Biting the Bullet: Married to the SAS

Customer Reviews:

yawn.......2005-05-03

well I am not menopausal but I am a female who does dishes after I get home from work. I am also a big fan of Andy McNab's writing and recommend his books to anyone.

I'm glad to say I didn't buy this book but rather mooched a friend's copy. No offense to the author it's nothing personal. But despite all the naughty bits this book is BORING and offers no insight. I will stick with my B.Davies and Andy McNab books, thanks.

Shameless attempt to make money.......2004-08-07

To be honest I haven't read the book, but looking at the front cover and reading other reviews it's an obvious attempt to make money from her ex husbands success. She apparently tries to make mcnab come off as an insensitive something or other but being in the army is a very demanding and stressful job, adding a family to that doesn't make it any easier. McNab put his life on the line for his country while she did the dishes. No need to say who has more of my respect.

Personally I don't like to read the whining of a menapausal woman. I'm sure this book will appeal to many bored housewives but I doubt that fans of mcnab will be too pleased with it.

Like an adventure in the zoo.......2002-11-24

I roared with laughter while reading the book, it's like watching monkeys in the zoo. But after I finished it, I understood it's a sad book. Yes, sex is a very important part of our lives, but in Hereford, UK, it seems they have nothing else to do except for drink hard and ... with their own lives, each others' and their kids'. What adults do to each other is their own business, but I'm really very sorry for their kids.
There are some clever thoughts in the book, but it seems they belong rather to an editor than to the author, who not only made all her intimate life public but even cynically devoted the book to her daughter, Jo. Good luck to Jo, hope her parents did not manage to make another "Hereford girl" of her, though her mother tried hard and father, according to the book, stayed passive.
If even the tenth part of the book is true, all the 'SAS and Co.' need a looooong session with a psychiatrist and a sex-pathologist. Just hard to believe that all that dirt that Mrs. Nicholson wrote about is true. But the desire to tell the world about that dirt says much about the author's personality. Congratulations to her new American husband!
Can't really say whether the book is good or bad. It's a collection of bizarre and amusing stories of sexual lives of primates in the zoo called Hereford. I stay neutral, 3 stars.

UNHAPPY.......2002-08-08

I KNEW ANDY, SHE HAS WRITTEN A LOAD OF DRIVEL THERE ARE LOADS OF SAS WIFES THAT ARE MORE THAN HAPPY WITH THERE LOT FRANCES NEED TO GET A LIFE AND THIS TIME HER OWN I AM JUST SORRY I HAD TO GIVE THIS BOOK ONE STAR

She knew what she was doing !!.......2000-10-20

Okay,I think the book is only so-so. Now before anyone wants to tear my scalp off, hear my reasons. Firstly, I cannot imagine that she didnt know what Andy's job would entail. She knew that he would have to be away from home a lot, she should have understood that something like this would be part of the price. Though I do sympathize with her to a certain extent, some things have to be made clear. Andy is not by any means an uncaring, insensitive person. Infact when I read all his other books, up till crisis four, I really appreciated his love for his daughter. It is apparent that he would do anything for his daughter and if you read closely, the character of Kelly is vrey much based on his own daughter Kate. In all hs interviews, and especially in his book Bravo Two Zero, there are some very touching scenes in which he becomes very emotional, remembering his daughter. And in Immediate Action, he does admit to feeling horribly guilty that he cant be there for his wife's delivery and even goes to the extent of calling up the hospital every two minutes to find out about his daughter. It shows his sense of responsibility and not many in the army are that reponsible. Andy goes to the extent of trying to get leave to be there with his wife and we should appreciate that gesture. I think everyone will agree on the fact that Andy's fatherly pride is wonderful to observe. I loved the scene in the book, where he takes his daughter out early in the morning, it was very special. Look, I am not siding with any one of them but one thing that Ms.Nicholson does is utterly unforgivable and she should be sued for this:- she has no right whatsoever to use the insignia of the Regiment on her book. She is McNab's ex-wife for Pete's sake !! It isnt a book about the SAS. And this is the last point I am going to make, which I'm sure even fans of Ms.Nicholson will agree with - her name, as the author, is smaller than McNab's on the cover. This clearly shows that she is using his popularity as a stepping stone for her book. Come on, the only reason I looked at this book was because I caught McNab's name on the cover. Otherwise I wouldnt have bothered. Look, if she felt so badly about what was going on, why didnt this book come out sooner ? Why wait til Andy becomes famous and then start ? So it is an open ploy for money. And Andy's consideration for her in his books is remarkable - he changes his wife's name to Fiona to protect her anonymity and to keep her private life out of the press. This is comendable and I feel that Ms.Nicholson's book is nothing more than an opportunistic way to make money.

