This book is awesome. It is a wonderful piece of work. My perspective is as someone who spent 9 months working in Haiti, however, I am not sure how appreciated it would be by someone who is less familiar with the country. It terrificly explains the tragic history of Haiti and ties in somewhat current events. I enjoyed reading it with the familiarity of knowing the places the author descibes. The only negative to this book may be that recent history isn't included due to it's publication date. As those familiar with Haiti well know, the political situation can quickly change in such a fragile country.

As a lawyer representing Haitian refugees , I was looking for a book that could put into historical context the experiences that I daily hear from my clients . This book , which I chose by pure happestance , is one of the best historical books that I have read. ( as a history buff I have read many). It exhaustively covers the whole history of the Haitian people in exquisite detail (1492 to 1995 ) and has definitely helped me better represent my clients in a very hostile asylum process. I highly recommend it.

This is an excellent book. I have yet to read a more unbiassed detailed book on the history of Haiti, wheter in the French or English language.

The book details with precision the lives of the many players that have affected Haiti's political landscape in one way or another.

I recommend this book to all Haitians, or to anyone who's interested in knowing the reasons behind the current horrific political and social situation of Haiti.

You'll be suprised to learn who the true heroes of Haiti are.

I enjoyed this book, but only gave it 4 stars because the subject matter ws very hard for me to read. If you have any relatives in nursing homes, this story will hit home. The plot is all the more disturbing because it is based on true events from a real nursing home. West again creates characters who are dynamic and persever even when faced with amazing odds.

An extraordinary book, highly entertaining and very suspenseful. A celebration of the human spirit!

I really enjoyed reading this book by West. I could not put it down, I had to finish the book all in one night it was so good. It really reminds you of what you want to be and sets you back on course. One conversation with Gretchen and Cal ends up in jail because of her. I recommend this book to everyone it is a great story. I had to read it for english class and I never thought I would actually like a book for english class but I like this book.

I just finished Until They Bring The Streetcars Back which means the tears are still fresh in my eyes. What a wonderful and moving story. This is by far one of the best stories I've ever read. It has everything I look for in a book. The charcters all had depth and personality. I could picture every minute of this story in my head. This is the second book I have read by Mr. West and I cannot say enough great things about this author. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person last winter and he is one of those people that you instantly feel comfortable with. Someone like I picture Cal Gant to be. I am looking forward to reading Amos and re-reading Laura Buggs. I hope to see more from Mr. West in the future. Until then, Streetcars will remain my #1.

I stumbled across this book while in a bookstore in Minnesota (the author is from Minnesota) and I like to look at local authors in hopes of discovering the odd gem of a book. "Until the Streetcars Come Back" fit the mold exactly. The setting--Calvin Gant is a high-school senior in St. Paul in 1949-50) is nicely off-beat, but what really makes the story go is the conflicting emotions of a young boy who has the usual high school desires (win the big game, get the girl of his dreams to notice him, impress his buddies) and yet realizes, upon meeting a girl who is both an outcast at school and being physically and emotionally abused at home, that he is probably the only one who can help her. It comes down to being the story of a boy who doesn't always know exactly WHAT to do, but recognizes a responsibility when it is thrust upon him and refuses to abandon it no matter how it affects his own life. One of the hallmarks of a good read is that you hate to say goodbye to the characters at book's end, and this was the case here for me. I even re-read parts of the book to "revisit" them. I haven't done that in a long time. A classic? Probably not, but it you want to relive some of the silliness of your high school years and meet a really memorable cast of characters, including a good old-fashioned hero, check this one out

The Arena was built in 1929 for dairy cows, and it was in that building that the first power play in the history of the NHL happened in 1934.My grandmother could tell you about my cousin,Larry Finch, who played against mighty UCLA in 1973,for Memphis State. It was also where Penny Hardaway hit one of the most dramatic shots in Memphis State history in 1992. I cried when the place was imploded, because my friend , Kevin Holowchik, is a Blues fan and he was born there in St.Louis. You can tear the building down,but you cannot tear down the memories.

