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.

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Going donwhill fast
End of an era, change in main characters for McCullough's Rome series
Tedious and cliched
The Masters Of Rome Series: Book 3-Fortune's Favorite's
A Fine Continuation of a Great Series

Fortune's Favorites
Colleen Mccullough
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0380710838

Book Description

They were blessed by the gods at birth with wealth and privilege. In a time of cataclysmic upheaval, a bold new generation of Romans vied for greatness amid the disintegrating remnants of their beloved Republic. But there was one who towered above them all -- a brilliant and beautiful boy whose ambition was unequaled, whose love was legend and whose glory was Rome's. A boy they would one day call "Caesar."

Customer Reviews:

Going donwhill fast.......2006-09-24

While her research is (as always) amazing, the series is going downhill fast. This book is BORING. Hundreds of pages of political soap opera with some action here and there. After 400 pages, I just can't suffer through it anymore. It's like flipping back and forth between reading transcripts of "All My Children" and the "Congressional Record." I bought the whole series as a set but I won't be finishing it.

The quest for good historical fiction continues...

End of an era, change in main characters for McCullough's Rome series.......2006-05-11

EDIT: The low rating was a mistake on my part. McCullough's writing and plot is spellbinding, and my rating does not reflect the quality of her work, but rather the characterization and failure to make her characters identifiable or likeable in the eyes of the reader.

With "Fortune's Favorites", the great characters we came to know and love from the first two ("The First Man in Rome" and "The Grass Crown") like Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marcus Livius Drusus, Quintus Servilius Caepio, Quintus Sertorius, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, etc, pass on (not necessarily die, but fade from the book's center spotlight) replaced by the two new stars and their legions of clients, friends, foes, etc, Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

Caesar and Pompeius are the popular two in Roman stories and such, and now McCullough dramatizes them.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this book. I had bought all her books (in chronological order: "The First Man in Rome", "The Grass Crown", "Fortune's Favorites", "Caesar's Women", "Caesar", and "The October Horse") planning to read them all in order (and taking almost an entire month for each one! @_@) and had just finished the first two, then moved on to this one. I finished this one in the beginning of this month (May) and upon retrospect and reading some 90 pages of "Caesar's Women" I can say I was very disappointed with this one.

Whereas the first two book introduced likable characters like Gaius Marius (who was your hero until he went mad) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (our tamer Caligula we all love to hate) and all the other bunch, McCullough moves on to two new heroes who are... for lack of better words, cold heartless selfish greedy sniveling weasly jerks.

While history varies in the depictions of Caesar and Pompeius (the prime two in this new era of the series), McCullough chooses portrayals of the two which really disconnect them with the reader and makes them the type of people you want to hate but you'd look like a jealous jerk for doing so because everyone loves them and they're so wildly successful.

Pompeius is depicted as a VERY angry, shrewd little man with a one-track mind focused only on his own glory. A "his way or the highway" sort of attitude, in which he throws fierce temper tantrums when things don't go his way (such as when the elephants in his triumph couldn't fit through the final gates). It would be sort of amusing reading about his temper tantrums and his hectic relationships with people, but it's not. It's very laborious trying to be interested in this very temperamental and very selfish man who you can't even label as an antagonist.

Caesar is done even worse. With modern times, depictions of Caesar appear to be one of a bold, cunning, and ambitious man. McCullough takes that to whole new levels, portraying Caesar (perhaps inadvertently) as a BOLD, CUNNING, and AMBITIOUS man to the max, and... very very VERY morally loose, jerky, greedy, selfish, and a very repugnant, hateable man. His treatment of women, too, is so hideous (even Sulla in the previous books wasn't so ghastly and cold-hearted as Caesar) that an apathetic little girl like me cringes in disgust and makes me feel like a feminist.