Customer Reviews:

Not for the General Reader.......2003-04-11

This book is not enjoyable for a generalist to read. The author is obviously a non-native English speaker and apparently did not have a fluent English-speaking editor review it prior to publication. The poor English is at first quaint and childlike, even charming for a paragraph or two, but in a 300+ page book laden with unadorned facts and dates, this quality soon becomes distracting to the point of annoyance. There is also evidence that the book was not copy-edited. Typos and misspellings abound. Despite its initial professional appearance, once opened it gives the impression of having been published out of an individual's basement.

The text of Gassendi's orginal is only a very small portion of this unwieldy book. It's enclosed in graphics boxes (sometimes only 3 or 4 lines long, never as much as a full page), printed in reduced-size type, and surrounded by the commentary of the modern author who does his best to elaborate in an alien English medium. The pages are further broken by footnotes on nearly every page. The result is not successful.

It's possible, even probable, that the information in this book is valuable. There are many, many sentences that are nothing but lists of dates and occurrences significant to Copernicus and/or his background. If you're a professional English-speaking historian looking for data more so than an interesting read, you might find value in this, especially because virtually every source is a non-English one (which makes perfect sense from a historical perspective). Also, you will be accustomed to reading documents for their informational value rather than their literary or entertainment merit. But as a general reader, I could not slog past the amateurish language and design. I have read 2 or 3 PhD dissertations, and this reminds me of a turgid one of those.

Overall, I'd warn the general reader against this book. Any value it has would seem to be for the specialist.

A detail historical study.......2003-01-03

This is a serious biography of Copernicus, the first man who established that the earth is moving. Aristarchus has said it earlier, but his book has been lost, and his theory was completely ignored. Therefore Copernius is considered to be the Founder of Modern Astronomy. Later, Galileo, because he admired him, had to face the inquisition.
This book includes the first translation in English of the excellent biography written in 1654 by Pierre Gassendi who was a French humanist and an astronomer himself. This old text renders very well the atmosphere of the Renaissance. This historical document is completed with up-to-date pieces of information found in the archives. Therefore, this book is the most detailed and acurate book about Copernicus, his life, his colleagues, and the reception of his system, with appendixes about the condemnation of heliocentrism, and the experiments proving the motion of the earth.
This is easy to read, although this is not a novel, every thing said is true. There is no idle talks, but mainly facts. It is not only about astronomy, but also about the life of people living in the 16th century.

Book Description

American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary means of communication among the 22 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in this country -- and those who live and work with them.

Communicating in Sign revolutionizes the way ASL is taught by offering a beginning vocabulary based on the grammar and syntax of native signers and illustrating the eye contact, facial expressions, and body language that accompany hand and mouth movements. This breakthrough approach to mastering ASL, written for a general audience, is an invaluable resource for anyone eager to learn a language that is rapidly becoming part of our mainstream culture and also for educators, businesses,and organizations working to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Communicating in Sign places ASL within the context of Deaf culture and etiquette, delineating the components that contribute to its depth and richness.

Customer Reviews:

Happy to Get it........2006-03-03

My family is happy to get the book, although we want to use the sign language books for other who are less privelage in tghe society. This ha sbeen of help to us.

Very few pictures!.......2005-10-20

I bought this book because of the high reviews it got, but it has few pictures. When it comes to Sign Language, I am definitely a pictures person! It is hard for me to read the description of the sign and accurately execute it. They had a couple pictures with the basics, but, for the most part, it was all written and described! I am not even tempted to pick the book up again and wade through it trying to figure out if I am doing the signs right or not. I would definitely recommend something more comprehensive with pictures!

