History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth

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Wagner and the Third Reich
Fascinating historically and musically
FASCINATING INSIGHTS INTO THE WAGNERS AND HITLER

Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth
Brigitte Hamann
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 015101308X

Book Description

Winifred Wagner was a British-born orphan who became Richard Wagner’s daughter-in-law, head of the Bayreuth festival, and one of Adolf Hitler’s closest personal friends.

A no-nonsense Englishwoman who displaced Wagner’s formidable widow to become head of the family and the Festival, Winifred fell adolescently in love with Hitler and made Bayreuth the summer gathering place for the Nazi elite from 1933 to 1939. And yet this staunch German nationalist leaped to the aid of Jewish acquaintances and artists as they were increasingly threatened by exile, imprisonment, or death.

Drawing on previously unavailable sources, Brigitte Hamann has produced a meticulously researched and elegantly written biography—the story of the private Hitler and his monumental obsessions, and of the headstrong, dedicated, and misguided woman who remained loyal to his memory until her death in 1980.

Customer Reviews:

Wagner and the Third Reich.......2007-05-11

This biography is for those with a deep interest in classical music history, Hitler and the Third Reich. For those who have the particular interest, this book repays close reading. I must personally thank the author, Brigitte Hamann, for the enormous research project she undertook to bring Winifred Wagner to 21st century readers, and to history. Hamann has meticulously read correspondence, archives, newspapers and conducted personal interviews with those still living. And unlike so many researchers, she brought her story to life in readable language. This is a jam-packed history, brimming with event, and I read almost every word with intense interest. Winifred Wagner's purpose in life was the Richard Wagner festival in Bayreuth, and as head of the festival she maintained a close friendship with Hitler, who was her chief sponsor from 1933 to 1944. The source of this partnership was the so-called "spiritual" relationship between the German nationalist ethos of Wagnerism and the theoretical underpinnings of Nazi Germany. Winifred Wagner was a hyper-nationalist and ardent Hitler supporter since the Munich putsch of 1923, she was a strong anti-Semite as her many letters attest; and yet she extended herself for individuals, especially Jews, many of whom she personally helped and who survived Nazi Germany because of her intervention with Hitler on their behalf. This is fully documented in the book. After the war, unlike most Nazis who hastened to obliterate their past, Winifred Wagner was proud of her friendship with Hitler and made no apologies; never did she try to whitewash her history. She was a remarkable, deeply deluded woman, who ran the Bayreuth festival and headed the Wagner family for many years. Her logistical abilities could easily have been put to deadly use in World War II - luckily, she was buried in Bayreuth where she could do the Allies no military harm! There is no doubt that Bayreuth today is implicated and besmirched by its close Nazi ties. This biography is a brilliant accomplishment. Only toward the end does the story begin to flag as Winifred's life winds down in a series of futile family quarrels. But til then it is a fascinating history. Do read it!

Fascinating historically and musically.......2007-02-13

One of the most interesting books of the many that have been written about Nazi Germany. The book explains the motivation behind the seeming adoration of Hitler by the Wagner family. Having read Friedelind Wagner's book "Heritage of Fire" , it was very interesting to get a more objective account of those years in Bayreuth. The book can be read on several different perspectives and is carefully document. this is a "saver"

FASCINATING INSIGHTS INTO THE WAGNERS AND HITLER.......2005-10-04

The subtitle of this book is important - A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth - for Winifred Wagner's institutionalised childhood, her youth with the ageing hippie Klindworth couple and the early years of her marriage to Siegfried are all raced through in around 50 pages (out of 500). Another mere 50 cover the 30 odd years after her de-nazification hearings and the takeover of the Bayreuth Festival by her two sons. The main bulk of this book concerns itself with the 25 years of her relationship with Hitler (and his with the Wagner family and the Festival) and its immediate aftermath.

That said, Brigitte Hamann provides a fascinating and eminently readable account of that relationship. Her attitude towards her subject seems to change as the book progresses. Initially she presents Winifred as a fervently (German) Nationalist, anti-Semitic character, much influenced by the writing and the presence around Wahnfried of her brother-in-law, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, even before she met and fell under the spell of Onkel Wolfi, as the family referred to Hitler. (Incidentally, Chamberlain was also English by birth but, like Winifred, became more German than the Germans.) The older Winifred is a rather different person as portrayed here. Throughout the war, as evidenced by many of the testaments taken from her de-nazification hearings, Winifred became some kind of Schindleresque saint, saving everyone she could from the clutches of her top Nazi friends - friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, people she didn't know at all, jews, gentiles, the lot. One suspects that all this is coloured by Winifred's own practical need for self-justification at those hearings and should be taken with a slightly larger pinch of salt than Hamann seems prepared to. One can accept that there was a certain naivety to Winifred that wouldn't allow her to accept either what was happening to these people or that her beloved Fuhrer had any knowledge of what was being done in his name. But her continued and oft-expressed loyalty to both Hitler and the principles of National Socialism throughout her later life would suggest that her opinions had not changed gthat much since her youth.

