This well-written biography gives a very empathic account of Villard and his contemporaries. Characters' weaknesses are described as forthrightly as their strengths.

The account covers more than Villard's participation in the financial world. It also tells of his experiences as a poor immigrant. Most vivid are the chapters that describe Villard's career as a Civil War correspondent, a 'special' to coin a period term.

Reading this book was enjoyable both because of the story, and the way it was told. The writing style is sometimes poetic, sometimes cheeky, but always concise.

I would highly recommend this book to those interested in the Civil War, or in war journalism. The chapters dealing with Gilded Age industrialism were more biographic than historically comprehensive. For a better historic account, I'd recommend "Titan : The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr" by Ron Chernow.

This book is throughly researched by Harry Villard's great grand daughter. Despite the relationship the author looks at the pros and conns of the man.

This book is able to appeal to many interests. It is the story of a very young man, new to America who eventually makes it to the very top of society. It is a lso a story about the politics and battles during the Civil War; and it is a story of the Guilded Age and the railroad wars.

All this history centers on the life of Henry Villard, German born, young immigrant, newspaper reporter, and fiinally tycoon. A fascinating read with lots of history.

All this

This book delivers on two levels. First, it is a well told journey through 19th Century American history. Henry Villard personally witnessed many of the transformational events of that time: the Colorado gold rush; the 1860 Republican Convention; Lincoln's journey from Springfield to Washington for his inauguration; the Civil War Battles of Bun Run, Shiloh, Corinth, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg; the completion of the second transcontinental railroad; and the clashes of the industrial barons of the Gilded Age. This book takes you briskly through those events with Villard as the central figure. The story is that of a 19th Century Forrest Gump.

On another level, the book describes the rags to riches personal journey of this extraordinary man. Indeed, Villard's own life is a quintessential American story: a penniless immigrant becomes a star journalist and acquaintance of legendary generals and a president. After the war, he metamorphoses into an industrial titan and rival of Morgan and Gould, before suffering substantial financial setbacks and then revived fortunes that permit him to regain his place at the pinnacle of American Society.

The book is a very enjoyable read that describes important events in American history and the story of a man who played a significant, if largely forgotten, role in those events. It deserves more attention and a wider readership.

On the positive side, the Carrigan translation is based on the E. Allison Peer's which is currently out of print. The negative is that some of the chapters are omitted by the translator (he says since they are repetative or about John's religious community, that are insignificant). I would have to discagree. Without the full transalation, some pertanent insights can be lost.

I have the downloaded the Peer's translation in both PDF and RTF format and am still looking (or hoping for a reprint) of a hardcopy from Ligouri

I'd give it 5 stars except that it's a hard read in spots. Otherwise a brilliant mystical text on spiritual union with God. Whatever your spiritual beliefs this book will give you insights into improving your spiritual being.

I read The Ascent of Mount Carmel over a decade after my own conversion to Christianity. What astonished me the most was that St. John of the Cross described with absolute precision exactly how God had intereacted with me. He describes many ways in which God chooses to reveal himself to man, most of which I did not understand. But it would be my guess that if anyone has encountered God, that encounter is described somewhere in this book.

... the reviews for King Henry VIII by William Shakespeare (and all their other books as far as I can tell) as if different editions have the same content - obviously in the case of classics that is far from true.

... 3 editions of Henry VIII at this time: (1) Hardback edited by Gordon McMullar published in November 2000 (2) Paperback edited by Jay L. Halio published in September 2000 (3) Paperback edited by R. A. Foakes published in February 1998

Their editorial reviews describe ALL 3 of these editions as "This is the first fully annotated modern-spelling edition of King Henry VIII to appear for over a decade and includes up-to-date scholarship on all aspects of the play, including dating authorship, printing, sources and stage history." I don't think so! The reader reviews don't distinguish the editions but they are the same reviews posted for the different books. I wish I could contribute the answer but I am still trying to figure it out -- in the meantime, purchase cautiously or you may be disappointed.

