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.

Average customer rating:

A MUST!
A Facinating Read
A very useful companion.
Good companion

The Arabian Nights: A Companion
Robert Irwin
Manufacturer: Tauris Parke Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1860649831

Book Description

The Arabian Nights: A Companion guides the reader into this celebrated labyrinth of storytelling. It traces the development of the stories from prehistoric India and Pharaonic Egypt to modern times. It also explores the history of the translation, and explains the ways its contents have been added to, plagiarized and imitated. Above all, the book uses the stories as a guide to the social history and the counterculture of the medieval Near East and the world of the story-teller, the snake charmer, the burglar, the sorcerer, the drug addict, the treasure hunter and the adulterer.

Customer Reviews:

A MUST!.......2007-07-11

The best companion to one of the most fascinating collection of tales in history. Irwin's work is also a great socio-political study of both the times that The Arabian Nights was written in and the times that it was finally translated into the west. If you have the The Arabian Nights and this book then I highly recommend Irwin's other book, Night & Horses & the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature, and Edward Said's Orientalism.

A Facinating Read.......2006-04-10

This is one of the more interesting companion books I have read. It goes into great detail of the history and the formation of the 1001 Nights collection, and provides an interesting window into Arabic culture. However, one thing I found to be really interesting is that the 1001 tales of Arabic culture were primarily oral tales. The professional storytellers who would tell these books would have manuscript versions which they would use as notes, so there were no official versions--each telling would be elaborated and expanded on depending on the audience. The version that we are familiar with in the west was formalized in France in the 17th century, and may have more relevance to the European expectations of Arabic culture than to Arabic culture itself. In fact, several tales which appear in the European version do not appear in any Arabic manuscripts and may have been written by Europeans to fill the demand for fantastic tales. Overall, this book is quite interesting and I really recommend this to those who would like to see how a lose collection of oral tales becomes a work of literature.

A very useful companion........2005-09-24

The history of the Arabian Nights (1001 Nights) is often appended to the various translations available. They tend to be brief and often reflect the focus of the editor and/or translator. The Arabian Nights: A Companion by Robert Irwin is very substantial. The author often makes conclusions but always includes the thoughts of those with whom he disagrees. This is a must for anyone who really enjoys this collection of stories and will be rewarded by its fascinating history and the history of its translation...almost as enjoyable as the stories themselves.

Good companion.......2000-05-03

As someone who loved the "Arabian Nights" since childhood, I eagerly read this book as well. For the most part, I wasn't disapointed. It does a wonderful job of setting the scene, discussing its origins, its distortions, and showing how the stories relate to medieval Arabian life. I was particularly impressed with the section discussing the connections between various story collections in both Asia and Europe. In short, this book helps the reader better understand this complex (and often confusing)work. The chapters are all clearly laid out and well argued, and the book as a whole is easy to read. He has complex ideas, but is able to communicate them fluidly.

One idea I would challenge, however. I believe the scholars who argue that the more "complete" manuscripts probably arose from increased European interest in it. It makes sense that writers would add filler to reach 1001 nights in response to consumer demand.

Amazon.com

Most of the accounts of the Iraq War so far have been, to use the term the war made famous, embedded in one way or another: many officially so with American troops, most others limited--by mobility, interest, or understanding--to the American experience of the conflict. In Night Draws Near, Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid writes about a side of the war that Americans have heard little about. His beat, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004, is the territory outside the barricaded, air-conditioned Green Zone: the Iraqi streets and, more often, the apartments and houses, darkened by blackouts and shaken by explosions, where most Iraqis wait out Saddam, the invasion, and three nearly unbroken decades of war.

Shadid is Lebanese American, born in Oklahoma, and he has a fluency in Arabic and an understanding of Arab culture that give him a rare access to and a great empathy for the people whose stories he tells. Beginning in the days leading up to the American invasion and closing with an epilogue on the January 2005 elections, he talks with Iraqis from a wide range of stations, from educated Baghdad professionals who look back on the country's golden days in the 1970s to a sullen, terrified group of Iraqi policemen in the Sunni Triangle, shunned as collaborators for taking jobs with the Americans to feed their families. (Perhaps his most telling and characteristic moment is when he trails behind an American patrol, recording the often hostile Iraqi comments that the soldiers themselves can't understand.) He takes the ground view and gives his witnesses the particularity they deserve, but the various voices share an exhaustion with a country that has seen nothing but war for 30 years and a frustration with a liberator that has not fulfilled its promises of prosperity and order. It's a despairing but eye-opening account, told with an understanding of the Iraqi people--hospitable, proud, and often desperate--that, were it more common, might have led to a different outcome than the one he describes. --Tom Nissley

Questions for Anthony Shadid

Anthony Shadid won a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the lives of ordinary Iraqis during wartime. His new book, Night Draws Near, tells the story of the runup to the war, the invasion, and its uncertain aftermath through the Iraqi eyes. He took a few moments from a busy week reporting on the Sharm el-Sheik bombings to answer some questions about his book.

Amazon.com: Where are you now? What sort of mobility do you have when you are in Baghdad? Have you been able to get back in contact with the people you follow in the book?

Anthony Shadid: I'm in Cairo right now and heading for Beirut, where The Washington Post has its Middle East bureau. From there, I'll head back to Baghdad. Getting around that city has become the most difficult aspect of reporting there. In 2003, after the U.S. invasion, reporters had almost unlimited access. We traveled to the Syrian border, Falluja, Samarra, Mosul, all places that are extremely difficult, maybe impossible, to visit now. I do still visit the people that I wrote about in Night Draws Near. At this point, many of them have become friends. I'm reluctant to visit too often, for fear of bringing unwanted attention. But I manage to keep up with their lives and how they're doing, particularly Karima's family.

