I read this (at least some of it) in 1972 before traveling with a friend to Europe, Middle East, Far East. It gave me great comfort then that I (we) could do so cheaply and quickly.

Now Ed's book is more of a history of 60s vagabonding than a practical guide for today's traveller, but fun reading and don't let that stop you from buying it and getting the Vagabonding Bug... Travel On!

This wonderful book reveals the secret of how to be a good traveler. "Vagabonding" is the right word. And you don't have to be a low-budget traveler to vagabond. It's a way of thinking, a way of looking and hearing, and a way of being.

I read the book in 1972. Ed Buryn put my head in the right place to make my 9 month trip in Europe and North Africa, (of all places), an extremely enjoyable experience. I went alone but constantly met up with others who I traveled with for a day or months.

Today I do a lot of business travel. But even though its nice restaurants and first class hotels there are still the hassles - long days on the road, not sleeping well, changes in schedule. It's times like those that I use the wisdom brought out in this book. It should be required reading for "Life 101".

Outdated and long out of print, this is still one of the best budget travel books ever written. Keruoac got me off my butt and out onto the great American highways and byways. Ed Buryn got me off my butt and into the wonders of Europe and North Africa. I sometimes forget how much I owe this book. Written at the height of hippie adventurism of the late sixties and early seventies, I read it as a young and rudderless kid of those times and, smitten with wanderlust, found myself just a few years later hiking through the back alleys of Lisbon, Paris, Marrakesh, and Athens. Buryn fired my spirit and imagination and today, as my adventure on the road continues, his book is a continuous inspiration. And by "outdated" I only mean that some of the references mentioned in the book are no longer valid. In spirit, the book is a timeless evocation of the human spirit to discover and rejoice in exotic new worlds. Where are you Ed Buryn? Time to get off you butt and revise your budget travel masterpiece!

The war in the Pacific was a bloody confrontation for the resolution of opponents and the straining combat environment. Flying under such pressure was undeniably a great feat and sustaining a proper level of operational capability was a superb example of airmanship. In this book all aspects of air combat come alive with the intriguing personal tales of the pilots who served in this theater. Each account reveals the insight of lifestyle, tactics and training that led to amazing results in aerial battles. From their personal experience, it is possible to catch the feelings the pilots had about their machinery, climate and combat methods before actually flying the missions in their harsh frontline.

Beatifully written, this volume is really easy to read, even if some accounts disclose a predilection to be stylish or glorifying from time to time.

In Aces Against Japan, military historian Eric Hammel provides the reader with riveting first-person accounts from thirty-nine American fighter aces who fought their way across the bloody skies of the Pacific and East Asia from December 7, 1941 through the final air battles over Japan in August 1945. An effective interviewer, Hammel presents fascinating and informative air-combat tales and anecdotes from the men who were their. Vivid, superbly presented, Aces Against Japan is enthusiastically recommended reading for all military buffs and a very welcome addition to any World War II history collection or reading list.

A truly great book. I recommend it for anyone, not just history enthusiasts. The first hand accounts are well written and bring the stories to life. Equally as good is Hammel's other book, ACES AGAINST GERMANY.

Bashert by Andrea Simon is not only a labor of love and a remarkable gift to those who came before and will follow, it is an important addition to Holocaust literature, describing events that may not have come to light before. The events are described in a very readable and personal form.

What makes this book especially moving is the way the author weaves her personal story into her search for historical fact. It is the author's personal involvement, warmth and humanity that draw the reader in and create a sense of personal involvement for the reader. We are not just reading history, but being taken along on the author's quest for knowledge and truth. We share her hunger to know what happened to her lost family.

For those with personal experience or knowledge of the Holocaust, this will add; for others it is a good place to start. It is a remarkable personal odyssey which will leave the reader affected and transformed.

Andrea Simon has written a memoir filled with haunting memories. I found her descriptions so realistic, her feelings so intense that I was transported to the time and place of her ancestors. It became clear as I turned the pages that what began as the author's personal journey ended as a reminder to all readers, of events never to be forgotten.

