Excellent book for the traveler to visit the British Isles. Has helped me immeasurably in selecting the golf courses for my vacation trip. provides adequate description of surrounding areas including hotels and tips on making tee times. Could do a better job of describing courses that are not the top-notch courses. The top-tier courses are easy to distinguish by their descriptions, but the other 90% of the courses have no rating system.

I found this book to be quite helpful. Travel agent should consider this book! Extremely accurate phone #'s and course information. Green fees varied somewhat from published fees. Looking forward to taking the trip I personally set up.

This book is invaluable. It gives all the details needed to plan and set up a golfing vacation to Great Britain. Golf reviews are short and to the point and quite reliable.

The two books contained in this Modern Library edition are organized by species with each chapter devoted to hunting a particular animal during a hunting trips in the late 19th century in the American West. Some hunts were primarily intended to harvest meat while others were more oriented towards collecting trophy specimens. At other times Roosevelt stumbles upon game and kills it merely because it happens to cross his path. The bloodthirstyness of the hunters will be a shock to modern readers. Even those familiar with hunting may be taken aback by Roosevelt's "kill anything that moves" hunting philosophy. A modern hunter is limited by hunting seasons, bag limits and will usually not kill females with young. This was not the case in Roosevelt's day. He and his hunting companions gleefully slaughter any animal they come upon whether it's a bear sow with immature juveniles or a large record-book specimen. It was a different time then but it is laughable to hear Roosevelt described as a concerned conservationist and proto animal rights activist if you have really read his writing. There is one particularly disturbing episode where Roosevelt is sitting beside a stream with his hunting companions and sees a small animal walking along unafraid. In a matter of seconds Roosevelt pounces on the small creature, gutting and skinning it with his bare hands and laughing at his Native American companion's uneasyness at his needless cruelty.

Roosevelt's writing has an unfortunate tendency towards hyperbole. For example, he is incapable of simply eating a meal, instead he has a magnificent feast or a delicious repast. There is an annoying tendency to employ cute phrases that grate on a modern reader's ear. He refers to bears as "Ephraim" or "Bruin" and all large animals are "brutes" or "savage brutes." Putting aside these minor complaints this book is a fascinating historical document which contains information about the natural history of North American game species that is still useful to hunters and outdoorsmen today.

This volume will be enjoyable to anyone who loves nature or reading about nature; it will also interest the hunter and naturalist. See the events that help shape the life the greatest president this country has ever seen. A true conservationist, Mr. Rooselvelt was a REAL nature lover - his opinions were shaped through personal experience.
The two books in this volume are highly recommended.

I have an original copy of the "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" published in 1900. I found the book to be completely engrossing and was unable to put it down until read. It was one of those that I hatted to see end. This book give a very accurate look at the times.

