Europe Books

I purchased this book as a gift and had done a lot of research looking for just the right one. I loved the book from the moment I opened it and was very excited to see not only beautiful pictures but loads of ideas and design elements that were very helpful. The receiver of the book was also very thrilled with the design elements and help that the book brought to help with decorating her home in the french country style. Loved It.

This is one of the best books on Country French that I've found. The illustrations are wonderful, whether you prefer the older designs or are looking for something with a more modern feel. I loved just looking at the pictures and getting a feel for the colors and styles. This is a book I'll return to again and again to get the feel of the French countryside.

Really a wonderful book - both beautiful to look at and informative. Very interesting reading, as well as artistically lovely with wonderful, colorful photography. I am not a decorator or designer by trade, but go to this type of book for creative inspiration, and this one was a winner.

The book was very informative. It gave me many ideas on how to include my furnishings with a French feel.

I can see this book is going to sit on the top of the coffee table book pile for a long time to come. Aside from the fabulous photos of French Provincial homes, Dannenberg delicately picks apart the details that make a typical Provincial home and garden. It does the job so much better than we sitting in another continent can grasp from a few photos in a book. It teaches us how to copy this style and really appreciate the quality of each piece of furniture, artwork or chattel we acquire for own little pretend patch of France.
I love this book!

The book is enlightening concerning some aspects of the culture.

Prof. Ginzburg outlines in detail the information we have concerning the transformation from ancient agrarian cult to the witchcraft scare. This is not your mother's Margeret Murrey, this is done right.

Whether or not Carlo Ginzburg actually discovered evidence of shamanism in sixteenth-century Italy, in this or later books, is in part a matter of how one defines shamanism. What he undeniably found, in the seemingly unpromising records of the Inquisition, was evidence of beliefs so remote from those of official European culture as to be flatly unintelligible to the churchmen who first encountered them. Eventually, the Church courts managed to impose something resembling officially acceptable doctrines on the local population, but the process took generations, as Ginzburg is able to show from trial records.

Briefly, Ginzburg found that, in the Friuli district, there was a widespread belief that certain men and women were marked at birth as defenders against witches and demons, these being regarded mainly as the enemies of the people, their livestock, and their crops. The chosen defenders, the "Benandanti," or "good walkers," ventured forth in their dreams to do battle with the forces of evil. Those born with the mark of the Benandanti regarded themselves as good Christians, the allies of the Church. To those outside the local culture, this position was clearly nonsense; unauthorized and unsanctified supernatural power could only be Satanic in origin, and those who claimed to exercise it were, at best, dangerously deluded. In the end, if the court records are to be trusted, they persuaded even the Benandanti themselves that this was the case. At least, the "absurd" and "outrageous" testimony of self-described Benandanti fades from the records, to be replaced with conventional witch-beliefs endorsed by the Holy Office.

The official tendency, Catholic and Protestant, to lump local witch-doctors together with the witches they claimed to counter had long been recognized by historians. Ginzburg, however, discovered, and offered to surprised historians (in the original Italian edition of 1966), a stratum of belief that, when first recorded, seems to have been entirely outside the mainstream of medieval European culture. There is scattered evidence for similar concepts in other parts of Europe, and abundant evidence from other continents, but the connections and age of the beliefs in and about the Benandanti remain subjects for controversy. The demonstration that diverse local beliefs had been rendered uniform by the judicial process, and by intensive indoctrination of the "lower classes," however, remains a landmark.

As described in the "Preface to the English Edition," the Italian version rather quickly received favorable -- and some unfavorable or uncomprehending -- notice from historians of European witchcraft. It was interpreted, or perhaps misunderstoond, by Mircea Eliade, the influential figure in "History of Religions" at the University of Chicago, one of the great authorities on shamanism (and much else). Although sections had been published in English earlier, the whole book became available in English in 1983, in the present translation, from Routledge & Kegan Paul in Britain, and Johns Hopkins University Press in the U.S. I first read it a few years later, and eventually acquired a copy of a Penguin Books re-issue of 1986. (All the English-language editions seem to differ only in cover art, besides the name of the publisher.) I have re-read it from time to time over the years. Although historical views of European witch-beliefs and popular culture have both been in flux, this book remains among the most fascinating in its crowded field.

