I read this book as a first-year midwifery student doing research on the history of childbirth. Most of the other books I read were similar in their perspectives, but this one was definitely outside the norm. The author has some very different views about what caused the shift in childbirth assistance, and makes his case well.

The Making of Man-Midwifery really stretched my thinking and challenged me to step back and view the sociology of childbirth from a much broader perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to develop their own understanding of childbirth sociology.

This book is a distinctly mixed bag, so potential buyers should beware. On the one hand, its author is a master book designer whose opinions deserve special consideration. He has filled the book with rich and rewarding guidance that will endure. On the other hand, the book was written long before computers revolutionized the publishing industry, so it has a distinctly archaic - even obsolete - aura. Vast portions of the text are no longer relevant to modern publishing, and readers who rely on them will be very seriously misled. Newcomers should take note: this book cannot tell you how books are made today. There are other problems, too. The book was an incomplete survey even when it was new, and the author has the unfortunate habit of using technical terms that he has not explained. These serious shortcomings will create annoying obstacles for many readers. Still, the book has value for those who recognize its limitations. As one wanders from page to page, one has the sense of visiting some grand but long abandoned building whose former glories still speak through their layer of dust. For instance, the book is an interesting source of information about the history of book making and about the pre-computer state of its technology. And the author has included many useful examples of well-designed books, which repay careful study. The author's general advice about book design also retains much of its value. This is not a book that I would recommend for casual novices. It is much better suited to the respectful appreciation of those who already understand book making and who will recognize this book as a valuable artifact from a former era. Unfortunately, students will find that there is no modern alternative to this book. So although its value has diminished, it can serve as a useful stepping-stone for those who want to know how fine books are made. Proceed at your own risk, and bear in mind that many other books - none of them wholly satisfactory - must also be consulted for supplementary guidance within this sadly under-documented field.

This book is the best introduction (I know of) to the design, layout, and typography of traditional page and book design. This was written in 1967, long before desktop publishing and Web pages, but anyone who works in visual design can learn a huge amount from this classic work on page layout and typography.

Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett have been studying the real history of the two King Arthurs for over 40 years and their research is based only upon hard fact. Their work allows you to access every manuscript, visit every historic site and touch every stone and artefact.

Adrian Gilbert simply wrote up their voluminous research and put it into a more reader friendly style, for which we should be grateful.

No wonder the academics are scared of Wilson and Blackett. By using the ancient British (in the Welsh and Latin language) manuscripts they have been able to conclusively prove the existence of two King Arthurs, the reality of an early Christian church in Wales that predates St. Augustine (597) and, for example, that Southern Wales was the scene for Arthur 2nd's famous battle at Baedan (Mynydd Baedan). Note that modern Ordnance Survey maps omit many of the real and important historical sites. This happened as a result of the authors initial research.

Wilson and Blackett's research shows the deliberate and malicious misdating of ancient monuments and stones by supposed "experts" at the University of Wales, CADW and the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaelogical Trust Ltd, all of whom combined from the early 1980s to shut down the historians' project. Happily, with our full support, they soldier on in true Arthurian style!

The truth has always been that they are 100% correct in their conclusions and even Gilbert, ever the skeptic, has had to admit as much. Hence his late involvement in the Ancient British historical project.

Against the background of political intrigue and state-funded hostility to their work, many of us are eternally grateful that we will be able to pass on the true history of these lands and our people onto our children. We will be able to take them to see places in Wales and the West Midlands and stand in awe at sites where British history was made.

Latterly, we have begun to understand the migration histories of the Khumry-Welsh (wrongly spelled Cymry) who descended from Brutus. The reality of this "invisible kingdom", stretching from Wales through Europe to the middle East, is a remarkable story that logically follows from this important book.

Go out and BUY this book - it'll change your perception and you'll overdose on truth!

I really enjoyed reading The Holy Kingdom and although I'd be interested to read more about Prince Madoc in America this book acts as a great introduction to the work of Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett's Ancient British Historical Project.

I am heartened that the Holy Kingdom is now available in the USA; this project is of immense significance and if we are to flesh out the history of Madoc and Arthur in America in the sixth Century then we need to know where we're coming from...

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It does indeed seem as if Adrian Gilbert caught on to Wilson and Blackett rather late and had an editorial role, whereas they have done all the meaningful research.

