Getting past the "comic book" label is the hardest part for a generally seriously-minded adult. I think this is a good starter book for those of us who somehow missed getting much of any background in Scottish history, a useful run-through of critical events ... and written with a consistent point of view.

You may know of the author Jeff Fellow, a political cartoonist and at least a small-n nationalist. The book's back cover blurb starts with, "Locked into unholy wedlock with England by the Union of Parliaments in 1707 Scotland's status has been that of a proud country subservient to a larger state" and ends with,"This radical history will help you to understand more about Scotland, from the old clan feuds and border raids to the modern concerns of social justice, democracy and independence." True.

The only omission I regret is that Fallow said nothing about the Hudson's Bay Company sailing out of Stromness on Mainland in the Orkney Islands, that was very important in our Canadian history and the blood of Scots who sailed out of Stromness runs in many Canadians today.

Scotland for Beginners is a reasonably priced paperback, still in print though it could use some updating because it went to press around the time of the 1999 (re-)opening of the Scottish Parliament.

As always useful in a history book, Scotland for Beginners has an index, a chronology, and a list of suggested further reading, as well as a geneology of the kings and queens. And there's a bonus, a list of famous Scots... though it somehow omitted Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, BC's famous frontier judge and first Chief Justice.

I'm keeping this book, and I'm glad to give it five stars.

Jeff Fallow does good work here. He takes the complex world of Scottish history with all of it's twists, turns, and outrages and makes enjoyable reading for the newly interested.

I read this book over a year ago, and still refer to it from time to time.

If you are interested in Scottish history, and don't know where to begin your studying, try this. At the very least, you will have an instant reference guide and a good place to start.

Scotland is one of the most beautifull countries in the world and this book shows that

This book has it all-- organized and effective writing, a genealogy of Scottish kings in the front of the book (instead of hidden at the back as it is in many books), a detailed reference map of Scotland, and wonderful and unusual illustrations, many of them what I call "primary". These illustrations show Scotland's historic figures, its bloody battles, and the politics and religion. We also see examples of Scotland's creative and intellectual efforts throughout the centuries.

Some of the topics covered are the advent of Christianity, the Norsemen and the Normans, the alliance with France, William Wallace (wasn't he played by Mel Gibson?), the Renaissance, Mary Queen of Scots, the Campbell Clan, Cromwell, the Restoration, William and Mary, the Industrial Revolution, the arts in Scotland, and many more topics of great interest.

The author has laid out the complex and sometimes convoluted history of Scotland in a most readable fashion. I cannot emphasize how much the 200+ illustrations add to this book and to one's understanding.

A facinating account of the history of our great nation. Having been educated in England, I found that British history in schools is really English history. This book is an opportunity to see a large part of British history from a very different perspective. The accounts of the conflicts between rival families for the Scots crown are as riveting as any novel. This seems to be an accurate account without too much flannel or personal opinion. If you want one book on Scottish history then buy this! Colin...............

I found this work to be a very informative and interesting read. The illustrations are well done add a great deal to the historical detail. If you are looking for a "nuts & bolts" version of Scottish history this is a good choice.

A gorgeous book. Lots of pictures/drawings/photos, all good quality and interesting. This book is for looking at as much as reading, and it is very well done.

If you are going to Seville take the Eyewitness Travel Guide and this Knopf guide. Both books are very good, both colourful and easy to carrry. The Eyewitness guide has better maps, more organized information on hotels and restaurants. The Knopf guide is better on background, culture, architecture, flora and fauna, traditions and way of life. The Knopf guide also has a section, "Seville as seen by painters", and a section "Seville as seen by writers".

I would say the Eyewitness guide is more practical, the Knopf guide more romantic, both very important. You will not be disappointed that you got this book. If you are an armchair traveler, this is definitely a good book.

If you like a travel guide that provides interesting and practical information in an attractive, clear and concise manner, then look no further. Information may contain historical, anthropological, political, cultural, and linguistic references. Indices contain hotel, restaurant, and transportation guides by city. No detail has been missed. Overall a real gem of a book.

This Knopf guide provides the type of information a devoted reader of National Geographic would appreciate - Andalucia is discussed in a historical, political, anthropological, linguistic, and psycho-social context. Beautiful pictures, maps, and illustrations. It also includes a glossary, hotel & restaurant guide, museum schedules, train/airplane schedules and other tips. In short, this is the definitive travel guide and it doesn't compromise on a single point. Someone with some real intelligence pieced together a masterpiece .

