History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

A good book...
The end of the MIA mystery?

Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives
Malcom Mcconnell
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Vietnam War | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973

ASIN: 0671871188

Customer Reviews:

A good book..........2003-07-20

...I'm not sorry I read it.

Throughout, there are hints of "conspiracy theories" but I think that is unavoidable in a topic as sensitive as this one. Did the US knowingly abandon troops in Vietnam and Laos? Do we know they are still there but unwilling to do what's necessary to get them home? These questions are answered, I think, satisfactorily. It's well-documented and the photographs are very applicable.

While not necessarily what I consider a 5-star book, it was recommended to me by an avid history and military history reader whose opinion I regard highly. If these topics are your "cup of tea", I'd recommend this even more.

The end of the MIA mystery?.......2003-05-26

For two decades following the Vietnam war, ill-fated attempts by the United States to obtain conclusive evidence concerning the fate of hundreds of POW/MIA's from the Vietnam war finally found success. In a bold and daring espionage mission, former U.N. refugee officer Theodore G. Schweitzer was the acting agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in what later became known as Operation Swamp Ranger.

Beginning in March of 1992 and lasting several months, Schweitzer was granted access to Vietnamese war archives that held a voluminous amount of information on U.S. servicemen that were missing in action and others that were held as prisoners of war. Vietnam, up until this point, had strenuously denied for years that they had any useful data on missing servicemen and they blatantly withheld documents that would solve many discrepancy cases on unknown losses of U.S. personnel. Using previously unreleased photographs, meticulously annotated files, and physical evidence, Operation Swamp Ranger completely exposed Vietnam's attempts to bury the POW/MIA issue over the years. Although only suspected by the U.S. government, Vietnam's General Political Directorate (GPD) finally admitted that many U.S. servicemen were killed in cold blood.

Operation Swamp Ranger also proved to be useful in the aspect that it helped dispel the widespread theory that Americans had been abandoned by the U.S. government after repatriation of POW's in 1973. Furthermore, scams and other fraudulent activities aimed at the grieving families of MIA's were exposed and contradicted by evidence gained from Hanoi's archives. Lastly, there appears to be no conclusive facts to date which could verify that there are actual live POW's still held in Vietnam today.

Although limited cooperation with the Vietnamese government regarding POW/MIA's faltered after revelations from Operation Swamp Ranger became known to the public at large, the U.S. government still claimed a large victory in what amounts to a monumental breakthrough in the enduring POW/MIA controversy. Unfortunately, this long and arduous journey does not have a happy ending. Not yet, anyway. Even as the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) continues to negotiate, haggle, bargain, cajole, and mediate with Vietnam regarding additional unreleased material they still hold, there are no clear indications of just how much further progress will be accomplished in the future. As stated in the author's narrative, communist archives are notoriously known for disinformation and forgeries and nothing in Vietnam is ever straightforward or simple.

Download Description

Authored by an internationally known expert in configuration management (CM) solutions, this unique new book helps experienced professionals and novices alike see why CM is critical to the survival of their company?s e-commerce and e-business development and management. Unlike other books on configuration management, this book examines CM from a ?business value? perspective. You learn why your company?s e-business and e-commerce ? encompassing web content, web applications, back-office applications, code and data ? simply will not survive or thrive without CM. The book provides a thorough overview of CM technology, and reveals ?best practice? techniques for selecting and deploying automated CM solutions. Nine key challenges facing e-commerce are detailed, along with practical guidelines for avoiding common pitfalls that can quickly derail your e-business. Case studies are included. Software Included! The CD-ROM contains two informative PowerPoint presentations by Susan Dart to help you implement concepts covered in the book: The Agony and Ecstasy of Configuration Management and Mastering E-Development.

Customer Reviews:

A must read for Web developers.......2003-04-16

In the preface of the book the author states that her main aim in writing the book is to articulate and raise awareness about the Web crisis and then provide a solution in the form of configuration management. The book delivers the goods and fulfills the promises. Configuration management has been around for many years and the author is one of the top experts in the field.
The explosive growth of the Word Wide Web has changed the way software is developed for Internet and WWW. In the case of software development for the Web, the fundamental difference is the time-time to develop, time to change, time to modify and update, time to correct and so on. Configuration management, if not implemented correctly, can increase the response time of a company. But if the organizations ignore the CM principles and do a "quick job", then it can lead to greater disasters.
So how to implement configuration management techniques properly to Web development and deployment has been a problem that has vexed project managers and development teams. This book does an excellent job in telling how to integrate configuration management into the web development efforts of the organization, so that the organization can survive and thrive in this highly competitive internet times by providing its customers, shareholders, employees and so on with up-to-the-minute and accurate information.
The book provides an overview of web development and configuration management before getting down to the business of linking CM and web engineering. This overview provides a good starting point for people who are new to these fields. The chapters "CM tool selection and deployment" and "Cases studies in CM automation of web systems" are excellent and provide practical and surefire strategies and advise for the practitioners. The checklists, templates, questionnaires, etc. add value to the book as they can be readily put to use.
This book is a must read for project managers and development teams who want to consistently succeed in their web development efforts.

Good only to show why you need Configuration Management.......2003-03-03

While this book does a great job of showing the need for change management for web sites, it gets all the implementation details wrong. The main focus is on configuration management for the software portions of the site. While very important, this is a standard problem that has been addressed by a number of version control / configuration management tools. When the book discusses web "content management", it gets it wrong (FrontPage and Dreamweaver are listed as content management tools) and misses the main issues of controlling and coordinating content updates on the site. Large scale web sites have special requirements on content coordination. For example, coordination changes in design of the site, coordination of content in various languages, and change management of database updates are critical to site configuration management and not touched on in this book at all. This appears to be mainly a software configuration management book that added some terminology and checklists for the web. Speaking of checklists, there are configuration management templates described in the books appendix; I was surprised to find the book's CDROM, however, contained only two Powerpoint slide presentations.

Addresses challenges, raises awareness & gives case studies.......2001-05-05

Ms. Dart is a well known expert in configuration management and her a long list of published articles are highly technical in nature. However, this book is not one of her "how to" approaches. Instead, it provides a path towards best practices that are conspicuously missing in most web engineering and web site management endeavors. My own background will add some context to my review. I have developed and implemented policies, processes and procedures for both software configuration management (SCM) and change control for a number of companies. SCM is an application delivery discipline that is key to product integrity and assurance during development and maintenance. Change control is a service delivery discipline that ensures that changes released to the production environment are carefully controlled. In the past the two were the concern of two entirely different domains (development and production), and only companies that had highly mature processes linking problem management, enhancements/bug fixes, SCM and release and production change management bridged the two domains.

