In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World

Book Description

It was a time of poverty and enterprise, when poor men slaved in the mines, rich men became barons and America grew from a backward agricultural colony to the industrial force of the modern world. The driving power behind this transformation was coal, the black gold that even today illuminates our cities and runs our personal computers.
In The Kingdom of Coal tells the extraordinary story of coal through the eyes of two families--one the magnates, one the miners--over three generations while locked together, for better or worse, in a common quest.
At the reigns of power are the Leisenrings, who built a dynasty around coal and whose fortunes intersected with those of Henry Clay Frick, the Carnegies and the other masters of the American industrial revolution. Miles underground are the sons and daughters of the Givens family, who gave their sweat and sometimes their lives to the Leisenrings' Virginia mines.
Rich with the struggles of management and labor from two unforgettable families, In TheKingdom of Coal is an American saga of how coal operators made and lost fortunes, coal towns flourished and died, and miners and mine owners battled the earth, the atmosphere and each other in their quest to satisfy the world's appetite for coal.

In the Kingdom of Coal An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World

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In the Kingdom of Coal An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World
Rottenberg Dan
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UEH98W

Amazon.com

In One Dream: The NFL, Woody Falgoux follows 10 unsigned rookies through New Orleans Saints training camp as they battle heavy odds to make the team. For those who were not drafted, practicing with the pros in the sweltering Louisiana heat provides an opportunity to show you can hit, run, or do whatever else needed to stand out. Everyone knows a number of players will be axed throughout the grueling process (only 8 percent of unsigned rookies get contracts), so every drill and scrimmage matters, and each precious down played in a preseason game offers a fresh chance to be noticed by the staff. Some get plenty of chances; others seem outcast from the beginning.

Falgoux has a gift for storytelling, and the book unfolds with style and grace. In describing the frustration of one of the collegiate-stars-but-unsigned- nobodies at a scrimmage shortly before the first preseason game, he writes:

He's a young man staring at Goliath, a man who's a little frustrated because he can't really whack people out here, even though he's just whacked [a running back]. He knows tomorrow he'll have the chance to whack 'em all. Finally, he'll really do, whether one calls it violence or vindication or victory, what he does best.

The coaching staff must make its choices, whether random, planned, fair, or bizarre. One Dream offers a memorable look at a pro team's camp and the perspiration and aspirations of 10 young players trying to make the choices easier. Strongly recommended. --Michael Ferch

Book Description

This is the dream that is born in the hearts and minds of every boy that throws his first pass or scores his first touchdown. The New Orleans Saints have asked the dreamers to show them how deeply they love this game by competing against millionaire leviathans with every ounce of will they can muster. If they leave everything they have on the field, the dream might continue. If not, the dream will be gone.

Customer Reviews:

The Rocky of the NFL.......2004-08-15

This book is like an NFL Rocky type story. Except there are 10 different Rocky's that are the focus of this book in the form of football players. Not to say that it is a ripoff in anyway. It's a book that truly stands on it's own. The author seems to be very talented. His first? Are you kidding me? Sometimes I laughed and sometimes I felt sad for them. Especially knowing that all this really happened to real people makes the impact even stronger. Don't let it's setting of it being preseason football make you think it's boring. It's a book of hope, determination, preserverance, and the cold reality of life that we all have to face. This book was so good it's compelled me to write my first review for Amazon. Congratulations Woody F. and I'm looking for your next book!

What every NFL fan wants to know.......2002-01-03

This book is precisely what every NFL fan wants to know about what it takes to make a professional football team's roster. Woody does an excellent job at grabing your attention within the very first pages and holding it to the very end. If you are a fan of the NFL, this is a must read and Woody will have you turning each page anxiously awaiting the fates of the players struggling to make the Saints team. This book is masterfully written and you will find yourself rooting for the underdogs. Woody is a gifted story teller and makes you feel like you are sitting along side him at the Saints training camp. At times, I was rooting for Woody himself as he describes the difficulties the media encounters from the Saints organization during training camp. I highly recommend this book and only hope Woody has his second book in the works.

