This book has some good information for anyone considering purchasing a home in France. It's aimed more towards a U.K. citizen, versus a U.S. citizen, but I still found it helpful. Some of the info. applies only to purchases of 'flats' (apartments) and not houses, but he doesn't tell you that. I found out after asking for some of the documentation he mentions. I would recommend the book to anyone considering the purchase of a French property -- get it early so you do it right!

...if you're thinking about buying property in France. Hampshire is totally on target. I read his book before going through the buying process, and couldn't believe how perfectly his advice dovetailed with my actual experience.

We JUST (September '99) bought an apartment in Paris, using this book as a daily reference. It helped us immensely, giving us confidence in many procedures from looking for a place initially to the closing, including geat information on insurance and utilities. Definitely a great source!

This book and its companion, Count Frontenac & New France Under Louis XIV represents one of the US's first great histories. Detailed, but lively written with only a few give-away phrases to let the reader know that this history was written over 100 years ago, these 2 volumes are a must read for any serious US/North American history buff.

This multi-volume edition of Parkman's magnum opus might appear initially daunting, as it covers more than 1,200 pages of material. Suffice it say, however, that the rewards are entirely worth the effort of fording your way through this majestic work.

Parkman triumphed over numerous personal disabilities (extremely poor eyesight and recurring pain in his limbs), to produce some of the most important and transcendent histories of the 19th century, works that secured him a place in the American Pantheon, beside Prescott and Bancroft. He has been interpreted both as an example of literary Romanticism by some, and as a supreme pessimist by others. His objective as an historian was to "while scrupulously and rigorously adhering to the truth of facts, to animate them with the life of the past, and, so far as might be, clothe the skeleton with flesh." This notion is reflected repeatedly throughout these volumes. His style is highly descriptive, borrowing as it does from his numerous treks to the sites he writes of. The Jesuits, trappers, governors, nuns and explorers he depicts come across as flesh-and blood, breathing, human beings, engaged in real activities. He has little place for abstraction, and never dwells overlong on minutiae. The ramifications of particular pacts or treaties, for instance, are subordinate to actual events and places. When he takes the reader into an Indian log-house, he/she can practically taste the smoke as it permeates the air.

When it comes to Native Americans, Parkman is far from sentimental. In fact, he bridled at the notion, common in 19th Century Romanticism (particularly Rousseau and even more conspicuously in Chateaubriand's ), of the Indian as noble savage. Parkman's earlier book on the Oregon Trail stemmed in part from his experiences amongst the Sioux on the Western Plains. The Indians depicted in these pages are, for the most part, more savage than noble. The Iroquois are especially ferocious in their raiding parties and in their methods of reprisal. Those who fell victim to their wrath were in for days and nights of unspeakable torture. Parkman describes these scenes almost too vividly. But as he himself would note,
"Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time." There are some academics that would argue that Parkman is not as objective as he would like us to think. He has a fairly consistent Protestant, Bostonian, Brahmin bias as regarding Catholicism, for instance. His view of Native Americans is hardly what could be termed politically correct. However one may feel about his viewpoint, one can not dismiss his power of depiction, or the scope of his genius and enterprise. When taking into account the fact that he produced volume upon volume of history, under the most debilitating circumstances, there can be no denying that he qualifies, as perhaps no one else, as "The American Gibbon." For the reader who wants to relive history at its most vivid, Parkman provides the goods. He paints in realistic detail the struggles, adventures and misadventures, the faith and foibles, great tribulations and monumental victories of an exceedingly noteworthy cast of characters. There are the infinitely stoical, but often-scheming Jesuits. There is the monomaniacal, driven, but honest-dealing and ultimately tragic figure of LaSalle. Champlain is another noteworthy figure, truly heroic in stature. The most heroic figure, however, may after all be Parkman himself. Shaped as he was by the notions of greatness fostered by such writers as Carlyle, it was a state he strove consciously to achieve. This collection, along with others in the Modern Library series, indicates that he achieved his goal. Thanks to The Modern Library for making authors such as Parkman accessible once more.

Francis Parkman's account of two centuries of French colonization in North America is a true classic -- undoubtedly superceded in many of the details of its scholarship, but unsurpassed as a Romantic narrative history of two eventful centuries. The publisher is to be commended for making the complete epic available in two affordable volumes. The reader will find the pacing leisurely, and high interest inevitably cannot be uniformly sustained, but patience and perserverance will be richly rewarded.

