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

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fatal Passion:, A: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia

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You'll either love it or hate it
A Fatal Passion is a fatal flop...
Royal Pain
A Magnificent Historical Biography
An Extremely Well- Written Book

Fatal Passion:, A: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia
Michael John Sullivan
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679424008
Release Date: 1997-06-02

Book Description

After the firing squads of the Russian Revolution murdered Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, and almost every other member of the Romanov family, there appeared in a small coastal village of western France a grand duke and duchess who proclaimed themselves to be the new monarchs of Russia.

The grand duchess was Victoria Melita, nicknamed Ducky. To begin with, she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria as well as of Czar Alexander of Russia. Her sister was the remarkable Queen Marie of Romania, and her intricate family connections with the rulers of the world were almost unprecedented. The first cousin not only of King George V but also of Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nicholas, she had previously been married to Ernst Ludwig, grand duke of Hesse and the Rhine, but this relationship was destroyed by dark secrets, a betrayal that filled her with bitterness and shame.

Then, in a scandal that shocked the royal world, she married Kirill, a cousin of the late czar of Russia. She had married and divorced one of her first cousins and then married another--her father's nephew, and then her mother's nephew.

The family opposition was so great that Victoria Melita and Kirill were stripped of their wealth and their titles before being banished from Russia. When they were finally allowed to return, they tried in vain to bring democratic reforms to the dying, autocratic monarchy in a desperate effort to save it.

Trapped, inevitably, by the revolution, they managed to make an incredible and perilous escape, which led to a long life in exile abroad as pretenders to the throne.

Victoria Melita had never aspired to play the role of an empress without a throne. The shadowy life of a royal pretender was the last thing this strong and independent woman had ever wanted. However, her passionate nature had centered itself totally upon her adored second husband, and, now, as Kirill set up his imperial court in the French fishing village of St. Briac and assumed the title of emperor of Russia, Victoria Melita became his empress and for twelve years proudly worked by her husband's side for the restoration of the monarchy.

And then, unexpectedly and brutally, her world collapsed again, and her inability to compromise almost brought her to ruin.

A Fatal Passion is the story of great wealth and privilege when rival royal families vied for position and power even as they were about to lose almost everything in the First World War. Among the few who survived the painful times was Victoria Melita, one of the most beautiful and liberated women of her era.

The book is set against the majestic canvas of Queen Victoria's far-flung empire, the intrigues of the royal courts of Europe, and the exotic splendor and fantastic events of imperial Russia as it balanced on the precipice of disaster. It culminates in the turbulent era of ruthless dictators and the advent of the Second World War.

Through the use of private diaries and letters previously unpublished, as well as exclusive interviews with many of the surviving principals, Michael John Sullivan has revealed the heart and mind of a remarkable woman, who, for too long, has been largely overlooked by history.

Customer Reviews:

You'll either love it or hate it.......2004-11-05

This is not a terrible biography, but I have to agree with the reviewer who said the author is way too enamored of his subject to be objective. He's not the best writer in the world, and he does his subject no service by romanticizing; being melodramatic (that title!), and/or speculating about her life and the people who surround her...It's difficult to write about someone who ordered her personal papers destroyed, which must be why Mr. Sullivan indulges in speculation at times. I preferred John Van der Kiste's "Princess Victoria Melita" as the better biography of this granddaughter of Queen Victoria; it's a far more balanced biography than Mr. Sullivan's.

A Fatal Passion is a fatal flop..........2002-10-20

I have at least 100 different books about the Romanovs in my personal library, and I have to say that this is the bottom of the barrel. The writing is trite, the research is flawed, and there are so many inaccuracies that I question this book being called non-fiction. There were so many things Sullivan could have developed in greater depth--especially the relationship between Victoria and her sister. Of course, Ducky was such a shallow individual that I imagine it must have been difficult to write a biography about her. Past reviewers seemed to either love or hate this book. I suspect that the raves came from Sullivan's friends. Any historian familiar with Romanov history will identify this book for what it is--a very flawed attempt to make a minor character in Russian/German/English history into a major one.

