Fussell corrects this view by adding nuance, by capturing the background. His essays on the culture of wartime range from music to literature, radio to army camp life, scatological humor to the horrors of battle. The result is a rare and unusual history, which captures some of the variability of this large war.

The book reads well. Most chapters can be read as stand alone essays, but read as a whole the book builds a layered depiction of the back lines, the home front, and the fighting man.

The last chapter horrifies and moves the reader. Fussell has a goal of helping to bring Americans to a greater maturity about behavior during war, and the costs of battle. It is clear that America is immature about battle and death -- witness the end of the Gulf War -- and that this has a cost in how we pursue foreign policy.

Great book, great read, excellent corrective to the outsized heroic histories of the war.

Dr. Fussell served during WWII and is personally closer to the material than his award winning work in "The Great War and Modern Memory." What is lost in his capacity for objectivity is more than compensated for in his empathy, his insight and his common touch with the experience of the young men who fought in the war. Who could blame a man who fought in a war for being critical of aspects of it? Why should we expect him to extole its virtues?

Is it really such heresy to state that people had doubts about fighting the second world war? Does it really show disrespect to acknowledge that the generation who fought the second world war thought about what the war meant? If anything, bringing this to light shows that people back then weren't too different from ourselves. It shows that as a society we have known the same anxieties and resevations about war that we do today and survived.

We are rapidly loosing the generation of men who fought WWII, and with them an important group of people who participated in the shaping of the modern world. This book communicates one mans educated and eloquently stated perspective on the defining conflict of the last hundred years. We could use more books like this, and I'm grateful that we have this one.

It seems too coincidental to me that all of these clues were accidents or misinterpretations; I tend to believe that this was a big joke between John and Paul, and that after the Manson killings it was decided to just keep mum about it; After all, it did sell albums...

It was also fun to show my mom clues that she wasn't aware of. And just try to read the book and NOT go running out to buy some Beatles CD's.....

For the interested, you can find most of the material discussed in this book by simply looking on MSDN or other web sites for articles on the subjects you're interested in. With multiple authors, that's all you will get out of this book, anyway.

I will always remember my introduction to Sal Mineo. I happened to catch a movie on late night TV called "Who Killed Teddy Bear" and couldn't believe how erotic this young actor was who was stalking this woman name Norah Dain. There Sal was lying on the bed, very muscular, in white briefs (a first for TV in 1965) making a sexy phone call to an unsuspecting Norah. I couldn't believe my eyes, who is this actor? Well, ever since then I followed his career like a true devoted fan. I don't think anyone could ever forget "Rebel Without a Cause"after seeing it. Sal & James Dean & Natalie Wood's acting performance made history with this movie & will always be remembered. Finally, young people and their trouble lives were being recognized.

It's just so sad that Sal's life had to end at such an early age, when his career was looking up again. Hollywood was not kind at all to Sal. However, he will always be with us through his movies that we certainly will never forget. I enjoyed this biography of Sal's career and life, and thank Paul Jeffers for this well-researched book. Sal was a talented & very original type of actor who will never be forgotten by his fans, and especially by me. Highly Recommended!!!

Things were going fine until Margie's best friend called six weeks later to say that Sean Paul was on television in a show called America's Most Wanted. But they said his name was Paul Steven Mack. He was being sought for the 19 February, 1987 rape and murder of Karen Winslett. He was also under investigation in connection with the disappearance and murder of his secretary, Annette Huddle. The nineteen-year-old had disappeared on 8 July. She was found floating in the river on 11 July.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is extremely well written. I highly recommend. It will make any single woman stop and carefully evaluate her life before going out on a date!

Riverwind is forced to go on a courting quest to claim Goldmoon. The quest involves finding proof of the old gods. Catchflea, the town idiot, joins Riverwind and they end up falling down the entrance to a city of underground elves. After an epic battle to free them from their oppressive ruler, the companions blunder into a city of draconians and a cleric making horrible lizard warriors. Only one person makes it out of this whole mess alive and sane.

The plot is implausible so it's up to the characters to make the read interesting. And they do. Riverwind is an interesting very sweet character. Catchflea gets annoying, but Di An is a nice character and Li El is truly creepy.

If you're looking for a good, light read from Dragonlance, you might want to check out this book.

This book is for the *programmer*, the individual whounderstands and appreciates the *art* of programming. The bookpresents each feature of the C++ language in a progressive, methodical manner allowing the would-be expert to accomplish that goal. And yet, each chapter stands alone; presenting its topic in a complete and concise manner with references to related information in other chapters of the book. Technical, real-world examples assist the reader in really understanding each feature of the language allowing the book to serve as a reference text also.

Every, serious, C++ programmer should have this book; this is not for the C++ in three weeks crowd (but they're not serious programmers anyway). Once finished, the reader/expert can expect to develop/construct efficient/effective C++ programs that serve their immediate purpose and possible re-use later. Don't be frightened away by the reviews of other readers; this is an excellent book. Buy it!

C++ is a difficult language where the compiler performs many operations behind the scenes. The authors cover the material very carefully so that readers will understand how the compiler is handling the code.

