Book Description
The latest mystery in Andrea Camilleri's internationally bestselling Inspector Montalbano series
Winning fans in Europe and America for their dark sophistication and dry humor, Andrea Camilleri's crime novels are classics of the genre. Set once again in Sicily, The Patience of the Spider pits Inspector Montalbano against his greatest foe yet: the weight of his own years. Still recovering from the gunshot wound he suffered in Rounding the Mark, he must overcome self-imposed seclusion and waxing self-doubt to penetrate a web of hatred and secrets in pursuit of the strangest culprit he's ever hunted. A mystery unlike any other, this emotionally taut story brings the Montalbano saga to a captivating crossroads.
Customer Reviews:
Tiny Puzzles Bother Montalbano as He Recuperates.......2007-08-23
Inspector Montalbano was wounded in Rounding the Mark, and The Patience of the Spider begins with Montalbano being on leave to recuperate. Livia has even returned to his side to take care of his, banishing the ministrations of his housekeeper and marvelous cook, Adelina Cirrincio. Montalbano is concerned that the doctors will find out that he has a heart condition, but that doesn't happen. Except for occasional love-making (which Livia isn't anxious for), Montalbano is leading a circumscribed life . . . even eating healthy, low-calorie foods. Bah!
Naturally, it is a relief when Montalbano is called temporarily back to duty as a kidnapping overwhelms the local force. But the case is not to be his; a colleague comes from a place where kidnappings are common events.
The kidnapped woman, Susanna Mistretta, is a pretty young university student . . . and her family doesn't have any money. Everyone fears the worst, that this is a sexual crime rather than extortion. And initially, there's no news from the kidnappers.
That set of circumstances seems strange to Montalbano. As he investigates, more little things bother him. Why is her motorbike facing in the wrong direction? Where is her helmet? As time passes, the little things seem to suggest of shadow of something else. What could it be?
But it's annoying to work on the case, because Livia alternately berates him for not doing enough . . . and for not telling her about every little development.
Will the young woman be saved? Will she get back in time to say good-bye to her dying mother? Your heart will be wrung as you consider those elements.
The story lacks the usual Montalbano zest for several reasons. He isn't able to indulge his gourmet and gourmand tendencies so the food side of the story is thin. The kidnapping's complications also reveal themselves in a very transparent fashion. I think you'll figure out the puzzle pretty early in the book. Montalbano also has fewer humorous interludes with the other members of the police. The energy, humor, and suspense are just at a low ebb. It's a pleasant mystery, but it's one that won't kick yourself if you don't read it.
The indirect development of the character of the kidnapped woman is quite well done. That was obviously the writing challenge that appealed to Mr. Camilleri as he wrote this book.
The Eighth Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri - La pazienza del ragno - The Patience of the Spider.......2007-08-21
What Montalbano should have been doing was resting, keeping the love nest warm with Livia tucked up against him, his official reason for withdrawing from society had something to do with the gun shot wound he received from his pervious job, but there was no doubt about it, this morning he could hear the telephone ringing. There were two options; the first, if he ignored the ringing he could carry on with his natural blissful way of life with Livia! Or secondly if he picked up, work, it only meant trouble, Montalbano reached for the phone.
One hour later he was standing at the scene of the crime, a kidnapping they said. A very pretty girl Susanna Mistretta, who lived with her father and mother in a country villa three miles outside of Vigata town. Susanna had gone to study at friends during the day but had not returned home as usual that evening. Her father of course was worried, time became late and he went searching for his daughter, but it was Susanna's boyfriend Francesco Lipari who finally spotted her abandoned moped about two hundred yards from her parents house. Montalbano was quite certain something had happened to the girl, as he made a closer inspection of the scene, it was the front wheel of the moped that clinched it, why was it facing towards Vigata? Backwards! It looked like it cared it was going the wrong way! As far as Montalbano was concerned this was his case, he'd just seen foul play.
This would be the Eighth book in the series and Camilleri has made a few slight changes with this one, which is charming and crafty. His given to us direct clues of which suspect could have done this crime and his done so quite blatantly, his thrown predictable right at us, but what Camilleri does not give away and therefore keeps us guessing till the last is the Psychology behind the crime, his showing how Montalbano forms his ideas quietly and goes about gathering evidence to support his facts and only then will he let us have the final verdict.
Some may also be disappointed that this time around Camilleri has left out some of that mouthwatering great-flavored foods but instead has spent more time on another intriguing passionate ingredients, Livia and Montalbano's relationship. Livia's presence and character begins to form nicely throughout this storyline remaining Montalbano's rock. Always happy to adjust her life to take care of her man, they argue but in a healthy way of dealing with one another, she takes the no nonsense approach in his darker moods but does understand what his trying to achieve in his world. Their relationship has the up's and down's of a long distance love, Nec tecum nec sine te - Neither with or without you.