Caesar is portrayed as brave, intelligent, clever, cunning, beautiful (though I strongly beg to differ), and so great as to have ambitions beyond a normal Roman's. Yet for inexplicable reasons, Caesar feels the need to advance in Roman politics and be Consul (there's no elaboration on his highest goals or what he plans to do after he becomes Consul---just that he'll be Consul when its his time, and nothing more). This masking of goals from the reader really puts Caesar in limbo and sort of shows him as a lethargic vagabond wandering about aiming for the Consulship, then perhaps to wander about like a reckluse doing nothing more. An interesting mid-way view for the author, but it's a bit unfulfilling if she takes no stance on her character. It's not a history, so there's no need to be unbiased.
Caesar (with the shocking acceptance of his mother Aurelia) also begins on a really sick "campaign" to have sex with as many political rivals' wives as possible, even if they aren't his enemies! This very lewd and disgustingly Caligulan campaign of sex goes on for a long long time, and breaks lots of hearts and sullies many reputations (with Caesar wickedly smirking as his foes and potential foes crumble). He is so detached and cold that we aren't even sure if he loves his wife, Cinnila, for whom he defies Sulla and risks being killed just to stay married to her!

Since I've just begun with "Caesar's Women" I'm going to include some of it in here:

Caesar continues his crude, heartless campaign of seducing noble women and sexing them for his own gain. He even becomes "lovers" with Servilia Caepionis (Marcus Junius Brutus's mother) and is so cold and detached to her, you genuinely cannot believe they are in love, it is simply not believable.

Not much else is developed on Pompeius other than he wants fame and recognition and has a short temper. Caesar is depicted as very cold and heartless and overall a very very VERY strong contradiction to the great hero he is depicted as by some people (and a contradiction to the great hero McCullough depicted Gaius Marius as)

I was very disappointed with "Fortune's Favorites" and its... diabolical new stars. That's the only word I could think of. Some of the minor subplot stories are dabbled upon with the faintest touch of a fingertip, including the story of Spartacus which lasts maybe less than fifty pages and very few minor characters aside from Cicero (who is given very little page-time) and Crassus (made very very aloof and boring to read about) and some other big names who are given virtually no development and not used much at all other than as names tossed around and political obstacles to Caesar and Pompeius. Very disappointed in this one. It's very sickening and laborious reading about Caesar now, after the greatness of Marius and Sulla.

Tedious and cliched.......2006-01-20

I noted in my review of another book in this series the problems with McCullough's style. The problems are compounded in this book. Before, characters were constantly grinning. They still do here, but now they're also constantly shivering or shuddering. One constantly sees clumsy, amateurish sentences like, "Aurelia shivered, grimaced." I found one instance of characters shivering four times in two facing pages. Cliches are piled up in vast heaps. Sulla "died hard." Sheesh. And the description of his death couldn't possibly be more hackneyed and silly.

More obsession with blue eyes "ringed with a blue so dark it was almost black." More obsession with "small white teeth" and "large yellow teeth." Sulla is described again and again as having a "naked clawed creature within, fit only to howl at the moon." I've seen that particular nugget perhaps 30 times over three volumes; when I see it yet again, it makes me want to tear the book to pieces. As does the phrase, "I'm one of fortune's favorites." I can almost hear a trumpet play a sadly comic wah-wah-wahhhh after every one of those.

But the real problem with this volume is the storytelling. That is what usually makes McCullough's books worth reading. But the story remains untold in this one. Oh, there's plenty of gossip about this person marrying that, and ephemeral political alliances that come and go, and the general outline of the events following the Marsian War, including Sulla's dictatorship, are described. But the proscriptions are barely even mentioned. No attempt to build a sense of the terror they inspired. Nothing! Just some periodic muttering between Catulus and Hortensius, who come off sounding like Waldorf and Astoria sitting in the balcony on the Muppets Show. The war with Mithridates appears to be a big upcoming topic in the previous book, but it's only glanced at here with casual asides.

Mostly this book offers an endless series of disconnected incidents and anecdotes. Young Caesar has all the depth and believability of a cardboard cutout. Pompey is somewhat more believable, but in a cartoonish way.