Royal Pain.......2002-07-23

This is the biggest lot of historical nonsense. Sullivan has an
irritating style and a gushing attitude towards his subject
(either he's related to Ducky or madly in love with her). He
cannot get over how impossibly wonderful, gorgeous, perfect, etc
he thinks she was. This is a totally inappropriate stance for a
historian towards a subject. He also trashes everyone Ducky knew
to make her look better. Sullivan's treatment of the murdered
Empress Alexandra is particularly cruel and unnecessary. Bottom
line: Ducky was an overrated, frumpy, greedy historical footnote.
Cyril wanted to be Emperor, so why didn't he start by executing
traitors like himself and his wife? Their behavior was inexcusable, even during a revolution. This book is inexcusable
as a history or as a biography. Don't waste your time or money.

A Magnificent Historical Biography.......2000-12-07

This was an immensely enjoyable and fascinating book from beginning to end. The author certainly did a superlative job in gathering and presenting the facts and placing them in a very skillful and compelling narrative. So often history comes across as dull and lifeless, but not here. Sullivan has a rare talent for dramatic construction and detail which ignites the story and makes it fascinating to follow. I really enjoyed his character descriptions and the clever way he created the time and place and unique sensibility of a long-passed era. I find many of the critiques here rather difficult to comprehend. Maybe some readers had been misled or misinformed as to what type of book they would be reading. For some of the more vicious reviews, I can only assume these readers would be more at home in a ultra-hip and downbeat modern subject matter. Certainly Victoria Melita was no beauty by our current standards, but the author fully explains this and only references her in the then estimations and standards of her own era. These rather mean-spirited and extremely carping criticisms aside, I think anyone who wants to read a wonderfully written historical biography will fully appreciate this book and not be disappointed.

An Extremely Well- Written Book.......2000-08-29

I really don't know where to begin. I read this book a year ago and am reviewing it now only in response to the extraordinarily absurd and unfair customer reviews that I recently read here. I am 36, a Phd in English Lit and teach at a local college. By any reasonable and fair criteria of review, this book is exceptionally well-written. The author Sullivan has a wonderful way of using words and an unusual gift for weaving a narrative that is both dynamic and engaging. His style equally entertains and informs. Although I am not a historian, I can appreciate his extensive and thorough research. Of course the book has flaws - but they are relatively minor ones, and certainly not the awful errors that the incredibly shallow and mean-spirited critics on this page seem so convulsed. How curious to me that this excellent biography has seemed such a lightning rod for these acutely negative people. In an age where criticism is 100% personal and subjective, it is a true study in psychology when these highly prejudiced and obviously bitter people gleefully attack a work such as this with their sharpened stilettos. Imagine someone writing a review and basing an entire negative attack on the opinion that the book's subject is not beautiful in their own estimation. Obviously Victoria Melita is no beauty for today's standards, but Sullivan bases his estimation on numerous quotes which show her as a beauty by the standards of a different world a century ago. Why anyone should have trouble accepting this fact of changing fashion and taste and cruelly dismiss the book because of it - I simply don't understand this mind-set. I think the fact that Sullivan is a young, handsome male who comes off as privileged, if not aristocratic himself, has antagonized many readers (liberals, men-hating feminists, ect) and made them resentful and jealous. There can seemingly be little other excuse for these hostile and unfair critiques. Any open-minded, intelligent reader without some extreme agenda would find this book to be what it is - not the greatest biography ever written, but certainly a fascinating, entertaining and extremely well-written historical work - one which is more than worthy of a long and careful read.

Five Gold Rings: A Royal Wedding Souvenir Album from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II (Royalty)

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Five royal weddings
Royal Wedding

Five Gold Rings: A Royal Wedding Souvenir Album from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II (Royalty)
Jane Roberts
Manufacturer: Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1902163710

Book Description

Tells the story of five royal weddings, illustrated with wedding dresses, jewelry, gifts, music, photographs and much more.

Customer Reviews:

Five royal weddings.......2007-10-02

There's something irrepressible about a wedding of royalty. Even the most jaded of us is capable of maybe an 'awww' or two as we get to see a bit of a fairy tale come to life. There is pomp everywhere, from the fabulous gown and jewels that the bride is wearing, the wedding cakes and favours, to public displays of the wedding gifts.

