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Sir John Moore organized and trained the British light infantry during the Napoleonic wars, and thus is regarded as the father of all subsequent British special warfare units. Moore's service also included general command in the field, most notably during the retreat to Corunna in 1809, a campaign that cost him his life.

This biography is the first to draw on papers in the archives ofthe Dukes of Hamilton and Argyll which shed new light on Moore'supbringing and the shaping of his revolutionary approach to the artand science of warfare. The author has also done extensive research inSpanish archives and on the Spanish terrain where Moore fought hislast campaign. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A highly unreliable biography
Despite the claims made for this biography there is hardly any new material in it. It is based mainly on the memoir of Moore by his brother, the 1923 edition of Moore's letters, and the 1904 edition of his Journal (i.e. not the original documents).

It is chock-full of inaccuracies, right from Page 2 where the author confuses Moore's father with his grandfather. Some are small - a sloop is called a frigate, a wainscot wall is described as "lath and plaster" and so on. But others are serious, such as the author's assertion (a key point in his assessment of Moore's character) that Moore may never have killed anyone himself. This is nonsense; both Moore's diary and his brother's memoir describe him doing just that. Day also describes an occasion when Moore's ship was attacked by a privateer, which he says had "most of its crew shot to pieces" as Moore's shipmates fought back. But the source says clearly that the privateer didn't attack but sailed away instead. The stirring battle Day describes is wholly imaginary.

The book is full of passages in quotation marks, but many are inaccurate, some of them so much so that they are only paraphrases of the original quotations.

Weirdest of all - although the author and the publisher's blurb both stress Moore's importance as a trainer of troops - his most important contribution to British military history, the creation of the British Light Infantry arm at Shorncliffe, just isn't in the book at all. The book simply leaves out the years in which Moore worked on his greatest achievement, skipping without comment straight from November 1802 to August 1806. So if you don't already know why Moore is important to the British Army, you won't find out from this book. Bizarre.

Interesting Biography of a Military Leader
This new title by Roger Day, `The Life of Sir John Moore' provides the reader with an interesting view of a man who the author categorizes as "the classic tragic British hero". This is the first biography I have read of Sir John Moore although I have come across him in many previous books. The author's view of Sir John Moore differs from many other accounts, the most recent being in `The Peninsular War' by Charles Esdaile.

Regardless of these differences I found that the author's biography of Sir John Moore was well presented and a delight to read. His campaigns were covered in enough detail to allow the reader to form an opinion on the man and his achievements. The narrative runs to only 220 pages so it could not be considered an exhaustive study but more of a general overview of the man and his times. According to the publishers much of the primary research material has previously not been utilized.

Upon finishing the book I felt that Sir John Moore was a brave man who actually felt some responsibility towards his troops welfare and did all in his power as a leader to ensure that they were well looked after and used in an intelligent manner. At times it appeared that these concerns and his forward thinking, taking in the `bigger picture', did not sit well with both his superiors and politicians in London nor with some of his subordinates.

Once again I was amazed and disgusted to read of the political backstabbing and cover-ups conducted by some of the politicians at the time. This appears to be a constant thread throughout history, the soldiers doing the dirty work while the politicians find some way of appearing to be squeaky clean when things go wrong. Overall this is an enjoyable book and should find acceptance with those who have read little on the subject, a good primer for further reading. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A shocking indictment of less informed times
Born 1962 and raised in Limerick , the youngest of seven children, John Devane provides a true account of his shocking childhood and subsequent struggle to overcome its effects. His father died while John was still in his infancy, subsequently family life began to fall apart, and John being the youngest seemed almost neglected. John tells of those years growing up, the increasing deprivations, and how at the age of eight he was lulled away from his playmates and abused by a man in his early twenties. This was just the start of increasingly worse abuse that went on for four years by this man and others he introduced him to. 'Respite' eventually coming in the form of two young lodgers who moved into the family home. But this respite merely took the form of protection as these two men became his pimps and sold the twelve year old John's services along the docks in Limerick.

We know from the start that John was eventually able to overcome this tragic start to his life, and make a career as a criminal lawyer, helping others who like him through unfortunate circumstances had fallen foul of the law. But this knowledge in now way lessens the horror of what he had to endure as his childhood was stolen away. Many of his ordeals are described in harrowing detail; his abusers include representatives of the church, the law, and wealthy, influential and respected members of the community. His pleas for help fell on deaf ears. During this time he became a heavy smoker, was introduced to drugs and was drinking heavily, the latter inevitably leading to his alcoholism. Yet from all this John made something of his life.

