Amazon.com
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.
Book Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.
Customer Reviews:
Very insightful, a worth while read.......2007-10-06
I highly recommend reading this book. Diamond provides compelling evidence for the disparity between civilizations. Any fan of history or just anyone curious about the rise of our current state will find a great read in Guns, Germs, and Steel.
guns,germs and steel.......2007-10-05
great perspective other than what we in western cultures traditionally have in in our relations with 3rd world countries
Dimly Focused.......2007-09-25
Though erudite and crammed with information, some of it a bit arcane, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"suffers somewhat from a blunted point of view. Is the author trying to tell us that some of our assumptions concerning the rise of cultural norms are over simplified? If so, he might have done so more forcefully with fewer words, more carefully selected facts, and perhaps a more lucid writing style. Do some societies prevail because their native tongue is more efficient and expressive than those employed by other cultures? Following that theme might have made for a more intriguing book. Are there some determinisms at work in every culture which inhibit the fulfillment of its destiny? Maybe the author thinks so, but the massive brush used to paint such a scenario causes the entire work to shimmy through a mass of frequently fascinating material without conclusions. The book's excessive length detracts from its compelling points: we live, some of the time, at the mercy of gigantic forces we do not control. Do genetics control our formation, or climate, or enormous economic systems? And who can give us convincing answers? Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists of course come to mind. But what of poets, seers, artists, and theologians? Maybe Jared Diamond knows, but by the time he finishes inundating us with facts, some slightly pretentious, it's hard to tell for sure. I had hoped this book's scope and claim would give convincing guidance. But because it lacks definite focus, it did not.
Guns Germs and Steel review.......2007-09-24
This is an excellent book, the hypothesis is very compelling and interesting. I watched the DVD in addition to the book and I was not disappointed at all. Worth the read!
A modern, scientific "just so" story.......2007-09-23
One of the most important books of our time; it single-handedly wipes out every justification for racism, and gets to the roots of why humans groups are where they are presently. An amazing synthesis of disciplines into one very readable explanation of how it came to pass that Europeans happened to be the ones that colonized the rest of the planet instead of some other group. The most clear example I've ever seen of why archaeology, and all the social sciences are not only important but vital to modern people. The better our understanding of the past the more likely we are to be able to let go of the emotionality that keeps us at each other's throats. A modern "just so" story.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
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.
Book Description
This reader of primary sources focuses on the burgeoning field of the Medieval family. While much of what it means to be in love, or to marry, or to be part of a family has remained consistent over the past two millennia, dramatic changes have also taken place. Love, Marriage, and the Family in the Middle Ages now allows readers a vivid sense of what these issues, which make up so much of daily life, meant to those in the Middle Ages.
Book Description
When early Christians began to study the Bible, and to write their own history and that of the Jews whom they claimed to supersede, they used scholarly methods invented by the librarians and literary critics of Hellenistic Alexandria. But Origen and Eusebius, two scholars of late Roman Caesarea, did far more. Both produced new kinds of books, in which parallel columns made possible critical comparisons previously unenvisioned, whether between biblical texts or between national histories. Eusebius went even farther, creating new research tools, new forms of history and polemic, and a new kind of library to support both research and book production.
Christianity and the Transformation of the Book combines broad-gauged synthesis and close textual analysis to reconstruct the kinds of books and the ways of organizing scholarly inquiry and collaboration among the Christians of Caesarea, on the coast of Roman Palestine. The book explores the dialectical relationship between intellectual history and the history of the book, even as it expands our understanding of early Christian scholarship. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book attends to the social, religious, intellectual, and institutional contexts within which Origen and Eusebius worked, as well as the details of their scholarly practices--practices that, the authors argue, continued to define major sectors of Christian learning for almost two millennia and are, in many ways, still with us today.
