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.

Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War

Average customer rating:

The Hobo Philosopher
A Very Readable Lie
"Outstanding" War Memoir
One of the best war books of the 20th century
WW II in the Pacific Theatre--A Malestrom

Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
William Manchester
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316501115

Book Description

For the first time in trade paperback, the book in which one of the most celebrated biographer/historians of our time looks back at his own early life and gives us a remarkable account of World War II in the Pacific, of what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and, most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences. Back Bay takes pride in making William Manchesters intense, stirring, and impassioned memoir available to a new generation of readers. A book that will enthrall readers interested in the experiences and exploits of Americas greatest generation. As noted in a recent front-page New York Times article, William Manchester is today widely regarded as Americas preeminent biographer/historian. In the two decades since its initial publication, Goodbye, Darkness has achieved the status of a modern classic.

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-08

I liked this a lot. I bought a few copies and passed them around. I felt that it was very thoughtful. It is not pro-war or even pro-soldering. But even though Manchester was a marine in the Pacific during World War II and is heavily pro-buddy an the Corps, he approaches war without all the who-harr. I especially liked his meeting himself analogy - the young soldier talking with the old soldier. I think Manchester was honest and reflective in this work. It was a good book and I'm sure that a good many old hardened marines have no problem associating and sympathizing with Mr. Manchester's reflections. It is a thoughtful book on the reality of war. I don't think that it is right or left - I think it is just the plain old honest truth as William Manchester saw it.

A Very Readable Lie.......2007-03-27

William Manchester was NOT a rifleman. He gives the reader the impression that he was at all the invasions mentioned when in fact he was on Okinawa and served as an "intelligence" type. He claims "trumatic lesions of the brain", but gives little info on how that happened. He was a REMF ("rear echelon ..."). The book borrows liberally from other WWII accounts. It is not HIS story but a compendium of what other Marines went through.

If you want to read a much better, closer to the fray report on WWII Marines, read E B Sledge's, With The Old Breed At Pelilu and Okinawa.

I have a letter from Dr. Sledge where he lambasts Manchester's revisions history of his own military service as "bunk." Sledge's book is used at the Naval War College while Manchester's is not - says something.

Yes, it does read well. But it's not what it is supposed to be. It's not a memoir - it's mostly a fraud.

"Outstanding" War Memoir.......2007-01-05

If anyone really wants to know what it meant to be a Marine "grunt" in WWII, or any other war, there are two "outstanding" memoirs they need to read.

Manchester's "Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific" is one. E.B. Sledge's "With The Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" is the other.

No "John Wayne" stuff in either book. Just a couple of very articulate enlisted Marine "grunts" serving their time in Hell and living to tell about it.

Fast forward to Korea, Vietnam and Iraq and nothing much has changed --- except the geography, the climate and the face of the enemy. The horror of combat is still the same. Both memoirs should be read by anyone considering joining The Corps in time of war.

Both are now in the "Read Again" section of my personal library. Semper Fi, Marines.

One of the best war books of the 20th century.......2006-11-19

In June, 1992, I flew into Guadalcanal to begin research on my great uncle's experience as a Marine during the WWII campaign. My plan was to retrace his steps during the months-long battle fifty years to the day after he took those steps.

My six-month-long stay on Guadalcanal was preceded by more than a year of reading every single thing I could get my hands on about the battle. I read every book I could find in the English language -- accounts from Brits, Kiwis, Aussies -- as well as a few translated from Japanese. I spent two weeks at the Marine Corps Historical Museum in D.C. going through my great uncle's unit's combat reports.

This book was by far the best I read about our Marines in the WWII Pacific Theatre. Manchester is a writer for the ages, a national treasure.

He didn't fight in the battle for the 'Canal -- his struggles came later. But he takes the reader to war like no other book because he takes us inside himself -- his fears, his hauntings and nightmares about what he saw and experienced firsthand. They are deeply personal and he makes them ours.

Manchester was/is a Marine; but God has made him a writer first and foremost. As a sample of this man's soaring prose, consider his tribute to those who fought for Guadalcanal:

"...[T]o me that struggle was more than a strategic victory. It was, and is, eloquent testimony to the fortitude of man. Men generally do what is expected of them; usually that is very little. On the 'Canal they were asked to do what was believed to be impossible, and the shining response of those Marines on the line is historic. I shall never forget them, nor should you.'

Read this book!

WW II in the Pacific Theatre--A Malestrom.......2006-11-04

This is the best book on the carnage that occured in the World War II Pacific theatre. It is also an excellent war biography of the author, William Manchester.

The Spine of the World (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, Book 2)

Average customer rating:

Mediocre
No Drizzt? Thank you, thank you, so much.
Good Idea, Poor Execution
From Depths of Despair to Persoanl Salvation
Good if you just read Wulfgars side

The Spine of the World (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, Book 2)
R. A. Salvatore
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0786914041
Release Date: 2000-10-01

Amazon.com

Attention all Drizzt freaks: our favorite dark-elf hero is not, repeat not, in Spine of the World. Neither is Bruenor nor Cattie-brie nor Regis et al. But don't think that means the latest installment in R.A. Salvatore's sweeping Drizzt-and-pals series isn't worth picking up: Spine sets things straight for the Forgotten Realms' newest, meanest drunk, the burly barbarian who single-handedly made warhammers cool again despite their measly 1d4+1 damage. Yep, Wulfgar is back, after ditching his buddies in The Silent Blade to become a bottle-swilling bouncer in the mangy port town of Luskan.

The towering tough guy hasn't strayed from his job at the Cutlass, hasn't sobered up, and hasn't forgotten his six years of horrific torture under the nasty balor Errtu.

But it's time for another book, so all that's about to change: kicked out of the Cutlass, robbed of Aegis-fang (yikes!), and framed for the attempted murder of his old friend Captain Deudermont (remember him from pirate-hunting on the Sea Sprite?), Wulfgar goes on the run with the rogue Morik, who's become a true friend despite the mission Jarlaxle and his dark-elf cohort gave him to watch the barbarian. Sure, Drizzt is missing (although he does make appearances in the form of ruminating journal entries), so Spine isn't a nonstop scimitar-fest. But R.A. still spins a good yarn--as always. With plenty of combat and intrigue, not to mention the ever-familiar monsters and spells, Spine of the World is surely the best show in town for the Forgotten Realms crowd. --Paul Hughes

Book Description

The Road to Redemption

Even the brutal streets of a treacherous city can't hide a tortured soul forever.

