I is the Palestine National Covenant that denies the right of Israel to exist.

The text concludes with a moving prayer for the state of Israel by the Chief Rabbinate. It is a prayer that all true Christians would do well to heed and incorporate into their worship in these trying times. The book concludes with notes, an index and biographical information on the author.

I also recommend The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy by Stephanie Gutmann, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood by Michael l Brown, Dream Palace Of The Arabs by Fouad Ajami, Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror by Nechemia Coopersmith, Myths And Facts by Mitchell G Bard and Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam And The American Left by David Horowitz.

Peace: The Arabian Caricature of Anti-Semitic Imagery

This is an important book for many reasons, especially for providing one especially significant and important aspect concerning the origin of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The author's thesis is that Al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, successfully merged his Islamic fundamentalism with the theology of Hitler's National Socialism. He supported the final solution in Europe, rallied Muslim troops to support and perpetuate the final solution, planned to import the Holocaust to the Middle East, and influenced future Arab generations. As a historian, the author pulls together many esoteric events (such as the Weizmann-Faisal peace agreement)that may surprise those who thought they knew the history pretty well. Morse illustrates how one individual can spread enmity and hate for thousands across generations. Recommended for those who want to gain more insight.

A very informative and revealing book on the role that Al-Husseini played in bringing about the dangerous situation in which we, in all the world, are living today. It leaves many questions unanswered, though, like: how or why the British, and later the French, favored this psycho so unashamedly. The crimes of this devilish man being left unpunished -even covered-up- claim for an explanation that is not offered here.

About 130 pages of fast and furious read. Very relevant to understand today's crisis between the suicidal West and the paranoid Muslim world. It has some very good analyses of the Palestinian conflict. It covers many issues related to the terrorism suffered by Israel thru the personal observation of relevant figures, not only Al-Husseini.

A book covering the whole 20th century, and practically the whole world geographically.

The Holocaust denial that is emerging in some parts of the West is a clear sign (as referred to in page 100) of more trouble on the horizon.

Do you still not know that God will bless those who bless Israel, for truly it is His people? So, also, he will crunch those who mistreat her.
Things pass slowly but surely. This short book gives a tremendous global view of what really matters in the world today. Capture the vision.

In the poignant story of his father's service in WWII, the author presents a moving portrayal of the sacrifices made by all soldiers and their families. Through his father's letters home, the author has also provided historical information about the 110th Station Hospital which arrived in England December 1942 as part of the build up in anticipation of D-Day. As a descendant of an Army Nurse who served with Dr. Carter, I find this book to be an absolute treasure, finally shedding some light on her service in WWII. If you have ancestors who served in the war as Army Nurses, doctors or foot soldiers, this is a book you should read. If your ancestors served with the 110th Station Hospital, this is a must read. And since it is only about 200 pages, it is perfect for younger readers, too.

I heard Walter Carter tell this story before he put it on paper and yet, despite that fact, I was riveted by his telling of it again. This slim volume is a wonderful read and a very personal recounting of the sacrifices endured by the sons and daughters of Brokaw's "greatest generation." Read it for the history, for the story and for the lasting impression it will leave with you.

I traveled with Walter Ford Carter and the Normandy Allies (www.normandyallies.org) of Rochester, NY to Normandie, France, in Summer 2004. I heard Walter's story of his father's WWII experiences in person and visited the field where his father died near St. Lo. I had read the story of Dr.Carter before this trip and was very touched by the human-ness and how Walter reconstructed his father's and mother's war years through love letters and documents. This is a worthwhile read of a personal WWII history.

Furthermore, my father landed in the 5th Wave on D-Day. He died in 1995 and Walter inspired me to do some digging to fit the pieces together of my father's history with the 5th Engineering Brigade. Baby Boomers with veteran fathers and mothers will gain insight and understand the war years--and the silences kept by our parents over a horrific war.

Read this book. You won't regret it.

The book is a personal story of a man trying to come to grips with who his family was and what sacrifice really means to those who are left behind to pick-up the pieces of their lives after the father/husband was killed in the 1944 Normandy campaign. Mr. Carter, one of the co-authors of the book and son of CPT Carter, successfully communicates who his father and mother were - whether those stories were done for their childhood days, young adult lives, CPT Cater's military experiences, and the later days leading to his mother's death. The sacrifice of the Carter family was not only the death of the father, but also those who were left behind. Sacrifice and love are threads that hold this story together. This is a very good read.

