Book Description
This new book argues that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitnesses. To drive home this controversial point, Bauckham draws on internal literary evidence, study of personal names in the first century, and recent developments in the understanding of oral traditions.
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses also taps into the rich resources of modern study of memory and cognitive psychology, refuting the conclusions of the form critics and calling New Testament scholarship to make a clean break with this long-dominant tradition. Finally, Bauckham challenges readers to end the classic division between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," proposing instead the "Jesus of testimony." Sure to ignite heated debate on the precise character of the testimony about Jesus, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses will be valued by scholars, students, and all who seek to understand the origins of the Gospels.
Customer Reviews:
Good Defense and Solid Refutation.......2007-09-25
I found this book by Bauckham to be slightly boorish. Why?
Because the form criticism, reduction critics have let on that they know so much more!
Bauckham solidly refutes and consistently refers to 'home base' - the Apostles and their close associates as valid and non-contradictory eyewitness, and therefore being the original and only sources of the NT.
A necessary defense in the light of the plethora of 'Matthew's community' this and the 'Johannine community' that.
Most re-assuring in light of the fact that the textual-critical scholars of the Bible do not believe in half of the words belonging to Jesus!
*Dr Kostenberger does rightly oppose Bauckam's suggestion that the Gospel of John was not written by the beloved disciple, but the 'Elder' John.
Doubtful.......2007-09-22
This is a wishful intent, aimed to prove a certain hypothesis.
The hypothesis is controversial at best.
Undoubtedly there were thousands of eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus, but no texts, if any, of their writings survived, unless one is to accept the fragments of the so-called Gospel of Mary Magdalen as being one such. The latter are more Buddhist in nature.
One wonders, also, why Jesus did not write his own gospel. Possibly he wrote down some of his teachings, but they have not been found.
The book is a noble academic treatise. However I think it is clear that the Gospels were written many decades indeed life-spans after Jesus...with all that this time lag must imply.
Scholarly Yet Accessible.......2007-09-04
Richard Bauckham has written an informative book in answer to those who would question the historicity and veracity of the synoptic gospels. The details of his points are technical but easy to follow even if one hasn't had a formal theological education. His reasoning is sound and he regularly summarizes each point of the argument. One review I read compared it to a mystery and I would have to agree that this book reads like a great novel.
That...which we have seen with our own eyes...concerning the word of life.......2007-08-08
This is a wonderfully fresh, challenging new look at the connection between eye-witness testimony and the Jesus tradition. As it argues for a fairly orthodox interpretation of the origin and transmission of the Jesus tradition, it is bound to stir up a skeptical backlash such as the lengthy (and often distorted or inaccurate) 'critical' review by Neil Godfrey. Nevertheless, it is a genuine work of scholarship, distinguishable from works by more skeptical historians and NT scholars only by the conclusions it reaches. The standard of argument and the use of primary and secondary literature are impeccable, as the knowledgeable reader will discern immediately.
Bauckham's case can be (all too briefly) summarized as follows: the Jesus traditions recorded in the canonical Gospels are not two or three generations removed from the eyewitness observers of the ministry and death of Jesus, but at most at one remove. Furthermore these traditions did not pass through a long, anonymous process of modification and expansion, but rather reflect the testimony of specific named tradents who continued to be authoritative sources of the traditions they passed on until they died. He bases this case on several pieces of evidence: 1)the remarks of Papias (and other early Church fathers) on the origins of the Gospels, 2)the named persons in the Gospels most likely reflect eyewitness sources for the Gospel narratives in which they feature, 3)the evangelists use an ancient rhetorical device known as the inclusio (used, for example, by Lucian and Porphyry) to indicate their main eyewitness sources, 4)remarks by Paul indicate the presence of a formal, controlled method of transmitting the Jesus tradition, as well as an official eyewitness collegiate in the form of the Twelve who ensured that the traditions passed on reflected actual contact with Jesus, 5)the pattern of agreement and disagreement among the Synoptic traditions about Jesus is best explained by the agreements and disagreements often observed among eyewitnesses to the same event(s). He devotes several chapters to the Gospel of John as a special case of eyewitness testimony and closes with a philosophical discussion of the role of testimony in the practice of historiography.
This thesis is of course open to challenge at several points. One might argue that the ancient sources (NT, Church Fathers) are simply too scanty to make definitive statements about who wrote what and when. One might examine the pattern of agreements and disagreements and conclude that the variations indicate a more informal, less controlled method of transmission of the Jesus tradition, or that the variations are best explained by theological differences among the evangelists. One might not be convinced by the presence of the inclusio in the Gospels, less still by its supposed function (to indicate eye-witness sources). The crux of the matter is that these are legitimate scholarly objections to a legitimate scholarly argument. Given the controversial nature of our sources, it is inevitable that people will disagree with Bauckham, and doubtless some of his arguments are more plausible than others (as he himself admits). But that is no reason to accuse him of producing "pro-medieval, anti-Enlightenment scholarship" (actually, Godfrey would be hard-pressed to come anywhere near the scholarly achievement of some of the medieval scholars, like Aquinas or Grotius or Scotus).
Whatever one thinks of Bauckham's overall thesis (I am inclined to think that it is broadly convincing, with some qualifications), he surely points the way forward to a fresh examination of the canonical Jesus traditions. Historical-critical NT scholarship began already loaded with theological presuppositions and primitive, un-scientific understanding of how oral tradition works or how corporate memory is preserved. What is called for is a model of the origin and transmission of the Jesus traditions that account for the pattern of agreement and disagreement we actually find in the Gospels, as well as the presence of non-canonical traditions and the references we find in the Church Fathers. James Dunn in his monumental work Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making, Vol. 1) and in the smaller A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology) has already taken important steps in this direction, while Gregory Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy in The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition apply the most up-to-date anthropological and psychological data to testing the plausibility of the models of Dunn and Bauckham. One can only hope that this trend will continue, and that we will gain a much more historically plausible understanding of Jesus and the Gospels, as well as one more congenial to theological concerns (NOT illegitimate, contrary to Godfrey's rants).
