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

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.

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America

Average customer rating:

History repeats itself.
The Rising Tide
The Great Flood
They're Gonna Wash Us Away - The Rest of the Story
Outstanding Piece of Work in History, Politics and Humanity

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
John M. Barry
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Natural Disasters | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0684810468

Amazon.com

When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape.

While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself.

Book Description

An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.

Customer Reviews:

History repeats itself........2007-08-20

I happened to read this book when I was home from work waiting for Hurricane Katrina to make landfall (I live in Baton Rouge, 80 miles North of New Orleans). It was an ironic that I read this book that day. I had no idea of the book's relevance to that day's events. John Barry documents the events and reasons leading up to the great flood of 1927 in incredible detail. Being from South Louisiana, I knew a little about the flood, but most of what I thought I knew was not correct. The facts of what the US Corp of Engineers did or did not do is readily available from a number of sources. The Corp of Engineer's competence or incompetence is subject to debate (Well, It was subject to debate until August 29, 2005). The real revelations as far as I am concerned are the cultural and economic factors that Barry weaves into an enlightening book. It shows how the powers that ruled New Orleans (Canal Bank, Whitney Bank, Hibernia Bank and the Times Picayune Newspaper) deceived and lied to maintain their power and riches at everyone else's expense. St Bernard Parish (County to most of you) was sacrificed by bombing the levee system below New Orleans to take the pressure off of the New Orleans levees (as it turns out, unnecessarily). The amazing part of the book is the "how it changed America" part. From the creation of the Federal based welfare system, Herbert Hoover's rise to stardom and the ultimate election of Huey Long as Governor of Louisiana (and had he not been assassinated, may be President of the United States), the 1927 flood changed America more than any event I can think of other than the Revolutionary War and Civil War. This is a GREAT book worth your time to read. It is said that in order to know the future, you must study the past. Too bad we're still not paying attention !!!!!!!!!!!

The Rising Tide.......2007-02-18

I've barely dipped into the first chapter of this, plus reading at random to wherever the book fell open, and I'm awed. Barry's attention to detail and exhaustive documentation of his sources are exemplary. It is also a darn good read, and it is his thoroughness which makes it that way -- the principal players stand out like characters in a good novel. There was recently a PBS special (I believe it was The American Experience) on the history of New Orleans, and although Barry appeared in it, not nearly enough attention was paid to the 1927 flood, especially to some of the most unsavory aspects such as the machinations of the local power structure. Other than the pleasure of reading this book, I highly recommend it because we had a replay of this in Katrina with a similar display of greed, insensitivity and incompetence. And if it can happen in New Orleans, it can happen anywhere!

The Great Flood.......2006-12-14

I had never heard of the Mississippi flood before picking up this book and I am surprised that I had never hard of it after reading about it. This is arguably the greatest natural disaster to hit the United States until Hurricane Katrina. To see the response of the government then and now there are shocking similarities The army corp of engineers makes a similar performance and it is through private enterprise and local political networks that areas are saved. One of the sadder points in the book is the treatment of African Americans and southern racism in this time period is clearly displayed in most areas. The flood which wiped out parts of Mississippi and spread down to New Orleans was catastrophic. Seeing the idea of detonating levees and sacrificing areas of save others were tough choices that have implications in the post Katrina world. This is a highly recommend book that will make one think about natural disaster response from a truly catastrophic event.

They're Gonna Wash Us Away - The Rest of the Story.......2006-11-02

Randy Newman told the story of the great Louisiana flood of 1927 in a few memorable but not very historically accurate verses. Barry tells it with painstaking research and narrative of 75 years surrounding and including 1927. He opens with the civil engineering debate that raged for years about how to "control" the Mississippi River--levees or controlled drainage. Once the flood happens he focuses on how people dealt with it as it was happening (race relations in the early 20th century were sorely tested) and afterwards (St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, having been sacrifice to "save" New Orleans, were left almost low and dry when it came time to distribute money for recovery---sound familiar?) One memorable theme is that nature is unsympathetic to political compromise. Barry rivals David McCullough in the genre of popular history writers.

Outstanding Piece of Work in History, Politics and Humanity.......2006-10-26

Mr. Barry has done an exceptional job of weaving the elements of modern life together, natural disaster, power, money, politics, race together to tell an ingrossing and disturbing story, one that is a relevant today as it was when it happened in the late twenties. America is still affected by what happened then and faces many of the same challenges today--Katrina and whenever or whereever there is great human suffering brought on by natural disaster. (Just wait until the New Madrid earthquake occurs again. That may be the only natural disaster that could rival this flood and its effect on our nation, society and culture.)

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, and money--having it--makes that corruption and the arrogance that comes with it, even more dangerous, despicable and deadly. We face all of those issues and threats today, and it is not limited to a political party, but rather to class,to wealth and, sadly and alarmingly, to those we "elect" to represent and protect us.

