Product Description
Ken Howard is renowned for his ability to portray the subtle nuances of light. Here he explains how light has been a never-ending source of inspiration for his art and reveals some of the secrets of his craft. Illustrated throughout with the artist's wonderfully evocative sketches, watercolors and oil paintings, this is a unique insight into the work of this internationally acclaimed artist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Kenoward - a Personal View : Inspired by Light
Ken Howard gives an excellent overview of his career as an artist, and superb insights into his working methods and motivation. There are no step-by-step exercises, which generally stiffle creativity.It is a very good book for all artists.

Inspired By Light
Excellent book for painter's of all levels.Ken Howard is a master in his use of shadow and light.This book contains lots of paintings,including the figure and is written in such a way that you feel Ken Howard is talking to you about painting ,his art,and that you have just been visiting his studio. ... Read more

Product Description
Howard demonstrates how we all can become more effective public speakers & communicators by learning how actors prepare for their roles. He asserts that we can all appear more relaxed, confident, & spontaneous when we step into the limelight -- whether for a speech, a presentation, a job interview, or before the PTA -- by learning to act natural. He shows how we can sell our message & ourselves -- not by ''faking it,'' but by preparing hard & long to bring our best selves into the various roles we are asked to play. Explains why performance anxiety is not only normal, but is what fuels great performances; & shows how we can improve our memory & prepare to deliver speeches & other long presentations without notes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Dread Public Speaking? Invest in this book...
Ken Howard, distinguished stage actor and Harvard U. instructor, shares his success factors in public speaking.He writes in a conversational tone and uses his personal experiences making this book easy to read and absorb.He gives examples to help reduce the fear of public speaking along with tips to increase memory.He explains how a speaker can share his/her insights in a professional manner and at this same time let your personality come through.I found Act Natural to be one of the more useful books that I have read on this subject.Paragraph headings include:

1) Making Fear Your Ally
2) Acting is what you Do
3) The Speaker Prepares - Structure and Storytelling
4) Discovering Your Photographic Memory
5) Getting Real - The Power of Emotion
6) Persuading Them
7) Taking Your Act into any Room
8) Letting Go
9) Some Concluding Words About Words

Great Advice from the White Shadow
Ken Howard has written an excellent and practical guide to public speaking. From preparation to techniques to control and harness stage fright , this book provides solid useful tips that work for me. I have used this book to prepare for several large audience presentations and found the advice very helpful

A Must Have Book if You Ever Talk to More than One Person
This book, written by Ken Howard, a star of stage, screen and television and an experienced teacher at presigious schools, breaks new ground for those of us who dread to face the frightening task of speaking in public.
Howard draws on his extensive background to give you effective methods to overcome stage fright (you really don't want to eliminate it.)His advice on developing your memory for any kind of speaking situation -- whether addressing a sales conference or handling a job interview, is outstanding.
Howard uses techniques advocated by famous actors' coaches to strengthen your performance and to do it naturally.
Readers of this book will be impressed with the improvement they will make.
In fact, as a long-time student of how to improve my public speaking, I believe you'll find some individual chapters worth the price of the entire book.
I know I did. ... Read more

Product Description
Ken Wilber's revolutionary thinking is beginning to shift the orientation of Western culture. Wilber combines his knowledge as mystic, scientist, psychologist and philosopher to create comprehensive concepts for understanding our world and our place in it. This "integral approach" is much needed in a world torn by conflicts of religion, culture, and ideology.Lew Howard says, "I wrote this book to make the work of Ken Wilber accessible to the average person. Wilber's integral understanding (which is an interlocking whole) is broken down into concepts that can be individually understood. These understandings result in an integral conception of the Kosmos. Wilber's insights revolutionized my spiritual practice-and can do the same for you." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Great Service
Lew Howard has done a great service I believe.This one stop shop for much of the BRILIANT Ken Wilber's work will save you much time and facilitate the assimilation of what I think are some of the most important ideas and developments in our world.The quicker we are able to live the awareness's presented, the safer and happier this world will become.Lew Howard's well laid out and explained book allows that time to come yet quicker I think.I encouraged 2 friends to buy the book and they both agree with this assessment. THANK YOU very much Lew.

A Guide To Our Intelligently Evolving Universe.
I call this book a 1st class passenger's guide to the universe (hitchhikers would not have access to the scenicruiser seats).This is essentially a survey course that puts Science and Spirituality in a perspective where both can be well understood.