Robert Kee's "Ireland: A History" is, simply put, a fine introductory overview of modern Ireland. By "modern" I refer to the time from a bit before the Viking invasion (roughly 797 C.E.), through the Free State to the founding of the Republic and into "The Troubles" of today. For my money, the book's major flaw was its brief, superficial treatment of ancient Celtic Ireland. There is so much more to Ireland's Gaelic past than Kee covers that one will need other books to fill this gap. As a dual national -- I'm an Irish and a U.S. citizen -- I did not really "need" Kee's book to learn of modern or ancient Ireland, or the supplementary works I later bought to cover the pre-Viking material his "Ireland: A History" did not; I already knew a fair bit about this as a function of my birth. [A Dublin-born Irishman gave me Kee's book to read while I lived in Cyprus, where English-language books are very dear, and one reads what one may already have read or known to save money.] As a further note, ultra-Republican friends of mine scoff at what they characterize as Kee's "royalist/loyalist" leanings, dismissing out of hand anything he has to say as not quite "shamrock green" enough for a "True Republican" to be citing him as a source on anything Irish. I personally did not find Kee a propagandist for the Crown, so do not subscribe out of hand to this IRA carping. I can grouse, however, at Kee's or his editors' failure to state in which Dublin museum hangs the heartbreaking painting of "The Flight of the Earls," found on page 38 of the book. On one occasion, I'd sought out the painting in the National Gallery in Dublin, only to learn it hung in another museum -- which was closed the day I went after it. Notwithstanding this, in my humble opinion, for those not of Irish extraction or citizenship (or ultra-Republican bent), Kee's book is a good, easily readable, healthy introduction to the Emerald Isle. It is devoid of any blarney-sentimental cliches or slanderous stereotyping of the "glib, gab-gifted, Guinness-gulping" Irishman. And it pulls no punches at Britain's guilt for its arguably deliberate genocide of the Irish in the Great Famine of 1845-49 and those lesser ones that grass-stained starving Irish mouths and blood-stained the 19th century. But it will fill in only so many blanks in one's understanding of that ageless island and its early people, with their lost-in-mists religions, languages, superstitions, culture and monuments. Those wanting more will have to buy other works, such as Peter Beresford Ellis' "The Ancient World of the Celts," for instance. Overall, I found Kee's "Ireland: A History" a good survey course in Ireland, so much so that I bought it as a gift for a friend of Irish extraction, who'd developed a keen interest in tracing his own roots -- and in applying for Irish citizenship. On balance, Kee's book is worth the money and the read.
Anthony O'Neill Miller

THIS IS A VERY GOOD HISTORY OF IRELAND. IT TAKES YOU FROM THE EARLY BEGINNINGS TO THE PRESENT IN A FLOWING, INTERESTING WAY.
IT IS OBJECTIVE IN ITS DEALING WITH THE MANY INTERNAL PROBLEMS
IRELAND HAD AND STILL HAS WITH ENGLAND. IT IS A WONDERFUL WAY TO UNDERSTAND BOTH THE IRISH FEELINGS ABOUT INDEPENDENCE AND THE
FEELING THE BRITISH HAVE ABOUT THIS INDEPENDENCE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.......

A wonderful piece of literature, which has already helped my A-Level studies

After cranking out a string of pot-boiler thrillers, Judith Hearne was Moore's debut venture into the world of the serious novel. Here he sought to depict the epic, cosmic conflicts that are under the surface of the most seemingly ordinary of lives. He set it squarely in 1950's Belfast, where he was raised as one of the Catholic minority. He hated Belfast, calling it a "claustrophobic, provincial backwater... trapped in the nightmare of history" and plagued equally with Protestant self-righteousness and Catholic repressiveness. All of these sentiments find their way into this, his first literary novel.
Judith, convent-raised, unmarried, and forty-something moves into Mrs. Rice's boarding house on Camden Street. It is her sixth relocation in the last few years. We find out WHY later. She teaches piano and embroidery to an ever diminishing handful of students, has very few possessions, and fewer social attachments. In fact, her only social involvement is tea with the O'Neill family on Sunday afternoons. Only later do we find how one-sided even this relationship is. The O'Neills secretly dread her visits.
We are soon to sense the brooding cloud of narrowness, plainness, loneliness, and ignorance that hovers over this poor soul. Moore captures it. Even her physical frame, he says, is "plain as a cheap clothes rack."
To sustain herself she lives in a world of religious faith and imagination... or illusion. She daydreams, and surrounds herself with iconic totems from her uneventful past. And she has a secret vice that isn't revealed until almost midway in the novel. She's a(n) _____! (I won't say).
The novel revolves around Judith's interactions with the many other residents of Mrs. Rice's home. Because of Judith's long repressed desires and vivid imagination, she is quick to assume that Mr. Madden's attentions will lead to a splendid marriage. But in their mutually illusive worlds they are both nursing dissimilar motives as regards each other. And meanwhile, Judith is being horribly set up for a total spiritual/emotional breakdown by a certain nefarious Iago-like presence in the home. As a result of her mounting disappointments she questions (abandons?) her religious faith, and is led in increasing measure to wallow in her secret vice... the real "passion" of Judith Hearne. And it is indeed, partaken in abject loneliness. Even the Church, represented by the tactless Father Quigley, rejects her cry for help. He heaps penitence and guilt where forgiveness and grace are needed.

