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

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our First Ambassador to China: an Account of the Life of George, Earl of Macartney: With Extracts from His Letters, and the Narrative of His Experiences in China, as Told by Himself. 1737-1806

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Our First Ambassador to China: an Account of the Life of George, Earl of Macartney: With Extracts from His Letters, and the Narrative of His Experiences in China, as Told by Himself. 1737-1806
Helen Henrietta Robbins
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1402149069
Release Date: 2004-03-31

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1908 edition by John Murray, London.

After the Locusts: Letters from a Landscape of Faith

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Suffering and Faith

After the Locusts: Letters from a Landscape of Faith
Denise M. Ackermann , and Desmond Tutu
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Care and Conflict
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ASIN: 0802810195

Book Description

This unique collection of six "letters" written by Denise Ackermann to family and friends both living and dead is one woman's account of her life, faith, and work as an Anglican theologian during South Africa's apartheid years and afterwards.

In the letters, which are intensely personal memoirs as well as reviews of the theological and political issues that have marked her career as a feminist Christian in a deeply wounded society, Ackermann discusses such issues as identity and difference, her struggles with sexism and racism, the power of naming, the evils of the apartheid years, the scourge of AIDS, and the function of faith in the midst of misery and conflict.

"After the Locusts" will interest a great range of readers; few will fail to find insights of profound relevance to the task of living Christianly in today's trying world.

Customer Reviews:

Suffering and Faith.......2003-07-22

Written in the form of letters to the people in her life closest to her, these essays blaze with the intensity of life deeply felt and faith forged in the crucible of base cruelty, soaring beauty and redemption that is South Africa. Having stripped away the usual academic lingo, this theologian, who describes herself as a cultural hybrid and a feminist, takes on such subjects as cultural and racial identity, political, theological and physical domination, and the paradox of the presence of an all-powerful and compassionate God in a world riven by suffering from AIDS, misogyny, torture, injustice, hunger, and hatred. Ms. Ackermann refuses to look away from suffering or be paralyzed by her anger, or to take refuge in apathy or denial. All suffering and helplessness are held up to the example of scripture, most particularly the poetry of suffering and praise in the psalms, and in the passion of Jesus. This is a book for readers whose need is to explore the wilderness more than for those who demand comfort and certainty.

Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years

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Sit by the Firelight in Africa at Midnight with Jane Goodall
A New Jane Goodall

Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years
Jane Goodall
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters: The Later Years
My Life with the Chimpanzees
Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey
In the Shadow of Man
Through a Window

ASIN: 0618127356

Amazon.com

Africa may not always have been in Jane Goodall's blood, but animals were there right from the start: the list of recipients in what one hopes is only the first volume of her letters includes Dido the dog and Pickles the cat. And this is no flight of editorial fantasy. Goodall always accorded these members of her "darlingest family" their proper place alongside such correspondents as her mother, her father, her best friend, and her mentor, Louis Leakey (a.k.a. FFF, Foster Fairy Father). Africa in My Blood opens with 7-year-old Valerie Jane's encounters with various canines (real and porcelain) as well as signs of incipient naturalism--she has found "a ded rook he died of cold" and is caretaking a "catepiler." In the same communiqué, she also notes that her toy chimp has a new dress. Goodall would later prefer her primates au naturel but would continue to balance her urge for living taxonomy with love and empathy.

Culled from more than 16,000 letters, this collection will inspire Goodall adepts and those coming upon her for the first time. Her "autobiography in letters" restores this icon to full, even frivolous, humanity. It also recalls a lost era of inspired amateurism. When she went off to Nairobi at 23 in the spring of 1957, Goodall had no formal scientific training. Yet within weeks she had met Leakey and was soon working with him, not to mention rebuffing his advances, though she assures her mother that "he's much too fond of me for any monkey business."