Inspector Montalbano character is just fantastic to read, for his questionable brainstorms and unorthodox subversive opinions. Montalbano, a man approaching the end of his career, the rebel, the thinker, not afraid to explore all areas even into obsession. Sorting through a web of lies to find logic, searching for truth.
Andrea Camilleri has written a wonderful Montalbano mystery series. Having read all in the translation series, I love the characterization and language the usage of dialogue that has been kept real with sharp wit and ironic comedy moments, the sly comments on Italian life and culture keep things for me interesting and amusing.
A special mention to poet Stephen Sartarelli, I'm thoroughly enjoying his clear translation of each book and for the informative notes given at the back on wording. Thank you.
A Wonderful Read.
Andrea Bowhill
The Patience of the Spider.......2007-07-19
As always, Andrea Camilelri is a wonderful writer! This series is top notch and i have read every book in it. I can't wait for the next one.
Good.....but not as good.......2007-07-05
I always enjoy the Inspector Montalbano mysteries and will read them and enjoy them regardless of the reviews they get. I have to admit that I did not think this was one of Camillier's better efforts. The plot was not as interesting as most and there was not enough about the food!
Back on Track.......2007-06-27
Camilleri's newest book returns to what I had enjoyed in his first three books--more focus on character and less focus on what might make a good TV show.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
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.
Book Description
Bored with their work, three Milanese editors cook up "the Plan," a hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with other occult groups from ancient to modern times. This produces a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault’s Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real, and when occult groups, including Satanists, get wind of the Plan, they go so far as to kill one of the editors in their quest to gain control of the earth.
Orchestrating these and other diverse characters into his multilayered semiotic adventure, Eco has created a superb cerebral entertainment.
Customer Reviews:
Verbosity to the Nth Degree.......2007-08-28
Umberto Eco has obviously never met a word he didn't like. If an idea could be expressed in 20 words, he used 200. Unfortunately, I wasted the time to read it through twice and was no more impressed the second time. I'm not stupid, I understood the plot, I didn't need a dictionary or thesaurus, and I was absolutely bored out of my mind. He probably wrote this book in the same manner in which Jacopo Belbo wrote his Plan, by entering it into the word processor without ever looking back. If you enjoy having a thousand ridiculous conspiracy theories thrown against a wall in a hopeless mishmash, then this book is for you.
This one is a head Trip and a Half.......2007-08-20
This book blow the hinges off the door. Any fan of the X-flies, Twilight Zone, will greatly appreciate this book. As a matter of fact Casubon has the narrative styling of a Fox Mulder, actually it should be vice versa since this was written in 1988. It's really interesting to see how three very intelligent men got caught up in an search for truth that ultimately became a deadly game of cat and mouse. The quotes from the various mysteries are poignant and insightful in relation to the unfolding story. I would have given this work five stars, but I felt the ending was a bit of a cop out; considering the many allusions to the the realness of metaphysical forces throughout the book.
Both the 1-Star and the 5-star reviews are correct.......2007-08-20
This book is not for everyone, which is why I agree with the majority of both the 1-star and 5-star reviews. If you have a limited vocabulary and don't also speak French, Italian, Latin, Hebrew, etc., then this is a very frustrating book. Likewise, if you're not up on history - especially as pertains to arcane secret societies - this book will quite likely be incomprehensible. To those with a limited education, or at least a limited knowledge base, this book almost dares you to read it.
That said, I really liked Foucault's Pendulum, in part because I happen to be keen on much of the subject matter. Two of my favorite books are "The Illuminatus Trilogy" and "The Crying of Lot 49" so I was in familiar territory here. Eco has certainly done his homework. Probably the greatest charm of all this is his tying together of pretty much EVERY conspiracy and secret society in the past 1,000 years into a vast Unified Field Theory that by its definition is deliberately a hoax, or at least a joke.
Unfortunately, the book is very uneven: it starts and ends weakly. It's 650 pages long, about 400 of which are actually interesting. Still, it held my attention, plus I learned a lot along the way.
I plan to go back and read this in a few years, and I suspect I will get a lot more out of it.
Irrelevant, Impertinent, Intolerable.......2007-08-12
This book could have been used to torture the Knights Templar! They'd have been bored to death! I found it to be a waste of valuable reading time.
Minnie Mouse is Mickey's fiancee........2007-07-29
Umberto Eco is internationally renowned as an author, a philosopher, a literary critic and a historian. He is also a professor of Semiotics at the University of Bologna and lives in Milan. "The Name of the Rose", his debut novel, was first published in Italy in 1980 and became a bestseller throughout the world. It was also adapted for the big screen in 1986, a version that starred Sean Connery and Christian Slater. "Foucault's Pendulum" was first published in 1988.
