Book Description
One womanÂ's story of why she left the culture of Islamic Jihad to support American liberty and tolerance
Why are so many Muslims embracing jihad and cheering for al-Qaeda and Hamas? Why are even the modern, secularized Arab states such as Egypt producing a generation of angry young extremists?
Nonie Darwish knows why. When she was eight, her father died while leading Fedayeen raids into Israel. Her family moved from Gaza back to Cairo, where they were honored as survivors of a “shahid”—a martyr for jihad. She grew up learning the same lessons as millions of Muslim children: to hate Jews, destroy Israel, oppose America, and submit to dictatorship.
But Darwish became increasingly appalled by the anger and hatred in her culture, and in 1978 she emigrated to America. Since 9/11 she has been lecturing and writing on behalf of moderate Arabs and Arab-Americans. Extremists have denounced her as an infidel and threatened her life.
In this fascinating book, she speaks out against the dark side of her native culture—women abused by Islamic traditions; the poor and uneducated mistreated by the elites; bribery and corruption as a way of life. Her former friends and neighbors blamed all the their troubles on Jews and Americans, but Darwish rejects their bigotry and calls for the Arab world to make peace with the West.
The only hope for the future, she writes, is for America to continue waging its War on Terror, seeding the Middle East with the values of democracy, respect for women, and tolerance for all religions.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome autobiography and cultural analysis.......2007-10-17
Now They Call Me Infidel is a gripping narrative of the author's journey from the upper echelons of Egyptian society to a staunch defender of the West. Like Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, the book is part autobiography and part analysis of a severely dysfunctional culture. Unlike Ayaan, Darwish is not against the Muslim religion per se, focusing mainly on the destructive aspects of polygamy. This primitive practice harms women, men, the family and ultimately the whole culture.
She further examines the nature of modern Arab society showing how the ruling classes exploit religion in order to advance their oppressive agendas. Darwish confirms the existence of the pervasive Antisemitism that Hirsi Ali observed as a child in places like Saudi-Arabia. For examples of the Anti-Jewish hatred in the mainstream Arab press, please consult Peace: The Arabian Caricature of Anti-Semitic Imagery by Arieh Stav.
On a 2001 visit to Egypt, she noticed the illiteracy, anger and unemployment amongst ordinary people. They blame all of these problems on Israel, obviously brainwashed by the Egyptian media. There is a lack of self-criticism in Arab culture - a taboo against criticizing the family, religion or their leaders. But there's no denying that the constant drumbeat of propaganda against Israel and the USA emanates from, and has totally corrupted the educated segments of Egyptian society.
Observing how many Muslim immigrants do not appreciate Western values, the author warms against radicalism on campus and in mosques funded by petrodollars. Long ago she became aware of the two-faced behavior of Islamist radicals in the West: they speak soothing words to the clueless Western mass media whilst spewing forth hatred in their sermons and the Arab media. To Darwish, the terrorists are pirates who are intent on robbing Western democracies of their soul. She dismisses the misleading portrayal of Jihad as a "personal spiritual struggle," stating bluntly that it has always meant a religious holy war against non-Muslims.
There are many beautiful moments in the book, like her account of experiencing Christian worship for the first time, and her moving description of a visit to Israel and how it altered her perception of that brave little country. And this is the most important message of the book; for Nonie, the most valuable reward of moving to the USA was religious freedom and learning to love: "I had turned from a culture of hatred to one of love." May she be blessed.
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America by Brigitte Gabriel
The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci
Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle for Truth by Ravi Zacharias
Londonistan by Melanie Phillips
Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis Is America's Too by Claire Berlinski
Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left by David Horowitz
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer
An Informative Perspective.......2007-09-15
If you're like me, you might know very little about Mideastern culture and life. This book is a highly readable and personal account of one woman's life, experiences and views on Muslim culture. I'm enjoying it; she puts a "human face" on this part of the world and it's issues.
Eye-opening insights into the causes of Islamic extremism........2007-09-11
The author grew up in Egypt under Nasser's dictatorship, but later moved to America. Her father was an Egyptian military officer killed in Gaza by Israel because he organized raids to cause mayhem inside Israel. She reports on the problems in Egypt and Gaza, and on the government and religious propaganda which is polarizing the Islamic world to the point of Jihad. This is an eye-opening read, and it gives insight into how difficult it will be to ever correct this problem.
