Customer Reviews:
Enjoyed it!.......2006-10-08
This recommendation came by way of a book club member and I must admit that this is the first play that I've read since high school. The play opens with the celebration of the 189th birthday of T.J., a former slave who has managed to continue living - or rather breathing - through the twenty-first century. Told in two levels of reality, "Insurrection: Holding History" physically transports some characters - while mentally confining others - to the period of the Nat Turner slave rebellions. Ron is T.J.'s great-great-grandson and a graduate student writing a thesis on the Nat Turner rebellions. T.J., through his dead Mutha, shares the history of the rebellion with Ron and ultimately takes him back to the day before the actual insurrection occurs. While on the slave plantation, Ron gets a first hand view of what the slaves were thinking and planning right up to the point of the massacres. Having studied the Turner rebellion and knowing its outcome, Ron attempts to change history and save the life of a new found love by insisting that Nat Turner better plan his attack. Not trusting the free man from the North or his knowledge derived from a book written by a white man, the rebellion goes on as planned and history remains unchanged.
As noted earlier, this is the first play that I've read since high school so I don't know that I was appreciating it fully while reading it. Being a huge fan of the novel, I'm quite familiar with its construction and with what is required to make them work. While I lack that level of knowledge about plays, I could fully appreciate the playwright's use of intersecting realities to explore what happened then within the context of what is happening now relative to slavery and the African American experience. I also loved the way O'Hara transported Ron and T.J. back to the plantation; it was perfect use of one of my favorite novels/films and that intersection of fictional genre - play/novel/film - allowed me to better visualize the scene in the play. Overall, I found "Insurrection: Holding History" engaging, funny and insightful. I hope to see the play performed one day because for this reader, I'd still prefer to see a play and read a novel. Enjoy!
Thought provoking!.......1999-11-05
Mr. O'Hara's clever use of literary techniques takes the reader on a spell-binding journey through the exploration of past and current social issues.
Wow! What a play!.......1999-03-21
This play made me sit up and listen to the voice of the modern african american experience. I would recommend it to anyone interested in theater, history and and some wacky singing and dancing.
Average customer rating:
- Lavish "trek" into the making of a television series
- More pictures than you can point a phaser at!
- The ultimate behind-the-scenes experience
- A detailed look at the making of star trek
|
Star Trek: Action!
Terry J. Erdmann
Manufacturer: Star Trek
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0671025422 |
Book Description
23,719.
That's how many minutes have been committed to film during the thirty year -- and counting -- history of Star Trek. Since its inception as a groundbreaking show, through its current incarnations on television and as a series of motion pictures, more than 395 hours of Star Trek have been filmed. If you watch it all consecutively, you'd be glued to your television set around the clock for more than 16 days.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to create just one sequence of scenes that can last as little as a minute or two? Minutes may not seem like a lot out of thirty years' worth of science fiction magic, but for the thousands of men and women both in front of and behind the cameras, each and every one of those minutes has been a labor of love, blood, sweat, and tears, all created without a net.
With the author as our guide, we will follow the creation of three separate sequences -- one each from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, Star Trek: Voyager®, and the upcoming motion picture Star Trek: Insurrection™. From the first meetings of the writers to the preproduction meetings, from the concept sketches to the realized set, from the early morning makeup session to the bleary-eyed midnight shooting the author has been there. Peering over the shoulders of the writers, the filmmakers, the graphic artists, and the visual-effects wizards, the author reports each Herculean task as it is accomplished. Action! takes you there for each moment.
After reading Action!, an utterly unique work, you will never watch Star Trek® quite the same way again. (Oh, and in case you haven't timed this, it took you about two minutes to read this flap copy.)
Customer Reviews:
Lavish "trek" into the making of a television series.......2003-06-08
With print and pictures detailing EVERY inch of the making of three Trek productions, this is a book that is a treasure for any student of filmmaking. One does not have to be an aficionado of the offspring of the original series to appreciate the work that went into the publication of this book.
The book is a fascinating (to use Spock's word) how-to-make-a-television episode (or movie scene) primer.
More pictures than you can point a phaser at!.......2001-06-01
Provides an in-depth and fascinating account into how Star Trek productions are conceived, filmed and produced. The book showsthe transition from initial idea to final product in 3 Star Trek guises - DS9, Voyager and the film Insurrection. The book is jam-packed with pictures throughout and Erdmann's dialogue is very much narrative in style, as the story is told for much of the book in the quotes of various cast and crew. The book particularly highlights how stories are formed and the various inputs from script writers, producers, directors and cast, and it is fascinating to see how a story develops and changes throughout time. An extremely good read.
The ultimate behind-the-scenes experience.......2000-02-28
From the first writers' meeting to the satellite upload, this book describes in detail every step taken by actors, producers, designers, directors and editors to create an episode of Star Trek. Terry J. Erdmann has had unprecedented access to production meetings, film sets and post-production facilities to unveil how various Star Trek incarnations get from idea to (small of big) screen. If you're interested in what's going on behind-the-scenes, I highly recommend this title.
