Suite Française

Suite Française
Average customer rating:

Amazing! I wish there were more

A VIEW OF FRANCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 2ND WORLD WAR

Suite Francaise

Deeply Moving and Evocative

"Based on true history..."

Suite Française
Irene Nemirovsky
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400044731
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

By the early l940s, when Ukrainian-born Irène Némirovsky began working on what would become Suite Française—the first two parts of a planned five-part novel—she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz: a month later she was dead at the age of thirty-nine. Two years earlier, living in a small village in central France—where she, her husband, and their two small daughters had fled in a vain attempt to elude the Nazis —she’d begun her novel, a luminous portrayal of a human drama in which she herself would become a victim. When she was arrested, she had completed two parts of the epic, the handwritten manuscripts of which were hidden in a suitcase that her daughters would take with them into hiding and eventually into freedom. Sixty-four years later, at long last, we can read Némirovsky’s literary masterpiece

The first part, “A Storm in June,” opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. In the second part, “Dolce,” we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.

Suite Française is a singularly piercing evocation—at once subtle and severe, deeply compassionate and fiercely ironic—of life and death in occupied France, and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.

Download Description

Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne, she began to write and swiftly achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was followed by The Ball, The Flies of Autumn, Dogs and Wolves and The Courilof Affair. She died in 1942.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing! I wish there were more.......2007-10-19

Suite Francaise is an epic book along the lines of War and Peace, yet set in WWII as the Germans invade and occupy France. The descriptions are vivid of the human condition: the individual vs. the community; class vs. humanity; rich & poor; what the rich do when they are suddenly poor. An amazing book.

The author intended to write the book as three (or possibly 5) books/sections, but only finished two. She was cut short by a final train ride to Auswitz. Remarkably, she doesn't mention Jewish persecution in her novel. That fact in itself contrasts with the picture she paints of ordinary, and not so ordinary, people struggling to survive that tragic period.

A VIEW OF FRANCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 2ND WORLD WAR.......2007-10-18

THIS WAS A WONDERFULLY WRITTEN BOOK DEALING WITH DIFFERENT CLASSES AND HOW THEY DEALT WITH THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF THEIR COUNTRY DURING WW11. INTERESTING THAT THERE IS NOT A MENTION OF THE JEWS EVEN THOUGH THE AUTHOR WAS JEWISH BEFORE SHE CONVERTED TO CATHOLICISM.

Suite Francaise.......2007-10-17

This is one of the most well written compelling books I have read. The author captures the people of France (and the German soldiers) at their most vulnerable, describing them so vividly that you believe them to be real; capturing their faults, their courage and their desire for peace. Her descriptive language brings the country side to life...you can almost smell the flowers. Most importantly, as I read the book I was haunted by the fact that this author, who had so much to live for, was killed shortly after this story was written. I found it amazing that she could convey with such tenderness the raw detail & complexity of the people of France during the early war years knowing that her life was so obviously at risk.

Deeply Moving and Evocative.......2007-10-16

This posthumously published pair of Novellas deserves all of the praise being heaped upon it by all of the reviewers below. It is a remarkable portrait of real people in extraordinary circumstances.

In the First section the reader follows a mixed group of Parisians who are desperately fleeing the oncoming german army. The characterizations of people reacting differently to the stressful situation they find themselves in and the degradations they suffer is poignant and stunning.

In the second section Dolce the Germans are now an occupying force and the tension between conquerers and conquered is palpable. The way the Frrench villagers and citizens adapt to their challenging circumstances is as strong a testament to those who lived through these times as any written record.

Suite Francais is destined to become one of the classics of WWII literature. The writing is incredibly beautiful even in translation.

"Based on true history...".......2007-10-14

The history behind the author of the book is what appealed to me, but the story lines kept me entertained to the end. Some parts dragged, but for the most part, the characters were very relateable and it is interesting to see how their lives intertwined in fictional WWII France. The fictional occupation and end to the war in France portrayed by the author in some ways leaves you hanging but also conveys what the uncertainties and tragedy of war can be like.

Pimsleur German I Comprehensive CDs, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

Good for practicing
Even the "brain challanged" can use Pimsleur
easy way to learn
The best learning language software
The best way learn German

Pimsleur German I Comprehensive CDs, Second Edition
Pimsleur
Manufacturer: Pimsleur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743518365

Book Description

Comprehensive German I includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus an introduction to reading.

Customer Reviews:

Good for practicing.......2007-09-24

This course will only teach you to speak German, NOT to write or read. It contains only CDs to hear german, you will repeat when instructed to. That is it.

Even the "brain challanged" can use Pimsleur.......2007-07-03

I'm more than 20% through my lessons. Based on my experience, I have ordered level 2. Due to my own unique brain wiring, I cannot report "getting it" in one session, lasting about 1/2 hour. I can say that listening to a lesson for 2-3 days, it works. More than I can say for other methods...

easy way to learn.......2007-04-02

I've been really enjoying working my way through the series. The frequent reviews of previously covered material really do help keep it all in mind.

The best learning language software.......2007-03-04

I'vee been learning German for about 6 months and besides Pimsleur I have used Rosetta Stone, Rocket Languages, and have taken private instruction. Obviously, private instruction is best. But this review is about software, and Pimsleur is best. But Rosetta Stone has more bells & whistles, which is perhaps why people think it is so good. But it isn't. For example, nowhere in Rosetta Stone do you actually learn how to say useful things. Nowhere do you learn how to say "Hello," "How are you, "What's your name," or even "Where's the bathroom." Instead, you will learn how to recognize a phrase such as "The woman and the boy have a ball on their heads" or "The man is under the donkey." Ridiculous!! And note I said "learn how to recognize a phrase." This is the biggest weakness and disappointment with Rosetta Stone. It really doesn't get you to talk. You see four pictures, and the speaker will say (in German) "The boy is drinking milk." Now, if you have already heard the word for "boy" (Junge) and three of the pictures have no boys, you simply click on the picture with the boy and presto, you're correct! This multiple choice way of learning is not effective for learning a language!

