Book Description
(Revised and expanded edition; commentary by Paul L. Maier) Unabridged. Includes harmony of Greek and English numbering systems, table of Jewish weights and measures, Old Testament text parallels, twenty full-page illustrations, and an updated index.
Customer Reviews:
A Book too Long........2007-01-05
The contents of this book are valuable to the student of Bible Studies. The problem I have found is that the book's contents are much too long for one book. It would be much easier to read if it was in two volumes and slightly larger print.
Good resource, bizarre notes.......2006-07-05
This is a nice, cheap, one-volume resource. However, the notes and commentary are very unhelpful. For instance, Maier holds that Josephus was an Ebionite Christian, a thesis which is in the extreme scholarly minority.
I recommend the book, but please ignore the commentary!!!
Josephus by Flavius Josephus .......2005-12-27
Josephus was born to an aristocratic family in 37AD. The work
discusses many important milestones in the history of the
Jewish people. Most prominent of these events are:
- the Jewish forces in Galilee in AD66
- the revolt in Rome
- the agony of the Sepphoris over the state of their land
- the war by Moses against the Ethiopians
- the flight of Moses from Egypt into Midian
- the return of Moses and Aaron to Egypt and the Pharoah and
the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt
- the receipt of the Law by Moses on Mt. Sinai
- how Josephus oversaw the 5th of 10 plagues afflicting cattle
- a map of Judea showing Samaria, Decaputis, Perea, Jerusalem
and the Mediterranean Sea
This work is an important milestone in the literature of the
Diaspora period. It should be widely read by academicians and
theologians everywhere.
A Must Read for the Serious Historian.......2003-07-03
This book was a serendipitous purchase. I was reading "James the Brother of Jesus, and that author recommended having three other works available while studying. One was "Josephus." I have not, unfortunately, finished "James" yet, but am totally fascinated by Josephus. One sees him as a bit puffed up about himself at times, as the detailed historian, the passionate supporter of causes, but most of all as a realist of the time. So valuable because organized religion seldom provides the lay person seldom insight into the actual social and political pressures that moved events that we take for granted in an almost legendary way. Again, a fascinating work is Josephus.
Almost worth five stars.......2003-05-25
In studying Judean history in the first century CE, there is no historian more important than Josephus, especially when one is interested in the study of the historical Jesus or of the world around him (the religious/social/political climate, etc.) Josephus is not only the only Jewish historian of this era to comment on Jesus, he is the only Jewish historian to thoroughly present the history as well as psychological outlook of Jews through a lengthy span of time. His works are immeasurably important to anyone interested in this line of study. This book contains all of his important works and more: his autobiography, Jewish Antiquities, The Jewish War, Against Apion, and an extract out of Josephus's Discource to the Greeks Concerning Hades (the latter of which is spurious.)
This edition of Josephus is helpful, with occasional essays on certain topics (i.e. "Josephus and the Romans" or the family tree of the House of Herod.) The translation is a little stale, but easy enough to understand (and I am assured that the faults in the original Whiston translation have been corrected.) The textual notes are helpful. It is for the dry translation that I gave this work 4 stars instead of 5-- though I really am indebted to those who put together this extremely comprehensive, useful volume of one of the most important historians relating to the history of Israel/Judea.
Book Description
This renowned reference book has served scholars, pastors, students, and those interested in the background of the New Testament for years. The insight given into the Essene community, the destruction of Jerusalem and the interpretations and traditions of the Old Testament in first century Judaism is invaluable. The outlook of Josephus, a late first century Pharisee and historian, on Jesus and the New Testament documents is enlightening and provocative. As an original reference, The Works of Josephus is essential to a full understanding of the first century, the time of Christ and the New Testament.
Complete and unabridged, this is the best one-volume edition of the classic translation of JosephusÂ' works. The entire text has been reset in modern, easy-to-read type; numbering corresponding to that used in the Loeb edition has been added to the text; and citations and cross-references have been updated from Roman numerals to Arabic numbers.
Customer Reviews:
loved it.......2007-09-13
I believe a very accurate portrayal of the life and times of the first century ad. A good book of comparison for religious research.
