Amazon.com
Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret.
I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.
Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant. She is an important and powerful new voice.
Customer Reviews:
A masterpiece!.......2007-10-16
The author has a truly amazing way with words. She is a gifted writer who will not only have you delve into her stories and vibrant characters, but if you are a bibliophile and a lover of words, you will love the mesmerizing use of her words as they come alive in beautifully constructed sentences. Reading this book is like admiring a Van Gogh.
Words on a page are like paint on a canvas, and Jhumpa Lahiri succeeds in choosing colorful words in the right combination, ratio, and lighting (so to speak) to produce a moving canvas that just gets better the more the viewer (a.k.a. the reader) admires it (reads it). After all, the author won a Pulitzer Prize for her work.
This book is a collection of stories about love. The title, `Interpreter of Maladies', stands for an interpreter working at a doctor's office, with the job of translating the patients' symptoms to the doctor. India has many dialects, and Indian people do not necessary all understand each other. A translator is therefore necessary.
A woman married to a man she no longer loves, and in the process, lost the love of living, ends up having an affair with her husband's friend. She becomes pregnant with his friend's child, but neither her husband nor the real father knows that. However, she confides to the `interpreter of maladies', hoping he would find a remedy to her bizarre situation. Unbeknown to her, the interpreter of maladies has fallen in love with her.
Lahiri describes the steps of falling in love and out of love in such detail you would think you are there with the characters. For example, I liked how the interpreter of maladies mentally calculates when he would be receiving a letter from the woman he has fallen in love with. He calculates the days she has remaining in India, then adds her travel days, gives a few days for her to finally write a letter and mail it, and for the two weeks it would take the letter to reach India from the United States. In all, he reckons it would take about 6 weeks. Six weeks of painfully waiting for a letter from a woman he loves! Remember those days we all anxiously awaited letters from our significant halves? Did you run to your mailbox every time the mailman drove by your driveway? With the advent of emails, those days are now relics of the past, but how beautiful it is to remember those days.
Read this book: you will laugh and weep; and just maybe, you'll remember some old forgotten love affair!
Deserving of the Pulitzer.......2007-10-15
Interpreter of Maladies was a surprising treat, and absolutely worthy of the Pulitzer. These richly woven tales deliver insight to Indian culture and universal humanity. I don't typically read short story collections, as I prefer to devote myself to characters for a longer duration. However, I connected with each of the characters and felt moved by their situations during the brief and touching stories. Bravo!
UNUSUALLY BORING.......2007-09-20
I had heard so much about this writer and was anxious to read her work. I was highly disappointed when I did. The stories and characters are exceptionally bland and flat. The author has virtually nothing interesting to say about any subject. In fact, the stories come across as being naive--even affected. From what I have gathered about her bio, Ms. Lahiri has spent most of her life sequestered in academia. Perhaps this is a contributing factor for the inauthentic quality of her work. Her style of writing, however, (sentence structure for example) does have a nice quality to it. But style is only one part of the art of writing. In regards to all other aspects (story, characters, suspense, human interest) this collection fails utterly. An extremely disappointing read. I was taken nowhere. Hard to believe this book garnered so many awards.
The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.......2007-09-19
This collection of nine short stories won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1999. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri, is of Indian descent, born in London and currently lives in New York, so each story is a look into a different part of Indian culture or into Indian people and their way of life. The first three stories were great and the title story was my favorite. The man literally is an interpreter of maladies, who works at a hospital translating patients' symptoms to the doctor and in this it is revealed he has a lot of power and obligation in telling the doctor exactly what the patient is suffering from so the correct diagnosis can be given. After this story, I found the rest of book slow, kind of boring, and the stories just weren't as engaging.
What started to annoy me as a I progressed through the book was that here you had a no doubt rich and well treated Indian woman who went to very good schools, lived in a good home in England, went to a good writing school for her MFA - probably in New York - and proceeded to publish her work in prestigious magazines like the New Yorker, and yet she is writing about Indian life and how hard it is for most people, especially those not as well off, and it just really got to me that she had succeeded in this way writing about a way of life she'd never experienced.
Now, having finished the book, my thoughts towards Lahiri have changed a little. For with her upbringing she was never able to experience Indian culture as an Indian living in India. This was no doubt a big deal to her, and is to Indian culture. A friend at work, who is of Indian decent, but born here, told me the other day that Indians don't consider him Indian because he was born here. I realize now that this was probably the very thing that changed my mind about this book. It helped me realize that in writing these stories, Lahiri is living the lives of these people, getting the experiences, that she was never able to, and in doing so is helping to define her Indian heritage better.
The result is a collection of interesting and unique stories - perhaps not quite deserving of the Pulitzer -- about Indian people trying to live ordinary Indian lives.
For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com
Great stories.......2007-09-10
I liked every one of the stories in "Interpreter of Maladies". Well written.
It's rare to find a collection of short stories where all of the stories are good.
Book Description
From the bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea—winner of the National Book Award—the startling story of the Plymouth Colony
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.
The MayflowerÂ's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans as disease spread by European fishermen devastated their populations. Initially the two groups—the Wampanoags, under the charismatic and calculating chief Massasoit, and the Pilgrims, whose pugnacious military officer Miles Standish was barely five feet tall—maintained a fragile working relationship. But within decades, New England would erupt into King PhilipÂ's War, a savagely bloody conflict that nearly wiped out English colonists and natives alike and forever altered the face of the fledgling colonies and the country that would grow from them.
With towering figures like William Bradford and the distinctly American hero Benjamin Church at the center of his narrative, Philbrick has fashioned a fresh and compelling portrait of the dawn of American history—a history dominated right from the start by issues of race, violence, and religion.
Customer Reviews:
Not what I was hoping for.......2007-10-13
I couldn't get into this book because it was very different from what I thought it would be. I expected "Mayflower" to be a detailed account of why the pilgrims decided to journey to America, and also a vivid description of what life aboard the Mayflower was actually like. The book did cover those things, but only for a few short pages. Most of the book is devoted to the history of Plymouth Colony and King Philip's War. Author Nataniel Philbrick does an excellent job of shooting down the myths many people believe about what the pilgrim settlement was actually like, but I was much more interested in reading about the actual Mayflower journey and was disappointed that so little information about that event was included in this 400+ page book. "Mayflower" should be called "King Philip's War" so readers know what they're getting into.
Educational book.......2007-09-26
This is a very informative, accurate writing of our history. More people should read and know the real history of our country.
Not what I expected, but.......2007-09-16
the book was still a captivating piece of literature. I read this directly after reading In the Heart of the Sea by Philbrick, and was expecting the same type of story. That was not the case however. The title is a bit misleading in that one thinks they are going to be reading (or at least I did) a story of the journey. The subtitle should have cued me in. The book is about the struggle between the settlers and the natives more so than it is about the voyage to the new world. All that being said, I still loved the book. I gave the book four stars because I wish there was more about the actual voyage, and I think the title is a little misleading. All in all though, it is a superb piece of literature.
Clear & Interesting narrative of a difficult and complex period.......2007-09-13
There really aren't very many good, recent books about the early years in Massachusetts. This is an exceptional treatment...very engaging and clear. The number of Indian tribes, the various Pilgrims, Puritans, etc. can be a real mess to understand. And of course, there is usually a biased or pointed perspective you have to deal with. Philbrick has genuine regard for the good on both the English side and the various Indian sides and heartfelt disdain for the vicious and stupid acts on both sides that caused this war and ultimately turned it into a 14 month blood bath throughout New England. Makes me want to do some real research here in my New Hampshire home town.
Myth History and Real History.......2007-09-13
Every American teen should read this book. Myth-busting, rich in suggestion and detail, comprehensively researched. The defining text for this country's first sixty years.
Book Description
Praise for Blood and Thunder
“Kit Carson’s role in the conquest of the Navajo during and after the Civil War remains one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in the history of the American West. Hampton Sides portrays Carson in the larger context of the conquest of the entire West, including his frequent and often lethal encounters with hostile Native Americans. Unusually, Sides gives full voice to Indian leaders themselves about their trials and tribulations in their dealings with the whites. Here is a national hero on the level of Daniel Boone, presented with all of his flaws and virtues, in the context of American people’s belief that it was their Manifest Destiny to occupy the entire West.”
—Howard Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University and editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West
“The story of the American West has seldom been told with such intimacy and immediacy. Legendary figures like Kit Carson leap to life and history moves at a pulse-pounding pace—sweeping the reader along with it. Hampton Sides is a terrific storyteller.”
—Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt
“Hampton Sides doesn't just write a book, he transports the reader to another time and place. With his keen sense of drama and his crackling writing style, this master storyteller has bequeathed us a majestic history of the Old West.”
—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys
“Blood and Thunder is a big-hearted book whose subject is as expansive as they come. Hampton Sides tackles it with naked pleasure and narrative cunning: In his telling, the vast saga of America’s westward push has a logical center. The dusty town of Santa Fe becomes the nexus around which swirl the fortunes and strategies of a mixed set of serious overachievers, from Kit Carson, the original mountain man, to James K. Polk, the enigmatic president whose achievements, in the dreaded name of Manifest Destiny, were almost biblical in scope. Sides is alive to the exuberance and alert to the tragedy of the taking of the West.”
—Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World
“For a huge percentage of us immigrant Americans (those whose ancestors arrived after 1492), Hampton Sides fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of American history—a vivid account of how ‘The New Men’ swept away the thriving civilizations of the Native Americans in their conquest of the West.”
—Tony Hillerman
"BLOOD AND THUNDER is a balanced, thoughtful summary of the American conquistadors in the 19th century Southwest. Hampton Sides has re-created violent events and such inflammatory figures as Kit Carson without bias. Carefully researched, thoroughly enjoyable."
-Evan S. Connell, author of SON OF THE MORNING STAR, CUSTER AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN
A Magnificent History of How the West Was Really Won—a Sweeping Tale of Shame and Glory
In the fall of 1846 the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true—if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished—but what did the arrival of these “New Men” portend for the Navajo?
Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life or destroy them.
Hampton Sides’s extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.
Customer Reviews:
Fremont's Reputation.......2007-10-14
This is an excellent book except for the Fremont-bashing that seems to be fashionable. It is especially distressing that the material about Fremont came from a non-historical work with no scholarly background entitled "A Newer World". The author would have been better advised to supply his own supporting references. That is enough of a reason to knock off a star.
one of the best.......2007-10-13
If you have any interest in American History please read this book. We read the entire book outloud, quite an undertaking, so I'm glad to see that is available as an audiobook. The writing is riveting, the bibliography reassuring, the story enlightening. This book is a springboard into the conquest of the Western United States and will give you new eyes if and when traveling through these areas. Read the book.
Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson.......2007-10-12
This is an excellent biography of a famous American pioneer--Kit Carson. What sets it apart is its humane treatment of a complex figure. Carson appears to have been the "real deal," not a manufactured hero.
The book proceeds by interweaving several story lines, which can be somewhat confusing at times but, in the end, this serves the author well. Among the story lines--Kit Carson's exploits, the Navajo leader Narbona's story, General Stephen Kearney's episodes, and so on.
Kit Carson's role--from trapper to hunter to scout to military officer--is the glue that holds this book together. In the process, the reader learns a great deal about the events of the 1830s through 1860s that transformed the United States. The Mexican War dramatically expanded the size of the country; the American conflicts with the Indian nations opened new territories for settlement and economic development; the Civil War ended slavery (although, ironically, perhaps not in the southwest, as Native Americans sometimes served a similar role after the Civil War); the West was opened for development.
What humanizes this book is the treatment of Carson. He was sometimes mercurial (with an occasional burst of temper); he was a person of action, and he sometimes was cruel and brutal; he was also a person of honor; he had a perception of the larger picture in the West, and could see that white aggression was the real problem--not marauding Indians.
On a personal note, the book traces Carson's family lives (he had at least two real families, one with a native American wife), his struggle to be a good husband and father while he was off on one adventure or another most of his life.
This is a strong biography which is set in a larger context. It is well worth looking at.
Reads almost like a novel!.......2007-10-12
I first encountered this book when I heard the author speak at our local bookstore. I am a history lover and wanted to know if this man could pull of another interesting book on American History. I had a copy of the book ready and took copious notes on the blank pages in the back. The author was fascinating to listen to.
Since then, I have read the book thoroughly and found it read almost like a novel. Each chapter led you to want to read on.
I have purchased copies as gifts for friends and even gave a copy to my American Indian History professor and he was enthralled.
Good work. Loved it. You will, too.
Blood and Thunder.......2007-10-09
This is a highly readable and comprehensive account of the adult life and times of Kit Carson and the people/places he touched. It's not a biography, but a series of vignettes documenting his involvement in a variety of professions -- from mountain man to military man -- as the needs of the West evolved. There's a great deal of information about Carson's contemporaries as well. I read the book with a map of New Mexico at hand to more closely identify the places mentioned. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Western history, including the several battles of the Civil War fought in New Mexico.
Book Description
Charles Frazier’s
Thirteen Moons is the story of one man’s remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change. At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart.
In a distinct voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion. As he comes to realize, “When all else is lost and gone forever, there is yearning. One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time."
Will Cooper, in the hands of Charles Frazier, becomes a classic American soul: a man devoted to a place and its people, a woman, and a way of life, all of which are forever just beyond his reach.
Thirteen Moons takes us from the uncharted wilderness of an unspoiled continent, across the South, up and down the Mississippi, and to the urban clamor of a raw Washington City. Throughout, Will is swept along as the wild beauty of the nineteenth century gives way to the telephones, automobiles, and encroaching railways of the twentieth. Steeped in history, rich in insight, and filled with moments of sudden beauty,
Thirteen Moons is an unforgettable work of fiction by an American master.
PRAISE FOR THIRTEEN MOONS
“Genius.”
–Time
“Gorgeous…Thirteen Moons calls Cold Mountain to mind in its wonder at the natural world; its pacificist undercurrents; its dismay at the dismantling of what matters, and its convication that one love, no matter how tortured and inexplicable, can be life-defining…fascinating…vivid and alive.”
–Newsweek
“Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient….Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers….For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched….Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.”
–Los Angeles Times
“Thirteen Moons brings this vanished world thrillingly to life…
One of the great Native American, and American stories, and a great gift to all of us, from one of our very best writers.”
« –Kirkus Reviews, starred review «
“There are things so masterful words can’t do them justice. Frazier’s writing falls in that category…With Thirteen Moons, he’s doing important work fillnig in the gaps, helping restore the roots, of our knowledge of our own history.”
–Asheville Citizen-Times
“Fascinating…Reading Thirteen Moons is an intoxicating experience…This is 21st-century literary fiction at its very best.”
–BookPage
“Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient….Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers….For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched….Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.”
–Los Angeles Times
“Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life…Gorgeous.”
–New Orleans Times Picayune
“Magical…the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving…You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.”
–USA Today
“Incredibly powerful.”
–Melissa Block on NPR All Things Considered
“Verdict: A powerhouse second act….a brilliant success…Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.”
–Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural storyteller, and throughout his picaresque tale are grand themes and eulogies”
–Boston Globe
“Warm hearted…Frazier is a remarkably meticulous and tasteful writer… Thirteen Moons is a worthy successor to the first novel
and a highly readable book.”
–Seattle Times
“Fiction of the highest order…Another indelible character. Charles Frazier has a knack for them.”
–Charlotte Observer
“Splendidly written.”
–New York Daily News
“What a story!... Frazier's creation, Will Cooper, is utterly charismatic….Frazier's genius lies in his ability to convey emotions that feel pure and genuine…It was worth the wait.”
–Dayton Daily News
“To Charles Frazier, words are playthings. Like very few other contemporary American novelists, he puts them together in such a way that they can transform an otherwise mundane moment, scene or conversation into one that is transcendent….No sophomore jinx here. Reading a Frazier novel is like listening to a fine symphony. He's a maestro whose pen is his baton, beckoning the best that each sentence has to offer. And just as you wouldn't rush a conductor, you should take the time to savor Frazier’s work, to take in each thought, to relish the turn of phrase or the imagery of a craftsman.”
–Denver Post
“Two for two…Here is a book brimming with vivid, adventurous incident…Charles Frazier set himself a daunting challenge with this book. He set out to write a historical novel that was retrospective and meditative, yet still vibrant and immediate with life. Thirteen Moons succeeds in classy fashion.”
–Raleigh News & Observer
“If current fiction is anything to go by, it’s hard for a novelist to make Santayana's puzzle pieces - lyricism, comedy, tragedy - fit together, as they do in real life and real history. Frazier has done it…Thirteen Moons makes you feel that change that happened so long before our own time, and makes you mourn it.”
–Newsday
“[Thirteen Moons] is superbly entertaining, and it packs enough emotional heft to measure up to most readers’ high expectations.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Thirteen Moons is a fitting successor to Cold Mountain…fans of Frazier's debut will be cheered to discover that the new book is another compulsively readable work of historical fiction.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“If there is any doubt that Frazier is an incredibly gifted storyteller - and not just a lucky name or a one-hit wonder - it will be put to rest with the publication of Thirteen Moons. Within 10 pages, this long-awaited new novel bears the reader swiftly out of the waking world into its own imagined universe like nothing else published this year.”
–Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Achingly beautiful descriptions of nature…It’s rich, it’s beautiful.”
–Columbia State
“Forget the sophomore jinx. Frazier demonstrates that Cold Mountain was no one-hit wonder with this fully realized historical novel again set in the South….Again, Frazier shows himself a master of landscape and language, both often fresh and surprising in his telling.
–Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Thirteen Moons contains achingly beautiful passages of snowfalls, fog-wrapped rivers and moonlit forests. There are ribald and hilarious events, too, including a description of the Cherokee Booger Dance that is a masterpiece of satire. The love affair between Cooper and Claire threads its way through this pseudo-historic epic like a brilliant, scarlet ribbon. There is also a melancholy refrain that celebrates a wondrous time and place that is gone and will never return.”
–Smoky Mountain News
“Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life…Gorgeous.”
–New Orleans Times Picayune
“Magical…the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving…You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.”
–USA Today
“Verdict: A powerhouse second act….a brilliant success…Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.”
–Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural ...
Customer Reviews:
Starts off good, but..........2007-10-05
The first half of "Thirteen Moons" soars; the second half sinks. As I got into the story and its lovely language, I was prepared to give it a rating of 8.5 or higher. But it eventually fades into dissolution, ending with a whimper, not a bang. Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10.
See http://www.bluecorncomics.com/13moons.htm for a longer review.
Dull and flat characters.......2007-09-24
I started this book because our book group is reading it. The character is flat and self-absorbed. You get to the point that you don't care what happens to the character because he is so dull. I don't finish it because there was nothing of interest to keep me going.......You feel nothing for the characters... so why read?
The Abridged version is confusing.......2007-09-23
I bought this book as an audio book, abridged.
It was confusing. Stick to the unabridged.
Faulkner, McCarthy, Frazier.......2007-09-19
Thirteen Moons is a pure Masterpiece. I think it should be getting more credit for being one of the greatest American novels ever written. I cannot believe how rounded Will Cooper is as a character. I have never read a book that has a character as real as this. Everything about his life and times, reactions, words, feelings, inner thoughts are absolutely real and consistent. Bear, Featherstone, Claire all come to life so perfectly. I was amazed that anyone found reason to criticize this novel. The metaphors, details and knowledge of the region makes Frazier seem supernatural to me. He was there. It's just weird how well he knows this tale and how real it all is. Perfect writing.
I dunno, maybe it needs more moons..........2007-08-10
Remember when you first picked up Cold Mountain, how the first few pages were, well, boring? Yeah, yeah. Lying around the hospital bed, blind neighbor, looking out the window. It was only a few pages, but it made me put the book down for about 3 months and wonder what the heck everyone was so excited about. Then I picked up the book again, and at last, there was the magic. Inman was on his amazing journey. Ada was surviving, having located Ruby, and their various adventures were compelling and moving and the book flew away with me. Well, Thirteen Moons is that first part of Cold Mountain. The boring part. It never takes off, it never flies, it just stumps forward. One or two interesting passages are lost in a reptitive scenery, lesser journeys, and characters who are either cardboard or cliched. So if you loved this book, go hate me. I'd hate you if you didn't love Cold Mountain. (Gratuitous advice: Forget the Cold Mountain movie. Ada as played by Nicole Kidmann is inane to the point of disability; Ruby, that stalwart little plug of a woman, is played by Renee Zellwegger, who acts as though squinting her eyes is character development; Inman was morphed into a latter-day teenage superhero. Utter
+disappointment.
Amazon.com
1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.
Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. --Tom Nissley
A 1491 Timeline
|
Europe and Asia |
Dates |
The Americas |
|
25000-35000 B.C. |
Time of paleo-Indian migration to Americas from Siberia, according to genetic evidence. Groups likely traveled across the Pacific in boats. |
| Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer. |
6000 |
|
|
5000 |
In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species. |
| First cities established in Sumer. |
4000 |
|
|
3000 |
The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large pyramid-like structures |
| Great Pyramid at Giza |
2650 |
|
|
32 |
First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until the 1700s) |
|
800-840 A.D. |
Sudden collapse of most central Maya cities in the face of severe drought and lengthy war |
| Vikings briefly establish first European settlements in North America. |
1000 |
 |
|
Reconstruction of Cahokia, c. 1250 A.D.* | Abrupt rise of Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the largest city north of the Rio Grande. Population estimates vary from at least 15,000 to 100,000. |
| Black Death devastates Europe. |
1347-1351 |
|
|
1398 |
Birth of Tlacaélel, the brilliant Mexican strategist behind the Triple Alliance (also known as the Aztec empire), which within decades controls central Mexico, then the most densely settled place on Earth. |
| The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean. |
1492 |
The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean. |
| Syphilis apparently brought to Europe by Columbus's returning crew. |
1493 |
|
| Ferdinand Magellan departs from Spain on around-the-world voyage. |
1519 |
 |
|
Sixteenth-century Mexica drawing of the effects of smallpox** | Cortes driven from Tenochtitlán, capital of the Triple Alliance, and then gains victory as smallpox, a European disease never before seen in the Americas, kills at least one of three in the empire. |
|
1525-1533 |
The smallpox epidemic sweeps into Peru, killing as much as half the population of the Inka empire and opening the door to conquest by Spanish forces led by Pizarro. |
|
1617 |
Huge areas of New England nearly depopulated by epidemic brought by shipwrecked French sailors. |
| English Pilgrims arrive at Patuxet, an Indian village emptied by disease, and survive on stored Indian food, renaming the village Plymouth. |
1620 |
|
|
*Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill., painting by Michael Hampshire. **Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, N.M. (Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1547-77). |
Book Description
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.
Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. From the astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which had running water, immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city, to the Mexican corn that was so carefully created in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.
Customer Reviews:
a great overview.......2007-10-13
This is a great overview of early American cultures, and the various ways in which they shaped their environments. It is not an encyclopedia of Native American cultures, but uses specific examples to support the notion that the original inhabitants of our country have been misunderstood as lacking in initiative and expertise in manipulating the North American landscape... i.e. it debunks the "Eden" myth. Very well written and entertaining as well as informative.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a more clear view of America before the arrival of Europeans.
Unputdownable.......2007-09-26
I found this book extremely enjoyable. It contains a wealth of knowledge about Native American cultures in N. and S. America; findings that are apparently well-known in academic circles, but which have remained largely unreported and unknown to mainstream audiences. Mr. Mann clearly admires much about the achievements of these pre-Columbus civilizations, and seeks to redress "common" misconceptions that most Westerners have about "primitive, savage" Indian life. I am glad I read this book. I learned a great deal from this book, and was fascinated by the subject matter.
This book is also beautifully written, and makes the subject matter accessible to laypeople. I was expecting it to be readable buy dry, but it was instead a book that just compelled me to keep turning pages. It helps to bring these ancient civilizations to life, talks frankly about the impact of European colonization on these civilizations, and challenges the reader to set aside his/her textbook knowledge and consider seeing Native Americans in an all new light.
Every now and then a book comes out that makes science "sexy." For example, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, or "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester. To me, this is one of those books. It's both revealing and entertaining. "1491" was just a terrific read - thought provoking, compelling, entertaining, well researched. I even read all the appendices, and that's saying something.
I highly recommend this book.
Excellent insight into the latest research.......2007-09-25
Please don't confuse this excellent book with the poorly researched fantasy "1421: The Year China Discovered America." 1491 is an extremely well researched and documented look into the latest archaelogical findings and theories pertaining to life in North and South America prior to Columbus's landing.
Mann does an excellent job explaining the accuracies and flaws of the multitude of theories surrounding this topic. As he simply exposes the debates and doesn't attempt to resolve them himself, he provides an illustrative lesson that one should not become too entrenched with any particular theory on the pre-history of man as each theory is eventually overturned or modified by new findings.
His writing style seems similar to Jared Diamond. Mann, however, makes his points without getting bogged down in the excruciating details which makes this book much more readable than Guns, Germs, and Steel or Collapse (both of which were excellent books as well). With over 100 pages of notes and references he provides the reader with the necessary information for them to conduct their own level of research based upon their desires.
Fascinating but flawed.......2007-09-23
Henry Ford said that all history was bunk, and he had not even read 1491! What a shock to find that the population of the new world in 1491 was greater than that of the old world! That the natives, said to be long-term farmers, had shaped the landscape to suit themselves, that buffalo roamed in small numbers until old world diseases killed off most (90%) of the native tribes and thus allowed the huge herds to form. What a shock to find that many north American tribes considered themselves libertarian compared with the hierarchy bound Europeans. Yet more than enough evidence is given from old writings long ignored, and new archeological finds.
This is all fast and entertaining reading. There are many maps to help explanations, citations by page number, and an index. Mann traveled to several of the archeological sites.
On the downside, Mann talked of the "balanced diet" as though its desirability has been proven, and does not say how maize provided this "balance" (p18). The battle between Hernán Cortés's men and the Mexica was said to have been described as the costliest battle in history with 100,000 casualties (not deaths), (p129). Why no mention of Verdun in WWI with a million deaths and Stalingrad in WWII with a million deaths? Is a mammoth's molar really the size of a bowling ball? (p152) Mann wrote of winter on the Amazon river. I thought equatorial areas had wet and dry seasons, not the 4 seasons observed far from the equator (pp301,305).
But there is another, bigger fly in the ointment. Mann accepts the carbon dioxide from combustion hypothesis of global warming (pp300,308). Solar cycles of changing heat output and the sun's influence on cosmic ray effects on the Earth's clouds determine climate, not CO2 levels. [Jaworowski Z, Solar cycles, not CO2, determine climate, 21st Century Science and Technology, Winter 2003-2004, pp52-65. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Jaworowski or at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] According to Laurence Hecht, Editor of 21st Century Science & Technology: "Of all the hypotheses [on Earth climate], that of human-produced carbon dioxide as the forcing mechanism for warming is the most deeply and extensively studied, and by far the most discredited. No other hypothesis rests on such flagrant and lying disrepect for data as...on the falsification of the historical CO2 record." [Hecht L, What Really Causes Climate Change? EIR Science, 2 Mar 07, pp6-9. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] The other big falsification in this hypothesis, skyrocketing temperatures in the last 50 years to levels not seen in 1300 years, is exemplified by the temperature graph of Michael Mann, which was shown to be a fraud, not just a mistake [McIntyre, S., McKitrick, R. (2005). Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03710; doi:10.1029/2004GL021750], [Soon, W., Baliunas, S. (2003). Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years. Climate Research, 23, 89-110].
So for historical controversies Charles C. Mann appeared to do balanced work, with opposing ideas neatly cited. But by failing to look up the "other side" on global warming, he missed effects of giant volcanic eruptions and solar output changes on temperature. The Roman era warming and Medieval Climate Optimum, both with temperatures higher than now and the Little Ice Age (1500-1800) were ignored, thus their effects on migration and population sizes was missed. Now it seems that the crop failures of the Little Ice Age were a main reason for northern Europeans to try to move to a warmer climate.
As always with with non-fiction, some errors make the entire work suspicious. Still a worthwhile book with its limitations in mind.
Great history, great archeology, great read.......2007-09-23
I love fresh looks on old topics. This book delivers on that theme. As a history teacher I find the same mundane, lopsided, and inaccurate truths presented in textbooks about this era time and time again. Mann's book is a counterweight to that miseducation and shed's light on often under appreciated and misrepresented Native American societies.
Amazon.com
"The men as they rode turned black in the sun from the blood on their clothes and their faces and then paled slowly in the rising dust until they assumed once more the color of the land through which they passed." If what we call "horror" can be seen as including any literature that has dark, horrific subject matter, then Blood Meridian is, in this reviewer's estimation, the best horror novel ever written. It's a perverse, picaresque Western about bounty hunters for Indian scalps near the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s--a ragged caravan of indiscriminate killers led by an unforgettable human monster called "The Judge." Imagine the imagery of Sam Peckinpah and Heironymus Bosch as written by William Faulkner, and you'll have just an inkling of this novel's power. From the opening scenes about a 14-year-old Tennessee boy who joins the band of hunters to the extraordinary, mythic ending, this is an American classic about extreme violence.
Book Description
An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion,
Blood Meridianbrilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the "wild west." Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.
Customer Reviews:
A blood soaked tour de force.......2007-10-13
Everything you've heard about Blood Meridian is true; it really is a magnificently written, blood soaked tour de force. If you're like me and read The Road or No Country For Old Men before this, Blood Meridian is probably both exactly and nothing at all what you're expecting. The punctuation, diction and themes of violence and desolation are very much here, however McCarthy's writing style is quite different. It's a lot more descriptive with long, stream-of-conscious passages - the flip side of The Road's sparse prose. As well, Blood Meridian explores much larger themes than The Road or No Country, everything from the nature of war and violence to metaphysics. As I read Blood Meridian, I felt that it dragged a bit at times, but once I put it down, I can't get it out of my head. Stay with it if you read it - the final 12 pages or so are mindbogglingly good. Recommended for any self-respecting person who considers themselves well read in American literature.
What's Lies Beneath Man's Thin Veneer of Humanity.......2007-09-19
Mr. McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' examines the nature of man when the fragile constraints of civilization have been broken. To accentuate that all the horrors in 'Blood Meridian' area contained within each of us, Mr. McCarthy sets his novel in the land of our national myth, the 'Wild West.' Not Hollywood's 'Wild West' mind you, but one recognizable as something closer to what reality must have been. That's the truely frightening part.
As everyone notes, the violence starts early in the book and never lets up. Mr. McCarthy forces the reader to look, forces us to not look away. This horrific violence is the vehicle McCarthy uses to move the novel from on his pages to within our own minds. Once we follow the characters across the societally self-imposed border and left 'civilization' and 'humanity' behind, Glanton and 'The Judge' become OUR king and OUR high priest. As 'The Kid's' humanity slowly withers, we recognize the degradable nature of our own humanity. 'The Kid' is the reader. 'The Kid' is the individual. If we are honest with ourselves, McCarthy tells us that when faced with humanity's ever-present interior horrors (represented perfectly by 'The Judge') we are just as helpless.
That is the true horror of 'Blood Meridian.' Not the blood. Not the guts. Not even the dead babies. The horror of 'Blood Meridian' is that at any time we are a one choice, one action away from 'The Judge' and the constraining force of 'civilization' is tenuous at best. And once that thread of humanity has broken...
Mr. McCarthy's language paints a vivid picture but can be difficult to wade through. His word choice can be archaic and obscure, but no word (or sentence) in 'Blood Meridian' ever seems out of place. 'Blood Meridian' makes you work to understand what's going on. The 300 page book seemed much longer to me. Perhaps its because I reread passages. More likely it was because Mr. McCarthy can construct two or three paragraphs that give you the impression that you've seen every detail of a hundred mile journey, all within half of a page.
'Blood Meridian' is not a pretty book or one that fits within today's 'entertainment' consumer's expectations. 'Blood Meridian' is Hieronymus Bosch, not Claude Monet. Mr. McCarthy has created a novel sublime in its ability to frighten and disgust you. Don't let that dissuade you. It's well worth the effort.
Wordiness galore!.......2007-09-12
I think Cormac McCarthy is one of those authors who write for editors and english teachers more than the reader. How pretentious. There is unnecessary wordiness to this novel. It distracts from the story, which is pretty good. His sentence structure is such that I keep thinking that there are much easier ways to say something, kiddo! One reviewer compared him to Hemmingway, but I must disagree. Yes, they both fancy the compound sentence, but Hemmingway wrote in a simpler elegant style. And you can be a good writer and not have to constantly use obscure nouns and reversed adjectives and odd pronoun usage and...oops, caught myself in a compound sentence.
He's heard this criticism before. And maybe it registered because The Road is much better read. Short sentences aren't bad, mi amigos.
Obsessive.......2007-08-26
This is only the second Mccarthy novel I have read,I might try one more before I give up.
There's no doubt that McCarhty is a gifted writer, but I don't share his obsession with violence and inhumanity, maybe that's his point, and in truth, looking at the world today I wonder if we've made any progress at all. Nevertheless I can't abide the literary vision here. I think its a waste of my time to read something that tells me what I already know and pounds in the pointlessness of life, as the authour sees it, till I am sick to death of it, I know there's more to life than this, and I quit the book. I couldn't read anymore after less than a hundred pages. I knew the whole thing would be just more of the same so why bother?
I don't think McCarthys a great writer, he dwells too much on the irredeemably demonic in man. He's an interesting writer, his style, his antique knowledge, his ornate vocabulary, but it takes more than this to make a writer with a response to life that is worthy rather than an indulgence in the depths of horror humanity is capable of. If you want the classic depiction of this, but also with reflection and thoughtfulness about man's plight than all you have to do is read, "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad.
1 doesn't begin to describe this waste of time.......2007-08-20
I listened to about half of the audio book and negative adjectives fail. I tried to tolerate it, I tried to give it much more effort than I felt it deserved or would ever reward me with just a experience that was better than listening to my own internal dialogue. The only thing I could even begin to care about was the animals. There wasn't a character that I was even remotely interested in, I certainly wasn't even the least bit curious as to what happened to them, let alone care about even enough to wish their demise. The evil, amorality of the characters hold no interest, no fascination and is very soon boring instead of evocative of anything. There is nothing inventive, interesting or otherwise at all compelling. You don't care about the Kid or the characters that surround him, you don't care about the people they kill, you don't care that the killings are brutal, and often indiscriminate. You don't care if they kill 10, 100 or 1000 Indians, Mexicans, by-standers or who or whatever ever. The violence is not fascinating, not shocking, not even numbing. In the end it's just repetitive and boring.
Read the phone book, read the want ads, don't bother with this, ever, for any reason.
Book Description
Winner of the 1996 American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship
Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. In ten powerful chapters, Loewen reveals that:
- The United States dropped three times as many tons of explosives in Vietman as it dropped in all theaters of World War II, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Ponce de Leon went to Florida mainly to capture Native Americans as slaves for Hispaniola, not to find the mythical fountain of youth
- Woodrow Wilson, known as a progressive leader, was in fact a white supremacist who personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations
- The first colony to legalize slavery was not Virginia but Massachusetts
From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring to it the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.
Customer Reviews:
Historical Essay, NOT an easy read!.......2007-10-14
I absolutely loved this book and read it in 2 days. But, I am also a history major, love history, and can read dry lectures. As a fair warning to anyone who is looking to buy this book: don't expect to find fun little quirks and trivia in this book, and don't expect it to be an easy read! It is a college professor's serious and well-researched book, geared toward other historians and scholars. IT IS DRY, IT HAS LOTS OF DATA, IT HAS LOTS OF FOOTNOTES.
If you ARE a history buff, you will probably already know all of the "lies" in the book, but it is still an excellent read. You will be outraged at the lack of ethics of publishers and historians paid to pretend to write textbooks. If you are a history teacher, you DEFINITELY need to read this book and question what your textbooks are (or are not) teaching.
Lastly, if you are an American who still believes the US is THE GREATEST NATION in the world, or THE US IS THE WORLD PROTECTOR, or THE US IS ALWAYS RIGHT, you need to pick up this book right away and re-educate yourself with the facts your old high school social studies book left out.
Book in good condition and delivered quickly.......2007-09-28
I enjoyed this book - all history people should read it! thank you for the quick delivery
Political Conversational tool.......2007-07-31
Although at times unsettling, the purpose of this book is to encourage the questioning of the indoctrinated a one-sided viewpoint of American History.
If you have a cultural diverse group of friends this book may help you understand their indifferences with American History.
A true American accepts both positive and negative parts of history. We don't have to make facts disappear. Acceptance doesn't mean liking, enjoying or condoning. In accepting the truth we can evolve as a nation, but by denying facts we will forever be stuck in cultural wars.
Not a page-turner, not to crazy with the writing style, but interesting.
Absolutely Fantastic! Unfortunately.......2007-07-25
Great book on how the history classes in elementary and high schools have been watered down to the point where they are meaningless. You've always heard people say "those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it". It wasn't until I got to college that I was truely able to see why that is so, when our history classes went beyond "dates and facts". In this book, he makes his points about the dumbing down of history by discussing people, events and facts that have been poorly covered, or ingnored. Sometimes what is taught is just plain wrong, and KNOWN to be wrong by the people writing the books!! This is generally done to avoid controversy and hide distasteful events, or avoid tough questions that have no easy answer. History that is inaccurate, without explaining the context of the times and it's effects today is useless for anything OTHER than propoganda. History is abused (and made into propoganda) by liberal and conservative alike. They ignore facts or context to paint either an overly harsh, or overly rosey picture of our past. This book gives some insight on the damage that causes, especially to minorities whose history is glossed over or just plain inaccurate. This leads to a sense of shame that they somehow haven't contributed to the greatness this country has acheived. A note to the people claiming this is revisonist history. The history you studied in school IS revisionist history! Most people who claim this is revisionist do not support their claims with facts, just claims that it's revisionist because the facts he presents make them uncomfortable. Seek the truth, and let it make you free.
A Must-Read for any American.......2007-07-17
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong is a fresh look at the process of U.S. History textbook creation and adoption. Having written a history textbook himself on Mississippi, author James W. Loewen provides a unique and insightful perspective on this process and how frustrating it can be. Leading readers through case after case of major figures and events in American history including Christopher Columbus, Hellen Keller, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil Rights Movement, Loewen systematically debunks the ideas of progress and heroification. He uses well-cited primary source documents to do this. By removing the historical halos surrounding these and other important people, Loewen hopes that students of American history will discover the inner conflict within those "heroes". Moreover, he desires for American history to be more than a mere memorization of names, dates, and places; he asserts that by exploring the past with more depth and specificity through primary source documents, one can better understand the forces that have shaped it.
As I began to read this book, I was immediately captivated by the suggestion that I had missed out on important truths regarding our country's past. Believing my high school education to be excellent, I wondered what my teachers whom I held in such high regard could have taught me incorrectly. The book starts with Helen Keller, the blind and deaf woman who learns to communicate with the help of a mentor, Anne Sullivan. Honestly, this is all I really knew about her from the film The Miracle Worker. Loewen reveals that learning to live with her handicaps was only a point of departure for Keller, who became a radical socialist who was a member of the Socialist party and lauded the rise of communism in Russia. While some might find this information troubling, it made sense to me. Keller, reliant on a community of others to support her, experienced a life that required a quasi-socialist structure. The remainder of this chapter discussed how Woodrow Wilson, the man who called for the creation of the League of Nations in his Fourteen Points for Peace following World War I, had already invaded many countries in Latin America and provided troops for the Russian Civil War. These aggressive military actions don't seem peaceful at all. By this point in the book, I was fascinated and ready to learn more.
As I continued through the book I realized that even though I agreed with most of Loewen's assertions, I still found bias in them. I can see why many reviewers of this book found it to be overwhelmingly pessimistic; from a particular viewpoint, it could ruin the images of many American "heroes" by disclosing embarrassing information about them. I would assert that even though I don't know anything about Loewen, I would bet that he is socially and politically liberal based on his commentary on his findings. Even the topics covered in this book support ideas that are essentially progressive: that America is an amalgamation of Native American, African, and European cultures rather than a transplanting of European influences, that non-Europeans played significant roles in the history of America, and that many of our white heroes possessed great flaws.
Acknowledging these things, I must admit that I am fairly liberal myself and found both pleasure and academic stimulation from Loewen's progressive stance. He validates suspicions I have always had about many of these historical figures, that they couldn't be perfect people possessing morals, intellects, and abilities greater than people today. In addition, I've often believed that America's "democratization" of the world was more in the interest of hegemony rather than benevolence. Seeing Woodrow Wilson's military campaigns in other countries, our treatment of communist and socialist countries like Russia, Cuba, and North Korea, and our violent actions in the Vietnam War supports that belief.
While the first six chapters of the book seem to present only Loewen's revisionist stance, the last six chapters do a better job at presenting alternate viewpoints. In his discussion of social stratification in textbooks, for instance, he suggests critical theory could be at play, omitting facts and ideas that would illuminate the schism between the upper and lower classes in America. He then provides a counter-argument, citing Eyes on the Prize, Who Rules America Now? And Savage Inqeualities as subversive and revealing books published by elite-controlled publishing houses; he also cites exhibits of this type at large American History museums run by the upper class.
That history can be viewed through different sociological, economic, and cultural lenses reveals how "truth" is in the eye of the beholder, a notion this book supports. I've often said, "Those who want to believe in God will find him and those who don't will not." This concept is salient in determining truth in history. American history textbooks purposely omit information and whitewash mistakes of our forefathers because they will not get published or adopted if they offend a certain interest group or state adoption board. The "vanilla America" represented in these books support the idea of progress--a sentimental notion that despite our flaws, America is better off now than it was a hundred years ago and will continue to improve in the future. How can this be when the gap between the richest and poorest peoples of the world is larger now than ever before? Those who want to believe that America is the greatest country in the world and that America is and has always been the leading proponent of freedom in the world will seek sources that substantiate those ideas. Likewise, they will reject sources that suggest otherwise. Loewen's findings show that not only has America failed to be a benevolent harbinger of liberty and hope, but it also continues to sow hegemony throughout today's global community.
Ultimately, those who believe in American domination and the myth of progress will not like this book. American history textbooks produce citizens who will believe in these ethnocentric superlatives. This is wonderful for the perpetuation of the status quo of American economic and military supremacy. However, books like Loewen's will produce Americans who can see how our country truly developed, confirming another one of my sayings, "The fact that the world is the way it is doesn't mean that's the way it should be." This realization will create a different kind of citizen, one who realizes that flawed people can still do great things, understands that contemporary society is a plethora of historical forces at work, and believes that despite our country's mistakes, we still have much to be proud of.
Book Description
How do cultural differences and real-world issues affect the education of students, in this case, American Indian students? What approaches have real teachers found that work well with American Indian students? This books answers these and more thoughtful questions about teaching in today's diverse school communities.
KEY TOPICS: This book captures the collected wisdom of nearly 60 teachers of American Indian students, their frustrations, joys, and challenges. It provides in a very real way, a portrait of the issues that challenge these students, as well as the successes some teachers have in working with American Indian students. It provides new and fresh perspectives on learning styles and literacy issues. It is also the first book to confront issues of historic oppression and its impact on contemporary Indian education. New and practicing teachers seeking to enhance their awareness and teaching methods to meet the needs of today's diverse classrooms.
Customer Reviews:
A must-read!.......2000-05-24
Possibly the most useful book available for anyone working in or considering working in elementary and secondary American Indian education. As a tribal school employee, I felt the authors may have used our school as a case study! Thought provoking and inspirational - highly recommended.
A journey in understanding.......1998-12-12
These gentle, generous-spirited writers have contributed a great deal to the field. Their book is full of stories, true tales of work in classrooms. Each leads you further into the depths of insight needed to be of use as an educator of Native American students.
Book Description
Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a master … who makes the ordinary extraordinary, the unnamable unforgettable,” beloved author Jim Harrison returns with a masterpiece—a tender, profound, and magnificent novel about life, death, and finding redemption in unlikely places. Slowly dying of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Donald, a middle-aged Chippewa-Finnish man, begins dictating family stories he has never shared with anyone, hoping to preserve history for his children. The dignity of Donald’s death and his legacy encourages his loved ones to find a way to redeem—and let go of—the past, whether through his daughter’s emersion in Chippewa religious ideas or his mourning wife’s attempt to escape the malevolent influence of her own father. A deeply moving book about origins and endings, and how to live with honor for the dead, Returning to Earth is one of the finest novels of Harrison’s long, storied career, and will confirm his standing as one of the most important American writers now working.
Customer Reviews:
Regal in force, and depth and plume .......2007-06-22
Deft writing with scalding pots of humanity. Spirituality takes a swan dive from quarry heights; a writer sets the cleanest line.
Jim Harrison continues the saga of Donald and Cynthia in this heart wrenching novel that addresses terminal illness, loss, humanity, and celebrates life. For some readers, Jim Harrison is a hard read, for me, he is a return home. He is quite simply without a doubt one of the greatest writers of our time. I find release in his rambling narratives and a genius that only a handful of writers can take hold of, harness, and direct.
Returning to Earth is one of Harrisons best works yet, and I find myself wondering truly, how this writer finds time to get it all down. He is a fountain that has no end. Speaking of endings; I for one, felt as if death and re-birth could not have been explained or written about more beautifully. Maybe, one has to have lost a loved one to a terminal illness to truly grasp the pain and love that is contained within these pages.
Returning to Earth, is a continuation of a cast of characters that mirror society. Like it or not, Harrison's eye carves the truth out with no shame. The ending of Returning to Earth is like an unfolding dreamscape, one of the best winding narratives of Harrison's.
And I can even hear the bear calling calling calling
Returning [the book] to the owner.......2007-06-05
I really wanted to like this book. Primarily because it was recommended by a reliable source whose literary opinion I value. Secondarily because I could sense that there was more beneath the surface of the story; I simply couldn't access it. On the surface, "Returning to Earth" explores the circular question of life and death that all of us are challenged with at some point. In this account, the author chooses the Native American culture and a terminal illness as the framework within which life and death are examined. Donald is the biracial Native American/Finnish main character diagnosed with Lou Garret's disease. The story opens with Donald trying to dictate his life and ancestral history to his wife for posterity's sake. Set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula region with a backdrop lush with virgin forests and the wildlife that accompanies them; the novel is a four part story of Donald's dying and its impact on his loved ones. Each part is narrated by a different member of the family and pays homage to Donald's humanity, wisdom and spirituality. Assisted suicide, reincarnation, and our connectedness with nature are the cornerstones of Harris' tale. While the story did solidify my appreciation for an individual's right to die (interestingly, I was reading this novel when Dr. Kevorkian was released from prison for doing for others what Donald's family lovingly did for him) it did little to expand on my understanding of reincarnation or depression. The novel is populated with interesting characters that are wonderfully drawn but I just couldn't connect with the story. I feel that the novel lacks the depth and nuisance required to address the issues that it explores. While "Returning to Earth" wasn't the worst thing that I've lately I can't recommend it either.
a family history.......2007-05-30
In a recent radio interview, Jim Harrison laughed when asked about the demographics of his readers. For 40 years, he says, his publishers have been trying to figure that out. His characters typically inhabit less populated, unglamorous locales like the West and Midwest, and whatever wisdom they attain is often gleaned from the natural world. Donald, the central character of RETURNING TO EARTH, is in some ways the Harrison Ur-hero, facing his impending death from Lou Gehrig's disease. "I'm forty-five and it seems I'm to leave the earth early but these things happen to people."
The first of the novel's four parts is in his voice, dictated to his wife Cynthia, recounting what he knows of his family history in order to preserve it for his grown children, Herald and Clare. We find that he is the first male in four generations not to be named Clarence, and that he is probably over half-Chippewa. "For all practical purposes my dad and I weren't the least bit Indian but were just among the ordinary tens of thousands of mixed bloods in the Upper Peninsula."
Donald lost his mother to schizophrenia at a young age, but succeeded as an athlete due to his size. Working alongside his father, in the employ of a wealthy and decadent white family, he fell in love with Cynthia, the daughter, and they ran away and married as teens. Donald intersperses his family history with matter-of-fact comments on his disease and cryptic references to his personal religion, which is rooted in the more traditional Chippewa ways of his Aunt Flower, who lives in the woods and renders lard for her mince pie crusts from pigs she raises and slaughters herself. This digressive tale could be chaotic, but rather it pulls us into the story, gradually introducing the characters who will have to figure out how to carry on without Donald.
The remaining three parts of the novel feature the first person narratives of "K," Donald's friend and nephew; David, Cynthia's brother; and Cynthia herself, all of whom are vastly affected by losing Donald. K is the son of Polly, David's ex-wife, a smart young man who has been away at school but is not sorry to return to Marquette to help with Donald. He is not sorry for many reasons --- he loves and truly admires Donald, he loves and kind of lusts after Cynthia despite their age difference, and he loves and beds their daughter Clare when she finally arrives back on the scene from California. (In case you're paying close attention, K and Clare are not blood cousins, since K is Polly's son from a subsequent marriage.)
K's account covers Donald's death and burial in Canada, where the family can arrange these matters as they wish. David's part picks up after Donald is gone and as he grieves in his own dithering way. David and Cynthia's parents were both rich drunks, their father particularly perverse and at times abusive. As Cynthia says, David is "very nice but has been basically goofy since he was a little boy. He couldn't accept the fact that Dad was a lost cause." David is a womanizer like his father, but different in that he forms deep, lasting attachments to the women in his life and doesn't hanker after jail-bait.
Cynthia's part begins months after Donald's death. She has tried to make plans and continue teaching, but she is continually tired and interrupted by grief. Donald had told her she'd have to get a new boyfriend after he died, and she's aware of her burgeoning need for physical contact, but she's confused about how to go about getting it appropriately. There seems to have been no ambiguity whatsoever in the long, sure love between Donald and Cynthia. And while Cynthia is a realistic, strong person, we wonder along with her whether she'll ever truly heal.
Succinctly, RETURNING TO EARTH is a rich, carefully crafted novel about an admirable life and a good death. As K puts it, "To care for Donald in his present state is to finally understand that there are no miracles except that we exist. Like his ancestor Clarence, we ride a big horse to the east and then it's over."
--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol
The Best.......2007-05-21
There's just no other writer the equal of Jim Harrison.
Readers, you're in for a treat. Writers, read it and weep.
My Favorite Harrison Work.......2007-05-15
I have a love/hate relationship with Harrison's works. I put up with the rambling, often disorganized plots and bleak characters for the beautiful, poetic prose and his strong sense of identity with the land. This book came full-circle in the end, offering the possibility of redemption which is unusual in his writing. Yes, his characters are often caught up in chaotic situations that are often not of their own making, but for most that is the nature of life. I loved this book.
Average customer rating:
- Indian
- Enchanting and riveting, this story will stay with you
- Island Of The Blue Dolphins!
- May be too adult for 10 or 11 yr olds
- good
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Island of the Blue Dolphins
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