About 70,000 Italians entered the Port of New Orleans in the first thirty years of the 20th century, most of them in response to widespread poverty in Sicily and the demand for labor among Louisiana planters. Land ownership was rare in Sicily and conditions were crowded and unpleasant in the northeastern urban slums of the U.S., but in Louisiana the immigrants settled mostly in rural areas and quickly became the principal food producers for the state. They often were not welcomed, however, by those who came before, as in the infamous lynching of a dozen Italians who had been arrested but not charged following the murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessey in October, 1890. Margavio and Salomone, both professors of sociology, have done an excellent job in depicting the gradual assimilation of Italians and their culture, from muffalettas and Roman Candy in New Orleans to Nick La Rocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the activities of the Societa Italiana di Mutua Beneficenza Cefautana. There are today hundreds of thousands of Italian-Americans living in Louisiana and this book should be of interest to most of them.

Finally a truthful book about fishing in Alaska. Too often we hear of rivers, bays, and streams that are so thick with fish that you can walk from bank to bank without getting your feet wet. As an August / September visitor to the Wood River System in Dillingham, I experienced the pleasure of catching seven different species of fish ... but mainly the mighty silver salmon on the fly. It was hard work, but each catch was well worth the effort. Ken Marsh has captured the true essence of the Alaskan fishing experience ... hard work, late nights, cold water, bears, eagles and also the experience that so many from the "lower 48" can only wish for.

As I return to Alaska this summer, I will use this volume as a guide to fishing areas, rod weights, and patterns. Ken has hit the pitching with this book ... a must read.

FBI Agent starts at the bottom, becomes one of the most recognized infiltrators of the NYC L.C.N. during the 60s and 70s. Raises questions of FBI commitment to stopping organized crime, and in-house FBI corruption; to that point a topic that always went undiscussed.

If your looking for a tough heroine with a spine and a heart, look no further, you've found her in Deannie Hollis. You'll fall in love with Brodie Trueblood and your heart will break over the plight of the two star-crossed lovers. A must read for fans of western romance.

Anthony Forster's volume is a timely case study of Britain's role in the Maastricht negotiations. Its informative narrative and empirical analysis are based on a thorough understanding of the intricacies of intergovernmental conference (IGC) diplomacy and the domestic politics of one of the European Community's/Union's larger member states. Forster concisely explains the relationship between the two intergovernmental conferences on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and Political Union and the significant reasons behind their linkage: 1. the requirements of domestic ratification of the two Treaties that emerged from the Maastricht European Council in December 1991; 2. and an implicit understanding between Mitterrand and Kohl that their countries' commitment to European integration was a long-term one.

Forster chooses an in-depth look at one member state's domestic and European priorities over a manageable time period thus allowing him to analyze the constitutional, economic, historical, ideological, institutional, political and social facet's of Britain's policy in Europe. In view of the legacy Mrs. Thatcher bequeathed to her successor, Mr. John Major, the ideological aspect is particularly relevant on the domestic political scene; here Forster is balanced in his analysis of "the party management dimension." Likewise, Forster distinguishes intelligently between the important role Delors played in the EMU conference from that of the Commission as a whole and from Delors' difficulties during the negotiations on Political Union. Always present is a well-crafted profile of the national context, including debates about the implications of deeper integration for British sovereignty, discussions about the economic merits of a single currency and conflicts among personalities brought up by EMU within the ranks of Conservative party politics.

Forster is right to consider the tactical mistakes British negotiators made on the EMU dossier, especially their failure to understand the importance of EMU as a common goal for the other member states with the possible exception of Denmark for reasons of constitutional and parliamentary politics. His sole focus on Britain's strategy and tactics does not offer him an opportunity to consider either the attitudinal structuring inherent in the EMU bargain or its integrative dimension. Nonetheless, Forster's analysis is sensitive to the fact that all negotiations contain elements of distributive, integrative and intraorganizational bargaining as well as attitudinal structuring.

As Forster explains, the intergovernmental nature of the Treaty on European Union, epitomized by its pillar structure in the eyes of numerous analysts, "should not be exaggerated." Indeed as a complement to the lines traced in the legal dimension by Bruno de Witte, Forster questions the ability of the JHA and CFSP pillars to remain detached from the institutional dynamics of Community decision-making. Significantly, the implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty provides yet another test in this regard. The key point underlined by Forster is that the results of Maastricht allowed the Community to become increasingly embedded in the domestic decision-making of the member states, a process Wolfgang Wessels and Dietrich Rometsch analyze conceptually as "institutional fusion," in terms of "mutual influence and interdependence."

