An insider's experience of Prussia under Napoleonic domination. Count Heinrich von Blumenthal was one of Prussia's richest 25 subjects, a personal friend of the king with everything to look forward to until the battle of Jena changed his world. This is his own personal testimony of how, tricked by courtiers, let down by the weakness of the King, and caught by circumstances, he lost his son on the field of Borodino, his property to a court intrigue, and his position in society, all in the space of nine years. Moving, interesting and containing unpublished material about the von Schill...

Seven seasonal stories to be read at Christmastide. Based on the character of St. Luke the Evangelist, who told us more about Christmas than any other author, these can be read as bedtime stories for children or by adults as meditations. Each story depicts plausibly how St. Luke would have discovered the material for his Nativity narrative; who supplied him with his information and why he portrayed the events as he did. For those who are interested in the scholarship behind the material, there are interesting explanatory notes. Originally written as Christmas cards for the author's friends,...