A Kingdom of Dreams

Average customer rating:

A horrible heroine.
Historical romance with zip
Judith McNaught is a dream writer.
Simply Dreamy!
A Kingdom of Dreams

A Kingdom of Dreams
Judith McNaught
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743474155

Abducted from her convent school, headstrong Scottish beauty Jennifer Merrick does not easily surrender to Royce Westmoreland, Duke of Claymore. Known as "The Wolf," his very name strikes terror in the hearts of his enemies. But proud Jennifer will have nothing to do with the fierce English warrior who holds her captive, this handsome rogue who taunts her with his blazing arrogance. Boldly she challenges his will...until the night he takes her in his powerful embrace, awakening in her an irresistible hunger. And suddenly Jennifer finds herself ensnared in a bewildering web...a seductive, dangerous trap of pride, passion, loyalty, and overwhelming love.

"Davis writes with fervor, vision, and keen moral appreciation of our condition. He encourages us to see what we fear to see, to say what we fear to say. This book is illuminating, challenging, fierce." Michael Eigen, author of The Sensitive Self, Rage, Ecstasy, Toxic Nourishment, Damaged Bonds andThe Psychoanalytic Mystic

Why is fear a dominant emotion in contemporary society? Why are politicians using words like 'terror', 'evil' and 'fundamentalism', and what effect is it having on public consciousness?

Answering these questions, Walter A. Davis taps into the cultural psyche to explore the link between ideology and emotional and psychological manipulation. Starting with the three topics that have preoccupied social discourse since 9-11 -- terror, evil and fundamentalism -- he shows that the Bush administration has been hugely successful in controlling and developing a new political climate through the creation of an almost hypnotic mass consciousness.

Davis's findings take us to the heart of the ideological paralysis of the Left, while offering an innovative approach to understanding contemporary history.

Davis fuses a psychoanalytic and philosophical framework to explain the relation between culture and political events, from the sado-masochist hysteria of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ' to the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison; and from the genocidal use of depleted uranium in Iraq to the apocalyptic language driving the Christian Right's assault on basic human rights.

He exposes the motives and belief-systems of this new American psyche and shows how it sustains the Bush administration's agenda. Illuminating how psychological needs govern political action, Davis reveals why the relationship between politics and public consciousness has massive implications for all of us beyond America's borders.

Walter A. Davis is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Ohio State University. He is the author of six previous books, including Inwardness and Existence: Subjectivity in/and Hegel, Heidegger, Marx and Freud (University of Wisconsin Press, 1989) and Deracination: Historicity, Hiroshima, and the Tragic Imperative (SUNY Press, 2001).

In the Morland Dynasty series, the majestic sweep of English history is richly and movingly portrayed through the fictional lives of the Morland family. It is 1908, and in the height of Edwardian splendour, Jessie and Violet share a sparkling London debut. At Morland Place, Teddy's business is expanding and he brings home a new wife, to the anxiety of his sister Henrietta who knows there can't be two mistresses of the house. England is a land of confidence and opportunity, but below the surface troubles are stirring. The death of the King brings to a head the constitutional crisis, while abroad the flexing of Russian and German might are an ominous sign of the dangers that lie ahead.

Film has taught us to see the world afresh, but it could not picture its own birth. In The Dream That Kicks, Michael Chanan puts forward a theory of invention to show how cinematography was a product of the growing forces of nineteenth century capitalist production and traces the development of British cinema from its mystical origins in music halls to its emergence as a cultural commodity.

The Dream That Kicks combines astute textual analysis of individual films with detailed archival work of the industry. It situates cinema within its wider context to produce a thought-provoking exploration of its cultural and ideological implications. This paperback edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to take into account orhte recent work on early cinema.

This book was possibly the first that combined a number of perspectives to account for the developments that led to "cinema". As such it still remains one of a small number. Chanan presents the process of invention as resulting from the interplay of a number of factors ranging from discoveries in optics and the theory of perception to the expansion of the capitalist mode of production and the social forces it unleashed. In the course of the book he has a lot to say about all these aspects and their relationship to "cinema". A lot of research has gone in the writing of this book but it manages to avoid the dangers of being dry, boring or difficult. On the contrary it is readable, full of surprises and insight, and transmits to the reader the joy of discovering a history mostly forgotten and ignored.

Chanan discusses a lot of commonly held beliefs that are based on misconceptions. One such point is the explanation of the perception of moving images. Cinema is still very often explained by the phenomenon of persistence of vision. In one of the best chapters, Chanan outlines the development of the theory of perception since the beginning of the 19th century, which has established that persistence of vision plays only a relatively minor role, while the principal reason is the phenomenon of apparent movement, known also as phenomenon-phi. Another major aspect he deals with is the process of the invention of cinema. Chanan shows that cinema was developed by the combined efforts of hundreds of individuals, each one making a more or less significant contribution. The final conclusion of this issue is that the efforts to assign to one particular individual the title of inventor of the cinema are misguided, irrelevant and suspect. Other chapters include issues like patent conflicts; the structure of the music hall and theatre businesses in the 19th century; the invention and development of photography and celluloid. Another positive aspect of the book is its international character. Despite its subtitle ("The prehistory and early years of cinema in Britain") and the associated emphasis on the history in that country it doesn't cover only the developments there. Of course the emphasis is on Britain but, rightly, it covers developments anywhere in the world, as the early history of cinema was an international effort.

On the negative side is the emphasis Chanan puts on certain of his research findings. Even if they are interesting, they did not had to be listed exhaustively in the main body of the book. For example Chanan was able to trace the notes Friese-Greene (a British film pioneer) carried with him when he died, during a film industry meeting. The notes are of interest and fascinating but they do not really fit in his narrative. They would be excellent as an appendix or an extended footnote; even as subject of a separate article but not where they are included. Another negative aspect is the absence of illustrations. This aspect is important, as several of the devices and processes described can only be understood if demonstrated with drawings and photographs. However, these minuses are few and do not reduce the importance of this major book.

Average customer rating:

No wonder it was in the bargain bin
WOW, THE GRAIL BASHERS FEEL THREATENED BY THIS ONE!
Not so much about the Chapel, but good Templar read
Somewhat interesting but not reliable
Rosslyn - an explanation

Rosslyn
Tim Wallace-Murphy , and Marilyn Hopkins
Manufacturer: Element Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1862047421

Now in paperback, the fascinating Rosslyn: Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail is an illuminating journey through the world of the ancient Druids, Templars, and Christian mystics towards astonishing discoveries!