The web changed that because cycle times compressed and are driven by business requirements, not technical considerations. The tried and true processes we employed for SCM and change control were barriers to meeting business requirements and something had to give. Unfortunately, what gave was due diligence, which is well illustrated in figures 1.1 through 1.3 in this book. These figures show typical best practice development/maintenance cycle and typical change request process employed in non-web based systems, and the "fix it-publish it-fix" it approach that is too common in web-centric systems. This book provides the middle ground by examining how to implement processes and procedures that provide assurance without the barriers of the traditional approach to processes.

Ms. Dart begins this book with a broad description of web-centric computing and a list of nine major challenges faced by this paradigm. This is foundation material that is more suited to managers, but is also valuable for technical staff who need to see the big picture. She follows this with a description of what CM is. Nothing new here for those of us who have been practitioners, but this may be enlightening material for the bright, young wizards who are geniuses at coding and system integration, but have little-to-no idea about processes. The next chapter, 4, covers tools from a functionality viewpoint. The discussion of evolutionary and full-process tools will help define your tool requirements based on how you manage development and production. She also provides some excellent pointers on how to develop a benefit analysis and determine return on tool investment, which is something the bean counters will want to see considering how expensive most CM tools are. Chapter 5 gives sound advice on selecting and implementing a CM tool. This chapter is especially valuable because of the pointers on managing the RFP and vendor evaluation and selection process. Templates and checklists supporting this process are provided in the appendices.

The heart of this book for the practitioner and newcomer alike is chapter 6, which contains case studies of how major companies are using the more mainstream CM tools (ClearCase, Continuus, PVCS, and the like). This chapter is full of ideas and shows typical challenges faced, and the solutions crafted, to balance the "Internet-time" driven implementations and releases with processes that support assurance and integrity.

This book is high-level and process-oriented. If you are seeking a down-in-the-dirt book on how to implement and manage CM in a web-centric environment look elsewhere. However, if you want sound advice from a credible source about how to determine your requirements and develop processes and select the best tool, then this book provides value. I give it five stars for raising awareness and addressing the thorny problem of balancing traditional CM practices with the realities of web-centric computing cycle times.

Long on generalities, short on detail........2001-04-27

Surprisingly, this book already feels dated as it seems to have emerged from the e-boom. It aims very much at the broad picture as it appeared at that time. It has relatively little to say about the nitty-gritty of what aspects of Web engineering need special consideration in the context of CM.

Book Description

Once rumored to have been the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Miss Moneypenny, Vera Atkins climbed her way to the top in the Special Operations Executive, or SOE: Britain’s secret service created to help build up, organize, and arm the resistance in the Nazi-occupied countries. Throughout the war, Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored the agents for the SOE’s French Section, which sent more than four hundred young men and women into occupied France—at least one hundred of whom never returned and were reported “Missing Presumed Dead” after the war. Twelve of these were women and among Atkins’s most cherished spies. When the war ended in 1945, she made it her personal mission to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines, tracing rigorously their horrific final journeys. But as the woman who carried out this astonishing search appeared quintessentially English, Atkins was nothing of the sort. As we follow her through the devastation of postwar Germany, we learn Atkins herself covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past.

In A Life in Secrets Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera Atkins’s many veils. Drawing on recently released sixty-year-old government files and her unprecedented access to the private papers of the Atkins family, Helm vividly reconstructs a complex and extraordinary life.

Customer Reviews:

A devastating, gripping tale.......2007-06-26

"A Life in Secrets", in addition to being a multi-faceted portrait of a remarkable woman, and a fascinating mystery, is a searing indictment of bureaucracy. Helm tells the story of many courageous men and women who were betrayed for their bosses' errors. Lower-ranked workers who suspected the mistakes were not allowed to speak up, and even the second-in-command, Vera Atkins, had to hold her tongue for personal reasons uncovered by the author. After the war, the search for survivors was hampered by Allied governments who began wrangling with each other before all the battles were even over.

I had never heard most of these stories before. I had never even known of the existence of SOE, although several books on the group have been written over the years. However, I suspect Helm's is the best. She's a tireless researcher, is unafraid to tell what she believes is the truth about her subject, even when it's unflattering to her main character, and really knows how to tell a story. She parcels out her discoveries for maximum impact, and gives the reader warm, human portraits of most of the characters. She also doesn't fail to describe the impact the war had on the families of SOE agents. The photo section is especially good; Helm takes care to provide an image of almost every person involved.

Helm's research is impressive; the endnotes show that her work depended mainly on original interviews and private papers. This is not a rehash of previously published material. "A Life in Secrets" is an important contribution to WWII literature, and a memorial to little-known people whose bravery should be admired.

An amazing woman told by an amazing author.......2007-02-15

I ordered the book following a review in the Jerusalem Post. I don't often do this but it proved a good read. I rationed myself to a few pages daily. The disclosures were unbelieveable both about SOE and about Vera Atkins. Equally amazing was the investagative journalism of the authoress, Sarah Helm. I feel that Vera and Sarah would have made a fearsome pair. The book has left me wondering about other aspects of the war fought against the Nazis. I shall dip into it again and again. I fully recommend it.

Female spymaster.......2007-01-04

The story about Vera Atkins and her agents sent to occupied Europe was most interesting -- what brave people they all were. Vera Atkins was determined to find what happened to those lost agents who did not return. After the war, she deligently went to France, Belgium and Germany to pick up leads, so that she could tell their families the true answers. She was a wonderful organizer and had great responsibility for a woman (at that time). The reader will enjoy the tales and photographs, even though the ending was very sad for many of them.

A life with so many secrets.......2007-01-03

It`s a very good biography of a very unusual woman, capable of sending young girls to their deaths and then pursuing all leads to know what happened to them. One of the problems is that in the end we don't know the real Vera - I suspect that she is the young girl born in Roumania up to the end...

Unlocking the Doors of a Checkered Past.......2006-12-30

In "A Life in Secrets," Sarah Helm tells the riveting story of the courageous men and women of the British SOE, the Special Operations Executive, who, during World War II, were parachuted into France, and thence into the arms of the Gestapo. The author also delves into the life of the woman who sent them there, the enigmatic Vera Atkins, who, as a perfect spy, covered her traces so expertly--and so completely--that the biographer has been left with more questions than answers.

Ms. Helm nevertheless engages the reader from the first page, beginning with the recruitment and subsequent departure of the seventeen women and seventeen men who were to serve as organizers, couriers, and wireless transmitter operators of resistance circuits in Nazi-occupied France. After stretching the tension to its limit, she breaks off that narrative thread and weaves in the story of Vera Atkins, who, even though she was a Romanian subject (and thus technically an enemy alien) at the beginning of the war, nevertheless, became a major protagonist in the SOE during the course of the conflict (She was naturalized as a British subject in 1944). By continually alternating the topic between the fate of the agents and the account of the formidable woman who persistently searched for them in bombed-out Germany after the war, Ms. Helm captivates the reader--who must relentlessly follow the increasingly horrific narrative, through the Ravensbrueck, Dachau, and Natzweiler concentration camps--from the first page to the last.