EXCELLENT BOOK.......2007-09-01
THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW THE MIDDLE EAST FEALS ABOUT AMERICA AND WHY. NONIE DARWISH IS A VERY BRAVE WOMAN AND I THANK GOD SHE HAD THE GUTS TO WRITE THE TRUTH.
Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror.......2007-08-25
This is an excellen book for those seeking to understand Arab Muslim perspectives. The culture is based on a background, history and value system entirely foreign to our way of thinking. The author relates her life from early childhood, through her school years and early adulthood living first in Gaza then Cairo. She is from the upper middle class, the daughter of a high ranking military officer who is martyred. She describes what it is like to be a woman in the arab muslim world. She raises the issuesleading to a lack of trust both within the society and in relation to other societies. She discusses the inner thinking and the daily propaganda regarding Israel. She also gives important information on the Arab view of Palestines role in the conflict. She distinguishes between the radical Islamic movements and moderate Islam. She notes the purpose and intent of fundalmentalist Islam is the eventual overtaking the world. She discusses how this is being taken to countries throughout the world to bring about this change. We need to understand those with whom we are dealing. This is a book that is easy to read, direct and highly informative.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
From the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth Rock to Christian Coalition canvassers working for George W. Bush, Americans have long sought to integrate faith with politics. Few have been as successful as Hollywood evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.
During the years between the two world wars, McPherson was the most flamboyant and controversial minister in the United States. She built an enormously successful and innovative megachurch, established a mass media empire, and produced spellbinding theatrical sermons that rivaled Tinseltown's spectacular shows. As McPherson's power grew, she moved beyond religion into the realm of politics, launching a national crusade to fight the teaching of evolution in the schools, defend Prohibition, and resurrect what she believed was the United States' Christian heritage. Convinced that the antichrist was working to destroy the nation's Protestant foundations, she and her allies saw themselves as a besieged minority called by God to join the "old time religion" to American patriotism.
Matthew Sutton's definitive study of Aimee Semple McPherson reveals the woman, most often remembered as the hypocritical vamp in Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry, as a trail-blazing pioneer. Her life marked the beginning of Pentecostalism's advance from the margins of Protestantism to the mainstream of American culture. Indeed, from her location in Hollywood, McPherson's integration of politics with faith set precedents for the religious right, while her celebrity status, use of spectacle, and mass media savvy came to define modern evangelicalism.
Customer Reviews:
Aimee Semple McPherson.......2007-08-24
I was very curious about the "real" Aimee. I grew up hearing tales about her and her lifestyle. Book was very interesting.
Book Description
Historical events of the last three centuries come alive through these women’s singular correspondences—often their only form of public expression. In 1775, Rachel Revere tries to send financial aid to her husband, Paul, in a note that is confiscated by the British; First Lady Dolley Madison tells her sister about rescuing George Washington’s portrait during the War of 1812; one week after JFK’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy pens a heartfelt letter to Nikita Khrushchev; and on September 12, 2001, a schoolgirl writes a note of thanks to a
New York City firefighter, asking him, “Were you afraid?”
The letters gathered here also offer fresh insight into the personal milestones in women’s lives. Here is a mid-nineteenth-century missionary describing a mastectomy performed without anesthesia; Marilyn Monroe asking her doctor to spare her ovaries in a handwritten note she taped to her stomach before appendix surgery; an eighteen-year-old telling her mother about her decision to have an abortion the year after Roe v. Wade; and a woman writing to her parents and in-laws about adopting a Chinese baby.
With more than 400 letters and over 100 stunning photographs,
Women’s Letters is a work of astonishing breadth and scope, and a remarkable testament to the women who lived–and made–history.
Customer Reviews:
Womens Letters.......2007-09-14
This is a fascinating way to reread the history of Amerca through women's eyes.Though the letters are written by different women from different
classes, one can readily continue the time frame. The story of the young girl who is sent on a mission to George Washington;the story of the treacherous trip via sailing vessel are both compelling. Highly recommended to women to read about the bravery of our foremothers.
A great gift for a woman..........2007-03-02
I bought this book for my mother, who enjoys it very much. Its easy reading, but powerful, insightful, and uplifting. Highly recommended.
Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present.......2007-01-13
I purchased this book for my mother-in-law for Christmas and she has said that it is a wonderful book. I had trouble finding the book until I went on Amazon.com.
gift for mom.......2007-01-11
I bought this book for my mom. She had brain surgery 3 1/2 years ago. Before her accident she was an avid reader, and loved American History. I bought this book for her, per the letters were short enough that she wouldn't forget what was happening in the "story", and I knew if she would be more likey to try reading more. Wow! She loves it, and her friends even read it when they come over. My mom is reading again, it might take her a half hour to read a page, but that does not matter. This book has change my mom, Priceless...
