Amazon.com
Every few months you'll read a newspaper story of the discovery of some long-lost art treasure hidden away in a German basement or a Russian attic: a Cranach, a Holbein, even, not long ago, a da Vinci. Such treasures ended up far from the museums and churches in which they once hung, taken as war loot by Allied and Axis soldiers alike. Thousands of important pieces have never been recovered. Lynn Nicholas offers an astonishingly good account of the wholesale ravaging of European art during World War II, of how teams of international experts have worked to recover lost masterpieces in the war's aftermath and of how governments "are still negotiating the restitution of objects held by their respective nations."
Book Description
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
The cast of characters includes Hitler and Goering, Gertrude Stein and Marc Chagall--not to mention works by artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso. And the story told in this superbly researched and suspenseful book is that of the Third Reich's war on European culture and the Allies' desperate effort to preserve it.
From the Nazi purges of "Degenerate Art" and Goering's shopping sprees in occupied Paris to the perilous journey of the Mona Lisa from Paris and the painstaking reclamation of the priceless treasures of liberated Italy,
The Rape of Europa is a sweeping narrative of greed, philistinism, and heroism that combines superlative scholarship with a compelling drama.
"Nicholas knows the art world as well as any military historian knows his battlefield.... Her work deserves the widest reading."--New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Nazi and non-Nazi German Rapacity; Planned Slav Extermination, etc........2007-08-14
Nicholas traces the plunder of cultural treasures by Nazi Germany followed by the Allies' efforts to locate and return the booty. The Germans also engaged in the wanton destruction of others' cultural treasures, beginning with the very start of WWII. For instance, the German forces deliberately bombed and shelled the historical section of Warsaw (the Old Town). (p. 61)
The reader soon learns that the pillage of conquered nations was done not just by Nazi hacks, but also by German intellectuals, as in German-occupied Poland: "Even the most distinguished German scholars were not immune to the opportunities presented by a cultural scene so open to exploitation...once the country lay at their feet many of these academics felt not the slightest qualms at transferring the collections, libraries, and even research notes of their erstwhile colleagues to their own use." (p. 74).
Spectacular German thefts include that of the giant Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss) altar of Krakow (Cracow), and the Bursztyn Komnaty (Amber Room) of the city of Pushkin. The latter is yet to resurface.
Nicholas touches on those German genocidal plans against the Slavs that were to be implemented after Germany's expected victory over Russia: "The basic policies would be the same as those applied to Poland. After conquest, areas would be cleansed, exploited, and Germanized...In these [German-appointed districts] the cleansing would again be cultural, racial, and ideological. Not only Jews and `Bolshevists' would be eliminated by immediate execution; much of the general Slavic population would be allowed to expire naturally when their food supplies were diverted to the worthier citizens of the Reich." (p. 185)
There are some distortions and omissions in this book. Nicholas repeats the myth of the Poles "arriving at" an already-abandoned Monte Cassino (p. 247) when in actuality the Poles had to overcome fierce German resistance, and to take grievous casualties, in order to take Monte Cassino. She elaborates on the Germans' burning of the libraries and archives of Naples (pp. 232-233), and the agony of the Soviet-betrayed Warsaw Uprising (p. 77), but not the magnitudes-greater destruction of Warsaw's cultural treasures. AFTER the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, the vindictive Germans burnt and blew up the still-standing architectural treasures of Warsaw. They also burned all the libraries and archives of Warsaw, causing the loss of 13 million volumes, including about 500,000 irreplaceable ones.
All in all, however, Nicholas has given the reader a good overview of this sad subject.
should be on high school reading list.......2007-06-08
Interesting and detailed. The book is very good, but the movie, which is in art houses now (June '07) is excellent and it was easier to keep track of the thievery of the Nazis, and the efforts of the excellent Monuments men who tried to sort things out and return stolen property. I knew that the Nazis confiscated art, but I had no idea that it was on such a vast scale. I recommend reading the book AND seeing the movie.
now see the documentary film.......2007-05-23
For all who like the Rape of Europa there is now a documentary of the same name which just opened in theaters in San Francisco. This is a story based on images and the film makers have done it proud with fabulous photography plus amazing period footage. Watch for this film soon nationwide in your local art theaters and eventually on TV. Its fantastic.
Museum Robbery!.......2006-02-26
This book is a must for anyone involved in art - any aspect of it!
I was overawed by the preparation which was undertaken by both the Allies and the Axis forces pror to , during, and after WWII! This was one of two books I used for a report on Stolen Art. The only reason I rated this one as four stars is that it was sometimes difficult to plough through Chapter IX (The Red Hot Rake)- the rest of the book was absolutley fascinating. I would include another book -"The Lost Museum" by Hector Feliciano. "The Lost Museum" was easier to read and equally fascinating and portrayed the removal of the art from The Louvre in such a manner that it left me breathless! Read Both!
