Annals of the World: James Ussher's Classic Survey of World History

Book Description

Master Books commissioned this important literary work to be updated from the 17th-century original Latin manuscript to modern English and made available to the general public for the first time. In its pages can be found the fascinating history of the ancient world from the Genesis creation through the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.

Find Out:
• Why was Julius Caesar kidnapped in 75 B.C.?
• Why did Alexander the Great burn his ships in 326 B.C.?
• What really happened when the sun "went backward" as a sign to Hezekiah?
• What does secular history say about the darkness at the Crucifixion?

Customer Reviews:

Awesome!.......2007-02-21

Awesome, easily legible tome. Good concise notations on major events - including Biblical. Received book promptly and in great condition.

No more revisionist history!.......2006-12-08

James Ussher's classic work is an absolute joy to read. I was up 'til the wee hours reading the night I got it. The writing is truly fresh and exciting, a bit unexpected for a volume first published in the mid 1600's by an Anglican archbishop!

I happen to hold a young-earth creationist's view of origins, and find Bishop Ussher's calculations relating to creation utterly believable, but no matter your worldview you will find the histories complete and engaging, interspersed as they are with first hand accounts of some of civilization's most defining moments.

The bindings of this volume seem sturdy enough at first glance, though time only will tell how it holds up to the study this book will certainly receive! The print is crisp and clear, and the illustrations are very fine as well.

This volume belongs in the library of every serious student of history.

The supplemental CD gives a wealth of solidly scriptural information to complement the biblical timeline charts, and some excellent commentary on the position of God's infallible Word in ancient and contemporary times.

Buy this book! You will not be disappointed!

Excellent but not without issues.......2006-11-07

Usher is a classic and is either respected or mocked by modern historians. The mocking is of course driven by worldview conflicts, but those quick to laud Usher's work as authoritative must be careful to avoid zealotry as well.

I find Usher to be extremely helpful and his postdeluvian history seems to be generally quite well referenced. We have run into some dating conflicts that are understandable, for Usher did not have the benefit of archaeology and recent finds of supporting historical texts (last couple of centuries).

His work is certainly commendable, and as a volume of history it is very useful. However, the dating of events especially concerning ancient Egypt and before can't quite be reconciled with several competing histories.

I suggest it as a supplemental history for classical studies, as a primary source it might leave some questions unanswered.

Terrible.......2006-09-25

I thought this book would give me some new insight into biblical history. Its didn't. It is disjointed and much of it talks about one ruler or king or leader (none biblical) who died on such and such date in history. It gives little is any detailed information about anything pertaining to the bible. I thought that by reading this book I would have some new knowledge about biblical history but I have none. Its just a terrible book.

Outstanding Historical Cross-Reference. .......2006-01-26

"Annals of the World" is a great historical reference for the most discerning of scholars. Covering the time from the beginning of creation to 70AD, James Usshur used over 2500 historical sources to ensure that he compiled a complete collection of historical facts.

Elaborating each of the positive qualities and reasons to purchase and read this book are highlighted in most of the 5 star raters, I would only be seconding what they have already stated.

Caesar and Christ (The Story of Civilization III)

Average customer rating:

Want a Good Start on an Education?
HISTORY WELL DONE
Civilization vs. History
Valuable reference for historical novel readers
Pearls before swine

Caesar and Christ (The Story of Civilization III)
Will Durant
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Rome | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

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The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization, Volume 4) (Story of Civilization)
The Renaissance (The Story of Civilization V)

ASIN: 0671115006

Customer Reviews:

Want a Good Start on an Education?.......2005-02-06

"Caesar and Christ" is the third thick volume of an amazing 45-year life work by Will Durant. I strongly advise you do not heed the academic reviews of "The Story of Civilization." There is no reason to assume the critics even read one volume of Durant's work. Be aware that academic philosophy professors list Hanna Arendt, a second rate intellectual, as the only significant female philosopher and ignore one of the most powerful minds of the post WWII era, Ayn Rand. Sure, she is flawed but she is greater than a Camus or a Chomsky. I strongly recommend reading "Caesar and Christ" and the entire 10 volume set of "Story of Civilization" - if you truly seek to be generally educated. You will learn more from Durant than from years of liberal arts schooling in any university. I never heard a professor mention Durant to students but I saw the entire set on the shelves of the private libraries of some major historians. Would you buy, own, read and keep 10 volumes of books you knew to be worthless? Ignore the academic mantra and decide for yourself.

Let me introduce you to this remarkable man. Durant was a gifted Columbia philosophy student who earned a PhD in philosophy. He was a major teacher-staff member of a now forgotten, fascinating private school movement, The Modern School movement. He served primarily as a head foreign language teacher. A real scholar, Durant mastered six important languages. Durant wrote and published "The Story of Philosophy" in the 1920s. To his surprise, it was an instant best seller. Durant's prose style, bright mind, and sharp wit made the book a little classic that has never been out of print. The book made him famous & independently wealthy and professors wrote to inform him that "Story of Philosophy" had caused a sharp increase in enrollment in philosophy courses.