Nobody Heard Me Cry makes disturbing reading, there is no glamour in the telling, but just the sordid cold facts, and ones heart goes out to this child whose obvious natural appeal wascorrupted by others intent purely on their own pleasure. John Devane's account does inevitably focus on this aspect of his life and its effects on his upbringing: the need to be loved, his disruptive behaviour at school, lack of respect for authority; other parts of his life are related in scant detail. This I found disappointing. With just a few exceptions we learn little about most of the other people who touched his life, the genuine friends. Nor do learn a great deal about his life post his traumatic childhood, other than he did this or that; yes there are few obviously relevant events, but no details about other aspects of his life, the little details that might have let us see the real person beyond the victim. We can only guess that John is despite all a very personable man, that some went out of their way to help and support him, that he finally made a meaningful life with a happy family however tells us so.

Competently written, perhaps a little dispassionate at times in the telling, John Devane's, is an indictment of less informed times, of the hypocrisy that pervaded the very channels that should have been his protection. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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John Woo, Hollywood's hottest action film director, the man behind the scenes of "Face/Off", "Broken Arrow", "The Killer", and the upcoming sequel to "Mission Impossible", has made a remarkable transition from his Hong Kong roots to his current American success. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

good, but not definative
Think of this book as a really extensive magazine article. If you're looking for some behind-the-scenes information on the second half of John Woo's career, look no further. However, if you're a film student looking for a complete in-depth critique of John Woo as an artist and director from both a technical and biographical perspective, this book will leave you a little hungry.

John Woo Biography
This book, though very informative, is taken from so many other already available sources that it reads more like some student's book report. Themost inaccurate passage being that Jeff in "The Killer" wearswhite gloves like Jeff in "Le Samourai". I own "TheKiller" and do not remember seeing him wearing gloves. Also,Christopher Heard claims that some scenes from "The Killer" match"Le Samourai" shot for shot. That is completely untrue. ObviouslyMr. Heard has not done his homework and thoroughly researched his subjectmatter. All in all, it is an interesting read if you are unfamiliar fromwhere some of the material is plagerized.

Pure hackwork at its worst
And for the author to come onto this site to defend his malodorous slapped together quickie bio is contemptible. Heard, the author, "takes offense" and makes claims of having spoken extensively with mssrs. Wooand Chow, and yet these "talks" are not included in the book. Allwe get are the same story beats featured in mainstream magazines such asPeople and Time. Anyone who buys this odious ripoff will, in fact, receivenothing but quotes featured in articles posted on www.chowyunfat.com, orwww.johnwoo.com, or bullet in the web or any number of other sitesavailable by typing the words 'John Woo' into any search engine. Availablefor free, mind you.Christopher Heard, unfortunately, is a hack who didnot put in the necessary legwork, and who now feels the need to attack hiscritics and defend his own deficiencies as a writer and"reporter." For all the "authoritative posturing,"where is the interview with Kenneth Tsang, who has starred in almost everypost ABT Woo work (including Chow's American debut The ReplacementKillers)? the detailed examination of Woo's work (how the two-gun stancewas swiped specifically from The Shootist and Taxi Driver)? details abouthis gun-happy works before 1986's A Better Tomorrow? Why didn't Ti Lungbecome Woo's leading man? why Chow? and who is Ti Lung anyway? and whatabout the many other projects Woo was supposed to do once he got toAmerica? Band of Assassins? Full Circle? Tears of the Sun? Metal Machine?the sequel to Hard Boiled? Who wrote these? How did they come to Woo'sattention? Christoper Heard doesn't know any of this because he didn't knowwhat questions to ask Woo (or Chow). He focused solely on the well knownmovies, as opposed to the person behind the typewriter and camera. Wherewas the discussion about how Woo (and later Chow's) work suffered once theyreached America? Why is this happening? These answers are not in this"book." This slapped together quickie's contents can be found,free of charge, on the aforementioned sites, where ironically, amateurwebmasters offer more answers than this so-called biography. Don't botherwith Heard's hackwork. He didn't bother trying to write a real book; heslapped other peoples' quotes together and called it his own work.