The character of Sulla himself is deeply unsatisfying as well. The historical character of Sulla is certainly an engima, but a novelist has to take a stand and flesh out the character one way or the other, and then suffer the endless nitpicking of the historical purists. But the character of Sulla is particularly lifeless in this book, even more lifeless than McCullough's characters tend to be. I get no sense of what made him tick, apart from a taste for the ridiculous, and for wine and men. And he constantly asks himself why he doesn't know what love is. Honestly, at times the purple prose and laughable dialogue border on the kind of stuff written for pubescent girls. "Of course you know what love is, Sulla! You love Rome!"

Wah-wah-wahhhh.

There are a few fairly vivid (and entirely fictional) scenes in the book that are worth reading, but mostly this book is a complete dud. I'm a bit over halfway and giving serious consideration to giving up on this one. It's quite rare for me to give up on a book.

Incidentally, the fifth book in the series, "Caesar," while still suffering from some serious flaws, is far, far more entertaining than this rubbish. The first and second books, "First Man in Rome" and "The Grass Crown," are also better, though it was in "The Grass Crown" that I first became weary of the painfully bad cliches that McCullough refuses to part with.

UPDATE: I've now finished the book. And the second half is considerably better. But there was really nowhere to go but up. The story of Spartacus is pretty interesting, though as always, McCullough's style never rises above mediocre. And the phrase "fortune's favorite" keeps popping up like the refrain in one of those never-ending children's poems. The characters of Caesar and Pompey are spruced up a bit toward the end too, although Crassus is repeatedly described as bovine and expressionless. That's pretty funny, coming from an author who has everyone else exhibiting such an endless stream of exaggerated facial expressions that one almost might think one had stumbled into an ancient mime colony.

The Masters Of Rome Series: Book 3-Fortune's Favorite's.......2006-01-05

I first read Colleen McCullough's Masters Of Rome epic series some years ago, and just recently, picked them up again. McCullough's grasp of Roman life and politics, during its decline, is nothing short of amazing.

Fortunes Favorite's picks up where it left us in the Grass Crown. Cornelius Sulla, after a barbaric and bloody campaign within Rome itself, has made himself Dictator of Rome. The once handsome man is now appallingly ugly, beset by sores, nearly toothless and completely bald, due to what we now call diabetes.

After a long series of proscriptions, which included confiscation of properties and Roman status, Sulla begins to legislate a series of laws, that in the main, prove beneficial to a Republic tottering on the brink of collapse.

Julius Caesar has been ordered by Sulla, to divorce his child wife Cinna, and refuses. The meeting between the two men-one badly aged and ill, and the young and very virile Caesar is fascinating. The decision that comes of this meeting has breathtaking consequences, that echo throughout history.

Pompey Magnus, a superb Commander, but still a young man is a threat to both Sulla and Caesar, but for differing reasons. Vain and given to horrifying juvenile tantrums when thwarted, Pompey manages to align himself with Caesar.

Colleen McCullough never takes the easy way out to keep her readers engaged, and never uses trite or "popular" story lines. For example, though she mentions Caesar's virility with women throughout her books, she never uses them in a way lesser authors might. Caesar is what he is: a Roman Patrician who only uses women to hurt his rivals.

Cicero, Crassus, the Cotti, and Scipio gens are all brilliantly brought to life. One of the most annoying characters in the series has to be Cato. Mocked as a child for his big head and small body, coupled with a beaky nose, he is the quintessential pedant, who dedicates his life to bringing Caesar down. Yet he is a moral man, living amid amoral people, and this ultimately proves his undoing.

When Sulla, as promised, steps down from his Dictatorship, and goes off to live what is left of his life, with the two people he most loves, his wife and his male lover Metrobius, he dies from his excesses. McCullough's treatment of the mess left upon his dying, is both sensitive and touching.

I highly recommend this, and all the other books in the series, beginning with The First Man In Rome, and ending with The October Horse. The parallels with our own society are there to see, and yet, she carries it off so well, the reader is left thoroughly fascinated, and much richer for having read them.

Included with each book are well drawn maps of the areas dealt with, a comprehensive glossary, and an assortment of back and white drawings taken directly from classical busts of many of the characters in the series.

