History Books

I think a point of interest is that Constantine was a Pagan his entire life and did not denounce Paganism until he was on his death bed. He mandated that Sunday be observed as The Sabbath (makes sense because it is a Pagan Sabbath, Sun Day reserved for worship of The Sun God) The Jews are the only ones observing the True Sabbath (Saturday). It was at this point Christianity took an interesting turn and Christians no longer worshipped as 1st century Christians but more like Pagans. They were basically forced to adopt many pagan rituals through the guise of Catholicism. I do not think this was an accident seeing as The Roman Empire was predominantly Pagan. They were having great difficulty in Controlling Christians and I believe candy coating Paganism in Christianity was a way to achieve total control. It is not religion that seeks to control the masses it's actually Pagans and they want you to believe it's Religion or better yet Christians. True Christians aren't war mongers. If you celebrate Easter(The worship of Ishtar) and Christmas (Saturnalia, The birth of the Sun God) you are practicing Pagan Traditions. Christ was born in the fall sometime between Sept and October. Christ was killed by The Roman Empire, therefore killed by Pagans not by The Jewish people. Although they would like you to believe that. I was raised Catholic however I do believe that many of the atrocities committed have not been by Christians they have been orchestrated by Pagans since the beginning of time. History will show you that. Just as I don't believe the Amish are a violent people.

To understand the history of western civilization it is imperative to understand the catholic church in particular, and christianity in general. For a basic understanding of these underpinnings of the western world, this book is a must. Whether you agree or not with Carroll on points, it is a thought provoking and well choreographed work. Being an anti-religionist, I approached this book with scepticism, but after just the first few lines I was taken in. Caroll is a thoughtful writer whose melodious use of words and language make this hefty book a treasure. I don't believe the book is available in an audible format, but it should be.

I found this book to be factual, brilliant and disturbing. Perhaps if the issues in this book could be openly addressed by all religions, as the author so desires, we could have love replace fear and its evil twin hatred as the dominant emotions in the world today.

A WELL DOCUMENTED HISTORICAL BOOK. ONCE YOU START READING IT IS VERY HARD TO PUT DOWN IT IS VERY WELL WRITTEN AND ENTERTAINING. THIS BOOK HAS CONFIRMED A LOT OF THE BELIEVES I HAD ABOUT THE ORIGINAL CHURCH FOUNDED BY THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE BUT SOMETIMES IT IS VERY HARD AS A CHRISTIAN TO READ ABOUT THE HORRORS COMMITED IN THE NAME OF JESUS. I WOULD ONLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO THOSE WHO ARE OPEN TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH AS DIFFICULT AS IT MAY BE TO ACCEPT IT. IT IS MY OPINION THAT RELIGIOUS AND PIOUS INDIVIDUALS MAY BE OFFENDED BY THE TRUTHS EXPOSED IN THIS WONDERFUL WORK.

This is the best book I've ever read. I was amazed to discover the actual origins of some church policies and the specifics of how anti-semitism arose in Western society. This isn't just another boring history book, it almost reads like a novel. It will enlighten you, and thereby, make you a beter person no matter what your religion.

Let's be honest - if anyone knows about brewing and the brewing business, it's Sam. His chronicles of a half-madman half-beer-lover turned brewery owner are fantastic. He shows that you really don't have to know about business in order to run one, but for Heaven's sake learn from your mistakes and get all the help you can. This is incredibly inspiring and reassuring for those considering opening his or her own brewery, reviewer included. It should however, like anything he writes, come with a coupon for a free four/six pack of Dogfish brew.

It really is a light in a tunnel when you're an entrepreneur that is breaking new ground. Offers hood advise on steps to take and importance on building the team.

[...]

In this combination auto biography, business account, and brewery guide Sam Calagione, lays down what challenging the big American breweries is like and his mission to redefine of beer to public. It was not an easy path, but it has a happy ending. Some of the stories he went through are just amazing. He is open to sharing many of his mistakes over the decade it took to build up the Dogfish Head brand.

This was a very informative read, and I'm grateful that he is promoting craft brewing as an industry in the United States. Even if you are not planning to start your own brewery, it gets you more in touch with the industry as a whole. In terms of business sense, the insights shared could be applied to almost any area. If you are an entrepreneur who likes beer you will appreciate this book.

Topics unique to this book

* Starting a brewery
* Starting a pub house
* Managing a brand identity
* Niche marketing
* Creativity in brewing

This book is great for anyone starting a business or who interested in the subject.

Whether you are a home brewer like me (or not), Sam's story of inspiration and creative genius is amazing. There are marketing and business philosophies explored here that are universal. I am planning a trip to the Dogfishead Brewery in Delaware to experience first hand this remarkable business success.

This book is simple, clear and accurate. I've turned to it over and over again and can't recommend it too highly. Smiley is especially good when he gets to the second half of the 1930s. I have one copy at the office, one copy at home and carry one around in my backpack when there's room. Also great: Jim Powell's "FDR's Folly," "The Great Depression" by Thomas E Hall and J David Ferguson, Allan Meltzer, and of course Friedman and Schwartz. Superb but hard to get: Lester V Chandler.

