Stephen Brookes has written an engrossing account of his Anglo-Burmese family's flight before the Japanese army in 1942. Plagued by monsoons, starvation, disease and personal tragedy, harassed by the desperate remnants of the Chinese army, and abandoned by the British authorities, it is amazing that anyone survived the long circuitous trek from Burma to India. Scores of thousands did not. Brookes does an excellent job of recounting the horrific journey from the viewpoint of a young boy, but it most definitely is not a children's book. It is a book for anyone who appreciates a fascinating tale of survival in the face of incredible adversity.

Expecting a rather grim trek through familiar territory I found instead a remarkable story of loss and endurance told with a surprisingly lyrical and at times humorous touch. A twelve year old Anglo-Burmese boy tells of the flight of the Brookes family from the advancing Japanese army in Burma during the second world war. Fleeing first to China then back through Burma and on to India young Stevie tells of his frustration and anger at being dragged along not knowing what was happening or why.

There were several attempts at escape,each thwarted by events or the stubborness of one or other parent,eventually leading into the mountains of Upper Burma. Walking knee deep in mud, fighting off ambushes by renegade Chinese soldiers, or just surviving the malarial conditions of the monsoon jungle, the family trekked and starved along with thousands of others on the same journey, Worse was to come as they eventually reached the so-called safety of a British controlled village. There Dr Brookes came up against colonial racism when he was refused help by an acquaintance he had entertained in happier days - a Burmese wife was acceptable when offering hospitality but not apparently when the roles were reversed. Meanwhile the child had a man's responsibility thrust upon him as he struggled to provide food and medication for his ailing family as his father died. A harrowing tale of tragic mismanagement but also telling of the blitheness and strength of a young boy who had to learn the hard lessons survival yet managed to retain a joy and wonderment at the miracles of nature A brilliant read; even if you only buy one book this year make sure it is this one.

Expecting a rather grim trek through familiar territory I found instead a remarkable story of loss and endurance told with a surprisingly lyrical and at times humorous touch. A twelve year old Anglo-Burmese boy tells of the flight of the Brookes family from the advancing Japanese army in Burma during the second world war. Fleeing first to China then back through Burma and on to India young Stevie tells of his frustration and anger at being dragged along not knowing what was happening or why.

There were several attempts at escape,each thwarted by events or the stubborness of one or other parent,eventually leading into the mountains of Upper Burma. Walking knee deep in mud, fighting off ambushes by renegade Chinese soldiers, or just surviving the malarial conditions of the monsoon jungle, the family trekked and starved along with thousands of others on the same journey, Worse was to come as they eventually reached the so-called safety of a British controlled village. There Dr Brookes came up against colonial racism when he was refused help by an acquaintance he had entertained in happier days - a Burmese wife was acceptable when offering hospitality but not apparently when the roles were reversed. Meanwhile the child had a man's responsibility thrust upon him as he struggled to provide food and medication for his ailing family as his father died. A harrowing tale of tragic mismanagement but also telling of the blitheness and strength of a young boy who had to learn the hard lessons survival yet managed to retain a joy and wonderment at the miracles of nature A brilliant read; even if you only buy one book this year make sure it is this one.

This large-format book contains photos of young men taken from the 1920s through to the 1950s. They are amazingly fresh and vibrant, sexy, modern yet classical, and show this great photographer's vision and love of the male form. The models are for the most part aged between 18-25.

It's amazing to think that even some of the oldest of these images are so fresh that they may have come from the 1980s. Sometimes the clothing (of which there is little) shows the period in which the pictures were made but most of them have a tingling vibrancy and liveliness that belies their age. It's odd to think that the beautiful naked youth from the 1920s is probably no longer alive, yet his beauty and grace have, by List's skill, transcended time and we get the chance to wonder about how he lived; what he made of his life; and to ponder on how youthful beauty, though transient, can last forever.

This book is a truly wonderful addition to the bookshelf of any connoiseur of both early photography and male beauty.

It's a beautiful book about cute boys of 20's and 50's in Germany and Greece.

A sly grin to Goodbye to Berlin, Temple and alike...

