Book Description
At its pinnacle in A.D. 1150 the Anasazi empire of the Southwest would see no equal in North America for almost eight hundred years. Yet even at this cultural zenith, the Anasazi held the seeds of their own destruction deep within themselves....On his deathbed, the Great Sun Chief learns a secret, a shame so vile to him that even at the brink of eternity he cannot let it pass: In a village far to the north is a fifteen-summers-old girl who must be found. Thoughhe knows neither her name nor her face, the Great Sun decrees that the girl must at all costs be killed.Fleeing for her life as her village lies in ruins, young Cornsilk is befriended by Poor Singer, a curious youth seeking to touch the soul of the Katchinas. Together, they undertake the perilous task of staying alive long enough to discover her true identity. But time is running out for them all--a desperate killer stalks them, one who is willing to destroy the entire Anasazi world to get to her.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful read.......2007-10-07
I have read all of the current books in this series and by far this ranks as my all time favorite. There are also follow-ups that accompany this book, the Anasazi Mystery Series that greater explains in detail about events that actually led up to this book. If I could go back, I would have read those in succession first and then this book. All in all, this book has all of the great elements that I love to read about in a book. It has romance, betrayal, mystery, and complexities that are much like the human experience that occur sometimes in life. It is about the intense love shared by two people and what they sacrificed to finally be together. The consequences for their actions greatly influenced their entire community.
Among The Best In This Series.......2007-08-25
Engaging novel set among the Anasazi of the 1200's. Probably as close to an actual living breathing recreation of that culture as anyone will ever write. These authors do not begin with a modern Christian perspective and proceed from there, they take the good and bad, humorous and shocking of a past nation and tell it like it was, "warts and all.'
another good book.......2006-03-15
at first it was hard for me to get in this story but after a 4th to half of the book it got better and I could not put it down. this book goes good with the new book MOON and the Anazazi triogy books.
People of the Silence (The First North Americans series, Book 8).......2005-09-13
I really enjoy this series in my oppion it is best to read the series starting with Book 1 so that you know what is being talked about. If you are a Indian or love to read about Indians and their history then this is a Great Series of Books to read. It gives great in sight to the beliefs of the Indian Nations and their ways of life.
The best novel of the prehistoric Southwest I've read.......2005-09-05
_____________________________________________
This is a fine, thick speculative historical-political novel about the prehistoric American Southwest, specifically the enigmatic Chaco culture and its neighbors during the early 12th century. This is an impressive book. It's well-researched, and features complex people, muddling through life, in cultures much different than our own. The Gears' characters are exceptionally well-drawn. They're presented sympathetically, but with warts and all. Besides history, there's romance, treachery, greed, slavery, rape, murder, humor, exotic religion, mystery.... and fine masonry. A great deal of fine masonry. Did I mention the murals? The masks? The macaws?
The Chaco phenomenon has been puzzling and fascinating people since the rediscovery of the Chaco Canyon ruins in the 19th century. I've followed the debate with interest [note 1], and the Gears' story is as likely to be tru(ish) as any. Although I'm kinda partial to the more recent "Mexican cannibal terrorist warlords" hypothesis [2] for Chaco's Secret Masters -- which isn't incompatible with (but is darker than) the Gears' interpretation. Both Gears are (IB) working archaeologists, and they've clearly spent some time around the campfire with the Chaco guys, listening to stories too outrageous to be published...
And if you've never visited Chaco, well, you should. Fall is the primo time. Bring a sturdy vehicle, and plan to camp out for a night or two. And don't miss Earl Morris's stunning recreation of the Great Kiva at Aztec Ruins -- which you'll recognize from the novel. There are no finer Precolumbian buildings in this country. And no finer masonry anywhere.
SILENCE is a gripping and successful long novel, which held my attention throughout. This is the best novel of the prehistoric Southwest I've read (this is an uncrowded niche). An impressive achievement, and a definite keeper. Highly recommended for historical-fiction and Southwestern US fans.
__________________
Note 1) Fellow Chaco fans will enjoy catching up by reading "In Search of Chaco: New Approaches to an Archaeological Enigma" (2004), edited by David Grant Noble -- though he unaccountably left out the "Mexican cannibal terrorist warlords" theory.
2) MCTW is largely the work of Prof. Christy Turner, as documented in his book "Man Corn" (1998). The cannibal part is well-supported -- Turner even found a fossil human turd in a burnt-out pueblo, above a mass-grave, in southern Colorado. On analysis, the coprolite had relict proteins found only in human muscle tissue. Yup, burn out your enemies, eat them, sh*t on their graves. Yuck.
So much for the "peaceful Anasazi" wishful-thinking, which still hangs on in a few romantic holdouts.... Turner's work has not been greeted with cries of joy from the archaeological or Pueblo Indian communities.
Review copyright © 2005 by Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)
Average customer rating:
- Another Erdrich Novel for Young Adults
- More Please!
- Newbery? This one merits your attention.
- The rest is silence
- A REMINDER OF THE BEAUTY AND BOUNTY OF NATURE
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The Game of Silence
Louise Erdrich
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ASIN: 0064410293
Release Date: 2006-06-13 |
Book Description
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior. One day in 1850, Omakayas's island is visited by a group of mysterious people. From them, she learns that the chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island and move farther west.