The barbarian Wulfgar sets upon a dangerous path toward redemption when and old friend finds him in the city of Luskan. Wulfgar's journey twists up the windswept peaks of the Spine of the World. He will persevere, for at the end lies his most prized possession -- the life he thought he'd lost forever.

Contains 16 pages of roleplaying game rules base on The Spine of the World.

Customer Reviews:

Mediocre.......2007-05-11

This is the tale of Wulfgar coming to terms with his inner demons after his six-year stint under the tortuous Erttu. Drizzt and Co. are not in this book even briefly. The main storyline of the Crystal Shard and Jarlaxle is set aside for this story, so you don't get much as far as overall progression here. Maybe Salvatore felt guilty about leaving Wulfgar out of so much of the Legacy series that he figured he needed a whole book of his own. Some parts of the book are great, but this one just doesn't have the magic of the earlier Drizzt books.

The story consists of two separate plot-lines that briefly come together near the end of the book. Wulfgar and Morik (who develops nicely here) are framed, get beat, leave Luskan, fight, are framed, get beat, and so on. The other story was actually the more intriguing to me. It involves characters that we've never met before and their emotional wrangling. A hi-bred lord courts a lowly peasant (Meralda), who goes along with it for her family's sake but makes a big mistake in getting knocked up by another man. The two stories come together in an unpredictable way that results in a hugely surprising and satisfying ending.

Overall, this book is disappointing but can't be avoided if you're reading the whole series.

No Drizzt? Thank you, thank you, so much........2007-03-23

Look. I hate Drizzt. I'm sorry, but he's gotten to the point where he's undeniably invincible, which erases any possible conflict or drama; he's so one dimensional with his self-righteous, holier than thou attitude, and he's a hypocrite. In fact, I hate Catti-Brie and Regis too, and Bruenor isn't too great a character.

The fact is, Jarlaxle and Entreri carry the series. Drizzt hasn't developed; he's static. And up until this book, I was wondering whether or not reading anything else by RA would be worth it.

But Wulfgar really shines through here. The book is a dredge until the attempted murder of Drizzt's favorite captain, and the fleshing out of Morik. The torture scene of the prisoner's carnival was haunting and almost nauseating, and Wulfgar's first display of emotion there ignites the novel. Robillard was developed a bit more, always a plus, and the time Wulfgar and Morik spend on the road is some good character interaction, as well as providing some heroes that aren't akin to a PTA meeting like Drizzt and his friends. Wulfgar is made out to be much more interesting than before, and now that he (or anybody) doesn't have some magical weapon that can basically do ANYTHING AT ALL he seems more real and vulnerable, adding much needed tension to a Drizzt novel.

The two problems I have begin with the subplot. I think I'm not alone in skipping past the contrived chapters of filler that lead up to the meaningful act of Wulfgar getting a child. I wish this was done without the pointless scenes which you can easily forego.

And my 2nd problem. Salvatore, stop overusing words. I counted, well, countless times in which you used:

Incredulously
Inner Turmoil
Emotional Turmoil
Cuckolded
Incredulously

While RA is a pretty good writer, I think he could really improve if he varied his sentance structure and used some god-darn synonyms or something.

All in all, a good book. Wulfgar comes into his own as a better character than Lawful Stupid Drizzt, and that alone is worth it.

Good Idea, Poor Execution.......2006-08-21

Following the very good Silent Blade, Salvatore tries his hand at a book that is almost wholly character driven. While in Silent Blade the character driven parts were by far the best in The Spine of the World the character driven plot is unable to hold the reader's interest for the entire length of the work.

To be honest, the book just plain drags. Even the moments of tension, such as the assassination attempt on Captain Duedermont and the intrigue leading up to it doesn't have the excitement, tension and worry that it should.

One problem the book has is that it alternates between two storylines, one in which Wulfgar and his friend Morik the Rogue descend further and further in station and depravity and the other about an unknown minor lord and two peasants in a love triangle. Though the plot threads do intersect, as we know they must, it simply takes too long. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to start the book showing the first crux of the intersection, Wulfgar's imprisonment for the alleged offense and then return to the past to show both plotlines develop.

Other than intersecting with the Wulfgar plot the peasant/Lord plotline is just a mediocre look at love and political conniving in a feudal setting. It's not bad by any means, but I don't think Salvatore has yet gained the ability to write that sort of plot well.

The Wulfgar plot isn't much better. Tormented by the memories of Erttu Wulfgar destroys everything he has and is forced to leave Luskan, thrown out of his job and then framed for attempted murder. Hitting rock-bottom he becomes a highwayman. Despite being a highwayman with a conscience of sorts I found it hard to believe Wulfgar would ever drop that far. I think he'd be much more likely to commit suicide by taking on ever increasing numbers of monsters before robbing innocents.

Wulfgar's sidekick, Morik the Rogue was merely a pale shadow of Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri combined into a wise-cracking rogue.

Once the threads do intersect we have an improbable, but sweet, redemption of Wulfgar. Emotionally satisfying but it doesn't really hold up to an intellectual inspection.

I appreciate Salvatore departing from the fight-fight-fight formula, and hope he was able to learn from his mistakes here to become even better at character driven works.

From Depths of Despair to Persoanl Salvation.......2006-08-15

No Drizzt you say? He's not needed! This story is about Wulfgar, the Conan-like barbarian who often accompaniies Drizzt, Cattie-Brie and Bruenor Battlehammer on their quests. This story takes you into the personal turmoil of someone who is suffering psychological damage after having been imprisoned in a prison camp for 6 long years. As I read this account about the youth Wulfgar, Salvatore evoked memories of hearing horrendous accounts about US Soldiers who were P.O.W.'s in Vietnam and the severe torture they endured. All that the Demon Errtu did to Wulfgar was nothing to compare how Wulfgar tore his very soul away from himself and hid inside a bottle.