This handsome little souvenir album is to commemorate an upcoming wedding anniversary -- that of England's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who will have been married for sixty years, in November 2007. It is also a look at how Royal weddings have changed and evolved from fairly private ceremonies that were witnessed by close family members and courtiers, to now what is a spectacle watched by millions on the television and launching a flurry of books, magazines and various souvenirs from the pleasant to the grossly tacky.

The five weddings themselves occur in a period of time that spans just over a century, from 1840 to 1947, with the criteria that either the bride or groom would be a monarch of the United Kingdom.

The first wedding is that between Queen Victoria and her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1840. Victoria had been Queen of Great Britain for two years when her wedding was celebrated, and public curiosity was intense as to who she would choose to be her consort. With the rise of new printing techniques, there were now ways that the public could observe, albeit from a distance -- there were special prints and panoramas that were printed to feed the curiosity about the event.

About twenty years later, the next royal wedding occured, this time between Victoria and Albert's eldest son, Bertie, the Prince of Wales and the future Edward VII, and his fiancee, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, 1863. Now there was the art of photography to add to the documents; some of these were hand-tinted to create a nearly painting like quality. The gifts were also more opulent, and this time, were described in a special magazine that supplied all of the details from what the guests were wearing to engravings that showed various aspects of the wedding service itself.

Thirty years later, another wedding occured, this time between Bertie's son, George, Duke of York, and his cousin, Princess Mary of Teck, in 1894. This time, celebrations and public notice were high, with various royalties from around Europe visiting to pay their respects. The gifts were put on public display this time, and admission was charged, with the proceeds going to a charity. The bride's trousseau was described in various ladies magazines in lavish detail and illustrations.

The fourth wedding was that of George VI and Queen Mary's second son, Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. No one really expected them to become sovereigns of Great Britain, and so the celebrations were not quite as extravagant as might be expected. But one notable addition was that this was the first royal wedding to be filmed, and soon there would be opportunity for anyone to see it, all for the price of a ticket to the cinema, and sitting through a newsreel.

The fifth wedding was in 1947, with that of two of Queen Victoria's great-great-grandchildren -- Princess Elizabeth, and Prince Philip of Greece. After the dreary years of WWII, and the troubles of rebuilding, London was ready for a celebration. The outpouring from the public was immense, and it seems that all of England took the day off for a holiday. The marriage proved to be one of the most successful in the royal family, and appears to be still quite solid after nearly sixty years.

Each wedding goes into some detail about the clothing, providing pictures and closeups of the brides' gowns, showing some of the intricate sewing and decoration that went into the making. As was traditional, all of the clothing worn were made from British materials and designers. What I found especially beautiful were the samples of lace and embroidery, often with monograms and special designs incorporated into the designs. A very brief history of the couple is also included, talking a little about their childhoods, and what happened after the weddings. At the end of the book, there is also a listing of what music was performed at each wedding, with a few surprises tucked in.

What may surprise you is what you will not find in this book. There isn't any mention of Lady Diana, or of the notorious wedding of Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson.

For anyone interested in royalty, and how what started as a private celebration soon became an opportunity for public celebration, this is a lovely, well-made and designed book. The photographs and pictures are unusual, many of which I had not seen before, and gave a sense of intimacy.

The author, Jane Roberts, is the Royal Librarian, and has compiled a beautiful little volume on the lore of royal weddings. For anyone interested in the English monarchy, it would be a nice addition to their collection.

Five stars. Recommended.

Royal Wedding.......2007-08-05

A wonderful display of that special wedding. It was like the Queen was showing these momentos to me herself.

