european

This is one of the most beautiful books I've read.
Happy, stimulating, exciting, amusing, delightful, stormy and sexy. A great love story full of flavors, smells and rhythm.

This is the story of Emanueil Razinas (AKA Lewis) the surprising and unexpected man, that near him "all of us are such of midgets.... doesn't get even to his ankles..."

This is also the story of group of friends, and all the women and the wives, Athens and Greece. Four decades on yachts decks, in brothels, in the army, in the street, taverns, cafes, sheds, magnificence houses, and anywhere else.

The story is told in a fluent, open and trustworthy way, both satirical and sad.
You can't escape the noticeable painful feeling of the open wound of Greece that try to awaken from the civil war nightmare and the revolution in every page.

It is about all of us... Make sure you start reading on a week-end because you won't be able to put it down without finishing! Mourselas' genius is unbelievable.

The book takes you to the journey of your life...

Moby Dick used to be my favorite book. What more is there to say? Tolstoy is a master storyteller. If you like good writing, this book is for you. If you like Christian writing, this book is even more for you. This one will make a great gift.

This book belonged to my father and he used to tell me stories from it when I was small. All parents should try to read this to their children - I remember being both mesmerised and confused by the stories : mesmerised because of their simplicity and flow, and confused because they led to deeper questions on society,humanity and God. Even if you are agnostic, you can read it for its human and literaray value.
After reading this you will have a hard time deciding whether Tolstoy is better as a novelist or a short story writer.

What is there to say, TOLSTOY was a master of his craft? A read through this book will tell you all you ever need to know about the written word.

I had never read this book as a child, but decided to get it for my nephew.

At first I was concerned because, well, Bony Legs is going to eat Sasha! But then I remembered the first time I heard Hansel & Gretel and realized kids are not like adults and I didn't need to be worried. They will be enchanted by the cottage on chicken feet and see Bony-Legs for what she is ... an imaginary part of an adventure.

What I liked most about this book, aside from Bony-Legs' inventive usage of a tub on her bony legs (which made me giggle), was that Sasha did everything right and she came out on top. She followed instructions, she took time out to be kind to others and she put aside her doubts, showed a little faith in the advice of her new-found friends and gets home safe and sound.

Not only does this book entertain, but it also gently teaches children the importance of being kind to others ... not burning their bridges so to speak.

I may have to get this book for my own collection!

Our Kindergartener has threatened to steal this from the library. We figured we'd just buy it instead!

i remembered reading this book as a child and loved it. when i had my son i searched for and bought this book. it is a little on the scary side, but teaches children about kindness and gentleness at the same time.

You wouldn't be ordering this book if you didn't already love Bouguereau, so rest assured that the reproductions are top notch, especially for a fairly inexpensive paperback.

This is a lankmark book about the greatest painter of all time. Whereas it is easy to do write a book on over-hyped painters (such as Cezanne or Picasso) simply by rehashing other books, Wissman has written the first complete book of a great painter we almost know nothing about (except now).

This book contains large format pictures and an easy-to-read and informative biography. Highly recommended

Bouguereau by museum art exhibition curator and art history expert Fronia E. Wissman is a superbly presented collection of artwork underscored with thoughtful commentary showcasing one of the most simultaneously beloved and hated nineteenth-century French artists, Adolphe-William Bouguereau. His realistic, classic paintings of nude bathers, nymphs, young women and figures of mythology have a captivating, attention-calling quality that turns the head and the eye. His images are here displayed in full color photographs and the informative text recounts his life and enhances our understanding of the background to his masterpieces in this engaging and very highly recommended addition to personal and academic Art History Reference collections.

One of the greatest novelists of all time, Balzac was most at home in the Paris of Post-Napoleonic Paris. In a time when the middle class was showing its strength and starting to reach towards the aristocracy, Balzac shows just how selfish and grubby and greedy humans can be in attaining and how treacherous they can be in keeping their all important upward mobility.

