This is a wonderful LITTLE book that conveys the wonder of Czech puppetry as experienced by the Czech community in the U.S. But, it IS little: just six inches by six inches, and only 80 pages in length. What the book lacks in size, though, it makes up for in three lovingly written essays and 42 exquisite photos, 24 of them in color. If you love Czech puppetry, or want to understand its wonder and beauty, this book delivers.

I have long been an admirer of Rich's beautiful poetry and ideas. Even though a male reader, I have found her company through her books over the years some of the best. However, in this volume, there is a real lack of vision. Rich comes accross at times like a parody of herself and her causes--instead of celebrating the victories, she acts as if she is hidden and on-the-run. This attitude hurts this otherwise interesting book. Her meditations on aging that appear throughout several poems in this volume are affecting and exciting, but there is still something missing. If you've never read Rich before, start with the works of the seventies; if you have read and loved Rich, then pick this up and settle in with a dear, if slightly crusty, slightly out-of-touch old friend.

'Decima! The X-mas & The Italian Social Republic, 1943-1945' is a valuable reference for those interested in the Decima Mas of the RSI. The color plates are great! As there is very little information on this subjust available in English I highly recommend this book.

This book is a study of that traditional trick of British diplomacy, partition. Dividing countries is a way of controlling them, before and after independence. The US and British states have divided Yugoslavia, then Bosnia, and now Kosovo. 'Ethnic' divisions suit imperialism. Carlos Westendorp, the High Representative in Bosnia, has said that Kosovo's warring factions must be told, "Kosovo doesn't belong to either of you. It's ours. It's the new empire. It's the new colonialism done in the name of the international community."

Kumar examines other examples of partition and addresses the difficulties of reversing it. For instance, Blair's bullying tactics have now stalled the Irish peace process. He set five deadlines for implementing the Good Friday Agreement; he blustered that 'there was no Plan B'. According to the Agreement, the IRA did not have to decommission its weapons: then Blair said they would, then he said they wouldn't. As long as the British Government has not set a date for withdrawal, all the Irish parties remain dependent on Britain, relating primarily to the British presence, either loving or hating the 'Brits'. Once the Government sets a date, then they will all have to focus on their common task of rebuilding their beautiful country.

In an ironic reversal, partition could now be visited upon Britain; the European Union is regionalising 'Euroland', to break up sovereign nation states. It fosters identity politics, puffing up cultural and regional identifications at the expense of class and national realities.

Kumar points out that the way to reverse partition is to achieve peace through development. But the US-British-EU aim of strengthening 'market democracy' cuts across this goal, because it generates divisions and inequalities. Every country needs to create a common commitment to a strategy of rebuilding; they each need a workers' nationalism to unite and liberate their country.

If you are specifically researching the Dominican Intervention this is a terrific resource. It uses an extensive bibliography, including numerous personal interviews with all the key players. Lowenthal is a trusted source on Latin American politics. I wouldn't recommend this book for a history buff or someone looking for a good read. A broader book on relations between the U.S. and the DR would be more entertaining. However, if you are seeking specific info on the intervention, it is the perfect place to start. It offers lots of citable facts and it easy to follow and understand. My only complaint was that it lacked description of the events directly preceding and following the intervention, which made it feel a little incomplete.

