Brother to the Sun King: Philippe, Duke of Orleans

Book Description

In battle he fought with legendary valor . . . At court, dressed in silks and ribbons, he openly favored his male lovers . . . Despised but feared by his brother, he was the perpetual loser in a lifelong sibling rivalry . . . Brother to the Sun King: Philippe, Duke of Orleans.

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting.......2007-03-08

Though I disagree with some of the author's opinions, it's always good to read and learn more about easily misjudged historic characters.

Philippe we hardly knew you.......2002-05-04

This book sets out to right a great wrong. The Duke of Orleans comes across as a petty and, at times, annoying figure in the Memoirs of St Simon. Ms. Barker's work does much to make up for what St Simon has done in the past. However, the work is flawed by Ms Barker's use of Freudian psychology to explain the Duke's homosexuality. This is probably the only real flaw in this book, but it is sufficient to undermine an unqualified recommendation.

Excellent study of Philippe, Duke of Orleans.......2001-02-26

As only brother to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, Philippe, Duke of Orleans lived forever in the shadow of his older brother. Because of the numerous uprisings in France by a younger brother of the King, Philippe was taught from birth that he could never outshine his brother or be given any prominent place in his government. Because of this, Philippe led a fairly "wasted" life, perhaps best known for his flagrant homosexuality. Yet author Nancy Nichols Barker points out that when allowed to shine, the Duke was a competent soldier, lover of fine arts, good father and the founder of the Orleans dynasty which eventually ruled France. While the progeny of Louis XIV died out with the revolution, the descendants of Philippe populated the great Catholic thrones of Europe.

The author does a good job with source material and especially the "psychological" background of her characters, such as Philippe and his two wives, Henriette of England and Elizabeth Charlotte of Palatine. The first marriage was a disaster but the second marriage flourished for a long time. Elizabeth Charlotte or Liselotte is given a major part of the biography and her background is presented in a very interesting manner. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in French history.

That is the best book I ever read!.......2001-01-27

The story of Philippe, brother of Louis XIV (also known as Sun King) is very exciting and iteresting. The book provides knowledge not only about Philippe, but also about his surroundings and with link to all possible things that were happening in France of that time. The description of his life is not like in most history books - you can even feel the atmosphere as you were there! You can also learn about Louis XIV from it and about their family realtions. The book covers both official and privat aspects of Philippe's life. Great book and very good work of the author!

Brother to the Sun King : Philippe, Duke of Orleans

Average customer rating:

Brother to the Sun King : Philippe, Duke of Orleans
Nancy N. Barker
Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PS59PS

Book Description

L yn St. James was 45 years old when she joined the world of Indy racing. Now known as the American Woman Racing Icon of the Century, Lyn is a testament to the power of determination and positive thinking. In this inspiring, motivational book, St. James chronicles her last Indy 500 and looks back on a career filled with challenges. She recounts years of adversity and the struggle to obtain corporate sponsorships, despite being named the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. She recalls record-breaking runs at Talladega and Daytona, terrifying crashes, and the joys of mentoring young women drivers. On every page of this story people will find the motivation and encouragement to follow their dreams and reach their goals.

Customer Reviews:

The Ride of Your Life - Review by an author.......2007-01-25

"Unlike racing," St. James says, "life isn't run on a predetermined course, and you aren't given a map of all the bumps and turns along the way. My life certainly didn't follow any predestined track. I can't remember a time when I developed any grand strategy to become a race car driver. Neither of my parents worked in racing, and aside from the occasional teenage drag race, we had no racing history or culture. We were a working-class family and I, like millions of other little girls, was a child of the baby boom." When Lyn St. James completed her first Indy 500 at the age of 45, she was just the second woman in history to race in the event. Some doubted that a woman could keep up with male drivers, and St. James struggled to get the sponsorship she needed to race. Fueled by inspiration and limitless motivation, St. James managed to rise through the ranks and eventually become known at the American Woman Racing Icon of the Century. Her story is not only sport, but of overcoming the odds.
Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope and South State Street Journal

