Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain

Book Description

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of the classic text provides the most current and authoritative assessment of Russia available. Distinguished scholars offer a full-scale assessment of Putin's leadership, exploring the daunting domestic and int

Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Frauds - American History From Bancroft And Parkman To Ambrose, Bellisles, Ellis, And Goodwin

Average customer rating:

Insightful & Enjoyable history of historical writing
Can Historians Police Themselves?
Pretty dry, but good
Great transaction!
Very Thought-Provoking

Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Frauds - American History From Bancroft And Parkman To Ambrose, Bellisles, Ellis, And Goodwin
Peter Charles Hoffer
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1586482440
Release Date: 2004-10-12

Book Description

Woodrow Wilson, a practicing academic historian before he took to politics, defined the importance of why: "A nation which does not know what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today." He, like many men of his generation, wanted to impose a version of America's founding identity: it was a land of the free and a home of the brave. But not the braves. Or the slaves. Or the disenfranchised women. So the history of Wilson's generation omitted a significant proportion of the population in favor of a perspective that was predominantly white, male and Protestant.

That flaw would become a fissure and eventually a schism. A new history arose which, written in part by radicals and liberals, had little use for the noble and the heroic, and that rankled many who wanted a celebratory rather than a critical history. To this combustible mixture of elements was added the flame of public debate. History in the 1990s was a minefield of competing passions, political views, and prejudices. It was dangerous ground, and, at the end of the decade, four of the nation's most respected and popular historians were almost destroyed by it: Michael Bellesiles, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Ambrose and Joseph Ellis. This is their story, set against the wider narrative of the writing of America's history. It may be, as Flaubert put it, that "Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times." To which he could have added: falsify, plagiarize, and politicize, because that's the other story of America's history.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful & Enjoyable history of historical writing.......2007-07-24

In an effort to provide a history of historical writing, Peter Hoffer has taken an unusual approach - looking at scandals that have plagued historical scholarship in the very recent past, but comparing that against the earliest histories of our nation.

Hoffer gives the reader a good, strong understanding of the different schools of historiography (i.e. consensus history, neo-consensus, and "new" history). He then explains how the "new" history led to a rise in popular history and the conversion of four academics into the realm of popular history, which nearly destroyed all of them.

The cases of Stephen Ambrose, Michael Bellesiles, Joseph Ellis, and Doris Kearns-Goodwin all share one thing in common - they are associated with a lack of careful historical scholarship and, in some cases, outright fraud. Hoffer provides the reader with an insightful look at the sins committed by these four historians and explains why the transgressions were so significant, even if the errors made by the historian were in the classroom and not in the written text.

This is a valuable book, and one that all students of history should read. It is enjoyable and teaches us valuable lessons about how a failure to be careful can spell disaster or doom for a historians' career.

Can Historians Police Themselves?.......2005-11-29

Initially I thought this book, by the distinguished University of Georgia historian Peter Charles Hoffer, would be limited to examining cases of historian inappropriate conduct, including plagiarism, falsification of data, and outright fabrication. That he does, but the book is so much more. In order to establish the context for his discussion of recent misdeeds by some prominent historians, Hoffer essentially writes a substantial history of the how the concept of history has developed in this country--i.e., a history of historic writing.

Of course, the issue has always been relative to historical writing whether there are absolute truths, or whether interpretation and bias make it impossible to write value-free analytical history. Hoffer discusses several traditions which sets the stage for his later discussion: Consensus history (things are great); the new history (much more critical, especially as to the role of slavery, women and immigration); professions of history (which developed as the discipline became more professionalized (H.B. Adams and Johns Hopkins); Progressive history ala Charles Beard; and Cold War History (Daniel Boorstin's "The Americans" Trilogy). Along the way, the author also discusses the "National History Standards" and the American Historical Association's guidelines for professional conduct and its former "Professional Division" which enforced them.

