This book can be interesting for many categories of people. If you want to read more about Latvia and its people, the oral history in the book will give you a good idea of what Latvians were forced to go through in WWII and the second half of the 20th century. The sometimes heart-wrenching stories are a good supplement to political reviews of the events of the time and give a more accurate view of how Latvians survived WWII and the Soviet occupation. If you want to do a sociological, psychological, or anthropological study, the testimonies of the Latvians provides an interesting backdrop to test and evaluate various academic theories or start a new study. Since I am not a researcher or a student of anthropology, the only criticism I have of the book is that it sometimes dwells a bit too much on academic theory. However, I understand that Ms. Skultane meant this to be an academic work, so I just skipped those bits and still enjoyed the book as a whole.

This book gives such a deep and often painful look at the horrors of the lives of most Latvians who remained in Latvia after World War II. It becomes easy to understand the bitterness some Latvians still feel towards thosee who stole the land from them. It shows how a small country, torn apart century after century by their bigger and more powerful neighbors, by internal conflicts, by exile, famine and horrors beyond the grasp of most civilized people, continue to to dream and work for independance.

The fact that there still is a Latvia and Latvians is most amazing, even to a Latvian. The horrors of the past must never be forgotten, we must learn from them and work to never allow such atrocities to be tolerated again.

Ms. Skultans writes so eloquently, grasping and sharing with the reader a deep understanding of a culture fighting for survival.

This is a book that should be read by anyone studying anthropology, sociology, psychology, history or humanities. It is also a must read for all displaced peoples and their offspring or anyone searching for understanding of the full range of behavior humans are capable of.

For a mroe complete picture of the full effects of war, with the Testimony of Lives, I recomend also reading, "DPs Europes Displaced Persons 1945-1951" by Mark Wyman who shows the horrors of the "lucky" who escaped.

I've been reading a lot of Roman history lately and got this book as a gift. It is very readable, and very entertaining. One of the things a most histories miss are the lives of the regular people. We all know about the Ceasars, but how did the regular people live? What was it really like? This book, with illustrations and text, tries to tell the reader - and succeeds.

This 166-page book is a wonderful addition to the What Life Was Like series. Every page is filled with beautiful photos of maps, statuary, wall paintings, and everyday objects - children's toys, soldiers gear, bath implements, coins, rings, etc. It is written for the casual reader with vivid, easy to read text. Some of the subjects briefly touched upon: the lives/reigns of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Hadrian; the lives and daily routines of everyday people; soldiers and war; gladiators and games; artisans and tradespeople, etc. Also recommended: WLWL On the Banks of the Nile (Egypt 3050-30BC).

(First, please read the other review by Mr. Hart. Then read this one.)

What player revolutionized chess? What player found chess a chaotic game and left it nearly a science? Which player did more to advance the way that chess was played, perhaps more so than any other player who ever lived? Which player was the first to systematize the rules for the art of defense in chess? The answer to all of these questions is: Wilhelm Steinitz.

The "rap" on Steinitz today - from my dealings with players on dozens (!!) of Internet chess servers - is that he was a boring player who could not play well. They also think he did not play interesting games and he could not play tactics. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. (His game with Bardeleben from Hastings, 1895; is considered by most experts to be one of the grandest games of chess ever played.)

If you want to read and own a book that was lovingly and carefully written by one of Steinitz's own descendants, then get this book. You will read an account of his life that is interesting, and was painstakingly checked for accuracy. In the back, you get about 20 games by GM A. Soltis, that are carefully annotated - with a completely new perspective. This is easily one of the highest quality books (and the most prized) in my entire collection.

If you want every chess game that Steinitz ever played, a good companion volume to this one is the collection of all his games, published by Sid Pickard of Dallas, TX.

