Europe Books

A great tool for any collector of British Army WW II military uniforms and equipment. I would be lost without it.

A great book for uniform buffs, lots of colour pictures. Plenty of equipment shown, although text is generally (as per the books title)related to uniforms. Captions are concise but to have expanded on them would have undoubtedly reduced the number of photographs in the book and as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. THE WW11 Brit uniform book.

Tremendous photographs and informative text, undoubtedly the best reference yet knocks spots of anything else on the market. Unfortunatly it is limited to Europe although this does not detract from an otherwise very good book for collectors and re-enactors. What next lads?

The work consists mostly of large format photographs of reenactors wearing original clothing and kit of the period. (Overall size of about 8 by 10 inches.) It goes much beyond anything else I have seen except the two volume set by Jean Bouchery (c.f.) and includes not just the ordinary battle dress worn by Tommy Atkins and his officers but the specialized kit of parachutists, mountain troops (cold weather gear), motorcyclists, and other unusual garb.
Many of the plates are done in the fashion of the French magazine Militaria which is a highly useful source as well.
Not only is ithis work an identification source; it also has some developmental history and organigrammes of front line tactical units.

I have literally memorized this book as I have poured over the pictures contained within attempting to gain a grasp of what items were used doing the period. The extent of detail in the pictures is astounding. My only negative critiques are that some rare items are only given a single photo (officer's valise and wire cutters/web pouch) and that the captions do not go into enough detail and background of many items. (I.E., the officer's valise, info on binoculars, and different manufacturers of clothing and web gear.) While I will DEFINATELY purchase their future volume on North Africa and SE Asia, I hope they go into more detail of non-uniform items. This book is a great gift idea and should be on the shelf of any WWII British militaria collector/historian's library.

To follow in the footsteps of Simone de Beauvoir and F. Scott Fitzgerald.... in Paris ... a how-to guide for those bent on a Gaullist literary retreat into the city that spawned many literary masterpieces. Don't forget the cigarettes, the lattes, and of course ... your French Berlitz language book.

A Writer's Paris proves inspirational, whether or not you're planning to go to Paris or if you've already visited the city where many artists go to create. Not only does Maisel describe life as a writer on a Paris sojourn, but also the activities for a writer to do for inspiration.

Substitute the places in Paris for the ones in your hometown or country you plan to visit to write. While the book has recommendations for places to stay, along with a planning checklist, information on where to go, and other resources, its content provides plenty of inspiration and ideas that work anywhere.

While the book's purpose is to encourage writers to take a Sabbatical in Paris, it also easily inspires and motivates readers to create more and writer better. Maisel happens to use Paris as the central location for the book's theme taking time-out for deep exploration for writing. Paris or no Paris -- writers can glean many things from this original book.

Topics include writing books in three weeks, taking the bad with the good, practicing the art of strolling, dealing with and appreciating the absurd, making the cafe a home, overcoming barriers, engaging your senses, and more. The writing is superb and flows lyrically with the illustrations adding the feeling of going on a journey while reading the book.

I must admit to purchasing this because Danny Gregory did some of the illustrations. That said, as I read I became intrigued with what I could learn about my own compulsion, and sometimes strong commitment, to painting. Although the star of this show seems to be Paris, the lessons about turning away from other preoccupations and just getting to it, no matter where you are, can be applied to any location. Instilling discipline in a routine, albeit one that is wrapped in time and self-permission, is a strong central message. I liked the practicality of many suggestions and the devil-may-care attitude of others.

In a rare combination of travelogue and writer's guide, Maisel speaks directly to every writer who values calm surroundings as well as a calm state of mind in order to write. Part tour guide, and part writing coach, Maisel takes the reader on the journey he promises in the subtitle.

After reading Eric's wonderful book Sleep Thinking & having my writing improve a millionfold because of it, I joined Eric's Yahoo!Group newsletter. He's talked about this book. It didn't do a "thing" for me because I really hate Paris. But his other books have helped sooo much, I keep reading his newsletter.

His latest one said:

>>When an editor buys a book from you that in her mind is in the inspirational" category, it can be decidedly hard for you to slip material into the book that is controversial and meaty.

Although A Writer's Paris is an "inspirational book," in the sense that it is meant to inspire you to go to Paris and write, I also wanted to talk about class and privilege, religious opposition to scientific thought, and other "non-inspirational" matters. I tucked in several such essays and wondered how many would make the final cut.

Some of these meaty essays made it into the book and some did not. ...

I am pleased that pieces like Privilege and the Place Vendome, Gay Mayors, and Darwin's Wife made it into the finished product.<<

To me, those "meaty essays" sound like they are talking about what Fiction is really all about.

I just wish all of them had been included.

Maybe Eric will write a "meaty essays" book someday.

I have hundreds of cookbooks and dozens which contain Jewish and Yiddish recipes. This is the only Jewish cookbook I need! I purchased the book several years ago for my friends who are Parisian Jews and were having a difficult time finding Ashkenazi cookbooks in the Paris book shops. I have since purchased copies for myself and other friends. No matter the recipe I select, it is just like my Grandmother and Great Grandmother had prepared it! My father and cousins love everything I have prepared from this book. Even the simple recipes like the lokshen kugel with schmaltz is just like Bubbe made! The explanations are wonderful and I oft times find myself reading it just for the sake of enjoyment!

Many thanks for such a superb cookbook! It has brought a bit of nostalgia to my family table.

All recipes we have tried - and we have tried many - are excellent. The directions are detailed and the results are superb. Some recipes, the Bialysrtock-Style latkes, have become our family favorites.

