Perhaps the phrase, be careful what you ask for, should have been coined for this early story. In the books of Samuel, the nation of Israel essentially 'comes of age', and enters the arena of other nations by forming a central hierarchical structure.

The politics of Israel was interesting at this point. From the time of the Exodus (after Moses and Joshua) to the time of Samuel (some 400+ years later, if the Biblical account of years can be trusted -- the exact meaning of some time phrasings is still in doubt), Israel had no central authority, no hierarchy. The people lived in a mostly agrarian culture, with small farming, flocks and herds as the norm. Cities were rare, and generally despised. For instance, the Philistines and the Egyptians were both known primarily as city-dwellers, and both were considered enemies in many respects.

Israel was guided by judges, who recognised God as King. This, however, was unsatisfactory to the people of Israel. The other nations had kings, to lead the battles and to rule and adjudicate. Samuel (and God, through Samuel) warned against having kings, but (interestingly) did not forbid the institution of a kingly dynasty to the people of Israel. Samuel selected Saul to be king. Of course, his kingship was a rocky one, and ended badly, not least of which because David was a challenger to the throne through most of Saul's reign, presumably based upon Samuel's (and God's) decision to take legitimacy away from Saul.

Finally, David succeeds to the kingship, and has a rather stormy reign himself, made however into the glorious reign that is still considered the model of God-sanctioned kingship under God by many Jews and Christians.

Everet Fox, who did a remarkable job at translating 'The Five Books of Moses' a few years ago (please see my review of that), turned next to the stories in the books of Samuel, and retranslated them as part of the new Schocken Bible Series, which his book entitled 'Give Us A King! Samuel, Saul, and David'. Fox had as one of his intentions in the retranslation of the Torah, which carries forward as a theme in this work, the adherence to the oral and aural aspects of the original Hebrew, sacrificing the scholarly-clarity issues that guide translations such as the New Revised Standard Version and others that are meant to be read, for this that is meant to be read aloud. One gets a greater sense of the way in which the Hebrew stories would have been conveyed.

Now David sand-dirge (with) this dirge
over Sha'ul and over Yehonatan his son,
he said:
To teach the Children of Judah the Bow,
here, it is written in the Book of the Upright:
O beauty of Israel, on your heights are the slain:
how have the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gat,
spread not the news in Ashkelon's streets,
lest they rejoice, the daughters of the Philistines,
lest they exult, the daughters of the foreskinned-ones!
Ohills of Gilbo'a, let there be no dew, no rain upon you,
or surging of the (watery) deeps,
for there lies-soiled the shield of the mighty, the shield of Sha'ul,
no more anointed with oil.

Fox accompanies his new translation with an interesting introductory essay setting context and meanings in place, as well as notes that explain both translation textual issues as well as interpretive issues in the text.

Included in this volume are drawings, paintings and etchings by the artist Schwebel. While these works are intriguing and inspired works of modern art with an influence from various historical patterns and themes, I found some of the art work, having modern settings in high streets with cars, shop signs, etc., hard to merge thematically with the ancient texts sometimes.

This is a fascinating text, a wonderful new translation, which gives new insight and fresh meaning to an ancient story.

I am not a Hebrew Scholar; I do not even qualify as a Hebrew Student. Yet this Biblical translation infuses new life into the Old Testament books of I and II Samuel. The meter, the poetry, the nuisances lost in other English translations have been magically restored by Everett Fox.

Mix in an insightful commentary and you have what is rapidly becoming the translation I reach for when I read or study the stories of Saul, Samuel and David. Hopefully Fox is fast at work on a translation of David's poetry - The Psalms.

You have NEVER read the old testament till you read Everett Fox's translations of it. It is a veritable revelation to see whole new meanings in the words, phraseology, and syntax. Now, Mr. Fox, how 'bout the rest of the OT. After teasing us with the Pentateuch and 1 & 2 Samuel, I am ITCHING to read the Psalms this way, as well as Isaiah, Ezra-Nehemiah, etc.

