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.

Crusades: A Reader (Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures)

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Extremely Ambitious - And Mostly Successful
Latin, Arabian, Byzantine, and Jewish points of view

Crusades: A Reader (Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures)

Manufacturer: Broadview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1551115379

Book Description

The Crusades: A Reader brings together an unprecedented range and variety of medieval texts on the subject. Along with standard texts, chapters on Spanish and eastern European subjects help to set the book apart. Military and political events are covered along with ideological, economic, social and cultural elements. European Christian, Greek Muslim, and Jewish sources are included along with a substantial chapter on the Latin crusader states in the Middle East.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely Ambitious - And Mostly Successful.......2005-08-18

This is a collection of sources relating to the Crusades. As always, I'm a big fan of these types of works. The editors have compiled 104 sources ranging in scope from 4th century accounts of pilgrimages to the Holy Lands to Vasco de Gama's late fifteenth century explorations.

The sources used are wide-ranging and broad in scope. Among these are Augustine of Hippo's treatise on the Just War, a variety of sources regarding the Crusades to the Holy Lands including accounts of the Calls to Crusade, the state of the various Latin kingdoms in the East, works relating to the transformation of the Crusades from an effort to retake the Holy Lands to a variety of religious undertakings such as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars and the German Crusade against the Wends and finally how the Crusading spirit evolved into European Colonialism. Muslim sources are heavily utilized and provide a good deal of insight as to how the Arabs viewed the invaders from the West.

The authors have selected sources that do an excellent job portraying several aspects of the Crusades. The Call to Crusade and the response to it in the late 11th century is very well covered as are the continual conflicts among leaders of the Latin Kingdoms and how this contributed to the eventual loss of the Holy Lands. The Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople is well detailed. The religious fervor accompanying the Crusades and the excesses that resulted from this as evidenced by the People's Crusade are well done, as are the accounts of the Children's and Shepherd's Crusades. I felt the segment covering the Reconquista in Spain was particularly well done. The plight of the Jews, caught up in a conflict that was never intended to involve them, but which resulted in massive hardship, is also well represented. Above all, this work amply demonstrates that there was more to the Crusades than just the conflict between Arab and Latin in the Holy Lands.

However other areas were not as fully covered as I would have liked. The constant conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Latins was a critical factor in the eventual failure of the Latin Kingdoms and, while an excerpt from Anna Comnena's _The Alexiad_ details one instance of this, I wonder if more attention might have been given to the later years. One work details the unification of the Arabs however this, as well as the Abbasid defeat of the Fatimid Caliphate under Saladin and the subsequent implications for Arab success are not heavily covered. An account of the Captivity of Richard I following the Third Crusade would have provided an excellent example of how Papal control sometimes went for nothing. In addition, the schism between the Eastern and Western Church and the implications this held for the West aiding the Eastern Empire as the Seljuk Turks advanced in the 15th century is not covered at all.

This is an extremely ambitious effort by the editors - and I wonder if it is simply too ambitious. The Crusades covered a four-hundred year period and grew to encompass nearly all of Western Europe as well as the Occident. This is a massive undertaking and possibly too great for any single work, however well done, to do justice to.

Yet this remains a fine work. Despite my criticisms, this is a valuable addition to the library of anyone seeking to gain a greater understanding of the Crusading movement, its impact on East and West, and how the movement evolved over time.

Latin, Arabian, Byzantine, and Jewish points of view.......2003-11-15

Collaboratively compiled and expertly edited by S. J. Allen (Department of History and Political Science, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland) and Emilie Amt (Hildegarde Pilgram Professor of History, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland), The Crusades: A Reader is a comprehensive, 430-page selection of translated sources ranging in content from the eleventh to the early sixteenth centuries. From Christian and Muslim theories of just warfare; to the logistics of the Crusades; and perspectives on historical events from Latin, Arabian, Byzantine, and Jewish points of view, The Crusades: A Reader is a welcome and scholarly addition to European Historical Studies academic library reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

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Historical Novel About Eastern Europe From Pre WWII to the end of The War
A Disapointing Read
Deeply satisfying human drama
The panorama of wartime intrigue
Night Soldiers: A novel

Night Soldiers: A Novel
Alan Furst
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375760008
Release Date: 2002-07-09

Book Description

Bulgaria, 1934. A young man is murdered by the local fascists. His brother, Khristo Stoianev, is recruited into the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and sent to Spain to serve in its civil war. Warned that he is about to become a victim of Stalin’s purges, Khristo flees to Paris. Night Soldiers masterfully re-creates
the European world of 1934–45: the struggle between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia for Eastern Europe, the last desperate gaiety of the beau monde in 1937 Paris, and guerrilla operations with the French underground in 1944. Night Soldiers is a scrupulously researched panoramic novel, a work on a grand scale.