Gift for my mom.......2006-11-06
My mom was very pleased with this gift. Recommend it for any women in your life.
Customer Reviews:
Great Lady -Below Average Writing Style of Author.......2007-08-28
All the reviewers are correct about Virginia Hall being an extraordinary person. No debate here. My only rather large disappointment with the book has to do with the author's writing style. It resembles the style of pulp romance novels on sale at your local supermarket. For me, at least, this gets in the way of completely enjoying the book. I also got the impression that the author projected what she thought Hall's feelings were about incidents so incidental it didn't seem possible anyone would know. Credibility.
Here's an example of the author's style from page 27:
"The tail end of spring greeted Virginia on her arrival in Paris. As May slid into June, and the Parisian summer began, solace washed over her. The quintessental French conversations, bouquinistes selling books and postcards at stands along the seine, throaty French tunes pouring out of cabaret doors...etc, etc."
It's painful for me, at least, to read prose like this on such an incredibly interesting life.
A Very Impressive Woman.......2007-07-27
Virginia Hall was the daughter of a well-to-do Marylander with no need to get directly involved in WWII. Instead, she played a major role in the French Resistance, leading up to 1,500 men in attacks on isolated German troops, locate and assist in parachute drops, send wireless messages (particularly dangerous, given the Germans' emphasis on quickly locating the source of any signals), helping downed Allied fliers escape to Spain, sabotaging rail lines. Prior to D-Day the Germans put out a "Wanted" poster on Virginia, along with a description. This forced her temporarily out of France, via climbing the Pyrennees with a guide and two Allied fliers, only to be imprisoned for 20 days until the American Consulate got word and was able to help. All this with a wooden lower leg - cut off as a result of a hunting accident.
Virginia's original goal was to be an American Foreign Service Officer - however, this was precluded by her hunting accident, leading her to resign her clerical position to help the French through driving an ambulance during WWII's early days. She then was recruited as a British agent (spoke French fluently), trained (only two of the twelve women passed) and returned to France. Collaborators on both sides were typically motivated by money (France was in a depression also); even a Jesuit priest became involved as a double agent - for the Germans.
After WWII, Virginia was awarded the DSC (turned down presentation by President Truman to remain anonymous), married one of her French fellow agents, and "settled down" in the CIA until retirement.
A very heroic and impressive woman whom I never would have known about without "The Wolves at the Door."
Wolves at the Door.......2007-05-12
Excellent, excellent, excellent. I plan to donate this book to a college library. Written well, engaging and informative about war, governments and resistance. Also, should be required reading for all young women!
Suspenseful, never dull, wonderfully researched.......2007-04-21
Kudos to the author, Judith Pearson. I almost always prefer first person accounts of those who lived through WWII. However, this book gripped me throughout the narrative. This would make a wonderful movie with Virginia Hall played by an actress of Cate Blanchett's caliber. Exhaustively researched and well written. Thank you Ms. Pearson, I'll be looking for your next book!
Learning history the fun way!.......2007-04-06
I loved this book! I have always wanted to know about the role the French Resistance played in World War II and now I know about it in captivating detail! Virginia Hall was an incredibly brave, compassionate and intuitive woman and I found myself having to take a break from the book occasionally because Ms. Hall often became entangled in some very tense situations. This book was engaging from the first, well written, easy to read and hard to put down!
Book Description
Maneuvers takes readers on a global tour of the sprawling process called "militarization." With her incisive verve and moxie, eminent feminist Cynthia Enloe shows that the people who become militarized are not just the obvious ones--executives and factory floor workers who make fighter planes, land mines, and intercontinental missiles. They are also the employees of food companies, toy companies, clothing companies, film studios, stock brokerages, and advertising agencies. Militarization is never gender-neutral, Enloe claims: It is a personal and political transformation that relies on ideas about femininity and masculinity. Films that equate action with war, condoms that are designed with a camouflage pattern, fashions that celebrate brass buttons and epaulettes, tomato soup that contains pasta shaped like Star Wars weapons--all of these contribute to militaristic values that mold our culture in both war and peace.
