Europe Books

This is a beautiful book with gorgeous photos of Cuban architecture and furniture of the Cuba I left behind many, many years ago. I gave it to all of my siblings for Christmas and it was an instant hit! Its ovely pictures bring both smiles and tears. A must for those of us who want to keep a collection of what once was our life in Cuba before our exile.

Cuban Elegance is a great book, has wonderful photography and dipicts the elegant decore of Cuba and its architecture as well.

This is a great coffee table book of good quality. The colour photographs are excellent, accompanied by descriptive text. I bought it out of a sense of curiosity of how the more affluent Cubans might live. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I don't generally share their taste in design or dark furniture, but don't let that put you off an excellent and informative book.

THIS IS IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BOOK. THE PICTURES ARE BEAUTIFUL, THE TEXT REGARDING EACH ONE IS VERY CLEAR. IT HAS A GOOD FLOW AND MAY I DARE SAY IT IS A SEXY BOOK? IF THERE IS SUCH A THING. I WOULD RECOMMEND EVERYONE AND ANYONE TO GET IT. WHEATHER YOU'RE CUBAN OR NOT.

IT HELPS POINT OUT ALL THE BEATY THAT ONCE USED TO BE AS WELL AS THE ONE LEFT NOW AMIDST ALL THE DECAY AND ABANDONEMENT CURRENTLY AFFECTING THE ISLAND COUNTRY. I LOVED IT.

I recently bought this book and despite that I had never being in Cuba before this is better than the real thing. Cuba was one the biggest economies in the region and such growth gave the possibility to create one of the most selected elites in the Caribbean islands. That prestige and class is all what you can find in this book full of excellent pictures. The reading of the book is pleasant, accurate and, full of details. I was amaze by the work around Cuban furniture which reflects the passion of the author in the topic. It's worth 5 out 5 starts with any doubts.

I've never been to Hungary or had much experience with anyone from Hungary, however I've recently become very interested in this lovely country. This book sounded like a fun and interesting introduction into the social aspect of Hungary (as opposed to architecture and history). The author has a lively and easy-to-read writing style. I would recommend this book and will seek out other books from the "Culture Shock" series.

Seldom does a book that is written for a narrow readership, in this case tourists and businessmen, become a success beyond its intended audience. What elevates "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" above the level of a Traveller's Guide Series is both the quality of the writing and the intimate knowledge of what overdrives this nation of 10 million restless souls. It is like a firmly held mirror, an unflinching but affectionate insight into the character of a nation.
If you are lucky enough to witness Zsuzsanna Ardo's meticulous undressing of Hungarians and their culture, you realize that she leaves very little mystery for any self-respecting Magyar to hide behind. To the embarrassment, or if you will to the delight of a native, who believes that he or she is comfortable with all the intricate layers of social interactions, the language and the "unpredictable excitement and character building" Hungarian history, even for them the "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" is full of fresh and original information that provokes conventional wisdom. With her warm satire she is experiencing life head-on in Budapest and the relentless and unavoidable hospitality of the countryside and its people. Whether it be a late evening stroll on the banks of the Danube or on the Margit bridge, challenging snow and ice on the hills of Rozsadomb, or a hot summer swim in Lake Balaton, her eye is always sharp and correct.
"...while surfers get hooked on the gentle waves and brisk breeze in the glaringly corny sunset, complete with golden-red reflections across the calm waters of the lake. No picture postcard of Lake Balaton can be such perfect kitsch as reality itself.."
Most enjoyable are her repeated journeys into the Hungarian psyche which explain and become the basis for all the advice and experiences she provides so abundantly. Her street wise comments on the personal and impersonal ways of greeting someone, the telltale handshakes, the persistent eye contact, the formality of kisses wherever they may land, the invitations and/or the un-invitations to a visit... are like a hilarious anthropological study.
"Some argue that laboring on building and nurturing and consensus-based love relationship with a Hungarian is, overall, like teaching a raven to fly underwater. This is grossly unfair... to the ravens. There is consensus all right as long as you consent to whatever your hero desires..."
"...status markers in social relations (are) a rather sophisticated system for keeping and reducing psychological distance, imposing and refusing hierarchy or intimacy."
Obviously she is afflicted by the same genes of passion, humor and unbridled need to inform and/or set things straight, as the people she is writing about.
"Whenever it is momentarily blue, manic, or depressive, the admirable lack of self-irony with which some Hungarian egos indulge themselves by fits and starts guarantee the heavy-duty nature of their state of mind. ...their oscillations between euphoric drives to get ahead and melodramatic soul-tearing driven by paranoid fatalism are sizzling and spectacular."
Ouch! She exposes universally and correctly the Hungarian nerve; it is up to the reader to differentiate among the joys and obstacles and to decide if he or she is adventurous enough to visit or even to stay in this very hospitable country, better yet, to befriend a "demonstratively woe-stricken... mega-sensitive" Hungarian! Her view is compassionate but sobering of a society where fantasies of even the possibility of grandeur, sentimentality and "an intensely vague discomfort or inarticulate ethnocentricity", is the norm; as if she would say, "I love the place and all of you guys, but you are so..." It is a well deserved roasting. And when she is in her more somber mood, a well deserved warning. Noticing the heavy drinking and smoking and a "decidedly non PC diet" she muses: "Traditionally, many Hungarians embrace premature death with gusto."
"Hungarians eat just about everything that you are not supposed to, prepared in the way it shouldn't be, and consumed in deadly quantities. Naturally, they enjoy it tremendously. And they want to make it sure their visitors enjoy it too."
But her satire is not just idle remarks of society's shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. She admirably provides a long list of agencies and social services where Hungarians, visiting businessmen and tourists can turn to, to redeem themselves.
With her academic background in Linguistics and Literature, Ardo's casual introduction to the Hungarian language, that is difficult by any standard, is like a friendly persuasion. Her unusual but well researched approach is a very convincing short course in Etymology. Surprisingly revealing even for those who think they can speak Hungarian.
Page after page Zsuzsanna Ardo, who was born in Hungary but presently is a British citizen, proves an important point, that only from a safe distance, preferably from as far as possible, can one truly look at his or her homeland objectively.
I would recommend the book to anyone who wishes to have a less bumpy ride through this little country in the Danube basin. It is unfortunate that the book is available only in English, because "CULTURE SHOCK! HUNGARY" should be a must, a specially required and liberating reading for all Hungarians too.
Kid from Pataj, Steven Domonkos.