This is by far my favorite historical account of a witch hunt. The book looks at a northern Italian area called Friulian and the fertility rituals people performed in the 1600s and 1700s. The benandanti, marked at birth by the sign of the caul, served Christ and their community by leaving their bodies at night to fight evil witches that had attempted to destroy or steal their harvest. The Catholic Church believed the benandanti were witches and conducted inquisitions and trials. If you've ever been fascinated by the witch trials and don't know where to begin, I suggest this book as a fun yet informative read.

In his book, The Night Battles, Carlo Ginzburg addresses the historical problem of why, during sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, did the Friulian fertility rituals of the benandanti, or "good-walkers", gradually assimilate into witchcraft. The benandanti, marked at birth by the sign of the caul, served Christ and their community by leaving their bodies at night to fight evil witches that had attempted to destroy or steal their harvest. Because of the ignorance of the Friuli language and benandanti rituals, the Church conducted incessant inquisitions and trials against the self-proclaimed benandanti, which in effect, pushed the benandanti toward witchcraft and participation in the sabbat.

In support of this argument, Ginzburg employs inquisitorial records that reveal an unmistakable gap between the beliefs and mentalities of the benandanti with those of the inquisitors. Brian P. Levak's review, published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, notes the significance of Ginzburg's exploration of the mentalities and culture of the Friuli. Levak writes, "The Night Battles is a milestone in the history of popular culture, for it was one of the first studies to use judicial records to gain direct access to popular beliefs." In addition, by skillfully using his primary source material, Ginzburg is able to discern between the "genuinely expressed popular ideas and those that reflect the more learned notions of [the] interrogators, especially when the accused was faced with either the threat or the reality of torture." To Ginzburg's credit, he allows the strength of the inquisitorial records to stand alone in support of his thesis and in exposing the popular culture of the Friuli. Furthermore, Ginzburg's use of comparative methodology demonstrates, not only the evolution of the benandanti fertility rituals under inquisitorial pressure, but also the vast cultural and spiritual gap between the Church and the peasantry.

While Ginzburg's work is an example of ground-breaking historical writing, there are several critiques that can be made of The Night Battles. First, Ginzburg's book makes way for more questions regarding the experiences and participation of the benandanti in the fertility rituals. For example, Ginzburg admittedly does not address why the benandanti, spread out over a vast region, testify to similar experiences and physical participation in their night gatherings. How is it that these people all testified to a common experience during the inquisitions? Ginzburg would be well-served to investigate the parallels in testimonies, if only to further personify the popular culture and mentalities of the Fruili. Secondly, as Alby Stone noted in her Folklore review, "the book would be improved by making the index more comprehensive and, alas, there is no bibliography." The Table of Contents page is too simplistic, almost juvenile, and does not reflect Ginzburg's reputation as a consummate and seasoned historian. Ginzburg does offer a comprehensive appendix and notes section. However, he fails to include a bibliography - a necessity with historical writing. While the Contents and the Bibliography do not impact the overall significance of his work, these are areas that should be improved.

When I picked this book up from the library I was not sure it would be one that I would enjoy,but I was surprised how into the story I got and could not put it down! I am not going to tell all the details of the book but I will just say that if you want a book that will not only capture you mind but your heart as well than you will enjoy this book and even be sad when it ends cause you just want to keep reading!

Maurine F. Dahlberg.... wow can you ever write. This is one of my very favorite books of all time and I swear that I have read WAY to many books. Right now I am doing an Independant Novel studu on it and have to do a bibliography on you. I can't seem to find information but kids and/or Adults if you ever need a good book to read, I suggest you pick up a Play to the Angel and dig in!