Communicating in Sign: A Great Teaching Tool!.......2003-03-07

Having been involved in the Deaf community and Deaf education for 23 years, I found Diane Chambers' book to be a great alternative to the myriad of "Sign Language" books available. I use this book to teach beginning ASL and Deaf Culture. The information is presented in logical sequence. First-time students have commented that even without lots of pictures, the great descriptions make it easy to learn the Signs. Incorporating Deaf culture in the book was sheer genius since without background knowledge of Deaf community and culture you might as well sit on your hands. Add this book to your collection!

A primer on Deaf culture and language.......2002-05-28

Although I have only been trying to learn sign language for a few months, I was very relieved to find this book. I have learned a few other languages and have never seen the willingness to take short cuts that I've seen in so many sign language books. A German text would never assume that learning vocabulary but using English sentence structure is good enough, however, that is what most supposed "ASL" books do.

This book is refreshing in that it explains that American Sign Language does NOT equal American English in form. Chambers even goes further in explaining the etiquette of certain social situations... that there are necessary cultural differences between Deaf and Hearing worlds and also gives suggestions on how to become less of a "tourist" in the Deaf community.

Many of the exercises require a partner or group, but if you are learning alone, this in no way devalues the information here. You won't find what you are looking for here if you are only looking for a lexicon, but it is a valuable addition to a beginner's American Sign Language library. I feel much more comfortable in communicating after reading this book.

My one disappointment was that the promised "further reading and resources" section at the end was not as comprehensive as I was expecting. I was hoping for more resources for beginners, including videos.

I Judge This Book By Its Results.......2001-01-15

How-to books on ASL, like any other how-to book, must ultimately be judged on their practical results. Using that standard, Diane Chambers and her amazing book must receive the highest accolades.

Our company recently decided to teach ASL to all employees because almost five percent of our workforce was deaf, and there was a noticeable communication gap between us. In a company of 200 employees we had only two who were fluent in ASL. Without them to translate and act as a buffer, the uneasiness we already felt through our communication gap changed into outright panic as we became reduced to passing written notes back and forth. Our deaf employees never took part in any company activies, perfering to associate with themselves. Our personnel director asked if anyone would be interested in learning ASL and practically the entire company expressed such an interest.

As one of our ASL signers had ASL teaching experience, he volunteered to give the course. I suggested Diane Chambers' book and he used it as the text. Using one of our deaf employees to practice on, the class was held on company time for an hour a day. The chapters on ASL helped us to "speak" to them, and the chapter of deaf culture helped us to understand them. The quickest among us learned in a little over a week, the slower among us took three weeks. But all can, and do, make use of the ASL they learned and we have a much more happy, and more productive, office as a result.

Many other books of ASL have nicer covers and nicer illustrations. This one has nicer results.

Average customer rating:

Love the Aussie Food!

Good Food from Australia

Good Food from Australia

Good Food from Australia

Good Food from Australia
Graeme Newman , and Betsy Newman
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Pacific Rim | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0781804914

Customer Reviews:

Love the Aussie Food!.......2001-12-28

I really love this book! My husband is Australian and I lived there for over a year. We are now in the states and I miss some of the Aussie foods...I asked for this book for Christmas and got it. It is awesome! Has recipes for all the foods that I was missing like meat pies, Lamingtons, Pavlova, and more! It also gives history of the dish and tells alot about Australia as it pertains to whatever you're making. I also like that the recipes are translated into American measuring systems which I always would find difficult when bringing a recipe from Australia because their cups are different and they use the metric system. I'm so excited to have gotten this book and can't wait to cook all my favorites! Being someone who is married to an Aussie as well as lived there for a time, I think this book is awesome and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to cook traditional/modern Australian dishes.

Good Food from Australia.......2001-07-25

(This is an addendum to a previous review) As an American who has spent some time in Australia, I do have one criticism of this book: I found several jabs by the authors at American food/culture (fat Americans eating giant sandwiches, etc.)to be mildly annoying (though not entirely without basis!), considering that this is a book written by Australians and targeted primarily to an American audience. The authenticity and traditional nature of the Australian recipes, however, make up for this minor flaw.