Amazon.com: You are a Lebanese American, born in Oklahoma, fluent in Arabic, and well-versed in Arab culture. What has that background allowed you to see and understand? To what extent do Iraqis whom you meet see you as American or as Arab?

Shadid: In Iraq, I think I was seen as a little of both. I was always a foreigner, but maybe a foreigner who shared a sense of history, a common background. When references to history were made, to culture and traditions, it was expected that I would understand what was being said. Sometimes it was subtle, but I think my background probably helped foster a degree of trust that's so important to reporting.

Amazon.com: What have Americans, both in Iraq and back home in the U.S., most misunderstood about Iraqis and the situation in their country?

Shadid: My sense is that the biggest misunderstanding was perhaps a lack of appreciation for what preceded the invasion. I think some in the United States saw Iraq as a tabula rasa, a blank slate on which a new country would be built, a democracy that would serve as an example to a region mired in stagnation and authoritarianism. But a lot of what we saw after Saddam's fall was the consequence of what Iraq had already gone though. Not only Saddam, either. There was the war with Iran, one of the longest of the 20th century. There was a decade of sanctions, whose impact I think has always been underappreciated. There was a militarization of the society that made the culture of the gun and the logic of violence dominant in many regions of Iraq. The country that the United States inherited was brutalized, and the aftermath of that decades-long experience will probably define it far more than Saddam's fall, the insurgency, and the hardship that has followed. I guess I'm struck over the past years at how much Iraqis simply yearn for an ordinary life. Little has been ordinary in that country for the past 30 years. I always had the sense in conversations, especially in Baghdad, that people felt they were spectators to a play. They watched as actors read their lines, as the drama unfolded. There's still a sense of being in the audience today.

Amazon.com: What do Iraqis most misunderstand about Americans?

Shadid: I think it's less misunderstanding and more perspective. The sense of distrust of the United States is often powerful, and it colors much of what the Americans do in Iraq. As in much of the Arab world, the United States has inherited a reputation from past decades. Support for Israel, for authoritarian Arab regimes, for Saddam himself during the war with Iran in the 1980s has made many in Iraq and elsewhere suspicious of U.S. intentions. The refrain you hear so often is that the Americans are in Iraq for their own interests, and those interests include domination of the region, Iraq's oil, furthering Israel's interests, and so on. At another level, there's the very question of the U.S. presence. To some, the United States was a liberator. To others, it was an occupier. But to nearly all, it was the strongest actor in the country. That strength automatically creates a relationship of more powerful to less powerful. With a history of colonialism and repression, there was an acute sensitivity to that. American slights were seen as disrespectful, misunderstandings were seen as arrogance, and often, they both were read as the indignity of living under a power that is both alien and foreign.

Amazon.com: Your book closes with an epilogue on the January 2005 elections. What did that moment represent from the Iraqi point of view? Have the hopes of that time persisted at all through the violence that has followed?

Shadid: What struck me most during the election was the sense people in Baghdad had of staking a claim to their own destiny. On that day, Iraqis--not their overlords, not foreigners--were the agents of change; they themselves were deciding their fate. Watching those streets that day, I realized that it was the first time since I had been in Iraq, through dictatorship, war, and occupation, that Iraqis themselves were claiming the right to make their voices heard. It spoke to the trait that I think perhaps best defines Iraq: a stubborn, sometimes breathtaking resilience that drives life forward. To be honest, I think the moment was somewhat short-lived. Since the fall of Saddam, Iraq has been locked in a cycle of moments of optimism, followed by long, depressing months of brutality and dejection. There have been turning points, and Iraqis have often greeted them with hope and optimism. Disillusionment has typically followed. Resilience persists, but not always hope, and it goes back to the idea I mentioned earlier: a sense of watching a play unfold, in which most Iraqis find themselves spectators to forces beyond their control.

Book Description

In 2003, The Washington Posts Anthony Shadid went to war in Iraq, but not as an embedded journalist. Born and raised in Oklahoma, of Lebanese descent, Shadid, a fluent Arabic speaker, has spent the last three years dividing his time between Washington, D.C., and Baghdad. The only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his extraordinary coverage of Iraq, Shadid is also the only writer to describe the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the unexpected impact of Americas invasion and occupation. Through the moving stories of individual Iraqis, Shadid shows how Saddams downfall paved the way not just for hopes of democracy but also for the importation of jihad and the rise of a bloody insurgency. A superb reportersbook, wrote Seymour Hersh; Night Draws Near is, according to Mark Danner, essential.

Customer Reviews:

Most important book of the year!.......2007-09-14

If you only choose one book to keep yourself enlightened on what is really going on in Iraq right now, this should be it. From a perspective that makes you feel as though you have been in the author's shoes observing Baghdad for yourself during these last few years. Including all of the background information that we lack as Americans on social and religious issues in the Middle East. I am only half way through this book, but have already lost count of how many times I've had tears in my eyes because of how powerful the images are depicted through Shadid's vivid language. Order it now and read it later if you have to, but do not miss out on this incredible book!

I've been spoiled by better books.......2007-03-26

The first half of the book is boring and the second half is too detached.
And by detached I mean I couldn't quite tell what he thought of all the madness he saw. As for his account of the American presence, its a little too rosey. I suspect one doesn't win a Pulitzer by upsetting the powers that be too much. I do believe Mr. Shalid has feelings for the Iraqi people he interviewed but it hardly came across in the book. There are much better books out there about Iraq that moved me: Patrick Cockburn's "The occupation", Aaron Glantz's "How We Lost Iraq" and by far the best is Paul William Robert's "A War Against Truth". These books deserve the attention that this book has gotten.

