A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present Review

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A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present ReviewI had received this book from two people, one from a very good friend of my father's, and once from a good friend of mine. I had used this as a resource for research projects in my middle school and in my Hebrew High School as well. This book has information about many well known, and not so well known Jewish events. It starts in 2500BCE with The Migration of The Patriarchs and goes all the way to Modern Israel in the 1990s. This book has many diagrams, photographs, and paragraphs explaining how the Jews were always everywhere in a hidden or obvious way. This would be an excellent gift for a bar mitzvah (when I had gotten it twice), bat mitzvah, birthday or any occassion for that matter. It is as well an excellent book to have as reference. I strongly suggest this book to any one wishing to find information about Jews playing an influence in the world.A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present OverviewThe history of the Jews spans more than two millenia and encompasses most parts of the globe--an extraordinary saga which is set forth pictorially in this comprehensive, and richly illustrated and designed volume. With hundreds of brilliantly detailed maps, photographs, and drawings, and chronologies and commentaries by leading experts, A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People is both an authoritative reference work and a sumptuous gift volume.

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The King's Way: Recollections of Francoise D'Aubigne, Marquise De Maintenon, Wife to the King of France Review

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The King's Way: Recollections of Francoise D'Aubigne, Marquise De Maintenon, Wife to the King of France ReviewFrançoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon and second unacknowledged wife of Louis XIV, wrote nearly eighty volumes of letters; more than four thousand have survived and Françoise Chandernagor has used them with skill and feeling to write this first-person account of Maintenon's life. I enjoyed The King's Way very much - I knew very little about the life and loves of Louis XIV before reading it, and it proved to be a pleasant way to make this history memorable. It is not difficult to keep the cast of characters straight until the very end, when one is dealing with the bastard descendants of Louis - then the numerous names and titles tend to blur. The history is well handled, always through Mme. de Maintenon's eyes, which is quite credible since she was an intelligent, witty, and compassionate woman and her advice was sought by Louis, even though he did not often take it.
I will not summarize Maintenon's life here, since Kay Kirkpatrick has given an excellent summary in her recent Amazon review of Veronica Buckley's biography. Chandernagor's book is more affordable and more available than Buckley's book, although if you read it, you may want to know more - I went searching for a history and found only Buckley's book listed, along with Antonia Fraser's more general book on all of Louis's loves. Françoise d'Aubigné was well-known as the most moral and devout of Louis's loves, but she is by no means a "plaster saint." Chandernagor gives her a voice which is alternately witty, earnest, self-deprecating and proud of herself. She's someone I would like to have known. Neither of her husbands were easy marriage material. Paul Scarron, the first, was an intelligent and arrogant cripple who gave her a base of sorts in Paris society, but left her disillusioned and cynical about the possibility of combining love and marriage. Two subsequent affaires du coeur helped her realize that physical love could be enjoyable, but mocked her hope of marrying someone of higher rank than her own. One rejoices with her as Louis chooses her for her real self, even as one groans that she will never be known as queen - she truly deserved it.
Some historians have accused her of encouraging Louis's revocation of the Edict of Nantes and thus condoning the persecution of Protestants. On the contrary she was quite concerned about the situation of her own Protestant relatives who had been the first to show her any loving care as a child and who had introduced her to God. Chandernagor presents her as much more tolerant than Louis and certainly not in favor of the forced conversions which followed the revocation, although she was not above cleverly luring her young Protestant relatives into the Church. Although she felt a strong attraction to mysticism and contemplation, she was fundamentally a practical person who loved children and devoted much of her life to their education, as well as to improving the economic situation of the poor around her. A woman of contradictions, she loved the wit of Paul Scarron's circle and her early life at Louis's court (Mme. de Montespan and Ninon de Lenclos, notorious for their immorality as well as their intelligence, were friends), although she tired of the banal superficiality of most of this society. Similarly, she loved King Louis even as she couldn't stand his distanced controlling behavior and his insistence on leaving all the windows open even when she was freezing! Seeing him through her eyes, the reader loves him too, but loves her even more for her honest ability to confront herself in her endless variety.
The King's Way: Recollections of Francoise D'Aubigne, Marquise De Maintenon, Wife to the King of France Overview

