Customer Reviews:
Exceptional.......2007-10-14
I purchased this book recently and could not put it down.Who better to tell a story than the ones who lived it?The letters are not only from the soldiers who fought on either side of a conflict,but from the very people who lived through them.The accounts are graphic in many cases and I now have a better understanding of the horrible reality of it all.The historical quips help with the insight as to what was going on at the time of the letter.Its a great read by an outstanding author who has done so much for our troops.
Bringing the Atrocities of War Home.......2005-08-21
BEHIND THE LINES is a powerful collection of fragments of thoughts that were initiated over the past two hundred plus years of war scars. Andrew Carroll continues his commitment to bring the reality of war to the forefront of our attention and I know no better manner for anti-war statements than the words found in this illuminating and horrifying book.
Carroll approaches war as a panacea - an evil that has been with us around the globe for centuries and just continues unabated. Many poets and writers are struggling to make the public cognizant of the horrors of war, but Carroll scans American involvement in wars from the Revolutionary War to the present and in doing so he demonstrates the madness that we must learn to stop.
Letters, documents, memos, soldiers' notes as well as civilians' responses fill these pages, some eloquent, some simply pitiful, and some stoic as well as some encouraging. The messages are not skewed in a way that makes Carroll seem like he is ranting. Rather he lets the words of the living and the dead speak truths far larger than fiction.
This is a beautifully conceived volume that for the sake of the survival of civilization belongs on the reading desks of everyone. Tough reading, this, but enormously informative and important. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 05
Excellent book.......2005-06-30
This is a great book!! I really enjoyed reading it, and found myself unable to put it down. The book gives readers a better understanding of what soldiers and their families go through. After reading this book, I believe I have a better appreciation for our Veterans and our troops serving our country. Definately a recommended book in my opinion.
The reality of war revealed.......2005-05-22
Andy Carroll's last book - War Letters - showed what war is like by reprinting letters of American combatants who had ac-tually fought those wars. (I should confess that one of my letters about Vietnam was reprinted in that book.)
Andy's new book - Behind The Lines - shows what war is like with reprints of letters from both combatants and non-combatants - civilian women and children. This book also in-cludes letters written by non-Americans as well as Americans.
Andy limited the letters to those from the wars in which America was involved. Thsee wars range from the Revolutionary War (there's a great letter from a Hessian soldier [Hessians were German soldiers "leased" to Great Britain to fight as mer-cenaries] giving his impressions of America and the poor fighting ability of the rebels), the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam (there's a good letter from a soldier asking his parents to forgive him for having killed a man in combat), Kosovo and Gulf Wars I and II.
While many letters deal with combat, other letters show the many faces of war. At times, war can be terrifying, funny, ab-surd, touching and hilarious. (You know you've been fighting too long when the same incident strikes you as both terrifying and hilarious.)
One letter was a love letter written by a California woman to a Swiss national. In fact, the letter was complete fabrication. The Swiss national actually was a German spy traveling in Great Britain during WWII. The letter was created to make his cover seem more believable.
One letter was from a brother who had enlisted in the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. He wrote to berate his brother for having enlisted in the Confederate army.
One letter was from a German wife to her husband's company commander. She requested that her husband be given a leave "because of our sexual relationship." She wanted her husband to come home so they can have sex. The commander's sym-pathetic reply is included in the book.
One letter writer came up with a list of "The Army's Ten Commandments," which should bring a smile to anyone who served in the Army. Commandment number four is, "Thou shall not laugh at second lieutenants."
One writer came up with a letter filled with multiple choice op-tions. By checking various options, he could either proclaim his undying love or write about an upcom-ing/imminent/current/recent military offensive.
Several letter writers tried to warn their families that they should prepare for a slight adjustment period when the men come home. One Vietnam writer warned, "If it should start raining, pay no attention to his joyous scream as he strips naked, grabs a bar of soap, and runs outdoors for a shower." (As a Vietnam veteran, I found that letter puzzling. Doesn't everybody shower that way?)
The book is divided into several themes that illustrate the dif-ferent faces of war: friendship; combat; laughing though the tears; civilians caught in the crossfire; and the aftermath of war.
As a Vietnam Infantry pointman and squad leader, I view a book about war differently from most people. Andy's book showed me a side of war I had never considered - its impact on non-combatants - who could neither run away (what any sane person does when people are trying to kill him) nor fight (if you're going to die anyway, why not die fighting?).
