The Photographs are awesome! Many of the photos take up both pages, which are so clear and gorgious. The old castles are so neat and look completely beautiful in the middle of Ireland's green moors. It is DEFINITELY a book worth buying!

I recently moved to Ireland, and my wife and I wanted something to base our site seeing. It has been a great help in deciding our weekend trips. The pictures depict Ireland correctly. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET!

This is an essential book for anyone of Irish descent or who simply loves and wants to learn more about Ireland. It features brief historical information and many large breathtaking photos on premium glossy stock.

In the Ancient sites section many mysterious tombs with huge rocks are shown. Next, you get a look into Ireland's stone monasteries & abbeys featuring majestic stone crosses. Grand Castles are then explored.

The following sections on Ireland's gardens & landscapes are truly dazzling. The colors are so vibrant they make you feel as if you're there. A few 3-page fold-out panorama's are included.

The cites chapter highlights Ireland's buildings including many impressive photos of doorways, churches, & cityscapes. Lastly, the Irish people are shown playing sports, celebrating holidays, & performing traditional dances & music.

This is an excellent biography of Stalin, the middle book in a proposed trilogy. Tucker weaves events in the Soviet Union around the twisted, paranoid personality of Joseph Stalin, former seminary student. What I found to be the most intriguing was how every time Stalin changed his mind about something, everyone had to fall in line or risk being labeled a "wrecker" or "counter-revolutionary." Stalin was not particularly brilliant, and he was not Lenin's choice as a successor, but he had a genius for bureacratic maneuvering that put him in the powerful position that he held for years. For all his paranoia and all the damage he did to Russia, it is amazing that someone didn't actually knock him off. It is a chilling reflection on how obsequious even the best of us can be when motivated by fear.

Neither Stalin, the collectivization crisis, nor the terror suffer from a dearth of good and serious studies. Yet despite the crowded field, Tucker's "Stalin in Power" is by far the best treatment of all three complex events. No other book sets out as credible, well-researched and well considered a theory of the workings of Stalin's mind. The great challenge presented by the Soviet thirties is the comprehension of the real logic behind what appears from the outside as mass irrationality. Most writers' personal models of depth and social psychology are inadequate to the task. Tucker succeeds, by a significant margin.

Tucker's careful storytelling hews to historical facts and grippingly narrates Stalin's creeping domination of the Soviet idea. This book is complete. A must read for all interested in recent Russian history.

Ms. Mumm provides important insights to the lives and motives of women in Victorian England who chose to enter the uncharted territory of active religious life in a world which not only frowned upon the notion of an independant woman but also one where it was illegal in the church for a woman to express herself thus. It was amusing to discover the ruses which some Mothers Superior devised to circumvent attempts at episcopal and clerical control. Given the difficulty in procuring access to documentation where it survives her work is an important step to futher understand an often unknown aspect of the not too distant past as seen through the eyes of women. It is all too often assumed that women both Anglican and Roman Catholic chose the cloister simply for pious reasons alone when the true picture was far more complex. This is a book that needed to be written.

Often, scholars presume that we "know" x about a particular subject, only to discover that our knowledge is based on half-truths or, worse, mere prejudice. Susan Mumm's project in this book is to rectify our remarkably scrambled understanding of Anglican sisterhoods. Notwithstanding the work of sociologists and historians like John Shelton Reed, Geoffrey Rowell, and Nigel Yates, Victorian Anglo-Catholicism has not been an intellectual growth industry. Mumm's book is both a useful contribution to a not-overcrowded field, and an excellent introduction to a promising area of research.