A fascinating ride.......2002-10-21

Hang on! This is a thrilling ride through professional racing, as seen through the eyes of a pioneer who "just did it" long before Nike advised us to. Like the best autobiographies, this book explores one extraordinary person's life while at the same time inspiring all of us to excel despite the odds. I first met Lyn St. James many years ago at a women's sports conference. She's a beautiful woman, with an intense gaze and a ready laugh -- not what most of us would expect in a professional race car driver. And despite her impressive resume full of "first woman"'s, St. James remains grounded and generous, committed to helping other women learn to drive, race, and win. An excellent gift for people -- especially female people -- who need some inspiration. -- Mariah Burton Nelson

She's a Better Driver Than An Author.......2002-05-25

It's hard not to like Lyn St. James. She wasn't the first woman to drive at Indy but until Sarah Fisher came along she was the most accomplished. I was looking forward to a book that would recount her successful career and provide unique insight into her accomplishments.

She does provide that in this book regarding the amazing challenges she faced just to get into the field in her last race at Indianapolis. For many underfunded teams, the challenge of qualifying can far surpass what happens on race day and St. James recounts the ordeal with great clarity.

The problem is that the rest of her career is barely touched on in anecdotes about the past while talking about her last season. I came away from this book learning very little about her life outside of Indy or even her racing career in other auto racing competitions.

More importantly, she failed to share many personal feelings or emotions in the book. The most personal story she tells is about how she lost a pet that was hit in a freak accident at a race track. That story moved me, but little else did.

She also fails to discuss the overall state of racing. Currently open wheel racing in the United States is in a shambles due to a split between sanctioning bodies. She never talks about the issue and barely mentions the growing success of NASCAR.

Finally, the book contains a number of self-help types of advice throughout the book. They're meant to be inspirational but come off as tired and hackneyed.

The book is a pleasant read and St. James is likeable. The problem is that the book could have been so much more and falls far too short of what it could have accomplished.

A compelling read even if you are not a race fan.......2002-05-20

Our minister interviewed Ms. St James as part of his sermon today. Her book was available to us and I just finished it. A great read! A compelling narrative about racing and life lessons. What a class act and role model for young people and inspiration for her peers.

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive account of Germany's most enduring film genre, the Heimatfilm, which has offered idyllic variations on the idea that "there is no place like home" since cinema's early days. Charting the development of this popular genre over the course of a century in a work informed by film studies, cultural history, and social theory, Johannes von Moltke focuses in particular on its heyday in the 1950s, a period that has been little studied. Questions of what it could possibly mean to call the German nation "home" after the catastrophes of World War II are anxiously present in these films, and von Moltke uses them as a lens through which to view contemporary discourses on German national identity.

Book Description

The most successful England cricket captain for 20 years delivers an enthralling behind-the-scenes account of his time at the helm. This book concentrates on leadership, with Michael describing his approach to captaincy, his aims and thoughts about the various Test series, as well as his decision-making and management strategies.

Average customer rating:

Calling the Shots: The Captain's Story
Michael / Hardy, Martin Vaughan
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVB2X4

Average customer rating:

Best in class tool to assist to understand and deal with Organizational Change

Bad bad book

A MUST READ!

gaining insight

Good things do indeed come in small packages.

Creating Contagious Commitment: Applying the Tipping Point to Organizational Change
Andrea Shapiro
Manufacturer: strategy perspective
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

The Seeds of Innovation: Cultivating the Synergy That Fosters New Ideas

Winning through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal

Leading Change

Leverage: How to Create Your Own "Tipping Points" in Business And in Life

ASIN: 0974102806

Book Description

Creating Contagious Commitment: Applying the Tipping Point to Organizational change is essential to anyone interested in the process of organizational change. It builds on the diverse resources in the Tipping Point computer simulation, which builds on lessons from public health, systems thinking and organizational theory. Creating Contagious Commitment simultaneously provides a solid foundation and helps the reader to think out-of-the-box to create contagious, sustainable change. Illustrations and examples of change initiatives bring the concepts to life and make it easy for the reader to apply them immediately to his or her own change initiative.

