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A biography of the woman who, indirectly, was the catalyst for many of the troubles in the Middle East, including the Gulf War. In 1918, Gertrude Bell drew the region's proposed boundaries on a piece of tracing paper. Her qualifications for doing so were her extensive travel, her fluency in both Persian and Arabic, and her relationships with sheiks and tribal and religious leaders. She also possessed an ability to understand the subtle and indirect politeness of the culture, something many of her colonialist comrades were oblivious to. As a self-made statesman her sex was an asset, enabling her to bypass the ladder of protocol and dive into the business of building an Empire.
Book Description
Turning away from the privileged world of the "eminent Victorians," Gertrude Bell (1868—1926) explored, mapped, and excavated the world of the Arabs. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.
In this masterful biography, Janet Wallach shows us the woman behind these achievements–a woman whose passion and defiant independence were at odds wit the confined and custom-bound England she left behind. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence, Gertrude Bell emerges at last in her own right as a vital player on the stage of modern history, and as a woman whose life was both a heartbreaking story and a grand adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding woman, mediocre biography........2007-08-23
As has been mentioned by others, I too wonder at the literary excesses of this book. "She sensed his profound hunger....". "....her heart pounding, her cheeks burning hot, and as his blue eyes burned with desire, he took her in his arms".
Gertrude Bell, an outstanding woman, deserves a better, a more maturely written biography. Thankfully, they are out there.
This book needed an editor.......2007-08-05
I began to read this book with anticipation. I was a put off by the sort of breathless tone more worthy of a bad romance novel.
About twenty pages in, I was surprised by a reference to the Ottoman Empire expanding since the 13th century from Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire expanded around Constantinople from the 13th to the 15th centuries, until they finally took the city in 1453, and promptly renamed it Istanbul.
I soldiered on, until I was informed that British were fighting Germans in the Boer war in the late 1890s. The Boers, descended from Dutch colonists, would have been surprised to hear themselves described as German.
These two mistakes, obvious to anyone with a decent knowledge of history, ruined my willingness to accept anything else in the book. I put down the book, never knowing if Miss Bell was able to overcome her lost early love.
Gertrude Bell's life seems to be worthy of a good biography. This isn't it.
Insightful Read.......2007-07-04
A book which skilfully interweaves historical facts with the anecdotes and day-to-day life of a woman struggling to find her place in the Middle East.
Was left with a sense of awe from her accomplishments and the beginnings of an inkling as to the political and religious turmoil and troubles of this region based on the history retold by Janet Wallach.
Desert Queen: The extraordinary Lief of Gertrude Bell.......2007-03-09
I only wish George W and Chaney would have read this book before entering into War with Iraq. The history of British rule and their failure to solve the Tribal problems at the establishment of Iraq as a new State after the breakup of the Otterman Empire. This only proves that History can repeat itself.
If Only Washington Leaders Would All Read This Book.......2007-01-23
Yes, I would venture to say that anyone who reads this book as well as Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" would be better qualified to shape US foreign policy in the Middle East than those who are now doing that... When will we ever learn?
Average customer rating:
- The first book is very cute; the rest derivative and boring
- fyi
- Hello, I'm Looking For Advice.
- Timeless classic!
- Perfect chapter books to start your children off with
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The Boxcar Children Books 1-4
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Manufacturer: Albert Whitman & Company
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ASIN: 0807508543 |
Customer Reviews:
The first book is very cute; the rest derivative and boring.......2007-09-24
The first book of this set is fun and exciting for children. While the setting is getting a bit dated, the idea of a group of siblings trying to survive on their own in secret in the woods in a basically safe environment plays right into the imagination of many kids. The characters scavenge plates, improvise other things they find into useful items, earn money, buy food, do their own cooking, build their own sort of plumbing, etc. Meanwhile the backstory percolates as the children try to avoid being identified, which gives their objectively mundane housekeeping activities an aura of excitement.
The next two books are more of the same and without the element of danger - and for that reason are basically without merit. Once the idea of the first book has played itself out, having it repeated in various ways and contexts is just boring. I didn't bother with the last book.
fyi.......2007-09-14
book 1 The Boxcar Children AR 3.9, Surprise Island AR 4.2, The yellow house mystery AR 3.2, Mystery Ranch AR 3.3 - Those are the first four boxcar books. You can find several lists by number on ebay
Hello, I'm Looking For Advice........2007-08-20
I'm not sure what books are included in the box set. I find it odd that its not listed on this web site. Could somebody please help me (and amazon) out with this info. Thanks for your time.