With Pimsleur, which is an audio only program, you hear conversations that will impart essential words, phrases and concepts. And they are repeated (and asks you to repeat) in such a fashion that it sticks. For example, it was weeks ago that it introduced "How much do I owe you?" yet I still remember it. (Wie viel shulde ich Ihnen?--No, I didn't cheat and look it up!) Pimsleur is brilliant in the way it gradually builds your knowledge and abilities. Of course, it isn't perfect as it doesn't explain the grammar. But neither does Rosetta Stone. That's why software language learning programs should be seen as supplements--supplements to classroom or private instruction. However, if you want to go exclusively with a software program--get Pimsleur. With Rosetta Stone, you won't even learn how to ask for something to eat or drink, or where the bathroom is, or even how to say Hello!

So how exactly does Pimsleur work? For a technical explanation you could Google Pimsleur and get a better answer than I could give. But here's what you get: each level (I bough the whole package: Levels 1,2,3 and a bonus 4th level) contains 30 half-hour lessons, except the bonus level, which I think has 10. You do each lesson until you feel comfortable going to the next (you are told that you do not need to master each lesson; if you feel that you can do 80% of what the lesson asks of you, it is time to move on). I think this 80% rule is smart--you don't expect yourself to be perfect, so you don't get bogged down. I found that I do each lesson twice, and on occasion have done a lesson three times. What does the lesson ask of you? The lesson typically starts with a very short conversation spoken by two Germans, then breaks it down. All the time you are repeating things--an English speaker guides you along the way, and eventually a German speaker will ask you to do things, but the English speaker is always around to clarify something new or explain a nuance. And then the lesson goes beyond the initial conversation and introduces new words, phrases, and concepts, sometime adding to what you've learned before, sometimes reinforcing what you've learned before: It mixes it up in a way that keeps your interest, so it doesn't become rote. There is a good balance between English and German spoken on the lessons, unlike Rocket Languages where there is way too much English spoken with cutesy-pie encouragement. Even the little things Pimlseur does well. For example, instead of endlessly repeating numbers in order to teach numbers, you'll learn the numbers in context, such as learning how how to say "Give me ten Euros." I found that this is far more effective than just trying to memorize words.

Of course, a software program is a supplement. Pimsleur will definitely get you speaking, and maybe even enough to get around on a trip to Germany. But if you're seriously interested in studying a language, it's not enough. For example, it's left a mystery why a word has certain endings in one context or another. It takes a textbook or a teacher to explain the German cases. (For example, my mother = meine Mutter, with my mother = mit meiner Mutter). All Pimsleur will do is have you note the different sound: meine, meiner. It doesn't explain why.

Note: I purchased a download, not the CD's.

The best way learn German.......2007-03-01

I've been trying for years to become semi fluent in German. All of my previous efforts have gone down in flames. The Pimsleur series is fantastic. You learn the language by speaking the language. Complex grammár becomes second nature. I'm halfway through the Second part of the course. I've been working on it during my commute to work. Makes the commute almost bearable. I'll be going to Berlin in a couple of weeks. Feel as though I'll be able to communicate reasonably well.

You won't get a huge vocabulary using the Pimsleur method. But, what you do learn will become part of you. You will know how to use the words in complex sentences. You will know how to use similar words as you learn them. You will learn practical words that can be used in everyday conversations.

The series of lessons is not cheap. However, 'the Pinsleur series is worth every penny. Buy it!

Average customer rating:

Too much money!!!!
Every bit as good as Pimsleur German I
Sehr Gut
The best of the Pimsleur German series.
Great

German II, 3rd Ed. (Comp.) [CD]
Pimsleur Language Programs
Manufacturer: Pimsleur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743523490

Book Description

Comprehensive German II includes 30 additional lessons (16 hrs.), plus Readings, which build upon the language skills acquired in Level I. Increased spoken and reading language ability.

Level II will double your vocabulary and grammatical structures while increasing your spoken proficiency exponentially. Upon completion of a Level II, you will be able to:

* engage in fuller conversations involving yourself, your family, daily activities, interests and personal preferences,

* combine known elements into increasingly longer sentences and strings of sentences,

* create with language and function in informal situations,

* deal with concrete topics in the past, present, and future,

* meet social demands and limited job requirements,

* begin reading for meaning.

Note: In order for the Pimsleur Method to work correctly, you must first complete the Level I language program before proceeding to the Level II language program.

Customer Reviews:

Too much money!!!! .......2007-09-25

Get the Baron's course, Super boring conversations repeated over and over.
Too much english is spoken. Get a Peter Maffay cd

Every bit as good as Pimsleur German I.......2005-10-20

Pimsleur Language Programs products are among the best-selling audio language courses available. `Organic learning' seeks to approximate the conditions in which ordinary language-learning takes place. The process is almost entirely aural, supplemented only minimally-or at the student's discretion, not at all-by reference to reading lessons after each half-hour lesson.

Clearly, Dr. Pimsleur and his disciples-I use the word advisedly, as a glance at promotional and instructional materials will demonstrate-have done their pedagogical homework. Utilizing the spectacular power of the brain for on-the-hoof language analysis and replication, the Pimsleur Language Programs lure their listeners into meaning-rich dialogues, providing only the information required for one to respond. The closest thing to a grammatical concept that a student hears is a brief warning that `this is the form used with feminine words'. Yet with a little effort, the student intuits her way to the correct and timely use of all that grammar describes.

This is an extremely productive approach at the level of basic conversational skills that is the bread and butter of Pimsleur's products. The course writers have found just the level at which to challenge the student without counterproductive frustration. One is encouraged to achieve 80% control of a unit before moving on. Many students will accomplish this in most units on the first try. Yet the approach in these three volumes is never simplistic, reducing the urge to be somewhere else or engaged in a more advanced section to the vanishing point.

