A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900

Book Description

In 1900, where Churchill ended the fourth volume of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, the United States had not yet emerged onto the world scene as a great power. Meanwhile, the British Empire was in decline but did not yet know it. Any number of other powers might have won primacy in the twentieth century and beyond, including Germany, Russia, possibly even France. Yet the coming century was to belong to the English-speaking peoples, who successively and successfully fought the Kaiser's Germany, Axis aggression and Soviet Communism, and who are now struggling against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.

Andrew Roberts brilliantly reveals what made the English-speaking people the preeminent political culture since 1900, and how they have defended their primacy from the many assaults upon them. What connects those countries where the majority of the population speaks English as a first language—the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and Ireland—is far greater than what separates them, and the development of their history since 1900 has been a phenomenal success story.

Authoritative and engrossing, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an enthralling account of the century in which the political culture of one linguistic world-grouping comprehensively triumphed over all others. Roberts's History proves especially invaluable as the United States today looks to other parts of the English-speaking world as its best, closest and most dependable allies.

Customer Reviews:

Water For Elephants.......2007-09-09

This 648 page book is a synopsis of historical events which have had impact by the English speaking peoples of America, Great Britian, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand from 1900 to present. Major events include WWI, WWII, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, The War on Terror, and the Iraq War. Andrew Roberts is a Londonite and neoconcervative apologist who gives a fresh perspective of these historical events that, unlike liberal revisionist history, portrays the the English speaking people in a light they deserve with recognition of their accomplishments, their sacrifices, their fortitude, their benevolence, and their leadership in protecting the world from fascism, communism, and Islamic radicalism. This refreshing perspective, which is a rare find amongst history books, along with an enticing writing style and brilliant diction made this book very enjoyable. I will frequently reference this work and re-read portions of it. Looking forward to more from this author.

It's about dang time.......2007-07-24

I finally got my hands on this book, and I will tell you all that it is glorious. None of the wishy-washy anti-British hollywood diatribe that was force fed to the globe in the nineteen nineties by Hollywood's anti-Protestant elite. If you want a book that tries to justify Irish nationalist baby murderers in Ulster or sympathizes with the claims of the openly fascist Argentine government of the early nineteen eighties, than look somewhere else. It's about time somebody stood up for John Bull and Uncle Sam, and I for one am proud to say this book lays a giant red, white and blue smackdown on all the nay-sayers, or anglophobes who would like to shoot it down.
Furthermore, many of the critics of this book love hyping on the fact that many Americans aren't of English or Scottish or Welsh decent. Well, no, many are not, but I am. My ancestry is Southern, and they got here from England four hundred years ago. This may not be the case for ALL Americans, but it is for those of us who were here making a country before all sorts of Johnny-come-latelies decided to show up and slander the Mother Country with all of their stereotyping and leftist bashing of England's international acheivements. This book does not gloss over the glory of any of the the Sister Nations to which it refers, it does not make apologies or exceptions, and frankly, it is about dang time that a book like this came out. God Bless America and God Bless England.

Roberts updates Churchill, masterfully.......2007-06-19

The conception of this book, Roberts tells us, was born from a desire to see Churchill's H.O.T.E.S.P's updated. Roberts haughtily delegated the task to himself, then improbably pulled it off with consummate skill.

One of the things I tend to dislike about big general histories--lovable things in themselves--is that they skimp on analysis and thus, notwithstanding their lovely narratives, fail to explode those specious counter-narratives that give all who care about historical accuracy and sound judgment the shakes. This book has both the proper narrative and the analytical explosiveness, making it a ripping read as well as a veritable artillery barrage of insight, a new weapon for sane souls and a new devastation for adversaries. Willmoore Kendall, after reading Richard Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences, nominated him for "the captaincy of the anti-liberal team." In this age of obsessions with minutiae, where arguments tend to boil down to fabricating ingenious connections between detail-dots, it is very important to have another captain who can play the detail game and play it better and more honorably. Roberts is hereby nominated for captaincy of the anti-barbarism team.

Many people will be fooled by the stridency of people like myself and those opposite me who loudly hail or denounce this book. Don't let either of us confuse you. Roberts is no demagogue, and he is eminently fair to people who deserve fairness--for example, he concludes of FDR's social experimentation, "the New Deal worked;" and his re-interpretation of Wilson as not-half-as-deluded-as-Paul-Johnson-and-most-other-conservatives-would-have-us-think should be refreshing to anyone; his evaluation of the Churchill-could-have-stopped-Hitler-had-the-appeasers-not-bollocksed-it-up line is unsettling but eye-opening, as is his measured judgment of Chamberlain; his unwillingness to bow to rabid anti-imperialism could be said to be merely a willingness to examine the facts, and he is not, despite what his critics sometimes charge, a risible "triumphalist;" and alas, his reading of the policies that got us into the (now proverbial) "Situation-In-Iraq" as rooted in old traditions is not a fanatical "neocon" chestnut, as Josef Joffe (realist) and John Lewis Gaddis (liberal), among others, have made substantially the same case. Overall, Roberts' argument is simple and modest: that the English-Speaking Peoples have, taken as a collective whole, done better (not PERFECTLY, not FLAWLESSLY, not BLAMELESSLY) for the world than any other great power, and that this is demonstrable so far as such things can be demonstrated. It is up to the reader whether he wants to apply a normative criterion as goofy as Chomsky's quasi-Kantianism or Zinn's (let's be honest) inept Marxism to the study of history, but Roberts applies a more tangible standard: material improvements coupled with preservation of and respect for, as Thomas Sowell likes to say, "the intangibles without which the tangibles don't work" (virtue, freedom, honor, prestige, etc.). Truth is not always stranger than fiction--Zinn's "People's Histories" are surely way-out-there compared to real histories--nonetheless, truth is often more exciting and bracing than fiction. Thus Roberts' book blows your hair back; Zinn's is a sedative by comparison.