This novel is brilliant in its portrayal of a woman at the very outer limits of disillusionment. Trapped by the passage of time. In the end, she looks in the mirror and smiles a costly smile. It has cost her the illusion, the pretence, and the ill-founded faith of all her years.

What a novel! Here in a tantalyzing weaving of different characters' perspectives, we learn about the various levels of Belfast society and its intolerances. The main character is an Irish woman who let her shorthand slide, so she teaches piano for a living, and continues to lose her students steadily as the children's parents discover she has alcohol on her breath.

Surreptiously she takes long bus rides to the edge of town for whiskey-buying expeditions, and has to take the clinking bottles back up the stairs of her lonely room. She seems to have no real friends or interests, and is moving from boarding house to boarding house as her alcoholism is discovered; landlords kick her out. What is new and exciting in this parish is the older brother of the landlady just back from 30 years of living in New York, making allusions to his life in the hotel business. She finds out by accident that he was a doorman for a hotel. He'd done every job he could find in the rough streets of NYC, and thought his doorman job the best ever he'd found, until he was injured by a car hitting him, giving him one bum leg dragging. These and many other details are piled up upon the reader through various characters' gossiping with each other. For example, the 30-year-old Mama's boy, son of the landlady, is screwing the 16-year-old maid, and hangs out all day with no job, telling tale tales and spreading malicious humors to keep his own reputation clean. The ex-NYer was a very disappointed fellow who started drinking at bars, just to stay out of the house, realizing that he had no place in his old home country, neither in his small village in Donegal, nor in Belfast, so he mutters about "going down to Dublin", but never does he leave. He can live rent-free at his sister's, and she resents it o boy!

The sad decline into a drinking binge of this woman is quite a feat; one suspects the writer must have himself experienced it or known someone who'd done the same. It's peculiarly Irish, how far down she goes, in her last faint hopes for romance, crushed when the NY'er begins to ignore her when he realizes she has no money and can't be a business partner.

And so it goes... better not give away anymore of the plot.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearn is probably one of the most beautiful books in contempory Irish literature. Brian Moore treats Judy Hearn with a completely unbiased nature; he is definitely in touch with the character's values, and her flaws. Moore has shaped a novel of his time and Ireland's people that will probably influence many for years to come.

The Irony of the generally hopeless tales that this book recounts, is that in an increasingly borderless and unified Europe the apparently ceasless sectarian hatreds of Belfast seem so absurd an anachronistic. The Protestants, fanatically clinging to and celebrating a Britishness completly alien to this contemporary Englishman. The Catholics, trumpeting a gaelic nationlism that if the truth were told embarrass most modern-day cosmopolitan Dubliners. What is so pitifully revealing about the book is the circular cycle of resignation to hatred that "The Troubles" have bought to this corner of the world. While the rest of the Island enjoys an economic boom that makes the Irish Republic one of the more desireable places to live and do business, northerners bicker about allowing marches in silly costumes to celebrate battles fought 400 years ago. Sadly there is little hope contained in the words spoken by the various individuals interviewed for this book. It is miserable, depressing though perhaps necessary reading.

This book is a series of interviews with people from all walks of life in. Parker opens with an introduction that explains his introduction to Belfast. He follows that up with quoted conversations from various people that he dealt with when he first arrived in Belfast. They uniformly asked him to show to world, especially England, that Belfast is not nearly as bad as the media has made it out to be.

The rest of the book is dedicated to over sixty interviews. Parker briefly sets up each interview with a description of the setting, including the outward emotional appearance of the interviewee unless specifically asked to do otherwise. That small description at the beginning of each interview is the only time that we hear Parker's voice.

Parker interviewed ordinary people, children, elderly people, teachers, professors, students, political party leaders, army personnel, police, priests, clergy, people trying to make a difference, and people considered terrorists.