That day, Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, could be in danger: Her way of life. Her home.
Download Description
"
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.
The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home. Her way of life.
In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee
The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.
"
Customer Reviews:
Another Erdrich Novel for Young Adults.......2006-12-28
The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins, 2005); Where the Great Hawk Flies by Liza Ketchum (Clarion Books/Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).
Considering the depiction of Native Americans in books, so much has changed since I was the age of our twelve-year-old daughter.
In several new books for young readers, the narrative vantage point has been very decisively shifted to place native characters in the point-of-view position, in the center of events instead of serving as "colorful" parts of the scenery. I've recently read aloud to our daughter Lillian two new young adult novels with Native American themes, Louise Erdrich's The Game of Silence (HarperCollins, 2005) and Liza Ketchum's Where the Great Hawk Flies (Clarion/Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).
At about Lillian's age I read James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, and I strongly recall the ache I felt in response to Cooper's elegiac, grandly romantic evocation of the "noble" Chingachgook, who appeared to be in Cooper's view inseparable from the strange and sublime new American landscape. As an outdoorsy suburban Boy Scout, I couldn't help but see woodsman and trapper Natty Bumppo as an exemplary white ambassador to the Indians.
Along with Cooper's portrayal of close companionship between an immigrant frontiersman and aboriginal chieftain, I imbibed from that book a desolate, lump-in-the-throat sense of traditional Indians as an endangered species, remnants of a society too fragile to withstand the onslaught of the Europeans' well-armed civilizing force.
In the popular media, depictions of Native Americans continue to wobble or careen between positive (dignified, sensitive, stoic, ecological) and negative (brutal, aloof, lethal, voracious for alcohol), yet in contemporary literature for children and young adults, the native characters (as is also true of African Americans) are now usually portrayed in far more complimentary ways. While in all earnestness, some authors create stories that seem too didactic in seeking to compensate for the stereotypes of the past, these new books of Erdrich and Ketchum offer writing for younger readers that is enjoyable as well as challenging, and historically complex.
Erdrich is the author of nine novels for adults, two collections of essays, and three collections of poetry along with two children's books and a previous young adult novel, The Birchbark House (nominated for a National Book Award in 1999), to which the new novel The Game of Silence is a sequel.
It's not easy to summarize the differences between the volcanically talented Erdrich's books for adults and those for younger readers. The former are more erotic and more violent, with a fabulous flexibility about conventional definitions of "realism," and an intensely metamorphic use of language, with surges of imagery born in dreams and hallucinations. Yet in other respects Erdrich's way of crossing the page is unmistakable, in any genre.
As Lillian pointed out when I asked her about what makes a good young adult novel, the most obvious difference is that the narrator -- the active, witnessing consciousness of a story's events -- is usually a child or teenager. The tenor and tempo of the narrator's voice is therefore different, and in a successful young adult novel the voice is convincing, evocative and flushed with personality, not an adult's idea of how younger people sound.
Erdrich's young adult books are never simplistic as they explore tremendously difficult experiences, including European-borne epidemics, which decimated native communities throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It's certainly noteworthy that when writing for younger readers Erdrich never resorts to a "special" tone or style, like certain adults who adopt condescending mannerisms when talking to kids. The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence are as serious in scope and as beautifully written as any reader of Erdrich's adult books would hope.
As with its predecessor, the setting of The Game of Silence is a mid-nineteenth-century Ojibwe community on an island in the lake Gitchi-Igaming, eventually known as Lake Superior. In both books, the main character is Omakayas (or Little Frog, "because her first step is a hop"), who is idiosyncratic and multi-dimensional, like classic literary girls such as Brink's Caddie Woodlawn, Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Wilder's Laura and Mary, Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Betsy, and Alcott's March sisters in Little Women.
A substantial pleasure in Erdrich's Omakayas books is their portrayal of daily life among the Ojibwe, who are related in language and in their seasonal subsistence-cycle (summertime agriculture, autumn fishing and gathering, wintertime deer hunting, and spring maple-sugaring) to the Abenaki people of "Wabaniak" or northern New England and Quebec, our own region. While Omakayas and her family are beginning to see the ripple effects of changes in the east, for instance in the arrival of native refugees fleeing colonial seizure of their traditional homelands and the horrific diseases that precede the settlers themselves, readers are given at least a glimpse of the complicated societies that existed prior to the coming of Europeans.
Even more so than in The Birchbark House, in The Game of Silence Erdrich incorporates Ojibwe words and phrases, deftly translating them within her English sentences and also including a wonderful glossary that also can be read through for its own delights. As described in another of her recent books, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (National Geographic Directions, 2003), Erdrich has been painstakingly learning her ancestral language, and the steady presence of another language in The Game of Silence changes the sound, the texture, and the perspective of the story.
Another ingredient in classic literature for younger readers is illustrations, and like The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence features Erdrich's lovely pencil drawings, accompanying her image-rich prose as a visual counterpoint.
More Please!.......2006-11-12
the continuing saga of omakayas and her family draws you in and keeps you close. Several of my 5th graders read the book together and immediately asked to read the sequel. When told that it hadn't yet been published, they were dashed, and anxoius for its release. I find it poetic and beautiful, and they are hooked by the story. A teacher's dream...
