Operation Solo tells the story of Morris Childs, a spy for the American government for almost thirty years. He was a dedicated communist in the 1930's. He even visited to the Soviet Union and was taught revolutionary tactics to be used in the violent overthrow of the United States government. By the late 1940's he began to understand the monster he was serving in Stalin and feeling extremely guilty about his activities. While still in the hospital recovering from heart problems, he was visited by two FBI agents who asked straight out if would like to be a spy. He agreed. As luck was have it, he was still a member in good standing with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) so he was able to resume his activities in the Party with no problems. He eventually rose to second in command of the CPUSA.

Mr. Childs knew and was completely trusted by all the Post-Stalin leadership. One story shows how much he was trusted. On one trip to the Soviet Union, he was injured and had to have a finger amputated. He refused anesthetics because he was afraid he would blurt out he was a spy while under. Khrushchev thought he did this so he would not tell Soviet states secrets while under. Khrushchev made a speech in the Politburo congratulating Childs for his courage and had his finger buried Kremlin wall. From this position of trust, he was able Childs was able to obtain top-secret information for almost 30 years. This is only one of numerous improbable but true stories from the book, many of them life-threatening. An unparalleled story of courage and devotion.

I have read dozens of books about espionage and its effects on modern history. Never have I read an account of such selfless heroism, or one so brilliantly written. I have given several copies of this book as gifts, and have recommended it to many others. The reaction of my friends and family was markedly similar to my own. I was so proud of the Childs and their wives. Would any of us have had the courage and moxie to do as they did? Moreover, in this era where government agents have taken more than a fair number of hits, it is gratifying to see such a well-drawn account of the dedication and hard work of the FBI agents in the field. This is an astounding book that should be required reading for the acquisition or retention of American citizenship.

John Barron does a remarkable job of weaving 40 years of a day-to-day spy operation into an exciting page turner. Morris, Eva and Jack Childs are the spies who dedicated their lives to penetrating the Iron Curtain and defeating communism. Reagan, Nixon and Kissinger credit them with providing the tools to ultimately defeat the Soviet Empire while simultaneously engaging China.

In addition, Barron does an excellent job of reminding the reader that the FBI is made up of real men and women with real lives who dedicate themselves to the safety of America.

Operation SOLO is a beautiful tribute to American exceptionalism. It is reminds us that the Cold War was real, that communism is evil and that individuals make a difference. I am grateful that Morris, Eva and Jack Childs dedicated themselves to this dangerous and complex task. Their patriotism and self-sacrifice has made this world a much safer place and liberated millions of people from the shackles of communism.

Moonshiner's Gold is a good adventure story with an interesting plot, but is most suited for middle school age. It is a very fast read and leaves you feeling good about the outcome of the book and life in general. As a high school senior, I found this book to be a little low level for me. I was often bored with the simple words and grammer used. For a fourteen-year-old, however, it would be a great book.

Although Moonshiner's Gold is build with an old time western-type plot, it has a modern feel to it. The action is well planned out and it is written well. The book flows from one setting to another making it feel like you are riding along with the main character. Overall, Moonshiner's Gold is a fun, simple book meant for a younger audience, yet still enjoyable for adults.

My daughter is a big Hank the Cowdog fan. I started buying the books on cassette because I couldn't read the things to her out loud because I was laughting too hard. However, after 30+ books they get a little tiring.

Now Mr. Erickson has written something with more substance and I must say I'm impressed. I bought this book on audio tape to listen to with my 7 year old daughter in the car. I really enjoyed it and my daughter was instantly hooked by it. Though I would think boys will enjoy it more than girls, my daughter is already requesting that we listen to it again. It is a rousing adventure story with lots of humor. I hope Mr. Erickson is busy writing more books for the older child (and us adults)to enjoy.

I like to be surprised and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this little treasure. I suspect that this book with the un-cool title and pulp-western cover will get overlooked by the publisher, press, and the public. It is a gem of a story to share with your kids or to read for your own enjoyment.

Reading it reminded me of the hours I spent with the Hardy Boys as a kid and as a father reading them again to my children. There is only one difference: "Moonshiner's Gold" is really well written. Built on a tried-and-true western plot of "save the family ranch," the author has populated the tale with interesting characters and set it in a time and place balanced on the edge of on the old west and the modern world.

