I am just starting out, and Ukie is my husbands first language. We both found this book difficult to deal with. For me, the layout of the book is overwelming and the dialogue is not useful in day to day conversation for a beginner. I passed this book onto my husband who thought he might want to use it to freshen-up on his grammar but again he found the book very impractical in its dialogue and vocabulary.

THis is the second edition, much better laid out. the first edition was like reading a phone book. this is easier to use

Considering the author did such a good job with the American Revolution in "Patriots," this book was a big disappointment.It lacks depth and is riddled with errors, e.g.,Cicero gave a great speech in defense of Milo; Crassus described as a "rich merchant". I was really annoyed with the author's use of the term "patrician" when the more correct term would be "Optimate" (hint: not all nobles were patricians).

I read this book and liked it very much. Langguth dedicated this book to his high school Latin teacher who transcended a mechanical and arcane study of grammar and syntax and inspired the author and his fellow students with the history, "the story" if you will, of this long lost age which was so similar in many ways to our own. Prior to the Prostestant reformation and to a substantial extent even until 1965, Biblical scripture itself was the more or less the sole province of learned scholars and clerics who were privileged to know what had become an obscure academic and dead language. The story of the Gospel, the basic message, became obscured, if not somewhat lost, in pedantic and hair-splitting disputes over textual interpretations in the tradition of the pharisees of Jesus' day. It is in this context that Langguth seeks, as he explains in his Introduction, to bring the secular Scripture of the classics and its cultural legacy to the plebeian reader as was done with Holy Scripture begining five centuries ago. Thus, while Langguth's book is not perfect from an academic standpoint from which it does not pretend to proceed in any strict sense (for example no years known as B.C. ever existed in real time, that calendar was retroactively imposed centuries later), it is still actually more historically accurate than Shakespeare's accounts of these events and much more readable. This book is a good introduction to the history of this age and can be followed by a study in English translation of Plutarch to whom Langguth is largely faithful.

The book is geared towards those with a basic understanding of the Russian alphabet and pronunciation in order to use it. If you have no understanding of the Russian language, do not buy this book. I suggest you sign up for a language class or a more comprehensive Berlitz course. This book is not for amateurs even though it is written in a very simple and concise format.

Theme: This book attempts to outline the democratisation process of Taiwan. The authors describe Taiwan as a form of "limited democracy," i.e. the govt gives the opposition and civil society space to expand, and the inhibited center is committed to promoting full democracy without a timetable.

Review: This book raises some good questions. The Taiwanese government chose not to monopolise control, but slowly relinquished some power to the opposition and civil society at large. While the authors described the phenomenon, they failed to address the "why."

I also felt that the authors were also somewhat careless with their definitions of "Chinese." (Note that the book is entitled "The first Chinese democracy.) They interspersed the book with comparisons between Taiwan and China, and Singapore. While China and Taiwan are made up of a Han Chinese majority, Singapore's politics is deeply affected by its multiethnic flavor! Are they moving onto the grounds of an "Asian democracy?"

Still, one must credit the authors for their groundbreaking choice of subject, and the plethora of information that they have provided.

If you're going to a major city in the Czech Republic, say Prague, don't bother with this book. Almost everyone there speaks English anyway so to the extent that you need to learn phrases like "thank you", "please", etc. just to be polite, you can use the language index from a regular old guidebook like Fodors. Even if you do go out into the country, you won't be able to use much more that what's in the guidebooks anyway. After all, a few key phrases and lots of pointing and smiling will get you farther than being able to say "You should visit us in Scotland sometime when you're in the area". And you'll never ever ever understand anything that's said back to you based on a book like this. The motto "Don't just sit there, say something" is meaningless. Sure I can phonetically babble all the mumbo jumbo I want, but that doesn't mean that I can actually communicate something with someone in Eastern Europe. And we couldn't find how to ask for the check in a restaurant anywhere in this book, which is one of those useful phrases when you head to places like this.

