History Books

You can't read a history book without these two volumes. You get not only maps but a terse narrative (nearsighted people without their glasses only, please) of everything pivotal that ever happened. How could they take these (in paperback form, very portable, as someone else pointed out) out of print?????

I have worn out two sets of these atlases. Every time I read a book of history, historical fiction, alternative history, or one with historical references, or watch the history channel, this set of books has allowed me to envision the geographical aspects of what I was seeing or reading. It has satisfied my curiosity on countless occasions. No other historical atlas has been up to this standard. It reports the facts, ma'am, just the facts. Others have included politically correct opinions. I wish I could find another set. It is disappointing to find that they are out of print.

'The Anchor Atlas of World History, Volumes I and II' are two references evey intelligent reader should have, as soon as they have gotten their unabridged dictionary. I am a real wonk for maps, and for me these volumes are like a free pass to the candy store.

This piece may really be more of an argument for why you really need these books than any critique, primarily because that for the average book buyer, there is very little with which to compare these books.

It should be no surprise that these volumes are translated from the German, as our continental cousins, especially the Germans, French, and Italians are ever so much better at compiling useful references to scholarly subjects. For some reason, the English and, by example, the Americans seem to have little talent or inclination to take on this kind of work. Although the English, especially the Oxford and Cambridge publishing arms do a very good job at some subjects, especially history.

One of the best things about these volumes is that they are 'pocket sized'. One of the worst things about these volumes is that they are pocket sized. While I really appreciate the freedom they give me from quarto-sized pages which catch on my clothing as I balance them on my stomach while trying to read them, they do have very small maps which, I suspect, were a lot bigger in the original German editions. These picture make the Roman Empire fit in a space not much bigger than my palm. Hispania and Jeruselam were never closer!

History is such a rich subject that it really cries out for some good guide to help you find your way, especially in those periods and lands which seem to be left out of my grammar school curriculum.

To take just two very unhistorical fields as examples, I am listening to music of 15th century from Arab Andalusia. A check of the spread of Islamic expansion up to the time of Columbus shows that it was not so much the Arabs (residents of the Arabian Peninsula), but Islamic northern Africans who probably colonized the Ibearean peninsula, so their music has a lot more in common with Morocco than it does with the Levant. Not that I can really tell the difference between 14th century Moroccan from 14th century Lebanese music, but If I were to explore this further, I would have been spared a few dead ends. Another example is the food of modern Spain which owes almost as much to the Berbers of North Africa as it does to its original Roman colonists or later colonial influences from the Americas and the far east.

In general, there is simply no way one can appreciate the complexities of, for example, the political divisions of central Europe from Charlamagne to Napoleon without a map as you will find in these volumes. And, there is much more here than political history, but I feel the authors have wisely concentrated on political history.

One does not even need the text, and I rarely read it, unless I happen to be looking at a time and place which is totally beyond my ken.

If you read any kind of nonfiction or historical fiction, do yourself a favor and buy these volumes!

This excellent resource is no longer out of print. Penguin is publishing soon in Britain an updated two-volume, paperback version (see the Amazon.co.uk site). A one-volume, hardback French version is already available in Canada and France (cheaper in the Amazon.ca site). In both cases, search for the authors, Kinder & Hilgemann.

These enjoyable little pocket books take a Cliff Notes approach to history. In a highly abbreviated text, the authors summarize everything from the Cambrian explosion to the Stamp Act of 1763. No important detail is left out.

Now this level of historical detail is available in many formats. What really sets the Anchor Atlases apart is the superb maps and diagrams. The power structure of Byzantine Rome, the campaigns of Alexander and Hannibal, 16th century Indian internecine warfare, etc., are all finely laid out in easy-to-understand, surprisingly comprehensive, illustrations.

The book's major limitation is it's 1975 publishing date, leaving out not just the past 3 decades of history, but also the significant advances in historical learning that have been made in that time as well.

Nonetheless, wonderfully informative and enjoyable.

Angel Cats is a wonderful reminder THAT the presence of a Divine Spirit, usually attributed only to the best humans, informs our feline companions as well.

