John Keahey has written a lovely little travelog of his attempt to follow in the footsteps of George Gissing and explore a seldom visited (by Americans) part of Italy's boot, the heel, arch and toe. Gissing was a writer-comtemporary of H.G. Wells and Conan Doyle, and though he is not as well known today as Wells and Doyle, he was considered an important author in his own time. Like Henry James and Edith Warton and other Anglos from America and England, Gissing traveled though Italy and recorded what he experienced.

Keahey should probably be compared to PILLARS OF HERCULES author Paul Theroux as he writes currently, and has covered a part of the Mediterranean Theroux passed through and wrote about. Theroux wrote a copious and much longer book (and I recommend it to anyone interested in the Mediterranean), and has a more pragmatic and sceptical outlook. Keahey has written a short, sweet, and romantic book about a place he seems genuinely fond of and not terribly familiar with, but willing to learn about. I suppose if one is reading before bedtime, Keahey's book may be more enjoyable, but Theroux's book may be closer to the truth.

Keahey's book is a diary of his travels and therefore a bit limited (Theroux actually links up with individuals living in various places and queries them about the local history, etc.). He also seems more focused on the Greek heritage of the area than the Phoenician, Roman, Norman, or Turkish, though he does make reference to Spartacus in one section. A number of decisive battles were fought in the lower part of the boot, particularly by the Romans, and those battles and much other history is overlooked, but Keahey essentially suceeds in doing what he set out to do, recreate Gissing's trip and see the sights he saw 100 years earlier.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mr. Keahey was able to transport me to southern Italy and allow me to view with him the sites visited by George Gissing more than 100 years before. I loved the descriptions of the countryside and the people. I could almost see them myself and now I really want to. From my travels in Europe, I could relate to Mr. Keahey's descriptions of problems that he experienced as well as the joys of the trip. I hope he goes on more journeys and shares those with us.

A cheerful good nature pervades this book, in contrast to the misanthropic (but highly readable) Paul Theroux. It's heart-warming and interesting to read the acknowledgements at the end. (But then who knows? Maybe Paul Theroux in real life is a nice man and John Keahey a bad-tempered curmudgeon.) Sometimes the writing is careless, with "like" instead of "as if" (or am I pedantic to object to that) and with repetitions such the story of Hannibal's massacre of his mercenaries and the changes of name of Crotona. He is nothing like as erudite as Gissing or Norman Douglas, or at least he is more modest about his knowledge, so that you have the feeling of learning about Italian history and English literature along with him as you read. Those older writers expected you to know already about Cassiodorus and the Sybarites. In spite of his disarming modesty I still think he should have found out the names of the plants he saw. "Yellow flowers" is not good enough. For [the price]we should get some more research.
The photographs are black and whites squeezed into half and quarter pages.
It's a combination of biography of George Gissing, travelogue, and history of Southern Italy. The descripion of Naples (the only place in the book I have visited) is good but a little superfluous if you're reading this before a trip to Italy because there is already so much good writing about Naples. More valuable for the intending traveller are his descriptions of such places as Paola, Cosenza, Reggio, Taranto, Metaponte, Copia/Sybaris, Crotone, Catanzaro, and Squillace.

Although I am a student of Poliical Extremism, I found this book very tedious. I have found many other books, scholarly and otherwise, much more interesting and worthwhile.

This fact filled tome will aggravate those with a fixed set of assumptions whether from the Left or the Right. The reason? They view themselves as exceptionally virtuous, morally superior, and they're convinced they are middle-of-the-road as to their beliefs. It doesn't take very long to see that this point of view leads to a distorted perception of reality i.e. if Dan Rather sees himself as middle of the road then moderate Libertarians would be far Right in the pantheon of his worldview. It's the same story with the abortion issue, particularly from the Right.

John George, a professor of Political Science and Sociology at Central Oklahoma University and Laird Wilcox, founder of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, are the book's authors. Wilcox has the largest collection of extremist literature in America and it can be found at the University of Kansas, home of copious fields of wheat, endless horizons and a highly successful basketball program.

They cover every facet of extreme political movements including what radical groups exist, who joins up and why, what do they want to accomplish, how far are they willing to go to achieve those ends, and the degree of danger we face should they achieve their ends. They begin by summarizing pre-60's movements, then morph into the makeup of conspiracy theories and what motivates extremists. They thoroughly document and detail a listing of contemporary groups in addition to adding an in-depth appendix of fake quotes and fabricated documents.

If you've ever wondered how the far-Left in America could fawn at the feet of a butcher like Fidel Castro or lap up the distorted and inaccurate screeds of a false intellectual like Noam Chomsky then go no further, it's all here. I'll share with you some insights in the book.