One of the implicit questions the book asks is how, when MI5 was running their deucedly clever and successful "double-cross" system, in which they "turned" numerous Nazi agents parachuted into Britain into double agents, playing the "wireless game" (successfully transmitting disinformation back to the Abwehr), SOE could not catch on to the fact that its own agents had been captured, and that the messages being transmitted back to England were bogus and being run by the Gestapo.

Seems to be another classic case of the left hand of one agency not knowing what the right hand of the other agency was doing!

Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery)

Average customer rating:

Her best?
Didn't think I was going to like it, but .....
Disappointing
Addicted
Don't miss this book

Heart of the World (A Carlotta Carlyle Mystery)
Linda Barnes
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Vanishing Point (Sharon McCone Mysteries)
Winter's Child
Deep Pockets (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)
Twelve Sharp (Stephanie Plum Novels)
Dead Wrong

ASIN: 0312332874
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Book Description

Heart of the World is Linda Barnes most intense, most personal, and most suspenseful Carlotta Carlyle novel yet. In it, Carlotta is awakened by a late-night phone call telling her that Paolina is missing. Fourteen-year-old Paolina was paired up with Carlotta by a mentoring program in Boston years ago, and she knows that Carlotta thinks of her more like a daughter. In fact, as Carlotta combs the streets of Boston, then Miami, and then Bogot looking for Paolina, feeling more and more desperate, she finds herself thinking of another child she lost: a baby she bore at fifteen and gave up for adoption. Tense, emotional, frightening, Heart of the World follows Carlotta as she herself is kidnapped by Paolinas notorious father, drug lord Carlos Roldan, and as they team up in an unlikely bid for Paolinas freedom. Its a breathless, shocking read, the pinnacle of a series and an authors career: Barnes best work ever

Customer Reviews:

Her best?.......2007-09-08

I've read all of the Carlotta novels and just love them. Recently I've been feeling that Barnes has just been using her formula, but this one is GREAT! I can't say it is her best, only because of how long ago I read the first, but it either is - or one of the best! After the first few pages this story was one I just couldn't put down.

Didn't think I was going to like it, but ............2007-07-23

I've been a reader of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mysteries from the git-go, finding them one of the more enjoyable series going, especially given the local (Boston) color. But on starting this one, I groaned .... First, there's the Portentous Prologue, some vaguely described Important Event witnessed by an Andean Indian, full of language like "The small man stood still as the iguana stands...." Then, for the first time I think, we get a chapter from the viewpoint of Carlotta's annoyingly teenage "little sister" Paolina. Then, we find out that since the last book, Carlotta has gotten together again with her mobster on/off again boyfriend Sam Gianelli (the twists and turns of this relation have been a definite yawn for me). And I could tell we were somehow going to leave the familiar Boston environs and be treated to the dreaded tax-writeoff travelog of Paolina's native Colombia.

But I plowed on, and within a few chapters found myself getting thoroughly hooked. Carlotta does indeed take over from the "little man" and Paolina, Sam jets off to a mysterious meeting in Vegas, and we're left with our sleuthess sleuthing her way through Boston to Florida to Colombia. Surprisingly, to me at least, the action in Colombia is unabated, and the Colombian history and color is woven in seamlessly, and much deeper and more interesting than I expected. We even return to the scene of the Portentous Prologue, which now makes sense in context. The convolutions of the plot .. who is with or against who, where do Carlotta and Paolina fit in the complex world of what's going on in Colombia ... are devious and peel off layers like an onion.

In the end, several threads of the series appear to be tied up neatly. It hope it's not so, but this would make an excellent finale if Barnes so chooses. If not, I imagine that she will return to the Carlyle mysteries (which had been getting a bit repetitious) with renewed vigor and clarity and space. I think this truly is the best of the series .... so far :-)

Disappointing.......2007-07-02

I love this series and the character of Carlotta, but I was really disappointed to find yet another installment that centers on the annoying Paolina, a character I got tired of several books ago when she really started turning into a selfish, spoiled brat.

This installment was worse than usual, since Carlotta seemed to be coming across as obsessed with the kid, almost using her as a substitute for the baby she gave up. I realize she was worried and scared for her life, but it's almost like she forgot that this kid has a mother and it's not her. And she came across as very stupid and reckless, as well as obsessive, from telling Sam that Paolina would live with her when she was found to traveling to the jungles of Colombia without so much as backup, a weapon or any means of communication.

I also found this one very difficult to read with all the filler -- Colombian art, Colombian history, Colombian folklore. If I wanted to read all that, I would've picked up a book on Colombia, not a mystery novel.

I hope the next installment stays in Boston, which I find a lot more interesting. And I hope it doesn't focus on Paolina, who I just wish would go away.

Addicted.......2007-06-02

I can't get enough of this series. It's grittier than Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series (which it is often compared to - I love both). Carlotta is tough and self-sufficient and I adore her, and the other characters as well. I can't wait till the next installment comes out, but for now I'll reread "Heart of the World."

Don't miss this book.......2006-10-27

Yes, I'm on a Carlotta Carlyle kick... and this book was a perfect follow-up to Deep Pockets. While DP kept Carlotta and crew in the Boston metro area, Heart of the World takes the show on the road to Miami, Bogota, and beyond.

As usual, the plot is intricate and waterproof. The characters are vivid and unforgettable. And the relationships between Carlotta, Sam, Mooney, and others are progressing to critical inflection points. Something has got to give, and in this book, you'll find out what does.

Carlotta traces Paolina, apparently kidnapped by her drug lord father and taken out of the country. She has to face tough questions about her morality, her relationships, and her past as she tracks Paolina around the world, from the projects of Boston to the highest mountains of Colombia.

Another must-read for mystery fans.

The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace

Average customer rating:

A wonderful book
Detailed view of a 12 year negotiation
A Must to understanding the Middle East
How the Peace Was Lost
Essential reading on the Middle East conflict

The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace
Dennis Ross
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

War & Peace | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967
The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America
The Truth About Camp David: The Untold Story About the Collapse of the Middle East Peace Process (Nation Books)

ASIN: 0374199736

Book Description

A gripping personal narrative of the struggle for Israeli-Palestinian peace

Dennis Ross, the chief Middle East peace negotiator in the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is that rare figure who is respected by all parties: Democrats and Republicans, Palestinians and Israelis, presidents and people on the street in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Washington, D.C.

The Missing Peace is far and away the most candid inside account of the Middle East peace process ever published. The maneuverings of both sides, and of the United States as well, are described. For the first time, the backroom negotiations, the dramatic and often secretive nature of the process, and the reasons for its faltering are on display for all to see.

