good clean readable sensible and clear! this music is difficult to get hold of.

This rottweiler book contains alot of information and pictures of the Rottweiler. I recommened this book to people interested in the breed, and to people who are serious about getting a Rottweiler for a companion.

This juvenile biography of Thomas Jefferson makes a concerted effort to touch on all of the controversial aspects of his public and private life; think of this as a biography for students who had to live through the Clinton scandal and impeachment trial. Certainly that dog and pony show makes the entire Sally Hemmings question seem less tawdry (although on that particular score I do want to point out that this biography, like so many, takes no note of the apparent fact that Hemmings was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, which strikes me as having some importance in this entire matter). Anyhow, author Ann Heinrichs begins not only by calling Jefferson "The Man Who Invented America," but also by setting up the key contrasts that filled his life, from standing for the common people while living in luxury to fighting for equality while being a slave owner.

As you would want with an introductory biography on someone like Jefferson, this volume provides breadth rather than depth. There is more basic information about Jefferson's life and political career in this volume than in any of the other comparable grade level biographies I have seen to date. When specific mention is made of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, one of three things Jefferson had mentioned on his tombstone along with the authorship of Declaration of Independence and the founding of the University of Virginia, you know that appropriate attention is being paid to the many facets of Jefferson's life. Heinrichs also takes pains to explain things she know might confuse her young readers, such as how Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party relates to the two major political parties of today.

This entry in the Profiles of the Presidents series has some nice supplemental material in the back of the book, with a glossary, one man profiles of his personal and public life, a six-page comparative time line of his life and world events, and additional resources to be found in the library, on the web, and at various Jefferson historic sites across the country. The book is illustrated with relatively few pictures that are actually from Jefferson's time, but there is a nice collection of contemporary photographs of places important to his story as well as honoring his place in history. This book has some excellent production values that should help involve young readers. This is the first volume I have seen in the Profiles of the Presidents series, and if the rest are as solid as this one it will certainly being one of the better series of juvenile books to examine the lives of the Presidents.

Final Note: One of the first photographs in the book shows the statue of Jefferson in the Jefferson Memorial with the opening and closing lines of the Declaration of Independence carved into the walls. However, while Jefferson did indeed write those immortal opening lines, the closing ones were an amendment to his original draft proposed by another member of the Continental Congress (I want to say the Reverend Witherspoon, delegate from New Jersey, but I am not absolutely sure of that).

This volume on "Tibet" by Ann Heinrichs for the Enchantment of the World series is actually aimed at Grades 6-9 (Age 11-14), and not high school students, as you will realize as soon as you begin reading. Heinrichs begins with the idea of Shambhala (called Shangri-La by some), the enchanted kingdom that is a paradise of matchless beauty, hidden somewhere in the mountains of Tibet. The Tibetans call their home the "Land of Snows," but to outsides it is called the "Roof of the World" because it occupies the highest part of the Earth. It is within the context of those exotic names that Heinrichs begins to explore the Geography of Tibet, which leads to a look at the People of Tibet; their Daily Life and Customs; a their Religion, Culture, and Arts. Heinrichs then takes several chapters to develop the history of Tibet, from being a Buddhist Kingdom, to The Rule of the Dalai Lamas, and the situation today with Tibet Under China. A chapter is devoted to The Dalai Lama and the Exile that tells not only how the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama was selected but the efforts to have a Tibetan government in exile, reflected in the unique Tibetan constitution that combines a Buddhist outlook with modern issues such as conservation and nuclear warfare. Government and Economy contrasts the Dalai Lama's theocracy with the communist government of the People's Republic of China, while a final chapter looks at the Monasteries, Temples, and Treasures to be seen in Tibet, including the great Potala Palace on Lhasa's Red Hill.

