Book Description
Support for Parents Whose Children are Depressed
Contrary to popular belief, young children do get seriously depressed, and many try to kill themselves. In Helping Your Child Cope with Depression and Suicidal Thoughts the authors, Shamoo and Patros, show parents: how to learn to talk, listen, and communicate effectively with a depressed child; what situations can cause a child or adolescent to wish to commit suicide; what signs to watch for; myths and misinformation about suicide; how to determine the risk of suicide; and How to intervene.
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"I Want to Kill Myself": Helping Your Child Cope With Depression and Suicidal Thoughts
Tonia K. Shamoo , and
Philip G. Patros
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Suicide
| Death & Grief
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Clinical Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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Suicide
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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Social Services & Welfare
| Poverty
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
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Death
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0669211303 |
Book Description
In three months of savage fighting, the U.S. Seventh Army did what no army in the history of modern warfare had ever done before–conquer an enemy defending the Vosges Mountains.
With the toughest terrain on the Western Front, the Vosges mountain range was seemingly an impregnable fortress, manned
by German troops determined to hold the last barrier between the Allies and the Rhine. Yet despite nearly constant rain, snow, ice, and mud, soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Army tore through thousands of pillboxes, acres of barbed wire, hundreds of roadblocks, and miles of other enemy obstacles, ripping the tenacious German defenders out of their fortifications in fierce fighting–and then held on to their gains by crushing Operation Nordwind, the German offensive launched in a hail of steel at an hour before midnight on the last New Year’s Eve of the war.
Keith Bonn’s fascinating study of this little-known World War II campaign offers a rare opportunity to compare German and American fighting formations in a situation where both sides were fairly evenly matched in numbers of troops, weapons, supplies, and support. This gripping battle-by-battle account shatters the myth that German formations were, division for division, superior to their American counterparts.
Customer Reviews:
The Vosges Campaign-The American View.......2006-09-26
Mr. Bonn's book is very well presented as far as the description of the opposing sides strategy, tactics, training etc., but when it comes to the main emphasis of the book, that the American Army outperformed the Germans in the Vosges, I think his thesis falls apart. These two combatants (the Americans and the Germans) were at two totally different stages in their lives. The American Army was very well trained and German divisions in the Vosges for the most part, were hardly trained at all (cannon fodder-more or less). The American Army (for the most part) was very well supplied and in contrast, the Germans were not supplied well at all. Even if "the odds" were even (or close to it), one has to take into account who is fighting and how well they are supplied. The American divisions were mostly 18-25 year olds, wereas the German divisions were full of young boys and old men, who did not want to die for Hitler, hence the reason the American Army took so many prisoners. Supplies were really critical. The American Army was well supplied, and the Germans were not nearly as well supplied. The American Artillery was especially well supplied, and it was the American artillery which time and again made possible the breakthoughs in the German lines. The American army usually had plenty of artillery ammunition. Unfortunately, Mr. Bonn is almost comparing apples and oranges in this book. The real comparison would be the German Heer of 1940-1941 and the American Army of 1944-45. So, we shall never really know which combatant was more effecient.
The odds were far from even, but the analysis was excellent!.......2006-07-17
Mr Bonn tries to support his view that the Vosges campaign of 1944 was a rare example of fighting between the German and the US Army under even odds, but he also admits that the German divisions were badly drained from experienced personnel and weapons and badly trained. The truth is that by the end of 1944 the Wehrmacht was gutted in the Eastern Front where it had lost its best troops and the Western Allies rarely came against first rate divisions, let alone ones of complete strength. Despite this drawvack and also some simplistic notes about the organisation of the two opponents (the German divisions of 1939 had little resemblance to their 1944 brethren), the analysis of the plans and the battles is really excellent. Mr Bonn gives many details about each division engaged in the fighting and each divisional or corps or army commander, presenting a bird's eye view of the campaign. I especially liked the absolutely marvellous and very professional analysis of General Balck's mistake regarding the corps' boundaries before the November 12 US offensive, something that only a former officer like Mr Bonn gan give the reader. There are many maps to support the text, but their quality is poor and certainly not equal to that of the narrative. The book contains some black and white photos and many bibliography notes.
Even odds in 1945: DON'T THINK SO.......2005-11-25
By 1945, the german army was bled white, gutted, undersupplied, out-numbered and lacking experienced officers and men. The western front was manned by a desperate mixture of few veterans, old men, young boys and whatever the germans could get together.
The odds were NEVER even after 1943. The Western front was a side show compared to the titanic battles that took place in the east. The russians bore the brunt of the best units the german army could throw together.
