Ireland Books

This book tells the reader all he or she needs to know, and even some things they might not want to know about the food in the Georgian Royal Navy. In this highly detailed book, Ms. Macdonald traces the supply of food from sources to purchasing to consumption from the lower to the Captain. Included are charts of calories, vitamin content, recipes, conversion charts, etc., etc. The book is very readable and of use to the casual reader as well as the scholar. This is a permanent edition to my bookshelf.

Author Janet Macdonald writes an informative and in depth book about feeding English sailors in the early 19th century. Macdonald covers everything that made up the sailors diet, from hard tack (ships biscuit) to salted beef. She writes in detail for example how the hard tack was made, who made it, and how it was delivered, stored and dispensed on the ships. She covers the different subjects throughly and supports her writings with facts from many sources such as the Naval historical archives and log books to name a few sources.

This book is an interesting read for those who want to know about such a integral part of the English sailor's life!

In "Feeding Nelson's Navy", author Janet MacDonald has put together some remarkable research to lay waste the myths of shipboard feeding in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

The British Navy, in the long struggle against Revolutionary and then Imperial France, kept tens of thousands of men at sea for months on end. Popular myth has them subsisting on rotten salted meat and weevily bread. MacDonald shows the sailor aboard the average British warship ate a sufficient and reasonably nutritious diet. Official rations were based on biscuit (pilot bread for today's readers), salt beef, salt pork, cheese, peas, oatmeal, and beer. These were the foods which kept best in a world without refrigeration or canning. Other foods were provided when available, and the British Navy lead the way in experimenting with dried vegetables, "portable" soups, and lemon juice to stave off nutritional diseases such as scurvy.

The British Navy's ability to supply its sailors with a good ration through years of war were thanks to the efforts of the Navy Board and its victualing system. MacDonald's description of its business techniques may be daunting for the reader, but the lesson is that the system was made to work, around the fleet and around the world, in a consistent manner. No other navy of the period enjoyed so much consistent success at sea.

Along with the details of the ration cycle and the mechanics of the supply system, MacDonald provides considerable insight into "messing" at sea, a vital and often unremarked portion of naval culture.

This book is very highly reccommended to students of the Nelsonian Navy and of the Napoleonic Wars. MacDonald has mined this particular academic niche to its reasonable limits.

Cervantes in "Don Quixote" lampoons the writers of chivalric romances for failing to address the mundane realities of life, chief among them being how their heroic knights errant managed to feed themselves. To a lesser degree, perhaps, the modern authors of nautical fiction likewise do not much address the question of how their seaborne heroes (and their crews) were fed, day in and day out. Undoubtedly this is partly because it is far more interesting to write about boarding an enemy frigate than boiling salt beef, but I suspect that it also has to do with the absence of readily available, reliable information about the subject. Now, Janet Macdonald has addressed this want of discussion with "Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era". Coming from a background of writing about cookery, she has tackled the complex and surprisingly mysterious question of how in the world the Royal Navy fed itself during the classic Age of Fighting Sail. Although it might be thought that a matter of such obvious vital importance to maintaining a fighting fleet of tens of thousands of mariners would have been recorded officially in detail, in point of fact Macdonald has had to sift through obscure primary documents such as ships' logs, personal memoirs, and period letters to adequately explore how it was all done: from procuring the foodstuffs (and drink) in the first place, to storing them, getting them to the ships in port and at sea, storing the victuals aboard, preparing meals, and serving them to officer and crews. And even with such diligent research, she must resort to informed speculation to address some questions, such as just how a ship's cook kept separate the rations for the various messes and served them out in an efficient manner. The breadth of coverage is impressive: the Navy's Victualling Board administration, officially mandated rations and substitutes, typical recipes, shipboard organization, disease and vermin, the "hardware" of food preparation and consumption (stoves and dining implements), and surrounding social customs. For anyone interested in the real world of the Royal Navy behind the fiction Horatio Hornblowers and Jack Aubreys, "Feeding Nelson's Navy" is a revelation, dispelling old myths and offering new facts such as the caloric and vitamin content of the men's meals. Macdonald throughout her book illustrates the practicalities of the subject by citing numerous real-life incidents drawn from period documents.

I enjoyed this book! A great story about the journeys we go on and how they can impact our lives.

Chris has a great sense of humour, and his love/hate relationship with the Irish shines through ih book as I giggled my way through the pages. It is great to read a 'regular blokes' writing!! :-)

Looking forward to the next adventure!

