The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America

Book Description

A leading Supreme Court expert recounts the personal and philosophical rivalries that forged our nation’s highest court and continue to shape our daily lives

The Supreme Court is the most mysterious branch of government, and yet the Court is at root a human institution, made up of very bright people with very strong egos, for whom political and judicial conflicts often become personal.

In this compelling work of character-driven history, Jeffrey Rosen recounts the history of the Court through the personal and philosophical rivalries on the bench that transformed the law—and by extension, our lives. The story begins with the great Chief Justice John Marshall and President Thomas Jefferson, cousins from the Virginia elite whose differing visions of America set the tone for the Court’s first hundred years. The tale continues after the Civil War with Justices John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who clashed over the limits of majority rule. Rosen then examines the Warren Court era through the lens of the liberal icons Hugo Black and William O. Douglas, for whom personality loomed larger than ideology. He concludes with a pairing from our own era, the conservatives William H. Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia, only one of whom was able to build majorities in support of his views.

Through these four rivalries, Rosen brings to life the perennial conflict that has animated the Court—between those justices guided by strong ideology and those who forge coalitions and adjust to new realities. He illuminates the relationship between judicial temperament and judicial success or failure. The stakes are nothing less than the future of American jurisprudence.

Customer Reviews:

A Concise History of Politics vs Law.......2007-10-06

Recently there have been many good books available about the Supreme Court. For a quick, no-nonsense straight to the heart of the matter history of Supreme Court, this is the book. A history of the Supreme Court derived from its major decisions and its major dissenters. The author shows that often justices that may be on the dissenting side of Supreme Court decisions are sometimes justices that are ahead of their time. Their lonely decisions often become basics to the American way of life in a later era. The Author, Jeff Rosen also relays a life's lesson to Supreme Court Justices, that in the interplay between majority vs. dissenters decisions, no matter how dedicated, wise, or oracle-like a justice appears, history bears out that the justices that "play ball", fraternizes, cajoles, and displays a good nature seem to win out. In other words the Law is not just the Law, the decisions cannot be divorced from the political impetus that brought them to the court and the most successful Justices are the most political Justices. Nothing underscores this more than the chapter on Justice Holmes and Justice Harlan. Justice Holmes was an ivory tower type justice and his reputation is somewhat revered today. Justice Harlan is lesser known, but the track record shows that modern American life revolves around decisions he made and that Holmes has been surpassed in almost all his major decisions.
A very rewarding book, that will make the reader feel that in one book you can gain an understanding of what make the supreme court tick, and some of the twists ands turns it has taken in its history

How the Court Works.......2007-06-18

Jeffrey Rosen's accessible and engaging companion book to the PBS series offers not only a fine introduction to the U.S. Supreme Court (and many of the most important cases it's decided in its history) but also a perspective from which to understand the Court as an institution. This perspective is tantamount to Rosen's thesis: that "judicial temperament" is a quality possessed by the Court's most distinguished justices, those who subordinate their ideological leanings to the deliberative and practical process of establishing legal consensus.

Rosen illustrates his thesis with four case studies: Marshall and Jefferson (not a justice); Harlan and Holmes; Black and Douglas; Rehnquist and Scalia. In each case one justice is seen as embracing judicial temperament while the other (or Jefferson, in the first chapter) is cast as something of an ideological maverick, a flamboyant but ultimately less influential constitutional thinker. Like one reviewer here, I found the questions raised by such pairings to be productive rather than reductive: Rosen is making a legal-historical argument here, and so reading his history of the Supreme Court is necessarily an exercise in critical interpretation.

The chapters on the twentieth-century Court are excellent, with Rosen showing how the liberal-leaning Hugo Black and the conservative-leaning William Rehnquist had more in common with each other (in terms of judicial temperament) than with their respective colleagues: William O. Douglas and Antonin Scalia. Here Rosen parses the legacies of Black and Rehnquist by showing how their restrained judicial character helped them produce well-crafted decisions that advanced the Court's legitimacy in the public eye.

Douglas and Scalia, on the other hand, were/are so committed to the purity of their ideological beliefs that, whatever one thinks of their individual decisions (and I am decidedly aligned with Douglas over Scalia in this regard), one has to come to terms with the fact that their jurisprudence will not have a lasting influence on the law of the land. Douglas and Scalia are seen as larger-than-life personalities, self-aggrandizing justices who rarely spoke for the Court as such.

Again, you might agree or disagree with the specifics of Rosen's argument and framing of his historical examples. But the survey presented here is a solid, general introduction to Supreme Court history. And with judicial temperament Rosen gives us a lens through which we might view that history, and understand better exactly how the Court works.

Good History - Not Enough Catch.......2007-05-24

For a look into some of the most well known figures in the Supreme Court, this book does a fantastic job. From in-depth analysis of their personalities to little anecdotes on each Justice, the Author clearly knows his history.

It's a tad short, and I think the specific cases could have been covered in greater detail. While it was informative, it didn't have that something special that had me anxious to keep reading. At times, I felt like I was reading a history book.

If you're someone looking to get some background into the Supreme Court and some of the characters that shaped it, this is a good book to start with. You may not feel completely entertained, but you will feel smarter after reading this book.

The real Justice League of America.......2007-05-14

It's one of the fundamental principles of the U.S. Constitution that the three branches of government are more-or-less equal, with checks and balances assuring that no branch takes over. The reality, of course, is different: at times - particularly in the 1800s - the Congress was the more powerful branch, while at other times -especially recently - the Presidency has taken the reins. The judicial branch, however, has always been in third place; although it makes a difference at times, it rarely is more visible than its "coequals". Nonetheless, there are times that the judicial branch - and in particular, the Supreme Court - has assumed a critical role in history.

Jeffrey Rosen's The Supreme Court is not so much a history of the institution as a study as to how certain personalities affected the Court. He focuses on four such rivalries that dictated not only the direction of the Court but also the direction of the country. The first rivalry (and the only one featuring a non-Court figure) is Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall. These two embodies the two principal political philosophies of the early United States: Republicanism and Federalism. Unlike previous Chief Justices, Marshall really defined the Court and made it an important part of the government, most notably with the Marbury v. Madison decision. Since Marshall differed with Jefferson on many issues, this set the two branches at odds with one another.

The next rivalry is John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., a pairing that is probably the most obscure to the modern reader. Holmes, with his nickname "The Great Dissenter" earned a reputation based on his dissents in some free speech cases, but often had much less sympathetic rulings, such as his opposition to civil rights and his support of eugenics. Harlan, on the other hand, was more forward-thinking, and notably dissented on Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court decision that - after Dred Scott - is probably the darkest mark on the institution's history.

The third section deals with Hugo Black and William Douglas. Unlike the previous pairings, these two were politically of a similar bent, but they still had different judicial philosophies, with Black being the sounder reasoner and Douglas being somewhat more free-wheeling. Douglas's presidential ambitions, which never really amounted to much, also affected his decision-making. Similarly, the fourth section deals with two Justices with similar politics yet different philosophies: William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia. While Rehnquist would often try for consensus, Scalia is more absolute in his beliefs and doesn't really seem to care who he rankles.

In each pairing, Rosen casts one person as hero (Marshall, Harlan, Black and Rehnquist) and one as villain (Jefferson, Holmes, Douglas and Scalia). Of course, things are not really that simple and Rosen recognizes flaws in the heroes and virtues in the villains; perhaps it is better not to use the heroes-and-villains analogy at all, but it is clear Rosen favors one in each rivalry. This has less to do with politics than with technique: Rosen favors Justices who can promote harmony within the Court and can create rulings with real potency to them. Rulings that go 5-4 are not nearly as strong as those decided unanimously, and are more likely to be eventually reversed.