Zsuzsanna Ardó's well written guide to the customs and etiquette of Hungarian people holds relevant information for anyone traveling or doing business there.
I assist English teachers at a primary school in Hungary and am looking forward to incorporating the many tips provided on business and general communication when speaking with my colleagues at school.
I also appreciated the abundance of Hungarian proverbs and sayings written out in both languages. These are fun to bring up with Hungarian friends and since they often don't translate literally, I'd not have been able to sort them out just using my translation dictionary. The insight into history's role in modern Hungarian thinking was fascinating for me as well.
A "cultural quiz" rounds out the book. It was a fun
and, I thought, a perfect way to tie the information together. The author's sense of humor throughout made it a most enjoyable read!
As Hungary's entry into the EU should spur an increase in business and tourism--I noticed some new billboards promoting travel to Hungary when I was changing planes in Frankfurt last week--the relevance and importance of this book should likewise
increase!
--written May, 2004

"Culture Shock! Hungary" is a golden child in the Culture Shock! family of books. Ardo's text is extremely readable and functional. Part history and language lesson, part culinary and travel guide, and more, "Culture Shock! Hungary" is chock full of interesting trivia and applicable knowledge. Ardo's work is highly recommended to anyone hoping or planning on visiting Hungary. The book is compact and would also be well worth rereading on one's trip to Budapest, Balaton or the Hortobagy. This mini-masterpiece of hints and humor would also be useful for someone interested in better understanding the burning minds, yo-yo moods and often mysterious ways of Hungarian friends, colleagues or even love interests. And of course, this text is an especially good read for anyone, in the U.S. or Canada with Magyar ancestry who is trying to learn more, or read commentary on Hungarian heritage. "Culture Shock! Hungary" is a thoroughly relevant and entertaining read.

In preparing for my initial vacation trip to Hungary in August 2003, I read the usual travel guides, Frommer's, The Green Guide, Lonely Planet and best of all, Andras Torok's "Budapest-A Critical Guide". While these books describe the where, Culture Shock-Hungary supplies the who, what, why and how of the magnificent Magyars.

The 2003 New Expanded edition is a joy to read. It's fast paced and lively- a real page turner. It made me laugh out loud several times. The last time I laughed so much while reading a book was when I read "Confederacy of Dunces" some twenty years ago. If this book wasn't part of the Culture Shock series, it may well have been called A Confederacy of Magyars. Read and delight in the sections on Traditions and Values and Image and Self Image to find out.

For a foreigner, the part on the Hungarian language, Magyarul, is especially interesting. Having studied Hungarian for a year when I was in the Army and let it slip away because of non-use, the language section rekindled old memories. The study of the enigmatic Hungarian language could well prove to be a lifelong task although it is said that Sissi(emperor Franz Joseph's wife) learned it in no time flat and became the darling of the Hungarians. This book should be a favorite of Magyarphiles everywhere.

If you are planning a vacation trip to Hungary or do business there ( there is a whole section devoted to business etiquette and customs), read this book to understand what makes Hungary tick.

Reading this factfilled book by Michael Varhola has again turned my thoughts to all the brave young men who came to fight far away from home to free Europe. This book has many interesting facts and figures that I have not seen in other books. The research has been thorough and put down on paper in a way that makes it easy to read. This book should be read by everyone interested or have family who fought in this battle. Highly recommended.

A well written, thoroughly researched, detailed account of D-Day. This book is a must have for anyone seeking information on this masterful invasion. More than 55 years have passed since the Allies conducted this massive operation and this book is a vivid reminder of the service and sacrific of those brave participants. A great book for veterans or for family members interested in what Grand Father did in the war.

This book is a must reference source for anyone seeking quick information on the several aspects of one of the greatest military actions in history. The authors have examined, in depth, all factors of the June 6, 1944 landing at Normandy to include Allied and enemy forces, equipment and task organizations. Whether you are a reader with only a casual interest in history, a student, or a history buff, this book is a great information guide. Packed with well-researched facts on air, ground and naval forces, brief biographies of the key leaders, detailed equipment technical data, and personal battle experience of several participants, Varhola and Holderfield have put it all together in a form suitable for ready reference or cover-to-cover reading. Small in size (219 pages), yet large in content, this book contributes to a better understanding of the single most important military action leading to victory in World War II.

This book provides an excellent by-the-numbers overview of Operation Overlord. Plenty of background on the various aspects of missions, equipment, the terrain, and the troops. There is a startling amount of information packed into this pleasantly easy to read book. I especially enjoy the way hard facts (for example the number of guns on a beach) are interspersed with interesting vignettes (the fascine tank that became part of the bridge). Strongly recommend this book.

D-Day is often presented in books, films and other media as a two-dimensional episode between Germans and Americans. In this refreshing volume, the significant roles of the British and Canadian--and even the French--forces are described along with those of the Americans, and the role of Ukrainians, old men, and boys forced into uniform is covered along with that of the Germans.

At the core of this concise, comprehensive overview of Operation Overlord--the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944--are chapters that provide detailed, minute-by-minute and hour-by-hour descriptions of the action on each of the five Allied beachheads. Sections on weapons and equipment, Allied and Axis leaders, aircraft and airborne operations, and other salient topics help to add depth and detail to these accounts. Brief but detailed introductions and conclusions clearly establish the context of the invasion and describe its effects.

