While you can certainly finish the book in 30 days, you'll most likely forget the vocabularies in at least half of the chapters by the time you are done. The quiz in each chapter is useful. The diagnostic test at the beginning of the book can crush your self-esteem - which is to be redeemed after reading the book. "30 days" in the title is misleading, because readers probably need to go through the chapters again and again to make sure they truly remember the words. So make it "45-50 days to a more powerful vocabulary"!

Furthermore, believe it or not: it is not a bad cram book if you have less than 3 months to study for SAT or GRE! I find vocabulary builders (such as this title) much better study tools for SAT or GRE than conventional exam preparation guides like Princeton Review or Barron's - at least for the verbal section.

While this book is very helpful in building a more powerful vocabulary, a more appropriate title would be "45 days to a more powerful vocabulary in just 60 minutes a day!" Some lessons must be repeated if you want to really know some of the words. There are no really ground breaking vocabulary memorization techniques in this book either. However, it does a great job of organizing certain vocabulary terms. If you can spare an hour a day for 45 days, this books can be a great help!

This book is excellent. I worked through this book in less than 30 days, because I found it difficult to stop after just one exercise. I improved my SAT verbal by 90 points thanks to this book, and it began in me a love of words that continues siepaternally. This is the best vocabulary builder I have come across.

To write a review of this book is actually to exercise the very constructivist principles which the Enlightenment bestowed on the humanities. Most of what passes for criticism these days is so de-constructivist that one wonders exactly what qualitative judgement is being passed, and exactly on what subject. These are writings by academics, and so what? They remind me of the early-Christian monks in Ireland, transcribing the surviving wisdom of the ancients and periodically fleeing from barbarian hordes farther and farther West. Well, this is as far West as we can go, folks. It's time to turn and face the barbarians. Unless you're one of those bored citizens who're looking forward to them, like the ones in Cavafy's "Waiting for the Barbarians."

As a history major, and someone who is fed up with post-modernist nonesense at the university, this book was a must-read for me.

I only have two concerns with this otherwise solid title.

1) The text is too academic -- how about a short, readable book for the masses? I propose a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) format that would enable students and others to confront unargued post-modern dogma.

2) I would have loved an examination of the historical roots of post-modernism and other forms of irrationalism. For those who are interested, Wendy Kaminer's book 'Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials' is a good examination of American irrationalism.

Finally, if anyone else reading this review is a student (or teacher) at a university who is concerned with the stifling of free inquiry in education, please e-mail me and initiate a discussion. Thank you.

To the critics of this book's style rather than content: This is a collection of conference proceedings. This means that the articles are basically transcribed lectures. The slightly awkward style of writing stems from the origins of the articles as speech, not text.

As for the content: superb.

V.I. Lenin (1870-1924) breathed during the height of the second industrial revolution. He witnessed the wild, berserk scramble for colonies and the absurd carnage of the first world war. This work's worth exists in a labor to systemically integrate imperialism upon the substructure of national financial capital. According to Lenin, a capitalist economy centralizes industry and banking, finance capital becomes exported, and nationalistic centers of capital compete for dominance. Ineluctably, productive forces are aligned on one side, and colonies of raw materials dominated by finance capital are situated on the other. War will only result as capitalist states are compelled to redress the fissure.

Several points argue against the dependency theorist. Marxists, with their idiosyncratic class theory of the state, miss the relationship between legitimacy and strategy of state power, reducing everything to economic power differentials. They focus on class struggle, supposedly the manifestation of economic "contradictions." This overlooks historic dynamics going back centuries that include constitutional, technological, economic, cultural, and legal changes that are not epiphenomenal precipitates of an economic base. In addition, nationalistic financial centers unleashing war upon another makes little sense now in an era where nation-states are becoming obsolete. In a world with weapons of mass destruction held by "virtual" states, mass immigration, environmental challenges, epidemiological concerns, and a vulnerable, privatized critical infrastructure, future war will be undertaken for reasons unrelated to capital export.

Lenin misses the development of the state which was occurring in his history. Under many state-nations, the state was the realization of the nation, its order, its will. James Madison writes in Federalist #63: "The true distinction between these and the American governments, lies in the total exclusion of the people, in their collective capacity, from any share in the latter, and not in the total exclusion of the representatives of the people from the administration of the former." One thinks of more extreme examples, such as Rousseau's general will and Hegel's deification of the state as a living god. Napoleon was the apotheosis of the state-nation.