Colonel Chabert is a man disfigured in the Napoleonic Wars who was left for dead on a battlefield. After digging his way out of a mass grave, he finds that he has no legal right to his title or his massive estate. Nobody will believe his true identity. For ten longe years he goes about trying to communicate his plight to anyone who will listen. They only see a crazy bum, and his wife rebuffs his letters. She already has a new husband and kids. Finally Chabert is able to convince a lawyer named Dervilles to accept his case, namely that of reclaiming his title, lands, and wife. The problem is that noone is really interested in his life being resurrected. Most people would rather that he remained dead. So begins the ludicrous battle of a man against the law to prove his own existence.

This short but great novel, or novella, is a tragic take on the world's thirst for social status and the judgement by visuals that our society is only too guilty of to this day. If it walks like a bum, talks like a bum, it must be a bum. Colonel Chabert has such a hard time convincing people of his identity because of how they perceive him. It sounds echoes of Frankenstein in that a good man is reduced to a monster when all he really needs is love. The fact that even his wife wishes he were dead just drives home the isolated suffering of the book. As in all Balzac novels, you feel a world moving under the mantle of the book. The Human Comedy of Balzac is one of the crowning achievements of literature and ranks right up there with Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy.

"Colonel Chabert" is the story of a soldier--a great favourite of Napoleon's who is left for dead following the battle of Eylau. Chabert literally digs himself out of a mass grave and is nursed slowly back to health. Unfortunately, Chabert's severe head wound caused permanent memory loss, and it is years before Chabert clearly remembers who he is.

After fragments of his memory return, Chabert contacts his wife--unfortunately, she has remarried and is now the Countess Ferraud, and it is in her best interests that Chabert remain dead and forgotten and that she remain the sole wealthy recipient of the Chabert fortune. So she ignores the letters Chabert sends.

Desperately poor, in bad health, and nursing a growing sense of injustice, Chabert seeks out the services of an ambitious and fascinating young lawyer named Derville. Derville is intrigued with Chabert's story and decides that Chabert is either the victim of a terrible injustice or "the most accomplished actor" he has ever seen. And so Derville sets out to regain at least a portion of Chabert's fortune....

Balzac is one of my favourite authors, and I've read many of his works. "Colonel Chabert" is novella length, but it is better described as a sketch of a novel. For anyone trying Balzac for the first time, I recommend starting with either "Cousin Bette" or "The Black Sheep." "Colonel Chabert" is perhaps not the best Balzac novel to start with as it is certainly not a good example of Balzac's extraordinary talent, but the novella certainly serves nicely as a later supplement to Balzac's better novels. I have to say that the film version is actually even better than the novel--and it's usually the other way around. In the novel, Countess Ferraud is a grasping, selfish, pitiless ambitious woman--in the film, she is portrayed much more sympathetically. Also, the visual media of film allowed much greater scope for such scenes as the dead on the frozen battlefield--this was not conveyed with such power in the novel. Nonetheless, "Colonel Chabert" follows Balzac's favourite themes--greed and human motivation---displacedhuman--Amazon Reviewer.

Balzac, one of the greatest writers who ever lived, did not trip up with this one. I read it with great pleasure and conclude, as people so often say, that the movie based on the story did not equal the original. Ever the cynic (some might say 'the realist') Balzac portrays here the efforts of a noble-minded soldier, who rose from an orphanage to serve his country under Napoleon in Egypt and eastern Europe, only to reap the all-too-common fate of dedicated and true warriors---to be forgotten and ignored. Death (which he accepted) might have seized him, but he found a living death, a denial of his sanity and identity, as the reward of his service. Reported killed at the battle of Eylau, against the Russians, after a heroic action, the soldier literally crawls from his grave to a kind of shadowy survival. In his earlier life, Colonel Chabert had raised a woman to his own status, but now finds that she is unwilling to let others learn of her origins and does not want to recognize that he is, in fact, her long lost husband. Honestly thinking she was widowed, she married a highborn aristocrat who knew nothing of her humble beginnings.

The tale is one of greed, intrigue, loyalty and disloyalty. As usual, Balzac manages to cast a light, pitiless and bright, on every rotten corner of the human condition, while offering a few inspiring examples in contrast. Every detail of a lawyer's life in 19th century Paris is scrutinized, every glimpse of urban dairyman or elite country squirehood rings true. No wonder I admire him so much, no wonder I have no hesitation in urging you to read COLONEL CHABERT and any other volume of Balzac you can lay your hands on.