Outstanding.......2001-12-05
This book is more than just a hum-drum listing of works that were taken, lost or destroyed in the years leading up to and including World War II. It is an intriguing and thought-provoking look at the attempted cultural occultation of not just its own nation and ideals, but of the Nazi aggression on the world. The Nazi way of condemning certain "degenerate" works, either Jewish or Impressionist for example, painfully exhibit the ultimate crushing of free thought and expression which were so vital to the Nazi regime's recipe for authoritarianism.
But the underlying Nazi menace is only a part of the suspenseful undertone in this book. The various heart-wrenching stories of the brave souls who tried to protect and salvage the many works of art (on both sides surprisingly) are what give this account a real kick. To me the accounts on the Soviet front were especially remarkable.
My only complaint is that since I am not, as I suspect the majority of the readers are not, art historians, the significance of many of these works directly mentioned is lost. I would like to have seen more pictures of the art work in question. (I have uncovered a documentary in the works based on this book which might allieviate some of this problem, but until then...)
For those interested in the history of World War II and who might have exhausted the typical military accounts, I highly recommend this alternate angle into Nazi repression and its effect on those who lived through it. Heck, I recommend this for anyone who enjoys history.
Book Description
2040: Ruins of ancient civilization uncovered on Mars reveal startling truths about the creation of humankind.
2042: In the gray dust of the Earth's Moon, an extinct enslaving race left behind more answers, more questions...and a grim warning.
2067: As Earth's warring factions clash in space for scraps of alien technology, a strange artifact lies trapped beneath the ice-locked oceans of Europa: a machine that holds the key to the final human destiny.
It is called "The Singer" for the eerie tone it emits. An artificial intelligence built eons ago, it may ultimately solve the mystery of the vanished alien races responsible for the birth and development of humanity. But after decades of war, the hostile nations of Earth care more for power than for knowledge. And now all that stands between the coveted Al and an all-out Chinese assault is a vastly outnumbered contingent of U.S. marines, dug in beneath the baleful red eye of Jupiter. As terrifying events light years distant begin to converge---with confrontation imminent and annihilation inevitable---a secret history of creation and doom must at long last be contended with...if humankind is to finally claim its glorious heritage among the stars.2040: Ruins of ancient civilization uncovered on Mars reveal startling truths about the creation of humankind.
2042: In the gray dust of the Earth's Moon, an extinct enslaving race left behind more answers, more questions...and a grim warning.
2067: As Earth's warring factions clash in space for scraps of alien technology, a strange artifact lies trapped beneath the ice-locked oceans of Europa: a machine that holds the key to the final human destiny.
It is called "The Singer" for the eerie tone it emits. An artificial intelligence built eons ago, it may ultimately solve the mystery of the vanished alien races responsible for the birth and development of humanity. But after decades of war, the hostile nations of Earth care more for power than for knowledge. And now all that stands between the coveted Al and an all-out Chinese assault is a vastly outnumbered contingent of U.S. marines, dug in beneath the baleful red eye of Jupiter. As terrifying events light years distant begin to converge---with confrontation imminent and annihilation inevitable---a secret history of creation and doom must at long last be contended with...if humankind is to finally claim its glorious heritage among the stars.2040: Ruins of ancient civilization uncovered on Mars reveal startling truths about the creation of humankind.
2042: In the gray dust of the Earth's Moon, an extinct enslaving race left behind more answers, more questions...and a grim warning.
2067: As Earth's warring factions clash in space for scraps of alien technology, a strange artifact lies trapped beneath the ice-locked oceans of Europa: a machine that holds the key to the final human destiny.
It is called "The Singer" for the eerie tone it emits. An artificial intelligence built eons ago, it may ultimately solve the mystery of the vanished alien races responsible for the birth and development of humanity. But after decades of war, the hostile nations of Earth care more for power than for knowledge. And now all that stands between the coveted Al and an all-out Chinese assault is a vastly outnumbered contingent of U.S. marines, dug in beneath the baleful red eye of Jupiter. As terrifying events light years distant begin to converge---with confrontation imminent and annihilation inevitable---a secret history of creation and doom must at long last be contended with...if humankind is to finally claim its glorious heritage among the stars.
Customer Reviews:
Europe and Marines.......2007-06-01
Just when you thought the plot had ended in part two, Ian Douglas pulls us right back with a big twist, the UN may be disbanded and reformed into the Confederation but China is not keeping still especially with the discovery on that icey moon of Jupiter called Europa. An excellent end to this trilogy which I enjoyed reading.
Great Finish to a great series!.......2005-12-18
This has got to be one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. I was amazed. Normally, I like casual sci-fi, if even that. I picked up this series as a fluke. Just kinda curious about it, I figured, hey, This one has gotten pretty good reviews. So I picked up all three, and started reading. By the time I was only a hundred pages into the first book, I couldn't stop. By the time I was really aware, I had read all three books, and looking for the first of the Legacy series. Let me say, anyone who likes military fiction, like Clancy or Brown, or any type of Sci-Fi, PICK UP THIS SERIES!!!!!!!
Absurd plots and technologies, inadequate character development, and too little action.......2005-10-29
The third book of this series fails to live up to its predecessors. This book focuses more on sci-fi and (often improbable) technology than on the marines and their battles.
