Brisk biography of a great apparition, Picasso's meditation on war, and the atrocity of the bombing of the Basques. Detached,almost remote from politics Picasso is suddenly drawn into a protest against the fascist tide in the period of the Spanish Civil War, the outcome the masterpiece one once saw many times at Moma--the author recounts the return of this orphaned msterpice to Spain after its long years of exile and rejection by Franco's spain. Well told, important story.

In a small village of Spain, it was market day on 26 April 1937, with farmers bringing in harvest. The village within the Basque region of northern Spain was without any serious strategic import, but it was less than twenty miles away from Bilbao, a Basque stronghold, and Francisco Franco wished to threaten the Basques. At the request of Franco's rebel army, Luftwaffe planes poured bombs, percussion and incendiary, onto the village for three hours, and strafed the people trying to flee. The event was to inspire possibly the most famous painting of the twentieth century, and the painting was to sear the events in Guernica into the world's memory. The story of the history that made the painting and the painting that made history is dramatically told in _Picasso's War: The Destruction of Guernica, and the Masterpiece that Changed the World_ (Dutton) by Russell Martin. It is a great story of art and history, and it is told here with earnest verve.

Picasso didn't like the idea of a commission for a big mural, and although he fully supported the Spanish Republican forces in their efforts against Franco's fascism, he was not interested in making what he knew would be a piece of propaganda. He had never visited the Basque country, but once he heard of the attack, he began sketches for the commission. It was not immediately accepted as a masterpiece, although the partisans of the Spanish Republican cause were, of course, enthusiastic. It wound up at the commencement of World War II in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it would be a showpiece for more than forty years. Picasso made clear that the Spanish Republican government had paid for the painting and it thus belonged to the people of a democratic Spain, but he stipulated that democracy and freedom had to be restored before it returned. After Franco's death, and after serious legal tangles, possibly because the museum wanted to hold on to the painting as long as possible, the painting was sent to the Prado museum in Madrid in 1981. The national newspaper had the headline THE WAR HAS ENDED.

That might have been so, but controversy over the painting and the locale it deserves has not ended. It was moved to another Madrid museum, probably its permanent home, but many Basques believe that it needs to be closer to the rebuilt Guernica village. Hope for such a move peaked when the Bilbao museum was built. The architect, Frank Gehry, even showed the Spanish king and queen the wall on which _Guernica_ should be installed. Having the painting return to Spain helped to heal the years of repression, and perhaps sending it to Bilbao would heal the wounds between Basques and Spaniards; it is not impossible that the famous painting still has work to do. But Martin reminds us that Picasso said, "Wars end, but hostilities endure forever." Martin was researching his fine book, and looking at the painting himself, when other museum visitors hinted that as an American he ought to get to a television. It was 11 September 2001, and the world has not fully learned _Guernica_'s lesson.

Hanging in The United Nations is a tapestry that replicates the image of the painting that is the subject of Russell Martin's book, "Picasso's War". The painting is "Guernica" that Picasso created as a response to the destruction of a small town that is of the same name but at times is also spelled "Gernika". The first bit of irony I experienced while reading this wonderful book is that the tapestry hangs in The United Nations but is covered when various topics are discussed. For instance, when Secretary of State Colin Powell recently gave his presentation to The UN on Iraq the tapestry was covered, lest any television or print cameras photograph those speaking with the tapestry as a backdrop. So firstly there is this internationally renowned anti-war symbol hung in a building that rarely averts violence or acts quickly to prevent the spread of violence. And then when the possibility of violence is discussed, the imaged is removed from view.

The second instance was a personal experience involving the author, for on the day he was in Spain viewing the original work that documented the bombing of a civilian population by airplanes; the city of New York was targeted by airplanes used as massive flying bombs. The events that took place in Spain that shared the sorrow of that day are amongst the most poignant in the book. The similarity of events also made relevant once again a quote of Picasso's, "War's end, but hostilities endure forever".

The decisions and events that lead to the targeting of a civilian population in a manner that at times bordered on sport are repulsive, but are also familiar as they were repeated so many times in the 20th Century, and virtually every other century one may care to examine. Picasso managed to place on a massive canvas images that are horrible, but in a manner that is unique and that has made the image one that has been adopted for human cruelty around the world.