By all means read Neil Godfrey's review, but bear in mind that he is just as biased (if not more so) as Bauckham, and often misrepresents Bauckham's arguments and intentions, with an appalling lack of intellectual generosity and scholarly acumen. Anyone reading this book with an open mind and a nuanced understanding of what "Enlightenment" really means will greatly profit from it.
Bauckham Blast Bultmann, Beelzebub.......2007-08-07
Basic point obvious: Jesus had eyewitnesses . In the sense of people qualified and competent to report what they saw; and the Gospels are based on their testimony as such. 'Eyewitnesses' were and are a well recognized metaphor from jurisprudence, and a facet of Hellenistic historiography.
To which a churlish reader such as this one might reply, Duh!
It is perfectly obvious the Gospels were based on witness reports. In some cases (e.g. John, and epistle of Peter) the author formally declared themselves to be witnesses, and gave a kind of oath-sounding affirmation. Luke begins his gospel by telling us he he carefully assembled good witness a la a kind of investigatory reporter, making sure he got his facts from good sources.
Again, Duh.
But the real point at issue here concerns not the normal common-sense readers of the Gospels like ourselves, but those in the cult-like intellectual fringe of yesteryear, who were somehow bewitched in the 1920s and by the ravings of German liberal self styled `high critics' like Rudolph Butltmann. It was he who overlooked the obvious and dredged up anarcane alternative, the better to diminish Scripture and become all the rave of the anti-Christian mainstream media and adultery-addicted Art Deco salon set of his day. This happened in an age when intellectuals we all ga-ga over naturalistic reductionism and swallowed anything attacking the Faith; we had Clarence Darrow and the Scopes monkey trial, we had racial theorists with calipers measuring skulls; John b Watson and B.F. Skinner prototypes declaring there is no mind; we had colonials running around in pith helmets and butterfly nets in Papua, etc etc, all intoxicated with the notion that the verities of the God of old were 'outdated' and could be easily rendered correctly with modern science. And somehow, Bultmanns theories became horribly entrenched until repeated by thousands and millions of dupes readers. Bultmann basically said that the Scripture came not from witnesses but from oral traditions in disparate, disconnected communities. Sayings derived from purposes served, such as liturgical or evangelistic or pseudo-historical. And so the sayings and pericopes 'about' Christ, say Bultmannians, really tell us more about communities and agendas than Jesus.
Belatedly the pericopes were committed to writing. Evidence to the contrary, whether in the texts or from Papias, must simply be lies or inventions.
Bultmann is a scandal not only of higher criticism but of the entire scholarly enterprise itself, which was consciously constructed on the singular theme that God doesn't exist, and that the only allowable dscourse will be naturalistic.
Bauckham uses chap. 10 to lay out the scandal. Bultmann was debunked, point by point, some time ago. There's an unfortunate disconnect between the scholarly journals and these icons of popular science. And the world still rejects the Resurrection, or an afterlife judgment, and simply will grab at any half-plausible pseudo-theory to reassure themselves that there's no consequence of their wicked lives.
Now, with that in view, Bauckham's book begins to make sense. And it has real value in fact. He is primarily addressing a learned audience who have been infected with Bultmann and with the intensive anti-Christian virus. Ordinary, conscientious readers are already way ahead of him.
But other victims of `Jesus' Seminar' et al. claptrap that is so pervasive in antichristian mainstream publishing, who have soaked up the fraudulence about late dating of Gospels and the unreliability or oral transmission, will benefit.
Bauckham meticulously explains the significance of literary inclusio devices; the good credibility of Papias, and how his statements harmonize with Matthew and especially Petrine Mark; Johanine writings as real eyewitness testimony; the significance of many named persons in the Gospels (and others kept anonymous); assorted construction element emphasizing a witnessing purpose;the obviously likelihood that oral traditions were scrupulously memorized and were written in private notebooks; etc
What's missing in my view:
Most glaring and annoying is no mention of the Book of Revelation--which, after all, purports to be the testament and eyewitness experience of John, who is the same who was Christ's biographical witness. And John is ordered to `write down' the prophecy. And there is a solemn curse against anyone who would change it. And there are allusions to false apostles already corrupting the msg. All of these elements really bear direclty on Bauckham's thesis, and Revelation is rife with 'witness' themes, yet Bauckham gives it nary a mention.
Another weakness is his brief treatment of Paul's witness claim in which Paul asserts that he received the words of the sacramental liturgy from the Lord. Bauckham simply replies, `Paul couldn't have meant this,' without enough discussion on this monumentally important (and dubious) assertion.
Conversely, Bauckham gives us WAY too much about Greco-Roman literary forms and parallels that only tangentially bear on his thesis. This happens several times, totaling scores of pages. It fulfills the scholarly job of comparative literature, but is mind-numbing. Bauckham could have put the cites in footnotes or moved this material to an appendix.
If Baukham does a paperback edition, he should follow Tom Wright's example in his 900 page Resurrection, and give us a 250 page abridgment for popular reading.
There's no reflection, either, on the possibility that God may have constructed the Gospel with intentional ambiguity and opacity (as Jesus says) precisely in order to hide things from the 'smart guys' and reveal them only to the poor or humble or those in need. Part of the arrogance of the ruling intelligentsia is their naive assumption that reality is objective, under their symbolic control, and analyzable without acknowledging God. Scientists are only chasing their own tails.