Customer Reviews:
". . . we are still the heirs of Origen and Eusebius".......2007-10-02
There is much to like about this book. While a few assertions and historical models are certainly debatable, Grafton and Williams have authored a fascinating account of the origin of rigorous western scholarship. Among the giants of philological erudition and text collection, preservation, translation and analysis, Origen was a titan of the titans. His Hexapala "was one of the greatest single moments of Roman scholarship," and he has cast a very long shadow in which we stand today. Of course, he didn't live and work in an intellectual vacuum, as the authors demonstrate at some length. The following excerpts will lend some small sense of their book:
". . . the scholars of Christian Caesarea lived in a time of seismic cultural change, a time when one regime of book production and storage supplanted another . . . they were themselves impresarios of the scriptorium and the library, and developed new forms of scholarship that depended on their abilities to collect and produce new kinds of books . . . they struggled to devise texts that could impose order on highly varied forms of information. . .
". . . Christian scholars used written materials--both those they inherited from others, and those they created themselves--in ways that drew upon classical precedents, but they also developed these in new directions. They made their technical mastery of the production of complex books the basis of new kinds of intellectual authority, which in turn shaped new modes of scholarly inquiry. . . We in the modern university owe a great debt to this particular strand of the Christian intellectual tradition."
Book Description
In the fourth volume of the acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill brings his characteristic wit and style to a fascinating tour of ancient Greece.
The Greeks invented everything from Western warfare to mystical prayer, from logic to statecraft. Many of their achievements, particularly in art and philosophy, are widely celebrated; other important innovations and accomplishments, however, are unknown or underappreciated. In Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill explores the legacy, good and bad, of the ancient Greeks. From the origins of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European tribes into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, to the formation of the city-states, to the birth of Western literature, poetry, drama, philosophy, art, and architecture, Cahill makes the distant past relevant to the present.
Greek society is one of the two primeval influences on the Western world: While Jews gave us our value system, the Greeks set the foundation and framework for our intellectual lives. They are responsible for our vocabulary, our logic, and our entire system of categorization. They provided the intellectual tools we bring to bear on problems in philosophy, mathematics, medicine, physics, and the other sciences. Their modes of thinking, considered in classical times to be the pinnacle of human achievement, are largely responsible for the shape that the Christian religion took.
But, as Cahill points out, the Greeks left a less appealing bequest as well. They created Western militarism and, in making the warrior the ultimate ideal, perpetrated the assumption that only males could be entrusted with the duties of citizenship. The consequences of their exclusion of women from the political sphere and the social segregation of the sexes continue to reverberate today.
Full of surprising, often controversial, insights, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea is a remarkable intellectual adventure—conducted by the most companionable guide imaginable. Cahill’s knowledge of his sources is so intimate that he has made his own fresh translations of the Greek lyric poets for this volume.
Customer Reviews:
Aegean Genesis.......2007-09-23
All of the books in Thomas Cahill's Hinges of History popular history series are engaging and occasionally irreverent. Sometimes, however, a book's title premise does end up seeming just a bit smaller than the number of pages allotted to it. In "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Why the Greeks Matter," the reverse is true. The book's covers struggle to contain the ideas within. To paraphrase Peter Benchley: You're going to need a bigger book. Cahill doesn't though. Somehow he manages to fit much of the genesis of the long journey to who we are today within the book's 304 pages of text and appendices. The reader will find philosophy, theatre, history, sculpture and rhetoric, and many other Greek roots of Western civilization, all bubbling up in Mr. Cahill's happy cauldron.
After reading Edith Hamilton's classic popular history "The Greek Way," a person could legitimately feel that he or she has learned much through Ms. Hamilton's literate and well-reasoned presentation of ancient Greek thought and deed. On the other hand, when a reader finishes "Why the Greeks Matter," he or she may feel the need to rush out and devour Homer, Aeschylus, Pindar, Sappho and Plato. That same reader may also feel a compulsion to book a flight to Greece in order to be able to look up from a guide book and see the Parthenon atop the Acropolis or to sail the wine-dark sea in a ship of any hue.