However, state-rights were challenged as national-rightists began to assert themselves. Bismarck's effort for unification is the most notable example. Americans are more familiar with the American Civil War. The United States changed from a Union to a Nation, as seen in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863. States eventually were deemed legitimate by how well they promoted the general welfare of a specific nation. This was legitimized at Versailles -- self-determination being most important -- the state taking care of the welfare of a nation, rather than the other way around. Most of Lenin's colonies are nation-states today. Such nationalistic loyalty will become increasingly challenged as market-states, with internationally floating finance capital, blossom into existence as more and more question the nationalistic paradigm, as seen by change in Western reaction to the four Yugoslav wars of the 1990's. Sovereignty was once opaque, particular to a nation. Now nationality is becoming irrelevant to human rights -- a basis for legitimacy, as crime and war become blurred.

As far as Lenin's historical scheme is concerned, several points can be noted. Capital flows from France went overwhelmingly to Russia where profits could be made during that period, not to her colonies. (Lenin dismisses this as mere government "loan" capital...) Some blame Britain for undermining Argentina's economy with capital investment -- but one forgets -- the favorite target for British capital in the 19th century was the United States of America. The current financial relationship between the U.S. and Japan has not brought upon imperialism. In addition, with the earlier Portuguese empire -- the cost of policing their empire was actually greater than the benefit of their far-flung gains, leading to its demise. Dutch imperialism faltered in the 18th century -- though Indonesia was retained until the 20th -- because her prosperity was based upon tight control of the Baltic. These are just a few of many examples that confront the dependency theorist.

Lastly, in the modern context, the price of raw materials has been falling worldwide for years. The prosperity of LDCs will become more and more contingent upon the intelligence of their workforce. Most colonial cold war conflicts were battles to the death over which form of nation-state was legitimate -- parliamentary, socialist, or fascist. Whether the "rather dead than red" style policies were ethical can be debated, but surely one can understand the urgency (or paranoia?) of the Americans in the 50s, with the Soviets with the bomb, China previously turning red, communists on the move in Indochina, Korea, Latin America, Africa, et cetera. Many American and Soviet-implemented horrors were strategic in basis, not economic.

This work is essential for those interested in Marxist theory. I cannot see how it is applicable to today's world, but for anyone seeking to understand the 20th century, particularly the viewpoint of one of its major actors, I'd recommend it.

"Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism," seems to me more academic than propaganda-based. I expected a noisy ideological diatribe. Lenin does not predict guarantees of the future, or spout the superiority of a correct socialism (i.e. Communist Manifesto, Marx) - instead, Lenin examines intelligently the international economic state of the 10's by citing and challenging the pro-capitalist and 'quasi'-socialist scholars of that time. It was written for the everyday critical person.

It made sense to me of how Lenin viewed Capitalism in global terms, rather than individual or local terms. If the individual Bourgeois exploits the collective proletariat, then Lenin goes further that a majority Bourgeois country (i.e. USA) exploits a majority prolerariat (Mexico) country. And in the largest sense, international monopolies and large banks direct the inner workings of this exploitation-dynamic, regardless of what geographic state they represent. Backed up with a lot of creditable statistics,a clear and comprehensive insight, this book is extremely convincing; especially when one considers today's 'globalization' phenomena.

Even with his analysis of the 1910's, one gains a better understanding of the capitalist development of the 21st century -Lenin wouldn't be surprised by the economic paralysis of third world countries, the huge debts of certain states and certain citizens, and the massive power of the IMF.

However, no matter how convincing Lenin may be, it is important to be cautious of him. Lenin finished this book in one of the most important events as a politician in 1916. In 1917, gaining victory in the revolution, he announced to the press of the "one-party state," which censored any thought, idea, or action that did not fall under the context of Marxist tenets. In a sense, Lenin founded the beginnings of Totalitarianism. How tragic! But it is not unknown that when politicians bite the granite, they no longer become nice and virtuous human beings.

He justified noble ends with corrupt means. I have experienced the 'heat,' of radical-oriented books. Lenin's Imperialism is certainly one of them. This heat increased my knowledge of a certain thing in a certain perspective, but burned off my common sense and intuition. I used to think this to be a feeling of 'enlightenment,' (cheesy, but true) and discovered that I only lost my freedom to think for myself.

I know this is a weird comment, but make sure to consider context, content, and open-minded inquiry when reading such material! It's important for freedom! Altogether, two thumbs up to Imperialism, judged by its tremendous importance and intelligent insights. But reader, beware! Don't get caught up in the heat! Be careful! Remember 1917?

This is one of Lenin's major works. He shows how the economical system of capitalism leads to large contradictions between states and war. A clasic still relevant in theese times of "globalisation" (imperialism).