This book is a sobering look at America as it was, and, sadly, as it is. Political parties do not matter....This not about man's highest, nor is it about man's lowest. It is about man as he is...

Average customer rating:

review
Makes you want to go see them for yourself!
Mansions For Miles
Hudson River Mansions

Great Houses of the Hudson River
Michael Middleton Dwyer , and Mark Rockefeller
Manufacturer: Bulfinch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Decoration & Ornament | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 082122767X

Book Description

Take a journey up the Hudson River to see how some of the wealthiest familiesRoosevelts, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Astorscreated country retreats in the most spectacular of locations. An introduction by architect and historian Michael Dwyer provides insight into the beauty and importance of the houses.

Customer Reviews:

review.......2007-01-04

Beautifully photographed, well written. Will be appreciated by those who have visited these houses as well as those who enjoy fine architecture and interesting history.

Makes you want to go see them for yourself!.......2006-07-04

If you love historical architecture, and the histories of old homes, then you shouldn't miss this book. The photographs alone make this a book worth owning, but the author has also included well written, indepth, and informative stories about these incrediable homes, their builders, owners and subsiquent owners. Reading this book has encouraged me to plan a trip to visit to the Hudson River Valley to see these beautiful places for myself.

Mansions For Miles.......2005-05-19

This is a nice overview of the best of the estates along the Hudson. The book give a nice short history on the houses presented and the photos are nice, though the pictures could be more crisp. Having said that, I did enjoy the book and was just amazed at the variety in the styles of the houses from period to period; really a very informative book. If you are interested in this sort of thing, then you will certainly be pleased with this book, though the $50.00 price tag is a bit daunting.

Hudson River Mansions.......2002-04-27

This book is fantasic! I highly recommend it. It has loads of spectacular color photographs, and the mansions are breath taking. Being someone who has never visisted the area, this book really makes me consider a trip to New York, if only to see these mansions.

Honey, Let's Get a Boat... A Cruising Adventure of America's Great Loop

Average customer rating:

Good for loopers
Excellent
A True Boating Advenyure
Terrific Read...Even If You Don't Own a Boat
A delightful read

Honey, Let's Get a Boat... A Cruising Adventure of America's Great Loop
Ron Stob , and Eva I. Stob
Manufacturer: Raven Cove Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Canada | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

Travel | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

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Look Inside Travel Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0966914031

Book Description

This is the story of a couple's travels on a forty-foot trawler cruising 6300 miles and 145 locks around the eastern part of North America known as America's Great Loop or the Great Circle Cruise. Their nautical ineptitude is evident from the beginning, but pulling from their personal and collective strengths, the authors overcome doubt, a lack of experience, and real and imagined horrors. The odyssey is told the way life hands out its adventures -- sometimes humorously, sometimes tragically, but always memorably. The writing is light and appealing, but there is a serious strain running through the book for those who relish history and descriptions of the landscape. Astute and attentive to detail, they chronicled events and kept an account of expenses, equipment and charting. As a result, the appendix/guidebook is worth the price of the book for anyone interested in planning their cruise. Topics include necessary charts and guidebooks, information on locks, sett! ing an itinerary, resource addresses and websites, details on equipment and the best place to be educated about boating. The book has full-color inserts with black and white photographs interspersed throughout.

Customer Reviews:

Good for loopers.......2007-02-04

I recommend this book for those wanting to buy a boat and cruise the loop. There are very helpful details in the last pages that include dollar budget items vs actual with recommendations on insurance to charts etc. The log story of their trip is funny. Worth it.

Excellent.......2007-01-10

Great book for a boater. There is a story behind alot of usefull information. I had a great time reading it and would read another book by the same author. Thanks

A True Boating Advenyure.......2006-07-15

What a fun read, what a masterful and accurate description of the real of boating on the ICW and rivers of this wonderful country - all I can say is THANK YOU. The reading of your book gave me great pleasure and makes me want to do it all over again.

Terrific Read...Even If You Don't Own a Boat.......2005-01-09

Honey, Let's Get a Boat"
by Ron and Eva Stob

Here is a must read for not only boating enthusiasts but all those who ever imagined themselves pulling up stakes and setting out on a year or more adventure of travel. Ron and Eva Stob do a wonderful job of recounting their year-long journey on a forty-foot trawler, which began in Florida and circled up along the intercoastal waterway to New York and then up the Hudson River to Lakes George and Champlain to the Saint Lawrence River in Canada and on to the Great Lakes and Chicago and then down the river systems to the Gulf of Mexico and back to Florida. This route, known as "America's Great Loop," took them through waterways, locks, scenery, history, and cultures as varied as one could find anywhere.

