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

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fascinating History and Translation
Disappointing

Malleus Maleficarum 2 Volume Set
Christopher S. Mackay
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521859778

Book Description

The Malleus Maleficarum is the most famous early modern text on witches and witch hunting. Often known as 'Hammer of Witches', the Malleus consists of descriptions of the practices of witchcraft together with recommended methods of exterminating them. It was republished twenty-six times and remained a standard work on witchcraft for centuries. Yet this key text has never before been available in a reliable modern scholarly edition. This fully annotated edition is based on the first edition of 1486-7 and presents the Latin text together with a full textual apparatus. An extensive introduction discusses the authorship, method of composition, and intellectual background of the work. The second volume provides the only accurate English translation available, together with detailed explanatory notes. This important edition makes this vital text accessible to scholars of the period and offers extraordinary insights into the attitudes and prejudices inspired by the fear of witches.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating History and Translation.......2007-05-08

This is an informative look at a major historical text, readable (and enjoyable) by both the academic world and lay readers. The English translation will replace the woefully inaccurate Summers edition while the Latin text will become the standard modern academic editon of this important document. The introduction provides a factually enlightening interpretation of the background of the text from any number of points of view. The translation itself is very exciting to read, and the notes not only provide further information and sources but are actually amusingly written in their own right. The set will be of use and interest to anyone who wants to know more about the historical underpinnings of the medieval /early moder conception of witchcraft in their contemporary contexts. It also has just enough salacious anecdotes to make learning fun.

PS -- The first reviewer is factually wrong in part. For example, Mackay explains his terminology at length -- "sorcerer" is used not because he thinks modern readers will be unfamiliar with "male witch" but because of the needs of the Latin and of the authors' mindset. "Malefium" = act of sorcery (literally an act of "evil-doing"), while malefica = female performers of sorcery (evil deeds) and maleficus = male performer of evil deeds; sorcery, sorceress, and sorcerer preserve the relationship of the Latin terminology. The whole situation becomes entirely confused if you have to use "witchcraft", "witch" and "male witch" since it obscures the "evil" associated with witches in the mindset of the inquisitors. "Witch" and "male witch" are also misleading since their usage sounds as though the female is the default gender while the point is that anyone, regardless of their sex, can perform these acts of evil doing.

Disappointing.......2007-05-08

This edition lacks an index or a complete bibliography, an infuriating omission that seriously undermines the usefulness of this set.

While the blurb spruiks it as the only accurate translation and the only modern edition (of the Latin), there is no discussion at all of other translations (and their merits).

Some of the author's decisions about the translation of terms in this edition are highly questionable. For instance, the word 'witch' is not used at all (sorcerer is used instead), contrary to the universal practice and understanding of the time. The author imagines that the modern reader will be confused by the idea of a male witch!

The introduction, while lengthy, is dry and minimalist. The reader finds themselves constantly being directed elsewhere (in footnotes etc) to the more detailed and/or interesting discussions of others.

There is very little here to tempt anyone who is not a professional academic writing on the Malleus.

Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law

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"A Long, and Perhaps Strange, Way Into Blake"

Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law
E. P. Thompson
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1565840992

Book Description

Witness Against the Beast is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary study in which the renowned social historian E. P. Thompson contends that most of the assumptions scholars have made about William Blake are misleading and unfounded. Brilliantly reexamining Blake's cultural milieu and intellectual background, Thompson detects in Blake's poetry a repeated call to resist the usury and commercialism of the "Antichrist" embodied by contemporary society--to "witness against the beast."

Customer Reviews:

"A Long, and Perhaps Strange, Way Into Blake".......2004-07-18

The cumbersome challenge E.P. Thompson sets for himself in this book is to unearth Blake's obscure philosophical and literary heritage. Chiefly, he seeks to correct prior notions of Blake as a self-alienated figure who was almost wholly out of touch with his time. The result is an occasionally unreadable but ultimately significant contribution to Blake scholarship.

The book, meticulous in detail and enormous in scope, is so dense and fraught with an overwhelming amount of research and knowledge that, in the end, it seems Thompson wrote it not for the casual Blake enthusiast but for the Blake scholars with whom he quarrels in frequent disputes. As Thompson himself pauses to note: "I have been engaged, throughout the first part of this book, in an exceedingly difficult argument, and I am not wholly sure myself what this argument adduces." When the author himself has to take a step back to warn the reader that he is not entirely certain of what he is doing, it is a pretty good way of posting up a fat and bold "BEWARE" in plain view of the reader.

Though Thompson seems to have written this book for himself, the radiant intensity with which he attacks his subject makes for a deeply probing text. He even investigates the etymology of Blake's poetic vocabulary to flesh out his suspicion that the foundation for the poet's thought was laid over a century before his birth. In his quest to assign Blake a particular tradition, Thompson often succeeds so well as to contest Blake's very originality. Encouragingly, though, the sheer luminosity, energy and power of Blake's more inspired verse withstands most skepticism. Perhaps Blake's ideas themselves were not as original or isolated as other critics and biographers would have one believe, but we remember him still because of his talent for transforming into stark and masterful art the literary heritage Thompson uncovers.

