european

This is not a book I would have read six months ago since I am typically not very interested in economics or political theory. But a required class in modern political economy helped change my outlook and introduced me to what thinkers such as Adam Smith actually said, which is quite different from what libertarians claim today. Muller's book fed my new found interest and then some.

Muller examines how some of western civilization's greatest minds have thought about capitalism and the market. He includes thinkers that are both traditionally viewed as economists (Smith, Hayek, Schumpeter) and others not usually identified with economics (Burke, Voltaire, and Arnold). Each chapter provides an excellant summary of these thinkers and can be read alone or out of order if one wishes. One has to admire Muller for his objectivity, he studies the individuals according to their own terms and doesn't seek to judge them. Every theorist has identifiable faults and Muller points these out without bias. My personal favorite chapters were those on Smith, Hayek and Matthew Arnold.

My only (minor) criticism is that I thought Muller could have dealt with Keynes in more detail. I feel he short-changed the man who in many ways defined much of the mid-20th century. I also thought a chapter on Amartya Sen might have been interesting, but it makes since to pick those theorists who are dead since their work can't develop any futher.

THE MIND AND THE MARKET is a compulsively readable history of economic thought which deserves to be a best-seller. I am not an economist or a political philosopher but rather a writer about the arts and culture, and I am devouring this book. The chapters on Hegel, Marx, and Matthew Arnold are each alone worth the price of admission. Muller carries his erudition lightly, and his prose has the calm, effortless, sparkling lucidity of a great teacher lecturing in his prime.

Capitalism is the world's most powerful idea about political, economic and moral relationships between people, enterprises and the state. It has brought immense opulence to hundreds of millions of people and hope for economic liberation to hundreds of millions more. But capitalism is not just a way of doing business. No culture nor any state can harness capitalism with a management school curriculum. Capitalism is a complex tapestry of economic arrangements, governmental obligations, cultural traditions, personal behavioral norms, concepts for production enterprises, methods of management, public acceptance of investment, encourage of competition, religious and ethnic tolerance and ideas of personal property. It is a historical fact that secular states with individual economic liberty and free markets harvest the most from capitalism. Capitalism is not just economics.

Capitalism, as a global culture that defines our modern civilization, is therefore too important to be left to the economists. Jerry Z. Muller, a historian, has given us a book which in its sweep and breadth is up to the task of giving us a deeply thoughtful and insightful analysis of the evolution of capitalism's political, economic, social, ethical and psychological threads from early European thinking through the big intellectual ideas of the late Twentieth Century. He tells the story of the idea of the market, as it is formed and transformed by the great socio-politico-economic intellectuals - Voltaire, Adam Smith, Burke, Hegel, Marx, Simmell, Schumpeter, Keynes, Marcuse, Hayek, and others. As a historian, Muller interprets each man in the context of his time and culture. Muller's analysis is even handed, one of the great virtues of the book. There are thousands of political economy books, each with its own agenda if not unground axe. For me, The Mind and the Market is a level-headed guide through that thicket of thought. Muller coolly lays out the case for each ideology and clinically assesses its successes and failures, giving the devil his due, even if that devil is Marx, who while foisting the evil idea of collectivism upon the world did have empathy and voice for the terrible treatment of workers under early capitalism. Muller's trip through the minds of the great thinkers gives us the insights we need to understand how today?s manic anti-competition forces diminish our personal wealth and how governments with moral agendas weaken capitalism.

Even while Muller brings us tidal historical and economic insights, he also salts this book with one liners and anecdotes that illustrate the anatomy of capitalism. Here are a couple I liked.

- "Cultures that favor equality in poverty over greater but unequally distributed affluence tend to be less market oriented." Muller

- From Schumpeter: "The capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stockings for the queen but in bringing them within reach of factory girls in return for steadily decreasing amounts of effort."

- Burke voicing the dilemma of capitalism: "It is hard to persuade us that everything that is got by another is not taken from ourselves."

- Fascists and socialists exploit resentment of those who succeed under market systems. Muller relates how Hungarian communists took control in 1919. The Hungarian Soviet nationalized private enterprises, made wages uniform and guaranteed employment. Labor discipline and productivity declined steeply. The communist experiment failed after 133 days. I gather from subsequent world events that no one was paying attention.

