Average customer rating:
- Transmet's Little Brother
- Master Writer
- Well written hard bitten detective noir, but not for the faint of heart
- a loose interpretation of a plot not to be confused with an actual novel
- Super Read
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Crooked Little Vein: A Novel
Warren Ellis
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0060723939
Release Date: 2007-07-24 |
Book Description
Michael McGill is a burned-out private detective who suddenly becomes enlisted by an army of presidential goons to retrieve the Constitution of the United States, but not the one we all know about. This would be the real Constitution (the one with invisible amendments) created by some of the Founding Fathers as a fallback for their great experiment. Along the way, McGill gains a polyamorous sidekick named Trix, gets scared to death by what men do with warm salty water, and descends into a world where crime, sex, and madness all seem to be the same thing.
Full of mind-bending style and packed with a wild cast of characters, Crooked Little Vein infuses Robert B. Parker with Kurt Vonnegut and the madness of the graphic-novel world. A surprisingly surreal treat, it will appeal to hardcore comic fans, mystery aficionados, and all readers looking for a riotous summer reading adventure.
Sample Chapter One of Crooked Little Vein
"Chapter One. I opened my eyes to see the rat taking a piss in my coffee mug. It was a huge brown bastard; had a body like a turd with legs and beady black eyes full of secret rat knowledge."
Crooked Little Vein puts you right in the gutter from the first sentence and doesn't let up. Sample the goods with a look at the complete first chapter, and see if you don't get hooked.
Book Description
A burned–out private detective is enlisted by an army of presidential goons to retrieve the U.S. Constitution...the real one. Following in the steps of Neil Gaiman, CROOKED LITTLE VEIN is packed with action, adventure, and a wild cast of characters that are sure to appease not only hardcore comic fans, but a whole new slew of mystery readers waiting for a surprisingly surreal treat that infuses the madness of the graphic–novel world.
Customer Reviews:
Transmet's Little Brother.......2007-10-11
I just finished reading Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis, the same guy who wrote the comic series Transmetropolitan among others. I had really really looked forward to this book, and I tore through it in the same of about 2 hours.
Which makes me all the more sad to say that I was disappointed in it. It felt like Transmet's little brother, who hadn't grown enough plot to stand on it's own two feet yet. The storyline is a parade of 'underground' fetishes, with a special float dedicated to the wonders of technology thrown in right after the marching band of bukkake fans. I kept wondering why the hell a private detective would have been put on the case, when the 'leads' were a straight line that a community college criminal justice major could have followed, much less the combined powers of the government spooks. And while the dialogue was entertaining, I didn't feel any kind of attachment to the two dimensional characters either.
I did find Ellis' writing style to be intriguing and the book certainly sucks you in, though I think that's more because I kept wanting to see what bizarreness is going to pop up next and hoping maybe it will start to have some meaning.
I'm sure that some with argue that there are plenty of themes and metaphors and deep universal truths to be found in the book, and maybe so, but it still feels watered down compared to what I was hoping for. That said, if you're not as jaded to the multitude of sexual deviances as I am, it's certainly worth a read for the amusing sideshow, if nothing else.
Master Writer.......2007-10-10
This may be one of my favorite books ever. The story is original, the writting is unique and captivating, and I couldn't put it down. You'll read this over and over. Everything by Warren Ellis is amazing, but this is really just one of his best works. This is extremely worth reading and owning.
Well written hard bitten detective noir, but not for the faint of heart.......2007-10-08
The Chief of Staff to the President of the United States was the scariest man PI Mike McGill had encountered since he left the Pinkertons and hung out his own shingle. The man freely admitted to heroin addiction and a pretty sick lifestyle, then added that he had control over the bomb.
But, then he offered McGill a case--find an antique book for him. Turns out, there was an alternate version of the US Constitution written by the Founding Fathers. This version, if unleashed on the US populace, would turn the world around--take us back to a kinder, gentler country.
When you read McGill's trip to find this book, you might wander if that's not such a bad thing. We encounter septaugenerian serial killers on late-night business flights, Godzilla sex cults, and more weird and sometimes hilarious adventures than you can imagine.
"Vein" is mostly amusing, but there are some rough and disturbing images here. It's not for the faint of heart or anyone but an adult audience. The writing's well done and dark. The characters are mostly constructs getting pushed around, but that's the joy of a stereotype--Ellis can write an interesting novel and let us fill in our own thoughts based on common assumptions. The book's a fast read--I finished in an afternoon--and it's compelling enough to keep you reading if you don't mind some heavy petting on the seamy underbelly of US society.
a loose interpretation of a plot not to be confused with an actual novel.......2007-10-03
I had high hopes for this book after reading some of the reviews, but having not been familiar with warren ellis in the comic world, perhaps I was ill-fated with regard to this book. The story line is merely a side note to a series of unbelievable experiences with the most obscure of the under-belly-of-society crowd. I was left with the impression that the author spent more time trying to create ridiculous and grotesque situations then he did on actually developing the story line. The shock value did not hide the paper-thin plot. awful.
Super Read.......2007-10-01
Wow. I insanely loved this book. Taken at face value, a shock read, with a little mystery thrown in, I think it was very effective. It will not go down as the next DaVinci Code, but d*&n it was good. I read it in a day. I've never been much of a comic fan, but loved this book so much I might have to check out his graphic novels. I laughed, a lot. No, not going to change your life, but a good pulp read.
Book Description
After ten years of cleaning up the dirt on Atlanta's streets, Callahan Garrity is trading in her badge for a broom and a staff of house cleaners. But, though the uniform is a little different, Callahan soon finds herself right back in the middle of a mystery when a client's pretty, pious nineteen-year-old nanny is gone ... along with the jewelry, silver, and a few rather sensitive real estate documents.
Before she knows it, the meticulous Callahan is up to her elbows in a case involving illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams, and a dead body. Now she has to roll up her sleeves and start some industrial strength sleuthing to solve -- and survive -- this mess.