It ought to be said, in conclusion, that there is nothing "triumphalist" about not obsessively citing ten debits for every one credit given to the English speaking peoples, which method of moral accounting is today called "balance." Orwell would have a field day with this nonsense, but Roberts holds his own and handles it with grace and not a shred of bitterness. That used to be called magnanimity. Churchill had it. Roberts has it. The English speaking peoples have it, oftener than not. With this book, we continue to ensure that it stays that way.

Excellent Book.......2007-06-17

This is an excellent book. I also bought a copy for a friend, something that I do less often anymore. If you like history and want a good synopsis of the 20th century, try this. Yes, it is somewhat opinionated, but it isn't blatant about it. It is a larger book than it might appear to be -- it might take some time to finish. Although it does have some more difficult words, it is easy to gather their meaning from the context. It certainly generates an enlightened appreciation for those that protect us. Worth reading.

A well-meaning letdown.......2007-06-16

A previous Amazon reviewer compared this book to Paul Johnson's classic "Modern Times", to which I respond: we should only have been so lucky. Roberts' robust defense of the English-speaking nations' actions during the 20th century is refreshingly free of the "guilt complexes" that befoul many trendy historical narratives, but it sorely lacks the narrative "spine" of Johnson's seminal work. Roberts freely admits that his book is more of a grab-bag of anecdotes than a continuous narrative, but he fails to follow the first rule of anyone engaged in such selective cherry-picking: GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT. A multitude of mistakes, both large and small, tend to undercut Roberts' arguments (such as they are). The book is also inconsistent in its treatment of the English-speaking peoples. The U.S., Britain, the Anzac nations, and even Ireland get plenty of attention, but Roberts seems to have forgotten about Canada along the way, saying very little about postwar Canadian politics and culture. Roberts is a needed voice of reason and intellectual honesty, and I hope that he will follow up this disappointing work with a more coherent version covering the same basic material, but I'm afraid that this was an opportunity missed.

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the Modern World (1300 to the Present)

Average customer rating:

Excellent.
Organization? Is that not in the authors' dictionary?
book
Try Harder

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the Modern World (1300 to the Present)
Robert Tignor , Jeremy Adelman , Stephen Aron , Stephen Kokin , Suxanne Marchand , Gyan Prakash , Suzanne Marchand , Michael Tsin , and Stephen Kotkin
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393977463

Book Description

This provocative narrative history dramatically departs from the standard "rise of the West" storyline that has driven world historiography for a century. A stellar group of historians paint a decidedly different modern world history, one in which the rise of the West was not predetermined and where global integration has manifested itself in fits and starts rather than as a smooth process over the last seven centuries. This fresh interpretation, driven by powerful ideas and colorful stories, promises to engage readers for decades to come.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent........2007-03-31

Unlike the previous reviewers I found Tignor's text to be a highly lucid and comprehensive account of world history. If you have not read much history than you will have to be patient at first with the writing style as it is chock full of information and concepts that can seem disconnected an quite abstract. Yet, if you have the perseverance to stick with it, you be rewarded with a rich understanding of the themes that run through the narrative of human history. Strongly recommended.

Organization? Is that not in the authors' dictionary?.......2005-11-02

While this book contains valuable information it seems horribly put together in seemingly random order. Many-a-times I found that I would be reading the exact same sentence in Chapter 3 as in Chapter 4. The authors largely ignored any sort of geographical or chronological organization and just puts sections in wherever the mood struck them.

book.......2005-10-04

the book arrived in the same condition they said it would and arrived when they said it would

Try Harder.......2003-10-30

Not only does this provocative narrative dramatically depart from the admittedly tired "rise of the West" storyline - it departs from the purpose of an educational text altogether. The writing in this book is, in a word, pathetic; the authors don't even appear to have a grasp of how to construct a paragraph. The powerful ideas and the context-hungry hodge-podge of stories in this interpretation of the history of civilization since 1300 are skewed by the authors' blatant preoccupation with the cultural dis-integration of contemporary Globalism - to the point of affecting the architecture of the book itself. Readers who flee from the possibility of understanding anything will certainly be engaged by the colorful pictures in this book. The rest of you would do well to keep shopping.

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

Average customer rating:

Excellent Resource
Everyone should read this
Good history book
Brilliant and informative.
A serious work with no apologies for her feminism

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
Leila Ahmed
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300055838

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource.......2006-06-25

Leila Ahmed's "Woman and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate" is an outstanding contribution to the field of Middle Eastern Women's Studies. Ahmed explores and effectively dissects the many intersections between women, gender, and Islam. Her book is readable and makes an excellent sourcebook for those who are interested in the historical foundations of women and Islam.

Particular focus is placed on Egyptian women.

Everyone should read this.......2004-05-11

By far the best scholarly and historical work amidst the increasing number of books on this topic. Particularly interesting is the discussion of how Muslim caliphs adopted the Persian custom of having huge imperial harems. Of course, this is one of the aspects of "Muslim" culture that really tantalized the early Orientalists, as discussed by Edward Said in his book on the subject.

Good history book.......2002-10-01

This is a good book for anyone to read who doesn't know much about Islam. The author gives several chapters of in-depth history of the rise of Islam. It is interesting to read--not dry and boring like a lot of other detailed history books.