Military history focuses on battles and campaigns in linear time stopping and starting around the time of the war. WW2 Memoirs cover in greater detail the lives of the particpants usually before and during the war but usually stop there or only give a brief postscript. This work is unusual because the author tells you up front the basic story and then unfolds it from there. The knowledge of Norval Carter's fate looms like a shadow over the story but nevertheless his death and his son's (the co-author)discovery of his father still will bring the tears when you get to those pages. This is a story about the meaning of courage, sacrifice and the meaning of being a father and husband. The story covers the events of the war and the buildup for D-day in enough detail that even someone with no knowledge or interest in military history will enjoy and understand this story. At a slim 199 pages it is a very quick read. I highly recommend this book for anyone.

I just got done reading this book.Although I was skeptical at first because I get bored easy.I dont know if it was because I know the authors son or if it was Mr.Courtney's quick wit that kept me glued.I found myself asking the same question,"is Courtney going to ever take this war serious?"Through his faith in God and himself,I believe that is the reason he made it home.What I've learned from this book is that.Lifes a journey embrass it and live life to fullest.I will be keeping this book for my children to read.Thanks Kelly for the recommendation.And thank you Mr.Courtney for my freedom and my childrens:)

The thing that aways amazes me is how many really good memoirs have come out by veterans of WW2. The extraoridnary events that they lived through made such indelible impressions that very similiar stories can be told by countless story tellers and they always seem fresh. This is a very descriptive well written account and the author comes across as the kind of guy you'dove to meet. Highly recommended.

My father served in Co G, 104th Regiment 26th Infantry - a sister company to the author's. He refused to talk about the war. When he passed away in 1990, I found his short written memoirs penned during recuperation from wounds suffered in Germany while in an English hospital. Reading this book alongside his memoirs was an incredible experience for me. It filled in many blanks by being much more complete - yet was absolutely true in time, place, and tone with my father's notes. It was like he came back and finally decided to tell me his stories. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Richard D Courtney's 'Normandy to the Bulge' book is a well done account overall. Courtney was a Pfc with the Yankee Division (26th Infantry) in a 57mm gun platoon. Unfortunately the author does not go into too much detail on the various combat actions he was invloved in but there are a few tidbits I thought you might find interesting.

-The 57mm gun had removable gun shield extensions. He said most folks would take these off after awhile because the extra weight and having them bang around was annoying. They figured the thin metal wouldn'd help much against enemy fire anyway. Might be nice for some divirsity to have a few of your 57mm guns without shields.

-He talks a lot about the 'truck' that pulled the guns. He finally states it was a 1 1/4 ton truck. He never mentions half-tracks at all.

-Every enemy tank he mentions is a Tiger! I can't believe they all were so I wonder if this was just lack of detail on his part, foggy memory, or the old cliche that every American thought the German tank they were facing was a Tiger?!

-He notes the ineffectiveness of the 57mm gun against tanks and how they had to try and get side shots. They relied a lot on the TDs to do the real work. He was with the gun through the very end of the war. He talks about acting as infantry a lot with the guns left somewhere especially towards the end of the war.

-He mentions that the German AT guns were very well balanced and easy to move by just two guys. The 57mm gun he said was very unbalanced and very heavy and awkward to move even with four guys.

My dad was in M, Co. 104th Rgt. same as author. I lost him on Memorial Day 1969 before he ever had a chance to discuss his experiences as I was only 20. I have been searching for people who were there, and in finding this book, it showed me very clearly how proud I am of him. Thank you Richard for sharing this with all of us.

Just buy it. You won't be sorry. Great images and lots of informative discussion of imagery.

I am using this book as a text in school and I am quite impressed. I bought this book (hardcover) for half the price of the paper back version sold at my school. The text in interesting, not dry. The images are good reproductions. The only thing that I don't admire about the book is that some of the images are printed in black and white.

I think that I am like many people in that my knowledge of the Renaissance Art of Northern Europe comes from a few lectures in a college art history survey course. A few iconic images from the likes of Bosch, Holbein,Durer and Breugel are all that come to mind. I knew the era was important but the details were sketchy.

"Northern Renaissace Art" is everything you could want to deepen your knowledge of this important period of history. The book is 750 pages long and has over 680 illustration of which 250 are in beautifully reproduced color. James Snyder does an excellent job of explaining why those iconic paintings that everyone knows are great and deserve to be remembered 500 years after they were painted. More importantly, Snyder takes those second tier masters out of obscurity and elevates them to their proper place in history. Before reading this book, I had never heard of such masters as Jan Gossaert, Jean Fouquet and Petrus Christus. It was a exciting to get know their work. By no means is "Northern Rensaissace Art" a reasonably priced book. But it is the type of book that will give you great pleasure for many years.