Did your family eat prakke, holishkes, golobtzes, huloptches, or just staffed cabbage?? Read this book and learn what this means about your family's history. This book is complete. Let me put it this way; there are 22 noodle-kugel-lokshen recipes and 7, count them, 7 recipes for chicken soup in this definitive book of classic Ash-kenazic Jewish cuisine. He includes maps of the Yiddish speaking areas of Europe and a pronunciation guide. Not only is the book filled with recipes and Yiddish aphorisms, but the author analyzes the history of the Jews through their language and cuisine. For exmaple, in his analysis of Lithuania and Northern Poland (an area known as Litteh), the popular herbs are understated dill and sorrel. Salmon and herring were the fishes used, and the starch was potato. Thus Jews from the area made the best potato kugels. But for non-potato breads, the best Jewish area was the Ukraine, which perfected black breads, challahs and bagels. Beet borsht eaters were mainly in the Ukraine, fruit soup eaters were in Litteh. Get the idea? If your gefilte fish was peppery, think Litteh; if it was sugar sweet, think Galitzia and southern Poland and Hungary. Either way... u have good cooking ahead for u with this book

This is a wonderful cookbook -- both for the recipes and for the rich cultural heritage it paints. We got this book half price a long time ago and liked it so much, we bought 8 more copies to give to friends and relatives. It's really that good.

This book doesn't have the glossy pictures or fancy covers that you often see in cookbooks these days, but the content is superb. The recipes are beautiful, and strike me as authentic. The best part of the book, though, are the stories the author writes that put the food into the context of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. As a non-Jew, I found Sternberg's stories and sidebars both fascinating and intimate. I've other books on Jewish food, and this is the only one I use regularly.

In this impressive volume, Professor McLynn takes the reader through not only the crucial year of 1066, but the decades preceeding this fateful year, slowly building a picture that shows the early medieval period as a vibrant and often chaotic period, rich in political intrigue, economic uncertainty, and devastating military undertakings.

Unlike many books that use 1066 as the centrepiece, McLynn doesn't use a chronological narative, rather he uses the personalities of time to tell his tale and explain his conclusions (many of which run counter to the common understanding of the period).

Particularly insightful for this reviewer was his analysis of Harald Hardrada; as well as the analysis of the Saxon vs. Norman fighting methods and warfighting equipment. Most interesting though was McLynn's dispelling of the myth of the 'arrow through the eye' for Harold Godwinson, arguing instead that Harold was literally assissinated by a group of knights hand-picked by William toward the conclusion of the Battle of Hastings.

The final element that McLynn uses to support his arguments is that of logistics. His method is reminescent of how Hans Delbrück makes sense of the fantastical claims associated with the size of ancient armies. McLynn clearly shows that Napoleon's dictum that an 'army marches on its stomach' couldn't be more true.

This book is a great read for any person even remotely interested in these pivotal events that defined the future of England and also for the serious student of the early medieval period.

Enjoy.

We have a tendency to view people of long ago as simple in their lives and politics. This well researched and written book opens the door to an age much more rich in the scope and depth of its political intrigue and subsequent warfare. In setting the stage for the climactic battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, Frank McLynn takes us back thru a generation of tangled politics, alliances made and broken, power won and lost. He details the long relationship between the Godwins and Edward the Confessor, King of England but beset on many sides by powerful enemies. McLynn sketches the life of Harald Hardrada, who served lords of Kiev and Byzantium before becoming ruler of Norway. And he shows how William, Duke of Normandy consolidated his power and administration in preparation for the invasion of England. In the process McLynn puts a critical eye on his sources, recognizing that they may have been written to enhance the reputation of the winners rather than with a strict eye to truth. And he isn't afraid to say that some things we'll just have to assume or guess, because the sources are so scant, so obscure or unbelievable. This is not my favorite period of history, but I found this book most readable and reasonable, and the story very absorbing. A very fine job.

I cannot praise this slim volume too highly as a resource for the study of the 11th century in upper Europe. Dr. McLynn is a superb writer, balancing the need for exhaustive details and character insights with a narrator's gift for storytelling. Focusing on the three major players of the invasion of England in 1066, William of Normandy, Harald Hardrada, and Harold Godwinson, he not so much writes concerning the actual battles of 1066 as about what led to them, leading the reader on an epic journey through political intrigues and lavish landscapes, from Norway to Byzantium. And if he uses the word "contumaciously" far too often, one can forgive him in favour of the grandeur of the tale.

What I especially admire is that McLynn has no fear of discounting or disagreeing with popular impressions. His take on 1066: the housecarls' favoured weapon was not the double-headed axe (although they used it), but the pike, of which they had many varieties; Harold was not killed by an arrow to the eye; the supposed superiority of the Norman military engine versus that of Anglo-Saxon England was nonexistant, as seen in Harold's 1063 war that brutally smashed the feared Welsh. These tidbits and more await the reader of this highly recommended work.

This was a book I found hard to put down, and is probably one of the best books on the Anglo-Saxons and specifically the Battle of Hastings that I have ever read.
Maclynn's attention to sources, and critical analysis of those sources, is excellent. And I found the chapters covering each of the main protaganists illuminating. Covering the behind the scene machinations shows just how much Harold II had to contend with, how great a king he would have been had he not been killed, and the great disservice that has been done to him historically simply because the Normans were victorious.
You very much get the feeling as to who the victors of this battle should have been, the Anglo-Saxons, and it was so very close too.

Mclynn's book is the clearest and most profound of the many which have centred on the events of 1066. The background into the three 'big men' involved (Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, Harold Godwinson,Earl of Wessex and King of England, and William Duke of Normandy) is extensive, but written with real sense of the demands of narrative. This is not a dry academic treatise. It is a well paced, yet thoroughly researched book. I especially liked how he went deeply into the political machinations of the time. These were not simple people. They were canny, shrewd, calculating, and Mclynn exposes the dealing and double dealing that went along with magnate status in the eleventh century. He tackles several historical traditions and beats the snot out of them, Harold's death by arrow in the eye being one. An immensely readable book,and one of the most well thumbed in my collection

IF you value Irish history, this book will take you into the modern turning point in Ireland. It is a fact filled (if not a tad dry) historical telling of one of the island country's defining moments.
Prepare to tune out distraction and let yourself get absorbed. It is a serious read, and if you are of Irish heritage, requisite.