There is no logic to the Chinese attacks to gain control of Europa: the unknown potential technology gains are unlikely to outweigh the devastation of a war with the U. S. Absurdly, Congress is afraid to confront China over its acts of war, though America and its allies are far more powerful.
The human technologies are unrealistic: an incredibly long space rail gun accelerates stealthy and smart bowling balls at one million gravities. The balls strike targets millions of miles away with perfect accuracy. Later, the space marines assemble their own rail gun from a downed microwave tower. Manta-shaped submersibles with flexible "wings" can withstand pressures greater than 1000 atmospheres. Brain implanted virtual reality jacks resonate to sounds transmitted from an alien AI deep in Europa's oceans and cause fear, paranoia, headaches, and alien dreams.
I could have forgiven all of the above if there was decent character development and well-paced action sequences. Neither are present in this book.
"Is there anything we can provide?" "Send us more Chinese!".......2005-08-16
"Europa Strike" is an excellent finale for the Heritage Trilogy and lead-in for Douglas's Legacy Trilogy. Some of the alien mythos developed in the first two books come together, but yet again, more questions are brought up than answered.
Once again, the combat is fantastic. The story provides interesting parallels to both the Battle of Wake Island and the Korean War (Chosin Reservoir in particular).
Despite taking place 25 years after "Luna Marine," Douglas once again manages to use characters from the previous two books while introducing new ones. Unfortunately, this is the last time you'll see any of them, as the next book takes place another 71 years into the future.
If you enjoyed the previous two books, this one probably won't disappoint unless you're looking for all your questions to be tied up perfectly.
Excellent space opera!.......2004-07-21
One of the most exciting space operas I've read in a long time with a believable timeline in regards to the future events that lead to all-out war near Jupiter. Another really good space opera with exciting events taking place in the 28th Century is "Advent of the Corps".
Book Description
Tim LaHaye has called Babylon Rising his most exciting series ever, and
The Europa Conspiracy is the most thrilling and suspenseful installment yet. Reaching back to some of the most dramatic and prophetically significant stories of the Bible, and forward to the creation of ultimate evil in the modern world, the awe-inspiring revelations never let up. It begins when Michael Murphy heads to the ancient city of Babylon in pursuit of one of the most famous and mystifying of Biblical prophecies: The Handwriting on the Wall. But the closer he gets to deciphering the true meaning of Daniel’s ancient message for our troubled times, the closer Murphy comes to a shattering confrontation with the forces of darkness that will cause the earth itself to tremble.
In
The Europa Conspiracy, Tim LaHaye once again shows how his thrill-a-minute storytelling and deep understanding of the Bible have combined to make him one of today’s most popular and influential fiction authors.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
great book!.......2007-05-07
As usual, another great book from Tim LaHaye. Not too nuts about the ending, but that just means i have to buy the next book :)
Third Installment in the Babylon Rising Series.......2007-01-25
The third book in Tim LaHaye's Babylon Rising series once again pits biblical archeologist Michael Murphy against the indefatigably evil Talon and the mysterious group of would-be world dominators known only as "The Seven." In book one, Murphy went in search of the golden head of King Nebuchadnezzar's famous statue and Moses' bronze serpent; book two found Murphy in Turkey searching for and ultimately finding Noah's Ark. In The Europa Conspiracy, Murphy is at it again, this time looking for the remains of King Belshazzar's writing on the wall.
The book, like the previous two, opens with Michael Murphy battling the sinister intent of his mischievous benefactor, Methuselah. When he finds the clue Methuselah left for him, Murphy instantly knows that his goal is the handwriting on the wall, and he makes plans to return to Babylon. Accompanying him is the beautiful Isis, with whom Murphy falls in love during the course of the story, the fact that she is not a Christian notwithstanding.
Murphy does in fact uncover the location of the handwriting on the wall with no difficulty whatsoever, since Methuselah tells him exactly where it is. Along the way, Murphy helps in thwarting a terrorist plot to blow up the Washington Bridge in New York and learns that the Antichrist has been born and is waiting to assume control of a yet-to-be-established one-world government as soon as the United Nations is relocated to Babylon.
Like its predecessors, The Europa Conspiracy is implausible, unengaging, and largely uncompelling. The characters are as shallow as ever, dialog reads like a high-school play, and the central premise teeters precariously on the border between merely unbelievable and patently ridiculous. The idea that an Illuminati-like group of seven anonymous yet nearly omnipotent individuals is directly responsible for everything from the state of the U.S. economy to the price of Middle Eastern oil to the decline of American morality is absurd.
One thing writer Bob Phillips does fairly well is action scenes, and the highlight of the book is an extended sequence in which Michael Murphy becomes aware of and assists in the dismantling of a terrorist plot to destroy New York's Washington Bridge. The book's cliffhanger of a closing scene is also fairly well done, except for the unforgivable editorial blunder of having a character switch back and forth between having been killed in a catastrophic earthquake and being safe and on the way home to his family. Periodic narrative flashbacks to the prophet Daniel's experiences in ancient Babylon are also of some interest.
