Irish Books

A remarkable feature of this book is unusual combination of depth and breadth. Long-term social, political and economic dynamics consistently remains in the limelight of analysis: suffice it to recall names of Tocqueville, Toynbee, Drucker, and Bell. Yet even against such illustrious benchmarks, the book is fresh, original, and - as a pleasant surprise - engaging to read.

The depth of the book is in exploration of why some institutions are more amenable and adaptable to change than others. The main hypothesis is simple yet plausible: The less hierarchical and more horizontal are society' institutions, the more adaptable and productive is the society. Take, the problem of alcoholism, for instance. Sweden is consistently more efficient in dealing with it than most other countries because it is largely non-state activity (although the government does provide a conducive framework for it), organized through a variety of horizontal and voluntary associations. Going from mundane to more dramatic, take a phenomenon of revolution. From the perspective of the book, any revolution is a sign of inflexibility. The deepness of the book is analysis (although such analysis is in its infancy) of organizational structures which institutionalize horizontal and network architecture of society. Network is easily the most frequently used terms of the literature but all too often networks are discussed as inherently informal, as emerging in addition to formal principal- agent institutions. The breadth of the book makes it an engaging read. The author juxtaposes, for instance, Stalinist Soviet Union and fascist Germany without falling into simplification. Again, a skeptic would say that after H. Arendt such juxtapositions are not new, but the author does add fresh features.

The author is not your typical academics. He has been an official in the World Bank and Minister of Finance of his native el Salvador. He is a `thinking doer': his interest in analytics and theory is eminently practical. This `thinking doer'' perspective in Latin America proved eclectic and, for that reason, eminently insightful. Suffice is to recall Albert Hirschman' refreshingly original contributions or more recently Carlota Perez' (who is from Venezuela) 2004 book on how long-term co-evolution of financial and technological structures opens up opportunities for leapfrogging.

I enjoyed thoroughly this book and, more importantly, I learned allot.

The Triumph of the Flexible Society is essential reading for: national or international policy decision makers, for policy thinkers and designers, and for anyone who wants to understand what is happening in the world today. This really includes everyone.

The book does many things to help us cope better with the world of today.

Manuel Hinds provides a strong and clear conceptual framework to understand why, extremely rapid change in societies leads them to become defensive -- protecting rents and privilege -- and autocratic. In cases of extremely large and fast change, like the industrial revolution, many countries were unable to cope and ended up in bloody totalitarian regimes. The stresses of change caused by the industrial revolution led France to go from the enthusiasm of the 1789 revolution to the bloody vertical autocracy of Napoleon. The same thing happened in Russia; it went from the energy of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, to the long Stalin tyranny, one of the most autocratic and bloody periods in Russian history. In Germany, the same forces of change started to open the society in the Weimar governments of the 1930s, only to end up in the horror of the the Nazi regime a few years later.

Manuel Hinds lucidly explains what is happening today by analyzing what the connectivity revolution is doing and why its embarking all of us into a new period of "mega" change. Then he elucidates us as to the large risks that history can repeat itself --again. We may be now in a paradise of openness, competitive markets, individual rights and democracy, but the stresses of defensiveness and reaction are brewing all over the world. In its rapid and increasingly ubiquitous unfolding -- affecting everyone, in their work, culture and identity -- the connectivity revolution is leading many individuals and countries to unleash the same autocratic reflexes that we suffered in the past processes of massive change.

If there is one book you read thus year , I suggest you read The Triumph of the Flexible Society.

Manuel Hinds' book "The Triumph of the Flexible Society" may not only change the way you think about the world, it may change what you "do" about the world. Hinds has written a profound analysis of the way in which different societies deal with the forces of change. Hinds focuses on two major changes in technology-the industrial revolution and the revolution in connectivity. The connectivity revolution, now only in its early stages, includes, but is much broader than, globalization. Revolutions of this magnitude create opportunities, but at the same time they destroy imbedded capital and existing labor skills. Losers in this revolution may seek to maintain their positions in society by impeding change and many will want to restore the order of the past by seeking refuge in one or another form of fundamentalism. Countries that have strong, flexible and horizontal institutions will reap the benefits but countries with vertical, authoritarian structures are more rigid and more likely to attempt to protect the established order. The open, liberal society will be threatened by forces from without, but, more importantly, from forces within. Hinds use his framework to analyze the destructive regimes of the 20th century, Nazism and Communism, and the plight of the developing countries. He also seeks to provide us with the understanding we shall need to cope with the coming revolution in connectivity. This is a "must read" for anyone attempting to understand and deal with the forces behind past and present social, political and economic developments. - Millard Long

In my view, this book contains remarkable analysis and insights into how contemporary industrial culture and society is evolving in response to the world economic and political situation. While some of the earlier chapters are not easy to read, one of the later chapters contains a highly original analysis of recent changes in American culture and society and what has caused these changes that I have not seen presented elsewhere and which I think are right on! I think, while Manuel's conclusions are valid, some are troubling in their implications with respect to the future health of American culture and society. The book also addresses changes in other countries in response to the same stimuli. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in understanding how contemporary American culture and society are evolving and why.

