If you are an avid supporter of the European Union, this book will not be a fun read. In this polemical essay, Judt argues that the future of Europe cannot be a unified one and that the EU is ultimately doomed to failure. What is his rationale?

He writes, "The years 1945-1989 are thus coming to seem more and more like a parenthesis." Arguing that nationalism is the most powerful and influential force in Europe, Judt paints a picture of a Europe that has been historically divided. Any attempts at unity will founder because of inherent national differences and nationalist feelings.

Although Judt offers several cogent arguments, his book fails to take into account the current state of optimism in Europe and the fact that the EU has been widely accepted. After a tumultuous century of division (from the powerful pre-WWI nation-states to the Cold War's establishment of East v. West), Europe today seems eager to latch onto a system that would provide some sense of community. Judt ignores this fact. Also, Judt's argument about Germany seems to me to be illogical, and some his evidence is a real stretch.

Judt's book on Europe has some value--it offers some very provocative points about Europe--but in the end, its overly pessimistic view lacks clarity and a solid factual base.

Perhaps the best overall review of Grand Prix history to date, from the early road races in France in the 1890s through the German domination of the 1930s and the post-war Italian supremacy. Pritchard's masterpiece combines historical vignettes, technical discussion and contemporary articles by the drivers themselves, including such legends as Tazio Nuvolari. The treatment of Formula One from the McLaren-dominated 1980s on is thin, but "The Enthusiast's Companion is well-named for the true F1 aficionado.

Cassandra Swann is worth meeting and this mystery is an excellent introduction. Swann's knowledge of bridge and eternal meddling in the death of Lady Portia Wickham are considerably less impressive than her relationships with what is left of her family and the men in her life. Yet, somehow, Susan Moody has woven the stories together so well that you can't imagine finding out about one without the other. As a heroine, Cassandra Swann is just neurotic enough to be interesting; and good-hearted enough to be endearing

This book has a lot going for it, not least of which is an editor with an excellent reputation. The authors of the individual essays are also well-known and respected within the field, and the essays are well-written and cogent. However, despite Paul Kennedy's explanation in the preface, the essays concentrate primarily on either military strategy during wartime or preparation, primarily military, for the next war. What consideration is given to economics, alliances, and diplomacy is geared toward military preparedness. This makes the essays much narrower than Kennedy's definition of grand strategy implies, and I cannot help but wonder about the choice of essays.

Within this narrow field, however, this book is excellent. The essays are clear, easy to follow, and persuasive. Most do an excellent job of providing not just a history lesson, but an analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the strategy. Of particular use were the three essays concerning British strategy in the War of Spanish Succession, World War I, and World War II. The essays on German and French policy also covered more than one war, making them useful for an analysis of how policy changes over time. Both successful and unsuccessful examples are given, and much thought is given on why this is so.

Beyond this, all I have are minor quibbles, the most serious being the fact that this is, essentially, a series of case studies. It is dangerous to use case studies to provide an objective analysis, in that there is a temptation to choose a thesis first, then choose which cases to observe to support that theory. Case studies are more useful in defending or defining a theory than in determining one. Here we can only hope that Paul Kennedy's reputation is earned (and I believe it is), because it would be very easy for him to mislead us.

The focus of the book is on Western Europe, and this is somewhat disappointing, given that other countries are becoming more and more prominent on the world scene. An analysis of Chinese, or even better, Japanese policy would have been useful, especially given its unique position. The end notes are placed at the very back of the book, making it difficult to check references, etc. The first essay could have used tighter editing as well.

Enough complaints, however. This is an excellent book, more useful for history than for strategy formulation, but a useful companion book nonetheless.

I picked this book up in Bangalore, and glanced through the first few pages wondering if it had anything to say to an Austalian/Englishman of today. I quickly found myself engrossed, learning much I had no idea about, of the influence of one country on another put in terms of the religious values of both countries. My wif'e family went to India about the same times as Grant, and must have witnessed the same indifference to famine and drought. The responce by Grant was far reaching, and for better or worse the author looks as how far Indai today has moved towards a society where everyone is equally cared for. We worth reading more than once.

the knowledge of the book is good. however, it is not feasible to say that all Indiginous black people are Lenabe/Lenape we are all indiginous but not all lenabe. This org take money but I never see there activity in the country.

Spans 1821 to 1980, chronicling shipwrecks on the eastern shore of southern Lake Michigan. A well-researched narrative which contains numerous excerpts from the actual newspaper accounts of these maritime disasters. Some of these stories are harrowing! Also contains a few photos.

However, the author's narrative was rather dry, uninspired, and was poorly proofread.

Niki Lauda is not a great writer, but he is an honest, straight-forward critic of "ground effects" and the damage they did to driving skill in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This highly technical book is a diffcult read for non-engineers, but Lauda's outspokeness is a refreshing change from today's PR-oriented drivers. Dated, but still interesting.

An excellent shop manual covering what I used it for - the pontiac 1968 grand prix. Would recommend.

This book has several tricks to solve problems with old dos games. It's quite simple: it follows a step by step approach and is suitable both for beginner and advanced users. It tells you how to run games without creating a lot of boot disks. The CDROM included is also a collection of old shareware games. The defect of this book is that specific questions about certain games configuration are not covered. So if you have a particular question, try to look if the solution is in the book before you buy it.