Product Description
This book is a coherent account of the history of Radar in the Second World War. Although many books have been written on the early days of radar and its role in the war, this book is by far the most comprehensive, covering ground, air and sea operations in all theatres of World War Two. Brown manages to synthesize a vast amount of material in a highly readable, informative and enjoyable way. Of special interest is extensive new archival material about the development and use of radar by Germany, Japan, and Russia. The story is told without undue technical complexity, so that the book is accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

new light
Several of the other reviews have well described the breadth of view and depth of detail that Louis Brown brings to this subject. The words "well researched" hardly do justice to the archival and detective work done into radar development in this work. Also quite well done is the overall organization which manages to be both topical and chronological. A reasonable amount of text is used to set the stage prior to the outbreak of the war. Additionally there is a summing up thst is most judicious though opinionated. There were two things that struck me that have not been commented on by other reviewers, which is the only thing that might justify your spending the time to read this. First he makes a strong and passionate (for an engineer) assesment that obsessive concern for secrecy by all of the four powers in the war were counterproductive for all. He makes clear that the normal result was to keep radar secret from one's own side, so secret its use was not appreciated or fully utilized. This may be an arguable proposition generally but Brown certainly argues very specifically and, to me, convincingly. The second point is that Brown is not a professional military historian so he has the tendency in describing the contextual military events to adopt perhaps well known but not necessarilhy well judged assessments of military competence. If you read the book you will see what I mean. That has led him to buy into the modern historigraphic point of view of moral equivalence in conduct of the war by the four powers. This is a quite debatable point and Brown just buys one point of view

the best and worst of human kind
I just finished reading "A Radar History of World War II: Technical and Military Imperatives" by Louis Brown. It was an enormous tomb over 500 pages, packed with details about many battles in the Pacific and Europe, including commanders, ships and, of course, exact details of radar equipment. But between the dry details there were fascinating glimpses into how radar was invented, developed, deployed and when, and when it did not, play a decisive role. It also covered the various purposes such as detection of incoming aircraft, fire control, friend/foe determination, mapping, navigation and even communication. There was also an appendix with quite thorough discussion of the principles just how radar works, much more than just "send a beep and listen for the return".

I came away with two overall impressions. One has nothing to do with radar: WWII was a very big deal that pretty much consumed the planet's attention for half a decade. I knew this, of course, but the relentless detail made it come alive and drove the point home even more so. The other was the speed at which the radio art in general, and radar in particular, was developed in support of the war effort. This was true on all sides, not just the US and Britain -- several countries made various advances all stunning in their own rite. In just a few years we went from relatively crude radios to highly sophisticated microwave systems that established principles still in use today.

It made me wonder if there are ways other than the threat of death to produce this level of invention? And what wonders could be achieved if this intensity could be sustained indefinitely?

Well, it was a heavy read, but when I finished I laid it down and just sat on the couch feeling both amazed and disgusted at what humans are capable of.

Great technical and historical insight.
This book takes the reader through the technological development and military use of Radar in World War II.

This is an exhaustive but very readable account.The author manages to keep the technical details to a minimum but allows a deeper insight in to several major WWII battles and campaigns.There are descriptions of lesser known radar systems and uses that are quite illuminating when put in context with already known history especially in the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres.

If the reader does not have a background in radio/radar theory there is a section that runs through the basics needed to understand this.That being said I found myself frequently turning to a 25 year old copy of "Aircraft Electricity and Electronics" to get myself up to speed.If the reader is more technically informed I imagine this would not be a necessity.

Having said that this is a very informative book and well worth the time taken to absorb what it has to contribute especially to airborne and naval history of WWII.I would highly recommend this work.

Improvement is necessary for future editions
The book is an extremely valuable, comprehensive and trusted source of information about all principal aspects and many details of the radar before and in time of the WWII, except one minor aspect. This is the pre-war history of radar R&D in the USSR. The author cites only one reference - a book by a Soviet general M. Lobanov, who supervised the gun laying radar developments in the 1930s, written in 1975. Still it is clear that the author could not read Russian and so had the book translated by someone. It looks like not all the book was translated or read, because too many facts, names and organizations are twisted, mixed up and simply omitted. This old Sovet book gives much better vision and proper names and facts than those reproduced by L. Brown. Still today exist other sources on this topic. In some sad way, the mentioned deficiency continues long tradition in the English-centered literature of neglecting and not accurate using the information available about the radar in the USSR even if it is scarce. The tradition started when someone in America in 1944 made a capital error in the name of one of two Russians who measured a real cavity magnetron in 1937 and published it in 1940 (in Russian) -correct name Malyarov or Maliarov was twisted and printed as "Malairov". And so, forever in English/USA publications the poor guy is "Malairov". L. Brown, in similar way, twisted the history of the research radar Zenit and presented it in a most sardonic way as an example of the worst radar development existed at that moment. I am not going to discuss this in details. I'd like only to note that, first, in the mentioned boook of Gen. Lobanov the story of Zenit is given with great sympathy and his evaluation of that achievement is clearly highly positive, at least at the time of 1938-39 testing. Second, the subsequent failure of the project was not a result of bad engineering, as it is presented by L. Brown, but rather of the Orwellian circumstances of the Soviet life in the late 1930s. The story of Zenit can be read in A.A. Kostenko, et al., "Development of the first Soviet three-coordinate L-band pulsed radar in Kharkov before WWII", IEEE Antennas Propagat. Magazine, 2001, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 28-49. I hope that this story and proper names of people and organizations, and also principal facts, will be presented in better way when, if ever, this book is published as a next edition.