Hoffer then moves on(in the second half of the book)to looking at some prominent recent cases where inappropriate conduct was alleged: Bellesiles' book on the extent of colonial gun ownership (alleged falsification); Doris Goodwin and Steven Ambrose (alleged plagiarism); and Joseph Ellis (alleged fabrication of his Vietnam background). For the most part, Hoffer's analysis of these cases is judicious and balanced--he is, however, unduly harsh re Ellis, apparently assuming that if Ellis fabricated his Vietnam involvement, he then became a much less careful historian and exaggerated findings suggested in his research. In passing, Hoffer touches on the key problem--how historians must adjust to the lure of fame and riches in order to reach the popular history market. A whole book could easily be written on this issue alone. A very substantial introduction to a vitally important topic by an outstanding historian who has participated in several AHA ethical reviews.

Pretty dry, but good.......2005-09-26

I would only recommend this book to people who a really interested in not just history, but the profession of historian. This book basically asks what is the role of the American historian, and how has it changed over time. What does the historian owe to his/her readers? Past Imperfect discusses the failings of Ambrose, Bellisles, Ellis, and Goodwin, and the relatively nonchalant reaction of the public. As an aspiring historian, it is nice to hear someone championing integrity over book sales, and this book asks serious philosophical questions that I think all historians need to ask themselves. It wasn't particularly exciting or engaging, but I felt I got a lot out of it.

Great transaction!.......2005-09-06

Great transaction - the book was in excellent shape and sent in a timely manner. Seller is highly recommended!

Very Thought-Provoking.......2005-07-14

Please take our fellow readers' nay-saying with a grain of salt. If you are a serious reader of History, I guarantee you will get something from this book. Hoffer presents a very illuminating introduction to American historiography as a predicate to his discussion of the curious cases of Ambrose, Bellisles, Ellis and Goodwin, and while he doesn't go easy on them, he is in no way mean-spirited in treating with their respective indiscretions. Indeed, his well-documented (and concisely written) description of their misdeeds raised more ire in me than it apparently did in him. Guess I have always been naive enough to assume that when I pick up serious works of History by respected authors, I am getting the benefit not only of their independent thought and analysis but of their research integrity as well. I for one will never read another such book without wondering whether and to what extent it is "original". Hoffer's obviously is, and is well worth the read.

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book)

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The Beauty of the Cinema
Good but Not Perfect
Can you properly portray history in the movies?
Let's have a revised edition...PLEASE???
Perfect for the film buff and the historian.

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book)
Mark C. Carnes
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805037608

Amazon.com

In our increasingly visual culture, a growing amount of what we learn about history comes from the movies. This unusual and cornucopian book draws on the knowledge of 60 experts who examine the historical accuracy of a splendid array of classic movies such as Julius Caesar, Aguirre the Wrath of God, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Last of the Mohicans, Gallipoli, and Gandhi. They reveal what each movie has done right and wrong in portraying the complex threads of the stories as known to the world's most qualified scholars. Highly Recommended.

Book Description

In this widely-acclaimed volume, some of our greatest historians address the facts-and fiction-as seen in Hollywood's often epic recreations of historical events. Distinghuished historians such as Stephen Ambrose, Antonia Fraser, James McPherson, Gerda Lerner, Dee Brown, Frances FitzGerald, David Levering Lewis, and Simon Schama explore the relationship between film and the historical record. Offering hundreds of movie stills, archival photographs, maps, and other illustrations, along with sidebars on related historical events, Past Imperfect sheds new light on the uses of history in popular culture.