When I read Kristen Dabrowski's Twenty 10-Minute Plays for Teens it made me wish I was a teenager again.

The writing is extremely witty and as every good actor knows, you need to have a character that goes on a journey, a character that changes through the course of the play. Some playwrights find this a hard graft when they have an hour and a half to prove their point, so it amazes me that Kristen Dabrowski can do this in ten minutes.

Teens won't be disappointed.

I purchased this book for my sister who teaches drama to teenagers. She loves this work. It's funny, touching and speaks directly to the kids. I would recommend Dabrowski's books to anyone who wants to introduce quality material to young performers.

After reading Ms. Dabrowski's first book, I was intrigued to see what else she could produce, especially for an age group that's difficult to please when it comes to finding material that both they like and that adults can appreciate too. While many kids are starting to read Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and the like at this age, it's hard for them to associate completely with those works. Having short plays, on subjects that are close to home and that they can relate to, makes more of an impact, and Ms. Dabrowski doesn't disappoint with this latest installment. She hits a lot of home runs - 20 of them, in fact, with this book. I highly recommend reading-- and acting -- the plays in this book.

A lot of the plays are about about trying out for plays and seeing if you got the part, etc. That made it easy to get into the parts and a lot of characters are like people you already know. I liked the plays that were more dramatic, that are harder to do but more rewarding. I think high school students will like the book for these plays especially since they have more serious themes. Not all of them are dramatic -- the comedy plays are good for aspiring actors and actresses because the dialog is fast and the timing is really important to get down.

This is a slight revision of my review of the hardcover version. Such a good book should be affordable. Hiram Morgan's monograph is an excellent study for any reader interested in early modern British or Irish history. One cannot understand the contemporary Protestant versus Roman Catholic distrust, animosity, and cultural divide in Northern Ireland without understanding the English Tudor's racist Irish policy of colonization.

One of Morgan's major contributions is to put the causes of Tyrone's Rebellion into the even broader context of late 16th century Europe, where the Protestant-Catholic religious divide, intensified by the Catholic Counter-Reformation, shaped national and international politics, while at the same time, the centralizing tendencies of nations like England conflicted with the lordships of Ireland. Morgan places the England-Ireland conflict within the same overarching political and religious context as the Spanish war in the Netherlands. Catholic Spain supported the Irish rebellion.

The author is no polemicist. He has grounded his study in English and Irish manuscript sources and Spanish archives and supplied readers with decent maps, and an important revisionist interpretation of this crucial but strangely overlooked rebellion.

Tyrone's Rebellion was led by the controversial Hugh O'Neil, the earl of Tyrone. This outbreak was the culmination of growing Irish animosity towards intrusive Tudor policy, but as mentioned above, according to Morgan it was not mere "Tudor rebellion." Despite the Tudor's usually successful strategy of divide-and-conquer, the ignorance and heavy-handed tactics of Elizabeth I's English administrators managed to unite the Gaelic chieftans with the Anglo-Irish (English or Norman expatriates who had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves") in opposition to English plantation and pacification under the leadership of O'Neil. O'Neil was his own man, and Morgan refutes the old steretype that O'Neil was the "creature" of Elizabeth's court. The rebellion was fomented in 1593-94, broke out in 1598 Battle of Yellow Ford), and lasted until 1607 (after Elizabeth I had died, and been succeeded by James I).

Tyrone, the "arch rebel," ultimately came to terms days after Elizabeth's death, and went into exile (the famous "flight of the earls"). Robert Devereaux, the earl of Essex, and one of the queen's favorites, was not so fortunate. His personal ambition, military incompetence, and defiance of his majesty's orders cost him his life. While the fate of such elite persons (along with the great apologist of English policy - poet Edmund Spenser) is well known, one of Morgan's minor oversights, which is common in most books about this era, is a lack of attention to the appalling fate of the masses of English and Irish who were slaughtered on both sides of this early version of total war. Half of Ireland was destroyed. The result was famine, disease, and anarchy. The war cost the stingy Tudors a fortune in expenditures and debts. But England prevailed and secured Ireland from being a threatening base of operations for Catholic Spain or France. The "flight of the earls" - the "wild geese" - scattered throughout continental Europe, signaling the decline - but not the end - of Gaelic Ireland.

Hiram Morgan's monograph is an excellent study for any reader interested in early modern British or Irish history. One cannot understand the contemporary Protestant versus Roman Catholic distrust, animosity, and cultural divide in Northern Ireland without understanding the English Tudor's racist Irish policy of colonization. One of Morgan's major contributions is to put the causes of Tyrone's Rebellion into the even broader context of late 16th century Europe where the Protestant-Catholic religious divide shaped national and international politics. The author is no polemicist. He has grounded his study in manuscript sources and Spanish archives (Catholic Spain supported the Irish rebellion).