A detailed look at the making of star trek.......2000-01-18
For any star trek fan, or just for those interested in the making of tv series and films, this book outlines, in high detail and many photographs, the process of producing an episode of DS9, Voyager, and a portion of Star Trek: First Contact. A must for any fan's collection.
Amazon.com
William Doyle, author of Inside the Oval Office, calls the forced integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962 "the biggest domestic military crisis of the twentieth century." In An American Insurrection, he delivers a blow-by-blow account of how the school, popularly known as Ole Miss, was opened to black students for the first time. At the center of the tale is James Meredith, a determined but unusual hero gripped by what Doyle calls "an almost messianic vision of destroying the system of white supremacy in Mississippi." Meredith was one of the first black men to serve in the armed forces following its integration, enlisting right out of high school in 1951. He later decided to seek a college education and resolved to get his degree from the all-white precincts of Ole Miss. Through clever plotting and the assistance of a beleaguered civil rights movement, Meredith won admittance to the school, but his troubles had only just begun. Thousands of segregationists descended upon Oxford, Mississippi, to block Meredith from attending class. Their numbers included students, state police, governor Ross Barnett, and an assortment of troublemakers with no real ties to the university. Through it all, Meredith "succeeded in forcing three new allies to his side: the president of the United States, the U.S. Justice Department, and the most powerful military machine in history."
The story recounted in An American Insurrection is inspiring, and Doyle tells it well. It is also fresh, because it has been forgotten in a way other epic civil rights struggles--at Little Rock and Selma, for instance--have not. Meredith never took his place beside Rosa Parks as a celebrated hero of the civil rights movement; its leaders wound up regarding him as something of an annoyance. As Doyle writes, "Meredith maintained a ruthless, jarring intellectual integrity and courage that considered the traditional discussion of civil rights as an insult to him as an American citizen, as invalid, even preposterous." The key word is "jarring": Meredith spent his later years rebuking the NAACP and working for conservative senator Jesse Helms. Admirers of Diane McWhorter's Carry Me Home and other readers interested in the civil rights movement will enjoy An American Insurrection--and nobody will suppress a smile during Doyle's description of graduation day, when Meredith wore one of the red-and- white "Ross Is Right" badges distributed by his foes. It was hidden under his robes, turned upside down. --John Miller
Book Description
Forty years ago, James Meredith tried to integrate the University of Mississippi, and ignited an armed white rebellion in the nation’s heartland. This riveting book re-creates the day the country went to war against itself.
An American Insurrection is the true story of the worst constitutional crisis since the Civil War and a major turning point in American history. It takes readers into the eye of the chaotic and ferocious white uprising that occurred when air force veteran James Meredith tried to become the first black student to register at the University of Mississippi, only to be physically blocked by radical segregationist Governor Ross Barnett, hundreds of state police, and thousands of student and civilian “volunteers” from across the South. The revolt climaxed in a fourteen-hour battle and the lightning invasion of the state by 30,000 combat troops ordered in by President John F. Kennedy.
Based on years of intensive research, including more than 500 interviews with witnesses and key players in the drama, recently unsealed FBI files, and on JFK’s Oval Office and Cabinet Room tapes recorded during the crisis,
An American Insurrection unearths the unsung heroes–and more than a few villains–of a dark and violent event that has remained buried in the historical shadows until now. It is the unforgettable account of a governor in rebellion, a president in crisis, soldiers on a perilous mission, a state sliding into civil war, and a battle that crushed forever the Southern strategy of massive resistance. What
Black Hawk Down was to the American mission in Somalia,
An American Insurrection is destined to become to the epic struggle for civil rights.
Download Description
Forty years ago, James Meredith tried to integrate the University of Mississippi, and ignited an armed white rebellion in the nation's heartland. This riveting book re-creates the day the country went to war against itself.
An American Insurrection is the true story of the worst constitutional crisis since the Civil War and a major turning point in American history. It takes readers into the eye of the chaotic and ferocious white uprising that occurred when air force veteran James Meredith tried to become the first black student to register at the University of Mississippi, only to be physically blocked by radical segregationist Governor Ross Barnett, hundreds of state police, and thousands of student and civilian "volunteers" from across the South. The revolt climaxed in a fourteen-hour battle and the lightning invasion of the state by 30,000 combat troops ordered in by President John F. Kennedy.
Based on years of intensive research, including more than 500 interviews with witnesses and key players in the drama, recently unsealed FBI files, and JFK's Oval Office and Cabinet Room tapes recorded during the crisis, An American Insurrection unearths the unsung heroes -- and more than a few villains -- of a dark and violent event that has remained buried in the historical shadows until now. It is the unforgettable account of a governor in rebellion, a president in crisis, soldiers on a perilous mission, a state sliding into civil war, and a battle that crushed forever the Southern strategy of massive resistance.