Our disaster in Iraq.......2007-03-09

Outstanding reportage "on the ground". Shadid gives a first hand account of how the war affects ordinary people in Iraq. Makes me sad and pissed off of what we do with our foreign policy.

everyday iraqis tell us the real story.......2007-01-18

Among the proliferation of books about America's pre-emptive war in Iraq, Anthony Shadid's distinguishes itself for its singular focus. His narrative contains virtually no mention of neo-conservative ideologues or influence, liberal cant, analyses by think tank experts, disputed claims about the war's rationale, or even the main architects of the war like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz or Feith. Instead, he reports first hand from the Arab street about who and what really matters, letting every day Iraqi citizens tell their own stories.

In these pages we meet the caretaker of a mosque who washes the body of a fourteen-year-old boy, a bookstore owner, suicide bombers, a fourteen-year-old girl who keeps a diary during the war, extremist clerics, a father who is forced to murder his son because he had served as an American informant, a mother who vomits upon identifying the mutilated corpse of her son at the morgue, parents who stuff cotton into the ears of their children at night because the bombs are so loud, and a pregnant woman who is denied admission to hospitals because they are all full. He depicts the humiliations of soldiers searching your house in the middle of the night, the terror of bomb blasts that rip open refrigerator doors, waiting in line at the Red Cross for five hours to make a three-minute phone call, and the deep resentments but also remarkable resilience of people who suffer a war they did not want and that was not necessary. For Shadid, the intensely personal thus reveals the deeply political.

Shadid, an Arab-American who grew up in Oklahoma, is a reporter for the Washington Post, fluent in Arabic, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for International Reporting. His book spans the period from October 2002 (five months before the invasion) when Saddam Hussein granted a general amnesty that released tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqi prisoners, to January 2005 and Iraq's first free elections in four decades. He was one of only 300 or so reporters who were not embedded in the U.S. military. He organizes his book into five sections--before the war, the invasion, the aftermath, the occupation, and the insurgency.

Wrong beginnings lead to wrong ends, says an Arab proverb. Shadid laments the tragic consequences of America's simplistic (mis)understandings of a complex people, their history, and their culture. Even today much of our public discourse barely moves beyond contrasting "free democracy" and "totalitarian dictatorship." The war, as Shadid reports from the trenches, unleashed a maelstrom of unintended consequences, most of which politicians, experts and every day people did not predict and even today barely understand. Most Iraqis, he says, simply cannot conceive how the most powerful nation on earth bungled so badly. So great is their incomprehension that they resort to conspiracy theories--perhaps the Americans did not want to stop the looting or restore electricity. In two different places Shadid renders the sum and substance of his conclusions about the war: "the terrible reminder of the inevitable disparity between wars's grand aims and the reality of their execution."

Informed and Perceptive view of Iraq War.......2007-01-15

This is easily the best book I can recommend to anyone on the Iraq war. Anthony Shadid, a third generation Arab American, who speaks fluent Arabic was on the ground before the Iraq war and lived through its phases all the way to the full blown insurgency.

Shadid demonstrates an excellent understanding of the people and the culture, this understanding makes his analysis very valuable indeed. A very important point that Shadid makes is the desire of the people for justice over democracy.

Shadid's understanding of Iraqi society makes his analysis on the insurgency, its roots and its nature very convincing. The analysis of the power structure with the Shiite religious leadership and the diverging loyalties as well as the Iranian versus Arab orientation of the leadership is very well explained. It is remarkable how ill informed much of the media in the US referring to the Mahdi Army, the Sader militia, as Iranian influenced when Shadid explains clearly their roots being as populist & nationalist counter movement to the Iranian dominated Shiite religion leadership.

Through countless daily interactions with Iraqis from all classes, all sects and all political views Shedid offers tremendous insight on the factors that shaped the views of the Iraqis and how these changed over time as the country sunk deeper into a depressing war. Shedid equally well covered the American troops, their perception of their role and of the Iraqis around them.

Can't say enough about this book except I wish it becomes mandatory reading for political and military readers. Shadid's Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the war is very well deserved!

40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, OxyContin®, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania

Average customer rating:

A Personality Focused Look At Kitzmiller v Dover
A Declaration of War
Fascinating Trial, Mediocre Account
21St CENTURY SCOPES TRIAL: DARWIN: 40 INTELLIGENT DESIGN: 0 (ID STRIKES OUT)
Don't Judge This Book By Its Cover

40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, OxyContin®, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania
Matthew Chapman
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0061179450
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Book Description

In this fascinating story of evolution, religion, politics, and personalities, Matthew Chapman captures the story behind the headlines in the debate over God and science in America

In Kitzmiller v. Dover Board of Education, decided in late 2005, a Republican judge rendered a surprising verdict in a case that pitted the teaching of intelligent design (sometimes known as "creationism in a lab coat") against the teaching of evolution. Taking place in a small Pennsylvania school district, the case had national repercussions, all the way up to President Bush, who said he believed intelligent design should be taught as "an alternative theory" to evolution.

Matthew Chapman, the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, spent several months covering the trial from beginning to end. Through his in-depth encounters with the participants—creationists, preachers, teachers, scientists on both sides of the issue, lawyers, theologians, the judge, and the eleven parents who resisted the fundamentalist proponents of intelligent design—Chapman tells a sometimes terrifying, often hilarious, and above all moving story of ordinary people doing battle in America over the place of religion and science in modern life.