Comprehensive Analysis of Technology that Transformed Modern Warfare
In A Radar History of World War II, physicist Louis Brown recounts the little-known history of a technology that may very well have been the difference between a free world and a Nazi-dominated one. The book provides very painstaking details and is unique in that it describes the technology that existed within the societies of all major combatants: Americans, British, Germans, Russians, and Japanese. It is also agood primer on the basics of radar that can be understood by the layman.

However, the book is long and tedious. Although the science can be understood by a layman, I can personally attest that it is rough going. Although Brown recounts some interesting anecdotes, it is clear that he is a scientist first and a writer second. As a result, this book is unlikely to appeal to a mass audience. That being said, A Radar History of World War II is a rewarding read for those with the necessary stamina. If you're a scientist or an engineer, feel free to add a star or two to my rating. ... Read more

Product Description
They say that history is written by the victors. But what if history?or what we come to know as history?has been written by the wrong people? What if everything we've been told is only part of the story? What if it's the wrong part?

In this groundbreaking and now famous work, Mark Booth embarks on an enthralling intellectual tour of our world's secret histories. Starting from a dangerous premise?that everything we've been taught about our world's past is corrupted, and that the stories put forward by the various cults and mystery schools throughout history are true?Booth produces nothing short of an alternate history of the past 3,000 years.

From Greek and Egyptian mythology to Jewish folklore, from Christian cults to Freemasons, from Charlemagne to Don Quixote, from George Washington to Hitler?Booth shows without a doubt that history as we know it needs a revolutionary rethink, and he has 3,000 years of hidden wisdom to back it up. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

AWESOME READ!!!- gives you loads of ideas and theories that fit!
I Love this book! I've read everything by Graham Hancock, Zecharia Sitchin, Robert Bauval, and many others on this subject. This book just made sense of the things that i had not been able to find a place for them to fit, but knew the truth existed in.
AWESOME AWESOME BOOK! i'll re-read and re-read this one.

WELL DONE MARK BOOTH!

Fanciful conjecture, wishful thinking..empty Prose
This book became painful to read after the first chapter.The whole premise is that the author is revealing to you a glimpse of the secret societies throughout history that have manipulated mankind, religion, mercantile and governments for their own purposes.More importantly he is opening your mind so you can start to see the influenece of these secret organizations all around you.

What becomes excruciatingly frustrating is the completely baseless level of conspiracy theory rampant throughout the book without any single shred of evidence or historical fact, just wild wild wild ignorant nonsense wild conjecture.

As an example from my own hand, using the same method for research and fact-checking as done by the author, I write the following:

"Here we have a copy of little Johnny's drawing from a 1953 1st grade class assignment...notice the bright yellow sun drawn in bold crayon...obviously a message, to those who know how to look for signs and read the secrets, that Johnny's first grade teacher was in fact a High Priestess of the original Egyptian monotheism, Atenism.Once a person has become a trained student in the secret ways of the world, these hidden messages become clear and open up the student's mind to the subtle manipulations and organizations all around them."

Seriously, the book is crap.I bought it for a 12 hr airplane flight in the airport, and was utterly disappointed.

Missed opportunity
I had high hopes for this book after a coworker gave me a synopsis.Unfortunately the entire book is written as if it were trying to convince you of the validity of the mythology for the various secret societies, a tactic which became unbearably boring after the first couple chapters.If it had been written as an alternative history of the world where each claim was stated mater-of-factly it would have been pure comedic genius; a real opportunity was missed here.

Extremely bad
Perhaps not the worse book ever written--but I would not bet on that. Too bad the rating system does not allow you to rate less than one star.

Captivating Read
This is a remarkable read for anyone interested in the arcane.Mr. Booth is to be congratulated on his extensive research.I appreciate the long list of bibliographical information, as this book begs for a continuation. ... Read more

Product Description
World War I was a bloodletting so vast and unprecedented that for a generation it was known simply as the Great War. Casualty lists reached unimagined proportions as the same ground -- places like Ypres and the Somme -- was fought over again and again. Other major bloody battles remain vivid in memory to this day: Gallipoli and the Battle of Jutland are but two examples. Europe was at war with itself, and the effect on Western civilization was profound, its repercussions felt even today.

World War I saw the introduction of modern technology into the military arena: The tank, airplane, machine gun, submarine, and -- most lethal of all -- poison gas, all received their first widespread use. Professor Stokesbury analyzes these technological innovations and the war's complex military campaigns in lucid detail. At the same time he discusses the great political events that unfolded during the war, such as the Russian Revolution and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty, putting the social and political side of the war into the context of modern European history.

A Short History of World War I is the first history of this war to be written in twenty years. It incorporates recent research and current thinking about the war in a highly readable and lively style.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Best single book on the Great War
I was inspired to write my novel, "Wipers: A Soldier's Tale From the Great War," after reading Stokesbury's book.I was intrigued with his brief account of the Battle of Messines (Ypres sector, 1917), and it propelled me to seek more and more information on this surreal battle.I've read Stokesbury's book several times cover-to-cover; it is an excellent tool for creating time lines and coordinating events on different fronts.It does not read like a novel, but it is certainly not dry.The author's wry wit often shows through.If your understanding of the war is limited, read this book and you will be well-informed.Wipers: A Soldier's Tale From the Great War (Volume 1)

Book not received
Apparently the seller that I purchased this book from did not actually have it in stock, so I was refunded the cost.

Concise, lively history of WW I
This book is not just for history buffs, as it doesn't get bogged down in statistics, and minute facts.You get the idea of what WW I was about, but in capsulated form.

A terrific summary -- "just the facts"
Here we have a straight-forward version of the complete history of WW I, told in a very readable manner.

