Customer Reviews:
rare intercultural tale.......2007-09-25
This is a rare book and one that I will continue recommending to others. This book surprised me as I read through Elena's encounters :how well Elena grasped the possibility of drastically different perceptions on the part of her female friends in Guatemala. I think she is brilliant in her ability to weave this intercultural tale (where cultures intersect), and ultimately achieves grace and humility as she paints these various truths. Hats off to this wonderful writer!
Required Reading for the World.......2007-07-27
This is one of the finest, if not THE finest book I've read. If I were to have the opportunity to name and teach a college-level course--"The Rest of the World does not Live on Hardwood Floors with Oriental Carpets; they Eat Beans 3 Times a Day if Lucky, Once if Not"-- this would be the textbook. Ms. Urbani Hiltebrand's gift to the indigenous back-country people of Guatemala is greater than any government program could possibly imagine; she went there and threw away the manual on how to do Peace Corps (maybe only part of it) helped them with survival, and gave those women and children in her story a glimpse of what dignity and self-respect feels like, and put meaning in lives where there was none. When you think about it, that's a lot. The author can write.
We, in this country, have a tough time getting our arms around the mind-numbing morally-bankrupt chaos, that after you've been robbed, enables one to wait in line-- to get a permit-- to file a report-- of a robbery--that will never be investigated. If you ask why the line never moves, and no one gets a permit to file a report, the answer will be, "Because that's the way it has always been." But, if recent events are any indication, maybe we are getting there too. It's helpful to understand that this is the way the rest of the world works. This book, I think at its core, is about being of service to others in spite of the good, the bad, or the ugly that happens to be playing out on your particular day--the very antithesis of the hubris we see in the mantra adopted by some elected officials. I am sure those incredible characters in the book will never forget the time that, "the Gringa, Elena, with her dog Calixta, she came to our town."
Great stories from a brave Peace Corps worker.......2007-02-12
I thought this was a very interesting book, full of funny, poignant, and scary stories of a beautiful young woman trying to make a difference in a foreign country at war. She could have taken a number of approaches to sharing her stories. I liked that she chose her relationships with the women she met and telling the stories from her own and from their perspectives. Very clever approach. Her perspective as an older adult looking back at her youthful adventures held good wisdom. I highly recommend it.
Beautiful, funny, sad and RIVETING!.......2007-01-05
I loved this book. The writing is smart and gorgeous. The storytelling is equal parts sad, funny, insightful, and surprising. I was inspired by this book and also riveted. In it we get the story not only of Elena--the daring, hilarious, kind-hearted Peace Corps worker--but also that of the many women Elena came to know during her years in Guatemala. It's a bold approach, to tell the story of women so different from her, but it works wonderfully and I was as deeply engaged with each of these women as I was with Elena herself. I found myself thinking about each of these women in the hours throughout the day when I wasn't reading their stories, anxious to get back to the book to see what happened next. I highly recommend When I Was Elena.
Highly recommended!.......2006-09-13
When gifted author Ellen Urbani Hiltebrand was Elena, she had an amazing experience. Now she has woven a tale so moving and so well written, I feel as though I could have been in Guatemala with her. Her memoir is a captivating, entertaining, terrifying, enlightening account, a must read!
Amazon.com
New emotions, new friends, and physical changes make the teen years hard enough to deal with, but when someone close dies, life as a teen can seem almost unbearable. I Will Remember You encourages young readers to explore the "long, winding tunnel" of the grieving process, to keep going in the face of terrible loss and sadness. Through stirring words by well-known personalities (E.B. White, Emily Dickinson, Rainer Maria Rilke, Dr. Seuss, Mother Teresa, Woody Allen, even Pooh and Piglet!), as well as from fellow teens who have lost a loved one, grieving teens can begin to take comfort that they're not alone.
Each chapter helps readers explore different aspects of grief, such as denial, ritual, remembering, mourning a stranger, and anniversary "aftershocks." Renowned grief counselor Elena Lister, M.D., offers advice based on her many years of professional experience, and author Laura Dower presents dozens of creative, helpful exercises to move through the experience of loss. As Dower writes in her preface, this book does not provide "the 'right' answers or tell you how or what to feel." Instead, it's more like a "grief map. It helps you to see the path, but it can't tell you where to go." One of the most useful (and impressive) elements of the book is the very sensitive section on what not to say to someone who is grieving (and possible responses to these statements): "You'll get over it. Do you want to tell me when?" "Your mother/father lived a full life. How do you define full?" Of course, Dower also includes a list of more thoughtful, appropriate statements: "I am sorry. How can I help?" "What was your relationship like?" With the gentle help of this guidebook, grieving teens may just make it a little farther through that long, winding tunnel. (Ages 13 and older) --Emilie Coulter
Book Description
Just as death is a part of life, grieving is a part of living. For teens, this can be a particularly painful lesson to learn. I WILL REMEMBER YOU is an inspirational and accessible guide to coping with loss. It includes personal stories of death and life from real teens, advice from a renowned grief counselor, and dozens of hands-on creative exercises to help teens move through their pain and sorrow . . . into tomorrow.