Author Russell Martin has created a well crafted book that is a work of History, Politics, Art, and Sociology. It is an extremely readable book for anyone interested in 20th Century events. You don't need to be an admirer of Picasso, you can even dislike his work and it will have little impact on how much you will enjoy this book. For what the author has done is to take what has become an icon for a variety of tragic and shameful human behaviors, and trace it from it's origins to the controversial location where it resides today. Nothing about Picasso's massive work is without controversy, except for the people who stand in endless lines to view it, almost everyone else involved in its custodianship since Picasso's death has little to be proud of and much to account for.

War often can be distilled down to one group coveting that which another has, and then using escalating levels of violence to make it their own. Picasso created a documentary of the result of these human failings, and had he lived he would have seen how his work became yet another object for an elite few to argue over and covet, while the masses that he painted it for have waited for decades to even view what he created for them.

This translation of Platero and I is the only "complete" translation into English of the Spanish Classic. It is also the most Spanish! This refers to the paperback edition.

This is a beautiful little book by a Nobel Prize Winner of Literature that is too often neglected, Juan Ramon Jimenez.

Only Jimenez could make the blood of a leach in a stream of water into beautiful imagery. Children read this book as part of their curriculum in Argentina, however, this book can be equally enjoyed and appreciated by adults.

The story is a simple one: it is a first person (semi-autobiographical) account of a poet and his donkey in the mountains of Spain, appreciating, almost Zen-like, the simple beauties of life. The elements, children playing, leaches bleeding in a pool, everything seems beautiful in this book, and the descriptions are exquisite.

This is probably the best introduction to Jimenez, a book not to be missed!

Platero y yo es un libro tierno y sencillo que cuenta la relacion de un borrico y su amo. Yo lo recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera aprender espanol con esta pequena historia llena de poesia.

Gordon Craig's history of the Prussian officer corps and its relationship with the state it served is a true classic of military history. The primary focus of the book is on the civil-military relations of the Prussian state beginning with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and tracings its evolution and influence to the Second World War when Hitler and the Nazis crushed the political influence of the officer corps. In addition, the book also addresses a number other issues in exquisite detail, including the formation of the German General Staff, the strategy developed before the First and Second World Wars, and the social conflict of the unified German states.

Craig's conclusions on the Prussian officer corps, their reforms and their performance are rather "standard" as far as historical interpretations go - but that is due in no small part to the fact that the author in many ways set the standard. The most salient theme of the book is that for all the German military got right in planning, strategy and innovation, it was never able to effectively solve the civil-military relationship issue, and it was that failure that led to the disasters of the First and Second World Wars.

In Craig's opinion, the opportunity for success was formulated but squandered early in 19th century. After the devastating defeat at Jena in 1807 at the hands of Napoleon, the once vaunted Prussian military had to assess how and why the disaster had occurred. The solution presented by the great military reformer Scharnhorst was the institutionalization of military genius in a centralized, elite general staff and the accountability of the armed services to the German people through an oath of allegiance to a republican constitution, rather than personal fealty to the monarch. The former was adopted and proved a stunning success, especially in the wars against the Danes, Austrians and French in 1866-1872. However, the conservative officer corps' unwillingness to embrace the more liberal reform set forth by Scharnhorst kept the military at odds with the nation it served and ultimately led to the military's political dominance in World War I and political subjugation in World War II.

If you have a keen interest in civil-military relations, German history, or the development of the General Staff system this book is simply indispensable.

This excellent volume was one of my textbooks in college, and I completely underestimated its importance for years. Being deeply involved and interested in Napoleonic military history and the campaigns of the Grande Armee, I have again started to use this book as there is now a 'revisionist' (read 'excuse')school of Prussian history beginning to emerge, revolving around the disastrous, for the Prussians, Jena campaign of 1806. For this period, and indeed for the periods up to the end of World War II, this book is invaluable.

The author uses myriad German source material for his references, and the story he tells is accurate, lively, and riveting. He knows his material, and his subject, and is unflinching in calling a spade a spade when necessary. While I am only interested in those portions relating to the Napoleonic period and its immediate aftermath, students of the Prussian/German Army will find this book invaluable.

Craig's bona fides are impeccable and he writes with authority, verve, and accuracy. His analysis of the Prussian Army's beginnings in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War set the definition and trends for what the Prussian Army would become, something apart from the people of Prussia and an army supported by a dynastic state. His demonstration of the effectiveness of the instrument under the Great Frederick, and of his policies, and those of his successors after the Seven Years' War, tell the tale of why is became nothing more than a 'parade ground facade', made up of half-foreign mercenary strength, which were two of the many reasons for its defeat and destruction by Napoleon and the Grande Armee in 1806.

