This is a marvelous little history of one of the great royal dynasties of Eurpoe which came to an end with the First World War.

Proof of the universal appeal of this book and Crankshaw's writing style lies in the fact that this reviewer has read the book at three different times in his life (once as an undergraduate, another time at the conclusion of law school and yet another time about a year ago). Even though each of these three readings occurred at times when the reviewer's outlook and background on the subject matter was quite different, he derived pleasure and something new with each reading.

F. Scott Fitzgerald probably had there his real masterpiece, but he did not have the time to finish it. The social and political background, the film industry in Hollywood, was perfect for the kind of intrigues and characters he tried to depict. The period brought a sense of absolute confrontation between the leaders of the industry and the workers, writers, scenographers, technicians, etc. The communist manipulation of the situation was just as effective and real as that by the capital-owners, and this confrontation enabled some social-climbers and some violent power-hungry individuals to take over, when they deemed it necessary or possible, from those who had a cultural and even artistic vision. This artistic vision was not in anyway exclusive of the economic consideration that a film had to make money, but led to the idea that some films had to be so good that they did lose some money bringing a certain aura to the producer. Fitzgerald was also dealing with characters who had a private and emotional life, though mostly an emotional instability that made them desire a dream more than real achievement. Love was never a real consideration. It was at the most a side-kick in life. And that dimension of human life is marvellously shown in the unfinished manuscript. Love is a mixture of memory, dreaming, hoping, need, desire, lust, and social use, at times social escape. This is a final version of love from a man who had probably seen it all and was more than ready to leave this life behind. Unluckily he left it a little bit too soon.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This is the most comprehensive Catholic prayerbook that I have seen. It begins with prayers from the Bible and continues with the Eucharist (Mass), the sacraments, and excerpts from the Liturgy of the Hours. It has prayers written by saints grouped by century. Prayers from religions other than Catholic are included: Orthodox and Protestant Christians, Jewish, religions from the East, and religions from the Americas. It continues with saints' prayers and prayers for various needs, traditional and modern, and much more. I find it to be a great reference.

Are you interested in Francis and his spirituality? Do you want to learn more about him? This book is a superb way to explore the spiritual life either individually or with a group. I've used it again and again. In fact I've worn out my first copy and had to get another! Organized into 15 topics by chapter the book includes prayers, editorial introductions, the words of Francis, opportunity for reflection and action, and relevent scriptures for each topic. Topics covered are: The Central Place of the Gospels, Holy Poverty, The Good Sense of Foolishness, Blessed Peace, Coutesy, Right Action, Simplicity, Serving Our Neighbors, Littleness, Glorious Nature, Humility, The Church, Struggle, Worship, and Joy. I am a minister. I have used the book personally and in groups. When used with 7th grade boys and with adults all were moved toward Christian maturity following in the footsteps of Francis their guide.

I have been a biography reader for many years and I can surly say that after reading this wonderful book about a lady who gave more to others then herself must have been to good to be true. Reading stories like this, reminds me when I was a little boy when my mother and grandmother would sit around a table and tell me about their lives. Most of all when their lives went to rags to riches to rags again like Evalyn did. I could not put Queen of Diamonds down. I'm so glad that a great grandson has taken a true story and is able to share his memories to everyone. It's wonderful and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who wants to read a good story. I applaude him. A MUST TO READ AND TO HAVE TO SHARE TO OTHERS.

This is a great book to have especially if you are a student struggling with theories. It is very clear and gives accurate definitions and descriptions of the theories utilized in the field of Social Work. I recommend all Social Work students to purchase the book.

From the preeminent Fitzgerald scholar Matthew Bruccoli, this book's remarkable thoroghness and honesty is refreshing. Bruccoli gives the oft misunderstood Fitzgerald a human, albeit, reverent study, exploring beyond the overemphasized alcoholism into the realms of insecurity and sensitivity that had an indelible effect on Fitzgerald's work. The book reads well, without the burden of overly scholarly analysis, making it suitable reading either for doctoral study or simply for a summer beach day.