Customer Reviews:
An amazing book.......2004-02-16
I was 14 years old when my father passed away suddenly. My mom bought me this book about a month after he passed away. It helped me so much. It guided me through much of the first year or so. It was by my side when I went through the first easter, his birthday and my parents anniversary without him. I don't know what I would have done without this book. I would highly recommend this to any teen who has lost someone close to them. Or to any adult wanted to understand what teens go through after losing someone close.
An Inspiring, Important and Beautifully-Done Book.......2001-07-19
I Will Remember You addresses one of the most-overlooked and difficult issues in growing up, offering readers inspiring and important ideas to deal with grief. Although this is a guidebook for teens, as a parent, I found the information incredibly helpful in helping my children understand the grieving process. Dower's accesssible, well-written passages--along with the real-life writing from teens--illuminates the feelings associated with getting through grieving. This is a terrific resource for parents, teachers, librarians and yes, teenagers.
As if it spoke to me.......2001-06-07
My father died three years ago when I was thirteen. I have never read a book that depicts my feelings so accurately. It is ideal for any teen that is overcoming grief but also for any parent who wishes to understand the grief that their teenager is dealing with.
Coming from a contributor.......2001-05-04
I was a contributor to this book and had known about this project a couple years ago when I wrote my piece. I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I thought it was probably just another Chicken Soup like book. However, I was wrong. This book is the most amazing thing I've seen for teens who are suffering with grief and at the time I was going through everything I would have given my soul for a book like this. I am really proud to have been a part of this project and I found it helpful even today. I hope a lot of grief stricken teens pick this book up. It is truly amazing.
Product Description
Children's Book: Early Readers
Book Description
Five manuals of Scottish Swordsmanship from the 17th - 19th centuries
he basket-hilted Scottish "broadsword" or Claymore has long been a symbol for Scottish independence and the fierce regard in which Scots warriors are still held. While the rest of Europe emphasized the use of smaller, lighter swords or curved cavalry models, the Scottish weapon retained its medieval flavor.
The methods by which these swords were employed were recorded in numerous published treatises from the 17th - 19th centuries, true manuals combining fencing theory with practical exercises for techniques unique to these brutal weapons.
Veteren swordsmen and accomplished authors Paul Wagner and Mark Rector present five key treatises that offer a wealth of advice for fighting with both the basket-hilted broadsword and the single stick -- an ash or rattan stick mounted in a wicker or leather basket-hilt, used both for training and as a weapon in its own right.
Included are complete transcriptions of: "Anti-Pugilism" by Sinclair, illustrated with copper plate engravings; MacGregor's "Lectures on the Art of Defence;" "The Art of Defence on Foot with Broadsword and Saber" by Taylor; "Fencing Familiarized" by Mathewson; and Henry Angelo's "On the Use of the Broadsword," rendered in full color.
These texts contain useful exercises for historical swordsmen of any background. In addition, Paul Wagner provides a full introductio n and overview on the fascinating basket-hilted broadsword itself with a survey of surviving examples.
Customer Reviews:
Scottish Swordsmanship.......2007-02-15
This is a very good book with five manuals on Scottish Swordsmanship, written in the times when Napoleon was a threat to Britain's survival.
The sword fighting system is simple, easy to teach or to learn, natural, and very effective. Whenever I want to get someone interested in Western Swordsmanship, this is the first system I teach them. The rudiments of it can be taught or learned in a day, and the entire system can be learned in a few months.
The book has only two flaws. The first is that there is a lack of good photographs. Until I found the pictures on page 125, I could not make head nor tail of the system, but after finding them, it was easy to learn.
The second flaw is, as Mr. Hand stated, the overrating of the effectiveness of the Scottish Regiments. However, this has nothing to do with the effectiveness or validity of the system.
Five important works on swordsmanship.......2005-04-24
If you want to learn how to use a basket hilted broadsword, buy this book.
At the core of this book are the five treatises, teaching and discussing the use of the basket hilted broadsword. What we know of the use of this weapon is mostly English, due to the thoroughness of their suppression of Scottish martial culture after 1745. However, even if Scots regiments went into battle using their swords in an English manner, that does not detract from the weapon and the systems documented here. Collected together here are five of the most important and influential works on the basket hilted broadsword. These teach systems that are similar enough that you can learn them all, each one having a slightly different take on the use of the weapon, but utilising the same fundamental principles.