This is a brief and relatively easy to read monetarist review of 'the great depression'. It is unclear to what the title calls 'rethinking' might refer. My guess is that the author is rethinking Keynes, but it might be FDR. Since the difference between Keynes and monetarists is subtle to all but Keynesians and monetarists, I wouldn't recommend this as a introduction to the subject, nor as a survey.

The text presents a matter of fact narrative, starting in 1929 and ending with the war efforts of 1940. The author find the source of economic contractions (recessions and depressions) in monetary policy established on a country by country basis. These contractions were caused by a shrinking money supply which could be correlated to effort to maintain a fixed relationship between gold and the national currency. Unaware of the relationship between money supply and economic goals (full employment, growth, etc), both Hoover and FDR made the necessary economic correction prolonged and painful. According to the author, the misguided new deal programs started by FDR have taken on a life of their own. The problems posed by 'New Deal' government programs consumes most of the concluding remarks. To end the book, Smiley writes "What failed in the 1930s were governments, in their eagerness to direct activity to achieve political ends... Attempts to stop international financial markets from working through the gold standard brough on the depression. Government efforts to combat the depression ... made the depression much longer and more severe in the United States. Governemnt attempts to reshape American society ... helped create a depression with the depression.'

Though one might think this come across as a polemic against FDR and what the author calls 'socialism', the author takes pains to show that everyone, including all the economists, misunderstood the 'depression'. Despite his confident narrative, the author doesn't exclude himself in this assessment. In a telling comment near the end of the book, Smiley states 'Still, our continued inability to develop econometric models that can accurately predict contractions means that we will not be free of them.' In other words, argues that no one knows what caused the depression. All he can do is point out the errors of various theories.

Based on new theories, Smiley has re-examined and re-assessed the forces that led to and prolonged the Great Depression. In clear non-technical prose, he shows what happened and why.

This short book (163 pages plus sources and index) is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of how the worldwide depression began and how it created a domino effect throughout Europe and the U.S. Nothing new here-- in fact, this is basic stuff any high schooler should know.

Chapter 2 is a more detailed examination of the economic crisis and the forces which led to it. Smiley explains the situation in basic terms that anyone can understand, allowing us to see the tragedy unfolding step by step.

Chapters 3 and 4 show how President Roosevelt (who had little knowledge or experience of economics) attempted to pull the country out of this deep economic slump. Though some programs were successful, some were not, and only serve to create a depression within a depression in the mid-30s.

Chapter 5 examines the legacy of the governmental response, and how economic policies initiated during this period has affected this country for decades afterward, and how certain government programs still exist long after their usefulness has passed. An examination of post-war analysis shows how Keynesian economic theory and government studies have misinterpreted the factors which brought this country back to recovery. He also examines the question of whether such an event can happen again, concluding that-- based on subsequent economic downturns-- it probably won't, though it can happen again should future leaders ignore the warning signs and lessons of the past.

A fascinating and rewarding book, even for those who have little or no knowledge of economics.

Smiley has done a fantastic job with this book. It is well organized and very easy to read. He makes a statement and then follows up with the data and information necessary to support that statement. The second chapter on the cause of the great depression is my favorite and after finishing the book I went through that chapter again to really drill the information in. This book should be required reading for all college students. I normally give books away after reading them but I won't be giving this one away.

Smiley discusses the cause the the Great Depression, and the effects of the New Deal in prolonging it. He summarizes the findings of the latest academeic research, over the past few decades. He does this well and quite clearly, in a non-polemical way.

No math is involved.

As other reviews have more than aptly addressed the novel content of the book, the merit of the writing and, honestly, the unabashed and probably slightly biased love for Pixar, I think the only thing that I can add is my thoughts on the how the story of Pixar affected my own perspective and motivation as a artist and filmmaker. With each chapter that I read, I find that I am more inspired and motivated to push my own self further. It is the author's ability to communicate, in quite simple and, perhaps, slightly mundane descriptions, the passion and motivation of the likes of Ed Catmull and John Lasseter. The fact that there is no need for dramatization or exaggeration in this story of the evolution of this particular animation studio is merit unto itself. It is truly intriguing to know the steps, the missteps and the sheer luck that combined to make Pixar a possibility...a wondrous possibility to be sure. Though I admire Pixar, know that this book is not a series of simple pictures or short anecdotes to be easily digested like some "art of" books. It is detailed and biographical and likely, sometimes, offers a bit too much info for a casual reader. Overall, I find it a good book for artists in the industry as well as business folk who enjoy reading case studies on the evolution of successful businesses.

Being a stockholder of Pixar and Disney, and a San Francisco Bay Area resident... I have read many stories over the years [regarding Pixar] in our local newspapers, and it was great to be able to acquire more in depth details about the rise of Pixar from this book.