A remarkable biography of the first world chess champion William Steinitz. Excellently written by one of his descendants Kurt Landsberger, tells the story of a unique personality, who despite great odds, succeeded in maintaining his supremacy over some thrity years of competitive chess. The book is first a biography, and second a collection of about fifteen selected games which are annotated in appropriate detail by Grandmaster Soltiz. In telling Steinitz's story, Landsberger also brings to life many of the other characters of Steinitz's time and numerous historical sidelights that period. Although everything is capable of being improved, this effort I believe is the best work of its type, and essential reading for anyone interested in one of most significant personalities in the history of chess. Aside from the excellent contents, the book maintains McFarland's very high standards of chess publishing.

Without a Map is a good place to start learning about Russian economic reform in the 1990's. It is concise and thorough, and covers a lot of ground. As a result, it tends to be somewhat general, when one might be interested in specific details of reforms, but it's a very solid overview. It is not a book for just anyone, but will fascinate anybody who has an interest in the Russian economy or in economics in general. It is a perfect complement to Privatizing Russia, also co-authored by Schleifer.

In a very readable book the authors provide an excellent account of fiscal federalism in Russia. They talk about the stagnation the Russian economy faces and provide a very valid hypothesis for its cause in Russia's taxation system - what many others have previously given scant attention to. This book will appeal to economists, political scientists, and anyone else interested in Russia today.

Having recently read King Leopold's Ghost, I would first like to point out that this book will never permit you to look at the world in the same manner again. As a student studying international affairs, I have been allowed to cut past all of the rhetoric (thank tothis book) so often found in these dry articles and books that I study, to see the extent to which greed and evil has driven the shaping of this world.

Hoschschild outlines the steps by which the insecure, greedy Leopold carved for himself a piece of Africa so that he could rank with the other colonial powers of his day. The killing of over 5 million Africans, many just for sport, meant little in the race for profit, dominance, and adventure for the (depuis toujours)savage Europeans. This book is an important expose into the complex manners in which greedy men have ravaged other peoples for the sake of their own well-being. Reading this book helps to explain the recent happenings in the DROC, or Zaire-Rwanda region.

As for the Frenchman whose review is listed as well, your comments are yet another sad manifestation of the work done by DeGaulle and others that have told French people that you are the center of the earth. The most provincial minded, hypocritical, insecure people of all the 'world powers', the tainted interpretations of history that the majority of people here walk around repeating show that you all are just as duped as the Belgians were about what their nation has done to African peoples.

As bad as Belgian atrocities were in the Congo, have you not heard of the countless skinnings, maimings, murders, and rapings of the slaves in all of France's Carribbean (Antilles) holdings in the 19th century, namely Haiti? Do you think that events such as these are fiction, too? we must have read different books, because I found Leopold's Ghost tediously documented. I suggest you learn how to do research and maybe you will realize that the sources cited by Hoschschild are far more original, trustworthy, and painstaking researched than the tainted, revisionist material I have read by several 'well-respected' Sorbonne historians!!

You point out British barbarism? What of the recent arrest of Mitterand's son for covert arms sales to African war mongrels? And of the last administration's Minister for African Affairs boasting of his personally handpicking African leaders? I believe you can read about both of these events in Le Monde, I think their writeres have well-documented sources! Have you not read of the several French wars for supremacy in Africa (namely a dominant vantage point in the slave trade) in such books as The Race to Fashoda, or do you not know of the millions of murders the French army committed as Algeria was kicking you all out? Did you not know that LePen was a main proponent of France's dominion over Algeria, as France sought to maintain a stranglehold on its dwindling empire in the 1960's, a move made successful by the economy-crushing CFA zone?! Events such as these are built on a foundation of slavery, exploitation, and theft in nations such as the Congo, Central African Republic and Senegal, to name a few, as you know full well.

I find the typical French stupidity and (unfounded) arrogance you display toward the author and Americans very annoying, as your nation, and your 3rd rate countrymen, can hardly stand to criticize others for fantasy. You accuse Americans of encouraging fiction to be written for sensational purposes, I think the American society is far ahead of French people in terms of telling the truth about certain atroicites committed in the past, even if this book was about Belgium. I think you really need to re-read your review and realize how silly you sound, and as the man from Putney said, there will surely be books to come about a few of the not so nice things France has done in her jockeying for position on the world stage.