In the final section, Rosen offers an early analysis of new Chief Justice John Roberts, one that is generally positive. Roberts, Rosen believes, seems to have learned from the better Chief Justices (a group in which Rosen would include Marshall, Warren and Rehnquist) as to how to run the Supreme Court. Rosen's writing is insightful, clear and reasonably objective (in the sense that he doesn't seem to favor either the political right or left). This book is a good, alternative way at looking at the history and structure of the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court.......2007-05-07

An excellent book. If I were still teaching Constitutional Law at the college level, I would use some or all of it in class to show that law is interpreted by "real people." I think anybody would find it interesting, but lawyers and law students should find it fascinating.

Average customer rating:

Wrong author-good book
VERY Disappointing
A PLEASING MISTAKE TO MAKE
Great book about college and Greek life.
NOT THE SAME JAMES PATTERSON...

The Thirteen
James Patterson
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1585004782

Customer Reviews:

Wrong author-good book.......2005-08-17

I, too, purchased this thinking it was by THE James Patterson but I have not been disappointed. A 60's graduate of Miami University (Ohio), sorority member and resident of Oxford, Ohio, I am familiar with Ohio University and Greek life. The story makes me smile as I remember some of the same experiences. I would recommend it to any Ohio collegiate, graduate or Greek member.

VERY Disappointing.......2005-01-13

I was very disappointed to receive the book and find the author - James Patterson - was not who I expected, but decided to take a chance anyway. The story was interesting, but I must admit, I was so unnerved by the poor job of editing that I became distracted easily. The book is published by an Online Library that apparently does not proofread before printing. The pages are filled with typographical errors and misuse of words and I found myself wanting to reach for a red pencil to circle all the mistakes rather than concentrating on the author's intent. I spent nearly $30 to receive a poor quality paperback book that will definitely find its way to the back my bookshelves - maybe into the "bad book box" in the corner of my laundry room.

A PLEASING MISTAKE TO MAKE.......2003-09-13

I ordered this book for my wife thinking it was written by the slightly more famous James Patterson who's books she devours avidly. As an Englishman living and working around Athens Ohio, I found this novel really interesting as it provides a great insight into both the area and College life in the US. In addition I also found The Thirteen to be an entertaining and grippingly realistic story, something I cannot always say about the authors alter ego. This book cleverly combines the journey of our freshman hero Five Lowry as he discovers the great mysteries of life, namely beer, women and commerce with a murder mystery. No mean feat in my opinion! My wife was somewhat grieved by my mistake, personally I was rather pleased and hope all my future errors turn out as happily.

Great book about college and Greek life........2002-08-22

My mother handed me this book to read about a year ago. I put it off at first but picked it up and once started...I had to finish. I recommend this for anyone who ever experienced Greek life on campus or wondered about it; For anyone who ever attended Ohio University, lived in Athens or intends to do so; and anyone who simply enjoys a good novel about college life.

I've written a review for my own fraternity web page advising them to read it, alumni and actives. It was an excellent book but I think it will strike a very special cord for anyone who ever went to Ohio University or experienced Greek life in the last 50 years, and anyone who intends to do so.

Patterson graduated from OU in 1958 and although this was all set twenty years before my time I know or have heard often of those places, which were no longer around when I started college. They were still here when I was young and my grandmother worked as the night manager at the burger joint (The Begorra) which plays a prominent role in the book. This was like reliving history for me and I'm sure for my mother who gave me the book filled with footnotes of her remembrances about the places and the people.

You'll recognize in this book much that you knew about OU, Athens and Greek Life, or any small college town. Many of the people you knew and the experiences you had in college. I certainly did. Most of the characters in the story I could put real names and faces to and move the time setting by 20 years to about 1975 or another 25 years to 2000.

Yes, I am back in Athens and my wife and I both work with those fraternity and sorority men and women. I intend to send a short thank you to the author telling him just how much I enjoyed his book and a little of why. I hope you'll read and enjoy it as much as I did.

For those young people who are Greek or considering going Greek, I believe this will give you a very strong sense of insight into the campus and experiences of those who where here before you and some awareness of just how much alike we all are from generation to generation. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

NOT THE SAME JAMES PATTERSON..........2002-08-01

this book is written by a different James Patterson then the one who wrote kiss the girls, the beach house, along came a spider, etc... this book was not that good and i couldn't even finish reading it. DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE AUTHORS NAME!!!! YOU WILL BE DISSAPOINTED

Average customer rating:

Brilliant, idiosyncratic.
Such promise, such disappointment
A couldn't-put-it-down book of criticism!
Three studies within one cover
A lterary tour

Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
Jane Smiley
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400040590
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Book Description

Over an extraordinary twenty-year career, Jane Smiley has written all kinds of novels: mystery, comedy, historical fiction, epic. “Is there anything Jane Smiley cannot do?” raves Time magazine. But in the wake of 9/11, Smiley faltered in her hitherto unflagging impulse to write and decided to approach novels from a different angle: she read one hundred of them, from classics such as the thousand-year-old Tale of Genji to recent fiction by Zadie Smith, Nicholson Baker, and Alice Munro.

Smiley explores–as no novelist has before her–the unparalleled intimacy of reading, why a novel succeeds (or doesn’t), and how the novel has changed over time. She describes a novelist as “right on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing,” yet whose “job and ambition is to develop a theory of how it feels to be alive.”

In her inimitable style–exuberant, candid, opinionated–Smiley invites us behind the scenes of novel-writing, sharing her own habits and spilling the secrets of her craft. She walks us step-by-step through the publication of her most recent novel, Good Faith, and, in two vital chapters on how to write “a novel of your own,” offers priceless advice to aspiring authors.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel may amount to a peculiar form of autobiography. We see Smiley reading in bed with a chocolate bar; mulling over plot twists while cooking dinner for her family; even, at the age of twelve, devouring Sherlock Holmes mysteries, which she later realized were among her earliest literary models for plot and character.

And in an exhilarating conclusion, Smiley considers individually the one hundred books she read, from Don Quixote to Lolita to Atonement, presenting her own insights and often controversial opinions. In its scope and gleeful eclecticism, her reading list is one of the most compelling–and surprising–ever assembled.

Engaging, wise, sometimes irreverent, Thirteen Ways is essential reading for anyone who has ever escaped into the pages of a novel or, for that matter, wanted to write one. In Smiley’s own words, ones she found herself turning to over the course of her journey: “Read this. I bet you’ll like it.”

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant, idiosyncratic........2007-07-04

This book is excellent and will repay close reading, but I am of two minds. On one hand, Smiley has examined the development and significance of the novel as only a practicing novelist of depth and talent could. On the strength of her treatment I've resolved to try her novels. Any description I might give of her discussion would not do it justice.

