I was raised in Lancaster County, but have not lived there regularly for thirty years. I bought this book for friends who have expressed an interest in the area, but first read it myself. Information was compact, accurate, and interesting; perhaps a quarter of it was new to me, even though my grandpartents were members of the Reformed Mennonite Church.

This starts with Henry of Lancaster's (who became Henry IV) marriage to Mary de Bohun. She bears him six children, the eldest being Harry of Monmouth. Henry deposes Richard and becomes king, but the Shakespeare line "uneasy lies the head upon which sits a crown" is only too apt. His terror of becoming a leper is very poignant. Then he dies, and Harry takes the throne. His confession to the priest is tense, but fortunately the book lightens up. He believes in his claim to the crown of France, conquers the country, and marries Katherine of Valois, whom he has fallen in love with. The book ends with the coronation of his baby son, Henry VI. They curl his fingers round the sceptre, but they cannot place the crown on his head. Is this an omen of the disastrous times to come?

As a graduate student, I had this book for a graduate course in Matrix Theory, taught by Dr. Hans Schneider at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I've always liked it. Now that I'm planning my own course in Matrix Theory, I've been searching for just the right book for the type of course I want, which is an intro graduate level course for working engineers. I have tried, but cannot find, and don't really need, anything other than this book.

A saga of three women who flaunted the rules of protocol
to obey the unwritten law of love. In a growing town on
the Erie Canal, they dared to follow their dreams and choose
love instead of prestige, passion instead of pride.

I have read most of the writers other books as well as this, and let me say that she adds such reality to her books. Each story is written from actual accounts from the people that have had the experiences, or have been researched to the validity of the story. She tells it with such clarity that you can almost see the images. You can feel the hair on the back of your neck start to perk up. But just when you're feeling your nerves at the end of one story she throws a light little comment at you to calm you enough to get ready for the next story. This truly is wonderfully written you'll enjoy every minute of it

Can't believe there are no reviews here for this amazing book. It is a hacker's classic. The book that came out of nowhere in the mid-70's when people were just becoming aware that you could build real stuff using digital circuits. The object of this book is to build a serial terminal from really low level components, such as TV tubes, parallel keyboards (or even a home-built keyboard), using the most basic, low-level chips and circuits. Covers things like character encoding schemes, making your own character and graphics ROMs, simple bus design, and modifying TV sets and Selectric keyboards to work in these devices. The book also systematically documents most of the important digital chips that were available on a commodity basis at that time. This book pretty much defined what was meant by the term "home-brew." Well written and still a useful reference even today, and always fun to browse.

"A work of meticulous detail, bounded by academic discipline, that still manages to scream off the page and impart a burning passion for its subject. ... A prose style that stays thankfully close to good storytelling. ... mark[s] Kurt Lancaster's arrival as a welcome presence ... Will surprise the most inventive thinker." -Neil Nixon, Fortean Times

"The Weimar Republic" is a quick read into the complicated history of Germany's first attempt at parliamentary democracy. Henig focuses on domestic political and economic developments to provide students and the general reader with an overview of the period.

Such issues discussed are domestic responses to the Versailles Treaty, the failure of the left to deal realistically with the problems of liberal and mass government, the inability of the bourgeoisie parties to find mass support for party rule, and the designs of the right to undermine the parliamentary system altogether. Within this framework Henig includes all the major points such as nationalism, patriotism, workers unions, the landed class, and the successive economic crises that plagued the Republic. At the same time, the book also provides clues to the rise of parliamentary government in post-1945 West Germany.

Today when the authority of scriptures across religions is being touted as the reason why a people must go to war, Lancaster's book could hardly be more timely. Although she writes specifically to engage some feminists' tendency to locate authority in the subject, her work has much broader application. After grappling with the concept of revelation, she launches into an extensive analysis of authority based on the work of philosopher Richard T DeGeorge. A feminist herself, Lancaster, sensitively navigates the twin shoals of absolutism and relativism and anchors the reader in a compelling appreciation of scripture's unique authority. A must read by anyone who sees this issue as central to what is going on in today's world.

This book is about the adventures of Stephen Rudd, a 15th century boy who served in the household of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Stephen is orphaned early on in life, and lives with his sister and stepfather in the village of Ewelme, in Oxfordshire. Stephen¡¦s capability as well as his reading and writing skills, gain the attention of his liege lady, Dame Alice, who makes him a member of her household staff and introduces him to the Earl. Although Stephen enjoys rising favor, he feels that a shadow is cast on his future in the Earl¡¦s household because of his friendship with kind-hearted Old Meg, who is rumored to be a witch. When the Duchess of Gloucester is accused of witchcraft, Earl William is ordered to scour his lands of any witches connected to her, and Stephen is ordered to lead the way to capture Old Meg. Torn between the Earl¡¦s trust and Old Meg¡¦s many kindnesses to him, Stephen must make a choice of loyalties between the Earl and Old Meg.

Although this is categorized as a children¡¦s book, it is extremely well-written with characters that stand out, and it gives the reader a real-to-life picture of life in the fifteenth century. What made this book stand out for me, was the attention to historical details, and the way the in which each character, however minor, became very ¡§alive¡¨. I first read Cynthia Harnett¡¦s books when I was a teenager, and a fan of the Middle Ages. I am now a thirty-something mom, and I still find her books as engaging and wonderful as when I first read them. For any of you who enjoy medieval fiction, Cynthia Harnett is a master of her art, and her books are a must-read!