Feel the rush.......2001-12-30

An amazing read! The author puts you into the mind, body
and soul of the players. It is more than a book about football, it is about having hope and chasing a dream. Even
when you know you wont win. Read it and pass it on,
quickly.

The Hard Road to the NFL.......2001-12-17

Woody had a great premise for a book, let's follow undrafted rookie free agents through training camp showing the emotional highs and lows of who makes the team. Since his favorite team is the New Orleans Saints, the story starts in a small humidity oppressed Louisiana town that is the sight of training camp. Woody does a great job getting to know the players and attempting to know management and how decisions are made. It's clear very early that the NFL and the Saints don't know what to make of this book and seem to have some concern that it will be a hatchet job.

But Woody writes like a true Saints fan who wants to know the players and what it's like to try to make a team. The deck is really stacked against these guys as they must beat out returning players and drafted rookies. Woody gives great examples of the many undrafted free agents who went on to become quality NFL players. But this year's group doesn't appear to have an immediate star and some of the players start dropping immediately. Some of the rookies have great practices followed by weak practices. Some have minor injuries that limit their already limited playing time. And some are trying to fill positions where there are no real spots.

It makes for an interesting read from the early cuts to the few that make it right to the final cut. Woody does a good job of showing the fears, insecurities and sacrifices these players make trying to fulfill their dream. Read this book if you are a fan of football.

The Perfect Gift for Football Fans.......2001-11-25

I bought several copies of Falgoux's book for the football fans in my family and they were a huge hit. By our next family gathering, One Dream was the one and ONLY topic ofconversation. This book is extremely well-written, informative and impressive in it's ability to show the human side of what has become a mega-industry in the US.

Telling Time: Essays of a Visionary Filmmaker
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Enjoy this collection not just for its film insights, but for its reflections on modern culture

Telling Time: Essays of a Visionary Filmmaker
Stan Brakhage
Manufacturer: Documentext
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Essential Brakhage: Selected Writings on Film-Making

ASIN: 0929701690

Product Description

Throughout a career spanning half a century, Stan Brakhagethe foremost experimental filmmaker in America, and perhaps the worldwrote controversial essays on the art of film and its intersections with poetry, music, dance, and painting. Published in small circulation literary and arts journals, they were gathered later into such books as Metaphors on Vision and Film at Wit's End. Beginning in 1989, and for a decade thereafter, Brakhage wrote the essays in Telling Time as an occasional column for Musicworks, a Toronto quarterly. Ostensibly about the relation of film to music, they soon enlarged to explore primary concerns beyond film, including Brakhage's aesthetic theories based on the phenomenology of human cognition. In these essays he is as brilliant discussing Gertrude Stein or romantic love as he is on child psychology, astronomy, and physiology, all the while teasing out vital correspondences between the arts, and upending conventional ideas of how we perceive. His investigations of other artists are models of sympathetic intuition and generosity. Above all, he shares his theories, discoveries and understandings in the spirit of establishing a groundwork for many varieties of human liberation. His prose is filled with flashes of insight, elaborated metaphors, playful elisions, shorthand puns and neologisms, personal digressions, surprising epiphanies, leaps of faith, affronts to authority. He appeals to the imagination, and invites us to a more profound and personal experience of art.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoy this collection not just for its film insights, but for its reflections on modern culture.......2006-06-23

If you recognize the name of author Stan Brakhage, you must know experimental films: his is one of the biggest names in experimental filmmaking in America and his controversial essays on film and its multimedia blends have been published in small literary and arts journals and, later, into books. TELLING TIME: ESSAYS OF A VISIONARY FILMMAKER gathers essays written as an occasional column for the Toronto quarterly Musicworks: they began as discussions of film's relationships with music, but soon explored more philosophical routes. Enjoy this collection not just for its film insights, but for its reflections on modern culture.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Book Description

From the bestselling Bridget Jones's Diary that started the trend to the television sensation Sex and the City that captured it on screen, "chick lit" has become a major pop culture phenomenon. Banking on female audiences' identification with single, urban characters who struggle with the same life challenges, publishers have earned millions and even created separate imprints dedicated to the genre. Not surprisingly, some highbrow critics have dismissed chick lit as trashy fiction, but fans have argued that it is as empowering as it is entertaining.

