This book is required reading for anyone interested in the ex-East Germany. From the very beginning, Naimark shows how the Moscow Germans (Ulbricht, et al) were apologists for everything and anything the Soviets did to their conquered German "friends." This more than anything else painted the Communists and their "United Front" Party, the SED, as little more than stooges for the hated Russians. Thus, the GDR leadership had no legitimacy in the eyes of the average worker. Naimark's study also describes how complete Sovietization was in the arts and education, though he only peripherally describes the Lutheran Church's involvement in the social transformation being wrought. This is curious, since it was the Church that provided a haven for dissent in the future years, but Naimark clearly had to prioritize his subjects of focus. This is a "must-have" for anyone interested in the Cold War, the GDR and the Soviet Union.

This is a quite outstanding piece of research into a subject that was once all but closed off to scholars, thanks to East German and Soviet secrecy. The author seems familiar with all the available source material in German and Russian and as a result writes with complete authority. Among his conclusions are that even the East German Communists found it hard to accept some of the sheer brutality and bullying of the Soviet occupiers. At the same time, the Soviet authorities were not too impressed with the East German comrades' plans to accelerate the imposition of a Soviet-type political and economic system. Meanwhile, rape and rapacity on the part of the occupiers proceeded apace. A remarkable work that leaves a lasting impression.

Because history is written by the victors, one seldom hears of the plight of the vanquished. The author desribes the rape, plunder, murder, and indoctrination of ordinary Germans after WWII. by the Russians and their communist allies. This book documents the terror these people indured and how they survived.

Rosemary Sutcliff's books woke my passion for history as her books inspired me to study and learn what was fact and what was fiction in her stories. As a historian, I wondered at the little north west corner of Saxon England that did not come immediately under the Norman yoke as the rest of England did. I wondered at the leader, warriors and people that defied the Normans and held the Lake district against the invaders for so many years.

The Shield Ring is the story of that people and that struggle. Norsemen and Saxons stand together in an ever weakening band of warriors that time and again throw back the steadily increasing strength of the Normans. Against all odds they fight the seemingly hopeless battle to retain their freedom and their land.

We may never know the true story of that hard fought defensive campaign by Saxon and Viking against the Normans but in this book we come to know the spirit of the people who did. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Though intended for youth, adults will enjoy it as well. This is a wonderful book written by a master story teller.

I am a big fan of Rosemary Sutcliff, but this was one of my favourites of her books. What I love about Sutcliff is that she writes about parts of history usually neglected by history books, and she presents them in a very real way. I feel like I'm IN a viking stronghold, or facing the enemy. I feel like I'm living and breathing in the book, and that it is my life; it is how it ought to be. Somehow she leaves me with a deep sense of having lived someone else's life and being able to relate to them - which is the ultimate dream any author/authoress has for the reader, I think. This book is especially good.

A lot of people refer to Rosemary Sutcliff books as childrens books. To that I say , if this is a childrens book I don't ever want to grow up!

Wether you are a Rosemary Sutcliff fan , have an interest in history, historical fiction or you just love a good read, this book is for you.

Once again we are removed to a time long ago when the world was a much different place.

Centering on a group of Vikings from a northern lake district she weaves a tale with so much realism and emotion that you could almost believe you were there.

As usual her historical research is spot on along with the depth of characters and the interaction between them.

Rosemary shows an unrivalled understanding of human nature that makes for an excellent read, especially when set in such a romantic yet harsh reality.

I have been Rosemary Sutcliff fan for years and I can honestly say I have never been so happily lost in a book as I was in this one.

Unlike many self help books, this book is written very concisely and gets to the point making it very easy, enjoyable, and quick to read. The biblical references and examples are very helpful too. This book has helped me tremendously. I think anyone getting married at any age for the first time should read this book.

This book helped me and my fiance. As I was reading it I found that there were some things that we just never talked about and this opened the line of communication. Which made our relationship stronger.

This book is good for couples who are getting married. For first time marriage, the author provides wonderful insights into lives after marriage, expectations, how to communicate with your mate, and suggestions to handle touchy issues like in-laws, etc. For couples who have gone through unsuccessful marriage in the past, this book also explains the typical causes that make a marriage goes sour, and how you can free from your past and build a lasting relationship with your mate. Although this book is written from Christian perspectives, it can serve as a good resource for everyone who wants a lifelong marriage.

I began reading this book to my son when he was four. We started with the basics of how to set up the board and how the pieces move. Starting Chess helped peak my son's interest and learning in the game. He has now progressed to thinking about strategy and combinations as a result of Harriet Castor's excellent method for conveying the fundamentals found in book.

