Collections of letters reach a special audience. Such collections may occasionally feel tedious, but they open a window onto the personality and the ordinary details of everyday life, often of exceptional people. This book appeals to another subset of readers - those with a passion for understanding the American Civil War.

John Oeffinger has given us a wonderful introduction to a military leader whose name most Americans have never heard. Lafayette McLaws' pensmanship is the primary reason these letters have taken so long to make their way into print. Examples of his writing atest to Oeffinger's task in bringing the letters to readers, at long last.

McLaws was a military man on the losing side of a war fought over slavery, but we see here an individual who lived by a sense of duty and citizenship, who openly expressed his love and concern for family and the education of his children. There are many touching thoughts written into words and expressed by a man often absent from family life by the call of his profession.

If this book had been written by a military leader of our own time, it would be a best seller.

The best book for those that have memorized all things about the Titanic. The ships in this book are as amazing and as tragic as the Titanic and the Lusitania. The only problem is that there aren't many pictures.

This book in on the USMC Professional reading list, but as a Marine (any rank) you should read this book to gain an understanding of where the top enlisted in our Corps came from. This is not a story. The book contains short biographies that give you insight about the Sergeant's Major of the Marine Corps who set the standard for future Marines. Simply a great source of history for Marines, or those who are interested in our heritage. Semper Fidelis!

I have read this book several times. I have used many of the techniques described in it to my advantage. The authors explain how to develop your mental edge making you a more valuable asset to your employer. It also provides you some insight to the capabilities of the human mind. I would recommend this book for leaders in the military, law enforcement, and corporate business.

To my knowledge there is not other book like this one in print. It's a 1300+ page book that contains poems from all over the world from ancient Sumeria to the present. You will find poetry from the Bronze age; odes from the Ottoman empire; Latin American and Native American verses, and more from just about every country that has ever produced a poet. There is religious poetry from India and Asia, translations from Sanskrit and from medieval Russian. Vietnamese, Icelandic and Finnish poets are all represented.

The book is bulky yet with a scope so immensely broad it still has to be a sampler. Major English poets like Alexander Pope end up with half a page while, strangely, Victor Hugo gets three-and-a-half pages.

This is a book not just for those who love poetry, but for those who want a taste of history and culture. It's fascinating to go through these old texts and get a glimmer of the interests and feelings of people in different lands at different times throughout history.

Now for the clinkers. A work like this requires a large number of translators, and some of them have been a little too free in their conversions to English.

A poem of Martial (40-104AD) reads thusly: "Ted's studio burnt down, with all his poems./ Have the muses hung their heads?/ You, bet, for it was criminal neglect/ not also to have sautéed Ted."

Hipponax (around 540BC) supposedly said, "Big Daddy/ no scrumptious feast of partridge and hare/ no sesame pancakes/ no fritters drenched/ in honey."

And that most frequently translated of all classical poets Horace (65 -8BC) is accused of coming up with the lines "Dazzled though he be, poor dope, by the golden looks/ Your locks fetched up out of a bottle of Clairol.."

Fun is fun, but I want a serious book of trustworthy translations when I buy an expensive anthology like this. Still, it is a remarkable book, and one of the most important additions to my library.

I noticed, in this mostly excellent anthology of world poetry, that a single word, "weird" has been spelled incorrectly as "wierd."

This would be unmentionably minor. However, the misspelling is in a translation of the old English poem The Wanderer.

"Weird" (spelled something like wyrd in the original, perhaps) is the single most important word in the entire poem. This is because the Wanderer himself, the speaker of the poem, is "weird", "set apart in thought."

Today, the word refers to oddballs. But it appears that in old English the word referred to a man's soul, his "wyrd." "Weird" may have meant "great of soul" and, perhaps, able to reflect as does The Wanderer on a long life.

Today, a society that is unconsciously other-directed does not encourage the chap who does this and instead we are supposed to get direction from our mates.

Therefore, it is possible that collectively and as a group (where lowest common denominators tend to emerge) the editors were tone-deaf to the word, and the need to preserve its exceptional spelling (which modern dictionaries confirm.)

The editors, in a world-multicultural spirit, may have thought that the word, "weird" needed to conform to a generally-accepted, trumping rule of modern English orthography whose relative antiquity is shown by its rhyme: "i before e, except after c."

In so doing, they exhibit how a group of people, anxious to be be Politically Correct, are more apt in the French fashion to be dirigiste, and to make and to follow abstract, general rules. This *mission civilisatrice* is considered in such circles somewhat superior to a system, whether of law, or orthography, with many exceptions...as found in English spelling, or on those English and American juries permitted, in increasingly rare circumstances, to show mercy or severity, and ignore the black letter of the law.

