Book Description
Following The Book of Revelation—“a premise made terrifyingly real by a hugely talented writer,” wrote The New York Times Book Review—Rupert Thomson now explores a radical social experiment in a novel both politically provocative and personally mesmerizing.
One night a boy who comes to be called Thomas Perry is taken from his family, caught up in a comprehensive unraveling of what had been a united kingdom. The powers that be—reacting to their country’s inexorable decline into consumerism, turpitude, racism, and violence—establish in its place four independent republics based on the perceived nature of the citizens assigned to each, and reinforce these new partitions with concrete barricades and razor wire. Renamed, relocated, and granted favored status, Thomas enjoys one success after another until, as a devoted civil servant, he suddenly falls out of the system entirely and travels illegally throughout a realm now utterly divided, his life in constant jeopardy. And by witnessing the best and worst and strangest of what society and human nature can offer, he begins to understand how little he knows of his true self or the desires and needs that define satisfaction and happiness for everyone.
A highly realistic portrait of a world that doesn’t exist, but which bears odd, unsettling resemblances to our own, this is fiction of supreme originality and accomplishment.
Customer Reviews:
Divided We Stand, United We Fall.......2006-09-13
That is the premise of Rupert Thomson's dystopian novel "Divided Kingdom". Set in the United Kingdom, a group of unseen, unknown `powers that be' have determined that British society is decaying. Hopelessness, despair, and dysfunction are the hallmarks of the political and economic life of a once great nation. The solution: take Great Britain and divide it into four mini-Britains each separated from the other by a wall similar to the one that used to divide Berlin. People are not permitted to travel from one section to the next. The key to this subdivision of Britain is the "great rearrangement".
Each mini-Britain will be segregated by personality type. Every citizen is assessed and assigned to one of four personality types based on the ancient concept of the four humors: Choleric (yellow), melancholic (green), phlegmatic (blue) and sanguine (red). `Sanguine' people, who are optimistic and even-tempered, must reside in the Red Quarter. `Phlegmatics' are passive and compassionate and tend to let life carry them along like a leaf floating on a stream. They are assigned to the Blue Quarter. `Cholerics' are aggressive, Type-A people assigned to live in the Yellow Quarter, `Melancholics' are introspective and pessimistic, and must live in the Green Quarter. The great rearrangement is planned under great secrecy and the people of Britain wake up one morning to see that the military is supervising the forced shipment of every citizen to their assigned quarter.
As the story opens eight-year old protagonist, Thomas Parry, is snatched from his parents home and placed in a school pending his transfer to the red section. Thomas is placed with a family whose wife/mother has been forcibly sent to another quarter. Thomas adjusts well, on the surface at least, to the great rearrangement. He eventually becomes a trusted government employee and is asked to cross the border to attend a multilateral conference attended by all four groups. It is a rare privilege for Thomas to cross the border. It is only after he arrives that all the angst that Thomas had kept buried inside begins to come to the fore. Thomas receives an invitation to a strange, exotic club and the club unleashes such powerful, unfathomable forces within Thomas that he drops everything and embarks on a journey that takes him across the four kingdoms.
Thomas' journey is a journey of self-examination. However, Thomson does a great job providing something of a travelogue through each of the four kingdoms. Thomson does a great job fleshing out Thomas' character. However, given the large cast of characters who Thomas encounters those secondary characters do tend to have a somewhat superficial portrayal. The fact that these characters tend to live up to their personality assignment does make their portrayal seem logical within the confines of the book.
The book's concept is an excellent one and the plot is both original and entertaining. The plot allows Thomson and the reader the opportunity to explore the role of the individual's role in society, the role of the family, and the individual's concept of self and sense of affiliation with the community around him. Thomson's dystopian vision has its roots in Aldous Huxley's "BRAVE NEW WORLD" and also Yevgeny Zamyatin's "WE".
"Divided Kingdom" does have some flaws (in my opinion). At one point some of the characters exhibit some almost supernatural powers. One character seems to be able to render her invisible. I found this to be a bit of a distraction and came across as an easy way to get Thomas and the other character across a border. Ultimately this is not a major problem but it left me seeing those books as being somewhat separate from the story as a whole. However, this quibble should not detract from Thomson's well-executed prose. It is concise and adheres successfully to the less-is-more school of fiction. Thomson does not bludgeon the reader with conclusions or answers. Rather, he tells a story in a fairly minimalist style and leaves the rest to the thought processes of his readers.
