Inferno

Amazon.com

Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience.

Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an "antiwar photographer," as the preeminent critic Luc Sante notes in his excellent foreword to Inferno, a landmark collection of 382 war-crime photos. Nachtwey has taken shrapnel and had his hair literally parted by a bullet, but he's never lost his compassionate outrage. The stunning images in this huge-format book--brutally abused Romanian orphans, Rwandan genocide victims, a rat-hunter family of Indian Untouchables barbecuing dinner, skeletal dehydration victims in Sudan, the miserable in Bosnia, Chechnya, Zaire, Somalia, and Kosovo--are excruciating to look at, yet impossible to tear your eyes away from. Nachtwey's art is meant to force us to face unbearable facts. Faces are the key: you can't gaze into the eyes of a Romanian toddler tied to a bed, or wired to a primitive "electromagnetic therapy" device, and not grasp the horror more fully than you would by watching a TV news item or reading a newspaper piece. (The book's text explains each photo's context.)Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience. Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding vision of the sad reality of this world........2007-08-23

This book is not made to be placed in every hands. But everyone old enough to face the sad reality and the ugly side of the human kind should have a look at it.

Amazingly tragic and beautifully awful.......2007-08-19

I have owned this book for roughly four years now and somehow manage to revisit it at least twice a year. The images are hauntingly beautiful. Nachtwey has a real gift for photography, for capturing that perfect image, with the perfect contrast, stark, naked and vivid. I feel as if I have been not merely an onlooker of these devastatingly breathtaking images, but as though I have been there.

Inferno was the first exposure to Nachtwey I had had, and it certainly has not been the last. His work is amazing.

A look at the true horrors of this world!.......2007-08-03

Awesome, shocking, disturbing, eye opening, these just begin to describe the feelings and emotions of this book. The photographs of mans inhumanity to his fellow man go beyond those images we see on the nightly news. James Nachtwey shows us the world of war, famine and poverty. It is eye opening. For anyone who collects books of photography, this is a must, but, it is not a coffee table book. This is one that you keep in reserve for those days when you think your life if bad or tough. Take it down from the shelf, open it and realize just how hard it could be!.

Amazing!! Print Quality........2007-05-14

What can i say.
It's just wonderful print quality most of Photobook which i bouht.
and Large photo is good too.

Um relato dantesco e honesto da nossa época.......2007-05-11

Uma obra obrigatória para quem acompanha o melhor do fotojornalismo nos últimos 50 anos. Um relato duro, profundo e honesto dos horrores criados pelo homem: Romênia, Somália, Índia, Sudão, Bósnia, Ruanda, Zaire, Chechênia e Kosovo.
Ressalte-se a força extrema das composições de James Nachtwey, valorizadas pela encadernação primorosa em capa dura e pelas grandes ampliações em PB.
Um livro forte, mas profundamente necessário para quem quer reconhecer o lado menos poético do nosso tempo.

Average customer rating:

WARM TO TEPID
Great book--until the ending
Raintree:Inferno
the beginning of a new magical trilogy, the Raintree
Stupid...Not Worthy of a Howard Book

Raintree: Inferno (Silhouette Nocturne)
Linda Howard
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0373617623

Book Description

Two hundred years after the Raintree clan defeated and abandoned them on a small Caribbean Island, the Ansara wizards are rising again to take on their bitterest foes. Despite their extraordinary powers and supernatural origin, the Raintree have largely blended into the modern world. They are bankers, cops, husbands, wives and lovers in the society of humankind. But now, from Nevada to North Carolina, the rejoined battle will measure the endurance of their people. It will test their loyalties and relationships. And it will force upon them all new lives they could barely have imagined before.

Customer Reviews:

WARM TO TEPID.......2007-10-03

Was so desperate to read a Linda Howard that I bought this Silhouette romance. Hoped that this would be better than her last few dismal hard covers.

Strangely, I enjoyed it a lot. It really had no depth but it didnt pretend to be as her hardcovers do. Liked both hero and heroine. I have all Linda's old books in paperbacks and treasure them. This was a quick read and entertaining. Smiled at the ending. Should have known!!! I will purchase the others when I finish my list.

Great book--until the ending.......2007-09-23

I am a huge fan of Linda Howard. Her worst book is still better than most books by other authors.
I loved this book until the ending. I thought it set up the trilogy brilliantly and I am not much of a paranormal reader. I thought the book was fast-paced and sexy and I loved the dynamic between the hero and the heroine. I notice that many reviewers think the story is poorly developed, but for the word count I disagree. You cannot compare a book this short with Howard's longer novels. She simply did not have the space to develop issues other than the relationship between the hero and the heroine and the paranormal world.
I was, however, disappointed by a profound feeling of being left hanging by the book's ending.
I bought the next two books, and hopefully I will feel fulfilled when I read them.
I salute Linda Howard for writing another wonderful book--until the last few pages. BRAVO!!!

Raintree:Inferno.......2007-09-18

Linda Howard is one of my favorite authors and this book was no exception. Very well written and I enjoyed it very much.

the beginning of a new magical trilogy, the Raintree.......2007-08-21

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Dante Raintree is the dranir (leader) of an ancient magical clan, gifted with the ability to manipulate fire, and is the owner of a casino in Reno. He is none too keen to find a woman in his casino, Lorna Clay, who seems to be just a mite too lucky at the card tables. Convinced she may have a few magical abilities of her own but knowing she is not of his clan, Dante suspects she may belong to the Ansara, an enemy wizard clan the Raintrees defeated a couple hundred years ago.