Brilliant and informative........2001-10-17

Leila Ahmed gives a brilliant and informative read about the history of women in Islam. Her book maintains both factual information along with anecdotal pieces which only enhance our understanding of the lives involved in the religion and politics of Islamic civilisations. While the book focuses on Egypt, it should be understand that Egypt is taken as a very typical regime with the exception of perhaps Morocco and Saudi Arabia as polar extremes. Ahmed clearly has a humanistic objective of equality in all her points, though never too harshly. The book carries a very clear picture of issues and can even help a lot of us consider what Western false concepts of female equality we truly have.

A serious work with no apologies for her feminism.......2001-07-25

This book was assigned reading in my NYU course about the Middle East. Written by Leila Ahmed, a professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Director of the Women's Studies program there, it reinforced some basic information we studied from other textbooks, with a particular emphasis on women's role in Middle Eastern history. The book is well researched, with little-known documentation from pre-Islamic history on up to the present, citing what is known of ancient marriage laws and including literary writings and histories of some 19th and 20th Century women writers. Her particular feminist position is apparent throughout and there are no apologies for this. Often she writes about the veil and blames colonialism for using it as a misunderstood interpretation of women's subjugation.

The second half of her book concentrates specifically on Egypt and it was fascinating. However, I would have liked to see more about the other countries, especially as she got into modern times. I also would have enjoyed reading her insights about the changes and challenges occurring today. It is refreshing to see a serious work such as this written by an Islamic woman and I hope she continues bringing her skills in research and interpretation to the public. Recommended.

Average customer rating:

Karon yes, Herriot no

An Irish Country Doctor

A pint of Guinness, a placebo, and call me in the morning.

I'm sorry but I found this book somewhat dull.

The book, 'An Irish Country Doctor'

An Irish Country Doctor
Patrick Taylor
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0765316234
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

NorthBarry Laverty, MD, can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but already he knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and dales of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie OReilly. The older physician, whose motto is never let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things, which definitely takes some getting used to. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met, or possibly the best teacher he could ever hope for. Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry soon discovers that he still has a lot to learn about country life. But if he sticks with it, he just might end up finding out more about life and love than he could ever have imagined back in medical school.

Customer Reviews:

Karon yes, Herriot no.......2007-09-10

The synopsis on the inside cover of AN IRISH COUNTRY DOCTOR compares Taylor's book to James Herriot and Jan Karon. Jan Karon I can see. James Herriot is a bit out of reach.

There's more syrup in this book than in a Smucker's factory. Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly is like a father to the residents of Ballybucklebo in Northern Ireland. There's a pregnant servant girl, a proud old man who lives in his car, a carpenter's wife with a ne'er-do-well husband, plus his new young assistant, Barry Laverty, who's reminiscent of a lovesick calf. O'Reilly presents a tough exterior, but he's got the proverbial heart of gold.

That's not to say AN IRISH COUNTRY DOCTOR doesn't have some good points. If you love language, you'll love the Ulster dialect. For instance, "A beagle's gowl" is the distance a Beagle can be heard; "Near took the rickets" means had a great shock. There are also some more familiar words and expressions such as "lummuck" and "shite," all of which are defined in Taylor's glossary.

Taylor is also a doctor, so the medical scenes provide some enlightenment. I didn't know, for instance, that halitosis is a symptom of appendicitis.

My biggest problem with the book was the climax. O'Reilly resolves all of the plot conflicts in one fell swoop. But he uses blackmailing and some questionable medical slight of hand to do it. I'm thinking there's no way the villain, a tough businessman, would have believed O'Reilly's ploy for a second.

All in all, if you like Jan Karon, you'll probably like AN IRISH COUNTRY DOCTOR. If not, venture at your own risk.

An Irish Country Doctor.......2007-08-10

For me this book was an easy, quick, read that I could hardly put down. The dry, witty, humor gave me many laughs. I especially liked watching the relationship develop between the old, established, doctor and the young, new doctor. A very good read that I have passed on to others.

A pint of Guinness, a placebo, and call me in the morning........2007-08-09

Travelers to the North of Ireland find wind-swept vistas, fog-blanketed coasts and a land so verdant it looks like it was brush-stroked by Thomas Kinkade. On the occasional clear day you can even see Scotland from the lush Antrim shoreline. A mere twelve miles, `tis, across the North Channel, and a cinch for the marauding Scots giants of lore to breach it in a dozen strides, seeking to do battle with Ireland's own giant, Finn McCool. Saint Patrick first landed somewhere nearby and lies buried beneath an eponymous cathedral in County Down. A land of provos and loyalists, the fervent prayer is that the North of Ireland has also entombed the Troubles.

Nestled astride close-by Beflast Lough, readers are introduced to the make-believe, picture-postcard village of Ballybucklebo. An emerald plucked from the Ireland of yesteryear, herein resides a laughable, affable and pitiable collection of all the Irish caricatures we'd ever want to meet. `Tis where we find our two Irish country doctors in residence plying a common sense and routinely placebo-driven brand of medicine mildly reminiscent of the old joke: A man goes to his doctor and informs him that his arm hurts terribly when he raises it. To which the doctor replies: "Then don't raise your arm. Next patient!"

Our crusty but learned Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly plays mentor, confessor and father-figure to wet-behind-the-ears Doctor Barry Laverty, late of Belfast's Queen's University Medical School. Gambling that rural Ireland might offer a more suitable lifestyle than Belfast, Dr. Laverty arrives in Ballybucklebo ("Bally" loosely meaning "town" in Irish) driving a beat-up Volkswagen, answering O'Reilly's advertisement for a physician to assist him. Following typically whimsical driving directions the Irish are renowned for, Laverty ultimately finds O'Reilly's combination rustic living quarters and surgery (in Ireland "surgery" equals doctor's office) where he's set upon by Arthur Guinness, Fingal O'Reilly's shaggy mutt, a brute armed with boundless affection for the human leg.