The importance of family makes the biggest impression on me after reading this powerfully written literary book. The horrors that Simon's family experienced in the Holocaust bring that atrocity home in a profound way. Her personal journey becomes our journey with her as she discovers atrocities such as the killing of 50,000 Jews in mass graves, simply because they were Jewish. Making the reading even more insistent is her grandmother's voice which we hear throuought the book, urging her on and being with her. Being able to read a Holocaust account of one family, with photos of relatives past and present, puts the reader inside the family, as if this were your own family album, and an account and discovery of your own relatives. Evil such as the Holocaust gives us all pause and reaffirms the need to pray for God and goodness to prevail in all times, even now. While some people have a family tree that they borrow from family members, Simon's family has something much greater. They are so very lucky to have a relative who puts together a detailed family experience, researches its important past,and delivers it to present and future generations. Simon's grandmother and mother must certainly be very proud of her. Proud, too, must be her living relatives who can now hold in their hands such an intelligent, eloquent and profoundly moving account of their family. As outsiders,we are fortunate to have the opportunity to experience that family, and to acknowledge again the horrors of the Holocaust, through Beshert.

This book is a 1000+ page-turner. When I picked it up, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. This book definitely remedied that. Hugh Thomas begins shortly before the outbreak of the war and tells the story through to its completion (essentially 1936-1939). It is somewhat long, but the story itself is so compelling and Thomas' writing so good that it sucked me in and moved along nicely.

I have only a couple of gripes. First, if someone wants a short introduction, this may not be the book. I am sure there are other titles out there that will give you the basic facts in less time. As I said, however, reading the book was entertaining enough that I did not mind at all. As an example of an interesting factoid that emerges from this book, it seems that a substantial portion of the treasure from America that Spain won in the 16th century was given to the Soviets for safe-keeping. It is still there.

Second, while the book is strong on narrative, it is a little bit weak in analysis. What is especially lacking is an understanding of the factors that led to the outbreak of war in the first place. The books starts with a short chapter describing Spain in the early 20th century and plunges directly into the events leading up to the war. While the suspense before the outbreak of the war is palpable, the basic question of why a country would degenerate into civil war is hardly touched. In fairness to the author, he may have deliberately chosen to focus on the war itself rather than its causes. On the other hand, the discussion about why the Nationalists defeated the Republicans is fairly good. Two factors stand out. First, the Republicans were crippled by in-fighting amongst the factions, a fact that is admirably discussed. Second, the Nationalists received substantial help from abroad.

Author background: I am not a historian, but have read a handful of books on Spanish history.

I very much enjoyed reading Hugh Thomas' work. He does and excellent job of sorting out the many and varied groups on both the left and the right who struggled for power during this terrible conflict.

In addition, I learned many things about the war that I never knew previously. For example, I was unaware as the extent of the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain during the war. Given that Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic I assumed the church passed thru the war relatively unscathed. How wrong I was.

Mr. Thomas paints a factual yet horrifying picture of how the so-called "republicans" who were in fact mostly communists, burned churches, raped nuns and tortured and executed priests. There are accounts of Catholic faithful being forced to swallow rosary beads, thrown down mine shafts and gored to death by bulls in bull fighting rings.

The most awful irony I learned was that the International Brigades, so glorified in the west, were responsible for many of the worst anti-Catholic atrocities. I was especially horrified to learn that these brigades titled themselves after such great men as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Wherever your political sensibilities lie you will very much enjoy reading Mr. Thomas' well researched and well written book.