Came across this book after reading another by the same author, a volume on the Korean War titled "Fire &Ice." Was pleased with it, so decided to give this one a chance. Very pleased that I did.

If you read Dario Castagno's first book, Too Much Tuscan Sun, this one may come as a surprise. It's a fanciful but thoughtful "day in the life" as compared to his previous tour guide stories, which were funny but occasionally very unflattering regarding some of his clients. This time we see another side of life in the Chianti countryside, with endearing tales both old and new, of the inhabitants. A lovely bit of writing and remembrances by this proud member of the Bruco contrada.

Dario has once again weaved a great story about his village and his deep passion and affection for his village, tradition and for Italy. This is a great read to complement his other books.

A very enjoyable read that informs and entertains. It feels as if our upcoming trip to Tuscany has already begun.

This is a great read. Short, funny and I loved the way he wrote the book. Passed it on to friends and they loved it also.

I dearly loved this book. I vacationed in Vagliagli, the tiny Italian hamlet and recognized the sites and people the author talks about. When he describes the sights and sounds (the rooster, hunting dogs barking) upon waking, I find myself back at our villa down the way from Cignano. Everyone who appreciates the solitude and the true Italy needs to read this book. Thank you for sharing, Dario. I am a fan of your books.

Another wonderfully written account of the atrocitites that Jewish Poles faced during WWII. A must read for ANYONE or ANY color, ANY religion, ANY ethnic background!

Mr. Ungars' nephew, his wife and daughter - happen to be my neighbors and close friends. So when reading this, it becomes a much more personal story to me and my family when reading this.

William Ungar's memoir of survival is the single most moving account of the Holocaust that I have read. With vivd and heart-renching portrayls of his young wife, infant son, other raltives and friends who perished during the Holocaust, Destined to Live brilliantly depicts the devestating emotional toll the Holocaust wrought on those that survived. Without a trace of bitterness, Mr. Ungar describes how he managed to survive the Nazi's occupation of Poland, and went on to create a powerful life that postively impacted the lives of countless others. Destined to Live is not a memoir about survival for survival's sake. It is a gripping tale of how humans, even in the most dire and unjust of circumstances, can use the powers of love and perseverence to create true beauty and greatness. If I were to recommend one book to someone who wanted to learn about the impact of the Holocaust on those that survived, I would recommend Destined to Live.

I have read this book and have learned so much more about my husband's employer. We always knew Mr. Unger had a heart of gold. He has helped our family so much through hard times, when the economy was so low. Never once has he laid his employees off. My husband, Joe Iervolino began working for Mr. Unger when he was 19. He is now 65 and ready to retire and still working for Mr. Unger. Throughout all of the hardship this man endured, he has always shown compassion and loyalty to those he employs. There must be thousands throughout the United States. He came here almost penniless, yet he has made thousands enjoy the best of what being a middle class American has to offer.
His sponsorship of the Holocaust Museums in NY and DC has educated millions of people. His company, National Envelope has given thousands of people well meaningful employment. The next time you throw out an envelope that contains junk mail, a letter from a loved one or a bill, you are probably handling a product made by a National Envelope Employee, such as my Joe.
Read the book. It will touch you in such a way as he has touched our lives and made us thankful that this immigrant made it to our shores.
Destined to Live is one of the best Holocaust survivor books I have ever read. It will open your eyes to how inhumane some men can become. After becoming a victom of such men, William Unger not only survived but, became a great human being. He shows only compassion to others and hates no one. He is the ultimate survivor and an example to all of us who suffered through any sort of inhumanity. I feel this book is a "Must Read" for everyone, young and old, alike.

When the Germans invaded and conquered Poland, a young Polish soldier was in more peril than most. Wilo Ungar was Jewish and badly wounded. Because he wore the Polish uniform he was given the last rites by a priest who thought Ungar was Catholic. For the months after his recovery that he was held prisoner by the Germans he was saved by his captors ignorance of his ethnicity. Finally released he made his way back through war-ravaged Poland on crutches. He was given refuge by Polish families and eventually smuggled himself across the German-Soviet border, was captured by the NKVD and imprisoned as a spy. Ultimately he made his way back to the city of Lvov and reunion with his girl. They married and when Germany turned on Russia, they and their baby Michael managed for a while to evade Nazi roundups but in 1942 they were caught and separated in a time when the Nazi holocaust was being carried out in earnest. Highly recommended for students of the Holocaust, Destined To Live is the riveting story of Wilo's search for his family in a world of love and death, organized violence and the indomitable human spirit.

My review focuses on matters undeveloped by the other reviews.

Ungar's childhood in Krasne (near the Zbrucz River) repudiates the notion of anti-Semitism (and Christian-clergy hostility) being the constant companion of Polish Jews: "Both Father Hankiewicz and Father Leszczynski mainly preached the loving kindness of God. Because of the priests' behavior, the peasants didn't bear a grudge against Jews...The result was that I had the unbelievable good luck of growing up without either hatred or fear. My playmates were Polish and Ukrainian children and no one ever insulted me or tried to beat me up...Of course, they knew I was Jewish...But they considered me one of theirs." (pp. 66-67).

At least some of the sporadic anti-Semitism which Ungar later did experience was clearly related to the entrenchment of Jewish economic hegemony, which worked against Poles. One Pole said: "I don't know about Lvov, but around here they [the Jews] own all the big buildings, they own the stores, they own the banks. They take our money, and you can bet that they make sure Poles can't get into business themselves." (p. 86)

Ungar provides a seldom-heard Jewish viewpoint of service in the Polish Army just prior and during the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He discusses training, tactics, mobilization, and his wounding during a Luftwaffe air raid.

Polish nationalists commonly suppose that even totally assimilated Jews (like Ungar) seldom become Poles at heart. Along these lines, Ungar candidly admitted that: "I would never have called myself a patriotic Pole..." (p. 31).