Timeless classic!.......2007-08-19
These were my favorite books as a child, as well as my husband's. We just bought them for our granddaughter, who is 5. I thought the story might be a little too old for her yet (The first thing she said was, "Where are the pictures?"), but it is a HUGE hit! The stories are so engaging that she connected with the characters immediately, even though their experience is far removed from many children's today. She doesn't notice the lack of pictures anymore, just wants to know what happens to the children next! I have to admit--I couldn't wait to read the next chapter, either! This is still my favorite children's book of all time, and you will have great fun snuggled up, reading this to your child or grandchild.
Perfect chapter books to start your children off with.......2007-07-28
A wonderfully charming story about four orphans who after their parents die run away and take care of themselves, while living in an abandoned boxcar in the forest. Everything goes well until one of them becomes sick and they have to ask a doctor for help...But the ending is very happy and leads the way for a great mystery series. An absolute must have for starting readers, as it is perfectly written for a young age group.
Average customer rating:
- Other Books
- Wonderful story, but NOT the original. Please don't call it that.
- Wonderful, even for the little ones!
- A Book Review From a Spiritridge Third Grader
- The Greatest Book I Ever Read
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The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1) (Boxcar Children)
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Manufacturer: Albert Whitman & Company
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ASIN: 0807508527 |
Book Description
Read by Phyllis Newman
Two cassettes / 1 hour 54 minutes
Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny, four orphaned brothers and sisters, suddenly appear in a small town. No one knows who these young wanderers are or where they have come from. Frightened to live with a grandfather they have never met, the children make a home for themselves in an abandoned red boxcar they discover in the woods. Henry, the oldest, goes to town to earn money and buy food and supplies.
Ambitious and resourceful, the plucky children make a happy life themselves--until Violet gets too sick for her brothers and sister to care for her.
This unabridged recording will delight any child who has fantasized about being on his or her own and overcoming every obstacle.
Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
Very dull compared to the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. However, it does explore a few issues that may be of interest, in that sort of book. It would also be a candidate for an update perhaps, like the Hardy Boys, or other books have happen to them periodically to make them relevant again to current children.
Wonderful story, but NOT the original. Please don't call it that........2007-08-16
The blurb from "Publishers Weekly" says that the 60th Anniversary Edition contains "the original text" of the book. IT DOES NOT, and the afterword, "About Gertrude Chandler Warner", makes this perfectly clear.
The original book, "The Boxcar Children", was not written in 1942, but in 1924. It was published by Rand McNally. The edition in print today -- the one we're all familiar with, copyrighted 1942 -- is a revision: "a new, simpler version of _The Boxcar Children_, {written} to reach poor readers and children who might be struggling to learn English. THIS EDITION ... is the beloved story children still read today." (Emphasis mine)
So where is the ORIGINAL "Boxcar Children"? Out of print. And, sadly, unavailable: even ABEBooks does not have a copy. Anyone interested in children's fiction who's eager to read the original text is out of luck.
The publishers have missed the 80th anniversary of the original book's publication. Will we have to wait until 2024 for a chance to read it?
Wonderful, even for the little ones!.......2007-07-24
I read this book to my son as part of our homeschool curriculum for Kindergarten. Every night he has begged me to read one more chapter! He enjoyed listening to this book so much that he would rather pick up his toys than risk missing a night of The Boxcar Children! It was a huge motivator! I highly recommend it. My son has also informed me that when we finish (we read the final chapter tomorrow night), I am to put the book on the shelf and save it so he can read it himself when he's bigger!
A Book Review From a Spiritridge Third Grader.......2007-03-23
Do you want to read an amazing book? Well you should read the Box Car Children. There are four young children and they are really poor. They do not have food. Then they do not know what to do. Well, they run away from their house because they thought their dad did not like them. They found a boxcar. So they thought that the boxcar might take them somewhere, but it didn't pull them. The father was trying to find them but they did not want to be found.
What I like is that when they try to find food and on their way they found a hound. I like that part because I like dogs and I think they're cute.
I recommend this book to other readers who are in 2nd grade or 3rd grade because it is just right.
