Beautiful produced with lots of excellent photos of statues, jewellery and places in Celtic History, this is a broader view than a lot of work. It covers who were the Celts, the push into Italy and then the thrust Eastward, covering the struggles of the Celts in the Mediterranean, the Collapse of Gaul and the fight for survival in the West. For someone searching to start their journey on just who were these people, what influence they made on the ancient world, this is an excellent starting point to understanding this warlike people.

This historical atlas-like offering is a record of the Celtic peoples, from their 1st Millenium B.C. entrance on the historical stage, to their withdrawal from their continental heartland into Western France, Ireland, and Wales.

The tale is well told and supported by helpful maps, plus photos of weapons, coins, statues, paintings, and drawings of the tall, fair, fearless, red-haired people. It seems the beautiful and gallant Celts, so fascinated later civilizations that the Romans and Greeks were compelled to depict Celts in many paintings and sculptures, such as "The Dying Gaul". (It's in there)

The early Celtic warriors extended their culture throughout most of Europe and into Asia Minor, as they conquered and settled the continent almost at will. Alexander the Great (355-323 BC) came to terms with them and turned his attention to the south and east of his Greek/Macedonian home base.

In 189 B.C., while addressing his troops, the Roman general Manlius called the Celts a fierce nation. He further stated: "Their tall physique, their flowing red hair, their huge shields and enormous swords", along with the songs they sing when marching naked into battle, "their howling and leaping, and the fearful din of arms as they bang their shields according to some ancestral custom -- all these things are designed to terrify!"

The archeological finds displayed in the book are of surprising excellence and sophistication for the 1st Millenium B.C. The bronze art-works and iron weaponry, both of which have been found plated with gold, tell the tale of an advanced people who spread throughout Europe, into Asia Minor, and perhaps beyond.

Apparenty the Celtic culture was an early victim of "diversity". Their settlers mingled and interbred with conquered and conquerors, alike. Thus, the Celtic civilization was infected with so much "diversity" that it disappeared in most of Europe...

The illustrations alone make this book a worthwhile purchase, but for those who can read, (advocates of "diversity" and social engineers are excused) the text is clear and easy to follow. An excellent appendix is included, which contains an "Alphabetial Listing of Celtic Peoples" including the area of Europe with which each is associated. There is also a bibliography for further research: go to it and enjoy.

Celtic Warriors is the first widely available book of its kind in English: a scholarly survey of Iron Age Celtic culture that can be enjoyed by specialists and the general reader alike. Herein you will not find wild speculations or New Age wishful thinking; O'hOgain does an excellent job of interpreting the body of evidence available from the period of roughly 800 BCE to about 450 CE (the period when the designation "Celtic" can properly be applied to the indigenous cultures/languages of Western Europe). The author skillfully balances Classical historical accounts with archaeological remains (coins, inscriptions, weapons, grave plots, etc.)and later medieval Irish and Welsh epics. Indeed, the focus on antiquity (as opposed to the Middle Ages) makes this book the landmark study that it is. So many other books about the Celts give way too much coverage of the later medieval manuscripts (which are heavilly influenced by Christian and Germanic traditions) at the cost of the reader coming away with a some what blurred notion of what the term "Celtic" actually means in a cultural context. The section on Gaulish tribal names and their meanings/etymologies is a very nice feature and O'hOgain's comparative analysis of insular and continental tribal names is fantastic. Furthermore, he addresses a topic often ignored in other surveys: the British origins of Ireland's dominant east coast tribes. In the end the story of the Celts is a tragic one. These mighty warbands had the power to overrun all of Europe and wipe out all who cared to stand up against them...but all evidence indicates that the celts had no sense of "nationhood" and they spent more time fighting each other than they did threatening outside enemies. In a sense, the Celts were not defeated by Romans or Germans: they defeated themselves.

The field of Celtic scholarship has made some remarkable advances in recent years, and these articles offer a wonderful glimpse into a realm of information too often confined to the pages of academic journals. The writing is scholarly, but each article often points the way toward other resources on the same topic. I was particularly intrigued by Peter J. Reynolds' account of a typical agricultural year in the Celtic world, based on his experience running a re-created Iron Age farm.

This is a scholarly work,which incorporates cutting edge research from top archeologists in the field. If you want to find out about celtic culture this is the closest you can get without going back in time.

This book is chock full of information. The articles are organized according to subject matter. I like the book because it gives a wide discussion of many differing aspects of celtic historical research. I have used it extensively to flesh out characters and background in writing and discussion with others with same interests as myself in celtic history. I would reccommend it wholeheartedly to any scholar in this area of research.

I found this book to be quite helpful to me while I was learning all about my ancestors. It tells you almost everything known about the Celts and if anyone is interested in Celtic Culture, history, or religon I recommend it to you. It is a great book to start out with and to get a clear view on who the Celts actually were, not misconceptions.

I began an interest in the Celtic way of life, and of their decendants several years ago. I've found this to be the one book that is true to life. It tells it like it is, or was. The Celts were strong, often violent...none of that seems to matter here.