Presenting new and groundbreaking material that builds on Enloe's acclaimed work in Does Khaki Become You? and Bananas, Beaches, and Bases, Maneuvers takes an international look at the politics of masculinity, nationalism, and globalization. Enloe ranges widely from Japan to Korea, Serbia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Britain, Israel, the United States, and many points in between. She covers a broad variety of subjects: gays in the military, the history of "camp followers," the politics of women who have sexually serviced male soldiers, married life in the military, military nurses, and the recruitment of women into the military. One chapter titled "When Soldiers Rape" explores the many facets of the issue in countries such as Chile, the Philippines, Okinawa, Rwanda, and the United States.
Enloe outlines the dilemmas feminists around the globe face in trying to craft theories and strategies that support militarized women, locally and internationally, without unwittingly being militarized themselves. She explores the complicated militarized experiences of women as prostitutes, as rape victims, as mothers, as wives, as nurses, and as feminist activists, and she uncovers the "maneuvers" that military officials and their civilian supporters have made in order to ensure that each of these groups of women feel special and separate.
Customer Reviews:
The true "feminist agenda".......2001-01-01
Cynthia Enloe is the author most quoted by opponants of women in the armed forces, because she presents the real Feminist viewpoint, which is staunchly anti-war and ambivelant toward the military. Enloe's arguments, supported by N.O.W., are coopted by "anti-feminist" foes of servicewomen as proof of their own contention that women have no place in the military. Paradoxically, after quoting Enloe, those same crusaders then lambast a so-called "feminist lobby" for promoting gender integration in combat operations. No doubt they confuse Feminism with some "politically-correct" positions of Congressional military panels, which are, ironically, often ignored or opposed by N.O.W. But Enloe's books go much further than simply stating Feminism's pacifist ideals. In "Maneuvers", she accuses the military of deliberate victimization of women worldwide. She makes a number of good points concerning the cruelties of war toward civilian women, but her antimilitary bias shows and is sometimes rather venomous. She gives no thought whatsoever to the conditions which make warfare an unpleasant reality and the armed forces a necessity. Nor has she any real concern for American military women or their reasons for wanting to serve. By relating selected incidents of harassment or violence against servicewomen, she presents a negative and mostly false impression of the American military's widespread and willful victimization of its female members. Read "Maneuvers" for the Feminist counter of Brian Mitchell's "Flirting With Disaster", but don't expect balance in the views of either author.
Important feminist study on militarisation.......2000-10-14
Cynthia Enloe adds to her series of writings looking at the effects of militarisation on women's lives - from the laundresses, camp followers, comfort women and sex workers to feminist military personnel and those who fight the home front.
Like Jan Jindy Pettman's "Worlding Women - a feminist international politics", Enloe's latest book seeks to look at international relations from a gendered perspective - and succeeds admirably.
The author relies a lot on secondary sources (citing a lot of newspaper stories), but weaves together the strands of militarisation on women's lives in a compelling and readable style. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes that illustrate the broader themes of the multifacted impact of contemporary militarisation (I particularly enjoyed the discussion on why British military officers from all services and US Air Force and Navy officers are allowed to carry umbrellas, but they are fobidden as too girlie for the US Marines and US Army! )
Average customer rating:
- Check and see
- Suprise! Suprise!
- Prescient St Augustine?
- Something of a disappointment
- Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 2913621066 |
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Book Description
When Confederate men marched off to battle, southern women struggled with the new responsibilities of directing farms and plantations, providing for families, and supervising increasingly restive slaves. Drew Faust offers a compelling picture of the more than half-million women who belonged to the slaveholding families of the Confederacy during this period of acute crisis, when every part of these women's lives became vexed and uncertain. Faust chronicles the clash of the old and the new within a group that was at once the beneficiary and the victim of the social order of the Old South.
Customer Reviews:
Roots of the "lost cause" mentality.......2007-07-31
Faust does not try to hide her sympathy for these women or admiration for those who were resourceful, nor does she pull any punches in revealing their selfishness. The point of the book, however, was not to solicit sympathy for upper class white women, but to illuminate their influence on the outcome of the war and on the mind of the south as it evolved after the war. The ladies deserve much of the credit--and blame--for the "lost cause" mentality that holds sway with many Southerners still today. For that insight alone we owe a great debt to Drew Gilpin Faust.
Academic But Still Interesting.......2006-07-13
Mothers of Invention is a very academic analysis of the impact of the civil war on the notions of role and gender long held by the upper class women of the old south. It rocked their world, that's for sure and it sounds as if they surely needed it. It is based on the contents of letters and diaries written by elite aristocratic women whose biggest concern about the war was that they were unable to attend social functions or obtain silk and satin for their dresses. Or that their husbands would die and not come back and restore their former way of life.