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is a must-read for anyone who has ever questioned the myth versus the reality of any subject. In the style of a who-dunnit, the intrigue and hypocrisy of King Leopold of Belgium is detailed in a fascinating, page-turning way. From the discovery of who the famous explorer Stanley really was, to what the colony of the Congo was really set up to be, Hochschild spins a tale of (as he so succinctly puts it) "...Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa." Anyone who ever thought that globalization was invented in this century would find the book well worth reading, if only to learn how globalized our world has been for centuries. Hochschild has sought out and gathered under one cover historical documents from those who were there, including the usually forgotten Africans who were disenfranchised of their land and all too often, their freedom and lives. If more history was written in this enthralling manner, reminiscent of Daniel Yergen's monumental opus The Prize (The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power), perhaps there would be more interest in history as a good read, rather than something you study in school.

This is a staggering piece of non fiction. Like the Rape of Nanking, I had to keep putting it down. It is simply too brutal to read straight through. Too little of the criminal side of history is taught, and too little is understood.

King Leopold is the secret Hitler of Africa. He was able to find willing accomplices, and obfuscate the truth through a naive cooperative press, and greedy lieutenants. We are living with the awful legacy of his easy terror.

Leopold was obsessed with obtaining a colony for little Belgiam. When he couldn't buy one,or marry his heirs into one, he created one on lies, intrigue, and terror. This is a tale of a horrid human being,who enslaved the people of the Congo as 19th century Europe, and No. America were seeing that pecular institution disappear.

This tale of three continents, is littered with prominent 19th century personalities... Stanley (of Stanley and Livingston) and Joseph Conrad. A few voices of truth, Twain and Sir Conan Doyle, existed, and attempted do good. But the fact that we know so little about this part of African and European and American history, indicate the victor in the war of propaganda.

Read this and weep.

The author of the magnificent books, 'The Bean Trees', and 'Pigs in Heaven', leaves her protagonists Turtle and her mother in the Southwest and puts us in Africa, the Congo, Kilanga, in 1959. This stunning book is the tale of the family (of girls) of a Baptist preacher who moves them to a Congolese village to convert the heathens. The story is told through the voices of the girls: Rachel, Leah, Ruth May, Adah, Rebecca, and their mother, Orleanna Price. Their father's ignorance and somewhat violent tendencies, the sheer poverty and simpleness of the village, and the vast differences in their lives for these girls from Georgia are expressed by all of them. Their personalities, their strengths, their needs and their confusion are evident by their every word and their complex thoughts. Kingsolver, who is a brilliant writer anyway, brings a fascinating perspective to her imaginary family in the Poisonwood Bible - as she, the daughter of public health care workers who spent time in the Congo when she was very young, "waited thirty years for the wisdom and maturity to write this book." A powerful story, an excellent read.

Having lived in South Africa for 21 years and in Georgia, USA for 29 years Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Poisonwood Bible" hit a nerve. Barbara descriptions of life in Kilanga, Congo 40 years ago is astounding and brought back fond memories of my travels in villages in Mozambique, Zululand and the Transkei. The serene-looking faces, quick laughter and bare chested elegance of the village people fascinated me more than the tensed-faced, harried, self-conscious city folk I knew. Barbara's exquisite writing made me feel, see and sense Africa all over again. Each of the Price family members represented parts of me and helped me to understand myself better. Nathan's religious fanaticism, Orleanna's loyalty, Ruth Mae's innocence, Rachael's self-centeredness and the thoughtful keen-eyed observations of Adah and Leah, the twins. They were the true seekers of wisdom and truth. Barbara's comment about the USA and Western Europe's involvement in the bloodshed and devastation of Africa is shocking. The possible link between the CIA and Patrice Lumumba's death; the United States support of Joseph Mobutu's dictatorship and abuse of funds; Mobutu spending $20 million to bring two American boxers to Zaire so quote "all the world will respect the name Zaire" when his people were dying of starvation and disease; the Export-Import Bank loaning the Congo more than a billion dollars for a bogus power line so they can be assured a permanent debt and be repaid in cobalt and diamonds. I had not idea and feel outraged. Through the characters of the Fowles, Anatole, Leah, Adah and Orleanna, the author shows how the people who get off the treadmill of further, faster and more to return to nature and simplicity seem not only to survive but thrive.