Good Food from Australia.......2001-07-25

The real deal. Traditional Australian home cooking and pub food, as opposed to modern fusion-confusion cuisine.

Good Food from Australia.......2000-01-14

This book is an invaluable tool if you are trying to capture the essence of Aussie cooking.Recipes are easy and the ingredients are readily available in the U.S.Not classic cookery, but real grub that Mum would put on the table! The Queensland fruit curry is a winner.

Barriers to good nutrient intakes during pregnancy: a qualitative analysis. (Original Research).: An article from: Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia

Average customer rating:

Barriers to good nutrient intakes during pregnancy: a qualitative analysis. (Original Research).: An article from: Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia
Andrea Begley
Manufacturer: Dietitians Association of Australia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: B0008FNERI
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia, published by Dietitians Association of Australia on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 5764 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Barriers to good nutrient intakes during pregnancy: a qualitative analysis. (Original Research).
Author: Andrea Begley
Publication: Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: Dietitians Association of Australia
Volume: 59 Issue: 3 Page: 175(6)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Workplace health promotion--good science, but in public health terms, are we re-visiting the Emperor's New Clothes? (Leading Articles).: An article from: ... of the Dieticians Association of Australia

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Workplace health promotion--good science, but in public health terms, are we re-visiting the Emperor's New Clothes? (Leading Articles).: An article from: ... of the Dieticians Association of Australia
Adrian Bauman
Manufacturer: Dietitians Association of Australia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia, published by Dietitians Association of Australia on June 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1333 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Workplace health promotion--good science, but in public health terms, are we re-visiting the Emperor's New Clothes? (Leading Articles).
Author: Adrian Bauman
Publication: Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2002
Publisher: Dietitians Association of Australia
Volume: 59 Issue: 2 Page: 77(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:
Mat Cutting & Decoration, Vol. 2 (The Library of professional picture framing) (The Library of professional picture framing)
Vivian Kistler
Manufacturer: Columba Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Furniture Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Mat, Mount, and Frame It Yourself (Crafts Highlights)

Conservation Framing (Library of the Professional Picture Framing, Vol 4) (Library of the Professional Picture Framing, Vol 4)

ASIN: 0938655019

Product Description

Step-by-step instructions! The professional framer's guide to mat cutting and decorating techniques. Step-by-step directions show you how to create more than 50 different mats. This training manual will take you from the basics to the most complicated cuts and designs. How to select color and use proper proportion of mats How to measure and plan multiple cuts Mat math including fractions Many fancy mats including French mats Faux Finishes Hand Cut Designs Singles, Doubles, Multiples V-Grooves Cove Fabric Wrapped Title Block Equipment Decorating with ribbon, marbled papers and more! Hundreds of illustrations show you how! Suggested by the Professional Picture Framers Association as a study guide for the Certified Picture Framers Test.

Book Description

From the lighthouse garden at Point Atkinson, British Columbia, to the long-vanished survival garden at Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Bradbury and Maddocks are entertained by more than 80 "ordinary" gardeners.

Customer Reviews:

Generally good, but few details or tips.......2000-04-29

I have previously read several of the "Your X Year Old" books by Ames and Ilg and loved them. For some reason, I couldn't find one on 9 year olds by that series, so I thought I'd try this 9 year old book in this series (I'd never read anything by the Tavistock Clinic). I was really disappointed! The book gave few actual characteristics of 9 year olds, but said a lot of "9-year olds vary greatly in this area" kinds of things. I found it to be very unhelpful in dealing with my 9 year old. (For example, it didn't tell me if temper tantrums or mood swings were normal, etc.) It was easy to read, however, and gave lots of anecdotes (though these were only mildly helpful). It was also a very short book. Disappointing...

Average customer rating:

A Sponsored History

The story of Ford, from Henry to Bill

Henry Ford & Ford Motor -- what a story!

Wheels for the World

Packed with Knowledge!

Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 1903-2003
Douglas Brinkley
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire

ASIN: B00030KOIU

Amazon.com

In conjunction with its 100th anniversary, the Ford Motor Company opened its monumental archives to the unfettered research of author/historian Douglas Brinkley. And while the 800-page history that resulted from that work (as well as Brinkley's tireless, amply footnoted source work elsewhere) is comprehensive to a fault, the scope and enduring impact of the industrial colossus wrought by Henry Ford make it often seem like mere introduction. Brinkley's meticulous, enlightened work can't help but find endless fascination with the company's founder, whose presence resonates through every phase of the company's history, from its fitful start (FMC was the third company to bear the Ford name), through the rise of the Model T (still one of the most ubiquitous and revolutionary mechanical contrivances of the last millennia), to its cycles of corporate decay and rebirth (variously via Iacocca's Mustang in the 60's and the technical innovations and potent retrenchment of trans-nationalism in the 90's). Henry Ford remains one of the greatest human paradoxes in a century filled with them: a largely self-taught engineer who couldn't read a blueprint, yet became a mass-production visionary; an employer whose social conscience (and no small amount of shrewd business acumen) doubled the salary of his employees one era, employed thugs to crush their union organizing efforts the next; a world figure who read little, yet published much, including anti-war editorials and vile, anti-Semitic tracts--despite the fact that his monumental manufacturing facilities were designed by Jews whose friendship and professional relationships he cultivated. The enviro-social impact of Ford's industrial innovations continues to loom, and Brinkley hardly ignores them. But his research is largely focused on the rich players (and their often perplexing psychology) of the Ford saga, all-too-human characters whose ambitious empire will continue to cast its long shadows over many a generation to come. --Jerry McCulley

Book Description

Few endeavors in history can match Ford Motor Company's impact on human civilization. Launched a century ago by a bumptious squad of clever eccentrics-led by the odd visionary mechanic Henry Ford-the first mass-production auto manufacturer would push the rest of the industrialized world into the modern age. Along with other social upheavals, Ford's reasonably priced and well-made assembly-line Model T would mobilize America's middle class while the company's cleverly generous "$5 Day" did no less than redefine industrial labor relations.

In Wheels for the World, Douglas Brinkley, one of our most engaging historians, reveals the riveting details of Ford Motor Company's epic achievements, chronicling the outlandish success of the Tin Lizzie to the beloved Model A through the glory days of the Thunderbird, Mustang, and Taurus, as well as the revolutionary plants where they were built-Highland Park and River Rouge. Brinkley tells of the amazing acquisitions of Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar, and Mazda in the 1990s. His narrative also explores Ford Motor Company's darker aspects, from its founder's anti-Semitism, ill-considered wartime pacifism, and disloyalty-not only to the cohorts who made him the richest man of his time but also to his only son.

Along the way, Brinkley introduces us to the whole cast of colorful characters-from the irascible early brains of the outfit, later U.S. Senator James Couzens; to feisty Me-Decade CEO Lee Iacocca to the earnest young chairman and CEO of today, William Clay Ford, Jr.-whose dedication and vision have created a lustrous legacy around the world. What distinguishes Wheels for the World is not only the freshness of the fascinating new material that Brinkley has uncovered, but also the sweep of his story and the compelling clarity of his prose. In his many previous books, Brinkley has proven himself a master at crafting brilliant, accessible historical narratives and this is his finest achievement yet.

Customer Reviews:

A Sponsored History.......2005-08-21

Douglas Brinkley has convinced me that you can at once be sponsored by a corporation to do its history AND not fawn over the organization AND write readably.

Someone else here descreibed the book as an "endurance test." I would not agree...I thought the book, though long, was well-organized, well-paced and easy to maintain reader interest.

Henry Ford I is the centerpiece, all right, but I especially enjoyed Brinkley's insights into the much more private, even reticent, Edsel Ford. Edsel really saved the company during the late 20s and then the depression, but is largely forgotten for his role. Henry's crazed desire for control caused him to embarass and berate his only son at every opportunity. Edsel died relatively young; in fact, Henry outlived him.

