my favorite designer alvar aalto is featured in this very colorful and great book.. recommended!!

Studying political systems tend to be tricky, especially in the beginning when learning basic facts. Nousiainens book is not easy to read, it is heavy and fact-filled. But it gives an easy overview and a very clear picture of the finnish political system, present and past. It explains the political history and development of politics in Finland, from the independence in 1917 to present. An excellent first experience of finnish politial system.

Allan Konya has written the most complete text on the Finnish sauna, covering the broad spectrum from the origins and rituals (something often overlooked),design and construction, materials, siting and layout. Every facet of the subject is thoroughly covered in detail and one comes away feeling he has finally understood what it takes to make a "good" sauna. This book follows quite closely the earlier text; "The International Handbook of Finnish Sauna" written by Allan Konya and Alewyn Burger. Anyone interested in designing,building or using a sauna should try to locate this book. It is the "bible" of the Finnish Sauna and is far superior to any other text on the subject.I have designed and built several saunas and still find useful information and inspiration in this book.

Translated by Inkeri Väänänen-Jensen and K. Borje Vahamaki. Second edition re-edited by Professor Vahamaki. A classic collection in Finnish literature, thirty-two stories in Finnish Short Stories are by nineteen different authors, presenting a wide, range of writing styles. There is a concise, helpful biography of each author. Stories cover the period from 1859 through 1973 and include some of Finland's classic writers: Aleksis Kivi, Minna Canth, Juhani Aho, and Frans Eemil Sillanpaa. More contemporary writers are: Mika Waltari, Veijo Meri, Veikko Huovinen, Marja-Leena Mikkola and Timo Mukka. Inkeri began this translation project while taking a course in Finnish-to-English translation in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Minnesota. In her mid-50s at the time, Inkeri was affirming her Finnish roots and the significance of an Iron Range childhood at Ely and Virginia, Minnesota.

I have not reviewd it and would like to

5 stars+

Go into any American bookstore and, getting to the movie section, 9 titles out of 10 are on the Hollywood Stars, the 'alternative section' on Tarantini, Scorcese and 'The Full Monty', but with a pitance - if anything at all - on such 'auteurs' as Bergman, Bresson, Tarkovski et al. But in turn then, these grand masters eat into the 'alternative market', with little attention given to the small but great foreign-language film-makers. When one discovers one of these small miracle-makers - such as the Finnish film-maker Aki Kaurismaki - and wishes to find more, there is little beyond internet pickings. Get to your up-market Videostores and get hold of such movies as "Drifting Clouds", "Take care of your scarf, Tatyana", "I hired a conract killer", "Match-factory Girl",and of course "Leningrad Cowboys go America" (sic). Every one a great working-class testimony to stupidity. True art!

But then there is Connah's book. I took a risk on tracking down this book, at great cost, all the way from a second-hand bookstore in Finland. But it was a price worth paying. A note to movie book publishers; pick up this book and republish it. Hey, why don't you invite the author to make a second edition. Rarely does one get an author who goes to such depths and pains to tie a film-maker to his age and culture - goodness knows what the Finns themselves make of him. Kaurismaki as post-modern Bergman, or kitch-Berman, the actors seemingly amateurs dragged in front of the camera from their depressing existence in nondescript Finnish suburbs to pack a sloppy punch, with no added sound effects, more in-your-face than Raging Bull.

So, two questions: Why ain't this book back in print? Does one have to go to the end of the earth, to Finland, to find whether there are any more books about this truly great film-maker? (and would they be in English anyway?)

Note: This is the hardcover edition of the Magoun translation; it is now in print in trade paperback, and I have included a shorter version of this review under that edition. I have also given a briefer notice to the same translator's version of the "Old Kalevala" (a translation of the shorter first edition of the Finnish original).

"Kalevala," variously translated as "Kaleva District" or "Land of Heroes," is a nineteenth-century compilation, revision, and expansion of narratives, spells and charms, and proverbial wisdom collected from the Finnish-speaking peasants and fisherman of areas of modern Finland and Russia. It is made up largely, but not entirely, of "runos," narrative songs which even then survived in isolated, "fringe" areas; ballads with clear connections with other cultures also make an appearance. The material is, for the most part, clearly pagan in origin, with hints of roots in the Viking Age, if not earlier, but processed through centuries of Christianity, Catholic and Lutheran in Finland proper, Russian Orthodox in the Karelia district. Fortunately, Elias Lonnrot, the main collector, and the man responsible for this literary version, was also engaged in laying the foundations of the scientific study of folk traditions, and the collections he made or sponsored formed the basis of a major archive, the publication of which was only recently completed. In the meantime, his popularization had become a part of the world's culture, as well as that of Finland.

