It is no easy task to sum up 1,000 or more years of German history in a single volume without descending to banal generalities. Schulze, however, manages his material with great skill. Apart from the accurate and balanced text, the great virtue of the book lies in its many illustrations and photographs. A good one for the Christmas stocking of a general history reader!

This book is written in a slightly dry way and is probably meant for an audience of lawyers. It is however written with passion and fire.

The German Judiciary, prior to the First World War, had been a servant of the monarchy. Muller describes how between the wars, the judiciary was hostile to the Weimar Republic, and gave very light sentences to right-wing groups who were charged with treason, following attempts to overthrow the democratic government.

After the Nazi party took power the courts became the willing servants of the regime. Muller notes that all but a tiny percentage of Judges and prosecutors had joined the Nazi party. The removal of Jews and former communists from the German bar and courts was accomplished without a whimper of protest. In fact German bar associations supported such moves by making it an ethical crime to practice with a Jew.

With the promulgation of laws aimed at removing the civil rights of Jews and protecting the German race, the courts bent over backwoods to increase the scope and effectiveness of such laws. Muller quotes countless examples. One case relates to the court's approach to dealing with "Jews" convicted of having sexual relations with "Germans". The existing laws allowed only for a term of imprisonment is such cases. However, courts on their own initiative, would use provisions which allowed the death penalty to apply to repeat offenders to condemn Jews and Poles who had sex with Germans. Muller quotes one example of a young man who was unaware that he was in fact Jewish. He had a number of liaisons and it came to light that his birth records showed that his grand parents were "Israelites". The court hearing the matter decided that as he had a number of relations he should be sentenced to death. Muller quotes a number of case where the courts were criticized by the Nazi party itself for being overtly harsh. The language of the Judges was filled with the invective of anti-Semitism and the racism of the time.

After the war, some Judges tried to excuse their behavior by suggesting that if they had failed to co-operate with the government they would have faced serious consequences. Muller in fact examined the record of all Judges and found one who refused to impose the Nazi laws. He was simply retired. Muller has convincingly argued that the members of the German Judicial System were enthusiastic supporters of National Socialism.

The book is enthralling reading and is strong evidence for the proposition that what happened in Germany was not because of the Nazi Party, but a coalition of the parties of the right, who had a common perception of the world. The Judges indeed were some of Hitler's willing executioners.

This book is an attempt to produce a coherent narrative political history of Hellenistic Athens out of the existing literary, and, above all, epigraphical evidence, as it intends to funcition as an updating of the earlier study on the subject matter by W.S. Ferguson, _Hellenistic Athens_. The author seems to use the evidence soundly, as there are no attempts to prove too much on a flimsy foundations. The account that emerges is well-reasoned and coherent. However, there is no historical interpretation for the depressing history of the transformation of the Classical Democratic Athens into the "subject state with paltry politics"(Finley) of the Hellenistic Age. To that, one must search for the works by M.I. Finley (Politics in the Ancient World) and G.E.M. de Ste Croix(The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World), or then Paul Veyne's _Bread and Circus_(Le Pain et le Cirque), if one wants a non-_marxistisant_ interpretation .

This sensational book of the sexy secrets of Pompeii was a wonderful turn on for my wife and I. Erotic tales of young and old baggy lovers create an essence that you will never forget. The secrets of ancient and burried passonate love making is finally uncovered and available for all.

This book is with out a doubt an wonderful souce for students and Pompeii fanatics. As a classist myself, I was enraptured by this book. Zanker is able to intergrate the archaeological evidence with a comperhensive look at the pompeian socity. This is not to be missed!!