From a scholarly standpoint, this book is a masterpiece that will certainly drive a stake thru Bultmann's heart. It should soften some of the bizarrely anti-Christianized heavily politicized and weirdly speculative maundering drivel we've been getting from HarperSanFrancisco, of Jesus Seminar genre, which is really converging on the Da Vinci Code agenda, and other septic spill from Beelzebub.
Book Description
Together again with the only books they are coauthoring since the bestselling Left Behind series.
Before there was the tribulation, before the rapture, before there was a legacy that could be left behind, there was Jesus. John's Story tell His glorious, dramatic story. John's Story: The Last Eyewitness is told by the one whom Jesus called beloved. John, a once-broken man, was forever changed the moment he met the mysterious stranger from Nazareth, his heart opened by the One whom he discovered to be the Son of God.
At ninety years old, John is the last of the original twelve apostles still alive, the only one who was not martyred. Committed to spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, he is called by God to write a gospel in order to set the record straight-as others were teaching that Jesus wasn't the Son of God. Recalling his time with Jesus, John brings to life the miracles and messages of the Man who would change the course of history.
The first in a series, John's Story: The Last Eyewitness is a remarkable and thrilling account of the life of the Man who came to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament and to save all of mankind. To bring deeper understanding to the story, each of the four books nclude the text of the corresponding gospel as an appendix.
John's Story illuminates the times of Jesus, His life, and His messages like never before. Using cutting-edge historical and academic research, as well as biblically based themes, they are first and foremost page-turning novels that could come only from the pens of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
Customer Reviews:
It's fiction!.......2007-09-02
I have read the previous reviews of those with their heads and chests so puffed out they lose sight of the fact that this is FICTION; forgive me...but....with all these touted academic credentials tossed around...I can only come up with one word. "Duh."
It's a good read for those of us whom are not so anal and can relax and enjoy a fictional novel.
LaHaye and Jenkins again show their inability to tell a real story........2007-08-16
A good novel needs a good lead character. One that the reader can identify with or at least root for. In "John's Story", the title character is a rather unpleasant old man who spends much of the opening part of the book whining about, and shouting at, people with other religious beliefs. He does calm down after a while and starts writing his gospel, but that's no more exciting to read. He sits around talking about Jesus. This kind of filler makes up most of the book. A good novel also needs a plot. I'd estimate that less than 5 percent of "John's Story" is plot; the rest is filler. And it gets boring VERY quickly. Like in the neverending "Left Behind" series, Jenkins again proves his talent is not in storytelling, but in his ability to take a thin plot and pad it with filler into as many words as possible. It was so boring I was unable to finish it.
It's obvious that the authors didn't put much effort into the book. They knew their names on the cover would guarantee sales and wrote it for no other purpose than to make some quick money. It's not a novel as much as a long discussion of theology. And flawed theology at that. If you want to read about theology, find a nonfiction book. If you want to read a novel, don't read this one. It will bore you to tears.
They use the vehicle of fiction to help people understand the hardship and faith walk of the Beloved Apostle.......2007-06-06
Who was the last eyewitness to testify about seeing the miracles of Jesus with his or her own eyes? Regardless of the number of times one has read the New Testament, many have forgotten this key fact about John, the beloved disciple who wrote the Gospel of John, three Epistles and, finally, the book of Revelation on the Island of Patmos. JOHN'S STORY, by Left Behind authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, marks the first installment in The Jesus Chronicles, a four-book series that features each Gospel through the eyewitness author.
The opening pages begin in Rome in 95 A.D. with the aging disciple almost 90 years old. He appears before the Emperor Domitian, who had a reputation for cruelty with Christians. The Emperor labels John a heretic and, before a huge coliseum crowd, sentences him to be boiled in oil. Manacled at his hands and feet, the Apostle is lowered into oil until he is kneeling. In the heat, his manacles soften and he boils to death, while the crowd watches and cheers. To everyone's surprise, Jesus works a miracle on the order of the Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego story. Thousands of people believe in Christ upon witnessing John's preservation from the boiling oil. Domitian is furious and wants John killed, but this is impossible because the sentence already has been carried out. Instead, the Emperor assigns the old Apostle to hard labor on the Island of Patmos.
>From this dramatic opening, the authors flash back to the previous year and the events in Ephesus, which motivated John to write his eyewitness account about Jesus. The rise of Gnosticism among the Ephesians is served to readers in the vehicle of John's stories about Jesus. Cerinthus leads a group of Christians into forming a Gnostic church that denies the power of Christ and promotes the idea that someone can work their way to heaven, which is a contrary message to the teachings of Jesus. This drives the elderly Apostle to write his stories with the help of his scribe, Polycarp.
After the creation of his Gospel, soldiers come one night and take John to Rome. At a chapter break, the story picks up with John working tirelessly on Patmos and his vision that becomes the book of Revelation. Some readers will be surprised to find the New King James Version Bible text for John's writings in the final third of this volume. It shortchanges expectations for a full-length novel, and instead they receive a novella-length story.
LaHaye and Jenkins have written a book true to the messages of Scripture. They use the vehicle of fiction to help people understand the hardship and faith walk of the Beloved Apostle. I found it to be a fascinating journey and recommend it wholeheartedly.
--- Reviewed by W. Terry Whalin
John's Story: The Last Eyewitness.......2007-05-30
Couldn't have been a better account of the happenings back then...just loved it...thanks!
Not What I Expected.......2007-05-22
This book wasn't what I expected. I truly wanted and expected John's story about his life, his thoughts and what he went through. This is basically a story about John at 95 years old writing his books of the Bible. I wanted to hear the stories first hand as if he were living it right then. I wanted more details about his stay at Patmos also. I just thought these two writers would above and beyond. Maybe they were rushed by their publishers. Maybe they are taking on too much by putting out too many books in a year. Or maybe they just aren't taking the time to do it right. I'm leery about buying the rest of the books in this series. This book was good but it wasn't as great as it could be. Just didn't live up to my expectations.