The Works of Josephus.......2007-07-01
Great condition, quick delivery. This is an important source of information about the early church and the Roman occupation of the Middle East as seen through the eyes of a non-Christian and non-Roman historian of the day. It helps one understand the politics, culture, and issues of the times. I have barely begun to read it, but have been been impressed with what I have read so far.
Great source of information.......2007-03-09
Josephus is a great source for information about Biblical times. The format is similar to the Bible, but the language is not quite as clear as most of the common translations. I would recommend it as a historical companion to Biblical study.
Great Translation.......2007-02-09
This reads pretty well for someone who is interested in actually reading what Josephus wrote which was my goal. I highly suggest it.
The Works of Josephus.......2007-01-10
This is an essential work for understanding the political dynamics of Roman Palestine in New Testament times, and is one of the very few contemporary accounts that we have on the subject. It appears to be as comprehensive an edition as its title indicates, and the translation is accurate and thorough. Its one drawback is the difficulty of reading the fine print--a necessary compromise for a one-volume edition.
Book Description
Award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch brings her remarkable talents to the Star Wars(r) universe, where the New Republic faces sudden and total annihilation....
Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish--a disruption of the Force so shocking it is felt by Luke at his Jedi academy and by Leia on Coruscant. While Leia must deal with an assassination attempt, a rumored plot against the New Republic, and allegations that Han Solo is involved, Luke seeks out a former Jedi student who may hold the key to the mass destruction. But Brakiss is only the bait in a deadly trap set by a master of the dark side who is determined to rule as emperor. He's targeted Luke, Leia, and Leia's Jedi children to die. Then billions will follow, in a holocaust unequaled in galactic history.
Customer Reviews:
THE BATTLE IS OVER.......2007-02-20
Somewhere in the galaxy millions suddenly die. A disruption in the force is felt by Luke, Leia, and her kids. A bomb goes of on Coruscant, almost killing Leia. Han is suspected of the bomb, while he is away. This story takes place 17 years after EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE.
If you want to read this book you must be a STAR WARS fan. You must also be a fast reader. It is a little slow at first but it gets a whole lot better with lots of action and fighting.
and I pass.......2006-12-27
This Star Wars novel is getting closer to the New Jedi Order series which changes the nature of the Star Wars Universe. Only three novels written by Timothy Zahn stand between this book and Vector Prime. Once again a threat which could be the greatest threat the New Republic has ever faced has surfaced. This time I actually believed it, which is a plus. Because of a bombing attack at the Senate which killed several Senators and injured many more (including President Leia Organa-Solo), former Imperials have been able to become elected to the Senate in greater numbers than before. Leia has to deal with the immense distrust she feels for the former Imperials and hold herself back from (in my opinion) starting down a path to be like the Emperor in crushing dissent. Evidence for the attack points to her husband, Han Solo, and touches on his past as a smuggler. Luke Skywalker is hunting down a former apprentice of his who is somehow involved in this as a Force user is also responsible for the killing of millions of lives. All of this ties together and there is more plotting and schemes here than one can shake a stick at.
You know, when I put it like that the book does not sound half bad. To be honest, The New Rebellion is not a bad story, but I found it dry and somewhat dull. I suspect Rusch is a good author and she has apparently won nearly every major SFF award out there for her contributions to the genre, but the novel was not good enough to merit a recommendation and it lacked the feel of adventure and excitement (which I firmly believe can still be found in political wrangling, so I don't want just wanton adventure) and other Star Wars authors have succeeded in this (Matthew Stover, Karen Traviss, Ann Crispin, etc). And I pass.
-Joe Sherry
Without a doubt, one of the best of the expanded universe!!!.......2006-07-20
I was quite impressed with this one. The ones that came before it in the timeline particuarly darksaber were a bit disappointing and seemed rather dry. Dont get me wrong though, I really did enjoy those just for the fun of it. However, this one was an extremely pleasant surprise. It had the feel of a great mystery and a who dunnit kind of tale. I was constantly wondering what came next to see if my hunches were correct in its storyline. The ending seemed rather rushed and just a little bit sub-par for my tastes. I expected a grander conclusion. Don't let my opinion of its ending though turn you off of it. It is still a wonderful tale. Highly recommended!