In this context, there is no sequencing in the definition of preferences in the European policy-making of most member states. As Forster explains, although national priorities dominated British thinking on Maastricht, increasingly there is an on-going simultaneous definition of national and European objectives. Here it is necessary to question the degree to which the ever present weight of decisions taken in daily integration influences the negotiators at the table during intergovernmental conference diplomacy, particularly in the more federally-minded member states like the Federal Republic of Germany. In related research beyond the scope of this volume, an analysis of the interactions between the domestic politics of sectoral integration and the domestic politics of a member state's Treaty ratification process, as both are linked to a state's interests defined in IGC diplomacy, may provide clues as to the constraints that shape the "win-set" for participants in future intergovernmental conferences.

The dynamics of changes to the east and south of Europe are bound to exacerbate the distributive dimension of negotiations in the Union as the interests of the members states increasingly diverge. Although coalition politics has a role to play in Council negotiations, the traditional Franco-German alliance is changing in light of EMU's implementation, the challenge of budgetary politics and the prospect of future enlargements. In this volume, Forster at times underestimates the nature and impact of the "privileged partnership" at Maastricht. It is clear, however, that the impetus to integrate provided by historic Franco-German cooperation was noticeably absent throughout the 1996 IGC. The collective impact of the Scandinavian countries, the smaller states, the Presidency and, finally, Blair's Britain came to the fore shaping the results at Amsterdam. This leaves open questions as to the role and influence of larger states in a Union bound to include an increasing number of smaller states in the decades ahead. This is only one of the issues that Forster's book lays the groundwork to analyze. For those concerned about and with the future of integration in Europe, this volume is the most empirically well-researched analysis in print on British conference diplomacy at Maastricht.

Having read this short but densely packed account of the Thatcher years, I can fully recommend it to any student of contemporary British politics and history.

It is extremely accessible to students at all levels, as well as teachers, tutors and professors who want to brush up on their 1980s politics. The first part of the Seminar Study neatly captures the early troubles, the government's belated ascendancy after 1983 and the makings of the PM's downfall after 1987. The final section provides the key critiques of the Thatcher government's profile in history. From left to right, these critiques bring alive the controversy that surrounded the 1979-90 government and its enduring legacy on recent adminstrations.

A fine introduction to a fascinating period of twentieth century British political history with chronology and sources to boot. A word of praise must also go to co-author, Daniel Collings, who made his publishing debut whilst still a finalist at Keble College, Oxford. His esteemed tutor, Larry Siedontrop - a prolific author in his own right, must be very proud.

This book is for students but I found it easy to read and very interesting indeed. It gives you a good and balanced account of the development of early British settlement in Americas. Well worth reading and referring to.

This superb, broad collection of detailed papers on ancient Eastern Central Asia is fascinating for anyone interested in the subject. Though presented for professionals in the field, virtually every paper is intelligible to the lay person, opening new horizons for anyone interested in the history of this region. Exceptionally well-edited, with chapters covering archeology, migration and nomadism, linguistics, genetics and physical anthropology, metallurgy, textiles, geography and climatology, history, mythology and ethnology, a long overdue comprehensive treatment of this subject is finally at hand. Every contributor to the two-volume set should be pleased with this phenomenal achievement. Persons interested in many diverse topics, such as Zoroastrian studies, history of the Fergana Valley, or Tocharian linguistics, will still find many papers of interest, whether treated as separate subjects or not. Outstanding!

Many people who have more than one computer in their home have now added Ethernet networks to connect their computers. Instead of adding a new (expensive) PC to perform file-serving, print-serving, web-serving, and mail-serving, I recommend instead that you get a copy of this book and see just how easy it is to set up a Macintosh to do those tasks. It's much easier and cheaper than setting up a PC with Win9x, NT, or Linux! Just about any Mac will do, as long as it has an Ethernet connection (or a Nubus slot to add a used card) and sufficient disk space--a Power Mac is not required.

Although this book was published in 1996, it's not very dated. Has great coverage of how to build and maintain fairly sophisticated web sites, including use of CGIs, JavaScript, and databases. The last chapter describes how to set up several intranet applications such as phone books, bulletin boards, and videoconfercing. And the server software on the enclosed CD-ROM is free.

If you are looking for clearly written instuctions and advice on setting up a very low-cost Intranet server, or just for a great education on how to do so, this book is just the ticket. My congrats to the author.

When people discover I'm a veteran of the stone carving trade, they sometimes ask for the behind-the-scenes story. "Building the Great Cathedrals" tells it. The tools, the trades, the intrigues, the budget concerns, and the people are all present and accounted for; along with immersion into the dizzy, circus atmosphere of a cathedral construction site. If you wonder why so much passion was invested in completion - by those who would never live to see it - here's the answer. With hundreds of lush, full-color photos and medieval illuminations of the period. If you're building a personal collection of Gothic architecture books, make room.