european

BUT CAN THE PHOENIX SING? By: Christa Laird

Christa Laird makes a powerful statement in But Can The Phoenix Sing? Can a person be dynamic after a terrifying experience in World War Two? The book is based on a true story of the life of Misha Edelman.
The book starts when 15-years-old Misha Edelman is send to the front line of Poland during World War Two to help Jewish people. His mission is to save people from different concentration camps around Poland. He meets amazing people: Eva, Henryk, Vasily, and Doctor Korczak. They become a "family", but there are many obstacles in his life's journey. There are many unexpected events that happen in his journey to Warsaw. Is he going to survive? "My whole body was mass of pain." Is he going to be himself again? "Polish Jew, protégé of Dr. Korczak, ex-partisan and resistance worker." Is he going to find another love?
If you want to find answers for all these questions you should definitely read this book! This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is extremely moving and it keeps you guessing the whole time. I love this book because you can learn a lot about World War Two. I deeply recommend this book to both kids as adults. It is just amazing how brave a little boy can be and how much courage he has for his country. If you love to read sterling war stories you should definitely read this one! I guaranty you will not regret it...you might even learn a valuable lesson!

I've read it over and over again and it still makes me cry every time!

I thought this book was very interesting. One of the reasons I liked this book is because it tells about partisans who fought against the Nazis. All the events in this book are descriptive. Reading about what different things the partisans did was very interesting and exciting.

As a previous reviewer mention, this book is only tangentally related to Frayn's "Copenhagen." Your enjoyment of it will have little to do with what you thought of the play. "The Copenhagen Papers" is an interchange between the author of "Copehagen" and an actor friend of his concerning some mysterious documents dated from World War II. It's a fun little book that made me wish I could goof off with my friends in some clever sort of way.

This is a marvellous entertainment - I'm not sure whether I should correctly describe it as either a memoir or novelette - which explores the nature of reality. It's not really a sequel to Michael Frayn's splendid play "Copenhagen", but does delve into some of the same terrain as the play. Instead, it is a witty exchange of thoughts and letters sent between Michael Frayn and actor David Burke (He portrayed physicist Niels Bohr during the play's original London production) about a set of manuscripts which allegedly date from the internment of German physicist Werner Heisenberg and his colleagues at Farm Hall immediately after the end of World War II. What follows is a terse, spellbinding mystery which is well told by both writers, replete with ample doses of English humor.

I thought COPENHAGEN was a great play, and I picked up this
book thinking it was background for the play (the bookjacket
gives some hints that that isn't the case, but I didn't bother
to read that. Anyway, it turns out to be less than that, and
also much more. I was sucked into the mystery along with
Michael Frayn, and read it in one sitting (it's short). I
highly recommend it for pure entertainment.

In view of one of the reviews below, I thought necessary to add a short commentary about IE studies, and thus about this book. The existence of "one" Proto-Indo-European may not have BEEN as such: rather than one unique language, Proto-IE was certainly a tight compound of very very close dialects. But the genetic relation existing between Celtic, Germanic, Balto-Slavic, Romance, Indo-Iranian, etc languages, and which we call "Indo-European" is proved and is a scientific certainty, although there is many points that are not well-clarified yet.
Thus, after the publication of Mallory and Adams' book (and many others), maybe one should wait, indeed, for the publication of a SERIOUS and scholarly book proving the non-existence of a Proto-IE language or compound of dialects.
For now, I am still waiting for a relevant and convincing bibliography.

A very good summary of Indo-European vocabulary and culture. One could argue about a few points here and there, including the high cost, but generally enjoyable and useful. I would also add that Indo-European studies are well-established.

J.P. Mallory's "In Search of the Indo-Europeans" is the best one-volume survey of the origins and dispersal of the Indo-European languages.

The "Encyclopedia" is more technical, but gives a highly detailed view of the interrelationships of the IE languages and what we can deduce concerning the speakers of the original ur-sprach.