Customer Reviews:

Best in class tool to assist to understand and deal with Organizational Change.......2007-07-08

Dr. Andrea Shapiro is a friend and colleague from the days when we were both employed by Nortel Networks, a telecommunications firm recognized for "delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, securing and protecting the world's most critical information."

As I opened the pages of my newly acquired copy of "Creating Contagious Commitment" I was thrilled to see another friend, Helen Sims, provide testimony for this work.

Andrea Shapiro's book: "Creating Contagious Commitment, Applying the Tipping Point to Organizational Change" provides valuable insight on how organizations can optimize their effectiveness through proved decision making.

Dr. Shapiro provides a unique perspective to organizational change because while working for Nortel Networks we experienced only one constant force... change... Throughout many projects and initiatives, such as our global attempt to fine-tune the Supply Chain Management of Nortel, from Customers to suppliers, we learned first hand how to utilize the Tipping Point computer simulations, developed by Dr. Shapiro.

Today, many of us still approach our jobs by utilizing the tools we developed, the strategies we learned to deal with the dynamics that underpin effective organizational change. Simply... best-in-class!

Bad bad book.......2007-01-04

You could sum all of this book's content in just one page, even one paragraph: Design processes on the basis of usability. Include in process design activities people who will use the process. If you don't convince people about the merits of a new process, they won't use it, worse they will sabotage it. Once the process catches momentum, it will spread quickly.

Now, if you repeat this a thousand times with slightly different sentences, add a thousand "tipping point" phrases, a lot of tables and graphs of questionable use, voila, you have a book.

It is a wonder to me how it got such a high rating.

A MUST READ!.......2006-08-18

This is a 'must read' for anyone working with groups of people of any size in any organization. Great application for business, schools, churches, volunteers, anyone wanting to motivate people with a common goal, purpose, or vision.

gaining insight .......2006-02-13

I heartily recommend this book to anyone seeking insight into the peculiarities of organizational/workplace change. It has helped me understand why so many workplace "initiatives" seem doomed to failure almost before they have been launched. More important, the author provides concrete examples of remedies to prevent these failures. The author's writing style is clear, jargon-free, and to the point. The examples she uses to illustrate her ideas are clearly stated, and interesting. I read this book after reading the "The Tipping Point" (forgot the author's name, sorry) and found this book to be an excellent companion piece. It beautifully illustrates how tipping point theory is not only relevent but directly applicable to the work place.

Good things do indeed come in small packages........2006-01-06

In less than 200 pages, Dr. Shapiro provides an informative, engaging overview of change management concepts, principles and tactics. The inclusion of brief cases and summary graphics facilitate understanding and memorization of key points. As a management consultant and educator, I look forward to recommending this book to clients and students seeking practical information on making change work.

Book Description

San'ya, Tokyo's largest day-laborer quarter and the only one with lodgings, had been Oyama Shiro's home for twelve years when he took up his pen and began writing about his life as a resident of Tokyo's most notorious neighborhood. After completing a university education, Oyama entered the business workforce and appeared destined to walk the same path as many a "salaryman." A singular temperament and a deep loathing of conformity, however, altered his career trajectory dramatically. Oyama left his job and moved to Osaka, where he lived for three years. Later he returned to the corporate world but fell out of it again, this time for good. After spending a short time on the streets around Shinjuku, home to Tokyo's bustling entertainment district, he moved to San'ya in 1987, at the age of forty.

Oyama acknowledges his eccentricity and his inability to adapt to corporate life. Spectacularly unsuccessful as a salaryman yet uncomfortable in his new surroundings, he portrays himself as an outsider both from mainstream society and from his adopted home. It is precisely this outsider stance, however, at once dispassionate yet deeply engaged, that caught the eye of Japanese readers.