The Greatest Book I Ever Read.......2007-03-16
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner is the greatest book I have ever read. I really liked this book because it is easy and fun to read. I would recommend this book for 4th -6th graders. It is a little bit easy but fun.
This book is about 4 children who are on the street and they find a boxcar and they lived in it. And the oldest brother finds a job in city which is a long way away. They lived in lots of mysterious places like in a lady's place, in a barn and the boxcar is where they stayed. In the end they find one of their family members. The book is good from start to finish. That is how they lived.
I think anyone can read this book but if they were in 8th grade it might be a little bit easy so probably 4th-6th grade.
Book Description
A marvelous tale of an adventurous life of great historical import
She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author (of Persian Pictures, The Desert and the Sown, and many other collections), poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).
She traveled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert, where she traveled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World War I. She advised the Viceroy of India; then, as an army major, she traveled to the front lines in Mesopotamia. There, she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state. Gertrude Bell, vividly told and impeccably researched by Georgina Howell, is a richly compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class and times, and in so doing, created a remarkable and enduring legacy.
Customer Reviews:
Incredible woman with so may accomplishments........2007-09-20
This book is, unlike "Desert Queen", well researched, better edited and more importantly, well written. Georgina Howell brings us a superbly crafted work on the complex and truly remarkable life of Gertrude Bell. If you want to read only one book about Gertrude Bell this, in my opinion, is the best.
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations.......2007-07-22
An interesting book about a very interesting life, however it was already done better in "Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach
Times have not changed.......2007-07-22
Wonderful well written story of a couragous and captivating woman who followed her heart and her dreams. She had an impact in all she chose to do. Her time in the Middle East along with her British colleages should be a lesson to us today about the culture and the danger of the Muslim fundamentalists and fanaticals and their control and domination over women and the young who they keep in ignorance and poverty.
Magnificent!.......2007-07-20
Georgina Howell has written a magnificent biography of a magnificent spirit, Gertrude Bell--famed mountain climber, archeologist, traveller, author, translator, diarist, and a contributor to the establishment of the Iraq state. Bell was a formidable personality with sharp intelligence and fantastic amounts of energy. She lived most of her life in the Middle East, becoming fluent in Arabic and acquainting herself with all the important sheikhs and tribes of the region. She was so assimilated into the culture of the area that King Faisal told her she could not speak of returning home when she went to England, that Baghdad was her true home.
Bell was a lifelong atheist and when her energy was depleted and illness kept her from an active life, she committed suicide at the age of 57. She had worked herself near to death in the cause of Iraqi independence.
This record of her life and work is a stunning achievement--first rate all the way. What a woman! What a book!
Gertrude of Baghdad?.......2007-06-24
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
By Georgina Howell
Reviewed by Philip Henry
First, there was T.E. Lawrence: charismatic, mysterious, sexually ambivalent, and photogenic. His immersion in Arab culture is well known. But no one knows much about the accomplished individualist Gertrude Bell. Well- traveled and well-connected, she was the first woman to obtain a "First" in Modern History at Oxford; climbed the Alps; crossed the Desert on camel caravans; was the confidante of British and Arab ministers and Kings and drafted the political outline of modern day Iraq.
(As if that weren't enough, she was a linguist, archaeologist, and journalist)
Curiously, in all I've read and heard about Iraq, there has been little if anything said about the role of Victorian and Edwardian Britain in the creation of the Middle East. Certainly, Britain was "Present at the Creation" of modern Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Syria. Winston Churchill served as Colonial Secretary beginning in the 1920's, and enlisted Bell (who had been instrumental in British Intelligence in WW I) to help formulate British policy toward Iraq, then Mesopotamia or, "Between the Rivers."
The First World War ended in an Armistice with little or no resolution of the underlying disputes, and the former Ottoman Empire became ripe for foreign occupation. Britain became the De Facto ruler of Iraq for thirty years: exercising a benevolent mandate and setting the stage for the events that have followed.
Although politically active, Gertrude Bell remained a scholar at heart, and her interest in archaeology resulted in the creation of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad much of which has been looted in the wars that have followed.