I liked this book. I've read many books on WW2. Few have given some of the insights that I have found here. For example, the importance of allied airpower is well known, but in no other book has its power against the enemy been as well documented. I also particulary liked the insights given into the German high command's actions in the battles covered. But there are problems with the book, too. The allied difficulties in the Normandy hedgerows are not specifically delt with. Also, the maps are poor. Finally, this is an expensive book. Is it worth the money? I would wait for the paperback.

A look at D-Day and the battle for Normandy from the German perspective. How did those manning the Atlantic Wall feel looking out upon a fleet the size the world has never seen before or since? Wave upon wave of bombers pounded them and then the unnerving of the naval shelling. Their remembrances, conversations and fear put you there amongst the din and dust with them. Enough lived through it to make the outcome doubtful.

When was Marcks convinced that this was no diversion but the real invasion? And why did his words fall on deaf ears. Where was Rommel and von Rundstedt and why? There were three German tank divisions within striking distance of the coast and yet they remained in place. One Reg. sat with engines running, within 30 kilometers of the coast. Why did they not receive the orders to advance until it was too late? There was more than Hitler's madness at play, much more. As one reviewer previously noted, some of the maps were less than excellent but Carell's work belongs on the shelf of anyone with more than a passing interest in Normandy and the breakout.

Invasion, covers the German side of the Normandy invasion from D-Day to the eventual breakout. I found the book highly readable and very informative. Paul Carell has done a great job of taking the reader into the invasion day bunkers, where terrified grenadiers man their machineguns to the last bullet to Hitler's insulated headquarters where decisions are made that ultimately doom any chance for a successful defense.

Carell shows the incredible effect allied airpower has on the battle at all times. Most devasting, was probably the allied counter-espionage campaign, that had Hitler's HQ convinced that Normandy was merely a feint, the real invasion coming at Pas de Calais.

Numerous smaller combat actions show the incredible capabilities of the German Army, even at this stage of the war. I would agree with a previous review that the maps can be a bit confusing. Overall, for anyone really interested in knowing the full story of the Normandy campaign, I think this book is a "must have", definitely one of my all time favorites.

I bought this book in July and am still reading it, though I am now more than halfway through it. Like any biography of this size, Cairns occasionally runs into the "and then he wrote....and then he played..." syndrome, and to be honest, after a while each struggle to pull together an orchestra and interest an audience reads like each previous instance. On the other hand, it dispels many myths about Berlioz and his acceptance in his time, among them the fact that he never really stopped loving Harriet or her artistic soul even after her descent into alcoholism, delusions and strokes. It also shows that Berlioz did indeed have his champions, even in Paris where he also had enemies, based solely on the fact that his music was multi-rhythmic and therefore hard to follow! Among the many champions of his music were the Germans, Austrians and Russians, but especially the Hungarians and British, who heard and appreciated the great and wonderful things in his music.

The person one feels sorriest for is his son Louis, born into a marriage that Berlioz' father and sisters opposed, sent to boarding school when his mother descended into alcoholism and madness, seldom receiving the bonding love of his all-too-busy father. We also learn that Berlioz purposely suppressed inspirations to compose symphonies because he couldn't afford to perform them, and he wanted to use the money to help set up his son as a sailor.

Best of all, however, we get a VERY realistic glimpse into the performing world of the early-to-late 19th century, in which composers had to foot the bill for the performance (and copying) of their own works, playing to half-filled houses and often losing money on their ventures. We also learn of the strengths and weaknesses of the various musical centers of Europe, particularly the weaknesses, so much so that the composer often deleted movements from his symphonies and masses because the performers could not play them correctly. Thus the "golden age" of the Romantic era is dispelled as a myth propagated by rumor and hearsay. The reality is far less sunny, making us realize that even then art music struggled to find an audience and be appreciated.

Most of all, one suffers along with Berlioz, feels his angst and anguish as he struggles time and again to establish and re-establish himself in the face of organized, official opposition. Yes, there were critics and audiences who did recognize his genius and love his music, cruel reviews and nasty caricatures to the contrary, and this acceptance was much more widespread among lay listeners than we have been led to believe. Berlioz was cheered, mobbed and loved by practically every European culture center EXCEPT Paris, and even there he had his partisans....just never enough to keep him afloat financially or help him get his music produced.