My company is in a related field so we have an inherent interest in Pixar and Disney, and the various bay area power personalities that run these two companies.

Over the years The Disney Company had moved away from the ideals that Uncle Walt set in place... and we feel that the merging of key creative people Like John Lassiter may help bring them back to Walt's original path.

2D animation will never thrive like it did in the past, but with a little care and attention to "how things used to be" I feel that Mr. Lassiter and his team will be able to get Disney back on the right track.

Pixar had a tough past (mostly financial) to deal with, and we understand that because my company is essentially in the same position, as we struggle to leave our mark... This book really helped by showing that tenacity and "stick-to-it" qualities are key factors when you have ideals that you believe it.

If you have innovative ideas that you believe in strongly... this book will help you hang in there. It demonstrates that good things do happen to good people. I highly recommend this one for your collection.

Just got this in the mail today - have only just skimmed it and read parts here and there, but it looks like a great book. The chapters "Making it Fly 1 &2" really caught my interest.

I'm giving this review four stars - mainly because of Amazon and the USPS, the book was shipped to me in one of the flimsy mail pouches and it sustained damage during shipping. The top of the book looks like it was jammed in a machine and the cover binding was crushed to the point of breaking. Add to that the dust cover was really wrinkled from being in such a flimsy package. I know some people might complain that this ain't a good reason to deduct a star from the review - but I see this review in part covering the whole experience of getting this book to add to my collection/library - including the purchase and shipping.

It has lots good information about how the Pixar company developed over the years. sometime, it seems lost main stream. overall, it is still a good book to read.

I don't expect anyone to believe this, but I have to get it off my chest. Price's book gives credit to John Lasseter's wife for creating the character of Jessie in Toy Story 2. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wrote the second draft of TS2 as an independent contractor at Pixar for three months when Ralph Guggenheim was the producer and Ash Brannon was the sole director. Ken Mitchroney was a story artist on the project and the person who had recommended me to try to fix the ungodly mess that was the first draft. He had suggested the film have a cowgirl, and I agreed.

Ken did preliminary character sketches, one of which was quite similar to the final character (and modeled on his redheaded wife). The final design was done by Jill Colton, also uncredited. I created Jessie on the page -- she was named and partially modeled after my friend Jessie Horsting, former West Coast Editor of Fantastic Films Magazine -- along with most of the film structure as it currently exists (the major exception being the third act, which I was much less involved with).

Not only did Lasseter's wife not have a thing to do with the movie, Lasseter didn't have much to do with it either. I never saw him once during my time at the production (and his taking co-credit for, and accepting awards on behalf of, the movie was a factor in Ash Brannon [SURF'S UP] leaving Pixar as well). After I left Disney showed up with their army of useless middle management, fired everybody, replaced them with their corporate flunkies, and let the project languish for another year. Rita Hsiao wrote a credited version, yet as far as I know what she did was stick post-its under storyboards. But, you know, she worked for Disney and was credited with Mulan. Woo hoo.

Finally Lasseter threw Andy Stanton at the project, the smartest thing he could have done. He made changes I wish I'd thought of and gave it a strong third act. Of Rita Hsiao's influence on the script I can't imagine a trace. Yet when story credit was handed out, Disney (yes, Disney; nobody actually involved with the picture determined story credit, and as a result people who literally did not write a word on the project got equal or higher billing, along with, quelle surprise, the aforementioned Ms. Hsiao) did not credit my script. If anything, I created Jessie and the Woody's Roundup scenes.

Ken Mitchroney designed the character of Zurg as well. Ken was a friend of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and has done a ton of Rat Finks and Hotrod/Tiki designs. Hey, what a surprise: Zurg is really a Tiki head! Look at him again. Ken also conceived, storyboarded, and pretty much created the traffic cone scene. He's the voice of Zurg on the ride at Disneyland.

Does Prices' book go even mention us? It is to laugh. This is just another book-length press release in which the writer nods his fannish head excitedly and scribbles on a legal pad while essentially acting as a mouthpiece for someone who is more than happy to take credit for the considerable work of others far more creative than he will ever be. It happily abandons any attempt at research and jumps on the bus of easily digestible corporate myth. Do you seriously think John Lasseter co-directed Toy Story 2? If you folks saw the pile of bodies those cute li'l characters stand on -- well, I have no doubt you'd still pony up your $12 and pack the theaters.

You never hear about this stuff because writers are afraid they won't work in this industry again. I, on the other hand, have nightmares that I will. Maybe this will help prevent that.

Is Price's book worthless because I didn't get credit? No, that's not the axe I'm grinding here. It's worthless because it's essentially a souvenir, a piece of memorabilia created, by proxy, by its subject matter. And I'm mad about it even now because I get to see paper towels and toy store aisles and coupon ads chock full of stuff that came out of my head (without any credit or compensation beyond a weekly salary -- and try finding a lawyer who will take on Disney), and continually witness people fed this lying corporate pablum, and here's yet another example by a lazy fanboy who doesn't bother to go beyond the same self-serving sources. It ain't so, folks.