NB: in view of the review above, and out of consideration to uniformed readers, one should point out that Indo-European linguistics is a well-established field throughout the world scholarly community.

I had to read this book for my Modern World Origins class, and I really don't like it. It's the best of the books we've read, but that's not saying much... The language is so flowery as to be almost completely inaccessible, the descriptiveness is way over the top, the storyline is trite and overblown...

I think that it's just so different that maybe I just don't understand it. Then there's the fact that I'm being forced to read the thing when I really don't want to and that I have to write a report on it, giving my teacher exactly what he wants when I don't even know what the book is saying.

Ugh. I will stay away from old Dutchland. ;-p

I've read this book in a different translation, published by Oxford Press Asia - a very careful update on an old translation from England. The book was a great read during a long trip in Indonesia - as the experience of the travels and the book played off each other nicely. It is also a fast read and the occasional lapse into rather very flowery language is easily forgiven as the story moves to a harrowing conclusion. Holland's Joseph Conrad.

This is a wonderful novel, an exploration of sexuality, colonialism, race and power in colonial Indonesia. The book is not easy -- there is nuance and no movie version -- but Couperus brilliantly critiques the paranoia of the late Dutch empire. Read it alongside Pramoedya, or Forster, or maybe even Dermout.

'The Hollow Years' was an unsatisfying, yet compelling read. Eugen Weber offers his readers a truly kaleidoscopical view of what France (partly) was in the 1930's. Each chapter centers a baffling amount of facts around themes as society, religion, morality, agriculture, demographics, the highs and lows of the French economy, and last but not least French politics. After having finished reading, the reader has digested such an amount of data that one wonders how Eugen Weber could have possibly called this book 'The hollow years'.

Weber's book contains excellent passages. The first chapter, in which Weber describes the widespread sentiment against war is very well written. The issues of religious life, emerging leisure and vacation, and the emancipation of French women are well worked out. Yet, over the whole, Weber has not been able to free himself from the weight of the primary (and secondary) sources stacked (in amazing quantity) in the footnotes. We read facts, hardly interpretations. We get information, but little overview. The book develops no grand, overarching themes. The image of France stays very diffuse. Fittingly, the book does not end on a conclusion.

The author's choice to solely focus on facts, not trends, results in the incomprehensible omission of cardinal elements of what France (also) was in the 1930's:

- Despite the eye-popping blue on the 1930 world-maps, Weber entirely ignores the French domination of Viet-Nam, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Madagascar and enormous parts of Africa. The Colonial Exposition (1930), which marks the apogee of French empire and attracted millions of visitors is left virtually untreated.

- During the 1930's, the French Communist Party became the most important West-European Communist Party and a leading force in French politics. We do not read anything about the roots of this emergence, nor the importance of communists within French political life.

- After 15 years of division, 1936 saw the merger of the two most important French trade unions: the CGT of the socialist Leon Jouhaux (Nobel Peace prize 1951) and the communist-oriented CGTU, led by Benoit Frachon. Together, they fought for the 40-hour work week and controlled an enormous block of voters, but are absent in the Hollow Years.

Moreover, the book is drenched with a sustained and often irritating antipathy towards virtually all leading French politicians, diplomats and armymen. Weber does not treat France kindly at all. The author allows himself to make patronizing comments towards the behavior of leading politicians on numerous occasions. The extreme negativity of the tone makes the reader constantly want to question the arguments which are put forward. As such, reading Hollow Years was a rather sharpening intellectual experience.

On first glance Weber does not appear to be an ideological historian. He is lighter, more charming, and more tolerant than, say, Richard Pipes. Peasants into Frenchman, his most famous book, is noticeably more profound than Pipes' own relfections on the Russian peasantry where the gap in class, religion and nation produces a noticeably gap in sympathy. But this is ultimately misleading. Weber is an ideologue of consumerism. The problem with this account of the thirties is the subtle but insinuating sense of superiority that Weber feels against France for being insufficiently wealthy, insufficiently successful, insufficiently innovative. It is too worried about dreary politics of the left and right, not like the hip charming sexy centrists of the New Republic. His anecdotes look less at complex debates about French diplomacy, its economic performance, class struggle and about the "real" issue of living in our joyful yet principled anti-Communist consumer utopia, and how France fails on this score. The result is a stimulating book full of lively detail which is subtly misleading. Historians recognize that they have the advantage of hindsight, and that the people they study do not. Weber seems to forget this crucial point.