Thompson concedes that "if Blake read any or all" of the antecedent works he cites as his possible influences, "he read them in his own way. He employs an inherited vocabulary to make statements directly opposed to those authorized by the "Tradition". He appropriates old symbols and turns them to new purposes." Specifically, the tradition Blake is identified with is that of the Antinomians and Muggletonians (I know, sounds like something out of Gulliver's Travels), both of which closely resemble Blake's own beliefs on reason, liberty, the Fall, the book of Genesis, the trinity, desire and the notion that there is no God but man himself. The two sects abound with anticipations of Blake's "mind-forg'd manacles" and "chains of reason." Even Blake's own mother is implicated as a Muggletonian (a marvelous distinction if I've ever heard one).

Because Blake is writing out of this "tradition" Thompson assigns him, the conclusion is that the poet's work "has the confidence, an assured reference, very different from the speculations of an eccentric or a solitary . . . this man does not feel himself to be alone." Gone is the image of a wild-eyed and fierce-jowled eccentric basking in the nude with his wife in their garden (which he did).

For my tastes, the book labors too long over many uninteresting rhetorical debates and theoretical religious arguments between various 17th and 18th century sects. It is in this regard that the book requires a lot of patience, especially since Thompson keeps the reader waiting for any specific discussion of Blake's work until well over one hundred pages into the book. Then again, if learning that "Naamah is sister to Tubal-cain" is the kind of thing that gets you frothing at the mouth for more, then by all means, have at it. The problem is that Thompson seems to be writing two books at once, probing so extensively and thoroughly into Blake's alleged influences as to lose sight of the big picture which, presumably, is Blake's own life and work. The pattern is one in which Thompson will spend an inordinate amount of pages on a few forgotten religious movements in 17th or 18th century London and follow that up with a sudden "hmmm . . . so maybe these were Blake's guys . . . but let us look a little further" sort of thing.

Nonetheless, the reader who refuses to lose sight of the topic at hand as easily as Thompson does at times will come away from the book with a feeling of having really gotten somewhere. In his investigation and analysis Thompson confirms some critical readings of Blake while replacing many others with some well-founded suppositions of his own, offering as clear and meaningful an understanding of Blake as this dramatically ambitious book can possibly allow. His discussion of Blake's prescient use of the word "chartr'd" in "London," one of his most definitive poems, is nothing if not revelatory. The same goes for his discussions of "London's" various influences as well as the prolonged explication of Blake's "The Human Abstract." It is here where Thompson most successfully endorses David Erdman's cause to demonstrate Blake's work as a reaction to the social and political realities of his day. Thompson's love for the poetry itself weans him off of his abstruse historical commentary in favor of a refreshingly plainspoken understanding of the work's origins and issues. Thankfully, this is the warmer tone with which the book concludes; I only wish Thompson could have stayed as close to the ground throughout the book as he does at its final stages.

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Limp
Another good one.
A Swan Dive
"I'll forgive and forget, but I'll remember."
Great for those who love this author

Devotion
Howard Norman
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618735410

Amazon.com

In the same calm, revelatory manner in which he wrote The Bird Artist, Howard Norman begins Devotion by telling of an event and then moving forward and backward from it. On August 19, 1985, the day that David Kozol and Margaret Field return to London from their honeymoon, David and his father-in-law, William Field, are involved in a fracas that leaves Field in the hospital. Not until almost the end of the book do we find out the cause.

David's life began heading toward that moment when he first laid eyes on Margaret, traveling as a publicist with an orchestral ensemble, and fell instantly in love with her. They are married in a few months. David wants to write a book about his mentor, Josef Sudek, a Czech genius, and Margaret enjoys traveling with the orchestra, checking in daily with her father, who tends an estate in Nova Scotia owned by a Jewish couple, Stefania and Isador Tecosky, and the wounded swans who live there. After William is hurt, David takes over his estate duties but Margaret refuses to see him.

Norman brings these people and their disparate realities together by showing the real devotion that binds them to each other and to the swans. William and Margaret enjoy a strong filial bond, the Tecoskys are devoted to William and Margaret, and the swans provide the perfect metaphor for all the relationships: they have had their wings clipped so they cannot fly--and they mate for life. Norman is a born naturalist with an immense love for Nova Scotia, birds, and landscape combined with a towering literary capability to bring them all together in a quirky, interesting story. Valerie Ryan

Book Description

Fans of Howard Norman, the internationally acclaimed author of The Hunting of L and The Bird Artist and a two-time National Book Award finalist, will find in his latest novel -- an intense and intriguingly unconventional love story -- all the hallmarks of this masterly writer: sparkling yet spare language, a totally compelling air of mystery spread over our workaday world, and ability to capture the metaphorical heartbeat at the center of our lives.

