Ireland Books

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.

I am the founder of a charter school in Michigan. Before deciding to found such a school, I read voluminous texts about the history and purposes of public education. This is, by far, my favorite text on education history.

Most education historians make the mistake of blindly accepting as a premise the common misconception that the intended purpose for the development of compulsory education in Prussia was the mass production of soldiers and obedient subjects. Research proves this to be utterly false. While certainly it cannot be argued that the training of the young has been misused at points in history by tyrants, including Hitler, you can't label an invention by its misuse. All innovations have the inherent danger of perversion for evil purpose.

Compulsory public education has a very interesting and wholesome history. The research of Melton sheds much needed light on the perpetually maligned history of compulsory education. This is a must read for those wishing to learn the intricate truth of the evolution of Prussian/Austrian systems of education. The revelations of this probing research succesfully challenge the commonly held prejudices regarding state-run educational systems.

Melton's view of schooling in Prussia and Austria is both informative and precise. He is an under-rated scholar with fascinating perspectives on 17th century European history.

This is a fine book. Meticulously researched and referenced. My interest in the history of education arises out of the fact that I don't intend to send my daughter to school choosing instead to educate her at home. One reason I'm doing this is that mainstream school, whether state or private, is not primarily about education but about structuring society to create a class system and about mentally programming its participants into some role within society. That's quite a bold statement to make and I made it after only a little research. While I might be totally convinced of it, I have be aware that it might be wrong since my daughter's future is at stake. Hence my desire for further research, a desire most ably satisfied by this book. If you read Melton's book you will be left in no doubt as to the veracity of the statement. Also in the book you will find described most of the mind control and indoctrination methods that we associate with modern school and which in alternative education circles is known as the hidden curriculum.

For me a major benefit of this book is that it is written by someone not involved in the alternative education movement, someone who has probably never heard of us or read any of our material. In 'Absolutism', Melton offers independent verification of some of the ideas circulating among an otherwise small group of people. Melton agrees that Prussia is where the origins of compulsory modern schooling lie, but whereas the movement customarily places them in the Prussia after the battle of Jena round about 1805, after Fichte's addresses to the German nation, Melton has them in the Prussia of the early 1700s with methods under the direction of one August Hermann Franke. A piffling discrepancy you may think which makes no difference to the children with lives blighted by school, but all the difference in the world when analysing the philosophical roots of compulsory school. It should also makes a difference when considering reforms to school or its abolition. With Melton's work we can now make a small but significant correction and state that the origins of the education systems in most countries of the world are attributable to Christian Pietists under contract to the Prussian State. Before, the origins were customarily attributed to solely the Prussian State with the silent implication that the origins are secular.

There is much more in this book. As well as home educators, practitioners of alternative education and education historians, this book will appeal to people interested in other aspects of the history and in the politics, philosophy, and religion of eighteenth century Prussia and Austria. In it you will read about Cameralists, the textile industry, labour shortages, seigniorial authority, the rise of agrarian capitalism and much more. Chapter 3 deals with things like baroque Catholicism, popular comedy and drama, and literate theatre - stretching the relevance to add a bit of colour I suspect but good fun nonetheless.

Be warned though, this book is not a primer. You will need to have some prior familiarity with the material to derive maximum value from 'Absolutism'.

As I said at the beginning this is a fine book. Thank you for writing it James Van Horn Melton. Good health to you and your family.

This book is required reading for anyone who wants to understand Russia. It highlights elements of Russian political culture that have been present for decades--before, during, and after the Soviet period--and that are still relevant today. Although political culture as an explanatory framework has flaws in general, its power in explaining the Russian political context cannot be disputed.

I'm a scholar in Russian Studies and recently read the first chapter of this book. I couldn't believe my eyes! Here, finally, I was seeing in print the understanding of Russian culture that I had come to after over 25 years of studying this place (I'm in Russia now). People in the past have tried to make generalizations about Russia and print them, but they always miss the mark, often by a mile. Tim McDaniel hits a bull's eye!

Of course I'm going to buy the book (from Amazon!) the minute I get back to the states, so I can finish it. I know I'm going to assign it to my students who are going to Russia on study-abroad, and that's just the beginning of what I know will be my long, long relationship with this book.