Few novels moved me so much as this book did. I cried and laughed, laughed and cried for this vivid epic. Set in a far obscure Congo village Kilango about 40 years ago, this story read so vivid and true. I wept for all six protagonists, for their fate and adherence. Especially Adah and Leah. Kingsolver's power of describing the inner conflict of gifted children was incomparable. Every so-called gifted educationist should scrutnize the life story and the way of thinking of Leah and Adah (although this twin were mere fictional!)

In my viewpoints the best part of this epic lay on the first two-thirds. With weaving scenes, african aroma, gorgeous language witty, and different viewpoints,those chapters shone with bright sparkle. Almost every section made me gasp. While from their Exodus this splendid sound seemed fade a little. The pace and rhythm was too fast. After all,to tell 25 years of stories of 3 different women in less 100 pages was not a easy task. Often I found myself forgot "how old are Leah(or any other) now",and I must calculate once more. That's because the previous adolescent images of these girls stamped on the reader so deep and firm, they were too vivid to grow up. And sometimes I feel a bit annoying there were too much polictical preachment in these pages. But on the last 50 pages the splendid and gorgeous flame flamed again. The close sections were very beautiful and moving.

This is truly a remarkable fiction. Wholeheartedly recommended.

Success@Life, a fast, easy, humorous read, explains how to catch and live your dreams by finding your passion in life. Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold describe something more than an entrepreneur. They have cleverly renamed the term "zentrepreneur" which is defined as one who creates a business AND a life. It is a motivating book that stresses finding your passion, taking risks, finding a mentor, and how to live a life of balance. If you are looking for the answer to "how to start your own business", don't look here. The most important message in Success@Life is to follow your dream and you will never work a day in your life. A truly refreshing new look at life.

The book "Success@Life - How to Catch and Live Your Dream" is a great book for any aspiring entrepreneur. Stuart Avery Gold and Ron Rubin help the reader find both his dream and the courage to try to make it come true. That, combined with lots of helpful hints on how to be successful, make this book a must read for any aspiring entreprenuer.

The authors are quick to admit it is not easy to be an entrepreneur - it involves a LOT of hard work and the path will be filled with failures and mistakes. The book does a great job of helping an entrepreneur avoid many of those mistakes, and more importantly how to get the most out of your talents and realize your dream.

The book does not cover the traditional areas of business (marketing, finance, accounting) but rather deals with what it is that seperates successful people from the rest. Whether it be desire, talent, advice from a mentor or your attitude; the authors will show you what it takes to be successful

As a graduate business student it is refreshing to read a book which focuses not only on making money, but also on enjoying life. I found the book to be both practical and motivating. It makes you ask yourself the question, "Why aren't I doing that?" The advice on finding a mentor is invaluable. A great read!

We salute Professor George Hewitt and offer our deep gratitude for his book, The Abkhazians. As a group of people who have studied the ancient spiritual and social tradition of the Caucasus Mountains for many years, we wish to acknowledge the historical and anthropological accuracy of Professor Hewitt's information concerning the ethnicity of the Abkhazian people. His information is factual and provides much needed education about an ancient nation little known outside its geographical area. Professor Hewitt's book is of great value as a voice which corrects the misinformation and misconceptions commonly perpetrated by the Georgians about the origins of the Abkhazian people. Professor Hewitt is to be highly commended for this scholarly source text. It is vital reading material for all who wish to learn about the culture and peoples of all the Caucasus in general and about Abkhazians in particular. Do not imagine that you know the truth about Abkhazia or the Abkhazians without reading this book.

