Research on Accounting Ethics, Volume 8 (Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting)

Book Description

Research on Accounting Ethics is devoted exclusively to the advancement of ethics research and education in the profession and practice of accounting. Its threefold mission is to: advance innovative and applied ethics research in all accounting related disciplines on a global basis; improve ethics education in and throughout the professional accounting and management curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels; provide a source of information for the professional accounting and auditing community for integrating ethics and good business practices in public firms, business corporations, and governmental organizations.

This series features articles on a broad range of important and timely topics, including professionalism, social responsibility, individual morality, accountability, good business practices in public accounting and the litigation crisis. Papers will be empirical or theoretical in nature, and will draw upon paradi

Book Description

"Yes, But... " is a handbook of lighthearted cartoons and strategy tools you'll need to bulletproof your great ideas. It is now available in Japanese, German and Portuguese.

You'll learn to recognize and diffuse the Top 40 Killer Phrases, made famous in What a Great Idea! before they destroy your creative potential. From the smallest quality improvements to the biggest product launch, learn to transform "Yes, But..." into "Yes, and..." and your ideas into reality!

Killer Phrase: n. 1. A knee-jerk response that squelches new ideas; most commonly said by bosses, parents, and government officials. 2. A threat to innovation.

Fight Back Phrase: n. 1. words that launch ideas into reality; usually said by achievers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. 2. the self talk of champions.

Customer Reviews:

Gives you the bullet-proof system against threats to your innovative ideas...at all times!.......2006-08-21

"Yes, But...": The Top 40 Killer Phrases & How You Can Fight Them by Charles Thompson

In a nut shell, "Yes, But..." is a practical guide to overcoming the bureaucratic language that often stifles continuous innovation.

It is packed with lighthearted cartoons & strategy tools to help you to recognize & diffuse the 'Top 40 Killer Phrases', made famous in the author's first book, entitled 'What a Great Idea!'.

Essentially, you will learn to transform "Yes, But..." into "Yes, and..." & your ideas into reality!

For the uninititated, a 'Killer Phrase' is defined as a knee-jerk response that squelches new ideas; most commonly said by bosses, parents, & government officials. It is often a threat to innovation. Whereas, a 'Fight Back Phrase' is defined as words that launch ideas into reality; usually said by achievers, leaders, & entrepreneurs. It is the self talk of champions.

If you are a manager &/or facilitator, please get hold of this wonderful book immediately!

Yes, But...: The Top 40 Killer Phrases and How You Can Fight Them

Average customer rating:

Yes, But...: The Top 40 Killer Phrases and How You Can Fight Them
Charles; Lyons, Lael; Thompson, Charles Thompson
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LEMB16

Average customer rating:

"Yes, But . . ." The Top 40 Killer Phrases and How You Can Fight Them
Charles; Lyons, Lael Thompson
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKXRNS

Customer Reviews:

Guide to the first official interpretations of canon law........1997-12-09

This slim volume documents and explains the first 24 official interpretations (answers) given by the Vatican to questions which have arisen under the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Wrenn is a nationally respected canon lawyer who makes sense of the cumbersome process by which canonical interpretation issues are resolved. A copy of the 1983 Code of Canon Law is necessary in order to make reasonable use of this book.

Book Description

This volume is an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the engineering of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a revolutionary instrument which will be the world’s largest radio telescope. Expected to be completed by 2020, the SKA will be a pre-eminent tool in probing the Early Universe and in enhancing greatly the discovery potential of radio astronomy in many other fields. This book, containing 36 refereed papers written by leaders in SKA engineering, has been compiled by the International SKA Project Office and is the only contemporary compendium available. It features papers dealing with pivotal technologies such as antennas, RF systems and data transport. Also overviews of important SKA demonstrator instruments and key system design issues are included. Practising professionals, and students interested in next-generation telescopes, will find this book an invaluable reference.

