Reviews (1)

Great poem-novel, pedestrian translation
Marta Tikkanen's poem-novel (diktroman) is one of the classics of recent Swedish language writing. This bittersweet account of her marriage to the alcoholic and egomaniac Henrik Tikkanen, (himself a prominent finlandsswedish writer) is told in a series of separate but linked poems. As in her other works from the 70s, Marta Tikkanen tempers her feminism and criticism with an ironic humor.

My only reservation is the quality of the translations by Stina Katchadourian. While Katchadourian is a native Finland-Swede, her translations in this volume seem to me to be overly literal, translating the words while missing the the alliteration and rhythm.

As a bonus, Henrik Tikkanen was also a talented illustrator, and contributed to the second edition (rather decent of him, given the scathing portrait). ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Indispensible Classic!
When I first took this book out of the Amazon.com box, my first thought was, "What have I gotten myself into?" It was a massive tome, covering a century of European warfare in considerable detail. Not only was it huge in size and scope, but I was worried about the prose, given the age of the text.

Fifty pages into the book, I could not put it down. This is quite simply an extraordinary military classic. T.A. Dodge is an exceptional military historian. Unlike many of those who ply that trade, Dodge was a veteran officer and possessed of exceptional military judgement. This is no chairborne commando, but an insightful and experienced soldier whose wealth of practical military experience brings the reality of 17th Century warfare alive.

Any understanding of military history from 1618-1815 (yes, that's 1815, even though the book stops in 1712) will be deficient without this book. Dodge tells the critical story of how armies evolved from relatively disorganized and short-term field armies to vast, professional military establishments controlled by the monarchs of Europe. The evolution of the modern state cannot be fully understood if one does not appreciate this facet of the military revolution of the 1600s. Dodge is equally adept at bringing the battlefield tactics of the time to life, and illustrating their development. He skillfully guides the reader along the path of military evolution which ultimately sets the stage for Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.

The caveats of this book are that it is long on text and short on maps. The lack of maps makes following the course of marches and counter-marches somewhat difficult. Furthermore, a basic knowledge of the geopolitics of the time is helpful.

For anyone with the fortitude, this book will bestow upon them a deeper understanding of a seminal period in European history.

Informative, but Tedious
I read this because I really enjoyed Dodge's military biography of Hannibal, but this book, possibly due to the period covered, was episodic, and without knowledge of European political history during the reign of Louis XIV, hard to follow. The first section, covering Adolfus's campaign in the Thirty Year's War, was quite entertaining, mainly because his efforts were dramatic, innovative, and successful against overwhelming odds. However, once into the military exploits of Conde, Turenne, Cromwell, Eugene, and Marlborough, the narrative becomes rather monotonous, describing one siege after another, one uneventful campaigning season after another. (This, too, no doubt reflects the time: the whole period of the post-Adolfus Thirty Year's War and the War of the Spanish Succession was one vast war of attrition.) Dodge does describe the important battles quite well, and offers incisive assessments of the character and abilities of the period's leading military figures. The book is long (about 850 pages), and long on military facts and figures. Dodge, a veteran of the American Civil War, writes in a rather formal and technical style, adding to the difficulties in wading through the text. I would give the book an "A" for information, but a "C-" for readability. If the subject matter really interests you, I'd say give it a try. If not, pass. ... Read more

Book Description

Along with Green Integer's previous volume of Andersen's autobiographical writings, Travels, this new volume-which recounts the fantastic boyhood experiences of the great Danish storyteller-will help English-language readers to perceive Andersen's popularity in Europe as a writer of autobiography and other essayistic work. This book is part of a year-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of Andersen's birth in 1805.

Book Description

N.F.S. Grundtvig, a chief shaper of Denmark's modern identity and still an active force in Danish social, political and religious life, was an outstanding intellect of the European 19th century.As new-Europe reviews the old traditional cultural canon, reflective of the most dominant nations, interest grows in Grundtvig. The book comprises English translations of an extensive selection of Grundtvig's own retrospect upon events, causes and periods of his life, and of memoirs by contemporaries upon whose lives his impinged. The choice of texts follows closely that of Johansen and Høirup's Grundtvigs Erindringer og Erindringer om Grundtvig (Copenhagen 1948). Texts are arranged in an approximate chronology of Grundtvig's life. A copious index supplies mini-biographies and other documentation of the period, its personalities, institutions and events. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

New Review
When I posted a review of Vivian Greene-Gantzberg's Book "Biography of Danish Impressionist Herman Bang" last year i severely criticized all the short comings of that book. I have not changed my mind about it in the meantime but I have learned that the author, whose earlier work I admire very much, died before being able to revise the manuscript. Under these circumstances I find a review as harsh as mine unfair to the late author. Clearly the publisher is to blame here. I would therefore like to say that the book is not as good as it could have been but it's still the most detailed account of Herman Bang's life as well as the longest piece of literary criticism on Bang's work available in English. I recommend it to anybody who wants to know more about this fascinating author and cannot read either Danish or German.

What a disappointment!
Herman Bang is one of many Scandinavian authors who do not receive much attention outside the north of Europe. Writing a biography in English about this most intriguing and skillful Danish writer may well be a way to attract more interest in his work. I am myself working on a ph.d-thesis about Bang and therefore began to read Greene-Gantzberg's book with great interest - even more so because I had enjoyed her previous book "Herman Bang og det fremmede", an insightful report on Bang's stays abroad, brimming with information and only some slight mistakes to discover in it (like the incorrect list of Bang's works in German translation). Unfortunately I was soon to realize that despite its title this new book was not a biography but contained nothing but some rather short remarks about Bang's life followed by some criticism on his works. The content was more or less a superficial resumee of the Bang criticism of the last 50 years or so (up to the late 1980s), the only (questionable) benefit being that it is now available to English speaking readers. The English of the book itself is very poor though - probably due to a lack of proof reading which resulted in many "little" words like articles and prepositions being left out - very annoying to read even for a non-native speaker like me! Evidently Greene-Gantzberg's Danish proof readers who took care of "Herman Bang og det fremmede" did a much better job! Where the content is concerned I have to say that I was not only disappointed to see that the author had obviously based her book entirely on rather old (if not wrong) findings and decided to ignore the latest research completely, I was also shocked by the fact that she often makes no mention of her sources (Some remarks in Steffen Steffensens article on Thomas Mann and Scandinavia are almost quoted word by word, yet the article itself is never mentioned). The bibliography at the end of the book is conspicuously short and lists just a couple of standard works. I could go on like that for quite some time but I'd better leave it at that. Greene-Gantzberg has not written a biography of Herman Bang, she doesn't even come close to Jacobsen's achievement (who wrote the 4 volume Danish biography of Bang in the 1960s) and her book lacks elegance (aswell as correctness) of language just as much as the declaration of her sources!(Obligatory for any kind of literary criticism that wants to be taken seriously!) Again: the only thing that could be said in favour of the book is the fact that it may help to draw some attention to Bang in the English speaking world. ... Read more

Book Description

The life and works of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) haveoften beenobscured behind a haze of Iurid myths and legends. Thisbook looks again ather notorious abdication of 1654, seeing itagainst the background of herreputation as a "libertine", a heterodoxreligious thinker. Her subsequentconversion to Catholicism istherefore understood as a consequence ofmessianic and millenarianexpectations during those turbulent years, and herbizarre attempt in1657 to become the ruler of Naples is revealed to be thepoliticalwing of a comprehensive religious and intellectual philosophy. ... Read more