What Black Hawk Down was to the American mission in Somalia, An American Insurrection is destined to become to the epic struggle for civil rights.
Customer Reviews:
Great detailed account.......2003-06-13
William Doyle has written an excellent account of the events surrounding Meredith's entry into Ole Miss. Particularly noteworthy is his detailed account of the behind the scenes negotiations between the Kennedys and Mississippi's segregationist governor, Ross Barnett. The book's depiction of the riot is also rich: Doyle vividly potrays the chaos that reigned in Oxford during the riot. The narration is gripping and this book is an entertaining read.
I thought the book was not nearly as strong in the final 30 pages. There is no clear direction to the book's "conclusion." Doyle sort of vasillates between providing updates on the book's main characters and attempting to place the riot into a historical perspective. While both are interesting, this portion of the book drags on.
Overall, a very enjoyable read.
I was there on that very morning........2003-03-02
I am 62 years old now. On that morning when
the 716th MP Battalion was brought to the campus,
I was in one of the groups exactly as pictured in
the middle of the book. At the time I had no idea
what the big picture was. I just did as I was told.
I was in the army for about a year prior to that day,
but never had live ammunition except for practice.
We had our gas masks on and our bayonets fixed. We
were each handed one clip of live ammunition for
our M-1 rifles. I vividly remember my knees literally
knocking together as we stood there waiting for the
trouble that never came at that time. We had heard
that a soldier had been killed prior to that. This
book is giving me the big picture and a full under-
standing of how we got there and why we were there.
I am finding this book to be riviting and educational.
I heartily recommend it. Mike Cuggino, NY.
Absorbing reading.......2002-12-19
While one can quibble with some things in this book (the author seems to draw on anti-Kennedy books for his material on the Kennedys) all in all it tells the story well, and is really exciting, even tho one is appalled that there could be in the 20th century such benighted persons as instigated and participated in the insurrection to prevent a student entering Ole Miss. The last chapter tho makes a person feel better and I am glad the author spent some time finding out what happened to the people involved in the tumultous events of October, 1962. How pleasant to know that the student body president, the newspaper editor, the quarterback, and the head basketball coach in 2000-2001 were all African-American, and how stupid the rioters must feel now about the views they had in 1962. This is a popular account but it is great reading.
pompous.......2002-11-23
found this to be superficial and pompous. it overwrites facts and at the end fails to provide sufficient perspective. i am an academic and would not use for my students.
One hell of a ripping yarn...........2002-11-12
Mr. Doyle has done very well what so many others have failed at. He has taken the stuff of a compelling story and told it as a straightforward and detailed narrative that needs no excessive or distracting "artfulness" to make it live on the page. Here are real, hateful villains, conflicted heroes, confused bureaucrats and the inscrutably zen-like James Meredith. Every one of these individuals - with the possible exception of Meredith - is caught up in circumstances way beyond his "job description" and required by fate to draw his best or worst abilities to the tasks he has been drawn into.
Whatever anyone else may say about this book it is first and foremost a wonderfully compelling reading experience. As a writer of history, Doyle is right up there with McCullough, Ambrose and Goodwin as a writer of skill, insight and a willingness to let the story take the front seat. You will appreciate this book; you will respect this story; but most of all you will savor every minute you spend reading it.
Book Description
In 1898 US public opinion turned against the Spanish for their repression of Cuba. Relations between the two governments soured and ultimately resulted in the mysterious blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana harbor, which triggered a short but demanding war.
A US expeditionary force was sent to Cuba, where the troops encountered both difficult climate and terrain, and a fierce Spanish garrison which, despite being greatly outnumbered, fought hard before surrendering.
Many famous US personalities were involved, including future President Theodore Roosevelt, future general John Pershing, and journalists William Randolph Hearst and Stephen Crane.
The war against the Spanish may have been brief but as Henry Cabot Lodge declared: "Its results were startling, and of world-wide meaning." Victory made the US a nation with global interests.
As an extension of the war, US troops also captured the island of Puerto Rico. The US Navy bombarded Manila in the Philippines, and landed its troops. The Spanish garrison quickly surrendered, but a local anti-Spanish insurgent force under Emilio Aguinaldo resisted US occupation. The conflict continued until 1902, more than 100,000 US troops were eventually committed, and the campaign saw difficult jungle fighting, with indigenous Moro tribesmen fiercely resisting US forces.
Providing a detailed examination of the experiences and equipment of the opposing sides, and featuring rare and previously unpublished photographs, this book highlights this crucial yet oft-forgotten war that changed the future of American foreign policy during "the age of American imperialism."
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Osprey book - ignore review below.......2007-05-25
How many more idiotic reviews of Osprey titles are we to put up with along the line of the previous one? Osprey Men-at-Arms series books are designed to show the UNIFORMS, and to a lesser extent equipment, of those involved in various conflicts. They are NOT supposed to provide, in the limited number of pages they contain, a detailed factual analyses of military conflicts and campaigns. It seems some reviewers fail to grasp this simple concept.