Even though the book is written in the first person by Ron as the narrator, I can assure you, on the basis of having had the good fortune of meeting this delightful couple, Eva had a big part in helping relate the experiences encountered throughout their year of traveling these waterways. The book is a great read from start to finish and includes an appendix, which is a guidebook to anyone contemplating a similar venture. From the interesting and humorous aspects of just how this couple took the leap of quitting their jobs and finding and purchasing the trawler to their final encounter with the tropical storm Gordon,( becoming Hurricane Gordon,) as they returned to Florida after their year of cruising, the reader will be fascinated by vivid descriptions of places and cultures, as well as the difficulties and near disasters. Ron's "tongue in cheek" satire and humor and his honest self-criticism enhance the imagery of the book and bring alive the characters and places.

The book relates as much about the history and culture of the places visited along the way as it does the process of navigating the waterways. Even though I had been to a number of places mentioned, I was not aware of all the history and cultural aspects the narrator reveals.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in travel, by whatever means, as it is just the thing for the intellectually curious.

This book is published by Raven Cove Publishing of Greenback, Tennessee, and can be ordered at Raven Cove Publishing; P.O. Box 168, Greenback, TN 37742-0168 or phone 865/856-7888. The book is also available through Amazon Books on the Internet. And the authors are available for speaking engagements.

A delightful read.......2003-04-18

There are lots of technical boating books out there and they are easy to find. This book chronicles one couple's own adventure on the "Great Loop" in their first cruiser, a 40' (wow) trawler. I loved the writing style--great humor and sometimes romantic descriptions of the goings on (Mr.'s descriptions of Mrs., their married kids' near "marital conflagration" on deck, the story of the chocolates, cruising with the senior ladies. The descriptions of the travel are very well written. The experiences aboard will be appreciated by addicted boaters and non-boaters alike. This is an adventure story. When I finally retire and head for the Great Loop in my cruiser, I will think often and fondly of the Stob's and this delightful book.

Insight Guides Great River Cruises Europe & The Nile (Insight Guides. Great River Cruise Europe)

Average customer rating:

A true insight into European River Cruises
Lots of Information and Beautiful Pictures!
Offering 'can't miss' tips for selected, recommended trips
Excellent reference book

Insight Guides Great River Cruises Europe & The Nile (Insight Guides. Great River Cruise Europe)

Manufacturer: Insight Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

Cruises | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Insight Guide | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 9812583971

Book Description

How can you travel to several cities in comfort without the drudgery of countless travel connections? Last year alone, more than 1 million people discovered that answer by taking a river cruise--and the number is growing each year. Insight Guides, the world's largest visual travel guide series is proud to offer the all-new, Insight Guide Great River Cruises of Europe this Spring for consumers catching this exciting new wave in travel. .Comprehensive itineraries-a full run-down of cruises available on the Danube, Rhine, Elbe, Moselle, Rhone, Saone, Seine, Po, Douro, Thames, Shannon, Volga, Don, Neva, Moska, and Dniepr .Authoritative overview-introduction by Douglas Ward, the world's leading expert on crusing and author of the annual Berlitz Ocean Cruising and Cruise Ships guide .Expert Advice-the answers to questions most frequently asked by people who are thinking of taking a river cruise .Consurmer Information-list of vessels, dimensions, number of cabins and other details, including ratings by Douglas Ward .Great Traditions-a recount of the history of Europe's waterways .Full-colour photography and maps-throughout the book .A Travel Tips Section-containing information and advice, all essential telephone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses, plus weather charts.

Customer Reviews:

A true insight into European River Cruises.......2007-01-03

Bought this for the in-laws to investigate going on a river cruise in Europe. This concept was completely outside of their comfort zone prior to recieving this book. After a couple of days reading it, they are now ready to go and have in fact already purchased a cruise. This book is full of wonderful photographs, maps, and destinations of many of the cruises. This book was instumental in helping them decide which cruiseline to take (Viking) and which trip to take. If you are even remotely considering a river cruise in Europe, this book is a must read. And although the in-laws have not yet taken their trip, they fully intend on taking the book with them. Bon Voyage!!!!

Lots of Information and Beautiful Pictures!.......2006-11-08

This is a comprehensive guide for destination information as well as information about river cruising. It is well worth the money!

Offering 'can't miss' tips for selected, recommended trips.......2006-11-07

If you're contemplating a cruise in Europe, don't leave home without using and taking along Great River Cruises: Europe & the Nile: it packs in photos, color maps, tips on booking itineraries and historical background on all major ports of call and river cruising opportunities in the region, offering 'can't miss' tips for selected, recommended trips. From excursions, castles, hotels and sightseeing to the course of the river and boat rides, it's the item of choice for any journeying to Europe.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Excellent reference book.......2006-08-31

Full of useful information, many excellent photos, maps, ratings, and every detail imaginable relating to river cruising.

