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.

Average customer rating:

The City of Falling Angels
Life in the City of Venice
Only 'ok'.
Immensely enjoyable, but not up to Midnight in the Garden standards...
Gave up after 103 pages

The City of Falling Angels
John Berendt
Manufacturer: The Penguin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594200580

Amazon.com

Past Midnight: John Berendt on the Mysteries of Venice

Just as John Berendt's first book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was settling into its remarkable four-year run on The New York Times bestseller list, he discovered a new city whose local mysteries and traditions were more than a match for Savannah, whose hothouse eccentricities he had celebrated in the first book. The new city was Venice, and he spent much of the last decade wandering through its canals and palazzos, seeking to understand a place that any native will tell you is easy to visit but hard to know. For travelers to Venice, whether by armchair or vaporetto, he has selected his 10 (actually 11) Books to Read on Venice. And he took the time to answer a few of our questions about his charming new book, The City of Falling Angels:

Amazon.com: The lush, cloistered southern city of Savannah was the locale of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Venice, the setting for The City of Falling Angels, is vastly different. Was it the difference itself that drew you to Venice?

John Berendt: Savannah and Venice actually have quite a lot in common. Both are uniquely beautiful. Both are isolated geographically, culturally, and emotionally from the world outside. Venice sits in the middle of a lagoon; Savannah is surrounded by marshes, piney woods, and the ocean. Venetians think of themselves as Venetian first, Italian second; Savannahians rarely even venture forth as far as Atlanta or Charleston. So both cities offer a writer a rich context in which to set a story, and the stories provide readers a means of escape from their own environment into another world.

Amazon.com: I enjoyed your rather declarative author's note: that this is a work of nonfiction, and that you used everyone's real names. In your previous book you did use pseudonyms for some characters and you explained that you took a few small liberties in the service of the larger truth of the story. Why the change this time?

Berendt: When I wrote Midnight I thought I would do a few people the favor of changing their names for the sake of privacy. But when the book came out, several of the pseudonymous characters told me they wished I'd used their real names instead. So this time, no pseudonyms. As for the storytelling liberties I took in writing Midnight, they were minor and did not change the story, but my mention of it in the author's note caused some confusion, with the result that Midnight is sometimes referred to now as a novel, which it most certainly is not. Neither is The City of Falling Angels. In fact, I dispensed with the liberties this time and made it as close to the truth as I could get it.

Amazon.com: In The City of Falling Angels, a number of fascinating people serve as guides to the city, each with a different idea of the true nature of Venice. Who was your favorite?

Berendt: I don't have a favorite, but Count Girolamo Marcello is certainly a memorable, highly quotable commentator. "Everyone in Venice is acting," he told me. "Everyone plays a role, and the role changes. The key to understanding Venetians is rhythm, the rhythm of the lagoon, the water, the tides, the waves. It's like breathing. High water, high pressure: tense. Low water, low pressure: relaxed. The tide changes every six hours."

I nodded that I understood.

"How do you see a bridge?" he went on.

"Pardon me?" I asked, "A bridge?"

"Do you see a bridge as an obstacle--as just another set of steps to climb to get from one side of a canal to the other? We Venetians do not see bridges as obstacles. To us, bridges are transitions. We go over them very slowly. They are part of the rhythm. They are the links between two parts of a theater, like changes in scenery. Our role changes as we go over bridges. We cross from one reality ... to another reality. From one street ... to another street. From one setting ... to another setting."

Once I had absorbed that notion, Count Marcello continued: "Sunlight on a canal is reflected up through a window onto the ceiling, then from the ceiling onto a vase, and from the vase onto a glass. Which is the real sunlight? Which is the real reflection? What is true? What is not true? The answer is not so simple, because the truth can change. I can change. You can change. That is the Venice effect."

I was not terribly surprised when he later told me, "Venetians never tell the truth. We mean precisely the opposite of what we say."

