A brilliant presentation to complete the series on the history of the U.S. Constitution. First, in the style of day-to-day newspaper reporting, "A Constitutional Journal" described the writing of this wonderful document; then, "A Child of Fortune" presented the drama of the ratification by the States (again in a "present-tense" style, from the perspective of not quite knowing how things might turn out). Now, the Bill of Rights and first elections are covered in "Forge of Union, Anvil of Liberty". All three books are well-written, historically-accurate, and entertaining. Do a bit of "home-schooling" with your high school-aged children with this most essential part of U.S. history. Short of visiting Liberty Hall and Washington, D.C., these books make history come to life better than any I've read (and I've read quite a few).

I like Robert Payne's translations of Chekhov because he has a good ear for the flow of beautiful writing. He does not bog Chekhov's prose down with needless commas like Constance Garnett and others. Payne's Chekhov reads seamlessly. He understands that good storytelling is about how the words flow together as in speech. Beautiful translations. (By the way, they are perfect for teaching Chekhov to high school or college students.)

Rosa La Luna

"France and Germany at Maastricht is simply political science at its best. Its analytical narrative of Franco-German negotiations on political and monetary union is the most thorough and balanced account of the pivotal episode in the current project of European unity. It combines a comprehensive understanding of the national and sectoral interests at stake in the Maastricht negotiations with a firm grasp of the institutional and electoral environment in which negotiations proceeded. The depth and breadth of the research material required by a study of this variety alone is impressive, but Mazzucelli's lucid explanation of its meaning makes the book a valuable addition to the fields of European studies, comparative politics and international relations." -Carl C. Hodge, Okanagan University College

"In the present context of the efforts to promote a European Union and Franco-German relations, Dr. Mazzucelli's book constitutes an extraordinarily useful contribution to the statesman's, diplomat's, scholar's and layman's reflections on these matters and provides extremely useful leads to all those who, in one way or another, are responsible for the destiny of the European continent and its relations with other parts of the world, in particular its transatlantic allies." -His Excellency Alfred Cahen, Secretary General, Atlantic Treaty Association

"This very informative and balanced volume, rich in factual content and documentary materials, is recommended to politicians, diplomats, experts in European Union affairs and those who would like insight into "corridor diplomacy" during the Maastricht process. This book is also suggested to those who feel responsible for the success of Hungary's negotiations with the European institutions." -Hungarian Foreign Affairs Journal, Spring '97

"Mazzucelli provides an extremely detailed analysis of the national decision-making processes of two of the principal players in the Maastricht negotiations, and a comprehensive discussion of the national, subnational and transnational actors central to the negotiating process...The book's focus and methodological sophistication make it most useful for specialists in the field." -Choice, September '97

"The story Mazzucelli narrates is a fascinating one. The reader is taken inside negotiations in cabinets, ministerial offices and presidential palaces; in national parliaments, government conclaves, Commission meetings, and Council deliberations. We are given a detailed picture of the relationships developed at every level of the bureaucracy and between regional, national and Brussels bureaucracies. This is one of the best documented accounts I have seen of the manifold intricacies of EU politics and negotiation. Mazzucelli has an impressive command of both the primary and secondary materials in French, German, Italian and English. She is also a skilled and assiduous interviewer and has woven into her narrative information obtained over a period of several years. The book is impeccably footnoted and the 33-page bibliography is a mine of information. It is a pleasure to read a book produced with such care." -Glenda G. Rosenthal, Columbia University ECSA Review, Fall '97

"The originality of this work, over and above the attentive look at French and German behavior during this IGC, is that it analyzes the negotiation - which was so difficult for several Member States at domestic level - combining three approaches: "Jean Monnet's practical and purposeful way of doing things," Putnam's "two-level games" (this approach...seems particularly useful in the case of Maastricht, given its emphasis on both "internal bargaining at the domestic level and external negotiations at the international level") and the "four images" of civil servants described by Aberbach, Putnam and Rockman...Anyone involved in another European Union IGC should be very interested in this analysis..." -"Europe" Bulletin, "European Library," Brussels, 15 & 16 December '97

"Mazzucelli's book sheds light on the history of Franco-German governmental relations as the Cold War ended..., situates Franco-German bilateralism within a process of multilateral negotiations in the European Union..., and empirically confirms that it is not possible to understand European integration without taking into account the institutional diversity of states....This volume deserves to be read with interest...,and offers leads for theoretical reflection to all those who work in the areas of integration, foreign policy and the political sociology of European states." -Christian Lequesne, CERI, Revue Française de Science Politique, décembre '97