What comes clearly out of Hamann's narrative is a Hitler who found in the Wagner family and its mistress a privacy, a domesticity and a family life he so obviously needed and lacked elsewhere. Hamann remains remarkably tacit on whether the Adolf/Winifred relationship was ever consummated. One suspects not. What does come as a surprise, though, is how early in the War the relationship between them broke down. After all those secret midnight trysts in the 30's, it comes as a shock to realise that they didn't meet at all during the last four years of the War and that correspondence between them became more and more infrequent and formal.

Most of the other members of the Wagner family and many around the periphery come out of this book pretty badly. It seems as though there's something in the genes that drives Wagners to the bloodiest and most internecine of family wars. What is currently going on around the succession to possession of the Green Hill and all that goes with it appears to be little more than a re-run of what occurred towards the end of the war with the previous generation. Wieland emerges particularly badly. A spoiled kid determined to get his way and inclined to smash things if he didn't, he played the most political of games in securing the Festival for himself, conducting vicious and potentially lethal campaigns against the likes of Tietjen, Preetorius and even his own mother. And he was certainly the most duplicitous of all of them about his relationship with AH and the party. It transpires that he was actually second-in-command of a local concentration camp in the latter days of the War - something he would never admit to in later life. Wolfgang remains a much shadowier figure - perhaps because he was necessary to the writer for allowing access to the family archives, albeit still severely restricted and censored. Even Furtwangler turns out not have been quite the Parsifalian simpleton, devoted only to his art, that he and his supporters made him out to be after the Fall of Berlin. In fact, both before and after the War he was a dedicated schemer, determined to get the better of Toscanini, Tietjen and later the one he called the `K man', von Karajan, by whatever means it took.

So this book provides a good sprinkling of gossip as well as a fair amount of new material and information about a crucial and shaming period in Bayreuth's history, all meticulously researched and referenced. It also does us the service, like the film Downfall, of showing Hitler as a human being with human foibles and human insecurities rather than just as a mythical ogre - and that is what is so much more frightening.

Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens

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ture love
A Fine Tribute
A 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history
Highly recommended!
Proving there's no 'burly' in burlesque

Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens
Liz Goldwyn
Manufacturer: Collins Design
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060889446
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Book Description

Liz Goldwyn's lifelong fascination with the inimitable glamour of classic burlesque inspired her to spend the past eight years corresponding with, visiting, interviewing, receiving striptease lessons from, and forming close relationships with the last generation of the great American burlesque queeens. Goldwyn invites us to step back into an era when the hourglass figure was in vogue and striptease was a true art form.

Meet Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland, who was known for her flaming red hair and bump–and–grind routines. (It turns out she once sued the author's grandfather, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., for using her stage name and costume in his Hollywood picture, Ball of Fire.)

Meet Sherry Britton, who, with her long black hair and curvy, trim physique, was among the most stunning of the burlesque stars before Mayor LaGuardia outlawed burlesque in New York.

Meet Zorita, whose sexually explicit "Consummation of the Wedding of the Snake" dance (performed with a live snake) and other daring performances earned her legendary status.

Goldwyn draws back the curtain to reveal the personal journeys of yesteryear's icons of female sexuality and power, restoring their legacy to an age that has all but forgotten them–despite today's resurgence of burlesque.

Customer Reviews:

ture love.......2007-03-15

the book is very dazzling ,and it would be my ture love for the passed Age.

A Fine Tribute.......2007-02-28

An artistic design layout provides the reader with lots of photos and scrapbook pages of original costume sketches, fabric swatches, letters, postcards, and lots more. This visual collage is a wonderful piece of film toward understanding the life these women lived. Their attitude and sex appeal as we know it only disguised the reality of their life, tough working conditions and a career contingent of youth and beauty eventually leading these women to fall on hard times and in the end forgotten.

A 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history.......2007-02-03

If the book title sounds familiar, it's because Liz Goldwyn's HBO documentary of the same name aired in July 2005 to much acclaim, covering the history of American burlesque. If you think you've seen it all in the show, think again: the book holds much more! Here are personal stories, career overviews, and biographies of some of the most talented genre stars. Burlesque history comes alive here as in no other collection, making PRETTY THINGS a 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history, from general-interest to college-level libraries.

Highly recommended!.......2007-01-11

An enlightening look at a largely misunderstood/misinterpreted art form, this book combines rigorous scholarship, engaging narrative, rare photos, and well-executed design. Liz Goldwyn's love of the subject matter is clear and infectious. Highly recommended, as is the author's HBO special of the same name.