You have Wulfgar settling in the sea port of Luskan which is run by ruthless cutthroats who'll sell their own mother for a silver piece. You discover how a lone man who although possessed of sheer brute strength and agility can topple with prejuidice under cruel weight of his own wretchedness.

Salvatore even seperates our beloved Wulfgar from his precious Aegis-Fang warhammer! And though Wulfgar is upset about it, he goes on to show that he doesn't need it to take down giants and other bad guys. Wulfgar is skilled in fighting and when he becomes victorious over his own soul, the path to forgiveness is long and hard but rewarding for him.

Many of us have seen real life examples of Wulfgar and maybe this is what caused me to love this story so much. I had grown up watching many men sink themselves into a bottle, one after another, and while many went the way of death, some came to grips with their own inner demons and conquored them as Wulfgar has learned to do. It's the hope you'll cultivate for Wulfgar as you read this intriguing story that really compels you to read just another page before you put the book down.

Morik the Rogue is a fun character to learn about and his interaction with Wulfgar is crucial to the story's element. It's the torture that Morik goes thru at the Carnival that is the first tugging of Wulfgar's conscience brining him back to life.

Delly Curtis, Arumm, Josi Puddles, Nee Aticktick, Meralda, Count Feri, Temingast and the others all make for great supporting cast in this story. If you can get this book and read it. You'll love the ending.

Good if you just read Wulfgars side.......2006-03-10

I would've given it 5 stars if not for half of the chapters within which profoundly dissapoints. This book has no Drizzt Do'orden or his other companions, besides Wulfgar, no Artemis Entretri or cunning Jarlaxle, instead, it covers the tedious story of a peasant girl and her love, in the castle Auckney, wisped closely along the spine of the world, where, Wulfgar and his companion Morik happen to be traveling after they were banned within Luskans city limits for the accused assassination of Captain Deudermont, in which Deudermont excused them himself. Honestly, the peasant girl story was to boring for me to read through, the dialogue was like sophisticated, almost like reading through romeo and juliet kinda [stuff], it didn't even seem related to anything at all, I purposely skipped every chapter so I could just catch up with Wulfgars story and his companion Morik.

Average customer rating:

This is INCREDIBLE
An excellent REBOOT to the World of Darkness
Gift
Nice Update
Why?

The World of Darkness
White Wolf Game Studio
Manufacturer: White Wolf Games Studio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1588464849

Book Description

Where the Shadows Grow Long

We live our days completely ignorant of the true terrors lurking around us. Only rarely do our experiences draw back the veil of shadows and reveal the horror in our midst. These glimpses into the supernatural can cause us to retreat into comforting lies -- "There are no such things as monsters" -- or stir our morbid curiosity. Only a few, however, can overcome their fear and dare to look deeper.

Abandon Hope All Who Enter

The World of Darkness Rulebook introduces a version of our contemporary world where the supernatural is real. Players join to tell tales of mystery and horror, where theme, mood and plot are more important to a character's experiences than his weapons or equipment. Inside are rules for character creation, task resolution, combat and any activity your character attempts as he delves into the shadows.

Customer Reviews:

This is INCREDIBLE.......2007-07-04

Just picked this up and Im so jazzed. It is probably the best rpg me and my group have played to date. This is the basic rule book for the other games, you need it in order to play vampire, werewolf or mage. Without thsi book you dont have the basic rules, like combat, characters merits and skills, so be sure to buy this book FIRST. In fact, its so good that you can just play mortals with this game without having any of the supernatural settings like vampire or mage. I researched this game alot before buying it and this game book has even won MAJOR game awards! Im a huge werewolf buff and my GM is running a great game for us.

This game ROCKS hands down!!!!

An excellent REBOOT to the World of Darkness.......2007-06-08

This book is essential in order to play one of the core setting books such as Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken and Mage the Awakening. This book provides all the core rules and mechanics for character creation, combat, actions and the World of Darkness setting, a fictional world much like ours where the supernatural exists. White Wolf has produced books for the World of Darkness, their core game setting for many years, but this version presents a new "reboot" or re-imagining of their game world. Many of the mechanics have been fixed, such as massive dice pools which resulted in having more chances for a botch. Additionally, the game makes use of the common everyday Joe mortal as the basic character. You begin as a mortal and then may acquire one of the supernatural templates such as vampire, werewolf or mage.

The introduction of virtures and vices adds an element of roleplaying that was missing in the previous version. To that add an extensive chapter on storytelling and setting building. One of the things I like most about this game is that you have so much development of the World of Darkness that you need never play a vampire or mage. Humans have as much devoted to them that it makes this a stand alone game if you decide not to purchase the vampire, werewolf or mage setting books.

I was a fan of the old World of Darkness, but with this version I have become an avid gamer like never before.

Gift.......2006-11-05

I got this as a gift for my son and he (13 years old) has really been enjoying it - says it is a great game book.

Nice Update.......2006-10-13

This is White Wolf's generic system book for its various product lines stuffed with system rules.

The system is much more solid then the previous storyteller system. Rolls are difficulty 8 with modifiers to the dice pool. Even when you shouldn't be able to go for something you can roll one die but risk dramatic failure. Borrowing from some systems there's also a 10-again re-roll rule.

Players familiar with DC Heroes will recognize the much more streamlined approach to abilities in the three catagories: power (attacking: intelligence, strength, presence), finese (agility: wits, dexterity, manipulation), and resistance (defense: resolve, stamina, composure). These are in mental, physical, and social columns, respectively. If you want a good looking character, (Previous Appearance ability) that's a Merit. Backgrounds are now called Merits too. A standard starting character begins with 7.

I like it. Alot. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is I feel it could have been thicker with what shows up in books such as Armory. Lowering the final cost-per-page for the buyer.