Bell's personal life was complex: she never married, apparently never recovering from the death at Gallipoli of a young man with whom she had fallen in love. She was deeply affected by World War One. As a volunteer secretary in charge of answering inquiries from families of missing soldiers, she answered each letter individually. In her letters, she lamented the loss of an entire generation of young British Officers and men: "four thousand men over control of a trench") She was found dead in a hotel room in 1926, an apparent suicide at age 57. Bell left voluminous notes, diaries and letters, many of which have been incorporated by Georgina Howell into this excellent biography. In a prescient letter to her mother in 1920, she wrote:
"But what I do feel pretty sure of is that if we leave this country to go to the dogs it will mean that we shall have to reconsider our whole position in Asia. If Mesopotamia (Iraq) goes Persia (Iran) goes inevitably, and then India. And the place which we leave empty will be occupied by seven devils a good deal worse than any which existed before we came. With these few words I remain your affectionate daughter, Gertrude "
-- 30 --
Book Description
The Book of Salt serves up a wholly original take on Paris in the 1930s through the eyes of Binh, the Vietnamese cook employed by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Viewing his famous mesdames and their entourage from the kitchen of their rue de Fleurus home, Binh observes their domestic entanglements while seeking his own place in the world. In a mesmerizing tale of yearning and betrayal, Monique Truong explores Paris from the salons of its artists to the dark nightlife of its outsiders and exiles. She takes us back to Binh's youthful servitude in Saigon under colonial rule, to his life as a galley hand at sea, to his brief, fateful encounters in Paris with Paul Robeson and the young Ho Chi Minh.
Customer Reviews:
Boring... But Well Written.......2007-09-08
I was supposed to read this novel for an Asian Literature class as an undergrad at UCLA (over three years ago) but I could never get past the first few pages. Figuring I'd give it another chance I recently set out determined to discover why a university professor would select it for her class. Apparently I was right the first time; the only thing that got me to the end was Truong's exceptionally well written prose- the actual plot itself literally bored me to sleep on several occasions. Bare in mind, though, I am not particularly interested in Vietnamese history or Gertrude Stein, so if those are topics that interest you it may be a worthwhile read.
Low Sodium.......2007-08-02
A rather dreary book, this- thus the 3. Spectacular writing (4). But participating even on the margin of the scrumptious life of Stein and Toklas poor Binh just never gets a bite. If you're too euphoric right now, read this book. Just the right recipe!
If you enjoyed The Hours, you should love this........2007-05-27
This is a hauntingly beautiful story of Binh, an Indochinese world traveler (and world class chef) who ends up in the Paris home of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. This is NOT a story about food or grand cooking anymore than "The Grapes of Wrath" was about picking vegitables.
This is a richly drawn character study. I found the story compelling and colorful and poignant. Binh's interactions with the two ladies is priceless. The scenes between him and his family - especially those envolving his mother - are quite elegantly rendered. The entire tale is told with exquisite attention to detail.
If you love literary novels that use historical figures as characters, you'll not want to miss this one.
Book is over-hyped fraud.......2007-05-02
Anyone who buys this book believing it is about food, feasting, cooking or sitting in on any of Gertrude Stein's parties at a time when her Paris salon was visited by so many influential artists, writers and other creatives is going to be EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. Book manages to demean both Stein and Toklas's work and lives as only an envious out-sider can. More of a self-pitying romance novel than historical fiction.
I gave it one star but deserves a black spot. Back cover blurb completely misleading.
Plaintive, poetic and delicious.......2007-01-09
What Ernest Kroll said of Washington, D.C., "How shall you act the natural man in this/Invented city, neither Rome nor home?" could be the anthem for the American psyche. Stories of alienation, of strangeness, of the perpetual foreigner in a land and culture inscrutable, or exotic or simply different and unaccommodating, are our story. It is the person repelled by the tribe, the unelect, the different, she who bears the Scarlet Letter, who fascinates us, perhaps because we Americans feel alienated and separated from the ancient, the profound, the old and settled civilizations, and are uneasy, even lonely, in the artifice of our grand New World. In those who are different we see ourselves, outside but yearning for some attachment, pretending solidarity but ambivalent about our roots and place, nostalgic for times and places we've never seen, that never existed.
Monique Troung strikes the chord of alienation and plays it magnificently in this multi-layered story. It is the fictional memoir of Binh, a Vietnamese cook living in France, who enters the service of Gertrude Stein. Binh is a superb chef, whose many unique and exquisite dishes are served to a Stein and Toklas so self-absorbed that, while they find his cooking delicious, they chomp dumbly through their meals without the presence of mind to appreciate the delicacy and sophistication of his work. Stein and Toklas, of course, like Binh, are strangers in France, alienated by their own special work, by their sexuality, and even by their crudeness and unattractiveness. Binh is a puzzle to them, at once a pet and an artist of the palate whose food they enjoy while his being is ignored or diminished. "Too thin Binh," they call him, playing on his name, putting him in the diminutive, while Binh, who has little English, ponders their meaning but senses their disdain.