The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan

Average customer rating:

1899 version of shock and awe
Where's that anti-Islam polemic?
A Young "Subaltern of the Empire" with a Destiny
The River War
Great Military History applicable to our times

The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
Winston Churchill
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Sudan | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

North Africa | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0486447855

Book Description

This instructive treatise on a Middle Eastern conflict was written by one of history's greatest figures. Churchill recounts the operations directed by Lord Kitchener on the Upper Nile from 1896 to 1899, offering valuable insights into a historic clash of Western and Arabic cultures. 22 maps and plans.

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Yet he who had not seen the desert or felt the sun heavily on his shoulders would hardly admire the fertility of the riparian scrub. Unnourishing reeds and grasses grow rank and coarse from the water's edge. The dark, rotten soil between the tussocks is cracked and granulated by the drying up of the annual flood. The character of the vegetation is inhospitable. Thorn-bushes, bristling like hedgehogs and thriving arrogantly, everywhere predominate and with their prickly tangles obstruct or forbid the path. Only the palms by the brink are kindly, and men journeying along the Nile must look often towards their bushy tops, where among the spreading foliage the red and yellow glint of date clusters proclaims the ripening of a generous crop, and protests that Nature is not always mischievous and cruel.

Customer Reviews:

1899 version of shock and awe.......2007-01-13

careful build up to climax of campaign at Omderman. Officer's perspective shows objective military analysis of force & probable outcomes for each engagement. Great narrative on cavalry movements in the field (almost like a sports report). Clear explanation of how the jehadi warrior code applied then as it does today. Refreshingly free of modern sentiment but full of respect for men fighting to the death on both sides; and of those who suffered terrible disease. The territorial value of securing sudan is argued weakly by Winston - suggesting the main motive behind the campaign was the political value of winning back hearts and minds after the disgraceful Khartoum incident. Good account of the French trying to interfere (Fashoda etc) and being told to 'pise oef' in a friendly British way. I am now going to read Gordon's 'Letters at Khartoum' - as recommended by Winston in these pages.

Where's that anti-Islam polemic?.......2006-04-18

My attention was drawn to the book when I received an e-mail with the text of a speech allegedly made by Churchill in 1899, and attributed to pp 248-250 of Volume II of the first edition. The nicest part says "Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it."
Copies of the first edition are offered for much more money than the matter is worth to me. The soft-cover edition I bought (Wildside Press, no date) does not contain the supposed speech or quotation. Can anyone shed light on that?
The book itself is a meticulously detailed account of the campaign against the Mahdi, of the events that led up to it, and of the political context of Egypt and the Susan in those years. More detail than you might have thought you needed. The Mahdi's troops were said to be very brave, well armed with Mauser rifles and Nordenfeldt field guns (Sir Basil Zaharoff's company!); the Egyptian soldiers led by British officers had Lee Metford rifles (good but inferior to Mausers)and much more ammo; the Sudanese soldiers led by British officers had Martini-Henry single shot breech-loading rifles (remember the movie "Zulu" with Michael Caine, about the battle at Rorke's Drift?), not very good but good enough.
British military organization, logistics, and professional discipline carried the day. If you need a capsule account of the campaign itself, the best comment came from Hillaire Belloc, a British gasbag: "The difference is that we have got...the Maxim Gun, and they have not."

A Young "Subaltern of the Empire" with a Destiny.......2006-03-22

Here we find a 20-something Churchill reporting on the British-Egyptian campaign against the Mahdists in the Sudan in the late 1890's. This is mostly told in the third person, although he was present for part of the action as a junior officer in the 21st Lancers (back when cavalry still rode horses).

The language is quite readable today, although there are many local and military terms and proper nouns that I had to look up. My edition of this work is paperback and has one ASCII art map at the front, but I would have liked more maps to illustrate the many dates and place names.

Despite some (now rather impolitic, at the very least) themes such as an intrinsic British and European military and cultural superiority, our narrator offers a surprisingly broad political perspective for someone so early in his career. We now know that this career would be long and storied.

I think this book is relevant today as background for the continuing conflicts of the Middle East and Central Asia, whether you see them as vestiges (and payback) for colonialism, or Islam vs. Infidel, or (fill in your own favorite reductionist slogan). The Story of the Malakand Field Force (Churchill's work on an action in what is now, I think, Pakistan and Afghanistan) is similarly relevant to this very contemporary topic, and should give pause to any power considering an occupation of a place like Afghanistan.

The River War.......2005-04-28

This is a very important book that was not put forward vigorously because of the low quality of the writing and the racism that ruled the mind of Winston Churchill and the minds of the elite of Great Britain and their policy makers. I have studied the Napoleonic war and the manipulation of the Allies by the British and all the countries who went forth a Vikings later turned to colony making.

Winston Churchill was not a nice person. He was responsible for the death of tens of thousands and believed in Lord George's proclamation, "I reserve the right to bomb niggers". This hate, fear, repulsion of Moors, and negars as stated by Queen Elizabeth is reflected to this day in the British shrunken Empire. The death of millions of folks all over the world to feed the greed of the Empire sets the Euro-centric folks into happy gaiety.