The main point of this book was to give a voice to the people of Belfast. The point was to provide an opportunity for people to explain how they felt and why they felt that way without being edited or judged. The effect was that each person was able to be heard exactly as they had expressed themselves.

Father Michael Brown expressed his disappointment that the church (either of them) had not taken more of leadership role to "build bridges . . . to keep the peace. . ." (p. 61). This book was perhaps the only format in which he was able to express his disappointment without being branded a traitor of sorts.

Parker interviews several people from both sides of the Troubles who are seen as terrorists by the other side. To say the least none of them sees himself or herself as being a terrorist. Here they get a chance to explain why. Marie Jones is a member of the IRA. The intelligent manner in which she spoke lent credence to her philosophies. She spoke of her first moment when she began to feel anti-British sentiment. She had been walking home alone from school when two British soldiers stopped her with rifles pointed at her head just to ask her name and address. Given this opportunity she is also able to express her dislike and distrust of the Catholic Church. This opportunity would never present itself to her in any other format. Being a member of the IRA it would naturally be assumed in most circles that she is Catholic and proud of it. Parker's theme was kept throughout the entirety of the book. With each interview the reader understands that the speaker is speaking from a place of non-judgement as they get their chance to be heard. I was convinced throughout the book that Parker went to whatever extreme was necessary to make the interviewee as at ease as possible so that they would speak honestly and openly. On many occasions this was very obvious. Nowhere was this more obvious than when he interviewed members of the Royal Ulster.

"The agreement was simple and straightforward. A completely false and misleading name, no description of appearance or manner, and no indication of where the interview took place." (p. 199)

With that agreed upon, "Max Harvey" was able to talk openly without fear of being identified by a paramilitary group.

When he interviewed members of the British Army he was just as honest with the reader about the main point of his book being compromised in that section.

"(Only after a long delay did the Army authorities agree to interviewing of (their) selected personnel: and only on the condition that it was carried out in the presence of a 'minder' who tape-recorded the tape-recorded interviewing. An undertaking had to be given that they could sensor any parts they wished to: and a further condition was that these conditions should not be mentioned.)" (p. 175)

The result of Parker's relentless quest for honest, open, and non-judgmental interviews is that the reader learns so much about the people of Belfast that a news-media blitz can never be watched the same way again.

From an American's point of view there are many acronyms, phrases, and words that are quite unfamiliar. When this book was released for publication in the United States it would have been more than helpful to have had a glossary that defined the acronyms and explained who the groups were.

Before reading this book I would suggest that the reader have at least some knowledge of the large incidents that have occurred in Northern Ireland's history with regards to England. I stopped midway through chapter five and read a brief history of Northern Ireland so that I could better understand what the interviewees were referring to.

Parker organized his book superbly. I never expected a book of interviews to flow so well. Each interview was as exciting as the last and always for a different reason. I found myself grabbing the book every spare moment I got.

This book is a wonderful contribution to historical studies. It presents a view not often seen in history books-that of the people living through the making of history. If not for a book of this nature the history of the Troubles would be told probably only by party and government leaders. Now for decades and centuries to come the world will know how the people of Belfast were affected, how they felt, and how they as individuals affected the history of Northern Ireland.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in Northern Ireland, England, or in the human condition.

With this book Tony Parker puts a face on those who suffer the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland. He puts aside the political mumbo jumbo to look at how the fighting affects individuals. In a non-biased way, he presents the personal stories from Loyalists, Unionists, and those who are caught in between. We hear the voices of terrorists, housewives, priests and pastors. Their stories help the reader to understand what is behind the troubles -- and all wars.

This book is powerful in its simplicity. Stanton's journey is mundane, but from the people he meets and the sites he visits, we learn much about life and travel.Books on the pilgrimage are plenty now, but I would recommend this one for the everyday traveler taking the path.