Few military books are written with such clear and lucid details.Mr Mitcham describes the Afrika Korps rise with great accuracy. He puts to rest all the myths which had sprung up with the reputation of the Korps. One such point is that some historians have claimed that the Afrika Korps boasted technologically superior tanks compared to the British. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact , the Korps themselves faced technologically superior armour, plus the fact that they were always outnumbered. Certain historians have claimed the contrary to this fact as well. Mr Mitcham puts to rest this myth as well. The truth of the matter was that concentration of armour, the reason for the Korps success, was seen as having superior numbers, actually the Korps under the Desert Fox , concentrated its numbers against enemy formations one at a time , thereby neutralizing British superiority of numbers. Samuel Mitcham Jr also goes into the day to day life of Rommel and his army. The battles of 'TottenTag' and the major battles like 'operation battleaxe' are studied with great detail. Afrika Korps also suffered tremendous losses in high ranking officers, Mr Mitcham investigates this point as well. In my opinion, this book is a must for all students of the Desert War of 1941-43, especially since it is unbiased and filled with a lot of facts and valuabe data.

I read this book when a was a teenager, years and years ago, finding the hardcover from the original publication in a trove of an older siblings books. It made an indelible impression on me then, and, re-reading it, it still does. Pagentry, politics, emotional angst, it's all here. The book made such a vivid impression on me, that when I travelled to Italy years later, one of the most exciting experiences I had was to go to the Castel Saint'Angelo outside Rome. Not only is it the site where Tosca jumps to her death in the opera, but it's the setting for the very atmospheric scene in "Prince of Foxes" where Andrea goes to the secret audience with Borgia and is worried about being assasinated. That's how concrete that scene was. They don't write books like this anymore. For years, I was upset over the fact that I have thick thumbs, like Angela Borgia!
The movie that was made in the 1950s (Tyrone Power as Orsini, Orson Welles as Borgia and Wanda Hendrix as Camilla) does not do the book justice, for all that there are some nice scenes actually filmed on location in Italy. Oh, and Tyrone Power does look great in tights. Check him out in the wedding scene at the end.

More than just a story of a Renaissance Man, this is a tale of a young, talented but materialistic and opportunistic man who pulls himself out of poverty by selling himself to the highest bidder. There are many parallels to the challenges facing today's young men who live in our inner cities. After an encounter with Saint Lucia, the man questions his motivations and finally becomes a more mature and fulfilled individual, at peace with himself and his formidable artistic talents. Also, this book was made into a GREAT movie in the 1950's (I think). I think Virginia Mayo as Camilla, Rex Harrison as one of the Borgia brothers, and Cliff Montgomery as Zoppo/Andrea??

My father handed me his old worn copy of Prince of Foxes, without even a cover, and told me that I'd like it. Well, he was more than right. If you like action, intrigue, romance, and who doesn't, this is a great book. Believe me, order it now, you won't be sorry!

McDonough's stated purpose is to illustrate explanatory political models taken from the political sciences with specific illustrations lifted from his political career. Unfortunately, his analysis of the models is superficial and disorganized and his personal anecdotes are excruciatingly long and unnecessarily detailed. As a result, he is like the wise uncle who repeatedly masks his wisdom behind voluminous, forgettable chatter. For those interested in government and health care, this book is likely to be a complete waste of time. This is one volume it would help to look through at a bookstore before purchase.

but John McDonough was in the Massachusetts Legislatorship and all the other states are different as to thier laws and the ways they perform public policy, so you would have to live in Massachusetts in order for anything within the book to be of any consequence to you personally. So how can we call outselves The United States when we have so many divisions amongst us, even within our state of Cslifornia. The laws change across state lines and there were over 40 Million new laws passed just last year for the average citizen to follow, therefore there are way too many laws for anyone to comprehend.

Former Massachusetts state legislator John McDonough takes readers from the theory to reality of practical politics in a surprisingly unegotistical fashion. He uses various theories about why and why political actors do what they do as they go about their business to introduce his own experiences.

The obligatory academics (the book is a valuable text book as well as a good read) are clear and easy to get through. The political stories are particularly informative and of great interest to people who want to know some of the 15,000 ways and by-ways that bills can travel to become law.

Experiencing Politics is instructive and should be required reading for zealots who'd rather make a point than make a difference. Of particular interest to all the victims of Narcissistic Advocates Personality Disorder (the Nader types, the zealots, the self righteous as only the Boston/Cambridge axis can breed) are McDonough's experiences and observations as an advocate for housing and as one who tried to ameliorate the impact of the loss of rent control.

Massachusetts political junkies and students of legislative process should love this book. McDonough doesn't describe his role as that of savior or saint, but as an interested student and practitioner of practical progressive politics who wants to be a player in his legislature.