What we have here is an excellent source of information on Tibet that should serve the research needs of any young students. Between the table of contents and the index, finding information on anything from the Nomads and their Yaks to the Lhasa Uprising against the Chinese should be relatively easy. Even with regards to such general topics as geography Heinrichs provides appropriate informational categories that will help students develop their research papers fully. As always in the Enchantment of the World series, the back of this volume includes a "Mini-Facts at a Glance" section with General Information (e.g., Official Name, Ethnic Composition) along with specifics on Geography (e.g., Mountains, Wildlife), Economy and Industry (e.g., Agriculture, Transportation), Everyday Life (e.g., Health, Education), Important Dates from the founding of Tibet's first Buddhist monastery in 779 to the political turmoil over the Dalai Lama naming a six-year-old boy from a remote nomad village as the eleventh Panchen Lama in 1995, and a list of Important People (e.g., Gedun Drup, Padmasambhava). The book is illustrated with mostly color photographs, which probably works out to about a picture a page, that reinforce the textual information. The Enchantment of the World series consists of dozens of volumes on every country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, making it an ideal collection to have in a school library since it can accomodate three or four classes of students doing research projects on nations of the world.

Actually, this book by Ann Heinrichs for the We the People series looks at much more than "The Underground Railroad." Beginning with the lyrics of the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd," Heinrich explains to young students exactly what the railroad with no tracks was during the first half of the 19th-century. But she also provides a look at the history of slavery in the South and the start of the Abolitionist movement in the North. Describing what it was like on the run, Heinrich provides real examples such as the case of Henry "Box" Brown as well as the fictional story of Eliza from "Uncle Tom's Cabin." After tracing the two main routes by which slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad, Heinrichs tells of some of the "railroad crew," including Harriet Tubman, known as "Moses" for leading her people out of slavery. The Railroad closed down after the Civil War, when the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. This informative little volume is illustrated with historic etchings and etchings that are above-average in quality. This is the second book I have read recently by Henrichs and on the basis of those two efforts I have to say she is one of the better writers of juvenile histories I have come across. She covers a lot of information but always manages to stress key points and provide balanced coverage of her topic. Young students researching the Underground Railroad will find this book puts that part of American history in context, so that they will understand not only how it worked but why it was necessary.

In setting the tone for this juvenile biography of William Jefferson Clinton for the Profiles of the Presidents series, Ann Heinrichs highlights Clinton's reputation as the "Comeback Kid," who never quits. This is used to explain why Clinton defeated an incumbent Republican president who enjoyed the highest popularity rating of all time, became the first Democratic president to be re-elected since Franklin Roosevelt, and survived an impeachment. The key question for most teachers or parents before recommending this book for young readers may well be what does this book have to say about the impeachment and the circumstances around it. Heinrichs explains that Clinton was accused of having improper relations with a young female White House intern and that when questioned about it, Clinton did not tell the truth. With regards to the resolution, she makes two points. First, that most Americans apparently cared more about the booming U.S. economy than about Clinton's personal life. Second, that the Clintons were cleared of any wrongdoing in the six-year, multi-million dollar Whitewater investigation. That is certainly even-handed enough and it is reasonable that a volume that is perfectly suited to being a young student's introduction to the life of this particular President does not get into the sordid details.

This book does provide some indication of what it meant to label Clinton a "New Democrat," but most of the emphasis is the key events in his political career. Young readers might have a hard time distinguishing between those things that Clinton wanted to do, such as provide a major overhaul of the U.S. health system, and what his Administration actually did accomplish during his two terms in the White House. But given that the Profiles of the Presidents series is ideally suited to be the first juvenile biography students read about Clinton or any other President, emphasizing biographical details over political philosophy makes a certain amount of sense. One of the signatures of this superb little series is that these books are profusely illustrated with historic and contemporary photographs (including a photograph of the Clinton birthplace in Hope, Arkansas, taken in a pouring rain, and the famous one of young Clinton shaking hands with President Kennedy), most of which are in color. In the back of the book you will find a glossary, fast facts about the president, a parallel timeline of world and presidential events, an index, and other resources that young readers can use to help them understand the life and times of William Jefferson Clinton better.