All in all "Divided Kingdom" is an entertaining, thought provoking book. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
ignore the premise, enjoy the ride if you can/.......2006-03-23
Divided Kingdom begins with the main character, 8 years old, rousted out of his bed the night the kingdom (a parallel sort of Britain gone to misery and chaos) is divided into quarters based on the four humours in a last ditch attempt to salvage society. Hustled off to a reeducation facility, Thomas Perry is eventually transferred to a family still grieving over the loss of their wife/mother in the Red "sanguine" quarter, where he gradually moves up the political ladder within the ministry responsible for assignments/transfers. The book really starts going when he is sent to a conference in another quarter. There, in a club called the Bathyscope (it reminded me somewhat of Steppenwolf's theater), he sees images/scenes that drive him to skip out on his responsibilities and began a border-crossing trek that will eventually bring him to all four quarters.
The premise of the story isn't all that plausible. The fact that it is barely explored in any pragmatic/realistic sense leads one to think it isn't meant to be seen as particularly plausible anyway. Much as Parry does in the Bathyscope. the reader is being taken on a dreamlike experience and shouldn't look for the nuts and bolts dystopia of an Orwell or Bradbury.
And dreamlike it is, as Parry moves among the various citizens of each quarter, encountering a wide variety of character types, including the mysterious White People, those who can't be assigned a humour (they don't seem to gravitate towards one) and who move in speechless, nomadic packs.
Kingdom is a hard novel to pin down. As mentioned, it doesn't work at all on a pragmatic dystopic level as nothing of how the societies function or not is ever really explored. And for me, it only worked hit and miss on the more surreal level. There is strong writing in much of it, though sometimes overly noticeable as crafted. There are as well some moving sections and moments that deserve some pause and meditation. But its picaresque plot never really compelled, nor did the character, and while I followed what happened it was with somewhat moderate interest. The ending, unfortunately, I thought the weakest section and so that colored the entire reading somewhat negatively
I can't say Divided Kingdom pulled me along or startled me with its language or style except for every now and then. It was a serviceable read with moments of highlights, but the latter part diluted those moments for me. I'd be interested to read more by the author for his inventiveness and his ability to create a beguiling tone/atmosphere, but I can't really strongly recommend Divided Kingdom.
Disturbing - and Marvelous.......2006-01-07
I'm shocked and disappointed by how few reviews have been written of this novel. Thomson has created an interesting premise and pulled through with the kind of dystopian novel that makes you look at the world around you in a new light, not to mention gives you great joy at the craft. I LOVED this book - picked it up in the library, and then bought a copy as a gift - and am reading it again. I may have to buy another copy because I may not want to part with it. Thomson's writing provides imagery, suspense, great characters. A fascinating work right up the alley of fans of the dystopian fiction genre. Also important, it will appeal to those who don't need everything spelled out and on the surface and are willing to let things unfold.
"They took the worst part of us and built a system out of it and it worked".......2005-11-15
In Divided Kingdom society has become troubled and fragmented - obsessed with acquisition and celebrity, it is a place defined by misery, envy, and greed. Crime is rampant; the courts are swamped, the prisons overflowing, the divorce rate following marriage quickly and predictably. Faced with lawlessness and chaos, the current government - hidden in an underground bunker - is forced to make a radical decision.
The Kingdom is to be divided into four countries, this political solution, or "rearrangement" comes with considerable risk, but is seen as the only alternative to avert certain anarchy. Each citizen is psychologically assessed and placed, sometimes with force, into four administrative units, each corresponding to one of the medieval "humours."
There's the Red Quarter, inhabited by the cheerfully sanguine, and where Matthew Micklewright, our main protagonist, then aged eight, lives; the Yellow Quarter, where the choleric rage and beat each other up; the Blue Quarter, populated by the stoically phlegmatic; and the "Green Quarter that harbors melancholic depressives.