Book Description
Do you want to know about Washington DC's monuments, festivals, museums, history and shopping? Well, look no further the Eyewitness Travel to Washington DC has all of the information about the city and more! This guide is packed with illustrations, photographs and maps to help you navigate around the District. The floor plans of all major sites and the 3-D aerial views of Washington's most interesting districts allow you to feel practiced in the art of tourism. There are also three specially devised walking tours that will point out all of the intriguing things to do around town. Make yourself feel at home with DK's Eyewitness Travel Guide to Washington DC.
Customer Reviews:
Get to know Washington, D.C. - a perfect book for the first-timer.......2007-07-14
For the first time visitor to Washington, D.C., this book is invaluable. With it's excellent descriptions and insights, grasping a sense of the city's many offerings is easy and fun. But what truly sets this book apart from other travel guides, are the unique and informative full color layouts of the city streets, complete with 2-D images of the buildings for reference. It's nearly impossible to 'get lost' with this guide in your hands!
My favorite guide to DC.......2007-05-13
Another success for the DK Eyewitness series. Well thought out, with the excellent graphics that are DK's hallmark. Well indexed, user friendly, and pocket sized. As a DC resident I own a lot of DC guidebooks; this is the one I'd recommend first, to both visitors and new arrivals alike.
Pictorial Guide to Washington.......2007-02-14
A very clear guide book. Well organized with helpful facts and photos to help identify buildings and key contents. It proved most useful.
This guide needs a lot of UPDATING.......2007-01-17
As a 10 year resident of Washington DC, I think that there are many areas that have developed recently that deserve to be mentioned here. Also, there are quite a few inaccuracies. Although crime and racial discrimination are part of the city living so is the new development of a multicultural city. For example, there is a large number of Latinas/os all over the city who have their own newspapers, radio stations, health centers, neighborhoods (despite the gentrification efforts by the new rich or yuppies), restaurantes, theaters (e.g. Teatro Gala), bars and discos, which are very good and cheap, and a large number of Latina/o intellectuals; also the Ethiopian community is quite strong here with lots of restaurants to enjoy so there is more than black and white but the whole rainbow of human beings are here and every one has some cultural influence on the city. Also, I think that far beyond the Mall there are quite a lot of interesting and beautiful sights that this guide fails to mention such as the National Shrine (Catholic cathedral) with some pretty sights around as the Franciscan Monastery with their catacombs and the new Jean Paul II museum among many other sights and places beyond the Mall such as 14 St. and U St. areas. DC is very expensive place to live in. Although it is not NYC or San Francisco, DC is not far behind in rent and housing prices so even a very tiny one bedroom apartment can reach $5,000 a month, depending on the location. DC is also a college town. Yes, a college town! Did you know that the city itself has ten major colleges such as Georgetown Univ., George Washington Univ., Catholic University, Howard University, Gallaudet University, Trinity University, American University, University of the District of Columbia, Southeastern University, and Corcoran College of Art and Design. Plus the nearby University of Maryland (one of the top ten largest campuses in the US), George Mason University, and John Hopkins University, and many local chapters of other institutions of higher education which amount to 500,000 (yes, half a million college students!). I guess this is something worth of mentioning it in a tourist guide, right? There is a new Museum too which is the Native American Museum and the Newseum is coming up by the end of 2007 and also there is an initiative to build one for Latinos. There is a lot more to see than the Mall in DC and Georgetown and that beyond is pretty as well and very multicultural. In summary, I wish that the people from this publishing company did a better job at talking to the locals and looking beyond what is classic and researched ten years ago.
The best book on DC.......2006-12-17
There is tons to do in Washington DC and despite several trips there I have yet to see it all. This book has been invaluable in planning things from the obvious like the Smithsonian's and the mall to the obscure like the international Espionage museum. I highly recommend its use for planning a trip in the area. Good DC Subway map as well as excellent recommendation on restaurants and hotels. The pictures are wonderful for understanding the various areas.
Amazon.com
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson was a military aide to President Clinton from May 1996 to May 1998 and one of five individuals entrusted with carrying the "nuclear football"—the bag containing the codes for launching nuclear weapons. This responsibility meant that he spent a considerable amount of time next to the president, giving him a unique perspective on the Clinton administration. Though he arrived at the job "filled with professional devotion and commitment to serve," he left believing that Clinton had "sown a whirlwind of destruction upon the integrity of our government, endangered our national security, and done enormous harm to the American military in which I served."
Dereliction of Duty is not a personal attack on President Clinton or a commentary on his various scandals; rather, it is a "frank indictment of his obvious—to an eyewitness—failure to lead our country with responsibility and honor." Lt. Col. Patterson offers a damning list of anecdotes and charges against the President, including how Clinton lost the nuclear codes and shrugged it off; how he stalled and lost the opportunity to launch a direct strike on Osama bin Laden at a confirmed location; how the President and the First Lady, and much of their staff, consistently treated members of the military with disrespect and disdain; and how Clinton groped a female Air Force enlisted member while aboard Air Force One, among other incidents large and small. A considerable portion of this slim book is devoted to the myriad ways in which President Clinton undermined the military, and hence the security, of the nation. He seriously questions Clinton's decisions to send troops to Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, and Bosnia to accomplish non-military tasks without clear objectives. Having participated in each of these engagements, Lt. Col. Patterson personally "experienced the frustration of needlessly wasted lives, effort, and national prestige" as well as the alarmingly low morale that Clinton inspired.