Like many of Howard Norman's celebrated novels, Devotion begins with an announcement of a crime: on August 19, 1985, David Kozol and his father-in-law engaged in "assault by mutual affray." Norman sets out to explore a great mystery: why seemingly quiet, contained people lose control. David and Maggie's story seemed straightforward enough; they met in a hotel lobby in London. For David, the simple fact was love at first sight. For Maggie, the attraction was similarly sudden and unprecedented in intensity. Their love affair, "A fugue state of amorous devotion," turned into a whirlwind romance and marriage. So what could possibly enrage David enough that he would strike at the father of his new bride? Why would William, a gentle man who looks after an estate -- and its flock of swans -- in Nova Scotia, be so angry at the man who has just married his beloved only child, Maggie? And what would lead Maggie to believe that David has been unfaithful to her? In his signature style -- haunting and evocative -- Norman lays bare the inventive stupidities people are capable of when wounded and confused.

At its core, Devotion is an elegantly constructed, never sentimental examination of love: romantic love (and its flip side, hate), filial love at its most tender, and, of course, love for the vast open spaces of Nova Scotia.

Customer Reviews:

Limp.......2007-03-21

This is a slim story that doesn't quite qualify as a novel. As someone in my book group said, it's more like an idea of a novel. The voice is similar to the one in The Bird Artist although it is third person and the setting is similar. The device of the swans doesn't quite work. There are some interesting characters but a few to many times their actions aren't quite believable and too contrived. The main character is inexplicably lame as was the ending of the book.

Another good one........2007-03-09

If you like Norman you will like this one. Typical woman and locales.

A Swan Dive.......2007-03-08

In previous Norman novels and reminiscences, I have enjoyed the richness of interesting, well-developed characters doing wild things carefully. I have loved the uncompromising spirit of the author, and have counted him on my wish list, eagerly awaiting his next journey into the vast inner spacings of eastern Canada. It is, therefore, very sad for me to say that I feel I have lost a friend. I think the author has disappeared with a flight of wounded swans.
Devotion appears written with little distance from the main character. It appears written in drunken haste, ill-timed, in often stiltifed and forced prose. Norman wanely develops his Dosteyevskian 'idiot', places him in the anguishing half-light of passive resistance, makes him a voyeur to all but the swam, only with whom he can frolic in drunken embrace. But who cares. Not Norman nor I.
Firstly, the timing is off. Norman has lost, in the irony of the title, any 'devotion' he has had for the painstaking craftsmanship of his earlier works. The author of 'Northern Lights' and, of course his famous trilogy of exceptional prose, seems to have been forced to try to re-create his masterpieces for expedience's sake and for, I suspect, a whole kettle of yankee dollars. The book just does not work.
Two dimensional characters passionlessly embrace even before they are introduced. Who are these people seen only in half-light. Norman thinks he is still in control of his craft but he now writes with a flat, false pen. There is no drama, no pacing that can make important sequences come alive. Maggie's naked dance by the window is dull because Maggie is dull as is the voyeur David who is dull. Finally they touch, appear re-united in the car. This act, in a drama of people who cannot cause an action, should mean something to us.But Maggie, or is it David, or perhaps, Howard Norman who makes us feel one or both or all of them are holding a dead mackerel in their flaccid fingers?
There is greater passion about the swans. Its obvious Norman has given up on human contact. The passing mention of a woman who believes her swan to be a dead husband is more in keeping with this author's present passion. The only real scene in this story that masquerades as substance(and I suspect, like his character,was written with alcohol very close by) occurs when David wrestles with the swan and falls down drunk amidst swan dew. It is as close to drunken passion that the present-day Norman can affect.
Sadly, Norman obviously no longer cares. He is Roger Clemens trying to scratch out one more season well after his skills are gone His gifts are wilted.
Devotion, above all else, is a very dull read. Not until page 70 of this short work do we begin to see any movement. The plot,an accident...a misunderstanding in a hotel room, a punch in the mouth? Wow,oh my, what heart-stopping drama!. Like David, his protagonist, Norman now is now disappeared behind the camera lense. His prose, like his protagonist's actions; indeed, like all his characters seems irksome and stilted--forced and banal.
I need more, Howard Norman, if I am to pay twenty dollars to read you again. Where's your.....honesty, your.....devotion?

"I'll forgive and forget, but I'll remember.".......2007-03-05

Imagery is central to Devotion, the issue of communication couched in a broken romance. The novel begins with an altercation between David Kozol and his father-in-law, William. Suffering of late from the estrangement of his wife, Maggie, David has not quite ascertained how to rectify his marital predicament. It is assumed that some form of infidelity is at fault in the severing of trust, the two men possessing conflicting views in regards to the state of the marriage, David's father-in-law siding naturally with his disappointed daughter.

