Book Description
The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack against the empire, while Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her Jedi twins. Overwhelmed by the ships and clones at Thrawn's command, the Republic has one last hope--sending a small force, led by Luke Skywalker, into the very stronghold that houses Thrawn's terrible cloning machines. There a final danger awaits, as the Dark Jedi C'baoth directs the battle against the Rebels and builds his strength to finish what he had already started: the destruction of Luke Skywalker.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
"Just when the Republic thought that the insidious and unfortunately
very clever Thrawn could sink no lower, he does. In other words, send
in the clones!
This gives him the manpower (clonepower?) he needs to crew enough
ships to blow the guts out of lots of the Republic forces and
fortresses.
Han and Chewie must gain aid from a smuggler fleet, to try and stop Thrawn. Luke contends with the evil Jedi Master C'Boath.
Leia, very heavily pregnant, desperately tries to hold things together politically.
Mara Jade usurps Luke Skywalker (minor spoiler).......2007-05-20
As post-Return of the Jedi novels about Luke, Han and Leia go, Timothy Zahn's breakthrough Thrawn Trilogy is the best. The author captures the epic spirit of Star Wars space opera overall, but the ultimate hero of climax of this book is NOT Luke or Han or Leia. As long as you're ok with that then you'll probably enjoy this book a lot. I would have given this book 4-stars if not for the let-down ending.
As for the best novels from the era of the movie saga, I recommend all of the following 5-star novels:
Cloak of Deception (Star Wars)
Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul)
Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)
The Best Way to Experience This Book.......2007-05-02
I want to highly recommend you get the audio versions of this trilogy which is amazing. As great as the books are (and if you've read them you know they are probably the most worthy of the title "Star Wars" of any book written in the entire star wars universe), now imagine hearing them dramatically performed complete with (and this is the best part) John Williams original soundtrack set to the events of these books. If you've read the books, try this out, you will enjoy it. If you've heard the book, go back and read it because the audio version is abridged. Hope you enjoy it. I know I did.
The Last Command Book Review.......2007-04-03
The Last Command is the ending book to a Star Wars trilogy. It is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and is a science-fiction book. It is about how the Empire, under Grand Admiral Thrawn, starts taking back lost territory at a furious rate and what Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and the New Republic do to stop it. I recommend it for ages eleven through fifteen. You also might want to read Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising, the two prequels.
I think the audience for this book is ages eleven through fifteen, especially those already acquainted with Star Wars. For example, the book mentions characters portrayed in the movies, and you need to know at least a little of their background, which is mentioned in the movies. The author does not use hugely advanced words, but words like sputter and glide, which are pretty easy to understand.
The book contains plenty of information but pieces it together just right, making it easy and informative reading. The novel is only around three-hundred to four-hundred pages long, but you learn a lot.
The Last Command is written in an easy to understand way. The writing flows quickly, and it is a real cliff-hanger. I read it in around four days.
Young s will enjoy this book because of the relatively easy vocabulary, speedy reading, and the dramatic writing. I highly recommend it.
Sprint to the End........2007-02-10
Remember Star Wars? Not that joke of a series that came out with the most recent three movies, but instead that sometimes hokey, sometimes brilliant, always engrossing space opera from the seventies. Luke Skywalker, hero for millions of boys, Han Solo, dreamed of by girls everywhere, and Darth Vader, feared by all. That's the series that changed science fiction. Timothy Zahn loved those movies as much as I did. Timothy Zahn stayed true to that vision where George Lucas didn't. The Last Command (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Vol. 3) is the conclusion of the best Star Wars story since we first met Luke and Han Solo.
As should be, the book is action from beginning to end, but that action is varied and tense. From light saber duels to Horatio Hornblower sea battles in space to political intrigue and obsessed vindettas.
The new characters feel like they were just off camera when Lucas filmed the original movies. Mara Jade has dreams of fighting Luke. She's an enforcer for a brilliant smuggler, Talon Kardde. Talon is a political animal, playing alliances and allegiances like chess moves while remaining likable and understandable.
The greatest addition of all is our true villain, Grand Admiral Thrawn. The reader understands that it's a good thing that Thrawn wasn't around for the rebel victories over the Emperor because the result would have been different. He's a mastermind, both strategically and tactically, and can only be defeated by underhanded means or overwhelming force.
To complicate matters, Thrawn's ally, the insane Joruus C'baoth, is a dark Jedi master trying to turn Luke to the dark side and to possess Leia's children, raising them as the seed to a new Jedi army.
