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Customer Reviews (5)

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.
... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. le Guin, Helen Keller, Gertrude Stein, Adrienne Rich, Anne Mccaffrey, Barbara Tuchman, Bonnie Raitt, Lani Guinier, Stockard Channing, Rona Jaffe, Benazir Bhutto, Caroline Kennedy, Phyllis Schlafly, Elizabeth Holtzman, Olive Winchester, Laura Whitehorn, Gish Jen, Alison Lurie, Linda Greenhouse, Abigail Folger, Natalie Zemon Davis, Amy Gutmann, Laura Nader, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Nancy Johnson, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Victoria Wells Wulsin, Mary Sears, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Anne D'harnoncourt, Maribel Vinson, Edith Lesley, Diana Balmori, Phyllis Granoff, Maxine Kumin, Jane Shore, Annie Jump Cannon, Thérèse Bonney, Marina Von Neumann Whitman, Viola S. Wendt, Katha Pollitt, Mary Ellen Wohl, Jessica Mathews, Hannah Weiner, Mary Parker Follett, Marita Bonner, Mary White Ovington, Jean Valentine, Alison Des Forges, Carla J. Shatz, Ellen Biddle Shipman, Esther Clark Wright, Leslie Crocker Snyder, Rachel Hadas, Abigail Child, Maurine Dallas Watkins, Josephine Hull, Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd, Francine Prose, Tanya Luhrmann, Philinda Rand, Tenley Albright, Doris Zemurray Stone, Ellen Schrecker, List of Radcliffe College People, Peggy Dulany, Carol Gilligan, Harriet Mayor Fulbright, Caroline Thompson, Joyce Ballou Gregorian, Marjorie Grene, Catherine Galbraith, Helen Sawyer Hogg, Gisela Kahn Gresser, Phoebe C. Ellsworth, Alice Rivlin, Mary Lefkowitz, Amy Wilentz, Marie Winn, Elizabeth Hubbard, Ruth Whitman, Mary Howell, Anne Garrels, Lydia P. Jackson, Judith Baumel, Justine W. Polier, Eva Beatrice Dykes, Deborah Batts, Frances Jalet-Cruz, Linda Pastan, Lois Murphy, Carol Kalish, Jean Sutherland Boggs, Pippa Scott, Nancy Wexler, Olive Hazlett, Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller, Elspeth Rostow, Ruth Messinger, Fannie Fern Andrews, Michelle Rosaldo, Jane Langton, Norma Farber, Priscilla White, Alice Vanderbilt Morris, Marsha S. Berzon, Abbie Huston Evans, Mary ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=193737 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.

A great soldier handed an impossible task
This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of American military affairs.Barbara W. Tuchman's book is a "riveting" biography of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, who was one of America's ablest military leaders asked to perform the near impossible in World War II--train and command a Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese.Tuchman`s purpose of using Stilwell's long connections with China which started in 1911 when he was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant, was to explore three historical strands.First, by using a plethora of sources, including Stilwell's diaries, she excelled in her purpose of providing an unusually candid biography of Stilwell's remarkable life.Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who personally observed Stilwell's first-rate military abilities as a trainer and leader of men, "...selected Stilwell for the post and felt responsible for having consigned him to an ill-supported mission and wasted the talents of an officer he respected as one of America's ablest field commanders" (391).However, early in Stillwell's career he came to be known by his moniker "Vinegar Joe," for his scowl whenever he thought someone or something went awry.His diary was full of pejoratives describing most British officers as "limeys," the French as "frogs," and when he soon lost all respect for Chiang he referred to him as "peanut."Though Tuchman throughout her biography displayed a great admiration for Stilwell, her caricature of Stilwell is as a man who did not possess the political skills necessary of a high-ranking officer to effectively lead a multi-national coalition in the China-India-Burma theatre of operations.

Tuchman's second purpose was to use Stilwell's four visits and postings in China as the backdrop to explain China's turbulent years--1911 through 1945.This part of her book lacked the depth necessary to provide the reader a good grounding in truly understanding the ever-shifting political situation in China.However, through this strand of her book, Tuchman was able to show how Stilwell had a "missionary's" love and concern for the plight of China's "teeming masses."Throughout his various observations of China's military in his capacity as America's military attaché from 1935 to 1937, Stilwell came to have, "...confidence in Chinese soldiers as fighting material and believed that if properly led they could become the equal of any army in the world" (172).