This is the first volume of its kind to examine the chick lit phenomenon from a variety of angles, accounting for both its popularity and the intense reactions-positive and negative-it has provoked. The contributors explore the characteristics that cause readers to attach the moniker "chick" to a particular book and what, if anything, distinguishes the category of chick lit from the works of Jane Austen on one end and Harlequin romance novels on the other. They critique the genre from a range of critical perspectives, considering its conflicted relationship with feminism and postfeminism, heterosexual romance, body image, and consumerism. The fourteen original essays gathered here also explore such trends and subgenres as "Sistah Lit," "Mommy Lit," and "Chick Lit Jr.," as well as regional variations.

As the first book to consider the genre seriously, Chick Lit offers real insight into a new generation of women's fiction.

Customer Reviews:

explains why I have mixed feelings about chick-lit.......2006-04-05

I view chick-lit with ambivalence. It showcases women's lives; that's important. It's much more real than, say, Jackie Collins. I like that too. It's almost always easy reading. I appreciate that because I read to de-stress.

But there are things I don't like. There is a lot of magical thinking and a great many undeserved happy endings.

This book presents the many faces of chick-lit. Many authors claim their protagonists are strong, independent women. Most of the time, in most of the books I've read, I don't believe this. The majority of female characters I've come across are either extremely shallow or engaging in a great deal of childish wishful thinking.

One contributor addresses this directly; she discusses the difference between black protagonists, whom she calls "sistahs," and whites, whom she calls "chicks." She points out that white women expect the fairy tale: the prince charming and/or deus ex machina to solve their problems.

I thought this was a brilliant observation and it gets to the point of my problems with chick-lit: that, in general, authors are trying to be realistic by portraying real women in real lives while also incorporating the unrealistic ending convention of romance and telling the Cinderella fairy tale that many of us grew up expecting.

To me, these two elements don't usually mesh well, and that's why a lot of chick-lit books don't really work for me beyond superficial entertainment.

Some authors were quoted as saying that literary critics who disparage chick-lit are anti-woman and in fact, if great women writers were writing today, such as Edith Wharton, their work would be called chick-lit. To me, this is ridiculous. Wharton's work is remembered because she wrote about the upper crust with remarkable depth and insight. Just because Wharton wrote about a woman in New York, and someone today writes about a woman in New York, does not mean the modern book is well-written or deserves to be read more than 50 years from now.

To me, that's like saying that Paul Simon can write a song about love, and I can write a song about love, and just because his work is sometimes criticized, and I've felt that way too, my song about love is as good and enduring as Bridge Over Troubled Water.

I also really didn't like how many authors seem to despise "feminists." Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! These chicks would have no careers and no ability to publicly enjoy sex outside marriage if it weren't for feminists. To give just one example, Margaret Sanger battled for a very long time to bring contraceptives to the public, against tremendous opposition - chicks would not be able to have sex in the same way without that access.

In general, it's a great book about an interesting publishing phenomenon.

This book is not as dry as my review!.......2006-01-14

As one who had never heard the term Chick Lit before reading reviews of Emily Barr's "Backpack," I gotta thank Ferriss, Young, and their 14 contributors for 'splaining it to me. Some of the essays, like those by Mazza and Guerrero, make critical points with style and wit worth reading for themselves. But even the essay that reads like a dissertation chapter and the structuralist analysis help define Chick Lit and relate it not just to classics by Burney and Austen but also to chronologically closer predecessors by Atwood, Bombeck, Jong, Acker and others.

I admired the rather sour take on the genre by Wells, who backs up her criticism with comparisons of the craft of foremothers Austen, Bronte and Wharton with Fielding, Weisberger and Kinsella. Not that I agree with her, but it is refreshing to have an articulate naysayer in the collection of essays.

