This testimony to man's inhumanity to man is a welcome addition to Holocaust literature. Mr. Rosengarten's personal story is a tribute to the human spirit and the will to survive. Although the book was originally planned for his children, I appreciate the fact that he shared his experiences, his courage and love of family with the general public. Because this authentic and moving book made such a lasting impression on me, I wish to donate a copy to our library.

A truly haunting book in its simplicity. This is not high emotion, but an incredibly comprehensive recollection of life in various concentration camps. Israel Rosengarten conveys the true horror of the concentration camps via his narrative of the details and minutiae of day to day life. It is the very ordinariness of many of the details which jolts us and the capriciousness with which one either lived or died. Mr. Rosengarten's detailed memories of the routine of the camps 50 years after the events is what sets this book apart. It is this which conveys the true horror of the Holocaust and makes it a must read. It is a pity that the Publisher allowed such obviously poor translation and editing to be done of such an important work.

Survival: The Story of a Sixteen-Year-Old Jewish Boy begins with Israel J. Rosengarten's deportation in 1942 to the Belgian concentration camp of Breendonk at the age of sixteen and follows his movements through a series of camps until 1945. Survival is a compelling, personal account that concludes with the Auschwitz death march, liberation by the Americans, and Israel's return to Belgium -- only to discover that he was the lone survivor of a family of seven. This intimate story of what it was like to be a teenage boy in the concentration camps of the holocaust, of surviving almost 1,000 days of internment through a series of incredible coincidences, miracles, and a fierce struggle to stay alive against impossible odds. Survival is a welcome addition to the growing body of holocaust literature.

We Americans have been led to believe that the Battle of the Bulge (of WWII) was decided at Bastogne, by the encircled 101st Airborne Division in December of 1944. The truth is that the fate of the German ''Bulge'' campaign was decided in (and around) a small Belgium village named Sadzot, ca (20) miles north of Bastogne. This book explains how a small group of US Army mortarmen, tankers, paratroopers and regular infantry repeatedly blunted and eventually threw back a much larger force of some of Hitler's most fanatic SS troops at the very place where the Germans were looking for an open break towards Liege and the port city of Antwerp, Belgium. This book was particulary interesting to me, as a relative of mine was wounded there in the Battle of Sadzot as a paratrooper in the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion. It gave me a better idea of what he must have heard, seen and felt as he was fighting for his life !

I recently spent 4 days in Belgium, staying in Bruges and visiting Antwerp. (I stopped in Brussels briefly and used the internet to plan my few hours there.)

The small size of this guide gave me concern that it was too superficial. To the contrary, it provides a surprising amount of information by focusing on only the sites that could be covered during 2 days in each city. In 2 days, I covered all the recommended Bruges sites. In one day I covered about half of the Antwerp sites. I supplemented the information with books and audioguides available at the museums, as I would have done anyway, even with a thicker guide book.

In terms of contents, the guide provides a brief but useful overview of the region and for each of the three cities a city map (the usual great Michelin quality), listing of must-see sights (usual Michelin star system), and descriptions of those sites, even with several good pictures. It also provides an abbreviated list of hotels and restaurants, but these are not budget recommendations. (You'll probably need another source to find a hotel - I found mine on the internet.)

Best of all, this book is compact and light, and really does fit in any pocket you have.

Denis Whitaker was there on the sodden polders of Zeeland. He remembers the brutal battle to save the Dutch in their own land. He and the many Allied troops fought valiantly against the Germans to open up Antwerp to deliver the much-needed supplies. This big book, full of maps, is bursting with first-hand accounts in a first-rate narrative.

This book successfully pulls off the difficult trick of being both a serious scholarly text and an enormously engaging introduction to the history and architecture of Crusader castles for the lay reader. The book is an obvious labor of love, which helps to account for its great charm. You first get a sense of this on the dedication page - "For Xana, with love, to remind her of Syrian days" - whereby Kennedy expresses his appreciation for his daughter's companionship on his rovings around Syria. (In his "Acknowledgements," he also credits his daughter with persuading him "to complete the climb to Bourzey when the spirit was willing but the flesh was getting a bit weak.")

