Book Description
As the author of The World's Most Dangerous Places, Robert Young Pelton has come to know some of the most unusual and dangerous individuals in the world. In THE HUNTER, THE HAMMER, AND HEAVEN, he introduces an extraordinary cast of characters from three of the most war-ravaged countries on earth - the West African country of Sierra Leone, the breakaway republic of Chechnya, and a mysterious island in the South Pacific called Bougainville.
In war-torn Sierra Leone, as he wanders through the world's most expensive peacekeeping mission, he meets an ex-mercenary who hunts pirates, a ragtag militia whose members believe they have supernatural powers, and white men with "diamond fever."
In Chechnya, Pelton enters the jihad with three traveling companions - an American muhjadin who wants to die, a young woman seeing her first war as a journalist, and a grumpy cameraman. Pelton brings this motley crew down the secret muj trail from Georgia and into terrorist-filled bunkers, suicide squad-manned front lines, and SCUD missile attacks.
Finally, Pelton chronicles his two-year odyssey to meet one of the most elusive rebel leaders in the world - Francis Ona - who has survived numerous assassination attempts and who threatens to kill any white man who sets foot on his tiny island, Bougainville.
Filled with tension and intrigue, THE HUNTER, THE HAMMER, AND HEAVEN offers a dramatic vision of war and humanity.
Customer Reviews:
history, social studies, gov't., & other educators - this is an interesting read.......2007-02-15
pelton is at times redundant, but the book moves along w/ just the right momentum to keep your attention. before his book, i had never even heard of Bougainville. this is a good read to store more detailed info. on the 3 places explored by pelton. at the very least, you'll feel smarter than you did before you picked up this book.
Good book but..........2006-12-27
where are the pictures? He goes to all these places, meets all these different personalities, admits that he has a camera and where are they? Now I don't need pictures in a book for me to read it but his stories I think would be enhanced with photos of his journeys.
The book is good and is part adventure/travel/survival/third world political science. In his travels, Mr. Pelton does not seem to take any easy route to go anywhere. He gets smuggled into Chechnya and tracks down a rebel leader on his own choice. The rebels who are known for kidnapping foriegners and journalists are meanwhile being tracked and bombed by the Russian military. He goes to Bougainville when everyone including the people that live there tell him not too. Why? I think because as he feels that there is a story to tell and it usually is not the "popular" one fed to most news agencies. Case in point is his Chechnya visit, where again he chooses to go to the "terrorists", not to give them a voice, but to get the unpopular side of the story (especially when considering the lack of freedom of the press in Russia). It is an objective look at the history of the Chechnya/Russian relationship and the situation where atrocities are seem to be committed by both sides. He even "interviews" a captured Russian soldier whose handlers casually tell Mr. Pelton he will most likely be executed the next day. The part on Sierra Leone is equally impressive, probably because there has been more press about the atrocities and violence there.
So as long as Mr. Pelton feels the need to travel to different "worlds gone mad", writing the about the lesser known histories and/or conflicts, he will most likely have me as a reader of his books.
Robert Young Pelton.......2006-01-20
I've read everything he has out. Loved it! It's current (as books go), funny, serious and a great read!
A must of the armchair traveller...........2004-03-27
Not exactly LP, but it tells stories of two places that been
extremely dangerous and one that still is.in SL conflict(the hunter) was fuelled by greed, diamonds made many Lebanese come to SL and
the become rich on trading, MEA (middle east airlines) flew
in several of their big passenger planes to rescue it's citizens, SL
isn't a tourist resort nowadays like The Gambia today, but
still not extremely dangerous.
Bougainville (the Heaven) was Oz mining company property until the fighting
drove them of the island, PNG gov tried to recruit SA mercs to
"conquer" the island and start mining again, but it failed badly.
Chechenya (the Hammer) was also about greed, in this case oil-pipelines from
Azerbadjian. The late Chechen leader Dubajev was a former Soviet
airforce general that was married to an Estonian lady, he stopped
a carnage in the Baltic states planned by hard-liners. The Russians was later upset by the Estonians because the gave away
3 plane loads of roubles to the Chechens (arranged by Georgia) that the Russians refused to take as payment for oil deliveries, the money came when Estonia changed currency from the Soviet rouble to the Estonian Kroon.
3 stories about where everything gone haywire, but in two cases
the violence have halted, at least temporary...