Customer Reviews:
Every Crooked Nanny.......2007-09-09
I love the Stephanie Plumb books so this remindes me of that style although i prefer Trocheck's Hizzy Fit and the Savanah books which where great. This series was funny and I went out and bought another one until Trocheck writes another current book. The mother is a hoot and I loved the other cleaning people. The story was a little light reading but perfect for the beach. The ex-cop thing is a little unbelievable.
the language is really unnecessary!.......2007-08-20
this book is a great mystery and really the only problem I have with it and the writer is the crude language. I really don't think you need all that language just to sound authentic. Most people read to get away from real life. You don't have to have so much of that in the books as well. This is the only reason why I could not, in good conscience, give the book more than 2 stars. Sorry.
Great Title - Sort of Predictable.......2007-07-16
Great Title and an easy read. However, if you're looking for a challenge..this book is sort of predictable.
I've finally found a replacement for the Nancy Drew of my youth!.......2007-07-03
On a whim I picked up this book ~ and thought it was great!! I easily got caught up in the characters and can't wait to learn what Callahan, Edna and the crew are up to next!! As an educator, when I have the opportunity to read, I want it to be for the purpose of pure "fun", and that's what this series will be for me ~ nothing more than fun. Just enjoy it ~ that's what it's all about!!
Promising debut novel.......2007-04-20
Kathy Hogan Trocheck has created a feisty heroine in Callahan Garrity, a former cop who has started a cleaning agency called House Mouse. She is single and lives with her mother, a rather feisty lady herself. When none of her workers are available, Callahan takes on a job in a large house where she discovers that the owner is one of her former sorority sisters, Lilah Rose Beemish. When Lilah Rose's nanny, Kristee, is missing, she asks Callahan to help find her. They discover Kristee's body in a surprising place which implicates Lilah Rose's husband. As she begins investigating Kristee's life, Callahan discovers some very incriminating things about her. Add a few Mormons, a serious health problem for Callahan, and an extra-marital affair and you have an interesting and well-written cozy. This is the first book of a promising series.
Book Description
In these powerful, often funny, sometimes lyrical, and down-to-earth poems, Marge Piercy writes of her “crooked inheritance”—physical and personality traits from wildly mismatched parents, and in a larger sense the marvelous half-broken world we inherit. Even her hometown Detroit provides a double legacy—a slum girlhood that breeds in her both wild ambition and, where you would least expect it, a love of nature, which she discovers in the city’s elms, “the thing of beauty on grimy smoke-bleared streets.”
Some of Piercy’s strongest poems have always been political, and here are important new verses raging against the war in Iraq, the abandonment of Katrina’s victims (“People penned to die in our instant / concentration camps, just add water”), and the ongoing attempts to suppress women—their rights, their bodies, their minds, their very being: “The CIA should hire as spies / only women over fifty, because we are the truly invisible.”
Other poems are about her life on Cape Cod, where she finds sanctuary in the long natural rhythms of the year’s cycle—gardening, making pesto, hearing coyotes in the winter “yelping in chorus after a kill,” a place where after weeks of rain and snow, the “sun gives birth to rosebushes,” and “everything revealed is magical, splendid in its ordinary shining.” Here, too, are wonderful love songs, about friends, lovers, a beautiful day, animals, making bread.
Deep connections to Jewish life and ritual reveal themselves in poems about her Lithuanian grandmother, about holidays, about the peace in a time of war that ceremony can bring, “an evening of honey on the tongue . . . a puddle of amber light . . . faces of friends . . . darkness walling off the room from what lies outside.”
These marvelous poems remind us anew of the breadth and strength of Marge Piercy’s poetic vision. A superb collection to read and treasure.
Customer Reviews:
Speaking her mind.......2006-11-13
I was fortunate to hear Marge Piercy read her poetry at The Wisconsin Book
Festival and I was blown away. What a joy to discover a new author to read
and recommend.
In "Tracks", Piercy portrays the multitude of roles we fill, not only
with our relatives and friends, but also to the animals we interact with in
our life journey.
In "Hollywood Haircut" she wonders if a $400 haircut would change her life
for the better but decides
"No,I thought so.
I'll stick to Sarah
and my $35 trim."
In "Mighty Big" Piercy considers the ramifications of our arrogant foreign
policy.
I am going to quote from "Swear It" regarding those who seem to be holier
than thou.
"It has always amazed me there are
words too potent to say to those
whose ears are tender as baby
lettaces-often those who label
us into narrow jars with salt and
vinegar,saying, People like THEM,
meaning me and mine. Never say
the K or N word, just quietly shut
and bolt the door. Just politely
insert their foot in the Other's face."
Average customer rating:
- "Crying withheld feels sometimes like dying..."
- Growth experience for mother & daughter
- Kept thinking it would get better...It didn't.
- Lovely story
- Beautifully written, but just not to my taste
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Crooked Little Heart: A Novel
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0385491808
Release Date: 1998-05-18 |
Amazon.com
At 13, Rosie plays a gangly, pigeon-toed second fiddle to her juicy, sexy friend Simone. The two are junior tennis champs who often cart home trophies. But driven by the gnawing fear that she's a loser, Rosie starts to cheat. Meantime, boy-crazy Simone dabbles in off-court disaster. Up in the bleachers a weird loner named Luther obsessively follows Rosie's games, while at home her mother wrestles her own demons. Anne Lamott (Operating Instructions) has turned in a fair depiction of the blood and bones of adolescence that's thankfully leavened by sharp humor and transcendent moments. The novel is uneven and heavy-handed at times, but often rewarding.
Book Description
With the same winning combination of humor and honesty that marked her recent nonfiction bestsellers, Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott's new novel gives us an exuberant, richly absorbing portrait of a family for whom the joys and sorrows of everyday life are magnified under the glare of the unexpected.
Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament tennis. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic still grieving the death of her first husband; her stepfather, a struggling writer, is wrestling with his own demons. And now Rosie finds that her athletic gifts, once a source of triumph and escape, place her in peril, as a shadowy man who stalks her from the bleachers seems to be developing an obsession of his own.