I know why Newt likes this book. It is the Think Tank mentality that places not the good of the American people first but the good of the white male and then the white female first against all others by using a level of fear down the list toward genocide or passive resistance.

The turmoil in the world, over population, hunger, famine, fatal diseases, are all worst because of this wasted chance of the west to embrace true Christianity. I do not mean that Constantine bible crap to allow him to have conscripts to protect the empire but the homo-sapian social ethics that allowed us to survive an Ice Age, and the world's natural dangers.

The glorification of organized violence should never be reinforced.

Great Military History applicable to our times.......2003-12-28

This is a great history of an obscure little war that holds many lessons for the military today. I recommend it as a great read for any soldier or anyone linterested in military history or science. Churchill is a great writer and you can almost feel the heat and smell the gunsmoke in these pages.

Carolina Scots, An Historical and Genealogical Study of Over 100 Years of Emigration

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Fantastic source of information for genealogical work!
Fantastic geneaologic help!
An excellent genealogical and Scottish historical work

Carolina Scots, An Historical and Genealogical Study of Over 100 Years of Emigration

Manufacturer: Seventeen Thirty Nine Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0966296303

Book Description

Out of his experience of growing up in a typical Scottish family of the upper Cape Fear Valley in Eastern North Carolina in the 1940s and '50s, and of several years of study in Scotland in the '60s and '70s, Douglas Kelly has woven together the story of two cultures: Scottish Highland and Eastern Carolina. He combines colorful strands of cultural, linguistic, educational, political and religious history, with a careful genealogy of the first four or five generations of some sixty-five different family groups, who emigrated from the Scottish Highlands and Islands to the Cape Fear Valley of North Carolina and the neighboring Pee Dee Valley of South Carolina, from 1739 to the early 1840s. North Carolina is believed to have been the largest Scottish settlement anywhere in the world outside Scotland, and its emigrants have formed the backbone of large sections of both Carolinas for some 250 years. It may become a classic study of one of the original headwaters of Southern culture: Carolina Gaeldom, which sent an overflowing stream of hundreds of thousands of settlers into the Deep South and Southwest throughout the 19th century, thus profoundly shaping this huge region, and playing its part in making America what it is today. It has been hailed as the only major study so far of the early emigrations prior to the Clearances.

The story is made more real through over 100 photographs, maps and engravings from the period, chronicling the history of housing among these Scots from castles and huts in 18th century Scotland to still extant log cabins, upcountry mansions, slave quarters and old Presbyterian Churches in both N. and S. Carolina. There is also a unique appendix to Chapter III of Part I on the historic and current status of the Gaelic language in Carolina. (At one time it was the second language of the Cape Fear region). Help is provided throughout the genealogies on how to find more information, including rare and unpublished sources. The complete index lists more than 7,000 different names, in addition to place names and subject matter.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic source of information for genealogical work!.......1999-11-18

Doug Kelly has provided a much needed addition to the geneological arena with this 500 page work. If your family is from Carolina and of Scottish derivation, it is probably in here. The general history section is worth twice the price alone. A must have for even the part-time family history buff.

Fantastic geneaologic help!.......1999-04-30

Helped me trace my wife's heritage back to Scotland. Since we live in the heart of Scots Carolina it all hits home. All Scottish genealogists will use this book. Very well written.

An excellent genealogical and Scottish historical work.......1999-01-27

When I first ordered this book, it was for purely personal reasons. I was tracing hard to find ancestors; however, once the book arrived, I found myself engrossed in compelling reading. In fact, CAROLINA SCOTS is addictive, and I could not put it down until I had finished it.

For the Highland genealogist, this is a must-read. For anyone interested in Scottish history or early-American history, this is a must-read. And, finally, for anyone who enjoys a story well-told and well-written, this is a must read.

I'm waiting on Part II.

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Back to the Front

The trilogy moves from brilliant to sublime

The final chapter of Regeneration Trilogy

Great war literature -- great book

I was disturbed and intensely involved with this book

The Ghost Road
Pat Barker
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Eye in the Door

Regeneration

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True History of the Kelly Gang

ASIN: 0452276721

Customer Reviews:

Back to the Front.......2006-03-31

I reviewed REGENERATION, the first volume in Pat Barker's WW1 trilogy, when I first read it and liked it. I did not submit a review of the second volume, THE EYE IN THE DOOR, because it did not seem to sustain the promise (or answer the questions) of the first, and I felt it necessary to see how this third volume would pull the threads together. My verdict: while THE GHOST ROAD is certainly a more focused book than its predecessor, it still does not quite sew the trilogy into a coherent whole.

