Excellent book for the traveller. Colour pictures, brief but to the point descriptions, handy pocket size. You could have a very happy time in Prague armed with this book all by itself.

THIS MAN WAS A GREAT LOSE TO THE ORDINARY PEOPLE OF N.IRELAND AND AS FOR THE TREACHEROUS PEOPLE WHO (MURDERED HIM)WHICH I HAVE NO DOUGHTS ABOUT I CAN`T SEE THERE LOGIC IN THE DEATHS OF ALL THE MEN ON THAT CHOPPER,I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THEY HAD THE WAR WON,BUT FOR POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY THEY WERE SACRIFICED.I FEEL GREAT SORROW FOR HIS WIDOW AND HIS CHILDREN,AS THEY SUFFER THE GREATEST LOSE,IT IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIME.I JUST HOPE AND PRAY HIS LIFE WAS NOT SACRIFICED FOR NOTHING,AS TO`MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST ALREADY.I WORKED IN THE PUB IN BANGOR THAT THE IRA WERE PLANNING TO BLOW UP,I WOULD LIKE TO THANK HIS FAMILY FOR MY LIFE,AND MARTIN MAGARTLAND FOR HIS INFORMATION THAT LEAD TO THE PREVENTION OF THE BOMBING THAT DAY. IF IT WAS`NT FOR PHOENIX I WOULD NOT BE THE PROUD FATHER OF MY CHILD TODAY, FOR THIS WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS THE GRATITUDE I FEEL FOR THIS MAN AND HIS FAMILY.THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART.YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY I WISH TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS,I KNOW HIS WIFE AND FAMILY UNDERSTAND.I HOPE AND PRAY JUSTICE IS DONE ONE`DAY FOR THOSE PEOPLE THAT HAD HIM KILLED.

Holland deserves credit for writing a book that makes the Troubles accessible to readers who really don't know much about it, but I have to say, having read other books on the subject (Coogan, Bell, Moloney) and having followed events in NI for years, I found his analysis too often simplistic and facile, particularly as relates to the recent Peace Process. Read Ed Moloney's "Secret History of the IRA" and you'll know what I'm talking about.

This history of the Troubles is chocked full of people and places involved with the Northern Ireland Struggle. The volume of names shows the depth of research conducted by the author. Hope Against History gives a good basis to begin in dpeth reading on the various actors involved. This book clarifies the divisions in the military and political struggle.

Hope against History is an accessible, fascinating account and could easily be used as a textbook on the "troubles" of Northern Ireland. Holland provides all the gritty details of life in the war torn ghettoes of Belfast and Derry and does a great job of bringing the conflict to life for the reader. Not only is it a fine history of the conflict but a very engaging portrayal of Northern Ireland culture, both protestant and catholic. A must read for anyone with even a passing interest in Irish or British history and a wonderfully quick read for those well acquainted with all the violence and horror of the Troubles.

I just got back from two weeks in the Netherlands on my own, one week of which I spent in Amsterdam. I carried this book with me as I went and consulted it a lot. It helped me decide which coffeeshops to visit, pointing me away from high-neon blaring tourist traps to fun little places like Rusland and the Grey Area. It helped me find restaurants. I liked the neighborhood-by-neighborhood maps. And I loved the glossary of Dutch food terms! The history of Amsterdam in this book felt vibrant and alive, unlike the bowdlerized version given in the Lonely Planet guide. (Compare the descriptions of the Lieverdje and the Provos to see what the LP guide leaves out.) Good guidebook. Thumbs up!

If you are looking for a book that will tell you everything you ever needed to know about Amsterdam...look no farther. I have been to Amsterdam three times before, but I never knew there was so much to see, or the history about the places there. This book combines everything. It has great maps, good directions, and colorful historical information. No one would be lost or at a loss of things to do with this book. A must for any traveler going to Amsterdam.

Easily the best travel guide to Amsterdam and one of the best travel guides I've used. Rough Guides always pack a lot of information and this edition is no different. From how to use the trams to an informative historical backround section, this guide can not be beat.

I just returned from NYC guided by this book. The content on places discussed is wonderful, but the neighborhood organization leaves you flipping back and forth sometimes, as another reviewer describes.