Not much is omitted in terms of politics and/or battles but Stokesbury has managed to limit this work to 348 pages including the useful index. I bought this book when it first came out in 1981 and read it right away. I have read it since that time as well and found it to be a great repository of facts concerning this monumental conflict.

There are four or five nice line maps which reflect changing events during the war and the softcover binding makes this one easy to take along to the doctor's office. The fonts are also plenty large enough to read in comfort.

If you're looking to expand your knowledge of 20th Century Europe and/or of "The Great War," I cannot think of a better investment than Stokesbury's competent rendering of this fascinating topic.

Grand story with too much detail...
For a "short history", author was way too long on individual battle details. Day after day; battle after battle...
way too detailed for this reader seeking significant causes, major events and overall resolution.

... Read more

Product Description
Taking Sides volumes present current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript or challenge questions. Taking Sides readers feature an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites. An online Instructor’s Resource Guide with testing material is available for each volume. Using Taking Sides in the Classroom is also an excellent instructor resource. Visit www.mhcls.com for more information. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good
The book is in good shape, but it did come later than I wanted it to.

Interesting reading. Strongly recommend
I bought this book as a part of my history course. It is actually a great reading.

Very useful in a college or high school history class
These topics are charged but more importantly the articles which argue two sides of each topic demonstrate some of the historical approaches to any subject.The articles are relatively easy to understand but instructors may wish to use multiple pairs to explore various steps in the historical process.I use it in my "Learning Strategies of College History" course at Indiana University. ... Read more

Product Description

The World interweaves two stories—of our interactions with nature and with each other. The environment-centered story is about humans distancing themselves from the rest of nature and searching for a relationship that strikes a balance between constructive and destructive exploitation. The culture-centered story is of how human cultures have become mutually influential and yet mutually differentiating. Both stories have been going on for thousands of years. We do not know whether they will end in triumph or disaster.

Customer Reviews (5)

EXCELLENT!!!
The shipping was great! I received my book two weeks before my class started so I had time to go over everything I needed for my class. Book was in better condition then what was described!! Would definitely buy from this seller again!!

A Necessary Evil
I bought this textbook for one of my required history courses at my school. I find the author's writing to be overly wordy and confusing. His writing is of someone who is trying to prove he is smart. I have even found a couple incomplete sentences in the book, all for the sake of sounding interesting. I would much prefer a history book that is straight to the point and dull. Here is an excerpt to illustrate my point:

"Above all, the Mongols were exceptionally adaptable warmongers...The mountains of Georgia could not stop them. The Mongols captured the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in 1234, turning Georgia into a puppet kingdom. Nor, in the long run, could the rice paddies and rivers of southern China where the Mongols destroyed the Song dynasty in the 1270s."

I am not a stupid person, but I often have to go back and read a paragraph several times to understand what the author is talking about.

The only reason it got two stars is because the maps and illustrations are adequate.

Shipped very fast, in good condition
This book was shipped very quickly and came in pretty good condition...it was used but not completely falling apart like most used books...would highly recommend using this seller!

it is a perfect book
it is surprise me when I first see it, it is like new, I mean it is really new, I am so happy to see the book, thank you for ur nice book.

Great book
The book was a little slow getting to me but when I got it, the book was in excellent shape and it still had the cd in it which I needed. The book is for my class that I needed and is interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
Volume II opens with major world events between 1500 and 1789, and considers the development of shipbuilding that sent European explorers around the world. Following topics include the Ottoman Empire, Mughal India, Manchu China, Spanish conquests in the Americas, European world colonialism, the French Revolution, Napoleonic Europe, British imperial expansion, the revolutions in the Americas, the United States and Canada as world powers, World War I and II, postwar Europe, the end of European colonialism, the Cold War, modern China, and events affecting Pacific nations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Exactly what it appears to be.
If you are looking for information on a specific civilization/region/empire, this is not the book for you. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want a really quick overview or just a bare-minimum outline of the last 500 years, this is also not the book for you. HOWEVER, if you want a good intermediary guide, this book is absolutely perfect. It covers about 90% of the relevant events since the middle-ages, and considering the giant scope of the title, it really is pretty short. Some guides may be shorter, but that's obviously because they don't cover as much. Some guides may be more interesting, but its hard to do that without making a book longer. Everything is a trade-off. This is a History guide, its not spell-binding, its not a page-turner, it will take you a while to get through. But it covers a lot of ground and is very easy to understand, which I think is the main purpose of this type of guide, and I think it does what it sets out to do very well.

West Africa gets the short end, yet again...
Very poor analysis of West African civilizations. The author was so desperate to disregard the Ghana empire that he threw in a baseless and eurocentric statement that it was "possibly" founded by Touareg. The kingdom was founded by Soninke, a "negro" people as the author states. And, it traded with neighboring negro and non-negro people including the mixed-negro Touareg.

very helpful
This book was very helpful for me because not only does it give a good summary of world history but it gives quizzes at the end which helped me to evaluate how much I learned and retained.I was able to then go back through the chapter and read over the parts that I got wrong.That helped me to study and remember the information.I loved this book so much that I am looking for the first volume in this series as well.

Not so easy!
I'm not so sure than a two volume series on World History with a total of nearly 1000 pages of information deserves to be called `The Easy Way.' This is definitely NOT a short and sweet study guide for the new AP World History exam. If that's what you're looking for, I suggest you check out the AP World History study guides published by Peterson's or Barron's. On the other hand, if you're a high school teacher looking for a supplement to your textbook, or if you're a home-schooler who is looking for a textbook complete with practice tests, then this series may have value; however, I suspect that most people are going to find it a fairly traditional 1000 page summary of world history too tedious and utilitarian to be either engaging or useful. Frankly it begs comparison not with study guides or supplements, but with textbooks - which come with plenty of supplementary materials.