If you love classical music and enjoy Berlioz, this is a recommended read.....just go slowly, don't try to speed-read through it, and you will get a lot more out of it.

As a dedicated Berliozian since my teens, I've read several biographies on him in both English and French, but nothing comes close to David Cairns' exhaustive (but never exhausting) treatment, not even Jacques Barzun's now-classic treatment which helped to ignite the Berlioz revival decades ago. Part of the reason is the author's style--consistently engaging without ever becoming weighed down by boring detail. Cairns has a way of enlisting the reader's sympathies not only for Berlioz himself but also for his wife Harriet Smithson and his son Louis as well as his friends like Paganini and Liszt who fostered his career. These are all well-rounded portraits of some of the most prominent figures of an immensely eciting period of musical history. Most of all, one gets an indelible impression of Berlioz not only as a musical genius but even more as a brilliant writer. His letters, hundreds of which are fully quoted, reveal him as a man passionately dedicated the cause of great music and willing to express his honest convictions regardless of the opposition of the the crowd of mediocrities who had turned the Parisian musical environment into a haven for everything meretricious. It is sad to read of the success of such minitalent as Adolphe Adam , Auber and Thomas while Berlioz, the greatest French musician of his time (or perhaps the Greatest French musician, period) was forced to earn his living as a critic. If this book has any drawbacks, it is in the relatively little space devoted to discussion of the music itself. What the author does write about Berlioz's works is so insightful that it leaves me wishing for more--a lot more. This is especially true of Les Troyens. A vast opera such as this cannot be adequately discussed in a few paragraphs. But, admittedly, this is a biography, not a work of musical analysis. I'm grateful for what we have--a vivid portrait of a musical genius who really come alive as never before in these pages. Berlioz was incapable of writing a dull page. His letters are full of vivid imagery--metaphors and similes that paint the picture or express the thought memorably. My favorite example is, I am afraid, one that shows the caustic side of the man: Describing the singing of his mistress--later his wife--Marie Recio, he wrote "She sings like a cat". But I should not end on that note--Berlioz was a kind man as well as a genius--what a contrast to Wagner, whose overwhelming music caused the undeserved neglect from which Berlioz is still recovering over a century after his death. I hhope this book will send its readers back to the music as it has done for me.

This is a well organized cookbook. I like that it goes through talking about the customs, ingredient, preparation methods, and recipes. Recipes are workable, and many use common ingredients. Some cookbooks of this genre do not offer reipes that you can actually cook. The honey glazed vegetables are good, as are the leeks in white leek sauce. I would highly recommend this book if you enjoy medieval recipes.

I bought this book a few years ago and it was the best cookery book I could have received. Scully uses "Viandier of Talievent", "The Menagier de Paris" and "Du Fait de cuisine" by Chiquart as his sources. As well as giving a little history on the sources he provides a quick lesson on the history of French Cookery and a worthwhile section on ingredients and preparation methods. The recipes in the book are heavily documented (2 or 3 sources) and the reader is provided with the original recipe(usually from Menagier). Then they given a modern easy to follow and adapt for large numbers recipe. This book is a must have for SCA and Medieval Re-enactors who enjoy cooking medievally

This book is a must read for anyone interested in combat engineering. COL Pergrin tells his story of forming and then leading a combat engineer battalion in World War II in Europe. The 291st had a huge reputation as an outstanding engineer unit, and as you read the Battalion Commander's recollections, you have no trouble understanding why. An interesting comment on the quality of officers that were grown in the two-three years prior to the invasion of France. COL Pergrin was a typical example of the quick assessment and then promotion of the true leaders. This book is enjoyable for those with some background in comabt engineering tasks. As an engineer officer, I learned much about the history and achievements of a great combat engineer unit.