With jobs so scarce lately, I thought I'd spend my time reviewing basic skills while I waited for the phone to ring. One of the skills employers and agencies test for admin jobs is spelling. When jobs are plentiful, who cares. I get 100% on word processing tests; I know how to use spell check. Since I have to compete for a limited number of jobs, I got serious about each test.

This book starts with a mammoth list of commonly misspelled words. It's great as a reference. Skip to the chapters with the rules. I did a read through followed by a close reading of the first three rules chapters. I got 100% on a computerized spelling test for business and legal terms today -- which didn't include the obvious words like mortgage, committee, bookkeeping, and government. I know I would have gotten several of the test words wrong if I hadn't reviewed this book.

My next purchase in this series will be Business Mathematics the Easy Way.

I read Joey a year ago and I will never forget it. I will read it again and again and give it to anyone who hasn't read it. It touches home, and I have never cried so hard as I did when I finished this book. Fr. Joe Girzone is the greatest author, and if you have never read any of his books, I suggest you start.

This book is the best book I read so far from Amazon.com This book made me think hard about how God love me.

Having never read Mr. Girzone prior to this book,I would have to say he is my favorite author to date. Anyone with a child and a belief in God will have a hard time not being able to relate to it's content.A book I found impossible to put down.

The Army of Francis Joseph is a scholarly examination of the Hapsburg (Austrian) army during the period 1815-1918. This army was primarily designed to safeguard the stability of the Hapsburg Dynasty and during this period, the Dynasty was primarily reflected in the 68-year reign of the Emperor Francis Joseph. Gunther E. Rothenberg, a professor at Purdue University, is an acknowledged expert on the Austrian military and he has unearthed a wealth of information from Austrian archives about this heretofore-neglected army. Furthermore, the examination of Austria-Hungary's security situation from 1867-1914 is critical in understanding much of the political and military background to the First World War. Rothenberg concludes that in the end, while the Hapsburg army was never among the best armies in Europe, it fought hard and did it's professional duty to the dynasty despite difficult circumstances.

The Army of Francis Joseph consists of fourteen chapters and an epilogue. The author also provides a detailed list of sources and endnotes. However, the lack of any maps, charts or photographs does not make this a "user-friendly" book. For example, while the author provides considerable data in the text on important items like Austrian military budgets, army strengths, and ethnic composition of the military, he does not compile this information into tables or charts. Thus if the reader wants to determine how Austrian military spending changed over the 19th Century or the army demographics changed, one must be prepared to flip a great many pages and keep a notepad handy. While the author's intent was an organizational study rather than a campaign history, a few maps of the main campaign areas would have been appreciated. Professor Rothenberg went to a great deal of effort to assemble this fine study, but it is unfortunately not well packaged. Furthermore, the middle part of the book - which mostly concerns Hungarian nationalist agitation and the establishment of the Dual Monarchy - is extremely tedious and slow. Essentially, this book is not for novices and should only be read by someone with considerable background and interest in this period. That being said, this book is also indispensable for understanding Austrian participation in the First World War.

Reading Rothenberg's book, it is hard to feel sorry that the Hapsburg Dynasty and its army were consigned to the dustbin of history. The Army High Command was typically over-age and almost suicidal in its resistance to doctrinal or technological innovation. The leadership resisted the creation of an effective general staff organization despite being taught hard lessons by the Prussian General Staff in the disastrous Six Weeks War of 1866. New technologies, such as breech-loading rifles, modern artillery, and aircraft were consistently denied funds and approval. In one instance, the aged Emperor Francis Joseph stated that armored vehicles would never have any military value after a prototype spooked his horse at a demonstration. Indeed, despite the well-known construction of a handful of super-heavy artillery pieces by the Skoda firm, the Hapsburg army never relied on technological or doctrinal innovation for its combat power. Instead, the Hapsburg leadership maintained an antiquated fixation on bayonet attacks and massed cavalry charges up to the start of the First World War. The emphasis on physical bravery did produce a tough army that was able to endure a steady diet of defeats in most of its wars, but the Hapsburg army had very few victories to its credit during this period.