The fast-forward romance between the newlyweds is as passionate as their current distance is poignant, the attraction immediate and mutual from the start, two Canadians meeting by chance in London. Later, back in Nova Scotia after the accident, David's supposed misdeed hanging over the relationship like a dark shadow, the new husband takes over William's estate management duties. The estate is owned by an elderly couple and serves as a refuge for swans, the mute birds central to the story and indicative of the ambiguity of form and intent. For though they are majestic, the swans are ill-tempered and difficult, much like humans. These particular humans fumble through a tripartite relationship, where father serves as buffer for daughter, the lack of communication among the parties stunning. Clearly David and Maggie are victims of their impulsiveness; it is that same impetuousness that causes them to pull apart in adversity rather than come together in solution.

In eloquent prose, the author casts his characters in the picturesque Nova Scotia, the honking swans, the distance between the lovers accented by the haunting rural landscape. Love being more powerful than enforced isolation, David and Maggie eventually navigate the rocky ground of their fledgling marriage, toward a resolution of differences and a strong dose of forgiveness. Luan Gaines/2007.

Great for those who love this author.......2007-02-09

If you are a fan, do not hesitate, Norman's new book is beautifully written and very consistent with the unique point of view and perspective his narrators always provide. My only complaint is that it's a slim volume.

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Dus Vedanya Tovarishch
SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION
Real History
Stop apologizing, start reading
Read both this book and The Brother by Sam Roberts

The Rosenberg File: Second Edition
Ronald Radosh , and Joyce Milton
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300072058

Book Description

This highly acclaimed book-hailed as the definitive account of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case-now includes a new introduction that discusses the most recent evidence. It provides information from the Khrushchev and Molotov memoirs, the Venona papers, and material contained in a Discovery Channel documentary that was first aired in March 1997.

Customer Reviews:

Dus Vedanya Tovarishch .......2007-10-01

The Rosenberg File (2nd edition) by Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton is a gargantuan piece of superb literary research. The authors take the reader into the dark world of Soviet espionage within the latter part of the decade preceding the war, during the war, and shorlty thereafter.

The ideological sympathies portrayed by many Americans towards Soviet Russia during this time period is no secret, but many took their ideals and sympathies too far! The Rosenbergs, and their accomplices were prime examples of those individuals.

The book reads like an ongoing novel, but...this novel is true. The authors do a magnificent job in laying out each "player" in this "Great Amercian Tragedy." The reader is allowed a glimpse into the formative years of each personality which ultimately enhances the events and story line as it starts to unravel. The crumbling "house of cards" follows the arrest and incarceration of Dr. Klaus Fuchs (who should have been extradited from England and stood trial along with the Rosenbergs!)

The authors present enough recent information (i.e.; FBI files, Venona Intercepts, KGB archives, and publications) to confirm (without a doubt), that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were guilty as charged.

The court room testimony, and drama revealed in the book is as unique, and moving as anything one could ever find within the Nuremberg trials.

The only criticism I would mention is that a book of this size (616 pages including notes and index section) should have had numerous photo plates. In addition, a little more information (if there is any) on Ruth Greenglass would have been appreciated. After all, a woman with the code name of "OSA" (Wasp) deserves a little more study and explanation. Did her Soviet handlers know her better than her husband?

The Rosenberg File (second edition) is actually a "6-Star" book with a 5 star rating.

SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.......2007-03-05

Eisenhower, Stalin, the Cold War, the Korean War, atomic bombs, atomic spies, air raid shelters, the "Red Scare", McCarthyism and the Rosenbergs- in the mist of time these were early, if undigested terms, from my childhood. Ah, the Rosenbergs. That is what I want to write about today. Out of all of those undigested terms that name is the one that still evokes deep emotion in these old bones. For those who have forgotten or those too young to remember the controversy surrounding their convictions for espionage in passing information about the atomic bomb to the now defunct Soviet Union and their executions defined an essential part of the 1950's, the formation of the Cold War period in American history. Their controversial convictions and sentencing evoked widespread protests throughout the world. Thus, those who seek to learn the lessons of history, and about justice American-style should take the time to carefully examine the case and come to some conclusions about it.

Frankly, I have not, until recently when I read the updated The Rosenberg File by Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton (written originally in 1983), read any new books on the case so that one of my tasks was to re-read the old material, read the new post-Soviet material, and make some suggestions about what to look for in trying to understand its history. This book, for friend or foe of the memory of the Rosenbergs, is a good place to start.