The coverage of the Prussian reformers is also excellent, and dispels many myths, some of which unforunately are resurfacing under the guise of 'recent scholarship.' The War of Liberation from Napoleon was in actuality a war of liberating whatever German territory Prussia could grab in the chaos of the aftermath of French hegemony in western Germany (they took the Rhineland, most of Westphalia, and about half of Saxony, keeping the Saxon king, Napoleon's ally, as a prisoner of war). Additionally, force had to be used in Prussia to get the manpower required to fight the Grande Armee. The end of the tale is also excellently told-that of how the reformers, so necessary to Prussian resurgence, were treated and eventually disposed of politically, the Prussian monarchy almost completely retrenching to pre-1806 'values.'

All in all this is an excellent volume for students and historians of the period or of the Prussian/German army in particular. It is highly recommended.

Gordon Craig is the doyen of America's historians of Germany. Now retired from academic life, he is highly respected at home and in Germany, and is sought after for sound and temperate reviews and commentary in the media. No other survey has superceded The Politics of the Prussian Army, although it is now over 40 years old. (However, Gerhard Ritter's important, multi-volume "Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk" covers a lot of the same ground, with a more conservative viewpoint. There's an English translation) There are two basic reasons for this, I think. One is of course the book's very high quality. Craig became throughly familiar with all the most important source material available, and his fundamental conclusions are unquestioned: that the army was the keystone and guardian of the Prussian monarchy and its conservative social order, and always at work to hinder the progress of democracy and the achievement of popular over monarchical sovereignty. The authoritarian (N. B.: as distinct from totalitarian!) sympathies and traditions of the Prussian officer corps survived after the end of the Prussian monarchy in 1918 and carried on in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and then in the Wehrmacht. Eventually the officer corps sold its soul to the "Austrian corporal" (Hindenburg's disdainful reference), Hitler, believing they could control him for their own ends, and that he was in any case the best available political option. But Hitler was nobody's fool, and his ultimate aim always remained to undermine the social authority and prestige of the regular army and in its place install himself, his party, and an absolutely fanaticized and obedient military force (the Waffen-SS). A sense of duty not to Hitler but to the German people and their civilization flamed up and extinguished in the assasination attempt of Oct 1944, led by Wehrmacht officers of the old Prussian nobility. Recent research (in English, cf. for example Omer Bartov) has tended to see more ideological sympathy for Nazism in the officer corps of the Wehrmacht more than Craig does here, though his focus is less on ideology than on the army's involvement in political machinations at the highest level. German historians and journalists are debating this issue at the moment, as new publications argue that the Wehrmacht committed war crimes on a greater scale, esp. on the Eastern front, than previously admitted, and that it fought unrestrained by professional ethos or conscience. A second reason for the book's longevity is that most of the Prussian military archive was destroyed in a 1945 bombing raid, which makes significant new discoveries impossible for the period before World War II. One has to rely on published sources, and as I noted, Craig read the most important of them. New histories of the Prussian army would be new interpretations of the same sources. One could, for example, to take a more sympathetic view of the army's 19th-century ideology and ethos - that it was defensive - in view of Prussia's vulnerable geographical position, the hostility of its neighbors, and the rise of the socialist movement. But in the early 20th century Germany was far and away the dominant power in Europe, and the question arises of what "went wrong" and led to Germany's (in my view) unprovoked attack and reckless strategy in World War I. Note: Despite the title, the book is really a history of the army after 1806, with an introductory chapter on the period before.

Anyone who is a serious student of photography should have this book. Anyone who is curious as to what "great" photographs should look like, look inside and be enlightened. The public at large tends to regard black and white photographs as inferior to color work. The truth is, a black and white photograph will stand the test of time, while a color photograph starts fading the moment it comes out of the dryer. The truth is, any good black and white photograph will make you overlook the fact that it's not in color. The mind's eye makes you see the "color." Cartier-Bresson is a true master. His work that's shown in this book is every superlative that's ever been coined, including the vulgarities. Viewing the photographs within is worth a dozen books on compositional theory. Each is a benchmark of what a quality photograph should look like. A Propos de Paris truly is a must see, must have.

this book should get five stars for the photo of two dogs behind the church alone. Perhaps it says a bit more about this reviewer than it should, but that photo is one of my favorites - I just could not stop laughing! The photo essay ranges over about three decades and the pictures are not your typical pictures of the Eiffel Tower or of the Arc de Triomphe but rather people and places and neighborhoods of Paris. One gets the feeling of sneaking a peek into these people's lives. Cartier-Bresson is a master behind the lens and this is his city, so you can't expect less than the best - and he doesn't disappoint. (check out the two dogs...)

