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Book reviews for "Schoepflin,_George_A." sorted by average review score:

The Frigid Mistress: Life and Exploration in Antarctica
Published in Hardcover by American Literary Press (1999)
Author: George A. Doumani
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A fascinating tale of courage and endurance
Dr. Doumani's book is well-written and a joy to read. As a young man I was excited by reading about Paul Siple, the Boy Scout on Admiral Byrd's expedition to Antarctica several decades ago. Since then I have been fascinated by adventure and scientific pursuit in Antarctica. Dr. Doumani's tales of living and of human interaction under extreme isolation and climatic conditions are as interesting as they are realistic. Imagine crawling into cold sleeping bags on snow and ice in below freezing temperature and welcoming the respite! The author shares his excitement and joy at discovering evidence of plant and animal life hundreds of millions of years old under an ice cap two miles thick. The fossilized plants and animals prove that Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica were once joined in a single continent -- Gondwana. I highly recommend this well-written book to young and old men and women. It is simply fascinating and literally out of this world.

A Compelling Account of the Human Side of Scientific Pursuit
The Frigid Mistress is very well written, factually educational, and throroughly enjoyable. Dr. Doumani, a geologist of world repute and a veteran of several Antarctic expeditions, uses plain but powerful language to make the reader feel part of this remote and desolate corner of the world, so much so that I shivered as I read the book. Equally important, the visits to Antarctica delivered proof of many scientific facts which hitherto had been largely theories. For example, it was long suspected that the Southern Hemisphere continents had once been one large continent including Antarctica, and then, over geologic time, they broke up and drifted apart. Now there can be no doubt; it is a fact. This and many other discoveries described by Dr. Doumani provide scientific validations, and always in a fascinating way. For enjoyment, entertainment, and being eduated in the process, this licid, highly recommended reading deserves five stars--or more.

Stimulating and invaluable to those interested in adventure.
The Frigid Mistress stimulated my interest to learn more about the most isolated continent on the planet. Dr. Doumani candidly delves into the lives of men who could not resist the challenge to explore and unravel the mysteries of this unknown world. He gives an enlightening account of human behavior under the most stressful conditions of isolation. The scientists, civilians and military personnel interacted in the most primitive living conditions. Then experienced loliness and a claustrophobic atmosphere during the dark winter months with no contact with the civilized world and the way of life they left behind.

Dr. Doumani captures the readers attention and interest by giving us vivid insights into the personalitites of these explorers. I highly recommend this well written book. It would be invaluable to anyone interested in Antarctica.


Shy Bladder Syndrome: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Overcoming Paruresis
Published in Paperback by New Harbinger Pubns (02 March, 2001)
Authors: Steven Soifer, George D. Zgourides, Joseph Himle, and Nancy L. Pickering
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Sensitively Breaking Silence
In 1996, an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work co-founded the International Paruresis Association (IPA). That professor, Steve Soifer, is also a co-author of this book. It is the first monograph on Paruresis or Shy Bladder Syndrome: the inability to urinate in a public restroom or in the presence of others....Classified as a social phobia in DSM-IV-TR (300.23), it is associated with impairment in multiple functional domains: employment, education, and social relationships. This debilitating condition thrives in a climate of shame and secrecy (on the part of paruretics) and ignorance (by health and mental health care providers). This deceptively slim book may help you identify paruresis in yourself, a loved one, or a client/patient. One section helps the reader rule out other conditions (pp.16-18). The brain-body connection is clearly described in Chapter Two, and includes both a diagram of the human urinary system and a chart of the human nervous system. The authors present a ten-step approach for Graduated Exposure Therapy, the treatment of choice at present. Appendices include a literature review, a synopsis of "the evolution of the bathroom and its impact on paruresis", and resources. A seven page bibliography is included. There is no index, and it is hoped that future editions will remedy this. This thoughtful, sensitive book breaks the silence which has hitherto dominated the subject. For that, and for the prospect of relief it holds for over 17 million sufferers, we may all be grateful.