Christian content is plentiful, though rather pedantic. The unexpected death of one of the key characters from a previous book adds a small amount of emotional drama (though not nearly as much as book 1, when Michael Murphy's wife was killed in a church bombing). The title refers to the plan of "The Seven" for the European Union (according to legend, the continent of Europe was named after Zeus's lover Europa) to take over the world.
Though it will likely be a best-seller based on name recognition alone, this book is a sophomoric followup to two mediocre prequels. It falls far short of the intrigue of the Left Behind series (LaHaye's phenomenally successful venture with writer Jerry Jenkins) and its quasi-juvenile writing and utter lack of careful editing or proofreading should ensure a quick trip to Bantam's backlist.
Darryl's Review.......2006-11-07
Another fine book in a good series. Quick read, good historical accuracy. Good plot and characters.
You might want to skip this one..........2006-10-06
Europa Conspiracy is, first and foremost, nowhere near as fast-paced as Babylon Rising or even The Secret on Ararat. I was terminally disappointed with this installment from beginning to end. Even as a Christian woman, I found it too preachy, and I felt as if Tim LaHaye "dumbed down" a lot of the Biblical and historical references/explanations in hopes of attracting a more diverse age group. It also seemed as if he was including very adolescent-sounding dialogue and these bad explanations as fillers to make the book longer, while leaving out the action that caught my attention in the first two books of the series. At this point, the only reason I will continue reading this series is because of the cliffhanger at the end of the novel.
A BOOK THAT OFFERS ALL WE NEED.......2006-08-26
Europa Conspiracy has the ability to entertain while instigating reflexion about the most disturbing realities of today's world.
Its references to the Bible urge us to search God's word as our ultimate guidance.
Priscila Elizabeth PErotti Scimidt
São Paulo - Brazil
Book Description
Today in Eastern Europe the architectural work of revolution is complete: the old order has been replaced by various forms of free market economy and de jure democracy. But as Slavenka Drakulic observes, "in everyday life, the revolution consists much more of the small things-- of sounds, looks and images." In this brilliant work of political reportage, filtered through her own experience, we see that Europe remains a divided continent. In the place of the fallen Berlin Wall there is a chasm between East and West, consisting of the different way people continue to live and understand the world. Little bits--or intimations--of the West are gradually making their way east: boutiques carrying Levis and tiny food shops called "Supermarket" are multiplying on main boulevards. Despite the fact that Drakulic can find a Cafe Europa, complete with Viennese-style coffee and Western decor, in just about every Eastern European city, the acceptance of the East by the rest of Europe continues to prove much more elusive.
Customer Reviews:
East and West...The Differences.......2007-08-23
Slavenka Drakulic is both a skilled writer and a capable interpreter of the human condition. Cafe Europa is not a standard history text; rather it is a collection of related articles that reveal the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of individuals who have lived in both the communist world as well as the post-communist period. Drakulic is a great travel companion with a keen feel for the people that she writes about. I approached the book expecting a useful social commentary and found it to be both enlightening and difficult to put down. Anyone who wants to truly understand this part of the world needs to read this one!
Scintillating review of the post-Communist world..........2006-05-12
...which still applicable today, several years since the original publishing of Drakulic's amazing book.
For someone such as myself who's spent a great deal of time in the post-Communist former Bloc, I indentified very strongly with the views put forth by this author. I hasten to add that such identification was instantaneous.
I also learned a heck of a lot; a great deal more, in fact than I thought I knew at the outset, and especially about Croatia and its storied past (the author is Croatian -- Istrian, in fact -- and quite impressively knows the history of her nation and of the former Yugoslavia more generally, like the back of her hand). I wish I had that kind of accessible knowledge. I'm humbled...
Were I able to speak to the author today, I'd probe her for her latest reflections on several of the ideas she put forth almost a decade ago. I'd even attempt to cajole her to pen a sequel...so much has changed, and the instability (sometimes constructive, though more often explosive) has continued to pummel and plague and thereby radically alter the identities of many of these newly democratic states. I'm sure what was the case in 1995 is no longer extant in many of these nations...
Drakulic is deliciously bold in this compact non-fictional winner. She refuses to accept Croatia's latter day nationalistic dogmas and the 'superiority slogans' bandied about by her patriotic peers. Within Cafe Europa's pages, she refuses to accept anything glibly declared by her compatriots 'for granted,' and there remain no sacred cows, and no stones unturned: everything is up for discussion, every so-called truth is up for grabs. For that reason alone, I'd personally have to say her credibility is unassailable.
You might wonder whether what awards someone such 'instant credibility' is in their willingness to lambaste the conventional wisdom of their relevant societies -- to wit, if Drakulic wasn't as willing to chisel away at what Croatians think makes them tick, would she be any less credible? I don't know. That wasn't the tack she took, therefore hard to judge her work on that basis...I suppose what I'm really trying to say in a roundabout way is that I don't have anything against Croatians, and just because she was willing to bash her compatriots doesn't make her any more credible in my eyes. It's not a prerequisite for credibility...having that said that, her candour is yet quite impressive.