Etienne has been journeying up from the busy life in the city of France to the deep country on the base of Mont Brulant to spend the summers with his Grand-pere for as long as he can remember. He loves to spend time on the farm not only enjoying nature, but taking care of the sheep and chickens and harvesting the crops and pears. However, this time is different; this is the first time he is going alone, without his family. Etienne and his Grand-pere are enjoying their stay together until Etienne begins seeing starving children dressed in rags begging him for food. He seems to be the only one seeing them. Whenever Etienne mentions it to his Grand-pere, he becomes angry and tries to change the subject. There is something that his Grand-pere isn't telling him; he needs to find out. One day, Etienne takes a ride to the foot of Mont Brulant, and something very peculiar happens. As he ventures into a clearing of trees he sees a road that seems to lead to nowhere and various items belonging to children; a bracelet, a pen, a pocketknife. Etienne keeps on hearing and seeing the children that only seem to appear in the shadows. Are they real? Are they ghosts? Etienne knows that there is something wrong with the little town! What is it? Finally, Etienne forces out of his Grand-pere the history of the little village in the county. World War II had not been an ordinary war; it had not only been fought between soldiers, innocent people had been killed and persucuted. The children had been sent away to this town in hope that they might be able to hide. For a while, the people of the village hid them, but too many came. When the Nazis threatened to kill those hiding Jews, the people gave them away. They watched them herd them into cattle cars killing those who protested. The people tried to forget, but the souls of the children killed in the concentration camps haunted them. We must never forget. Never forget. The Shadow Children, by Steven Schnur, had a very powerful plot. It is filled with scary scenes of ghosts of dead children haunting the forests, and the dark past of the townspeople's history with the Holocaust. Altough the protagonist was a non-Jew, he still felt the pain and anguish as any relative of a victim in the Haloucast. The Shadow Children showed me how important it is to remember the Holocaust. In the Torah it says, "Remember what Amalek did to you!" The Nazis, the people who killed the millions of innocent children, are Amalek. We must remember! This novella is based on a true story; until the protagonist visited his grandfathers house in Germany, he had no idea what had happened to the Jews in World War II. I think that all children should read this book and see how important it is to remember. Again, Never FORGET!

Etienne goes to a French city named Mont Brulant as he does every year for the summer. He vists Grand-pere's farm a little outside of Mont Brulant. He vists the woods and finds all kinds of clues to shw children were there. A long time ago children were taken away in those same woods on a special train once they entered the train they became slaves. One day Etienne sees the children hiding inn shadows. He thinks they are real but what he doesn't know is that the children are gosts. Read this book to find out more about The Shadow Children.

11 year old Etienne visits his grandfather ,and his grandfather's farm in France for the summer. Etienne goes to France on a train .He meet his grandfather and gets in his grandfather's wagon. On the way to the farm him and his grandfather see a little girl holding a baby and a younger boy. As they passed by, the children stick there hands out asking for food. Etienne and his grandfather could tell that they were homeless and poor by the rags that they had on.Etiennie and his grandfather rode right past them.From then on Etiennie's grandfather warned him not to go near the children again, but Etienne didn't listen . Etienne find that they were forgot children of the world war ll and they were ghost . Etienne soon went home and his frandfather died.

This is an outstanding choice for anyone who wants to learn more about and understand the forces involved in Russia's autocratic Tsarist political system from 1825 to the Revolution of 1917.

The author masterfully blends history, political thought, biography, (and a dry sense of humor at times!) to a monumental task in examining the changes in Russia in the last 100 or so years prior to the Soviet era. (he covers some significant events in the reign of Alexander I) We see how Russia's expansion to Central Asia; the impact of the Crimean War; the economic modernizing problems resulting from serfdom; and the war with Japan in the early 20th Century shaped and influenced the thinking in the country.

Crankshaw is able to clearly deliniate the trends, and the significant events and people which made those trends possible. All in an easy to read and interesting style.

A fascinating and highly informative read!

Since the previous reviews have already established an able outline of the work's content I will only say that Crankshaw's masterpiece is a magnificent work of history and cuts to the heart of Russia under the Tsars, the Politburo and today's government.

As always, Crankshaw's prose is lucid, elegant and highly readable.

This book is a wonderful exposition of the reigns of the last tsars of Russia as well as the evolution of Russian society during that period, from a social and political view: Nicholas I, the oppressive ruler guided by a divine concept of sovereignty, smasher of the Decembrist rebellion and creator of the Third Section of Imperial Chancellery, the primitive political police; Alexander II, the reformist, the tsar who by an ukase in 1861 abolished servitude in Russia, and who, curiously, created the Okhrana, the security police on the basis of the Third Section and established it in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1881 the tsar was assassinated as the result of a terrorist plot, and the Okhrana could do nothing to prevent it; Alexander III, as hard and terrible as Nicholas I, gave almost illimitate powers to the police and to the Governor Generals of provinces and regions. Russia was driving to the abyss as the differences between upper and lower classes were increasing dangerously in a country ruled by an absolute despotism, almost feudal; Nicholas II, weak and short-sighted, followed by inertia the politics of his predecessor. From 1905 the regime was falling apart and disintegrating: the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Bloody Sunday of 1905, the breaking out of the I World War in 1914, all these events mainly accelerated the dethroning and later execution of the last emperor of the Romanov dinasty, His Sacred Majesty the Tsar of All Russias.