On the other hand, she clearly has a political axe to grind and this comes out most one-sidedly in her descriptions of novels. First, her history of the novel begins with Murasaki Shikibu's "Tale of Genji," leaps to Bocaccio's "Decameron" as a precursor to the novel in its western form, and then holds a steady course through Cervantes, Defoe, Austen, Dickens, and James into the twentieth century. Perhaps because she has identified as a major concern of the novel the question of "what a woman is for" (her words), Smiley ignores Twain, Hemingway, and modern novelists whose work is not animated by that question. She does not claim completeness for her 100 novels and writes more than once that she is not trying to compile a `Best 100' list, but she does claim a certain disinterestedness that is belied by her choices. She (usually) likes European novelists (nothing wrong with that) and woman novelists (ditto) who pursue her favorite question. Novelists who have nothing to say on the question either leave her cold or don't make the list at all. Hence, she claims not to be able to remember her experience of "Moby Dick" and Joyce's "Ulysses" strikes her as a lot of art devoted to a not very interesting premise. About her contemporaries Pynchon, Delillo, and Wolfe she has nothing to say at all.

Second, the idea that failure to read novels caused the badness of our politicians is nonsense. Lincoln wasn't a great reader of novels, nor was Washington. I don't deny that people well-read in good novels might as a result develop empathy but Smiley seems not to believe there are other routes to the same destination. Furthermore, plenty of very good leaders, not to mention good people in general, claim that daily contact with the Bible helps them to love their neighbors as themselves. GWB's treatment of Iraq doesn't strike Smiley as loving enough (one might say "Christian enough"): fine, but this is not grounds for blaming the Bible and Bush's poor education. Where should we believe Mother Theresa or Dietrich Boenhoeffer learned their love of humanity?

Third, J.S.'s history of the novel, though accurate as far as it goes, doesn't make sense given her concerns. She includes "The Tale of Genji," which had zero influence on the novel's early development in the West, but excludes medieval saints' lives, which I expect influenced the "Decameron" and are sources for the reader's experience of interior truth she believes is a defining characteristic of the novel. She will claim she had to start somewhere but why not consider the source of the novel's interiority, since she places so much emphasis on that quality? The primary source of western interiority is the idea that the soul has to answer to God in conscience. This fearful relationship between self and deity was illustrated in hundreds of saints lives. A frequent element in the stories of female saints is the refusal to do the socially expected thing--marry a man--in favor of maintaining chastity. Tales like this dramatize the sense of self against other that grew as Christianity spread. This crisis deepened during the Protestant Reformation and it should not surprise us that the novel's development began as Luther and Calvin were claiming that the soul's isolation was even more absolute than Christians had previously believed.

Finally, had she looked she would have found several long, plotted, prose works that predate "The Tale of Genji" by several centuries: the novel has perfectly fine ancient roots in the Greek romance and other long prose works of antiquity, such as Apuleius' "Metamorphosis" and Petronius' "Satyricon."

So, brilliant and idiosyncratic, just as I believe Smiley wanted it. Buy the book.

Such promise, such disappointment.......2007-03-21

I read the first few chapters and thought this was not a bad book. The author often has to stretch to tie her point to her examples but was keeping my interest. And then it happened! What so many of today's "accomplished" writers can't avoid.
A completely useless and bombastic attack on the Bush administration stuck in the middle of the book. Whatever your political views, these pages are confused and embarassing. A nice 3-4 star book of criticism and advice destroyed because our author could not contain her hatred and bile. My reading group (2 conservatives, 2 moderates and 3 liberals) voted 7-0 to stop discussing this book after hitting this passage. Leave political commentary to the hundreds of hacks across the spectrum.

A couldn't-put-it-down book of criticism!.......2007-03-02

I guess it is well known that Smiley is a witty, intelligent, and congenial writer but this book nevertheless surprised me. I didn't want it to end! I found myself hoarding the pages of the penultimate essay the same way I do with the closing chapters of a novel I am enjoying. I will now have to re-read to figure out how she accomplished this (can it be simply a matter of voice?), but in the meantime want to recommend it to all comers. Just delightful.

Three studies within one cover.......2006-02-26

This compendium falls into three parts, more or less. The first section offers Smiley's survey of how the novel evolved. Here, she emphasizes the importance of Bocaccio's Decameron and Marguerite de Naverre's Heptameron, two collections of stories grouped around a tale-telling symposium, more or less. The first stresses the humanism and the joy of human relationships; the second cautions humans about the danger of such relationships. Here, Smiley finds the tension that characterizes the subsequent four centuries of what becomes, with the rise of literacy and the spread of affordable books, the novel as we know it.

Her 22 years spent teaching university in Iowa show in her analysis. Some readers may be lulled off to sleep by her rather academic considerations; as a literature lecturer myself for about the same amount of time that she taught, I found these introductory chapters a bit too longwinded--she continues as the pages pile up to elaborate points already made, and at times I felt like she had to stretch her material to fit, well, 13 chapters no matter what. Still, it taught me a lot that I had not learned in the classroom myself, and it's useful for any reader as an overview or summation. Despite the rather too-professorial pace, she does come up with a few memorable remarks in these first 200 pages.

For instance, that Don Quixote, shown to conveniently nod off whenever the talk turned to amours, began a tendency for the novel (for much of its evolution) to avoid explicit depictions of sex. That the English novel tends to lead up to marriage, while the French equivalent starts off with marriage--or its stagnation after the honeymoon's faded. How drama inflates its protagonist while novels deflate their main character's pretensions or aspirations. Or, in her opinion with which I disagree, why Ulysses and what she critiques as too-mannered a fictional rendering distances fatally the novel from its natural milieu where the reader--and the writer--belong.

I never have read a Smiley novel, so that puts me in either an uninformed or fresh reception for her next section. She takes the making of her novel "Good Faith," and shows how she took an anecdote told her from real life and worked it into a novel. I admit that while I have no interest in reading GF after encountering her account of its construction, the process described was told--being from the inside rather than via a critic after the fact--in an informative and insightful manner. But it's still a bit clumsy; if you have not read GF, then the coyness with which she gives some details and withholds others (so as not to spoil the plot) does prove awkward, as this novel's not exactly as familiar for most of us as many of the others she peruses in the 101 listed in the final section. I did find her reactions to reviews, her book tour experiences, and her struggles with knowing when to stop writing informative, however. This led into a chapter in which she addresses the reader as if he/she seeks advice on how to write a novel, too. This chapter felt as if imported from a previous article; it aroused for me absolutely no interest in writing one, and its place in this otherwise reader-oriented collection seemed precarious. But others will no doubt be invigorated by it.

For the final section, the second half roughly in length of the book, the 101 novels she lists and summarizes rather briskly--as she points out, often overlapping with the previous chapters that were written after she had drafted the notes on the 101 novels as she read them, offers far less enticement than I'd have expected. I thought I'd find many novels that I'd never heard of, or always had wondered if I should read but hadn't known enough about to sample. She did get me to search out Gogol's novella "Taras Bulba," one I'd never encountered. But many of her titles are already familiar, standard-issue for reading groups, English majors, or the "common reader" that Virginia Woolf could once expect to find out in the educated public. This is not meant as a put-down, but there were fewer rare and previously hidden or neglected finds in her list than I'd have liked.

Contrast this to the increasingly middlebrow types of novels that populate her list as it moves into the latter 20c. This on the one hand is unsurprising; this is the same category that Smiley herself writes for--the respectable popular "trade paperback" by the classier imprints from usually mass-market publishers. But I found really no new books in the more recent decades to seek out after reading her reviews. She too often does not show the faults of what she reads--such as Ian McEwan's "Atonement" being a refreshing and too rare inclusion of why she did not think a novel "worked"--and her generally sunny acceptance of the stack she plowed through does speak for her optimism and good-natured encouragement of her fellow writers. Again, I tend towards the more difficult novel than most of the people reading this book would, so I admit my snobbish prejudice!

