C++ XML by Fabio Arciniegas A. (author's update site) is a specialized guide intended to help intermediate to advanced C++ developers understand how to create "real world XML-aware C++ applications".

While a wealth of guides to working with XML in Java seem to exist, C++ XML appears to be the only C++ specific book-length guide to working with XML. But readers looking for an introductory guide should note that it is not a basic introduction to XML or to C++ programming. Arciniegas makes it clear in the first chapter that the book "concentrates on the advanced treatment of XML technologies using the C++ language, so it assumes that you have a basic familiarity with both."

The code examples in the book itself seem designed to be relatively self-contained and probably should be digestible even for developers who might not consider their C++ skills to be intermediate level. Most of the later chapters have more code examples than the sample chapter [365Kb PDF], but instances in that chapter should give an sense of some of the kind of simpler code examples to be found in the book itself.

Source code for more complex example C++ applications can be found on the CD-ROM that accompanies the book. Those example applications include:

The book's manageable size (around 300 pages) and up-to-date coverage of working with C++ implementations of current standards (including XPointer and TREX/RELAX NG) should make it especially appealing to developers looking to get up to speed and up to date in a limited amount of time.