Crooked Little Heart asks big questions in intimate ways: What keeps a family together? What are the small heartbreaks that tear at the fabric of our lives? What happens to grief when it goes underground? And what road must we walk with our flawed and crooked hearts?
Brilliantly written, inhabited by superbly realized characters, funny and human and wonderfully suspenseful, Crooked Little Heart is Anne Lamott writing at the peak of her considerable powers.
Customer Reviews:
"Crying withheld feels sometimes like dying...".......2007-06-04
I really loved this book, mostly because I could empathize with Rosie's middle school angst and insecurites. But I also admire (and envy) Lamott's writing in general - she creates beautiful phrases such as "it was so hot that the only things moving outside were the crickets and the anorexics" and "the sun smelled warm, like laundry in the dryer, like melting yellow crayons." Her writing startles me sometimes, so I have to stop and reread. I would never think to associate melting yellow crayons with the sun, for example...but the comparison makes perfect sense.
Simone, Rosie's best friend, wasn't one of my favorite characters at first, but her story turned out to be heartbreaking, and I was genuinely sad for her. I can still see her sitting on the bench with Rosie, waiting for Jason. Collapsed dreams, humiliation, and the double standard all follow - as usual, the male is not castigated by society. The male is not kicked out of the country club.
I liked Rae, Rosie's mom's best friend, the successful artist. When teased for her religious views, I was so proud of Rosie for defending her, reminding everyone that America "was founded on the principle of religious freedom," and no one should trivialize a woman's deepest feelings.
I also liked Luther, the mysterious observer at the tennis tournaments. I thought he was creepy at first, but he paid attention to Rosie when no one else did (her mother might be spacing out as she retreats into the past, and her stepfather might be checking his messages). Luther helped her, was there for her, so Rosie was never alone during a game.
"Too bad about the hair.." - when Rosie's coach said this to her (upon seeing Rosie's newly shorn head), it only confirmed my belief that he's sexist, that his voice echoes a society which regards hair as something that defines women, gives them value, forms stereotypes. Alas, Simone had glorious hair, and look what happened to her...her value appeared to decline in the end.
When a woman chops off most of her hair, it is one of the most liberating things in the world. I wish I'd gotten rid of mine when I was Rosie's age, instead of waiting until I was 24.
Growth experience for mother & daughter.......2007-05-12
This is a wonderful sequel to "Rosie" by LaMott, but stands well on its own. It's a "coming of age" genre.
Kept thinking it would get better...It didn't........2007-03-09
It took me about 6 weeks to finish this book. I usually finish a book I like in about 2-3 days, but I just couldn't get into this one. I kept thinking it would get better...It didn't. I read one other Anne Lamott novel and never finished it. Since so many readers had raved about this book, I decided to keep reading to see why it was so highly praised. The other reason I kept reading was because it seemed like there was something dark in Elizabeth's past that was lurking and waiting to come to the surface, but I didn't feel like this ever really got explained. It seemed like the storyline kept building up and up, and then just sort of fizzled out. I sort of cared about Rosie, more toward the end then at any other time. I barely cared (if at all) about her mother, Elizabeth. There were some good descriptions and some wonderfully poetic passages, but they didn't make up for the lack of care that I felt for the characters. I cared more about the supporting characters (Lank, Rae, and Charles) than I did about the developed main characters. I really disliked some of the comparisons/similes that the author made; especially the ones about likening the characters to birds. Since I tried to read two Anne Lamott books and didn't like either of them, maybe I just don't like her writing in general. From the looks of many of these comments, she seems to have lots of fans that love her writing! I'm just not one of them.
Lovely story.......2006-12-24
A rather heartwarming novel of adolescence, grief, sexual awakening, and tennis set in the Bay Area of California.
Beautifully written, but just not to my taste.......2004-07-29
After a slow start, I gradually fell in like with the writing style and people in this coming-of-age novel. I say "in like" because I have discovered I'm not overly partial to character-driven novels. Still, Lamott writes gorgeous descriptive sentences and uses lovely similes. Her grasp on the dynamics of a blended family and the social pressures on modern teenage girls seems effortless and without artifice.
It's a nice piece of work and well worth reading. It's just not to my taste.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Fans of Mary Karr's groundbreaking memoir The Liars' Club will relish the similarly funny, tough-minded tone of Helene Stapinski's recollections centering on her family's petty criminal history in the sordid precincts of Jersey City. But Stapinski is nobody's clone; her autobiography has a tart, distinctively urban Northeast flavor that will ring a bell with anyone familiar with America's aging, deteriorating cities. You can practically smell the soap suds from the local Colgate factory and the stink of the bone-rendering plant in nearby Newark; people didn't settle in Jersey City, writes Stapinski, "they settled for Jersey City ... they settled for less." She was 5 years old in 1970 when her Italian American grandfather was arrested for threatening to shoot her whole family, capping a long career that included armed robbery and beating his children. The Polish American relatives on her father's side included a bookie and an epileptic prone to fits of rage who nearly killed a sibling by breaking his back. None of this was a big deal in Jersey City, notes Stapinski, who deftly interweaves her family's story with the rancid saga of Hudson County's corrupt political machine. She fled to college in Manhattan and a career in journalism without ever really escaping the ties of blood and loyalty; her frank rendering of her mixed feelings as Jersey City was slowly upscaled reminds us what is gained and lost through gentrification. Stapinski's salty, savory account conveys the gritty, enduring legacy of Jersey City: "so tough, I was always prepared for what might come my way." --Wendy Smith
Book Description
With deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls “a page-turner,” Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City—a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight—with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny.