The subject of this book is a single class of women - rich, white, spoiled and utterly despicible. These women complainted bitterly of how the war effected their miserable self centered lives with little concern about the effects the war had on those who fought it and what they were experiencing. The war meant little more to them than a threat to their way of life.
Ms. Faust tries to portray her subjects as victims and prisoners of their circumstances but these women were anything but. They embraced the supposed chains that bound them and had little concern for the profound and widespread pain and suffering caused for millions of others as a result of the war they so glamorized and romanticized.
This book is rather tedious if you are not a fan nor speaker of that odd language known as academia (why in the world does she include long diary and letter passages in French?) But it has some very good moments and will give the reader new insight into how truly horrid those magnolia queens really were. Not even a feminist writer sympathetic to anything in petticoats can hide that fact; as much as she tries.
Well organized, but seems to be missing some material.......2005-03-06
The first thing to know when you pick up this book, is that first, it deals basically only with diaries and letters, and that probably only a woman interested in the history of women would be interested. The entire book is very...well, womanly. I did enjoy what I learned about Southern women (and believe me, it is ONLY slaveholding woman, as the title suggests), but I couldn't help but ask why Faust did not ever mention anybody over the age of about 30. If they don't have any records of any diaries of older women, she should have said so, because I was wondering about it the entire time. Basically it only covers how women felt about their husbands being gone (wanting protection, resorting to writing as comfort, scared about slave uprisings, etc) but hardly anything was said about SONS being gone. Where were they? And only a little bit more was said about fathers being gone. Over all, I did learn about women during the Civil War from the South, but only a very small portion of them. I would probably only recommend this book as an asset to research about women in the 19th century, or to anyone who wonders what else was going on in the country apart from the war.
Good, but a bit misleading.......2004-11-05
Reading this book, I got the impression that the author buys into the impression most people have of pre-war Southern women - the vapid Southern belle who basically did nothing until the war began, then suddenly she had to run the plantation. Not true! If one reads diaries and letters of the period, the daily running of the home was left to the women - managing the slaves (if the family owned any). Women handled a good deal more of the marketing and financial running of farms, especially, than is generally believed. Perhaps women weren't involved in politics, but the backbone of southern life was the home and that was the woman's province. Women proved their capability before and during the war by managing the homefront. As for refugees - the tales told by thousands of women who were forced to flee their homes are far in excess of the numbers suggested by the author. The worst atrocity of the war - the hundreds of women captured by the Union in Roswell, Georgia - is ignored. The author also suggests that support for the war by southern women waned as it went on, another questionable fact in light of the many diaries of the period and the tremendous outpouring of grief at the surrender. Most women couldn't bear to record the end of the Confederacy in their diaries and surviving letters are filled with bitterness. Still, this book is an excellent researcher. Also recommend Juanita Leisch's books on "Civil War Civilians" and "Who Wore What" although her fashion research should be taken with a grain of salt as it is theory only based on a sampling of period photos.
Excellent overview of elite women's Civil War experience.......2002-11-21
In "Mothers of Invention," Drew Gilpin Faust explores the ways in which the Civil War transformed traditional gender roles among middle- and upper-class southern women. Gilpin theorizes that Confederate women certainly were aware of the effect that government policies had on their lives-even if the leaders, at times, were not-and that women's views conscription, home defense, economic production and slavery influenced and, ultimately, undermined their support for the war.
Her key point seems to be that the war overturned the "social contract" in which elite women accepted subordination and dependence for male protection and privilege. Although men were off protecting their homes in the abstract sense, women were left to deal with the day-to-day realities of food shortages and an invading army occupying their homes.
Narrowing exceptions to the draft, the military's refusals to grant furloughs in times of great family need, and government policies regarding food requisitions especially galled women. Faust puts a particularly interesting gender perspective on the draft exemption for those owning 20+ slaves. Normally, this exemption is viewed solely in class terms: "Rich man's war, poor man's fight." Faust, however, brings attention to the fear that white women experienced being left alone to manage large slave populations without a man's help. Women feared murder and uprisings from a slave population that was growing increasingly rebellious. The priority ultimately given to equitably treating draft-age white men and the burden of managing slaves led to a decline in women's support for the slave system and for the Confederacy, she argues.