Barker's method is to take a huge subject that has been much written about, the first World War, and to examine it from unusual angles. Almost all the first two books and the first two-thirds of this one take place in Britain rather than in France. They do not show the war itself, but its effects on the damaged minds of soldiers who return from it, and on social attitudes at home. The brilliance of the first volume was to take two real people -- the poet Siegfried Sassoon and the pioneering psychiatrist William Rivers -- and trace their interaction at Craiglockhart mental hospital, where Sassoon has been sent after publishing a denunciaton of the war. I doubt that Barker had a trilogy in mind when she wrote the first book, and it might have been difficult to have extended it further in the same vein. THE EYE IN THE DOOR suffers from having too many characters; there is a bit of Sassoon, a bit of Rivers, and a bewildering array of new people, but the main character is a relatively minor figure from the first book, Billy Prior. The main subject of the story is the strongly prejudiced reactionism in wartime Britain, taking as its targets pacifists, socialists, and homosexuals. It is a hard book to follow, and it rather loses its way.

THE GHOST ROAD more or less gets back on track, by giving more of the book to Rivers, by building Prior into a richer and more sympathetic character, and finally moving the action into the trenches for the last chapters. But the focus on war poets which gave such character to the first book has all but vanished in this one. Sassoon barely appears. Wilfred Owen, who figured as a secondary character in the first book, returns here and dies (as he did) in the last days of the way, but he is treated so peripherally that it is hard to see why the author cites no less than six books on him in her concluding bibliography.

This change of direction is a pity, because Barker is much more successful finding the humanity in her real characters than she is inventing others out of whole cloth. She seems to want to use Billy Prior, for example, in protean fashion, to represent whatever she needs at any given moment: a homosexual and yet a lover of women; an officer and gentleman who nonetheless comes from a working-class background; a soldier turned civil servant turned solider again. The lack of focus in Prior's own life risks the narrative focus of the last two books; his decision to return to France comes as a relief, because it simplifies everything.

The psychiartist Rivers has always been an attractive and complex character, I think because his complexity is real and not made up. In this volume, Barker fills him out by delving into his past: his relationship with Lewis Carrol as a child, and his anthropological work in the South Seas at the start of the century. Both are interesting, but their relationship to the overall direction of the trilogy is less clear. Others have commented on the parallels between the Melanesian culture and the situation in the trenches, but I do not find it especially cogent. However, it certainly makes an unusual angle on the war, and the ability to find unusual angles has been Pat Barker's greatest success from beginning to end.

The trilogy moves from brilliant to sublime.......2005-04-22

The books in this trilogy get better as you go. Eye in the Door certainly explores the dissolving bonds of society in war time but Ghost Road seems to move the theme even further into the primitive societal meaning of war.

In Regeneration, Siefried Sassoon must find personal meaning in this horroble meaningless mess called World War I. In Eye in the Door we seen how sexual bonds are losened while society seeks to blame negative events in wartime on homosexuals. Finally in Ghost Road we see war as the sacrifice of the young male to the gods. The upperclass elderly males who direct wars sacrifice the young sons of the working class on an altar of horror. Dr. Rivers makes this connect as he treats the young Billy Pryor for shell shock while remembering the ritual sacrifice of the Melanesian head hunters.

The trilogy is absolutely great and should be read in order to follow the character developement as well as the exploration of war that Barker develops differently with each book.

The final chapter of Regeneration Trilogy.......2003-11-25

THE GHOST ROAD is the final volume of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, and the winner of the 1995 Booker Prize. Throughout the trilogy Barker performs a phenomenal job of detailing the psychological consequences of trench warfare during the Great War. Set in London and France, THE GHOST ROAD focuses on the principle characters of Billy Prior and the renowned Dr. Rivers and their personal relationships with each other and the First World War. The reader is provided a glimpse into the terrible conditions of trench fighting, and how the medical establishment viewed shell-shock as a medical diagnosis and how it was treated. Through the poetry of Owen, Sassoon, etc, the world can begin to understand the personal horrors they have witnessed of a war that many did not understand. Based loosely on historical events and characters, Barker has created a perspective of modern warfare that does not contain the quintessential happy ending.

I believe each volume of the Regeneration Trilogy should be read in chronological order (REGENERATION, THE EYE IN THE DOOR, AND THE GHOST ROAD) to fully appreciate the merits of each volume. Although the plot is re-summarized at the beginning of each book, the main characters are continually being developed throughout. I just finished reading GHOST ROAD, and I have to admit that it's not my favorite of the three. I don't understand how this volume was awarded the Booker Prize when I believe REGENERATION is the strongest of the bunch. I also enjoyed THE EYE IN THE DOOR because of the exploration of societal issues during The First War, especially scape-goating of homosexuals and pacifists.

Overall, this trilogy is a wonderful glimpse into the atmosphere of Britain during the First World War.