The book was published in Japan in 2000 after Oyama had submitted his manuscript—on a lark, he confesses—for one of Japan's top literary awards, the Kaiko Takeshi Prize. Although he was astounded actually to win the award, Oyama remained in character and elected to preserve the anonymity that has freed him from all social bonds and obligations. The Cornell edition contains a new afterword by Oyama regarding his career since his inadvertent brush with fame.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reading.......2007-03-15

I read the true story of the My Lia Massacre when it first came out, and then knew why when we came back we were called baby killers. Now that I have read this book on My Lia I wonder how they let something like that happen and what makes me mad is that nothing more has been done about the people that done it all. I personelly think that all the people that took part should be put in jail and left there, but other then that it was an excellent book to read.

An Important Book.......2006-08-02

My family fled Vietnam in 1979 and settled in the U.S. I always believed that the Americans were the "good guys" in the Vietnam War. After reading this book, I now have a much different view. I see the conflict as something that is much more complex than what I was taught in high school. The Viet Congs committed many atrocities during the war, but it seems as though the Americans committed just as many--if not more--atrocities. The My Lai Massacre is a shining example of the low regard that a large number of American soldiers had for Vietnamese peasants.

I highly recommend this book as it debunks the myths surrounding the Vietnam War. In addition, the authors call into question the moral character of not only the "grunts" that gunned down old men, women, children, and even babies, but also the officers high up the chain of command that tried to cover up the massacre. Moreover, the authors are highly critical of the military justice system that basically looked the other way even in the face of overwhelming evidence that a massacre indeed did occur.

The book serves as an important reminder of the horrendous nature of war where good young boys can turn into cold-blooded killers. In light of the recent events in Haditha, Mukaradeeb, and Hamdania, among others, we need to learn from past mistakes so that we don't repeat them.

yeah, the GIs who raped and murdered were just poor victims...........2006-01-24

I mean, how can we pass judgement on 19 year old Americans (like those bad 19 year old Japanese and Germans) who gang raped old women and girls and then murdered them because they were just subhuman Vietnamese?

Or like Bob Kerry who ordered old women and kids to have their throats cut, no americans could EVER be blamed for war crimes like those evil commies or nazis - because, well, we're AMERICANS for god's sake.

So what if our boys murdered infants and their mothers after forcing them to perfom oral sex?

Sure, things like My Lai happened all the time, but it was all a NOBLE CAUSE, right? just like operation iraqi freedom, right? We had to kill em in order to save em, right?

Strangers in a strange land.......2002-12-10

An excellent and even-handed book. As a father of four, I would take my helmet off to Thompson and hope that I would have done the same thing in those circumstances.

However, as a jumpy eighteen-year-old who had spent three months seeing his buddies slaughtered in booby trap after booby trap, having their heads blown off by snipers you never see or get to track, Army trucks full of draftees decimated by grenades thrown by smiling elderly villagers and children, I really don't know how much I would have given a damn for any village anywhere in that country.

Yes, the massacre was wrong, and thank God for men like Thompson, but if anybody is going to judge My Lai or any other total breakdown of discipline and artificially-sustained morality, it should be men and women who have served in extreme combat environments, not bourgeois middle-class Liberals who have never had to get their hands dirty.

Vietnam was a filthy war, and because it never had a distinct purpose or Win Scenario driving it, it was a pointless war. Ironically, one of the things that triggered My Lai was the very fear and frustration generated by the VC's own tactics, including the mutilation of American corpses and the constant goading and provocation that GI's had to endure.

This was the same Enemy that massacred French garrisons and lined the approach roads with the severed heads of the defenders to demoralize the relief columns. The same Enemy that even booby trapped live babies in order to kill American soldiers and shock them into a state of psychological collapse.

Read the book, by all means, and be outraged. Yet while the massacre can never be justified, with the kind of background, only some of which I have just outlined, it can perhaps be understood - above all, as others have rightly said, in the absence of strong leadership and the stability provided by having a good sprinkling of experienced Vets throughout the Company.

No, it should never have happened, but then, neither should the War.

rayandjoy@alltel.net.......2002-07-13

I thought that Lt Calley was made a scapegoat for the
event that happened at My Lia, but after reading the book.
I find that he was a coldblooded killer,and cause many other young men to be the same way. I will never understand why Cpt Medina,and the other oficers involved in this incident was not brought to trail. The order given by these Oficers were just as much the cause of the problem, as were the men that did the actual killing.
I served two tours in Nam , and I thank God that I never
witnessed any such thing. I would probably have been brought to trail myself for killing those that would do such a coldhearted
thing.
However I must say that I am exremely proud of those that did not participate in the shooting.