The Usual Rush Around To Save The Universe.......2005-05-12
This review covers the audio cassette book (2 tapes, 3 hours). Okay, really 3.5 stars. This audio book had so much going for it: a great start, a terrific plot buildup. Then...nothing. It became overly predictable, along with a very rapid wrap-up. The bad guys get waxed, everybody who needs it is rescued, and comes out the stronger, ad naseum. Anthony Heald does his usual great job of voice characterizations (or I would have rated this much lower). The sound effects and music are great, and expected. Overall I would be cautious in the purchase of this audio book.
The usual recycled material, but not written well enough.......2005-05-09
It had a specific style of writing, which perhaps is where the problem lay. One-line sentences are best left for emphasising something notable, and visually sets it apart on the page. With a vast number of one-line sentences here, this book was far fatter than it should be.
I just felt the characters were not in character. Solo came across as too sharp and edgey, which perhaps was necessary considering his locale. Lando was stale, just not at his best, while Luke and Leia were fine.
What really added fun to farce were the droids. At last: someone gave them some serious page time. The ending was utterly ludricious, of course: Artoo's jamming signal "just leaping out across interstellar space" and preventing the activation of two years' production of detonating droids. But they had adventures, they had character, and had a role. And their Fardreamer interaction make sit great to see a nobody can also help save the day, not a sacred movie name.
Infortunately, there's only so much you can read "Artoo whistled" or "Artoo trilled" or "Artoo rasperried" page after page. How that got past editorial scrutiny, well . . .
The villians were ruined, of course, by showing scenes from their viewpoint. Brakiss was an immature weakling, some child trapped in a man's body. He was no scary villain at all, so why try to make him such? Kueller, it was a grievous mistake to show any pov from him. Sith to stars, he was more administrator than sinister. Nothing vicious about Nandreeson either, just your typical crime lord.
But the humour was good, I'll give the book that much. Wookies look smaller when wet. Han felt himself starting to grin, but Chewie growled it away. Samples like that were worth a quick giggle. The smuggler cast were okay.
Only way to make a martial confrontation more even is to disable Skywalker, yes. But having him outmatched in a fight, it does stretch the bounds of credulity. And since he was wounded in Children of the Jedi, partially disabled in Planet of Twilight, these plot devices t restrict his power are getting absurd. And with a no-confidence vote in Black Fleet, we see another here?
Comically, Cloak of Dception's backcover called New Reb a political thriller. The hell it was. Black Fleet was pure political thriller.
Why "Y-words" are so popular in sci fi I can't fanthom, which is why we had a lot of "Y" names here like Yanne and Yane and yuck all round. Saber fights were rare in those days. You got three entire duels in this book!
How can bombs really take out a planetary population, really? As though there are no detection units at all anywhere, as though most sentients are around droids all day long.
But it was the ending space engagement that had me laughing big time. I seriously haven't read any major space batle by a female author that can do one, and that's no jibe intended. On the other leg, few are the men who can really push the emotional range of a character the way a lady can. Ah well.
The classic one shot and the target explodes. Yeah right. 1200m Star Cruisers are more than a match for 900m Vicstars. Even if their crew complement were droids, the battle was only dire to make it dramatic for the reader. And since when does a New Republic naval officer have to say they think the fighters look like TIEs? Been that long since an Imperial fight, sonny?
The final battle was a joke, and Wedge commanding it only compounded the problem.
Good to see an author making attempts to show new and different aliens. Who wants to see an endless barrage of Rodians and Twi'leks every single damn book and comic? Though the 'Phibs were nothing but reptilian fire-breathing dragons.
The New Rebellion wasn't all that bad. It stands lone, had some good creativity and equally shoddy fare, and it's not a book written for younger ages like most SW books these days, so it has enough merit to warrant a leisure read.
Average customer rating:
- High on this book!!!
