Europe Books

This small but brilliant volume condenses and crystallizes Jewish thought and Talmudic methods, but one can read it in three hours.

Central to Judaism are Torah and Talmud--which offer democratic learning systems open to all willing to avail themselves. Heschel uses the great Yiddish writer Mendele Moher Sefarim's description of a typical Eastern European Jewish town--"where Torah was studied from time immemorial; where practically all the inhabitants are scholars, where the Synagogue or the House of Study is full of people of all classes busily engaged in studies, townfolk as well as young men from afar...where at dusk, between twilight and evening prayers, artisans and other simple folk gather around the tables to listen to a discourse on the great books of Torah, to interpretations of Scripture, to readings from theological, homiletical or ethical writings...., where on the Sabbath and the holidays, near the Holy Ark, at the reading stand, sermons are spoken that kindle the hearts of the Jewish people for the Divine Presence, sermons seasoned with parables and aphorisms of the sages, in a voice and a tone that heartens one's soul, that melts all limbs, that penetrates the whole being." Study included all: Indeed, a book preserved at New York's Yivo Institute bears the stamp of the Berditshev Society of Wood Choppers for the Study of Mishnah, the earliest part of Talmud.

A Christian scholar who visited Warsaw during World War I saw many parked coaches with no drivers in sight. In his country, he wrote, "I would have known where to look for them. A young Jewish boy showed me the way: in a courtyard, on the second floor, was the shtible of Jewish drivers. It consisted of two rooms: one filled with Talmud volumes, the other a room for prayer. All the drivers were involved in fervent study and religious discussion.... It was then that I... became convinced that all the professions, the bakers, the shoemakers, etc., have their own shtible in the Jewish district; and every free moment which can be taken off from work is given to the study of Torah. And when they get together in intimate groups, one urges the other, 'Sog mir a shtickle Torah--Tell me a little Torah."

European Jews studied in their own language--Yiddish--born of what Heschel calls "a will to make intelligible, to explain and simplify the tremendous complexities of the sacred literature. Thus there arose, as though spontaneously, a mother tongue, a direct expression of feeling, a mode of speech without ceremony or artifice, a language that speaks itself without taking devious paths, a tongue that has maternal intimacy and warmth. In this language, you say 'beauty' and mean 'spirituality;' you say 'kindness' and mean 'holiness.' Few languages can be spoken so simply and directly; there are but few languages which lend themselves with such difficulty to falseness. No wonder Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav would sometimes choose Yiddish to pour out his heart to God."

Heschel's words could easily define the Jewish faith itself. The world he describes was lost in the Holocaust, but the faith was not. This book rekindles it. Alyssa A. Lappen

If I had to pick just one book to explain my inner life as a Hasidic Jew, this would be it. In fact, now that is is back in print, I shall do exactly that in my FAQ on Hasidic Culture.

Not just about Hasidism, this thin but profound volume, written in such beautifully poetic prose, covers the different types of Eastern European Jews in a way that informs and inspires at the same time. Rabbi Heschel explain so clearly how Jewish spirituality is expressd, not in visible cathedrals, art, or monuments, but in timeless words and values as they are expressed in community through both worship and daily life.

Originally written in 1949, it appears that the author, himself a Holocaust survivor, intended this book to be a memorial to a lost world. Yet 50 years later, the book is as fresh and inspiring as the day it was written. The physical Jewish world he describes may no longer be there in Eastern Europe, but the inner world of religious Jews continues to grow and flourish so that I, as a Hasid in the 90's, can read this book and say, "Yes, this describes my inner life, too!" .

Perhaps, as Heschel himself suggests, this Eastern European "golden age" of Jewish spirituality (his words) can now be fully appreciated by the world. An excellent, EXCELLENT, book! Double 5-stars!

A short book in size but a great book in content. It is a description of the spirit of the Jews of Eastern Europe, an exaltation of their culture, their way of life, and above all of the high spiritual development of this ethnic group. The author manifests a certain melancholy for days gone by, for a way of life which he believes no longer exists. Lets leave to the present day Hassids to confirm or deny this statement. Beautiful prose, a must for anyone interested in learning about the essence of Eastern Europe Judaism.

This book gives the niggun( the spiritual melody) of the Jewish soul in Eastern Europe. Heschel writes" The Jews in Eastern Europe lived more in time than in space.It was as if their soul was always on the way, and if the secret of their heart had no affinity with things. .. A niggun, a tune flowing in search of its own unattainable end "
This spiritual music Heschel argues was present in the everyday life of ordinary Jews. In one of the powerful sections of the work he contrasts the elitist static world of the Jews of fourteenth and fifteenth century Spain with that of the Ashkenazim.He talks about the isolation of Ashkenazi Jewry before modern times, and its dynamism in comparison to a more slowly awakening Sephradish Jewry.
The great feeling in this work is somehow sadly underlined when one considers that it was first published in 1945 the year that it became known that most of those who lived in this sacred way were exterminated by the Nazis.

Originally written in 1949, this is a delightful introduction to the spiritual life of East European Jewry.

The traveling by Vespa in Italy idea is what first attracted me to this book. I'm both a Vespa nut and a lover of Italy. My wife and I have a home Puglia and have traveled quite a bit elsewhere in that grand country. I fell in love with both the charming scooters and a cuisine that's close to heaven on earth. I'd enjoyed Peter Moore's "Vroom with a View," his story of traveling by Vespa from the north to the south of Italy. Eating Up Italy happens to be the story of a man traveling by Vespa in the exactly opposite direction, but it's really not about traveling by Vespa at all. This lovely, classic scooter (Fort rode two different ones on his trip) is only incidental to what this book is really about.