Fascinating how so many inspiring factoids were contained in this short and spirited read.
It ended way too soon, Cafe Europa did...now that another decade's passed, I think the time's come for perhaps a revisiting of this theme?
Five-stars all the way.
Balkan mentality.......2005-09-15
Excellent book, Slavenka Drakulic is very perceptive and understands Balkan mentality better than anybody. I really enjoyed reading this book, and other books from Drakulic as well. Sometimes, it seems like Drakulic is balancing between two worlds-one of reality and the other of fantasy. Very good reading and it will give you an insight into the minds of people living in parts of Southeast Europe.
Not bad, but could have been better.......2005-08-19
The first few essays in Drakulic's book are a disappointment. You must wade through pages of materialistic babble (for example, paragraphs on all of the consumer goods she buys in western Europe for the material-hungry people back home) and shallow feelings of insecurity that she shares with her readers (as in, she feels as though her husband will question their marriage simply because her passport is not as powerful as his). But once you reach the essays further on in the book, you may find something of interest to you that falls in to the politics/essays category into which this book has been placed. Drakulic often writes with a sassy, angry tone which is unbecoming. All in all, the book is good reading but I feel as though I could have read another book and learned more about life after communism.
worthwhile read.......2005-06-24
This is a good book, and one worth reading. It's not a history book nor a work of political philosophy. The analysis isn't rigrously done. I don't say these things as criticisms, but rather to point out what sort of book it is. It's a book of essays that provide a particular picture of what life was like in the early 90's in post-communist Eastern and Central Europe. Many times these pictures are insightful and can help throw light on a situaiton. They can help provide that "ah-ha!" moment that is sometimes lacking from a more historical or analytic account. So, it fills a good roll that way, but you should not expect it to be something it's not. My only other criticism is that sometimes it got a bit too close to the "why are we eastern europeans so dumb?" mode for my taste. But, it's an enjoyable book that would be useful for anyone with an interest in post-communist eastern europe. For those who want a deeper view of how Eastern Europe got to be how it was when the Soviet Union fell, I'd recommend reading this book together with parts of Alec Nove's terrific _The Economics of Feasible Socialism_.
Book Description
In this book, a follow-up to the same author's well-received study of British web equipment, Martin Brayley gives a detailed illustrated overview of the webbing straps, holsters, carriers and haversacks used by American combat troops from before World War One to the Vietnam War. Hundreds of different items are photographed, and the often small differences between suppliers and periods are pointed in the learned and informative text. This book will be required reading for all students of American uniform and equipment, modelers, re-enactors and collectors.
Customer Reviews:
Useful for painting soldiers.......2007-05-31
I bought this book because I cast and paint metal toy soldiers. This book was very useful for showing various equipment configurations and also various colours used. Often when painting figures, one can get caught up in striving to get the colour "historically accurate." Soemtimes it can become an obsession. This book shows, without intending to, that fabrics can, and do, fade and that colours can often be at artist discretion. Also, since so much US gear is produced from multiple factories and with different dye lots, it helps to see other colour possibilities.
The photographs are wonderful and most are in colour. There are several b/w photos which are used to show equipment in historical context. The text can be a bit dry at times but I bought it for the photos and identification of what can sometimes be frustratingly difficult to identify pieces of equipment.
Amazon.com
Jerry Marlow is on a coach hurtling from Milan to Strasbourg, even though he loathes coaches and everything they stand for:
...all the contemporary pieties of getting people together and moving them off in one direction or another to have fun together, or to edify themselves, or to show solidarity to some underprivileged minority and everybody, as I said, being of the same mind and of one intent, every individual possessed by the spirit of the group, which is the very spirit apparently of humanity, and indeed that of Europe, come to think of it, which this group is now hurtling off to appeal.
Jerry, suffice to say, is not a team player--not even when it comes to saving his own job. Together with a group of colleagues and students from the University of Milan, he's off to the European Parliament to protest new Italian laws against hiring foreigners--a cause which he opposes, appealing to an institution he's not sure should exist.