Like a previous reviewer I too have spent time in the U.K. (as I married a Scotsman). The recipes in here are the standards to British cooking. I've tried many other and this is by far the best for anyone wanting to cook British meals in the U.S. The measurements have all been scaled for an American kitchen and every recipe I've tried has come out wonderful. A LOVELY BOOK!!!!

British cooking has been a much maligned cuisine over the years. One is reminded of the joke which goes: In the European conception of heaven, the French are the chefs, the British are the police, the Germans are the engineers, etc., while in the European conception of Hell, the Germans are the police, the British are the chefs, etc. While this joke is based on national stereotypes, it does illustrate the common perception of British cooking.
Jane Garmey's book does much to dispel this myth. British cooking, done correctly, is indeed quite good. Some of the best and most distinctive dishes of the cuisine are the savory pies and both the sweet and savory puddings. We have tried and enjoyed many recipes from this book, including the one with the horrifying title "Steak and kidney pudding." This turned out to be a flaky steamed dumpling, filled with beef and mushrooms in a rich gravy. The small amount of beef kidney only served to enrich the sauce. It was delicious. Possibly our favorite recipe in the book is the deceptively simple dessert called Summer (Hydropathic) pudding. It consists only of three ingredients (fresh berries, sugar, bread), which are combined in a unique way. We made it with fresh blueberries and raspberries, and topped it with whipped cream. My wife and I both agreed that this pudding was arguably the best dessert either of us have ever had: pure culinary genius!
The British clearly have nothing to be ashamed of with their national cuisine, as demonstrated by this fine book.

I purchased this book in 1983. I purchased a second, paperback version this year, as my original is well worn (and very well loved). I have used it countless times, cooking my way through most of its recipes. It has never failed me and has provided me with many dishes that are now family classics. It is a true gem--simple to use, charmingly written and fool proof in its results. If you have any interest in British food or British heritage this book is a treasure.

I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan and I had learned that Tolkien was influenced greatly in his writing by the Kalevala legends, so I got this to learn more of that region's mythology. It's quite fascinating. I love the chants, especially the one to shut dogs up. :)

In an effort to broaden my horizons in epic and mythological literature, I bought two books on a whim: The Kalevala, a Finnish epic poem with roots in prehistoric oral tradition, and Njal's Saga, the thirteenth century prose account of the lives and tribulations of a group of families and friends in late tenth and early eleventh century Iceland. After reading about 100 pages of Njal's Saga and nearly perishing from sheer tedium, I turned to The Kalevala and received a pleasant surprise.

The Kalevala is a non-rhyming poem consisting of fifty cantos ranging over about 670 pages. The cantos are meant to be sung and were collected in the nineteenth century by Finnish scholar Elias Lönnrot as he traveled around Finland listening to old men sing from memory. The actual number of such collected stories is mind boggling and only a small fraction comprise the loosely connected plot of The Kalevala. Lönnrot even modified some of the stories himself to make the poem a more satisfying piece of literature in its own right. The story follows an amazingly small number of major characters who can loosely be described as warrior-wizards: an old wise singer, a talented metal smith, a foolhardy and womanizing young man, a tragic orphan boy, and a trouble-making woman who plays the antagonist throughout. Together they can conjure up armies by singing, build boats and musical instruments out of virtually nothing, and even shape shift into giant winged creatures. In this land of long ago, ships can talk, pike grow to be the size of houses, and people can be brought back to life by stitching their body parts together! Yes, my friends, it doesn't hurt to be a little open minded with a book like this.

It's difficult to characterize or critique this book because it is so unique, so different from anything I've ever read. The poetry itself is surprisingly simple and easy to read, yet oddly satisfying. When Vainamoinen, the old singer and dominant character, finds himself in a predicament, what does he do? Does he sit down and rationalize his thoughts, plan out his course of action in detail? (I'm already speaking in paired lines!). He probably does, but that's not what is narrated to us. Instead, "He thinks, considers / how to be, which way to live." (p. 202) And these two little lines, in all of their simplicity, are more poignant and powerful than any psychological exposition could be. We picture Vainamoinen, the great warrior-poet, "thinking" and "considering" as if he is momentarily stumped. He is humbled, brought down from his usual decisive and confident self, by his own sudden realization that the complexity of the world is too much even for the mighty Vainamoinen. Then he thinks about how he should "be" and about his own life, reminding us that our own way of life--our choices and decisions--defines our being, who we are. Through these lines we relate to Vainamoinen and his struggle; we are comforted by his imperfections because they make him, a wise and gracious character, closer to us.