Lorna Clay has always been gifted though she's not exactly sure how or why. That doesn't stop her from using her gift to make a living at the casinos, frequently winning, but never enough at one time to set off any red flags. However, her luck may be about to run out... Being sought out by one of the casino owners and questioned about her ability to win so much, she begins to suspect something is up. It doesn't help that Dante seems to have a few gifts of his own, especially in the ways of seduction.

When a huge fire breaks out at the casino, turning it into a real live Inferno that Dante is unable to control, he realizes that maybe their ancient enemy is growing strong once more and Lorna may be the one person who can help him find enough power to defeat the enemy.

I was relatively unimpressed with Inferno. The story is very fast paced, all occurring within only a few days, just before the Summer Solstice, when magical power is at its strongest. However, it doesn't feel complete. Yes it is a part of a trilogy and it's expected in a series done in this format that the full story continues over all of the books, not to be completed in one book. Yet on the flip side, I still expect my romance novels to have a beginning, middle, and an end to the individual stories in each book. With, Inferno, there is no sense of completion at all, as it just stops, not ending at all. This is something I expect from a fantasy novel or an historical epic, not a romance - series or stand alone.

I did get a strong enough impression of the battle between opposing clans of Raintree and Ansara however and look forward to seeing where the long-standing animosity between rivals will lead. It is quite apparent that the Ansara are not thrilled about being defeated and have been waiting a long time to seek vengeance. That aspect of the story I loved and I look forward to the books to follow, Haunted and Sanctuary to see how everything is resolved.

I had a very hard time accepting Dante and Lorna as a couple. He is a very dominant alpha male and Lorna is a strong-willed spitfire who won't let anyone push her around. Normally, this combination works well since I can't stand when alpha males are paired with a simpering female. The heroine needs to be as strong willed as he or she is turned into a doormat. However what pushed me over the top and made me hate Dante is how he shows his dominance. On more than one occasion he mind-rapes her, and Lorna tells him how much she despises his tendency to "brain-rape" her, as she refers to it. This just disgusted me that someone who is supposed to be heroic would do such a thing against the will of the person he's doing it to. Later, he does come to understand this technique for controlling Lorna is wrong, and he shows some remorse, but I think Lorna deserved more groveling from him to make up for what he did. I surely never could have forgiven him so easily were I in her shoes.

In short, as an individual romance story, Inferno can't hold a candle to most books I've read in the genre, not giving me enough satisfaction that there will eventually be a happy ending. As the beginning to a series though, Inferno is strong and shows promise for the remaining books in the Raintree trilogy. For that lone reason, this book did not immediately become a wall-banger for me.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, July 2007. All rights reserved.

Stupid...Not Worthy of a Howard Book.......2007-08-12

This was a ridiculous story. One character makes and controls fire. Woo. The female character has psychic powers. There are clans that are feuding for thousands of years...zzzzzzzzz. This is a poor mans Lord of the Rings type story. It was so incredibly stupid I gave up 2/3 through it.

Inferno (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 6)

Average customer rating:

It is about time
Welcome Addition to Collection
Expanded Universe Fans Only
Inferno-Star Wars
Luke is Still the Grand Master

Inferno (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 6)
Troy Denning
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345477553
Release Date: 2007-08-28

Book Description

Luke Skywalker wanted to unify the Jedi order and bring peace to the universe. Instead his wife Mara lies dead at the hands of an unknown assassin, his wayward nephew Jacen has seized control of the Galactic Alliance, and the galaxy has exploded in all-out civil war.

With Luke consumed by grief, Jacen Solo works quickly to consolidate his power and jumpstart his plan to take over the Jedi. Convinced he’s the only one who can save the galaxy, Jacen will do whatever it takes, even ambush his own parents.

With the Rebel confederacy driving deep into the Core to attack Coruscant and the Jedi under siege, Luke must reassert his position. Only he can lead the Jedi through this crisis, but it means solving the toughest problem Luke’s ever faced. Does he fight alongside his nephew Jacen, a tyrant who’s illegally taken over the GA, or does he join the rebels to smash the Galactic Alliance he helped create?

Customer Reviews:

It is about time.......2007-10-09

I would have to say that overall this is the best book in this series. Yeah it seemed a little weak in character development and some of the action scenes were just a little to much to be believable to me, it was nice to see Luke finally wake up and starting kicking some a** for a change. I was getting sick of seeing the whole galaxy just coo over Jacen and nobody seemed to even question him, much less stand up to him.

The fight between him and Luke was a bit over the top as well, and I actually thought Jacen was going to die for a minute there. But no, a few pages later he is up and walking around, despite being stabbed, slashed, busted, beaten and left for dead. It almost made me wonder why Anakin didn't just get up and walk it off when Obi-Wan left him for dead.

But this was the best one so far and it was the first one I read in one sitting. All the others before this just left me scratching my head waiting for something to happen.