The Square Kilometre Array: an Engineering Perspective

Average customer rating:

The Square Kilometre Array: an Engineering Perspective
Peter J. (EDT) Hall
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6D116

Customer Reviews:

Clear, concise, interesting..........2006-06-27

The Cell: Evolution of the First Organism by Joseph Panno, Ph.D., offers an excellent, concise and interesting introduction on the cell and its evolution. Panno opens with a brief overview of theories related to life's origin, then moves to prokaryotes and how they laid a foundation for eukaryotes. Next, he offers an examination of the cell cycle, followed by genes, multicellular organisms, and neurons. Panno does a stellar job of communicating a complex subject clearly (better than many texts as I see it) and sans oversimplification. The black-and-white graphics and glossary are exemplary and useful to the student.
This is my first experience with Panno and the publisher Facts On File, Inc. I am most intrigued. Highly recommended.
The book professes to be targeted at high school or first-year biology students. As I see it, those students would be serious. While it may not be enough for someone with a good deal of biology education, it is excellent orientation for newcomers.
Another wonderful book that offers more of a prose take on biology and is very rich in a wholly different way is The Epic History of Biology by Anthony Serafini.

Early Evolution: From the appearance of the first cell to the first modern organisms

Average customer rating:

Early Evolution: From the appearance of the first cell to the first modern organisms
Martino Rizzotti
Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

Organic | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Science | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth (Princeton Science Library)

ASIN: 3764361913

Book Description

This book aims to fill a gap in the evolution of living things. Actually, over the last few decades there has been increasing interest in the astronomical and physicochemical problems involved in the events which determined the appearance of the first cell; for almost two centuries the evolution of present-day and past species has given rise to a great many investigations and much discussion; moreover, in the last few years important contributions have come from the discoveries about their DNA. By contrast, there has been very little investment in attempts to understand the evolutionary processes which linked the first cell to the first modern organisms, of which are included even the most ancient fossils. In this field, even simple working hypotheses are often lacking. This book discusses at length these missing links and the origin of the basic structures of modern cells ranging from the propelling organelles of bacteria and nucleated cells to the organelles that the nucleated cells acquired by...

The Cell: Evolution of the First Organism (New Biology)

Average customer rating:

The Cell: Evolution of the First Organism (New Biology)
Ph.D. Panno, Joseph Panno Joseph
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUA1KC

Book Description

Hailey Bailey has never been noticed, recognized or remembered. After a transient childhood spent in the cab of a Mack truck, Hailey is now 43 years old, overweight and stuck in a go-nowhere job with Jesus, her ex-husband who filed for divorce in an inner office envelope.

When a rare impulse strikes, Hailey buys a Daily Lottery ticket thinking she will never win. But when she does win and continues to win every time she buys a ticket, hard-nosed news reporter George Sprinkle is on the case, threatening to expose Hailey of pulling off the biggest lottery scam in state history. But it's not the money Hailey is drawn to--it's the fact that miraculously, people are nice to her every time she wins.

But the once-famous investigative reporter needs a big story to save his journalistic reputation and deflated ego and nothing will stop him from publishing his story. Throw in a Chinese restaurant, one night with a Kenny Rogers impersonator and a few trips through the all-you-can-eat fried bar, and you've got the twist-turning tale of Hailey Bailey, the woman you won't notice but will never forget.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

A hysterical, tears down your face, laugh out loud triumph!!.......2004-09-25

Yet, another brilliant novel by author Georgie Nickell. There will be many moments you will have to put this one down to wipe tears of laughter from your eyes. Like her first book, "I Only Smoke on Thursdays", Ms. Nickell has turned the misadventures of adulthood into a laugh out loud riot.
This book is sure to become one of your favorites; with dog eared pages, bent spine and a special place among your favorite books you read over and over again. I have already read "Hailey Bailey Wins the Daily" twice and am still picking up hilarious things I missed the first two reads.
This is a must read for anyone who needs a good long laugh or is a good friend that loves to give their friends luaghter as a gift.
It's like taking a vacation without paying the airfare and will give your stomach a good work out from hours of laughter.
If you loan your copy to friends, don't plan on getting it back soon. My friends love it as much as I do. (I had to buy myself another copy!)
I can't wait for her next novel!