The story "Throwaway Kids and Throwaway Animals Found Each Other" alone is well worth the cost of this amazing collection of stories. Linda Lansdell who shared her story helping inner city troubled teens grow into responsible and loving adults is a very good writer. And it all happened because of the animals that the inner city teens helped care for. All the stories in Angel Animals are good but this one story hits home on what animals can do to help change human lives for the better.

I bought this book and read it after reading Allen and Linda Anderson's other book titled GOD'S MESSENGERS: What Animals Teach Us about the Divine. ANGEL ANIMALS is a feel good and thought provoking book to read! All the well written stories offer a unique viewpoint on the special (some would say spiritual) bond we have with our pets and with animals in the wild. Dr. Marty Becker writes a wonderful foreword and endorses the spiritual theme of the book with enthusiasm. I highly recommend this book and the Anderson's other book, GOD'S MESSENGERS!!!

The connection between animals and people is quite profound. The lessons about fidelity, love, caring and relationships are all in this book. My husband and I took time each day to read one of the stories out loud. I can think of my experiences with various animals I have had and realize the spiritual connection.

Great book about humans and animals! Good reading material for young and old alike.

Well done Mr. Prata. Great book. Great fighting scenes. You can smell the flesh, the stink, the gun powder. You pushed me to go to Malta and see the battle scenes where Christian Europe future was saved. Great sentences, great leadership, just great. Some sentences I will ever remember like: "They have all the men in the world, captain (meaning Muslims) and the answer - Throw them!" or "Thousands man here are more than milion promissed!"
I regret these Knights are history, pity we do not have such leaders today. Highly recommend for all who love historical fiction with great leadership and excellent fighting!

This book isn't overly long at around 300 pages, but it's tight, every page propelling the story forward. And what a story! The turks are on the move and they intend to flow across Malta like a tsunami, sweeping away all resistance as they prepare to march on Rome itself. All they need to do is crush a small band of knights who make Malta their home since they were expelled them from Rhodes by those same Turks just a few decades before. With overwhelming force, the Turkish armies and navy descend on the rock and bring to bear one of the most devastating bombardments known to history. Outnumbered five to one, these Knights of St John are doomed! Or are they?

This was no mere "sit and wait until the starve" siege, this was steel on steel, cannons blazing action where thousands were struck down only to reveal thousands more still coming. Prata succeeds in conveying the overwhelming desperation of the situation and the hardships endured, the brutality and dehuminizing impact of this most intense siege perhaps in history. Definitely recommended!

To praise from other reviewers I would like to add a heartfelt "WOW!".

I just wonder how come Hollywood hasnt already made some Grand Epic based on this historical heroic episode.

On the PC angle one must say that though the story is told from the Christian view of events, the author makes it clear Turks and muslims were just as much heroic fighting and dying for their beliefs. If St Elmo's defenders were made from true hero stuff, the Janissars and others that led charges against its walls stepping over thousands of their own dead friends surely must be fairly said to be heroes too.

A true, historic and total battle of heroes from all sides that puts to shame even the Trojan War (mostly a legend, btw)

This is my kind of book! Some 300 pages devoted almost exclusively to among the most vividly depicted battle scenes I've ever read. Loved it, though the novel might have benefited from being a tad less battle-heavy and a bit more integrated, if you will. The novels of V.A. Stuart are good examples of what I mean. Still, "Angels in Iron" is the most unputdownable novel I've read since Peter Forbath's "The Last Hero".

OK, the book isn't perfect. There are some grammatical errors. On page 88, for example, Nicholas Prata writes that "less men reached St. Elmo". And there are occasional narrative problems. On page 279, Prata writes that "He [La Valette] was not content to allow the Turks to slip away unmolested, but planned to give Mustapha yet another wound to nurse upon the long journey home". Really? Well, maybe so, but we don't hear of this plan again, let alone of its implementation. To be sure, Mustapha is bloodied one last time, but that event has nothing to do with La Valette. Also, speaking of La Valette, was he always strategically correct? Prata accepts that he was, with little or no reflection. Well, while La Valette is exceptionally admirable (how badly we need him and his Knights today!), I thought that aspects of his St. Elmo strategy left much to be desired. In costing the Turks far more blood than they should have shed for that piece of rock, La Valette won the battle. His men could and should have been removed to fight another day -- and without the slightest tarnishing of honor.