The story unfolds in the Texas Panhandle of 1927. The mixture of horses and cars, traditional ranch life and oil boom town society is fascinating. Mr. Erickson combines a ne'er-do-well Grandpa, a widowed mom, an adventurous teen, skulking moonshiners, hidden gold, the Texas Rangers, and skunk-nabbing to weave this entertaining yarn.

Used as an introduction to philosophy and logical thinking, this book better serves as a debater's handbook. It well covers Aristotilian and syllogistic logic. The book's strongest point, however, is it's list of informal fallacies. With the help of this book, almost anyone can win nearly any argument, even those about unfamiliar subjects. Copi's grad students did a good job on this one, except for their refusal to put Aristotilian syllogisms in standard form. It lost points with me because of it's old textbook writing style making it an uneasy read

This textbook is the most valuable I've ever read. It covers all the basic stuff, like fallacies, syllogisms, truth-functional logic, and second-order predicate calculus, omitting only cutting edge stuff like modal and fuzzy logic--and gives full, lucid, elegant explanations. What's more, it shows you how logic applies to the real world by using a variety of interesting examples--something MY logic professor never bothered doing. I can guarantee you that, if you read this book carefully from cover to cover and do all the exercises and PRACTICE applying them, you will become a much smarter, more effective person. (Example: after working through this book, I was able to score in the top 1 percentile on the LSAT). Anyone planning on becoming a lawyer, a scientist, or even a journalist will acquire extensive and essential analytical skills by using Copi's magnificent textbook.

All I can do is echo the many enthusiastic reviews this book has already received. Copi covers a wide array of logics, formal and informal, classical and modern, and demonstrates their applications using real-life examples drawn from science, political journalism, and the law. He is lucid, nuanced, and insightful. Reading this remarkable textbook is the equivalent of taking introductory courses in symbolic logic, rhetoric, philosophy of science, and legal reasoning. I learned more from this one book than from an entire year at UC Berkeley. It's a keeper!

It has some info, but I feel it lacks outstanding coordination and structure, besides Leon's own opinion on the scriptures lacks fire. He doesn't link scriptures, showing how another gives light to what you are reading. He quotes many authors but doesn't argue with the authors.

This is a respectable book, but not a classic, if you want another good commentary on John, then get it. For me, it sparked no fire.

I have over 100 commentaries on the Gospel of John and none of them even comes close to this volume. Critical and exegetical issues are treated fully and fairly. Footnotes are jam-packed with excerpts from numerous authors holding differing viewpoints. Evaluations of other positions are peacable yet thorough. Morris brings out the richness of John's message on every page. I recently preached on John 1:1 and this commentary was eminently useful for understanding the background and meaning of the text. Massive conservative scholarship, a lucid and penetrating style, profound insight and, above all, spirtual depth make this volume a masterpiece! Morris is not the only commentator on I consult, but he is always the first and usually the most rewarding.

Having studied with Leon Morris, it is delightful to see his comments plus more new material in print. This is the best new commentary written in the nineties in my opinion.

This book was the first to reveal some experimental work in the field of "Enhancing Human Performance" carried out by the US military & intelligence community. A significant core of the book, for me, was the previously classified material on "The Jedi Project", which utilised NLP and similar advanced learning technologies to train soldiers in pistol shooting, with dramatic results. Other chapters deal with topics which have since become more widely, and controversially known , such as Remote Viewing. All in all The Warrior's Edge displays a fascinating junction of military practicality and new age beliefs.

The book while explaining cutting edge reserarch in the military, really is an excellent book about developing the skills and technqiues on how to expertly master new skills, influence others skillfully and ethically, goal-setting, and many other topics. Very unique information, using a lot of neuro-linguistic programming. Really enjoyed the chapter on reality mapping, in helping me to understand that other people interpret the world according to their own assumptions and values. Great book. Highly recommend, because it's not about killing, but living your life and achieving your full potential.

It's unfortunate this is the only hardcover picture book of the Biltmore, available at the time of this review. Because it was the best one I could find, I bought it albeit, reluctantly as I like to have a picture book keepsake when I visit these places. There are many beautiful and often full page colour photographs, but there are also many black and white. Some of the latter are historical, so that is understandable, but others are not. With a predominance of construction pictures and the emphasis on the actual building process which of course ties into the history. This focus veers away from the main objective of a picture book momento, to include plenty of photographs of both the interior and exterior, preferably at least one colour photograph of each room. The estate boasts 255 rooms, and hardly 10% of them are represented. I would like to see this book enlarged to 3 times the size, with about 200 more interior pictures, then Rizzoli, who usually produces outstanding books of this genre, could up the price, but it would be worth it.