The book also showed me what I already knew from my own experience: that war changes forever those touched by it.
One Vietnam veteran was haunted by the fact that several of his comrades had died rescuing him after he was seriously wounded. So decades after the end of the Vietnam war, he left a letter at the Vietnam Memorial thanking those men for their sacrifice. That letter is included in the book.
Don't buy this book if you are looking for stories about triumphant soldiers marching in victory parades in front of cheering, grateful crowds. That's not the side of war that Andy wanted to show. Instead, the book shows the side of war that doesn't make the 5:00 TV news.
You will need to read this book in small doses because the emotional impact of the letters can be overwhelming. In Los Angeles I attended a reading of selected letters from the book. One of the speakers read a letter he had written as a Jewish teenager while riding in a sealed railway car on his way to a German concentration camp. The letter told his sister how much he loved her. He pushed the finished letter through a hole in the side of the railway car and hoped that a kind peasant would find and mail it to his sister. One did.
incredibly moving book.......2005-05-12
This compilation is marvelously well-edited and includes an incredible variety of letters from soldiers and civilians from numerous wars. The author has put together a very nuanced, clear-eyed, resonant and moving collection and has written helpful, insightful descriptions throughout the book. This book would make a great gift.
Book Description
This new and up-to-date edition of a book that has been central to political philosophy, history, and revolutionary thought for two hundred years offers readers a dire warning of the consequences that follow the mismanagement of change. Written for a generation presented with challenges of
terrible proportions--the Industrial, American, and French Revolutions, to name the most obvious--Burke's Reflections of the Revolution in France displays an acute awareness of how high political stakes can be, as well as a keen ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context of
political theory.
Customer Reviews:
Edmund Burkes contribution.......2007-06-27
This book is excellent because it is exactly what I needed, that is an account of Edmund Burkes thinking, what it is he contributed to our understanding of government.
A Warning to Those in Love with Unbridled Power and Vulnerable to Anything New.......2006-08-13
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)wrote REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE in 1789 which was four years before the rise of the fanatical Jacobins and the execution (murder)of Louis XVI. This book was not only well written but very prophetic on the tragic events that were part of the French Revolution. Burke showed historical insight and warned both the British and the French what was going to happen.
Burke cited conditions in France prior to the French Revolution. He certainly did not give a false representation of the economic and social conditions in France, but he was clear that, while not perfect, the French had advanced culture and tolerable living standards. He also warned the French that abrupt changes without recourse to tradition and legal norms were dangerous and would end in tyranny. Readers should be aware that Burke's assessment of the French political system was that the French had reasonble politcal freedom and prosperity. To destroy this political system would end in political disruption, social and political violence, lack of law-and-order, and the rise of tyrannical military leaders.
One should note Burke's assessment of the members of the French National Assembly which was vacilating and subject to the whims of any "political interest group" was serious. He suggested that military officers would be among those "pleaders" would be military officers who would be difficult to control. He also warned that when someone who understood the art of command got control of the military officers, the days of the French Republic and the National Assembly were over. The military commander would be in total control, and this is exactly what happened when Napolean I (1769-1821)started to exhibit military genius, he quickly got power by a coup d' etat in 1799 and became the French Emperor by 1804.
Burke's warnings of disaster and tragedy were fullfilled. From at least 1792 until 1815, the French were almost constantly at war with most Europeans. While the French Empire expanded beyond anything prior French monarchs ever dreamed of, the collapse of the French Empire came quickly, and the French empire was ended by 1815 at terrible cost in both blood treasure. Burke warned of these dangers, and his predictions were accurate.
Burke lived just long enough to see the rise and fall of the maniacal Jacobins which included the Reigh of Terror (1792-1794)and the execution of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie antionette. Had Burke lived a few more years, he could have resorted to remarking, "I told you so."
Edmund Burke has been defined as a conservative which is true. However, Burke was not a reactionary. Burke realized that progress, whatever that may mean, is often slow and within the confines of historical tradition, legal norms, and established law. Burke warned his readers, to use modern parlance, against "wipe the slate clean." Burke clearly understood that to "wipe the slate clean, meant mass dislocation of men and ultimately mass executions (mass murder). Subsequent modern political revolutions vindicate this view.
