Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, The Black Arrow is an intriguing look at the life of young Richard Shelton. Richard's life is shaken when he realizes that those he had thought to be his friends are really his enemies, and he is forced to make choices that will determine the course of his life. Although the characters are well-developed and the plot is fascinating, this book is not for the squeemish or lazy reader. The description is not only vivid, it is often gorey. The language is sometimes difficult and a dictionary might prove quite handy. But anyone looking for a well-written, action-packed classic should read this book.

This book is one of the best I've read. It is what every book about the middle ages should be and more, with suspense, action, disguises, escapes, and of course, the occasional love scene. Robert Louis Stevenson lived in the mid-1800s, and is renowned for his many works, includingTreasure Island, Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, andKidnapped. The Black Arrow, written originally for a magazine, was written after a serious illness in Stevenson, and was published right after Treasure Island.

Dick Shelton, a boy of sixteen, is quickly thrust into the conflict of the War of the Roses. He battles against almost any kind of evil - bloodthirsty pirates, a murderous priest, and even his own legal gaurdian - Sir Daniel Brackley. Through the whole book Dick strives to become a knight, and to rescue his true love. The Black Arrow is a sure winner for 6th graders and up.

The Black Arrow is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite books, just as Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my all time favorite authors. I find it hard to believe that The Black Arrow is probably the least well know of his great adventure novels (the others being, of course, Treasure Island and Kidnapped), as it is certainly the best as far as I am concerned. As far as the story goes, it is one of the most entertaining plots that I have ever encountered. It is filled with more twists and turns than I would have thought possible, but remains very clear and fast paced. The characters are wonderful, as is the description and the writing itself. Granted, some of the language is a bit archaic, but I feel that this adds a lot to the authenticity of the story.
The Black Arrow is not a very easy read at first, but once you get into it it really flies by. It is as entertaining, exciting, and intriguing book as you will find, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Louis XIV engaged in nearly constant warfare from 1664 to 1714. His wars covered the face of Europe from Ireland to Italy. The great commanders of the Age, Marlborough, Vauban, Turenne, Conde, Luxembourg and Eugene all crossed the stage of Louis' many wars. This is a lot of history to compress into one volume.

John Lynn does an admirable job of surveying the different wars and keeping track of all the campaigns that shaped these wars. He writes clearly and economically. One finishes the book having a better understanding of Louis' grand strategic vision.
This is not a book for someone wanting to learn more about the great commanders of the Age or the details of specific campaigns or battles. This is a book about war, writ large.

In my opinion, the value of this book for the general reading public of military history is that it places the accomplishments of Frederick the Great and later Napoleon into a better context. To understand why they were such revolutionaries, it is important to place them in contrast to an era where war was seen as process and the decisive moment did not exist.

Since the wars of Louis XIV have not been covered comprehensively in English, this volume by a renowned historian is particularly welcome. In this work, John Lynn combines a succinct, but thorough blow-by-blow narrative account of the wars fought by Louis XIV with a cogent historical analysis that places these conflicts in their proper perspective. Lynn's main hypothesis differs from some other historians who view Louis XIV as a would-be European conqueror intent on endless wars of conquest. Rather, Lynn regards Louis' wars as essentially defensive after achieving limited territorial gains in Holland after 1675. Lynn explains these conflicts as wars-as-process that rather than seeking to annihilate enemy armies or achieve decisive victories, sought lesser objectives like extorting taxes from occupied lands, deciding dynastic issues or achieving defensible borders for France. Inevitably Louis XIV sought short wars against isolated opponents, but the indecisive nature of 18th Century conflict led to protracted, attritional struggles against coalitions.

