Gilbert charts week by week; month by month; the development and horror of a war in which more than 46 million people perished. In this history of a global war; the author weaves together all aspects - political; diplomatic; military and civilian. Heroes from all nations - soldiers; sailors and airmen; statesmen and resistance fighters are remembered and their stories put in the context of the wider struggle.
#597480 in Books De Mente; Boye 2009-03-10 2009-03-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .60 x 5.50l; .60 #File Name: 0804840113192 pages
Review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Uneven Writing; Wrong Word PronunciationsBy BigBAfter reading the other reviews I was excited to consider this book for recommending to my students. After reading it; I had to lean toward the previous review that calls this book laughably bad.For the "uneven writing" part of my review title:- The writing was very uneven with some good sections containing useful information interspersed with trite sections containing little information at all.- The book starts with a section on Yin and Yang which doesn't provide a definition of what it is or how it really influences Chinese culture; but it does say that it pervades all cultures. This is common to many of the sections of the book which contain what I felt were generalizations and shallow statements that didn't say much of anything at all. Another glaring example for me was the section on the influence of computers and the internet on Chinese culture which said essentially that the internet has changed Chinese culture by importing other ideas from around the world.- The unfortunate thing is that there *were* some good sections of the book including those on: situational ethics; the soft "no"; and Chinese way of viewing law. My problem is the good sections were simply too short; too few and too far apart.- In the end the book felt to me like different parts were written by different people; or that it was was assembled by cutting and pasting. (I agree with the "freshman writing" sentiment of the other reviewer).For the "pronunciations" part of my review title:- The pronunciations given for many words were wrong and should not be relied on. Using many of them will only result in confusion.- Example: on the first page; Hanzi is not pronounced "Han Jee" and saying it that way will get you nothing but a blank stare. That was only the first of many; many.- Even simple words were butchered: the word "bao" (pronounced as in "bow to the king") was written to be pronounced as Bah-oh - a 2 syllable word ???I would have liked to recommend this book as there were a few good sections. But overall; there are much better books out there on learning how the Chinese think and how they do things. An easy choice for me is another book by the same publisher ("It's All Chinese to Me: An Overview of Culture Etiquette in China").2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The writer raises some interesting points; but his analysis ...By Charles S StubinThe writer raises some interesting points; but his analysis is faulty. He provides no examples to illustrate his assertions. He appears to have a sketchy understanding of Chinese history. He provides a list of key words in Chinese; but he uses Romanization; rather than Chinese characters. It seems to me that he is not a competent Chinese speaker;; for many of the words he cites appear to be inaccurate.. In short ; he is not an expert.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Part IV of this Book is InvaulableBy Edward J. BartonThis book presents a broad but very basic introduction to Chinese culture and how modern Chinese culture has been shaped and impacted by the opening of the country post-1976. The author does a decent job in the first half of the book providing a brief abut very approachable summary of Chinese culture - including religion; social and family customs; language; philosophy and food. At the end of each section are a set of questions and essay topics best suited to a textbook on Chinese culture.The real gem of the book - which elevated the rating from 3 to 4 stars - is Part IV. Eliminating the pedagogic questioning; Part IV dives into the many Chinese "key words" that reveal key elements of the Chinese mind. Discussing elements as broad as guanxi; guo cui; sheng; zhong fu and mianzi - it will enable the reader to begin to embark on a journey towards becoming a Zhongguo Tong.Worth reading for Part IV alone for the novice getting exposed to Chinese thought and culture.