Ross recounts the peace process in detail from 1988 to the breakdown of talks in early 2001 that prompted the so-called second Intifada. It's all here: Camp David, Oslo, Geneva, Egypt, and other summits; the assassination of Yitzak Rabin; the rise and fall of Benjamin Netanyahu; the very different characters and strategies of Rabin, Yasir Arafat, and Bill Clinton; and the first steps of the Palestinian Authority.

The issues Ross explains with unmatched clarity--negotiations over borders, Israeli security, the Palestinian "right of return"--are the issues behind today's headlines. The Missing Peace explains, as no other book has, why Middle East peace is so difficult to achieve.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful book.......2007-04-09

I have only read a few books on the Middle East and one other on the peace process being "Waging Peace" by Itamar Rabinovich. Dennis Ross is committed to the Midele East peace process. It is very clear that he has been at the "coal face", the one who has guided the key players in their neogotations. The book is a fantastic insight into what went on behind the scenes that were played out in the international media. Apart from a blow-by-blow description that would appeal to any history student focused on the Palesinian-Israeli peace process, there are a number of reasons why anybody vaguely interested in this subject would enjoy this book: (1) It is a thriller! The expression "truth stranger than fiction" tales on true meaning as this book is like a "cannot put down" suspense novel. (2) The story of the peace process is recorded in great detail (3) Ross gives us hope that somewhere in the distant future the Palestinian-Israel issue can be resolved. Anybody reading this book will learn a great deal about what the truth is in the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy. I loved this book and read most of it, certainly 550 out of 800 pages, over the Easter weekend. This is a great book and is written in elegant style. Read the Publishers' Week and Washington Post reviews but buy this book even if it is from Amazon Marketplace, It is a "must have" and a gripping, cannot put down book to read

Detailed view of a 12 year negotiation.......2007-03-15

This is no survey book - Dennis Ross takes the reader into the darkest details of 12 years of peace negotiations between the Israelis and their neighbors. What almost happened with Syria? Why'd it fall apart? Who really cares about 400 yards of borders? What deal fell apart between the Israelis and Arafat? Who does Clinton blame? When were the Israelis at fault? The book covers the broad themes as well as how the participants willingly and unwittingly push each other's buttons, and balance external attempts for peace with internal political tactics.

This differs from other books on the Middle East in several ways: It's written by a participant, but not the senior-most politician. As such, you get working level ins and outs of the negotiations, the participants and the low level details. This isn't a book written to advance a political career or push one side or the other - it's about negotiation as a hard detailed process.

The book's neither perfect, nor for everyone, but for someone willing to devote time understanding the Middle East, it's a fantastic primary source. For that, it deserves 5 stars in my eyes.

A Must to understanding the Middle East.......2006-12-15

Athough 800 plus pages, it is a gripping book, which unveils the complexity and personnal influence of it's main figures. How chances are missed, and the consequenses that the everyday person in the involved countries has to live with.

How the Peace Was Lost.......2006-07-31

There are two quips by former Israeli Foreign Secretary Abba Eben, that seem appropriate to reflect upon whenever one discusses the Israeli-Arab attempts at peace negotiations "The Arabs" Mr. Eben had famously said "Never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity". The Israeli government, on the other hand "only does the right thing after having exhausted every other possibility"

"The Missing Peace" is the frustrating but illuminating memoir of the Dennis Ross, the Chief American negotiator in the Israeli-Arab peace process. Ross's book is an exhaustive record of Ross's schedule: No meeting is too trivial to recount, no quarrel too tiresome to include, no thought too minor to mention.

Ross's focus is squarely on the Israeli- Arab negotiations, and specifically the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Syrian meetings (with the Jordanians guest starring for one chapter, and the Egyptians, Saudis and Moroccans making sporadic appearances). If you are looking for a comprehensive treatment of Israeli-Arab relationships, or the Peace Process in the 1990s, look elsewhere: This is squarely about the meetings, negotiations, and tactics. Worst still, because the US had only a limited role in the Oslo accords, the very start of the historic process between Israelis and the Palestinian Liberation Organization is under reported.

In his conclusion, Ross concedes that "negotiations do not take place in a vacuum" and that the broader picture, and the Israeli and Palestinian publics have to be considered. But Ross's book fails to include them; We get amazingly little about some of the major players in this drama: Israeli Refusniks, Palestinian Militants, and Oslo Skeptics generally. Given Ross's friendship with Natan Sheransky, then leader of Israel's Center-right Israel Ba'alyah Party, it's astounding how little insight we get into him, or anyone else not intimately involved in the negotiations. Even events that had major effects on the negotiations, such as the construction in Har Homa, are explained in the context of the negotiations only, and not in a wider context.

Within the process itself, Ross's approach is remarkably free of analysis. The main feature of the Oslo accords was its piecemeal construction - instead of coming up with a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian predicament, the architects of Oslo conceived a series of steps, spreading over years, between the initial signing and the final accords. The idea was to get the Israelis and Palestinians used to working together; In hindsight, that clearly failed. The obvious shortfall was that, if the process was to collapse in some point, a heavily armed Palestinian Authority would inevitably clash with the Israelis, leading to many casualties on both sides. Since that is exactly what happened, some meditation about the original decision is in order, but Ross offers none, save for Rabin's assertion that this piecemeal progress was as far as the Israeli public was ready to go at the time.

Sometimes, Ross's narrative demonstrated how amazingly incompetent the people who run the world are: Israeli premier Rabin and Syrian President Asad talked past each other regarding the meaning of "Full withdrawal" for about a year. Later, Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy to the Asad, Ron Lauder, actively deceived the following Israeli Premier Ehud Barak, and the Americans, regarding the agreements reached with Asad. Palestinian Chairman Arafat meanwhile, was childish and prune to fantasies; in one of the worst, he insisted that the Ancient Jewish temple was in Nablus, not Jerusalem (p. 718).

To summarize an 800 odd word book in a several paragraphs: the bottom line in the Israeli-Syrian negotiations was that Israelis and Syrians were out of Sync. Barak's mood about a summit meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Shara swinged sharply. By the time he became committed to a deal, the Syrians were uninterested.

With the Palestinians, the fixing the blame is both simpler and more complicated: Ross clearly sees Arafat as "not up to ending the conflict" (p. 756). It's hard to argue against that position; in the end, Barak went further then anyone could have expected. Saudi Prince Bandar told Ross "If Arafat does not accept what is available now, it won't be a tragedy, it will be a crime" (p. 748).

