I Claudia II: Women in Roman Art and Society

Book Description

"As might be expected from the caliber of the contributors, this is a first-rate collection of essays.... Like I, Claudia, this book will appeal to many others besides classicists. The two volumes will be a must for anyone interested in social history or women's history; the treatment, style, and illustrations make this volume accessible to general readers."

—Karl Galinsky, Floyd A. Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics, University of Texas at Austin

I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome—an exhibition and catalog produced by the Yale University Art Gallery—provided the first comprehensive study of the lives of Roman women as revealed in Roman art. Responding to the popular success of the exhibit and catalog, Diana E. E. Kleiner and Susan B. Matheson here gather ten additional essays by specialists in art history, history, and papyrology to offer further reflections on women in Roman society based on the material evidence provided by art, archaeology, and ancient literary sources.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Cornelius C. Vermeule, Rolf Winkes, Mary T. Boatwright, Susan Wood, Eve D'Ambra, Andrew Oliver, Diana Delia, and Ann Ellis Hanson. Their essays, illustrated with black-and-white photos of the art under discussion, treat such themes as mothers and sons, marriage and widowhood, aging, adornment, imperial portraiture, and patronage.

Customer Reviews:

Insights in to the lives of Roman woman through art.......2003-09-26

A companion book to I CLAUDIA, which is out of print and which I haven't read. The first book, and I gather, this book are seen as catalogues to an exhibit. This book is thin in pages (171) but packed with interesting information about the lives of Roman women from the famous and wealthy to the average woman, which has been gleaned from examining Roman art. It has 10 chapters plus an introduction, all by different authors and all with copious endnotes. The pictures are in black and white and there is some line drawings.
The chapter titles are in order: Introduction: "Her Parents Gave Her the Name Claudia", Chapter 1 Livia to Helena: Women in Power, Women in the Provinces, Chapter 2 Livia: Portrait and Propoganda, Chapter 3 Family Ties: Mothers and Sons in Elite and Non-Elite Roman Art, Chapter 4 Just Window Dressing? Imperial Women as Architectural Sculpture, Chapter 5 Mortals, Empresses, and Earth Goddesses: Demeter and Persephone in Public and Private Apotheosis, Chapter 6 Nudity and Adornment in Female Portrait Sculpture of the Second Century AD, Chapter 7 Jewelry for the Unmarried, Chapter 8 The Elder Claudia: Older Women in Roman Art, Chapter 9 Marriage Egyptian Style, and Chapter 10 Widows to Young in Their Widowhood. There is a selected bibliography and index.
My favorite chapters were 3, 5, 8 and 9, but all had good information.
If you are acquainted with Roman history and have an interest in either Roman history or women's studies, this book will be of interest to you. It probably is not a good book with which to begin either the study of women's history or the study of ancient Rome.

Book Description

Long adventures and short stories featuring Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, the Beagle Boys, Launchpad McQuack, Magica De Spell, Gyro Gearloose, and other Disney characters.

Customer Reviews:

Weird and wonderful weeds.......2006-11-29

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (10/06)

Every now and then one happens upon a book that turns out to be very different from what one expected, yet wonderful and charming beyond belief. This was the case with "Weed 'Em and Reap," written by Roger Welsch. Immediately after reading the introduction, I realized that this was not going to be a cookbook for foods from the wild or a book to help me identify them - which was what I expected. It is all of that - to a point - but much more than that. Welsch truly opens one's eyes in respect to the bounty all around us. His descriptions of "weeds" are poetic and very romantic at times. Who would have thought that somebody basically foraging for food would be amazed by the brilliant blue flowers of chicory plant? Welsch's approach to weeds and eating them is respectful and safe. He never fails to caution the reader - but also never scares him or her off. He teaches respect for nature and often suggests using common sense. There is nothing preachy or condescending in his writing. He sounds like somebody I'd love to have as a friend.

Some of my favorite chapters in the book involve digging up poke and buffalo gourd roots - and why you should not attempt that, educating the local weed inspector about the merits of different plants in the yard and making home-made wine from all kinds of fruit. Each of them will teach you a bunch of things that I am sure you did not know about before.