Welcome Addition to Collection.......2007-10-08

I recently received "Inferno" to add to my Star Wars novels collection. I haven't had an opportunity to read it yet. My only disappointment came when I was forced to ask Amazon where the order was, as it had not arrived on the arrival date as promised. I then received 2 copies as everything got crossed in the e-mail/mail.

Expanded Universe Fans Only.......2007-10-02

As this is a book that takes place decades after the movies, only buy this if you have been following the series of books that expand the Star Wars Universe.

That said, I personally loved the book. If you follow the SW EU, you're going to buy this anyways, so...

Inferno-Star Wars.......2007-09-30

The Legacy of the force was a brilliant idea to bring the characters into the future way past the defeat of the empire.
I can't wait until the next book in the series comes out.

Luke is Still the Grand Master.......2007-09-30

As the EU has progressed we have seen Luke kind of get pushed into the background a little as he allows others of the Jedi Order to battle the evils of the Star Wars Universe but every once in a while we are reminded that Luke can still "Bring It" when he has to and this book is an excellent example of that. Luke is still the son of the "Chosen One" and his power is beyond belief but he seldom uses it in that matter but I don't think Jacen, or whatever he wants to call himself, will forget it after the way that Luke smacked him around with almost no effort in this book. If you're a fan of Luke this book is for you. At one point you will be shaking your head in horror saying no it can't be ... then you will be reminded that Luke is still the MAN.

Average customer rating:

Excellent shape
Medieval vision of the afterlife
Dante's Inferno by Sandow Bonk
Dont waste your money: get Dores pics and Musas translation
High school English Reading

Dante's Inferno
Marcus Sanders , and Doug Harvey
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811842134

Book Description

A faithful yet totally original contemporary spin on a classic, Dante's Inferno as interpreted by acclaimed artist Sandow Birk and writer Marcus Sanders is a journey through a Hell that bears an eerie semblance to our own world. Birk, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as one of "realism's edgier, more visionary painters," offers extraordinarily nuanced and vivid illustrations inspired by Gustave Dore's famous engravings. This modern interpretation depicts an infernal landscape infested with mini-malls, fast food restaurants, ATMs, and other urban fixtures, and a text that cleverly incorporates urban slang and references to modern events and people (as Dante did in his own time). Previously published in a deluxe, fine-press edition to wide praise, and accompanied by national exhibitions, this striking paperback edition of Dante's Inferno is a genuinely provocative and insightful adaptation for a new generation of readers.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent shape.......2007-08-04

The book is of brand new condition as advertized...content of book is mystical very good reading...

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.
Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) "Devine Comedy" weaved together aspects of biblical and classical Greek literary traditions to produce one of the most important works of not only medieval literature, but also one of the great literary works of Western civilization. The full impact of this 14,000-line poem divided into 100 cantos and three books is not just literary. Dante's autobiographical poem Commedia, as he titled it, was his look into the individual psyche and human soul. He explored and reflected on such fundamental questions as political institutions and their problems, the nature of humankind's moral actions, and the possibility of spiritual transformation; these were all fundamental social and cultural concerns for people during the fourteenth-century. Dante wrote the Commedia not in Latin but in the Tuscan dialect of Italian so that it would reach a broader readership. The Commedia was a three-part journey undertaken by the pilgrim Dante to the realms of the Christian afterlife: Hell, (Inferno), Purgatory, (Purgatorio), and Paradise, (Paradisio).

The poem narrated in first person, began with Dante lost midlife. He was 35 years old in the year 1300 and in a dark wood. Being lost in the dark wood was certainly an allegorical device that Dante used to express the condition of his own life at the time he started writing the poem. Dante had been active in Florentine politics and a member of the White Guelph party who opposed the secular rule of Pope Boniface VIII over Florence. In 1302, The Black Guelphs who were allied with the Pope, were militarily victorious in gaining control of the city and Dante found himself an exile from his beloved city for the rest of his life. Thus, Dante started writing the Commedia in 1308 and used it to comment on his own tribulations of life, and to state his views on politics and religion, and heap scorn on his political enemies.

Dante's first leg of his journey out of the dark wood was through the nine concentric circles of Hell (Inferno), escorted by his favorite classical Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid. Dante borrowed heavily from Virgil's Aeneid. Much of Dante's description of hell had similarities to Virgil's description in his sixth book of the Aeneid. Dante's three major divisions of sin in hell where unrepentant sinners dwelled, had their sources in Aristotle and Augustinian philosophy. They were self-indulgence, violence, and fraud. Fraud was considered the worst of moral failures because it undermined family, trust, and religion; in essence, it tore at the moral fabric of civilized society. These divisions were inversions of the classical virtues of moderation, courage, and wisdom. The fourth classical virtue, justice, is what Dante came to believe after his journey through hell that all its inhabitants received for their unrepentant sins. There were nine concentric circles of hell inside the earth; each smaller than the previous one. For Dante the geography of hell was a moral geography as well as a physical one, reflecting the nature of the sin. Canto IV describes the first circle of hell, Limbo, which is where Dante met the shades, as souls where called, of the virtuous un-baptized such as Homer, Ovid, Caesar, Aristotle, and Plato.