Durant's book income allowed him to quit working and pursue his fascination with history. He devoted the rest of his life to researching and writing "The Story of Civilization," still a unique work. Do yourself a favor. Read the Introduction to any volume. Read a chapter of any volume before you decide whether to buy or read a volume of the history. The books are thick but Durant was a major prose stylist. His prose style and his wit will make you love reading Durant.

Durant found history writing to be too divided and too provincial. A real historian, Durant wanted to know something about world history. As you read his history, you must remind yourself of the year when the volume you are reading was written, especially the first three volumes. They read like Durant wrote them today. He writes with keen insight about the Arab world. He tried to correct a major error still prevalent today: The muth that Irish monastaries and monks preserved civilization for the Western world. Durant discusses at length how and why the Arabic world was the leader in learning & science during the middle ages. Arab scholars knew Latin and Greek and they studied the great Greek thinkers. Arab mosques pioneered free education & wealthier muslims practiced charity.
Durant wrote total history (he called it synthesis) before it was a fad in France. He covers art, architecture, literature, geography. When Durant explains the importance of the Mediterranean and describes the coast, you comprehend what he conveys to you. He was there. He was not on a taxpayer paid vacation, thinly disguised as "research." He was "there", at his own expense, for weeks studying the area (with his wife who knew another five languages, including her native Russian). Durant and his wife invested in at least three lengthy world tours to see and study the areas Durant wrote about and He wrote about the civilized world.

American history majors should read at least the "Our Oriental Heritage" volume. Serious art majors should read the entire 10 volumes. You will never read a historian who writes so well or with greater knowledge about the art, architecture and skilled crafts of different times and different peoples.

Enough. I leave you with this. By all means, read modern academic trashings of Durant's "Story of Civilization." Also, read the introductory remarks in each volume. You may be surprised to learn that Durant wrote each volume twice. He sent his final drafts to well known academic historians, according to their region of specialty. Durant then re-wrote each volume in response to detailed criticisms these professors sent him. No volume of "Story of Civilization" contains the 'whole truth' but very few modern histories of one year of one institution are more factually accurate. And no academic historian can lay claim to possessing the 'whole truth.' If you have a liberal arts graduate degree, read all ten volumes. You may gain the basic liberal arts education you wanted but did not get in six years of college.

HISTORY WELL DONE.......2005-01-01

It this third volume, Durant continues the story of man through the time of the height of Rome and Christ. Like the other volumes it is quite well done and despite what another reviewer's opinion is, quite comprehensive. Granted, I you want to read more about battles, etc. they you should probably look elswhere. I am of the school that a time period can only be understood by what they left behind, i.e. art, literature, politics, etc. rather than who they defeated in battle, or who defeated them. This is only my opinion though, others look at it differently. Also, I suppose if you are teaching a college course addressing this period of time, you would certainly want to gleen information from other sources. That not being the case on my part, I thought this was a wonderful overview of a very important epoch. I thought it was quite well presented. Recommend highly.

Civilization vs. History.......2004-05-23

The book has wonderful moments. It is lovingly written and often witty. However readers should be aware of Durant's definition of civilization. According to Durant:

"Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral traditions and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and insecurity end. For when fear is overcome, curiosity and constructiveness are free, and man passes by natural impulse towards the understanding and embellishment of life"

If you want a history that incudes the brute forces of history (not solely its cultural creation) you will probably be somewhat disappointed. There is nothing wrong with Durant's msny sections on poetry, philosophy, painting etc. but it squeezes the space alotted to things like economic trends and military struggle. If you want to read this book, you should probably first read a regular history of Rome. You can then appreciate this book as icing on the cake.

Valuable reference for historical novel readers.......2002-11-04

It is an excellent history reference, although people may not read it from page one to the end like reading a fiction. College students may use it for academic reference and research papers.

However, if you are into Roman historical novels such as Colleen McCullough "First Man in Rome", "Grass Crown"..., Gore Vidal "Julian", Robert Graves "I, Claudius"..., Henryk K. Sienkiewicz "Quo Vadis"; Roman era fantasies such as Pauline Gedge "The Eagle and the Raven", Donna Gillespie "The Light Bearer", it definitely adds complimentary flavor to your reading by being aware of the political and social environment of Roman Empire. The chapters are not essentially in chronological layout, but, for example, a chapter devoted to Roman arts and letters, another for daily lives of the social classes. Whilst you are reading your novel in the middle and want to find out more about a particular topic, simply refer to the Index and the relevant chapters.

You would enjoy the novels, and possibly Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra", and the movies "Ben-Hur", "Spartacus", "The Fall of Roman Empire", "Gladiator" even more. And "Cleopatra" and "Quo Vadis" were made movies too.