After Poland's defeat, Ungar made it back to Lviv, in the Soviet-occupied zone. He touched on Jewish-Soviet collaboration: "It also seemed to Wusia [Ungar's first wife] that they [the Soviets] trusted Jews more than Poles or Ukrainians." (p. 120). "Besides that, you began to see Jews in high positions, which would have been unthinkable before. There were Jewish army officers, Jewish party members, and Jewish city officials." (pp. 136-137)

Up to the time of Operation Barbarossa, most local Jews thought of the Germans as a cultured people who wouldn't do especial harm to the Jews (p. 154). After the Lviv Ghetto was formed, some of the Jewish ghetto police acted reasonably towards their fellow Jews. "But many acted more like devoted servants in the hope of ingratiating themselves with the Gestapo. Others were just callous, brutal people, untouched by any of the nobler sentiments when it came to hunting down their fellows. That was how the Germans turned Jew against Jew." (pp. 171-172). "Neither of us knew any [Jewish] policemen, besides which, many of them were cruel and unscrupulous." (p. 277).

While at Janowska Labor Camp, Ungar was denounced to the Gestapo by oberjude (the German-appointed chief of the Jewish workers) Tenenbaum (p. 253, 276).

Contrary to some reports, Ungar never claims to have been at Belzec. He saw some bodies along the railroad tracks, inferring them to have originated from a failed escape from a Belzec-bound train (p. 298, 321).

Unfortunately, Ungar cheapens his work through a sudden outburst of primitive Polonophobic innuendo late in the book. He denigrates the AK after accusing it, without a shred of supporting evidence, of being behind the killing of Rabbi Barfield. (p. 313, 316). Following Yitzhak Shamir, Ungar blanket-slurs the Poles for imbibing anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk. (p. 316)

Ms. Pankowsky was a ten-year-old girl when German troops invaded her native Poland at the start of World War II. Her family immediately experienced the awful reality of being Jewish under the Nazi regime. They fled to the Soviet Union, where they had to hide their family's past from the repressive communist government. The book is a riveting first-person account of her experiences.

It's a very readable account. The majority of the book deals with her family's time in USSR where they endured great hardship due not only to wartime deprivation, but also because their family background had to be hidden. (Her father was a businessman who fled Russia at the time of the Revolution. Had this become known, they would have been considered 'enemies of the state'.)

The book also briefly covers life in Poland before the war; their escape from Russia; their short-lived return to their hometown in Poland, and how they eventually reached and settled in Mexico City.

I highly recommend this book.

What an absolutely brilliant narrative Hanna Pankowsky relates as she explains the years of hardship and perils she and her family experienced trying to escape the dangers of Nazi Germany. This is truly an "action thriller." The sad fact is the events actually happened and the fear, danger, pain and terror were lived by millions of men, women and children. Mrs. Pankowsky paints images in the reader's mind that are so vivid that the reader can place himself/herself in the action (even to the point of being out of breath trying to hop a train or run in the cold snowy forest!). This book is so well written and in a "first person" voice of history that this book should be in every school library as well as on the suggested reading list for history classes. Oprah needs to make this selection one of her book club favorites! Read it. You won't put it down!

I found the book to be well written. The historical details and personal strength of the writer and her family were a combination that made it hard to put the book down. I would recommend this book to family and friends.

In 1939, the idyllic world of 11-year-old Hanna Davidson, born to a family of artists, professionalsand achievers, was irretrievably shattered by the momentous events of the War. What followed was her journey in the hub and later just ahead of the crest of the Holocaust. It is a tale of courage, resourcefulness and frequent depravation. However, it is also an adventure, providing insight into life in Poland, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere,ending in the haven of the United States.

Hanna does an excellent job describing the horror and sacrifice her family endured as a refuge during WWII. Her prose is honest; her story remarkable.

Read this book!

For those of us who have done some reading about Russia history, this book fills in a lot of the background. Life as it was lived and experienced from a family's point of view, outside of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Learned many fascinating bits of information, for example that beets, potatoes and cabbage were introduced for human cosumption in Russia only in the late 19th century.

The first half of this book is both leisurely and entertaining, giving us a rich and at the same time penetrating look at the life of a wealthy family, its estate, and the villagers who were their neighbors. The second half, concentrating as it does on post-Bolshavik experiences, both in the rural village area and elsewhere, including a gulag on the White Sea, cannot be more riveting. It's hard to remember that all this really happened; it is no fiction, or creative dramatization. At the same time, there is the sweep and intellectual vision that one does associate with the great Russian novelists of the early part of this century and before. I have sent this extraordinary book to friends of mine, and I am its ardent publicity agent!

Serge Schmemann has written a terrific book about his ancestors on his Mother's side, the aristocratic Osorgin family. He traces the estate in Sergiyevskoye (now Koltsovo) that Mikhail Osorgin acquired in a card game in 1843 to the present day. It is a facinating tale interspersed with a history of the country from monarchy to communism to today. Schmemann, the son of an noted Russian Orthodox priest, is emminently qualified to write such a book. He spent many years in the Soviet Union as a reporter for the New York Times prior to winning a Pulitzer for his reportage on the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book is well researched and balanced with little tears shed over how his family lost everything to the successors of Lenin. This is his first book and it is written as what one would would expect from a newspaperman. The balalaikas do not strum and the book does lack the flavor that a book writer would bring. Never-the-less, it holds ones interest for all 333 pages. Unfortunately, Schmemann is currently an editor at the Times, so one misses his excellent columns. We look forward to his next book.

A well researched history of a Western Russian village that provides great insight into Russian character, especially the impact of history on forming Russian character today. Written by a New York Times writer who spent ten years in Russia and is a descendent of the nobility that formerly lived in this village.

Amazing.

