Book Description
Forty years in the making, a new cultural canon that celebrates truth over hypocrisy, literature over totalitarianism.
Echoing Edward Said's belief that "Western humanism is not enough, we need a universal humanism," the renowned critic Clive James presents here his life's work. Containing over one hundred original essays, organized by quotations from A to Z, Cultural Amnesia illuminates, rescues, or occasionally destroys the careers of many of the greatest thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists, and philosophers of the twentieth century. In discussing, among others, Louis Armstrong, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, James writes, "If the humanism that makes civilization civilized is to be preserved into the new century, it will need advocates. These advocates will need a memory, and part of that memory will need to be of an age in which they were not yet alive." Soaring to Montaigne-like heights, Cultural Amnesia is precisely the book to burnish these memories of a Western civilization that James fears is nearly lost. 110 photographs.
Customer Reviews:
A difficult read,but worth the time.......2007-10-01
Although this book has an intersting premise,it is a difficult book to read.It is written in essay form,and the author's style is not flowing or easy to read.However the content is interesting and does make you think about how we got where we are to-day:by losing sight of,and forgetting the past and important peope in it.
You can read this book a chapter at a time, and leave it for a while since each chapter is an essay on one person.it is not a novel,but a collection of essay/biographies, and includes some very intersting people
Absolutely Must Reading.......2007-09-15
In fairness, I had never heard of Clive James until he appeared on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. I was just blown away and ordered this book the next day. If you want to understand Western culture ... I mean truly understand the culture in which you live, you should read this book. What you learn here is that a whole lot of people you never heard of and a few you have made monumental contributions that you didn't know about. This is the kind of book every person should have in their library as a reference. You can read it at leisure and you should. You should savor it.
Read it at your own perill.......2007-09-11
If you never studied French, German, Italian or Spanish, you will be sorry you didn't. You will be made aware of all you are missing because you can not read the all those untranslated or untranslatable important writers that are fundamental to our civilization. If you know them you will see that for English speakers is very difficult not to be confused by Spanish and Italian. I have found misspelled Spanish words because the Italian spelling was used in the wrong place. Clive James is almost pushing me to start again with German, French and Italian.
convoluted writing.......2007-09-04
just found what I've read so far very digressive and convoluted. He is a much better speaker than writer. haven't given it a full read, but am daunted by the many digressions from the points I'm interested in. don't care about 10 other people whom I may or may not know who really don't have relevance to the person I'm reading about.
Unsurpassed both for content and style.......2007-09-01
This is an amazing book. Clive James was only a dim sound in my limited background before the book was presented to me as a present. When I finished this book, I made the unusual promise to myself to read it again, an unusual decision since I am not thoroughly committed to modern writing and have found nothing that quite measures up to it, either traditional or modern. The essays, it is made clear, were not written at the same time, but were the accumulation of some years of reading and study. The casual reader will be introduced to a number of people hitherto unknown or barely known, mixed in with giants like Tacitus, Keats, Proust, Kafka, the three Manns,and Camus. I cannot ignore James's prose style, which astonishes minute by minute. A must-read for anybody interested in history and the arts.
Book Description
The very name of Judas raises among Christians an instinctive reaction of criticism and condemnationThe betrayal of Judas remainsa mystery. Pope Benedict XVI, October 2006 The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot sheds new light on the the mystery of Judasincluding his motives for the betrayal and what happened to him after the crucifixionby retelling the story of Jesus through the eyes of Judas, using the canonical texts as its basic point of reference. Ostensibly written by Judass son, Benjamin, and following the narrative style of the Gospels, this re-creation is provocative, compelling, and controversial. The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot is the result of an intense collaboration between a storyteller and a scholar: Jeffrey Archer and Francis J. Moloney. Their brilliant workbold and simpleis a compelling story for twenty-first-century readers, while maintaining an authenticity that would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew.
Customer Reviews:
nice effort, unfortunately dull.......2007-09-25
I was waiting for something interesting to happen, some insight... I didn't really come across anything new.