As a text that is meant to be sung, The Kalevala is riddled with patterns, both in the form of the poetry and in the plot itself (which Bosley calls "formulas"). One of the more obvious quirks of the poem is its tendency to rephrase the previous line in the current line, giving the work a kind of lyrical quality one would find in a musical: "'Might I say something / would I be allowed to ask / what kind of man you may be / what sort of fellow?'" (p. 73) Another is the presence of repeated identical lines, especially within the context of parallelism. When Kullervo says goodbye to his family in canto 36, he addresses his father, brother, sister, and mother one by one and in an identical fashion (parallelism): to each he asks "Will you weep for me" and is answered "I'll not weep for you", then states "And I shall not weep for you." We go through this four times. From a literary standpoint this is done (evidently) for emphasis. But because the original was sung, I think it's more likely that repeating structures would serve as a sort of chorus for the listeners. When viewed from this context of song, the poem's structure makes greater sense. However, the content of the poem-particularly the more magical parts-can be difficult to relate to.

As with any work that is archaic to begin with and a translation, the reader will here occasionally feel as thought there is a major disconnect between his own purpose for reading and the purpose for which the story was originally intended. As a modern young American male with no connection whatsoever to Finland and very little knowledge of formal epic storytelling, I approached The Kalevala as if it were, at the least, a good opportunity to broaden my conception of epic literature and, at the most, an entertaining story. I say this because any work like The Kalevala will be at least a good experience if taken seriously. The question is: is it really entertaining to a modern audience? (a much greater--and probably unrealistic--expectation). Now I know that a scholar would scoff at the question, but it is a legitimate one from the standpoint of the individual who comes to the work purely out of curiosity. Setting oral tradition aside and viewing the poem as free-standing literature in the context of non-Finnish culture (I can't comment on the work's appeal in such an environment), I would say that there are parts of the poem that are entertaining. But I caution the eager adventure-seeking reader: patience is a prerequisite here. But, more often than not, this is a sign that something greater than the memory of a few hours of entertainment awaits you at the other side of the rainbow.

If this is appearing with the Magoun translation: This is a welcome paperback incarnation of a solid, reliable, standard translation, originally published four decades ago. I have reviewed the hardcover edition of this translation, and of the similar rendering of the epic's first version, "The Old Kalevala," and will summarize my views here. However, you may be seeing with the paperback of the Bosley verse translation of the (New) "Kalevala," another reputable version , to which some of my comments apply equally well.

"Kalevala," variously translated as "Kaleva District" or "Land of Heroes," is a nineteenth-century compilation, revision, and expansion of narratives, spells and charms, and proverbial wisdom collected from the Finnish-speaking peasants and fisherman of areas of modern Finland and Russia. It is made up largely, but not entirely, of "runos," narrative songs when even then survived in isolated, "fringe" areas; ballads with clear connections with other cultures also make an appearance. The material is, for the most part, clearly pagan in origin, with hints of roots in the Viking Age, if not earlier, but processed through centuries of Christianity, Catholic and Lutheran in Finland proper, Russian Orthodox in the Karelia district. Fortunately, Elias Lonnrot, the main collector, and the man responsible for this literary version, was also engaged in laying the foundations of the scientific study of folk traditions, and the collections he made or sponsored formed the basis of a major archive, the publication of which was only recently completed. In the meantime, his popularization had become a part of the world's culture, as well as that of Finland.