I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but as for the pictures, yes it had numerous colors, but mainly black and white. I was surprised. Even pictures that weren't historic were in black and white.

When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass.

Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

I found this book on George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, to be extremelly through. This book includes sketchs of many of the considered facades for the home, and what their floorplans would have been.

Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.

Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.
Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.

All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

I found this book to be very accurate of my personality type. I am also quite familiar with the Myers-Briggs and Enneagram system, but in those they pretty much give you One type, and that leaves out a lot of information about yourself. This one however highlights the importance of your overall personality - your dominant personality style (also known as type), your leading styles, even the styles you are low on play an important role. I guess it is more so diagnosis than self-help, although it does give a good number of tips. Still, these two authors could possibly put out a book on this, except emphasizing helping yourself overcome your faults and weaknesses as presented in this book.

All and all, I highly recommend this book if you are interested in and take an appreciation for personality psychology.

I've read lots of these types of books and always find them interesting and useful to a degree. I found this one much more valuable for a few reasons.

The best part is that you get a "score" on each of about 15 traits instead of 4 or 8. I also believe the concept that personality traits are the moderate forms of what can become personality disorders. Since so much research has gone into the disorders, it makes sense that they are a good set of measuring tools.

I've leant the book to many people who have almost all found it very valuable. The sections on my strong types read like a biography, and the hints for overcoming limitations in life and relationships were specific and helpful.

Pick it up and learn something about yourself and others.

Especially if you're a Sensitive. This book (along with the previous edition) has helped me tremendously. It has given me more confidence in dealing with people, important for a shy Sensitive. It has helped me with personal relationships, especially my marriage and friendships. It has even helped me deal with my disfunctional family. It has helped me to understand why people behave the way they do. They're not doing it on purpose to drive me nuts! It has also helped me understand myself and my own needs. I am not so hard on myself because I don't compare myself with people with other personality types.

Kundahl's biography of Morris Wampler is an excellent read! The story of Wampler's life and untimely death has an appeal for Civil War enthusiasts, for those interested in the development of the engineering profession, and for those who would like to learn about the life and times of an average citizen in a tumultuous period in American history. The material of the book has been gathered from Wampler's personal diaries and from the painstaking research of the author, who is Wampler's great, great grandson. The rich source material and Kundahl's deft handling of it give the reader the immediate experience of Wampler's life from his early education at the Mercer Academy to his work with the U.S. Coast Survey, an important scientific body that was mapping the Nation's expanding boundaries, and, finally, to his labor and ultimate sacrifice in support of the Confederate cause. Viewing the progress of the Civil War from the vantage point of and, at times, in the very words of a mid-level officer is an extraordinary experience.

Kundahl had done a masterful job for transforming Wampler's life into a compelling experience for the reader. Four stars!

This is an interesting book for a variety of reasons. The subject is John Morris Wampler, a young man whose life we follow from an inauspicious start in pre-civil War MD, to his untimely end as a Confederate Captain in Charleston, SC. The story is made doubly interesting, as Wampler is the author's great-great-grandfather, and one can feel Kundahl's personal investment to tell the story completely and without embellishment. One strength of the book is the insight it gives us into the institutions that built our country. Prior to the war, Wampler finds his early niche with the U.S. Coast Survey; at the time, an organization considered to be the premier scientific organization in the country and charged by Congress to conduct a thorough survey of the US coastline. For those with a technical bent, they will enjoy Kundahl's detailed description of the surveying techniques used by Wampler in his work along the Texas coast. Another strength is the unadorned manner in which we follow Wampler's somewhat unsuccessful pursuit of fame and fortune, both prior to and during the war. Kundahl provides a solid record of Wampler's attempts to advance his career, to include the sometimes clumsy use and abuse of mentors. The underlying story could probably be written about any aggressive 30-year-old, however, and that adds credibility to the book, showing us that human nature has not changed. The real strength--and in some respects the weakness--is Kundahl's description of Wampler's involvement in various actions during the war. At best, Wampler's involvement was alwyas peripheral. Kundahl's strength is his ability to take the perspective of the periphery and show how it played into the greater scheme of things. For those without a detailed knowledge of the Civil War, however, the view is sometimes hard to grasp. While the book is well-illustrated with Wampler's maps--his forte--battle maps showing the greater picture would be a very welcome addition. Nonetheless, the thorough accounting of Wampler's actions does give an excellent insight to the life of a staff officer. This duty is not usually depicted in typical histories, which tend to focus on the generals at the top or the infantryment at the bottom. In addition, the book gives a good review of the art of military engineering during the war and opens the idea of other books focusing on specialized staff functions at the time. The book ends with the very personal story of Wampler's widow trying to place his sacrifice into a framework that brings it the dignity and honor she feels it deserves. Kundahl's ability to draw on family records gives this section special poignancy. Given his access to family records, Kundahl's book also raises an interesting question: In this age of e-mails and telephone calls, will such books be able to be written in the future? There will always be a large public record to help document the actions of the generals and a corpus of front-line reporting to reveal the ordeal of the privates. It is doubtful, though, that these personal accounts from the periphery--which is no doubt the view of the vast majority of the participants in any period of history--will be preserved. If for nothing else, Kundahl's telling of one particular individual's peripheral view is a valuable addition to our understanding of this period in our history.