Meanwhile, they had already discussed monkey business of a higher sort. "There is the vaguest possible chance that little me," Goodall wrote, "may have the chance to go right out into the wilds of the Northern Frontier for two or 3 months to study a strange tribe of chimpanzees who may be a new species, or sub-species. That is too heavenly to even think about." By the summer of 1960, Goodall was installed at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (which she soon termed Chimpland). And over the next year, she made four key discoveries, if not more, and was proving herself the zoological equal of such masters as George Schaller, having documented her subjects eating meat as well as using tools with ease.

Africa in My Blood reminds us that Goodall was once a controversial rather than hallowed figure, her methodology viewed with suspicion and condescension. And as many of us happily vegetate in front of televised slices of animal life, her awareness of her privileged position puts things in perspective. In early 1961, Goodall recounts a complex ritual and then asks her family: "Can you begin to imagine how I felt? The only human ever to have witnessed such a display, in all its primitive, fantastic wonder?"

Because Goodall has written so elegantly and incisively on chimpanzee behavior in, for instance, In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window, some readers might initially be tempted to gloss over her descriptions of such animals as the venerable David Greybeard and expert towel thief William and concentrate on her own persona--teasing, hyper-enthusiastic, and absolutely determined. When her project is threatened in 1963, she implores FFF: "You would fall head over heels in love with all my darlings--never, never think that I will let anything happen to them through what I am doing. I KNOW it is right. I KNOW that I can work the Reserve the way it must. I KNOW that I shall come back here time and time again until the problems that remain are hardly worth mentioning." Africa in My Blood makes it clear that, as Jane Goodall has long stressed, human and ape cannot be separated. --Kerry Fried

Book Description

AFRICA IN MY BLOOD is an extraordinary self-portrait, in letters and commentary, of Jane Goodall's early years, from childhood to the landmark publication of IN THE SHADOW OF MAN. It reveals this remarkable woman more vividly and clearly than anything that has been published before, by her or about her. We see Goodall grow from a schoolgirl into the promising young candidate whom the legendary Louis Leakey sent to a wildlife preserve on the shores of Lake Tanganyika to undertake a revolutionary study of chimpanzees. At Gombe we see her immerse herself in the lives of wild animals as no one had done before. AFRICA IN MY BLOOD is a dramatic, moving, funny, and important book that tells the story of how an English girl who loved animals became one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

Sit by the Firelight in Africa at Midnight with Jane Goodall.......2000-12-31

The letters in this collection date from Ms. Goodall's youth through 1966, when her stature as a scientist was well established based on her pioneering research in Africa.

Books of letters are normally associated with great female authors of novels, such as Virginia Woolf. In those wonderful volumes, beautiful style and playful use of words adds joy to one's appreciation of the literary works themselves.

So, I did not know what to expect from a book of Jane Goodall's letters. What I found was a most pleasant surprise. The letters provide a deep perspective into the personality of Ms. Goodall and how that contributed to the development of the research methods she used. I found the letters fascinating and very rewarding, despite the fact that they are the opposite of high literary style.

If you are like me, you may primarily know Jane Goodall from her National Geographic television specials. Those were very accessible and enjoyable. But I did not know the background concerning how her pioneering research with chimpanzees was initiated and developed. This book wonderfully filled in that background. Also, I did not know how an attractive young Englishwoman came to become a field scientist in Africa in the first place. Also, the shows made it all seem rather natural and easy.

First, you will come away impressed with what a devoted correspondent she was. Over 16,000 letters were found by the editor to draw from. Now, how many letters have you written in your life? Also, these are mostly long, newsy letters to family, friends, and professional colleagues. If she had been a book reviewer, no one would have believed her production. Remember that she had no computer to help her draft the letters. In fact, she had the balkiest manual typewriters imaginable.

What was even more remarkable to me was that so many of her early letters had been saved. How many letters have you saved from people under the age of 15? That these letters are available is quite a testimony to her relationships with these people, and the impact of her personality.