Newbery? This one merits your attention........2006-03-12
This is the sequel to The Birchbark House. Like its predecessor, it transpires in the Ojibwe tribe's mid 19th century home on one of the Great Lakes and on the family of Omakayas, the middle child of three `siblings'. (Siblings is like that because of what happened in Birchbark House.) Also like Birchbark House, this one is a charming blend of historical fiction and clear, lovingly drawn, appealing characters. A young reader will benefit greatly from seeing the westward movement of white people through Native American eyes, and do that within the context of a most enjoyable story with endearing characters and emotionally accessible events, plus they'll get a smattering of Ojibwe language and its culture. Well worth giving to your middle school reader.
The rest is silence.......2006-01-22
No one becomes a children's librarian in the hopes of someday striking it rich. We all do it for our separate, twisted, obscure little reasons that probably have their roots somewhere in our youth. I did it partly because I realized that I wasn't cut out to be an archival librarian (the moment of inspiration came when my husband pointed out that I'd set my coffee cup down on my conservation textbook) and partly for two little words: readers advisory. I love recommending good books to good readers. I love recommending good books to bad readers. I love recommending good books period. And if I were to calculate the most frequently cited question I get on the children's room floor it might be, "My child loves the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. What else can you recommend?". Now until now my instinct was to grab "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich and thrust it into the waiting patron's arms. Now, unfortunately, I have a choice to make. "The Birchbark House" is good, yes. But its sequel, "The Game of Silence" is even better. How can I go about not recommending the sequel before its predecessor? I can't. Just the same, "The Game of Silence" does not absolutely require that "The Birchbark House" be read in order to understand the following story. It stands on its own beautifully and it shouldn't be any wonder to anyone that it garnered itself the 2006 Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction. It undoubtedly deserved it.
Having survived the smallpox plague of 1847, Omakayas still mourns the loss of her little baby brother, but keeps her spirit strong. Good thing too. A band of raggedy homeless people have arrived in the girl's Ojibwe camp and her good tribe takes them in immediately. Amongst the people is a baby, its mother long gone, and the perfect remedy for the hole in Omakayas's family's heart. Word has reached the tribe that the white settlers are forcing all Native Americans to move farther west despite a treaty made years ago. To verify the truth behind this rumor and to see whether it was the whites who broke their word or the Natives, four men are sent from the camp to discover the truth. In the time that it takes the men to get back (the span of one year) we watch Omakayas's adventures and traditions. As time goes one, however, it becomes clear that change is imminent and that Omakayas must allow herself to go into the woods to seek the spirits that have given her so much knowledge in the past. What she sees may make all the difference in how she lives the rest of her life.
Though I'd enjoyed "The Birchbark House" I was reluctant to read its sequel immediately. No matter how well read a children's librarian might be, it's very difficult to voluntarily read books in a genre that you yourself avoided like the plague as a child. In my case, historical fiction. I decided not to read this book simply because I'd read the first one and probably knew exactly what to expect with this sequel. Then it started appearing on all the Best Books of the Year lists. And then Roger Sutton (editor of Horn Book Magazine) started singing its praises to the skies. About the time people started murmuring the words "Newbery" and "Game of Silence" in the same breath I knew I had to give in and read it. Thank God for that. Having honed her skills already on everything from picture books to adult novels, Erdrich has sketched out a perfect tale. Characters grow and change and know one another better by the story's end.
I've always had a weakness for Erdrich's pencil illustrations, thinking them as essential a complement to her stories as Garth Williams's were to the "Little House" books. In this story Erdrich uses them to their fullest effect. Pinch, Omakayas's mischievous little sprite of a brother, is rendered here in all his round spiky-haired cheerfulness. Though he annoys those he loves past all endurance, you're just as enamored of the little guy as his doting mother and frustrated (but amused) siblings. There was one picture in the batch that I found a mite bit confusing, of course. In the chapter "Fish Soup" we see a picture of Twilight (Omakayas's cousin) gutting a fish with her hair in two pigtails above her head. Oddly enough, she seems to be wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt of a particularly modern design. It's a cute little image but if the shirt isn't made of 100% cotton then Erdrich probably should have made that clearer. As it stands it seems like a very odd discrepancy in the midst of otherwise historically accurate pictures.
In every novel there's an odd little moment here or a word there that strikes the reader as funny. For me it was the moment when Old Tallow, the warrior woman who hunts with a pack of trained dogs at her side, says that when she fell down a cliff she, "pitched ears over butt all the way to the bottom". Butt? Interesting word choice there. Still, it gets the message across. And for every little quirk in the tale there are three times as many small instances of writing perfection. As Old Tallow has a rotted finger chopped off and scalded closed (it sounds more violent than it actually plays out) Omakayas sees only a single tear fall from the woman's eye. Later, the girl, "wished she'd caught that tear. It was rare. Probably, it was the only tear Old Tallow had ever shed". Even better are sections that discuss Pinch's fish catching skills. Though his traps look like beavers' nests and his decoy the oddest shaped fish anyone has ever seen, time and again Pinch catches more fishies than anyone else. "The fish that Pinch carved was apparently the most delicious-looking fish in the world". In this way Erdrich weaves that ever necessary thread of loving humor into her books. You can be meaningful all day and bore children to tears or you can dot the text with funny and very real moments of childhood and end up with an even better book. Erdritch opts for the latter.