The part of Early Christianity in the latter chapters, would help you in reading the Gospels, the Acts, and letters from Paul and the disciples. In the same manner, it helps you to appreciate more in reading Christian historical fictions such as Sholem Asch "The Nazarene" "The Apostle", Thomas Costain "The Silver Chalice".

An additional recommendation is Vol 4. "Age of Faith", sole focus of which is the discussion of the religions Judaism, Christianity, Islam in the Middle Ages.

Pearls before swine.......2000-01-03

It's too bad so few people have taken the trouble to read or even review Durant. "The Story of Philosophy" was a best-seller in 1929. Tom Clancy & Patricia Cornwell (sic) get listings as long as the day is long, but Durant just gets in left in the corner ignored. It's a shame.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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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.

Day Of The Dragon-King (Magic Tree House 14, paper)

Average customer rating:

MY BOY LOVES READING
Day of the dragon kings
Jack & Annie in China
the burning of the books
The Trip to China

Day Of The Dragon-King (Magic Tree House 14, paper)
Mary Pope Osborne
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679890513
Release Date: 1998-04-20

Book Description

Jack and Annie set off to find an original copy of an ancient Chinese myth. Armed only with their magic library cards, they must take on a book-burning emperor. But with the help of a scholar and a silk weaver, they triumph again.

Customer Reviews:

MY BOY LOVES READING.......2007-01-07

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

Day of the dragon kings.......2006-11-17

this book Its great because anyone liked cartoon this book would like him

Jack & Annie in China.......2006-04-25

When Jack and Annie found out that they were going to China, they went straight to the treehouse. They met Morgan there, and she told them that they had to save a library in China. The dragon king was going to burn all the books, because he didn't like them. Jack and Annie saw a huge map of the castle where the emporer lived and they used it to help them find the library. In the end, Jack and Annie saved the library and were heroes again.

I liked this book because of the Terra Cotta soldiers (we have one of these at home !), the Chinese hats that Jack and Annie wore, and the dragon kings clothes. And I think I'm a good judge of Chinese things, since I was born in China !

the burning of the books.......2006-02-02

I hate the way the Dragen King wanted to burn all the books in China. But I am glad that Jack and Annie saved one. They escaped eveything.

The Trip to China.......2005-04-13

This story take place on China in the 1970, the boy and the girl were ready to go to China and they go in to get the bamboo book that is on the city, and they find two Chinese people. They take them to the city and they see people selling fish, the boy told them if they can take them to the library to find the bamboo book that has all the secrets of China.
This book is mostly about two kids that go to China to look for the bamboo book that is in the city of China. They went to the library with the secret library card and finally they found the bamboo book.

In my opinion, I think its a very good book because, the trip to China and the Great Wall and the Dragon King's tomb.

The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD (Making of Europe)

Average customer rating:

I read this for a class
Excellent book -
A great writer produces unreadable prose
Deep and wide
Origins and developments in the western tradition

The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD (Making of Europe)
Peter Brown
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0631221387

Book Description

This book offers a vivid, compelling history of the first thousand years of Christianity. Ranging across the Christian world from China to Iceland, the narrative illustrates the diversity of Christian beliefs and practices. It also places the rise of Christianity in the context of other religious traditions, especially Islam. The author draws penetrating portraits of individuals and communities, from St Patrick and the Irish church to the Christian communities of Armenia and Mesopotamia.For the second edition, the book has been thoroughly rewritten and expanded. It includes two new chapters, on monasticism and Irish Christianity. The author has also added an extensive preface in which he reflects on the scholarly traditions that have influenced his work and explains his current thinking about the book's themes. The new edition contains new maps, a substantial bibliography, and a number of chronological tables to orient the reader.

Customer Reviews:

I read this for a class.......2006-11-27

I had this book for a class on Medieval Europe. This book was our main text for the first half of the course and I spent quite a bit of those two months reading this book... I probably would have liked this book more had I had longer to read and understand it. It's arranged in a very confusing way and it's terrible to write essays over. My professor said that Peter Brown is brilliant, and I think he probably really is. Unfortunatly, I was too lost to appreciate it. If things were arranged more chronologically and if some clear distinctions were made in people groups this book would be more greatly appreciated.

Excellent book -.......2006-01-15

The book goes beyond the rather narrow sounding scope of the title; Brown nicely covers the changes in politics and economics that fostered (or hindered) the spead of Christianity from Ireland to the Middle East. The subject matter is cogently presented and enjoyable to read, unlike other scholarship of this era where authors tend to prove to the reader how much they know leaving the reader somewhat in the dust. Fascinating (at least to me!) is the number of texts that Brown cites that show the changes in orthodoxy from one century to another in various geographical areas, and how those texts came to be preserved. Conclusions are based on either these texts or archiology, not flights of a priori fantasy that all-too-often formed the basis for earlier works on this period. All in all, a book of great scholarship, but most approachable.