Also in the book are essays on the Highland regiments and on their fencing, together with excellent photos of swords from a very fine private collection. Paul gets a trifle carried away in the first essay, ascribing every English success at arms to the Scots and their wonderful charge. This is despite the 'two volleys and in with the bayonet' being recorded among English troops as early as the English Civil War (except that it was clubbed muskets, not bayonets back then) and was used by Wellington himself as Colonel of the 33rd Foot before he gained command of Highland troops. By the end of it I was waiting to hear that the Scots Regiments invented sliced bread and manned space flight in between their important work rescuing puppies and reading to blind orphans.
Still, all the essays contain great information, and an author is entitled to have an opinion, even if Paul's are usually strong. The treatises are the centrepiece of this work, and are why you'd buy it. The instructions on how to use an 18th/19th century basket hilted sword (or a sabre for that matter)are clear and unambiguous. The system is relatively easy to learn and is very effective.
Average customer rating:
- Dated but still a classic
- This is *not* a recent edition
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The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands 1934
Frank Adam
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Scotland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1417980761 |
Customer Reviews:
Dated but still a classic.......2006-09-05
This book has been reprinted many times since it was first published in 1908. Unlike many 'potted' clan histories, there is an attempt to describe the history, law and society of Gaelic Scotland (the Scottish Highlands). Like others of its kind, the focus is on the elite, the chiefs, precedence, and the decisions of the Lyon Court. The nineteenth century clearances are barely mentioned. However, much information, such as the chief's household men, plant badges, and satellite clans, is rarely found in other sources.
The tensions caused by the imposition of feudalism on a society based on kinship are better understood by authors such as Hugh Cheape and I. F. Grant (Periods in Highland History). An excellent history of the transformation of the clans is T.M. Devine's 'Clanship to Crofters' War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands'.
Adam's mentions the controversy about clan tartans, but doesn't clarify the issue. Tartans were named for clans after the 'clan system' had developed into the 'crofting system'--after 1780. The best books on tartan and Highland dress are Telfer Dunbar's 'History of Highland Dress' and his contribution to H.F. McClintock's 'Old Irish and Highland Dress'.
This is *not* a recent edition.......2005-01-04
This is a reprint of the third edition .... the latest is the eighth edition. Be very careful when ordering from Amazon!!! This is the second time I have ordered a book and received an old edition.
Average customer rating:
- The legendary Scottish Regiments
- Fabulous and Insightful Book
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The Scottish Regiments: 1633-1996
Patrick Mileham
Manufacturer: Sarpedon Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Regiments
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Military Science
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1885119240 |
Book Description
A 350-year history of the Scottish Regiments that fought for the British Empire in Europe and around the world. Oversized with over 400 illustrations, 70 in color.
Customer Reviews:
The legendary Scottish Regiments.......2005-06-27
Patrick Mileham's "The Scottish Regiments: 1633-1996" is a nicely written survey-level history of the Scottish infantry and cavalry regiments of the British Army. The Scottish Regiments have a long and colorful history of valorous service on the many battlefields of British history down to the present day conflict in Iraq. This edition is a 1996 revision of a book first published in 1988. Its content is particularly poignant in light of the 2004 decision by the UK Ministry of Defense to amalgamate the remaining Scottish battalions into a single regiment. That decision, made on practical grounds of facilitating unit rotations overseas, had the unfortunate effect of obscuring the distinctive identities of some very old regiments and was highly unpopular among regimental veterans. However, as Mileham's history notes, amalgamation and disbandment have been recurring phenomena for regiments down through the years.
The book opens with a short introduction on the raising of regimental-size units in the British Army. Mileham then provides a concise narrative of the history of each regiment, to include the various evolutions of naming and numbering. Space limitations restrict the narratives to brief descriptions of postings, major battles, and campaign participation. The record of regimental postings sketches the once vast limits of the British Empire, while the battles and campaigns tour the venues of the Napoleonic and World Wars. For example, the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, better known as "The Black Watch," has since its formation in 1725 served in Scotland, Ireland, Nroth America, the Caribbean, Spain, France, the Crimea, South Africa, India, North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, and Germany.
This book is highly recommended to the reader interested in the military heritage of Scotland and in British military history. While particularly distinctive accomplishments in battle are noted for many regiments, those interested in detailed battle narrative should seek in individual regimental histories. The casual reader without background in British military history may find this book challenging to follow. The book is richly illustrated with paintings, prints, and photographs in color and black and white.
Fabulous and Insightful Book.......2003-06-21
This is an richly illustrated history of the Scottish regiments that served around the world in the British army. These dozen regiments, which included one cavalry, one guards, and ten infantry of the line, were some of the finest infantry the world has ever seen. Their campaigns spanned much of the globe, and their exploits are told here, much in their own words, lavishly illustrated and many in color. A great addition to any library of any military buff.