Proving there's no 'burly' in burlesque.......2007-01-10

"Pretty Things" will make any modernist long for this by-gone era of subtle seduction and skill. The text and incorporated research are as beguiling as the photographs and innovative mix of graphics. A piece to swoon over and share with all.

Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women

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insightful, well-written take on misogyny in popular culture
Dr. Sharpley-Whiting broke it down!

Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women
T. Sharpley-Whiting
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0814740146
Release Date: 2007-03-01

Book Description

View the Table of Contents. Read the Prologue.

”Sharpley-Whiting's book does not suffer from the sort of cowardice one too often hears from black academics who genuflect to hip hop in order to stay current with the tastes of the students who provide them with whatever power they have on college campuses. Sharpley-Whiting calls them as she sees them and wisely quotes the offensive material when necessary. Her book is high level in its research and its thought, and those looking for adult ideas about the subject should look it up.”
—Stanley Crouch, New York Daily News

”Sharpley-Whiting gets at the heart of the paradox . . . and puts the discussion on the turntable.”
—Washington Post

”Sharpley-Whitting's uncommon perspective is one that deserves to be examined more often.”
—Bitch

”For B-girls who embrace both the brashness of Lil' Kim and the pro-feminism of Lauryn Hill, Pimps Up, Ho's Down is an intellectual look at the intricate, diverse attitudes of young black women within the hip hop community. Sharpley-Whiting combines thought-provoking text with interviews that range from the `rich' (see Trina) to the `regular' (everyday women), giving a voice to today's complex and contradictory females within hip hop.”
—The Source Magazine

”Through provocatively titled chapters such as `Sex, Power, and Punanny' and `Strip Tails: Booty Clappin', P-poppin', Shake Dancing,' Sharpley-Whiting provides a sobering analysis of women's participation in the hyper-sexualized black American, urban youth culture known as hip hop. . . . This book delivers a riveting portrayal of hip hop, from the thumping rap music that serves as a soundtrack for America's strip clubs to the predatory groupies who relentlessly pursue rap stars.”
—Ms. Magazine

”Probing. . . . A canny study. . . . Sharpley-Whiting brings both street smarts and sophisticated cultural analysis to her subject.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer

”Clear and well written. . . . It serves as a decent jumping-off point to discussions of young black women in our current society. . . . Sharpley-Whiting has opened up the dialog, offering a source for research in a burgeoning area of study.”
—Library Journal

”Sharpley-Whiting provides interesting anecdotes about the ways in which women are portrayed (and often used) within hip hop. . . . [Her] insightful analyses [include] a particularly interesting discussion of the intersections of race, class, and capitalism in strip clubs.”
—Bust Magazine

Pimps Up, Ho's Down is an in-depth look at hip hop's effect on young black women. Sharpley-Whiting discusses topics such as light-skinned black (or ethnically ambiguous) females getting more love in hip hop videos, unreported sexual abuse within black communities — even the fact that most hip hop groupies do not consider themselves groupies. She successfully ties these trends into the mainstream hip hop culture of today. Pimps Up, Ho's Down provides an intellectual look at how hip hop views and affects the young black women of this generation, most who are oblivious to what is actually going on. Sharpley-Whiting's uncommon perspective is one that deserves to be examined more often.”
—URB

“Offers a bracing, brilliant, and provocative take on how hip hop has affected young black women. Sharpley-Whiting manages the difficult task of being critical of destructive elements of hip hop culture without being dismissive of its edifying dimensions. This lucidly penned manifesto in defense of the intellectual spaces between hip hop and feminism will undoubtedly inspire heated debate and fruitful conversation about gender, black identity, and conflict between the generations."
—Michael Eric Dyson, author of Know What I Mean?

“In Pimps Up, Ho's Down, Sharpley-Whiting's razor-sharp analysis turns an illuminating spotlight on the dark, complicated intersection where feminism and hip hop meet.”
—Joan Morgan, author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost

" Pimps Up, Ho's Down provides a vital critical assessment of the sexual exploitation of women and girls all too prevalent in hip hop culture and in our larger society. This intelligent and sensitively written study is mandatory reading for those of us who must stop the violence."
—Darlene Clark Hine, co-author of A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America

“In this bold critique of popular culture's stereotypical representations of hip hop, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting never wavers from her end goal of empowering the hip hop generation. Pimps Up, Ho's Down takes this discussion beyond the ivory tower and into the lives of everyday people.”
—Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation

"This compelling, well-researched-and alarming-account of how hip hop culture has impacted the lives and shaped the identities of young black women should be read by women and men of every generation."
—Paula Giddings, author of When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America

“Tracy Sharpley-Whiting's groundbreaking book makes central the harsh sexist and racist realities that hip hop generation Black women face on a daily basis.”
—Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Producer/Director of NO! (The Rape Documentary)

Pimps Up, Ho's Down pulls at the threads of the intricately knotted issues surrounding young black women and hip hop culture. What unravels for Tracy D. Sharpley-Whiting is a new, and problematic, politics of gender. In this fascinating and forceful book, Sharpley-Whiting, a feminist writer who is a member of the hip hop generation, interrogates the complexities of young black women's engagement with a culture that is masculinist, misogynistic, and frequently mystifying.