A great writer produces unreadable prose.......2005-10-10

Let me say first that I have been a great admirer of Peter Brown for many years. His "World of Late Antiquity" was a seminal work that inspired a generation of scholars to look past the tired old concepts of the fall of the Roman empire, and his biography of Augustine, recently updated, is magnificent.

It was with some excitement then that I sat down to see what Brown had to say in a work that covers a larger span of time than most of his previous studies. And it was with a sinking heart that I realized, after a few pages, that this one-time master of prose has lost his way.

In his lengthy introduction, Brown seems determined to undermine every preconception we may have about Europe's evolution in late antiquity and the early middle ages. To reinforce his point, he puts quotation marks around a myriad of words and phrases: "Roman", "barbarian", "imperial", "Western." For a page or two this seems like a reasonable way of signalling that these words may not mean what we think they mean. But the trouble is, he never stops: the quotation marks multiply, sometimes occurring a dozen times on a page, and seldom less than once per paragraph. And it becomes impossible to know what he is trying to signify. If he finds words like "Roman" and "barbarian" useful, why doesn't he simply define what he means by them, rather than distancing himself from them? It seems pointless to contrast barbarian and Roman, if you believe that the one is not really barbarian, and the other not really Roman.

And it gets worse. What are we to make of the fact that Irish kings ruled over "plains"? Do the quotation marks signify that the kings called them by that term (or its Gaelic equivalent), or that they were not really plains? Why the quotes around "Carolingian minuscule", not just on introduction but in subsequent references -- was the script not truly Carolingian, or not truly minuscule?

I don't know who should take the most blame here, Brown for repeatedly flagging words as not meaning what we think they mean, without bothering to find alternatives that he feels are more accurate, or his editor for letting him get away with it.

I realize other readers may not be as bothered by this sort of thing as I am, but I found it baffling and, ultimately, offputting. I seldom return a book, and I never thought I would return one of Peter Brown's, but that is what I did in this case.

Deep and wide.......2005-07-23

Peter Brown first came to my attention through his scholarship in the study of Augustine, one of my particular interests in the field of church history. His biography of Augustine is considered one of the standards, having been written first in the 1960s, and revised for the turn of the millennium in 2000. This speaks to the length of his career and involvement with the study of church history generally, of which this volume is a wonderful survey.

This book, 'The Rise of Western Christendom', looks at the first 1000 years (the first half of Christian history). Despite its title, it does not focus exclusively on the idea of Christianity as a Western phenomenon. One of the great strengths of this historical survey, as opposed to many of the previous generation, is that it does not stop at the borders of Rome, nor does it take a linear progression approach to the history. Brown preserves the diversity inherent in the original church, showing the growth in Latin and Greek areas, as well as other areas that would arise such as the Antioch/Aleppo area, where Coptic and Syriac were significant languages, and art, architecture, liturgical development and scholarship thrived for centuries as a major centre for Christianity. Brown also discusses 'mirco-Christendoms', pockets both within and outside of the original Roman Imperial borders where Christianity was planted and grew more or less independently of central authority and direction.

To understand the history of Western Europe (of which this volume is part of a series on the topic), one must have a wider perspective than just the goings-on that took place on the European continental mainland. Indeed, from the very first lines, Brown starts with the city of Edessa, located in the ancient Fertile Crescent area, and the ancient capital of Ctesiphon, a city located very near modern-day Baghdad, which ruled a powerful empire that did not include any of the European continent, but which had profound influence over the peoples and empires on the European continent for centuries. Also included in Brown's history are peripheral figures - barbarians, farmers, frontierspeople - who often get overlooked in favour of the royal/imperial lines of history.

Brown looks both at individuals and institutions in his historical development and analysis. Individuals such as Augustine, the Cappadocian Fathers, Patrick, Clovis, Justinian and others are prominent, but the overall development of institutions and communities takes the larger portion of the text. There are major innovations such as monasticism and the rise of central church authorities and structures, and smaller institutions such as community governments. Brown includes the various tales of conversion for the different nations (the deliberations of the Icelanders, for example, versus the more forced conversions of the Norse) as well as the theological and administrative variations and homogenisation in the more central Mediterranean region. Brown also deals with the rise of Islam, the varying ways in which Christian communities and Muslim communities interacted and clashed, sometimes violently, but sometimes coming to mutually beneficial accords.

This is a book for students and scholars, although the general interest reader with a curiosity for church history and how it fits into the larger historical frame will also find this text useful. There are maps scattered throughout the text, as well as charts and tables. The book includes extensive endnotes for the scholar, but reading through the narrative does not depend upon them (saving one from having to flip back and forth endlessly). There is an appendix entitled 'Coordinated Chronological Tables' that traces the history from circa 100 - 1000, showing important events in the East, West, British Isles, and Scandanavia. A 44-page bibliography (one third primary sources, the rest secondary sources) and 27-page index round out the scholarship tools, making this an incredibly useful reference resource.

