european

In the definitive 5-volume COMPLETE SAGAS OF ICELANDERS, Grettir's Saga is situated in the volume entitled "Warriors, Outlaws, and Poets." For the story of Grettir Asmundarson, all three are appropriate. From an early age, the gigantic Grettir the Strong allows no man to show him disrespect without challenging him to a duel to the death. After one too many challenges, the combined Icelandic chieftains at the Althing sentence him to outlawry, which means, in essence, that anyone could kill him at any time without being held responsible.

For a period of 19 years, Grettir moves from one part of Iceland to another, living on isolated farms or in the wild -- either alone or together with friends and sympathizers -- while relatives of those whom he had killed follow him around, setting up mostly unsuccessful ambushes. Finally, he settles on the islet of Drangey with his brother Illugi and a servant. One local farmer who owns the islet and the flock of sheep that feed there resorts out of desperation to having a magical spell placed on him that causes him to be injured, making it easy for him to kill the brothers.

But because Christianity has taken root in Iceland, the chieftains are outraged at the use of magic to kill Grettir. The farmer is assailed on all sides until HE is declared an outlaw; and Grettir's half-brother chases him all the way from Norway to Constantinople avenge his death.

Even while an outlaw, Grettir had visited many of the chieftains, including the legendary Snorri Priest of Eyrbyggja Saga fame, and met with sympathy. Had he lived another year, the decree of outlawry would have expired, and he would have been a free man. Grettir had good and bad qualities in abundance, including a ready wit and a meticulous sense of honor. His poems are razor sharp and earthy.

Once you get past the Icelandic genealogies at the beginning, this saga reads more rapidly than any of the others I have read. It one of the most readable -- and loveable -- works of the entire Middle Ages.

Like all Icelandic saga's, a reader must give Grettir's Saga its first few chapters before it takes hold. The opening lightly traces the violent heritage of Grettir's ancestors before coming to him. Naturally this slows the story, but once Grettir is born it turns into a slightly fantastic, darkly ironic story of a man haunted with incredible strength and an uncontrollable temper. Grettir's only true talent is fighting, but the saga does not justify his actions. The application of his ability, even under just circumstances, brings him constant misery. At its resolution, there's a subtle, pro-pacifist message of undying relevance. This is a must read for anyone in need of an engaging adventure with great moral depth.

I'm a student taking art classes, and this book was HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by my drawing teacher. Real drawing skills, or draftmanship, is sadly a lost art. Very few art teachers (even those teaching in universities) could draw realistically, let alone draw well. Therefore this book is a MUST for the serious students who wish to study/perfect his skills.

Although the French philosopher, Diderot, wrote of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, "this man draws like an angel," the philosopher also had a few words to say about Greuze's marriage, noting that when the couple talked it was like a Punch and Judy show as blows were returned "with a skill which makes his companion even more malicious."

While it may have been that Greuze was a confrontational spouse, there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest artists of 18th century France and a draftsman par excellence as is revealed in Edgar Munhall's superior "Greuze the Draftsman."

Boasting 350 illustrations, over 100 in color, this sumptuous volume presents a comprehensive view of Greuze's output. The panorama of drawings is found in a variety of media, pen and ink, brush with tinted washes and watercolours, red chalk, and pastels. It is a veritable banquet for art lovers.

Accompanying texts highlight the importance of each work as well as conveying information regarding provenance and technique.

"Greuze the Draftsman" is an admirable addition to the collections of art devotees.

- Gail Cooke

Esterly has created scholarly yet engaging study of the life and work of Gibbons, arguably the greatest and most well known master of the art. Esterly delves into the thought processes behind the work of carving and reveals his intimate knowledge of the subject honestly aquired by countless hours at the carver's bench. Historians, woodworkers and art enthusiasts will be find his account of Gibbon's life and work as complete a treatment of the subject as they could hope to find. While there is much carefully explained technical information concerning the mechanics of carving and creating Gibbon's monumental works it is presented with rare clarity and enthusiasm. Any serious carver should own and study this unparalled work.

A master of his trade, Grinling Gibbons astounds you with his work. In this latest book on Grinling Gibbons, David Esterly adds something new to the usual discussion. He disects and explains the techniques that Gibbons used to create his work. If you have marveled at Gibbons' work, you won't want to miss this book to have the secrets revealed at last.

