Book Description
The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore.
In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia.
She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ...
A lyrical work of stunning creative vision,
Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.
Download Description
"E-Book Extra: "Little Snow-White" by the Brothers Grimm (read the original version of the classic fairy tale)Think you know who's the fairest of them all? Think again. Bestselling re-imaginer of classic fairy tales sets the Snow White story in Renaissance Italy, where the madly vain Lucrezia Borgia plots a dire fate for seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada (a.k.a. Snow White).A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror is set in Renaissance Italy, where Gregory Maguire draws a connection between the poison apple in the original Snow White story and the Borgia family's well-known appetite for poisoning its foes. In Mirror Mirror Snow White is called Bianca de Nevada. She is born on a farm in Tuscany in 1495, and when she is seven, her father is ordered by the duplicitous Cesare Borgia to go on a quest to reclaim the relic of the original Tree of Knowledge, a branch bearing three living apples that are thousands of years old. Bianca is left in the care of her father's farm staff and the beautiful -- and madly vain -- Lucrecia Borgia, Cesare's sister. But Lucrecia becomes jealous of her lecherous brother's interest in the growing child and plots a dire fate for Bianca in the woods below the farm. There Bianca finds herself in the home of seven dwarves -- the creators of the magic mirror -- who await the return of their brother, the eighth dwarf, long gone on a quest of his own. In the evocative style of Maguire's earlier novels, Mirror Mirror is a fresh, compelling take on a beloved classic tale.
Customer Reviews:
Not my favorite Maguire book.......2007-10-08
I have read Wicked, Son of a Witch, Lost, and Mirror Mirror. I loved the other three (my favorite was Lost). I found that Mirror Mirror was very slow through the middle of the book. It picks up a little at the end, but I guess I've been spoiled by Maguire and expected miraculous books all the time. This one doesn't match the other three, but does have some interesting parts to it. However, I don't understand why the dwarves were stone-like creatures. Am I missing the symbolism (symbolism is not my forte)? Overall, I could have skipped this book. If this is your first Maguire book, please try another one. The rest are fantastic!
Disappointing and Dark.......2007-08-05
Having read Wicked, Son of a Witch, and Confessions, I was ecstatic to find the time to sit down with Mirror Mirror. I wish I had done anything else! While Maguire's cleverness is apparent, I found myself speedreading ahead to see when another inane description of something small and pointless would end, and skipping ahead at the frequent pepperings of bodily secretions and functions. While the ideas and approach to the Snow White fairy tale are brilliant, they are delivered with a cold darkness that paints the world in a light that I read to escape. The theme of the sexual situations left me feeling defiled and dirty, as if I had stumbled onto something hideously grotesque. And, as a woman, I was greatly insulted at the description of Bianca's first menses. Of all the research done for this book, Maguire couldn't ask one woman what menstruation is like? It reminds me of the ignorant descriptions of school boys who know nothing of the female mysteries and talk about it as though they are professors- much to the disgust of those surrounding their ignorance. Maguire has lost a great deal of my respect with this one. Inappropriate for children under 16.
Good idea, not delivered well.......2007-07-22
I feel that Maguire, in all of his novels, makes the reader think about different perspectives on classic stories in a way that is refreshing and intelligent. Unfortunately, "Mirror Mirror" was not as great as all of his other novels to me. It was choppy and I was often times lost. Time moved too quickly was was only explained by many-year-long sleeps. I found this irritating and unimaginative. I also feel as if Maguire has the idea in his mind, but cannot tell it effectively.
Overall, good story if you can look past the confusing word choices and broken story-telling.
Great book for Maguire lovers.......2007-07-20
Fun two-night read. Takes you on a quick surreal journey. Great book for Maguire fans.
Not Maguire's Best.......2007-06-15
Maguire has made himself quite successful spinning off fairy tales, but this variation on Snow White seemed lacking. His take on Cinderella in "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" was steeped in history, and "Wicked" was immersed in the fantastical world of Oz, while "Mirror Mirror" couldn't decide if it wanted to be history or fantasy.
"Mirror Mirror" changes perspective often. The lustful and incestual Borgias, the innocent and fair Bianca, her father on his quest for a limb from the Tree of Knowledge, and the mystical "dwarves" all take turns narrating. I often found it choppy and inconsistent. While I enjoyed it, I've enjoyed Maguires other books much more than this one.