As an Usborne book, I knew this would probably be a great tool to teach the game since the company designs interactive reading to compete with television and video games. The puzzles and great graphics throughout helped to stimulate my son's (and now my younger daughter's) interest. They are both really enjoying the game, and we play often.

Highly recommended!

PS "Chess For Children" by Ted Nottingham is an excellent follow on book to continue developing young kid's passion for Chess.

I've been reading this book to two kids in the family, ages 7 and 9, and they love it. Also we have a 3-year-old who likes the pictures and has slept with this book under his arm--what other endorsement do you need?

The drawings are fun, with lots of animated characters. Chess notation is described but not required for learning the moves (drawings are shown instead). The book covers all the basics for each piece, discusses exchanges (and points per piece), special moves (castling, en passant), opening moves and tricks, and endgames. Plus there's some chess history and simple puzzles. High recommended.

Originally found this in the library. I knew some chess, but wanted to get back to the basics. The color art and thinness of the book (not a lot of long explanations to bog me down) attracted me to it, and I got quite a lot out of the simple, to-the-point concepts and explanations. I am now referring it to a friend of mine who is visually-impaired and wants to learn chess. The large print is good for his reading, and the simple explanations help him to understand chess without drowning in complicated teaching.

Having just read a 1957 copy of this book, it is absolutely amazing how much American life back then is still so applicable today. Dr. Peale's words of wisdom are skillfully set out by experience and example, personal and otherwise. Many of the characters identified in the book are still living. Dr. Peale candidly offers healthy, inspirational and spiritual techniques to heal the wounds of everyday living with class and resolve leaving the reader to truly feel that life is not a problem, but rather that life is a solution.

If you want to make your life happier and a better place to live in you are on the search of a right book that'll make you relax and teach you to be confident of yourself on every turn of life. A soothing book that suggests you remedies to relieve tension and stress. Life brings along with it all types of ups and downs which make you happy as well as sad so to overcome your sadness this book will be the greatest guide with the best examples from your day to day life. DO TRY IT.

Stay Alive All Of Your Life is absolutely a must have book. It gives guidelines on how to enjoy each moment of every day . It is written in simple english so that it is easy to understand. It lets us know that life can be fun and exciting, no matter what the world problems are. A wonderful book!!

I stumbled across this book in a local library a few years ago in the oragami section and was intrigued. I had tried making accurate flight-capable airplanes before, but with little success. The simple approach that Schmidt uses makes the building process enjoyable, and while the planes produced are reward in themselves, the fact that they actually fly enhances the experience. While the planes aren't super-realistic, they are a definate change of pace from simple folding and precision cutting and bending. While the intended age range encompasses mostly grade/middleschoolers, the young at heart will still find enjoyment by adding details to the planes and having realitsic (paper) jet fighter strikes against their coworkers. This book is definately for anoyne with a passion for flying and/or folding.

We have checked this book out of our local library four times and renewed it several more times than that. It has many different planes from simple and easy to fold, to the more complicated bi-plane and even a Boeing 747. They all look remarkably realistic and to-scale when done carefully. Scissors, ruler, and glue are necessary besides, of course, paper. We need our own copy for my airplane-loving son.

all of the planes in this book fly great if you like planes,paper planes ,oragami ,you gota get this book

Confused about the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, anything to do with the Holy Spirit, then this book is a must read. My only advice, don't rush through it! It takes you through scripture step by step, laying out who the Spirit is and goes on from there. This book is nothing but pure, biblical truth. I highly recomend it for any believer who wants to know more about the Spirit!

We so often talk about the Holy Spirit, but we have no idea who he is. This book thoroughly introduces us to the person on the Holy Spirit, and it goes carefully through the different functions of the Holy Spirit, the gifts, and a variety of other things. A great study to do with a friend.

The Supernatural Church is an owner's manual for every believer. It is designed to teach and equip a person for power in life and ministry. It will help you grow in spiritual sensitivity, and you will learn how to be used by the Spirit effectively.

A Tale of Three Wars is simply a splendid book. Written by one of the military's leading thinkers, retired General Atkeson's book analyzes the complexities of the Vietnam War through the venue of historical fiction. He illustrates the fractured nature of the NLF (National Liberation Front) and Viet Cong, the often problematic relationship between the US and South Vietnamese intelligence and military authorities, and the troubled internal politics of South Vietnam itself. The result is a nuanced and sophisticated picture of the Vietnam War and the challenges faced by the US in dealing with the daunting problems of insurgency, corruption, and political infighting.