The story is told by Casaubon, as he looks back over the previous fifteen years of his life. A graduate of the University of Milan, he's something of a specialist on the Knights Templar - having researched their trial for his thesis. It was in the late sixties, while still a student, that Casaubon first met Jacopo Belbo at Pilade's Bar. Belbo was an editor with Garamond Press deals largely with reference books and university textbooks. (There is another side to Garamond - Manutius, a vanity press where the authors pay for the priviledge of seeing their books in print). However, Belbo also has to deal with the occasional submission on the Templars - which is unfortunate, as he believes that if "someone brings up the Templars he's almost always a lunatic". As a relative 'expert', it's almost inevitable that Casaubon starts spending a little more time with Belbo at the publishing house...
At Garamond, Belbo works most closely with Diotavelli - a cabalist who insists he's an albino Jew. However, of the two, Belbo is by far the more developed character. Although quite witty at times, he's a rather pessimistic character, with a very low opinion of himself. He sees himself as a coward, seems doomed to be unlucky in love and is frustrated at being an editor instead of an author. He's also the proud owner of a recently acquired computer, which he christens Abulafia - into which, in time, Belbo pours his innermost thoughts.
From the book's outset, it's clear the three are in trouble : Diotavelli is in hospital, apparently gravely ill, while "They" are pursuing Belbo. Convinced that "the Plan" is real, Jacopo is in Paris and seems to believe the Templars are after him. Unfortunately, when his phone call to Casaubon is interrupted, it would appear it would appear the Templars (like the Mounties) always get their man. The Plan had been little more than a game for the three friends, something they had developed after having read too many of the conspiracy-inspired manuscripts landing on their desks at work. Although they didn't realise it at the time, it was a manuscript submitted by Colonel Ardenti that was to become the launchpad for their Plan. The manuscript is, naturally, written about the Templars and the Grail and incorporates - he claims - some recently rediscovered information.
While "Foucault's Pendulum" isn't exactly a short read, it is an absorbing, interesting and enjoyable one. There's plenty happening - Templar history, the Rosy Cross and Rosicrucians, a stint in Brazil, numerology (thirty-six and one hundred and twenty seem to be quite popular), 'the' Sophia and a man called Aglie - someone who seems to enjoy masquerading as the (apparently immortal) Comte de Saint-Germain. There's even a touch of sexy pinball, courtesy of Lorenza Pellegrini. An outstanding book, and absolutely recommended.
Book Description
Enjoy a tour of Italy through a child's scrapbook. Whether you are planning to travel abroad with your children or simply to expose them to foreign countries, Ciao Bambino! will provide a starting point. Your children will discover differences and similarities between Italy and home, while sharing a young boy's vacation to Italy with his bear companion. Bonus, you may learn a few Italian words and novelties on the adventure. For more information on traveling abroad with small children, please visit www.ciaobambino.com or call 1-866-802-0300.
Customer Reviews:
Is this really Italy?.......2007-01-29
I don't know if I was more disappointed or angered at this little insignificant but dangerous book. The contents has very little to do with what children, who travel to Italy, will ever encounter. What I find it does is continue the negative strereotyping of the Italians. Really! No one stomps on grapes and a child who will visit a farm in Italy will hardly see such outdated stereotypical occurrences. Can food be the only thing one would like of Italy? Of course, since the book failed to explain what other things of wonder a child might see. I bought this for my grandchildren, as sadly there are very few book on Italy with some italian words. I returned the book because I would NEVER introduce Italy to my grandchildren this way. A very expensive book that perpatuates outdated images. Poor job.
Charming!.......2006-02-23
What a wonderful introduction for young children to the Italian culture and language -- not to mention the notion of international travel in general! My daughter (4 yrs old at the time of purchase) loved it - particularly the opportunity to learn the Italian words. For a fairly short book (which I think is a good thing for young children) there are actually quite a few Italian vocabulary words presented in a fun, engaging way. The illustrations are charming and sweet.
Review from Buyer.......2006-02-10
I am an American of Italian descent and proud of my heritage. I purchased Ciao Bambino! to read to my grandchildren, Gianna and Dante. It's an excellent introduction to simple Italian words. Nicki"
Date: 7/21/2005 Rated by Buyer: nicki_filipponi
Ciao Bambino.......2005-11-29
We were so disappointed with this book that we returned it. For the price, it's a very thin book - only 30 pages. For preparing a child for a trip to Italy, the illustrations were especially disppointing. Only a few offered images of what might be seen in Italy. Most of the others were generic illustrations that could have been set anywhere, such as a child and his stuffed bear eating a pizza, the circle of a flashlight beam on the pavement.