Amazon.com: Now that you know Venice well enough to be a guide yourself, what would you say to a visitor looking for insight into the character of the city?

Berendt: Tourists generally shuffle along, on narrow streets so crowded as to be nearly impassable, between the major sights of St. Mark's Square, the Rialto Bridge, and the Accademia Museum. All you have to do is to step off these heavily traveled alleyways, and in a few moments you will find yourself in quiet, much emptier surroundings. This is more like the real Venice. Another thing to do is to go into the wine bars where Venetians stand around drinking and talking. They will very likely be speaking the Venetian dialect, so you won't be able to understand them, but you will get a sampling of the true Venetian ambiance enlivened by the pronounced sing-song rhythm of the language. I'd also suggest stopping someone in the street and asking for directions. Almost invariably, you will be rewarded with a genial smile and the instructions, Sempre diritto, meaning "Straight ahead." This will only leave you more confused, because when you attempt to follow a straight line, you will be confronted by more twists and turns and forks in the road than you thought possible, given the instructions. This is part of what Count Marcello described as "the Venice effect."

Book Description

The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns after more than a decade to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants

It was seven years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on The New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46 percent. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice-a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths. Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, marble ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are underway. The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective-inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city-while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking "suicide" prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the first family of American expatriates that loses possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, partygoing Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning one another's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others-stool pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.

Customer Reviews:

The City of Falling Angels.......2007-10-08

This is a book I could not put down. I suggest this to anyone who is planning a trip to Italy (or not!)

Life in the City of Venice.......2007-10-03

In 1996, a fire started in the Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy. And not just any fire. A fire that would consume not only most of the beautiful building, along with it paintings, frescoes and history in this last of it's kind building. No, this fire consumed almost a decade in the life of Venice. How did the fire start? Was it arson? Was it negligence? Who had the most to gain? Was it the Mafia or was it the contractors that were working on the remodeling? These are just some of the questions that drew John Berendt to extend his stay in Venice and try to capture the city and it's people in print.

In the course of the investigation, Berendt introduces us to many of the citizens of this city. We meet Archimede Seguso, a renowned glass maker, that watched the Fenice burn and then created over one hundred glass vases to memorialize it. Of course, most of these pieces still haven't been seen by the public because they are tied up in a litigation of a weird brotherly feud. We meet the Rylands - Jane, an American Expat and her British husband that waylaid a poor old lady and took her incredible achieves for their own profit. The woman was Olga Rudge, the famous Mistress of writer Ezra Pound, who's writings and letters were worth a small fortune. And we meet members of the Save Venice foundation, a non-profit organization that was created to help restore buildings and art in the city of Venice. But an implosion of the group was caused by mixing too many people with large egos wanting the Title and prestige involved with this organization.

I will readily admit I had high hopes for this book. I thought Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil about the city of Savannah, Georgia was fantastic! He did such a wonderful job describing the beauty of the city, as well as the eccentricity of it's people. Not so much with Venice, although he certainly tried. Maybe it's the fact that I just don't understand the Venetian culture the way I do culture in the US. Or maybe this book was more about the glitterati instead of just the average folks. Either way, it fell short for me. I really didn't get a chance to CARE about the people in this book. There were too many exceedingly shallow people that cared more for their titles and their parties than they did about anything else. The back story of the Fenice fire just seemed to get lost in it all. And since reality is never as cut-and-dried as fiction, we still don't know what really happened that night at the Fenice.

I did enjoy learning more about Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge. And I was intrigued about the side story of the poet Mario Stefani, a man that took his own life during this time period. But reading about the Save Venice Organization and their constant bickering over whose name would be at the top of the stationery and who got the best seats for a gala rather turned my stomach. As did the story of the Rylands and how they swindled a poor elderly woman AND her family out of their birthright. Maybe my expectations were just too high for this one. Venice is a beautiful city, one I'd love to visit some day. But this book didn't do much for me! Like a Seinfeld episode, it was a whole lot about nothing.