A Fun Tale With Lots of Heart.......2004-09-22

Hailey Bailey wins the Dailey is an exceptional effort from an obviously talented author. The main character is hardly likable on the surface, but as the pages go on she captures your heart. I found myself rooting for her with each win. Because the inner toil of Hailey's emotions is so well demonstrated, there is a part of her that we can all relate to. The other quirky characters are all people we negotiate every day and I found myself laughing out loud many times. Hailey's nemisis, George Sprinkle, is as unlovable a character as there is and he effectively stays that way. I could so easily conjure an image of him that I swear that I saw him at a car dealership last week. The story is well written and imaginative. The ending is wonderful and hopeful without being to neatly tied up. This is a fabulous book and I can't wait for Miss Nickell to write more.

Another great summer read.......2004-08-13

This is another great read, I laughed all the way through "I only smoke on Thursdays" last summer and Hailey Bailey hit the mark for a fun poolside companion! I hope this author can pump out another witty, fun, smart character for my next summers' beach book.
Kristin
Kirkland, WA

Amazon.com

Renowned defense expert Martin Van Creveld (author of Command in War) offers a comprehensive 20th-century military history of Israel, starting in 1907 with the organization of Jewish settler groups and concluding with the modern day. Much of the focus is on the Israeli Defense Force's glory years, roughly the quarter century from when Israel secured its independence in 1949, through the Six-Day War against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria (and their Soviet advisors) in 1967, to the October War against Egypt and Syria in 1973. Despite being massively outnumbered, Israel won smashing victories each time--and allowed many experts to claim that man for man, no army in the world was tougher than the one Israel put in the field. Van Creveld (himself an Israeli) celebrates these accomplishments, but is extremely critical of what has happened since: He compares Israel's bungled invasion of Lebanon in 1982 to the American experience in the Vietnam War and cites the Israeli military's various shortcomings in confronting the Palestinian Intifada. Morale in the armed forces is now at a low point, writes van Creveld, who disturbingly suggests that his country's apparent military invincibility may be a thing of the past. Whatever one thinks of this claim, few can doubt that The Sword and the Olive is an inspiring portrayal of courage and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. --John J. Miller

Book Description

The Israeli Defense Force has long been one of the world's most admired--and most mythologized--fighting forces. But is it--was it ever--everything it's cracked up to be? Have its remarkable, against all odds, victories been a double-edged sword for Israel?

Combining razor-sharp analysis with dramatic narrative, vivid portraits of soldiers and commanders with illuminating discussions of battle tactics and covert actions, The Sword and the Olive traces the history of the IDF from its beginnings in Palestine to today. The book also goes beyond chronology to wrestle with the political and ethical struggles that have shaped the IDF and the country it serves--struggles that are manifesting themselves in the recent tragic escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Often revisionist in attitude, surprising in many of its conclusions, this book casts new light on the struggle for peace in the Middle East.

Customer Reviews:

An unfair survey .......2005-09-21

Van Creveld 's knowledgeable account of the early years of the Israeli Defense Forces degenerates in its post- Yom Kippur War phase to a sad insulting polemic. Here it should be noted that Van Creveld is the person who upon the US invasion of Iraq predicted that the Israeli Army in a coordinated move would expel all Palestinians from the West Bank. Of course this loudly made prediction as many of Van Creveld's claims in this book proved to be nothing but the empty product of his very disturbed imagination.
Consider his description of the situation of the Israeli Army vis- a- vis the Palestinians now. He considers a bloated Israeli force to be incapable of real action, and possibly subject to collapse. However in the past few years Israeli intelligence has been superb,and its forces succeeded in halting the Palestinian suicide - campaign. The Palestinian leaders especially of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were all in hiding.
Here it should be noted that most military experts, including Jane's believes that Israel should it wish can completely overwhelm any Palestinian military threat in a few days. And in fact after the Palestinian suicide- terror campaign climaxing with the Pesach Seder in Netanya murders, the IDF took all the West Bank back in twenty four hours.
Aside from the erroneous military assessments of Israel's present strength Van Creveld repeatedly undermines his own credibility by gratuitously insulting Israeli leaders and military figures. This may relate to some psychological problem he has , but his editors should have been more careful to diminish this kind of insult.
Van Creveld also attacks the Israeli nuclear doctrine of 'opacity' while at the same time underestimating the nuclear threat presented by the Islamic world, especially Iran.
He too has a sentimental, uncritical look at Palestinian violence which he diminishes the ' monstrous ' and ' inhumane ' character of.
In general Van Creveld does not give a fair overall picture of the IDF as it has evolved through the years. Israel, according to Jane's and others, has evolved in its military capacity to the point that the qualitative gap between it and all Arab forces is far greater than ever before. Its command- and- control systems have no match in the Arab world.
While it does face terror- threats today from Hizbollah in the North to the Palestinians in Gaza and Judaea and Samaria, and a potential non- conventional threat from Iran, and perhaps elsewhere. it is nonetheless considered to have a far superior military force than all its enemies combined.
Its weakness is in the political realm, about which there is much to say , but not in this review.
As for Van Creveld's work it does not do justice to the subject it surveys.