The action doesn't stop and the ending is fantastic. Pick it up, enjoy it, and remember those good old days.
- CV Rick
Customer Reviews:
Please, truth in advertising.......2000-09-15
"Refighting the Last War" is an interesting title, because it conjures up all the things that soldiers never want to be guilty of, looking back and doing things the "old way." I picked up this book expecting a lively criticism of how we may have missed the boat in the Cold War's first hot spot. My disappointment was compounded by my naivite. It is immediately apparent to the reader that the author is not attempting a fresh interpretation, but rather a recap of what has already been discussed, debated, and decided (sometimes erroneously as will be pointed out later).
From the beginning it is clear that Korea is not fought like any war previous: the fact that the Sec State led us into conflict, the fact that Congress did not declare war, the President did not call up reserve forces or nationalize the economy for war mobilization, to say nothing of the air and naval restrictions imposed from the beginning of the conflict. Maybe MacArthur thought HE was refighting the last war, but that is a conclusion the reader will come to independent of the author's arguments.
Most telling to me is that although the book is post-Soviet Union, there is no attempt to access archival material that many other authors have, and who have published some startling conclusions, that perhaps our interpretation of the war in the 50's was in fact correct. The author claims that there was a "gentleman's agreement" between the USSR, US, and PRC to limit the war, and that Stalin and Mao monitored US congressional hearings to take their cues on American strategy. No joke. Where is the evidence? No foot notes, no citations of archival material, no logical followup. The reader is expected to accept the statement and the implications that maybe the Reds weren't so awful after all.
There are occaissional flashes of interest, particularly in discussing the issues surrounding the less known personalities such as Admiral Joy, and Generals Van Fleet and Clark. But if anything, all these individuals chaffed at not being able to "refight the last war", that is to wage war as they saw fit.
There are many statements and assertions that just don't do justice to the reader looking for a deeper story from Korea. There is a lot better scholarship and interpretion out there.
Evaluation of the People and Command Decisions of the War.......1997-12-02
This is a good text that highlights the (5)critical players and (6) command decisions that were part of the war.
Truman left the details up to Acheson but felt the war, and especially prisoner repatriation, were moral imperatives. (The later cost Truman the election in '52...an armistice would have been signed before the election had Truman yielded). Ridgway, stabilizing the front after MacArthur's collapse, decided to extract maximum Chinese casualities for largely insignifcant terrain. Admiral Joy wore two hats as commander and negotiator. His minesweeping and Marine air support were often underappreciated, even as his worst fears about the Soviets in Vladivostok never materialized. On the other hand he often negotiated as much with his own State Department as with the communists. General Clark chafed under the restraints of limited war, and wound up signing the Armistice 'with a heavy heart.'
As an analyst the command decisions are more interesting.
***The decision to intervene showed the growing strength of the state department vis a vis military matters. It had been the Joint Chiefs ,after all, who had said a war on the Asian mainland should be avoided. But pressure of McCarthyism and fear of a Kremlin monolith pushed us in. For their part, the North Koreans assumed that the US machinery of declaring war would be too cumbersome for a timely response. While bypassing congress was justified under the urgent circumstances that late June of 1953, it was foolish not to engage and consult with key leaders as the war progressed.
***The author, as many do, gives a good description of the insurmountable logistics of the Inchon landing. Asked about its risks, MacArthur (perhaps sarcastically) commented that the real risk was putting US boys on the mainland in the first place. The author could have pointed out that 'donkeys' revealed the Flying Fish Channel was not mined, nor was the port heavily guarded. In any case, the momentum gained at Inchon was lost with the Wonsan landing on the east coast.
***With regards to the decision to cross the parallel, James points out that speeches and excitement about uniting Korea predated US force breakouts. But the success foundered as US forces outran their supplies in the west; the peninsula widened and the temperatures plummeted; the Taebek mountains prevented the 'pincers' from closing. As for the disaster of Chinese intervention, the author lays some blame on Truman. He used the Wake Island meeting with MacArthur largely for political grandstanding when it called for hardnosed geopolitical analysis.
***On the decision to fire MacArthur: Keep in mind MacArthur felt US policymakers placed too much emphasis on Europe. [Reviewers comment: we still do. Can you say BOSNIA?] His proposals to extend the war into Manchuria and China involved limited air and sea operations, not ground troops. [Clark made the same proposals 2 years later]. As for the advance itself, MacArthur took full advantage of what he felt were ambiguous orders. A final source of misunderstanding was simply that links between MacArthur, the JCS and presidential advisors (especially Acheson) were weak.