A simplistic book about the 8,000 mile march by Mao and the Communists to escape the clutches of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists. This book was written for young people, but the book is too simplistic. If you read the book, you would believe that Mao was a hero, rather than a bloody dictator. I hope those who read this book also read something about the crimes Mao committed in the course of his career.
This book is not critical enough of Mao. Edmonds seems charmed by Mao. I hope readers are not.

This is a collection of essays on the Russian Federation and the C.I.S. circa 1995 by various Soviet and International Studies 'scholars.' It was, of course, sponsored by the internationalist Carnegie Corp. Various leftists and/or neoconservatives from Berkeley talk of the troubled transformation from socialism to capitalism. The Russian Federation isn't exactly headed in the direction of being a 'market economy' even in 2002, despite all of the rhetoric about 'democratic capitalism.' Granted, the authors aren't overly optimistic about Russia's future. They still cling to utopianian interventionism, assuming that by prodding with the C.I.S. economy through internationalist instruments like the IMF than they can perhaps ease the 'transformation.' Some of the insights on 'Russian Federalism' are interesting. However, it suffers from the all to familiar ideology of 'secular democratism,' the all too familiar, flawed and elitist internationalist univeralism, which assumes that the whole world has the same underlying worldview, assumptions and desires of Western liberalism.

I'd instead recommend 'The KGB: The State Within the State'...

This book is not really a study of the films of the Perestroika and Yeltsin era. It is more of a sociological study of Russian filmmakers as a class. Faraday presents his thesis (over and over) that late Soviet conditions made the filmmakers a privileged class that resented the restrictions placed on it but failed to connect to popular taste in any meaningful way. Thus when the USSR collapsed, Russian filmmakers were unable to make popular films and became marginalized.

This would have made an interesting article, but as a book, it goes on for too long. Also, it would have been nice if Faraday had actually discussed some of the movies. The only movie he discusses at any length is "Burnt by the Sun," which he dislikes as trite in theme and overly pretty. Overall, this was a disappointment.

Anyone confused? Darkhorse has a comic called TALES OF THE JEDI THE COLLECTION that takes place 4,000 years before NH. The ISBN is 1569710203 published aug 1994. Dark horse does indicate that they published Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - Knights of the Old Republic TPB on Oct 1994, but do not indicated an ISBN. I think that all 3 of these are the same comic. This comic is not to be found on amazon.

Then we have Knights of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, Volume One) by Tom Veitch, Chris Gossett, Janine Johnston (Illustrator), David Roach (Illustrator) ISBN 1569710201 RELEASED BY Dark Horse Oct, 1995 with the same cover.

They also have Star Wars - Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi) by Tom Veitch, Chris Gosset, Dennis Rodier released by titan books May, 2000 with the same cover under ISBN 1840231726 It seems to be the same comic described by amazon here and called KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC, TALES OF THE JEDI 1 THRU 5 with the same cover art and a different ISBN.

I am reviewing a comic called Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The collection published by Dark Horse August, 1994 as a TPB compiliation, ISBN: 1569710201. These stories are revealed on Jedi Holocrons recovered by Luke Skywalker. Made in Canada the binding is excellent.

Story 1 - Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon. 51 pages, OK story with some good fights, the artwork is the comic-strip quality used throughout most of the 80's and 90's.

Story 2 - The Saga of Nomi Sunrider. 69 pages, the story of Nomi and her daughter, artwork is cheesy and uninspired.
Either way, they are all probably the same, with a title change. Dark horse published this comic in aug 1994, 3 years before its two comics TPB's that take place 5,000 years before NH. I think you should Skip the first 2 on the Timeline and just start here. While the art work is a C the coloring is a C TO D and looks more like the early 80's art and coloring offerings, the 2 stories here is pretty good. The Stories of Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider are worth a read.

This is the first guide to represent all three caucasian nations in one book. However it does not take into account the sensitivity of some of the issues among the three nations and could have been much more accurate. Nagorno Karabakh is still de jure a part of Azerbaijan and including it in armenian section contributes even more to widening the gap between the two nations. Nagorno Karabakh indeed is a very sensitive subject and i would urge the unsophisticated visitor to do some extensive research prior to making conclusions. I am not surprised to find the armenian reviewer insulting the Georgian and the Azeri one. What can you do: armenian extreme national chauvinism blinds them. Indeed, if you look at the map of caucasus and do some research you will notice that armenia has problems with each one of its neighbors except for Iran. This is the kind of discussion that LP book leads us towards and to avoid it i urge everyone interested in the region to turn to Elliot book.