After hearing about Col Pergrin in the Philly news (WWII anniversary) I was hoping to find a book about his unit. This book is such a must for any WWII historian. It is quite readable, in spite the rich detail it goes into. The section (about 1/3 of the book) on the units exploits during the Battle of the Bulge, must rank among some the best first person accounts ever written! After reading that section I can see how "Those damned Engineers" ruined Hitler's winter offensive. The section on the bridging of the Rhine is another epic. I knew prior to reading this book that they did build the bridge, I was still hanging on every page, as if I was reading a novel. Col Pergrin's love and compassion for his troops is also well noted, he seems like a great leader (I wish we still had a few like him). One problem I had (very minor) was my lack of knowledge of the various types of bridges, which does not take away from this book, but if included would add so much to it. Overall I loved it!

This is a very well-rounded book, giving insights into many facets of Viking life and history. It is well-written and very well organized. The index is a valuable resource for other materials relating to those subjects you would like to read more in depth. I highly recommend it!

The perfect book; this is the one and only book that could have ranked higher than Jones' "A History of The Vikings". There are two separate halves to this masterpiece: the first is a compilation of several different authors, each taking on a different aspect of the Vikings: from metalworking to settling to religion, it's all here. The second half is a massive catalogue of Viking artifacts, with tons of pictures and detailed descriptions of swords, pieces of boats, combs, etc.

But in addition to being incredibly well-formatted and informative, this is one of the easiest and most enjoyable books I've ever read. It's written in a way that an expert will get just as much out of it as a beginner, and, being loaded with pictures and text that varies from author to author, it's genuinely difficult to put this book down. You could spend hours just flipping through the catalogue at the end. This is more than just a book: more than any other, this one will take you back in time to the Viking Age. Very very highly recommended.

David Bellos and Jacques Tati: What an odd combination. The odd thing about it is that David Bellos is a much-respected translator of French writer Georges Perec's novels, in addition to being Perec's biographer, and he's a much-admired expert on French literature. So why would he be interested in writing a biography of one of cinema's great clowns, Jacques Tati, especially when Bellos admits he is not a film fanatic and feels that if he had met Tati, he wouldn't have been able to spend more than five minutes in conversation with the man? Bellos cites his interest in Tati's artistry and his place in what the author calls "the trente glorieuses -- the 30 glorious years of rising prosperity in France from 1945 to 1975." These are the years during which Tati did his amazing work. He was not only one of the great filmmakers but also an artist who commented on humankind's interest and need for work and leisure -- with hilarious results. And his set designs have been a hit with architects around the world.

There is nothing more moderne than a Tati film. Tati made fun of the French love for le gadget: everything from Le Corbusier-style chaises longues to cars that had grills suitable for barbecuing. Jacques Tati is weak as a biography, insofar as Bellos doesn't get into Tati's head, but the book is strong when Bellos writes about Tati's films and his Kubrick-like madness in waiting for the perfect shot, perfect moment, perfect anything. Like Kubrick, Tati was an unforgiving perfectionist, and although he was a funnyman on film, Tati was quite moody and depressed during the shoots. His single-minded intensity in getting the film he wanted eventually destroyed him financially; for the masterpiece Playtime, Tati built a small modern city as a set, which caused his accountant to flip his lid. The film failed financially, and Tati never recovered from the disappointment.

As Bellos writes in his introduction to the book, he is hopeful that there will be other books on this peculiar film genius. This is only an introduction, and when one takes it as just that, this book is a must-read for Tati fans. Oh, and if you are not a Tati fan, I don't want to know you.

Bellos presents the itinerary of a life and something more of a career, but Jacques Tati remains largely a mystery. I'll reread this biography, ignoring the narrow, academic view of intellect and flawless, postwar judgments of wartime behavior, and I'll recommend it to others. But I'll continue to hope that someone will write a life of Tati filled with scenes as revealing and eloquent as Hulot's resetting of a brick in a crumbling Paris wall.

don't expect to read the normal gossip-laden biography. this is a most serious text detailing the comic genius and cinematic philosophy of the brilliant and (almost) tragic actor/director.

Barber and Pykitt have a new guess as to who the historical Arthur was. Well, actually, it's not a new guess. For a long time, it was assumed that Athrwys ap Meurig *was* Arthur, but that idea fell out of favor due to dating problems. Here, Barber and Pykitt resurrect the Athrwys theory, explaining the confusion that led to some historians' belief that Athrwys lived a century too late. They add in a new revelation: according to this book, Arthur was also St Armel, whom the Bretons revere just as much as they do Arthur, not realizing they're the same guy! (This isn't a spoiler. These assertions are made in the first chapter; the rest of the book is devoted to proof and to investigating other pieces of the legend, like the location of Avalon, and the identity of some of the Knights of Camelot.)