Concrete boundaries are thrown up, rigidly controlled by the border police, and each country is sealed, fearful of the threat of psychological contamination. The rearrangement deliberately manufactured to create a climate of suspicion and denial between each country - people burying parts of their personalities that don't fit, and hiding their secrets that could now be judged and condemned.
One night, as the roundup begins, young Matthew is cruelly separated from his parents and taken to an immensely sinister boarding school, where he is lectured on the Rearrangements political rationale. The country had become "a troubled place," an enthusiastic Miss Groves tells the class, and this resolution was seen as the only alternative. Subsequently our hero -now renamed Thomas Parry- is given a new family and groomed for advancement in the Red Quarter regime as a civil servant.
After years of studying and career diligence, Thomas is finally given the senior administrative job he has been aiming for; this involves the ongoing process of psychological testing and relocation of members of the population who fail to meet the demands of his quarter. Now he is able to attend commissions and attend cross-border conferences, a privilege available only to the autocratic elite.
Dispatched to a cross border conference in the Blue Quarter, Thomas clandestinely visits a nightclub, the Bathysphere. Shocking images of his past come back to haunt him, of his mother, and of his first true love. He isn't sure what to make of these memories, all he knows is that he has experienced something so totally profound and addictive that it skews his sanguine nature, setting him on a course of self-discovery as he travels through the divided kingdom's four quarters.
Thomas becomes caught up in a terror attack in the Yellow Quarter; is shipwrecked on the coast of the Blue Quarter, and is farmed off to an angst-ridden Green Quarter boarding house, eventually escaping and joining the itinerant and stateless White People, a band of nomadic outsiders who drift aimlessly from quarter to quarter, spurned and shunned by the populations of this new and unsettling world.
Reticent of Huxley's Brave New World, author Rupert Thomson, rather than focusing on the nuts and bolts, the mechanics of this dystopian world chooses instead, to chart Thomas's tortured emotional landscape, as he becomes an outlaw, a fugitive, traveling from quarter to quarter, experiencing first hand each facet of the human condition. Our hero starts off with such noble pursuits and intent, convinced that his role is safe guarding the values and integrity of the Red Quarter. "I realized that he had to fight for the system, had to believe in it, or my removal from my family will have been for nothing."
But as Thomas travels, and witnesses the Yellow Quarter's inhumanity, the Blue Quarter's innocently sweet nature, and the Green quarter's chronic depressives, he realizes that the divided kingdom is united after all, by just one thing: "longing," a longing by most people to perhaps be reunited again.
But like the Kingdom he journeys through, Thomas realizes early on, that there will be no going back, there would be no going back to the part of him that had been buried for so many years, and there would be no more glimpses of that forgotten life. Going to Club Bathysphere exposed the need in Thomas, the ache - the hollowness that lay beneath a life so seemingly well ordered, even charmed. Fragments of another life had been released, altering him forever. His experiences lead him to admit that everything he had built had been revealed for what it was - "mere scaffolding."
Thompson evokes a bleak, desolate, almost apocalyptic world, where the psychological outlines of the different Quarters are sharply defined; its landscape of fleeting female figures, semi-erotic encounters, and of canals, waterways, and even underwater seas. It's also a world of transient, almost spiritual figures, fighting for survival in cities that embody all that is selfish and self-absorbed about capitalism.
Although the narrative tends to lose impetus towards the end, Divided Kingdom is mostly a gripping saga, a part adventure story, and part treatise on the human experience, a portrait of a world that is divided into a type of "psychological racism," where misguided authorities " have force-fed us our own weakness - our intolerance, our bigotry, to create a world where the people seem to need it, and even thrive on this type of prejudice." Mike Leonard November 05.
Lovely.......2005-09-16
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about a future "United Kingdom" that has become divided. Imagine a world where everyone is sorted by which medieval "humour" they fit into -- all the choleric people are together, separate from all the melancholics, etc. I thought it an interesting premise that gave structure to the author's exploration of identify, value, etc. My only qualm comes from the fact that I'm not an intellectual and usually like my books to end in a happy summation wherein all mysteries are solved. But, as in real life, it doesn't happen here. I happened upon this book by accident -- I was locked out of my house and forced to spend the evening at the local library, with the reward of discovering a new author whose books I look forward to reading. I recommend this book to anyone with an evening to pass and a desire to read something that isn't in the common run of things.