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FOUR HOURS IN MY LAI
Michael & Kevin Sim Bilton
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RANUCI

Average customer rating:

Four Hours in My Lai
Bilton Michael
Manufacturer: Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LAXROU

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Four Hours in My Lai
Michael Bilton; Kevin Sim
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIU33M

Book Description

The creation of the European Community ranks among the most extraordinary achievements in modern world politics. Observers disagree, however, about the reasons why European governments have chosen to coordinate core economic policies and surrender sovereign prerogatives. In this eagerly awaited book, Andrew Moravcsik analyzes the history of the region's movement toward economic and political union.

Do these unifying steps demonstrate the preeminence of national security concerns, the power of federalist ideals, the skill of political entrepreneurs like Jean Monnet and Jacques Delors, or the triumph of technocratic planning? Moravcsik rejects such views. Economic interdependence has been, he maintains in his provocative argument, the primary force compelling these democracies to move in this surprising direction. Politicians rationally pursued national economic advantage through the exploitation of asymmetrical interdependence and the manipulation of institutional commitments.

Focusing on Germany, France, and Britain, Moravcsik examines the five decisive agreements that propelled integration forward. He seeks to reintegrate the historical study of European unity with theoretical inquiry into the sources of international cooperation.

Customer Reviews:

Absorbing study of the EU's development.......2001-07-18

In this deeply researched book, Andrew Moravcsik studies five key moves toward wider and deeper European integration: the Treaties of Rome, consolidating the Common Market, monetary integration, the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty. He argues that the member governments chose ever closer union in order to promote their countries' economic interests. He aims to prove that economic interests, not political ideas, drive EU integration. He focuses on how the governments of Germany, France and Britain made their decisions.

Moravcsik argues that the British government's policy in the 1950s of opposition to joining the Common Market "was the rational one for a government that traded little with the Continent, had high tariffs in place, and feared competition with German producers." So there was economic logic to staying out. It is less clear that there was good reason for the subsequent reversal of policy: trading with a bloc does not oblige us to join it!

He shows that De Gaulle vetoed Britain's application not out of chauvinism, but because we opposed generous financing for French farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy. In 1969, Pompidou lifted the veto, but only in exchange for the British government's huge concession of agreeing to a permanent financing arrangement for the CAP. This made it CAP reform impossible.

Similarly, member governments have pursued integration through creating the Single Market and EMU. Moravcsik shows how Europe's multinational companies and the national employers' organisations backed integration. The European Commission admitted, "The single market programme has done more for business than it has for workers", a judgment true also of Economic and Monetary Union. Economic interests may well have determined the drive to a single state, but paradoxically the closer the cooperation between EU members has become, the worse their economies have performed.

Capitalist states and multinational companies have taken the EU road to lost sovereignty and economic integration, but the peoples of Europe are increasingly choosing otherwise, as the Irish people showed in the 7 June referendum on the Nice Treaty. In particular, here in Britain the option of leaving the EU looks more and more inviting.

Renewing the Debate about the Causes of European Integration.......2000-07-16

Andrew Moravcsik boldly makes the case for the centrality of the three largest member states in the construction of Europe. In this volume, Moravcsik articulates his "liberal intergovernmentalist" (LI) framework of analysis and utilizes primary sources to strengthen his response to Paul Pierson's "historical institutionalist" (HI) account of European integration. As Moravcsik explains, in making the choice for Europe

"...it was the deliberate triumphs of European integration, not its unintended side-effects, that appear to have increased support for further integration. This is the key point of divergence between HI theory and the tri-partite "liberal intergovernmentalist" interpretation advanced here. For most governments, inducing economic modernization-even with unpleasant side-effects-was the major purpose of European integration." (p. 491)

One of the strongest contributions of Moravcsik's volume is to revisit the classic neo-functionalist-intergovernmentalist debate and to place it in a new theoretical context. To Moravcsik's credit, this tome offers a detailed, thorough and remarkably organized assessment of competing explanations in the European integration literature. Students and scholars of integration will grapple with the issues raised as a result of this work for years to come.