I am using this book as a text in school and I am quite impressed. I bought this book (hardcover) for half the price of the paper back version sold at my school. The text in interesting, not dry. The images are good reproductions. The only thing that I don't admire about the book is that some of the images are printed in black and white.

Books on the Renaissance can be quite confusing to non-specialists. For example, Shakespeare classes in English schools discuss him as a Renaissance writer. Yet art teachers describe his near contemporary, Rubens, as the quintessential Baroque artist!
So exactly what does Northern Renaissance Art cover? Is it an age that can be separated, marked out and surveyed by political or religious activities? And by northern what is meant? Is Switzerland the home of northern art? Can it be made in Italy? And what makes it significant and different from the universally recognized world of Italian Renaissance Art, where the term 'art' is always capitalized?
Well, the truth lies pretty much with all of the above. As Snyder shows, several distinct cultures fall into this very large historical category. If you're buying this book as a student for a class, I can only hope you have more than one semester to give to the material. Northern Renaissance Art covers an enormous time period and many countries. It approaches in diversity the far better known works and ideas of the Italian Renaissance. No one seriously discusses the Italian Renaissance in a single semester - the material is taught in a series of classes. The same limitations and requirements should apply to teaching the Northern Renaissance. Art history today no longer focuses on aesthetic questions of style; as a result a student faces a lifetime's study of a period's culture and history.
However, there are some basics. If one word could define what separates the two worlds of the Italian and Northern Renaissance - that word would have to be naturalism. Northern European artists revel in achievements of realism that far surpass the Italians, who, while perfectly capable of such stylistic work, prefer a more intellectually formalized approach. Indeed, Michelangelo dismissed northern artist's attention to nature and care for photographic details as incidental, and excessively ephemeral, when contrasted to his Italian art which used images for projecting deeper spiritual values. The public, however, was delighted with the landscapes, and their non-abstract openness. Many artists from the north specialized in landscape, and it became a manner so associated with them that it was not uncommon for Italian painters to hire Northern artists to fill in the 'less important' landscape backgrounds of their larger canvases.
The Italian Renaissance differed also in that it was singularly connected to the revival and reappreciation of ancient 'pagan' works of art. These antiquities provided a challenge, as well as a reawakening, for the artists and thinkers of Italy. In the north artists did not have at hand magnificent works of ancient architecture or sculpture: as a result intellectual challenges were quite different; though initially tied to the Italian thinking, the northern artists more and more shifted focus onto their own immediate world. As the fifteenth century closed they became attuned to newer discoveries from the exploration of new (not ancient)worlds by sea, and the individuals emancipation brought about through the beginnings of Protestant thought. For moderns this means that the Northern Renaissance often appears closer to us and our own post photographic record of the world. The artist's sense of intimacy with nature seems little different than what most of us know as landscape art. Their religious works also convey a striking ease with space less contrived than our eyes find the representation of space in most Italian painting of the same era. All made the more attractive for being so accessible. Some of this difference marks profound religious and philosophical differences - northern art has about it some of the fervor of emancipation - there is here a reflection of the Armana naturalism revolting against the old art of a more dogmatic less individualistic Egypt. Eventually Italian artists would adapt to this new naturalism, especially in the north of Italy in Venice, in the works of Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian.
This book introduces the reader to the early Flemish master painters, such as Van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, the later great German artists, such as Durer and Holbein and Grunewald, and the strange inner universe of Bosch. Topping off the age are the works of one of the grandest of all humanists, Pieter Bruegel the elder. And these are just some of the great painters! There remains a wealth of sculpture and architecture, drawing and craft work. Moreover, the Northern Renaissance is also an artistic universe filled with fresh new theories and a milieu profoundly effected by the great religious upheaval of the Reformation.
Snyder gives as good an overview of so much material as one could hope for - his work replete with an enormous number of images, many of which have for nearly half a millenium been accepted as iconic. The text treats the material with a practised consideration, born of many years study. However; the impetus of the book is to direct the reader further afield, and this is indisputably the author's greatest achievement and the point of such a survey work. The real jewels for readers will be enlarging these discoveries by travel and on site awareness, these efforts made more satisfying through study of specific texts directed at the new artists whose work transforms your view of what the Renaissance was.