Easter Books

I have long been a fan of Osprey, whether it be there "Men at Arms" Series or the Campaign series of which this book is a member. By the very nature of military history, there are two side to the story and before this book I though Osprey had striven to be fair and impartial in telling the story. However this book falls far short.

It starts off by categorizing the Irish Nationalist forces as "rebels". It is interesting to note that in books dealing with the '45, American Revolution and American Civil war, they refer to the combatants as Jacobites, Americans and Confederates respectively (though they were also considered "rebels" by their respective governments at the time). This respects these mens view (right or wrong) that they were fighting an alien government and not one that represented them. Yet in this book the Irish Nationalist forces are alternately referred to as "rebels" or "insurgents" denigrating their military standing and the ideals for which they were fighting for.

In the section on opposing commanders, there are none of the min-biographies so familiar to readers of the Campaign series for the Irish forces, though strangely there are for the British forces. Firstly, I am at a loss as to how one can write about the Easter uprising without an understanding of Padraic Pearse or James Connolly. Both of these key figures "just appear" in the middle of the text with no background of the men or their character and therefore no understanding of their motivations and desires. However by providing a biography of the British commanders these men are given a much more human quality which the author has denied the Irish leadership.

One could go on and on: the key role that British plans to introduce conscription in Ireland (despite previous agreements to the contrary) in driving many youg men to enlist in the Nationalist cause is not touched on. The aftermath of the battle, where drum head courts, executions and government whitewash lost the war for Irish "hearts and minds" for Britain and drove many heretofore neutral Irish into the nationalist camp is barely and not sufficiently mentioned.

More than most conflicts covered by Osprey, the echos of 1916 can still be heard in today's headlines. Only by a fair and balanced examination and respect for both parties' points of view can understanding be achieved. Unfortunately, for reasons known but to them, Osprey has let the reader down in this title. It is also interesting to note that Osprey makes note that the author is "of Irish parentage", I don't recall ever seeing references to an authors parentage before, and I am not sure of it's relevance. It is almost as if they knew that this title would raise objections and are trying to be preemptive. This of course overlooks the fact that many of the greatest leaders for Irish Independence were of Anglo-Irish parentage, proving ones genetics due not necessarily influence ones beliefs and biases.

The "Easter Rising" by Irish Nationalists in Dublin in April 1916 achieved iconic stature in Irish history and as such, any book that deals with this subject must tread carefully. Michael McNally, who did such a great job with his volume on the Battle of the Boyne last year, sets out to describe the military nature of the uprising in Osprey's Campaign no. 180, Easter Rising 1916. McNally writes well and he clearly has good insight into his subject, as well as objectivity toward the British position. However, the root causes behind the uprising - so apparent perhaps to Irishmen - is not well explained in the lengthy political lead-up to the campaign narrative. Ireland in 1916 was an occupied country but unlike the Poles in Warsaw in 1944 or the Hungarians in Budapest in 1956, this was not a population that was facing mass executions or brutal police state tactics (before the uprising). Irishmen in 1916 had political options that Poles in 1944 or Hungarians in 1956 did not have - the ability to make some improvements through non-violent means. Indeed, McNally's narrative makes clear that the uprising had scant public support in its initial days and was the work of barely 1,000 extremists who sought objectives faster than non-violent means could provide. The so-called "Irish Republic" lasted less than a week and only allowed the British to inflict more repressive measures on Ireland. While the author makes an earnest effort to describe the uprising, by the time that the reader puts this volume down many may ask what all the fuss was about and why over 400 people had to die. Irish Republican die-hards will likely enjoy this volume, but it does not speak well to a broader audience.

Easter Rising 1916 begins with a fairly lengthy discussion of the political context of the uprising, focusing on the issue of Home Rule, the determination of Irish nationalists to seek independence at all costs, Irish efforts to gain German arms to assist in an uprising and British occupation difficulties in Ireland. The section on opposing commanders is a bit brief and the Irish Rebel commanders are presented with much less detail than the three British officers. The section on opposing armies is also brief at four pages, but has three pages of order of battle. Opposing Plans is also brief, with several Irish schemes presented for an uprising, none of which seemed to have any inherent military logic. Several more pages of political prelude are presented in the campaign narrative, which demonstrate that differences between the various Irish para-military groups led to a much lower turnout than expected - the uprising began with no more than 1,200 rebels to oppose a British garrison in Dublin of about 2,400.

The author's campaign narrative is well-written, but after the initial surprise of the outbreak, it tends to bog down as the British reduce one Irish stronghold after another. As city battles go, Dublin 1916 was fairly low-key, with low force levels involved and limited close combat. The author also has a tendency to go over the top at times, describing the Battle of the Mount Street Canal Bridge as "the Irish Thermopylae." Since many of the Irish rebels escaped, it is difficult to see the comparison with Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, who chose to stand and die. Certainly the description of this action between four battalions of British troops and a small group of Irish snipers is the best military set-piece in the volume. The author also seems to see nothing wrong with Irish rebels receiving weapons from Germany, even though other Irish soldiers were fighting these same Germans on the Western Front. Although the author winks at the idea of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," his viewpoint seems to have some of the typical Irish naiveté about what a German victory would have meant for Ireland. Kaiser Wilhelm was not in business to set minor countries free and was out for European domination - a fact that often seems to escape Irish eyes clouded by anti-English hatred.

