For the first time I read this book when I was in the forth grade of the High School. What impressed me most was the personality and strength of Ahmed Nuruddin, a sheik of a tekka and the way he coped with reality. In this case it was a guilt for not trying too much to save his brother. On the other side, it was guilt for doing things that he was not supposed to do as a sheik of tekka. It is a philosophy of life - all in one in a wonderful book written by Selimovic. How did I fell after I read this book? I felt I had cleared my soul and I found a new approach to problems in life. It is a source of human feelings, from fear to joy. What is good and what is evil in every human being? What is it that makes people commit crime? The evil of the twentieth century comes to our souls once we read the book. We cannot escape it. It is a history of humankind. It is both our treasury and guilt. Selimovic made a picture of one soul. We make a picture of ourselves when we finish reading this great book. It might be time to ask yourself about your life.

After all of these reviews that I have just found here, there is no sense of talking about the characters of this great book, but I would like to write some things that maybe not all readers know. Mesa Selimovic was born in Tuzla, Bosnien and Herzegovina, same like me. My high-school name was Mesa Selimovic and I am very proud of it. The messages from "Dervis i smrt" are universal, but they are also the picture of bosnian tradition and society, and the most important fact - they represent the mirror of bosnian soul. If you want to learn something more about Bosnia, its people and history, than you should read this book. As a Bosnian I can't think of a better book. And I don't think that it's bad to say that Selimovic was Bosnian (according to Mazedonian reader ), because he was. It was not mentioned in the review was he a Croat, Muslim, or Serb, and it doesn't matter. I think that we after all that happened in my homeland at least have right to say that we are Bosnians without mentioning the nationality. Bosnia is home for all of us. Don't denial this right to Selimovic.

Few days ago I finished my fourth reading of this book and I experienced exactly the same mixed feelings I had after my first reading.I was sad to witness such a human tragedy and I was happy because in this book I found a real treausure of human mind. Even though located in the Balkans dark age the story still sends a universal human mesagge where philosophical exsistence of good and evil live in eternal confrontation. The final sentence (...death is nonsense,the same as life) rather than lament sounds to me as an invitation for reflection about our existentialism and values we blindly follow and promote today. Finally, with all respect to the people who translated the book I find myself extremely lucky being able to read this book in its original version in bosnian language which is obviouslu much more authentic and colourful. P.S. I would not like to open a political debate in this place but I found the Cyprys' reader final comment about Selimovic's "Serb's" background extremely offensive, inaccurate and inappropriate. By the way, the biographic data about Selimovic, that I as a Bosnian know , are completely different but I have no intention to place his genius in a shadow of political triviality.

I my opinion, that is the one of the best book of Soviet Union, of paranoy that resim. Kapuœciñski is for me a poet and his book is poem... I agree with Pavel (the first review). In 1998 in Poland Kapuœciñski publised his last book "Heban", it's about Africa. He went there of vew years (was like a respondent)and he write of african paradoxs. It's very good book too. I hope that it will be translaiting on English soon. I'm glade too, that "Imperium" was good translated, it's very importent.

I consider myself a lifelong student of Russia and the former Soviet Union, having read and studied a huge number of books and reports on the subject. But Ryszard Kapuscinski's Imperium is superior to everything else I have read and imagined. He is a keen observer and a superb writer; he has traveled to cities and regions where even the most hardened Russian reporters didn't go. His prose is gripping and the translation is excellent. Reading this book is a rare pleasure. I recommend it very highly to all those who want to understand what Russia is and why the Russians are the way they are. They are very different from the rest of the world and Kapuscinski unravels the mystery better than any body else. Having studied Eastern Europe for more than 50 years I can say this with a great deal of confidence.

At first I have to say, that I really haven't read that book in english, so I don't know the english translation, only the original version of the book. I LOVED IT. I have always been intrested in history and I have always loved "fact literature", and this book is a comprehensive and colorful, tragic story of a tragic country. It turns us inside-out. We can hardly stop reading. And all the time we have a chance to admire Ryszard Kapuscinski's specific, beutiful and simple in it's structure - style. We see a picture of a country of misery.Country of pain and blood. But not only. Through the author's eyes, we watch the people,see their emotins, their life, their faith and power.Ryszard Kapuscinski,unequalled for many world's great journalist,master of reportage has written a beautiful book, which made me a huge fan of him. Imperium - especially recommended.