" Austria 1938. War is coming. But Greta only cares about her music." What if suddenly you were practicing in your piano professor's apartment. When a loud banging comes from the door. You open it to see starched uniforms, shiny boots, pistols, swastikas, and lightning bolts. The Nazis are at the door.
This was just one of the many scenes from Pay to the Angel. Where words of cheerfulness and depression burn a seeping image in your mind. This author really sets the scene. Maurine Dahlberg wrote the magnificent and extraordinary novel.
Greta Radky loves to play the piano. But her mother does not want her to play. She threatens to sell the piano. But luckily, a piano teacher moved into the apartment not far away. Se learns how to play the piano from a Herr Hummel. But while at a party with her friends Mutti (the mother) finds out! But in a last desperate attempt by Herr Hummel and Greta, she decides... to keep the piano. So Greta plays better and better and eventually she is invited, by Herr Hummel, to a Recital at a huge musical academy, in front of a large audience! She had never done this before. And more than anything she wants Mutti to come. But at the end of the recital she is not there. When she leaves the academy, she why Mutti had not come. The Nazis had taken over Austria! But that's all I'm going to tell (I hate Spoilers).
One day, Greta was practicing on Herr Hummel's piano Sunday morning. Herr Hummel was never at his apartment room come Sunday morning. So he had given Greta a spare key to the room. Then a knocking came from the door. Too loud to be Mutti, Herr Hummel, or any of the neighbors. She opened the door, and the hall was filled with Nazis. Then they swarmed the room, tearing it apart, looking for signs of the unidentified Herr Hummel.
The theme to the book is that things aren't what they seem. Like cold- hearted Mutti, turns out to be, happy, loving, caring Mutti. And like Herr Hummel's identity. And how no one seemed to think that the Nazis would invade Austria.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with mystifying people. And anyone who loves to read about history. This is a very creative story. If you wish to find out about Herr Hummel's secret past, Mutti's true feelings, and the story of Greta Radky, you will have to read Play to the Angel.

When I started to read this book, I was captivated. It is interesting and provides a good insight to musical life to someone who is musically challenged. I thought Herr Hummel, or Karl Von Engelhart, was very well-done and interesting. When I finished this book I suddenly wanted to go to Austria and see what it was like. The only thing I didn't like was it ended on a cliff-hanger, and I really tortured myself thinking about if Greta ever saw Lore or Erika or Karl von Engelhart (Herr Hummel) again.

One thing I disagree with in the review above: they say that Doris Ogel's The Devil in Vienna is better than Play to the Angel. It is not! I read about half of TDIV and I was totally bored and disinterested, although I finished it. It was shallow and the emotions of Inge were very undeveloped. Though I'm getting off the subject. Read Play to the Angel and you won't be disappointed!

Greta was a piano player in Vienna, Austria in 1938. Her brother Kurt died about a year before and her mother is starting to get insane migraines. But those wont stop Greta from dreaming of becoming a famous pianist. She is different from all the girls in school. And now that her best friend Erica has moved to America, she truly feels alone sometimes. Even her neighbor Frau Vogel can't help her that is until she tells Greta about a piano teacher that lives in the apartment next door. She goes to the apartment one day but no one is there. She walks in to find a beautiful grand piano. She takes out some music and begins to play when Herr Hummel startles her. They eat and start to talk. By the time Greta leaves she has agreed to take piano lessons from him for free. She keeps this a secret from her mother for a while but when Herr Hummel brings up that he wants Greta to play at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Greta begins to practice music from Scarlatti and Mendelssohn for her recital. Finally the day of her performance comes. Her and her mother had gotten in a fight earlier that day but Greta had hoped that she could still make it. To her surprise her mother didn't arrive. When the recital was over Greta and Herr Hummel were rushed back to Herr Hummel's apartment where they found Frau Vogel and Greta's mother with an injured ankle. Apparently the Nazi's had invaded Austria and while Greta's mother was running out of the shop where she works she sprained her ankle. Soon one of Herr Hummel's old students Rudolf Beck, who Greta and Herr Hummel had seen while they were in the city, has sent the SS for Herr Hummel. Greta is in Herr Hummel's apartment when the SS came in tearing the place up looking for things. That is when she finds out that Herr Hummel is actually famous pianist Karl von Englehart, and that he is wanted for helping Jews escape the Nazi's. When the SS men leave Greta remembers the money and passports in Herr Hummel's desk and takes them across town to the Academy where he is with one of the directors. He tells Greta that he is going to Prague and that he will contact her when he is safe. Later Greta receives a letter from him saying that he is on his way to America. Greta and her mother escape the Nazi's by going to live with family in Switzerland. This book is good for students who like to learn about the affects of WW2 and who study music. This book shows students that no matter what they can always make their dreams come true.

In the beginning of the book Greta has suffered a great lose in her life, her brother Kurt, who also played piano, died and her mother is becoming very irritable. Her mother used to always have fun with them and enjoy listening to Kurt play the piano but now every time Greta touches it she says she has a headache and wants to rest. Also her mother almost sold the piano and Greta began to greatly doubt she could ever become a concert pianist.

