The Gag Family: German-Bohemian Artists In America by Julie L'Enfant (Associate Professor of Art History, College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota) is a remarkable look at a German-Bohemian family who settled in a Minnesota frontier town in 1879. The Anton Gag family business of art and story-craft flourished among these remarkable individuals that included his daughters, Wanda and Flavia. The Gag Family is a visually pleasing and informative presentation, filled with both black-and-white and color photographs, as well as detailed text that thoroughly addresses the stories behind specific works of art. A fine addition to artist biography shelves, The Gag Family is highly recommended for inclusion into American Art History and Upper Midwest Regional History academic reference collection or supplemental reading list.

Unlike many books on this topic, which are simple meditations or reflections, this work is a thorough exposition of Franciscan spirituality and many aspects of the theology which Francis's path inspired. This is by far the best modern work I have seen in this category. Of special note are sections regarding the Eucharist, the Incarnation, and the Franciscan approach to the vowed life. Excellent resource.

A Green Desire starts with two young brothers being separated. The younger brother, Tipton, stays with his mother and a life of poverty, the older brother, Chapin, goes off with his rich aunt to live a life of privilege. It is this separation which defines them as the story progresses from 1911 to its conclusion over forty years later. The two boys grow up to be fierce rivals. They compete in business, but most of all they compete for Jophy, a beautiful woman of Portuguese descent, who is as passionate as she is desirable.

Tipton and Chapin resemble the main characters in Myrer's famous novel of military life, Once an Eagle. Tipton is like Sam Damon, honourable and straight, a natural leader, leading by example. Chapin is similar to Courtney Massengale, devious and cunning, selfish and amoral. But here the resemblance between these two novels stops. A Green Desire focuses on civilian life. The story passes through two world wars, but its emphasis is on the battles of civilian life. Tipton fights to get ahead and raise himself from poverty through his own efforts. Chapin fights to maintain his life of privilege and to acquire power in the world of business. To do this both have to get though the Crash and the Depression.

Myrer shows that he was a wonderful storyteller, because he makes this story just as exciting as his stories about the military. The characters are vivid and believable and the story is full of incident. His description of life during the Jazz Age and the Depression is full of convincing details. A Green Desire is a well-written novel, pleasant and quite easy to read. Myrer has realised that he no longer needs to use obscure words to show off his talent as a writer. Now he just shows with clear memorable sentences that, at his best, he could be a very fine writer indeed. This is a powerful and moving novel. It may well be Myrer's best.

One of the greatest compilation reference works ever on the sport of baseball. This hardbound book features over 350 pages of detailed information on a wealth of reference sources including: books, club constitutionals, guides, annuals, periodicals, pictorials and much much more. The book has become quite scarce and is much sought after by baseball historians and collectors.

This book is a great reading! These Chekhov's stories of the early period are full of humour: some of them are just funny but lots of them are psychologically deep. No surprise that most of these stories are widely recognised as masterpieces! Though written in the late XIX these stories are still of great importance for the contemporary reader because they deal with such eternal things as human soul and human character. And in such a funny manner! The translation is remarkable. Those who ever tried to translate literary prose from Russian into English know how difficult this task is. You can really enjoy Sekirin's publication : he succeeded in the translation of the most difficult passages, those in which Chekhov describes the specific atmosphere of Russian reality and even those in which Chekhov play words. Read this book and recommend it to everybody! It is a real treasure of humour and a great exhibition of human characters!

A must have for anyone interested in cardiac anatomy. Greatphotos with line drawings.

The author of this book, who died in 1966, was an art studentin Vienna and later lectured in art in England. He wrote the book inthe sixties, when the Gestalt theory of perception was very much in vogue. His view of truly creative perception, however, is very different from the Gestalt view (which he argues against). He maintains that Gestalt perception is analytic in nature, and only begins to be used by children around the age of eight. However, younger children and artists use what he terms "undifferentiated perception" in perceiving the world--this form of perception is holistic and non-hierarchical. It makes no distinction between figure and ground, or between main subject and minor subject. He believes that on an unconscious level, we are all continuously scanning the environment in this way. However, only small children and some adults are open to the information thus gained. His arguments are compelling, and after trying undifferentiated perception myself, and raising young children who did seem to use it quite naturally, I was convinced that he was on to something. I've had this book over 12 years now and still refer to it when I'm thinking or writing about issues in perception, creativity, or consciousness. It has changed the way that I experience and think about my own mind.

The book gives a methodical approach to understanding temperature sensors. Before discussing new techniques and concepts, the author presents a clear introduction and explanation of various existing schemes, which keep the reader in focus. The separate chapter devoted to realizations of smart sensors motivates the reader by describing the significance and application to the new ideas presented with real-world problems. On the whole, the book is a significant contribution to the world of temperature sensors and will be a great reference material in helping masters/PhD students and design engineers be successful.

Anton Blok will open the eyes of the uninitiated, as well as the trained scientist. His approach to violence is broad reaching and, importantly, not limited to one aspect of violence. There is little doubt that this book is destined to become a classic. It has helped me orient my research to the "narcissism of minor differences" and opened the door to an aspect of anthropological inquiry that is just now becoming heavily studied. This one must be on your shelf.

For an author, there are two factors which greatly complicate a modern examination of the German resistance to Hitler. Firstly, after the failure of the assassination attempt on July 20th 1944, the Gestapo and the SS launched operation Thunderstorm, which eliminated thousands of Germans who were under suspicion (however slight) of disloyalty to the regime. Of course, irreplacable information perished along with these individuals. Secondly, now that half a century has passed, natural mortality has thinned even further the ranks of those who survived the War. Anton Gill has overcome these obstacles by locating and interviewing that handful of living participants, and by interviewing relatives and friends of those who died. This exceptional research, his grasp of European history, and his exceptional ability to tell the story combine to result in this flawless chronicle of an era.
Let's face it, reading war history can be about as exciting as eating a bag of sawdust. But this book reads like a novel, truly it does. It is never boring. It is a book about heroes, those who risked and lost their lives in an effort to thwart the plans of someone that history has confirmed as a madman. Why are they heroes? Among other reasons, because they had the perception to recognize Hitler as such AT THE TIME. It is easy to look back at this era and think of "what I would have done" but Gill's book shows us how truly difficult it was to be the one who resisted. For instance, it is certain that at no time could the conspirators, at whatever level they were working, count on the support of the populace or any form of legal recourse. Their lives were on the line. No turning back. But we who have never lived in a police state, who can criticise our government in letters to the newspaper or on an open postcard to a friend, who can speak our minds freely on the telephone or on the computer, can have no idea of what it is like to work against a regime whose hold on power depends on fear and informers, on mistrust and deception, on children reporting parents and parents denouncing children. This book is the story of those who resisted, at a time when the penalty for writing "Down With Hitler" on a wall was nothing less than death! We can't imagine.
Heroes like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Sophie Scholl, General Hans Oster, Ludwig Beck... you will hope against hope for these and so many others, while at the same time realizing that we can re-read history, but we can't rewrite it.
The story of Claus Graf Schenck von Stauffenberg's failed assassination attempt on Hitler at the Wolfsschanze, this was the most exciting part of the book. Gill's explanation of the events makes the heart pound, and you can follow along with the excellent maps that are provided. The resolve, the fortitude, the determination of Stauffenberg is literally amazing. And Hitler's luck (then, and on several other occasions) is almost unbelievable.
This is an excellent book and should be read by everyone interested in the history of bravery.