The Mind and the Market should be read by every world citizen to understand how we got the flow of wealth we enjoy and the roles of the state, individual liberty and market competition necessary to sustain our affluence. Capitalism is fragile. It does not come automatically with democracy. US capitalism is buffeted daily by well funded or popular pleas for the state to intervene in the market. They come under banners of anti-globalism, criticisms of the World Trade Organization, preserving the American family farm, special tax breaks to lower costs of domestic producers, Buy American Act, requirements for domestic content, special tariffs, quotas or restrictions on foreign-made products, protection against exporting jobs, closed shops, sustaining the American manufacturing base, regressive income taxes, and dispensations to monopolize trade, among other anti-liberal policies. Jerry Muller's marvelously well-written and colorful story of the road to capitalism helps us understand the essential roles played by open, competitive markets, personal liberties and a secular state in preserving and expanding our wealth.

I commend The Mind and the Market to you without reservation.

MY DAUGHTER LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, THAT WHEN SHE WAS SELECTED TO READ TO OTHERS DURING LIBRARY WEEK, SHE CHOSE THE MITTEN. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FAVORITE OF OUR FAMILY'S AND NOW I AM ORDERING THIS ONE FOR MY FIRST GRANDCHILD. A READER FROM CA.

What a treasure: the illustrations and the story go hand in hand so wonderfully, quiet and witty and authentic. If you have Slavic roots, the Ukrainian illustrator's work may have extra resonance for you. Yaroslava drew the animals wearing Ukrainian costume, but with subtle touches of real life; this one's boots have creases, see the wrinkles in that one's heavy coat. I always wondered if there was an anti-Soviet subtext to the characters all insisting on sharing one living-space until it bursts at the seams (literally)...

This used to be one of my top 5 books as a little girl. This version is great, it's the one I had. As an adult, I love to read it to my own kids and have them notice the wonderful Ukranian artist's influence in the illustrations as well. I highly recommend this story to all parents as a read-aloud book!

OK, so I read it all. Yep, everything in it, every inch of it. This includes in-depth discussions on materials, choices of colors, choices of canvases, panels, brushworks, techniques, history... of this genius painter. I also gobbled up scientific results on samples taken from his paintings, using such cutting-edge technologies as mass spectrometry (MS), x-ray analysis, and so on and so forth. Hurrah! All secrets revealed! I even read "between the lines" and "looking into" layers of colors in each painting with the hope of educating myself further how to think like Rembrandt, see like Rembrandt, and paint like Rembrandt. After all, I am on a mission here. You probably get the idea by now of how great this book is. Otherwise, I would have not bothered. Yep, you can count on it, it is GREAT! But... Yeah, without the 'but', then perhaps thing is just perfect, hence surreal. Some presumption in scientific testing seems to leave me a little "bitter aftertaste". Well, I said too much. It is time for me to stop and for you to read the book to find out for yourself.

Rembrandt is perhaps the greatest painter in the history of the western cannon and this is the finest book on his work ever printed. The abundance of detailed enlargements -which really make an art book great and which are all too often lacking- are the next best thing to being in front of the paintings. They show Rembrandt for the enormous genius he was, both synthesizing the techniques that came before him as well as creating methods of application which to this day remain an enigma and elusive mystery. Rembrandt, a great draughtsman and technician, was also an outrageous innovator. The details in this book show sections of paintings that would make any abstracts expressionist's head spin. The scholarship of the text, clearly a lobour of love and lifetime devotion, are as worthy as scholarsip can be of art this magnificent.

This book has incredible prints and very good information on Rembrandt's painting technique. It is a wonderful book for anyone interested in how Rembrandt painted.

This is one of the better written books I've ever read. In fact, I've read it three times and each time I was suprised by its superb irony, excellent dialogues and lyric style. Reading it, I used to think I was reading again Dante's Comedia, but written in 1943 and sewed to our material earth and humanity, instead to Heaven or Hell.

Now that the world is at war again, may be we should read again this book...

This is not an easy book, and it is not a book for everybody. In fact, if you believe in the manifest destiny of your country or are used to dividing people between winners and losers, save your time and do not buy this book because you would not understand it.

Malaparte's book is a series of autobiographic episodes set in WW2 Italy. It shows the despair and degradation of a place where everything, everything is for sale and the only thing that matters is your skin, saving your skin and living another day. In many respects, however, Italy becomes a metaphor for the whole of Europe (watch the movie "Berlin - year 0") in those times, and perhaps mankind. In fact, Malaparte's language is often poetic and his book transcends his times to become a universal portrait of suffering man. It is the suffering, defeated man that Malaparte takes pity of, while describing man in his hour of triumph as "unbearable".