Greta also doesn't fit in with many girls in her school. For one of her papers she has to write about the best day of her life and she writes about one where she spends it alone playing the piano but her fear of being made fun of lowers her self esteem and makes her nervous about her upcoming recital.

After her recital Greta realizes that many people believe in her and that she can accomplish anything she wants to. Her mother risked dying to see her play at the Academy and Herr Hummel risked being captured by the Nazi's to help her succeed with her playing. And she even makes a new friend, Lore, who likes her for who she is and what she does. Greta realizes she has nothing to be shy about and that her brother would be proud that she is accomplishing what he couldn't.

This book can truly teach students many things about the world around them and themselves. I recommend this book to students of all ages that would like to learn more about the piano or more about the affects of war on people.


T.Shene

A charming book that will lead you to places known to seasoned and local Parisians. Not the run of the mill tourist spots. You will become part of "secret Paris".

I have been to Paris many times so I have seen the major sights and want to some lesser sights for my next trip. This book recommends many of these type of sights with good descriptions. I will take and use the guide on my next trip

This book is wonderful. Not only can one locate unusual spots to explore and soak up atmosphere; it is a treasure trove of historical and cultural minutia which add greatly to your enjoyment of these out-of-the-way finds. This is like having a Parisian friend who loves history and an entire library of reference books rolled into one. Kudos!

A friend gave us this book before we left for a month's visit to Paris. We had been there, done that three times before, so we welcomed a guide to the kinds of places we had overlooked on previous visits. This book accomplished that. We visited more than half of the places and enjoyed almost all of them immensely.

I bought this book based on previous reviews. It is a wonderful little book with lovely photographs. I plan to use it to plan my next trip to Paris. The fact that all of the places mentioned are free to the public , is an added plus for travelers.

Dr. Nathan Stotzfus' "Resistance of the Heart" is one of the most authentic studies of the persecution of Jews during W.W.II by the younger generation of American scholars. It reminds me of Toland's book on Hitler and the Nazi movement in its insistance on direct sources to come as close to the "reality" of history as possible.

Dr. Nathan Stotzfus' "Resistance of the Heart" is one of the most authentic studies of the persecution of Jews during W.W.II by the younger generation of American scholars. It reminds me of Toland's book on Hitler and the Nazi movement in its insistance on direct sources to come as close to the "reality" of history as possible and avoid the deplorable illusions of "Hindsight Histiography". See my review on Marchione's "Consensus".
Rainulf A. Stelzmann, Pofessor emeritus, Univ. of South Florida

Dr. Nathan Stotzfus' "Resistance of the Heart" is one of the most authentic studies of the persecution of Jews during W.W.II by the younger generation of American scholars. It reminds me of Toland's book on Hitler and the Nazi movement in its insistance on direct sources to come as close to the "reality" of history as possible and to avoid the deplorable illusions of "Hindsight Histiography". See my review on Marchione's "Consensus".
Rainulf A. Stelzmann, Pofessor emeritus, Univ. of South Florida

Dr. Nathan Stoltzfus' "Resistance of the Heart" is one of the most authentic studies of the persecution of Jews during W.W.II by the younger generation of American scholars. It reminds me of Toland's book on Hitler and the Nazi movement in its insistance on direct sources to come as close to the "reality" of history as possible and avoid the deplorable illusions of "Hindsight Histiography". See my review on Marchione's "Consensus".
Rainulf A. Stelzmann, Pofessor emeritus, Univ. of South Florida

Resistance of the Heart : Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany by Nathan Stoltzfus is a well written book about the unsuccessful attempt by the Nazi's to exterminate Jews who married Germans of the Christian faith. The fact that the attempt was unsuccessful and that the overwhelming majority of the intermarried Jews were never sent to the death camps and survived the war leaves one with a withering feeling of "what if."

The central thesis of the book is that Hitler and Goebbels worry about the reaction of the Christian spouses led them to refuse to forcibly remove the Jewish spouse. They instead resorted to social pressure to force a divorce, so that the Jewish spouse could then easily be sent to the death camps. The social pressure was unsuccessful not because it was not intense, but because the Nazi's failed to give sufficient consideration to the bond between the spouses and the German antipathy toward divorce.