Eating Up Italy is about food, Italian food, an amazing cornucopia of food, prepared in a dazzling variety of ways by people who relish it and to whom food is part of their identity, their heritage and their culture. Fort follows the track of the famous unifier of Italy, Garibaldi, who traveled with his army from Calabria in the South of Italy to Turin in the North around the time of our Civil War. As Fort scoots from town to town and region to region he experiences the amazing patchwork quilt of local cultures, customs and cuisines that make Italy unique. This astounding diversity among people is held together by their common passion for eating and food, wonderful food in all its forms. This book is a love song to the unrivalled quality of the Italian gastronomic experience in the face of changing times, global agrobusiness conglomerates, and the pressures of standardization pressed up the member of the European Union "for their own good."

Fort recognizes the unique value of the individualism he discovers in people and in the food they treasure. Each chapter is also followed by recipes for many of the dishes he savored, so the book is also a mini cookbook of joys celebrated by people whose towns are as different from one another as nations are, yet who are made Italian by a culture that has grown in much part from what they harvest and consumer from the land and the seas around them.

Fort is an Englishman and he writes with the clarity, richness and imagery that makes English Literature great. This is no trivial travelogue. It is a book I will keep in my library. A very tasty treat indeed.

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher of Reader Views (2/07)

If you were not hungry when you start reading "Eating Up Italy" you will be by the end of the first chapter. This story is about the author, an Englishman, who has had a lifetime affair with Italy finally following his dream of touring the country from the southern tip to the northern border on a Vespa. It must have been a comical scene with him slowly and carefully navigating his Vespa on the road with crazy speed demons.

The book is more than a recipe book. It contains wonderful descriptions of the people that he met along the way, the food that he ate and the places that he visited. His writing style is very colorful and descriptive and you often feel like you are traveling with him on this journey. I would have loved to try the ice cream in Pizzo, the self-proclaimed ice cream capital of the world, or the wonderful sweet charms in Sulmona. Also wonderful are the descriptions of the pastas, cheeses, and on and on...... This book really has it all!

Each chapter is about a different area that the author visits. He gives vivid descriptions about the area and discusses the food specialties of that area. Each chapter has a recipe section for recipes from that area. Most of the recipes look wonderful, but some of them would probably not appeal to Americans as it uses ingredients that are not used often here. I figured the best way to get a really good appraisal of the quality of the recipes in this book is to pass them by the critical eye of the Italian Chef from Milan that I am dating. Overall, he found them to be excellent recipes and he has promised to make me a few of them!

"Eating Up Italy" is a very well written book and would make an excellent gift for anyone who loves the culture, passion and food of Italy. It would also be a book for anyone planning a trip to Italy. And if you weren't planning a trip to Italy when you start the book, you probably will be by the end of it.

This as an estheticaly beautiful, artsy-looking book with high quality pages, cover, illustrations and a gorgeous cover design.

Well written, the food descriptions will make your mouth water; the descriptions of places will make you feel as if you're there.

What's unusual is that this book combines recipes with the travelogue, about 50/50.

Recommended for all foodies with an interest in Italy. And for everyone interested in Italy who also appreciates good food.

I only read really good non-fiction books -- and this was one of the best I've read in the last 10 years. Made me seriously want to visit Italy, and not as a tourist but as a hungry person. I tried some of the recipes and they're really good. If you want to understand something deeper about Italy and her cuisine -- which is really just good food -- I highly recommend this book!

Matthew Fort's infatuation for all things edible and Italian are wonderfully palpable in this gastronomic treasure. Heady and sumptuous as a fine red wine, EATING UP ITALY: VOYAGES ON A VESPA -- part travel memoir, part specialty recipe book -- recounts Fort's journeys all over the stunning Italian countryside, while lavishly showcasing each region's own unique culinary "nuances".

Italy's romance and mystique lay in its beautiful language, hearty people, culture, fascinating history...and, of course, its wide array of mouth-watering edible delights. One would be hard-pressed to find a better qualified author for the task. Fort, one of Britain's most renowned food critic and writer, formed an enthusiasm for Italy at the tender age of 11. The love affair with the country and its cuisine has only deepened with time, as Fort, at age 50, takes a "gastronomic tour" of the beautiful country from its southernmost tip at Melito Di Porto Salvo to the northern region of Turin.

Fort brings the tastes, aromas, and regional culture of Italy directly to the reader, in stunning clarity, coupled with a signature wit. EATING UP ITALY is a bonafide travelogue on its own merits -- nonetheless, Fort doesn't rest on his laurels, expecting us to take his word for it. The tried-and-true age old recipes, generously peppered throughout, involve the reader and add an inimitable richness to Fort's personal experiences, on his travels.

From regional delicacies to every-day local cuisine, Fort's selected recipes and instructions, layered amidst engaging anecdotes teaming with insight into the lives and food of the locals, are easy to follow and tempting to try. Fortunately, many of the recipes are `formalized', using easily recognizable standard measurements, as many Italian cooking techniques are known to use vague measurements such as "a little bit of this, a little bit of that." Some recipes may be easier than others, as some call for ingredients that would be challenging for a typical North American `foodie' to find at their local market.

The book, itself, is bound beautifully with a `foodified' rendition of Venus di Milo. Its lovely thick buttery paper and dark brown ink, lends itself an "old world" feel. At the back of the book is a comprehensive index, in case a particular recipe or notation requires reference on a whim.

Truly a voyager's enchantment and a food lover's bible, EATING UP ITALY captures the incredible country that has it all, and will have any food lover or travel enthusiast shouting "Bella! Bella!"

One can only wait with bated breath - and grumbling stomach - for Fort's upcoming labour of love, EATING UP SICILY.