So why is Jerry on the coach in the first place? Because she is there--the same she for whom Jerry left his wife and daughter and who has since broken his heart. The unnamed she in question is a beautiful French woman (of course), a hellcat in bed (it goes without saying), and an intellect of notable refinement (naturellement). She was also unfaithful, and now they scarcely speak to one another. The rest of this dark and often savagely funny novel (shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize) consists of one great Joycean rant, a stream-of-consciousness harangue that circles obsessively around sex, the treachery of she, and Jerry's boundless misanthropy. In between we get glimpses of the bus and its motley cast of characters, including, most vividly, Vikram Griffiths, part Welsh, part Indian, with his nervous tics and his self-consciously Welsh accent and his shaggy mutt, Dafydd. As one might deduce from the title, the dream of the new, unified Europe looms behind this tale like--well, like a big, unwieldy metaphor, given expression in the form of Jerry's affair. As a meditation on the continent's future, the novel works surprisingly well, and though it initially takes some time to sort out the looping rhythms of Parks's prose, the reader's patience is repaid in spades. --Mary Park
Book Description
Jerry Marlow is on a coach hurtling from Milan to Strasbourg, even though he loathes coaches and everything they stand for:...all the contemporary pieties of getting people together and moving them off in one direction or another to have fun together, or to edify themselves, or to show solidarity to some underprivileged minority and everybody, as I said, being of the same mind and of one intent, every individual possessed by the spirit of the group, which is the very spirit apparently of humanity, and indeed that of Europe, come to think of it, which this group is now hurtling off to appeal.Jerry, suffice to say, is not a team player--not even when it comes to saving his own job.Together with a group of colleagues and students from the University of Milan, he's off to the European Parliament to protest new Italian laws against hiring foreigners--a cause which he opposes, appealing to an institution he's not sure should exist.So why is Jerry on the coach in the first place? Because she is there--the same she for whom Jerry left his wife and daughter and who has since broken his heart.The unnamed she in question is a beautiful French woman (of course), a hellcat in bed (it goes without saying), and an intellect of notable refinement (naturellement). She was also unfaithful, and now they scarcely speak to one another. The rest of this dark and often savagely funny novel (shortlisted for the 1997Booker Prize) consists of one great Joycean rant, a stream-of-consciousness harangue that circles obsessively around sex, the treachery of she, and Jerry's boundless misanthropy. In between we get glimpses of the bus and its motley cast of characters, including, most vividly, Vikram Griffiths, part Welsh, part Indian, with his nervous tics and his self-consciously Welsh accent and his shaggy mutt, Dafydd. As one might deduce from the title, the dream of the new, unified Europe looms behind this tale like--well, like a big, unwieldy metaphor, given expression in the form of Jerry's affair. As a meditation on the continent's future, the novel works surprisingly well, and though it initially takes some time to sort out the looping rhythms of Parks's prose, the reader's patience is repaid in spades. --Mary Park
Customer Reviews:
Breakdown.......2001-12-26
Of all the thousands of books I have read, this is my all-time favourite. The most beautiful prose I have ever read is contained within these pages. The style is deeply contemplative and finely detailed - reminiscent, at times, of Proust's Recherche Du Temps Perdu. The story meanders through the obsessive musings of the narrator as he allows himself to be led reluctantly on a bizarre and seemingly pointless expedition. Like Hemingway, Tim Parks possesses a distinctly expatriate view of life in continental Europe. His wry commentary on the idiosyncracies of the European Union is strikingly apt even today, as anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of living within its borders will swiftly realise.
Europa is a story of and for the introspective among us - those prone to incessant reflection and, inevitably, regret.
I Agree.......2001-06-05
Pretentious appears to be a common observation about this book and its central character Jerry Marlow. The word is really not intense enough, for if there is a superlative form of pretentious this book and most of its characters would qualify for the description.
Hypocrisy would be another apt description as the main character believes in nothing that he participates in, and this is the man who is to give the presentation of grievances to the European Union that are being brought via, "The Shag Wagon". The members of this tale are firstly the academics and secondly their blindly supportive students. For the former group of Academic males the later groups of students are essentially targets of opportunity for personal romps.
The book appears to be a commentary on the absurdity of the European Union and that requires the affected pretensions of the characters to communicate the idea. The, "United States Of Europe" sounds like a punch line from a joke to begin with, and only gets better when the country that will function as the central bank for this United Europe is Germany. And people wonder why England wants nothing to do with this mess! The 20th Century's History alone is enough to ensure this Union never prospers. In the book one currency is being devalued as if its the 1920's and 30's of Germany, and in real life the value of the Euro started sinking virtually the day it was initialized.
At times the story is funny in a gray pathetic sort of way, but it also becomes tragically dark and exploitative as it winds down. The Author uses a variety of ways to show just how artificial the links to a United Europe are. There is Vikram; a man who is Welsh, but due to an Indian background is dark of complexion, so he exemplifies Europe without borders as he is also discriminated against because of his complex ethnicity.
Jerry Marlow like his fellow teachers is an instructor in languages. However regardless of the language an event takes place in, his memory can only recall it in English. Personal conduct is also brutally contrasted between characters of different nations, and may bother a few readers for the cliché's they reinforce.
As a final comment the Author's style takes some acclimatizing as well. Mr. Parks likes to write in paragraphs that run to multiple pages, and sentences that should be multiple paragraphs. This makes for a run on stream of consciousness that you will either embrace or detest. This is the first work I have read by this Author, I may try again but it is not a priority.
A painstaking, plodding read.......2001-03-28
I wanted to like this book, I really did. The seductive cover, high praise on the jacket, and the fact that this novel was "shortlisted" for the famed British Booker Prize whet my appetite. But I must say, having just put it down, that the book was one agonizing read.
The premise for the novel is hopeful - a 45 year old visiting professor at the University of Milan, against his better judgment, joins a motorcoach full of academics and students on a trip to the European Parliament, to protest perceived discrimination by Italian laws restricting their employment. Apparently many of these visiting professors took their jobs as a temporary measure, on a break from writing books or furthering their academic careers elsewhere, and then realized they wanted to keep teaching despite agreeing to term limits.