A central part of the story focuses on the attempt to round up the intermarried Jews in Berlin for transport to the camps. After the round up, but before their transport, they were housed in a building on Rosenstrasse. When word of this got back to the Christian spouses they surrounded the building and refused to leave until their husband or wife was freed. Amazingly, the Nazi's who murdered millions of Jews, Poles, Gypsies and others let thier prisoners go free. Goebbels reasoned that it was better to not force a confrontation with Christian Germans.

What is clear is that the Nazis were extremely concerned about German public opinion and were willing even to ignore their plans for the final solution where it ran counter to the public opinion of even a small part of Germany's populace. The "what if" relates to what would have happened if the greater part of Germany populace had taken the lessons of the Rosenstrasse Protest and attempted to stop the final solution. Certainly the conventional wisdom that they would have been ignored, or worse, must be rethought. In fact, the Rosenstrasse Protest was not an isolated incident, and numerous successful protests altered Nazi behavior. If more Germans, or the Vatican, had learned this simple lesson maybe millions of person would not have perished in the gas chambers of the death camps. It certainly puts to rest the excuse that there was nothing that cold have been done.

The book is very well researched and written. It is well worth reading.

Richard Pipes does a good job at laying out the workings of Russia's Tsarist Regime. What I found to be most interesting and persuasive is Pipes' frequent contrasts between Russia and Western Europe. For instance, he looks at the status of the nobility and the strength of the church. In both instances, Pipes draws a clear path as to how, in Tsarist Russia, these institutions became virtual extensions of the state bureaucracy (in sharp contrast to Western Europe, where they often served as brakes on royal power). In addition, Pipes places Russia squarely in the sphere of Asian (specifically Mongol) influence. As evidence, he points to close similarities between the Khanate and Tsarist "patrimonialism." In doing so, he de-emphasizes the oft-stated argument that Russia was the close heir to Byzantium. Finally, Pipes continally demonstrates how Tsarist policies laid the groundwork for the Soviet system (though the latter took those policies to a far bloodier and more extreme conclusion). My only criticism of the book is that Pipes does not deal directly with the issue of Russia's "national minorities" (beyond a quick mention of the Jewish Pale of Settlement and several Polish rebellions against Russian rule) and the attempts by the Tsarist regime to "Russify" those groups. I think that this would have been quite relevant to look at in Russia during this period. I am looking forward to reading Pipes' writings on later events in Russia.

I think this is the best of what I guess you would call Pipes' "Revolutionary Trilogy." "The Russian Revolution," perhaps two or three times the length, is impaired a bit by Pipes' sometimes tedious moral-pointing. "Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime" seems a bit less ambitious than the other two, and in any event it is surely the one least likely to survive the torrent of new material that is becoming available after the fall.

What distinguishes Russia in Pipes' eye is the tradition of "patrimonialism" -- as a political category, a coinage of Pipes' own, though with its roots in Weber, in Hobbes and Bodin, even in Aristotle. Pipes means to denote "a regime where the rights of sovereignty and those of ownership blend to the point of becoming indistinguishable, and political power is exercised in the same manner as economic power."

"Despotism," Pipes continues, "has much the same etymological origins, but over time it has acquired the meaning of a deviation or corruption of genuine kingship, the latter being understood to respect the property rights of subjects. The patrimonial regime, on the other hand, is a regime in its own right, not a corruption of something else."

This is a brave assertion, and Pipes remains faithful to it. Indeed, the core of the book is perhaps his chapter entitled "The Anatomy of the Patrimonial Regime," where Pipes tries to show how utterly different is the tradition of governance in Russia from the tradition in the West -- even in Western nations that we might think of as "reactionary."

There are other virtues to this book. His introductory chapter on the environment is perhaps worth the price of admission, as he retails the grim arithmetic of topsoil and grain production. His discussion of serfdom provokes all kinds of questions about the relationship between serfdom in Russia and slavery in the West.

A work of just 318 pages can hardly pretend to be the last word on the history of a great nation, and Pipes maintains no such pretention. I take it as given that much more could be said to inform, expand upon, or criticize, Pipes' perspective. But as a framework for approaching the study of Russia, it is hard for me to see how it could be bettered. As a provative contribution to the literature of political analysis generally, I should think its claim is equally strong.