Customer Reviews:

Historical Novel About Eastern Europe From Pre WWII to the end of The War.......2007-08-10

The author writes very authoritatively and realisticially about events leading up to WWII beginning in 1934 and continuing till the end of the war. The main character was Khristo Stoianev, a young Bulgarian whose younger brother was murdered by a group of local fascists. Khristo was recruited into the NKVD and subsequently sent to Spain as an agent. He began to become disillusioned with Soviet politics and moved to Paris to try to live a normal life as a waiter. But, once involved in espionage it's not easy to break away. He was imprisioned as a result of a purge. But released by a Priest. He was thus free to return to his homeland and attempt along the way to cause problems for both the Germans and Russians. The key message I got from the interesting read was how the original idealism faded away with reality. A worthwhile read.

A Disapointing Read.......2007-05-13

Based on the good reviews from Amazon readers, I was really looking forward to this novel. Unfortunately, it is very long winded and boring. I resorted to skimming the text just to get through with the book.

Deeply satisfying human drama .......2007-02-22

Alan Furst's Night Soldiers, takes us first to 1934 Bulgaria, where 19-year-old Khristo Stoianev witnesses his younger brother being beaten to death by local fascists simply for being a smart-aleck. As a result, Khristo allows himself to be recruited to go to Moscow and train with the NKVD, the Soviet spy service.

Though intelligent and thoughtful, Khristo has almost no real power over his own life. Instead, he is buffeted through the conflicts of his time, serving the Soviet cause in the Spanish Civil War, struggling to find love and dignity in pre-war Paris, and surrendering to the inevitability of fighting the Germans as part of the French Resistance. Finally taking a gamble on the meaning of friendship and his past, he journeys through the heart of eastern Europe to help an old friend and perhaps regain his own humanity.

Night Soldiers is episodic in plot, with each episode in Khristo's life only loosely linked to that which came before. Through no fault of his own, Khristo seldom drives the events of the story, and is instead often the victim of the unseen forces of history. The book's central weakness is that the many people who touch Khristo's life are not nearly as well defined as they should be, robbing the story of some of the emotional impact that it could have had.

Yet Night Soldiers is a superior book. I'm not familiar enough with the period to know whether Furst made any historical boo-boos, but I doubt it. I felt deeply immersed in the real history and geography in each of the many different settings of the novel; I feel that if I traveled the Danube on a tugboat, I would see the shining mountains, river flotsam, and fishing villages at each turn of the river just as Khristo sees them on his final epic journey.

More importantly, Night Soldiers is deeply satisfying as a human drama. The exciting thriller aspects are certainly present, but they're secondary to the re-creation of one man's life emeshed in the great historical forces of the 20th century. Khristo seems real, one small human who finally stops trying to tell the good guys from the bad guys and simply puts it all on the line to be a decent human being.

The panorama of wartime intrigue.......2006-11-25

The first in Alan Furst's series of novels about ordinary people caught up in intrigues and espionage before and during WWII, NIGHT SOLDIERS is one of the longest of these books and often characterized as one of the best. The canvas is truly immense, encompassing village life in Bulgaria, France, and Bessarabia, not to mention Moscow, Seville, Madrid, Paris, New York, Prague, Budapest, and even life along the Danube. At the same time, Furst's command of fine historical and character detail is precise and thorough; it seems literally incredible that he knows so much about so many countries during a time in which he never lived. There are times when the novel becomes as berserk as a Hieronymous Bosch painting, given that there's not much really to tie everything together other than the central character of Khristo Stoiaev, a Bulgarian recruited to spy for the NKVD, the Maquis, and finally the OSS; the early sequences involving Khristo's training in the USSR are a bit dreary, and the final sequence along the Danube does seem to wear on quite a bit. The middle sections of the novel in revolutionary Spain, Paris on the eve of invasion, and the French countryside during the Occupation are absolutely engrossing, however, making the novel as a whole difficult to put down. I recommend this especially for readers interested in what it was like for non-military combatants to survive the second World War.