- An entertaining look at a bygone era
- I loved every page of this book
- As exciting as a night in Max's Backroom
- Fascinating look at a lost time and place
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High on Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max's Kansas City
Yvonne Sewall Ruskin
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ASIN: 1560251832 |
Customer Reviews:
High on this book!!!.......2002-01-15
Anyone interested in the NYC rock'n'roll scene of the 1960's-'70's should get this book. Warhol's Superstars, the Velvets, Nico, Patti Smith, and so many more all have their place in here! Mickey Ruskin, the owner of Max's, pretty much kept alive 99% of the cities "starving artists" during those times! A lot of popular musicians got their start at Max's, from Bruce Springsteen to Debbie Harry (a former Max's waitress!). If you want to learn more about the "back room" at Max's and all the characters who hung out there, get this book! Lots of entertaining anecdotes from so many different scenesters! Most of these people lived on the edge! Other books I would recommend are "Man Enough To Be a Woman" by Jayne County and "Rebel Heart" by Bebe Buell (they were regulars at Max's as well)!!!
An entertaining look at a bygone era.......2001-06-03
I first read "Please Kill Me" and developed a fascination for this era of American social history. This book describes, through stories and pictures, the various stages of Max's and all the celebrity goings on. Very entertaining, also a high quality edition, of a period of decadence.
I loved every page of this book.......2000-07-26
This book was great, excellent pictures and a great tell all of the time. Nothing was held back from this oral history, very detailed and fun. Yvonne Ruskin did a great job, I felt like I knew these people and since I have never been to Max's and now that it is gone it was alot of fun to see what it was like and sad at the same time because I wish I could of been there.
As exciting as a night in Max's Backroom.......2000-04-18
Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin's "High on Rebellion" is a wonderful recreation of Max's era (1965 thru 1981). Filled with hundreds of photographs (by Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Billy Name and others) and hundreds of interview quotes, reading it is like a multimedia experience - as exciting as a night in Max's infamous backroom! For those of us lucky enough to have been there, it is a trip back to the center of the maelstrom... Max's was New York's high energy intersection of the art and music world, where up and coming young ones could brush elbows with Warhol, Patti Smith, Bowie, the NY Dolls, et al. Beautifully designed, this book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the artists, musicians and popular culture of the late sixties and the 1970's. It really is shocking to realize how many young talents succumbed to the excesses of that time, still the book created in me a longing to go back there again! Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Yvonne!
Fascinating look at a lost time and place.......2000-04-04
I often walk past the site where Max's once stood. Even though I only came to New York about three years ago, I already knew the look of that building from photos. Patti Smith said that when she saw the deli that has taken over there, she cried. I found it sad myself and never even went to Max's. Thanks to this fascinating, touching, and sometimes terrifying book, I feel that I got a small taste of what it must have been like. I do realize, however, that "you really had to be there". Of course, if I had been, I might not be here now. Max's was probably way too fast for a guy like me to handle. I might look back fondly like some of the people in this book or I might have jumped off a building like Andrea Feldman. Pick this book up for a heartfelt examination of what was truly a crossroads for pop culture--a place where the only poeple who felt like freaks were the ones who weren't.
Amazon.com
"The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic."
Students of history will recognize 1857 as the year of the Sepoy rebellion in India--an uprising of native soldiers against the British, brought on by Hindu and Muslim recruits' belief that the rifle cartridges they were provided had been greased with pig or cow fat. This seminal event in Anglo-Indian relations provides the backdrop for J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize-winning exploration of race, culture, and class, The Siege of Krishnapur.
Like the mysteriously appearing chapatis, life in British India seems, on the surface, innocuous enough. Farrell introduces us gradually to a large cast of characters as he paints a vivid portrait of the Victorians' daily routines that are accompanied by heat, boredom, class consciousness, and the pursuit of genteel pastimes intended for cooler climates. Even the siege begins slowly, with disquieting news of massacres in cities far away. When Krishnapur itself is finally attacked, the Europeans withdraw inside the grounds of the Residency where very soon conditions begin to deteriorate: food and water run out, disease is rampant, people begin to go a little mad. Soon the very proper British are reduced to eating insects and consorting across class lines. Farrell's descriptions of life inside the Residency are simultaneously horrifying and blackly humorous. The siege, for example, is conducted under the avid eyes of the local populace, who clearly anticipate an enjoyable massacre and thus arrive every morning laden with picnic lunches (plainly visible to the starving Europeans). By turns witty and compassionate, The Siege of Krishnapur comprises the best of all fictional worlds: unforgettable characters, an epic adventure, and at its heart a cultural clash for the ages. Quite simply, this is a splendid novel. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
Winner of the booker prize.