As time passes, the novels of Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) seem to gain in freshness, stature and influence. He lived long enough to see his modest reputation fade, in contrast to that of many of his famous novelist contemporaries. Nowadays the situation seems to be reversing.

Of special merit, amongst his huge output, are the so-called Barsetshire ("clerical") novels, and the so-called Palliser ("political") novels. Of the former, the last and longest is "The Last Chronicle of Barset". Not only are there fresh concerns, complications and current affairs introduced here, but there are also fond and final appearances of people and places encountered in the earlier Barsetshire novels. Everybody's favourite literary virago, Mrs Proudie, is again denouncing and dominating everybody. Trollope even contrives to create a character who has the temerity to say to her, "Peace, Woman!"

There are the innumerable characters of marriageable age, whose names are perhaps more memorable than their characters, whose charming dialogues and relationship problems are deftly laid out and interwoven. Above all, there is master story-teller Anthony Trollope, admitting finally that for him Barset has been a real place, a place where he as been induced to wander too long by his "love of old friendships, and by the sweetness of old faces".

Superb TV and radio adaptations of Trollope's Barsetshire novels have appeared in recent years. His novels read aloud well, too, and audio cassette readings, some of them unabridged, can provide endless hours of rich listening pleasure.

THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET is one of the great novels in the English language, and yet it is not widely read. The reason for this is obvious: it is the LAST novel in the Barsetshire series of novels, and a relatively small number make it all the way through the previous five volumes. This is a shame, because while all the previous novels are quite excellent and thoroughly entertaining, the final novel in the series is a work of an entirely different level of magnitude.

This novel is also one of the darkest that Trollope wrote. The moral dilemma in which Crawley finds himself would seem to belong more readily to the world of Dostoevsky than Victorian England.

Can this novel be read on its own, without reading the novels that precede it? Yes, but I do feel that it is best read after working through the other books in the series first. This is hardly an unfortunate situation, since all the books in the series are superb (with the exception of the first novel, THE WARDEN, which, while nice, is merely a prelude to the far superior five novels that came after it). Many of the characters in THE LAST CHRONICLE appeared first as characters in the other novels, and the central character of the book, Crawley, himself appeared earlier.

Trollope is...one of the most entertaining writers the English language has produced. At this point I have read around 20 of his novels, and fully intend to read more. But of all his books, this one might be his finest. The only two that I feel are close to the same level are his incredible books THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT (possibly the finest work on excessive jealousy since OTHELLO). Anyone who loves the English novel owes it to him or herself to read as many of these volumes as possible. My recommendation would be to read first the six novels in the Barsetshire Chronicles, and then to move on to the other two novels I mentioned. If still hooked, then try his other major series of novels, variously known as the Political novels or the Palliser novels or the Parliamentary novels, which begin with CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?

How one man could hold in his mind so much of his age, and then relate it back to us peopled with so many and varied characters in--how many? 20?-- interconnected novels of surpassing richness of detail and sagacity of moral observation, is a great mystery of human psychology.

"The Last Chronicle of Barset" is surely one of the most successful and satisfying of the whole Barset and Palliser series, illustrating perhaps better than any of the former Trollope's admirable gift for creating multi-dimensional characters that are as recognizable to us today as they were in his time.

This is one of the best books out of the hundreds I've read on astronomy, earth science and biology. This is the rare book that weaves together these disciplines. If you read one book on how our planet got to where it is, and where it's going, this is the one.

Dr. Drury has produced a much needed lay-person's exposition of Earth science - Bravo! To paraphrase his words, this book provides the complete story which is sketched out in several contemporary works dealing with life sciences and origins.
On the down-side, the reader is forced to read the authors' (short but frequent) political commentary peppered throughout the work. Marx, Engels, Lenin and other economic/political writers are quoted throughout. In most cases, the quotes are forced and read as though they were inserted in spite of the otherwise wonderful text.

