Despite editorial reviews rating Ms. Blackman's account of her actions and experiences in Sarejevo to be "unfocused" and Ms. Blackman "her own personal heroine", I found her writing to be clear and concise regarding the "peacekeeping" mission and it's reception from those it was "protecting". Her personal story of the chaos and destruction of the country and it's people was informative and gripping at the same time, bringing home the reality of one woman's determination to do more than watch the horror and politics of war from her television set. Although I read her book in it's pre-edited format, her talent for telling the real story of the victims of war is obvious, and her selfless acts of giving and loving make this a book worth reading for those interested in not only the historical and religious reasons behind the conflict, but for anyone wanting to understand the psychological impact of patriotism and forced allegience on a young and idealistic generation.

Dan Beauchamp is a political scientist who understands that politics and ethics are essential determinants of public health. More specifically, Beauchamp clarifies why "more speech" and "more privacy" are essential to resolution of the most pressing life-style health problems facing contemporary societies. The public health will not be advanced by the simple expenditure of funds....and will not be resolved absent the active participation of citizens in public debate over values and politics. This book presents a different view of health issues, a view sadly missing in present day health care debates.

Reviewed by Johanna Granville, Clemson University, Clemson, SC USA

James Forsyth's History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony, 1581-1990 is a much needed addition to the extant literature on Soviet history. The policies of glasnost and end of censorship after the 1991 Soviet collapse have led to greater interest in the history of non-Russian nationalities. The dearth of reliable historical information on Russia east of the Urals is becoming increasingly clear as Siberia and the Russian Pacific littoral develop into a significant geopolitical and economic entity. Russia's expansion eastward may have been as defining for Russian society as was the United States' advance westward for American society. Thus, it is surprising that historians are just beginning to concentrate on this vast landscape. This is not to say that Western scholarship has completely overlooked Asiatic Russia, but there is still much work to do. In this ethnohistory of Siberia, Forsyth attempts to "narrate and interpret the stages in the conquest and exploitation of Siberia" (defined as "everything lying east of 60 degrees E and 50 degrees N") and "the place of this process in Russian and world history." Forsyth's narrative tends to emphasize the role of ordinary people--the inhabitants of Siberia--rather than of prominent decision makers. He raises several questions about the indigenous peoples of Siberia (e.g. Buryat Mongols, Yakuts, Tatars, Samoyeds, Tunguses, and Chukchis). What was the role of the native peoples, who up to the 18th century, inhabited Siberia? Who were they, and how did they live before the Russian invasion? How did the Russian invasion affect their lives? Has the fate of the Siberian natives been similar to that of the Indians and Eskimos of North America? Forsyth's main argument is fairly simple: despite the Leninist rhetoric that the Russian occupation of Siberia was a peaceful process and that it brought the indigenous peoples into contact with a "higher culture," the Siberian peoples in reality suffered a great deal from collectivization, "denomadisation," and the consequent destruction of their traditional cultures and occupations. The book is particularly strong on the early Russian conquest of Siberia after 1456 and the folk heroes like Yermak Timofeyevich who emerged in the process. Forsyth attributes the Russian success in subjugating the indigenous tribes to a number of factors: demanding tribute, trading ruthlessly for furs, dominating by superior numbers, spreading disease (especially smallpox), exploiting intra-tribal conflict, and employing superior firepower. For centuries after taking control of a certain Siberian tribes' land, the Russians would exploit that tribe by requiring them to pay "yasak" (a Turkic word meaning tribute). Yasak was often collected in the form of furs, such as sable, fox, and marten---as precious to the Russians as gold to the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and Peru. Russian Marxist historians have made Yermak and the Cossacks into folk heroes comparable to the pioneers of the American West. (Just as the Soviet media routinely sanitized news about Soviet society, so historians also self-servingly rewrote history.) However, the actual record of the Cossacks and "voyevodys" may be closer to the genocidal campaigns of the Nazis in the occupied regions of Belarus and the Ukraine. According to Forsyth, these interlopers were "courageous but ruthless men-of-action, mainly belonging to the petty nobility." Both tsarist and Soviet regimes abused the Siberian territory and its aborigines. Whereas the tsarist regimes extracted yasak, furs, and minerals, the Soviet regimes built vast projects in the region that disrupted the environment and local way of life. Gold dredging threatened rivers, industrial pollution affected Lake Baikal, and projects such as the Baikal/Amur railway (BAM) caused ecological damage, while the KGB harrassed local people who complained. Overall, the book is grim on the future of Siberia. The native ethnic groups are still minorities in their own land. Forsyth believes that some communities may resort to creating reservations akin to the ones for Indians in Canada and the United States. The book is solid, but not flawless. Although it synthesizes multivolume ethnographic and historical works of German, imperial Russian, and Soviet scholars in one volume, the extensive bibliography will not benefit those who read neither Russian nor German. Moreover, Forsyth apparently has not worked with recently declassified archival documents, and his balance is skewed a bit toward the seventeenth century. Readers may also find the beginning section on geography extremely dry, and the multitude of ethnic groups confusing. Nevertheless, since the scope of this finely produced book is vast, and its subject very timely, it will indeed benefit both nonspecialists and general readers. It contains twelve useful historical maps of the Siberian region and fifteen illustrations.