Great war literature -- great book.......2003-10-24

Everyone living in the 21st century who cares about the future of humanity -- not to mention fine literature -- should read this extremely skillfully written, emotionally powerful novel of The Great War. Pat Barker has perfect control over her material, and manages to write with power but never goes over the top or gets melodramatic -- a tough thing to do when you're writing about any war. Starting gently, subtly, even humorously, the book builds quietly until it reaches its final, wrenching chapters. It's a touching, compelling, beautifully told tale that deserves a worldwide audience. I can't wait to read more by Pat Barker!

I was disturbed and intensely involved with this book.......2003-01-10

Not your ordinary war read. I love authors that take a topic of huge proportions, say World War I, and write a book that actually stands taller in the imagination of the reader as great a couple weeks later.

Average customer rating:

A war time society bends and buckles
Jekyll and Hyde shell-shocked
A lovely book
"People don't want reasons, they want scapegoats"
The Regeneration Trilogy

The Eye in the Door
Pat Barker
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0452272726

Amazon.com

The Eye in the Door is the second installation of Pat Barker's acclaimed and haunting historical fiction trilogy about British soldiers traumatized by World War I trench warfare and the methods used by psychiatrist William Rivers to treat them. As with the other two, the book was recognized with awards, winning the 1993 Guardian Fiction Prize. Here, Lieutenant Billy Prior is tormented by figuring out which side of several coins does he live -- coward or hero, crazy or sane, homosexual or heterosexual, upper class or lower. He represents the upheaval in Britain during the war and the severe trauma felt by its soldiers. The writing is sparse yet multilayered; Barker uses the lives of a few to capture an entire society during a tumultuous period.

Customer Reviews:

A war time society bends and buckles.......2005-04-21

After reading "Regeneration", the second novel of the trilogy "Eye in the Door" expands in terms of characterization and plot complexity. Whereas Regeneration is superb in its exploration of the consciousness of Siegfreid Sassoon and his psychiatrist, Dr. River; Eye in the Door expands the character of Billy Prior to become one of the most psychologically well developed and complex characters in English fiction.

Billy Prior , a bisexual, has both male and female lovers in this novel. These relationships are embedded in the homophobic atmosphere of war torn London. Prior, suffering from "shell shock" struggles with his identify of war hero and pacifism. He struggles with childhood trauma in a society where repressesions are let lose in a war charged atmospher.

The book is beautifully written. Whereas Regeneration explores Sassoon's struggles to brng meaning into a meaningless situation, Eye in the Door explores more of the societal struggles with the war and individual reactions to the pressures of a war time society.

I loved this book and would give it 10 stars if I could.

Jekyll and Hyde shell-shocked.......2004-01-24

THE EYE IN THE DOOR (spoilers)

Ms Barker's epigraph, a quote from Stevenson, sets the tone: "It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man. I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both."

I am hampered in critiquing the trilogy, since I've read only the first two works, REGENERATION and THE EYE IN THE DOOR. The first of these concentrates on the relation between the enlightened, humane Dr Rivers and the war hero/war protester Siegfried Sassoon, who has been labeled a war neurotic ("shell-shocked") in order to avoid confronting his rational case against the war. Both Rivers and Sassoon are historical characters who the author effectively fictionalizes (their dialogues, etc).

The second novel focuses on the relation between Rivers and Billy Prior, a relatively minor character in the first. The book is set on a wider stage than REGENERATION, which was confined to the (real) mental hospital of Craiglockhart in Scotland. Here we are in London, during the crisis produced by the initial success of the Germans' spring offensive in 1918. As happens during defeats, the search is on for scapegoats seen as undermining the war effort, groups like pacifists and ... who are seen as destroying the nation's "moral fiber." Ludicrously, the leading anti-... crusader, lays the blame on the Germans, who are said to have sent homosexual agents over before the war to corrupt English youth.

Billy Prior, on medical leave from the front, works for a counter-intelligence agency, but his loyalties are divided, since his earliest friends are pacifists and "conchies" (conscientious objectors). The result of these divided loyalties is a split consciousness, where the fugue state ("Hyde") takes over at times, doing things that the "daytime" Billy is not aware of, but whose consequences nevertheless he must face. It is this split consciousness that Rivers must deal with-and on one occasion, he deals directly with "Hyde," who speaks of Billy in the third person.

At the crisis of the novel, Billy's alter ego betrays his closest friend, something that the daytime Billy at first denies doing, but which he finally comes to suspect he has actually done. Rivers treats the psychological phenomenon by making Billy see that it is basically Oedipal, that he actually wished to kill his father, who had, in Billy's sight and hearing, beat and abused his mother. One manifestation of this hatred is "Hyde's": punching the agent provocateur Spragge, who looks like Billy's father. To complicate the issue, his father is a socialist/pacifist, a fact which may contribute to Billy's ambivalent attitude to his pacifist friends, one of whom he helps, as he betrays the other.