Average customer rating:
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R.D. Laing: A Divided Self : A Biography
John Clay
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mental Illness
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ASIN: 0340684518 |
Book Description
"Remarkable” and “astonishing,” says Jan Morris of Roy Moxham’s account of his search for “one of the least-known wonders of Queen Victoria’s India,” and John Keay finds it “a compelling read, simply told, and simply wonderful.” An unquestionably fascinating tale, as well as a travel book and historical detective story, The Great Hedge of India begins in a secondhand bookshop on London’s Charing Cross Road. There Roy Moxham buys the memoir of a nineteenth-century British colonial administrative officer, who makes a passing reference to a giant hedge planted by the British across the Indian subcontinent. That hedge—which for fifty years had been manned and cared for by 12,000 men and had run a length of 2,500 miles—becomes what Moxham calls his “ridiculous obsession.” Recounting a journey that takes him to exotic isolated villages deep in the interior of India, Moxham chronicles his efforts to confirm the existence of the extraordinary, impenetrable green wall that had virtually disappeared from two nations’ memories. Not only does he discover the shameful role the hedge played in the exploitative Raj and the famines of the late nineteenth century, but he also uncovers what remains of this British grand folly and restores to history what must be counted one of the world’s wonders—and a monument to one of the great injustices of Victorian imperialism. “Grandly entertaining ... close to being a perfect story of a fanciful quest.”—Boston Globe
Customer Reviews:
Not Memorable.......2007-10-02
The author seems to use his quest for signs of an old customs line through India as a device for exploring the British colonial history of that territory -- at least as it relates to the taxation of salt. The fact that the old line was enforced with a hedge (well, a thorny thicket at any rate) conjures images of well-manicured English gardens and this association seems to be the fascination of the author who describes at length his trips to libraries in search of maps as well as travel adventures in India trying to track down traces of it. One of the voices in my head (there are many) was screaming at me the whole way through the book "Why doesn't this guy just dial it up on Google Earth???" That obviously wasn't possible back when the book was written, but regardless, the piece and the obvious extensive research that went into it seems as much a work of folly as the superficial image the author is trying to depict of the English tending to a quaint hedge through the hinterland of one of their colonies. In the end, the book isn't too memorable.
enlightening.......2007-01-19
i'm a tea addict and was in india january '06. this book was educational, informative, and thoroughly researched. It was also quite eye-opening regarding how the British treated Indians during British Rule, while
focusing on one tax: the salt tax. I read this after reading Moxham's other book: Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire. I highly recommend that one.
The hedge that divided a people.......2006-09-17
The author Roy Moxham set out to uncover the story of a huge hedge the British built from Pakistan across India. He discovered though a much bigger story of oppression and how a large corporation sought to dominate a people. The hedge was built to control the movement of taxable commodities like salt and had a huge impact on the lives of Indians.
The salt tax is a key part of the story and a key reason for the hedge. Taxes on salt are ages old, salary is the from the Latin for payment in salt. In imposing the salt tax on Indians, the British East India company perpetuated the previous practice of Moghul princes.
Salt is so important to life because humans in general cannot survive without salt in their diet. The human body contains about six ounces of salt and salt is critical for the body processes. The body loses salt daily which must be replaced. Failure to replace lost salt can lead death and disease.
The British East India company's salt tax affected every one, but none more so than the poor of India. The company made huge profits from the tax in the 1700s and 1800s. Many British aristocrats and businessmen made fortunes from their investments in the British East India company. After the British government took over the rule of India from the British East India company, it could have stopped the salt tax, but didn't.
This is an eye-opening story. The only thing missing are detailed maps because Moxham frequently refers to and discusses maps of India.
Absorbing Read.......2004-07-15
Like many students of Indian history, I thought I knew it all. Imagine my surprise when I came across "The Great Hedge of India," by Roxy Moxham and discovered that the British had built a living barrier of hedges between British India and the Indian States. That this British-built Hadrian Wall of sorts, referred to as the Custom Line by the British in India, was meant to curb smuggling of the lowly common everyday household ingredient-salt!