This is certainly not the first anti-Clinton book, but it is different in that Patterson does not seem to have a political ax to grind. In fact, at times, he appears apologetic about having to write about his ex-commander in chief. Yet, in the end, this retired soldier felt his last act of service should be to share his experience with his country. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
Here is the ultimate insider's account from the highest and most sensitive levels of the Clinton administration, revealing how the irresponsible use of power can lead to a terrible price paid by all Americans.
Customer Reviews:
No Lies Here.......2007-09-25
I bought and read the book at the behest of a friend I worked with, who served as a USAF security officer (NCO) aboard AF One. He is the one who told me about Col. Patterson's book, and said he was surprised to find himself portrayed in it. You see, he was the person who broke the news to Maj. Patterson (at the time) that Bill lost ...oops, MISPLACED, the nuclear launch codes. Folks, I know this man to be a man of Honor and Integrety, something that neither of the adult Clintons that occupied the White House ever had, nor ever will have, IMHO. Read the book. It is all true, according to my friend.
Larry
Sour Grapes?.......2007-08-18
Why would any self-respecting Air Force officer give up a flying career to be a liveried factotum for a couple of power elites? Answer: political schmoozing on this level is a virtual guarantee for a fast promotion. That this cocktail party warrior somehow buffooned an easy shot at full Colonel perhaps best explains this unmitigated rant against all things Clinton. Egregious overstatement of this sort gives cause to wonder whether or not the author dropped the `football' a time or two, perhaps on Bill's toe. Although I can fully appreciate why many people have a negative opinion of the Clintons as a matter of prerogative and political persuasion, vicious slander of the sort one finds in this book does not seem to be the product of sober reflection, no matter how biased. To paraphrase a dead-white-guy philosopher, `insincerity protests too much!'
As 'Insider' as It Gets.......2007-06-27
Robert Patterson was Clinton's top military aide. He was at the presidents side whenever he was on duty.
Read this book before you make a decision on Hillary.
Wow Refreshing Read.......2007-06-10
For once a book about Bill Clinton that has some basis in reality. So many books out there are written based purely on politics and ideology but this book seems more based in facts.
If you want to learn more about Bill Clinton but can't stand all the typical Left wing defenses and Right wing attacks this book is for you
Truth Can Hurt and Is A Stubborn Thing.......2007-05-21
Ron Marlar (a retired USAF officer, college professor, school teacher, living currently in Florida)
I checked Robert (Buzz) Patterson's Dereliction of Duty out of our local library and read it shortly after it was published (2004). Then I bought copies - one each for self-admitted liberal and conservative friends. The copy for the liberal friend was a housewarming gift. It certainly warmed his house and more. At his instigation we have hardly spoken since his warming. Conclusion: Liberals take great offense at criticism no matter how well documented and by eyewitnesses of their favored people.
One of the many incidents - this one personal - Buzz Patterson reports may have been a major factor prompting him to write a book with such a telling title and so full of failures and offenses to civility by the Clintons and their staffers. Bill Clinton hit on Patterson's wife according to Patterson. Should anyone be surprised by that, given the other revelations so far about the Clintons, especially Bill, his own confessions and apologies?
Should anyone be surprised by the Clintons demeaning, misusing and harming the military? Unlike George H.W. and George W. Bush who served at least in some capacity in the military the Clintons have not done so. Indeed Bill evaded military service by deceiving the University of Arkansas ROTC commander.
Those who attack the messenger rather than the message often do so because they cannot attack the message. Despite the ad hominem attacks on Patterson his message rings true as consistent with other reports on the attitudes and actions of the Clintons, those whom they gather around themselves, the supporters of the Clintons and other Democrat politicians, both past and present. Together with that consistency in reports, attitudes and behavior patterns the attackers of Patterson lend credibility to him as the messenger.
Be careful when selecting Dereliction of Duty for buy. The main title is the same as another book (by H.R. McMaster, 1998) recounting the dereliction of duty by Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert Strange McNamara and those that they appointed as top military leaders. Did I not say something already about the consistency of attitudes, behavior patterns and misuse of the military by Democrat politicians, both past and present?
Book Description
George Weller was a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter who covered World War II across Europe, Africa, and Asia. At the war’s end in September 1945, under General MacArthur’s media blackout, correspondents were forbidden to enter both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But instead of obediently staying with the press corps in northern Japan, Weller broke away. The intrepid newspaperman reached Nagasaki just weeks after the atomic bomb hit the city. Boldly presenting himself as a U.S. colonel to the Japanese military, Weller set out to explore the devastation.
As Nagasaki’s first outside observer, long before any American medical aid arrived, Weller witnessed the bomb’s effects and wrote “the anatomy of radiated man.” He interviewed doctors trying to cure those dying mysteriously from “Disease X.” He typed far into every night, sending his forbidden dispatches back to MacArthur’s censors, assuming their importance would make them unstoppable. He was wrong: the U.S. government censored every word, and the dispatches vanished from history.
Weller also became the first to enter the nearby Allied POW camps. From hundreds of prisoners he gathered accounts of watching the atomic explosions bring an end to years of torture and merciless labor in Japanese mines. Their dramatic testimonies sum up one of the least-known chapters of the war—but those stories, too, were silenced.
It is a powerful experience, more than 60 years later, to walk with Weller through the smoldering ruins of Nagasaki, or hear the sagas of prisoners who have just learned that their torment is over, and watch one of the era’s most battle-experienced reporters trying to accurately and unsentimentally convey to the American people scenes unlike anything he—or anyone else—knew.
Weller died in 2002, believing it all lost forever. Months later, his son found a fragile copy in a crate of moldy papers. This historic body of work has never been published.
Along with reports from the brutal POW camps, a stirring saga of the worst of the Japanese “hellships” which carried U.S. prisoners into murder and even cannibalism, and a trove of Weller’s unseen photos,
First into Nagasaki provides a moving, unparalleled look at the bomb that killed more than 70,000 people and ended WWII. Amid current disputes over the controlled embedding of journalists in war zones and a government’s right to keep secrets, it reminds us how such courageous rogue reporting is still essential to learning the truth.