Most of the essayists use comparison well, but Kiernan's "No Satisfaction: Sex and the City, Run Catch Kiss, and the Conflict of Desires in Chick Lit's New Heroines" shows very clearly why Sohn's novel is a more disturbing read.

The index is excellent. It's easy to see that authors Fielding and Austen get the most refs, but what really help are the subheadings under the term "chick lit." Since Amazon doesn't have LOOK INSIDE for this edition at present, here are some of the subheadings: "female friendships and," "genre's formula, discussion of," "confessional narrative (instant messaging) style,"--very useful!

So does the publication of a scholarly but lively collection of essays mark the end of this genre (yeah, what ever happened to cyberpunk?)? I doubt it. Ferriss and Young's book convinced me that there has been a sea-change in contemporary fiction and provided a ton of new titles to read.

Winning with the Trompowsky (Batsford Chess Book)
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Good Book, Bad Opening

Best? opening book

This is how opening books should be written

Winning with the Trompowsky (Batsford Chess Book)
Peter Wells
Manufacturer: Batsford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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The Trompowsky, 2nd

Dealing with d4 Deviations: Fighting The Trompowsky, Torre, Blackmar-Diemer, Stonewall, Colle and Other Problem Openings (Everyman Chess)

The Veresov: Surprise Your Oponents with the Tricky 2 Nc3!

Play the French, 3rd (Cadogan Chess Books)

Win with the London System

ASIN: 071348795X

Book Description

The accelarated development of the White queen's bishop after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 was for many years considered a bizarre chess opening, practiced only by a few "eccentric" chess players scattered around the globe, including the Brazilian Octavio Trompowsky, after whom the variation was named. Then in the 1990s, after a chance discovery, the young English grandmaster, Julian Hodgson, started to play it on the UK and international chess circuit with dramatic success, scoring many short wins with dashing attacking play. By force of example, the opening then saw a rapid increase in popularity; in fact, it is now regarded as "mainline" theory. Players interested in mastering this move will find here a thorough survey of the development and latest trends in this exciting opening, together with illustrative games. A must for any Competitive player.

Customer Reviews:

Good Book, Bad Opening.......2004-10-11

This is an excellent book, but it ignores the fact that the trompowsky isn't fun for white after 2...d5 or the various other lines in which white plays bishop takes knight and black takes back with the g pawn. The dark squares and bishop pair will usually give black a position in which he is anything but worse. Then there's also the problem with what to play against moves like 1...d5, 1...f5, 1...e6, and 1...c6. In the latter two you could transpose to e4 openings, but then why are you playing d4? And in the first two, what do you play? Either the main lines, which you're trying to avoid by playing the trompowsky, or some system like the London or Stonewall in which your opponent can just copy your moves and draw. I don't even recommend this opening as a secondary weapon, because you must have knowledge of benoni, open sicilian, and french advance structures to play the Tromp, and that's a lot of work for a surprise opening that isn't even that good.

Best? opening book.......2004-05-02

This is the bible of the opening made popular by Julian Hodgson and other young British GMs. In his hands, it fits with his slashing, attacking style.

The book's 240 pages are chockful of original analysis and reveal the author's passion for this opening. There's a lot of clear explanations for lower-rated players as well as enough innovative lines that even GMs will need this book to tackle the Tromp. In fact, Jeremy Silman has called this work "magnificent" and described it as simply the best opening text he's ever seen.

A question for me remains why the opening is so under-represented in MCO 14. It's covered in about three pages.

By the way, look at Wells' other opening books too: The Complete Semi-Slave and The Complete Richter-Rauzer. According to Mr. Silman, they set the standard for those openings as well.

