Despite its modest format, this elegant monograph more than does justice to Vincent James' extraordinary copper pavilions floating in a birch forest, comprehensively illustrated here with a wide range of visual materials, from early design sketches, construction photographs, and extensive working drawings to exquisite images of the finished building through four seasons of rain, mist, snow, and sun. Fold-out plans are provided in the inside cover, with a location key to all photos for readers' convenience. The graphic design of the book is clearly a labor of love, far beyond the often perfunctory standard of architectural publishing. Professional readers will regret the absence of scale information, but this is a minor lapse amidst the books many virtues.

Most books about the Third Reich mention the von Stauffenberg plot (sometimes called the General's Plot) against Hitler, and a few allude to "other" plots, but Target Hitler attempts to provide a history of not only the General's Plot, but the other serious (and sometimes tragically comic) plots against Hitler. Contrary to some other writings on the subject, Duffy & Ricci assert that Rommel was not a conspirator in the Stauffenberg scheme, but simply one of the many officers who chose to remain silent about the plot, waiting for the risks to be taken by others.

There were plots discussed here that were completely new to me, such as the bomb that appears to have been planted with Himmler's active assistance -- though it is unclear whether this was an internal power struggle of Himmler to replace Hitler, or an attempt to produce a plot for propaganda purposes, for which it was well used.

There are tragicomic efforts here, such as Maurice Bavaud's. Bavaud was an anti-Communist Swiss seminary student who sought to assassinate Hitler for cozying up to the Communists -- and thought he was going to succeed using a .25 pocket pistol, which even Bavaud knew was only accurate enough with this gun to kill Hitler if he could get with 25 feet of his target! Unfortunately, Hitler walked down the wrong side of the street in Munich in commemoration of the Beer Hall Putsch.

Duffy & Ricci also demonstrate that, contrary to the view taken by some other historians, the General's Plot was not simply the result of the German officer corps attempting to save their own necks once the war was lost, but the last in a long series of efforts made before the war to remove Hitler from power, out of opposition to the immorality of National Socialist Party rule. Much of the opposition was founded on the belief that Hitler's actions in provoking wars, passing of the Nuremburg laws, and other such actions against the Jews, were contrary to Christianity. Especially among the military and diplomatic opposition, this Christian basis to opposition to Hitler created a serious problem, because of a profound reluctance to commit murder, even of someone such as Hitler. Eventually, as the nature of the brutality of the Nazi policies became impossible to miss, the major plotters, such as von Stauffenberg, overcame their reluctance. The plot to depose Hitler became a plot to assassinate.

After the war, many officers sought to find protection in the argument, "I was only following orders." Duffy & Ricci provide an example of the traditional German military view with a quote from General Beck's memorandum of July 16, 1938:

"Vital decisions for the future of the nation are at stake. History will indict these commanders [who blindly follow Hitler's orders] of blood guilt if, in the light of their professional and political knowledge, they do not obey the dictates of their conscience. A soldier's duty to obey ends when his knowledge, his conscience, and his sense of responsibility forbid him to carry out a certain order."

There were many officers in the German military who, because they had sworn a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler in the early days of the National Socialist government of Germany, were reluctant to directly participate in the plot against Hitler -- but were ready to help as soon as Hitler was dead.

There were other factions as well, including labor leaders not already incarcerated, and various Social Democrats. While they and the aristocratic conservative elements that made up the plot were not able to completely agree on what the new Germany should be, they were able to reach agreement that Hitler had to be removed, one way or another.

The courage of many of the conspirators is astonishing. Duffy & Ricci recount a number of instances where high officers put plastic explosive charges in their pockets, started the fuses, then attempted to get close enough to Hitler to grab hold. Other generals attempted to enter Hitler's presence while armed, in the hopes of getting at least one lethal wound inflicted on Hitler before being killed themselves.

Hitler's luck is also astonishing. Plot after plot were foiled by Hitler's habit of changing plans and schedules at the last moment. The General's Plot, however, failed because many elements in the plot failed to take action immediately after the bomb went off -- and in failing to take action, provided enough time for Hitler loyalists to mobilize.

One annoying error is that throughout the book the military intelligence organization, which was a center of the conspiracy against Hitler, even going so far as to give military intelligence ID cards to Berlin Jews, to enable them to leave the country safely posing as military intelligence officers, is consistently misspelled as "Abwer" instead of "Abwehr." Since the authors have relied heavily on memoirs of survivors of the plots, this error is all the more mystifying.