As a Librarian I see many books about living abroad. Unfortunately they are usually written from the British perspective. The British information regarding employment in Italy really doesn't pertain to US citizens.However, this book explains all the ways to work, live and have a wonderful life in Italy! Make sure your bags are packed - you'll want to leave for Italia as soon as you are finished reading the book!

As a "frequent flyer" of expatriate-research books I have to say this is at the top of the list. The first edition was very good but obviously dated in it's listings of Internet and other topical data.

However it is for the non-technical details, the day-to-day aspects of living, that I look for in these books. The second edition still upholds this most-important standard. Many books of this nature only hold info for Europeans. I feel this one is as usable by Americans and Europeans alike.

The only omission - since Sept 11, 2001, I really don't hear a lot about how save it is for Americans to live in any of the European countires. This book didn't touch on it for Italy or discuss how Italians feel about having American neighbors. Likewise I don't know about the relative level of safety for Americans in European countries with large immigrant populations from unstable countires. To this date I still don't know how safe it would be to live in Italy or any other European country. That is obviously a very important issue for deciding where to settle, of if it is safe enough to leave the states at all.

Otherwise a great read! Now if someone would write book as good as this about France...

Buy this for the visa information, if nothing else. This is by far the most informative and thorough book for US citizens on the subject that I have read. Some of the political and historical information is a bit slanted, but the practical information is accurate and extremely helpful for those who decide they simply must live in Italy.

It's a nice book, with excerpts of letters, and many photographs; although geared towards children, I at sixteen found it adorable. Although when you look at it, it's sad--how an innocent girl, caught up in politics, was shot. It's a nice look into the "eyes" of Anastasia, and I bet 'Shvyzbik' would be pleased.

Beautifully and honestly presented, "Anastasia's Album" tells the story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna Romanova. It offers a delightful glimpse of life in Imperial Russia, before and during its collapse, enhanced by photographs from the Romanov family albums and quotes from the family's letters and diaries. "Anastasia's Album" covers Anastasia's life from birth up to the family's imprisonment. It very tastefully tells of the family's tragic end and also has an epilogue that addresses the Anna Anderson controversy and subsequent films, setting the reader straight on the historical truth.

One of the greatest things about "Anastasia's Album" is how children absolutely love it! I teach elementary school, and the book has been a favorite among my students every year. It has turned several of my students on to history, and many of them did their own Russian history research after starting with "Anastasia's Album."

In all, this is a fantastic book, and Shelley Tanaka did the world a great service in writing it! "Anastasia's Album" should be in every school library and is a must-read for history buffs of all ages.

I loved this book. I did wish it was longer, with more pictures.
Also more quotes from Anastasia herself, not just the author's
words.

I was so surprised to find that Theresa Tomlinson had written another "Maid Marian" book, I was so glad and fulfilled with the first one (THE FORESTWIFE) I had no idea what to expect out of this one.

I am glad to say that CHILD OF MAY is a great read, not as folktalish and historic as her previous work, but with just enough romance and action but pulling back of what you want to happen to make you just sit at the end and wonder just "WHY DID THA-T HAVE TO HAPPEN!?" Hehe, buy this great book for young adults and lovers of Robin Hood tales.

I didn't expect to find another Maid Marian/Robin Hood toned book, and came this book came of as a shock after reading the very beautiful prequel (if you'd call it that) THE FORESTWIFE. Once again, this is another well written and well thought of novel, with the usual load of twists and subplots that keep you interested. Ella Enchanted readers may find this book just as loveable.

Not as well written and loveable as the previous book The Forestwife, but with the same amount of love and action to make you want a copy of this book for yourself. Though I missed the young Marian, Robin Hood was just as cunning and hearty as he was in the previous book. Gotta get this book if you loved Catherine, Called Birdy!

When one of the world's most eminent historians takes on the single most amazing phenomenon of the century, the Holocaust, it gives one pause for thought. So here we have Sir Martin Gilbert, a noted Holocaust authority, writing masterfully about the events leading up to and including the systematic persecution, deportation and murder of the Jews of Europe. His stirring and singular narrative is regularly punctuated by a number of poignant and shocking eyewitness accounts of many who lived through those numbing events. The test is extremely approachable and easy to read, so that the non-historian can appreciate the breadth and scope of his recounting of the events during the 12-year reign of terror levied by the National Socialists in Nazi Germany.