Moravcsik's volume challenges the "myths" of European integration and calls into question the relevance of actions taken by supranational entrepreneurs. National versus supranational debates notwithstanding, Monnet's (and later Delor's) talent was to seize a moment in history when Europe was at the brink of continuity or change. Monnet's use of crisis as opportunity sought to alter fundamentally the way in which France and Germany interacted within the European system. Is this not the essence of the Schuman Plan in 1950, namely, to use the opportunity to modernize France economically as part of an equation to make future wars with its neighbor across the Rhine impossible?

Although convergence was already apparent among European economies, did the initial political decision to pool the critical resources in the making of war, to integrate in the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), require individuals like Schuman, Monnet, Adenauer and Hallstein to work against the fact that European states mistrusted each other and were therefore disinclined to integrate? It is most unfortunate that volume length does not permit Moravcsik to cover this initial case. In the light of the ECSC experience, was the agreement to create the Common Market in 1958 intrinsically about making European countries richer? The archival research of Raymond Poidevin and Andreas Wilkens sheds light on the experience of the ECSC. Their writings may help us evaluate the extent to which the initial experiments in integration, including the aborted European Political Community (EPC) and European Defense Community (EDC), influenced the interests of the Six during the Treaty of Rome negotiations. References to Poidevin's work are scarce among the 1116 footnotes in The Choice for Europe. There are some citations of Wilken's writings, but not those that critically evaluate the impact of Monnet's role during the period 1950-57.

In Moravcsik's analysis, economic interests, asymmetrical interdependence and more credible commitments, respectively, drive states to negotiate, cooperate and integrate in Europe. Moravcsik candidly (and correctly) acknowledges that his primacy of economics explanation is less helpful to our understanding of German motivations to cooperate in Europe. In the French case, does Moravcsik's revisionist account successfully convince us that de Gaulle emphasized national economic interests over geopolitical priorities or an ideology of grandeur? By asserting that ideas motivate only when no strong interest is involved, does Moravcsik's account draw an unnecessary dividing line between the General's socio-economic and geo-political goals? It may be argued that the General's priorities were inextricably intertwined as President to assure the country's place as the first among states in Europe. My own volume on the Maastricht process demonstrates the relevance of two-level analysis. Other writings about Britain's role in the Maastricht negotiations likewise stress the importance of simultaneous domestic-international interactions in intergovernmental conference diplomacy. Given that Moravcsik's own prior writings strikingly illustrate the contributions of Putnam's model, it is puzzling why he does not emphasize two-level games in The Choice for Europe. Moreover, the potential for interactions among the three analytical stages Moravcsik defines in his book, namely, preference formation, interstate bargaining and implementation, also warrants more attention in future editions.

The phenomenal number of sources cited in Moravcsik's tome is a compelling reason to include a bibliography, including the names, places and dates of all interviews conducted. This would help the reader locate cited materials more efficiently. Moreover, it would underline Moravcsik's attention to primary sources which brings us to a methodological point. Moravcsik does not cite magazine or newspaper articles and relies a good deal on confidential interviews. It may be argued that journalistic writings are helpful when "hard" primary sources, namely, internal government documents, are systematically cross checked with these accounts. Accurate journalistic reporting, when referenced consistently, can also confirm or deny explanations given in confidential interviews. These techniques allow for a greater degree of transparency in source materials.