It's a fascinating theory; unfortunately, the writing runs a little dry at times, becoming an interminable list of "begats". This kind of tangible proof is necessary when setting forth theories, I know. It's just that it doesn't always make for easy reading. This is a scholarly book more than it is an entertaining one; read it when you're in a "brainy mood."

In the end, Barber and Pykitt may be right about the original personage of Arthur. However, the legendary Arthur is a composite figure and can't be reduced to one historical man; he is an amalgam of several historical kings and a couple of pagan Welsh gods. The fact that some of the major events of "Arthur's" life are explained here as historical events does nothing to diminish the legendary king's mystique.

This is a book that generates strong mixed emotions. On the one hand, the authors display an extensive and detailed knowledge of early Welsh lore; on the other hand, they seem to draw upon little else in their effort to reconstruct the history of of Fifth and Sixth Century Britain. In particular, they seem to have little understanding of the institutions of the late Roman period (which influenced those of the succeeding period) and they disregard most of what we know about contemporary events on the Continent (which sometimes directly impacted post-Roman Britain and which often provide useful models for studying the transition from Roman imperial rule to local independence). Thus, the authors do not recognize Emperor Constantine III and his son (the Caesar Constans) when they appear in legendary guise; they do not realize that the "Republic of the Silures" ("res publica Silurum" in Latin) was not a special political arrangement, but a normal reference to a Civitas (local governmental unit) in Britain; they confuse Saint Germanus of Gaul with his Manx namesake; and, they posit unlikely interactions among the various realms and personalities of post-Roman Britain.The authors¹ identification of Arthur with Arthwys ap Meurig (Artvisius? son of Mauricius), a king of Gwent and Glamorgan in Seventh Century Wales, is questionable, because of the small realm and late date of this monarch. Such an identification is inconsistent with the island-wide reputation and the enormous impact of the historical Arthur, who won the epoch-defining Battle of Badon Hill around A.D. 493. It is not implausible, however, that incidents from the life of the similar-named king did influence the growth of the Arthurian legend.The book (or at least most of it) is nonetheless well worth reading. It delves very deeply into Welsh lore that is often ignored or disregarded, and it provides a number of interesting insights into the development of early Wales. I recommend buying the book, but skipping or skimming over pages 13 through 54 (where the authors¹ shortcomings are most manifest). The remaining 300 or so pages of the book provide a fascinating look into the dim world of long-age Britain.

Barber & Pykitt put forth an excellent argument (as well as excellent refutations of the others) that "Arthur" did exist as a leader from the ancient Welsh territory of Gwent (between Glamorgan and the Severn Sea).

They really have done their research, and have limited their scope to a discussion of finding Arthur, not a detailed account of post-Roman Britain.

This book is FUN. I wouldn't recommend skipping any of its pages. I like the many twists on old ideas, and the surprising new conclusions of this book. For example, the Bedwin Sands in the middle of the Severn exist today, and are remembered in the Dream of Rhonabwy from the Mabinogion collection of old Welsh tales. Wonderful! Who else (lately) ever mentioned locals gathering cupfuls of teeth from Baddington Hill in Bath, the sight of Arthur's greatest triumph over the Hwicce (Gewissei), his twelfth battle as listed in Nennius? Brilliant. The little pearls all seem to fit.

Perhaps the theory is completely false, but it offers a more realistic start to the problem than anything advanced to date. Geoffrey Ashe has certainly done a lot to bring Arthur to the masses in our time, but the theory of Riothamus is not to be trusted for the reasons set forth in this little gem.

We're all so used to looking at the world from the perspective of the modern map, forgetting that the Britons and Romano-British were trapped in a narrow corridor between the Anglo-Saxons, Jutes and their allies to the south and east, and the Irish Sea (Scotti) to the west. The safe travel was from north to south, from Dumbarton to Snowdon to St. David's to Cornwall to Brittany (now France). All that is vertical, and in close proximity.

And finally, someone who makes the Welsh a bit easier for we mortals to understand.

Shouldn't we all be going to Caerwent and Bath to DIG?

I loved this book. Bring on the next improvement!