Hannah Arendt has had much of her correspondence published over the last decade or so. We have volumes of her correspodence with Karl Jaspers, Mary McCarthy, Kurt Blumenfeld, and Martin Heidegger, among others. But these letters between Arendt and husband Heinrich Blucher stand out as the finest volume yet published. Whereas in the other volumes we see Arendt as student, friend, confidant, teacher, philosopher, intellectual, in these letters with Blucher we see Arendt as intimate confidant, vulnerable lover, and supportive wife. Heinrich Blucher was the one person to whom she could reveal herself, with whom she dropped her guard. The confidence was mutual as well; in Blucher's letters to Hannah we see his hopes, frustrations, trepidations, and above all, his devoted attachment to her hopes, needs and ambitions. Two people for whom the other was much more than a spouse or lover: someone in whom to take refuge in dark times.

The letters begin in 1936, shortly after Arendt and Blucher met in Paris, to which both escaped from Berlin in 1933: she after a short prison term for illegal Zionist activity, and he as a member of the German Communist Party, fleeing via Prague. At the time they met she was 29 and he 37. Both were married, but not to each other. They would not marry until 1940, shortly after their divorces became final.

Their first letters set the tone. Interspersed with intellectual and political affairs are their feelings for each other and their doubts and a lasting commitment can be achieved. IT grows from there, in all aspects, intellectual and emotional. When Arendt reproaches Blucher for not sticking to their letter-writing schedule, she tells him that she cannot continue to careen like a car wheel that has come off, "without a single connection to home or anything I can rely on."

They also discuss mutual friends such as Karl Jaspers, Mary McCarthy, Alfred Kazin, and Martin Heidegger (whose relationship over the years with Arendt can only be described as ambivilent), holding nothing back and giving the reader a rare glimpse into their intellectual and social world, a glimpse one can only imagine in a formal biography of the two. As no one writes letters anymore, this is a most valuable look into an intellectual time and world as distant from our cyber-present as last century's history.

Worth your time and money? Yes - in every sense of the word.

Eugenia Ginsburg was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 1937 on a false charge of terrorism at the height of the Stalin purges. In her first book 'Into the whirlwind' she describes her arrest, her interrogation, her mockery of a trial and two years in solitary confinement in prison. She was then transported to Magadan in the far East of Russia to a labour camp, and the first volume ends as she is beginning to cope with the undescribably harsh conditions in the camp.

'Within the whirlwind' describes the next fifteen years until her return and rehabilitation. She describes how her life was saved by gaining work as a nurse in the camp hospital where she met her second husband.

This book leaves the reader astonished how Evgenia could describe her life with such humour and at the same time with such human understanding. All the time, however, the reader is reminded of the inhumanity, lying and deception of the Stalin regime.

At one stage, the vice president of the USA, Henry Wallace, visits the camps, and the prisoners are removed and the guards temporarily take their place and manage to convince the gullible American that the camps are manned by well fed and enthusiastic pioneers.

Eugenia returns to Moscow, her life destroyed, having lost one of her sons. She ends on a note of optimism, that the truth will be told in her native land. She died however in 1977 and never saw her books published in her native land nor the destruction of the communist regime.

This book is now out of print, which is a pity. Everybody interested in Russia should try to get hold of a copy and read it and ponder on the demons that helped produce the country as it is today.

When I was in college getting my degree in Spanish, my professor opted to use this book as our textbook for our Spanish History class, and I loved it. Finally, history read like a story or a tale, not a lot of facts and info that had to be digested like bad tasting vegetables. Everything made sense. Everything was clear. And, the literature had a natural flow, like a riveting novel. But, I wouldn't expect anything less from Carlos Fuentes. I wish that he could have written all my classes' textbooks, in that way I would have graduated with a 4.0 average!