As she herself admits, Mumm skimps on the theology behind Anglican sisterhoods, dwelling instead on their missions, internal politics, and conflicted relationships with the Protestant mainstream. Contrary to what may be the expectations of some, Mumm finds that "first-wave" Anglican sisters did not necessarily join religious communities out of deep piety; instead, they saw the communities as the best route to careers in fields like administration, teaching, nursing, and social work. Thus, at least in the beginning, the impulse behind such communities could well be dubbed quasi-feminist. By contrast, "second-wave" sisters were far more likely to join out of strictly religious considerations, something that put them into conflict with older members of the community. Not surprisingly, this rise in purely religious vocations coincided with the spread of secular career opportunities for women. Mumm also finds that these sisterhoods were far more successful than their male counterparts, in terms of dedication and pure longevity, and that their missions to the poor have been seriously undervalued by previous scholars of Anglo-Catholic history. Finally, Mumm does a good job laying out the basic Protestant objections to the sisterhoods, which range from the sexist (women were "unfitted" for such independence) to the sexual (sisterhoods were anti-family and anti-marriage).

The only problem with the book is one that was beyond Mumm's power to rectify: many sisterhoods either left no records or refused to allow her access to them. Readers may therefore wonder about the extent to which her sample was actually representative. Nevertheless, this is a minor quibble about an important piece of scholarship.

I found Susan Mumm's an inspiring overview of early female Anglican orders. I was amazed at their flexibility in membership and was really surprised at the idea you did not have to be a member of the C of E or even a Christian. In addition they demonstrated such open mindedness in not dismissing anyone from their ranks for illegitimate birth. This was unique for a time when appearance and propriety were everything. These women seemed have inherently understood the true goal of life's journey.... the individual's realization of her own salvation in this case, in a community of like minded women.

What I found significant was S. Mumm's inability to get information after, if I am correct, 1915. It appears that these creative women were followed by those less inspired and perhaps more inhibited. I found it tragic.

As a young teen I was inspired by the writings of Mother Kate SSM and her efforts in the slums of London. The early efforts of these women lead to changes in education and nursing and inspired women to achieve outside the confines of the Victorian household. However, that dream appears to have been clouded and eventually lost. Few if any of the orginal Anglican women's orders kept that first creative life and inspiration. That is unfortunate.. but perhaps not.. perhaps they have finished their work or need to hear the sound of the trumpets again.

This book is one of true meaning an excellent written book, which show's the through Ireland. This books explains the mentality of the religious and states minds. Truly deeply sad book but very much worth the read. This book is excellent in the sense of giving true awareness to the Irish state.
Highly recommended.

This book presents a portrait of 20th century Ireland that will debunk any nostalgic or sentimental view of the so called 'Emerald Isle'. No shamrocks and leprecauns in this book, but a history of cruelty, abuse and power. It tells the story of how Irish children were incarcerated in huge numbers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in reformatory and industrial schools which were managed by the Catholic Church. Based on detailed historical research and interspersed with gut-wrenching first hand accounts of survivors of these institutions, it shows how an alliance between a power hungry Catholic Church and an indifferent Irish State resulted in the incarceration of the children of the poor. Rather than helping poor families, Church and State removed these children to bleak institutions where large numbers were sexually and physically abused and tortured by their Christian carers. I don't think that I will ever think about the Catholic Church and Ireland in the same way ever again. Anger, saddness, frustration, disbelief, but above all anger - why did this happen? I experienced all these emotions when reading this book. If you want to really understand Irish society, this book is essential and harrowing reading.

This is a shocking and rivetting book. It deals with the enormous scale of child abuse in Irish institutions during much of the 20th century. This included severe sexual and physical abuse, together with emotional bullying and serious neglect. It was carried out mainly by members of Catholic religious orders. This book shows that the abuse was not secret -- Irish society knew about it, but denied that knowledge to itself and didn't act to protect the thousands of children literally locked up in this incredible system. But most importantly, this book is fascinating on the international connections of all this. It shows that some of the Irish-based Catholic orders exported this terrible system to abuse children all over the world. The Irish Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy set up institutions for children in Australia and in Canada, and 'Suffer the Little Children' provides us with a unique insight into the terrible cruelties visiting on these children as well. This is the most comprehensive telling of a child abuse system that I have ever read. It is essential for anyone who cares about how societies fail to protect those who most need that protection, and the awful consequences of that failure. While it primarily concerns Ireland, this book has a universal and widespread importance.