In the four circles for the sin of self-indulgence Dante met shades who where lustful, gluttons, hoarders and wrathful. In the second circle of Hell, lustful souls were blown around in a violent storm. In Canto V, one of the great dramatic moments of the poem, Dante had his first lengthy encounter with an unrepentant sinner Francesca da Rimini, who committed adultery with her brother-in-law. Like all the sinners in hell, Francesca laid the blame for her sin elsewhere. She claimed to be seduced into committing adultery after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. At the end of the scene, Dante fainted out of pity for Francesca.

In Canto X, the sixth circle of hell reserved for heretics who are punished by being trapped in flaming tombs, Dante took the opportunity to use the circle to chastise political leaders for participating in political partisanship. A Florentine who was a leader in the rival Ghibbelline political party, Farinata degli Uberti, accosted Dante. Both men aggressively argued with each other, recreating in hell the bitterness of partisan politics in Florence. Farinata predicted Dante's exile. Dante used this Canto to show the dangerous tendencies of petty political partisanship that he harbored.

The seventh circle of hell was subdivided into three areas where sinners were punished for doing violence against themselves, their neighbors, or God. In Canto XIII Dante encountered Pier della Vigne in the wood of the suicides. The shades there were shrubs who had to speak through a broken branch. Pier spoke to Dante about how he had been an important advisor to Emperor Frederick II, and how he blamed his fall, and his suicide, on the envy of other court members. This Canto was especially important because Dante came to grips with his own "future" fall from political power and exile. Pier's behavior served as a strong example to Dante how not to act in exile. Whether he had been tempted to commit suicide is not clear; however, he certainly had been prone to the selfish and despairing attitude that Pier represented.

The last two circles of hell contained the sinners of fraud. In the eighth circle, there were ten ditches for the various types of fraud such as Simony, thievery, hypocrisy, etc. Canto XIX described the third ditch, which contained those guilty of Simony, the sin of church leaders perverting their spiritual office by buying and selling church offices. Simonists were buried upside down in a rock with their feet on fire. Pope Nicholas III mistakenly addressed Dante as Pope Boniface VIII who was the current Pope in 1300, and whose place in hell was thereby predicted. This is not surprising since Boniface was the person most responsible for Dante's exile. In an interesting literary twist, Nicholas "confessed" to Dante, as if he was a priest, his sin of greed and nepotism. He admitted that even after becoming Pope he cared more for his family's interests than the good of the whole Church. Dante responded to Nicholas' "confession" with a stinging condemnation of Simony drawn from the Book of Revelation. After this encounter, Dante came to understand that hell was a place of justice.

Canto XXXIV, the last one in the Inferno, depicted Satan with three heads. Each head was chewing the three worst sinners of humankind. The middle head was chewing on the head of Judas Iscariot, who was a disciple to Jesus and his betrayer. The other two heads were chewing Brutus and Cassius; the murderers of Julius Caesar, and the two men Dante faulted for the destruction of a unified Italy. Dante considered the two ultimate betrayals against God and against the empire as the worst betrayals perpetrated in the history of humankind.

Thus, Dante's intent in his Commedia was to teach fourteenth-century readers that if one wanted to ascend spiritually towards God then one needed to learn the nature of sin from the unrepentant. By doing this, one could learn to overcome the same tendencies found in themselves. He wanted people to realize what he had come to learn that political partisanship would only stand in the way of unifying Italy and keep it from regaining any of its former glory that it enjoyed during the time of the Roman Empire.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.

Dante's Inferno by Sandow Bonk.......2006-08-10

It is an up-dated version; but as far as I can tell it has kept the 'feel" of the origional

Dont waste your money: get Dores pics and Musas translation.......2005-12-26

Im a fan of Dante. I've read a couple of translations, and as admirer of graphic art, I've always thourght that Dore's illustrations were classics.

I truly wanted to like this version. I'm from California, and I thought a surfer version could be witty and charming. But I was disappointed:

Fact: this is not a translation. The authors merely read other english translations, then rewrote the text in plain english, adding occasional contemporary references (Jason Blair, Dr. Laura) and obscenities.

Fact: The illustrations demonstrate the skill of junior-high school doodles. Not even close to Dore, or other book illustrators like Rockwell Kent or Tenniel.

I understand that tastes vary. But these pictures are downright awful. The reason they've been gotten some attention is that the pictures are set in urban settings (L.A., San Francisco, New York). How many times does Birk rely on McDonalds golden arches to get a chuckle? I lost track at 6. It was funny the first time.

Clearly, these authors had an outstanding publicist who got this book mentioned in prominently, and it has caught on to a limited extent. The book jacket repeatedly mentions the art gallery showings of Birk's graphic work, so I'm guessing this book was written mostly to promote sales of his artwork.

But if you are searching to buy a copy of Dante, get Musa's translation (very readable) and Dore's illustrations (timeless).

The Birk/Sanders version may be trendy in 2005, but it will soon fade into obscurity.

High school English Reading.......2005-09-13

This book was required reading in High school Senior English-language arts class. The school had bought books but did not have enough books for students to take home. My son liked the illustrations and said it has helped him review and understand the parts of the book they read at school. Other students in the same class have also used this book.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatory - Paradise (Naxos AudioBooks)

Average customer rating:

Seeing, hearing, believing Dante
Wonderful Performance

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatory - Paradise (Naxos AudioBooks)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Naxos Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Release Date: 2004-11-30

Customer Reviews:

Seeing, hearing, believing Dante.......2007-01-09

This audiobook is a remarkably good addition for the individual who enjoys good literature well read. Superb production values, an excellent reader/actor who imbues the material with accurate intonation and enunciation, cadence, and modulation, makes this one a gem. If you are spending your money wisely, you cannot go wrong with this NAXOS production. This one will be listened to many times. I even purchased the translation in hardcopy to pay closer attention to the reading.