This book is often used at my seminary for the first half of church history, and is used at many schools (undergraduate and graduate level) for history courses generally. Brown's text is engaging and clear, easy to follow and well developed. It is a pleasure to read in addition to being interesting in material and presentation. Brown's text had both depth and breadth, not sacrificing one aspect for the other, but managing to hold both in good proportion to the other.

Origins and developments in the western tradition.......2004-03-25

Professor Brown has substantially revised The Rise of Western Christendom, originally published in 1996 as part of the "Making of Europe" series edited by Jacques Le Goff. The result is a much stronger work, which will appeal to scholars of Late Antiquity more than the first edition while still captivating the general reader.

In the second edition Brown continues to treat the localization of Christianity in regions from the North Atlantic to Asia. He describes how Irishmen, Saxons, and others transferred to their homeland relics, styles of art and architecture, and ecclesiastical customs, thus believing that they "had brought to their own region a 'microcosm' which reflected, with satisfactory completeness, the 'macrocosm' of a worldwide Christianity. . . . They strove to cancel out the hiatus between 'center' and 'periphery' by making 'little Romes' available on their home ground" (15). Brown calls the local variations of a broader Christianity "micro-Christendoms." In his characterization of the British Isles, he writes "The religious leaders of every region claimed to possess at home a set of customs and doctrines which were ultimately derived from 'true' centers of Christian learning and practice in a wider world" (359). Through statements like this, Brown tries to erase the model of thinking about Christianity in terms of "center" and "periphery," a theory he borrows from anthropology and religious studies.

Yet, by entitling the work The Rise of Christianity in the West, the author reifies the notion of Christianity as a "western" phenomenon although a significant portion of the book treats the localization and perpetuation of Christianity in non-western regions such as Syria and Persia. In fact, his discussion of the climate of competition among religions in the East is every bit as penetrating as his examination of the West. A more fitting title to this abolition of core-periphery, therefore, might be Micro-Christendoms: Christianity and Diversity from 200-1000.

The first edition received mixed reviews. One historian of Late Antiquity wrote that ". . . the exuberance and delight inherent in his interpretation . . . ought to make this book attractive and influential" (Journal of Theological Studies 48.2 [1997], 671), while another scholar of the period claimed that "its picture is skewed, and its conclusions are not demonstrated" (American Historical Review 102.5 [1997], 1463). With this second edition, Brown will continue to elicit criticism from those believing that he is too theory-oriented at the expense of doing proper "positivist" work. On the other hand, many of the problems which scholars of Late Antiquity pointed out in the first edition focused on the lack of documentation, and it is here, among other places, that the second edition enhances the work. Although the original had no notes, this version has sixty pages detailing the author's sources. The first edition had a seven-page [End Page 139] bibliography with no primary sources; the second contains a forty-four page bibliography, including eleven pages of primary sources.

Another way in which Brown improves the second edition is by adding two new chapters, "Powerhouses of Prayer: Monasticism in Western Europe" and "The Making of Sapiens: Religion and Culture in Continental Europe and in Ireland." He also amends his chapter "Christianity in Asia" and renames it "Christianity in Asia and the Rise of Islam." And he divides the chapter "Christianities of the North: Ireland and Saxon Britain" into two separate chapters, treating local Christianity in each region more fully.

Furthermore, Brown refines the layout of the visual aids and adds to them. The first edition contained four maps at the beginning of the book whereas the second has ten maps placed strategically throughout the body of the text to correspond to the geographical areas under discussion. Likewise, the second edition has chronologies arranged within the narrative to give the reader a point of reference for the persons, places, and events being examined. These additions allow the reader to organize and contextualize the contents, a point which is especially helpful since the book covers such a broad period and has a vast regional scope. Finally, the placement of sub-headings throughout the text strengthens the structure of the second edition. The reader will find the sub-topics easier to configure within the broader thesis.

This book makes a useful text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in religion and history. It is helpful for its survey of Christianity, the questions it raises regarding the relationship of religion to ethnicity and locality, and its notes and bibliography, which point to related studies. At $29.95, the paperback is a reasonable addition to the individual scholar's library.

Book Description

When early Christians began to study the Bible, and to write their own history and that of the Jews whom they claimed to supersede, they used scholarly methods invented by the librarians and literary critics of Hellenistic Alexandria. But Origen and Eusebius, two scholars of late Roman Caesarea, did far more. Both produced new kinds of books, in which parallel columns made possible critical comparisons previously unenvisioned, whether between biblical texts or between national histories. Eusebius went even farther, creating new research tools, new forms of history and polemic, and a new kind of library to support both research and book production.