Night Soldiers: A novel.......2006-11-17

This is my third Furst novel while it has gotten great reviews from others I don't believe this is the best of the series but still good.

What I greatly enjoy about all of Furst novels set in this time period, just before and during the early days of WWII in Europe, is Furst puts a real human face on the average people of Western Europe, He clearly shows the confushion and denial among both the Western governments and their people as fascism took hold in Europe.

Furst's are worth reading as we debate our own "pre-war" and "early war days" in the first major conflict of the 21st Century.

Reading Athena's Dance Card: Men Against Fire in Vietnam

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Athena Delivers More

Reading Athena's Dance Card: Men Against Fire in Vietnam
Russell W. Glenn
Manufacturer: US Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command

ASIN: 1557503168

Book Description

Foreword by Joseph Galloway. This investigation of the combat performance of U.S. soldiers and Marines in Vietnam presents a perspective of American ground troops in the war that many will see as a major first step in the long-overdue rehabilitation of the Vietnam veteran's reputation. Completely objective, the book is based on the results of two surveys conducted by Russell Glenn, an Army combat veteran with a Ph.D. in history. First the author surveyed members of the 1st Cavalry Division who fought in Vietnam, and then to help validate the results, he polled a sample of officers currently on active duty. His findings demonstrate that far from being the misfits many perceive them to have been, nearly all American combatants met the fundamental demand of combat: engage the enemy when called upon. This is a far different statistic from the 25 percent commonly attributed to U. S. ground forces in World War II.

The veterans' responses to Glenn's surveys and his review of other primary sources not only provide explanations for their willingness to engage their adversaries but allow the author to analyze the influence of their training, fixed duration combat tours, and frequent leader rotation on their performance under fire and their chances of survival. Overall, the study clearly indicates that these men's performances in combat and their dedication to their country compare favorably to those of their forefathers in World War II and Korea. These insights, in turn, offer a fuller understanding of the U.S. fighting man, particularly to those who must lead them in future conflicts.

Customer Reviews:

Athena Delivers More.......2000-12-19

I read "Reading Athena's Dance Card: Men Against Fire in Vietnam" expecting a well reasoned, well written study of American soldiers and Marines in Vietnam but found much more. This book delivers alot more than the jacket comments promise. It contains the expected analysis of Americans under fire in Vietnam and compares findings with the earlier landmark study by S.L.A. Marshall, but doesn't stop there. The book examines core issues using examples taken from historical depth and geographic/national breadth. Comments taken from surveys of American Vietnam veterans are used as a cordon bleu chef uses fine seasonings, with the ultimate result that the human factor, the face of the soldier under fire, is always to the fore. The book also gives great attention to factors such as training and rotation policy, among other things, essentially leaving no stone unturned in this thorough, well paced work. I highly recommend this book for students of military history in general, and those with an interest in Vietnam in particular.

Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters

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`The Great General Robert E. Lee -
Lee the Man
Robert Lee -- He's Human After All (and Still a Legend)
Critics have an agenda. They miss the point.
Revolutionary and vital. Absolutely indispensable.

Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters
Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670038296
Release Date: 2007-05-03

Book Description

For the 200th anniversary of Robert E. LeeÂ's birth, a new portrait drawing on previously unpublished correspondence

Robert E. LeeÂ's war correspondence is well known, and here and there personal letters have found their way into print, but the great majority of his most intimate messages have never been made public. These letters reveal a far more complex and contradictory man than the one who comes most readily to the imagination, for it is with his family and his friends that Lee is at his most candid, most engaging, and most vulnerable. Over the past several years historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor has uncovered a rich trove of unpublished Lee materials that had been held in both private and public collections.

Her new book, a unique blend of analysis, narrative, and historiography, presents dozens of these letters in their entirety, most by Lee but a few by family members. Each letter becomes a departure point for an essay that shows what the letter uniquely reveals about LeeÂ's time or character. The material covers all aspects of LeeÂ's lifeÂ—his early years, West Point, his work as an engineer, his relationships with his children and his slaves, his decision to join the South, his thoughts on military strategy, and his disappointments after defeat in the Civil War. The result is perhaps the most intimate picture to date of Lee, one that deftly analyzes the meaning of his actions within the context of his personality, his relationships, and the social tenor of his times.