In my opinion, the book(s) should have been thematically organized and less than half as long.

Pretty good book
This book allowed me to get an introduction into world history and it helped me learn basic facts in the past. This also had a test for every chapter that was read. The test allowed me to learn more efficiently andeasily. This book was very interesting and had good desciptions in mostareas and it is a sure recommendation for people to read if they are havingtrouble in World History or if they just want to learn it for fun. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of McGraw-Hill's Explorations in World History series, this brief and accessible volume presents a comparative survey of the early history of women from a global perspective.Each chapter, which can be read independently of the others, examines the experiences of women in one of seven civilizations typically covered in an introductory world history text: pre-agricultural societies, the Ancient Mediterranean, Gupta India/Southeast Asia, Tang/Song China, Maya and Aztec cultures, early Islam through the Abbasid caliphate, and Europe in the Late Middle Ages.Within these cultures, the authors explore a variety of issues impacting the lives of females in pre-modern history, including the ideal woman, female life cycles, women's roles in work and economy, female sexuality and spirituality, and women and politics.The book's brevity makes it an excellent companion text for students in world history, women's history, introductory sociology and anthropology courses, and women’s studies courses. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Good condition
Even though I ordered it used it barely looked it. Before I got the item I sent e-mails with questions to the seller and they answered back politely and promptly. This text book is a great buy full of both secondary and primary sources.

Very good book for primary sources
I used this book for my AP World History course. I have to say that this book is very effective for the purpose. The book offers many primary sources from many different places. To help out with the understanding, it offers some review questions at the beginning of each primary source. It may be hard to read at times, but it is worth its weight in gold for all it offers.

Use as a textbook, but not for public consumption
I read this for a history course. It provides an acceptable overview of historical events. It is a collection of primary and secondary source materials from different sources so the narration lacks flow. ... Read more

Product Description

They say that history is written by the victors. But what if history--or what we come to know as history--has all along been written by the wrong people? What if everything we've been told is only part of the story? What if it's the wrong part?

In this groundbreaking new work, Mark Booth embarks on an enthralling intellectual tour of our world's secret histories. Starting from a dangerous premise--that everything we've been taught about our world's past is corrupted, and that the stories put forward by the various cults and mystery schools throughout history are true--Booth produces nothing short of an alternate history of the past 3,000 years.

History is more than a list of things that have happened; it's a measure of consciousness and experience. And in The Secret History of the World, Booth's take on history is relentless, charging through time and space and thought in interdisciplinary fashion; embracing cognitive science, religion, psychology, historiography, and philosophy, a new timeline is drawn, and a huge swath of our cultural heritage that has for long been hidden is restored. From Greek and Egyptian mythology to Jewish folklore, from Christian cults to Freemasons, from Charlemagne to Don Quixote, from George Washington to Hitler--Booth shows without a doubt that history as we know it needs a revolutionary rethink, and he has 3,000 years of hidden wisdom to back it up. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

The great book of the truly enlightened author!
It's really a great journey through the spirituality of a humankind. I was reluctant to buy, at first, due to all those negative reviews. But, I am glad I bought it. Mark Booth did a magnificent job in research and study of the subject. But what is more important, he is so confident in his knowledge, that his explanation is very logic and will considered.
Not for everybody, of course. As we live in a country of a radical Christianity, I wouldn't recommend that book for those, who still believe that human history began 7 thousand years ago... You are simply not ready. In your next reincarnation, may be...

Interesting but irritating!
I've read this book over the course of a few years. There are some interesting ideas throughout the book and some gel even if you do a little research into them, however there are some blatantly false historical facts mentioned such as Rasputin(22 January 1869 - 29 December 1916) and Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand (18 December 1863-28 June 1914) dying on the same day...as you can see from the above dates, they do not correspond which leaves me to wonder if there are more mistakes through the rest of the book?

Crackpottery
This book is lots of fun and absolutely not scholarly. No footnotes, no research, no proof. He literally makes up his "secrets" out of whole cloth without a shred of evidence. Nothing hangs together accurately.

Still ... it's lots of fun, prompts the reader to further research (just what is the pineal gland, anyway?), and is a good companion to the Graham Hancock, Dan Brown, History Channel crackpottery. If you like to skim and nibble, this is a good choice.

I must agree with those who pan the book for its poor scholarship, grammar, spelling,attibution, etc. I also have enjoyed the crackpots who have given this book 5 stars and then wander off into their own craziness, so at least read the other reviews and get a good laugh.

A Few Comments
I bought this book at borders after reading two chapters. There was a nice flow to it. It's a very easy read and some humor is actually thrown in. You have to have a complete open mind to enjoy it. I think this book is supposed to be ENJOYED.I thought it was delightful. The value is only there if you are a blank slate and you bring no personal baggage to the table. You are going on someone elses journey.Some concepts will resonate while others will seem crazy but they are just one man's ideas that he has tried to connect over the years.
Some of us aquire knowledge and try to peice things together.I see what he was trying to do. I thought some of his ideas were correct and made perfect sence because I have come to some of those conclusions myself. The vagueness in some areas is fine. He doesn't know. We don't know. A fact is only what we think we know as truth so far.I read some of the negative reviews and I thought,wow, it's not that serious.If you already feel you are an authority on certian things, this book is not for you. I may be wrong but I think the point the critics miss is that you can still think freely outside of what you know is positivley fact.Don't just close the book because you come across something you just refuse to deal with. It's a pretty harmless piece of literature. I think one critic mentioned spelling and grammer errors. I always laugh at the structure of language. The limitations. That person should read some of Ben Franklins original writings before everything was standardized. Read someones text message for that matter. Have a drink, take your shoes off, have a cigar, get in your comfy chair and enjoy this book!

when you're over the target...
When you're taking flak that means you're over the target.