My rating is 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The edition of Edward II I read was the New Mermaid Series one, which had a very good and informative introduction, and has the spelling modernized. The spelling modernization extends to place names as well as general terms. I am not sure how I feel about spelling modernization, as it is nice to see how the work was originally spelled, but it made the work very easy to read. The play itself is amazing, very engaging even though it is a history, and is mostly based on things that actually happened. The language is not as flowery as Shakespeare, but is lovely nonetheless. Some of the characters of the play are very fickle, and seem to suddenly change as you read the text of the play. (Queen Isabella goes from devoted and self-sacrificing wife to cunning adulteress.) It makes more sense on stage, and after seeing this play, it was easier to see how good it is.

Marlowe's final play is also his masterpiece. To be sure, the dramatic events in this play really did happen, but Marlowe shows himself at his best when he paints the picture. At first, Marlowe masterfully allows us to detest Edward for undoing all the fine work of his father Edward Longshanks. We also are able to feel sorry for Mortimer and Isabella. (the eventual villains). Isabella feels neglected and Mortimer can not stand to see the fine work of Edward Longshanks undone. Later, we come to have some respect for Edward II when he shows himself to have some of his father's fine qualities and he crushes the first rebellion against him with courage and intelligence. When the second uprising successful, we no longer are lead into any feelings of admiration for Mortimer and Isabella. Once they have power they are more vile and disgusting than Edward II ever was. By Act 5.1, Marlowe gives Edward II moving soliloquies and does not allow our new won pity to slack for a moment. The final scene of this play when Edward II's 17 year old son Edward III flips the tables, crushes his corrupt mother, has Mortimer put to death, and offers prayers to his murdered father is a scene that is almost unsurpassed in literature. To be sure, this did actually happen, but Marlowe not only tells us what happened, but colors it with his superb mastery of the language.

Edward the second, or to give it its full title, 'The troublesome reign and Lamentable death of Edward, the second king of England, with the tragical fall of proud Mortimer', is famous for being an Elizabethan 'Gay play', but this is only one of the subjects contained within the play. Politics, cruelty and the Feudal System are all important themes in this, one of the great masterstrokes of Elizabethan literature. The play itself is a history play, set in the 14th century featuring Edward and his previously basished lover, Gaveston, who returns after the death of Edward's father. This return enrages the barons, who were sworn to Edward's father that Gaveston would never return. This is the catalyst for a plot that races around like a cheetah on speed, culminating in one of the most excruciating deaths ever portrayed on stage. "Shakespeare? Who? Marlowe was far better!"

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564¯1593) has faded into the background over the centuries, little remembered by the common man, unlike his contemporary William Shakespeare. But, in his own time, Marlowe was known as one of the greatest of playwrights.

This play tells the story of King Edward II, who ruled England from 1307 to 1327. Edward shocked medieval England with his openly bi-sexual relationship with Piers Gaveston, and his barons rose up against him in a series of wars, finally culminating in Edward's death. (Rumor having it that he was horribly murdered by having a red-hot iron thrust up through his rectum!)

Now, this play is not entirely historically accurate. The theatre of the day did not specialize in accurate historical portrayal, but strove to entertain. However, that said, this play does do an excellent job of telling the story of Edward and his reign, in an entertaining and informative manner in a mere 25 scenes.

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting read, and I couldn't help but wonder why I have not heard of it being played today. It is still very entertaining, and you would think that modern play producers would want to put it on. This is an interesting play, one that I do not hesitate to recommend.

(By the way, just in case you didn't realize, this Edward was the effeminate son of Edward I, Longshanks, in Mel Gibson's movie Braveheart. That portrayal of Edward was well done by actor Peter Hanly, but was even less accurate than this play. I suspect that the character Phillip was based on Piers Gaveston. Longshanks did indeed hate Gaveston, but certainly never threw him out of a window!)

+++++

(Note that this review is for Dover Classics "Edward II" published by Theatre Communications Group in 1999.)

This play in five acts or twenty-five scenes, written by Christopher Marlowe (1564 to 1593, born the same year as Shakespeare) is a history play that chronicles the reign of Edward the Second. The actual name that Marlowe gave his play was "The troublesome reign and lamentable death of Edward, the second King of England, with the tragical fall of Mortimer." (Mortimer is Edward's nemesis in the play.)

The precise date of this play is not accurately known, but it is generally thought to have been written circa 1590.

Marlowe condenses, omits, elaborates, and rearranges actual historical events in order to gain dramatic effectiveness, and to bring out Edward's character and the results of his weakness. So the action in the play covers a historical period of just over twenty years (near the end of the fourteenth century) even though such a period of time is not suggested by the play itself.

Marlowe effectively succeeds in giving a true, as well as a powerful picture of the character and fate of Edward the Second. This play masterfully shows the delineation of character, the construction of plot, and the freedom and variety of the mostly blank verse.

Readers of Shakespeare's plays (especially "Henry the Eighth" and "Richard the Second") should find it quite easy to read this relatively succinct play. Even those not familiar with Shakespeare's plays or even Elizabethan drama should have little difficulty with this play. Footnotes are minimal.

Unfortunately, this play has been labeled a "Gay Play." This is not quite accurate. Edward was bisexual because he had a queen who he had a son with (the future Edward the Third) and, as well, had a male partner (named Piers Gaveston). Gaveston too was bisexual since he was not only attracted to Edward but also to Edward's niece! Edward's queen is heterosexual because she is later attracted to Mortimer after Edward starts ignoring her.

Sexual orientation is actually a small part of this play. The play is about a king who loses control of his kingdom. Edward's brother says this early on to Edward: "My Lord, I see your love to Gaveston / Will be the ruin of the realm and you."

Finally, the last scene of the play is truly magnificent as Edward's son, now King, gets revenge for his father's murder.

In conclusion, this is a great play that can be enjoyed by those who are heterosexual (like myself), bisexual, or homosexual. Also, in my opinion, this history play closely rivals Shakespeare's history plays.

(this book first published 1999; play written circa 1590; 95 pages)

+++++

Arendt's analysis of the "banality of evil" characterized by Adolf Eichmann is a chilling look into how evil can be systematized, how it can be seemingly bureaucratic, and how normal people can be turned into monsters through law.

This is a great book for anyone interested in World War 2, the Holocaust, political philosophy, or getting really really depressed.

this book arrived from amazon in excellent condition and very quickly, especially relative to other books purchased at the same time through independent sellers.

A previous reviewer claims that Arendt's book shows the ambivalence of human nature, proving that in effect anybody could have done what Eichmann did. In fact, this is exactly the cynical point of view that Arendt opposes in this, and her other writings. Her argument here is a revision of her earlier position on 'radical evil' advanced in The Origins of Totalitarianism, a position which Heidegger claimed to find 'incomprehensible.' She argues here that banality and "sheer thoughtlessness" (akin to Heidegger's reflections on boredom) are in fact the root of Evil. To put it better, evil continues precisely because of its inherent rootlessness, its constitutive disregard of the world. Thus, the detachment of claims such as "Anybody could have done what Eichmann did" distort her intention. Evil, she insists, is not an inevitable aspect of human nature, but instead arises from an unwillingness to understand.

I am delighted to see this classic back in print. Jewish author Hannah Arendt has provided a wealth of timeless information that goes far beyond the trial of the German war criminal Adolf Eichmann. This review is based on the original (1964) edition.

Arendt (p. 39) gives the readers a taste of the scale of the Kristallnacht (November 1938): 7,500 Jewish shop windows broken, all synagogues burned, and 20,000 Jewish men incarcerated in concentration camps. In common with many others who wrote during the first two decades after WWII, Arendt (p. 5, 11-12) addresses the issue of Jewish passivity in the face of death during the later roundups and transports to the death camps.

Arendt briefly discusses the fate of Jews of some individual European nations. She mentions the conniving of the Bulgarians (with, of course, the implied freedom to do so) performed in order to avoid sending their Jews to the death camps, and the fact that Finland, Germany's ally, was never seriously pressured to turn over her 2,000 Jews to be murdered (p. 170). Clearly, the latter part of the oft-repeated statement, "Not all of the victims of the Nazis were Jews, but all Jews were victims of the Nazis" is incorrect.

Throughout this work, Arendt gives various biographical details of Adolf Eichmann. For example, she mentions that he was a Gottglaubiger (p. 27), a Nazi term for those who had broken with Christianity, and which Eichmann maintained right up to the very moment of his hanging, having refused the solace and Bible reading of a Protestant minister (p. 252).

Arendt briefly discusses Hitler's flouting of the Versailles treaty and his rise to power. While Jan T. Gross has asserted that there were Poles who praised Hitler in the 1930's, Arendt makes it clear that this was far from limited to Poland during that time: "...Hitler was admired everywhere as a great national statesman." (p. 37).

While most recent Holocaust materials focus on the real or imagined collaboration of locals in the sending of Jews to their deaths, Arendt is unsparing in her criticism of Jewish collaborators in this regard: "Without Jewish help in administrative and police work--the final roundup of Jews in Berlin was, as I have mentioned, done entirely by Jewish police--there would have been either complete chaos or an impossibly severe drain on German manpower. (p. 117). She adds that, because of this collaboration, only a few thousand Germans, most of whom furthermore only did office work, were able to send hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths (p. 117). Finally, Arendt concludes that: "Wherever Jews lived, there were recognized Jewish leaders, and this leadership, almost without exception, cooperated in one way or another, for one reason or another, with the Nazis. The whole truth was that if the Jewish people had been unorganized and leaderless, there would have been chaos and plenty of misery but the total number of victims would hardly have been between four and a half and six million. (According to Freudiger's calculations about half of them could have saved themselves if they had not followed the instructions of the Jewish councils..." (p. 125).

Arendt (p. 42, 118, etc.) elaborates on the actions of a Jew, Rudolf Kastner (Kasztner). He made a deal with Eichmann in which 1,684 Jews were allowed to go to Palestine in exchange for Kastner's silence before and during which 476,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

Jan Tomasz Gross, who has gotten a great deal of publicity for his books (NEIGHBORS and FEAR), has stated that the 2-3 million Poles who died in the hands of the Germans were largely the collateral victims of military action. Arendt knows better: "...Eichmann knew that right behind the front lines all Russian functionaries ("Communists"), all Polish members of the professional classes, and all native Jews were being killed in mass shootings." (p. 95). "At no point, however, either in the proceedings or the judgment, did the Jerusalem trial mention even the possibility that extermination of whole ethnic groups--the Jews, or the Poles, or the Gypsies--might be more than a crime against the Jewish or the Polish or the Gypsy people, that the international order, and mankind in its entirety, might have been grievously hurt and endangered." (pp. 275-276). Arendt realizes the alternative future: "The measures against Eastern Jews were not only the result of anti-Semitism, they were part and parcel of an all-embracing demographic policy, in the course of which, had the Germans won the war, the Poles would have suffered the same fate as the Jews--genocide. This is no mere conjecture: the Poles in Germany were already being forced to wear a distinguishing badge in which the "P" replaced the Jewish star, and this, which we have seen, was always the first measure to be taken by the police in instituting the process of destruction)." (pp. 217-218).

Arendt praises the Danes for saving Jews during WWII and then, without mentioning the incomparably more difficult conditions under which Polish rescuers of Jews labored, nevertheless gives the Poles their due. After listing some individual examples of Polish assistance to Jews, Arendt adds the following: "One witness claimed that the Polish underground had supplied many Jews with weapons and had saved thousands of Jewish children by placing them with Polish families. The risks were prohibitive; there was the story of an entire Polish family who had been executed in the most brutal manner because they had adopted a six-year-old Jewish girl." (p. 231).

"It was sheer thoughtlessness that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of the period," political theorist Hannah Arendt observes of Adolf Eichmann, who was in charge of the logistics behind the mass deportations of Jews and other so-called asocials to ghettos and extermination camps during the 2nd World War. The face of evil, she suggests through her portrayal of the high-ranking SS bureaucrat at his trial in Jerusalem, is not necessarily that of a radically perverse pathological mastermind, but instead and more frightening still, can come in the form of a banal and unimpressive caricature of normalcy.

In his testimony, Eichmann characterizes himself as a blameless cog who was only following orders, and even goes on to cite instances where he tried to help certain Jews who were friends of his escape their inevitable fate. His tone is that of one regaling a run-of-the-mill human sympathy story of hard luck, and his telling is rife with contradiction, blanks in memory, and ridiculous cliché. According to Arendt, this "created considerable difficulty during the trial - less for Eichmann himself than for those who had come to prosecute him, to defend him, to judge him, and to report on him. For all this, it was essential that one take him seriously, and this was very hard to do, unless one sought the easiest way out of the dilemma between the unspeakable horror of the deeds and the undeniable ludicrousness of the man who perpetrated them, and declared him a clever, calculating liar - which he obviously was not."

Also relevant for its criticism of the shaky legal foundation upon which the trial was conducted (Eichmann was illegally abducted in Argentina, then was brought to Israel and prosecuted there using an outdated framework that was unable to properly address the problem of genocide as specifically carried out by the Nazis).

This book is very smart, very elegantly written. The questions it raises about ethics and preconceived notions of good and evil are universal and remain relevant to the times. If it were a person, I'd sleep with it on the first date.

A story told so well, you won't want to put this book down! The real life characters motivate any reader to get out and take a stand for what they believe in. A must read for any Catholic, regardless of age!

I know Mr. Fitzhenry and we have spoken on how there seems to be a lack of figures in our contemporary society that exemplify the importance of manly honor, unwavering courage, and faith in the face of immoral and seemingly overpowering adversity. Thus was El Cid. James captures the essence of honor, faith, and the chivalric code in the man that was El Cid. He takes the reader through the journey of the rise of El Cid and the attributes he possessed that not only gained him honor with his fellow Christians, but was paid tribute to by the Muslim warlords who respected him so highly that they gave him the name El Cid, "The Lord". James also explains El Cid's qualities in a way that a young man of today can draw upon and apply in his daily life the examples of honor, courage, and faith that El Cid encompassed. This book is a must read for young men of middle school and high school age or anyone who feels the need to live their own lives more honorably, more courageously, and more faithfully in a society where it seems the importance of these qualities have dwindled over the past few decades.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book to my children. They were captivated by the fascinating details of this heroes life. The author brought the characters to life with lively energy and beautifully drawn illustrations. This amazing true story is written from a Catholic perspective. El Cid epitomizes the moral virtues that are all but lost in today's society. This is a perfect addition to any home schooling program. I highly recommend this book to anyone with children.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have almost no knowledge of Rodrigo Diaz of Vivar, known to history as El Cid, the national hero of Spain. In this, sadly, I suspect I'm not alone among Americans. So I was very happy to find this book.

El Cid: God's Own Champion is a historical narrative, meant specifically for older kids, perhaps ages 12 and up. It is well written and Fitzhenry's prose has an easy grace that flows well and keeps the reader's attention. Based mainly on Ramon Menendez Pidal's work, The Cid and His Spain., the text chronicles the amazing life of El Cid and gives a glimpse into a time when the threat of radical Islam was even more immediate and dangerous than it is today. The Iberian peninsula in the 11th century was rent with conflicts between the various petty Christian and Islamic principalities, and it was not uncommon for Christian nobles to ally with Islamic ones against other Christians--and vice-versa. Into this confusing morass enters El Cid, an unconquerable hero who accomplishes what seems impossible with the barest handful of men.

But El Cid's successes provoked the jealousy of his rivals who had the ear of King Alfonso of Castile. Time and again, Alfonso punished and exiled his greatest champion, but through all the injustice, El Cid remained unwaveringly loyal, ever seeking to win back the good graces of his sovereign.

Fitzhenry also portrays El Cid as a paragon of Christian manhood. He is honest to a fault, pious, and humble before his king. He also shows mercy to his enemies and repeatedly tries to win the allegiance of the faithless Muslims of Valencia who repay his friendly overtures and honest justice with sedition and rebellion.

Overall, I enjoyed El Cid, God's Own Champion very much. Because it serves as both a history lesson and an inspiring tale of Catholic manhood, it is an ideal book for parents to read with their kids.

I highly recomend reading this beautiful book and adding it to your libraries - El Cid is a heartwarming and inspiring story giving glorious tribute to the triumph of human faith-and its well detailed events will forever dwell in your mind! El Cid, a book for all ages, will make you forget where you are and take you far into its story. This wonderful little book will strengthen the faith of its readers, no matter how weak or strong it may be. Mr. James Fitzhenry is a very creative and brilliant author. El Cid: God's Own Champion was rated super-high by my husband and two young adult children, and voted the best story book Fitzhenry has put together yet!

Now this is a really heavy book, there is so much information its amazing! Lei esta version en el original ingles y luego en castellano. Poniendo religion a un lado este libro es espectacular, tiene tanta informacion que tienes que tomarte la lectura con tiempo y calma. Las posibilidades son increibles, y muy logicas si piensas abiertamente y dejando dogmas de lado. Este libro es definitivamente de esos que guardas y relees mil veces.

iT IS A VERY GOOD BOOK IF ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING SIMILAR AS A DA VINCI CODE. PLEASE READ IT AND YOU WILL SEE HOW ENGROSS YOU WILL BE.
INGRID

Excelente en forma y fondo. Està escrito para que el lector no quiera dejar de leerlo de principio de fin. Historicamente espectacular, un golpe al cristianismo donde mas le duele, en la verdad. Ya era hora de romper los mitos y desenmascarar a la iglesia y toda su farsa de los ùltimos 2000 años. Afortunadamente ya no quemam brujas porque de lo contrario los 3 historiadores que hicieron el libro estarìan en la hoguera junto a los millones de inocentes que el cristianismo ha matado durante su historia

Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a clever, thought-provoking book that will get your blood boiling if you're a Christian fundamentalist. The authors create a wonderful story by tying together some of the world's greatest religious mysteries (the historical Jesus, the Crusades, the Knights Templars, the Albigensian heretics, and Freemasonry). You'll have to decide for yourself the accuracy of their theory. In a nutshell, the authors argue that the Holy Grail was the bloodline of Jesus, descendant of King David, which was carried out of the holy land in the form of Jesus' wife, Mary Magdelene, and which survives today in the noble houses of European aristocracy. Don't scoff at this idea, because recent Dead Sea Scroll scholarship (see Barbara Thiering) lends credence to much of the story. Even if you don't believe the premise, you'll find this book hard to put down

Esta es la verdadera fuente de la cual Brown tomo su idea para "El codigo da Vinci". Aqui la historia y las especulaciones en torno al tema de la descendencia de Cristo provienen de fuentes historicas. La informacion, mas "heavy" que esa aguada que aparece en el libro de Brown, requiere de un lector con cerebro, dispuesto a detenerse de vez en cunando a pensar en lo que le estan diciendo. Apasionante.

I loved this book, its very detailed and goes into the real lives of the people, inculding their letters . If you love real history, not fiction, this is the book for you. Loved it. For real Tudor buffs!!!

Gives the account of the ever-interesting relationship between Elizabeth I and her Master of the Horse, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. If you love Elizabeth, you will LOVE this analysis on her famous, and sometimes infamous relationship. Very interesting section analyzing Amy Dudley's death and her possible murder/suicide/accidental death...

With the primary documents basically known and castles and historic sites fully documented, 21st century writers are providing general readers with more focus on specific aspects of Tudor history and more interpretation. Recently I've read : The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire, Edward VI: The Lost King of England and After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England These books, like this one, are devoted entirely to a particular aspect of a Tudor reign (or as in the case of one, the end of the Tudor reigns).

Gristwood zeros in on the unique relationship of Elizabeth and Leicester who has been euphemistically called her "favorite". Griswold explores what this might be a euphemism for. There are lots of possibilities, but the author sticks with what is documented and what is credible. She also sticks with her focus, and brings in issues and people only as they relate to her main subject.

I did not know of Leicester's role in sending Mary of Scotland her second husband, nor his role in Elizabeth's French flirtations. I knew of the death of his wife, Amy, but nothing of the other two women in his life. While I had assumed his motives in this royal romance, I never considered his emotional state as he waited for Elizabeth with whom he had shared the experiences of having a beheaded parent. Gristwood, who has obviously poured over every word related to these two as a couple, interprets her findings in a wonderfully readable way.

I eagerly await the many more of these focused Tudor histories, that I presume are in the works. I'm guessing that the next generation of writing will provide more psychological analyis. Some of the topics are suggested by this book. They could be how the royals and their courtiers respond to the socially repressive dangers of the times or how their behavior or political posture results from the trauma in their respective families. One such interesting history could be a serious study of the Essex revolt through a psychological lens.

Sarah Gristwood's new book is good, especially for understanding Elizabeth's relationship with her chief favorite, Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester.

Gristwood tells the familiar story of Elizabeth's background and upbringing, and the not-so-familiar one of Dudley's. His father and grandfather were supporters of Edward VI and Henry VII, and were executed for their pains. The narrative picks up with earnest at Elizabeth's accession and appointment of Dudley as Master of the Horse. Rumors soon began about the queen's relationship with him, and Dudley's wife died in mysterious circumstances not too long after. Gristwood evenhandedly examines the possible explanations for her death, and with plenty of hedging, suggests that Cecil was the main beneficiary.

Immediately after his wife's death, Dudley fell out of favor with Elizabeth for some time. Reconciliation followed, as did many more fallings out and reconciliations. Her many suitors were a source of conflict (and Dudley was one of them), as were the ladies at court who caught his eye and that he secretly married or promised to marry. Nevertheless, Dudley was at Elizabeth's side through most of her reign, influential and supportive, resented and admired.

But this book is also disappointing in some ways. There are passages where so many rhetorical questions are used that the implications aren't clear; and awkward modern phrases occasionally intrude (e.g., regarding the birth of his long-awaited heir: "emotionally he must have been in the money"). Charts of family connections would also have been useful, especially for the Dudleys and Elizabeth's maternal relations.

This subject is timely, what with all the recent interest in Elizabeth I and her favorites (Leicester and Essex respectively in the two parts of the HBO miniseries with Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I; and Leicester and Raleigh in the two movies with Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth (Spotlight Series) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age). For an introduction to Elizabeth's life and reign, I prefer Christopher Hibbert's The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age. I recommend Sarah Gristwood's book for thorough collectors of Elizabethan material, or for people specifically interested in Leicester himself (books about him are somewhat hard to come by, but Derek Wilson's The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne is an alternative).

Fun-to-read book about the romance of Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester. There seemed to be a lot of information compiled from many sources to make this a fascinating "tell-all" which is no small feat considering the limitations of digging up such old records which were often all but scarce. This book not only showed Queen Elizabeth I as a woman who could love, but also showed her intelligence in using her head as well as her heart to make her relationships work also to her advantage as queen and for love of her country and able to keep Leicester loyal to the crown until his death. The author did a great job.

In "Emerald Gems", Larry Lambrecht has been able to capture the feel and distinct nuances of the Irish links. The stunning photographs and accompanying stories provide the reader with an incredible sense of how golf was and is meant to be played and enjoyed. David Owen said, "The thing I like best about golf is the sense of infinite possibility..." Emerald Gems presents a real glimpse at that possibility and is a must read for those fortunate to have visited and played, and those who dream of doing so.