Overall, a bit disappointing, luckily not a big book.
For much more illuminating Biblical historical fiction, I highly recommend the Kingdom & the Crown Series by Gerald Lund (3 books) and the Women of Genesis books by Orson Scott Card.
It actually has nothing to do with 'mysteries' of Judas.......2007-07-06
Oh come on people:
"The unlikely partnership of Jeffrey Archer and Francis J. Moloney was formed after Archer had sought advice from Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini on who should guide him through this demanding project. Among his many past students of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Cardinal Martini singled
out Professor Moloney, a graduate of that institute in 1972, who had completed his doctoral studies at Oxford University in 1975.
The project was as bold as it was simple: Archer would write a story for twenty-first-century readers, while Moloney would ensure that the result would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew."
And that's EXACTLY the case. An interesting read.
Judas the Ensnared.......2007-06-28
I've been reading Archer since Kane and Abel and when I saw that he was writing a fictionalized account of the life of Judas as told by his son, I thought, wow, this could really be a great read and a little controversial. Neither came true. Basically, it's formatted like the gospels (nothing wrong with that), but just not an exciting read this time around. I was actually kind of bored reading it and the only reason I kept going was because it came in at around ninety pages so I persevered with it. The last chapter or two is when the basis of the story comes out and nothing earth shattering here. Judas was the victim of the religious zealots at the time to get rid of Christ. Maybe, maybe not. Does it change my point of view or my beliefs, probably not. Just something more to ponder about; the Bible, its writers (Did they embellish the truth from generation to generation before writing it down, whether on purpose or by accident. Kind of difficult to keep the same exact story going for tens or even hundreds of years orally without some of it being changed on the next telling), and the facts that surround it that science today continues to try to prove happened. I expected Archer to put this into more story form like all his other works and I think then he could have gone into more depth with this alternate theory and really provoked the reader's imagination. But he chose not to, giving us instead this lackluster rendition of what could have been a great story about Judas Iscariot.
The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot.......2007-06-21
The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot
Where Do I begin. Lets start with the title, The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot by Jeffrey Archer, come on!! It should be the fictional story of The Gospel According to Judas by Jeffrey Archer as Benjamin Iscariot.
A Relevant Story:
A friend of mine recently told me of a Pastor who liked to make hot fudge, apparently he used all organic ingredients. One day the Pastor's daughter wanted to see PG parental guidance rated movie, that only had 5%, swearing/drug use or sex scenes. After much insistence the daughter when to see the movie, the next day the Pastor decided to make some hot chocolate fudge the aroma filled the house the Pastor stated that he'd used 5% of a special organic source and kept the matter a secret until all the fudge had been consumed. Then he asked did you notice any difference in the quality/flavour? No.. they replied, well the 5% special ingredient was organic it wont do any REAL harm, it was only dog p##h. lol
If you take a solid truth as the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and you contaminant 5% to 10% of it with a special 'organic substance' what do you have in the end - dog p##h. I felt the tone and reason for the book was a Jewish backlash hardliner trying to have some justification why Jesus wasn't who he said he was the Son of God. The book was written from the sour grapes attitude, "[Jesus wasn't] ...the long-awaited Messiah."p1, on the betrayal of Christ, Archer says, "...Judas knew that he was innocent of such an accusation, as his only purpose was to save Jesus from an unnecessary death." After Jesus' Death, the sorrowful Judas goes a lives amongst the Essenes then a Masada as a "marked man". And the book concludes with "Judas died as Jesus did. He was crucified by the Romans." It's all a bit desperate!
The whole story Gospel of Judas is unbalanced what about Isaiah 53 The Sin-bearing, Suffering Servant? The Gospel of Judas omits the 30 pieces of silver, and suicide of Judas. The Gospel of Judas is nothing more that fragments of quotation out of context in Holy Bible blended together (very poorly) it just doesn't stick!
Let us set aside a few things, just say by chance that this gospel of Judas was right, and the whole of the New Testament wrong. Ok we've been deceived by the BIGGEST hoaxes since man made fire. We could be waiting for the Messiah to still come as the Gospel of Judas indicated, unhappily Israel still waits, they missed the boat. Not one Holy Prophet has been around for over two thousand years.
Israel is one of the most violent, sad and godless places on earth. There is no peace, the temple has gone, the glory has gone, as a nation they forsook the Lord time and time again and were taken off to captivity. Jesus said in Matt 23:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city the kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See your house is left to you, desolate..."
Now let's just say that the Gospel of Judas is false piece of fiction. Look at the people in New Testament who believe and were change by it and gave their lives for it (Peter & Paul), they did not write empty words by words of someone who knew and walked and talked with Jesus. The story of people in Bible give us hope, in a world where we are saturated with Hollywood, sexism, drugs and alcohol, domestic violence (rape/guns) the list keeps on going on. I want freedom from all that this world offers because it like hot sweet chocolate fudge one isn't enough and one piece is too much.
In closing a quote from James 3:13, "Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
What was Archer really trying to achieve by the release of this book?
Lacks Impact.......2007-05-28
In spite of the clever packaging---this small 100+ page novel appears to be an ancient leather-bound journal complete with built in ribbon bookmark--- Jeffrey Archer's "The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot" fails to deliver the punch needed to smack it into the significance realm of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I expected some grand revelation---perhaps Judas and Jesus had concocted the whole betrayal bit; Judas gladly takes the hit and for two millennia is thought to be the ultimate 30 pieces of silver traitor. As I read this little gospel formatted tome, I am thinking, Judas's legendary despicable actions were all part of his Master's ultimate plan, right?
Wrong.
Supposedly, in "The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot" Archer and Moloney collaborate to formulate a tale believable to both Biblical scholars and modern laymen readers. The format definitely bespeaks of their desire to create something that resembles a gospel rendering complete with chapter and verse and the Jesus quotations (most of which are familiar from evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) highlighted in a red italicized font. Nevertheless, the story itself disappoints as it is far too similar to the actual gospels from which it is based to excite any degree of controversy. The supposed mystery of the real Judas simply neglects to properly mystify.
Bottom line? Years ago, I had read Frank Yerby's novel, "Judas, My Brother." Believe me as scandalous as the plotline of this older book seemed to me then, it could far more captivate its audience now than this Archer-Moloney collaboration. Sadly, "The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot" attempts to retell the story of Christ's ministry utilizing a fifth evangelist format that simply doesn't work. Why read this when the original four authors of the New Testament gospels have already told the tale and have told it the best way possible? Not recommended.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"
Amazon.com
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future.
“DiamondÂ's most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that donÂ't just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times
“Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Collapse.......2007-10-17
The author did research into the ancient societies to come up with some lessons for our own future. Very interesting reading.
A Life-Changing Book.......2007-10-13
This extraordinary book will change the way you look at life and man's fate. Unlike Al Gore, Diamond deliberately under-argues his case, which makes it all the more compelling. And unlike Gore, he does not open himself to easy and cheap criticism by focusing on just one factor like climactic warming. He clearly believes in global warming from man-made effects. But what he demonstrates is the full range of our environmental quandary.
Putting aside global warming, how do we deal with the inherent limits on absolutely vital commodities -- sunlight, fossil fuels, fresh water,building materials, clean air, clean water, good land, the productive value of agricultural land? Then he shows the pressure of and irreversible momentum of population growth and the ambition of third world peoples to achieve the standard of living of first world peoples. Then he shows how even the first world cannot continue to sustain that standard.
Combined with this are the examples of past civlizations that failed by not solving their environmental problems. Most chilling is how those societies could remain in denial and do nothing until too late.
Diamond does include examples of successful societies that managed their environmental challenges. And he professes to be an optimist. But I find myself increasingly pessimistic about man's fate after reading this book. The Earth is a jealous mistress, and we cannot afford to take her for granted and to ignore the fragility of the environment and resources on which we depend.
The book is also extraordinary for its exploration of political and cultural issues. One of the most interesting chapters is his comparison of the Dominican Republic and Haiti -- two very different societies on two halves of the same island. He argues quite convincingly that the very different fates of the two societies are attributable to political, historical, and cultural developments. Though there are some differences between each half of the island, each is blessed with the same essential environment. Hence this is a great test case for proving or disproving environmental determinism -- and Diamond comes out against determinism.
Similarly compelling is the Rwanda chapter, which demonstrates that while the small differences and petty resentments between races can be the spark for genocidal conflict, race really doesn't explain the conflict. What explains the conflict is political manipulation of race and the great pressure asserted by declining wealth and resource limitations.
Diamond predicts that wars may well become more common in the new century given the competition for resources. This is a depressing observation for those who hoped that the lessons of the Twentieth Century would make wars far less common.
This is a terrific book and a must-read.
Brilliant. Engaging. Informative.........2007-10-01
Amazing book. He manages to hold my interest while providing a wealth of facts.
Mostly on the mark.......2007-09-28
Diamond hits pretty much on the mark all the way across the board. Weakness: for the most part ignores or minimizes the effect of marketing/advertising/propaganda on human consumption patterns. Strengths: one of the few books on this broad subject that actually deals with over-population; indeed, had he concentrated more on this one most important issue, I would have given "Collapse" 5 stars.
I would strongly recommend this book for anyone concerned with the future of the human race.
Collapse review.......2007-09-24
Another excellent book. I realized when I bought this book that I own and have enjoyed all of Jared Diamond's books. His topics and hypostheses are fascinating and compelling.
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
With a new chapter. The phenomenal bestseller—over 1.5 million copies sold—is now a major PBS special.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples. This edition includes a new chapter on Japan and all-new illustrations drawn from the television series.
Until around 11,000 BC, all peoples were still Stone Age hunter/gatherers. At that point, a great divide occurred in the rates that human societies evolved. In Eurasia, parts of the Americas, and Africa, farming became the prevailing mode of existence when indigenous wild plants and animals were domesticated by prehistoric planters and herders. As Jared Diamond vividly reveals, the very people who gained a head start in producing food would collide with preliterate cultures, shaping the modern world through conquest, displacement, and genocide.
The paths that lead from scattered centers of food to broad bands of settlement had a great deal to do with climate and geography. But how did differences in societies arise? Why weren't native Australians, Americans, or Africans the ones to colonize Europe? Diamond dismantles pernicious racial theories tracing societal differences to biological differences.
He assembles convincing evidence linking germs to domestication of animals, germs that Eurasians then spread in epidemic proportions in their voyages of discovery. In its sweep, Guns, Germs and Steel encompasses the rise of agriculture, technology, writing, government, and religion, providing a unifying theory of human history as intriguing as the histories of dinosaurs and glaciers. 32 illustrations.
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.
Book Description
India remains a mystery to many Americans, even as it is poised to become the world’s third largest economy within a generation, outstripping Japan. It will surpass China in population by 2032 and will have more English speakers than the United States by 2050. In In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, a journalist who covered India for many years, makes brilliant sense of India and its rise to global power. Already a number-one bestseller in India, his book is sure to be acknowledged for years as the definitive introduction to modern India.
In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite bureaucracies riddled with horrifying corruption.
Luce shows that India is an economic rival to the U.S. in an entirely different sense than China is. There is nothing in India like the manufacturing capacity of China, despite the huge potential labor force. An inept system of public education leaves most Indians illiterate and unskilled. Yet at the other extreme, the middle class produces ten times as many engineering students a year as the United States. Notwithstanding its future as a major competitor in a globalized economy, American. leaders have been encouraging India’s rise, even welcoming it into the nuclear energy club, hoping to balance China’s influence in Asia.
Above all, In Spite of the Gods is an enlightening study of the forces shaping India as it tries to balance the stubborn traditions of the past with an unevenly modernizing present. Deeply informed by scholarship and history, leavened by humor and rich in anecdote, it shows that India has huge opportunities as well as tremendous challenges that make the future “hers to lose.”
Customer Reviews:
Beating the Odds.......2007-10-13
edward luce's journalistic writing style makes this book an easy read. it does a good job of putting into context the "hindu rate of growth" that existed for so long after india regained her independence. but just as a big ship takes longer to change direction than a smaller boat, so does a large, diverse country that has been steeped in tradition and religious constraints for so many centuries.
similarly, just as greed and selfishness are unfortunate bi-products of capitalism gone wild in the new world, so is "caste-ism" and corruption of an economic system based on social classes which has been the rule for thousands of years. yet, as the author points out, it is this very tradition and sense of history that will keep the balloon of prosperity which has been unleashed, to remain tethered to the ground as it finds it's way into the modern skies.
in summary, the book is a good bridge from the old to the new and a good primer for anyone interested in understanding the paradox of modern india.
A must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.......2007-09-18
This is an important book on modern India. Edward Luce has been a foreign correspondent in India for many years and knows the country well. He provides a comprehensive survey of the politics and economics of India going into the 21st century. I was initially disappointed by the opening pages dealing with a few new-age types living in luxury and marveling at the spirituality of India while completely ignoring the poverty. Reading on I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was only an introduction to demonstrate what is wrong with many Westerner's perception of India. The book provides an unflinching look at India, warts and all. While some sections may seem overly critical, we live in an imperfect world and the same things are wrong in many other countries, to a greater or lesser extent. The rest of the world continues to function and even prosper and India does so too. The book also discusses the huge untapped potential of the country and the things that need to happen to assure future growth and development. I found the chapters on recent changes in religious practices and the rise of fundamentalism very eye-opening. The significance of attributing the domestication of the horse to the Indus Valley civilization is fascinating (I won't give this one away). In Spite of the Gods is a must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.
To spite the Gods?.......2007-09-15
I picked up this book when I was on a trip, mainly because of the intriguing title. I thought, well, here is someone who will tell us how our Gods hold us back economically. Especially, as many of us worship Lakshmi ji, the Goddess of prosperity, every day!
As it turns out, I was quite wrong. The title has absolutely no connection with the contents of the book, except perhaps to insinuate that India has progressed economically despite being religious. Or to help along sales. [Do note the rhyming with the original expression 'in spite of the odds'. Possibly Mr. Luce thinks that Hindu Gods were holding back India's progress, or that perhaps they are the real odds?]
The book is more or less a compilation of wisdom received from the author's Indian friends, and select social circle. I was unable to find any original insight or conclusion in the book. However, Mr. Luce does present the old and tired wisdom of assorted Indian intellectuals in a refreshingly witty way. In the end, the book is just a large collection of articles, such as you would find in any weekly or fortnightly newsmagazine or in any mainstream English language newspaper published in India. This is understandable, given the fact that Mr. Luce, after all is merely a journalist, used to regurgitating what others tell him. There is some useful information though, including tidbits about the high and mighty of Indian establishment.
Expectedly, Mr. Luce is most positive about and impressed with the economic side of Indian growth. He cites any number of examples of the growing economic strength and its implications. There may not be anything new in this, but the endorsement sounds nice, coming from a Western journalist.
However, his views on the cultural and religious aspects are a different thing altogether. He mostly holds the majority community as being directly responsible for India's perceived cultural backwardness, for the condition of the women and children, and for the distressing law and order situation. He also suggests that Bajrang Dal has been responsible for two out of three major riots in the last 25 years (the third being laid at the door of Congress). However, this is mere reductionism - he conveniently ignores hundreds of small riots which break out every year across India, on the slightest pretext.
This liberal confusion continues: when it comes to dealing with Muslims, he suddenly switches the canvas to South Asia, from just India! This serves two purposes: first it helps him cover the pre-1947 developments. Second, it allows him to include Kashmir in the discussion. Dealing with Kashmir within the framework of India would have perhaps been sacrilegious?
That said, it is therefore surprising to see an endorsement of the book by Mr. Mark Tully, whose work is as close to Mr. Luce's as North Pole is to South Pole. Perhaps Mr. Tully was merely helping along a fellow Briton. Or perhaps he was made to sign the endorsement using some frightfully sinister threat...
The book is very nicely bound, and the printing and paper is quite pleasing. So is Mr. Luce's writing style, humorous and engaging. However, sometimes it is a little tiring also, as you (as an Indian) sometimes feel that you are the [...]. of his jokes and gratuitous insinuations.
Buy this book if you quickly want to update yourself on the current perceptions of the fashionable and the intellectual. Skip it if you want to learn anything worthwhile.
Bad statistic.......2007-09-10
In discussing the low ratio of girls to boys, the author states that, in the West, there are 105 girls born for every 100 boys. That is not true. Even in the West, there are more boys born than girls. The numbers should be reversed.
Highly Recommended. Witty. Insightful. Modern. .......2007-08-22
I think some of the reviewers have done a good job of breaking down the book, so I'll just offer an opinion.
This is by far my favorite book this year, and not because I agree with everything the author has to say, but because I felt it was a good starting point for someone with little knowledge of India. It's filled with insightful information, humor, and does not read like some monotonous-tedious-textbook that drags on longer than it should.
I like that the author asks questions I would have liked to have asked, had I been there to do the interview. And I was impressed with the number of high positioned people he was able to interview. I appreciate that it's a modern book, and it deals with today's issues, explaining events that have happened in recent years that have been in the news, or haven't been. I didn't mind the author's opinionated views, and I don't quite understand why people think books have to be written from a neutral standpoint, which is a difficult thing to do, and most of the time leaves a book sounding dry.
This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone. It's easy to read, filled with a lot of information, and gives you a good overview of what's going on with India. It certainly sparks an interest to read other books on the subject.
Book Description
Best-selling text, WESTERN CIVILIZATION has helped over one million students learn about the present by exploring the past. Jack Spielvogel's engaging, chronological narrative weaves the political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, and military aspects of history into a gripping story that is as memorable as it is instructive. Each chapter offers a substantial introduction and conclusion, providing students a context for these disparate themes. The clear narrative of a single gifted author makes it easy for students to follow the story of Western civilization. Spielvogel gives the book depth by including over 150 maps and excerpts of over 200 primary sources--including official documents, poems, and songs--that enliven the past while introducing students to source material that forms the basis of historical scholarship. Available in many split options: WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Comprehensive, 6th Edition (Chapters 1-29), ISBN: 0534646026; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Volume I, To 1715, 6th Edition (Chapters 1-16), ISBN:0534646034; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Volume II, Since 1500, 6th Edition (Chapters 13-29), ISBN:0534646042; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Volume A: To 1500, 6th Edition (Chapters 1-12), ISBN: 0534646050; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Volume B: 1300-1815, 6th Edition (Chapters 11-19), ISBN:0534646069; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Volume C: Since 1789, 6th Edition (Chapters 19-29), ISBN: 0534646077; WESTERN CIVILIZATION, Since 1300, 6th Edition (Chapters 11-29), ISBN:0534646085.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome Book.......2006-05-19
Very easy explanation in book.........dont try to read whole book otherwise you will get sleep
Great for CLEP resource.......2006-01-18
Got this book as well as Volume I and used them as my resources for taking the Western Civ I and II CLEPS. Perfect for the job, and helped me get a very good grade, highly recommend for anyone looking to use for that purpose.
Revionist History.......2005-07-05
After being required to read this text for a class, I bought two other history books to which I could compare this one. I thought that Spielvogel was leaving out chunks of history, and revising the ones that he included, and I wanted to double check my facts before making any accusations. Well, boy was I right. This book makes the Publisher's tag line, "Changing the Way the World Learns" seem a little too true..