The preceding points are evidence that, given the numerous questions this volume raises, Moravcsik has admirably achieved his most important objective: to renew the intellectual-practitioners' debate about the fundamental causes of European integration. The Choice for Europe is recommended to a wide audience as an unprecedented work that incorporates elements of comparative politics, international relations and political economy in a historical narrative that challenges us to think critically about the reasons why states choose to cooperate.

excellent revisionist overview of European integration.......2000-03-09

I found this book one of the best I have read on European integration history. It is a good example of revisionist history at its best. Compared to other books i have studied on the same subject this one makes a number of novel points and gives a completely different emphasis on driving factors & driving actors of the process of EU integration, putting the role of the Member States at centre stage all the way, and their economic interests as primary driving elements. To me, as an economist, this sounded convincing and certainly puts a novel slant on the traditional 'high politics' integration story. At the same time, I also found it a somewhat depressing account of the ineffectiveness of the Commission at crucial times of decision making. The book certainly puts into question some cherished notions about the role and functioning of the Commission, and since I am proud to work there it was not easy to take this in.

I found the first chapter hard going and somewhat obtruse, although i can appreciate the methodological points he makes, which are all to often ingnored. Once one is through that, though, the real story begins and a fascinating account it is, especially since it certainly does not follow the analysis i have read previously on this subject.

An excellent reference work, and certain to stimulate many a (heated) debate.

Political science for European integration historians.......1999-07-01

For once, here is a general text purporting to analyse the history of European integration that actually lives up to its billing. It is quite rightly considered a tour de force. Indeed, Andrew Moravcsik's "The choice for Europe" has already established itself as one of the most important publications to date on this subject. While it is obvious that the continued evolution of the European Union has been one of the most `extraordinary political achievements' to have taken place during the 20th century, the reasons why this community of states was created in the first place and the ways in which it has since developed have not always been so convincingly explained or succinctly outlined, that is until now. What Robert Keohane describes on the fly-cover as the `most compelling and significant analysis yet of the European Community' is just that.

Moravcsik is not a historian, but in this text he tries to integrate political science theory into a historical study of European unity; this is in order to discover why there has been such a high-level of cooperation between Western European states during the last half-century. His book fills an important gap in our knowledge by tracing the somewhat erratic developments that have led to a greater degree of economic and political union gradually being instituted throughout this region and by placing these in a theoretical perspective.

In this most accessible work, he persuasively argues that economic interdependence has been the prime motivator in successive governments making these rational choices. One of the weak (and strong) points however regarding Moravcsik's investigation is that it only focuses on the big European powers - Germany, Great Britain and France, as well as the European Commission - and does not really delve into small-power politics. Questions such as how these smaller nations tried to operate within, or negotiate entry into, the EEC as they became more aware and realistic about their world positions, how they operated in relation to the big powers, et cetera, must wait until their specific histories have been chronicled before they can be answered. At least historians now have a tool to do so.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Polity, published by Northeastern Political Science Association on March 22, 2000. The length of the article is 3471 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht.(Review) (book review)
Author: Francesco Duina
Publication: Polity (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2000
Publisher: Northeastern Political Science Association
Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Page: 455

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

An ardent early suffragette, Edna Brush Perkins set out in 1920 with her friend, Charlotte Hannahs Jordan, to journey into the Mojave, both women seeking to escape civilization and their struggle to secure voting rights for women. The Mojave at that time was considered to be a desolate, inaccessible region--part of the fading American frontier. Originally published in 1922, The White Heart of Mojave is Perkins' account of this journey.

Perkins' evocative writing describes the landscape and the people she encounters. As editor Peter Wild writes, this is ultimately the story of two wealthy women who enter Death Valley "as a sort of middle-aged lark" and "emerge from the trip profoundly changed."

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Tale of Old Death Valley.......2004-05-07

The White Heart of Mojave is an old classic of desert literature, recently brought back into print as part of the American Land Classics series. Centered around an adventurous trip through Death Valley by two women in the 1920s, it gives a fascinating glimpse into the region and some of its eccentric inhabitants before it became a National Park and popular tourist destination. The book was written at a time when real American wilderness was beginning to disappear, and the deserts were first coming to be appreciated for their remoteness and solitude and austere beauty, rather than as simply wastelands to be exploited for mineral resources. Edna Brush Perkins, along with a few other desert pioneers like Mary Austen and John Van Dyke, was among the first to contribute to a greater understanding and appreciation of the great American deserts. Aside from its historical significance, though, the book is well written and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this harsh but fascinating region.

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