Customer Reviews:
Asmara, Eritrea.......2007-05-21
Anyone who was in the Peace Corps in or near Asmara or stationed at Kagnew Station would appreciate this lovely book.
A 'must' for any college-level collection strong in architecture and modern urban landscapes........2007-03-07
Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren and Naigzy Gebremedhin's ASMARA: AFRICA'S SECRET MODERNIST CITY examines the nature and architectural innovations of a city which holds one of the highest concentrations of Modernist architecture in the world. Experts with detailed knowledge of the city survey many of the structures, add notes from previously unpublished archival material, and include original photography not to be seen elsewhere. A 'must' for any college-level collection strong in architecture and modern urban landscapes.
An authoritative work .......2005-09-08
A very important work that includes both the Eritrean history and the architectural mystique and prominence of this otherwise unknown city.
I applaud the authors for helping to preserve Eritrea's architectural treasures, which stand as a true gem compared with the rest of the African continent. Outlined in the book are those that were spared from the marauding British and greedy Ethiopian invaders and withstood decades of war.
Excellent for the arm chair traveler and history buff.......2004-03-12
I spent several years living with my family in Asmara as a young boy. Now as an adult I've been searching for a book that would allow my to do some arm chair traveling back to my former home. Mr. Denison's book allowed me to do that in both word and picture. The book is broken up into a general history section followed by detailed photos on the major architecture of Asmara in each of the significant eras, and offers both vintage and current photographs and design plans of the buildings in the city.
How cool is this?!.......2004-01-09
Terrific "lost history" book! Thank you, Mr. Denison, et al,
for rediscovering and sharing this fascinating story with the rest of us!
Book Description
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea. It is a surreally Italian city at the center of an ex-Italian colony that has, for more than ten years, been at war with its neighbor Ethiopia, which claims sovereignty over Eritrea. Amidst the broken palaces of the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, nomadic desert encampments, and war-devastated towns, Justin Hill found a people remarkably resistant to everything fate has thrown at them.
Customer Reviews:
30 years of war: the Aftermath + more war.......2006-09-17
Looking at a map of Africa, this country with so much coast line should be prime real estate. There should be harbors, hotels and snorkeling galore. Unfortunately, what it has had has been war. Maybe even more to come.
Last year I read Michela Wong's "I Didn't Do It For You" which details Eritrea's very sad history. Justin Hill's "Ciao Asmara" brings the country much more to life. His light prose style belies strong content and incisive observations.
Through his experiences teaching (teachers chase the students into the classrooms with sticks; class size may be 75 students; with only a few rooms schools have 2 shifts) making friends among the those from "The Field" (who seem to have something like a post partum depression) and meeting various long and short term travelers (from those studying rare fish to those seeking a retirement home), you learn what it is like in the aftermath of a 30 year war. Not only have the people been physically and emotionally damaged, education is hard to come by, and even if you have it, with the economy in shambles, you can't use it. Those who are best off are those with relatives abroad and the veterans who have managed to secure gov't jobs.
The book has some photos that leave you wanting more. You can get more elsewhere on the net (esp. the Art Deco buildings) by searching Eritrea.
The description of Hill's evacuation is great ("Don't jerk me around!" "Fill out the BLUE FORMS!" "I can't deal with this.") and how luggage maximums are reduced by the hour.
If, like me, you're like "travel" books that introduce you to different people more than the food or sites, this book is for you. Other good reads describing day to day life include South of the Clouds (China), The Califf's House (Casablanca) and Es Cuba.
An interesting find.......2006-02-21
I noticed this book by chance on a library shelf while searching specifically for something else; it looked interesting, so I got it out as well. Pretty comprehensive look at post-independence Eritrea at a grasp-able level, including photos. Would make a great book to take along while traveling, etc.
Book Description
In To Asmara, his masterpiece, Keneally depicts a landscape of majesty and revolution, but at the same time brilliantly reveals the rocky, hidden terrain of the human heart.
Customer Reviews:
About Asmara.......2003-01-24
Why only 2 and half stars? This is the best book I read this year. From far. I read it twice in a row and was never bored. Can't leave it. The story is beautifull, the way this is written too. I'll give it to my friends.