Weber's gift for anecdote can be seen in his discussion of the diffusion of such things as refrigerators, telephones, electricity. French roads were so bad in the thirties that one would not bet to get from Paris to Lyons in less than nine hours. When Jacques Le Roy Ladurie, a leading French historian went for his driver's liscence, he hit a wall and a chicken and nearly missed a pedestrian, but still got his liscence. Carmelite nuns never washed themselves and used paper strips when menstruating. He describes the often hostile attitude towards feminism and towards immigrants.

Yet Weber's wide range of source reflects an indulgence in anecdotes rather than a sharp sense of analysis. The result is a scattershot impressionism which exaggerates French weakness and decline. He quotes Lindberg's contemptuous comments on the army, but other contemporary comments said French soliders were more determined and resolute. Weber quotes an unflattering song by Maurice Chevalier on the army, but not Paif's more patriotic Mon Legionnaire. Labor struggles are simply blamed at one point on communist agitation, much is made of pacifist fearmongering and naivete. Yet the sinister and authoritarian Croix de Feu is absolved of being fascist. Ultimately the arguments are strings of anecdotes which do not fully take into account of opposing arguments.

A montage of glimpses into France between the World Wars. A book of this short length, on such a subject, simply cannot cover it to any detail, no matter how skilfully written. Though the latter it certainly is, given the author's expertise as a writer and a historian.

The chapters are disconnected. There is little flow between one and the next. Which means that you can read them in any order, with little narrative loss.

Within a chapter, we see sharp anecdotes, that highlight the subject, be it the culture/s, migrants, religion or whatever. Some of these are bloody hilarious. Like, did you know that in some French cities, people were emptying slop buckets into the streets till the 1950s? Yuk! :-( Wow! That regular bathing was rare, and widely considered unhealthy?

Some attitudes, like the suspicion of the emanations of power lines, echo today's views in France and elsewhere in Europe, about genetically modified foods.

Quite a nice read.

Wallerstein's basic argument, as far as I could follow it, is that the shape of the world system, as he calls it, is driven largely by comparative advantage. The Poles have a kind of subsistence or slave farming that depends on farming vast tracts of marginal land. The English, by contrast, cultivated smaller plots and were involved in the luxury carry trade. Thus Wallerstein makes a distinction between the "center" and "periphery." The basic argument, or the "take-away," as a business school graduate would say, is that a world system that is based on an empire is doomed to failure. A closed system like the Hapsburg empire is doomed to fail because it is not nearly as nimble in taking advantage of comparative advantage as an open system like that which orbited around England in the 16th century. The underlying argument, as I detect it, is that empires such as the communist or, currently, the American empire are doomed. It is also true that Wallerstein does not work with primary documents. This is better suited to scholars who are more familiar with the literature than I am, because Wallerstein's theorizing begins where other more concrete books leave off.