The two docs hit it off (without which---no story) and Laverty hires on after passing the muster of the matronly "Kinky" Kincaid, O'Reilly's cook, housekeeper, nurse, confidante, screening-committee and appointment scheduler. Kinky's the glue holding the practice together, protecting our doctoral duo from the likes of: Councillor Bertie Bishop, resident Orangeman and curmudgeon, an equal opportunity Scrooge bent on leaving misery in his path as he cuts a vicious verbal swath through the townspeople. We're soon introduced to the half-dozen or so listless folks who appear daily at the surgery patiently awaiting their turn to receive hypodermic injections of "the tonic", which O'Reilly confesses hush-hush to Laverty is merely vitamin B-12, a placebo which the patients think they cannot live without. We can`t forget about Maggie and Sonny either. He living down the county in his automobile until the roof on his cottage get's fixed. It's been fifty years and the two lovebirds just might get hitched when he gets the roof money together. The good doctors make automobile and house calls to the likes of Sonny and others who can't find a way to the surgery. Which brings us to Major Fotheringham and his wife, a hypochondriac couple who spend days conjuring up imagined maladies, luring a nonplussed Doctor O'Reilly to their house where he plays the game for a bit and takes leave after appearing duly concerned for their fragile health.

Another hapless patient, Seamus Galvin, learns wife Maureen is pregnant again; they're hoping for a turn of financial luck which will allow them to emigrate to Americay. Speaking of pregnant, unmarried Julie MacAteer is praying she's not (But aren't they always?), and none too keen to identify the father.

Spring is in the air and a young man's fancy turns to .....fishing. Not really. Laverty's good with the rod and reel but he's infatuated with a captivating lady he met in Belfast; yet she's unsure, hesitant, all of which leaves our good doctor pining away in Ballybucklebo. And what about Doctor O'Reilly's love life? It's a subject he plays close to the vest, not freely discussing the sad tale behind the one and only love of his life and what happened to her. Keeping his nose to the grindstone, O'Reilly stays steadfast to the task at hand, mindful that the July 12th Orange parade looms and with it the potential for violence and mayhem that accompanies that enduring symbol of the Troubles.

There's more, of course, lot's more: a life-and-death medical emergency; an embarrassing misdiagnosis. In the end of author Taylor's semi-autobiographical Irish charmer the sutures get tied and most, but not all, wounds heal. Some things you can't fix----people die; bad sometimes wins over good. But make no mistake, this is a feel-good anachronistic tale in the stead of The Quiet Man, the Irish heart-tugger that transferred so beautifully to the silver screen over a half-century ago and remains as fresh as it did in the 1950s.

Doctor Laverty's alter ego, author Patrick Taylor M.D., is alive and well, living the good life on Bowen Island off Vancouver, British Columbia, where he reminisces about his days as a physician in his native County Down, Northern Ireland.

I'm sorry but I found this book somewhat dull. .......2007-07-05

I've obviously been spoiled by James Herriot's "All Creatures Great & Small". His vets are lively & memorable.

Also, no one can top Maeve Binchy with her characters that seem so real.

The book, 'An Irish Country Doctor'.......2007-06-27

This book is just a wonderful read. It is set in the 1960's era, and is about a young med-school graduate who takes his first job in a little northern Irish village, joining an elderly doctor in family practice. It is very heart-warming, and holds your interest to the very last page. The author, Patrick Taylor, is a medical doctor himself. I am anxious to read any future books he writes.

Then and Now Bible Maps: With Clear Plastic Overlays of Modern Day Cities and Countries

Average customer rating:

Very helpful Bible Map Book - available many ways
A Great Asset to Bible Study.
Understanding Bible Geography
What you get is nice, wish there was more
Excellent

Then and Now Bible Maps: With Clear Plastic Overlays of Modern Day Cities and Countries

Manufacturer: Ascension Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

World | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1932645179

Book Description

Take an exciting journey back in time through the various places and events of the Bible! Here you will encounter colorful, user-friendly maps which show the political and religious development of the Holy Land, with helpful explanations of what was happening and why. Recently revised to reflect The Great Adventure Bible Timeline system, this Catholic edition will be a powerful tool in discovering the riches of Bible history.

Customer Reviews:

Very helpful Bible Map Book - available many ways.......2007-05-08

This Bible map book shows where places mentioned in the Bible are located today. This spiral-bound book contains 12 full-color Bible maps, each with a clear plastic overlay that shows modern-day cities and countries. Includes the following maps: * The Middle East during Old Testament Times * Overlay of modern-day Middle East * The Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Kingdoms and Persian Empire *Overlay of same areas with modern-day countries * The Holy Land during the time of the Old Testament * Overlays of United Kingdom, Divided Kingdom, modern-day Israel and surrounding countries * The Holy Land during the time of Jesus * Overlay of modern-day Holy Land * Paul's Journeys (Roman Empire at AD 60) * Overlay of modern-day Mediterranean area. The print is relatively large for an Bible atlas (not giant print, but not as bad as some Bible atlases).