Memorable fiction or merely propoganda?.......2000-01-06
It is plain from the few reviews posted here that some extreme opinions are held regarding this book. The reviewer who faults Keneally for a one sided picture of the Eretrian war is quite correct that the book is not a balanced account of the long and complex conflict. But then the book is not reportage, it is fiction, and as such - a story told from the point of view of a journalist with no prior knowledege of the war - it is perfectly reasonable. He takes sides and sympathizes with his hosts. He demonizes their enemies. Is this accurate history? No. Is it a great story? Yes.
Keneally is a writter of consumate skill whose characters and settings have a sense of heightened reality. This book, whatever it's factual failings, is vivid, powerful and moving. I knew nothing about the Eretrian conflict myself when I read the novel, and was so moved by it that I was motivated to do a lot of follow up research on the subject. If Keneally meant for the book to be propoganda, then shame on him (though, if so, it is most uncommonly good propoganda). If he didn't, then the accuracy of the book is of issue only to those who have already taken sides and can't appreciate a fiction that takes an opposing point of view. And I really believe that anyone who is moved by this book will at least do, as I did, enough additional study to realize that Keneally's story is only part of the Eretrian story - one that deserves to be known.
Predictable adoration from a Guerilla Groupie.......1999-08-24
The book blames everyone save the Eritreans who in 1960 were ourselves split in 4 different camps, most vulnerable of which were the highland Christians late to emerge as "liberators" overwhelming the majority Muslims and other minorities.
Kenealy was predictable as a journalist of the age in his inability to report the facts without delving into the adorative fiction one side or the other chose to feed him.
For the uninitiated this passes as Gospel, who after all would doubt the author of "Schindler's List".
Yet his hatred and condemnation of Haile Selassie and later the Marxist(not Stalinist) administration of Mengistu Haile Mariam comes not from the culpability of these two in Eritrea's and Ethiopia's woes but from a singular and unrequitied love Kenealy has for the no less Marxist EPLF that would later Crown Issayas Aferweki, placing him as an Emperor beyond reproach in Asmera Palace.
Such is Kenealy's forgetfulness of his sacred trust as a reporter that the half truths he was fed and reported, now gussied up under the questionable respectability of a book,live not as a signal accomplishment but as a damning written record not of those he points fingers at but of his serious romantic lapses in judgement for the truths of the Kunama, Afar, Akele Guzai, Saho, Muslim, Bilen people of Eritrea he did not write about and that are written in the indelible ink of human suffering.
Idris Awate's(a Hero of the Eritrean Revolution) massacre of the Kunama, a group who Thomas Kenealy's friend Issayas Afewerki continues to kill and imprison is conveniently ignored. The EPLF(later renamed the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice, PFDJ) conduct in mistreating Red Cross, and Amnesty International volunteers, execution of captured Ethiopian Prisoners(documented by eyewitnesses from western Media) remains unmentioned. Kenealy neglects to mention even at the earlier stages, the EPLF's and later Eritrea's stormy relations with Sudan, Djibouti and its own Muslim population. The liberation struggles of the Akele Guzai, Bilen, Saho, Afar and the fight both for suffrage and self determination of Eritreas forgotten Muslim populace are ignored.
These would lead to successive Wars an armed confrontation and low intensity war through EPLF assistance of FRUD, a terrorist Marxist cell in Djibouti, OLF and EPRP terrorist cells within Ethiopia, guerilla warfare against the Eritrean Liberation Front, Kunama Liberation Front and a Confederated Army of Afar Liberation under the leadership of Sultan Ali Mirah.
I was very disappointed in Thomas Kenealy's effort as I had thought his "Schindlers List" was well researched and showed human compassion and fortitude at their best.
I could not understand why his book chose to portray the worst of Eritrea as her best.
atypical keneally.......1998-08-24
Written in a more journalistic style than his later works, this book chronicles a newspaper reporter through his journey into rebel Eritrea before its independence. The reporter, and Keneally, are so smitten with the cause and the people that he cannot see objectively that he is being spoon-fed the revolution very carefully. It does a good job of exposing the Amharic tyranny over other tribes in East Africa, courtesy of Haile Selassie then Mengistu, but it seems a bit dated now that Eritrea has been recognized by the UN and Ethiopia as well. The political manipulation of food as aid still persists, however, and this book dramatizes that situation well, with a bit of Anne Tyler-esque marital dissolution thrown in for "personal growth".
Average customer rating:
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Asmara Beloved
Sami Sallinen , and
Haile Bizen
Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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CIAO ASMARA
Justin Hill
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To Asmara
Thomas Keneally
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUPLVK |
Book Description
The Bifrost Guardians is the bold and original five-book series that launched the career of Mickey Zucker Reichert. This epic saga of an American soldier sent from Vietnam through time and space to a battlefield where the weapons are not bullets and grenades, but swords and spells, is now reintroduced to readers through Daw's new omnibus collections.
In this second volume, which includes books four and five in the series, the forces of Chaos are unleashed-in a strangely altered, modern-day America.
Praise for The Bifrost Guardian series:
"Refreshingly daring...funny, touching, sad, impelling, and ultimately satisfying...I hope it marks a new trend in fantasy."-Thrust"Ms. Reichert has a master's touch for provoking curiosity and for drawing dynamic characters...keep the reader turning the pages."-Rave Reviews
"Inventive, fertile imagination...appealing characters."-American Fantasy
Book Description
Enter Eric John Stark, adventurer, rebel, wildman. Raised on the sun-soaked, savage world of Mercury, Stark lives among the people of the civilized solar system, but his veneer of calm masks a warrior's spirit. In the murderous Martian Drylands the greatest criminals in the galaxy hatch a conspiracy of red revolution. Stark's involvement leads to the forgotten ruins of the Martian Low Canals, an unlikely romance and a secret so potent it could shake the Red Planet to its core.
Product Description
Ace Double #75781.
Book Description
This award-winning guide to France’s fourteen famed wine regions is now updated to reflect the rapidly evolving French wine industry. Extensive coverage of wines and producers from the grand chateaux of Bordeaux to local village vintners makes the information detailed enough for those in the wine trade, yet accessible to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of French wine and the personalities who make them. Fifteen exquisitely detailed regional maps and 150 photos reveal the renowned vineyards of Burgundy, the Rhone Valley, and Champagne, and also introduce lesser-known, yet equally intriguing producers scattered across Corsica, Languedoc-Roussillon, the Jura, and other regions.
Customer Reviews:
PUTS ASIDE ANY STUFFY NOTION OF FRENCH WINE.......2007-05-08
A great read and reference as to what is going on in French Wine today. Covers all the regions and introduces the reader to the regional personalities and the best producers. You gotta add this one to your wine library.
Very approachbale, very balanced account.......2004-03-01
This is a fine book, an excellent introduction to contemporary French wine. Jefford's initial discussions of "appelation" and "terroir" are profound while at the same time approachable for beginners. His use of commentary by experienced vintners helps round out the presentation. And the inclusion of "flak" sections for the major appelations gives a balance to the book's account. These sections deal with some of the various misgivings and criticisms that vintners, growers and consumers have with the regulations and the general wine-making practice. So despite the privilege Jefford accords "terroir," he presents (and sometimes even supports) arguments against its hegemony.
Exceptional book.......2003-10-21
You may consider this a sad admission but I have read many books on wine. This one is truly exceptional. A practical guide produced with passion, knowledge and insight. A defense of both culture, quality and pleasure.
Mr. Jefford is civilized, understands his subject and writes extremely well.
BUY IT !
Everything in its Place.......2003-09-22
What's the best way to read a book about wines, producers, regions, styles, etc? Cover-to-cover? Episodically? Grab it when you want to do some research on a specific topic? In my own case, it's typically when I crawl into bed because that's about the only time I have to read about my favorite subject.