I didn't think this book would mean so much to me but it did and I'm pleased. I am a mother, feminist, and yankee; certainly not a student or enthusiast of the Civil War. Somehow this book came to my attention and I read it at first out of boredom. But I could not put this book down. In feminist studies we say "the personal is political." Through the depiction of John Wampler, this book masterfully demonstrates that concept. Kundahl tracks this man's life in careful detail, from his uniform to his marching orders. Kundahl delves where other historians fear to tread; the homelife. It doesn't matter that he fought for the South or the North. It doesn't matter that he was an engineer rather than a foot soldier (although the description of 1800's engineering principles is fascinating.) Fundementally, John Wampler was a man, a husband, a son, a father who sacrificed everything for duty and maybe even just a sense of adventure. Kate Wampler demonstrates the concept of bravery as well. While John went off to war, she kept her family and community together. Very rarely does a historical text bother to address in such detail the effects of war on women and families. Perhaps the fact that Kundahl is related to this extraordinary woman serves as the impetus for that desicion. Perhaps we should all look to our family trees to find such matriarches. I would highly recommend this book. It reminds me of another excellent book entitled "Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel. That book chronicals the life of Galileo through corrispondence with his daughter.

Military historians will love this book, which is replete with battle plans, diagrams, maps, and minutiae regarding the War of 1812. So clear and cogent a description of our army's actions and tactics is an impressive accomplishment, obviously the result of years of assiduous research. Information is derived not only from military and government records but also from personal correspondence of the time. One emerges from this book with a new respect for Major General Jacob Brown, whose victories at Chippawa and Lundy's Lane strongly influenced the outcome of the war and earned him a Congressional gold medal. John Morris's book offers a plenitude of information about the War of 1812 and also describes the changes in American military organization that resulted from Brown's ideas. (The author has also unearthed financial and personal records showing that Major General Brown labored under a backbreaking load of debt all his life, and was never free of financial worries. In present times, such a military celebrity would be making millions on the lecture circuit.)

I am not particularly well qualified to review this book, having bought and read it for family rather than academic reasons, but it is definitely a must-have for any serious student of American history. Put it on your Christmas list as the perfect gift for historians, war aficionados, and military scholars. It is not only a gold mine of information but also an elegant coffee-table display volume, containing numerous reproductions of portraits of the dramatis personae of the period.

This book provides a sparkling bio on the life and times of Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown. For too long we have ignored the study of the US army in the post Revolutionary War period. Jacob Brown, a Quaker turned soldier was one of the founding fathers of the American army in the early part of the 19th century. Like Winfield Scott and others of this period they have for too long been overshadowed by the galaxy of personalities associated with the Civil War. Without the Browns and Scotts in the antebellum US army there would not have been a firm military foundation in this country on which to build anything.

For sure Brown was no military genius, but he possessed common sense and was aggressive in his generalship. After whitnessing first hand the shameful failures in the first part of the War of 1812 when ametuer American armies bumbled their way across the border into Canada only to be sent reeling back, Brown and others learned quickly what not to do. A successful defense against Governor Provost's clumsy attack upon Sacketts Harbor in 1813 quickly marked Brown as one of the few American generals able to best British regulars. He was destined to achieve higher command than just the inefficient New York State Militia.
After the disasterous Montreal campaign of 1813, easily the worst debacle in US military history, Brown achieved rank as Maj. Gen. in the regular army. His promotion was one of several which was intended to remove the aged and incompetent generals that were ruining the army.