This product is available many ways, so check the ISBN above and make sure you are ordering the correct one, because this review appears on several product pages.
* Spiral-bound book with clear plastic overlays - ISBN 1932645179 Then and Now Bible Maps: With Clear Plastic Overlays of Modern Day Cities and Countries
* Set of 12 Overhead Transparencies - ISBN 0965508234 Then and Now Bible Maps: Compare Bible Times with Modern Day (Then & Now Bible Maps at Your Fingertips)
* PowerPoint with more than 50 slides - ISBN 1890947733 Then and Now Bible Maps (PowerPoint)
* Pamphlet (color booklet to fit in the back of a Bible) - ISBN 1596361301 Then and Now Bible Maps

A Great Asset to Bible Study........2007-01-10

This book has been worth it's weight in gold in my study of the Bible, as it depicts the old world and the one that is now. It's really neat to see the territories that Abraham traveled so many years ago and compare them to the way things are today. I think this book is GREAT!! Also, the layout of the book is such that you can see on one page the changes that have taken place over the years to these areas; no flipping through 5 pages to see where areas/borders have changed. Everything is visually right in front of you on one page.

Understanding Bible Geography.......2006-12-06

Then and Now Bible Maps is an excellent resource for helping put Bible locations in perspective / make them come alive for the Bible reader. Even though I am not "tuned in" to geography, this book shows me where Old Testament and New Testament events occurred, what the places were named years ago, and what the places are now named. A rather short book of 16 actual map pages (with additional information), this book does help the Bible reader gain a better understanding of the world in Biblical times as well as aid in understanding how those long-ago events and places relate to Bible prophecy and what is going on in our world now. I purchased this book along with Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines. I recommend both books. In fact, I have purchased several more copies of each book to give as gifts!

What you get is nice, wish there was more.......2006-08-18

This book is perfect for any teacher or homeschooler to show students a comparison between a few views of the Middle East regions during Bible times and present day country lines. However, you don't get very much for your money. The book retails for about $20 new and for this you get 5 pages of political-style maps with plastic overlays for present day and a couple for times in between. I had just hoped for more than 16 pages for my money. On the positive side, "Then and Now Bible Maps" is good for quickly showing present day country lines with the use of plastic overlays, and for that reason, it's a very nice addition to your Bible Study library. It also has many interesting facts about both Old and New Testaments between the map pages. However, Hammond's "Atlas of the Bible Lands" is a nice supplement, and a better punch for your dollar, with about 40 pages of geographic-style maps(showing terrain) for about $9 new.

Excellent.......2006-07-30

I received the two Now Bible Maps way quicker than expected and they were just what I was looking for. I would do business with this seller again in a flash.

Average customer rating:

Timely, Thoughtful, and often very funny!

The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories
Tayeb Salih
Manufacturer: Three Continents Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 089410201X

Customer Reviews:

Timely, Thoughtful, and often very funny!.......2003-04-28

"The Wedding of Zein" actually includes three separate stories, all set in pleasant, rural, Muslim villages of the Sudan, in Africa. The book is named after one of the stories. The other two are called "The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid," and "A Handful of Dates." Each tale has the universal feel of a fable -- the wisdom they encode in their simple language can speak to anyone, anywhere, anytime. The Muslim characters have a few traits which could seem odd to Western readers, but basically they are just like small town folks all over the world. They walk with dignity, they live in peace amidst old friends and loved ones, and they cherish their own dreams of love and happiness.

The title story is my favorite. Zein is sort of a "holy fool" in his little village. He is not exactly retarded, or crazy, but is clearly eccentric. He seems to promote laughter and good feelings wherever he goes, although sometimes this is at his own expense. Many of the villagers laugh at him. All of the villagers laugh with him. Zein seems unaware that there could be a distinction between these groups of people, and, perhaps, therein lies his potential for healing... He is betrothed to the beautiful, solemn, almond-eyed Ni'ma, before whom he has NEVER made a fool of himself. She, and she alone, holds this honor... Their courtship, and the impact it has upon the village, comprises a highly provocative, and ultimately warm, view into human nature. You won't forget this comedic, yet highly serious, love story.

Amazon.com

In 445 B.C., Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is the Persian ambassador to the city of Athens. He has a rather caustic appreciation of his situation: "I am blind. But I am not deaf. Because of the incompleteness of my misfortune, I was obliged yesterday to listen for nearly six hours to a self-styled historian whose account of what the Athenians like to call 'the Persian Wars' was nonsense of a sort that were I less old and more privileged, I would have risen to my seat at the Odeon and scandalized all Athens by answering him." Having thus dismissed Herodotus, Cyrus then dictates his life story to his nephew, Democritus, with similar disdain for the Greeks--whom we in the modern world have come to view as the progenitors of civilization, but whom Cyrus considers to be bad-smelling rabble.

Of course, Cyrus Spitama speaks with a very modern, ironic voice supplied to him by Gore Vidal--and the political intrigues in which Cyrus finds himself immersed are likewise familiar territory for fans of Vidal's historical fiction. But the narrator's delightfully wicked observations are the icing on a narrative of truly epic scope--out of his desire to understand the origins of the world, Cyrus undertakes journeys to India, where he encounters disciples of the Buddha, and China, where he engages Confucius in philosophical conversation while the great sage fishes by the riverside. Creation offers insights into classical history laced with scintillating wit and narrative brio.

Book Description

Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . .
"There isn't a page of CREATION that doesn't inform and very few pages that do not delight."
-- John Leonard, The New York Times

Customer Reviews:

Doesn't deliver what it promises.......2007-09-23

You don't like a novel written by a legend and immediately, you feel guilty, even stupid. It's like standing in front of a very expensive painting of what looks like vomit marks on a canvas, and the "art critic" next to you lectures you on the deep meaning behind such a fantastic artwork.
Not that this book is a literal comparison here, but I found it a labor to read. Worse, the promise of the book was a fantasy "as if" look at what would happen if all the ideas of the axial age had somehow merged, or at least crossed paths. For years I've thought this an excellent concept for a book, and was delighted when I discovered that somebody had written one. This book is a waste of a fantastic concept. Totally undeveloped. The hero simply meets folks like Confucius and Buddha and basically says hello and goodbye. Not to say the book isn't interesting, just too long. By half.

