Retracing the Past: Readings in the History of the American People, Volume II (Since 1865) (6th Edition) (Retracing the Past)

Retracing the Past: Readings in the History of the American People, Volume II (Since 1865) (6th Edition) (Retracing the Past)
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Fast shipping, Great shape

Retracing the Past: Readings in the History of the American People, Volume II (Since 1865) (6th Edition) (Retracing the Past)
Gary B. Nash , and Ronald B. Schultz
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Historical Viewpoints: Notable Articles from American Heritage, Volume I (9th Edition)

The World They Made Together

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Americans: A Collision of Histories

ASIN: 0321333802

Book Description

Retracing the Past is an engaging collection of both primary and secondary sources that emphasizes social history and cultural diversity.

Customer Reviews:

Fast shipping, Great shape.......2005-09-25

The book was shipped in a timely manner, and it was in very good shape

Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume I (From the Beginning to 1715) (6th Edition)

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Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume I (From the Beginning to 1715) (6th Edition)
Mark Kishlansky
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Civilization in the West, Volume I (to 1715) (Book Alone) (6th Edition)
The West: Encounters & Transformations, Volume I (to 1715), Atlas Edition (2nd Edition)
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Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume II (5th Edition)
The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Volume II

ASIN: 0321243412

Book Description

Sources of the West presents a well-balanced selection of readings that integrate coverage of social, economic, religious, and cultural history within a traditional, political framework.

The text includes constitutional documents, political theory, philosophy, imaginative literature, and social description that raise significant issues for classroom discussions or lectures. By reading the voices of the past, students can connect them to the present; learn to understand and respect other cultures; and think critically about history.

My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile

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plain, honest style
Poetic Journey
A Chilephile's delight
almost Faulknerish
Not the best of Allende

My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile
Isabel Allende
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Chile: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Traveler's Literary Companions)
Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile (Modern Library)
The Infinite Plan: A Novel
Paula
A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet

ASIN: 006054564X
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Book Description

Isabel Allende's first memory of Chile is of a house she never knew. The "large old house" on the Calle Cueto, where her mother was born and which her grandfather evoked so frequently that Isabel felt as if she had lived there, became the protagonist of her first novel, The House of the Spirits. It appears again at the beginning of Allende's playful, seductively compelling memoir My Invented Country, and leads us into this gifted writer's world.

Here are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family -- grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends -- with whom readers of Allende's fiction will feel immediately at home. And here, too, is an unforgettable portrait of a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit. Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land -- "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" -- Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland. In My Invented County, she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin.

Two life-altering events inflect the peripatetic narration of this book: The military coup and violent death of her uncle, Salvador Allende Gossens, on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a writer. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on her newly adopted homeland, the United States, brought forth from Allende an overdue acknowledgment that she had indeed left home. My Invented Country, whose structure mimics the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance accrued between the author's past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants, and to all of us, who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.

Customer Reviews:

plain, honest style.......2006-06-13

She has a great way of making you feel like you are getting to know her personally; like you are having a conversation with someone that is going to become a your friend. "Paula" gave me the same impression. You can really identify with her emotions and see her perspective like she is some one you already know.

Poetic Journey.......2004-09-06

My Invented Country is Isabel Allende's best book yet. This amazing biography takes the reader on a poetic journey though Ms. Allende's young life. Her writing is stellar and poetic. This book is to be savored for its beauty of language. Writers dream of crafting sentences like these. Lovers of language will adore this book for its symmetry and grace. Readers of all ages will love it for its beautiful and absorbing story.