All that being said, this is a terrific read.

This is just an exceptionally good read! It's chocked full of action that while graphic at times still has class about it. There's intrigue and side storylines to add to the overall interest. And, militarily speaking, it's realistic in that the reader is informed about how logistics and morale played as important a role in the final outcome of the siege as did weapons and tactics. I found it almost impossible to put down!

"The space program's grip on the public imagination had begun to fade even before the first moon landing," write Charles Murray and Catherine Cox in their can't-put-it-down history of the engineering side of the American manned space program.
They add, "Whether this was inevitable or an unlucky juxtaposition of Apollo with Vietnam and domestic upheaval will never be known." Or maybe the main reason was NASA's insistence on two phony images: one, squeaky clean (and boring) personalities for all hands; and, two, the no-sweat attitude to crises.
Had NASA told the stories Murray and Cox tell, the public would have been thrilled and appalled.
We have long known that the astronauts were not squeaky clean. Astro Walt Cunningham let that cat out of the bag in the mid-'70s in "The All-American Boys." In "Apollo" we learn that the engineers were humans, too. One is described as "Butch Cassidy born 100 years too late," which is probably overstating it, but you don't operate the most complicated mechanical system in history by being timid.
"Apollo" also reveals that the "no-sweat" attitude was false. There was plenty of sweating, although NASA's engineering culture required everyone to remain composed at all times.
The really terrible crises were known to the public, if poorly understood: the testing fire that killed three astronauts and the fuel system failure that nearly stranded Apollo 13 in orbit.
Other problems that were potentially just as serious were successfully covered up by NASA, a bad habit that cost it its reputation later on.
But the unraveling of the causes of these engineering dustups reads like a mystery novel, or, a closer comparison for those who have read it, the epidemiological reporting of Berton Rouche.
What, for example, would make a rocket lift two or three inches off the pad, then shut its engines off and settle back? The answer: A technician had filed a tiny bit off one prong of an electrical plug.
Anyway, the people who designed and built spaceships were emphatically not computer nerds -- once you understand what they were up to, scientists and engineers are always interesting. This is certainly the case with the launcher specialist Werner von Braun, a mass murderer.
Murray and Cox say, "no such charges were substantiated" against Hitler's rocket scientist. They are wrong.
Von Braun's V-weapons were built by 30,000 slaves at an underground factory camp called Dora. Thousands of these slaves were worked to death, starved or slaughtered. This factory was not run by Braun's team but it could not have functioned without the intimate advice of the rocket scientists. With complicity goes guilt.

This story will pull you in and make you feel part of the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century.

This book vividly demonstrates and proves just how incredibly creative and focused AMERICANS can be when focused on a single goal of beating someone(Thank God for the Russians back then)when we didn't care about being so"POLITICALLY CORRECT". We as a nation could really use these people's dedecation and hard word as an example and work to fix this "POLITICALLY CORRECT" country now.

We used some parts of this book in our Systems Engineering lecture, at Turkish Military Academy Defense Sciences Institute (I was a student at the lecture). Later I purchased the book and read the whole book.

Of course I am not in a position to state the correctness and completeness of the contents. I rely on other people's comments on these criteria. But accepting the contents as correct and complete, the book clearly describes how a huge R&D project can be run (or can not be run), from every point of view. It is the next best thing after participation in a such project.

I believe every engineer and technical administrator has many things to learn from the book.

I highly recommend the book. I do not know whether it is also used as a lecture aid in other academies. If it is not so, another recommendation the the lecturers: The book contains one of the best case studies.

This is an excellent book covering the inner workings of the Apollo program. It does not focus on the astronauts or the missions themselves, but more about the people on the ground in Mission Control, the engineering challenges of Apollo, the management of the program, and NASA / Washington politics about space exploration at that time. Some chapters are so well done, they read like a thriller and you can't stop turning the pages. It also covers well the most important personalities of Apollo.