Not only is this book written by my brother an interesting and funny account of his travels in Ireland - more to the point - it has ME in it! Woohooo I'm famous... (Note to self: tone down my narcissistic tendencies). In all seriousness though, I enjoyed 'a few Drops short of a Pint', because in many ways it reminded me of my time and travels in Ireland too. Ireland can be a frustrating place, that is for certain, but those are the kinds of things you get through and look back and enjoy in retrospect. This is what Chris has captured, an essentially personal journey (in many senses of the word) in a retrospective angle. I think, having been tested time again, his character has shone through in his writing. There is a truthfulness to Chris' book that you can admire, I highly recommend trying it and discovering everything in it on offer yourself.

A. Dowding

Very well written book with a lot of humour. I found myself laughing at the craziness of the people Chris and Kerryn came across in their travels. Can't wait to experience Ireland myself!

Would recommend it to anyone interested in funny travel narratives!

The book chronicles Chris and Kerryn's time spent living and working in Ireland. It is one of the few books about the Emerald Isle that doesn't read like it was written by Ireland's national tourist board. It's an honest account of the good times and the bad and you can find out more about it at Chris's website [...]. Peter Moore, author of 'Vroom with a View'

...while not avoiding the dark side of the Irish character, Chris also explores the humour. Gregory Stanton, 'weekender'

...a full bodied travel memoir that gives the reader a taste of Irish life and history. Jennifer Scott, 'Sunshine Coast Daily'

It's the sort of travel book you can read over a few beers. Linda Muller, 'The Redland Times'

"Old ploughsocks gorge the subsoil of each sense / And I am quickened with a redolence / Of the fundamental dark unblown rose." In the face of such mastery, we cannot comment or explicate, for fear of impertinence; we can only quote, and hope that something of the maker's joy communicates itself.

This was the third book of poetry that this reviewer purchased as a youth, the first two being Eliot's Four Quartets and Rimbaud's Illuminations. This book remains a favourite of ours, fifteen years after its purchase.

The Glanmore Sonnets occupy a central position in this slender but rich volume, as is fitting; it is perhaps Heaney's masterwork. The Elegy to Robert Lowell, the "welder of English" who composed "heart-hammering blank sonnets of love for Harriet and Lizzie" is also noteworthy.

There is much about the sectarian warfare of the troubled six counties of Northern Ireland, but like Dante (who appears via epigraph and translation in this book) Heane!y can transfigure the sins of his land into glorious language that is an exemplar of poetry's redemptive potentiality. "I think our very form is bound to change ... Unless forgiveness finds its nerve and voice."

There is much here about love, nuptial, natural, sexual. At the end of "The Guttural Muse," there is a couplet of exclusion from the joyful earthiness that the poet observes: "I felt like some old pike all badged with sores / Wanting to swim in touch with soft-mouthed life."

There is warfare and loss, violence and bliss, the joys of the flesh and the crucifixion of a country. But after reading the poems in FIELD WORK, the reader will doubtless share in Seamus Heaney's faith that "the end of art is peace."

This was my first exposure to Seamus Heaney and his work (other than seeing the portly fellow with his unkempt white hair walking purposefully around campus here in Cambridge.) It is still my favorite collection of his work. Like all previous reviewers, I will not critique any particular poem, but only give the volume what can be one of my highest forms of praise: The poems have such a resonance that they have stayed with me long after putting the book down. That is a rare feat, in any artistic genre.

With "Field Work" the metaphor of "digging" with which Seamus Heaney began his first volume of poetry ("Death of a Naturalist") has become a succinct and overarching symbol of his entire literary endeavour. In that poem "digging" comes to connote the agricultural roots of his childhood (and of the Irish people) but also the search for word-fodder that his poetry enacts. "Field Work" continues to explore these concerns in a powerful collection of poems. Here the deeply personal ("Glanmore Sonnets"), primarly poetic ("Elegy") and cautiously political ("Triptych", "The Toome Road") sit comfortably alongside one another. While Heaney (as the most famous voice in contemporary Irish literature) has been repeatedly criticised for his silence on the Ulster situation, this volume shows that (as in "North") he is able to deal with its complex issues without taking sides. Always his concern is for the impartial victim (the position he himself assumes, that of the "unmolested orchid" ["Triptych 1"]) and the place he or she occupies among the combatants. "Casualty" describes a friendly but laconic pub drinker (apolitical and an acquaintance of Heaney's) who was killed by the British for defying curfew. "Triptych 1" includes the description of "Two young men with rifles on the hill" - we do not know if they are Unionists or I.R.A., they are two sides of the same coin. Heaney's continual "digging" allows him to move beneath the emotive surface of events and to unearth their common history, culture, landscape, experience. In "Field Work" the very poetry with which Heaney draws these moments is itself a tool to pare bloody and partisan politics back to its single seed, the common root of the Irish field and furrow.

