Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Naguib Mahfouz’s magnificent epic trilogy of colonial Egypt appears here in one volume for the first time. The Nobel Prize—winning writer’s masterwork is the engrossing story of a Muslim family in Cairo during Britain’s occupation of Egypt in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The novels of The Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons–the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching intellectual Kamal. Al-Sayyid Ahmad’s rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination in Palace of Desire, as the world around them opens to the currents of modernity and political and domestic turmoil brought by the 1920s. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz’s vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician.
Throughout the trilogy, the family’s trials mirror those of their turbulent country during the years spanning the two World Wars, as change comes to a society that has resisted it for centuries. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, The Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.
Customer Reviews:
A Window on Another Culture.......2007-09-12
Naguib Mahfouz's "The Cairo Trilogy" is a family saga set against the Cairo of the first half of the twentieth century, from approximately 1917 to the mid 1940s. It was (like Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings") originally written as a single novel, but published as a trilogy for commercial reasons. The three volumes into which it is divided, however, do read like self-contained novels in their own right. The first, "Palace Walk", covers the late 1910s, the second "Palace of Desire" covers the mid to late 1920s and the third, "Sugar Street", chronicles the events of the thirties and forties. The titles of each part are taken from three streets in Cairo in which the characters live.
The main character is the paterfamilias Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, a well-to-do Cairo merchant who leads a strange double life. To his family he is a devout Muslim, a stern husband and father who imposes a strict discipline. His wife Amina is virtually confined to the family home; when she courts her husband's displeasure by daring to go out to visit, a few streets away, the shrine of an Islamic saint whom she reveres, the incident nearly ends in divorce. Yet there is another side to Ahmad. Away from his family he frequents houses of ill repute where he enjoys the company of women (he keeps several mistresses), drinking alcohol and other pleasures forbidden to him by his religion. We also meet Ahmad's sons- the irresponsible playboy Yasin, Fahmy, an idealistic Wafdist (Egyptian nationalist) who loses his life during a demonstration against British rule, and the young Kamal- and his daughters Khadija and Aisha, who are also very different in character. Aisha is beautiful and gentle like her mother, but is fated to have a tragic life. Khadija is less attractive, sharp-nosed and sharp-tongued, and initially worries about finding a husband. In the end, however, she makes as good a marriage as her sister (they marry a pair of brothers).
In "Palace of Desire" Kamal, who was only a mischievous schoolboy in "Palace Walk", starts to emerge as a major character. He falls passionately in love with Aida, the beautiful sister of a friend, but the relationship is destined to end unhappily as her wealthy, aristocratic parents do not regard the schoolmaster son of a shopkeeper as their social equal. Disappointed by the failure of this relationship, Kamal, once as idealistic as his older brother Fahmy, becomes a disillusioned cynic, losing both his idealism and his Islamic faith. He becomes obsessed with the study of philosophy, which he believes will enable him to understand the meaning of life, but this goal eludes him; all philosophy seems to teach him is that such an understanding is unattainable.
Kamal remains an important character in the third volume, "Sugar Street"; he has the chance to marry Aida's equally beautiful younger sister Budur, but does not do so, largely because he has grown used to a bachelor existence and fears that, if married, he would have less time for the philosophical problems which have come to obsess him. His father, however, by now elderly and in poor health, fades into the background in this book. The third generation, in the shape of Abd al-Jawad's grandsons, starts to play an important role. Yasin's son Ridwan is a homosexual who becomes the lover of an influential politician. (This must have been a daring theme in the Egypt of the 1950s when the book was written). Khadija's sons Ahmad and Abd al-Munim are committed followers of two very different ideologies, the first becoming a Communist and the second a Muslim fundamentalist.
Of these two ideologies, Mahfouz tends to devote more time to Communism. In 1957, the future of Egypt and the wider Arab world may well have seemed to consist of a choice between Communism and the secular nationalism espoused by the likes of President Nasser in real life and Fahmy and Kamal in the novel. Mahfouz, however, was to have a long life, dying last year at the age of 95, and was doubtless surprised to see the resurgence of religious fundamentalism during his lifetime, while Communism never won widespread support in the Muslim world and eventually withered even in its Soviet and Eastern European strongholds. Had Mahfouz been able to predict these developments, he might well have paid more attention to Abd al-Munim and his ideas.
One of the themes of the trilogy is the conflicts and contrasts between the Egyptian values and those of the West, especially Egypt's attempts to free itself from the influence of Britain (which remained pervasive even after the country had officially become independent in 1932). Westernised characters such as Aida and her family and contrasted with more conservative ones such as Abd al-Jawad. (Even he, however, becomes more liberal later in life, even allowing his wife to go out freely). It is notable, however, that apart from Abd al-Munim the most politically nationalistic characters are all strongly influenced by European thought. The philosophers who most influence Kamal are Westerners such as Bergson, Russell and Schopenhauer, and the Communism which inspires Ahmad was originally a theory developed by a German sitting in the British Museum in the mid -19th century. I felt that Mahfouz was perhaps too generous towards Communism; Ahmad and his equally radical girlfriend Sawsan are portrayed as attractively idealistic, and there is no attempt to contrast their idealism with the brutality of the Soviet regime which they uncritically support. ("Sugar Street" is set during the years when the Stalinist terror was at its height).
Reviewers have compared Mahfouz to a number of major writers; the two most often mentioned seem to be Tolstoy and Dickens. Both comparisons seem to me to be apt. The Egyptian writer shares with Tolstoy the ability to integrate political and philosophical themes into his work without seeming to preach and without interrupting the flow of his narrative. The tormented Kamal is a fascinating character even though, outwardly, little happens to him; the action is all internal as we watch the development of his character and his ideas. With Dickens he shares the ability to conjure up a vivid sense of a particular time and place, sharing with us the sights, sounds and smells of early 20th century Cairo just as the English writer did with those of 19th century London. With both writers he shares the ability to create a large cast of characters we can identify with and care about, however different their circumstances might be to our own. For those like me who are not familiar with Egypt or the Arabic-speaking world in general, "The Cairo Trilogy" acts like a window enabling us to see something of that culture.
Intricate and unforgettable.......2007-08-13
As it happened, I began reading "Palace Walk" as I boarded the plane that was taking me to Cairo on my second visit. The timing was impeccable, and the live city below my hotel windows provided a living breathing illustration to the rich tapestry of the story, thus making it even more unforgettable. In today's world, this book must be read and re-read by anyone who thinks, who questions current events, who struggles to understand and wishes to form his/her own opinions.
Great book for a long trip.......2007-06-13
Naguib Mahfouz relates a distant time in a far away place with simple sentences and rich details. He relates the breadth of human experience equally well, offering depth and understanding of women as well as men. For the first time I feel that I have some understanding of the daily life of Muslim men and women.
If you want to laugh, read this book. If you want to cry, read this book. If you want a page turner, read this book. The characters will feel like your own family before you're done.
Long, intense and worth every minute.......2007-06-12
I received this book as a Christmas present and when I saw the sheer size of it, I'll admit, I was frightened. For anyone who feels the same, don't let the fact that you could use this a weight put you off from reading it. You will be losing out on a magnificent work.
Mahfouz's trilogy pulled me into a world I know very little of and made me feel at home. I felt the fear the rest of the family did when Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad walked down the halls, banging his cane ahead of him. I read with anger and frustration, watching Yasin's transformation, or lack there of, and Kamal's.
Amina's growth and Aisha's destruction were an equally intriguing read. The fact that Aisha is unable to join her family and is forced to continue falling apart was a hard pill for me to swallow and ended up making me cry by the end of the novel.
Mahfouz is definitely a master storyteller who creates characters in one of the most realistic ways I have ever read. I will certainly be reading The Cairo Trilogy again.
A Treasure.......2007-05-11
This three-generation saga of a decaying Cairo family will totally envelop you. Mahfouz creates a complete and detailed world of characters, places, atmospheres and emotions that you will be reluctant to leave. Among the overarching themes is the contrast between the public face we present to society, and our private conduct and inner reality, a problem of universal significance. These books are a treasure and warrant every superlative.
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Joan Didion’s incomparable and distinctive essays and journalism are admired for their acute, incisive observations and their spare, elegant style. Now the seven books of nonfiction that appeared between 1968 and 2003 have been brought together into one thrilling collection.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem captures the counterculture of the sixties, its mood and lifestyle, as symbolized by California, Joan Baez, Haight-Ashbury. The White Album covers the revolutionary politics and the “contemporary wasteland” of the late sixties and early seventies, in pieces on the Manson family, the Black Panthers, and Hollywood. Salvador is a riveting look at the social and political landscape of civil war. Miami exposes the secret role this largely Latin city played in the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs through Watergate. In After Henry Didion reports on the Reagans, Patty Hearst, and the Central Park jogger case. The eight essays in Political Fictions–on censorship in the media, Gingrich, Clinton, Starr, and “compassionate conservatism,” among others–show us how we got to the political scene of today. And in Where I Was From Didion shows that California was never the land of the golden dream.
Customer Reviews:
Joan Nadaion.......2007-09-15
Tasteless, meaningless, insipid, Joan Didion is a writer for our times. Her cool detached nihilism dovetails perfectly with a world that abjures conviction and commitment. Even so, her work won't long outlast her life.
Beautiful Collection.......2007-07-29
What I had read from Didion in my college comp. class could not have prepared me for the depth and beauty of her body of work. In retrospect, I cannot believe that my professor only asked us to read ONE essay from this remarkable woman. Her work is amazing! Now I see what thousands of others have always known--that Didion is undoubtedly one of the best essayists and authors alive today. I can't wait to read The Year of Magical Thinking next.
What a great compilation.......2007-04-29
I checked this out from our local library the other day and it turned out to be a serendipitous find. I've read some of Didion's work previously of which _The Year of the Magical Thinking_ was the most recent.
This compilation was actually fun to read. My favourite pieces were the ones that focused on California or Southern California, respectively. She is a gifted storyteller.
I couldn't help but feel a keen sense of sadness for her with the noted timeline of her life (and historical moments, too). She lost both her parents, then her spouse and two years later her daughter.
I would suggest this book to others. It's a real treasure.
Reporting with a View.......2007-04-25
Joan wrote her best when she wrote about California. She's in a league of her own. She writes about California the way it is,the strangest foriegn country in the nation. She gets at the psychic truth of her subject, which is no small thing. One of the very few true writers,ever.
Worthwhile compilation.......2007-03-13
I only became aware of Joan Didion after hearing about her bestseller, The Year of Magical Thinking, which I got, and found absolutely touching. When I came across this compilation, I thought I'd give it a try...I wasn't disappointed...each of the essays/ articles have something to offer, and Didion is truly a gifted writer. I'm only sorry that I had missed out on such a talented author before finding her on a bestseller list.
Book Description
Philip Roth's new novel is a candidly intimate yet universal story of loss, regret, and stoicism. The bestselling author of The Plot Against America now turns his attention from "one family's harrowing encounter with history" (New York Times) to one man's lifelong skirmish with mortality.
The fate of Roth's everyman is traced from his first shocking confrontation with death on the idyllic beaches of his childhood summers, through the family trials and professional achievements of his vigorous adulthood, and into his old age, when he is rended by observing the deterioration of his contemporaries and stalked by his own physical woes.
The terrain of this powerful novel is the human body. Its subject is the common experience that terrifies us all.
Customer Reviews:
He's been everywhere except the grave.......2007-10-01
The finest line in this book is a quotation from the protagonist's father as expressed by the protagonist (paraphrased) "you should give when your hands are still warm". The second best line I caught on was "you gotta do what you gotta do" though it has not sunk into the protagonist's head that he's gotta do death, willingly, with all his affairs settled (ideally - Ibn Batuta did write that he has travelled all over the world and the only place he yet had to visit was the grave) ... and as this protagonist/character has, he does not have much to complain of except the fear of letting go. I suppose it the fear we all have, and that all creatures go through when they disappear - to the satisfaction of some and as a generality in dealing with people, to the dissatisfaction of colleagues and loved ones. It was Steve Jobs who on realising he may have only days to live said later "I can say ... that nobody wants to die" - his cancer turned out to be, by some miracle, curable.
Nihilistic it is - Roth writes with the conviction of an atheist for whom death is precisely that - the end, the final curtain. This book is actually quite depressive reading. Though consoling words may be helpful, Roth scars the reader with the reality of the readers own mortality.
I can't see that the character has much to complain of. He had good parents, New York watch/jewellery merchants. He was beloved, by his parents, by his brother, by his wife/ves and a string of lovers. The salacious portions - indicating Roth's Danish heritage - is once with a relatively insensitive if utterly sexy Danish blonde. The characters proclivity for female flesh leavens and spices a sombre, reflective look back at his life in the third person. Sex and death, greed and hate have a habit of converging.
Short and undivided, Everyman does not compare it is true quite as favourably with Tolstoy's shorter book - The Death of Ivan ... as another reviewer has pointed out. There are probably quite a few books in this genre - though not biographies which are often celebrations of people's lives and deaths. Here is Roth's own, dark, brooding fear coming through and this darkness perhaps makes the book a poignant if perhaps uninformed narrative.
The afterlife for Roth remains an open and shut case. Why does he not conclude logically that life is death - that we interact with so many animated corpses on a daily basis? Maybe he could have rubbed it in even more rather than the envy of looking at age and sickness compared to the vitality and desirability of youth and young women's breasts. The protagonist is jealous of his brother's good health - I expect the brother could have written a warmer book and at least Roth makes this a possibility.
I was proud to read my first and who knows last Roth novel. 9/11, Jewishness, the art of gravedigging all highlights in this expose of a regret. As an indulgence, I reproduce the text of a poem - which is evocative of the sentiment in this work:
Corrections
I take a red pen to my life, cross out words like daughter, mother wife; strike out all those oughts and buts, the endless hopeful lies. Every day it's getting shorter. Even vanity fades along with bloom and giggle and slender. Last thing to go is my mind, never mine anyway. Like everything else, a story to keep myself uptight and coccupied, on the right side of my demon teachers. Each page is a horror of blots, omissions and errors. I hear myself thinking Could Try Harder. Try to ignore it, harder and harder; not to set my heart on ticks and stars, on how it might feel to be recycled, a clean sheet of paper, a fresh draft; someone else's name at the end. Linda France, Tomorrow's Moon (not available for sale)
One Foot In The Grave.......2007-09-23
Roth is one of my favorites, ranking way up there with others such as Hemingway and Bellow for post-war greats. I find his voice very satisfying, soothing really, and very familiar. This is the shortest Roth piece I have ever read. His genius, as usual, is in the details. The extended talk with the black gravedigger is in some ways the climax of the tale, the preparation for what is sure to come. True we don't care about the character as much as we would had Roth devoted an entire novel-length treatment to him, but here I think Roth is looking for something else. The character is the reader; as we read the story, we inevitably reflect on our own lives and, as we see ourselves in the hospital and in the grave, we complete what the story leaves incomplete. The story is full of Rothian compassion, some great Roth set-pieces on sex, wonderful stuff on the agony of marriage and parenthood, and then finally, what it is all about, a masterful treatment on the brutality of ill-health and the most inevitable of all inevitabilities. The tale reminded me of Bellow's "Seize the Day," especially the extended treatment of father-rage toward ungrateful, punishing, demanding children. This is a powerful little tale, a real medieval everyman for the modern age. Read it and weep.
"The Life & Death of a Male Body".......2007-09-21
My title refers to the unnamed protagonist's indirectly expressed (through a fittingly omniscient if humanly bound narrator) thought: "Should he ever write an autobiography, he'd call it 'The Life and Death of a Male Body.' But after retiring he tried becoming a painter, not a writer, and so he gave that title to a series of his abstractions." (52) The fiction may be a bit too abstract, but it's meant to place our universal limits within a particular body, imperfect by nature.
The novel regresses, in reverse after his burial opens the action, back as if he imagines relating his life to "each of the women who had been waiting for him to rise out of the anesthetic in the recovery room." (15) This allows the chronology of his days to unfold, forward erratically but appropriately, as if remembered as a series of vignettes. This does distance a reader considerably from empathy with this often selfish character. But, Roth presents us with a recognizably flawed tragic hero, not a plaster saint or thwarted genius. His Everyman without a name could stand in, and does, for all of us. It may not be a perfect novel because of this verisimilitude, ironically. The uneven emotional states and the dull stretches appear more identifiably real, because Roth refuses to polish or prettify these moments of pain and loss.
The fear grows as the years progress; Millicent Kramer's fate foreshadows his own terribly and movingly. Her decision at the end of her life provides an option akin to that wondered about by Hamlet, who wondered about "the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." This quote does not appear, but a witty aside to Hamlet does, mouthed by the bitter wife who's thrown over as the protagonist's lusts overcome his commonsense and his family's unity is shattered by his own desire and deceit. He lies that he only visited his mistress to break up with her, and that she cried "the whole four nights" (of their tryst):"That's a lot of crying for a twenty-four-year-old Dane. I don't even think Hamlet cried that much." (119-120)
The protagonist's sons do not appear in a good light. But, the book is presented, during the character's life, from his indirect point-of-view. This obliquity forces us to side with him even as we try to separate ourselves from his foibles. He gets defensive, as any of us would in telling our own side of our life's story. Roth takes this reflex and works it subtly into his novel.
The two sons resent his abandoning their mother for this Danish model, who's not even half his age of fifty. They are briefly evoked as "children who by their nature could not understand there might be more than one explanation to human behavior--children, however, with the appearance and aggression of men, and against whose undermining he could never manage to make a solid defense. They elected to make the absent father suffer, and so he did, investing them with that power." (97) It's a twist perhaps on Lear, too, a masculine alternative. Roth underplays this aspect, but one does get the sense that some of the loneliness and isolation is self-inflicted. This jars the chance that the character thinks he has to bed a twenty-something woman he flirts with on his seaside stroll; it does for me spoil the mood of the book when the man assumes that from early manhood into his fifties he could have any woman he wanted any time. You get the often romanticized wish fulfillment of many writers, not to mention we readers, projected here, which does appear sadly to be belied by the life experiences of many of us ordinary men! I guess that's why they call it fiction.
But libido declines, and the memories stubbornly persist. This is what we fear about our aging, after all. He wonders: "was the best of old age just that--the longing for the best of boyhood"? (126) The distance between him and his Newark past, the Jewish heritage of his youth and his own detachment and perhaps total rejection, bothered me. I wondered as I neared the close if this would return as a thread to be tied into the weaving of the narrative arc. In a scene that risks sentimentalizing, and perhaps hints at what's been derided as the appearance of "the Magic Negro," the character meets at his parents' gravesite a middle-aged gravedigger. Again, although unmentioned, Hamlet's ghosts flittered for me. Roth always likes to incorporate in his fiction engrossing detail of how a craft is carried out; I think of his extended take on glovemaking in one novel among his recent Zuckerman trilogy.
Here, the cemetery worker shows how we open up and then close over what the main figure thinks of as "the brutality of burial and the mouth full of dust." (166) This suffuses the later, desperate, pages of the novel with a needed softness. I welcomed the scene, identifying both with the fear of the elderly Jews mourning their loss and being targeted by muggers even in daylight, and the slow subsiding of the ground and the toppling of the headstones as the earth shifted and the visitors dwindled. It's a powerful evocation of both the inevitable forgetting of those who came before us and of the end of the Jewish presence in that little patch near the exit to Newark Airport.
It's a neighborhood Roth in his fiction often recalls, and his character here follows suit, even as the curtain prepares to fall. "But now it appeared that like any number of the elderly, he was in the process of becoming less and less and would have to see his aimless days through to the end as no more than he was--the aimless days and uncertain nights and the impotently putting up with the physical deterioration and the terminal sadness and the waiting and waiting for nothing. This is how it works out, he thought, this is what you could not know." (161) Roth attempts to enter the "undiscovered country." But even he, as you will read in the last sentences, cannot return and report beyond the poignant and appropriate ending. It's one that we all wish we could escape.
P.S. A necessary book to read, if in its honesty a painful one. As this was on the public library's new book shelf the day that my father-in-law died, and as I had been wanting to read it even as I feared a bit doing so, I took it as a sign. Still, I postponed my finishing it it yesterday as I did not want to close my eyes on its final page. I waited until the next day to conclude and write this review.
Aging Process is a Massacre.......2007-09-06
I am around old, sick people a lot - both in my job and in my family. Some of them are on an unbelievable number of medications - both prescription and non-prescription - often pain meds and antidepressants thrown in. The ones that do better are the ones in better health and those that manage a good attitude, but none are exempt. If they have enough descendants, they probably have a certain amount of emotional angst to deal with as well - the disappointment of unnecessary estrangements and poor choices stacked on top of the relentless aging process. The book is a bit of a downer, but realistic. Roth puts it this way - "Old age isn't a battle; Old age is a massacre" - well worth reading.
The Ravages of Time.......2007-09-05
With 'Everyman', Roth holds up the mirror and takes a good lasting, painful look at not just the body of his protagonist as it begins to fail him, but keynote points in the life that precedes his ultimate death.I found it profoundly affecting and more than a bit unsettling, perhaps because so much of the physical demise of this character and his surrounding peers is similar to what I've watched my own parents going through. I found much of the slim novel terribly depressing, but extremely accurate.
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
A generous and varied selection–the only hardcover edition available–of the literary and political writings of one of the greatest essayists of the twentieth century.
Although best known as the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, George Orwell left an even more lastingly significant achievement in his voluminous essays, which dealt with all the great social, political, and literary questions of the day and exemplified an incisive prose style that is still universally admired. Included among the more than 240 essays in this volume are Orwell’s famous discussion of pacifism, “My Country Right or Left”; his scathingly complicated views on the dirty work of imperialism in “Shooting an Elephant”; and his very firm opinion on how to make “A Nice Cup of Tea.”
In his essays, Orwell elevated political writing to the level of art, and his motivating ideas–his desire for social justice, his belief in universal freedom and equality, and his concern for truth in language–are as enduringly relevant now, a hundred years after his birth, as ever.
Customer Reviews:
Beyond 1984.......2007-03-23
George Orwell: 1984 and beyond
The futurist novels 1984 and Animal Farm are George Orwell's primary literary legacy. He contributed the phrase "Big Brother" to the language, and is remembered... if at all...as a novelist and social commentator.
But Orwell was much more than that - during the Second World War he worked for the BBC as a commentator, essayist and writer. He was a consummate professional, a brilliant satirist, and an indefatigable correspondent. He volunteered in the Spanish Civil War and wrote "Homage to Catalonia" from his experiences.
What is more surprising is that Orwell ...who died at 46... left voluminous essays, letters and reportage which have been compiled in four thick volumes by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus. * (George Orwell: Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters; Volumes 1-IV, Nonpareil Books, 2000), and in his Collected Essays.
. He lived as a tramp for a while, got arrested for being drunk, worked low-level jobs and wrote "Down and out in London and Paris" from his experience. Orwell struggled personally and financially; his first marriage ended with h is wife's death, his second was short, and he was usually broke. That changed with the publication of l984 and Animal Farm...the latter a satire on the Russian Revolution. Ray Bradbury's classic "Fahrenheit 451" owes a debt to Orwell. His BBC broadcasts during the War were classics.
In his short life, Orwell produced a huge body of work: his Collected Writings run to 20 volumes, and his essays fill four books. He is one of the major figures of 20th Century English writing.
Major Works
"Down and Out in London and Paris" 1933
"The Road to Wigan Pier" 1937
"Homage to Catalonia" -- 1938
"1984: 1945
"Animal Farm" 1949
"Selected Essays" 1957
"Orwell: The War Broadcasts" 1985
A great teacher of writing and critical thinking.......2007-03-21
As a lit major very interested in politics, I find this collection to be fascinating and instructive. Mr. Orwell's views on what corporations would do to the news media and the stifling effects of politically correct speech are vital today, and should be required in civics and political science classes.
Mr. Orwell managed to anger and inform both liberals and conservatives by exposing hypocrisy and dull-minded dogma. His writing style is sharp and free of tiresome twists and turns. In fact, "Politics and the English Language" (954) targets academic writing that is puffed up for no reason other than to hide the fact that the writer has little to say. (And this article should be required reading in graduate literature classes!)
The power of his insights and imagery can be seen in "How the Poor Die," a sad, upsetting essay that made me want a shower and a drink when I finished reading it. (Again, this is current today with the horribly neglected and virtually unregulated "assited living facilities"--and even the Walter Reed outpatient scandal.)
So few writers have had such vision that it is worth repeating the cliche: George Orwell was a social prophet--a genuine one.
Because of Mr. Orwell's deep understanding of political systems and human nature, his excellent style, and the breadth of his subject matter, I think it would not be over-praising him to say that this volume ranks with Montaigne's collected essays.
This volume is lovely, both in binding and text size; however, as other reviewers have pointed out, the publisher should have taken the trouble to include an index at the end of 1363 pages of essays! (Write to Knopf/Random House to complain!)
I'm going to contact my county library to arrange donating a copy of this; it is a shame this book isn't on the shelves!
The Ultimate Orwell Essay Resource.......2007-02-04
This is a beautiful, compact, hardcover, volume with a cloth bookmark built into the binding. If you are an Orwell fan, this book is well worth the money. It contains a very wide selection of Orwell essays, including the most popular ones such as "Shooting an Elephant," but also the rarer ones as well. I especially enjoyed reading Orwell's "As I Please" columns from the Tribune; these are difficult to find in compiled form.
I highly recommend this volume, but I must echo the same complaint of other reviewers: There is no index, and this makes it impossible to find Orwell's essays on a specific topic unless you already know what to look for. For example, Orwell's "As I Please" columns are labeled by the sequence number of their creation with no indication of topic. This is not very useful, as Orwell wrote about so many varied things.
All in all, a good value, but I must deduct one star because of the lack of an index. Also, I would certainly recommend this book for the Orwell aficionado, but not necessarily for the new or casual Orwell reader. Read Orwell's novels first; you will have a better appreciation of the essays afterwards.
Great book.......2007-01-10
Comprehensive collection of Orwell's Essays. An excellent book - really allows the reader to get a better sense of who Orwell was.
Great collection.......2006-10-02
I, like many, many other people the world over, read 1984 and Animal Farm and loved them. I first read Animal Farm my freshman year in college, and as soon as I was finished reading it I dove headlong into 1984. Powerful books, books that I still think about these many years later. But it wasn't until I read Orwell's essays that I got a really good idea of who the man behind those novels was.
Orwell's essays are really fascinating, for reasons he explained best himself. In the essay "Politics and the English Language," Orwell puts forward six tips on writing, all of them hinging on the simple idea of clarity. Orwell is a small island of clarity and concreteness in what he--and I--came to see as a world flooded with vagueness and dishonesty. His essays are clear--he says precisely what he wants as simply as he can, and the ideas stick with you.
This collection of Orwell's complete essays is worth its weight in gold. The essays are arranged chronologically, and Orwell's output was so prodigious that, read straight through, this book could almost count as an autobiography. Here we have, with his masterful clarity, Orwell's thoughts on everything in the world between 1928 and his death in 1950.
George Orwell was a really fascinating person, and his essays continue to fascinate me. I don't agree with everything he says--on the contrary, I disagree with the great majority of it--but I an compelled to admire him as a writer and a thinker--his writing style and the wit with which he engaged his opponents certainly makes him one of the greatest writers of the last century.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
From Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz: the three magnificent novels—published in an omnibus edition for the first time—that form an ancient-Egyptian counterpart to his famous Cairo Trilogy.
Mahfouz reaches back thousands of years to bring us tales from his homeland's majestic early history—tales of the Egyptian nobility and of war, star-crossed love, and the divine rule of the pharoahs. In Khufu's Wisdom, the legendary Fourth Dynasty monarch faces the prospect of the end of his rule and the possibility that his daughter has fallen in love with the man prophesied to be his successor. Rhadopis of Nubia is the unforgettable story of the charismatic young Pharoah Merenra II and the ravishing courtesan Rhadopis, whose love affair makes them the envy of all Egyptian society. And Thebes at War tells the epic story of Egypt's victory over the Asiatic foreigners who dominated the country for two centuries.
Three Novels of Ancient Egypt gives us a dazzling tapestry of ancient Egypt and reminds us of the remarkable artistry of Naguib Mahfouz.
Customer Reviews:
some lovely writing, but maybe not the author's best work.......2007-05-30
Apparently these are the first three of the author's novels. This is a beautiful edition and it is also cheaper than buying the three paperback novels separately. There is an introduction, a chronology of the author's life, and then the three novels.
The introduction is a missed opportunity. I think that I might have appreciated these novels better with the help of some information about the culture in which they were written. However the introduction offers little more than plot summary. I recommend skipping it. The chronology is nice, but not tied in with the introduction.
The first novel, Khufu's Wisdom, seems to be about fate and moral choices. It tells the story of a king whose efforts to defy his fate only help to make that fate happen. It is set during the construction of one of the pyramids, but there is not much in the way of historical detail (and I think there are also some historical inaccuracies). It reads more like a biblical fable than a historical novel. It is beautifully written, but the story is somewhat simple by modern American standards.
The second novel, Rhadopis of Nubia, is much better than the first. It tells of a disastrous love affair between a king and a beautiful courtesan. It is also beautifully written, in a lavish, sometimes over the top style.
The third novel, Thebes at War, did not grab my interest and I didn't finish it. Maybe I'll try again later.
The three novels have three different translators, but all of the translations read well and have a similar flavor.
If you have not read any of the author's work before, you might also consider starting with the Cairo trilogy.
Excellent.......2007-05-21
I am so happy to have read this book. Naguib Mahfouz is a master. The stories were unique, thought provoking and powerful. I could read his work everyday forever.
Book Description
The only hardcover edition of Roald Dahl’s stories for adults, the Collected Stories amply showcases his singular gifts as a fabulist and a born storyteller.
Later known for his immortal children’s books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and The BFG, Dahl also had a genius for adult short fiction, which he wrote throughout his life. Whether fictionalizing his dramatic exploits as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II or concocting the ingeniously plotted fables that were dramatized on television as Tales of the Unexpected, Dahl was brilliant at provoking in his readers the overwhelming desire to know what happens next—and at satisfying that desire in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable.
Filled with devilish plot twists, his tales display a tantalizing blend of macabre humor and the absurdly grotesque. From “The Landlady,” about an unusual boardinghouse that features a small but very permanent clientele, to “Pig,” a brutally funny look at vegetarianism, to “Man from the South,” in which a fanatical gambler does his betting with hammer, nails, and a butcher’s knife, Dahl’s creations amuse and shock us in equal measure, gleefully reminding us of what might lurk beneath the surface of the ordinary.
Customer Reviews:
Dahl makes you laugh and..........2007-09-10
forces you to look in the mirror. I was introduced to Dahl by my 8th grade English teacher who saw something very dark inside of me (yes, another plug for better teacher pay!). "Pig" gave me nightmares, "Skin" made me wonder about the greed of human beings. What's missing are the "My Uncle Oswald" stories, but this collection is absolutely priceless!
Splendid book.......2007-06-11
Excellent book from all points of view. Sewn edition, bound and quality of printing. I have another edition of Roald Dahl but unfortunately it's a paperback edition and the pages disappear one after another. I decided never to buy again paperback books. When I saw that Roald Dahl was published in Everyman's Library I immediately decided to order it and I am more than happy with what I received. It's very good for work with my students and I will leave it to my children as well. Many thanks to the publishers.
A great collection of Roald Dahl's short stories!.......2007-03-11
I actually have a compendium of Roald Dahl's stories in a different edition but when I came across this edition with the inimitable Mr Dahl on the cover I had to buy it. It is a lovely edition that collects all of Dahl's short stories in one book, and I love the fact that it comes with a lovely red satin page marker! A great addition to any library.
Greatest Writer Ever.......2007-02-06
This collection of stories by Roald Dahl is great. He was one of the best and entertaining writers that composed such original work. I have read some of his stories more than once. I read them and when I am in the mood I pick them up again and read them again. I highly recommend these to anyone who especially has never read anything by Mr. Dahl.
It doesn't get any better than this!.......2006-11-10
I grew up on Roald Dahl stories, not just his classic children's stories, but dark tales like "The Skin" and "The Taste" and "Lamb to the Slaughter." Dahl was a master storyteller, able to get under the skin in the most unconventional ways. It is real treat to have all his "adult stories" gathered here in one volume. Dahl's stories always had a sinister element, exposing the anxiety and frustration that lied beneath mundane middle class life. While ostensibly these stories qualify as "British humor," they have long transcended the bounds of Great Britain and become part of the world's collective imagination, inspiring everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Tim Burton with his tales of the macabre and the fantastical.
Amazon.com
The Talmud is among the great books of wisdom--like the Bible, the Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita--whose citation gives a speaker instant credibility. Also like the Bible, the Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita, the Talmud is a powerful source of allusion in large part even though so few people have really read it. People don't read the Talmud because they think it's inaccessible--the sprawling collection of rabbinic writings is added to in each generation, and its significance is nothing less than the summary of Judaism. The best guide to the Talmud's labyrinthine form is Abraham Cohen's Everyman's Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages--a monumental work of scholarly summary that describes all the basic doctrines of Judaism. Everyman's Talmud includes concise chapters on everything from sin to superstitions to a Jew's duty to animals. You probably won't be able to read it straight through--doctrine, even elegantly distilled, is hard to take in big doses--but you'll be led back to it again and again, by questions that arise in daily life, at dinner parties, and from the pages of the daily newspaper. --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
"To some readers of this book, the Talmud represents little more than a famous Jewish book. But people want to know about a book that, they are told, defines Judaism. Everyman's Talmud is the right place to begin not only to learn about Judaism in general but to meet the substance of the Talmud in particular. . . . In time to come, Cohen's book will find its companion-though I do not anticipate it will ever require a successor for what it accomplishes with elegance and intelligence: a systematic theology of the Talmud's Judaism."
--From the Foreword by Jacob Neusner
Long regarded as the classic introduction to the teachings of the Talmud, this comprehensive and masterly distillation summarizes the wisdom of the rabbinic sages on the dominant themes of Judaism: the doctrine of God; God and the universe; the soul and its destiny; prophesy and revelation; physical life; moral life and social living; law, ethics, and jurisprudence; legends and folk traditions; the Messiah and the world to come.
Customer Reviews:
Expecting to understand God's will better.......2007-06-28
I am a Chritian looking for best literatures which could give me better understanding about God. I haven't read this book yet, but I read short stories from Talmud which gave me good lessons from sages. I wish getting closer to God's will towards my life.
Everyman's Talmud for Everyman (or Woman).......2007-04-10
As the subtitle of the book (Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages) suggests, Abraham Cohen sets out to introduce his readership to the worldview of classic rabbinic literature. The topics covered by the book are nearly as varied as the topics covered by the Talmud itself - covering everything from ruminations about God, including God's attributes and God's place in the universe. The bulk of the book, however, is not directly about God nor theology as such, though the remainder draws heavily upon the conclusions from the secitons focused on these subjects. The doctrine of man, revelation, domestic life, social life, morality, the physical life, folk-lore, jurisprudence, and the hereafter all receive significant attention by Cohen as he devotes entire sections to each. Although the book is primarily about the ideas contained in rabbinic literature, an introduction to the literary structure of the works of the rabbis, specifically the Mishnah, the Gemara, and the Midrash is also included.
Cohen organizes rabbinic thought in a way that the rabbis themselves never did. Not until later Jewish philosophies and theologies does one receive the sort of systematic presentation that is delivered here. That said, though his book is structurally dissimilar from rabbinic literature, it does strive to accurately present the content of rabbinic literature. Cohen himself acknowledges this, however it should not be viewed as a weakness. Cohen's attempt to systematize rabbinic thought, while foreign to the rabbis themselves, is of great aid to the modern reader, so long as they understand that only the content is being conveyed and not the style of rabbinic literature.
Cohen's ultimate strength is his own knowledge of the enormous breadth of rabbinic literature as well as of the ancient world. He is easily able to draw on sources from a wide array of places. The Mishnah, both Talmuds, and many other texts are all portrayed and covered in his work, helping to provide as broad an overview as possible for the reader. Citations are given in the body of the text so that the motivated reader can easily reference the original material if so inclined. Another strength, not to be underestimated, is the readability of the book. The language and ideas are easily accessible. This is not to say that the writing is not scholarly. It is. However, one will be left to ponder ideas rather than complex jargon or sentence structure.
One final point: Abraham Cohen authored this work is in 1949. His scholarship and erudition were widely acknowledged. He edited the Soncino Bible and participated in the Soncino translation of the Talmud and Midrash, still in wide use today. Cohen was certainly familiar with the material and that is evident in his writings and his other scholarly achievements. However, his scholarship can sometimes be dated. While not always relevant, he does make several claims regarding the historical compisition of rabbinic material which is now in dispute. For example, Professor Jacob Neusner, a contemporary scholar, makes note of some of these issues in his foreword to the book. The reader is advised to take note of Jacob Neusner's observations and to understand that Abraham Cohen may not always accurately reflect the historical framework of the rabbis. This should not be overstated, however. The book is primarily an introduction to the rabbinic worldview, and as such it serves its function admirably.
Contradicts Torah.......2007-01-24
The talmudic writers are very clever in introducing their babylonian pagan beliefs and claiming they are Jewish. Hashem gave Torah to Moshe and told him to write everything down. Torah was to be read yearly to the congregation so they could understand G-d's law. Now the rabbis are claiming that the people are too stupid to understand what G-d said they could understand. This is the very same thing that goes on in the pagan catholic "church". Read the Tanakh for yourself and ask HaShem to reveal HIS truth to you - unadulterated by the rabbis and their poisonous lies.
I Recommended People to read this Book.......2006-09-23
I like this version I Give this Talmud 5 star Good translation Like this book fantastic Good
Problematic for a Jewish Student.......2006-08-26
As most of the reviews say: For it's time, this is a great achivement and it is an easy-to-read introduction to the Talmud. It's chapters are easy to follow and it is well indexed.
Still, I find it lacking in some very important ways. The Talmud is a collecion of rabbinic discussions on mishna (oral tradition), halachah (law) and Torah. This version of the talmud gives us a "unified vision" of what history has to say on any given subject and is in effect a very condensed work. The author took pains to find "the essence" of decision on theses subjects. He achives this and should be commended. Still.....
This, in my opinion, goes against the very nature of the Talmud, which is opinion and discussion over the ages. The text only in some instances gives the rabbinic author, and does not provide refrences to the era in which the writting was done. For the beginner or someone who is not of Jewish origin, this may be helpful by providing something more streamlined. Still, if a Jew has a question about what a particular Rabbi's opinion was, they will be hard pressed to find it.
Finally, I find in both the introduction and the forward an bend to the language. Passages such as, "So he [the author] had to make up his own program. He did this by following the standard theological program of mainstream Protestant Christian theology and locating statements on the topics of that program made in the Talmudic writings." (Neusner, pg. xv) worry me that the work may have an unintended Christian leaning. This is not a fault neccessarily, and in fact may help those Christians who are looking for more during their studies--my hat's off to you!
For a Jewish student though, this could be a bit of a turn-off. Sentences such as, "He claimed to provide not an overarching composite portrait of "Judaism" (whatever that might be) but a particular document..." (Neusner, pg. xvi) might have the same effect.
Hope this helps. Forgive my attrocious spelling :)
Amazon.com
British parliamentarian and soldier Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) conceived of his plan for Decline and Fall while "musing amid the ruins of the Capitol" on a visit to Rome. For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of the Antonines and the rise of Western Christianity. "The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, pose equal difficulties to the historian, who attempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration," he writes. Despite these obstacles, Decline and Fall remains a model of historical exposition, and required reading for students of European history.
Book Description
Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of the Bury Text, in a boxed set. Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper
Download Description
"It was Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amid the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind," recorded Edward Gibbon with characteristic exactitude. Over a period of some twenty years, the luminous eighteenth-century historian--a precise, dapper, idiosyncratic little gentleman famous for rapping his snuff-box--devoted his considerable genius to writing an epic chronicle of the entire Roman Empire's decline. His single flash of inspiration produced what is arguably the greatest historical work in any language--and surely the most magnificent narrative history ever written in English. "Gibbon is one of those few who hold as high a place in the history of literature as in the roll of great historians," noted Professor J.B. Bury, his most celebrated editor.
Customer Reviews:
the decline and fall of the roman empire.......2007-08-26
very good detail on the history , most Caesars were killed and the army rulled.
Lots of Info.......2007-07-09
Tremendous amount of information and lots of historical data. Problem is the guy who wrote the book can speak the real english language and I often thought I was listning to a foreign language tape. I learned a lot and woud recomend this to anyone who wonders how something as great as the empire was, fell apart. Great learning experience.
Gibbon's Magnum Opus.......2007-05-12
It's a literary work of art. Gibbon's style of narration is breathtaking. On every page he comes out as the true scholar that he really is. His choice of words and his style of sentence construction is consummate on every level.
Other than that, the whole account is Gibbon's perspective of the Roman Empire on a strict level. While most will concur with him on the insanity of the likes of say, Caligula, Nero; or the politically cunning inclinations of Augustus, his treatment of Christianity is open to debate. Gibbon places Christianity at the top in his list of the factors that could possibly have accelerated the empire towards decadence and its ultimate disintegration. Though this can be true on some accounts, he offers no clear explanation on how the Eastern empire could have carried on for more centuries with the religion at its very centre. It's an unwritten edict that the Byzantines were more passionate about Jesus than Western christendom.
Also, in some pages, Gibbon argues that the Roman emperors, say Marcus Aurelius for example, never really would have had an inclination towards persecuting christians on grounds of political gains. For Gibbon argues that the political elite of Rome were well aware of the fact that some kind of religion maintained social order. But his arguments are at considerable, if not complete, loggerheads with the several accounts from other historians that Rome continued to persecute Christianity until Constantine.
Persecution of Christianity might necessarily not have completely been primary disdain for the christian concept which totally conflicts with the Roman edicts of deifying dead emperors. Christianity came in handy for rogue emperors to have this sect of minorities scapegoated for their own excesses (remember Nero's fire?) or to appease the minds of a disgruntled majority which preferred to suspect them.
Finally, his stand that the "whole" empire prospered and preferred Roman rule in the age of the five good emperors is open to debate. Pax Romana might have worked for the Italian mainland at best, but not necessarily in provinces even as close as, say, Gaul.
Gibbons Decline and fall of Rome.......2007-03-11
This is the definitive History of the Empire from the first emperor (Agustus or Octavian, if you wish). However given the time and hence style of English, it was written in it is not for the faint hearted. Stick with it though and it is a very rewarding reference book which you will have for life.
One thing I fail to understand is what Amazon sells Vols 1-3 and 4-6 as seperate items. By the lot in one go otherwise it's a bit like owning the old testement bible and not having set eyes on the New Testement.!!
Dramatic and Informative audio book version.......2007-03-09
Philip Madoc convincingly relates Gibbon's great insights into the history and significance of the final centuries of the Roman Empire in this 6 CD set. Abridged by neccesity, nevertheless Neville Jason comments between Gibbon's passage recited by Philip Madoc, and fills the gaps with a coherent narration. The whole production flows smoothly and dramatically, quite easy to follow. This is one of the most worthwhile audio book puchases I've ever made.
Amazon.com
Since the release of the film version of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, there has been renewed interest in the Histories of Herodotus--the book the dying patient treasures so much.
The writings of Herodotus are the ground zero of Western history. He lived during the fifth century B.C.E, and his Histories chronicle the events of the Persian Wars, which were within living memory when he wrote. He was the first writer to examine real, rather than mythical history, and although his work lacks the rigor of later histories, it has a breathtaking scope. Herodotus is a wonderful storyteller, and in recalling the wars with Persian invaders, he ranges across the ancient world, mixing politics with natural history and anthropology. These are traveler's tales, and a great deal of their appeal to a modern audience lies in the way Herodotus describes the cultures that influence his story. The societies of Scythians, Arabs, and Egyptians are depicted in detail, from their political structures to their dining habits. Herodotus created a sense of history for his people, and he gives us a picture of a distant past that reminds us of the vast continuum of civilization.
Book Description
Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. In tales such as that of Gyges—who murders Candaules, the king of Lydia, and unsurps his throne and his marriage bed, thereby bringing on, generations later, war with the Persians—he laid bare the intricate human entanglements at the core of great historical events. In his love for the stranger, more marvelous facts of the world, he infused his magnificent history with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful. For more than a hundred generations, his supple, lucid prose has drawn readers into his panoramic vision of the war between the Greek city-states and the great empire to the east. And in the generosity of his spirit, in the instinctive empiricism that took him searching over much of the known world for information, in the care he took with sources and historical evidence, in his freedom from intolerance and prejudice, he virtually defined the rational, humane spirit that is the enduring legacy of Greek civilization.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read!.......2007-06-09
A great book! For any history buff out there, this is a must read! Herodotus clearly is the, "Father of History."
Herodotus: The Father of History.......2007-02-09
A must have for any history buff. Not only is this book facinating but it teaches important lessons about human nature. Through Solon and Croesus' conversations one can learn what it truly means to be "happy". Or, through the actions of the 300 Spartans one can learn what bravery realy is. This is a very important work and it is my opinion that everyone should read it at some point in their life.
The Time Machine.......2006-07-14
The nine books of History by Herodotus try to be a history of the Persian Empire and its wars with the Greeks, but by telling both peoples' story, the author ends up by narrating the history of the whole world known to him. Although Herodotus is the first known "serious" historian, he is not the first "scientific" one (that would be Thucydides), due to the fact that Herodotus still believes in gods and their direct intervention in human affairs. Nevertheless, in an interesting sort of transition to "modern" history, he has doubts about the stories and legends he picks up, and then he tries to give rationalized explanations of the events he relates. Even so, with inexactitudes and mixing fact with fiction, he renders a most vivid portrait of the Ancient World, so like ours in substance and so different in form. Something to remark is how much we have inherited and preserved from the Greeks, our most influential cultural ancestors.
In Book I, H. talks about the mythical precedents of clashes between Greek peoples and Asian "barbarians". Then he tells the story of the richest man in the world, Croesus, the king of Lydia, the first man to attack and conquer the Ionians, Greek peoples inhabiting the Eastern coast of the Aegean sea. Croesus then consults an oracle asking if he should attack the powerful Persians, to which the oracle answers: "do it and you will destroy a great empire", as he does: he destroys his own empire. Thus begins the expansionist policy of the Persians. H. then goes on to tell the ancient history of the Medes, the predecessors of the Persians, and how king Cyrus takes power. Cyrus proceeds to attack practically all his neighbors, increasing his empire before dying.
In Book II, Cambises inherits the Persian throne and decides to invade Egypt, which is the subject of the whole book. Herodotus, always and thankfully the king of digression, tells us the whole story of myths, geography, habits and "recent" history of Egypt, in one of the most fascinating parts of his work. Book III tells the story of Cambises's rule, the rebellion of the Magicians, the plot of the Seven and the ascension of Darius, whose kingdom is described in the last part. Book IV relates Darius's (failed) campaign against the Scythes, peoples from the Nothern coast of the Black Sea, truly exotic, primitive and savage guys. He elaborates on the habits and strange life they live. Book V includes the Thracian and Macedonian invasions, as well as the Ionian revolt. Book VI brings us to the First Median War's first part, the expedition of Mardonius which finishes in the massive shipwreck of the Persian fleet in Mount Athos. Then comes a digression (a fascinating one) on the history of Sparta, and then the second expedition, which ends up in disaster in the battle of Marathon. In Book VII we see the start of the Second Median War. It includes preparations and the beginning of the invasion, as well as the naval battles of Magnesia and the battle of Thermopylae. Book VIII tells the end of the operations of year 480-479 B.C.: the naval battle of Arthemisius, the Persian advance through Central Greece, the evacuation and sack of Athens, the battle of Salamis (a crucial turning point of Western Culture's history), Persian King Xerxes's flight and the winter recess at Thessalia. Finally, in Book IX Herodotus talks about the military operations of the following year, the second take of Athens, the battle of Plathea, the Greek decisive victory, the Persians' escape, and the final digression over the wisdom of Cyrus.
Few books are so rich in information, stories, legends, and analysis as this one. Herodotus comes alive as a superb, good-willed historian, a hard worker. For all its depth and amplitude, his style is always quick and easy to read. He includes many a good story and has a sense of humor. It's fun to hear his admonitions and preventions like you were a man of his time, a contemporary reader. He was born in Halycarnassus, where today is South Western Turkey. Born to a rich family, they are forced to escape, for political reasons, to the island of Samos. There he decides to travel around for ten years, time during which he collected the material for his masterpiece. Almost always, he tries to give more than one account of facts, leaving the reader to decide whcih one to believe. He interviews everyone he can, compares official records and documents, analyzes the situation, and when he tells his own opinion, he is straightforward about it. Fun, interesting, educational, this book is truly a time mechine.
The father of History is also a good historian.......2004-11-03
The Histories is sheer ecstasy and emotion, and the reader is kept attentive trough the many fascinating histories narrated by Herodotus, always keen on given the reader the most accurate version to the many stories he was told regarding some important issue. By this many accounts he begins to end the tradition of oral transmission in the Greek culture, a powerful tradition which was responsible for the preservation to posterity of works of such caliber as the Odyssey and the Iliad, from Ulysses. In Herodotus view, the written report of the many different points of view would adduce credence to the histories.
The main focus of The Histories is on the battles of the Peloponnesus war, and the chapters revolve around the feats of the Persians and Greeks for the supremacy of Europe and Asia Minor. His is a 360 degrees analysis of customs, culture and habits of war and peace of the most variegated people, being him eyewitness to many events reports. Above all, and part of the merit must be given to the excellent translation to English, Herodotus is an expert with words and narrates many pretty interesting tales in a way reminiscent of Arabian nights: the dialogues between Solon the legislator and Croesus, the richest man in the world, the customs of some people who ate their deceased kin, but not if they died sick, the battle between the cavalry of Croesus and the camel riders of Cyrus, the detailed descriptions of the customs of Egypt and the supposition by Herodotus that the Greeks inherited much of their pantheon from them, the origin of the myth of Cyrus having a bitch as a suckling mother (paralleling the myth of the foundation of Rome), and many etceteras.
I was quite surprised with the overall quality of the book and, mostly, by the many excellent ideas Herodotus gives for each and every act of the likes as Cyrus, Darius, Croesus and many more. His geographical descriptions of each and every territory he interested on, adds luster to his narrative and are not all boring, quite to the contrary, serving always as a background to some historical events he analyses. His demystifying of Greek ideal of being the center of the earth, his projection of the fulfillment of the Red Sea by the Nile water flow in the next 20.000 years gives a vague idea of the man that lies behind the book and who has a lot to teach, even if he does not say so, to future generations, also to our.
I think that every reader interested in the ideas of great thinkers of the Humanity, should take a look upon Herodotus and his Histories. I am sure he/she will not be disappointed, being the Histories, in my humble opinion, one of the 100 best books to be read.
The Father of History.......2003-10-30
Herodotus is called "the father of history" and this book is the reason why. It's the earliest attempt at unbiased history, and that attempt was the catalyst for those historians who followe: Thucydides, Xenophon, etc. Even the common usage of the word "histories"--meaning "inquiries"--is due to Herodotus.
This book is filled with stories of all of the people with whom Herodotus was familiar in the ancient Mediterranean world, and a remarkable number of his stories and his descriptions are still considered to be accurate. Of course, some are off a bit, and some are way off the mark, but understanding how well he did--given the information and the means of communication and transportation that were available to him--leave me in awe.
The stories are colorful and wonderful. I was often amazed at how I'd known of many of them before without realizing that they'd come from Herodotus. Still, there are some major drawbacks to reading Herodotus.
First of all, it helps to have an understanding of the ancient world that Herodotus describes. A good map would have been a helpful appendix, but Google searches and some good historical websites are great aids to understanding all of the peoples and places he describes.
Second, Herodotus' writing is not linear in the way that history is written today. His narrative is multi-leveled and sometimes circular as he describes an area or a group of people, then describes those who came before them or influenced them. If you can keep this in mind, it helps to understand why he describes what seem to be tangential topics.
If you're interested in ancient history or like colorful stories, I HIGHLY recommend reading Herodotus. I wish that I had read him earlier as he would have provided a better basis for understanding the thoughts and writings of others who followed him.
Customer Reviews:
The book alone is not enough to combat lust, use the workbook together. .......2006-11-10
The workbook along with the Authors book 'every young man's battle is a two part incredible tool that will bring young men to their knees and bring out the truth and no one gets a pass on this one. Not even myself, the leader of a small group of high school guys in Northern Indiana that are struggling and are desperately seeking help in the combat to destroy Lust. Two thumbs up and what a tool. Also see 'every young womans battle' for girls as my two step daughters are studying in small groups and it is bringing things out that parents have a hard time talking about. [...]
Getting the discussion going.......2006-02-23
Young men seeking godly character will benefit from reading this book. Those without a foundation in discipleship will not. I appreciate the authors tackling a topic that the church MUST tackle. I did not come to the same conclusions as the reviewer who saw it as labeling all sex as evil.
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Contemporary
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| Literature & Fiction
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Three Novels of Ancient Egypt: Khufu's Wisdom, Rhadopis of Nubia, Thebes at War (Everyman's Library)
The Yacoubian Building: A Novel
Children of the Alley: A Novel
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