Pure hackwork at its worst
And for the author to come onto this site to defend his malodorous slapped together quickie bio is contemptible. Heard, the author, "takes offense" and makes claims of having spoken extensively with mssrs. Wooand Chow, and yet these "talks" are not included in the book. Allwe get are the same story beats featured in mainstream magazines such asPeople and Time. Anyone who buys this odious ripoff will, in fact, receivenothing but quotes featured in articles posted on www.chowyunfat.com, orwww.johnwoo.com, or bullet in the web or any number of other sitesavailable by typing the words 'John Woo' into any search engine. Availablefor free, mind you.Christopher Heard, unfortunately, is a hack who didnot put in the necessary legwork, and who now feels the need to attack hiscritics and defend his own deficiencies as a writer and"reporter." For all the "authoritative posturing,"where is the interview with Kenneth Tsang, who has starred in almost everypost ABT Woo work (including Chow's American debut The ReplacementKillers)? the detailed examination of Woo's work (how the two-gun stancewas swiped specifically from The Shootist and Taxi Driver)? details abouthis gun-happy works before 1986's A Better Tomorrow? Why didn't Ti Lungbecome Woo's leading man? why Chow? and who is Ti Lung anyway? and whatabout the many other projects Woo was supposed to do once he got toAmerica? Band of Assassins? Full Circle? Tears of the Sun? Metal Machine?the sequel to Hard Boiled? Who wrote these? How did they come to Woo'sattention? Christoper Heard doesn't know any of this because he didn't knowwhat questions to ask Woo (or Chow). He focused solely on the well knownmovies, as opposed to the person behind the typewriter and camera. Wherewas the discussion about how Woo (and later Chow's) work suffered once theyreached America? Why is this happening? These answers are not in this"book." This slapped together quickie's contents can be found,free of charge, on the aforementioned sites, where ironically, amateurwebmasters offer more answers than this so-called biography. Don't botherwith Heard's hackwork. He didn't bother trying to write a real book; heslapped other peoples' quotes together and called it his own work. Don'tbother buying it. A better book has yet to be written on John Woo.

A quality book
For weeks I have heard about this book from friends,publications,as well as the internet.Being a John Woo fan,I planned to purchase the title from the first time I heard it was coming out.So when I recentlysaw it sitting on a shelf of a book store,I immediately purchased it.Itwas read and completed within a few hours. Not because the book is veryshort,but because it was so interesting to read for me.
For John Woofans,this is a book that definately should be looked into.From themonent I started chapter one I did not want to put the book down.To seehow my favorite director came to be the man he is was very interesting, and though I had already known much of the information contained in thebook from previous visits to the internet,I did not mind reading aboutthem again.
I,like the author of the book,started my admiration ofJohn Woo after first viewing a Better Tomorrow movie (the first film,inmy case).I was browsing a store, looking for an action film to watch forthe evening when I saw the Better Tomorrow DVD,sitting there,with ChowYun Fat smiling on the cover.I bought it,went home,and watched it. Within that week I had the Better Tommorrow trilogy all on DVD,as well asa half dozen other films by John Woo and/or Tsui Hark.That is how Ibecame a fan.So when I started this John Woo book,and learned that theauthor became a fan in a similiar fashion,I think it made the book alittle more enjoyable to read and relate to.
For those who are more ofthe "casual fan" or John Woo,who have simply viewed a few ofhis movies and don't know much about him,this is a good book to beginlearning.The writing is clear,easy to read,and really seems to bewritten by a real big John Woo fan.Though I would have appreciated somepictures and the asian names included in the filmography section,thisbook is good enough such that you won't care about those details as youread through the chapters discussing the times of one of the greatestaction directors ever. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:England and the Bourbons in France. They argued, not quite unreasonably, that the old skins of absolute monarchy would not contain the new wine of liberty of conscience and the rights of man. Hence they resisted with fatal consistency the endeavour to reconcile old and new together. They failed, and were swept away, and we blame or pity them according as our sympathies go with or against the torrent of new ideas which they vainly sought to stem. But it is only just to their memory to add that they were at least logical and consistent. They argued with the General of the Jesuits, when urged to compromise and so avert a decree of suspension, Sint ut sunt aut non sint. There are cases of this kind in which the new and the old will not meet and match. When such irreconcilables meet, then there is nothing for it but an open conflict. Eeform is no longer possible, but rebellion ending in revolution more or less complete, as in this country two centuries ago, and in France rather less than a century since.It is only in Theology that the majority of men fail to see that new ideas and old forms of thought are like new wine in old wine skins. The reason for this unreasoning conservatism of old forms of expression in Theology, out of which the meaning has long since died out by senseless iteration, is partly ignorance and partly indifference. Superstition and Secularism, these are the two serpents sent to strangle religion like the infant Hercules in his cradle. Some care nothing whatever for the hereafter, and so call themselves Agnostics. Others care a great deal for what they suppose is their soul's salvation, but their care takes a wrong direction. They lay stress on sound formulas of belief or right ceremonials of worship, and the result in both cases is that the external kills the ... ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Subtitle: Applied to Illustrate and Explain the Doctrines of Original Sin, the New Birth, the Disembodied State, and the Spiritual BodyGeneral Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1875Original Publisher: T. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: T. & T. Clark. in 1893 in 390 pages; Subjects: Theology, Doctrinal; Alexandrian school, Christian; Biography & Autobiography / Religious; Religion / Christianity / History; Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Christian Theology / Systematic; Religion / Theology; ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Applied To Illustrate And Explain The Doctrines Of Original Sin, The New Birth, The Disembodied State In The Spiritual Body. This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dark photocopy of original with pages missing
The book was not a reprint but a disappointing photocopy.The copy was dark and somewhat difficult to read.Some pages were printed twice, and some pages were missing.I vow to never buy a book from these publishers again. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more