"Magnum Opus"?.......2007-07-27

While reading "Creation" by Gore Vidal, I kept imagining that the main character, Cyrus Spitama, was a representation of Vidal himself. There are several parallels that lead me to this conclusion. First, Cyrus is from an important family, and so is Vidal. Second, Cyrus is closely connected to political events around him; so is Vidal. In any case, in my opinion, I feel Cyrus Spitama is Vidal. I enjoyed this novel, probably because ancient history and philisophy are two of my main interests, and a novel, well-written and interesting on top of it, combining these two interests would surely rank high on my charts, and it does. The protagonist in the story, this Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the religious leader Zoroaster, gets involved with different political assignments throughout the ancient world, including Greece, Persia, India, and ancient China. While on these assignments, Cyrus gets in touch in various ways with the land's resident philisophers, be it Buddha or Confucius and so forth. Cyrus is on a quest to find the meaning of "Creation", or the meaning of it all. It's unclear whether or not he finds such meaning, but by the end of the novel I feel that Vidal wants to strike a balance between endless philisophical searching and involvement in the world around us; for example, politics. This idea has it's voice in the character of Confucius, who, in the novel, is portrayed both as a philisopher and a political tinkerer. I believe that Vidal has more sympathy for the ideas and behavior of Confucius than, for example, the Buddha, who is seen in the book as a lazy bum who doesn't want to do anything productive with his time. Some of the events of ancient Greek history are seen from a "behind the scenes" viewpoint, and this is important because Vidal is known for criticizing "official" views of history. Admirers of Vidal's work will find the standard wit and cynicism laced throughout the text. Overall, this is an interesting novel and well worth the time to read it.

Simply the Best.......2007-04-15

This is the best historical fiction novel written by one of the best historical novelists ever.

Fantastic tale!.......2007-03-20

Incredibly, it took me three tries to finish the book. The first two times I put it down because it talked at length about Greek politics and it was a bit boring. However, I am glad I got to finish it. The story portrayed in Vidals' book is Cyrus Spitama's and his travels during what Jaspers called the Axial Age. Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is imagined to travel to India and to China, where he met with the most prominent religious figures of his day, namely:
Makkhali Gosala (p. 204-07). This thinker parted company with Mahavira. He believed that everyone begins as an atom and has to go through 84,000 rebirths. Only then is the monad finally blown out. Everybody must endure the entire cycle from beginning to end. There is no way out. Nobody can help one escape the cycle.
Mahavira (p. 219-23). He achieved "kevala". He was the 24th Tirtankara ("Crossing-maker"), founder of the Jains. He upheld an atomistic view of life. He believed in the need to extinguish karma by refraining from actions (including good ones).
King Bimbisara
Buddha (p. 330-36) and his disciples Sariputta and Ananda. See Buddha's rebuttal of God's existence in pp. 624-25. Spitama says: "The absence of deity, of origin and of terminus, of good in conflict with evil...the absence of purpose, finally, makes the Buddha's truths too strange for me to accept." And again: "It is astonishing to think that millions of people actually think that at a given moment in history, two human beings [Buddha and Mahavira] had evolved to a higher state than that of all the gods that ever were or ever will be. This is titanism. This is madness." (p. 300)
Lieh-Tzu (p. 489-96)
Confucius (p. 549- 57)Spitama cites his views in detail (p. 672-73)
Democritus' views (p.701)

Unseemly Questions.......2007-02-23

If X Created Us, Then Who Created X? And other Unseemly Questions.

About 2,500 years ago, a blind old man remembers his adventurous life. He is half Persian, half Greek, and traveled all over the world known to his people. He's met every major thinker of his time and posed to them the same question--in effect the same question. In India, he sat with Buddha. In China, he fished and chatted with Confucius. He listened to their explanation for how we came to be and asked the next question: Who created that set up? His grandfather Zoroaster taught him about the Wise Lord, but as he comes to realize, not where the Wise Lord came from. Confucius is the only one with a coherent answer: there's no point in inquiring what we can't know, so let's instead focus on the here and now.

At one level, this is a philosophical treatise. But like all great books, it works on more than one level. So this is also a picaresque adventure story, told delightfully by the weary yet ever so witty old man, Cyrus Spitama. From the ghastly enamel makeup on a Persian great queen's face to the exotic foods sold in a Chinese market place, the details are marvelous. Several historical characters come to life, Persian emperor Xerxes among them. By the end, Xerxes no longer cares about Greece or China or India or even his own empire. He just wants to stay in his harem and drink. That's one response to the complexity of existence.

Fortunately, Spitama has a very different response. He explores and learns and then transmits his learning to his young nephew, Democritus--another historical character, the philosopher who originated the view that the world consists of atoms in constant motion. What would the fictional Spitama have thought of atoms? One suspects he would have been most curious. The book, a wonder of engaging narrative, raises tantalizing issues and really makes one think.