TIM PAT COOGAN'S BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK ABOUT THE UPRISING FROM A FACTUAL AND ANALYTICAL BASIS. THIS IS THE BOOK TO START WITH. THAT SAID, LET US DRAW SOME LESSONS FROM THIS KEY STRUGGLE OF EUROPEON HISTORY AND LOOK AT A KEY LEADER.

A word. They tell a story about James Connolly that just before the start of action in Easter, 1916 he told the members of the Irish Citizen's Army (almost exclusively workers, by the way) that if the uprising was successful to keep their guns handy. More work with them might be necessary against the nationalist allies of the moment organized as the Irish Volunteers. The Volunteers were mainly a petty bourgeois formation and had no intention of fighting for a Socialist Republic. True story or not, I think that gives a pretty good example of the strategy and tactics to be used in colonial and third world struggles by the working class. Would that the Chinese Communists in the 1920's and other colonial and third world liberation fighters since then had paid heed to that strategic concept.

A word on the Easter Uprising. The easy part of analyzing the Uprising is the knowledge, in retrospect, that it was not widely supported by people in Ireland and militarily defeated by the British forces send in main force to crush it and therefore doomed to failure. Still easier is to criticize the strategy and tactics of the action and of the various actors, particularly in underestimating the British Empire's frenzy to crush any opposition to its main task of victory in World War I. Although, I think that would be a point in the uprising's favor under the theory that England's (or fill in the blank) woes were Ireland's (or fill in the blank) opportunities. The hard part is to draw any positive lessons of that national liberation experience for the future. If nothing else remember this though, and unfortunately the Irish national liberation fighters (and other national liberation fighters later, including later Irish revolutionaries) failed to take this into account in their military calculations, the British (or fill in the blank) were entirely committed to defeating the uprising including burning that colonial country to the ground if need be in order to maintain control. In the final analysis, it was not their metropolitan homeland, so the hell with it. Needless to say, British Labor's position was almost a carbon copy of His Imperial Majesty's. Labor leader Arthur Henderson could barely contain himself when informed that James Connolly had been executed. That should, even today, make every British militant blush with shame. Unfortunately, the demand for British militants and others today is the same as then- All British Troops Out of Ireland.

In various readings I have come across a theory that the Uprising was the first socialist revolution in Europe, predating the Bolshevik Revolution by over a year. Unfortunately, there is little truth to that idea. Of the Uprising's leaders, only James Connolly was devoted to the socialist cause. Moreover, while the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army were prototypical models for urban- led national liberation forces such organizations, as we have witnessed in later history, are not inherently socialistic. The dominant mood among the leadership was in favor of political independence and/or fighting for a return to a separate traditional Irish cultural hegemony. Let poets rule the land. As outlined in the famous Proclamation of the Republic posted on the General Post Office in Dublin, Easter Monday, 1916 the goal of the leadership appeared to be something on the order of a society like those fought for in the European Revolutions of 1848, a left bourgeois republic. Some formation on the order of the Paris Commune of 1871 or the Soviet Commune of 1917 did not figure in the political calculations at that time.

As noted above, James Connolly clearly was skeptical of his erstwhile comrades on the subject of the nature of the future state and apparently was prepared for an ensuing class struggle following the establishment of a republic. That does not mean that revolutionary socialists could not support such an uprising. On the contrary, Lenin, who was an admirer of Connolly for his anti-war stance in World War I, and Trotsky stoutly defended the uprising against those who derided the Easter Rising for involving bourgeois elements. Participation by bourgeois and petty bourgeois elements is in the nature of a national liberation struggle. The key, which must be learned by militants today is who leads the national liberation struggle and on what program. As both Lenin and Trotsky made clear later in their own revolutionary experiences in Russia revolutionary socialists have to lead other disaffected elements of society to overthrow the existing order. There is no other way in a heterogeneous class-divided society. Moreover, in Ireland, the anti-imperialist nature of the action against British imperialism during wartime on the socialist principle that the defeat of your own imperialist overlord, as a way to open the road to the struggle merited support on that basis. Chocky Ar La.

This book is a to the point informative guide to the events leading up to and during the Insurection. It is non partison for the most part and also talks about modern develpments on events in Ireland. I think this is a great book for anyone who wants a basic knowledge of the Easter Rebellion.

As early as September, 1914, the supreme council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) had decided that an insurrection would take place in Ireland while Britain was preoccupied fighting Germany. Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, was the chosen day for the planned rebellion, which would involve slightly less than 2,000 IRB members and militia, including about 100 women from the Cumann na mBan (women's branch) of the Irish Volunteers. These brave women served as nurses, couriers, and secretaries. Although many other areas of Ireland were supposed to take part in the rebellion, lack of communication between the Irish leaders resulted in the insurrection being largely confined to Dublin.

In the Dublin area, 2,500 British soldiers were stationed, but within 48 hours they were reinforced by 2,000 troops from England who landed at Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) harbour. Also, there were 9,500 armed members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) that were available. Against these odds, the Irish rebels never stood a chance, and on Saturday, April 29, the rebel leaders held a council of war and decided to surrender unconditionally.

It is estimated that during the week of fighting, the rebels lost about 1,350 people killed or wounded, while aprox. 1,214 civilians were killed or wounded. The official British army casualty list gave a total of 516 officers and men killed, wounded, or missing. 16 leaders of the rebellion were court-martialled and executed by the British. During and immediately after the Easter Rising, the Irish population was largely against the rebels, because many Irish men were serving in the British army in France and thus the rebels were viewed as traitors. But the public opinion drastically shifted in favor of the rebels following the executions.

