Burnaby, a classic hero/adventurer type, was the 19th Century's Indiana Jones. His book, a popular sensation when first published in the mid 1800s, chronicles his exciting, dangerous, and sometimes humorous horseback and sleigh/carriage ride from southern Russia to Khiva, in what was then an independant khanate in Central Asia, in the middle of winter. If you like exciting, true adventure travel tales, you owe it to yourself to see this book. A standard by which all subsequent narratives should be measured

South central Asia, the focus of the world's attention in 2003, received an earlier share of it in the 1870s. For centuries travelers' tales and the mention of such exotic names as Samarcand, Tashkent and Bokhara had aroused interest and fired imaginations. To all this was added rumor in 1875 that British interests in India were threatened by Russian expansionism. In particular, it was believed that Russian forces were massing in the recently occupied city of Khiva, nowadays in Uzbekistan, in preparation for an invasion of India.

A situation like this fitted perfectly the kind of 'investigative reporting' adventures that Frederick Burnaby craved. In 1876, this 33-year-old captain in the British army took leave of absence, and set out for Khiva. The journey involved a ride of over one thousand miles in well below freezing conditions across steppes and wastelands.

On his return, Burnaby wrote 'A Ride to Khiva' and it instantly became a best seller. A well-educated man, proficient in many languages, and a keen observer of all he encountered, his account still ranks as one of the great adventure classics of literature.

I am grateful to the neighbor who lent me this book, and can report that reading it has provided many hours of fascination. Burnaby died ten years after writing this book, supposedly during a massacre in the Sudan. Keen Internet browsers might find reference to a recent revelation that throws doubt upon the truth of the official account of his death.

This is an exciting adventure book, writen in 1876 about the travels of a British Army Captain through Western Siberia into Khiva, a city in Central Asia recently taken by the Russian Empire. It purports to be just travel by an army man at liesure, and wanting to see parts of the world. Since we are in the "Great Game" era, when Britain and Russia were contending for the countries around India, I have the feeling that it was more than that, and that the author's mission was somewhat akin to "checking out the land" in the case of an impending conflict. Anyway, it's extremely well-written, and the descriptions of both the places and the people are first rate! The author obviously had a keen eye, and I would really love to read the report he actually submitted to his superiors in London when he returned. I'm sure it's still buried deeply in their secret files.

This is a sparkling book which reveals much about the life and times of a man about which too little is known in our age. Frederick the Great (King of Prussian 1740-1786) militarily united much of the Protestant northern Germany under one crown--the Prussian crown. He did so while supporting the enlightenment idea of toleration of religious differences, at least in theory, and with the goal of making Prussia a major power in central Europe.

Frederick anticipated Napoleon by re-introducing the strategy of the attack to military theory. He laid much of the groundwork for the diplomacy of Bismarck which a hundred years later sould see Frederick's great grand-nephew, William I (reigned 1861-1888) crowned German Emperor in 1871.

Frederick was certainly an genius in some areas of his life. However, as this book points out, he inherited a lot of the tools that he would need for success during his reign from his father, King Frederick William I (reigned 1713-1740). For instance, the army that Frederck the Great used so devastatingly in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1763), had been painstakingly built by his father.

Additionally, he inherited a close diplomatic reationship with the British crown from his mother, Sophie Dorothea of Hanover. Sophia Dorothea was the daughter of George I and brother of George II of England. Assured of English neutrality Frederick could have a free hand to deal with Austria during the Seven Years War of 1756-1763.

Asprey writes in a way that is entertaining and still relates a good deal on information to the reader. Because of this, his work on Frederick the Great is a welcome addition to anyone's library.

Robert Asprey's life of Frederick The Great was a fascinating read. The author's understanding of his subject makes Frederick come to life. One can understand the forces that created the man, his strengths and weaknesses.

Asprey also provides a clear view of Europe in Frederick's times. The constant conflicts between its nations is difficult to understand from the perspective of the modern reader. In our times Europe has been at peace for more than 50 years (despite the conflagration in the Balkans) yet in Frederick's time the great nations could not stop warring with each other.