Shakespeare managed to describe the later life of King Henry the eight, with much intelligence and gracefulness. This play, written centuries before, has captured my attention unlike any present-day play or novel. King Henry VIII was based on the life of the notoriously known King Henry the eight of England. To my dismay, only two of King Henry's wives were mentioned. This play showed how King Henry's life was never truly complete: he couldn't trust anyone, he was unfaithful to the Lord, his wives and his country, and he was never blessed with a son, to be heir to his throne. For myself, the climax of the play was viewing how the king dealt with the change of wives and the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth. The play King Henry VIII by William Shakespeare is a wonderful recommendation for anyone who wishes to understand the tidings of King Henry the eight from a fictitious, historical, personal point of view, rather than from historical facts.

This was an appropriate conclusion to Shakespeare's career. Not only are the characters such as Henry VIII, Cranmer, and Wolsey convincing, but the poetry and images are beautiful. In addition, through the fall of several characters such as Wolsey, we can see reflections of Shakespeare himself as he wrote his 37th and final play. It is also poetically appropriate that one of the greatest writers England ever knew ended his career by writing a play about one of the greatest kings that England ever knew! I DO NOT believe that Shakespeare only wrote parts of this play as many people do. With the beautiful images, poetry, and captivating characters, I am very confident in the belief that this play was written entirely by the one and only William Shakespeare.

Well i read this book in college, and then saw the movie as my first date with the girl I'm gonna marry. This hardcoevr addition was perfect for hidding a ring.

I really enjoyed this book,. I read it a few years ago, and it really stuck with me. I would give it more stars if I could.

It is so very well written and interesting to read.

... Personally, I think that the movie was not as bad as people say it is, but the book is much better all the same. The Portrait is not for everybody. If you like Victorian era and its writers, if you love Edwardian age and its geniuses, then you'll love this book.

The Portrait is about a young American woman, Isabel Archer, whose destiny seems to be one of the most unforgettable ones in the history of literature. She stands before a choice, not wanting to lose her own identity, she struggles with both her husband and society to free herself from the chains of morality and emotional torture that she was used to while being married to Osmond.

I think that The Portrait of a Lady is James's best novel. He surely showed the world the true beauty of language and its colorful expressions.

hey, yah, i just recieved mine in the mail, i haven't had a chance to finish it yet... but i would just like everyone to know that it is available on the internet for FREE...

Dr. Tilden's "Toxemia Explained" is a very good book. It is very informative, but is also very technical, which makes reading very difficult at times. However, the content is excellent and makes reading it well worth the effort.

This book has been a great help to me personally with my fibromyalgia condition. This book has helped me like no other. Anyone concerned with the ill effects of stress and how to deal with them should read this book.

Dr. Tilden provides an elegant theory of what Antoine Bechamp, Royal Rife, Gaston Neassens, and even Florence Nightinggale proved with their observations - it is the medium. The elegance stems from its simplicity, the logic is difficult to refute. If you've questioned mainstream medical thought concerning disease (not broken bones, gunshot wounds, blunt trauma, etc) and found it lacking, take this book for a spin, but beware, there's no turning back :) Also check out Herbert Shelton, Norman Walker, Victor Irons, and Paul Bragg for support.

It is a wonderful idea to make available recordings of great speeches. I hope we have more of this in the future.
In the case of older speeches, the selection is very good, considering the restraints of time, and the readers are uniformly excellent.
As for the modern speeches, it is a marvel of technology that we can hear these speeches as delivered. It is incredible that we can hear the voice of William Jennings Bryan. I can listen to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" a thousand times and never tire of it! How I wish I could listen to the voice of Patrick Henry! But this selection is too heavily weighted to the modern, and many of those do not deserve billing as the GREATEST speeches of ALL TIME. Also, some of the modern speeches which are included are abridged, e.g. Reagan is cut off in the middle of a sentence, while lengthy and undeserving speeches are played out in their entirety.
Also, with only a few exceptions, the selection is almost entirely American. It is hard to understand why Jimmy Carter's lengthy speech on energy policy is included, while Pericles' funeral oration is not; or why only a small portion of a single Winston Churchill speech is included; why while Bill Clinton's complete 1993 pulpit address, in excess of 20 minutes, is included.
It would be helpful if the complete list of speeches were available to online buyers, as it would be to shoppers in a brick and mortar store.