Henri is a genius in composition. This book records over and over how Henri is able to not just break the rules on composing a photgraph, but re-write them. That unique ability is amazing. Especially when viewed in conjunction with his ability to capture people in the precise moment he needs to -- in order to communicate the image he must anticipate with a great sense of intuition. The photographs in this book are just a delight to visit over and over again.

When I was a little boy, this story brought me incredible delight over and over again. When I saw this film as a young man in my 20's, it brought me delight again, letting me relive my childhood all over. As an adult, I just introduced the book and the film to my 2 year old daughter, and once again this classic story has brought me delight. My daughter, who is usually only interested in Elmo and Barney, stood riveted through both the pages of the book and the scenes of the film, as Pascal and his balloon let her imagination soar. I cannot recommend this story more than to say 'no child should grow up without it'.

THIS BOOK GIVES ME A WARM HEART AS I REMEMBER READING IT AS A CHILD. I GIVE THIS BOOK TO ALL THE CHILDREN IN MY LIFE AND AT LAST I HAVE A LITTLE BOY TO BUY IT FOR AND READ IT TO. I CANT WAIT.......

As a very young boy, I remember asking my mother to read The Red Balloon to me a hundred times or more; something must have truly spoken to me in the story of this child with the ever-faithful balloon friend. On par with Saint-Exuperie (author of "Le Petit Prince"), the metaphors in this 'children's book' run a gamut of complex emotions -- from learning love for friends, to feeling different and expelled, a sense of loss,... but then ultimately reclaimed, finding joy in one's own self. There's sadness, but also understanding, as the balloon's 'life' goes. The lessons here are obvious ones, and I am glad they were imparted on me at an early age. I highly recommend this title to kids 3 to 8 -- particularly if they seem introverted or shy. They might not always be so, once they learn to let go! FYI, you may find copies of The Red Balloon currently (12/12/99) at your local Resoration Hardware; thanks guys! Oh, and don't forget to read to a child! :-)

Rick Steves' phrasebook was my best friend during a recent three- month tour of Europe. This book is perfectly written for the budget traveler with clear pronounciations and slices of Rick Steves' humor that his readers have come to love. The book even includes a bit of a "script" for reserving a hotel room over the phone by including the exact phrases in the logical order. Thanks to the book, I was able to eat well in Nice, sleep cheap in Provence, chase the casanovas away in Florence and much more. Overall, this book is probably not essential for those who are only traveling in major cities where travelers are apt to find plenty of English spoken. However, this book is a bible in small towns where no English is spoken. In addition, the book helped me to show most locals that I was taking an interest in their language and not making the assumption that others could speak mine. As a reward, I believe that people were more helpful, more likely to carry on a conversation with me and, when applicable, more likely to respond in English. This was especially true in Paris.

Easy to find what you are looking for. Has all of the truly importaint words and phrases. I think that the food translations were used the most, by me and anyone else that figured out I had this book. You really do not need a phrase book if you are traveling from big city to big city, but if you find yourself in a small village or town, this book will be very handy. If you want a phrase book, this is the one. Next time I take off over seas, this book will make its way into my backpack.

This book was great for deciphering menus and other printed material. On my trip to France and Italy I didn't really have much trouble getting by with English, so the book really only came in handy when translating written stuff. Unfortunately Rick leaves out the curse words that are in his other language books.

I checked this book out of the library prior to a trip to London, and now I'm going to buy a copy for my library. This is such a well laid out book, and the perfect size for the field. The information on the covers is particularly nice, with black and white illustrations of members of all the families so that you can quickly determine where in the guide to look for details. This is very helpful because there are many unfamiliar birds there that don't fit into the categories of birds we're used to in the states. And right inside the front cover is a color-coded index to help you quickly get to the section you need. I also liked the interesting facts about the birds that you don't see in many field guides. If you need a guide to birds for this area, this is definitely the one to have!