Brown and Winfield Scott worked hard in preparation for the 1814 Niagara campagn. Scott has been given a lot of the credit for this work, but it was really Brown who put the wheels in motion and who gave Scott the latitude to train and perfect his little brigade. The 1814 Niagara campagn would be the coming of age for the US army. The fiercely fought battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie are at long last starting to receive the attention they deserve. Morris in his bio goes into some depth concerning these actions, and rightfully so as Brown played a major part in them all. Still, we see that it was Brown's maanagement and control of the army as opposed to his battlefield genius that accomplished more than anything. Brown got the militia to actually cross the border and support the regulars. Brown is often credied as the only general who was never defeated by the British. American historians are often desperate to point this out in order to regain some pride from an embarrassing conflict. While Brown was successful in all his battles save Fort Erie, he very easily could have lost at any one of them. Still, compared to the likes of Dearborn, Wilkinson and Hull, Brown comes acorss as a towering military genius!

This biography on Brown paints a nice picture of the man and the times he lived in. We learn of the origins of this old and honorable American family and how they became the land barons of northern New York before the war. We learn of Brown's domestic life and large family from the fragmentary records which the author has put together and carefully arranged. Where there is not enough evidence the author tries to put together the pieces. The War of 1812 takes up about half of this book, while the remainder shows how Brown struggled to maintain a tiny US army under the constant attacks of scheming politicians in Washington. Without Brown's harmonizing efforts the US army might not be what it is today. Brown was also instrumental in reorganizing many departments within the army, and deserves every bit as much credit as Scott has recieved over the years. All of this was done while Brown struggled with heavy debts and a failing health.

Morris has rescued the honor of a general who deserves a very important place in the early history of the US army. This is a very readable and concise biography. All students of the War of 1812 and the period in general should enjoy this book.

No other US general was as consistently successful in the War of 1812 as Jacob Brown. Although a politically appointed general officer in the New York militia, Brown quickly earned the nation's respect, and a regular commission as a Brigadier General. Morris' well-written book objectively follows Brown's amazingly successful career from pre-War of 1812, to his death while serving as General of the Army in the post war years. The bulk of the book chronicles Brown's various commands on the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812. During his tenure on the Niagara Frontier, Brown was a central player in most land combat actions. He was in command of US forces against the British in such major battles as the Battle of Chippewa, and the Battle of Lundy's Lane- the bloodiest battle of the war. Morris covers Brown's development of standardized training for not only enlisted, but the officers under his command as well. This served as the start of professional development for the US Army that continues through to today. Morris also ably covers Brown's post war career as one of only two Major Generals retained on active duty after the war (the other being Andrew Jackson), and his rise to become General of the Army. It was in this post where Brown was able to truly begin to instill professionalism in the Army. Although the book devotes most of its space to Brown's military success, Morris also delves into Brown's personal difficulties- severe debt and deteriorating health, which serves to round out the reader's understanding of the man. Despite his status as a national hero at the time of his death in 1828, the public unfortunately has generally forgotten Brown and his contributions the United States and its Army. Morris' book will hopefully help widen the public's knowledge of the forward-thinking Brown past those interested in the War of 1812. A highly recommended book for those not only interested in the War of 1812, but also for those interested in the development of the US Army and early westward expansion.