Atkins and Wilson's latest work is the zenith of a long first-class collaboration in the area of US-Dominican history. Their vast inside-knowledge and accessibility to sources and personalities is what few scholars achieve, but most want. Probably because of it, this book appears to fit in the center of Dominican historiography. The authors managed to quote a variety of authors extensively, without directly putting schools of thought against each other. Indeed, the book's theoretical structure does not fit perfectly neither with the classical diffusionist-modernization school nor with dependencism, much less with post-structuralism. The book is honest about US imperialism, racism, greed, and highlights the role of North American evils. Actually, the reader might get the impression of an imperial confession in the company of a genuine effort to understand the context of US and Dominican relations-a progressive approach! This feeling is reinforced by an attempt on the authors to include cultural elements into what is, basically, a political and diplomatic history. They have sections about identity, cultural exchange, baseball, race and society. In their stories, the reader will find examples (albeit short and sketchy) of how Dominican people and governments have adapted to adverse circumstances, how they have manipulated powerful nations despite their size, and how they have resisted oppression admirably. We certainly needed an attempt to exhaustively cover the US involvement in Dominican territory. Moreover, notwithstanding that Balaguer and Trujillo's treatments are the best by far, both authors touch on all the high points, most of the middle ones, and even some less celebrated aspects of Dominican history since the 19th century. And despite the heavy use of passive voice on the first two chapters, the organization of the book makes it easy reading for undergraduates. In their efforts to bring an inclusive coverage of the US-Dominican relations, Atkins and Wilson went back to early colonial periods. The readers learn how the island evolved to include two countries, and how Haiti's slave revolution helped determine the future of the entire island. The book also highlights the importance of the period up to General Ulises "Lilís" Heureaux, when Dominicans were trying to identify themselves against Haitians, and how international powers played an important role in shaping the country's history. Moreover, in order to understand US 20th century involvement in the island the book places crucial value to the events leading to the 1916 intervention. Yet, despite the importance of the 19th century, the authors relied mostly on secondary sources to write these chapters. The focus of the book is clearly the 20th century. When Trujillo, Balaguer and current politics is the subject, the reading is undeniably engaging. At this level, the authors provide solid support with primary sources for their narratives and arguments. These topics, after all, have been their research interest for years, and have likewise attracted much attention from the academic community. Curiously, qualitative attention to the 20th century may have shaped the book's main argument. Focus on the US non-interventionist policy from the 1930s and again right after the 1965 intervention (an "oops") may have suggested the writers that North Americans have been doing their best in controlling their tendency to introduce their legs in Dominican affairs. An apologetic bias (from the Greek "to defend" or "to explain out") that emerges from this approach is nowhere more evident than in their efforts to free as much as possible the US from the notorious responsibility of bringing Trujillo to power (59-64). If asked to summarize the message of this book in two sentences, despite all the injustices that this entails, the answer by necessity will include a progressive dichotomy in North American imperialism. This reviewer' summary: The US acted imperialistically and intruded in Dominican Republic because of its perennial instability, its failure in making payments, its location within the North American perimeter of influence, and the numerous and constant international pressures (European involvement in Latin America, first and second World Wars, the Cold War, the 1990s "Haitian problem" etc.). However, the circumstances since 1966 are not imperialistic since they do not involve direct policy intervention in Dominican affairs-and most Dominicans feel comfortable with it! To most readers this might make plain sense, but to those with at least a small dose of Gramscian skepticism, this may sound as a new ingenious and accommodating strand of diffusionism, neo-liberalism or modernist approach to history.

Where is the clearly explained relationship (causes and consequences) of years of recurring and assorted foreign interventions to Dominican internal instability, habitual tendency of loan grabbing-defaulting, and stubborn regionalisms? It is true that Atkins and Wilson do not directly excuse North American interventions. Actually, they criticize it and honestly unveil the rampant racism, avarice and demeaning manners in some US policies and diplomats. Yet, the book's literary structure arranges historical events in a way that may produce in the reader the idea that, after all, it was the Dominicans who attracted intervention. Consequently, (following the logic of this thought) if they would not have been clamoring for European protection; if they would have stayed quiet and kept a democratic government running; and most importantly, if they would have at least tried to maintain the interest payment on their foreign debt, most surely the US would never have intervened. Unfortunately, by trying to explain political behavior in a vacuum, (with only a modest relation to US-Dominican identities, economic circumstances, survival tactics, cultural values, etc.) the Dominican predicament not only looks simplistic, moreover, it looks deserving! There is a lesson here that serves us for when we get the call to choose between a history that supports status quo (which promotes complacency), and a history that rocks its foundations (with the added warning against presumption). In the hands of a creative teacher, then, Atkins and Wilson's book is certainly a practical book for undergraduate and graduate courses in US imperialism and Dominican history. Furthermore, however, this work is an excellent introduction to anybody interested on the subject.