When discussing the impact of women in European society, witchcraft inevitably enters the forefront of study. Many authors have discussed the crimes and punishments of witches, but Stuart Clark's Thinking With Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe breaks away from the traditional format. Rather than focus on witchcraft itself, Clark writes about the idea of witchcraft; he concludes that the concept of witchcraft was an integral component in the general intellectual life of early modern Europe, woven into the scholarly debates about the key issues of the era. According to Clark, the emphasis was on demonology, which was a "composite subject consisting of discussions about the workings of nature, the processes of history, the maintenance of religious purity and the nature of political authority" (viii). To encompass this broad nature of demonology, Clark divides the book into five separate yet overlapping sections - Language, Science, History, Religion and Politics - each of which expresses a relatively simple argument. In 'Language,' Clark discusses the antithetical nature of rhetoric and discussion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; this permitted the discussion of witchcraft as the natural malevolent balance to proper behavior. The section titled 'Science' argues that demonology was part of the advancement on science, rather than an obstacle or adversary to it. Magic, both good and evil, was assumed to be part of the natural world, and subject to the scientific investigations of the time. 'History' details how the people were easily convinced of the activities of the devil and his minions through the increasing emphasis on the apocalyptic vision that the world was in the Last Days. 'Religion,' which focused mainly on the writings of the clergy, essentially demonstrated that the religious powers of Europe believed that witchcraft was a sin against the Lord, and involved illicit dealings with the devil. Finally, 'Politics' presents that view that the power of the king was based upon his inability to engage in witchcraft. Essentially, since a monarch was conferred power through divine right - meaning the ruler was empowered by the Lord - he was inviolable and therefore immune to the effects of witchcraft.
Thinking with Demons continues the examination of women and their relationship to criminal behavior that was introduced in Ulinka Rublack's The Crimes of Women in Early Modern Germany. The most fascinating aspects of this book dealt with the importance of duality in early modern Europe, particularly in regards to the masquerade. Such dualism, and the perception that it was natural and important to society, is a fascinating concept to consider. Such a system of duality, in which everything is "distributed between a column of positive (or superior) terms and categories and a column of their negative (or inferior) opposites" (38) would seem to be an important tool in explaining the gender-based hierarchies that evolved in society.

When discussing the impact of women in European society, witchcraft inevitably enters the forefront of study. Many authors have discussed the crimes and punishments of witches, but Stuart Clark's Thinking With Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe breaks away from the traditional format. Rather than focus on witchcraft itself, Clark writes about the idea of witchcraft; he concludes that the concept of witchcraft was an integral component in the general intellectual life of early modern Europe, woven into the scholarly debates about the key issues of the era. According to Clark, the emphasis was on demonology, which was a "composite subject consisting of discussions about the workings of nature, the processes of history, the maintenance of religious purity and the nature of political authority" (viii). To encompass this broad nature of demonology, Clark divides the book into five separate yet overlapping sections - Language, Science, History, Religion and Politics - each of which expresses a relatively simple argument. In 'Language,' Clark discusses the antithetical nature of rhetoric and discussion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; this permitted the discussion of witchcraft as the natural malevolent balance to proper behavior. The section titled 'Science' argues that demonology was part of the advancement on science, rather than an obstacle or adversary to it. Magic, both good and evil, was assumed to be part of the natural world, and subject to the scientific investigations of the time. 'History' details how the people were easily convinced of the activities of the devil and his minions through the increasing emphasis on the apocalyptic vision that the world was in the Last Days. 'Religion,' which focused mainly on the writings of the clergy, essentially demonstrated that the religious powers of Europe believed that witchcraft was a sin against the Lord, and involved illicit dealings with the devil. Finally, 'Politics' presents that view that the power of the king was based upon his inability to engage in witchcraft. Essentially, since a monarch was conferred power through divine right - meaning the ruler was empowered by the Lord - he was inviolable and therefore immune to the effects of witchcraft.
Thinking with Demons continues with the examination of women and their relationship to criminal behavior, as was introduced in The Crimes of Women in Early Modern Germany by Ulinka Rublack. The most fascinating aspects of this book dealt with the importance of duality in early modern Europe, particularly in regards to the masquerade. Such dualism, and the perception that it was natural and important to society, is a fascinating concept to consider. Such a system of duality, in which everything is "distributed between a column of positive (or superior) terms and categories and a column of their negative (or inferior) opposites" (38) would seem to be an important tool in explaining the gender-based hierarchies that evolved in society.