Written with a filmaker's eye for character and detail, and including insights only a descendent of Darwin could bring forth, Chapman paints an entertaining, yet disturbing picture of America today.

Customer Reviews:

A Personality Focused Look At Kitzmiller v Dover.......2007-10-13

Matthew Chapman has penned an entertaining, personality driven account of the Dover, PA Intelligent Design trial. I would recommend this book to those interested in the trial with the caveat that it short changes some of the more important portions of the testimony given by the experts and key participants. It tends to dwell on a few key players, as well as, the mood and tone of the event. Chapman, a great great great grandson of Charles Darwin, brings his filmmakers eye for characterization and has a fast-pace, cinematic editing sensibility that is up to the task of writing a book that moves along like a tight shooting script. It is a quick, easy read that, like many film treatments, leaves out several essential points. Reading the transcript of the actual trial would be advised after completing 40 Days and 40 Nights. The book Monkey Girl also offers a journalistic interpretation that might appeal to those who prefer a more linear chronology of this event. I also strongly disagree with Chapman's premise that ID is so inane that it should be taught in public schools, just so that students can compare for themselves how actual science works. I'm sure the PR spinners at the Discovery Institute would like nothing better than to introduce any attempt to "teach the controversy". However, Biology is a difficult enough subject for middle and high school students without the addition of supernatural elements to ponder.

A Declaration of War.......2007-08-28

I like to think of Forty Days and Forty Nights as the first salvo of a battle to take our country back from the evangelicals who have intimidated our elected officials into ritualistic declarations of faith and foolish legislation. Matthew Chapman tells how ordinary people in a small Pennsylvania town stood up courageously to the faithbound who tried to insert their brand of religious creationism into public education. These ordinary citizens risked their reputations and in some cases their livelihoods to preserve the constitutional wall between Church and State. By following the citizens' litigation opposing the local school board's purchase for use in classroom biology of a textbook espousing "intelligent design" as an alternative to the teaching of evolution, Chapman uses the recorded testimony of the combatants to expose the "inanity" (the judge's final word) of the school board's case. The lesson is clear: only such fearless opposition can break the hold which the evangelicals have gained in our country over public policy.

Fascinating Trial, Mediocre Account.......2007-08-06

Chapman's account of the issues and personalities that shaped the famed Kitzmiller v. Dover case in Pennsylvania is a truly entertaining read. There's so much great material that one can't help but be fascinated by the trial transcripts, interviews, and examples of Intelligent Design (ID) "literature" that Chapman includes here.

In particular, Chapman does a fine job of illustrating the contrasting personalities that made up the school board which introduced ID to Dover-area public schools. Without editorializing too much, Chapman shows how the board did the public a disservice by letting their religious views blind their commitment to the education of an increasingly lethargic student body. It's sad to hear how Dover-area kids were let down by a cohort of fundamentalists who, as the trial proceedings demonstrate, actually had very little to no knowledge of what constitutes evolution and what constitutes ID (much less what the scientific method is all about). So as the board was busy legislating religion in Dover, students were tuning out amidst a crumbling school infrastructure and an uninspiring curriculum. That's the most unfortunate aspect of this tale.

For me, the problem with this book is simple: there's so much great material to work with here, but Chapman is a mediocre storyteller at best. There are long sections of the book where he quotes from transcripts or interviews without any narrative insight. He describes at least six or seven of the trial participants as "good-looking." His tone alternates between flippant and cavalier -- rarely sensitive to detail and nuance. His account of the trial's finale is reduced to saying, "You've heard this before, so I'll only quote this part of X's closing statement..." And the conclusion to his narrative, "Revelation," puts forth a bizarre rant that attempts to link the rise of religious fundamentalism in America with the demise of the so-called Protestant work ethic.

I wish Chapman had engaged the trial -- the issues and the personalities -- with more tact and intelligence. This is a fun read, but it's too much "wink wink, nudge nudge" and not enough well-rounded description and analysis. For a far better account of this trial, see Margaret Talbot's article in The New Yorker, which appeared just after the trial's completion.

21St CENTURY SCOPES TRIAL: DARWIN: 40 INTELLIGENT DESIGN: 0 (ID STRIKES OUT) .......2007-07-31

Not since early Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe have I had as much fun reading a witty, provocative piece of journalistic writing as I've had in screenwriter Matthew Chapman's "40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, GOD, OxyContin AND OTHER Oddities ON TRIAL IN Pennsylvania". It's an enthralling, often humorous tome, that owes more to the mordant humor of Frank McCourt, in his bestselling memoirs "Angela's Ashes" and "Teacher Man", than it does to the rather dry, but never dull, prose of Chapman's great-great-grandfather, Charles Darwin, in his scientific classic, "Origin of Species". In the fall of 2005, Chapman attended the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District Trial, as an accredited journalist and filmmaker, intent on making a documentary film on the trial, the town and its people. However, this would soon become a personal trek of self-reflection and discovery, in which he would make a most remarkable conclusion on the teaching of creationism in science classrooms. A trek which took him back to Dover, PA often, holding substantive conversations with the key players on both sides of the issue. And while Chapman truly strives for a cinematic narrative, fading in and out between brief discussions of the 20th Century Scopes Trial, the Discovery Institute, and his illustrious ancestor's revolutionary scientific research, the book's emphasis remains focused upon himself and his conversations with the people of Dover. So those in search of an extensive, truly profound, overview of the trial's origins and history might be best served elsewhere, most notably by reading Edward Humes' definitive, well-written account of the trial in his book "Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul", but they would miss much of the personal drama that Chapman has vividly recorded, using his prose as though it was his video camera lens, exquisitely recording all of the detail present.