Christianity and the Transformation of the Book combines broad-gauged synthesis and close textual analysis to reconstruct the kinds of books and the ways of organizing scholarly inquiry and collaboration among the Christians of Caesarea, on the coast of Roman Palestine. The book explores the dialectical relationship between intellectual history and the history of the book, even as it expands our understanding of early Christian scholarship. Christianity and the Transformation of the Book attends to the social, religious, intellectual, and institutional contexts within which Origen and Eusebius worked, as well as the details of their scholarly practices--practices that, the authors argue, continued to define major sectors of Christian learning for almost two millennia and are, in many ways, still with us today.

Customer Reviews:

". . . we are still the heirs of Origen and Eusebius".......2007-10-02

There is much to like about this book. While a few assertions and historical models are certainly debatable, Grafton and Williams have authored a fascinating account of the origin of rigorous western scholarship. Among the giants of philological erudition and text collection, preservation, translation and analysis, Origen was a titan of the titans. His Hexapala "was one of the greatest single moments of Roman scholarship," and he has cast a very long shadow in which we stand today. Of course, he didn't live and work in an intellectual vacuum, as the authors demonstrate at some length. The following excerpts will lend some small sense of their book:

". . . the scholars of Christian Caesarea lived in a time of seismic cultural change, a time when one regime of book production and storage supplanted another . . . they were themselves impresarios of the scriptorium and the library, and developed new forms of scholarship that depended on their abilities to collect and produce new kinds of books . . . they struggled to devise texts that could impose order on highly varied forms of information. . .
". . . Christian scholars used written materials--both those they inherited from others, and those they created themselves--in ways that drew upon classical precedents, but they also developed these in new directions. They made their technical mastery of the production of complex books the basis of new kinds of intellectual authority, which in turn shaped new modes of scholarly inquiry. . . We in the modern university owe a great debt to this particular strand of the Christian intellectual tradition."

The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750: AD 150-750 (Library of World Civilization)

Average customer rating:

What ever happened to the Dark Ages?
A good introduction
A dazzling survey
Caveat emptor
Its excellent

The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750: AD 150-750 (Library of World Civilization)
Peter Brown
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD (Making of Europe)
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ASIN: 0393958035

Customer Reviews:

What ever happened to the Dark Ages?.......2005-06-20

So when did the "Dark Ages" change to "Late Antiquity" or are we afraid of offending someone who has been dead for over a 1000 years? Oh well!! Dr. Brown has written what I think is the best and most interesting book on this period I have seen so far. It is well organized, argued, with some lavishly & well chosen illustrations with that are well on point and supportive of the text. Good to go! I am just sorry I can't award it more than 5 stars.

A good introduction.......2003-12-22

The world of Late Antiquity is an historical period often overlooked. The more prominent periods such as the Greek Empire, Roman Empire, Early Christendom, Rise of Islam, East/West Split, etc. take the majority of space in historical texts; often the world of Late Antiquity is an epilogue or a prologue to anothe period.

Peter Brown, renowned for his authoritative biography on Augustine of Hippo, has produced a good introductory text to the period between the beginnings of the downfall of the Roman Empire and the beginnings of medieval times in western Europe. This period does not have strict boundaries -- there were no crucial or pivotal events defining the beginning or the end of the period, which is perhaps why it is often overlooked.

The text is divided into two primary sections -- the Late Roman Revolution, and Divergent Legacies. In the Late Roman Revolution, Brown explores the aspects of culture and religion that change slowly but ultimately dramatically from classical Roman to Christian-medieval. As Christianity rises and the power from the centre fades, including the power of the intelligensia, the post-Roman world takes on a new character.

In Divergent Legacies, Brown first looks at the development of the West after the fall of Rome. The barbarian invasions are recast, the assimilation of the Senate into the aristocratic and higher clerical ranks of the ruling Church shown to be a way in which the Roman hierarchy in fact survived the collapse of Rome, and the fragmentation of the empire ensured the dominance of Latin for the next many centuries.

This was a very different character from the survival of the Late Antique world in the East. Here the walls of Byzantium were never breached, despite the fact that most of the empire was lost not once but multiple times. The final chapter in Late Antiquity in the East was the first chapter in Muslim history, with the rise of the Muslim-dominated empires, which at first had cordial and profitable relationships with the West.

This book is part of a series, the Library of World Civilisation, edited by Geoffrey Barraclough of Brandeis University. Each volume is approximately 200 pages, richly illustrated (this particular text has 130 illustrations in these 200 pages), and accessible in writing style.

A dazzling survey.......2003-10-28

Peter Brown, professor of History at Princeton University, takes his readers on an epic trip across space and time, exploring the dynamic and often-neglected world of the Late Antique Mediterranian. Beginning with the era of Marcus Aurelius, he chronicals the crisis of the the 3rd Century, and the new "hard emperors" who arose to effectively re-unite the near-shattered empire. He surveys the wide variations in Christianity, from the Coptic Christianity in Egypt, to the rugged and ubiquitous holy men of Syria. He describes the Christian empires under Constantine and later Justinian and comments on the administrative collapse that caused the implosion of the Western Roman Empire. He concludes his books with a brief discussion of the Muslim conquests, and the interaction between the Muslims and the conquered Christian populations of the East.
The book is graced with ample illustrations featuring a variety of Late Antique art. While the period after 300 BC is not thought of as a time of high culture, the illustrations demonstrate that in reality Late Antique culture was as rich, varied, and sumptuous as Mediterrainian culture had even been. This book functions as an outstanding introduction to Late Antique scholarship (a field pioneered by Professor Brown), and is an excellent suppliment to those courses on Roman History that tend unsatisfyingly to end around 313 BC.