Excellent and Desperately Needed!
As social phobia is finally being recognized by the public and professionals alike as a serious condition, affecting nearly 20 million in the US alone, so is avoidant paruresis - one painful, disabling, and embarrassing manifestation of it. As one who suffered from both for years, I can tell you this book provides you with everything you need to know to overcome this form of performance anxiety.

Starting with what "bashful bladder syndrome" is, it takes the reader through its causes, different treatment approaches, what to expect from the medical community, and how to gain support from family, intimates, and friends. It has one chapter on the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to mandatory drug testing and another on the evolution of the bathroom and its effect on avoidant paruresis which makes for fascinating reading.

This breakthrough book gives hope to people worldwide who live restricted lives because of this debilitating human affliction. It is essential reading for medical and mental health professionals, sufferers, and their family and friends!

Wish I Could Give it 6 Stars
Raise a gallon jug of Spring Water and toast the best (and only?) book on Shy Bladder Syndrome to ever hit the shelves!!!

If you ever thought that you were alone and that no one else in the world suffered from a shy bladder - or paruresis, this book is for you. After living with this problem since junior high, I was amazed at how much information this book book contained on how to finally get your life back to normal.

The nine chapters contained in this book are well written in easy to understand language that is a must read for anyone that suffers from paruresis. Starting with a brief overview of how the mind and bladder work (or don't work), this book leads you down a carefully laid path that shows how to regain control of your life.

Filled with true stories and first hand accounts from real life paruretic's, this book puts a very human face on something that is usually shrouded in secrecy and shame. If nothing else, simply reading this book will make anyone living with paruresis feel human again -- and not so alone. Thousands of people will read these stories only to be amazed at how similar their situation is to those in the book.

The best part, however, is that this book offers a successful plan to overcome paruresis that has been tested and successfully used in workshops around the world. After using the methods in this book, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my ability to use public restrooms with success.

If you're reading this review, you probably need this book or know someone that could benefit greatly from its priceless advice. Get this book...get it now...get on with life!

Looks like a plan !!!


Quartered Safe Out Here: A Recollection of the War in Burma
Published in Paperback by HarperCollins (paper) (1994)
Author: George MacDonald Fraser
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An amazing book
This is one of the best personal memoirs of any war. Fraser's experience as a young man fighting in Burma during World War II is recalled in wonderful detail. He manages somehow to bring out all the horrors, oddities, laughter, and comaraderie that characterize many similar military units, and we get to know each member of the small band with all their strengths and failings. Particularly striking is Fraser's occasional use of official historical accounts of the Burmese campaign as preface pieces to his own descriptions; the cold eye of the historian paints a very different picture compared to one who was there, when every shot fired could end in the death of yourself or a comrade. Fraser's introduction alone is a gem, and his brief discussions of the ordinary soldier's view of the Nazi concentration camps and the Hiroshima bombing provide a stark contrast to the moralizing that surround these subjects today. Fraser's book reminds us that at bottom, all wars are characterized by the men who fought in the lowest ranks: men whose efforts make them stand out and who deserve our admiration, thanks and respect.

Sobering, relevant, and important
Fraser's is one of the finest war memoirs I've ever read, and for so many reasons. He has a gift for illustrating the life of the combat soldier in ways that are at once terrifying, hilarious, and sometimes just plain bizarre. His discovery in the field that he had a gift for brewing tea is unforgettable, as is his account of falling down a well in the middle of a battle, his comrades cracking jokes about it as the chaos and noise of battle rages all around them. Among the most remarkable things about Fraser's book are his comparisons between the official histories of what happened with what he actually experienced; the official history of one engagement, for example, records only that a tank was destroyed and so many men killed or wounded on each side, but Fraser describes what that burning tank SMELLED like and how it attracted the attention of Japanese soldiers throughout the night. These are the things we rarely get from ordinary histories of battles and wars. His book does not reduce the soldiers to a list of statistics. One learns to care about them or loathe them almost as much as Fraser did.