Smiley does enhoy the benefits of much more leisure than most of us, riding horses in Carmel Valley, reading to her heart's delight, and taking the Course in Miracles--a paragraph early on praising this for her own recent transformation still seems baffling to me, alas. For we busier folk, her own foray through a few years of reading her way through the big bedside stack we bibliophiles all dream of having does show her commonsense and accessible approach to explicating how novels are made, why they work, and which ones worked best for her. While each of our stacks would differ from hers, she does provide in this hefty volume (a good value for the price) enough for any reader to learn and debate with her from the comfort of our own armchair or pillow.

A lterary tour.......2006-01-30

A great tour of the novel landscape, with Smiley's typical insight and deft use of language. And a nice list of novels everyone should read with thumbnail summaries.

Average customer rating:

Sterling addition to series - diplomacy in Indonesia!
Reading Patrick O'Brian makes you smarter.
Jack and Stephen enjoy another remarkable adventure
Thirteen Gun Salute
One of the best in the series

The Thirteen-Gun Salute
Patrick O'Brian
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039330907X

Amazon.com

Will Napoleon Bonaparte form an alliance with the Malay princes of the South China Sea? Not if Jack Aubrey can help it. Conveying a diplomatic mission to the Sultan's court, Aubrey and company must also contend with orangutans, typhoons, and a squadron of wily French envoys.

Book Description

The 13th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (on a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin–his friend, ship’s surgeon and sometimes intelligence agent–on a diplomatic mission to prevent between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which would put English merchant shipping at risk.

The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultan’s good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.

“O’Brian infuses his novels with so much energy, texture and drollery that it’s easy to be swept along for the voyage. Add to this the superb reading of actor Tim Pigott-Smith and you have something approaching audiobook heaven.”
---The Express-Times

Customer Reviews:

Sterling addition to series - diplomacy in Indonesia!.......2007-07-02

Perhaps I grow jaded, but Patrick O'Brian kept me at a distance with "The Thirteen-Gun Salute." As a result, despite the thrilling sights and wonderful writing, I cannot give my heart to this novel as I have with so many of his other Aubrey-Maturin novels.

That's not because O'Brian did not offer his usual delightful plot or dozens (if not hundreds) of perfectly-written passages. Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey is reinstated to the Royal Navy after his recent heroics and well-deserved good fortune. Dr. Stephen Maturin continues to serve both as Aubrey's ship-surgeon and resident spy - his recently-acquired wealth has done nothing to stifle his roaming spirit. And this novel sees the pair off to modern-day Indonesia to negotiate a critical treaty with a local potentate before Napoleon does so.

"The Thirteen Gun Salute" is long on sailing and diplomacy, short on broadsides and carronades. This is not a criticism - some of my favorite books in this series focus on Maturin and the exotic joys of life at sea rather than O'Brian's admittedly wonderful battle scenes. Indeed, my favorite section of this book involves Maturin's infamous journey to a Buddhist monastary deep inside a dormant volcano, accompanied by a tame orangutan.

But there was one element in this novel that I found to be deeply unsatisfying. Many of Aubrey's and Maturin's troubles lie at the foot of two traitors to the Crown, and they feature in this novel. (Don't worry - no spoilers here, and you should stay away from them on this page.) And yet O'Brian denies us much in the way of direct confrontation between them. I am familiar with O'Brian's love for oblique references and subtle points (indeed, I adore them), but this was a situation that demanded a well-aired comeuppance and reckoning. O'Brian has dedicated more words to describing a comic cricket match than he gives this situation, and as an editor I would have recommended a revisiting of this element.

Nothing in this review should imply that this is an inferior work. O'Brian's prose sings as ever - a climactic hurricane/typhoon is described in riveting style, and there are several key moments of both humor and acute observations of man in the 19th century.

I guess I was just a little disappointed to get jilted after a build-up over successive novels. Oh, well. Here's to book 14!

Reading Patrick O'Brian makes you smarter. .......2007-01-16

I'm a true Patrick O'Brian fan. I buy his books three or four at a time. I have not been so captivated by a series of books ever since I read "Dune". Surly sadness will come to my day when there is no more for me to read. Patrick O'Brian can make two ships in a chase at no more than 11Mph at the most keep you on the edge of your seat, then in this book take you to the crater of an instinct volcano to a Buddhist monastery to spend time with an Orangutan, and you can smell every flower and hear the breeze in the trees. As always reading Patrick O'Brian makes you smarter.

Jack and Stephen enjoy another remarkable adventure.......2005-09-26

I absolutely adore this series, but in some dissent from my fellow Aubrey-Maturin fans I find this to be one of the least interesting books in the series, though it has one of the most compelling endings in that leaves the crew of the Diane stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific. Until that shocking and unresolved event, I found that the novel had less of interest than nearly any other in the series. Though the visit to Pulo Prabang was interesting, it contained (except for the visit to the ruins of a Hindu Temple) less of the compelling historical detail that characterized the other books. In previous volumes, the places that Jack and Stephen visit come alive in an almost tangible manner. Here one gets little sense of what Pulo Prabang (apart from the temple) looked or felt like. The other thing that makes his books so marvelous are the magnificent character studies. This one eventually makes good on this feature of the series, but only towards the very end, as the weirdness of Fox's personality comes out. But there is far less of the complex interpersonal interplay that enlivens the other books. Finally, until the shipwreck at the end, there is simply very little excitement in this one. Compared to the previous books, I find that this one simply does not stand out.

Not that it is not still an utter delight and completely satisfying for fans of the series. The aforementioned visit by Stephen to the ruins of a Hindu temple, in the company of an orangutan, is one of the most remarkable moments in the entire series. The shipwreck at the end is as marvelously told as it is shocking to read (one simply cannot credit that the Diane enjoyed such a short lifespan). Also, there is a deep sense of satisfaction when Ledward and Wray, the villains through most of the sequence, finally get theirs, and the manner in which their bodies are disposed is quite shocking. Nonetheless, these were for me moments that reminded me of how consistently I found most of the previous books, instead of how intermittently interesting I found this one.

Interestingly, this is one of the few novels in the series in which the title of the subsequent novels is mentioned. I remember when I first read these books and how little sense I could make of the titles. In many of them the phrase that provides the title can occur well towards the end, such as THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL. But here in THE THIRTEEN-GUN SALUTE (which itself is one of the more ironical in the series, referring to Fox's rather pathetic sense of self importance) the phrase "the nutmeg of consolation" appears, which provides the title for the next novel.

One virtue O'Brian possesses as a writer (among many virtues) is that of understatement. In a genre in which the tendency is to lay things on a bit thick, O'Brian if any thing leaves things deliciously thin. There is no better instance of this than in the fate of Ledward and Wray. Nowhere does O'Brian explicitly explain what happened to them, but instead leaves us to surmise that they were shot by Fox. It is an easy conclusion to make, given Fox's constant target practice in the novel and the statement by Maturin that they were killed by rifle shot (Stephen prefers the pistol). This restraint is one of the things that make his writing so immensely satisfying.