Book Description
With an ancestry that dates back 4,000 years, the Tadjik people of Central Asia are renowned for their skills in creating decorative ornament. This evocative collection of Tadjik art offers an exquisite sampling of native designs and patterns — all bursting with interwoven floral and foliate elements. 167 full-color designs.
Average customer rating:
- Beautiful, informative little book celebrating Russian culture!
- An Exciting Learning Experience!
|
Colors of Russia (Colors of the World)
Shannon Zemlicka
Manufacturer: Carolrhoda Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Asia
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Europe
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Science
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
GIS
| Graphics & Multimedia
| Programming
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Russia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Asia
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Europe
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Social Science
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Graphics & Multimedia
| Programming
| Computers & Internet
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Russia
| History
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Russia ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Russia (Country Abcs)
-
Count Your Way Through Russia (Count Your Way)
-
Look What Came from Russia (Look What Came from)
-
When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption
-
How The Russian Snow Maiden Helped Santa Claus
ASIN: 1575055643 |
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful, informative little book celebrating Russian culture!.......2006-11-16
This is a beautiful little paperback book that teaches children about various aspects of the Russian culture (the Alexander palace in Saint Petersburg (yellow), the red flag of the Communist party - as well as some history since then, the blue of Lake Baikul, the black of caviar, the gold of the Russian Orthodox church, etc.).
One thing that's nice about this book is that the Russian people portrayed are of diverse ethnic heritage. The people on the "White" page - white for snow - are Chukchis, indigenous people who live in Siberia. And on the green page, which is green for the grass on the steppes, a Scythian (one of the nomadic tribes) is pictured riding a horse. Since there are so many ethnicities in Russia it's wonderful to see a children's book that acknowledges it.
An Exciting Learning Experience!.......2001-06-07
Although an adult, I still enjoy reading children's books, as you can see from some of my previous reviews. I found this book to be educational and very interesting, and believe that children will enjoy learning from it.
In Colors of Russia, Ms. Zemlicka uses different colors to convey a variety of facts about Russia. For example, the color orange tells us about the Siberian tiger, how it's the world's largest cat and is on the verge of extinction. To acquaint yourself and your child with Russia I highly recommend this exceptional book.
Average customer rating:
|
Rick Steves' Europe DVD: Eastern Europe (Rick Steves)
Rick Steves
Manufacturer: Avalon Travel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Laser Disc
General
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Russia
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Rick Steves
| Guidebook Series
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1566919096 |
Book Description
Join host Rick Steves on a three hour trek across travel's "new frontier"—Eastern Europe—in six half-hour "Rick Steves' Europe" TV shows. In Poland, Rick rediscovers Krakow's Baroque past, Prague's renaissance, and the powerful lessons of Auschwitz. In Prague, Rick dives into Europe's liveliest street scene, and takes a small-town side trip to Kutna Hora. To the south, Slovenia's Julian Alps will make viewers want to look up "Liubljana" in their atlas, and Adriatic jewels like Dubrovnik will have them dreaming of Croatian destinations. In Budapest, Rick explores how communism has become kitsch, and in Bulgaria Rick time-travels to a world of donkey carts and hidden monasteries. Rick's eastern trek ends in Turkey, where friendly folk traditions and ancient mysteries mingle with modern hopes and dreams. As a bonus, viewers get hilarious outtakes from Rick's TV series.
Book Description
In the spring of 1703, a young African boy stepped off a slave ship in Constantinople, the gateway between East and West. Huddling in chains, with other frightened captives, the seven-year-old claimed to be a prince of Abyssinia, a "noble Moor" kidnapped and stolen out of Africa. His tragedy was shared by millions of black people caught up in the Islamic slave trade, but his destiny was unique: rescued by Peter the Great, the young African became Abram Petrovich Gannibal.
Russia's westernizing tsar adopted the child and, in a bizarre nature-and-nurture experiment, lavished on him the best education available in the new "European" capital of Saint Petersburg. Gannibal, the "Negro of Peter the Great," soared to dizzying heights as a soldier, diplomat, mathematician and spy. He was fêted in glittering salons, from the Winter Palace to the Louvre, and came to know Voltaire and Montesquieu, who praised him as the "dark star of Russia's enlightenment." At the same time, his military exploits, from northern Spain to the icy wastes of Siberia -- to say nothing of his marital problems -- sealed Gannibal's reputation as the Russian Othello.