This is a fascinating book, and will appeal both to those who love travel tales and those on a spiritual quest. No self-described holy man, the author is frank about doubting his faith and his ambivalence in making the pilgrimage. Yet you see throughout the book how the journey emptied then replinished him He draws vivid word pictures about the sights, smells and characters that he encounters. If you have a desire to drop out of the hustle and bustle of life to learn to listen to the great, glorious creation around you and the Creator above, then this book will make your feet itch to begin your personal pilgrimage. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and was enriched by the reading. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This is a great book and is a very useful guide to the pilgrimage. It is hard to find, and Amazon is doing a great service in trying to provide it for pilgrims. However extracts from the book with very useful information can be found at the Telegraph Online London web site in the TRAVEL section. Look search under Yahoo for Telegraph Online and then Browse the many pages and articles on the pilgrimage found under the travel section. The book is fully reviewed in the newspapers's travel pages, the site has many useful useful facts about the pilgrimage including a FAQ

Roosevelt purchased two cattle ranches in present-day western North Dakota, and many times went out to hunt for sport or for "meat for the pot."

Hunting Trips of a Ranchman in effect provides essays on the description, behavior, habitat, and survival of several species known to the prairies and the distant forests and mountain ranges. He talks of wildfowl (grouse, etc), elk, buffalo, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, black-tailed or mule deer, and finishes with Old Ephraim, the grizzly bear. All of these books are good for armchair readers who have never been to the western wildernesses or prairies, where these animals can be viewed with perseverance and patience.

Roosevelt speaks of elk as the most noble of the deer family and perhaps the most majestic of all animals (which I tend to agree). He speaks of the incredible speed but also remarkable (and sometimes fatal) curiosity of the pronghorn, who are able to outrun any foes and keep in the open to see them at long distance with their excellent vision. However, they run in a straight line to provide a fairly consistent target for a good marksmen. He speaks of the enjoyable hunting of both kinds of deer, the difficulty of approaching the haunts of the bighorn, and his big finale, one of the best accounts of hunting grizzlies that I have ever read. Roosevelt's respect for the bear's ferocity is manifest, almost amounting to an admitted dread, which shows his good sense.

If you are interested in the American wild, are curious about the habits and habitats of these large species, and are drawn to the hunting and outdoor mentality of the President who helped strengthen the national park system, this will be an entertaining read for you.

I enjoyed these books very much. They give an excellent overview not only of the flora and fauna of the north plains in the late 1800s, but also an interesting perspective on the people of the place and TR. The only drawback was the writing was a bit dated, and the two books were a bit overlapping in subject. Nonetheless, highly recommended to anyone interested in the outdoors, US history, and/or TR.

This collection of Roosevelt's hunting trips and adventures puts you right out there with him, on the wild plains. The clarity of his descriptions and the easy way he takes you through his experiences has made this one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. If you enjoy the wilderness, stories about the old west or just relaxing with a good book, this is a great choice.

Longacre is very impressed with the "style" of Stuart. This has caused him to ignore his short commings as a commander. The book is less a study of the actions and TO&E that went into the war, than a isn't J.E.B. great book. His short commings are glossed, the 7 Days, over or not covered at all, Ox Hill.

He falls into the trap of the early CSA were just better and ignores the problems the Union had with building a Cavalry. He did an excellent job of covering this in his last book. Then, he falls into the better equipment trap w/o looking at how the war shifted tatics and the why ANoV failed to adapt.

This is not a bad book but a disapointment after his excellent "Lincoln's Cavalrymen".

Lee's Cavalrymen: A History Of The Mounted Forces Of The Army Of Northern Virginia is an exhaustively researched, superbly presented, "reader friendly" study of the southern calvary troops active in the American Civil War, as well as a welcome and complementary volume to Lincoln's Cavalrymen which presented an intense scrutiny of the cavalry units of the North. Drawing upon the results of an extensive study of newspaper archives, calvary-specific dispatches, letters, diaries, and memoirs of cavalrymen, and more, civil war historian Edward G. Longacre effectively utilizes these core source materials to produce his erudite and fascinating discourse, which is very highly recommended reading for Civil War buffs, students, and researchers.