Binh is gay, but he is quietly so, secretive and limited in his affairs. Troung's interest is in exploring the wounded and exiled, and while Binh's sexuality is there, she avoids any explicit prose. Indeed, sensuality is seen not in Binh's encounter with his "Sunday Man" (an expatriate American rumored to be part black, another layer of alienation). These encounters are told with tenderness and humor without any meander into explicit sex. The book's sensual indulgence is in the glorious, exotic food Binh prepares, delightfully and artfully described by Troung with concupiscent abandon. We taste it as we read.
In Binh, Troung has created a wry and insightful character, sensitive to the emotions and limitations of all those he encounters. He knows his place but he chafes nonetheless, disdainful of arrogant French colonials, and of those Vietnamese who have forced him to flee Vietnam. He is even disdainful of the self-pitying complaints of his one friend in Vietnam, a Medical Doctor, too proud to be employed as a Veterinarian (the dim fate of a Vietnamese doctor laboring for the French), who instead works as a chauffeur for the French. His friend, burdened with self-induced servitude, is hopelessly in love with a gorgeous French-Vietnamese secretary whose whims are the purpose of his life. She, of course, does not reciprocate to a mere chauffeur, but uses him mercilessly, tantalizes him and aggravates his misery.
All of Binh's observations, complaints and stories are told with a rich descriptive prose that keenly relates the substance of his life, the grittiness of his impoverished home, the tenderness of his mother, his implacable father, and the persistent frustration and ambivalence of vibrant, intelligent, and ambitious people who are forced to bend to colonial masters remarkable mostly for their mediocrity, racism and selfishness.
One might think a novel that layers alienation upon alienation would be grim, but Troung is too good a writer for that. Binh never welters in his own sense of persecution and loneliness. He rides above all that, a tough and compelling character, confident in his own culinary artistry, endowed by Troung with a sardonic humor that propels his story onward.
"The Book of Salt" is a delicious novel by an author with a brilliant future. Don't just read it, savor it. Every word is a confection, every sentence a meal.
Customer Reviews:
Hello, I'm Looking For Advice........2007-08-20
Here I am again looking for the list like Box 1-4 They don't say what books are in them. Could somebody plus let me know what books these are? Thanks for your time.
A Book Review From a Spiritridge Third Grader.......2007-03-22
Do you want to read an amazing book? Well you should read the Box Car Children. There are four young children and they are really poor. They do not have food. Then they do not know what to do. Well, they run away from their house because they thought their dad did not like them. They found a boxcar. So they thought that the boxcar might take them somewhere, but it didn't pull them. The father was trying to find them but they did not want to be found.
What I like is that when they try to find food and on their way they found a hound. I like that part because I like dogs and I think they're cute.
I recommend this book to other readers who are in 2nd grade or 3rd grade because it is just right.
book #8.......2001-07-20
I love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Average customer rating:
- A Keen Analysis of Liberal Thought
- A classic of current relevance
- Amazing
- The great defender of individual liberty
- This Penguin Version is Excellent
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On Liberty (Penguin Classics)
John Stuart Mill
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ASIN: 0140432078 |
Book Description
This volume includes the complete essay in five chapters: Introductory; Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion; Of Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-being; Of the Limits to the Authority of Society over the Individual; and Applications. With a fine introduction by editor Alburey Castell, this edition also includes line numbers for easy reference, a list of principal dates in the life of John Stuart Mill, and a bibliography.
Download Description
THE time, it is to be hoped, is gone by when any defence would be necessary of the "liberty of the press" as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical government. No argument, we may suppose, can now be needed, against permitting a legislature or an executive, not identified in interest with the people, to prescribe opinions to them, and determine what doctrines or what arguments they shall be allowed to hear.