With "Thinking . . . ," Clark has produced one of the most important history books of the 20th century. Clark voices ground breaking views of a vastly misunderstood phenomenon - the evolution and prosecution of witchcraft in the early modern period. This book is meticulously researched and well written.

I am almost ashamed to admit that the book version of this title sat on my bookshelf for a year, as I thought it would be a very cumbersome read. Recently I picked up a CD version, of the title, from my local library. (There are approximately 10 CD's, each covering approx. 200 years of history). Now I am devouring the book, wondering why I waited so long to read it. I have borrowed & re-borrowed the CD's from the library, & I listen to them at home over & over again. What I particularly like about this title is the way the author refers to contemporary documents relevant to the time in history being covered. Christopher Lee has taken a subject which, in other's hands, can sometimes be flat & 'dry', & he has created a masterpiece. If you have even the slighest interest in history I urge you to either read the print version of the title, or if you can't get your hands on that beg or borrow a copy, in either print, on tape, or on CD. You WON'T be disappointed. I only wish someone would produce a masterpiece of this calibre for 'other' history e.g. French, Italian etc Oh, & BTW, 'This Sceptred Isle - Twentieth Century' has just hit the shelves in Australia. I have already purchased my copy. I expect it will be every bit as good as '55BC - 1901'

Given sets of these tapes as a holiday gift, I was slowed in my enthusiasm toward the givers. Facing a long drive, with ample entertainment backup, I listened to the first of many tapes. Could history on tape possibly subvert popular culture and current events ? I have now listened to these tapes more than 6 times. The presentation, content, and most of all attitude of the material is addictive. The BBC should be commended again for their quality educational products, and their significant contributions toward restoring the positive reputation of the British people. I HIGHLY recommend purchasing these tapes for yourselves and your children's enlightenment.

I was totally captivated! What an incredible, sweeping history, sumptuously written and produced; rich by far in audio than if it were produced on film. Bravo BBC! At one point I even briefly understood the English soccer hooligans - after all, rampaging around the Continent thumping foreigners is only what their predecessors have done for 1000 years! With an incredibly rich and diverse history and an incalculable contribution to the world's culture (hooliganism excepted!), Britons almost have the right to be admired and to be what they are not - arrogant and boastful. We must admire too, their charm, wit and self-effacing modesty. A tip of the hat from California!

Time Out's Guide to London is the only book you will ever need to fully explore and enjoy London. I used this book as my guide while living in London for several months. I found it to be accurate, informative, interesting and extremely enjoyable to use. Each section is not only up to date but also through in giving it's user the neccesary idea of what to expect. Everything(the sights, the resturaunts, the clubs, pubs, hotels, muesums and trips out of town)is included in this book that a visitor or resident could ever need...even directions of how to get to there! Also extremly helpful is that each entry in Time Out London includes which tube stop to use - a must have! The directory is a great resource because it includes a quick version of everyday neccesities such as customs, money exchange and driving. There are maps at the end of the book which I have used and found to be accurate. This book is written in a manner which reads much like the magazine available in London of the same name. This makes it more interesting then just a guidebook. Reading Time Out London is like reading a review of every spot in London. I highly recommend this city guide as well as the others in this series. Time Out is all you need to not miss a thing!

Written by Londoners, this guidebook is fun to read and incredibly informative. It starts with summaries of burroughs, then has sections by subject: accommodation, restaurants, sights, clubs, practical information. Good color maps are in the back of the book with a good index and street map index. I used it as my one guidebook for my London vacation, and I never needed anything else - besides Time Out magazine. This book seems more up-to-date than the Lonely Planet guide to London, although it's not as frank. However, I found the accommodation and restaurant listings snobbish and skimpy (use the Cheap Sleeps and Cheap Eats books instead). And oddly enough, laundromats are listed, but supermarket listings were nowhere to be found. Overall, it's a great book to tote on the trip, but the Lonely Planet and Cheap Sleeps/Eats are the best for the pre-trip research.