Wonderful Performance.......2006-05-14

This is a wonderful performance of the entire Divine Comedy which one can listen to many times. The reader, Heathecoate Williams, must be some sort of an actor -- full throated furious at times, pale and poignant at others as he wends his way through it all, mimicking all the saints and sinners like a mockingbird. Each of the 100 cantos is prefaced by a short suggestion of period music for a breather and for atmosphere, which does not intrude or ham up the performance, as often happens with similar efforts.

Shameless drama of Williams' variety may be embarrassing to some, out of style to others. But it supplies an important element lacking to the rather dry academic fashion by which most are these days exposed to Dante. Nor is any accuracy of meaning sacrificed thereby. The three parts of the Comedy are all read from a prose translation by a man named Benedict Flynn. I am not aware that this translation is available anywhere in print, but having read several English translations of Dante, the word choice is familiar and sounds properly middle of the road. Truth be told, a dramatic flair does no disservice to this very personal poem at all, which was radical in its day for being written in common vernacular. For the hearer of our language, it places Dante in the ring where he belongs: with the fully engaged Shakespeare of the history plays, not with the closet dramas of a T.S. Eliot or a Robert Lowell.

The set is well worth the price, and the bonus disc lecture on Dante's life not only adds the academic dimension, but makes the price for the whole a steal.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)

Average customer rating:

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso
Unbelievable!
A Many-Splendored Thing
Amazing Dante!
Pretty Good

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (The Signet Classic Poetry Series)
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Paradise Lost
A Modern Reader's Guide to Dante's the Divine Comedy
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 0679433139
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Book Description

The Divine Comedy begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity.

Allen Mandelbaum’s astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets.

This Everyman’s edition–containing in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso–includes an introduction by Nobel Prize—winning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticelli's marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso.......2007-07-27

It's a good book, it's new and i received it in a timely manner for a really low price.

Unbelievable!.......2007-05-15

I was really pleasantly surprised by the condition of this book. I just needed a copy for a college class, so anything would have done the job, but this copy was something I will keep on my shelves forever! Good job !
BTW it got here fast, too!

A Many-Splendored Thing.......2007-05-05

The book arrived today and I am overjoyed to have it in my hands. Aside from the grandeur of Dante's masterpiece, it is quite beautiful to look at! It's an 800-page hardcover from Everyman's Library, respectfully produced, the dust-cover embellished by Botticelli's painting of the noble poet. Allen Mandelbaum's translation is a famously fine one, endorsed by such as the late, great Hugh Kenner, and I am the lucky one now able to read the entire poem.

Amazing Dante!.......2007-05-03

This is incredible! I am in love with this translation! I can read the original Italian (I am fluent), and this version is very faithful to what Dante actually wrote. Nonetheless, it is still extremely enjoyable, and I have taken much pleasure from reading this English version.

Pretty Good.......2007-04-30

This book is amazing. The way its made is perfect. I love the feel of it my hands, i just want to snuggle with it all night......the text in the book is good. It is a great copy to read, can get a little crazy with some of the archaic words, but that will make you more smart, hahaha, it also has a ribbon book mark in it, its cute......

Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice

Average customer rating:

Man, Is the System Messed Up or What?
Great book for more reasons than you would think.
A Needed Sense of Balance
It's Indefensible Not to Read This
An excellent indictment of the criminal justice system

Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice
David Feige
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Defending the Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office
Bronx D.A.: True Stories from the Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence Unit
Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse
The Devil's Advocates: Greatest Closing Arguments in Criminal Law
Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail-Every Place, Every Time

ASIN: 031615623X

Book Description

If M*A*S*H took place in the Bronx instead of Korea and was about lawyers and judges, not doctors and officers, it would look a lot like INDEFENSIBLE, David Feiges darkly funny and thrilling account of an ordinary day in the complicated life of a public defender in the South Bronx. In the span of a single day we meet murderers and misdemeanants, loutish lawyers, and vindictive judges. We race from courtroom to courtroom, judge to judge, and defendant to defendant, in a shocking behind-the-scenes look at big city justice as it really happens. This is a book full of black comedy and outrage, of unforgettable characters and situations. Written with the verve and insider know-how of a John Grisham thriller, but with the social conscience of a Barbara Ehrenreich, INDEFENSIBLE has real crossover potentialand should ignite a profound debate about law and order in America. It puts a human face on the terrifying systemic failures that make American criminal justice the dirty little secret of our time.

Customer Reviews:

Man, Is the System Messed Up or What?.......2007-07-15

I'm an incoming law student this fall and I bought this book because I'm considering working as a public defender after law school. The book itself didn't disappoint. It was written well and really made me feel what it might be like to endure the daily struggle of too many desperate clients and not enough time to adequately represent them. I was very shocked at how much time the criminal judicial system wastes through a variety of substandard mechanisms... Mr. Feige did a remarkable job of explaining it all.