For years I have been interested in geology and the evolution of life, but have rarely found any general book aimed at the non-specialist. Stepping Stones breaks completely from the single-topic approach and takes on probably the broadest scope of any book I have read - the entire evolution of our home planet, the life upon it and our own emergence from a history of quiet change interspersed with unimaginably violent events over almost 5 billion years. It links geology through physics, chemistry and biology to astronomical factors. Forget the Whole Earth Cookbook; Stepping Stones tells our story. Like all good reads, it contains a sting in the tail and blends fact, theory, speculation and some wry humour. I can't say that it is an easy read, but truly found it hard to put down. What I particularly like about it is the way that the author has divided the text into more than 20 chapters, each of which is almost self-contained and possible to read in an evening. I don't know how he did it, but the huge amount of content links together wonderfully. My favourite passage - where he jokingly links our irritating cough reflex to the survivors of a volcanic holocaust 25 million years ago when the atmosphere was thick with noxious fumes, and 90 percent of all life perished. Every living thing today descends from those survivors, and I laughed to think we may owe our being to the plague of concert halls. What I learned most - how humans evolved through a repeated sequence of huge climate and environmental shifts, which helped hone our ancestors survival skills, and generally how evolution is as much a product of outlandish chance as it is of slow change governed by genes pitted against surroundings. If I were younger, I would enroll for a geology course, and would feel confident that I could master any specialist detail thrown at me, now that I have grasped the fullest possible context from Stepping Stones!

As a conglomeration of other air combat fighter stories, Coonts has selected the best. This book is not just the cream of the crop, it is the cream of the cream.

The book ignited an interest in history, WWII, and fighter planes in me that hasn't stopped yet. I use the stories in this books as a bibliography to guide my further reading. And as such, it has steered me well into other great authors such as Adolg Galland, Len Deighton, Chuck Yeager, etc...

I just finished this book, and I actually ended up buying several of the books from which the excerpts were taken. I couldn't wait to receive the full versions so I could read the full accounts.

This collection of stories about WWII airmen on both sides of the conflict truly captivated me. I was sorry to finish the work. The story of the P-47 pilot trying to get his damaged plane back to safe territory made me feel like I was in the cockpit of the Thunderbolt with him! I could not wait to share the book with my friends.

I got this book for Christmas and have enjoyed just browsing through it, though I expect it to be useful as a reference book as well. I think the author (or maybe the publisher) did a neat job of updating the King James Version so that the quotes sound poetic but are still easy to understand. (They did away with all the words like 'thee' and 'thou' and so on.) I have recommended this to people in my church because I think its topical arrangement makes it easy to find what you're looking for in practically any subject area.

I found this to be a very useful desk reference book, also interesting just for leafing through when I have some down time at my job. I had not realized before that so many familiar quotes and phrases come from the Bible. The book is organized by topics in alphabetical order, making it easy to look things up. There is also a very handy index. It is not in hardback but has that kind of 'sturdy paperback' binding, so should hold up well after a lot of use.

This has been useful to me for magazine writing. I also do some speaking at my women's group, and this is a great source of quotes. It is organized by topics, so it makes it easy to locate just the right quote for what you need. One interesting difference between this and other quotation books is that the author has used the King James Version of the Bible but has carefully modernized some of the difficult "antique" words from the old version. I think that helps a lot, because in places the King James could be hard to understand.

Being a native New Yorker and a lover of history I was pulled into this book. With few "unit histories" of the Great War, this one is a must for any serious reader. The unit, made up from the elite of NYC, and men of more humble backgrounds from upper NY, forged a unit while not heralded, most certainly worthy of this book. The story, while never quick moving, will be interesting for the serious reader. The unit saw serious action in breaching the Hindenburg line while attached to the British. Good for the serious student.

A wonderful read. Well-documented and beautifully presented. It realistically evokes a time when honor fueled men to do their perceived duty without hesitation and with great patriotism.

The book via letters and diaries creates a true emotional atmosphere of World War I and those committed to serve. It would make a superb film!

Not to be forgotten the men of L Regiment. Thank you Mr Harris for the insight to a time before I was born and frankly of a different type of men who had so much to give and so much to lose but honor and duty were so important to them all. This was a wonderful book and if you lived as I did in the Hudson River Valley the memories of all of this are so important to me.