This book does a fine job of showing the uniforms of the various combatants, although there could have been an extra plate detailing Philippino forces, and one less of the US troops. Stephen Walsh's illustrations are, as usual, excellent - his earlier title on the Mexican Revolution is one of the best Osprey titles in years. Both that book, and this one, are highly recommended.
Save your Money.......2007-04-16
Not up to the usual standards of Osprey. Its a pity because this time period when America went out to build a real Empire is worthy of a better effort.
Average customer rating:
- Could have used a little editing
- I loved this book.
- A NOVELISTIC TREATMENT OF NAT TURNER'S REBELLION
- The Standard
- The South Rises Again in all its Historically Inaccurate Glory
|
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0679736638
Release Date: 1992-11-10 |
Book Description
In the late summer of 1831, in a remote section of southeastern Virginia, there took place the only effective, sustained revolt in the annals of American Negro slavery...
The revolt was led by a remarkable Negro preacher named Nat Turner, an educated slave who felt himself divinely ordained to annihilate all the white people in the region.
The Confessions of Nat Turner is narrated by Nat himself as he lingers in jail through the cold autumnal days before his execution. The compelling story ranges over the whole of Nat's Life, reaching its inevitable and shattering climax that bloody day in August.
The Confessions of Nat Turner is not only a masterpiece of storytelling; is also reveals in unforgettable human terms the agonizing essence of Negro slavery. Through the mind of a slave, Willie Styron has re-created a catastrophic event, and dramatized the intermingled miseries, frustrations--and hopes--which caused this extraordinary black man to rise up out of the early mists of our history and strike down those who held his people in bondage.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
Powerful, prize-winning 1967 novel depicts the odyssey of Nat Turner, leader of first slave revolt in the US. Styron's novel was profoundly controversial; some felt that's a white author had no right to the subject matter. By the acclaimed author of SOP
Customer Reviews:
Could have used a little editing .......2007-04-04
I didn't give this three stars because of the controversy around racism. It's historical fiction, fiction being the key word. And I didn't really pick up that tone from it at all. I thought it was an innovative retelling using what information we do know and filling in the blanks from there. The reason I gave it three stars is because it contained all sorts of things that I felt could have been cut from the book and it wouldn't have mattered. I almost gave up on it in the second section. I'm glad I finished it, but it was a little tough to keep interest in it.
I loved this book........2007-02-08
I read this book for my book club and I thought it was beautifully written. It has stayed with me for weeks now. I love when a book does that. I'm glad I wasn't swayed by controversy. I had no problem with the fact that the author was white and using a black voice(maybe because I'm white - but I do like when an author gets the voice right and I thought Styron did that). I didn't understand the charges of racism after reading the book. Sometimes I wonder if, what some people find uncomfortable, they label as racist or sexist or whatever. Anyway, I would encourage everyone to read this book because it gave me a fresh awareness of a huge part of U.S. history, it reminded me that there are always gray areas to consider and it was a great novel. You might think so too.
A NOVELISTIC TREATMENT OF NAT TURNER'S REBELLION .......2006-11-08
I came of political age during the civil rights struggle here in America in the early 1960's. Part and parcel with that awakening struggle came an increased interest in the roots of the black struggle, especially in slavery times. Such intellectuals as Herbert Apteker, the Genoveses, the Foners, Harold Cruise, James Baldwin, John Hope Franklin and others, black and white, were very interested in exploring or discovering a black resistance to the conditions of slavery not apparent on any then general reading of the black experience in America. This is the place where the recently deceased William Styron and his novelistic interpretation of one aspect of that struggle- Nat Turner's Virginia slave rebellion enters the fray.
No Styron is not politically correct in his appreciation of Turner or his followers. Nor are latter day Southern whites and their sympathizers who have recoiled in horror at what expansion of Turner's rebellion might have meant for the `peculiar institution'. But being politically correct, etc. now or historically is beside the point. Slavery was brutal. Slavery brutalized whole generations of black people for a very long time. If one expects nature's noblemen and women to come out of such a process, one will be very sadly mistaken. That the white benificaries of this system were brutalized is a given. Human progress has come about through fits and starts not a seamless curve onward and upward. Nevertheless all our sympathies are with Nat and his fellow rebels.
Moreover, here are some things to think about if you are not worried about your political correctness status. Outside of John Brown at Harper's Ferry Turner's rebellion represented the highest achievement of resistance to the white slaveholders in the early 19th century. Although the fight was not pretty on either side every progressive today should stand in historical solidarity with that fight. Then one will understand not only that oppression oppresses but also that the military conditions for a successful rebellion for isolated blacks in pre- Civil War American were slim. The later incorporation of 200,000 black soldiers and sailors among the Northern forces in the Civil War are a very, very profound argument that once off the plantation blacks were as capable of bravery, courage and honor as an other American. As difficult as it is, if you do not have access to the original chronicles of the Turner uprising, read this book to get a flavor of how hard the struggle for the abolition of slavery in this country was going to be.