Readers may wonder why Burke expressed support for the American Revolution but strongly opposed the French Revolution. A careful examination of these revolutions provides the answer. The American "revolutionaries" were arguing for their "Rights of Englishmen" which had a long tradition in Great Britain. Henry II (1154-1189) started the use grand juries. The English had the right of trial by jury by the time of Edward I (1272-1307). The fact is the American colonists wanted to rules of common law and long established legal traditions to apply to them. The British wanted to rule the American colonists with administrative law using clever bureaucrats, as Burke would probably have called them, rather than use British Constitutional Law and the Common Law which many American colonists demanded. The French, on the other hand, wanted to replace a weak monarch with "clever bureaucrats" which Burke knew very well could not work in France.
Readers should note that Thomas Paine (1737-1809)wrote a response to Burke's REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION titled THE RIGHTS OF MAN. While Paine's views were different than those of Burke's Paine's book was just as brilliant as Burke's. Readers should read both works if they want exposure to profound political thought and excellent writing. This is much preferred to the current political nonsense that is pushed by media talking heads and journalists who cannot think or write. Burke and Paine were well read men and offered readers history lessons as well as politcal lessons.
Edmund Burke's REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE is highly recommended regardless of one's political persuasion. This book is not a light read and takes time. However, one will be better informed and wiser for doing so. Again, this reviewer suggests the reader should read Thomas Paine's THE RIGHTS OF MAN to draw comparisons and contrasts.
A Classic of Conservative Thought.......2006-07-27
In 1789, the year of the French Revolution, Burke received a request from a good friend living in France to provide his thoughts on the Revoution. The result- one of the finest pieces of political discourse ever written. For those encountering Burke for the first time, his adament defense of the crown, and of hereditary succcesion, seem to make a hypocrite of this self-proclaimed liberal. Burke, however, was not defending an absolute monarch who ruled under the charter of divine right, but rather, pointing out the danger of a perfect democracy, whose sovereign (the national assembly) was compelled not to a moral authority such as a Church, nor to a fixed consitution. In short, liberty was safer restricted in civil socity, than left unchecked.
Whether you find Burke's analysis, consistent with your political leanings, or more likely, you find his writing very offensive, you can appreciate both the efffect of this work on American and European political though, as well as the reason and intelligence with which it was written.
The finest writing ever in English prose!.......2006-01-14
This small title is actually a letter that the author wrote to a friend in France. When Edmund Burke wrote this letter about the French Revolution (where the king was overthrown and beheaded by the masses aka Jacobins), English scholars agree that the result was the finest piece of prose in the English language; only a few poets have succeeded in writing something finer. Whether you agree with Burke's interpretation or not is not the point; he penned the finest piece of literature ever in the English language.
As a historian and social commentator, Burke is a "structural functionalist" decades before that term was dreamed up. He recognizes that the French are not only creatures of their culture, but prisoners. And to compare them to the English colonists and other insurgents in the American colonies who revolted against the British government is to compare apples and oranges. Whereas the Yankee revolution of 1776 was Biblically-inspired and the propaganda for rebellion preached from the pulpits, the French were railing AGAINST the Catholic Church for keeping people ignorant and in their Dark Age.
Burke says the French Revolution is a revolution without its moorings, without the necessary principles to guide individual behavior, and without the maintenance of institutions that long provided stability and security. What the French philosophes were writing was mere balderdash, says Burke. Without their traditions, customs, and institutitions that had slowly brought the French out of barbarity and into a civilized manner of living, Burke saw in revolution a rapid decline and fall of the French people into a visciousness of dog-eat-dog.
In short, Burke saw the French Revolution as lacking virtue and descending into terrorism; whereas the Yankee Revolution was virtuous and grew into a democracy.
Whether you agree with Burke or not, and I do not, his writing in this letter to a friend is the finest example of English writing to be found and should be read by everyone simply for that reason alone.
Not Just for Undergrads!.......2005-07-28
This is an indispensible essay for anyone who has ever been interested in politics. It is composed of beautiful prose, crisp logic, and perennially relevant material.
You must read Burke to understand the why it is worth being critical of the French Revolution and to understand some major reasons for the counter-revolutionary movement in France.
Book Description
Learning to speak clear, persuasive English in business situations presents a challenge for many ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Based on the popular Ultimate advanced-level courses, Business English helps professionals take their English language learning to the next level so that they can apply those skills to real-world situations—in the workplace, at school, and even at home.