African prince or not, the ex-slave founded a dynasty of his own in Russia, where he came to embody the strengths and weaknesses of the country itself -- volatile, courageous, handsome, gifted and always astonishing. His descendants included not only Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet, but also, in England, several Mountbattens and others close to the royal family.
Customer Reviews:
A captivating half detective, half biographical novel.......2007-07-30
An African man in Russia? Sounds far fetched but it's true Abram Petrovich Gannibal was one such man who came from slavery to preeminence in 17th century Russia. This novel attempts to find exactly where this enigmatic man came from and how he became a favorite of Tsar Peter the Great. Using clues from Gannibals letters, which reveal him to have an elusive personality, and accounts from poet Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, which are a more fiction than fact, the author attempts to track Gannibals journey from his African homeland, through the Ottoman Empire and finally to Russia. Along the way a cast of other colorful charactes reveal themselves and some are most beneficial to Gannibal. After gainig Peter the Great's favor Gannibal is educated in Paris and becomes an accomplished mathmetician, draftsman, and even pyrotechnic engineer. Yet as time passes and new rulers come to the throne Gannibal soons finds himself out of favor. Nonetheless his heritage should not be forgotten and is dully laid out in this novel. And it is still not forgotten interestingly enough in the Mountbatten family of Great Britain who have a line of descent from Gannibal.
Surprising story of a Black Ex-Slave.......2006-10-01
In this book we are treated to a fascinating story of the court of Peter the Great. The story of how diplomats were acting in the Russian court at the time, the internal politics, the manipulations of the whole system is quite fascinating.
At the same time, what I found puzzling was how this one lad, captured as a slave from (presumably) Chad, he was made a page in the sultan's harem, and from there to the Russian court. Not stopping there, proceeded to become, as the subtitle says, 'Europe's First Black Intellectual.'
Accomplished in mathematics and military theory, he was a designer of fortifications, friend (or at least acquaintenance) of the powerful of the time across all of Europe. These were astounding achievements for any man, but even more surprising for a black ex-slave.
A blend of history, travelogue and memoir which surveys the life and times of a young African slave .......2006-08-19
THE STOLEN PRINCE: GANNIBAL, ADOPTED SON OF PETER THE GREAT, GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, AND EUROPE'S FIRST BLACK INTELLECTUAL is perhaps most startling for the final five words in its subtitle: a black intellectual in early Europe? Lost documents have been revealed to provide depth and understanding to this reconstruction of the life of Gannibal, creating a blend of history, travelogue and memoir which surveys the life and times of a young African slave in Constantinople in 1703 who claimed to be a prince stolen from Africa. Russia's tzar adopted the child and gave him the best education available, and thus Gannibal became a early soldier, diplomat and spy whose reputation and achievements would earn him a name through history.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
|
Baryshnikov in Color
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Ballet
| Dance
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Baryshnikov, Mikhail
| Choreographers & Dancers
| Dance
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Theater
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Baryshnikov: In Black and White
-
Giants of Art & Culture - Mikhail Baryshnikov (Giants of Art & Culture)
ASIN: 0810922258 |
Book Description
Covers uniforms, insignia, decorations and other militaria of the Soviet agencies of State Security and Internal Forces. The 300 color photographs are accompanied by highly detailed captions tracing the evolution of official regulations and unofficial practices. They show the uniforms and insignia of the State Security service, the Frontier Guards, Police forces, the Interior Ministry's troops and special forces. A short section, of particular value to collectors and researchers, illustrates the insignia of a number of other uniformed organizations which have often been misidentified as military or security items.
Book Description
In the wake of the previous full color phot book "STURM AUF MOSKAU" (ASSAULT ON MOSKOW), comes this new title featuring full color photos of Germany's Eastern Front in 1942. Far into Russia in this the second year of the campaign, the German soldier became familiar with the insidiousness of the enemy lands, from the dangerous muddy runways, to the homicidal winters. In mostly previously unpublished breathtaking color photos, the 1942 campaign in Soviet Russia is brought to life; from the breakthrough to the Volga and Stalingrad, to the Caucasus Mountains. German language book with photo captions translated into English on a separate translation sheet enclosure. Large format book with many of the photos being full-page or gate-fold.
Book Description
Over 1,000 motifs reprinted from a rare book of design first published in France in 1870. Presents ornate Cyrillic and Greek letters, corners, borders, page heads and more as they appeared in illuminated Russian manuscripts dating from the 10th through the 16th centuries. Royalty-free.