The fact there are so many negative reviews on this work gives me pause. That usually means there's something there that some or many don't want you accessing. The 'negative' reviews by mainstream 'newswhores' as I love to call them only heightens my suspicions. They've been lying to me all my life. I know because I went to college to be one.

Not being one to blindly believe 'any' book or article I read or any 'expert' as presented to me by mainstream media, I don't look as Booth as someone to trust blindly either.

I bought this book almost on a whim, brand new, which I rarely do, because it seemed to have a lot of names, events, beliefs that I hadn't seen before. I thought it might be a good starting point to research these issues further.

I've been accused of being a 'conspiracy theorist' in the past, simply because I know better than to blindly believe whatever the mainstream is trying to spoon feed me. But I bought this book not because of any political beliefs but because I'm looking at the 'esoteric' for another project and thought it might give me directions that I hadn't noticed before. Indeed it did.

About two days ago I finished the paperback version, except for the pages of notes in the back, and except for the numerous notes I took that I may someday get an opportunity to check or delve into. If one third of what Booth claims a large number of the 'thinking' and famous people of the past and present believed is true, it's a much stranger world than I realized. And I'm accustomed to strange.

That's how I looked at it from the beginning, he's alleging these beliefs, no stranger in many ways than many held by other ancient religions or the modern religions of 'evolution' and collectivism, formed more than an integral part of our history, if I understood him correctly on one level. There are several levels to this, and he could have done a much clearer job of presenting much of it.

My advice is to pick up a copy at the bookstore or library and see if it's for you. If not go back to whatever comfortable set of mythologies provide you the mental glue you need to get through the day. That's what most of us do anyway.




... Read more

Product Description
To assemble the text for FORGOTTEN VOICES OF WORLD WAR II, Max Arthur and his team of researchers were given unlimited access to the complete collection of World War II audiotapes accumulated by the British Imperial War Museum. These are the almost-forgotten voices of an entire generation of civilian and military survivors of some of the most mundane (or horrendous) episodes of the war. Their simple, often rough, words cut straight to the heart.
Able Seaman Bob Tilburn tells us:
"I tried to sit on my raft, but every time I pulled it down, the other side came up, and so I packed it in, because it was falling on my face all the time. We were on three separate little rafts . . . I actually tried to go to sleep on this thing that was tossing up and down. I thought, if I'm going to die, I might as well die in my sleep. And then Dundas shouted, 'What's that?' and I woke up a bit and looked behind me, and there was this destroyer coming, the Electra. What a beautiful sight.

"Then it went straight past us."

Tilburn, Dundas, and Briggs were the only survivors of the sinking of the HMS Hood by the Bismarck; 1,415 of their comrades went down. Tilburn's narrative, and those of thousands of others--Americans, Australians, British, Canadians, French, Germans, Japanese, Okinawans, Russians, and more-give us an unvarnished picture of the true cost of war for its survivors, as well as an incomparable tribute to the many who did not make it.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Real People
There is always so much imfo. in these war books that whenever one reads them it's impossible to take it all in. I read the first Forgotten Voices book (WW1) and most of it was about the Trench Experience. WW2 however was just so huge that you feel the author struggles admirably to get it all in and at the same time maintain the entertainment factor of the first book.Practically everything in the book is an account of something told by a survivor. Max Arthur obviously has to try and use accounts which are funny perhaps, or sad, or imformative or all three. The book just can't go into depth about certain things. There is a D-Day section, a concentration camp section, Market garden, Africa, Japanese etc. and there are books out there about these things in their own right. For instance I just read Armageddon by Max Hastings which is about the battle for Germany in '44/'45. But this book, Forgotten Voices, is not really about the war. It is about the ordinary people/children and soldiers fighting/existing in it so there's a big difference between this and all the others. On several occasions while reading it I've had to put the book down when reading of a situation someone had found themselves in- I've just put the book down and thought 'Oh my God!' and have needed time to think about it before continueing.
It is a mainly British perspective with the occasional American/German/Dutch input etc. I would strongly recommend it and if you like these Forgotten Voices books then you would also like All Quiet on the Home Front. A similarly told book of mainland Britain during the first world war.
Good reading!

Stories from the Common Soldier
There are any number of books written by people involved in World War II, most of them of course by Generals. This book is different.

Like Steven Ambrose's collection of recordings from vetrans in this country, the Imperial War Museum has taped the accounts of thousands of ordinary participants from World War II.

Here is the report from the young British sailor. He got a pass and with his friend picked up two girls to go to the movies. Suddenly the movie was interupted with a message for all sailors to return to their ships. They went to Dunkirk.

Some of the recordings are from the Axis. A Japanese naval officer reports: "Our forces were ambushed by the American forces... My ship was hit by more than a hundred shells in, I think, about a two hour engagement. At that time I was quite high on the deck, and I was holding the binoculars with both hands. A splinter came up and cut off both my arms in the middle.
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Product Description
Volume I of this acclaimed series is now available in an abridged paperback edition. The result of years of work by scholars from all over the world, The UNESCO General History of Africa reflects how the different peoples of Africa view their civilizations and shows the historical relationships between the various parts of the continent. Historical connections with other continents demonstrate Africa's contribution to the development of human civilization. Each volume is lavishly illustrated and contains a comprehensive bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ordered Wrong Book
I got the worng book. I know that's not the sellers fault, but it kind of sucked. The book had a few stains and was worn, but was dirt cheap so that too me was more inportant. I have to reorder the correct book, which is being rushed to me. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (17)

World War One: A Short History
After reading this book I felt compelled to write this review.I believe a better title would have been "World War I for Dummies".No, on second thought I feel I'm the dummy for buying it.If you want a quick and dirty synopysis of WWIthen this book is for you.But to get a better understanding of thisconflict I would recommend Keegan.