The Wars of Louis XIV consists of eight chapters, beginning with a background chapter on European conflict in 1495-1661. Two other excellent opening chapters cover French strategic concepts in this period as well as the strength and methods of the French army and navy. The next two chapters cover the relatively painless War of Devolution and the Dutch War, which were fought to achieve martial Gloire for Louis after he came to the throne. At relatively low cost, Louis added to his territory and seemed to confirm the use of violence as a useful tool of statecraft. The fifth chapter covers violence and state policy, specifically the so-called "reunions" which were coercive annexations of adjacent territory similar to Hitler's "Anschluss" with Austria, and violent suppression of the Protestant minority in France. The sixth and seventh chapters - which comprise nearly half the book - cover the fateful Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Although France did well militarily in the first conflict, it was financially exhausting to fight protracted attritional struggles against coalitions. In the last war, fought for dynastic reasons, the French did fairly well until Marlborough showed up in 1704. Marlborough changed the slow operational tempo - typically one big siege attempted per season - and sought to fight big battles. He smashed the French at Blenheim and Ramillies, and succeeded in rolling back most of Louis' gains over the past 20 years. Nevertheless, Louis outlasted his enemies and eventually managed to achieve a favorable peace. The final chapter consists of an analysis of all of Louis' wars and attempts to place them in proper historical perspective.

Overall, this work is excellent - it is well-written, well-researched and provides fresh insight into a long-neglected subject. Students of Napoleonic warfare would be well-advised to read this book as background on the development of French doctrine (particularly a preference for fortifications) and strategy in pre-Revolutionary France. The chapters that cover the wars are sub-divided into sections on each year, which are cover the different fronts sequentially. The only flaw is this volume is the lack of decent maps; many important towns mentioned in the text are not depicted in the simple sketch maps nor are the movement of armies depicted. Nor is there a map of the Spanish theater of war, which was particularly important in the last two wars. It is particularly difficult to follow gains and losses of towns in the main battle front of Flanders, and the author should have provided at least a summary map to depict major territorial changes in each war. Readers should keep a good atlas handy in order to follow the campaigns.

Although France was able to achieve some strategic gains in these wars of Louis XIV, the main military legacy of the Sun King was near financial bankruptcy. John Lynn concludes, "for fifty years, French armies had been strong enough to stand against coalitions of all the other great powers. But the treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden marked a watershed in international relations. No longer could France maintain its former dominance. This reality reflected not only the relative decline of France, but the increased power of other European states."

Measured simply by the length of the conflicts, Louis XIV was the most war-like French leader of all time, easily eclipsing Napoleon. He was also more successful, if you go by the "Frederick of Prussia" test - compare the map of his country before he came to power with the map after he left, and you will see lasting expansion and consolidation. The world of Louis takes us to the crises of the Fronde, the Wars of Devolution, the Nine Years War, and the War of Spanish Succession, and treats us to the genius of Turenne and Conde. It's now fashionable to write off the pre-Napoleonic period of military history, based as it was on "positional warfare" and long sieges, but Lynn is good enough to buck the trend - and thankfully so, for modern readers would never have come across the genius of Vauban, Louis's veteran engineer and probably the greatest general of the era. This would have received five stars, but loses one for prose style. But - on the plus side - the history is impeccable, the coverage is thorough and the maps are superb.

Let me first echo the sentiments expressed by others and comment on what a beautiful edition the Univ of Nebraska Press has produced. The margins are indeed wide and the type very readable. This edition is easily held, the illustrations nicely complement the text and the binding is quite durable. The introduction by Joyce Carol Oates is helpful albeit pedantic. Also, those who've read the Univ of Calif Press edition of Frankenstein will notice some overlap between this introduction and the one that Ms. Oates wrote for that particular edition. Nonetheless, the introduction is valuable.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of those stories, like Frankenstein and Dracula, that seemingly everyone has heard of and believes they understand("mythopoetic " in the language of Joyce Carol Oates). Much like the aforementioned works, the actual details of the story may come as a surprise to those who assume they know the story based solely on the popular understanding. For that reason alone I think the book is worth reading.