Reading Ross's account, I became more convinced in my earlier conviction that the main fault in the fall of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process lies with Israeli Premier Ehud Barak. Barak went far (one of the surprises I had was that he probably went too far - most Palestinians would have settled for less, p. 719), truly striving for peace, and Clinton accommodated him in bringing all pressure on Arafat to accept or offer a reasonable counter proposal - but since Arafat could not make peace with the Israelis, all this effort was in naught. Although Ross does not necessarily accepts the thesis that Arafat was behind the outbreak of the 2000 al Aqsa Intifada, he clearly did nothing to prevent it. By all accounts, Arafat, feeling the pressure on him, released it in the only was he could: through violence.

But there were those on the Arab Side, principally current President Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmed Qurei, who genuinely strived for peace. Arafat could not have lived for ever - why not wait for the next generation of Palestinian leaders and make the deal with them? Ross argues that the Israelis and the Americans had to find out whether Arafat had it in him to deliver (pp 767-769). Fine, but they needed a contingency plan in case he did not. Alas, Barak and the Americans had none. Instead of probing whether Arafat was capable of making a final deal, they pressured him as hard as they could, forcing him to chose between Peace and War. Arafat, who never liked to be forced to make choices such as these, was forced to make it. Six years and thousands of casualties later, we are still paying the price for Barak's hubris.

Essential reading on the Middle East conflict.......2006-04-26

Dennis Ross is one of those guys who's never in the forground of the photograph, except when it's not on the front page of the paper. He's the guy in the background somewhere, looking a little unsure of himself in the flash of the cameras and so forth, unused to the attention and not running for office. He's also one of the guys who get things done, when things get done. He spent a decaded and a half in government (1986-2001) and spent most of that time trying to negotiate peace between the various Arab factions and nations on the one hand and Israel on the other. Jordan recognized Israel during that time, and signed a peace treaty, but other than that Ross has little to show for about 12 years of hard work. Frankly, having read this book, it's hard not to conclude that all his work and dedication deserved a better fate than the one the received.

Ross spent two years on Vice President George H.W. Bush's National Security team, then planned to return to academe. The Bush people had other ideas, though, and hired this life-long Democrat (he volunteered for George McGovern!) to work in James Baker's State Department. Three years later, when Bush was running for reelection, Ross followed his boss Baker into Bush's White House and helped with the campaign. When Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton, Ross again packed his bags for a return to the private sector, but Clinton surprised everyone by insisting on hiring him as a special envoy to the Middle East, and he held that post for the eight years Clinton was in office. He left his post at the end of the Clinton administration.

During his tenure, he negotiated with five Israeli Prime ministers (Shamir, Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, and Barak) and everyone else in the region from Hafez al-Asad to Yassir Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan. He repeats a joke towards the end of the book: after negotiating with the newly crowned King of Morocco, who's younger than he is, he tells his staff that his David Letterman Top 10 list of reasons he should retire would include "When you've gone from being younger than all the people you negotiate with to older than everyone else." There are as a result thumbnail sketches of most of the leaders of the Middle East, especially Yassir Arafat and the various Israeli Prime Ministers. The negotiations that the elder Bush and then Clinton arranged and tried to guide towards peace are dissected, sometimes in agonizing detail.

The book seems to slow down as it goes along. Though the text covers 12 years, the first four are covered in about a hundred pages. Netanyahu gets to the Prime Ministership about page 250, and that was in 1996. His era covers another 250 pages or so, with Barak getting the last 300 pages for his tenure. The Camp David talks in 2000 receive about a hundred pages, including preliminaries and the aftermath. Ross is pretty merciless in his judgements: even Clinton occasionally is chided for not emphasizing things the way Ross would have liked, and the author himself comes in for self-criticism on more than one occasion for some mistake he made. He doesn't have anything bad to say about his three bosses at the State Department (though Madeline Albright comes off as less involved in the negotiations than Warren Christopher). However, he has a lot to say about Arafat (who he ultimately concludes was incapable of signing peace with Israel) and the Israeli Prime Ministers. Both Netanyahu and Barak come in for considerable criticism for their negotiating style. Almost everyone Ross negotiated with gets some negative attention.

This is an enormous, intelligent, involved, detailed, exhaustive memoir of what happened. Several of the other reviews on Amazon make the mistake of reviewing Ross rather than his book. This is a memoir: the author is supposed to tell you what he thought, felt, believed, and acted upon, and how that came out. His views may not mesh with the reader's, but the point of this whole exercise isn't whether you agree with him, it's whether you think he adequately explained what happened and what he wants to tell you about it. I think that in the latter Ross has done an admirable job. The book recounts in considerable detail the nuts-and-bolts nature of negotiating, what you have to do to try and forge agreements, and so forth. It also, yes, involves some personal accounts of things at times, as the author recounts for you the strain involved in what he was doing. This *is* pertinent, in that eventually someone working this way would collapse, and it's also interesting in terms of just trying to imagine living for 2 weeks with only an hour or two of sleep every night. Imagine trying to have a clear head after that!

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and think I learned a lot from it. Its size probably puts it beyond much of the reading public, and I know it's incomplete in terms of points of view and events, but it's going to be indispensable in discerning what went wrong in the region during the latter part of the Clinton years.

Average customer rating:

This book was okay
Bad Book
Good Enough
The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo
The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo

The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo
Jean Craighead George
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Alligators & Crocodiles | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Case of the Missing Cutthroats (Ecological Mystery)
The Fire Bug Connection (Ecological Mystery)
The Talking Earth
Who Really Killed Cock Robin? (Eco Mysteries)
There's an Owl in the Shower

ASIN: 006440434X

Book Description

Vanished?

Liza Poole lives with her mother in one of the last balanced ecosystems in North America -- the Gumbo Limbo Hammock deep within the lush kingdom of the Florida Everglades. Some may think it strange to live outdoors, but Liza feels lucky to live it strange to live outdoors, but Liza feels lucky to live in her small yellow tent amidst tropical birds and exotic plants. And at the center of this natural paradise lies Dajun, the majestic alligator who protects Gumbo Limbo's environment.

Then, one day, a state official arrives with frightening orders. Dajun is scaring people nearby -- he must be killed! Liza takes action to save the invaluable 'gator, but suddenly, he is nowhere to be found. Now, she must find Dajun before it's too late, and her search will lead her into the heart of an exciting eco mystery!

Customer Reviews:

This book was okay.......2007-03-27

This book was okay, but there were a couple of things I didn't like. There were a couple of questions that the writer didn't answer, like what happened to Travis and Priscilla. Those are some loose ends that were not tied up. I did like the ending. I would think this book is for kids ages eight and up. There are some things that are hard to understand, and there are no pictures. I liked that there was a map in the front that tells where everything in the story is located. I would recommend this book for people that like chapter books and for people that want to learn about Florida.

Bad Book.......2006-04-04

Never read this book. It is boring. The author repeats everything over and over again.