Customer Reviews:
A Keen Analysis of Liberal Thought.......2007-06-26
In many ways, one is tempted to think that there is no such thing as liberalism alive in America today. It would do many well to read the work of the Englishman Mill in order to understand much of what is called both "liberalism" as well as "individual liberty." In addition, one of the growing issues of the contemporary political landscape in America is a polarization which is wholly unnecessary when analysis is applied the current plane of consideration. The reason for this conspicuous lack of reason for polarization is made obviously clear when one reads a work on liberal thought like that of Mill's. For Mill, individual liberty is a question both of social and political proportions, demanding a lack of interference by both government and social pressures. Additionally, he is keen in his analysis of the need for humility when it comes to humanity's apprehension of the Truth, thus necessitating free speech as a vehicle for the continual realization of those parts of the Truth which man so often forgets because of personal bias.
However, the analysis is weak insofar as it also denies the need for structures to educate humanity in a fallen world. His criteria for legal and social sanctions does overlook the necessity to draw on tradition to properly shape those in the world (while maintaining individual dignity). While he acknowledges that it would be preposterous to deny the necessity of interrelationships and sharing of experience, Mill remains somewhat weak on the necessity of tradition and community as related to individual liberty. However, on the whole, the work presents a decent overview of the need to acknowledge individual dignity through the liberty of the individual. Indeed, all communal criticisms aside, On Liberty does indeed serve as a corrective against crass traditionalism which propagates itself without true individual consent and embrace. Therefore, even in its weakness, it remains strong as a key text on the primacy of the human individual as the recipient and follower of the Truth. In a day when liberty is shouted by groups who have no interest in talking to each other, such a small text would do well to make all groups realize that our American (and indeed Western) goals aren't that different, that we are united in trying to express human dignity through the individuals.
A classic of current relevance.......2007-05-16
A work every 21st Century conservative should read and understand.
Amazing.......2007-03-08
I don't really like the fact that Mill wasn't religious- I don't believe you can have a just person who doesn't believe in a higher power, but the economics in On Liberty and the politics are amazing. It comes down to this: No one should be prevented from thinking or doing anything except that which harms others. In other words: government needs to get out of our bidness!
The great defender of individual liberty.......2006-12-24
John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term. Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success. He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote. He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S. He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose. It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it. He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do. He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on. He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes. The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance. Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general. He was intensely educated by his father James. John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home. Dad thought environment was everything. He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing. He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work. He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic. He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis. His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other. Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.
Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism. It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness. Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized. I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians. Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality. Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians. Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain." What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures. He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures." These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have. So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use. His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc. His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics. The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also. It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks. Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure. He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.
"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work. It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty. He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle." It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom. "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry. In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate. Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness. He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves. Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles. This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily. For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others. Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others. Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children. Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage." In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..." Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe. Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.
There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives. He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press. He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important. Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures. How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures? Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned. Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about. That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.
Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species." Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief. But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.
I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.
This Penguin Version is Excellent.......2006-07-21
America's defense department should take some of the billions spent on the stealth bomber or the B1 and spend it to make Arabic and Farsi translations of this book in the hundreds of thousands. We could pack the bomb bays of a squadron of stealth bombers with the translations and carpet the cities of Muslim countries with this treatise on freedom. This is The Book, folks. You cannot read this little book without it changing your life. It is an extended argument about freedom, about true morality, about freeing your mind, about untrammeling the possibility of peace and prosperity in the world. This is the book that lays out the path for treating other human beings with respect and opening the way toward progress in any and all societies. For the discussion of the "harm to others" principle alone, this book merits the world's attention and praise.
Perhaps the most famous aspect of Mill's extended argument about liberty is his discussion of the "tyranny of the majority." His argument grows from the long history of religious persecution suffered throughout Europe that led to book bans, bigotry, and even torture and burning at the stake for people who did not conform to the majority superstition, namely the dominant form of Christianity wherever one lived. Mill lived in a time when even the staid and relatively moderate views of the English Church forced people to conform their lives or face public humiliation and financial ruin, and sometimes lynching. The resulting dynamic was that free thought was thus discouraged and progress thwarted. Mill's point is that in such a psychological milieu, people are not mentally free to seek a better way. They are rather trammeled to superstition and the concomitant tyranny of the majority, the majority being emotionally dependent and mentally ham-strung by religion and religious fears and prejudices.