I have listened to this collection twice now, both times with pleasure. Hearing the acutal voices of Amelia Earhart, Rev. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Neil Armstrong made a deeper connection than simply reading their words. The collection showcases different subjects and many times contrasts opposing viewpoints of the ideas. This volume is a fantastic introduction to the moving ideals and sometimes sad truths that have influenced Western Civilization.

If you are a serious investigator into the JFK-assassination this is the book on the history of the Mannlicher-Carcano rifles. In my work with the rifle of Lee Harvey Oswald, I have used this book a lot. My advice; buy it...

This book (once available as hardcover, 1975, and as paperback, 1976) sets out to explore the history of one specific old military rifle: the one Carcano short rifle, Fucile Modello 91/38, in 6,5 x 52 mms, serial number C 2766, that was (according to the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations) used to assassinate US president John F. Kennedy in Dallas, in 1963. Such monographic studies of the history of a single firearms are already rare. But what makes this book unique and worthwhile reading, is that its author succeeds in presenting his (painstakingly collected) information in a much larger coherent framework. We not only learn about the maker back in 1940 (the Italian government state arsenal in Terni, north of Rome), but also about the use of Carcanos in World War II, about the colourful history surplus firearms trade back in the 1950s and 1960s, about trade customs and fraud. We get to know the name and life story of the Italian gunsmith, Luciano Riva, who reworked the Carcano rifles before they were exported, and how he was cheated by his US corporate partners, and went ill and bankrupt over this. Altogether, a gun packed full with historical information, of interest not only to the "JFK assassination buff" (who will learn a great deal about things otherwise not covered by pro- and anti-conspiracy authors), but for everybody interested in the lore and history of military firearms. The book is entertaining and far from dry.

Krystal is clearly an intelligent theorist and has quite a good feel for the lived experience of the patient. He makes some very important theoretical moves here, such as showing how the Kohution notion of structure deficits is theoretically and empirically untenable. Krystal also gives a stylistically interesting account of how emotions relate to each other and develop in interconnection. However, his downfall is that his writing is rather muddled and it is often impossible to discern what he is really saying. One can perceive, as if through a fog, that Krystal is doing some very profound theoretical thinking. Yet this fog never dissipates, and that makes the book extremely frustrating for one who is trying to get a firm grip on his thinking. Moreover, Krystal's conceptualization of the emotions is mostly intrapsychic in focus, often marginalizing or totally leaving out the interpersonal realm. The theoretical sensibility in this work, though mostly having an ego-psychological flavor, is mixed and somewhat vague. Like the undifferentiated affect states of which he speaks, Henry Krystal is a potentially invigorating force who, disappointingly, is never able to sufficiently articulate himself. If one is willing to closely read him and cut through the fog of his unclear language, however, Krystal can be quite rewarding.

Krystal conveys an exceptionally deep understanding of the constricting effect of trauma on the human mind, and he shows how healing entails opening one's mind to the full range of experience. He presents the finest model of caring and compassion for the self I've seen.

Jaki's book has a thesis well summarized by the first reviewer. The polemic to support this thesis gets in the way for this reader. Newman is not an easy companion for either pro-curialists like Jaki on the one hand or the liberal sorts who try to claim Newman. Jaki sees Newman totally on his side and to do that you have to ignore Newman's own problems with Rome and the English and Irish hierarchies. If Newman was as ultramontane (super Roman) as Jaki says, why did the conservative hierarchy at the time distrust him so?