India, 1857—the year of the Great Mutiny, when Muslim soldiers turned in bloody rebellion on their British overlords. This time of convulsion is the subject of J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur, widely considered one of the finest British novels of the last fifty years.
Farrell's story is set in an isolated Victorian outpost on the subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, and yet the members of the colonial community remain confident of their military and, above all, moral superiority. But when they find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion—at once brutal, blundering, and wistful—is soon revealed. The Siege of Krishnapur is a companion to Troubles, about the Easter 1916 rebellion in Ireland, and The Singapore Grip, which takes place just before World War II, as the sun begins to set upon the British Empire. Together these three novels offer an unequaled picture of the follies of empire.
Customer Reviews:
Bringing The Indians A Superior Civilization.......2007-08-25
This is an excellent novel about the Sepoy Mutiny in India in 1857. The focus of the story is the siege of the British Civil Service enclave at Krishanpur (historically this was the siege of Lucknow). A group of Sepoy soldiers was given new rifle cartridges that were wrapped in greased paper, and the paper was removed by biting it off with one's teeth. The word spread was that this grease was animal grease, which was an insult to religion. The sepoys mutinied, killed their superior British officers, and started marauding across India.
Hearing about the mutiny the (tax) Collector in Krishnapur had ramparts built around the British buildings in Krishnapur. Shortly afterwards the Sepoys attacked in waver after wave for a period of several months. Surprisingly author Farrell describes the sufferings of those besieged with a good deal of humor, humor that pricks holes in the pompous beliefs and attitudes of 19th century British colonizers. We bring them progress, a superior civilization, yet they turn on us marvels the Collector. The condescension doesn't stop with the Indians. At one point the Collector speaks to the British women in the enclave, and silently thinks that in reality women are really useless creatures. It is the men of the world that shoulder the responsibility of getting things done. The padre runs around telling everyone that God is punishing them for their sinful behavior. A new school and an old school doctor constantly disagree over medical treatment. In perhaps the funniest scene of the book the old doctor contracts cholera, and instructs his aides to cover him with mustard plasters. The young doctor, who is aware that cholera victims die from dehydration, initiates a saline IV every time the old doc sinks into a coma. The IV brings him around, and he immediately pulls out the IV and insists on getting his mustard plasters, following which he soon sinks back into a coma. Back goes the IV and the doc becomes conscious again. This cycle goes on and on and becomes hysterically funny.
The British thought they were doing wonderful things for the Indians, but the harsh reality of it is they were creating harsh lives for their colonial subjects. The sepoys, for example, were paid near starvation wages. This is an important novel about the misguided philosophy behind imperialism. Perhaps there is a lesson here for us Americans. Should we really be focused on bringing our way of life to other countries?
Masterful Recreation of the British Under Siege in the Great Mutiny.......2007-07-01
"The Siege of Krishnapur', the second of J.G. Farrell's now classic works on the British Empire, (see also Troubles (New York Review Books Classics) and The Singapore Grip (New York Review Books Classics)) is a fictionalized account of the Siege of Lucknow during the Great Mutiny of 1857-1858 (aka the Sepoy Rebellion). The mutiny or rebellion, depending on one's point of view, was ultimately defeated by the British and led to the replacement of East India Company rule by direct British governance under the Raj.
Farrell masterfully recreates the insular British upper-class life in India - and the siege only intensifies this insularity. As the siege drags on and on, the inhabitants strive to maintain expected standards of behavior and decorum. Farrell populates his book with interesting characters who debate and dispute morality, religion, progress, and civilization.
Excellent introductions are a hallmark of the New York Review of Books Classics and the introduction to this volume by Pankaj Mishra places the book in historical and cultural context and adds significant value.
Highest Recommendation.
Trapped in the Flag.......2007-05-13
At the climax of this magnificent novel, the book's protagonist, Hopkins, the British civil administrator or Collector of Krishnapur, finds himself trapped in a Union Jack whose flagstaff has been shot down, knocking him to the ground. He recognizes it as the scenario of a persistent nightmare that had been troubling since his small enclave had been put under siege several months before. But it is also a symbol for the entire book.