Dr. Jekyll is a respected if somewhat reclusive London doctor who has, through the course of years of experimentation, managed to create a solution which brings to the fore his evil alter-ego. Unlike many gothic literary villains, Hyde is not imbued with superhuman strength or exceptional gifts of any kind. In fact he is of a smaller and less imposing stature than most men. What he does possess however is a complete lack of compunction with regards to others. Hyde for example ruthlessly runs down a small child who gets in his way. As is the case with Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll creates something that he can't control and which eventually destroys its creator.

The inhumanity that the fictional Hyde displays can be seen in the non-fictious world on a daily basis. As such, there is a realism to the story which is missing from many horror stories past and present. The fact that such a short and captivating work exists in an attractively packaged edition makes this one classic that will be a joy to read for all.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a clasic so, naturaly, I had high expectations. I certainly was not let down. It has a totally unique style with much detail and extensive writing. Yet, this novel is a very quickly read novel, unlike other excessively detailed books like Dracula. This book is not boring. This book is fun. It doesn't ruin the plot with too much detail like other books. Other fantasy books are usually not even close to realistic. Whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is close to being conceived realistic. This book has a general morbid feeling to it where other fantasies are sometimes cheerful and happy. Robert Louis Stevenson is a realy good writer in my opinion.
He uses a very wide range of vocabulary. Stevenson uses many 19th Century terms that seem weird and different to me.
One thing bad about his writing is his punctuation. He uses way too many semicolons and comas. He makes one sentence out of six or seven sentences.
This book was not the best book I ever read, but was not the worst either. it was mediocre. however It was miles ahead of Dracula. Dracula is boring, whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is fast paced, quick, and fun to read. its pritty morbid which is kind of a down side, but Since it is very short it is a good book on my list.

The University of Nebraska Press edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is beautiful! The illustrations by Barry Moser, woodcuts that progress chronologically through Dr. Jekyll's life as it is described in hints throughout Robert Louis Stevenson's story, are atmospheric and evocative; a picture of a boy being guided by his father, for example, echoes Dr. Jekyll's comments that he has a "fatherly" interest in his alter-ego, Hyde, while Hyde has a son's "indifference" to the father; the cover illustration is a portrait of Dr. Jekyll's father destroyed by Mr. Hyde on a rampage.

Joyce Carol Oates's introduction is worthwhile, especially for those readers who know the story, as most English-speaking people do, in its basic framework, but who have not yet actually traveled the dark road with Dr. Jekyll and his friends.

It is a pleasure to read a classic book in such a carefully crafted edition. Too often books such as this are printed in cheap editions with narrow margins and lousy type; this one fits comfortably in the hand and is easy on the eye as the reader is drawn into this allegorical nightmare.

This review refers to the University of Nebraska Press edition only.

Are you already extremely knowledgeable about the French Revolution, with a detailed memory of all events and individuals involved? Are you uninterested in what has been said about the French Revolution in this century or the last? Did you find other 19th century accounts of the Revolution (e.g. those by Guizot, Michelet, Tocqueville, Mill) too easy to follow? Do you prefer a pretentious, self-important, and overly ornate literary style that calls attention to its own artfulness to one that is simple and direct? Do you like pretentious authors who assume that you're more interested in seeing them display their verbal wit than in learning anything about the subject they're purportedly writing about? Well then, Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution may be the book for you!

I am, of course, being somewhat tongue-in-cheek here... Thomas Carlyle was one of Victorian Britain's great writers. He's an important historical figure and his prose style is unique, distinctive, and is in many ways, quite beautiful and poetic. Yet, the fact remains that those who are not already familiar with Carlyle should be wary-- very, very wary-- of picking this book up.