Why?.......2006-09-20

Why make this book? The "Old" WoD was too widely distributed, so they had to create a new version to sell. The last time White Wolf did this, at least they didn't nuke the setting and have a do-over. If you look at this book, with it's vampires' blood potency that makes them go into torpor and therefore become weaker only to awaken and repeat the process, why be afraid of elders? You might as well be afraid of someone reincarnated as a butterfly!
What I think is funny is that when I talk to bookstore people, they try to sell this book as a revision. What it really amounts to is creating a market for more books.
Like the book? You should check out the old ones. The bottom line is that if it was so important to "streamline" parts of Vampire, Werewolf, etc, that could have been a pamphlet sized companion to the 3rd edition.

Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision--An Analytical Biography

Average customer rating:

Though His Sins Be As Scarlet, His Heritage Continues
Less biography than over-long monograph
highly recommended
"Darkness" is Illuminating
Our Golden Sigi

Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision--An Analytical Biography
Louis Breger
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471316288

Book Description

Advance Praise for Louis Breger's FREUD
"Louis Breger's rich and readable study of Freud offers a thoughtfully complex account of a great but flawed man. Everyone with an interest in psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic movement will enjoy exploring, grappling with, arguing about, and learning from this absolutely fascinating book."-JUDITH VIORST, AUTHOR,
Necessary Losses and Imperfect Control "Written with brilliance and insight, Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision takes us on a daring, at times chilling, journey to the early years of psychoanalysis, revealing both the human weaknesses and the professional triumphs of its founder. . . . Cutting away the accretions of fabrication and romance cloaking Sigmund Freud, Breger has reinstated historical honesty to its rightful, high place, but the figure who emerges at the end of this breathlessly honest biography is quite as extraordinary as the legend concocted by Freud and perpetuated by his followers. Fresh, vigorous, and lucid."-PHILIP M. BROMBERG, Ph.D., CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
"Louis Breger's fine new biography of Freud is a welcome contribution to the existing literature and a corrective to much of it. It is also one of the best intellectual histories of the origin and development of psychoanalysis I have read in recent years. Breger is to be commended for his original research, the objectivity of his views, and the elegance and grace of his writing."-DEIRDRE BAIR, NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR Samuel Beckett AND AUTHOR OF A FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF CARL JUNG
"Finally, the Freud biography we have long been waiting for. With the history of Europe in the background, we follow with fascination Freud's journey from an impoverished childhood filled with losses to worldly fame, ending in exile in England. We come to understand the impact of Freud's difficult personality on the development of his brilliant as well as questionable theoretical ideas. Breger writes with compassion and fairness toward Freud as well as toward the many interesting personalities who cross his life, with their complicated relationships to the great man."-SOPHIE FREUD, FREUD'S GRANDDAUGHTER AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIAL WORK, SIMMONS COLLEGE
"Louis Breger's magnificent book is the definitive work on the personal psychology of Sigmund Freud. it brilliantly illuminates how the darkness in Freud's vision has affected psychoanalytic history. This book will be central for psychoanalytic scholarship for decades to come."-GEORGE E. ATWOOD, Ph.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Customer Reviews:

Though His Sins Be As Scarlet, His Heritage Continues.......2007-07-05

It has been a long time since I have come across a book title that so aptly summarizes its subject, in this case the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Louis Breger provides a splendid historical overview of Freud's importance in the development of the healing art of mental health, but it is certainly not an attractive man who emerges from these pages. It is to the author's credit that he makes every effort to explain why Freud does not engender in the public arena the warm regard of the second generation psychoanalysts, many of them orphaned by their autocratic intellectual leader.

Himself a practicing psychoanalyst, Breger traces Freud's Austrian developmental years and his early forays into medicine. Freud was born in 1856; his family was numerous and poor; his mother appeared to do most of the worrying for the family while his unruffled father carved out a precarious existence. Freud's disillusionment with his father and his jealousy for his mother's attention amidst a near constant stream of young rivals--mostly girls--in an environment of little privacy is usually given as the traditional spawning ground of his best known theories regarding the Oedipus Complex and the natural role of women.

Breger, however, examines this childhood more critically. Young Freud suffered several significant losses in his early years--the death of his infant brother Julius, for example, or the firing of his beloved housemaid Monika, who actually served as a surrogate mother for a time when his own mother was afflicted with grief and depression. But most of all, Freud missed his mother, who understandably was emotionally unavailable to him, though as a youth Freud could certainly not understand her predicament. Breger observes that her son could never bring to his consciousness his deep anger at her, and it is the author's contention that this subconscious pain was the fuel for the father-son warfare so central to the Freudian system; in essence a subterfuge for what really ailed him. The masculine oedipal trauma as the source of neurosis was the only explanation Freud would tolerate for nearly all of his 80 years--and it would impair his work and cost him his closest friends in years to come.

And yet, Freud's predicament was hardly unusual in his time. There were many poor children who did not get what they needed from their parents. My only critique of Breger's analysis is his omission of treatment of Freud's driving ambition to "be someone great." The author does note that in his escapes to imagination, Freud throughout his life identified with Hannibal, an interesting military choice for a scientist.
Freud's first medical work was highly technical for the time, neurological research under the gifted Ernst Brucke, but after some years he left organized research to work with the charismatic Jean-Martin Charcotte, "The Napoleon of Neuroses." Charcotte made some respectable progress in the understanding of hysteria, though his cultivated flamboyant style was no doubt an obstacle within scientific circles.

At the very least, Charcotte opened Freud's eyes to the stimulating and monetary possibilities of psychiatry. Now married, Freud opened a private practice in what was called at the time neuropathology. His survival depended in no small part upon the financial and personal support of a more seasoned physician, Josef Breuer. Breuer, it may be recalled, is remembered for his modest but innovative success with his "talking cure" for neurological symptoms. Working together, Freud and Breuer spent a decade refining the treatment of hysteria until Breuer finally refused to endorse Freud's hypothesis that all traumas of loss were ultimately sexual in origin. Freud turned his affections to Wilhelm Fliess and abruptly dismissed the kindly physician Breuer, the first of many men to be taken into Freud's bosom and then discarded for perceived doctrinal [read: personal] disloyalty.