What is it we want out of life? Of we want our lives to make a difference, then Henry was an unqualified success. Self promotion aside, Henry changed the whole world more than any other single figure of the twentieth century - and did so despite glaring personal inadequacies and near-fatal quirks. When he was wrong, he was incredibly adamantly and brutally wrong.

"Never complain, never explain." Henry I didn't say it, but his grandson Henry II did - and Henry II led the company through its time of turnaround, unprecedented growth and earnings in the 1980s. A great book!

The story of Ford, from Henry to Bill.......2005-07-03

Wheels for the World is a captivating look at the Ford Motor Company from its earliest conception to the present day. Douglas Brinkley, being granted unrivalled access to Ford's archives, takes the reader back to the beginning of Henry Ford's youth onwards to the incorporation of the Ford Motor Company to today. The richness and detail Brinkley provides is what sets this apart from other historical biographical works. And in a sense, this is what the book is, a biographical look at Henry Ford and his family with a historical look at the company. Brinkley brings to life so many different characters that brought profound changes to Ford that have long since been forgotten today. People such as Alex Malcomson (who provided the finances in the creation of the final iteration of Ford), James Couzens (the financial and administrative wizard in the early days who created a corporate structure from scratch), and many others are all covered in-depth in this book as well as the main players such as Sorensen and Iacocca. He also covers different aspects of Ford such as the creation of Ford's Aviation Department and the positive relationship he had with African-Americans. Neither does Brinkley whitewash the controversies Henry Ford nor the Ford Company stirred in their day (from anti-Semitism to the Pinto debacle). However, there are a few issues with this book. Although overall very detailed and encompassing, after the passing of Henry Ford, the book begins to accelerate through the companies' history. This is especially profound after the retirement of Henry Ford II where Brinkley rushes through 2 decades until he reaches the inauguration of William Clay Ford Jr. and then proceeds to faun over him as if he were a great saviour (which even today we still don't know). Although not an extreme problem, it does unfortunately not tie in as well with the rest of the books fascinating details and perspectives. One feels that Brinkley was growing tired of writing (and it is quite the read at 764 pages) and wanted to speed things up a little so he could wrap up sooner. All told though, this nagging detail is not enough to negatively affect Brinkley's work. Wonderfully written and full of details, Brinkley's book may literally be one of the last books you may ever need to read on Henry Ford and his company.

Henry Ford & Ford Motor -- what a story!.......2004-12-12

Last year, I read a book about Henry Ford and his anti-Semitism. At that time, I had a very narrow view about the man - I wish now that I had read this book, Douglas Brinkley's study of Ford and his company, before I had read that one.

Brinkley's mammoth volume on this one man and the company he created is a tremendous addition to American business history. Brinkely gives us a comprehensive study (about half of the book) of Henry Ford the man and how he created the Ford Motor Company. This segment of the book really gave me a new respect for the man as an innovator and an idealist, though his engineering skills were apparently lacking (at one point Brinkley tells his audience that Ford couldn't even read a blueprint). Brinkley intertwines the story of Henry's son Edsel, who was given the unenviable task of running Ford Motor while Henry was still alive and wouldn't release control over some of the day-to-day operations.

After seeing Edsel die an untimely death, we see Ford Motor transition to Henry II. This is the first time that Henry Sr. relinquishes some control, and we see what the company can do (and does) during this period. Brinkley vividly tells the story of Henry II and his interactions with the labor movement in conjunction with operations at Ford Motor.

Towards the end of the book, we see the post Henry II era. We see a couple of different CEO's, including Donald Peterson, who seemed to help the company, and Jac Nasser, who probably isn't missed much by the Ford family - his reign saw the depletion of massive cash reserves from the corporation. At the conclusion of the book, Brinkley shows us the path that the company is taking today under the leadership of Bill Ford, Jr.

I believe that Brinkley has given us a wonderful book here - telling us the story not just of a man or a company, but a combination of so many facets of American history. What made Henry Ford tick? Why did he create Ford Motor Company? What did he do to make it survive? How did Ford Motor Company impact Michigan and America as a whole? All of these questions, and so many more, are answered in this splendid book. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a strong understanding of how one man and the business he built can have such a tremendous impact on America and the rest of the world.