An Excellent Summary of "The War to End Wars".
When you put this book down - and it doesn't take all that long to read the 190 pages of it - one is left with two opinions - or at least I was. First, that you have read a very readable, authoritative and concise history of this horrible and unnecessary conflict; and, Second, that you need some time to consider what it all meant in the long run - the rise of two dictatorial and militant states (Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia) a second even more terrible war, the end of France as a controlling European power, the end of war "as we knew it"- the war of with cavalry charges, bugles and "gallantry" etc.

This was war of a new kind. No longer is war left to the warriors. The entire population is involved. Cities (London) were bombed from the air for the first time. There are new weapons - tanks, airplanes, poison gas - entire countries laid waste physically and economically. And I could go on. But you get the drift. The thinking and analyses part takes longer than the reading part.
With respect to the reading part I learned a lot I had not known about the fighting on the Eastern front and in the Carpathians. Professor Stone is trenchant and opinionated; but for anyone wanting a concise history of World War I this is the book for that person. However, if you want more facts - and I did - John Keegan's "The First World War" (Vintage Books 2000) gives a fuller account of the tragedy and is beautifully written - well worth reading.

World War One is a short introduction to the horrors of World War I by eminent historian Norman Stone
World War I killed eleven million combatants; twenty million civilians and served as the beginning of the horrible "thirty year's war" period which ended only with Hiroshima and the fall of Germany in the final apocalypse of World War II. The twentieth century is the bloodiest century in recorded human history. It all began with the military industrialists of the pre-1914 era who engaged (on a massive scale) in colony acquisitions and the construction of huge naval fleets.
Norman Stone's formidable task was to tell the sanguinary tale of the Great War in less than 200 pages. He does so by giving the general reader a good idea of what happened in each of the war's years-1914-1918. For a more complete history the student of the war should turn to the large histories of the conflict authored by such giants as Hew Weldon, John Keegan, Niall Ferguson and others. This little book is "just getting your feet wet" with the fascinating subject under study.
As one who is widely read in World War I history, I will use this book frequently for the quotations the author provides which cuts the verbiage and strikes paydirt in describing a person, battle or situation in the war.
Among the best quotes I marked were these:
With the Ukraine, Russia is a USA;without she is Canada...-p. 6
In four years the world went from 1870 to 1940-p. 35 (Stone is discussing advances in military technology-the war saw the first use of tanks, planes, radio communication and heavy cannon such as the German's Big Bertha).
On the whole the Germans were better prepared-p. 40
...the Germans had done well...mainly because the blockade had given them the will and the way for a proper war economy...-p. 74
Not many of the commanders were at all bright, and some were downright dim.-p. 77
Verdun...broke the French army...When she did fall in 1940 this was partly because her people did not want to go through Verdun again.-pp. 96-97
Tanks developed a certain mythology but they had their limits-p.105
Great wars develop a momentum of their own.-p. 117
Arthur Zimmerman's telegram was Germany's suicide note, written in farce-p. 125 (German foreign secretary Zimmerman sought to entice Mexico to declare war on the USA; in return they would be rewarded with territory seized by the Yankees in the Mexican War).
There were now thousands of guns and millions of shells-p.126
Lenin had an extraordinary powerful character... His charisma does not show up in his writings, which are unreadable...it is difficult to see how Russians could be held captive by his oratory.-p. 135
The way was open for a second World War even more terrible than the First.-p. 190
Stone does not limit himself to discussions of battle and trench warfare on the Western Front. Hebriefly comments on battles between the Austrians and the Russians and Italians. As a scholar living in Turkey he discusses the Gallipoli Campaign and how Turkey was an important player in the war.
If you have a long afternoon ahead of you on a plane or a want to spend a quiet afternoon at home with a good book then this one is for you!

Overview almost Guarantees Flaws
In a strange admission, Professor Stone claims to shorten "Austro-Hungary" to "Austria" throughout this impossibly short overview of WWI. What he should have written: whenever reporting negative information "Austro-Hungary" or "Austria-Hungary" will be used, while any positive news will reference only "Austria". Why? He flip-flops usage on the same page, and my loose tally shows accuracy of over 90% in this reporting prejudice.

My guess: this is just an unconcious stylistic device used to reinforce the accepted view that the nation state is a far superior political compromise, compared to monarchical empires. Of course it is, I'm not arguing for empire. But there's always the chance that something more sinister is at work here.

The Armenian genocide is treated like just another casualty of war. "Oh, those Armenians? They were screwing up the train schedule so, of course, they are all dead." Not so fast perfesser...

Overall, though, the book serves it's purpose as a blanket overview of WWI. It puts battles and generals and places in a chronological order. The critically thinking reader should question, broad sweeping statements and conclusions in any history. Here, professor Stone simply doesn't have the space to elucidate on his conclusions. So, its left to the reader to dig further. Perhaps that's why he has left in some fairly controversial conclusions and statements.

Having read this short history, I certainly want to dig deeper into the subject, and that surely must be "goal achieved" for the author, whether I agree or disagree with his stylistic constructs or opinions.

Quick service
This book was needed for my son's english class. The book came in a timely manner and was in good condition. I highly recommend this seller. ... Read more

Product Description
A History of the Modern World is a careful, well-written narrative of major events from the late Middle Ages to the political and religious conflicts at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It offers a wide-ranging survey that helps readers understand both the complexities of great events (e.g., the French Revolution, the First World War, or the collapse of great imperial systems) and the importance of historical analysis. It also provides a careful summary of the modern political changes that have affected the social and cultural development of all modern cultures.