Let's hope this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the publishers and these British historians. Rich in detail, racy in its commentary and sober in its reflection, The Holy Kingdom takes you to the sites of every relevant King Arthur story and even provides a twist in the tale in its debunking of the current Glastonbury hoax...

This is a great book, in so many ways...

A vital book.

The smear of misread manuscripts is not new and one that various powerful interests have tried through the ages. Anhun, or Annhun Nigri, was indeed Arthur lst as the whole picture presented by an understanding of the interlocking Welsh genealogies shows.

Blackett and Wilson have stuck to the ancient record and tried to understand how one Arthur figure could have battled and beaten the Romans at Soissy in 383 and also defeated the Saxons circa 560. Obviously there were two men!

Annhun's story is the same at that of Arthur 1st, whose burial stone Blackett and Wilson discovered several years ago near Atherstone (Arthr's Twyn, or Arthur's burial site?) in the West Midland, within the Old Bury ancient site founded circa 250 AD as the record states. The legend on the stone read Artorius - in other words Arthur. The site is at the heart of an old Welsh kingdom where experts in place names like Margaret Gelling have clearly said "English and Welsh lived together".

Hence we should not be surprised that during a period of Welsh dominance, mistakenly described as the "latter period of Roman domination" (there was no such thing), Welsh place names, burial sites and other artefacts should be discovered in the modern West Midlands within the ancient bishopric of Lichfield.

So Annhun, who died circa 388 and who was a direct descendent of Arthur/Arthwys ll ap Meurig ap Tewdrig, was indeed a vitally important figure within the Khumric dynasty and whose authenticity is not in doubt. We now know that it was Arthur, specifically, due to the discovery of the stone and evidence presented very clearly, and unambiguously, in The Holy Kingdom.

You do not need to rely simply upon one manuscript with Blackett and Wilson; all references are stated and given in copious detail in The Holy Kingdom and are available to see. All Welsh historians dating back to at least 1760 (I have the books here) and back into the 1500s, moreover, (haven't got them!) stated that Arthur was a Welsh king. Their work was based upon manuscript research; many of the authors were theological types based at Oxford University.

Wilson and Blackett have allowed the past to speak and for an Arthurian "renaissance" to take place. They, it turns out, have led this new movement based on ancient and unimpeachable evidence.

This is a massively important book and one that I can only highly recommend. As a Welshman, and welsh speaker, living in Louisville, Kentucky, I understand the issues, the reasons for attacks on the author's work and the powerful interests that would rather this all just went away.

So please purchase the Holy Kingdom from amazon.com today!

The face of evil in this story is so ordinary and bland that it chills the heart. While Innocents Slept is the tale of a father accused of mudering two infant children as they slept. Unfortunately, the writing is a bit scattered and the story is uneven. That makes this book very hard to follow and unrewarding to read.

His friends and family felt bad for Garrett and Missy Wilson when both their infants died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the 1980s. In 1993, Garrett divorced Missy. Later he married Vicky and had a little girl Marysa with her. In 1998, Maryland police arrest Garrett for smothering his son Garrett Michael to death in 1987. The death of his daughter Brandi Jean remains suspicious. A jury deliberating in less than two hours returned a guilty verdict on Garrett.

However, is he guilty of murder for insurance or is he the victim of a zealot police officer and a scorned former wife? Adrian Havill provides one heck of a true-life crime tale by having access to more than just both sides of the story. The author also obtains the latest medical information on SIDS that adds to the terror of this real life murder mystery. WHILE INNOCENTS SLEPT is a shocker not because Garrett did or did not kill his two children, but because of the realization that a statistically significant number of SIDS casualties are homicide victims. Not for the faint of heart, fans will find this scary true-life mystery to be one of the best the genre offers.

Harriet Klausner

Adrian Havill's novel was written with great detail. It was definately one of those murder mystery book that is hard to put down. It kept me in suspense from beginning to end. But my question was why would he kill Brandi Jean and Garret Michael, but never harmed Marysa? The circumstances surrounding both the infants were bizzare. As mothers how could both women not realized something was just not right about it. I mean it is a mother's intuition and whether that was Brandi and Garret's father how could you suspect something like that and wait so long to see justice is done? Some of the facts don't add up as far as the mothers of the children, it is very odd that not one but both women never forgot, but just let him get away for so long. This book was well researched and written down to every detail. But it keeps you guessing was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome the perfect way out to a cruel murder of innocents?