The Standard.......2006-08-25
For me, William Styron has written the standard from which to draw the historical novel. I say draw because an historical novel is just that; a novel. But even while the reader knows this, historical novels always seem to provoke some response framed by the light of a current outlook. This is ironic because the main attraction of historical novels (at least for me) is the escapist type pleasure that is found by immersing oneself in another world and time. This is the writer's accomplishment. William Styron does this in language and in pace so artfully that his book remains on my shelf. I keep 'The Confessions of Nat Turner' for its enjoyment and inspiration.
The South Rises Again in all its Historically Inaccurate Glory.......2006-04-22
I originally wrote a review of this book in 1999, titled "This is a racist book disguised as a work of art." It seems that I didn't explain well enough my objection to Styron's co-opting of the story of a real human being, Nat Turner, whose story was more accurately depicted in the 1831 book, "The Confessions of Nat Turner," by T.R. Gray. Not only did Styron steal the title of Gray's book, in which Gray recounts his interview with the real Nat Turner, but the incidents Styron invents for the sake of drama reveal his southern-bred racism.
Unlike his depiction in Styron's book, Nat Turner was married. Styron's invention of Turner's pivotal and conflicted relationship with a white woman, Margaret Whitehead, is entirely fictional. So is any self-doubt that Turner did the right thing by leading the revolt. In Gray's account, Turner did not express regret. There is so much more depth to Turner's life that is either fictionalized beyond recognition or left unexplored in this book.
Do those facts make a difference in a work of fiction? Yes. The parts Styron has unnecessarily fictionalized are key to the story he invented. Turner's fictional relationship with Margaret is saturated in the southern myth that black men are obsessed with white women -- lusting for the forbidden fruit, for which they must die. That Styron crawls into Nat Turner's skin in order to infect him with self-doubt about his mission emasculates Turner and diminishes his cause. What offends me most is that Nat Turner's life deserves to be explored by a modern author who does not condescend or patronize this African-American hero. Instead, we have William Styron's version of Turner's life, taken by many readers as fact.
If one prefers racist fiction posing as a legitimate account of a life, then one might enjoy wallowing in this version of "Confessions." But if one prefers reality, I recommend Gray's book as well as other accounts available about the slave revolt at Southampton, Virginia. Styron's book does not provide significant insights into Nat Turner, slave revolt or slavery itself. His book clouds the truth with the same kind of Reconstruction era distortions that spawned the hideous phenomenon of lynching.
Average customer rating:
- Pathbreaking work on race and revolution
|
Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868-1898
Ada Ferrer
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0807847836
Release Date: 1999-09-29 |
Book Description
In the late nineteenth century, in an age of ascendant racism and imperial expansion, there emerged in Cuba a movement that unified black, mulatto, and white men in an attack on Europe's oldest empire, with the goal of creating a nation explicitly defined as antiracist. This book tells the story of the thirty-year unfolding and undoing of that movement.
Ada Ferrer examines the participation of black and mulatto Cubans in nationalist insurgency from 1868, when a slaveholder began the revolution by freeing his slaves, until the intervention of racially segregated American forces in 1898. In so doing, she uncovers the struggles over the boundaries of citizenship and nationality that their participation brought to the fore, and she shows that even as black participation helped sustain the movement ideologically and militarily, it simultaneously prompted accusations of race war and fed the forces of counterinsurgency.
Carefully examining the tensions between racism and antiracism contained within Cuban nationalism, Ferrer paints a dynamic portrait of a movement built upon the coexistence of an ideology of racial fraternity and the persistence of presumptions of hierarchy.
Customer Reviews:
Pathbreaking work on race and revolution.......2000-01-20
Insurgent Cuba tracks the transformation of racial and gendered narratives of the revolution from the abolition of slavery to the war of independence. In this fascinating and pathbreaking book, Professor Ferrer reveals that, with the emergence of late 19th century Cuban nationalism, narratives of race, slavery, and the place of black people in the revolution shift dramatically. Through the voices of leaders like Jose Marti, black insurgents were constructed as color-blind patriots committed to the liberation of Cuba, not slaves and ex-slaves attempting to overthrow the regime of slavery and demand equal rights. Black people were transformed in these three decades from a problem and threat to the republic to the symbols of Cuban nationalism's commitment to multiracial democracy. Anti-racism became a weapon in the hands of Cuban revolutionaries in their battle against Spain, which changed the status of black insurgents, put them on a pedestal in a way, and made their stories fundamental to the narrative of the new republic--one that is colorblind and willing to incorporate everyone as long as they are patriots. For blacks and mulattoes, this discourse gave them a platform to complain about racism in the ranks of the army, in everyday life, everywhere. On the other hand, the ellision of racism in the discourse of Cuban nationalism and the celebration of multiracial republicanism was often used against critics of racism in Cuba. "To speak of race, then," Ferrer writes, "was to challenge the depth of racial and national unity." Any attempts to mobilize on the basis of racial solidarity was then dismissed as divisive and unpatriotic. By reconstructing these different narratives in the context of specific revolts and campaigns, Ferrer offers us a stunning alternative narrative of the struggle for Cuban Independence. Insurgent Cuba is perhaps the best book available on race and Cuba.