Customer Reviews:

`The Great General Robert E. Lee - .......2007-09-08

To put to rest the suggestion of "faulty" research, with which Ms. Pryor wrote her book, I found it to be of an impeccable nature as well as being fully noted.

Of all of the Civil War books I have read, "Reading the Man" has certainly had the most impact on this 7th generation Georgian, whose forebears fought and died in this terrible war. I remain a loyal daughter of the South and deplore what our battle flag has come to represent. The house I grew up in was on the site of one of the fiercest battles fought for the City of Atlanta, and only after becoming an adult, I learned that the "alley" behind my Grandmother's house was really a rifle pit used in that battle. Thus, my familiarity has been with the battles fought in this part of the Confederacy and on Sherman's devastation during his march to the sea. Therefore, I began this book with little knowledge of General Lee, the man.

Ms. Pryor's fine book has brought to life a man who "did the best he could", at all things for which he took responsibility. His striving for excellence became both a blessing and a curse as he and his soldiers fought against terrible odds. His loyalty to his beloved home state of Virginia, which caused him to regretfully resign from the US Army and a much enjoyed position in the Army Corp of Engineers and to turn his back on his mentor, General Winfield Scott, was a true measure of the man's unbreakable bond with the places and things he loved more than the offer, coveted by many others,to be the commander of the Union Army.

This loyalty to his state, to his home, to his wife and extended family, and the men he commanded, never wavered throughout all the times of this terrible war.

I was moved to tears when, after Lee's honorable surrender, I read about a group of "Richmond Grandees" watching these tattered men file past them; they "stood at a turnpike intersection and watched ten thousand soldiers file by." In place of the bright eyes and gold braid flashing from every passing parade, "now they saw rags and tags - nothing alike - most garments and arms taken from the enemy - such shoes, such tin pans and pots tied to their waists, bread or bacon stuck on the ends of their bayonets. For many, these tough veterans still represent the greatest army that has ever fought on this continent. Who they were and how they mocked deprivation and danger is a fascinating story."

Ms. Pryor has brought to life the human story of the gallant General Robert E Lee, his family and the thousands of brave Southern boys turned men, who fought to defend their beloved homes and against the invasion of the mighty Army of the North.

With his human shortcomings, at the heart of the man, he was gallant and honorable. I would recommend this book to anyone as a shining example of a man who overcame the terrible reputation of his father, "Lighthorse Harry Lee", and lived his life in the most honorable way possible - in love and loyalty to those he loved and what he believed in. He would be a wonderful example to the men of our times.

Lee the Man.......2007-08-19

Reading The Man is a refreshing analysis of Robert E. Lee the human being. Indeed, this is the central goal of her book in that there is much that needs to be revealed to show the humanness of the man who has often been placed on a pedestal. Her book is well researched as her endnotes and sources cited clearly reveals. There are still many admirable traits to the man, e.g. his innate dignity, his sense of duty, his love of his family as well as his abilities as a general, but he is also revealed to have less admirable traits, such as his domineering tendencies, his inability to admit error on his own part, his views on slavery, and so forth. This is the kind of treatment we need of all figures in history to show that even though they may have possessed unusual abilities and played significant roles in major events, they are still fallible human beings.

Pryor traces Lee's entire life's journey, from the influence of his father (Light Horse Harry of Revolutionary War fame) and mother as well as the reputation the family name bestowed on young Robert (both good and bad), his years as a cadet at West Point, his role as husband and father, and through his years in the military, culminating in his leading role as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. I personally enjoyed reading of his friendships, his affectionate letters to his children and family, and his periods of difficulty (which show once again more of the human side of Lee). There is no question that the subject of this book was and led an unusual life with a driven sense of purpose and duty and who consistently displayed the strengths and weaknesses of every human being.

His personality traits came through in many of these letters as well. He was extremely friendly with the ladies, had a conscious sense of his own reputation, was warm in his letters to family (though he certainly could evince the attributes of a stern disciplinarian), enjoyed the camaraderie of the army and so forth. But he could also be self-justifying, fall into bouts of depression, and reveal a bitterness and disappointment, especially in the postwar years. His religious views and experiences are also well discussed in this book and the role various family members played in his life is also valuable.