Caveat emptor.......2003-01-15

This is not a good book. The time I have spent reading this book has been mostly wasted. It does not compare to say, Bury's writings.

Its excellent.......2001-06-12

I am quite a critic when most people give it a 5 stars, I am giving 4 or sometimes less.

Book Description

This selection of lapidary nuggets drawn from thirty-three of antiquity's major authors includes poetry, dialogue, philosophical writing, history, descriptive reporting, satire, and fiction--giving a glimpse at the wide range of arts and sciences, thought and styles, of Greco-Roman culture.

The selections span twelve centuries, from Homer to Saint Jerome. The texts and translations are reproduced as they appear in Loeb volumes.

The Loeb Classical Library is the only existing series of books which, through original text and facing English translation, gives access to all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. The Loeb Classical Library Reader offers a unique sampling of this treasure trove. In these pages you will find, for example:

Odysseus tricking the Cyclops in order to escape from the giant's cave;

Zeus creating the first woman, Pandora, cause of mortals' hardships ever after;

the Athenian general Nicias dissuading his countrymen from invading Sicily;

Socrates, condemned to die, saying farewell;

a description of Herod's fortified palace at Masada;

Cicero's thoughts on what we owe our fellow men;

Livy's description of the rape of the Sabine women;

Manilius on the signs of the zodiac;

Pliny's observation of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D..

Here you can enjoy looking in on people, real and imaginary, who figure prominently in ancient history, and on notable events. Here, too, you can relish classical poetry and comedy, and get a taste of the ideas characteristic of the splendid culture to which we are heir.

Customer Reviews:

Nice and short; all in all, a decent sampling.......2007-05-14

Since Amazon still doesn't have a "Search Inside" option for this book, I am copying its contents below:

Homer (Odyssey), Hesiod (Works and Days), Pindar (Olympian Odes), Sophocles (Antigone), Euripides (Medea), Herodotus (Persian Wars), Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War), Aristophanes (Lysistrata), Xenophon (Anabasis), Plato (Phaedo), Aristotle (Poetics), Callimachus (Hymns), Josephus (Jewish War), Plutarch (Brutus), Lucian (Dialogues of the Gods), Pausanias (Description of Greece), Terence (The Brothers), Cicero (On Duties), Caesar (Gallic War), Lucretius (On the Nature of Things), Virgil (Aeneid), Horace (Odes), Livy (History of Rome), Propertius (Elegies), Ovid (Heroines), Manilius (Atronomica), Seneca (Octavia), Pliny (Natural History), Petronius (Satyricon), Pliny the Younger (Letters), Juvenal (Satires), Apuleius (Metamorphoses), Jerome (Letters).

Given that these texts have been drawn from different volumes, the quality of the translations varies. However, at the end of the day, the beauty of the Loeb series lies in the fact that we have access to the original.

I found some of the selections (Josephus, Caesar, Manilius) underwhelming, but that is to be expected. De gustibus non est disputandum, and that is why the Editors seem to have tried to cater to different needs by giving as representative a sample as possible. To make a long story short: this is definitely a good buy.

A Damned Good Compromise!.......2006-08-30

Of course, the editors were damned if they did and damned if they didn't -- select other passages from the 500 other Loeb volumes. Would I have made a different selection? OF COURSE!

But what do I want to have in my briefcase in case my flight is delayed, the newspapers are depressing and the magazines insipid?

Why this handy anthology! Absolutely a worthy purchase. Where else can you tuck into some choice passages from Cicero, savor Lucretius' account of peace of mind, snack on Aristotle without gagging and get a tremendous belly-laugh from Petronius or Juvenal?

This is a no-brainer and a great gift, too!

brevity may be the soul of wit, but this needs to be bodied out.......2006-08-05

120 pages of english translation as an introduction to a library of several hundred volumes? drop the latin and greek, and triple the length.

A very good introduction........2006-03-16

This book is a good introduction to the Loeb Classical Library. The book is in greek and latin with the translations in english. The quality is the same like in a normal book from the library. A good book to begginers in the classical world. A invitation to start your collection in the Loeb Classical Library.

Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization (Case Studies in Early Societies)

Average customer rating:

Mayan Royal Rock Stars

Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization (Case Studies in Early Societies)
Arthur Demarest
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521533902

Book Description

Arthur Demarest brings the lost civilization of Maya to life by applying a holistic view to the most recently discovered archaeological evidence. His theoretical interpretation simultaneously emphasizes the brilliant rain forest adaptations of the ancient Maya and the Native American spirituality that permeated all aspects of their daily life. Drawing on data from the latest significant archaeological research in Central America, this new study appeals to those interested in the ecological bases of civilization, the function of the state and the causes of the collapse of civilizations.

