This is a reprint of the actual guide book used by many pioneers. In various diaries it is referred to as "Ware's Guide." I found it to be amazingly accurate and was shocked to learn that Joseph Ware never completed the trip west. He was abandoned on the trail when he took ill and died where they left him.

After reading a book about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, I noted in the bibliography a book about her husband Emperor Franz Joseph and his long term paramour, Katharina Schratt. Because of the mental problems experienced by his wife, his relationship with her left the Emperor deeply unsatisified. He was able to find love with an Austrian actress. The emperor was in his 50's and the actress in her 30's and their romance lasted for the rest of their lives.

Author Haslip does an excellent job of describing the times in Vienna during the later half of the 19th century. The affair is touching in that it was carried on discreetly but left both participants with some measure of personal happiness. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this time period and the personal lives of various historical figures.

I have been managing in EMS and in other businesses as well for 20 years. The approach taken by Dr. Fitch and associates is excellent. Step by step and in large bites, it covers things most EMS managers have never thought of but must address before it hurts them. This book covers: EMS History, Human Resources, Administration,operations, Supervising Clinical Functions, Finance, Developing Community Support, and finally searching for shaping and sharing solutions. GET IT, if you can. Money well spent.

A collection of essays by scholars of Apocalypticism. Good cites, interesting reading. Would have given it 5 stars, but the book contains no index, which would have been very useful to me.

If you are taking American History and are using the Enduring Vision text, you MUST get this book to accompany it. Not only does it have a summary, but also key terms and sample questions to help you pass the tests in class. I would deffinately recomend it!

The Enigma of Japan is an insightful, often-times shocking, look at the history and culture of Japan.

Controversial in certain areas of its narration, this book is best described as a 'comprehensive overview' of one of the world's most mysterious and enigmatic cultures. The book covers many topics including Japan's mythical history, its pre-1868 fuedal system, the rise, fall and transformation of the Samuri class, the controversy surrounding Emperor Hirohito's role in Japan's WWII involvement, the mystery of Japan's Shinto religion, and the history and structure of Japan's present government.

Mr Huang also covers the darker aspects of Japan's culture such as the Yakuza, Japan's documented war atrocities, the 'evil' Kempeitai, Japanese trade deceipt, international espionage and the histroy of Japan's 'destiny' to dominate the world.

The book is well written and has been divided into major chapters by key topics. This allows the reader to choose a topic of interest without having to read from 'cover-to-cover'. Unfortunately, this method of presentation has meant some repetitiveness across certain areas which appear largely unavoidable.

Having spent some considerable personal time in Japan, it has become clear to this reader that Japan will always be a largely unfathomable question mark to most westerners. Much of their ideology - in fact their entire national mind-set - appears contradictory and illogical to the non-Japanese. But there is also a romantic beauty to that mystery and the almost-ancient history that surrounds it. Enigma of Japan is an excellent starting place for anyone with an interest in the Land of the Sun Godess.

It is worth noting here that Mr Huang refers repeatedly to Sun Tzu's Art of War. This is an excellent military work, written more than 2000 years ago by an ancient Chinese military strategist. The thoughts in this book form a key foundation to almost all of Japan's military, business, and political strategies. This reader highly recommends the Art of War to anyone (especially bankers) who have an interest in undertanding the anatomy of organisations in conflict on every level from the interpersonal to the international.

Overall, Enigma of Japan gets a double thumbs-up from this reader, together with a recommendation to pick up a copy of your own.

I found The Enjoyment of Music to be a very easy to understand, easy to work with textbook. The music is laid out chronologically, starting from about the 1100's and going all the way to the present, including such works as Rent, Ragtime, The Lion King, and reference to many popular bands of the day, such as No Doubt, grunge rock, gangsta rap, and an entire section on The Beatles. I did not expect any of this information to be included in this book, but surprisingly, the information about these genres of music not only was mentioned, but also went along with the lessons. I found that the text was written in a way that is intelligent, yet is not impossible to understand. I especially enjoyed how the book was set up to reflect on the accompanying CD-ROM's. The information presented in the textbook was also presented in the CD-ROM, but the information was presented in a slightly different way, which I find refreshing. In case I am unsure of a statement in the textbook, I am able to get the full concept through the CD-ROM, or vice versa.
My only major quip with the text and CD-ROM combination is the glossary. Through this class, I have had many glossaries available to me, but the ones I used mostly were those in the textbook and on the CD-ROM. Unfortunately for me, the definitions in the CD-ROM and in the textbook were exactly the same, word for word. If I misunderstood or was unsure of the specific meaning of a word, I would have to go to a completely different place to get differently worded definition. By including modified definitions on the CD-ROM of those found in the book may be helpful to many people using this text.

Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was one of the most important men in American religious history. It was Smith who gave birth to the religious movement known as Mormonism, the largest representative of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, headquartered in Utah. This is a handy collection of Smith's writings and sermons. It is particularly valuable because it is arranged in chronological order. Therefore, you can see the development of his thought from a more-or-less orthodox monotheism to polytheism. This is best seen in the famous (or notorious) "King Follet Discourse" which dates from the end of Smith's life. Smith sets forth his Gnostic approach to theology: "For we have imagined that God was God from the beginning of all eternity. I will refute that idea . . . . He was once a man like one of us . . . ." [p. 235.] Those who consider Mormonism a quirky offshoot of orthodox Christianity ought to read this sermon. This book has a couple of flaws - it lacks a good introduction and notes concerning people and events mentioned in the documents.

Bhutan is not in the high agenda of foreign nation's priorities. It is a less researched country due to this lack of concern. Mathew Joseph did an extremely good work in putting forward a host of less known aspects of Bhutanese politics.The plight of Bhutanese of Nepali origin is treated in the book with enough care.

This book is the best language overview yet made. All languages and dialect spoken are shown here, including the number of speakers, area in which the language is spoken etcetera.