Customer Reviews:
Great Resource!.......2000-04-14
Great resource for Rus' Illuminations. Good printing. The notations of where the pieces of illuminations are from are incredibly helpful. For begining illuminators, realize that the book only gives portions of illuminations and not the whole manuscript. Also, the color scheme seems to be a little off when comparing these pictures to the original manuscripts. There are a couple of places where there is a use of one-tone color instead of a two-toned color and the metallics don't come through very well.
Book Description
Called "a first-rate spy story" (Entertainment Weekly), The Bureau and the Mole is the sensational New York Times best-seller that tells the inside story of FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Philip Hanssen, a seemingly all-American boy who would become the perfect traitor, jeopardizing America's national security for over twenty years by selling top-secret information to the Russians. Drawing from a wide variety of sources in the FBI, the Justice Department, the White House, and the intelligence community, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David A. Vise tells the story of how Hanssen employed the very sources and methods his own nation had entrusted to him in a devious game of deceit -- simply because he had something to prove. Vise also interweaves the narrative of how FBI director Louis B. Freeh led the government's desperate search for its betrayer among its own ranks, from the false leads, to the near misses, to its ultimate, shocking conclusion. Fascinating, gripping, and provocative, The Bureau and the Mole is a harrowing tale of how one man's treachery rocked a fraternity built on fidelity, bravery, and integrity -- and how the dedicated perseverance of another brought him to justice. "Absorbing ... Vise's account of Mr. Hanssen's road to becoming a double agent is fascinating." -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Brisk, well documented ... a penetrating study of the villain and a gripping summary of the appalling evidence against him." -- Charles McCarry, The Wall Street Journal "A carefully researched and compelling account, with a startling bombshell." -- David W. Marston, The Baltimore Sun "Intelligent and well researched." -- Allen Weinstein, The Washington Post Book World
Customer Reviews:
Read a better book.......2007-09-30
This book doesn't compare with David Wise's book "Spy, The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America." There seems to be a lot of assumptions and conjecture's in the Vise book. Wise has much better sources.
Good Book!.......2007-09-27
The book provided background on not only Robert Hanssen, but also the individuals associated with the job. I enjoyed the book very much.
Frightening!.......2007-07-26
A frightening look into the mind and works of a socially inadequate FBI Agent who betrayed the American people, trading their safety over cash and diamond. The most disturbing fact was his fantasy of retiring from the FBI and move to Moscow and train future spies. The author did an excellent job in telling the lives of a deceitful Hanssen and of a dedicated Director Freeh.
Undoubtedly written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist.
Check also: They Spy who Stayed out in the Cold.
Cold Eyes
Robert Hanssen.......2007-05-12
I felt the book was very interesting. It has a good narative form.
I do feel, however, it could have been less graphic on some of Robert's home life. I did read it after seeing the movie "Breach". The book's characterizations of the two main personalities added interest. The author has done a good job with a difficult subject
Fascinating Book.......2007-03-15
This book was a page turner. The author built a psychological profile of Robert Hansesn as well as reported historical facts, to try to give us some insight into his motivation, as well as placed him in a historical context. How could someone who loved this country and was devoted to law enforcement become such a terrible traitor and cause the death of so many people? It gives an amazing account.
Books:
- Tonight On The Titanic (Magic Tree House 17, paper)
- Turquoise Girl (Ella Clah)
- Victorian Costume for Ladies
- When the Dancing Stopped: The Real Story of the Morro Castle Disaster and Its Deadly Wake
- Whoosh Boom Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building Projectile Shooters
- World Cultures: A Global Mosaic
- World Cultures: A Global Mosaic
- 30 Days of Night
- A History of Greece (Works in Ancient Philosophy)
- A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York Review Books Classics)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Inequality in Latin America: Breaking With History
- Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen
- Applied Econometric Time Series, 2nd Edition
- Bridge Basics 1
- Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data
- Freddie Mercury
- Conversations With General Grant: An Informal Biography
- Minding Her Own Business: The Self-Employed Woman's Guide to Taxes and Recordkeeping
- Chinese Culture, Organizational Behavior, and International Business Management
- Count D'Orgel's Ball
Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror
The Adventurist: My Life in Dangerous Places
The World's Most Dangerous Places : 4e
Adventure Travel in the Third World: Everything You Need To Know To Survive in Remote and Hostile Destinations
The Hunter, The Hammer, and Heaven: Journeys to Three Worlds Gone Mad
