The Wellbeing of Nations: A Country-by-Country Index of Quality of Life and the Environment

Book Description

"Sustainable development is the holy Grail of governments and leaders but has remained elusive and undefined. Wellbeing of Nations provides the diagnostics to turn sustainability into reality. This is the ultimate travel guide to a sustainable future." Jose Maria Figueres Former President of Costa Rica World Economic Foru.

"At long last, a real metric for measuring sustainability and wellbeing. It provides a way to chart a better future. The cornerstone of any working library on environment, development, and quality of life. A volume without peer." Thomas E. Lovejoy Chief Biodiversity Advisor The World Ban.

The use of indicators to gauge human progress is common and well understood; Gross Domestic Product and the Index of Leading Economic Indicators are two well-known examples. Yet most of the widely cited indicators focus exclusively on economic activity, and even the most progressive of indicators fail to account for key issues of sustainability. The Wellbeing of Nations addresses that shortcoming by combining indicators of human well-being with those of environmental stability to generate a more comprehensive picture of the state of our world.

The author combines 39 indicators of health, population, wealth, education, communication, freedom, peace, crime, and equity in to a Human Wellbeing Index, and 39 indicators of land health, protected areas, water quality, water supply, global atmosphere, air quality, species diversity, energy use, and resource pressures into an Ecosystem Wellbeing Index. The two indexes are then combined into a Wellbeing/Stress Index that measures how much human wellbeing each country obtains for the amount of stress it places on the environment. Seventy color-coded geopolitical maps vividly portray the performance of each of the 180 nations for all indexes, and the main indicators that go into them. In addition, all data are given in 160 pages of tables, and the highly accessible methodology is described in appendices so that readers can undertake their own assessments.

Produced in collaboration with the leading international organizations involved with sustainable development, The Wellbeing of Nations is a one-of-a-kind reference for development and environmental policy professionals, as well as for students and scholars in environmental studies, international studies, and international development.

Customer Reviews:

Superb Methodology.......2004-10-15

The methodology that Mr. Prescott-Allen uses is the best that I have found. By measuring environmental and social indicators separately and plotting them together on a two axis chart, the author demonstrates an interplay between the environment and society that is commonly lost in single axis indices.

This is an excellent learning tool. It is my hope that this data set will be re-calculated on an annual basis to provide the best possible measurement for the success or failure of sustainable development efforts.

Colorado Business Directory 1998
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Colorado Business Directory 1998

Manufacturer: CJS Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I4UGCU

1999-2000 Colorado Business Directory: The Ultimate Sales and Credit Tool (Colorado Business Directory, 1998-99)
Average customer rating:
1999-2000 Colorado Business Directory: The Ultimate Sales and Credit Tool (Colorado Business Directory, 1998-99)
infoUSA Inc.
Manufacturer: Info USA Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0768701457

Book Description

A directory of 198,000 Colorado Businesses! In depth information on each listing. You can use our premier database to find new customers and grow your sales and profits. You can create your own direct mail campaigns. Our information is simply the best for telephone sales or research; we make millions of phone calls every year to verify our information. Our credit rating codes can help you evaluate probable credit worthiness for small trade accounts, qualify prospects, and manage financial risk. You can analyze your competition, plan your next sales and marketing campaign, or establish new sales territories.

Colorado Business Directory 1998 (Colorado Business Directory)

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Colorado Business Directory 1998 (Colorado Business Directory)
American Business Directories
Manufacturer: Info USA Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0768700280

Colorado Business Directory, 1998 Edition

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Colorado Business Directory, 1998 Edition
Inc Staff Cjs
Manufacturer: C J S, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1882538609

Colorado Front Range Business Directory, 1998 (Colorado Front Range Business Directory)

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Colorado Front Range Business Directory, 1998 (Colorado Front Range Business Directory)
American Business Directories
Manufacturer: American Business Directories
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0768700744

Book Description

An outspoken abolitionist, a founder of the Free Soil and Republican parties, and a leading member of the U. S. Senate for more than twenty years, Charles Sumner (1811-1874) has always figured prominently in histories of the American Civil War. For the most part, however, he has been depicted as a psychologically troubled extremist, a fanatical opponent of slavery whose self-righteousness was matched only by his arrogance.