In addition to slave management, Faust explores other ways in which the war caused elite white women to step into traditional male roles. From the very beginning, secession and the war led to much greater involvement by women in the public sphere. Although politics had been considered the province of men, secession was a topic that no one could stop discussing-women included. The banding together of women to support the war effort also proved a new experience for southern women. Unlike their northern sisters, southern women typically had not been involved in social organizations before the war.
Faust's book includes a fascinating discussion about attitudes toward the refugee experience. In particular, she notes that becoming a refugee was the civilian equivalent of buying a substitute for the draft. A refugee, the term implied, had the money and connections to make a planned departure from home-often to protect property. In support of this view, she cites the diary of Mary Lee of Winchester, who disdained the term refugee in favor of "displaced person" to describe those fleeing with little in the face of the enemy.
"Mothers of Invention" contains one of the most interesting analyses of the hoop skirt that I have seen. Faust notes that the trend for full skirts, ultimately supported by hoops, coincided with the Victorian ideals of domesticity and women's separate sphere. The caged crinoline or hoop offered women a portable enclosed private space and the wide skirts symbolized a circle in which women were protected. In an era where upper-class women's sexuality was repressed, the style also hid and reformed female anatomy. The conspicuous consumption of fabric and the difficulty performing physical labor in these skirts made a class statement as well.
"Mothers of Invention" provides a good overview of the different ways that the war affected southern women's lives, including changes within the household, relations between husbands and wives, paid employment outside the home, the likelihood that young women would remain single due to the deaths of so many young men, religious views on the war, increased educational opportunities for women, dealing with Yankee men, etc. Her accessible writing style and use of interesting quotes and numerous pictures make this a relatively quick read. The book is well-organized with subheadings that make locating important points quite easy.
For those interested in exploring the southern woman's war experience, this book would be a good starting point for gaining some good general knowledge. Readers should keep in mind, however, that Faust is focusing on elite and middle-class women, and that the experiences and attitudes she describes do not reflect the lives of lower-class women.
Book Description
Nicknamed the "Blonde Borgia," Anna Marie Hahn was a cold-blooded serial killer who preyed on the elderly in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine District in the 1930s. Told here for the first time is Anna Marie's gripping story, an almost unbelievable tale of multiple murders, deceit, and greed.
Born in Bavaria in 1906, Anna Marie brought shame to her pious family when as a teenager, she gave birth to an illegitimate son, Oscar. Shipped off to America in 1929 where she initially lived with the elderly relatives in Cincinnati, she married Philip Hahn, a Western Union telegrpher, with whom she bought a new house and opened a delicatessen/bakery.
Pressed economically by the Great Depression, the ever-resourceful Anna Marie found other ways to get the money to support her passionate pasttime -- betting on horses. She tried burning down the house, then the deli, for the insurance, and she tried killing her husband, also for the insurance. Then she took to befriending the neighborhood elderly, latching on to their life savings before feeding them arsenic with deadly results. How many did she dispatched in this way? Some say as many as a dozen.
For weeks her Cincinnati trial for "the greatest mass murder in the history of the country" was a front-page sensation across the nation. Thousands of curiosity seekers came daily to the courthouse to try to get a glimpse of Anna Marie. Nearly 100 witnesses gave damning testimony against her, and the jury's guilty verdict put her on the path to the electric chair. Finally, when all appeals were exhausted, Anna Marie, age 32, was executed on December 7, 1938, at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. In a handwritten "confession" found in her cell, she admitted to four murders.
Customer Reviews:
1930s Ohio.......2007-07-10
While reading this book I felt I was back in the early 1930s Cincinnati Ohio. The facts are astounding. Diana Britt Franklin put me right on the streets to where all of the murders took place. Reading the book I could even smell the rooms where the victims took their last breaths. After the last page was turned I wanted to go to all of the places Diana factually wrote about. I think Diana should do a Anna Marie tour of the places of interest in Ohio. The efforts and facts Diana had to research made this story a page turner.
Very interesting how the story is over 70 years old, but Franklin made you feel like it happen yesterday.
I sure hope she is researching another killer!
Right in the Middle of an incredible story.......2007-07-01
Few true crime writers I have read can match Diana Franklin's inpressive ability to re-create an incredibe story such as this and place the reader right in the middle of it. This is not a bloody tale of an ax murderer who ran amuk, but it is just as shocking today as it was 80 years ago. I was astounded that this woman, Anna Marie Hahn-of whom I had never heard-could ingratiate herself to so many elderly men and women, then snuff out their lives so callously. She must have had super powers of persuasian to get them to trust her, giving her hundreds of dollars in "loans". I did have sympathy for her husband as he maintained his dignity throughout the ordeal. Her son, however, although young, came across to me as a willing pawn to his mother's activities with lies and subterfuge. However, any child that would have to endure a mother's trial, incarceration, and death in the electric chair deserves some sympathy from the reader, I suppose. This story is absolutely fascinating merely because if it were not true crime, it hardly would be believeable. The author's skillful dedicationto details makes it so.