Good Enough.......2005-11-10

This Everglades story is an interesting ecological mystery, but it's a bit too repetitive. (By now if you've read all my reviews you'll know it's one of my pet peeves.) Searching for a missing alligator the entire story is a bit too much, hm? Well, overall it's a good ecological mystery, but only if you're bored should you make the drastic decision to read it.

The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo.......2004-03-28

I have just finish reading a book call The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo. It's about a family who don't have a house yet, because they don't have enough money to build a house. The father was in another country, doing business around the world. He doesn't even know what's happening to his family. Many people say that they don't have house. Well they are, but the mother says that they were on a vacation. She always said that every time because she doesn't want people to know it. So now, their daughter named Liza K., is an adventures girl. She knows all the places in the forest. She even has an alligator friend. Now, she and her friends must save the forest from the people who want to destroy, but then, her alligator friend lost. Now, she's on an adventure to find the alligator and stop the destruction of the forest.

I think this book is good because it tells everybody how important the forest is to us. If we don't have a forest, then how can we live? How can we stay a life without oxygen? Where the oxygen come from? Oh well I think you know where it is. So this book, did, teach us something.

I recommended this book who loves to safe this world.

The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo.......2003-03-15

My story was about a missing gator. Travis is a gator hunter who is trying to shoot the gator. The gator is too big for the protection law. All the characters except Travis are trying to protect him. The main characters are Dujen, Travis, Liza K., and James James. Because he is a smart young man, James James is my favorite character. In my own life I try to be good and kind to others. James James is like this, he is always considerate and thoughtful.
I liked my book. I don't have a single favorite part; My least favorite part is the authors choice of where the characters lived at the end of book. My favorite part was that Travis didn't find Dujen.
I would recomend this book to a person who likes mysteries.

Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?

Average customer rating:

Challenging and Gospel-based
Adventurous Yancey!
Great read
Great and terrible, hit and miss
Evidences of an unseen reality

Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?
Philip Yancey
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Reaching for the Invisible God
Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?
What's So Amazing About Grace?
Disappointment with God
Jesus I Never Knew, The

ASIN: 0310252172

Book Description

What on earth are we missing? Philip Yancey believes we are missing the supernatural hidden in everyday life.

In Rumors of Another World, Yancey investigates the natural world and discovers the supernatural hiding in plain view. He grapples with why God made the world and what our role truly is, and seeks to answer the question, “How do I live in the natural world while expressing the values of the supernatural?”

Philip writes, “I have come to understand faith as the highest form of integrated encounter. Faith puts together, assembles, re-orders, accepting the entire world as God’s handiwork. We live among clues, like rescuers sifting through pieces of stained glass shattered by a bomb, and only with a blueprint or some memory of original design can we begin to connect the shards, to assemble them into a pattern that makes sense of our world.

“Nature and supernature are not two separate worlds, but different expressions of the same reality. To encounter the world as a whole, we need a more supernatural awareness of the natural world.”

Yancey invites readers to join him on a journey of discovery. He challenges us to tune into “rumors of another world,” and connect the seen with the unseen. He promises that the grace-filled result will be a life of beauty, purpose, freedom, and faith.

Customer Reviews:

Challenging and Gospel-based.......2007-04-09

Phil is able to separate the Gospel from our context, then apply it to our modern culture. His writing brings me hope and joy about the future while reminding me of my responsibility in furthering the Kingdom of God. He also includes some fantastic stories I've never heard before about individuals who have quietly and humbly served the Lord.

Adventurous Yancey!.......2007-03-16

I especially like this one; Yancey takes a risk with this one, but it is still vintage Yancey. He explores the wild with Christian intellect. Good volume if you are a Yancey reader.

Great read.......2007-01-09

One of the best books that our group has read. Makes for stimulating discussion. He introduces many interesting ideas.

Yancey at his best.

Great and terrible, hit and miss.......2006-07-20

In his 'Rumors of Another World,' Yancey runs hot and cold. At his best, he's nearly a Thomas Merton, with a flare for observations that strike the reader as being fresh and deep. At his worst, he's more of a John Eldrege, superficially predisposed and irrational. [Referencing Amazon's 1-5 star rating scale] a five-star chapter is here often followed by a one-star chapter. Wordy, meandering incongruities fade suddenly to brilliant, penetrating soliloquies, the sublime meets the almost ridiculous. But when Yancey is good, he is very good.

"The Bible never minimizes hardship or unfairness--witness books like Job, Psalms, and Lamentations. It simply asks us to withhold final judgment until all the evidence is in. . . 'Do not be afraid' is the most frequent command in the Bible . . . We fear not getting the job we want or the lover we desire, and if we have them we fear their lose. In the face of such everyday fear, Jesus points to a lily, or a sparrow, and calmly says, Trust. Seek first the kingdom of heaven." p.217

Yancey's 'The Jesus I Never Knew' is similarly baffling in its "hot and cold" aspects, but is somewhat better overall than this volume.

Evidences of an unseen reality.......2006-07-17

How is that the people with faith in Jesus Christ see evidence everywhere that this life is a precursor for a life to come that is more real and rewarding? Why do those without that faith not see what the faithful Christians see? Then there is that space in between in which we want to believe, but just need to see a little more proof. Such is the nature of faith. The Bible's epistle Hebrews defines faith as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Rumors of Another World gives us a look at many evidences of the truth of a hereafter as presented in the Bible. Two worlds, one which is tangible and makes up our physical existence, and another which is unseen, but is the primary focus the faithful. It is the stories of these ones that are absolutely convinced that that their citizenship is of the world to come, that give weighty evidence.

Earnest Gordon and his friends, facing the deepest and most hopeless hardships of WWII, build true community with self-sacrifice and love.

John Merrick, The Elephant Man lives his final years in joy and optimism, despite a horrifying appearance, physical disabilities, and enough abuse and rejection to make almost anyone despair of life. Instead he is creative, accepting, and even delightful as he faces his death in his mid-twenties.

Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, who could be living a life of ease, but instead his faith drives him to continue to teach a weekly Sunday School class and help build houses for the poor.

Nelson Mandela when released from 27 years in prison and was elected president of South Africa, asked his jailer to join him on the inauguration platform. Then he established a Truth and Reconciliation commission to heal rather than seek vengeance.

Others, who because of their convictions of the unseen world accomplish what seems impossible, serve and help in ways that could only come out faith held so deeply, that it is certainly their reality. And even though we don't see it, maybe our reality, too.

The Dead of Winter: How Battlefield Investigators, WWII Veterans, and Forensic Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Bulge's Lost Soldiers

Average customer rating:

Dead of Winter
Aftermath Of Battle
Exceptional!
Bill Warnock's Magnum Opus
Emotionalism At It's Purest Level

The Dead of Winter: How Battlefield Investigators, WWII Veterans, and Forensic Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Bulge's Lost Soldiers
Bill Warnock
Manufacturer: Chamberlain Bros.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Belgium | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Luxembourg | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

21st Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

Forensic Science | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Battle East of Elsenborn
Taught to Kill: An American Boy's War from the Ardennes to Berlin
Bootprints
A Tour of the Bulge Battlefield
Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible

ASIN: 1596090855

Book Description

Honor can never be left behind.