There are several reasons for this. First, the fact of the matter is that Carlyle's 'history' is not history as we might think of itThere is little/nothing in the way of exposition or explanation in the sense of laying out 'what happened' or 'who was involved'. Rather, this book is written from the premise that the readers are already familiar with all the facts and details of the Revolution and are more interested in reading an artful, witty, and clever 'retelling' of it. Individuals and events are alluded to vaguely, metaphorically, with the expectation that the reader knows all of this already like the back of his/her hand. When you read something like, "With Rumor unleashed, She flies from De Berry! That Scarlet Woman!", you're expected to already know who's being talked about and to know pretty much everything there is to know what it is that's being alluded to... Carlyle, you see, doesn't explain, or introduce, or contextualize... and you don't read Carlyle for explanation or introduction or contextualization. Rather, you're supposed to already be informed-- and then to read him for the sheer pleasure of his witty wordplay and to nod appreciatively at it. But if you're not already familiar with the persons and events of the Revolution-- you'll quickly find yourself unable to understand anything and will just be lost.

Nor can one consider Carlyle's _The French Revolution_ to be a scholarly study. The man *was* extremely learned of course-- he knew his stuff. But he's not really advancing an argument or thesis about the Revolution or why it happened... the sorts of things academic scholars dispute. He does wax abstractly on occasion, but not to make general claims about the Revolution (or even history in general), but rather to make vague interjections on obscure metaphysical matters (largely derived from German idealist philosophy... and again, these are unexplained... you're expected to already be familiar with thus stuff).

Finally, there the matter of Carlyle's style. As noted above, it's highly poetic and possesses a kind of ornate (if pretentious) beauty that can be appreciated in small doses. Yet, the fact remains that his peculiar mannerisms (including unnecessary capitalization, archaic and pompous turns of phrase, incomplete sentences followed by exclamation points, the constant use of the present tense even though he's writing about the past, apostrophic asides, etc.) become extremely annoying to read after more than a few pages. At best, it's an acquired taste... and personally, I'm not sure that there are many folks around today who will find the effort spent in acquiring the taste to be worthwhile.

In sum.... don't get this book hoping to learn anything about the French Revolution. Only get this book if you want to read Carlyle for the sake of reading Carlyle. Put otherwise, don't get this if you want to read a work of history about the French Revolution-- you'll be wholly disappointed. The only reason to get it, in fact, is for its value as an example of Carlyle's unique and self-indulgent literary style.

Thomas Carlyle's unique poetic style of prose may be tough to take early on, but after a few pages, it does grow on you. It's all overly dramatic and sensational, but what subject could be more so than the French Revolution itself? Carlyle paints a grim description of the complete and utter chaos of the times, particulary the Great Terror of mid-1794. He does, however, remain somewhat non-judgemental regarding the Revolution's key figures, and lets the readers sort out for themselves who the real culprits are. He may over-simplify the obvious at certain junctures in the book, but his style is riveting and as this shocking and dismal tale of woe continues, the reader is further drawn into a daze and trance similar to the Terror's unfortunate victims.
Some have suggested that it's better to read a "normal" history of the French Revolution before one undertakes this famous volume. I disagree. This is as good a place to start as any concerning that most volatile of times. Simply put, Carlyle's "French Revolution" is both informative and exciting, and it has held up well since it was first published in 1837.

The authors of the previous review were too harsh on the text - it isn't a mere display of literary muscle turned lightly to the French Revolution, it's an interesting take on the subject from a penetrating mind.

The other reviews saying "Don't read this if you don't know everything about the revolution" seem a little bit silly to me having read it - if you know nothing about French history and the revolution, ok, you might have some difficulties. But if you have even a rough view of the revolution (from a textbook chapter, short article, almost anything) you won't be lost. Once or twice one might be forced to read back or do a tiny bit of side-reading to get a colourful 19th century reference, but it isn't nearly as oblique as the first reviewer made out.

The style is not difficult to read, considering the date, and the narration is often captivating or amusing. The individual, literary portraiture of historical figures is unique and valuable to me in building a kind of familiarity with events, however cautiously. And the claim that it isn't "historically" written by modern standards - perhaps the reviewer was too busy composing clever jabs to note the date of writing? If you want Francois Furet, read Francois Furet, but Thomas Carlyle unfortunately didn't have the benefit of 20th century developments in historical methods.