I have several trips to London in the last 5 years or so, and the Time Out guide is the only book of any use to the savvy traveler who has already seen the basic sites. It has out of the way museums and attractions that even locals don't know about. I find that I have seen fascinating parts of London that even tour guides haven't seen. Anxiously awaiting the '98 edition.

PS--you can pick up the London weekly magazine Time Out in larger US bookstores. Find a copy before your next trip across the pond to get up to the minute theatre and event listings.

In this bold and beautifully designed book, the bullfighter or "Torero" finally gets the attention he deserves, not as an object of the bull's attention, but as an object of desire, in a very sensual, yet masculine way. This is not to say these images by this talented photographer are of torero's just showing off their erotic appeal in tight costumes. There are many other photos of the rooms, equipment and costumes in settings by themselves that are very artistically photographed. The erotic appeal of the bullfighter is no longer censored and relegated to the background. These black and white photographs display many nude and semi-nude poses of very handsome, young, and athletic men in their tight fitting torero costumes, where little is left to the imagination. Afanador's admiration of male beauty is very apparent in this book of images. He has an eye for capturing the attitude, machismo, and inherent beauty and vulnerability of these brave men. I thought it was pleasing that Afanador features some of the torero's in their costumes on one page and nude on the opposite page in the same pose.

The poems by Gloria Marie Pardo Vargas, interspersed throughout the book, add to the enjoyment. This is a large over-sized book that is beautifully designed and bound (included is a red ribbon marker) that is a must for any collector of male erotica or for anyone who has always had a fascination with torero's and their beautiful costumes. I have only one regret, I would love to see a book of these same images in color showcasing the beautiful colors and patterns of the torero's costumes. This is a book that I will enjoy over and over again. As a collector, this is at the top of my list.

Joe Hanssen

A truly stunning collection of photographs concentrating on the erotic appeal of the torero - an aspect that has probably struck most honest aficiandos at one time or another. Quite apart from beautiful boys in (and out) of their trajes de luces, the collection is interesting for concentrating on very young toreros from South America - notably Colombia and Peru, though Madrid features strongly - and the less well-known names too. Miguel Angel Gomez and the brothers Pardo are especially notable: congratulations and thanks are due to Noel Pardo especially for his bravery in posing for some very fine nude shots. The additional frisson of the eroticism is the extreme danger the boys face, and here also is graphic photographic evidence of beauty marred in the corrida. There is nothing pornographic here, which is good, and the entire book is faultless in production. It should be on the shelves not only of every aficianado of young male beauty - but of every aficianado of the corrida also!

Ruven Afanador seems to be the spiritual heir of the little boy in the story of the emperor's new clothes. He insists on seeing--and proclaiming through his work--exactly those visual elements of the bullfight that everyone else sees but adamantly ignores. One of his major themes, perhaps the major one, is clearly announced on the dust jacket by the image of a semi-tumescent lad wearing only his taleguilla and grasping a pair of bull's horns (which may be why Amazon shows no cover illustration above). Afanador's style might be described as a cross between the baron von Gloeden and Helmut Newton, or maybe Diane Arbus with more than a dash of Robert Mapplethorpe. Like Mapplethorpe he finds morbidly erotic beauty in places where some would not care to venture, but beauty it is. And like all the above-mentioned photographers, he is an absolute master of his craft. Whatever you might think of the subject matter, the photos are technical marvels--one wants constantly to reach out and touch all those rich textures! The prospective buyer should also be aware that the range of subject matter goes beyond toreros in--and out of--their tight pants, and I would be doing Afanador an injustice to leave the impression that his work is merely pornographic. (One of the most striking images in the collection is a shot of four matadors' jackets hanging from meat hooks in the abattoir). And beyond all the possible influences I've mentioned, his is a style--rather, an inseparable combination of style and subject--that's very much his own.