Twenty lessons help students improve their English through true-to-life dialogues, practical idiomatic expressions, and examples of grammar and vocabulary usage. Extensive cultural notes describe business culture in America, as well as the ins and outs of daily American life. Four 60-minute CDs with dialogues from each lesson complete the package and add value to this information-packed program! Plus, an extensive appendix includes a guide to English grammar, vocabulary, and list of industry-specific terms.
Average customer rating:
- A Durrell treasure chest
- A great read for Durrell enthusiasts
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Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: Marlowe & Company
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ASIN: 1569247226 |
Customer Reviews:
A Durrell treasure chest.......2000-12-06
Here we have a marvelous collection of short works by Lawrence Durrell that should satisfy both beginners and older Durrell addicts.
We all know that, as the most brilliant member of a brilliant family, LD had an enviably interesting life, living all over the globe for more or less long periods and reflecting deeply on what he observed. This volume shows that he also had a fascinating inner life -- of the mind, the soul, the spirit. Edited by Alan G. Thomas, it contains letters and articles along with excerpts from early works that show the writer had lots of star quality even as a young man, even if the world didn't come to know about it till The Alexandria Quartet.
Durrel seems to have been capable of a very wide range of emotions and feelings. Mostly he had a childlike (but not childish) sense of wonder at the world and the great diversity to be found among people of various nations and climates. Also central to his emotional life is his sense of compassion...this becomes clear in the short memoir about J. Gawsworth.
The letters -- to such figures as Freya Stark, Theoldore Stephamides, his agent Anne Ridler, and even T.S. Eliot, among others, are written from a variety of locales and offer insightful comments, especially comparative observations, on places and people. He tries to get to the heart of the notion of identity, what it means to a Frenchman, say, to be French, or Greekness to a Greek. He himself was not exactly taken with Argentina and he had no love at all for its people, whom he rightly describes as zombies. Of course he loved Greece above all nations and is proud to speak Greek fluently. He probably would have had many good things to say about Yugoslavia but the blight of Communist dictatorship colors his reaction to life in that sad country.
Like most persons of high and genuine refinement, he is hopelessly enamored of French culture and civilization. Some of the finest pieces in this book deal with French writers and artists (Stendhal is the preferred novelist and gets a lot of attention here). But Durrell is also interested in more mundane, everyday pursuits like wine production, studies at a university, and political allegiances.
Still, Durrells strongest, most enduring love is reserved for Greece and the Greek people among whom he lived for so many years. Especially touching is the piece where he describes his return to the Island of Corfu as an acclaimed writer after a twenty year absence only to discover that his old friends and neighbors, whose lives he had described so beautifully in his writings, have now become infected with materialism, commercialism and the profit motive, and they even want to capitalize on his fame. They suggest he come back to the village and live in his former house so they can get more money from the tourists by showing him off to them.
Yet the timeless beauty of the Greek people and the earthly paradise they inhabit comes shining forth in very many pages of this splendid book, which was editied and published during the writer's lifetime.
A great read for Durrell enthusiasts.......1999-01-01
The book is a collection of letters, short works, and excerpts from larger works by Durrell. Of particular interest is 'Asylum in the Snow' & 'Zero', which were written around the time Durrell visited Henry Miller & Anäis Nin in Paris. The two short stories are remarkable for such a young writer, and give ample reason for T.S. Eliot's extremely high praise for Durrell. Feel free to email me to discuss this book.
Average customer rating:
- Great Companion for the Broadcast Journalist
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Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook
Brad Kalbfeld
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Writing Broadcast News, Rev. Ed.
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Writing News for Broadcast
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Sound and Look Professional on TV and the Internet
ASIN: 0071363882 |
Book Description
Originally available only to Associated Press members, this is the definitive guide to writing and delivering the news on radio, television, and other broadcast media. While the focus throughout is on the art of finding, researching, writing, editing, producing, and delivering authoritative, accurate, and exciting news stories, it also provides a wealth of information on key technical aspects involved, such as how to handle a microphone and how many tape recorders to carry in the field. An indispensable resource for students and experienced broadcast journalists alike, this Handbook also includes a comprehensive, quick-reference style guide covering the established norms and practices in punctuation, tone, diction, use of foreign terms, references, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
Great Companion for the Broadcast Journalist.......2002-03-21
Most journalists would be familiar with the Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, better known as the "AP Stylebook". Well, this is the broadcast version.