This is how opening books should be written.......2004-04-27

Aside from being a strong opening in itself, the Trompowsky lets White avoid Black's pet Indian defenses and can be frustrating. In this book, Wells covers all of the main lines of the Trompowsky with just enough detail. Against the two critical lines, 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5!? and 3. ..d5 there, he offers a "Solid" move and an "Attacking" move, with one chapter devoted to each. Here are the chapters of the book, for the curious:

[1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5]
1) 2. ...Ne4 Introduction and Minor Lines
2) 2. ...Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. d5 (Attacking)
3) 2. ...Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. Nd2 (Solid)
4) 2. ...Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 - Introduction and Attacking Repertoire with 4. f3
5) 2. ...Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3!? (Solid)
6) 2. ...c5 - Introduction and the Solid Repertoire with 3. Bxf6
7) 2. ...c5 - The Attacking Repertoire with 3. d5!?
8) 2. ...e6 3. e4!?
9) 2. ...d5 - Introduction and 3. Bxf6
10) 2. ...g6 and other Minor 2nd Moves
11) Index of Main Variations
12) Index of Games

The book follows master-level Trompowsky games and Wells annotates them in a very instructive fashion. I learned to play the Trompowsky with confidence after just one reading of this book.

There is one pseudo-Trompowsky line that this book does NOT cover: 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5!? If you really want to play this line, you'll have to look elsewhere to learn it.

Winning with the Trompowsky
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Winning with the Trompowsky

Manufacturer: B.T. Batsford Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0713470364

Book Description

WINNER of a Riskbook.com Best of 2004 Book Award! During the last decade, financial models based on jump processes have acquired increasing popularity in risk management and option pricing. Much has been published on the subject, but the technical nature of most papers makes them difficult for nonspecialists to understand, and the mathematical tools required for applications can be intimidating. Potential users often get the impression that jump and Lévy processes are beyond their reach. Financial Modelling with Jump Processes shows that this is not so. It provides a self-contained overview of the theoretical, numerical, and empirical aspects involved in using jump processes in financial modelling, and it does so in terms within the grasp of nonspecialists. The introduction of new mathematical tools is motivated by their use in the modelling process, and precise mathematical statements of results are accompanied by intuitive explanations. Topics covered in this book include: jump-diffusion models, Lévy processes, stochastic calculus for jump processes, pricing and hedging in incomplete markets, implied volatility smiles, time-inhomogeneous jump processes and stochastic volatility models with jumps. The authors illustrate the mathematical concepts with many numerical and empirical examples and provide the details of numerical implementation of pricing and calibration algorithms. This book demonstrates that the concepts and tools necessary for understanding and implementing models with jumps can be more intuitive that those involved in the Black Scholes and diffusion models. If you have even a basic familiarity with quantitative methods in finance, Financial Modelling with Jump Processes will give you a valuable new set of tools for modelling market fluctuations.

Customer Reviews:

NOT Too much focus on the mathematics.......2006-03-07

There is JUST the right amount of mathematics! Around every mathematical expression, there is a long discussion to explain what's going on. This is the best book there is on applications of Levy processes to finance, no question about it ...

A wonderful book on Levy process.......2006-01-05

The authors not only understand the math, but also integrate the math with financial economics well. I think Levy process is the way to go in the next decade. For example, fundamentally speaking, Brownian motion cannot explain the equity premium puzzle, hence people resort to other factors, such as incomplete market, behaviors, prospect theory, etc. However, behavioral explanations cannot stand in the long run. Prospect theory may reveal what a "normal" person usually do, but once it is revealed, a normal person can get "smarter" and overcome his/her impetus in making suboptimal decisions. Then behavioral andirrational explanation will fail (eventually). One thing I found from my own research is that the Levy process may be an important yet often ignored factor that can explain unexplained issues in finance, hence we do not have to reply on shaky behavioral and irrational arguments. One last point, behavioral can be either rational (good, correct and acceptable) or irrational (bad and should be got rid of. This would be the long long journey for a person who has deep beliefs in science).

Impressive book with a hiccup.......2004-10-15

A book dealing comprehensively with discontinuous asset prices has long been overdue. This is a first attempt to fill the gap in a manner both rigorous and accessible. The reason why it has taken so long for a book of this kind to appear is that price jumps give rise to a host of issues that are simply not present in continuous models such as Black-Scholes. The authors tackle most of them admirably. The book also contains valuable comprehensive bibliography.