In this book, Anne-Marie Taylor challenges that longstanding view, offering in its stead the portrait of a man animated more by principle than by impulse or ambition. According to Taylor, Sumner's reform-minded politics, including his fervent commitment to put an end to slavery, must be understood in the context of a young nation still struggling to live up to the Enlightenment ideals embraced by its founders and embodied in its Constitution.

Focusing on the first forty years of Sumner's life, before he took public office, Taylor traces the evolution of his character and thought among Boston's cultural elite. His belief in the virtues of cosmopolitanism, in the dignity of the human intellect and conscience, and in the possibility of a cultivated and just society, all find their roots in an education steeped in Enlightenment principles. At the same time, as a child of New England Puritanism and Revolutionary republicanism, Sumner was raised to believe in the moral obligation of the individual to work for the common good.

As Taylor shows in this well-written biography, much of the triumph and tra-gedy of Sumner's story-the energy of his idealism as well as the poignancy of his eventual disappointment-derives from the overpowering sense of duty and na-tional destiny imbued by his upbringing.

Book Description

The rich history of Valparaiso spans centuries. Originally home to the Potawatomi Indians, the area was a centralized meeting place for many Native American tribes. The land was sold to the U.S. in 1832, and in 1836, Porter County was formed when the area was separated from LaPorte County. The new county was named in honor of Comdr. David Porter, who played a significant role in the War of 1812 at the Battle of Valparaiso, Chile. The county seat was named Portersville. In 1837, Portersville was proudly renamed Valparaiso, which literally means ìvale of paradise,î to further honor Commodore Porter. ÝÝIn Valparaiso, Indiana: Looking Back, Moving Forward author Lanette Mullins chronicles the history and development of the city, with its small-town charm, in over 200 vintage images. The book features photographs of the historic homes that grace the city streets, the famous individuals who walked them, the influential history of Valparaiso University, and the cultural institutions throughout the city. ÝÝ

Chicago: 1914-2004: Moving Forward, Looking Back: 90th Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association

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Chicago: 1914-2004: Moving Forward, Looking Back: 90th Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association
NCA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JIMYJ8

Italian Americans: Looking Back -- Moving Forward, Study Guide

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Italian Americans: Looking Back -- Moving Forward, Study Guide

Manufacturer: University of State of NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound
ASIN: B000GK093W

Jones Construction: Looking Back, Moving Forward

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Jones Construction: Looking Back, Moving Forward
Beth Laney Smith
Manufacturer: Laney-Smith
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Production & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0962448842

Looking Back and Moving Forward (Milken Family Foundation)

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Looking Back and Moving Forward (Milken Family Foundation)

Manufacturer: Milken Family Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000B897SC

Product Description

In this retrospect, Lowell Milken presents powerful evidence of the continuing desire among individuals to be responsible - to rise to challenges that, as he writes, "characterize us as a nation: imagination, faith in the future, determination - indeed the very quanlities that have made America the global epicenter of technological development." Yet as the Foundation moves into the next millennium, the question is whether these strengths will be applied to other crucial needs, "such as making American education the rigorous experience that will prepare all children for productive, satisfying lives? Such as preventing the devastation of cancer and trauma of seizure disorders before they begin?" Mr. Milkin answers with cautious optimism: "One of the most heartening discoveries since the founding of the Milken Family Foundation in 1982 has been the number and diversity of people also working to answer these questions affirmatively and immediately, each of them believing that his or her individual contribution does make a difference. "It is a discovery that ratifies the Foundation's founding and abiding belief that the key to a secure and satisfying future is understanding that, whoever we are and whatever we do, helping those around us to help themselves matters."