This 1994 edition (a 2nd or 3rd revision of the first edition put out c. 1980 I believe) is apparently not available because a newer revised edition is coming out in November 2001 with updated information no doubt--you should pick up this latest coming edition. Understanding the subject of the Spanish Civil War has been plagued by two major obstacles: 1) The use of the Spanish Civil war as merely a prelude to WWII by historians of the English speaking world, i.e., crudely lumping in Franco and the Nationalists as just a Spanish variation of Facism; this ignores the study of Spanish history in its own right and the unique and tragic facets of Iberian history; 2) The use and abuse of the Spanish Civil War as an ideological forum for anarchists and "Trotskyite" anti-Stalinist communists, again, mostly from the English speaking world. The biased accounts of Anglo/American/Canadian leftists of this period (as well as Hemingway's romanticized fiction) have distorted and confused the event in the eyes of the English-speaking world. Its good to see an English scholar clear up this mess. Thomas' account clearly delineates the various factions and their goals on both sides, pointing out that lack of unity and in-fighting of the various factions of the left-of-center Republican side (if "Republican" is even a proper term to use by the time the Stalinists were done with it) was probably more decisive in leading to its downfall than the outside pressure of the Nationalists (who were by no means unified in ideology, but greatly more cooperative amongst themselves than the Republicans). The "cowardly" stance of the Democratic Western countries is made understandable and must be seen in the context of their own instability and weakness of the time. In retrospect, any aid to Republican Spain would have probably only helped the Stalinist-controlled communists complete their strangle-hold on the Republican coalition government, the other factions--especially the anarchists--being severely and savagely purged by them (my own opinion). In any case, Thomas' outstanding research and balanced account of the event allows each reader to draw their own conclusion without undue ideological bias. If you read only one history of the Spanish Civil War, this is the one to have.

i thought this book was really good! it was the first avon true romance i had read and i really enjoyed it! It all starts when Ewan finds out he has to become the Duke of Brahm of England. WHen he's there he meets his brothers fiancee Anna, and they quickly fall in love. that part was my favorite because i thought i was really well described. then Anna figures out that richard (ewan's half brother) and her mother are plotting against ewan to make richard become duke, so she warns ewan! and richard even kidnapes ewan in order to force over the dukedom. while richard has to try to force anna to marry him.
to see what happens read the book! it's soooooooo good!

This is the first book I have read in Avon True Romance, and it has made a very good impression on the series. Anna has great spunk and humor, while the Duke is a romantic and a dreamer. This is one of the best in the series, and I recommend it with five stars. Enjoy!

This was the best Avan true romance book by far. Every page had excitment and true brilliance.Anna a young girl, who is to marry a man who she does not love,but then meets his brother the DUKE a VERY handsom man who took her breath away.......Ewen(the duke)has come from scottland to clam his tittle as the duke untill annas betrothed whants the tittle himself and Anna.How far will Richerd go to get his brothers tittle as duke? And is Annas and Ewen true love going to end or last a life time?????

This was a great book! Iwould recamend it to anyone who loves romance just as much as i do.Kathreyn Smith is a true genius and i HOPE that she will write many more avan true romance stories not only for me but all the others who have loved ANNA AND THE DUKE..........................

"Barrow's Boys" is a fun and fascinating read. It has everything: edge-of-your-seat adventure, history, and, most important, a host of fascinating characters. Don't miss it!

That line from a Kipling poem kept coming to mind as I read this book. The 30 major explorations that are chronicled here beginning in 1816 and ending with Leopold McClintock's expedetion of 1857, all however pre-date Kipling. Nevertheless the sentiment remains and it is very clear that BARROW'S BOYS - mostly Royal Navy officers who were "mothballed on half-pay" and "yearned for something" [to do] - were both some of the best in 19th century England and were indeed the right people to send forth. As the book's subtitle says they were sufficiently daring and had ample fortitude and there was the odd element of outright lunacy. The latter is best illustrated by Gordon Laing (the madman of Timbuctoo) and the hero John Franklin - better known as the man who ate his boots! Both men are subjects of appropriately titled chapters in this book.

The man behind these adventures, "the father of exloration" as Fleming calls him, was John Barrow, 2nd Secretary to the Admiralty from 1804 to 1845. He was the guiding force for the expeditions; organizing, equiping, and generally administering their every detail. Where the voyages went, who led them, what crew and supplies were needed, these were all Barrow's decisions. Fleming is quite plain in stating that although "Barrow inevitably plays second fiddle to his explorers" both in history and in his book, he nevertheless "remains the driving force behind his minions' more thrilling exploits."

Barrow's character is summed up as one of "ambition, intellect and remorseless application." Fleming highlights the many explorations Barrow sent out as part of his personal quests which he vicariously satisfied through his men. In pursuit of the source of the Niger River in West Africa and the Northwest Passage through the Arctic, Barrow spent money and material and sent men with not-quite reckless abandon but with a definite unwillingness to accept defeat. The remorselessness is shown in that failure and loss were simply reasons to sweep aside the unsuccessful leaders (if they returned alive) and equip another expedition to try again.

