This book was amazing! It captured his personal side, tempered and loony along with the side that everyone was supposed to see, perfect, superior, Napoleon! Albert Marrin had EVERYTHING. This was the best book I have read in a long time....... It went through his ups and downs, his birth to his death. Napoleon was such a exiting political figure anything ABOUT him has to be exiting, but this was a VERY, VERY good book. I would give it 100,000 stars if it was possible!

The book is a shockingly detailed account of the Napoleon as a person and as a conqueror. It is fairly presented and allows the reader to form an unbiased opinion about Napoleon during one of the most confusing and frightening periods in history.

This book provides a fascinating look into the causes of the War of 1812, as well as life for those fighting. The living conditions onboard British warships is detailed, giving the reader an understanding of why British sailors were deserting; thus leading to British impressment of American sailors. All subjects in the book are given the same in-depth treatment with gripping first-person accounts of naval and land battles.

For the first time, I came to know Lincoln not as an iconified hero, but as a funny, direct, engaging and committed human being as I read this book. The author has thorough notes of very detailed research and tells a story that others omitted or overlooked. It made me want to read much more about Lincoln, especially more of the piercing wit and emotional perseverance shared in this book.

This is the best book I've read this year. It talks about the exciting days of the Old West when cowboys rounded up cows and horses, when outlaws roamed the range, and when Indians hunted buffalo. The conflicts come between the cowboys and the Indians about the hunting of the buffalo (almost to extinction), which brings starvation to the Indian. The gunfighter still lives in the chapters about such famous ones as Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp, and the best gunfighter of all time, Wyatt Earp.

If you're a fan of the old west, you will probably enjoy this book.

I personally loved this book for its detailed accounts of everything from Oskar Schindler to the Battle over Stalingrad. If you have any interest at all in World War 2, this is a fantastic book, even includes some pictures which display the Nazi terror for Russians, Jews, and 'traitors'. In all a wonderful book!

A very readable book for young adults about the Spanish Conquest of Peru. Marrin describes in vivid detail the daily life of the Incas before the Spanish arrived. A warlike people, the Incas valued toughness, courage and obedience to authority. They were not strangers to capital punishment or torture. Like the Aztecs, they practiced ritual human sacrifice to appease the many gods they worshipped. Although their society was highly organized and technologically advanced, they were not prepared for warfare on European terms. When Pizarro arrived, he kidnapped their leader and held him for a ransom of silver and gold. Without their leader to give them instructions, the Incas were helpless to launch a rescue mission; they had been trained to obey orders, not to think for themselves. For many years the Incas made attempts to resist Spanish rule, but in the end, Spanish greed, weapons, cruelty and disease overtook them. A sorrowful yet valuable account of the Spanish impact on the New World.

Quanah Parker led a life that no novelist could ever haveinvented. His mother,Cynthia Ann Parker, was only nine when a Comanchewar party swept down on her family's frontier farm, killed her parents and grandparents before her eyes, and carried her off into captivity. By the time she was grown, she had become a Comanche herself and married a leading warrior. Their firstborn son was named Quanah, and he would lead his people during the greatest upheaval they would ever experience.

Marrin does an absolutely brilliant job of bringing this violent, critical period to life for young readers. He describes the Native lifestyle accurately but objectively, without romanticizing it through the distorted lens of political correctness. He describes the Indian atrocities and the "tornado of hatred" they inspired among the whites. He states correctly that 19th century Indian boys were "born to kill" and then portrays the teenage Texas Rangers who were, in many ways, the mirror image of the young warriors they opposed. We learn about Quanah's role as a leader in the war for Texas, and when that war was finally lost, about his equally impressive role guiding his people through the difficult transitions that followed.