Book Description
The idea of universal rights is often understood as the product of Europe, but as Laurent Dubois demonstrates, it was profoundly shaped by the struggle over slavery and citizenship in the French Caribbean. Dubois examines this Caribbean revolution by focusing on Guadeloupe, where, in the early 1790s, insurgents on the island fought for equality and freedom and formed alliances with besieged Republicans. In 1794, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire, ushering in a new colonial order in which all people, regardless of race, were entitled to the same rights.
But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti.
The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
Customer Reviews:
A must read to understanding how the Caribbean was shaped.......2006-12-29
The end of slavery in the French Caribbean is a story that has many facets. This book looks at one of the smaller islands (Guadalupe) and tracks its progress as it tries to free itself from the grips of slavery. Dubios tells a very good story and it is well written. The book focuses on Guadalupe but also gives a sense of what is happening in the entire British and French Caribbean. Dubios in her other books really provides a complete picture of what is occurring in the Caribbean and they are all recommended.
Average customer rating:
- ok
- Entertaining dark fiction.
- Difficult to put down!
- Generic FR drow fiction
- What a way to keep a story going
|
Insurrection (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book 2)
Thomas M. Reid
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Condemnation (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book 3)
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Dissolution (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book 1)
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Extinction (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider, Book 4)
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Annihilation: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book V (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider)
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Resurrection (Forgotten Realms: R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book 6)
ASIN: 0786930330
Release Date: 2003-12-01 |
Book Description
Quenthel Baenre is second only to the matron mother and is Menzoberranzan’s most powerful priestess of Lolth. When the Spider Queen goes silent, Quenthel is called upon to lead a team of dark elves on a mission that could save Menzoberranzan or doom it forever. With the cunning wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, weapons master Ryld Argith, mercenary Valas Hune, and the vicious draegloth Jeggred by her side, the priestess is sent to the trade city of Ched Nasad to determine the scope of Lolth’s silence.
Is Menzoberranzan alone being punished? Are all the drow? Is it just Lolth, or have all the gods gone quiet?
The answers to these questions will determine the fate of the entire drow race and set the course for the future of the Underdark. If the powerful dark elves falter, the world below is open for Insurrection
The War of the Spider Queen spreads.
Customer Reviews:
ok.......2007-09-16
This book was like a great date that didn't put out. It left me expecting more,but didn't deliver. The cover picture was the best part.
Entertaining dark fiction........2007-07-30
The drow live in an oppressive matriarchal society where the women have the power (given to them by their evil-demoness spider-queen Lloth), and the males are second class citizens.. When Lloth withdraws her favor a small delegation of drow travel to a distant city to determine if the affliction is theirs alone or if it has spread to other cities within the underdark.
Phaeron is the hero of this tale, a wise-cracking wizardly drow whose subservience masks an intelligent mind and a strong character. Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but I find some elements don't work for me. The idea of a 100% cold and loveless society seems too alien for me to relate to. Biologically, despite their conditioning drow are still elves. Which means friendships and relationships would develop despite the overall greed and cruelty of masses. Also the complete lack of sexuality is strange given the level of sensuality the drow are reputed for. No, I'm not asking for a romance novel, but making the characters s3xless barbies seems a bit strange, especially given the violence in this book. (Yeah I know there is one sex scene in the book but it is a fade to black scene).
Overall an entertaining novel, but I think the characters need to display a bit more emotion. 4 Stars.
Difficult to put down!.......2005-12-01
This was a difficult book to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as the action never seemed to stop. Aliisza adds a fun aspect to the story that was unexpected and fun to read. Although a bit more time was spent in the book about their journey to Ched Nasad than I cared to read about, the remainder of the book kept you going. Once the party gets to Ched Nasad, the action doesn't seem to stop right up to the very last page. However, if you are going to read this book, I highly recommend you read the first book in the series or you will be lost in this one. Highly recommended!
Generic FR drow fiction.......2005-10-03
Well, after a good start with the first book, the series really takes a nose dive with Reid's half-baked effort. As others have noted, this book is light on characterization and focuses instead on long descriptions of tedious battles that begin to read like a D&D random encounters module. Anyone with a passing knowledge of D&D, by the way, will seriously have to suspend disbelief with all the situations Pharaun gets himself out of. But I doubt non-D&D players read these books anyway, since Reid's work does nothing to elevate him above the ranks of a pulp fantasy writer. This type of fare appeals to a narrow audience. Frankly, I think it's pretty cheap to introduce things like alu-fiends and cambions and expect the reader to be impressed. Reid makes a lot of assumptions of the reader that just because he's talking about drow, demons, or whiz-bang spellcasting, that's supposed to be interesting in and of itself. For one, it isn't - not without a better plot and characters you connect with - and other writers have pulled this off with more skill.
