Book Description
The focus of Fernand Braudel's great work is the Mediterranean world in the second half of the sixteenth century, but Braudel ranges back in history to the world of Odysseus and forward to our time, moving out from the Mediterranean area to the New World and other destinations of Mediterranean traders. Braudel's scope embraces the natural world and material life, economics, demography, politics, and diplomacy.
Customer Reviews:
Still the Undisputed Masterpiece.......2007-07-16
You need to have been an apprentice historian in the mid-sixties to appreciate the impact this book had on Europeanists. I was thirty-one years old in 1967. I had taught history in high school for eight years and picked up a master's in history at NYU, and I was starting my Ph. D. program in history at Yale, concentrating on early modern European history, and within that specialty, on medieval and early modern political theory. (Later, when I taught college, my specialty course was on Machiavelli, More, Erasmus and Guicciardini.)
Braudel had just published the second edition of his masterpiece. The book had been significantly rewritten and was about a third longer than the original edition. But it was available only in French, which I read well but exceedingly slowly. The first edition --but not the second-- had been translated into Spanish, my preferred second language, so I swotted the Spanish first edition for orals. Reading it in a foreign language, it was too much in a limited amount of time to absorb and integrate with what I already knew about the times. I more or less flubbed the Braudel question in my orals. (In contrast, I did a killer job responding to a question about Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Liturgy.)
Later, teaching a winter term course in college, I assigned the by-then-published English translation of Braudel's second edition to my students, giving myself --at long last-- an opportunity to read it in my native tongue. I was floored! The masterful use of maps and graphs to show hitherto unnoticed trends in history, the wealth of illustrative detail, the scope of his view! Of all the masterworks of the first two generations of Annales historians --Bloch and Febvre, Braudel's other works, Le Roy Ladurie, Aries, Duby, etc.-- Mediterranean is still the undisputed masterpiece on early modern European economic and social history.
Well Balanced........2006-02-24
This book is a very detailed starting point for Renaisance fans. At its heart this is a socio-economic history. The clever inclusion of climate and geographic conditions presuasively explained why prosperous Capitalism grew in some regions while others remained stagnant. Chapter 5-"The Human Unit" was the most informative. Most facets of history are here for the reader to absorb. This is the type of book we all wished we had in school.
An education..............2004-04-07
I have been keenly interested in world history for nearly 20 years. I read, on average, 30 non-fiction historical accounts per annum. With rare exception, I have always felt up to the task of both completion and comprehension. Braudel is an entirely different animal. What Braudel has presented in the form of 16th-century Mediterranean history is formidable, innovative, and exhausting.
Braudel's narrative weaves itself through overlays of historical strata that demand as much from the reader as any contemporary written history available. His is not a mere linear schedule of cause and effect, but a finely crafted history of regional parallels which render the methodology as thought provoking as the content.
Fully one-fourth of the book is devoted to economics in such painstaking detail that, while the specialist may revel, the layman may grow foggy, uninterested, and, unfortunately, bored. But, this does not detract from the overall value of Braudel's effort. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World is a singular achievement in written history which offers the reader a vantage point that I have yet to find elsewhere. 5 stars.
A Fitting Finish to an Astounding Work.......2003-08-16
I have written a review of the first volume of Braudel's history of the Mediterranean, and here will only say that it is necessary to read this second volume in order to appreciate what Braudel began in the first volume. The second volume is the more typical "history of events", but as Braudel concludes -- and correctly so in my opinion -- the history of events is founded on geography, demographics, and social and economic history. Braudel builds this foundation in the first volume, and the two volumes must be read jointly in order to fully appreciate Braudel's astounding accomplishment.
An Amazing and Exhausting Opus.......2003-08-16
Braudel's text on the Mediterranean is considered one of the contemporary classics of historical writing, and I can see why. It sets out to convey a total history of the Mediterranean world in the latter half of the 16th century, but ranges over so much more territory in order to achieve this objective. Just as Jared Diamond builds a foundation on geography, climate, and local flora and fauna in _Guns, Germs , and Steel_, so does Braudel begin his history. However, he does not stop there, and moves on to cover social and economic history, and, in the second volume, deals with the more standard "history of events" typical of most historical literature. Do not skip the second volume, as the tapestry Braudel weaves is not complete without it. The text is very detailed, too detailed at points, but I believe this gives the reader confidence in the authority of the writer. Clearly Braudel has done exhaustive research. You, too, will be exhausted by the time you finish this magnum opus.
Book Description
Volume 2 of the definitive English translation of one of the most important philosophical works of the 19th century, the basic statement in one important stream of post-Kantian thought. Corrects nearly 1,000 errors and omissions in the older Haldane-Kemp translation. For the first time, this edition translates and locates all quotes and provides full index.