Then, I did not know that she was a secretarial school graduate when she went to Africa. A few jobs quickly convinced her that she was not cut out for indoor work. She was eventually accepted into a Ph.D. program without ever having attended college! In fact, she had done most of her breakthrough field work before her Ph.D. was even granted. So much for formal education as a way to create new scholarly methods.

Ms. Goodall has a wonderful love of humans and animals that makes no significant distinction between them. I was overwhelmed to read her descriptions of her pets and the chimpanzees and baboons she studied. It is remarkable to read page after page as she gossips with people about the animals by name in more detail and with more sympathy than in much of what she writes about people who were not close to her. This perspective is a fairly unique one, and led to her finding ways to relate to the animals throughout her early years.

There is great humor throughout the letters. Her many descriptions of men becoming interested in her and how she handled them are echoed in her descriptions of the female chimpanzees eluded the hovering males. Humor and laughter came easily to her. You will laugh too at the descriptions of the chimpanzees tickling each other.

You will come away with a great respect for what she accomplished. The difficulties she overcame were incredible, and the work that she put into her research is beyond imagining. She mostly wrote these letters around midnight, after working from 6:30 in the morning . . . often in the driving rain. This was a 7 day a week effort for her. Frustrations were everwhere. Great sequences would occur, but where no one could photograph them. Or the exposures were set wrong on the camera, and the whole roll of film produced nothing. And the camera problems were just the least of it . . . although they were the most maddening to Ms. Goodall. Malaria, shingles, and mysterious diseases affected her and the others she worked with. But her commitment remained strong.

Dale Peterson has done a fine job of selecting the letters and summarizing them at the beginning of each section. My only complaint about the editing was that more footnotes would have been helpful. I was regularly lost in trying to understand who some of the people were whom Ms. Goodall refers to.

I suggest that you give this book to a young person who loves animals. Perhaps something will "click" that will allow that person to see that she or he can live a life devoted to inquiry and closeness with animals.

Follow your instincts!

A New Jane Goodall.......2000-04-18

For those of us who may think we know Jane Goodall as theheroine of National Geographic specials, the champion of primateintelligence and animal rights, one of the great scientists of thetwentieth century, Africa in My Blood comes as a revelation. Here is the young girl and woman discovering life for the first time, having a crush on the local curate, writing to her best friend Sally and her "Darling Family," traveling by slow boat to Africa, and then launching the career that we have never seen through such fresh eyes. Most astonishing of all, it turns out that Jane Goodall is a splendid writer of letters, which are full of comic anecdotes and finely-observed details, capturing in vivid prose the immediate events of her life and much wonderful material not included in her other books. Dale Peterson has done a superb job of editing, organizing, and introducing this monumental collection, showing Goodall as both private and professional woman, in both intimate portrait and dazzling display of her gifts as a writer. One can only hope that a second volume is on its way soon. END

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

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Corpus of Early arabic Sources For West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Manufacturer: Markus Wiener Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558762418

Customer Reviews:

Corpus of Early arabic Sources For West African History.......2005-01-03

"From the eighth century onwards, the Muslim townsfolk of North Africa were well aware that fifty stages away across the desert to the south lay a land inhabited by black people which was the source of gold, ivory and slaves. It was no mere rumour stemming from occasional journeys of special daring, as it had been in the time of Herodotus. For the Muslims, the black slaves were in their midst as labourers and soldiers, servants and concubines. And soon the passing caravans began to be swelled by black students and pilgrims, showing that the religion and civilization of Islam were spreading across the Sahara into the western and central Sudan...The main sources for the medieval history of West Africa are to be found in Arabic writings...Here, in 372 pages of clear English translations, is the sum of what Islamic scholars wrote about West Africa between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries, together with the notes necessary to its evaluation and the detailed indexes and glossaries which facilitate comparative use...the work of Levtzion and Hopkins...has been supremely well done."
--Times Literary Supplement

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BEAUTIFULLY DESCRIBED
Better than Out of Africa
Like reading a personal diary
A woman of the future

Letters from Africa, 1914-1931
Isak Dinesen
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller
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ASIN: 0226153118