The final few chapters are particularly sobering. Anyone who questions the necessity of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan would do well to read this book (and E.B. Sledge's "With the Old Breed"). We owe so much to the men and women who fought and served in this war, and we have failed them in so many ways. Our world of psychological gibberish and moral ineptitude is not what they fought for. Fraser's book has many important and enduring lessons for all of us, but particularly for those of us born in the postwar boom. Highly, highly recommended!

Campaigning through Burma with the Black Cat
As a young man, George MacDonald Fraser was a "ranker" (enlisted
man) assigned to the 17th (Black Cat) Division of the British 14th
Indian Army as it pursued the Japanese south through Burma after the
latter's resounding defeat at the gates of India, at Imphal. Fraser's
narrative history of his personal contribution to this campaign is
QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE.

Written decades after the fact, this book
does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of the Burma Theater in
the last months of World War II. Rather, it's the war from the
perspective of Nine Section in which Fraser fought, first as a
Private, then Lance Corporal. (A "section" is the smallest
operating unit of an infantry platoon, i.e. 8-10 men.) Besides being a
vivid retelling of the author's recollections to the extent that he
remembers, it's also an intimate portrait of the organization,
weapons, tactics and camaraderie of the British Army at section level
at that time, place, and conflict. It's a story told with the humor,
intelligence and introspection that comes with maturity and
hindsight. And, though some of Fraser's bitterness towards his old foe
occasionally shows, age does dull the sharp edges.

"I remember
watching, a year or two ago, televised interviews with old Japanese
soldiers who had fought in the war ... sitting in their gardens in
their sports shirts, blinking cheerfully in the sunlight, reminiscing
in throat-clearing croaks about battles long ago. It crossed my mind:
were any of you on the Pyawbwe slope, and lived to tell the tale?
Well, if they did, at this time of day I don't mind."

Fraser is a
truly gifted writer. After VJ Day, he applied for, and was awarded, a
commission as a subaltern (2nd Lieutenant) in a Scottish Highland
division posted to the Middle East. In this capacity, his experiences
served as the basis for his quite wonderful and comedic McAuslan
series of fictional stories (collected and available from Amazon.co.uk in THE COMPLETE MCAUSLAN). I unreservedly recommend both of
these two books to anyone who has ever served in any branch of the
armed forces, no matter what country. I myself was in the U.S. Navy,
and Fraser's works are in the "can't put down" category.


Pugs in Public
Published in Hardcover by Stewart, Tabori & Chang (1999)
Authors: Kendall Farr, George Bennett, Sarah Montague, and Sharon Montrose
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If you are pug possessed, this book is a MUST HAVE!
I just received my copy of Pugs In Public and devoured every page. It is so enjoyable, I smiled through the whole book. It makes me feel good to know that there are other Pug People just like me! BTW, this was a first time buy from Amazon.Com. What a pleasant (easy) way to shop. I recommend Pugs in Public and Amazon.Com highly.

AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE!!!
What a great book! As a pug owner and lover I can tell you that this book is a joy to own! Any dog lover knows that pugs and their owners are definately unique...and Ms. Farr's interesting stories of both are fun to read again and again. The pictures are wonderful..from the charming to the very silly. I loved it!

A truely great book for Pug lovers
Pugs are a unique breed and if you like Pugs or know someone who does they will LOVE this book! It is gorgeous with many great pictures of Pugs all over New York. It doesn't have much information on the breed but that is not the point of it, its a small coffee table book with some lovely anecdotes about Pugs. I am away from home at uni so when I miss my Pug I flip through this book!
I definitely recommend it!