Moxham first stumbled across a reference to the Great Hedge in a lowly footnote in a book (aptly titled) "Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official." That footnote became a full-fledged obsession for Moxham who spent countless hours and days in libraries hunting for more information on this living hedge. His quest takes him to various parts of India to hunt for this living "Customs Line."
This is a must read book for anyone interested in reading Indian history.
A great read!.......2003-10-23
The book starts with a sort of quirky quest -- to find out more about a "great hedge"!! in India. The investigation leads into a deeper exploration of what the British presence in India was really all about. Anybody who is interested in India will want to read this book.
For more reviews, look up the hardback edition of this book. At last count, there were 13 reviews there.
Book Description
Roy Moxham's tale begins in a secondhand bookshop on London's Charing Cross Road, where, for £25, he buys the memoirs of a nineteenth-century British colonial administrative officer. In the book Moxham stumbles upon a passing reference by its author to a great hedge that had been planted by the British across the Indian subcontinent. Manned and cared for by 12,000 men, the hedge stood for fifty years and at its greatest extent ran a length of 1,500 miles. That hedge, surely one of the largest man-made-and virtually forgotten-enterprises in human history, became what Moxham calls his "ridiculous obsession." At once a travel book and historical detective story, The Great Hedge of India chronicles a quest that takes Moxham from the British Library and the India Office Archive in London to the Indian subcontinent itself, in his attempt to discover whether this extraordinary, impenetrable green wall, which had so completely disappeared from two nations' memories, had in fact ever existed at all and, if it had, to what end. After years of research and travel that took him to charming, isolated villages in wilds rarely visited by tourists, Moxham succeeded where history had failed. Not only did he discover the inglorious role the hedge played within the huge commercial schemes that characterized the exploitative Raj but he also uncovered the final remnants of this British grand folly in India. His engrossing account in this volume sheds revelatory new light on British policy and administration in imperial India at the same time that it records Moxham's single-minded quest to restore to history what must be counted one of the wonders of the world.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and informative at every level.......2003-09-30
The book is the story of an Englishman's chance discovery (actually rediscovery) of the construction of a barrier comparable to the Great Wall of China. The authors story of the search is an interesting part of the story, but the historical investigation of the barrier, the motivation behind it, the details n the effects of salt deprivation, the comparative analysis of salt taxation in Europe and China, all combine to make this one of the best reads I can remember. Highly recommended!
What next from the British Raj?.......2002-04-15
First we had THE GREAT ARC, a story about the immense project to map the arc of the meridian in India. Now we learn that the British army and the government built a 1500 mile long GREAT HEDGE OF INDIA as part of a customs wall to keep out smugglers of salt. As is to be expected with popular history books on such arcane subjects eccentricity abounds. Also fairly typically of such stories the quest becomes a bit of an obsession for the author. Moxham tells us that at first his search was casual and on a whim. Eventually his desire to find some remnant of the great hedge caused him to make repeated visits to India, learn Hindi, become a useful navigator using GPS tools and techniques, and spend years poring over maps and charts of colonial India. Was it worth it? Much of that depends on the reception of this book but Moxham has the satisfaction of finally finding a remnant of the hedge. We learn this near the end of the book and there's a photograph of a rather nondescript clump of thorny bush that proves it.
Finding a bit of the hedge closes the chapter on one aspect of this book. This wraps up the book as a travelogue of Moxham's personal treks through present day India and his imaginary journeys through the time and space of India under the Raj. On another level as a historical account the book is a bit thinner. The facts of the hedge are known. It seperated northern India into two almost equal parts and was designed to prevent salt from being smuggled in from Gujarat and Maharashtra states in the west and sugar from leaving the north. Eventually as part of a custom line it would run from Rawalpindi in the north-west (in present day Pakistan) to Orissa state on the east coast. Because of the various climatic zones it traversed the hedge was made up of different plants. Prickly pear, thorn brush, and bamboo were used. It was over 8 feet high and 5 feet wide with occassional openings marked by a large tamarind tree under which sat a customs shed. It was an impenetrable barrier except for the spots where smugglers had set fire to a few clumps or rats had gnawed away some roots. Moxham tells us that both army and cats were deployed with the hedge eventually being manned by some 14,000 soldiers. We never learn how many cats were required.