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The LACEMAKER Review

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The LACEMAKER ReviewA very intricate book regarding the politics of Europe in the 1600's and the life of a lacemaker, Gilonne, including her forbidden marriage to a Protestant and her secret longing for a peasant turned Count, who for years is presumed dead. This book was very well written and was obviously well researched in the art of lacemaking and the present day situations of the characters. If you really like historical novels, you must read this book!The LACEMAKER Overview

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The Dangerous Book of Heroes Review

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The Dangerous Book of Heroes ReviewThe latest installment in the "Dangerous Book" series is "The Dangerous Book of Heroes." It's a fairly thick volume with dozens of short biographies, which range from about a dozen to twenty pages. For me, that makes it a perfect book for Reading While Waiting. I spend a lot of time in doctor's offices, so waiting is a huge part of my life. These short biographies are just the right length to entertain and engage me before the doctor knocks on the door. I found the choice of Heroes to be especially interesting, especially since I had never heard of at least one of them referred to in any kind of a positive way before.
The book starts out with George Washington, and discussed many things I had never considered about the Father of our country. For instance, his biography begins by calling him neither a great soldier nor a great farmer, just a man put in the right place at the right time. It's a theory that carries throughout the book.
Part of the reason I really liked this book is the idea that anyone can be a hero, given the circumstances. The passengers of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 were heroes, although I don't think that any one of them thought that they would save the lives of thousands when they boarded their plane. Yet I think their inclusion in this book of heroes is perfect.
All in all, I recommend this book for any reader over the age of twelve or so, anyone old enough to accept the fact that not every story ends happily and that not all heroes have medals. I think it would be especially wonderful to read as a family, and to discuss the heroes listed here, and if they agree with the author that these people are heroes at all. (I agree with most, but not all of the people listed here, and there are a few others I'd have included)The Dangerous Book of Heroes Overview

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The Pyramid Review

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The Pyramid ReviewI have four Ismail Kadare books, and since the semester just ended, ...[I'm] going to try and read all four of them this summer. Kadare is an Albanian expatriate living in France, and from what I've heard about his books, the overarching theme is either the elevation of Albanian culture or criticism of the Albanian Communist Party. In this book, Kadare takes us back to ancient Egypt during the reign of Cheops, the pharaoh who built one of the Seven Wonders of the World. What we take for granted today as an impressive monument to ...[man's] ability to create, Kadare sees as a different sort of monument. Kadare uses the pyramid of Cheops as an allegory for the dehumanization of political power.
The upper echelons of Egypt become concerned when Cheops decides he does not want to build a pyramid. His advisors tell him that a pyramid is necessary in order to head off potential unrest amongst the populace. When Egypt is prosperous, the advisors explain, the people are not occupied and may start to have dangerous thoughts. A pyramid is a long, involved process that will keep all noses to the grindstone. What follows is a nightmarish vision of power run amok. All of Egypt becomes devoted to the pyramid, with every resource available poured into its construction. Workers die by the thousands cutting the rocks, transporting the stones, and building the pyramid. Thousands more are tortured and murdered for poor workmanship or because of conspiracies that arise during construction. Even the pharaoh starts to go nuts, as the pyramid becomes a reality.
Kadare masterfully details the dangers of power without limits. Arguably, the finest chapter is the one where time itself is reduced to numbered building stones. Workmen no longer think in terms of minutes, hours, or days; they think in terms of the 10,000th stone, and then stone 10,001, followed by stone 10,002. You get the idea. In short, the pyramid turns society and the very idea of nature upside down.
...
This is probably the best book you've never heard of. Of course, if you're reading this review, you have heard of Kadare and you're thinking about reading his work. I'm certainly looking forward to his other efforts, and the guy is still pumping them out so there won't be a shortage of his books anytime soon. Albania tends to get short shrift in the world; they should be very proud of Mr. Kadare. Although this book is quite short, it has a lot of depth. Recommended.The Pyramid Overview