Only 'ok'........2007-09-19

I prefer books with a strong plot. This didn't really seem to have a strong plot and the pieced never really seems to come together as strongly as I had hoped. It may just be the style of this author... and if you like that type of style this would be a book for you.

Immensely enjoyable, but not up to Midnight in the Garden standards..........2007-09-03

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is one of my favorite books, so I decided to read his latest, The City of Falling Angels. While the formula for both books is pretty much the same, Midnight is a much better book--only because Savannah is a much more quirky city than Venice, Italy.

As with Midnight in the Garden, Berendt combines many elements to create The City of Falling Angels. He provides a little history of Venice. He interviews dozens of colorful characters. And he focuses on a possible crime. In Falling Angels, this is the burning of Venice's famous opera house, La Fenice. As far as history, I felt the author could have provided a little more information about Venice's rich past. Venice has many interesting characters, and Berendt did his best to seek them out. He interviewed Murano glass blowers, city officials, American expatriates, artists, and even a man who considers himself a culinary expert. His specialty is making the world's best-selling rat poison. He also looks into the many famous Americans who made Venice their home, including Peggy Guggenheim and Ezra Pound. But the characters in Venice fell short of Savannah's eclectic bunch including The Lady Chablis, the Voodoo priestess Minerva and antiques dealer Jim Williams. Also, the Fenice fire didn't quite have the drama as the murder in Midnight in the Garden

But I still enjoyed The City of Falling Angels immensely, and John Berendt is a fine writer with a keen eye when it comes to describing places and sites that he visits. After witnessing the opera house fire, glassblower Archimede Seguso goes to his shop and starts creating glass vases like he's never made before. "Against an opaque background as black as night, he had set swirling ribbons of sinuous diamond shapes in red, green, white, and gold, leaping, over-lapping, and spiraling upward around the vase. He never explained what he was doing, but by the second vase, everyone knew. It was a record of the fire in glass--the flames, the sparks, the embers, and the smoke--just as he had seen if from his window..." As for why he chose this city, "Venice was uniquely beautiful, isolated, inward-looking, and a powerful stimulant to the senses, the intellect, and the imagination....Because I could not imagine a more enticing beat to assign myself for an indefinite period of time."

I don't think that The City of Falling Angels is going to do to Venice what Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil did to Savannah. However, after reading The City of Falling Angels, I'm certainly considering a trip to Italy.

Gave up after 103 pages.......2007-09-01

If a book cannot grab me within the first 100 pages, then I have to stop. Not only that, but it was due at the library, and there is a waiting list (why?). I just have little time, and so many other books to read.

I will say that what I did read was somewhat interesting, and the writing was good. I just wasn't that interested in the story - at least at 100+ pages. It must get better, but I wish that I was made to care earlier in the writing.

Sorry if this wasn't very helpful, this review is more of my opinion than a critique.

Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence

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Fire in the City
Savonarola and Florence emerge into the light!
Another view
Florence Comes Alive
Very Strange

Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence
Lauro Martines
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195177487

Book Description

A gripping and beautifully written narrative that reads like a novel, Fire in the City presents a compelling account of a key moment in the history of the Renaissance, illuminating the remarkable man who dominated the period, the charismatic Savonarola. Lauro Martines, whose decades of scholarship have made him one of the most admired historians of Renaissance Italy, here provides a remarkably fresh perspective on Girolamo Savonarola, the preacher and agitator who flamed like a comet through late fifteenth-century Florence. The Dominican friar has long been portrayed as a dour, puritanical demagogue who urged his followers to burn their worldly goods in "the bonfire of the vanities." But as Martines shows, this is a caricature of the truth--the version propagated by the wealthy and powerful who feared the political reforms he represented. In fact, Savonarola emerges as a complex and subtle man: compassionate, wise, a poet and scholar, and even, at critical moments, a force for moderation. The friar, a mesmerizing preacher, set the city afire with his message of Christian charity wedded to republican ideals. It is this reality--of Savonarola as both religious and civic leader--that Martines captures in all its complexity, showing how he inspired an outpouring of political debate in a city newly freed from the tyranny of the Medici. In the end, the volatile passions he unleashed--and the powerful families he threatened--sent the friar to his own fiery death. But the fusion of morality and politics that he represented would leave a lasting mark on Renaissance Florence. For the many readers fascinated by histories of Renaissance Italy--such as Brunelleschi's Dome or Galileo's Daughter, and Martines's acclaimed April Blood--Fire in the City offers a vivid portrait of one of the most memorable characters from that dazzling era.