The Arms of Zion.......2005-02-13

Detailing the evolution of the Israeli Defence Force from its pre -world war one beginning as a private company of guards (Ha-shomer), through its War of Independence and its "finest hour" in the 1967 Six Day War, and up to the 1990s with its failure to act during the 1991 first Gulf War and first Intifada (1986-1993), "The Sword and the Olive" is a compelling portrait of Israel's army, and, as the IDF is one of Israel's central institution, of the Israeli State and of Israeli society in the 20th century.

A world renowned military historian, Martin van Creveld's book is very well written and highly informed. It covers the military, social and economic aspects of the IDF, touching on almost everything, be it the role of nuclear weapons in Middle East, gender roles in the IDF (most controversial is van Creveld's thesis postulating an inverse relationship between the role of women in the Army and its prestige p. 361), or the similarities between the IDF's strategy and that of the Whermacht.

I often lament the shortages of maps in Military history books, but van Creveld's book is more offensive then most in this regard, normally there is only one map to each campaign, and I doubt anyone but the initiated can follow van Creveld's description of Israel's wars.

I am no expert in Israeli military history, most of which I gather from reading Israeli newspapers, but I was particularly surprised of van Creveld's assertions that a main motive behind Nasser's commencement of hostilities in the Six Day War was his fear of the Israeli Nuclear program. Van Creveld emerges as a critic of Israel's policy of nuclear policies, arguing that opacity failed to prevent the Six Day war and the Yom Kippur war (pp. 220-221). As a cause for the Six-Day war, van Creveld hardly mentions the internal political consideration of the Arabs, particularly in Egypt (see Michael B. Oren's brilliant "Six Days of War" for a very different perspective).

I never realized how limited the Egyptian military's moves were in the Yom Kippur war (van Creveld always refers to it as 'The October war'). In essence, Israel's maintenance of the Bar-Lev line, on the west bank of the Suez canal, was costly in terms of human life and military material, and made little or no strategic sense. By fighting on the line, Israel subjugated itself to heavy anti-aircraft and anti-tank fire, and this did not enjoy the superiority it had in mobile warfare as in the Six Days war and the 1956 war. Thus Israel utterly failed to take advantage of the strategic qualities of the Sinai desert as a barrier against attack on itself.

The subtitle of "The Sword and the Olive" is "A Critical History", and critical it is. Van Creveld does not spare criticism of the early pre State Israeli forces and personnel, as well as of Israel's army in the first twenty-five years of its existence, blaming Israelis for inciting Syrian fire on its tractors and questioning performances in the Six Day War.

After the 1973 war, though, van Creveld's criticisms become truly devastating. As heads of state, Golda Meir "frankly admit[ed] she did not know exactly what a division was", and Menachem Begin "kept meddling [with army affairs] even though his military knowledge had been acquired during his kindergarten years and barely developed thereafter" (p. 108). Nor is van Creveld kinder to generals: Moshe Dayan "failed to carry his point of view in the Cabinet" and "as usual" "found a way to shift responsibility [for the Bar Lev line] to others" (pp. 211-213). General 'Motta' Gur's "greatest intellectual achievement[s]" were "a series of children's books about Azzit, a heroic shepherd she-dog" (p. 249). The general intellectual poverty of the Israeli high command was manifested in Rafael Eytan "for whom wider cultural horizons simply do not exist" (p. 263).