Every pioneer can make a mistake. The authors do not shy away from very complicated questions, such as (locally) optimal hedging in the presence of jumps. I'm afraid they haven't done their homework properly in this case. They claim on page 339 "the minimal martingale measure preserves orthogonality", which happens to be true for continuous price processes but it is false in most models with jumps. Pages 340 and 341 go on to compute the locally risk minimizing hedging coefficients based on the false premise. I hope this can be fixed in the next edition.

Too much focus on the mathematics.......2004-02-08

I miss the step to practice and would like to see these mathematical formulas work. For me it contained too much (unuseful) mathematics and proofs. Good maybe for mathematicians, but for banking people on the edge of being unreadable. It is very time consuming to browse more then 500 pages and then still to have to work out all details to implement things. Also the stochastic volatily models are too briefly covered.

Book Description

Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish mysticism. Given his importance, it is remarkable that this is the first scholarly work on him in English.

Most studies of Lurianic Kabbalah focus on Luria’s mythic and speculative ideas or on the ritual and contemplative practices he taught. The central premise of this book is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus the book focuses on Luria the person and on his relationship to his disciples. What attracted Luria’s students to him? How did they react to his inspired and charismatic behavior? And what roles did Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?

Customer Reviews:

Rich, wide-reaching, but somewhat unsound.......2004-01-30

Mostly sympathetic overview of Lurianic kabbalah, theory and early history, drawing from a wide range of sources. Fine blends philosophical and sociocultural analyses together to paint a richly textured picture of the Arizal (R. Yitchak Luria) and his disciples. The Arizal was phenomenal thinker, integrating many different approaches into a compelling and beautiful mystical system. His chief disciple R. Chaim Vital, while brilliant in his own right, comes in for criticism in this book for his apparent narcissism and inability to get along with his peers. The only significant problem I have with this book is that Fine has bought Scholem's polemical thesis about an alleged opposition or incompatibility between kabbalah and halachic Judaism. Like Scholem, who was a self-confessed "religious anarchist," Fine brings highly selected quotations to support this thesis, while ignoring the central tenets of kabbalah. Since the days of the Rabbis of the Talmud (and even prior to them), who were deeply immersed in Merkavah mysticism, almost all of the leading halachic authorities in Judaism have also been the leading kabbalists of their generations. Far from opposing halachah, kabbalists throughout history have been especially supportive of it and exacting in their observance. This is no coincidence, since kabbalah may be best understood as a sort of mystical commentary and apologetic for halachah, advanced to bolster and enrich halachic practice. Although Fine's support for Scholem's biased thesis renders his other conclusions somewhat unreliable as well, the good in this book still far outweighs the dubious in it. This said, the above points make me reluctant to recommend the book to those who are not already familiar with true kabbalah.

Book Description

Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

Customer Reviews:

Magellan Iluminated.......2007-10-01

The author brings the voyage and the societal context of the journey to the reader. The book contains what is likely to have been all of the evidence available, yet is lively and interesting. Anyone who enjoys the superb biographies by Ronald Chernow will enjoy this, too.

Was going good, but lacked that little "something".......2007-09-30

It seems that the author was very well documented. It was very clear his effort in keeping a "balanced" position, and not to be too much "judgemental". The author tried his best to make us understand how things in the 16th century use to work (if anyone thinks that our times are tough, take a look at those days). And for all that, I am happy. But there was missing that little "I don't know what" that takes a "good" book, into a "great" book. Anyway, the book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know about that amazing story of humankind.

Good, overall.......2007-08-15

Good book overall though I am troubled by a description of Magellan's ancestry. According to the author, on his mother's side, the family name is Mesquitas. The author suggests that that side of the family may have been Jewish because Mesquitas refers to a mosque in Spanish. Huh? Muslims pray at mosques, Jews at synagogues. The family may have been Moors, not Jews.
Are there more inaccuracies?