Albert B. Antonez

I have seen Larry Lambrecht's work before in the annual "Emerald Gems" calendar and notecard series. Lambrecht is a world class photographer with a particular specialty in shooting Irish Golf Courses (as well as many others across the globe). Not only does Lambrecht capture a view of a spectacular golf hole through his camera lens, he also has an incredible eye for catching a moment in nature using golf landscape as a backdrop. (see page 18, 98, 114, etc.)

Ireland's "Links" courses are built along the coast, and as such in Emerald Gems, the connection between land and sea is apparent in many of the images.

Emerald Gems sits on a table in our home and is admired by guests and friends for the simple beauty of the Irish Countryside. Be warned though, If you have an affection for the game of golf and have never been to Ireland, the images of Waterville, Old Head and Lahinch alone will have you calling a travel agent. If you don't play golf, and have never seen the coast of Ireland, you may suffer the same impulse.

This book has incredible beautiful photographs of ALL of the great courses in Ireland and a wonderful written talk about each course. The book is big. It will have to go on the coffee table and not in the bookcase, but it is truly beautiful. Very highly recommended.

Emerald Gems is a terrific compilation of golf landscape photographs in a large coffee table type of format (11x12?). Many if not all of the very best courses of Ireland are reviewed.

One key element I'd like to point out up front is this book is very strong about landscape photograhy, but not so about the golf and how to play the game in Ireland. Thus I would say you need to be prepared to just enjoy the pictures for what they are: fantastic and breathtaking landscapes. The golfing is secondary.

Some may think my last comment is crazy, but I think if you take a closer look you will realize the photographs do nothing to prepare the golfer for what to expect golfing wise. Laurence's vantage point for 90% of the photographs consists in seeking the highest dune (usually behind or beside the green) and then frame for the landscape and make sure to include the green. Given this, you simply will not be able to figure out if the hole is a par 3, 4, or even 5. You will also have no idea how it's played. You simply do not get the golfer vantage point from the fairways and bunkers. The only exception to this is on par 3's where you guess the vantage point is from the tee. Unfortunately, the captions to the photos do nothing either to tell you if it's a par 3, 4, or 5. But then again, maybe this is by design because it wouldn't matter. Case in point: page/slide 200 illustrates a wonderful rock outcroping from some cliffs with a tiny green on a shelf. The caption reads "4th at Kilkee". Great landscape picture, but what does it tell you about the hole? Does it matter or help the photograph to even know this?

Instead, it's best to just admire the quality of the photographs. You start to appreciate the framing of the photos, the colors, the foreground and background and how it all works together seemlessly, the elements of wind/sun/clouds/shadows and how they contribute. It makes the golf part of a whole. One thing you will notice is the tremendous ruggedness of the regions and their dunes. This book is broken down into regions like the Scottish Golf Links book, and again here you'll grow to appreciate the differences from region to region. I still keep coming back to the print on page 182 of Royal County Down with a surreal set of colors and an almost mystical background. Just an unbelievable print. Simply beautiful in conveying what the landscape has to offer. I find myself gravating over and over again towards that region of northern Ireland.

The text is fairly simplistic with nice historical notes about the course being reviewed and is at times amusing, but don't look for grand explanations about a given course and it's holes. Granted there are a few highlighted holes here and there, but it's usually to express how difficult they are. Little is imparted on how to approach them. There's also very little if any correlation between the text and the holes being photographed. That aside, I think the best thing the text does is reinforce your desire to go over and visit Ireland for yourself. Some of the charming Irish culture comes through in areas of the text and it makes you want to appreciate the whole package in person.

In the end, I think this is a wonderful effort from Laurence. Beautiful rugged dune landscapes with intriguing surroundings in a perfect format convey the grandeur of Ireland. Tremendous colours and textures breath life into the prints. The regional variety expresses the richness the links have to offer. As for the golf, I think it acts more as a complement to the tremendous scenery being displayed.

This large pictorial covers every major links course in Ireland with beautiful pictures and course commentary by Irish writers and architects.This is by far the best book to help plan an Irish golf trip or to relive a past trip.It is well worth the cost and will be your reference for Ireland's links for years to come

My name is Max Stappler however my parents, Edith and Siegfried, born in Austria changed the spelling from Stapler. My parents were able to escape Austria to the USA a few days after Hitler marched in. This is the story of the rest of my family from Poland who were not lucky enough to escape.

In the book The End of Days, by Helen Sendyk is telling her life story of when she was a young Jewish girl. She wrote the novel in first person so it was like she was telling her life story to me. The choice of words she used in the novel were very descriptive and explained very clearly how it was. She moved the book along at a pretty fast paste which I really liked. I could imagine everything that was happening in my head as if it were a movie.
The theme in the novel is her telling the struggles she went through in her life. She was a young Jewish girl when her and her family were put in a concentration camp. The novel explained some of the horrible things she went through in the camp and the many family members she lost. The part of the novel that had really saddened me was the fight after the camp to stay sane. I would recommend this book to anyone. This book will change the way you treat different people and how your actions can affect people. I was amazed what happened to this poor girl and who ever reads this will be also.

Six million dead is hard to bend your mind around. This small book gives part of the experiences of one family and ultimately one survivor. If you have a hard time grasping the enormity of the Holocaust read this book. It is raw, open and honest. It is one person's experience of the monstrosity of the Third Reich. Sendyk tells her story from the perspective of a young girl and with the wisdom of a mature woman. Three from a family of ten survived. Many more from their extended family were killed. If you are studying the holocaust, read this book. It puts a human face on Six Million.