Customer Reviews:

The Beauty of the Cinema.......2002-10-03

This book is commendable for its conception but is flawed in its premise and execution. The problem is there are too many fingers in the pie. I would have liked to read about one historian's perspective on all the films reviewed. Instead, each film was addressed and compared to historical recollections by a different author. There is no uniformity of thought or perspective. For instance, I am sure that if Stephen Ambrose had reviewed TORA! TORA! TORA! he may have seen that film in a much more favorable light than did Akira Iriye. One can speculate to infinitum. It is possible to find and read countless books on a given historical topic. The point I am making is that each author has the ability to bring different perspectives or interpretations of historical record that may result in different conclusions of events or more importantly ideas. If you were to ask an auditorium full of historians what was the most important factor contributing to the start of the Civil War I am sure you may get at least five good answers. Perhaps the idea that a film conveys is more important than the accuracy of each step that led to that idea. I think that SPARTACUS is an important film not as a representation of a historical record but for the idea that the inherent rights of human beings to live free is a notion worth dying for. Kirk Douglas as SPARTACUS stated something to the effect that he would never stand by and see two men battle and die just for the amusement of other men. There is something very noble about that statement and to the visuals on the screen that precipitated that assertion. To touch a chord of emotion from the audience is really the magic of the cinema. I never once ever thought that the purpose of the cinema was to teach history. For the audience the main purpose of the cinema is to be entertained and if you take it a few more steps perhaps come away with an idea or spark of imagination. That's the beauty of the cinema.

Good but Not Perfect.......2002-01-24

This is a very interesting and useful book but I don't exactly like the overall point of view that it takes on motion pictures. It takes many historically based films and critiques them by comparing what is on the screen to actual historical events. Each chapter is devoted to one film (in most instances) and is critiqued by a different authority. The one constant that I see running throughout this book is that history does not make for good motion pictures if you are gazing through the eyes of the historian. That disturbs me. Motion pictures are a business as well a legitimate art form. If a historically based movie gets your interest as well as entertains you then perhaps that movie has fulfilled its purpose. The movie is the catalyst. It is up to you to dig up the history book and see what was recorded. And if you dig up a second history book it is very possible that those same events may be recorded slightly different. I liked the critique by Sean Wilentz on "THE BUCCANEER: Two Films" where he states that they stand somewhere in between fact and fiction. Akira Iriye is too critical of TORA! TORA! TORA! When you recall that particular motion picture, that's the one that stands out as a film that tried to get all the facts correct. Americans and Japanese respective of their home countries directed it. Iriye's criticism is almost ludicrous trying to state that inflections in the voices of some of the actors actually distorted the true meaning of their words. In light of PEARL HARBOR (2001) Akira Iriye is way off mark. Marshall De Bruhl's words about THE ALAMO are redundant and superficial. THE ALAMO was John Wayne's screen fulfillment of the legend. THE ALAMO is a great American film and it perpetuates that legend till this day. I liked what Stephen E. Ambrose had to say about THE LONGEST DAY. Ambrose recognizes that half the duality of filmmaking is a business. His approach and comments are very insightful and well written. As seen by James H. McPerson GLORY comes off best. It deserves it. "PAST IMPERFECT" is a good book but I just wish there were more input from the filmmakers.

Can you properly portray history in the movies?.......2001-11-14

When you're both a student of history and a movie buff, as I am, it can be difficult to sit and watch a film that presumes to have an accurate historical context without fighting the urge to evaluate it and pick holes in it. And I'm not the only one. This is a collection of analytical essays, most of high quality, by experts (not all of them historians) analyzing and critiquing individual films: Stephen Jay Gould on _Jurassic Park,_ Antonia Fraser on _Anne of the Thousand Days,_ Thomas Fleming on _1776,_ Dee Brown on _Fort Apache,_ William Manchester on _Young Winston,_ and numerous others. Sticking to those films about which I have some knowledge of the historical events they claim to portray, most are right on the money. James McPherson, commenting on _Glory,_ points out that while the context and general atmosphere are very well done, and the costuming and so on are exact, there are still deliberate historical errors for the sake of drama; none of the soldiers in Col. Shaw's 54th Massachusetts were ex-slaves, for instance, all of them having been recruited from among the state's free black population. And Catherine Clinton does an excellent job taking the wind out of _Gone with the Wind_'s mythical sails. There's a great deal of good information and criticism here and it's a compliment to say that nearly any of these essays will start an argument.