America today is witnessing the truth of this dynamic through the virulent and underhanded tactics of the fundamentalist X-tian political right who seek to thwart medical research and impose a legislated theocracy in parts of the country. The effort to put dark-age arguments about "intelligent design" on a scientific par with evolutionary theory is a perfect and alarming example. Mill's argument in On Liberty was prescient in demonstrating what can happen when people allow religion to influence political life. The brand of literalist religion we see in America has been the bane of societies throughout history and respresents a true pragmatic evil on a scale far worse than any imagined "Satanic" sinfulness that Christians associate with popular and secular humanism. Fundamentalist religion, especially in the forms of Christian and Muslim extremism, is a societal cancer when viewed through the lense of reason and of Mill's enlightened utilitarianism. No society that allows religion to make in-roads to politics can flourish. Proof is in the failed Middle East, where no country can manage to pull its people out of poverty and squalor inspite of sitting on the world's richest oil reserves. Mill's argument in this small book speaks volumes about why Muslim countries are doomed to failure and why the Christian right in America (the blood cousins of Islamic radicals) represent the biggest and most un-American evil in our country's history. If America represents freedom, there can be no room for the "ten commandments" in the county court house.
Highly recommended as a must read for everyone.
Customer Reviews:
timeless stories for children.......2007-03-09
These stories from Gertrude Chandler Warner are a wonderful escape into a child right dream world. My children (7 and 8 years old) love them and listen to them over and over again.
I really do recommend them as a great alternative to too much TV and video games. The beautiful thing is that the children can play with something, like model magic, and listen to the stories.
Try it!!!
Customer Reviews:
Profanity in German.......2007-07-29
A lot of people try to avoid learning swear words in other languages. I don't understand why. These words are part of the language, and you shouldn't avoid them because they make you feel bad. Barry Farber and A.G. Hawke say in their books that you shoud avoid learning profanity in other languages. I say you should as long as you avoid SAYING them. Just KNOW them. I discuss this in my new book below.
Brandon Simpson, Author of Learning Foreign Languages: Everything You Need To Know and If You Ain't Got No Grammer...
Ich habe mich vor Lachen fast in die Hosen gemacht!!.......2007-05-17
Okay, that title phrase "I almost peed myself laughing" was not in the book, but it well sums up the content. Some parts are not for the faint of heart or those of the late Jerry Falwell's congregation because it is full of colorful expressions like the S Word and anatomical slang. It is quite humerous, especially the illustrations.
Deises Buch ist NICHT beschissen!
AWSOME!!.......2006-04-25
This book is a must have!! I would recommend having a slight knowledge of the language before hand, but it is a great book to get you out of the classroom and into a german speaking environment.
SLANG BOOK.......2006-03-10
This is almost a Slang Dictionary, which you can find funny and FUN info regarding the German Slang. If you love to use colloquial language and slang in your conversations, this book will help you out.
I was very satisfied with this book, since it gave me "precious" info on a parallel terminology I wouldn't find anywhere else!
Interesting.......2005-07-25
A little out of date, I'm sure. Definitely fun to read, but not exactly the first words you'd want to learn/use on a trip to Germany. Great for learning what NOT to say!
Book Description
Revered or reviled, Gertrude Bell was a commanding figure: scholar, linguist, archaeologist, traveler and "Orientalist". Belonging to the tradition of the great British Middle East enthusiasts of the early twentieth century, she explored the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I and was (alongside T.E. Lawrence) hugely instrumental in the post-war reconfiguration of the Arab states in the Middle East. Using previously unseen sources, including Gertrude Bell's own diaries and letters, Liora Lukitz provides a deeper political and personal biography of this influential character and the tragedy, vulnerability and frustration that were key to her quest both for a British-dominated Middle East and relief from her troubled romantic life.
Customer Reviews:
"Our Eastern Affairs are Complex Beyond All Words".......2006-07-18
History is useful not only for revealing the past, but also in foreshadowing the future. In the case of Iraq, this is no small matter. This book by Liora Likutz, a scholar who is currently at the Truman Institute in Jerusalem, describes the making of modern Iraq through the life of one the two key protagonists who drew its boundaries on the map following World War I. Those two individuals were T.E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell. While the broad outline of Lawrence's life and exploits in the Middle East are well known to many, Gertrude Bell remains more of a mystery. This book attempts to pull back that veil. Anyone who seeks to understand the currents and tides swirling underneath modern Iraq needs to understand how this country came to be, and the complex life of Gertrude Bell is a good place to start.