Here's what I love about the stories of Omakayas. They're actually interesting to kids. There are great snowball fights, snow houses, contests, and examples of kids playing in realistic ways. At the same time they're historically accurate and though they never downplay the horror of colonization, neither do they wallow in misery and woe. These books show characters proud of their ancestry who are precious to their readers because they seem so very real. People complain all the time about how depressing good books are to kids sometimes (ala "The Bridge to Terebithia"). Fine. Let's have them all read "The Game of Silence" in school instead. You'd be hard pressed to find a book half as wise and a quarter as amusing. I could probably go on and on and on about it (which is a relief after reviewing some books that take all my energy to find words to describe) but I'll just leave you with the knowledge that this is undoubtedly one of the best books to come out in years and years. A bloody brilliant piece of work.
A REMINDER OF THE BEAUTY AND BOUNTY OF NATURE.......2005-09-08
When it comes to stories of the Ojibwe people, it seems to this reader/listener that Louise Erdich writes not only with her pen but also with her heart. A native of North Dakota, Erdrich is of German-American/Chippewa descent, and she is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Thus, her novel "The Birchbark House," which introduced young Omakayas, glistened with insight and admiration for characters who lived in the 1850s.
The same may be said of "The Game of Silence," beautifully delivered by voice actress Anna Fields.
Now, of course, Omakayas is older and she has learned a great deal as she goes about her days among her people, all following the shifting seasons. There have been changes: a sister has found someone to love, and Omakayas becomes aware that she possesses a unique gift - her dreams foretell the future.
As the story opens, days are peaceful on a Lake Superior island. The people live in houses made of birchbark during the summer, then as the days grow cooler they prepare for harvest. When winter falls all will leave their birchbark houses for cedar cabins close to a town, LaPointe.
However, the Ojibwe's serenity is interrupted by white men who want them to leave the island, want to push them away from the land they call home.
Intended for young listeners, those in grades 5 through 8, "The Game of Silence" will not only offer them a wealth of historical detail but also a reminder of the beauty and bounty of nature.
- Gail Cooke
Customer Reviews:
I have met Carol North a number of times.......2006-12-15
I've heard her speak, have attended meetings with her, and have interacted with her on a daily basis. I've also read her papers as well as this book. She is a brilliant, focused and remarkably authentic person. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
Dr. North gives words to symptoms of mental illness.......2005-02-05
I found this to be a very helpful book,as I also suffer from severe mental illnesses. Dr. North is a very talented doctor,and I have had the pleasure of meeting her. She doesn't just name symptoms,she elaborates and gives life to the symptoms;she gives them names. The only problem I have with this book is that I do not believe Schizophrenia can be cured by dialysis. I'm not sure if this means Dr. North still suffers from it,or whether she really had it at all. There are other causes for some of the symptoms,like toxins in the blood for example.Nevertheless,I had my family read this book!
Absolutely Breathtaking.......2001-05-06
I've always been torn over what I want to do with my education, but after reading this book I'm positve. Med school. On to psychiatry I go, and I have this book to thank for helping me make up my mind. The story of Carol North is gripping, you feel for her, and you don't really think of her as 'insane' as you read. I recommend this book. Don't just check it out from the library, buy it.
excellent book.......1999-10-13
This is an outstanding story of Dr. North's struggle with schizophrenia and recovery. It is quite intense reading. Of course the ending is very dramatic.
It seems to me that there are a few things Dr. North did which contribute to the skepticism with which some people view her account. First, she changed names and other identifying details so that facts are difficult to verify. Second, she told the story in fairy-tale format, with dramatically worsening symptoms followed by miraculous cure with few details of life after recovery. Third, she chose not to have any other medical doctors involved with this book. If her psychiatrist had written an introduction and the doctor who proformed the dialysis had written an afterword, the story would have been better documented.
Finally, it seems to me that adjusting to being "normal" after spending one's formative years seriously mentally ill would be a major struggle in itself. I hope she follows up someday with "my life after schizophrenia" and includes real names and places.
Even with these caveats, it's a wonderful book that deserves five stars, in my opinion.
A brave narration about an illness........1999-02-01
While it has been some time since I read "Welcome Silence", I have to admire Dr. North's intestinal fortitude in presenting her experience with an illness that may have been many sided. The biochemistry of other illnesses that are mistaken for schizophrenia have been elucidated recently. The observation that dialysis was curative in this case suggests a circulating toxin, which certainly could have been the case. As some people have said, "If you don't have the disease now, you never did." Wouldn't be the first time would be my guess, but I think Carol North MD was one of the first brave souls to put her experience in writing. The differential diagnosis of schizophrenia in this day and age must also include scams, in as much as there are people who say they can pay individuals to make someone schizophrenic. Rather a sad state of affairs, I should think. Joseph W. Arabasz MD Past Division Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology and Past Medical Director Respiratory Therapy, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Ill. Diplomat, American Board of Anesthesiology
Average customer rating:
- Power of silence and power of intention
- To Carlos, with gratitude
- Power of Silence
- Excellent and Informative
- A Spritual Journey
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The Power of Silence: Further Lessons of Don Juan
Carlos Castaneda
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Book Description
Millions of readers worldwide have treasured the visionary brilliance of Carlos Castaneda, who first explore the world of the Yaqui Indian sorcerer in The Teachings of don Juan. Now, at last, don Juan returns in The Power of Silence -- wise, infuriating, capable or working miracles and playing practical jokes, but always seeking the wisdom of the warrior.