Seamus Heaney, in "Field Work" makes accessible what is best about poetry and, especially, modern Irish poetry. Heaney's impact on modern poetry will certainly extend on into the centuries as he lays down his words in beautiful rythmic language, a language forgotten by many contemporaries, but coming back with many new poets. Heaney's protrait of Irish life, the "troubles", and just his love of people and the land makes this a must read not only for those who love good poetry, but wish to understand the beauty, people, politics, and history of a great people to be free. Heaney writes no bad poems, remains accessible to the occasional reader, and offers more than enough solid food for the critic and student of poetics to keep all happy for long after the read.

FLAK: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 by Edward Westermann is the definitive study of Germany's ground-based air defenses. This meticulously researched book takes the reader from the early days of air defense and traces the development of ground-based air defense from its vestigial theoretical roots in WW1 through the learning days of the war in Spain and culminates with a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of ground-based versus fighter air defenses.

Westermann masterfully weaves all aspects of the development of the 88 with the other less-well-known and understood defenses used by Germany such as smoke screens and decoy sites, the high-level of damage to bombers from Flak that increased fighter kills as they pounced on stragglers, the decrease in accuracy from bombers trying to evade Flak, the coordination with night-fighters (the Wild Boars), as well as the development of improved targeting devices such as radar.

Westermann shows that in the early days of the war and indeed into 1942, the Flak arm of the Luftwaffe was taking a heavy toll on Allied bombers. He discusses the evolution of bomber strategy in dealing with the Flak, as well as decisions made by the Luftwaffe that would lead to a decrease in Flak kill averages and a precipitous drop in the effectiveness of all ground-based air defenses from 1943 on due to material shortages, bomber technology, allied countermeasures, and less skilled Flak crews such as women and children replacing trained units.

The book is a dense study filled with graphs and charts that help show the effectiveness of Flak versus fighters (and indeed shows that both were most effective when used in tandem), yet it is an easy read that is very logically laid-out.

For myself this book was an eye-opener. My grandfather was in Flak from 1938-1945. He began as a range-finder (Entfernungsmesser) operator on 88s preparing for sea-lion, and later became a radar operator. This probably saved his life. As more and more Flak men were pulled into line units to fight on the ground in Russia and elsewhere, the skilled radar operators stayed on the Western Front to monitor the daily fleets of aircraft flying to Germany and they provided what little early-warning the Luftwaffe would have until everything collapsed. It gave me a better understanding of my grandfather's service as well as an appreciation for what Westermann terms the world's most advanced air-defense network at the time.

Some people can think it is a book for History, Politics and War aficionados - it is. But it is not exclusively. If you are an Executive, Planner or Strategist, involving people administration, fifficult goals and (limited) resources, you will enjoy and learn a lot with this book.

The text is easy and at same time comprehensive. The pictures extremely well selected. It is the result of expertise and dedication from author and editor.

Flak played an integral part of Germany's air defenses during World War I and II. This well-researched and well-written volume looks at the development of the antiaircraft artillery, its organization, employment and manning. No other book I have ever come across has done as good a job as this one in discussing the antiaircraft artillery of the Luftwaffe and the German Army. The production of the excellent "88," the wartime development of radar and other aspects are presented in this volume.

Westermann is a professor at the School for Air & Space Studies in Montgomery, Alabama, and is another of the Showalter-style of disciples. This book is very specialized, and thus not for the average WWII buff. However, if you have any interest in the subject this is great military history, touching upon social, economic & political aspects of air defense as well as standard military history stuff. It necessarily has some discussion of fighter defense as well as flak, and that discussion is well-handled and interesting enough to make me think the author should have gone on to write a companion book on the air/fighter defense aspect.

Good scholarly review of the subject. Goes into the politics, economics, and effectiveness of the German flak defences. The author's case for the effectiveness of the flak arm is very persuasive. Would have been nice to have had more personal recollections of ex-flak gunners.