Perhaps there may be too many names for a reader unfamiliar with the setting and the plot, but the main character, the Lithuanian people, could not have asked for a better story teller.
I was in Vilnius in August, September, October and part of Novembember of 1990, and met many of the individuals mentioned in the book, as well as others, yet unnamed. Perhaps I should have kept a diary and recorded some of the events that should be known. I would be glad to share them with Mr. Krickus, if he chose to contact me.

Krickus, who was on the ground in Lithuania for much of the period, offers a well written and insightful account of the Lithuanian independence movement during the later Gorbachev years. Unlike many foreign observers, he is sensitive to the differences in personality and tactics that emerged in the Sajudis movement. The description of the Soviet attempt to take the TV tower is particularly moving (I know some people who were there that night). I suspect Krickus is slightly overestimating the effect of Lithuanian resistance on the outcome of the August coup attempt, but this is a minor quibble.

Krickus' work in this area is told in the format of a novel, not dry history. The people involved in critical moments are real. It is a compelling story and one that puts into perspective why the expansion of NATO should include the Baltic states.

Yesterday, 26 April, I wrote a review for you of this book under the above title, & I'm wondering if it is possible to add 2 words to the final sentence of that review. The final sentence said, "It breathes with life." What I'd like for it to say is, "It breathes with life and love." I hope it's possible to make this addition. Thanks!

First & most basically, this is a geography & history text, complete with dates, stats, maps, data, 329 footnotes & a 253-item biblio. But it is unlike any such book I've read. As the title says, it describes life on the land of central Siberia by focussing on the tiny village Djarkhan, representative of 250 such hamlets in the huge Republic of Sakha. Djarkhan is in "polar land," less than 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle (1200 miles north of Chicago!), with 8 or 9 months of what I can only call winter. How the people have managed to survive there since 1600, from pre-Czarist to post-Communist eras, is an enthralling, almost unbelievable, story. But the sub-text of the book tells another tale, of 3 Djarkhan natives -- a grandfather who was honored in distant Moscow as the Sakhala record-holder for hay cutting, a mother who was "the most famous plastic oral surgeon in Sakha," & a daughter who is the co-author of this book with her husband, a distinguished American geographer. Thus its 112 pages of text are enriched with 62 personal photographs, reminiscences by villagers & on-the-spot observations. It breathes with life.

I was lucky enough to have a chance to assist the authors in the manuscript typing for this book, getting to read it as I typed. Without any education in geography, this book was easy to understand, but educational at the same time. I have never enjoyed an academic book more than I enjoyed this one. The people and places in the book come to life as stories are told as only a native villager could tell them. A must read for anyone interested in cultural studies.

I read this book in four hours. It was compelling to find out how the story would end. I plan to use this book in my English classes as a teaching source. This book about a 14 year-old girl who journeys to safety is encouraging and emotional. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, as I already have.

A very realistic story of fourteen-year-old Nina, a Yugoslavian girl, living in a village in the war zone. Her parents are dead and her favorite brother is in the army, so she lives with the grandfather, a war vetern, in the village where the family spent every summer. They live with a suitcase always packed. When trouble does come, grandfather tells her to go to the address found on a letter packed away in the attic. It was one of her mother's friends before she was married.

Grandfather tells Nina to chose very carefully the people she asks for help and then smile at the stranger. He feels it will be hard for a stranger to ignore Nina smiling and asking for help. Nina's journey to the English address is told with all the confusion typical to a normal fourteen-year-old who is forced to rely on the good will of complete strangers. She relives in her mind the good times with her best friend Anja who was killed and with her family in the happy days before the war. She pretends to be older than her age, but it is her innocence which shines through.

A strong, well-written story about a nice quiet teen with the courage to battle her way out of a war zone. A timely book on a country still torn apart by war.

While the reports out of the former Yugoslavia have focused onthe ethnic conflicts, as well they should, the ethnicity of the maincharacter, Nina, is a mystery to the reader. It is an effective plotdevice. It forces us to deal with the war through the eyes of anadolescent, who may or may not understand what's going on. We feel the war through her confusion.All we know is that she is in an awful situation.