This book is particularly critical now during the War on Terrorism. Atkeson has shattered the notion that the NLF, VC, and North Vietnam represented a homogeneous, monolithic enemy. He has shown that beneath the thin skin of solidarity nationalist and ideological movements (and those purporting to be religious) are more often than not fractured alliances of necessity that hide competing ideas, agendas, and struggles for power. The most effective way to deal with them is to find the seams and the fractures and exploit them, as Atkeson's protagonist, Paul McCandless, did in the novel. A similar approach to the War on Terrorism is likely to be very successful. -- Christopher D. Kolenda, Editor and Co-Author of Leadership: The Warrior's Art.

For this civilian, MG Atkeson finally explains some of the roots and conflicts of the Vietnam war and how the participants in it -- on all sides, including the home front -- contributed to its resolution in frustration, disappointment, and loss of honor.

Although Vietnam, from Tet to Ia Drang to the last helicopter out, contains enough action for a library of novels, MG Atkeson explains the long battle of attrition by what is, essentially, a novel of character, in particular, the characters of a relatively fast-track young Intelligence officer, an American-trained South Vietnamese officer; and a cadre leader among the Viet Cong, trained like many rebels from Ho Chi Minh on in France.

All of them have been snatched from their "normal" lives, but those lives have written deeply on them and influence how they live -- and fight their war. Ultimately, they are brought together in a resolution as moving as it is, essentially, indeterminate.

A gulf has opened between those men and what they thought they were fighting for -- a gulf similar to that found today even inside the US.

I am grateful for this clarification of something I didn't understand when I was living through it.

Let there be no doubt about it--A Tale of Three Wars is one of the best novels ever written about the Viet Nam War. It certainly is the most authoritative, and the plot is a well-crafted, elaborate, Byzantine labyrinth. If you fought in the war or are interested in a unique view of the internal and external conflicts that characterized it, your simply must read MG "Ted" Atkeson's latest effort.

The novel follows the exploits of three main characters: "Paul" McCandless, Infantry officer turned Military Intelligence; MAJ Nguyen Van Do, Paul's counterpart, CGSC classmate and friend; and Patriot (Comrade) Van Ba, a Sorbonne-trained physician who commands the local Phu Loi Battalion. Thus, the three wars of the title, as each fights his enemies and organizational restrictions that tend to frustrate every endeavor. This is not, however, a "blood and guts" combat tale. There are a few battle scenes, some interesting cloak and dagger work, and a major operation launched during the novel, but the most significant conflicts are mental.

Van Ba is competent, efficient, and effective as a guerrilla commander--he manages to capture an entire platoon of tanks from a government compound--but is constantly being brought to task for ideological deviations by his political officer, Tran Hua, and his higher headquarters, the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN).

MAJ Do is fond of American jazz, slang expressions and Parliament cigarettes and indispensable to his commanding general when American newsmen and Congressmen must be briefed. He is delighted when Paul is assigned as his counterpart, but circumstances interfere with their friendship, and he must remain loyal to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, even when he suspects that a respected superior officer may be controlled by the Viet Cong.

MAJ (later LTC) McCandless is equally delighted to see MAJ Do, but he soon must plant a "cover story" with his friend as part of the security measures for a major operation in the planning stages. Paul has his own difficulties with the "hell bent for leather" commanding general of the fictional 100th Division ("Big Hundred"), his boss, the Field Force G-2, and a wife with liberal political tendencies.

In addition to a number of logical but frustrating twists and turns in the plot line, there is a false climax when a group of officers who gather informally to gripe about the war effort are tasked by the Field Force commander to produce a valid plan for changing the way the war is fought. They come up with a workable plan based upon interdicting the Ho Chi Minh trail with troops, but politics on the home front as well as the politics of the Pentagon interfere. The resulting non-answer from higher evokes this frustrated comment from one of the officers, "Nobody with four stars has the guts to go to the mat for what he believes."

But no one--certainly not the reader--has time to wallow in self-pity. Atkeson turns up the heat on the plot line once again and produces even more heart-pounding action before the epiloque appears. Like the war and the Tet Offensive, the book ends with the frustration of men who do their jobs to the best of their ability yet still see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. As the author suggests in his foreword, the lessons to be learned relate primarily to the dangers of the misapplication of good intentions.