I suppose that the few poems sprinkled throughout the volume are appropriate accompaniments to the photos, though they could easily have been dispensed with. The introduction is quite helpful, as is the thumbnail index at the end which identifies models and locations. The volume itself is richly produced and beautifully printed, with a sewn-in ribbon bookmark. ...

Even Hemingway, through Lady Brett, couldn't help remarking on "those tight green trousers," but for too long the majority of people (especially artists) associated with bullfighting have pretended to ignore all those lurid paquetes y nalgas. Afanador's stunning collection goes a long way toward remedying that ignor-ance. Overall, a long-needed addition to the body of art and photography associated with toreo.

As the other reviewers below have noted, David Gates' THE SPANISH ULCER is indeed the best book on the Peninsular War. It is well-researched and well-written. It does justice to the operations of the French, British, and Spanish armies. Unlike many other books, it does not focus solely on the campaigns of Wellington. Gates has also provided a wealth of data of size of armies and casualties. Plentiful maps make the narrative of military operations simple to follow. Numerous other military historians and publishers should follow the book's example.

That said, there are still problems with the book that prevent it from being a general history of the Peninsular War. The book focuses too much on the operations of military formations. Gates describes in detail what armies, corps, divisions, brigades, and battalions do. However, very little insight is provided to what soldiers were experiencing on the ground. Equally, the experiences of the Spanish and Portuguese people, who lived with 8 years of bitter war, are dealt with very briefly. Moreover, Gates writes very little on the guerrilla campaign, which was a major factor in the French defeat.

I do not mean to be overly critical. I enjoyed this book greatly. It is the best book out on the Peninsular War. Nevertheless, there is still no general book that covers the political, military, and social aspects of the Peninsular War.

David Gates' treatment of the Iberian conflict has no equal and remains the best single-volume history of Napoleon's unfortunate Spanish adventure. Far superior to Michael Glover's PENINSULAR WAR, Gates' work is comprehensive, well-researched and clearly written. I just finished my 6th reading and continue to enjoy it.
Unlike most British Peninsular authors Gates follows in the footsteps of Oman and gives a balanced objective account giving credit to both the conventional and irregular Spanish forces, and does a masterful job of dealing with the French as well. I find, happily, that he eschews the usual hero-worship of Wellington and does find the Iron Duke human after all (particularly some of his ill-advised sieges). He accompanies his solid research with a useful chronology, some short biographical details, and some very good order of battle work. The work is marred by execrable maps (perhaps drawn by a child) and the all too often use of "sullen." I am happy to see that it's coming soon to paperback. I was most pleased to see information on the little-known Marshal Suchet and his long-suffering Army of Aragon. Buy it & enjoy it!

Many English language accounts of the Peninsular War disproportionately glorify the contributions of Wellington and the British. While Wellington and his relatively small army did make key contributions, the real heroes of the struggle that lead to the downfall of Napoleon, not only in Spain but in Europe, were the Spanish people. Gate's book goes farther than most in recognizing the often-ignored contribution of the guerrillas, the Spanish military and the populance in general in resisting Napoleon.

good solid advice of what to be aware of when traveling
a worthwhile listen

I have been traveling for the last 10 years, but have never traveled overseas. I had heard many stories and have had friends who have wallets and purses stolen gypsies and thieves but have had a hard time finding information that was in-depth. I saw the author on Oprah when she talked about this tape but never got around to buying it, but finally did before my first trip to Italy, Spain and Greece. The tape was just what I wanted, gave all the scams used by crooks. Of interesting note, the author has a web site... that gives additonal information and travel safety tips.

Karen

This book was very helpful to me in my travels. I am in sales and I do a lot of traveling and ever since I listened to the tape it has made me more aware of my surroundings in the airport and other areas that I was not aware of. It is amazing some of the scams Detective Coffey talked about. I would highly recommend this tape to anyone that wants to protect their properties while traveling on business or pleasure.