This is a historical reference book, but also carries an air of open-mindedness about the actuallity of saint's miracles, druid magick, etc. It is a fantastically illustrated book and I highly reccomend it to anyone intereseted in the ancient Celts.

If you believe in Lord Acton's dictum that "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," this book is for you. There have been a variety of theories why some countries have prospered and some have not. Some say it depends on allowing free trade; some argue it depends on the degree of democracy as opposed to socialism or communism. Douglass North won a Nobel prize for his work to prove that the key is having the right societal institutions. Certainly it takes more than having natural resources.

Professor Powelson (Economics at the U. of Colorado) has worked extensively in developing countries and observed that despite all the good advice these countries received, and had been receiving for 50 years, they were making very little progress. To find out why, he decided to study history, going back over ten centuries in every important region of the world to see what lessons could be learned. His conclusions are startlingly simple: People prosper and societies thrive where there is genuine diffusion of power -- power earned, not bestowed by a ruler. Where power is centralized among a ruling few, the ruling few are able to take care of themselves, but their nations fail to grow and prosper and the people stay poor.

This book explains why every college freshman should be required to study Western Civilization before studying any other. As George Santayana has said already, "Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them." Professor Powelson has written the most important history book of the past century for anyone interested in the lessons to be learned from the histories of Northern Europe, Japan, China, India, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, all covered beautifully in this one book.

Jack Powelson's book, Centruies of Economic Endeavour, gives a clear explanation of why some countries (like the U.S. and Japan) are so much better at providing economic resources to its citizens than other countries, like in Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. His many years in business as well as academia results in relevant and clearly detailed notes for the reader to follow up. This book helped me understand why, even today, so many countries with large amounts of natural resources, cannot seem to get their people out of poverty. Must reading. Highly recomended.

Powelson turns to the historical experience of nations for an answer to the central question of economic development: why do some nations grow rich while others do not? The answer lies in the relationship between the decentralization of power and the ability of economic actors to play a role in the formation of transactional institutions. Absolutely necessary for students of development.

Understand, I don't play Wraith. I read it for the background, which I find extremely interesting. So I can't help you on the subject of rules, game balance, whatever. But I can tell you something of the quality of this book.
Perhaps the most suprising thing, right off the bat, is that this is a soft cover. Generally, one does not expect deeply disturbing images to leap from the pages of an oversized floppy book. Consistantly, White Wolf has challenged that assumption, and this is probably the best example everywhere.
When you open it, you will find a two-page black and white image. This image is one of the most haunting pictures I have ever seen. Countless thousands of men, women, and children stand on the shores of a river. Garbed in prisoner stripes, heads shaven, they wait, some standing in edge of the water, some with their arms raised in supplication. There are so very many of them.
There is a single small boat, with a single ferryman, ferrying them one by one into the afterlife. The magnitude, the idea that death is never wholesale, that it is always, always a personal matter, is message enough to be worth the purchase price.
This book is never trivial. It is never "fun". It draws immensely from history, and makes it very clear what is fiction, and what is drawn from a history far darker than that found in any fiction.
The background is superb, the infomation interesting and vivid. Places described are disturbing and realistic. Characters make sense, plots seem feasable.
For many who read this, this will likely be a first look into the subjects described. It is much more intense than they may be used to. It is recommended for "Mature Audiences", and while I think teenagers should read this exact sort of thing, I think care should be taken that they be aware of the seriousness of such a subject.
This is the sort of book that will remain on my shelf,long after the game system fades into obscurity.
Castle Wolfenstein, this is not.

Indra

I am only 3/4ths of the way through this book, but I can honestly say that it has changed my views on the Burning and has possibly changed me as a person. I've read the history books, but they're nowhere near as detailed as "Charnel Houses". A few excerps shook me.

Even if you aren't a fan of Wraith: The Oblivion, or ANY role-playing game for that matter, you can still get the messege that this book is trying to get across: Never again.

Understand, this is not an expansion for you and your friends to sit down and play after watching Monty Python. In the darkest game of the World of Darkness, Shoah is the darkest corner. The opening artwork is a brutal example of what you'll find in the rest of the book: if it's too much for you, then you may not want to get any deeper.

Shoah: Charnel Houses of Europe opens with a brief bit of history (prompting some to even go so far as to use this section as a textbook) before detailing the Dark Kingdom of Wire: the Holocaust's wraithly inheritors. The book presents the falsified Jewish society that detoured a Red Cross investigation (which, in turn, kept the world blind just long enough for a few million more deaths), the Polish ghettos of Warsaw and their almost-victorious hero, and a Russian camp. These are, obviously, in descending order of darkness, but each are richly detailed and usable for any who think their troupe can handle the content.

Auschwitz is last. It is detailed. It is thorough. If you decide your troupe should go to Auschwitz, it contains enough information to horrify the players: that this is the worst atrocity in human history.