Pimsleur Language Programs has populated websites with two highly sellable language-learning concepts: the `principle of anticipation' and `graduated interval recall'. The former refers to the interval during which the student is challenged to retrieve information to which he has been exposed, occasionally take some small step in the processing of it, and then utilize that information in a response. PLP has refined just the right intervals to facilitate prompt but unhurried responses.

`Graduated interval recall' refers to the time lag between the initial learning of a language component and its subsequent reintroduction in a new conversation. Here, too, the Pimsleur method shows its debt to years of practice and research. By my lights, they do this perfectly.

Regionally and socially, PLP's German course(s) aim at an `educated' dialect that will prepare the student to be conversant throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

German I, II, and III are available in cassette tape and CD versions, packaged attractively and with sufficient ruggedness to survive both winter and summer Midwestern temperatures in my car.

Sehr Gut.......2005-10-06

I took two years of German in high school, which was some decades ago, and after a ski trip to Austria I decided to brush up on my German. I've bought numerous books, dvds, tapes, etc. and for learning conversational German this has been far and away the best. It's pricey, no doubt, but it's very, very well done and very user friendly. I had a professor in college who said we learn the most in an area of "just manageable difficulty". In other words, stretched and challenged but not made to despair. This is the arena the Pimsleur cd/tapes work in.
I liked this one (German II) so well, I also bought 3 and 4. Two is the most well done, the guy on three sounds a bit like he's being held against his will, but the folks on this one are engaging and pleasant. They combine techniques of having you repeat German phrases with having you answer questions in German (can be a bit challenging) and a couple of other techniques. There is a bit of the unavoidable "canned" feel to the conversations, but nowhere near as much as in other tapes I've tried. I felt like I learned a lot and on a trip to Switzerland this year I was able to understand a lot and be conversational.
As I said III and IV, especially IV are not quite so well done, but II is excellent, and a lot cheaper than the average German course at a college would be. The only thing it lacks is much help with syntax, you probably need to plow through a German grammar book on your own for that.

The best of the Pimsleur German series........2004-11-18

If you thought Pimsleur German I helped you to learn German, you really must move onto Pimsleur German II. It is, without a doubt, one of the best tools you could possibly use to progress from barely being able to get your message across to being able to express not only what you want, but what you think about things.

Both Pimsleur German I and II were updated in 2002, so they represent the best of decades of trying to perfect the language learning experience. What you will find in Pimsleur German II can't easily be found anywhere else, because it teaches you to speak the way Germans speak, complete with the little inflections that you would use without even thinking in your native language. I've never seen such things in any other program.

If you have the means, move onto Pimsleur German II as soon as possible after finishing Pimsleur German I. It will put you light years ahead in only a few short weeks.

Great.......2004-04-01

The Pimsleur Program is great. I took German in high school and in college for about 3 years, but I learned more from this CD course in just one month. I would recommend this to anyone wishing to learn the basics of a new language. I'm halfway through the Level III edition now.

Average customer rating:

Anne Frank Revisited...
Ann Frank
Amazing diary of a young woman
A Powerful and Intimate Portrait
Book Report: Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553296981
Release Date: 1993-06-01

Amazon.com

A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic -- a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

Customer Reviews:

Anne Frank Revisited..........2007-10-17

As just about every other student, I read The Diary of Anne Frank in middle school, probably during the 6th or 7th grade. I had a distant memory of it, but not much. Well, recently I watched Schindler's List and this got me re-interested in WWII, and especially the Holocaust. I read Night by Eli Wiesel (highly recommended) and decided to move on to The Diary of Anne Frank. Let me start by reviewing the book:

The Diary of Anne Frank is a diary of a young, Jewish girl (as the title obviously states, haha) whom is forced to go into hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation of Holland in the early 1940's. During this period, Jews were being segregated and even sent off to concentration camps by the Germans on a daily basis. When Anne's sister's name was next on the list, their father decided to take the family into hiding.

Aided by some of Otto's (Anne's father) former employees, the Franks seclude themselves in a small Annex of a business in Amsterdam. There, they are joined by the Van Daan family and later by an older gentleman, Mr. Dussel. Anne's diary chronicles their plight for the following two years, until they are discovered by the German secret police and ultimately sent to their death in Jewish concentration camps.

Anne addresses various topics, from their daily activities, to her interest in the son of the Van Daan's, Peter, to some of her inner most thoughts, fears, and aspirations. I have to share with you that I was EXTREMELY impressed with Anne's intelligence. I couldn't help but compare her to myself when I was only 15 years old and I am amazed not only at her intelligence but her strength to persevere during such horrible times. This young girl manages to keep faith in God and struggles with maintaining her morality, even as all around her she is witnessing a warped world full of sin, hatred and evil. I cannot say that in her shoes I would've reacted the same.

I encourage any reader to read and/or re-read The Diary of Anne Frank. You will be completely enveloped by her wit and warmth and are surely to fall in love with her.

Ann Frank.......2007-10-05

The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition is the diary Anne Frank a young Jewish girl growing up during World War II and the holocaust. Anne lives in Amsterdam with her mother, father, and sister Margot. When Anne is 13 she and her family must go into hiding to escape the Germans call ups, particularly one for Margot. They hide in the back of a warehouse where Otto (Anne's father) works. There are seven people at the beginning including the three van Daans an Anne and her family.
The diary reminds me of The Breadwinner which is about a young girl growing up in Afghanistan during the Taliban's rule. The main character must dress up as a boy when her father is arrested to earn money for her family. Unlike Anne's diary however this was written in modern day. They both had trouble getting food that they needed and lived in fear of getting arrested. Although they lived in different times the experiences of the girls were similar
After a bit Albert Dussel, a dentist, joins the group in, as it came to be known, the Secret Annex. Dussel became a bit annoying when he starts hiding food when the rest of the group need to get coupon books through the black market and are eating rotten potatoes and other foods. He did however give them dental checkups. Anne shared a room with Dussel when he came (before she shared with Margot) and was frequently woken up when he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. "Mr. Dussel's Toilet Timetable" is some thing that Anne tacks to the bathroom door. "I might well have added "Transgressors will be subject to confinement!" Because our bathroom can be locked from both the inside and the outside." Is something Anne writes after the timetable.
Anne also makes friends with Peter van Dan and spends quite a few evenings in his attic bedroom because it has the only window that's not covered by a curtain. They become valuable resources for each other.
All in all this is a very good book and I highly recommend it.