Gertrude Bell was born on 14 July (ironically, the Baath Party National Holiday) in 1868 to a wealthy Victorian family. She attended Queen's College in London and later studied history at Oxford. Exceptionally bright, she not only excelled at academics but also proved herself to be a durable athlete who could compete with the boys. Following school, Gertrude met a young man named Henry Cadogan when she was 24 and desired to marry him. But her parents disapproved of this union because Cadogan was a "poor diplomat" not from a well-to-do family. Although the two shared common interests and might have made a happy couple, Gertrude - ever the dutiful daughter -shunned this relationship. She instead went to Bombay, India in 1902 and saw firsthand how Lord Curzon's rigid policies of not appointing Indians to his governing committees created opposition to British rule there. She carried this lesson with her. Britain's interest in India eventually brought Gertrude to Mespotamia, where she had an unconsummated affair with a British officer named Dick Doughty-Wylie. Gertrude did not understand Doughty-Wylie's devotion to his wife however, and perhaps persisted in this stillborn relationship because it did not impinge on her intellectual interests or her freedom. Doughty-Wylie, promoted to LtCol by 1916, was killed at Gallipoli in an attack on the Sidd-al-Barh castle for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Gertrude probably never completely recovered.
The British interest in Basra and concern over it falling into Turkish hands led the British to mount an expedition to Baghdad in 1916. In the climax to this disastrous campaign, 17,600 colonial troops ended up surrendering at Al Kut and were marched into enemy captivity. Later revelations of the Sykes-Picot Agreement (the secret agreement between the British and French to carve up the post-war Middle East) and the important question of what would happen to Mosul after the war convinced British administrators to stay involved in Iraq for years to come. And Gertrude intended to play a key role in what would happen in this Cradle of Civilization.
Gertrude quickly discovered that the population of Mesopotamia wanted to manage their own affairs, even if less competently than the British. This caused her to clash with other administrators. She also disagreed with them over the shape of the future Iraq: while some thought it would be impossible to unite the disparate populations of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul, Bell envisioned an independent and unified Iraq that encompassed these key population centers. She thought Wilson's "rigidity" (like Curzon's earlier) had caused the July 1920 rebellion to spread from the south of the country to the west, ultimately costing hundreds of British lives and thousands of Arab lives.
Many tribes still resisted a Sunni-led government in Baghdad and instead preferred an Islamic government based out of Najaf and Karbala. Churchill, now Secretary of State for the colonies, sought to mobilize public opinion to convince the British it was worth their treasure to maintain presence in Iraq for a prolonged period. Britain would maintain control over the country primarily with its air force (similar to the no-fly zones between Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom) rather than committing large numbers of ground troops.
King Faysal I was finally coronated as King of Iraq on 23 August 1921. Gertrude developed a good relationship with him and was enamored of her role in "making Kings and inventing kingdoms." The Kurds still longed for self-rule however, and Faysal's weak governmental institutions depended upon British arms to give his rule sanction. By 1923, after much diplomatic wrangling, modern Iraq had taken shape. Mosul would stay within Iraq despite the Kurds' insistence on independence because: 1) it could not survive economically without the rest of Iraq, 2) it was not a Turkish province - nor it could it be allowed to become one, and 3) no oil concessions could be given to foreign oil companies. Oil was the driving strategic interest for Britain keeping its foot firmly planted in Iraq.
Gertrude saw the Sunni tribal leaders as the natural elites and thus the future rulers. As Iraq hardened into the form it would maintain for the remainder of the 20th Century and into the 21st, Gertrude's role in politics diminished and she became totally absorbed in her work at the Baghdad Museum. Alone and depressed yet unable to break away from the work she had anchored herself to for so much of her life, Gertrude took her own life with an overdose of sleeping pills in July 1926. She was buried on 12 July in Baghdad.
Likutz has produced a fine book that will be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about Gertrude Bell and the making of modern Iraq. It is a brisk read, yet very impressively researched, relying primarily on Gertrude Bell's own letters. My only criticism of this book is that it does not contain any maps. These would have been very helpful in explaining the military campaign into Mesopotamia and surrender at Al Kut, the importance of Iraq vis-à-vis Britain's India policy, and the drawing of the post-war boundaries that Gertrude Bell played such a large role in. Still, the books' strengths outweigh this one weakness, and if you are interested in Iraq, you will not be disappointed.
Understanding Irak.......2006-02-10
Facinating and exciting point of view of Irak through Gertrude Bell's life.
Must be read if you want to understand what is happening now in this country.
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