With a thriving practice and a highly developed [albeit skewed] theory of neurosis and personality, Freud became the father figure for young men who shared his passion for psychoanalysis and who generally were in search of father figures themselves. Nearly all of the early practitioners were Jews from Austria and Switzerland; the ethnic identity, coupled with Freud's fondness for military imagery, tended to mold the movement into a kind of defensive zealotry for some years. It was not unusual for colleagues to psychoanalyze each other or interpret each other's dreams. Confidentiality and boundary ethics were poorly defined, creating enormous professional and personal problems for many practitioners and their patients.

Breger observed that for all the talent surrounding Freud, there was little by way of innovation or verification to discern if psychoanalysis was truly effective. Moreover, those who did advance their own personality theories [as did Jung] or therapeutic styles [as did Rank] were excommunicated from Freud's associations and publications with virtual liturgical solemnity. It should come as no surprise, then, that the heretic who may have been most dangerous to Freud was Alfred Adler. Adler, like Breuer, realized that a multitude of traumas could set off neuroses, not merely fatherhood or sexual issues. [Amazingly, Freud learned nothing from soldiers' traumas of World War I.] Adler, whose own interests took him into family dysfunction, came to understand not just Freud's past, but what was worse, how Freud was repeating the sibling rivalry pattern with his present colleagues.

Breger assesses Freud's counseling style from copious notes and correspondences, and concludes that the master frequently disregarded his own rules of objectivity and impersonal pose. He credits Freud with making the critical connection between trauma and neurosis, even if excessively limiting the boundaries of trauma. Moreover, Freud provided the springboard for gifted men and women to develop the psychological healing arts, unhealthy dynamics notwithstanding. He does not evoke outright admiration today, and yet I myself felt sympathetic as cancer and Nazi persecution ravaged his last years.

Less biography than over-long monograph.......2006-12-02

To read this book, you'd wonder why psychoanalysis ever had the inordinate success it enjoyed. Though Breger does say at various points that Freud's contributions opened up whole new vistas on human life, and he states that Freud had a compelling personality, that's about all he does--he just says it. Thus this book fails on a fundamental criterion of good writing: It says, but does not show.

The book really isn't a biography, but an over-long monograph. That is, it aims to prove one point: That Freud, unable to deal with his own emotional life, concocted his major theories to protect himself, then created the psychoanalytic movement through harsh, often slanderous, authoritarian strategies, in service to his own emotional needs.

If you buy the idea that early childhood determines adult character and behavior--a view not much in vogue these days--you'll probably judge that Breger makes his point well enough. Even so, he makes the point over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, and always basically the same way. It gets a bit tedious.

If you don't buy the idea that early childhood determines adult behavior, there's no point in your reading this book at all. Without Breger's highly speculative account of the influence of Freud's childhood on his subsequent life, there's little of interest here. None of Freud's very real, often-disgusting sins discussed here are news.

I have two major complaints, beside the tedium of repetition and the recherche modes of thought:

First, even if Breger's point is accurate, the book offers no sense of the genuinely awe-inspiring intellect that radiates from the pages of most of Freud's work. Even if you find many of Freud's central doctrines utterly bizarre, as I do (and always have--which caused me no end of grief at my training institute), you can't read Freud (unless you come at the work with extreme prejudice) without a humbling sense of the presence of genius. The hundreds of millions of copies of Freud's works don't sell because of Freud's authoritarian control over the buyers!!!! Likewise, to read accounts by many estimable souls of their experience with Freud, you cannot but realize that, for all the deep character faults he suffered, he was a most remarkable, often-generous, human.

Second, Breger decries the penchant of the psychoanalytic community for "debate through diagnosis." But I can't see how this book can escape the same charge. If the book were really a biography, Breger's thesis might be an interesting aspect of the story. But the book does not give a comprehensive or rich picture of Freud's life, history, or personality. This simply is not a biography--it's an argument.

I'm reminded of a point Bertrand Russell made, that one's biography is better served by a brilliant enemy than a second-rate sympathizer. Yeah, Breger's sympathetic, in his own way, and probably a kind-hearted, honest man. But he gives no evidence of much brilliance of his own--and doesn't convey Freud's.

highly recommended.......2006-01-15

It is refreshing to come across a biography of Freud--and an analytical biography at that--without an obvious agenda or an ax to grind: in other words, without idealization (Jones, Gay) or retaliation (Crews at his most sarcastic).

Professor Breger's fine book eschews the pleasure of peeling the narcissistic Freud like an onion and instead looks into his early woundings, repressed longings for love, and lifelong grandiosity and thirst for fame while never losing sight of Freud's accomplishments. I teach depth psychology to graduates and undergrads and have recommended this scholarly and lucid book to them as a means for understanding (as Jung put it) "a man in the grip of his daimon."

"Darkness" is Illuminating.......2004-06-20

As one contemplates purchasing this biography, attention must be paid to the subtitle: "An Analytical Biography." This is not an all-encompensing portrait of Freud, in that it's not focussed on his many contributions. Rather, the biographer provides a rare glimpse into a man who's name has been omnipresent in all of psychology as well as the arts since his works first began to be published at the end of the 19th century.

Frued's influence is undeniable and inescapable. Yet, there remain very few studies into the psychology of the man himself. What is found mostly are brief accounts of Freud's genius and heroism. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, what we have with this biography is a psychological profile of the man himself.

In this biography, there is no "hero worship" to speak of. I would like to say that the biography is balanced, but it's not, and that is not even the point. I believe the reason to read this book is to gain account of historical facts that have been white-washed and profound insights that are missing in other Freud studies. We learn, for instance, of the dynamics between Freud and his mother, which (fascinatingly) were characterized by avoidance, fear, guilt, and denial. We also learn of Freud's far-reaching, heavy-handed influence in the early days of psychoanalysis, a level of control that managed to destroy careers, even lives.

One could be left with a vision of Freud-as-tyrant. In this case, pick up another biography of Freud, and you will find some "lightness" to counter the darkness presented in this biography. This book is not, however, some sort of hatchet job. It is vital, important, clear-headed, insightful, and absolutely necessary to gain an understanding of Freud the man. He was no different than the rest of us. This biography helps to balance unreasonable "hero-worship" that, after all, isn't helpful or conducive to level-headed understanding human nature.