After reading this book, I realized how much we have lost the memories of what is probably the most incredible achievement in humankind's history. Shockingly enough, most people think about Apollo about being a thing of the past, while it is in fact our future.

Reflecting back on the sad end of the Apollo program (the plug was simply pulled in the mid-70s without any kind of follow up), it is a shame that we have lost all these years. Just imagine if we would have persevered with more missions, the eventual setup of a moon base in the 80s, moon exploration of resources, etc... Who knows where we would be now in 2007 ? Perhaps on the verge of a Mars mission, or Jupiter ? We would have impressed new generations with the same sense of awe-inspiring achievements and exploration that Apollo did 40 years ago. These emotionally inspiring achievements are the ones that elevates humankind to new heights, and this is probably the strongest feeling I felt about Apollo after reading this book.

This is a very informative book. It certainly shed light on a shameful slice of American history.

This is history book in the purest sense of what a history book should be yet this book is much more than a history of American Violence against African Americans, it's a history of how civilization can be repressive and savage despite it's seemingly enlightened ideology. Philip Dray doesn't hold back in painful details of lynching, the dynamics and psychology behind the mob mentality, and how people actively seek to uphold an illusion of law and order from the bigoted vigilantes to the unsympathetic courts. Collectively we have tried and still continue to try to supress the history of slavery and the bloody history subsequent racial violence. This book needs to be required reading in our schools as a counter to other so-called history texts admonishing certain fathers of the nation.

Dray's account, while often disturbing reading, is an essential for anyone who seeks to understand the lynching phenomenon in the United States. Scholarly, but accessible, the history's gruesome recountings of lynchings are balanced by the tales of those individuals and organizations that fought, often at great personal peril, to bring an end to this national disgrace. This meticulously researched volume is recommended for the professional as well as the lay historian. It is a cautionary tale, but ultimately one not without hope.

This book was not only shipped within 2 days but in new condition. The book itself is very informative about other things than lynching. It talks about various people related to the anti-lynching movement tons of other things. I'm currently using this as a text book for a college class. This is a great teaching resource! Buy the book, you won't forget it!

Quite possibly the best, most well-researched book I've ever read. A smooth read, impeccable use of historical sources, and a clear narrative account of the most tragic era in American history. For scholars who research or teach in the area of social control, legal, and extra-legal punishment, you *cannot* have a full grasp of the topic unless you read Dray's work. A fine work of history...the author is to be commended.

"Autumn Lightning" by Dave Lowry appeared to me as a combination of biographical sketch mixed generously with Japanese History, and Spirituality.

The book (for me) was in itself, a "Fair Read," but not necessarily one that will become part of my spirit. Much of this could however, be due to my age. While reading this book, I was often reminded of the movie; "The Karate Kid." In that movie; "Daniel Larusso" becomes "Miyagi-fied" and is turned into a great Marshal Artist. Likewise, Dave Lowry in this book becomes "Kotaro-fied" and emerges as a great Occidental swordsman.

I own one other book by Mr. Lowry on the "Art of Kendo" complete with photographic examples, and many teaching comments that have been very helpful to me.

Mr. Lowry writes and teaches out of sheer devotion and love of the subject, and for this; I truly applaud and respect him! I believe this to be a worthy book but, probably for a younger individual looking for a mentor of desciplines that help to develope spirit and physical attributes.

Dave Lowry offers a perspective in his books not often available to the Western martial arts practitioner - a considered interpretation of modern martial arts in the context of traditional (koryu) arts.

Written in a exceptionally approachable style, Lowry tells the story of his introduction to martial arts, interspersed with anecdotes from Japanese martial history.

Lowry's books provide me with insights into my own training and have helped me grow as a martial artist. Rather than the simple discussion of technique, his essays delve into the "-do" of the arts

One of my all-time favorites, it's recommended reading for all of my students. Mr. Lowry's story is similar to my own. He tells his tale with crisp and humorous writing that has you on the edge of your seat and then lets you sit back and chuckle. A wonderful classic.
If you don't have a copy, you're really missing out.