I can't imagine how anyone purchases a tour book on-line (I have to browse at a physical store and then come here to buy!), but here are a couple of things I noticed:

1. This guide, while it advises travelers to use the subway, does not provide suggested stops for individual attractions. The exception is in the museum section. As a result, I had to walk around always having this book and a subway map on hand, with my companion and I shuffling through the two to figure out which stops lined up with which street addresses the best.

2. The restaurant section was not very helpful because of its organization. I would have preferred to have restaurants listed with things they are near in the neighborhood sections. For example, most of our days were organized by going to the things as listed in a neighborhood section of the book, but when we wanted to know what to eat, we had to stop and find the appropriate section way in the back of the book under restaurants and then cuisine headings.

3. As the editors suggest in the introduction, this book does a great job of suggesting bargain options for getting to, getting around, and getting entertained in New York City, but it still presents other options as well. People who like to travel on a budget but also like to splurge every now and then will be well-informed on both fronts.

4. The authors do a wonderful job of providing background information about sites listed in the book, which we found to increase our appreciation of places visited greatly. It also made it easier to decide ahead of time which places we wanted to see and which we could do without.

This is a great guide, but be sure you find a tour book that fits your style, especially for a city as daunting as New York.

The Rough Guide series is one of the consistently best collections of tour literature available anywhere. Previous guides I have used have been for France and Scotland, and both were excellent.

On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the restaurant recommendations (though I did not have the opportunity of staying at any hotels this time) and I liked the organization of the beginning as a neighborhood-by-neighborhood tour of New York. Many guides are so Manhattan-centric as to leave a false impression of the Big Apple: This one was remarkably even-handed throughout.

Curiously, the main problem was that, at times, the authors did not know whether to describe a particular tourist sight in terms of the neighborhood chapter or in terms of the museums chapter. At times, such as in the description of the Fraunces Tavern, one is sent scurrying between chapters. Other than this, I felt that this guide deserved five stars.

The numerous black and white maps are of high quality, and the index is particularly useful given the book's organization. This one's a winner.

This was my first trip to NYC and I found the Rough Guide very helpful. There were detailed maps of the bus system, the subway system, lodging and places to see. There was also information on the outer boroughs, useful for my trip into Brooklyn. The one thing I didn't like was that restaurants weren't listed in the index. You had to go to the restaurant section of the book and look in the neighborhood, then under the type of cuisine. Which meant when my friend recommended a specific place, I couldn't look it up in the book easily, or even be sure it was listed.

The Rough Guide to Berlin sure is a convenient size, it fits in my jacket pocket. It also has one or two useful maps. That postive comment out of the way...

My wife and I bought this before we moved to Berlin in Sept. 2001. I think this was only a couple of months after the 2001 edition had been published. We've been let down numerous times by it since: four restaurants reccommended are out of business, prices for museums and other places are about 20% too low, and other small facts are frequently just inaccurate enough to make planning hard.

Sure, budget priced places in Berlin come and go daily, but we've figured out that much of this edition wasn't updated since 2000, including the info about standard tourist attractions and well-known restaurants. Visitors budgeting activities based on prices in this book might be dissapointed.

Finally, an information design complaint. Restaurant maps are numbered with the restaurants in alphabetical order, not according to location. So, if you're standing in Kathe Kollwitz Platz, and you really want Chinese, you have to look at a map, find the numbers on the map in the neigborhood, then look through the whole alphabetical list at each one to see if you want to eat there. Believe me, that's frustrating in the dark on the street.

Better would be to forgo alphabetical listing at all, and list places by proximity. Who says, well, Akbar Pizza is closed, but lets try Amrit for indian since it's next on the list? No, you say, Akbar Pizza is closed, so what else is in the area? You can't easily answer that with the Rough Guide.

Berlin is a huge city which can, at many times, be very intimidating. The Rough Guide Series takes some of that alienation and fear away as it gives you a very thorough and concise view of the city of berlin.

Aside from giving almost 100% accurate advice on where to eat, sleep, and party, this guide also keys readers in on some of Berlin's very vivid history. Taking Berlin, district to district, it is very detailed in letting the reader know where's what and how to get there.