The Greeks do matter, and Mr. Cahill makes a reader want to realize that truth.
Another excellent entry in the Hinges of History series by Cahill.......2007-08-23
Thomas Cahill is doing a great service in making the basic tenets of Western European history available, readable and enjoyable. After a few decades of trying so hard to right the wrongs of centuries and thereby turning the pendulum so far back, the study of history would seem to start and end with ANYTHING BUT "dead white males" which does a disservice to everybody. Cahill would remind us of the highlights of the shared cultural history for all of us who live in the Western world, no matter where our ancestors came from.
Picking apart, as some reviewers have done, that he doesn't delve into this or that major battle or expound on the importance of the trireme...that is exactly the type of dry academic history that drives off the reader who is wants a book to be interesting and to learn something new, not to pass a test. At this Cahill is excellent. I could quibble too, having my favorite time periods or persons skimmed over, but the idea is for these 5 books, the "Hinges of History" series (How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, The Desire of the Everlasting Hills, the Mysteries of the Middle Ages) to be light and quickly read. This book on the Greeks gives us a quick look at their civilization, its arts, plays, (Homer rates a chapter unto himself as it should be, and in fact made me want to go read the translation by Fogle he quotes from extensively)...their warfare, recreation, philosophy, finally, how they "ended", when their they were conquered first by Alexander the Great and then by Rome, and then even further culturally extinguished by their absorption into Christianity which changed the uniqueness of what they were forever, for better or worse.
The Greeks invented democracy, not so little a thing when you think about it, and utilized it, really actually utilized it, for a long time. Eventually their political sytem too devolved into tyranny, and then they were conquered by outsiders, but for a brief time in all of the long history of the past in all of the planet, there was a small city-state which came up with this unbelievable idea, and put it into action. That, alone, would make them, as a people, memorable. Yes, they had slaves, and treated women badly (no worse than most ancient cultures and many modern ones however.)
Their democracy--actually, speaking only of Athen's and it's colonies for about 200 years: "Athens the world's firsts attempt at a democracy---a Greek word meaning "rule by the people"---still stands out as the most wildly participatory government in history. Never again would such a broadly based...model be attempted. And...it worked."
(Sparta, on the other hand,was "ruled by...a council of old men, was an airless, artless,nightmare of xenophobic military preparedness, the North Korea of its day.")
The Athenians idealized beauty, invented philosophical discussion, took mathematics and medicine from the ancient Egyptians and in the case of mathematics, kept on and on with it, tying it to philosophy and turning it something no longer earthbound, no longer just for the building of monuments for dead kings.
A worthwhile book, one that would hopefully introduce some people to the Greeks, reintroduce others, and perhaps help rehabilitate them again into our cultural legacy where they belong. Without them, none of us would be as we are, and probably be the worse for it.
Greek History "Lite".......2007-08-03
Actually I was enjoying the book most of the way through. Cahill writes well, without every drab detail that most history textbooks include. My disappointment started around chapter 7 "Greco-Roman Meets Judeo-Christian" where Cahill applauds separation of church and state. Worse, he takes it a step further and jumps on the Bush-bashing bandwagon, even specifically calling out Don Rumsfeld as an imperialist and criticizing the current administration for a "dismissive" approach to the UN. Perhaps the author hadn't noticed the UN is filled with dictators and deep corruption. Sorry Mr. Cahill, you just alienated half of your fan base.
Sailing the Wine Dark Sea.......2007-07-07
When I was a boy I was given a book on classical Greece. A childs book, it celebrated the virtues of Greece and passed by some of the less-glamorous characteristics.
Mr. Cahill writes a fascinating a highly understandable book about the heritage that we, who think of ourselves as Westerners, owe to the Greeks of the classical age. I avoid the term "ancient" when I discuss the Greeks of this period, as even though they are seperated from us by 2,400 years, they are not only like us in many ways, they ARE us. Unlike earlier cultures, the contentious and divisive Greeks are our progenitors. Mr. Cahill has written an excellent narrative regarding the debt that western culture owes to the political, social, artistic, and cultural inventions of the Greeks, both good and bad, and he does so in a lively and very thoughtful way.