This is a wonderful book....FUll of hope and love. You have to read it for yourself.

I have read other books by Cathy Marie Hake and was greatly pleased. However, this book was not a whirlwind by any means. I thought the book was slow in the beginning because they were on the ship too long. Also, I couldn't help but dislike Mr. Clark and all of his lists he kept having to make. I liked the character of Millicent and that is why I continued reading. While it would be a great book to check out from the library, it certainly wasn't worth the 10 bucks I spent. I am still looking forward to another book by Hake, because this is not her standard.

This book is the third set in the town of Gooding, Texas. Though it is a stand-alone book with no intertwining plot lines, characters from the past (Sydney, Hope, etc...) enter the scene on occasion making for a happy reunion.

The story begins with Nanny Millicent Fairweather being terminated from her position in England. She has cared for and adored 2 little girls but their absentee father has decided it best to send them to boarding school. For a special lastday together she plans a day of fun and chaos with the girls.

From here the book jumps forward and she is on a ship setting sail for America with her sister and brother-in-law. This is where she meets Daniel Clark, a widower whose nanny has just abandoned her post before the ships launching.

She and Daniel are bound to butt heads as they are polar opposites. Where Millicent is whimsical and impulsive, Daniel is structured and orderly. His only concern is his son (after guilt concerning the loss of his wife).

Aside from the romance there are several other side plots addig depth to the story. I don't want to spoil them (they are rather good!) so i won't expand on that. Characters are well developed and realistic. This book is especially good for engaged and newlyweds-- I really think that it is a good example of learning to trust and compromise.

This book was fun to read-- very entertaining with some humor, tragedy, romance, and light suspense. If this were a shoe it would be a cross-trainer-- there is really something for everyone. Well done!

If you are one of those people who sees everyone by location, race, politics or economic status, this travel through America will let you see the great people of this country as they really are: Americans.

The author doesn't walk across America. He starts his journey in NY and ends up in Louisiana.

I expected more camping-type outdoorsy adventures and hikes through mountains and valleys (as the title and the book's front cover suggests). Instead I got a four-month stay in a crowded house trailer owned by a black southern family, and his extended stay at the commune with the hippies. The author's brief visit with the mountain man was interesting.

The book leans heavily on other people, their activities and events. Little emotional insight is ever revealed about the author. The man and his dog are seldom alone, beating the path on foot or fending for themselves. The book reads like a teenager's "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" school report.

Younger people might like this book. Older adults may find it boring and lacking in luster and adventure.

I read Jenkins' book 20+ ears ago. I also had the chance to meet him. I can, honestly say that this book changed my life. He made me so curious about places I'd never seen that my native Ohio seemed pretty small. I worked toward an international career and ended up living in Europe for six years and traveling all over Asia. This is a pretty wonderful world with a lot of wonderful people. Thanks to this book, I got off my butt and went out to see it for myself. Thanks Peter!

When I was 21, I didn't have the nerve to just pick up and drive across America like some friends from college did. I wish I did. So now, even as a mom and a wife, my husband and I plan trips across the country to see what it is like and what we can share with our boys.

I picked this book up at my church library and it's a wonderful book ~~ so what if the grammar and writing style are awkward? It's wonderful. I am literally jealous because he experienced some things that I wish I did. He got on the road and traveled to see America with his very best friend, Cooper. Did I mention that Cooper is his dog? (As a dog owner, I totally relate to Jenkins' view that Cooper is his best friend.) So Jenkins decided to figure out if America is really a beautiful country ~~ disillusioned with the Vietnam War, politics, the "American Way" and with people. He decided that the only way he can ever know what he thinks or believes in is to hike across America. Apparently, this is the first book of that journey where he walks with Cooper, whom he lost due to an accident in Tennessee on The Farm. But all ends well in New Orleans.

Along the way, he meets a lonely mountain man and learned about the life on the mountains. He meets strangers who aren't friendly. He meets strangers that knew about him by word of mouth. He meets Governor Wallace in Alabama. He gets adopted by a family in the Carolinas, where he stopped for several months to work and earn money. He almost gets killed by a drunken posse who decided that he was alright after all ~~ without laying a finger on him. The man came back the next day and apologized for scaring him. He gets kicked out of a small community because he was a "hippie" with a beard and long hair. He communes on The Farm where everyone worked together and raised vegetables/fruits, children together. He traveled long and hard before reaching the Gulf. And his stories are just fascinating.

If you like travel stories, this is definitely a good one to pick up. If you want to hear about a man's viewpoint about different parts of the country ~~ this is a good choice. It's clean, refreshing and stark. It's not the best writing in the world, but he was 22 when he did that and he wasn't trained to be a writer. But he did something that a lot of people wish that they could do (including me).