A New England?: Peace and War 1886-1918 (New Oxford History of England)

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Fine study of English history from 1886 to 1918

A New England?: Peace and War 1886-1918 (New Oxford History of England)
G. R. Searle
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0199284407

Book Description

G. R. Searle's absorbing narrative history breaks conventional chronological barriers to carry the reader from England in 1886, the apogee of the Victorian era with the nation poised to celebrate the empress queen's golden jubilee, to 1918, as the 'war to end all wars' drew to a close leaving England to come to term with its price - above all in terms of human life, but also in the general sense that things would never be the same again. This was an age of extremes: a period of imperial pomp and circumstance, with a political elite preoccupied with display and ceremony, alongside the growing cult of the simple life; the zenith of imperialism with its idealization of war on the one hand, the start of the Labour Party, a socialist renaissance, and welfare politics on the other; and a radical challenging of traditional gender stereotypes in the face of the prevailing cult of masculinity. Under Professor Searle's historical microscope, all the details of daily life spring into sharp relief. Half-forgotten figures such as Edward Carpenter, Vesta Tilley, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman take their place on stage beside Oscar Wilde, the Pankhursts, and Lloyd George. Motoring and aviation, to become such an intrinsic part of life within the next decades, had their beginnings in this period as pastimes for the rich. From the wretched slums of England's great cities to their bustling docks and factories, from the grand portals of Westminster to the violent political challenges of the Ulster Unionists and the militant suffrage movement, from Blackpool's tower and beach packed with holidaymakers to the trenches of the Western Front, the energy, creativity, and often destructive turmoil of the years 1886-1918 are brought into focus in this magisterial history. THE NEW OXFORD HISTORY OF ENGLAND The aim of the New Oxford History of England is to give an account of the development of the country over time. It is hard to treat that development as just the history which unfolds within the precise boundaries of England, and a mistake to suggest that this implies a neglect of the histories of the Scots, Irish, and Welsh. Yet the institutional core of the story which runs from Anglo-Saxon times to our own is the story of a state-structure built round the English monarchy and its effective successor, the Crown in Parliament. While the emphasis of individual volumes in the series will vary, the ultimate outcome is intended to be a set of standard and authoritative histories, embodying the scholarship of a generation.

Customer Reviews:

Fine study of English history from 1886 to 1918.......2006-02-06

The author, Professor of History at the University of East Anglia, concludes, "Britain was thus being governed at the end of the nineteenth century by a `ruling class' narrowly based upon landed wealth and the ancient professions ..." He honestly describes the reality, but weakly resorts to inverted commas!

Similarly, he shows how the ruling class was soft on Ulster loyalists, but harsh to Irish nationalists, trade unions and suffragettes, yet calls its attack on trade unions the `employers' offensive', again using inverted commas.

For the Entente, in 1914 Imperial Russia's population was 140 million: 21 million (15%) were eligible to vote. France's was 39 million (the French Empire numbered another 54 million): 11 million (29%) could vote. The UK's was 46 million: 9 million (18%) could vote. The rest of the British Empire had 350 million colonial slaves, who could not vote on the war or anything else.

For the Alliance, Germany's population in 1914 was 65 million (and of her colonies 6 million): 14 million (22%) could vote. Austria-Hungary's was 48 million; 10 million (21%) could vote.

The French, Russian and British empires had a total population of 629 million, of whom 41 million (6.6%) could vote. Even excluding the populations of the French and British empires, the populations of France, Russia and Britain totalled 225 million, only 18% of whom could vote. Germany, its colonies and Austria-Hungary had a total population of 119 million: 24 million (20%) were entitled to vote. So the Alliance was more democratic than the Entente, and Germany, with 22% eligible to vote, was more democratic than Britain, with only 18%.

Searle studies Britain's nationalism, gender, locality, occupation, religion and class; government, electoral and party systems; Ireland's struggle for national liberation; class struggle and the trade unions; the Empire and overseas investments, the Boer War ("We seek no gold fields. We seek no territory" said Lord Salisbury, who made sure that the British ruling class got them though); the Ententes with France and Russia; leisure and pleasure, art and culture, science and learning; and World War One, citing Rudyard Kipling's bitter epitaph on a dead soldier,
"If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied."