For a professor of history, this is an average book that is rather non-scholary. Apart from the appalling photo captioning and poor maps, the text is little more than a rehash of existing literature, adding little to the body of knowledge on the fall of Tobruk in 1942. I would have though that such an esteemed author would have had his work peer reviewed, but obviously not. For those already familiar with Tobruk and seeking a mediorce account- this is your book.

Not much can be added to the previous review from Amazon.com. I found this book easy and enjoyable to read. The author offers a well presented and researched account of Rommel's capture of Tobruk in 1942. It shows Rommel at his best although he was hepled at times by the Allies lack of understanding of all-arms combat. It shows Rommel was also extremely lucky on occassion but he was a commander who led from the front and took advantage of these lucky breaks.

The only faults I could find with this book were the maps and some incorrect captions to some of the photos. I felt that the maps could have provided more detail. I hate reading about a location in the narrative but not being able to find it on the relevant map. The author provided numerous maps throughout the narrative but they could have been on a higher standard. I noticed two incorrect captions to the photos, one showing a Panzer MkIV with a 75cm main gun but labled as a Panzer MkIII and another photo listed as a British Valentine tank but which is a Cruiser MkII or MkIII.

Regardless of these minor faults this is still a very good book covering this battle (and only one of few that does!) and was a delight to read. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys military history.

Samuel Mitchum has done an excellent job of leading the reader through the events that have become known as Rommel's crowning acheivement during the North African campaign. In a fairly detailed manner, the author shows how long the odds were, and just how unlikely victory in this battle should have been. In order to forestall the British, Rommel launches his much reinforced Panzer Armee into the attack to rest the fortress of Tobruk from the allies and drive the Eighth Army back across the frontier. With faulty intelligence, and an almost as faulty a plan he should have been defeated, but wasn't. Why? Mitcham shows us clearly the flow of the battles that lead up to the fall of Tobruk. Luck, both good and bad, on one side then the other, constantly influences the outcome of the many engagements. Differing styles of command, failures of intelligence, or failing to respond in a timely manner to good intelligence all played a role during the Gazala battles. Rommel is shown at his most daring, out fighting and constantly outmaneuvering his British counterparts. The British, on the otherhand, are still learning their trade in this new style of warfare. The British commands failures are as much a reason for Rommel's success as Rommel's own tactics and aggressive handling of his numerically inferior armour. This book is a 'must read' for any student of the war in North Africa.

Mitcham has touched upon an issue of slight controversy here. He talks about Rommel's role from an admirer's point of view. Wasn't an editor from a popular magazine fired last year because he thought that Rommel and other Nazis had good tastes in fashion?

Anyway, Mitcham doesn't worship Rommel like a deity. He was probably right in describing Rommel as the German commander best-suited to preside over the defense of France in 1944. If not for Hitler's stranglehold over the Wehrmacht and Rommel's rivalry with senior commanders/Nazis, he likely would have conducted a better defense, if not driven the Allies back into the sea. Mitcham's description of Rommel as the potential leader of Germany wasn't so far-fetched either. Stephen Ambrose once commented briefly on this prospect.

Mitcham's tendency to make his endnotes miniature stories in themselves is his forte. The damper to this book is his preface, in which he goes off on a tangent by ranting against liberal historians and affirmative action, as if these things bore a direct relation to the subject of his book. Readers may wonder if Mitcham wanted to rant against civil rights, but stopped short of doing so lest it stir up controversy. Please stick to the subject, Dr. Mitcham! If it weren't for your preface, your book would have rated 3.5 stars.

Mitcham's thoughtfully researched analysis of Rommel's final months reads a bit like hero worship, but the thorough documentation of sources (and quality thereof) makes this a definitive third-party analysis of this period of Rommel's career. Mitcham casts Rommel as strategic seer, chronicling the Field Marshal's workmanlike foretelling of so many Allied tactics that you really do wonder if the U.S. would've been pushed back into the sea at Omaha had Rommel been able to a) properly fortify the coastline and b) bring up the 15th Panzer Division, which stood idle during so much of the crucial fighting in the bocage and on the Cotentin Peninsula. In explaining Rommel's role in the Hitler assassination attempt, Mitcham distances Rommel from direct involvement, painting him as politically naive and motivated to prevent a Russian overrun of Germany by "arresting" Hitler and seeing to a political restructuring of the Reich through a negotiated, Allied truce. Whether ! ! or not this was the case is uncertain to me, but it does make me speculate about what a post-Hitler Germany would have been like had the plan worked. Rommel as its president? Mitcham thinks this could have been the case.