Tyrone's Rebellion was led by the controversial Hugh O'Neil, the earl of Tyrone. This outbreak was the culmination of growing Irish animosity towards intrusive Tudor policy. Despite the Tudor's usually successful strategy of divide-and-conquer, the ignorance and heavy-handed tactics of Elizabeth I's English administrators managed to unite the Gaelic chieftans with the Anglo-Irish (English or Norman expatriates who had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves") in opposition to English plantation and pacification under the leadership of O'Neil. The rebellion was fomented in 1593-94, broke out in 1598 (Battle of Yellow Ford), and lasted until 1607 (after Elizabeth I had died, and been succeeded by James I).

Tyrone, the "arch rebel," ultimately came to terms days after Elizabeth's death, and went into exile (the famous "flight of the earls"). Robert Devereaux, the earl of Essex, and one of the queen's favorites, was not so fortunate. His personal ambition, military incompetence, and defiance of his majesty's orders cost him his life. While the fate of such elite persons (along with the great apologist of English policy - poet Edmund Spenser) is well known, one of Morgan's minor oversights, which is common in most books about this era, is a lack of attention to the appalling fate of the masses of English and Irish who were slaughtered on both sides of this early version of total war. Half of Ireland was destroyed. The result was famine, disease, and anarchy. The war cost the stingy Tudors a fortune in expenditures and debts. But England prevailed and secured Ireland from being a threatening base of operations for Spain or France. The "flight of the earls" - the "wild geese" - scattered throughout continental Europe, signaling the decline - but not the end - of Gaelic Ireland.

A study on the influencing factors of key decisions made by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and events leading up to the 'Nine Years War" with England. Unlike many other works, there are references to key players in these events including the Earl's brothers Cormac and Airt as well as Hugh Maguire, Red Hugh O'Donnell, and others.
Hugh O'Neill, an Irishman who was taken into custody as a child and trained in the English manner, returns to Ireland. His eldest brother Brian dies leaving him taniste to the title of 'The O'Neill'. Political intrigue ensues when a rival family member claims the title for himself. Meanwhile, the English crown seeks to plant more settlers in Ireland. O'Neill takes the sword for England and earns his title 'Earl of Tyrone'
The temperament and willpower of a man largely ignored by the Crown comes into question as he is dogged by enemies and harrassed by the state. Further problems arise when English troops establish fortifications on his land.
The book becomes a study of the events and circumstances surrounding O'Neills decision to seek aid from the Catholic King Phillip of Spain and turn his back on the tyrannical and genocidal Tudor advance.
The tactics used by O'Neill while negotiating and fighting are the roots of 'guerilla warfare'. The successes at Clontibret, Enniskillen, and the Yellow Ford are mirrored by the Irish failure to win the disasterous battle of Kinsale.
As evidence for the author's conclusions, he includes a letter written by Cormac O'Neill, the Earl's brother, requesting aid from King Phillip II of Spain.
As the author is a historian, all references are cited.
2001 marks the 400th Anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale. This work is a must have for any serious student of Irish history.

A 'must read' for any serious student of Irish history. To fully understand why Ireland is in the political conundrum it is you must first understand where the divisions between religion and politics began. The Geraldine and Butler leagues implemented by Sir Henry Sidney are merely the start, the ineptitude of Tudor officials the catalyst, and the rising power of Hugh O'Neill and his confederacy of Irish Lords and Cheiftans who had been wronged by English policy the vehicle. This book paints the most vivid picture of the people and the events responsible for the conflict. A look at a rare letter written by Cormac Mac Baron to King Phillip II of Spain is used to re-enforce the arguments propounded within the text. The authour, a historian, has clearly done more in-depth research on the subject than any other author to date and accurately describes (for the first time ever) the true story of The O'Neill.

This was better than expected. I read a lot, esp TSE, have many cds of recorded poetry and already had recordings of his work by "specialist" or celebrity actors, most absolutely dissappointing: you get the feeling that they were going for an effect without having grasped the essences of TSE's poetry, especially wrt the Wasteland from a recorded version of which I expect a lot of specific nuances and hues. When I ordered this product, I didn't set my expectation too high, as poets, though they are the creators, are not always necessarily the best oral communicators. However, TSE was not only amazing in his delivery, pace and colour, his readings actually gave me fresh insights, in some cases revelatory. This is an absolute must for any lovers of poetry. I must add, I was quite surprised at the extent of his accent's anglification.

You can hear The Waste Land as it was meant to be heard. T. S. Eliot's reading made the poem come alive. Be warned. Not all of the CD is high quality recordings. Some have background noise. Some are low quality. I don't think the tracks are listed anywhere, so I'll list them for you.