This book is an absolute must-read! Before I read this book the history of Russia was a weakly connected sequence of contradictory events to me - that I wasn't able to organize in my mind in any comprehensible way. After reading this book I see a clear picture of my country's history. I suddenly understand what is going on. Every historical event, every action of a historic person suddenly falls into place, I see their meaning. This book provides you with an understanding of the real issues that have been troubling Russia for the past 1200 years. You will understand Russia and you will understand its people. The mext time Russia is on the news, and you have some Russians making a statement or conducting some action - you will understand where they are coming from when they are doing that.

This is indeed a brilliant book. Any one who wants to understand Russia should read it. I can not praise it highly enough. Please get a copy and learn and enjoy.

When I purchased this title in a used bookstore for two dollars, I was somewhat apprehensive about its scholarly quality, author biography not withstanding. Upon reading, however, I must say that I felt Pipes admirably illumined what is a very complex economic, social, and cultural subject. Specifically, his thesis concerns the manner in which the Russian state, under various formative influences, developed an essentially proprietary attitude towards land and subject alike. In Pipes' view this has been the primary determinant of all Russian history following Mongol domination. I myself make no pretenses to be an authority on the subject, but Pipes' use of evidence generally convinced me of the credibility of his claim. I would recommend this title to anyone interested in a general account of the pre-revolutionary Russian state apparatus.

This book on Tigers does what so many others fail to do - it provides context and analysis on the success, or lack thereof, of the Tiger tank.

Most other books on the Tiger tend to emphasize the qualities of the tank when it fought at the very tactical tank-on-tank level. This book, while noting the positive aspects of the tank at that level, considers how the tank actually functioned at higher tactical and operational levels. The bottom line - it didn't do that well.

The reason the tank was mediocre is because of its limited operating range and especially its mechanical unreliability. Even on simple road marches of 20-30 miles a number of tanks would break down, which meant that few went into combat. At the same time, once engaged, even full strength battalions would be combat ineffective within days, not due to enemy fire but to breakdowns. This was especially true during defensive actions where, when their lines of communications were threatened and they had to retreat, more Tigers would be destroyed by their own crews than were destroyed by the enemy.

Whether destroyed by the enemy or their own crews the effect was the same. For example, the Tiger battalion with the best kill ratio (1:50) saw the ratio drop to 1:12.8 when the total number of Tigers lost to breakdowns, and then destroyed by their crews, and other causes is also considered. The next best battalion had a kill ratio of 1:19 which drops to 1:7.1 due to the Tigers being destroyed by their own crews and other causes. This meant, and what frequently happened, is that although the allies may have had to confront Tigers when they had no choice, they more frequently attacked weaker units on the Tigers' flanks, forcing them to withdraw and breakdown.

All-in-all an excellent book with great analysis. You cannot understand the Tiger without reading this book.

This book features operational analysis of Tiger battalions. I was surprised to find concise maps of each operation in this book. While I am still reading it, I felt a brief positive review was in order.

This book is a study of the German Tiger tanks. The writer starts with a brief summary of the early history of the tigers. Then goes on and discusses many battles that had the tigers. He then presents his conclusions that they were are great tank but the Germans never developed a proper military doctrinal guidance that could have used them. As such they were used mainly as tank killers. In this I think he makes a strong case.

However I am not sure that he has proven his case that the tigers were that much better tank killers compared to other German tanks. For example, I have read of some Panthers devastating Allied tanks too in figures equal to what he quotes of Tigers. Overall in both fronts for different reasons the Germans tanks tended to do better.

In the west the Allied tanks were deficient compared to German tanks in armour, mobility and armament. This can be seen as in August in Normandy the Germans had about 1,400 various tanks while the Allies had about 6,000. The Allies losses in tanks were about 3:1. Then put in all the allied air and artillery and you get a feel of the problem.

The Russian figures are disputed with wide range but its clear that overall the Germans lost far fewer tanks then the Russians. The Russian loss ratio is probably higher then the West.

Its an interesting question considering the high cost of the Tiger weapon system. Which the writer does discuss.

Overall the tiger, I wish had more description. The battles are well discussed. The maps are extremely good. I hope that other historians that use this book copy him in producing such maps. The book is certainly worth reading if you are interested in this subject.

great book, this is second one i got. first one i lost after barely reading it. love it. good stories about how individual units lived & fought

Very careful in the historical documentation. Very sharp in the critical assesment of the tactical doctrine underlying the battlefield deployement of the Tigers.