The book is dark, troubling, nightmarish, and easily worth three thousand times the cover price for any roleplayer who knows what it contains. It is very simply the best RPG book I've ever read.

The book Chateaux of the Loire Valley by Jean-Marie Perouse De Montclos and photographer Robert Polidori is definitely the nicest coffee table book on sale about the beautiful castles of the Loire Valley. Besides being a superb wine growing region, the Loire River south of Paris offers a unique combination of beautiful landscapes and castles, which makes it one of France's most attractive regions. You should take at least a week or ten days to do a round trip. This book gives you an excellent idea of what to expect - or you cannot make it - what you are missing!

This is a superb book and a great purchase. I was happily surprised at the excellent quality of the book itself. This chateaux collection is by Jean-Marie Perouse de Montclos author of 'Fontaineblue', which I had bought earlier and enjoyed thoroughly. Perouse de Montclos is obviously an authority in this so interesting and imposing a realm. 'Chateaux of the Loire Valley' is beautifully captured pictorially by Robert Polidori, this treat alone unfolds like some magical visual biography of France, and the world. I can't begin to tell you how much charm this book brings. The architectural relics and historical wonders are each detailed in the accompanying text. The history of Chinon, for example. There is a preface with the best chronology of the Kings of France I've ever seen. Never ending information and art photos about the castles, one better than the other. Including a profile of the unique Chenonceaux, with it's haunting echo of the fascinating Diane de Poitiers. With it's modest price this has to be one of the most satisfying books I've ever come across. You might also look up 'Fountainbleau' a literary and visual collection about the legendary French chateau by the same author.

We own this beautiful book. It is filled with high quality photographs, portraying the true beauty of the Lorie Valley. We are purchasing one more copy as a gift for a dear friend who traveled with us to Chenonceaux, and Chambord. Our personal photo's did not do justice to the true beauty of these castles.

This book will be on our coffee table, to remind us of the breathtaking experience we had, while being in the presence of such lovely architecture. I highly recommend this book!!

We have visited France in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

Informative and fun to read. Offers loads of practical info on cost of living, climate, real estate, cuisine, and health care. Examines where to settle and suggests regions that provide the best climate and most affordable housing. Explores Irish culture, the role of the pub, the Irish view of people from the States, and how to contend with culture shock in Ireland. My mother is planning to retire part-time in Ireland and Patti Cleary's book has helped her and our family prepare for the adventure.

I have always been drawn to Ireland and was pleased to find a book that provides lots of practical advice for someone who's thought about making this major move. The information about regions and climate is especially helpful, as is the guidance on how to find a place to live and adjust to driving on the left. The information about food, both the availability of products and the restaurant boom, is encouraging. Worth picking up even as a travel guide.

This is an exceptional guide for the retiree who is thinking about where to retire. Because it is so beautifully written, it reads like a novel. It gives one a real taste of Ireland, as if one is actually there. The author has covered every possible thing that I can think of that one needs to know before making an educated choice about where to retire. An excellent read, yet extremely practical at the same time. I heartily recommend it even for those who are years away from retiring, as, obviously, that's when the planning needs to begin.

CHOW! VENICE is a compact, helpful, personal guide to good eating (and drinking) in my favorite city in the world. I love how these ladies are so specific in their directions to the restaurants and bars they review. Even better are their specific recommendations for the most delicious treats each place has to offer. There are helpful hints on the Venetian way of life as well. If you're going to Venice (lucky you!) tuck this guide into your daypack and follow it faithfully.

I have been to Venice many times, but this book makes me want to go back soon and try some of the interesting, less known restaurants and trattorias written about here. The authors have really done their homework.

You must have Chow! Venice confused with another book. Our book is not shipping until mid-July!

We do have detailed listings that will be very helpful to vegetarian diners, however.

Churchill's 'History of the English Speaking People's' is presented as all history should be presented- with a keen understanding of the events as they unfolded, an amazing ability to convey the motivations and passions of the people involved, and with a profound wit. Churchill effortlessly tells us the story of England from it's earliest settlement to the eve of World War I. His insights into such events as the Boer War, the Conflicts with Napoleon, and the American Civil War are unparrelled. If you want to learn more of how the Anglo-American world came to be this four volume set is more than worth a look.

I am not of Angle Saxon but rather of Slavic descent, but this is a truly interesting set of books that will keep your attention no matter your ancestral heritage. There are 3 significant observations I've made while reading the set of books: 1) his description of the English kings and queens is easy to follow and his characters are alive (except for the constant stream of nobility getting their heads cut off), not boring; 2) he also devotes a lot of the story to America, more than the other "colonies," and 3) his history of Britain during the time of the American Revolution is very skimpy, biased, and does not deal with the real issues America faced. The book is very poor in dealing with the American Revolution, but overall the book is essential and easy reading for the consumate history reader.

Exhaustive, pithy, insightful, illuminating and in places funny as hell; it is rare to say of a four-volume work, "I couldn't put it down", but of Churchill's work I say it truthfully.