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The Battle Review

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The Battle ReviewThis historical novel slaps its readers in the face with the reality of a grape loaded 12 pounder. We are wisked from the streets of a newly occupied city, Vienna in 1809, to the front lines of a Napoleonic battle, where in one stunning scene the emperor's guard stand to attention while a hail of fire thins their ranks, literly filling the gaps in the line by shoving away the fragments of their now destroyed commrads. Each scene is accurate, in every detail, from the horrors of 19th century medicine, to the soilder's uniforms, arms and food. One feels the panic of the helpless city as it is looted and plundered, and one can smell the cordite and hear the clash of sabers as the combat discriptions grip your heart and stomach to each line. A excellent book if only because of its ability to seem like a bit of real insight into what a event like this was at so many levels. To the common solider, the oficer, the camp follower, and to Naploeon himself. A great readThe Battle Overview

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Germany: The Long Road West (v. 1) Review

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Germany: The Long Road West (v. 1) ReviewThis book is an absolutely riveting read. The author is a preeminent scholar about the development of Germany as a modern nation state. This volume, the first of two, traces the development of Germany from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to the fall of the Weimar Republic. It has broadened my understanding of the history of Germany and the whole of Europe as well. This book has made me reevaluate Germany's role in the development of the European Union. Don't be so fast to think France is behind the EU!
Germany: The Long Road West (v. 1) OverviewVivid, succinct, and highly accessible, Heinrich Winkler's magisterial history of modern Germany offers the history of a nation and its people through two turbulent centuries. It is the story of a country that, while always culturally identified with the West, long resisted the political trajectories of its neighbors.This first volume (of two) begins with the origins and consequences of the medieval myth of the "Reich," which was to experience a fateful renaissance in the twentieth century, and ends with the collapse of the first German democracy. Winkler offers a brilliant synthesis of complex events and illuminates them with fresh insights. He analyses the decisions that shaped the country's triumphs and catastrophes, interweaving high politics with telling vignettes about the German people and their own self-perception.With a second volume that takes the story up to reunification in 1990, Germany: The Long Road West will be welcomed by scholars, students, and anyone wishing to understand this most complex and contradictory of countries.

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Albert Camus's the Stranger (Bloom's Guides) Review

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Albert Camus's the Stranger (Bloom's Guides) ReviewA worthy contribution to the excellent Bloom's Guides series, Bloom's Guides: The Stranger is a comprehensive reading and study guide for students and lay readers alike of Albert Camus' classic existential novel "The Stranger", about a man who almost involuntarily commits an unprovoked murder, yet is unable to explain why he did it, let alone fake remorse. He is ultimately condemned not for the crime itself, but for his failure to express hypocrisy over it; he is unable to immerse himself in the physical and emotional absurdities of daily existence that demand thousands of little lies and great lies from every member of human society. Bloom's Guide: The Stranger features a strong emphasis on summary and analysis, walking the reader step by step through the nuances of this complex yet insightful work of Western literature. Additional enhancements include "The Story Behind the Story", which describes the conditions under which The Stranger was written, a biographical sketch of the author, a descriptive list of characters, and an annotated bibliography. Enthusiastically recommended especially for anyone studying "The Stranger" as part of a literary course or thesis.
Albert Camus's the Stranger (Bloom's Guides) OverviewAlbert Camus's landmark existentialist novel traces the aftermath of a shocking crime and the man whose fate is sealed with one rash and foolhardy act. The Stranger presents readers with a new kind of protagonist, a man unable to transcend the tedium and inherent absurdity of everyday existence in a world indifferent to the struggles and strivings of its human denizens. Complete with an introduction from master literary scholar Harold Bloom, this new edition of full-length critical essays includes a chronology, bibliography, and index for easy reference.--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

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Regards from the Dead Princess: Novel of a Life Review

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Regards from the Dead Princess: Novel of a Life ReviewThis is the story of Selma, born at Ortakoy palace in Istambul, daughter of a sultana - princess of royal blood - between slaves, wealth and the splendor of the Ottoman court until the sultanate is abolished by Kemal Ataturk erasing the privileges of the royal family and forcing then to abandone the country, Selma and her mother took refuge in Lebanon where she received a western education and where her adolescent dreams are broken when her mother arranged a wedding with Amir, Raja of Badalpur in India where she lived a boring life of reclusion between the estate of Badalpur and the palace of Lucknow until she whent to France with her loyal eunuc Zeynel to deliver her unborn child in 1939 enjoying for the first time the sensation of freedom and happiness until the nazi invasion that deprived Selma of everything precious in her.
This is an intense novel where the reader travel from different historic periods, WWI, the establishment of the turkish republic, the french occupation of Lebanon, the last years of the British Empire in India and the nazi occupation of France during WWII and the consequent difference in habits, way of life, the economic, political, social and cultural differences of all places she lived.Regards from the Dead Princess: Novel of a Life Overview