Despite having read and been impressed by other Wallerstein books, I was almost discouraged by some of the reviews that appeared here, talking about how "dry" this book is and how it is overfull of quotations and such. Ridiculous. I checked it out of a nearby research library and was quickly impressed enough to order a copy for myself at $60! The quotations are fascinating and readers should be impressed by the massive amount of material that Wallerstein has reviewed. Readers seeking an introductory work should look elsewhere. This is the first volume in a series of highly groundbreaking contributions to macrosociology. I personally find it much more illuminating that Wallerstein uses extensive footnoting (where most of the quotations appear) and would much rather read full quotations in these notes than simply see references to hundreds of works that I probably won't have the time and resources to locate anyway. That way, readers can appreciate what they're supposed to from the cited sources rather than just take for granted that they fit in, or have to research them on their own. The book makes valuable points with good regularity and fits them together into what would then be recognized in the field as World Systems Theory. Once I have finished it entirely, I may want to shift my rating. For now, the theoretical significance of this book (whose qualities are verified by my readings so far) definitely makes it essential reading for grad students or professionals in macrosociology. Introductory readers should probably start with introductory chapters (in theory and global inequalities) from a basic Sociology textbook and then read Wallerstein's more concise statement "Historical Capitalism" before proceeding on to this detailed series of books.

This book is the manifesto of world system theory. and that it was awarded by American association of sociology. Previously, the capitalism begin with the 1st industrial revolution. but Wallerstein questioned this common sense. he asserted it should be dated back to 16th century when Italian city-state prospered with Mediterrean trade. The book begins with how the feudalism fell and capitalism emerged. Volume 1 covers the shift of hegemoney in European world system from Italian city-states, Spain to Holland. The gist of his theorizing is the worldwide division of labor.
By the way, Overall points are easy to grasp. but the devils lies in the details. the book is flooded with bulks of long quotations. This distracts the attention of reader, so that lose the line of argument. Reading goes through between quotation to quotation. it even seems Wallerstein has no point of himself. I read twice to catch the logic of each chapter. but no avail. Dose Wallerstein has no ability to abbridge those quotations to his own word?
If you are interested in world system theory, I recommend to read Braudel's 'Civilization and Capitalism' instead. it's easy to follow and more systematic. and that much fun to read. Below I try to compare Braudel with Wallerstein
Power organizes the space. Organized space is the world where our perspective domiciles. There were always several worlds at the same time. For example, the premodern Chinese recognized other peoples than them. But they were outside their world. So they were barbarians who were much the same with beast. Only the one in the world which had meaning to them could be called human being. But now there is only one world on the globe. If we define it as the globalization, the history of capitalism is the process globalization over centuries since the 16th C. This is the grand image Braudel depicts before us in ¡®Civilization and Capitalism¡¯. If so, capitalism is not merely the system of exchange (or production), but the way to organize the world, in other word, the system of power. With no doubt, capitalism is the system of capitals. But capital is the power to control the flow of resources. Capital, in Marx¡¯s word, is the power to control the resources allocation in society. But the resource entails not only physical material but also human labor. No goods can be presented before us without human labor. Then trade of goods must reflect the relation of spaces where human beings dwell, whether it is done with coercion or contract. Trade could be carried out between the urban and the regional. The world Wallerstein depicts is the magnified image into global scale of such an order. The unit in that order is the nation-state. but in Braudel¡¯s image, The unit of space is not the state but the city. Capitalism is the network (or hierarchy) of cities, Braudel argues. Each has its own pros and cones. But these days Braudle¡¯s image has gained popularity over Wallerstein¡¯s, since Braudel¡¯s ¡®point-to-point¡¯ perspective fits better into the aspects of globalization. For instance, the global financial market could be better captured with Braudel¡¯s. It exists on the network of cities like New York, London, and Tokyo, not on the hierarchy of nation-states. According to Braudel, the capital and the state have its own interest and dynamic different from each other. In Wallerstein¡¯s framework, we can¡¯t spot such a distinction. But it¡¯s the point where we should begin to explain the current affair, globalization.

if you are a practitioner looking for mythological context, techniques or methods for magical and/or shamanic practices of northern europe, i recommend that you do not buy this book ... it does not explore the nine-world mythology of northern europe, magic practices or shamanic practices

the author openly admits that she is an academic who is writing primarily for an academic audience ... however, she also admits to being a practitioner who is supporting rediscovery and/or reinvention ... the result, in my opinion, at best this book is primarily an exploration of academic definition ... at worst, it is a justification to academia for the author being an academic and a practitioner ... i believe that it would have served better if the author had written two books, one strictly for academia and one strictly for practitioners ... it seems to me that the author is certainly capable of both ... however, dealing with both roles in one writing seems to result in the author's testifying to a "split" in purpose, and with a decisive prejudice towards academia ... having received this impression early in and repeatedly throughout the reading, i believe she conveys as much in a concluding comment on page 157 when she writes:

"to me, the shaman becomes a metaphor for the ethnographer of post-modernity, moving through the worlds, moving between levels of analysis, in an attempt to reconstruct something in her own understandings, her own life, that approaches wholeness, an understanding of living that is complete, not fragmented, returning in her journeys to a pole of being, a world tree"

i do not judge dealing with such a split in this context as inappropriate, only that i had not expected nor desired subject matter motivated by an attempt to define and justify (perhaps heal?) one's academic/experiential split ... i had hoped to learn more about northern mythology, seid-magic and nordic shamanism in context to contemporary issues ... to me, this is what the title suggests is available ... however, this is not what i found to be the case

the bottom line: outside of the author's relatively brief, anecdotal reporting of personal experience with oracular-seid, there is nothing here for the practitioner concerning northern cosmology/mythology, seid-magic or nordic shamanism ... thus, BUYER BEWARE

from the perspective of a practitioner seeking practices, my review results in one star ... as a philosophical attempt to academically define the subject matter, my review results in three stars ... hence, two stars total

There are many schools of thought concerning seidh. The Author has provided an overview of one area of practice, oracular seidh, as taught by Diana Paxon's Hrafnar group. The student of northern magic will recognize old friends in the bibliography (Bauschatz, Byock, H. R. Ellis Davidson). Other books listed there give further indication of the Author's direction in this study - that of shamanism and gender issues related to seidh. Perhaps the most important aspect of this book is it's emphasis on doing the work - when they aren't mounting the high seat, they are lying under the blankets accessing other sources of knowledge. They are sharing their experiences and building the horde of knowledge needed to reconstruct this magical form. My problems with the book are: 1) lack of definition for some of the terms used, e.g. the nine worlds of sied-magic could refer to the nine worlds of Yggdrasil or something specific to the Hrafnar system; 2) the frequency with which forthcoming articles/books were referenced in the text and appear in the bibliography; 3) the Author references a 1906 edition of Snorri Sturluson's HEIMSKRINGLA: A HISTORY OF THE NORSE KINGS which does not include the Ynglingasaga, there is a more recent edition which does include that saga (HEIMSKRINGLA: HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF NORWAY, Snorri Sturluson translated with introduction and notes by Lee M. Hollander, University of Texas Press, Austin, third printing, 1999. The importance of this particular saga is that it contains a catalogue of the magic powers associated with seidh.); 4) relating the meaning of seidh to the word "seethe" - refer to WITCHDOM OF THE TRUE: A STUDY OF THE VANA-TROTH AND THE PRACTICE OF SEIDHR by Edred Thorsson (Runa-Raven Press, 1999) for the etymology of the word "seidhr"; the Author provides alternative translations of "illrar brudhar" as found in the Voluspa of the POETIC EDDA however pointing out that she is neither a philologist nor an etymologist - this limits the usefulness of her alternative translations, making them little better than hearsay until someone with the appropriate credentials validates them.

This book deals with a narrow sector of the range of seidh practices which appear in the Icelandic sagas. For a discussion of other aspects of seidh, I recommend HOSTILE MAGIC IN THE ICELANDIC SAGAS by H. R. Ellis Davidson and OLAF TRYGGVASON VERSUS THE POWERS OF DARKNESS by Jacqueline Simpson, both appearing in THE WITCH FIGURE, Venetia Newall editor, Routlage & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1973.

My husband and I had to read this book together, one reading aloud while the other ran for references.

ie. books on ancient teutonic rituals, asatru, ethnology, psychoactives and icelandic pronuncianton, (only to name a few)

This is for the experienced heathen with specific interests but well worth the time you may spend doing further research or catching up on general knowledge in pagan/shamanism and trance-working if you happened to get in a little over your head.