The back half of this book will look very familiar to those of us who have seen the stylebook, but the front half is all new, giving good tips on how to write good broadcast stories. As a broadcast journalism student myself, I would especially recommend this for broadcast journalism students, it will REALLY help you out.
Amazon.com
The leap between dreamy child living in a provincial Australian neighborhood and journalist hopscotching through war zones is massive. In Foreign Correspondence, Geraldine Brooks (Nine Parts of Desire) unravels the rope that pulled and tugged her toward adventure and away from "a very small world" where her family had no car and had never boarded a plane or placed an international phone call. "I'd never imagined myself as someone whose packing list would include a chador, much less a bulletproof vest," she says. Preserved in the cellar of her parents' home in Sydney were letters Brooks had received as a teenager from several international pen pals, around whom she spun a romantic view of the world. Wondering about the reality of their lives and the progression of her own, she tracks them down in France, Japan, the Middle East, and New York. En route, Brooks delivers a wonderful meditation on childhood and adolescence lashed with rich details and quirky humor. Speaking of a current pen pal, she notes: "Raed, from the West Bank, stoned my car in 1987; now he writes to tell me how he's faring in college."
Book Description
As a young girl in a working-class neighborhood of Sydney, Australia, Geraldine Brooks longed to discover the places where history happens and culture comes from, so she enlisted pen pals who offered her a window on adolescence in the Middle East, Europe, and America. Twenty years later Brooks, an award-winning foreign correspondent, embarked on a human treasure hunt to find her pen friends. She found men and women whose lives had been shaped by war and hatred, by fame and notoriety, and by the ravages of mental illness. Intimate, moving, and often humorous, Foreign Correspondence speaks to the unquiet heart of every girl who has ever yearned to become a woman of the world.
Customer Reviews:
The Country I Wanted to know........2005-09-18
Geraldine Brooks has written a book that I can empathise with. I think of how I might have had that life in Australia had my parents not returned to England in the 1930's. I wanted, and still do, very much to talk to the author and ask her questions as she is such a good writer with a warm personality.
Not as wonderful as her other books.......2002-11-21
I have read several of Brooks' books (both her non-fiction and fiction) and I was excited to rec'e and read Foreign Correspondance. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed.
The book has an outstanding premise---as a child growing up in Australia during the 1960s, Brooks was eager to experience the outside world. An avid letter writer, she found pen-pals in the U.S., Israel and France. As an adult, Brooks set off to meet and re-discover these people. So far so good. But the book peters out---with the exception of the American pen-pal (to whom she was closest), the characters lack enough detail to be interesting.
Her meeting with her French pen-pal was especially disappointing. This was a girl who chose to remain in her native village (while Brooks became a world-traveler and global correspondant). I hoped for more insights and more discussion of the contrast and why they chose such radically different paths---despite coming from somewhat similar backgrounds (Brooks saw herself as living in a giant provincial village---the village of Australia). But there was little discussion and the meeting simply sounded painful. Her trip to Israel to meet her non-Jewish Israeli pen-pal would also have benefitted from a deeper discussion about one's choices and opportunities (there was some discussion of this but I wanted to know more).
Had I not read Brooks' other books, I probably would have thought this was a fairly good book. But I know she can write such a better book!
Great one for book clubs!.......2002-08-14
I bought this as an "airplane read" but couldn't put it down. Geraldine Brooks has done us a great favor by not only illuminating the process of finding one's long lost penpals, but also by educating many folks about Australia in the process. It's fascinating to see her perceptions of the world, and particularly America, based on the letters that come in her mailbox each month.
While I read this one on my own, I have since leant this book to several friends and we've engaged in some interesting discussions about our own penpal experiences, so I recommend it for book clubs.
A quest to discover the world as well as discover herself.......2001-09-17
Australian born Geraldine Brooks spent many years as a foreign correspondent covering the Middle East. I loved her book, "Nine Parts of Desire" which was about Muslim women, and I have followed her life somewhat as she is often mentioned by her husband, Tony Horwitz, in his books "Confederates in the Attic", "Baghdad Without a Map," and "One for the Road." I find her an excellent reporter and in this memoir, "Foreign Correspondence," she turns the spotlight on herself.