Beyond their portrayal in rap lyrics, the display of black women in music videos, television, film, fashion, and on the Internet is indispensable to the mass media engineered appeal of hip hop culture, the author argues. And the commercial trafficking in the images and behaviors associated with hip hop has made them appear normal, acceptable, and entertaining-both in the U.S. and around the world.

Sharpley-Whiting questions the impacts of hip hop's increasing alliance with the sex industry, the rise of groupie culture in the hip hop world, the impact of hip hop's compulsory heterosexual culture on young black women, and the permeation of the hip hop ethos into young black women's conceptions of love and romance.

The author knows her subject from the inside. Coming of age in the midst of hip hop's evolution in the late 1980s, she mixed her graduate studies with work as a runway and print model in the 1990s. Her book features interviews with exotic dancers, black hip hop groupies, and hip hop generation members Jacklyn "Diva" Bush, rapper Trina, and filmmaker Aishah Simmons, along with the voices of many "everyday" young women.

Pimps Up, Ho's Down turns down the volume and amplifies the substance of discussions about hip hop culture and to provide a space for young black women to be heard.

Customer Reviews:

insightful, well-written take on misogyny in popular culture.......2007-05-08

Sharpley-Whiting's accessible prose style and unique insight make this a must for anyone interested in popular culture, hip hop and rap, women's issues, Black popular culture, and youth. In all my years researching the topics of rap music, hip hop culture, gender and violence, I have never encountered such a unique and much needed approach. While much has been said about the sexist and homophobic nature of rap lyrics, very little has been done to understand how our sexually repressive, yet permissive, society including rap music has negatively affected Black girls and women. Sharpley-Whiting tackles this issue from a variety of angles demonstrating how the misogyny and sexual obsession in rap music impacts girls' and women's sense of self, how sex and rendering women as sexual objects in rap music affects Black women erotic dancers, video dancers, and groupies, and related topics.

Dr. Sharpley-Whiting broke it down! .......2007-03-23

Dr. Sharpley-Whiting has contributed a necessary and extremely timely analysis to the surface-level discussions surrounding hip hop and its impact on young black women. The exploration of complex contradictions within hip hop music and culture is both scholarly and sincere. This book is a necessary read, as it departs from the easy criticism of lyrics to the difficult and largely un-had conversations regarding sexual abuse, constructions of beauty, and the relationship between hip hop and the flourishing sex tourism industry. I learned about the prophetic warnings and relevance of Franz Fanon, I laughed about the similar and stark realities I share with the writer, and I learned, once again, that I love and am hip hop--contradictions and all!

Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star

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A GREAT BOOK
The BEST Shirley Temple book!!!
A beautiful book!
A Little Slice of Heaven
Gorgeous Book

Shirley Temple: A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Child Star
Rita Dubas
Manufacturer: Applause Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1557836728

Book Description

Shirley Temple was a phenomenon, a child star whose talent and personality earned her a permanent place in Hollywood history. The extraordinary six-year-old entertainer struck a chord with audiences all over the globe. Her career sparked a marketing sensation, spurring the production of anything and everything bearing her image-from dolls to tin whistles-in all corners of the globe, both authorized and unauthorized. Despite the decades-long interest in everything Temple, never before has there been a lavishly illustrated art book examining the phenomenon that was Shirley Temple as a child star in the 1930s. Many of the rare and unusual Shirley Temple collectibles have never been featured in print. Along with an informal, concise history of the childhood career of Ms. Temple (featuring film stills, many never-before-seen photographs, and personal snapshots of Shirley as well as several taken by her), this book is a visual treat befitting the magic of the most famous child star of all time, as well as the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT BOOK .......2007-08-25

This book couldn't be better! The pictures of Shirley Temple are absolutely gorgeous and they are all throughout the book in both color and black and white from the time she was a baby until her later teen years. If you want pictures of the best child star ever, this is the book to have.

The BEST Shirley Temple book!!!.......2007-02-11

An EXCELLENT book about Shirley Temple full of FANTASTIC photos and history of the greatest child star! Kudos to Rita for a fantastic job!

A beautiful book!.......2007-01-16

This book is a must for anyone who is a Shirley Temple fan. Those not familiar with her work might find it interesting as well. Rita Dubas has done a wonderful job here. The layout is beautiful, showcasing many photos of Shirley (some of which I'd never seen before!) along with oodles of photos of Shirley Temple memorabilia from all over the world.

It's a fascinating glimpse into the world of yesteryear, when a sweet little girl was the most popular star in Hollywood.

A Little Slice of Heaven.......2007-01-10

Representing all the children of the world, Shirley Temple gave us the Silver Screen View of the Divine Child, the closest thing to Heaven. She spoke for us who became aware of her as children, felt our child like feelings and made us feel that no matter the circumstance, Love would conquer all. And we loved her for it. How could anything be wrong when you looked at that Angelic face, with her sparkling eyes and precious dimples. How can you not smile at all those bouncing joyous curls.

She was not just a face on the screen but our friend, our secret playmate. Besides that Shirley grew into a beautiful woman, skipping anything wild or rebellious, always full of grace. She opened her heart to the welfare and humanity of all peoples. Her whole entire life has been about enriching this wonderful world we live in. The ideal child became the ideal role model. However rare that is, her light still shines through, warming every heart, young or old, benefiting every new generation.

This book honors Shirley like no other. Adorable photo after photo, exquisitely designed and written. Rita Dubas treats us with her vast knowledge and love of this tiny star. Rita shares rare collections of past memorabilia, not usually seen in the typical collector books. She displays them, so that your eyes dance over them and you feel lost in a wonderland, not unsimular to the way Shirley makes you feel when watching her movies. All your troubles dissapear for the moments paging though this book . . . . . this tribute. Bravo Rita! Bravo Shirley!

Connie Marshall, Artist

Gorgeous Book.......2006-11-30

This is a gorgeous book by designer/collector Rita Dubas. Breathtaking images presented in such a beautiful fashion. This book does the little legend proud. This is one for your library. Bravo!

Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere

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Hip-Hop From A Woman's Point Of View
Different Perspective...
First Ladies of Hip Hop... Please Stand Up!
Bringing Wreck
Erudite and Culturally Relevant

Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere
Gwendolyn D. Pough
Manufacturer: Northeastern University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555536077

Book Description

Hip-hop culture began in the early 1970s as the creative and activist expressions -- graffiti writing, dee-jaying, break dancing, and rap music -- of black and Latino youth in the depressed South Bronx, and the movement has since grown into a worldwide cultural phenomenon that permeates almost every aspect of society, from speech to dress. But although hip-hop has been assimilated and exploited in the mainstream, young black women who came of age during the hip-hop era are still fighting for equality.

In this provocative study, Gwendolyn D. Pough explores the complex relationship between black women, hip-hop, and feminism. Examining a wide range of genres, including rap music, novels, spoken word poetry, hip-hop cinema, and hip-hop soul music, she traces the rhetoric of black women "bringing wreck." Pough demonstrates how influential women rappers such as Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot, and Lil' Kim are building on the legacy of earlier generations of women -- from Sojourner Truth to sisters of the black power and civil rights movements -- to disrupt and break into the dominant patriarchal public sphere. She discusses the ways in which today's young black women struggle against the stereotypical language of the past ("castrating black mother," "mammy," "sapphire") and the present ("bitch," "ho," "chickenhead"), and shows how rap provides an avenue to tell their own life stories, to construct their identities, and to dismantle historical and contemporary negative representations of black womanhood. Pough also looks at the ongoing public dialogue between male and female rappers about love and relationships, explaining how the denigrating rhetoric used by men has been appropriated by black women rappers as a means to empowerment in their own lyrics. The author concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of rap music as well as of third wave and black feminism.

This fresh and thought-provoking perspective on the complexities of hip-hop urges young black women to harness the energy, vitality, and activist roots of hip-hop culture and rap music to claim a public voice for themselves and to "bring wreck" on sexism and misogyny in mainstream society.

Customer Reviews:

Hip-Hop From A Woman's Point Of View.......2006-02-27

Gwendolyn Pough has done something that many would have never thought could be done she wrote a delicate yet interesting academic book on an era that many seem to think will faze out hip hop has been with us for three decades or more hip hop has continue to thrive even when things that had nothing to do with it where use it against it but Ms. Pough takes it even farther she takes it to a point where most will tell you don't exist she breaks it down and tell you how woman yes I said it woman not just any woman but black woman step in and made their selves known in hip hop even though other hip hop scholars deny that ever being.

Gwendolyn takes you back to the days when working the turntables was a way to perform, rapping was a way to be heard, graffiti was a way to be seen because the state didn't want to have a performing arts curriculum so the black youth found away to allow their culture to thrive without the help of those who were educated to teach them these things they didn't need anyone to tell them what was the correct note or the proper way to do a dance the generation of that time was determine to make something of their selves and to say that this culture as Ms. Pough considers Hip Hop continues to grow so does other aspects of it from Rap to the Urban gear we see not only is it baggy jeans anymore we now see our young black brothers sharply dress in a three piece suite courtesy of Sean "P Diddy" Combs, brothers are wearing GRILLZ in their mouth because of Nelly, and last but surely not least women artist aren't afraid to take the stage because they have seen Missy, McLyte, Mary J Blidge, Queen Latifah, TLC, Salt N Pepper those ladies before them do it and they are determine to do it their selves I mean if you look at it Missy Elliott she is doing big things from producing to running her very own company. You can't tell me that hip hop has not arrived and that the black woman didn't help it arrive I mean woman are playing important roles in hip hop movies I know you all saw Brown Sugar where Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan are representatives of hip hop she is a part of it just as much as he is but no man will ever tell you hip hop is represent like it is black and white / man and female but Gwendolyn Pough has no problem telling you the truth behind the culture we know as Hip Hop.

After reading the book I sat back for a moment and really thought of what Ms. Pough said and her book now for me it was easy to accept as a young black woman working in the hip hop industry as a radio personality I see it all the time some black female artist trying to go up against whatever fella that's on the corner rapping its nothing to see a sister battling it out to maintain her place in the game they will get raunchy with their words and say something that you wouldn't expect but they will do what it takes to stand with the fellas because they know what its like to be in the male world of hip hop. So I stand give Ms Pough a applause for her dedication and hard work to make today's world understand that woman have a place in every culture even hip hop.

Different Perspective..........2005-12-31

Unfortunately I must disagree with the other reviewers in that Pough's book is a history of women in hip hop. It is actually much more than that. Check It While I Wreck It is mainly a discussion of black women in the public sphere and questions how black women are portrayed not only in hip hop culture but in black culture. The author asks the reader to review some of the things we as women love so much about hip hop and ask how much these things have influenced today's young women. She gives her own reasons of why women have a hard time breaking into the hip hop culture and engages in the age-old question: can black women uplift themselves and embrace their own culture without the emmasculation of black men. With that said, if you are looking for a history of women in hip hop, this may not be your best source. However, if you looking for a study of black womanhood as a culture and its evolution, this would be a great choice.

First Ladies of Hip Hop... Please Stand Up!.......2005-06-30

"Wave ya hands in the air and shake`em like you just don't care." These are words often used to hype the crowd for hip-hop concerts around the country. I found myself singing the same tune as I read this remarkable tribute to African American culture, hip-hop and feminism. Pough does an exceptional job of researching the roots of black women in the hip-hop phenomena, which has swept the world and become embedded in its very foundation. The hip-hop culture is broken down and explained through the lens of black women detailing how it has changed and how women are viewed. She traces the rhetoric of women in all hip-hop genres: urban literature, rap & soul music, development of the spoken word, and black film. The essence of the title, Pough explains is how black women bring "wreck" which is a form of praise to describe the "skill and greatness" of the lyrics.

Do you know the great women of hip-hop? You should take the time to sit down with this account of rap legends - Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Yo Yo, Salt-N-Pepa and many more. You will learn about Sylvia Robinson, the owner of Sugar Hill Records, break-dancer Baby Love, and poet lyricist Jessica Care Moore and Sista Soulja. Pough uses the work and dedication of these women to help readers understand how women are portrayed in hip-hop. She reaches back to Sojourner Truth preaching black power and equal rights use then leaps forward to Queen Latifah performing socially conscious rap and Salt-N-Pepa exuding sexuality in their breakout lyrics. From the stereotypical roles of "mammy" to the present day images of "chickenhead", black women have used rap music to outline their life, reconfigure their identities, and breakdown the historical stereotypes and negative images that male rappers have constructed.

Pough has provided the world with a well-researched, provocative account of hip-hop culture and the women who have added to its success. Readers can relive the development of hip-hop and sing the songs, remember the films, dances and slang made popular starting from the early 1970's to the present. This is a must-have book for every hip-hop lover, feminist, or African American studies student/department. The issues discussed in this book will provide hours of discussion for anyone who reads it. Pough has brought "wreck" to the area of academia.
Reviewed by M. Bruner for Loose Leaves Book Review

Bringing Wreck.......2004-10-08

When hip hop made its debut onto the urban scene in the 1970s, most saw it as a fad that would eventually fade into oblivion. Some thirty years later this culture, essentially born from urban decay, with its eclectic mix of rap music, poetry, dance, dress and attitude, has become universal.

In her new book CHECK IT WHILE I WRECK IT, Gwendolyn Pough, assistant Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Minnesota, highlights some of the contributions of noted female rappers to hip hop and explores their impact on the evolution of the genre.

Dr. Pough explains the phenomena of "bringing wreck" a catch phrase often used in hip hop circles, as a form of praise, to describe "skill and greatness." The author uses this terminology to ascribe to the ways in which various female rappers; from the lyrically raunchy Foxy Brown and Lil Kim to the socially conscious Queen Latifah and Lauren Hill have brought "wreck" to the world of hip hop by causing "disruptions which somehow shifted the way black people were viewed in the society at large." The author further expounds on the theory that the hip hop culture has the power to "affect change and bring wreck in a meaningful way" and exhorts female rappers to recognize the tremendous possibilities of hip hop and use it as a force for good.

CHECK IT WHILE I WRECK IT is a thought-provoking, enlightening read which affords all readers a window into the world of an often misunderstood, yet extremely popular culture. At the core of this book is the author's call for female rappers to continue to "bring wreck" to the hip hop world, as they strive to carve their own niche in this essentially male dominated culture.

Reviewed by Autumn
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Erudite and Culturally Relevant.......2004-07-25

Throughout the history of Hip-Hop, its relationship with women (particularly Black women) and feminism has been strained. Though there have been a few success stories regarding women on the scene and behind the scenes of the Hip-Hop movement, women's place in it have been, for the most part, invisible, degrading, and kept to a minimum. In Gwendolyn's Pough's exciting new book, Check It While I Wreck It, the assistant professor of women's studies at the University of Minnesota examines the dysfunctional relationship between Black women, feminism, and Hip Hop.

The book commences with a history of Black women in the public sphere who have contributed to the betterment of African-Americans such as Angela Davis, the historical Black clubwomen, and women who were trailblazers in the blues music industry. Pough reveals how Black women laid the foundation for future successes for the entire race. Pough writes "Black women were major players through Reconstruction, the civil rights movement, and the Black Power movement." In fact, because of their exclusion, the author even suggests a re-writing of history.

Later the author gives us a more recent history of women's contributions to the arts and Hop, including Sylvia Robinson, the label owner of Sugar Hill Records, break dancer Baby Love, and female rapper Roxanne Shante. The book gives major props to Grammy-winner Queen Latifah, Sista Soulja, MC Lyte, and poet Jessica Care Moore.

Pough also critiques the products of popular culture such as movies like Boyz N The Hood and Just Another Girl on the IRT, books such as Sista Soulja's The Coldest Winter Ever and Omar Tyree's Flyy Girl, and of course rap records such as L.L. Cool J's I Need Love, and Latifah's U.N.I.T.Y.

The book is best when examining the problems that exist between women and Hip-Hop, from the objectification of women in music videos to the acts of hyper-sexual rappers such as Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown. Pough writes "Today, in addition to the old images of the sexually promiscuous Black women...we have the bitches, hos, stunts, hoochies, pigeons, chickenheads, and baby mamas put forth by Black men rappers. The need to struggle against stereotyped images is still present." Let's hope this book will keep the discussion that invokes change alive.

"Check It While I Wreck" is a thoroughly researched, erudite, and culturally relevant work that is virtually impossible to put down. Reminiscent of the writings of bell hooks, this scholarly work in feminist theory and Hip-Hop culture is destined to be an instant classic taught in college lecture halls across the country.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group

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A Great 60's read !!
Haven't Fallen Yet
Long overdue but well worth it
Presto, Change-O, Alikazam
A Marvelous Story of the Marvelettes

The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group
Marc Taylor
Manufacturer: Aloiv Publishing Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0965232859

Book Description

At a time when most girl groups merely swayed back and forth on the stage, the Marvelettes came out of nowhere to take on the music world and give Motown its first #1 pop record, "Please Mr. Postman." During the next decade the Marvelettes evolved to the sexy, sultry sound of "Don't Mess with Bill" and other Billboard top-40 hits. What happened in between and why their rise to the top was followed by their sudden demise is the brutally honest story behind The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group.

Find out first-hand from Katherine Anderson Schaffner, "the tall one," what really happened on stage...and behind closed doors. Includes interviews with other giants of Motown.

Customer Reviews:

A Great 60's read !!.......2005-12-01

If you love those fabulous girl groups of the 60's, then you must read this one. Really fun and informative from one of the great Girl Groups that very little is known about. Very well written.
By the way, when are we going to see a book about the SHANGRI-LAS??
Again, another wonderful act that very little is known about.

Haven't Fallen Yet.......2005-12-01

The Golden Marvelettes are still in the hearts of die hard Motown Fans...move over Diana, Martha... Gladys Wanda and Katherine still reign...

Long overdue but well worth it.......2005-03-25

( Cover photo: Clockwise from top center, Katherine Anderson Schaffner, Gladys Horton Coleman, Georgeanna Tillman Gordon, Wanda Young Rogers )
At long last, in March 2004, the Marvelettes finally got their own story told, so late after the biographies of many other Motown colleagues had come and gone. Author Marc Taylor faced a daunting task asking Motowners entering their 60s to remember in the early 21st century, events of the 1960s. An early member of the group ( originally a quintet), Wynetta Cowart Motley, had left in 1962 when the group's success had only gotten under way. Georgeanna was forced from the group by illness in 1965; she died of lupus in 1980. Gladys offered only limited participation, saying she was working on a book of her own, and Wanda had fallen far from the groups heyday and had known many years of alcohol and substance abuse.

That left Katherine to primarily tell the story of the Marvelettes tenure at Motown, but it didn't hobble at all the success of Mr. Taylor's finished work.
Ms. Anderson-Schaffner is scrupulously honest in her recall giving her group their due without overstating their talent. In particular, when it comes to the later 60s and the group's unceremonious disbanding, she is just as quick to place appropriate blame on the group's internal dissention as much as Motown's by-then corporate indifference.

Nothing can change the fact that the Marvelettes were the first artists to give Motown a No. 1 pop single ( "Please Mr. Postman," December 1961 ), and their string of subsequent and pleasing hits are as integral to the Motown story as the more known successes of the Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations, Stevie Wonder & Marvin Gaye.

Gladys was the groups lead singer on early successes like "Please Mr. Postman," "Playboy," "Beechwood 4-5789," and "Too Many Fish In The Sea." It was later on, when producer-composer Smokey Robinson turned his interest toward the group, that Wanda Young Rogers was brought forth to sing lead. The petite Wanda, giving breathy and seductive readings to Robinson's more adult styled compositions, gave the group something they hadn't had till then: sex appeal. Wanda's 'little sexy-country voice', as Robinson termed it, exists on immortal later Marvelettes songs like 'The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game,' 'My Baby Must Be A Magician' and, especially, 'Don't Mess With Bill.'

This book is highly recommended to anyone who loves 60s Motown music. And now, perhaps, may we have the life and career stories of Mary Wells and Junior Walker, for instance?

Presto, Change-O, Alikazam.......2005-01-05

What a book! Marc Taylor goes way underground to come out with the 60s story that could only have happened in Detroit, the saga of the marvelous Marvelettes. Somehow he got the cooperation of the "tall one," Katherine Anderson, and so at every turn we hear Katherine's version of events, always a little bitter and skewed, although she always prefaces her remarks with something like, "Oh, I didn't really mind, BUT--" We take the whole tumultuous roller coaster ride from sleepy little Inkster, Michigan (remember on American Bandstand when an addled Marvelette claimed that "Detroit is a suburb of Inkster" and then she got laughed right out of the group?) to the disastrous final move of Motown to LA during the course of which the Marvelettes just got forgotten about and had to disband. In the face of what seems like extensive drug, drink and mental problems of their lead singer, the "wanda-ful" Wanda Young, it's surprising they stayed afloat so long, not to mention being able to record such masterworks of the human spirit as "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," "My Baby Must be a Magician," "Don't Mess with Bill" (all written and produced by Smokey Robinson) and the divinely inspired cover remake of "When You're Young And In Love." Taylor takes us there every step of the way.

Others have criticized him for relying too heavily on Katherine's jaundiced memories. But what was the guy supposed to do? She has a good and extensive memory and she seems to recall every slight and every hurt ever dealt to her, all under a cover of pretended indifference. Besides, most of her stories get corroborated by others Taylor interviews, whether they be members of the Vandellas, or Brenda Holloway, or perhaps some of the mysterious Aldantes--the backup girl singers who wound up singing on 75 percent of the later Motown releases. I wish there were a movie of this book. It out does "Dreamgirls" the musical.

A Marvelous Story of the Marvelettes.......2004-10-21

Many people think the Supremes are what put Motown on the map. The startling truth is, the Supremes probably never would have happened if it weren't for the Marvelettes. In 1961, "Please Mr. Postman," by the Marvelettes, was the hit that kept Motown Records from sinking.

This and other startling revelations are found in "The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group" by Marc Taylor. The good and the bad are there in a tantalizing dichotomy. This is a book that will please the reader who has a casual interest in girl groups, yet has the depth that a die-hard girl-group fan wants.

The girls in the Marvelettes were thrilled and shocked that what started as informal high-school singing had instantly launched them into national fame. But they weren't ready for what was to come next. Motown execs asked them to quit high school. They were put on a grueling tour, riding a bus with no bathrooms stopping in towns that wouldn't let blacks use their bathrooms. In fact, shocking incidents like these are the best part of the story.

The book was created mostly by input from Katherine Anderson Schaffner, "the tall one," who was also the only member of the group from the beginning to the end. The story includes quotes from other group members and other girl-group icons. Not only is the story about the girl-group days, but also the events, sometimes bittersweet, that happened to the women after their years of fame. The photos are good ones, not the usual seen-them-everywhere shots. Marc Taylor has been writing about soul music for more than a decade and deftly handles the amazing story of this well-loved group.

Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music

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Important book for those who need it
Required Reading
What Happened To Classical Music In America And Why.
Classical Musicians: Supply and Demand
Educational about a life style I never imagined.

Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music
Blair Tindall
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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