*** In his chapter 'Victory or Armistice' James deals well with arguments that we should have exploited the weak CCF instead of pursuing an Armistice in mid 1951. Should we have advanced to the Korean 'waist'-- the line between Wonsan and Pyongyang? Considering the difficulties we encountered later at the Iron Triangle and the Punchbowl, this might not have been as easy as we thought. True, Van Fleet and Admiral Joy felt we had fumbled an opportunity to 'crush the enemy'. But the author states frankly the American led alliance decided that 'if the blood of their young men' was to be shed further, it should be in areas more strategically critical. (of course this means, Europe.).
***Could the war have been fought in another way or by other means?? America never decided to use Chiang Kai Sheks forces; not only could this be provocative, but there was a feeling that they were not up to snuff, anyway. America sent its extra 4 divisions to Europe partly as a signal to the communists that we wish to keep the war confined to the Peninsula.
What about more of a sea war? Not only would a blockade of Manchuria have been ineffective, but it might have brought in the Russians from nearby Vladivostok. Shelling of Chinese cities and bases also would have been largely ineffective since many facilities were beyond the range of coastal gunfire.
Could the air war have been different? Strategic bombing had little impact on the defensive lines of the enemy. Atomic bombs were a charming threat, but overkill ; and ineffective in such rural terrain. [nuclear bombs are good for one and only one thing...blowing up large cities.] Hot pursuit of MiGs scooting back north of the Yalu was eventually allowed. (and effective: read No Kum Sok's book, A MiG15 to Freedom).
There were other limits and sanctuaries as well: UN bases in Korea (Pusan, for example) were never bombed; Russian air and naval support was never more than just adequate. These limits illustrate the complex, political nature of cold war warfare. If it was new to us then, it most certainly is not now. Have we learned from it??
Average customer rating:
- (RAW Rating: 3.5) - Gaunt's Ghosts
- entertaining book, 3.5 stars
- His Last Command (Gaunt's Ghosts)
- Gaunt's Ghosts has to be...
- They do hunches...and inklings.
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His Last Command (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)
Dan Abnett
Manufacturer: Games Workshop
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Traitor General (Gaunt's Ghosts Novels)
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Ravenor Returned (Warhammer 40,000)
ASIN: 1844162397 |
Book Description
Second in the new Gaunt¿s Ghosts sequence, The Lost. Returning from a long mission on a Chaos world, Commissar Gaunt finds that his old regiment, the Tanith First-and-Only, has been redeployed under a charismatic new commander. As the fighting becomes bitter, Gaunt is finally reunited with his men as the Imperial forces make one last desperate attempt to hold the line against the invaders.
Customer Reviews:
(RAW Rating: 3.5) - Gaunt's Ghosts.......2006-08-09
In HIS LAST COMMAND, Gaunt's Ghosts have returned from their mission on Gereon, a Chaos controlled planet, to Ancreon Sextus where war is also raging, in a continuation of the story of Gaunt's Ghosts. They have been changed which is frightening to those around them. They changed in order to survive on Gereon, but others think the transformation may be more sinister; therefore, they are put in internment camps and questioned.
Finally, they are allowed back into battle as the forces attack Sparshad Mons, a step-city ruin on Ancreon Sextus, which appears to be filled with the enemy. Not many people want to listen to Gaunt, even though he is an expert warrior with sharpened senses. Nothing is as it seems as the battle progresses and Gaunt must find a way to get his superiors to understand what he knows. Will Gaunt ever convince them that what they are seeing is not really what they are seeing?
Dan Abnett has written a sequel to a story that I think you would need to read before tackling this one. After a spell, things did become clearer and I was able to pick up the storyline. The characters were well flesh out and the writing was smooth but the story did move a bit slow in places when some of the battles were taking place. There were many battles and a lot of dying on the battlefields. Strange monsters inhabited the land and only Gaunt knew where they came from. The monsters were fascinating in that they could not be killed in a normal way. Only Gaunt's Ghosts knew how to get rid of them.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
entertaining book, 3.5 stars.......2006-07-15
this book, following from the events in 'traitor general,' deals with the return of gaunt & co to the empire. their mishandling (surely there was a protocol worked out for gaunt to follow which would avoid this if they were able to get out) and near-execution, subsequent investigation and near-execution for suspected taint are interesting. the personality alterations in all of the returned were well-done. the somewhat predictable ending (gaunt ending up with command of the unit which included the remnants of his old one) was somewhat cliche, but overall a good read. i actually enjoyed traitor general more.
His Last Command (Gaunt's Ghosts).......2006-07-10
An excellent read, yet another example of Dan Abnett's writing prowess. The "Ghosts" get further depth in this installment of their series and Gaunt himself is placed in a new role. Action packed and exciting, a "Must Have" for all science fiction readers, and especially sci-fi war readers.
Gaunt's Ghosts has to be..........2006-02-24
...one of the best series I've had the pleasure to read. Dan Abnett has done it again with his latest addition to Gaunt's Ghosts. This installment reunites the Gereon suicide-mission survivors with their former regiment, the Tanith First and Only who have been integrated with another crippled regiment, The Belladon Eighty-First. Commissar Ibram Gaunt has been stripped of his Colonel rank and redeployed away from his former regiment, suspected of being tainted by Chaos on Gereon.
What follows is a gripping warstory that touches on many facets of a soldier's life. The Gereon survivors are shadows of their former selves. They are truly "The Lost". Coming home from a suicide-mission, they are treated like the enemy simply because it was deemed impossible to return without being corrupted by Chaos. Unable to tell their comrades what happened on Gereon, they are self reliant to the extreme, and trust no one.
His Last Command is a brilliant book, with incredible action, brilliant dialogue, and at times touching moments between brothers in arms.
They do hunches...and inklings........2006-01-24
The team that went to Gereon came back different. You do not spend that long on a Chaos-held world and not have it affect you. It changed the way they fought. It changed the way they lived and thought, the way they trusted. All of those changes were alterations forced on them by the simple need to survive. Gereon left its mark on them. They developed an instinct, a type of hunch, a sensitivity, a little inkling that rang alarm bells when things were not right. They learned to sense the vibrations of Chaos. Because of this, they survived and returned from the dead to their people. Also because of this, they were not trusted and found themselves before a tribunal.
Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt has been missing so long and presumed dead that his unit, the Tanith First-and-Only, has been redeployed. Eszrah Night, a Gereon partisan who has attached himself to Gaunt, follows Gaunt on the trip homeward. They learn that the Ruinous Powers are on the move and that the Warmaster may very well find himself stabbed in the back. Since the higher-ups would not believe anything from a possibly tainted resurrected hero, Gaunt would just have to find a way to force them into listening and believing.
In the meantime, the Ghosts are sent back to the front lines where the men they meet will learn to do things a new way, the Ghost way, or die.
**** The first few chapters of the book are intense. Gaunt's Ghost fans are witness to their heroes returning and how they are treated. But then things slow WAY down. There are many battles, but nothing really gets done. It comes across to the reader as simply filler pages. Then, as usual, a little past the half-way point, things begin to happen. The real story begins. From then on, you will not be able to pull yourself away. I only took away one star due to the several chapters of slowness because the author managed to show the reader that the "new" Ghosts actually teach the fresh, green, recruits how to think under stress. Readers actually see the cherries mature into decent fighting men. A wonderful addition to the series! ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Average customer rating:
- Best drawn SW ever!
- Star Wars: The Last Command
- The Best of the Thrawn Trilogy Adaptations
- Cool
- BRILLIANT!!!!!
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Star Wars: The Last Command
Mike Baron ,
Edvin Biukovic , and
Eric Shanower
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
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Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
ASIN: 1569713782 |
Book Description
The Last Command concludes the adaptation of Timothy Zahn`s best-selling Thrawn Trilogy, drawing to a shattering climax the events set into motion in Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising. Thrawn is creating an army of genetically engineered shock troops in an effort to overwhelm the forces of the Rebellion. Meanwhile, dark Jedi Master C`baoth plans to kidnap the newborn twins of Princess Leia and raise them as the first of a new legion of dark Jedi!
Customer Reviews:
Best drawn SW ever!.......2006-04-10
Thanks to late Edi Biukovic. Too bad the same cannot be said of the cover (or rather, too bad Edi didnt do the cover too).
Star Wars: The Last Command.......2005-08-19
It is basically a short review of the great book written by Zahn. I recommend the novel and this as a refresher for later times.
The Best of the Thrawn Trilogy Adaptations.......2001-09-02
The comic adaptations of 'Heir to the Empire' and 'Dark Force Rising' tackled the problem of adapting a 400-page novel into a 160-page comic quite well, and 'The Last Command' does it better than even those two. While the adaptations does run into inevitale problems (like in explaining Delta Source) Baron has done a truly admirable job.
First off, the art. The late Eddie Buikovic's second and last art job in the world of SW comics is even better than his one with 'The Phantom Affair'. The detail is incredibly, with gorgeous views of Coruscant, Mount Tantiss, and even Hijarna. The characters are all done very well, also. The movie cast looks just like they did on the screen and original characters like Pellaeon, Mara, Karrde, Ferrier, and so forth are done better here than in the other two adaptations. The one qualm I have with the art is that the coloring switched halfway through. Pamela Rambo's watercolor-type style worked better in the 'Dark Force Rising' adaptation, but its just doesn't fit well with Buikovic's style. Thankfully, the second half is done by Dan Brown, whose style resembles 'The Phantom Affair's masterful colorist, Dave Nestelle.
My one qualm with the art is that it's not always faithful to the 'real' SW universe. Craft like Chariot LAVs, the Golan IIIs at Bilbringi, and Ferrier's DP20 gunship don't look a thing like they 'actually' do. I'm willing to overlook it, still, because Buikovic's art made the adaptation of 'The Last Command'
That said, its a very well done adaptation that retains the spirit of the novel itself and created a gorgeous, almost cinematic, feel to it as well. Highly reccomended.
Cool.......2000-08-16
This comic is so cool! The lettering is great, the characters do things that they would have done in the movies, and they look exactly the same. The plot is new, but it's possible. It also is faithful to Star Wars. The comic is a must read.
BRILLIANT!!!!!.......1999-09-30
BUY IT! The Story, Illustrations, Colouring and practically everything about this Book is Great. it wraps up Tim Zahn's trilogy ingeniously. If you are a true Star Wars fan, you wouldn't be seen without this. -Review By Violata
Customer Reviews:
Before Custer There Was Dade.......2002-09-26
This book is the product of years of study and of walking over the ground of Dade's massacre. Unlike Custer, Dade left some survivors to tell the tale. Those of you familiar with the enormous literature on Custer will recognize the type of book "Dade's Last Command" is, a study of a single battle from as many angles as can be researched by the author. Yes, the last stand of Dade and his men mark the official opening of the Second Seminole War, a war that made and tarnished the reputations of Zachary Tayor and Winfield Scott, whose career streatched from the War of 1812 to the Civil War. But be clear this is a battle study centering around the end of Dade and his 108 men. So don't be mislead by the book jacket description.
Dark tragedy in the Florida wilds.......2000-04-24
I have just finished reading this excellent book, and I am certain that the scenes of the march and ultimate annihilation of Major Francis Dade's column by the Seminole Indians will haunt me for a long time to come, just as the movie version of this event, Naked In The Sun, did when I saw it as a child in 1957. However, unlike that film, this book is hard, unadorned reality, with the facts more incredible than any fictional trimmings. The Dade Massacre remains less than a footnote in the popular imagination only because the fall of the Alamo occurred less than 3 months afterwards; but Mr. Laumer's book will surely enlighten those who don't know about it as well as those who think they do, for the author has combed every possible avenue of research in putting together the widely scattered pieces---and often they are mere crumbs---of this story. The suspense and high drama is quite palpable, and the reader is made to feel as if he is one of Dade's soldiers as they are whittled away first on the road, and then within their pathetic log breastwork. The saga of survivor Ransom Clark, and how he somehow managed to limp and crawl his way back to Fort Brooke---over 60 miles in three days----despite multiple wounds, is truly incredible, and would not pass muster in a work of fiction. The only thing really lacking in the book is a map of the Florida of the period---1835---that would have helped readers unfamiliar with the landscape better understand where the events were taking place. However, a collection of contemporary maps and drawings of the immediate battlefield certainly make an understanding of the action there as clear as a bell; and rare portraits of some of the men involved, on both sides, provide an immediacy and a humanity to the history.
NIGHTMARE FOR THE HOLIDAY.......2000-03-31
This is a great book! researched exhaustively,and for 30 years the author writes this as if you are marching right beside the doomed column.You can hear the shuffle of the feet feel the tension as they march to their deaths,and above all you feel the forlorn hope diminish with each passing hour. A GREAT GREAT BOOK. A MASTERPIECE! I CANNOT PRAISE THIS TOO HIGHLY! A great book on a forgotten time and place. WISH TED TURNER would make this into a TNT ORIGINAL MOVIE!And follow the truth of the format. A VERY GOOD STORY!