Whatever your preference, you'll want to read this book when you're in a position to pay attention because it's one of the most entertaining and instructive wine books I've seen in a long time. Jefford is a passionate advocate for non-interventionist winemaking. If anyone else has already invented this term I apologize in advance for the unwitting plagiarism, but he's also a "terroir-ist". God help the hapless winery that allows anything to interfere with the expression of the land in the wine, or commits the cardinal sin of branding. To Jefford, quoting Randall Graham of Bonny Doon, drinking a great wine should be like "shaking hands with a mountain," because you're drinking the very land where the vines grow, not the attenuated expression of a winemaker's ego.
The New France is Jeffford's paean to French winemakers who share his perspective on quality. While I don't really regard it as a book for beginners, its greatest utility comes from snapshot reviews of hundreds of producers across the major wine growing regions of France. Jefford gives them anywhere from zero to three stars to indicate their merit based on his terroir-at-all-costs preferences. So if your tastes agree with his, you'll find his capsule summaries of tremendous value.
A quick example might help make this a little clearer. Recently, one of my favorite stores, the Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, ran an ad for William Fevrre Chablis Fourcharme 1er Cru 1999 for what seemed like a very low price. I love white Burgundy, but I don't often buy it because the good stuff is so expensive. Thinking this sounded like a great deal, but wary of getting bushwhacked as can often happen in Burgundy, I grabbed my edition of The New France and turned to the section on Chablis (treated here like a separate and equal wine growing region, which I heartily applaud). I was gratified to learn that this producer earned Jefford's highest 3 star designation, particularly since 1998 when it changed ownership. Even more impressive, he cited this specific premier cru vineyard because it abuts the grand cru Preuses and is particularly rich as a result. Well, folks, all I can tell you is he nailed this sonufagun. I bought two cases.
What qualifies Fevre as the best domaine in Chablis according to Jefford? Meticulous attention to the picking and sorting of the fruit, low yields, minimal manipulation and very little new oak all allow the wines to speak for themselves.
The book is organized around each of the major French winegrowing regions. Each chapter features: an introduction to the terroir of each region and the impact it has on the wines; brief profiles of Jefford's favorite winemakers; a section called The Adventure of the Land in which he delves deeply into the characteristics of the various appellations within the region; a beautiful and extremely detailed color map of the AOC's; a section labeled "Flak", which deals objectively with contemporary issues and problems facing the region; and finally the profiles and ratings of the wineries themselves. His somewhat fawning portraits make it clear Jefford's idolizes the winemakers who do it right.
Of course, as is the case with any wine writer or critic, the proof is in the drinking: yours that is. Jefford loves garage wines and appears to believe that on balance the changes wrought in Bordeaux by Robert Parker over the last 20 years and the rise of the garagists in the late `90's are helping the entire region to raise its standards. I'm more of a traditionalist myself, but we're all going to have to wait another 10-20 years for the Bordeaux of the late "90's or 2000 vintages to age for us to understand who will ultimately win this debate.
Overall, I believe this is an extremely valuable book to have in your wine library. It's full of new insights, it's beautifully written and illustrated, and it will both inform and challenge your ideas of what constitutes wine quality in France and anywhere else for that matter. Andrew Jefford writes a column in Decanter, the outstanding British wine magazine, and now that I've spent time with The New France, his column is always the second thing I read each month (after Michael Broadbent's column, of course!).
Books:
- Badlands: Library Edition
- Blurry and Disconnected: Tales of Sink-Or-Swim Nihilism
- Bogeymen Don't Play Football (The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids, #27)
- Breathe Deep the Passing Wind
- CAFE ROYAL
- Cape Cod Stories: Tales from the Cape, Nantucket & MarthaÆs Vineyard
- Classic Nasty: More Naughty Bits: A Rollicking Guide to Hot Sex in Great Books, from the Iliad to the Corrections
- Dead at Daybreak
- Dreaming Me: An African-American Woman's Buddhist Journey
- Dusty Answer (Virago Modern Classics)
Books Index
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To Asmara
City of Dreams (NTSC Version)
Against All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution With a New Afterword on the Postwar Transiton
Lonely Planet Ethiopia & Eritrea (Lonely Planet Ethiopia and Eritrea)