In "Harmonizing Europe," Duina and his unique perspective facilitate his ability to do a splendid job of concentrating on the intricacies involved with the merger of Europe into one, more uniform, entity. His detailed analysis of the effects of equal pay and environmental issues on the EU is enlightening. As we move into an era of more political, economic, and social mergers between nations along the lines of NAFTA, ASEAN, CARICOM, etc, this book serves as a model for understanding these phenomenons.

It is not easy to understand a totally new experiment like the one putting together many States with so different racial and cultural background. There are no previous examples to use as reference. Duina decided to take a very detailed picture of a moment in the EU evolution. If we had more pictures like this, that would allow the assembly of a movie, the closest thing man has devised to link together actual information and time. The book is very clearly designed and assembled, an excellent example of normative science implementation.

Heimskringla is the account of the kings of Norway, starting with the Norse god Odin as a great general and wizard and centered around the story of St. Olav, king of Norway for 15 years. The detailed account of his years as a king is over 200 pages long and the Old Norwegian terms will keep you reading the footnotes some of the time, but it helps.

Few topics might have a less boring promise to them than a a dreary, commented narration of the deeds of long-dead monarchs. But, as it happens, in the skilful hands of that remote, enigmatic figure that was Snorre Sturlason, this compendium becomes a thrilling subject likely to satisfy the mind of the professional historian and thirst for adventure of the young, budding intellectual turk. Mr. Sturlason is indeed a kind of mysterious figure. Icelandic by birth, he would no doubt feel at home in the world of modern politics; as a matter of fact, he might have one or two things to teach any well seasoned contemporary politician. Why he devoted his life to political scheming and Norse history, we shall never know for sure; but should be under no illusion about his prowess in both disciplines. He's no doubt the Herodotus of the northern latitudes - and the Machiavelli. Nonetheless, in analogy to other historical figures, he machinated and intrigued a bit too far, which brought him his demise, after an anyway rather long life. At the thirteenth century, the historical framework that saw the flourishing of Snorre Sturlason, the dynasties of Norwegian kings have come to an end. Not surprisingly so though, due to the extreme bellicosity and, from our late twentieth century point of view, hooligan-like features that characterized that string of monarchs. Snorre's tale starts at the mythical times of the creation of the world, eons ago, with a crisp narrative of the well-known old Norse cosmology. It is not clear where mythology terminates and history begins, and one cannot help but wondering if the scheming historian kept the ambiguity on purpose. At any rate, Snorre's prose flows easily and leads the reader deep into the old Norse world and customs, everyday life, nonchalantly describing grim, sometimes gruesome deeds, bringing us back to a period in which the conception of the world, ethics, morality and existence itself, were vastly different from ours in the West. The reader will no doubt be captured by the relentless, powerful sense of revenge implicit in the death of a Scottish chieftain, who succumbed to infection that set in due to the injuries done to his leg by the teeth of the head of a Norse invader, that he had cut off and tied up to this horse's saddle as a victory trophy; or by the moving, and the same time horrific, reaction of king Harald the Fairhaired at the death of his favourite lover Snaefrid, the details of which we leave for the inquisitive reader to discover. A milestone in the world literature and history, the Heimskringla will leave no one unmoved, and will surely expand the vision of many.

Heine has been sadly neglected over the years in favor of more "modern" poets Holderlin and Rilke, even though in many ways Heine is as modern as either. He may be the greatest German prose stylist (as Nietszche thought), and his poetry though very lyrical is never banal or lacking in profundity. This edition in Continuum's German series is excellent, with a sampling of Heine's broad poetic output - with, of course, some omissions, most notably 'Songs of Creation' and 'Morphine.' Also included are Heine's unique satires of travelogue, 'The Harz Journey' and 'Ideas - Book Le Grand,' which consist of poetic interludes, many comic episodes, but also some truly beautiful passages concerning the nature of human existence. Finally, one of Heine's most masterful poems, the epic 'Germany: A Winter's Tale', is also included, rounding out this well-selected anthology of one of the essential German - and world - writers.