In spite of saying upfront in his introduction that his book is not a cookbook, Welsch provides a few wonderful recipes. Each of them is really simple, but if they taste anything like the greens I prepared following one of his recipes, they should taste spectacular.

Oftentimes funny, sometimes downright silly, Welsch's writings can be enjoyed by everybody. Even if you never decide to eat a "weed," I bet you will never look at the nature around you the same way. Just remember the quote from the very beginning of "Weed 'Em and Reap," written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "A weed is but an unloved flower."

Just in time for the first spring rain ..........2006-03-06

I have had the best time reading this book! I used it as a treat to bribe myself into doing other work.

I am personally prone to finding those plants considered to be weeds and providing a new home for them in my yard. I'm also prone to planting native herbs in my yard, since they are the most likely to survive the local summers and winters without my care -- Beautiful and tough as nails, who can resist that?

Roger, however, takes this a good bit further, into his personal experiences with using wild plants for food in anecdotes, stories and experiences.

My husband is next in line to read it. Upon hearing me snort and giggle with my nose in the book, he would ask what it was I was laughing about, and I'd read a portion aloud. It was great fun and I always recommend great fun. Well, I recommend it to my friends, anyway ...

And it now has a spot in my personal weed library! Definitely, definitely.

Book Description

No one represents the Italian American journey from undesirable outsiders to embraced citizens better than Frank Sinatra. From impoverished beginnings in an immigrant, single-parent household to world renown as "Chairman of the Board," he beat the odds to become one of the most influential and best-loved artists of the twentieth century. Sinatra's symbolic role to the millions of Italian American immigrants who looked up to him as proof of the American dream was far-reaching. From teenage crooner to civil rights activist to Reagan Republican, his shifting identity resonated deeply in Italian American culture. Now, a gathering of distinguished historians, journalists and critics explore Sinatra's impact on American culture, from questions of politics and civil rights to Italian mothering, morality, and ethnic stereotyping. These insights place Sinatra at the fulcrum of many controversial and timely issues that lend his influence a new depth and power, not only musically but in a broad historical context.

Customer Reviews:

A New Look at Old Blue Eyes.......2007-04-10

Stan Pugliese's book is outstanding. It outlines the way Italian American culture was shaped and influenced by Frank Sinatra by putting together a series of scholarly articles dealing with the history, politics, identity, and representation of Sinatra's life. It is an entirely new perspective on an old story. The book was written in order to cast a scholarly light on some hazy issues that have been overlooked in the past. All of the articles are written by collegiate historians (all of whom have impressive working bibliographies).

This is an excellent source for anyone interested in researching Sinatra because it is written with a modern perspective (c. 1994). This is not intended to be a biography, and reading it with a background knowledge of Sinatra is helpful. This book is only really meant to be geared toward historians or scholars that are familiar with Sinatra's life.

The book is extremely well-written and well-researched, and I would recommend it to anyone who is familiar with Sinatra and his life (which also means being familiar with the context of his life). For researching purposes, the book was extremely helpful.

The best of both worlds: Frank Sinatra & Italy.......2007-01-09

This book wasn't actually for me, it was for my father-in-law, who is 100% Italian, and probablly Frank Sinatra's biggest fan! So for Christmas I was on a mission to bring his 2 favorite things together... Although I didn't read the book, he was very excited about the book, and has told us that he enjoyed it very much :o)

Frank Sinatra History, Identity, and Italian American Culture

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Frank Sinatra History, Identity, and Italian American Culture
Pugliese Stanislao G.
Manufacturer: Palgrave
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UET23C

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Music in Terezin 1941-1945
Joza Karas
Manufacturer: Beaufort Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Czech Republic | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0825302870

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Music in Terezin 1941 - 1945
Joza Karas
Manufacturer: Beaufort
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PWBRK0

Average customer rating:

Pretty decent, but could have been incredible

Savant and Sorcerer
R. Sean Borgstrom , Adam Tinworth , and Scott Taylor
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Role Playing & Fantasy | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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Exalted Players Guide (Exalted)

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Exalted: The Lunars (Exalted)

ASIN: 1588466752

Customer Reviews:

Pretty decent, but could have been incredible.......2004-11-17

I wasn't completely thrilled with "The Book of Three Circles", but I was pretty close. Thus, when this book came out, I was excited -- maybe, I thought, they'll fix everything that was wrong with "Three Circles". "Savant and Sorcerer" comes close to living up to its promise, but doesn't quite -- except for Rebecca Borgstrom's incredible demon-summoning section, which I'll get to in a minute.

