During the 1930's it was fashionable to include small photographs of Hitler attached to cigarette packages. You would then paste the photos sequentially into an album that included glowing textual references to Hitler and the Third Reich. I own the original version of this 1936 book and this new offering is considerably less powerful than the German version. Still, this is an effective way for people of our era to understand and grasp the enormous importance of propaganda in the Third Reich.

Goebbels and Hitler were masterminds of this art and the book personifies their mastery of mass persuasion. In the photographs, Hitler is presented as a "normal guy" in civilian clothes, surrounded by adoring children at his retreat on the Obersalzberg. He is also presented as the omniscienet Fuehrer, presiding over mass rallies in Nuremberg, mesmerizing the audience. The photographs, all by Hitler's official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman, are excellent representations of a nation gone collectively mad, seduced by Hitler's paralyzing charisma.

One cautionary note: this book is not written by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The text is incidental and was certainly not penned by Goebbels, who scarcely appears in this book. Despite the misleading title, this is an essential book for anyone with an interest in how Hitler effectively and brutally utilized propaganda in the 30's.

I've had this same book for many years only it was simply entitled "Adolf Hitler." I thought it was no longer in print until I finally found it here on Amazon. This is one of the most fascinating books I've read. It is a reproduction of the 1936 cigarette album many Germans had on their coffee tables during Hitler's years of victory. I have one of the original cigarette cards pictured in this book, and it is an excellent reproduction in detail and size. The book contains tons of photos (some in color) celebrating Hitler and the advancement of the German nation after he came to power. He is shown with children, giving speeches, relaxing (one photo has him peeling an apple), visiting wounded soldiers, at rallies, inspecting a Mercedes Benz racing car, visiting a factory, etc. Chapters celebrating different aspects of Hitler's successes and interests are provided by such important party members as Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels (he penned the preface and four of the 13 chapters, which may be the reason he is listed as the author), Architect Albert Speer (who, of course, would become disillusioned with Hitler during the war), Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach, Four-Year Plan head Fritz Todt, etc. There is no historical commentary, no afterward added from our benefit of hindsight, and no qualifications expect for the line "Lies told to the people" on the back. There is only the raw propaganda Germans were subjected to when the Nazis controlled the press and most of their thoughts and lives. One eerie piece is a memorial written by Rudolf Hess for SS Brigadefurhrer Julius Schreck who died in 1936. Schreck looks like a bloated Hitler with the characteristic mustache (decoy?). Of course, the whole book is eerie knowing where the happy people in these photos were headed. I am glad this book was preserved, translated into English, and put back into print so future generations can learn what powerful and all-encompassing propaganda can do to a nation.

I just got this book yesterday,and stayed up til midnight scan- ning it. The subject matter is repellent, the packaging and mar- keting of Adolf Hitler, for the German nation, but at the same time, it is fascinating to read. Dr. Goebbels utilized some very "modern" ideas to market Hitler, such as using paste-in stickers for booklets, showing Hitler using the then revolutionary concept of flying all over Germany to get to multiple sites for speeches. Giving the impression he was omnipresent, and concerned about all economic and age groups-where ever he popped up.

It is both horrifying to read, because you know what happens even tually, but strangely fascinating, watching how the devil's mar- keter packaged him, complete with glowing testimonies from people coming from all walks of life. In all the photo ops, der fuehrer is shown smiling benevolently, as ecstatic crowds greet him. Yes there are the requisite baby-kissing, attentively listening to children, etc.

So, if you wish to study the black side of marketing and packag- ing a political figure-read this book. And remember it's lessons well when you are asked to vote for someone that is packaged a little too smartly.....there lurks no friend, but a savage mask- ing behind a sheep's clothes.

Well worth the price for it's historical value, as well as the wrenching reality that one has seen such slick packing of polit- ical figures before-remember The Selling of the President?