And what is the scholarship on the case? Was their trial a frame-up in classic American-style against leftist political opponents of the Cold War and American foreign policy? Were they, individually or collectively, "master spies" at the service of the Soviet Union? Were they innocent, if misguided, progressives caught up in the turmoil of the American "red scare" of the post-World War II period? Did the government through its FBI and other security agencies, its attorneys, its judges stumble into a case which would make many reputations? Did the American Communist Party, itself under severe scrutiny, betray the Rosenbergs? Did the various international campaigns on behalf of the couple work at cross purposes with their various demands for a new trial, reduction of sentence and clemency? What kind of people were these Rosenbergs? In short, were the Rosenbergs heroic Soviet spies, martyrs, dupes or innocents? Those are the questions thoughtful readers are confronted with and are fully examined in this book.

Let me add that very few people are neutral on the question of the Rosenbergs, and give the nature of the case no one should be. The authors here are convinced of their guilt in the legal sense and that seems to be good enough for them, although they have some issues about the propriety of the executions. My take on the meaning of the case is different which reflects a different political perspective from the authors. As the title of this piece indicates they stood up for the cause they believed in, the defense of the Soviet Union, and they did not flinch when the consequences of their actions required they pay the highest price. Whether you agree or not, if the reader is merely interested in the spy thriller "who dunnit" aspect of the case and getting the 'bad guys' rather than a thorough review of the case and its political ramifications perhaps one should look elsewhere.

Real History.......2005-07-03

When Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton began the research for this book, many people across the political spectrum became uncomfortable. That is because this is an actual work of history, rather than an ideological screed masquerading as history. Radosh and Milton have been faithful to the historian's profession: they have interviewed, they have researched, and they have made an honest, ethical attempt to answer the crucial historical question: "What really happened?"

Ideologues on the left and the right have feared and criticized this book because it does a thorough job of lifting the fog of ideology and shedding light on events. What really happened to the Rosenbergs? The revelations are shocking, debunking years of mythology that, even now, continues to be taught in public schools by overindoctrinated teachers. Julius was, indeed, a spy for the USSR, and his wife was fully supportive of his activities, a minor accomplice. They did indeed pass on crude atomic information to the USSR. The USSR would have built an atomic bomb by 1950 at the latest even without the Rosenberg's information. A New York judge used the Rosenbergs to further his career and imposed an unrealistically harsh sentence. President Eisenhower approved of the Rosenberg execution as a warning to anyone else who would spy on the USA. Most of the Rosenberg's most vocal defenders were well aware of their guilt, even as they proclaimed their innocence. Finally, the Rosenbergs could have saved themselves, but chose to put their politics above their children.

These revelations will continually be tested and challenged. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that they will be overturned any time soon. Radosh and Milton have amassed an awesome array of primary and secondary source evidence supporting their conclusions, including interviews of surviving witnesses, court documents, and a review of the scientific evidence -- with only passing reference to the formidable Venona decrypts, which fully corroborate their conclusions.

This book is highly recommended for an understanding of the Cold War era.

Stop apologizing, start reading.......2003-06-21

The Rosenberg case has faded with time and turned into a diffuse urban legend. Facts are rarely possessed by those who are most vehement about the case. This book puts an end to the hodge-podge of information that led some people to believe the Rosenbergs were innocents framed by the government. The truth is that they were spies, they were communists, and they engaged in treason. The Soviets would have acquired The Bomb with or without the Rosenbergs. That doesn't mitigate their guilt for hastening the information to our enemy. The Rosenbergs weren't tried for what they believed. They were tried for what they did. And they were killed for what they did not do--which was recant. Sworn communists, they chose death instead of life. A selfish, stupid choice that placed a worthless ideology over the needs of their two young children, who have written worthwhile books about growing up as orphans of two of the most infamous American traitors. This book ends the speculation that they were innocent, that they had no chance to save their lives by recanting. Here are the latest facts and the fullest account of a chapter in American history that continues to be a vital flashpoint for people on either side of the political spectrum.

Read both this book and The Brother by Sam Roberts.......2002-03-03

The Radosh book concerning the Rosenberg case is a much fuller and more comprehensive treatment of the case than is the more recent book, The Brother, by Sam Roberts. The Brother is based on the current recollections of Ethel Rosenberg's brother David Greenglass who fingered both Ethel and Julius in testimony. David also served a number of years for espionage, himself, as part of same case.

The review by a recent reviewer which states that The Rosenberg File clears Juius and Ethel apparently has not read this book which makes it very, very clear that Julius was certainly part of a communist espionage ring in the NY City area for years during WWII. The Venona Files also make the same case. It is Ethel who was probably not actually guilty of active espionage activities. It should be said, also, that both Rosenbergs could have saved themselves by telling the truth. Ethel might well not even have been charged, and Julius would almost certainly not have gotten the chair. But, they chose to lie right up to the end and be martyrs for the communist cause. The Radosh book, strongly documents the case against Julius and is also forthright about the weakness of the case against Ethel.