About the current state of the Israeli army van Creveld doesn't mince words. The state of the Israeli moral is so devastating that the army had to suppress research about it. "In an army that once prided itself on truthfulness, lying has become institutionalized" van Creveld writes (p. 350). Great public outcry about accidents led to a pre-approbation of exercises and to a sharp decrease in the quantity and quality of training (p.349). Indeed, the IDF has become "soft, bloated, frequently undisciplined and undertrained", and although every successive IDF chief of staff has promised to make the army "lean and mean" again, none delivered the promise (p. 318).

Van Creveld has little doubt as to the cause of the malaise: The Occupation and the war against the Palestinians. "War... is an imitative activity in which... the two sides will learn from each other and tend to resemble each other. Thus he who fights the weak will himself become weak, and he who by "fighting" the weak behaves like a coward will end up turning into one" (p.352).

You do not have to agree with every point of van Creveld opinionated study in order to appreciate its knowledge and learning. A Superb source about the IDF, "The Sword and the Olive" is a must read for anyone interested in Israel, the Middle East, or Military history.

By Jerusalem-based military expert Martin van Creveld.......2003-10-14

Written by Jerusalem-based military expert Martin van Creveld (the only non-American author on the U.S. Army's required reading list for officers), The Sword And The Olive: A Critical History Of The Israeli Defense Force is a straightforward accounting of the history of Israel's army, beginning with its origins in the early 1900's when Jews fleeing Russian pogroms banded together for defense against hostile Arabs, down to modern day Israeli military clashes in Lebanon and against Intifada uprisings. The Sword And The Olive is confidently recommended as an exhaustively researched, soberly written, and unbiased account that questions whether the Israeli Defense Force has exchanged the role of the underdog David for the role of the powerful, arrogant, yet ultimately vulnerable Goliath.

Critical is the key word.......2003-05-20

Reading this book is like watching bloopers after a good program.
The only problem is... there is no good program here, only the bloopers. The fact that the author is biased is not the big issue (all authors are), but Mr. Van Creveld doesn't even attempt to disguise it. As far as the writing is concerned, the book is boring and repetitious and the constant comparisons of Israeli tactics with those of the Nazis are utterly sickening. If you're interested in the History of the IDF, avoid this book. There are much better and serious works out there. But if you insist, I'll be selling it for 50 cents at my next garage sale.

Critical Review of a critical history.......2003-01-24

Although the book contains a lot of good information, readers should take into account that there is always biased opinion in any critical essay. Although Creveld doesn't overtly show his bias until near the end of the book, his obvious disdain for religious Judaism detracts from the content of the book, and causes one to call into question the accuracy of some of the material. The use of quotation marks for emphasis has the effect of highlighting this disdain and will result in causing offense to any religious reader. Although the documentation seems to be complete, missing references in certain strategic places throughout the book call certain arguments into question. For example, on page 347, the author tells of an incident where soldiers "used a bulldozer to bury captured demonstrators (they came out alive)," but no source reference is given for his information. The lack of reference leads one to wonder whether the author is relating an incident of fact or unsubstantiated rumor. The book is interesting and worth reading--but with discretion.

The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force.(Review) (book review): An article from: Middle East Policy

Average customer rating:

The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force.(Review) (book review): An article from: Middle East Policy
Joshua Sinai
Manufacturer: Middle East Policy Council
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008HBAMC
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Middle East Policy, published by Middle East Policy Council on June 1, 2000. The length of the article is 4927 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 Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force.(Review) (book review)
Author: Joshua Sinai
Publication: Middle East Policy (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2000
Publisher: Middle East Policy Council
Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Page: 176

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This sweeping survey constitutes the first comprehensive treatment of the forty-seven individuals—forty-six white males and one African American female—who have been chosen to represent Illinois in the United States Senate from 1818 to 2003. David Kenney and Robert E. Hartley underscore nearly two centuries of Illinois history with these biographical and political portraits, compiling an incomparably rich resource for students, scholars, teachers, journalists, historians, politicians, and any Illinoisan interested in the state’s heritage.

An Uncertain Tradition: U. S. Senators from Illinois, 1818–2003 is a fresh and careful study of the shifting set of political issues occurring over time and illuminated by the lives of participants in the politics of choice and service in the Senate. Kenney and Hartley plot the course of the state’s varied senatorial leadership, from the state’s founding and the appearance of political parties, through the Civil War and its aftermath, and into the diverse political climate of the twenty-first century. From the notorious to the heroic, the popular to the pioneering, the senatorial roster includes such luminaries as “The Little Giant” Stephen A. Douglas; Lyman Trumbull, who served three terms in the Civil War era; “Uncle Dick” and “Black Jack,” also known as Richard Oglesby and John A. Logan; the “Wizard of Ooze” Everett Dirksen; and modern leaders such as Adlai Stevenson III, Paul Simon, and Carol Moseley-Braun.

Kenney and Hartley offer incisive commentary on the quality of senate service in each case, as well as timeline graphs relating to the succession of individuals in each of the two sequences of service, the geographical distribution of senators within the state, and the variations in party voting for senate candidates. Rigorously documented and supremely readable, this convenient reference volume is enhanced by portraits of many of the senators.

Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
Average customer rating:

Look homeward brother

Astonishing auto-biography of the ultimate Eastern European

Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
Czeslaw Milosz , and Catherine S. Leach
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Eastern European | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays

The Captive Mind

New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001

Legends of Modernity: Essays and Letters from Occupied Poland, 1942-1943

The Issa Valley: A Novel

ASIN: 0374528306

Book Description

The autobiography of the Nobel laureate

Before he emigrated to the United States, Czeslaw Milosz lived through many of the social upheavals that defined the first half of the twentieth century. Here, in this compelling account of his early life, the author sketches his moral and intellectual history from childhood to the early fifties, providing the reader with a glimpse into a way of life that was radically different from anything an American or even a Western European could know.

Using the events of his life as a starting point, Native Realm sets out to explore the consciousness of a writer and a man, examining the possibility of finding glimmers of meaning in the midst of chaos while remaining true to oneself.

In this beautifully written and elegantly translated work, Milosz is at his very best.

Customer Reviews:

Look homeward brother.......2005-07-01

The test of a truly great book is when you long NOT to finish it. A hundred pages to the end, then fifty, and you slow your tempo down to a page-a-day, then a paragraph, and then finally, just a couple of sentences as to prolong the pain, the pleasure. Milosz's autobiography par excellence, Native Realm, is one such book. And much more than that. A modern Odyssey, it traces the tempestous voyages of one of this century's greatest poets, one of Europa's finest sons.

Subtitled 'A Search for Self-Definition,' Native Realm unfolds as a diary of one who lived through some of the twentieth century's bleakest moments, two world wars, the complete destruction of a city (Warsaw) and the near-complete extermination of a people (Poland's Jews). Milosz takes us step by step down into the inferno of his century, into the quagmire of his homeland. A sorrowful Virgil, Milosz guides us through each cavern of a very personal hell. Born in one of Europe's most forgotten and mystical corners, Lithuania, Milosz recounts the recipe of his own European-ness, a Lithuanian mother and a Polish father of Sorbian descent. His family was of one petty gentry and thus, young Milosz's youth was a cloudless one of innocent expeditions into the dense Baltic forests of pine and spruce. Milosz reminisces with a slight tinge of nostalgia, painting pictures of an Eden-like world where man and surroundings were linked in a symbosis of mutual respect and awe. Milosz's homeland was a ethnically heterogenous one where Lithuanian, Pole, Byelorussian and Jew lived in an amicable tension, each bringing precious ingredients to their common feast. The kitchen of this feast was the city that more than any other left its brand on Milosz's psyche: Wilno, known today as Vilnius, capital of the Lithuanian republic. Here, Milosz revels in his reveries through narrow cobble-stoned streets and over an equally bumpy Catholic education which also left its mark on the man. Conflicted with his deep love for Creation, Milosz never gave up his faith in and awe of the Creator. Smithing his own highly individualistic faith, Milosz remained skeptical of the new creed of salvation that spread the good news to depression-racked Europe: Communism.

One of this book's richest chapters focuses on Marxism and Milosz's cautious rejection of its monolithic message, and another one picks apart the nation that carried this evangel to its furthest extreme, Russia. Milosz analyzes Russia and her people much like Dostoevsky did with Poland and the Poles in House of the Dead, with a grudging respect and a candid admission of distaste. Pole and Rus, brothers who are separated by a spiritual fence and only too happy to stay on their perspective sides. Milosz embraces his Polish, Roman roots and draws a marked line in the sand between him and the Byzantine east. Yet, Milosz remains fair and does his best to present the all sides of the Russian bear, from the red-bearded, vodka-breathed soldier in the Tsarist army who befriended young Milosz to the 'kind-hearted' Red Army Ivans who shot their German captive so as to save him from the cruelties of a Russian winter.

The most gripping part of Milosz's story is his description of life in hell, that is of surviving the Sodom and Gomorrah of Nazi-occupied Poland. Milosz squeaked out an minimalist existence in the nightmare of Hans Frank's General Gouvernment, the Nazi-controlled part of Poland. Amidst the starvation and daily executions, Milosz kept his sanity and humanity intact by etching out his poems, all the while painfully aware that things were a whole lot worse over the ghetto wall. Milosz never tries to escape his culpability in not doing more. He remarks, 'To live with one's cowardice is bitter.' Bitter indeed, but the reader feels the hopelessness of the situation and asks himself/herself, 'Would we have done any different?' Milosz lets us stare at the answer.

Native Realm's secret not only lies in its almost hyponotic ability to sweep the reader along the tumultous waves of 20th century Eastern Europe, but most of all, in its captain's steerage. Milosz's prose beams with the simple elegance of his poems. Every word solid and right in its place. Every sentence either rings with near-Homeric concreteness---hiding in Warsaw's sewers during the Uprising, " The women closed the metal cover over us, and inside we immediately began to suffocate. It was quite theoretical: in the light from the electrical bulb I saw the mouths of fish thrown up on the sand and heads withering on stems of necks," or with aphoristic sting, "Westerners like to dwell in the empyrean of noble words about spirit and freedom, but it is not often that they ask someone whether he has enough money for lunch."

Such gems lie like amber on a beach. You reach one and you just want to sit, admire, examine and give blessings for the happiness burning in your hand. But all good things must come to an end, as does Milosz's eloquent tale of self-discovery. After the cauldron simmered down, Milosz escaped to America and found a fresh, new world where opportunity lay for the taking and nature smiled with the purity of Paradise. But his sojourn remained a tentative one as Europa beckoned constantly. Eventually, Milosz succumbed to his homesickness. "Europe herself gathered me in her warm embrace...Europe, after all, was home to me."

A fitting end to this eloquent dissection of what it means to be European, to 'become' European. Czeslaw Milosz has finally reached home, to that pantheon filled with those rare few who have succeeded in over-coming self, sect, and narrow nationhood to be worthy of the title, 'European.' Montaigne and Goethe, welcome home your brother to his rightful native realm.

Astonishing auto-biography of the ultimate Eastern European.......2000-11-14

If you want to better understand Europe and European history of the 20th century, this is a book to read. Milosz is a Nobel prize-winning poet and writer. This book is his autobiography. He was born in 1911 on the territory of the former Russian Empire. He comes from the Polish-Lithuanian family and is an ultimate Eastern European. He also knows America and Western Europe well.

His knowledge of the European history of the 20th century is nor from the books, but something he lived through himself. Milosz traveled to Siberia with his father. He survived both World wars. He studied in France before WW2 and spent the war in Warsaw, where he witnessed destruction of Warsaw after the upraising. Milosz seems very observant, honest, and has a tendency to self-reflection, which makes the narrative even more interesting.

He had many dangerous adventures during the war years and he remembers and describes them in great detail. Many of his remarks about Russia are right on target (as Russian I can confirm that). This is great and unique book of the ultimate Eastern European. Definitely worth reading if you are interested in the history of this part of the world.

Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
Average customer rating:
Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition
Czeslaw (Catherine S. Leach, Trans.) Milosz
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JZ3VLG

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books