This is a wonderful book about a fascinating architect. It covers his career from beginning to 1987. Lots of information, lots of photographs. I have spent hours and hours poring over every page. I love his work. Only drawback was choice of bold typeface for various large areas of text. Princeton Architectural Press plans to republish it in December 1999. I am looking for a used copy to give someone for his birthday in March. Know anyone with a copy to spare???

Frey's life and architectural achievement is presented in an updated, redesigned edition of a 1990 classic. Archival research by Rosa and interviews with Frey and his colleagues are enhanced with black and white photos of his notable achievements, lending to an important guide.

Albert Frey established the architectural style known as "desert modernism". His technological ingenuity and sensitivity to landscape are a perfect harmony of place and time. Albert Frey, Architect showcases the best of his work, profusely illustrated with duotone photographs, plans and sketches. Albert Frey, Architect is enhanced further with an annotated list of structures designed by Frey, a bibliography of writings on and by Frey, and reprints of letters between Frey and famed architect Le Corbusier. Albert Frey, Architect is a highly recommended addition to any personal, professional, or academic architectural studies collection.

This book is a superbly crafted examination of the major problems facing America (and thus, the world) today.More importantly, it proposes solutions to these problems. Governmental & institutional policies to implement these solutions is critically important, as Mr. Daleiden shows in his opening pages with two scenarios of the U. S. in the year 2050. Not afraid to take controversial stands, the author forcefully & cogently argues with those who would maintain the status quo in our current policies towards such areas as immigration & population, crime, education, taxes, poverty & welfare, the environment, trade and deficits. The book is an easy read yet exceptionally informative and comprehensive. This is an important study and one can only hope that its influence is felt soon. Mr. Daleiden understands that the problems he points to WILL be resolved. But as he shows, whether they are resolved by reasoned thought or by desperation measures is uncertain.

In the American Dream, Mr. Daleiden takes a holististic view of the forces affecting the economy. His analysis includes areas that most economists will not consider for political (or maybe "politically correct") reasons. The analysis of the long term affects of mass immigration is noteably insiteful and courageous. Mr. Daleiden thinks in different terms and courageously follows his conclusions where ever they take him. I found his unfettered reasoning to be refreshing. As a futurist, I recommend this volume to anybody who wants to get the whole story on future econ/political trends. This holistic/diverse forecasting process is especially relavant to my fellow futurists and our politically hobbled economists.

As one of the editors of this book, I take pride in its nuanced approach to contemporary issues in U.S. public policy. Mr. Daleiden is unpartisan in that he analyzes issues on the basis of an unpartisan political philosophy derived from his prior book THE SCIENCE OF MORALITY, and in the context of the best available data, regardless of the extent to which this data might be distastful to partisans of particular causes. An excellent example of this, inserted in the book after I had edited it, is his analysis of the recently published study of gun laws by J. Lott Jr. and D.Mustard, which argued that if citizens are allowed to carry concealed weapons, crime will be less than would otherwise so, ie. with laws against conceal and carry. Instead of the blanket endorsement or dismissal which we regularly get from the ideologues, Mr. Daleiden shows us some methodological limitations of this study. However, he proceeds to give it its due as a contribution to the debate, particularly with respect to data suggesting a need for further research into the relationship between gun ownership and crime. Another example of his unpartisan approach is his analysis of the immigration issue. Rather than acquiesce in the spurious dichotomy implied by the question, "should we or should we not allow immigration?", he analyzes the implications of various levels of immigration for our demographic prospects. One need not agree with all of his priorities (eg. as regards income distribution) in order to suspect that there is some limit on the ability of this society to absorb massive immigration without producing an intolerable rise in crime. In any case, he devotes over 100 pages to population policy analysis, a major contribution to an overlooked subject. As a whole, the book is a model of the sort of approach too often absent in contemporary public debate.