Odds even - in 1945?.......2004-01-07
There are basically two views on the performance of Allied and German troops in WWII -- the "Hollywood" version and the "academic" version. If you've seen "Kelly's Heroes" or "Where Eagles Dare" or any similar movie, you know what the Hollywood version is -- one Allied soldier is worth 20 - 50 Germans. If you've read postwar literature, even if it was written by Americans or Brits, you get a strikingly different picture, which boils down to "when the odds were even (in other words, when the Allied advantages in supply and air power were neutalized) the German soldier was, man for man, the best in the war."
While any half-intelligent person should be able to take the Hollywood version for what it is worth (nothing), hundreds of films spread over fifty-odd years have most definetly had their impact on the mass consciousness of the former Allied countries. Patriotism and nationalism also have their effect. It's hard to shed the Hogan's Heroes version of Nazi Germany, even if you know it's bumf. On the other hand, three generations of academics cannot help but have had their own impact on the "informed person's" view of Germany's army 1939 - 1945. Therefore, Keith Bonn's book is important, even crucial, because it addresses not a particular army or campaign but the question itself: when the odds were even, which army really was better?
Author Keith Bonn picks a campaign in the fall of 1944/winter of 1945 where American and German forces faced each other in (at least his assertion) equal numbers, on heavily forested, mountainous terrain that neutralized most of the advantages the Americans usually enjoyed. In other words, when the odds were even. Bonn is a well-credentialed academic and former West Point grad, so his bona fides are solid, even if his pride in our army makes him slightly suspect. Like many American historians, he has a tendency to underutilize German sources, which is one of the few mistakes I think he made on the purely technical front. Otherwise I would say his organization is first class, especially in the even-handed way he analyzes every component of each army, including its fighting philosophy, before making his case.
My problem with the book is simply this: Bonn has the usual Western myopia about World War II, to wit, he seems to think it started when America got involved. It subtly neglects the fact that the German army had been fighting all-out since 1939, and was passing out of its fighting peak as early as November 1942, when the first American soldier landed in North Africa. By June of 1944, when we landed in Normandy, it had deteriorated significantly further -- and the campaign Bonn uses to make his point, the battle for the Vosges mountains, started in October of 1944 and went into early 1945. By that time, Germany had suffered around 3.5 million combat casualties and its pool of young, strong military-age recruits was exhausted. Divisions were being formed out of the dregs: middle-aged and old men, people with specific types of medical problems (so-called "stomach and eye" battalions), Hitler Youth troops, ex-Luftwaffe personell, military police, foreign 'volunteers' from Russia and other areas, etc. Military training had been curtailed to 8 weeks of drill and little, if any, combat training (anyone who has ever drilled knows it has absolutely no practical value in battle). Germany's fuel reserves were gone, and the army relied heavily on horse-drawn transport and forced marches. The country's rail network had been ravaged by bombing and supplies, including food, often had trouble reaching the fighting areas even when it was available. Every unit, regardless of its elite status, was affected by these factors, and the fact that Germany had elite, fully-staffed units in the Vosges does not mean they were the equals of their American enemies in terms of full bellies, morale, age, physical strength, etc. -- the stuff that can really make the difference in war. Finally, the German army had lost an enormous number of top quality officers, NCO's and veteran soldiers, and could not make good on the losses; at the same time it was coming more and more under the direct control of Hitler and his field police. "Stand or die" had replace the flexible, common-sense tactics of the early years. Not very inspiring stuff to feed hungry, cold, demoralized, footsore troops who only had to look towards the American lines to see the advantages in comfort their enemies enjoyed.
In contrast, the American army started out totally inexperienced and clogged with officers at every level who were not up to the task, but rapidly cleaned out the dead wood and learned from experience. By 1944 the US fielded a completely motorized, veteran army that could replace all material losses immediately and troop losses with only slight delay, and no loss of quality (only experience). Each division rec'd at least 750 tons of supplies every day and regardless of whether these supplies got distributed properly (often they were not) the American 'dogface' was far better equipped materially and psychologically than his enemy. He had experienced no Stalingrads, no terror bombings, and no winters in Russia. Defeat was not staring him in the face.
Bonn addresses these factors, but they seem to have made no serious impression on him. He is content that the numbers add up, and he passes over the fact that American fighting doctrine is not based on fighting 'fair', but on overwhelming superority. Who would have ultimately prevailed between the German and American armies had they met at their respective peaks is a terrific what-if, but I do not think Bonn's work provides the answer. In fact no answer is possible. Like Marciano and Joe Louis, these two titans met when their careers were travelling headlong in opposite directions. In 1945, the odds were not even, and no other outcome but American victory was possible.