Carl von Clausewitz wrote in The Principles of War, "only when we cut off the enemy's line of retreat are we assured of great success in victory." Stephen Tanner, a skilled writer of history who knows how to tell a story, examines in Epic Retreats several cases of strategic retreat during the last two hundred years and how they met with success or failure depending upon leadership skills, individual initiative and heroism, and the determination of the combatants to achieve some measure of victory or avoid complete defeat.

Tanner's Epic Retreats is highly readable and a fresh approach to military history, shedding light on the dynamics of adversity. The case studies he treats are:

The American retreat from New York in 1776, the success of which meant the Revolution could not be easily crushed.

Napoleon's retreat from Russia in the winter of 1812 and the destruction of the Grand Army

The unsuccessful, heart-breaking attempt by the Nez Perce people to escape to Canada in 1877 to preserve their freedom

The British Army's breathtaking evacuation at Dunkirk in World War II

The German army's retreat from Russia in the fall and winter of 1942

The American army's fallback in Korea in 1950 after Chinese "volunteers" were launched in massive numbers across the Yalu River

The American withdrawal from Vietnam followed by the fall of South Vietnam

I especially found riveting the tragic account of the Nez Perce and the story of the American army's retreat in Korea, two chapters of history with which I had little knowledge.

Excellent accounts of all stories told, with great insight into the wars that surrounded these particular retreats. High level strategic background, down to individual accounts of harrowing tales of battle, the stories are quite complete and in many cases enlightening with several myths dispelled. An excellent read. Well done!

Tanner, a gifted writer of military history, has undertaken a history of the "retreat": that military predicament requiring an army to abandon its plans for conquest and to concentrate solely on staying alive. He presents seven stories, each an epic: Washington in New York, Napoleon in 1812, the Nez Perce, Dunkirk, the Germans in the Russian Caucusus, the U.S. Army in Korea and the Fall of Saigon. His central thesis is that a retreat need not be a disaster: three of these armies (the Continental Army, the British in WW2 and for all practical purposes the US in Korea) managed to regroup and prevail. Because the essays all bear the sure hand of the one author, this broader theme sustains the reader over the many leaps in timeframe and location. Two (very minor) criticisms: first, a lurking Anglophobia rears its head in the 1812 and Korea articles; second, while agreeing that the "counter-culture" had a radical impact on U.S. policy in Vietnam, one factual error arises in Tanner's dicussion of 1969: the Rolling Stones were not singing "Sympathy for the Devil" when the Altamont stabbing occurred, they were playing "Under My Thumb." While the Vietnam essay is very strong, for my money the account of the Red Army's triumph over the Panzer Army in the Caucasus is nothing short of superb.

it still takes a back-seat to R. P. Hunnicut's exhaustive and complete book, "Pershing: a History of the Medium Tank".

What this slender book does have is some good info (little of which is new) and a lot of excellent, clear pictures. It's an excellent reference on the tank and a worthy addition to the series.

The M26 Pershing was the US Army's belated answer to the German Panther and Tiger tanks. Until the invasion of France the US thought their "Tank Destroyer" arm would defend against Nazi armor while the obsolescent Sherman tank would be used to exploit breakthroughs. The close fighting in the hedgerow country of Normandy showed the flaws in this policy and urgent requests went out for a better armed and better protected tank. The Ordnance dDepartment's answer was the T26E3 (later M26) which had been in development. The tank, nicknamed "Pershing", was rushed into production and early examples arrived in Europe late in the war. The Pershing also proved to be a powerful asset in Korea when facing the Soviet T34 tanks used by North Korea.

The recent release of a model of America's M26 Pershing tank led to several new books coming out on this little-know armored vehicle. If I have to choose only one of the new crop I would pick this one. Mr. Zaloga is a dedicated researcher and is very knowledgeable on combat vehicles and their histories. In a thumbnail Zaloga traces development of the new tank and then looks at how the Pershing was used in WW2 and Korea.

For a modest price the reader gets a history of the tank and color scheme information. The Osprey Vanguards are not meant to be the "final word" on any vehicle, but serve as modestly priced, readily available references. This is one of the best in that series.

This tank could have made a great diferens in een early ending of the war. This book makes this statement.
The pictures are of an high detail.