Customer Reviews:
How is Hegel held over him?.......2007-08-11
I have read Schopenhauers works and would heartily agree with the other writers on its beauty, simplicity and philosophy. This author strikes me as a philosopher in the classic sense(a lover of wisdom). Ive read Hegel, Wittgenstien, Kant and attempted Heiddeger and none come close to Schoppenhauer's great work. Not to dismiss the others but their writing style is dodgy, unclear or badly translated. Its fairly clear that Schopenhauer is somewhat of an underdog in scholastic circles as most philosophy professors tend to stress Hegel over A.S. No writer in philosophy writes with as much wit and clarity, if you have read this far and this many reviews stop persecuting yourself and buy this book.
Towering work of genius from the philosopher of gloom.......2006-11-18
Arthur Schopenhauer is one of the most interesting great philosophers. A misogynist, misanthrope and great lover of music and art, he was kinder to his dogs than he was to people.
Despite his oddities, Schopenhauer provides us with one of the most fascinating philosophical systems a great philosopher has ever produced. Perhaps one of the last philosophers who tried to produce a unified vision of the entire universe, Schopenhauer's universe is as depressing as it is majestic.
Schopenhauer's vision is spelt out at great length in his great masterpiece, the World as Will and Idea. For Schopenhauer, the key to understanding reality is that everything is the product of a blind, unconditioned energy or force called Will. Deeply read in Eastern philosophy, especially Buddhism, Schopenhauer regards the universe as a dark place filled with evil and suffering, caused by the endless activity created in the world by the Will (which as the cause in itself is the One or Absolute as understood traditionally by philosophers East and West) which appears in the world of sense experience in infinitely diverse ways, yet in ways which are perpetually in conflict and war with each other. For Schopenhauer, this dark force shows itself no more truely in the biological and human worlds, in the terrible struggle for existence which relies on killing and destruction of other life along with rapine, greed and war essentially for one being to triumph over the other. Schopenhauer, writing about three decades before Darwin, remarkably anticipates some of the ideas of evolutionary theory and also the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, which sees concious human activity as being the result of deeper unconcious, instinctual drives, especially those of sex and survival. He also anticipates some aspects of physical science which see the universe as a whole being the product of chaotic energy and forces acting at the deepest levels of reality.
Schopenhauer, despite being an idealist, marshals many powerful philosophical arguments as well as quotes from writers, poets, mystics, and also evidence gathered from science and even newspaper reports to support his worldview. He is deeply empirical and believes his idea explains not just philosophical issues but the very way the world is as it is found by scientists and naturalists. Indeed, his close attention to science makes Schopenhauer one of the most astute philosophers of the natural world, along with Aristotle and Descartes.
Schopenhauer also deduces a system of ethics and salvation from his system. His ethics are essentially Buddhist; indeed, Schopenhauer argued that of all the world's religions, Buddhism is the best because it accords most closely to the truth (salvation comes through renouncing the world and through a selfless ethic of compassionate love for suffering) although he also greatly admires the Hindu sages who wrote the Upanishads, a work he quotes very frequently. He also admires Christian mystics, especially Eckhart and Boehme.
Schopenhauer like Plato is a great writer as well as Philosopher. Unlike many German philosophers who wrote very obscurely, Schopenhauer believed strongly in expressing ideas clearly and very often he uses many rhetorical and literary tropes to create beautiful concrete illustrations of his philosophical ideas. This is especially so in his brilliant and witty essays, which earned him more fame than his true magnum opus ever did. He also viciously attacks Hegel and his school, feeling they have betrayed the legacy of Kant (of whom Schopenhauer claimed he was a true disciple) through obscure sophistry designed to reintroduce the metaphysical bugbears Kant had properly banished forever from Philosophy. For Schopenhauer, clarity was always central, unfortunately something many later German philosophers did not learn.
Schopenhauer's work had a massive influence on many leading lights in European thought. People influenced by his ideas and who quoted him readily included Goethe, Joseph Conrad, Nietzsche, Wagner, Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, Schrodinger, Wittgenstein, Thomas Mann, and many others. Today he remains a fascinating philosopher to study and his relevance remains, particularly as his ideas seem to have anticipated some of the ideas of modern evolutionary biology and physical science, and also for his keen interest in Eastern philosophical and religious thought, which is starting to strongly impact the West today. He is certainly one of the greatest philosophers Germany ever produced after Kant.