Customer Reviews:
Uncover the truth of MacArthur's post-war Japan........2007-09-19
Mr Weller's journey was remarkable in that so little is known about the witnesses and survivors of the atom bombs. His courage and determination to thwart MacArthur's press restrictions should be praised and followed as a journalistic template in the 21st century, in Iraq or anywhere secrecy is used to gag to blind the public to the consequences of our actions.
The striking conditions of the POW camps where prisoners were human shields and disposable slave labor is appaling. In Nagasaki the idea that "thick soled shoes" will block gamma rays and his skepticism of Japanese doctors and authorities, even the victims of the mysterious "sickness", is therefore obvious. Heinous war bred
numbing crimes on both sides.
My father arrived in Nagaskai harbor in September '45. He still refuses to discuss what he witnessed(as did Cindy Franks father in "My Father's Secret War")except for his recollections of resistance to the occupation by
the Black Dragon Society and the huge toll lost in disarming the minefields of the Sea of Japan. This book has
contributed to my understanding of and appreciation/discomfort in the use of the atom bombs. I probably wouldn't exist as Dad was part of the Navy's first wave of the proposed invasion.
Finding out about post-war Japan is like scything through a glacier, thank you Weller family for the clear light.
Required reading.......2007-04-12
I was 13 at the time the Nagasaki bomb was detonated and have always wondered about it all. Even when I was in USAF Pilot Training classes 10 years later,the Classified training which covered these weapons was mostly "How it Works" but nothing memorable about what it does to humans or structures. Now 40 some years later I have a first hand account from someone who was there shortly after and talked to survivors.
A disturbing but beneficial bonus is the accounts of the Allied POW's tribulations while in Japanese hands. Those were awful times, at best.
And last but not least, the accounts of censorship during that time are eye-opening.
Highly recommended, especially to the historically deficit younger generations.
Not what I expected.......2007-04-01
Based on the title, I expected this to be an account of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. There is certainly some of that. But it's really a book about the author/war correspondent. The book reiterates countless times how the author was the first American into Nagasaki after the bomb. That's impressive (although later in the book we read about someone who got to Hiroshima earlier)-- but the book doesn't contain much substance about Nagasaki. The rest of the book is a mish-mash of other aspects of the war, and it gets repetitive about how merciless the Japanese were to our prisoners. Toward the end the book tries to become political and focus on censorship, which wasn't very interesting.
A little short on Nagasaki.......2007-03-29
I liked this book very much, and devoured it in about four days. I was disappointed, though, that there was very little about the atomic bomb and its aftermath itself. I suppose that I was hoping for something along the lines of John Hersey's "Hiroshima". Much is written here about the Japanese brutalaity toward their captives. For those reviewers who find this brutality "unforgivable" one should note that the Japanese at that time were taught that they themselves had value only as tools for the Emperor, and that *their* lives were valuable only for its sacrifice in the service of the emperor.They were terribly burtal to themselves. Since they didn't value their own lives it is almost too much to expect them value a foreigner's life, especially the life of an enemy soldier who comitted the terrible shame of *surrendering* rather than killing himself.I recommend a wonderful book by Kappa Senoh "A Boy Called H". The author was a schoolboy during the time of Imperial Japan. I am also not sure that our practice of fire bombing japanese cities and starving the country with a program of unrestricted submarine warfare would not qualify as "brutal". Overall I found the book to be very interesting.
An extremely important addition to the historical record of World War II........2007-03-15
It was perhaps the most underreported story of World War II. Very little has ever appeared in print about the incredibly inhumane treatment of American soldiers and civilians in Japanese POW camps. Until now. In the days immediately following the surrender of the Japanese empire, Chicago Sun Times reporter George Weller, who Walter Cronkite charactorizes as "one of our best war correspondents" slipped quitely and without authorization into Nagasaki, Japan to see for himself the legacy of the atomic bomb that had been dropped just four weeks earlier. In terms of press coverage of this horrifying and historic event Mr. Weller was indeed "First Into Nagasaki".
Upon his arrival in Nagasaki George Weller immediately embarked on a tour of the devastated city. What he saw shocked him. There was devastation everywhere. He learned from various officials that at least 21,000 people had already died and that thousands more were injured. He saw first hand those people who were suffering from what he referred to as "Disease X". These doomed individuals were destined to die a slow and painful death due to atomic radiation. George Weller reported his findings in a series of dispatches to his newspaper. Unfortunately for him General Douglas MacArthur was not particularly disposed to having any negative news coming out of Japan. Unbeknownst to George Weller, his reports were being 100% censored by the United States military. After completing his tour of the city proper Weller moved on to a number of the POW camps in the city, among them Omuta and Izuka. He interviewed scores of American POWs along the way. These former POW's told Weller of the inhumane and sadistic treatment they had received at the hands of their Japanese captors. Once again, Weller sent another series of dispatches to the Chicago Sun-Times only to have them totally censored by our own military! For a host of political and security reasons, the American people would never hear the troubling stories George Weller was trying to tell. His reports it seemed had been lost forever. He had made carbon copies of all of them but these too seemed to have disappeared. After George Weller died in 2002 his son Anthony was sifting through some of his dad's papers in an old trunk when lo and behold he came upon those tattered and yellowing copies.