Let's have a revised edition...PLEASE???.......2000-11-08

This book is just too damn interesting not to go into a revised edition that would, welcomingly, include a few more recent examples of the movies portending to convey history. It is cleverly organized, with an actual historical "timeline" that is matched with a selected movie that attempted to portray events for that period or year. It starts all the way back in the Jurrasic period, with "Jurrasic Park," of course. Each movie critique is written by a different film expert or historian, so you get a lot of diversity of perspective as well as writing style. There is a very intelligent interview of director John Sayles ("Eight Men Out" "Metowan") in the preface, which may be reason enough for film buffs to purchase this book.

One can either browse through the book and focus on "favorite" or "hated" films of the past, or read it straight through. Each essay offers at least one very good insight on the nature of history and how elusive the "accurate" accounting of an era or event can be.

The overall impression this book leaves is that movies, for all their ostensible efforts to "recreate" historical realities, will NEVER get it quite right. That's because they are products of their own times, and cannot ever fully escape the sensibilities of their own historical eras. Given this approach, the reader cannot help but gain a deeper appreciation for the exacting work of historians -- even if he or she is first attracted to the book out of interest in film. Films (and histories) explored here include "Spartacus," "Aguirre, Wrath of God," "Houdini" "Anne of a Thousand Days," "Henry V" (both Oliver and Branagh)"They Died With their Boots On", as well as many more. Since this book's publication, there have been more films that have either come close to, or completely mangled historical reality, so a revised edition would be most welomed. So to Mark Carnes, et al. -- PLEASE???

Perfect for the film buff and the historian........2000-07-13

A book that unites two of my passions: history and cinema. Great essays that not only discuss the movies themselves; but also put the times that movies were made in a historical context. These movies often reveal more about the time the movie was made in than the historical period the movie is about.

Customer Reviews:

Hope it comes back into print - a MUST read in the series.......2001-11-13

I don't understand why several of the BEST books in the Sigrid Harald series are out of print. For my money, this series is even better than the Deborah Knott series, though I like them both enormously.

To make matters worse, because Sigrid's character changes so dramatically (but believably) during the series, it's imperative that the books be read in order. And "Past Imperfect" includes some critical developments in Sigrid's life.

I regret that I gave away the copy I'd bought used, as my sister is now eager to read it. Given the difficulty in finding copies, and the prices for the used copies, it appears I'm not the only one who wants this book back in print. If you come across a copy - grab it and read it.

Hopefully, a new printing will become available.......2001-07-22

for my personal favorite of the Sigrid Harald mystery series by Margaret Maron.

Maron makes some quantum leaps with this book...unravels the ongoing tension between MacKinnon and Anne Harald, giving Sigrid some insight, at last, into the career of her father, a detective in the same NYC division that she is now with.

She also perfects telling her tale from several points of view, the most interesting of which is Detective Sergeant Jarvis Vaughn, an interesting potential future partner for Harald.

Lastly, the dual mysteries and deaths in the novel, hit close to home, as someone is killing cops and police dept. civilians. Who the killer is, kept me guessing until it was revealed in the last chapter.

Oscar Nauman plays only a bit part here, and Maron also fades out Tillie, to some extent. The danger to Harald's life, as the murderer is revealed is well drawn and the action scene is memorable.

Book Description

The uniquely prominent role of French intellectuals in European cultural and political life following World War II is the focus of Tony Judt's newest book. He analyzes this intellectual community's most divisive conflicts: how to respond to the promise and the betrayal of Communism and how to sustain a commitment to radical ideals when confronting the hypocrisy in Stalin's Soviet Union, in the new Eastern European Communist states, and in France itself. Judt shows why this was an all-consuming moral dilemma to a generation of French men and women, how their responses were conditioned by war and occupation, and how post-war political choices have come to sit uneasily on the conscience of later generations of French intellectuals.
Judt's analysis extends beyond the writings of fashionable "Existentialist" personalities such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir to include a wide intellectual community of Catholic philosophers, non-aligned journalists, literary critics and poets, Communist and non-Communist alike.
Judt treats the intellectual dilemmas of the postwar years as an unfinished history. French intellectuals have not fully come to terms with the gnawing sense of what Judt calls the "moral irresponsibility" of those years. The result, he suggests, is a legacy of bad faith and confusion that has damaged France's cultural standing, notably in newly liberated Eastern Europe, and which reflects the nation's larger difficulty in confronting its own ambivalent past.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not as good as I had hoped.......2004-07-23