More than a precursor to Nietzsche..........2006-08-23
First, a word about the form of this two-volume work. Volume One contains the core of Schopenhauer's philosophy and is his one absolutely essential book. Volume Two, which is longer, consists of elaborations upon the themes of Volume One. So, if you're strapped for cash and desperately need to own some Schopenhauer, it's fine to buy only Volume One. You won't be missing anything essential.
This book is one of the most provocative and readable works of 19th-century Western philosophy. Anyone who has waded through the soggy, muddy-bottomed marshes of Hegel's prose will be delighted by the clarity of Schopenhauer. While I remain unconvinced by his theory of all-pervading Will, seeing it as a way of sneaking transcendentalism back into a fortunately disenchanted world (Will seems at times too much like an omnipresent god for my tastes), I still highly recommend Schopenhauer. Even if you don't agree with him, arguing with him keeps you on your intellectual toes.
The Knight calmly facing Death and Devil!.......2006-03-10
Written when he was 30 Schopenhauer single-mindedly preserved the book and abstained form changing it in the subsequent decades and publications (however he wrote a supplemental volume II years later to expound on the main themes of the volume I). This English translation beautifully conveys the clarity, simplicity and magnificence of Schopenhauer's perfect German prose. As a person who reads philosophy for pleasure and insight, I must say I enjoyed it immensely and gained insight into fundamental questions of existence. Influenced by Eastern (Indian) philosophies, Schopenhauer courageously expounds his profoundly Pessimistic ideas without ever entering into dogmatism, characteristic of many philosophers, and "mystification" which he accused Hegel and other contemporary "Philosophy Professors". A familiarity with Kantian philosophy and Schopenhauer's other works (especially: On the Fourfold Root of Principle of Sufficient Reason" and "On the Will in Nature") is needed in order to clearly grasp the fundamental ideas of this book.
Philosophy for independent thinkers.......2005-12-04
Schopenhauer's magnum opus towers high above the silly word games of the analysts. This book is philosophy at its very best- a book that no educated person should miss for Schopenhauer wrote primarily for the layman. Like Nietzsche, he was highly skeptical of the "professionals" of his time. One thing that immediately strikes the reader is Schopenhauer's clear and crisp command of the written word unlike the severe case of abstractionitis that both Hegel and Heidegger seem to suffer from.
The World as Will and Representation clothes Transcendental Idealism in a pessimistic dress and offers a glorious, bold and innovated view of Kant's critical philosophy. Its scope and breadth reaches the outer limitations of human understanding creating a new and beautiful, yet cold and austere, vision that will forever challenge, shake, and destroy most people's views of reality. This book along with Kant's Critique gives a possible answer to one of the most perplexing problems of human understanding: it challenges and attempts to disarm Hume's powerful attack against the perceived "illusion" of causality. Whether it succeeds or not is left to the reader to decide.
Schopenhauer starts where Kant stops and he easily transcends him showing us how the world is a hostile place to live in and how reality is forever unknown to the knower. Few professional philosophers would probably agree with Schopenhauer. This in no way dimishes the value of his philosophy.
It is amazing that today most people simply ignore Schopenhauer and take him as a minor figure in the Western tradition. Part of the reason for this is because of Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, who simply dismissed Schopenhauer and gave him a bad reputation in his popular book "History of Western Philosophy." (This book is heavily biased and is probably one of Russell's worst books causing more harm than good for people new to philosophy.) Russell basically rejected Schopenhauer's work on the premise of hypocrisy since Schopenhauer did not actually practice the philosophy that he preached; yet ironically enough, Russell, being a brilliant logician and no less than the father of modern analytic philosophy, succumbed to emotionalism via the tu quoque fallacy. (i.e. judging a claim as false based on the character of the person claiming it instead of its truth value)
The best thing to do is to simply read the book yourself. Commentaries are helpful after one has understood the work, never before. It is highly recommended that one read Kant and then follow-up with Schopenhauer's book. (Though many have still profited skipping Kant altogether.) Very few things in life will probably be more important or rewarding than doing this.
Book Description
This five-volume documentary collection—culled from an international archival search that turned up over 14,000 letters, speeches, pamphlets, essays, and newspaper editorials—reveals how black abolitionists represented the core of the antislavery movement. While the first two volumes consider black abolitionists in the British Isles and Canada (the home of some 60,000 black Americans on the eve of the Civil War), the remaining volumes examine the activities and opinions of black abolitionists in the United States from 1830 until the end of the Civil War. In particular, these volumes focus on their reactions to African colonization and the idea of gradual emancipation, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the promise brought by emancipation during the war.