The author comes from a family of Russian emigres who fled to the West as a result of the Russian Revolution. Before the Revolution, they were part of the minor nobility that supplied the Tsars with military officers in time of war and high- and mid-level government officials in time of peace. The book is mainly about how this family lived through the tumultuous period before, during and after the Revolution. The descriptions of Russian life during this period are vivid and engaging. The family portraits of people struggling to serve and save their country (and ultimately suffering the cruelest repudiation by it) are poignant. And the pages sparkle with objective analysis and insight. In spite of his family background, he does not grind axes or pine away for what was lost. And yet, although much was lost, his love for Russia and its people is clear. He sees clearly that the old order that was swept away in 1917 had its shortcomings, shortcomings that he warns may yet undermine contemporary Russia's latest experiments with constitutional democracy.

Gay apparently spent several years on this book, and it shows in a work or painstaking and dramatic erudition. He provides, and clearly grasps, the context of the Enlightenment. To provide context in time he discusses the fall of classical paganism and the eclipse of reason in the Christian period. He covers the modes of thinking that arose during the Middle Ages and the elements of classical reason and creativity which are now increasingly accepted to have obtained during this traditionally dark episode of European history. He works through the rise of reason that had already started to occur with the Renaissance and on which the Enlightenment was built, indicating that the courage of the Enlightenment's revolution was not as visceral as it is sometimes portrayed; in effect, the Enlightenment philosophes were both surfing and fanning a wave whose relentless motion had already started, with the Church playing Canute before them.

To provide context in place he works through the sometimes startlingly bitter conflict in which the philosophes saw themselves as being engaged, a conflict for no less than the hearts and minds of all Western civilisation. They saw themselves, make no mistake, as in a struggle for survival with Christianity.

Here Gay is in my opinion almost too scrupulous, since he makes clear that the philosophes fought a tiger whose teeth were already falling out and thereby diminishes their courage, while at the same time impugning their fairness. Executions for blasphemy were not unknown in their Europe, but in practical effect the philosophes, and certainly the late philosophes, were not really in danger of their lives. For purely partisan reasons this almost leads me to dock a star off my rating, since this was a battle which had to be fought and from which we have all benefitted, while at the same time even now the beast of unreason stirs fitfully. Gay's philosophes were irascible, cantankerous and utterly combative, and regarded their battle too sententiously to be appealing as individuals. (Apart from the relentlessly cheerful Hume.) In fact, they remind me eerily of Richard Dawkins, which seems fittingly non-coincidental since he continues their battle.

As Gay indicates, this was the rise of modern paganism. Not the invention of paganism. Not the invention of reason. The Greeks and the Romans were there first. Not the invention of the social contract, nor the rights of man, nor the scientific method, nor the republic. All these grew from seeds already sown. What it was, instead, was the restoration and the ascendancy of these concepts. While we do not owe many concepts of Enlightenment thought fully to the originality of the philosophes of the Enlightenment, we owe it to them that these concepts and values have become so unquestioned a part of our world that the primacy of reason is barely noticed for the historical anomaly it is. This is no small debt.

Gay's work is of startling and prodigious erudition. It took me two tries to read it, the first time being unprepared for such a wealth of historical detail. On the second try, more widely read, I devoured the book with joy. Gay is fair, in my opinion sometimes too fair, and he gives the Christian adversaries of the Enlightenment much credit for reasonableness and for greater intellectual sophistication than the philosophes alleged. This made it all the more worth reading, since it forced me to justify my own parallel tendency to the same simplifications. At the same time he paints a more nuanced picture of the aggressive and sometimes devious nature of the philosophes than is customary. My distaste for the establishment tormentors remains undiminished but perhaps more subtly coloured. Gay's fairness is a challenge, and a greatly rewarding one at that.

This is the first time I had a problem with Amazon shipment. I ordered the 1995 edition, but Amazon repeatedly (twice) shipped the 1966 edition. However, the customer service was excellent. I could ship back without charge and the amount was credited to my account. That is the reason I am giving 4 stars.

A magnificent, thorough, and long book (419 pages), impeccably documented, the first volume of two. A "must read" for anyone interested in the Enlightenment. The "cheerleaders" of the Enlightenment, from all over Europe, called themselves the philosophes. For a preview, read the 25 page beginning, "Overture."

BOOK ONE: THE APPEAL TO ANTIQUITY

CHAPTER ONE: The Useful and Beloved Past

1. Hebrews and Hellenes: As the philosophes of the Enlightenment saw it, the world was divided into two irreconcilable patterns of life: superstition versus the affirmation of life; mythmakers versus realists; priests versus philosophers. The historical writings of the Enlightenment were all part of their comprehensive effort to secure rational control over the world and freedom from the pervasive domination of myth. The most glaring and notorious defect of the Enlightenment was its unsympathetic, often brutal, estimate of Christianity.

2. A Congenial Sense and Spirit: Rome belonged to every educated man Classic antiquity was inescapable, therefore, some of the philosophes' seemingly pagan ideas were simply the property of thinking men in their time. The philosophes identified with their favorite ancient philosophers, especially Cicero, who had contempt for the fear of death, contempt for superstition, and admiration for sturdy pagan self-reliance. Modern historians no longer think of Christianity as a complete swamp, but the reliance of the Enlightenment on ancient classicism has withstood two centuries of criticism.

3. The Search for Paganism: From Identification to Identity: The philosophes had been born into a Christian world. They knew their Bible, their catechism, their articles of faith, their apologetics, retained many of their Christian friends, and even had clergy in their families. Gibbons was not without anxiety when he wrote his notorious chapters on the origin of Christianity in "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." The German philosophes were reluctant to completely abandon the religion of the past. Diderot, the most ebullient of the French philosophes was driven and harassed by doubts. In a letter to his mistress, he cursed the atheism he accepted as true that "reduced their love to a blind encounter of atoms." Even David Hume, whose good cheer was celebrated, had to brood and struggle his way into paganism.