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Victoria "Lite"

Queen Victoria at Home
Michael De-La-Noy
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786711787

Book Description

Alexandrina Victoria may have been an exemplary constitutional monarch in politics and international affairs, but she was equally interested and active in her domestic life, both as a wife and mother and as a ruler over her household. This combination of decorum and dignity with a genuine love of home and family life provides the ultimate key to her character. Michael de-la-Noy, biographer of the Queen Mother and of George IV, has fashioned a revealing and thorough portrait of this other side to her reign, from her youth spent in preparation for succession to her final years as matriarch of a family that extended into all the royal houses of Europe. De-la-Noy's impressionistic, intimate biography focuses on her personal life, her relations with her family and household, and her various residences. Queen Victoria at Home goes behind her civic role of a conscientious and hardworking sovereign to reveal a most devoted wife and the mother of nine children, who treasured domestic privacy over public adulation.

Customer Reviews:

Victoria "Lite".......2004-04-27

This book is a reflection on the life of Queen Victoria by someone who is clearly fascinated by her and who probably knows everything there is to know about her. It is easy to read and does not require you to know a great deal about her already in order to make any sense out of the book.
On the other hand, if you are already well-read about Victoria, this book, in my opinion, brings little that's new. But if you are willing to take the journey with this author and let him share his thoughts in the way usually reserved for a dear old friend, then you will find a pleasant un-bumpy ride along the way.

Rome and the Literature of Gardens (Classical Inter/Faces) (Classical Inter/Faces)

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Rome and the Literature of Gardens (Classical Inter/Faces) (Classical Inter/Faces)
Victoria Emma Pagan
Manufacturer: Duckworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0715635069
Release Date: 2007-02-16

Product Description

Rome and the Literature of Gardens explores the garden as a powerful locus of transformation and transgression in the De Re Rustica of Columella, the Satires of Horace, the Annals of Tacitus, and the Confessions of Saint Augustine. In keeping with the approach of this series, a concluding chapter examines the reincarnation of these expressions in the contemporary plays Arcadia and The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard. Many books on gardens in ancient Rome concentrate on either technical agricultural manuals, or pastoral poetry, or the physical remains of Roman gardens. Instead, this book considers images of gardens from a kaleidoscope of genres, especially those that the Romans made their own: satire, annalistic history, and autobiography. This atypical approach makes a unique contribution to the field of Latin literature and garden history, bridging the gap between material culture and cultural history.

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The Horse from the Sea - A book about history and adventure
A beautifully written story by Victoria Holmes

The Horse from the Sea
Victoria Holmes
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060520280
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Book Description

A ship washed ashore . . .

When fourteen-year-old Nora Donovan hears that Spanish soldiers may be sailing near the west coast of Ireland, she never expects that one of their ships will actually crash on the shore next to her home. Helping to clear the wreckage, Nora discovers a beautiful white stallion, injured and lost. Nora boldly leads the horse to a nearby cave and nurses him back to health.

But hiding in the cave is one of the soldiers. He's also injured, very young, and wanted by the English army. Nora wants to help the boy get home safely, but she'll have to risk everything -- including the magnificent stallion.

Customer Reviews:

The Horse from the Sea - A book about history and adventure.......2007-02-14

This book's story line is about a girl who finds a Spanish warhorse and rescues a Spanish sailor named Jose. Her name is Nora and she spends her time riding wild mountain ponies and mostly a wild pony named Dunlin. The stallion is named Lir. Nora lives in Ireland and looks like it too. She wears a red cloak.

Victoria Holmes, the author, grew up on a farm in England and learned how to ride ponies at the age of two. While she is not riding she is either reading or writing her own books. Today she is working as a Children's book editor. Victoria Holmes writes her books about horses and things like that. She is a very good author.

I think this book is very well written because the author puts in a lot of interesting details. The author keeps her readers hooked for a long time because she keeps her story very exiting. I also like this novel because it's the only one like it that I've ever read. This book is the third best book I have ever read.

You should read this book because it is very exhilarating and it is full of action and suspense. It gives you all kinds of feelings and you want to clench your fists or even cry. I loved it and I'm looking forward to reading others just like it in the future.

A beautifully written story by Victoria Holmes.......2006-01-22

The Horse From the sea, is a beautifully written story by Victoria Holmes. The way the story is written really draws you into the world of Ireland and Nora love for horses. The description of Horse behavior is excellently drawn out, making envisioning the animal very easy. The story line for the book was well thought out and thankfully didn't turn out to be another "young adventurous girl defies her family to save [insert objects/person here]" scenario, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise.