Drawing heavily on Ken Wilber's work, Lew Howard defines the terms and concepts and illustrates them until you have a good working knowledge before showing how the forms and constructs work together and evolve.Each chapter starts by showing where it is leading, then breaks these complex issues into understandable pieces and concludes with a summary.Things which I had assumed, believed, or wondered about all of my life have been changed, clarified, or deepened with his clear empirical evidence.

Everything is put into focus, from the subatomic to the geopolitical levels; everything from outside of the self to deep within.This book is a great reference to Life, the Universe, and Everything.Thanks to this book, I can look at everything around me with a deeper understanding.

For those who wish to delve more deeply into Ken Wilber's work, this book will provide an excellent roadmap.For those who want to open the door to meditation, this book will do that for you as well.

My copy (which is well soiled with the stains of seeking fingers, dog eared, and paper clipped) is within arms reach as I sit by my computer.

User-friendly introduction to Integral Thought
"Introducing Ken Wilbur" is an excellent and accurate title to this book.I have enjoyed reading bits and pieces of Wilbur's works in the past but found it hard to stick with his larger works and was somewhat (not entirely) disappointed in Wilbur's novel "Boomeritis."Mr. Howard has condensed and summarized the kernals of Wilbur's philosophy.Howard's book - almost a textbook - also helped me understand how Wilbur came to the conclusions that he did.

A friend of mine also read this book and we found that it opened up some interesting discussions regarding politics and religion.As a liberal/green/analytical/sort of buddhist/sort of catholic person, it helped me understand and communicate with a conservative/pro-war/very catholic friend and colleague in a meaningful, less reactive way.I hope, really, that by educating people about their place in a complicated spiritual/psychological world, we can actually achieve that ideal of a more peaceful, successful, happy world.

I would also add that I found Mr. Howard's sincere admiration of Ken Wilbur very touching and quite appropriate.Both authors deserve our attention.

A Place to Start Reading Wilber
This is an excellent place to start in learning Ken Wilber's work.The author has done an outstanding job of organizing and annotatingWilber's ideas. I have tried to read Wilber before but always had thefeeling I was taking a graduate level course when I hadn't had the"1A" course or many of the prerequisites. I was confused byterminology and concepts relating to previous or related works andgave up. Lew Howard has started at the beginning and created a wholesequential "curriculum" of Wilber's ideas and concepts. This bookalso provides a kind of master index to Wilber's books so you canexplore topics in greater depth.

Lew Howard provides a very useful summary at the end of each chapter.I found this a good way to self-test myself to see if I hadassimilated the chapter before continuing. I also found the summaries a place to return to for reviewing terms or concepts referenced later in the book.

At the end of many chapters, the author has included a topic with thetitle, "What Difference Does it Make?" He illuminates the importanceof ideas with respect to those in other chapters on this topic. Thesesections are similar to the comments an instructor might give at theend of a lecture to provide insight on a lecture subject.

This book will go on my bookshelf as my ultimate Wilber reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Mohs surgery is a highly effective treatment for certain cutaneous and oral pharyngeal cancers. The procedure allows for the precise and complete removal of cancers while preserving significant amounts of normal tissue. Through the presentation and orientation of the specimens' complete surgical margin on pathology slides, the location of tumor foci and other relevant findings can be correlated with their locations on the surgical wound. The ability to create perfect slides for histological examination lies at the core of effective Mohs surgery. These procedures have a 99 percent cure rate for certain cancers when implemented correctly. This book describes the methods the dermatologist, pathologist, or technician can use to optimize the Mohs technique and produce the highest-quality slides and highest cure rates possible. ... Read more

Product Description
The battle for Cassino was probably the most bitter struggle of the entire Italian campaign. The dominating peak of Montecassino crowned by its magnificent but doomed medieval monastery was the key to the entire Gustav Line, a formidable system of defences that stretched right across the Italian peninsula. This position completely dominated the Liri valley and Route 6, the strategically vital road to Rome. Between January and May 1944 the Allies struggled amid inhospitable terrain and dreadful weather to dislodge the German paratroops that tenaciously defended the vital mountaintop. Ken Ford’s book details the dramatic events of the battle to break the Gustav Line. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good summary of the Monte Cassino campaign, but...
This book is a decent summary of the Battle of Monte Cassino -- actually a campaign of four battles, whose strategy interlocked with the landings at Anzio to seize the defensive approaches to Rome. Monte Cassino is where the Germans under the command of Kesselring chose to make a defensive stand, recognizing the defensive advantages given by the ancient monastery. The Allies weren't able to capitalize on the Anzio beachhead to break out behind the German lines - the Allied commanding generals made timid by high initial losses did not press the Germans enough to worry Kesselring into retreating from the Cassino position.