The blurbs for this book are very misleading. It is a text for beginning investors. Each chapter starts with a quote from Twain, but it has little else to do with him. The entire references to Twain probably don't exceed 5 pages of text. If you are interested in Mark Twain - forget it. Not much here. If you are interested in basic investing principles - likewise forget it - I have seen much better.

I was hoping this book would be more Twain and less Leckey. I was disappointed. Each chapter starts with one quote from Twain, and Leckey provides some background context. That's about 10% of the book. The other 90% is Investing 101 stuff.

The author intertwines Mark Twains' insight, humor, and timeless wisdom with the current investment landscape. This is a good, yet basic primer for someone wanting to understand investment opportunities and pitfalls available today. It provides perspective on speculative opportunities, scams, and solid investments, choices that have been available to the novice and savvy investor alike since Twains' time.

The book contains 49 easily digestible chapters including: "The Law of Averages Eventually Makes You Right", "He Who Hesitates Can Save a Lot More" "Mutual Fund Expenses Can Hoodwink You" "Every Period in History Had It's Fools Gold", all applicable to today's investor.

There are many similar books on the market offering the same or similar advice. If you enjoy Mark Twain, and prefer your investment reading to be sprinkled with his perspective, buy this one, otherwise keep looking, you'll find another equally good book that provides the basics.

If the name Louis L'Amore was not on this book it would not sell one copy in my view. The writing is merely adequate. The tone is out of date. Instead of being satisfied with the honors and the fortune generated by the late Louis L'Amour, the publisher and the author's family continue to publish old stories from the author's youth, milking the name for every cent it can generate. I am a died-in-the-wool L'Amour fan and have purchased just about every book he has written. But watching these poor early efforts being published with his name is agonizng. Let the man rest in peace; God knows he wrote some wonderful stories. But the ones in this collection are not worth purchasing or reading unless you are a L'Amour biographer or critic.

Louis L'Amour is never going to be considered one of the great literary geniuses of our time, but the man does know how to tell a story and pull a reader into a story.

So you don't need to stretch your mental powers or keep a thesaurus handy to enjoy his work. Consider the stories from this collection as the Hardy Boys on an adult level. This is thin writing but fun nevertheless.

There are ten stories in this book, and the quality varies. It gets off to a weak start with "A Friend of a Hero", a yarn about a detective who investigates the murder of a buddy from the Korean War. It picks up with some good tales about boxers on the fix - "Fighter's Fiasco and "The Ghost Fighter" - if you can believe in the latter case that one boxer so closely resembles the other that he can take his place in the ring. The best piece is "Wings Over Brazil" in which soldier of fortune Ponga Jim Mayo discovers some nasty Nazis have stolen his cargo ship and plan to overthrow the government of Brazil.

In all cases, however, the stories entertain. If you have a need to think, read Steinbeck or Hemingway. If you have a need to take a mental vacation, you'll love L'Amour.

In spite of some powerful western novels written during the nineties, Louis L'Amour, who died in 1988, remains the king of the genre. "May There Be a Road" showcases Mr. L'Amour's incredible skill as an author, but not in the genre that has made him a household name. Instead this ten-story collection spans the globe and the genres. From the Himalayas to Alaska to Brazil, the stories take readers on a global tour. From a hard-boiled detective story to a war between Tibetan peasants and Chinese soldiers to a boxer seeking a second chance, etc., the tales encompass literature as a whole. This is my first look at a Mr. L'Amour story outside the West and I found each tale well-written, exciting, and keeping with his famous theme of people in conflict trying to overcome the odds. This is an excellent collection that fans of the awe-inspiring writer will want to read as well anyone who enjoys a variety anthology.

Harriet Klausner

This book was so boring it totally sucked.I mean who wants to read about the depression.The Joad family could have been alot more intresting. Add some major charchter traits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Owens is a fine Steinbeck scholar, and this text is one of Twayne's best sellers due to his careful examination of the text and generous interpretive skills. One wonders how the dim bulb in the next review managed to read this entire book to reach such an unwarranted conclusion. For fans of Steinbeck who require scholarly discussion for their research, Owens is excellent.