Without reciting all the events of Lee's life, which most who read this book will be familiar with, it is doubtless the most heartbreaking period to read about during those years during and after the Civil War. Perhaps Lee felt this was his surest form of duty, but his actions can not go without criticisms. His role contributed to the carnage that resulted. His battlefield successes, which could be remarkable, still don't negate the fact that huge casualties were incurred on his own side. In my opinion, slavery played the major factor in that war, and the cry of the defense of states rights implicitly meant that a state could perpetuate the institution that considered other human beings as property. This denied the South the moral high ground in my opinion, and I'm a Southerner. It was partly this same defense of states rights that often showed itself in some of Lee's postwar writings.

Lee is credited with making statements against secession before the war and against the institution of slavery, but his actions certainly seemed to prove the contrary. Yes, Lee was a product of his time, but as Pryor mentioned in this book, he certainly wasn't ahead of his time either; he was no progressive or liberal on the slave issue. In fairness, neither were many Northerners. I have certainly come more around to the view of Lee as a tragic figure, though as Pryor stated, he made his own choices. Lee did much with little in the course of that terrible four year conflict. He possessed many remarkable traits and abilities, yet, as Pryor's book reveals, he was still human.

Robert Lee -- He's Human After All (and Still a Legend).......2007-08-05

Having read a couple of reviews in the "main stream" print media that appeared to celebrate this book's exposure of Robert E. Lee's true sentiments about slavery (e.g., the Philadelphia Inquirer's review focused ad nauseum on the most negative report of Lee's ordered whipping of a captured runaway slave), I relunctantly bought this book (from Amazon, of course), fearful that this would prove to be yet another exercise in political correction by a less-than-objective historian.

Reading it, however, revealed something altogether different -- Lee was a man of his times (high society in the antbellum south, 19th Century) and also a real and very moral man, who focused more on the practical than the theoretical.

That is not to say that the author, Elizabeth Pryor Brown, sought to try prove that Robert E. Lee wasn't the icon that he is held to be, even to this day, in many parts and in many hearts of the South. She dramatized the presence of a whipping post for errant slaves, with little proof that it was ever used. But as is often the case with historians who delve deeply into their subjects, her heart was touched the humanity, grace and character of Lee, through a thorough and scintillating read of private letters that had been locked away in a bank vault for more than a century.

Things I learned in the book: He was a mega-flirt, but never unfaithful to or threatened by his strong-willed, secure and relatively independent wife. He loved the company of others, particularly his fellow soldiers and officers. None of three daughters ever married. He was confident yet humble,loved his family, and had a tireless devotion to duty, both an an engineer and a soldier.

He, not unlike almost anyone who has ever served in the military, expressed his share of frustrations with the military life, and even showed a little jealousy when peers were promoted ahead of him (but also showing that he was not particularly adept at, or fond of, politics). Except, possibly, for his flirtations, apparently done with the full knowledge of Mary Lee, none of this would be a surprise to any devotee or student of the General.

This book is very well written; it is fair and balanced, and gives more time and attention to Lee, the man, than Lee the general or even the soldier. The book was a joy to read and very hard to put down, even for a historical tome, with difficult to understand reprints of entire letters by Lee and members of his family and a bit too much ink on Harry "Light Horse" Lee, Robert's heroic but badly flawed and largely absent father. Her final chapter, and its final words, are wonderfully insightful at answering an important question -- why, after all these years, are we stil fascinated by this lengdary man? This book is a wonderful achievement and a worthy read.

No minds will likely be changed about Lee, whether you're a son of the South or South-hating liberal yankee who will be disappointed that Lee isn't thorough demystified. The careful and thoughtful reader will come away with greater appreciation and respect for the man.

Critics have an agenda. They miss the point........2007-07-16

I have just finished this excellent work and am dumbfounded by the two star reviews left by some readers. Clearly they didn't read the same book I did. Did Fruit Loop actually say it was "shoddily researched?" Did he see the 140 pages of footnotes? The 21 page bibliography? That he should question Ms. Pryor's credibility is laughable considering he makes major flaws in his own information. The slave whipping story did not only appear as an anonymous accusation in the New York Tribune. It appeared many times including one first hand account by one of the slaves who was whipped! Ms. Pryor's so-called "shoddy" research clearly shows this. And Fruit Loop's description of other aspects of Lee's relationship with his father-in-law's slaves is full of errors. GWP Custis's near bankruptcy had nothing to do with slaves emigrating to Liberia. Those that did go, the Burke family, went when Mr. Custis was still alive. Also, Lee had almost nothing to do with educating the slaves. That was done almost entirely by his mother-in-law, wife and even his daughters. He was pretty detached from it.