Most fascinating in this book, however, is the suspense filled descriptions of Frederick's major battles and the masterful way the king manuevered through the 7 year war. This was very exciting reading. It also provided insights as to how an inferior force can prevail against what appeared to be overwhelming odds.

As another reviewer remarks, English prose style is not the colonel's strong suit. If ever a book called for the firm hand of a skilled editor, this is such a book. It abounds with inconsequential asides ("I met him years later in Korea"), terse sentences and a wealth of exclamation marks. Nevertheless, this does give the reader an idea of the author's authentic voice and persona - that of an end of empire action man.

The exploits of Colonel Bailey show that the kind of military man that we read of in Rider Haggard and John Buchan's novels really did exist. He would not have been out of place joining an Indiana Jones expedition. He really was an Edwardian action man writ large - bold, resourceful, uncomplaining and considerate of those endangered by his presence.

He is almost a caricature of the quintessentially British officer muddling through to triumph. He comes across as a talented amateur jack-of-all-trades - no James Bond he! He was a fair linguist but, as luck would have it, only had a smattering or no knowledge of the languages of the nationals he pretended to be: Serbs, Austrians, Romanians etc.

He certainly comes across as fearless. On one occasion he nonchalently reads a copy of The Times that he has "borrowed" from a Bolshevik officer in the room next door who had been sent to hunt for him. English sang froid is much in evidence as he casually mentions the executions of numerous people with whom he had been in close association. This guy had more lives than a dozen cats.

The book very much brings alive the chaos and casual brutality of the early days of the Bolshevik revolution in Turkestan. Somehow Bailey slips through it all, constantly striving to get intelligence out to Britain. Miraculously he never seems to want for money - we never do learn where it came from or where he kept it.

Bailey was a first class eccentric officer - as evidence of this I offer the fact that, whilst detailing his adventures in a world gone mad, he thinks it sufficiently important and interesting to his readers to catalog the various species of butterfly that he captured and preserved on his travels. He even presents us with a complete list of those taken between the Pamirs, Kashgar and on the road to Russian Turkestan complete with Latin names, and the place, altitude and date they were collected.

Mad dogs and Englishmen indeed!

Let's get the bad bit out the way first, F.M. Bailey was not a great writer. This is reflected in Mission to Tashkent, where the style of the writer does not follow what you would normally consider a gripping read. For example, there are one or two occasions where a character in the book is not mentioned for long enough, for you to have to go back several pages to find out who they are. I would have given it five stars had it not been for this.

What Mission to Tashkent is, is a factual account of the Russian Revolution, as played out in Central Asia, where the Bolshevik Russian minority based mainly in Tashkent (now in the independant sate of Uzbekistan) had to overcome White Russian, Moslem and British forces to establish the revolution on Central Asia (the British eventually withdrew, not wanting to become too involved).

In this book, F.M. Bailey, whose previous adventures had involved accompanying Francis E. Younghusband to Tibet in 1904 (on account of the fact he could speak Tibetan), details his journey from India via Kashgar to Tashkent. Once in Tashkent, the book covers the writer's life there, under constant fear of arrest or execution at the hands of the local Bolshevik Provisional Government. His official purpose was as a diplomatic representative for the British in Central Asia, which created much danger for himself, due to the presence of British forces at Ashgabad in Turkmenistan. He also gathered information for the British as to what exactly was happening there, due to concerns that the large number of German and Austrian prisoners of war held in Central Asia could be used to attack British India, if organised into a fighting force by German agents known to operate in Iran and Afghanistan - it was 1917/1918 and Britian was still fighting Germany. He also acted on the British behalf, believing that the British were about to advance on Tashkent and unseat the Bolsheviks in Central Asia, but in the end, this never happened with the aforementioned British withdrawal. The book finishes with his eventual flight to Iran, ending in his escape after a skirmish with Bolshevik troops on the Iranian border.