As the book goes on we see the seemier side of Barrow's ambition. The man was "determined to make his name somehow." After the multiple unsuccessful attempts for the Northwest Passage between 1818 and 1827, by John Ross, William Edward Parry, and John Franklin (who died trying), Fleming is at his most critical when he says the following about Barrow: "Perhaps no man in the history of exploration has expended so much money and so many lives in pursuit of so desperately pointless a dream."

Britain's long tradition of celebrating it's failures and making heroes out of victims dates from before these events right up to Dunkirk in WWII. This is strengthened by the idea of noble sacrifice for God, King, and country. The first man to go down with his ship was undoubtedly an Englishman. This goes a long way to explain why, even after so many failures and stories of pitiless deaths in the deserts of West Africa and the icy North of the Arctic, Barrow was allowed to continue sending men forth. Even more significantly there were always volunteers ready to test their mettle as the best of England's breed.

I happened to pick this book up perusing in the history section of the local bookstore. I have always been interested in the stories of famous explorers and figured I would give this one a shot.

I was already fairly familiar with most of the explorers of the Northwest passage. (Having myself been to the territories and seeing some of the places they explored) However I can safely say that I still learned some new things about these famed individuals.

Not only that but this book was a fun read and I mean fun. There is nothing like reading a history book and having it feel more like an adventure then a history lesson.

No complaints from me, what are you waiting for pick up a copy of this baby!!

The author, and one time adjutant to Captain Lindermann, the commanding officer of the Bismarck, reveals the real mission of the battleship which is a new concept to most. It was very exciting to read the details from the beginning of the battleship including the sailors and officers, the training, and sailing to the Atlantic. Although it would have been nice if even more details could have been included, but perhaps space and memory prevented it. The author did mention that most of his experiences and service had to be written from memory since he was prevented from recording classified and secret information. Particularly interesting is his description and feelings of being a POW inside the POW camps; his repatriation, a person returning to his defeated homeland, once a proud nation, and how a former POW can fit into the new and recovering society. Lacking many technical details that we would liked to have read about, this is still an excellent book. To be able to read about the battleship from the German side of the ship and war, is invaluable. Excellent book and highly recommended.

Burkard Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg has written a stirring account of his personal recollections of when he was assigned to the famous battleship Bismarck. From his first observations of when he first came abord the Bismarck and met her honorable Capitan, to when he was rescued after the Bismark was sunk, to life aftwerwards as a POW in Great Britain, his remarks, observations and analysis is "second to none".

I am fortunate to have been a U.S. Navy veteran and can personally "visualise" what the interior of the Bismarck could have been like, von Mullenheim-Rechberg gives a fascinating view of the crew, from the ordinary seaman to the egotistical Fleet Admiral Raeder.

The crew of the Bismarck is to be commended for their heroic actions underfire as well as their devotion to duty and each other. It is unfortunate that an outstanding Battleship such as the Bismarck was a tool in Adolf Hitler's warped and destructive vision. von Mullenheim-Rechberg makes his point very well that he was an anti-Nazi, but he was also a Sailor who had to defend the Fatherland (Germany)in an honorable way.

The details of the Battleship are told in an easily understandable prose, as well as the famous Battle when the HMS Hood was sent to the bottom of the ocean due to the excellent marksmanship of the huge guns of the Bismarck. The frightening events of the sinking of the Bismarck are also told with chilling detail as well.

This is a book that is to be recommended to all serious students of World War II as well as to those who enjoy a great lesson in history. After reading this, I have an admiration for both the British and German Navies of World War II, it is a tragedy that such admirable foes had to face one another at all.

Highly recommended!