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Looking Back, Moving Forward
Thomas Carter
Manufacturer: American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JF4N9K

Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Half-Century Celebration of Public Administration and ASPA

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Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Half-Century Celebration of Public Administration and ASPA
Darrell L. Pugh
Manufacturer: Amer Soc for Public Admin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0936678100

Looking Back, Moving on: Applying Biblical Principles of Freedom to Your Life

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Looking Back, Moving on: Applying Biblical Principles of Freedom to Your Life
Boyd Luter
Manufacturer: NAVPRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Looking Back, Moving Forward
Looking Back Moving Forward - A Birth Mother's Journey

Looking Back-Moving Forward
Sharon Darwent
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1413708781

Customer Reviews:

Looking Back, Moving Forward.......2006-03-22

As depicted in its title, this book is truly about a "birthmother's journey" and all that entails. I was, as a birthmother, struck by the honesty and forthrightness of Ms. Darwent. Validation is the be all and end all of everything adoption-related, in my opinion. The validation that I got from reading this book is priceless and I would classify this as a MUST READ for any birthmother and/or adoptee.

Looking Back Moving Forward - A Birth Mother's Journey.......2004-04-14

Looking Back Moving Forward - A Birth Mother's Journey is a very insiteful book dealing with the anguish a young woman went through in giving her first child up for adoption. At the age of 19 she found herself pregnant and advised her parents. It was the early 1970's and the advise they gave her was not unlike many others for that time. They suggested she give the baby up for adoption. No one knew the incredible affect that act would have on her life for years to come. Every year she thought of him and wondered what he would be like especially around the time of his birthday and Mothers Day. The book deals with her struggle to overcome the hurt, secrecy and shame and to start to search for her relinquished son some 20 years later. It also delves into the process of adoption wether it be closed as hers was, mediated or open adoption.

The book is well researched with many interesting statistics and also touched my heart.

Looking back-moving forward: The history of the Billings YWCA, 1907-1988
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Looking back-moving forward: The history of the Billings YWCA, 1907-1988
Margaret Ping
Manufacturer: Margaret Ping
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0962991201

Book Description

Special Features: Implementing Structural Reform: A Review of Progress; Towards a Better Integration of Work and Welfare; Corporate Governance

Book Description

In the first century of the coveted Pulitzer Prizes, only 11 women have won the prize for drama: Zona Gale (1921), Susan Glaspell (1931), Zoe Akins (1935), Mary Coyle Chase (1945), Ketti Frings (1958), Beth Henley (1981), Marsha Norma (1983), Wendy Wasserstein (1989), Paula Vogel (1998), Margaret Edson (1999), and Suzan-Lori Parks (2002). Here in this book are their stories and the stories of their landmark plays, beginning with Gale's Miss Lulu Bett, which championed the unmarried woman forced to work in the home of a married relative, and closing with Parks' controversial Topdog/Underdog, which made her the first black woman to win the prize.

Drawn from personal interviews with the playwrights and research from archives and unpublished material, this work shows how the stage art of women has reflected life in the American family and traces a strong thread of feminist history in our culture. Overview chapters set the stage for each playwright and play with sketches of the time period, highlighting the major points of women's experiences in culture, society, and the family. Other chapters analyze each play in detail and discuss the playwright's life and opinions. The book also includes a quick history of the Pulitzer Prize and a chapter honoring black female playwrights.

Book Description

A storybook biography which spotlights the life of an Amish-Mennonite girl who later becomes the queen of pretzel franchising.

Franchise innovators pen stories of farmer's market roots and flights of scientific fancy.(Book Review) (book review) : An article from: Franchising World

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Franchise innovators pen stories of farmer's market roots and flights of scientific fancy.(Book Review) (book review) : An article from: Franchising World

Manufacturer: International Franchise Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Franchising World, published by International Franchise Association on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 512 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: Franchise innovators pen stories of farmer's market roots and flights of scientific fancy.(Book Review) (book review)
Publication: Franchising World (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: International Franchise Association
Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Page: 59(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Find it Online: The Complete Guide to Online Research, Third Edition
Average customer rating:

The Researcher

unlimited

for general purpose online research

Easiest read reference for online resources

Online research

Find it Online: The Complete Guide to Online Research, Third Edition
Alan M. Schlein
Manufacturer: Facts on Demand Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Online Searching | Internet | Home Computing | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See (A CyberAge Book)

The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher

Public Records Online, 6th Edition: The Master Guide to Private & Goverment Online Sources of Public Records (Public Records Online) Public Records Online, 6th Edition: The Master Guide to Private & Goverment Online Sources of Public Records (Public Records Online)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to)

The Investigator's Little Black Book 3

ASIN: 1889150290

Book Description

The third edition of this title provides the tools and techniques you need to master online research.