Logical, Accurate and Balanced.......2001-06-18
Both during and after World War Two, historians and military thinkers sought to analyze the relative effectiveness of American and German combat units. As an active duty infantry officer and a veteran of the United States Military Academy, Keith E. Bonn decided to tackle the task of comparing German and American efficiencies in the combat of World War Two in his book titled When The Odds Were Even. In order to accomplish his goal of critical analization, Bonn searched for a place and time during the war where neither side enjoyed a tactical or operational advantage other than the pure combat readiness and efficiency of the respective units. Bonn found this place and time to be the Vosge Mountains from October 1944 to January 1945. According to Bonn, when the odds were even the Americans demonstrated that they were the better fighting force. Through his historical accuracy, well-developed logic, and excellent balance throughout the book, Bonn successfully proves his thesis.
To accomplish his mission of determining whether the Germans or Americans were better battlefield units, Bonn breaks his book down into five main sections. He begins with a thorough introduction of the Vosge Mountains (both the High and Low Vosges). This section aims at giving the reader a perspective on how the terrain looked, and how it limited technological advantages for either side. Bonn uses this section to emphasize how this specific place and time would provide an accurate account of which force was superior. The second section, titled The Opposing Forces, provides the reader with background information about the doctrine, training and organization for each country's army. This portion of the book serves to arm the reader with knowledge about how exactly each nation fought battles, and why they fought that way. Furthermore, this allows the reader to make their own conjectures about the combat readiness of both forces before actually knowing what does happen in the battles for the Vosges Mountains. The third and fourth sections of the book outline the battles for the High Vosges and Low Vosges respectively. In each section Bonn goes into extreme detail about the campaigns and ends each section with a conclusion that offers his personal analysis and arguments for which side he felt was superior. In the final section of this book, The Vosage Mountains In Perspective, Bonn shows the impact of the training, doctrine and organization, which he had previously outlined in the section titled The Opposing Forces, on the outcome of the battles for the Vosge Mountains.
In order to determine the accuracy of Bonn's argument it is essential to examine the resources used in the development of this book. Through this examination of sources, the accuracy of Bonn's argument shows its validity. While Bonn does rely on many secondary sources such as books and journal articles, he also uses German documents, unit histories, manuscripts, and interviews, as well as United States Army operations and intelligence reports, company morning reports, field manuals, and unit histories. The overwhelming majority of works come from the United States Army company morning reports. At first, this may give the impression of biased data in favor of the American military performance, but Bonn does an excellent job of providing an even distribution of sources throughout his book. He coordinates German accounts with American ones and balances secondary and primary sources. In this work, no one source, or source type, dominates the evidence. Bonn employs his use of evidence well and, through his research, provides an accurate perspective on the events that took place in the Vosage Mountains from October 1944 to January 1945.
Part of the success of Bonn's argument lies in his logical approach. Since Bonn's purpose for this research was to determine which side was better in battle, Bonn chose to avoid making assumptions about the weight of the advantages that either side had, and instead found a place where the odds were even. In essence, Bonn eliminated the worry of weighing one advantage over another by finding a place and time where neither side had an advantage to worry about. Bonn denotes this logic by stating, "For a truly fair and accurate comparison, then, it is necessary to find a campaign in which these differences were obviated, or at least diminished to the point of insignificance." To further enhance his argument, Bonn does not rely heavily on assumptions. There are only two clear-cut assumptions in his book. First, Bonn assumes that it is not possible to clearly analyze which side is better if there is an advantage held by either side during the battle. Bonn attacks this assumption by discrediting other works in which the authors attempt to analyze the combat effectiveness of forces where there was such an advantage. According to Bonn, these other works either focus too much on parameters, or do not go in-depth enough to properly analyze the discussed battles. In Bonn's view, the use of parameters is an inefficient method because, "they are artificial and ex post facto at best, irrelevant at worst." A second, and relatively closely related assumption that Bonn makes is that: in the Vosge Mountains, the odds were in fact even. To address this assumption, Bonn spends the first fifty pages of his book, following the introduction, addressing the doctrine, organization and training of each force present at the battle. Furthermore, Bonn addresses the impact of terrain and weather as huge factors that limit the technological advantages of each side, bringing the two sides down to a level playing field. Overall, Bonn follows a fairly simple cause and effect relationship. Bonn effectively shows that because the Americans were victorious at the Vosges Campaign, during which neither force held a significant advantage, the American troops can be labeled as the more efficient combat force. The logical preface of Bonn's argument, combined with the lack of unwarranted assumptions, and his well-developed cause and effect relationship, make his argument believable and effective.