Michael Collins, who survived the rebellion, said afterwards,"It appeared at the time of the surrender to have failed, but that valiant effort and the martyrdoms that followed it finally awoke the sleeping spirit of Ireland." Padraic Pearse, one of the top leaders of the Irish rebels, said at his court-martial,"We seem to have lost. We have not lost. To refuse to fight would have been to lose. To fight is to win."

This gripping book tells the story of the tragic Easter Rising like no other, and Tim Pat Coogan has proved himself to be one of the best writers on Ireland's "Troubled Times". This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in Irish history!

Not the same-old, same-old wordy, dry and painful Coogan we've come to know and expect. Concise, succinct and absolutely brilliant. Some of his very finest work details the events surrounding the events of the 1916 rising. This is really a must read and in the current hard cover addition a must-have for any serious student/collector of the troubles. An investment that will no doubt pay dividends.

My husband and I are stationed in Germany. He was so excited to learn that a book like this existed (dismayed he couldnt buy it at his local bookstore!) and was a little kid when it arrived. He's planning MWR trips for our fellow soldiers/families to learn/see more of historical WW2 sites. This book does not put itself out as a historical writing, only one that has coordinated and organized WW2 sites in such a way that a novice or buff can find the sites and learn more. While it ranks the sites (Holocaust sites are not ranked as they could never be stratified against another historical moment in time) it does so based on the ability of one to find the site, location, physical identifiers and the learning possibilities of that site. They do amplify the travel elements with historical facts for the reader to further support their choices.

Great book!

When I have visited Civil War battlefields from Gettysburg to Shiloh I have brought along the respective volumes from the Time-Life Civil War series as a convenient way of recalling what happened. While nowhere as nearly profusely illustrated, Chuck Thompson has put together an excellent guide to "The 25 Best World War II Sites: European Theater" for those who are traveling to the Continent and want to see the best sites. This holds true whether they are brought by memories of serving in World War II, to see where relatives fought during the war, or simply to see the realities behind movies like "The Longest Day" or "Saving Private Ryan" (in fact, Thompson makes a point of referencing dramatizations like "Band of Brothers" and other standard WWII fare).

The goal of this guide is to direct travelers in Europe to those places of greatest importance interest with regards to World War II. Thompson's subjective rankings were determined by judging sites on the basic of three equally weighted qualities: (1) their historical significance; (2) the amount and quality of relics or points of interest remaining at a given site; and (3) the merits of each site as a travel destination, its services, natural beauty and general desirability independent of its association with the war. Consequently, Stalingrad and the Battle of the Bulge make the cut whereas Dieppe and Dunkirk do not, with London, Paris and Rome having an inherent advantage over locales that are not cosmopolitan capitals.

The results of this tabulation is as follows: (1) Normandy I: Utah, Omaha Beaches; (2) Normandy II: Gold, Juno, Sword Beaches; (3) London; (4) Auschwitz-Birkenau; (5) Bastogne: Battle of the Bulge I; (6) Belgium/Luxembourg: Battle of the Bulge II; (7) Pas de Calais; (8) Berlin; (9) Washington, D.C.; (10) South Coast of England; (11) Cassino; (12) Paris; (13) Moscow; (14) Normandy III: The Breakout; (15) Munich; (16) Nuremberg; (17) East Anglia; (18) Volgograd (Stalingrad); (19) Norway; (20) Netherlands: Operation Market-Garden; (21) Rome; (22) Remagen/Eifel Region; (23) Anzio; (24) Kursk; and (25) Auxiliary Sites, which lists everything from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the likes of Hitler's birthplace, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the Maginot Line, Berchtesgarden, the Medinat el-Alamein War Museum and the Treblinka Concentration Camp in between. This last chapter is arranged by country, so if you happen to be in the Balkans, Finland, Italy, Malta, or pretty much any other European nation, Thompson gives you an indication of what there is to see.

For each of these sites Thompson lists the individual points of interest in the area, provides detailed histories and maps of the sites, and gives direction to everything from monuments and city museums to landing beaches and battlefields. The points of interested are rated from ***** (major site, must visit) to * (only if you have time or special interest), although Thompson wisely refrains from rating Holocaust sites. He also emphasizes in his introduction that these ratings are not meant to judge the relative importance of a battle or of the lives lost there, but to indicate the relative value to a tourist. He also provides an interesting perspective by noting that a visitor will notice that nations like England and Russia weave the mythology of the historic conflict into their national identities in decidedly different ways. However, the main concern here is the utility of this guide for visitors to any of these cites.

For example, in the first chapter devoted to the Utah and Omaha beaches in Normandy, we begin with a description of what happened there during the war year (with a short list of sources and other readings), and a map showing 21 numbered sites. After a brief description of Normandy Today, Thompson goes through those 21 sites, where the Utah Beach/Museum, Point du Hoc/Range Memorial, National Guard Memorial/Bunkers, Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, and U.S. 1st Division Monument/Omaha Beach are the five-star rated sites. Cherbourg is listed as one of the Related Sites Beyond Utah and Omaha, while the Bayeux Tapestry is one of the Other Area Attractions. Thompson also covers Getting To/Around Normandy and Accommodations in the area (e.g., Hotel Du Juin 6).

There are several pages of color photographs included to give you an idea of what there is to see, including the Fuhrer's rostrum at Nuremberg, Patton's grave in Luxembourg, Longues Battery at Normandy, the Gate of Death at Auschwitz-Birkenaur, and the Flour Mill in Volgograd. The number of people who will have the opportunity to see most of these sites is going to be relatively small, but even if all you get to see are a handful of sites in various locations, this is still a worthwhile investment. It can also help you determine what you should see, both in terms of desire and opportunity (for example, getting to Poland to see Auschwitz-Birkenaur might be impractical, but there are, of course, camps throughout eastern Europe, from Dachau west of Munich and Bergen-Belsen outside Bergen to Natzweiler-Struthof in France.