Have child will travel!.......2004-11-24
What a refreshing idea in children's books! Parents of small children now have a resource to prepare their child for travel, which will help the little vacationer better connect with and understand where they are headed. The beautifull watercolor illustrations add to this highly engaging story as the child learns about the Italian language recognizing, colors, numbers and common speach. Included at the end of the book is a glossary of all the new words for both child and parent reference. If you are headed out on a family vacation, or have friends taking off, this little book is a great traveller. I still read it to my three year old at bedtime. Hopefully there will be more books from Danna Troncatty Leahy in the future.
Book Description
INSIDE THE MOB.
INSIDE THE NYPD.
THE LAST GREAT MAFIA BOOK OF OUR TIME.
The Brotherhoods is the chilling chronicle of the shocking crimes of NYPD de-tectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, notorious rogue cops found guilty in April 2006 of the ultimate form of police corruption -- shielding their criminal deeds behind their badges while they worked for the mafia. Their crimes include participation in the murders of at least eight men, kidnapping, and the betrayal of an entire generation of New York City detectives, federal agents, and prosecutors. "One of the most spectacular police corruption scandals in the city's history," proclaimed the New York Times in its front-page coverage of the jury's verdict.
This gripping, true-life detective story is remarkable for its psychological intrigue, criminal audacity, and paranoid, blood-soaked fury. Written by prize-winning journalist Guy Lawson and William Oldham, the brilliant detective who quietly and relentlessly investigated the rogue cops for seven years, The Brotherhoods provides unparalleled access to the secretive workings of both the NYPD and organized crime -- their hierarchies, rituals, and codes of conduct.
Sprawling from Manhattan to Las Vegas to Hollywood, this incredible story features wiseguys, hit men on the lam, snitches, cops on the take, girlfriends who should know better, a crooked accountant, corrupt jewelers, streetwise detectives, flamboyant defense attorneys, ice-cool prosecutors, a distinguished federal judge, and a gallery of other unforgettable characters, many hiding secrets they are afraid to reveal.
In yet another turn of events, in June 2006 a federal judge vacated the convictions on statute of limitations grounds, even as he cited overwhelming evidence that Caracappa and Eppolito had committed "heinous and violent crimes." The U.S. Attorney's Office, which had won the convictions, has appealed the ruling. The conviction of the two men by a jury and the judge's reiteration of their guilt underscore the amazing story of The Brotherhoods.
Destined to rank with such modern crime classics as Serpico, Donnie Brasco, and Wiseguy, this quintessential American mob tale goes to the hearts of two brotherhoods -- the police and the mafia -- and the two cops who belonged to both.
Customer Reviews:
Under construction?.......2007-10-02
I must agree with reviewer/reader maskirovka in that this book takes liberties not with facts, but with narrative tense and editing. This is not really the story about the infamous mafia cops ( we have to read to almost page 120 to begin the biography of one of the killer detectives ) as much as it is the story of the cop who chased them. Oldham's publishers probably thought we had read enough about supercops fighting the mob and police corruption. The idea of another Serpico or Donnie Brasco was probably a hard sell. Regardless, what we really get is a biography on Oldham and his career in law enforcment. The case of the mob cops was simply the one that he obsessed with the most and that was most infamous. Oldham's writer/partner Lawson is no Truman Capote either. His device of using quotations for some of Oldham's first person narratives are questionable, given the fact that THE WHOLE BOOK is really a first person narrative from Oldham's persepctive. We can imagine Oldham in Hollywood shopping this story to the major film studios. Here's a question for him. "If any of the living criminal characters in your book with a vowel at the end of their name agreed to attend a luncheon with you and a movie producer, just to add an air of credibilty, would you bring them along?" Hmmm.
The Brotherhoods.......2007-09-26
A riveting account of two rogue cops who freelanced themselves to the Luchese crime family for years and got away with it until a cadre of dedicated investigators compiled the evidence to put them away. The book gives a detailed description of day to day life in the NYPD and the mob. Martin Scorcese should be looking for a cast for a blockbuster movie.
Jane Harvey.......2007-05-25
I happen to just love the work that these two guys did on this book about Lou Eppolito and the other bad cop. I am in the book on pages 358 throu 364 I am Jane McCormick. I had dealing with Mr Eppolito for 3 years. He was a good con man and he conned $45,000 from me . He said if you cant trust a cop who can you trust! Jane harvey was the name I used in Vegas. I am writting my true life story. It is already done but it is being edited now and will be plublished in a few mos. I am hopping to get it on this wonderful web site soon.I have a wonderful writer that is writing But this book will tell it as it really was in Vegas in the 60s and 70s
Parallel, intertwined brotherhoods on either side of the law.......2007-04-19
Lawson and Oldham's narrative is the story of parallel, intertwined brotherhoods on either side of the law--the New York City Police Department and the five Mafia families of the 1980's and early 1990's. It is subtitled "The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia." The cops in question are Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito. The story, however, belongs to NYPD detective William Oldham, one of the co-authors of the book. Oldham was a in the police brotherhood with Caracappa and Eppolito, admiring first grade detective Caracappa's work in the organized crime unit from a distance, and puzzling at Eppolito's flaunting of police department regulations about fraternizing with mafia members.
