Naldi's book groups several of the Organization of African Unity's multilateral treaties and related documents into catagories (legal, environmental, human rights, and economic cooperation) and then furnishes the treaty and document texts, which are well translated. No background information is given, and some treaty citations are omitted. The book's value is in presenting treaties like "Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of hazardous Wastes Within Africa, 1991" and "Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, 1991" which are not (yet) published in the United Nations Treaty Series. This book helps to update "Basic Documents of African Regional Organizations" of 1972 and belongs on the library reference shelf of any college offering courses in international affairs. Ed Grosek, Northern Illinois University, c60esg1@corn.cso.niu.edu

In this short work (25 pages not including the title page, etc.) we get a colorful peek into the life of the Scandinavians in the year AD 950. The book tells the story of Egil, a young lad growing up in the important trading town of Hedeby in Denmark. Each section is two (facing) pages long, complete with very large and colorful illustrations by Gino D'Achille. As the story unfolds, the reader learns about the Viking way of trading, traveling, government, and general life. This is a quite good introduction to life in Viking Scandinavia for the younger reader.

We found the stories a joke. Lisa and I LOL ed at the ha haaaa, see, twist in the 5 or 6 stories we read. I believe a person could buy any of the romance novels at the supermarket and get the same thing.

My husband and I did not bother finishing this book. We skipped around to different chapters, as the editors suggest, in hopes of finding something erotic. The editors clearly had lofty aspirations for this book, but their intentions fell short of what they managed to achieve. Unfortunately, most of the stories were poorly written and laughably ridiculous; a bad combination. You can get mediocre erotica on the 'net for free. Don't waste your money.

We had a really good time with this last weekend! Blindfold + Erotic Edge on audio = FUN! Erotic audio is becoming a little bit of a fetish with me (my husband doesn't seem to mind). The Erotic Edge audio is very well done, readers seem really into it, and the stories are imaginitive and sexy. I reccommend it. If you like this one, you should also check out the Herotica series on audio, too.

Upon reading this weird (for lack of a better word) story, one must inevitably ask himself: is this just a fiction novel, this could not be truth, or could it? It's funny how sometimes fiction appears more real than it's supposed to be, especially when it comes to the subject of world domination.
The plot itself is as confusing as our modern times, with stories intercutting each other, in time and space. One must have enough time to put the pieces together, which, in my opinion, reveal the sometimes poetic and but mostly historical secret of the story.

If you think Salman Rushdie offended the Muslim community when he wrote "The Satanic Verses", just wait what the Christian, Jewish and (again) Muslim communities will say about this book. In just one chapter the author manages to remake (or rather re-tell) the 5000 year old story of monotheism and its peoples as a conspiracy against a conspiracy. And this is just ONE of the stories that make this novel offensive and interesting.

This book is written to show us the beginings of the true Italian Crime family, of course they are Spanish. The Borgias are the essence of getting and keeping power for the family. I feel that the book was much longer than required. But this is probably to be expected, since Mr. puzzo was not able to finish his work. You can tell the author loved this period of time. He is trying to show us that Pope Alexander was not only the 1st Don but the greatest.

The book contains 4 main story lines and several secondary tales as well. The Borgia Pope and his 4 children take center stage, and the quest to unite Italy is the book's theme. The battles that span most of Italy and even the Island of Elba should read at the pace of military battles and the campaign they entail. This would be my favorite part, but the battles are mostly just briefly mentioned and this is most evident when Cesare conquers Elba in a matter of a few hours and a handful of pages in the book. Though I understand that this is not a Military history book.

Though not not my favorite book, it is worth reading. Espically if interested in that period and to see just how corrupt the church was. I am glad that Carol Gino took on the task to complete this work.

I finally read this book after receiving it for my birthday a year ago. I don't know why it took me so long to pick it up because I really enjoyed it. I ended up finishing it within a few days.

I've read books about the Borgias before and this one is probably the most sympathetic to all of them that I've seen. Puzo is able to illustrate each character's numerous faults and/or sins, but he paints a picture of background information so the reader understands why the characters behave the way they do. Puzo especially does this with Cesare, usually regarded as the most villainous of all. With Alexander VI, Puzo dismisses his various power plays for a Borgia dynasty as just a loving father who is looking out for his children's best interests.

There are a lot of characters and sometimes the numerous politial alliances are hard to keep straight. And oh so much incest. But even that is presented in a way so that it's not even all that disturbing. I enjoyed the story very much and I highly recommend this book.

The First Puzo book I've ever read was the Godfather, just because I had an interest in the Mafia. But after I read it, I decided that maybe I would enjoy some of his other works. So the second book I read was the Family, and I must admit I was not dissapointed. Puzo takes us back to the 15 century and introduces to to the Borgias, the Corleones of that time period. I was impressed by the storyline and the risks taken by this crime family for their power in the Vatican. In my opinion it lives up as just as good a novel as the godfather, but none can ever match it. All in all its a good book if you share an interest in organized crime and want to learn some history of its beginnings.

The story of the planes and men interned in Switzerland during World War II is little known. Unfortunately, after reading this book, it is still mostly a mystery. I congratulate the authors for tackling the subject, but their treatment is superficial, focusing primarily on the aircraft and only secondarily on the men who flew them in. Though the book is full of excellent photographs of the planes that limped into neutral Switzerland, it does not examine some of the greater issues of the internees. There is little on the way the interned aircrews lived while in captivity, even less on the notorious Swiss prison camp the Swiss operated for some internees. The authors, who are Swiss, do touch briefly on the delicate balancing act the Swiss played during the war in placating their stronger neighbor, Nazi Germany, while at the same time staying neutral and providing a haven for combatants. One interesting story that is covered briefly is the fact that the Swiss, on occasion, did fire on US aircraft, and in several circumstances, that fire, whether from a Swiss fighter plane or antiaircraft fire, resulted in the deaths of American airmen. There are, however, other stories of the Swiss escorting damaged ships in to land, or not turning rescued crewmen over to the Germans. In short, this is a good book, but it could have been much, much more if it had taken a multi-dimensional approach to the history of the Swiss internees and their aircraft.

This magazine-style book covers the Allied aircraft that landed in Switzerland during WW2 and is an interesting piece.Mostly photos and color illustrations, it is a good source for information on a little-known corner of WW2.

Terse and dense manifesto, not a picture book

This book is hopelessly out of date. The facts were not checked and there is an official biography on Louis Quilico out there Mr. Rigoletto:In Conversation with Louis Quilico (Captus Press). I didn't like the sugary writing and the fairy-tale like family, which according to sources close to the family is very far from the truth. This book doesn't present the last year's of the opera singer's life and should be deleted from the shelves. the writing is also bad.