There are two recommendations when using this book. Firstly, if you are an absolute beginner (don't know how to program in C) then try out the program examples such as "Listing 2.1" and use those as starting points to examine how the programs work. Secondly, some examples, particularly in later chapters, are using RECENT ADDITIONS to the ANSI C++ standard. If you are using an older compiler, then some of these features will not compile. Finally, the authors are expert teachers who readily answered my e-mail questions regarding C++ code.

There are several great sample code examples (e.g two dimensional arrays, etc) which can be used as part of any C++ programmers library. I was particularly impressed by the Generic Associative Array Class which illustrates how to separate L- and R- values for the overloaded [] operator function (standard template library won't do this). That piece of code is a work of art that illustrates the careful thought that went into making this book as complete as possible with RELEVENT examples which are not found anywhere else. This turned out to be exactly what I needed to implement a two-dimensional array class using hash tables so that it would be seamless to the users.

This book is my primary reference for C++. Beginner programmers will gain much from the chapter on object-oriented design and several complete code listings. For experienced programmers, this book is a must-have because it covers the latest ANSI C++ features and because it includes a library of useful code samples which are not found anywhere else.

Some books may be easier to read but this book is the best complete coverage of C++ there is.

This is how I used this book and with excellent results. This book has the best coverage of templates I have seen anywhere but it was a little weak on inheritance. My other book had excellent coverage of inheritance but was very weak on templates - so cross referencing gave me the full knowledge I needed. If you want to master C++, you might as well resign yourself to buying several books (I have about 20) no single book will give you the complete knowledge you want. Adding this book to your collection was a wise choice even if you don't see that now - you will!

Auchincloss paints a very superficial picture of Wilson, and maybe that's because of the nature of the Penguin Lives series, but there was much that was mentioned in passing and not really mentioned again. For example, Wilson's southern birth and upbringing are given early and justified attention, but the consequences of this southern heritage on Wilson's life and politics are not pursued, even though the question is particularly interesting, relevant, and important for the president's views on race. Wilson's deep Presbyterian faith is given similarly superficial treatment. It did much to create the man's stubbornness and sense of moral rectitude, but how it shaped the specific elements of Wilson's idealism, Auchincloss does not explore. All that emerges is the all-too typical portrait of a man with a "divided" nature.

I did find his discussion of the 1916 election interesting, particularly the contingency plan in the case of a Wilson defeat. In this period of international crisis, had Wilson lost to Charles Evans Hughes, Vice President Marshall and Secretary of State Lansing would have resigned, Hughes would have been named Secretary of State, and Wilson would also have resigned. I had never heard this before and hope to explore the issue further.

Besides an apparent affinity for describing certain remarks as "intemperate," Auchincloss seemed to be fixated on the grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge and on Bill Clinton, both of whom he mentions twice. Lodge's grandson receives considerable scorn for trying to justify his grandfather's behavior (his "hatred" of Wilson and his reading of the Versailles Treaty in the Senate). The Clinton impeachment is mentioned as an example of the people's representatives taking action against the will of a majority, and Clinton's definition of "is" is compared to Lodge's grandson's definition of "hatred." Maybe these are legitimate comparisons (though probably not), but they seemed wholly out of place in this biography.

These Penguin biographies aren't necessarily intended to be the deepest or most insightful of books, but they should at least contain some substance. This one, unfortunately, contains very little that can't be had by reading an American history textbook.

The basic biographical framework -- the "what" -- of this book isn't bad, and certainly Auchincloss is a fine writer. But while the facts of Wilson's life are presented effectively, they're not tied together with any kind of larger thesis. Auchincloss develops a few recurring ideas -- Wilson's friendship with Colonel House, the theory of "the two Wilsons," the influence of Wilson's second wife, the rivalry with Henry Cabot Lodge -- but none of them seem like more than convenient narrative hooks. Which, if any, is a key to the man's character?

What I found most bothersome is that Auchincloss's biography ends (literally) with Wilson's last word. Remarkably -- for a biography of one of the world's most influential figures in the first half of the century, and a man who is considered by some (justly, in my opinion) to bear a large share of responsibility for the ultimate onset of World War Two -- there is virtually no attempt to place Wilson into his historical context, to measure the long-term impact of his life, or to judge his successes and failures in the considered light of history. It's like Auchincloss bumped up against the Penguin Lives word-count limit and decided just to stop.

Coming off the fine Churchill and Napoleon volumes, I was really hoping for more here -- especially from a writer with such a high reputation. This title is a decent summary of the facts of Wilson's life, but the interested reader will have to go someplace else to put it all in context.

Readers of Woodrow Wilson will find a man of enormous intellect who viewed himself as somehow ordained by God to lead the world into a higher level of peace and harmony, but who also battled with arrogance that did not allow him to accept gracious defeat. As a history professor he was well liked by students, but as university president he was beset by strife involving administrative decisions. He appealed to Democrats who wished to cleanse the party of William Jennings Bryan's influence, and accepted the nomination for Governor of New Jersey accordingly. He even adopted a Populist position to appeal to the masses. When the Republican Party divided in 1912, he was assured the Presidency. In that office he was forced to balance personal convictions and political realities that culminated over the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. This ultimately proved to be Wilson's demise.