Wheels for the World.......2004-05-12

Wheels for the World by Douglas Brinkley is a lengthy, but well written book that details the Ford Motor Company's epic history and many accomplishments. Brinkley offers the reader plenty of information on Henry Ford, the pioneer of mass produced auto manufacturing. He details everything from Ford's instabilities and contradicting behavior to his impeccable business savvy. A major downfall for Wheels for the World is Brinkley's inability to make clean transitions from one idea to the next. The reader gets attached to one idea, and the next thing you know Brinkley has begun an entirely new concept. But, in the end I believe the author did a great job of capturing the struggles and successes of the Ford Motor Company, while also taking us through an interesting journey into the life of an extremely intelligent man in our nation's history. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the nation and the auto-making industry.

Packed with Knowledge!.......2004-03-01

It would be difficult to conceive of a more detailed corporate history. Author Douglas Brinkley offers an interesting, lucid narrative of Henry Ford's early experiments with the automobile, and his first, unsuccessful companies. He promises and delivers a "warts and all" picture of Ford's history. Brinkley is at his strongest discussing Ford's origins. But the book is also sprawling, diffuse and unfocused, with a somewhat confusing tendency to jump back and forth along the twentieth century timeline. It is more than a biography of Henry Ford, but less than a thorough history of the Ford Motor Company. The author nods in the direction of the technological, managerial and financial forces that have shaped Ford since the 1950s, though he presents Ford's (both man and company) earlier history in vivid detail. The impact of what Henry Ford did and how he did it still shapes industry in the United States. We recommend Brinkley's book for its revealing picture of one of the twentieth century's most influential industrialists.

Book Description

A long-unknown story of individual courage in the face of an authoritarian fascist bureaucracy unfolds in this inspiring biographical tribute to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul to France in the early years of the Second World War. After the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Aristides de Sousa Mendes found himself continually more restricted by the policies of Portugal's prime minister, Dr. Antonio Oliveira de Salazar, who, like Franco in Spain, assumed a position of neutrality but did not wish to offend Hitler. It was Salazar's Circular 14 -- which denied, on the basis of race and religion, visas to the swelling number of refugees to Portugal -- that prompted the fifty-five-year-old Sousa Mendes's first acts of disobedience in his office at the consulate in the temporary French capital of Bordeaux. Over a period of six months in 1940, in accordance with his own conscience rather than Salazar's dictates, Sousa Mendes signed many thousands of visas that spared their recipients, ten thousand of them Jews, a terrible fate in the Nazi death camps. Sousa Mendes's acts of private resistance earned him Salazar's wrath, a forced early retirement, and years of dire poverty. They also won him a place in the pantheon of truly just men and, in Israel, a forest commemorating his tremendous heroism.

Customer Reviews:

The life of Council Sousa Mendes........2004-03-01

As the previous reviewer from Portugal noted, humanity sometimes fails to acknowledge people who do the right thing. Sousa Mendes was just such a man. He was a Portuguese Council in southern France at the time of the German invasion. Jews from the low countries and France fled south trying to get to the neutral countries of Spain and Portugal. These countries sealed their borders in most cases, so one had to have a visa to get across the border. Sousa Mendes violated his country's rule aginst these stateless persons, and literally issued thousands of visas so that these Jews and other opponents of the Nazis could escape. In the process, he destroyed his career and eventually died in poverty. He did do the proper thing where most others abided their country's rules.
This was an inspirational read. Fralon details the life of Sousa Mendes and Portugal's role in both World Wars. He also details a little of the fascist rule of Salzaar. Unfortunately there were no happy endings with Sousa Mendes. The Portuguese government even balked at honoring him, and was forced by outside pressure to recognize what he did in the nineties.

Finally, The Recognition.......2001-03-30

It is regratable that great men are rarely aknowledge as so in life. Aristides de Sousa Mendes was no exception, but his acts were expeptional. This book was long due. It's finally here, it's very well written, a just tribute to a men of honour, and I thank the author for it.

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