The book concludes with a description of what finally happened to the major participants in the General's Plot. The courage of these people, confronting the Nazi People's Court, destroyed whatever propaganda value these trials might have had. As Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben told Judge Freisler, "You can hand us over to the executioner, but in three months' time this outraged and suffering people will call you to account and drag you alive through the mud of the streets."

What Death More Glorious, by James Nevins is the only definitive biography ever written on General Strong Vincent. This book takes the life of Vincent from childhood to death, and focuses on his integral role in the Civil War battle of Gettysburg during July of 1863. Vincent has never recieved the recognition that he deserves until now. This well-written text is suitable for all ages; even if you're not a history buff it is an extremely enjoyable read and highly recommended

This is the first Foundation-novel I read. After finishing it, I immediately went to the bookstore to buy 10 other Asimovs, which should say enough.. . . The galaxy sketched by Asimov is so colorfull and realistic, one is driven to read the entire book at once. Each department of Trantor has its own characteristics, just like each culture on our tiny 'Aurora'. The problems created by these differences are parallel to 'ours' as well. As I recognised the Big Galactic Problems Asimov adresses in this book in our modern society, I was curious to see the development of the special solution Hari Seldon tried to find for them. You can recognise the scientist in Asimov, when Hari Seldon is asking himself questions about the development of his psychohistory. I was very curious about the answers lined out in the following novels. Furthermore, I was fascinated with the idea of our Earth transformed into a mere legend, and the unexplainable 'Easterns' and 'Westerns' spread into the vast galaxy. Last but not least, the plot was very surprising. Asimov tricked me into some wrong ideas the entire novel. I am reading 'Foundation and Empire' now, and I'm still totally obsessed with it, so I recommend this series to everyone who likes SF-novels as well as social sciences.

In 1988, Asimov published a prequel to his famous Foundation series. He also uses this book to continue to tie in other novels that he had already written, most notably all of the robot stories, particularly involving R. Daneel Olivaw and Lije Baley, as well as "Pebble in the Sky" (1950) (in fact, in such a larger scheme, "Prelude to Foundation" follows "Pebble in the Sky" and precedes "Forward the Foundation" (1993)). In this novel, he finally uses Hari Seldon as a main character. A young assistant professor of mathematics, Hari Seldon, travels to the planet Trantor (the governing planet of the galactic empire) to present a paper at a convention on a new field he has begun referred to as psychohistory. In his paper, Seldon suggests that it might be theoretically possible to develop mathematical equations and techniques of analyses to predict, with strong statistical analysis, future events of human history on a broad scale (in which the discipline only is applicable to extremely large numbers of people). Asimov provides some hints that this field might use chaos theory as well, although he never uses that term. Seldon also believes that, while theoretically possible, it isn't practical. There are those, however, who believe that the galactic empire is collapsing and hope to use a developed psychohistory theory to help direct human society. Seldon finds himself running from the Emperor's agents and hiding in various different enclaves throughout the planet Trantor, and thus learning more and more about Trantor (those reviewers who criticize this trek are obviously missing its importance in the greater scheme of the series). He is attempting to find a smaller model of galactic populations that would allow him the ability to develop his theory. There are legends that tens of thousands of years ago, man had lived on only one planet: Earth. He is hoping to find some historical evidence for Earth and, in so doing, he discovers some surprising facts and events. I am probably unusual in that I enjoyed this book the most in the series. Perhaps its because I also live in an academic environment and see many similarities to Hari's problems. Asimov was obviously drawing on his own experiences.

This fantastic piece of work by late Grand Master Asimov, is a "prequel" (now that the word is fashionable) to the Foundation Trilogy. It is about the youth of Hari Seldon, the mathematician that developed the science of Psycohistory to predict the future.

In this book we can see the galactic capital world of Trantor during the reign of emperor Cleon I. As usual, Asimov uses the various situations in the novel to analize contemporary or historical sociological topics, such as rural-urban migration, religious beliefs and economic influences in culture.

The climatic ending of this novel, which is the cornerstone of the 3 great sagas of Asimov (Robots, Empire and Foundation novels) sets Hari Seldon on his way to develop the future of the galaxy and his beloved Foundation project.