8-31-07

To me, Peter Jenkins comes across as a very selfish, self-centered person. At the beginning, he abandoned his young wife for no apparent reason (he does not really explain what happened except by saying things got unbearable between them), in the end, he dragged another girl to walk across the country with him, even though he realized that this would totally disrupt her career. Even his treatment of his dog shows that he is obsessed with himself -- he thought his dog could think like a human (actually, like him) and he used plural to describe what he and his dog think (we remembered, we liked or did not like this place, etc.), which is completely ridiculous, mildly irritating and totally laughable. I guess that what long, lonely walks do to people, and if you get stranded on an island, you may also talk to a volleyball.

Even though he tried to distance himself from the hippies, he really is just another hippie who cares only about himself and his "spiritual journey" rather than the people who care about him. How his whole walk started is still not very clear to me, he said it was because he hated his country and wanted to see it for himself, but from the book I did not get a strong impression of this. Instead, I got the impression that it was just another excuse for him to walk away from responsibility.

But, I guess we shouldn't be too harsh on the author. Despite the somewhat juvenile writing style, irksome overuse of exclamation marks, the absurdity of using plural to describe himself and his dog, the trite story of how he found god in some southern evangelical congregations, and the adolescent and melodramatic love affair at the end, walking and working his way from upper state New York to New Orleans is no small feat, neither is writing a book about it. Overall, it was an easy, mostly enjoyable (though occasionally irritating) read.

The parts about the mountain hermit and when he lived with a black family are the highlights of the book. I also think the author did an adequate, if not excellent, job of recording the conversations of people with different background and origins. The part about "The Farm" (a place where a group of hippie cult people lived) is kind of confusing. Why did he go back and in the process got his dog killed? Why didn't he just walk away?

I also found some of his self-confessed "preconceptions" about southerners are so stereotypical that they do not appear very believable anymore; they sound more like what he made up afterwards to build a contrast between his preconceptions and reality in order to tell the story ("I thought they were just undereducated rednecks, but wait, they are actually nice folks"). More importantly, The religious undertone almost got out of hand at the end and was in danger of ruining the book. Had it happened earlier in the book, it must have made it intolerable. Fortunately that was not the case.

I wavered between giving it a 3 or 4 stars (truthfully I would give it a 3.5 stars), but considering he walked the walk and wrote the book, both are no small feats, I will give it 4 stars.

This book is the best I have read to make one understand the current relationship with the New Russia. Americans need to understand and come up to date on the attitude of the Russian leadership at this point. As long as oil is priced high, Russia will have the money to feed their economy and will contend with the United States in that part of the world. They will continue to be an enemy in our relations with Iran and will do everything they can to undermind our efforts. Putin is still very much operating as an old KGB operative with that mind set.

Russia is heading in an ominous direction that poses a threat to its own citizens, neighboring states and the world as a whole. This book with its disturbing message takes a hard look at the Russian ruling elite which emerged almost entirely from the ranks of the old KGB. Harboring resentment and malice against the West, this elite's attitude is crude and unsophisticated compared to the hostility of the Brussels Eurocracy towards the USA and Israel. The Russian government now directly competes with the West on various fronts, both economical and political. Genuine freedom of expression and the rule of law are long gone and the state has grabbed all political and economic power that matters. Putin's term "managed" or "sovereign" democracy really means a particularly malignant form of Tsarism or Fascism. In her 2004 book Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy, Anna Politkovskaya correctly observed that the brutality in Chechnya was an omen of Russia's future cruelty to all its citizens.

For a long time the West refused to notice. It should have woken up during the second Chechen war but instead there was only isolated protest in Europe and the USA, primarily from private bodies like the Jamestown Foundation and Italy's Radical Party. When Putin seized all influential media the West opened one eye then shut it again. When Khodorkovsky was jailed the same thing happened, and when the murder of dissidents and journalists became commonplace more observers expressed alarm though government criticism in the Western Alliance remained rather muted. This license to kill spread beyond the borders of Russia with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in the UK at a time when Tony Blair was almost embarrassingly amicable with Putin. More detailed information on the Litvinenko murder is available in Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB by Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko, and The Litvinenko File: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy by Martin Sixsmith.

The media now portrays Putin as a hero that rescued the country from the "chaos" of the 1990s since the political class has revived the Soviet habit of revisionism. And it uses the Orthodox Church for spreading the ideology of patriotism and Russian nationalism, a policy that inflames xenophobia resulting in violent racist attacks on non-Slav and non-Russian citizens. There have also been signs that this church is reverting to its infamous history of antisemitism. Militarism and imperialism are integral to the new nationalism although Lucas believes that the aim is the "Finlandisation" of Europe rather than territorial expansion. In the West Russia has plenty of paid propagandists plus the romantically deluded species known as Russophiles for whom this failed state with its history of genocide, sadism and misery can do no wrong.

Lucas charts the rise of Putin (explained in horrifying detail in Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror) and the course of the new cold war in a thorough and systematic manner, concluding with advice for the West on how to conduct and win it. Although he doesn't soon expect any military threat, Russia's nuclear stockpile must be reckoned with. The weapons employed in this multifaceted undeclared war are oil, gas and the revenues generated by their export. Instead of allocating it to real needs, the Kremlin uses the income to further its imperialist ambitions by acquiring strategic assets in Europe. Some of it flows straight to the elite for private investment abroad.