It's nice to find a travel guide with subjective (rather than gushing) descriptions of all manner of things ranging from cities to hotels to vegetarian specials. This guide is chock full of phone numbers and web sites and price guidelines and has proved to be a helpful (and fun)resource.

This is a comprehensive guide which covers the must-see's and the off-the-beaten-track. The discussion covers the usual high traffic spots with greater detail, but also notes where to find an old style straight razor shave from times gone by, or where to locate old Viking Ruins or an obscure park. Identifies where the crowds will be, and where to find some solitude, and has numerous well defined maps. Defnitiely covers the in's and out's, lines, and provides enough detailed information concerning the well known sites to let you decide which are worthy of the wait. This is the best of many guides I have purchased.

In preparation for a trip to Ireland, I think I read every current guidebook out there. This was the only one I took with me. It is very thorough, well written and designed, and goes a several layers deeper than its competition.

While planning a return trip to Ireland, I looked a every current guidebook I could find. "Footprint Ireland" is the only one I will take with me on my trip. It is very comprehensive, provides clear descriptions without tourist hype, and includes the practical detail you need to make the best use of your time (ferry schedules, opening hours, etc.) It also provides good information on local walks, short and long, an important part of any successful Irish visit. By far and away, it has more helpful information, well presented with good design, than any other guide I found.

Lady Gregory has written a very precise and easily read translation of some of the best of Irish mythology. Originally written at the turn of the ninetteenth century it still holds today.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Celtic mythology and lore.

Lady Gregory faithfully renders old Irish stories into a form that we clods that only speak English can understand. She does not, however, make them more prosaic, or fix them into what we normally find as our story format! They are true to the original structures of the genre, and are much more lively and fun for that. My wife places them firmly in the nature of Irish legend, which she calls "We went over there and stole their cow!" (Tain Bo Cuailnge is basically a story of a cow theft, and is one of the most famous stories of Irish legend). I love the split style, and it does give the reader a good understanding of the way stories were related in the old days. A must for those who want to know where some of the ancient Irish names derive!

The works of Lady Gregory are the best way to get a pure taste of the original Irish Myths - unless you are fluent in Gaelic and can get a hold of older copies. Lady Gregory's elequent speech and style breathes life into Ireland's forgotten Heroes and Gods!

Gods and Fighting Men is an excellent resource because it preserves the lore from the Book of Invasions as well as other sources -- the legends of the earliest inhabitants of Ireland, the coming of the Tuatha De Danaan (The People of Dana) and the stories of Finn MacCumhail.

What is portrayed as "Early Irish Mythology" 99% of the time actually isn't -- the dozens of translations of The Tain, albeit worthy reading, are actually the lore of Ulster, a single Irish province. This makes it Ulster Mythology (regional) more than Irish Mythology (national).

The legends of the Tuatha De Danaan are essential for a comprehensive understanding of Irish mythology, actually comprising the majority of the Mythological Cycle, and deal with the initial settling of all of Ireland.

Unfortunately, it seems to be modern New Age reconstructions of the Mythological Cycle rather than the native stories that seem to be infusing themselves into the mainstream, and that is sad.

In my mind, the Mythological Cycle is the most important cycle in Irish mythology, because it sets up the scenario for all that is to follow. The Fenian Cycle (legends of Finn MacCumhail and his warband) are fascinating not only for their strong associations with Nature, but also for the fact that the stories are well-known both in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands. The Gods still walked and resided on (or in) the Earth and interacted often with mortals. Magic was all around.

The Tain, on the other hand, is more a time of towns and forts and war-chariots; a time when magic was less present and people were less intertwined with Nature than in the Golden Age. The Gods had already departed our realm and only made brief cameos in the stories.

In summary, Gods and Fighting Men is the actual collection of Irish Mythology from the earliest legends. It affects all of Ireland and the stories are fairly widespread throughout the Gaelic world. Lady Gregory wrote these translations with a view to retain the native Irish sense of story-telling; this she achieved remarkably well.

My one concern is that it would have been nice for Lady Gregory to have cited her sources for each story. I know that in many cases she blended versions from several sources to produce what she saw as the purest form of the story, but a simple listing of these would have been fantastic from an academic standpoint.

Overall this is probably the greatest collection of Irish Mythology I have found so far, albeit Lady Gregory's focus was primarily as storyteller rather than academic (this is not a bad thing -- dry, stale translations of Irish lore would have been extremely anti-Irish in themselves).