The initial set-up here is similar to that of the author's TROUBLES: a group of British colonialists crammed together in a decaying building while the threat of native rebellion comes closer. But this is larger in scope, with a bigger cast of characters, grander themes, and a rebellion which is much more than some background disturbance. Unlike the violence in TROUBLES, which is seen at first hand only in the hallucinatory final chapters of the book, this one (the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857) takes center stage about a third of the way into the movel, leading to harrowing scenes of death, starvation, and disease. On the level of a simple war story, these events (based on the siege of Lucknow) make for a stirring story of heroism and courage -- especially where these qualities are unexpected, is in the formerly stuffy Collector who discovers hidden talents for generalship and strategy, and the young poet George Fleury, fresh out from England, who proves to have a strong practical streak and a remarkably cool head.
Also as in TROUBLES, there is a pervasive eroticism to this book, centering around three of the younger woman besieged in the Residency: the debutante Louise, chaste belle of Calcutta balls; Miriam, George's young widowed sister, tired of being assigned to stereotypical female roles, and Lucy, whom everybody knows as a "dishonored woman" although nobody is entirely clear as to the extent or agency of his dishonor. As the siege persists, the courtship conventions of colonial society are turned on their head by proximity and deprivation. There is one almost surreal scene in which Lucy, attacked by a huge cloud of otherwise harmless flying beetles, rips off her clothes and promptly faints, leaving two young men to scrape the insects off her, in the process discovering the differences between a real female body and a marble statue.
For, despite the bloodshed, Farrell's characteristic tone of comedy is present here too, but now his targets are as much institutional as personal: the hypocracies of colonialism, trivia of class and culture, and Victorian attitudes towards faith and science. As we meet the cast of characters, we find many different points of view: the Padre who believes that the rebellion is God's punishment for sin, the cynical Magistrate who is a confirmed atheist, the Opium Agent who believes only in profit, rival doctors from older and newer schools of thinking, bluff soldiers who do not think much at all but who can yet be excellent at their jobs, the aesthete Fleury whose first reaction to being under fire is to assemble phrases for an epic poem, and the Collector, who believes in progress, but attempts to strike a balance between all points of view. And to a remarkable extent, the author also manages to retain that balance. The siege is a crucible in which every kind of received attitude may be tested, and for the most part found wanting. But Farrell is never preachy or polemical; he does not make everything subservient to a single point of view, even the anti-colonial one. His great gift is to keep you thinking, even as you turn the pages with bated breath. A brilliant achievement!
Civilization in a Nutshell.......2006-10-15
Its rare to find a book that combines a fascinating story with great character studies and development and meticulously researched history to make a point about our civilizing impulses. It took me a bit of effort to get into it, and then couldn't put it down. The introduction by Pankaj Mistry provides a great synopsis of the themes, and I really enjoyed rereading it after I finished the story.
DEATH, WHERE IS THY POINT?.......2006-05-09
Chapatis. It is always difficult to start a novel convincingly, but it's a long time since I saw it done better than it is here. The harbinger of the brutal and bloody Indian uprising of 1857 was, in this narrative at least, the secret distribution of chapatis to the intended victims. I have long forgotten what little I may ever have known about these events, and I would actually be delighted to discover that this detail was not an invention of the novelist's but what actually happened.
If paraphrased, the amount of gore and squalor that is detailed here on page after page would seem grotesque and even intolerable. As told by Farrell, it manages to be neither. This was the Victorian era, and the story is a scenario of British Victorians subjected to pressure and strain of near-incredible ferocity. The author does not spare us the specifics, and it will be a long time before I forget the spongy piles of corpses, the sense of near-unbearable heat in which I for one would have had difficulty in even wearing the stuffy formal clothes let alone dancing let alone battling for my very life, the pervasive stench, the outbreak of cholera and the indelible vignette of the lapdog chewing the face off a fallen defender. Even more extraordinary, to me, than the way they keep going is what they don't do and in particular what they think and don't think. There is no real instance of irrational panic whatsoever, and although the Padre for one has clearly gone slightly round the bend, the way this manifests itself is in an obsessional fixation with denouncing Sin and Heresy, and largely with his frantic concern to prove that great Victorian preoccupation The Existence of God from something like Aquinas's Argument from Design.