Customer Reviews:

Mayan Royal Rock Stars.......2005-03-05

This is a must read for anyone interested in the ancient Maya and why their advanced civilization that had achieved so much under such harsh conditions suddenly collapsed and disappeared for parts unknown. Demarest argues that the collapse was political rather than the most widely accepted paradigm that it was ecological. He concludes that the collapse was due to a proliferation of royal elites competing for power, similar to the present situation in Saudi Arabia. Warfare between these competing elites caused a collapse during a 100 year period that resulted in a depopulation of major cities and a drastic reduction of palace and temple construction. The book is worth reading if only for Demarest's description of the Wizard of Oz type power structure where Mayan royal elites held power through fantastic ritualistic displays that captivated the masses. He describes the Mayan royal elites as a combination of rock stars, evangelical preachers, and circus performers that dressed in elaborate costumes with feathered head dresses, lit fires with pyrite mirrors, and engaged in public displays of blood letting. Demarest even relates the Mayan architecture to theater with temples high above plazas where the masses could observe rituals. The book is easy to read for layman.

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age

Average customer rating:

it makes you think
Little Ugly Duck
Very well written book
But wait, there's MORE!
Knowledge

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age
Charles H. Hapgood
Manufacturer: Adventures Unlimited Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0932813429

Customer Reviews:

it makes you think.......2007-10-18

Well researched and argued with lots of background and technical detail. Well worth a read as it is good to understand some of the alternative theories that are out there.

Little Ugly Duck.......2007-07-04

Charles Hapgood made an outstanding scientific work on Piri Rais map, together with his students and professional map-makers. The conclusion of the book, that there were excellent navigators with sophisticated techniques to set the longitude over 4000 years ago, was difficult to swallow for the established learned culture, which assumes that Progress is a one-way process, from ancient barbarians to ourselves being on the top. This explains in part the lack of reaction of scientifics. But the worst drawback was the enthusiasm of Esotericians and Traditionalists who praised Hapgood on the basis of the Platon's Atlandide tale.
Last but not least, Hapgood developped a theory of the terrestrial crust being subject to brisks slippages and displacements. Althoug A. Einstein approved the idea, the theory of continents drifting was institutionalised and widely accepted. Hapgood was therefore tagged as an outsider amateur, and forgotten.

Very well written book.......2007-06-16

Anyone interested in exploring ancient historical anomalies should absolutely begin with this book. This is NOT a von Daniken-esq hack job written by some pulp fiction fanatic looking to cash in on a popular trend. Hapgood was a professor at Keene State College NH, and he approached the analysis of these maps from a rigorous academic point of view, but presents his findings in an easily readable format. He did an excellent job researching and describing these maps, including the Piri Reis map of South America, and the Oronteus Finaeus map of Antarctica published in 1531 - some 300 years before Antarctica was discovered by western explorers. This latter map even shows the true coastline of Antarctica as it appears under hundreds of feet of ice (something we only recently were capable of verifying circa 1950). Hapgood was one of the first to present hard evidence which challenges the fundamental assumption taught by modern Anthropology that man only recently developed the intelligence to explore the Earth's oceans. In fact, this evidence shows very clearly that humans many thousand years before the Renaissance actively explored and mapped the Earth's oceans well in advance of Columbus or Magellan, with a skill level that easily exceeded that of Columbus as well as all of his contemporaries. (The active exploration of the new world by ancient peoples has since been validated by more recent research, such as the forensic evidence published by Balabanova et. al. showing cocaine and tobacco in dynastic period Egyptian mummies.) The material on the Oronteus Finaeus map alone is well worth the read.

But wait, there's MORE!.......2007-06-08

Yes, Hapgood's book is a great read. But there is a wonderful treasure waiting for those who would like more evidence of these ancient mariners. And on this subject, "the dead yet speak." Cyrus H. Gordon, who passed away in 2001, left us a fine little book in 1971 called Before Columbus. This book provides a very scholarly foundation for the theory that intercontinental trans-oceanic commerce commenced and flourished at times so long ago that Columbus is a relative newcomer. So, if you like Ancient Sea Kings, by all means order yourself a copy of Before Columbus.

Knowledge.......2006-06-26

Still reading the book as part as an old hobby regarding the origin and nature of our world.
This is only one more volume on a subject for which I have read tens of books ranging from Carl Sagan, Louis Powels and Jacques Bergier, Charles Hapgood, Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov, Van Daniken, Huxley,...
As a retired petrophysicist anything to do with our planet is a worthwhile subject for me. The Piris Reis map has long been on my list of item to read more about. I am still looking for subject such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and others.

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