This gorgeous giant book, measuring in at 16" x 12", capture the beauty and uniqueness of Ireland through spectacular photographs. At times in this book, not only do you see a panoramic photograph spanning two 16" wide pages, some actually extend further through a folding flap to measure over 38" wide! In addition to the beautiful photographs the authors have included detailed written descriptions.

People of all ages that are interested in the history, landscape, and culture of Ireland will thoroughly enjoy this book. The list price is $75 according to the inside flap, making it a bargain at the current Amazon price.

This is the best photo book of Ireland I have seen over ten years, and the text is excellent.

This is a great book to give to someone who will be traveling to Ireland in the future, has visited before, or is just a huge fan of this amazing country and wants a good coffee table book. The photos are gorgeous and really showcase the beauty of the Emerald Isle. There's also a great variety of photos: not just from one area of the country. It also gives you a bit of historical background. There are several pages that fold out to reveal huge panoramic shots. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Ireland. It really is spectacular!

First of all, please note that this is a coffee table-type book. It is oversized and oddly-shaped. So if that bothers you, steer clear.

BUT the size is very appropriate to the pictures! It's a large-rectangular book that fits the panoramic wide-angle photography inside of it! The photos are intensely colored and the paper used in side the book is a thicker, glossy high-quality paper. Some of the most gorgeous photographs of Irelands landscapes, castles and towns are in this book. It also includes a bit of history.

FYI... the book normally comes with a slip-cover that has the same cover design printed on it that the actual book cover underneath has. Nice touch. A lot of books of this fashion do not have the same cover printed on the actual book itself, but only the slip-cover.

Very nice. If you love photography or Ireland...or both....this is the book for you!

I bought this book because my dad's side of the family is Irish and I'd hoped to one day go. The book is a gorgeous addition to my photography book collection...and my desire to go to Ireland has been upgraded from 'one day hope to go' to 'can't wait to go!'.
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe For The Senses - A Photographic Journal"

I read Holocaust memoirs because of my need to learn more of what my people went through during this time of hell on earth. How hard it must be to write down and re-live this part of one's life. After reading many such memoirs, Ruth Elias's story was extremely powerful to me, in that she is a woman (like me), married (like me) and a mother (like me). She survived through the most horrific and unspeakable horror that can befall a human being. How many of us could survive under these conditions, and yet continue to live, really live, and experience more of the good in other people and in life? She was capable of literally starting over and telling others about her experience. What a wonderful, strong and intelligent woman she is! Don't miss this one. I'm going to make it a permanent part of my book collection.

This memoir goes to show that, despite what some people might say, it really is true that no two Shoah memoirs and experiences are exactly alike. Rutinko Huppner (now Ruth Elias) grew up in a rather wealthy family in the former Czechoslovakia, and after her young mother divorced her father when she was 6 years old, Rutinko and her older sister Edith were raised by a single father, with help from their uncle Hugo (their father's brother) and his wife Irma, along with a whole slew of grandparents and other aunts and uncles. Later on their father remarried, though Ruth and her sister, teenagers by then, really resented their stepmother and tried everything they could to make her life miserable. Being wealthy, Rutinko and Edith had access to things that their friends, neighbors, and classmates could only dream about, such as sausage for school lunch, a car, being driven to and from school, vacations in the mountains, musical instruments and music lessons, and a lot of other great stuff. They even had the money and connections to get permission and papers to leave Czechoslovakia for England after the Nazi takeover in 1939, though she and her sister decided not to go through with it due to their father's ill health and wanting the family to stay together through this difficult time.

The family were able to go into hiding in a few different cities, where they enjoyed a relatively secure and happy life. Ruth and Edith even found the time to have romances and to be active in a secret Jewish youth group. However, there was eventually a raid on the area, and Ruth, Edith, their father and stepmother, and their aunt Irma were taken away to Theresienstadt (Terezin). Their uncle Hugo wasn't taken because he was very sick in the hospital and dying of cancer. Once in the large ghetto, they found themselves separated from their father, since men and women were quartered separately. However, shortly before they arrived, Ruth's boyfriend Koni and his own family had been deported, and this relationship ended up saving her life, since if Koni hadn't married her while she was sick in the hospital, she would have been deported along with the rest of her family when they were. From this point on out Ruth was along but for the friends she made, and she and Koni weren't even able to properly live together as husband and wife for some time. However, even in the ghetto love blossomed, and eventually Ruth discovered she was pregnant. After doing absolutely everything to try to find a doctor who would give her an abortion, she ended up being deported when she was two months pregnant, and was one of the few women who survived in that condition instead of being murdered on arrival. A lot of circumstances came together to save her life and to keep her alive even in spite of her condition, many of them decisions she had only a split second to make if she wanted to live. Eventually she had to make the most difficult and heartrending decision of all when her baby was born, so that the infamous "Dr." Mengele wouldn't kill them both.