On the Allied side, twelve nationalities fought including Moroccans, French, Algerians, Ghurkas, New Zealanders, and Australians. The Polish II Corps was the unit eventually capturing the monastery proper.The book does a good job covering the efforts of all nationalities, and implies that on occasions the contributions by smaller nations were not only downplayed, but their successes not properly taken advantage of by American and British commanders.

Other than the Anzio landing, there was not much strategy to speak of in this campaign beyond seizing the high ground. The battles were dominated by the defensive advantages given to the Germans by the topography - particularly the high ground of the Monastery (although the Germans were to use rivers defensively as well).

The biggest limitation of the book shows up in the discussion (or lack of it) of the destruction of the monastery. Monte Cassino was a monastery with a rich cultural heritage, having been built in the 8th century AD. Not only was it an important architectural monument, but most critically it housed a library of priceless, unique Latin and medieval manuscripts. The decision by the Germans to defend it places the blame for the loss of this cultural treasure squarely on them. However, the idea that there were other options available to the allies other than saturation bombing of the monastery (for example, bypassing the route by expanding the Anzio beachhead) is what of the great what ifs of the war. It is also unclear that the Allied bombing of the monastery didn't actually make their task far more difficult by turning the building into highly defensible rubble. That this book bears this central question only a passing mention is, I would have to think, a great fault.

A useful reference for future reading.
Having walked the battlefield twice this book is something that I will carry with me on my future, third sojourn. The maps in the book, while less numerous than others, are certainly more than you get while reading a general overview of the battle. This book should be read, or consulted when reading some of the old classics of this battle such as Madjalay's, "Cassino."
I had been to the village of Cairo (where the American's successfully crossed the Rapido) and saw the bullet-pocked houses but had no real idea of scale until I read this book.

The fighting was confused to say the least, but with the high ground commanded by the Germans and the allies need to capture it, the strategy is quite straightforward.

The outlines of the four major battles fought here (two on the ridge, the one in the town, and the final crushing overwhelming offensive are outlined and should serve as a jumping off point for later reading.

The one thing that this book does well is to set the battle in its general strategic setting. It well describes Cassino and its relation to Anzio. It also describes the composition of forces for the last offensive.

I think it is balanced with an appreciation of the fighting capabilities of the French and Morrocans, and also details the forces following up the offensive such as the Canadian Armoured Corps, and the Gurhkas -- all of whom are hardly mentioned in the main histories concentrating only on the three forlorn battles to crack the line.

A useful reference for future reading.

Lacks Detail Needed for a Proper Study
Ken Ford's Cassino 1944: Breaking the Gustav Line, which is Number 137 in the Osprey campaign series, probably attempts to bite off more than can be reasonably summarized in a 96-page format.The author's decision to include a substantial amount of coverage on the Anzio landing - certainly worthy of its own Osprey title - detracts from space available to cover the Cassino battles.Furthermore, the author fails to provide the kind of critical analysis or detail that would enable serious military readers to evaluate a lengthy and controversial campaign; for example, important details on troop strengths involved and casualties are often omitted.Overall, this Osprey volume on Cassino falls short of the type of summary that a reader might reasonably expect from such a well-known battle.

Ford begins the volume in the standard fashion, with an introduction that sets the strategic background to the Cassino campaign and the operational background, sketching the Allied advance to the German Gustav Line.The chronology that follows is inadequate, since it only mentions "start dates" for Allied offensives at Cassino, with little mention of actions on specific days.The section on opposing leaders is threadbare, listing only operational level commanders (theater, army and corps), showing only photos of two German division-level commanders.Ford also slights French General Juin who played a critical role in the first and fourth battles of Cassino, but gets only a nod here.This section is unfortunate, because Cassino was a very tactical battle and the division-level leadership counted far more than remote operational commanders.The section on opposing armies is inadequate.First, Ford should have mentioned that there were over 700,000 Allied troops in Italy facing about 412,000 German troops, giving the Allies an almost 2-1 edge in manpower.Second, Ford spends little effort mentioning important differences, such as the fact that the 2nd New Zealand Division was an over-size unit with almost 25,000 troops but most of the German divisions had only about 6-7,000 men.The order of battle appears to be a complete muddle, and Ford lists most Allied and German brigade and higher units that were involved in the Cassino battles at various times, but it also includes Darby's Rangers who did not fight at Cassino but omits the entire Polish II Corps which actually seized Cassino Monastery (whoops!).No artillery units are mentioned - like the German 71st Nebelwerfer Brigade that so ably supported the 1st Parachute Division or the US 240mm batteries.Ford's section on opposing plans fails to note that the first Allied offensive against the Gustav Line in January 1944 failed to actually designate any specific units to seize the critical Monastery position, nor was any special air or artillery support arranged to breach a known fortified line.Nor does Ford note the operational-level incoherence introduced by the Anzio landing: which was the Allied main effort in Italy - 6th Corps at Anzio or US 5th Army on the Gustav Line?