This war is pursued while Russia suffers from demographic collapse, massive corruption and widespread lawlessness. Ex-KGB operatives are in charge of all major companies and state enterprises, ensuring more inefficiency and corruption. On the international stage, not only has Russia behaved like a thug against Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia and Georgia, it is supplying weapons to rogue states Iran and Syria and their terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. There is no shortage of willing collaborators in the West, like previous German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, although western investors have begun to realize that investment in Russia is not worth the risk. When foreign companies resist state interference they risk confiscation. A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia exposes the mentality, power and incompetence of the ruling class.

The geopolitical implications are staggering, as the Putin gang eagerly befriends all enemies of the West. Russia is pursuing an energy policy aimed at strangling the liberal democracies by e.g. establishing a gas cartel. Lucas warns the West to get its house in order by inter alia cleaning up financial markets and reconsidering Russia's G8 membership. Should a criminal state be allowed to remain in a club of civilized nations? Whatever other evils result from Russia's abandonment of Western values, it is sure to become a more barbaric place for its citizens and a considerably more dangerous international player. One may confidently expect it to supply Iran with nuclear weapons technology and to cooperate with every loathsome thugocracy that defiles the planet.

Evidence is accumulating that Russia seeks an alliance with the Islamic world and a partial restoration of the Soviet Empire through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of which China is a member. The Kremlin ignores the real threat from China despite the particularly dire demographic and infrastructural implosion in Russia's far east. However, the Shanghai arrangement will bring the Turkic speaking states of Central Asia (plus Persian Tajikistan) back into the bear's embrace. Turkey's future role will be crucial; it remains to be seen where its recent Islamist trend will take it and how its foreign policy might change in case of almost certain exclusion from the inner core of the EU. Of course economic ties to Europe are assured but the country might establish closer relations with the aforementioned Central Asian states.

Should Israel be forced to act against Syria, Iran and Hezbollah an intensified Russian engagement in the Middle East conflict cannot be excluded. It might reluctantly be drawn into direct military intervention by its humiliated and devastated allies in the region. For those interested in prophetic speculation, I recommend Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg, an engrossing book based on the prophecies of Ezekiel about an anti-Israel confederacy which increasingly resembles an expanded axis of evil, an anti-western alliance that Russia is so vigorously pursuing.

I remember those heady days of the late 1980s and early 1990s - seeing Boris Yelsin standing on the tank defying would-be dictators, seeing meaningful moves towards peace in Europe, Jesus Jones singing, "watching the world wake up from history." And, then it all started to go wrong. Rigged elections in Russia, the rise of vicious robber barons, the seeming takeover by members of the old KGB, the squelching of freedom of speech, the murder of a Russian dissident in London with radioactive polonium-210. What has happened in Russia, where does it stand now and where is it going?

In this fascinating and highly informative book, British author and journalist Edward Lucas answers those very questions. The book traces Vladimir Putin's rise to power and how he has ruled in Russia, and then it looks at what Russia is doing now, and what it means for the West. In the final chapter, he suggests steps the West should take to protect itself from the newly aggressive Russia with its "divide and rule" tactics.

Overall, I found this book to be very informative read. While it is possible, even likely, that the author has overstated the threat caused by Putin's Russia, I found that much of what I already know about Russia squares perfectly with what Mr. Lucas says in this book. Therefore, if you want to understand where Russia is today, and where it is trying to go, then I would strongly recommend that you read this book.

I read this book because I would like to add a Russian component to the masters thesis I am working on, and thought it would give me good background. Alas, while the book was an entertaining read, it is practically useless academically. Mr Lucas' prose drips with outrage and disdain toward Russia's leaders--and I sometimes got the feeling that his attitude extends toward all Russian people. Although I don't have a deep background in this field, it was pretty obvious that Mr Lucas glosses over very complicated events in order to substantiate his own rather simplistic argument. The book quotes very few sources and mostly regurgitates events that have already been widely reported on. The author's lack of nuance is the most troubling--everything boils down to Putin/Russia = power/control/corruption/bad--which left me with very little I could use in a serious paper. By the end of the book, I had the impression that I had read a polemic summary of everything bad the mainstream Western media has had to say about Russia over the past couple of years, which might explain why it appears to have gotten so many good reviews from major news outlets.

Mr Lucas may be right, and he certainly has a valid opinion on Russia's politics and the direction the country is going. However, I hope that anyone who would like to read this book understands what it is--the strongly written personal opinion of a journalist who has been covering Russia for a few years. It is certainly not an objective or meticulous study of any aspect of contemporary Russia.