From the foreword by GEN Schwarzkopf to the discouraging final exchange of dialogue among the three main characters, those unfamiliar with the Vietnam War can learn a great deal about those frustrating times--and some of the inherent ironies--in the pages of this novel. The amount of detailed, authentic knowledge displayed is impressive--everything about the book rings true. J.M. Olejniczak, Editor in Chief, ASSEMBLY Magazine, Special Forces-Vietnam

With the literally thousands of different types and varieties of houseplants available on the market, it's no surprise that there are some that are missing from this book. However, most (all?) of the main ones are here, and so too is a wealth of information on how to grow them. I bought this book 10 or 15 years ago, and it helped me go from perennial plant killer (it was the killing that was perennial, not just perennials that were killed), to a reasonably green thumb. I'm not a super gardener or anything. I just like houseplants and needed some basic info on how to care for them. It's all here.

I just love this book. I can't imagine having houseplants without it. I have it all marked with the Post-it flags so I can find my plants quickly. I'm going to get a little wordy here, but this is a great book with a lot of great features. I use it more that any of the other plant books I own.

The book has 4 sections: Introduction, The Color Plates, Encyclopedia of Houseplants and Appendices. The introduction runs you through the basics. It gives you a botany lesson that is neither too detailed nor too short. It gives the basics of the book. It tells you how to care for your plants (from water to reviving to saying good-bye to repotting when your plants out grow their current container) and how to propagate and have MORE plants. The Introduction also has a Plant Chart that shows you all the things you need to have healthy happy plants in one convenient easy to read chart. The only catch to using the Plant Chart is knowing the scientific names of your plants.

Don't know the name of your plant (let ALONE the scientific name!)? No problem, just look at The Color Plates. These pictures are wonderful. I have identified MANY of my plants with these pictures. Sorted into sections by type (Hanging Plants, Small Foliage Plants, Orchids, Bromeliads & Flowers, Showy Foliage Plants, Lacy Leaves, and Succulent & Other, you are sure to be able to find your plant quickly. The pictures show something that you would see in someone's house. If the plant flowers they will show it with the flowers (just so you can see it). The scientific name, the common name, plant height, light, temperature, how easy the plant is to grow, and the Encyclopedia section page reference.

The Encyclopedia of Houseplants has a short biography of the plant, How to Grow and Species information. I wish this section was combined with the pictures, but since many plants have many species - one encyclopedia reference may have several pictures. This section gives good information on how to grow your plant. It tells you if you plant likes to have a lot or little sun, a lot or little water, when to water, what kind of soil to use, and when and what kind of fertilizer to use. It also gives you a description (average size, flowering potential, foliage coloration, etc.) of the most popular species and a small black and white drawing.

The Appendices include sections on Orchids, Decorating with Plants, Buying Plants, Pest and Problems, Glossary and Index. The Orchid section tells you all about orchids and how to get more information on them (I haven't read this part). The Decorating with Plants give you tips on where to place your plants, how to use your plants, and give you tips and ideas on using a group of plants together. The Buying Plants section tells you what to look for when you shop for your plants. Pest and Problems is a handy section that gives you a background on pest and plants diseases. It tells you how to control the problems and how to recognized signs of plant distress. It has a handy chart with black and white drawings. The chart tells you the pest/disease name, a description of the pest or disease, the damage the pest can do and how to control the pest or disease. This is a very handy section (hopefully you won't ever have to use it) and I suggest reading it. The Glossary is a handy list of terms used through out the book. Last but not least is the index of both common and scientific names of the plants.

An excellent & concise houseplant reference. It will show you what is commonly done wrong with plants and what you can to to promote growth/flowering. Also included is a cross reference for temperatures and other environmental variables that you may wish to choose plants for. There are also many good quality pictures that can help you immediately identify 'that plant you've killed over & over' and a reference to the instructions that can make the difference. Good book.

I was truly blessed at an early age to have this and Gymkhana in my room when I first began to ride. This is a marvelous and loving look at children and horseback riding. Any parent with a child, particularly a daughter, beginning Enlgish riding instruction ought to make every effort to find this book. Like my tattered copy, it will become an heirloom. PCK, NJ.

This is one of my favorite books from childhood. A tongue-in-cheek riding instruction manual, it is filled with cartoons about the antics of girls and their sometimes-naughty ponies. Add subtle British humor to the mix, and it's a must for girls in that "horsey" stage . . . my 10-year-old adores it!

Everything you ever experienced at a riding academy with a chuckle on every page. Or if you've never been to a riding academy, you'll want to after looking this over. Angie Lohman