I am a Tibetan, born in Tibet, I grew up India and now I live in Boston.I read Seven years in Tibet when I was in school in India some 24 years ago.I immensely liked the book and the sense of adventure,hope and uncertainty that Heinrich Harrer and his companion Peter were facing or about to face then.When my family escaped the communist Chinese invasion of our Country,our home and our way of life, I was then very little.I knew then something very bad was happening, because my family members were packing and getting ready to go somewhere. I did not know then where we were headed.Seven years in Tibet opened my eyes about my country, my religon, my family,my leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, my identity and above all the great adventure and hardship the author and his friend were going through. After I read Seven years in Tibet, I recommended the book to my friends and was telling them the story.

When I heard last year that Seven years in Tibet was being made a Hollywood film, I was thrilled.I thought if the film maker did a good job then the film would be a hit.The Film would portray Tibetan culture,way of life,Buddism in Tibet and the political situation in Tibet before and after the Chinese communist's PLA invasion. I saw the film couple times but it was not as good as I expected. Never the less, I am still recommending the book and film to my friends, who are curious, want to know more about Tibet,Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhism.The book and the film will do a lot of good for the Tibetan cause.It will publicise the plight of Tibetan and Tibet.The film has some shortcomings but then something is better than nothing at least.

Not being a writer, Harrer has created a very pleasant book describing his years as a prisoner in India, his escapes, and his travels through Tibet as he and his companion Aufschnaiter try to reach Tibet's forbidden city, Lhasa. The narrative is smooth, making the reader walk with them as they deceive Tibet's authorities and thieves, finding friendship among the nomads, spending months across the country. Reaching Lhasa, the story changes to the way of life of the Tibetans, and his own, as he comes to consider Tibet his new home. He is able to picture the religious festivities, the fundaments of their budhaism, the social skills, the way the people see their God-king, the Dalai Lama. The only part of the story I think is not well developed enough is his relationship with the Dalai Lama, he spents only the last final two chapters with it. The end of the book is a little too quick, which represents the way he was forced by the chinese to leave Tibet. A very good book, and one can learn a lot about Tibet with it. The real stuff, not the kind of things you hear when some fancy movie star says he's budhist.

The story of a dramatic escape by Heinrich Harrer and his climbing associate Peter Aufschnaiter from and Indian internment camp after their arrest by the British when they were attempting to climb Nanga Parbat, at the outbreak of World War II. The book details their journey across Tibet including their near demise with the Khampas, before reaching Lhasa and in my view, discovering a way of looking at life very different to our own. The book then goes on to cover Heinrich Harrer's relationship with the Young Dalai Lama and the Dalai Lama's enthusiasm to learn more about the world he lived in. The book also provides an insight into life in Lhasa before the coming of the Chinese. Finishing with the onset of the Chinese occupation and the flight of the Dalai Lama, I found this to be a very well written book and it can be seen throughout the book how the very personality of the author changes from how I would describe as something not to far short of arrogance at the beginning to someone who cared very much about a people who just wanted to be able to get on with a way of live that had lasted for centuries and which to a great degree they were content with, but due to circumstances beyond their control, they were unable to do. I read this book after visiting Tibet myself in 1998 and the contrast between the Tibet described in the book and that which I saw was a sharp one. Heinrich Harrer himself returned to Tibet in 1982 and observed the changes himself (detailed in 'Return to Tibet', more of a thesis than a story, but nevertheless essential reading after 'Seven Years in Tibet'), noting the loss of much he had held dear when he was there in the 1940's. If you Heinrich Harrer's true story of Tibet, read the book - the film adaptation does not fit the storyline of the book and Heinrich Harrer himself is portrayed in a much poorer light early in the film than the book, which I feel is not fair. Another glaring error is that the film shows Heinrich Harrer in Lhasa after the Chinese arrive - Heinrich Harrer and the inaugerated Dalai Lama had already left Lhasa before the Chinese arrival.