This is probably not a book which will provide new information to the serious scholar, however it will cause almost any reader to stop and reflect on our heritage, where it cam from, and how it evolved.
HARD TO LISTEN TO.......2007-06-06
I find that with audio, if I am not happy at the end of the first cd, I move on to the next book... This is one of those. I learned little in the first cd, didnt learn anything about why the greeks mattered - maybe he is saving the interesting stuff for the last 4 cd,s.
Book Description
The Renaissance holds an undying place in our imagination, its great heroes still our own, from Michelangelo and Leonardo to Dante and Chaucer. This period of profound evolution in European thought is credited with transforming the West from medieval to modern and producing the most astonishing outpouring of artistic creation the world has ever known. But what was it? In this masterly work, the incomparable Paul Johnson tells us. He explains the economic, technological, and social developments that provide a backdrop to the age’s achievements and focuses closely on the lives and works of its most important figures. A commanding short narrative of this vital period, The Renaissance is also a universally profound meditation on the wellsprings of innovation.
Customer Reviews:
Clear and readable, and a touch opinionated.......2006-06-26
There is real value in this little book. And while I wouldn't call it "exciting", if you like a splash of opinion in your reading then this rises above the average academic text.
This well-organized "Short History" does a fine job of outlining the major times, people, and places where the great wheel of the Renaissance turned. I like the attempt to divide the arts into writing, sculpture, architecture, and painting. I found that by not mixing artistic genres in discussion, it was easier to absorb who influenced whom, and when.
So why do I only give three stars? Two reasons. First, the opnions mixed in with facts bother me. What the author knows about an artist should be kept clearly separate from what the author thinks of an artist. For example, Masaccio gets a pass on being "sloppy", preoccupied, or difficult mostly because he died at age 27 and is poorly documented. Michalangelo and Leonardo are both singled out for opinionated criticism based on their personages, not their art.
The second reason this book loses a star might have more to do with the publisher than the author. Pictures. I fail to see why pictures of the wonderful artwork and buildings being described could not be inserted freely into the book. If Palladio never built two structures the same, then why not show side by side pictures of two of his surviving structures in Venice to show his flair for originality?
So, as a summary of the Renaissance this isn't bad. But it isn't great either. Soak in the history, ignore the opinions.
Solid Introduction to the Italian Renaissance.......2005-12-05
This is a good book for anyone looking for a solid yet succinct introduction to the Renaissance. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a light read by the number of pages or concise format. It is very fast paced and densely packed with information. The book is a very comprehensive treatment of the art and literature of the period although it does not delve in very deep.
The book is organized very logically with very good chapters on Literature & Scholarship, Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting. The coverage of the local politics, which was a significant influence on the art of the time, was a little lacking. There was very little information on the Medici's or the invasions of Charles VIII, Francois I, or Charles V.
This book is a great introduction to the Renaissance. For readers who would like more in-depth coverage, I would recommend "History of Italian Renaissance" by Frederick Hartt. For more information on the artist's themselves, contemporary Giorgio Vasari's classic "Lives of the Artists" is the ultimate resource. Two highly readable and wonderful books on specific events of the period are Ross King's "Brunelleschi's Dome" and "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling".
Lack of pictures in a major drawback.......2004-06-10
I am quite surprised at how many great reviews this book has received. My only explanation for this is that the this author must attract readers who already have considerable historical background. As one who really wanted an introduction to this time period, I feel the book sped way too quickly through its specialized topics, while omitting important areas. (If you are going to make the book all about the artistic achievements of the Renaissance, why not at least mention the musical accomplishments of composers such as Josquin and Palestrina?)
I completely agree with the reviewer who felt that this was full of name-dropping without much depth. I felt that the book focused too much on artistic individuals without developing a sense of what Renaissance life was like for the everyday person.