This is the best melange of history and fiction I've had the privilege to read in years, and I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone interested in learning about the time before the fall of the Roman Empire.

A Fine Continuation of a Great Series.......2005-12-29

FORTUNE'S FAVORITES is Colleen McCollough's third novel in her Rome series, and I believe her best so far. The great characters of Roman history are assembling and she breathes live into them as only a novelist of her skill can. The Rome series is based upon the work of the ancients including Plutarch, Seutonius and others; although she is true to her historical roots she also introduces some theories of her own that have a degree of plausiblity.

The book covers twelve years of Roman history and begins with Sulla's return from exile to lead his forces against those of his former patron and mentor the late Gauis Marius. Upon winning this civil war, Sulla is named Dictator with total control. He purges Rome of the pro Marius senators and collaborators and begins to single-handedly reestablish and remake the Republic; completing this work he leaves public life. He's given Rome a last chance but the seeds of empire have been planted, ironically by him, and will take root under his successors.

Julius Caesar was introduced in the previous novel, THE GRASS CROWN, but only as a child. In this book his character is developed and his intelligence, courage and political abilities are shown. These are the traits that he will use to create the Empire and reshape Rome. Caesar believes he is truly one of Fortune's Favorites. Pompey the Great, another Favorite and Caesar's future adversary also plays a prominent role, older by about ten years his career has been on a "fast track" with his military genius, wealth and connections. Cicero, a minor player in her second book, has developed into one of Rome's most notable lawyers and orators. Spartacus' rebellion of the slaves occurs during this period and provides a glimpse of gladiator and slave life and the consequences of defying Roman power.

McCullough's novels introduce numerous characters, and at times it is difficult to keep up with them as well as her use of Latin. She does include a glossary, illustrations and maps of the areas where battles are fought and the locations of cities and states that haven't existed for centuries and these help.

This book is exciting, full of intrigue, with a cast that are only read about in history books or seen in a Hollywood rendition. The book can be read as a "stand alone" novel; and she includes synopses of the first two prior to beginning this one; but having read the previous two I would recommend that approach. I found once I started FORTUNE'S FAVORITES it was very difficult to put down.

Fortune's Favorite Child: The Uneasy Life of Walter Anderson

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Paul Richard, "The Washington Post," Oct. 25, 2003
An American Original

Fortune's Favorite Child: The Uneasy Life of Walter Anderson
Christopher Maurer
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1578065399

Book Description

The first biography to explore the troubled life of one of America's most prolific, and visionary artists.

Few American painters have lived so intimately with nature as Walter Anderson, and few have lived as adventurously as he did, on the edge of society, a voluntary exile from "the sordid thing most people call reality."

Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-1965) is only now finding his place in American painting, partly because he spent much of his life in a small Mississippi town, more intent upon "natural forms" than upon his own place in the annals of painting. Afflicted with mental illness that baffled some of America's leading psychiatrists, alienated for long periods from his wife and children, he led a life of passion and adventure. In pursuit of nature, he rowed frequently to a wilderness island in the Gulf of Mexico; biked and walked thousands of miles across the American landscape; roamed through China during the Maoist revolution; and secluded himself in a cottage where he produced an astonishing abundance of watercolors and drawings, ceramics, wood carvings, and a mural of thanksgiving for the gifts of nature.

Though indifferent to fame, Anderson was acknowledged, after his death, as the South's greatest painter. John Russell of the New York Times spoke of the "quietly excellent power" that makes his watercolors "among the best of their date," and others compared his vision to that of VanGogh and Georgia O'Keeffe.

This compelling, prize-winning biography explores the painting, writing, and uneasy life of a major artist, a fiercely individualistic painter who -despite adversity and hardship- considered himself "Fortune's Favorite Child."