After reading such reviews no wonder West is on alarm on what is going on in Russia.
Russia is a country which has power.
It is understandable US feels threaten, because weak "partner" is always better than a strong partner, in a politic which just declare DEMOCRACY as a true value. There is nothing democratic in US position in jumping all other the world including IRAQ, and showing "them" who has the power.
So, Mister Lucas, before you start writing you book, explore the facts.
Sure, Russians consider Estonians fascists, they act like ones. They give their country to Nascists (is it OK now? Is it Adolf Hitler an American Hero now? Are you rewriting the history to make Hitler look good?) They worship fascists and built memorial in their honor (how democratic was Hitler?) Do you want one? They destroy the memorial built in the honor of Russian Soldier. The soldier, who freed this country from Hitler and his regime, and POOR Estonians lived better than any other republics in FSU. They start begging for Western help when Russia stopped providing for them.
Russians lost 27 millions of soldiers fighting Hitler.
How many American soldiers were lost?
How many houses and businesses in America were destroyed because of Hitler?
How many people suffer from hunger because Hitler's soldiers took food from them?
You, Americans, don't have memory of this war in your country.
Russians have plenty. Think about it. Every family was affected.
If Latvian leader come to Russia and join Mister Bush to celebrate Victory Day, it is not Estonian's, Latvian's or Lithuanian business to criticise Russian politic on this day. It was beyond comprehension watching Bush and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, talking about things which don't belong to this celebration.
Do you think if on 4th of July Mister Putin will come to US and start talking politic, how unfair history was done to natives in this country, how does this would sound? Would it sound supportive of national celebration?
WW2 was not won by Americans. They did not fight on their territory, what year Americans join the rest of the world? Americans were fighting in Pacific, not in Europe, not in Russia. They join others in Berlin and dump the nuke on Japan.
So, please, Mister Lucas, look at that rate poor population and not so poor population reproduce itself here, in America. In Russia people have 1-2 children, in America the number is around 3. Think about it. Every country thinking about future want their citizins to produce offspring. What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with cotton undergarments? American environmentalists seems to enjoy it too.
America is constantly talking about forbidding abortion. This is true democracy on AMERICA's part. Especially in regard to women's rights.
You book belong to humour section (if the facts were not as screwd as you present them), the masses don't need it.

In trying to compensate for my white trash/private school education, I found this book, as well as the science book "The Canon" by Natalie Angier extremely helpful.The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

This is an amazing little book. I am a big fan of brevity. And this book takes the prize. Apart from providing a delicious overview of world history, this brilliant work contains fascinating trivia on every page. If you've ever wanted to know the answers to the following questions, this book will do it with elegance and grace. Why are the days of the week named the way they are (Sunday, Monday, etc.)? What is the story behind the Gordian Knot? How does the Chinese script work? How was the marathon race invented?

I read a lot of books. Some would say that I read too many. Over the years, I've read some really great stuff. But this is one of the few books that I truly fell in love with. As I was reading it, I found myself saying, "I love this book!" over and over again. It's a quick read, divided into short chapters that can be read in a matter of minutes -- so even someone with a short attention span can read a chapter in a single sitting. And it is written in such an easy-to-read style that it can be understood and enjoyed by readers of any age. It was written with young readers in mind; but it is so wonderfully written that adults will love it just as much as kids will. The writing style is beautiful. I wish I could write that well. Everything is made so clear and easy to understand that it's a delight to read. It's hard to believe that this book was originally written in German and translated into English. I don't know who deserves the higher praise, E.H. Gombrich, who wrote the original German text, or Caroline Mustill, who translated it into perfect English prose. But what impresses me even more than the writing style is the content. This is simply the best history book that I've ever read. It provides an overview of all of world history from prehistoric times to the 20th century (it was originally published in 1936, and covered events up to the aftermath of World War I; but this new edition contains a final chapter that gives a brief overview of the events from World War I to roughly the end of the Cold War). And it does a masterful job of capturing the "big picture" of world history without getting bogged down in the sort of details that no one but historians really care about (as many history texts do). After reading this book, you will have a good, basic understanding of the overall course of world history. And you'll enjoy every minute of it. Imagine a history text that is never dry or boring, that is never difficult to understand, that never bogs you down in useless details you don't care about, and that is actually a pleasure to read. THIS is that history text. I would recommend it for everyone: schoolchildren, college students, and adults. (And it would make the perfect gift for a young person. Anyone who is old enough to read, understand, and enjoy Harry Potter is old enough to read, understand, and enjoy E.H. Gombrich's "A Little History of the World" -- and it's a lot more educational.)

A quick, nearly pocket-sized history of the world. Clearly intended for children, but I enjoyed getting a refresher. I rate it three stars considering its uneven treatment of some pretty important facts (lots on Napoleon, but no mention of the Black Death of the 14th cen.?), and its need of a healthy dose of editing.

I bought this book, based on other reviews, with very little knowledge about history. The is the PERFECT book to learn about history. I'm not a big reader of books besides computer manuals, but now I'm intrigued enough to dive a little deeper into the past. When I got the book, I was going to take it one chapter at a time, but I couldn't put it down. It's an easy read. A lot of wars have been fought, lives sacrificed, people persecuted for their religion, and........well, you'll just have to read the book to find out. : )

I travel a ton and I am so sorry I didn't climb Brunelleschi's Dome. After reading this book, I want to go back, just to climb and see all the details I just read about. At times the book got slow and technical, but it was overall fascinating.....Stands the test of time....