Amazing diary of a young woman .......2007-10-01

Anne Frank is remembered for being a sweet young girl that went into hiding during the holocaust only to be found and sent to a concentration camp where she died 3 months befroe her 16th birthday. The time in between these two horrible events is full of fear, fights,learning, and love, basically life. This version of the diary has more material than the orginal, which some people think is too much, but it is what she wrote left alone. It has what she intended the book to be. It includes story from the restrictions put on her while she wasn't in hiding because she was Jewish to her chores that she did quietly in the Secret Annex such as peeling potatoes and rubbing beans. It is not always the most interesting book, but it does provoke thought. It's sad in the fact that you know how its going to end before you start, but Anne does not as she's wrting it. Anne Frank's writing surpass her age, she writes not as a stuborn teenager, but as an intelligent young woman.

A Powerful and Intimate Portrait.......2007-09-30

You know the storyline - a Jewish girl, her family, and some friends go into hiding for two years during the Nazi regime in Holland. Said girl writes her thoughts and observations of her life during this time in a diary, which is found and published after her death in a concentration camp. It has become a classic, and it was written by a young teenager.

My favorite aspect of this book will forever be Anne's powerful narrative voice. Her words speak, and more than that they smell and taste and touch. She gives her diary, "Kitty," an intimate portrait of life in the "Secret Annexe," both public and private - of the ups-and-downs of people's relationships, of her inner struggles and growth, of her love. Reading her diary is like looking through the window at the war from two perspectives - one from the outside in, at the life of a girl and a family who were sucked into the Nazi vacuum through no fault of their own; and the other from the inside out, at the crazy world war swirling around the epicenter of one fourteen-year-old girl.

Book Report: Diary of a Young Girl.......2007-09-30

This book tells an amazing story of a young girl living in Germany in World War II. And to think it was all a journal is amazing. Anne Frank, a brave young Jewish girl, spends two years hiding in the secret annex from the Nazis. Anne Frank started to keep this diary on her thirteenth birthday. She called her diary, Kitty. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys.
Later, the Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. They were forced into hiding with another family, the van Daans. There, they listened closely to the radio and everything that happened during the war. Anne kept up with everything that happened while she was there. It was very hard for her because she was separated from all her friends and her normal life style.
I suggest this book for all ages. It is a very inspirational story. It gives a different perspective on life.
-Hayley Robertson
6th period
10/4/07

Average customer rating:

Good and weird... Weird but very good!
Forgettable
A Puddle Disguised as an Ocean
Good book
Wierd, Wierd, Wierd!

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Suskind
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375725849
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Book Description

An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

Translated from the German by John E. Woods.

Customer Reviews:

Good and weird... Weird but very good!.......2007-09-21

I loved reading this book. I have read it more than a couple of times. It's a good read, especially if you are familiar with the world of perfumes.

Forgettable.......2007-09-14

I just don't get all the great reviews. The writing was good, but the story was lacking. The smells were better developed than the characters. Not only did the main character have no soul, but the book had no soul.

A Puddle Disguised as an Ocean .......2007-08-22

As a little girl more in love with the fashions of Morticia Addams than Barbie, who loved vampire stories and Shakespeare at age 10, my grandfather would often say to me "You don't have to be different to be different."

I wish someone had told this to Patrick Suskind.

I get the point: the soul of a man is not his elevation above his base animal instincts, but what man perceives as his soul is, in fact, nothing MORE than those promordial sensory intuitions. But this in and of itself can't carry a whole novella...

Sentence by sentence, I cannot argue that "Perfume" is not well written. The very sensual aromatic details were lovely even when putrid. My nose actually hurt when reading about Baldini trying to come up with the formula for the other perfumer's perfume. But well-written does not a solid story make. The story wove in and out of too many places, trying to make too many melodramatic points with a character without a soul and whose lack of a soul isn't especially interesting, either, so what's the appeal?

It reads like Victor Hugo and Anne Rice had a baby and sat it down at a type-writer as soon as it became an angsty teenager. The level of violence, physical detail, "profound struggling with the soul", etc. smacks of effort and strikes me as entirely masturbatory. I will believe a man who can smell his way through the dark, who kills women for their scents and then makes perfume out of them. But a perfume that induces orgies and cannibalism? No. Now you're just going out of your way to be tragic.

I feel these uber-Gothic details were thrown in as a pseudo-intellectual grab at being beautifully horrific. Here's the thing, though: it's not beautifully horrific if you TRY to make it so.

Good book.......2007-07-28

An solid book, relatively quick and easy to read. The reader experiances the life story of a serial killer (the main character) with very...interesting....motivations. By the end you wish for him to be caught and stopped, yet at the same time, you want to escape to see if his theory is true.

Wierd, Wierd, Wierd!.......2007-07-27

If you like something a litle 'different' and than this is for you.
A little morbid towards the end....

Really makes you smell everything after you read this.

Average customer rating:

This super book will be reprinted.
Masterful!
I wrote the publisher to see if there will be a new printing
Where can you get this at?
yes, we are cabbage eaters....