The contents are various, but the main themes are the military and romantic adventures and misadventures of a handful of warrior-magicians, as quite with an incantation as with a sword. Vainamoinen, "the Eternal Sage," and a kind of demiurge who sings the Finnish homeland into being, is born old, and his attempts to find a wife lead to the creation of the mysterious and wonderful "Sampo" by the smith Ilmarinen, as a kind of bride-price. These two great heroes share the stage with the irresponsible Lemminkainen, a kind of combined Don Juan and Achilles, and the hapless Kullervo. His story, presented as a cantata by Sibelius, is one of the underpinnings of Tolkien's "Silmarillion." (When the latter first appeared, it seemed obvious that the Quest for the Sampo, and its ultimate fate, was a major inspiration for Tolkien; publication of his early versions show that most of the resemblances emerged over time, in the course of endless reworkings.)

There have been a number of abridged or retold versions of "The Kalevala" in English, and two early complete versions in verse, by Crawford (from a German translation; available on-line), and the Kirby translation (Tolkien's introduction to the work). Magoun's translation filled a need for a more literal treatment, with more supporting information. There have been two later translations of the "New Kalevala" into English verse, by Eino Friberg (1988) and Keith Bosley (1989), which many will find more appealing. But for those who want both the story and all of the details, and either don't care about, or don't care for, such things as meter and rhyme, Magoun's translation remains a first choice. For those who know the epic through other translations, it is still worth consulting. I hold it in high regard.

Somehow, everyone in Romania seems to believe that their heaviest food is also the tastiest. In Romanian restaurants both in Romania and accross the US, in cookbooks -- all I'm finding are the stuffed grape or cabbage leaves, the pork products, the mamaliga. What happened to all those seasonal (in Romania) meals centered around the great vegetables that abound in Spring, stuff that a family would actually eat everyday at home? The light and flavorful zuchinni with yoghurt, the spinach puree, all the many ways to prepare mushrooms, celery roots, even the lowly potatoe? The great sour soups that wake one up with their taste? What about some of the staples, like bors (not to be confused with Russiona borscht), the sour grain vinegar that is so good in those soups? Or all the pickled vegetables that spice up ones winter meal? Also, there are all the holiday preparations, such as a stuffed goose, duck on sourkraut, and, for the kids, the "sweet bites", sort of like a gingerbread cracker, but thicker and with a soft, molasse-like consistency (turta dulce for those of you out there who know :-)...
I'm not a great Romanian cook myself and I bought this book hoping to fill in some of my childhood favorites. It does do a good job of the recipes it presents. I handed the stuffed grape leaves recipe to the chef in charge at my wedding and it ended up being a favorite with my (mostly non-Romanian) guests!
The other complain I have is that some of the ingredients have been "adapted" to suit most American supermarkets. I won't complain about getting some of the fat out (although most of it stayed...) but what about the tarragon, the lovage, dill --they're all available here, with a bit of effort. Why not do what many asian cookbooks do and require the original ingredient, with an easy-to-find alternative where in doubt? And what about those simple salads that "parsley-up" and liven up any Romanian family's dinner?
Maybe it depends on the region -- Transylvania does have its share of heavier food, and with no outlets to the Black Sea, people there don't really enjoy eating fish. But Romanian cuisine has so many other flavors that I constantly see neglected, yet they are the easiest to include in a balanced diet...
And a final word of praise: the romanian wine list at the end is worth the price of the book -- and brings the stars rating to 4. I've been looking for something similar for a while, and I was really glad to find it in this book.

This book is an all-around great cookbook. To be honest, I had never heard of Romanian cuisine before and picked up the book on a whim. I'm glad I did because the book introduced me to a delicious culture that I had never sampled before. The recipes in the book are grouped into the following chapters: appetizers, salads, egg dishes, soups, polenta, fish dishes, meat dishes, poultry dishes, vegetable dishes, dumplings, sauces, desserts, wines, preserves, and Jewish dishes. I found good recipes in each chapter, some fancy, and some that can be whipped up in minutes. Interspersed throughout the book are short history lessons about Romania, fairy tales, and poetry, as well as Klepper's comments explaining the cooking culture. The book also includes a bibliography, a place and personal name index, and English recipe index, a Romanian recipe index, a brief pronunciation guide, an English-Romanian-French food dictionary, and even an American-British food dictionary (surprisingly useful!). If you're looking for a Romanian cookbook, this is a great one. And if you're just looking for some interesting and tasty new recipes, you'll find some here.