Customer Reviews:

Paul Richard, "The Washington Post," Oct. 25, 2003.......2003-11-09

"The makers of great American watercolors -- Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, John Marin, Charles Demuth-- are a select few. Anderson is worthy of inclusion in that company... Here's this Mississippian whose light-struck pictures throb, as do [Van Gogh's], with furious, methodical ecstasy, and are as American as can be. Art poured from Anderson as it does from such unstoppable producers as Red Grooms and Frank Stella. Anderson was a natural."

An American Original.......2003-11-08

It is the centennial of the birth of one of America's visionary artists, whose fame continues to expand beyond his Mississippi home. Walter Anderson has never before had a full biography, but now University Press of Mississippi has brought out _Fortune's Favorite Child: The Uneasy Life of Walter Anderson_ by Christopher Maurer. It will be treasured by those who love Anderson's vision shown in his thousands of prints and watercolors, as well as his murals. It is certainly true that Anderson had an uneasy life as detailed here in full, but also an extraordinarily productive one. The biography cannot explain the idiosyncratic genius which inhabits his pictures; nothing can do that. But it does allow us to appreciate the way in which a talented man could triumph over enormous difficulties, not the least of which was a serious mental illness which prevented normal or reliable work habits or relationships with others.

Anderson was born in 1903, in the garden district of New Orleans, one of the big cities he would return to repeatedly, although his sphere of expression was almost always wilderness or rural areas. He was schooled in art in New York and Philadelphia, and during some of the time he was at school, his family set up a fledgling business in Ocean Springs. Shearwater Pottery, set on land acquired by his mother and financed by his father, was a real family endeavor, with his brothers throwing and designing pots, mother decorating them and worrying over aesthetics, and father balancing the books and promoting the business. Once Anderson returned, he took part in the effort, decorating plates and designing figurines. Shearwater was to become a mainstay in his life, and a financial anchor; he never made much money from it, but he didn't need much money for his unconventional way of living, and he was singularly uninterested in profiting from his artwork. He had an unconventional marriage with many separations and general unhappiness. Nonetheless, his wife knew better than others how to appreciate him, even in the beginning: "He isn't just gifted or talented. He really is an artist, a genius," she wrote to one of his psychiatrists. His attacks on others, and upon himself (with cutting and burning), fueled by delusions and paranoia, would land him into one psychiatric ward after another. He took long trips by bicycle all over the country, and even spent time in China to study murals there, always sleeping rough and traveling with no luxuries. His most famous excursions were of course his trips to Horn Island, the eight miles to which he would row with his watercolors and scanty supplies, spending weeks at a time, away from all humans and rejoicing in the neighbor animals he found.

Anderson died of cancer in 1965, during a hospitalization for a lung tumor, a hospitalization he smilingly admitted was the first one of his own volition. Only afterwards did his family start gathering up the huge amount of notes, sketches, and watercolors with which he had been consumed for a lifetime. But even they had no idea what they would find in the padlocked door of a little room that had been added to his cottage at Shearwater Pottery. When they pried open the door, they discovered that all the walls and the ceiling had been crammed with brilliant murals of sunrise, sunset, nighttime, and all the cranes, fish, pelicans, and other creatures that had been subjects of such intense lifetime study. It was just one more instance of his relentless motion to depict and to participate in nature for his own sake, realizing nature through art. The discovery of the room, now part of the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, is the close of this satisfying, moving, and well-illustrated biography.

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Fate and Fortune: Opera Favorites (The Classical Mood)

Manufacturer: Int'l Masters
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1892207079

Product Description

Book and cd. Operas included span a borad range of musical styles, from the robust Russian idiom Boris Godunov through the melodramatic Latin flavor of Il Trovatore to the full-blown romance of The Flying Dutchman.

