Book Description
Jessica Mitford, the great muckraking journalist, was part of a legendary English aristocratic family. Her sisters included Nancy, doyenne of the 1920s London smart set and a noted novelist and biographer; Diana, wife to the English fascist chief Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell head over in heels in love with Hitler; and Deborah, later the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica swung left and moved to America, where she took part in the civil rights movement and wrote her classic exposé of the undertaking business, The American Way of Death.
Hons and Rebels is the hugely entertaining tale of Mitford's upbringing, which was, as she dryly remarks, “not exactly conventional. . . Debo spent silent hours in the chicken house learning to do an exact imitation of the look of pained concentration that comes over a hen's face when it is laying an egg. . . . Unity and I made up a complete language called Boudledidge, unintelligible to any but ourselves, in which we translated various dirty songs (for safe singing in front of the grown-ups).” But Mitford found her family's world as smothering as it was singular and, determined to escape it, she eloped with Esmond Romilly, Churchill's nephew, to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. The ensuing scandal, in which a British destroyer was dispatched to recover the two truants, inspires some of Mitford's funniest, and most pointed, pages.
A family portrait, a tale of youthful folly and high-spirited adventure, a study in social history, a love story, Hons and Rebels is a delightful contribution to the autobiographer's art.
Customer Reviews:
Hons and Daughters and Rebels.......2007-04-23
I was looking for a Jessica Mitford autobiography and discovered "Hons & Rebels". The original title of this (1960) book is Daughters & Rebels". Is anything other than the title revised/updated? I'm such a fan of Mitford, I'd rather read her memoirs than Mary S. Lovell's "The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family", which is supposedly more detailed.
They don't make royals like this any more.......2007-02-07
A view into the always fascinating Mitford family written by family member, and best-selling author, Jessica Mitford.
The personal observations about the totally diverse life choices made made by the sisters boggles the mind and confounds the senses.
Coming of age as a "ballroom pink".......2006-03-19
The Mitfords, the six daughters of Baron Redesdale, were inescapable fixtures of England's cultural life in the Thirties; as their mother noted, she needed only pick up a newspaper to see invariably a headline about "Peer's daughter" and she'd know one of them was in trouble. Eccentric, funny, intelligent and lively, one became a one became a novelist (Nancy), one became a fascist (Diana), one became a countrywoman (Pamela), one became a Nazi (Unity), and one became a duchess (Deborah). The second to youngest, Jessica, became a communist and then a famous muckraking journalist, and wrote THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH as well as this very funny memoir of growing up Mitford. Given almost no education while being raised in Gloucestershire and London, she eloped with Churchill's nephew Esmond Romilly to Spain, and then found work with him in America as the war began across the Atlantic. The memoir gives a fascinating account of what it was like to live as what her sisters dismissingly term "a ballroom pink" in the Thirties, but is most memorable, of course, for its detailing of her sisters' hilarious observations about class, snobbery, sex and one another: when it is announced their King is going to marry an American with the unprepossesing name of Wallis Simpson, for example, the sisters refuse to believe it ("That cannot be her real Christian name!").
Surprisingly interesting.......2005-10-14
Several things about this book were interesting. How alien to our current sensibilites for someone to want to go to school so badly, but have their parents consider it an unnecessary frivolity. Mitford also gives a real sense of what the lead-up to WWII was like. Again, I was fascinated that up until the Nazis invaded France, it wasn't clear if England would fight the Nazis or the Soviets. How strange sounding. And that some in the Engligh upper classes admired Hitler ("We could do with Hitler in this country"). Wow, I didn't expect that.
There were some problems with Mitfords biography. I really wanted more information on what happened to Boud and the rest of the British fascists once the war started. Secondly, Esmonds death is literally nothing more than a footnote, near the end of the story, which I thought was rather quickly brought to a close. No information as to what Mitford was up to during and after the war? I almost expected a sequel to cover the period from 1940 to the 60's.
Poignant memoir of happier days.......2005-03-04
One of my favourite books of all time, Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels is her personal account of her childhood as a member of the eccentric, aristocratic family of Lord and Lady Redesdale, and of what happened after that - when she ran away from home to fight in the Spanish Civil War, eloping with a distant cousin. The family were a constant presence in the British press in the first half of the twentieth century, and this book gives the story of their lives from the other side. Impossibly impractical, the author was entirely unprepared for any semblance of independent living - she writes amusingly of her early attempts at housekeeping, including doing the washing-up by washing, drying and putting away each dish before tackling the next one, and sweeping the staircase from the bottom to the top. Personal tragedies, however, are glossed over - the sudden deaths of two of her children are barely mentioned, overshadowed by the family's associations with such famous historical figures as Churchill and Hitler.
