History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

A Companion to 20th-Century America (Blackwell Companions to American History)

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A Companion to 20th-Century America (Blackwell Companions to American History)

Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Reference | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0631211004

Book Description

A Companion to 20th-Century America is an authoritative survey of the most important topics and themes of twentieth-century American history and historiography. Written by an expert in the field, each essay assesses the past and current state of American scholarship, covering topics such as foreign policy, religion, labor, ethnicity, law, the military, and the media. Additional essays cover major time periods: from the beginning of the century through the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, up to the closing of the century. An editorial introduction and further reading lists for each chapter round out this clearly written, exciting overview of twentieth-century American history. Students, scholars, and general readers should find this an indispensable work of reference and source of information.

Companion to the American South (Blackwell Companions to American History)

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Indispensable for students of the American South

Companion to the American South (Blackwell Companions to American History)

Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1405121300

Book Description

A Companion to the American South surveys and evaluates the most important and innovative writing on the entire sweep of the history of the southern United States. Twenty-nine essays from leading experts in the field analyze the various interpretive schools, briefly summarize the positions and approaches of the seminal books, and suggest the range of subjects and interpretations for every important era in southern history. The coverage includes topics such as slavery, politics, the Civil War and Reconstruction, race relations, the civil rights movement, southern religion, and women's history. Each chapter includes a select bibliography as a convenient reference to encourage further reading.Intended for students, scholars, and general readers of U.S. southern history, this timely book is a primer to this exciting body of work and will guide research for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Indispensable for students of the American South.......2001-12-28

This volume is both comprehensive and fresh, consolidating the best and newest scholarship on the history of the American South. The editor, John B. Boles, is perhaps the foremost authority on current southern scholarship, and he has hand-picked the author of each chapter so that the subjects are treated by the best-qualified historians. The book is designed to provide the reader a brief overview of virtually every field of southern history, and it directs the reader to the most important works on each subject. Example topics include Native Americans in the South, the Civil War, Populism, Jim Crow, Women, Environmental history, and Civil Rights. Any person wishing to gain familiarity with southern history will benefit from this book, and graduate students preparing for exams may find it worth its weight in gold. The companion is part of a larger series offered by Blackwell Publishers, and promises to serve as the guide to secondary readings in southern history for years to come.

Brill's Companion to Thucydides (Brill's Companions in Classical Studies)

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Brill's Companion to Thucydides (Brill's Companions in Classical Studies)

Manufacturer: Brill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Greek | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 9004136835

Book Description

This volume on Thucydides, the most important historian of the ancient world, comprises articles by thirty leading international scholars.

The contributions cover a wide range of issues, including Thucydides' life, intellectual milieu and predecessors, Thucydides and the act of writing, his rhetoric, historical method and narrative techniques, narrative unity in the History, the speeches, Thucydides' reliability as a historian, and his legacy through the centuries. Other topics dealt with include warfare, religion, individuals, democracy and oligarchy, the invention of political science, Thucydides and Athens, Sparta, Macedonia/Thrace, Sicily/South Italy, Persia, and the Argives.

Book Description

Much of the modern way of thinking about history and historiography in fact begins with the great Greek historian Thucydides, an Athenian general in the latter half of the fifth century b.c.e. It is also Thucydides who provides us with the historical framework for fifth-century Greece, a period of progress and creativity rarely equaled in human history. His work, The Peloponnesian War, recounts that destructive conflict and also includes the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides teaches his readers that the most powerful states in the world can come to a humiliating end, that a careless tyranny, especially toward the weak, and, nearly two millennia before Machiavelli, that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, David Cartwright aims to guide the Greekless reader through Thucydides' fascinating yet demanding narrative. Cartwright's is the only such full-length, one-volume commentary and companion: it is based on Rex Warner's Penguin translation of Thucydides--the most widely used translation--and requires no knowledge of Greek. The introduction to A Historical Commentary on Thucydides includes a brief biography of Thucydides: his approach, aims, and methods are discussed, as are the general character of his work and his contribution to historiography. The commentary gives brief accounts of the people and places mentioned by Thucydides and puts events in their immediate and wider contexts. Cartwright provides occasional summaries, explains Greek concepts and technical terms, and offers interpretations of difficult or controversial passages. The author also picks out important historiographical issues and discusses the themes' underlying events.