This is a great read for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu of swordmanship. Woven into this history are the events that lead Lowry into studying this Ryu and his dynamic interaction with his Sensei.

I've recently reread all the books I have on martial arts, Japan, Japanese culture and history. When I find a passage that really strikes me, I underline it and dog-ear the page. After finishing the handful of books I already have, I came to Amazon to find more. Dave Lowry's book seemed interesting from reading the first few pages available online. Little did I know I would be underlining and dog-earing most of the pages in the rest of the book! An excellent read for new or experienced readers in Japanese history, culture and/or martial arts. I highly recommend it!

This is a "slice of life" report on the reality of what is really happening in Iraq. It is nice to read a report that doesn't depend on the control by the neocons that is part of an embedded journalist's story. He was the first author to bring to me the news (since confirmed by Congressional hearings) that the Iraq "parliament has for over two year voted against our occupation of their sovereign country, wants us to set a date to leave, would help us to leave, believes that we are causing the problem, and refuses to give our country their oil. Se Congessional hearings on U N mandate for occupation of Iraq. M L G

I am placing an order for this book once I am done writing this 'review'...so, no I have not yet read it...but I have been reading Dahr's reports for the last 3+ years - you can subscribe to his dispatches at his website - and have found his work to be a hugely grounding element in my thoughts and feelings of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dahr in NYC in 2005 at one of his presentations on his trips to the country. I asked him how he ever came to the incredibly corageous decision to go to Iraq and he told me that he felt that if he *didn't* go, didn't do something, his head was going to explode. To be so motivated to actually put himself in a war zone is the kind of sincerity and passion that is sorely needed in the journalism of our time.
Dahr Jamail is one of my heroes.

Thank you Dahr for heeding the call to take you to the places few Americans allow themselves to go. This book is a true testament of the degree of devastation and misinformation we in the US are at times oblivious to. This book is a must read. Thank you for your life and for your calling.

Journalism has been called the "first draft of history" and Dahr Jamail's work is most certainly that. His book is an eyewitness look at the events of the war on Iraq from street level and through the eyes of the Iraqis, unfiltered by any official spin. For anyone wishing to make sense of the Iraqi peoples' reaction to the American invasion and occupation this book is indispensable.

One can feel the inevitable insurgency brewing by even the second chapter as the local people react to a foreign occupier who appears to care nothing for their well being. Politics being perception, whether the reader wishes to believe the Iraqis' account of the events or not, this book is a window into why the insurgency had so much popular backing.

I have my own opinions on the war and why America invaded but it is not my purpose to state them here. What I am hoping to do is convince prospective readers that should they wish to take a hard, unflinching look at Mesopotamia under American occupation and why things turned out the way they did this is the best book they can pick up.

Many histories will be written of Iraq at the beginning of the 21st century and works like "Beyond the Green Zone" will serve as their foundation.

If you read only 1 book about what is going on in Iraq, due to the Bush/Cheney manipulated/illegal Occupation, this is without any doubt, "The Book To Read"! Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq

Thanks go out to the "Unembedded Journalist in Iraq" and author, Dahr Jamail, for his "Courage and Truthiness"!

Sgt. Allen G. Riegel ret
US Army 3/25th Inf. (VN)
wounded Vet

I read "Cache Lake Country" in 1968. I was delighted to find it in print again...like meeting an old friend.
Thank you.

I have read a lot of outdoor books over the last 40 years, and this is one of the best. I am going to research the author, John J. Rowlands, because he was obviously a fascinating man who lead a very interesting life. This book tells about 12 months living in a cabin on a lake in Northern Onatario. At the time Rowlands was working as a timber cruiser, evaluating forests for use as lumber. He happened upon his ideal lake and was lucky enough to get stationed there by his company. He was also very lucky to have two great friends living within miles (within signaling distance via the various drums, horns etc. they engineered), on other little lakes. Together the three lived every outdoor boy's dream life of independence and adventure. This book has stuff about canoes, wild animals, sled dogs, snowshoes, knives, axes, the history of the lumber camps, and many boy-scout like craft projects. I just wish it was a lot longer.