I ordered this book for a trip to Northern Germany and really lucked out. I read previous reviews, liked the format and size and gave it a shot. It was perfect for my needs. I recommend it highly.

Before our vacation in Denmark this month, I purchased this guide and based my selection on the 2 previous reviews and its small size. Boy, did I get lucky! This is one great field guide! Not only is all the pertinent information for each species located on one page, but that one page is also full of all sorts of interesting items (such as behaviors and flight patterns), written and/or pictured. If the authors would compile a similar guide for our North American species, it would surely replace my almost-worn-out National Geographic (my previous favorite)!

For years I heard how this was _the_ book to buy if you were into Elizabethan costuming and wanted authentic items that could be documented. The book is good for that, and I enjoyed the style that Ms.Arnold wrote it in.

But I have two major gripes with the book-both regarding the quality of graphics and images in it.

First off-in the whole book there are only about 5 pages in color. The rest of it-including hundreds of portraits, examples of extant clothing pieces and pieces of embroidery were all in black and white. I complain about that because, with so many of the portraits quoted as examples it would help if they could be seen clearly. (Many of them are too dark to have reproduced well, and a few are quite horrible.) And the photographs....

If they could reprint this book and possibly include more color plates it would be a much much more valuable resource. As it stands now, it is a good source, but not all that I could have hoped for. Instead I have begun a search for color reproductions of the portraits cited in the book. A long tedious job but one that I think over all will make it a much more solid resource for my needs.

This is one of the best books ever written on the subject of Elizabethan Costuming. It mainly contains all of the details of Queen Elizabeth I wardrobe but it has unique points in the society that surrounded the dresses. This book helps to explain the Gloriana image that became so popular and it helps us to understand all the little details that went into the dress of the period. Detailing costumes using portraits and explaining how the fashion progressed makes this book a must for anyone interested in Renaissance Faires and the nobility. The only drawback is that very very few of the portraits and pictures are in color. I think a total of about 7 are in color the rest is in black and white. The only way to make this book more appealing and usable would be to put all of the portraits and pictures in color, but that would make the book even more expensive. After this must have book the 2nd on the shelf should be a J. Hunniset book (the lady who did all the costuming for Elizabeth R and The Six Wives of Henry the VIII produced by BBC). Next, any Janet Arnold book. Last, would be the Norris book: Tudor Costuming and Fashion (although most of this book is very outdated it is nice to look at). All of these are must haves and will make a well rounded library. Dispite the high price of the book it is worth posessing. Enjoy.

For the historical costumer focused on 16th century clothing, this is the "bible" hands down. Big, expensive, and filled with the usual detail that is the hallmark of Janet Arnold, this is one very worthwhile investment for the serious costumer. This book has one tiny drawback, in that it focuses entirely on women's fashion in the 16th century as viewed through the wardrobe accounts of Queen Elizabeth I and some of her contemporaries. Therefore, it has nothing to say on the topic of men's clothing, which is an unfortunately neglected aspect of 16th century research.

Much of Janet Arnold's most important contributions to the costuming community are addressed in this book, making it extremely valuable. She presents each section with satisfying detail, raising very few questions that remain unanswered. The photographs accompanying the text are also invaluable, as many of them are not available in other books or to the general public for viewing. If only there were more color images...

If you can afford the book, you won't regret buying it.

Socialist correspondent Felix Morrow writes a powerful account of the revolutionary uprising of Spain's workers and farmers in the 1930's and the heroic battles they waged to defend the rights and organisations won through struggle.

The counter revolution began in Spanish Morocco under the command of fascist General Franco, aided and abetted by Hitler and Mussolini while the liberal democracies from the United Sates to Britain and France, sitting under the shade of "neutrality" looked the other way secretly hoping for the Generals success.

For revolutionary fighters who thought the Soviet Union's bumbling help to the Spanish toilers was due to a series of bad misjudgements came to the realisation they were in fact coming up against counter revolutionary Stalinism.

Despite the impediments posed by social democracy and Stalinism, the Spanish workers had an ability to learn the lessons of previous events at great speed and combined with their almost unlimited capacity for struggle, were able to overcome what stood in their path.

However, they were let down not by the usual suspects but by the organisation that seemed to be the most free of the Stalinist and social democratic straightjacket - the POUM.

Morrow takes the reader through the earth shattering events that unfolded in Spain at the time and takes up central challengers facing that countries working people in the battle for state power.