Among all the rhetoric on the Liberation and the magnificent new future that awaited Europe after the war, here is a writer who preferred to set his eyes on a painful present. Malaparte gives us a description of a terrible time which has the same timeless value as Thucidides' account of the plague in Athens.

A particularly enjoyable part of the book is the description of the contact between the Old and the New World. Malaparte, an officer of the Italian Corps that fought alongside the Allies in the Italian campaign from 1943 onwards, was very good friend with some American officers and knew General Clark. He has left us a wonderful description of the mixed feelings of the US troops in experiencing, often for the first time, the reality of Europe, of their obscure fascination and, at the same time, contempt for "corrupt" Europe, of their genuine innocence mixed with a presumption of moral superiority. In an unforgettable dialogue, an American woman serving in the auxiliary forces contemptiously asks Malaparte how can women in Naples prostitute themselves for a packet of cigarettes, clearly they must be putting their habit ahead of their honor. Malaparte drily answers that "With a packet of cigarettes, they can buy 3 kgs of bread"...

"The Skin" is a complex and fascinating book.

Ostensibly it is about the American army arriving in Italy during WWII and coming into contact (often for the first time) with Europe's spiritual and moral corruption and degradation. The idea was copied a (little) bit by Joseph Heller in Catch-22. If you've read Catch-22, you have SOME an idea about what to expect.

But "The Skin" is a deeper book than Catch-22, and Malaparte was much more interested in the differences between the decadence of the old world and the brash, conquering innocence of the New World, where things such as defeat are considered physically and morally impossible. Defeat is actually seen as morally reprehensible and somehow or other, the fault of the defeated.

Unlike Heller, Malaparte never portrays the military or the politicians as out and out bufoons: he realizes that people are invariably more complex than that.

It is a rare combination of intellectual writing, combined with moments of vibrantly dark humour. An example: when an American liason officer speaks about Italian women selling their bodies, Malaparte replies that all that they are actually selling is their hunger. And that it'd be a marvellous thing if every American soldier could take home a piece of hunger to show his wife what amazing things you can buy for money.

The title, by the way, refers to Malaparte's comment that once flags have been proven worthless and shamed, the only flag people are willing to fight for is that of their own skin. The indomitable spirit of mankind is shown to be a greedy, grasping thing that will stop at nothing in order to continue existing. And the spectacle is anything but edifying.

"The rich traditions of European peasant cooking."

A first-rate cookbook with a very nice selection of recipes. I love peasant food and this is a dense book. Now, I can't fact check all the countries of Europe, but I can give you my thoughts on Bulgaria as an example, being Bulgarian-American.

Bulgarian cuisine is given equal footing with all the cuisines of Europe. I even found a recipe I'd been searching for years to find but had just never been able to until I came across this book; one for simple breakfast noodles (not exactly a sexy enough recipe to make the cut in most ethnic cookbooks.)

The bad news? Someone flunked Bulgarian history. If I'd had to read the phrase "Turkish Yoke" one more time I would have chucked the book right out the window. As if Bulgaria was the only country swallowed up by the Ottoman Empire. Greece would be a big one. And, just when did Shopska Salad become a Serbian recipe? The word "Shopska" is the word for those who come from the "Shop" region of Bulgaria (the region Sofia fits in.) The concept behind Shopska salad is that all the ingredients of the salad are white, which is the the color of the Shop people. It's an amazing oversight, to say the least.

Well, just so you don't think this is a misplaced rant from injured national pride, other countries received the same treatment, such as: Just when did Smorrebrod become a Danish exclusive recipe? Sacrilege!

A nice book to own if you can stand slanted history and cultural notes in your cookbooks. It's sad that such a neat collection of recipes would revisit the same old misinformation and stereotypes as any other old book. Why bother doing any research at all?

I love this book. It has recipes from all over Europe. This book is very large containing about 300+ recipes. Broken down into 14 different sections this book is likely to have just what you are looking for. Each section has several different areas of recipes. For example the vegetable section is broken down into hot soups, cold soups, stews, fried and roast vegetables, boiled, stuffed, salads, mushrooms, olive snd olive oil dishes, seaweed. She takes her time with each recipe stating where it comes from, the approximate year, and sometimes additional hints and tips on the recipes.
This book is wonderful because you get to learn a bit about each culture, sometimes what they ate with a particular recipes, or when it was served. It is also nice because many of the dishes are inexpensive to prepare and make great quanities. Perfect if you are cooking for a good deal of people. While this book is currently not in print, I would urge anyone looking for recipes from the Old World to take a chance on this book.