The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 15671659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)

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Spain at War
The last hurrah before Rocroi

The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 15671659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)
Geoffrey Parker
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521543924

Book Description

The publication of The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road in 1972 marked the birth of the "new military history", which emphasized military organization--mobilization, pay, supply, morale and, above all, logistics--rather than military "events" such as sieges and battles. Constantly cited since its first publication in English (with translations into Spanish and Dutch), this revised updated second edition includes new sources and references but otherwise remains faithful to the original edition. First Edition Hb (1972): 0-521-08462-8 First Edition Pb (1975): 0-521-09907-2

Customer Reviews:

Spain at War.......2006-02-06

This is an internationally-renowned study of Spain's Flanders Army during the 80 year effort to suppress the Dutch Revolt. And justly famous it is too - due to the depth and care with which the anaysis is done, as Parker covers all the logistical problems encountered by early modern Spain, inlcuding finance, supply, recruitment, morale - pretty much everything you would need to know about the difficulties of military organisation in the period.

As such, the book opens a window on the problems mounting any type of large-scale operation by the early modern state: far from being a modern professional fighting force the Flanders Army was a collection of nationalities with which the Spanish government more often than not had to coax or encourage to fight on its behalf - a task complicated by the distance of the Netherlands from Spain and by the constant financial strains faced by the Spanish treasury.

Given such problems, it was a considerable achievement to keep the struggle going for so long, especially bearing in mind other challenges faced by the Spanish Empire, and it does give a lesson on how difficult it was (and remains) to maintain an effective military presence in a country far distant from home and whose inhabitants do not wish you to be there. A lesson which it seems is repeatedly forgotten.

G Rodgers

The last hurrah before Rocroi.......2002-06-13

This is one of those magnificent books for the specialist that stay below the radar of a general readership in History. The short narrative of the attack on the fortress of Maastricht is the stuff of martial legends, and worth the price of the book. G. Parker has become the foremost historian in English of Spain in 16th & 17th Century and specifically of the 30 Years War. This splendid monograph is the gold on the background of the Tercio's banners.

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the master
Kawabata at its best...then again his stories are always great!
Distilled Beauty...
A story of sadness in human relationships and wasted love
The Crown Jewel of Japanese Literature

Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679761047
Release Date: 1996-01-30

Book Description

To this haunting novel of wasted love, Kawabata brings the brushstroke suggestiveness and astonishing grasp of motive that earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature. As he chronicles the affair between a wealthy dilettante and the mountain geisha who gives herself to him without illusions or regrets, one of Japan's greatest writers creates a work that is dense in implication and exalting in its sadness.

Customer Reviews:

the master.......2007-04-10

As a teacher of comparative and literature (with a focus on poetry, but the novel as well), I feel confident in saying that Kawabata is a writer of such brilliant painterly effects (by which I mean I visual and emotional evocations), that I rank him at the very top of twentieth century writers in the world.

Kawabata at its best...then again his stories are always great!.......2007-03-21

Snow Country was the first book i read from Kawabata. To me, his writing style resembles the making of a painting. Kawabata uses seemingly simple words to visualize the story; the result is a rich, velvetly, image that floats in the mind of the reader. You can almost touch it. His descriptions on the environment and the characters are extremely detailed. However, feelings are unclear, and thats that keeps the reader guessing and assuming. Interesting enough is to ralize that he describes the Geisha in the same manner as the snow covered landscape.

Distilled Beauty..........2007-03-19

I'll keep this short and sweet like the novel. It's been brought up constantly that the prose is akin to a haiku in its simplicity yet depth of meaning and that's a perfect way to look at what is known as the masterpiece of this Nobel Prize winner's wonderful career. At the heart of the story is an ill-fated love affair between two people who know that it can never work out. Somehow, the backdrop, what gives the book its name, becomes another character in this tale that often reminded me of Ha Jin's "Waiting" and to a certain extent, "Kokoro." This is the type of book that has to be digested slowly as you are apt to miss much of what is going on if you zip through it the way I did the first time I read it. Once you have a second go you can see the intricacies of the love affair and the way that Kawabata deftly presents each of his characters. Don't read this on the subway - relish every moment sitting back during a long cold night.

A story of sadness in human relationships and wasted love.......2006-11-05

"Snow Country", by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Edward Seidensticker, is the first book by this Japanese Nobel Prize winner that I have read.

I mention the translator because a non-Japanese speaker is totally dependent on the skill of the translator to capture the atmosphere, the nuances and the unspoken cultural aspects of the original Japanese. It goes without saying that a straightforward translation of words and grammar would most likely be very inadequate. This is true of any translation of fiction, not only this book.

With that caveat, I was struck with the simplicity of language and "spareness" of the writing. There is hardly a superfluous word, and very few adjectives or adverbs. I was reminded of the economy of Haiku and the simplicity of traditional Japanese gardens.

The story is simple in the extreme. A wealthy Japanese sophisticate and dilettante, Shimamura, spends his holidays in a hot springs inn in the "snow country" of western Japan. The "snow country" setting would have special resonances for Japanese readers and the translator explains its significance and other important cultural aspects (eg the hot springs inn and the geisha) to help the English reader get into the mind of a Japanese reader. Of course, this is almost a futile exercise, but the attempt is worth making.

Shimamura gets involved with a local geisha, Komako, who becomes very attached to him, although he does not reciprocate. Komako is a forlorn but appealing figure who is forced to make her own way in life as a hot springs geisha, bereft of family. Shimamura is married with children but he takes his holidays alone in the snow country.

There is no happy ending and no unhappy ending - although the book ends in tragedy. The ending, like much of the narrative, is ambiguous.

It is a book of great sadness in its human relationships and wasted love - and great beauty in its depiction of the physical landscape in the snow country. Imagery has great significance and the reader gets as much enjoyment from his impressions and intuitions as from the explicit text itself. This is the mark of a great writer.

Like all truly great books, you could read Snow Country several times and gain fresh insights and pleasures with each reading.

The Crown Jewel of Japanese Literature.......2006-10-12

I first read Snow Country more than 20 years ago and it has haunted me ever since. Periodically I have to re-read it to see how age has affected my understanding. Like most of Kawabata's work Snow Country is a love story emphasizing, in restrained evocations, the evanescence of life and happiness. Shimamura, the central character of Snow Country, is a Tokyo dilittante who breaks his ennui through his liaison with Komako, a geisha and denizen of the hill country near Niigata. But his search for relief from his moral tedium succombs to his inability to have anything but aesthetic appreciation; he senses but he does not seem to feel.

It is Komako's hopelessness amidst her instinctive love for Shimamura that makes this story so compelling. Shimamura's ironic detachment from life, evident in his wholly aesthetic perspectives on everything ranging from Western ballet (something of which though he has never viewed he has exhaustive knowledge) to pastoral vistas and the methodical attentions of a hotspring geisha, prevents him from feeling the love Komako throws at him. Komako herself is confined to what the Japanese call the mizushobai, or the "floating existence." This "water-like" life of women who earn their living through paid companionship in bars and resorts gives them a certain degree of freedom but can also resign them to loneliness and most often does. While Shimamura is attracted to Komako, her status combined with his aesthetic perspective of her as a woman of the mizushobai dooms the affair as he takes to admiring a younger geisha called Yoko.

It took Kawabata nearly 13 years to craft this story into its final form. That long attention to writing the novel pays huge dividends. Snow Country is certainly one of the masterpieces of Japanese literature, and it is the story that won Yasunari Kawabata the Nobel Prize.

A Long Way From Chicago (Puffin Modern Classics)

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Sweet as Gooseberry Pie
A Wonderful Story
Fantastic Book
one of the best stories from one of the best kid's authors
Read this story out loud to your children

A Long Way From Chicago (Puffin Modern Classics)
Richard Peck
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142401102

Book Description

Join Joey and his sister Mary Alice as they spend nine unforgettable summers with the worst influence imaginable—their grandmother!

Customer Reviews:

Sweet as Gooseberry Pie.......2007-09-10

Richard Peck's "A Long Way from Chicago" is a sweet tale. Joe & Mary Alice visit their Grandma Dowdel for a week each summer. Grandma is not the touchy-feely kind of grandma. Although she's very nice to her grandchildren, she does not have great patience for stupidity. In this small Illinois town where everybody wants to mind everybody else's business, there's plenty of stupidity to go around. While we never meet their parents, the two children live in Chicago. We get snippets of what life is like in the big city, particularly an account of the death of the outlaw John Dillinger. Grandma seems to know how to manage situations very well. Her revenge on the Cowgill boys who blow up her mailbox is as hilarious as it is unexpected. The summer Grandma takes the kids to fish on private property and witnesses the big town officials running around drunk at the club is also very funny. My favorite episode is the one where Grandma enters her gooseberry pie in the county fair contest. The sweetly understated moral is that if you just believe in yourself, you're likely to get farther ahead than if you try to cheat. Richard Peck does a nice job tying these threads together to create an excellent and touching reading experience. Enjoy!

A Wonderful Story.......2007-08-06

I really enjoyed this book because it was funny and I felt like I was with all the characters experiencing their life from 1929-1942. I think it would make a great movie.

This is the story of Grandma, Mary Alice and Joey every August between 1929-1942. Each chaptter, told from Joey's memories, is about Mary Alice and Joey's visits to Grandmas small town. However, Grandma is far from small in personality. Grandma is not a people person. She is rather peculiar and odd.

My favorite part was the chapter during the summer of 1935. Grandma told one of her usual whoppers about a phantom breakman. Grandma tells many whoppers, which are really funny. These whoppers she tells help to get her out of conversations with people she is not interested in speaking with, people from her small town. The breakman was supposedly a man who worked on the train tracks and was hit by two trains crashing head on. Grandma said he still comes around and on some nights you can see a light in the fog which is supposedly him. I loved this part because it was terrifying but exciting to read. I also liked this part because you couldn't tell if it was one of grandmas whoppers or a true ghost story. It reminded me about a book I read at my Grandma's house in Delaware. This book is called the Ghost stories of the Delaware Coast.

I would recommend this book to people of all ages, 9 -adult. I liked it because it made me feel like I was with Mary Alice and Joey at Grandmas every August. I am looking forward to reading the sequal called A Year Down Yonder.

Fantastic Book.......2007-07-15

This book is fantastic--I read it with my son and we both were overwhelmed at the end. His Grandmother lives in a town where a train travels through 4 times a day. What an incredible journey this book took the two of us on. We read "A Year Down Yonder" first, and then because we liked that one so much, we read this one. I honestly enjoyed the 2nd book more. My son could not put this book down.

one of the best stories from one of the best kid's authors.......2007-05-18

Kids and adults will enjoy this intelligent, witty, very human story. I'll say no more so as not to spoil the story.

Read this story out loud to your children.......2007-05-06

I love this book. And, I have now read it to both of my children (son and daughter) when they were each ten years old. I love acting out the different characters for my kids. It's such a joy to hear them laugh out loud, as "Grandma" does another outlandish thing. The main character is the same age as my deceased grandmother, and by reading the book out loud, it's given me a chance to talk about my grandmother with my kids. The book is not only funny, but an excellent way to start a dialogue about the love between a grandmother and her grandchildren, the Great Depression, thriftiness, honesty, history of the 1920s and 1930s, gangsters, and the "country way" of living.

Children can read the book themselves, but I don't think they will get some of the really clever descriptions and inferences without an adult's help.

If you haven't read to your pre-teen child recently, get back in the habit and start with this book.

Also, this would be a perfect book to be used in the classroom.

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