After reading the novel A House Divided, a positive personal conclusion was made. Although the introduction of the novel was confusing and somewhat misleading, the intricate details of the plot seemed to overcome the first negative impression. The intense drama of the book was compelling in itself for it kept the reader interested. The young love story of Katrina and Dmitri was intricately woven around the wherabouts of her maidservant Anna, and her brother Sergei. Written by Michael Philips and Judith Pello, A House Divided takes place in the harsh yet romantic setting of Russia. Although chaos of war is going on around them, the characters somehow find a greater inner peace. The novel emits a sorrowful feeling in the beginning of the book, for Paul's decision to desert his family and friends for the pride of his country, he joins the war. When Sergei joins Paul's patriotic decision of joining the war, Anna is forced to face the emotion of devastation. Once again, Anna has to but her own interests and concerns aside so she is able to comfort her master, Katrina. While Anna and Katrina's loves are away defending their freedom and safety, Katrina and Anna developed a relationship. At the beginning of the novel, Katrina is self-centered and prideful towards Anna. Katrina degrades Anna by calling her just a servant girl, and denies her of any friendship. However, when her pride was set aside and kindness concurred, the two young women developed a friendship that proved true to the end. When the war was over, Katrina and Dmitri married. Anna and Sergei wondered if their love would ever enable them also, to be joined in the lifelong commitment of marriage. A House Divided was a well-written, well-enjoyed novel. A recommendation for another reader to embark apon this adventure is high.

It has lots of history of pre-revolutionary Russia and tells a great story of a peasant family's life. It shows God working through their life through all their ups and downs. I thought it was great and it was a very fast read(even though it was 5 books!!) God Bless

I believe that Judith Pella, and Michael Phillips have created a wonderful story of love, loss, courage, and strength. The charaters are so real to life that I felt sad when I came to the end of the last book. It felt like I was losing some of my closest friends. I didn't want to stop reading any of the stories, at any point. The story is great, and the history surprisingly well written and accurate. Everyone should read this collection of books.

This is the second book of a two-part novel. Don't bother to read this book unless you have already read the first one "The Fisherman's Lady". That's where all the characters and their stories are really developed. This second book just continues on with Book 1 without really identifying or explaining who and what is going on. That said, it was as interesting as the first book, worth reading, a good adventure with a spiritual twist. The ending was a bit flat but overall, it was a good read. (Still think Malcolm is too good to be true though. Too bad.)

This book displays some amazingly insightful looks at human hearts and motivations. It is a beautiful completion to Malcolm (republished as The Fisherman's Lady).

Here you will see how there often are times in our lives where to follow the laws of God are to guarantee failure in all that we wish to accomplish in life...but that those who, against all reason, place their trust in God, God is able to bring about the deepest desires of our hearts. But sometimes He does not. Sometimes, God brings to light even greater things, though at greater cost.

I love this book.

I read this series up to the eighth book (which, try though I might, I could not persuade myself to sit down and finish). This one is the most suspenseful of them all, although it isn't what I'd call nail-biting! It kept my interest, though, and it was different. If you're after heart-pounding drama, you won't find it in this series, but you will find some interesting "food for thought" and some likable characters. Give them a try, especially if you're a Phillips/Pella fan and you don't mind first person perspective in a 200+ -page story (yeah, that was a small sigh there)!

The third book in this series, On the Trail of the Truth, kept me guessing! This book tells about the struggles that come with maintaining Christian values when forgettable times in Corrie's life came upon her. The characters, as in all the books in this series, come to life for the reader! I found myself feeling the same emotions the characters were supposed to have felt! There are a couple of places in the book that were very exciting! Very good book, as well as the whole series!