Book Description

"Here is a rich new biographical perspective on the brilliant storyteller whose sophisticated romantic fiction . . . made her an international success and perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. . . . [These letters] contain the raw material that was later transformed into her classic memoir Out of Africa (1937). They also reveal her as a highly intelligent and sensitive analyst of a strange new world."—Bruce Allen, Christian Science Monitor

"Letters from Africa is literary gold, 24 karat."—Alden Whitman, Boston Globe

Customer Reviews:

BEAUTIFULLY DESCRIBED.......2007-04-24

"... huge distant blue mountains and the vast grassy plains before them covered with zebra and gazelle, and at night I can hear lions roaring like the thunder of guns in the darkness". Passages such as this one make it worthwhile to read this book. Karen Blixen is a master at poetically describing her foreign surroundings. If you enjoy the movie and the book Out of Africa then you will enjoy reading this book. Although at times the letters are repetitious and the author tends to ramble on, it is still an interesting book as it allows the reader to look through a window into Colonial East Africa from 1914 to 1931. The reader is able to go into Karen Blixen's mind and follow her daily struggles, joys and sorrows during her long stay in Africa and through her many safaris. This book unlike Out of Africa is not written through rose colored lenses. As you read this book, you feel a much harsher Africa. Also in this book she writes about her lover Dennis Finch-Hatton and doesn't hide the fact that she's crazy about him from her family. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen.

Better than Out of Africa.......2006-06-19

Isak Dineson, or Karen Blixen, was a fascinating woman. Most people know her as the main character from the movie Out of Africa or as the auther of the book of the same name. While the movie and the book are both good, I feel that this collection of her letters gives the best picture of who she was and what was important to her. The struggles of trying to make a go of her farm are heartwrenching, but the joy she expresses in her surroundings is enchanting. She describes the people in her life, especially the Kenyans who worked on her farm, so well that you feel you know them almost as well as you know her. Her description of the Europeans who lived in Kenya for economic or political reasons has enough of compliment and criticism to seem much more fair than many books from the colonial era. By the end of the book, it is easy to think of Karen as a friend.

Like reading a personal diary.......2000-10-22

There's no better way of getting to know the real Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen than by reading her Letters. Blixen shares her life with you a letter at a time, and in such rich detail that one feels a bit inclined to purchase a ticket to Kenya and appear on her veranda for tea!

Blixen's deep love for "her people" finally comes out in its truest sense in that she considered the African natives her soul mates.

The letters to Ingeborg, Aunt Bess, and brother Tommy, reveal (to me at least) that Blixen felt a greater kinship and sense of mutual acceptance with her "black skinned brother" than she did with her Danish relatives.

"Letters From Africa" is essential reading for any Dinesen fan.

A woman of the future.......2000-04-03

This is a very powerfull book, which gives good insight into the mind and soul of Karen Blixen. Compared to her own book "out of africa" you here have the "unprocessed" facts - she writes about her every day life on the farm, happy things as well as sad things in the form of letters to her loved ones. Very different from the intrepetation of the same facts in her book "Out of Africa". Read it!

African Myths and Legends (Oxford Myths and Legends)

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A Wonderful selection and Variety of African Tales

African Myths and Legends (Oxford Myths and Legends)
Kathleen Arnott
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192741438

Book Description

Drawn from all parts of Africa, the myths and legends of the African people demonstrate a fierce sense of justice, great powers of patience and endurance, and supreme ability as story-tellers.

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful selection and Variety of African Tales.......1997-12-30

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It has a wonderful mix of animal tales, supernatural tales and magic!The author has a superb handle on the written word and keeps the true feel of a good storyteller. You can almost imagine yourself hearing these tales told around a campfire! Children and adults will enjoy the rich mixture of tales. Highly recommended!