Most of this book is just exactly like "The Book of Three Circles". The writers, apparently realizing that the in-game techniques / schools / etc for learning sorcery were sort of half-assed in "Three Circles", made a half-hearted attempt to expand on them in this book, but didn't do a good enough job. They did do an excellent job on rebalancing and rewriting the spells themselves (thank goodness, since we've had what, two years of playtesting since then?), but nothing particularly interesting was added to that section either.

There are only two really new things in this book. One is the new Artifact creation rules, which are pretty good (if badly edited -- I found at least one sentence that directly contradicts itself twice). I have a couple of issues with these, not least of which is the fact that an Artifact that was made using an exotic component is apparently lower level not only for the purposes of construction but also for the purposes of character generation (so when you're giving your character a Daiklave of Conquest, you can up and say, "Hey, my Daiklave of Conquest required the dying breath of seventy god-kings in its construction, so it's lower than level 5!"). These, however, can be fixed with a little common sense. I was disappointed in this section because the writers chose to basically ignore Manses (aside from some notes on how to reshape Demesnes and rules on building Manses themselves -- more revamped "Three Circles" fare); however, this, too, was easily fixable, [shameless plug] this time by my Manse Creation system over on ExaltedWiki [/shameless plug].)

The best part of this book by far was the new section on demon-summoning. Typical Rebecca Borgstrom work, it's extremely well written and really quite incredible in conception, although some of the flavour text reminds me of something written by Hunter S. Thompson. It not only gives new details on the process of demon-summoning itself, but it explains something of the nature of the process and, most importantly, makes demon-summoning into way more than just a summoning / binding roll. It goes into excellent detail on why, exactly, it's dangerous to have demons around even if they're perfectly bound, and why you have to make some concessions to a demon's nature when forcing it to perform tasks. This section fixed demon-summoning for me. Previously, I was always vaguely irritated with demon-summoning in "Exalted", but couldn't put my finger on why; now I know that it's because it just wasn't dangerous, interesting or just plain mystical enough.

In short, if the above things -- revamped spells, expanded Artifact creation rules, and demon-summoning that's actually cool -- are something you want in your chronicle, you should look into "Savant and Sorcerer". However, if you've been playing this game for a long time, chances are you already fixed the spells you had a problem with and made your own houserules to deal with Artifact creation (if you needed them). Furthermore, you can get a good enough impression of the new demon-summoning rules by flipping through this book at Borders to use them in play. So, particularly if you already own the "Book of Three Circles" and have read the Errata and everything, I'm really not sure this book is worth the cost. But it's a close enough call that you should check it out and judge for yourself.

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New Home Buyer

Useful, but ould have been shorter

Name says it All

Home Buyer's Checklist: Everything You Need to Know--but Forget to Ask--Before You Buy a Home
Robert Irwin
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Buying & Selling Homes | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Home Buying For Dummies, 3rd edition

Home Closing Checklist

Tips and Traps When Buying a Home

The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (and How to Avoid Them)

100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask: With Answers from Top Brokers from Around the Country (100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask)

ASIN: 0071373802

Book Description

Everyone who has bought a home knows that an official inspection is no guarantee against unpleasant surprises, and that, ultimately, the burden to ask the important questions about the physical aspects of a home is on the home buyer. But buying a home is one of life’s most stressful, emotionally fraught activities, and it’s easy to see why many home buyers fail to anticipate the kinds of exasperating and expensive problems that can crop up after closing.