The chapter on Washington, D.C. does show that there are some things to see on this side of the Atlantic, but also speaks to the utility of a European visitor coming here to see World War II related sites as well. Yes, there is a companion volume for "The 25 Best World War II Sites: Pacific Theater" by Thompson, which obviously covers a larger area geographically. But it should provide the same level of utility as this book.

Being stationed overseas has allowed us to travel quite a bit. There's much more out there than we thought! Definitely a good book to help you find WWII sites!
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe for the Senses - A Photographic Journal"

[...]

Chuck Thompson has made something special here and I strongly recommend his book to the historically minded traveler. I graduated a semester early from Lehigh University and played the classic college-boy card: Backpacking Europe. My travels were excellent; thanks in part to "The 25 Best World War II Sites: European Theater." It is a thoughtful, thorough analysis of the magical relics of World War II. In addition, it is a superb travel guide. It encouraged me to see things I would not have seen, to go where I would never have gone. For the young American overseas, I can hardly imagine a more satisfying, paperback companion.

From the "Big 25-list," I went to the Normandy Beaches, twice, and to London, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bastogne, Belgium/Luxembourg, Paris, Munich, Nuremberg, and Rome. When at these places, this book provided a plan of action based on Thompson's maps, directions, and rating system. In addition, Thompson's textual description of each area included both details and the wide picture, providing a compact history book for the weight-conscious backpacker. The obvious highlights, such as Normandy and Auschwitz, are well covered and worth visiting, but it is in the small, lesser-known areas where I felt the true value of this praise-worthy guide.

Let me highlight several places in particular that won me over:

*The Nazi Party Rally Grounds @ Nuremburg* - Germany's a big place and I may not have known where to go without this book. When I left Prague ahead of schedule, this small German town with the darkest of histories knocked me out. So much and so little remains from this mysterious lost time.

*Maginot Line @ Longuyon* - Yes, I walked 12 miles across the French countryside to hunt out these ancient forts. They were closed when I got there; however, this ranks among my best days. Make sure to check the "Auxiliary Sites" section!

*Patton's Grave @ Luxembourg* - On the same day as the Maginot Line. I walked 3 miles outside of Luxembourg at dusk to pay tribute to this great among Americans. I would have found none of these places without Thompson's book.

*Belgium* - The European nexus of both World Wars, this tiny country is thick with history. When in Brussels, travel outside the city center to the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History. Thank you, Jay Blitzer, for taking me to Liege. Before I close up, the town of Yper in Belgium is *the* place for WWI battle sites. I rented a bike there and had an unbelievable time.


In Thompson's introduction, he warns that, "Outside of major cities and a few noted exceptions, the only way to efficiently visit the battlefields and sites covered in this book is by car." On the other hand, an adventurous traveler can use this book with excellent results without a car. I did.

Here is my recommendation: go to Europe, use this book, and learn about human history. Take a Guidebook (Let's Go, Rough Guide, LonelyPlanet) and this book. I planned my trip using Rick Steves' Europe Through The Backdoor. These books will make a smooth trip, overall. Thompson's travel guide makes World War II battle sites approachable and memorable. A Thompson five-star site is a clear winner, hands down. I slapped myself for not realizing the value of Thompson's guide earlier in my trip. I missed Cassino, for example. When is my next vacation?

I thank the men and women whose sacrifices protected the world in the 1940s. For next trip, pack a Thompson-guide and travel Europe through history. May we always have such an easy way to pay our respects.

Since knowledge of anything older than the last generation of Pentium processor has gone the way of the dodo, this savvy book helps you get up to speed on a bunch of places that changed the course of world history. The names seem dimly familiar--Anzio, Bastogne, Cassino--but the stories of these major Euro battlefields are long gone, buried under a mountain of pop culture trivia. No more. This guide to the most intense hot spots of WWII brings back the heroics, the strategies--and the places themselves, because this is a travel book, not a textbook, with all the info needed to experience these settings first-hand: the military points of interest, local accommodations, transportation and other attractions in the area. It's the kind of information that falls between the cracks of travel guidebooks. Thompson does an excellent job of bringing this period vividly to life, with a slew of anecdotes and nuggets that kept this Vic Morrow-loving "Combat" fan immersed from Normandy to Kursk. Call it as cool as Cage, as comprehensive as Little John.

First of all it is clear why this is a good novel: the excellence of the writing, the palpable description of the sadness and loneliness of life as a spy and particularly a Russian spy in the 60's, and the feelings evoked for the emotional poverty of the Russians under Stalin and Malenkov and their progeny.

In many respects it approaches (but sadly misses) the characterization of Deaver's Willi Kohl in the unheralded but brilliant "Garden of Beasts" and of course the greatest of the Russian detectives, Arkady Renko particularly in Cruz Smith's recent (and fantastic) "Wolves Eat Dogs."

But Steinhauer seems to miss on the people surrounding Sev. We know right off the bat that he's been set up and the "why," like a good poker hand, is kept from us for many chapters. But the people surrounding Sev, his mother, Jan, Jan's wife, Colonel Cerney, all provide great opportunity for deeper analysis but instead we get a bunch of 3" by 5" card descriptions.

Likewise I really had no feelings for Sev. For example, C. W, Sughrue in James Crumley's "The Last Good Kiss" is an irritating, self-abusing protaganist. Couldn't stand the guy. If he lived next door I would move. But you have feelings for him. Ditto Bernard Samson of Len Deighton fame. But Sev is like your ex-sister in law's third husband that you see every Christmas 'OK. Who is this guy? What's he mean to me?'