Customer Reviews:

Fire in the City.......2007-09-08

Overall good
I was hoping that there would be more on the content of the sermons of Savonarola

Savonarola and Florence emerge into the light!.......2007-01-08

Fire in the City is another revealed hornet's nest from Martines that picks up the thread where his previous book April Blood left off. As the title suggests, this is not an exclusive biography on Savonarola, the author casts his net wider than that detailing, in a very readable fashion, the political and social settings that were bound in with Savonarola's actions.

With Lorenzo's death, Florence is at the mercy of his vain and incompetent son, Piero de Medici, whose diplomatic bungling with the invading King of France, Charles the VIII, gets him run out of town by the citizens of Florence, creating political alternatives to Medici rule. Into this anxious period of uncertainty, the searing personality of the reforming Dominican Friar, Savonarola, is catapulted.

Martines shows how Savonarola's political instinct was very much in line with the Christian ethos he espoused from the pulpit, preferring a broader based franchise through the Great Council, sustained by a Republic, instead of oligarchic rule by an elite. Salvation meant not just the deliverance by redemption from the power of sin, but also preservation from tyrannical harm. Yet Savonarola's motives were not as subversive or ego driven ('vainglorious') as his inquisitors and future Medici regimes led history to believe.

Martines also shows how Savonarola's prophecies, another contentious quality to his personality used against him by his enemies in Rome and elsewhere, were not far off the mark. The sack of Rome by Christian mercenaries in 1527, twenty-nine years after Savonarola's execution, seemed to vindicate much of Savonarola's visionary utterances. Was that, indeed, the scourge against the Church he claimed Charles the VIII capable of a generation earlier?

Emphasising the importance of this little Dominican Friar from Ferrara who was prepared to take on Pope Alexander VI over issues of simony and moral corruption, reminds us just how much of a precursor he was to Martin Luther. His insistence on a reformed Church was not merely rhetorical either, his own example proved otherwise.

No doubt Savonarola was a force to behold with his lightning bolts of apocalyptic doom. He profoundly affected Michelangelo and Botticelli who heard him speak, but Martines has stained orthodox whitewash with the blood of historical realism, showing us that Savonarola was more vital and complex and his contribution more positive, than that of just a preaching terrorist who infuriated Rome and encouraged the `bonfire of the vanities'.

After reading April Blood and Fire in the City, the enigma of Florence is much better understood. We patiently wait for his next publication, to read again where it will lead.

Another view.......2006-11-11

I had read enough about Savonarola to have a vague idea as to what he was about, but this book gave me a very different perspective. Savonarola was much more complicated, and less a mad man than I had thought. The destuction of the "vanities", which was the most lamentable of all his actions from our perspective, is better understood after reading this book. Obviously, the value of the destroyed art in Savanarola's context is quite different than it is in ours, and Mr Martines made the point very well. It is a great read, full of history, and I enjoyed it very much.

Florence Comes Alive.......2006-08-03

This is a must read for anyone planning a vacation to Florence, or for those wanting to experience the place and time without the expense, as Martines reaches far beyond the story of a single man and into Renassiance Florence. Readers will find this gripping and complex historical drama impossible to put down. "April Blood" (the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici) sets the stage for this great book, and Martines combines expert scholarship with dramatic narrative skill in both works.