Culinaria Germany (Culinaria)

Manufacturer: Konemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3895089060

Customer Reviews:

This super book will be reprinted........2006-03-20

I took Junia suggestion (see this review dated 12/20/05) and wrote the publisher requesting that they consider reprinting this book. Today I received a reply from Meike Knütel stating that they are going to reprint Culinaria Germany in fall this year. So all you "cabbage lovers" get ready to place your order as soon as it comes out. And I'll be one of them!!!

Masterful!.......2005-12-26

Finally a cookbook that presents the true nature of pure German cooking without diluting it by pandering to foreign tastes. Culinaria Germany is so superior that you might as well burn all your other German cookbooks.

I wrote the publisher to see if there will be a new printing.......2005-12-21

I wrote the publisher koenemann in Germany to ask since it is out of print whether they planned a new printing. They said no. I wrote again and asked if they were aware that there are MANY of us in the US looking for this book and the only used copy available is over $200 and that I was sure it would do very well if reprinted. It sounded like they may reconsider.

If you want to encourage them to issue a new printing write to
m.knuetel@koenemann.com and tell them about your interest in seeing it republished.

Where can you get this at?.......2005-12-16

I have been loooking for about a year now for this book. Does anyone know where you can get this book? I have seen it on ebay a while back but is impossible to find.

yes, we are cabbage eaters...........2003-10-21

...but so much more, too! This is the first comprehensive cookbook about my native Germany that I am completely happy and impressed with. The culinaria country series is very good in general, and one of the great things about this series is the enormous attention to detail that is paid to the research, the photography, presentation and the recipes. The book very gratifyingly captures the many different local flavors and traditions that make up German cooking and let you understand that it is a very variagated culinary landscape. Another thing that I greatly enjoy in all the Culinaria series books is the great attention that is paid to local produce and spices and well as local traditional cooking techniques

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis

Average customer rating:

Good Motivator
practical guide
Make a Mess then Clean It Up
Reduces the butteflies
Format's great and so's the reading

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis
Joan Bolker
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080504891X

Amazon.com

"Fifteen minutes!" you say. "That's too good to be true!" Okay, author Joan Bolker admits she gave her book the title Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day to get the reader's attention. And she admits that it's unlikely you'll actually finish a dissertation at that speed. As she tells her clients, however, a mere 15 minutes is much better than no writing at all when they're stuck. As a clinical psychologist who cofounded the Harvard Writing Center, Bolker has helped hundreds of writers complete their dissertations. She offers suggestions on how to create a writing addiction so that you feel incomplete if you don't write every day and stresses the need to set reasonable goals and deadlines for yourself to keep from getting discouraged. She also offers strategies for dealing with both internal and external distractions and for fending off writer's block. Even more important is the advice on some of the more awkward issues related to dissertation writing, such as how to choose your adviser carefully. (For example, when faced with the tradeoff between a famous advisor who is inaccessible and a less famous advisor who is willing to make time for you, Bolker advises, "If choosing a politically advantageous, famous advisor makes it unlikely that you'll complete your degree, it's clearly not worth it.") The book even includes a helpful appendix for advisers that could become the basis for an honest discussion of what student and adviser can expect from each other. Throughout this excellent book, Bolker acts as a therapist, cheerleader, and drill sergeant, all rolled into one.

While some of the book's advice is of interest only to dissertation writers, much of the information--on battling writer's block, for instance--is valuable to anybody engaged in writing. Rather than being filled with rules defining how to become a great writer, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day is about finding the process by which you can be the most productive--it's a set of exercises that you can use to find out more about you and the way you write. Along the way, you'll do a bit of writing. And that's what matters, especially when you experience writer's block--as Bolker says, "Write anything, because writing is writing." With its helpful advice and supportive tone, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day should be required reading for anyone considering writing a dissertation. --C.B. Delaney

Book Description

Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion

Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defending the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.

Customer Reviews:

Good Motivator.......2007-07-03

It didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know but it provides a good timeline and approach to get you motivated.

practical guide.......2007-06-05

When I was writing my own dissertation, I found this book to be very helpful. The notion of working on one's dissertation for fifteen minutes a day is not far out. However, when there is dissertation dread, it is hard to relish the idea of working daily on the dissertation. I found that by following that advice, I would think about the dissertation more and developed a friendlier relationship with the whole project.

The approaches to developing a process, to writing a first draft, to managing the advisor relationship, and to dealing with interruptions were all very helpful. I recommend this book highly to my friends and my clients.

Make a Mess then Clean It Up.......2007-06-03

For academic reasons I've been reading a fair number of these little writing guides lately. Most of them turn out to be useless you-can-do-it cheerleading or weak opinionating with little relevance beyond the author's personal experience. This guide by Bolker rises above the pack because it's based not just on her own personal writing but also on her extensive experience in counseling graduate students from all walks of life. Granted, the title of this book is all wrong, which Bolker even admits in her introduction. Writing a dissertation in just fifteen minutes a day is far from realistic, and Bolker advises that you work on it at least fifteen minutes a day. One truly unique aspect of Bolker's counseling for graduate school writers is her advice on how to beat writer's block. In her system, write anything at all, no matter how sloppy, just to stay in the game - and then clean it up later. Bolker also has a unique take on feeding your writing habit as if it were an addiction, with the threat of withdrawal symptoms that should be avoided. The only problem with this book is that Bolker extends her advice on the writing process into larger graduate school matters - topics that are useful, but too important and varied for the quick treatment they receive here. Stick with Bolker's knowledge of the writing regimen. [~doomsdayer520~]

Reduces the butteflies.......2007-05-14

Joan Bolker's personal experience makes this book a credible source and therefore useful reference for your doctoral arsenal. She has started and failed and started and succeeded in her quest for her own doctoral dissertation. The book outlines effective methods and ice breakers in beginning the dissertation process, the mechanics, and one's mindset for doing so. I recommend this book to anyone embarking on this journey.