Thirteen Gun Salute.......2005-09-21

Patrick O'Brian is un-matchable when it comes to historical novels on the British Navy & sailing ships during the early 1800's. With help using "Dean King's" two books, "A Sea of Words", and "Harbors and High Seas", the twenty "Master and Commander" series of novels by Patrick O'Brian can be read over many times, and each time will give you aditional pleasure & insight into the days of "Wooden Ships & Iron Men"! (An ex- Merchant Seaman)

One of the best in the series.......2005-05-13

Cleared of false charges that lost him his place on the Royal Navy's roster of officers and newly distinguished by his accomplishments as a privateer, Captain Jack Aubrey is awarded command of the frigate Diane. His first assignment is to convey his brilliant spy/surgeon/best friend Maturin on a diplomatic mission to the Malay prince at Pulo Prabang. The French are already there in hopes of securing a treaty that will all but doom British trade in the region. Maturin's wily machinations in the resulting intelligence battle are a joy to read. Further adventures - an untimely typhoon and Maturin's trek to the sacred crater of the Thousand Steps deep in orangutan country - combine to make this thirteenth book one of the best in a series that the reader by now wishes would never end.

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Average customer rating:

first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating
A short but complete walkthrough
Some insight, some disappointment
Thirteen Days : A Review
On the Brink of Nuclear War

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Robert F. Kennedy
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0393318346

Book Description

The unique, gripping account of the perilous showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In a clear and simple record, he describes the personalities involved in the crisis, with particular attention to the actions and attitudes of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. He describes the daily, even hourly, exchanges between Russian representatives and American. In firsthand immediacy we see the frightening responsibility of two great nations holding the fate of the world in their hands.

Customer Reviews:

first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating .......2007-09-12

Read up on one of the most terrifying moments in history, the near destruction of the world by nuclear holocaust. This quick read takes you inside the White House where policy makers decided how best to react to the Soviet Union's establishing a nuclear missile base on the island of Cuba. This is a first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating page-turner of a history book.

A short but complete walkthrough.......2007-03-23

I picked this book up as research for a speech I gave, and found I didn't have to look much further for an understanding of the events. RFK's account--from any source--is very accurate and detailed. It goes right along with the movie "13 days" but, as any book would, offers a much more accurate portrayal of the events. If you do get this book (which I highly recommend for anyone interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis, or history for that matter), you should also look in to the Havana Conference, which really shines some light on the full gravity of the situation.

Some insight, some disappointment.......2005-10-31

I was looking forward to reading this book on what I thought would be a keen insider's look at the Cuban missile crisis, and was somewhat disappointed. I realize that RFK was not able to complete the text, and perhaps that is reflected in it's length (100 pages of narrative). A large part of the printed material, about 1/3, is made up of supporting documents. I had hoped for more detail about the minute-to-minute events of those 13 days. The strength of the book is its undeniably interesting topic and author. There was insight to the crisis that I had not previously known, and reading it here was interesting and informative. For a mid-1900's buff, this might be one piece of a collection and its uniqueness may prove worthwhile. This is the first book I read on the Cuban missile crisis, and I am left wanting a lot more.

Thirteen Days : A Review.......2005-08-02

This is a riveting firsthand account of a period of intense confrontation between 2 superpowers that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. It is a short, intense read followed by additional material from other authors that rounds out the edges of the story. This book clearly shows how good President Kennedy was a balancing the military option with diplomacy to save us from nuclear war. It is hard to imagine how this could have beeen handled better by any other President.

On the Brink of Nuclear War.......2005-05-21

Thirteen Days recounts the days that the United States seemed to be on the brink of a nuclear war. The author Robert F. Kennedy chronicled his role in the think-tank that steared the United States out of this crisis in the book. It is a tragedy that the book was never truly completed as Kennedy intended to add a section that questioned the ethics of war and nuclear war. It is a shame that the world was robbed of the view point of his scholarly mind.

In the era of the cable news networks , much of the information in this book seems thin. There is so much Kennedy could have elaborated on in this book. In its time, the book gave Americans their deepest look into the Kennedy White House. Many other books have more indepth accounts of the Cuban Missle Crisis, but none have the personal touch of a Kennedy. Learning from the disaster caused by groupthink that caused the failure of the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy surrounded himself with a diverse group that was willing to debate all sides of the issue. All ideas were encouraged, but only one was selected. Seeing multiple view points allowed them to explore all the aspects of the issue, including how the Soviets might react/feel. Great thinkers traditionally explore topics in very open forums such as this. There is no narrow minded partisanism here, just a quest for peace. Though slight, this is a great account of one of the finest hours in the Kennedy administration.

Cheng-Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan

Average customer rating:

A treasure from one of the great ones
Great classic by great master
Classic Text Covers a Lot of Ground-- a few insights
Wonderful Edition
Clear message

Cheng-Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Cheng Man Ch'Ing
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Tai Chi & Qi Gong | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0938190458
Release Date: 1993-01-21

Book Description

In this erudite yet practical book Professor Cheng shares the secrets of his lineage and takes us to the heart of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, presenting it as a martial artm a medicine, and a means of exercise and self-development. With examples from anatomy and physics, he demonstrates precisely how the postures and moves work, internally as energetic principles, and externally on opponents. Professor Cheng always emphasizes that disease (like an attack from an opponent) is an opportunity for training. The practitioner of T'ai Chi Ch'uan may serve as his (or her) own doctor and, likewise, as the physician (or trainer) of an attacker. This special text includes:
-Thirteen essays on his insights into T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
-Oral secrets from his teacher, Yang Cheng'fu.
-Questions and answers giving his commentary to the classics.
-Descriptions and mechanics of push-hands, San Shou, and Ta Lu.
-Prefaces by both Madame Cheng and Bejamin Pang-Jeng Lo.

Customer Reviews:

A treasure from one of the great ones.......2005-07-01

This book is my constant companion. I've carried my original 1985 copy with me everywhere since it was first published. I should declare my bias: I was a student at Professor Cheng's school in New York starting in 1974, the year before he passed, and studied and eventually taught there until 1986. All of his senior students considered this the Bible of Professor Cheng's form long before it was ever published in English. We had classes in which Ed Young, one of the Professor's senior students, translated it for us chapter by chapter, his forehead breaking out in a fine sweat with the effort of attempting to adequately convey the Professor's meaning. ( I still have my notes from those sessions, and Ben Lo's translation compares very favorably with Ed's.) I often quote or read from the Thirteen Treatises to my students, and always recommend it as an indispensable work. In short, if there is one single most essential volume on Professor Cheng's Tai Chi Chuan, this is it--and I believe it can prove equally valuable to students of other styles and forms. I especially recommend it in combination with "Master Cheng's New Method of Taichi Chuan Self-Cultivation," translated by Mark Hennessy (Frog Ltd., 1999).

Great classic by great master.......2004-12-16

If you're a serious tai chi practitioner this book should be in your library. Besides the invaluable knowledge it contains, this is just a very nice edition of the work. It's the only edition authorized by the professor's estate, and contains an introduction written by his wife, in addition to the translation by master Ben Lo. The cover painting of a white lotus and samples of calligraphy by Prof. Chen are nice touches, and the book is hardback and printed on higher quality you would get in a paperback edition. And the price is reasonable given the features and overall quality of the edition.

But of course the most important aspect of the book is that it's one of the most detailed books on the practice and theory of tai chi ever written. Tai chi is composed of three main parts: the self-healing, martial, and medical (or the ability to heal others), aspects, and prof. Chen discusses all of these at length. For example, he discusses the physiology of tai chi, and how chi is transformed in the body to strengthen the muscles, connective tissue, and even bones, in greater detail than I had seen before in any other book. Numerous tai chi principles and practical points are also discussed and illuminated. There is enough material and food for thought here to reflect on for a long time, and I found I spent much time just trying to absorb the basic points, let alone the more advanced principles.