Very Strange.......2006-07-19

I was interested in learning more about Savonarola because "The Palace" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is set in Renaissance Florence at the time of Savonarola, who plays a part in the novel. Now I love history and read a lot of history books, unfortunately, this book was a big dissapointment. Contrary to the blurb on the back cover this book is hardly riveting nor is it much of a thriller. It only covers the last few years of Savonarola's life but it is more about the political history of Florence than on Savonarola himself. Actually the book does not really seem to have a direction or a point and I could not figure out why the author wrote this.

I would suggest that if you are interested in this book that you find a copy in a book store and read it before you buy otherwise you risk being dissapointed.

Smoldering City: Chicagoans and the Great Fire, 1871-1874 (Historical Studies of Urban America)

Average customer rating:

Exactly what I was looking for.

Smoldering City: Chicagoans and the Great Fire, 1871-1874 (Historical Studies of Urban America)
Karen Sawislak
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226735486

Book Description

The fateful kick of Mrs. O'Leary's cow, the wild flight before the flames, the astonishingly quick rebuilding—these are the well-known stories of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. But as much as Chicago's recovery from disaster was a remarkable civic achievement, the Great Fire is also the story of a city's people divided and at odds. This is the story that Karen Sawislak tells so revealingly in this book.

In a detailed account, drawn on memoirs, private correspondences, and other documents, Sawislak chronicles years of widespread, sometimes bitter, social and political conflict in the fire's wake, from fights over relief soup kitchens to cries against profiteering and marches on city hall by workers burned out of their homes. She shows how through the years of rebuilding the people of Chicago struggled to define civic order—and the role that "good citizens" would play within it. As they rebuilt, she writes, Chicagoans confronted hard questions about charity and social welfare, work and labor relations, morality, and the limits of state power. Their debates in turn exposed the array of values and interests that different class, ethnic, and religious groups brought to these public discussions.

"Sawislak combines the copious detail of a historian with the vivid portrayals of a storyteller in her investigation of the infamous Chicago fire. . . . Highlighted by historical maps, plates and engravings, with an epilogue and notes, Smoldering City presents an extremely thorough and engaging study of this extraordinary disaster."—Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews:

Exactly what I was looking for........1998-03-03

This is exactly what I was looking for. My great great grandparents lived in Chicago during the great fire. I always wondered what my family had experienced during the years they were in Chicago and why they decided to leave for Nebraska. I believe I found my answers.

The Fireproof Building: Technology and Public Safety in the Nineteenth-Century American City (Studies in Industry and Society)

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The Fireproof Building: Technology and Public Safety in the Nineteenth-Century American City (Studies in Industry and Society)
Sara E. Wermiel
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos That Reshaped America

ASIN: 0801863112

Book Description

From the first American attempts at fireproof construction in the 1790s to the steel and concrete high-rises of the early twentieth century, The Fireproof Building traces the development of structural fire protection in America and its important consequences for building construction as well as for the safety of cities. Urban conflagrations destroyed many downtowns in the nineteenth century. To protect their property, some owners made their buildings fire-resistive--or as they were called in the past, fireproof--by using new kinds of noncombustible materials and arranging the space inside to check the spread of fire. As these methods improved and owners replaced combustible buildings with fireproof ones, urban firestorms became a thing of the past.

Sara E. Wermiel explores the work of the pioneers of structural fire protection, such as the architect Peter B. Wight. She explains when and why the materials of fireproof construction, including structural iron and hollow tile, came into use. Yet the relatively high cost of these materials discouraged owners from adopting them. The system finally began to be used widely at the end of the nineteenth century, after large cities had enacted building laws mandating fireproof construction for tall buildings and theaters. Wermiel shows the impact of building laws on the development of technology: the laws stimulated demand for fireproofing materials, which spurred innovation and drove down costs.

Although introduced simply as noncombustible substitutes for wood, the materials of the fireproof building--notably, structural iron and steel, and concrete--became the standard for commercial buildings in the twentieth century. Not only did they reduce the risk of fire, but after architects adapted them to create the skeleton frame--the sine qua non of the modern skyscraper--they revolutionized building construction.

"Sweeping fires are so unusual in American cities today that the once dreaded word conflagration sounds quaint to modern ears. This relative peace is quite different from the situation in the past. In the nineteenth century, even excluding the period of the Civil War, the United States averaged about one conflagration per year--conflagrations defined in this case as a fire involving groups of buildings that destroyed property valued at the time at $1 million or more. No part of the nation was exempt: great fires incinerated parts of city centers from Portland, Maine, to Charleston, South Carolina, downtown Seattle as well as Chicago."--from the Introduction

The Last Alarm: The History and Tradition of Supreme Sacrifice in the Fire Departments of New York City

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The Last Alarm: The History and Tradition of Supreme Sacrifice in the Fire Departments of New York City
Micheal L. Boucher , Gary R. Urbanowicz , and Frederick B., Jr. Melahn
Manufacturer: M.T. Publishing Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Rescue Men

ASIN: 1932439595

Product Description

The Last Alarm documents the names and the stories behind each line of duty death in the Fire Departments of New York City, including the FDNY, the Brooklyn Fire Department and the many volunteer fire companies that have served the five boroughs. The book is authored by Gary Urbanowicz, Michael Boucher and Frederick Melahn, Jr. The book provides vital information on the tragic circumstances of each death, documents the traditions of the FDNY, and ensures that we will never forget the sacrifices of the FDNY's fallen members.

Fire Department City of New York (Fdny) the Bravest: An Illustrated History 1865-2002

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FDNY Offical History is the Real Deal

Fire Department City of New York (Fdny) the Bravest: An Illustrated History 1865-2002

Manufacturer: Turner Publishing Company (KY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Disaster Relief | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Law Enforcement | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 1563118327

Customer Reviews:

FDNY Offical History is the Real Deal.......2005-03-15

This book is a "coffee table" sized history of the FDNY. I was also surprised to learn that it is the offical history as written by a member of the FDNY. It is a must have for any fire collector or people who are interested in the FDNY. It is packked with color photos and a comprehensive text outlining the department's history since 1865. It has a section that I haven't seen anywhere else, individual photos of the firefighters killed on 9-11. Having seen so much about that horrible act, nothing brought home the tragedy like seeing the photos of the brave souls who lost their lives taht day. While there are many books on 9-11 that provide great history such as 102 minutes, FDNY: The bravest fills a gap that no other book does. It provides an insider look the department's photos and account of the event.

The Bravest is fact based, no nonsense history that tells it like it was and has a deep and rich historic perspective that other books cannot deliver.

The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America

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The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America
Christine Meisner Rosen
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0521545706

Book Description

Chicago, Boston, and Baltimore all suffered terrible fires in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Residents of these cities agreed that the destruction caused by the fires provided them with a special opportunity to improve their inadequately built cities. This book examines these rebuildings, using each to examine in close detail the process of city growth. The massive population growth and economic expansion of the nineteenth century necessitated that every aspect of the urban environment be redeveloped. Yet, at virtually every stage of city growth, the achievement of environmental adaptation lagged significantly behind the need for change. The innovative features of this book will make it useful to all readers interested in city growth. By drawing on several fields of the social sciences, the author develops a conceptual framework for explaining the barriers to environmental improvement; and through the historical narrative, the usefulness of this framework is demonstrated.

City on Fire: The Forgotten Disaster That Devastated a Town and Ignited a Landmark Legal Battle

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Fact as (poorly written) Fiction
Harrowing story of the this nations worst industrail accident.
Texas City Remembers
No, it's not non-fiction...
Could have been much better

City on Fire: The Forgotten Disaster That Devastated a Town and Ignited a Landmark Legal Battle
Bill Minutaglio
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060185414
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Book Description

On a day that dawned with brisk breezes, a clear sky, and perfect temperatures, the small town of Texas City suddenly found itself facing the greatest industrial disaster in the most industrialized nation on the planet. And, in time, the survivors of that all-American city found themselves wondering if their own government had delivered them into this hell on earth.

In 1947, Texas City was experiencing boom times, bristling with chemical and oil plants, built to fuel Europe's seemingly endless appetite for the raw materials needed to rebuild its ruined cities. When an explosion ripped through its docks, the effect was cataclysmic. Thousands of people were wounded or killed, the fire department was decimated, planes were shot out of the sky, and massive ocean-bound freighters disintegrated. The blast knocked people to their knees in Galveston, ten miles away; broke windows in Houston, forty miles away; and rattled a seismograph in Denver, Colorado. Chaos reigned, the military was scrambled, the FBI launched investigations -- and ordinary citizens turned into heroes.

For months on end, the brave residents of what had once been an average American town struggled to restore their families, their homes, their lives. And they also struggled to confront another welling nightmare-the possibility that the tragedy that almost erased their city from existence might have been caused by the very government they thought would protect them.

City on Fire is a painstakingly researched saga of one of the most profound but forgotten disasters in American history. The Texas City Disaster was a searing, apocalyptic event that had an enormous ripple effect for millions of people around the world.

It changed the way Americans respond to disasters and the way people viewed the American government -- the Texas City Disaster opened the door for average Americans to confront their government and its leaders in the nation's courts of law. It was the first time that the United States of America was named as a defendant in a case that, after a series of dizzying twists and turns, would end up in the nation's highest court.

Ultimately, the story of Texas City is a story of courage, humanity, bravery, and a painful quest for justice. It is the story of ordinary Americans behaving in extraordinary ways -- and serving as role models for dignity and grace.

Customer Reviews:

Fact as (poorly written) Fiction.......2007-04-14

Needs an index, chapter listings, footnotes, and a bibliography. Author claims to have interviewed two hundred people, but does not list their names. If this is non-fiction, he needs to remember Joe Friday's (Jack Webb's) famous quote "Just the facts ma'am."
If a reader is serious about history or the events of the explosion at Texas City, and chooses this volume, I would hope he is good at speed reading, otherwise it may be a long haul.

Harrowing story of the this nations worst industrail accident........2006-06-01

Although not strictly an historical work, Bill Minutaglio nonetheless uses in depth research to reconstruct the Texas City Explosion of the late 1940's.

I do consulting work in the hydrocarbon processing industry and do a lot of work in Texas City, so I was naturally interested in this event. As Minutaglio reconstructs the event one sees that it bears the hallmarks of a major disaster--ignorance, arrogance and extraordinary bad luck all mixed together to create the conditions for horror on a grand scale.

Minutaglio uses the stories of several involved survivors and relatives of some of the prominent deceased to weave this tale. This lends a high level of credence to the reconstruction. There is, however, a fair degree of inference in what is presented.

Beyond the pure human tragedy that Minutaglio chronicles it is the social aspect of the story that really riles. Having in large part created the circumstances that led to this disaster the federal government spends great time and energy in denying the people of Texas City any real comfort, compensation or even recognition of its culpability. When one looks at how the government reacted to 9/11 and compare that to the reaction to the Texas City disaster you can't help but feel anew for the victims.

I found this to be a well written, well researched, lovingly tendered story. It's not a book that one can enjoy, but is a book that should be read. As has often been noted, we do not truly appreciate the power of our modern tools till something goes wrong. This book reveals just how truly awful "when things go wrong" can be.

Highly recommended.

Texas City Remembers .......2006-03-19

This book appealed to me because I was born there 7 years after the Disaster and grew up there where it was part of local lore that I learned from my parents who lived through it. I enjoyed the book for its human interest aspects derived from the author's interviews with survivors. The way he describes life in Texas City coincides with my memories of it from my childhood. I attended the church where Fr. Roach served and the author seemed to use his artistic license from interviewing those who knew him to portray Roach's thoughts and words.