Sixty years ago, as Allied forces pushed across Europe, the Nazis launched a desperate, overwhelming attack that caught them unprepared, setting off what would become known as one of the bloodiest, most brutal battles in human history: the Battle of the Bulge. Then, more than half a century after the last shots of World War II were fired, a team of forensic scientists and relic hunters enlisted the aid of several veterans of the Bulge for one last mission: to return to the battle site and recover the lost remains of their brothers-in-arms, to ensure they would be buried with all the honors they deserve. Written by a member of the expedition, this is a story of loyalty and the bonds of war, a compelling scientific mystery, and a long-awaited homecoming for families who waited decades for the return of their loved ones. Also included is a CD/DVD with additional images from the expedition, as well as other supplemental materials.

CD-ROM INCLUDES:

Slideshow image collection of the search for missing soldiers from the Battle of the Bulge, including recovered artifacts, wartime photos, and profiles of the missing soldiers.

Customer Reviews:

Dead of Winter.......2007-10-10

Bill:
Great book and a great testament to the members of the greatest generation who gave all during the battle of the bulge. A easy read and very informative. Known Bill since we were both kids but it has been a long time since I seen him. Your tireless pursuit of closure to the families of the MIAs from the Bulge is commendable. Your portrayel of the compassion that many locals still feel for for the American GI in Europe is very neat. Keep it up and write another book.

Aftermath Of Battle.......2007-03-14

"The Dead Of Winter" by Bill Warnock, Subtitled: "How Battlefield Investigators, WWII Veterans, And Forensic Scientists Solved The Mystery Of The Bulge's Lost Soldiers". Chamberlain Bros. Penguin books, New York, 2005.

The subtitle sums up the entire book. Bill Warnock, however, has written a book that combines History with story-telling, with the science of forensics, with the lives of Americans and Belgians, and with the honor of being World War II veterans who had fought and bled in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944. The book is excellent.

While serving with the United States Air Force, the author opts for an assignment in a small corner of Europe, near some of the more important battlefields of the Second World War. His life has not been the same since. His initial curiosity becomes what appears to be a life-long obsession, as Warnock and his Belgian friends search for the remains of those soldiers long since dead on the battlefield. But, it is not enough just to find the remains, Mr. Warnock follows through with modern techniques of identification of the deceased, and documents the entire process in an interesting and understandable fashion. While working on each individual solider, Warnock develops a story-book tale of how that individual lived prior to the war, how he entered the U.S. Army, and the probable cause of his death. It is surprising to me how many of the subjects of this book were members of ASTP, Army specialized Training Program. Further, I was surprised to see that my alma mater, Manhattan College (see page 238) had ASTP training. (Manhattan College is in the Bronx.)

Warnock's book is enjoyable and well documented. For example, Appendix B, entitled, "U.S. Army Dog Tags In world War II", had me pulling out my Navy dog tag (now fifty years old) for comparison. The dog tag had "...corners rounded and edges smooth" (page 286), with blood type and religion and service number, as in the appendix, but, in the left corner, mine had the term, "USN".

One little issue: page 118 had "... Camp Myles Standish near Taunton, Massachusetts." Myles Standish is about 30 miles, or so, from Taunton. The camp, now Myles Standish State Forest, IS located in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, best known, I would think, for being the place where the Pilgrims came ashore in 1620.

Exceptional!.......2006-09-24

This brilliantly written story follows the efforts of a group of people who dedicated themselves to locating the lost remains of the men who served with the 99th Infantry Division at the Battle of the bulge. THE DEAD OF WINTER begins with an introduction of two Belgian artifact hunters, Jean-Louis Seel and Jean-Philippe Speder who, in 1988, stumbled upon the remains and dog tags of an American soldier.

Readers will gain a true respect for the difficulty involved in researching, reconstructing and execution of actual artifact hunting undertaken by the dedicate group to find and identify the remains of American soldiers lost for half a century. For each of the soldiers that the team finds, Warnock gives the reader a detailed synopsis of his life (including excellent pictures of the soldiers and their surviving family members). Next he recreates how the soldier died on the battlefield and how he paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country. It is certainly a fitting tribute to these men and their accomplishments.

The author also gives an excellent overview of the contributions of the 99th Infantry to the Battle of the Bulge. The overview is supported by numerous first hand accounts. This covers the Bulge from the tactical, logistical and personal levels. Thanks to Warnock and his teams efforts, many lost members of the 99th Infantry have found their rightful place and final tribute.

The book is exceptionally well written and will be greatly appreciated by history lovers.

Bill Warnock's Magnum Opus.......2006-07-26

Bill Warnock has written a spectacularly detailed and wonderfully crafted tale of which he is a main protagonist -- a selfless American who has dedicated the last 20 or more years of his life to reuniting the dead heroes of World War II with their families. I must admit to the favoritism I feel toward Bill because he and I met on the Ardennes battlefield back in the early 1980s while I was researching my first book, The Key to the Bulge. Many of the people in this great work are close friends of mine. Even with this foreknowledge, I cannot help but stand in awe of Bill's skillfully written and masterfully researched chronicle of his team's efforts to discover and return to their homes the lost heroes of the Battle of the Bulge. This book is more than a simple tale of how a group of dedicated Americans and Belgians sought the final resting places of those men who went missing during the Bulge. Instead, it is a tale of devotion, Herculean persistance, and selfless dedication. The only reward that Bill and his team sought for their actions was the satisfaction of recovering the remains of our dead heroes and giving closure to families whose pain remained unhealed for 50 or more years. This book is a gem and a lasting testimony to those who truly appreciate the sacrifice of America's fighting men and women. Thanks, Bill. Well done.

Emotionalism At It's Purest Level.......2006-05-05

When I first started reading The Dead Of Winter I thought it would be another one of those books where there would be more boring facts and figures than personal, intimate, and emotional first hand accounts of infantrymen doing all they could do to survive the first few days of The Battle Of The Bulge. Bill Warnock, has done an outstanding job of resurrecting the fate of several infantrymen of the 99th Infantry who were killed and left behind after their positions in Belgium were overrun by the German jauggernaut of 16 December 1944. I became intimately attached to David Read, Mike Larson, Ewing Fidler, 2nd Lt Holloway, Sgt Frederick Zimmerman, and many of the others who died and were left behind to be buried in lonesome graves on the battlefield of Belgium and the Ardennes Forest. Thanks to the perserverance, tanacity, and cooperation of Carl Seel, Mr. Speider, Hans Honen, Ed Whithead, Mr. Swanson, and many others, these lost souls were found and brought home to their families, or given descent burials alongside their comrades who fought and died on the battlefields of World War II. Mr. Seel, and Mr. Speider who initially started this episode are the real heroes here too, because, as honest, caring, and loving men who cared about the American soldiers who liberated their country from the Nazi's, they took it upon themselves to try to locate, identify, and bring attention to these men who had died so gallently, but had to be left behind in the heat of battle. This is an awesome book, very well written, exactingly documented and recorded with all the facts of the men who were killed in action, and is well worth reading. I strongly urge everyone who loves freedom, history, and this great country to read this book. The men who were lost back in 1944, and the families they left behind, is a poignant reminder of just how fragile and important freedom is.