Our Golden Sigi.......2004-05-01

He was the founder and autocratic (some would even say dictatorial) leader of one the most controversial, yet profoundly influential, intellectual movements of 20th century. While his own thought sought to systematically dismantle the prevailing medical orthodoxy of his era, it simultaneously introduced a new and even more rigid orthodoxy. Though he was largely uninterested in politics, he proved himself to be the consummate politician, always carefully calculating the effects his actions would have on his movement, the psychoanalytic movement, as a whole. He zealously recruited the best and brightest minds of the time, only to shackle and ultimately squander much of their individual creativity through an endless series of loyalty tests in which the more sycophantic and unquestioning you were, the higher you rose within the inner-circle. His fateful obstinacy extended even to his own physical well-being, as he continued to smoke his trademark pipe even after much of his lower jaw had rotted off from the cancer that eventually killed him.

Freud is a legend, no doubt. But, as this skillful biography of the man makes clear, his legendary status is marked as much by deep personal flaws as by personal greatness. This is only fitting for the man who invented psychoanalysis. We all have tendencies toward self-mythologization, towards the creation of a narrative which minimizes our weaknesses (either by ignoring them outright or blaming their causes on others) and maximizes our strengths. Indeed such narratives are but the linguistic manifestation of our unconscious defense mechanisms. And consequently much of analysis centers around penetrating the core of this chain of signifiers and discovering the breaks, infinite loops and ideological repetitions within. And while he is no Lacanian (the Frenchman is never even mentioned in this text), Breger's analysis is completely given over to this psycho-linguistic imperative, an imperative which is governed and ultimately enforced by the biographical narrative of Freud himself.

This is because so much of what has been written about Freud's life has been directly influenced by Freud's pathological desire to craft a public persona that fits within his own neurotic view of himself as the great conqueror . And so Breger's destructuring of the typical Freudian biographical narrative is tantamount to a bloody confrontation with the man's well-fortified psycho-linguistic defense mechanisms (Freud himself always spoke of analysis in military terms). Whether we're talking about Freud's own autobiographical hero narratives ("On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement", "An Autobiographical Study"), Jones' dutiful doting, or even the more recent version of the same by Peter Gay, the man himself is almost always lost in the excremental haze of pre-digested meaning. Thus Freud's neuroses--his travel phobia, his dislike of music, his prudish attitudes towards sex, his desperate, inverted oedipal desire to slay his adopted male children (Jung, Adler, Rank, Ferenczi)--are rarely given the hermeneutical space necessary to stand in their proper relation to the events of his life. Breger's diegetic approach places the events of Freud's life in their proper socio-historical context, but without simply substituting history for personal responsibility, as is so often the case. Freud's cruelty (towards his fellow analysts, towards his patients) is shown to be a symptom of his neuroses, rather than mere juridical technique. (Freud constantly claimed that utter coldness and neutrality was required in the relationship between analyst and analysand, but he was most successful as a therapist when he befriended his patients and showed them warmth and sympathy.)

As you may have guessed, Breger is a practicing analyst, which obviously brings certain prejudices to his account of Freud's life. But Breger shows a remarkable level of honesty by pointing out this fact himself in a section at the end the book. And though I may quibble with him over his emphasis on the primacy of personal trauma over the primacy of sexuality and the role of larger social institutions in the formation of the individual ego, I still think this is a superb example of that particularly personal form of insight which only the very best of psychoanalysts can achieve.

A fine piece of work.

Average customer rating:

Excellent resource for weapon enthusiasts

Not your typical equipment book

Armory delivers new options while keeping the system simple.

Just wonderful!

We got Nukes, Knives, and Sharp Sticks

World of Darkness: Armory (World of Darkness (White Wolf Hardcover))
Chuck Wendig , Clayton Oliver , and Stephen Lea Sheppard
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1588464865

Book Description

A Hail of Bullets and a Cloud of Gun Smoke
The ability to cause harm in the World of Darkness doesn't belong solely to the fiends of the night. Humanity is quite capable of innovating its own forms of violence. This book depicts a variety of those weapons, from an improvised skillet to the latest in sniper technologies.

A Character Book for all World of Darkness® Games
A comprehensive and descriptive "weapons locker" with game statistics for hundreds of weapons and equipment
Includes details on firearms, melee weapons, tactical weapons, vehicles and other equipment
Offers optional, additional rules for adding complexity and tactics to a World of Darkness game
More than just weapon tables--includes information on international weapon laws, weapon use and safety, and black markets
Usable with any World of Darkness game, including Vampire, Werewolf and Mage

Customer Reviews:

Excellent resource for weapon enthusiasts.......2007-06-25

I was reluctant to get this supplement. My games are not combat heavy or combat focused, but this book does an excellent job of detailing any possibly weapon a player can use in the World of Darkness game. It is also usable in any WoD game such as Vampire the Requiem or Werewolf the Forsaken. It even covers combat merits and maneuvers for developing good cinematic action games. I am very glad to make this book an essential part of my gaming library.

Not your typical equipment book.......2006-09-26

I appreciate most about this book what it does that isn't typical of an equipment guide. It offers legal context for items. It lists common myths about weapons and the truth behind them. It gives results for the often silly and overly cinematic things that the players may try. It offers guidelines on how high a character's skill should be based on background and training, often giving creative means to justify having a score (Weaponry dots justified by playing baseball, for example). Lastly, it doesn't feel the need to provide lists and lists of weapons, rather it encourages the Storyteller to just use the stats of the most similar item provided. Not at all what I expected and I am very happy with it.

Armory delivers new options while keeping the system simple........2006-09-19

Armory presents a wide variety of new weapons, vehicles, and equipment for any World of Darkness game. New fighting styles and other merits add many new combat options for characters, and the discussion of how real world equipment and weapons training works is very helpful. If you want more detail than the World of Darkness corebook offers, or just don't know a lot about guns and weapons, then this is a great product offering enough detail and discussion to flesh out equipment without overwhelming the reader with endless lists of identical weapons.