My previous reading on this topic was of dry historical narratives of events of those days in 1947. The inside look at the role of the federal government and the ensuing litigation and resolution of survivors' claims was new to me and fascinating to read. As one who grew up in the shadows of the port and local corporations involved, I heartily recommend this book to interested readers!

No, it's not non-fiction..........2005-09-04

Don't lose sight of the fact that this book is NOT an absolute documentary piece of work -- the writer says as much in his introduction.

It is instead an extremely well-told, compelling story pieced together from documentary evidence, witness accounts and interviews that well chronicles this tragedy and puts the reader right in the middle of the event.

I couldn't put it down.

Could have been much better.......2004-02-14

"City on Fire" is a book that had to be written, for it's the shocking true story about the industrial port city of Texas City, Texas, that was devastated by a pair of ammonium nitrate explosions in April 1947. It's an event that was largely forgotten about until Bill Minutaglio's book came along.

That said, "City on Fire" was a disappointment for me. The first third of it dwells on Father Bill Roach, the Catholic priest who crusades for the city's underclass. This is the worst part of the book, for much of it seems utterly made-up. As another reviewer pointed out, there's no way all of this could be factual; how could Minutaglio possibly know what Roach is seeing, thinking and saying? Other characters are treated in similar fashion.

While the book is full of florid characterizations, it has precious little about ammonium nitrate, such as how it is handled, why it is explosive, how it is manufactured and so forth. A map of the city prior to the event would have been helpful, too, as would a diagram of the Grandcamp, the ship that was the first to explode.

Minutaglio writes as if he's writing the screenplay for a low-budget TV movie. Another complaint -- far too much italic type, much of which is put there for no apparent reason.

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Scher does it again!!
New York City Firefighting, 1901-2001 (NY) (Images of America)
Steven Scher
Manufacturer: Arcadia Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
New York | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Firefighting & Prevention | Civil Service | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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New York's Bravest: Eight Decades of Photographs from the Daily News

FDNY: An Illustrated History of the Fire Department of New York City (American Icon Close-Up Guides)

Historic Fires of New York City (Images of America)

FDNY: An Illustrated History of the Fire Department of New York (American Icon Close-Up Guide)

Fire Department City of New York (Fdny) the Bravest: An Illustrated History 1865-2002

ASIN: 0738509884

Book Description

The story of firefighting in New York City is one of danger, tradition, pride, excitement, and tragedy. It is also the story of manís triumph over destructive forces. From the gaslight days of horse-drawn steam engines to the World Trade Center tragedy of 2001, the heroic men and women who make up the cityís most dynamic public service have risked and often lost their lives in order to protect and serve the people of New York City. ÝÝNew York City Firefighting: 1901ñ2001 chronicles the proudest fire department in America. The proximity of buildings in the city streets and the construction materials made each fire especially dangerous, but determined firefighters never hesitated to battle the flames and rescue the victims. Later, facing unprecedented heights and unparalleled danger, firefighters in New York City were called upon to battle infernos in the first skyscrapers, often using the most rudimentary equipment and barely protected from the flames. In its most trying moments, the Fire Department of New York responded to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001, dutifully rushing into the towers to save as many lives as possible and ultimately losing hundreds of their own. ÝÝ

Customer Reviews:

Scher does it again!!.......2003-01-27

Many years ago Steve put out one of the first pictorial/real photo books ("FIRE!") on the FDNY and it has become a classic. Now, he does it again but this time he captures a full century of history. I know someone who likes to say "History is never more fascinating than when it's read from the day it was reported." Steve has adapted this expression to photographs. For anyone who has an interest in the FDNY, whether you are a tried and true old buff or a post-9/11 admirer, this book is a must!!

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