As a child growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood on a street actually called "Bland Street", she yearned for a larger world. And so she developed pen pals. There was a girl from New Jersey, another one from France, and even one from an upper class neighborhood just a few towns away. And then there were two Israeli boys, one an Arab and one a Jew. As an adult, she found these old letters in her father's basement and, now more than twenty years later, she decided to look up each of these people. What follows is the result of her quest and some wonderful insights into world events from a personal one-on-one perspective. It was fascinating.
As a teenager in the early seventies she was aware of the new consciousness developing, even reaching her in her protective Catholic school. She had an active imagination and the gift of using words well. It's not surprising that she developed pen pals and that they influenced her life so much. Her gift of words certainly reached me too. I shared her sense of wonder and enthusiasm as she looked forward to each letter. I felt her straining to break the bonds of her loving but restrictive world. I felt her hopes and dreams and frustrations. And then, later, I shared her discoveries as she searched out the people who had meant so much to her early life. She writes with a clear voice, painting a picture with details, taking me on her quest to discover the world and eventually to discover herself. The book is short, a mere 210 pages but she sure does pack a lot into it. It's a wonderful read. Highly recommended.
Great book.......2000-08-28
I read this book in one day - it is beautifully, intelligently written with well developed characters and a true story that reads like fiction. It is a rare gem of literature that provides insight into the dreams of a young girl that many people can identify with - male or female. I have read a lot of books lately, but this was one of the finest books I've come across in a while.
Book Description
Emphasizing the challenges faced by nonnative Spanish speakers, How to Write in Spanish instructs Spanish learners--from advanced beginners to fluent speakers--in the conventions used in writing common Spanish-language documents, including resumes and curricula vitae; official forms and documents; college, job, and housing applications; business correspondence; personal letters; E-mail; and even greeting cards and postcards.
Combining the features of a reference and workbook, it provides a sample of each type of document, vocabulary hints, a checklist for common errors, and dozens of writing exercises, selfevaluations, and correction guidelines.
Customer Reviews:
How to Write in Spanish.......2007-03-12
I found the work to be, in some instances, too advanced for beginning, recreational adult learners. Many of the examples could be modified by a native instructor; but, that is the reason for which I sought examples, since I am a non-native teacher, and consider writing in Spanish one of the most difficult tasks
Straight forward with a couple of examples.......2007-03-11
Maybe I'm used to the colorful images found in school texts and the "Dummies" series, so I didn't like the plain layout of this book. I will probably use it to copy from to practice my writing. I don't like to just read info, I like background info (why its done a certain way). Overall, I find this a usefull book.
How to Write in Spanish: Correspondence Made Easy..........2005-09-01
I think the book delivers on the title How to Write in Spanish: Correspondence Made Easy, From Personal Letters to Business Documents. The book presents many samples of properly constructed/composed personal and business correspondence. Formats for personal and business correspondence include email correspondence and resumes, and there are lists of personal and business stock phrases, something I've found particularly useful as I refer to them often. My only complaint; however, has to do with the stock/standard phrase section. I would like to see the English and Spanish phrases paired where there are similarities. Right now, the phrases from both languages that have equivalent meanings are not lined up. Even with this drawback, the lists are useful.
I don't see the book as being better suited for an intermediate student/user of Spanish. It treats structure and content of correspondence and documents in broad terms. If you need knowledge of specific forms of correspondence and specialized jargon particular to a field, this book isn't the right book for you. If you simply want and/or need to construct basic forms of correspondence, this is a very good reference tool.
Very basic.......2004-08-07
This book has a very basic set up. It does not go into depth with its explanations and it does not have a useful vocabulary. I am a professional interpreter and translator in a law firm, and I wanted my correspondence in Spanish to be as correct as possible. This book is fine for an intermediate student, but is probably not what an advanced student or professional is seeking. I would return it, but it is cheap enough that it is not worth the aggravation of trying to get my money back.
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- Journey to the Ottoman Empire and 18th century England
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Letters (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
Mary Wortley Montagu
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
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ASIN: 0679417478
Release Date: 1992-11-10 |
Book Description
Immensely learned, self-educated in an era when formal schooling was denied to women, Mary Wortley Montagu was an admired poet, a consistently scandalous doyenne of eighteenth-century London society, and, in a period when letter-writing had been elevated to an art form, one of the greatest letter writers in the English language. Her epistles, meant for both public and private consumption, are the product of a mind distinguished by its adventurousness, its indifference to convention, and its eagerness not only to acquire knowledge but to convey it with unmitigated style and grace.