Sassoon make another appearance here, having gone back to France (partly at Rivers' suggestion), and once again been wounded (by friendly fire). But Sassoon's appearance doesn't seem to contribute to the plot of this novel, tho it may have a role to play in the trilogy as a whole. (Maybe his divided consciousness is relevant, since he was very effective at killing Germans, but at home becomes a "dove") Another seemingly extraneous thread is Manning, one of Billy's sex partners.

But basically a rich novel, recalling a key point in Western history. In many ways, WWI was more traumatic than WWII, since it occurred after almost a century or relative peace in Europe. And, as Barker makes clear, WWI was harder on soldiers than was WWII.

Trivia: Why were French troops show on the covers of the paper editions of the first two novels? They play no role in the novels themselves (tho they played the major role on the Western Front).

A lovely book.......2003-11-29

People existing against a war background-normal people doing normal things whilst shouldering the burden of their experiences, their fears and societies norms and expectations.

A lovely book that always has the lightest of touches in the darkest of moments. Nothing is simple and nothing is complicated, but everything is ambiguous and dwarfed by "the front" and what is expected.

The writing is always simple, but the ideas, concepts and dilemmas dealt with are complex and impossible to resolve. Class and duty are themes; the most interesting theme in my opinion is that of being a pacifist, a father figure to your men and a violent war hero simultaneously. (By the nature of things, war heroes are violent.)

My one regret is that I have only just realised that this book is part of a trilogy and that I have read it out of sequence... although on the positive side it means I have two more books to explore. I would strongly recommend this book; I have just gone and bought one of Sassoon's books as a direct result of it awakening school hood poems by him and Wilfred Owens.

"People don't want reasons, they want scapegoats".......2003-11-19

THE EYE IN THE DOOR is the second installment in Pat Barker's marvelous Regeneration trilogy. In this volume the principle characters of Dr. Rivers and Prior have left Criaglockhart War Hospital and are now living in London. Although Dr. Rivers has taken a new position treating shell-shock soldiers who have returned from the front in France, he continues to keep in touch and treat his former patients from Criaglockhart, especially Prior. Amidst the bombing and blackouts of wartime London, Prior continues to suffer from war neurosis as he embarks on solving a mystery that involves his childhood friends and acquaintances. He is confronted by England's societal fixation with fear and scapegoating of those who are believed to deter from the war effort (mainly war deserters and homosexuals). Individuals are often forced to hide their true attributes from society during this time of societal finger pointing and blaming. As in the previous volume of this trilogy, the characters of Prior and Dr. Rivers are well developed and nuanced. I continually enjoy reading about their trials and tribulations, and look forward to reading the third and final volume in this trilogy.

The Regeneration Trilogy.......2002-12-06

Pat Barker's magnificent trilogy is not only a profound contribution to our literature on the First World War - it is also one of the most distinguished works of contemporary fiction in any genre. Barker doesn't skirt around the central issues with a po-faced patriotic reverence, but rather tackles them head on: the agonizing contradictions of patriotism and protest; the politics of social and self-surveillance; the homoerotic undertones of trench camaraderie, especially among the war poets; the horrendous physical and psychological costs of war; and the sense of personal duty which drives us, nonetheless, to fight. These are big themes, but Barker's talent is to handle them in a way which makes her novels feel like an easy read. They are accessible, engaging, seemingly simplistic in their style - but in the end profoundly moving in a way which only the highest literature aspires to be. The trick is that she makes her characters so real for us - Prior and Rivers, the consistent protagonists, are completely human. She makes us experience a world-historical incident on a very human scale. Harrowing, intelligent, moving and funny, Barker has crafted a fictional epic that will stay with you forever. Walking through Sydney's Central railway station months after finishing these books, I came across the honour boards listing the hundreds of railway men and women who died in the Great War. Barker's books made the war real for me, made these lives - these deaths - real. If they do nothing more than that for you, they've succeeded.

Let's Take the Kids!: Great Places to Go in New York's Hudson Valley, 3rd Edition (Let's Take the Kids!: Great Places to Go in New York's Hudson Valley)

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Let's Take the Kids!: Great Places to Go in New York's Hudson Valley, 3rd Edition (Let's Take the Kids!: Great Places to Go in New York's Hudson Valley)
Joanne Michaels
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312336640
Release Date: 2005-04-21

Book Description

The Definitive Family Travel Resource for the Hudson Valley AreaLet's Take the Kids! features hundreds of family activities for an afternoon, weekend, or a whole week in the Hudson Valley region. From picnic spots to riverboat cruises, every listing in this guide is written with a kid's interests and attention span in mind.This fully updated and expanded edition includes: Water Activities: boat cruises, fishing, canoe trips, and swimming holes Educational Stops: kid-friendly museums, historical sites, and nature centers Winter Sports: skiing, sledding, and ice-skating Seasonal Events: festivals, "pick-your-own" farms, horse racing, air shows, and theater programs Kids' Favorites: biking and hiking trails, amusement parks, zoos, and picnic locations

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