When I was young, there was a piano in the house (and several other instruments, but I did piano). Dad was an amateur musician, with lots of professional connections. Some big names visited the house, and there always seemed to be music going on. One of the sources that Dad enjoyed, and which was used as source material by guests at Christmas time, was Henry A. Simon's _A_Treasury_of_Christmas_Songs_and_Carols_. The echoes of superb performances of these pieces by gifted people made me want, in my stumbling way, to do half as well.
Dad and Mom still have the book. I found a used copy, bought it, and am enjoying it very, very much. The arrangements are faithful to my memories, still harmonious and fun. They are not so difficult that a rank amateur such as myself cannot learn them.
Thank you, Amazon, for making it possible for me to enjoy the songs Dad, his guests, and I used to play, and for this to happen without Dad having to give up his copy. We can play the music to each other over the phone and have a grand time.

When I was a child, my school library had the hardcover copy of this book, and my sister and I checked it out EVERY year for over Christmas vacation. It is such a fabulous book, and finding out that it is (perhaps) available again is so wonderful. The book has carols from all over the world, and includes the sheet music, and short histories of many of the pieces. A fanatastic resource for anyone who loves Christmas music.

A classic adventure story, complete with practical jokes, witty dialogue, heroes, and villains.

Growing up on the coast of Maine, I had the opportunity to meet and know Mr. Winterfeld. My first exposure to him was when he came to my fourth grade class to read "Stargirl" to us. I didn't know how lucky I was at the time, but as I matured and spoke with Mr. Winterfeld more often, I realized just how special this man was. I remember being saddened when he passed away, and when I began purchasing his books for the little people in my life, I remember that he passed away owing me a chess game. "Timpetill" held quite a fantasy for me - an entire population of town's children, left by frustrated parents, to deal with their problems and behaviors by themselves. The town's children dividing into two factions, and how and when the parents decide to return. I had often though as a child what that might have been like, small town Maine and no parents to govern us. I highly recommend this book for the younger person in your life.

I don't actually own this book, however, I spent no less than an hour and a half staring at the pages, wishing I had sixty dollars to spend on it. Now I'm glad I didn't have that money, considering I can buy the same book for twenty dollars less!

Anyways, this book is literally filled with beautiful photos, and information about each one. I am sure that if I had been given the opportunity to read it, page by page, I would have other wonderful comments to make. However, I only know the bare minimum about it, and I strongly suggest anyone who is truly interested in Ancient Egypt, and Tutankhamun, to buy this astounding book.

This new volume is a refreshing addition to any collection on the subject of Tutankhamun. For those of us who have not been able to actually visit the Egyptian Museum and see the treasures of the king for ourselves, Tutankhamun, by T.G.H. James is essential. There have been many publications on the subject, and many fine photographs of the objects of the tomb reproduced. T.G.H. James has collected a totally new set of images, many of objects which are not published previously. The reproductions are superbly done, the accompanying text is refreshing and illuminating. If you have read everything you could find on the subject, and perused each object until the page begins to wear, this book is for you. I am totally delighted with this book!

Although this book has now been superceded by more recent scientific creationist scholarship, this small book provides a good introduction to this topic. It is not overly technical.

We all know of the dragging argument over creation/evolution but this book really put it in perspective for me. By the time I was done with the first chapter, I just couldn't put it down. Although some of the scientific talk I had to read over a couple times, it was still easy to follow. It really made me think about things. The good part about this book was how Morris made things so easy to understand. He found so much proof against evolution that I was nothing short of amazed. If I was involved in a creation/evolution argument, this book would be the first book that I would grab for referance. It is an excellent book and very well written. It answers so many questions. I recommend it highly and only wish I had read it back in high school.

Henry King was actually there. As a young man, he volunteered to be a prosecutor at the most important trial ever held. While in Nuremberg, he became fascinated with the one defendant who provoked reluctant admiration due to his aristocratic bearing and obvious intelligence. This fascination has continued throughout King's life. Now nearing 80, King is one of the few prosecutors still living and coherent. His memories and impressions offer an in-depth, close-up view of one of history's most important events.

SPEER REVIEW

by

T.S. Peric'