My husband is from Romania and since I love to cook I bought this book to try to give him a taste of home, since he doesn't get to go back much. I made his favorite, sarmale and mamaligia, he was so impressed at how good it turned out he called his mom right away and told her what a great cook I am. He said it's amazing how I made something that tastes just the way his mom cooks it. This is a great book, it has suggestions for ingredients that may be hard to find and has easy to follow instructions that produce accurate tastes of Romanian cuisine. Also the facts and history of Romania add to the recipies and make them that much more fun to make.

One might shy away -- with a Disney-phobic mind-set -- from a book about the Jamestown colony, John Smith, and, of course, Pocahontas. Most of us feel we know the story anyway. "Love and Hate in Jamestown" by David Price however fills in the familiar outline with some new muscles and sinews.

The book principally follows the history of Smith and of the Jamestown colony from the departure of the three ship flotilla from London in 1606 until Smith's death in 1631. This history is of course in large measure one of relations with the Indians. Price, not a historian, has written for both the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily, so the economic motivations and structure of the colony also are given significant attention.

The story is told in a straight-forward style that is largely a strength, but at times makes it seem to be no more than a summary of others' work. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Certainly, it's a well-documented book, with an extensive Bibliography.

The book highlights many facets of the Jamestown/Smith story that add to a reader's understanding. I found certain aspects especially effective in this regard. 1) John Smith's background as a commoner, fighter for Dutch independence, self-taught student of military tactics (especially munitions), enlistee in Austrian forces battling the Ottoman Empire, and a captive slave to the Turks. 2) The ease with which the Spanish could have destroyed the colony, changing the whole course of North American history, and the big power politics that led King Philip of Spain to inaction. 3) The evolving expectations of the Virginia Company's managers back in England of what they could expect as return on their investment.

At the well-known and crucial point in the story, the author does an effective job of recreating the circumstances of Smith's capture by the Powhatans and Pocahontas' role in his deliverance from certain death.

Although strong in presenting these various facets, the book suffers I believe from the lack of a centralizing focus. At many points it seems a biography of Smith, then veers into the dramatic details of the colony's travails after Smith is shipped back to England, then returns to a focus on Smith as he struggles to find an avenue for returning to the New World. Each shift of attention seems abrupt and the level of detail varies uncomfortably.

John Smith apparently kept good notes while in Virginia and then wrote extensively about his colonizing experiences. Price of course draws heavily on these narratives and appears to always accept Smith's version of events. This is both natural (Smith had many supporters who verified his accounts) and somewhat unbalanced. The book paints the other colonial leaders - with whom Smith was in unremitting conflict - as incredibly selfish, naïve, and catastrophically unwilling to learn from their mistakes. A more nuanced depiction of those with whom Smith clashed would have added depth to the book.

Oddly, while the book does deal with disease among the settlers, there is no such discussion of the role European germs might have played in the decimation of the natives. This is a disconcerting omission. Price also has an amateurish habit of unnecessarily foreshadowing events: "shortly he would disclose it", "before long, he would owe her his life several times over", and "Smith would not learn of this for a long time to come".

There are two well-rendered maps, one of the voyage from England through the West Indies and onto the North American coast, and one of the layout of Indian tribes in the large area surrounding Jamestown. A map of the colony and its immediate area would have been helpful, particularly since recent archaeological efforts have added greatly to knowledge of the site. The web site of "Jamestown Rediscovery" (http://www.apva.org/jr.html) provides a useful adjunct while reading Price's book.

Some notes on "Editorial Method" (covering the rendering of dialogue, spelling, place names, dates, etc.) follow the main text. These would have been better placed as an introduction. Readers would be advised to read these notes first.

I have no hesitation in an overall recommendation for "Love and Hate in Jamestown". It should add extensively to the general reader's understanding of a nation's beginnings and the crucial role played by one of history's most singular characters.