As another reviewer mentioned, 'Decca', as she was known, wasn't one to let the truth get in the way of a good story, so don't take every word as gospel - just enjoy this book for what it is, a highly original and amusing memoir.
Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program.
Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Product Description
Originally published in 1861. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Product Description
Originally published in 1862. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Product Description
Originally published in 1864. 18 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Product Description
Originally published in 1865. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Book Description
In April 1861, Confederate artillery blasted Fort Sumter into surrender. Within weeks, the Confederacy had established its capital at Richmond. On May 24, Lincoln ordered troops across the Potomac into Virginia, only a few miles from the Confederate military base near the hamlet of Manassas. A great battle was inevitable; whether this would end the war, as many expected, was the only question. On July 21, near a stream called Bull Run, the two forces fought from early morning until after dark in the first great battle of the Civil War. America would never be quite the same.
Donnybrook is the first major history of Bull Run to detail the battle from its origins through its aftermath. Using copious and remarkably detailed primary source material-including the recollections of hundreds of average soldiers-David Detzer has created an epic account of a defining moment in American history.
Customer Reviews:
The paperback has several maps!.......2007-01-19
This is the fourth or fifth account of a specific battle or campaign that I have read. Until now, my high water mark for a narrative of this sort has been The Beleaguered City by Shelby Foote. Donnybrook is now the book against which all others must be judged. Using amazing details and clear descriptions in the service of driving the narrative forward, Detzer has produced a masterpiece. He gives us insights into the rank and file of the embryonic armies stabbing at each other, the personalities leading those armies, and, ultimately, into ourselves.
I read several reviews complaining about the lack of maps, but the paperback version I just finished had at least 6 useful maps of the wider area and the specific battlefield, one (ostensibly) in McDowell's own hand. Wonderful for the Civil War or history buff, and appealing to someone with *NO* CW background at all.
Very good read.......2006-12-05
Detzer has written one of the better overviews of the campaign and battle of First Manassas or Bull Run. Detzer succeeds with this book for several reasons. First, the book is very easy to read and is broken down in manageable chunks. Detzer further broke the book down with the events before and after the battle. This allows the reader to take everything in and not get too overwhelmed. Second, the mini-biographies of all the players and participants are a good intro to many differing personalities. Third, Detzer has used many, many resources in bringing this book together. Fourth, Detzer does something that few military historians do--he explains to the reader what things like caissons are, how the armies were divided up, and introduces the reader to military jargon and ranking systems. While this may be boring for those with more military knowledge, novices will find this refreshing and helpful. Fifth, Detzer has cut through the legends surrounding this battle and gone right for the truth. He admits that sometimes only conjecture can be applied due to lack of resources, but cuts through many legends and debunks them. Finally, Detzer humanizes the battle. Many military historians tend to just talk about troop movements, casualty lists, and the high ranking commanders while passing over the common soldier. Detzer does not make this mistake. In fact, Detzer argues, very convicingly, what a role such things as heat, dust on a march, lack of water, and lack of food could play on commanders' overall schemes as often times soliders could not, or would not, carry out grand ideas for tactics due to fatigue or hunger, something often overlooked by other military historians. Detzer also, refreshingly, talks about how ludicrous it is to dismiss any battles as minor (as some historians have done with Manassas) due to a lack of casulaties. As Detzer points out, 1 dead soldier leads to many broken hearts.
However, there are a couple negatives. First off, as many others have already pointed out, there are no maps. Books about battles should always have maps. Detzer tries to explain the topographical elements as best he can, but maps are needed. Also, Detzer does seem to have a slight anti-Southern bias and while that doesn't keep him from giving kudos to Southern soldiers and leaders, he does sometimes seem overly harsh or petty when writing about the Confederates. Finally, Detzer's writing style is unique (he adds lots of little tidbits in parentheses, just like this) and takes some getting used too.
Overall, this ranks amongst the best military history books I have read and is certainly one of the best on Manassas. A good read for a novice or hardcore military history buff.