This book is a great coffee table item...I have been a Blues fan since 1986, that's right, the Monday Night Miracle. I loved the building. I played an inline hockey game with friends before a Vipers game as a promotion for the rink we played at locally. Just being behind the scenes in a "locker room" was amazing. I received this book for Christmas and read it before noon Christmas Day. I found the pictures and stories great, but it certainly lacked real information. I was very interested in the design of the building, the architechure, and stories about the tunnels and hidden walkways that this book hints at, but never dives into telling you. How about a volume two???

In the 1940s I can recall walking from our house on Cates, down DeBaliviere, through Forest Park and seeing that magnificant structure, The Arena. It featured a sign, "The Arena - Where the Big Events are held" along with the BAA Basketball sign for the Bombers and the AHL sign for the Flyers. Patti Smith Jackson's book, resplendith with photographs, allows those affectionados of this marvelous structure to keep memories such as this by putting her work in your hands whilst the building itself is now gone. Being over 65 I would have enjoyed more information about the earlier tennents of the building such as the Flyers of the American Hockey Association from 1928 to 1942 and then in the American Hockey League from 1944 to 1953. I can remember Neil Norman announcing the last period of the games starting at 9:45 PM on WIL in the 40s and Harry Caray doing same in the 50s. I would have liked more info on Tom Pack's wrestling matches at the Arena. I would have liked more information on the Bombers basketball team that started in the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and were one of the teams in the first season of the National Basketball Association in the 1949-50 season before folding. What I found missing in the Arena book was any mention of the Wirtz's moving some of the Chicago Blackhawks games to the Arena in 1953/54 to test the St. Louis market. It allowed a lot of us to see the greats, Gordie Howe, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, terrible Ted Lindsay. Also they had little coverage about the Bombers BAA/NBA team. Attendance was so bad that last season and I remember going to basketball doubleheaders with my Dad in the 49-50 season where he paid $1.25 for general admission and I got a ticket for a penny (on penny nights). Also after the Bombers folded after their first season, 49-50, the New York Knickerbockers wanted ex-St. Louis University star Easy Ed Macauley so badly that they offered to purchase the entire Bombers team but the NBA put the nix to that and Easy Ed went to the Boston Celtics instead. Harry broadcast the last half of the Bombers games on WIL also. But then it is really interesting how the folks responsible for the Big Events kept it all together with scotch tape and glue. This book is a MUST for anyone who loved the Arena and certainly will help the memories live on!

Indeed, this book ("Lonely Planet West Africa") did a good job in outlining many of the popular tourist attractions that are located in this Sub-Saharan region of Africa. I also appreciated its details on several tourists' trails, accomodations, means of transportation, and so on. However, I was very disappointed to note that (just like the "Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring") this book is full of discouraging comments. Some of the phrases Lonely Planet used in this book are quite offensive.
For sure, most foreigners who travel to (West) African countries are not expecting to see a paradise, but that does not mean that there is no better way of presenting real and imaginary negative thoughts. This book is smeared by terms and phrases, which I consider derogatory to both (West) Africa and (West) Africans. As a result of this, I will never recommend it to anyone until there is a change of heart by Lonely Planet in subsequent editions.

I once said I would never buy a Lonely Planet guide again, so disappointed I was with their Iceland and Greenland book which was poorly researched, inaccurate and full of rabid anti-American rhetoric.

For my trip to Ghana, it was, however, a choice of only three books available: a semiprofessional Bradt's Ghana (not a guidebook really, more an amateurish newsletter), supremely boring Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. I bought them all in the name of research.

I would say Lonely Planet is best of them all, although certain chapters preaching about evil ways of Western capitalism still reek of Lonely Planet's self-appointed role of bettering the world. Quite annoying, really, and in many cases hypocritical, coming from a lean-and-mean profit-making publishing house.