Elisabeth Luard has written a captivating book. If you read cookbooks for pleasure, this book is simply a must-have. Ms. Luard takes both a scholarly and a very practical approach to the subject. She describes in detail the development of peasant cooking, and each recipe is prefaced with an interesting aside or personal story. Reading this book, you will learn how a foie gras is judged while still in the duck, how a pig filled a winter larder and how to choose a perfect earthenware dish for Romanian Tocana de pui (chicken pot roast).

As a practical cookbook, it is wonderful. Each recipe is clear, concise and easy to follow. Ms. Luard gives suggestions for compatible side dishes and wine, as well as what to do with leftovers. (Did I mention most recipes are meant to serve 6 or more strapping farmers?) Each recipe is followed with suggested substitions, which comes in handy when you do not have sorrel or you don't care for prunes. More than 300 recipes are included, and they come from all over Europe, from Iceland east to Scandinavia, and south to Italy, not skipping a country in between. The book is divided into sections by ingredients, which I find extremely useful. The sections are: vegetable dishes; potato dishes; corner cupboard dishes (beans and grains); pasta, noodles and dough-based dishes; barnyard and dairy; fish and food from the sea; poultry; small game; pork; shepard's meats; beef, reindeer and grilled meats; bread and pastry dishes; sweet dishes; and the rustic kitchen. The last section is a great resource on herbs, mushrooms, oils and cheeses, and how to preserve meats.

There isn't space enough to tell you how great this book is. This is, without a doubt, my all-time favorite cookbook.

Yes, Baudelaire, himself told to his friend Troubat:"These are The flowers of evil again, but with more freedom,much more detailes, and much more mockery". Noone before Baudelaire has ever concepted the poem in prose which would express so many special, original and protesting sensations. This urban, very personal poetry is a product of the metropolitan noisy atmosphere, and as it is surrounded with fog of overpopulated, but yet unexplored areas.This poetry expresses more than the actual meaning of the words is telling.Spleen is created of prose and pure poetry, of the reflection of the analytical spirit and intuitive introspection.The apostle of pain and depression,Baudelaire is the one who analyzes his own and other people's sins, expresses himself as a moralist in this book as well.

Charles Baudelaire's Paris Spleen is a wonderfully original work, one happily outside the framework of American literature and its broad range of sensibilities. Most notably, these 51 short prose poems illustrate how truth, and the most accurate perceptions of life possible, can be reached purely by honing the senses and then melding them with the more passive facilities of the mind; logic and rational thinking, as demonstrated here, are for the vulgar, those in denial, those simply unable to accept the very rich, very broad, self-evident smorgasbord of life. Baudelaire, both a tragic and a comedic clown, also effortlessly illustrates how melancholy and joy are by no means mutually exclusive categories of human feeling and experience.

Set largely against specifically autumnal landscapes, our wandering poet indulges in "the mysterious and aristocratic pleasure of watching" whenever he is not a direct participant in the events these visionary pieces describe. Solitary, 'fluent in outrage,' cranky, self-tormented, lovelorn, misanthropic, and pedagogical by turns, these pieces find the poet stalking bereaved widows, peering unseen through the candle-lit windows of neighbor's homes, asking philosophical questions of "enigmatical" strangers, shunning crowds, luxuriating in midnight solitude, greeting the twilight with a bow, reading the time of day in a cat's eyes, "suffering before Beauty" in all its forms, futilely but vocally castigating inflexible Dame Nature, advising the world on the varieties of glorious drunkenness, dreaming of tempting devils, beating the poor, pitying aged, poverty-stricken circus performers, rebelling against infinity, arguing with mistresses, and listening, eavesdropping, and relentlessly observing wherever he goes.

Not surprisingly, the poet's vision of urban Paris lies somewhere between the multiple canvases of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec; garishly colored, slightly grotesque, heavily populated with heavy, heaving women and friable grande dames, Baudelaire's city is a fluid and respiring stage for life's pantomime, open to and allowing for all combinations and possibilities. By contrast, his autumnal countryside is a place of relative purity, where the poet wanders alone under piercing blue skies and roaming, shadow-casting clouds.