Oldham made his way through the ranks of the NYPD with a wary eye on the Caracappa/Eppolito duo. Eppolito retired in the early nineties and published a tell-all memoir about his association with the mafia, bragging about brutal take-downs and his delight at being in bed with the wise guys. Caracappa was a figure in the tell-all memoir, and retired shortly thereafter to keep his pension an avoid the inevitable NYPD Internal Affairs investigation
Luchese family boss Gaspipe Casso turned state's evidence in the mid-nineties and confessed all to the FBI and NYPD in exchange for placement in the witness protection program. He had dirt on the Luchese family and other mobsters which rivaled the confessions of Sammy the Bull Gravano. A common thread in all his stories was "the crystal ball" (or "the cops"), a pair of crooked cops, one from the Major Case Squad, who helped Casso rise to mythical levels within his crime family. "The cops" fed Casso dirt on who had turned into an informant, swept cases against made men under the rug, gave warnings about take-downs, and even murdered under mafia orders. Casso was once removed from his crystal ball, but after Eppolito's tell-all memoir was published, he had a good guess about the identities of "the cops" who made him such a success as a mafia boss.
Detective Oldham then made it his mission to take down these crooked cops, who by the end of the nineties were retired in a comfortable lifestyle in the Las Vegas area. Lawson and Oldham's book is as much the story of police detectives Oldham, Caracappa, and Eppolito as it is a history of the mafia in New York over the last three decades. The authors describe the genesis of the RICO legal statutes and its implications for both the cops pursing the mafia and the district attorney indicting criminals. The book also addresses the changes in the openness of mafia membership after the 1950's and the disintegration of the code of honor and ethics in favor of straight-up thug killings and bloodshed.
The Brotherhoods expertly tells the facts of official and unofficial mafia and police action over a two-decade period without getting overly bogged down in technical specifics. This could easily read like a detective blotter, but Guy Lawson spins a compelling tale of the wide web of individuals affected by the actions of two crooked NYPD cops. A "cast of characters" prefacing the book is an indispensable reference to the police, mobsters, and victims of this story.
Parallel, intertwined brotherhoods on either side of the law.......2007-04-19
Lawson and Oldham's narrative is the story of parallel, intertwined brotherhoods on either side of the law--the New York City Police Department and the five Mafia families of the 1980's and early 1990's. It is subtitled "The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia." The cops in question are Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito. The story, however, belongs to NYPD detective William Oldham, one of the co-authors of the book. Oldham was a in the police brotherhood with Caracappa and Eppolito, admiring first grade detective Caracappa's work in the organized crime unit from a distance, and puzzling at Eppolito's flaunting of police department regulations about fraternizing with mafia members.
Oldham made his way through the ranks of the NYPD with a wary eye on the Caracappa/Eppolito duo. Eppolito retired in the early nineties and published a tell-all memoir about his association with the mafia, bragging about brutal take-downs and his delight at being in bed with the wise guys. Caracappa was a figure in the tell-all memoir, and retired shortly thereafter to keep his pension an avoid the inevitable NYPD Internal Affairs investigation
Luchese family boss Gaspipe Casso turned state's evidence in the mid-nineties and confessed all to the FBI and NYPD in exchange for placement in the witness protection program. He had dirt on the Luchese family and other mobsters which rivaled the confessions of Sammy the Bull Gravano. A common thread in all his stories was "the crystal ball" (or "the cops"), a pair of crooked cops, one from the Major Case Squad, who helped Casso rise to mythical levels within his crime family. "The cops" fed Casso dirt on who had turned into an informant, swept cases against made men under the rug, gave warnings about take-downs, and even murdered under mafia orders. Casso was once removed from his crystal ball, but after Eppolito's tell-all memoir was published, he had a good guess about the identities of "the cops" who made him such a success as a mafia boss.
Detective Oldham then made it his mission to take down these crooked cops, who by the end of the nineties were retired in a comfortable lifestyle in the Las Vegas area. Lawson and Oldham's book is as much the story of police detectives Oldham, Caracappa, and Eppolito as it is a history of the mafia in New York over the last three decades. The authors describe the genesis of the RICO legal statutes and its implications for both the cops pursing the mafia and the district attorney indicting criminals. The book also addresses the changes in the openness of mafia membership after the 1950's and the disintegration of the code of honor and ethics in favor of straight-up thug killings and bloodshed.