In any event, Marlow agrees to accompany the motley crew despite having no real passion for the cause. There is some unspoken belief that the trip will result in decadence and romance among the students and their older lectors, whose jobs they are all presumably fighting to retain. In fact the whole idea was hatched by a Welsh Indian named Vikram, who chases anything in a skirt, with a wink to our narrator. The reader is reminded a little of the "key party" of The Ice Storm as the riders of the bus begin to nervously sort out their roommates for the hotel.
We soon learn that Jerry is plagued with guilt, and that he is obsessed with one of the younger members of the entourage, referred to throughout the book namelessly as "she," with whom Jerry previously carried on an extended torrid affair that ended very badly. Jerry feels guilty for striking the girl, and is likewise guilty about walking out on his wife and teenage daughter after confessing of his affair. At the climax of the novel, as the group makes their pitch at Parliament, Jerry's daughter turns 18 back home without him.
Europa is told in the first person, and Jerry's account of the trip is endlessly interrupted by long, looping narrative histories of his affair, of his prior philosophical discussions with his girlfriend, and of his chauvinistic rambling with other male professors discussing conquests of their "totties" (apparently a British term for loose women). The action is never in the here and now, as the reader is taken on one digression after another. For example, a simple question posed to Jerry, when his fellow bus rider asks him what he is reading, leads to pages of self-analytical nonsense that leaves the reader numb. Parks never stays with the action long enough to engage the reader's attention, even when the plot seems to be moving toward an engrossing idea or event. I know it's stream of consciousness, and perhaps we all think like Jerry narrates, but I still like a little bit of plot and narrative structure to my novels.
There were a few memorable parts to be sure. Jerry's devastating skewering of the film Dead Poet's Society (which the party watched on monitors on the coach) forever changed the way I view that movie. And the bittersweet tale of a past dinner party involving Jerry, his wife and daughter, and a clearly disturbed Vikram and his young son left a lasting impression. Unfortunately, these lucid moments came all too infrequently in a book dominated by rambling, middle-aged angst. This would have made a better novella than a full length novel.
Wonderful book by a remarkable writer........2001-03-10
I read this rather lenghty book in two consecutive days, immersed in Park's looping, breathtaking, inner monologue, stream of conscience writing. This novel is about an obsessive love afair, a troubled, alienated, at times self-loathing academic with his heart not in the academic game show at all, a tale about the "other" as another reviewer succintly put it, about the complexities of life and the self, and more. A tour de force for this remarkable but underrated writer, with a writing style unlike anything you 've read recently, managing to be literary without being tedius and artificial(see m. amis, pynchon, barth et al.for that), and a striking, powerful ending. Park's musings on life and philosophy, european history and themes are never out of place or turgid, and they make very good reading material, adding a texture to the words.
Caught up in an unsatisfying marriage, a dead-end lifeless job, a failed yet once passionate and potentialy life-changing love affair, conflicting feelings and instability, Jerry the protagonist somehow agrees to take a trip to the European parliament to express his disagreement with the wage cuts on his job, which he does not particularly like, with a few fellow academics and a number of female students at his Italian university, and, of course, the french woman who is the cause (or is she just the pretext) for his recent worries. Riding on a bus through Europe and at the same time travelling intensely in his thoughts and memories, Jerry Marlow finds himself thinking more and living less in the present. While all too human interaction takes place, he stays a shadowy figure for the most part of the book for any outsiders to his consciousness. Memory mingles with outer reality, obsession takes hold of him, until they finally arrive to their destination (to his destination possibly) where the last act is played.
The mental images from the various settings of the book come back to me very vividly as I write these lines. This is a really good book and I am not going to spoil it any more for you with my mediocre analysis. I hope I made clear that this is not your average type of novel.
Do read it.
Very slow and dissapointing.......2001-01-25
Yet another novel written about the field of the author, full of boring and self indulging insites into the world of academia. Pretentiously written - how many words can he fit in one sentence? I've read almost all of Parks work, including the excellent Cara Massimina and the pathetic Shear, and this is by far the worst. Don't waste your money.
Book Description
Europeans today no longer develop their cities on virgin land, but on former agricultural land. The European answer to the how of the progressive urbanization of the landscape is therefore: we work in and with the field.
Fieldwork presents 42 groundbreaking landscape architecture projects from Dublin to Athens, whose authors have done sensitive fieldwork, with sensitivity to materials and details, respect for customs and mentalities, and pleasure in the play of their own powers of invention.
The projects are supplemented by seven essays on European cartography, the cultivated landscape, the intellectual history of landscape architecture, the development of suburbia, the profession, and pioneers in the field. The projects and texts have been selected by an independent jury of practicing landscape architects from various European countries, edited by a team of experienced European experts in the field, and abundantly illustrated and luxuriously presented by the makers of the successful Dutch Yearbook Landscape Architecture and Town Planning.