A Very Impressive Read.......2007-07-13

I'm really glad historians are beginning to write for people who aren't preparing for a test and simply want a book that's as informative as it is enjoyable. This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's really unforgettable. Some reviewers obviously didn't like this, but that's life. As for me, I couldn't put it down and was wanting more at the end. Here you'll see Magellan, warts and all--plenty of warts, yet so much a man of principle even when he was misguided. What's so amazing to me is that Bergreen shows Magellan realistically standing alone for what he believes all the while facing challenges (natural and personal) that would make the most steel-hearted man alive flinch in a second. This is a portrait of bravery and dedication to purpose like I've never seen before in a man who is most certainly not without his faults. Read it and enjoy.

As exhilarating as the voyage itself.......2007-06-25

This book makes Columbus and even Cook seem like mere amateurs in comparison. Magellan is the main man! Bergreen knows how to write the story of the great explorer with the hand of a novelist. It makes a fantastic read.
As a follow-up I suggest you read the book "1492 - The year China discovered America". It puts things in perspective, like how did Magellan know about the strait from the atlantic to the pacific that would later bear his name?

Over The Edge Of The World - Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation Of The Globe

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Over The Edge Of The World - Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation Of The Globe
Laurence Bergreen
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VAAA5O

Over the Edge of the World CD: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

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Over the Edge of the World CD: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Laurence; Laurence, Bergreen Bergreen
Manufacturer: HarperAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEOR2O

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Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Laurence Bergreen
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEZKFC

Average customer rating:

OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe.
Laurence Bergreen
Manufacturer: Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NP1QXC

Book Description

People still think of the Cold War as a simple two-sided conflict, a kind of gigantic arm wrestle on a global scale," writes Marc Trachtenberg, "but this view fails to grasp the essence of what was really going on." America and Russia were both willing to live with the status quo in Europe. What then could have generated the kind of conflict that might have led to a nuclear holocaust? This is the great puzzle of the Cold War, and in this book, the product of nearly twenty years of work, Trachtenberg tries to solve it.

The answer, he says, has to do with the German question, especially with the German nuclear question. These issues lay at the heart of the Cold War, and a relatively stable peace took shape only when they were resolved. The book develops this argument by telling a story--a complex story involving many issues of detail, but focusing always on the central question of how a stable international system came into being during the Cold War period. A Constructed Peace will be of interest not just to students of the Cold War, but to people concerned with the problem of war and peace, and in particular with the question of how a stable international order can be constructed, even in our own day.

Customer Reviews:

A very comprehensive, well-researched book........2000-02-26

I read this book because a friend recommended it to me. There is painstaking detail about the diplomatic moves made by Secretary of State James Byrnes about the formation of NATO in 1945-1947, when he was replaced by Dean Acheson. This book does fail to give adequate coverage to events happening in Korea during the Korean War, leaving the reader to wonder if this author felt Europe was the center of the world during the first decade of the Cold War.

A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945-1963.(Review) (book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945-1963.(Review) (book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Sean Kennedy , and Elizabeth Colwill
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 2001. The length of the article is 936 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: A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945-1963.(Review) (book review)
Author: Sean Kennedy
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Page: 158

Article Type: Book Review

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A Constructed Peace - The Making Of The European Settlement 1945 - 1963

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A Constructed Peace - The Making Of The European Settlement 1945 - 1963
Marc Trachtenburg
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RC4EDU

A constructed peace?: The United States, the NATO allies, and the making of the European settlement, 1949-1963 (Working papers of the Volkswagen Foundation program in post-war German history)

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A constructed peace?: The United States, the NATO allies, and the making of the European settlement, 1949-1963 (Working papers of the Volkswagen Foundation program in post-war German history)
Marc Trachtenberg
Manufacturer: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, German Historical Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

At a time when most societies have lost any sense of direction, here is a book that explains why present economic and political systems are not working. Arthur Dahl offers creative new thinking for those with an interest in economics and development, new perspectives for environmentalists in the application of ecological analysis to economic and social problems, and explanations of the critical linkage between religious beliefs and our social and environmental crises. He introduces the notion of the Eco to describe a world which in reality comprises inter-acting, dynamic and constantly changing systems.

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