Third, Tuchman used Stilwell's life to explore America's foreign policy relationship with China, starting with America's Open Door Policy, but mainly focusing on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) desire that America could find in China a democratic partner to help block and eventually crush Japan's increasing influence in Asia.Unfortunately Tuchman, through no fault of her own because there is a scant written record on the subject, was unable to understand the crux of FDR's strategic purpose in first supporting Chiang with a naïve reverence, which ultimately undercut Stilwell's ability to get the Chinese Army to engage the Japanese in battle.However, once FDR witnessed Chiang's ineptitude at the Cairo Conference of 1943, he saw Chiang in the same light that Stilwell did.However, it was too late to provide Stilwell the political help he needed to use the Chinese army in a truly meaningful way to affect the wars outcome.Tuchman's book serves historians best as a biography of one of America's most able but tragically wasted generals of World War II.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in military history, and American history.
... Read more

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1976 MASS MARKET COPY. WEAR AND TEAR AND CREASES ON BOOK.PAGES ARE TANNED AND SOILED.WE SHIP DAILY... ... Read more

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Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Harry Turtledove, David Horowitz, Howard Zinn, Barbara Tuchman, Murray Bookchin, Vladimir Tismăneanu, Norman Finkelstein, Bernard Lewis, Daniel Goldhagen, Arno J. Mayer, Richard Pipes, James R. Russell, Saul Friedländer, Irving Howe, Robert Fogel, Joel Beinin, Allen Weinstein, Walter Laqueur, Debórah Dwork, Deborah Lipstadt, Robert Heilbroner, Herbert Aptheker, Theodore Draper, Gar Alperovitz, Joel Carmichael, Adam Ulam, Moses Rischin, Yosef Goldman, Michael Berenbaum, Lenni Brenner, Arnold Reisman, Milton Meltzer, Randolph L. Braham, Yuri Slezkine, Kenneth Waltzer, Stephen Haliczer, Cyrus Adler, Jay R. Berkovitz, S. Ilan Troen, Selma Jeanne Cohen, J. Salwyn Schapiro, Howard Sachar, Gavriel David Rosenfeld, Robert Melvin Spector, Nahma Sandrow, Peter Novick, Albert Lindemann. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Vladimir Tismneanu (Romanian pronunciation: ; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is director of the University of Maryland's Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies, having served as chair of the editorial committee (2004-2008) and editor (1998-2004) of the East European Politics and Societies academic review. Tismneanu is a contributor to several periodicals, including Journal of Democracy, Studia Politica, Sfera Politicii, Revista 22, Evenimentul Zilei, Idei în Dialog and Cotidianul. He has also worked with the international radio stations Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle, and authored programs for the Romanian Television Company. As of 2009, he is Academic Council Chairman of the Institute for People's Studies, a think tank of the Romanian Demo...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4096055 ... Read more

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Chapters: Pierre Berton, A. J. P. Taylor, Barbara Tuchman, Lazăr Şăineanu, Niall Ferguson, Charles Bean, B. H. Liddell Hart, Martin Gilbert, Richard Holmes, John Keegan, Gabriela Dudeková, Margaret Macmillan, S.l.a. Marshall, Ernst Von Hoeppner, Andrew Godefroy, Michael Howard, Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, Martin Middlebrook, Alistair Horne, Norman Franks, Hew Strachan, Guy Pedroncini, Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Gerald Oram, Peter Barton, Les Carlyon, Cyril Falls, Gary Sheffield, Avner Offer, Nikolai Golovin, Christopher Pugsley, Dan Van Der Vat, Andrei Zayonchkovski, Robert J. Dalessandro, John Terraine, Gordon Corrigan, Yuri Danilov, David Stevenson, Oto Luthar, Adrian Gilbert, Lyn Macdonald, Llewellyn Woodward, Julian Putkowski, Piet Chielens. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 209. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Lazr ineanu (Romanian pronunciation: , also spelled eineanu, born Eliezer Schein; Francisized Lazare Sainéan, French pronunciation: , or Sainéanu; April 23, 1859 May 11, 1934) was a Romanian-born philologist, linguist, folklorist and cultural historian. A specialist in Oriental and Romance studies, as well as a Hebraist and a Germanist, he was primarily known for his contribution to Yiddish and Romanian philology, his work in evolutionary linguistics, and his activity as a literary and philological comparatist. ineanu also had innovative contributions to the investigation and anthologizing of Romanian folklore, placed in relation to Balkan and East Central European traditions, as well as to the historical evolution of Romanian in a larger Balkan context, and was a celebrated early contributor to Romanian lexicography. His main initiatives in these fields are a large corpus of collected fairy tales and the 1896 Dicionarul universal al limbii române ("The Universal Dictionary of th...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=24129602 ... Read more

