As the author notes and, as my own research has discovered, little has been written about Dietrich Eckart and his influence on Adolf Hitler, until now. This brilliant work makes a meal of Hitler's muse and it does so completely, forcefully, and authoritatively. Highly readable, it definitively proves that Eckart's influence on Hitler was massive and, in turn, belays the myth that Hitler himself was responsible for his own psychological and ideological mania. A superb, challenging book! An extraordinary achievement!

Since the publication of "The Wise and Foolish Virgins," it has been a long wait for a second novel from Don Hannah. With "Ragged Islands," the hiatus is finally over. This new fiction is a magical, inspirational novel, one that is Borges-like in its pursuit and recounting of Susan Ann's memories. Set in Shediac, where Hannah grew up, he plumbs his experiences to fill the pages with a host of characters whose verisimilitude is as welcome as a warm rhubarb pie out on the porch on a Maritime summer's evening. We know these people; we know what makes them tick. Drawing on his successful career as a playwright, Hannah's use of dialogue is as skillfully wielded as a surgeon's knife. His diction is apt, choice, dovetailed and polished; as fitting and warm as butterscotch and spread as smoothly. There is no doubt about it: Hannah is to be considered one of Canada's finest emerging novelists. One can only lament that the long wait for his third now begins anew; let us hope it comes as soon as possible.