I found the book to be a thoroughly engrossing read, bar the aforementioned problems with the book's style and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in Turkestan / Uzbekistan and Central Asian history. With it being a factual account, it also makes for a useful insight into what was happening in outlying Tashkent at a time, when everyone else's eyes were focused on what was happening in revolutionary Moscow and St. Petersburg and how the Germans were going to react after the withdrawal of the Russians from the Great War. Highly recommended.

So much of what has happened in Persia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the last 150 years is due to what has been called "The Great Game." Russia has always been a superpower that lacked a salt-water seaport free of ice all year round. (The Black Sea doesn't count because Turkey controls access to it through the easily defensible Bosphorus and Dardanelles.) Consequently, it has always sought to destabilize South Asia in the hopes of being able to get a port on the Indian Ocean.

One of the highest ranking pieces in the Great Game was the British intelligent agent Lieut-Col Frederick M. Bailey, who wrote this fascinating book. So if you're a great intelligence agent, why is it so difficult to write a good book? Simple: A good intelligence agent keeps too much unsaid. Information is his stock in trade, so he is very sparing of all the interesting details.

Picture present-day Uzbekistan in the first year of the Bolshevik takeover (1918). No one in Europe had any idea of what to expect from the Bolsheviks. Would they become more moderate in time? Would the Muslim population accept them? Would the White Russians defeat them in battle and restore the Czar?

In the midst of all these swirling theories strode the skinny and extremely canny Colonel Bailey. He set himself up in Tashkent as the official representative of His Majesty's Government but immediately ran into roadblocks. Without informing Bailey, Britain had in the meantime engaged the Bolsheviks in battle near Murmansk and near the Caucasus. That quickly made Bailey persona non grata (which meant ripe for execution in those times).

But how does one arrest a wizard? Bailey immediately went underground and assumed the identity of a Romanian, Czech, Austrian, Albanian, or other POW, of which Tashkent had many from those WW 1 days. He rarely stayed in one place for more than a day or two, though he did manage to develop some loyal contacts, including the US consul Tredwell. For over a year, Bailey eluded capture. During the whole of that time, there was no effective contact with his government; and during most of that time, he was actively sought by the Cheka, or secret police.

The escape from Tashkent was ingenious and dramatic. Bailey got himself hired as a Bolshevik agent under an assumed identity and assigned to Bokhara, which was not yet under Bolshevik control at that time. There, he reached into his inexhaustible supply of money and bought horses, men and influence to allow him to escape south to Meshed in Persia, where there was a British presence.

I wish I knew at every point how the magician pulled a particular rabbit out of his hat, but I'll just have to take that as a given. Today, Bailey is regarded by the British as one of their greatest spies. In Central Asia, he is regarded as an arch-villain who threatened the development of Communism in Central Asia.

MISSION TO TASHKENT is not an easy read, but it is absolutely vital in understanding the forces, many of which still operate in this pivotal area of the globe.

A BOOK ABOUT OUTDOOR MUSEUMS THAT I PLANNED TO SHARE WITH MY GRANDDAUGHTER AND MY 86 YEAR-OLD MOTHER.
BUT A BOOK THAT INSTEAD WAS FULL OF AMATEURISH DRAWINGS OF GREAT OUTDOOR WORKS OF ART...

If you remember the first time you saw the "Spirit of Detroit" as a child, or walked past "Two Bears" at Quarton School, this book is for you. It is full of wonderful, whimsical illustrations that look at great art from a child's innocent perspective.

I believe the title "The Outdoor Museum : The Magic of Michigan's Marshall M. Fredericks" fits the book well, as it captures the magic of Marshall Fredericks's art, which is best appreciated out of doors, i.e. at Cross in the Woods in Indian River, MI, "Freedom of the Human Spirit" in Birmingham, MI, "Spirit of Detroit" downtown . . .

This is a delightful tour of sculpture in Michigan, with a guide both knowledgeable and able to capture the imagination of the reader. I can't imagine a better way to introduce your children to the beauty and meaning of art. Warmly illustrated, wonderfully written, highly recommended.

While Stonehouse is an accredited Great Lakes scholar, Haunted Lakes Part II is a complete and total waste of paper. It is nothing but Volume One with a few extra chapters thrown in.

Historian Fred Stonehouse continues his shift toward more commercially successful books with the Haunted Lakes series. Unlike Stonehouse's previous books, which represented significant contributions to the Great Lakes maritime history genre, Haunted Lakes sacrifices historical value for commercial appeal. Stonehouse has admittedly created a book of tall tales, which is sure to introduce him to a wider audience, but I can't help but long for his previous works, which, although dry, were interesting and valuable references. I can only hope that future volumes don't speculate that the Fitz was sunk by a UFO.
I still found Haunted Lakes very entertaining, but after a while some of the stories began to sound contrived.

Once I started to read this book I had to keep on reading until my eyes are so tired. Thanks to Mr. Stonehouse, I am once again loving history of these great ship wrecks .. Mr. Stonehouse sure dug up a lot of interesting stories. Some of them I just find them to be funny and some of them got my heart racing for more. I am hoping Mr. Stonehouse dont stop writing stories of Haunted Lakes. I just know there are many more ghost stories of the Great Lakes that needed yet to be told . yes, I have also read Haunted Lakes II

If you like the more modern Patrick O'Brian novels you will most likely like enjoy "Mr Midshipman Easy" even more. The author, Frederick Marryat, was a real Post Captain on a British man-of-war and an excellent writer as well. The days of ship warfare in the Napoleanic era come alive as does the day-to-day life onboard a man-of-war.

I very much very much recommend this book.

British Naval life circa 1808 written by one who was there. Marryat was a midshipman at the time. O'Brien, Forrester, etc. base their stories on historical occurances, as does Marryat, and many of their plots can be found here. The difference, of course, is that Marryat knew the men, and in some cases it seems it was Marryat himself, whose deeds are echoed in our favorate works of fiction. Marryat writes with great humor, and his prose style, while somewhat archaic, will be familiar to O'Brien's readers. He has some axes to grind that might offend the modern reader (anti-catholic bigotry, and a determined attack on the principles of human rights that drove the French Revolution against which he fought) but taken with a grain of salt he can generate a humorous view of many institutions that are above question these days. This volume is beautifully printed and bound, and well worth the hard cover price.

Considering the era in which it was written, this book is remarkable! Fast paced, uproariously funny at times, "Midshipman Easy" is a delight to all who enjoy seafaring novels. True, it is far-fetched at times, but it was never intended to be a true grit novel. The satire involved gains perspective if you understand Marryat's position for naval reform after he retired from active duty as a British Naval Captain. Marryat's use of a black man as Easy's guide and balance is something else ahead of it's time and I applaud him for that. The real purpose of this book is to provide a good read and it does it beautifully. The best of his novels,although Peter Simple ought to please the Forrester crowd.

This book is what is known as a "tome" and I would strongly advise those who aren't ardent admirers of this period in history and/or Empress Frederick to skip it altogether. On the positive side, the wealth of information presented here is astounding and the research that Ms. Pakula must have undertaken to write this book is equally impressive; Ms. Pakula has a vast knowledge of European courts of the era and of all the assorted oddball royal personages that scuttled from palace to palace and she also possesses an admirable grasp of European history. I admire all the painstaking work it required to bring this massive book to fruition and I commend Ms. Pakula for being able to decipher the workings of Europe at this time and write it all down in orderly sequence. On the negative side, the book, for all it's length and breadth, fails to bring the Empress Frederick (Vicky) alive as a living human being. Quoting an endless array of letters between Vicky and her mother, Queen Victoria, Ms. Pakula seeks to present Vicky as a person through her correspondence with very few observations of her own and I finished the book wondering what Vicky was REALLY like, unlike Daphne Bennett's biography of Vicky which, though not as painstakingly detailed with historical facts, left the reader with the distinct impression of knowing the Empress Frederick as you would an old friend. I understand the necessity of providing historical background (after all, Vicky lived through a very vivid period of German history), but frequently pages went by and Vicky and her family weren't even mentioned. For instance, the death of her son Waldemar was one of the worst tragedies of Vicky's life; likewise, the death of her beloved Fritz and her son Sigismund. These tragedies and, more importantly, what they did to Vicky emotionally, were almost glossed over as though they were inconsequential, at best. It is also common knowledge that Vicky and her husband Fritz had one of the most passionate of royal marriages, but if a person didn't know this they would think, by reading this book, that these two much-aligned people were just the average royal married couple. The person who seemed to capture Ms. Pakula's imagination even more than her subject was Bismarck, who appears incessantly throughout the book - again, understandably but frankly, I got tired wading through page upon page about Bismarck and his political machinations. If I wanted to know THAT much about Bismarck, I would read a biography of him. The background history of battles, territorial squabbles and treaties likewise became too much to struggle through and I was still wondering, through all of this, what made the Empress Frederick "tick". Fritz was also given the short end of the deal; I wanted to know him as a person but turned the last page of the book without really finding out. Vicky's son Willy, the future Kaiser, fared a little better than his parents because Ms. Pakula zeroed in on him and made a successful effort to root out and explain the troubled formative years of this son who was eventually to bring disaster upon Germany. One fact that I found interesting was that Willy, as a young man, harbored an almost sexual love for his mother which finally turned to a bitter love-hate relationship. To sum up, this book was a huge undertaking on Ms. Pakula's part and I applaud her most sincerely for what is undoubtedly a masterwork, but I was left cold with regards to "knowing" the central characters of her work. The warmth and understanding were missing. It is one thing to roll off knowledge of historical dates and facts and quite another to bring long-dead individuals to life so that the reader knows them well and intimately like members of their own family, laughing with them, crying with them and, at the end, feeling better for having made their acquaintance. This is an art that was sadly lacking in this book; it had too much "head" and not enough "heart".

This is an intimate look into the life of "Vicky," the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria, who is married to Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia ("Fritz"). Vicky was educated by her father, Prince Albert, and was probably the brightest of their offspring. Queen Victoria was an avid letter writer and expected the same from Vicky. There are numerous, appropriate, excerpts from letters written over the years. The author also manages to weave into the story the political & social climate in Europe that affected the events in Vicky & Fritz's lives. After reading this book I have often wondered if events of the early 20th Century (i.e. WWI & WWII) would have been different had Fritz reigned longer than a few months? At the end of the book, you will feel as though you really "know" the Empress Frederick.

Vicky, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Empress Frederick of Germany, was raised by her parents Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with a specific purpose. She was to be the instrument by which the divided Germany of her youth was to be unified and remade in the image of Britain, a constitutional monarchy with leanings towards liberal democracy. Vicky did her best to accomplish this, and to a point she succeeded. She was a great and positive influence on her husband Frederick (Fritz) and helped wean him away from the Prussian militarism in which he had been raised. Unfortunately, Vicky was unable to overcome the influence of Otto von Bismarck on her father in law Kaiser William I. Bismarck united Germany, but as an absolute monarchy with only a travesty of representative government. More tragic was Vicky's failure to influence her son and Fritz's heir, the future Kaiser William II. When "Willy" came to the throne after Fritz's tragic death in 1888, he inexorably led Germany down the road to World War I.

Since Vicky failed, why read her story? Because she was a brilliant, brave, charming, stubborn woman dedicated to her principles. She loved her family and both her countries with all her heart. Today she should be remembered as a woman who could have changed so much history for the better had she only had the chance.

An intriguing account of how Winterbotham single-handedly made the planet safe for democracy during WWII. One is left with the impression that the great generals and admirals may have had an ace up their sleeves, but also with the impression that Winterbotham is in love with himself. Despite his shameless name-dropping and self-aggrandizement, this book is a must-read for any serious student of WWII, because of the important context it provides for events of that time.

This book tells about the Ultra operation that broke the Enigma cypher. The author operated as a secret agent in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, then was placed in charge of the Scientific Intelligence Unit. The code breaking operation followed.

Their man in Warsaw learned of the Enigma machine from a Polish mechanic, who was then exfiltrated to Paris. He duplicated the machine in wood. Next, a new cypher machine was acquired for study. They were able to break this unbreakable coding machine. He tells how carefully this information was guarded, and used. With radar and Ultra, Britain was able to efficiently use their scarce resources against larger forces. Only a small number of fighters were sent against the bombers and fighters to minimize losses to the RAF. It worked well; but afterwards Dowding was criticized for not using more fighters earlier.

Why was the Battle of the Bulge a surprise? They had come to rely on Ultra so much that they disregarded other indicators that were not confirmed by Ultra. And these plans were not broadcast by the enemy.

This was written from his own recollection, so it is not the complete history. It has nothing about the code breaking by other forces. This book provides new light on the previously known events.

In 1976 "A Man Called Intrepid" was a best seller in the US. In 1977 Frederick William Winterbotham published "The Ultra Secret", about the decryption of the German Enigma systems. In 1978 "Room 3603" was reprinted. They all are important books about WW2, altho "Room 3603" starts in the 1930s and has important information about intelligence activities. Did you know that they knew how to forge typewritten documents in the 1930s?

This book tells about FWW's involvment in solving the Enigma encryption system. Like any good history, it is well written. I would recommend it highly to anyone. A later book tells more of his personal history in the 1930s. Working for the Air Ministry, he travelled to Germany to sell aircraft parts, and met many high Nazi officials. He was such a good friend of Goering that he was the only foreigner allowed to fly his airplane thru the Third Reich! He was one of the top British Nazi sympathizers at the time, until 1937: he was summoned to the Berlin Foreign Office, and given 48 hours to leave the country, "or else". They finally discovered that FWW really worked for Military Intelligence!

First of all, I too am a student forced to read this book for a Freshman Honors English class, and I fail to see how many people can call this book a waste of time. Sure, I know the language is a bit of a challenge, but that's what a dictionary is for!

Anyway, I haven't yet finished the book (I still have a long way to go,) for I'm only on chapter 13, but I had to chime in and counterattack what all of the rest of the whiney students have said. So far, the way Dickens portrays his characters (by means of language, description, and dialogue) seems ultimately realistic (it should be, considering it was written in the 1830's) and there are many things throughout the book one has to come to love: Pip's almighty guilty conscience, the friendship bond between Pip and Joe, etc.

I can't sum up everything, for as I've said, I'm not finished yet, but for those of you who are being forced to read it, read it with an open mind. One of the reasons why I understand this book and find it a good read may be due to the fact that our class discusses the book as a whole, AND we have vocab sets weekly to help enrich what we read.

What can I say that hasn't been said already? "Great Expectations" is a tremendous novel from the introductory paragraph to the final sentences. The plot is deep and intricate, and there's even a surprising plot revelation occuring late in the book about the origin of Pip's wealth and opportunity in life. The characters are all well-defined and inherently interesting, and such major characters as Pip, Estella, Joe, Miss Havisham, and others vividly live in the mind. Even minor characters such as Mrs. Joe and the Aged Person are memorable and amusing. The novel's storyline, beginning with Pip's early childhood and ending in his late middle age, is epic in breadth. "Great Expectations" treats the reader to a delightful plot and scene for all of its five hundred pages.

Even better, however, is the brilliant prose Dickens gives us in the novel. It is humorous, moving, touching, witty, clever, and always perfectly phrased. Never for a single second does the reader feel bored. Like many great works of literature, there are plenty of moments where the writing is almost awe-inspiring in its beauty and language. With a talent as great as Dickens, one could write about almost anything and it would be tremendous reading. When paired with the brilliant plot of "Great Expectations," it feels almost heaven-sent.

Many readers see the term "classic" on a novel and feel that it becomes a type of chore, and add it to a laundry list of literature that somebody felt would be good for them. "Great Expectations" is a classic, but it's not at all the literary equivalent of medicine. It's a delightful treat, and a quick read despite its length. I can't imagine reading this and not treasuring it. It is, quite simply, fantastic.

I've never read any Dickens of my own free will. I was forced to read "A Tale of Two Cities" in high school and I thought that was enough for me. However, one day, on a whim, I bought a copy of Great Expectations. I'm not sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect to love it as much as I did.

Dickens is not a writer to read at a swift pace. Indeed, this novel was written in weekly episodes from December 1860 to August 1861 and, as it was created to be a serial, each installment is full of varied characters, great descriptions and a lot of action which moves the plot along and leaves the reader yearning for more. Therefore, unlike some books which are easily forgotten if I put them down for a few days, Great Expectations seemed to stick around, absorbing my thoughts in a way that I looked forward to picking it up again. It took me more than a month to read and I savored every morsel.

Basically the story is of the self-development of Pip, an orphan boy being raised by his sister and her blacksmith husband in the marshlands of England in 1820.

Every one of the characters were so deeply developed that I felt I was personally acquainted with each one of them. There was Pip's roommate, Herbert Pocket, the lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and his clerk, Mr. Wemmick. And then there was the wicked Orlick. The dialogues were wonderful. The characters often didn't actually say what they meant but spoke in a way that even though the words might be obtuse, there was no mistaking their meaning. I found myself smiling at all these verbal contortions.

Dickens' work is richly detailed and he explores the nuances of human behavior. I enjoyed wallowing in the long sentences and letting myself travel backwards in time to a different world. However, even with the footnotes, I found myself sometimes confused by the British slang of 150 years ago, and there were several passages I had to read over several times in order to get the true meaning. Of course I was not in a particular rush. I didn't have to make a report to a class or take a exam about the book. This is certainly a pleasure.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read.ting from the secret wealth of Magwitch, who made a fortune in Australia after being transported. Moreover, Magwitch's unlawful return to England puts him and Pip in danger. Meanwhile, Estella has married another, a horrible man who Pip despises. Eventually, with Magwitch's recapture and death in prison and with his fortune gone, Pip ends up in debtors prison, but Joe redeems his debts and brings him home. Pip realizes that Magwitch was a more devoted friend to him than he ever was to Joe and with this realization Pip becomes, finally, a whole and decent human being.

Originally, Dickens wrote a conclusion that made it clear that Pip and Estella will never be together, that Estella is finally too devoid of heart to love. But at the urging of others, he changed the ending and left it more open ended, with the possibility that Estella too has learned and grown from her experiences and her wretched marriages.

This is the work of a mature novelist at the height of his powers. It has everything you could ask for in a novel: central characters who actually change and grow over the course of the story, becoming better people in the end; a plot laden with mystery and irony; amusing secondary characters; you name it, it's in here. I would rank it with A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield among the very best novels of the worlds greatest novelist.

GRADE: A+

Although this book is very well-written (at times it feels like a novel), I cannot help feeling that at times there was something missing. The sections that deal with Frederick's upbringing and home life are compelling, but as soon as Mitford dives into Frederick's battles (which were so numerous they almost defined his later life!) the discussion becomes very dense and hard to follow. While I loved hearing abour Voltaire's visit to Potsdam, and the interaction between the two luminaries, I felt that this short time was dwelt upon for a bit too long, perhaps to the detriment of other events in Frederick's life. The book is very sympathetic to Frederick William I (Frederick's father), who I feel is one of history's least likable characters. When it gets to Frederick's later life (after the Seven Years' War), the coverage becomes sparse. However, because at times it is so readable, I recommend this book to those who have little to no knowledge of Frederick and his times.

I am a picture person and this book is jam packed with many color plates depicting various aspects of Freddie and his environment. One plat shows a map of Frederick's battles. For collectors there is a picture of A gilded snuff-box set with diamonds with a miniature of the King. To know some one you must know their background and environment. Then when you read about their actions you get a feel for the reasons behind these actions. What was going on the world around Freddy that help mold him?

In this book Nancy Mittford takes the blur of many wars and focuses them through the eyes of a single great leader.

This book is divided into twenty to chapters usually separated by wars, a section on resources, and an extensive index.

This book is, in my opinion, the essential starting point for anyone interested in the life of Frederick the Great and his times. More of an in depth personal and at times extremely heartrending portrayal of a complex, to say the least, and enigmatic figure. At the end of this study, it is as though you have gotten to know and then, tragically, lost a great friend. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history.