So, for pulp fantasy, this is generic stuff. It at least moves the plot along, in a rather predictable fashion. The backdrop of Ched Nassad, and the internecine struggles of the drow there, are completely boring. I found myself sticking with it just to see what happens to Pharaun and Ryld, and figure out what the deal is with Lloth. But I have the sneaking suspicion that I could have skipped this book and continued on fine with the series.
What a way to keep a story going.......2005-08-20
For those of you who don't know, the War of the Spider Queen is a series a six book all by different authors covering telling one long epic story. Insurrection, by Thomas Reid is book two in the series book one being Dissolution, by Richard Byers. If you haven't read Dissolution - you really need to before reading this one.
On to this book. Reid does a very good job at continuing the story started in the first book. Admittedly, there are a couple 'voice' issues that don't match up with the first, but that's to be expected. Those issues are quickly forgotten once you are into the story.
Even though Reid does a good job here at moving the plot forward I think his real strength to the series is how well he continued to flesh out the characters. He truly made them each seem like their own individual instead of a group always doing the same thing. The infighting typical with Drow is in full effect here, and at times leads to rather humorous moments (no spoilers here don't worry). The depth he gives the characters makes it easier in the following books for the other authors to pick up the plot and not worry so much about the character development.
If you are a fan of R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy, or just a fan of the Forgotten Realms you should do yourself a favor and pick up this wonderful series.
Amazon.com
In his breathtaking and powerful novel that garnered nominations for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, Madison Smartt Bell leaves the dark contemporary world he has so brilliantly made his own in nine previously acclaimed novels and short story collections, such as Save Me, Joe Louis. Now he turns to the past and brings viscerally to life the slave rebellion that would bring an end to the white rule of Haiti in the late eighteenth century. The result is an explosive, epic historical novel of astonishing depth and range, catapulting Bell into the ranks of the finest living authors.
Book Description
In this first installment of his epic Haitian trilogy, Madison Smartt Bell brings to life a decisive moment in the history of race, class, and colonialism. The slave uprising in Haiti was a momentous contribution to the tide of revolution that swept over the Western world at the end of the 1700s. A brutal rebellion that strove to overturn a vicious system of slavery, the uprising successfully transformed Haiti from a European colony to the world’s first Black republic. From the center of this horrific maelstrom, the heroic figure of Toussaint Louverture–a loyal, literate slave and both a devout Catholic and Vodouisant–emerges as the man who will take the merciless fires of violence and vengeance and forge a revolutionary war fueled by liberty and equality.
Bell assembles a kaleidoscopic portrait of this seminal movement through a tableau of characters that encompass black, white, male, female, rich, poor, free and enslaved. Pulsing with brilliant detail,
All Soul’s Rising provides a visceral sense of the pain, terror, confusion, and triumph of revolution.
Customer Reviews:
Haitian revolution comes alive. Vivid, vast, haunting........2007-06-23
I had never heard of Madison Smartt Bell when I picked up this novel from the public library. After reading a few chapters, I began to wonder how this author could possibly not be famous? This is a moving, haunting book, panoramic in scope and often extrememly violent, bringing a unique event of human history to vivid life.
First, background about Haiti and its revolution ---->
The Haitian revolution is special in that the Haitian slaves were the first people of the world to throw off the white man's yoke and become free. At a time when India and Indonesia were just getting used to European rule and the slaughter of the North American natives was continuing apace, these blacks of Haiti (the majority of them directly brought in from Africa in slave-ships) overthrew their masters in a grand revolt and provided the Europeans with a taste of their own medicine of violence. It helped that France was going through it's great egalitarian revolution -- the slaves just happened to take the message of "equality liberty fraternity" seriously.
The post-revolution history of Haiti has not been happy -- including in the 19th century a succession of corrupt rulers and huge sums paid to France, and in the 20th century direct rule by the U.S. and then by brutal U.S.-allied dictators. But this does not make the unique revolution any less important! For a rapid history of Haitian revolution and the ensuing 200 years, have a look through the Library of Congress "Country Study" on Haiti, available online. For a modern (mid-20th-century) literary description of Haiti and of a voodoo ceremony, read Graham Greene's "The Comedians".
Now, about the book "All Souls Rising" ---->
Not knowing the author, as I read the first chapter, I decided unconsciously that he was white; the first chapter follows a white character (doctor Herbert) spending a night at a local plantation, describing breezily a disobedient slave woman crucified alive on the lawn for disciplinary purposes, and other minor tidbits. Moving onto the next chapter, I couldn't imagine that it was the same author writing, as we're following the viewpoint of Ri'au, an escaped slave who roves with a band of maroons, becomes (is possessed by) Ogun in a voodoo ceremony, and describes "whitemen" in the third person as totally alien beings.
(Later, a websearch on Madison Scott Bell told me he's white. But one of those that rises above his color and his imperialistic heritage; to hear all voices! What a writer!!)