I recommend this book highly to all Russia specialists, to anyone planning on studying, working, or traveling in Russia, and to all people who want to understand this mysterious country.

I found this book to be exceptional. It gave me an additional view of Russian history albeit based upon the author. My only complaint was of the writer, who seemed to need to impress me with his use of big words that completely and constantly interupted my thought processes during the absorbton of the information that enlightened me greatly. Towards the end of the book I was getting angry at the author for ruining such a good read. I recommend buying the book anyway. Excellent.

Jimmy

This book gives a concise biography of Amy's life, yet is written in a way to draw the reader into the circumstances and time in which Amy lived. I gained a great admiration for Amy. She truly lived out her love for the Lord and the Indian people.

This book opened my eyes to see the truth of the children in India. It broke my heart for these children, but I loved hearing the story of Amy's dedication to these children and how she changed thier lives. It encouraged me to see how God worked in the situations that she was in.

A very good approach to the suffering of children in India. It Was well written. Is a very good example of the power of prayer and how people need Jesus

This book gives the reader an insight into a fresh and new yet contradictory view on EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTIONS of the AFRICAN BODY. A great read.

A very sophisticated piece of work. With great insght into many medical/historical perceptions and social mechanisms!
Absolutely Stunning!

P.S: Looking forward to another one.

A disquieting and destabilising experience is what I was left with after reading Butchart's Anatomy of Power. On beginning the book, I at first thought that it was just another social history, albeit incredibly detailed in its probing of what doctors did in the name of science. But, as a I read on, the commanding thesis of the work took ever greater shape, and by the end I was as convinced as Butchart is of the argument that without the socio-medical sciences there can be no bodies at all. This leaves one with a real dilemma in terms of what to do in terms of liberation and the struggle against oppression. While the book doesn't answer this key question, it surely poses it with a greater degree of lucidity and insight than many other books about Africa, colonialism and liberation.

Highly recommended!

Daniel Kuhlmann, Stockholm

Sir Stenton has composed a masterpiece of a history text in his most famous book. A caveat, however, in that the text itself was written by someone who was a professional historian. As such, the text is as dry as you would expect. It is, perhaps, the most comprehensive text on the subject available to the open market, but while it is very name, date, and place intensive, there is little in the way of anecdotal information that might interest the merely casual reader. For someone who is interest in more an introduction than an indepth analysis, I would recommend The Anglo-Saxons, edited by James Campbell.

This book is the single best source of information about Anglo-Saxon England. I would only caution that this books is not for the novice historian. Unfamiliarity with the topic will leave you wondering what your reading and completely lost.

This book is filled with factual information, but because Sir Frank Stenton also lends his sagacious opinions the book is both enjoyable and easy to understand. This book is several hundred pages long with tiny print, and so packed with information, that you'll know everything possible about Anglo-Saxon history. Stenton always prefers the probable to the outrageous and does not seem to go with the popular opinions about kings, queens, or events. You must read this, but only if you're really, really interested in the subject. Otherwise, it'll go right over your head.

I just loved this book. It was perfect for some light reading.

In clear prose, with a distinctive, piercing style, the author addresses the subject and exposes its surfaces and depths. Anyone interested in these poets should be sure to purchase a copy

Sentiment and emotion ride the waves with scholarly precision as Flinn pens the book Dean Koontz wishes he could write but knows he can't. Masterfully ignoring the conventions of the techno-thriller, this book steps boldly where Tom Clancy fears to tread. If you liked "The Bridges of Madison County" or "Trade and Tariff Policy in the Weimar Republic," this is the book for you.

The Architecture of Oppression has all the hallmarks of Jaskot's articles: brilliant writing, impecable scholarship and surprising wit. It is likely to become the standard work in the field, and would also make an excellent primer on fascist architecture for the general reader.

The Architecture of Oppression has all the hallmarks of Jaskot's articles: brilliant writing, impecable scholarship and surprising wit. It is likely to become the standard work in the field, and would also make an excellent primer on fascist architecture for the general reader.