Favorite sleuths: Ellery Queen, Doctor Alcazar, Lord Peter Wimsey, Nero Wolfe, Miss Marple, The Saint, Mr. Campion, Tommy Hambledon, Perry Mason, Mr. Fortune

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Favorite sleuths: Ellery Queen, Doctor Alcazar, Lord Peter Wimsey, Nero Wolfe, Miss Marple, The Saint, Mr. Campion, Tommy Hambledon, Perry Mason, Mr. Fortune
John Ernst
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007IW7CY

Favorites of Fortune: Technology, Growth, and Economic Development since the Industrial Revolution

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Favorites of Fortune: Technology, Growth, and Economic Development since the Industrial Revolution

Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674295218

Book Description

A galaxy of distinguished international economists and historians pit economic history against the shaky assumptions of the classical economic theory of natural growth. Their explanations consider the factors of technology, entrepreneurialism, and paths to economic growth, but each reflects an ideological wave of explanation that has marked the last two hundred years.

Fortune's Favorite: The Life and Times of Franz Lehar

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Fortune's Favorite: The Life and Times of Franz Lehar
W. & Murray, D. L. MacQueen-Pope
Manufacturer: Hutchinson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBQNNA

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Fortune's Favorites Part 2
Colleen McCullough
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 5553844371

Fortune's Favorites: Portraits of Some American Corporations, an Anthology (Essay Index Reprint)

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Fortune's Favorites: Portraits of Some American Corporations, an Anthology (Essay Index Reprint)
Fortune
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0836904516

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Sulla is Dieing, Pompey & Caesar are the Rising Stars.
excellent addition to a fine and ambitious series

Fortunes Favorites -25.00
C. McCullough , and Colleen McCullough
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Caesar's Women

ASIN: 0831786892

Customer Reviews:

Sulla is Dieing, Pompey & Caesar are the Rising Stars........2006-04-18

Ms McCullough has done a profound historical research in order to write her "Roman Saga" started with "The First Man in Rome" (1990), continued with "The Grass Crown" (1991) and "Fortune's Favorites" (1993).

She delivers an accurate picture of the late Roman Republic, bringing to life historically characters with amazing detail.
The author follows and reveals step by step all the intricacies of that rich and complex era.
Does this mean that the book is boring? By no means, Ms McCullough is able to show daily life, dressing, feeding, religious rituals, political and social structures in a magnificent fresco and at the same time construct an engaging story that will trap the reader for hours, even when this is the weakest of the three volumes.

The story starts in the year 83 BC after Marius' death, with an aged and ailing Sulla back in Italy, defeating methodologically Marius' heirs in his way to Rome.
Three new characters fully emerge in this volume: Pompeius Magnus, Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus. This trio will rock the Republic in the nearing years, but at this stage they are just beginning their unstoppable rise.

One of the wonderful traits of Ms McCullough is that she extrapolates and gives wonderful explanations to odd issues as why Spartacus and his throng of followers traverse almost all the Italic Peninsula and then suddenly turn back.
She also proposes an earlier relationship between Crassus and Caesar and this last character acquiring a fundamental status as diplomatic mediator in Crassus-Pompeius association.

Last but not least the author has drawn beautiful busts of the main characters; detailed maps of different ancient scenarios where action takes place and very complete glossary.

I recommend reading the first volumes of the series, but even if you don't do it, you will no be at loss as the author gives a succinct r?sum? of the first two books.
I strongly recommend this book to any serious history aficionado!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

excellent addition to a fine and ambitious series.......2002-09-13

This continuation volume is a bit disjointed when compared to the wonderfully unified earlier volumes. You have Sulla, who has suddenly become very ill and aged, in the ascendant; his soul sickness comes to full flower here with his power, which he wields with the most chilling rughtlessness as he attempts to return Rome to an earlier age. Then, there is the young Julius Caesar, whose star is just beginning to rise and whose character is utterly unique and fascinating. (There is an hilarious episode where he is captured by pirates, whom he seduces with his wit while telling them he will return and crucify them.) The narrative shuttles between the two rather disjointedly, in a time a change as the Roman Republic breathes its last.

Despite this disjointedness, I enjoyed this novel as much as I did the previous ones. Indeed, I was enthralled as I experienced the history of Rome, which I have studied my entire adult life, in a new way. This is one of the best series of historical novels I have ever read and I can't wait to read the next ones in the series.

I believe that McCullough achieves her ambition of making as complete a portrait of an age as can be done in fiction. Warmly recommended.

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