The Power of Silence is Castaneda's most astonishing book to date -- a brilliant flash of knowledge that illuminates the far reaches of the human mind. Through don Juan's mesmerizing stories, the true meaning of sorcery and magic is finally revealed. Honed in the desert of Sonora, the visions of don Juan give us the vital secrets of belief and self-realization that are transcendental and valid for us all. It is Castaneda's unique genius to show us that all wisdom, strength, and power lie within ourselves -- unleashed with marvelous energy and imaginative force in the teachings of don Juan -- and in the writings of his famous pupil, Carlos Castaneda
Customer Reviews:
Power of silence and power of intention.......2007-09-03
I came to this Castaneda book upon its mention in Wayne Dyer's "The Power of Intention." Reading them together is a unique experience, and one I suggest.
As much as "Silence" is about the typical themes as other reviewers have pointed out, the book has a great deal to say about the power of intention. Cultivating full, unemotional intention ("ruthlessness") causes powerful ability to harness perception. Weak, conflicted intention causes one to be acted upon. There is much more to it, of course, and Castaneda explains in dense detail. You'll find yourself rereading passages at times in order to follow--but the effort is worthwhile.
The book was written 30 years ago, but is an undated, forceful read. If you have any bent toward spirituality, I'd recommend this book to you.
To Carlos, with gratitude.......2007-06-22
Carlos Castaneda was one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century. Some in academia branded him a fraud for claiming his stories were biographical rather than fiction, while lauding him as a great novelist for exposing a mass audience to otherwise inaccessible philosophical abstractions they claimed were largely plagiarized. Each of his works is a piece of a larger puzzle, which makes it impossible to critique any one book without addressing the larger context into which it fits.
His first two books, "Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality" describe experiences induced by ingesting psychotropic hallucinogenics prepared by a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico he called don Juan Matus, and accounted for his becoming a guru to a generation seeking short cuts to spiritual enlightenment, as well as his lifelong interest in the relationship between perception and reality, a theme now explored in many popular books on consciousness and quantum physics. Unfortunately, these books remain his best selling works, in spite of Castaneda refuting their importance in his later works. Readers would be best served to skip these and avoid the risk of being turned off to Castaneda and missing the more stimulating works that followed.
His third and fourth works were "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power." In Ixtlan he admits to over-estimating the value of his drug experiences, which caused him to overlook the more profound teachings of don Juan which became the focus of future writings. What emerges is a spiritual discipline dating back to the Pre-Colombian Toltec sorcerers of Latin America, culminating with don Juan's departure from our world, effectively ending Castaneda's direct affiliation.
In his fifth and sixth works "Second Ring of Power" and "Eagles Gift" Castaneda suffers strange flashbacks of what seem to be memory fragments of events he is unable to fit into any logical time sequence. In his seventh and eighth works, "Fire From Within" and "Power of Silence," Castaneda succeeds in reconstructing his lost memories, which derive from teachings previously administered by don Juan while Castaneda was in a "heightened" state of awareness.
In books nine and ten, "Art of Dreaming" and "Active Side of Infinity," Castaneda focuses on what he describes as inorganic predators from another dimension, some having the power to imprison humanity in "ordinary reality" so they can feed on the dark emotional energies we produce when succumbing to the negative thoughts they insert into our minds.
In later years several seemingly substantiating works appeared by two of Castaneda's female apprentices, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau. In addition, two scathing exposés were also published by two of his ex-wives. The first, "Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" by first wife, Margaret Runyon, offers little corroboration, since her marriage pre-dates the time when the bulk of Castaneda's adventures were claimed to have occurred. While steadfast that Castaneda was a sorcerer, she doubts the existence of don Juan, even claiming authorship of many of the concepts Castaneda ascribed to him.
The second, and more credible work, is "Sorcerer's Apprentice," by well-known writer Amy Wallace, daughter of the late best selling novelist Irving Wallace. Here again, we find little corroboration since the time of the events she describes is well after the period when Castaneda's relationship with don Juan is alleged to occur. What the book does provide is a troubling look inside Castaneda's final years, a picture of descent into what seems sexual addiction and possibly madness, leaving one to wonder if Castaneda was just one cup of cool-aid short of a Jonestown.
Many have asked why I put any stock whatsoever in Castaneda. A story from my autobiography, "The Vortex" may shed some light. A year before Castaneda published his first book I had an experience that would remain a mystery until Castaneda published "Power of Silence" twenty years later.
For a brief time, in my youth, I became a practicing Muslim, meticulously performing the complex prayer ritual five times a day. Then one night, sitting in my car, frustrated and complaining at not being able to find the address of my next sales appointment, something inside me snapped. It was as if some part of me had disconnected from my body and assumed control, lecturing me about my lack of discipline. A profound calm settled over me, rendering me simultaneously detached and engaged. For two days my sales figures soared. It was as if no one could say no to me. On the evening of the second day I decided to put my new state of being to the acid test by visiting my parents. Their behavior was so uncharacteristically supportive I hardly recognized them. It was enough to convince me that I was now living in an altered reality. But by the following morning I had returned to "normal." So distracting had this event been that I completely forgot to perform my Muslim prayers, and in fact, never did so again.
Twenty years later, in a chapter of "Power of Silence" entitled "Place of No Pity" Castaneda describes a very similar experience. In the aftermath of the event don Juan explains that humans are like televisions stuck on a channel called "self-preoccupation," lacking the energy to tune into any of the vast array of other channels available to us. To change channels, he explains, we first need to accumulate energy, by practicing rituals that are deliberate, precise and repetitious. Do this long enough and eventually our stored energy precipitates a shift to a channel where self-importance and self pity become impossible. Once this happens we connect with the force that controls the entire universe, a force don Juan called "intent," and everything can be bent to our will and even more channels can be opened, assuming we remember to keep practicing the rituals that save our energy.
This one realization alone was enough to inspire me to dedicate my autobiography "To Carlos, with gratitude."
Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma
Power of Silence.......2007-04-05
Very "heady" book but what book by Carlos isn't. I would start with "The Teachings of Don Juan; A Yaqui Way of Knowledge ". Be prepared for confusion, doubt and a little fear but these books are great. I began reading them when I was 20. I still love them at 54. They all can be read over and over again.
Excellent and Informative.......2005-12-15
Definitely a wonderful book. For those following the teachings of the other books, this book provides more useful information. The path that Castaneda elucidated is fraught with controvery and extreme views (read the other reviews). I found it useful to read and judge for myself.
What Castaneda wrote about is not fiction however it is a difficult path that very few ever advance upon, thus the angry reviews of those calling Castaneda a fraud due to their own failure. Its also a path that those given to fantasy and believing in their own 'specialness' jump on and thus follow blindly with no lasting gains, making up their experience as they go and making sure others hear about it.
Definitely not a path for everyone but certainly open to sober verification. Also a great book for those looking for a well written and gripping book.
I believe Castaneda's genius as well as his contribution to mankind is yet to be fully appreciated. I am grateful for the gift of his writings and wisdom.
A Spritual Journey.......2005-08-13
Like all of Castaneda's books, "Power of Silence" grips you from the start, and before you know it you've finished the book. I found this one to be interesting because Don Juan talks about his past. He tells Castaneda about how he got started in sorcery, and even gives details about his benefactors past. Crucial details on the path of knowledge.
Book Description
When Dr. Marah Morgan returns to Cowley County, Kansas, she is surprised to find herself agreeing to run the family farm for her injured and difficult father. When government agents arrive and begin searching the farm for an Indian burial ground, Marah grows suspicious. A mysterious stranger appears, looking for work. Then Marah discovers alarming details about her mother's death more than twenty-five years earlier, making her wonder if reconciliation with her father is possible, or if bitterness--and silence--will destroy them.
Download Description
Fiction: Dr. Marah Morgan returns to Cowley County, Kansas, and discovers alarming details about her mother's death more than twenty-five years earlier, making her wonder if reconciliation with her father is possible.
Customer Reviews:
Solid Christian fiction with great plot.......2006-04-12
A Dangerous Silence by Catherine Palmer is a multilayered book with lots of great plots. Marah Morgan returns home to the family farm to help care for her ailing father and try to repair their relationship. Judd Hunter shows up looking for work at the same time an archaelogical team arrives looking for the remnants of a Native American village on the property. Palmer does an excellent job of slowly feeding the reader just enough information to keep them hooked. The several different plots play out slowly until they start to weave together in a fascinating and frightening way. Sometimes Palmer goes a little overboard on Marah's conversations about faith with Judd: they don't always ring true. When everyone's motives become clear, there is a need to suspend disbelief, but the characters are interesting enough to make it worth the while. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of her works.
Major Dissapointment.......2005-08-11
Books like this one should have a caveat; "From The Christian Reading Shelves."
If you want archaeology, don't go here. If you want Native American History, don't go here. If you want decent science, don't go here.
This book has been categorized "Suspense Fiction", not even close!
Anyone outside of the Bible Belt, either geographically or literally will chafe at the poorly disquised proseltyzing prose.
Great suspense and a little romance too..........2003-10-20
I grabbed this off the shelf one week while my daughters took ballet. While some romances bore me, Catherine Palmer's Heartquest titles always keep my attention and fed my spirit. I wondered if ***A Dangerous Silence***, her suspense debut would be as good.
I wasn't disappointed. In a whirlwind of a story, Palmer took me to Kansas to save a family, a farm and the faith of burned out FBI agent. When old Ed Morgan falls out his barn loft and can no longer run his farm, his pediatrician daughter, Marah, must decide whether to return to the home she fled so long ago.