Book Description

Hailed in its first edition as an "outstanding work, as stimulating as it is intellectually distinguished" (New York Times), Richard A. Posner's Law and Literature has handily lived up to the Washington Post's prediction that the book would "remain essential reading for many years to come." This new edition, extensively revised and enlarged, continues to emphasize the essential differences between law and literature, which are rooted in the different social functions of legal and literary texts. But it also explores areas of mutual illumination and expands its range to include new topics such as popular fiction about law, literary education for lawyers, the legal narrative movement, and judicial biography.

Literary works from classics by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Melville, Kafka, and Camus to contemporary fiction by William Gaddis, Tom Wolfe, and John Grisham come under Posner's scrutiny, as do recent attempts to apply the techniques of literary analysis to statutes, judicial opinions, and the Constitution. In a section entirely new in this edition, Posner discusses the increasing efforts of legal scholars to enrich their scholarship by borrowing the methods and insights of literature--even by insisting that legal education is incomplete without the ethical insights afforded by an immersion in literature.

Thoroughly rewritten and updated, free of legal and literary jargon, and informed by Posner's extensive erudition and legal experience, this book remains the most clear, acute, and comprehensive account of the intersection of law and literature--"a wonderfully original and instructive study of what literature has to teach us about the law, the methods of legal argument, and the interpretation of statutes and the Constitution" (Wall Street Journal).

Customer Reviews:

It's deep, but it's worth it........2006-11-10

People who have an appetite for words and the law will enjoy and profit from "Law and Literature." The prolific Richard Posner has updated his intellectually stimulating first edition to present once again an important study of how the fields of literature and law intersect and inform each other. As you read it, have a dictionary handy: in no other book of its size are you likely to encounter such words as antimonies, ressentiment, simulacra, sitzfleisch, bildungsroman, fictive, and agonistic. From time to time I thought he was just showing off his vocabulary, but I came to believe that that's the way he really thinks. It's a challenge, but it's worth it.

A Farrago of Foolishness.......2003-01-28

There is not a chapter in this book - indeed, if you omit the index, it would hard to find a five-page stretch - that does not swarm with errors and absurdities. And what is notable is that the errors cannot be classed among those that even the well-informed are liable to make from time to time. They are not mere slips of the pen, they are not minor or superficial, nor of the kind that can simply be skipped over because they play little role in the argument that is being developed. No, they are everywhere manifestations of confusion and ignorance. Posner's merry obliviousness to even the simplest facts about literary interpretation and history is in itself remarkable enough, but what is truly extraordinary is the recklessness with which he parades his ignorance for all to see.

For example, in attempting to make sense of "defamation in fiction" - a real tort for which many authors have been held liable, and thus a problem that requires real legal standards - Posner attempts to explain how novelists fashion their fictional worlds out of the materials they observe (and therefore to indicate what authors must be allowed to do if novels are to be written). Simplification, Posner explains, is the crucial process in that process: a good novelist will not bog down the story in particulars, but will try to capture "the *representative* life and the *representative* incident. Real people are too complicated, many novelists say, to be put into a novel without change." For this last proposition, Posner's footnote directs us hopefully to chapter 3 of E.M. Forster's *Aspects of the Novel*. One would look long and hard at Forster's book without finding anything resembling Posner's assertion - and that is not surprising, since Forster understood the craft of fiction. (Forster does, famously, develop a contrast between "round" and "flat" characters, but his point is that novels typically focus on a few characters whose thoughts and motives are probed at length, while the rest of the fictional world is filled out by characters who do not receive such attention. He nowhere suggests that either flat or round characters result from the simplification of real-life personalities, and it hard to see how anyone could imagine that he does). Posner, with his law-and-econ "maximize production at the lowest cost" mentality, may imagine that the simplest representation, with the most general application, will get the biggest marketplace bang for the smallest expenditure of literary energies and ink, but no sane novelist would approach the matter this way. To say that people are "too complicated" to be slapped down on the page "without change" simply misunderstands what fictional representation is - since that proposition assumes, first, that it even makes sense to speak of "putting" someone in a novel "without change," and second, that any change that occurs is a way of avoiding "complication." Yes, it would be absurd to say that anyone can simply be "put into a novel," but it is no less absurd to say that this is so because fiction is simple and humans are complex. To take that view is, first, to betray a sensibility so deadened and hollow as to sacrifice any credibility that might have been afforded for one's literary judgments, and second, to demonstrate such a complete misunderstanding about what novelists do as to prove oneself incapable of fashioning legal standards that will facilitate the creation of fiction at all, let alone in a way that will prevent liability for libel. In short, neither the literary nor the legal worlds can profit from this treatment.

tiresome and ignorant.......2000-07-10

The problem is simply that Posner knows very little about literature and literary history. Thus he is given to fatuous efforts such as his speculations on why Shakespeare did not publish his collected plays when the fact is that in the early 17th century, playwrights made very little from publishing their writings, and hardly anyone bothered to publish their collected works. (When Ben Jonson did in 1616, he was widely ridiculed.) Posner's book is riddled with egregious misstatements of this sort, which would be comcial to anyone with the most basic education in literary history. In attempting to draw legal conclusions based on faulty information of this sort, he only creates further confusion.