This is a decent book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had expected: Tony Judt's writing is usually crisper and more analytic. Alas, in this case he may have set out to write a book, but what he delivered has more than a whiff of sermon: too many sonorous phrases and not enough clinical analysis. Interestingly, I had exactly the same problem with Furet's 'The Passing of an Illusion', though I thought at the time that that was just a case of Academicianitis. Something about this subject seems to provoke reasonable people to clamber onto a pulpit to deliver an argument that should really be a slam dunk.

Sartre didn't just look like a wall-eyed toad, he was a wall-eyed toad all the way through, but Judt can't quite bring himself to say so. In fact he shows quite a bit of residual indulgence in the way, e.g., he describes Sartre's writing in the sixties as 'silly' when the proper word is 'disgusting'. (Deep in his heart, Judt seems to think his subjects should, in spite of everything, be granted more respect than the current generation and, in particular, more respect than Bernard-Henri Levy, but I don't see why - at least BHL has never endorsed the murder of people he doesn't like). Judt doesn't really in the end manage to explain to me why the little cacomorph and his friends were so indulged for so long.

The best bit is the discussion of the French relationship to liberalism (or why there isn't one), which is unqualifiedly good, together with the remarks on the sociology of postwar Parisian intellectual culture - not surprising, since this is the stuff Judt really knows. On the other hand, the one page summaries, analyses, and dismissals of philosophical positions are slightly embarassing. Richard Wolin got whacked around the quad and assigned 500 pages of Habermas by Richard Rorty recently for this sort of thing. Being on the side of Wolin and Judt, not Rorty, I wish they wouldn't do it. (Slightly) ironically, toward the end, Judt remarks in passing - he could/should have said a lot more - on the intellectual laziness and slovenliness of his subjects: the way they substituted glibness for thought, and showed no qualms about holding forth on a subject, be it economics, sociology, foreign politics or bombinating cockatrices, without knowing, or even seemingly caring, whether they really had the slightest idea. Rabelais's assessment of the Sorbonne needs no revision, 25 generations later.

This is part of a growing shelf of modern stuff to file beside Julien Benda: along with Judt, we have Furet, Wolin, Lilla, etc., but the definitive work on the pathology of French (and German) intellectual culture over the last hundred years has yet to appear. It will eventually: the subject is just too inviting.

A Fine Example.......2002-09-01

A fine example of polemical quidnuncery. Despite ostensibly, or nominally, being a history of post war French intellectuals, this tract shows precious little evidence of having read, let alone understood, the seminal works of the period (a period which, in retrospect represent an immense intellectual and political adventure). So, for example, there is not a jot of evidence that the author has engaged with Sartre's immense omnium gatherum, the "Critique of Dialectical Reason" or the flawed masterpiece on Flaubert. Instead, Mr Judt prefers, modestly, to confine his argument to what seems to be easier for him to understand, vis: cowardice, treachery small-mindedness and political tergiversations, all of which are sedolously catalogued.Thus, the private lives and political promiscuities of such obvious geniuses as Sartre are used as a proboscis or ferule (or tripwire) with which to berate the thinker in question for daring to deviate from bourgeois orthodoxies. While such diversionary peccadilos may be of interest to the quidnunc, they are no substitute for philosophical reflection - something in which this screed is sadly lacking.