This book was a great help in seeing how early family dynamics can impact the way in which we perform (or don't perform) at work. Was very helpful in showing me how to change from pessimistic to optimistic thinking and behavior. I love the movies and really enjoyed the movie metaphors in the book. I think there is alot here for people looking to step up their career success.

This book really helped me to understand how my relationships with my parents carved out my patterns of work and relationships with co-workers. There were extremely helpful exercises to enable me to uncover and work on these past patterns.

This book was well received by our employees at a consulting engineering office. Both professional and supporting staff found the book to be extremely helpful. Many of the situations described fit the individual employees concerns and behavior and the corrective techniques were of great help. Polytechnic,Inc.,

First, I would like to say that Shadow Man is one of the best video games I have ever played. It has a higher maturity level, beautiful hi-res graphics, and tons of levels and objectives. I would definitely buy this game if I were you. As for the guide, it is very helpful. This is not the kind of guide that tells you exactly what to do every second, but rather a guide that will help you if you're lost, and give you a general direction if you don't know what to do next (you have to find many items on your own).

This book was an excellent way to get everything out of the game, but why would anyone want to do that? Everything is so bland in the game, and the color scheme is mundane. It gets very tedious very quickly, I am impressed anyone could have bothered with it long enough to write such a wonderful strategy guide for it. But it is a wonderful guide.

The only thing more tedious than playing this infuriatingly redundant game must be describing how to circumnavigate the maddeningly homogenous and sprawling levels...Seriously this game makes tooth extraction look like an attractive alternative. It's reminiscent of MacDonald's Kurdy; an eternity spent breaking granite with straw. In fairness to the programmers', Shadow Man is absolutely beautiful, the interface is simple and relatively clean. The immensity of the environment makes the game incredibly boring: Lara is more graceful and athletic. Gordon is much faster, and not as prone to endless meandering in go no where levels... Uncle Adkad

Without the use of high performance computers such as the type described in this book, it is highly unlikely that Lubo Moravcik would have been able to impart his influence on the gubbing of the huns in such an unequivocal manner.

Bannatyne's triumphant return to form - he fries up explanations quicker than a Cheltenham Sausage bar. Its time that great mind dissected the full impact of fudge buckets on post modern society.

Real good

Corbin is one of the foremost interpreters of Iranian, Sufi and Persian gnosticism in the west. This volume is a terrific introduction to his other works as it is a collection of short essays in which he discusses how he grew from being a student of Heidegger to a scholar of Persian mysticism. I would highly encourage those interested in the imaginal realm to begin their quest here and then take on his other works, especially "Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth" afterward. More people should know of Corbin's work, but unfortunately its audience is largely limited to students of Islam and Sufism. Highly recommended.

The last place I would have looked for a profound spiritualism would have been Iran, but this book proved me wrong. It is amazing and disturbing how much influence cheap media has on our views. After reading this book, I am not surprised that, of all places, Iran should be the country to exhibit such a sharp contrast with modern flashy and shallow philosophies. Obviously these guys know their stuff and can distinguish between real thing and fake ones, something that we in the west need to learn since our spiritualism usually ends up in some sort of sex or money scandal.

I usually don't think much of religious scholars and their books, but have found Mr. Corban and his writings very different and profound. No doubt Corban is an icon for religious scholarship.

I have had this book prescribed as a textbook for a music history and theory course. This is a good book for such a purpose, it covers much. (This review is on the third edition).

Unit I has 5 chapters covering the fundamentals of musical theory. Sound, time, pitch, structure, form and style. Unit II is a 4-chapter overview of early music, starting with the Middle Ages. Unit III covers the 18th century in 6 chapters, starting with Late Baroque. Unit IV focuses on the 19th century, starting with Beethoven and finishing with the Late Romantics in 5 chapters.

Unit V: The Twentieth Century, was my favourite section. The prelude chapter discusses the concepts of music and modernism. The next chapter covers the early 20th century, then there is a chapter on alternatives to modernism, and the fourth chapter covers the late 20the century. Chapter 24 focuses on music in America: Jazz.