Written by bestselling real estate author (more than 1 million books sold) Robert Irwin, Home Buyer's Checklist levels the playing field by equipping home buyers with a comprehensive list of questions pertaining to all the physical aspects of a house that may not be covered in an official inspection. From basement to attic, pantry to lawn, Bob walks readers through every room, nook, cranny, closet and keep, asking important questions about windows, screens, doors and door frames, fireplaces, light fixtures, moldings, and much, much more. And, drawing upon his many years of experience in the business, he provides pointers on how to deal with each problem, including information on how much it will cost to fix, how to estimate its short- and long-term consequences, how it should impact on the negotiating process, and more.

Download Description

Let Robert Irwin, America's number-one real estate writer let you take charge of your home search with Home Buyer's Checklist, a step-by-step, room-by-room, top-to-bottom guide that shows you exactly how to "precheck" a house before you make an offer.

Customer Reviews:

New Home Buyer.......2007-09-12

I agree, as its title suggest - a list of things you will need to know/ask before buying a house. However, it is still useful for those who have never bought a house before and do not want to be caught in a bad situation.

Useful, but ould have been shorter.......2007-01-07

As a first time home buyer, this book is indeed useful. I learned about things I would never have thought of myself, and some of the things given are useful further to detect when maintenance may be due on certain items even after the purchase. It eductes te buyer about some basics of construction practces which help evaluate the condition of the home. Reading it wil not eliminate the need to get a professional inspection done on the property you are seriously considering or making an offer on, but will be helpful on the first visit or an open house for the prospective property.

Whether this is the best book around on the subject: probably not. The author does repeat stuff and gets wordy at places.

Name says it All.......2005-08-09

Exactly what it says...a checklist for nearly every item you could think of that you would want to check out before buying a house. Almost too many details but easy to use. A good investment if purchasing a house.

Amazon.com

A great memoirist can burnish even an ordinary childhood into something bright--see, for instance, Annie Dillard's An American Childhood. So what about a really good writer with access to a dramatic and little-documented story? This is the case with Catfish and Mandala, Vietnamese American Andrew X. Pham's captivating first book, which delves fearlessly into questions of home, family, and identity. The son of Vietnamese parents who suffered terribly during the Vietnam War and brought their family to America when he was 10, Pham, on the cusp of his 30s, defied his parents' conservative hopes for him and his engineering career by becoming a poorly paid freelance writer. After the suicide of his sister, he set off on an even riskier path to travel some of the world on his bicycle. In the grueling, enlightening year that followed, he pedaled through Mexico, the American West Coast, Japan, and finally his far-off first land, Vietnam.

The story, with some of a mandala's repeated symbolic motifs, works on several levels at once. It is an exploration into the meaning of home, a descriptive travelogue, and an intimate look at the Vietnamese immigrant experience. There are beautifully illuminated flashbacks to the experience of fleeing Vietnam and to an earlier, more innocent childhood. While Pham's stern father, a survivor of Vietcong death camps, regrets that Pham has not been a respectful Vietnamese son, he also reveals that he wishes he himself had been more "American" for his kids, that he had "taken [them] camping." Catfish and Mandala is a book of double-edged truths, and it would make a fascinating study even in less able hands. In those of the adventurous, unsentimental Pham, it is an irresistible story. --Maria Dolan

Book Description

Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book PrizeA New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Whiting Writers' AwardA Seattle Post-Intelligencer Best Book of the YearCatfish and Mandala is the story of an American odyssey-a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam-made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland. Andrew X. Pham was born in Vietnam and raised in California. His father had been a POW of the Vietcong; his family came to America as "boat people." Following the suicide of his sister, Pham quit his job, sold all of his possessions, and embarked on a year-long bicycle journey that took him through the Mexican desert, around a thousand-mile loop from Narita to Kyoto in Japan; and, after five months and 2,357 miles, to Saigon, where he finds "nothing familiar in the bombed-out darkness." In Vietnam, he's taken for Japanese or Korean by his countrymen, except, of course, by his relatives, who doubt that as a Vietnamese he has the stamina to complete his journey ("Only Westerners can do it"); and in the United States he's considered anything but American. A vibrant, picaresque memoir written with narrative flair and an eye-opening sense of adventure, Catfish and Mandala is an unforgettable search for cultural identity.