The trouble with writers who can write good English is that they can present bad arguments attractively. Let's face it: John Morris was a crank, a very learned, impressive crank, but a crank. My copy of his work is dotted with pencil notes that question his sanity; and while that was the immediate, unmediated response to the impact of a first reading, a subsequent and more placid view does not really mitigate the effect of some of his enormities.
His worst feature was a complete inability to tell the difference between legend and historical fact - understandable, perhaps, in a novice, but incomprehensible in a man who had spent all his life in scholarship. It is typical of his methods (to dignify them by that name) that he should take seriously the Kentish legend of Hengist and Horsa (as related by Nennius), in spite not only of its obviously legendary features but of the fact that it plainly contradicts everything that our best properly historical source, Gildas, has to tell about the first Saxon war. Gildas tells us that the war was a blitzkrieg caused by the sudden fury of starved barbarians; the legend makes it a long-prepared plan. Gildas tells us that it reached as far as the West Country; the legend restricts it to Kent. Gildas tells us that it was bloody but swift; the legend makes it last ten years. How does Morris get over these hurdles? Why, by a simple and airy remark: "accounts of the war north of the Thames have not survived". He should have said not only north of the Thames but west of the Medway; but let that pass, since at any rate it shows the level of his critical intellect. This sort of thing is highly damaging, not only because it legitimated the destructive scepticism of the currently prevalent Cambridge school of David Dumville and his followers, but because it has a lethal fascination for the unprepared reader, impressed (as some of the earlier reviews show) by the show of learning, and by the cohesive picture offered. The learning is not fake (although on a few occasions, especially when dealing with Rigothamus and Brittany, Morris leaves the impression of having invented sources, or at least read them very "creatively"); but learning is not enough, and a poorly grounded overall picture is worse than none at all. I have written myself about this period of British history, and am continuously surprised at Morris' blindness to obvious fact when inconvenient for his theories.
This book escapes getting only one star for two reasons: first, its genuinely excellent prose style; and second, that in the middle of the scholarly ordure there are a good few diamonds. From time to time, Morris comes up with genuinely brilliant ideas and insights (such as his argument for the existence of an individual insular idea of Empire, or his defence of the currently unpopular early dating of St.Patrick). But these are too widely scattered among a fluent tide of nonsense to be a reason to recommend the book. Though addressed to lay readers, this book is dangerous for them; it should be restricted to those who, having as much learning as Morris himself, are able to judge and condemn his arguments.

Morris's "Age of Arthur" is a scholarly work on Dark Age Britain, and the tribes it comprised. As anyone reading the history of the first millenium will realize, the quality and extent of reliable sources on European history drops off in a major way, following the collapse of the Roman Empire, and much of Morris's story relies on archeological evidence and pieced-together fragments of local annals. For this reason, this is not a terrific work of narrative history, but on the other hand, it is a solid survey of what went on in pre-Norman, post Roman Britain.

The title of the book refers to the Arthur myth, to which some (but not all) of the book is devoted. Morris's thesis is that the Arthur legends are traceable to a real-life British king, who brought the disparate British (i.e. non-English, non-Saxon) tribes in a coherent political unit, and whose reign was much venerated in the following centuries, when the British peoples became fragmented and vulnerable to invasion. In his treatment of the British and other tribes (e.g. the Scots and Picts) Morris is slightly susceptible to the tendency to find proto-nationalistic traits, when perhaps there were none. Still, a useful and coherent reference point for Dark Age Britain.

If John Morris never wrote another book, his AGE OF ARTHUR would have to be described as a lifetime achievement. I bought this book because I've been fascinated with King Arthur for some time, and this book is THE history of the period before, during and after Arthur. Only about one-fifth of the pages in the book are about Arthur's life, but Morris convincingly describes Arthur's time and his lasting effect on the cultures and governments of the British Islands. He also makes a convincing case that history is not predestined.

THE AGE OF ARTHUR covers a period that has been condescendingly labeled the "dark ages" by some. Morris suggests this age is not so much obscure as it has been overlooked. (Or was at the time he published his book. Many new "early Medieval studies" were published in the 1990s). Morris demonstrates that scholarship about this era can be carried out by using annals; lives of the saints; law codes; land grants and religious charters; "histories" such as those written by Gildas and Bede; graffiti and tomb inscriptions; poetry; chronicles; wills; genealogical records; archeological evidence from cemeteries, burial mounds, and barrows, houses, villages, encampments, battle fields and other sites; and linguistics analysis. He has done a magnificent job of identifying and synthesizing much of the extant material. His book is loaded with suggestions for scholars who want to continue investigating this era. I doubt you will find a better book for an overview of this period or for research leads.

Among other topics, I was intrigued with the various ways the Welsh (Angle for foreigner), Irish, Scots (Latin for Irish), and German peoples including the Angles of Arthur's age dealt with everyday issues. Their social and legal problems were not so very different, but the Irish and the Welsh (Roman Britains) appear to have been somewhat more practical and humane. They were much more concerned with compensation than revenge or punishment and more than once Morris refers to them as early humanists. For example, an (adulterous wife) was expected to compensate her offended husband by paying him "face money." Some of the old laws from this age are still "on the books." For example, the notion that seven years cohabitation by persons of opposite sex creates a "common-law marriage" is at least 1500 years old and is the law in places such as the Commonwealth of Virginia which follows English Common Law.