Customer Reviews:
I enjoyed this book.......2006-07-13
I was reading some reviews here and was surprised that they found this book "offensive", because either they knew better part of the city or Stapinski's family members stole, could not drive, drank, etc. WHY????? Haven't you stole an ashtray from downtown cafe once? Ever? Or haven't you taken a bunch of ketcup packets from fastfood joint? .. OK, all I'm saying is to lighten up a little. I think tragedies and craziness of her family are written here with great humor and affection. And who doesn't have one crazy person in their family? I could feel lump in my throat when I read the part where her daddy died. If you like to read something filled with morals and displines, then this book is not for you. But if you like to laugh and cry over real people with vivid characters, you should try this one.
I absolutely loved Five Finger Discount.......2006-06-18
Stapinski relates growing up in Jersey City in a fresh and honest way. And her recounting of the blighted history of Jersey City politics is a head-shaking hoot. As for the popularity of her opinions about JC and its denizens, well, that has no bearing on whether this book is a great read; it is.
I loved the sheer humanity of this book.
LOVED the humor of this book........2005-11-29
I've come to know and appreciate Jersey City on my own, since I became a volunteer historian at The Stanley Theatre 6 years ago. I've had to go the JC Public Library and had the pleasure of going thru the NJ Room, as well as meeting great people (Cynthia, Bruce, and Leon Yost -'Jersey Citians'(?). I've grown up in urban areas (i.e, Newark/Irvington), and now live in the suburbs in another County, but have come to appreciate Jersey City very much.
Jersey City has some wonderful historic sites, as well as areas that have been revitalized by citizens who take pride in their communities. I'm sure that the folks who've taken exception to many aspects of this book have their own arguments, that are probably even valid. But Ms. Stapinski's story is HER family story, the good, bad, and ugly.
There are wonderful Jersey City Arcadia-published books on various historical aspects, but Ms. Stapinski's personal account with "Five Finger Discount" was close to home for me, because my paternal grandfather was somewhat like her Grandpa, and my grandfather was sent to Trenton State Prison in the 1960's for illegal gambling, as well as not naming names.
I also read her "Baby Plays Around" and if nothing else, one has to admit that Ms. Stapinski's candor and raw emotion comes through in both published works.
I hope she is kidding.......2005-08-21
If I could give this book 0 stars I would. I think this portrays a horrible vision of how Jersey City was during that time period. I grew up in Jersey City during 80's early 90's. My parents spent all of their lives there. I am actually jealous when I hear about all of the fun they had during their childhood an in their 20's. They have the best stories and had the best times of their life in Jersey City. They developed close knit life long friendships with friends they met at an early age. My mother grew up in St. Al's parish and my father grew up in Our Lady of Victories parish. It did not give a true picture of Jersey City. She should have just harped on downtown which was trashy instead of bad mouthing the whole city.
This is an embarassment to people who lived there to have others who are unfamilar with Jersey City read this garbage. I highly DO NOT recommend this.
All too true.......2004-01-01
I grew up in the Greenville section of Jersey City in the 60's and 70's and I think that Helene Stapinski's depiction of Jersey City is spot-on. Not only was it a dreary and dirty place to live, it was also filled with some of the most narrow-minded, intolerant and racist people I ever had the misfortune of knowing. I attended Catholic grade school and high school there, but after graduation I moved away, and my family did the same a few years later. Despite assurances by some of my relatives that the place had changed, I went back to visit a friend who teaches at St. Peter's College and it was still the same Jersey City, complete with the same tight-faced people riding the #10 bus down Kennedy Blvd. Stapinski's book may not be popular among the locals, but her depiction is true.
Book Description
David Chalmers' widely acclaimed overview of the 1960s describes how the civil rights movement touched off a widening challenge to traditional values and arrangements. Chalmers recounts the judicial revolution that set national standards for race, politics, policing, and privacy. He examines the long, losing war on poverty and the struggle between the media and the government over the war in Vietnam. He follows feminism's "second wave" and the emergence of the environmental, consumer, and citizen action movements. And he explores the worlds of rock, sex, and drugs, and the entwining of the youth culture, the counterculture, and the American marketplace.
This newly revised edition carries the story into the angry 1990s, in which the shadow of Vietnam still hangs over national policy and the social ethic of the sixties is overshadowed by a conservative counterrevolution against taxes, social programs, and the powers of the national government.
Amazon.com
The Crooked Timber of Humanity contains eight of Isaiah Berlin's deservedly influential essays in the history of ideas, all dealing with political thought in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the essays, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," is published here for the first time; this reevaluation of the Savoyard counterrevolutionary occupies almost a quarter of the book, and not a word is wasted.
Although written separately, these essays exhibit a common concern with what Berlin calls pluralism, the idea that there can be different, equally valid but mutually incompatible, conceptions of how to live. Whatever their disagreements, traditional writers on politics have implicitly assumed that there is one best way to live, whether it was in the static utopias of More and Harrington or in the dynamic dramas of Hegel and Marx. But in the 18th century, Vico and Herder embraced pluralism, thus inaugurating the historicist turn in political thought. Berlin adeptly pursues pluralism and its repercussions through history, connecting it to the decline of utopian ideas, the origins of fascism and nationalism, the rise of the discipline of cultural history, and much else.
As always, Berlin's prose is graceful and powerful, but what truly makes The Crooked Timber of Humanity exhilarating to read is the depth and power of his intellect. Berlin credits Vico with realizing that "to exercise their proper function, historians require the capacity for imaginative insight, without which the bones of the past remain dry and lifeless." It is a capacity that Berlin himself amply displays here. --Glenn Branch
Book Description
"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."--Immanuel Kant
Isaiah Berlin was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century--an activist of the intellect who marshaled vast erudition and eloquence in defense of the endangered values of individual liberty and moral and political pluralism. In the Crooked Timber of Humanity he exposes the links between the ideas of the past and the social and political cataclysms of our present century: between the Platonic belief in absolute Truth and the lure of authoritarianism; between the eighteenth-century reactionary ideologue Joseph de Maistre and twentieth-century fascism; between the romanticism of Schiller and Byron and the militant--and sometimes genocidal--nationalism that convulses the modern world.