Micheal J. McAfee, the first author, is a long time accquaintance. He has been a curator at the West Point Military Academy Museum for many years. He is a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians, has been at times a governor of the same, and is internationally known as an expert on the uniforms styled Zouaves, worn by U.S. forces in the Civil War, and based on those worn by French forces raised in North Africa, which in turn were influenced by the natives of the area and cut in the manner of their clothing. He is well qualified to cover this subject. The second author J. Phillip Langellier,The author has produced a slew of photo studies with incisive text on the life and times of the U.S. soldier, and his Spanish and Mexican californio predecessors also. His specialty is in gathering together contemporary source material for the illustrations. This method has the great virtue of showing what was what and when. But if no photos are available, then something may be omitted. All of these books are vertical studies covering a period of years. Though sometimes the illustrations serve to identify individual items of equipment, these works are not intended for that purpose. They are not catalogs intended for materiel collectors. They are of such a length and of such a level of detail that they will serve the purposes of the general reader with a curiousity about what grandaddy did in WW II or great great great grandaddy in the Civil War and what he looked like and how he lived. This is not to say that the specialist such as myself cannot find useful nuggets herein. I can. I use these books in this G.I. series for general surveys of periods I do not study in detail, such as the Civil War, and the War With Mexico, etc. I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

The first time laid my eyes on this book; to tell you the truth I was a bit frightened. I was expecting a very complex law book that would take me more than one pass over the material in order for me to get the material. This was not the case, the book really made the subjects easy to understand and the writers made the book very easy to read. The tables and diagrams also make the book even better for those of us that are more of the visual learner types. I would recommend this book.

Well-documented, well-written book of the murder of Letelier and Moffet by a car-bombing in Washington on 9/21/76. Letelier was about to testify about the involvement of various U.S. agencies' involvement in the political environment in Chile before and during the Allende government. This book will be of particular interest to those disgusted with the American involvement in Indoensia, Iran, Guatamala, and elsewhere in the world. It's particularly sorrowing that Allende will not be put on trial, nor it seems, the parties responsible in the U.S. government for the terror and economic dislocation caused by U.S. meddling in Chile. But the book is valid, encouraging, and a superb example of how investigative reporting can cause changes for the better. We can only hope that with efforts like this will promote the ongoing legal actions against Kissinger and his trail of economic destruction around the world.

Developing Urban Entertainment Centres is a great resource for developers, retailers, consultants, academics, and consumers. Featuring lots of colour photographs with case studies, this book borders on being a coffee table book.

UECs are tough to define, and the authors devote over 30 pages in trying to define it. By the end though, I still do not have a clear concise definition of UECs.

In addition, it does not have a perspective in arguing for or against UECs. I was looking for the authors' arguments why cities or communities should encourage or discourage UECs.

Lastly, since retail trends change every ten years or so, the authors do not mention what will be the likely format when UECs are no longer the latest trends. Predicting the future is tough, but the authors should at least help me point to a particular direction.

Overall, this is the only comprehensive book on this topic so far, and it is quite enjoyable to read.

RAND, as usual, produced a first-rate study here. In this text, they looked into commercial SATCOM for Department of Defense use, what roles it should fill, and cost comparison between DoD-owned satellite versus commercial satellites. Many graphs adorn the text, adding useful information to make conclusions clearer and vivid. Anyone interested in commercial satellites and the role they should play for the DoD should buy this book. No hyperbole or propaganda here, RAND's text is useful text and solid conclusions that layperson and communicator alike can understand.

The Gentlewoman's Choice is a sweet story of one woman's devotion to God in spite of the cultural pressure of her day. I enjoyed the story and admired Hester's courage, though the ending wasn't at all what I had anticipated. The ending was perfect for the author's point, however, and made the reader respect and admire the character even more. Hester Raymount provides an excellent example of one willing to obey God by caring for His children in spite of their social or financial standing. A story with a message that's just as relevant today as it was in MacDonald's time.

In this eighth and final book in this series, Corrie is back in California after two long, adventurous years on the east coast. This book was very good, but parts of it were a bit boring. I liked the total effect of the book though. This book shows some very strong Christian morals upheld by Corrie (as usual!). This book, along with the other books in this series, shows that God must be first in our lives. Corrie learns to trust God first then to trust those around her that she loves dearly. Good morally-uplifting book!