For both first-time readers and seasoned students, this commentary gives broad access to one of antiquity's most profound and difficult writers. Historians, classicists, and anyone else interested in the cultural and intellectual achievements of ancient Greece will find A Historical Commentary on Thucydides a welcome addition to their library.

David Cartwright is Head of Classics at Dulwich College, London, England.

Customer Reviews:

Greatest Of All Greek Historians.......2005-08-10

David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides gently guides the reader through the historians complex narrative paving the way for making this history a very enjoyable read. This book includes a plethora of maps, definitions and cross-references to help modern readers become more immersed in the text. The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master story teller doesn't just cover the battle scenes, he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

I recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I highly recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides.

The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

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Excellent survey of English travel literature

The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Reference | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521786525

Book Description

The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing is a broad, specially commissioned introduction to travel writing in English between 1500 and the present. Five essays survey the period's travel writing; six more focus on areas of particular interest--Arabia, the Amazon, Ireland, Calcutta, the Congo and California, while the final three analyze some of the theoretical and cultural dimensions of this enigmatic, influential genre of writing. An extensive further reading list plus a detailed chronology are included.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent survey of English travel literature.......2006-08-16

The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing is a series of 15 academically-oriented essays by 15 authors divided into 3 Parts. Part I "Surveys" contains 5 essays that provide a general survey of the literature from 1500 to the present. I found these to be the most interesting as it provides historical context and the most important works to know about. Part II "Sites" contains 7 essays that are surveys also, but for specific regions: Arabia, Amazon, Tahiti, Congo, Scotland/Ireland, Calcutta, California. These are more detailed and focused, my only complaint is there were not more surveys for other regions. Finally Part III "Topics" contains 3 essays covering more theoretical and academic subjects: essays on gender, ethnography and theory. I found these the least interesting as they are for those with a more specialized background (ie. literary theory, gender studies, etc.). In addition there is a lengthy Introduction providing an overview of the book. Each essay contains footnotes and a bibliography. There is a chronological list of the works selected by the authors as the most significant at the end of the book which is a great resource.

As each essay is written by someone different I found some better than others (as followed my interest level in certain places and periods). The essays are not entirely stand-alone there is some cross referencing between them which forms a whole work. The first five surveys mainly focus on English authors only, and there is little discussed about non-traditional narratives (slave narratives, etc..) such as can be found in the recent Oxford Anthology (2005). As a literary history of travel writing this is a wonderful reference and I recommend it highly, both for the professional scholar (I am not) and the interested fan of travel literature who wants to find the most important works and place them into historical context.

Companion to Historiography (Routledge World Reference)

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Companion to Historiography (Routledge World Reference)
M. Bentley
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0415285577

Book Description

Literate civilizations have always celebrated or contested images of their past by writing about them. Historiography considers how and why such writing has taken the various shapes that it has.
Now in paperback this work gives readers a definitive overview of the most important developments in the techniques of and approaches to historical writing.
Each selection presents a study of recent historiography in relation to a particular theme or problem--frequently in the context of other disciplines. Introductory surveys help readers to locate the periods and places discussed. Articles contributed by a carefully selected panel of distinguished academics convey in direct, jargon-free language a genuinely international, wide-angled view of the ideas, traditions and institutions that lie behind the contemporary urgency of world history.
This valuable companion offers an engaging response to the fascination current in all branches of the humanities with how the past has been turned into text and made into history.

Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution 1914-1921

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Critical Companion to Russian Revolutions
Excellent but loosely coordinated essays

Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution 1914-1921

Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0253333334

Amazon.com

Drawing on the work of dozens of scholars from Russia, Europe, Japan, and the United States, this encyclopedic volume provides a useful overview of the early years of the Soviet Union. Among the topics covered are the collapse of the moderate Kerensky government and the rise of Bolshevik power, the sweeping militarization of Soviet society (the Red Army had 4,400,000 regulars in 1920), and the contribution of members of the Russian intelligentsia to the apparatus of the Soviet state. Students of Soviet history will find this compendium, which weighs in at nearly 800 pages, to be a valuable resource.

Customer Reviews:

Critical Companion to Russian Revolutions.......2003-01-14

This is a solid, definitive, wide-ranging and in-depth look at the Revolutions told from a variety of viewpoints, ideologies and mindsets. Modeled after the Foucoult/Ozuf Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, this is an excellently assembled book, with very current material, well worth having by any scholar of this period.

Excellent but loosely coordinated essays.......1999-12-31

This book is a necessary addition to the library of anyone who already knows a fair amount about the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War. It provides for the first time in one volume the advances in understanding that result from availability of Soviet archives and close cooperation between Western and Russian scholars. It also points out numerous topics on which further research would be useful.

However, it has its flaws. Some topics are covered redundantly in various essays, and not always the ones one would expect; other topics get inadequate attention. Makhno's anarchist army in Ukraine, for example, is barely mentioned in Mark von Hagen's essay on Ukraine, given an unsympathetic paragraph in Vladimir Chernaiv's essay on anarchists, and a longer and somewhat more useful paragraph in Orlando Figes' essay on peasant armies. Given that at times Makhno's army was the most effective military force in Eastern Ukraine, and that all other combatants in Ukraine had to worry about what Makhno was going to do next, this is fragmented and incomplete treatment of an important topic. As another example, the description of what happened in Latvia between 1917 and 1920 is seriously incomplete; the bitter division between pro-Bolshevik and Latvian nationalist elements is not brought out clearly, nor is the intensity of the war that took place in Latvia, with many Latvians, German troops (the von der Goltz Iron Division) and some Russians (the Bermondt-Avalov force) on one side, and the Latvian Bolsheviks and the Red Army on the other. One would not guess from this book how disastrous this was for Latvia; by the end of the fighting, about half the population of Latvia had fled the country or died.

Rather than cite other such topics, I'll turn to the observation that most of the bibliographies of these essays consist mainly of secondary rather than primary sources. This is a drawback in a book which implicitly assumes that the reader already has a general familiarity with the subject matter. To be sure, not all primary sources that presumably exist are accessible even now; in particular, one suspects that somewhere in British government archives are documents that would clear up various puzzling issues. But there is a conspicuous lack of references to the extensive German political and military archives related to the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Indeed, the German role is so incompletely treated that one suspects some of the authors are, quite understanably, not familiar with this material. But from 1917 through mid-1919 the Germans deliberately shifted their weight to keep any of the forces contesting for power in Russia from winning a clear victory; the Germans occupied here, distributed weapons there, stirred up trouble over yonder, and generally tried to make sure that revolution and civil war in Russia would not spread to Germany. A careful discussion of German policy and its effects on the course of events in the first half of the Russian Civil War would be extremely helpful; lacking that, a good bibliography of the primary sources in German would be most useful.

Book Description

A Companion to American Foreign Relations is an authoritative volume of historiographical essays that survey the state of U.S. diplomatic history. The essays cover the entire range of the history of American foreign relations from the colonial period to the present. They discuss the major sources and analyze the most influential books and articles in the field. The contributors -- eminent scholars and experts in their subject matter--delve deeply into the literature and integrate discussions of new methodological approaches with more traditional diplomatic history. Each essay concludes with prospects for future work in the field.For the student, scholar, and those interested in the history of American foreign relations, this is an invaluable reference work.