"In light of the recent events in Brussels, this analysis of French-German relations in the framework of European integration is extremely topical....It examines whether the two European powers, which played a leading role in the period considered, will continue to play a similar role in the enlarged Europe of the future....It should be pointed out that the study is heavily based on primary and secondary sources, as well as interviews with personalities from the political and academic worlds carried out in various European countries between 1992 and 1994." -The International Spectator, Rome, April-June '98

"According to Mazzucelli the process of EU intergovernmental conferences is not subsumed under the intergovernmental approach ....Neofunctional and federal approaches are also not regarded by her as useful for this analysis. In the author's view, these approaches underestimate the complexity of the integration process and do not consider sufficiently the contradictory relations between Brussels and the member states....Furthermore since intergovernmental conferences will be an important element of European integration, i.e., Amsterdam, works like this one by Mazzucelli are important for the analysis of the process of European unity." -Paul Luif, Austrian Institute of International Affairs, Austrian Journal of Political Science, Issue Number 4 '98

This is a fantastically good book, which challenges some conventional misconceptions about both Freudianism and early Soviet communism.

I would have appreciated more material on the attitude of some of the dissident Freudians, like Reich, toward the new Soviet Union. But the emphasis is on the other side of the equation -- the way the Leninists viewed Freudianism, and the psychoanalysts within their own country.

The material is complicated, but Miller makes it as straightforward as humanly possible.

Mary Halasz is an American woman who has spent the last 63 years in the small western Ukraine city of Uzhhorod. Her Hungarian parents moved with the infant Mary from newly-formed Czechoslovakia to Trenton, New Jersey in 1921. While growing up she visited Uzhhorod with her mother a couple of times. On one of these visits she met her future husband and started a correspondence. She moved to Uzhhorod in 1938 on the eve of World War II to marry the Hungarian man she had fallen in love with. Mary had two children and lived through World War II, the Holocaust, the transfer of Uzhhorod to Soviet Ukraine and her husband's imprisonment in the Siberian Gulags. She is kept apart from her American family by Soviet bureaucracy until her mother is finally allowed to visit in 1962.

The story of her life will give American readers a very accessible point of view on the history and society of the Soviet Union and western Ukraine. Her experiences as a single parent in a small regional capital in the Carpathian Mountains will be of interest to students of women's studies, Soviet history, and Ukrainian life.

My parents are from a small town just outside Uzhhorod and I have visited the city four times. I found her story to reflect the charm and mystery of this remote corner of the world very accurately and completely.

This is a fine book. It shows how the Communist leftist establishment discriminated against Jews, even ones who were not religious and who had a parent in the Communist Party. It also provides the evidence first hand of the network of informers and the regular denunciation of minor deviations from the party line by students at elite universities. It also shows how jobs were just for time serving and provides the raw material to infer that the foundation of Soviet economic growth up to the 1960's had been the ruthless exploitation of slave labourers. Whilst Gurevich did things that under Stalin would have spelt death, he was still punished for them, but not as severely, ultimately having to break with his parents, his wife and his child. This was repression, but with a softer profile. It also shows the great courage of Jewish organizations in fabricating "family re-union" invitations to allow people to go free. Moreover, it also shows that the food shortages and the gangs were in place well before 1991 and President Yeltsin. It is a powerful and important book.

This book is an excellent introduction to what happened from the Lenin to Stalin years in the USSR. Anyone who's curious how a country meant to turn into a Socialist Democracy became a Totalitarian Tyranny will want to read this book! This book enlightens the reader on how that country was corrupted by Stalin, and it also attacks some of the myths spread about the Bolsheviks which are still propagated today ( the German gold idea, for instance ). For those who think that Stalinism is the natural outcome of Bolshevism, read this book; It dispels the myth. This book should be complemented later by books by Trotsky and Isaac Deutscher's biographical trilogy about Lenin's second-in-command as well, but all in all, a great book to start with for understanding the Russian Revolution.

This book describes the complete story of the incident that started the Soviet Aliya. The people accused of attempting to hijack a Soviet airplane became notorious in the dissident movemnet. However, the evens that took place were never made kown to the public until this book was published (as far as I know). I read this book in Russian, and it is fascinating. I don't know how well it reads in the English translation.

This is a beautifully written, truly wonderful book. Ms. Pond took a train trip on the Trans-Siberian railroad, and wrote fascinating and erudite vignettes based loosely on each of her stops, from Moscow to the far East.

I've read widely about Communism. But I must say that, with the exception of Solzhenitsyn's works and Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station, I have never read any book that contributed as much to my understanding of this morally bankrupt, dying empire.

Rhoda Blumberg brings in the many aspects, peoples, andcultures involved in building the transcontinental railroad, andconsiders it from many view points. A wonderful way to learn about this important part of American history.