1. La Figlia Che Piange
2. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
3. Gerontion
4. Sweeney Among the Nightingales
5. The Waste Land
6. The Hollow Men
7. The Journey of the Magi
8. Ash-Wednesday
9. East Coker

This is worth it for The Wate Land alone. The rest is just icing on the cake.

This audio CD is a must-have for all fans of T. S. Eliot. Poetry is supposed to be read out loud; it is a pleasure and privilege to hear one of the greatest poets of the 20th century read his poems out loud, allowing us to hear the lines the way they were meant to be heard--and read.

This collection contains a short book with an introduction by J. D. McClatchy and the text of all the poem found on the audio CD. The CD contains 9 tracks: La Figlia Che Piange, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, Sweeney Among the Nightingales, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, The Journey of the Magi, Ash-Wednesday, and East Coker. The poems are arranged in chronological order, offering insights into the development of both language and themes throughout Eliot's career.

The first track, "La Figlia Che Piange," is one of Eliot's earliest poems and explores, like much of his earlier poetry, the frustrations of a young man and thwarted love. It is a lovely short poem, full of the images that Eliot is well known for. Published at the same time (in the same volume in fact) was also "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." One of the most well known poems, "The Love Song" is a culmination of Eliot's early poetry.

The highlight of the CD is the reading of "The Waste Land." The epic poem is the longest found in this collection, going over 25 minutes. "The Waste Land" by far is one of my personal favorites and I have read it countless of time. However, reading the poem along with this CD has allowed me to shed new meaning to this enormously difficult and marvelous poem. Eliot dramatizes his reading, allowing the dozens of narratives and narrators to come through. Spinning a multifaceted account of the deterioration of society in the early 20th century, a collage of the decay of love and fidelity, a haunting vision of the death of man and his rebirth; all shifting through time and space, drawing upon different histories and languages and cultures, all coalesced through the eyes of Tiresias. Indeed, "a heap of broken images."

"The Hollow Men" is the worst quality recording found on this CD. However it is still evocative as ever. Eliot's hypnotizing monotone, which prevails much of his readings, is exetremely effective in this case, bringing to life the hopelessness and stagnation of the hollow men.

"The Journey of the Magi" is a particularly fitting poem for December and the holiday season. It marks a progression of Eliot's poetry to more theological themes yet still picks on Eliot's fascination with death and rebirth, ending and beginnings.

"East Coker" is the second highlight of the CD. It is the last track and also one of the last poems Eliot composed before his death in 1965. "East Coker" is the second volume in his masterpiece "The Four Quartets." The poem draws upon Eliot's study into Christianity, philosophy, and mysticism. It is a deep exploration of the meaning of time and change. The poem is almost 15 minutes on the CD. Eliot's reading highlights his supreme command of the English language, his sophistication in diction, rhythm and meter. The first and last of the "East Coker" is engraved on Eliot's grave site in England as his chosen epitaph: in my beginning is my end, in my end is my beginning.

This is a well chosen collection of poems which highlights the body of Eliot's work. Hearing the poems being read by their author is a valuable experience. I definitely recommend this to anyone who reads Eliot and would like to learn more about his poetry.

It is a great experience to hear the voice of this master poet.

I have never read a book that has brought more emotion while reading than this. I was amazed to find this truthful, whimsical, scary and enlightening story so hard to put down! It was as if I was in the story. The author is intellegent and funny well beyond my expectations. I am honored that he has allowed me or any of us a glimpse into his life. What an experience!!! I hope he writes more!!!

I read this book in a day and a half then suggested to my younger teenage sister that she read it. All I can say is wow... I never knew that depression could go that far. I think this is a book that should be on school reading lists. It would provide a greater awareness to this illness. I know it has for me.

I discovered so many parallels to myself and friends, and started asking, aren't we all somewhere at some time manic depressive? A real eye-opener, well told, in the lingo of an American teen, emotional, gripping, and thought-provoking.

I really enjoyed the book and I found myself not being able to put it down. I now have a real insight of the problems a manic depressant has and it was a very real and straight on look at the life a manic depressive person leads. Very insightful and not for people who are sensative too certain issues. Very well done!!!!!

This is a wonderful book that gives the reader a feel for all social levels during the medieval times. I especially enjoyed The Wife of Bath's Tale. I recommend this book to anyone. It is interesting while being entertaining at the same time.

It was so lovely

Chaucer has given me a greater insight into life in the 14th century. We see the hypocrisy of the "genteel" people of the time. He has also transcended the boundaries of time for we can still see evidence of this hypocrisy in todays society. The Wife is a strong female character and the reader can not be certain if she is feminist or anti-feminist nor can they be certain if Chaucer is laughing at her or with her. This was a very crafty device by Chaucer's and he must be commended for it. This device is shown in how long Chaucer allows the Wife to speak about herself, it is the longest prologue in the book except of course for the General Prologue. The Wife's views and issues can also be seen in her choice of tale but her voice seems somewhat more subdued here and we can distinctly see Chaucer's own views and ideas coming out in the tale.The very poetic style in which it is written also intices the reader to read on. Altogether quite an insightful piece of literature.