Customer Reviews:
Journey to the Ottoman Empire and 18th century England.......2000-07-08
I first read the letters from the embassy to Turkey in a course on Restoration & 18th century women authors; I loved the text, and I knew I would have to find a complete copy of her collected letters. To read Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters is to become closely acquainted with an intelligent, cultured, inquisitive and opinionated woman whose social circle included Alexander Pope and other worthies. Her insights into the wholly separate women's culture of the Ottoman Empire is fascinating, exposing a world unavailable to any male travelers to Turkey. As a narrator she is wonderfully descriptive without losing a shred of personality -- a personality which remains vivid across two and a half centuries.
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Elizabeth I: Autograph Compositions and Foreign Language Originals
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Elizabeth I
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ASIN: 0226504700 |
Book Description
Published to substantial critical acclaim, Elizabeth I: Collected Works brought together for the first time in one volume the speeches, poems, prayers, and selected letters of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), all in modernized spelling and punctuation. With this new volume, Janel Mueller and Leah S. Marcus give specialists fuller access to key originals of the queen's texts presented in Collected Works.
The originals selected for inclusion here are compositions that survive in Elizabeth's own handwriting, in English and in foreign languages, as well as her foreign language compositions preserved by other hands or in printed editions. Presented in transcriptions that reproduce the spelling and punctuation of their sixteenth-century sources, these texts convey many of the expressive and significant features of Elizabeth's writing. Through the transcriptions of texts in her own hand, readers can track the queen's language and compositional style-her choices of vocabulary and phrasing; her habits of capitalization, spelling, and punctuation; her often heavy revisions and redraftings; and her insertions of postscripts and second thoughts. The texts in foreign languages, meanwhile, will allow readers to prepare their own English translations from these original sources.
A unique resource for scholars of English literature and the Renaissance, this companion to the Collected Works offers much fuller and more detailed access to Elizabeth and her writings than can be obtained from the modern English versions alone.
Book Description
The previously unpublished written legacy of America's most famous patriarch that sheds new light on his public and private persona.
Joseph P. Kennedy remains one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures in American history. From his humble beginnings as the son of Irish immigrants to his meteoric rise to statesman, diplomat, and finally to First Father, he has been both beloved and vilified. In Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy, Amanda Smith has unearthed an extraordinary treasure of her grandfather's correspondence and several previously unseen photographs in a collection that reveals his metamorphoses. It is not only a living history of Kennedy's life, but also a revelation of his vision of his own family as the embodiment of the American dream.
In the only firsthand record of his life, Hostage to Fortune begins in 1914, with the honeymoon of Joe and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in Atlantic City and ends in 1961 with Joe's disabling stroke. In between, we see the public and private Kennedy-father, husband, film producer, and New Deal government official. The correspondence between his wife and nine children is a completely loving one that too often ends in loss and grief. His relationships with the great figures of the age-Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, Pope Pius XII, and Charles Lindbergh-show him courting friendships but also fighting for his beliefs, a trait that would ultimately end his public career. At once a fitting tribute to her grandfather, a great historical work, and a chronicle of America's greatest family, Hostage to Fortune will engage American history lovers as well as a public who continues to be fascinated by the Kennedy family.
Customer Reviews:
A nice start but...........2006-04-05
Amanda Smith does a fair job in assembling a number of letters to, from and about her grandfather, Amb. Joseph P. Kennedy. She does not hold back some of the more unsavory parts of his life, from the affair with Gloria Swanson to the use of racist terms for blacks and disparaging comments about Jews. Her introductary essay is very moving and well written. Certainly this book helps dispel a number of the myths that the sensationalist books on the Kennedy patriarch seem to propel.
And yet there is much more that needs to be done. These can not be all of Kennedy's letters; we know that a number of them remain almost inaccesable to researchers. Furthermore, while some of Joseph Kennedy's public speeches and statements are included (for example his endorsement of FDR in the 1940 campaign from which the book takes its name), a number of key speeches (such as Kennedy's testimony in support of Lend Lease and his radio speech on the same issue from January 1941-speeches that do a great deal to dispel the myth of Kennedy as a pure isolationist) are not included.