The Kebzeh Foundation, Vernon, BC, Canada

It is interesting to read about Georgian intellectuals (?) approach to a written book. Stop it, junk it, put them off the shelves. He even suggests London University to revoke his tenure and having Mr.Hewitt loose his job. This should give some idea about Georgians tolerance level about different ideas. During the conflict in Apsini(Abkhazia), one of the Georgian minister's idea to solve problem was to give up 100,000 Georgian lives if necessary to kill all Apsuas(Abkhazians). It is almost impossible for these two people to live together in harmony if one party has absolutely has no tolerance for other parties pure existence. This book will give you some frame work about Georgians and their mentality. You will also understand why Georgians to this day have conflict with Armenians, Turks, Abkhazians and yes with Jews. Mr.Irakli should check to see how many Jews would like to stay in Georgia if they had a choice. Number of Jews requested to leave from former USSR, Georgian Jews are the largest percentage in entire former Soviet Republics. Read this book and learn the truth. Xora cemal (Apsua not Georgian)

George Hewitt, a well-known scholar in the prestigious London University, has enlightened the truth about Abkhazians, the nation that has been misintroduced to the world by the deviated stories of the Georgians for hundreds of years. After reading this book, people will learn the real history of this big nation that has survived, for now, the genocide attempts of Georgians who have always disregarded the real identity and origins of Abkhazians. Anyone who would like to live with the realities, and not intentionally made up histories and lies, buy this book and recommend it to as many people as possible around you. As an Abkhazian saying says: 'May God make all people happy but not forget Abkhazians, too.'

I don't think Buchanan is "soft on Hitler" - I think he makes a good argument that Stalin was the bigger threat -- to the US. I think it is a reasonable argument: "The British-French declarations of war impelled Hitler to attack the west to secure his rear before invading Russia"..which gave Stalin two years to prepare for Hitler and "thus saved the Soviet Union for communism". The British had stopped Hitler at the Channel and Russia had stopped Hitler and by the end of 1941, Germany was facing the same Russian winter that had defeated Napoleon.

So the argument that America could have stayed out of the war even longer is valid. Obviously, the Chinese and Russians (and others), were very keen of getting us in the war to help their causes. With Russia getting pummeled by Germany, and Japan brutalizing China -- no doubt he's correct that there were outside forces trying to get us into W.W.II. Provoking Japan also helped to get the ball rolling for the forces of interventioinism. (By the way, please re-read his chapter on the Myth of American Isolationism)

Some terms stop all arguments: "racist", "anti-semetic", and now "isolationist"..If you're labeled an "isolationist" - all discourse stops and the "sheeple" bah in disgust!

Liberal propaganda has successfully marginalized Buchanan by labeling him "anti-Semitic", "racist", and an "isolationist". I think he makes a solid argument that America and our Western Allies might been better off if Hitler spent the first years of the wars on the eastern front.

If we are intellectually honest, we look back at W.W.I and see that war to make the world safe for democracy made the world safe for fascism, Bolshevism, and Nazism. It certainly is true that it is not the fighting of W.W.II that left America strong -- it was the fact that we stayed out as long as we did. America is as strong as it is today because we fought the war entirely on foreign soil, we lost only a fraction of the men that the other great powers lost, and we had the resources to profit from the world's rebuilding.

The thesis that America should focus on her own 50 states and not on try to become the world's policeman is compelling. It is not so much a treatise on isolationism as it is a tribute to what has made this Republic strong.

History taught in American schools tends to focus on events without providing meaningful context. A thorough understanding of history requires making connections to other relevant events. Buchanan has a unique ability to pull out what is important to U.S. foreign policy, and tie it together to explain how we arrived at our present state of affairs. Buchanan exposes the similarities between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to foreign policy -- they are both dominated by interventionists. The basis for intervention may differ -- Democrats tend to seek intervention for humanitarian causes, and Republicans for economic interests -- but the result is the same: too many foreign entanglements. To the extent we become more and more involved abroad, our republic faces greater risks. Today we look at the possibility of Russia and China joining forces as a result of aggresive US/NATO action in the Balkans. This is but one small example of the myriad of dangerous conflicts in which we are presently involved. Buchanan's book makes a well-needed call for limiting foreign action to those situations where the U.S. has a vital interest. Buchanan's thesis, that going around the world in search of "worthy victims" will lead to our ruin, is apt and timely as we grope for our proper role in the post-Cold War era.