It is obvious that Stanley Jaki" latest book, "Newman's Challenge" is a labor of love. The two men are soul mates. Jaki has been interested in, and writiing about Newman for a long time. In fact, "Newman's Challenge" is a compilation of lectures and previously published chapters from other books written by the prolific Benedictine priest. For the serious, searching Christian, and especialoly for Anglicans and Catholics,there is much in this volume to ponder. Newman's challenge in defending the supernatural took him on a stringently logical path that could only lead him to embrace Rome as the church of the apostles, the inheritance of the early Church Fathers. Thus, Newman's most remembered quote, "The Fathers made me a Catholic," is based on what he considered two striking parallels: the refusal of the Fathers to conform to the thinking of the ancient pagan world, and the refusal of the post-Patristic Church, led by the Popes, to "cave in to the relentless demands of an ever more aggressive secular world." "Newman's Challenge" is a readable presentation of a brilliant man's self imposed moral obligation to seek and find truth. After many years, his journey led him to the Church handed down by Christ to Peter. Enormously sensitive to the voice of his conscience, Newman's supernaturalism was sound, the author declares, because it rested on the natural. Jaki knows whereof he speaks. He is the author of more than 40 books and articles on the history and the philosophy of science. Readers searching for logic and reason amid today's bewildering interpretations of the spiritual will find this book rich in discernment and even richer in provocative thinking.

To try to answer Thomasthawaii's question in review #4: Newman was distrusted by some Roman and English bishops because they were clericalists, i.e. they tended to think that the clergy are what the Church is all about. Newman, for his part, agreed that the clergy have an important and distinct role; but he insisted that this role was not an end in itself, but rather an instrument to a higher end: the attainment of holiness by all Catholics, lay and clerical alike. But the attainment of holiness is unavoidably a supernatural project. Hence, Fr. Jaki's emphasis on Newman's emphasis on the supernatural.

I found Probability and Random Processes a difficult subject and it was compounded by the instructor's selection of the stark and woods textbook. While it has some interesting problem sets and the tone of the text is very engaging, Probability and Random Processes, 3rd ed. has several problems. First of all, the book has several typos, including some in derivations which can cause a "what the...?" moment. Second, many sections in the introductory material gloss over derivations, skip steps, or leave proofs of theorems as the classic "exercize for the reader." (!) The biggest problem the text has is that it doesn't adequately explain the intuition for problem solving. For an engineer coming from industry and starting grad school after an extended period away from college, the net result is that the book is not self-contained. I had to buy the Papoulis book and the Schaum's outline to keep my head above water. When the semester was over I ditched the Stark and Woods and kept the Papoulis book.

I am a grad student who has to read this book every week to do the homework :P. Personally I do not reccommend the book for anyone who doesn't have strong random process background. For average student like me, I found myself read it more than 10 times in some of the topics to get the idea of the section (in order to finish end of chapter's questions). Also, I feel like there are some missing link that the author left out (may be because author assume that you know the background quite well) and that sometimes make the flow of the explanation not smooth.(for me)

This textbook is for EE grads who are oriented towards signal processing. One of the reasons I like this book is that the authors carefully selected the end of the chapter problems. This book seems to have struck the right balance between theory and application and this is reflected in the problems at the end of the chapter. Another strong emphasis of this book is applications to signal processing and the last chapter is only written for this area. Relative to the book by Papoulis, this book explains the details better for a beginner and also has more application. Relative to the other book by Leon+Garcia, this book emphasizes more signal processing concepts like PSD, KL transforms, trellises, detection&estimation while that of Leon+Garcia has more details on queing theory and networks.
I would wait for a new printing since the first printing of the 3rd edition has some minor errors. A very nice feature of this book is that it starts from the concept of probability space, Algebras and measure in a non-rigorous way to help the student cope with the minor "contradictions" they might perceive when reading a textbook in probability.