Beating the Odds: A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France
Published in Paperback by 1stBooks Library (2002)
Authors: George M., MD Burnell and M. D. George M. Burnell
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A beautifully written memoir
How well I remember World War II, but only from the safety of my childhood in the United States, unlike Dr. Burnell whose youth during the occupation of his beloved France is the subject of this memoir. It provides us with historic data that is particularly relevant as our own country faces another major war. As a Jewish family working with the French Resistance, life for young George life became a series of escapes, moving from city to city to avoid execution. George's beloved step-father died for his heroic efforts, but mother and son managed to survive the ordeal. This easy to read book is written with sensitivity and intelligence during a period fraught with atrocities that one should never forget. I couldn't put the book down.

Living to Tell the Story
"A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France" is a compelling story of a Jewish family in their struggle to keep one step ahead to stay alive.
As a master story teller, Dr. Burnell retained a vivid and close memory of his personal experience, as a youth, surviving the horrors of war.
His mother was a very strong and resourceful women, allowing the family to land on their feet each time they were to forced to move from city to city. The family was tested in every way.
Dr. Burnell's extrodinary book will take some readers to a place
they have never been and others from a place they have never forgotten.

A BOYHOOD ODYSSEY DURING WWII
"Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.


The Boys on the Tracks
Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (1999)
Author: Mara Leveritt
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Complete account of incredible corruption in AK; too long
Many people are familiar with the story of the boys on tracks, first featured nationally on TV and then in the very anti-Clinton "Clinton Chronicles" video, which, despite some apparent inaccuracies, still contains a great deal of truth, and changed my own view of political corruption forever. The book "The Boys On The Tracks" is the real story of what happened in Arkansas, and is endorsed by Linda Ives, the mother of one of the boys who was killed and placed on the railroad tracks on that fateful night in August, 1987. Mrs. Ives is the central character in this book. The reader is presented with not only the entire story of the unfathomable corruption, but much of this incredibly detailed story is as if from Ives' diaries, written or mental.

The author, Mara Leveritt, takes the reader from the time the two boys are killed, through the complete story of what Ives goes through to try to find out the truth (and she still hasn't found the truth about what happened that night). First, we encounter the unbelievable and outrageous behavior and incompetence of the Arkansas State coroner, Famy Malek, who is protected countless times by top state officials despite absolutely false determinations he makes. Malek rules the boys deaths suicides from drug intoxication, and it takes the Ives family a long time to prove this false due to lack of cooperation from Arkansas officials. Only this is just the beginning of the obstructions of justice the

Ives face.

Then we see that, at least in part, practically the entire state of Arkansas's legal and law enforcement agencies are rampant with corruption, to the point that felons hold high-level positions in government and law enforcement. Clearly these state officials will go to any length to prevent the truth of the boys's deaths from being revealed. A very prominent figure in this aspect of the story is Dan Harmon, a county prosecuting attorney. Harmon brutally beats people up, incl. his wives and ex-wives, and even steals confiscated drugs, and yet is held completely unaccountable for his actions and is returned to office again and again. Harmon is eventually and surprisingly convicted of certain offenses, but any crimes related to events around the time of the boys's deaths are deliberately ignored. Oddly enough, though not at all surprising once you read the unbelievable things revealed over and over in this book, Harmon is initially depicted as an ally of Linda Ives!

Of course the biggest, most outrageous part of this story is the cover-up of large-scale drug smuggling done through the Mena Airport, incl. the Barry Seal story, which is never dealt with by Arkansas officials. The details of this horror story are so phenomenal that you have to wonder how the people involved in these crimes can take part in such corruption and hypocrisy, and do their misdeeds with such impunity!

If you want the complete story, this is undoubtedly the book to read. If you don't have time to read this very well-written, 300+ page book, see "The Clinton Chronicles" and the more accurate (according to the participants) "Obstruction of Justice" videos.

Brilliantly written = great insight to Arkansas politics
This book is one that the reader will not want to put down. An excellent overview of the events that occured in this case and the fact that there is little justice in Arkansas when high powered politicians are involved. The average person in this country doesn't believe these things happen, but after you read this book, the evidence is documented and plain to see.

Hopefully, someday these guilty persons will be held accountable for putting a family, a state and country through such a horrible tragedy.