His approach is chronological, much like that employed in his best-selling three volume series on the 20th century. While he relies heavily on established secondary sources for his documentation, the power of his prose and his well-organized approach makes this an entertaining and educational tome to venture into. Although nowhere near as comprehensive as some other tomes such as Klaus Fischer's "History Of An Obsession", he does trace the centuries' long tradition of anti-Semitism culminating in the official state sanctioned approach codified in the institutionalized Nuremberg laws. In all this, Gilbert brilliantly employs survivor's recollections to paint the atrocities in the hues and colors of real human beings, ordinary and identifiable individuals caught in the insanity of the Third Reich. Furthermore, he pursues their individual identities and humanity by giving the reader information on the postwar futures of these people.

So much has been written about the Holocaust that it is difficult to imagine much new or novel to arise some fifty years after the end of the war. Yet the stage always remains open for the unusual display of finely crafted historical perspectives and brilliantly executed prose. The brilliance in this dazzling book is, as Oscar Schindler would have said, in the presentation. Although I have read a number of other books about these times and events that were more detailed, more graphic, or more comprehensive, this is without a doubt the single most impressive, cohesive, and authoritative volume I have read to date regarding the Holocaust in its enormity, and placed in an understandable and comprehensible context. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in owning the single best one-volume book summarizing and explaining the realities of the Holocaust.

The more people hear about the Holocaust in our Holocaust-drenched culture, the less they seem to know about it. Most people's understanding of the Holocaust reduces to simplistic abstractions and cliches, particularly the notion that the worst thing about the Nazi war against the Jews was that it was impersonal and bureaucratic. This book is the antidote to all that. By tracing in specific detail, from month to month and year to year, what the Nazi regime actually did to the Jewish communities of Europe that fell under its power, Martin Gilbert gives the reader a more vivid and concrete sense of the Holocaust than can be found in any other book (or museum) on the subject. Contrary to the focus of the popular mind on Auschwitz and gas chambers, the Holocaust did not consist of one event or one crime. It consisted of innumerable, specific crimes, in a steadily mounting unleashing of cruelty that only an epic-length treatment such as Mr. Gilbert's could adequately portray. This is an indispensable book that will forever change your understanding of one of history's central events.

Of the thirty books I have read on this subject, this one book tells the reader most of what they would ever want to know about this historic event. The book is logically laid out from the seeds of antisemitism to the "Final Solution." After reading this book, I visited some of the places mentioned and felt the power of these places through Gilbert's words. An outstanding read!

"We can always find another widow for Lenin." So threatened Stalin to Lenin's real widow Krupskaya, whom he hated. So absolute was the Communist Party's hold on all aspects of public life in Russia in Stalin's reign, that famous people, who had been praised to the skies just the week before, could be utterly effaced from the public's mind through sheer terror. Once someone fell from favor with the dictator, his name and picture were erased from the public record--even books critical of the person could be proscribed--and to even mention his name might mean prison or worse. This book is the author's attempt to trace the trail of falsification through Stalin-era photos and artworks.

It is a testament to the censor's thoroughness that the trail is quite incomplete. In many cases, the author hasn't been able to find even the name of the extirpated individual in the before-and-after photos. Some of the examples given here were taken from the folio albums of the Soviet photographer Rodchenko. After the bureaucrats he had photographed were arrested and shot, he went to work inking and scissoring out his own work, the images of the new non-persons.

The heroic photomontages, with the jut-jawed Bolsheviks vanguarding the masses, are appalling when you think of how many would later be arrested, tortured into accusing themselves of the most heinous, yet baseless, crimes, and then shot. The damned were airbrushed out of the picture, replaced with a stripped-in comrade, or a painted-in pillar or staircase, sometimes leaving a shoe or elbow that the retoucher missed. The Western mind shudders at the slavish worship that Stalin had at his command, to cause such colossal lies to be perpetuated. Read this big, lavishly illustrated book, and get the real picture.

There is a secret inside this book. Inside is a collage showing about 200 people. These people were instrumental in getting Russia's October Revolution off the ground. Stalin is not one of these people. Therefore, to maintain the myth that Stalin and Lenin were the "Two Leaders" of the Revolution, Stalin had to kill off three quarters of the people on the collage because they "knew too much." And the great purges are what the rest of the book is about.