Love and Hate in Jamestown is an appropriate title for this fascinating book. Details of the love between John Rolfe and Pocahontas that developed into marriage, a trip to England, and her untimely death are provided. We are also provided with details of the uneasy relationship between the native Americans and the English settlers as they each tried to put up a front of friendship with the other. If the book has a hero, it would be John Smith who dealt with the environment in Jamestown, Virginia, as it was, not as the settlers wanted it to be. Many of the settlers were "gentlemen" who knew nothing about getting their hands dirty in work. Looking for gold was first and foremost in their minds. Among the settlers were workers and shirkers. Initially, food was provided for all from a common storehouse, but this method didn't encourage everyone to do their share of work. Jealously and envy were enemies of the settlers as to who they wanted as a leader. Not only was there hate towards the common enemy, the native Americans, but towards each other as well. Author David Price believes the story of Smith being saved by Pocahontas to be authentic. History is about people who lived in a different period under different circumstances. This is the story of America's beginnings told in a most effective manner.

The literature of Jamestown exemplifies a history of frustrating complexity. This is partly because the history of Jamestown has become the playing field of propagandists (e.g. post Revolutionary Americans justifying the Revolution, as Tisdale says, by putting down the "gentlemen" of the colony) to Henry Adams, one of the otherwise great minds of America-perhaps its greatest-who admittedly set out to demolish the history of the South in the Civil War era, as Price himself points out. Romanticists have enjoyed a field day inventing a relationship that never existed between a mature John Smith and the child Pocahontas, and Smith himself is so unlikable a hero as to make an unpleasant historical subject. Add the fact that most of the productive research on Jamestown in our century has been archaeological or documentary, and add the fact that during the period concerned Jamestown officials come and go and return again, one is presented with a kaleidascope of confusion. Only with the recent publication of JAMESTOWN NARRATIVES, which arranges the sources in an order comprehensible to the gentle reader and Ivor Noel Hume's outstanding THE VIRGINIA ADVENTURE, has the picture begun to come together for any but the specialists. Bearing in mind that Hume, one of the world's top archaeologists, covers both the Roanoke settlement and Jamestown, this is the first modern book I have seen that embodies the latest research, deals only with Jamestown and does so in a way that is both accurate and readable. This is an excellent starting place for anyone who wants to understand the early colony.

I do have one very small problem with the volume. The gentlmen still come off badly. Contentious, prickly, arrogant and self interested, they undoubtedly were, but their contribution to the colony was considerable, as the adventurers who explored and fought. But this (which I must admit is my own take) is more than overcome by Price's masterful account of how John Smith, one man of rather minor status, brought order out of chaos. It is hard to like Smith, but without him, I think there would have been no Virginia. And it is very easy to like Price, who has done us the inestimable favor of,at last, bringing the threads of the tapestry together.

Over the past year I have read extensively about the 17th century. "The Age of Louis XIV" is the best book which I have found on the period. Volume VII of Will and Ariel Durant's multi-volume "Story of Civilization", this book documents more detail of the era than any others which I have read.

The book begins with sections on France and England. The next section is "The Periphery" dealing with Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, and Iberia. After the geographically oriented sections, the reader is treated to sections organized along intellectual topics, such as science, philosophy, and faith and reason, which contain chapters dealing with specific philosophers or scientists. The conclusion wraps it all up with the denouement of Louis XIV.

This book makes the 17th century understandable. The premier character of the era was Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. During his reign, the policies of he and his ministers established France's day in the sun. Absolute ruler of the most populous and powerful kingdom in Western Europe, Louis made France the center of Western Civilization. On these pages we learn about the Fronde, the revolt by the nobility at the rising of his Sun, from which Louis acquired his life long aversion to Paris, Louis' aggressive support of Catholicism, while at the same time maintaining illicit personal relationships, and his generous support for the arts. This era, rich in French literature and theatre, as represented in Moliere, is revealed.

The forces threatening to rend the Catholic Church further asunder, as well as the relationship between King and Pope, are dealt with in detail. I was surprised to learn that Louis exercised a power over the Church in France similar to that which Henry VIII had previously established over the Church in England.

England, meanwhile, endured Cromwell, The Stuart Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution, while spawning Milton, Dryden, Swift and other literary giants.

Interesting contrasts are illustrated. Whereas in France the monarchy was strengthened into absolutism, England was making hesitating steps toward democracy. Whereas Louis excluded much of the nobility from government and military service, essentially forcing them into the role of idle rich, the English nobility gradually gained power and responsibility for the governance of their country. We can see how these trends may have encouraged the resentment of the aristocrats on the part of the French peasantry, which may have contributed to the intensity of feeling during The Terror of the French Revolution. By contrast, the empowerment of the English nobility may have helped solidify the tradition of peaceful political maturation.