However, after finishing the book... I can't help but feel a little sad. As an ex elementary school teacher, I almost feel as if taking a job as PD would be similar (a job that is very demanding and rough for very little pay). The work of a public defender seems so noble and so important, yet after reading Feige's book... I have to say that I'm actually not inspired to do the work. I'm instead inspired to seek out to practice law in a different setting.

I think I'll certainly use one of my law school summers to intern for a PD office, as I know that I can't possibly understand what the job is like until getting as close to working it as is possible.

But man, is the system messed up. It's frightening. Thanks, Mr. Feige, for giving me a little insight into the world of big city indigent defense.

I recommend this book for anyone thinking of pursuing similar work in the legal profession or for anyone wishing to know just how much time, money, effort, and agony is wasted daily in the process which is our criminal court system.

Great book for more reasons than you would think........2007-06-29

First, the book is terrific and it has been exceptionally well reviewed. The reviews focus on the legitimate and obvious reasons for which the book is great. Specifically, it is well written, riveting, thought provoking, and wildly entertaining--regardless of your predetermined views of the justice system. I agree with all of those reviews and will not repeat them here.

For me, the book has made a lasting impression and it is on my required reading list for all lawyers or aspiring lawyers because it forces the reading lawyer to ask the fundamental question of "what type of lawyer do I want to be?" Most lawyers and law students confuse this question with "how much money/prestige can I accumulate over a legal career?" The book helps the reader answer this question in a profound way. For that reason alone, it is worth reading. For all the other reasons and reviews it is MUST reading.

Keith J. Bruno

A Needed Sense of Balance.......2007-05-22

I pre-ordered this book right before I took the bar exam, but didn't get around to reading it until I visited my parents' house almost a year later. In the meantime I'd passed the bar, been sworn in as a lawyer, and spent nine months as an ADA in the Big City (not the same Big City where Feige practiced, but not much changes in the grimy world of high-volume, high-stress courthouses). I found this book when I came back home for vacation, and just finished reading it last week.

I'm glad I accidentally waited so long before reading it. I think a book like this looks different from the inside than the outside. It has different benefits: rather than giving you a glimpse inside a new world, it makes you look at familiar surroundings from a new perspective. In a career where every professional relationship is adversarial and the other side is often met with suspicion (and often with good reason), it's invaluable to get an honest view of what the other side is thinking. Feige's book is an excellent reminder of the fact that we're still all human in a sometimes inhumane system, and of how it is possible for good and worthy people to stand on both sides of the courtroom. I realize that sounds incredibly basic, but it's so easy to forget in the battlefield. The book provides some reassurance that I'm not failing in my job when I cut defendants breaks, or withdraw charges when justice doesn't line up with the letter of the law. And it reminds me to be decent to the defenders who are decent in turn, because the good ones are horribly overworked and underappreciated in what they do. I'm grateful to be reminded of those things. I needed it.

Of course the book has its flaws; all books do. Nothing is said about extremely pro-defense judges who are as unfeeling toward victims and their families as Feige's pro-prosecution judges are toward defendants. Nothing is said about good cops, or humane court staff, and almost nothing about inept or indifferent public defenders, or the crimes of which their clients are guilty (as, indeed, most are). But the book isn't intended as an even-handed, clear-eyed evaluation of the system; it's a heartfelt and impassioned piece of advocacy for one particular point of view.

So, again, I'm grateful to Feige for writing this book. It's well worth reading. Rarely does this particular corner of the legal profession have such a skilled and passionate advocate.

It's Indefensible Not to Read This.......2007-05-12

If you're teaching a class in law, this is an excellent introduction to the legal system...I had to discipline myself from reading it too fast...

An excellent indictment of the criminal justice system.......2007-04-20

I am not fond of criminals. Nor can my politics be considered left-wing. However, I do believe in the Constitutional right to due process and David Feige's "Indefensible" shows how Americans are routinely denied this right without a whimper from the elitist liberals and their mainstream press pals. Steve Bogira tried showing the nature of the criminal justice system in his "Courtroom 302" (Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse, but that came out sounding like a left-wing whine blaming everyone except the lawbreaker.

Feige was a public defender in New York for more than 15 years. He tells the story of those years with a touch of humor, an understated admission of the psychic pain he suffered as the system ground down defendants, their families and their lawyers, while elevating and protecting incompetent (if not corrupt) judges, prosecutors and police. His story has the ring of truth. He talks about innocent people railroaded into pleading guilty just to escape the system. Of evil judges who gave no second thought to wrecking families and lives. (He names names.) He doesn't resort to the usual left-wing nostrums of blaming society, demanding more money to perpeptuate dependent welfare or any of that.

By simply stating the facts from his perspective, Feige makes a strong argument for thorough reform of the criminal justice system. Right now the system isn't concerned with justice, but simply keeping itself going. As I said, I have no sympathy for actual criminals and it irritated me a bit to read of Feige negotiating down sentences of robbers and murderers. My attitude toward them is more like lock them up and throw away the key. But Feige reminds us that every criminal defendant has unalienable Constitutional rights - and that these rights are being violated day in and day out in New York's criminal courts. (Bogira attempted to make the same point about Chicago.) More than likely the same can be said for any criminal court system in America. The system is dysfunctional and doesn't work. So plea bargains are the currency of the day. Society suffers because bad people come back to the streets to soon. But innocent people suffer too, denied a trial, forced into pleas that may harm them or even ruin their lives.