Customer Reviews:
Some gold, some dross.......2007-05-20
The best essay here is the one on Joseph de Maistre whom Berlin shows convincingly as one of the fathers of modern Fascism. But Berlin generally is too aloof and too "common room" like to be very exciting to read.
This point might be too sharp for you.......2004-04-10
There is an index for this collection of essays, but it does not find much to point to about the United States of America, except where particular examples get mixed in with the clutter of events that are described as the context of the rise of nationalism:
"So too, it may be that no minority that has preserved its own cultural tradition or religious or racial characteristics can indefinitely tolerate the prospect of remaining a minority forever, governed by a majority with a different outlook or habits. And this may indeed account for the reaction of wounded pride, or the sense of collective injustice, which animates, for example, Zionism or its mirror-image, the movement of the Palestinian Arabs, or such `ethnic' minorities as Negroes in the United States or Irish Catholics in Ulster, the Nagas in India and the like. Certainly contemporary nationalism seldom comes in its pure, romantic form, as it did in Italy or Poland or Hungary in the early nineteenth century, but is connected far more closely with social and religious and economic grievances. . . ."
A footnote which quotes the organ of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party for 20 July 1972 shows an awareness of the global side of the picture:
"Between national and international interests not only is there no contradiction, but, on the contrary, there is a full dialectical unity."
By implication, the index identifies the policies of the United States of America with the belief that it can foster countervailing forces
"as a barrier to unbridled chauvinism - seems about as realistic (at least so far as lands outside western Europe are concerned) as Cobden's belief that the development of free trade throughout the world would of itself ensure peace and harmonious co-operation between nations. One is also reminded of Norman Angell's apparently unanswered argument a short while before 1914 that the economic interests of modern capitalistic states alone made large-scale wars impossible."
For me the most interesting part of THE CROOKED TIMBER OF HUMANITY by Isaiah Berlin is in the middle of the book: "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism." Written in the twentieth century, it is not surprising that this essay attempts to consider the political ideas which had previously supported an old order as the ideological foundation for the worst enemy of freedom as a realm of modern thought. The Bible serves as an easier reference for me, particularly the books of Kings, in which it is reported, "Ahab also put up a sacred pole and committed other crimes as well, provoking the anger of Yahweh, the God of Israel, more than all the kings of Israel who were his predecessors." (I Kings 16:33). Bad governments can come in many forms, but a prime example of how they operate can be found in I Kings 21:10 :
"Confront him with a couple of scoundrels who will accuse him like this, `You have cursed God and the king.' Then take him outside and stone him to death."
Joseph de Maistre is presented by Isaiah Berlin as a man who was above such suspicions. "Like Charles Maurras and T. S. Eliot, he stood for the trinity of classicism, monarchy and the church. . . . He is a Catholic reacrtionary, a scholar and an aristocrat . . ." And yet "Maistre may have spoken the language of the past, but the content of what he had to say presaged the future."
Maistre was the son of a recently ennobled lawyer; he was considered a jurist, a diplomat, "a philosophical critic and an exceptionally brilliant writer," a negotiator, and a man of affairs. Born in 1753, Joseph de Maistre is described as "the eldest of ten children of the President of the Senate," but we might not be familiar with this Senate because he was born in the dukedom of Savoy, part of the kingdom of Sardinia. Looking for a foundation for his ideas is to seek a form of inversion:
"An action in Maistre's universe is ineffective precisely in proportion as it is directed to the achievement of day-to-day interests, and derives from calculating, utilitarian tendencies which compose the outer surface of human character; and it is effective, memorable, in tune with the universe precisely to the degree to which it springs from unexplained and unexplainable depths, and not from reason, nor from individual will . . . What is best and strongest is often violent, irrational, gratuitous, and therefore necessarily misrepresented, and made to seem absurd, only by being falsely ascribed to intelligible motives. Human action in his sense is justified only when it derives from that tendency in human beings which is directed neither to happiness nor to comfort, nor to self-assertion and self-aggrandizement, but to the fulfillment of an unfathomable divine purpose which men cannot, and should not try to, fathom - and which they deny at their peril. This may often lead to actions involving pain and slaughter, which in terms of the rules of sensible, normal, middle-class morality may well be regarded as arrogant and unjust, but which nevertheless derive from the dark unanalysable center of all authority. This is the poetry of the world, not its prose, the source of all faith and all energy, whereby alone man is free, capable of choice, of creation and destruction, superior to the causally determined, scientifically explicable, mechanical movements of matter, or of natures lower than his, ignorant of good and evil."
Lately I have been advised that I should try working on something a bit more recent than MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK, but the copyright dates listed in the front of this book, 1959, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1990, must include years in which contemporary readers would consider Vietnam a topic which had been dealt with during years in which they were in kindergarten. I feel the same way, if not more so.
To understand the 20th century, read this book........2002-08-08
The late Isaiah Berlin was one of the foremost liberal thinkers of the 20th century, a man and scholar who developed and promoted some of the most powerful arguments for individual liberty and liberal societies while, at the same time, wrote some of the most powerful essays in the history of ideas, particularly with respect to Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment thinkers, political philosophers, and ideologues of various persuasions. Some of his essays have become legendary: the essays on liberty, on Karl Marx and Disraeli, on Tolstoy. He left behind a significant body of work, most of which has been edited by Henry Hardy (if you read all of his essays, you will find they overlap quite a bit, but that is the product of an engaging thinker who preferred conversation to writing). "The Crooked Timber of Humanity" is among his finest collection of essays.
If there is any theme to this anthology, it is that human societies are like "crooked timbers"; trying to bend them is unnatural and only results in disastrous consequences. The attempts to bend them--essentially experiments in social engineering--marked the 20th century, from Lenin's Russia to Hitler's Germany to Pol Pot's Cambodia. These experiments had deep roots in modern political thinking, extending back into the nineteenth century. They manifested themselves in illiberal, totalitarian regimes in the 20th century and took an untold number of lives.
