I first read Bernard Waber's The House on East 88th Street as a child and was capitivated by Lyle the Crocodile. How I loved this story about a bright green crocodile living in a bathtub in a New York City brownstone.Though frightened at first, the Primm family is won over by their housemate. Lyle is amazing, he takes out the trash, brings in the milk, (this book was first published in 1962!)helps around the house, and loves a nice, hot bath complete with Turkish caviar! (We could all use a Lyle) The story of Lyle does not end here; Waber went on to write seven more titles about this lovable creature. Out of all the Lyle books, this is his best-known. This charming children's classic is suitable for small children between the ages of four and eight.

When I got pregnant with my son, my mother sent a box of old books she had saved from my childhood. The House in East 88th Street and Lyle and the Birthday Party were in the box. These two books have become favorites of my son as well as my husband and I. I'm glad to see that they are still in print, as I plan to purchase a few more from the series.

The story of Lyle the crocodile who is discovered in the bathtub when Joshua and his family move into their new home. My mother first read this book to me when I was four years old. I am now 35! It is a truly wonderful childrens book. One of those that lingers in your memory as a world you inhabited as a child. Myself and my sisters adored the Lyle books and we are now buying them for our families. Endearing, amusing, full of the joys and sadnesses of life. Lyle is a childs world through a crocodiles eyes. Try them all. You and your children (of all ages) will love them!.

I was impressed by how well this book is balanced. Although the editorial comments are on the whole skewed to the left, there is very little editorializing in the book. Many of the articles are historical documents, speeches or other matters of public record, while most are opinion pieces excerpted from books or periodicals. The reader is left to himself to make a decision on the politics of the situation. Regardless of your politics, nobody will be able to read this book without better grasping the complexity of the Iraq situation.

this is a great book on a complicated subject. goes beyond the headlines, written by the people who make the headlines. you can't go wrong with chris cerf's brilliant iraq war reader. another great read by cerf is "the experts speak", a chapter of which is excerpted in the current book.

This book provides an interesting and insightful look at Iraq and The Middle East situation. I was especially impressed with the list of contributors, the exceptional writing and the different perspectives presented. A must read, once you start, you can't put this book down.

This is an excellent book on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The book is filled with beautiful photography and good writing. Note that this book is relatively up-to-date (published in July 2002), and it does a fairly nice job explaining how the Oslo Accords fell apart in the latter 1990s. Of particular interest is the second half of the book that has short biographies of the major players involved.

The maps in this book are excellent, showing how the borders have changed with respect to the territories, especially the W. Bank. The best part of this book is the photography: the photos are absolutely gorgeous. This one's a keeper, but be sure to augment your library (and your knowledge) with a more thorough and academic treatment of this conflict's history. e.g. Tessler's book.

In the last three years I have visited both Israel and some of its Arab neighbours (Jordan and Syria) and have carefully read some of the best books written on the issues affecting the current conflict. I keep asking myself the question: Which of the two sides is right? The answer is extremely complex, as it becomes apparent that the leaders on both sides have opposing visions and are men of war and not of peace. Israel wants to somehow live in an ethnically uniform land, and for that have to "encourage" the Palestinians to leave. Whereto? They don't really care, as long as they leave. The Palestinians, who were there long before the Hebrews, don't want to leave and want those of them who were expelled from their homes over succeding wars to be allowed to return to Israel to live there in peace. Israel doesn't want them back. The vision is not what is lacking; what is lacking on both sides is something called "generosity".

Having said all this, this book helps, through its well-written text and through its very moving pictures, to understand the issues. The book is very current, so it brings its coverage right up to date, in the best journalistic style (trust Reuters for that!). It is non-biased, in that it shows that both sides have a point. Suicide bombers have become so out of despair! Things just have to be talked over! In any negotiation, neither side can expect to win durably unless it is prepared to meet the other side's needs!

Lastly, a key point. Through the pictures which transmit almost unendurable suffering on both sides, one is just as moved to see a Palestinian grandfather shot by Israeli troops than to see a young Israeli killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. Suffering, and empathizing with it, doesn't know any side. Many Israelis have Palestinian friends and viceversa. Why can't their politicians be more succesful in allowing them to live in peace?

I definitely recommend this book. You'll read it in one afternoon.

This is a very good, NON biased book about the conflict in the middle east. It has the most moving, excellent pictures you can find and is a great book to own. i will save this book, as i am from there. It is such a complex problem but this book explains it very good.

Judy Lash Balint reveals an extremely moving side to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict seldom seen through the cameras of CNN, Sky, the BBC or any other Western media outlet for that matter. Judy Balint reveals the side of a victim long forgotten by the media.