Really a fascinating book on the architecture of Hilter's so called Third Reich. German engineering and work ethic is legendary and even when used for evil, it is effective. This book give a chilling recount of the era of the Reich and you get a feel for the cold, but elegant architecture of Speer, the Reich's chief architect, it is amazing all that got built in such a short time, but what's really fascinating is what was planned, but never realized. Most of the Reich's building were destroyed during the war, but one that does still exist that gives a real feel for the architecture of the Reich is the Olympic Stadium, it is odd to think that this space that was used as a rallying cry for all German's to conquer the world, is today used for Soccer games and the World Cup, personally I think it should have gone the way of the Chancellery, but alas I was not asked, imagine that.

This handy little book is the perfect book for anyone planning to travel to the Irish Republic. The book is divided into 16 sections, the cover everything from the fundamentals of traveling in Ireland, through the myths and history of Ireland. The piece de resistance, though is definitely section 16 - Counties of Ireland. This section goes through each of the counties of Ireland - from Carlow to Wicklow - and provides a map, a list of important sites to see, and gives important mythological references to the county.

The one admitted flaw in this book is that it only covers the Irish Republic, and does not discuss Ulster. But, that said, this is a great book, one that is sure to please anyone who is going to the Emerald Isle to see the land of heroes and gods! I love this book and highly recommend it!

With my own Irish heritage, I have always been drawn to stories of Ireland, and wish to one day visit the Emerald Isle. This book is a wonderful guide to help me visit the historic places that interest me most, and will be invaluable in locating just the perfect inns or bed-and-breakfast establishments to make my time in Ireland the best it can be. I really appreciated the history and historical insights, they help to give one a comprehensive overview of the country and its people. This is ONE WONDERFUL BOOK, and anybody who loves Ireland will benefit by reading it. VERY INTERESTING.

This book has inspired me to take my next vacation in Ireland. The reading is easy along with interesting. The color coding of the historical eras and counties make it a great reference for the traveler as well. If you want to learn about Ireland, you have to read this book.

Mary O'Malley's fourth collection (2001) takes as its focal point the Irish identity and explores our response to recent immigration in the light of our own history. 'In the Name of God and of the Dead Generations' calls for an imaginative reappraisal of who we are as we respond to emigrants who seek asylum in Ireland. O'Malley once again brings a poignant, sharp clarity to the Connemara of her childhood, sweeps out towards California and Mexico and always returns to the particular details of her home place; explored and re-imagined in the light of a quest that is continuous, exacting and rooted in exigent lives. Reviewers remark on her ability to give voice to place in a way which resonates on a deep universal level; both rooted and moving easily in historical and contemporary worlds. Evocative, expansive -- O'Malley embraces the difficult responsibility of transcribing deeply lived experience into Poetry.

Hennessey Award winner Mary O'Malley was born in Connemara and educated at University College, Galway. Her previous collections of poetry are A Consideration of Silk (1990), Where the Rocks Float (1993) and The Knife in the Wave (1997). She has written for both radio and television and is a frequent broadcaster. Her poems have been translated into several languages. She travels and lectures widely in Europe and the U.S. She has completed residencies in Derry and Mayo, and edited two books of children's writing and The Waterside Book from her time in Derry. She lives in the Moycullen Gaeltacht, Co. Galway.

This recent collection of poems from Irish poet Mary O'Malley demonstrates the diversity of her talent. Both in style and subject she shows us her world in many different perspectives. The collection contains love poems, stories of experiences and dreams, reflections of the natural beauty of her country, witty criticisms of people, and more. Some poems are short and pithy, requiring the reader to peruse them several times to follow her train of thought. Other, longer works allow the reader to sink down and savor her use of language and rhythm, imagery and sound. Overall a very satisfying collection.

I was enchanted by O'Malley's earlier works, and she hasn't ceased to amaze me as she continues writing. This book isn't as focused as some of her earlier ones (e.g., "Where the Rocks Float"), but the writing is terrific. Her poetry ranges from wry humor (her comments on Connemara-wannabes) to profound reflections on the human condition. The poem on the death of her son's dog brought tears to my eyes (I don't ordinarily wax sentimental over either kids or dogs, but this is way beyond sentimental!), and, as always, her language is sharp and vivid. Although the West of Ireland is the subject of many of her poems, she's not just a "regional poet," and I'd like to see her become more widely known.