Agreed, no maps but..........2006-07-18
the writing style is superb. Consult the West Point Atlas if maps are needed. I was initially put off by the lack of maps, but after a few pages I was quite engrossed. Detzer is the Hemingway of contemporary Civil War history. There are plenty of military theorists out there, and lots of pseudo-military theorists. Sounding like a US Army War College staffer seems to be the trend these days. Detzer has a unique, and cogent style: he's a worthy successor to Shelby Foote, maybe--perish the thought--even better!
Like A Martini with No Olive.......2006-03-03
This is just an excellent telling of the first battle of Manassas. The facts are accurate and the sequence of events is near perfect. Mr. Detzer clearly explains the positions of both armies throughout the book. BUT THE BOOK HAS NO MAPS. This makes it nearly impossible to relate to the author's information. How a book this good could not have maps is an author's and publisher's unacceptable omission. If the reader cannot constantly visualize the stone bridge, The Henry house hill, Matthews hill and other important locations, this will be a most frustrating read. To force the reader to have additional maps and go back and forth between reading and viewing makes the book totally unenjoyable for a reader that does not have a clear understading of the topography. The book is a 10. No maps pulls the rating to a 3. What a shame.
Slanted views.......2006-01-24
Good details but a challenging read without the maps for ready reference. Unit and battlefield movement are difficult to follow and the antique map within the book is difficult to read easily so as to be useless in tracking the action of the story. Commend the author on the research for specifics behind actions on both Blue and Gray units. Suggest that the distain for the Southern side is a bit too obvious and this discolors the author's objectivity as a story teller of this event. Even to the casual observer, the incompetence of both sides with this battle is obvious. To paint the South in general and the Confederates in particular as a group of buffoons is to waste the reader's time if the objective is to understand what the motivations and dynamics of the battle were.
Book Description
Since the first edition of the acclaimed Constructing Democratic Governance was published in 1996, the democracies of Latin America and the Caribbean have undergone significant change. This new, one-volume edition, edited by Jorge I. DomÃnguez and Michael Shifter, offers a concise update to current scholarship in this important area of international studies.
The book is divided into two parts: Themes and Issues, and Country Studies. Countries not covered by individual studies are discussed in the introduction, conclusion, and thematic chapters. In the introduction, Michael Shifter provides an overview of new developments in Latin America and the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on civil society and problems of governance. The conclusion, by Jorge I. DomÃnguez, ties together the themes of the various chapters and discusses the role of parties and electoral politics.
Contributors: Felipe Agüero, University of Miami; John M. Carey, Washington University in St. Louis; Fernando Cepeda Ulloa, Universidad de los Andes; Michael Coppedge; University of Notre Dame; Javier Corrales, Amherst College; Carlos Iván Degregori, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos; Rut Diamint, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Denise Dresser, University of Southern California; Mala N. Htun, New School University; Marta Lagos, Latinobarómetro; BolÃvar Lamounier, Augurium: Análise; Steven Levitsky, Harvard University; M. Victoria Murillo, Yale University
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Constructing Democratic Governance: Themes and Issues (Constructiong Democratic Governance)
Jorge I. Domínguez , and
Abraham F. Lowenthal
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Binding: Paperback
 Democracy
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ASIN: 0801853869 |
Book Description
In Constructing Democratic Governance, Jorge I. DomÃnguez and Abraham F. Lowenthal bring together a distinguished group of scholars to assess how well democracy has been working in this volatile part of the world. The authors find that serious problems still plague these new democracies. Many of these problems are related to the political institutions, including political parties, the civil service, and the justice system. Part I introduces broad thematic surveys of such key issues as the role of the left, conservatism, inequality, and indigenous peoples. Part II reviews the South American nations. Part III focuses on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, including Cuba. In Part IV, the volume editors draw conclusions about the problems and prospects for stable democracies in Latin America.
In addition to the complete hardcover edition, Constructing Democratic Governance is available in three paperback volumes, each containing the introduction and conclusion from the complete edition and organized for convenient course use.
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Constructing Democratic Governance: South America (Inter-American Dialogue Book (Baltimore, MD.).)