Book Description
Europa – The Ocean Moon tells the story of the Galileo spacecraft probe to Jupiter's moon, Europa. It provides a detailed description of the physical processes, including the dominating tidal forces that operate on Europa, and includes a comprehensive tour of Europa using images taken by Galileo's camera. The book reviews and evaluates the interpretative work carried out to date, providing a philosophical discussion of the scientific process of analyzing results and the pitfalls that accompany it. It also examines the astrobiological constraints on this possible biosphere, and implications for future research, exploration and planetary biological protection.
Europa – The Ocean Moon provides a unique understanding of the Galileo images of Europa, discusses the theory of tidal processes that govern its icy ridged and disrupted surface, and examines in detail the physical setting that might sustain extra-terrestrial life in Europa's ocean and icy crust.
Customer Reviews:
explains Galileo results.......2006-11-06
As one after the other of the planets seems so bereft of life, Europa holds a unique position. It has a frozen over ocean. Plus, in its orbit, there is the prospect of residual volcanism and tidal and magnetic effects providing a raw energy driver for life to have emerged and be sustained.
So the text gives the results of the Galileo probe. You get an appreciation for the difficulties surmounted. Every so often, NASA really does an amazing job. Fascinating observaitions, but these beg for more insight. Necessitates another probe, this time with even better technology for remote sensing. Given that Galileo was launched in the late 80s, think how much better computing resources we could now put into its successor!
The book certainly has more than just findings from Galileo. It also discusses our changing and improving understanding of how to model vastly different biospheres. But the text is clearly dominated by the real Galileo results. Not just speculation.
Portions of the book will be beyond the lay reader. But there's enough that is well written and accessible to everyone.
Book Description
Continental Philosophy of Science provides an expert guide to the major twentieth-century French and German philosophical thinking on science. The book refutes the view that twentieth-century continental thought is anti-scientific, and shows how continental thinkers offer distinctive perspectives that both complement and fruitfully interact with analytic philosophy of science.Collected here are primary texts by Husserl, Heidegger, Foucault, Deleuze, Irigaray, and Habermas, along with previously untranslated essays by Bergson, Bachelard, and Canguilhem, and new translations of work by Hegel and Cassirer. Each primary text is paired with commentary by leading contemporary scholars, including Terry Pinkard, Jean Gayon, Michael Friedman, Richard Tieszen, Joseph Rouse, Mary Tiles, Hans-J örg Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Penelope Deutscher, and Axel Honneth. Gary Gutting 's introduction, moreover, presents a unified interpretative survey of continental work on philosophy of science.Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Penelope Deutscher, and Axel Honneth.
Average customer rating:
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The Europa International Foundation Directory 2006 (International Foundation Directory)
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Book Description
Now in its 15th edition, the Europa International Foundation Directory 2006 provides an un-paralleled guide to the foundations, trusts, charitable and grant-making NGOs, and other similar not-for-profit organizations of the world. It provides a comprehensive picture of third sector activity on a global scale.
Presenting names and contact details for over 2,500 institutions world-wide, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on this growing sector.
Part One
Essays provide valuable background information on the sector, giving an introductory overview of foundation activity world-wide, as well as detailing the direction in which foundations and NGOs are moving in the 21st century. Essays include:
*Foundations, the Third Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations in International Perspective An Overview by Helmut Anheier, Professor of Social Welfare and Center Director, UCLA Center for Civil Society, UCLA
*Foundations and Global Change by Catherina Pharoah, Director of Research, Charities Aid Foundation
*A Journey Without Borders Researching and Applying to Foundations by Karina Holly, editor of Philanthropy in Europe magazine.
Part Two
Entries are arranged alphabetically, and are listed within individual country chapters. Over 2,500 entries are listed, providing the following details:
*Directory information, including the name of the organization, postal address, e-mail and internet addresses as well as telephone and fax numbers.
*Full details of the date of establishment and the aims and function of the organization are listed where appropriate, as well as its principal activities: projects and programmes, etc. Restrictions on grants are listed along with the geographical area of activity, finances, key executives and trustees of the organization.
*Foundation centres and co-ordinating bodies are listed in a separate sectionat the start of each chapter. These include CAF (Charities Aid Foundation, UK), Civil Society International (USA) and the Association internationale des charités (Belgium).
Entries listed include:
Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rowan Charitable Trust, Marie Curie Cancer Cure and Médecins sans Frontières.
Part Three
Indexes are provided, listing foundations alphabetically, by geographical region of concern (e.g. the Middle East, Western Europe, Central and South America and the Caribbean, etc.) and by main areas of activity.
Books:
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
- Theatrical Design and Production: An Introduction to Scene Design and Construction, Lighting, Sound, Costume, and Makeup
- Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest
- True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism--For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals
- War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History: 1500 to Today
- When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race
- Where Is Baby's Belly Button?
- Where Is Baby's Belly Button?
- With This Ring, I'm Confused (Ashley Stockingdale Series #2)
- WORDS THAT WORK: IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT'S WHAT PEOPLE HEAR
Books Index
Books Home
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Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It
The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art
Nazi Plunder: Great Treasure Stories of World War II
Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Theft
The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities--From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums
