Australia Books

This wonderful book, beautifully designed and printed, has 625 postcards of American buildings selected from six thousand in the author's collection. He chose these for their relevance and graphic rendering. Most of them probably originated from the Curt Teich company based in Chicago (they printed 360,000 different cards over the years). Van Malderen writes a short informative introduction about his collection and the architectural postcard. The majority show multi-storied buildings, especially skyscrapers but there are plenty of factories, docks, bridges, churches, street scenes and more. The buildings were photographed and then drawn (some artist drew the short straw and had to put all the windows in) to bring out the best of the structure, frequently removing nearby buildings so the original was left in all its glory.

The cards are arranged alphabetically by city, from Atlanta to Washington DC, New York, naturally, has the most, over 150. A nice touch is that some cards have stamps and cancellation marks on them and a few have the sender's handwriting, telling the folks back home that the building shown really is as big as it looks!

For such a lovely book I am surprised that the publishers did not include an index. Two other architectural postcard books worth checking out are `Wish You Were Here' by Barry Zaid, full of hotels (and their interiors) from the thirties and forties and like 'American Architecture' beautifully produced. `Not Only Building: New York' by Italo Rota, a 480 page paperback with 300 postcards. I thought it was rather badly produced, too many enlargements of the cards which unfortunately only emphasise the mass printing quality of the originals.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

The American Express Travel Guide of Amsterdam (1992), written by Derek Blythe, has been re-written by Carol Winkelman and re-published as Travel&Leisure: Amsterdam (1997). Travel&Leisure magazine, in conjunction with Macmillan Travel, designed this new version of the book for a larger audience that includes young travelers, budget travelers, babyboomer travelers, discriminating travelers, and business travelers. The new book is a combination of traditional and offbeat travel guide, helping the reader find his/her way to hotels, restaurants, museums, and historical sites while also taking him/her "inside" Amsterdam to experience its cafe culture, lively arts scene, and famous nightlife. The new book, like The American Express Guide, includes an excursion to Rotterdam that leads the reader from the historic to the ultramodern.

It's been years since I read this book, but I often think about it. It's a great coming of age story - a book that inspired me very much, about a shy, creative, but very strong woman. I loved it & highly recommend it.

Andrew Fisher was a much unreported and often unknown Australian Prime Minister. Yet in spite of being little known today, Fisher was a Labor Prime Minister for longer than such luminaries as John Curtin, Ben Chifley, Gough Whitlam or Paul Keating. Indeed, Fisher was second only to Bob Hawke in terms of longevity as a Labor Prime Minister.

Regardless of how little know Fisher is today, he was responsible for a host of nation building structures. A short list of such items would be the establishment of the national capital in Canberra, the commencement of the trans-national railway, the introduction of an Australian currency, the formation of the Commonwealth Bank, the introduction of old age pensions, the establishment of the Australia Navy and the creation of the Australia coat of arms. Some list!

It is a great shame that Fisher is not more widely known. In Australian history, he was a man of some significance. In this regard, David Day has done a great job in putting the record straight. He has written the first full biography of one of Australia's greatest yet least known leaders.

It is impossible to imagine American's failing to give credit to their national icons. Statesmen such as Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR are revered. Their contribution to the American nation is understood and tirelessly investigated. Australia could take lessons here. In Andrew Fisher, Australia has a hero. David Day's work deserves praise. He has shed light on a remarkable man whose impact has gone unnoticed for too long.

This book provides researchers with invaluable access to the correspondence of the Anglican Prelates.

The compilers have assiduously examined the Lambeth Palace files to make these available to those requiring information regarding the formation of the Anglican Communion in the Pacific.

A great achievement.

Doris LeRoy, PhD candidate, Victoria University, Footscray Park, Victoria Australia.

If you have a child in your life who adores animals, she or he will love this book. My 2 year old son is fascinated by the wide variety of animals including favorites like elephants, giraffes and zebras. I like the charming illustrations. Although my son likes the animals, we sometimes focus on the letters of the alphabet, as it is an alphabet book, too!

love animals, especially exotic animals & I truly enjoy learning about animals that I never knew existed.

This book is beautifully illustrated, informative & a delight to read. Although my nieces & nephews enjoyed the book, I would recommend the book for anyone doing research on wild animals from these areas. Although, some of the words may be difficult for younger readers to pronounce & understand, I found myself consulting a dictionary/pronunciation guide one or twice.

Overall...it was a wonderful addition to my collection of reading material & I refer to it often.

I read this book for a graduate course in Roman history. It is an indispensable primary source for students of Roman history.

On the first page of his Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus wrote that Octavian "seduced the army with bonuses, and his cheap food policy was successful bait for civilians." Tacitus' description of Augustus' transformation of Rome from a republic into an empire is most illuminating as well. "Upper-class survivors found that slavish obedience was the way to succeed, both politically and financially. They had profited from the revolution, and so now they liked the security of the existing arrangement better than the dangerous uncertainties of the old regime."

Sir Ronald Syme relied heavily on the work of Tacitus for his cogent narrative of Octavian's rise to power as Augustus. Syme's in-depth study of Tacitus' life and work was published in 1958. Tacitus' historical accuracy was doubted for centuries and Syme made a project of re-evaluating the accuracy of his historical writings. Syme believed that Tacitus was in a unique position to write about the birth and early political history of the Imperial period in Rome due to his very active political life. Tacitus had served as a senator, consul, and proconsul of Asia. In addition, he was known to be an excellent orator in his day. In his writings, Syme believed that Tacitus provided excellent accounts of Augustus' rise to power and his career as Rome's first Emperor.

Tacitus delved into the machinery of the new government, including Augustus' use of patronage as well as his many thwarted attempts at planning for his own succession. What Syme found was a man that grew very adept politically and whose political maturity rapidly developed at an early age. At eighteen, he was named as heir to Julius Caesar. He grew into the greatest Roman princeps spanning fifty-six years until his death. Augustus knew that to retain power he had to maintain the general consent of the governed. He astutely maintained order not by following the constitution or past precedent, but by using the tremendous resources at his disposal. Augustus kept the plebeians in check making sure they were fed, kept them amused with games, and constantly reminded them that he was protecting them from the oppression of the nobiles.

Augustus became the "leader of a large and well organized political party as the source and fount of patronage and advancement."

Recommended reading for those interested in Roman history, military history.

It is real good

I was given a copy of this book cause I own a bell from this ship.
This book is very good the best part about it is the diary of Sarah Jane which tells of her trip to and from Russia. It gives you a feel of the times of when boats were the way to travel. Plus, Sarah Jane developed a good enjoyable to read writing style. I recommend this book for young and old. Though I would say that younger kids would mostly enjoy reading the diary and not all the other historical stuff that accompanies it. :-) I'm amazed I own a piece of this fascinating history!