Jorge I. Domínguez , and
Abraham F. Lowenthal
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0801854032 |
Book Description
In Constructing Democratic Governance, Jorge I. Dominguez and Abraham F. Lowenthal bring together a distinguished group of scholars to assess how well democracy has been working in this volatile part of the world. The authors find that serious problems still plague these new democracies. Many of these problems are related to the political institutions, including political parties, the civil service, and the justice system. Part I introduces broad thematic surveys of such key issues as the role of the left, conservatism, inequality, and indigenous peoples. Part II reviews the South American nations. Part III focuses on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, including Cuba. In Part IV, the volume editors draw conclusions about the problems and prospects for stable democracies in Latin America.
In addition to the complete hardcover edition, Constructing Democratic Governance is available in three paperback volumes, each containing the introduction and conclusion from the complete edition and organized for convenient course use.
Book Description
In Constructing Democratic Governance, Jorge I. Dominguez and Abraham F. Lowenthal bring together a distinguished group of scholars to assess how well democracy has been working in this volatile part of the world. The authors find that serious problems still plague these new democracies. Many of these problems are related to the political institutions, including political parties, the civil service, and the justice system. Part I introduces broad thematic surveys of such key issues as the role of the left, conservatism, inequality, and indigenous peoples. Part II reviews the South American nations. Part III focuses on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, including Cuba. In Part IV, the volume editors draw conclusions about the problems and prospects for stable democracies in Latin America.
In addition to the complete hardcover edition, Constructing Democratic Governance is available in three paperback volumes, each containing the introduction and conclusion from the complete edition and organized for convenient course use.
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Constructing Democratic Governance: Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean in the 1990s
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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ASIN: 0801854040 |
Book Description
In Constructing Democratic Governance, Jorge I. Dom& iacute;nguez and Abraham F. Lowenthal bring together a distinguished group of scholars to assess how well democracy has been working in this volatile part of the world. The authors find that serious problems still plague these new democracies. Many of these problems are related to the political institutions, including political parties, the civil service, and the justice system. Part I introduces broad thematic surveys of such key issues as the role of the left, conservatism, inequality, and indigenous peoples. Part II reviews the South American nations. Part III focuses on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, including Cuba. In Part IV, the volume editors draw conclusions about the problems and prospects for stable democracies in Latin America.
In addition to the complete hardcover edition, Constructing Democratic Governance is available in three paperback volumes, each containing the introduction and conclusion from the complete edition and organized for convenient course use.
Book Description
The idea of "ecotourism" has taken off in recent years, but a crucial detail is often neglected: how do we know that an enterprise truly meets the goals and standards of ecotourism? Certification?the rating of lodges, resorts, tour operators, and other sectors of the tourism industry by independent auditors who verify environmental and social impacts?has emerged as the most promising answer. Ecotourism and Certification offers a valuable overview of ecotourism certification and lays out the basic challenges and strategies for establishing certification programs.
The book begins by establishing baseline information on the tourism industry, situating ecotourism within the larger tourism industry, and tracing the history of certification. The second chapter explores the concepts underlying certification followed by a chapter that examines certification as a tool in other industries such as forestry and coffee production. The remainder of the book highlights case studies of the most promising certification schemes around the world. Written by experts who have been closely involved with the projects described, case studies include:
- the NEAP Program in Australia
- Costa Rica's government-financed Sustainable Tourism Certification (CST) program and other programs in Central America
- more than 50 eco-labeling and certification programs for accommodations in Europe
- programs to certify beaches and national parks
- efforts in South Africa and Kenya to establish certification programs
Ecotourism is a promising approach to protecting threatened environments and communities around the world and certification is a key to making it effective. This is the first book to take a global look at the emergence and application of certification, and it speaks largely through the voices of those directly involved with the industry and in the countries where is has been applied. It will be an important contribution for ecotourism and development professionals worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2004-04-11
Island Press uses to publish interesting books. Now they cater to a like-minded group of Beltway consultants.
While there is no consumer demand for ecotourism certification, you won't learn that in this book which sings the praises of a solution no one wants. Disappointing
Books:
- I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory
- I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941 (Modern Library Paperbacks)
- ICE BOUND: A DOCTOR'S INCREDIBLE BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL AT THE SOUTH POLE
- In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South (New Narratives in American History) (New Narratives in American History)
- Intimacy With Christ
- Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience
- It's My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America
- Joan of Arc: Her Story
- Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions (Enriched Classics)
- Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest
Books Index
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The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels
The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford
Counting My Chickens . . .: And Other Home Thoughts
The American Way of Death Revisited