Without more access to the Joe Kennedy papers, he will remain a mythical figure, the target for sensationalists and scandal mongers. Kennedy's important role in American life and politics warrant more attention and this collection is not a bad start but much more needs to be done.
White wash of a dark family.......2005-03-13
I suppose if you have not read any legitimate studies about the Kennedy's you might find this book interesting, but it really is a very selective and misleading account of a family that has had a major impact on the USA. While it is good to see these letters published, I suspect that there are hundreds more which will never see the light of day since they would paint a much more balanced picture of this family. Joseph P. Kennedy was a very rich, very influential pol in Democrat Party politics. He was also someone who got in bed with the Mafia, which probably led to the death of JFK, got into bed with numerous Hollywood sluts, which gave his sons their lack of a moral compass, was a physical coward when it came to dealing with Fascism, and a bigot who didn't really have a problem with Hitler's "final solution" in getting rid of the Jews he hated from the core of his being. But he did a good job of using his millions to steal the 1960 election through voter fraud to get his son elected. I suspect that he never gave a thought to whether it was all worth it while seeing his sons buried. The most interesting thing about these letters however is that his remaining spawn, Teddy, is really the apple of his father's eye. A total pol, with zero understanding of the need for some view of the future through something other than a politician's lens, JPK Sr. was a great teacher for Teddy's willingness to turn a blind eye to evil and run for cover when the going got tough. A revealing book when you consider that the editing done was to put this family in the best light. But at least it is a start, and future revelations will show this book to be the unbalanced white-wash that it is.
HISTORICAL MISSIVES - A PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN.......2001-04-20
Famed patriarch Joseph Kennedy Sr.'s granddaughter, Amanda Smith (she is the daughter of Jean Kennedy Smith) did an extraordinary job of collecting missives written by various family members over a period of nearly half a century. The years 1914-1961 are meticulously laid out in militarily neat precision; it is through these letters that readers glean insights into the dynamics of a famous family.
My favorite parts in the book were the letters to, by and about the late Senator Robert Kennedy. Third son and seventh child of patriarch Joseph Kennedy, readers are treated to witness his growth and development, almost from the beginning. A composition he wrote at age 13 describing himself and his preferences is enlightening. One can smile at the boy who strove to keep up with his older siblings revisited in the man who achieved leadership status. From all accounts, Robert Kennedy was a diligent worker; the boy who sought to make himself heard by his siblings and by Joe, Sr. became the man who served as the voice for many. In adult life his voice was one that was very much heard and resounded throughout history. In reading this, it was impossible not to cheer his progress and feel encouraged by what he accomplished in his lifetime.
This is a delightful "peek behind the curtain" into the dynamics of generations of Kennedys.
I loved it.
The life of Joseph Kennedy in his own hand........2001-01-09
What a nice surprise to see a book about the Kennedy family based on fact. Smith's choice of letters help the reader visualize Joseph Kennedy as father, businessman, and ambassador. These letters are as historically important as they are touching. Smith's work has given us first hand accounts of many great historical events of the 20th century. This book will prove to be an important resource for biographers as well as a wonderful gift to Smith's own family. Highly recommend.
Superb Book!.......2001-01-05
I have read countless books on the Kennedys and I've got to say this is, by far, one of the most valuable books I've read.
Amanda Smith, who is Joseph P. Kennedy's grandaughter, did a phenomenal job gathering correspondences between Joe Kennedy and family members, dignitaries, colleagues and friends during the years of 1914-1961. The manner in which Smith compiled the letters allows for a smooth and enjoyable read of the book.
I am quite impressed (and thankful!) that Smith meticulously documented and made footnotes of the individuals who were either the recipient or author of a letter or are mentioned in the correspondence - as it provides the reader with a much better understanding of the context of the letter.
I've always had a strong appreciation and interest in reading original documents and writings. Amanda Smith truly did a fantastic job editing the letters and showing a new side of Joe Kennedy which I never saw before.
Definately well worth the cost of the book and most certainly recommended with the highest regard for those who enjoy reading about the Kennedys, political science, or correspondences.
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- Coming Up for Air (Harvest Book)
- CPT 2007 Professional Edition (Cpt / Current Procedural Terminology (Professional Edition))
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
- Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism
- Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub
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