CHAPTER TWO: The First Enlightenment

1. Greece: From Myth to Reason: The philosophes' historical thought was closely tied and deeply, if unconsciously, indebted to the Renaissance. Pious historians during the Renaissance and in the 17th century aided secularization by refining techniques of research, throwing doubt on extravagant tales of Hebrew prophets or Christian saints. The Old Testament, which had served countless generations as authoritative was in decline. The philosophes used it as neither authoritative nor historical, but as an incriminating document. Petrarch removed the label "Dark Ages" from classical pre-Christian times and fastened it instead on the Christian era.

2. The Roman Enlightenment: The Greeks were the teachers of the Romans, but the Romans were the Greeks made plain. The philosophes' two most reliable sources of literature were the Romans Lucretius and Cicero. No propagandist ever conducted a battle of science against religion more exuberantly than Lucretius. Religion was just superstition maintained by terror. Science was reason, offering a complete and coherent account of the universe. Cicero gave them even more - a philosophy of the public servant was that of humanism. Not far behind was the historian Tacitus, who was Gibbon's source of much of what is in "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." These and other Roman Stoics and Epicurians gave the philosophes much fuel for their political and religious criticisms.

CHAPTER THREE: The Climate of Criticism

1. Criticism as Philosophy: Hume proclaimed philosophy the supreme, indeed, the only, cure for superstition. Diderot - The philosopher should not be the inventor of systems but the apostle of truth. Adam Smith - Cultivation of philosophy is "the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition." For the Enlightenment, the Age of Philosophy was also, and mainly, the Age of Criticism - they were synonyms - and there were plenty of liberal Christians ready to allow the new philosophy elbow room, provided it stopped barely short of the holiest of matters.

2. The Hospitable Pantheon: Each philosophe took what suited him from the Romans (or from anywhere) and added their characteristic touches, leading to eclecticism - the school that denied being a school. The eclectic "makes a philosophy for himself, individual and personal, one that is his own." The favorite theft of the philosophes was from the Stoicism of Cicero, but since they addressed their propaganda to a largely Christian audience, they also quoted the founders of Christianity, including Jesus. Such adroit posturing barely concealed the philosophes' convictions that Christianity was the worst of fanaticisms.

3. The Primacy of Moral Realism: The philosophes' practicalities were worldly, designed to translate into reality Bacon's and Descarte's grandiose vision of man controlling nature for his profit and desire. In a culture in which men believed in God and yearned for salvation, the study of His nature were matters of intense blessed concern - but during the Enlightenment, they seemed more like verbal games. Nor could the philosophes separate the study of nature from the study of morality. They were confident that the public needed to be educated and it was their calling to educate them.

4. Candide: The Epicurean as Stoic: Voltaire wrote a reality tale - a dialogue on behalf of Newton's empiricism in a world that had discarded myth; and one that caricaturized and satirized Leibniz. Candide is essentially a declaration of war on Christianity.

BOOK TWO: THE TENSION WITH CHRISTIANITY

CHAPTER FOUR: The Retreat From Reason: Educated Romans had at least made a serious attempt to construct a civilization based on reason, not myth. Then came Christianity, which claimed to bring light, hope, and truth - but its central myth was incredible, its dogma a mixture of older superstitions, and its sacred book an incoherent collection of primitive tales. Once the church had discarded its apocalyptic expectations, it settled down to the business of organizing a Christian community - eventually a rigid hierarchy.

1. The Adulteration of Antiquity: In the callous hands of Christians, Greek and Roman literature survived, but barely, and at great cost. The church fathers could not deal generously with secular literature - they were at war for a higher cause. However, there was a minority that maintained an interest - and Christian policy ran somewhere between these two extremes. The great compromise, in the fourth and fifth centuries, was to adapt from paganism whatever could be adapted to religious purposes and to throw the rest away. They invented pious meanings for secular passages, converting and allegorizing meanings - but at least it kept the classics from extinction, though at the price of covering them with pious legends. Cicero was persistently misread into the thirteenth century.

2. The Betrayal of Criticism: Medieval philosophers believed the advent of Jesus had subordinated the need for higher degrees of insight. Abelard devoted much of his ethical and theological speculation to the disappointing thought that his favorite pagan philosophers had been born too early for Christ, thus missing out on salvation. The philosophes saw this as despising and abusing the resources of the mind.

3. The Rehabilitation of Myth: In the Christian millennium, myth was preserved, transcended, and raised to a higher level. The philosophes liked to deride medieval categories as infantile or vicious, but the myths merely followed inevitably from the medieval mind bent on finding religious significance everywhere. Science was done, but like philosophy, it was guided by man's search for holiness and salvation. The enormous distance separating the philosophes from the medieval world view is proof that the Enlightenment was the terminal point of a long process of alienation that had begun centuries before, in the Renaissance.

CHAPTER FIVE: The Era of Pagan Christianity - For all their enormous but gradual contributions to secular thought, Europeans were still overwhelmingly religious - religious fervor attenuating slowly and uncertainly.

1. The Purification of the Sources: Humanists of the Renaissance began to correct the corrupt interpretations of the Greek and Roman philosophers. Many new manuscripts, stored in monastery libraries and guarded by monks, were uncovered, although covered with dust, torn, and mutilated. Unknown copies of Cicero, a single copy of Lucretius's "De Rerum Natura," a single copy of Catullus, and whatever we have of Tacitus were uncovered by persistent Humanist effort bordering at times on thievery. Gradually, classis after classic was reborn, and Humanist scholars purified them of the corrupt accretions of centuries. The veil of pious interpretation was pierced.

2. Ancients and Moderns - The Ancients: The protestant heresy persisted and thus stripped Christian Europe of one of its most tenacious myths, the myth of a Catholic commonwealth centered at Rome. Exploration discovered strange cultures which raised disturbing questions about the souls of heathens and the value of Christian civilization. The Copernican revolution in cosmology began to reverberate among educated men. The printing press and translations, the book trade, the growth of science, and the explosion of interest in accurate interpretations of ancient Greeks and Romans - all these things questioned the authority of the papacy. As Voltaire put it, "a corner of the veil was lifted. The nations, aroused, wanted to judge what they had worshipped."