When she gets there, she finds more than her father's shattered leg--a team of archeologists from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a drifter looking for work, and harrowing details of her mother's death years before.
With fluid ease, Palmer weaves a tale between tornados and family secrets with her telltale romantic thread in the seams. Perky, the child character, is so realistic she could have been my own daughter.
Tyndale has a winner in this one. Don't miss it!
Strong.......2003-04-09
A Dangerous Silence by Catherine Palmer proved to be a captivating novel. The story makes you feel for the characters and want to reach out and help them in any way possible. It beautifully illustrates an emerging relationship between a father and his daughter. Marah, the daughter, goes back to her family farm to help her father, Ed, after he suffers from an injury that prevented him from taking care of the farm. Marah had been gone for eighteen years and she despises her father initially upon her return. As the story progresses they both mature and eventually form a strong bond of respect and love. Marah begins as a failure and disappointment to Ed, but she soon gains his reverence and admiration. The choice of character personalities in the novel adds to the plot and makes the whole story more invigorating. The romantic twist given to the novel between Judd, the farmhand, and Marah adds to the suspense. You yearn for the two of them to just realize their love for one another. Other characters, such as a young girl named Perky, also add to the excitement of the book. Perky lightens the tone and takes away the serious edge. Her insight as a child is remarkable. She sees all that goes on around her and adds her input when she feels it is appropriate. These dynamic characters take an ordinary plot and transform it into an extraordinary and moving story. I recommend this story to any one who wants a good read. Whether you like romance or suspense, this book's for you. A Dangerous Silence has it all.
Keeps you guessing..........2002-04-17
Marah, meaning "bitter", fits her name. Perky is a precocious little girl and Ed is a grumpy old man.
Marah's dad is recovering from an accident and demands that she, a successful pediatrician, return home to help him run his farm but can she tolerate his surliness? Against her better judgment, she returns to her childhood home, feeling nauseous with memories even before turning into the driveway.
During her stay at the farm, she learns more than she bargained for - so much more. She learns valuable lessons from a 7-year old and from a non-Christian farmhand. She seeks answers from her past but a long-time friend of hers warns her that she may not like what she discovers. She believes she really needs to know. What will she uncover?
There is more to this story than relationships; Just who is this Judd and what about Milton? What are they involved with? Who can be trusted?
Find out for yourself in this wonderfully-written book by Catherine Palmer.
Book Description
In 1995, in a marked reversal of progress in the march toward racial equity, the Board of Regents voted to end affirmative action at the University of California. One year later the electorate voted to do the same across the state of California. Silence at Boalt Hall is the thirty-year story of students, faculty, and administrators struggling with the politics of race in higher education at U.C. Berkeley's prestigious law school--one of the first institutions to implement affirmative action policies and one of the first to be forced to remove them. Andrea Guerrero is a member of the last class of students admitted to Boalt Hall under the affirmative action policies. Her informed and passionate journalistic account provides an insider's view into one of the most pivotal and controversial issues of our time: racial diversity in higher education.
Guerrero relates the stories of those who benefited from affirmative action and those who suffered from its removal. She shows how the "race-blind" admission policies at Boalt have been far from race-neutral and how the voices of underrepresented minority students have largely disappeared. A hushed silence--the silence of students, faculty, and administrators unwilling and unable to discuss the difficult issues of race--now hangs over Boalt and many institutions like it, Guerrero claims. As the legal and sociopolitical battles over affirmative action continue on a number of consequential fronts, this book provides a rich and engrossing perspective on many facets of this crucial question.
Customer Reviews:
Author undoes her own argument.......2003-02-25
Guerrero's book is self-effacing; she undoes her own argument.
Her thesis is a respect for a diversity of viewpoints is essential to the proper functioning of a law school, a university, and our society at large, and she argues that a certain mass of non-white students is necessary to foster that respect for a diversity of viewpoints. Sounds plausible.
How, then, does the author herself illustrate that respect for diversity she wishes us all to adopt?
Take the case of the then-dean of Boalt Hall, Herma Hill Kay, herself a pioneering woman in the legal profession who overcome discrination. When Dean Kay felt obliged to follow the law -- she was a dean of a school of law, after all -- forbidding use of race as a factor in admissions decisions, that made her, in Guerrero's view, a timid sell-out. Guerrero makes no effort whatsoever to understand, let alone respect, Dean Kay's position. Guerrero doesn't agree with Kay's position, and that is all the justification Guerrero needs to reduce Dean Kay to a caricature.
Likewise with the professors who favored a race-neutral focus on standard admissions criteria, either because they believe the government has no grounds for apportioning benefits on the basis of skin color, or because they believe that an elite graduate school should focus relentlessly on academic criteria. Guerrero portrays them as, at best, hopelessly outdated and complicit with racism, and, at worst, racist.
In short, if you disagree with Guerrero, you have a character flaw. That's the "new diversity" Guerrero embodies in her book. (Good luck to us all.)
Now, the fact that Guerrero's own intolerance undoes her argument does not negate the possibility that an increased diversity of racial backgrounds in any given institution generally will yield increased respect for others' opinions -- even if it does generate some Guerreroan attitudes as well. But there is strong reason to worry that this modern concept of "diversity" is generally marked by intolerance -- as in the case of Guerrero. To consider that important issue, visit the "Critical Mass" webiste of Erin O'Connor or read Peter Wood's new book.