I think what is at the heart of the criticism of this book is an inability by some to consider that Lee had flaws; that there were unpleasant aspects of his character. Those unpleasant aspects were very common for his time and Ms. Pryor clearly states that Lee was no worse than others but he was no better either. He was very much a man of his time. These defenders of Lee and the Old South need to come to grips with the fact that slavery was bad and slaveowners, while not evil, did something bad by owning other human beings.

That said, Ms. Pryor's book is remarkably evenhanded and forgiving of Lee. She has said that she has a fondness for Lee and she certainly highlights his virtues as much as his vices.

This is a new kind of study of Lee. Finally we can see the whole man. And, for this reader and student of the Civil War, I can say that for the first time we have an explanation of Lee that actually makes sense. Bravo.

Revolutionary and vital. Absolutely indispensable........2007-07-15

I have been a park ranger at Arlington House, The Robert E. Memorial for 17 years now and I can honestly say that I have read at least five biographies, assessments, evaluations or interpretations of Robert E. Lee for each of those years. I am certain that when all the books and articles are added together they number close to a hundred. It's important that I do that. It's my job and my responsibility to have as comprehensive an understanding of Robert E. Lee's life as is possible so that I can honestly and accurately convey it to the people who visit and the students who partake in our education programs. But with all of these books and articles there is a certain consistency, not with interpretation but with information. It is safe to say that since Douglas Southall Freeman wrote his landmark, Pulitzer Prize winning four volume biography in the 1930's the assumption has been that there is nothing new that can be found out about Lee. Freeman's work was so exhaustive, seemingly leaving no stone or document unturned, that, it seems, every biographer of Lee since then has taken the approach that no new research was needed or possible. Instead, it became the fashion for biographers and other historians to simply take what Freeman researched and interpret it in whatever way they wanted. Thomas Connelly chose to psychoanalyze Lee in a groundbreaking and exceptionally flawed work, The Marble Man while Alan Nolan chose a lawyerly approach, constructing the case against Robert E. Lee in his book, Lee Considered, as if Lee had never been considered before. And there have been others, many quite reverential but the problem with all of them is that they've all used the same information. Writing about Lee ceased being about scholarship and instead became bickering op ed pieces. And the greatest crime of it has been that it has made Robert E. Lee uninteresting. How many times can you read the same things, no matter what way they've been spun, and still remain excited? I stopped being interested in reading things about Lee over five years ago. I have forced myself to keep reading but there has been no joy in it.

Until now. Elizabeth Brown Pryor and her extraordinary new book, Reading The Man, has single-handedly revived what was hitherto unrevivable. She has made Robert E. Lee come to life in a way that no other writer has ever been able to do and she has done it in a way that should make every other biographer of Lee blush: she has let the man speak for himself and she has done it through new research. Yes, new research. Certainly much of the new material she has uncovered has been locked away in trunks for almost a century so other researchers including Freeman had no access to it. But some of what she's used has been available to researchers for decades they just chose not to look. Intellectual laziness? Or have researchers just been content with what they've had? Fortunately, Elizabeth Pryor was neither lazy nor content and what she has constructed is a masterpiece of biographical examination. The Lee that springs from her pages is dynamic and emotional, conflicted and complex, playful and loving and nothing like he has ever been portrayed before. But the magic of this work, what truly elevates it beyond mere interpretation into what can only be described as revolutionary, is how Ms. Pryor manages to be both critical and sympathetic with her subject. With Lee it has always been you either revere or revile him. There has been no middle ground. Those that simplified him to the point of mere symbolism insured that. He was either the Christ like martyr of the Lost Cause or the white supremacist Benedict Arnold of the Civil War. But Elizabeth Pryor has shown us, has proven beyond reproach, that you can be critical of someone and still like him. You can point out his flaws but empathize with his humanity. You can be honest without defilement. What Ms. Pryor has done for all of us interested in history, the Civil War and Robert E. Lee is incalculable. She has, quite literally, shown us a new way to examine our common history and truly learn from it. We would be fools not to follow her.