I will read Steinhauer again (and again) because he is very talented. But 36 Yalta Boulevard was too fragmented and superficial. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

In 1966, Major Brano Sev is sent from his Communist nation to Vienna to uncover Code Name Gavrilo, a traitor leaking information to the West. However, the State Security Officer, who has replaced the murdered Kristina Urben, wakes up with amnesia in a park. He learns that the mission was accomplished, but upon disembarking the plane he is arrested for turning traitor too as his assistant Lochert painted quite a spin on what really happened in Vienna.

Brano lives due to the interactions of his former superior, Colonel Cerny. After six months in a factory, Cerny assigns Brano to visit his hometown of Bobrka to interrogate a possible defector Jan Soroka. Welcomed home by his mother, but no one else as everyone knows what he does for a living, Brano becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Jacob Bieneck. He does little to defend himself against the frame as he assumes this is his cover to enable him to learn the truth. Instead he finds himself back in Vienna wondering who besides Lochert betrayed him and why, but he believes that it is probably too late to prove he did not commit homicide.

This Cold War espionage thriller will remind the audience of the early works of LeCarre although the key protagonist is an Eastern block spy. Brano is a terrific protagonist as he follows orders to such a degree that he jeopardizes himself as he never considered that he was being set up until his forced return to Vienna in spite of Lochert's devastating misinformation campaign. Olen Steinhauer writes another fantastic tale. If you have not read him you are missing quite a suspense treat (see THE CONFESSION and BRIDGE OF SIGHS).

Harriet Klausner

Olen Steinhauer's Major Brano Sev is part of his Commmunist nation's security apparatus. He awakes in a Viennese park, remembering nothing, an Austrian policeman helping him up. Asked who he is, Sev produces a library card bearing the name Bernard Richter. Richter was murdered last night, but the Austrian policeman doesn't know this - and at the moment Sev remembers nothing, not even his name.

Thus begins the grim tale of this dedicated investigator, torturer and murderer, this agent of a people's republic whose life is devoted to protecting an oppressive regime where, the joke goes, there are only three classes: those in prison, those who have been in prison and those who will be in prison.

As Brano recalls who he is, he remembers that he was to murder Richter the night before, but can't recall if that was accomplished. He remembers as well that he is the intelligence rezident in Vienne for his nation. He makes his way back to a hotel that he headquartered in, having found the embassy riddled with bugs. His assistant shows up and tells him he must leave Austria immediately. At the airport, Austrian agents try to detain him. Escapting, he boards the flight, arrives in his native country and is immediately arrested, interrogated for months and eventually released to become an assembly line worker in some obscure factory, his career in the intelligence and security organs seemingly over.

Sound complex? It become far more so as Brano's mentor intervenes and he is sent to his home village to investigate a returned defector. The corpses and traitors start surfacing soon after Brano's arrival.

Steinhauer's plot is complex, His characters are rich and cover the carnival of nationalities and forces we expect in Cold War Austria. Brano is the center of something, but we never find out what until the last few pages, much to the credit of Steinhauer. There is Dijana Frankovic, half Brano's age, beautiful, bohemian, who shares she is in love with Brano, having known him for but a few minutes. Well, maybe she's a Russian spy. Or maybe not.

Brano is a dedicated Communist: he even drove his father from home, something his mother still regrets. Brano is a creature of the state, thinking nothing of torturing and murdering in the name of the state, not because he is a sadist, but because he is a believer - though that belief is becoming frayed after so long.

Vienna's expatriate society, Austrian intelligence, CIA, religous groups dedicated to freeing Communist countries swirl around Brano. At first, Brano feels abandoned by his masters, but he labors on, knowing that nothing happens by accident. He pursues the scent of conspiracy.

Bit by bit, Brano pulls the pieces together, not without the occasional bit of violence and always with a neat surprise invented by Steinhauer, who is quite a writer.

Overall, a complex thriller about grim countries in grim times where grim men like Brano Sev served a purpose. Steinhauer's portrait of Brano Sev is dark, perhaps depressing. A masterful thriller of a bygone era. If you've seen the film "The Third Man," you'll love this book.

Jerry

Nothing is more exciting in a literary series than charting the growth, maturity, and expanding talents of a writer, especially one like Olen Steinhauer whose first book, Bridge of Sighs, was also the first in this series the author is building. Bridge of Sighs offered a fresh exploration of a fascinating genre, and was immediately nominated for prizes (an Edgar) and lauded by critics. It was difficult to see how Steinhauer could better Bridge of Sighs. But he - in a sense - did, with The Confession that offered a darker (even for noir) literary vision, and a tale and characters even more morally complex and intriguing than that of Bridge. Steinhauer's progression continues with his latest book 36 Yalta Boulevard in which he bolds creates a sympathetic protagonist out of Brano Sev, a decidedly complex and dark figure from his previous novels. Sev, expertly fleshed out in the past, emerges in 36 Yalta as infinitely more complicated. Fascinatingly, Steinhauer breathes new life into Sev amid a fast-paced story that is literally impossible to stop reading. 36 Yalta is a cracking thriller, which is not slowed one iota by the attention paid to Sev's complexities and growth.

Steinhauer could have satisfied his readership by repeating the style and theme of Bridge of Sighs in his future books, a la Dan Brown with Angels and Demons/Da Vinci Code. This is not to say that 36 Yalta lacks the attributes of Steinhauer's previous books. It contains all the gritty communist-era atmosphere, moral complexity, and great dialogue of Bridge and Confession. In this way, Steinhauer's fans feel immediately at home in the pages of 36 Yalta. But clearly Steinhauer, like his characters and his plots, is not content to take the predictable route, no matter how successful. As a result, his readers are treated to a book (Yalta Boulevard) and literary series (his three books together) that startles and intrigues as well as entertains, and - equally as exciting-his readers can witness the progress of a writer who grows stronger and more skilled with each book. One can only wonder: what's next in this series? The answer will certainly be: like 36 Yalta Boulevard, a wild, wonderful ride that brings the reader to a destination he least expects.