Many literary reviews and criticisms are so technical they are almostunapproachable, but Owen's analysis of The Grapes of Wrath is accessible, clear, andprovides many useful bibliographical resources. Stolen from many university libraries, it is so useful. Buy your own; let the library keep its copy!

How does one write a generic autobiography? Keene has given us an example. In telling of his upbringing in St. Louis, we learn of the flight of whites from the suburbs into which Afro-Americans had moved, we learn of the heritage of the city as multi-cultural, of growing up with an alcoholic parent, of growing up gay etc. Only occasionally is the narrative "personal" in the sense of revealing something about the narrator which we could not know without the self-revelation of the narrative. The result is wonderful prose, interesting structure, and literature that exists only for itself - never revealing something new, specific about the human condition.

This anorexic novel (I tried stuffing mashed plantains in between the pages) is a minor masterpiece. It's small, and you can use it to slide it into the jamb of your door in case you get locked out. Another good use: you can slice someone's head off with it. There's a lot of big words here, words that were like elephants being stuffed into a sandwich bag. You can hear the words grunting in agony as you read the book. It's divided into several chapters with long paragraphs without any speed bumps in them. Whenever there's a red light Keene doesn't let up, he goes right through and ignores the ominous white policeman on the scooter trying to hail him down. I think John Keene is a tiny genius. He can live in a mousehole with a Mrs. Mouse. But he needs to write a bigger book, something that matches the density of a phone directory, something a midget can sit on if the table is too high. Only then will the flora and fauna of his verbal fireworks (illegal in most tropical enclaves) will truly have a chance for a decent stretch exercise.

Have you ever been reading a book and wanted to know what was going on somewhere else in the story? Or earlier? Or later? Or in the author's head? *Annotations* gives you the sense that you are looking out over the story and deep within the characters at the same time. Such a patient, delicate, tight weave. Tight, so there's a firmness to this writing, too. On the one hand, we get to see what's going on inside as we see the surfaces of things. The narrative is not left vulnerable to readers' whims, though. The constantly shifting perspectives teach us not just how to get through the book, but also what to make of it.

When I sent away for this book I expected it to be more detailed and have a wider variety of topics. It does a good job of giving you the basics of the topics it has without a lot of technical jargon. So if you are just starting to learn or read about abnormal psychological behaviors this is the perfect book for you. It also gives good references to other books for more detailed research on each of the conditions discussed in the book.

If psychology interests you, this is a good read. I found it compelling and interesting because the authors give a brief summary and case study and cover a lot of different phobias and conditions that are very interesting.

Well, I went to the library and plugged in eccentric.....i was looking for something else, but found this gem. Everything from necrophilia to trichillitomania is covered in here. Some behaviors i was already aware of, others were newly found subjects of intrigue. If you are as curious about psychology and sociology as I am, you'll find this an excellent read!

Ok ok. This book was pretty good i have to admit. I had to read it for my english class with a group of friends. The thing i found most irritating is the way the people talk! I mean, its like Sir this and Master that and shall this and ne instead of no. I overall though think its a good book. I wouldnt reccomend it to anyone but thats just me.

As young man I do not really enjoy reading books. My aunt got me "The Misadventures of John Nicholson" for my birthday, and I was disapointed thinking what a waste of her money. One day I opened the book out of curiosity and read the first few pages, and that all it took for me to be hooked! I read that book cover to cover twice and still I want to read it again and again! I even let one of my friends borrow the book, and he was also amazed at the great writing skills of Robert Louis Stevenson. He even offered to buy the book from me, but I didn't sell it, because I liked it way too much to give it away forever! Also, I have recomended this book to everyone I know, and the smart people that do listen to me and read this book agree with me that it is the best book they have ever read, and thank me for my recomendation. I believe anyone, AND I MEAN ANYONE, that passes up the chance to buy a this great book is CRAZY, let me spell it for you C-R-A-Z-Y! Go see your doctor if you read this book and you don't like it, because your CRAZY!