Easter Rising 1916 includes four 2-D maps (Arms for Ireland 1914-16; Initial Movements in Dublin, 24 April 1916; the Noose Tightens, 24-25 April 1916; Britain Moves Reinforcements to Ireland) and three 3-D BEV maps (Consolidation, 26-27 April 1916, Interior of the General Post Office Building; the final curtain, 28-29 April 1916). The Battle scenes by artist Peter Dennis (the "Lancers" in Sackville Street, 24 April 1916; the bombardment of Liberty Hall, 25 April 1916; the Battle of Mount Street Canal Bridge, 25 April 1916) are superb. The author also provides a useful bibliography.

In military terms, the uprising was a flop - poorly planned, wretchedly executed and with no hope of success, something these pages don't always convey. The author provides little follow-up to the uprising, other than noting the execution of its ringleaders. A bit more of the political after-affects would have allowed non-Irish readers to better assess the impact of this act of violence. The author is also a bit slip-shod with the casualty toll, suggesting 550 British and 2,500 civilian casualties while other sources suggest 475 and 820 (if there are different estimates, an author owes it to the reader to present both a `high' and `low' end). Overall, this is a good volume, but somewhat constrained by nationalistic viewpoints and thus, not necessarily helpful to an objective overview of the events of April 1916 in Dublin.

I would not buy this book. It has no interesting plays for kids to do in Sunday school.

Not highly recommended, but the book has some nice pluses. First, I generally find that lift-the-flap books keep little ones interested when you are reading to children of different ages. The book also counts backwards rather than forwards. My mother-in-law, who sent the book, is a teacher and has said that children are unable to count backward from ten to one when they enter school. This book nicely counts down from 7 with 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 more egg to go. However, the language in the book is nothing to write home about: I could create a more compelling story line. So while the lessons of learning to count backward can be appreciated by an adult, the kids are disinterested in the text after only a few readings.

I was very disappointed in Matthew Mead's book. I was looking forward to it because I enjoy all of his ideas and have used several of his ideas myself. But don't waste your money on this one. I didn't feel inspired at all !

I was looking for recipes and fun, different things to do with egg decorating. This book is not that. This book is about 50% floral arrangements and floral displays. The pcitures are very nice, though, and it is well laid out. There are 7 ideas for deocorating eggs - all suited more for adults than children (even older children - the designs are very sophisticated or very earthy). There are only 7 recipes. Three of them are for fancy ethnic Easter Desserts which I would never bother to try (even though I LOVE to bake), one for chocolate truffles, one for hot cross buns (been there, done that), one for Greek Easter Bread, and one for shortbread. It's not a bad book per se - if you are looking for some fancy ideas and you have no kids and LOTS of time on your hands around Easter, this book is for you.

This 372-page hardback consisting of 10 chapters totalling 286 pages, two appendices of 24 and 46 pages respectively, a lengthy bibliography and a good index, is an attempt at reconstituting the prehistory of Polynesian migration to Easter Island in the light of the evidence from a modern indigenous manuscript ("Manuscript E") of uncertain authorship, reproduced in full in the second appendix, pp. 304-356, the first mention of which dates only from 1954 or 1955. Its translation, alas, instead of being presented with the original text, is scattered, piecemeal, throughout the diverse chapters of the book, so that only the most dedicated reader will likely go through the immensely time-consuming task of verifying it. This is all the more galling that, in many places, Barthel himself marks his own translation as doubtful (?). Evidence is drawn from other sources, sometimes without any translation at all (viz p.150, six verses, pp. 76 to 92: eighty-four verses without a single translation!), or with only partial translations (viz p.146, five verses, only two translated), or some in Spanish, without any English (viz p.196, fourteen verses with only a Spanish translation). Even the opening, p. vi, consisting of 10 verses (evaru kainga / etahi i ravaa...), is only accompanied by a German translation! Barthel's interpretations are thus, for all practical purposes, unverifiable by any but the most dedicated and knowledgeable reader with a great deal of time to spare. Or should I say waste? Indeed, in the last chapter, Barthel derives from Manuscript E the exact dates of Hotu Matua's migration to Easter Island: departure from Hiva on April 25, arrival at Rano Kau on June 10, arrival at Anakena on July 23, etc. Those dates are calculated as if there were a regular correspondence between the ancient Easter Island calendar and ours, valid year in, year out. But there can be no such correspondence, because the ancient Easter Island calendar was lunisolar (like the Jewish and ancient Greek ones), with twelve lunar months of 29 or 30 days, and a thirteenth embolismic month inserted about every third year to keep with the seasons. This book is valuable only insofar as it gives the full text of Manuscript E in transcription (a straight photographic reproduction would have been better). Barthel's one seminal, indispensable work - Grundlagen zur Entzifferung der Osterinselschrift - remains, alas, untranslated.

The book was very cute but the velcro closure was digusting. I even sent the first 2 back hoping it was just them. The second 2 were slightly better but still not something you'd want to give a child. I'll probably just cut the closure part off. Too bad because that added to the cuteness.

I bought this for my daughter's Easter basket. For four bucks you don't get alot for your money. This is one of the thinnest coloring books I have ever seen. Dollar store coloring books have more pages. On the plus side, most of the images are unique to this spring themed book instead of reusing the generic Pony images that are packed into some of their other coloring books. My daughter recieved one from a relative that had the same twenty or so images reprinted ten or twelve times a piece. Sure it was a "big book" but was a boring one. This one is just too short for the price. Not really recommended unless you are desperate for some more unique coloring pictures of the new Ponies.

But did they have to follow a rotten movie with a book? Without respect for the culture (just the marketing of it) why do it? $$$

I was not impressed with this book. I have 7 kids in Sunday school and nothing in the book would have impressed the church or the kids.
Don't waist your money.