Customer Reviews:

The Researcher.......2007-09-12

This book is just Fantastic, it provides in detail all you want to know about Researching. It's very up to date.

unlimited.......2006-07-13

I explored the guide at a friend's house and was astounded by the number of references available to anyone who wants to know all there is to know. I work at a newspaper, take foreign language classes and am interested in fine arts.... Just to read the titles of websites is fun.

for general purpose online research.......2006-06-13

Ignore "Complete" in the title. No book can hope to match the breadth of the Web. But Schlein does a commendable job in succinctly describing several hundred websites. The value in this book is in his selection. The websites typically have reliable content and lots of it.

In terms of doing online research, it's mostly at a high school or undergraduate level. If you are a grad student or a professional researcher, then the websites covered here are typically too broad for your needs.

Schlein also advises the reader on how to guard against various online perils like spam and phishing. Well, ok, for the latter, he really doesn't offer much except warning you to be on guard. Partly a reflection of the lack of a good programmatic defense against phishing.

Easiest read reference for online resources.......2006-02-27

Of the many books I have read and own on this subject, this one flows the best and is the easiest to read. That said, this book does not speak to the technical in terms the hows/whys of resources.

Online research.......2005-09-23

I purchased this book as a requirement for an English class. The information set forth is interesting and well written, but it can be difficult to find what I need.

Book Description

George William Brown was the mayor of Baltimore during one of the most dramatic and violent incidents in the city's history. On April 19, 1861, the sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and Pennsylvania troops -- about 1,700 soldiers answering President Lincoln's call to defend the federal capital -- arrived at Baltimore's President Street station east of the harbor on their way to Washington, D.C. As they made their way across Pratt Street to board the southbound train at Camden Yards, the soldiers were attacked by a mob of nearly 5,000. When the fighting was over, 21 soldiers and citizens were dead and more than 100 were injured -- the first blood spilled in the Civil War.

First published by Johns Hopkins in 1887, Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April, 1861 is Brown's thoughtful, very personal memoir of those eventful days. Along with his dramatic account of the Pratt Street riot, he describes Lincoln's suspicious "secret passage" through the city on the way to his inauguration earlier that same year. He tells of rumors, plots, and increasing tensions and divisions after Southern secessionists fired on Fort Sumter. Brown also explains his attempts to quell the April riot, protect the federal troops, and prevent further violence (even justifying his order to burn the railroad bridges north of the city to halt the arrival of additional troops in Baltimore). A fascinating, eyewitness account of a bloody incident that fueled passions both North and South, this historic volume returns with a new introduction by Kevin Conley Ruffner.

"The fight which occurred in the streets of Baltimore on the 19th of April, 1861, between the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers and a mob of citizens, was... memorable because then was shed the first blood in a conflict between North and South; then a step was taken which made compromise or retreat almost impossible; then passions on both sides were aroused which could not be controlled." -- from Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April, 1861

Newberry: The Life and Times of a Maine Clam
Average customer rating:

From a homeschooling violinist in Maine

Great for adults as well as kids.

Newberry: The Life and Times of a Maine Clam
Vincent Gaston Dethier
Manufacturer: Down East Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0892720859

Customer Reviews:

From a homeschooling violinist in Maine.......2004-01-15

I would recommend this book for children and adults. Newberry the clam had a friend, the barnacle. He was pretty nice. On his clam birthday, he didn't have a cake or candles, so he had a big personal feast. It didn't work out so well because he got a big bubble of gas in his stomach and floated out to Blue Hill. I don't want to give away the whole story, but his advdentures were very fun to read about.
I thought it was cool how he figured out that little cells in the ocean light up.
The person who loaned this book to me, also loaned me two clam shells glued together (still able to open). A friend who gave it to her, sewed a pink clam to fit inside, and crocheted a purple muffler to go around the clams neck... This little Newberry clam was fun to have around while I was reading the book.
I wish Vincent Dethier would write more childrens books about Newberry.