Format's great and so's the reading.......2007-05-13

This book has good, sensible information to help a person start, re-start, or finish a diss. The reading is smooth and easy (versus that particular dissertation stop-and-go, read-and-reread style I hate so much). The book is clear and concise and straight-forward. Get one, read it, get to writing! :-)

Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross

Average customer rating:

Horrifyingly brilliant.
Any historian or collector must read this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great history, great prose
Tale of a Wehrmacht sharp-shooter
A good read and a sadly entertaining story

Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
Geoffrey Brooks
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniper
Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS
A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War: Russia, 1941-1944
Slaughter at Halbe: Hitler's Ninth Army in the Spreewald Pocket, April 1945
The Forgotten Soldier

ASIN: 1844153177

Book Description

Josef "Sepp" Allerberger was the second most successful sniper of the German Wehrmacht and one of the few private soldiers to be honoured with the award of the Knight's Cross.

An Austrian conscript, after qualifying as a machine gunner he was drafted to the southern sector of the Russian Front in July 1942. Wounded at Voroshilovsk, he experimented with a Russian sniper-rifle while convalescing and so impressed his superiors with his proficiency that he was returned to the front on his regiment's only sniper specialist.

In this sometimes harrowing memoir, Allerberger provides an excellent introduction to the commitment in fieldcraft, discipline and routine required of the sniper, a man apart. There was no place for chivalry on the Russian Front. Away from the film cameras, no prisoner survived long after surrendering. Russian snipers had used the illegal explosive bullet since 1941, and Hitler eventually authorised its issue in 1944. The result was a battlefield of horror.

Allerberger was a cold-blooded killer, but few will find a place in their hearts for the soldiers of the Red Army against whom he fought.

Customer Reviews:

Horrifyingly brilliant........2007-10-18

I've read many books on WW2, but this account of the Eastern Front and the attrocities commited will provoke the morals of anyone who reads it.

The accounts of sniper duels are exciting and have you holding your breath for an entire page.

Any historian or collector must read this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2007-10-13

Great personal account. If you are a serious student of WW2 history this in a book to read!

Great history, great prose.......2007-09-26

This is an amazing story that is amazingly well written. We should all thank the stars above that we will never experience what Sepp experienced, and that we will never be in his cross-hairs. I just read this book (I have read many books on WWII, the Wehrmacht and the Eastern Fronrt) and it was such a good read that I bought four copies to send to friends.

Tale of a Wehrmacht sharp-shooter.......2007-09-05

An unexceptional account of a young Gebirgsjager (mountain-soldier) on the Eastern front. Realizing his status as a machine-gunner would very likely result in his early demise, Sepp Allerberger established himself in the role of a self-taught sniper.
Despite the success that sharp-shooters had seen in the first World War, and the German tradition of respect for marksmanship, it is surprising that the Wehrmacht had largely over-looked sniper-training. The Soviet Union did not.
Allerberger had experimented with a captured Soviet scoped Mosin-Nagant rifle, and devised some useful tactics. It was not until later that he was sent to a formal sniper school, as a student with a prolific record of battlefield experience.
Within one will read the usual accounts of battlefield savagery, gore, and mayhem so common to the Eastern front in World War II. There is much hysterical hype in other reviews, implying Allerberger was "a cold-blooded killer!". No, he was merely a proficient soldier perfoming a specialized skill. He did what he had to do to survive, and to aid his comrades. The style of writing is a bit mundane and ponderous, but never the less, an interesting story.

A good read and a sadly entertaining story.......2007-08-30

I don't know the facts on this soldiers story. I didn't do the homework and investigation to tear it apart or build it up. I just read it, and I liked it. It wasn't great. If you want to see some great 1st person accounts of the eastern front read "My Loyalty is My Honor" and I am sure there are others out there that other reviewers have mentioned. It definetely brings to light the attrocities of the eastern front, and the trials the soldiers go through. Even if he wasn't real, and his memories were a bit lost after all the years, I still don't doubt they are quite representative of what it was like to be a German soldiers fighting for survival during the long retreat. If you are interested in the ground war in Europe, especially the eastern front, then I recommend it. If you are looking for a super detailed account of sniper tactics, techniques, and proceedures, then it might disappoint. It has some, but not to the level of other sniper books like "One Shot, One Kill" does.

The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines

Average customer rating:

Outdated. See Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs
Not useful in practice, outdated safety information
What else one can say about this book?
Natural Medicine Education
Important work if one understands its place

The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines
Mark Blumenthal
Manufacturer: Integrative Medicine Communication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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PDR for Herbal Medicines, Third Edition
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Accessories:

Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)
Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device

ASIN: 096555550X

Customer Reviews:

Outdated. See Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs.......2007-07-19

Very limited information in this book and it is not up to date. A great deal of more recent scientific research is not included.

If you want this type of book, the expanded version published in 2000 titled < > is more complete, but it too has flaws, but not nearly as many as this book. I can't think of any reason to buy this book instead of < >, unless for legal reasons one wants just the information from the Commission E Monographs and nothing more.

One very important difference between the Commission E Monographs and < < Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs >> is the expanded book contains extensive references, photographs and additional resources. The Commission E Monographs contain none of the references used to evaluate the herb nor any photos.

Another related book is the < < PDR for Herbal Medicines (Second Edition) >> it has considerably more monographs (700 herbs), but one serious flaw is the references are only listed at the end of each monograph. There is no way to know which reference a particular statement of fact came from. Thus it is very difficult to very a claim. At least the < > cites the source with the body of the text so any fact or claim can be verified or clarified by going to the cited source. The PDR has more European references, especially German references (which will not be useful to the average non European unless they know German) compared to the Expanded Commission book.

Note, the third edition of the < < PDR for Herbal Medicines >> has the references cited within the body of the text and the monographs are much expanded from the second edition. A fourth edition will soon be available.