It is time the American people opened their eyes to what is really going on in our country and to stand up against these powerful machines.

Mara did a great deal of research and documented all of her information and wrote a book about what an ordinary family has had to endure for 12 years and no one will listen to them and bring these people that committed and covered up such a cruel deed to justice. The Ives deserve an answer and if anyone knows anything about this event, they should try to put this nightmare to rest.

Excellent, Informative. Enthralling
A mother's determination to learn the truth about the deaths of her teenage son and his friend, who were hit by a train late at night in Arkansas after being laid side-by-side on the tracks. Local authorities offer absurd explanations and try to brush it off as an accident, but in time it becomes clear that a cover-up is in the works, and that the deaths were possibly related to a large-scale, international drug-smuggling operation of the 1980's, which was condoned and covered up by authorities because of its links to Iran-Contra. Don't let this sound too confusing or far-fetched. Mara Leveritt is a respected reporter with the Arkansas Times, and the entire story is carefully explained and well-documented. This is a must read for anyone interested in American government policies in relation to the drug war, Iran-Contra, and covert activities, or Arkansas state politics in the Clinton era.


With Love, With Connie
Published in Hardcover by 1stBooks Library (2002)
Author: George R. Henaut
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Description of Novel and Author
I note that novel summary and comments about the author are not provided so I'll take this opportunity to provide both.

About the Book:

December 12, 1997 is an extraordinary day in Robert Mascaux's life, involving him in a family funeral, his second wedding and a birthday party for a celebrity.

This romantic novel begins with a flashback to 1959, in Northumbria, a coastal community in Nova Scotia. Robert, a high school student, resides at the Manor, a private nursing home owned by his parents, Bertha and Camille, immigrants from Belgium. Robert's home life is enriched by his 'foster grandparents', the Manor residents. When Robert becomes a member of a Connie Francis fan club, he begins a lengthy correspondence with Rachel Turner, the club's teenage president, who lives on an estate in Flanders Cove, Connecticut, with her reclusive, artistic aunts, fondly called 'the bouquet'.

The reader discovers the enduring power of love through the struggles and triumphs that Robert and Rachel encounter during their friendship, spanning 38 years. The novel depicts the influence that singers can have on their fans and also reveals parallels that can exist between the lives of singers and their admirers. The music of Connie Francis is the thread of continuity for the couple for whom fate, an international border, family responsibilities, and a sinister villain delayed their marriage until December 12, 1997.

George Henaut:

George R. Henaut has an abiding interest in language - its power and its beauty. His career as an educator provided many opportunities to enhance and share this passion with others. Since 1990 he has written, directed and produced ten dramas for audiences in his native Nova Scotia. His plays and short stories have been influenced not only by life on the Atlantic seaboard, but also by his Christian spirituality and appreciation of traditional family values. All of these influences have culminated in his first novel, With Love, With Connie, which also reveals his enduring appreciation of the music of Connie Francis. His greatest desire is to share this romantic, yet turbulent story of Robert and Rachel with others.

A Heartfelt Story!
Even if you're not a fan of singer Connie Francis, this is a hearwarming, romantic story of the strugles and triumphs that only love can edure and conquer.

It also shows how the power of song, sung by a power of a voice can influence our lives.

Reading you won't want to put down until the very last word. And then pick it up and read again!

Love Conquers All
Reviewer: from Toronto, Ontario
The novel is more than a good love story. There is an excellent portrayal of the elderly; the reclusive aunts (bouquet) and the manor guests. I enjoyed the dual settings in Northumbria, Canada and Flanders Cove, USA. Trevor is a classic villain;I was surprised by the twist at the end of the novel.This novel does not need violence or sex to make it a worthwhile read! The use of Connie Francis is an added bonus; especially for more seasoned readers.


How to Solve It
Published in Paperback by Princeton Univ Pr (01 November, 1971)
Authors: George Polya and Gyorgy Polya
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Resolute favorite: How to Solve It
How does a teacher go about teaching? It is a hard trick. Written and published in the '40s, and then again subsequently Polya's "How to Solve It" is an attempt to describe the general paths to the student's Eureka! moments. As such it is also of interest to those who go about the task of discovery, and you must constantly rethink their strategies, in the face of a stubborn unknown.

Polya's consideration of the Various Approaches to problem solving hangs on several key structural bands that take the forms of a teacher's questions: Do you know any related problem? Do you know an analogous problem? [Parallelograms are considered.] Here is a problem related to yours and solved before. Can you use it? Should you introduce some auxiliary element in order to make its use possible?

These ring true to this recently mustered parental pedantic.

Polya's actual treatise is just 30 pages; the associated 'dictionary' definitions section is quite extended, actually, making up some 200 pages. He describes going back to first principles in problem solving. January 1, 2003 is a day perhaps to remember such back tracking is sometimes in order.

Do You Want Your Kid to Be a Robot?
In fact, do you want to be a robot? I talked to a woman who took a whole semester in computer science and came out learning nothing. She told me this. My love affair with Real Math started with this book in a library. I was reading a book which had a bunch of interviews with the most successful programmers in the world. One was Czech and I do not remember his name. But he was asked the following question. "What in your opinion is the biggest mistake that programmers are doing in their educations or their work today?" He answered, "It's simple. They don't know how to solve problems. At our company, we have some simple books that tell you how to do this. The best is Polya's 'How to Solve It'. It has a little diagram in the back that completely runs you through a series of questions on solving math problems. But even in schools, they don't take this approach. Everything is by rote and repetition! You solve a problem and YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SOLVED! We have a lot of these little books." The late Isaac Asimov wrote a beautiful little book called "The Realm of Algebra". It's out of print. But he explains the entire realm of algebra in something like 150 pages. The best book I've ever seen about math. Math can be fun. Programming can be fun. But only if you ask Polya's questions in the back of this book. "What do I have to do to make this problem complete?" "What is missing from this problem?" "What could I add to make this problem solved?" A two page diagram in the back. And everybody knows that programming is just "crummy mathematics". BUY THE BOOK! BUY THE BOOK! BUY THE BOOK!. 2 pages in the end of this book and at least 50% of your math/programming problems are down the drain. Buy the books for your son if you are a Betty Crocker. Or your daughter. Or they will end up in the "Valley of the Dead". Solving problems in school for years and years and simply not knowing what they did! Good luck. Oh yes. One last thing. BUY THE BOOK!

Indispensable for anyone who solves problems professionally.

How to Solve It is the most significant contribution to heuristic since Descartes' Discourse on Method. The title is accurate enough, but the subtitle is far too modest: the examples are drawn mostly from elementary math, but the method applies to nearly every problem one might encounter. (Microsoft, for instance, used to and may still give this book to all of its new programmers.) Polya divides the problem-solving process into four stages--Understanding the Problem, Devising a Plan, Carrying out the Plan, and Looking Back--and supplies for each stage a series of questions that the solver cycles through until the problem is solved. The questions--what is the unknown? what are the data? what is the condition? is the condition sufficient? redundant? contradictory? could you restate the problem? is there a related problem that has been solved before?--have become classics; as a computer programmer I ask them on the job every day.

The book is short, 250 large-print pages in the paperback. Its style is clear, brilliant and does not lack in humor. Here is Polya's description of the traditional mathematics professor: "He usually appears in public with a lost umbrella in each hand. He prefers to face the blackboard and turn his back on the class. He writes A; he says B; he means C; but it should be D." Behind the humor, though, lurks a serious complaint about mathematical pedagogy. Fifty years ago, when Polya was writing, and today still, mathematics was presented to the student, under the tyranny of Euclid, as a magnificent but frozen edifice, a series of inexorable deductions. Even the student who could follow the deductions was left with no idea how they were arrived at. How to Solve It was the first and best attempt to demystify math, by concentrating on the process, not the result. Polya himself taught mathematics at Stanford for many years, and one can only envy his students. But the next best thing is to read his book.


Infantry Soldier: Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (2002)
Author: George W. Neill
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The Real Story
If there is just one book that you read about the Battle of the Bulge, make sure that is George Neill's book, "Infantry Soldier. Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge." It was absolutely eerie for me, a buddy of George's in L Company, 395th Regiment, 99th Division, to have such long-dormant memories so poignantly revived. From the early days of induction from college into the Army, basic training and ASTP in Texas, "assignment" to the 99th Division, to landing in England, France and Germany, George vividly recounts the incredible experiences we college kids went through until we arrived in the little German village of Hoefen, during that terrible winter of 1944. His book is a loving and fitting tribute to all those who suffered there and to our many close friends who gave their lives during the massive assault made in December by troops of the German Wehrmacht. On reading his story, I felt myself reliving those absurd day-to-day experiences, the incredible cold and freezing wetness of that miserable winter and the fantastic haphazardness of war that some of us somehow survived. George is at his best when he describes his own remarkable trials, and he pulls no punches in decrying the irregularities in the supply lines that left us on the front lines without proper clothing and equipment (I, myself, arrived at the front with no rockets for my bazooka and with no snow boots--hence my evacuation because of my avoidable affliction with frozen feet. My own outrage and anger match George's, when I recall having later seen so many well-shod and well-clothed support troops behind the lines).

For anyone who has witnessed the inanities of warfare this book will serve to revive the joys, frustrations, suffering and anger of infantry life in battle. For those who have been spared these unreal experiences this book is a "must" for insuring that such needless, even criminal, waste of life is never forgotten--and, hopefully, never repeated.

The finest book I have ever read about the Second World War
This is a blockbuster! The author goes into stark detail about life on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Neill tells all about the misery, pain, sorrow and frustrations experienced by the infantry soldiers who built and manned the foxholes beyond the front. He has written these accounts down in stunning detail and helps the reader appreciate and "feel" what it was like to live out in the open in the snow, cold, slush and mud, without adequate winter gear. He couldn't have done better. This book is riveting from beginning to end.

I remember what a Political Science professor told me about a book we had to read for his class. The book, The Theory and Practice of Hell, by Eugen Kogan, was about life in the Dachau concentration camp. He said, "This book should only be read while you're out in the cold, sitting on a concrete slab, with inadequate clothing and starving." The same holds true for Infantry Soldier. Mr. Neill can't do any better in making the reader understand the horrors, dangers and tragedies of war. The reader is propelled into the middle of battle and can actually feel the cold and hunger experienced by these soldiers. We have no idea of what these men went through, even by reading accounts of the war by others.

No other author comes close. Nothing by Shirer, Manchester, Tuchman, Pyle or Eisenhower can hold a candle to this book. Even All Quiet on the Western Front pales in comparison. It is a must read! My hat is off to Mr. Neill! A splendid work!

Good Book, Puts you in the Action
I had to read this book for a course on WWII. Neil does an excellent job of "putting you there" as the cliche goes. The complexities of battle, to the horrid conditions to the mindstate of men about to die are all covered well in this novel. Neill really does a good job of keeping the reader attached to the book, and helps bring to life something that many people have only read about in history text books. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in War in general, and of course in WWII.


The New Financial Capitalists : Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Creation of Corporate Value
Published in Hardcover by Cambridge University Press (1998)
Authors: George P. Baker and George David Smith
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A Good Read!
This revealing book covers a highly charged and controversial period of American investment history. George P. Baker and George David Smith study the emergence of the investment house Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts (KKR), and follow it during the decade KKR ruled the world of leveraged buyouts. The authors begin with the early days when the partners worked together at Bear Stearns. They track the men as they build their own firm and create their own success. In clear, straightforward language, the book presents KKR's intentions and the economics of leveraged buyouts (LBOs). It discusses KKR's role in structuring and managing the deals. We [...] recommend this book as a must read for anyone interested in LBOs or the history of KKR. Executives at all levels will find the KKR saga interesting and useful.