This is not "Sink the Bismarck", the fiction movie made in 1960's based on some truth but more of vivid imagintion and guess; This is real and true accounts describing from the other side, from a survivor who was among those brave crew battling valiantly against the far superiority odds, who surrounding them, after almost forty years silence when the world has been rained by the jammed fictions, novels all with imaginations and conjunctures on this subjects from the side of victors. If readers have a little knowledge of battleship, if they do not want to cheat themselves, they will not detach themselves from appreciating the Bismarck which was the pride of German Navy, the largest battleship ever built in the world during that stormy era, as Winston Churchill was obliged to recognize with an admiring eye : " She was a terrific ship, and the masterpiece of Naval construction"; and they will be immensely impressed and amazed by his exceptional striking power showing on May 24th 1941 at time that he was forced to send the once British largest warship Hood to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a range of 20,000 meters within only six minutes and with only ninety-three shells raining on her, and by his unblievable staying power displaying on May 27th 1941 on his final struggle against the far superiority enemy by refusing to sink after undergoing almost three thousand shells pouring form four British battleships within ninety minutes. And as this result, I believe readers will be in the state of both consternation and unsurprised when they eye the unique fact in navel history that wihin six hours after Hood sunk, the British deployed forty-two ships, four battleships, two battle cruisers, two aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers, ten light cruisers and twenty-one destroyers to have a one thousand and three hundred nautical miles pursue to destroy him. If readers still possess temperament of chivalry, if they are not without impartial, they will not deny to respect the brave crew who was in the desperate situation, surrounded by heavy enemy units, but still stood up with great courage and fought a most courageous battle against the overwhelming superiority enemy for which even the British Fleet commander Tovey had scarecly not to write with evident admiration then: "She (the Bismarck ) put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds, worth of the old days of the Imperial German Navy, and she went down with her colors. "If readers have heart, if they could put all the political elements and prejudice aside, they will certainly not be indifferent but with high admiration when they read the touching dramatic scene of the saluting captain Lindemann went down with his ship. Besides those above the author renders to us, the author also fills some gapes in history by revealing some important facts which the history did not tell or ignored accidentally or incidentally : According to the author it is not those shells pounding from British battleships were responsible for Bismarck sunk, but scuttling, the self-destruction, done by the brave crew on Bismarck took responsiblity for it, like they had scuttled the whole Imperia German High Sea Fleet in Scapa Flaw on June 21st 1919; Based on the author three important reasons have contributed to the tragedy of Bismarck : One is incorrect information provided by Geramn Navy headquarters; the other is the failure to pay attention to the consequence of the possibility of the damage of rudder, which led to the catastrophe, when Bismarck had been on his maiden sea trail; the third one was the crucial one thousand tons shortage of fuel supply when he set his sail; It is the author who has unveiled, for the first time, the secret of the real tonnage of this giant battleship coming to the light: He was 53,000 ton when fully equipped, exceeding the tonnage limitations set by internationl treaty. Overall, I highly recommend this book which is a very powerful, touching and authentic accounts about this famours and dramatic engagement from the other side.

I went to Berlin for the first time this year. This book was in my backpack daily. It made Berlin really come alive for me and make sense of this large city - you really get a sense of the different neighborhoods and sights. The lists and practical information at the back of the book also were really helpful.

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Summary:

Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

Thoughts on Berlin

Berlin is a particularly interesting, if not haunting city to visit, with its many contrasts: Old East Berlin, with some buildings unrepaired since WWII, New East Berlin, with its lavish, and expensive hotels, and apartments, and post WWII East Berlin with the old Soviet Style (stolid) buildings; West Berlin, with its restored buildings and architecture, memorial buildings like the 'Church of the Purple Glass' (destroyed in WWII and left as a reminder of the costs of war), and the fun restaurants, and nightlife. Also, the outline of the Berlin Wall, and the memorial to those killed trying to flee to freedom outside the Richtstadt (Parliament Building).

I highly recommend a trip to Berlin to enjoy all the greatness and tragedy this century and its leaders has brought to the world.

Specifics:

The guides are organized as follows:

How to use this guide
Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
Geographical Regions
............Introduction Berlin
........................Map
........................History
........................At a Glance

........................Through the Year
............Berlin Area by Area, each including:
........................Introduction to street by street area
........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.