And so now, more than six decades after these historic events took place "First Into Nagasaki" finally presents George Weller's compelling dispatches for all to read and digest. This is powerful stuff folks. Over the decades much has been written about the atrocities in Nazi POW camps. Curiously, very little has ever been disclosed about the inhumane conditions that existed in Japanese POW camps. "First Into Nagasaki" does much to set the record straight. This is an extremely important book and one that should prove to be a real eye opener to those like myself who were born after the end of World War II. It might be useful to conclude this review by quoting George Weller on the subject of censorship: "The moment when it could have been understood politically is missed, surpressed. The possibility of comprehension will never again return...And the porcelain men of history will pose forever in these lying attitudes. The aim of well-timed censorship is to instill this simple idea: it probably never happened." Highly recommended!
Book Description
Filip Muller's firsthand account of three years in the gas chambers. One of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it, Muller has written one of the key documents of the Holocaust. A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in Hell's inmost circle...jammed with infernal information too terrible to be taken all at once. --Terrence Des Pres, New Republic
Customer Reviews:
Tough but necessary read.........2007-09-21
It is hard to read this book because the subject matter is so grim. It is not written especially well but the unique view of the author makes this an important document. It is clear that the Nazi plan developed over time and it was truly a murder machine. This story from inside the machine is sad and ultimately worth reading and remembering.
Most graphic and gripping.......2007-09-02
Since my tour of duty in Augsburg and Schwaebish Hall W. Germany (mid-60's) I have read fifty books trying to undersand the holocaust. I found the German people warm and generous, thus was unable to put the two continums in the same world.
This book does not help you understand the reasoning behind that most powerful historical event, but it does give you an extremely graphic picture of HOW it was done on a day to day basis.
Filip Mueller, saw things that Hoess (Commandant of Auschwitz) did not see first hand and he tells it all.
Great read.
should be read by everyone.......2007-06-12
Highly recommended. Gripping, suspenceful. Manages to unnerve, shock, without hysterics--and this is the best type of approach for something this gruesome.
How did the author live through it? How would you have dealt with it? How would I?
Get it. Read it.
And for those who think by simply saying NEVER AGAIN that it won't, couldn't happen again, are only fooling themselves. Humans never learn a damn thing from history. Why? Because we're basically retarded.
It could happen again, and in fact, it has happened--to a lesser degree. I say any time a Hitler or Saddam wannabe rears his ugly head--you better believe there are a few of them out there even right now--confront
the control-hungry pissant to keep him from attaining enough power to reach his objective.
Sad but True .......2007-02-18
As I am an avid reader, and am highly intrested in WW2, I bought this book, not to be disapointed. It literally took me only two days to finish because of my intregment. It is a very good read, giving you the true story of what innocent people went through as a result of racism. The book is very graphic, interesting, but terribly sad at the same time. Overall, is a must-read. I highly recomend this book.
Bone Chilling.......2007-01-29
Read this and live the horror of the Holocaust. You will cry but come away the wiser.
Book Description
The Cold War contains a selection of official and unofficial documents which provide a truly multi-faceted account of the entire Cold War era. This volume presents the different kinds of materials necessary to understand what the Cold War was about, how it was fought, and the ways in which it affected the lives of people around the globe. By depicting the experiences of East Berlin housewives and South African students, as well as those of political leaders from Europe and the Third World, The Cold War emphasizes the variety of ways in which the Cold War conflict was experienced. The significance of these differences is essential to understanding the Cold War: it demonstrates how the causes of the clash may have looked very different in Santiago from the way they looked in Seoul, New York, Moscow, or Beijing. The book examines the entirety of the Cold War era, presenting documents from the end of World War II right up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A final selection of source material goes on to illustrate the impact of the Cold War to the present day. Again, the emphasis is global: there are documents on the aftermath of the Cold War in Africa and Europe, as well as on the links between the Cold War and the dramatic events of 11 September 2001. By providing a truly international glimpse of the Cold War and its various actors and subjects, The Cold War helps cut through the often simplistic notions of the recent past and allows the reader to explore the truly global impact of the East-West confrontation that dominated international relations in the second half of the twentieth century.
Book Description
At once an informed overview for general-interest readers and a superb resource for serious buffs, this extraordinary, gloriously illustrated volume is sure to become one of the fundamental books in any Civil War library. Its features include a dramatic narrative packed with eyewitness accounts and hundreds of rare photographs, artifacts, and period illustrations. Evocative sidebars, detailed maps, and timelines add to the reference-ready quality of the text.
From John Brown's raid to Reconstruction, Eyewitness to the Civil War presents a clear, comprehensive discussion that addresses every military, political, and social aspect of this crucial period. In-depth descriptions of campaigns and battles in all theaters of war are accompanied by a thorough evaluation of the nonmilitary elements of the struggle between North and South. In their own words, commanders and common soldiers in both armies tell of life on the battlefield and behind the lines, while letters from wives, mothers, and sisters provide a portrait of the home front. More than 375 historical photographs, portraits, and artifacts—many never before published—evoke the era's flavor; and detailed maps of terrain and troop movements make it easy to follow the strategies and tactics of Union and Confederate generals as they fought through four harsh years of war. Photoessays on topics ranging from the everyday lives of soldiers to the dramatic escapades of the cavalry lend a breathtaking you-are-there feeling, and an inclusive appendix adds even more detail to what is already a magnificently meticulous history.
Customer Reviews:
A Wonderful Book.......2007-08-23
One of the best Civil War books I have seen in a long time. Full of pictures and interesting text. A bunch of pictures I have not seen before. A must for any collector of Civil War books.
Impressive New Overview.......2007-07-20
Eyewitness to the Civil War is a great new book published by the always authoritative and visually superb National Geographic. It is really a pleasure to read and study because it is well-formatted and just packed with interesting photographs, explanatory diagrams, and excellent maps. It reminds me of the magazine. My favourite parts are the inclusion of many firsthand accounts (from letters).
I have a bookshelf full of Civil War books, but I daresay this is probably the best single volume Civil War book I've seen, utilizing all of the resources of our latest knowledge and visual multi-media resources (like new and rare enhanced photos and actual correspondance).