A good book but I didn't think it was as easy to read as friends lead me to believe. A tremendous amount of reference material, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I found the book enlightening and informative. Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy and learn from this book.

I'm going to be a little less enthusiastic, but only a little, than some of the other reviewers here. I really did like this book, but for some reason it just didn't quite pull me into the time, place, space the way it did some others- although it didn't miss by much.

This is a very unique book-probably reminding me of my old Boy Scout Fieldbook (a little more detailed and survival-oriented than the handbook) more than a typical non-fiction work. The illustrations are great as well as occasionally light-hearted, and if you are at all handy or have an engineering or for that matter, culinary bent, you will find plenty of recipes and blueprints for food, tools, gadgets- even crystal radio sets or birch bark canoes. While some of these you'd probably have to find some supplemental information to make, most come so well described and diagrammed that you could probably build them or bake them directly from the book.

For me the best part is the author's midwest and at times almost cowboy way of describing life. His time around rough loggers in the days when horses and two man saws were still the order of the day especially captured my imagination. Like many readers, I'm a lot hermit, and the thought of life in a cabin in the north woods with nothing but snow, bear, moose, and wind has a certain charm, and I'm grateful to Rowlands for giving enough of a story to enjoy a bit of that charm vicariously. An excellent and unique book, and for some it will probably become a treasured possession.

I am what is commonly referred to as a Civil War buff, what ever that means, and I feel compelled to write you about the work of Timothy B. Smith.

My biggest frustration about a lot of books on the civil is the lack of good quality maps that allows the reader to get a sense of who was where and what was happening on the battlefield. How one could write an account of a battle with out good maps is beyond me.

The maps in Champion Hill are fantastic. Not only for their clarity but the sheer number of them is truly amazing. Needless to say I loved them.

The style of his writing actually left me with the desire to pick it up again to see how things were going on the Middle Road and the Jackson Rd., just like a good mystery book.

I give it an A+.

Keep'em coming but don't forget the maps !!

The reviews tell the story. This is a great book. Champion Hill isn't one of my areas of interest, but every time I saw this book, it ended up in my hands until my wife yelled for us to go. If I were to write a book about my favorite lesser known battle, this is the way I would hope it would come out. Exhaustive research, flowing text, sufficient photographs, and some of the best maps that I've ever seen. There are plenty of them, very detailed, and thank you Mr. Smith for breaking them down to individual regiments! He wraps it up with an Order of Battle (thank you!) and a zillion photographs of the battlefield today (thank you again!). It would be hard to top this book. Even if you aren't into Champion Hill or Vicksburg, you'll love this book for the job the author did. Incidentally, check out his "This Great Battlefield of Shiloh.." as well. I look forward to more works by this author.

Timothy B. Smith's "Champion Hill Decisive Battle for Vicksburg" is a must read. A little known battle but one of great magnitude. Many historians have often over look the battles that led to the doom of Vicksburg. Leading up to to Champion Hill were the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond and Jackson. Timothy B. Smith keeps the story flowing and leads you breathless to the climax at Champion Hill. Such research is much needed and is so well written I could not put the book down. This book is a instant "Classic". The book has lot's of maps to help the reader understand the battle geologically. The timeline is easy to keep up with, which is often very hard to do in a Civil War battle. Also included is a very nice selection of photo's to illustrate the participants as Timothy weave's you though the thick Minnie's. One minute you are charging forward with victory and the next minute you are running for your life!

CHAMPION HILL is, unequivocally, the best non-fiction narrative of a Civil War engagement that I've ever read - and that includes works by Shelby Foote and James McPherson.It generally concerns U.S. Major General Ulysses Grant's capture of Vicksburg, but is more specifically about the crucial Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, 1863, which essentially sealed Vicksburg's fate by forcing its defenders back into the city, around which Grant ultimately established siege lines.