Moxham's coverage of history includes discussion of the East India Company and its maintenance of the Salt-Tax which consumed up to a fifth of a peasants annual income. The hedge and customs wall gave way in 1879 but the salt-tax remained (albeit at a much reduced rate) right up to the time of Ghandi who in fact used it as a symbol of what he was protesting against. Nobody still defends the Raj but Moxham nevertheless feels compelled to flagellate his country over its past. He says "British individuals, and most of all the East India Company itself, took vast sums out of India and spent it in Britain. India, which when the British arrived had been relatively well-off, became much poorer." This is no doubt true but balance is required and Moxham is not quite so strong in making the point that it was a Scotsman named Alan Octavian Hume who repayed India handsomely. Hume was the principal organizer of the Indian National Union in 1885 which became the Congress party, which later under Ghandi led India to independence. The truth is the Raj and it's deeds are history and guilt today over the past not only achieves nothing, it takes away from the enjoyment of the book. A point that supports this comes from a review of this book I read in one of India's daily newspapers. Of interest to the writer wasn't the stale facts of the Raj's misdeeds, but that it was an Englishman who had uncovered the fascinating story of the great hedge of India.
Modest but Unexpectedly Interesting.......2002-01-02
This little book describes the author's initially quixotic quest to find the remnants of the world's longest hedge, briefly mentioned in an tome he finds in a used book store. Moxham discovers that British imperialists of the 19th century built a man-made barrier more than two thousand miles long, reaching across the Indian subcontinent. This hedge was designed to prevent the smuggling of salt from parts of India with low salt taxes to the area of Bengal, where salt taxes were very high. As Moxham expands his research into the history of this barrier, he discovers with growing horror the impact of imperial revenue policy on the lives of ordinary Indians, many of whom died because they could not afford the salt they needed in their diets. This previously neglected aspect of British imperial history makes one wonder how many other horrors lie buried in the dry pages of the Empire's official journals. Moxham, who writes in simple, declarative language, sometimes devotes too much space to the details of his encounters with modern-day Indians, though some of those encounters are charming. It is unfortunate that his book does not include a single photograph, such as one of the remaining piece of hedge he found. Michael Michaud, Vienna, Austria
Hedging Up the Way.......2001-09-21
Roy Moxham's The Great Hedge of India fairly jumped off the shelf at me as I scanned new titles at the library. I enjoy learning about India and thought myself knowledgeable, yet this idea was new to me. I couldn't resist checking out the book and peeling away yet another surprising layer of the onion that is India.
A 1,500-mile-long hedge existed in India during Queen Victoria's reign? Who ever heard of such a thing? This first incredulous question led to more such as how? Where? And Why?
Moxham answers all those quandries and more in his multi-year quest to discover the remnants of the hedge in various parts of rural India. The hedge, it turns out, really did exist, although precious little remains. It was a tool to faciliate collection of the dreaded and inhumane British salt tax.
Read this book to savor and smell India. Read it to follow and understand Moxham's obsession with the hedge. Read it to comprehend another case of "man's inhumanity to man." Most of all, if think you know the Subcontinent, read it to show yourself there's still more to learn of this incredible place.
A interesting look at British India.......2001-08-29
This book does a wonderful job of giving the reader a glimps of both modern and British India. The discussion of the health and economic impact of the British salt tax was very well done. I enjoyed reading the book and look forward to visiting some of the places described.
Customer Reviews:
A fine book.......1999-12-11
This is a work worthy of attention. The critique of Dispensationalism is valid. And, despite the somewhat negative review above, the Postmil view espoused in this book cannot be fairly labeled as merely utopian, and certainly the victory and hope found in Postmil does not deny the teachings of Christ concerning the poor in spirit or those who mourn. Instead, the hope is a final hope. Christ will indeed be vicotrious. That is what is interpreted by Postmils. In fact, Postmil teaching is more often criticized for suggesting GREATER trials instore than it is for offering some type of Utopian bliss. Give it a fair read. It will be informative and worthy of consideration.
excellent work.......1998-12-30
The critique of the pathetic "scholarship" of Hal Lindsey is worth the price of the book. The authors show Lindsey to be an unreliable teacher who has no knowledge of Greek (indeed he severly twists its meaning) and to be ignorant of the entire system of Christian Reconstructionism.