A Chilephile's delight.......2004-08-19

I guess one could describe this book as a beautiful woman's description of a beautiful country and its charming people. Let me get my prejudices out right up front: I have been fascinated by everything Chileno for over thirty years. The country has an amazing history, an incredibly varied topography (when God finished creating the world, he had a little bit of everything left over...so it He put it all in Chile) and wonderful people. Isabel Allende's nostalgic reminiscenses about her family and homeland are insightful, poignant and witty. The author commendably keeps politics to a minimum, but consequently barely touches on her country's troubled recent past and the healing process that is still a work in progress. Moreover, since Ms. Allende writes as an exile, one wonders whether her characterizations remain accurate in the aftermath of the rise and fall of Pinochet. Be that as it may, this is a delightful glimpse into the Chilean persona. This slim volume is not literature, but after reading Ms. Allende's paean to Chile, I was left with only two desires: to visit the country again as soon as possible and to meet the author. Fortunately the former is always an option.

almost Faulknerish.......2004-05-18

Allende's original work must be beautifully and well written in Spanish or else the translator did an excellent job. Seems to me that her writing is almost Faulkner-ish... a kind of classical ranting while accounting for family history and characters through personal experience and skewed perspectives... almost what is called stream of consciousness with many threads off tangent. Her style comes across more like she is thinking out loud instead of just telling a story. Sometimes it seems as if she is singing. Her words boast of a personality stronger than cultural traditions and expectations. Allende displays a personality ready to face the world, yet unwilling to forgo a staccatto past.

Not the best of Allende.......2004-05-14

This book tells us the story of the author's life in a short version. I personally liked the way she portraits Chile, past and present. But I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has already read "Paula". In "Paula" she writes the story of her life while she is taking care of her daughter, who has a fatal disease, in "My invented country" she tells us the story of her life (again), because of the nostalgia she feels when her grandson asks her a question about being old, only in a shorter way and contributing with facets about her country. So when I read this book a lot of times I thought "I remember this" or "I knew this already". As another reviewer said, "she is loosing her touch". I hope she comes up with a brand new idea next time.

Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume II (5th Edition)

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Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume II (5th Edition)
Mark Kishlansky , Patrick Geary , and Patricia O'Brien
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume I (From the Beginning to 1715) (6th Edition)
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Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition
Civilization in the West, Volume I (to 1715) (Book Alone) (6th Edition)
World History: The Human Journey

ASIN: 0321105516

Book Description

Sources of the West, Fourth Edition explores significant issues in the history of Western Civilization.It presents a well-balanced selection of constitutional documents, political theory, philosophy, imaginative literature, and social description. MARKET Appropriate for anyone interested in the history of western civilization.

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Redding (CA) (Images of America)
Shasta Historical Society , and Al Rocca
Manufacturer: Arcadia Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0738529346
Release Date: 2004-10-20

Book Description

Pierson B. Reading settled on a large land grant in Shasta County in the 1840s, planting CaliforniaÂ's first cotton and northern CaliforniaÂ's first grapevines on his Rancho Buena Ventura, which included the current town of Redding. Although first nicknamed Poverty Flats by the early settlers, the Southern Pacific Railroad chose this spot for its turnaround roundhouse in 1872, ignoring the neighboring mining boomtown of Shasta. To honor a powerful Sacramento politician who acted as their general land agent, the railroad named the new town Redding.

Reading the West: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts (Bedford Cultural Editions)

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Reading the West: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts (Bedford Cultural Editions)
Bill Brown
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0312137613

Celebrating Middle-Earth: The Lord of the Rings As a Defense of Western Civilization

Average customer rating:

kindred spirits
Using Tolkien to buttress their own views
Good but needs expansion
A decent little book--but be aware...
New Insights

Celebrating Middle-Earth: The Lord of the Rings As a Defense of Western Civilization

Manufacturer: Inkling Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings
Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings
Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings
Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism
The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth

ASIN: 1587420139

Book Description

Six talented writers and Tolkien scholars describe the role that J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings has in the literary, political, and religious traditions of Western civilization.

Customer Reviews:

kindred spirits.......2004-07-20

Some may "grit their teeth" (as one disgruntled reviewer said below) through these essays, but readers more in tune with Tolkien's own philosophy will be pleased to find these kindred spirits.

Virtually every political and cultural movement of the past forty years, from free-spirited hippies in the '60s, to strident environmentalists in the '70s, to Christian fundamentalists in the new millennium. has tried to co-opt Tolkien's books as emblematic of their particular concerns. It is a testament to the richness of his work that people from such disparate viewpoints see therein a reflection of their beliefs.