The photos of master Chen performing many of the postures and techniques and their analyses and descriptions are also very helpful. There are 37 different postures in the long form, and each one is illustrated, and the external body mechanics, internal chi process, and martial application discussed and described. It's difficult to get all of that from a single static photo, which is why I say this book is really only for the intermediate or advanced student. (I note that the although some of the reviews here have been posted for more than five years, they only have a few votes, which leads me to believe that only the most serious students obtain and read this book, and look up reviews for it on Amazon).

All is all, a true classic of the martial arts by a great master that should be read and studied by every serious student of tai chi.

Classic Text Covers a Lot of Ground-- a few insights.......2004-05-22

Cheng Man Ching was what Westerners would term something of a Renaissance man. This is what I've determined. In Chinese culture, it was the essence of enlightenment to pursue numerous virtuous pursuits felt to advance one's spirit or soul. Master Cheng fulfilled this ideal-- he strove to master calligraphy, Chinese medicine, philosophy, as well as Tai Chi, among others.

His 13 treatise(s) are the basis of this one man's perception of the world. Its foundation is, of course, qi/internal development, based on the principles of Tai Chi. But they cover a number of topics, including his perceptions on Chinese medicine, personal behavior, cosmology, Tai Chi development, and others.

There were approximately 3 or 4 pearls that I will take away from this book for my own internal martial arts practice, and that in alone is of inestimable value... Perhaps there is no more than that, but I keep looking for a book that delves into detail about things-- from mechanics and techniques to stages of development and evolution. Cheng touches on these things in his treatises, but does not explore. In the FAQ section at the end, many students' questions seem to be striving for these same details, but Cheng's answer is "There is no more", it is complete.

That's all well and good, and it may be true. It may be that our discovery of whatever else there is must be unique and unexplained. But I still sought something deeper when finished with the book. In addition, his assertions that there is "no more" left me skeptical because his chapters on using Eastern medicine to "cure" tuberculosis were clearly based on limited insight into what TB really is. I don't think Cheng really had TB from his description. He may have had pulmonary fibrosis from a condition resembling silicosis, but not TB.

That limitation is no fault of Master Cheng, but it does unfortunately color my opinion of his insights. Is there indeed something more, just no good way to explain it or expand on it given his cultural and temporal background? I don't know.

A good book, and as a classic an important one that must be read. As much as anything, the pictures of his form were valuable. I learned a lot just studying those-- moreso than his descriptive text. In particular, the relaxation of his arms was evident, and something I still have difficulty with.

But... I kept wanting to ask him questions, and alas I cannot.
No doubt he would cuff me on the forehead and say "There is no more. Practice!" And I shall.

Wonderful Edition.......2001-08-15

This is a beautiful edition of Cheng Man Chýingýs text on Chi Tai Chýuan. There are other translations of this text available, but this is by far the best for several reasons. First, it is hardcover, and the layout is beautiful. The cover has a color print of one of Chengýs paintings, and there is an example of his calligraphy on the inside. The book is also larger than other editions I have seen, and the prints and pictures are printed larger and more clearly as well. The larger pictures of Cheng performing the Tai Chi form are especially useful. And, while this may not matter everyone, this edition of Chengýs book is also the only one authorized by his estate, and contains a preface by Chengýs wife. I highly recommend this book.

Clear message.......2000-02-16

The book is very clear in its message, the treatise is awakening, making us to refresh our study in Taijiquan, and for me, especially the chapter "Swimming on the Land" is enlightening.

A History of US, Book 2: Making Thirteen Colonies (History of US)

Average customer rating:

A great read!
Great Books for Teaching HIstory to Kids!
Fun Book
The English establish thirteen colonies in the New World
Excellent resource

A History of US, Book 2: Making Thirteen Colonies (History of US)
Joy Hakim
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0195153227

Book Description

People are coming to America--all kinds of people. If you're European, you come in search of freedom or riches. If you're African, you come in chains. And what about the Indians, what is happening to them? Soon with the influx of so many people, thirteen unique colonies are born, each with its own story. Meet Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown. Join William Penn and the Quakers in Pennsylvania. Sit with the judges at the Salem witch trials. Hike over the mountains with Daniel Boone. And let Ben Franklin give you some salty advice in his Poor Richard's Almanac in this remarkable journey through the dynamic creation of what one day becomes the United States.

Customer Reviews:

A great read!.......2007-05-17

I love the writing in this series, it's such a pleasure to read, I wonder why are so many other textbooks so boring?

I'd love to give it five stars, except that there are recurring themes I find grating - some of her "fan club for the US government" stuff is just in totally inappropriate places. For instance, "American slavery was a horror. We should never pretend it was anything else. But the American system of government lets us correct mistakes. When you study history you see we usually do. Of that we can be proud." Gag me with a spoon, slavery was not abolished until more than 240 years after the first slave was delivered in 1619! Hakim does such a great job of fairly telling the story, why ruin it?

Another place I found disappointing was the perpetuation of the myth that the first settlers at Plymouth were called "Pilgrims" and that the Europeans started Thanksgiving. She has a box on Thanksgiving saying the story of the first Thanksgiving is a "real turkey", lists some other European Thanksgiving celebrations, and then neglects to mention that the Indians had been conducting Thanksgiving celebrations at harvest time for generations. I'd love to see someone do such a great job TELLING the story, who could also not perpetuate those irritating little false stories that schoolchildren are always taught.

Gosh, this doesn't sound like the positive review I inteded, but I see others have already told the good stuff. It's wonderfully well written!

Great Books for Teaching HIstory to Kids!.......2006-11-22

I just borrowed this book from the library and now plan to buy the whole set. As a home schooling parent, I am always struggling to find quality materials and this series is just that. Hakim's books are easy to read and comprehend. Most importantly, they give a realistic view of history, not the politically correct one so often taught.

As I teach my children U.S. history, I want them to know that, yes, the white people were sometimes violent and unfair to the Native Americans, but some Native Americans were that way too. Before the Europeans came, they kidnapped and killed each other. I want my kids to know the whole truth and these books are very fair. No matter what the race, some people are good and some are not.

I highly recommend these books for teaching history to children and even adults.

Fun Book.......2005-11-09

This book is very fun and imformative. It gives us information, but in a fun way...I recomend this book to anyone under the age of 13, and who enjoys history...if you get this book in school, dont be scared it is fun!

The English establish thirteen colonies in the New World.......2003-12-18

"Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740" is the second volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US." The first volume covered how the first Americans crossed over from Asia to become Indians and the first Europeans, mainly the Spanish but also the French and English, began settling the New World. This volume focuses on the narrow string of settlements established by the English that became the thirteen colonies whose people began moving westward and who also started to question the relationship they had with England (there is a small amount of overlap between this and the next volume, which covers period of American history from 1735-1791).