Ruthless dissection of French intellectual scene.......1999-09-05

After reading Tony Judt's relentless ripping apart of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and other post-war French intellectual fellow-travelers, one might be forgiven for wondering whether the author actually likes France. I am sure he does; it is just the unbelievable pig-headedness and irresponsibility of some of France's most acclaimed "thinkers" in the 1940s and 1950s that he cannot stand. The question that nags at the reader as he progresses through this book is: Just why did anyone take Sartre and co. seriously? Tony Judt not only has the answer, he issues a very pertinent warning about the current French fashion for deriding the intellectual perversions of the immediate post-war era. Putting it bluntly, a certain type of bone-headed universalism and a penchant for meaningless abstract riddles that seem peculiar to French intellectuals have by no means disappeared.

Sentinel Volume 3: Past Imperfect Digest (Sentinel)

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Sentinel Volume 3: Past Imperfect Digest (Sentinel)
Sean McKeever , and UDON
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785119140

Book Description

The globally praised tale of a boy and his 'bot returns! After using his refurbished government weapon of mutant destruction to make himself popular, you'd think Juston Seyfert would be on top of the world. Instead, he's run away from home, torn up inside by the guilt brought on by his selfish acts. Now in search of his mother, who left his family at an early age, Juston must figure out what to do with his life. And if he doesn't figure it out soon, there are a couple government types who would be more than happy to figure it out for him! Collects Sentinel (2005) #1-5.

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Past Imperfect
Joan Collins
Manufacturer: W.H. Allen / Virgin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0491020147

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Past Imperfect: Poems
Suzanne Buffam
Manufacturer: House of Anansi Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Recalling Hopkins or Dickinson in their urgency, these poems seduce the reader into experiencing life's darkest moments while revealing unexpected shafts of light. In a voice that is at once confident, elegant, and doubtful, the author scans the world as if through the wrong end of a telescope, employing recurrent images and exploring obsessions to produce a remarkably exact account of remote, intimate dealings. "I will have to explain myself to myself," she writes, but in doing so communicates a great deal about all of us.

Past Imperfect : Most Likely to... (Silhouette Special Edition No. 1724) (Silhouette Special Edition)

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Book 6 in the "Most Likely To . . ." series
Hearing Gets in the Way of Romance
Cute tale of interracial love...

Past Imperfect : Most Likely to... (Silhouette Special Edition No. 1724) (Silhouette Special Edition)
Crystal Green
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0373247249

Customer Reviews:

Book 6 in the "Most Likely To . . ." series.......2006-07-20

Description from the book back cover:

The Saunders sound-off. Where are they now? Saunders University keeps track of its notable alumni.

Rachel James - once Miss Popularity and the campus "It" girl, even after surviving a difficult childhood and two dreadful adoptive parents, Rachel's future was finally looking up. Until she dropped out, opting to marry instead of graduate. Widowed too young, she's decided to remain single and save herself from further heartache. But a reliable source reported that lately Rachel's been spotted having secret meetings with a handsome reporter. And when those two are deep in conversation, her eyes are ablaze with possibility ... the same flicker from her college days ...

If you know the whereabouts of your fellow alumni, or are interested in locating someone, e-mail or call your class faculty representative.

Hearing Gets in the Way of Romance.......2006-05-14

This book contains a wonderful little romance if one could just get past the long, drawn out hearing centered around a university professor. Gilbert, the college professor, is keeping a very important secret from Rachel James, one of his favorite former students. It was more than obvious how much Gilbert and his students cared for one another, but the reader was beat over the head with that point far too often.

Rachel, along with his other former students, come to the aid of their much beloved mentor who holds a well guarded secret. During this time, she happens to fall for the reporter covering the story. Another problem with the story is: most readers probably will have figured out that secret without having even gotten far into the novel.

If only the author had focused on this story rather than that of hearing, this could have been one nice little romance novel.

Cute tale of interracial love..........2006-03-20

Ian Beck is looking for a story while Rachel James is trying to find her past. They come together when Rachel's mentor is charged with helping his students out a little too much and Ian is the one reporting the story for his paper. Rachel always had to deal with being different, being biracial, and always had to deal with losing those she loves. But meeting Ian will finally help break down her walls and bring her past to the present.

I liked the book. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer. Yet, I thought the book had good characterization for just a short novel. I would recommend it.

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