Just wonderful!.......2006-08-04

If you want weapons for your game, this book is it! Fantastic Book!!!

We got Nukes, Knives, and Sharp Sticks.......2006-02-24

This book is good in some situation, but in not all. It gives the stats, costs and discriptions of a good number of guns, swords, knives, grenades, etc. Plus if you need a different type of vehicle than the generic car, you it lists different types and styles of vehicle, including heicopters and airplanes. I would recommend this book if you have someone in your game group that has to have thi kick @$$ smg, pistol, and armored vehicles. If you don't, save your money and stick with the stats of the guns listed in the World of Darkness core rule book.

World of Darkness: Second Sight (World of Darkness)

Average customer rating:

Second Sight delivers a ton of mystical abilities for any World of Darkness game.
I love this book!

World of Darkness: Second Sight (World of Darkness)
David Hicks
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1588464873

Customer Reviews:

Second Sight delivers a ton of mystical abilities for any World of Darkness game........2006-09-14

Second Sight gives World of Darkness fans the opportunity to play characters in the same vein as The Dead Zone, The 4400, the lower key mystics of early Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and other similar entertainment. A lengthy list of psychic and magical abilities, along with traditions and general plot hooks with a horror bent, are presented. Due to the high cost of many of these abilities this results in a system that is good for characters that are mundane folk except for one or two supernatural tricks.

In addition to psionics and magical traditions the book focuses on horrors beyond space and time similar to those mentioned in various H.P.Lovecraft publications. Such horrors get a lengthy discussion, and rules for the cultists serving them are presented.

While the book states these abilities are not meant to be mixed with other types of supernaturals, such as vampires or werewolves, there's nothing here to prevent a buyer from doing just that. Whether you're looking for new powers to tack onto your Mages or a tool that will let you run a cabal of mystics dedicated to taking down the corrupt mayor of their town this product has a lot to offer.

I love this book!.......2006-07-07

Second Sight is a great book to use with any WOD setting. It has some really nice rules for psychic abilities and "low magic" that is nowhere near what a true WOD Mage can do.

Both systems are very simple and very well designed. The following is a bit of technobable, and if you're not a WOD gamer, it may not make much sense. There is a new Trait called "Supernatural Advantage" which takes the place of Blood Potency, Gnosis, or Primal Urge. The characters will some times add this to dice pools and use it to combat the supernatural equivalents of the other gaming systems.

After that, the psychic abilities and magical powers are all merits. In the psychic camp, there are four main categories: ESP, mediumism, psychokinesis, and telepathy. There are plenty of powers under each category.

Low Magic allows you to play a Thamaturge (not a Mage), and it is broken down into multiple traditions: ceremonial magician, hedge witch, shaman, taoist alchemist, and vodoun. Again, all the individual powers are merits, and again there are plenty of them.

The only drawback is that there isn't a very big section of baddies in the back. I'm fine with that, but if you include one at all, make it thorough. A nice section on artifacts and items would have been a plus.

This is truly a five star book for WOD. It's as thorough as Armory is (and far, far more packed with abilites than the weak Ghouls book is). If you're planning on including a psychic or a mundane magician in your games, this is a great book. And at Amazon's price, it can't be beat!

Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England

Average customer rating:

A great analysis of the early modern english witchcraft trials
A must read
At last! An NEW book on English Witchcraft!

Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England
James Sharpe
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812216334

Book Description

The first comprehensive scholarly history of witchcraft in England in over eighty years. "Learned and enthralling."--Jan Morris, Independent Weekend They flew through the air, consorted with animals, and made pacts with the devil. Witches were as unquestioned as alchemy or astrology in medieval England; yet it wasn't until the midsixteenth century that laws were passed against them. Now a leading historian of crime and society in early modern England offers the first scholarly overview of witchcraft in that country in over eighty years, examining how tensions between church, state, and society produced widespread distrust among fearful people. Instruments of Darkness takes readers back to a time when witchcraft was accepted as reality at all levels of society. James Sharpe draws on legal records and other sources to reveal the interplay between witchcraft beliefs in different partts in the social hierarchy. Along the way, he offers disturbing accounts of witch-hunts, such as the East Anglian trials of 1645-47 that sent more than 100 people to the gallows. He tells how poor, elderly women were most often accused of witchcraft and challenges feminist claims that witch-hunts represented male persecution by showing that many accusers were themselves women. Prosecution of witches gradually declined with increasing skepticism among jurists, new religious attitudes, and scientific advances that explained away magic. But for two hundred years, thousands participated in one of history's most notorious persecutions. Instruments of Darkness is a fascinating case study that deepens our understanding of this age-old cultural phenomenon and sheds new light on one society in which it occurred. "This is a humane and learned book, which will be essential reading for everyone with a serious interest in this fascinating topic."--Robin Briggs, author of Communities of Belief: Cultural and Social Tensions in Early Modern France James Sharpe is senior lecturer in history at the University of York. He is the author of Crime in Early Modern England 1550-1750 and Early Modern England: A Social History 1550--1750.

Customer Reviews:

A great analysis of the early modern english witchcraft trials.......2007-07-08

James Sharpe is a well known historian on the topic of witchcraft in early modern England. The witchcraft trials in England were different from their contiental counterparts and that becomes apparent in this book. Sharpe comes to some great conclusions. Mr. Sharpe analyzed how tensions between church, state, and society were able to produce such widespread fear that led to the witchcraft accusations and trials. I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about the subject.

A must read.......2001-02-13

Theres not really much I can say about this book that hasn't already been covered by Peter Agnew (rated this book before I did) so I'll try to be brief and list only those aspects of the book that I feel Peter missed.

This book, for the material covered, was really very easy to read and understand. One of the most important qualities in a book is that it be easy to read and understand and that the material be brought forth in a relatively efficient manner, and this book meets that criteria. Easy to read yet full of information and details covering the subject, I don't know how he could have done it any better.

Another plus that not only does the author give you his sources for his material at the end of book, as well they should, but he also tells you a little bit about each source. This gives the reader an opportunity to see other books covering the subject the subject, in what way they cover the subject, and to decide if they have any interest in them or not.