This should probably be the FIRST book one reads of Irish Mythology. I highly recommend this book and the fact that it is value-priced definitely doesn't hurt, either. This book is definitely worth several times its cost.

Happy Reading!

Whether or not you've been to Greece, a breeze through this book gives you a feeling of being there, taking you to the country's most popular and beautiful sites from a perspective unavailable to most. Although the colors and uniqueness are difficult to portray, this comes very close. The photo of Zakynthos made me cry, and the photo of a village wedding stirred my soul. It is a beloved addition to my collection, and an album of understanding for those who have never seen it in person--simply look through its pages and see Greece.

I give this book 5 stars for what it presents, but I think the true heart of Greece lies not only in the chalk-white cliffs and Greek blue waters, but also in its people (which of course are difficult to photograph from the air!).

I have never in my life seen such absolutely incredible photos. If you want to see Greece at its absolute best, nothing else can compare. There are a number of photos here that by themselves are worth the price of the book. I can never recall having a book that is as captivating the 100th time I look through it as the first time. The picture of the fisherman in his boat seemingly floating on air is just simply the most amazing photo I've ever seen.

If you have any friends or relatives who are Greek or have been to Greece, this is absolutely the best gift you can give them.

I especially like shots that include the Mediterranean, which can be mind-bogglingly blue. Even those parts of Greece that look barren and stony when you're on the ground take on a whole new texture and beauty when photographed from the air.

This is a truly unique book. These aerial photographs are masterful artwork. The photographer has captured some of the most enchanting spots in Greece with expert use of natural light. Strolling through this book over and over again makes me see a land that is even more beautiful from the air than from the land; makes me see a beauty that previously I could only feel. The photo of the Skiathos fisherman in his boat suspended in the sea is absolutely magical! Going through this book after you return from Greece takes you back. Reading it before you visit impels you to go. Exquisite!

Reviewed by David Lundberg, author of Olympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece

If you've heard about the Austrian extreme rightist, Joerg Haider, then this is a book that you'd be interested in. It's full of modern political history in Austria. It delves into the fears that many Austrians have whether Haider is the next Hitler by discussing his political strategy.

I used this book when I did a thesis for college.

Sully's book "The Haider Phenomenon" is outstanding. It portrays an exquisite portrait of Jorg Haider's ideas, and the state of Austrain Politics. I couldn't put it down. The Way the book is written makes it interesting. It is Explained so even the "politically-unfamiliar" can comprehend it's ideas. This books is a great read for anyone.

Sully's book The Haider Phenomenon is most welcome and should be required reading for media pundits and politicians who love one liners and 30 second sound bites. The book is especially important and topical in view of the Freedom party's entry into the Austrian government and the attendant international uproar. Sully presents the complexity of the picture in clear authoritative language. She provides also the context of the original statements by Haider which have given rise to so much negative publicity.The book neither praises nor blames Haider and his Freedom party but just gives the facts. This is a most welcome exception to the propaganda the American public is constantly subjected to. Thank you and congratulations Ms. Sully

I didn't find words to describe this book. Just read! You'll find this book as good as I found. I swear.

This is the best book I've ever read.It is great for children as well as for grown ups,who shouldn't forget that they were children once too.

I am a big fan of Oscar Wilde, and this just proves even more how wonderful a writer he is. These stories are for the young and the old. You will laugh and cry. Wilde writes them in such simplicity that they are absolutely wonderful. I personally cried at the end of the story "The Happy Prince" and came very close to doing so for a good number of the other ones. Don't just think that these are sappy kiddy stories though because there is also a great deal of Wilde wit and sarcasm in them. You can't help but smile and laugh. This is really one of those books to share with your friends.

I like this book because there are a few little interesting short stories in it. The fairy tales want to tell us something about social problems. If you read this book it opens your eyes so that you can see that there are these problems in our society too. But the book is also good for little children, because the fairy tales are written in a nice language. They are very pretty,
My favourite story in the book is „The Selfish Giant". Because first the Giant is very selfish and doesn't want the children to play in his garden but afterwards he sees the happiness of the children when they play in his garden and this gives him happiness too. Also the relationship between the little boy and the Giant is great.

I am no expert on Oscar Wilde, but I've been reading fairytales long enough to be able to tell the difference between an enchanting story and a bunch of pap. The nine magically airy yarns in this small collection are definitely in the first category.