The chapters are not too lengthy to my great delight and explain pretty much what they were meant to do without losing the focus on the certain moment. The large variety of characters, spanning from the Irish, Spanish, and English Army characters were very fascinating in the term of the word. None of them ever felt dull or boring, or just some plot device to move Nora, Jose, and Lir's story along through the book. Jose was probably the most interesting male character in this story.

He lacked the usual stereotypical male dominance, arrogance, and self-assured personality I've seen in many male characters in books. The emotion of the story can be felt near the very end of the book, when Jose, Lir and Nora part ways once the objective is achieved. But all in all, The Horse from the sea is an enjoyable read I would recommend to anyone.

Among the Pilgrims: Journeys to Santiago de Compostela

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Among the Pilgrims: Journeys to Santiago de Compostela
Mary Victoria Wallis
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1412007968
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Book Description

Weaves accounts of bicycle and walking pilgramages to Santiago de Compostela together with the thousand-year old history of the Camino de Santiago. Compares modern pilgrimage with medieval religious traditions.

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The Victorians: An Age in Retrospect
John Gardiner
Manufacturer: Hambledon & London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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

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ASIN: 1852855606

Book Description

Who were the Victorians? Were they self-confident imperialists secure in the virtues of the home, and ruled by the values of authority, duty, religion and respectability? Or were they self-doubting and hypocritical prudes whose family life was authoritarian and loveless? Ever since Lytton Strachey mocked Florence Nightingale and General Gordon in Eminent Victorians, the reputation of the Victorians, and of what they stood for, has been the subject of vigorous debate.John Gardiner provides a fascinating guide to the changing reputation of the Victorians during the 20th century. Different social, political, and aesthetic values, two world wars, youth culture, nostalgia, new historical trends and the heritage industry have all affected the way we see the age and its men and women. The second half of the book shows how radically biographical accounts have changed over the last 100 years, exemplified by four archetypical Victorians: Charles Dickens, W.E. Gladstone, Oscar Wilde, and Queen Victoria herself.

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Shane at his worst...
Interesting Read About Rock'n'Roll's Greatest Drunk
Kinda interesting
Shane is interesting as always...writing is horrible
Interesting but where was the editor?

A Drink with Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan , and Victoria Mary Clarke
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802137903

Book Description

Best known as the cofounder of the Irish band The Pogues, Shane MacGowan has become a cult figure on the alternative-music scene. His achingly beautiful lyrics, as well as his legendary lifestyle of excess, have earned him an avid following that packs his shows and buys his albums. One of the most unusual memoirs to come along in quite a while, A Drink with Shane MacGowan is structured as a series of interviews between MacGowan and his wife, Clarke. The singer recounts his experiences growing up on a farm in Ireland, where his family began giving him two pints of Guinness a night at the tender age of five and his father took him to hang out with bookies and drunks at the local pub. He tells of moving to London and becoming part of the London club scene in the mid-1970s, just as punk was beginning to emerge, offering a firsthand portrait of a seminal time and place in music history. MacGowan also provides his own, strongly opinionated views on The Pogues' success and the reasons for his abrupt departure from the band. As he invites us into this fascinating world, MacGowan tells many hilarious stories and riffs on a wide range of subjects, from Irish history and politics to literature, film, religion, his own substance abuse, and much more. Sometimes maddening, sometimes charming, often brilliant, and always honest, A Drink with Shane MacGowan is an enjoyable romp with a truly unique personality. PRAISE FOR SHANE MACGOWAN: "MacGowan can be a dazzling songwriter, channeling his unruliness into rambunctious tales of drinking, sporting, drinking, fighting, and drinking."--Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews:

Shane at his worst..........2006-12-30

I love the Pogues. I love to read about music. I love to read about the creative process, especially from songwriters. And I consider Shane MacGowan to be a brilliant songwriter. This book, however, is a stream of drunken conversations about his life, his opinions, explanations that he's not really that much of a racist, bragging about his ability to bed fans, etc. The main problem, though, is that his songs boil down his experiences to the essentials, giving brilliant snapshots of certain times, places and characters. These rambling, unedited accounts almost seem like an attempt to give merit to his detractors that say he's not much more than a mouthy drunk. The DVD "If I Should Fall..." balances the two very well. This doesn't even try.