At the height of the horror, the Collector is still thinking in Victorian vocabulary and expressing himself in subordinate clauses. Staring death in the eye, the young intellectual Fleury is still concerned with his theories, whether in respect of the operation of guns or of the progress of rationalism. The ladies themselves, who might have been expected to be in a state of blind terror, are still weighing up the niceties of how the matrons and widows on the one hand, and the Fallen Woman on the other, are expected to comport themselves. Most amazingly of all, when the cholera first breaks out the two doctors conduct a lengthy and articulate debate on its causes and remedies, keeping the attention not just of each other but of an attentive audience.
The book abounds in unforgettable incidents - the smothering cloud of cockchafer beetles, the snowstorm, the slaughter of one rebel contingent with silver forks from the dining-room and marble busts of Socrates and Keats - but what is distinctive and extraordinary about this book is its tone. Its tone is quiet, detached and wry without being aggressively ironic. No heavy lessons are preached (although it's not hard to see which side the author is on when it comes to religion). No particular political standpoint is adopted either, the nearest we get to that being the shoulder-shrugging last paragraph. The whole saga ought to have been a filthy nightmare, but instead the reader feels rather like the onlookers who have come along with picnic lunches to watch the events as if they were watching a game of cricket. It has all been Virgil's `plurima mortis imago' - the omnipresent face of death, and yet it has been a bit of a spectator-sport too. I'm actually rather glad I'm no historian in this instance. I don't know what set off the uprising, and once the relief forces turn up so far as I know things went back to much as they were before. The author offers us no theories or explanations: he just leaves us having witnessed wholesale and insensate slaughter and wondering what it can all have been in aid of.
Book Description
The second installment of the New Rebellion Series,
Book of Days is a power-packed daily supplement designed to kick-start each day. It will include an inspiring message, scripture reading, and an affirmation to declare. Each daily message will resonate with the new generations of Christians who desire to radically live out the Gospel. These devotions are not "your momma's or your poppa's."
Book Description
The New Rebellion Handbook is a wealth of resources to awaken a generation to its heavenly destiny. It addresses twenty-four real world, cutting-edge themes of life with fresh ideas, biblical insights, and life applications.
Customer Reviews:
viva la resistance!.......2006-05-26
Really neat book. It covers topics from worship to contentment to careers to health. Each section includes a small devotional type thing on the subject, a story from scripture, quotes and verses about the topic, a top 10 list of some sorts, a small bio of someone about the topic and a page with book, music, website and "do it" recommendations. It's for any age group, not just younger people.
Book Description
By examining how ordinary Virginia citizens grappled with the vexing problem of slavery in a society dedicated to universal liberty, Eva Sheppard Wolf broadens our understanding of such important concepts as freedom, slavery, emancipation, and race in the early years of the American republic. She frames her study around the moment between slavery and liberty—emancipation—shedding new light on the complicated relations between whites and blacks in a slave society. Wolf argues that during the post-Revolutionary period, white Virginians understood both liberty and slavery to be racial concepts more than political ideas. Through an in-depth analysis of archival records, particularly those dealing with manumission between 1782 and 1806, she reveals how these entrenched beliefs shaped both thought and behavior. In spite of qualms about slavery, white Virginians repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to abolish the institution. The manumission law of 1782 eased restrictions on individual emancipation and made possible the liberation of thousands, but Wolf discovers that far fewer slaves were freed in Virginia than previously thought. Those who were emancipated posed a disturbing social, political, and even moral problem in the minds of whites. Where would ex-slaves fit in a society that could not conceive of black liberty? As Wolf points out, even those few white Virginians who proffered emancipation plans always suggested sending freed slaves to some other place. Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831 led to a public debate over ending slavery, after which discussions of emancipation in the Old Dominion largely disappeared as the eastern slaveholding elite tightened its grip on political power in the state. This well-informed and carefully crafted book outlines important and heretofore unexamined changes in whites' views of blacks and liberty in the new nation. By linking the Revolutionary and antebellum eras, it shows how white attitudes hardened during the half-century that followed the declaration that "all men are created equal." AUTHOR BIO: Eva Sheppard Wolf is an assistant professor of history at San Francisco State University.