Stalin, more than anyone else in history, has altered the past to serve the present. His censors have visibly altered old photographs in order to remove the latest denounced "traitor to the working class" (or whatever) from old group photographs. With the old Soviet archives now open to the public and ex-Soviet citizens now free to view the unaltered archives in the West, we can see today how extensive this process was.

Trotsky, his chief opponent, was systematically removed from thousands of photographs -- those where he stood next to Lenin. With Trotsky gone, the 'Trotskyists' (however Commrade Stalin defined them) were next. The group photos had to be cropped in order to cover up the dwindling number of Revolutionary heroes. The comparison between the 'before' and 'after' pictures is chilling reminder of the immense suffering that Stalin caused to people who were as dedicated to the same ideals as he was -- but not as ruthless.

What would it take to make Hell on earth seem real to you? This profoundly disturbing book had that effect for me.

It might be possible to view this book as humorous. Mr. King's years of patient scholarship have unearthed unmarred originals of photographs that he presents with little or no comment next to what are frequently crudely butchered falsifications of those who fell out of favor with Stalin. Particularly in the age of computer photomanipulation, the alterations are initially comical to twenty-first century eyes.

As one works through the book, however, the comic effect is obliterated by mute evidence of the sheer numbers of people who were expunged year after year from the historical record. Particularly frightening are the official portraits self-censored by relatives of the now-deceased in hopes of forestalling the same fate.

Although not strictly a falsification, of particular interest to me was a picture of the document officially expelling Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party, complete with angry annotations in the margin by Comrade Trotsky himself.

I'd like to believe that the very existence of this book and its photographic record, despite the Soviet attempt of many years to rewrite history, proves that no regime can stifle all unflattering facts about itself for all time. But then I wonder in how many cases, about how many people, they might have been successful. By all means, read this book. Be a witness. Remember the dead. But be warned. The stuff of this history is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

An incredibly inventive and thought-provoking collection, "Strange Pilgrims" is reminiscent of Milan Kundera's "Book Of Laughter and Forgetting", as well as Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried". Constructed as interweaving short stories, these twelve misfit pieces all deal with moving themes: loneliness, death, travel, the otherworldly nostalgia that these phenomena provoke, and ultimately the sadness of being lost in your own experiences. Like Kundera's "Laughter and Forgetting", "Strange Pilgrims" does not attempt to draw lucid conclusions between its seemingly unrelated characters. Instead, Garcia-Marquez simply allows the reader to develop his own relationship to the text. At times, "Strange Pilgrims" achieves what Garcia-Marquez so eloquently refers to when speaking of writing in the book's introduction-"the closest a human can get to the experirence of levitation." Highly recommended.

First book I ever read by GGM, and it packed a whallop!

Here are stories that seem to prove that to be human is to be in touch with magic. His voice is like no one else's, like some kind of rebel or radical, free of the constraints of society. I was refreshed by his individuality, his rather sweetly humorous take on the tragic foibles of man.

After this, I read almost everything else he authored. I encourage all readers to get this book and read it now!

As I read "Strange Pilgrims," the collection of short stories by Colombian-born Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I was reminded of the classic television series "The Twilight Zone." Like some of the best episodes in that series, many of the stories in "Strange Pilgrims" are rich in irony and psychological intrigue, and incorporate elements of the macabre and the fantastic. And many of the stories have twist endings. This collection has been translated into English by Edith Grossman.

These stories deal with Latin Americans on voyages, for various reasons, to Europe. The book thus has a trans-Atlantic, international feel. Highlights of the collection include "Bon Voyage, Mr. President," about a deposed head of state seeking medical attention in Switzerland; "The Saint," a supernatural tale of a father seeking canonization of his daughter from the Pope; the creepy "The Ghosts of August"; and the grotesque "Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen."

Throughout the book Garcia Marquez presents many images that are beautiful or disturbing, but often memorable: a drowned man floating with "a fresh gardenia in his lapel," a moray eel nailed to a door, a bedspread stiff with the dried blood from a murder. An added bonus is the appearance of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as a fictional character in one of the tales. "Strange Pilgrims" is a varied collection of weird treats from a master storyteller.