The maps are also a bit skimpy in this volume, with only five 2-D Maps: advance to the Gustav Line; US 5th Army's attack on the Gustav Line; US VI Corps landing at Anzio; New Zealand II Corps attack; Operation Diadem.Unfortunately, there is no map depicting the link-up between the Allied forces that broke through the Gustav Line and the Anzio beachhead - a crucial omission.The three 3-D "Bird's Eye View" maps depict: the US II Corps attack north of Cassino; the third battle of Cassino and the Polish II Corps captures the monastery.The three battlescenes by Howard Gerrard depict: the American attack across the Rapido river; German paratroopers defending Cassino town and Polish infantry advancing on Snakeshead Ridge.The bibliography provided is modest and the notes on the battlefield today are rather terse.

Ford's description of the US 36th Infantry Division attack across the Rapido river on 20-21 January 1944 is decent and this was one of the most botched US military actions of the entire war, on a par with the action at Sidi bou Zid in February 1943.The attack was an incredibly bad plan that was made in the style of Passchendaele in 1917 - without regard to terrain, weather or the enemy - and it failed miserably.The awful plan was also made worse by faulty execution due to very poor coordination between infantry, artillery and engineers.However, there is a tendency to exaggerate the significance of the 36th Division's defeat, which incurred 1,681 casualties in a 48-hour period.While this attack failed, the adjacent 34th Infantry Division successfully carved out a bridgehead on the western side of the Rapido and captured terrain that provided the vital jumping off positions needed to encircle Cassino.Furthermore, while these two US divisions suffered about 4,500 casualties in this first battle, the French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) also seized vital terrain north of Cassino but at the cost of 7,800 casualties (facts omitted by Ford).Put in proper perspective, the 36th Division failure to cross the Rapido was a tactical setback, but the success of the 34th Division and FEC attacks more than outweighed that defeat.

Ford's description of the second and third battles for Cassino has odd omissions, like he fails to note that the third battle was known as Operation Dickens.Readers might also miss the fact from Ford's description that the New Zealanders committed only a handful of their battalions to this set-piece battle and thereby eschewed any kind of numerical advantage over a dug-in defender. Oftentimes, Cassino is presented as an "Italian Stalingrad" but this is just not apt.If Ford had provided casualty figures for the actions around Cassino, they would have been surprised to see that the Allies suffered only 287 killed in action in the third battle, versus 315 German KIA. All told, the Cassino fighting cost the Allies about 25,000 casualties in five months of fighting; significant, but certainly not crippling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent collection of the works of Robert E. Howard
This is a collection of paperbacks published by Baen Books in the mid-1990s.Included here are a variety of works by Howard, including stories from the adventure, horror and fantasy genres.The titles speak for themselves.This series provides a nice survey of Howard's non-Conan work. Each book has an introduction written by a horror or fantasy author such as Ramsey Campbell or David Drake. Fans of Howard might like to procure it just to add to their collection.It's a great collection of some of Howard's best work.You can probably find these stories elsewhere, but this is a great way to get them all in one place. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! KennethJoseph "Ken" Howard, Jr. (born March 28,1944) is an American actor, best known for his rolesas Thomas Jefferson in 1776and the television showThe White Shadow as basketball coach and formerChicago Bulls player Ken Reeves. He was elected tobe the president of the Screen Actor's GuildinSeptember 2009. ... Read more

Product Description
The paintings and watercolours of Ken Howard are among the most vivid portraits of the world around us by a living painter, and recall the era of Monet, Whistler, Sargent and Sickert. His subjects range from the contemporary - windsurfers and Florentine street scenes - to the timeless - Venice and the nude. A unifying theme running through his work is the painting of light, especially sunlight, seen contre-jour at various times of the day and captured with accuracy, often in the briefest free sketches. Tracing Howard's career, this book follows him through art school at Hornsey and the Royal College; national service in the Royal Marines; as official artist in Northern Ireland; on commission overseas; and, during the last decade or so, concentrating on extending his artistic range. Within subject categories which have consumed his attention over this period, such as Venice, Cornish beaches and studio interiors, the book reproduces some of his best work. The text, which is based on a series of interviews with the artist, records his approach to painting and ideas about art, as well as individual descriptions about the creation of the paintings in the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book has been republished in april 1997 in paperback.
Excellant book of this english painter's career.Large format and excellant illustrations highlight this painter of interiors,landscape,and especially fine figure pieces. Reprinted by the Royal Academy of Art. ... Read more

