The fact that so many reviewers fail to see the value in this work speaks volumes about the success of Arab propaganda in the last 30 years.

Any study of any of revisionist and leftist historians, so-called "new" for good reason, should be filtered through the eyes of Professor Karsh--and Anita Shapira's 10,000-word New Republic piece, "The Past is Not a Foreign Country." Both call to task Avi Schlaim and Benny Morris, who like Tom Segev, fail to explain the war and peace that has afflicted the Middle East since Israel's founding. These new historians all make one gross omission: They consider it irrelevant that seven Arab nations attacked Israel upon her founding in 1947, making no secret of their intention to destroy the new Jewish state. In 1947, Arab League Secretary General Azzam Pasha promised "a war of extermination," "a momentous massacre" to be remembered "like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."

Nor do new historians bother to note that such words were followed by gruesome acts, about which the world has forgotten, given the ubiquity of biased news reports. In 1947 and 1948, for example, all but one of the 600 Jews captured by Arab forces, including many noncombatants and children, were murdered in cold blood--and mutilated beyond recognition. According to Dr. Eugene Narrett and Jerusalem Post reporter Sarah Honig, amid scenes of rape and other sexual abuse, the Jewish victims were dismembered, decapitated and photographed by their proud captors. In the Etzion settlements south of Jerusalem, three truckloads full of Jewish corpses were found sexually mutilated.

Current accounts of those years often do, however, detail supposedly heinous deeds of Jewish fighters-without appropriate context. In the so-called massacre at Deir Yassin some 200 Arabs were killed. But new historians like Morris, Schlaim and Segev delete the relevant and defining fact that Deir Yassin was the scene of a pitched all-day battle, in which every male Arab villager was armed. One has to turn to more thorough and honest reporters, like O Jerusalem author Larry Collins, to learn that Arab fighters in Deir Yassin used women and children as shields.

In war, bad things happen. But new historians fail to ask four critical questions: Who started the war? What were their intentions? Who was forced to mount a defense? What were Israel's casualties? Ask, and truth becomes crystal clear. As I note in a forthcoming Midstream article, "Mourning the Death of Peace," Israel agreed in 1947 to accept a further partition of less than 20% of the land allotted by the League of Nations in 1922 as a National Home for the Jews. The Arabs, however, begrudged Israel even that small patch of land. In every war since, Arabs have mounted an effort to destroy Israel, either militarily or politically, just as they did in 1947. In 1967, Egyptian leader Gamel Nasser promised to wash Israel into the sea. This intention remains sadly evident today in the Fateh Constitution-and countless Arabic reports, statements and broadcasts, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. It seems that moderate Muslim leaders like Shaykh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, who support both Israel and peace, remain a depressing minority.

When the conflict is seen through the wide-angle lens of clear-sighted historians like Karsh and Shapira, who DO include all the relevant facts, the work of new historians goes up in smoke--as dishonest garbage. Alyssa A. Lappen

Karsh (a professor of Mediterranean Studies at the University of London) presents the first full-length and detailed rebuttal to those Israeli scholars who call themselves the "new historians." This group, whose ranks include Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, and Avi Shlaim, seeks to expose Zionism as a rapacious movement and Israel as the actor that bears nearly full responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian plight. Noting that others have critiqued the new historians' ignoring important source materials, Karsh concentrates on proving that "the very documentation used by these self-styled champions of 'truth and morality' reveals a completely different picture from that which they have painted."

Elaborating on the argument first made in his June 1996 article in the Middle East Quarterly, Karsh focuses on three main issues: David Ben-Gurion's alleged endorsement of "transferring" Arabs out of the territory to become Israel, "collusion" between the Zionist movement and King 'Abdallah of Jordan to snuff out a Palestinian state, and secret British support for this joint effort. To establish his case, Karsh digs deeply into the documentary record, even going so far as to interpret crossed-out sections in Ben-Gurion's handwritten letters. That's all vital to making his case, but Karsh's key strength is the application of unprejudiced common sense to clarify issues clouded by the pseudo-scholarship of propagandists.