There is no poet in any language of more extravagant wit and wisdom than old Geoffrey Chaucer, and no more universal, but for the challenge of the language. Like Homer in Greek, Dante in Italian, Chaucer set the bar too high for anyone ever to exceed him. And how fundamentally English he was, as if all the "personality" of our literature flowed from the same cultural spring!

My generation may have been almost the last to memorize the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and to learn the few easy rules of pronunciation and syntax we needed to enjoy Chaucer. Helas! The times, they are a-changing. Still, a few years ago I had an irrational lust to revive my ability to read Middle English, just for fun. I discovered that there were audio-books of many of the Canterbury Tales, including the Wife of Bath's salacious masterpiece. Of all Chaucer's dramatis personae, the Wife of Bath is surely the most humanly convincing, the randy old dame! "Why, I'm probably just the right age to be husband number six," thought I. So I ordered this CD. By the time the CD reached me, I'd forgotten my urge to make use of it. In fact, I forgot I had it until yesterday, when it somehow popped out of the shelf at me.

Elizabeth Salter and her unnamed male foil speak the poetry of Chaucer with enough 'naturalness' to persuade me, particularly since recording technology was still rather crude in the 1300s. With the ability to pause the disk by remote, I find that I can follow the most familiar parts of the Wife's narrative comfortably. For most of the tale, however, I have to keep my eyes on the text. I wouldn't mind if Salter had delivered her words just a trifle slower, but then perhaps the rollicking cadences wouldn't have frolicked so mirthfully. There are lots of editions of the Canterbury Tales available with old and new English on facing pages, making the effort much easier.

This is probably not everyone's idea of fun, what with movies of Beowulf starring naked babes as Grendel's Mother and such. But Chaucer is too good to be lost. If YOU the parents of America no longer have the willpower to compel your teenagers to labor through the Canterbury Tales, then it's YOUR obligation to do so yourselves!

this was a deeply moving book, al about a 13 year girl in ireland who feels trapped during the famine, so she goes to america, where she starts a new life as aa maid. it is an exellent sequal to under the hawthorn tree. the third book in the triligoy is called feilds if home. it is an exellent triligoy, and martine deserves credit for her fantastic passionate book

Peggy O'Driscol (13) is an aventurous girl that lives in Ireland. Her older sister Eily (18) and her older brother Micheal (15) have already started their lives in Ireland but Peggy yearns for more. She decides to go to America with neighbors and leaves on a giant ship to go to America. Along with a friend Peggy met on the ship, Sarah (15), she is helped to find as a maid work at a Women's Developing School. Can she survive being split away from Sarah and her neighbors, having nothing but perilous work laying infront of her? Read the book to find out.

The book made me cry many a time.It did'nt take me long to read as it was hard to put down.I thought it was good but Under the Hawthorn Tree was better.I am looking forward to reading Fields of Home.

The Great Famine in Ireland is over, but the three O'Driscol children of Under the Hawthorn Tree have been left orphaned, and even though they found their great aunts, they still dream of a better life. Eily, now eighteen, is grown up and has gotton married, and 15 year old Michael has gotten a job at the landlord's estate, taking care of horses. And thirteen year old Peggy, the youngest, has set off on her own for America. Can she survive the difficult ocean crossing and the harsh working conditions in what was called the land of oppurtunity?

This book was introduced to me through a friend and, quite frankly, my first reaction was to cringe at the idea of reading such a bulky historical book. But from the first letter I was transfixed by the dialogue between husband and wife on both political and personal matters. This book brings with it a new aspect of Churchill's personality - he was not only a great statesman but he was a passionate man who loved his wife dearly which is seen clearly in the letters that were intended for her eyes only.

I often wonder how he would have felt to know millions would one day read the letters he wrote to his "clemmie-cat". In any case, its a great read :)

Cheers, Meagan.

When I considered buying that book, I first felt quite uncomfortable about the idea of reading an exchange of private letters between Winston and Clementine. Fortunately, I overcame my discomfort fast. I quickly enjoyed reading that thick epistolary volume about their political and personal matters. The personal letters of the Churchills revealed to me how influential Clementine was on Winston across the board. Their deep love and trust was the secret of their successful marriage, even if Winston was not always an easy husband and politician to deal with. Corresponding by written messages (today perhaps by email) with each other on a regular basis, even when they were together, proved to be an excellent way to help them keep their enduring flame for each other intact. Today, too many marital and extra-marital relationships get dissolved prematurely because of a lack of enough communication between both players. Life is after all a comedy in which men and women play their part and need to know or rediscover how to communicate their joys and pains to one another in order to increase the odds that they will be successful in their relationship.