Auchincloss' portrait explores many of these complexities, but at times appears to gloss them over. The rivalry between Wilson and Henry Cabot Lodge oddly is detailed from Lodge's perspective, but the author does not particularize how Wilson reciprocated. Auchincloss does not describe in depth the differences between Lodge's snobbish Harvard arrogance, Theodore Roosevelt's heroic jingoism of a bygone era, and Wilson's self-righteous purveyance of his own world order, and how each affected the others as well as the world around them. Auchincloss also has difficulty in describing Germany in World War One in that it was fighting a war of delaying defeat by 1916 and not turning the tide towards victory.

In the end, however, readers will find Auchincloss' work useful and poignant. He inserts comparisons to future Presidents in an amusing way while discussing the merits of Wilson's administration. Woodrow Wilson may not be a definitive work but, due in part to its brevity, should be considered appropriate reading for High School level history courses.

I'll give you the summary up front: as an introduction to Visual InterDev 6, this book shines (4 stars). This book also makes an excellent primer for Web technologies. However, I think a true beginner would be better served by focusing on a single area and gaining some confidence first, and then returning to this book for an idea on where to go next. As such, its value is somewhat limited (2 stars).

I'll move on to the content of the book. The order in which these subjects are presented is well-conceived.

Chapters 1 through 3 introduce VI6, and how you can create Web pages through the design interface-think FrontPage. We are introduced to Design Time Controls and site maps for navigation. We create a quick form, and enter a very short (four-line) JavaScript function. Mumford does not elaborate on forms, for example the differences between the GET and POST methods, nor does he spend any more time with JavaScript.

Chapter 4 covers the use of Themes for style, and introduces Design Time Controls (DTC's) and Site Maps for navigation. Themes are essentially out-of-the-box style sheets. Mumford does not delve into style sheets, or describe how you could customize themes.

Chapter 5 is about Database Basics. This is a great chapter that describes how VI6 can be used to develop databases. Some of the Web pages are built using DTC's. A couple of quick hits: at this stage, Mumford hasn't admitted that DTC's are ill suited for heavily trafficked sites. Nor does he mention that client-side DTC's expose all of the database connection information (including server name, user name, and password) within the HTML source that is sent to the browser.

Chapter 6 focuses on Client Side Script. After a brief admonition that JavaScript is a more suitable scripting language for use on the Internet, Mumford plows ahead and provides examples in VBScript. VI6 has some excellent tree controls for creating skeletal form handlers, and support for IE-specific DHTML. Of course, we aren't given a rigorous treatment of either scripting language. The chapter finishes up with using ActiveX controls, but fails to mention Java applets.

Chapter 7 is a decent introduction to Active Server Pages. Mumford touches upon the Response object, the Request object, and even the FileSystemObject. He discusses session state and briefly mentions server-side includes.

Chapter 8 revisits DTC's. The dirt finally comes out about them. I would advise you to avoid them altogether.

Chapter 9 is a good chapter about using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to connect to a database. VI6 can provide some of the same "IntelliSense" features that are available in Visual Basic.

Chapter 10 is a concise, high-level introduction to XML. VI6 does not have any native support for XML, but Mumford does a good job of presenting the benefits of this new standard. I found the exercise of embedding an island of XML data within an HTML document, and using client-side script to navigate its recordset to be very interesting.

Chapter 11 is an admonition to include error-handling routines in your programming. If the stars are properly aligned, you might even get the server-side scripting debugger to work.

Chapter 12 discusses the benefits of moving business logic code from the ASP's into COM objects. There are several worthwhile statements made throughout this chapter with regard to Web application design. A very preliminary introduction to MTS is provided.

Chapter 13 starts out well with many valuable comments about designing your Web application's architecture. It then bogs down with a cursory discussion about Visual SourceSafe, and wraps up with the "Visual Component Manager."

Chapter 14 is the last chapter, and it is a case study for an internal help desk Web application. This is a great example to work through. It typifies real-life development in a Microsoft environment: mostly hand-coded pages, no DTC's, themes, or site maps, using ADO, and creating COM objects.

The appendices are relatively useless. The Visual InterDev menu reference can be discerned within the application itself, and the HTML, VBScript, and JavaScript references can be readily found in a multitude of electronic and hard-bound locations.

A better title would have been "An Introduction to Visual InterDev 6," for that is the aim this book sets out to achieve. I believe this book accomplishes this task very well. However, a beginner who purchases this book with the expectation that she will be a full-fledged Web developer by its end will be sadly disappointed.

Mumford does a thorough job of explaining net programming and Visual InterDev, plus he touches on everything from T-SQL to ASP and XML. What beginner could ask for a more comprehensive glance at web development? Also, the book takes a hands-on approach, so you'll actually build a little business2consumer website solution complete w/database support. If you think you may be a candidate for this book, then there is no question - buy it. If not, buy several books concentrating solely on individual topics.