I think the strength of this book lies in its voice. Although told in the third person, it's through the eyes of Nina that we experience everything. And there are times when Nina is not such a nice person. I really liked this aspect of it. Nina was allowed to remain an ordinary person, with ordinary foibles. She was not made into some saint who could do no wrong purely by dint of her being a victim--although it's very clear that she is a victim.

The author does a wonderful job of presenting a well-rounded, real person to us. And the effect is that it makes what happens to her less about the specifics of Yugoslavia and more to do with the fact that it could happen to anyone at any time if the circumstances are such. END

There are many books to be found on clandestine intelligence operations. Most of these focus on the organs of the US State Department, and corresponding agencies in other countries. This book is a rare gem in that it deals with military intelligence operations and techniques, and provides an extremely useful insight into operational procedures used by US military intelligence during and immediately after the Second World War. For this alone it is worth the purchase, but the authors also manage to amaze and intrigue along the way with tales of operations gone wrong as well as the flotsam and jetsom of post war Europe.

More than a history of arranging Soviet defectors to escape, this gives an intense perspective from time and age. It would make a wonderful screenplay for a Spielberg adoptation. As an American Jew I am proud to know that James Milano performed like Oskar Schindler when he learned firsthand of the German policy of extermination. The gripping chapter on the Mauthausen concentration camp describes Milano's feelings: "Now, after the war, the nightmare stories were proved true- and short of the truth." Milano's moto of making the damn decision after an intelligent manipulation of risk descibes why his operations were so successful. Because we know that Milano himself is the primary source, it fortifies the accuracy of the amazingly clandestine rat line. I highly commend this exciting book.

This is a first hand account of CIC operations in the cockpit of the Cold War-Austria. It is now little remembered that Austria was the only European country occupied by the Soviets to be evacuated during the Cold War. (Although in Asia, they did leave Iran and North Korea.)Both sides' focus was on the North German plain, the traditional invasion route between East and West, and vice versa. Not the southern route from the Adriatic through the Ukraine. Thus the major Allied intelligence effort was was in Germany. Most of the activities described herein are the usual tradecraft--doubling agents, honey traps, sneak and peek, etc. This would be just another tale and not of great importance, except for the Rat Line. This was a clandestine evacuation operation run for persons escaping from the Soviet-controlled areas. Because the occupation of Austria ended in 1955, and Austria was then neutralized, it was easier to run penetration and escape operations from there than through the hard border further north. Actually, there were more than one Rat Line. It is said that Martin Bormann, Adolf Eichman, and other top Nazis escaped via Italy. Be that at it may, Klaus Barbee did get out in a U.S. sponsored operation. But the U.S. Rat Line was more important for getting out persons of intelligence value, who once debriefed, had to be put under deep cover in a safe place. (Imagine a witness protection program, but with the whole USSR intellops looking for you, instead of a few mobsters.)This is probably the last first-hand account of CI field ops we will get of those days. After all, all of the vets are well over 70 and most were middle aged then. I also recommend Ib Melchior's book on his service as a CI agent. (cf)

Solomon Volkov is a sorcerer. He will have you chuckling out loud one minute & weeping the next! In the pages of this book, you will come to know the people of St. Petersburg; their glory, their sorrow, their passion, their genius. Volkov has brought this immortal city across the ocean and planted it firmly in my heart. It has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the talents of those who, in some cases, forfeited theirs lives for the sake of creative freedom.

Not only is the author obviously erudite about his subject matter, he is in love with it, making this book more than just an outsider's account of a city's cultural history. Exploring the 'mythos' of St. Petersburg through the work and lives of many of the creative spirits who either lived here or reflected the city in their works -- Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoyevski, Akhmatova among the better-known -- Volkov brings to life the very streets, houses, and canals of a great city on the border of Russia and Europe. But even more, his reader has the great pleasure of being accompanies on this journey by the very Russian-intellectual thoughtfulness and erudition, 'intelligentnost', of the author. Warmly recommended indeed.

Solomon Volkov has prepared for Western readers a breathtaking history of St. Petersburg's cultural treasures. Anyone who has seen "The Nutcracker Ballet" should read this book. Volkov brings forth the great ballet artists, classical music composers, painters, and writers who were centered in St. Petersburg, Russia's "window on Europe". Most of these great artists are as familiar to western readers as Tchaikovsky. But we are also introduced to equally great artists, poets, and writers we didn't know before. The introduction is invaluable. Underlying the "stars" of center stage, and running throughout the 300 years of cultural history is a constant reference to the "mythos of St. Petersburg" which Russian emigres worldwide will recognize with longing and affection. It is important to learn of the deeply-felt magical aura this city imposed on the artists and writers who lived there, including on Solomon Volkov himself.