I abhorred History when I was at school. When I've matured and grown more realist I've started to consider the importance of history to try understand what happens around me. I started with The Penguin History of the World" by J.M. Roberts; I don't recommend that book for beginners though it's a good book (I actually hadn't courage enough to finish it, it exists in audiobook too). This book is written by five american scholars which I think gives it a more general scope than others written by a single author. It includes a CD-ROM with the whole book plus a multimedia summary of human history read by a beautiful voice, photographs, Questionnaires, Quizzes, maps and the Complete Webster's New World Dictionary. There's an exclusive webpage for the book with quizzes, add-on reports and links to other history websites, there you can have your questions answered and your exercises corrected (I haven't used it yet though). Sincerely I didn't expect this book to be so good. The CD-ROM is the same for each of the separate books or for the complete version, so, buying the first or second part alone you have the full CD-ROM encompassing all world history.

No book captures the authentity of world civilizations as this one does. A masterpiece

I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have purchased this book in a "physical" bookstore, so I'm greatful for Amazon.com. This book helped me refine my technique, and it taught me a few new tricks, too. I like the humorous approach the authors used in "handling" this subject, and it's quite informative. All-in-all I think I came away with some great ideas and I learned a few interesting tidbits about the male genetalia along the way. My boyfriend gives it two thumbs-up! Not a bad purchase for someone looking to spice things up.

Who could guess that among the annals of self-help books is one to enhance the pleasure of oral sex? Well, here it is and, if you can get beyond the turn-on feeling from the descriptive narrative, there might be a lesson to be learned in giving better sex, man or woman. Approaching oral copulation from an instinctual rather than mechanical perspective, "Going Down" offers reasons why oral sex is usually perfomed with an effort on the conscious "mechanics" that go into making it a pleasureable experience but which can actually make it less so by weakening the spontaneous instincts that accentuate it. For as silly as that might sound, anyone on either end might be surprised by how tantalizing some of the suggestions in the book can be, like deep-throating and massaging pubic hairs. One bit of silliness in this book, though, is the black and white drawings. Real-life models would have been a lot more educational! Still, for those of us whose pleasure comes more from giving rather than receiving, the improved reviews will give you a sense of satisfaction. For those who get off by getting it, you might be surprised by what you might be missing.

Man am I glad I picked up this book! My boyfriend was a bit skeptical about it at first...but when i had him screaming his UNCLES name and shooting a load that could fill up a milk jug, he sure changed his mind!

This book has changed my life, my boyfriend loves me much more, and I love him after he read the book! Btw I play Firearms mod for Half-Life, look me up )1st-Phatace51!!1

While I have had the magnificent ability to have this man as a teacher, I found this book to be incredibly stifling. The contents often made little or no sense and had to be deciphered by the students. The book often seems loosely put together, as if there was no actual intellect used to produce it - as if the book was only published to be published and there is no other reason it should be available to the public. I do not advise anyone to read this book unless you absolutely must. This man obviously has a Napolean complex, and any further production of his books must be immediately halted.

As an instructor who has used this work for several years in various editions, I have found it to be quite solid. It provides a nice compilation of primary source materials and Rogers intros to each section are usually quite well researched and solidly presented.

It has worked quite well in my college level European history courses. I am somewhat troubled by comments appearing here questioning Rogers objectivity on, of all things, the Industrial Revolution. To compare the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe to the modern industrial development is in appropriate. Historical documentation shows quite clearly that workers at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution were treated extremely poorly. In Britain however, this treatment and the lives that evolved for working men, woman and children led to vast social and political changes in Britain.

Rogers description of the Industrial Revolution given the period he is dealing with and the documents he utilizes is completely accurate historically. The evidence can lead to no other conclusion.

As a high school teacher, I find Rodger's book a wonderful resource for helping students to see history through the eyes of the people who lived it. The books allow students to get acquainted with historical debates from which we can simulate them in the classroom. Students consistently report that they prefer the personal touch of primary sources to traditionally dry textbook accounts. After finding so much utility in them, I was somewhat surprised to see Rogers chided by so many reviewers. I noticed two dominant themes in these criticisms that warrant attention.
First, that "It's boring & confusing": This assertion reminds me of freshmen whose eyes glaze over when reading anything that contains anything with multiple syllables. Rogers' thesis is that history can only be made intelligible by studying the ideas of the people who shaped it. Those unaccustomed or disinclined from engaging with viewpoints other than their own would naturally take umbrage with his approach. Furthermore, one should not assume that one's own difficulties of understanding are necessarily symptomatic of defects on the part of the author. Serious reading takes time and patience.
Those who can discern no logic to the organization of the collection need only assemble a fuller concept of the history before attempting it. Rogers posits history as a debate between differing points of view. The outcomes of these debates become the dominant institutions and beliefs that define the events of any given period. His selections help us to see that process, from the horse's mouth as they say...
Second, that "Rogers is a Marxist": It is disheartening to see that readers lay the faults of communism on Rogers' doorstep. While certainly one is entitled to despise alternatives to capitalism, one cannot justly dispute that the activities of its opponents have done much to shape history, for good or ill. Rogers is an historian, not a politician. The beauty of Rogers' approach is that he allows his readers MAKE UP THEIR OWN MINDS by giving us competing ideas from many points of view. Of course if a free marketplace of ideas is repugnant to you, it would best to confine yourself to a diet of historical fiction, propaganda and your own writing. After all, wasn't politicizing history the worst mistake Marx ever made?

what does it take to put a book together and get an exhibition done at a regional museum, with funding from a major foundation? apparently nothing. this book does nothing to further the cause of art and artists of the south. why doesn't somebody do a good survey book on self-taught art? and why does the university of mississippi press publish every book on self-taught art? black folk art 1930-1980 was a decent book on a then emerging field, but that was done in 1981. that was almost twenty years ago. and here we are in the year 2000, and no one has done a book that is any better than that. there is great art out there by these talented artists, there must be someone out there with half a brain to do a good book. when they do, email me and i'll buy it. i wonder if because the artists are self-taught, someone out there thinks it is cute to let elementary school students write about them. much of the art is very sophisticated and cerebral, and it is time the scholarship in this field rises to the level of quality that the art deserves.