Now, I have no brief against Political Correctness. I have seen first-hand (as a minor participant in its enforcement on a network at Princeton) how it spares feelings previously violated and gives voice to the voiceless.

But all social systems have besetting sins. The besetting sin of the older systems was the prime of place given to dead, white males.

The besetting sin of the modern system is that the lowest common denominator, here, the tone-deafness, is silently given equal time to an older sensitivity to the music of the Wanderer.

Many neo-conservative conscientious objectors to Political Correctness may be not so much paleo-conservative as anxious about the position of the indvidual author and reader in a *dirigiste* system, in which abstract rules trump local custom. Paradoxically, one of the goals of Political Correctness happens to be respect for local custom.

I am reminded in far more serious venues of how the feminist critique of the use of sex as power becomes, in the corporation and the academe, the syntactical and relatively mindless application of rules. The feminist narrates how a woman has a right to a job free of unwanted advances, even by future justices of the Supreme Court. The narrative becomes a rule in which the very mention of our sexual being becomes a terminating offense.

And in the same way, a marvelous exception to a rule that's hard enough to remember in itself, an exception self-reflexively weird and an echo of ancient times, becomes barbarously forgotten.

Where is the horse? Where is the rider? Where is my car?

This is the best,most readable,comprehensive anthology of its type I have discovered. The selections are great with fine translations.The single column typography is very appealing.It is a hefty tome,over 1300 pages,so that I need a lecturn at times.The entries are chronological so that Chinese Poetry is in various periods rather than being all together.I wish I could read these poems in the original languages,but since I cannot,this volume will do nicely.Savor the poems, give a copy to a sensitive,dear friend.Well worth the price,new or used.

I finished it! But it took me four months. Then I got turned on to a book (I read an excerpt in a magazine) called LightShift 2000 by Ken Kalb, which I was able to read in about 2 or 3 hours. I came upon Chapter 7 called "Making Time on Planet Earth" which was an entire history of popular calendars, plus a solution to Y2K! Then the mystical Chapter 9, The Rites of Passage -- explained in 13 pages -- and took the material a step further -- everything and more I had spent four months laboring on in Mayan Cosmogenesis. I am becoming quite the expert on day keeping these days. Jenkins book is a good one to read during an El Nino winter in the Pacific Northwest.

The Earth spins on an axis. Like everything else that spins, it wobbles. That wobble is technically called precession, and it explains why Earthlings have seen the sun rise against different constellations over the centuries. In his latest book, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012: The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date, John Major Jenkins explains how the Maya mapped the movements of the Earth, including precession, and incorporated their measurements into their calendars.

Jenkins, who has researched Mesoamerican cosmology and calendrics since 1986, has written five other books and numerous articles about the Maya. In Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, he ties together Mayan mythology and astronomy in a scholarly discussion of the source and meaning of "end date" indicated by the Long Count calendar.

He supports his theories with nearly 200 line drawings, and provides extensive appendices, end notes, and a comprehensive bibliography.

Each "wobble" (or precessional cycle) lasts 25,800 years. Researchers believe that the current precessional cycle will end in the year 2012. This date is known as the "End-Date" in Maya calendrics. At that time, the Earth will begin a new cycle in the opposite direction.

Jenkins says his focus is "on how the precession of the equinoxes was mapped and calibrated among the ancient civilizations." He adds that his book "is devoted to exploring the Maya's understanding of the 2012 end-date and the philosophy and cosmology that go with it. This is a book about cosmogenesis, the creation of the world. The Maya believed that the world will be reborn, in a sense 're-created,' in the year we call 2012."

What does all that mean? Will humans survive cosmogenesis? Jenkins thinks we will. He says the end-date marks the beginning of a new and better world. He believes that "what looms before us is a great opportunity for spiritual growth, both individual and planetary." Others, of course, disagree, and foresee a time of cataclysmic destruction.

Regardless of whether they see the predicted end-date as a non-event, as destructive, or as an opportunity for growth, readers will find Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 a fascinating book. Astronomers and students of cosmology and mythology will especially appreciate Jenkin's research and thorough documentation.

In Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, author John Major Jenkins has combined his gift for incisive, mythic and symbolic interpretation with rigorous research, to reveal the Mayan calendar as a world cosmology and spiritual philosophy, firmly grounded in precise observations of celestial patterns and rhythms. According to Jenkins' in depth yet accessible and often poetic analysis, the Maya had reconciled a number of planetary and sidereal cycles to accurately define the passage of our earth and solar system, as it moves through millennia, in and out of alignment with the galactical core and equator. This vast, celestial conjunction, so central to the Mayan sages and astronomers, holds profound transformative implications for individuals and civilization today.