Customer Reviews:

a random and beautiful encounter.......2007-07-09

i was travelling alone in Lhasa, Tibet and found this book in Makye Ame restaurant. i started reading and couldn't put it down. it gave me true enjoyable solitude on my lonely journey. loved it. i spent the last two days reading it in that restaurant. ordered a copy from Amazon last week and i can't wait to finish it.
my heartfelt thanks to Mr Pham!

. . arriving at the place where you started. . .and knowing it for the first time.......2007-07-09

`I am a mover of betweens' writes Andrew X.Pham. . . `I slip among classifications, like water in cupped palms.' And in his award winning Catfish and Mandala he takes his readers into those `betweens' with him Viet-kieu, `foreign' Vietnamese, Pham sets out from San Francisco on his rickety 18 speed bicycle riding the Pacific Rim, first up the coast to Seattle, then through Japan, and finally arriving in Ho Chi Minh City from where he begins his odyssey through Vietnam, seeking to understand his relationship to the country of his birth, and the people, and his culture.

The ride he takes us on becomes, for the reader, as spiritual as it is physical. We feel every bump in the road, we push up the hills, we are cold, wet, hungry, ambivalent at times, and we suffer from chronic dysentery. Pham meets people who reject him, who taunt him, and those who, often after initial distrust, befriend him for part of the journey. While he is `pedaling and pushing' alone to Hanoi and back , on a journey everyone advises him is too dangerous, the narrative ebbs and flows through his childhood, through the escape on the boat, through the struggles of his family.

Pham moves comfortably from the specific, the particular, like his recollections of Scarface, Bugsy, Redeye, or Bagman and Mechanic, or the roasting ears of corn dripping with pork fat and scallions, to the philosophic - and then the poetic. It is little surprise he has been linked to writers like Thoreau, Kerouac, Steinback.. . I might add William Carlos Williams,T.S.Eliot or Carl Sandburg. He speaks at once of Vietnam and of his uncertain place there and of the US- and in so doing speaks to all of us who now count among the millions who have left homelands and no longer fully understand what home is, and who `move between.'

By the end of Pham's journey we begin to understand what that is, and value it.

moving.......2007-06-09

This story of a family's escape from Vietnam is a captivating memoir. The author combines his family history with richly detailed descriptions of the landscape of Vietnam. Very well-written and moving.

Great book!.......2007-04-30

Born in Vietnam and came to America at the age of 2--this book is such a great read. It's quite a feeling to see so many of my own thoughts and conflicts regarding my heritage written out this way. Highly recommended.

From another Vietnamese's perspective.......2007-02-23

Overall, this book is well written and has its good moments. As a Vietnamese who came to America at the same time frame and age as the writer, I can't help but to dislike the writer as I read the book.

First of all, I think the writer has a condescending view toward Vietnam and the people. He tries too hard to describe the negatives while not trying to even understand the reason for the state of the country and the people. I feel that the writer sensationalizes, even bordeline fictionalize, his story to appease to the readers. In the book, the author tried to describe the character Kim as a victim of the society, yet, he goes on to use her and skip town so he wouldn't have to face her. He paints such a negative picture of everyone that he met on the road. I wonder why he even took this trip. This author is the reason why Vietnamese Americans are so dislike in Vietnam. The author came back to the country without any knowledge nor understanding, and sadly, all he can do is whined.

I'm two years older than the author and came to United States when I was nine. What the author faced is not unlike any other Vietnamese refugees' story. I wonder about some facts and timeline in the author's recollection of his childhood. Base on the events that were stated, the author must have a photographic memory at such a young age. Some of his memories were a bit far fetched. One has to wonder if the memories were really his or a collection of someone else's memories.

As far as the difficulties in a new country, GET OVER IT!!! Every Vietnamese had to endure the similar situations. My father was a high ranking government official and he too had to work as a janitor. My mother who was a teacher, had to work on a assembly line making seat belts. I grew up in Fresno picking oranges and tomatoes. My wife escaped Vietnam by herself at the age of 16. We all survived and thrived on our experiences. There were many, many more Vietnamese who endured much worse fate than Mr. Pham. I find the author's self-indulgent story annoying by the end of the book.