Product Description
The Dieppe raid of August 1942 is one of the most controversial actions of World War II. Operation ‘Jubilee’ was a frontal assault on a fortified port landing the latest equipment and armour directly on to the beach. The main force would destroy the port facilities while other smaller landings dealt with anti-aircraft and coastal batteries. The raid itself turned into a fiasco. The assault force was pinned down on the beach and three quarters of the 5,000 troops landed were lost. This book analyses the disastrous raid and examines contrasting conclusions drawn by the Allies and the Germans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good overview for 96 pages
This book provides, like most books in the Osprey series, a fairly good introduction to its topic in only 96 pages (about an hour to an hour and a half's reading).

Like all books in the series it starts off providing a perspective, both strategic and tactical, on the military situation and hence the motivations and goals (from both sides) of the battle. The book then goes about discussing Allied training, the military forces of both sides, military commanders, tactics and how the battle played out. On the last point the book goes into a little too much detail even discussing some squad level assaults. As a result of all this detail one can lose the bigger picture.

The book concludes by discussing the results of the battle and, much more importantly, the repurcussions of the battle. The important lesson for the allies (correctly learned) was that they should not assault near heavily fortified ports and should make arrangements to bring their own ports with them. At Normandy this paid off handsomely. Ther Germans, on the other hand, "learned" that heavy fortifications should be the basis of their defense. Or so the author claims. The fact was with the poor quality troops they had to defend Normandy there was really no other choice. Like it or not, they were stuck with this strategy.

The book is also well illustrated with photographs showing various hardware, events and end results. The one area where it is weak, from an illustration point of view, is a lack of plates showing what the typical Canadian, English Cammando and German infantry man (of the 302nd division) looked like. One plate with these three illustrations would have sufficed.

A Dumb Plan Executed by Brave Soldiers
British bookseller Ken Ford's Dieppe 1942: Prelude to D-Day follows in the footsteps of his earlier books in the Osprey Campaign series on the D-Day landings.Ford's narrative is clear and accurate, well supported by highly detailed battle maps and overall the volume provides ample narrative and graphic content on its subject.Ford's battle narrative is aided by the Canadian government's in-depth files on this operation, which provide a wealth of information on the Dieppe landing.

Dieppe 1942: Prelude to D-Day follows the standard Osprey campaign series format, with short sections on the origins of the battle, a minute-by-minute chronology (very helpful), opposing commanders, opposing armies and opposing plans.The author also provides an Allied order of battle which is good, but fails to mention unit strengths.Given the heavy casualties in the Dieppe landing, the author should have provided an initial strength for each battalion-size unit and its subsequent casualties.The author's sections on the Germans are also rather skimpy.The maps are excellent and include five 2-D maps (sea routes to Dieppe, the British landing plan, German defenses in Dieppe, Yellow Beach, the air battle) and three 3-D Birds Eye View maps (4 Commando's destruction of Hess Battery, Green Beach and Assault on Dieppe).The three color battle scenes are decent: the destruction of Hess Battery, the Attack on Red and White Beaches and Dogfight over Dieppe.The author provides a short bibliography but fails to note that key documents - such as the Jubilee operations order and captured German after-action reports - are now available on the Internet.

Ford's battle narrative is excellent and his methodology is perfect: he starts on the flanking landings (Yellow, Orange, Blue and Green beaches), moves to the main landings in the center (Red and White), covers the air-sea battles around Dieppe, then finishes with the withdrawal.In particular, Ford's coverage of the actions of 3 and 4 Commando is quite good.Readers should have no difficulty in following Ford's narrative, which is clear and succinct.

Some standard military lessons are hammered home in this volume, such as the essential fact that obstacles must be covered by fire in order to be effective.Ford notes that the German defenders were initially caught by surprise by the initial landings and had only limited troops watching the coast on Dieppe's flanks.On Yellow beaches, small groups of 3 Commando were able to infiltrate up a cliff face covered with barbed wire in 20 minutes - without special equipment!Subsequently, both the German Hess and Goebbels batteries were surprised when they came under attack by Allied commandos.A few German snipers could have prevented such nasty surprises.Another important lesson is the importance of terrain analysis in operational planning; the Anglo-Canadian planners failed to grasp the impassable nature of the beachfront obstacles around Dieppe or the loose pebble surface which effectively neutralized most of their tanks.