I disagree with Pat Buchanan on most every political issue you can name: abortion, free trade, immigration, etc. But in one area, Pat Buchanan is 100 percent right: foreign policy.

"A Republic, Not An Empire" is a profound book. It is a clear and persuasive call for America to give up trying to become an empire, enforcing its will (at taxpayer expense, of course) around the globe, from Kosovo to East Timor to numerous other places of which Americans never heard and where America has no vital (or any) interest.

It is, simply, a call to return to a policy, as George Washington put it, of friendly relations with all nations, but entangling alliances with none.

Buchanan draws upon history to show how the quest for empire has always led to war, especially, for example, WWI. WWI destroyed every empire involved in it (British, German, Austro-Hungarian) and led to the creation of a new empire, the empire of Woodrow Wilson, under which the U.S. would "make the world safe for democracy."

Of course, what Wilson really did was make the world safe for Hitler, whose rise to power was the tragic result of American meddling in European affairs. Indeed, the carnage in Kosovo today is also Wilson's legacy.

Put away whatever ill feelings you may have about the messenger. (If your leanings are to the Left, pretend this book is by another good small-R republican, Gore Vidal.) It's Buchanan's message, in this case, that is important.

Congo opens on a grizzly gorilla attack on a group of explorers. Crichton goes on in telling how the search and or rescue party gets there and the horrific things they experience. With the company of Amy the most advanced ape in the sense of sign language, they learn many things about gorilla life and their past. From Chrichton I've also read Airframe, Sphere, Jurassic Park and The Lost World; personally this is my least favorite of the books. I admit the first few pages grab you with quick and intense action, but the main part of the book, I thought, was extremely boring, no action what so ever not even flared emotions. Written in 1980 it is expected to have out dated technology information, in fact some of things they mention weren't even fathomable then, but now are a part of everyday life and I made a note of that in the back of my mind, but while reading it seemed as though it was in bold print and it simply got annoying. Don't get me wrong it is a well writen book, it's just that I feel is other books are definately more worth reading. The ending as in all books is the most exciting part of the book, overflowing with action that almost makes up for the eye drying middle; almost.

This novel kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I read. Michael Crichton does a good job displaying realism in this realistic science fiction novel. He creates a story in the darkest region of the Congo, near the Lost City of Zinj,where an eight-person expedition dies brutally in a matter of seconds. At the home base back in Houston, supervisors watch a gruesome video transmission of the ill-fated team: dead bodies, tents crushed, and a blurred dark moving image. A new expedition is sent to the Congo. Some are in search for diamonds while a primatologist is taking his gorilla Amy, who knows sign language, back to her home in the Congo. During the expedition they encounter trouble with the native tribes and man-eating gorillas. Many people die and there is a lot of action in this thriller. Life threatening creatures and jungle weather creates a setting which makes this book so entertaining. This book can be compared to "Jurassic Park." Both display great action scenes and interesting stories by the same author. I recommend this book greatly if you are either a science-fiction or suspense thriller fan.

A Review by Brendan

Michael Crichton has done it again, he wrote a bestselling book once more. If you liked Jurassic park 1+2 you'll love Congo.in the depths of the jungle in Africa, people have been mysteriously killed by some unknown animal. When one scientist discovers and ape is having bad and unnormal dreams he decides to find out what they are. This book is full of adventure and excitement. If you want to know the rest pick up a copy at your local library.

There are so many things Michael Crichton did perfect in this book, but there were a few he could of left out. About 1/3 of the story talks about things we didn't know existed, like all that scientific junk. Do we really care about that? We want the blood and gore{well a lot of us do}.
What he did do well on is the detail and explaining the confusing points. This was a good book and very interesting.

I would recommend this book to readers that like blood and gore. I would also recommend this book to people that like science and mathematics. This book is very good and there are always part that include all readers.