Greater Berlin
............Pottsdam
............Three Guided Walks

Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment
............Berlin for children

Survival Information
............Practical
........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
............Getting to Berlin
........................Planes, trains and automobiles, signs
........................General map, sectional maps with index
............Getting to / around Berlin
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book

Discussion:

The book begins with 'Introducing Berlin', including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Berlin thought the Year - including events, etc.

Areas with an 'At a glance' overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

Conclusion:

Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.

Adding to other reviews, I just returned from a visit to Berlin with this wonderful book as my travel companion. The pictures are great, the descriptions wonderful, and there is a lot of good, practical information to help one get around in the city. There are a series of maps in the back which covers the whole city in sections which is also in grids. Sites refer to page number and grid on the map, so one can easily find where it is in the city. The city is divided into sections and color coded, with information about each section, since the city is characterized by the different areas in it. I found this particularly helpful in knowing where I was and where I wanted to go.

The only drawback, if one were to find one for this great book, is its weight. Because it is on heavier stock paper, the pictures are better, but the weight is increased. Overall, though, the extra weight is worth carrying around. I found this to be a great souvenir of my trip upon my return. In fact, I stayed with friends who are now living in Berlin. They found the book so useful, they begged to be able to keep it. I am ordering another copy for myself.

Over the past year I have read extensively about the 17th century. "The Age of Louis XIV" is the best book which I have found on the period. Volume VII of Will and Ariel Durant's multi-volume "Story of Civilization", this book documents more detail of the era than any others which I have read.

The book begins with sections on France and England. The next section is "The Periphery" dealing with Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, and Iberia. After the geographically oriented sections, the reader is treated to sections organized along intellectual topics, such as science, philosophy, and faith and reason, which contain chapters dealing with specific philosophers or scientists. The conclusion wraps it all up with the denouement of Louis XIV.

This book makes the 17th century understandable. The premier character of the era was Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. During his reign, the policies of he and his ministers established France's day in the sun. Absolute ruler of the most populous and powerful kingdom in Western Europe, Louis made France the center of Western Civilization. On these pages we learn about the Fronde, the revolt by the nobility at the rising of his Sun, from which Louis acquired his life long aversion to Paris, Louis' aggressive support of Catholicism, while at the same time maintaining illicit personal relationships, and his generous support for the arts. This era, rich in French literature and theatre, as represented in Moliere, is revealed.

The forces threatening to rend the Catholic Church further asunder, as well as the relationship between King and Pope, are dealt with in detail. I was surprised to learn that Louis exercised a power over the Church in France similar to that which Henry VIII had previously established over the Church in England.

England, meanwhile, endured Cromwell, The Stuart Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution, while spawning Milton, Dryden, Swift and other literary giants.

Interesting contrasts are illustrated. Whereas in France the monarchy was strengthened into absolutism, England was making hesitating steps toward democracy. Whereas Louis excluded much of the nobility from government and military service, essentially forcing them into the role of idle rich, the English nobility gradually gained power and responsibility for the governance of their country. We can see how these trends may have encouraged the resentment of the aristocrats on the part of the French peasantry, which may have contributed to the intensity of feeling during The Terror of the French Revolution. By contrast, the empowerment of the English nobility may have helped solidify the tradition of peaceful political maturation.

On the Periphery, Charles XII brought Sweden to the zenith of its international power, while Peter the great modernized Russia. Germany survived the onslaught of the Turks, while Italy and Iberia, the "Old Europe" of the day, slid through an era of decline.

Intellectually the era was one of giants. Many of the names with which we are familiar come alive as we read of Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes, John Lock, Spinoza, Leibniz and others.

The conclusion of the era was the sunset of the Sun King. Having exhausted his country with dynastic war, bled it with unequal taxation and incurred the enmity of the world, Louis negotiated a peace which left his kingdom a shattered hulk of its former greatness.

For anyone desiring an introduction to the history of the 17th century, this is a great place to start. It has me ready for other books in the Durants' "Story of Civilization".

Though the central figure of this book is Louix XIV, this book is not about French history, but about European history as a whole.

The focus of this book is not on political and military history but on the history of religion, art, literature, science and philosophy. Or I can say politics is deeply involved in religion, art, literature and philosophy. I have never studied European philosophy before, and I thought it would be exttremely difficult to understand philosophy. But while I was reading this book, I found that phlosophy could be much easier when it was explained in a political context of the times.