In the end, then, Guerrero's book is a useful factual compendium, but displays an unintended irony that defeats her own argument.
Well written history of affimative action at Boalt.......2003-02-17
Guerrero provides both a well-written account of the rise and fall of affirmative action at Boalt Hall, and an articulate argument for the merits, especially in law school, of affirmative action. Her writing eschews ideological hyperbole and throughout remains grounded in the real issues affecting the greater population by a lack of diversity in law schools and the law community at large. Even those who disagree with affirmative action will find this book of interest for the readable account of, and insight into, the students of Boalt Hall who felt compelled to fight for their beliefs.
An Important Read!!.......2003-02-14
This book is thoroughly researched and compellingly argued. Guerrero takes a case study of the effects of affirmative action at Boalt Law School at the University of California at Berkeley, which was forced to abandon affirmative action several years ago. She concludes that the new policy has been a disaster for the educational quality of the school, which greatly benefits from the presence of a wide range of backgrounds and experiences among its students.
Guerrero was admitted in the last class at Boalt to use affirmative action before it was dismantled by Ward Connerly and the Board of Regents. The results were dismaying, as the diversity at Boalt plummeted to embarrassingly low levels. Although it has recovered somewhat through the efforts of the admissions staff, the white and Asian populations there now dominate the classes at the expense of African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. This is greatly detrimental to the educational experience. How, for example, can Boalt adequately teach about the legal issues facing Native Americans when it has almost none in its student body to enrich the education of others?
This book is a particularly important read in light of the upcoming Supreme Court case on affirmative action at the University of Michigan. This book details what the negative impacts when affirmative action is abolished, even under the weak alternative offered by President Bush.
And by the way, [in my opinion,] another book on diversity at Boalt entitled The Diversity Hoax is a right-wing rant with factual errors rampant throughout.... Silence at Boalt Hall is a far better piece of investigative research. I highly recommend it.
Book Description
Here is the incredible true story of one woman's fight for survival in the Arctic wilderness.
When she was nine years old, Olive Fredrickson witnessed her mother's death in the Arctic wilderness. At nineteen, she married a trapper who led her into a perilous life far removed from the comforts of civilization. Told from a harrowing first-person perspective, Fredrickson recounts the hair-raising experiences of her first years in the frozen wasteland that was her husband's hunting ground. When her attempt to run a farm single-handedly, after her husband's death, threatened to end in ruin, Fredrickson walked 40 miles alone to the nearest village, in a desperate attempt to obtain food for her starving family by bartering against future crops. It was a life-or-death journey filled with bears, wolves, and unparalleled danger.
THE SILENCE OF THE NORTH is a story of extraordinary adventure, courage, and human determination in the face of impossible odds.
Customer Reviews:
10 STARS.......2007-07-09
IF YOU FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR LOT IN LIFE..READ THIS..ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I EVER READ...
A powerful tribute to one woman's will to survive!.......2006-08-05
Wow-this book was so fun and sad and interesting to read, all at the same time. Olive's story is piercing and makes one ponder the amazing will to live in the face of such overwhelming odds. A fantastic true adventure story!
Sad but wonderful.......2003-03-10
A story of a courageous strong woman. Descriptions of the environment (land & conditions) enticing. I found myself being scared right along side of Olive. A real adventure story.
Action packed,full of suspense story , good for all ages........1999-08-14
A fresh, uncomplicated tale of the people who adventured north in the past. Action packed, engaging and reveling, this book will remain for ever one of my favorite adventure and romance stories. It shows much about how people may face a foreign environment, difficulties, and above all themselves. All comes out in very simple and clear language, with suits the story and the characters divinely.
One of my favorite books and also made for T.V. Movies.......1999-05-14
This was a favorite, and it was done with no bad words or violence, other than from nature, I loved it and still wonder what happened to Olive and her second husband after they were married and flew off in the airplane. I watch it everytime it comes on tv. I have taped it and shown it many times to company.
Average customer rating:
|
Out of the silence
William Reid
Manufacturer: Published for Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, by Outerbridge & Dienstfrey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Sculpture
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| 21st Century
| African Americans
| Civil War
| Colonial Period
| General
| Revolution & Founding
| State & Local
ASIN: 0876900430 |
Book Description
This book tells the hidden story of women during the missionization of California. It shows what it was like for women to live and work on that frontier--and how race, religion, age, and ethnicity shaped female experiences. It explores the suppression of women's experiences and cultural resistance to domination, and reveals the many codes of silence regarding the use of force at the missions, the treatment of women, indigenous ceremonies, sexuality, and dreams. Viewing the conquest through the prism of gender, Bouvier gives new meaning to the settling of new lands and attempts to convert indigenous peoples.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Historical Perspective.......2003-04-26
This book offers an amazing look at California through a totally different lens of gender and sexuality.
I was born and raised in California and am now a fourth grade teacher in California where I teach California state history.
As a California native, I found this book gave me many interesting details about how I ended up here. As a teacher, I found this book gave me a wider perspective as to what really has happened here in the Golden State.
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