Great for adults as well as kids........1998-03-07

Bought this book on tape for a 6 year old and fell in love with it ourselves. It's nice to have BOT that we can listen to along with kids. I wish he would write more Newberry stories

Download Description

Poverty in Zimbabwe increased significantly during the 1990s, and it increased in all sectors of the economy. In the middle of the decade, more than 60 percent of Zimbabwean households fell below the national poverty line. There are competing reasons for this: some say it was the result of the government instituting the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP), and others say that ESAP ' s effectiveness was hampered by recurring drought. This document sheds light on the sources of the increase in Zimbabwean poverty, with the use of non-parametric, and parametric statistical methods. These techniques support the conclusion that the drought, though harmful, does not entirely explain the increase in poverty. The deteriorating economic environment, reducing the returns to both human, and physical assets, also had profound effects on household well-being. What are the prospects for improvement in the near future? Only serious structural changes to the economy can create labor market conditions, conducive to long-term, broad-based growth.

Book Description

Erik Jan Hanussen made a name for himself as Europe's most audacious and controversial soothsayer. Billing himself as “The Man Who Knows All,” he performed in cabarets and music halls, attracting the attention of everyone from Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann to Marlene Dietrich and Peter Lorre. His exceptional paranormal abilities — along with his stage specialty of hypnotizing women to orgasm — garnered ardent admirers and equally ardent denouncements, religious and otherwise. In March 1932, when Adolf Hitler's political future seemed doomed, Hanussen predicted a resurgence of the Nazi Party. The prediction proved a psychic salve for Hitler, and Hanussen became an influential confidant of the superstitious fuhrer. But what Hitler didn't know initially was that Hanussen was not the Dane he claimed to be but a Jew from Moravia whose given name was Herschel Steinschneider.

Customer Reviews:

Sensational mix of politics and the supernatural.......2005-06-20

Jan Erik Hanussen was a con man. But was he also a true clairvoyant? This hair-raisingly sensational biography draws no conclusions on that point, but raises some compelling evidence. There has been very little printed in English about the enigmatic Hanussen; and some of the German sources are suspect, as Hanussen himself altered documents and the Nazis destroyed as much evidence about him as possible. But Mel Gordon has nonetheless come through with a splendid book. On one level it's a rag-to-riches tale of a poor Jewish boy named Herman Steinschneider who re-invents himself as Danish royalty and develops an act that makes him one of the biggest stars of the era. But it becomes a kind of political thriller when the closet Jew attracts the admiration of up-and-coming politician Adolf Hitler. Not only that: the star has made enemies on his climb to the top who now see an opportunity to exact revenge. The life of Steinschneider/Hanussen was every bit as dramatic as fiction.

Parts of this book are disturbing, especially the harrowing scenes of his "training" a woman for a circus act that involved being run over and having a rock crushed on her. There are also scenes of Nazi sex orgies in which some of the participants are hypnotized. One of the most shocking things in the book is the plausible suggestion that Hanussen himself was responsible for the burning of the Reichstag by hypnotizing the ne'er-do-well communist Marinus van der Lubbe and commanding him to set the fire. This was the event that brought Hitler to power, resulting in World War II and the mass extinction of perhaps as many as six million Jews (with one of the first to go being Hanussen nee Steinschneider).

This is a dynamite book. Its sensational story is supported by more than a hundred black-and-white photographs as well as translated reprints of contemporary newspaper and magazine articles. The book includes an index, bibliography and notes. Gordon's thought-provoking book is a formidable accomplishment in the literature about World War II. Outstanding.