"The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant" are perhaps the most famous of the nine. In the first story, the golden statue of a prince weeps for all the suffering people he sees and begs a swallow to strip him of his riches and distribute them to the masses. In the second tale, a giant builds a wall around his beautiful garden to keep out the noisy children, only to find out that he has also locked out the Spring.

"The Young King" is a variation on the theme of "A Happy Prince". When a young monarch learns of the suffering and misery caused by his requirement for a robe, a crown, and a sceptre, he refuses to handle any of these riches and is given a more fitting raiment by a Divine Power. Keeping with the royal theme is "The Star-Child", about a beautiful but horrible young boy whose physical appearance grows to match his ugly spirit. Another little bird appears in "The Nightingale and the Rose", to help a young man win the heart of the woman he loves.

The stories' themes include beauty, tragedy, agony, compassion, innocence, and (Platonic) love. Some characters give their lives, or sell their souls, in the name of love. There are also the same archetypes that appear in dreams: the Divine Child, the Trickster, the Wise Old Man or Woman, the Number 3, and more. Add all this to Wilde's delicate writing and gilded imagination, and you get some of the most original tales ever written.

Though most of these stories end happily, all end tragically. That is to say, even when the endings are happy, someone always dies. Each story manages to associate everything thrilling and exquisite about beauty with the starkness of death. Accordingly, not all of these tales are suitable for children. For example, one scene in "The Fisherman and His Soul" features witches dancing before the devil and the princess in "The Birthday of the Infanta" is a heartless child whose mockery leads to the death of a little dwarf. Though the stories are moral at the core, and often explicitly Christian, they do not always make sense.

Despite the faults, the keening, poignant loveliness shines through, making me want to read each story again and again and again.

Excellent reference for genealogical research. A very broad collection of maps makes it useful for a wide rage of topics (religion, ethnic population distribution, politcal boundary shifts in a place where someone's always fighting over boundaries and control). A timeless reference....

Almost 5 stars!

This atlas gives exactly what it promises: The history of the lands between the German and Italian-speaking peoples in the West and the boundaries of the former Soviet Union in the East - in short: "East Central Europe". Not to be mistaken with "Eastern Europe", which can exactly be defined by the European area of the former Soviet Union, or Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine of today.
Beside East Central Europe, the atlas also covers the Balkans.

This is the best English-language atlas of it's kind at the moment.
Balanced history telling, which tries to present both sides of disputed topics, illustrated by beautiful - although sometimes rough - maps.
This work presents the finest of Anglo-Saxon mapmaking.
To be used together with the series "A History of East Central Europe", and to be compared with the "The Times Atlas of European History".

Review based on first paperback edition, 1995

From the Baltic to the Balkans and from 400 A.D. to 1992 A.D., this atlas colorfully covers the territory in the best possible way.

Researchers with Slavic, Germanic, Jewish, Greek or other ancestry from east central Europe will find this historical atlas invaluable.

It contains 89 wonderful maps which show useful details such as the Catholic diocese and archdiocese as they appeared in 1900, the tremendous populations movements from 1944 to 1948, Jewish settlement, and of course the ethnic composition of the region at various periods. Each map comes one or more pages of explanatory text as well.

I find this atlas to be a constant help in my struggle to understand the changing borders of the region throughout history. You can't understand family history if you don't have an understanding of the history of the family's place of origins. This atlas is an ideal way to better understand the history of east central Europe.

This cartographic history of Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans is essential for anyone attempting to understand the current crisis in Kosovo. Author Paul Robert Magocsi gives concise histories of the major ethnic groups, and their kingdoms, principalities, and national states occupying the territories between the German- and Italian-speaking peoples on the west and the political borders of Russia on the east. The book gives extensive treatment to the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Yugoslav peoples, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Greeks, others, including the Baltic peoples (Finns, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians) are discussed, as are the Belorussians and Ukranians. While these histories are necessarily abbreviated to short summaries of principal events, the overall effect is one of cohesion that gives readers a clear picture of the historical forces at work. My sole criticism is that the text sometimes repeats itself. On the other hand, the maps and their accompanying text tell volumes about political and social conditions there. Additionally, 32 statistical tables give comparative data on ethnolinguistic and national compositions of the populations of those countries. One cannot hope to understand today's news without resources of the kind this volume so amply provides. University of Washington Press. Paperback Edition, 1995, 218 pages, index.