Rothenberg's book also sheds much light on neglected aspects of 19th Century military history, such as the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, which hit Austria hard and required nearly two years to fully subdue. The Austrian occupation of Bosnia in 1878 was a major operation that cost the Hapsburg army over 5,000 casualties. Austrian leaders like General Conrad, Crown Prince Rudolf and the Archduke Francis Ferdinand also appear in much greater detail in these pages compared to standard accounts. After reviewing the combination of bigotry, idiocy and reactionary attitudes in Francis Ferdinand, few readers will mourn his assassination. Conrad, the Austrian Chief of Staff, is also cut down to size in this account; on the one hand, he pressed for reforms, but on the other hand his actual decisions resulted in one catastrophe after another.

The fate of the Hapsburg Dynasty was inherently tied up with the strength of its army, and this army steadily deteriorated in relation to the other great powers during the last half of the 19th Century. Rothenberg cites two primary factors for this military decline: limited budgets and an inability to fully utilize the empire's manpower resources. During the entire period 1870-1914, Austria-Hungary was spending less than half the amount on defense that the other great powers were spending; Rothenberg attributes this partly to an anemic economy, partly to parsimony by a divided legislature but primarily due to the fact that the army was intended for regime security. Indeed, during much of this period the Hapsburgs were more focused on external security missions than matching foreign enemies. Furthermore, the nationalities problem - particularly with the Hungarians - consistently undermined the effectiveness of the Hapsburg army. One of the few advantages that the Hapsburg Empire enjoyed - a large and growing population - was negated by limited conscription and lack of an effective reserve system.

Given the inherent weaknesses in the Hapsburg military system, it is a wonder that Austria-Hungary pursued such aggressive policies in the decades prior to the First World War. The empire was constantly confronted with real or imagined threats of war with Italy, Russia and Serbia after 1870 and Austrian leaders frequently beat the drum for pre-emptive attacks. Germany was enticed into supporting aggressive Austrian Balkan policies well before 1914 and this only further emboldened the regime. Essentially, Rothenberg asserts that the monarchy's leadership sensed that the dynasty's days were numbered and sought to utilize their dwindling military resources to stave off disintegration, although it was this preference for active measures that brought about the conditions for a general European war.

This is probably the best available treatment of the last seventy years of the Hapsburg Army. Rothenburg has in essence waded through an immense amount of material that would otherwise have remained undigested in unreadable regimental histories or official studies, and the result straddles the line between popular historical entertainment and readability. Few books that try to do this succeed, but Rothenburg manages it pretty well, particularly when you stop to consider what a truly esoteric subject he's covering. The real value of the work is, however, not so much in the style- M1A1 military-political history- as it it in the fact that Rothenburg is almost the only modern scholar to study it. While the book itself is a good general guide and outline to the politics and (to a lesser degree) the doctrinal and technical development of the kUk Army, it is an essential starting point for the more serious scholar. The bibliography and endnotes are a goldmine of references, not only memoirs but some archival information that will be useful to the researcher interested in doing work in the field.

this is a truly wonderful book that will appeal to two types of readers. those who want to understand the decline and fall of the hapsburg monarchy will treasure a detailed and lucid explanation of the political and social role played by the army. against the rising tide of nationalism in the 19th century, the army was a source of unity for two reasons. one, the army used force to keep the empire intact. two, the army was a symbol of unity and an institution in which, generally, the various ethnic groups of the hapsburg lands were treated equally. rothenburg does a very good job of explaining how this symbol was able to keep the empire intact, despite loosing major wars, yet how it ultimately succumbed to separatist sentiments, especially those of the magyars.

those who want to understand why the hapsburgs lost three consecutive majors wars (austro-italian, austro-prussian, ww1) will also be enlightened. the hapsburg role in these three struggles makes little sense unless one understands the political role of the army, a point that rothenburg stresses. the hapsburgs were a declining power hopelessly trying to hang on to great power status and this was reflected in the army. the army's failure to modernize and to learn from past mistakes were clearly noted by rothenburg. this failure ultimately led to final defeat in ww1, after which the empire was in such disarray that it could not prevent its dismemberment at the hands of its enemies.

this book is not an account of the campaigns of the hapsburg army. it is, however, a detailed study of its operation, structure, funding, recruiting, and role in the life of the empire during its decline. i highly recommend this book for students of 19th century military history and general central european history.