Feral House's Master Piece.......2003-04-10

Hanussen is a the best history book written in the last ten years. You could argue this with me, but you'll get a haymaker to the ear! Herzog made a movie with Tim Roth as Hanussen, but, unfortunetly , I haven't seen that baby. Feral House, you are a great publisher -- put this out in paperback for christ's sake.

Fascinating Man.......2002-02-09

Jan Hanussen used simple conjuring tricks and an uncanny understanding of human nature to become the most celebrated and equally reviled psychic of the 1920-30's. Hanussen was the subject of numerous scandals and court cases, yet nevertheless managed to become so entrenched within the Nazi circle of political power that there was only one way out, his execution. Mel Gordon chronicles the life of this fascinating character. Though not the easiest read in the world, the players become so engaging that one truly wants to see how everything plays out. Did Hanussen have a latent gift? That will never be answered. The more interesting question, I think, is how did someone using his limited knowledge and informal training manage to capture the attention of an entire culture. I enjoyed the time I spent with this book and would like to have seen more of the "source materials" from which the author derived his conclusions. Those that were presented, I felt, were the gems of the book.

Book Description

In an unforgettable addition to the literature of memoir, one of America’s preeminent literary scholars tells his story of coming of age in France during the buildup to the Second World War. As a Jewish youth in France during the 1930s, Victor Brombert’s heady explorations of sex and love were cut short by the rise of Nazi power and the Vichy Regime. His family narrowly escaped to New York, where Brombert joined the U.S. Army, only to return to Europe to fight on the beaches of Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge. As he shuttles between the stations of his life, Brombert’s narrative recaptures the textures of childhood, the horrors of war, and his own discovery of a sustaining passion for literature. By turns melancholy and erotic, his memoir is also a meditation on memory itself, and a Proustian re-creation of a lost time and place.

Customer Reviews:

A Moving and Elegant Document.......2006-06-30

I first heard of Victor Brombert as a lecturer on Flaubert, Tolstoy, Sartre, Woolf, Conrad and others for the Teaching Company some years ago. His depth and range were therefore first an aural experience for me, rather than one taken from a book. His easy and remarkable way with the English language (by my reckoning at least his fourth, after Russian, German and French) was an experience to be relived again and again. When I read these memoirs, I found them to be at once intimate and self-effacing, while providing a valuable historical lesson as he spun out his early years. I envy those who had the experience, either at Yale or Princeton, to be his student. I also envy someone who can use his fourth language with the musicality and depth of feeling that few can do with their first. Brombert's Trains of Thought succeeds on all levels.

A Train Wreck.......2003-08-19

How could a book writen by a good writer and a interesting man, with great subjects, books, history, education, ever be so boring? If this is what memoirs have come down to they need to be outlawed. I understand that writing about oneself is difficult indeed, and very few have pulled it off, but this is brutal. This gets my worse book of the year award. 0 stars

Staggering and illuminating.......2002-10-12

Books, education, thinking, and even history itself, have been collectively buried under. There is too much undifferentiated mush, a constant rush of gabbing plenty at the beleaguered individual. From under the rubble comes Victor Brombert's valiant memoir, a classic of pinpoint remembrance, a fully humane celebration of the potency of, well, something or other. For "Trains of Thought" is profoundly self-deprecating, a miraculous occurence for a fully vested professor of the highest rank. Brombert's magisterial touch with the very act of writing brings the proper lighting to every cinematic scene. "Trains of Thought" is a gift to succeeding generations, to the remaining intelligentsia, and to states whose recent horrid past is so little understood. Scholarly work on World War II, filling ocean tankers by now, cannot approach the vivid yet conflicted remembrances of a participant/onlooker. Surely there is an element of delusion in Brombert's infatuation with the representations of high culture as they apply to immense political events, but all human affairs are conducted with such vainglorious positionings. This is a towering memoir, in a almost literal sense - humanity has the chance, through this book, to look down upon the events of those times, and see what it couldn't see before: itself. Families. Schools. Boys and girls. Social events. Mass political insanity. Fathers and mothers. Death. Survival.

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