Interesting Read About Rock'n'Roll's Greatest Drunk.......2006-12-28

"A Drink with Shane MacGowan" is just that. It's a series of Shane MacGowan interviews by his closest companion, girlfriend/wife of over 14 years, Victoria Mary Clarke. Arranged like a play, in 8 acts, Clarke goes into the depths of the mind of the former singer and leading force of the Pogues, Shane MacGowan over various discussions.

The book is a great read that takes you back to his childhood in Tipperary, Ireland, thru his teenage years in London and on the road as the singer of the Nipps and of the Pogues.

Shane MacGowan is a great read because he is honest about his opinions and himself. He doesn't try to please people in this book. He talks about his life from his point of view.

I found many hilarious anecdotes throughout the book such when he recalled Lisa Stansfield breaking his nose and how the Pogues lovely bassist, Cait O'Riordan knocked Matt Dillon down a flight of stairs during the shooting of a the video "Christmas in New York."

The book doesn't talk enough about the songs he wrote. Early in the book, there's a wonderful passage where he discusses the lyrics to "The Dunes."

At times, MacGowan goes off on tangents that aren't clear. But these are mainly sections where he attempts to make a distinction between traditional Irish instruments and replaced instruments (such as the accordian).

MacGowan has a very comical side in his psyche in the form of contradictions. At times, he'll come off as crass, invigorated by the very thought of violence, yet at the same time, intensely religious, but in a "Taoist/Roman Catholic" sense.

He really sheds a lot of light on his proud Irish heritage and made me reflect on my own Irishness proudly.

MacGowan's most interesting sequence in the book came from his contempt of the music industry. At one point he discussed about how pop hits were mundane and boring and blamed that because those with the power like mundane and boring music. To further illustrate his point, he compared a mundane and boring pop song to a mundane and boring murder.

That particular sequence I found hilarious. It also says something to me when it only took me three days to read this 358 page book. With a very bad flu mind you.

Anyway, if you have no one to go to a pub with. Go to the pub anyway, order lagers and read this book. Its company is as good as any great drinking moments with your best friends.

Do not read this literally. I mean, he was and may still very well be a drug addict despite his denials. I think some of his "expertise" should be read more humorously such as when he repeatedly emphasizes that "Brandy" is the worst of all drugs.

Kinda interesting.......2006-12-11

I love all things pogues/Shane, but this was rather dull. i would recommend it if i could get it at the library.

Shane is interesting as always...writing is horrible.......2006-08-17

This book was a major disappointment for me, I write annoyingly. It seems the "author" had a deadline to meet and threw this trash together at the last minute, I write this time frustratingly. If you like reading an adverb at the end of every sentence this is the book for you. The author has an amazing subject to work with here and chooses to simply mail it in. I can't believe the publisher let her get away with this. If I ever meet this author I will ask for my money back quickly. I teach third grade and most of my students write better than this garbage. I wish I never bought it, I end this review disappointedly.

Interesting but where was the editor?.......2005-01-04

I received this as a gift and just read it over the holidays. Shane Macgowan is a great interview subject and his girlfriend manages to pin him down for several coherent and enlightening interviews (which is no mean feat judging from his on-camera interviews captured in the If I Should Fall from Grace film).

However, it seems that she just transcribed the spew from each session, as is, rather than attempt to organize the material into subject categories. While reading the ramblings from the mind of a drunken genius does offer some charm it also allows for sloppy overlaps and omissions. For instance, Shane is very interesting when describing what it was like to discover Punk Rock in 1976 London but just barely touches on his punk band the Nips (or Nipple Erectors). There are also a few glaring about-faces where he slags someone in one interview and then praises them in another.

This was an entertaining (if sloppy) read but some fly-by-night indie press did not put it out. I expected more from Grove Atlantic, was this material edited at all?

One more thing: I read this on an airplane and in a hotel, I would have much preferred to read it at home with my Pogues CD's on shuffle.

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