"I knew Albert Speer better than any American," said Henry King during an interview, at 26-years-old, the youngest prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and the author of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer: Reflections of a Nuremberg Prosecutor" (University Press of America). It was not a comment filled with braggadocio. In 1946, fallow and a few years out of Yale Law School, King dreamt the dreams of many young men: accomplish a great deed or participate in a grand undertaking. Hearing about a friend's appointment to the American "team" at Nuremberg, King immediately applied for a position. Within a few months, he arrived at Nuremberg in the middle of a rainstorm and soon found himself collecting evidence against Erhard Milch, deputy chief of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), who was charged with participating in Nazi slave labor and human experiment programs. King also interviewed Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of staff of Germany's military high command. But frozen in King's memory were the interviews with Speer in a bleak interrogation room. "Speer was remarkably composed and unshaken; he seemed to possess an inner security and objectivity that many of the others lacked," King recalls. His composure was all the more remarkable because of the unique and key role he played in the Third Reich. "From 1942 to 1945 not only was he one of the men closest to Hitler, but he was also one who influenced Hitler's decisions. At one time in late 1943, Speer was reputed to be Hitler's heir apparent." Speer was unemotional, analytical, almost regal in his deportment. And unlike the other 20 defendants, he accepted full responsibility for his actions. "The question that haunted me then and still does today was why Speer, who appeared so decent and honest, was a close collaborator of Hitler," King writes. "Why had he served such a monster." Nearly half a century would intervene before King could offer any answers. Speer spent the next 20 years locked away in Spandau prison (kept incommunicado except to his attorney and family). After his release, he became a best-selling author with "Inside the Third Reich" (1970) a personal look into the sanctum sanctorum of the Nazi leadership and "Spandau: The Secret Diaries" (1976) which described his imprisonment. King continued practicing law, including a stint as general counsel to the U.S. Foreign Economic Aid Program, moving to the private sector and eventually settling in as a professor of international law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. In 1966, King reestablished contact with Speer, but was unable to pursue his goal of a book until his retirement from TRW where he served as general counsel of Automotive Operations. King interviewed Speer repeatedly (including Speer's last interview, one month before his death in 1981). He consulted the Nuremberg records, his own notes and the literature on Speer and the Nazis. He also interviewed Speer's daughter and Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary, who observed the interaction between Hitler and Speer. King's book carefully plots the conditions and events in Speer's life that drew the architect toward the summit of Nazi power. Speer was politically naïve, despite his aristocratic background, growing up in a cold, emotionless family, where intellectual prowess was demanded and ambition expected. Introduced to the Nazis at Berlin's Institute of Technology, Speer fell victim - as did millions of Germans -- to the zeitgeist of Nazi Germany before the war, a time when the promise of a new Reich seemed to represent an unfettered, glorious future. Speer's ability to organize was quickly recognized, reaching new heights at the Nuremberg rallies. His Pantheon-like "Cathedral of Lights," established Speer's chilling brilliance for displaying raw power. The final, crowning jewel, that firmly enthroned Speer to the Nazis fold was his artistic talent which brought him within handshaking distance of Adolph Hitler. Now, Hitler, the failed Viennese artist, would live vicariously through Speer's artistic triumphs. The Nazis' world was Albert Speer's first world, according to King. It was among the Nazis that Speer performed with remarkable thoroughness and unquestioned devotion, rising to the position of the Third Reich's Architect and Minister of Armament Production. Indeed, if Speer's artistic triumphs contributed to the physical manifestation of how the Nazi's viewed themselves, his star as Armament Minister shone even brighter. Experts estimate that Speer's contribution to industrial production lengthened the war by at least two years. Despite Speer's success, he began to enter his "second world," according to King, even before Germany's surrender. Speer was the only top Nazi to act in defiance of Hitler-and did so openly. He refused to carry out Hitler's "scorched earth policy" that would destroy the remains of German industry. Speer's second world is "where his horizon broadened and his values changed," writes King. "The second and succeeding world of Albert Speer was the horizontal world of the questioning spirit. This was a world of ethical and cultural values, a humanistic world . . . " In "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer," King deftly presents how naiveté, seduction and ambition drove Speer to the pinnacle of Nazi power. He concludes that Speer was clearly unique among the top Nazis that survived the war. Speer accepted responsibility for his actions and offered mea culpas for his sins. During and after his imprisonment, Speer pondered his actions and began to search for some degree of redemption until the end of his life. While supporting the prison sentence Speer received, King ably demonstrates that Speer was not some cardboard character from the Nazi past. Rather, he was a complex and brilliant individual who confronted issues of good and evil on a scale that most of us cannot imagine. King succeeded in his search for a great undertaking with his successful role in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. More than one half century later, he succeeds with another marvelous undertaking: the writing of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer."

Who shot Henry Kyle is a real life version of "Who Shot JR?". Kyle was a handsome, flamboyant, Texas tycoon and wannabe big-time Hollywood producer found dead in a pool of blood in his Beverly Hills mansion. Initially suspecting a burglar, police soon added to their suspect list several people with reasons to want Kyle dead. Among them: the "mystery wife" who suddenly appeared at the funeral; the beautiful, illegitimate daughter who was starved for affection but addicted to cocaine; a troubled son about to be disinherited; and a long list of girl friends, ex-wives, and unsavory acquaintances. Author Suzanne Finstad has untangled this web of money, murder, and betrayal with all the glamour & intrigue of a real-life "Dallas."

This book grabs you from the beginning and never lets you go! More twists and turns than a fiction writer could imagine. It is Finstad at her best!