We've used this book since 1982 for individual studies and Bible study groups. It's an excellent resource for studying the Bible. It's just as valuable for new Christians as it is helpful for mature believers. The book contains 52 vital doctrines of the Bible, the cardinal doctrines that are essential for the understanding of Christianity and for a Christian's growth. It features chapters on "The Bible," "God the Son," "God the Trinity," "God the Holy Spirit," "Satan," "Man," "The Church," "The Second Coming of Christ," and so much more. Each chapter concludes with a short test which will be very helpful in Bible study groups. Everything is explained in an easy-to-understand format. This book is very helpful and we highly recommend it.

We've used this book since 1982 for individual studies and Bible study groups. It's an excellent resource for studying the Bible. It's just as valuable for new Christians as it is helpful for mature believers. The book contains 52 vital doctrines of the Bible, the cardinal doctrines that are essential for the understanding of Christianity and a Christian's growth. It features chapters on the "Bible," "God the Son," "God the Trinity," "God the Holy Spirit," "Satan," "Man," "The Church," "The Second Coming of Christ," and so much more. At the end of each chapter it has a short test which will be very helpful in Bible study groups as well as for individual studies. Everything is explained in an easy-to-understand format and it also discusses various viewpoints of a certain doctrine. This book is also helpful as a quick reference guide. We highly recommend this book!

This book does a nice job of surveying 52 themes of the Bible in a devotional, easy to underatand style. The chapters are only 5 or 6 pages long, and they are saturated with Scripture references, which saves the Bible study leader lots of time in preparation. But the busy beaver who spends the time to look up the scripture references will be richly rewarded by what he discovers. The chapters on the Bible and the ones on God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are well written and say much about the character of God. But the chapters that deal with end times events are not quite as strong, mainly because of the false assumption of the authors that anyone who doesn't agree is simply guilty of not interpreting the scriptures literally. But other than that minor quibble, I love the book. After all these years, this is still of the best books to use to introduce people to the major themes of the Bible. I recommend it highly. But make sure you also buy "The Rapture Question Answered" by Robert Van Kampen to balance out the errors in end times thinking.

As I watched the results from the 1997 General Election from the sidelines of America (remembering that ten years prior I had been in the thick of things, on the floor of a count and being shown on BBC intently staring at the bank teller drafted to count the box in which I had an interest), I was variously amazed, pleased, saddened, and in the end, pleasantly surprised at the good humour of John Major, who said very simply, 'Okay, we lost.'

I met John Major first when he was a rising parliamentary star recruited to come to the constituency of the backbencher for whom I worked. He came to give a pep talk to the local Conservatives on a local radio programme; this constituency (Basildon) was considered a dead loss, so much so that the PM and various other Cabinet names wouldn't waste their time making a stop--but John Major came, and, we won.

Major has put together an interesting account of his time in office. Thankfully he concentrates on his political career (not spending hundreds of pages giving us the sort of childhood information that rarely adds value to a political autobiography), starting with his first victory coming to the House of Commons in 1979 (Margaret Thatcher's first victory as leader) and culminating with the 1997 electoral defeat, which he took with relatively good grace and rather few recriminations. And, whereas many political figures spend a large part of their memoirs in a 'If I were still there' mode, Major only devotes a few pages to the follow-up and future (in a five-page chapter entitled Aftermath) preferring not to speculate on irrelevant imponderables, and avoiding the problem of which he was most critical in his predecessor--that being of not wanting to let go.

It was no secret that one of the things the press and public eagerly sought in this book was Major's opinions on the continued attempts by Thatcher to exert an influence in leadership. His rocky relationship with the former prime minister has many examples through the text, some explicit and some subtle (such as the caption from a photo taken at the 1990 Conservative Party Conference, which reads 'Still on good terms with Margaret following the announcement of our entry into the ERM.').

In general, this is a well-written book, and John Major's tenure of office is rather more interesting than popular memory or the press would have one believe, perhaps understandable due to following a person of such flash and sparkle as Thatcher--who could compete with that? Major did in many ways, and, as his autobiography shows, he won in many ways, and when he lost, he was a gentleman.

What struck me about John Major's memoirs was the honesty with which he tackled his subject. I'm a complete politico-skeptic. Always have been; always will be. To me, politicians (no matter what breed) are about as appetizing as burnt toast - and about as useful. But John Major was a man who earned my grudging admiration while he was Prime Minister of Britain. Not that his policies were particularly brilliant, nor that his choice of ministers was very astute; just that he came across as a man doing his best in a difficult situation.