In travel writing, Norman Lewis ranks with the best in the trade, such as V.S.Naipaul, Paul Theroux, William Dalrymple and Pico Iyer. But what sets him apart is his choice of extraordinary destinations and his eye for spotting the abiding elements of a culture. He has produced from the much-acclaimed Dragon Apparent and Golden Earth. His desire of chronicling aspects of a society that are exposed to peril brought him to India in 1990. Here, he records the dangerous but less spectacular process of erosion : relentless clearing of jungles endangering the lifeways of the tribals. Despite his initial plans to limit his journey into the heart of tribal India, what he actually covers is a microcosm of India. We have the crowded, foggy and boisterous Bihar representing the North, a sedate coastal Orissa typifying the East; and Srikakulam, with its flashy restaurants and film-dominated atmosphere, exemplifying the South. India's over-populated and muddling metropolises are hurriedly sketched with the author's brief stopover in Calcutta. The ubiquitous old monuments and highway dhabas round off a picture of the vibrant heterogeneity that is India.

Lewis starts his journey in the `badlands' of Bihar and comes face to face with the howling moral void that characterizes the state. The messy streets of Patna, the dark underbelly of Bhagalpur, the ongoing communal killings, `the likelihood of criminal takeover of the democratic process' : all these make a mockery of the description of the state by the Department of Tourism as the `Land of Ancient Wisdom'.

From the stifling atmospheres of Patna and Calcutta, the `yellow refulgence of sand', the `green and pleasant fields' of Orissa bring a welcome relief. Coastal Orissa, with its vast expanses, crisscrossing rivers, exquisite monuments and laid-back people, seem indifferent to the modern art of living. There is no fear of being humbugged here. If Mrs. Panda, the manageress of the hotel in Puri indulged in a bit of `smiling extortion', the blame could be squarely laid on her training in a business school in London.

In the land of Orissa, which always seems to be enjoying its siesta, the past has a formidable presence. Lewis takes us to the pageant of history, showing us temple ruins, old battle fields, rumbling chariots and ancient caves. Soon historical facts blend with fables and folklores. The mythology of the drowned-bride-turned-goddess Kalijai in Chilka brings to Lewis' memory similar legends he had gathered from as far afield as Uzbekistan, and Wales. Lewis concludes, `perhaps, in shadowy folk-memory are recorded the sorrows of pre-history.'

Besides folk-memory, Lewis relies heavily on the recorded accounts of foreign travellers of the past, such as South Asian Ibu Batuta (1334-36), Venetian Caesar Fredericke (1585), Portuguese Sebastian Manrique (1640) and Spanish Friar Navarvate (1670). Manrique must have felt heavenly bliss as, on landing in India, he took to the riverway leading to Bhubaneswar. The river, according to him, `was covered over by great, pleasant, shady trees, whose thick branches here and there interlaced so as to look like an artificial avenue. This was full of most beautiful peacocks, of green screaming parrots, pure shy doves, simple wood-loving pigeons ....' With this kind of a start, Manrique must not have prepared himself for the rude shock he was about to get. He and his travelling party were once arrested and thrown into goal for having made a sumptuous feast of their Hindu host's pet peacock. At the trial, the Mughal Governor agreed `to show leniency by punishing the perpetrator of the offence by no more than a whipping and the loss of his right hand'. The crisis prompted the crafty Manrique to try the infallible weapons : bribery and cajoling. He not only succeeded in mollifying the Governor `by the usual inducements on such occasions' but also secured the Governor's lady's intervention in the matter, by sending her `a sufficiently rich and pleasing gift.' Further inducements led to the prisoners' release their bodies intact.

The openness of the tribals, whom Lewis visits next, allows no such underhanded deals, even in the present times. Their optimism and joie de vivre make their presence quite refreshing. Spurred on by a tender curiosity and an empathetic heart, Lewis penetrates into the innermost sanctums of the tribal communities that inhabit Koraput hills. We get to know that despite their geographical proximity, these tribes live in distinct worlds, separated from each other by intricacies of beliefs and value systems. However all of them are equally intimidated by the threat from the non-tribals, who surround them. This anxiety is most apparent in case of the Kondhs, whom circumstances have forced to share a living space with the trading Domb community. Even within one tribal community, different sub-tribes emerge depending upon the degree of adoption of caste lifestyles. The Kondh tribe is thus sub-divided into the Dongrias, the Desias and the Kutias.

The Kutias, who live on the top of the hills and who are the least Sanskritised, have a `touch of controlled ferocity about them.' Lewis finds Ghotuls, the premarital dormitories, still existing among the Kondhs and he attributes the ritual promiscuity among Kondh women to their Ghotul experience.