On the Periphery, Charles XII brought Sweden to the zenith of its international power, while Peter the great modernized Russia. Germany survived the onslaught of the Turks, while Italy and Iberia, the "Old Europe" of the day, slid through an era of decline.

Intellectually the era was one of giants. Many of the names with which we are familiar come alive as we read of Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes, John Lock, Spinoza, Leibniz and others.

The conclusion of the era was the sunset of the Sun King. Having exhausted his country with dynastic war, bled it with unequal taxation and incurred the enmity of the world, Louis negotiated a peace which left his kingdom a shattered hulk of its former greatness.

For anyone desiring an introduction to the history of the 17th century, this is a great place to start. It has me ready for other books in the Durants' "Story of Civilization".

Though the central figure of this book is Louix XIV, this book is not about French history, but about European history as a whole.

The focus of this book is not on political and military history but on the history of religion, art, literature, science and philosophy. Or I can say politics is deeply involved in religion, art, literature and philosophy. I have never studied European philosophy before, and I thought it would be exttremely difficult to understand philosophy. But while I was reading this book, I found that phlosophy could be much easier when it was explained in a political context of the times.

And in this book English history was emphasized as much as French history. It is quite natural because Louis himself was deeply involved in and greatly responsible for the 17th century English history, and Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were Englishmen.

I believe that this book is the best book I've ever read. I'd like to read all 12 volumes of Will & Ariel Durant's "The History of Civilization" series.

By the way, I found 2 trivial mistakes in this book.
According to p 505, Halley identified another comet, seen in 1680, with one observed in the year of Christ's death; he traced its recurrence every 575 years, and from the periodicity he computed its orbit and speed around the sun. According to my own calculation, however, 575 x 2 + 33 = 1183, while 575 x 3 + 33 = 1758.
According to p 513, Mariotte amused his friends by showing that "cold" could burn: with a concave slab of ice he focused sunlight upon gunpowder, causing it to explode. To focus sunlight, however, we need a convex lens, not a concave lens.

The Durants succeed again in encapsulating the 17th century in Europe. They label it as the landmark century intellectually and scientifically and there is much truth to their assessment: the 18th Century, the "Enlightenment" and "Aufklarung" usually takes pride of place given the American and French Revolutions that dominated them and the general retreat of superstition and obscurantism that marred both Catholicism and Protestantism in the previous centuries. The Durants clearly show that all the 18th century did was develop themes initially sounded and expounded by 17th century thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Leibniz, Spinoza and the English Deists. These writers, and others, laid the bedrock for the various revolutions that shook Europe in the 1700 and 1800s and which have culminated in our own day: The Industrial, Political and Scientific.

Thematically, the book is erected upon the scaffolding of the Le Roi Soleil's life. They present his wars, mistresses, patronage of art, political autocracy as well as murderous bigotry. In my opinion, in their conclusion they let Louis off far too lightly. He was a man who countenanced, nay, actually encouraged and gloried not only in wars to dominate Europe--a common enough failing amongst the crowned--but in the Persecution of the Huguenots he left a blot on his record that, in light of the deadly century we just left and the religious fanaticism of 11 September, should sink his record in the humanitarian sense.

His vanity and thirst for "la glorie" (which he admitted himself to have been his worst failing) bankrupted France and left the Peasants in a savage and degrading poverty they hadn't experienced since the calamities of the 14th century. His refusal to use his power to actually reform government and tax the nobility mark his reign as regressive and disastrous in many ways. Still his impeccable taste in the visual and plastic arts-as opposed to his love of second-rate playwrights and third-rate opera--make him the supreme art patron in history. And the prestige and admiration that accumulated acted as a sort of bank that his incompetent, worthless successor cruised upon. Only under sixteenth Louis did the credit of the Sun King's name finally run out...

Still, the Durants must credited for making this error sparkle and shimmer with life and the lovely prose still entrances and pleases regardless of how dull or recondite the subject might be. Again, they are two of the greatest of all American writers. Someday, I hope, they will be acknowledged as such.