Customer Reviews:
A very worthwhile book on military Scotland.......2003-10-20
This book refrains from discussing the political clime that spun Scotland's great soldiers. It concerned with the military tactics. Bayne does give your a "grounding" point starting with Agricola to General Wade - early background of Scotland's roots, and hopefully one day he might turn his attention to this area.
He does cover battles on Scottish Soil, discussing the Castle, Garrisons and road conditions. One chapter is dedicated to Weapons of the Scots and their unique guerrilla style of fighting, but also their organised formations. Next he covered life in a a Scottish Regiment, the dress and uniforms.
Quite naturally no book discussing Scottish Military would be worth it's salt without spotlighting the role the Scottish Bagpipers players, so I am glad to saw this is not missed.
Bayne also thumbnails interesting Scots Military figures - even some of the fictional ones, and touches on Scottish Cavalry and special units of Scots.
A very interesting book for someone looking for military details rather than political discussions. A very worthy book to your Scottish history self and especially useful for historical fiction writers of the period.
Average customer rating:
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The Scottish Highlanders and Their Regiments
Brander Michael
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Scotland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Weapons & Warfare
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Biological & Chemical
| Control
| Conventional
| Nuclear
Regiments
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 076070399X |
Average customer rating:
- 79th New York (Blue Bonnets o'er the border
- Interesting read
- 79th NY
- Horrible! Discusting work!
- Bad history through plaid-colored glasses
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Blue Bonnets O'er the Border: The 79th New York Cameron Highlanders
W. Mark McKnight
Manufacturer: White Mane Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Civil War
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Regimental Histories
| Civil War
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
New York
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1572490527 |
Customer Reviews:
79th New York (Blue Bonnets o'er the border.......2006-07-09
so after looking at some of the comments witch place this book on the downside i would just like to say one word can only describe this book: GREAT!
This book is most likely the most accurate history of the 79th New York Highlanders! it is i must say the best!
if you need anything any little detail on the highlanders this book has it. from origins to medal of honor recipents.
this book not only talks about their history but the feelings and courage of the men. men that i must say against another comment DID WARE KILTS! and i think if you happen to see it in a book store or on a friends bookshelf read it and as you do as said in another comment you will serve with the 79th Highlanders.
Interesting read.......2004-06-15
Most will agree that the 79th was in its day a very controversial unit and still is to this day. What I appreciated about this book was the fact that it challenged me to do some of my own research into this unit. It's interesting that most people have a preconceived notion about this unit. Break from the pack and don't just take the opinion of others and find out for yourself. I have found that most of the evidence that McKnight presented is readily available in most Public libraries, museums, or on the internet. Try to find reliable sources if you do research on the net. I challenge you to read this book and do some of your own independent research then make your own conclusion. I know if you do your homework like I did, you might reach some of the same conclusions as Mr. McKnight
79th NY.......2003-10-12
As a member of the 79th Co.c, I have to say that this is,in my opinion, the most accurate civil war group I have ever seen.
This is a great book and I am proud to be a part of the 79th
Highlanders!
Pvt.Ford
Horrible! Discusting work!.......1999-10-27
This is a horrible book. I don't recommend it at all. The 79th New York "Highlanders" were mostly consisted of Irish immigrants and normal New Yorkers. Only 300 actual Scott's were in the unit. They never wore kilts/ trousers etc. Photos from the time period actually show this to be false about the kilt wearing. The stupidest mistake yet in the book, is how he refers to "lieutenant" Todd, when in actuality Todd only reached the rank of Sergeant. His misleading info is a horrible glance at this great unit. I'm ashamed to say I bought the book thinking it was historically accurate...only to find is was the worst book ever written. For a true glimpse at the 79th, get Sgt. Todd's book.
Bad history through plaid-colored glasses.......1998-07-18
I was truly disappointed in this book. It is filled with inaccuracies, and frequently presents the author's assumptions and predispositions as fact, without sufficient documentation to back up his claims.
The book is terribly biased towards providing "documentation" for those who wish to portray the 79th as a bunch of Celtic yahoos, when the original 79th was nothing of the sort. He consistently ignores the decidedly non-Scottish ethnic majority of the regiment. Again and again, he seems more determined to put a Scottish spin on the regiment, rather than contibute any worthwhile historical research on it.
The only good thing that can be said of the book is that some of the photos are rather interesting. Unfortunately, he also published many modern drawings and sketches without indicating that they are not contemporary to the Civil War, or made by members of the regiment.
It is highly disappointing, as I hoped that the book would not be yet another ex! ample of the usual nonsense and drivel written about this fine regiment. As another reviewer commented, see Todd's regimental history for a real look at this highly honored regiment.
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- A Simple Monk: Writings on His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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