Ford contends that the Dieppe landings had many objectives, such as a political demonstration of a "quasi-Second Front," to give the Canadian troops battle experience, to test the German defenses, to cripple the Luftwaffe in the France, and to validate combined operations doctrine.The landings are described both as a "raid" and as a "reconnaissance-in-force."Most of these justifications appear rather specious, particularly the idea that the Soviets would see a temporary raid as a "Second Front."Rather, it appears that Operation Jubilee's main objective was to achieve a propaganda victory - to temporarily seize a port city in France, run up the Union Jack, take some photographs, and leave before the 10th Panzer Division arrived.Had the landings actually seized Dieppe, this would have been a tremendous boost to British morale following soon after disasters in Singapore and Tobruk.Churchill needed a large-scale success and something more than just small-scale commando raids.Indeed, the actual military objectives of beach reconnaissance and destruction of German coastal batteries could have been achieved by 3 and 4 Commando alone - why add the 2nd Canadian Division?Indeed, the Dieppe planning bears some of the same false assumptions and unwarranted optimism that marked Churchill's earlier effort at Gallipoli in 1915.Yet a faulty plan, probably driven by political imperatives, handed the propaganda victory to the enemy instead.The virtual annihilation of the Canadians on the beach added credibility to Hitler's Atlantic Wall and probably bucked up morale in Germany.

The manner in which Ford handles the fact that the Dieppe landings were a conspicuous disaster that achieved few objectives and resulted in 60% casualties further highlights the Twilight Zone that surrounds Operation Jubilee.Ford's subtitle for this volume, "prelude to D-Day" highlights the post-war British conviction that the Dieppe landings were a necessary precursor to the D-Day landings and that many invaluable lessons were learned. Taken in this light, of experience gained that saved lives in future landings, Dieppe's losses appear more acceptable.Unfortunately, Dieppe appears less of a "prelude to D-Day" than a "successor to Gallipoli," the infamous British landings in 1915 that also failed to achieve their objectives and cost thousands of lives.Furthermore, the idea that Dieppe was an essential prerequisite to D-Day conveniently ignores the fact that the Anglo-Americans would conduct four major opposed amphibious landings before D-Day (Torch, Sicily, Salerno and Anzio) that were much larger and that were not designed as raids.Actually, the idea that Dieppe was necessary in order to ensure the success of D-Day has become a historical palliative to dampen Canadian outrage and to soothe the consciences of leaders who recklessly threw 6,000 troops into the frying pan for dubious objectives.Yet is has been abundantly clear since 0506 hours on 19 August 1942, when the German machineguns began the slaughter on Blue Beach, that Operation Jubilee was a dumb plan executed by brave soldiers. ... Read more

Product Description
By the end of 1941 Germany was desperately in need of essential raw materials. Vital supplies from Japan were shipped to Germany by 'blockade runners' using the port of Bordeaux as their main base. Allied forces needed an undertaking to interfere with the work of these lone merchant ships at the port, leading to the formation of plans that ultimately became known as the Cockleshell Heroes Raid, in which a unit of Royal Marine Commandos mounted a raid via canoes launched from a submarine.

In this new addition to Osprey's RAID series, author Ken Ford explores the history of what is perhaps the bravest and imaginative raids of the entire war.The book details the original plans of the raid, along with the various complications and challenges faced by the Commandos, and explores the outcome of the raid. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A riveting saga
Ken Ford's THE COCKLESHELL RAID; BORDEAUX 1942 offers an authoritative analysis of one of the greatest raids in military history, and thus deserves a place in any military library. It tells of a 1942 operation where five canoes took on the job of destroying merchant ships docked at Bordeaux. Two made it to target - and changed the nature of the war. A riveting saga results.

A Superb Description of an Amazing Raid
I have to admit up front, that I have always found the British Operation Frankton - the raid on Bordeaux on 10/11 December 1942 - to be a fascinating subject and am pre-disposed to favor books on the subject. That being said, Ken Ford's The Cockleshell Raid: Bordeaux 1942, one of Osprey's new RAID series, is well-deserving of high praise. It is a thoroughly researched, well-written account about one of the most imaginative and daring Commando operations of the Second World War. This volume is also written for a wide audience, since there is plenty of detail for the specialist military reader but enough human drama to sustain the general reader. Overall, it is a superb volume.