But "The Crooked Timber of Humanity" is not a study in history, although it comes from the mind of a man who lived across the span of the century he was writing about. It is a history of ideas and, in particular, of the belief that the interests, motivations, and goals of people can be, and are, the same at all times and in all places. This type of philosophical monism holds to a single vision of how societies ought to be arranged; is characterized by an idealism and utopianism that are to be attained at all costs; and is found in a number of modern ideologies such as fascism and nationalism. Berlin's essays cover idealism, utopianism, Vico, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and the views of de Maistre, all of which held to some form of singular, monistic political thinking.
Berlin's answer is reasonable and humane, a pluralstic point of view that holds that human desires and ends are varied, that utopianism in its many forms (Communism and fascism, to cite two) is conceptually incoherenet and unnatural to the experience of being human, and that human experience is multi-dimensional and constantly changing.
This collection of essays exhibit Berlin's pronounced clarity of thought (one of his wonderful trademarks) and illustrative prose (with all those rolling sentences). Berlin once said in an interview that, given his experience of the 20th century, all we should and can expect is a "minimally decent society," one that is free and liberal and open enough to allow human beings to realize their own ends, whatever imperfections such a society might have. The world since the Enlightenment, and in particular the world of the 20th century, has taught that anything else tends to lead to forceful and violent attempts to fashion society according to a specific ideal; as Berlin puts it in this book, to make such an omelette, many eggs have to be broken. He promotes a political philosophy at odds with this type of thinking and, in so doing, has become one of the great voices of liberty.
Of course, as incisive as Berlin was, he was not without controversy; his essay on de Maistre was not well received when it was first written, and, since his death, he has been lauded with every praise that can be heaped on a thinker. Whether or not he deserves all of that praise is a completely separate issue. "The Crooked Timber of Humanity" is a fine collection of essays on political philosophy and a fine sampling of Berlin's way of thinking.
The Man Who Read Too Much.......2000-03-03
Martin Gardner has an excellent review of this book in his collection of essays, _The Night is Large_, and I can add little to what he says.
The opening essay is a short, partly autobiographical account of how Berlin came to embrace his distinctive pluralism. It provides the clearest, most concise explanation I have seen to date of why Marxism and its ilk are wrong. His essay on de Maistre is longer than its subject deserves, but not uninteresting.
All of Berlin's essays display his encyclopedic knowledge and shrewd judgment. It is said that he was one of the fastest talkers on record; he writes with equal volubility, packing into each sentence a book's worth of history and theory. These essays are not for the neophyte or the casual reader -- the forthcoming _Power of Ideas_ (March 2000) promises to be more accessible -- nevertheless, they are virtuoso examples of the much praised but little practiced art of sympathetic critical interpretation.
Book Description
Combining humor, honesty, and plainspoken advice, Momma Zen distills the doubts and frustrations of parenting into vignettes of Zen wisdom.
Drawing on her experience as a first-time mother, and on her years of Zen meditation and study, Miller explores how the daily challenges of parenthood can become the most profound spiritual journey of our lives.
This compelling and wise memoir follows the timeline of early motherhood from pregnancy through toddlerhood. Momma Zen takes readers on a transformative journey, charting a mother’s growth beyond naive expectations and disorientation to finding fulfillment in ordinary tasks, developing greater self-awareness and acceptance—to the gradual discovery of “maternal bliss,” a state of abiding happiness and ease that is available to us all. “Being a mother is one of the most amazing, miraculous, mysterious, dignifying, and illuminating things you will ever do.”
In her gentle and reassuring voice, Karen Miller convinces us that ancient and authentic spiritual lessons can be as familiar as a lullaby, as ordinary as pureed peas, and as frequent as a sleepless night. She offers encouragement for the hard days, consolation for the long haul, and the lightheartedness every new mom needs to face the crooked path of motherhood straight on.
Customer Reviews:
Every Mother Should Have This Book.......2007-09-13
It is truly rare to find a book so full of Truth. This brilliant little treasure will help struggling mothers to find peace and joy in their own journey through motherhood. I can not stress enough how perfect this book is! The author, Karen Maezen Miller, shares her life experiences, from the simple to the heart wrenching, and then is able to use those experiences to present, more than just Buddhist truth, but what I consider to be universal truths. I finished feeling enlightened and inspired. Miller provides mothers with not just encouragement, but encourages a perspective transformation, which will help restrain the suffering and guide you towards joy. Every mother should have this book.
I am Auntie Zen.......2007-04-13
One can almost feel they are listening to Karen Maezen Miller chat with them across the coffee table, so intimately does she confide. It is easy to see her in a chenille bathrobe and smudgy mascara as she pulls you closer into her world. I am glad to find a Western Zen practicioner, a priest yet, who is as solid and real and as loving as my mom. Someone who is teaching me but is so much a student too. As an active and doting aunt to 9 children ages 8 months to 35 years, I have gained insight on my sisters' lives, shed guilt about taking their kids to Mickie D's, and can understand the grace of an apology to a child. I was captivated by the honesty and the wonderful writing. I have given this book to several friends, it makes a perfect gift.
motherhood as a spiritual path YES YES YES.......2007-01-15
This book helped be laugh and learn from the first couple of years at being a new mommy. Excellent read and support for all the emotions and life lessons as well.
A thoughtful companion on the spiritual journey of motherhood.......2006-10-03
"Momma Zen" is a book to come back to again and again. I dip into it whenever I am having a difficult day, or just seeking inspiration during a quiet moment. Usually I gobble books cover-to-cover, but Karen Maezen Miller's work is wonderful when savored in small bites. "Momma Zen" reads like a series of thougthtful discussions with a wise friend.
Motherhood is full of uncertainty, reversals, and discovery. "Momma Zen" is a wonderful companion on this journey. Whether you are an expectant first-time mother or the a seasoned Mom, this book has something for you. I recognize myself in every chapter.
We live in an era where an avalanche of advice books can feel overwhelming. "Momma Zen" takes a different approach by connecting with the heart of motherhood--the enduring, essential challenges, lessons and blessings that we encounter in relationship with our children. Karen Maezen Miller's work is a true gift to give yourself or a friend.