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Lea (Blue Bicycle, Book 2) Review

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Lea (Blue Bicycle, Book 2) ReviewIn a scenary os suffering and destruction, Léa Delmas, young and beaultifull, discovers the cowardness and dangerness of collaborationship with the enemies between her parents and friends.Some, however, prefered to fight, even if they'd had to put their friends in risk..This was the way choosen by Lea, who becomes engaged into the resistance in order to fight back the deutchs and to try to save it's cared people and it's loved country.Lea (Blue Bicycle, Book 2) Overview

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The French Queen's Letters: Mary Tudor Brandon and the Politics of Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Queenship and Power) Review

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The French Queen's Letters: Mary Tudor Brandon and the Politics of Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Queenship and Power) ReviewA great edition to any amateur history buffs collection, a gem for any Tudor fans and students of the feminist role in society. A good look into one of the lesser known Tudors/Tudor relations as well as a queen consort and dowager queen. However it did leave me wanting more. I am not sure if this is due to lack of verifiable material or because the focus was on just the letters and their content, but details of Mary personally and into her relationships with various people would have served well here.The French Queen's Letters: Mary Tudor Brandon and the Politics of Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Queenship and Power) OverviewThe life of Mary Tudor the French queen, younger sister of Henry VIII, has been chiefly defined by the scandal of her secret marriage to Charles Brandon after the death of her husband, Louis XII of France. Such limited focus has obscured Mary's role as a political figure, one whom poets celebrated for bringing peace between England and France. In this biography, Erin Sadlack contends that Mary was neither a weeping hysteric nor a love-struck romantic, but a queen who drew on two sources of authority to increase the power of her position: epistolary conventions and the rhetoric of chivalry that imbued the French and English courts. By reading Mary's life and letters within the context of early modern political culture, this book broadens our understanding of the exercise of queenship in the sixteenth century.

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The French Blue Review

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The French Blue ReviewI love historical fiction; I love jewelry; I love hefty books that you can "live with" for awhile. This book has all of that and so much more.
Like Clavell novels (Shogun (The Asian Saga Chronology)), this book introduces you to characters that become part of your life. The writing style is easy to read but not in a "bodice ripper" style. The author avoids the mistake that many first time novelists make in trying to be too cute with their dialogue and/or over-pretentious prose. He creates a setting where you feel like you are going on the journey along with the characters -- you can feel yourself as being part of that time.
The author definitely has done his research and you do come away feeling like you have really learned something -- both about history and the gem industry. Of course, since Richard Wise is an expert in gemology in real life, this is not surprising. I do hope that he will continue to write fiction. The wonderful thing about the James Clavell saga is that it kept going and going so you could follow it. You truly become emotionally invested in it. I hope that Wise is able to do the same -- he is off to a great start.
As a side note, the book itself is simply beautiful -- while I read it on my Kindle, I also have the physical book and the dust jacket, the paper quality, the type-face... it is not a "cheaply published" book that so many hardcovers are these days. I know this is a small thing but it just really adds to the overall "wow-factor" of the book.The French Blue OverviewBetween the years 1630-1668, the French gem merchant, Jean Baptiste Tavernier made six voyages to Persia and India. His true exploits by land and sea go far beyond the ink and paper exploits of fictional adventurers. Tavernier met and did business with some of the world's most powerful princes and romanced some of the most beautiful women. Sometime during his later voyages, Tavernier acquired a magnificent 116 carat blue diamond. Upon his return to France, he sold the diamond to Louis XIV, for the equivalent of 147 kilos of pure gold. The Sun King made him Baron of Aubonne. The remains of Tavernier s blue gem is known today as the Hope Diamond, but for the first 200 years of its history it was called simply The French Blue.

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