Overall, I think the author tries a bit too hard writing about himself and forget the real victims, his motherland and the Vietnamese people. As much as the author wants to convey of his noble character, I find his views lack of empathy and understanding for Vietnam. I happen to be very proud of my roots and appreciate all that Vietnam has to offered, even with all of its imperfections. Sadly, Mr. Pham reflects many Vietnamese Americans that have turned their back on their roots. I'm proud that I was born in Vietnam and will be proud of my heritage everyday.

Book Description

The Iraqi Threat, is the only currently available book which provides comprehensive and current estimation of Iraq's Military Forces, Armor Forces, Republican Guard Corps, Special Republican Guard, Air Defenses, Special Operation Forces, their structures, military equipment and capability. Covered in detail,is Iraq's Cruise & Scud Missiles, Drones,Chemical and Biological Warfare Munitions, of Missiles, Artillery, and more.

Over 500 pages of research material taken, from Military, Scientific Institutes, and UNSCOM. Such sources as the Wisconsin Project , Iraq-Watch. With more than 5,000 pages of material, Iraq Watch is a comprehensive repository of open source information about Iraq's mass destruction weapon programs. The Armed Forces Institute Research, which has worldwide investigative resource capability, and reporting. The Federation of American Scientists. The major problem confronting the U.S. Military and our politicians, is a concise comprehensive information of Iraq placed in a single volume of work. To this, is this book. Indexed and categorized, and heavily illustrated detailing the Iraq threat and Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Format is designed for military personnel.

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History & description of the Swiss army

A portrait of Switzerland

A faithful rendition of the Swiss military tradition

A faithful rendition of the Swiss military tradition

Prose As Precise As A Swiss Watch

La Place De LA Concorde Suisse
John McPhee
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Western | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0374519323

Amazon.com

Anyone who has ever traveled in Switzerland cannot help but to have remarked upon the overwhelming tranquility of the country. But this tranquility is illusory. As John McPhee writes in La Place de la Concorde Suisse, a rich journalistic study of the Swiss Army's role in Swiss society, "there is scarcely a scene in Switzerland that is not ready to erupt in fire to repel an invasive war." With a population smaller than New Jersey's, Switzerland has a standing army of 650,000 ready to be mobilized in less than 48 hours. The Swiss Army, known in this country chiefly for its little red pocketknives, is so quietly efficient at the arts of war that the Israelis carefully patterned their own military on the Swiss model. You'll understand why after reading this outstanding book.

Book Description

La Place de la Concorde Suisse is John McPhee's rich, journalistic study of the Swiss Army's role in Swiss society. The Swiss Army is so quietly efficient at the art of war that the Isrealis carefully patterned their own military on the Swiss model.

Customer Reviews:

History & description of the Swiss army.......2006-11-04

McPhee presents a history and description of the Swiss army.

For me, as with any of McPhee's books, if I'm at all interested in the topic, and in the mood to enjoy his novel-like descriptions of ancillary details, it's a darn fine read!

A portrait of Switzerland.......2003-03-24

La Place de la Concorde Suisse is about the Swiss army, but, as they say, when you talk about Switzerland, you talk about their defense. Because everyone in Switzerland is in the army, you are talking about their country. An incredibly rich country, and thus, an incredibly paranoid country. Although many people are now looking at the Swiss, and especially their banks, with new eyes following the revelations of Nazi war booty being hid within their anonymous, numbered accounts, McPhee put them in the spotlight a decade earlier here. While his light is not as bright as some of those today, he did discover some interesting bits which had been hid by shadows before, like their placement of explosives (or identification of where to place such) under each bridge into the country, a discussion of the surreptitious bombing they suffered under Allied planes in the war, and the old boys network that links the army and the industry. At the end, you don't necessarily emerge with a message, but rather a portrait of the country.