And in this book English history was emphasized as much as French history. It is quite natural because Louis himself was deeply involved in and greatly responsible for the 17th century English history, and Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were Englishmen.

I believe that this book is the best book I've ever read. I'd like to read all 12 volumes of Will & Ariel Durant's "The History of Civilization" series.

By the way, I found 2 trivial mistakes in this book.
According to p 505, Halley identified another comet, seen in 1680, with one observed in the year of Christ's death; he traced its recurrence every 575 years, and from the periodicity he computed its orbit and speed around the sun. According to my own calculation, however, 575 x 2 + 33 = 1183, while 575 x 3 + 33 = 1758.
According to p 513, Mariotte amused his friends by showing that "cold" could burn: with a concave slab of ice he focused sunlight upon gunpowder, causing it to explode. To focus sunlight, however, we need a convex lens, not a concave lens.

The Durants succeed again in encapsulating the 17th century in Europe. They label it as the landmark century intellectually and scientifically and there is much truth to their assessment: the 18th Century, the "Enlightenment" and "Aufklarung" usually takes pride of place given the American and French Revolutions that dominated them and the general retreat of superstition and obscurantism that marred both Catholicism and Protestantism in the previous centuries. The Durants clearly show that all the 18th century did was develop themes initially sounded and expounded by 17th century thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Leibniz, Spinoza and the English Deists. These writers, and others, laid the bedrock for the various revolutions that shook Europe in the 1700 and 1800s and which have culminated in our own day: The Industrial, Political and Scientific.

Thematically, the book is erected upon the scaffolding of the Le Roi Soleil's life. They present his wars, mistresses, patronage of art, political autocracy as well as murderous bigotry. In my opinion, in their conclusion they let Louis off far too lightly. He was a man who countenanced, nay, actually encouraged and gloried not only in wars to dominate Europe--a common enough failing amongst the crowned--but in the Persecution of the Huguenots he left a blot on his record that, in light of the deadly century we just left and the religious fanaticism of 11 September, should sink his record in the humanitarian sense.

His vanity and thirst for "la glorie" (which he admitted himself to have been his worst failing) bankrupted France and left the Peasants in a savage and degrading poverty they hadn't experienced since the calamities of the 14th century. His refusal to use his power to actually reform government and tax the nobility mark his reign as regressive and disastrous in many ways. Still his impeccable taste in the visual and plastic arts-as opposed to his love of second-rate playwrights and third-rate opera--make him the supreme art patron in history. And the prestige and admiration that accumulated acted as a sort of bank that his incompetent, worthless successor cruised upon. Only under sixteenth Louis did the credit of the Sun King's name finally run out...

Still, the Durants must credited for making this error sparkle and shimmer with life and the lovely prose still entrances and pleases regardless of how dull or recondite the subject might be. Again, they are two of the greatest of all American writers. Someday, I hope, they will be acknowledged as such.

"Voluptuous Panic" is colorful, interesting, and amusing. Its a fast and enjoyable read.

The only negative quality of this book ,in my opinion, is that I always find it difficult to believe in rigid catagories describing people. The lists of different types of prostitutes, transvestites, homosexuals and lesbians are a little suspicious. The terminology is a lot of fun but, I wonder if the actual people of the Weimar era truly used these terms and definitions.

In glorious black-and-white pictures and color plates, Mel Gordon illustrates the splendour that was Weimar Berlin. This book is necessary for any uppity later generations who thought they came up with nightlife, sex and provocation.

Mel Gordon has recreated the powerful erotic imagery of a time and place now gone, and perhaps residing in only a few memories.

The black and white pictures, posters and settings recreate the longed-for but never achieved phantom-like dreams of a little boy in the thirties, who barely remembers the sloe-eyed slinky long legged sometimes stern faces about to enter the eros of barely hidden, furtive and mysterious explorations and invitations to shadowy eroticareal. A real "Noire". All delighfully expressed in this volume.

A must for any serious reader of social-cultural history of the times, but more so for lovers of quality erotica. mooseman01@aol.com