Most importantly, it was very hard to appreciate all the works of the artists mentioned without any pictures. It was like reading a pamplet about all the works in a museum, without ever going into the musuem.
Good, and concise.......2003-07-31
I am a layman with regard to the arts, but has a keen interest in it, and I thoroughly enjoyed this little work by Paul Johnson. As always he is opinionated, sometimes infuriatingly so (I notice from the formal reviews that this does not endear him to academic historians), but that prevents his writing from being dull and academic. So what if he thinks that England had produced only four authors possessing of true genius- it's his opinion and he is entitled to state it. In this book Johnson gives a concise overview of the Renaissance: why it happened, and the major figures who contributed to this re-birth of painting, sculpture, etc. And he keeps it short, mercifully- it was nice to be able to finish a Johnson in a few days instead of a few months.
Above all, after reading this I want to re-visit Florence, the centre of the Renaissance, with this book in hand, looking for the wonderful art works produced by the masters. And I am sure that is what Johnson hoped for when writing this book, that it would make readers excited about the art of the Renaissance.
Short and Delightful.......2003-07-22
This is the first book I read of Paul Johnson's that is not a kilopage tome. In less than 200 pages, Johnson gave the Renaissance a most delightful treatment.
This book will disappoint those who try to look for exhaustive treatment of any area of literature and art of that fabulous era, or of any of the fabled masters. But it delights the reader with a short tour of the Renaissance Italy (and to a lesser degree, Europe) by vivid illustrations of some of the most outstanding literary, architecture and artistic accomplishments and the personalities behind them.
A most valuable part of this small volume is its casting of the Renaissance in a historical and geographical context. What brought about this marvelous revival of high arts? How was it related to the Gothic tradition? How some "imported" technologies, such as the movable type printing press from Germany and the oil paint from the Low Countries, were enthusiastically adopted by the Italians in propagating ideas and revolutionizing art forms. How the guild system produced successive generations of artists and also contemporaneous competition. Roles played by local politics and art patrons, and, of course, the church. And how eventually the French and German invasions from the north undermined the power foundation of this spectacular flowering of the arts, while ushering in the era of Reformation and the Baroque.
As a short history book - rather than a subject matter book - I find it informative, illuminating and well worth a couple of evening's reading time.
Book Description
The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization (nine volumes) makes available to students and teachers a unique selection of primary documents, many in new translations. These readings, prepared for the highly praised Western civilization sequence at the University of Chicago, were chosen by an outstanding group of scholars whose experience teaching that course spans almost four decades. Each volume includes rarely anthologized selections as well as standard, more familiar texts; a bibliography of recommended parallel readings; and introductions providing background for the selections. Beginning with Periclean Athens and concluding with twentieth-century Europe, these source materials enable teachers and students to explore a variety of critical approaches to important events and themes in Western history.
Individual volumes provide essential background reading for courses covering specific eras and periods. The complete nine-volume series is ideal for general courses in history and Western civilization sequences.
Book Description
Sources of the West
presents a well-balanced selection of readings that integrate coverage of social, economic, religious, and cultural history within a traditional, political framework.
The text includes constitutional documents, political theory, philosophy, imaginative literature, and social description that raise significant issues for classroom discussions or lectures. By reading the voices of the past, students can connect them to the present; learn to understand and respect other cultures; and think critically about history.
Book Description
The Crusades: A Reader brings together an unprecedented range and variety of medieval texts on the subject. Along with standard texts, chapters on Spanish and eastern European subjects help to set the book apart. Military and political events are covered along with ideological, economic, social and cultural elements. European Christian, Greek Muslim, and Jewish sources are included along with a substantial chapter on the Latin crusader states in the Middle East.
Customer Reviews:
Extremely Ambitious - And Mostly Successful.......2005-08-18
This is a collection of sources relating to the Crusades. As always, I'm a big fan of these types of works. The editors have compiled 104 sources ranging in scope from 4th century accounts of pilgrimages to the Holy Lands to Vasco de Gama's late fifteenth century explorations.