For the alienated and "ideologically prone", identification with a power figure or someone held up as an intellectual guru can serve as a mechanism to free them from anxieties and doubt. A failed ideology such as Socialism can thus continue to embody all their fantasies, utopian ideals, and hopes for the future. This phenomenon is repeated over and over throughout history from the heaven-on-earth promises of Communism to the heaven-hereafter central to the teachings of radical Christianity as well as radical Islamicism.

The "true believer" tends to believe in theories with little or no evidence to support his conclusions or predictions. Eric Hoffer addresses this condition in his book by the same name. Put another way "true believers" tend to believe what they tend to believe, a form of "petito pricipii", where dogma is presented which assumes the truth of the premise. It assumes that the thesis speaks for itself.

After pounding home this theme with his followers the guru uses selected facts, working backwards from his addled assumptions, to support his flawed thesis. Rituals are often invoked to soothe the listener by incorporating what amounts to the elements commonly found in the practice of hypnosis.

There is much, much more and it's all worthwhile if you're a student of people and how they come to believe what they do. This is the best book of its kind I've read, and I wish to say thanks to the authors, "I needed that". It was getting just too difficult to understand my Libertarian-Socialist-Communist friends let alone my friends of strong religious conviction. And, these are my friends! they're not even trying to kill me! We're a lucky bunch here in the USA.

This book is an exposee of some of the groups judged "extreme" by the authors on the far left and far right. These include communists, socialists, black nationalists, militias, white supremacists, Jewish extremists, Klansmen of various sorts, NeoNazis, and various religious fundamentalists. Fortunately, the authors do not take the smug politically correct stance that is taken by many academics writing about this topic. We learn that indeed the communist parties (CPUSA, for example) were likely linked to the Soviet Union. We learn that the militias are largely not racist. And, we are told that the events of Waco and Ruby Ridge were indeed totalitarian power plays. A decent account of some conspiracy theories is given as well. Overall, this book provides a much more objective view of "extremism" than is usually given by the politically correct in academia.

As if we need any more evidence that Geoffrey Giuliano is a opportunist hanger-on disguised as a "expert" - this book is strictly the work of a clerk, not an author. Collate a bunch of old, dubious interviews, insert one's own impressions, call it a book. That great effort of journalism must have taken, what, a weekend to toss together?

And isn't it nice Geoffrey Giuliano can take credit for this "monumental" work and collect royalties off it.

Some expert.

I sure did. So should any serious beatles fan. Great shots too. I keep it a reference book and go through it often.

I have been a Beatle fan for thirty years, and it is great to finally hear the Beatles own story as told in their own words. Not only are the Beatles featured, but so are their closest family and friends. It was a great read, as are all Beatle author Giuliano's works.

As a regular reader of 'Wings/Airpower', I found this book completely & absolutely NOT WORTHWHILE. There may be about 3-4 paragraphs about the actual airplane, but the ENTIRE rest of the book deals with "in late Oct. '44, the 3rd Russian squadron of the 5th Ukrainian Airforce changed it's squadron designation to the 18th Russian squadron".

Here are some obvious questions that are NOT answered in the book . . .
1. How did it compare in low-level fighting agaist Zero's? FW-190's? Me-109's?
2. What good qualities did this maligned airplane have that the Russians could trounce FW-190's & Me-109's at low level.

Why aren't there any interviews with pilots? ? ? ?
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If you want a book about paint schemes, it's OK. If you want a book about the Airplane itself, this isn't it.

Though not stricktly an Airacobra book about the plane itself, lots of Airacobra photographs and sideviews can be found in this book. It is indeed a welcome addition to "Attack of the Airacobra, Soviet aces, American P-39s & the War Against Germany", because the latter book may not suffer from extreme thinness, but has an meager photographic section. 'P-39 Airacobra Aces' bridges that gap, because most Airacobra aces were Russian, hence a lot of Russian planes in the sideview section, and quite a lot of photographic material about Russian aces as well. A welcome addition for both modeller and historian and a good book about an underrated plane and its faithfull pilots. If I'm not mistaken this book is also translated into the Russian and part of the 'War in the Air' series of Tornado Publishers (no. 45 of that series), a fitting tribute to the quality of this book.

The P-39 was one of the more obscure USAAF fighters of World War II. It was used in secondary theaters and as a trainer by the USAAF, rejected by the RAF and greatly loved by the Soviet air force, who received thousands via Lend Lease.

This compact volume has a tremendous amount of detail. It profiles the aces who flew the P-39, gives information about their wartime activities, aircraft and units, and includes several pages of beautiful color plates of the P-39 aircraft flown by aces. It will be a worthy addition to the library of aviation and military history buffs and builders of scale model aircraft.