Book Description
Edited by the leading history of the Republic of Armenia, this is the definitive history of an extraordinary country--from its earliest foundations through the Crusades, the resistance to Ottoman and Tsarist rule, the collapse of the independent state, its brief reemergence after World War I, its subjugation by the Bolsheviks, and the establishment of the new Republic in 1991. Written by the foremost experts on each period in Armenia's history, these volumes are a major contribution to understanding the complexities of Transcaucasia.
Average customer rating:
|
Day by Day: The Eighties (Day By Day) 2 VOL SET
Ellen Meltzer , and
Marc Aronson
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 20th Century
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0816015929 |
Customer Reviews:
this is volume two - of a two volume set.......1999-09-23
i accidently ordered this because i thought it was the paperback version of the full History of the Modern World. its not. its just volume 2.
Book Description
Defiant Diplomacy analyzes the relationship between the United States and Denmark as allies in World War II and the Cold War. Cast as a biography of Henrik Kauffmann (1888-1963), a Danish diplomat serving in Washington (1939-1958), the book reveals how the Roosevelt Administration's policy toward occupied Denmark was forced to address questions of paramount importance, particularly to Great Britain and Canada, regarding the general attitude of the neutral United States toward the war in Europe. The dramatic climax was President Roosevelt's secret decision in early 1941 to establish military bases in Greenland, the Danish colony that became a crucial steppingstone between the United States and Europe during World War II and a strategic focal point in the nuclear strategies of the Cold War.
Customer Reviews:
Best book on Denmark's foreign policy in 20th century.......2004-03-30
Bo Lidegaard's book is a must for anyone interested in Danish foreign relations in the 20th century. Henrik Kauffmann, a flamboyant and maverick career diplomat, was Denmark's Ambassador to the United States before, during and after WWII: he was instrumental in securing the status as allied (while the civil service government in Copenhagen collaborated with Nazi Germany); and he negotiated the Greenland deal which has been a cornerstone in Denmark's participation in NATO ever since. The book is also a compelling portrait of Kauffmann as a professional and an highly interesting description of practical diplomacy from WWI to the post-WWII period. Well written and researched it is a thrilling and fulfilling read. (Based on the Danish edition).
Average customer rating:
- Hammel continues his saga of fighter pilots
|
Aces at War (American Aces Speak/Eric Hammel, Vol 4)
Eric Hammel
Manufacturer: Pacifica Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Israel
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Aviation
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Asia
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| North
| Korea
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Vietnam
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 093555324X |
Customer Reviews:
Hammel continues his saga of fighter pilots.......1998-07-28
Once again, Hammel has found the right mix of in-the-cockpit action and background data. His writing is concise and to the point, but that just makes it easy to read and enjoy. For the armchair fighter pilot, Hammel's four books on aces are an investment not to miss.
Average customer rating:
|
Phase Transition in Korea-U.S. SCience and Technology Relations
Caroline Wagner
Manufacturer: RAND Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Policy & Current Events
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Development & Growth
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Economic Policy & Development
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| International
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Production & Operations
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Relations
| International
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General & Reference
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0833033336 |
Book Description
National commmitments to cooperation in science and technology by both the United States and Kores has helped bring Korea into the group of scientifically advanced countries; the new status of Korea means new policy challenges for the bilateral S & T relationship.
Books:
- The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. (Abridged Edition) (Bollingen Series (General))
- The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII and His Secret War Against Nazi Germany
- The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 (The American Story)
- The Old North Trail: Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians
- The Oxford Book of Days
- The Prince (Bantam Classics)
- The Social Roots of Basque Nationalism (Basque Series)
- The Southern Debate over Slavery: vol. 1: Petitions to Southern Legislatures, 1778-1864 (Southern Debate Over Slavery)
- The Study of Human Nature: A Reader
- The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments: Defeat Lyme Disease with the Best of Conventional and Alternative Medicine
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- 2006 International Building Code - Softcover Version: Softcover Version
- The Art Crowd
- Leading from the Maze: A Personal Pathway to Leadership
- Power in Global Governance
- Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History
- The Honorable Imposter/The Captive Bride/The Indentured Heart/The Gentle Rebel/The Saintly Buccaneer
- Polly The Mosquito
- The 101 Commandments of Hospitality
- MCSE SQL 2000 Administration Exam Cram
- Model Business Corporation Act : Official Text With Official Comment and Statutory Cross-References;
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Vol. 2
Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, Vol. I: The Structure of Everyday Life (Civilization and Capitalism : 15th-18th Century)
The Perspective of the World: Civilization and Capitalism 15Th-18th Century, Vol. 3
The Wheels of Commerce (Civilization and Capitalism: 15Th-18th Century -Volume 2)
Memory and the Mediterranean