Chapman's narrative is more linear in focus than Humes' comprehensive account, and adheres more closely to a chronological perspective. One that starts with the Dover Area School District board's decision in the fall of 2004 to teach Intelligent Design alongside evolution, unexpectedly starting a civil war within the town itself, led by the ardent Fundamentalist Christians on the board, against those in the Dover community who were appalled by the board's decision. Among the most sympathetic figures is unexpectedly the board's firebrand, Bill Buckingham, who ruefully admits to Chapman that he's addicted to the painkiller OxyContin, and blames it, not himself, for some of his most outlandish comments, at the board's meetings, that were reported accurately by the local press. Chapman's truly moving, poignant portrayal of him strongly hints that he is, indeed, a lost soul afflicted by drug addiction. It is through moving portraits like those of Buckingham, and his arch-nemesis, former board member Barrie Callahan, that we get a strong sense of the political and religious strife which embroiled the people of Dover for more than a year, beginning in the summer of 2004, when the board left the Dover High School science teachers twisting in the wind, simply because Buckingham had objected to the teaching of "Darwinism" - and that mentioned only briefly - in the newest edition of a popular high school textbook co-authored by Brown University cell biologist Kenneth R. Miller, who, himself, is the subject of a sympathetic portrayal by Chapman in which he explains the rationale for science's faithful adherence against "dealing with issues of meaning or purpose" during his court testimony.

However, it isn't Kenneth R. Miller who emerges as the hero of Chapman's vividly told tale. Instead, the honors rest upon the attorneys for the plaintiffs, most notably, lead attorney Eric Rothschild, and, quite unexpectedly, philosopher of science Barbara Forrest. Rothschild is depicted as a most congenial, yet still quite, astute, legal warrior in the courtroom, who is able to pry gently from leading Intelligent Design advocate - and star defense witness - Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe a surprising admission that astrology could be viewed as scientific, based on Behe's own broad definition of what science is, one that includes the potential study of supernatural phenomena; a definition which runs counter to the one subscribed to by the National Academy of Sciences and mainstream science: a rational enterprise that is completely divorced from the supernatural realm (During this memorable "duel" of a cross-examination between Rothschild and Behe, Chapman observes Behe "smiling defiantly" as Rothschild reads the infamous disclaimer posted on the website of Lehigh University biological sciences department acknowledging evolution's scientific validity, but noting too Behe's academic freedom to pursue "research" on Intelligent Design. He draws the conclusion that Behe feels intense pain from this rejection by his own departmental colleagues.). Chapman demonstrates why philosopher Barbara Forrest may have been the plaintiffs' most effective witness. Led on by attorney Rothschild, she begins her testimony with an elegant overview of the history of the creationism, especially during the last two decades of the 20th Century, emphasizing the origins and early history of the "Intelligent Design" movement. And then she reveals the pivotal "smoking gun" in an accurate, yet dramatic fashion, documenting the text changes made in the early drafts of the Intelligent Design textbook "Of Pandas and People", noting the ample instances in which "creation" was substituted with "design", not scores of times, but at least more than one hundred different instances in the text itself. Later, she ends her testimony in a memorably tedious cross-examination by lead defense attorney Richard Thompson that drags on for nearly a day and a half.

Chapman concludes "40 Days and 40 Nights" on a most idiosyncratic, personal note, and one that he has alluded to ever since the very first page of his memoir. He contends that we should allow creationism into the science classroom, so that it can be "dissected", in much the same fashion as it was during the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District trial, by allowing teachers to "explore the limitations of faith through the revelatory methods of science", and resulting in "verdicts" identical to Republican Federal Judge Jones' conclusion that Intelligent Design wasn't scientific. Emotionally, it is a sentiment that I found myself quite unexpectedly, at first, to be in complete agreement. However, on second thought, I concur with Ken Miller's observation that introducing Intelligent Design into science classrooms would be a "science stopper". It would conflate most students' understanding of what exactly is the difference between religious faith and science, though I suppose that some truly gifted students, like those attending prominent American high schools such as Alexandria, Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and New York City's Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant High School, might readily understand and appreciate these distinctions. And yet I am inclined to agree more with the harsh view articulated by distinguished British paleontologist Richard Fortey in his essay published in the January 30, 2007 issue of the British newspaper Telegraph, contending that it is an absolute waste of time arguing with Intelligent Design advocates, and that they ought to be dismissed as "IDiots"; by extension, so would be the teaching of Intelligent Design alongside evolution in a science classroom. I would rather see talented students from Thomas Jefferson, Bronx Science and Stuyvesant engage themselves fruitfully in genuine scientific research of the highest caliber, than in trying to understand the metaphysical, religious nonsense known as Intelligent Design and other flavors of creationism. I think, in hindsight, so would Charles Darwin.

Don't Judge This Book By Its Cover.......2007-07-26

Alas, Darwin's great-grandson has not been well served by his publisher. Athough Chapman's description of the dramatis personae of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial is both engaging and illuminating, the book's presentation suffers from a lack of attention by its publisher and/or editor.

The cover itself seems to advertize a work of pulp fiction, not an entertaining account of a trial with historic implications. It's reference to " . . . Oxycontin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania" is not only false, but unnecessary; the actual content of the book would be its best advertisement.

Another reviewer has commented on the hilariously unflattering photo of the author, which implies that the publisher does not take this book seriously. And a firmer editorial hand might have spared us such phrases as the Center for Thought and Ethics having provided certain documents "thoughtfully and ethically," and a book with a panda on the cover being referred to as "unbearable."