I've been avidly researching George Parr as a topic in political science for some time now, and I find this book very dissapointing and upsetting. This is not a history book. This book was written by a man who was personally involved in a ideological battle against George Parr, and says many things that aren't true. He obviously knew all the details from memory, because he didn't cite any sources for his information. The captions for the pictures in the book are extrememly ridiculous. A picture of a dirt road is supposed to convince readers that George Parr kept the people poor. This is silly. If you talk to anyone who lived in Duval County during that time, you will find that he took care of everyone, and everyone loved him. Duval County actually had one of the better school systems in Texas during his reign, and according to one woman "he was our Robinhood." Political scandal, yes. Humanitarian, yes. Good book, no. I hope no one believes everything they read.

This book is an outstanding journal of the "Duke of Duval"
George Parr. Parr had made his mark on history by determining
the final outcome of the 1948 Senate election in Texas. Thanks to
his efforts Lyndon Johnson emerged the winner by an 80 vote margin. This book details how George Parr was finally brought to
justice. You have details of the investigation that resulted in the sucessful prosecution of The "Duke of Duval" and several of
his associates. The details of his downfall will prove to be very
interesting. You will also understand the dominant role that the
"Duke of Duval" had in Texas politics. This is an excellent read.
You will not be dissapointed.

The Duke of Duval reigned supreme in his South Texas domain in the 1930's while I was in early school years in Corpus Christi, Texas near Duval and Jim Wells Counties. Many people knew what was going on in Duval County since businessmen from Corpus Christi, including my father Clinton E. Smith, CPA, interfaced with George Parr's regime in their normal business dealings.

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Clark, the author of The Fall of the Duke of Duval at a book signing event at the small library at San Diego, Texas on March 2, 1996. Several hundred copies were signed that day. Mr. Clark's short message was to recognize and help prevent it all from happening again. While at the event, I had occasion to talk to the current Mayor of San Diego, TX and he quietly said to me about the book, its only the tip of the iceberg.

George Berham Parr changed U.S. history by orchestrating a vote fraud that caused Lyndon B. Johnson to become a U.S. Senator and later a good candidate for Vice President with Kennedy to help get southern votes. Many Texans never thought of Johnson as presidential material and after two Kennedy terms LBJ would have been too old to run effectively.

But The Duke of Duval made it happen, leading eventually to LBJ's starting programs that today have been bloated by beltway politicians until they are about to bankrupt the country and destroy our culture.

The speech in Mr. Clark's book, delivered by Mr. Josh Groce, a San Antonio attorney, should be MUST reading for any student of history.

In an apparent attempt to present a balanced view of Washington, Ferling attempts to psychoanalyze the first president and goes far afield of the materials he has. Often his conclusions are pure conjecture and he frequently criticizes "other historians" for thier conclusions and then draws his own unsubstantiated conclusions.

Ferling does provide a nice historical accounting of events and details during Washington's life. However, he frequently tries to determine the mindset of Washington and here he repeately fails. Often these attempts are little more than cheap shots. He even criticizes the President for not writing his feelings in his diary when he found that a relative was dying, saying that Washington was afraid to appear "unmanly." This is little more than the insertion of 20th century thoughts and values into an 18th century mind. It does little to shed light on Washington and much to shed light on Ferling's mindset.

Undoubtedly there are biographies which are equally detailed without the repeated and distracting psychoanalysis.

This book was an assigned text in one of my college classes, and that's how I came to read it. I originally wanted to read Flexner's or Randall's biography of Washington, but Ferling's version didn't disappoint me.

What struck me about this biography is its objectivity. Ferling neither romanticizes about Washington as a demi-god, nor does he try to debase him. In the first hundred pages or so, I felt that Ferling was rather harshly critical of Washington, but by the end of the book, I felt that Ferling had highlighted many of Washington's good qualities as well. Ferling doesn't sugar-coat Washington's faults, but he doesn't ignore Washington's remarkable achievements, either. I liked how Ferling contrasts the brash young Washington of Fort Necessity with the mature Washington of Valley Forge. The father of our country certainly wasn't born with the dignity that later was his trademark, and it was interesting to see how Washington developed his character over the years. This gave me a more realistic admiration of Washington than I previously had.

An excellent biography about a tremendous historical figure.

This book is an excellent account of a man who learned from his mistakes in his early life and used those experiences to control himself and attain recognition as one of the most accomplished men in history.