If you needed any further confirmation that Kennedy is a scholar with a puckish sense of humor and a droll wit, you get it at the beginning of his "Note on Names," where he wryly observes that, "Like the naming of cats, the naming of Crusader castles is a complicated problem." Kennedy's writing voice conjures to mind images of a cozy library in some great English country house, where your host relaxes in a satin smoking jacket while both of you swirl brandy in your snifters and discourse about the comparative merits of crumbling castles on the western fringes of Asia. The book's first chapter - a survey of the development of Crusader castle studies from the mid-nineteenth century to the present - beautifully encapsulates Kennedy's discursive style and story-telling skills. "[Emmanuel Guillaume] Rey's life is something of a mystery," he muses, and you want to lean forward from your chair on the opposite side of the fireplace and say, "Tell me more." And he does, with an notable eye for the memorable quote, such as T.E. Lawrence's ironic complaint, while traveling around the Levant in 1909, that he was unable to reach Amman owing to "the unthinking activity of some local Bedawin in tearing up the Hejaz railway."

In form, the book consists of a generally chronological survey of the development of the Crusader castle, with individual chapters on siege warfare and the special features of (respectively) the castles of Templars, Teutonic knights, Hospitallers, and the Muslim princes. Another sign of Kennedy's passionate engagement with this project is the fact that he took all of the 90-some color and black-and-white photographs that illustrate the book himself. (There are also another two dozen plans, sketches, and prints illustrating the text.)

The photographs, together with Kennedy's text, cover not only the well-known structures like Krak des Chevaliers, Belvoir, Saone, and Montfort, but will also introduce you to a fascinating collection of lesser-known castles. Among these are the great Hospitaller citadel of Marqat, near the Syrian coast; the two castles overlooking ancient Petra; and - most curious of all - the cave-castle of al-Halbis Jaldak overlooking the Yarmuk River valley, the subject of a siege memorably described by the twelfth-century historian William of Tyre (which Kennedy helpfully quotes in its entirety). Kennedy's enthusiasm also extends to the humbler fortified towers of the lesser Latin nobility.

Kennedy's secret is plainly that he is both a scholar and a romantic - as anyone who wishes to write effectively about the Crusades should probably be. Let me close this review by quoting his own explanation for his enterprise in producing this book:

"There is something fascinating and frequently moving about forlorn and failed enterprises, those 'old, forgotten far-off things and battles long ago,' however perverse they may now seem. It is impossible for me to stand on the windswept battlements of Crac des Cevaliers, climb to the remote crags of the fortress overlooking Petra or explore the magical stillness of the deserted valley by Bourzey, without feeling a potent mixture of admiration and nostalgia which breathes excitement and emotional commitment into scholarship."

This book can be enthusiastically recommended to history buffs and armchair travelers, as well as to those with a more scholarly basis for their interest.

The Brussels information is great, but the info on Antwerp, Ghent & Bruges is pretty minimal & doesn't contain any addresses (just phone numbers), so you'll need another book if you plan to travel around Belgium.

Time Out Brussels provided a very comprehensive yet unique view of Brussels. The guide had just the right mix of the usual and the eclectic. The restaurant reviews were top notch, and the book's Survival section was indispensible.

In short, this guide provides everything you'll need to have a first-rate experience in Brussels at any budget.

A few years ago I became interested in the difficulties in the former Yugoslavia--now Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and a few other entities. After reading a number of contemporary works about the causes of past and current conflicts in the Balkans, I decided none of the authors agreed on every point or many points for that matter, and most seemed a bit biased in their reporting and interpretation of events, probably owing to their inability to attend to the terrible events of the last century and not choose sides.

THE EARLY MEDIEVAL BALKANS is the most objective work available about what really happened all those years ago when the Byzantine Empire ruled what is now known as the Balkans, and Serbs, Croatians, Ottoman Turks, and others migrated and/or invaded and settled the area the Italian Romans called Illyria.

The book is part of a two-part work covering the Middle Ages in the Balkans. Part I THE EARLY MEDIEVAL BALKANS includes a critical survey of the area from the Sixth to the late Twelfth Century. Part II THE LATE MEDIEVAL BALKANS covers the period from the late Twelfth Century until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in the 14th Century. Fine was a Professor of History at the University of Michigan for a number of years, and his work is incredibly scholarly. He has been considered the leading expert in the world on this topic by his colleagues.

I came away from the work with two impressions. The first is that the various ethnic groups who inhabited or invaded the Balkans (and there were so many one loses count after awhile as they migrate or remigrate over and over) were so thoroughly mixed during the Middle Ages that the indigenous tribe, whatever that was, must have disappeared thousands of years ago. The second fact I deduced from Dr. Fine's work is that most if not all the animosity between groups today probably has a basis in religious conflict. Given that the three major religions involved -- Roman Catholic, Orthodox Serb, and Muslim advocate love as an organizing principle, one has to wonder what went wrong.