Most facts about travel, eating, accommodation, etc are accurate and well-researched, although as usual information to someone with a bit bigger budget is very fragmented.

They could give more information about useful websites for both ticket booking and accommodation.

Overall, if you are only buying one book for West Africa, this is the one. If you can get two - buy the Rough Guide as well: it may be boring and cultural information reads as if it was written by your local tax office, but you will get many additional addresses and phone numbers.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel it is the best written LP I've ever read (and I've read and traveled with many LP titles). I used the Sénégal section and found the hotel listings current and the maps very accurate. I really liked the special boxes with additional information on dangers, scams, and personal safety. I personally witnessed many things that I had read about in this book, making me ready for would be scam artists. One guy approached me and said "Remember me from the hotel lobby?" I had to keep myself from laughing. I replied back "I think so, which hotel?" and he didn't know what to say. With LP West Africa you will be well prepared to travel in one of the hardest places to travel in the world.

NOTE: The book is 4 years old and the region is even more unsafe now then it was 4 years ago. Be careful when traveling there.

A brief history of Germany, with a comprehensive Bibliography for anyone who wishes to further their reading on the subject. This book was written in 1982, with an Afterword written by Gordon Craig in 1991, addressing the unification of East and West Germany. As a novice to the subject of German history, I found this book to be a basic introduction, with many things referred to within the book not given a clear definition, and therefore to get a better understanding one would absolutely need to read other material.

I liked that chapters were divided into subjects such as "Religion", "Women", and "Literature and Society", but not knowing more about the different time periods that are referred to (such as the Weimar Republic), I was left feeling that the book was incomplete as a general history.

How, one might ask, could an American academic try to explain the nature of the German people to other Americans? He might do what I do, and talk about the Germans he's met at work and around town, and also the popular and classical culture he sees (not counting the dubbed episodes of Star Trek on TV), but that's just me. If he professionally studied the history and literature, and spent years in Germany during the early years of the twentieth century, he might produce a book like Gordon Craig's The Germans.

This is a scholarly book, and might be difficult for someone with no knowledge of German history to follow. The subjects, covering things like religion, economics, gender relations, literature, and so forth, are done topically, and only chronologically within each chapter. This allows Craig to focus in on certain subjects and hold the focus for as long as he needs, but it also makes it difficult to synthesize the topics and integrate them into the passage of time.

The goal is to "explain" as well as possible the nature of the German people. Thus, there is no general history of wars or kings. As I mentioned, the chronological aspect is difficult to pin down here. If I had to summarize in a sentence, it would be that Craig attempts to relate how Germans have related to each other over the centuries, and to a lesser extent, how they have related to others. Of course, any time someone sets out to explain a people the effort is almost certain to fail if the author asks "Why did they behave so?" This is true for Germany or any other country. But if the goal is to attempt a coherent discussion of "How did they behave?" then there is better hope for success, and I think Craig has succeeded reasonably well here. One gets, if not a feel for the flow of time, then a feel for ideas. One can say, "So this is how German literature developed." One can say, "So this is why their language is so simple, yet so confounding." As an idea book, Craig has produced a useful work.

Over all the books on Germany I have read, Gordon A. Craig has written the most fascinating book comprehendable. It exceeds far beyond the crude and stereotypical portraits that are displayed in many other books, but instead looks deeper into the study of european history and culture. Craig's introductions are insightful and entertaining. The book is composed of a collection of long essay's which prove Craig's neutral outlook on a country that is foreign to him. This book is the best way to better understand the German phenomenon explained by the greatest diplomatic historian of Germany, Gordon A. Craig.