Middle East Quarterly, Sept 1997

Prof. Efraim Karsh tears apart the anti-Zionist 'new historians' Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim, and Ilan (now calling himself 'Jean') Pappe. He examines the very texts that they claim illustrate their anti-Zionist agenda, yet finds that they have deceived the public, sometimes giving the exact opposite interpretation of what the document clearly states (witness the Morris outight lie about Ben Gurion's diary entry - Morris makes a big deal saying B-G wrote "We must expel Arabs and take their places.", while Karsh provides us with the original text which states "We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their place." The EXACT opposite of what Morris said Ben Gurion wrote! Such is the veracity and integrity of chief 'new historian' Benny Morris and his 'scholarship'.) I like to see all the facts uncovered in history, but Karsh exposes some of the foul play of the 'new historians' who manufacture 'history' to fit their anti-Zionist ideological agenda. For more criticism of the so-called 'new historians' read Shabtai Teveth, Robert Satloff, and Anita Shapira. Meanwhile, Karsh's book is a MUST read. I highly recommend it.

...this really is a monumental work. It is common to say that Gibbon was a great writer but it's best to look elsewhere for the history...if you can swallow, say, _The Federalist Papers_, you will enjoy Gibbon.

...There is still a lot of good history to learn in Gibbon. The important thing to remember is that Gibbon often takes the point of view of conservative elements in Rome, so he inherits a particular agenda that does not look favorably on the decline of Rome the city or the Roman senate, or on the rise of the military dictatorship.

That just means that the punch line is, don't make Gibbon your introduction to Roman history. Maybe start with Michael Grant's _History of Rome_. But Gibbon is still a valuable read from a purely historical point of view, not just a literary one.

Also important to remember is that Gibbon uses "decline and fall" in maybe a different way than we do. He essentially means the drift away from the principles and institutions of Golden Age Rome (that's the conservatism again) over the 1500 years that the Roman Empire (as he conceived it -- rolling the Byzantine Empire into the Roman) existed.

DON'T read these volumes (this 3 volume Modern Library edition is a complete reproduction of the 6 volume text edited by J.B. Bury) if you want to learn about the death of the Roman Republic, because it's not covered (for that and other general history try Cary and Scullard's _A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine_). Gibbon begins (in Vol. 1) in the 2nd century AD and goes (in Vol. 3) to 1453 AD; the Republic ended in the 1st century BC. Trite comparisons aside, it's also difficult to find anything deep or valuable in Gibbon that directly foreshadows the modern American experience. For starters, the grand princples of Federalist America are different from Golden Age Rome, and any decline away from them is fundamentally different (if there even is such a decline).

Before you decide to embark on this journey you should be aware of a few things. First, this work is a narrative history, devoid of any real analysis. You will not gain anything from the content of the book other than the chrnological linking of facts and entertaining stories. Second, this work is really really L O N G. If you are looking for a narrative history of the Roman Empire for the entertainment value, look elsewhere. You will tire of this work if that is your reason for reading it. Thirdly, Gibbon's conclusion about the "moral decadence" of the Romans being the cause of the collapse of the Western Empire is wrong. Gibbon has viewed history through the foggy lense of his own value system. If you are looking to discover why the Western part of the Empire collapsed you should take a look at Rostovtzeff's Rome, Delbruck's Barbarian Invasions, Haussig's intro to A History of Byzantine Civilization, and Strayer's intro to The Middle Ages. Finally, if you are interested in reading some of the greatest English language prose of all time, read an abridgment. The Penguin abridgement has all the wonderful narration, entertaining stories, and is only about a third of the length of the whole work.

This is a work that every well stocked personal library should have along with Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples. Gibbon is not an "easy read", his style of writing is such that it takes a chaper or so just to "get up the power curve" to his level, but once you are, the book is a joy with its evocative cadence and unfurlling expressions. The complete works is a historical journey that will bring the serious reader an insightful look at the accomplishments and failures of the Roman Empire.

Under the spotlight of increasing popularity, Kava...or Kava Kava to those who think twice about using it, is the latest "miracle natural drug," alleged to relieve anxiety and stress without side effects or addiction. This book is not bad. It certainly is true to its title, discussing in depth how Kava is nature's answer to several common aliments. Yet, in our modern world where the newest "fad" goes from scientist to corporation to local mall vendor in a matter of months, the basic question is, "do these things really work?" Take a valium, and you will feel calm. Take a Xanax and your anxiety will be relieved. Most likely, however, you will became dpeendant on these drugs and eventually resort to robbing your local Dairy Queen to support you habit, unless friends intervene and get you to Rehab in time. So there is the true magic of Kava. No dependancy...no side-effects...it is legal...and it works? Well, this book certainly believes it does, and it backs this assertion with several well laid out and researched chapters. The problem is, is that Kava has been used for centuries in elaborate rituals on beautiful tropical islands as the sun is setting and soft island music plays in the background. Oh yea, and they use Kava. Now, if you are not relaxed after that, you are either already dead, or you might as well give up your dream of becomming stress free. Does Kava work in the bog city, with big city pressures? Will a Kava Latte be that far off, or even a Kava encrusted chicken breast? Nothing is certain as yet. If anything, this book is a step forward in educating the public on a possibly promising new alternative to presciption drugs. A message to the reader, however: Keep an open mind and remember, the Metabolife people know where you live.

I have the pleasure of living in the only city in the country that has an authentic Kava Bar. I've chosen to remain anonymous to keep it underground, where is should stay. Kava is amazing and this book is just another testimonial of that fact. Kava does just what this book claims that it does...it cured my insomnia, and that's a fact. I just dread the day Kava becomes the next frapaccino, because I love it right where it is. It is illegal in Canada and Germany and probably many other places, so I'm hoping that that doesn't happen in the U.S. by people abusing this awesome herbal medication.

This book continues the progress that is being made in the effort to rediscover the essential links between natural medicine, the human personality, and true health. It can be read to further personal well being and it is a testament of how our leading western physicians are returning to honest, scientifically vaild remedies for what ails us. This book is not only about kava--though it is the most readable account of the traditional and modern uses of that wondrous herb--moreover it encourages us to find our own health in the matrix of Her Mystery that is our own deep self.

As the Alternative Health guru at Lifetips.com, I am constantly looking for books and products to share with visitors to my site that can help take the mystery or confusion out of alternative/natural healing. This is definitely one of those items.

If you're looking for an easy-to-understand and well-researched book on a natural approach to dealing with depression, then this is the book for you. Dr. Cass shares case histories many might identify with and she has done her homework in deftly explaining the important factors one must understand to deal effectively with depression. She also provides great tips on nutritional steps and lifestyle changes that must go hand-in-hand if one is serious about defeating depression. This wonderful book CAN offer help to those struggling to get a handle on dealing with depression naturally.

I have found this common sense guide to using & understanding St. John's Wort invaluable. This ancient herbal remedy for lifting mood without the high cost of prescription drugs & their often debilitating side effects is the best treatment available for those who will follow Dr. Cass's guidelines. I have shared this book with friends & family. I can't think of a better gift for loved ones who needlessly suffer from Depression!

I bought this book (and a bottle full of St. John's Wort!) after two deaths in my immediate family pushed me over the edge of depression. It talks about the different forms of depression, how St. John's Wort helps with the symtoms and who should or shouldn't try the herb. It gives a lot of study cases of people Dr. Cass worked with and also offers some statistical information on research. All of it is put in a very readable and enjoyable form and I finished the book in a couple of bedtime reading sessions (definitely important when you're reading about something that you hope and pray will help you with your current state of depression!) I highly recommend both the book and the herb to anyone thinking they may suffer from depression.

the pictures are cute but the overall feeling in the book just didn't keep my students attention and they seemed to just be disappointed in each ending that the frog got a lollipop

This is really a delightful book. The princess looks like a regular little girl, and she runs into a couple of very straightforward problems (ball in the pond, lost penny) and one very unusual problem (a bird on her daddy's head) with a very silly solution (a froggy on her daddy's head). The three short stories are easy to follow and my daughter has been a fan since she was 2 years old (now she is nearly 4).

This book contains 3 short stories, each starring Princess and her best friend and savior, Froggie. Key phrases are repeated in each story, so my preschooler delights in joining in the story telling. We must have checked this book out from the library at least 10 times in the last year; it's her standby favorite! I like it, too, because it's not very long -- perfect for bedtime.

This recent addition to the study of the Eastern Front of WWII provides a detailed look at the Soviet actions in the spring and summer of 1943 preparing for the action around the Kursk salient. The translation of the Soviet General Staff Study, there is not as much propaganda included as one might expect; rather, this is an internal look at the battle shortly after its completion that was meant to provide a guide to other Red Army units of the lessons of Kursk. The study forthrightly identifies failures in engineering, aviation and anti-tank gunnery.

With eleven chapters, 33 maps and 40 tables covering force ratios, kilometers of trenches dug, ration of weapons to kilometer of frontage, relative combat power projection assessments, this study reads like a scientific text. In fact, after Stalin's purges of the officer corps in the later 1930's, the Soviets were forced to search for a scientific approach to the art of war, because they had so few generals and colonels who could practice the intangibles.

The description of the preparations for the battle is the strength of the book. The intelligence staff, and operational planners, correctly identified the most likely thrust of the German offensive as early as March. Evaluating the force structure remaining after the surrender of the 6th Army's surrender at Stalingrad, and the known German tactics, the staff was able to predict the attack on the northern and southern flanks of the salient, and begin preparing a defense in depth. The focus of effort was the engineering work, and propositioning of ammunition and fuel for the fight. The force was also restructured to provide a very heavy mobile counterattack force that comprised almost 1/3 of the total force structure available, and almost 80% of the available tanks.

The Germans used new tanks, the 'Tigers', and new self-propelled assault guns together with integrated air in a new attack grouping at Kursk. This grouping penetrated Soviet defenses, and caused general havoc in the front two lines, but it lacked sufficient combined arms combat power to achieve a rupture of the lines that would allow an exploitation force through. In general terms, the Germans should have attacked with infantry to clear through the minefields, obstacles, automatic weapons and mortars, and then allowed the assault grouping of tanks and self propelled guns through. The integration of air directly with the assault groups was very effective, but the Soviets mention that the result of so much German air against the front lines was almost total freedom of movement from the rear for operational and even strategic reserves.

The actual fighting of the battle is not exhaustively covered in this book; if you are looking for tank on tank details from Prohkorovka, this is not the book for you. If you want to get a sense of the level of detail required to successfully plan modern combined arms combat, this is a must read.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the best volume ever produced on the fateful Battle Of Kursk, probably real turning point of WWII and one of the most misunderstood and overlooked battles in recent history. It is - more or less - a straightforward translation of the general study on the battle that the Soviet General Staff (under a collective authorship) wrote in 1944. Guess what? It is a technical, sometimes brutally candid account of the battle as seen from different point of view: the Gernman plans and offensive, the Soviet defense, the aerial battle, the artillery, and - of course - the tank manouvers. Even if the style is - naturally, given the origins of this volume - often dry and matter of fact, it is nonetheless a mandatory read for every Eastern Front enthusiast. It is all here - countless first hand infos on the battle, hour-by-hour accounts of the action, loads of maps (albeit not always well readable), details on tactis and strategy... the only thing missing is the dreaded "human angle", but given that personal accounts are - often - just an excuse for melodrama and manipulation of the reader, if you're serious on history I'll not miss it a bit. It astonishing how balanced and objective this study is (possibly because it was for "internal circulation", and not for the general public) and it make some sort of ironic comparison with the lack of anything like that on the German side - the OKW study on the battle looks like it was written by von Manstein's lawyer! All in all - another invaluable service by col. Glantz to the dwindling community of Eastern Front historians...

I found the translation of the Soviet General Command Staff Study "The Battle for Kursk 1943" to be the best source of material on this pivital battle of WW2. Glanzt and Orenstein have done a masterful job in retaining the truely important information, while filtering out the the Soviet propaganda that usually creeps into Soviet material.

The serious student would be well advised to pay paticular attention to the sections dealing with air operations, engineering support, and command and control sections.

The maps and tables detailing positions and correlation of forces were paticularly informative.

The only critism that I would offer is that the maps need to be expanded. Althought the editors did a good job, in relation to other military histories, they could greatly improve their work with the addition of a large fold-out map detailing the area under study.

At once a nice travelogue of Newport, Rhode Island, in the 1920's and a novel of human interaction, "Theophilus North" is a well-written and engaging (at first) book. It's just hard to understand why Wilder wrote it. There is so little of it in the way of dramatic or comic invention. The protagonist is a bodhisatva (a saint on earth) who spends his days doing good. All the time. You keep expecting some rising action - after 100 pages you yearn for it - but it never comes. Just one good deed after another. It isn't a bad read, and it might even be a good thing to put into the hands of teenagers (if you can get them to sit still for it). But there's no inner struggle going on in this first person narrative. And that makes ultimately for a weak plot. The book was something of a hit when it first came out, but it has since sunk to the obscurity it probably deserves. That saddens me, because I thought the author's "Our Town" and "Skin of Our Teeth" to be some of the finest writing this side of Heaven.

I read this book more than 20 years ago as a college student and I still find myself thinking about it now. I was a persnickety English student and I wouldn't have imagined the book was making much of an impression on me at the time. Maybe I needed to age considerably before I could appreciate Wilder's idea that you do get everything you wish for -- just not on your schedule, and seldom packaged as you may have hoped or expected.

this author, which has written books so beatiful, has given the world this one which is also beatiful, but pointless, i guess that the main character is himself. the book does not have a plot or at least is not going anywhere, but it is not boring, and it is a good read. i just loved it, even though when i finished i had the sensation of not being told anything new. the book has gone into oblivion and will propably stay there, the one i read i took it from the library and i was the only one who got it from the shelf in more than a decade, i guess it is there in the shelf at the library, waiting for another ten years until some reader will take it down, and write another pointless review about it....

LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do

I read this book years ago and am still waiting for the next two! This is a really cute book, I like the characters, it moves along well and the heroine isn't an idiot. She seems like a normal teenager. Many teen books are too sickly sweet but this one is not. It is fun to read and I hope there are more to come in this series.

While the quality of the story is diluted by the fact that the author probably attempts to create too much background and too many characters for a book of that size (probably because of serial nature of the book), this is a fun little book. It reminds me of the Trixie Belden series in tone. While it wasn't perfect, I walked away from it wanting the next book, I think that is the highest compliment one can give a serial. The things I thought were problematic: Shelly's teen romance, her niceness with regard to her brother, some of her relationships with her friends.

Will Shelly Holmes follow her father's footsteps?
Of course, everybody knows her father,the great detective R. Sherlock Holmes. Will Shelly go into a detective career or will she take photography instead? She loves both detective work and photogaphy! But which one will she do? This is a great book if you love mystery like I do. It was a great page turning book! It was so good I couldn't stop reading it until the end! It was a great book and plan on reading Case #2! I hope it's as good as Case #1!

Lois Duncan's Killing Mr. Griffin, is a classic horror book involving high school kids and the revenge plot for their dreaded english teacher. The plot is farely unrealistic. Basically the sceme goes all wrong. The main characters include Suzan, Mark, Jeff, David, and Betsy.

Killing Mr. Griffin, is a young adult novel, thus meaning there is not a lot of depth or literarely devices used throughout the novel. This should be expected for a young adult horror novel. Young adults should like the easy reading and easy to follow material.

Duncan accurately records the thoughts of a high school misfit. She does this through Suzan, who we follow during a day at high school. Duncan also the third person omniscient, this allows the reader to get close the characters through out the book. The point of view confuses the reader as to who the main character is.

Overall, the book is perfect for a elementary students with shorter attention spands. It supplies the kids with constant action and easy reading

Killing Mr. Griffin is a story about five kids who just wanted to teach their strict english teacher a lesson and get him to be easier on his students. They had just wanted to kidnap him and scare him a little. However,things didnt go like they planned and Mr. Griffin had ended up dead. Of course they hadn't meant for anything like that to happen, so the kids in a panic did all sorts of things to cover up what they had done, but had just got themselves into deeper trouble than they were in before. With all their work though, they had left one small detail and someone...was going to piece everything together. If you want to find out how the kids got themselves out of this mess....or if they got out of it at all, read this book!

I thought Killing Mr. Griffin was a very good suspense story that will more than likely keep you at the edge of your seat. However, like in many stories the plot was good, yet you just couldnt connect with the characters and how they were feeling. That was how I felt when I read this story, but other than that I really liked how Lois Duncan had made everything happen. Also, I realized that this book is on the banned book list, but I don't understand why it would be. Though the book does have a bit of cursing and violence, there are also good things about it. Like for example, how it shows if you do something bad you can't hide from it, it'll catch up with you sooner or later. In the end, I would definitely recommend this book to fans of suspense stories.

I am a freshman in a rural school district. I read the book Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan for my English class. My teacher and my brother recommended this book to me. I really enjoyed this book even though it wasn't what I would normally read. I enjoyed it because it was easy to relate to. By this I mean that everyone at one time or another can pick out a teacher who had been tough on them and made it really hard to pass their class. It's also easy to relate to because it deals with ordinary kids our age and not from some odd place. I really liked how they made the people real. How the one was your next-door-neighbor type that's not perfect, but most everybody likes and gets along with. Killing Mr. Griffin also included the shy girl, your typical jock guy, and then your quiet very moral guy. Then they had the odd one that nobody really knows much about, but accepts anyway. I recommend this book to Middle School and High School students. I think most anybody could read this book because it has a lot of different types of characters and literature. There is drama, suspense, murder, and also the fact that it's easy to relate to. I give this book a 4 1/2.