Johanna Granville, Clemson University

This is simply the finest work available in the English language
on the Cossacks. It is not only encyclopedic in its treatment of
the subject,drawing on historical and ethnograhic materials in
Ukrainian,Russian,Polish,Turkish and Swedish sources but often
reads as fast moving as an adventure novel. Hrushevsky not only
recites dry facts and dates but puts forth both fascinating and
compelling analysis of the importance of the Cossacks to both the
idea and formation of the Ukrainian nation and the history of
Eastern Europe as a whole. Anyone who thrilled to Gogol's" Taras
Bulba" or the historical fiction of Harold Lamb and wants to learn of the true background of the Zaporozhian Cossacks of the
Sietch , simply cannot pass by this work. As fine as the works of
Nicholas Chirovsky, Linda Gordon,Patrick March and Phillip Long-worth are on the subject, they cannot compare to this comprehen-
sive volume.

This is a carefully researched, thoughtful and well-written examination of the Russian speaking population in the "near abroad" since the break up of the Soviet Union. While my experience is largely with Lithuania, his discussion of the Russian speaking population in Estonia and Latvia seemed insightful. As a minor criticism, or perhaps more as a term of reference for readers, I should note that Laitin seemed more sympathetic to the diaspora Russians than to the local populations. His discussion of Baltic events struck me as distinctly pro-ethnic Russian, although not outrageously so. Persons with Baltic ties may disagree with some his views, but they will still find them interesting.

Destination guides are great, but this report really has up to date information. I got this a few weeks before my trip, but I would get it about 5 days before next time. These are updated every week and you would get the latest and greatest. These documents are really useful... don't leave home without it!

This is a masterful book that combines intellectual history and geography in a way that has not been done before, shining a new light on the issues of Russian identity and the interrelationship between exploration, conquest and nationalism.

At the center of Bassin's work is the region around the Amur River. The Amur, closed to the Russians since the late seventeenth century, attracted intense interest in Russia throughout the later part of Nicholas I's regime, but especially in the aftermath of the country's defeat in the Crimean War. Wild, unsubstantiated exaggerations fueled this "Amur euphoria." The conquest and settlement of the Amur came to be seen as a national imperative, compensation for humiliation elsewhere. Amidst this frenzy, eager promoters who had never set their eyes on the Amur tagged the river as the "Siberian Mississippi," hoping that it would do for Siberia--and indeed for Russia as a whole--what the Mississippi did for the United States. They attached great hopes to this river. The waters of the Amur were to cleanse Russia's wounds, and redeem her in her newly-asserted eastern destiny. Yet the euphoria proved fleeting. Not long after the Russians reconquered the Amur, the realities confounded the hopes.

Although the Amur region is at the center of Bassin's book, its real subject, as the title indicates, are the "visions" of that object-region. These visions are the reflections of the visionaries, and become in certain ways "self-portraits" (p. 274), to use the author's own apt metaphor that indicates a methodological affinity to other recent works, most notably Yuri Slezkine's _Arctic Mirrors_. Whether as "mirrors" or as "self-portraits," these visions reveal far more about the visionaries than the envisioned. The "Amur euphoria" of the 1850s reflected the desperate desire of the Russian visionaries, in the wake of the Crimean War debacle, to both turn away from a Europe that "spurned" them and wounded their national pride and, at the same time, reaffirm their own Europeanness as effective "civilizers" of the east. These are complicated, sometimes conflicting visions of an "imagined" region, but Bassin skillfully steers us through them one at a time with the exuberance of a Huck Finn sailing on his raft down the Mississippi. In the process, he produces a work that will be indispensable for anyone grappling with the hisitorical issues of Russia's imperial visions.

Paul Bryers weaves an engrossing story around the return of a successful Hollywood filmmaker (Adam Epstein) to Berlin - where he had been born in the horrific final days of WWII. It is now the late 1990s and a murky,unsettling and slightly sinister post-reunification Berlin serves as the background to a story of ambiguous parentage and personal redemption. A growing sense of menace (neo-Nazi activity flourishes, Adam is drawn into what appears to be an intricate web of deceit...) and the cooly ironic tone of the (Merlin-like)narrator combine to make this an above average 'literary' novel with thriller overtones.

The Instant Dominican Republic guide is really nicely written.The guide is small and easy to carry around.The book features fast facts,top sites, great photography,background of the country,travel tips,and essential contact numbers. The guide was very helpful and the information in the guide is good to know.Anyone going to the Dominican Republic could use this guide book.Its great!

For a pocket full of information, take along the Insight Compact Guide to St. Petersburg. It has starred attractions keyed to a map and to walking tours. Coverage of the Hermitage, including a map, is excellent. Read some of the bigger guidebooks for background before you leave home, then just take this small-but-mighty book along as your guide.