A Book You'll Refer to Again and Again.......2006-09-15
I found this book comforting, reassuring and humorous. As a working mom with a 22-month old, the sections on discipline, simplicity and perspective spoke the most loudly to me.
This book reminded me that that none of my experiences to date are all that unique (ie neither me nor my child are freaks of nature). I like the index provided at the end of the book--as our lives change, it will serve as a handy reference tool.
Average customer rating:
- rocking book
- A Clash of Cultures
- Cry me a river
- Historical Fiction At Its Best!
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Crooked River
Shelley Pearsall
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ASIN: 0440421012
Release Date: 2007-03-13 |
Book Description
The year is 1812. A white trapper is murdered. And a young Chippewa Indian stands accused.
Customer Reviews:
rocking book.......2007-01-31
Crooked River by Shelley Pearsall is a Historical fiction book based on a true story. It takes place in Ohio in 1812.This book is about a girl named Rebecca who along with her sister Laura experienced the hard, happy and sad times w/ a Chippewa Indian John, Her dad had crossed the Crooked River and brought the Indian back accused of murdering a white man. At the same time Rebecca is helping Laura to take her dead mom's position in the family. During the first days Indian John was in the same house as both girls Rebecca and her sister could not sleep without thinking that Indian john would escape from the attic and kill all of them. As time passed Rebecca slowly began to believe in Indian John's innocence. She felt that horrible things would happen if he really was guilty. Finally the trial came. Was Indian John guilty? Will anybody try to help him? Will he die? Shelley Pearsall is an author that makes you wonder and adds a little bit of mystery to her book. So if you like mysterious and suspenseful endings read Crooked River and find out the mystery behind Indian John's trial.
A Clash of Cultures.......2006-05-15
Shelley Pearsall has written an important work of historical fiction exploring the clash of two cultures and how assumptions about our enemies often prevent us from seeing our common humanity.
Set in 1812, the bulk of the story is related in a straight-forward narrative from the "white man's" view as each day two sisters, Rebecca and Laura Carver, climb the stairs to their cabin's attic to bring food to a Chippewa accused of murding a trapper. Interspersed between chapters are the Chippewa's point of view related as poetic interludes.
Using these different points of view, Pearsall is able to suggest that each character occupies a position outside the other's consciousness... as if poetry and prose represent two different worlds... simultaneously revealing not only the differences between each culture's values and perspective but the common ground that each culture shares.
Gradually, Rebecca comes to see these two worlds, not as separate, but as sharing a common humanity. Trusting her sense of justice, she is willing to act to save the Chippewa, even though it means going against her strong-willed father's beliefs and her own culture's code of conduct.
In the end, Pearsall shows us how two very different views of the world can co-exist, even when the occupants of each world are unaware of their connection.
An enormously penetrating tale shedding light on an often overlooked aspect of American history.
Cry me a river.......2006-01-04
About halfway through a thorough reading of this book, a question popped into my brain. How many well-known children's books center on an important court case? There must be dozens, right? I mean, a courtroom is a perfect setting for drama. Just ask the audience of "Law and Order". Children's books, similarly, thrive on heightened emotions. Hence, there must be lots of children's fiction out there employing judges, juries, and gavel poundings right? Maybe so, but I was hard pressed to think of a one. The closest story I came up with was Harper Lee's, "To Kill a Mockingbird" and calling that a children's book is bound to offend all sorts of people everywhere. No, at this time I think that "Crooked River" is probably the only children's book I've personally read where the courtroom becomes the center of one young girl's life. I just wish I could figure out whether I liked it or not.
It's 1812 and Rebecca Carver has just learned that there's a manacled Chippewa in her attic. Needless to say, the news comes as quite a shock. Till now Reb has lived a pretty downtrodden life. She has an overbearing father, a series of spoiled or ignorant male relatives, and just her older and younger sisters for comfort. Finding an Indian in her attic has done little to improve her life. It seems that her father and some men in the village decided to go out and find the Chippewa that killed a white trapper some miles out of town. They proclaim Indian John (as they have dubbed him) to be the murderer, leaving Carver's daughters to fear for their lives as they sleep in their beds. In time, however, Reb learns that the man chained in the attic may not be the kind of man her fellows have always taught her to fear. A red-haired lawyer named Peter Kelley has known Amik, the prisoner, since childhood and believes fully in his innocence. It will take a trial to prove to Reb just what kind of influence that she, a mere thirteen-year-old slip of a girl, can have over events beyond her control.
Judging the portrayal of a Native American in a children's book is a monumentally difficult task. Often in cases like this one I turn to the Oyate organization (a Native American group charged with determining how popular culture depicts them) to see what their reactions to any given book are. In this particular case, however, "Crooked River" is too new for much outside critiquing. The book itself is broken into two narratives. In one, Rebecca talks about her changing perceptions and disillusionment with the people around her. In the other is Amik's voice. His words are in a different font and are written in a kind of free verse. At the beginning of the book, these words are rather beautiful. "it is the time when the leaves / are small on the trees. / too small / for hiding". But I had a very difficult time deciding whether or not Amik's mode of speech was a creative answer to giving his character a distinct personality and way of seeing the world or if it was an offensive stereotype too often done. He does, after all, revert back to those old clichés of wondering why the whites around him are seemingly deaf and dumb to the smells and sounds around them. It's a moment we've seen in countless books and films. On the other hand, the verse is often rather touching and quite interesting. I'm torn both ways.
The book itself is more than readable. At first it seems reliant on two-dimensional characters. Rebecca is good and therefore she pities the Indian. Her father is bad and therefore loathes Amik. It takes a while to realize but Rebecca's older sister Laura is one of the exceptions to this rule. In her case you have someone good who fears and dislikes Amik and has a hard time overcoming her own prejudices. Amos, Rebecca's older brother, is the same way. Pearsall's writing deftly plays with their thoughts on the matter while making it perfectly clear that early U.S. settlers weren't exactly the saintly explorers so lauded in American stories and songs.
A book can be beautifully written, penned with aplomb, and smart as a whip yet not quite touch the reader. Personally, "Crooked River" was not one of my favorite books of the year. This is not to say that it isn't a worthwhile piece of writing. I simply couldn't get a grip on the character of Amik and all that he was meant to represent. For others, their reactions will be different. Some people will adore this book. Some will despise it. I feel neither of these emotions myself. I simply recommend that you read it on your own time and come to your own conclusions about it. If Amazon.com is good for nothing else, it helps us to proclaim to the masses how much we love or hate a title. I will be eagerly reading all the other responses, "Crooked River" engenders.
Historical Fiction At Its Best!.......2005-03-08
CROOKED RIVER is the second novel for author Shelley Pearsall, winner of the 2003 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Set in Ohio in 1812, CROOKED RIVER tells the dramatic story of an unjust trial of an Indian--nicknamed Indian John--who was captured and held prisoner by one of the white settlers. "Indian John" is accused of murdering a white fur trapper. The story is told from two perspectives: prose chapters narrated by Rebecca Carver, the 13 year old daughter of the white man who captured the Indian, and a series of poems narrated by the Indian--whose real name is Amik. As his formal trial draws closer--although the men in the settlement have already concluded his guilt--Rebecca becomes more and more convinced that "Indian John" is innocent. One other man, Peter Kelley, a lawyer, also believes in his innocence. Kelley tries his best to win the case and set his friend Amik free, but the judge and jury will not be swayed. The trial is a mockery. Evidence or no evidence, they want this man to be convicted and hung.
CROOKED RIVER is based loosely on the true story of an Indian named John O'Mic who was tried and convicted of murder in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1812. He was held captive in a cabin and shared it with the white man and his family--there was a thirteen year old daughter. Using this true story as a basis and framework, Pearsall fictionalized the account to show how these people might have felt. Her research was thorough and impressive as her author's note indicates. While CROOKED RIVER is based on a true story, fact and fiction have two different endings. In real life, John O'Mic was sentenced to death--by hanging. "Indian John" was also sentenced to die--however, thanks to his friends he faked his death and was able to escape further west along with the rest of his family.
I thought CROOKED RIVER was a wonderful book. Although Pearsall is not of Native American ancestry, I believe her research was so extensive that Amik's voice was authentic. The poems narrated by Amik are beautiful. To learn that some of these phrases were borrowed from authentic Ojibwe sources--poems, stories, songs, etc--was fascinating. It made the book even "more authentic" than I originally thought. The narration of Rebecca Carver was equally researched. Pearsall read primary sources--diaries, books, letters, etc--from the time period to capture authentic language patterns and phrases of the whites as well. One source in particular that Pearsall used was an unpublished diary of a young girl named Emily Nash.
CROOKED RIVER is an excellent novel, and I highly recommend it to all. I am impressed not only with the novel CROOKED RIVER but with the author's in-depth research into the time period and opposing cultures that provide the background and context for the novel. I am curious to find a copy of her first novel, TROUBLE DON'T LAST, and read it as well.
Book Description
Officially designated as Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, the Crooked Road is a 250-mile driving route through southwestern Virginia. Each chapter of A Guide to the Crooked Road focuses on one of the 10 counties through which the road passes. The book includes 2 CDs featuring examples of the Appalachian music style.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-08-27
My younger son (7) and I as well as the rest of the family love the music and intros on the CDs. There is so much good info on the Road and all the places to go, you better go soon, before everyone gets there ahead of you and you can't see / hear the good stuff! The only problem I have is that the volume / equalization of the intros vs. the selections make the narrator difficult to hear when the selections are at a good level. I am looking forward to our next trip so we can have a better idea of where to go with the little bit of time we will have. FYI: the Floyd Country Store has been remodeled, and even though it is more "touristy" now it is so much more comfortable than it was before - it seems to have A/C. I know for a fact that MANY of the locals attend shows there regularly (we have family there). I have also seen some of the people there that are in the photo on the cover of the book.
Crooked Road Guidebook is Collectable!.......2007-07-05
I have never before seen anything so incredibly chock-full of history of the roots of bluegrass, mountain and old timey music before! The author knows his stuff. The two narrative cd's with music samples are worth way more than the price for the book itself! This is a highly collectable book - you will never come across anything so interesting and enlightning on the roots of music in this great land!
Give them as gifts. "Heritage tourism" is very popular and this is one fantastic road trip! The Blue Ridge Mountains -- you can toss a stone in any direction and hit a musician. I have only one word of advise should you follow the Crooked Road... Please do not just go from town to town looking to hear music. You will miss it entirely. The countryside, the fresh air, the people - that is The Crooked Road.
I also recommend you start the trail in Rocky Mount Virginia - there is a lovely Bed adn breakfast just one block from the Depot where they have Footlights of the Blue Ridge music every other Friday night.
A Virginian must have, if you love the old time music, this is for you........2007-04-26
I have traveled the world and there is truly no place like home, my home is Virginia and the music I was raised on. There is no doubt that this book and the bonus CD's capture's the very essence of the music and sounds of Virginia and the festival's that we have all come to love and enjoy. This is true, down to the roots Virginia music, played and sung with all the heart and soul that reflects the wide variety of musician's through out our beautiful state. A must have for Virginian's and anyone else that love's and enjoy's the old sounds of music from the past.
A Guide with a Bonus.......2007-03-16
I found this guide to be delightful. Besides being enjoyably readable, it contained great historical "tidbits" to give it context. The information about the sites was practical and usable. The two CD's that were included in the book had a fun variety of old time and roots music. I have listened to them over and over again in both my car and my home. What a treasure this Guide to the Crooked Road turned out to be!
Could not put it down!.......2007-01-09
This is a very informative and interesting book. The Cd's are well done. If you want to know more about Bluegrass and Old Time music in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina, this is a "Must Have".
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