Lewis is impressed by the `rugged independence' of the tribal woman, which stands out against the depressing background of the suffering, a caste woman is subjected to. The ritual of Sati, the methodical termination of female foetuses, the dowry deaths -- all these appear so outlandish in the pristine world of tribal women of Koraput.

Lewis has written a rich and entertaining book but he has occasionally allowed himself to be carried away by his subjects a bit too far, making a mess of actual names and factual details. The Sati girl Roop Kanwar for instance, becomes Marwari Rupkandar and Lord Jagannath, `the senior member of a family trio'. Barring these faux pas, Lewis greatly succeeds in weaving his sentiments about the Indian women -- the fallen goddesses -- into his lively sketch of the majestic land.

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The population of India is approaching 1 billion. Of that enormous number over 50 million are tribal people.
In the big cities modernity has made a considerable impact, the further you get away from the city though the less modern the world seems, and in the mountain regions the tribes live much the same way they have for thousands of years.
Norman Lewis begins his journey in the city of Patna, which is in the Bihar region of central India. From there he begins to travel further and further away from the densely populated centers. In the rural lands of Bihar the age old caste system which keeps every person in their place selfishly allocating privilege and profit only to the upper castes has begun to meet with a significant challenge from the lower castes who have recently begun to violently assert themselves. Traditional government as well as the police force in this region and in many others is corrupt and people have taken the law into their own hands. Women , especially lower caste women, are especially vulnerable in these conditions and are treated like property or in some cases worse. In India a female child is less valued than a male child because female children must be married off in expensive wedding ceremonies and provided with dowries. Arranged marriage is still the rule in many places and atrocities committed against women, including infanticide, enslavement, and murder, are so often in the newspapers that they are treated like commonplace occurrences, the police rarely interefere or are simply bought off by the highest bidder. It is not surprising that given these dire realities Lewis heads for the hills and mountain regions of Orissa to search for the unspoilt tribes. Lewis takes Ranjan as a guide. Ranjan, a Brahmin, shares Lewis' interest in primitive peoples. Once in the mountains the modern world is only a bad memory, for there in the unspoilt forests are tribes living in harmony with nature and each other. Each tribe has distinct characteristics which enthuse both Lewis and Ranjan. One tribe permits promiscuity among teenagers who live together in dormitories, another forbids the wearing of clothes, but in virtually all of the tribes women are seen to be equals to the men. In fact in one tribe which traditionally marries off young men to older women it is the women who are in charge. Ranjan as Lewis has suspected all along is in love with a Sarjput girl that he met on a previous trip to the region. Their romance unfolds amid rituals and dances and celebrations. The joy and freedom of these tribal peoples is a sobering and sharp and welcome contrast to the violent strife ridden world left behind.
Lewis (and Ranjan) are excellent guides and the friendship of these two like minded individuals gives the book its personal charm.

Norman Lewis, the doyen of travel writers, deliberately strays from the beaten path in modern India in order to discover what is left of the indigenous tribal communities - the ones overlooked by the same crass commercialism which is gathering up the rest of the undeveloped world into the same dustbin. His excursions into the backwoods of provincial India are part of an overriding quest, no less quixotic, for the remains of so-called primitive societies still clinging to their unique claims on a piece of land, a language, or a ritual tradition that has been theirs for as long as human memory can recall. His writing is scintillating, his tone elegiac. A Goddess in the Stones is yet another installment in Lewis's reclamation of the world from the heedless destruction of modernity.

As the previous reviewer notes, South Wind is an excellent work of fiction. It is Norman Douglas' most highly acclaimed work. This reprint edition however, suffers from abominably poor transcription and proofreading. Letters are missing from words and spaces are sometimes inserted where they don't belong. In some instances a return character or two is omitted in dialogues. I would guess that I have spotted over a hundred errors. They do not undermine the quality of the story, but do make it harder to read. This book is in the public domain and so is available on the web in HTML format, possibly with fewer errors. That said, I am glad to have a printed version of this book. Reading or printing it from the web would be a cumbersome enterprise.

I absolutely love this book. It's definitely not for beginning stained glass crafters, though - lots of curves and intricacies. I'm looking forward to when I have the expertise to use some of the patterns.

There are 30 pages of some of the best art nouveau patterns I have ever seen. I've already used one of the patterns to create a needlepoint pattern, and I plan on using many more. Even better than I anticipated!