Unknown Soldiers: The Story of the Missing of the First World War

Average customer rating:

The soldier's point of view
History and Humanity and the Tale of the Unknowns
First rate account of WW1
Gold Star Mothers
Engaging

Unknown Soldiers: The Story of the Missing of the First World War
Neil Hanson
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

World War I | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
The Somme: Herosim and Horror in the First World War
The American Home Front: 1941-1942
The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Airpower
The Battlefields of the First World War: From the First Battle of Ypres to Passchendaele (General Military)

ASIN: 0307263703
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Book Description

The First World War was a conflict of unprecedented ferocity that unleashed such demons as mechanized warfare and mass death on the twentieth century. After the last shot was fired and the troops marched home, approximately three million soldiers remained unaccounted for. Some bodies were found, but they bore no trace of identification; many more men had been blown to smithereens or had simply vanished in battlefields where as many as a hundred shells had fallen on every square yard.

An unassuming English chaplain first proposed a symbolic burial of one of those unknown soldiers in memory of all the missing dead. The idea was picked up by almost every country that had an army in the war, and each laid a body to rest amid an outpouring of national grief -- in London’s Westminster Abbey, Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, Rome’s Victor Emmanuelle Monument, and, for the United States, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Reviewers have praised Neil Hanson’s account of the plight of the sailors in The Confident Hope of a Miracle, a history of the Spanish Armada, his last book. In Unknown Soldiers, he once again offers an unflinching yet compassionate account of the reality of battle on the front lines. He focuses on three soldiers—an American, an Englishman, and a German—and narrates their war experiences through their diaries and letters. Hanson describes how each man endured the nearly unbearable conditions in the trenches and in the air and relates what is known about their deaths: all three died on the battlefields of the Somme, within gunshot sound of one another. He delves into their familial ties, the ideals they expressed in their letters, and he explains how the death of one, the American pilot George Seibold, was instrumental in the creation of the Gold Star Mothers, an organization caring for bereaved mothers, wives, and families that is still active today. Hanson animates and brings to life the combatants who perished without a trace, and shows how the Western world arrived at the now time-honored way of mourning and paying tribute to all those who die in war.

Customer Reviews:

The soldier's point of view.......2007-06-05

When I agreed to review Neil Hanson's book, I expected something far, far different. Something perhaps more along the lines of an epistolary format or the utilization of a more conventional fictional format. What I got was a meticulously researched, well-written, captivating horrifying, narrative history that took me to the Somme in 1916. Hanson focused on three soldiers: A Briton, a German, and an American. "Their tracks, faint as smoke in the wind, intersect time and again, but they are united only in death, for each was killed on the Somme, within gunshot sound of each other."

Hanson uses more than the diaries and letters to explain the cost of war from the soldier's point of view. He researched the heck out of this battle, topic, and time as evident by the 96 pages of footnotes.

In an essence, Hanson is giving faces to the three million unaccounted-for soldiers from WWI. He also explains how the world remembers those unknown soldiers ever since. "The grieving families of such men were deprived even of the consolation of a funeral and a grave site, and for them, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier became the grave and the gravestone of their lost loved ones. In almost every combatant nation, an unknown solider was also buried at some national shrine and, just as in America, at once became the focus of a pilgrimage that continues to this day

I admit that, as a predominately fiction reader, the quote marks around quoted passages versus dialogue sometimes tripped me, as did the switch in point of view with a sentence. I had to often re-read paragraphs, sometimes, chapters, to be sure of what was happening. But the structure works--well, very well. I came away from this book with a new respect for fighting men and women everywhere. I also came away with an intimate new knowledge of trench warfare that on one level I'm not sure that I wanted to know but on another level compelled me to keeping reading.

I thought I kind of knew what WWI was like, but I had no idea. This book should be compulsory reading in every high school or college worldwide.

Armchair Interviews says: An eye-opening story of the soldiers of World War I. Check his web site to see what else he has written.

History and Humanity and the Tale of the Unknowns.......2007-05-08

This excellent book tells the story of the creation of the idea of commemorating the "unknown soldier" against the backdrop of the personal stories of three of the tens of thousands of missing and presumed dead soldiers (1 British, 1 German and 1 American). The tales of the three young men killed in their prime are told with a good blend of humanity and history. The impact upon their families (especially in the case of the American airman) is addressed as well. This is one of the best books on the First World War, capturing some of the history of the war, its beginning and course and much of the human toll the war took in the numbers of killed, maimed and otherwise traumatized by the mechanized killing over four long years.

First rate account of WW1 .......2007-05-06

Without getting into too much detail about the why of the great War, Neil Hanson tells a gripping tale of 3 soldiers (a German, an Englishman, and an American Pilot) who ultimately meet their fate on the battlefields of France.

Gold Star Mothers.......2007-05-02

I found this book to be fascinating. We are in a Iraq and have lost some 3,200 servicemembers; a drop in the bucket compared to the bloodbath of the First World War. It is amazing to see the changes in how we care for our wounded and killed versus 90 years ago. The author chose to cover an English, American and German casualty. I am not sure why he did not include the French or Belgian but I am sure he has his reasons. He covered the soldiers letters to home, as well as how the families responded to the individual losses. The American family was responsible for the founding of the "Gold Star Mothers" organization, which recognized a loss by the use of a pennant with a gold star for a fallen soldier in the family and a blue star for any still serving. What all the families share in common is the lack of a body to return home to them; all were either unidentifiable or destroyed on the battlefield. What many people do not know is that the French and Belgium are still unearthing remains and scrap from the First and Second World Wars today.Having not had a battle fought on American soil, more or less from the Indian wars of the late 1870's, we are fortunate not to continually have to relive the horrors of the past World Wars.

Engaging.......2007-01-16

This is a most engaging and poignant book. It is extremely well written, researched and referenced. Profound. Could not put it down. No book about this terrible war can avoid evoking emotion, and this one continues to do so. The approach to it's content, thru personal eyes, is what stabs at one's heart the deepest. Had to 'recover' after finishing this one...

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books