3. Ancients and Moderns - The Moderns: By the force of its logic, science began to cut its ties with philosophy and to assume a posture at first equal, and then hostile, to theology - less by literary than by scientific means. Even so, the Church first took the findings of Gallileo, Boyle, and Newton as evidence of faith rather than as a threat. Locke called for liberation from the shackles of antique and medieval rules of thought and his impact was huge, the last in a long line of pagan Christians. The philosophes, arrogant as they were, still displayed great reverence for this Age of Genius.

CHAPTER SIX: In Dubious Battle

1. The Christian Component: Locke and his disciple, Toland, both wrote books in 1695 and 1696. Locke tried to prove that Christianity was acceptable to reasonable men; Toland, that what was mysterious and miraculous about Christianity must be discarded - and within those two years the essence of revealed, dogmatic religion evaporated. The philosophes took advantage, striving to maintain a separation between reason and religion while well-meaning Christians continued to try to unite them. This was the beginning of deism, which maintained a healthy respect for Jesus as a teacher, but held that his teachings were distinct from what resulted as the Christian religion.

2. The Treason of the Clerks: Clerical establishments didn't collapse, but every part of life became more secular - there was a subtle shift where religious institutions and religious explanations for events were slowly being displaced from the center of life to its periphery. The evidence for a growing critical rationalism among educated Christians is overwhelming, with a decline in religious fervor. They were thus open to the antireligious propaganda of the philosophes, as Sunday sermons simultaneously grew less severe and more accommodating to an easier life. As the Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists fought amongst themselves, the philosophes triumphed over them all.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Beyond the Holy Circle - the philosophes appropriated Christian labors for their own purposes.

1. The Abuse of Learning: This was a time of the beginnings of Biblical critical scholarship. Diderot, Voltaire, and Gibbon each took particular advantage of a different scholarly friend, and applied that scholarship where it could be devastating to Christianity. The philosophes were missionaries - for the sake of their calling they were ready to exploit the best their enemy had to offer, without mercy or gratitude.

2. The Mission of Lucretius: Lucretius was to Epicureus what the philosophes were to the Enlightenment - purveyors of savage, brutal, and relentless diatribes against superstition and religion. Religion retreated to the extent that philosophy and science advanced.

3. David Hume: The Complete Modern Pagan - Whatever misgivings the philosophes had about their passion, Hume had the least. He thought all houses of faith were houses of infection and that a rational man must escape, after exposing, the squabbles of theologians. His philosophy embodies the dialectic of the Enlightenment at its most ruthless. Without melodrama, Hume lived cheerfully and without complaining, with no supernatural justifications, demanding no complete explanations, no promise of permanent stability, with guides of merely probable validity. He was a cheerful Stoic.

Peter Gay is an important intellectual historian and in his lengthy work "The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism" he summarizes the ideas of the great philosophers and how they changed the world. This book is a work of great erudition, of synthesis and he begins with the relationship between the philosophers of the 18th century and those of the classical period. The philosophers of the Enlightenment, active in the late seventeenth through the middle of the eighteenth century, had an affection for the Greek and Roman era, but felt the recent discoveries in science, the search for empirical fact, had allowed their own era to supercede the work of the great classical philosophers.
While the classicists inspired the philosophers of the Enlightenment, theis new breed of thinkers were generally contemptuous of religion and they sought to confront, to challenge and to overturn the philosophical concepts of the Hebrew and Christian thinkers who they viewed as their rhetorical adversaries in the battle beaten reason and faith.
Gay is an engaging writer with a gift for synthesizing a raft of material. Here he neatly summarizes the philosophical historians work: "...the philosophes wrote history with rage and with partisanship, and their very passion allowed them to penetrate into regions hitherto inaccessible to historical explorers. Yet it also made them condescending and oddly parochial: their sense of the past merged all too readily with their sense of the present." Although the philosophes view of history was critical, pessimistic, they saw the world "divided between ascetic superstitious enemies of the flesh, and men who affirmed life, the body, knowledge, and generosity; between mythmakers and realists, priests and philosophers."
Gay's book neatly depicts an age, the conflicts between enlightenment thinkers and the past, their areas of agreement and disagreement and, their battles with the weakened Christianity of the day. He points out how te philosophers used the scholarship and erudition of the Catholic orders against them. "The Enlightenment" is not a history of philosophy, summarizing the work of each major philosopher, but a history of the way that the ideas and the debate developed in the period. In this volume, he writes of Voltaire, Hume, Smith, Bentham, Gibbon, Diderot, Montsequieu, Lessing, Locke, Holbach, Rousseau and finally, Jefferson and Franklin, intertwining them in a consistent narrative. He concludes the book with a helpful bibliographical essay which will help point those of us who want to do further reading in the right direction. Elegantly written, in clear, crisp prose, "The Enlightenment" is a detailed and nuanced account of the men and ideas that gave us the gift - and curse - of modernity.

The Enlightenment has met many critics nowadays, which even make people overlook the positive worth of the enlightenment to modren society. This great book can help readers make a comprehensive and positive view to the enlightenment. I recommend it !

"Every Man Will Do His Duty" is an anthology of 22 excerpts from actual diaries and journals of men who served in the the British and American navies during the late 18th century and early 19th century.

I loved this book. Each selection was entertaining and well chosen, both for the glimpses the provide into the lives of the officers and men who served on such ships, and for their historical context (Such as Dr. William Beatty's account of the death of Horatio Nelson).

I'd suggest it to anyone who enjoys Naval History, or historical fiction (Such as Forrester or O'Brian) on the subject.

I bought this book because I started down the slippery slope which begins with Patrick O'Brian's *Master* *and* *Commander* and ends with a wall covered with naval prints and trips to Nelson-phile conventions.

This book is an anthology of first hand accounts of naval life in the age of sail. The stories are dramatic and gripping, though I wished the they were longer. The editors have helpfully added some diagrams and maps, though I would have prefered even more.