Hakim begins with a preface that looks at the vast mixture of ideas that were brought over from the Mediterranean world and took root in the Americas. Along with the first chapter, which talks about the comet that appeared in 1607 as a portent of great changes for the world, this preface sets up several key themes that will be revisited throughout this and future volumes. "Making Thirteen Colonies" has 42 chapters and it the book is divided into five main sections. The first (chapters 2-12) tells how English settlers came to stay by establishing the first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. The second (chapters 13-23) looks primarily at the Puritans arriving in New England, although Hakim also touches on what was happening between the Indians and the Spanish in the southwest. The third section (chapters 24-30) tells about the mid-Atlantic colonies, most notably New Amsterdam/York and Pennsylvania. The fourth section (chapter 31-39) returns to the South, looking at not only Ole Virginny but also the two Carolinas and Georgia. This unit also looks at the Triangle Trade and other considerations that united the four southern and nine northern colonies. The final section (chapters 40-42) is a transitional unit, that looks at how the colonists began to move westward and the stage was set for the period of history that would make those thirteen colonies into a new nation.

One of the great advantages to writing a ten-volume history of the United States is that unlike most standard American history textbooks "A History of US" is able to clearly establish the unique identities of each of those original thirteen colonies. I recently finished reading an excellent series of books, each of which was devoted to an individual colony, and Hakim ends up being closer to those volumes than she does the standard textbook. Consequently, in addition to the traditional stories about Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown, William Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Salem witch trials, Ben Franklin as the quintessential American, and Daniel Boone finding routes through the mountains, Hakim establishes an individual identity for each colony.

However, the main strength of this series is how Hakim engages young readers, the same way you would expect a "real" teacher to do in a "real" classroom. This shows up primarily in her ability to anticipate and answer questions that students might have (e.g., why the Indians were not enslaved). I can easily see why this series is popular with parents who are home schooling their children. The book is richly illustrated with dozens and dozens of historic paintings, etchings, drawings, maps, engravings, and assorted reproductions. The margins are crammed with interesting facts, definitions, and quotations, and features on topics such as Land Green and Africa: The Unknown Continent are sprinkled throughout the book. The After Words this time around are devoted to cartography and has some superb examples of 16th- and 17th-century maps. It is easily to see why this series has impressed so many people and why Hakim is able to get such good responses from young students who are used to getting their information from computers and the Internet.

Excellent resource.......2001-03-27

I love this series!! Told in story style, you get details and interesting tidbits that you wouldn't get in ordinary text books. I have always felt that history was a vital part of our school curriculum and these books make the going easier. Even if you are just a history buff, instead of student, you would enjoy these!

13: The Story of the World's Most Notorious Superstition

Average customer rating:

Very superficial almost anecdotal research.
A Pervasive Superstion's History
Well-researched Reportage
A lively survey of the quirky foundations of the number 13
A definitive volume

13: The Story of the World's Most Notorious Superstition
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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A Dictionary of Superstitions (Oxford Paperback Reference)

ASIN: 0452284961

Book Description

Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13

If thirteen people sit down at a table, will one die within a year? Why did five U.S. presidents join the Thirteen Club? What is the only major New York hotel that has a thirteenth floor?

In 13, a fascinating cultural history-cum-detective story, Nathaniel Lachenmeyer gets to the root of how one superstition—the fear of the number 13—developed among wildly divergent societies. A book about mythmaking, 13 explores why people believe what they believe, and the real reason Friday the 13th is the most unlucky day in the world.

Customer Reviews:

Very superficial almost anecdotal research........2005-09-06

I had to look at the table of contents to make sure that the book the other reviewers rated so highly was the same one that I'm reading now. I'm only finishing it because I compulsively have to complete what I start. I picked up the book while browsing in a bookstore. After recently reading "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife, I was really in the mood for the history of meaningful numbers. Whereas "Zero" was a comprehensively researched piece that discussed the importance of 0 through history and science, this book reads like a high school research paper. The level of research is very shallow, including book sources that are relatively recent, newspaper articles, the internet, anecdotal telephone conversations, and even A&E programs -- nothing that couldn't be found in your local public library. It is essentially a (light) discussion of 13 in modern American culture. For a book subtitled "The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition," it rarely discusses the number's significance in other cultures, countries or eras.

I find it hard to believe that anyone actually published this book. The first chapter was completely unnecessary, and after the second chapter, everything else is redundant or fluff. I'm very disappointed. While the book is interesting, it in no way compares to the level of research and analysis that I so enjoyed in Zero.

A Pervasive Superstion's History.......2005-03-24

We live in a scientifically advanced world, but every time Friday the thirteenth comes around, people notice it. They may shrug it off as silly, but they continue to think that the day has some special portent, and most people think that the tradition goes back centuries. One of the many surprises in _13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition_ (Thunder's Mouth Press) by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer is that although the superstition that the number 13 is unlucky has a substantial history, superstition attached specifically to Friday the thirteenth is no older than the twentieth century. Lachenmeyer's book is an enjoyable tour looking at the different 13 superstitions (there are many of them), trying to make historic sense of why people have adopted this number as some sort of portentous sign. Lachenmeyer came to the subject by chance, reading an article in an old scrapbook about the Thirteen Club, but has never had any particular feeling toward the number: "To me, 13 has always been just a number. I have never believed that 13 is unlucky or been tempted to thumb my nose at fate and make it my lucky number (I don't have one)." He is not a triskaidekaphobe (13 fearer) or triskaidekaphile (13 lover), but there are plenty of both, especially the former, in these pages. In some ways, they have formed parts of the world as we now know it.

Friday the thirteenth is just the most popular, and modern, manifestation of superstitions connected to thirteen, but there is no evidence that thirteen was considered unlucky before the seventeenth century. It first was written about in 1695, in a story involving a dinner at which thirteen were seated around the table. The superstition that one of the thirteen diners would die within the year became strongest during the nineteenth century. It may have had its roots in the idea that thirteen at the table at the Last Supper proved to be bad luck for two of them. There is a hero in Lachenmeyer's book, Captain William Fowler, a Civil War veteran who had fought in thirteen battles in the war, and in a clubbable age, belonged to thirteen social clubs. He aimed to tempt fate if fate there be; in 1881 in New York, he started a new club which would meet on the thirteenth of each month and sit thirteen to a table. This was not enough for Fowler; members had to walk under ladders, face spilled portions of salt, and so on. No one dining at tables of thirteen had any particular ill-luck, and it is quite probably that Fowler helped do away with this version of the superstition. A new version emerged after the publication of a book _Friday, the Thirteenth_, in 1907; unlucky Fridays and unlucky thirteen had not previously been linked, but they were almost immediately after this bestseller, and in 1971, a horror film originally titled _Long Night at Camp Blood_, was renamed _Friday the 13th_ to imitate the calendrically popular _Halloween_. The franchise has spawned ten sequels so far, and the Friday version of the thirteen superstition may have a longer life than the dinner version.

In this entertaining examination of a particular superstition, Lachenmeyer shows that the 13 superstition has come and gone in different versions in the past, and undoubtedly will stay with us, and in newer forms. It is a scary world out there, and for many of us, there are forces at work that we cannot feel or see or understand, but we can feel we are taking some control against the chaos by taking out a small insurance policy. Avoiding thirteens is relatively easy, and those who practice it can always maintain that it is better to be safe than sorry. As Lachenmeyer writes, "Reason governs a much smaller domain in the world of ideas than we are accustomed to acknowledging." This may be so, but his clear-eyed examination of this small aspect of human behavior can only make the domain larger.