For those who think that postmillenialists are utopian I can only say that you have never read the standard works on the subject.
Proper burial for dispensationalsim.......1998-12-08
The late Dr. Greg Bahnsen along with co-author Dr. Kenneth Gentry do a masterful job of interacting with leading dispensational critics of theonomy and demonstate their extremely slanderous writings. In doing so the authors also point out how dispensationalism is a skeleton in a closet whose proper burial is long over due and how modern defenders are losing the battle to defend this corpse. Bahnsen and Gentry demonstrate how postmillenialism is NOT some utopian materialistic option but is one based on a proper view of GOD's soveriegn rule over history and how this will eventually be seen in culture. In the long line of great orthodox postmillenialists such as St. Augustine and St. Athanasius, J. Gresham Machen and others Bahnsen and Gentry do a great service to the evangelical church in giving us an alternative to a school of thought whose burial is long over due.
Good critique of Dispensationalism but wrong alternative.......1998-07-21
The authors do a great job of pointing out how critics of Reconstructionist theology misrepresent it. Unfortunately thay also betray the materialistic nature of their own Postmillenial world-view. They reason that Christians will dominate in the future since God blesses Covenant keepers and curses covenant breakers. They take prosperity to be a blessing (when it often is a curse) and forget that Christ said "Blessed are they who mourn, are persecuted, reviled, are poor, etc." Their postmillenial thought is just as Utopian as the Dispensationalism they criticize.
Customer Reviews:
Loved It!.......2006-08-19
All four of these novels are wonderful. It was a nice surprise to see that the characters from the first book were incorporated into the second one.
The first two stories are suspenseful and mysterious, which makes it difficult to put down the book.
This is the perfect book to read if you want to enjoy the medieval time period; the land of maidens, knights, and castles. Even though each book is somewhat short (little over 100 pages each) it didn't seem to affect the story. This is a great read for vacations or at the beach, or if you have a few afternoons free.
My favorite from Barbour/Heartsong.......2005-03-29
This book is my favorite book ever (second only to my Bible)!! I read it straight through--it was impossible to put down. The best part is that the book is quite thick and the print is smaller than usual, so it's nice and long. Unlike some other books I've read, I wasn't left with lots of questions at the end. My favorite story was the first one about Arianne...this is an especially good one if you like mysterious twists mixed in with the romance. Another reason I liked it was because her husband really represents Jesus to her, even to the point of shedding his blood so that she won't have to. The second story is really good too, because it involves the characters from the first story with some new twists and new people. My cousin is borrowing the book at the moment, and each time I talk to her she is oohing and awww-ing over whatever chapter she has just finished. I plan to read it again as soon as she gives it back!
Sweet and relaxing........2005-01-20
This book has four different stories of brave woman who meet their knights in shining armor.
The first girl,
Arianne:She finds love in an arranged marriage made by her cruel father, but her new husband's past may cause some trouble.
Helena:Runs away from her cruel family and finds love in and safety in the arms of her knight.
Mary:She watches her father die, and continues on with the hard life she feels she has been given. Will love work out amidst all the sickness?
Jeanine:She is being forced to marry a cruel man to save her family from ruin when her life is in danger sill her knight rescue her in time?
This is a good book a bit unrealistic but a relaxing read.
Good read.......2004-09-03
I enjoyed this book and it's four separate stories. Great CHRISTian romance. Excellent period descriptions.
great book.......2004-06-20
This is a really good book by Ms. Peterson of the romantic times of Medieval times and life. It really has four beautiful stories that are romantic and Christian. I highly recommend it.
Customer Reviews:
Thick, but thorough.......2002-01-28
I am currently a student at Brown University, and in fact taking a class taught by the author himself, Tim Harris. The book is very thorough, covering every aspect of what used to be a period with very little literature. Of course, the writing is at times erudite, but Harris does a fine job of summarizing and dividing his chapters into appropriate sections. I highly recommend this book for anyone doing research on the time period; however, if you are looking for a relaxing read, try something a little lighter.
definitive account of the rise of English party politics.......1998-12-15
Harris, arguably the best young historian of the early modern period, has produced what by all accounts must be considered a gem. Drawing from a wide evidentiary base, he delves into the complexities of the court and country division, exclusion, the emergence of party, the Glorious Revolution and life under William and Anne before concluding his work with a comprehensive discussion of Jacobitism. A model of outstanding historical scholarship, this book is an absolute must for anyone even remotely interested in this period of British history.