I normally like LP books. But for this region you should instead buy the Bradt Guide (for Georgia) or the one from Trailblazer (for Azerbaijan & Georgia). The reasons are clear from all the other reviews here!

The Lonely Planet Guide to "Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan" is the first mainstream travel guide to the physically beautiful South Caucasus Region of the world. Who, but Lonely Planet, would tackle such an interesting, volatile, and ultimately majestic part of the world. The book is split into four separate sections (the three Republics and the Armenian Region of Nagorno Karabagh). It follows a fairly standard Lonely Planet formula of being an attractive asthetic product complete with pictures, a language guide, and history.

That being said, I believe that the book needs a mixture of tweaking and more insight in some areas. The one glaring problem with the book is the lack of information provided in the Armenian section. The Georgian section of the book has nearly double the coverage of Armenia. This may be attributed to the fact that one of the authors penning the Georgian section, Keti Japaridze, is an ethnic Georgian. My guess is that she had a bit more insight, and ultimately material, to offer in this book. Even so, the Georgian section fails to give credit where credit is due. For instance, the inventor of the Georgian alphabet, an Armenian named Mesrop Mashtots is not mentioned as being the architect of the Georgian alphabet. (He also invented the Armenian and Ethiopian alphabets). Nor is there any mention of Armenians being the main influence for their church architecture and much of their folk art. This exclusion of proper historical perspective may be attributed to an author writing for the "home team" as they say. Otherwise, the entry is an entertaining travel guide to one of the more picturesque countries one may ever visit.

As mentioned before, the Armenia section is scant. A mere 54 pages, it covers the basics yet lacks any real depth to make it compelling stuff. It touches all the bases and has some useful information in terms of all the things that one would expect from a guidebook including food, lodging, attractions, and modes of transportation. However, it comes up short compared the lengthy Georgian section. In any event, it is the only guidebook out there on this ancient nation and I suspect in future editions more will be added. Perhaps an Armenian could be used as a consultant to provide more insight and attractions in a country that boasts the culture, history,and scenery as their trademarks. In my opinion, Armenia is the most majestic location of the three Republics with the least to worry about in terms of safety, accessability, or hospitality.

Azerbaijan is given ample coverage, but once again succumbs to a lack of any real historican accuracy in it's overview. The least friendly or appealing of the three destinations, Azerbaijan nevertheless is an interesting place to visit. The guide keeps pointing out fact about " Azeri history and its people" as if they as an ethnicity go back before the early 1900's. This, of course is inaccurate. The ethnicity know as Azeri's or Azerbaijan for that matter, never existed before the creation of the Soviet Republic in 1923. Knowing this, some of the historical excerpts are preposterous. However, as with the Armenian section, it is a first attempt to promote and present the Caucasus as a destination spot for travellers. From that perspective, the Azerbaijani section is adequate to good.

This book is a good start for people interested in a truly facinating look at three unique countries. Some serious historical oversights and omissions hinder this book. It seems the Armenians get slighted in this edition terms of content and historical accuracy when dealing with presence and influents in both Georgian and Azerbiajani culture. ( Armenians had a prominent role in the architectural and cultural advancement of both Baku and Tblisi). However, these things usually happen in first editions of lands never really explored in mainstream travel books. So, I can cut these folks some slack. Nevertheless, this book is better than what we previously had, which was nothing.

Updated on 5-18-02: To my critics on this books published in this section, particulary Mr. Fuad and the person dubiously named Khaka: "I am usually pretty open minded and fair when it comes to either a historical debate or a challenge, but, seeing as though you can't string together two words that are either spelled correctly or even pass the basic guidelines of competantcy, I'll leave you be. Also, the problem with people such as yourself (whoever you are) is that you can't seem to fathom the idea of historical accuracy. Now run along Khaka (I bet it sucks to have a name like that) and Fuad. "