Well-researched Reportage.......2005-03-17

There are probably scads and scads of books like 13. I've seen them in libraries and used book stores. They are books that take on one topic and mine it for endless anecdotes and historical curios, but they don't claim that by looking through the prism of the topic at hand, a reader can discern the entire arc of human history. The books are about what they are about, and all you need to do as a reader is sit back and be entertained and informed. John McPhee, who is very good at this sort of thing, once wrote a book entirely about Oranges, for example. Nathaniel Lachenmeyer does this sort of thing well, too. His book is an impeccably researched look at an old superstition. With every turn of the page the reader is presented with another odd relic that Lachenmeyer has dug up for our perusal: the existence of popular superstition-defying "13 clubs" at the beginning of the 20th century, for example. And onward the book moves through Friday the 13th, the missing 13th floor, and all the rest. Taken as a whole, the book is a nifty piece of well-researched reportage bringing to light the many murky progenitors of this now commonplace superstition.

A lively survey of the quirky foundations of the number 13.......2005-02-07

Blend fine historical insights with a fun survey of present-day phobic reactions to the number 13 from the stock market to missing skyscraper floors, and you have Nathaniel Lachenmeyer's 13: The Story Of The World's Most Popular Superstition, a lively survey of the quirky foundations of the number 13, which considers 13 unlucky 13s from 13 perspectives in 13 chapters. Uncovering superstition's origins assumes a lively theme, right down to the book's quirky price, resulting from an unusual add in digits.

A definitive volume.......2005-01-11

I can understand some of the obsession around a particular number, since the college I attended has a longtime fascination with "47", and alumni use the number as a way to secretly identify each other. Nathaniel Lachenmeyer's "13", even at a manageable 200 pages, is a very thorough encyclopedia on the number 13. It's filled with facts, history, anecdotes, and period illustrations. I enjoyed reading it. Sometimes I just opened it to different pages and learned new things. It turns out there's an actual word to describe a morbid fear of the number 13: "Triskaidekaphobia". And I always wondered why none of the hotels in New York have a 13th floor (well, except for the Waldorf-Astoria, apparently). You'll have to read the book to find out for yourself why that is. "13" is a pleasant, interesting read, and a great gift.

The Original 13 - A Documentary History of Religion in America's first Thirteen States

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History you public school no longer teaches

The Original 13 - A Documentary History of Religion in America's first Thirteen States
William, J Federer
Manufacturer: Amerisearch, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0977808521

Book Description

"The whole power over the subject of religion is left exclusively to the State governments, to be acted upon according to their justice and the State Constitutions," wrote Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833. Who was Joseph Story? He was the founder of Harvard Law School and appointed to the Supreme Court by President James Madison - the same James Madison who introduced the First Amendment in the first session of Congress. To understand the progression of religious freedom in America, it is necessary to review the Constitutions of the original thirteen States, together with the Colonial Charters that preceded them, i.e.: VIRGINIA CHARTER OF KING JAMES I, 1606 "...propagating of Christian Religion to such People as yet live in Darkness..." DELAWARE CHARTER OF KING ADOLPHUS, 1626 "...further propagation of the Holy Gospel..." MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTION, 1780, Part 1, Article 3 "Every denomination of Christians...shall be equally under the protection of the law and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established..." PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION, 1968, Article 1, Section 3 "All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences..." NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTION, 1971, Article 11, Section 4 "Beneficent provision for the poor, the unfortunate, and the orphan is one of the first duties of a civilized and a Christian state..." Examining Charters, Constitutions, Court Decisions and Correspondence, this overview of history is intended as a study help for those interested in discovering the role religion played in America's original thirteen States. The process of how the Federal Courts removed religion from States' jurisdiction, most notably in the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education case, and subsequently evolved it into its present interpretation is the subject of another book.

Customer Reviews:

History you public school no longer teaches.......2007-05-13

This well written book tells the full history of our founding fathers and their faith that motivated their lives and actions. It is truely a shame that missguided 'Political Correctness' has removed this information from our history books, that would help us understand more fully these important figures in history.

Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World

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Wonderful and true tales
Truly insightful
Pretty damn good
A Sypathetic Retelling of Tales of Failure
One of the best books of 2001

Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World
Paul S. Collins
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0312300336

Book Description

In Banvard's Folly, Paul Collins celebrates what he calls the "forgotten ephemera of genius." Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck-or perhaps some combination of them all-leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells-until now.AUTHORBIO: Paul Collins writes for McSweeneys Quarterly, and his work has also appeared in Lingua Franca and eCompany Now. While writing Banvard's Folly he lived in San Francisco, where he taught early-American literature at Dominican University. He and his family moved briefly to Wales-a journey about which he is writing a book-and now live in Oregon.REVIEW:"Hearteningly strange...." (The Onion) REVIEW: "Of Collins' endeavor....we can proclaim our permanent thanks and amazement and heartiest welcome." (The Los Angeles Times Book Review) REVIEW: "Thirteen wry biographical essays about people, once famous, who have disappeared from memory." (The New Yorker)

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful and true tales .......2006-01-04

This humurous and sympathetic presentation of thirteen lives of historical nobodies is a sheer delight to read. Among his subjects, Collins chose a showman, a forger, a scholar, an imposter, a wannabe actor and several scientists and inventors, not to mention a businessman or two. Some tales are absurd and hilarious, while others are sad and even tragic to a degree. All are well-written and fascinating.

I selected this title to kick off a book club in my library and everyone loved it as much as I did. It is highly recommended.

Truly insightful .......2005-06-15

I absolutely loved this book. Paul Collins takes thirteen chapters of American myth that have been largely forgotten and turns them into an eye opening treatise on the failure of will, the folly of hubris, and the absolute madness of challenging the status quo. Mr. Collins' style leads to frequent laugh out loud asides while telling the story of folks who either succeeded and then lost, had a mad idea that failed (but not for lack of trying), or who had the sheer will to make themselves momentarily inportant only to be swallowed up by the tide of time. Every person and idea profiled was at one time wildly popular or important and each eventually fell from favor for one reason or another. Sometimes it was common sense that triumphed, sometimes fad ran its course, sometimes folks just got too bizarre for accomodation. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a look into uncommon history. Mr. Collins has done us the favor of rummaging through the musty, dusty, long forgotten bookstacks of some of our most prestigious libraries and he has come up with a winner of a book. Save yourself the moldy lungs and long hours of researching the library basements yourself and read this work.

Pretty damn good.......2004-10-01

Don't know if I'd give it 5 stars but it's pretty good.

A Sypathetic Retelling of Tales of Failure.......2003-05-20

"Banvard's Folly" is a wonderful book, thanks to the talents of author Paul Collins. As you have probably gathered by now from other write-ups, this book tells the story of 13 people, once prominent, and now largely forgotten. They each earned inclusion in this book because of a grand failure of some sort. In other hands, this material could have been a tool for ridicule; but Collins strikes just the right tone here. While not forgiving his subjects' excesses or blind spots, he manages to tell their stories with a real sense of empathy. It's obvious that a lot of research went into this volume, but Collins never overpowers the reader with it; each chapter just seems to glide along. If history's lesser lights are of interest to you, you should enjoy this.

One of the best books of 2001.......2002-06-27

BanvardÕs Folly is a lovingly-researched tribute to the forgotten, the mistaken, and the discredited. The book profiles 13 historical figures, many of whom were among the most well-known figures of their day. Each, however, pursued his or her genius to a historical dead end, and their reputations and achievements have long since vanished into obscurity. Although each of these profiles is ultimately a study in failure, these ill-fated individuals demonstrate a brilliance, eccentricity, or audacity that is often breathtaking. CollinsÕ subjects may be failures, but they are spectacular failures, visionaries and dreamers who failed with an astounding degree of ambition, style, and verve. Exceptional.

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