An excellent overall study of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. Told generally in a narrative style, the book provides a solid discussion of and evidence for Confederate cavalry dominance in the earlier part of the war. Specific actions are covered--just about all of them, in fact, which means there isn't necessarily room for a lot of detail about every event. Longacre also includes material on the training and daily life of the cavalry. Disadvantages in weaponry and materiel, as compared to the Federals, also get plenty of time.

Longacre gives a balanced picture of Stuart; it's hard to see how a historian of ANV cavalry could avoid writing about their commander for most of their existence, and Longacre offers both praise and criticism, as well as a couple of insightful points. He's not at all a Stuart partisan; in fact, one gets the feeling he would probably rank Hampton first in tactics.

This book offers a sensible account of the Confederate cavalry at (and not at) Gettysburg, and represents a modification of Longacre's view in his earlier book on the subject. In the earlier book Longacre seemed to accept the viewpoint that Stuart "should have" been present, whereas now, perhaps influenced by *Saber and Scapegoat* (which appears in his bibliography), he takes a more positive view.

Longacre is more original, and perhaps more questionable, when he analyzes the tactics of mounted charges. He claims that ANV troopers wanted to fight mounted, but with revolvers and other firearms rather than sabers, and I wish he had provided more supporting quotes, because I've read plenty of primary sources (Gilmor) where sabers are used with glee. His assertion that sabers were really more effective than firearms at close quarters is interesting, and he goes on to state that mounted charges really were of little use, being more or less outdated and causing high casualties. But did mounted fighting, which took place until the end of the war, actually result in more casualties than attrition, disease among horses and men, or the kind of dismounted fighting cavalrymen sometimes did in the West, where they were ordered to charge breastworks? (history of the 7th TN Cav). I wanted to see more analysis, more numbers and more quotes.

Certainly a complete and interesting account, as far as I know the only such work, and required reading for anyone interested in the topic.

I fell in love with Northern California and its regional cuisine (including the romantic world class Highland Inn of Carmel, which has two recipes in this book) and could not wait to try cooking it on my own when I bought this book. Indeed, it delivers what it promises - recipes from the best places - but it is by no means simple. As would be expected, recipes of restaurant caliber like these call for special and expensive ingredients that you would not readily have on hand or may not be easily available. For example, the lemon french toast mentioned in another review calls for country style bread and lemon curd. This is not a book for a busy mom looking for fast and easy weekday meal. It is, however, perfect for preparing a romantic dinner on a weekend.

I fell in love with Northern California and its regional cuisine (including the romantic world class Highland Inn of Carmel, which has two recipes in this book) and could not wait to try cooking it on my own when I bought this book. Indeed, it delivers what it promises - recipes from the best places - but it is by no means simple. As would be expected, recipes of restaurant caliber like these call for special and expensive ingredients that you would not readily have on hand or may not be easily available. For example, the lemon french toast mentioned in another review calls for country style bread and lemon curd. This is not a book for a busy mom looking for fast and easy weekday meal. It is, however, perfect for preparing a romantic dinner on a weekend.

The title understates the greatness of the recipes included in the book. The authors took the time to make sure the recipes are as complete and simple as possible. From the lemon French toasts to the sesame encrusted shrimp, the meals are flavorful. The seasonings used add character to the item but do not overpower them.

I am eagerly awaiting the follow up to this book.

This is in fact a great book what the contents is concerned, but for the graphics and the layout it just deservs an "unsatisfactory". Who could let somebody like this Stephen Stringall do the layout. Urrg!

If you find something you like, you can look further into it. For overall information this book has everything you could possibly want to see in north CA. I just got back and it was the best book I read for traveling that area.

The author obviously knows her way around northern California intimately. The book is crammed full of information about the entire northern part of the state! I have never seen such a useful guidebook, no matter what your interests.