The New Financial Capitalists
Baker (Harvard Business School) and Smith (New York Univ.) provide a well-documented history of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and its development of the leveraged buyout (LBO). During the period 1976-93, KKR acquired more than 50 firms with an equity investment of only $10.9 billion. As of 1998, these equity investments were worth $40 billion (an annual return exceeding 28 percent). The authors examine KKR's strategy of identifying undervalued, poorly managed firms with potential to increase cash flow. Each LBO was financed with 80 to 90 percent debt, and equity was provided by a partnership organized by KKR. The LBO managers were required to have a large proportion of their net worth in the equity. After the acquisition, KKR's strategy was to cut costs and increase productivity, quickly pay down the debt, and sell the firm to unlock the equity investment. The large debt service inflicted discipline while management's investment created incentives. By linking managerial and ownership interests, Baker and Smith argue that KKR improved corporate governance and contributed to increases in corporate profits and productivity. This volume is an excellent addition to the literature on mergers, business history, and corporate strategy. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections as well as large public libraries.

Detailed Treatment of early KKR-led LBO Financing
This is an outstanding academic treatment of the investments made by KKR, all of which were some kind of leveraged buy-out. The authors focus their attention on the transactions themselves, not the way they were viewed by society or on the people that put them together - in this regard the book is a rare gem. It treats the period up to 1990 in some depth, with some very interesting case studies that show pretty good financial detail with outstanding qualitative descriptions of the transactions that were put together. As you walk through the various case studies, you are able to sit alongside with the KKR team and watch as the LBO goes from an unusual financial instrument to a mainstream product that is widely accepted in the marketplace. While growing acceptance of financial products is an established facet of Wall Street, to follow this evolution through the work of a single firm really is quite interesting. The manner in which the complexity, leverage and size of the transactions grow is laid out in plain English, making this a fascinating read.

Only Chapter 5 "KKR as an Institutional Form" focused on the firm itself, and even this treatment was not nearly as obsequious as many other financial books (most notably "Goldman Sachs: the Culture of Success" by Endlich). Mr. Baker and Mr. Smith take a very level-headed approach and document the growth of the firm in a straight-forward manner, although they do inject a good deal of 'positivity' to their view, i.e. the revolutionary introduction of Monday Morning Meeting's at KKR in the 1990's (this is commonplace at most banks).

I particularly enjoyed the second chapter "Recasting the Role of Debt" which talks about some of the earlier transactions that KKR did in some depth. The description of their LBO of Houdaille is very much worth reading, if only for the fact that traditional 'Old Economy' companies are again garnering such interest. Indeed, that is a very noteworthy aspect of the whole book, KKR focused on established companies with real cash flows. The one transaction which involved real growth financing was a near bust. This is very different than all of the financial maneuvering that has gone on over the past two years, and it is interesting to compare the sustainability of the two efforts (the many years of KKR's existence surely triumphs over venture capital's recent 15 minutes of fame). Chapter 4 on "When Risk Becomes Real" talks about some of the failed KKR transactions, EFB Trucking and Eaton Leonard in some detail. The reaction of KKR to these hiccups is very impressive, and while it is told with the same 'positivity' of the authors as mentioned above, the authors still do a good job of telling the story in an objective manner. The efforts of the partners to maintaining KKR's reputation in the marketplace is nothing short of heroic, and while there was a clear financial incentive over the short term it is clear that the longer term reputation of the company also played a clear role in motivating their actions.

It really is rare to get a book as good as this with detailed financial information (even if it is more than 10 years old) and a mostly unbiased view of the Company. Where the authors are biased, it is easy to pick up and interpret. This is very much an academic treatment of the firm, with some detail as to what the rest of the market was doing, but not a whole lot. There are just the right number of graphs, which is very nice. I would think anybody working in finance would enjoy this book, although given the depth in which it describes the transactions, it might not be the most leisurely read. This is an outstanding book.


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