A SHOCKING PORTRAIL.......2007-05-22
I happened to meet the author, Diana Britt Franklin, at a conference and she was so enthusiastic about her book that I immediately went home and ordered it. I usually read historical fiction and haven't had much interest in books about crime, so I was skeptical. I found the book to be extremely well researched, documented and fascinating. It is not gory or violent in any way. Rather, it is a detailed description and account of a very sick and evil mind and the heinous crimes she committed. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in human nature and the many paths and turns the human mind follows. By the time you finish the book, you feel like you were at the trial yourself. That is quite an achievement for crimes that were committed 70 years ago.
A MASTERFUL RECREATION !!!.......2007-05-17
"The Good-bye Door" is a masterful recreation of a heinous crime that took place almost 80 years ago. The manuscript is so vividly crafted that I felt like a voyeur, watching every move made by this serial killer, Anna Marie Hahn. When she finally was arrested, I was there when police questioned her. When her trial began in a crowded Cincinnati courtroom, I was sitting in the first row. When she stood rigidly before the bar, I felt the judge's pain at having to pronounce the death sentence. And when she went to the electric chair after a year in the Ohio penitentiary, I was swept up by the emotional scene in front of me. Readers will be amazed, as I was, at the author's skill in bringing this story to life. A wonderful book.
GIVE THIS FIVE STARS.......2007-05-03
I really didn't want to read a true crime story--it is not usually my type-but a friend recommended The Good-bye Door and I am really glad she did.It is Fascinating I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to end. The author transported me back to Cincinnati in the 1930's where this serial killer got away with murder time after time. From the sub-title of the book, I knew her fate before starting the book. But how she committed her crimes and hoe she was finially caught makes foe spellbinging reading. The chapters detailing the month-long trial alone are worth the price of admission. Cross the threshold of "the goodbye door" and you,too will be swept up by this incredible tale. My hat is off to the author.
Book Description
When Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederacy, his wife, Varina Howell Davis, reluctantly became the First Lady. For this highly intelligent, acutely observant woman, loyalty did not come easily: she spent long years struggling to reconcile her societal duties to her personal beliefs. Raised in Mississippi but educated in Philadelphia, and a long-time resident of Washington, D.C., Mrs. Davis never felt at ease in Richmond. During the war she nursed Union prisoners and secretly corresponded with friends in the North. Though she publicly supported the South, her term as First Lady was plagued by rumors of her disaffection.
After the war, Varina Davis endured financial woes and the loss of several children, but following her husband's death in 1889, she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. Here she advocated reconciliation between the North and South and became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. She shocked many by declaring in a newspaper that it was God's will that the North won the war.
A century after Varina Davis's death in 1906, Joan E. Cashin has written a masterly work, the first definitive biography of this truly modern, but deeply conflicted, woman. Pro-slavery but also pro-Union, Varina Davis was inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. In this pathbreaking book, Cashin offers a splendid portrait of a fascinating woman who struggled with the constraints of her time and place.
Customer Reviews:
Objectivity thoroughly lacking.......2007-10-11
A very disappointing book! Written by a feminist, 20th century liberal scholar intent on imposing her 20th century politically correct views on a 19th century subject, the book becomes a parody of what a truly historical biography should be. The author makes no attempt to maintain objectivity and interjects her own opinions, views and beliefs, trying to get the reader to believe that Mrs. Davis was the one who held them. I am truly glad I borrowed this from the library and didn't waste my money.
Interesting subject, boring book.......2007-08-07
The author has thoroughly researched her subject, a most interesting woman, but has concealed her through her own 20th century views on women. Frequently, she refers to Davis' wit and writing style, but rarely gives us a direct quote so we can see for ourselves. She presents her opinion without letting us see how she arrived at it. It reads like a college class lecture from a professor who believes we'll never read the primary sources for ourselves. Mrs. Davis was right: Agnes Strickland would have been a better biographer for her.
LONG OVERDUE BIOGRAPHY OF A "FIRST RATE" LADY.......2007-08-05
For many a year I had searched for a biography on Varina Howell Davis, without success, several novels existed but no biography. Now thanks to Professor Joan E. Cashin the first contemporary biography now resides on my Civil War shelf.