A faithful rendition of the Swiss military tradition.......2002-10-26

In German, La Place de la Concorde Suisse is rendered Concordiaplatz, and it is visible from the Jungfraujoch, which means "virgin saddle," and which is reached via funicular railway from Interlaken. Depending upon the season, one can either hike or ski from the Jungfraujoch down the Aletsch glacier to Concordiaplatz and view the redoubt containing the sunken armory described in McPhee's book. There may even be a visible contingent of soldiers guarding and maintaining it, just as their brethren maintain the explosives stashed in the outerworks of all key bridges in the country, or inspect the radar installations on key peaks such as the Weissflühgipfel above Davos. As one who lived and worked in Switzerland for eight years, and whose published memoir, Living Among The Swiss, is listed on this website, I can attest to the accuracy of McPhee's account. Most of my business colleagues were required to take annual two- or three-week military leaves, and one sees soldiers everywhere: on trains, in ski resorts, along low and vulnerable mountain passes such as those north of Sargans, and, increasingly, at airports. Their efficiency of organization has been admired not only by the Israelis, who imitated it, but also by the Russian defense minister, and McPhee accurately captures their esprit de corps - in the process expanding, as usual, the reader's vocabulary.

A faithful rendition of the Swiss military tradition.......2002-10-26

Prose As Precise As A Swiss Watch.......2002-10-16

This is the first book I've read by Mr. McPhee, and I really enjoyed it. The author started out as a journalist and a lot of his pieces originally appeared in "The New Yorker." This background is apparent in the way he writes. He picks an unusual topic, or at least he looks at something from an unusual angle, and he is very economic with his words. This is not a criticism. You don't feel that you are being "shortchanged." Being linquistically economic allows Mr. McPhee to cram an awful lot of interesting information into a short book, in this case just 150 pages. We learn a lot about the workings of the Swiss Army and how it permeates the entire society. We get insight into the Swiss mentality and their philosophy of "neutrality." We also get a little history.....both concerning WWII and going back further, back to the days of the Swiss mercenaries. The famous Swiss precision even comes into play in the construction of bomb shelters: "....the Swiss started building one-bar (i.e.-being able to withstand a certain amount of pressure caused by an explosion) shelters to protect the extremely high percentage of the population that might survive explosions but without the shelter would be destroyed like the citizens of Hamburg and Dresden. Swiss calculations showed that something as thick as, say, a ten-bar shelter would be of negligible extra value, for the increased area of protection would be slight rather than proportional; for underground hospitals and command posts, three-bar construction was chosen." And even though Mr. McPhee is never wasteful with words, this doesn't stop him from occasionally inserting his dry sense of humor. Regarding the Swiss propensity for planning for all contingencies, and not being caught with their pants down, the author writes: "It would be very un-Swiss to wake up tomorrow to yesterday's threat and then attempt to do something about it. If Pearl Harbor had somehow been in Switzerland, a great deal of Japanese aluminum would be scattered all over the Alps." Now that I've dipped my toe in the water, I'm looking forward to reading a lot more by Mr. McPhee!

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La Place De La Concorde Suisse
John McPhee
Manufacturer: Farrar/Straus/Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GUAECS

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LA PLACE DE LA CONCORDE SUISSE
JOHN MCPHEE
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O3FKQ2

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LA PLACE DE LA CONCORDE SUISSE
John McPhee
Manufacturer: Farrar/Straus/Giroux New York 1990
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000R4T2WQ

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La Place De La Concorde Suisse

Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0736614974

Average customer rating:

La Place de la Concorde Suisse

Manufacturer: Farrar Straus Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HJP6W6

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book.......2005-03-02

The great gray owl is a bird that most birders yearn to add to their life-list as it is somewhat elusive due to its northern range and habits. But every so often, the species has to contend with a sharp decline in its favoured pray and is forced to expand its range southward. The winter of 2004-2005 is one of those rare occurences, and for the first time in several decades great grays are being regularly spotted by local birders.

For people such as myself who are not that familiar with the species, Ghost of the Forest is an excellent book from which to learn more about this fascinating species. The author and photographer, Michael S. Quinton, spent several years in Yellowstone National Park and Island Park photographing the great gray in all aspects of its lifecycle. In the end, his persistance (which, he admits, sometimes caused him to foresake what "little common sense" he had left [p. 81]) was rewarded with a number of striking photographs that capture the unique character of North America's largest species of owl. One cannot help but have a greater appreciation for the great gray after reading this book.

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