Apart from the general cutesiness of the author's attempts at puns, the account of the trial and its aftermath make for entertaining and informative reading.

But the final chapter, in which Chapman argues that Intelligent Design should be taught in schools so that its falsity can be demonstrated is tedious. Worse, Chapman apparently fails to appreciate the irony: he is, in essence, arguing FOR the first step of the "wedge strategy" advocated by the Discovery Institute, that is, to "Teach the Controversy," thus elevating "Intelligent Design" to a level apparently competitive with evolution. Given Chapman's obvious viewpoint expressed in the book, his failure to appreciate the implications of his final disquisition is disappointing. Not to mention that demonstrating the falsity of Intelligent Design in athe classroom might well run afoul of the Establishment clause of the Constitution.

40 Days and 40 Nights has the appearance of having been rushed into print with little attention to serious editing. The publisher should be embarrassed.

Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege

Average customer rating:

What it is really like
absolutely essential.
One of the Most Important Books You'll Ever Read about the Middle East!
Read this book first
Venomous

Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege
Amira Hass
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805057404

Amazon.com

In what is sure to be a controversial book, Israeli reporter Amira Hass offers a rare portrait of the Palestinians in Gaza. Very few journalists have lived in that troubled region; Jewish ones are rarer still. "To most Israelis," Hass writes, "my move seemed outlandish, even crazy, for they believed I was surely putting my life at risk." But Israelis desperately need to understand the plight of the Palestinian people, she writes, and few of them read the unvarnished truth in the Jerusalem press. This has made most of them ignorant of what goes on right next door, and inspired unduly "harsh" attitudes toward Gaza and its one million residents. Hass even quotes the late Yitzhak Rabin, who wished that Gaza "would just sink into the sea," shortly before he signed the Oslo Accords. Wishing away the problem, however, is no solution, and Hass delivers a detailed--and highly opinionated--diagnosis of what's wrong with Israeli policy toward Gaza. Strong supporters of Israeli will say that Hass is nothing but a mouthpiece for the Palestinians. Indeed, this book's subtitle could apply as much to Israel, surrounded by bitter enemies, as it does to Gaza. Yet it would be wrong to ignore Hass: the scene in Gaza is woefully unreported. The book is not likely to change many minds--this is one of those subjects where passions run deep and fierce. Those who already sympathize with Hass's pro-Palestinian views will find Drinking the Sea at Gaza an invigorating book. --John J. Miller

Book Description

In 1993, amira hass, a young Israeli reporter, drove to Gaza to cover a story-and stayed, the first journalist to live in the grim Palestinian enclave so feared and despised by most Israelis that, in the local idiom, "Go to Gaza" is another way to say "Go to hell." Now, in a work of calm power and painful clarity, Hass reflects on what she has seen in Gaza's gutted streets and destitute refugee camps.Drinking the Sea at Gaza maps the zones of ordinary Palestinian life. From her friends, Hass learns the secrets of slipping across sealed borders and stealing through night streets emptied by curfews. She shares Gaza's early euphoria over the peace process and its subsequent despair as hope gives way to unrelenting hardship. But even as Hass charts the griefs and humiliations of the Palestinians, she offers a remarkable portrait of a people not brutalized but eloquent, spiritually resilient, bleakly funny, and morally courageous.Full of testimonies and stories, facts and impressions, Drinking the Sea at Gaza makes an urgent claim on our humanity. Beautiful, haunting, and profound, it will stand with the great works of wartime reportage, from Michael Herr's Dispatches to Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart.

Customer Reviews:

What it is really like.......2007-01-09

A very moving account of daily life without the politics, written with care and compassion.

absolutely essential........2006-08-22

I have spent the last summer reading numerous books on the Palestinian perspective of the MidEast crisis, and Hass' 'Drinking The Sea At Gaza' is perhaps the finest and most comprehensive account I have come across to date. Mixing the intellectual depth of Edward Said with the readability of Wendy Pearlman (of 'Occupied Voices'), Hass, in painstaking detail, recounts the daily struggle for Palestinian self-determination within the occupied territories, specifially Gaza, and reveals an intensely human drama not often revealed in the world press. This book is a must read, as are all of Hass' Ha'aretz (Israeli daily newspaper) articles on the conflict.

One of the Most Important Books You'll Ever Read about the Middle East!.......2006-07-14

Amira Hass is an Israeli Jewish reporter living in Gaza with the Palestinians. When I first read this book about a few years ago, I became fascinated by this woman not only an Israeli Jew but the daughter of Holocaust survivors and her life in Gaza of all places by her choice. Amira Hass helps us to understand the life in Gaza even as an outsider. She helps us to understand the Palestinians' life better than any other reporter or author. Of course, there is always politics and the war between Israel and Palestinans. But as of today where Gaza is under seige. You begin to feel compassion for both sides and wonder when will there ever be peace. It's interesting that the author is an atheist or agnostic. Believe me, the book is the worth the read and the price. For all it's worth, the book is probably important to read more than ever.

Read this book first.......2004-08-23

This book is as extraordinary and inspiring as its author. Hass is an Israeli, a Jew, a woman and an atheist who, uniquely in Israel, has chosen to live among the Palestinian people she writes about. To most people this would be as fatal a combination of attributes as could be imagined. Yet throughout her book she tells only of the warmth, generosity and acceptance she is offered, in a region regularly described as among the most dangerous on the planet.