The Brotherhoods expertly tells the facts of official and unofficial mafia and police action over a two-decade period without getting overly bogged down in technical specifics. This could easily read like a detective blotter, but Guy Lawson spins a compelling tale of the wide web of individuals affected by the actions of two crooked NYPD cops. A "cast of characters" prefacing the book is an indispensable reference to the police, mobsters, and victims of this story.
Book Description
Florence, June 1300. The body of an artist, his face covered in quicklime, is discovered next to the mosaic he had almost completed. Dante Alighieri, the newly appointed prior of the city of Florence (and the man who will one day write that exhaustive treatise on criminology, the Inferno), is on the case. It is his first official investigation. Obscure clues lead him up and down the streets of Florence, following a trail full of intrigue and mystery. Why have seven scholars, each a master of his art, assembled in the city? What was the secret that might have been revealed had the artist lived to complete his work? Was it an alchemist’s formula to transform lead into gold? Did it have to do with Antilia, wild and beautiful, who dances nightly in a tavern owned by a one-armed crusader? Or perhaps with another elusive Beatrice, the heiress to the imperial Swabian throne, whose rumored arrival in the city could upset the political aspirations of Pope Boniface, Dante’s nemesis?
Leoni’s voice is wry and irreverent as he pokes fun at the genius poet and renders Dante a human being—brilliant but temperamental, bumbling but undaunted. An enthralling historical thriller from Italy’s new maestro of crime.
Customer Reviews:
So far, so good . . ........2007-09-26
I'd say I'm about 3/4 through, and while this may not be the appropriate time to write a review, I read through books so fast that I can't keep up with my own reviews. So here is a premature but honest review. The author has a certain style that is just right. He doesn't care to impress you the way some writers have to in order to create an artifical ambience that can often be embarrassing. The writer doesn't care about artifice, like Dante, he is going to find out the truth -- he is telling you the tale in such a real and genuine manner that you become immersed in the story while still being able to analyse analytically. The best type of mystery or detective story has this quality. I am impressed with the quality of this story so far, and applaud any modern-day writer who can write such tales with seeming ease. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mysteries set in the past, or else anyone who is a fan of Dante Alighieri.
Must Read for Fans of Historical Fiction.......2007-06-13
Leoni is a must read for fans of historical mysteries. What did Dante Alighieri do before he wrote his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy? Leoni writes that he solved mysteries in this story of the death of an artist.
a terrific historical mystery novel.......2007-02-08
I totally agree with the mystery book reviewer for the Baltimore Sun who wrote "Historical thrillers don't come more high-concept than this: Dante Alighieri, detective. But Leoni, whose novel reached immediate best-seller status in his native Italy when first published there in 2004, opts for a more low-key approach that keeps intrigue perpetually bubbling under the surface instead of broadcasting it in the reader's face every chapter ending or so.....Leoni's narrative style is equal parts crisp and wry, bolstered by his thorough knowledge of medieval Italy and the Commedia. But it's the human portrait of Dante that makes this brand of mystery memorable." Library Journal wrote in their review "Elegantly written and beautifully translated, the language is descriptive without being flowery, smart without being pedantic."
"Destiny leaves its mark on places, just as it does on men's lives.".......2007-02-01
Circa 1300, Florence, Italy is a hotbed of political and religious intrigue, the devastating rout of the Christians at St. John of Acre in 1291 still a black memory to the vanquished. Dante Alighieri, Prior of the city, watches over his flock with a suspicious eye, curtailing the excesses of behavior with a nightly curfew that delivers an uneasy peace. It is with some trepidation then, that Dante (the future author of The Divine Comedy) is roused from his bed by soldiers who bring word of a murder at a local building site. Reaching the scene of the crime, Dante discovers the tortured body of a master mosaicist, the artist's work interrupted by the fatal attack. It is Dante's responsibility to determine the nature of the crime and the culprit behind it, meanwhile keeping the city from becoming further inflamed.
To that end, while making enquiries about the dead artist, Dante is welcomed by a diverse group of scholar-philosophers, the Third Heaven, who meet regularly at a local tavern to discuss relevant theological and philosophical theories and perhaps more mysterious subjects related to the Knights Templar and their quest for knowledge of the great secrets of the universe. Dante suspects that these men, as well as a beautiful exotic dancer, Antilia, are protecting whoever is behind the crime. In an intricate game of cat and mouse, Dante scours a labyrinth of potential motives; at the core of all is the carefully guarded secret of one of God's great mysteries.