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley: The Mystery of the Hunley (All Aboard Reading)

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Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley: The Mystery of the Hunley (All Aboard Reading)
Kate Boehm Jerome
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0448425971

Book Description

In 1864, during the Civil War, the C.S.S. Hunley became the first submarine in the world to sink an enemy ship. The Hunley and its crew mysteriously vanished. What happened on that cold winter night? After over a century, scientists finally have some of the answers.

Customer Reviews:

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley.......2007-01-12

The review discribing the book did not mention it was for children. I mistakely bought it for my 41 year old son. My 42 year old daughter did the same thing. I received my copy and was disgusted. I talked to my daughter and she had received hers and was equally disgusted. So I sent my copy to my neice because she home-schools and I knew she would like it. My daughter went ahead and sent it to her brother and he gave it to his kids. They liked it. He read it in 10 minutes!
My complaint is in the reviewing of the book in your listings. You should have put the age group with it.

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Readings in American Military History
James M. Morris
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 013182516X

Book Description

This book includes both narrative and analytical articles from many well-known military historians that discuss American military affairs from the colonial period to the present. Colonial Wars, Wars for Independence, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, The Cold War, The Civil War. For anyone interested in a survey of American Military affairs from the colonial period to the present.

The American Journey To World War 1, Active Reading Note-Taking Guide, Student Workbook

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The American Journey To World War 1, Active Reading Note-Taking Guide, Student Workbook
McGraw-Hill
Manufacturer: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
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ASIN: 0078703840

Mr. Lincoln's Wars: A Novel in Thirteen Stories

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Couldn't get through the first half
I put it down and I love Civil War/Lincoln novels
Kathryn
Moving and Literary look at the Civil War and its Consequenc
Seek Another Book

Mr. Lincoln's Wars: A Novel in Thirteen Stories
Adam Braver
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000H2NBUW

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Adam Braver's debut novel, Mr. Lincoln's Wars, is a faithful execution of a bright idea. Thirteen stories with various narrators give us perspectives on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. We learn Mary Todd Lincoln's exhaustion and grief: "You're a pox, Abraham Lincoln, you bring tragedy to everything you touch. Kill all of the boys in this country, as well as your own." We hear from Zack Hargrove, the meanest, toughest Union soldier there was. We read an imaginary letter from a war widow to Mr. Lincoln, gloating over the death of her abusive husband. To all of these stories, Braver brings a boldly anachronistic writing style. His people speak contemporary language, and what's more, they feel contemporary (or at least post-Freudian) feelings. As Braver has it, the death of Lincoln's son defined and drove the President as much as the fight for abolition. The wildly violent Zack Hargrove had a dad who beat him, and John Wilkes Booth had father issues, too. Braver is determined to illuminate Lincoln's story with a new, more psychologically astute light. The result is carefully done and occasionally compelling, but in his efforts to expand our idea of Lincoln, Braver ends up with a strangely protracted, short-sighted view. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

In this highly ambitious collection, Adam Braver explores Abraham Lincoln's inner life and personal turmoils -- while also reflecting on the indelible impact Lincoln had on the nation during the last year of his presidency. Braver brings the president to life, not just as the strong and resilient leader of history books but also as a grief-stricken father, heartbroken over the loss of his young son.

Across a rich canvas of truth and imagination, Mr. Lincoln's Wars reveals a president within the White House walls. We see Lincoln as he explores the meaning of loss through a chance encounter with the father of a slain soldier. And a good-hearted young Union soldier is quickly turned into a killer in the name of President Lincoln. Finally, there is the assassination and the autopsy, as seen through the eyes of John Wilkes Booth, Mary Lincoln, the assistant surgeon general, and one of Lincoln's closest friends.

Brilliant in its depiction of the country during the waning days of the war, this book is an insightful and moving exploration of the myth of celebrity and the passions it arouses. More than anything, Mr. Lincoln's Wars introduces a talented new writer whose storytelling ability knows no bounds.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't get through the first half.......2007-08-10

This book just doesn't have the feel and the raw emotion that can be found from the typical Civil War/Lincoln novel. It also lacks any great historical background. While those fallacies could be made up for with great character building and liteary wit, those cannot be found in this novel of short stories. These fictional short stories will leave you with a longing for real literature. In fact, I found myself reading along and realizing NOTHING was happening.