Many of the best, most relentless and devastating critiques of Israel's colonialism come from Israelis, and none more so than Hass. The most powerful passages are where she likens the lot of the dispossessed in Gaza to the experiences of her own family, Holocaust victims and survivors, in being uprooted by the Nazis from their ancestral homes in Romania. It was her mother's account of the indifference on the faces of the German women who watched as she and the rest of the human cargo were herded from the cattle train en route to Bergen-Belsen that convinced Hass that "my place was not with the bystanders".

This book is no hagiography. She savages the Palestinian Authority leadership for their corruption and brutality (while giving it the necessary context of "a land under siege"). She meticulously documents the inferior position of women in Gaza - their exclusion from the few positions of authority, their lives of domestic drudgery while their unemployed husbands and brothers sit idly by.

Hass gives voice, humanity and a history to a people who live wretchedly on the doorstep of the homes and the lands from which they were expelled barely fifty years ago; who must now accept that neither their own leadership nor the world at large any longer insists on their right of return.

If you are thinking of buying Joan Peters's preposterous From Time Immemorial - a systematic denial of the Palestinians' history and identity, built on misused statistics and fraudulent records - read Drinking the Sea at Gaza first. Then save yourself the money.

Venomous.......2004-08-19

Amira Hass is to be commended for bravely moving to Gaza and writing a book about the people there.

However, this book isn't going to help people of Gaza.

One of the problems in Gaza is the Arab war against Jewish rights. This has poisoned relations among Jews and Arabs. Blaming all this on the Israel and thus promoting more of the same, as Hass does, is not good for anyone. Instead, it sabotages what could have been an effort to promote human rights for everyone in the region. Meanwhile, the author's bias against Israel makes the book unreliable.

Average customer rating:

Enjoyable read....but
No words..
A promising novella maybe but not a full length book
A tedious text.
Has Yarbro read Stoker's text?

Sisters of the Night : The Angry Angel
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0380974002

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable read....but.......1999-11-06

This is my first novel from this particular writer so I was a bit weary....especially all my vampire reading have been from Anne Rice novels.

This novel I thought was beautifully written and had such great detail. I could clearly see the Kelene's family and could relate to them on many levels. The father and mother to me ver yvery well thoughtout and described, along with the other minor characters. Kelene's character throughout most of the book was rather sad/tragic and interesting.

But one problem I did have with the book was it's treatment of Dracula's and Kelene's relationship. I thought the character of Dracula was well done...he was ominous and tragically sad at the same time, and it left me wanting more about him throughout the book. Iknow this is the first of the series so I will eargly await more info. But for his relationship with Kelene.....during the first couple parts of the book..it was very good...and griping, but towards the end it just became repetitive. During the whole journey to his castle it seems to me that thye were repeating the same scene over and over again. I felt these last couple of chapters could have been cut short.

Overall, I was pleased with this book and look forward to the next installment.

No words.........1999-04-11

I am still reading this book, but I would like it to never end.... Only few books are capable of touching divinity...and here is one.. M.

A promising novella maybe but not a full length book.......1999-03-09

When I first received this book, I looked forward with anticipation to reading it. 20 pages into it, my enthusiasm was dampened mainly by the use of the phrase "Militant Angel" in every other sentence (are there no editors anymore?). However, I thought if I persevered, it was bound to get better and it did for the most part. This book has so much promise, so much potential that is lurking just below the surface, you just want to scream at the author to keep working on it, to reach for those hidden details and fleshed out storylines. As it stands now, "The Angry Angel" could be shortened by a third or more and be a very good novella but as a book it loses some of its punch in the padding. This is probably due to the publisher making a trilogy out of this but I'm going to bet the story of all three "sisters" could be told in one longer book. I will probably check out the next one but from a library before I buy. To summarize, not a bad book but one that disappoints as much as it entertains.

A tedious text........1999-01-19

The promise of this book was great. It was so tedious to get past the first 150 pages that I almost gave up repeatedly. Finally, it improved and Dracula entered the scene. I thought I would scream in the beginning while the book dribbled on about the "militant angels". A little of that went a long way.

Has Yarbro read Stoker's text?.......1998-12-05

While at the 1997 Vampire Con in Los Angeles, I was very interested to learn of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's pending series Sisters of the Night consisting of three books which would provide voices for Dracula's brides. Yarbro would tell readers how the three brides came to be turned and their stories would be told. I was excited at this prospect despite that I usually dislike such vaults into poetic license (such as Alexandra Ripley's Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind from Mass Market Paperback 1992 and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea 1996 from W.W. Norton & Company). I find they do not represent the vision of the original text, and, rather, operate in a direct affront to it (namely Marie Kiraly's Mina: the Dracula Story Continues from Mass Market Paperback 1996-who, when I asked her what she did to prepare to write Mina, responded that she simply "thought" and did not even have the respect for Stoker or the character of Mina to read the original text. For shame, Ms. Kiraly! But, as we know, is reflected in the mediocre work that she produced). I had hopes that Yarbro, based on her Saint-Germaine series, would have a bit more panache than other similarly assuming writers.

The first of the series, The Angry Angel (Avon, 1998) is an interesting work. The writing is fantastic, with gorgeous landscapes and interesting characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the Romanian proverbs and quotes Yarboro offered at each chapter opening. However, to cast Dracula as a psychic, sadistic pedophile? Yarbro completely misses her mark in representing Dracula, and instead writes a fetish text with nice scenery. While I come to care about Kelene and her family, I am too distracted by the ill formation of Dracula to much care for the text as an elaboration of Stoker's story. One of the most detracting, annoying plot points that gives Yarbro away as having not truly read the text from where she hopes to leap is that she makes Dracula fatally vulnerable to sunlight. Dear readers, vampires withering into dust when struck by sunlight originated in our collective conscious in 1937 when Mr. Bela Lugosi penetrated to our hearts' darkest corners as The Count to which all others would be compared. Stoker's Dracula, as emulated in Francis Ford Coppola's film representation, does not die when exposed to the sun. Vampires, according to Stoker, merely lose their superhuman powers during the daylight hours (they are weakest at noon and strongest at midnight). Vampires, during the day, are just regular Joes.