Other than the above I have nothing new to say that the other reviewers haven't already said. I have met Paul Berger and I agree one hundred percent with his review for this book. He is an experienced clinical herbalist and published author with an excellent reputation.

Not useful in practice, outdated safety information.......2007-05-09

The German equivalent of the FDA has a special section that approves or disapproves herbal medicines for sale, and states what claims may be made, and what cautions should be issued. The process for approval began more than 20 years ago, and approvals were finalized in the 1990s of a set of herbs. This book is a translation of the herb reports. The book is interesting historically, and perhaps legally, because here we have a modern industrialized country approving herbs for use, and not declaring them automatically to be either ineffective or dangerous without review, as is done by the US FDA. The book is almost useless, and sometimes dangerous for either the consumer or the herbal practitioner. The arcane rules and regulations of the commission have led to a book with bizarre contradictions and inconsistencies. Echinacea purpurea is approved for use. Echinacea angustifolia, the stronger herb in practice is not approved. To make matters more confusing, although Echiancea angustifolia is not approved, it is listed as contraindicated in autoimmune diseases because it might aggravate them. Which is it? Either it is an ineffective medicine or it is safe, it can't be both. The book is riddled with such inconsistencies. In some aspects of safety, the book is actually dangerous. In North American and British herbal practice, it is a common understanding that emmenagogue herbs (which promote menstrual flow) are contraindicated in early pregnancy. Several emmenagogues are described in the book, but none have any contraindication for pregnancy. In another matter, input into the monographs in the book was cut off in the early 1990s. A large body of research into herb side effects, and especially drug-herb interactions, has been published since that time, yet did not find its way into the book. The safety information is seriously out of date and incomplete. For reliability of the information, there is no way to check. By German law, the scientific references for the monographs are not available for review. This may be an important text in the history of herbal regulation in the modern world, but it is not recommended as a reference for common use.

What else one can say about this book?.......2007-04-30

If you work with Phythotherapy, you must have this book because it has real information. I believe that it is time to have the volume number wto. One is not enough.

Natural Medicine Education.......2006-11-05

The Complete German Commission E Monographs is a reference book that anyone dealing with natural medicine should have.

The knowledge gained from this book give one the tools to administer natural medicine in a much safer manner.

The book gives the uses,actions,doses,side effects,interactions with other medicines and contraindications.It also gives the duration of use for certain herbs.I highly recommend this book.

Cromwell Parris

Important work if one understands its place.......2003-12-03

This is an important work, helping to document the validity of herbal medicine. However, it is not an all-encompassing work and obviously isn't referenced. Nevertheless, the German Commission E's method of publishing monographs based on the information gathered from companies, researchers, and practitioners (but apparently kept confidential) serves a useful purpose. It is always helpful to consult this text to get some solid conformation for common traditional uses. Every practitioner and researcher should have this book, though it certainly cannot be used in a vacuum.

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Average customer rating:

Indispensable for Understanding Contemporary Culture
Habermas: The Public in History
One of the most influential studies on the subject
The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Habermas puts me to sleep

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)
Jürgen Habermas
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Habermas and the Public Sphere (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)
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Dialectic of Enlightenment (Cultural Memory in the Present)

ASIN: 0262581086

Book Description

This is Jurgen Habermas's most concrete historical-sociological book and one of the key contributions to political thought in the postwar period. It will be a revelation to those who have known Habermas only through his theoretical writing to find his later interests in problems of legitimation and communication foreshadowed in this lucid study of the origins, nature, and evolution of public opinion in democratic societies.

Customer Reviews:

Indispensable for Understanding Contemporary Culture.......2007-08-10

Okay, perhaps I've got the social-theory-geek gene, but when I first read this book some fourteen years ago (during grad school), I was able finally to put together a lot of things that had been swimming around in my brain. I'd already read a good bit of Adorno before a professor (with whom I was doing an independent study on Adorno) recommended that I read this. Habermas's historical analysis was so compelling that I simply couldn't put the book down. Moreover (all this may seem hard to believe), the lucidity of his presentation also helped me put a lot of what was going on in Adorno's writings in a clearer light.

While I don't agree with the directions in which Habermas later went--I strongly resist the notion of recuperating the modern project--this book provides a compelling analysis of how Western society and culture got to where it is now.

Habermas: The Public in History.......2005-09-17

In this monograph, Habermas tracks the origination, the evolution, and the dispersal of an informed "public sphere" among democratic Western nations. He defines public sphere as "private people com[ing] together as a public" (27). Once these individuals, gathered as reading groups or as aficionados of theatre, the arts, and politics, the individuals melded into a public capable of debating the government. Habermas locates these fledgling "publics" primarily in eighteenth-century France, England and to a lesser extent in the areas of Europe designated as German. Tellingly, Habermas strongly links the formation of the public sphere with the rise of capitalism and a continuing bourgeois revolution. Comprised of literate individuals governed by the principals of the Enlightenment, these "publics" eventually challenged the validity and legitimacy of governments, most notably in France during the French Revolution and England during the English Civil War.

Habermas builds a compelling argument based upon his interpretation of Rousseau, Kant, Locke, Hegel, and Marx. He links the works of these philosophers and sociologists in a credible chain stretching back to the eighteenth century. However, he only deals thoroughly with the educated, propertied elite of society. Habermas views the "unpropertied" and illiterate as a separate from and incapable of participating in a true public sphere. To do this he must dismiss a plethora of lower class uprisings found throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Even when the various governments quickly quashed these rebellions, the Ludites in England and the various rebellions of 1848 come to mind, it is difficult to dispute the effect these rebels and rebellions had upon the public discourse. As an early work on the subject, it is almost certain that Habermas had to amend his arguments following E.P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class, published in 1963 a scant year after this work. His exclusion of the great press of society from a functioning public sphere seems arrogant at best and naïve at worst.