I hope that this gem of a book is reprinted soon. For all those who cannot wait, wend to the Strand bookstore on Broadway and 12th in NYC, and check out the Modern Library section; a few copies may still linger. Like its title, the book sweeps over the reader in a sort of halcyon gale of language. Read once, the book must be re-read just so that one can retrace the plot. When not totally high on language I got glimpses of two of the most vivid characters in literature -- Mr. Keith and Count Calovaglia -- and that what it was - a glimpse. Like the South Wind of the title, the book leaves the reader terribly thirsty for more -- more of the island, more of the people, more of the flora, more of the rocks, for crying out loud. It has the sense and immediacy of an impressionist painting. In the 1924 Modern Library copy I possess, Douglas has an introduction in which he enumerates the islands that inspired the locale in the book. I am still considering an island hopping vacation to the Mediterranean.

Easy to read, although sometimes dry. Excellent illustrations and definitions for either laymen, student nurses or allied health professionals.

This is one of four great books which Norman Lewis wrote about his Asian travels. The author must have been pushing eighty when he embarked on his west to east journey through the 'Girdle of Emerald'.

The Dutch decribed the control they had established over a maritime empire consisting of more than 16,000 island as stretching 'from Medan to Merauke', and it is this itinerary that Lewis follows.

As usual he tries to stay away as far as possible from the beaten track. No Borobudur, Bali or Lake Toba here, instead the author and his companions decide to explore the northern tip of Sumatra, venturing into the troublesome Aceh province. The staunch Muslims of Indonesia's northern-most region are strongly independent. Even after decades of incessant warfare the Dutch had been unable to completely subjugate these Malay warriors. After independence the nationalist, Javanese-dominated government in Jakarta failed likewise.

Lewis then takes us to East-Timor, ravaged by the Indonesian military after the Portuguese withdrawal in 1975. Although political developments since Lewis' visits have changed the outlook of East-Timor dramatically, his account provides an interesting insight into the political situation of the territory just before the collapse of the Suharto-regime and subsequent granting of autonomy to East-Timor.

Finally the author visits the interior of Irian Jaya, the Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea. A disconcerting portrayal of a traditional society on the verge of collapse is followed by a worrying report on the onslaught of greedy mining companies; Lewis makes us witnesses to an ecological disaster in the making.

'An Empire of the East' does not reach the level of his earlier books 'A Dragon Apparent' and 'Golden Earth' about French Indochina and Burma respectively. Written in the 1950s these two giants of 20th century travel literature established Norman Lewis as one of the greatest travel writers. Nevertheless, he has again been successful in presenting a cocktail based on his well-tried recipe: combining his highly original depictions of natural scenery with insightful portraits of the people he meets, and - above all - his penchant for unusual situations.

Vignettes of the author's observations of war time Italy while assigned to Naples area as part of British Intelligence. First hand descriptions of the Neopolitan's desperate ordeal to survive with little food and work available. Tremendous insight into Italian culture and customs. Sad portrayals of ancient towns bombed to rubble by allied forces, perhaps unnecessarily. But most disturbing are his reports from various sources that the American troops marching through Italy had been given orders not to take any German prisoners alive. Any Germans who surrendered were to be shot.

A political thriller with a human touch, that is how one could describe this book about a coup against Qaddafi by British author Norman Lewis. Set in Libya and Egypt - it depicts the moral deterioration of a journalist at the hands of unscrupulous newspaper editors, scheming ministry of information officials, intimidating secret agents and shady arms dealers.

Blessed with an exceptional ability for observation, Norman Lewis established his reputation first and foremost as a travel writer. Literary giants such as Graham Greene called him one of the best in the trade. In 'A Suitable Case for Corruption' he has applied the same talent to fiction. giving a masterful description of a man's downfall amidst the decadence of expatriate life in a sinister North-African country.

If you like the atmosphere of 'Casablanca' and enjoy reading Le Carré, then this is a book for you.

When I was in Junior High, we had to use this book to increase our vocabularies. Only buy it if you are prepared to face up to words like Nymphomania, and Dendroid (let's just hope there aren't any dendroid nymphomaniacs out there!) Overall, it improves your vocabulary, but it is also very boring.

This book is really a nice vobabulary book to read. Especially if you are interested in a deeper and more profond education. And ESPECIALLY if you are a foreign student...

I own at least 12 books on vocabulary building and LOVE this book! It utilizes etymology, the study of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Once you know and understand the meaning of roots, prefixes, and suffixes, it unlocks the meaning of THOUSANDS of words, even if you've never seen or heard them before. VERY powerful vocabulary builder, in my opinion. HIGHLY recommended.