Throughout the book's lifetime, A History of the Modern World has been hailed as an elegantly written historical narrative, filled with analysis and balanced historical insights as well as its traditional attention to the processes of historical change, conflict, and political transformations. The tenth edition has been updated to include the clear maps, the survey of global economic connections, the chronologies, the illustrations, and the up-to-date bibliographies that today's students need and expect. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (74)

Purchasing an International Edition Textbook
For all future textbook purchasers, I have spoken to school faculty, searched for information and finally purchased an international edition of a textbook.Other than the cover, which has some chinese writing, the text, the pages, and the photos are exactly the same as the USA version.We were pleased to find that the international edition came in two sturdy paperback books, Volume 1 and Volume 2, so a heavy hard bound book doesn't need to be carried back and forth to school.Price was excellent for this brand new international edition 'A History of the Modern World'.

Mandatory Read for School
I purchased this book for my high school aged daughter for her honors history class. This book is required for her summer reading assignment. She says the book is good because it has notes to help her identify the important points.

great seller
Much better than expected book in tip top condition. College text book what more can I say@

When I Have A Question About History, I Want My Palmer
Okay.I am doing some reading in history right now in areas foreign to me and yes, I know I can look it up on the Internet. But what can I say??? There is something about "my Palmer" that I yearn for instead.

I don't regret much in my life, but on the top of my short list of mistakes is that I put my Palmer in storage before I made a move hundreds of miles away.Yes, it's in a box to be shipped sooner than latter, but two years later... it's still in the warehouse.

I absolutely love my 30 year old copy, the quality of the paper, the maps, the images, the details, his writing style and yes, all the information.Calling it a classic does not do it justice.Dare I purchase another... or send for my beloved, well worn, old friend?

An AP student's Perspective
First off, I use this book for AP European history. I find that it is generally good, yet at times there will be very vague sentences, such as this one: "They sought French aid, and the French barely failed to land a sizable arguments." There have only been 3 typos in the first 8 chapters. Though a few funny sentences such as "The French, naturally uninterested..."

In all its a decent in depth book about European history, and to all other students, I would like to share a link:

[...] ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great!
Love this book.Gives a great overview of world history for elementary through middle school ages.Add some great biographies and you'll have done great job exposing your children to the big picture.Would definetly use again and recommend to others.

An imposing historical reference book for young readers
The bright inlay pictures and colorful cover of History Of Our World enhance an imposing historical reference book for young readers comprised of almost six hundred pages of history and is enhanced with color contemporary photos and illustrations so important to making a classroom discussion of people, places and ideas inviting as possible. Ideal as a reference for homeschooled students engaged in independent studies, History Of Our World is expertly designed as a textbook for traditional classroom curriculums and is just as readily a library reference recommendation for middle school levels collections.
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Product Description
What and who constitutes world history? What makes a history a "world" history? What is the "world" with which world history is concerned? Can another "world" be considered?Scholars of African birth or descent are acutely absent in the writing of and debates concerning world history, inept when it comes to the foregoing questions, and invisible in the production of worldly historical knowledge.Once known as the continent without history or historical consciousness, Africa and its intellectuals represent a much larger segment of the marginalized intellectual world. In fact, the African Network in Global History, founded in 2009 at the University of Ilorin (Nigeria), is the clearest evidence of African scholars' tardy entry into a world history discourse, as well as support for studies in world history that address Africa and the world as seen from African perspectives.We can only begin to answer the above questions when the former peoples and places without history rewrite world history.Certainly, the world should constitute and make a "world history" driven by perspectives on the world rather than a Eurasian world of perspectives.In the past three decades, writers of world history have focused comparatively on historical themes and recurring processes.In their history and traditions, writers of world history and their past exemplars share more than a Eurasian origin; the older traditions modeled by Herodotus of ancient Greece and Sima Qian of China viewed the world through the superiority of their own societies, and current European or white historians honed their views in the context of imperialism and colonialism.Implicit in those traditions is that world history research and writing began when Europeans discovered the world outside of Europe. Consequently, formerly unknown peoples of Africa and the Americas had to fit within Christian frames of history that remained until the twentieth century and, in some cases, the twenty-first century.Reading the World combines the strength of recent scholarship and research-based monographs, the coherency of single authorship, and the presentation and somewhat narrative style of textbooks. Reading the World provides an intellectually stimulating, authoritative, and engaging history that is both concise and global in scope, and offers a readable introduction to a challenging topic.Reading the World also aims to challenge the way readers think about the histories of people and places of the globe and how they and others might interpret or write their own "world" histories.This book does not attempt a "grand narrative" or provide a recipe textbook with prefabricated questions, test banks, audiovisual supplements, and indigestible sequences of "facts" and historical events packaged in such a way that you think less and forgo your creativity.Rather, Reading the World is but one of what should be a number of world history monographs representing an integral contribution from the historically marginalized in worldly historical knowledge and its production, engaging in the unfinished and fascinating conversation of a composite world history. ... Read more

Product Description
Duiker's comprehensive, balanced history of the world in the twentieth century provides you with context for interpreting the events that you hear about in the news each day. You'll view history from the broader global perspective, while at the same time gaining insight into the distinctive character of individual civilizations and regions. And to ensure that you'll have a well-rounded understanding of the most decisive moments in recent times, Duiker integrates political, economic, social, and cultural history into a smoothly written narrative. What's more, the text includes a special insert that guides you in using the text's many detailed maps, which help you make important connections between geography and the turn of historic events; timelines that highlight and contrast different cultures and nations, thus giving you an "at-a-glance," holistic perspective on eras and their defining events; photos from William Duiker's own collection that giving you a closer, more personal look at the world we live in; and primary-source documents that illustrate and clarify key points. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the best books I have, now
Very well written book packed with information.I place this on my top three list of best books (that I own).