Slaves No More: Letters from Liberia, 1833-1869

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Slaves No More: Letters from Liberia, 1833-1869
Bell Irvin Wiley
Manufacturer: Univ Pr of Kentucky
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French-Algerian War

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Appropriate reading at a time like this
Essential Reading On Algeria For English Reader

Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French-Algerian War
Mouloud Feraoun , and James D. Le Sueur
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Question
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ASIN: 080326903X

Book Description

“This honest man, this good man, this man who never did wrong to anyone, who devoted his life to the public good, and who was one of the greatest writers in Algeria, has been murdered. . . . Not by accident, not by mistake, but called by his name and killed with preference.” So wrote Germaine Tillion in Le Monde shortly after Mouloud Feraoun’s assassination by a right wing French terrorist group, the Organisation Armée Secrète, just three days before the official cease-fire ended Algeria’s eight-year battle for independence from France.

However, not even the gunmen of the OAS could prevent Feraoun’s journal from being published. Journal, 1955–1962 appeared posthumously in French in 1962 and remains the single most important account of everyday life in Algeria during decolonization.

Feraoun was one of Algeria’s leading writers. He was a friend of Albert Camus, Emmanuel Roblès, Pierre Bourdieu, and other French and North African intellectuals. A committed teacher, he had dedicated his life to preparing Algeria’s youth for a better future. As a Muslim and Kabyle writer, his reflections on the war in Algeria afford penetrating insights into the nuances of Algerian nationalism, as well as into complex aspects of intellectual, colonial, and national identity. Feraoun’s Journal captures the heartbreak of a writer profoundly aware of the social and political turmoil of the time. This classic account, now available in English, should be read by anyone interested in the history of European colonialism and the tragedies of contemporary Algeria.

Customer Reviews:

Appropriate reading at a time like this.......2001-12-07

First, I will comment on the book itself from an American point of view. The book is not easy to read because it is not a book: it is the author's journal he kept during the French Algerian War. Knowing that still, his journal entries, which at the beginning were frequent and detailed, were focused on keeping track of who was killed, tortured or who was doing the killings. It was as if the author, Mr. F.(his notation of using people's initials to hide their identity from I suppose the French secret police), was keeping a testimony of the murders occurring all around him as evidence. This makes for dull reading; however, given the events of 9-11, I made a valiant effort to immerse myself into the author's mind and try to understand this incredibly brutal civil war.

(...)

Essential Reading On Algeria For English Reader.......2001-07-20

There are a few important works on the Algerian Civil War available for the English reader. Franz Fannon, Alistair Horne's history, the film "Battle of Algiers, and recently Feraoun's diary are the ones that readily come to mind. Feraoun was a western educated Algerian and well accquainted with the French. His desire for an independent Algeria was strong, but tempered by a strong sense of historical reality. He reveals the day to day impact of the violence. It is in this respect that the work is most moving, and reveals the senselessness and degradation that occurs to all people involved, Feraoun eventually a victim himself. An essential view of the psychological costs of guerrilla and anti-colonial war.

Your Madness Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon (Research in International Studies Africa Series)

Average customer rating:

Great book, tell your friends
This book is multiple faces of postcolonial Camaroon.

Your Madness Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon (Research in International Studies Africa Series)
Makuchi
Manufacturer: Ohio University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 089680206X

Customer Reviews:

Great book, tell your friends.......2002-07-23

I had to read this for an anthropology class prior to visiting Cameroon, little did I know how accurate it would be, I don't even think I grasped the whole story the first time because I had never been in that culture. This is an excellent work, fast reading and very informative. Good for anyone who wants to learn about Cameroonian culture or just another view of the world in general.