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Chapters: Douglas Hofstadter, Carl Sagan, E. O. Wilson, Barbara Tuchman, Jared Diamond, Bert Hölldobler, Jonathan Weiner, John Mcphee, Tracy Kidder, David Brion Davis, Richard Hofstadter, Erik Erikson, Samantha Power, Will Durant, Studs Terkel, Richard Rhodes, Edwin Way Teale, Saul Friedländer, Anne Applebaum, Garry Wills, J. Anthony Lukas, Theodore H. White, Robert Coles, Annie Dillard, René Dubos, David Remnick, Daniel Yergin, John W. Dower, Steve Coll, Robert Neil Butler, Ernest Becker, Neil Sheehan, John Toland, Caroline Elkins, Joseph Lelyveld, Paul Starr, Frances Fitzgerald, Carl Emil Schorske, Lawrence Wright, Dale Maharidge, Howard Mumford Jones, Tina Rosenberg, Michael Williamson, Douglas A. Blackmon, Ariel Durant, Herbert P. Bix, William W. Warner, Diane Mcwhorter, Richard Kluger, Susan Sheehan, David K. Shipler. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 253. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote. A book to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel, Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name. He remains a figure of reference for the generation growing up in the late 1970s, early 19...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6824 ... Read more

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Datini, a fourteenth-century Florentine merchant-banker, provides us with one of the great success stories of the Middle Ages. A dealer in wool, sacred pictures, spices, and iron, he established an import/export house with branches in Pisa, Genoa, Barcelona and Majorca. He also left behind, in wooden crates, the entire archive of his business - over 150,000 letters, some 500 ledgers and accounts books, and a mass of personal and business documents that Iris Origo tracked down, translated, and, through patient selection and perfect understanding, made accessible to the modern reader in this award-winning and singular biography.



In her fine introduction, Barbara Tuchman asks, "Why is this book one of the great books of historical writing of the twentieth century?" She answers, "[Origo's] success in resurrecting not only a personality whom we can recognize but also his times, his town, his marriage, his household, his country home, his friends and associates, makes for a work of extraordinary interest with that quality to grip and take hold of a reader that makes a book everlasting." And as for Datini himself, the epicenter of this remarkable historical recreation, she writes, "the story of his achievement is something more signifcant than the mere record of the enrichment of a single man. In the extent and variety of his ventures, in his powers of organization, in his international outlook, in his swift adaptability to a society in turmoil, as in his own ambition, shrewdness, tenacity, anxiety, and greed, he is the forerunner of the businessman of today." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A historical study at its finest
This is probably the most famous book of Iris Origo, who at the same time offers to the world the most extensive study of Francesco di Marco Datini, a Tuscan merchant of the pre-renaissance. The book is directly based on thousands of letters and contracts that were found in the 1870's and that allow this unique insight into the life and the work of a merchant, but also a private person of his time (1335-1410).

The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the merchant; the second part discusses the head of the private household. Since the source used is extremely large (500 account books, 300 associate contracts, insurances, transport documents, etc., but above all more than 140000 letters, of which 11000 are private correspondence). With such a source, and the research efforts that went into this book, we thus get a very detail insight, which is a delight to read. Not only, does the author discuss the career of a true self-made man, but also does she explain, in the first part, how international trade, at the eve of the commercial revolution that preceded Datini's life-time, was organised. In the second part we learn about his marriage, his life in the 14th Century, and of course his excesses.

The style is easy and straight-forward. The author goes into great detail, almost a flauberian style, to explain everything that the reader might want to. Five stars are awarded for this truly excellent piece of work!

The Merchant of Prato: Francesco Di Marco Datini
Superbly researched and written, this is a book of history taken from the detailed dairies of a successful merchant in 14th century Prato, Italy.Any one interested in daily life in this period will appreciate this book.

A historical study at its finest.
This is probably the most famous book of Iris Origo, who at the same time offers to the world the most extensive study of Francesco di Marco Datini, a Tuscan merchant of the pre-renaissance. The book is directly based on thousands of letters and contracts that were found in the 1870's and that allow this unique insight into the life and the work of a merchant, but also a private person of his time (1335-1410).

The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the merchant; the second part discusses the head of the private household. Since the source used is extremely large (500 account books, 300 associate contracts, insurances, transport documents, etc., but above all more than 140000 letters, of which 11000 are private correspondence). With such a source, and the research efforts that went into this book, we thus get a very detail insight, which is a delight to read. Not only, does the author discuss the career of a true self-made man, but also does she explain, in the first part, how international trade, at the eve of the commercial revolution that preceded Datini's life-time, was organised. In the second part we learn about his marriage, his life in the 14th Century, and of course his excesses.

The style is easy and straight-forward. The author goes into great detail, almost a flauberian style, to explain everything that the reader might want to. Five stars are awarded for this truly excellent piece of work! ... Read more