Book Description
A classic. An eminent Jewish scholar examines the total body of texts, legends, and traditions referring to the Binding of Isaac and weaves them all together into a definitive study of the Akedah as one of the central events in human history.
Customer Reviews:
good for what it is, but . . ........2003-11-23
I concur with the other reviewers, but only want to emphasize that this is a very dry, hard to read book - good for the scholar writing a Ph.D thesis, not so good for the average reader who just wants to brush up on the Akedah before the story is read in shul a few days later.
Isaac was killed?.......2002-05-23
Resurrected? The ram was in the Garden of Eden before it appeared in the thicket?
These are all stories derived from the Akedah throughout Jewish history, some older than others, some really stretching the text of the Bible. The process of midrash, answering those nagging questions about puzzling texts, filling in the spaces of various Biblical stories, has a long history, much of it written down in the various writings of the Rabbis after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE. One of the prominent stories which had taken on a life of its own after the writings of the Hebrew Bible had ceased (c. 165 BCE or so) was that of the sacrifice of Isaac.
If anyone is interested in the 'Jewish legends' (to borrow Ginzberg's title) and the lost art of story telling this is a wonderful addition to your library. Shalom Spiegel does a remarkable job in summarizing these stories as the pertain to the Akedah in great detail and at great length for such a small book.
Spiegel dives into the various threads of the traditions associated with the Akedah. Geza Vermes tapped into this a bit in his Scripture and Tradition in Judaism but Spiegel broadens the scope a bit. It is remarkable how many variants on this story are to be found throughout Jewish history, some of it still followed, some of it much more obscure.
This book reveals, to a degree, just how the development of this particular story led to the interpretation by the Christian movement and, though it is not discussed in this book, that of Islam. The stories found in these two religious traditions find their roots much more in the traditions than is commonly understood (or admitted).
The word of God is not static and is not confined to text. It lives and breathes and in this little book reveals proof of such life. A wonderful little gem.
Fascinating study of the Akedah (Binding of Isaac).......2001-09-09
In this fascinating book, Spiegel traces rabbinic interpretations of the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac) from the earliest sources through the Middle Ages. He begins at the end, with the remarkable fact that during the Middle Ages, European Jews looked to Isaac as a martyr, the prototypical sacrifice and an inspiration to those Jews who killed themselves rather than convert to Christianity under the threat of the Crusaders. Despite the plain language of Scripture -- in which God ultimately tells Abraham *not* to sacrifice (or even harm) Isaac -- many aggadic interpretations suggested that Isaac was actually sacrificed and then brought back to life. In the 12th century rabbinic poem that inspired this book, Isaac is actually killed (and resurrected) *twice.* Spiegel asks how medieval interpretation of the Akedah could have strayed so far from the plain meaning of Scripture, and in particular whether the theme of the redemptive sacrifice of the first born should be traced to Christian influence. Spiegel looks to rabbinic, Christian and pagan sources to try to answer these questions.
This is a scholarly work and assumes familiarity with classical rabbinic literature. Some arguments are hard to follow if you do not know the generations of the Tannaim; and if you've never read any midrash, you will find the style very hard going at first. Even so, as a non-scholar with only a beginner's knowledge of rabbinic literature, I felt that I got a lot out of the book, particularly in terms of the history of ideas and the contrasts between Jewish, Christian and pagan notions of sacrifice, redemption and ancestral merit.
Book Description
The value of this record lies in the reliable chronological recording and objective observation of a historical epoch unique in its revolutionary consequences.
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Christ's Last Command: Resources for Success
Peter A. Steveson
Manufacturer: BJU Press
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ASIN: 1591667097 |
Books:
- The Last Full Measure
- The Last Guardian (Warcraft, Book 3)
- The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans
- The Lost Daughters of China
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
- The Second Captain Underpants Collection: Books 5-7 & Adventures of Super Diaper Baby
- The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future
- The Stolen Child: A Novel
- The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution
- The Vision A Two-in-one Volume Of The Final Quest And The Call
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Remains of the Day
- Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome
- Death Gets A Time-Out
- Eye of Terror
- Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen
- Introduction to Chemical Principles
- Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Degas Paintings: 24 Full-Color Cards
- Dynamic Biochemistry of Animal Production
- Ingush Republic Investment & Business Guide
Vision of the Future (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn, Book Two)
Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn, Book One)
Jedi Search (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 1)