The story of Brunelleschi's Dome is about a unique architectural accomplishment, one that has not been surpassed in the hundreds of years since it was built. The story is not just about the Dome, but about Brunelleschi and his competitors. It even gives us a glimpse of the era in which it takes place.

The book is short, only 167 pages. It is somewhat superficial; it does not delve too deeply into any one aspect of the Dome, the people or the time in which it was built. Readers with specialist knowledge or interest in any of those areas might be disappointed. Some of the descriptions of the building technics used and of the engineering of the Dome left me confused. More diagrams would have helped.

While this book does not have enough information in any one area to interest specialists, I thought it was a great read. It was an well written narrative on an interesting topic I would not have known much about otherwise.

No, this isn't a book about an Italian guy with a big head, although Filippo Brunelleschi certainly had a massive ego. Brunelleschi's Dome is about the city of Florence generally during one of the greatest periods of genius and creativity in human history. It is also, specifically, about the life of Filippo Brunelleschi, a classic genius of the Italian Renaissance, and his magnificent dome which dominates the skyline of Florence to this day. Like so many of his contemporaries, Brunelleschi had a high level of expertise in a variety of fields. He was an artist, an engineer, a craftsman, a philologist, and an overall solver of impossible problems. He was also a bit of a whack-job whose failures were nearly as spectacular as his successes.

With this book, Ross King has penned an engrossing popular biography of Brunelleschi, as well as a history of the construction of his famous dome. While the book goes into some detail regarding the engineering behind the construction of the dome, the prose is never heavy and is written so that the layman, such as myself, never gets bored or lost.

My wife and I visited Italy in 2000 and climbing to the top of the Duomo was one of the high points (literally!) of the trip. I wish I had read this book beforehand! I therefore highly recommend it to anyone who is planning a visit to Florence. It will give you that much more appreciation for the amount of work--and genius--that went into the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

King's book is historical, but it reads like a novel as it weaves Italian history in with the fascinating account of Brunelleschi's rise from nowhere to become one of the greatest architects and engineers in history. Having toured the Florence Duomo and wondered "How did they build that with no heavy equipment," it is amazing to find out how they really did. This book is reasonably short; well written; and very informative. Highly recommended.

The dual papacy had been resolved in favor of Rome (1416). Florence was the interim home for the Pope while permanent quarters were being readied in Rome (1420). Florence considered itself the new Athens of the western world, and on August 19, 1418 Filippo Brunelleschi submitted his design for the dome of the city's new cathedral. His design pushed the technology of bricklaying to never seen before sophistication, producing a dome 143 feet in diameter; a dome which is still the largest masonry dome in the world. His radical design and construction techniques for the double-walled dome required no temporary central scaffolding and support.

The work was interrupted by disease, war and political upheavals. Finally, the octagonal dome was completed in 1436 and the lantern on top of the dome was completed in 1461, fifteen years after Filippo's death. Ross King weaves a wonderful story about this technological feat. This book should appeal to all art, architecture and history buffs.

An absolutely fascinating and enlightening book about the Orthodox Church. It filled in many low spots in my understanding of Orthodoxy. Well done!

As a person who recently converted to Orthodox Christianity, I am continually amazed at how invisible the "Eastern" Church is to those in the "West." Fortunately we have in the person of Timothy or Bp. Kallistos Ware, a bold, eloquent, and scholarly apologist, who is able to present a great deal of material, which might otherwise be dry, in a clear-headed and thought provoking manner.

For anyone who is interested in the history of the Great Schism and the theological matters surrounding it, or the beliefs and practices of the Orthodox Church, this book is simply the finest guide available. I read it first several years ago and I find myself going back to it again and again for clarification and insight.

I think Timothy Ware (Bishop Kallistos) presents a good concise history of Eastern Orthodoxy, as well as a balanced view of the "The Great Schism." Timothy's sentiments go beyond a mere intellectual appeal for Christian unity and suggest that we have both, East and West, been "grievously impoverished" by our separation. As he states (p.61),"The Greek east and the Latin west still need one another. For both parties the great schism has proved to be a great tragedy."

A Must read for anyone willing to find the true Christianity. Reveals and explains the Orthodox Church the true and holy one settled by Christ and continued by the apostles and having no modern changes of faith or trends. The same true and holy faith as in the first centuries worshiped by the apostles.

I think this is an excellent book for those like me who want to know more about the Orthodox Church. I became orthodox myself some time ago but always wanted to undestand many things of the history of our Church so I think this is THE book.
I specially recomend it to those who consider the Orthodox Church a great mistery, something distant and very different of the western Church. You'll find out that exist a lot of differences between both churches but you will also realize there is so much in common.
If you are considering a book to learn more about the Orthodox Church, this your book.