Morrow's book concludes with a chapter entitled "Two Roads," to revolution or to counterrevolution, to workers power or to Franco. It was not only the abstract need for socialism, that Morrow explains the Spanish revolution could have won only by going to workers power. The disastrous policies of the Stalinists, the social democrats, and the anarchist labor bureaucrats subordinated the struggle to the dictates of big business in Spain and imperialism abroad, the same forces that welcomed Franco.
Morrow is very good at explaining how this policy prevented the workers, peasants, and oppressed peoples in Spain from solving the many national and democratic tasks, supposedly solved in the US in 1776 and in France in 1789: land to the tiller, freedom from feudal rights and powers of nobility and church, national independence for the colonies in Africa, linguistic freedom and national rights up to self-determination for Catalonia and the Basque Country, to name a few. Fighting for these things was the natural reaction of popular masses in Spain as soon as Franco tried to overturn the republic. Sadly, Morrow shows how the Republican government lost because it turned its back not only on these rights, not only on socialism, but even the basic democratic right of workers and peasants to organize political parties, unions, workers councils, to publish and speak freely.
Morrow is not all depression and criticism. He saw with his own eyes the natural response of the working peoples in Spain to fight beyond the limitations of class collaboration. He saw how that power nearly defeated Franco and how it could have defeated Franco especially if the Republic had joined with the struggle of the colonial masses and oppressed nationalities to gain freedom Read Morrow and learn how the coming struggles will be victories and not defeats.

Morrow was a great editor, a great journalist, a man who captured the spirit and realities of the Spanish civil war, not as an uncritical supporter of the Republicans, but as a revolutionary critique familiar with the lessons Leon Trotsky tried to give about the Russian Revolution, familiar with the betrayal of the class collaborationist leaders of the Communist and Socialist parties in Spain.
In this book we see in the flesh what we may here about in other writer's analysis of this civil war. I was always struck by how he shows the imporance of the struggle for land and support to the small farmers, not by analysis but by describing the debates he heard on this subject between Spanish peasants and Franco's troops.
The rise of Le Pen and France and the attempts of the same social democrats and stalinists to get workers in that country to subordinate the struggle to supporting Chirac is an errie echo of the same policies that Morrow shows led to the defeat in Spain.

When I first started reading this guide, I thought to myself, "This is a Let's Go guide for those whose purses have grown." This book is for you if you are looking for one guide that focuses on the best restaurants and lodging, and covers even the less populated areas of Scotland. The restaurant reviews are more thorough than any I've seen. The coverage of history and sights is better than the budget-conscious guides, but less thorough than a Blue Guide. Also, this guide has one feature that I haven't found in any other Scotland guides - top lists of sights you shouldn't miss in each area. These are VERY helpful and influenced a few of my choices.

As far as style goes, this guide is truly inviting. The commentary is interesting and casual, almost as if you were reading a friend's thoughts. The print is also larger than other guides.

If you haven't spent a lot of time planning and researching your trip, this guide will meet your needs by offering a wide array of information and doing it in a readable style. Its greatest strength is in the lodging and restaurant recommendations. If you plan your lodging online, do research online, and go to grocery stores instead of restaurants (as I do), you might find that this guide is not the best one for you. But for those who like to pick up a guide and go, this one is an excellent choice.

If you are looking for a travel book that is accurate about the country before your trip and after your trip this is the one you want. I resourced several different books before my trip and Dan Mc Quillan's was by far, the best. His information on the numerous lodging options, resturaunts and sights was extemely helpful in our planning, but the best part is the personal touch you feel in reading the book and the information it contains. The other aspect that sets this Scotland travel book apart from the others out there is that at the back of the book the author invites the reader to e-mail or regular mail him any questions or other thoughts you might have. Well I did and after numerous e-mails Mr. McQuillen basically helped us plan our entire itinerary. He personally addressed many details and was very timely, generous and thorough in his responses. That alone is worth the price of the book. Whatever country we travel to next, I will certainly be looking for a travel book from Dan McQuillan to guide us.

Reading Dan McQuillan's Scotland Guide is truely a journey in itself. Unlike many guides, this book is both enjoyable to read and an excellent source of information. I felt like I was getting the scoop from a local. Anecdotes and first hand experiences are relayed with refreshing wit. He makes the history, people, and places of Scotland come alive.