If you are going to get just one Civil War book, I would recommend this one. It's also really a great bargain for such a nice, hefty coffee table book.
Worth It's Weight in Gold!.......2007-06-08
Wow, one hefty book! It sure is nice to see a decent sized book these days. I basically bought it just for the pictures, great quality with many not seen elsewhere, plus there were just so many good ones all in one place! The text isn't anything to sneeze at either. Any Civil War enthusiast would enjoy this book. Talk about value, Amazon usually has these used for less than $10! Quit reading this review, order one!
PERFECT IN EVERY WAY.......2007-01-22
MY HUSBAND LOVES HISTORY. HE HAD BEEN WANTING A BOOK ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR FOR A WHILE AND I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE WHERE TO START. I HEARD OF AMAZON.COM BUT HAD NEVER USED IT. SO I TOOK THE CHANCE AND WAS VERY DELIGHTED ON THE EASE OF ORDERING. I GOT THE BOOK JUST IN TIME FOR HIS BIRTHDAY AND HE WAS SO SUPRISED. THATNK YOU FOR BEING WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE.
Civil War Experience!.......2007-01-09
GREAT gift for any Civil War buff. This has quality photos not contained in other Civil War books. As well as personal letters from diaries. Fabulous gift!
Book Description
Auschwitz was one of the first books to bring the full horror of the Nazi death camps to the American public; this is, as the New York Review of Books said, "the best brief account of the Auschwitz experience available."
Download Description
Auschwitz was one of the first books to bring the full horror of the Nazi death camps to the American public; this is, as the New York Review of Books said, "the best brief account of the Auschwitz experience available."
Customer Reviews:
Great description of events!!.......2007-08-23
This book is great so far. I'm only 4 chapters into it, but I enjoy reading it a lot. It really paints a picture of the accounts involved at Auschwitz. I read this book just before I go to bed and I have a hard time putting it down. If you've read any of the other books I have and enjoyed them and you enjoy reading about real life events, this book is for you!!
The factory of death........2007-04-07
The author was the prison doctor/pathologist for the Auschwitz facility. He did the autopsies on dead prison inmates under the demented Dr. Mengle.
This book is a disturbing story. As part of his duties, he also was a member of the Sonderkommando, the Jewish prisoners that disposed of and burned the remains of the bodies killed in the gas chambers. The author was asked to do some terrible things. He revived a gas chamber child, only to find a German guard later shooting her. He examined two cripples and fed them, only to do an autospy on them later in the day. These are very disturbing stories and show the try crime of the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews.
I think the forward puts the author under some focus. The author participated in the Nazi's plans for genocide. He saved his skin while others perished. Better to do as the 12th Sonderkommando did. Fight the people that were killing them. This shows the crimes of the Nazis during the war years.
must-read.......2006-12-29
This author skillfully recounts his mind-blowing, horrifying experience as the doctor of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando. He describes the terrible events that occurred during his time at the camp, but also tells about the kindness his fellow prisoners exhibited toward one another in a group effort for survival. It's a riveting tale.
This book is the best Holocaust book I've read.......2006-11-26
This account of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando is the best memoir I have read to date. It was very easy to pick up and read, and was nearly impossible to put down. Dr. Nyiszli is very factual, and gives careful testimony to his time spent in hell. I feel that I've learned more from this one book than I have in all the others I've read combined (as well as my college Holocaust class). Miklos Nyiszli is a hero for bringing this record into the public sphere.
Auschwitz:A Doctor's Eyewitness Account.......2006-10-26
As someone who has read many first-hand Auschwitz accounts, I found this the best. It is a rare look into the everyday functions of a systematic genocide; finely written to include the most interesting information. Also, it includes a personal look into the personality and brutal workings of Dr. Mengele from a viewpoint that no other account can offer.
Book Description
Full-color photos. Take a look behind the walls of these fascinating fortresses and learn how they were built to house hundreds of people and animals; how a young boy rose from lowly page to noble knight; and what life was like for the castle residents.
Customer Reviews:
castle eyewitness books.......2007-08-28
A wonderful book for children grades 3-6 who are interested in all things medieval. Huge amounts of information without a lot of reading, just enough to add to the wonderful photography. A must for children interested in finding out more
great book for first grader.......2007-05-13
My first grader loved this book while working on his castle unit at school.
Good foundation.......2002-02-08
Like all the Eyewitness books, the quantity of information in Castle is both its strong point and weak point. We are taken to castles through time as well as in different cultures, and both the architectural and sociological aspects are examined. However, many of the facts and pictures included on a given page seem rather random and do not fit into a coherent general presentation.
Castle is good fun if one remembers to read the main sections and the details when they're specifically interesting, but to just enjoy the pictures for some of the minutia.
Not good........1999-09-17
Eyewitness Castles, Medieval Life, Knights: Boring. Eyewitness Castle isn't that good. It is very boring. The water Eyewitness books like Eyewitness SHARK are far more better then Castles, Medieval Life and Knights.
Hooray for Eyewitness Books!.......1998-07-05
Eyewitness books give readers complete information in short 'blurbs' and captioned pictures. These books are always the first to be checked out in our school library...our students LOVE THEM...and parents, you will too!
Books:
- Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History
- King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- King of the Delawares: Teedyuscung, 1700-1763 (Iroquois and Their Neighbors)
- Latin America: A Social History of the Colonial Period (with InfoTrac®)
- Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
- Lords of the North (The Saxon Chronicles Series #3)
- New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan
- NIrV Discoverer's Bible for Young Readers
- Nothing But the Truth: An Anthology of Native American Literature
- Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror
Books Index
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New Testament
| Commentaries
| Reference
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins
Evil And the Justice of God
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities
The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative
