Amazon.com
In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas Cahill takes us to the "island of saints and scholars," the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells. Here, far from the barbarian despoliation of the continent, monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the West's written treasury. When stability returned in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning, becoming not only the conservators of civilization, but also the shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on Western culture.
Book Description
The perfect St. Patrick's Day gift, and a book in the best tradition of popular history -- the untold story of Ireland's role in maintaining Western culture while the Dark Ages settled on Europe.
Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but they may not be aware of how great an influence St. Patrick was on the subsequent history of civilization. Not only did he bring Christianity to Ireland, he instilled a sense of literacy and learning that would create the conditions that allowed Ireland to become "the isle of saints and scholars" -- and thus preserve Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians.
In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization -- copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost -- they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task.
As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.
In the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's
A Distant Mirror,
How The Irish Saved Civilization reconstructs an era that few know about but which is central to understanding our past and our cultural heritage. But it conveys its knowledge with a winking wit that aptly captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilization.
Download Description
From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne--the "dark ages"--learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of western civilization--from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works--would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable reading.......2007-09-28
I enjoyed this book and am somewhat surprised by the nasty reviews. I wasn't looking for a historical textbook or I would surely have looked elsewhere. As an introduction to the role Ireland played in history, I found it a scratching of the surface that made me want to go out and learn more. And I loved Cahill's rather lighthearted amusing writing style. I'm intrigued enough to want to read more in the hinges of history series and I find myself wanting to study Irish poetry from the middle ages.
An enjoyable read!
An ok book about the Irish.......2007-08-27
An ok book about irish civilization. I cannot say that I loved this book. It was a general read about the Irish. I was not overwhelmed by this.
Heavy reading.......2007-07-18
This book is an interesting intellectual history of the fall of Western classical civilization, and how its literary works and ideas were preserved and then brought back to life through Irish monasteries. Cahill begins with an analysis of why the Roman Empire collapsed, which he supports by drawing heavily on classical writers, from Plato to Cicero. He also examines the state of Irish society at the time, using the Tain as an example. He then traces the history of Saint Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland, and how the new Christian monasteries came to be the institutions that preserved the ancient classical texts and brought them back to mainland Europe in future centuries.
I found Cahill's approach to history quite interesting, in his heavy use of contemporary literary works to exemplify his descriptions. He argues that it was the special nature of Irish intellectual society, in which the monks were interested in reading and preserving all classical works without censoring them, which enabled many classic Greek and Roman texts to be preserved. Without such broad interests in preserving all ancient texts, Cahill argues they would have been lost for good with the looting and burning of the great European libraries, and the ideas in them would not have been available to fuel the renaissance. The book is quite thought-provoking, and would make a good choice for book discussions.
Wonderful Book.......2007-06-14
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like many of Thomas Cahill's books the author spends the first few chapters on background history (which can be a slow read for some - myself included), but once he sets up the time and place it is a smooth enjoyable ride that leaves you inspired and enriched.
Not scholarly literature.......2007-06-13
I thought Cahill's premise was fascinating. The book was interesting, too, but it's not a scholarly work. Cahill tells a story. I admit that I have not read enough in this area to be able to fully critique his work, but like any work the reader should not blindly accept everything he or she reads.
I was disappointed by the vagueness of much of Cahill's text. Much of it seemed irrelevant. Ausonius and Augustine and Plato are nice, but I don't know if they're really the greatest cross-section of classical civilzation to cite. I was confused by the way in which the story was told. I felt cheated by the layout, which seems to indicate that events happened in this order: 1) Rome is great, 2) Rome is overrun by barbarians, 3) Ireland becomes civilized, 4) Ireland enlightens the world, 5) the world is saved. However, if you look at the chronology in the back, these events are intertwined and one is not necessarily the result of another. This book seems to be the bones of the story - but it's not fleshed out. Please note that Cahill's credentials are as a religious scholar, not a historian.
Cahill's arguments are interesting, and he did illuminate an aspect of history that was previously a shadow of the Dark Ages. The time between the fall of the Roman empire and Charlemagne seems to be a black hole in history. Cahill does make the usual error of assuming that the people of his society are the only people in the world - but anyone who knows anything about history knows that the world was never empty. I may give Cahill another chance, but I have my reservations.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Chinese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Augustine, Saint
| ( A )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Doctors & Medicine
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Love, Sex & Marriage
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Early Civilization
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Historiography
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asian American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Asian American
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Victorian
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Epic
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
German
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conspiracy Theories
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
War on Drugs
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
English (All)
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Arabic
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Armenian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Czech
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Greek
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Hungarian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Korean
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Norwegian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Persian & Farsi
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Polish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Portuguese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Romanian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Swedish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Turkish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Science
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Online Research
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Native American
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Magic & Wizards
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Sailor Moon
| Popular Characters
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Pilates
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Fashion
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
-
History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
-
Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored
-
Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
-
They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
A legendary bestseller for more than forty years, this is the classic survey to the field from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.
With 274 authors, the Eighth Edition deepens its representation of essential works in all genres, ranging from Seamas Heaney's award-winning translation of Beowulf, Milton's Paradise Lost, and More's Utopia to the great poets and prose writers of the nineteenth century—Blake and Austen, Wordsworth and Byron, Tennyson and Barrett Browning—to twentieth-century classics of a truly global English literature—Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Woolf's A Room of One's Own, Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and Friel's Translations, to name but a few. Color plates—over 75 in all—and thematic clusters of brief and historically significant texts bring to life the cultural concerns of each period. Concise glosses and annotations, period introductions, biographical headnotes, timelines, and selected bibliographies help readers understand and enjoy the rich diversity of English literature.
Customer Reviews:
Incredibly but True.......2007-03-10
I bougth this book out of necessity, because is obligated for my English class this semester. It turn out to be pretty good. It is all poetry from the romantic period to our time. It has great writers, so as T. S. Eliot and more. I got to admmit it thought it will be dull but I was wrong. It is a great book. One thing is for sure, half the poems that I read so far are all related to death, for some reason.
It's Required.......2007-03-09
I needed this book for a college British Literature Class. There's a lot of poetry and great footnotes. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the romantic and victorian periods.
A very complete guide to English literature.......2006-12-07
This anthology provides lots of samples of the English literature from Romanticism to our days. In addition, it includes essays on some relevant literary topics, and an excelent appendix that contains information about rhetorical figures, poetic forms, etc.
Norton Anthology of English Literature.......2006-11-03
My professor was very concerned with background info of the time period and author and this text gives an introduction to each author with exactly that.
Better for Grads Than Under.......2006-11-01
This is a terrific volume, however, I would change some content to give a wider appeal. Right now, the volume is great for grad students, but limited for undergrads. Example: undergrads will like Waiting for Godot more than Endgame. I believe the choice was space-determined: Endgame is shorter. However, it would be better to do with a little less Wordsworth and a little more Beckett.
However, these are nitpicks. Good move including Mary Robinson, and the intros are terrific.
Book Description
The Industrial Revolution has sometimes been regarded as a catastrophe which desecrated the English landscape and brought social opporession and appalling physical hardship to the workers. In this book, however, it is presented as an important and beneficial mark of progress. In spite of destructive wars and a rapid growth of population, the material living standards of most of the British people improved, and the technical innovations not only brought economic rewards but also provoked greater intellectual ingenuity. Innovation is therefore seen by Ashton not just as an economic course but as a social and cultural process influenced by factors such as war and peace and the framework of law and institutions. Lucidly argued and authoritative, this bookplaces the phenomenon of the Industrial Revolution in a stimulating perpsective. A new Preface by Professor Pat Hudson outlines the results of recent research precipitated by Ashton's themes: the true causes of population growth in the eighteenth century, the nature of the supply of capital, and the new approaches to labour studies amongst others. This Preface places The Industrial Revolution in its contemporary context, and a new thoroughly updated bibliography means that fifty years on, Ashton's work can continue to be of value to modern readers.
Customer Reviews:
A solid, no-nonsense book about an important subject.......1999-10-12
First published in 1948, this book has gone through many editions, the latest, as we can see here, put out in 1998. I recently read the 1964 edition, picked up long ago at a booksale in Melbourne, Australia. Ashton's work is probably timeless. It is a down-to-earth, very well reasoned history of the various historical tendencies and phenomena that together are called "the industrial revolution". I cannot vouch for this volume being absolutely correct. The author does not have much time for those who dwell on the evils of industrialization, or who want to include class struggle in their analysis. Though I was not fully convinced of this, still I was willing to listen. Not being an expert in the field, I was looking for a decent explanation or summary of the whole process. I definitely got my money's worth in Ashton's book. It is well-written, without jargon and without presumption of vast historical knowledge on the part of the reader. It gives you an overview of such various fields as population growth, early forms of industry in England, the technical innovations, capital, banking, labor unions, conditions of workers, industrialists' clubs, and relation of agriculture to industry. Though I found the part about banks and interest rather rough going, it was entirely due to my own poor understanding of the field. My edition could have used a map. The shires, the rivers, and the many towns of England are not all imprinted firmly in the brains of North Americans. Other than that, I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their understanding of the Industrial Revolution.
simply delightful to read as well as a thorough resource.......1998-12-04
I can't believe I'm the first to write about this. I bought this a few years back while a graduate student in modern European history. My focus was primarily industrialization. This book is a joy. Ashton provides a thorough picture of the Revolution from several perspectives. He describes how events and developments built upon each other and how the innovators fed each others efforts. Most importantly, Ashton is a terrific writer. Other books on this and like topics can be as dry as the Sahara. Ashton is engaging and witty. This is not a book that requires a terrifically large committment. Even if you are not a student but simply interested in the topic, please read this.
Average customer rating:
- A handy if heavy friend!
- A worthy companion
- A (Very Historical) Companion to English Literature
- very good refrence
- very good refrence
|
The Oxford Companion to English Literature
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Literary Theory
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Books & Reading
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Drabble, Margaret
| ( D )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Art
| Encyclopedias
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Literature
| Encyclopedias
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Art & Photography
| Bibliographies & Indexes
| Publishing & Books
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Literature
| Bibliographies & Indexes
| Publishing & Books
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Literature & Fiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Reference
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Oxford Companion to American Literature
-
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
-
The Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford Companion to English Literature)
-
Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
-
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy New Edition
ASIN: 0198662440 |
Book Description
Based on the text of Margaret Drabble's 1995 edition, this sixth edition has been completely reworked and expanded. There are nearly 600 entirely new entries to reflect the new figures and issues of English Literature in the new millennium, and the existing entries have been extensively revised and updated to incorporate the latest scholarship. But this new edition remains faithful to Sir Paul Harvey's original vision of an authoritative work placing English literature from the Classical world, Europe, Latin America, and beyond. In addition to the extensive coverage of writers, works, literary theory, allusions, and characters, there are sixteen featured essay-style entries on key topics including black British literature, fantasy fiction, and modernism.
Customer Reviews:
A handy if heavy friend!.......2005-02-17
A wonderful resource and superbly edited by Ms Drabble to not only meet the founding principles of this work (which first appeared in the 1930's) but also to consider the ever changing parimeters of what good and great literature is, a highly subjective notion at best.
The title almost does not do this work justice, it bestows it with a crusty old British acaedemic image. You almost imagine having to blow the dust off it before you can begin! But it is so much more rich and diverse than this and should not be avoided by those made nervous by it's title; it is not the untouchable work it sounds like it may be.
If literature is a love of yours, whether by author or genre, then you will find this brilliantly informative. Don't be put off by this being such an enormous book, it needs to be, it will become a dear and chubby friend in no time!
A worthy companion.......2003-07-11
The first 'Oxford Companion to English Literature' was published in 1932 under the editorial direction of Sir Paul Harvey (no relation the American radio commentator). Half a century and five editions later, this is still a standard, authoritative reference work necessary for scholars and interested non-experts alike.
Under the editorship of Margaret Drabble, author and biographer (known for 'The Witch of Exmoor' and the more recently published 'The Peppered Moth'), this volume remains faithful to Harvey's intention of placing English literature in its widest possible context while exploring the deep classical and continental connections that underpin much of the history.
How can literature be divorced from cultural context? Surely it cannot be -- hence the newest entries into the edition include topics that read as if they were taken from today's best-seller shelf:
- Anglo-Indian Literature
- Simon Armitage
- Kate Atkinson
- Louis de Bernieres
- Censorship
- Ben Elton
- Gay and lesbian literature
- Hypertext
- A. L. Kennedy
- Lad's literature
- Literature of science
- New Criticism
- New Irish Playwrights
- Carol Shields
- Travel writing
This sample listing of the latest entries is representative of the more established categories, in that the entries (encyclopedic in character) include Authors, Subjects, Titles, Events, Characters and Critical Theory. The entries are unsigned (an ever-controversial practice in reference works such as this) -- well over a hundred contributors assisted in this volume, including the likes of Matthew Sweet, Salman Rushdie, Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Katherine Duncan-Jones, and Brian Vickers.
This volume serves the general reader well in that one may follow cross-reference trails through the text. Take, for instance, Aaron the Moor -- the reader will be directed to Titus Andronicus, to which one is directed to Shakespeare, and from there a host of other cross-references historical and modern. Under the entry of Gabriel Josipovici, one is led back the entries of Rabelais and Bellow, influences as well as objects of Josipovici's study.
The appendices are new features of this edition. The first appendix is a Chronology that lists the chronology of the production of English literature from c.1000 to 1999 side by side with major historical events in Britain and beyond, and the significant events in the lives of literary figures. Appendix 2 lists the Poets Laureate in chronological order, from 1619 (when the office unofficially began) to the present -- surprisingly, there have only been 21 (19 official). Appendix 3 lists major literary award winners: Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Library Association Carnegie Medalists, and Booker-McConnell Prize for Fiction. Obviously not all of these are British authors, but it helps to place British literature in the wider world context of the twentieth century (as all of these prizes are twentieth-century creations).
In addition to the encyclopedic entries, there are major essays scattered through the text. These include the following topics:
- Biography
- Black British Literature
- Children's Literature
- Detective Fiction
- Fantasy Fiction
- Ghost Stories
- Gothic Fiction
- Historical Fiction
- Metre
- Modernism
- Post-Colonial Literature
- Romanticism
- Science Fiction
- Spy Fiction
- Structuralism and Post-Structuralism
These essays include history and current development of the genre or topic, as well as bibliographic information for further research, which (regrettably) the smaller encyclopedic entries rarely have.
This is a terrific, one-volume reference that should serve well anyone with a need for quick and ready reference material. It should find a welcome home on the shelf of any avid reader, fan of literature and modern fiction, history, religion, or any devoted Anglophile.
A (Very Historical) Companion to English Literature.......2003-01-22
Disliking an Oxford Press book makes me feel like a heretic. The majority of their Companion books are superb, remarkably concise yet thorough works of scholarship. The English Companion is an unfortunate and surprising exception.
The entry for 'New Criticism' is an efficient example of the book's shortcomings. For one thing, there's a laundry list of authors, dates, and books but very little is said of the IDEAS that characterize New Criticism. The entries are generally hamstringed by a focus on the sociopolitical and historical aspects of writers and works. The effort is laudable but inappropriate and uneconomical for a reference work. In its most extreme form, the historical emphasis goes into bizarre detail about an author's upbringing -- is it really necessary that we know where an author went to grade school and when? Entries love to entertain tales of writers' deaths and and of their insignificant travellings. I often felt as though I were reading minibiographies.
One will also notice, in the case of 'New Criticism', the absence of any mention of the 'organic'. This is ridiculous and indicative of the book's lack of attention to concepts as such. There is a non-cross-referenced mention of 'organic' under Coleridge, yet even there it is only mentioned as one of his ideas, not in terms of what the theory tried to say. I would compare it to someone's asking, 'What does X mean?' This book's reply: 'X was one of so-and-so's ideas'. Too often, the response ends there. Literary theory entries are usually on the thin side, though the deconstruction essay is solid. However, even in the longest lit theory essays there is more of an emphasis on people and movements -- far less on ideas.
Along with the lack of depth (or conceptual emphasis), there's little sense of the overall significance of ideas, works or characters (ironic given the attempts at a social-historical approach): Caliban is mentioned in the Tempest entry, and even gets his own paragraph elsewhere, but there's nothing about his character as it's been re-elaborated and re-invented by a long tradition of English writers (Auden, Browning, Joyce, and Wilde for starters). There's nothing about Caliban's portrayal in that tradition, nor mention of Caliban's mirror, etc. Under 'hubris' (which is found, in turn, under a terse account of 'the Poetics'), there's nothing about Icarus, nor is there anything about hubris as a specific theme in so many works.
Speaking of hubris, it's baffling to me that Drabble's entry is longer than either Hill's or Heaney's. The general editor would have been better off focusing more of her energy on other writers: that expansive babbling space could have been put to stronger use had a more thorough background been given on either of those poets, among others.
Readers seeking to understand why an author alludes in his work to a character or poet will be little helped by nebulous terms like 'icily poised' or 'sensuously textured', which are more suggestive of gastronomic, rather than literary, criticism. To my mind a reference's primary function should be to offer a quick source of the 'essentials' of a book or of a writer's ideas, an understanding of which would illuminate one's reading of the alluding work. While I appreciate that entries shy away from 'this or that' critiques or strict (canonical) interpretations, giving lists of facts does an injustice to the works themselves and to the way these works have been interpreted by others. (Believe it or not, people CAN come to their own conclusions even after being introduced to an opinion.)
The book's scope is appropriate to literature, as literature tends to allude to so many disparate disciplines. But if one were truly trying to give an encyclopedic account of literature, the book would have to be much bigger. In this case, specialization suffers. I would have preferred a much more focused account of 'literature' as such; I'd then supplement this with other references focused, for example, on English history. One gets the sense that too many entries end up attenuated in this book.
On the positive side the plot summaries are strong and more nuanced, though many entries are badly written (full of odd, obscuring, convoluted syntax). Again, good editorship would have recognized this.
The book primarily succeeds as an enervated survey. Nevertheless, readers will occasionally happen upon some interesting, well-summarized topics.
I'm going to check out the Cambridgean counterpart to the Oxford Companion, and I'm hoping it will give a more in-depth account of ideas and themes. The other Oxford Companions are, however, truly amazing works and deserve a close look.
very good refrence.......1999-09-08
An excellent resource of information about English works of art
very good refrence.......1999-09-08
An excellent resource of information about English works of art
Book Description
A legendary bestseller for more than forty years, this is the classic survey to the field from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.
With 274 authors, the Eighth Edition deepens its representation of essential works in all genres, ranging from Seamas Heaney's award-winning translation of Beowulf, Milton's Paradise Lost, and More's Utopia to the great poets and prose writers of the nineteenth century—Blake and Austen, Wordsworth and Byron, Tennyson and Barrett Browning—to twentieth-century classics of a truly global English literature—Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Woolf's A Room of One's Own, Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and Friel's Translations, to name but a few. Color plates—over 75 in all—and thematic clusters of brief and historically significant texts bring to life the cultural concerns of each period. Concise glosses and annotations, period introductions, biographical headnotes, timelines, and selected bibliographies help readers understand and enjoy the rich diversity of English literature.
Customer Reviews:
One big book........2007-09-21
There seems to be nothing wrong or displeasing about this book aside from its overall dimensions. The stories are assembled well. There is even a nice history about the authors in some instances. Like I said previous, its one gigantic book. I think it would have been perfect to maybe cut it in half, labling them "volume 1a" and "volume 1b". Oh well, its still a pretty good book.
30% saved.......2007-09-18
I saved at least 30% on this book compaird to the schools' bookstore asking price.
What can I say..........2007-08-26
This is the definitive collection of what is widely regarded as the best early English literature. How can this not get a five? Beowulf to Milton.
A Steal ..........2007-07-03
No doubt, this is an excellent value ... although if you've studied Eng Lit at all, there will obviously be duplicates of your past experience. Personally, I've found Norton a much more reliable 'Name' than the more famous Oxford and Cambridge brands, that is if you're interested in actually 'thinking' v. tenure.
Norton Anthology 8th Ed........2007-02-12
The 8th Edition of the Norton Anthology was just what I expected and was the perfect addition to my educational library.
Book Description
The Fourth Edition is again based on Robert Kimbrough's meticulously re-edited text. Missing words have been restored and the entire novel has been repunctuated in accordance with Conrad's style. The result is the first published version of Heart of Darkness that allows readers to hear Marlow's voice as Conrad heard it when he wrote the story.
"
Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with a generous collection of maps and photographs that bring the Belgian Congo to life. Textual materials, topically arranged, address nineteenth-century views of imperialism and racism and include autobiographical writings by Conrad on his life in the Congo. New to the Fourth Edition is an excerpt from Adam Hochschild's recent book, King Leopold's Ghost, as well as writings on race by Hegel, Darwin, and Galton.
"
Criticism" includes a wealth of new materials, including nine contemporary reviews and assessments of Conrad and Heart of Darkness and twelve recent essays by Chinua Achebe, Peter Brooks, Daphne Erdinast-Vulcan, Edward Said, and Paul B. Armstrong, among others. Also new to this edition is a section of writings on the connections between Heart of Darkness and the film Apocalypse Now by Louis K. Greiff, Margot Norris, and Lynda J. Dryden.
A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.
About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the
Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
The Devil Froze From Fear.......2007-08-08
Daytime scents of nightmare horrors. Man and his insane ways - bushman, postman, commoner, who to blame? Unless you are familiar with the background of this stunning novel do yourself a favor and get the Norton Critical Edition. For a century Conrad's novel has drawn raves and rage. Each is left to decide where the sanity line lies, to the right or to the left. Upriver or downriver? Riveting every page of the way.
One of the Great novels of all time.......2007-05-12
One of the must reads in literature. Probably my favorite novel ever written. The short length is decieving. It is not a novel to be blown through without thought. The themes of this novel resonate more in our day and age than ever before. Literary greatness.
Very good..........2007-04-11
I was satisfied with purchasing this book from Amazon.
The shipping was fast and it was packaged in a nice box.
On Time, as Described.......2007-03-15
Book arrived shrink wrapped, in excellent condition, on time and as described. Would order from this supplier again.
Impenetrable, maddening, and brilliant!.......2007-01-03
I have started and stopped, started and stopped this maddeningly impenetrable short novel more times than I care to admit, finally finishing it (once) two years ago. There is something really quite remarkable about it. The journey upriver is supposed to be difficult, dark, dangerous, and hard to get through -- and reading the book is an experience of exactly the same sort. And not in the sense that the book is badly written or boring. No, it's more like the *experience of reading* the book mirrors the experiences *in* the book. And that, in itself, is quite an accomplishment! There is also a touch of brilliance in the morally ambiguous archetypes presented in the story. You can read it once (or less than once, as with my many previous attempts), and something about it stays with you. Like a bad rash. Yet as difficult as it is to get through, something about it, something you can't quite put your finger on, keeps you wanting to come back for more. Astonishing!
Book Description
The Politically Incorrect GuideT to English and American Literature exposes the PC professors and takes you on a fascinating tour through our great literature-in all its politically incorrect glory. Included: a syllabus and how-to guide to give yourself the English lit education you were denied in school.
Customer Reviews:
PIG to English and American Literature.......2007-10-05
This is a superbly written book by someone intimately familiar with the subject matter. It exposes the post-modernist absurdities with delightful wit and not in an accusatory manner. This book would be an excellent text for a mid-level college English course, and could help students prepare for being hoodwinked by silly professors with agendas. Some of the best consideration of Shakespeare I have seen since my "pre-politically correct" studies as an English major in the late 60's.
Seriously?.......2007-09-15
As a person who works in the field of English Capital-L literature, I have recently taken an interest in various books that talk about HOW we teach English. I take exception to Ms. Kantor's view of the field because it is obvious that she has never taught English, or in some cases, read the books she discusses.
First of all, in no way are the classics disappearing from the English classroom. I can guarantee that every English major in the United States is required to take a survey of British and American literature (which is fairly heavy on the "classics," mind you), and a seminar on Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer (or, in the case of where I went to school, all THREE). Why do we do this? Because these great writers build on each others legacy and we have to read them to understand literature. Just like we should read Dante to understand Milton, and read Milton to understand Blake. (What Kantor also fails to recognize is that our readings of Dante change after having read Milton and our readings of Milton change after having read Blake, as those men were engaging in the very literary "theory" she denounces. Furthermore, not having "theory" is still a "theory.")
As a liberal, but also an educator, the point of broadening the canon is not to forget about Shakespeare or to assume that his works are not relevant to human experience (Julius Caesar is one of the most cogent political plays ever written, and one Ms. Kantor should probably review before she kicks the opposing party out of the classroom), but it is expanded to include new kinds of human experience that have traditionally been ignored by those "dead white males" who defined the curriculum one hundred years ago. Sure, Conrad's Heart of Darkness might teach us what it means to be "human" (whatever that means), but it certainly doesn't teach us what it means to be an African or a woman, and a gander at Conrad's own words will affirm that, for all his book is critique of Imperialism.
What Ms. Kantor fails to recognize is that no literary interpretation is without its politics, not even hers. What we should focus on teaching our students is that these books are worth reading BECAUSE they raise questions about OUR culture as well as the culture of the writer's own time. But let me tell you this, Ms. Kantor, when we stop reading and discussing Chaucer with undergraduate English majors, I'll quit my job.
Hoo, boy, where to start with this one..........2007-09-02
Is there really a problem with evil liberals trying to re-write how we should look at Beowulf? This whole series of books is politically motivated. In this case, as with the other works, the author made up her mind first, and then looked for anything at all that might support it. You know, pretty much the opposite of how you're supposed to approach scholarly writing. It's a good thing they found a woman to write it, though. It's sort of like how Comedy Central found Carlos Mencia so they could legitimately tell jokes with he word "beaner" in them like twenty times each. Real classy stuff.
Prescription for Poor Readers.......2007-08-25
Thank the Almighty! At last we have a book to help us restore our sense of self-worth by exposing the tactics of that old battle-ax teacher who belittled our reading skills by declaring that we focused too much on our own thoughts and rightful opinions and not enough on the author's intentions, as if it would have been possible to reconcile that propaganda with our own straight truths! Now we can rely on the better class of writers, or at least portions of them, to help us think what we already know. They've kept us silent too long! Why, on the amazonian rankings of sales, Darwin's "The Descent of Man" is 280,117th, Marx's "Das Kapital" is 199,773rd, the "Collected Poems" of that draft-dodger Robert Lowell rank 122,823rd, Moby Dick is 45,550th, Sean Carroll's "The Making of the Fittest" (an anti-religious diatribe) is 13,034th, but "The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature" is 5088th! Do I make myself clear? The world needs a PIG book on every possible subject, so that we can effectively revile and shout down all those left-behind left-wing wingnuts!
A Terrific Book.......2007-08-25
Elizabeth Kantor's book is one of the very best introductions to English and American literature I have ever read. For the general reader or the smart high school student or beginning college student it should be indispensable reading in these days of the near destruction of literature and criticism in the colleges and universities. I speak as a retired college English professor, scholar, poet, and essayist. It is a splendid antidote or, to use a better metaphor, a strong inoculation against the rampant disease of politically correct teaching and reading of literature. I did not find a single misjudgment in Kantor's choice of valuable works to read (except maybe Joyce's ULYSSES) and don't find that she missed too many. And she named the only really good poem Pound ever wrote, "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter"!
Book Description
More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England’s Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.
Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role it has played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as “captivating . . . unforgettable” (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soliders), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Naval Secretary, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian’s Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict in contrast to England’s formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots’ odyssey—their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character.
Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.
Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group—one too often ignored or taken for granted.
Customer Reviews:
Revealing and well written. It answered my questions about the South........2007-10-15
"it will go a long way in exposing the first and apparently last socially acceptable prejudice in America: that against the working class southerner." (from another review)
I've read many books about the South looking to find out why people who were no better off than most blacks and who share the much of the same culture, were so racist. This book answered my questions!
I didn't know anything about the Scots-Irish culture and especially didn't know that I probably am one. My father's family lived in the Tennessee mountains and then the mountains of Northeastern Alabama. No wonder my heart skips a beat when I hear Blue Grass music!
Riveting.... thank you James Webb for giving a voice to these folks!
Never bend a knee to Rome........2007-09-29
This was a well written and thought provoking book. I can see how some of the ideas put forward can be misconstrued do to the nature of the subjects but find myself agreeing with most of them. Mr. Webb has shed light on some very interesting topics. I am not a Scots-Irish historian so I enjoyed the history that this book offered. In the end this book has done a good service to one of the immigrant groups that built and fought for this great nation.
SuperTerrificWonderful.......2007-08-10
Webb does a phenomenal job weaving the various economic, political, and religious threads together to create a vivid tapestry depicting the origin and impact of the Scots-Irish. Well-written and riveting. My only criticism is that the author never acknowledged my request to have him autograph my copy (I even offered to deliver it to his office in D.C.!).
Enjoyable Reading.......2007-05-13
This is a book that you savour by slow reading. It is enjoyable histore particularly for a Scot or Irish man.
How the Rednecks Saved the World!.......2007-03-28
If James Webb's "Born Fighting" gets the reception it deserves, it will go a long way in exposing the first and apparently last socially acceptable prejudice in America: that against the working class southerner. Webb's book explodes the stereotypes attached to this people, demonstrating a depth of cultural character running much deeper than the traditional portrayals of them as stubbornly ignorant, lazy, beer guzzlers living in trailer parks.
Webb recounts the fascinating history of the Scots-Irish, beginning with the Scottish resistance to the Roman Empire itself, moving on to William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and the Scottish was for independence from the new Rome of England. He gives us the high drama of the creation of the distinctively Scots-Irish character when the English crown settled the first Scots in Ireland. With the Scots-Irish as their vanguard, the English were able to hold Ireland against other European powers (and, unfortunately, against the Irish themselves). England thanked the Scots-Irish by outlawing their Presbyterian religion in much the same way they had done the Catholicism of the Irish several years before. And so the Scots-Irish packed their bags and headed to America.
We should gain a newfound respect for these people from Webb's recouting of how they opened the American frontier, acting as a collective picket line against Indian attacks on the more settled English colonists in the coastal areas, and the important and unexpected roles they played in the southern Revolutionary War in the battles of King's Mountain and Cowpens.
Unfortunately, after the Revolutionary War, Webb's book loses a bit of its steam. Much of the drama and portraits of singular individuals we get in the earlier chapters gives way to talk of general social trends. Webb is still informative. Without for a moment excusing slavery or prejudice, Webb gives us an unexpected and perhaps uncomfortable view of just what problems the south had with the north, and how the southern working class was systematically oppressed by southern large land owners and northern merchants and industrial barons. Webb gives us surprising statistics on how much of our armed forces in the World Wars and Viet Nam were supplied by the Scots-Irish. And he reminds us that the closest thing we have to a national muscial genre -- country western -- is basically Scots-Irish music. Neverthess, the most interesting parts of "How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" end with America only on the verge of becoming a nation.
There are a few other problems too. While the old line WASP establishment and the new PC media establishment have both unjustifiably despised the Scots-Irish, Webb celebrates aspects of their character that have made them their own worst enemies time and again -- their "sensuality", their constant competitiveness in all athletics and all things physical, their hard drinking. The fact is that that sensuality has broken many hearts and busted many lives, the athleticism has led to alot of children to waste time and energy they could have spent on bettering their situation in life, and the drinking ... well, that speaks for itself. Also, the later chapters are chock full of stories from Webb's own ancestry. Fascintating characters in their own right to be sure, but the number of these stories comes close to making the second half of the book more of a James Webb memoir and less of a work on how an entire people shaped an entire nation. And toward the end of the book, Webb gets on a bit of a political rant that, though I agree with in many points, makes this book sound like the first step in his campaign for the Virginia Senate seat.
So "Born Fighting" is probably seen better as a corrective to WASP and PC prejudice against the Scots-Irish than as the final word on who the Scots-Irish are and what they should be. And a corrective is certainly needed. After reading "Born Fighting", it occurred to me that no one, as far as I can tell, has ever written at length specifically on the Scots-Irish as a distinct people -- no one, either to champion them or to cast WASP/PC aspersions on them. And where the Scots-Irish have gained scholarly or media attention, it has often been from pseudointellectuals such as H.L. Mencken (at whom Webb directs a few broadsides) bent on showing them in the worst light possible. One manifestation of this prejudice is that "Born Fighting" is bound to -- indeed it actually has now been -- characterized as racist. Such accusations are utter nonsense. One of Webb's heroes, in fact, is his own grandfather who suffered tremendously under white southern landowners for alerting the African Americans of his community to the inequities they were suffering at the landowners' hands. But in the minds of many these days, being fair-minded just isn't enough to escape the racist epithet.
"Born Fighting" doesn't quite deserve to be the last word on America's Scots-Irish. But it seems to be close to the first word, and a well-spoken one at that, on a people who have perhaps shaped the American character more than any other.
Book Description
UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER gives you five essential keys for understanding the HARRY POTTER series. Not just who will live or die in DEATHLY HOLLOWS, but how J.K. Rowling created the most successful books of our times. To understand the story behind the stories, John Granger, author of THE HIDDEN KEY TO HARRY POTTER and editor of WHO KILLED ALBUS DUMBLEDORE?, introduces the themes and patterns Rowling uses to write books that resonate with readers of all ages. This book is for "serious readers" but Granger writes in a very entertaining style. If you never understood the term "postmodernism" or how "literary alchemy" is used by great authors from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling, then this is a fun way to learn. UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER is the only book to examine in depth the importance of what Rowling said in an interview from 1998, that "to invent this wizard world" she had to learn about alchemy "in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic." - . - . - . - . - Here's what other HARRY POTTER authors and experts have to say about UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER: - . - . - . - . - "I got so hooked I had to stop everything else and just read, read, read. I carried it around the house, read it while using the excercycle, I hid in rooms away from the action of daily life so I could take it all in. I haven't had that reaction to a book since, well, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. A spectacular read for all serious fans of Rowling's works. Compelling, well-argued, fun and funny. Engaging. Thought provoking. Erudite." - Tom Morris, author of IF HARRY POTTER RAN GENERAL ELECTRIC and PHILOSOPHY FOR DUMMIES. - . - . - . - . - "John Granger peels back the layers of Rowling's stories and sees patterns the rest of us miss - and he never forgets to be a fan, engaging in fun speculation about what will come in the finale. Once more Granger has shown himself to be second to none among Potter commentators and literary sleuths. Some books are meant to be ingested quickly. Not this one. Serious fans of HARRY POTTER will relish it." - David Baggett, editor of HARRY POTTER AND PHILOSOPHY.
Customer Reviews:
Unsat.......2007-09-09
I purchased this for my grandson, who at 91/2 is an exceptionally bright boy.
Neither he nor his father were able to make heads or tails out of this purchase.
I'm a much more serious reader now.......2007-08-17
Very early in the book John Granger recalls Professor Moody's trunk with 7 locks. Each time Dumbledore inserts a key into a different lock the trunk opens and contains different items. This book is exactly like that trunk! I have read or listened to every Harry Potter book (except Phoenix) more times than I can count and yet each time that Granger brings out a new key my reaction was "I didn't know that that was in there!" I even understand now why I didn't enjoy re-reading Phoenix (the alchemical "black" stage of the series)as much as the other books.
I didn't read this book until after I had read Deathly Hallows and I still truly enjoyed reading Granger's predictions. Some of them were spot on, while others weren't, but the premises on which they were based were solid. I had to laugh at one point, when a reference was made to the sun/Sol and moon/Luna coming together as part of an alchemical wedding. It wasn't precisely a prediction, but in Deathly Hallows Luna certainly did arrive at the wedding wearing brilliant yellow, "sun colors."
The best part is that I can reread the entire Potter series one more time, with a new perspective, and be assured of appreciating details that I have missed before.
Unlocking Harry Potter: Five for the Serious Reader .......2007-08-14
I have seen the books' author on tv, I like the way he divided the book in 5 parts so you can understand about Harry Potter.
good read even AFTER finishing the HP series.......2007-07-28
If you've already finished "Deathly Hallows," and you think this book is now obsolete, think again! This author's take on how Rowling thought while writing the HP series is fascinating and highly educational. Granger could teach a college course on the post-modern literary aspects of Harry Potter, and students would have to go on a wait list just to sign up for the course. Though Granger, I think, would be an annoying prof. His narrative voice has an edge of sarcasm and snobbery - which is hilarious and incredibly irritating at the same time.
Throughout reading this book, I was also fascinated with how on-target were many of his predictions for the "Deathly Hallows" book. At times he is way off-base, and other times you think he must have had an advance copy because he is so precise in his insights about how Rowling will think in crafting the 7th book. I learned a lot about this fascinating series - why I was duped by Rowling in almost every single book, why the themes are so compelling across 3 generations of readers ... and I was left wondering if we will ever again see a book or series like Harry Potter in our lifetime.
COLLEGE LEVEL READ.......2007-07-23
This book is for those who are serious about literature. It is designed for college educated or those who read at the college level. I have a Master's Degree though not in literature. Parts of the book were a challenge to understand.
Books:
- In the Margins of Deconstruction: Jewish Conceptions of Ethics in Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida (Contributions To Phenomenology)
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Israeli And Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies)
- Jewish Babylonia between Persia and Roman Palestine
- Journal Of Rudolph Friederich Kurz: An Account Of His Experiences Among Fur Traders And American Indians On The Mississippi And Upper Missouri Rivers (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletins)
- Jump at the Sun: Cinderella - Fairy Tale Classics (Jats 8x8)
- Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia
- Mein Kampf
- Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency (Perspectives on Gender)
- Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Everything Glycemic Index Cookbook: 300 Appetizing Recipes to Keep Your Weight Down And Your Ene
- History: Fiction or Science
- If Your Life Were a Business, Would You Invest In It
- History: Fiction or Science
- Human Resource Management in the Hospitality Industry
- OBD II Fault Codes Reference Guide
- History: Fiction or Science
- Life Is a Series of Presentations: 8 Ways to Punch Up Your People Skills at Work, at Home, Anytime,
- Concepts in Federal Taxation 2005
- Congressional record dictation,
The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (Hinges of History)
Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (Hinges of History)
Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It