But let's clear up a possible misunderstanding in at least one other review: Varina Howell WAS NOT born a Yankee, she was born an American citizen of Welsh decent at 'The Briars', near NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI, on 7 May 1826. She was very much a woman of the South, though she spent much time in the North due to Jefferson's political career, came to enjoy Washington, D.C., very much, even missed being in the North and Washington during the Civil War, but she felt it her duty as the wife of the president of the C.S.A. to support the Confederate cause. While she may have been ambivalent, she was no traitor to the South's cause. And to her betterment, she never truly seemed to feel any viseral 'hate' many Southerners felt for the so-called 'Yankees' as they incorrectly called all Northerners who were more to the truth, simply Unionists. Some unionists believed in slavery, some did not, however, all still believed in a Union from the 'founding fathers' rather than 'states rights' or nullification.
Though she was unsure of the South's ability to win such a war, she stood by the cause. She was never a Northern spy, as some maliciously gossiped, but had seen and lived in the North, and realistically knew that 22,000,000 northerners existed to only 5,000,000 southerners, being certain the productive ability of the North would eventually overwhelm the capacity of the South. And by year's end of 1864, Varina in much anguish, truly wished the war and its suffering to end in a peaceful outcome. Later, on page 150, Mary Chestnut's words about Varina "Davis's prediction in 1860 that the whole thing would fail" are recalled. She also said Varina's "worst enemies had to grant her the gift of prophecy.
But the book covers much more than just the Civil War years allowing Varina Davis to stand alone as her own woman. And what a woman she was: intelligent, educated, and a woman who was far more and far larger than her times. But like her heroine Mary, Queen of Scots, Varina's life was set upon by death and travail through the war and numerous times after the war. At times she felt she could take no more or that she would go mad, but somehow she always rebounded.
One interesting item Varina mentioned was with Jefferson being blind in one eye and being gone much of the time, she had gotten proficient signing his name, so that many of the Confederate historical documents bearing his signatures, are in fact hers!
Thank you professor for finally bringing this talented and interesting woman to life. Don't miss this exceptional biography.
Why no book club picked this up is only to their shame. This book deserves a wide reading audience
Semper Fi.
Oustanding Civil War biography!.......2007-04-22
This truly marvelous biography is a serious scholarly book about the
educated and very modern, Varina Davis, First Lady of the Confederacy.
A born Yankee and a Confederate by marriage, Mrs. Davis struggles
to find her way, caught between being the dutiful wife of Jefferson Davis and
having the conviction that the Confederacy was a lost cause.
In reading this, you will learn as I did, about Varina's northern
friends and her connection to both Mary Lincoln's seamstress
(Elizabeth Keckley) and Julia Grant, Ulysses S. Grant's wife.
The book, a culmination of years and years of research, takes us
through the perils of a lady who didn't lead the life she wanted
and basically endured her marriage to a man who did not fully return her love.
A "must read" for the person who endeavors to know the Civil War, even
though they will find out as I did, that the First Lady of the
Confederacy is a much more interesting study than her much more
famous husband.
Congratulations Professor Cashin for this outstanding book!
Biography of Varina Davis.......2007-03-12
I have always been curious about Varina Davis as so little is written about her. This account has been well researched and is a good read. It struck a chord with me as so many families during the Civil War had to deal with divisions in their families, and this book shows how painful this was for them.
Varina was close to her Northern family, as they supported her when her father was unable to do so from his multiple financial misadventures. Her prominent family was involved in Delaware politics from before the Revolution, and yet she finds herself married to a man who would be the President of the Confederacy. After spending years in Washington DC as a hostess of note, she found it hard to leave some close friends behind. She worked at being a leader of the Confederate Ladies- even though she was greatly criticized for being to outspoken, to well educated, not having a "proper" sense of humor, and not being a classic Southern Beauty. She loved her children and was, along with Jefferson Davis, an overly indulgent parent. She loved her husband, although they had a stained marriage at times, as he also had difficulty dealing with a wife who had opinions that did not always mirror his opinions. She tried to support her husband through her mixed feelings about succession- she was a woman of her times-supporting slavery- seeing no other way to financial security, but would have been much happier if the South had just continued to compromise on issues instead of declaring succession. A difficult place to find yourself as a lady.
I gained a different incite into the Civil War through Ms. Cashin's words and would recommend this to readers interested in the Civil War and Women's History.
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