The author presents the oft-ignored story of the innocent Jewish/Israeli victims of the Palestinian terrorist war. The innocent victims whose lives have been shattered and whose bodies have been battered and wounded through gut-less suicide bombings and other terror attacks aimed squarely at babes, children, teenagers, fathers and brothers, sisters and mothers, nearly all of whom have just been going about their daily lives like you or I, with no evil intent or political extremism.

Whilst we have all witnessed the aforementioned media sources devoting whole reports to the plight, claims and circumstances of Palestinian terrorist organisations and even many individual Palestinian suicide attackers, rarely does the Jewish victim receive any publicity, which is why this book is so important.

Judy Balint reveals the story of an Israeli civilian population under siege of Palestinian terrorism, where just visiting a public area such as a café, restaurant, cinema, disco, shopping mall or travelling on a bus is enough to place one's life at risk due to the threat of wholesale, indiscriminate terrorist attacks.

The author's words show the underlying fear and frustration of those who must live under this deliberately imposed horror by a neighbouring population that, through it's leader Yasser Arafat, does not even recognise their very right to exist or their ancient claims to their homeland of Israel.

Reading these words, one can feel what it must be like to have to send your own children of tender years to school in armoured school-buses under escort, never knowing if they will arrive or return safely.

The author's distress is clearly evident when she describes that even after fifty years of Israeli statehood, Israel still has to justify it's existence in a land that has belonged to the Jewish people for thousands of years. A claim to the Land that precedes and predates any Palestinian and indeed any Arab/Moslem claim to the territory. A Jewish claim that extends back through history for some 4,000 years and based upon a Biblical heritage which has yet to be and indeed cannot be rescinded.

Judy Balint provides through 55 essays a fact often quoted elsewhere. That although being unsuccessful on the battlefield in destroying & terrorising the Jewish people, Palestinian/Arab & other terrorist entities can terrorise 1,000 by killing one person and by killing civilians they can terrify people and the public at large far more effectively than when engaged in a full scale war. A fact that we too have since experienced in the West since 'September 11th'.

The author's frustration is clearly evident as she passes comment on the moves of various Israeli governments towards peace and the concessions which have brought only more violence. In exchange for land, Israel did not get peace, it got suicide bombers, suicide machine gunners, drive-by terrorists, snipers, mortar bombs, car bombs, fire bombs, grenades, booby traps, explosive packages, remote controlled explosives, forest fires, lynching, and kids bludgeoned to death. Israel also got a few staged arrests and revolving prison doors.

Attention is frustratingly paid here to the indisputably unbalanced coverage of this conflict provided by the BBC/CNN et al., where despite repeated factual and accurate complaints having been made against this principle, basic rules of media objectivity are still ignored. Any reference to Palestinian terrorists being downplayed to the usage of lesser terms of 'militants', 'extremists' or 'activists'. The 'T' word being purposely ignored in a conscious decision not to show Palestinian terrorist barbarity.

These views might seem extreme in themselves, but they are deeply felt in isolation by the victims whose plight and the backdrop to Israeli society is at last brought to the written page so adeptly by Judy Balint. This is an essential read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the situation in Israel at this present time.

This book gets it right!
I know - I was there... If you lived in Israel during the period November 1998 to May 2001, the period covered by this book, your sense of recognition will be stimulated most powerfully. If you did not live here, you will learn what many of us went through. I happen to share deeply the values of Jewish pride and determination to hold on to this Land as our home that inform and illuminate Judy Balint's essays. But even if you do not share her values, or even contest them, you will find this book a powerful and moving depiction of very difficult and daunting times.

In 55 short essays, ranging in length from 2 to 4 pages, Judy Balint describes graphically real places and people who are so close to me in my comfortable life, I could visit in a matter of minutes or at most a couple of hours. She describes events that made the world news broadcasts and others of a local or even private nature that reflect the experiences undergone by large parts of a whole nation. Her diary could, to a large extent, be my own, and undoubtedly that of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Judy Balint writes with a cool passion. Often I could not help being deeply moved as I read her words. Her descriptions are a vivid revelation of events, personalities, scenes and scenery, heroism, suffering, forbearance, defiance, and dedication, the actions, emotions, and living values of very many of my fellow Israelis. A good read if you want to understand what Israelis have been going through in recent year.

For anyone who wants to know what it's like to live with the threat of terrorism on a daily basis, this is a good place to start. Judy Lash Balint provides an excellent internet email service through which many of these essays originally appeared.

Here one finds the frustrations of daily life in Israel, what it means to live under the siege of a people whose leaders refuse to recognize your nation's very right to exist, whose school books and clerics call for your expulsion and death. The book shows what it means to travel in buses that are fired upon daily, to travel to several funerals of terror victims within a few days, to drive the terrorized road from Modi'in to Jerusalem, to live under nightly fire in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. It provides the Israeli perspective rarely given in the news, how deeply Israelis desire peace--and why.

Israelis are bleeding. There have been more than 600 Israeli victims of terrorism since the Oslo accords were signed--mothers, fathers, children, infants, teachers, rabbis. Proportionately, that would equal 25,000 in the U.S. When you finish this book, you will understand their humanity, and wonder why the Western press corps almost never shows that Israelis are people, too often denied their most basic right--the right to life--because they are Jews. Alyssa A. Lappen

My sister and I visited Israel for 2 weeks in June and I bought this book and she bought the Lonely Planet guide. After a few days we realized my book had better information, the details were more accurate, and it was generally more useful. If you only want to buy one book, at this point in time I'd recommend the Let's Go over the lonely planet.

The editorial staff of this fine work made my vacation in Israel a success. For the first two days I used Let's Go Middle East as my guide book. I figured I might want to venture beyond Israel so why limit myself by an Israel only travel guide. That was a mistake; those first two days were mediocre. Fortunately I found a copy of Let's Go Israel while in Israel. This book saved my vacation. Not only was it an enjoyable read (particularly the history) Let's Go Israel offered countless great ideas for things to do. After investigating why Let's Go Israel was so helpful, I learned that the book was a success due to the outstanding efforts of Editor Laura Weinrib.

Thank you Laura Weinrib and the let's go staff, you made my vacation one I will never forget!

The researchers and everyone else who contributed to this book did a mediocre job at best, but everything was pulled together so incredibly well by the head editor that you should buy this book even if you never intend to travel. I used to wonder how the beautiful Ms. Weinrib ever got into Harvard, but the reasons are obvious with this truly landmark work. Without question, this volume will change the face of travel guides forever. I was deeply moved, and on the edge of my chair the entire read. Thank you, Laura Weinrib, from the bottom of my heart.

Like others that have reviewed this book, I read it in my early teens and was fascinated. I also have searched high and low for it and am delighted to have finally found it again!
ANY hunter or gun enthusiast, large or small, will love this book.

I read this when I was about 12 years old, and an avid small game hunter myself. I would sit for hours, dreaming of endless herds of rhino, elephants and buffalo streaming across the African plains. John Hunter was a 'White Hunter' in the early part of the century, and was a game control officer for many years. His responsibility was to thin herds to prevent over-population and to make room for spreading civilization. He also guided clients on hunts. His descriptions of the early days in Africa are spell-binding. In this day and age, many proponents of conservation would be shocked at his descriptions of herd thinning. It was necessary at the time and probably did more to preserve the animals than harm them. Peter Capstick gives Hunter much credit for inspiring him, not only to become a hunter, but to write about his own exploits. Hunter goes to great lengths to describe clients, animals and guns. His chapter, 'Guns, Men and Fear' is great. If you enjoy hunting, reading about the romantic days of big game hunting, or are interested in how Africa has changed, this is the book for you. Also, you will find this cahpter a treasure-trove of info if you're interested in collecting old double rifles. I am ordering a new copy to preserve my first edition, as I read this book quite often. If you like Capstick, you'll love Hunter!!

This is an incredible book, in my opinion head and shoulders above other popular African hunter books. J.A. Hunter was born in Scotland and moved to Africa when he became an adult. ... He subsequently became a professional hunter and guide, and later an animal control officer. He details a Masai lion hunt he took part in - rare stuff - and lion hunting with dogs. Many dangerous episodes are also related about rhino, elephant, and water buffalo. The book is a modestly written, eye witness account. This is a classic, and I'm glad to see it back in print, as it was originally published in 1952.

Although I'm an ardent supporter of Israel, I deliberately picked up this book hoping to better sensitize myself to the enormous pain in the Palestinian community. Mr. Barghuthi's touching personal story did help to achieve that goal.

I'm not an educated literary critic, but I found the style and substance of his work to be engaging and difficult to put down. If anything, I concluded my read feeling a strong sense of accessibility in Mr. Barhuthi's personal journey and his humanity. I believe that important because of how penetrating the constant images of violence and suicide bombing are, and how easy it therefore becomes to forget that there are real, human families on the Palestinian side of the conflict.

I wouldn't be honest if I didn't make note of the few places in which Mr. Barghuti lashes out at Israel with political comments that seem to ignore or misunderstand the Israeli point of view. I couldn't help but also feel that as a person who grew up under totalitarian Arab regimes, he has a basic misunderstanding of classic, liberal society. I also wondered whether or how much his views might have changed since the time this book was written. Those political interludes are few and far between, though, and not at all the focus of this work, which feels intensely personal and excruciating.

I think that all such things deserve a critical eye, but I also believe that anyone deeply interested in this conflict would be well served by reading this touching work.

Mourid Barghouti's vivid memoir was a pleasure to read. "I saw Ramallah" describes the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of one of the millions of human beings and families directly affected by the conflict. We learn how the author was exiled because the 1967 war took place while he was studying abroad. We see how he was separated from his wife and kid by a second exile from Egypt due to his "Palestinianness". We get to cry with him when he hears of his brother's tragic death, also in exile. And we get a taste for his complicated feelings upon seeing his country for the first time in 25 years during the Oslo Peace process.

This book truly shows that nothing is simple about the Middle East Conflict. It spares no authority from criticism - not the Palestinian Authority, not the Arab countries, and not Israel. At the same time, the book shows that in fact the Middle East conflict IS simple: we are humans at the base of it. Enjoyable reading, and very thought-provoking.

Choice
(July 1, 2001; 977-424-499-0)

A well-known Palestinian poet, Barghouti was exiled from his village near Jerusalem for 30 years and finally granted permission to return for a brief visit. In a rich and evocative language, he reveals his feelings as he re-enters Palestine and begins to visit again places he knew as a boy. Barghouti writes in a poetic prose whose unexpected images constantly open new vistas for the reader. With neither polemics nor exaltation he explores the sense of self and loss, the interaction of the past and the present in the emotional baggage that exiles brings with them on return home. He makes the reader feel in the most personal way a sense of presence and absence and the changes that time has wrought both on him and on his homeland. In the growing body of exile literature (the Iranians contribute an important share), this book is one of the most human and humane documents available. It is both timely and timeless, a powerful statement of an existential condition that is becoming increasingly common in the world. It should be in every library.

Aside from the fact that The Byzantine Empire, while largely ignored in the Western Historical tradition, is among the most important phenomena in the development of the Western Enlightenment, reading about a figure such as Constantine XI Palaiologus is an excellent way of showing that leaders need not be anemic bankers with no sense of honor or dignity. Nicol shows the end result of Western Christendom's abandonment of the East, and the East's continuing glory in the face of the inevitable. He treats his subjects fairly and attempts to understand and convey their motivations/actions while not indulging in an apologia. Overall an excellent and thoroughly readable text about an extraordinary figure. I also enjoyed his study of the posthumous mythology which has arisen around the Emperor, even among the Turkish people. Can anyone imagine Bill Clinton or Tony Blair behaving so valiantly? So selflessly? Neither can I. Constantine was a hero in the classical sense-except that, unlike Achilles or Aeneas, he really lived. An excellent role model for the young and an inspiring figure for the mature, treated respectfully yet objectively (insofar as anyone can be objective) by Nicol. I would certainly read anything he writes. My only complaint is that I wish the book were longer.

Donald Nicol is a blessing to Byzantine History in the 20th century. One of his greatest pieces of work is THE IMMORTAL EMPEROR. This is only the second biography on the life of the last Roman Emperor of Byzantium, Constantine Palaiologos, and the first to appear in one hundred years. This book is not the history of the fall of Constantinople. For that, you should see Runciman, "The Fall of Constantinople." It is, however, an extraordinary treatment on the life of Constantine XI as well as the incredible legends that surround his death to this present day. Some people have critisized Nicol for providing almost too much information on the legends and myths that surround Constantine. But I think it all goes to show just what this one man means to even modern Greeks, as well as people everywhere. Nicol's research is unmatched. You may feel that there is too much packed in such a small book, but because it is all very exciting and well organized, you will want to read it over and over.

Matt

It's a shame how certain pieces of history are left out in American high schools. It seems that Greece's only contribution to the world was 5th century Athens. Byzantium was a world power for over a 1,000 years and the problems it had are still heard today (Bosnian War). Nichol's book tells the tragic story of the once great Byzantine Empire and its last brave Emperor. The book is excellent for anyone wanting to read more about the last days of the Empire.

David Fleishhacker's "Lessons from Afghanistan" is based on the author's experiences in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960's. This brief account is, however, more than just a memoir of a vistor who was in Afghanistan forty years ago. Fleishhacker deftly connects his experiences with current events. Unlike many of the "instant experts" whose views on Afghanistan appear daily in the media, this book gives one a feel for what the country is really like. This slim book is a good way to get a sense of the country as experienced by someone who was there and who had an opportunity to observe the way average people live their lives.

David Fleishhacker uses his personal experience in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan as a framework to teach us about that country's history, topography, and culture. His sense of humor and his affection for the people of Afghanistan make this a fun book to read, but Fleishhacker also has a strong message--urging everyone to gain more knowledge and understanding of other cultures and places in the world. A wonderful book!

Three cheers for David Fleishhacker, a wonderful writer! And, three cheers for the Peace Corps! Far more than a collection of reminiscences, this little book contains the sort of philosophy, based on history and experience, that should be the underpinning of our foreign policy everywhere. I devoured it at one sitting and only wished he had written more. Clear, funny, honest and tender, this book should be required reading for our entire State Department, the Military Establishment, the "Lords of Poverty" (international aid/relief organizations)and literally every American involved in overseas activity. For that matter, it should be required reading in every high school and board room in the country. Great stuff.