Heinrich Heine is one of the most lovable writers in European literature. A German of Jewish origin who lived from 1797 to 1856, he regarded himself as the last romantic writer. That shows in his poetry: Very often they begin like usual romantic poems, describing a woman watching the sunset by the seaside for example; but then Heine comes up with a bitterly ironic twist, telling the said lady not to worry as there is nothing unusual about the sunset, the sun always disappears over there and comes back from the other side... Heine is passionately in love with romanticism, Germany and Judaism, but that doesn't keep him from seeing the objects of his love as they really are, he manages to be enchanted by illusion and disillusioned at the same time. That's what makes him such fun to read. His work is somewhat uneven (so it's best to start with a selection like this one), but I always felt that he is the kind of person I would love to be my friend. Heine is never boring. - Apart from that he is second only to Goethe among the best of German poets.

Erik Larsen's book on Bosch looks good on a coffee table and reads even better.

Nicely bound and a terrific summer read.

When I looked at your reviews of the book on Hieronymous Bosch by Erik Larsen, I saw that they were really reviews of a children's book on the same subject by Gary Schwartz.

I think you should correct your site.

Russian architecture is not well known to Western readers. Prof. Brumfield is a prolific and systematical writer about Russian architecture. Reviewing book is the best modern book in English about a history of Russian architecture. The book covers whole periods of a long history of the glorious Russian architecture. Author have visited Russia several times and most of pictures made by author and that also makes his approach more unique and personal. Text, pictures and references are very impressive and higly professional. As a systematical desription of history of Russian architecture (data base) it is close to classical Grabar's work History of Russian Culture (in Russian). The book creates a solid basement for building a theory of Russian architecture with discussion its origin, its unique stylistic features and factors which influence the development of Russian architecture. Prof. Brumfield's book established a golden standard for any other attempt to write a book about a history of Russian architecture (in Russian or in English). I have this book and I am treating it as a my national treasure. Everybody who are interested in the architecture and/or Russian architecture must buy this excellent, beautiful, well written, highly informative and richly illustrated book.

I studied under Brumfield at Tulane, with this book as the main text for study. He employs strong, fluid writing to encompass a millenium of russian expression and turmoil. The book does not lose its sense of history. A decisive book for any interested.

I agree with the review from the person in Berkley that this is a concise and precise overview of the topic. It's an excellent text for the college student (and general reader) wishing to study the issues in more detail and balance.

It raises many of the basic questions and points to how to proceed with the further research.

This crisp, concise, precise book contains the core of what you need to know about the rise and fall of Hitler & Nazi Germany. In a mere 100 pages, Jackel gives the essential facts and offers well-reasoned, useful insights about such important questions as what sociological forces brought Hitler to power, what Hitler's long-term plans were, what Hitler's personal role in the Holocaust was and when he began formulating his plans for genocide, etc. etc.

Scrupulously researched, well-written and well-organized. Read it in conjunction with Jackel's classic "Hitler's World View: A Blueprint for Power" and with Lucy Dawidowicz's masterly analysis "The War Against the Jews".

This book is a collection of works concerning six different aspects of the Holocaust. Each chapter consists of a theme. These themes in turn are discussed and debated by a number of different authors/ historians who each share a perspective of an event or belief about the Holocaust.

I really enjoyed reading this text for a number of reasons. First, I enjoyed the multiple perspective approach to each theme because it gave me a more well rounded view of the ins and outs of each topic. Normally when you read a historical book you only get the authors opinion, but by having a number of different authors write on the same subject and sharing their differing opinions I found it beneficial in forming my own.

Secondly, I learned a lot from this book because of the range of topics that the author chose to include; from the origins to the possibility of rescue. Although it was sad to read some of the facts and accounts of the Holocaust told here I really gained a lot of insight into the more challenging aspects of the Holocaust such as: Jewish resistance and bystanders reactions.

Donald L. Niewyk's, THE HOLOCAUST: THIRD EDITION, is a wonderful up-to-date anthology on the current historical debates surrounding the interpretation and meaning of the Holocaust for the PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION SERIES.

Books from the PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION SERIES are mainly designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level European history courses.

Controversies are presented in a topical format and prominent Holocaust historians present their evidence. Thus enabling the reader to gain a well-balanced interpretation of the Holocaust.

Topics and chapters covered: Origins of the Holocaust, Motivations of the Killers, The Holocaust Experience, The Problem of Jewish Resistance, Bystanders Reactions and Possibilities of Rescue.

An excellent representation of Holocaust history.