No deconstructionist twaddle- Rather, illuminating insights.......2000-03-31

Judge Posner is one of the more wondrous polymaths of his generation. Law and Literature, although not the greater of his achievements, is a thoughtful opus, full of illuminating insights. I read his book 6 or 7 years ago but I remember how impressed I was by the sharpness of his analysis of the legal implications of Kafka's Trial and Melville's Billy Budd. I have been roused to giving my opinion because all the other commentators are so uniformly negative about the book. Clearly, either they are missing something, or I am wide off the mark. I propose it's the former, and recommend "Law and Literature" to anyone who wants to know how one of the heights of contemporary legal thought tackles many of the issues that have occupied anyone who knows the law and enjoys literature. The fact that Posner doesn't indulge in deconstructionist twaddle is no reason to abstain.

overbearing and pompous.......1999-10-31

This self-congratulatory tome spends most of its time ignoring the literature and instead giving potted summaries that say more about the author's inability to understand literature than they do about the books themselves. A number of very talented writers have discussed inter-relations between law and literature -- such as Robert Ferguson and Brook Thomas -- but this book does not deserve to be included among them.

Law and Literature: Possibilities and Perspectives

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Law and Literature: Possibilities and Perspectives
Ian Ward
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521474744

Book Description

The emergence of an interdisciplinary study of law and literature is one of the most exciting theoretical developments currently taking place in North America and Britain. Ian Ward explores the educative ambitions of the law and literature movement, and explores the law in key areas of literature from Shakespeare to Umberto Eco to Beatrix Potter, from feminist literature to children's literature to the modern novel. This original book defines the developing state of law and literature studies, and demonstrates how the theory of law and literature can illuminate the literary text.

Heaven: A Prison Diary Volume 3 (A Prison Diary)

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Heaven
An Interesting Insight into Britain's D-Category Prisons
The Best of The Three Diaries
worth it if you read the first two
The conclusion, very good, though a little repetitive

Heaven: A Prison Diary Volume 3 (A Prison Diary)
Jeffrey Archer
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312354797
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Book Description

Jeffrey Archers final volume in his trilogy of prison diaries covers the period of his transfer from a medium security prison, HMP Wayland, to his eventual release on parole in July 2003. It includes a shocking account of the traumatic time he spent in the notorious Lincoln jail and the events that led to his incarceration there, and also shines a harsh light on a system that is close to its breaking point. Told with humor, compassion and honesty, the diary closes with a thought-provoking manifesto that should be applauded by reform advocates and the prison population alike.

Customer Reviews:

Heaven.......2007-03-09

Jeffrey Archer is one of my favourite authors and to read of his time behind bars has added a whole new dimension to his writing.He not only survived,but has gone on from where he left off,writing very readable books.
Loryn Potroz

An Interesting Insight into Britain's D-Category Prisons.......2006-08-23

I haven't actually read Archer's first two prison diaries yet but have ordered them after stumbling across this fascinating insight into daily prison life. Volume III Heaven can definitely be read as a stand alone non fiction novel or before reading the other two as it doesn't really refer to anything before Archer's arrival at North Sea Camp. Arhcer's final stage of imprisonment is in one of Britain's cushy D-category prisons, the final chapter of prisoners' lives before they are released, where there are no fences keeping prisoners in, and they have a lot more freedom and luxuries than ever before.

Archer tells the reader through his diary entries about the difference in the way he is treated at North Sea Camp in comparison to the places he was held previously. How he is being picked on by corrupt political opponents, how the media who are camped out on the doorstep for a photo of him is portraying a completely different scenario to what he endures daily. The drug problems of other prisoners and how the system works or doesn't for prisoners in North Sea Camp. Archer explains the different jobs within the prison and takes us through the daily tasks of his various job promotions including the one he refers to as heaven, hospital orderly. There are also a few pictures included in what is a fascinating insight into prison life. Obviously it is a diary by Archer so we have to assume he was well behaved inside or if he did anything wrong he certainly didn't include it. There are plenty of despicable or stupid actions from some other prisoners and the outcomes of those actions inside to keep the reader entertained though.

The Best of The Three Diaries.......2006-08-09

This is the final volume of three volumes about Jeffrey Archer's Prison experience following his conviction for perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001.

Archer gives the reader an excellent picture of what it is like to be in prison in the United Kingdom. He writes pithy descriptions of some of his colleagues, including two of them who were model prisoners only to reoffend shortly after they were released. His comments on the drug problem in prisons are almost certainly applicable to prisons here in the United States as well.