If you DO get this book, here are some things to look out for:
1. He is wrong on just about everything that has to do with art or music. He cites obscure artists and names them as the most popular, most of them had Christian themed work.
2. He glorifies Hitler and the Nazis and makes the Holocaust seem like nothing but a minor glitch in history.
3. The author has a degree in Reformation History and seems to be unable to help himself from relating every single event in history to religion. So keep in mind that Voltaire had more to offer history than an anti-Christian revisionist account of the fall of the Roman Empire, as Spielvogel states.
If I were you, I'd buy a different history book to read as well as this one, if this is required for a course. Preferably one that was published for the first time in the thirties or forties and has been updated since, so that its more clear it isn't revionist history. This one was first published in 2003.
Honestly, if I could give this book less than one star I would, but there's no such option on amazon.com...
yikes.......2005-04-22
This book was horrible for AP Euro, it was not in chronological order and often confused our class. Also, he skipped over some events that were important to know for the AP exam.
THIS BOOK SUCKS.......2004-12-30
Jackson J. Spielvogel has no sense of organization whatsoever. And as for those people who read this book for fun, SERIOUSLY need a life. I, however, am using this book as a text book for AP Euro and think it is absolutely ludicrous that we have to use it. It's confusing and needs to be written better. A LOT better. This book should get -1000000 stars.
Book Description
Civilization in the West
blends social and political history into a fascinating narrative that brings history to life.
The authors tell a compelling story of Western Civilization that is enhanced by an image-based approach. “The Visual Record” chapter openers draw students in by illustrating a dominant theme of the chapter and exploring the dramatic changing contours of the West through standard maps, Map Discovery features and Geographical Tours of Europe. Discovering Western Civilization Online end-of-chapter Web site URLs make this the first Western Civilization book to include these resources.
Book Description
Trusted by professors of the humanities survey course for over twenty years, CULTURE AND VALUES covers Western cultures along with important non-Western cultures, providing students solid, accessible introductions to art, music, philosophy, literature, and more. Available in two volumes, or as an alternate single volume without end-of-chapter readings, this text remains the most readable and reliable textbook for college and university students in the integrated humanities.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent.
- Organization? Is that not in the authors' dictionary?
- book
- Try Harder
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Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the Modern World (1300 to the Present)
Robert Tignor ,
Jeremy Adelman ,
Stephen Aron ,
Stephen Kokin ,
Suxanne Marchand ,
Gyan Prakash ,
Suzanne Marchand ,
Michael Tsin , and
Stephen Kotkin
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Worlds of History Volume Two: A Comparative Reader: Since 1400
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The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.
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Human Record
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Worlds Together Worlds Apart Study Guide: History of Modern World (1300 to Present)
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Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 9001900 (Studies in Environment and History)
ASIN: 0393977463 |
Book Description
This provocative narrative history dramatically departs from the standard "rise of the West" storyline that has driven world historiography for a century. A stellar group of historians paint a decidedly different modern world history, one in which the rise of the West was not predetermined and where global integration has manifested itself in fits and starts rather than as a smooth process over the last seven centuries. This fresh interpretation, driven by powerful ideas and colorful stories, promises to engage readers for decades to come.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent........2007-03-31
Unlike the previous reviewers I found Tignor's text to be a highly lucid and comprehensive account of world history. If you have not read much history than you will have to be patient at first with the writing style as it is chock full of information and concepts that can seem disconnected an quite abstract. Yet, if you have the perseverance to stick with it, you be rewarded with a rich understanding of the themes that run through the narrative of human history. Strongly recommended.