That he has the power to use the resources of the inquisition is a great temptation to Dante when his new circle of friends is less than forthcoming, but he controls the impulse to resort to torture, working painstakingly toward a resolution of the murder and a discovery of what the artist knew. To further complicate the plot, the political situation is reaching a crisis point. While Dante's faction of choice, the Whites, are currently in control, there are guarded suggestions that he should exercise great care, perhaps leave the city before the party of Pope Boniface VIII, the Blacks, are again in ascendancy and seeking revenge against their enemies. But Dante won't pay attention, on the scent of a great find and unprepared to deviate from his grand design of infinite knowledge. As the bodies fall around him, Dante eliminates suspects, finally face to face with the information for which so many have died.
In the throes of rebuilding after yet another devastating war, Florence is rife with intrigue, cloaked figures lurking in dark passages, streets lined with beggars and mercenaries dressed as beggars and the insatiable curiosity of learned men in search of truth. Too easily distracted by theological debate with the potential suspects, Dante falls victim to his own ego and desire to know the unknowable, ancient documents, secret maps all pointing to what the Knights Templar have died to protect. Too esoteric and lacking in human passion, Dante unfortunately fails to inflame the imagination, caught in the convoluted web of his own mind. Luan Gaines/2007.
not a very engaging read.......2007-01-31
I don't know if it was because I read the translated edition of this novel, or if the author and his publishers have a very different idea of what a mystery novel entails, but this was, probably one of the most painful reads I've ever had to do. And no one forced me to read on either! Sheer stubbornness made me read on the bitter end -- I just had to discover if things got any better. Unfortunately, it never did.
In the summer of 1300, the city of Florence is tense with fear that the Guelphs and the Ghibellines are about to clash again in another titanic struggle for power. In the midst of this, Dante Aligieri, poet, scholar and newly appointed prior of Florence, finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation. The body of a master mosaicist is found, his head covered in quicklime, next to a mosaic he was working on in a church that is being restored. And when Dante discovers that the dead mosaicist, Ambrogio, was part of a secret group of scholars who had all come to Florence to set up a university, and that their funding seemed to be coming from Rome, a suspicious Dante wonders if this group of scholars are in actuality secret spies for Pope Boniface, and if the Pope has sinister plans to control Florence through this college. Why then was Ambrogio murdered? Was there a falling out amongst the scholars that led to this murder? And does this murder affect the future of Florence at all? Determined to solve this murder, Dante begins the business of prying and probing into the affairs of these foreign scholars, in spite of the many apparent dangers that lie before him...
Personally, I didn't find "Mosaic Crimes" to be a very engaging book. Perhaps this was because I was reading a translated edition, and things were not as they would have been in the original. The version I read seemed a bit flaccid and sterile -- the plot meandered all over the place between subplots that dealt with the horrific murders and the threat of fresh hostilities between the Guelphs and the Ghibbetines. Also, for a
novel where so much was going on, and where there was a plethora of suspects and action, "Mosaic Crimes" was just not very suspenseful. Again, this may have had something to do with the prose style. And there was the subplot involving the heirs to the Swabian throne-- a little more background as to how the throne was lost and why the Vatican was hunting down the remaining heir would have been nice. As it was, I spent a lot of time trying to infer things before I brokedown and consulted my bookshelf. However, the biggest problem I had with the book was the author's decision to choose Dante of all people as his chief protagonist. Especially since he'd decided to portray Dante as realistically as possible, warts and all. Dante, in this novel, is an arrogant, small minded, peevish, short tempered and paranoid character, with few redeeming traits and who was just plain unlikable. It is truly difficult to loose yourself in a book when you find the main protagonist to be so annoying that you start rooting for the murderer(s) to get the better of Dante!! However, for me, the most disturbing thing of all was the language used to characterise and deride practically the only female character in the novel, Antilia. A tavern dancer of bewitching beauty and mystery, Antilia both tantalises and repels Dante. So much so that he keeps referring to her in very derogatory terms. Whether or not you decide that this character deserves the "accolades" Dante heaps on her, I can tell you that as a woman, I was quite discomforted by the savagery of language used here.
The history bits are good, as is the period detail and the vividly colourful descriptions of scenes. But the storyline took too long to unfold and the sudden dipping into philosophy was too distracting at times. All in all, "Mosaic Crimes" was a very disappointing 2 star read.
Book Description
Masterly stories include "Little Hut," "With Other Eyes," "A Voice," "Citrons from Sicily," "A Character’s Tragedy," six more. English translations.
Customer Reviews:
Introduction to an Italian Nobel Laureate.......2007-08-24
Luigi Pirandello, the 1934 Nobel laureate for literature,created some delightful and surprising short stories of the southern regions of Italy.
Supported by a careful English translation on the opposite pages it is possible for the intermediate level student of Italian to get a taste of real literature.
Because of Pirandello's place in the literary world, this book should be added to every student's library.