It's a lousy system, far from the promises of the Constitution, and one that must be reformed on every level. Feige makes his points without beating the reader's head against the wall and he makes them effectively. He doesn't make any left-wing, criminal-coddling arguments: he doesen't have to. His experiences as a public defender, representing the truly guilty, the innocent and just those whom life dealt a bad hand to are all that's needed to waken your conscience to the miscarriage of justice we call our criminal justice system.

Jerry

Average customer rating:

Chthonic Boom...
Intro to Inferno
Dante for bigots?
Dante's Inferno by Mandelbaum
Great Poetry

The Inferno (Signet Classics)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Purgatory (Modern Library Classics)
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ASIN: 0451527984
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Book Description

Considered to be one of the greatest literary works of all time- equal only to those of Shakespeare-Dante's immortal drama of a journey through Hell is the first volume of his Divine Comedy. The remaining canticles, The Purgatorio and The Paradiso, will be published this summer in quick succession.

Customer Reviews:

Chthonic Boom..........2007-08-30

You know how some so-called "classics" suck? This isn't one of them.

Ciardi's translation is readable and fluid, and he sets up the action in each canto with a modern English preface. He also provides end-notes to each canto that explain obscure people, places, events, and choices of translation. (Various illustrations and diagrams also give a clear picture of the infernal topography and spatial structure.)

The Inferno itself is a masterpiece...one of those numinous works of literature where you catch yourself at intervals marveling at its brilliance. I wish I'd read it ten years ago.

Intro to Inferno.......2007-08-22

Translators, according to the Italian proverb are traitors.
There is no way around it, something is always lost in the
leap from one language to another. You can consult a modern
'adaptation' of Shakespeare to get the feel of what has to
be surrendered. In the end, a preference for one translation
over another is a matter of what you're most willing to lose.

John Ciardi decided to keep the original rhyme scheme: 'aba'
in which the poem is divided into groups of three lines of
which the first and third rhyme. In Italian, this is fairly
easy, in English a great deal more difficult.
So in order to keep the feel of the tercets (as they're called)
Ciardi sometimes had to stray a bit from the literal
meaning. Nothing vital is lost, but the specialist will
surely find some points to dispute.
For the rest of us, this is a first-rate view into a world
we can barely otherwise imagine. Ciardi's notes and glosses
on the cantos are breezy, illuminating and approachable.

There are other, more correct translations- Mandelbaum's
is first among them -that might be better for the specialist
or the student of the Italian Language. I notice, however,
that when I want to spend a pleasant few moments in the
Poet's company-and especially for the Inferno- that this
is the translation I usually reach for.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the novel bang BANG. ISBN 9781601640005

Dante for bigots?.......2007-04-06

Esolen is neither a Dante scholar nor an Italian language/literature specialist. He is an English Teacher at Providence College, a Catholic institution. His retelling of the Divine Comedy is reasonably accurate and quite readable. The problem comes with his notes. They range from the scandalously inadequate to the downright offensive. Esolen has written a number of anti-gay articles for religious publications . This is reflected in his notes where he refers to homosexuality as something like "that most heinous of sins". This is not only offensive in a contemporary publication, but is totally out of tune with Dante himself, who took a much more sympathetic and nuanced approach c.1300 AD. The skimpy notes manage to include other personal and inappropriate remarks.

There are many superior translations out there. Mandelbaum's is excellent and has very good notes. Robert and Jean Hollander's is also very fine and the notation is the most extensive and scholarly of all.

Dante's Inferno by Mandelbaum.......2007-01-10

This english rendition of Dante's Inferno is puts thoughtful use of the english language into the translation of this classic work. The fact that Mandelbaum translates using more literal meanings may be hard to follow at times but overall it enhances the effect of the book's moral dilemma.

Great Poetry.......2006-12-27

Dante has become one of my favorite poets. He's up there with Homer and that's kind of funny since in Limbo he is excepted in the circle of some of the greatest poets which included Homer.

This is a nice translation and the commentary is excellent. John points out certain things in the verses which you would have to have some familiarity or go and look up elsewhere to understand its significance to the poem.

In this volume Dante speaks about the nature of sin (the specific punishments helps to amplify it meaning). It also shows how the straight path (to God) is not an easy one to simply step back onto if you happen to slip because these sins (shown in hell) will be a stumbling block and hold you back (represented by the 3 creatures he meets before he has to take the hard journey through hell).

There are some memorable moments in the bowels of hell which I will not forget and Virgil (reason) is a great guide.

Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell) (The Divine Comedy)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book
Medieval vision of the afterlife
Abandon hope...

Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell) (The Divine Comedy)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Digireads.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dante's Inferno

ASIN: 1420926381

Book Description

The "Divine Comedy" was entitled by Dante himself merely "Commedia," meaning a poetic composition in a style intermediate between the sustained nobility of tragedy, and the popular tone of elegy. The word had no dramatic implication at that time, though it did involve a happy ending. The poem is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect it belongs to the two familiar medieval literary types of the Journey and the Vision. It is also an allegory, representing under the symbolism of the stages and experiences of the journey, the history of a human soul, painfully struggling from sin through purification to the Beatific Vision. Contained in this volume is the first part of the "Divine Comedy," the "Inferno" or "Hell," from the translation of Charles Eliot Norton.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2007-07-03

I found Dante's Inferno to be in excellent shape, a great book, and plan on purchasing volumes II and III.