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A satisfied reader
A Historian's Critical Eye
Not What I really Expected
Exactly what I wanted.
Historical context for a great story

A Killer Angels Companion
D. Scott Hartwig
Manufacturer: Thomas Publications (PA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0939631954

Book Description

The popularity of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, is legendary. There are currently six million copies in print. But how faithful to the truth was this novelist's view of the Battle of Gettysburg and its key figures? What happened to the major characters after Gettysburg? After 20 years as historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, few know the battle or battlefield better than Scott Hartwig. In this informative book, he answers these questions and more. if you have ever read and loved The Killer Angels, than this book will be a wonderful and welcome read.

Customer Reviews:

A satisfied reader.......2006-06-17

This book was just what I was looking for after finishing The Killer Angels, my friend who lives near Gettysburg recommended Mr. Hartwig's book to me. I enjoyed The Killer Angels but I don't know enough about the Battle of Gettysburg to be able to discern fact from dramatization that one expects in fiction. I think this book was well worth the money spent. I plan to give the books together as a gift. A great companion!

A Historian's Critical Eye.......2003-04-22

As a long time resident of South Central PA, I have visited Gettysburg dozens of times, have read 'The Killer Angels', seen the movie, read the Companion and have had the privilege to attend talks and tours given by Scott Hartwig.

Both in his talks and in the forward to 'Companion', Hartwig is genuinely complimentary of Shaara's work. But within his text, Hartwig's tenor seems to take a lawyer-like argumentative turn. I do not believe that he does so out of any malicious intent to undermine Shaara's fine work. Instead, I believe that Hartwig is attempting -as advertised- to create a clear deliniation between fact and fiction. Perhaps he could have reinforced his stated respect for Shaara the novelist throughout the 'Companion' but ultimately, Hartwig's loyalties are with historical fact. To that end he is quite successful. That in remaining faithful to fact, he has unintentionally stepped on toes is unfortunate because I truly believe that Hartwig does indeed hold Shaara in very high regard.

A very good companion.

Not What I really Expected.......2001-08-02

I was excited when I bought this book as I loved the Killer Angels, but after buying this book during a recent visit to Gettysburg I was a bit disapointed. Hartwig does not really say what is accurate in the novel, instead he argues against what Shaara writes. He focuses on Lee, Chamberlain, Buford, Longstreet, and a bit on Pickett and Armisted but virtually ignores the other characters in the novel. Tom Chamberlain, Ellis Spear, Kilrain, Trimble, Pettigrew, Kemper, Garnett, and Harrison. I was personally more interested in these minor characters than in the ones that I already knew about, and this nook did not expand my knowledge of them. To me, this book was ok but not really what I expected.

Exactly what I wanted........2001-05-05

When visiting Gettysburg National Military Park, considering its grand scale, it is best to have the facts when trying to picture in your mind what happened there. Scott Hartwig's descriptive book does just that by clarifying the difference between reality and the fiction work of Killer Angels by Shaara.

The "Companion" was a pleasure to read.

Historical context for a great story.......2001-03-22

I did not have deep prior knowledge of the battle of Gettysburg before enjoying The Killer Angels (and the movie Gettysburg, which was based on it). I loved the book but I spent a lot of time wondering just where the facts ended and the fiction began. The Killer Angels Companion supplies some thoughtful answers. It does not debunk Shaara's work at all. Instead, it highlights the historical context where dramatic requirements led Shaara to simplify and focus his story. It doesn't take anything away from the book, and you realize, fairly quickly, that you agree with the choices Shaara made, and why. Hartwig worked as a historian at Gettysburg. After The Killer Angels was published, he probably was asked the fact vs. fiction question hundreds of times. Here, he has written the answers down for a wider audience. This book (really just a pamphlet) is not to be judged on whether it's a good read on its own, just whether it enhances our appreciation of The Killer Angels itself, and on that count it is quite satisfying.

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