I must admit, I've read many of Rousseau's essays and books yet, I've never liked him. This book makes me like him less. "Reveries" is Rousseau's attempts to record his thoughts on ten solitary walks. In the first walk he compares his undertaking as like Montaigne's (that's Jean-Jacques for you!!). In a way, it is. These, like the essays of Montaigne are on both the 'trivial' subjects like botany and children, to the more philosophical, like the obligation to truth. Unlike Montaigne though, there is no order whatever to Rousseau's thoughts.

Another disjunction between the two is that Montaigne didn't think nearly as much of himself as does Rousseau who, towards the end of his life, did not have many friends and spends the greater portion of each essay telling us that it is their fault and who needs 'em anyway. He desperately wants us to feel sorry for him while protesting (way too much, wethinks) that he doesn't need our sympathy.

In fact, any good biography on Rousseau will tell you that the reason he didn't have any friends was that he was vain, selfish and trivial. After reading these essays, I see it. He was also losing his mind to paranoia and throughout the reveries, refers to the 'plot' against his life and in the ninth walk, even mentions the spies that follow him!! Whew!!

In the end, lack of structure, repitition of 'poor me' and conspiracy themes, and pure pompousness ruin this book. His 'Confessions' are slightly better, but I'd start with 'Emile.'

The title is lovely, and completely inappropriate. "Paranoid Ramblings of a Once-Great Philosopher" would be more accurate. Some of the chapters are nice (particularly the one on nature) but overall, this is quite certainly not Rousseau's best book. Try the "Confessions" first.

One way to view this (if you are someone who is new to him) is of a Blake's "Age of Experiance" as this was written near his death when alot of his other works still hold his youthfull optomisum in them

I first picked up this book in Oz, not knowing what it realy was. I must say, that as most people howm read his writings are of simular mind, I find that his last ever colection of writing (which this is) explores the darkest corners of ones mind. So many times did I have to stop on a page, think, thake it all in, then carry on to the next page. Only having to do the same again. This is him (his mind is realy all there is to him) when he is free to walk about in circles and wander about everywhere. This is how his mind realy works. It was with this book that I think he should have started his life long writings, for this is a summary of his wondering mind as our minds do. In the wanderings, questions and notions pop up from every where, and instead of doing what the avaredge Jo does and dismisses without much thought, JJ searches and explores for notions and possible view points that would realy shock some people, but bring great moments of clarification and agreament with others like my self. I can not say how much this book has in fact shaped and changed view on my own socail views, of relationships, and spirituality

I love him with all my heart. This small book being him. Ed.

Could this be a true story? Almost?

This is a great historical account of something that may have actually happened. The runestone does exist. Noone knows how it got there.

Coldsmith wrote an entire story around a possible explaination. And very nicely done I might add. It's a long book, but good reading. Slow at times, but never boring. You always want to find out what is going to happen next.

He has left it open for a follow up book. Hopefully it will be forthcoming.

Definitely worth a read.

Living in Oklahoma wherethe rune stone is located I was interested how Mr.Coldsmith would handel it. Although I am not that much an expert on the Norse way of life I did find it interesting the way he handel the story. To me it was believiable. I was a journey of self discovery to which he was trying to find his way back home. Only to find hewas already home. If you enjoy the Spanish Bit saga you will enjoy this book.

its a don coldsmith book, so you already know its good. the allusions he makes to his earlier spanish-bit novels are always fun to recognize. the book was like all his other books: original, exciting, and hard to put down.

A very dry book that is written in an easy to read style. That's great, but it is so relaxing that it can put you to sleep within a few pages. Granted, he had a tough topic to create excitement out of, but this reads like one of those textbooks that you dreaded receiving the first day of classes.
He talks about the motivation of European imperialism. He should have remembered to motivate the reader to care.