In one of the more hallucinatory episodes, the poet, "under a vast gray sky, on a vast and dusty plain" comes upon a short procession of men with "worn and serious faces," each of whom carries a very large, monstrous chimera on his back, the muscles, tendons and limbs of the beasts wrapped tightly around them. None the wiser after his inevitable questions, the poet observes that "under the depressing dome of the sky" the men moved past and beyond him, each "with the resigned look of men who are condemned to hope forever."

Paris Spleen is a wise, serious, and occasionally dour work. But if its only sometimes-tragic underpinnings and conclusions are embraced by the reader, then its vibrant, bawdy, colorful, and transcendent aspect will reveal itself shamelessly in turn. Baudelaire is so confident, unselfconscious, and plain-spoken that his perceptions are remarkably easy to visualize, his emotions as expressed easy to share and make one's own. It's a rare book that is as multi-prismed as this.

Baudelaire implies that if man could accept mortality, reasonably subdue his ego, and curb his more flagrant dreams, life would fall into the glittering, far from perfect, but certainly tolerable and potentially enjoyable miracle it really is. The poet seems to reach the same conclusion about life that Isak Dinsen does at the end of Out Of Africa: man must accept, without exclusion, every facet, aspect, element, and component of existence before existence-before life--will give anything back to man.

In no way a despairing book, Paris Spleen is a sheer pleasure to read, contemplate, discuss, laugh over, and digest. Readers will carry their copy in their back pocket until it falls into tatters, and force copies on friends, family, and strangers. Beautifully translated by Louise Varese. Highly recommended, especially to the non-creative who would like to see, however briefly, as a poet sees.

The book that helped me overcome my prejudice against poetry--I carried "Paris Spleen" around with me for a couple of weeks after I first read it, and kept turning back to certain poems as I went about my daily errands. Even though it's nearly 150 years old it seems as timely and contemporary as it must have seemed when it was first published--absolutely top-notch.

I originally read this play some time ago while studying German in college and it is one of the few works from those years that has "stuck with me". In fact I still have the German language edition that I used at that time.
As other reviewers have said, one of the central themes of this work is the degree of responsibility that scientists have to humanity or something called "the public". Having worked for over twenty years now as a nuclear scientist, I can definitely say that at times the desire for knowledge can override the consideration of all the possible uses of a given technology. The question them becomes, can an idea be "unthought"? This secondary theme of the book is intertwined with the theory of the inevitability of ideas at a given time and place.
The translation by Kirkup is quite good as compared to the original German version that I have. Though the expository style (some very long dialogs) may be a bit daunting at times, stick with it. This play is a philosophical discussion, not a Hollywood action film.

Three physicists have been confined to a very expensive posh mental institution, Les Cerisiers. Herbert George Beutler says he is Isaac Newton, but he knows that he is really Einstein. He adopted the guise of Newton to avoid upsetting another patient, Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who claims he is Einstein. The third, Johann Wilhelm Mobius is himself. As a long term patient, he enjoys frequent visions of King Solomon.

I had the great fortune of knowing little about the plot. I was continuously entertained by the playful unraveling of a murder mystery. I urge you to avoid learning more. The imagination of Durrenmatt is quite remarkable. He weaves an entertainingly unpredictable story.

This short play warrants reading more than once, even more than twice, as the Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt not only entertains us, but explores fundamental questions regarding the role of science in modern society. The Physicists was written in 1962 when the world faced the possibility of nuclear war at any moment. The Physicists has been produced at the London Royal Court Theatre, on Broadway, and by many university theatre departments. I intend to become acquainted with the plays of Friedrich Durrenmatt.

I want all of you to read this play. It is weird butfascinating, surprising and just brilliant. Get to know Germanliterature at one of its best!

This anthology was my introduction to Tagore and what a spectacular discovery! It was like being introduced to several writers, each one distinctly different, dependent upon the medium.

Tagore's five short stories in this anthology are folkloric, sometimes sad or humorous, somewhat other worldly, and always entertaining. They expose the hues of Bengal better than paintings with their brilliant characterizations and finite details of place and time. Here's a sampling from The Raj Seal: "An old story came to his mind. An ass was pulling a temple car along the sacred way, and the passers-by, prostrating themselves in the dust before it were offering their pranams. 'They are all worshipping me,' the foolish ass thought. 'There's only one small difference between that ass and me,' the elder brother told himself. 'I have at last realized that it is not my person the British sahibs respect, but the jacket weighing on my shoulders.'"