This book is easy to read, hard to put down, and does not waste words or descriptions. There is also plenty of Archer's good humor. He expresses his unhappiness at the people who turned on him and testified against him, but does not indulge in self-pity. This book is well worth reading.

worth it if you read the first two.......2006-02-23

This makes more sense if you read the first two prior books. Interesting and well written and an easy read, come to mind when describing the book. It is what it is - an on going diary of prison time. The tone of the book gets a bit darker as the reins are tightned and he is forced back into a more secure population. His depression is evident as he eventually trails off in his writing and picks it up the day of his discharge. None of the books were gritty in the sense of true prison drama, but it is an interesting prospective.

It is almost comical in some aspects as I have worked in the prison system. He is gleeful at the prospect of getting his very own coffee cup when most men spend their days trying not to get stabbed. He rails at people called Lady this or Lord that and loves to name drop. It's difficult to imagine that in a prison system and therefore the unsual prospective. Interesting.

The conclusion, very good, though a little repetitive.......2005-09-18

The final book of Archers tales in the Prison System.

I read this in 1 day... just wanted to get through it and again could not put the book down. A lot of the material and experience is the same as book 1 and 2. Though now in a Cat D prison (an open prison) he has more freedom, it does still show the drugs and money.

And of course, the press continue to try and get the scoop on him, paying other inmates to get "archer with his clothes off"

All in all, a good book. I am glad he did not do a 4th.

If you read book 1 and 2, get this to wrap up the set.

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland

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Opens a Wide New World...

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland
William Ian Miller
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226526801

Book Description

Dubbed by the New York Times as "one of the most sought-after legal academics in the county," William Ian Miller presents the arcane worlds of the Old Norse studies in a way sure to attract the interest of a wide range of readers. Bloodtaking and Peacemaking delves beneath the chaos and brutality of the Norse world to discover a complex interplay of ordering and disordering impulses. Miller's unique and engaging readings of ancient Iceland's sagas and extensive legal code reconstruct and illuminate the society that produced them.

People in the saga world negotiated a maze of violent possibility, with strategies that frequently put life and limb in the balance. But there was a paradox in striking the balance—one could not get even without going one better. Miller shows how blood vengeance, law, and peacemaking were inextricably bound together in the feuding process.

This book offers fascinating insights into the politics of a stateless society, its methods of social control, and the role that a uniquely sophisticated and self-conscious law played in the construction of Icelandic society.

"Illuminating."—Rory McTurk, Times Literary Supplement

"An impressive achievement in ethnohistory; it is an amalgam of historical research with legal and anthropological interpretation. What is more, and rarer, is that it is a pleasure to read due to the inclusion of narrative case material from the sagas themselves."—Dan Bauer, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Customer Reviews:

Opens a Wide New World..........2002-03-26

I read this book while a student in Miller's semi-infamous class "Blood Feuds" at the University of Michigan Law School. I went into the class thinking that it would be interesting and fun, but that I wouldn't learn much from it, since I already had such an extensive familiarity with the Icelandic sagas: as an undergraduate I had translated some of them from Old Norse to English, and I had read most of the rest of them several times over in English translation.

Yes, it was interesting and yes, it was fun, but man! were my eyes opened as to how much I had to learn about the sagas and about the culture within which they were written.

There are two main reasons to read this book. First, to learn history. The history of ninth to fourteenth century Iceland is incredible, and the culture fascinating. Theirs was a culture that knew no central or even local government, no law enforcement infrastructure, and no arms control. And yet the Icelanders developed a complex system of law, essentially codifying the blood feud (which tradition still governs dispute resolution in places like Afghanistan and rural Macedonia), according to which civil injustice could be roughly corrected. Their example has much to teach us about human nature unadulterated by the State.

Second, Bloodtaking is an unparalleled gateway into the sagas as literature. Despite my intimate familiarity with every line of, for example, Hrafnkel's saga, until I read Miller's book I had only the most inadequate appreciation for how tightly it is constructed, how elegantly and efficiently it was drafted. The sagas are only vaguely comparable to the very best English-language short stories; the skill that went into them is comparable to that of a Dante or a Shakespeare.

A modern reader is not culturally prepared to receive the sagas as they would have been by a medieval Icelander. Miller's book provides the small set of cultural factoids that create relevance where otherwise detail might seem pointless or obscure, and reveals the saga-writers' penchant for humorous understatement and emphasis by ellipse. Armed with a relatively small set of cultural facts and with an eye for a small set of saga tropes, the reader has access to a whole new literary world.

Book Description

This first volume in the four-volume series The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law focuses on the "harm principle," the commonsense view that prevention of harm to persons other than the perpetrator is a legitimate purpose of criminal legislation. Feinberg presents a detailed analysis of the concept and definition of harm and applies it to a host of practical and theoretical issues, showing how the harm principle must be interpreted if it is to be a plausible guide to the lawmaker.

Customer Reviews:

Harm to others.......1999-09-01

This is a really great book, a marvelous analysis fot people who want to harm others without harming themselves. Especially insightful is the chapter about harming the dead.

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