Average customer rating:
- My Personal Opinion
- Ogham at its Best
- in the search of the buck
- Betwixt Heaven & Hell "The White Goddess" once ruled!
- An insightful read
|
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth
Robert Graves
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Wales
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Graves, Robert
| Classics
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mythology
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Graves, Robert
| ( G )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Criticism
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Folklore & Mythology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Golden Bough
-
The Greek Myths: Complete Edition
-
King Jesus: A Novel
-
From Ritual to Romance
-
Greek Gods and Heroes
ASIN: 0374504938 |
Amazon.com
Robert Graves, the late British poet and novelist, was also known for his studies of the mythological and psychological sources of poetry. With The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, Graves was able to combine many of his passions into one work. While the book is so poetically written that many of the passages amount to prose poems, it is also frequently plot driven enough to feel like a novel, and it is rich with scholarly insight into the deep wells of poetry. Especially fascinating is the chapter in which Graves explores the ancient and ongoing practice of poets' invoking the muse. Graves details the practice in both the Eastern and Western literary traditions, and shows specific similarities and differences among Greek, British, and Irish tales and myths about the muse. Graves has much to offer students of history and myth, but poetry lovers will also be fascinated with The White Goddess.
Book Description
The White Goddess is perhaps the finest of Robert Graves's works on the psychological and mythological sources of poetry. In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry" and its peculiar and mythic language.
Customer Reviews:
My Personal Opinion .......2007-09-08
This is a very difficult book to read..and it is meant to be. I believe it needs to be read 2 or 3 times to really grasp the whole thing. But, this I can guarantee:you will discover many things that you never even dreamed existed. This book is for the scholar and the amature alike.
Robert Graves considered himself a Poet first and foremost, but wrote prose to pay the bills!!! The kind of poetry this book deals with is ancient.Originally it was sung by Bards primarily in the Celtic world, but dated back to the Ancients- Hebrew, Aramaic,Egyption, Greek,Pelasgian Minoan, Myceanean and eventually reaching the British Isles where it was learned in Insular and Continental Gaelic, all using secret and sacred means to pass it on. For the most part it was learned by rote, or memory, long before being written down. This is a subject that is difficult to grasp...but once fully understood leads to many new/old ideas,it is one of the best books I have ever read [and I have read ALOT]. It is a must read for those studying comparative religion, Mythology, Ancient Civilizations, Etymology, the Goddess [and later Gods] Paganism, Wicca, etc.I cherish it so much I have 2 copies!!! Blessed Be.
Ogham at its Best.......2006-04-11
There is simply too much to say about this masterpiece. Robert Graves has this special - I'd say "cardinal" - virtue to link apparently disparate fields into one deep and yes, poetical view.
I started to study Robert Graves for a particular purpose, namely for his unique interpretation of the Pelasgian Myth of Creation. I then found his case for the blank ogham to be compelling. At last, I tried to see the whole wood behind, and in spite of so many exquisite sacred trees.
And it is the poetical style of Robert Graves which made it possible. A Great Leap Forward from the usual nonsense concerning structural approaches and so on. Highly recommended.
in the search of the buck.......2006-01-25
this is the best book i readed. i made it by the portuguese translation, but it's all there. for the studants of paganism, wicca, witchcraft and old religions, it is a must. the history and the links among centuries, folks and cultures, since the stone ages. in ours days, is an outrage to call someone a poet. the inspirations of the fillis, the ollaves, the bards and menestrels are hughest than we can imagine. the gwion riddling poesy are a surprising lifting up the veils! that book must be the first one, to who wants realize the pagan path.