This book is multiple faces of postcolonial Camaroon........1999-05-23

Your Madness, Not Mine - A Review. "We're the matches that will light the gunpowder that has been lying cold like ash. If we don't take a step who will . . . ?" This definitive assertion and rhetorical question, posed by an enterprising Beba woman in Juliana Makuchi Nfah Abbenyi's collection of short stories,Your Madness, Not Mine,is evocative of the author's own project which in many ways is as potent and innovative as the above metaphor. To read Makuchi, a Cameroonian woman writer, and postcolonial intelligentsia in the West, is to land at once in a rich, complex and contradictory world, bubbling with tensions ensuing from gender conflicts, polyglossia and constant shiftings of center / periphery, self / other dichotomies. In a span of nine short stories, Makuchi guides us through the contours of her native African land which shares the patriarchal history with the rest of the world, while exposing its own unique gender quarrels, compromises, and victories. The first story, "The Healer", for instance, plays upon the myth of motherhood that is upheld as the major or sole criterion of womanhood in most cases. It shows how a society that sees barren women as a curse, can end up shoving them into the hands of wicked charlatans who cheat them ruthlessly and drive them insane. The title story also has a woman domesticated and deprived of individual freedom by her typically patriarchal husband despite being educated and capable of making financial contributions to the household. But if these are stories of women's biological pathology and gender vulnerability, then in "Election Fever" we have a story of women's manipulative and conniving powers. The grandmother in this story takes her entire family by surprise when she secretively joins many (opposition)political parties and accepts bribery in the shape of cash and Pakistani rice. She also instills a lesson on flippancy and exploitation that leaders and followers mutually play as part of the political game, in her young granddaughter who accompanies her to party meetings. "Bayam Sellam" however, is the story that presents the traditional strength and entrepreneurship of Camaroonian women in the shape of market women. Descendants of strong willed mothers and grandmothers, these market whizzes possess the solidarity and business acumen required to call up a strike and force the government into declaring a state of emergency. If the women in Makuchi's world are economically and politically aware and active, than her men are by no means lacking behind in this arena. They have their own share of pondering and debating over the postcolonial scramble that Camaroon has become since independence in 1960. Hailing from that part of central Africa which has been thrice colonized (Germans, Britishers and French, all had their share of plunder of this land) and is still struggling to wrench free from the clutches of the neocolonial beast gnawing in the shape of capitalist America, the men in these narratives are often concerned about the grim socio-economic fate that awaits them. "American Lottery" and "The Forest Will Claim You Too" are two such stories which delineate the myriad of home grown as well as imposed problems that jitter the heart of this country. Government corruption in particular, and elitist callousness in general, French aggression and racism, in addition to the economic exploitation by next door neighbors like Nigeria, deforestation or "environmental genocide" by both French and Asians, leading to other social hazards like "timber babies", and loss of ancient herbal medicinal provisions are some of the ailments that contribute towards breaking the backbone of Camaroonian economy, and falsifying its persistent efforts towards modernization. No wonder Makuchi blatantly points at the devaluation of the CFA (the Camaroonian currency) and the escalating inflation scenario to be the root cause behind the brain drain that America is enjoying today. The implicit question that lingers right under the narrative surface seems to be: If the "Third World" youth is often eager to have a way out of this labyrinthian hole and aspires for that alluring land of promises, who is to blame? Nonetheless, it is relieving to find that not all Camaroonian youth are attracted to the West. Peter and his friends in "American Lottery", for instance, are well aware of the dilemmas of identity loss, alienation and frustration that are quick to follow the fate of those who turn their face away from the poverty and confusion of motherland in the hope of totally adopting and assimilating a foreign culture. The same densely packed story depicts local riots, curfews and rebellions to be amongst other things that keep Camaroonians perpetually involved in their country's future. Like her themes, Makuchi's images and metaphors are often drawn from both indigenous and foreign sources. So we have palm and plantain, wrappa and nsaa, juxtaposed with the image of the Marlboro man with his will - o'- the - wisp pose and foreign embassies with their whining twining queue of locals. Her stories, with both rural and urban settings also often break into poetic strings of thought and are embellished with sprinklings of the Beba language, some pidgin, Anglophone as well as Francophone diction. Reading these superb pieces of fiction has definitely been a very enriching experience for me. If you are looking for thought provoking yet lucid, and passionately written fictionalized theory, or theorized fiction, then this is the text for you.

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