When you read this autobiography, this honesty shines through. He openly recognizes his faults and his mistakes. He continues to stand by political friends and allies who let him down during his years in office. One has the distinct impression that he tells it like it really was.

During his years as Prime Minister, Major had to deal with his predecessor (Maggie) who simply wouldn't let go of the reins of power. He had to deal with rebels in his own party, who were so anti-European that they voted against anything and everything that came from their own government. He had to deal with colleagues who were shown to be less than honest in their dealings. If John Major had one weakness, it was that he didn't get rid of those of his ministers who were stabbing him in the back. He knew who they were, yet he allowed them to continue, hoping that right would prevail in the end.

This book is an excellent read for anyone interested in politics from the inside. Why four stars? Because I think Major spent too long dealing with his early years instead of concentrating on his years in power. Nonetheless, a powerful insight into the Major years in Britain.

I followed up this fine bio with "John Minor, the Story of the Forgotten Little Brother," which deals with the more obscure and self-effacing, but equally admirable, younger brother.

This reference has more or less picked up the torch from the late lamented "Baseball Encyclopedia," and is indispensible for serious fans (and probably casual ones as well).

Included in the hefty (nearly 2,000 pages) volume is everything you'd expect (player stats, franchise histories, postseason results) and a number of things you might not (Curt Smith's wonderful roster of radio/TV announcers, for instance). It's perfect for whiling away the hours on rainy Sunday afternoons, and invaluable for settling arguments or answering trivia questions.

It would be nice if the next edition included a few more historical essays such as those found in its NFL counterpart, "Total Football II." That's a minor quibble, however, and perhaps impractical considering the voluminous size of the current book. All in all, this is a must-buy for baseball lovers.

Total Baseball is definitely a must for every baseball fan, from hardcore to casual. And it can be a gateway for many who haven't enjoyed the blessings of this beautiful game. There's everything you need to know: from team histories, great essays on the Negro Leagues. There's stuff for the stat nut as well: from sabermetrics to a handy guide on how to score a game, some insights on Women and Baseball, and of course, the hefty, precise and so accurate register of every player in Major League history. There's even a chapter on International Baseball results, that suprisingly, does NOT include the champions of the Venezuelan League, and does have the Dominican and Mexican team champions. Anyway, all in all, if you love baseball or simply you want to understand baseball, this book is for you.

Total Baseball is to baseball what the Beatles' songbook is to rock n' roll music, with authors Thorn and Palmer the Lennon-McCartney of baseball composers. It is a work of mind-numbing thoroughness, the baseball reference to end all references. The prose section includes the story of baseball from every region of the world. Also included are "The True Father of Baseball" and a lively new section of quotes. There are dozens of other sections, including the complete voting for every MVP award ever bestowed and diagrams -- including fence distances -- of every Major League park ever played in. Want to find out the Brooklyn Dodgers total attendance the year before they left for Los Angeles or the attendance of any other team in a any other season? It's in here. The register includes complete records of the nearly 15,000 men who have ever tied on spikes. The statistical derivations, including algorithms, are the standards and most ambitious ever done. For the rue fan, this is it: nearly 2,700 pages of baseball bliss.

I don't profess to be an expert on the American Revolution, however; I do specifically know enough about the northern campaign to realize that the Battle of Hubbardton did not occur in the State of New York as the index indicates ( " Hubbardton, NY: battle at, 139-40" ). It is the only revolutionary war battle fought within the State of Vermont. To me, such an obvious mistake puts the rest of the book's accuracy in question. Based on that alone, I won't buy it.
P.S. In order to post this opinion, I had to rate this book. In all honesty, I would normally not have put a rating since I haven't read it. Sorry...

I've gone through quite a few histories of the revolution, but this book is different in that it is written purely from the military aspect. The author doesn't critique all the battles but makes a representative selection from each type of battle.

Each engagement is accompanied by detailed drawings showing the placement of troops, cavalry, and cannon. He discusses the use of terrain for each battle. In the case of the "Battle Of The Cowpens" he reflects on the purpose of the American commander in putting a river at his back was to prevent his soldiers from having an easy means of running away from the battle.

All in all, a good informative read.

If you are in the market for a good book on the major battles and campaigns of the Revolutionary Army then this is the book for you. The author does an excellent job in describing each event without going to exacting detail and boring the reader. If you do not get pulled into the war after reading this book then you need to reread it slowly to better absorb the knowledge within its pages.

I agree with another reviewer: "This excellent piece of scholarship and tale of high deeds belongs on every enthusiasts bookshelf...."

Pick up a copy at Amazon.com!