The End Of Days: A Memoir Of The Holocaust is the personal memoir of Helen Sendyk, one of very few Jewish women to survive the living hell of a German slave labor camp during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. A personal, eye-witness testimony to brutal and horrific inhumanity inflicted upon the women by their Nazi captors and collaborators, as well as a testament the enduring strength of Helen Sendyk's inner qualities that enabled her to survive when so many others could not, The End Of Days is a moving account and a very highly recommended contribution to Holocaust Studies reading lists and reference collections -- especially in view of the pernicious attempts in some quarters to deny the appalling atrocities of the "Final Solution".

Helen Sendyk was a Jew who lived in Chrzanow, Poland, before WWII. She describes Jewish life in pre-WWII Poland, the German invasion, the horrors of the German occupation, life at a German labor camp at Reichenbach (present-day Dzierzionow) in Silesia, "liberation" by the Soviets, etc.

Before the war, Poland's Jews enjoyed an economic hegemony which the Poles attempted to weaken or break through boycotts. On one hand, the hegemony had tended to be self-perpetuating, because of the following: "Jewish families in Chrzanow knew each other for generations. Traditions and family status, yichus, were very important, and children generally followed in their parents' footsteps. An official, respectful distance was kept between Jews and gentiles, but the Staplers had an unusually close relationship with our non-Jewish patrons." (p. 3). On the other hand, the boycott was far from universal. Her Uncle Pinchas regularly sold shoes to Poles (p. 50).

Sendyk's description of the German conquest of Poland includes that of a dogfight between the Polish Air Force and the Luftwaffe. Occurring on Sept. 3 (p. 57), the Polish airmen emerged victorious in this particular encounter: "When the buzzing intensified, we looked up to see a German airplane. Huddling together, we awaited the impending disaster. But the bombs never came. Instead, we saw five Polish planes in pursuit of the enemy plane. A short battle ensued, and soon the German craft burst into a ball of flames, burning shreds falling like fiery torches to the ground. There was exhilaration and happy waving at the Polish planes, with some people applauding the Polish heroes who had just saved their lives." (p. 60). Her testimony adds refutation to the canard about the Polish Air Force getting destroyed on the ground on the first day of the war.

The Judenrat and Jewish police are described in nuanced terms. Some of them tried to ease the plight of their brethren, while others eagerly collaborated with the Germans for personal gain (p. 137).

It is well known that the Soviets raped German women and girls in their drive across German-held or German territory. What is less known is the fact that the Soviets did the same to Polish women and girls, and to females of other nationalities. When the Red Army liberated the camp in which Sendyk had been held, the soldiers later returned, forcefully and persistently contending that they were owed sexual favors for liberating the Jewish women (pp. 216-218, 224). Other females in the area were raped.

Every now and then you come across a technical or academic book that is clear, concise and just beautifully written. This is such a book. One hundred and fifty years are covered at a cracking pace and I savoured each and every page. It's a large book at 750+ pages, but it left me wishing it had been twice as long.

Most books relating to this period cover who did what, to whom and when. Bartlett doesn't: he assumes if you're reading this book you already know, at least in outline, the events of the period. It does cover how people lived, worked, worshipped, swore, laughed and cried. It makes you feel that you understand what it would have been liked to have lived during the period.

The book is well structured and you can happily dip in here and there as your interest takes you.

One minor criticism is that there are many words and phrases which, it is plain from context, have a particular technical meaning that Bartlett doesn't explain. But with Google to hand that's just a minor irritation.

I just hope the rest of the series is as good.

Bartlett acts as a wonderful guide through the many layers of Medieval life. As he says in the Preface this is an "entry-point of the understanding of processes only slowly unfolding, sometimes across centuries". The book has a very narrow focus in both place and time, yet goes very deep in detail covering all aspects of medieval life. It is a long book that could easily be read in chapters in no particular order, but I read it straight through cover to cover hopeing it would not end for want of Bartletts engaging prose and wealth of fascinating source material. Perhaps the best compliment of all is my desire to want to learn more.

It is an academic book and not always easy with some sections that are fairly boring (economic production figures, calculations of the number of sheep in the country), but overall the balance of interesting material outweighs these sections and makes the effort well worth the veins of gold. Most of all, it is highly trustworthy and authoritative; Bartlett is one in a long line of English historians who endeavored to be readable, arming themselves, as Roger of Wendover (13th C) says, against both "the listless hearer and the fastidious reader" by "presenting something which each may relish," and so providing for the joint "profit and entertainment of all."

Bartlett tries to cover practically every aspect of life during his period, from court politics to village religious life to sexual mores. He does a nice jobe of balancing the general and the specific, reinforcing his general conclusions with interesting anecdotes. Some parts are more tedious than others, depending on your tastes - since he deals with so many issues, some are bound to interest the reader more than others.

Anyone familiar with the Cambridge History collection will be familiar with the format of this book. Essentially Bartlett's work is an expansion of an epoch of English history from, roughly, 1066 to 1200 and covers the reigns of William the Conqueror and the generations of Norman and Angevin kings succeeding him on the throne. Like the Cambridge History series, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings dissects the period, examining life from nearly every aspect: military events of each reign, relations between king and nobility, king and commoner and king and heirs, social strata, cost of armaments, land holding and land use, cost of living and inflationary trends, law courts, rise of a merchant middle class, growth of cities, etc. The volume is incredibly thorough in its coverage of the period, and its bibliography is impressive. Original documents are described and cited throughout the book, providing the dedicated reader with primary sources with which to follow up his/her interests. It would be an excellent secondary source book for someone doing research on the period. It is however very deep and detailed and takes considerable time to read. Light reading it isn't, even for the history buff, but it is worth doing for anyone interested in this very active, very complex period.

This book is one that I reach for constantly when I need to check something; in addition Bartlett writes in an effortless style that makes him a pleasure to read. He's a master of the primary sources; the only think missing from this book is a good bibliography of secondary, specialized material.