Tagore's play The Post Office is included in its entirety. It's very childlike and simplistic in structure, yet it is poignantly profound with its message that death is serene; "...that great ocean of truth to which all life returns".

The Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to him in 1913. Part of the tribute was for Tagore's poetry, particularly Gitanjali; however, there is too small of a sample (four stanzas) to truly appreciate it. My favorite from the anthology was Flute Music, an autobiographical poem.

Tagore the philosopher is evident in his essays and letters. In his letters he takes on the persona to whom the letter is addressed. The debate with Einstein "On the Nature of Reality" leaves the reader uncertain as to who was more convincing. A rebuke to Gandhi reads like the good counsel of a loving older brother. (It was Tagore who gave Gandhi the honorific title, Mahatma.)

The three excerpts from his novel The Home and the World have induced me to order the book, which is still in print. When Hermann Hesse reviewed the German translation, he praised it for its "purity and grandeur".

Now, I could only hope for more of his writings to become translated and accessible.

With immense pleasure and great anticipation I read this Anthology. I feel the world is ready for Tagore's poems, short stories, and plays once more. His interest in world peace, his sensitivity for the human condition, and love of humanity is the kind of message the world needs, perhaps *even* more today than when the author first wrote his words. As with most translations of this author's famous work - there is a wonderful and necessary "Introduction" which gives many examples of his life experiences, interests, and achievements, helping one to sense the broad scope of knowledge and range of ideas to which the reader will be exposed.

Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson so wisely selected his play, "The Post Office" as the first chapter. This play is like a pearl found in an oyster shell ... the outside appearance gives no impression of the valuable gem to be found within. The message is breath-taking in its simplicity and sublime due to its universal message which transcends culture and time. The beauty of this Anthology is the wide range and depth of Tagore's writing to which the reader is exposed. His writing is awesome and inspiring, filled with love for mankind, by one who sees the complete picture, but nonetheless is filled with hope. We read Rabindranath Tagore's memoirs in "My Remininscences" - we learn about his relationship with his father, a journey into the Himalayas, and his boyhood days. Tagore's travel writings about Russia, Japan, England, Java, Persia, and a day at the spa in Balatonfured, Hungary are fascinating to read. We have the privilege of reading Tagore's personal letters to his neice, the poet Yeats, the poet Ezra Pound, many of his friends, the philosopher, Bertrand Russell, and many other people with whom he corresponded. From this one garner's more about the personality of the man whom Tagore was, a person who lived his values and beliefs, not one who merely just wrote about them. We read a fascinating exchange of ideas with Albert Einstein on "The Nature of Reality." Tagore's mastery of the short story has won him recognition in Bengal and throughout the world. He conveys social, political, and human relationships of the villager and city dweller with equal ability. He gradually exposes feelings and conflicts, and carefully builds suspense until the mystery is revealed or the situation is resolved often with unexpected consequences. Although fewer poems are included than one would expect, two important ones, "The Sick Bed" and "The Recovery", written toward the end of his life are included. Also, "The Ocean of Peace" a song Tagore himself planned to sing after a play, was instead sung for him at his funeral, which he requested while he was ill. If someone is unfamiliar with Tagore's writing this book is highly recommended as a starting point. It contains a full measure of the author's broad interests and truly represents the universal message, "the unity of mankind" which he attempted to convey in his writing.
Erika B. (erikab93)

As I flipped through the pages of this 400-pg assortment of Tagore's Letters, Essays, Anecdotes and other like items, I could not help comparing the same to Barbara Holland's "Endangered Pleasures". The parallells are quite striking; however, An Anthology is in a completely different league of it's own. It's always a welcoming experience to read about Noble laureates, but Tagore wasn't just another Noble prize recipient - a man whose works had left the indelible etching in the minds of millions of Indians and steered the country to independence, inspired hopeless souls and rekindled the hopes of victory in a god-forsaken land. Striking yet more are the personal letters of Tagore, letters to his nephew Indira Tagore which I must admit were humorous far beyond what we expect out of a man whom we usually associate with sterner and solemn works. The book clearly draws a calm and serene picture of Calcutta back in those days. Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson has produced a magnificent compilation of Tagore's works that appeal directly to the Westerners and Easterners alike. The book begins with a translation of 'Dak Ghar' (The Post office), and recursively descends down the various phases of his life through essays, letters and other small works. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in learnign more about the man and his most interesting escapades and experiences in life - a truly refreshing journey indeed.