Eleven Short Stories - Dual Language.......2006-08-24
Outstanding book for the intermediate Italian student. Put together well.
Neat.......2004-07-29
Yeah, its fun to study this way, and you will not even realize how much italian you have learned until you go back to read the book again or go read another book in italian and you will be like "Holy cow I can understand some of this"...I am reading this book for a second time now...my feelings on the actual stories themselves is really kinda hit or miss...some of them I thought were really cool, like Una Voce, it is a story about a blind man who is engaged to this woman. A doctor thinks he can cure the man's blindness. What happens? You have to read to find out but it was very interesting (Yeah I know it sounds like that movie with Val Kilmer but trust me, it's different). But honestly, for a lot of the other stories I was like please let this end. Maybe something was lost in the translation, and I'm not fluent in Italian, but Pirandello reminds me of a guy who takes 2 hours to set up a joke and then has no punchline. He writes like at the end there is going to be some really big catch like "Woah I can't believe this happened!" but then he just ends it before that catch ever takes place. So I guess what I am trying to say
is that this book is a great tool for learning italian, I just didn't find most of the stories very interesting. Still, I am glad I bought it. I thought "Italian Stories" were a lot more interesting. Yeah, I know Pirandello is real famous and people love his stuff, I'm just saying that I didn't particularly like it.
A great tool.......2003-05-25
This book is a great version of these classic tales. Being a dual-language text makes it an excellent aid to Italian language study. It is a must-read for lovers of Italian literature.
Book Description
Italian influence can be seen everywhere in America—in its buildings and its books, in its culture and its cuisine. Passage to Liberty tells the story of how Italians became Americans and fulfilled their dreams of rebuilding the image of Rome in their new country. Readers will discover:
- Removable reproductions of memorabilia and documents
- Engaging illustrations
- Informative text
- And more!
Both a work of history and a moving narrative, Passage to Liberty brings to life the experiences of a people whose talents, contributions, and self-sacrifice helped them to make this country their own.
Customer Reviews:
such a beautiful book.......2006-03-10
Not long after my grandmother's death, I went to a Borders store and was looking through the books on sale. I saw this lovely book and picked it up to leaf through it. The first page I opened the book to was the one with the little handwritten recipe. The recipe was unfamiliar to me, but the small neat handwriting was amazingly like my grandmother's, and the slip of paper it was written on was exactly like a page from one of the little notebooks she used to write in. I didn't have to look at another thing in the book to know I had to buy it. When I got the book home and actually read it, I LOVED IT! The book itself is really good, but all of the little bits that are tucked inside really make it worth the money. It's a lovely book.
Something you'll treasure.......2002-10-31
As you'd expect in a book like this, it tells the tale from Columbus to Madonna, and tells it well, concisely, entertainingly, without being annoyingly fulsome or reverent. What makes this a treaure, though, are all the surprises--you turn a page and find, actually tucked into a corner or attached by glue, replicas of ancient passports, or hand-written recipes, or coupon books from some old immigrant mutual-aid insurance policy. There's even a St. Lucia prayer card from somebody's funeral and the jury's verdict form from a trial of Al Capone. It brings the history to life in a way beyond mere words. If you buy one copy, you'll end up buying more as gifts, without a doubt.It's a beautiful object and a terrific book.
Book Description
This collection includes stories by established Italian literary figures such as Italo Calvino and Primo Levi as well as a new generation of writers. Aspects of Sicilian and Italian life are explored by Leonardo Sciascia and Goffredo Parise, while Antonio Tabucchi looks at the natures of reality.
Customer Reviews:
Cheap Book Quality........2003-02-26
I was hoping for a quality of book that I can read and reread for practice for a long time. The paper was dry and dark, like a recycle quality. The print was light and small. It was not easy on the eyes.
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Books:
- The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty
- The Rapture: In the Twinkling of an Eye--Countdown to the Earth's Last Days (Before They Were Left Behind, Book 3)
- The Rules of Work: The Unspoken Truth About Getting Ahead in Business (Richard Templar's Rules)
- The Secret
- The Shunning/The Confession/The Reckoning (The Heritage of Lancaster County 1-3)
- The Sword of Truth, Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: Wizard's First Rule, Blood of the Fold ,Stone of Tears
- The Templar Legacy: A Novel
- The Truelove
- Treasure of Khan
- Unafraid: Mary (Lineage of Grace)
Books Index
Books Home
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- American Culture, American Tastes: Social Change and the 20th Century
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- Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 2
- Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon
- Developments in the International Harmonization of Accounting
- The Values-Based Safety Process: Improving Your Safety Culture with Behavior-Based Safety
- Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest
Rounding the Mark
Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
Quietly in Their Sleep
Excursion to Tindari: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
The Smell of the Night (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery)
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