The author begins by outlining the origins of the raid, which lay with the German ability to dispatch blockade runners from the port of Bordeaux in France to Japan and then return with valuable cargoes (rubber, tungsten). The British reckoned that the Germans had 26 blockade runners but they were unable to catch many on the high seas and RAF efforts to mine the mouth of the Gironde River leading to Bordeaux failed to stop the ships from sailing. The author then discusses at some length, how British Combined Operations (i.e. Special Forces) were given the mission to attack the blockade runners in the port of Bordeaux, but they could not come up with a suitable means of ingress/egress that offered much chance for success. Enter Major Herbert Hasler, a Royal Marine officer with a passion for small boats, who suggested creating a canoe-borne (`cockleshell' in British parlance) commando force to attack German shipping. Ken Ford then goes into some detail about the training of this small commando force, the development of the Cockleshell Mk. II and the planning of the raid. Six two-man crews were chosen to participate in Operation Frankton. My only disappointment here was that there not photos of all the raiders (only ten).

The raid proper comprises about two-thirds of the volume.The raiders were brought close to the mouth of the Gironde River by a British submarine and then launched into the sea. This is when Murphy took over. One cockleshell was damaged and had to abort and two more were lost on the first night. It was particularly distressing to read about how Major Hasler was forced to leave two of his marines in the water, where they subsequently drowned. German defenses were quite active on the Gironde River and two of the crews were captured before the raid occurred. Eventually, Major Hasler and one other boat reached Bordeaux after a 5-day paddle up the 60-mile long river and succeeded in attaching limpet mines to several cargo ships in Bordeaux. However, only Major Hasler and Corporal Sparks were able to escape with help from the French resistance and escape to Gibraltar. Ken Ford's narrative is quite gripping, aided by two 3-D BEV maps, a color plate of a raider and all their equipment and a battlescene by Howard Gerrard depicting the actual attack. The escape of the two raiders and the execution of six of the captured raiders by the Germans is also covered in some detail.

A number of interesting points about special operations emerge from this volume. First, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) is vital for successful execution of a raid. The British knew where most of the German defenses and patrols were, but they were relatively ignorant about the tidal races in the river estuary, which led to the loss of two boats. Second, you cannot add an evasion plan into a tactical operation at the last minute and just hope it works. The raiders were not informed until they were already in the submarine that they would have to E & E across occupied France and only Major Hasler spoke any French. Furthermore, the raiders were told that the French Resistance had been told to be on the lookout for them and would provide assistance, but this fell through the cracks. Third, there were no real control measures in place to synchronize the raid. Once on the river, the three surviving boats became separated and Major Hasler was concerned that one might attack the target before the others, which would make it impossible for the rest of the boats to approach an alerted naval facility.The lack of communications between the boats, Combined Operations in England (which meant no hope for pick-up by British sub) or the French Resistance was a serious flaw in the planning for a 5-day operation.Indeed, I got the impression - and with no offense to a clearly brave officer - that Major Hasler's passion and enthusiasm for the cockleshells caused him to neglect other, but vital components of the raid.

The author did make one odd omission - his maps show Vichy France, but the Germans invaded Vichy territory a month before the raid in response to Operation Torch. Readers may be confused into thinking that once onto Vichy Territory the two surviving raiders were somehow safer, but German troops were already there.I was also disappointed that there was relatively little information provided on the ships targeted by the raid and no photos.Despite this minor issues, this is a thoroughly interesting and well-packaged account of one of the most unusual commando raids of the war.
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Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29-June 1, 2001. Papers represent the work and experience of researchers and groundwater professionals who have worked on urban groundwater issues in developed and less-developed nations around the world. ... Read more

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This is the third gripping tale in the four-part audio series from Stephen King’s best-selling book Four Past Midnight.

Set in Junction City, Iowa, The Library Policeman is the story of Sam Peebles, a middle-aged businessman who happens to have some overdue books.It seems a minor offense—but not to Junction City’s malevolent monster of a librarian.What follows is spine-tingling suspense as only Stephen King can deliver it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

I always thought there was something scary about libraries...
There are exceptions, but generally, Stephen King's novels tend to lean more on the subtle side and his short stories and novellas are mainly concerned with delivering the gore and scares.And that's fine- most King devotees have enjoyed both types of the master's tales."The Library Policeman" takes the classic King novella approach:you don't get disturbing presences, subtle characterizations, and beautifully described locales off the beaten track.Here you get a shape-shifting, slime-covered psychic vampire terrorizing a small town with a variety of weird abilities; a main character with a horrible suppressed memory that the creature exploits; various incarnations of the classic "boogie man" figure; and a tour-de-force battle between good and evil.And it's all great stuff, scary and memorable.

There IS subtlety (mostly seen during the growing romance between the central character and a local woman who comes to aid him with his troubles), but that's not what this roller coaster ride of horror is mainly about.It's about telling you a really scary story, and that's what it does.

The unabridged audiobook version of "The Library Policeman", recorded back in the early 1990s and recently reissued, features a wonderful Ken Howard performance that sells the subtlety when it occurs and unapologetically ratchets up the sense of menace for the many horrifying scenes.For these latter sequences, Mr. Howard gives a strong, scary delivery but is never over the top.

After listening to these seven well-produced CD's, you won't soon forget real estate man Sam Peebles and the dilemma we walks into during a supposedly innocent trip to the library.And you won't look at small-town libraries in quite the same way, either.

Thecond rate, for him.
Please note that this is a review of the story, as read in a book, not the audio. I'm sure the audio adds some separate dimensions that are important to evaluate independently. The book version I read ("Four Past Midnight") had 3 other stories as well. And the following paragraph does reveal some aspects of the story that may qualify it as a "spoiler," so beware.

The Library Policeman, of course, is a great idea, and a lot of the elements are really good. However, I found aspects of the story to be a little contrived - like the red licorice balls that the protagonist (Sam) used as a weapon. It's sort of a kids' story, except the crime details that Sam has repressed are definitely not suitable for children. Somehow, to me, the different elements didn't quite fit together. It was supposedly in a small town, but a town of 35,000 isn't really that small. I find it hard to believe that AA has such indifference to class - the bankers and the homeless hanging together - and what would be the point of pseudonyms if everyone knows everyone else? SK is right, though, about the prevalence of alcoholism in these parts of the country. Not much else to do.Anyhow, it feels strange to criticize someone of SK's skill and stature (I wish I could write a story even a tenth as good!), but I just don't think this is one of his better works. By the way, I bought this book from my local library as part of a sale, so I don't think I'm a candidate for a poleethman's visit - except I did get some "due back" notices for some other books. Wish me luck. And maybe King's"reviewer poleethman" will schedule a visit to discuss the paucity of stars in my rating. Oh, my aching backside. Load the licorice!

Stephen King has done it again.
"The Library Policeman" is a thrilling story of a man and his bad trip to the library, and of what is to come. The book has great detail and well developed characters. The horror of such things could only come from a great writer like Stephen King. The book is fast reading and makes you grip the pages with suspense. Ardelia is a a monster from my deepest nightmares. I love how King incorporates children into the story, and makes them the victims giving it a more horrific feeling of what Ardelia is doing. The whole story sent chill's down my back. The library in the story, is so twisted and scary that I love it. The story shows a great case of coping with your fears in order to over come a bigger picture. If you like creatures that you have never imagined like the Library Policeman, then i suggest trying " The Langoliers", also by Stephen Kind. I enjoyed "The Library Policeman" a great deal and woudl read it again.

ONE OF THE BEST SK NOVELLAS
This novella was somewhat disturbing and weird. A Library Policeman!?! What the heck! When I started the book(novella), I almost laughed my head off. I must admit it was boring till about page 80 or 90. As the story went on though it turned creepier and more disturbing by the page. Once I got to the chapter called Dave's Story I was fully engaged in the story and couldn't quit it. I finished this novella in one day. Ardella or whatever the name is(couldn't remember the name even when I finished), is so creepy when Dave tells his story. King did a great job of connecting us to the character in only 200 pages or so. This is a great imaginative piece of work by Stephen King and he scores a grand slam again!

I'm a policeman...
This audio version of Three past midnight will capture your attention especially if you listen to it in the dark.the reader does an excellent job giving each character a distinct voice.spooky music punctuatesthe suspense of the book giving it a chilling feeling which pulls the lisener in.Still, like most Sk books the begining was better then the ending.I found the way the hero fought off the entity a bit over the top and really didn't make that much sensse.Yes Sam faced his fear but King built up the evil being so much that one would think it took more then childhood fears to kill it off.Overall though a pretty good listen.This book contains 6 cassettes and is narrated by a single reader. ... Read more

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Lieutenant Davenport's sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now her faces something worse...Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport's soul...

This is the case that will bring Davenport back to life. Or push him over the edge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent book! A must have.
This book is an absolute must have if you are learning to paint(or draw) or polishing your skills.The author has given a detailed description of the various techniques involved in creating your art work.I personally lovethis book & always use it for reference. ... Read more