An excerpt - "In certain years in Calcutta, birds strange to the city used to come and build in our banyan tree. They would be off again almost before I had learnt to recognize the dance of their wings, but they brought with them a strange lovely music from their distant jungle homes. So, in the course of our life's journey, some angel from a strange and unexpected quarter may cross our path, speaking of the language of our own soul, and enlarging the boundaries of the heart's possessions. She comes unbidden, and when at last we call for her she is no longer there. But as she goes, she leaves on the drab web of our lives a border of embroidered flowers, and our night and day are for ever enriched."

Great European Novel, The language is Croatian, not Serbo Croatian. Town and country he is writing about is Zagreb and Croatia. The characters are unfogetable (Boba, Kyriales and others). I read this book about 100 times during the past 24 years. Make yourself a favour, read it slowly! Enoy!

Unfortunately, only two novels of Krleza's have been translated into English, which does not even come near to doing justice to the volumes of novels, stories, plays, poems and essays this multi-talented writer has produced. The reviewer below is incorrect in saying Krleza is "almost" in the class of Andric. Krleza far surpasses Andric, and this can be sensed in "The Return of Filip Latinovicz." I highly recommend this and esp. "On the Edge of Reason."

Just another great classic from the hand of the greatest coroatian writer.Like his early works, this book represent a modern style in his best way. A must read!

I read this book after returning home from a two week trip in Southwestern Russia. Steinbeck and Capa took their journey in 1948. They travel from Moscow to Volgograd and Rostov before turning back in Georgia. Much of the tension in this book springs from the rapidly cooling relationship between leaders of Russia and the United States at that point in time.

Their aim is not political. They seek to understand the hearts of the Soviet people. One of the amusing elements of this book is their regular conflict with the Soviet censors, who refuse to believe that they do not have political motives. Steinbeck intersperses the commentary on Russia with the nuts and bolts of their daily travels. The method mirrors the approach of his 1940 collaboration in the Gulf of California, "The Log from the Sea of Cortez." Steinbeck likes to write about the universal character of people and this trip to Russia or his previous trip in Mexico both speak to that interest. His conclusion is that Russians are like people anywhere else - they are proud of their homes and their families and are sincere in their efforts to build their nascent country. Steinbeck also goes to pains to elicit the hope among the Russian people for peace.

Many of the things that catch their eye remain constant to now. One interesting change is the perspective of the Russian people about the direction of their country. In Steinbeck's recollection, the people recognize that they are sacrificing for the good of their country. In 1948, the Russians expect that they will eventually gain from their hard work. Now they seem to have less faith.

This book is a great chance to learn about the personality of the world famous Robert Capa. During his travels with the Hungarian photojournalist, Steinbeck gets pretty pesky about Capa's personal habits. It seems that Capa likes long baths, other people's books, and morning silence. Steinbeck and Capa share rooms during their trip. I really enjoyed the secondary theme that develops on Capa's behavior.

Everyone should read this book, not just people who want to know about Russia.

This is a great road trip story . . . that just happens to be set in Russia (and elsewhere in the Soviet Union). It is an amusing and thoughtful account of Steinbeck's travels with his good friend Robert Capa. As Steinbeck often noted in his works of nonfiction, he recounts merely what he saw, which may or may not be reflective of the experiences of others. Thus this is far more a narrative about two men traveling together than it is a book about Russia. Steinbeck does not seek to unravel the mysteries of Russia; he merely wishes to take a peek behind the curtain to get a glimpse of how its inhabitants live.

This is a very amusing, thoughtful and readable book - the best Steinbeck I've read.

This wonderfully written book takes you through post-war Soviet Union, to farms and cities devastated by war but struggling to return to normalcy. Robert Capa not only adds wonderful photos but his role in this story is both funny and illuminating for any Capa fans. Written in the late 1940s, the story provides us with a very human side of the Russian people. The openness and friendliness of everyone they meet contrasts with the paranoia and hatred so present in the US at that time.

I read this as both a photographer and one who was recently in Russia and the insight provided was very enjoyable and educating. Capa's mannerisms and method of photography allowed his subjects to open up and feel comfortable in his lens -- not an easy thing since so many of the people had lost family and suffered terribly. Steinbeck's writing is honest, funny and his skills as a non-partisan reporter really shine in this work.