The contents are various, but the main themes are the military and romantic adventures and misadventures of a handful of warrior-magicians, as quite with an incantation as with a sword. Vainamoinen, "the Eternal Sage," and a kind of demiurge who sings the Finnish homeland into being, is born old, and his attempts to find a wife lead to the creation of the mysterious and wonderful "Sampo" by the smith Ilmarinen, as a kind of bride-price. These two great heroes share the stage with the irresponsible Lemminkainen, a kind of combined Don Juan and Achilles, and the hapless Kullervo. His story, presented as a cantata by Sibelius, is one of the underpinnings of Tolkien's "Silmarillion." (When the latter first appeared, it seemed obvious that the Quest for the Sampo, and its ultimate fate, was a major inspiration for Tolkien; publication of his early versions show that most of the resemblances emerged over time, in the course of endless reworkings.)

The tireless Lonnrot's literary version went through two major versions, the "Old Kalevala," which has been translated into English once, by Francis P. Magoun, Jr., in 1969, and the "New" Kalevala. Not counting abridged versions and retellings, this was first translated into English, by way of an 1852 German translation, in 1888. The epic was translated directly from Finnish, into imitative verse, in 1907, by W.F. Kirby, a version reprinted for decades in Everyman's Library, in which form it profoundly moved the young J.R.R. Tolkien; there have been several recent reprint editions. In the meantime, Longfellow, already acquainted with European versions, used it as a model for his "Hiawatha," importing a version of the Finnish meter for the purpose. Hence, in an historical paradox, Kirby's translation is often described as being in the "Hiawatha meter." Unfortunately, it seems to work better in Finnish than English.

Neither of these versions was satisfactory for serious study, however, and "Kalevala" is important as, variously, an example of: nineteenth-century romanticism; European nationalist literature; ethnography; folklore; oral epic literature; and, not least, a really good story. To fill at least some of these lacks, Magoun, a leading authority on early Germanic and other medieval literature, prepared a prose translation, published in 1963. It is set out in lines corresponding to the Finnish verses, together with a selection of the early secondary literature (introductions and essays), and a useful apparatus of glossaries, lists of charms, etc. He summarizes modern views, meaning the scholarship of the 1950s. Later printings contain several pages of Corrigenda (corrections and improvements) which originally appeared in his 1969 translation of the "Old Kalevala." (Note: the verses are set out as long lines, with a caesura, not as the couplets, used in most, but not all, Finnish editions; the result looks more like "Beowulf" than Longfellow.)

Although Magoun's translations are quite readable, neither volume is notable for its charm. Sober utility of presentation is the main note, with the main concession being translations of many of the opaque-looking, but meaningful names (Finnish originals in the apparatus, of course). Kirby, despite many failings, was often pleasant to read. (Tolkien, who had been inspired by it to study Finnish, thought that Kirby's version of the rollicking "Creation of Beer" episode was funnier than the original.) There have been two later translations of the "New Kalevala" into English verse, by Eino Friberg (1988) and Keith Bosley (1989), which many will find more appealing. Bosley has also translated a selection of the "Kanteletar," Lonnrot's collection of songs, ballads, and spells, (portions of which also appear in "Kalevala"), and was one of the translators of a volume of the actual songs as collected. But for those who want both the story and all of the details, and either don't care about, or don't care for, such things as meter and rhyme, Magoun's translation remains a first choice. For those who know the epic through other translations, it is still worth consulting. I hold it in high regard.

This rendition of the Finnish epic won the Aesop Accolade Prize from the Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Soiciety. I am in awe of the clear and authentic storyline relayed in this publication, knowing the complex nature of the original narration.

Aaron Shepard's loving and powerful retelling of the Kalevala epic captures the beauty, magic, poetry and grace of the original in a form highly accessible even to very young children. My half-Finnish daughters (ages 5 and 7) sat captivated through a first reading and insisted on a second, thoroughly entranced by the magical power of Vainamoinen's poetry and song and eager to touch their Finnish heritage. But there's enough depth here to appeal to older children, too. Carol Schwartz's rich and colorful illustrations add a glimpse of daily life in the ancient Finnish countryside that makes the magic all the more real by placing it among such believable folk.

This book, although somewhat dated, gives a perspective of Finland in an entertaining fashion in regards to Finland's history. I would reccomend this title to any person of Finnish lineage... Learn of our shared trait: SISU!