Daniel Headrick explains his purpose, "to argue that both the motives [for imperialist expansion] and the means [to facilitate it] changed [in the 19th century], and both caused the event," in the opening chapter of his 210-page book. He does this by "analyzing the technological changes that made imperialism happen, both as they enabled motives to produce events, and as they enhanced the motives themselves." Through a wealth of both primary and secondary sources, well documented in end-of-chapter notes, a bibliographical essay, and an index, Headrick demonstrates not only what people were doing, but also the thought process and motivation for their actions. Primary sources were convincing; as contemporary accounts of what was happening during the nineteenth century, they established what people believed. Rather than staking a technological claim as a "cause" of imperialism, Dr. Headrick demonstrates technologies primary role as an enabler.

Headrick explains what allowed imperialism to happen and how the ability furthered the motivation. I found the best passage in the book to be, "What the breechloader, the machine gun, the steamboat and steamship, and quinine and other innovations did was to lower the cost, in both financial and human terms, of penetrating, conquering, and exploiting new territories." The lowering of the cost of colonial expansion, a debate that "raged" within the ruling circles of Britain and continental Europe, is remarkably demonstrated by the invention and application of the crucial technologies outlined above.
The best example of this used in The Tools of Empire is prophylactic quinine's prevention of African malaria. Although there was a strong desire to enter Africa, few attempted this nearly suicidal venture because it almost certainly meant death from malaria or yellow fever. When it was discovered-by trial and error, rather than by scientific experiment-that prevention of malaria came from quinine prophylaxis, explorers and soldiers began to conquer the continent. Headrick's point is that the imperialist motive, already extent by factors he declines to discuss, was ineffective until technology advancement enabled it to be carried out. Headrick does not debate why the imperialists wanted to conquer, simply that technology allowed them to do so.

Even given such incontrovertible support for his theme, Headrick shies from proclaiming technologies determinism. He attributes much of the success of colonial expansion to the technologies that carried the white European into the previously impenetrable expanses of interior Africa and Asia, the medicines that allowed them to survive in those harsh environments, and the weapons that facilitated ease with which they defeated indigenous peoples, but not the cause. Most enlightening were his explanations of the failed attempts to breach Africa and India; Headrick was able to reveal exactly how each technology overcame that obstacle to expansion that denied previous explorers and colonists access. Headrick correctly sites technology in its social context in this book.

Daniel R. Headrick received a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins, and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He taught at Tuskegee Institute (1968-75) and at Roosevelt since 1975 and was a visiting professor at Hawaii Pacific University in 2000. He has written The Tools of Empire (1981), The Tentacles of Progress (1988), and The Invisible Weapon (1991). He has also co-authored a textbook entitled The Earth and its Peoples: A Global History. His most recent work, When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850, was published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Current projects include lectures at Southwestern College in Texas, University of Rochester, M.I.T., and Yale University. He is also writing a book on technology in world history for Oxford University Press.

Though the subject will not interest everyone (thus 4 1/2 stars), "Tools of Empire" is still a fine example of sound research made accessible for a student/general audience by gifted writing. Headrick shows that, even though the will to dominate existed for a long time previously, Europe's chance to conquer most of the globe only came in the second half of the 19th century.

The technological changes associated with the transition from the First to the Second Industrial Revolution helped create this opportunity. Major innovations such as modern firearms, steamships, railroads, anti-malarial quinine and the telegraph made it much safer for Europeans to live and travel in the tropics, and also easier to attack the indigenous people there. The author gives special attention to developments in India, China and Africa.

Headrick's later works lack the sparkle of this groundbreaking text, but are still worthwhile in bringing the story closer to our own time. The more recent titles have rather more coverage of technology transfer---non-Western peoples' use of introduced technologies---in contrast to "Tools of Empire's" focus on the ways they were used against them. [Michael Adas, "Machines As the Measure of Men" is a stimulating look at Europeans' moral judgements about other societies based on their relative technological proficiency.]