The sources used are wide-ranging and broad in scope. Among these are Augustine of Hippo's treatise on the Just War, a variety of sources regarding the Crusades to the Holy Lands including accounts of the Calls to Crusade, the state of the various Latin kingdoms in the East, works relating to the transformation of the Crusades from an effort to retake the Holy Lands to a variety of religious undertakings such as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars and the German Crusade against the Wends and finally how the Crusading spirit evolved into European Colonialism. Muslim sources are heavily utilized and provide a good deal of insight as to how the Arabs viewed the invaders from the West.
The authors have selected sources that do an excellent job portraying several aspects of the Crusades. The Call to Crusade and the response to it in the late 11th century is very well covered as are the continual conflicts among leaders of the Latin Kingdoms and how this contributed to the eventual loss of the Holy Lands. The Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople is well detailed. The religious fervor accompanying the Crusades and the excesses that resulted from this as evidenced by the People's Crusade are well done, as are the accounts of the Children's and Shepherd's Crusades. I felt the segment covering the Reconquista in Spain was particularly well done. The plight of the Jews, caught up in a conflict that was never intended to involve them, but which resulted in massive hardship, is also well represented. Above all, this work amply demonstrates that there was more to the Crusades than just the conflict between Arab and Latin in the Holy Lands.
However other areas were not as fully covered as I would have liked. The constant conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Latins was a critical factor in the eventual failure of the Latin Kingdoms and, while an excerpt from Anna Comnena's _The Alexiad_ details one instance of this, I wonder if more attention might have been given to the later years. One work details the unification of the Arabs however this, as well as the Abbasid defeat of the Fatimid Caliphate under Saladin and the subsequent implications for Arab success are not heavily covered. An account of the Captivity of Richard I following the Third Crusade would have provided an excellent example of how Papal control sometimes went for nothing. In addition, the schism between the Eastern and Western Church and the implications this held for the West aiding the Eastern Empire as the Seljuk Turks advanced in the 15th century is not covered at all.
This is an extremely ambitious effort by the editors - and I wonder if it is simply too ambitious. The Crusades covered a four-hundred year period and grew to encompass nearly all of Western Europe as well as the Occident. This is a massive undertaking and possibly too great for any single work, however well done, to do justice to.
Yet this remains a fine work. Despite my criticisms, this is a valuable addition to the library of anyone seeking to gain a greater understanding of the Crusading movement, its impact on East and West, and how the movement evolved over time.
Latin, Arabian, Byzantine, and Jewish points of view.......2003-11-15
Collaboratively compiled and expertly edited by S. J. Allen (Department of History and Political Science, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland) and Emilie Amt (Hildegarde Pilgram Professor of History, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland), The Crusades: A Reader is a comprehensive, 430-page selection of translated sources ranging in content from the eleventh to the early sixteenth centuries. From Christian and Muslim theories of just warfare; to the logistics of the Crusades; and perspectives on historical events from Latin, Arabian, Byzantine, and Jewish points of view, The Crusades: A Reader is a welcome and scholarly addition to European Historical Studies academic library reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Book Description
The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization (nine volumes) makes available to students and teachers a unique selection of primary documents, many in new translations. These readings, prepared for the highly praised Western civilization sequence at the University of Chicago, were chosen by an outstanding group of scholars whose experience teaching that course spans almost four decades. Each volume includes rarely anthologized selections as well as standard, more familiar texts; a bibliography of recommended parallel readings; and introductions providing background for the selections. Beginning with Periclean Athens and concluding with twentieth-century Europe, these source materials enable teachers and students to explore a variety of critical approaches to important events and themes in Western history.
Individual volumes provide essential background reading for courses covering specific eras and periods. The complete nine-volume series is ideal for general courses in history and Western civilization sequences.
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