This book is utterly delightful, a treat for kids and big kids, too. The pictures are vivid, funny, yet dreamy and really capture the world from a little sized kid point of view. I was hoping to find more from this pair because I consider this book such a treasure.

this is a really great story about a boy and his imagination. His uncle Henry arrives for dinner with a shirt decorated with chickens. the chickens start to prowl the dinner table. children will love the humor.

A World War II veteran, Ben Wofford grew up during the Great Depression. He served in the Navy and was able to earn his way through Medical School. He practiced medicine for forty years as a family practitioner. His avocations include farming, flying, and sailing. He sounds like my dad.

Set in 1933 in the rural outreaches of Catawba County, North Carolina, Wofford's Uncle Henry's Ghost is a whimsical narrative of country life through the eyes of a boy growing up on a farm. There's been a murder, or what looks like a murder. A school house has been burned down. Close by is an old roadhouse called "The Moon Palace," and some say it is haunted. Certainly there are stories about a cache of money being hidden in the old place:

"It was commonly believed that Sheriff Canter-. That was his name, Canter. It was commonly believed that Sheriff Canter was getting rich off the Moon Palace, paid by the owners to look the other way. That may or may not have been so, but when it came time to read his will, there wasn't much left for his widow and she had to take in boarders to make ends meet. Some people maintain that he got rich all right, but lost it all in the Stock Market."

Uncle Henry's Ghost is a tale that makes the reader feel like they are sitting on their grandfather's knee. Wofford's background as a general practitioner gives him a special compassion for what medicine represented back in the first half of the Nineteenth Century...when there was a standard system of ethics in all things. Growing up during those times meant that one understood what the rules were...and how everyone helped out their neighbor without the necessity of a lot of money changing hands. For us as readers it represents a simpler time...a time of family, church, and working hard.

Wofford spins a fairly lively yard, even as he shows us what life was like before the advent of computers, video games, and plastic food. We need more of these types of tales to show us the way during the present state of confusion in our world. Wofford gives us a nice, safe place to hide...a place where a boy can still take his dog out for a swim and stick frogs in his teacher's desk. An excellent tale from a man who was probably one heck of a doctor. Thanks.

Shelley Glodowsky
Reviewer

If you like Mark Twain, you will love this book! Of course, I am a bit biased since I am Ben Wofford's son.

Having read all the Peter Mayle books,I was looking for something different regarding the South of France.This gem,written by a well travelled former Member of Congress and his wife,more than met my hopes.I would no more consider another visit to Southern France without this very readable reference for my evening reading than I would think of going down a river in a canoe without a paddle.The book is an absolute delight.

I took this with me to Gascogne and Langedoc and even the French Guide loved it. It gives the historical background of the areas and minimum of stuff like where to stay or eat (which is unnecessary when you're with a group). Even used it when on my own in Carcassone and Toulouse. Bonus: printed on lightweight paper. Why do so many guidebooks weigh a ton?

This work is a splendid example of the new emphasis of the publisher on producing comprehensive works in a handy cheap format compared with the earlier broad brush treatments which covered too much in too little detail.
The new emphasis is on sets covering various national armed forces in as much detail as is available, consistent with the current purpose of the works in the series, which have evolved from an original emphasis on serving the military miniature maker market into works intended to enlighten the general reader in enough detail to satisfy the merely curious and to point the way to further reading.
Most of us, including myself, have little need for, or the patience to read, voluminous studies, often in foreign languages, covering many eras and nations. My main interest is in the US forces, their allies and their enemies in the twentieth century.
That said, these works should be purchased as presented, in sets within the series. Since they are produced as a set, the volumes cover only relevent parts of the general history and the clothing and individual equipment is covered as it appears in each period. The French Army, US Army, British Army, and Italian Army series all have three volumes, covering the major theatres and time periods of the war. The German set has five.
If you want more detail on Army clothing then see Shelby Stanton's World War II work reviewed on this site. Unfortunatly I have yet to find a comprehensive study of US individual equipment which is not riddled with errors of omission, misidentification, and unproved speculation. Though a great exception is Scott Meadow's work on holsters which is more than most want to know and is expensive to boot. Not for the general reader.
If you want an introduction to the fascinating variety of clothing and equipment of the forces covered, this set is for you.

This book is part of a set covering the US Army of WW II. The set covers the clothing, individual equipment, small and heavy arms, vehicles, and campaigns.
Of course, much more detailed information can be found in other works such as Shelby Stanton's definitive work on clothing but a complete collection covering these items would cost several hundred dollars at least and still not cover everything in detail.
Compared to the earlier volumes published by Osprey, it is an A compared to a D. The other volumes were superficial and suffered either from trying to cover too much or too long a period or written by authors who simply were not familiar enough with the period covered.
This is written by a knowledgable author and is superbly illustrated by the magnificent Mike Chappell. Drawing on multitudinous sources, these three volumes will satisfy those who want to know what grandaddy looked like in the war and give a useful overview for those not needing more detailed knowledge.
As a long time specialist in the period, I learned things and recommend this highly.
See my reviews of the other two volumes in this set.