One of the most influential studies on the subject.......2004-11-01

Habermas' work, though written more than four decades ago, still retains most of its original relevance for the study of the public sphere. If you are interested in this subject, and if you are into critical thinking, then this book is certainly worth reading. Why? Well, if you take in consideration the fact that no other book has been written so far on the subject that has been able to surpass Habermas' account both in depth and originality, then you begin to get my point. As to a critical reading of the argument put forth by Habermas, one should read "Habermas and the Public Sphere", edited by Craig Calhoun. This book includes an appendix by Habermas where he revises some of his original positions.

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere.......2002-04-04

When you talk about the public sphere in front of intellectuals, Jürgen Habermas's name is bound to come up. Habermas's 1962 study, "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere," examines the creation, brief flourishing, and demise of a public sphere based in rational-critical debate and discussion. The feasibility of a true public sphere, which is inclusive of anyone who would participate, is for Habermas of utmost importance. Habermas follows a methodology similar to the one Michel Foucault takes in "Discipline and Punish," which analyzes the abolition of public displays of power, and the process by which the structures of power are inculcated in the individual from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Habermas analyzes historical, economic, and political conditions from classical antiquity through his own historical moment, tracing the circumstances in which the public sphere arises, how it functions, and ceases to function over time.

Habermas begins with a delineation of the terms 'public' and 'private,' orienting them philologically from their roots and meanings in classical antiquity. From here, he traces the adoption of the words and their synonyms into the European Middle Ages and the era of feudalism. Habermas says that in this period, the feudal lord and the monarch, for whom `representative publicness' functioned as a display of power before their subjects, dominated the public. Authority figures embodied virtues and powers in a public fashion. Public representation of political and economic power continued, unabated until the Reformation, at which time, the privatization of religious faith signaled a separation between society and the state. Economically, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the spread of trade necessitated the spread of news from various locales. As news outside of the home became relevant to home economy, the private individual begins to take an interest in public events. Consolidation of 'national' financial administration and state-controlled taxation, along with the rise of print culture, facilitated the dissemination of news, initially in the form of governmental decrees, market conditions, and happenings at court. Through this, the actions of the authorities came under the scrutiny of a reading public.

The 18th century is the key moment for Habermas. In this period, the government, along with private individuals, made use of the press, for the first time, in persuasive appeal to a public made up of private people. The press now presented the public with information, with which they were to use reason and discussion to determine what was in the public's interest. Habermas emphasizes the theoretical parity that this brings about - the rise of the coffee houses and salons, in which merchants met with gentility and engaged in rational-critical debate over issues of public import. Stretching this into the realm of the franchise, Habermas is careful to point out the problematics of a situation in which actual decision-making was restricted to those with money and land, but stresses that the opportunity for anyone to acquire these prerequisites was, again, theoretically, open to all.

For a brief time during the 18th century, Habermas sees the flourishing of a public sphere, born out of a reading public, that began to interact with the processes of public policy, legally, and morally. The purpose of this public sphere, according to Habermas, is to eliminate the domination of authoritative power, and establishing a government that is actually representative of the public will and contingent upon public opinion. Unfortunately, in the 19th century, with the stratification of party politics, the proliferating press encouraged less rational-critical discussion. Increasingly, debate moved into parliamentary circles, and the public was asked only to approve of party measures, not participate in the formation of the rules that governed them. In the 20th century, along with the creation of the welfare-state, consolidation of moneyed interests, and the expansion of universal suffrage (ironically), the public sphere disintegrated even further. New media - radio, television, etc. - turned its addresses to the public into mere advertising. Even the illusion of a private people engaged, as a public, in matters of their own governance, was gone, and the public became vessels for mass media.

To recuperate a true participatory public sphere, Habermas takes a guarded approach. He indicates that some kind of elite could be formed. These private individuals would undertake the responsibility of rational-critical debate, determining the public interest. The general public, then, would give their approval or disapproval to the measures decided on by this elite. This is kind of a bleak outlook, and one I don't much care for myself. Of course, this is a horribly limited review of Habermas's "Structural Transformation". I haven't even noted the break he takes to outline the historical-philosophical evaluation and critique of the public sphere by Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mill, and Tocqueville. Nor did I note the extensive use Habermas makes of political and economic changes in his key nations - England, France, and Germany - and the contributions these make to the disintegration of the public sphere. At any rate, "Structural Transformation" is an exhaustive (and exhausting) study, as relevant now to the study of literature, economics, government, history, etc., especially of the last three centuries, as it ever was. Even though it is a pain to read, you'll be glad you finally read it. Think of it as theoretical medicine - it may not taste good, but in the long run, it's good for you.

Habermas puts me to sleep.......2000-07-23

... This is Habermas' dissertation, but his writing is so poor, in English or in German, that it really doesn' matter. The book is a response, in my opinion, to Carl Schmitt, and specifically to Schmitt's argument that the core of liberal democracy is debate in parliament, that liberal democracy is rule by discussion (or, as its called now, "political discourse"), but that that discussion is now more real than painted flames on a radiator. Liberal democracy is in fact the triumph of aliberal, private, hidden powers, who rule from the shadows and through the true organs of power, the media, and through the hidden power of the private vote cast in the illicit privacy of the voting booth, where the bourgeois individual is free to exercise his worst prejudices and basest motives. So argues Schmitt. Habermas gives an interesting historical account of the rise of "Offentlichkeit" (which translates into the all-too-easy abstraction "public sphere," whatever that is), from the letters passed in the mail relating the news from town to town, to French salons, to newspapers, to television and radio. Habermas, like Schmitt, seeks to unmask the illiberal powers lurking behind the good liberal prejudices, but he, like Schmitt, mistakes liberalism for a debating society when in fact it is much more sophisticated than that. Habermas needs to read the Federalist Papers and the debates (!) at the constitutional convention to understand how little the founders of one liberal democracy thought of the power of discussion.

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