Those from the left side of the political spectrum sometimes seem to want to wish away the truth, but the fact is, Tolkien was a Catholic conservative, in virtually every sense of the word. He attended Mass almost daily; he was a staunch member of the Conservative Party and an anti-Communist; and he abhorred Big Government almost more than anything else.

Of course, this doesn't mean that these works cannot be enjoyed by those who disagree with these views. But surely there is room in this world for books written about Tolkien and his work by those who sympathize with his views -- which describes this particular slim volume -- just as there is room for those who don't.

If you're looking for something critical of Tolkien's core beliefs, this isn't the book for you. But if you're simpatico, or just curious and open-minded (quel surprise!) about what truly made him tick, give this collection a try. Peter Kreeft's essay alone is worth the modest price.

Tolkien may have been conservative to the core, but he was by no means a racist (he famously said in his valedictory speech at Oxford, "I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones" -- many years before that view became fashionable). He surely didn't see the defense of Western civilization as synonymous with racism, as, sadly, too many fashionably relativistic "multi-culturalists" now claim. He didn't love war, but he understood well the folly of burying one's head in the sand. (See the encounter between Gandalf and the Saruman-enchanted Theoden in "The Two Towers" for a startling parallel to contemporary debate.)

If you're an unbending pacifistic atheist, you may not like what you read here. But then, Tolkien probably wouldn't cotton to your point of view either. I'm not saying this to be critical of my friends on the left. But learn more about the man himself, and you will have to agree. This book is a good place to start.

Using Tolkien to buttress their own views.......2003-12-21

This is a short collection of essays given as papers at a conference at Seattle Pacific University. The conference was sponsored by a C.S. Lewis Institute, and some contributions are reminiscent of the aggressive polemical style of that author's apologetics. The opening two essays, by the editor and Peter Kreeft, are not concerned with discerning Tolkien's views of western civilization, but with using Tolkien to buttress their own views, a distinctly different approach. And their definition of western civilization, for the purpose of their essays, is strictly confined to Biblical morality, with dire references to September 11 as proof of the reality of evil, and plenty of random bashings of anti-Tolkien critics, moral relativists, and other harbingers of the bad. Kreeft claims that Theoden's virtue lay in avoiding Denethor's sin of acquiring too much knowledge, and that Gollum speaks in the plural because the singular, as in "I Am That I Am," is associated with God. Some may find such claims seriously off-base: I certainly do, and had to grit my teeth through both his and West's essays.

[Contrary to the anonymous reviewer above, examples like these are totally out of keeping with Tolkien's own way of thinking. There are many better books, by scholars such as Joseph Pearce and Matthew Dickerson, which demonstrate Tolkien's Catholic and conservative thinking in terms of Tolkien's own thought, rather than using Tolkien as a cudgel to randomly bash whatever the writer may not like about modern life. Tolkien was never crude, and unlike C.S. Lewis he was not a polemicist in his public writings. These authors are both.]

The third and longest essay, by Janet Leslie Blumberg, is a quiet discussion of the literary influence on Tolkien of Anglo-Saxon and Middle English literature. Three very brief essays conclude by taking a more specifically theological and sacramental approach to Tolkien's morality. Of these, Phillip Goggans follows Kreeft and West, but Joseph Pearce and Kerry L. Dearborn are more interested in exploring Tolkien's views than in using Tolkien to defend their own.

[Again, note the difference. They explore Tolkien's views, rather than selectively and misleadingly quoting from Tolkien to defend their own views, which on specific matters Tolkien might or might not have shared.]

They and Blumberg provide workmanlike essays which, though they only skim the surface of their topics, can be useful as introductions.

This book is a thin softcover with large print, narrow margins, and numerous typographical errors.

Good but needs expansion.......2003-11-01

This is a vey good book but perhaps too focussed on Christian values for the title to be fully correct. Hal Colebatch's "Return of the Heroes: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Social Conflict," which I have reviewed on its own page, does a much more comprehensive job in looking at the relationship between TLOTR and the whole of Western as well as specifically Christian values. Both, however, are full of interest and recommended.

A decent little book--but be aware..........2003-09-19

To keep this review short and sweet, I'll get right to the point: the sub-title of this book should, in my opinion, read "The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Christianity." Not that defending Christianity is necessarily a bad thing; but I, for one, was led to believe (both by title and by the [non-user] reviews given on this site) that this was an explication of the pro-Western views (whether of culture, or religion, or morals, or war, etc., etc.) embedded within Tolkein's texts. Instead, a substantial portion of the book was dedicated to a rather pedantic style of critique wherein lines of quoted material were trotted out and then favorably compared to Christian idea(l)s, preceded or followed closely by the particular author's hearty agreement with said material, and possibly supported by their own personal brand of apologetics.

However, I should hasten to add: all of this is not to say that "Celebrating Middle-Earth" is not informative or otherwise valuable to the Christian philosopher or apologist, or even to the non-theist Tolkien fan...because it is. Though not a Christian in the traditional sense, I have nevertheless learned a good deal here about the motifs behind the story and the mind-set behind the man, and have enjoyed doing so. But, again, as I've implied: if your preference is for a purer form of literary critique, or for a slightly more "neutral" analysis of Tolkien's themes, then look elsewhere.

New Insights.......2003-05-27

While all six essays in this slender volume will prove of interest to the reader seeking more background on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic story, I found the essay by Janet Blumberg, "The Literary Background of The Lord of the Rings" especially valuable. Prof. Blumberg not only explains the influences of Anglo-Saxon literature such as "Beowulf" and High Medieval literature such as "Sir Gawain and the Green knight" on elements in LOTR, but also offers a credible explanation for one of the most remarked about elements in the books: the absence of any overt religious practice or worship. This essay alone makes this slender volume a valuable addition to the library of any Tolkien fan.

At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library Paperbacks)

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A Very Difficult Book To Read But Essential!
One word - outstanding.
Very informative
A first rate history of an American tragedy
I only THOUGHT I knew about lynchings...

At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Philip Dray
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
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Imagery of Lynching: Black Men, White Women, and the Mob
America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s

ASIN: 0375754458
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Amazon.com

Lynching, the extrajudicial punishment inflicted by vigilantes and mobs on often innocent victims, was far from an unusual occurrence, though some historians have depicted it as such. Instead, writes Philip Dray, lynching was part of a "systematized reign of terror that was used to maintain the power whites had over blacks." Drawing on records held at the Tuskegee Institute, Dray argues that from 1882 until 1952, not a single year passed without a recorded lynching somewhere in the United States, most often in the Deep South and Mississippi Delta regions. This violent "justice," meted out "at the hands of persons unknown" (with, therefore, no possibility of attaching guilt to the perpetrators, though, as Dray points out, such seemingly spontaneous events required organization and planning) held African American communities in terror and was one force behind the exodus of black southerners to the north in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dray's extraordinary study reveals a pattern of crime against humanity, one that, he writes, diminished gradually for various reasons, not least of them the work of reformers and ordinary citizens "who knew we were too good to be a nation of lynchers." --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

This extraordinary account of lynching in America, by acclaimed civil rights historian Philip Dray, shines a clear, bright light on American history’s darkest stain—illuminating its causes, perpetrators, apologists, and victims. Philip Dray also tells the story of the men and women who led the long and difficult fight to expose and eradicate lynching, including Ida B. Wells, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and W.E.B. Du Bois. If lynching is emblematic of what is worst about America, their fight may stand for what is best: the commitment to justice and fairness and the conviction that one individual’s sense of right can suffice to defy the gravest of wrongs. This landmark book follows the trajectory of both forces over American history—and makes lynching’s legacy belong to us all.

Customer Reviews:

A Very Difficult Book To Read But Essential!.......2007-02-15

This is history book in the purest sense of what a history book should be yet this book is much more than a history of American Violence against African Americans, it's a history of how civilization can be repressive and savage despite it's seemingly enlightened ideology. Philip Dray doesn't hold back in painful details of lynching, the dynamics and psychology behind the mob mentality, and how people actively seek to uphold an illusion of law and order from the bigoted vigilantes to the unsympathetic courts. Collectively we have tried and still continue to try to supress the history of slavery and the bloody history subsequent racial violence. This book needs to be required reading in our schools as a counter to other so-called history texts admonishing certain fathers of the nation.

One word - outstanding........2006-01-29

Quite possibly the best, most well-researched book I've ever read. A smooth read, impeccable use of historical sources, and a clear narrative account of the most tragic era in American history. For scholars who research or teach in the area of social control, legal, and extra-legal punishment, you *cannot* have a full grasp of the topic unless you read Dray's work. A fine work of history...the author is to be commended.

Very informative.......2005-10-05

This book was not only shipped within 2 days but in new condition. The book itself is very informative about other things than lynching. It talks about various people related to the anti-lynching movement tons of other things. I'm currently using this as a text book for a college class. This is a great teaching resource! Buy the book, you won't forget it!

A first rate history of an American tragedy.......2005-09-10

Dray's account, while often disturbing reading, is an essential for anyone who seeks to understand the lynching phenomenon in the United States. Scholarly, but accessible, the history's gruesome recountings of lynchings are balanced by the tales of those individuals and organizations that fought, often at great personal peril, to bring an end to this national disgrace. This meticulously researched volume is recommended for the professional as well as the lay historian. It is a cautionary tale, but ultimately one not without hope.

I only THOUGHT I knew about lynchings..........2005-07-16

I fancy myself a history buff. And as a black man, I like to think I know my history. I knew how savage whites in the South could be to black men who didn't know their place.
I knew what a potent and mix sex and race were - and are - in America.

But nothing I knew prepared me for what I read. Mr. Dray did an incredible job in tying together the long history of lynching in this country, from its origins in early America, to the 1960s - in other words *in my lifetime*.

I gained a appreciation for Ida Wells that I never had; she is often mentioned in Black History texts, but I never understood until "BPU" why she was so amazing.

This book should be required reading for high school students Nationwide (another fact that Dray makes clear is that while Southerners were the worst offenders, lynchings took place in the Northern states as well).

This shameful period of American History is as bad as the Nazis atrocities against Jews - and for a far longer period of time. People who think that post-slavery, Jim Crow was nothing more than a benign embarassment should be made to read this book until they get it.

Hats off to Phillip Dray for a engrossing and educational read. By the time I finished, I understood our country a little better than before.

West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns

Average customer rating:

Home On the Range
essential but NOT good -- see Cowboy Metaphysics instead
wow!

West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns
Jane Tompkins
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
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The Western Reader

ASIN: 0195082680

Book Description

A leading figure in the debate over the literary canon, Jane Tompkins was one of the first to point to the ongoing relevance of popular women's fiction in the 19th century, long overlooked or scorned by literary critics. Now, in West of Everything, Tompkins shows how popular novels and films of the American west have shaped the emotional lives of people in our time. Into this world full of violence and manly courage, the world of John Wayne and Louis L'Amour, Tompkins takes her readers, letting them feel what the hero feels, endure what he endures. Writing with sympathy, insight, and respect, she probes the main elements of the Western--its preoccupation with death, its barren landscapes, galloping horses, hard-bitten men and marginalized women--revealing the view of reality and code of behavior these features contain. She considers the Western hero's attraction to pain, his fear of women and language, his desire to dominate the environment--and to merge with it. In fact, Tompkins argues, for better or worse Westerns have taught us all--men especially--how to behave. It was as a reaction against popular women's novels and women's invasion of the public sphere that Westerns originated, Tompkins maintains. With Westerns, men were reclaiming cultural territory, countering the inwardness, spirituality, and domesticity of the sentimental writers, with a rough and tumble, secular, man-centered world. Tompkins brings these insights to bear in considering film classics such as Red River and Lonely Are the Brave, and novels such as Louis L'Amour's Last of the Breed and Owen Wister's The Virginian. In one of the most moving chapters (chosen for Best American Essays of 1991), Tompkins shows how the life of Buffalo Bill Cody, killer of Native Americans and charismatic star of the Wild West show, evokes the contradictory feelings which the Western typically elicits--horror and fascination with violence, but also love and respect for the romantic ideal of the cowboy. Whether interpreting a photograph of John Wayne of meditating on the slaughter of cattle, Jane Tompkins writes with humor, compassion, and a provocative intellect. Her book will appeal to many Americans who read or watch Westerns, and to all those interested in a serious approach to popular culture.

Customer Reviews:

Home On the Range.......2007-06-04

Tompkins is infuriatingly cutting-edge, but in the end she's just a gal who likes men in jeans serving up piping hot pork and beans. She writes an accessible prose, none of that academic trash prose. She's old school. There's lots of lefty, snotty condescension, but also a sound love for the great American genre. Tompkins treats the bread and butter pulp classics of the Western genre as literature with a capital L. Why not? She persuades us that there is gold in them thare hills.

essential but NOT good -- see Cowboy Metaphysics instead.......2004-03-31

Tompkins made her name as a professional literary critic, principally (but not only) for her book on Reader-response criticism, which somewhat counter-intuitively holds that texts' meanings are dependent on readers' values and assumptions, etc. I mention this because she brings her assumptions to bear on a genre (Westerns) that she fundamentally doesn't understand ... or want to understand. Tompkins' book will tell you plenty about what sophisticated literary theorists will do with texts (how to situate them in cultural traditions and how to discuss the relationship between cultural artifacts), but for a truly enlightening discussion of Westerns, you should turn to Peter A. French's magnificent treatment: Cowboy Metaphysics, Ethics and Death in Westerns. French's book has all the merits that Tompkins book should (also) have had. It is lucid, argumentative, illuminating and thoughfully respectful of the details of the Westerns he discusses.

For a fascinating read turn to French instead. Where else can you get a discussion of Westerns that illuminates this genre by way of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Homer, Melville, Kant and Aeschylus?

wow!.......2000-10-06

This is an amazing book. Jane Tompkins looks at the different symbols in westerns -- cattle, horses, food, work -- and discusses what they *mean*. She also discusses the evolution of the genre -- where it came from, and what it was a reaction to, and why the different symbols work together so well. And all the while, her writing style is engaging and interesting and pulls you along as you nod and say "Oh! Right!" You don't have to be a student of writing to enjoy this book. The information translates immediately to male-female communication, and to interactions you may have with colleagues. You'll find yourself gutting through some project and saying in a John Wayne accent "well, it's the cowboy way, ain't it?"

Highly enjoyable. An amazing piece of work.

A History of Reading in the West (Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book)
Average customer rating:

Could be better

A History of Reading in the West (Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book)

Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558494111

Customer Reviews:

Could be better.......2000-07-28

The content is wonderful! The book provides much insight to different reading practices and how they change through the years. But...

1. The footnotes need to be on the same page as the text. It is hard to keep your place when you constantly have to flip to the back of the book. Also, if the notes were on the same page, I could see whether or not I needed to read the footnote for more information.

2. Provide tranlations of foreign quotations. I don't know about you, but it has been a while since I had a foreign language course.

3. Some of the chapters could be better edited. For example, in chapter 8 ("Protestant Reformations and Reading"), contributing author Jean-Francois Gilmont needs to pinpoint dates more clearly. He mentions a twenty-year span in which the separation of the printed book from the hand-lettered book was finally completed, but says it happened soon after Luther preached against indulgences (p. 214). If Luther talked to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1518 about indulgences, isn't it logical that it was not in 1540 that the separation was complete?

4. The style of writing seems to jump from readable to dry. I know each chapter is by a different author, but is there any way there could be more fluidity from chapter to chapter?

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