On the down side, I feel that this author, like many other authors, down played the feminist perspective behind the witchhunts way too much. I believe that ideas such as those held by Anne Barstow (author of "Witchcraze") do have a place in European Witch Hunt history and should be adressed. There was more behind these witch hunts than just simple ignorance and misunderstanding. Greed, hatred, views of women (especially those who spoke up for themselves) in a patriarchal society, control, and politics ALL played a part in what happened in Europe over those 3 centuries and for anyone to ignore them or to play them off as so many do are, in my opinion, fooling themselves. This being the only negative on what is otherwise a very impressive book I went ahead and gave it 4 stars (would have given it 4.5 but unfortunately this website doesn't give me that option.

At last! An NEW book on English Witchcraft!.......1999-07-25

Sharpe's claims for this book are modest. His motivation to write sprang from the realisation that there has never been a satisfactory, all-encompassing account of English witchcraft since the works of Notestein in 1911 and Kittredge in 1929. Therefore, it was high time that somebody rewrote the story of English witchcraft to take account of the progress made in this field during the last few decades. There is no doubt that Sharpe, who has considerable experience within this area, is well qualified to write such a book. Over the years, he has written several articles on aspects of English witchcraft; thus, this book can be seen as the culmination of years of research and writing.

Part One of Instruments of Darkness attempts to outline in simple, yet thorough terms, the role that witchcraft and ideas about it played in all sectors of English society from "elite mentalities" to "popular culture." Sharpe demonstrates that we cannot separate both kinds of belief - there was considerable interplay between the two. This is the major achievement of the first part of the book.

In Part Two, Sharpe draws upon Five Themes of English Witchcraft. He adequately charts the patterns of prosecution in local English communities. He also argues that the Matthew Hopkins "witch-hunt" of 1645-7 is not really all that "different" from English witchcraft as a whole. He shows that the feminist accounts of English witchcraft are simplistic and naive (take that Marianne Hester and Mary Daly!) and profles the most distinctly "English" aspect of European witchcraft - the possessed victim. All of this is stimulating reading.

Finally, Part Three charts the decline of witch beliefs by focusing upon judicial skepticism, changing religious beliefs and the growth of scientific ideas. Again, Sharpe highlights the interplay between the three and demonstrates that although witchcraft had become a joke amongst the elite classes by 1720, the witch continued to be highly feared among village communities until at least 1850.

Throughout it all, Sharpe demonstrates that English witchcraft is, by its very nature, highly complex. This book is required reading for anyone interested in English witchcraft. Even still, Sharpe shows the complexity of English witch beliefs so clearly, one wonders if we shall ever know the full story of English witchcraft?

Average customer rating:
Promethean Magnum Opus (World of Darkness)

Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1588466086

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after the darkness

Yes of course, ""Reflection on the Holocaust""!!!

Powerful, Haunting

Excellent Book

A short overview of history's greatest evil

After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust
Elie Wiesel
Manufacturer: Schocken
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Release Date: 2002-10-22

Book Description

A poignant, powerful distillation of the Holocaust experience from the internationally acclaimed writer and Nobel laureate.

In his first book, Night, Elie Wiesel described his concentration camp experience, but he has rarely written directly about the Holocaust since then. Now, as the last generation of survivors is passing and a new generation must be introduced to mankind’s darkest hour, Wiesel sums up the most important aspects of Hitler’s years in power and provides a fitting memorial to those who suffered and perished. He writes about the creation of the Third Reich, Western acquiescence, the gas chambers, and memory. He criticizes Churchill and Roosevelt for what they knew and ignored, and he praises little-known Jewish heroes. Augmenting Wiesel’s text are testimonies from survivors, who recall, among other moments and events: the establishment of the Nurembourg Laws, Kristallnacht, transport to the camps, and liberation.

With this book — richly illustrated with 45 photographs from the U.S. Holocaust
Museum -- Wiesel proves once again the ineluctable importance of bearing witness.

Customer Reviews:

after the darkness.......2007-02-16

I believe this book is a wonderful introduction to the history and events leading up to, and including the horrible years of the holocaust. I gave it to my grandaughter who is ten years old. I am a child of a survivor. The book is a valuable part of education of a time that now seems so distant, and when most of the survivors have died. It speaks for them to future generations
nd as always, Elie Wiesel is warm, and honest, but never bitter. We are now the witnesses for those who experienced hell.

Yes of course, ""Reflection on the Holocaust""!!!.......2006-10-10

Those who do not believe that there was, and still is, a legend in the name of 'Holocaust' are kindly invited to visit Ghaza and Lebanon (North and notably South) to look and see how such a word is actually pronounced.
They will see a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life through a carnage of fire and cold-blood slaughter of civilians.

Thank you.

Powerful, Haunting.......2006-09-07

Dare to stick you head and heart into the cruelity of mankind and you come away from this powerful book enlightened--and looking over your shoulder at today's racism. An equally moving book is Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Jerry Ellis.

Excellent Book.......2006-06-22

This is the third book I read by Elie Wiesel, first I read "Night" which is my favorite, second I read "The Forgotten" which I thought was very good too. Now this one, is much shorter but the tetimonials by other Holocaust victims and the photographs makes it an excellent book. The generation of WWII survivors are dying and we need books like these to keep reminding us and future generations of the horrors of the war, so we don't repeat it.

A short overview of history's greatest evil .......2005-05-04

Elie Wiesel is the writer who more than any other made the world aware of the Holocaust. He through the years has been a voice of remembrance for the victims, a voice of integrity and courage, a witness of what is the greatest example of Man's inhumanity to Man known in human history. For the Holocaust was the deliberate effort of Nazi Germany, a people sitting in the center of Europpean civilization to wholly destroy, man, woman and child the entire Jewish people. One third of the Jewish people was murdered in the years 1939-1945, and the greatest share of European Jewry destroyed.
Now in this work Elie Wiesel presents a small historical over-view of the Shoah, and accompanies this with testimonies of others who passed through this world of nightmare.
It is a short moving volume, another work of invaluable testimony.

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