The volume's initial fifteen pages briefly summarize Grant's various abortive attempts to take Vicksburg from the north before he was able to cross his Army of the Tennessee to the Mississippi's east bank south of the city on April 30. The next ninety describe the preliminary battles at Port Gibson, Raymond, and Jackson. The bulk of the book, 280 pages, concerns itself with the Champion Hill collision between Grant's forces and Lieutenant General John Pemberton's Army of Vicksburg. There's a penultimate 12-page chapter on the battle's aftermath that includes Vicksburg's capitulation on July 4, and a concluding 11-page postscript chapter on the post-battle and post-Civil War careers of the numerous commanders that are named (and pictured) in the text. Finally, there's a 10-page Appendix with the Order of Battle for both armies, thirty pages of Notes, sixteen pages of contemporary battlefield photos keyed to a reference map, and a 12-page Bibliography. I suggest that author Timothy Smith has penned a battle narrative as satisfyingly complete as any you'll ever come across.

Champion Hill was a seesawing, day-long, complex affair, the account of which will likely spellbind the reader to the point of emotional exhaustion. What I found most impressive was the extreme lucidity of Smith's description of the various military units' maneuvers across the landscape mostly described at brigade and regimental levels. The evolution of the Champion Hill clash is traced by forty - count 'em, 40! - marvelously illustrative maps rendered in black, white and gray that coincide at all times with the textual narrative. Smith even goes so far as to depict the field positioning of units during and after disintegration and, in some cases, their subsequent reformation and re-entry into the fray. At no time was I in the least confused about the tide of battle and the organizational identity of the combatants. These battlefield maps demonstrate how such should be constructed, but which so often are not in otherwise faultless works.

For Grant, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, Champion Hill was another close run thing - more so than it should have been. Generally speaking, each side suffered from committing its forces piecemeal - Grant because of overcautious orders to his chief subordinate on-site, commander of the XIII Corps Major General John McClernand, and Pemberton because of inadequate intelligence as to Federal troop dispositions combined with a rancorous relationship with division commander Major General William Loring. Particularly speaking, the Confederates perhaps lost Champion Hill because of a wayward ordnance train that handicapped beleaguered rebels in the face of fresh, but the last, Union reserves at a critical point of confrontation.

CHAMPION HILL is an obligatory read for any student, casual or serious, of the Civil War. I was sorry to come to the end of the story, a reaction usually reserved for fiction.

Being a novice to the study of the civil war, I found this book to be helpful in my pursuit of knowledge about the Battle of Champion Hill. It was well written and easy to read. Not being one who necessarily understands military tactics or maneuvers, Timothy Smith's book allowed me to follow the battle with a clear understanding of troop movements and placements and was enhanced by the excellent maps. Having read the book prior to a trip to the Vicksburg area, the battle came to life for me because of the knowledge gleaned. I especially enjoyed the personal accounts, pictures and bios of the officers and soldiers.

I think this battle is best summed up by a quote from the book about a young Iowan, Sam Byers, that said, "But, on May 16, 1863, he was just a frightened young man standing with hundreds of other frightened young men looking up the slopes of Champion Hill in an effort to stare down random death.." This is definitely a book that every serious student of the civil war will want in his or her library.

Wow- that's entertainment. Who knew blankets could be so fun and interesting? Now I do! A unique era in American history is crystalized in this book. If Barry writes it- I'll read it. Laughed out loud- often.

Superb- buy it and will it to your favorite child.

"Chasing Rainbows" is beautiful, profoundly informative and more fun to read than any collecting book you've ever owned...period!

I received this book as an early Christmas gift and now I'm buying a dozen copies to give to friends and family. This is the most beautiful and interesting collecting book I've ever read. The author is remarkably funny while delivering all the information on the subject anyone could possibly absorb. Just a fantastic effort.

Most books about collecting have lovely photos and dull text. This is an exception! Friedman's text is fun and helpful, with photos used as examples.

I own a massive library of books on every imaginable collecting subject and none has given me more joy than "Chasing Rainbows". Barry Friedman has intertwined his vast knowledge of Indian blankets, American history, the antiques business and garnished the result with a unique sense of humor and breathtaking photos to create a book that is an absolute gem. This is a great book from a very gifted man.