I put it down and I love Civil War/Lincoln novels.......2007-01-13

The sudden and unnecessary graphic passages, intended for "shock value", ruined the prose for me. There are too many other books that I want to read, so I put this one down. There's a reason it has a discounted price right now. It's not a good book.

Kathryn.......2005-12-13

Mr. Lincoln's Wars is a book filled with interesting anecdotes to help readers understand the Civil War on a more personal level. Divided up into thirteen short stories, this book is an easy and quick read. Rather than list facts and statistics about the Civil War, Braver uses interesting stories to depict the war in a way that is more personal and more moving. Each story tells of a different "war" of a different person to help readers gain an inside understanding of what the war was really like for Americans. Some stories describe what the relationship among the Lincoln family members is like, for example how Mary and Abraham get along with the stress of running a war-torn nation on top of the recent loss of a son. The relationship between them probably wasn't great, and this book helps to illustrate that. Some stories help the reader to see the war through Mary Todd Lincoln's eyes, and what other government officials possibly thought of her. Other stories also give the inside look on soldiers from both sides, nurses, fathers, and other Americans who lives were affected by the war. Stories depicted the way in which this war tore apart the families of those with sons. In addition, Braver has also concocted a story about what may have persuaded John Wilkes Booth to kill the president and what may have been running through his mind as he shot that fatal bullet. However, Braver does use graphic descriptions and word choices that some readers may take very offensively. Almost every story contains a explicit reference that could be left out. Though Braver does help readers gain an understanding of the emotional and physiological effects of the war on all different types of Americans, this understanding would not be hindered in anyway if certain scenes and words were not used.

Moving and Literary look at the Civil War and its Consequenc.......2005-04-13

I enjoyed this little book a good deal. Basically it consists of 13 short stories all revolving around Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War told from assorted points of view including ordinary soldiers, Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. Like all good literary fiction, the point of the stories is not so much to describe events as to show the impact of those events on the protagonists. We see how Lincoln and his wife are affected by the tragedy of the death of their son, the demons that drove Booth to murder, the way in which war brutalizes the ordinary soldier. Like all good historical fiction, these stories bring characters of the 19th century to life in a realistic way. My only quibble with the book is with the portrayal of Lincoln. Very little is known about Lincoln's inner most thoughts. Although a most jocular man, he was actually somewhat closed and few of his friends or associates could genuinely say they knew him well. That is why Gore Vidal, in his great novel "Lincoln" gets inside the head of the people around the president but not Lincoln himself. There is nothing wrong with a modern writer making assumptions about the thoughts of a historical character in a work of fiction. But a number of the things Braver reveals about Lincoln are jarring and some are false. For example, Lincoln was known to never drink liquor, yet several of the stories portray Lincoln as having been a drinker in his youth and even taking a drink in the White House as president. This simply didn't ring true to me. And although there is no real evidence of Lincoln's sexual thoughts and feelings, I still found it jarring to see the specific, if not graphic portrayal of an historical figure's sex life, particularly when that figure chose to keep his sexual life to himself. In one scene Lincoln remembers the smell of Anne Rutledge's neck. There is no evidence that he was ever in a position to smell her neck although it is generally accepted that he loved the doomed girl who died so young.

Nevertheless, these quibbles do not much diminish the overall quality of this work. The stories are by and large moving and provocative and guaranteed to make the reader think about profound things. Yet the prose style is light and breezy and flows beautifully from page to page. I recommend it.

Seek Another Book.......2005-02-04

I found Mr. Lincoln's Wars to be both offensive and uninspiring. The stories are saturated with some of the most offensive and vulgar language, and the constant hurtling of those profanities at the reader becomes quite annoying and tiresome. Mr. Braver serves up some of the crudest descriptions I have been confronted with, and as an independent reviewer, I have read many.

Christian writers will certainly be offended by the author's misuse of the Lord's name as an expletive. He allows his fictional characters free reign. The sexually explicit content is also grossly unwelcome and serves no real purpose with relationship to the stories. Readers would do well to invest their money in a different book.

If this book is to be, as the quotes on the cover indicate, some new hallmark of literary fiction, then may God help us all. Were there a lower rating than one star I would certainly bestow it upon this piece of work.

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Readings in American Naval Heritage

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0536012784

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