The real service that this book performs is to remind the reader that great historical figures are not one dimensional. Chuchill was a renaissance man, warrior, journalist, historian, memoirist, politician and statesman. He was arguably the single greatest personage of this century and his name has become a symbol for the indominitable spirit of a free people. The collection of letters sent to and received from his wife are entertaining as well as educational. They provide a feel for the time in which they were written and place many of Churchill's famous accomplishments (and failures) in proper context. Amazingly, unlike today when the more we know of a public figure, the smaller they seem, in Churchill's case one comes away convinced that this was a great man in the truest sense, and that much of his greatness is due in no small part to his marriage to Clementine.

Winston and Clementine: Happily Ever After

This is the story of a political marriage. In some ways it will be familiar to the contemporary reader, though it began and ended a long time ago.

Both husband and wife in this marriage were interested in politics. The husband was elected again and again over decades to high office. For decades his wife fought at his side, entertained at his table, offered her judgment to him and his colleagues and his enemies. She took his place in his absence, and sometimes in his presence. She became an international figure. She had power, and she used it. Always she had a mind of her own.

Sometimes this couple would quarrel. Once a serving dish was thrown. There was a period, not too long, when one of the partners was out of sympathy with the other, or anyway in sympathy with another.

They knew trouble. They lost a daughter and many friends to death, and some friends to betrayal. They fought political wars at home in which their own party tried to deprive them of office. They fought shooting wars abroad-including the worst ever. More than once, they seemed down and out. Their livelihood as much as their career was threatened. After decades of struggle they reached the summit of power and they knew the adoration of a nation and a world. By then they had grown old together.

Readers of this story will find that wives did not enter politics yesterday, and private lives were influential in politics before last week. But in other respects this story is unlike anything we have known in this time. Here are two people who won every honor that human affairs can offer, and they won them together. Meanwhile they operated upon those natural and traditional lines that involve that deepest of partnerships. Their division of labor augmented the strength of them both beyond what either could do, apart or together, if they both had done the same parts of the job. True, this is the story of a political partnership. More than that, it is a marriage.

The editor of this book is the youngest child of Winston and Clementine, Mary, now Lady Soames. She brings to the work care, intimacy, and insight. She has adopted some of the best devices of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, to make the book available to the reader unfamiliar with the times and the people. Her notes are useful. She lets the letters themselves convey the story.

One sees right away the amazing pace at which these people lived. Winston Churchill was a soldier whose bravery and judgment in battle were beyond doubt. He wrote every line of every speech he ever gave, save perhaps one, and they are not surpassed in eloquence or impact or amplitude. He wrote serious books, nearly forty of them. He served in the British House of Commons, and mostly in the Cabinet. Meanwhile he made his living writing and speaking in publications and before audiences all over the world. Their house teemed all day and much of the night with secretaries, researchers, and colleagues. He wrote once that statesmen should exist in a condition of "stress of soul." Ever he took that advice for himself.

And necessarily, then, he imposed it upon his wife.

Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married in September 1908, and they remained so until parted by death in 1965. Martha Washington, wishing to keep her relations with our Founding Father private, burned most all of the letters that passed between them. The Churchills' letters are preserved intact in their remarkable abundance. Partly because they were so busy, and partly because they took many vacations apart, occasions to write were frequent. In their day the post traveled rapidly-Fed Ex was not necessary; e-mail was unavailable; the telephone came along, but its frequent use developed later. And so they wrote, and well they wrote.

Nuggets are found in every shaft of this mine. Sir Winston is candid with his wife as with no other, especially in times of triumph or stress. When the first war begins, he unveils his character: "Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that? ...Yet I wd do my best for peace, & nothing wd induce me wrongfully to strike the blow." Another time, in a very different mood, he writes: "you have seen me very weak & foolish & mentally infirm this week...." And then the man of unbreakable will proceeds: "I cannot tell you how much I love & honor you and how sweet & steadfast you have been through all my hesitations & perplexity."

Clementine often bears the burden of saying to her husband what others cannot. When the first war begins, she cautions him about the feelings of a dismissed Admiral: "there only remains the deep wound in an old man's heart. If you put the wrong sort of poultice on it, it will fester." When the second begins, she writes: "...there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues & subordinates because of your rough sarcastic & overbearing manner.... Therefore with terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm."

The letters of Winston are often more abstract and reflective than those of his wife. Sometimes they are effectively first drafts of things he will later publish. His life is saved once in the trenches by an annoying general who makes him walk two miles under fire just for a little chat; when he returns his dugout and all in it are destroyed. He reflects: "it is all chance or destiny and our wayward footsteps are best planted without too much calculation. One must yield oneself simply & mentally to the mood of the game: and trust in God which is another way of saying the same thing...."