Organization? Is that not in the authors' dictionary?.......2005-11-02
While this book contains valuable information it seems horribly put together in seemingly random order. Many-a-times I found that I would be reading the exact same sentence in Chapter 3 as in Chapter 4. The authors largely ignored any sort of geographical or chronological organization and just puts sections in wherever the mood struck them.
book.......2005-10-04
the book arrived in the same condition they said it would and arrived when they said it would
Try Harder.......2003-10-30
Not only does this provocative narrative dramatically depart from the admittedly tired "rise of the West" storyline - it departs from the purpose of an educational text altogether. The writing in this book is, in a word, pathetic; the authors don't even appear to have a grasp of how to construct a paragraph. The powerful ideas and the context-hungry hodge-podge of stories in this interpretation of the history of civilization since 1300 are skewed by the authors' blatant preoccupation with the cultural dis-integration of contemporary Globalism - to the point of affecting the architecture of the book itself. Readers who flee from the possibility of understanding anything will certainly be engaged by the colorful pictures in this book. The rest of you would do well to keep shopping.
Book Description
Master Books commissioned this important literary work to be updated from the 17th-century original Latin manuscript to modern English and made available to the general public for the first time. In its pages can be found the fascinating history of the ancient world from the Genesis creation through the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.
Find Out:
• Why was Julius Caesar kidnapped in 75 B.C.?
• Why did Alexander the Great burn his ships in 326 B.C.?
• What really happened when the sun "went backward" as a sign to Hezekiah?
• What does secular history say about the darkness at the Crucifixion?
Customer Reviews:
Awesome!.......2007-02-21
Awesome, easily legible tome. Good concise notations on major events - including Biblical. Received book promptly and in great condition.
No more revisionist history!.......2006-12-08
James Ussher's classic work is an absolute joy to read. I was up 'til the wee hours reading the night I got it. The writing is truly fresh and exciting, a bit unexpected for a volume first published in the mid 1600's by an Anglican archbishop!
I happen to hold a young-earth creationist's view of origins, and find Bishop Ussher's calculations relating to creation utterly believable, but no matter your worldview you will find the histories complete and engaging, interspersed as they are with first hand accounts of some of civilization's most defining moments.
The bindings of this volume seem sturdy enough at first glance, though time only will tell how it holds up to the study this book will certainly receive! The print is crisp and clear, and the illustrations are very fine as well.
This volume belongs in the library of every serious student of history.
The supplemental CD gives a wealth of solidly scriptural information to complement the biblical timeline charts, and some excellent commentary on the position of God's infallible Word in ancient and contemporary times.
Buy this book! You will not be disappointed!
Excellent but not without issues.......2006-11-07
Usher is a classic and is either respected or mocked by modern historians. The mocking is of course driven by worldview conflicts, but those quick to laud Usher's work as authoritative must be careful to avoid zealotry as well.
I find Usher to be extremely helpful and his postdeluvian history seems to be generally quite well referenced. We have run into some dating conflicts that are understandable, for Usher did not have the benefit of archaeology and recent finds of supporting historical texts (last couple of centuries).
His work is certainly commendable, and as a volume of history it is very useful. However, the dating of events especially concerning ancient Egypt and before can't quite be reconciled with several competing histories.
I suggest it as a supplemental history for classical studies, as a primary source it might leave some questions unanswered.
Terrible.......2006-09-25
I thought this book would give me some new insight into biblical history. Its didn't. It is disjointed and much of it talks about one ruler or king or leader (none biblical) who died on such and such date in history. It gives little is any detailed information about anything pertaining to the bible. I thought that by reading this book I would have some new knowledge about biblical history but I have none. Its just a terrible book.
Outstanding Historical Cross-Reference. .......2006-01-26
"Annals of the World" is a great historical reference for the most discerning of scholars. Covering the time from the beginning of creation to 70AD, James Usshur used over 2500 historical sources to ensure that he compiled a complete collection of historical facts.
Elaborating each of the positive qualities and reasons to purchase and read this book are highlighted in most of the 5 star raters, I would only be seconding what they have already stated.
Books:
- Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries
- Early Cold War Overflights 1950-1956: Symposium Proceedings: Vol. I: Memories & Vol. II: Appendixes
- Europe Since 1870
- Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South
- Exodus from Obesity: The Guide to Long-Term Success After Weight Loss Surgery
- Geology of the American Southwest: A Journey Through Two Billion Years of Plate-Tectonic History
- Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War
- Green Development
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
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