The book is told from multiple viewpoints, alternating from chapter to chapter. Some of the characters are real historical characters. And some of the characters are very memorable.
-- A central character is the doctor Herbert, a peaceful Frenchman freshly arrived and unable to adjust to Haitian society based on slavery, throughout this book searching for his sister who appears to have disappeared. Through his experiences we witness much of the devastation and extreme violence of the times, perpetrated first by the white masters and then by the rebelling slaves.
-- A second central character is Ri'au, brought from Africa and escaped from Haitian slavery as a youth, who like doctor Herbert is mostly pushed around by fate, from one rebelling group to another, dancing to the voodoo spirits, burning and killing, and also under Toussaint's direction learning the white man's writing and discipline to use against his former masters.
-- Perhaps the most important character is Toussaint, the real historical figure we see mostly through the eyes of the fictional caharacters. A true tragic hero of the revolution -- one who went on from being a house-slave to learn the white man's writing and create a formidable, structured army from mostly Africa-born rebelling slaves, one who realized the importance of prosperity after freedom, and attempted to keep the white man's expertise in peaceful coexistence. The white man, however, wanted to reinstate slavery, and so imprisoned Toussaint after he had made peace and took him to France to die.
-- A side character I liked was a white priest with his mulatto wife and children - the character introduced and drawn lovably, and finally his execution described in horrific detail.
The book is so full of extraordinary events and situations that it's hard to give a taste in this review. There is the plantation-owner's wife cutting open a female slave made pregnant by her husband, and then being haunted by the murdered embryo for months. This haunted woman's confrontation with marauding rebel-slaves is one of the most unique literary descriptions I have read -- it's told first from the viewpoint of the white woman and later from Ri'au's. There is the (hilarious if tragic) situation of whites captured in the black rebel camps, the ex-slave women getting pleasure out of making the white women wash clothes as they always had done for white women. There are the voodoo ceremonies, often described by Ri'au, the practitioner's version of reality becoming the viewpoint of the chapter, as the residents of the spirit world are called forth and take control over the voodoo dancers.
Read "All Souls Rising". You won't forget it easily.
You can't change the history.......2007-06-15
I read all three of the books in this trilogy. None is better than the others. They form a wondrous composite whole. This work is brilliant, stunning in it's complexity and it's presentation. The research must have been phenomenal. The characters are well drawn inside of the history that the events represent.
I was amused by other writer's comments about too many words and too gruesome or violent. If you read and there are too many words, then what are you reading for? If you understand the course of human events in the recorded world then you should know that human beings are not shinking violets when it comes to killing creatively, or rape or a host of other truly horrid human activities. The glory of Bell's achievement here is that he makes it all so real. Not too real, just humanly real. You can feel the heat. You can taste the coffee with a stick of sugar cane stirred in it. You can feel the characters love and hate based on their natures which are influenced by their experiences in life. This is not a read, it's a journey and one well worth taking. Masterful...
Haiti's history of revolution.......2007-04-29
I loved this book.
It is not to say that it was pleasant to read or that it was not horrible but it rang believable and true to me. The ugly reality of slavery and the poison that institutionalized slavery inflicts upon the human soul is different for each person. You see the different human reactions to anarchy within a slave revolt. There is heroism as well as horror contained within these pages.
gruesomely good.......2007-03-31
For any student of slavery or history, this is a great historical work. As a novel, it reads equally well. There is much to learn about not only Haitian but French history from this work. The sequence of events in the back of the book enriches greatly the historical context of the novel itself. I have often read of the relative brutality of Caribbean slavery compared to North American slavery - the events described in this book make the brutality abundantly clear, disturbing and historically consequential.
A great book with no simple phiosophisizing or side taking.
A DIFFICULT READ, BUT WORTH IT...I SUPPOSE.......2005-04-27
First, I have to admit, this was not my cup of tea. I read it due to the fact that I, over the years, have had a number of friends from Haiti, children of those who have fled. That being said, I did give this one four stars in that I feel it is a book, or series of books, that probably should have been written. For a country so close to us, we know so little about it. Actually, I like my history books just that, history books, and am not all that enthusiastic about "historical fiction" good or bad. But, from what little I have read, this seems to be pretty good, well written, and I can only speculate, well researched. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a difficult read. It is difficult on several levels. I cannot say I particularly enjoyed the vivid accounts of rape, torture, killing, etc. etc., but I suppose they were indeed apart of the story and should be told. I do admire the writers unusual use of the language, syntax, et al. All in all, I do recommend this one.
Average customer rating:
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Rebels, Reformers, and Revolutionaries: Collected Essays and Second Thoughts (Crosscurrents in African American History)
Douglas Egerton
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0415931223 |
Book Description
This collection of essays examines the lives and thoughts of three interrelated Southern groups - enslaved rebels, conservative white reformers, and white revolutionaries -presenting a clear and cogent understanding of race, reform, and conservatism in early American history.
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