I have long been a fan of Howard J. Wiarda. This was the second book about the Dominican Republic that I ever read. By far this is the best introductory book (200 pages or less) on Dominican history and society in my collection. Given his extraordinary depth of knowledge of the DR he has delivered a very concise and well thought out piece. The only problem with it is the fact that it is now almost 10 years old.

Table of Contents:

1. INTRODUCTION.

2. THE LAND, THE PEOPLE, THE CULTURE.

2a. The Land. 2b. Life in the Dominican City. 2c. The Dominican People and Their Culture.

3. THE PATTERN OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.

3a. The Colonial Era. 3b. The Independence Era. 3c. The Trujillo Era.

4. CONTEMPORARY DOMINICAN HISTORY.

4a. After Trujillo. 4b. Democracy and Revolution. 4c. The Unfinished Revolution.

5. SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL GROUPS.

5a. Social Structure. 5b. Urban and Rural Poverty. 5c. The Emerging Middle Class: Agent of Change? 5d. Class and Class Conflict. 5e. Group Dynamics and the Dominican Social System.

6. THE ECONOMY.

6a. From Politics to the Political Economy. 6b. The Export Sector: The Old and the New. 6c. The Impact of Trade Imbalances: Debt and Devaluation. 6d. Roadblocks to a Sound Economy: Inflation and Unemployment. 6e. Government Programs to Strengthen the Economy. 6f. The Future of the Dominican Economy.

7. POLITICAL INSTITUTION AND PROCESSES.

7a. The Tension of Competing Political Philosophies. 7b. The Rules of the Game. 7c. The Character of Leadership. 7d. The Contest of Power. 7e. The Decisionmaking Process.

8. PUBLIC POLICY AND POLICYMAKING.

8a. The Public Policy Environment. 8b. Agricultural Versus Industrial Development. 8c. The Place of Social Welfare Programs in a Modernizing Economy. 8d. Austerity and the Quality of Economic Growth. 8e. Four Policies: Population, Energy, Education, and Taxation. 8f. Public Policy and the Future of Dominican Development.

9. THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA.

9a. Dominican-US Relations. 9b. The Dominican Republic's Relations with Its Closest Neighbors. 9c. The Dominican Republic in Relation to the Caribbean and the World. 9d. Recent Trends in Dominican Foreign Policy.

10. CONCLUSION.

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Although I don't read Czech, this book is a fascinating Czech dictionary of heraldry, illustrated sufficiently to nearly make the text superfluous.

Before I came to Russia, most of what I knew of the tumultuous events that took place here in the late 1980s and early 1990s was pieced together from bold newspaper headlines, confused Newsweek reports, and hastily tacked-on addendums to high school history books. Upon my arrival here, I was determined to find out more about the events that remained so blurry in my mind, even a decade later.

I found Steele's Eternal Russia on sale at a nearby bookshop. It caught my attention with its bright red cover and torn photograph of Gorbachev and Yeltsin poking their fingers in each other's faces during what was obviously one of many heated moments between the two. Before I had even finished the introduction, I was already grateful to the author for finally providing me with a considerably clearer account of all that happened to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the laying of the foundation for the Russian Federation.

Steele was the longtime Moscow Bureau Chief for London's Guardian newspaper, and bases his book on research, interviews, and personal experiences. The book was first published in 1995, which means that many of the events had only recently happened. But what the book is lacking in long-term perspective it makes up for in its stirring here-and-now descriptions of the challenges that faced the Russian leaders and people during this period of change.

At times, Steele delves a little bit too deeply into Russian history in his attempts to explain the roots of Russian leadership methods. His extensive analysis (demonstrating a superb knowledge) of key political players and strategies is fascinating, as long as you can muster the brainpower to understand its dizzying logic.

The highlights of Steele's book include: a fast-paced account of the 1991 coup attempt as well as a thorough sifting-through of the aftermath; an easy-to-understand explanation of the privatization financial crises; and a narrative account of the October 1993 attack on the Russian White House.

This book is a great source of information for anyone who wants to find out more about Russia's history.