I gave this book 4 stars because it is difficult to read. For a more "fun" read try the series on Byzantium by J.J.Norwich.

I am from Bosnia, of mixed ethnic origins, and after 7 years of exile, I had only faint memories of the history classes dedicated to the Middle Ages (in the 6th grade). This book refreshed my memory, brought a part my past back to me, and helped clear up some misconceptions. It makes me very happy to own it!

The only good thing about this book is the narratives written by the children. However they are too few. Otherwise the writting was so simplistic and repetative. I had the feeling the author wrote this book on her lunch break. I don't know who this book was written for adults or grade school students. There are many good books on the topic of at risk children but this isn't one of them. Save your money and buy another book like "Turning Stones" or one written by Mr. Humes for instance.

It is evident in reading this book that Kathy took great care in the selection and compilation of the stories included. By allowing the narratives written to remain as the child wrote it, with no editorial corrections, we are able to see just how much we take for granted and how this serious problem permeates every part of the child's existence. It only reinforces our responsibility as people and professionals with a passion for children to take notice of and encourage their souls with the love, respect, tenderness and humility they deserve and long for. Thank you, Kathy, for your compassion for these children. This book should serve as a reminder to us all.

It is difficult to accept the reality that so many children in our affluent society are broken and thown away, ignored or forgotten. These stories provide the personal connection to the statisitics. They also tell me how far we need to go before we call ourselves "evolved" "enlightened" or "civilized". Reading the stories of Carlos, Marcos and Kam is a way for me to connect. I am gratefu that Kathy VanAntwerp has told the stories, the question is what will I do with them? I read them with an open heart and a willingness to accept the children's voices and experiences even though I wish none of it were true. I turn to this book for motivation and strength to continue to speak and act on behalf of children in all small and large ways that I can.

Although this book is compact it is too heavy to carry if one is on a walking tour. I can read a newspaper without glasses, but with glasses I had trouble with the type. It is not in an orderly format nor is there is a good section on hotels.

I have had great experiences with the DK Guides. I use it extensively in my trip planning and this is the guide I take on the trip.

This guide provides execllent information about local sites throughout Beligium. It gives very clear guidance concerning what you can find and access information. It also helps you to locate the sites with indexed maps and diagrams.

I have found that this and the other DK Guides are bit weak in providing guidance about what to see. That is, it offers little qualitative information--everything sounds equally wonderful. And we all know this is not necessarily the case.

So I always find another guide that has more opinions and recomended tours to determine what to see. I espiecially look for guided the provide suggested walking tours. This has worked out well for the most part. I use other guides to plan the trip and the DK Guide in the country.

It has very usable maps although sometimes too limited in scope and you may require a local map to get around beyond the central city. Also, because the book is a bit heavy and too large to fit in a jacket pocket after the first day or so I leave it in the hotel and rely on the local map when walking about.

The one topic I find most reliable is DK's restaurant recommendations. The two places I tried in Brussels were fantastic and offered everything that the guide described. I have had equal success with DK's restaurant recommendations in other cities/countries.

I think this is an indispensible travel guide as long as you know what you are using it for--planning or background info, etc.

Very good book for the ones who want to get to know in details this wonderful country which has been active part of the contemporany history of our world.

It gives you information from the wolrdly famous French wineyards to tips about travelling in to the Romanish sites spread over around the country.

Its write style is very accesible to everyone who wants to start travel books reading and deep explore the frontiers around the globe.

A very well-written book, and presumably well-intentioned. Unfortunately, many, many mistakes which undermine the project. It may be great for a casual reader, but for those sincerely interested in the art and history of the time and place, I would not recommend it.

Honig's superbly researched book breaks new ground in relating an important period in the history of European (especially Dutch) painting to the social and economic transformation of early modern society. She establishes, in a new and impressive manner, meaningful connections between the subject matter, composition and style of characteristic market scenes (Aertsen, Beucklaer, Jan Breughel and others) and the emerging conventions of the marketplace. This exemplary study, rich in insight and scholarship, breathes new life into the historical sociology of art and deserves a much wider readershiip than its descriptively accurate but uninspiring title is likely to attract!

Honig is shear genius. Comprehensive and exquisitely written