Bonn adds to the effectiveness of his logic by maintaining a good balance in this book. Throughout this book, Bonn seems to be aiming less to prove his argument, and more towards finding the truth about who was better. In the introduction when Bonn attacks other works on the same topic as being unsubstantiated, he seems to take personal offense to the lack of logical arguments in the works of his peers. One example of Bonn's attitude towards other works is evident when he says, "The Official United States Army Historical Series volume on the Seventh Army's campaigns in the ETO, titled From the Riviera to the Rhine, was not published until the spring of 1993, nearly a half century after the fact!" Through this bitter resentment towards the laxidasical inefficiencies in the work of his peers, Bonn demonstrates his desire to be an effective detached observer seeking the truth. To further add to Bonn's credibility through balance is his outstanding background. Bonn is a West Point graduate and, at the time he wrote the book, an active duty officer in the United States Army. Bonn's military background seemed to focus him to rely heavily on primary accounts from the battlefield as well as American and German field reports. Furthermore, Bonn's military experience seemed to influence his information gathering by allowing him to discard data that is clearly distorted and impossible based on common military knowledge. As an infantry officer, Bonn also has a valuable background in United States Army doctrine and training.
This book is very interesting and informative. With that said, it does not seem to be targeted for all types of audiences, but rather is designed to intrigue military personnel, fans of history, and people who are fond of military history. More specifically, this book is an excellent work for historians in any field specific to the study of World War Two. Bonn's book would be difficult to read and most likely uninteresting to the average civilian reader because the two sections of the book that talk about the battles of the Vosge Mountains go into great military detail.
For historians and military personnel fond of military history, this book is an excellent time investment. Bonn has found a place and time in World War Two where no serious tactical or operational advantage was enjoyed by either side. In doing so, Bonn has succeeded in justifying the superiority of the American ground forces where technology and other advantages do not play a part. This work is a very valuable resource because it forces its readers to look beyond who won or lost, but to who would have won or lost, had the odds been even.
Beyond all else, this book can be of profound use to a future officer. Officers and future officers must realize that even with all of the technological advantages that they might enjoy, there will be a place and time somewhere in which they are forced to operate without that advantage. Then and only then, will the better-prepared, better-trained, and better-organized force
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Life in an Egyptian Workers Village (Picture the Past)
Janet Shuter
Manufacturer: Heinemann Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Egypt
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Egypt
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0431113041 |
Book Description
Building on the author's previously published works -- The Facilitators' Handbook and Group Facilitation -- this comprehensive guide provides the key to successful facilitation.
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- spectacular guide to all herons, egrets, and bitterns!
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The Herons Handbook (Helm Field Guides)
James Hancock , and
James Kushlan
Manufacturer: Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0709937164 |
Customer Reviews:
spectacular guide to all herons, egrets, and bitterns!.......2001-03-05
Authors James Hanock and James Kushlan, along with illustrators Robert Gillmor and Peter Hayman have put together a simply gorgeous guide to all the world's species of herons, egrets, and bitterns. A guide to herons on every continent except Antarctica, all 60 species as recognized by the book, it is a thorough treatment of each one. Each species has a breathtaking color illustration, many times an additional black and white illustration, the common name, genus and species name, alternate common names, when and who first described it as species, maps illustrating range (including directions of migration and areas of casual occurrences), several paragraphs describing in detail their physical appearance, notes on their distribution and population, migration, habitat, behavior flying, feeding, and breeding, descriptions of nests, eggs, and young, and a note or two on taxonomy. Subspecies are noted as well; for instance a two page color range map depicts the 30 subspecies of the green-backed heron, found throught the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and several Pacific and Indian Ocean island groups.
In addition to being a thorough field guide and collection of natural history notes on the world's herons, egrets, and bitterns the first section of the book contains useful articles on heron classification, courtship, feeding, and tips on identifying herons and egrets, including several color plates that aid in identifying the many white herons and egrets that live around the world. An extensive bibliography closes out this work.
Whether you want to read more about the great blue heron or the black-crowned night heron that lives around the local river or swamp, or something more exotic, like the black heron of Africa or the zigzag heron of South America, then this is the book for you. The book will also be of interest to conservationists, as several species such as the slaty egret have very restricted ranges (in this case known to breed only in the Okavango swamp in northwest Botswana) or very small populations such as Malagasy heron.
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Facilitators Handbook
John Heron , and
John Heron
Manufacturer: Kogan Page Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Philosophy & Social Aspects
| Education Theory
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0749400102 |
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Asmp Stock Photography Handbook
Manufacturer: American Society of Media Photographers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Professional
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| How-to
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 096054741X |
Book Description
By Means Whereof the Past, the Present, and the Future May Be Read in the Formations of the Hands. Preceded by an Introductory Argument upon the Science of Cheirosophy and its claims to rank as a Physical Science.
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