Excellent service
The book I ordered arrived in a fast pace and was in great condition. I have no complaints with the service I received and I'm appreciative of this.
Peace.

Good overview of World events and patterns.
This book was fun to read. The narrative flowed nicely and was easy to get through. It covered all of the major events of the World however I felt there should have been a deeper discussion of Africa and Latin America. The book goes beyond a mere recitation of facts but successfully conveysthe character and essence of the 20th century. The author captures thespirit and patterns of change that rocked the century and made an excitingand violent one. ... Read more

Product Description
Now updated! Your personal tour guide to the history of the world

Want to know more about global history? This concise guide explains in clear detail all the major players and events that have made the world what it is today. Covering the entirety of human history, this comprehensive resource highlights important developments in everything from religion and science to art and war — giving you an understanding of how the 21st-century world came to be.

• Begin to connect with the past — label the eras as you meet the Neanderthals, home in on Homer, raise Atlantis, and preserve Pharaohs

• Find strength in numbers — trace the growth from ancient civilizations to today's global community and discover what makes societies succeed or fail

• Discover the impact of thought — explore the rise of religion, the roots of philosophy, and the advance of science — and how our feelings and beliefs continually redefined us

• Know the global consequences of war — ride with the Greeks and the Romans, arm yourself with the cavalry, dig the trenches, and follow the paths humans took to wage modern war

• Meet the movers and shakers — from great leaders and courageous revolutionaries to ruthless tyrants and unsung heroes

• Examine significant events of the 21st century — from 9/11 and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to climate change, Hurricane Katrina, and the economic rise of China, India, and Brazil

Open the book and find:

• A detailed overview of history

• The development of the world's religions

• Reviews of essential historical documents, from the Bible to the Bill of Rights

• The invention of writing and art

• Scientific developments that revolutionized the world

• Capsule biographies of people who changed history — and a few who were changed by it

• Ten unforgettable dates in world history

Customer Reviews (25)

Pick something else!
The author divides the book in several short sections (e.g. history of major events, history of philosophical ideas, history of wars, etc). As a result, everything is so cramped and fragmented that it's impossible to get the big picture. E.g. the actual 'history of major events' section has aprox. 100 pages - way to little to summarize thousands of years of world history.

Obviously, everything is relative, but I would have failed the exam I bough it for had I relied only on this material. History is whole, a mixtum compositum, of religious, military, philosophical etc ideas and events - not a series of separated and fragmented dots.

Overall, a disappointing experience - and an unusual one, considering that most books in the "Dummies" series I used beforehand were simply great!

A Great Fun Resource!
As a high school history teacher this book is a great resource for quick, fun ways to make history more interesting for kids who generally do not want to be learning history.The cartoons, brief descriptions, movie connections and abundance of information in a quick and easy to access format helps with a complex and dense subject.I can highly recommend this book as a resource and idea book.

Casual yet classy
I've read Peter Haugen's other work, and always remain impressed. He clearly knows his stuff. Most important, he knows how to translate it into a nice read that keeps a casual, yet classy, tone throughout. (Even inside the parenthesis.) That's perfect for a general overview of world history. Is it a PhD-level dissection of night-time flanking movements by the Roman Legion? No. It's not meant to be. (I have no doubt Mr. Haugen would do a splendid job on said flankings if he wished.) It's a one-volume overview of 10,000 years of human development and history, packaged into the Dummies series: i.e., aimed at a general reader who wants to learn the world in a single volume, or refresh what he or she learned in school. (At age 54, that's why I read it: to refresh myself on all the stuff I'd forgotten since college history.) This is the second edition, and it reads even better than the first. I highly recommend it.

Being Simple
If you are interested in finding answers to historical questions and want some contextual help than this book is for you.It's pretty easy today to find answers but the more difficult task is to understand the questions of the time that cause events.This book helps simplify history so you can recall time by stories and facts.
For example who knew that the `fertile crescent' was a hotbed of early farming which is now western Iran to the Persian Coast, or that the Pilgrims' onboard the Mayflower in 1620 were called Separatists?
This book gives you the `nuggets' of fact and the thread of history that make sense for today.I'm not an historian just a curious reader who is drawn to timelines and maps that help me visualize historical understanding of events and people. By simplifying world history in a paperback we have a much better grasp of history to apply to our daily reading.
Another really helpful fact was the explanation for date (BC and AD) and how vague we are with dividing time into Eras and giving those names. For example Christ's birth date is approximately 6 BC not 1 AD because of the system of dating imposed to make contextual sense of the various calendars. And it's so nice to reflect on the approximation of time when trying to determine "ancient' history.
There are many helpful reminders of how History is a reflection of the people and events in this book.It reminds me of the Whole Earth Catalog where you browsed pages finding interesting facts that you really wondered about. Now, for the next edition this book should include more illustrations and graphics. (don't forget timelines and maps)
This book is for everyone.

good learning tool
I have a child who is a history teacher and this was a requested gift for her...good learning tool and teaching aide.Highly recommened to anyone who likes to learn :)(or teach) ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

good overview of the field
A professor I respect suggested this book for me because I may have to teach a world history survey in the future at the college level.I found the summaries of the various approaches and theories very useful as well as some of the articles.The reason I didn't give the book 5 stars is that it lacks examples of syllabi, course descriptions and lessons that are used in world history surveys.That would make the book a 5 star in terms of practicality.Theories is great but method needs examples and the best way to learn to teach is yes, to teach, but to also watch great teachers and see how they do things. ... Read more