I have studied the Indian wars for more than 30 years, and Marrin's book has left me in awe. I did not think it was possible for history to be written this well! If you are over 12 years old, you have to read it! END

This is an adult book about a British Pacifist that mainly lectured about his book The Great Illusion.( I haven't read the Illusion---but the implications I gathered were that there will never be peace, the stronger always pick on the weeker, there will always be war.) He calmed he was an american because he homesteaded 160 acres in Bakersfield Calif. He was a cowboy and taught how to survive by a cowboy named Covert. He remained in the U.S. for only a short time. He went back to Europe where he had many jobs with the press (he ran a newpape in France)and had influence both positive and negative with anyone of importance in England. It seems his geatest support from the USA was Nicolas Muray Butler. He thought his Knighthood was a farce but he used it to influence others. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and was very instrumental in The League Of Nations that seemed to backfire and help cause the second world war: because, of the abuses of France againts the Germans. Secondly England stood by while Germany created it's army,weapons and advance on Austria. Sir Angell was very frustrated with the leadeship of The League of Nation and the Priminister-Chamberland was a cluts, but never gave up. It was very inlightening, but a tuff read. Albert Marrin does not talk down but I would say it is written on the 16th grade level. If your into history or international law it should me a must read.

As if often the case with any examination of the life and military career of Robert E. Lee, author Albert Marrin begins "Virginia's General" with the pivotal date of April 18, 1861, when Lee rejected taking battlefield command of the United States Army. Lee is the most revered general in American History, mainly because of the inherent nobility in fighting brilliantly for a lost cause, an effect that can be traced back to Homer's "Iliad" and Hector, breaker of horses. One of the inevitable questions in studying his life is what his reputation would have been in the American history books if he had accepted that offer instead. Would he have led the Federal forces to a quick victory thereby saving hundreds of thousands of lives? Would the abolition of slavery have gone "better" if the South had not been devastated by the war? However, as interesting as these questions are to pursue, they are just idle speculation and Marrin's task is to understand Robert E. Lee as both a person and a solider, setting him in his own time.

Marrin devotes his first chapter to Lee's life and military career through John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, where Lee led the marines who retook the arsenal. The rest of the book divides Lee's actions during the Civil War into distinct periods defined by various tasks and battles (e.g., Savior of Richmond deals with Lee taking command of the Confederate Army after General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and Lee's Masterpiece is about the Battle of Chancellorsville). What is revealed is the portrait of a young officer who graduated West Point without receiving a single demerit and whose loyalty to his native Virginia convinced him to serve the Confederacy. But Marrin also describes the battles in such a way that young readers can appreciate Lee as a military strategist, both in terms of his many successes and his final defeats.

"Virginia's General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War" is illustrated with historic photographs and paintings, as well as small maps of each of the major battles of the war. Marrin provides an engaging narrative that covers a lot of information and works in a lot of quotations to maintain the effect that this is an interesting story and not just a history book. I also appreciate that Marrin covers the entire Civil War, since what was happening in the West affected Lee's decisions as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Consequently, this is not the first book that a young reader would turn to for an introduction to Lee, but it for a more in-depth examination of his Civil War career this is a solid choice.

A complete, well-researched, well-rounded but dry portrayal of this historic figure and time period. Marrin succeeds in conveying that a Lakota's way of viewing the world and his place in it differed from the white man's, and thus our own. Sitting Bull is portrayed as a great leader and warrior from the viewpoint of his people, but we are led to see how his actions were understood and portrayed differently by contemporary journalists and historians. Not as moving as Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, but evokes the same sense of remorseful wonder at the needless pain, suffering and loss of life imposed on Native Americans by the United States' "Manifest Destiny" policy and those who carried it out.

I thought that this book was a very good book. You could read this book and never put it down. This was a great book for an assignment or just for fun. They tell a lot about his biggest battle " The Little-Bighorn". If you like really good books you should read this.

This is a fine history book for Young Adults, in the tradition of Russell Freedman's prizewinning photobiographies. Carefully researched and footnoted, the book also includes a list of further readings and an index. The body of the book is clearly written and substantial - indeed, adults interested in the subject would also do well with this one. It contains many direct quotes from primary sources, along with many fascinating photographs of the people involved, and hand-drawn illustrations by Sioux people who witnessed these events. The facts are presented in a straightforward manner, and while there is natural sympathy towards the unjustly dispossessed tribes herein, overall the book is remarkably balanced. Depth is given to people such as Custer and Major James Walsh. I like the way readers may draw their own conclusions rather than having them forced. There are few clear heroes or villains here, rather there is historical truth and tragedy.