John Berger's to The Wedding traces a poetic and delicate path, elliptically circling round an initially undefinable story; the reader has to stick with it to find the many ways of seeing its intricate web. The writing seems quite detached and even sometimes cold, but certain brief and passing phrases cut so close to the bone that they have brought me and many friends of mine close to tears. (The book is somewhat reminiscent of the The English Patient in its detachment, although the lyrical style of To The Wedding is quite different, much more compact and spare) The other thing that's interesting about the book is that at first it seems like a scene set in a time past, but as you get a clue of the real "story", it's ultimately quite surprising in its modernity and specificity in addressing issues of our time (i don't want to give anything away plotwise!). The juxtaposition of this specificity of purpose and the timelessness of the symbolism and the fact that it deals with universally recognisable human emotions of nostalgia, sorrow and loss are what give the book its strength. No doubt the fact that it is based on actual events and characters in the author's family lends it its special poignancy

I love this book and recommend it to all of my friends, no matter what their tastes are. "To the Wedding" is intimate and yet epic in spirit. what Mr. Berger does with voice is daring and remarkably effective: a blind man tells us what he sees, and characters are revealed in both in first and third-person. Like Ondaatje's Hana, Ninon and will remain with you for a long, long time.

This is one of those jewels that, by itself, make learning to read the most important thing we learned, and having a heart the most profound gift we were ever given. The story is a story of love. Of how love survives on love alone, and we are its humble witnesses. Berger weaves the longings and fears of people, like you and I, wrestling with living, meeting and knowing, carving some faith out of this world. I purposely abstain from telling the story in concrete terms. I leave it to you to discover it and paint their lives with your own colors. This is about a story of faith, faith on love and its simplicity and depth. Faith on another whose faith is offered to us. Berger's narration is a lesson to every writer who ever long to disappear behind his or her words. A gift to every reader hungering for the beauty and warmth of true language. In times, like ours, when self-reflection is invaded by the jargon of self-help, and everyone seems to sound like everyone else--pain a! nd experience stripped from their detail--John Berger gives us people with souls and doubts and joys of their own. If this book doesn't make you better, it sure will make you kinder.

This book is an excellent mythology reader. The first section is devoted to the stories of gods and heroes. The majority of the stories is from Greco-Roman mythology and includes such classics as Apollo and Daphne, Pygmalion, The Golden Fleece, Midas, The Sibyl, and much more. This part also devotes four chapters to Eastern Mythology (Hindu myths, Zoroastor, etc.), Norse mythology (Thor, etc.) and The Druids of Iona. Part two is made up of the popular Arthurian legends and contains many of the most famous stories such as Tristam and Isoude, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the Death of Arthur. Much of this section is rendered in verse. This part also has the Mambinogeon and other myths of the British race (e.g. Beowulf and Robin Hood). The final section (my personal favorite) includes the legends of Charlemagne, or more specifically those of his paladins. This is where one can find stories of Orlando, Rinaldo, and Ogier the Dane. These stories are not as famous as the Arthurian legends, but are just as exciting. There is a very helpful dictionary of names and terms and a few maps and illustrations. Also, the English is fairly easy to read and shouldn't be difficult for the average person. This book is not complete; many of the stories are obviously abridged. It would be nice if it included annotations or a bibliography for those wanting to read more in depth. However, the introduction includes a very basic history of the stories, which should help the more enterprising reader find the unabridged editions. Still, Bulfinch's Mythology is one of the best and least expensive ways become acquainted with these classic stories. I highly recommend it!

BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY is THE classic introduction to ancient and medieval myths. In three volume's, Thomas Bulfinch recounted and referenced classical stories of Graeco-Roman gods and heroes, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Norse and Hindu mythology, the Arthurian legends, Robin Hood, the Mabinogeon, and the tales of Chalemagne and his paladins. All three volumes are combined here in a single book. Besides making great reading on their own, these tales, and the values and ideals that they illustrate, are at the very heart of western literature and culture. Shakespeare, Milton, and most of the other icons of English literature drew on them repeatedly. The modern fantasy genre has its origins in this material. Tolkien was inspired by it. They are "must" reading for anyone who aspires to be considered "educated".

There are just a couple of negatives here. The particular edition I have has a lot of typographical errors in it. There were such things as a sentence beginning "She..." when clearly it should have begun "The...", for example. Further, one can find fuller retellings of specific stories in other places. These are minor points, however. Bulfinch is still the classic introduction and source for mythological tales. Plus, as I said, it's great fun. Most people can profit from Bulfinch. Fantasy fans should especially love it.

This book is a most buy . This book was used by Ensemble Studios from Microsoft to create the game Age of Mythology (AOM). What else can I say? if any of you are fan of the Age of Empires series then you'll know what I'm talking about. :)