Olen Steinhauer's fiction has always confused me. How can it be that such emotionally finessed, intricately plotted, quitely observed and moodily rendered writing has not yet hit the heights it so obviously deserves? After re-reading this, the third of Steinhauer's sequence, the mystery remains: 36 Yalta Boulevard continues in the tradition of brutal excellence encountered in The Bridge of Sighs and The Confession; indeed in this latest Sixties installment the author's landscape grows vividly, shifting his pared-down sights to a more clearly defined world of cold-war espionage (his earlier work could be described as a kind of Stalinist-Noir policier fiction) that takes in not only his own fictional East European country, but also Hungary and a confused, confusing, melting-pot Austria.

Unlike the two writers with whom he is most obviously compared, the young Le Carré and the gilded Alan Furst, Steinhauer rides his cluttered communist tram bus down the middle: neither over nor under writing, offering none of the easy romanticism to which both other authors are sometimes prone. Instead his latest work continues to show us the clear (and wonderfully nuanced) evolution of a national psychological mindset: shows us people who must always lie to hold on to their own sense of a personal honesty beyond The Party, the Nation, the Family and even lovers (for who can be sure of anything or anyone in this world?). Perhaps it is the glaring honesty - and imperfection - of his life-battered fateless characters that holds Steinhauer back from the best-seller/Hollywood calling that he deserves. However, for readers interested in a telling, grey-toned mirror image of Le Carré's troubled Goethe-yearning Double-Firsts or Furst's cocksure heroes look no further.

For a true insight into the fatalistic souls of people exiled from their own imagination by communism, Steinhauer's works - filled with the bleak realities of human experience, and ocassional moments of clarity and hope, as well as cracking (and in this case labyrinthine) plots that echo but never merely copy the true history of the Iron Curtain countries in the post war decades - are compulsory reading.

Bought this book on-line 48 hours before heading to Tuscany, which I and other non-walkers do every 2nd year. Managed to do four of the walks and the descriptions: how to get to start, directions on the walk etc etc were excellent. Really opened up new parts of Tuscany for me. One of the best hillwalking books I have come across.

This will seem odd, but I'm the other Jeff Taylor. There are four or five of us, writing for a living and publishing books and articles.

But I came upon Jeff Taylor's book about Tuscany while looking for articles about hiking in Italy. By coincidence, Tuscany and hiking are two of my own interests, and the fact that the author's name is identical to my own makes this the kind of book that piques my interest. Weirdness to the seventh degree, Rod Serling standing at the crossroads leading to a little town somewhere in Tuscany ...

So when I say I loved this book, and it told me a lot about my life's future mission (to explore Tuscany), there's a certain degree of bias. But even if the author's name were Jones, it would still be THE book I'd buy before buying an airline ticket to Italy.

This is the best hiking book I have ever read. It is very user-friendly. Just about any question I might have has been anticipated. The book is arranged in a very concise orderly fashion. I will recommend it to my hiking friends. I look foward to purchasin books this author may write in the future.

What a surprise to find such a wonderful book for hiking in Italy!! I am planning a trip and hope to put this book to good use during my visit. I am sure that the scenery will only be more beautiful than the photos in black and white. Aside from the 50+ different hikes there are also tip's on traveling in Italy. I am sure that this will be a useful tool during my visit.

Ecologist, educator, and avid hiker who has traversed thousands of miles Jeff Taylor presents 50 Hikes In & Around Tuscany: Hiking the Mountains, Forests, Coast & Historic Sites of Wild Tuscany and Beyond, a combination hiking and travel guide to Italy's gorgeous Tuscan region. The fifty hikes featured cover Tuscan Hill Country, the mountains of the Alpi Apuane, the Cinque Terre and Ligurian Coast, the Northern and Central Apennines, and much more. Yet 50 Hikes In & Around Tuscany is supplemented with far more than information than simply descriptions, maps, and black-and-white photographs of hiking trails; also covered are the best times to visit, how to drive and travel around Italy, local customs, lodging establishments for overnight hikes, a list of useful English-Italian translations and navigating terms, insights into the region's natural history, flora, and fauna, and much more. Enthusiastically recommended for any hiker planning to visit the Tuscan area.

I was assigned Glick's book by my Medieval History professor Dr. Paul Halsall. I opened the book thinking I knew a lot about the experiences of Jews in France and Germany in Medieval Europe; and what I found was that I was wrong.

This book is an excellent book about the cultures of the Jews and the Christians, how these two cultures interacted with each other and how Medieval Jewish culture effects the culture of American Jews, who predominately come from these Ashkenazic Jews.

The book is divided chronologically and this division works. It shows the downward spiral pattern of Christian and Jewish interaction that finally hit rock bottom with the expulsion of Jews from France and in England.

I especially enjoyed reading about the devistating effects of the Crusades on the Jewish communitites of the Rhine river region. I was amazed to read that many of the higher Church officials tried to protect their neighbor Jews from the angry and violent mobs. Bishops tried hiding Jews, tried baptizing Jews, and showed real sorrow and guilt when Jews in their communities were harmed.

I also found the history of the evolution of Christian thought about the Jews very fascinating. The early Christians, who didn't even know they were Christians, clearly saw themselves as religiously Jewish. By the time of the writing of the Gospel of John, this has changed. The Gospel of John is somewhat anti-Jewish. When the Christians began using "rational thinking," especially with the creation of Universities, they became even more hostile toward the Jews.

This book is a definate "must-buy" for any graduate student of European history or any serious undergraduate.

This is not the kind of book I normally would have read (regrettably), but it came to me highly recommended. Having grown up in a Jewish environment but feeling some loss of identity and lack of knowledge of my ancestral history, I took the initiative to try to learn more.