The book is organised around listening samples. These are available on a set of a 6 accompanying CDs. I liked the samples chosen. The late 20th century chapter, for example, discussed works by Ligeti, Berio, Varese, Cage, Crumb, Leon, Gubaidulina and Reich.

An alternative to "Listen" is Music: An appreciation" by Roger Kamien. It seems to me to have a bit more on artistic context, whilst at the same time covering more topics at slightly more depth.

However, "Listen" is well organised (always a good sign), and richly illustrated. Historical events are touched upon, and there is some reference to other art forms in context with the music of the time. I would recommend it as an introductory text even if you don't need to read it for school. Of course a book like this can cover topics only to a limited depth.

With the accompanied 6 CDs, Joseph Kerman has written one of the most interesting and comprehensive introductory music text. Not so much a memory-and-fact type of textbook, Kerman's uncanny ability to describe music experience has made this a success. Students do not need musicianship prerequisite to read this book. From ancient to modern, the book gives a broad overview of some of the masterpieces with insights and explanations. Excellent reading. (Note: The 6 CD set mentioned in this review is sold separately, and is not included in the price of the book. -Ed.)

This book makes learning about music interesting and fun. It begins talking about basic structures of music (rhythm, harmony, tonality, etc.) but mostly follows the history of recorded music starting from the Middle Ages through Baroque to Jazz. It does a good job relating the development of music to other artistic developments of the time, like painting and architecture. With the CD you can listen right along and learn a lot of interesting things about music a novice like me had never thought about before.

This is a book that celebrates, exclusively, the female body. There are fetish themed shots, old time shots, and other historical erotic photos, all of which have inspired or affected those involved with the lingerie shop in London in some way. While mostly eye candy, the accompanying text has its moments of insight. This is certainly a book that aims to entice any who are aroused by the female form; for those individuals, it is an enjoyable and arousing read.

In this collection, editors Joseph Corre and Serena Rees attempt to put together a brief history of erotica, particularly subversive erotica. The diversity and quality of the illustrations make this book a nice find. The idea of the text is quite interesting--a historical and social survey of erotica--but still leaves something to be desired. The text is a little too light and doesn't seem particularly well researched.

"Agent Provacateur" by authors Joseph Corre and Serena Rees celebrates the senuality and spirit of a woman. The pictures emphasize the curves and softness of the feminine form supporting centuries of how changes in society and politics have affected women and how they should look and act in a certain way in public and in private. The millenium woman no longer has to feel ashamed of who she is physically. "If you got it, flaunt it. If you don't have it, get it!"

The authors have done an excellent job in supporting their historical facts with pictures dating back to early times and pieces of erotic literature. Inside of the book is a letter detailing the lingerie the visitor has bought on her holiday. This book is by far, the most emphasized of sensuality and fashion.

Agent Provacateur is located in London's Soho distict. Opened in 1994, the shop is widely popular among celebrities, housewives, and businessmen.

Strayer mastered the art of distilling complex topics into readable extended essays. His book, On The Medieval Origins of the Modern State, is generally regarded as a minor classic and should be read by everyone with a serious interest in European history. The Albigensian Crusades is organized well, insightful, and written well. In this brief book, Strayer provides the appropriate theological, social, and political background, delivers a concise narrative of the Albigensian Crusades, describes the primary actors very well, and summarizes the remarkably significant consequences of what appears to be an obscure episode in Medieval history. The Albigensian Crusades were motivated primarily by the desire of the Papacy to extinguish heresy in what we now call the South of France. Drawing on the Crusading tradition, and greed, of the northern French nobility, the papacy set in train a process that destroyed the political independence of the indigenous nobility and did eliminate eventually the Cather heretics of the region. The unintended consequences were remarkable. The Albigensian Crusade became the conquest of the south by the Kings of France, whose real authority had been limited to the north. The result was the foundation for the modern boundaries of France and made the French monarchs the most powerful kings in Europe. The Albigensian Crusade and its aftermath largely destroyed the distinctive culture of the south. More urbanized than the north, tolerant of both Christian heretics and Jews, possessing distinctive legal codes and literary traditions, the south more resembled the nascent city-states of Italy than the feudal north. Strayer summarizes these differences nicely by giving the region a distinctive name, Occitania, and makes the astute comment that the region was a country without a state. To combat the heretics, the Papacy came to rely on a vigorous and ruthless Inquisition, with terrible future consequences. Papal reliance on Crusades to accomplish European political ends became a common feature of Papal policy over the next century, creating chaos in Italy and Germany, severely undermining the prestige of the Holy See, and contributing to the disorder and uncertainty that would generate the Reformation.
I read an earlier edition of this book without the afterword by Carol Lansing and can't comment on it.

THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADES by Joseph R. Strayer is really two books inside one jacket. The first book, by Strayer consists of a 174-page overview of the two crusades, one led by Simon de Montfort and the second under the auspices of the French Royals in Paris. The second "book" is an Epilogue by Carol Lansing, that examines heresy versus orthodoxy.

Strayer's book is about 30 years old, and while his writing seems mostly accurate, he is inclined to make generalizations some contemporary historians might not. For example, he says a necessary condition for the growth of "heresy" is a set of fluid economic and social circumstances that lead to uncertainty about personal well-being as well as exposure to people with different ways of thinking. In other words, material conditions go a long way toward explaining a diversity of faiths.

Strayer says the feudalism of the north (France) was virtually nonexistent in Languedoc (Strayer calls it Occitania) and primogeniture was not the hereditary rule. At the death of the father, properties were split up amongst the sons, and the wealth and power of successive generations diluted. Often, the loss of noble wealth and power was augmented. One means was to become a member of the Roman Catholic clergy and the other was commerce. The redistribution of wealth and power led to a new social order where the cities became dominant.

Languedoc, lay at the end of a main trade route that ran through Italy and into the East, and by 1200, the area was more like Italy with it's independent cities based on commercial wealth, than the feudal north with it's huge rural estates owned by landed nobility. New ideas and new people settled in Occitania, bringing diverse religious practices. In addition to the Cathars, the area was home to Jews, Mohammadens, and Waldensians. Roman Catholic clergy soon found their limited authority challenged, and one thing led to another until the Pope launched two crusades to eliminate "heretical faiths" that infested Occitania. Most of Strayers's account is about the subsequent Albigensian crusades (Albi was one of the "heretical" cities).

While Strayer does not address the issue of heresy, Carol Lansing's Epilogue (59 pages) is an essay on heresy. She says the orthodox Catholics were unclear about their own orthodoxy, so determining someone else was herertical was quite a task. She concludes that for the most part, heretics were condemned by their actions, not their beliefs.

She says the Waldensians were orthodox and should not be confused with the Cathers who really had a completely different religion. Waldo, the leader of the Waldensians would have been thought another St. Francis of Assisi had he been born during Innocent's reign as Pope. He had the misfortune to be born 100 years to soon and thus perceived as a threat. Although they were persecuted, Waldensians still exist today, and were probably the first real Protestants.

The Cathers believed in a dualist God and Lansing describes several versions of their theology in her Epilogue. Her account makes their tenets seem very confused. She says, "people wove together their beliefs, drawing on the teachings and practices of the Roman clergy, the Cather perfects, their own families, and their communities, as well as their own speculation and experince."

I found both of these "essays" raised and addressed interesting points and recommend the book for anyone with a serious interest in this topic.

An amazing book detailing the situation in 13th Century Languedoc / Southern France and the major players involved. It paints a great picture of the French monarchy in relation to southern France. This sets the table for most feared instrument in the history of the Roman Church - The Inquisition. A must for any one interested in Church history and the Crusades.