Betwixt Heaven & Hell "The White Goddess" once ruled!.......2005-12-06
"The White Goddess," at first, filled me with AWE. In the second READ I walked a tightrope without a NET underneath. The third & fourth READ gave me a definite sense that Robert Graves had written IT in a 'fevered flaw' via an Energy-deep within-coverting HIM...a thing the ancient Bards & Ollaves were surely wary of!! It seemed as though SOMETHING emerged wanting to put Prison Bars around the 'White Goddess' and Graves being an accomplished Scholar, Writer & Poet, plus, "a ladies Man" became IT's channel. For him, SHE became a Sexual Siren, his obsession, his MUSE...a conduit for his own Illusions...like a Drug to sooth his 'Fevered Brow!! Strangely, it seemed like a Prescripted GAME where during THIS milieu, the Triplet Team Goddess: Daughter-Mother-Crone arrived BEING promptly relegated to Bed, Kitchen & Kindercare...while his Favored FANCY...the Ivory skinned, red haired, light-eyed Cerridwen remained his Pirated Possession!!
To his CREDIT, however, HE saw & understood the 'STEALING' of her Gifts & Talents-her Knowledge of Letters, Numbers & Words-her Brilliant Intellect-her Logic & Creativity & her Prime Importance to Europe's Emergence. Indeed, he shares the Power Plays that finally TOPPLED "The White Goddess" from her Throne & how the(Intrusion?) of an imported middle eastern GOD became her Assassin!! He writes HOW this Intrusion denigrated the Elder Euros from themselves...from their Gnostic Guts...from the machinery of their Bodies-always, before, accessing IT like a computer & understanding IT's Robotics DOWN to their "figuring" FINGERS!! Yes, Graves appreciated this mastery-not turning UP his nose at the MAGIC of such animus abilities...very insightful for a learned Scholar & Poet. He also shares the myriad NAMES of Europe's olden Gods & Goddesses...their battles & exploits...their Knowledge of themselves within the WEB, plus, their telepathic ties to Nature, Plants & TREES as Dendron Diviners. For all the 'if's, ands & buts' in "The White Goddess" Robert Graves opened a DOOR to the everyday people about the Elder Euros with his poetic prowess. He emphased that when Europe lost it's Goddess IT, also, lost a PART of whom & what THEY truly were...for THEY lost their Grimoad GOD, as well!!
In reality, "The White Goddess" had always lived a Parthenogenic PATH through her PSYCHE as a Wise Weaver of Words. She churned & charmed the CAULDRON of Creation from WITHIN her own Being & could "SEER" the Dimensions of Dream within SPACE & TIME. She did not Pander her Power, staying firm in her FEET, concise & conceptual in her understanding that the WEB could become a TRAP...tacky, tricky & tarnished...imprisoning ONE. She KNEW that Existence held Eternity beyond Life & Death & never became caught in Dramatic Dogma. She guided from the Brain of her right HAND & managed from the Gut of left HAND...always influencing ONE's inner identity as an ISLAND, yet, a pivotal part of their 'Simulating Surroundings'.
So.o.o, READ "The White Goddess" with an EVEN Eye as you muse within about the Immortal Grimoire Goddess. Consider what SHE knew about Fate, Fame & Fortune; that Destiny reflected ONES Deeds &, in the END, there is always a Beginning...&, maybe, Robert von Ranke Graves is finding his Grimoad GOD, within, apologizing to "The White Goddess" about such mistaken ideas about HER morality & having Cinematic Conversations about this 'Tarnal' Paradise(Webster's-circular enclosure; a walled Garden) of Earth where ONE must walk the Thin Blue Line..."betwixt" Heaven & Hell!?
An insightful read.......2005-11-10
I think a lot of people have missed the point of this book. Robert Graves was a poet, not a historian or an expert on Celtic mythology. The subtitle for The White Goddess is "A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth." He was attempting to interpret the ancient poems. While I did not always agree with his interpretations, I found them to be quite intriguing.
Ancient poets were like the rock stars of today. They kept the history of the people, and may have been trying to hide secret information in their poetry that these ancient people did not want falling into the wrong hands. Mr. Graves was trying to break these secret codes.
I didn't pay too much attention to what Mr. Graves was saying about the Celtic Ogham, but more about the different faces of the Goddess, the lesser known parts of Greek mythology, and the different properties of trees as they related to the ancient people. Ancient people lived their lives shrouded in superstition, harboring a great respect for the earth, something we in this modern age of self-destruction, would do well to learn from.
At times, Mr. Graves jumped around too much for my taste, but I still found this to be a very interesting book. Whether you believe the Celts originated in Greece or not, this is still a book filled with important poetic insight.
Book Description
A stimulating examination of early American literature. Susan Howe approaches early American literature as pet and critic, blending scholarship with passionate commitment and unique view of her subject. The Birth-mark traces the collusive relationships among tradition, the constitution of critical editions, literary history and criticism, the institutionalized roles of poetry and prose, and the status of gender. Through an examination of the texts and editorial histories of Thomas Shepard's conversion narratives, the captivity narrative of Mary Rowlandson, and the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Howe reads our intellectual inheritance as a series of civil wars, where each text is a wilderness in which a strange and lawless author confronts interpreters and editors eager for settlement. In a concluding interview, Howe comments on her approach and recounts some the crucial biographical events that sparked her interest in early American literature. "No other poet now writing has Howe's power to bring together narrative and lyric, textual scholarship and historical speculation, found text and pure invention. Her very footnotes can have poetic, even demonic force. In these pages, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Rowlandson, Thomas Shephard and Cotton Mather, Hawthorne and Melville, Emerson and F.O. Matthiessen, and especially Emily Dickinson and Susan Howe herself come to life -- but to a "life" that belongs to the feminist 1990s rather than the New England of the 1680s or 1850s. To "unsettle the wilderness" as Howe does here is to create a new genre: the poessay, I would call it, which is also and inevitably a poethics." -- Marjorie Perloff "The Birth-mark by Susan Howe is an astonishing work re-presenting the American past, its history, literature, texts, and critics. At once gnomic and lucid, grave and scintillating, it is a trespass comparable to Lawrence's or Olson's in its passionate grasp of materials, its critical delegitimation of iconic cultural authorities, its fierce originality. Howe is a witness of the almost unrepresentable borderlands of history, spiritual striving, and human grief; her writing has a unique sublimity." -- Rachel Blau DuPlessis "These essays have already had a profound influence on the course of North American poetry. Howe's scholarship is exhilarating and endlessly provocative. Her poetic revisioning of the essay form is exemplary. Howe's convincing reading of Dickenson's manuscripts as the primary site of her "sumptuary" values is a major challenge to previous readings of Dickinson and inaugurates a new era in Dickinson scholarship. In The Birth-mark, Howe insists not on the return of the author but the resurgence of writing and of the poetic as the wildness at the heart of an ever-emerging America." -- Charles Bernstein
Customer Reviews:
Illuminating the Literary Wilderness.......2001-08-05
For those who have read Susan Howe's poetry and marvelled at, but did not fully understand it, this book is compelling in its explanatory power. The quotations in the preface alone are worth the price of admission, for it is here than one can see how impressive is her understanding of Emily Dickinson's writing. By exposing the manuscript story behind Dickinson's works, Susan Howe has made a lasting contribution to American literature. Her essay on Cotton Mather is a charmer, certain to drive readers to find a copy of his Magnalia. The essay Incloser is a stylistic dynamo. There is also an interview with the author that sheds new light on her works.
But what will make this book immortal is Susan Howe's essay These Flames and Generosities of the Heart: Emily Dickinson and the Illogic of Sumptuary Values. To anyone who has read Emily Dickinson's poems in a "standard" or "variorum" edition of any sort, this book is a must, because you will soon learn that you have not, in fact, been reading Dickinson's words, but instead an editor's (inaccurate) version of them (whether Johnson or Franklin). Susan Howe demonstrates with a clarity and perception unmatched by any editor how the only way to understand and fully appreciate Emily Dickinson is by reading her manuscripts, some of which are reproduced in this book. And the manuscripts only make one appreciate more intensely the achievement of Emily Dickinson. If you've read Susan Howe's My Emily Dickinson, you must buy this book, as it completes the true story. It is a staggering achievement that will long be remembered as a landmark event in the understanding of America's greatest poet. American academia owes Susan Howe a debt of incalculable magnitude for this essay alone.
(Note on the other review of this book: how anyone can give this book fewer than 5 stars is a mystery. Susan Howe is a marvelous storyteller with a breadth of interests that cannot fail to intrigue even the most casual reader.)
Nettles and Brambles Feminine.......2001-06-15
You'll never read a book the same way again after "The Birth-mark"--you'll wonder about all the spaces, dashes, deletions and marginalia that didn't make it from manuscript to print. For Howe that's where the wild voices hide, dangerous figures like Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson and Emily Dickinson who threatened "civilized" male control. Howe samples texts like a hip-hop DJ, switching between voices to prove her point that editing was a typically male response to the wilderness that women (and the New World) represented.
Howe's passion for her subject is obvious, especially in the interview at the end. But the essays sometimes felt to me at least more like a display of cleverness than an effort to understand the figures she writes about. Like Charles Olson's "Call Me Ishmael," Howe's model, "The Birth-mark" squats a little uneasily between scholarship and poetry. The poet's own voice and sense of style tend to muffle the more distant Puritan voices, male and female, she's out to recover. Maybe this is the danger of not editing one's voice as a historian. Still, I'm glad I read this book--yet another reminder of what doesn't get into history and why.
Average customer rating:
|
The Legend Of the White Buffalo Woman
Paul Goble
Manufacturer: National Geographic Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
People of Color
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Folklore & Mythology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
jp-unknown1
| Specialty Stores
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
People of Color
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Folklore & Mythology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Gift of the Sacred Dog (Reading Rainbow Book)
-
Star Boy
-
Buffalo Woman
-
Dream Wolf (Aladdin Picture Books)
-
Her Seven Brothers
ASIN: 0792265521
Release Date: 2002-08-01 |
Book Description
A beautiful woman appeared to the Lakota people at a time of great change and suffering. She gave them the pipe that has been part of their culture ever since, saying Wakan Tanka, the great spirit...smoke, and you will know he hears you. She is called the White Buffalo Woman because after giving the people this gift, she changed into a buffalo, reminding her tribespeople of their ties to nature.
In stirring prose and some of his most breathtaking images, widely celebrated author and illustrator Paul Goble brings this important legend to life. Goble includes an introductory note, detailed drawings of the peace pipe, and information about Pipestone Quarry, a National Monument central to this story.
Customer Reviews:
No personal connection.......2006-01-25
This book is designed for older readers, because of overall morbid aspect that the book takes. The illistrations are gruesome, and the storyline is not fluid. The story was not relatable without an Indian background.
Book Description
Beginning with Helene Cixous' indictment of history as a"story of Phallocentrism, " Young investigates the different concepts and operations of "history" Western thought--from classical and critical Marxism through post-colonial critiques of Eurocentrism. He traces the various attempts by Hegel, Marx, Lukacs, and Sartre to produce a more coherent theory of history, and more recent efforts by Althusser and Foucault to produce a "non-historici st" history. Ultimately, White Mythologies argues that all attempts to write history as a single narrative are doomed to failure.
Customer Reviews:
An epic delight.......2007-10-13
Four books comprise this epic of the life of King Arthur, from his childhood, when Merlyn was teaching him to gain other perspectives by transforming him into animals (Disney had a field day with that one) to his future as king dealing with dark witches and double-crossing relatives and betrayal by Lancelot and Guinevere.
White has a dry sense of humor and many wonderful insights into human nature, as well as a deep understanding of the theory of swordsmanship and chivalry to imbue the adventures with a sense of historical accuracy. I love this kind of stuff, and The Once and Future King is a classic.
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Wart, a young boy, initially has no idea who he really is. This is
Merlin's doing, as he travels backwards in time, having left the young
lad with a kindly keeper to ensure his safety and responsible
upbringing. In other words, to make sure he is a decent kid, not a
spoiled brat, so he will become a sympathetic ruler. The rest of the
Arthurian legend evolves from there.
Don't buy into the hype........2007-08-17
Coming into reading this book I was under the false impression that it was going to be an enjoyable read. That went out the window rather quickly. I might have liked this book, had I been born in England 60 years ago and had an intricate knowledge of obscure old English references concerning their medieval period and items contained within. However, I have to say that I read through a few chapters of White's novel where I was left with no sense of what had just happened.
He goes into intricate explanations of scenery, events, and items that last for pages. This in itself is not bad, however, White seems to have been going through the Old English Book of archaic terms while he was doing this. Not a fun read, you might as well break out your dictionary and thesaurus because that's the only way you're going to understand what White is describing.
A reading assignment I actually enjoyed........2007-06-14
My class in school was assigned to read this book. I am a particularly slow reader, so I was discouraged when I saw how long it was and the hard to understand language they used, but the more i read, the more interested I got. Although it is not one of my favorites, i really enjoyed reading this and i love the author's style of writing. You get to know the characters so much and the plot never gets too boring. New "mini stories" pop up in every chapter and it's always a pleasant suprise.
A Good Novel But Not Great.......2007-04-24
King Arthur and his famous Knights of the Round Table are among the most famous characters of any mythology. This novel, entitled "The Once And Future King, is the re-telling of the legend published some four decades ago and written by a man who was fascinated by the medieval time period. This novel is a good novel, but it lacks greatness and is at times lacking.
The novel's plot is well known. It starts with a young boy called Wart who pulls the sword from the stone and becomes the King of England. He marries Guinevere, sets up the famous Round Table, and creates an ideal society in the form of Camelot. But in the end this perfect could not last forever and eventually Camelot falls. Pretty much the basics of the Arthurian legend are retold here.
The main problem of the novel is in its characterization. King Arthur is the protagonist of the novel, but yet he seems to be lacking in the wisdom we have come to associate with the legendary king. But he is a three-decisional character and he does suffers one tragic flaw: he is too trusting and this will lead to the fall of Camelot. The same lacking of characterization can be found in the other two characters of the novel: Guinevere and the brave knight Lancelot. White doesn't seem to be able to handle their characterization very well. This is especially true of the romance between them. The highlights in terms of characters are the bumbling knight King Pellinore and, of course, the sorcerer Merlyn. It is through Merlyn that Arthur learns many of the lessons and also that we get the social commentary of the novel. Yet the weak characterization of the main characters hurts the overall effect of the novel.
White is at his best doing the descriptions rather then dialogue and it is this that makes the novel worth reading. There is an area where White doesn't keep this together as well. The novel's ending seems to be too awkwardly written and White seems to rush past many of the novels' revelations. It would have been nice if some of these had been closed since they do leave a few too many loose threads hanging at the end.
In the final analysis, "The Once And Future King" is a novel of great intentions done written with mixed results. White managed to take the classic legend of old and infuse it with some freshness. Despite its lack of proper characterization and some loose threads at the end, the novel is still a good re-telling of the King Arthur story. If you are interested in the King Arthur legend this is a good choice to read.
Customer Reviews:
Good survey of the influence of white culture on the Hopi.......1999-08-05
This is a good introduction to the Hopi and their reaction to the influence of white culture, focusing on the effects on the Katsina religion. This is not so much a book about Katsina dolls, but about the religion and how it has changed under the pressure of white culture. Very nice illustrations, well written.
Customer Reviews:
Stories for Telling: A Treasury for Christian Storytellers .......2005-09-11
Excellent resource. Fun & Compelling reading
Customer Reviews:
Great thinker and writer.......2007-08-14
Vine Deloria has written another outstanding book about Native subjects that is both original and intelligent. I have been guided by his thinking in this book and have used it for my upcoming book, The Odawa and Smallpox Genocide (Edwin Mellon Press). He is sadly missed, since he walked on.
Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact.......2007-01-12
A must read for anyone chasing their Native Heritage and regular readers as well.Vine Deloria is a renowned author and this book is his best.
An outstanding work on the fallacies of science.......2006-05-28
Deloria makes a very well-researched, well-argued and, ultimately, correct case against the delusion of modern science as applied to evolution. Modern science has done wonders for technology, not necessarily for the earth or the environment; however, it does not explain the past very well, especially the distant past.
The third chapter, 'Evolutionary Prejudice,' is, arguably, the hinge upon which his arguments rest. It is amazing that regardless of whether or not a Western person uses religion, science, or socio-political arguments the "indigenous" people always end up on the bottom. Another great work that supports this theory is by the noted author Stephen Jay Gould in "The Mismeasure of Man." Further support is given by Roy Harvey Pearce in "Savagism and Civilization." To get more proof, read works directly related to the time Western imperialism encountered the Inupiat, Inuit, Aboriginies, and other "indigenous" people around the world, their prejudism shines through. The book I have sitting in front of me, "Primitive Man," written by Edward Clodd is a glaring example of the paradigm through which the world was catagorized by scientists.
All in all, Deloria is not only an eloquent and witty writer, he is correct in questioning the validity of science as applied to "indigenous" people, evolutionary theory, and the origins of people.
Apropos to this argument is this recent article: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6414554?source=most_viewed. Evolutionary science is a belief that cannot be empirically proven. One can make suppositions of fact based on paradigm, but, in the end, that is all they are, guesses.
Attack on a Straw Man.......2005-07-23
An earlier reviewer, Deloria's former student, maintains that this book is not a harbinger of fundamentalism encroaching on new territory, but rather an critique of faulty science. On the contrary, the book itself demonstrates that Deloria does not understand the science he seeks to criticise, using exactly the same specious pseudo-scientific fallacies & sophistries employed with such amazing frequency by Christian creationists. Deloria does not grapple with any of the mature forms of Neo-Darwinian synthesis that constitute present-day biology. Simple test: Look at the index. While Stephen Jay Gould is referenced sixteen times, & Darwin ten, seminal figures such as J.B.S. Haldane, E.O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, R.A. Fisher, William Hamilton, Robert Trivers, or John Manyard Smith exacly zero. He is 'ripping to shreds' a straw man that the scientists he intends to discredit dismantled long before he got around to it.
Like Deloria's student, I think it wise to keep a distance from wrangling over accusations of fundamentalism or racism, & concentrate instead on Deloria's misapprehension of what science says, & at bottom, is. Rather than futilely kicking against the pricks in a short review such as this, however, I recommend instead that all who are interested in exploring the matter with intellectual integrity read Richard Dawkins, a congenial popularizer, Philip Kitcher (particularly his book *Abusing Science*), a philosopher of science who tackles old-school creationism, & *Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics* (ed. Robert T. Pennock), which counters the new facade of creationsim (used by Deloria), so-called Intelligent Design.
Better yet, have a look at this thorough Amazon So You'd Like To. . . list: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/1ZVZDKO9Z0ETC/ref=cm_bg_dp_m_2/002-6368276-0565648
One final note. Many people fail to comprehend the meaning of the word 'theory' as it is used within the context of the scientific method. A scientific theory is not some gauzy idea that awaits experimental validation. That is an *hypothesis*. A theory, in the language of science, is a statement of scientific fact that has been subjected to the most rigorous possible experimentation & not been falsified. This differs from the colloquial understanding of the word 'theory'. It is a simple matter of definition that anybody who intends to discuss this issue seriously must grasp. If one doesn't know it one can have no conception of the scientific method, hence rational criticism of it becomes impossible.
Stick to sociology, Deloria.......2005-01-01
Vine Deloria should stick to American Indian history, sociology, current affairs, etc.
If Deloria were a Christian fundamentalist spewing his ignorance as a "native alternative" to science (not Western science, but science), he'd be slapped silly by everybody in academe and beyond, except at a few fundamentalist schools.
BUUTTT... because he's the "great Vine Deloria," along with white liberal guilt, etc., this attack on scientific thinking gets treated with kid gloves at the least and put on a pedestal at the worst.
Deloria, don't go to a "Western" hospital for "Western" scientific medicine next time you get sick. Or does the "myth of scientific fact" not include you going to a Western medicine hospital for an aortic aneurysm not too long before you died?
I guess it turns out we're past the shelf date for that advice to be of any value, to be somewhat but not too snarky.
Books:
- Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Faimly, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
- Napoleon's Military Machine
- National Geographic Almanac of American History (National Geographic)
- National Geographic Concise History of the World: An Illustrated Time Line (Timeline)
- On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
- On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford World's Classics)
- Oxford Companion to World War II
- Plutarch's Lives Volume 1 (Modern Library Classics)
- Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court, and Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History (Princeton Studies in American Politics)
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Culinaria Germany
- The Restaurant Managers Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food S
- In A Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms
- Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2006
- Life in the Universe
- The Fundamentals of Risk Measurement
- The Falling Boy: A Novel
- Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos
- Restaurants That Work: Case Studies of the Best in the Industry
- Advances In Botanical Research Volume 21: INCORPORATING ADVANCES IN PLANT PATHOLOGY
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel
Son of a Witch: A Novel
Lost: A Novel
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)
The Dream Stealer