It is very interesting to see the overlap with the O'Brian books. As O'Brian points out in one of his forwards, at least sometimes he did not need to invent the plot, but merely re-arrange and sort out the pacing.

"Every Man Will Do His Duty" is an anthology of 22 excerpts from actual diaries and journals of men who served in the the British and American navies during the late 18th century and early 19th century.

I loved this book. Each selection was entertaining and well chosen, both for the glimpses the provide into the lives of the officers and men who served on such ships, and for their historical context (Such as Dr. William Beatty's account of the death of Horatio Nelson).

I'd strongly suggest it to anyone who enjoys Naval History, or historical fiction (Such as Forrester or O'Brian) on the subject. Give it a read, it's worth it.

For anyone who is interested in naval warfare in the age of sail in general, or in the Napoleonic period, this book is a must. It is simply superb.

This anthology of first hand accounts covers events in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including the War of 1812, in which the Royal Navy getting some very nasty surprises, and even nastier defeats, at the hands of the small, but expert United States Navy.

Some of the subjects covered are the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797, the sea fight between HMS Macedonian and the USS United States in 1812, the cruise into the Pacific of the USS Essex, and such esoteric subject as 'the noted pimp of Lisbon' and Bermuda in time of peace.

This book is an enjoyable read, an outstanding primary source, and one of the best books available on this often neglected subject.

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If all you read in this book is "The Audacious Cruise of the Speedy", you will have gotten your money's worth.

If the only stories you read are the two chapters from the Nagle Journel, "For the Good of My Soul, 1795," and "Mad Dickey's Amusement, 1798-1800", you will have gotten your money's worth.

But you get more than this. You get a total of 22 stories picked from many to capture the history and character of the times.

If you like Patrick O'Brien, and C.S. Forester, you will enjoy the history that gave seed to these stories. You will recognize the events of Lucky Jack Aubrey's fiirst cruise in the cruise of the Speedy, and be amazed.

Index of stories:

1. In the King's Service, 1793-1794

2. Commence the Work of Destruction: The Glorious First of June, 1794

3. The Noted Pimp of Lisbon and an Unwanted Promotion in Bull Bay, 1794

4. For the Good of My Own Soul, 1795

5. The Would as Soon Have Faced the Devil Himself as Nelson, 1796

6. The Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 1797

7. Mad Diskey's Amusement, 1798-1800

8. The Fortune of War, 1799

9. The Audacious Cruise of the Speedy, 1800-1801

10. Bermuda in the Peace, 1802-1803

11. The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805

12. The Death of Lord Nelson, 1805

13. An Unequal Match, 1807-1808

14. With Stopford in the Basque Roads, 1808-1809

15. When I Beheld These Men Spring from the Ground, 1809

16. "Damn'em, Jackson, They've Spoilt My Dancing," 1809-1812

17. The Woodwind Is Mightier than the Sword, 1809-1812

18. HMS Macedonian vs. USS United States, 1812

19. An Unjustifiable and Outrageous Pursuit, 1812-1813

20. A Yankee Cruiser in the South Pacific, 1813

21. Showdown at Valparaiso, 1814

22. We Discussed a Bottle of Chateau Margot Together, 1812-1815

There is no need to repeat the well deserved compliments offered by other reviewers. He truly is a skilled writer.
But how far can I trust an author who demonstrates so little insight into his own behavior as he encountered the main love interest of the story. By his own telling he was apparently consistently unable to communicate emotionally and connect deeply with his romantic companion.

My only impression of Naples was a sun-filled afternoon many years ago while on a tour of nearby Pompeii and Sorrento. This book conjured those memories for me and made me want to go back and stay longer.
A delightful book, far more than a travelogue. Highly recommended!!!!

This is a series of travel essays on Naples. While some could be published as articles on their own, in this book they are uniquely tied together with the story of Hofstadter's romance. Or is it a romance? This is as unknowable as Naples itself, and DF lovingly shows us how mysterious it all can be. This is a gem of a book and I was sorry to leave DF and Naples when I finished it.

As a post script, could some of the underground network Hof. describes be lava tubes? We have some tall ones on the "Big Island" here in Hawai'i.

Post post script: I've come upon a "Smithsonian" article by Hofstadter from Nov. 2004 on the tunnels. The book presents them in an anecdotal way. The article is packed with info. and with one picture being worth 1000 words, there are 9 very good ones.

I loved this book. The author writes of Naples and its colorful characters with such affection and clarity. I could picture each of them and almost hear them talking and gesturing (especially the praying hands) in their unique Neapolitan manner. The author describes the streets and buildings so vividly that I felt like I was tagging along on his visits. I felt like I knew Benedetta and Nunzia, even Renzo, and I was truly sad when the book ended.

As I got to know these brave and sad people in this city so often invaded or occupied, I understood so well why my beloved mom and her family were so proud of their Neapolitan roots. On a family trip to Italy some years ago, my mom quickly picked up the Italian language of her youth. Many people complimented her and said she sounded like she was "from the North." On the contrary, she would reply proudly, "Sono Napolitana." This book helped me to understand the origin of that pride.

This book is absorbing and fascinating in content, in addition to being extremely well written. It's full of insights into problematical personal relationships, and also into perhaps the ultimate, complicated personal relationship: that between a foreigner and the city with which (and in which) he falls in love.

Naples is my least favorite among Italian cities, and this author didn't convince me to go there, but he presents Naples and its inhabitants most vividly, in all their complexity and ambiguity. While many foreign memoirists, and even ex-pats like the insufferable Frances Mayes, remain on the surface of the societies where they take up residence, confining their contacts mainly to other foreigners and treating most Italians as servants, Hofstadter lives and loves among the ordinary people of Naples, sharing their discomforts as well as their pleasures. His title is understandable, too--the "falling palace" that appears in one of his dreams is a metaphor of Naples itself-- always falling apart and yet never destroyed.