What happens when a conservative, middle-aged newspaper critic becomes obsessed with a hauntingly beautiful porn star? Well, in Paperback Writer he gets pulled into a web of intrique, adultery, blackmail, betrayal, and bleach bottles, same thing that would happen to anybody. Benjamin Harms is a reviewer for the London Times who falls in irresistable lust with her name after reviewing her movie. She shows up and seduces him on his car hood, and he barely has time to get used to the way his entire life has been turned around when the blackmail begins and he is forced by her director to give good reviews or else Harms' entire life will be destroyed and he won't get to touch her anymore. Harms' entire life is then destroyed anyway.
What makes it funny is Harms' thoughts on his obsession. It's told from his viewpoint, and he's a strange duck indeed.

Nobody seems to have an inkling of what they're missing. I laughed through this, I cried, I could not go to bed until done even though I was slumped upright in a desk chair, reading on my computer screen. This story races along faster than you can hope to catch your breath. Poignant, quaint, cosmopolitan, sensual, horrid, heartbreaking, joyous and profound...nothing else in e-books has come close. Not a lot in print that surpasses it either. A crazy love story, beautiful in the extreme. Surprise ending. Read it.

This is a "must read" for anyone involved personally, professionally and/or associated with anyone in the process of divorce and child custody. Vincent communicates through Jack Danik's dialogue, the serious emotional consequences divorce has on our children. Although listed as "fiction", the author compels you to feel the desperation, anger, frustration and pain of Danik and his son. It leaves the unsettling question of who really is concerned about the "best interest" of the child?

The ending...poignant!

This is a "must read" for anyone involved personally, professionally and/or associated with anyone in the process of of divocre involving child custody. Vincent communicates, through Jack Danik's dialogue, the serious emotional consequences of divorce on our children. Although listed as "fiction", the author compels you to feel the frustration, anger, desperation and pain of Danik and his son. It leaves the unsettling question as to who really is concerned about "the best interest of the child"?

The ending...poignant!

This book is a "must read" for anyone involved personally, professionally and/or associated with anyone in the process of divorce and child custody. The author communicates through Jack Danik's dialogue, the serious emotional consequences of divorce on our children. Although listed as fiction, the author compels you to feel the frustration, anger, desperation and pain of the main character and his son. It leaves the unsettling question as to who really has the "best interest of the child" in mind at the time of divorce.

The ending....poignant!

I recently read the novel "Escape From the Dead SuperstarReview" and am estatic that fictional humor is alive and well in the guise of James Vincent Nix, who is not only a great comic, but a wonderful Life teacher as well.

This novel not only takes you through a humorous adventure with its interesting characters (not since "Fried Green Tomatoes" have I loved this many strange people!), but it teaches you a valuable spiritual lesson as well - without you even realizing it until after the book has been read and digested. Unlike those spiritual books featured on Oprah that hit you over the head with a message, this book allows you to discover one of Life's most important lessons on your own terms. And it does it in such an enjoyable fashion too!

If there is any major problem with the book, it is that it ends so quickly. I just wish we could've explored the secondary characters more indepth. Perhaps this can be done in a sequel?

To mark James White's appearance as Author Guest of Honor at the 1996 World Science Fiction Convention, NESFA Press published this collection of nine of his novelettes and an equal number of his fanzine contributions (mostly from Walt Willis's legendary "Hyphen"). The balance is fitting and proper, for White was equally eminent as a "vile pro" (his term) and a dedicated fan - one of the few successful authors who sprang from, but never very far away from, the fannish milieu.

Though never ranking with a Heinlein or Asimov or Niven in popular acclaim, White compiled an impressive body of work. Best known was his "Sector General" series, set in an interstellar hospital whose multi-species physicians found their ingenuity challenged by the strange ailments of some of the weirdest patients ever imagined. THE WHITE PAPERS includes four Sector General stories, plus the author's account of the origin and development of the series as a whole. The problems presented range from caring for a half-ton alien infant who has to be sprayed with food every four hours to treating a shape-changing amoeboid's catatonia to preventing a young human doctor from falling in love with his crustacean counterpart. All cleverly turn the superficially bizarre into narratives that are sometimes funny and often moving.