Without my Rough Guide, I would have been lost in Berlin. I wouldn't even have known where to mail my postcards from. The detailed maps and subway layout are excellent as well. All in all, this guide is great for a first time visitor (like me) or someone who is already familiar with all the Berlin has to offer.

My husband enjoyed this book very much, however it wasn't quite what we thought, and only one chapter realy spoke of the druids, I took it as a fanasty historical book from its description, but it wasn't even quite that from what he said. however great stroy line and very enjoyable reading.

Mr. Holland captures the essence of man in this book. His eloquent reference to the scriptures makes the book relevant to many because of their religious beliefs. I read this book with the intent of touching into my own spirit and was thrilled to know that the Bible is being relived through Mr. Hollands account of actual situation in relationship to the scripture. My final pick on this book is that it is teaching us that if we know how to live with ourselves, then we can live with others. We are put on this earth to serve and not be served. Excellent account of the human spirit in the word.

It is always dangerous to criticize a travel guide to a place you have always lived, but reading this guide once again confronted me with the prevailing prejudice that Holland (the Netherlands) equals Amsterdam. Allow me to let you in on a little secret: it doesn't.
Personally, I don't care for Amsterdam that much: much of it is a noisy, messy, tourist trap filled with people you would prefer to avoid. Outside the capital life is generally much more gentle. However, there is enough hustle and bustle to be found in the nightlife of Rotterdam, Utrecht, or Groningen.
The problem is that you are unlikely to experience those places after having read this guide. Often it reads like an extension of the RG to Amsterdam, showing an unwillingness on the part of the researches to take the long one-hour train journey to Utrecht or Rotterdam and take in those places. Although I generally prefer this series over Lonely Planet, my advice is to take the 'other' guide to the Netherlands if you're really interested in travelling outside Amsterdam

I discovered The Rough Guide series last year when I was dazzled by their guide to Thailand. By comparing the Holland version to that one, however, I'd say TRG has dropped the ball in The Netherlands. Whereas TRG Thailand approaches its subject at a subdued level of wonder, the Holland writers seem to have gone about their itinerary by suppressing their interest in anything outside of Amsterdam or art museums. Forget subdued, it's as if the authors burned out in the capital, and a mummified expedition dragged their feet through the polders out of a need to comply with the terms of their contract. Humbug quotes from famous writers set the tone for chapters on cities they dislike. Many of the towns they cover are evaluated with Amsterdam as their benchmark: Utrecht - "just a half-hour from Amsterdam, all the brashness and vitality of the capital is absent;" The Hague - "[the city's] older buildings are a rather modest collection with little of Amsterdam's flamboyance." A measly six pages are devoted to Rotterdam, none of which mention the city's uppermost nightlife (for the sake of comparison, Michelin's guide gives Rotterdam twenty). Furthermore, parks and recreation get little or no air time. Nothing is mentioned in the way of The Hague's many forests and dune parks. If you obeyed only this guide, you wouldn't know that sky diving, among other sports, is offered in the Frisian Islands.

I do enjoy the voice of the Rough Guides, that of a discerning traveller, and the gray informational sections detailing national custom are usually right on target. As expected, each of these signature features can be found here. But if you want a comprehensive guide to The Netherlands, for recreation & nightlife as well as Amsterdam & museums, you might look elsewhere. I'd start with Michelin.

This is the closest thing out there to my ideal guide. The authors really did their research, and it showed in the copious amounts of background info for each city and region. Listings for lodging, restaurants and attractions were scrupulously accurate. The Rough Guide does not have as much of a budget focus as Let's Go; it does list inexpensive places to stay, but has a little bit of a tendency to sneer at them. The only drawback for me was that the authors' taste is more boyish and more upscale than mine. They like military and shipping museums and dungeons a lot, and are a little too harsh on places they find kitschy or dull. Nevertheless, I'm glad I brought this guide along. It made my trip much more enjoyable and did a lot for my peace of mind.

This guide would be fine if you're a Brit or Aussie. But if you're an American and haven't been on the moon for most your life, you'll find lots of advice you don't really need. For example, most Americans pretty much know what constitues an America breakfast or what are restaurants are like in general. Plus, the guide doesn't list many actual restaurants or hotels and there are no maps (which may be because my version was an e-book). Still, the insights are very interesting to read and you'll have a good feel for the City if you've completed the book before you arrive.