Customer Reviews:
HIGHLY DISAPPOINTING.......2006-08-07
Anyone with even a remote knowledge of the tragic life of Tsar Nicholas ii will not find anything new in this "mini-dual" biography of the tsar and his cousin King George vi of England. There some nuggets of hitherto little-known information but these are very few and far between. What we have here is simply a re-hash of what can be found in countlesss other books upon the lives of either one of these monarchs sloppily blended into one biography. In this respect, this is a disappointing book. In other respects it is even more disappointing from shoddy editing, grammatical errors (page 171 for example) and Ms. Morrow's insistence of constantly referring to the tsar's daughters Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia as "tsaritas" where their correct title was Grand Duchess. In Imperial Russia a tsaritsa was the title given to the wife of a ruling tsar. For example, the title of Nicholas ii's wife Alexandra was Tsaritsa Alexandra (a "tsarina" was the title given to a female ruler of Imperial Russia such as Tsarina Catherine the Great). Ms. Morrow offers copious instances of annotating a quote but there are also instances where no credit is given for a quote. Historical events jump ahead of the narrative and if readers are not familiar with the events of the Russian Revolution as they unfolded they can be forgiven for any confusion on their part as they progress through the narrative. Ms. Moorow is a failry accomplished biographer but this disappointing work is sadly not her finest hour.
Average customer rating:
- An interesting historical overview
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Severed States: Dilemmas of Democracy in a Divided World
Robert K. Schaeffer
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 084769335X |
Book Description
This book provides the first comprehensive examination of modern political partition and military conflict. Once touted as the most efficient geopolitical means for resolving ideological and ethnic strife, partition has too often served to deepen enmity and provoke further violence. Robert K. Schaeffer argues that partition and its accompanying conflicts have their roots not in ancient hatreds but in the political realities of the twentieth century. Schaeffer also examines the spread of terrorism and guerrilla warfare in the divided states, as well as the destructive legacy of partition on democracy, citizenship, and sovereignty.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting historical overview.......2001-04-13
What is presented here is a detailed accounting of the evolution of the policy of partition as a means of conflict resolution. Schaeffer traces the concept from its philosophical forebears into the present, and treats prominent empirical examples of partition (all failed, failing, or dubiously sustainable).
An interesting account it certainly is, but analysis of the cases is lacking: the reader is presented with histories, and nothing but. Some ideas as to why partition is inclined to fail are mentioned, but are never tied coherently together in the form of a unitary theory. In all, a useful history, bringing together excellent historical analyses, but no meaningful theories are propagated herein.
Average customer rating:
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A Kingdom Divided (Prophetic Series)
Marjorie B. Matheny
Manufacturer: Jay & Associates Publishers
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0939422069 |
Book Description
A Kingdom Divided is an exposition of Daniel's last vision which he received in the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia. Babylon had been defeated by the Medo-Persians and the Jewish captivity, defined in Scripture as a period of seventy years, was about to come to a close.
The events foretold in the vision were to occur in the latter days of the nation of Israel, and Daniel, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with deep grief at the details of the vision, still comprehended fully the subject matter of God's revelation to him.
Most conservative Bible scholars believe that we have entered those latter days. Today we find the nation of Israel as a people divided in the land the United Nations mandated to them after World War II. Tensions arise in every area: culturally and religiously they are poles apart. While currently they occupy one area it is becoming increasingly apparent that they cannot coexist together but will divide into two kingdoms forming northern and southern kingdoms similar to that seen in the Old Testament. This will bring about the fulfillment of the vision which caused Daniel so much grief. A Kingdom Divided follows the course of these two kingdoms as related in Daniel 11 and 12 climaxing with the rise and rule of the antichrist. This world dictator and his armies, along with his followers, will then be destroyed at Armageddon by the Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming.
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