The non-Sector General stories likewise maintain a high standard. The gems are "Custom Fitting", which addresses the question of where the centaur-like first ambassador from the Galactic Federation is to find suitable garments for his audience at the Court of St. James, and "Christmas Treason", in which a gang of telekinetic toddlers tracks down Santa Claus. One story, "House Sitter", appears here for the first time. We are not told when it was written, but elements of the theme would not have been welcome in most science fiction outlets until very recently. The other two stories are "Commuter", a clever time travel yarn whose only weakness is an unsurprising surprise ending, and "Sanctuary", where Irish nuns protect an alien explorer from the attentions of a 60 Minutes style "attack television" program.

In general, it should be noted, White is a somewhat "old-fashioned" (that is, Campbellian) writer. Faster-than-light travel, instantaneous communications, anti-gravity devices and even "stasis boxes" (long before Larry Niven exploited the concept) are taken for granted. The plotting is careful, and the characterization vigorous, if not always subtle. The are no experimental literary techniques, no sexual banter, no casual obscenities and nothing suggestive of drugs, New Age-ism or cyberpunk. Readers immersed in the latest SF trends may find this mix a bit stodgy.

The fan writings that make up the second part of the book represent a good sampling of one of the great times and places of amateur science fiction enthusiasm: the Irish Fandom ("IF") created by Walt Willis, Bob Shaw, George Charters, John Berry, Chuch Harris, White himself and others. IF flourished in a less than salubrious clime, the tension-wracked Northern Ireland of the 1950's and later. The contrast between IF's wacky, good-natured, effervescent worlds and the stark reality round about is captured in the nostalgic nonfactual essay, "The Exorcists of IF". White's own role in cultivating this garden of sanity and cross-tribal friendship (he was a Roman Catholic; most of the rest of IF were Protestants) is portrayed in a memoir, "Fester on the Fringe".

Other pieces fall into distinctive fannish genres: the "trip report" ("The Beacon, or Through Darkest Ireland Carrying a Torch for Bea Mahaffey"), the "con report" ("The Long Afternoon of Harrogate" and "The Quinze-y Report", the latter title being a Walt Willis pun that requires a quarter-page explanation), the fannish history ("A History of IF, Chapter 3") and the unserious personal invective against pretended enemies ("The Last Time I Saw Harris" and "The Not-So-Hot Gospeller"). Whatever the nominal topic, all of these sketches are light-hearted, pun-filled and witty. The nonfan may stumble over an occasional obscure reference (to, e. g., Roscoe or the sawing of Courtney's boat), but the argot is not so thick as to be unintelligible, and the meanings of the most frequently used terms, such as "egoboo" and "BNF", soon become clear from the context.

Rounding out the volume are a Sector General timeline and catalogue of alien species, both prepared by the late Gary Louie, a talented and deeply missed Los Angeles fan.

James White died not long ago, and his fiction is becoming hard to find. His fan writings were always ephemera, of course. Happily, NESFA Press keeps its backlist in print, giving another generation the opportunity to sample the writings of one of the field's stars.

This is a very readable book about the long history of Russia under the Grand Princes and Czars. It contains many interesting facts about rulers you never knew existed. My only complaint is that it only has 5 maps and only 3 of them are helpful. A history book should have maps to help readers visualize the wheres, whens and whys. And a book about the 1000 year history of Russia under the Czars should have many maps. This book lists many cities and towns that were important throughout Russian history but it doesn't show on a map where they are/were located. This book goes into great detail about battles between Russia and the Khans, Ottomans, Swedes, Poles, Napoleon and the British. However, it does not provide maps to allow the reader to follow the battles. I had to find another book of maps to be able to fully understand what was going on. Hopefully, the next time the authors write a book or update this one they will take into consideration the reader's desire and right to know where things are happening.

Fairly well written and detailed it unfortunately lacked the graphic information needed to complete the thought. Several times it would mention a certain region or town without giving the reader the map leaving you guessing to where the event had occured.

More pictures of the major players would have been welcomed as well, if possible.

Czars: Russia's Rulers for More Than One Thousand Years is a great book. It is so well written, which makes it incredibly entertaining. It encompasses every facet of the Russian's fascinating history. This book I will definitely read again. Usually, I would find the Russian history complicated and rather dull, but this book makes it interesting. It is an overall masterpiece.

I did not find enough of the following about each decade:
fashion
entertainment
music
food
turning point
sports

The whole series is great. From 1900-1989, it says all about the great 20th century. The pictures help you immagine yourself being there. Overall wonderful!