Book Description
They did the dirty work of the American Revolution
Their spontaneous uprisings and violent actions steered America toward resistance to the Acts of Parliament and finally toward revolution. They tarred and feathered the backsides of British customs officials, gutted the mansion of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, armed themselves with marline spikes and cudgels to fight on the waterfront against soldiers of the British occupation, and hurled the contents of 350 chests of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor under the very guns of the anchored British fleet.
Cradle of Violence introduces the maritime workers who ignited the American Revolution: the fishermen desperate to escape impressment by Royal Navy press gangs, the frequently unemployed dockworkers, the wartime veterans and starving widows—all of whose mounting "tumults" led the way to rebellion. These were the hard-pressed but fiercely independent residents of Boston's North and South Ends who rallied around the Liberty Tree on Boston Common, who responded to Samuel Adams's cries against "Tyranny," and whose headstrong actions helped embolden John Hancock to sign the Declaration of Independence. Without the maritime mobs' violent demonstrations against authority, the politicians would not have spurred on to utter their impassioned words; Great Britain would not have been provoked to send forth troops to quell the mob-induced rebellion; the War of Independence would not have happened.
One of the mobs' most telling demonstrations brought about the Boston Massacre. After it, John Adams attempted to calm the town by dismissing the waterfront characters who had been killed as "a rabble of saucy boys, negroes and mulattoes, Irish teagues, and outlandish jack tars." Cradle of Violence demonstrates that they were, more truly, America's first heroes.
Customer Reviews:
"Liberty Tree" --.......2007-03-16
The so-called "Liberty Tree on Boston Common" was in fact on "Boston Neck" -- the narrow strip of land between the mainland and Boston which prevented the latter being an island, along which ran "Orange," now "Washington," St.
And characterizing the North and South Boston gangs, rivals until Sam Adams brought them together, and which operated under his direction -- the "Liberty Boys," the "Brown Shirts" of the day, which he used in various ways against political opponents, not all of whom were the "enemy," to achieve his political ends -- as "Waterfront Mobs" goes beyond stretching it, especially in suggesting they were employable, or interested in being employed beyond the self-chosen "job" of freelance "enforcers".
"Wharf rats" would be more accurate had they actually spent their time as putative dock workers on the actual docks instead of having the run of the city, largely as members and leaders of the criminal underbelly, as if funtionally illiterate semi-mature teenagers with too much time on their hands. They were among those -- and likely initiated -- the Sam Adams' propagandized "Boston Massacre" by throwing chunks of ice and worse at the small contingent of British troops they had trapped, and yelling "fire!" from within the crowd.
But, I guess in order to sell a retelling of an often-untruthfully-told story to the unsuspecting reader one must wrap it in a new slant, regardless accuracy.
Customer Reviews:
New Thought History.......2007-09-09
Braden gets points for the cool title alone! More importantly, he manages to make the material very interesting and readable. I read this book for a class and was surprised to find myself really into it.
This is a great book for anyone interested in how "New Thought" came into being, and even anyone interested in religion in general.
re: An historical treasure.......2006-05-22
Braden's text is a MUST for any serious student of metaphysics. The work delves deeply into the roots of New Thought and chronicles many key churches and movements throughout the United States and abroad. Braden writes with scholarly insight and spirit-led intuition. You won't be dissappointed!
Origins and History of New Thought.......2000-04-22
This 1963 book provides an invaluable glimpse into the mid-nineteenth century origins, beginning with Phineas P. Quimby, of the New Thought movement in the United States. It describes the careers of the most influential teachers and writers in the various schools and movements, with the exception of the well-known Christian Science church.
It is most successful in uncritically informing the reader of the roots of modern New-Age ideas, most of which were expressed more than a hundred years earlier. It is endlessly surprising to discover how little credit most spiritual leaders give to their ideological forbears and how, because of the lack of any coherent organization, a widespread unawareness of earlier discoveries persists.
Although the author supplies an apparently comprehensive bibliography to the grateful student, the reader wishes that the text delineated more precisely the specific differences in philosophy among the several teachings, for it is those differences that produced the individual schools and distinct spiritual communities.
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- Rogue Planet (Star Wars)
- Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt: Awakening the Healing Power of the Heart
- Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems (Caldecott Honor Book, BCCB Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award)
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