Abraham' Heirs unexpectedly had a profound influence upon how I view my cultural heritage in a way I never anticipated. In a chronological and clear -- yet fair -- manner, the text depicts life and cross-cultural relationships and attitudes between Jews and Christians as central Europe developed. Through the progression of events depicted, the book demonstrates marked patterns which evolved across both time and location, which is crucial towards understanding how and why history regrettably progressed as it did.

Many events are quite disturbing, sometimes difficult to grasp in magnitude, but can't be forgotten nor simply glossed over. Importantly, Glick tells it the way things were, which also made it hard to put the book down. His content is exceptionally well-written, easy to follow, and highly informative, making it appropriate and essential for all readers.

I had been brought up to believe that when a culture mistreats the Jews, that culture inevitably deteriorates (as exemplified, for example, by the decay of the Spanish and Ottoman Empires after the 16th century). But Glick's book discusses a terrifying counterexample: the rise of France and Germany in the late Middle Ages.

The so-called Dark Ages were actually quite pleasant for Jews: in the centuries after the end of the Roman Empire, Jews circulated through western Europe, specializing in international trade. Charlemagne and his successors were quite friendly towards Jews in the 700s and 800s, even using them as diplomats now and then.

But in the 1000s, European agriculture became more productive, thus generating surplus products that could be sold elsewhere. Christians became merchants to sell these products, and formed connections with other Christian merchants. These merchants saw the Jews as competitors, and formed guilds that excluded Jews from commerce. Jews were squeezed into the moneylending industry, thus enabling Christians to use Jewish money without having to compete with Jews.

The ghettoization of Jews into moneylending was a disaster for Jews. Because Jews were allowed to hold money but not large amounts of land, Christian kings soon realized that they could squeeze Jews unmercifully, extorting money in return for protection. Jews tried to pass on the costs to debtors by charging higher interest rates, thus causing Christian borrowers to hate Jews even more than they did before. Borrowers decided that they could avoid debts by the simple expedient of robbing and/or killing their Jewish creditors. (And this easy repayment option ensured that borrowers used Jewish rather than Christian lenders; anyone who borrowed from the latter would actually have to repay the loan rather than killing the banker!) Eventually, Jews were left without assets and were thus useless to Christian kings, who forced them to leave France and most of Germany.

The intellectual revival of Christianity also posed problems for Jews. As Christians became less ignorant, they learned that Judaism had evolved beyond the written Torah, creating a massive corpus of rabbinic law through the Talmud and other works. But in the Christian world, Jews' legitimacy was based on their connection to the Old Testament. So Jewish scholarship other than the Old Testatement was perceived as something akin to heresy, and made the Jews even more hated.

I teach religious high school, and I thought I knew something about the history of Jews in medieval Europe. "Abraham's Heirs" has broadened my knowledge and understanding to a degree that is simply astonishing. Like all really good histories, this one combines compelling primary sources with a clear overall structure. A great read.

The author weaves an incredible tapestry of historical social commentary. Throughly researched, well written, and definitely well worth the read. You will find yourself unable to put this book down!

A great source of information for the true Francophile who loves Paris and like a great love wants to know her better !!

This is an excellent guide for the independent traveller. Its best use is for details on neighborhoods. I often "study" it before taking off for the day and get a much better feel for the neighborhood I am visiting. I also "study" it after spending time out for the day and clarify or confirm what I have seen. Used it for years.

I own Access Guides to San Francisco and Wine Country and found them to be very reliable sources of information on eating and shopping, so when I was planning a 5-week stay in Paris I purchased this guidebook. Overall, I'm quite pleased.

Access Paris is an excellent guide targeted at a cultured reader that prefers to consider him or herself a visitor to Paris rather than a tourist. The organization emphasizes neighborhoods rather than monuments, and offers excellent information on cafés, restaurants, bars, shops, and other neighborhood attractions. Restaurant listings include a range of prices for each district, though there are fewer budget options than, say, in the Time Out, Let's Go, and Lonely Planet guides. I've gone to a number of the listed restaurants, mostly those in St. Germain and the Bastille with one $ in the listing, and found them to be of high quality, though I was unable to find one or two. And I appreciate the memorable descriptions this book gives--one restaurant is characterized as right out of a Jean Rhys novel, for example--and the frankness of its evaluation of certain restaurants as overrated and overpriced traps for the well-read visitor.

The book's organization, with neighborhood maps followed by entries on each number that appears on the map, is very easy to use while wandering. The neighborhood maps omit metro stops, however, making it difficult to coordinate one's immediate location with the map of the metro that appears at the back of the guide. Also, the local maps don't indicate arrondissements, which makes the guide difficult to use in tandem with a more detailed map book.

This book covers the islands, the Latin Quarter, St-Germain, Eiffel Tower/Invalides, The Louvre and the Champs-Elysées, St-Honoré, Les Halles, the Marais, the Bastille, and Montmartre. These are all well-established eating and shopping districts in the arrodissements that are at the center of the city. There's also a brief section at the end with select attractions in other neighborhoods, as well as sidebars that discuss specific themes or types of sites (Paris in film, representations of Americans in Paris, flea markets, etc.). If you're mainly going to be in the central arrondissements, you'll probably be very happy with this guide. But if you're staying in an outlying arrondissement, or looking for information on offbeat neighborhoods, this may not be the guide for you--as it also may not be if it's your first time in Paris and you want a guidebook that emphasizes a tour of the monuments. I myself have already done the monuments and was looking for what this book has to offer, so I'm very pleased.

The author of the ninth edition offers more Paris travel tips at www.parisland.com

I must say, I am a big fan of all the ACCESS guides, and the one on Paris was no exception. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and there is no ACCESS guide for that city! One of the best things about the guides, Paris included, is that it allows you to break your trip down by neighborhood. While in Paris, we spent one day (or more) in each of the neighborhoods highlighted in the color code system. We had a great time, and the ACCESS guide played a big part in it (as it did in San Francisco and Montreal!). Highly recommended!