Once she was no longer pregnant, Ruth was viewed as a healthy fit young worker, and was transferred, along with her friend Berta, who had also been pregnant, to Taucha, a subcamp of Buchenwald. In this camp, they were put into a special privileged work detail, which accounted for their eventual survival. After being liberated, their group of Czechs made their way home and found that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, their loved ones just were not coming home and that they'd had to start over again from scratch. I was surprised to learn that many young people like Ruth and her boyfriend Kurt just lived together after the war instead of getting married, since they had to wait two years before their missing spouses could legally be considered dead, even though everyone knew what had most likely befallen them. Ruth also had to make the difficult decision to divorce her husband, who had survived as well, because they'd just grown apart and she felt he hadn't acted very appropriately towards her when they were in the Family Camp at Auschwitz. A few relatives came back, but no one from her immediate family. It was with this new family of two that she left Czechoslovakia for Israel shortly after independence was declared, and just in the nick of time, before the Czech borders became closed.

Mrs. Elias went through some of the worst things imaginable (a number of times she even writes about how hard it was to just almost matter-of-factly type such heavy words like "None survived" or "They were probably all gassed"), and yet she came through everything alive and determined to start again, to make a new life for herself in her own homeland, to make sure that no one ever looked down on her or abused her ever again. It just goes to show that the human spirit is an amazing thing.

This book never lags and never loses your interest. It is very well written. It is an inspiring and insightful account of a woman's courage and determination to survive the Holocaust. I only wish the book continued because I wanted more. Very highly recommended.

I finished reading Triumph of Hope this morning, after starting it two days ago. I simply couldn't put it down. The author, Ruth Elias, is nothing less than extraordinary. The way that she expresses her memories, through her style of writing and description, helps us to get one step closer to understanding an experience, which we can never really comprehend, because we were not there. Mrs Elias's life is remarkable, and through reading her book I thoroughly believe that she is a genuinely lovely, kind and warm person. It is such a tragedy that the Jewish people of her generation went through turmoil and absolute hell. But through this book, Ruth's aims - to spread the message that the discrimination and racism they experienced should never be repeated - are being achieved when a single person reads her book. Her message is being spread over the world, and I am glad that i was able to read Triumph of Hope. I intend to share this book with my family and friends, so that they can read of such an incredible woman, and a generation of people who refused to give in. I sincerely recomend this book to anyone who is thinking of buying this, for themselves or for others.

I have read dozens of Holocaust memoirs, and although they are always touching and intense, none have caused me to feel such grief for the author as this one. I literally had to stop reading and bawl my eyes out for a good 10 minutes. This woman endured so much, and with such grace, that you cannot help but be invested in her story. Highly recommended.

Seriously, I think a lot of this book. The artwork is wonderful; the story is wonderful. We had to buy this copy because we wore out our first one.

Another great book by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. Nice story and great artwork. Recommended if you already own and like Ferdinand.

So glad it's back...this classic book on how different people can get along. Not just for kids.

"Wee Gillis" is a classic of children's literature, and this is an excellent new reprint. There is no dustjacket, but the book has a very strong cardboard cover and good quality paper.
The book combines an interesting commentary on the cultures of the Scottish highlands and lowlands with a simple and rather old-fashioned story of how a boy takes his place in the adult world.
The black and white illustrations complement the text beautifully, and almost tell the story on their own.

Originally published in 1938, this one is a delight to see back in print thanks to New York Review Books. The Scottish setting is charming and the central message, to be who you are, is important. Not content to be a hunter like his father's family or a farmer like his mother's family, Wee Gillis finds his own place in this world as a bagpiper. Baby boomers will be familiar with Robert Lawson's illustrations from such children's classics as Rabbit Hill, Ben And Me and The Story of Ferdinand, also written by Munro Leaf. I adore this book so much I named my dear and very independent Cairn Terrier puppy Wee Gillis.