If you're looking for detailed biographies of George III's children, this isn't the book, but it's excellent as a resource for basic information regarding the lives. It gets very, very complicated, trying to remember which child is the Duke of whatever, so I had to keep referencing the family tree, but that's not the fault of the author, it's simply a result of the king and queen's fertility.

It was interesting to read about King George and Queen Charlotte's fifteen children. The author tells us about all fifteen, and portrays some of them, for instance King William, in a more positive way than in the case of other books. Van der Kiste claims that King William was positive for British politics. At the same time, we are told that he was a very good father to his ten children born out of wedlock. And van der Kiste claims that his younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, was not a murderer. This also contradicts versions I have read before. The author tells us that most of King George's fifteen children had their flaws, but at the same time they had their good sides. In this way I do believe that van der Kiste gives us a more balanced view than many other authors.

As for the King's many daughters, I must say that I really feel sorry for them. They had to stay with their possessive parents, and none of them were allowed to marry until they were old. They were expected to obey their parents, and seemed to have had rather boring and restricted lives.

I agree with some of the the critics that it is often confusing to keep track of who is who, as the author keeps switching between their christian names and their titles. When there were so many of them, it is hard to remember what son or daughter had which title. But, all in all, this is quite a good book.

Writer John Van der Kiste not only knows his history, but also knows how to present it in a fascinating manner. I was prepared to be bored by the large brood of mad King George, but I couldn't put it down. It was wonderful!

I'm glad this book is not sold anymore! When my mother-in-law (a NZer) read it and then came with us to visit Kiev, Lviv, Moscow and some small and mid-sized cities and towns, she said she read your book, but LUCKILY didn't find it to be true!!!

I think the author of the book needs to visit Ukraine and Russia soonish and re-write the book, or get some treatment for..., racism, cold war and a shield from what the media brings to your TV screens (everyone knows that only bad news and breakthroughs make news), so please use your brains!

I read the book after my mother-in-law's remarks and was sick in my stomach, for quite a while.

I lived in Russia for a year and traveled extensively in European Russia and Siberia and this book never failed me. Although prices fluctuated, everything else was absolutely accurate and very thoroughly researched. The writers went to enormous lengths to write what is hands-down the best travel guide to Russia. The new edition is due out this April. Mine is already on order.

I found this book fascinating. It was great the way the writer bought into consideration the fact that no-one wants to travel to the places in question. When reading this book be sure to enquire at your local travel agent for any misconseptions. great book. 5 star

In response to negative review, Steve Perez worked at the Santa Cruz Sentinel for about 10 years. Perez wrote on the homicides in Santa Cruz County. The Sentinel is owned by a division of Dow Jones Inc, and one of the largest stockholder is Mary Bancroft's daughter under the Jane Bancroft trust. Mary Bancroft was a CIA agent and she was the lover of CIA Director, Warren Commissioner Allen Dulles and CIA assest Henry Luce. If you had read first half of the book and gave up you would have read Perez's work. There may be a couple of type'os possibly because when using Quark Express I had to take manuscript to Kinko's and another high grade printer. When I load program it reformatted the text for the entire volume. I went through to clean them up. Have had few complaints since 1996. Many in the JFK assassination community have praised the volume for it's damning evidence against on George de Mohrenschildt's ties to Prescott and George Bush Sr. Bruce Campbell Adamson

Although this book could be a bit of a headache for anyone who's grown accustomed to an easy pulp-fiction read, it is nevertheless impeccably researched. The material presented, everything from court documents to official correspondence to casual correspondence, presents a startling factual picture of "the ties that bind", and manages to avoid the Usenet-style conspiratorial bent that shows up in most other books documenting the strange Dulles-Kennedy-Bush triangle. American history at its strangest!
Five stars for tracking down and formatting the immense volume of material in this book, and five stars for having the couage to print it. A bargain at any price- in fact I'll trade my copy for a nice Texas gusher, if anyone's interested...

I find this volume well researched and extremly incriminating. Why are so many people happy with this volume on Ebay. Adamson has many positive reviews on Ebay. Everyone who has purchased the volume has left a positive review, it seems on EBAY at user I.D. at ciajfk.com. If it is so hard to follow, why are they happpy? C.W.

I found this book to be completely outdated and useless. I had expected to find some state of the art data, or at least recent information. When it came to the best modems, 2400 baud was the best available but 14,400 baud might offer some potential.

It was my fault for buying this dog as I had assumed that it was updated as of 1997 - it was only copyrighted then.

The title is accurate. If you want to learn about telephone electronics, this is a great book. It's easy to read, comprehensive and well structured. No, it doesn't go into great detail about state of the art modems or attempt to teach the finepoints of wireless telephony, but it does cover basic fax, modem and telephone electronics very well.

It coverd all telephone basic