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

Abandon hope..........2006-11-18

"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno.

The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.

But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.

If nothing else makes you feel like being good, then "The Inferno" might change your mind. The author loads up his "Inferno" with every kind of disgusting, grotesque punishment that you can imagine -- and it's all wrapped up in an allegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy and Florence.

Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth and symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus and the god Pluto. But the sinners are mostly Dante's contemporaries, from corrupt popes to soldiers.

And Dante's skill as a writer can't be denied -- the grotesque punishments are enough to make your skin crawl ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius and Judas sitting in his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")

More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usually reflect the person's flaws, such as false prophets having their heads twisted around so they can only see what's behind them. Wicked sense of humor.

Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding and complicated.

Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg, 1943

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Rain of Terror

Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg, 1943
Keith Lowe
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743269004

Book Description

In the summer of 1943, British and American bombers launched an attack on the German city of Hamburg that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. For ten days they pounded the city with over 9,000 tons of bombs, with the intention of erasing it entirely from the map. The fires they created were so huge they burned for a month and were visible for 200 miles.

The people of Hamburg had no time to understand what had hit them. As they emerged from their ruined cellars and air raid shelters, they were confronted with a unique vision of hell: a sea of flame that stretched to the horizon, the burned-out husks of fire engines that had tried to rescue them, roads that had become flaming rivers of melted tarmac. Even the canals were on fire.

Worse still, they had to battle hurricane-force winds to escape the blaze. The only safe places were the city's parks, but to reach them survivors had to stumble through temperatures of up to 800°C and a blizzard of sparks strong enough to lift grown men off their feet.

Inferno is the culmination of several years of research and the first comprehensive account of the Hamburg firestorm to be published in almost thirty years.

Keith Lowe has interviewed eyewitnesses in Britain, Germany, and America, and gathered together hundreds of letters, diaries, firsthand accounts, and documents. His book gives the human side of an inhuman story: the long, tense buildup to the Allied attack; the unparalleled horror of the firestorm itself; and the terrible aftermath. The result is an epic story of devastation and survival, and a much-needed reminder of the human face of war.

Includes nineteen maps and thirty-one photographs, many never seen before

Customer Reviews:

Rain of Terror.......2007-07-04

When World War II began, Hamburg was Germany's largest port and its second largest city.

"Inferno" is the first attempt in over a quarter of a century to explain at length the horror that hit Hamburg from July 24 to August 2, 1943 when four massive bombing raids by both British planes (at night) and American planes (during the day) wreaked such havoc that in the space of only 10 days over 250,000 buildings were damaged beyond use and 1,000,000 people were made homeless.

In the worst day of bombing, July 27, 1943, the weather and other factors coalesced to create a perfect storm of fire and destruction. The result was at least 45,000 dead in a single day. The heat was so intense that eight square miles of the city were incinerated in a massive tornado of fire with hurricane-like winds of up to 150 mph (240 kmh). The heat was estimated to be over 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Centigrade). The flames reached thousands of feet into the air and could be seen from hundreds of miles away.

People caught in this firestorm died in numerous, horrifying ways. Many obviously (and gruesomely) died from the heat itself. People caught together melted into blobs. Others shrunk and became almost mummified. Still others died even though ensconsed in air raid shelters because, unless the shelters were airtight (of which there were only a few), the firestorm sucked the oxygen out of the shelters, leaving deadly carbon monoxide to breathe. Still others died from the bombs themselves, of which a variety of killing devices were used, including incendiary bombs with petroleum jelly and phosphorous, which could spontaneously reignite even if a person doused themselves with water to put it out.

But the book is more than just a catalog of death. It is a detailed accounting, and may become the definitive one, of (1) the planning, preparation, and strategy for the raids; (2) the raids themselves, including the airmen and others involved in them; (3) the effect of the raids on the citizens of Hamburg, including the responses by the citizenry, the military, and the government to this crisis; and (4) the aftermath of the raids, including the evacuation of 1,000,000 people.

Because the bombing of Hamburg was by far the most destructive one ever to that point and nothing came close to it until Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it invites questioning whether it was morally justified, given that, despite claims the city was properly designated a military target, massive numbers of civilians (women, the aged, children, the infirm) were purposely killed in an attempt to achieve that objective and to demoralize the country into submission.

This is a question on which there may be no easy answers. Certainly war is hell and the purpose of war is to win, preferably at the expense of your enemy (i.e., in theory it is better to kill the enemy's women and children if it shortens the war and saves the lives of your own citizens, be they women, children, or soldiers). In effect, the author opines that the bombing was necessary and efficacious: The wave of refugees from Hamburg that flooded across Germany with stories of the horror they had witnessed shellshocked the German population against war in any form and he believes it resonates to this day in Germany's newfound pacifism. (Other historians, have, however, come to different conclusions. Notably, A. C. Grayling in his "Among the Dead Cities" and Jorg Friedrich in his "The Fire".)

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