At the same time, one sees in the husband a sharp need for his wife. It is he who is "lonely among crowds." It is he who has no one but her "to break the loneliness of this bustling existence."

History has more to say of Winston than of Clementine. He saved his country and more in a desperate crisis, and he leaves behind him a written account of prudential wisdom that is not surpassed. Both his words and his deeds exhibit a longing for honor. He fought for it. He met its demands with utter resolve and lifelong resilience. But of course there was more to his life than that. Honor itself is limited by the high purposes that define it, including the promises and affections that make a family. So he could write to her, at one of the lowest points in his life: "the nearer I get to honor, the nearer I am to you."

Churchill ends My Early Life, his explicitly autobiographical work, with the passage: "Events were soon ...to absorb my thoughts and energies at least until September 1908, when I married and lived happily ever afterwards." And so together they did. And do.

If you are interested in first person accounts then this is a must-read book. Peter White was a second Lieutenant and platoon commander in the King's Own Scots Borderers, in 52nd Division, and saw service from October 1944 to May 1945. During this time he participated in the assault on Walcheren, the defense of the Meuse, Operation "Blackcock", the clearing of the western banks of the Rhine, the battle for Wesel, the battle for Ibbenbüren, and the final operations east and west of the Weser river towards Bremen, good worm's eye perspective descriptions of which are included in this book because, against orders, he kept a diary, and it is based on this that the memoir was written.

Unlike his colleague Sydney Jary, author of the famous memoir "18 Platoon" and the longest-surviving platoon commander on the western Front in 1944-45, French was not born for war, and least of all for the infantry business of killing people up close. He was also a very religious man, a teetotaller and had a strong artistic bent, which shows in the very high quality of the good number of sketches which illustrate the book. This distance to the business he had to perform is what gives the book a unique quality.

French volunteered for service and served in the anti-aircraft artillery before being transferred to the infantry in 1944. He started with the AA section of the battalion before being transferred to command of a rifle platoon. French's observations on the life of the infantry are sobering. When reading the book, the amount of misery and hardship endured by the soldiers is overwhelming at times. Unlike other authors, French does never stop to consider the life lived by him and his soldiers as something extraordinary and weird. His diary is full of reflections on this life, his thoughts about the civilians through whose life he is passing - either being taken in by newly liberated Dutch, or turning out Germans of their homes requisitioned for his platoon. At times, the writing has a lyrical quality about it that lets one enter into the scene easily.

"The occupants of the flat I had selected for Platoon HQ were a very well dressed, portly, red-faced man who was suffering from most obvious mental turmoil in trying to know what manner to adopt towards us. [...] The mother, like the daughter, had a sleek, trim elegance akin to a Dresden figure which was added to by expensive well-cut clothes in soft tasteful colours. In their startling contrast to the Jocks, they made the latter look like heaps of mud-smeared vegetables."

White also writes a lot about his thoughts of the men he is commanding, their attitudes and behaviour, and the book provides a list of all those who did not make it through the war, a large part of the men who he commanded, while he himself escaped unscathed.

There are harrowing accounts of combat, the worst of which is probably the battle accident (friendly fire incident) at Ibbenbüren when his platoon is shot up by a platoon of British self-propelled guns with high losses in killed and wounded.

In conclusion, I have not read anything like this in a long time. The book is a compelling read - although I would recommend the winter for reading it, to be better able to relate to the hardship suffered by French and his men. I can not recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants to get a glimpse into the world of the men who fought to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

This is the best kind of memoir: filled with details about the actions, thoughts, emotions and terrifying events this fine officer went through with the greatest courage. I could not put it down. Those who want to get a glimpse of the real horror of war and the truly awe-inspiring courage of these men must get this book. It ranks among my top ten best memoirs of that war. These men were truly amazing.

An officer with the Scottish 52nd Lowland Division, Peter White shares the real discomfort caused by lack of sleep, hours without meals, inadequate clothing while at the sharp end of an infantry unit. Through the winter of 1944, White's unit fought and suffered horrendous casualties in NW Europe. White details the self-inflicted wounds, the "bomb-happy" soldiers, the friendly fire victims, the mundane life-taking accidents, and the AWOL types, all the way to the other end of the spectrum detailing the gallantry and courage of many other men of his unit in combat. Peter White examines the role chance had in own survival when he describes how two platoons were detailed to work up each side of a farm track. His platoon made it okay but the other platoon was cut down by concealed MG-42s. With the Jocks is one of the best personal combat memoirs of WWII.

Peter White was an officer with the 52nd Lowland Division in WWII. The Division was sent to NW Europe after the Market Garden fiasco (A battle the Division was planned to be in) and fought all the way to VE-Day. White is an interesting person himself and his disdain of swearing and his gentlemanly manners are evident to the reader. White is also an artist who contributes some of the illustrations in the book, he also illustrates to the reader the life of the British Soldier at war. You see the life and death struggle with the enemy and the boredom of the soldiers' life in great detail. White also details the attitude of his men towards the German civilians in the last days of the war. The book is quite long, and I have top admit losing the author in some places (cultural differences perhaps) but overall I enjoyed the book.

I liberally quoted from this book in my bachelor's thesis, a decision that made every professor on my review panel aghast. In this era, an old hoagie like Blyth, who sought poetry and enlightenment anywhere he could find it, is clearly a negative influence on the kids.

I have no idea if Blyth "gets" Zen, and to be frank I don't care if he doesn't. His project -- attempting to prove that everything worthwhile in English literature (as well as all of European culture and the Bible itself) is an expression of Zen is boldly and hopelessly futile. And as such, it's a perfect expression of Zen as he knows it.

With a personal library of some three thousand books, I have found Blyth's Zen in English Literature & Oriental Classics the most valuable, the most inspiring, and the most revealing. Blyth declares religion to be poetry, and poetry to be religion. But that statement is, like all, inadequate. Others have praised this book highly. As have I. Here I only want to say again: The publisher (or whoever holds the copyright) should do the world a favor by making this book available---along with Blyth's other Zen writings. I want to buy copies and give them to friends, and I would never lend the one copy I have. Also, I hope somebody is going to write and publish a biography of Reginald H Blyth, because I believe his history, writings, thoughts, and teachings are of worldwide import. Not all may agree, because Blyth told it as it is ....

Few books are 'cult classics', especially those that deal with, of all things, literary criticism.

This is one of them.

Can't say authoritatively if it has anything to do with 'real Zen ' since I'm not, to my chagrin, the living Buddha, and apparently not one Zen master in a hundred claims to be 'enlightened' these days, at least not among the second generation bumper crop of American and European Zen masters-- A source of relief if you've ever read their vapid and banal pronouncements on life, death and the meaning of the universe.
Guess they just don't make 'em like they used to in ancient China.

Go sit.

Nevertheless, Zen appealed to the young Western intelligensia via the writings of Suzuki, Watts and company. It's almost a religion tailor made for dashing bookworms (Is this a koan?)

Here, R.H. Blyth gives the reader a, as Jung would say, 'mythological Zen' that perhaps never was, but should have been, and he does so in an amazing book on English Lit.

So what's your attitude to life? The heroic as exemplified by Henley's great poem "Invictus"? Or are you a child crying in the night, crying for the light , and with no other language but a cry?

That section alone is worth the price of the book, but it's in the analysis of Hamlet as the archetypal 'zen-less' Western man that R.H really springs to life.

There are about as many critical interpretations of Shakespeare's prince as there are of Jesus, but R.H. has come up with one of the most outstanding.

Hamlet, THE greatest figure in tragedy since Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripedes put ink to papyrus, suffers from 'Words, Words, Words'--for R.H. the clue to his (and our own ) malaise, as contrasted with the 'Zen-filled man ', the one and only Don Quixote de La Mancha !

R.H's study of Quixote--and Cervantes--is brilliant, though he modestly begs the reader's pardon for including the greatest of knights in a work of English, rather than Spanish literature.

Go read.

It was R.H Blyth's belief that "all that is good in European literature and culture is simply and solely that which is in accordance with the Spirit of Zen." He thereafter applied himself to the task of searching the writings of the East and the West in an attempt to discover that Spirit. This book embraces the classical literature of China and Japan and the whole extent of English literature, with numerous quotations not only from English but also from French, German, Italian and Spanish writing. R.H. Blyth was born in London in 1898 and studied English Literature at London university. He travelled extensively in the East before moving first to Korea and then Japan and teaching English at several universities. He eventually became the English tutor to the Crown Prince (the present Emperor)of Japan. He studied Zen Buddhism under Kayama Taigi Roshi. He was interred during the war years and it was during this internment that he wrote his first book, Zen in English Literature. He went on to write numerous other books on Zen,Haiku, Senryu and Humour. Outstanding among his works are Zen and Zen Classics vols. 1-5. Haiku vols.1-4 and A History of Haiku vols.1-2. During his lifetime (he died in 1964) his writing was considered to be controversial by many Zen scholars but he was supported by Taisetz Suzuki. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Zen or Haiku or indeed English Literature. His writing is exceptionally fluent and easy to understand. Not only was he a sound literary critic, he was much else besides - an essayist,philosopher, poet and brilliant translator, (compare his translations of Haiku and Senryu to those of others) but also a man whose sensibility took roots in two disparate cultures and found a harmony that he was so very well able to communicate in his writing. I feel that my life has been enriched by this mans writing. Why his complete works are not in every bookshop specializing in Asian literature or holding a position of honour in the Oriental Literature section of every decent library is a mystery to me. Publishers please take note. Along the mountain path, The scent of plum blossoms, And, on a sudden turn, the rising sun!