History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Love <3
not as good as Angela's Ashes
A Natural Born Storyteller
'Tis
Excellent

'Tis: A Memoir
Frank McCourt
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684865742
Release Date: 2000-08-29

Amazon.com

The sequel to Frank McCourt's memoir of his Irish Catholic boyhood, Angela's Ashes, picks up the story in October 1949, upon his arrival in America. Though he was born in New York, the family had returned to Ireland due to poor prospects in the United States. Now back on American soil, this awkward 19-year-old, with his "pimply face, sore eyes, and bad teeth," has little in common with the healthy, self-assured college students he sees on the subway and dreams of joining in the classroom. Initially, his American experience is as harrowing as his impoverished youth in Ireland, including two of the grimmest Christmases ever described in literature. McCourt views the U.S. through the same sharp eye and with the same dark humor that distinguished his first memoir: race prejudice, casual cruelty, and dead-end jobs weigh on his spirits as he searches for a way out. A glimpse of hope comes from the army, where he acquires some white-collar skills, and from New York University, which admits him without a high school diploma. But the journey toward his position teaching creative writing at Stuyvesant High School is neither quick nor easy. Fortunately, McCourt's openness to every variety of human emotion and longing remains exceptional; even the most damaged, difficult people he encounters are richly rendered individuals with whom the reader can't help but feel uncomfortable kinship. The magical prose, with its singing Irish cadences, brings grandeur and beauty to the most sorrowful events, including the final scene, set in a Limerick graveyard. --Wendy Smith

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

'Tis a blessing that the author narrates his own work. McCourt follows up his Audie Award-winning performance in Angela's Ashes with another brilliant reading as he chronicles his return to post-World War II New York. Like all good storytellers, McCourt has good stories to tell; 'Tis pulses with grim adversity and quiet triumphs--character-shaping moments that gain the listener's empathy. What makes McCourt a great storyteller is his ability to give these moments just the right amount of humor and perspective. His lyrical tones are wise but not weary; he's survived life's challenges to tell his tale. And while it may be trite to credit McCourt's verbal skills to his Irish heritage, these war stories were undoubtedly polished amongst friends in the pubs. 'Tis is Grammy material, and a perfect example of how an author's voice can enhance the written word. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Rob McDonald

Book Description

Frank McCourt's glorious childhood memoir, Angela's Ashes, has been loved and celebrated by readers everywhere for its spirit, its wit and its profound humanity. A tale of redemption, in which storytelling itself is the source of salvation, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Rarely has a book so swiftly found its place on the literary landscape.

And now we have 'Tis, the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant to brilliant teacher and raconteur. Frank lands in New York at age nineteen, in the company of a priest he meets on the boat. He gets a job at the Biltmore Hotel, where he immediately encounters the vivid hierarchies of this "classless country," and then is drafted into the army and is sent to Germany to train dogs and type reports. It is Frank's incomparable voice -- his uncanny humor and his astonishing ear for dialogue -- that renders these experiences spellbinding.

When Frank returns to America in 1953, he works on the docks, always resisting what everyone tells him, that men and women who have dreamed and toiled for years to get to America should "stick to their own kind" once they arrive. Somehow, Frank knows that he should be getting an education, and though he left school at fourteen, he talks his way into New York University. There, he falls in love with the quintessential Yankee, long-legged and blonde, and tries to live his dream. But it is not until he starts to teach -- and to write -- that Frank finds his place in the world. The same vulnerable but invincible spirit that captured the hearts of readers in Angela's Ashes comes of age.

As Malcolm Jones said in his Newsweek review of Angela's Ashes, "It is only the best storyteller who can so beguile his readers that he leaves them wanting more when he is done...and McCourt proves himself one of the very best." Frank McCourt's 'Tis is one of the most eagerly awaited books of our time, and it is a masterpiece.

Download Description

The sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Angela's Ashes, " McCourt's glowing memoir chronicles his story from impoverished immigrant to brilliant raconteur and schoolteacher--a tale of survival as vivid, harrowing, and often hilarious as its bestselling predecessor.

Customer Reviews:

Love <3.......2007-09-18

I love this book. While Angela's Ashes was somewhat depressing but 'Tis is hilarious and enthralling. Throughout the book all you can think is how much you want to hug him. and you'd like to think you'd be the pretty girl that would give Frank a fair shot. Anything this man writes is pure gold that's for sure.

not as good as Angela's Ashes.......2007-09-05

Tis is not nearly as good as Frank McCorts other work. I it sometimes talks about when he was a kid. But for the most part is not as good.

A Natural Born Storyteller.......2007-06-23

The only thing more pleasurable than reading Frank McCourt's memoirs is listening to him read them! Wonderful! You will not be disappointed.

'Tis.......2007-05-04

"`Tis," an Autobiography of Frank McCourt's life, tells how he made his way in life as a young immigrant living in New York. It also explains how he survived the chaos and mayhem without much money or family. Yet it also tells of his struggle to get through the army, how he learned to write and then explains his way through college. Written with passion and full of memory, "`Tis" is an outstanding book that is recommended for any young person about to go on their own in the world. Frank McCourt wrote this book as a sequel to Angela's Ashes, which is an autobiography about Frank's life as a child in Ireland. Full of twists, drama, deaths and love, "`Tis" should be on everyone's top ten list of books to buy. After he wrote this book he wrote "Teacher Man" which is a summary of his life as a teacher and how it changed his life and who he thought he was going to be. -Daniel Archuleta

Excellent.......2007-04-01

This is a great book. Not as good as Angela's Ashes but if you reade the first you will want to read this one.

The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to English and American Literature (Politically Incorrect Guides)

Average customer rating:

PIG to English and American Literature
Seriously?
Hoo, boy, where to start with this one...
Prescription for Poor Readers
A Terrific Book

The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to English and American Literature (Politically Incorrect Guides)
Elizabeth Kantor
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1596980117

Book Description

The Politically Incorrect GuideT to English and American Literature exposes the PC professors and takes you on a fascinating tour through our great literature-in all its politically incorrect glory. Included: a syllabus and how-to guide to give yourself the English lit education you were denied in school.

Customer Reviews:

PIG to English and American Literature.......2007-10-05

This is a superbly written book by someone intimately familiar with the subject matter. It exposes the post-modernist absurdities with delightful wit and not in an accusatory manner. This book would be an excellent text for a mid-level college English course, and could help students prepare for being hoodwinked by silly professors with agendas. Some of the best consideration of Shakespeare I have seen since my "pre-politically correct" studies as an English major in the late 60's.

Seriously?.......2007-09-15

As a person who works in the field of English Capital-L literature, I have recently taken an interest in various books that talk about HOW we teach English. I take exception to Ms. Kantor's view of the field because it is obvious that she has never taught English, or in some cases, read the books she discusses.

First of all, in no way are the classics disappearing from the English classroom. I can guarantee that every English major in the United States is required to take a survey of British and American literature (which is fairly heavy on the "classics," mind you), and a seminar on Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer (or, in the case of where I went to school, all THREE). Why do we do this? Because these great writers build on each others legacy and we have to read them to understand literature. Just like we should read Dante to understand Milton, and read Milton to understand Blake. (What Kantor also fails to recognize is that our readings of Dante change after having read Milton and our readings of Milton change after having read Blake, as those men were engaging in the very literary "theory" she denounces. Furthermore, not having "theory" is still a "theory.")

As a liberal, but also an educator, the point of broadening the canon is not to forget about Shakespeare or to assume that his works are not relevant to human experience (Julius Caesar is one of the most cogent political plays ever written, and one Ms. Kantor should probably review before she kicks the opposing party out of the classroom), but it is expanded to include new kinds of human experience that have traditionally been ignored by those "dead white males" who defined the curriculum one hundred years ago. Sure, Conrad's Heart of Darkness might teach us what it means to be "human" (whatever that means), but it certainly doesn't teach us what it means to be an African or a woman, and a gander at Conrad's own words will affirm that, for all his book is critique of Imperialism.

What Ms. Kantor fails to recognize is that no literary interpretation is without its politics, not even hers. What we should focus on teaching our students is that these books are worth reading BECAUSE they raise questions about OUR culture as well as the culture of the writer's own time. But let me tell you this, Ms. Kantor, when we stop reading and discussing Chaucer with undergraduate English majors, I'll quit my job.

Hoo, boy, where to start with this one..........2007-09-02

Is there really a problem with evil liberals trying to re-write how we should look at Beowulf? This whole series of books is politically motivated. In this case, as with the other works, the author made up her mind first, and then looked for anything at all that might support it. You know, pretty much the opposite of how you're supposed to approach scholarly writing. It's a good thing they found a woman to write it, though. It's sort of like how Comedy Central found Carlos Mencia so they could legitimately tell jokes with he word "beaner" in them like twenty times each. Real classy stuff.

Prescription for Poor Readers.......2007-08-25

Thank the Almighty! At last we have a book to help us restore our sense of self-worth by exposing the tactics of that old battle-ax teacher who belittled our reading skills by declaring that we focused too much on our own thoughts and rightful opinions and not enough on the author's intentions, as if it would have been possible to reconcile that propaganda with our own straight truths! Now we can rely on the better class of writers, or at least portions of them, to help us think what we already know. They've kept us silent too long! Why, on the amazonian rankings of sales, Darwin's "The Descent of Man" is 280,117th, Marx's "Das Kapital" is 199,773rd, the "Collected Poems" of that draft-dodger Robert Lowell rank 122,823rd, Moby Dick is 45,550th, Sean Carroll's "The Making of the Fittest" (an anti-religious diatribe) is 13,034th, but "The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature" is 5088th! Do I make myself clear? The world needs a PIG book on every possible subject, so that we can effectively revile and shout down all those left-behind left-wing wingnuts!

A Terrific Book.......2007-08-25

Elizabeth Kantor's book is one of the very best introductions to English and American literature I have ever read. For the general reader or the smart high school student or beginning college student it should be indispensable reading in these days of the near destruction of literature and criticism in the colleges and universities. I speak as a retired college English professor, scholar, poet, and essayist. It is a splendid antidote or, to use a better metaphor, a strong inoculation against the rampant disease of politically correct teaching and reading of literature. I did not find a single misjudgment in Kantor's choice of valuable works to read (except maybe Joyce's ULYSSES) and don't find that she missed too many. And she named the only really good poem Pound ever wrote, "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter"!

Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America

Average customer rating:

Revealing and well written. It answered my questions about the South.
Never bend a knee to Rome.
SuperTerrificWonderful
Enjoyable Reading
How the Rednecks Saved the World!

Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
James Webb
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0767916891
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Book Description

More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England’s Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.

Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role it has played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as “captivating . . . unforgettable” (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soliders), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Naval Secretary, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian’s Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict in contrast to England’s formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots’ odyssey—their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character.

Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.

Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group—one too often ignored or taken for granted.

Customer Reviews:

Revealing and well written. It answered my questions about the South........2007-10-15

"it will go a long way in exposing the first and apparently last socially acceptable prejudice in America: that against the working class southerner." (from another review)

I've read many books about the South looking to find out why people who were no better off than most blacks and who share the much of the same culture, were so racist. This book answered my questions!

I didn't know anything about the Scots-Irish culture and especially didn't know that I probably am one. My father's family lived in the Tennessee mountains and then the mountains of Northeastern Alabama. No wonder my heart skips a beat when I hear Blue Grass music!

Riveting.... thank you James Webb for giving a voice to these folks!

Never bend a knee to Rome........2007-09-29

This was a well written and thought provoking book. I can see how some of the ideas put forward can be misconstrued do to the nature of the subjects but find myself agreeing with most of them. Mr. Webb has shed light on some very interesting topics. I am not a Scots-Irish historian so I enjoyed the history that this book offered. In the end this book has done a good service to one of the immigrant groups that built and fought for this great nation.

SuperTerrificWonderful.......2007-08-10

Webb does a phenomenal job weaving the various economic, political, and religious threads together to create a vivid tapestry depicting the origin and impact of the Scots-Irish. Well-written and riveting. My only criticism is that the author never acknowledged my request to have him autograph my copy (I even offered to deliver it to his office in D.C.!).

Enjoyable Reading.......2007-05-13

This is a book that you savour by slow reading. It is enjoyable histore particularly for a Scot or Irish man.

How the Rednecks Saved the World!.......2007-03-28

If James Webb's "Born Fighting" gets the reception it deserves, it will go a long way in exposing the first and apparently last socially acceptable prejudice in America: that against the working class southerner. Webb's book explodes the stereotypes attached to this people, demonstrating a depth of cultural character running much deeper than the traditional portrayals of them as stubbornly ignorant, lazy, beer guzzlers living in trailer parks.

Webb recounts the fascinating history of the Scots-Irish, beginning with the Scottish resistance to the Roman Empire itself, moving on to William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and the Scottish was for independence from the new Rome of England. He gives us the high drama of the creation of the distinctively Scots-Irish character when the English crown settled the first Scots in Ireland. With the Scots-Irish as their vanguard, the English were able to hold Ireland against other European powers (and, unfortunately, against the Irish themselves). England thanked the Scots-Irish by outlawing their Presbyterian religion in much the same way they had done the Catholicism of the Irish several years before. And so the Scots-Irish packed their bags and headed to America.

We should gain a newfound respect for these people from Webb's recouting of how they opened the American frontier, acting as a collective picket line against Indian attacks on the more settled English colonists in the coastal areas, and the important and unexpected roles they played in the southern Revolutionary War in the battles of King's Mountain and Cowpens.

Unfortunately, after the Revolutionary War, Webb's book loses a bit of its steam. Much of the drama and portraits of singular individuals we get in the earlier chapters gives way to talk of general social trends. Webb is still informative. Without for a moment excusing slavery or prejudice, Webb gives us an unexpected and perhaps uncomfortable view of just what problems the south had with the north, and how the southern working class was systematically oppressed by southern large land owners and northern merchants and industrial barons. Webb gives us surprising statistics on how much of our armed forces in the World Wars and Viet Nam were supplied by the Scots-Irish. And he reminds us that the closest thing we have to a national muscial genre -- country western -- is basically Scots-Irish music. Neverthess, the most interesting parts of "How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" end with America only on the verge of becoming a nation.

There are a few other problems too. While the old line WASP establishment and the new PC media establishment have both unjustifiably despised the Scots-Irish, Webb celebrates aspects of their character that have made them their own worst enemies time and again -- their "sensuality", their constant competitiveness in all athletics and all things physical, their hard drinking. The fact is that that sensuality has broken many hearts and busted many lives, the athleticism has led to alot of children to waste time and energy they could have spent on bettering their situation in life, and the drinking ... well, that speaks for itself. Also, the later chapters are chock full of stories from Webb's own ancestry. Fascintating characters in their own right to be sure, but the number of these stories comes close to making the second half of the book more of a James Webb memoir and less of a work on how an entire people shaped an entire nation. And toward the end of the book, Webb gets on a bit of a political rant that, though I agree with in many points, makes this book sound like the first step in his campaign for the Virginia Senate seat.

So "Born Fighting" is probably seen better as a corrective to WASP and PC prejudice against the Scots-Irish than as the final word on who the Scots-Irish are and what they should be. And a corrective is certainly needed. After reading "Born Fighting", it occurred to me that no one, as far as I can tell, has ever written at length specifically on the Scots-Irish as a distinct people -- no one, either to champion them or to cast WASP/PC aspersions on them. And where the Scots-Irish have gained scholarly or media attention, it has often been from pseudointellectuals such as H.L. Mencken (at whom Webb directs a few broadsides) bent on showing them in the worst light possible. One manifestation of this prejudice is that "Born Fighting" is bound to -- indeed it actually has now been -- characterized as racist. Such accusations are utter nonsense. One of Webb's heroes, in fact, is his own grandfather who suffered tremendously under white southern landowners for alerting the African Americans of his community to the inequities they were suffering at the landowners' hands. But in the minds of many these days, being fair-minded just isn't enough to escape the racist epithet.

"Born Fighting" doesn't quite deserve to be the last word on America's Scots-Irish. But it seems to be close to the first word, and a well-spoken one at that, on a people who have perhaps shaped the American character more than any other.

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative

Average customer rating:

Made me want to get back to writing
write it right- the Gornick way
Book was not what I thought it would be
sylvia winner
Incredible

The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative
Vivian Gornick
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0374528586

Book Description

A guide to the art of personal writing, by the author of Fierce Attachments and The End of the Novel of Love

All narrative writing must pull from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver a bit of wisdom. In a story or a novel the "I" who tells this tale can be, and often is, an unreliable narrator but in nonfiction the reader must always be persuaded that the narrator is speaking truth.

How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the truth-speaker who will tell the story a personal narrative needs to tell? That is the question The Situation and the Story asks--and answers. Taking us on a reading tour of some of the best memoirs and essays of the past hundred years, Gornick traces the changing idea of self that has dominated the century, and demonstrates the enduring truth-speaker to be found in the work of writers as diverse as Edmund Gosse, Joan Didion, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, or Marguerite Duras.

This book, which grew out of fifteen years teaching in MFA programs, is itself a model of the lucid inteligence that has made Gornick one of our most admired writers of ninfiction. In it, she teaches us to write by teaching us how to read: how to recognize truth when we hear it in the writing of others and in our own.

Customer Reviews:

Made me want to get back to writing.......2007-03-09

Gornick manages to analyze exactly what makes a personal essay successful without sounding didactic or sentimental. I'm not surprosed, as she is a terrific writer herself. She uses examples of pieces and excerpts from well-known and not-so-well known writers. For anyone who has written creative non-fiction and hasn't always known what to do to improve their work, Gornick offers an unusual way of looking at things, an interesting combination of intuitive and analytical. If you are new to writing, she offers suggestions on how to read other writers, and what to look for. I would add this to "Bird by Bird," by Anne Lamott, as excellent and inspiring books for writers.

write it right- the Gornick way.......2007-02-15

The Situation and the Story although easy to follow is a tough read. Gornick's book tells how to read memoirs as well as how to write them. She strives for the highest standards and lays great responsiblity on the wrier's shoulders. Beyond just relating a good story that happens to be true, Gornick expects the writer to impart wisdomto the reader gained by the writerfrom the act of writing the memoir. If the writer didn't gain wisdom, t she probably shouldn't write the memoir.
For serious memoirist the book is a must read, and reread, and reread.

Book was not what I thought it would be.......2006-08-10

No fault of amazon or author.

sylvia winner.......2005-09-24

Vivian Gornick never disappoints me. Her intellegence and insights abound and this is a particularly stimulating and revealing book.

Incredible.......2004-10-24

Gornick's approach to the subject and her analysis of personal narrative = priceless. A thoroughly engaging read for those who are exploring how to become stronger writers of essays and/or memoirs. Highly recommended.

The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small (Third Edition, Expanded)

Average customer rating:

Total Waste Of Money
Irish Family names
Disappointed
Be sure you get the third edition
A solid and accessibly presented genealogical reference

The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small (Third Edition, Expanded)
Michael C. O'Laughlin
Manufacturer: Irish Genealogical Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books

Online Research | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0940134098

Book Description

The Worlds Largest Collection in Print
New third edition now includes 28 volume index to the Irish Families series
The Best and Final Edition.

Over 45,000 entries total:

700 illustrated coats of arms
Origins & Locations
Includes families settled from Scotland, England, etc...
Ancient Maps and illustrations
All 32 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Ulster).
396 full size pages.

There is no other like this one ! A magnificent world class illustration of Irish Family History, this book is the culmination of 4 decades of research by the I.G.F.. Hundreds of families from each county are given in Part One with family history. Over 45,000 family names are given in specific counties or Poor Law Unions.
This is the new third edition (2003), which includes select family histories. For the first time ever, the index for the first 28 volumes in the Irish Families set is also included. The famous and large families like Murphy, Kelly, Sullivan, O'Brien, Ryan, Kennedy, Walsh, Daugherty and Donahue are of course in this book, as are thousands more, including rarely found families that settled in Ireland from England, Scotland, Wales, and the continent. Among the hundreds of settler names are those of Betagh; Coppinger; Trench; Coplan; Hall; Green; Hunter; McKenzie; Baker; Howell; Bellew and many more.

Families from England
Many English families have settled in Ireland from the 12th century onwards. Often, the native Irish were forced to "translate" their names into English sounding ones. The 50 most numerous names from England in 1853 are given, along with hundreds of family history extracts on specific families like Smith; Jones; Williams and Taylor.

Families from Scotland
Due to the proximity of the north of Ireland and the south of Scotland, migration between the two countries has been constant. A great settlement of Scottish families took place in the 17th century during the plantation of Ulster by the British Crown. Later, some of these 'planter' families came to America, becoming known as the Scotch Irish or Scots Irish. The 50 most numerous names of Scotland are given, along with hundreds of family histories, including families like McDonald; Brown; Thomson and Robertson.

Families from the German Palatinate

Families came to Ireland in the 18th century from the Palatinate of the Rhine. In 1709 some 7,000 arrived in England and many settled in Co. Limerick, Ireland and America. Some of these are families like Bowen, Baker; Delmege and Pyper.

Danish or Viking Families

The Danes (Lochlainders, Ostmen or Vikings), had colonies in Ireland for centuries. Centered in Dublin and Meath (in Fingall), and in Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, settling primarily in the coastal counties of Ireland from the 8th century on. These Viking families include: Betagh; Coppinger; Palmer; Plunket and Skiddy, among many others given in this work.

Jewish Families in Ireland

Many Russian and Polish Jews settled on the south side of Dublin city from the late 1800's. These included the families of Coplan, Fridberg, Greenberg, Weiner, Maisell and many others given in this work.

Welsh Families in Ireland

Families by the name of "Walsh" (in Irish, Brannagh or Breathnach), meaning a Briton or Welshman, are found early in Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Killarney, Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford and Galway. Some of these families were: Howell, Lawless, Lillis, Lynagh and Rossiter. Many are included in this work

Anglo Norman Families in Ireland

The Anglo Norman invasions of the 12th century brought many new families to Ireland. Some took on Irish names. Anglo Norman families in Ireland include: Barry; Bellew; Bermingham; Burke; Carew and Clare, among hundreds of others given in this book along with family history notes.

Huguenot Families in Ireland

French and Fleming Huguenot families settled in the 17th century in Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cork, and Lisburn, etc... They were noted for making linen, cloth and lace. Some of these families were those of Barre; Perrin; Hazard; Hassard; Lefanu; Trench and many others as given in this work.

'Irish Families' Contains many family names left out of other popular works, including those of Edward MacLysaght, Patrick Woulfe and John O'Hart. The best single book for finding any Irish family surname, there are more names, arms, and locations here than in any other book . Truly a 'must have' resource for finding numerous and scarce names in Ireland.Format of this Book

Entries on family names are arranged in the following order:

(1) When available, the coat of arms linked to the name appears above the name which is in bold type. All arms shown in this volume were actually used by families in Ireland, acknowledged by recognized authorities.

(2) Beneath the name is the source from which the arms are taken.

(3) Occasionally we list a Gaelic or more ancient form of the name on the next line in regular type. (note we have not punctuated these). We suggest those interested in the gaelic consult Irish Names and Surnames by the Rev. P. Woulfe. The IGF edition of that work contains a new surname index, which proves most helpful to researchers.

(4) The next line, in italics, gives variant spellings of the name as available.

(5) The history associated with the name

The amount of information found will vary with each name. Please consult all possible spellings of the name. More information may appear in other volumes to this Irish Families set. Names not covered here will appear in other volumes of our Irish Families, great & small series. The surname index to this first volume , (and to volumes 2 through 28), is found in part III of this book. The researcher should consult that index as well as the location index found in part II of this book.

The location index (see part II) represents extracts taken from larger, more detailed listings found in the Master Book of Irish Surnames. Space limitations do not allow reprinting all the index listings found in that book. In fact, there are over 50,000 listings from that book which we did not have room for at all! We have included as many surnames as possible to give hope to Irish family researchers. These listings may prove particularly helpful for those with less common names. The student of Irish family names would do well to consult that work independently.

Maps and Illustrations

Province Map

showing Munster; Leinster; Connacht; Meath;

Oriel; Aileach; and Ulster.

Key to Terms

Including useful terms and abbreviations used.

Ancient Map

Showing territorial divisions upon the coming of the Vikings to Ireland. Includes Tirconnell; Tirowen; Uladh; Uriel; Brefney; Hy Fiachrach; Hy Many; West Meath; East Meath; Offelan; Fine Gall; Offaly; Omurethy; Leix; Ormond; Thomond; Desmond; Decies; and Hy Kinshelagh.

13th Century Norman Map

Showing unconquered areas, and areas of Norman Rule & influence.

Administrative Divisions

Listing the major territorial divisions of Ireland, including: The Province; The County; The Barony; The Parish; The Townland; and Poor Law Unions.

Ireland, showing railways map

Showing railway routes in Ireland on the map.

Source List

List of helpful resources.

Key to Poor Law Unions and registrars dist.

A Listing of the Unions along with registrars districts that they contained.

Family Research sources and tips

Tips for the family researcher.

Barony Map

Showing 325 baronies of Ireland on the map by county. The barony was used an a unit in 19th century land valuations.

Ireland Map

Written Chart naming Families settling in Ireland

Showing families from other nations known to have settled in Ireland.

Ireland upon coming of the Vikings.

Showing the divisions of Thomond; Desmond; Decies; Ossory; Hy Kinshelagh; Ormond; Hy Many; Offaly; Leix; Omurethy; Offelan; Fine Gall; Brefney; Hy Fiachrach; Tirconnell; Tirowen; Uladh; and Uriel.

A One of A Kind Resource

This is the number one collection of Irish Families ever to appear in print. This Master volume alone, exceeds any other single book in the field. It is a one of a kind beauty - never equalled. There are more Irish Family names, spellings, locations, arms and sources here than in any other single book ever published.

The Final Word This book contains information on families in all 32 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Later volumes in this series focus on individual counties, and contain additional information, not found in this volume.

New Third Edition. Available only with Thread sewn soft binding. 396 pages. maps, resource list for family research. Family Histories. Additionally includes Master Index to the Irish Families series. Full 8 1/2 x 11 in size.

Customer Reviews:

Total Waste Of Money.......2007-09-08

This book is a huge disappointment. All it lists is surnames and if any a short sentence about the name. For instance Moylan: an old irish family.

Totally a huge waste of money.

Irish Family names.......2007-08-01

A great book giving information on Irish Family names and regions they are found in. A very useful book for those doing Irish family research.

Disappointed.......2007-01-14

This book covers a huge range of Irish names, however only provides minimal information on each and coat of arms for the select few. It provided the same information that is easily found on the web.

Be sure you get the third edition.......2005-04-29

The third edition of this work is definitely the best. It contains the index to the entire 28 volumes in the series, which covers every county in Ireland. The second edition was published earlier, and does not contain the complete index to the series. The third edition has all the family history information from the second edition, PLUS the complete series info. This book contains the largest collection of Irish Family Names, locations and arms ever put to print.

A solid and accessibly presented genealogical reference.......2003-02-14

Now in an expanded and updated third edition, The Book Of Irish Families Great & Small by genealogy expert Michael C. O'Laughlin (Editor of the monthly "Journal of Irish Families) is a solid and accessibly presented genealogical reference based upon ancient and modern manuscripts. Offering 20,000 Irish family names, 700 illustrated coats of arms, ancient maps and illustrations, step-by-step guides for tracing Irish family roots, and so much more, The Book Of Irish Families Great & Small is a first-rate and enthusiastically recommended reference for any dedicated genealogist or aspiring family historian seeking to track down their Irish roots.

Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America

Average customer rating:

A must read for anyone who wants to better understand America.
Getting the Irish Right
Mining for Irish green
No Plastic Paddy Here....
Brilliantly Written

Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America
Peter Quinn
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1585678708
Release Date: 2007-02-15

Book Description

"Paddy"--the caricature of the heavy-drinking, hardbrawling Irishman born in Vaudeville acts and nativist cartoons-- remains, unfortunately, a vivid feature of the American national imagination. But as this stereotype fades into the past, what image does America have of the millions of Irish-Catholic immigrants who have played such a central role in our history?

In this remarkable collection of writings chronicling the author's exploration of his own past--and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of nameless immigrants that struggled alongside his own ancestors--Peter Quinn paints a brilliant new portrait of the Irish-American men and women whose culture and values now play such a central role in all of our identities as Americans. In Quinn's hands, "Paddy" gives way to an image of "Jimmy"--an archetypal Irish-American (a composite of Jimmy Cagney and Jimmy Walker) who comes to life as the fast-talking, tough-yet-refined urban American who redefined American politics, street culture, religion, and moral imagination. Addressing subjects ranging from the impact of decades of immigration on Western Ireland to the long legacy of Irish-American Archbishop John Hughes, Quinn's vibrant prose weaves together the story of a people that has made an immeasurable contribution to American history and culture.

Customer Reviews:

A must read for anyone who wants to better understand America........2007-10-01

A big fan of Quinn's historical fiction novels "Banished Children of
Eve" and "Hour of the Cat," I knew I was in the hands of an expert
author and historian in "Looking for Jimmy." Quinn gets personal in
this collection of essays about the Irish in America. As he shares
stories of his family, I'm reminded of my own, or the lack thereof.
The older generations didn't speak much about Ireland or the trials
and harsh tales of their immigration and integration into the new
world. Quinn notes the silence and dearth of artifacts. The phrase
"Watch the quiet ones" comes to mind. May as well say, watch the
Irish ones. Thankfully, Quinn is not quiet. He watches them all,
researches, studies and considers, takes account and conveys the story
and motivation of a people across generations.

It's all too common for modern society to neglect its ancestry. The
melting pot warrants, yet makes it harder to figure identity. Quinn
bravely and enthusiastically explores one important and special
ingredient in that pot, the Irish. He takes us to the movies with
James Cagney, to the legendary story of hero Michael Corcoran, to many
places the Irish permeated and permeate. What it means to be
American, has a lot to do with what it means to be every other
culture. Quinn's "Looking For Jimmy" helps us find him and appreciate
the Irish element in the fabric of America. If we're lucky, there's a
little bit of Jimmy in all of us.

Getting the Irish Right.......2007-09-11

The great Irish labor leader and 1916 rebel James Connally once said,"It's easier to explain socialism to the Irish than to explain the Irish to the socialists." I've always found depictions of Irish Americans--even more that the Irish in Ireland--to be riddled with stereotypes, both favorable and unfavorable. Why, I've wondered, couldn't anybody "explain" Irish Americans to their fellow Americans--i.e., capture all the confouding complexity of this people in their long day's journey from famine and rural serfdom to the top of the New World? Maybe no one story can ever capture the whole journey, but for me "Looking for Jimmy" comes as close as anyone will ever manage. I was deeply moved by this book, and though, unlike the author, I no longer have any association with organized religion (I describe myself as a "disorganized Christian"),I found his observations on faith to be filled with truth. If you're not Irish American but want to find out about them, read this book. If you are Irish American and want to find out about yourself, do the same.

Mining for Irish green.......2007-08-01

I bought this book because of the many positive reviews. The work is extremely long on opinion and very short on fact. How this sentimental and nostalgic bathos can sell without negative reviews appearing is beyond this Celt's understanding.

No Plastic Paddy Here...........2007-03-12

This book answers the question once and for all; Are all the NY Irish dead and buried in Calvary Cemetary??? Not so.....Quinn's book riveted me from the first word written. So many of the reflections were identical to my own family and their experience in New York. The silence of our past, the quest for respectability, the fierce fidelity to the faith. I was torn between laughing and crying at the similarities.

Besides the magnificent analysis and brilliant prose, I appreciate Quinn's indebtedness to the parochial school system; I too am a product of a Christian Brothers high school, then Fordham (much to the dismay of my high school teachers, no Manhattan College in my future...my father had the Jesuits at Xavier and Georgetown)

If you are a New Yorker of Irish descent, this is a must read. Too few of my generation appreciate the sufferings and sacrifices of our ancestors; we have succeeded upon their shoulders. This book crystalizes that fact, and challenges us to keep faith with that past as we look to the future

Brilliantly Written.......2007-03-12

Peter Quinn is a master storyteller and with his prose he tries to keep alive the enduring and rich legacy of Irish-American contributions to the history and foundations of American life.

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob

Average customer rating:

Great Book a little contradictory though
Great true crime novel.
A classic of the genre
Still hasn't shipped!!!!!! :(
Interesting but disjointed

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob
T. J. English
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Organized Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312924291

Book Description

Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs, James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone, the gang rose out of the inferno of Hell's Kitchen, a decaying tenderloin slice of New York City's West Side. They became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime, excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking, and drug peddling. Upping the ante on depravity, their specialty was execution by dismemberment. Though never numbering more than a dozen members, their reign lasted for almost twenty years-until their own violent natures got the best of them, precipitating a downfall that would become as infamous as their notorious ascension into the annals of crime. AUTHORBIO: T.J. ENGLISH covered the lengthy Westies RICO trial for the Irish Voice and had close to one hundred hours of telephone conversations with Mickey Featherstone, who is currently in the Federal Witness Protection Program. For this book, English gathered information from over three hundred sources, including interviews with other gang members, lawyers, cops and neighborhood residents. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book a little contradictory though.......2007-08-06

I love this book, it's one of my new favorites. I bought if after watching a Histories Mysteries episode on the History channel about Mickey Featherstone on St. Patricks Day. It's a great book but if you pay attention some of the things in this book are a little conflicting with other portions of this and with some of the stuff English says in interviews. I guess the way I look at is being "Based on a True Story" not an actual account. At the end I kinda felt bad for Coonan as well as Featherstone. For the most part I feel it's accurate and either way, it's fascinating!

Great true crime novel........2007-06-07

Mickey Featherstone is fresh out of Vietnam and back into the old neighborhood "Hells Kitchen". After meeting up with old friends and making new ones he became one of the leaders in the feared Irish mob. Then he is put into a position no gangster want to be to decide between him and his family or loyalty to the neighborhood.

The Book is called the Westies by T.J English. If you didn't know the term "westie" is a slang term for the Irish mob the controlled the west side of Manhattan for more than twenty years. The book follows a guy named Francis "Mickey" Featherstone he's a tuff but intelligent guy. After coming back from Vietnam he gets involved with the wrong crowed and is forced to make a decision between spending the rest of his life in jail or rating out his buddies which is a big "no no" in Hells Kitchen.

The Westies addresses the whole idea of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. All throughout the book he is committing horrible crimes because he likes to put food on the table for his wife.

My favorite part in the whole book is when they are cutting up Ruby Stein. Now I know what you must be thinking, but Mickey starts throwing up and all the guys make fun of him, which brightens a very dark book.

A classic of the genre.......2006-09-02

After fifteen years in publication this book "The Westies" still holds its power. I read it when it came out and was blown away. Reading it again years later I am still impressed with the intimacy and also the historical framework for the story. The book has aged like fine Irish whiskey. Combine"The Westies" together with "Paddy Whacked," another book by T.J. English, and you have the full story of the Irish American gangster that puts these TV shows like "Brotherhood" and "Black Donnellys" to shame.

Still hasn't shipped!!!!!! :(.......2006-07-05

This item has taken forever to ship. I have little faith that it will, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Interesting but disjointed.......2006-06-20

Westies is a very interesting book about the so-called Hell's Kitchen "Irish Mob." As true crime and mob books go, it's good. English does a nice job of holding the reader's attention with lots of (often gory) details seemingly gleened from first-hand accounts. Although violent, the book is entertaining -- much like mob movies -- and a quick read.

English's narrative style lacks depth or is missing an element of professionalism. Understandably, when reciting dialog between the various characters, English adeptly uses the language of the street. But the book has a pulp feel to it when he incorporates that street language into his own narrative, a device used quite often.

Westies would be a little easier to read in spots if it were more linear in time. English, for instance, may describe in one chapter an event that took place in November 1978; in the next chapter he might jump back to September 1978 to give the background to previously-described event.

All in all, Westies is a good book, a must-read for any mob book fan. Just enjoy it for what it is, a not-to-challenging true crime tale.

Poetry Speaks: Hear Great Poets Read Their Work from Tennyson to Plath (Book and 3 Audio CDs)

Average customer rating:

Poetry Speaks: Hear Great Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath
Poetry Speaks
History through an iPod
I thank my friend for giving me this extraordinary gift
Poetry inspires poetry

Poetry Speaks: Hear Great Poets Read Their Work from Tennyson to Plath (Book and 3 Audio CDs)
Elise Paschen , and Rebekah Presson Mosby
Manufacturer: Sourcebooks MediaFusion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Criticism | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1570717206
Release Date: 2001-10-01

Book Description

Poetry Speaks features the work of the most influential writers in modern poetry-written and performed-from 1892 to 1997. This book combines their most significant poems in print with the authors themselves reading their poetry on audio CD. Poets range from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot and Dorothy Parker to Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath and Gwendolyn Brooks.

The power of spoken poetry is at the heart of Poetry Speaks. Poetry is a vocal art, an art meant to be read aloud. Listening to a poem read aloud can be a transforming experience. Poetry Speaks not only introduces the finest work from some of the greatest poets who ever lived, it reintroduces the oral tradition of poetry.

Poetry Speaks features over 40 poets in chapters each containing:
The poems that are read by the poet on the audio CD
Additional poems in print form to allow the reader to further explore the poet
A short biography and photo of each poet
Original manuscripts and letters for most of the featured poets
An original essay for each poet written by today's most influential poets, a veritable Who's Who of poetry, including: Seamus Heaney on W.B. Yeats; Richard Wilbur on Robert Frost; Mark Strand on Wallace Stevens; Jorie Graham on Elizabeth Bishop; Glyn Maxwell on Dylan Thomas; and Rita Dove on Melvin B. Tolson.

Poetry Speaks-combining the talents of great poets past and living, their words written and spoken-is the most ambitious, comprehensive and innovative poetry project to be published in years, and is sure to be the model for collections to come.

Customer Reviews:

Poetry Speaks: Hear Great Poets Read Their Own Work from Tennyson to Plath.......2007-01-28

Once in every 100 years a book is created which captures, both in written and spoken word, the ongoing development of an art form. Poetry Speaks is one such book. Glancing at its cover and size, some people will conclude it to be a 'coffee table book', impressive to look at but hardly ever read. For those persons whoread the smaller print: Hear Great Poets Read their Work from Tennyson to Plath, they experience a pregnant pause ..'Tennyson to Plath'...Tennyson?? It is then book's pages have called and the reader/listener are absorbed into its binding. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Walt Whitman and Robert Browning, were all 19th century poets who died in the late 1880s - 1890s. Yet, because of wax cylinders and the wizardry of Thomas Edison, his desire to capture the human voice, and his love of poetry,1886,he recorded each. Nearly 120 yars later,we are able to listen to these poets reading selections of their own writings. We are invited into the studio, hear their puzzlements, frstrations aw well as triumphant celebration, after recording and hearing,for the first time, their own voices.

Poetry Speaks not only has selections of writings, it includes three CDs. Narrated by Charles Osgood, listeners are escorted through a century of recorded voices and explains how recording itself changed the way poetry was presented when read out load. Within the book's pages, each selected poet is introduced with a brief biography, explanation of th poet's style,as well as how outside events and societal changes and influences shaped both poet and poetry. Some presenters include handwritten copies with lined out deletions and revisions. The study of each poet is an educational find.
The collection is a treasure. Whether you enjoy poetry, find it a bit
intimidating or just what to share something a very special for a very special person...such as yourself, Poetry Speaks will let your spirit soar. You will need to take it from the coffee tabe, open its pages, and read along with its authors.

Margaret C. Barno

Poetry Speaks.......2006-07-15

Fantastic short and to the point essays about the greats of poetry along with the ability to hear them read in their own voices - invaluable asset to the serious poet or poetry fan.

History through an iPod.......2006-05-23

The Poetry Speaks collection features works and readings by 42 of the greatest poets ever.

The book itself is rather weighty (literally), but the essays and poems themselves are organized in such a way as to make even the non-poet appreciate them.

The one complaint I have about the collection is the narrator's unbearable way of trailing off mid-sentence. The "introductions" to the poets and their works were bearable enough--- as I said, the book is very user friendly and is a good intoduction to the world of poetry to those who dont know Donne from Shelley--- however, not saying the whole sentence (whether for theatrical effect or simply to save CD space) leaves listeners frustrated. For example, in the introduction to Robert Browning: "At the end of the historical recording, Browning..." Browning what? We know that Browning apologizes for forgetting the words in "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix", but with simply "..." Browning could have hit Thomas Edison over the head with a phonograph for all we know.

Mysterious narration is not a good enough reason not to get the book however. The joy of hearing Whitman and Pound and Plath far surpasses even the most irritating introductons.

The solution: import all the audio files onto your computer, delete the introductons, transfer the files onto your iPod and voilà. C'est parfait. Find a nice shady tree to sit under, balance the book on your knees, switch on your iPod and experience history.

I thank my friend for giving me this extraordinary gift.......2005-04-17

What a joy it is to see/read poems and be able to hear the poets read the poems to me, the reader. Poetry is breath and life and as the poet reads, and I read back, the exoerience between the artist and the audience is a unity.

When PBS ran the poetry series, Bill Moyers talked about how when we read a poem from another it's like our breath echoing theirs.

I feel this when I listent to these CDs and read the poems.

We all need more poetry, but we need more poetry both written AND spoken.

This volume is wonderful.

Poetry inspires poetry .......2005-02-02

The poets in this volume were listed in another review. I am here simply copying the list. Lord Tennyson; Robert Browning; Walt Whitman; William Butler Yeats; Gertrude Stein; Robert Frost; Carl Sandburg; Wallace Stevens; William Carlos Williams; Ezra Pound; H.D.; Robinson Jeffers; John Crowe Ransom; T.S. Eliot; Edna St. Vincent Millay; Dorothy Parker; e.e. Cummings; Louise Bogan; Melvin B. Tolson; Laura Riding Jackson; Langston Hughes; Ogden Nash; W.H. Auden; Louis MacNeice; Theodore Roethke; Elizabeth Bishop; Robert Hayden; Muriel Rukeyser; William Stafford; Randall Jarrell; John Berryman; Dylan Thomas; Robert Lowell; Gwendolyn Brooks; Robert Duncan; Philip Larkin; Denise Levertov; Allen Ginsberg; Frank O'Hara; Anne Sexton; Etheridge Knight; and Sylvia Plath.
There is a great deal of great and inspiring poetry in this volume. There is also mediocre poetry. And I agree with one other reviewer who said that many of the poets read surprisingly poorly. They all should have listened to Dylan Thomas and learned from him. The power of his voice and the range of his feeling move greatly.
I also was not overwhelmed by the various poetic appreciations. They seemed to me too subjective and did not add greatly to the knowledge of the poets under discussion.
Yet with all the complaining the reading and listening to much of this poetry inspires to poetry. It lifts the mind and heart to another dimension in which there is a depth and a beauty to words which can be found nowhere else.
This anthology has enough of such great poetry to be truly worthwhile.

Far From the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish-American Immigration Through Song

Average customer rating:

Gain Insight into Celtic Music
A great gift!

Far From the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish-American Immigration Through Song
Mick Moloney
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0609607200
Release Date: 2002-02-12

Book Description

From the lush green hills of their homeland to the cramped ghettoes of industrialized cities an ocean away, from the famine-ravaged fields of Ireland to the community dance halls in America, the Irish documented their history through song.

Far from the Shamrock Shore tells the story of Irish immigration to America in words and lyrics, with an accompanying CD further illustrating the journey through song. The Irish-American folk and popular songs featured complement the text, highlighting issues immigrants faced and the social conditions they experienced from the 1700s to the early twentieth century. They tell of the backbreaking task of survival in the New World; the battles waged for fair treatment and fair pay for the work done by these immigrants on railroads, on canals, and in mines, construction, and factories; the success that they ultimately attained in politics, business, and society; and their continuing influence on American life and culture.

Customer Reviews:

Gain Insight into Celtic Music.......2004-08-03

You will love Mick Maloney's warm voice lovingly pouring the poetry of Irish music into your ears. This is not the overused "Danny Boy," but a tremendous exploration of traditional ballads that will open your eyes and ears to Ireland's rich history and music.
I recommend first reading the boxed sections in the book for each song. Then listen to that selection on the CD while reading along with the lyrics. Finish with absorbing the 2-page history lesson that accompanies each song.
Later listen to the whole CD, just soaking in the evocative Irish music. The background from reading the book really enhances your enjoyment of the music.

A great gift!.......2003-03-07

This wonderful book tells the story of the Irish immigration to North America through the songs that they sang. Accompanied by a CD containing sixteen songs performed by the author and his band. The songs are wonderfully performed, making the CD worth the purchase price alone. Each of the songs is accompanied by a two to four page write-up that explains the song, and what was going on in the immigrant Irish (Irish-American and Irish-Canadian, though mostly the former) community at that time.

This book is very handsomely made, with lots of information, interesting pictures, and the CD. Indeed, I would highly recommend this book as a gift. I enjoy having this book, and think that anyone interested in the Irish-Americans will enjoy it as well. I highly recommend this book.

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