"French Lessons in Africa: Travels with My Briefcase Through French Africa" is a collection of business-travel experiences and observations in ten countries in Francophone Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Zaire). Biddlecombe careens from business-class hotel and international conference center to rural village and farm, and describes his encounters with everything from white magic in Benin, locusts in Mali, to lost luggage in Congo. He shares his encounters with Africans of all sorts: government minister, customs officer, doctor-entrepreneur, gold smuggler, chicken farmer, soap manufacturer, and cassette pirater. He shares his thoughts, knowledge, and conversations covering African leaders, economic development, the CFA franc, colonization and independence, health and nutrition, literature, music, and architecture. All with a great deal of wit and humor. This is no introductory text, but anyone with some basic knowledge of Africa will find this book informative and enjoyable.

Being German and having lived through World War II, I have always felt some obligation to understand group guilt and collective responsibility. Religion often relates (some would say causes) the former, but rarely the latter. This work satisfies this genuine need. It is on a very short list of recommended books on the topic. In fact, it is surely required reading for college courses on the topic. But it should be read also by expert witnesses, authentic journalists, moral guidance specialists, teachers of ethics, and -- we might even hope -- literate politicians and their think tanks. Ideally, it will be like the best medicine: preventative, not just curative. In this new edition, about a quarter of the book is by the editor. The style is therefore less uneven than in many anthologies. It includes all the previous chapters (each focused on the My Lai Massacre), but it adds four essays, two by the editor, which help to broaden the scope of the work to further warrant its title. My Lai, along with the Nuremberg trials, may always raise the question of moral guilt. The editor notes the application of this philosophical consideration to other tragedies in modern human history, including "Dachau, Dresden, Hiroshima, Wounded Knee, Bophal, the explosions of Ford Pintos, Pan-Am 103, the Exxon Valdez, the pollution of the planet, world hunger, the Rodney King beating, and the Los Angeles riots." Unfortunately, there is no index and the bibliography includes nothing from the past 25 years. However, notes in each of the new chapters cite a few comparatively recent resources. Don Wigal, Ph.D. The Institute for Independent Studies

Those who are looking for the more esoteric parts of John Dee's life will not find it in this book -but- will find an understanding of who he was as a person. Being a book of medieval history, it tends to center more on John Dee the Mathematician, John Dee the Philosopher, and John Dee the Poltician (or advisor). I believe French paints an accurate picture as is possible of John Dee and England in the 1500's. Since this is a very scholarly and well-referenced book it can be a little dry if books on history do not interest you. Ultimately, though, I came away from the book with an admiration for the genuis of this man which no book on just the esoteric parts of his life will ever provide.

A very informative book, Napoleon: The Final Verdict, describes all aspects of Napoleon's military career. Although it lacked extensive details on individual battles, it gave basic knowledge necesary to understand the Napoleonic Wars. The book is divided into two sections. The First section gives the knowledge obtained on his life. The second section analyzes the information given in the first to help you determine Napoleon's true quality. I especially like the pages of quotes which the author has included in the back of the book.

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French is well written, clear, concise. It takes you 30 seconds to 5 minutes to read any subject and yet get a pretty good idea about it. I am at the Graduate Level of French Studies and I have found every entry that I have searched for: from critics' profiles to genre definitions, it has all the major authors and their writings, as well as explanations about historical and political issues relevant to French Literature. It is a strictly informative text; by this I mean that it does not intend to express any particular point of view. Finally, the editing and printing make it very easy to use and read.

This book puts into layman's terms some of the more complex philosophical ideas by drawing from the writings of hundreds of authors and philosophers. Using fiction or science-fiction short stories, the editors have put together a book that helps virgin philosophers understand some ideas that senior philosophy students struggle with. From morality of time travel to metaphysics and from backward causation to the problem of pain. This is a very good philosophy book for the beginner philosopher or hobbiest.

My husband and I plan to spend a month next summer in Grasse. This book seems to cover all the interesting medieval towns, restaurants and things to do around that area. I only gave it 4 stars because it was published in 1992. I wish it had been revised more recently.

This was how Lettow-Vorbeck, author of the German General Staff described this work. He was perhaps being a little unfair, but Chesney's analysis of the Waterloo Campaign is renowned for its balance and objectivity and is a "must" for all Waterloo fans.

After just returning from a trip to the sagebrush high desert region of SE Oregon, I sought out some local history of the region and ended up with this book. The book is recommended to those people who have a specific interest in the cattle country around the present-day Malheuer National Wildlife Refuge, but not recommended for those people who are seeking information on the history of cattle ranching in general due to the book's rather narrow focus on Peter French and his contemporaries in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Though the backcover of the book claims it presents an unbiassed view of French and his breed, the book is very clearly pro-French and pro-cattle rancher and treats the native population of the area very disparingly in an effort to boost the heroism of French through its discourse on the battles between the native population and the ranching community. So impressed with French is the author, that sometimes the author's description of French reads as if straight out of the personal ads. Nontheless, the book is an interesting snapshot of a region of Oregon that has few words printed about it, during the early settlements of the major players in the cattle industry. Greatly enhancing the value of the book are the many historical pictures of the region, including early photos of the towns of Burns, Frenchglen, Fields, and Winnemucca.

There's a story to be told in the little known and visited nether lands of Southeastern Oregon. An immense land of sage, hills, mountains, bighorn sheep, Kiger Mustangs (who were named after the Kiger Gorge who was named after Doc W.D. Kiger pictured on pg. 76), and cattle and plenty of cattle. And did I mention the people that shaped that country with the presence of cattle and ranches and a pioneering spirit? The author Giles French no doubt writes this book to bring the cattle barons alive with particular respect and adulation of Peter French. So in that vein, there may be some impartiality lost along the way. With that in consideration though, there is some fascinating history captured for anyone familiar with Burns, Harney County, the Steens, and the Malheur Bird Sanctuary.

Probably the best aspect of the book is the historical pictures of Burns, French-Glenn, and the round barn that still stands solid today on the P Ranch. There are many other stories to be told in that part of the country begging for a less jaundiced eye to incorporate the push and pull of land use as well as the native people already resident there. That's the only area where this book falls short.

This book was given to me by a local Vet who has had his hand up the majority of the cattle in the county and it (the book that is) made the area come alive in history. If you are interested in that area's history, this book comes highly recommended.

This isn't a terribly great book. It doesn't explain things easily for students like it should. It's a good book...but not for beginner French students.