A great book with many interesting aspects

A travel book An insight into the Arab world About different people and their ways

Author Gordon De Marco probably isn't really paranoid, but you may be after you've read this delightful exploration of the fringes of American politics and journalism. Steve Toast's once promising journalism career has sunk to the level of writing about "Terrorist Trees!" (they ruin lawns and drip sap on cars) for the tabloid National Sun. Then his editor assigns him to interview a man who claims the CIA killed Elvis, and life gets ... interesting. In cheap coffee and doughnut shops throughout LA, Toast drags the story bit by bit from his frightened informant, and we find ourselves being drawn into the insidious logic of the conspiracy theorist : a meeting of anti-Castro Cubans in a restaurant in 1977, a CIA plot to assassinate Jimmy Carter, James Earl Ray's brief prison escape. Historical fact, rumor and speculation are deftly blended until even this devoted skeptic was beginning to say "Hmmm..." In between interviews, Toast is pursued and shot at by a mysterious "big, fast Mercury", evangelized by gun-toting worshippers of Jesus's twin brother Judas Thomas, and tantalized by the return of a former lover dangling a dream job offer at the Washington Post. Writing in a first-person, semi-hard-boiled narrative, the author manages to regard the conspiracy tale, and the tabloid world, with detached humor, yet respect. Anyone who is at all intrigued by the odd byways of American politics explored by Mark Lane and Oliver Stone, or by the headlines spotted in supermarket checkout lines, will find this a refreshing read.

Nigel has given us a lovely history, and also drawn out a number of themes that have meaning for the future. For instance, the superiority of amateurs from the ham radio ranks over the so-called professional military communications personnel, in the tricky business of breaking patterns and codes; the many "human in the loop" breaks of otherwise unbreakable technical codes, from the Italians with hemorrhoids (not in the code book, spelling it each day broke the code) to the careless Russians. He also touches on security cases in both the U.S. and England. In his conclusion, one sentence jumped out at me: "The old spirit of RSS, with its emphasis on voluntary effort, has been replaced by a bureaucracy of civil servants who preferred to stifle, rather than encourage, initiative." As the current Director of NSA has discovered, NSA today is in mental grid lock, and its culture is oppressive in the extreme.

Dominican Republic coverage was ok but Haiti seemed very ill served by this book.

Harry S. Pariser's Dominican Republic guide is better and does not suffer from the inclusion of Haiti, a country of far fewer tourists and no appeal to most D. R. tourists. I found the North Coast (Puerta Plata) far superior to the East Coast (Punta Cana), one would not understand that from reading this book. No matter what guide you purchase pay close attention to the NEGATIVE reviews of resorts at the web site debbiesdominicantravel dot com. Unfortunately, many who post at this web site excuse substandard accomodations and poor treatment of tourists (like at the Punta Cana Beach Resort), so study the negative reviews of any resort you consider carefully. This is not a bad guide, just not the best guide. Always remember, the D. R. is a fabulous place to visit and perhaps to live.

I was very surprised to read the last two reviews and feel a need to express another opinion. My husband, David, and I just spent six and a half weeks in the Dominican Republic and we found the Lonely Planet guidebook to be very helpful (we did not travel at all in Haiti and, so, cannot comment on the book's coverage of Haiti). But we thought the section of the book that described the Dominican Republic was excellent. The prices were sometimes higher than the book said, due to inflation, but the descriptions were nearly always right on the mark. For example, we decided to climb Pico Duarte, the country's highest mountain, and we found the information provided about guides and lodges and climbing difficulty was very accurate. The author had clearly climbed the mountain and knew what he was talking about. The guidebook include maps of the various routes up the mountain and to nearby peaks and not one of the other guidebooks on the Dominican Republic that we looked at (about 10 in all) had such maps. Also, while we were in the area of Pico Duarte we went to a lovely waterfall few people go to that the author wrote about that wasn't mentioned in either of the other guidebooks we took with us (the Moon book was terrible, incidentally). I also really liked all of the history in the book. The island is rich with Indian history and colonial history and pirate history, and I thought the author did a super job presenting it.