As for Kelene as a character, I'm not terribly impressed, either. She is marked as the blond vampire bride, about which Stoker's Jonathan remarks, "I seemed to somehow know her face, and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where" (p. 38, Bantam edition). She is the first female vampire who will approach Jonathon and lick "her lips like an animal" after she finishes gloating over him. I am to believe that Jonathon Harker will find this slip of a woman-child "deliberate[ly] voluptuous"? (p. 39). Are we then to see Harker as the same pedophile Yarbro casts for Dracula? I think not.

Kelene just doesn't measure up and the fair girl who is "the first" and responds to Dracula's threats with "a laugh of ribald coquetry" (p. 40). For as much as I enjoyed the mechanics of Yarbro's text: the striking imagery, the creative mind who provided the "fair girl" a name, a history, a mind, I am even less impresses with Yarbro for sexualizing and erotisizing a pre-pubescent girl. Yuck! I can only hope that for the next two books in the series, that Yarbro actually bothers to read all of Stoker's text and does some forward thinking before writing the tales of the remaining two vamps who require more ritual and fanfare to kill than the Count himself.

Average customer rating:

An unusual, enjoyable history

History As it Should be Written

A City's Passions

magical history

New York Night: The Mystique and Its History
Mark Caldwell
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743242769

Book Description

Who among us cannot testify to the possibilities of the night? To the mysterious, shadowed intersections of music, smoke, money, alcohol, desire, and dream? The hours between dusk and dawn are when we are most urgently free, when high meets low, when tongues wag, when wallets loosen, when uptown, downtown, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, male, and female so often chance upon one another. Night is when we are more likely to carouse, fornicate, fall in love, murder, or ourselves fall prey. And if there is one place where the grandness, danger, and enchantment of night have been lived more than anywhere else -- lived in fact for over 350 years -- it is, of course, New York City.

From glittering opulence to sordid violence, from sweetest romance to grinding lust, critic and historian Mark Caldwell chronicles, with both intimate detail and epic sweep, the story of New York nightlife from 1643 to the present, featuring the famous, the notorious, and the unknown who have long walked the city's streets and lived its history. New York Night ranges from the leafy forests at Manhattan's tip, where Indians and Europeans first met, to the candlelit taverns of old New Amsterdam, to the theaters, brothels, and saloon prizefights of the Civil War era, to the lavish entertainments of the Gilded Age, to the speakeasies and nightclubs of the century past, and even to the strip clubs and glamour restaurants of today.

We see madams and boxers, murderers and drunks, soldiers, singers, layabouts, and thieves. We see the swaggering "Sporting Men,"the fearless slatterns, the socially prominent rakes, the chorus girls, the impresarios, the gangsters, the club hoppers, and the dead. We see none other than the great Charles Dickens himself taken to a tavern of outrageous repute and be so shocked by what he witnesses that he must be helped to the door. We see human beings making their nighttime bet with New York City. Some of these stories are tragic, some comic, but all paint a resilient metropolis of the night.

In New York, uniquely among the world's great cities, the hours of darkness have always brought opposites together, with results both creative and violent. This is a book that is filled with intrigue, crime, sex, violence, music, dance, and the blur of neon-lit crowds along ribbons of pavement. Technology, too, figures in the drama, with such inventions as gas and electric light, photography, rapid transit, and the scratchy magic of radio appearing one by one to collaborate in a nocturnal world of inexhaustible variety and excitement.

New York Night will delight history buffs, New Yorkers in love with their home, and anyone who wants to see how human nocturnal behavior has changed and not changed as the world's greatest city has come into being. New York Night is a spellbinding social history of the day's dark hours, when work ends, secrets reveal themselves, and the unimaginable becomes real.

Download Description

"Who among us cannot testify to the possibilities of the night? To the mysterious, shadowed intersections of music, smoke, money, alcohol, desire, and dream? The hours between dusk and dawn are when we are most urgently free, when high meets low, when tongues wag, when wallets loosen, when uptown, downtown, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, male, and female so often chance upon one another. Night is when we are more likely to carouse, fornicate, fall in love, murder, or ourselves fall prey. And if there is one place where the grandness, danger, and enchantment of night have been lived more than anywhere else -- lived in fact for over 350 years -- it is, of course, New York City. From glittering opulence to sordid violence, from sweetest romance to grinding lust, critic and historian Mark Caldwell chronicles, with both intimate detail and epic sweep, the story of New York nightlife from 1643 to the present, featuring the famous, the notorious, and the unknown who have long walked the city's streets and lived its history. New York Night ranges from the leafy forests at Manhattan's tip, where Indians and Europeans first met, to the candlelit taverns of old New Amsterdam, to the theaters, brothels, and saloon prizefights of the Civil War era, to the lavish entertainments of the Gilded Age, to the speakeasies and nightclubs of the century past, and even to the strip clubs and glamour restaurants of today. We see madams and boxers, murderers and drunks, soldiers, singers, layabouts, and thieves. We see the swaggering ""Sporting Men,""the fearless slatterns, the socially prominent rakes, the chorus girls, the impresarios, the gangsters, the club hoppers, and the dead. We see none other than the great Charles Dickens himself taken to a tavern of outrageous repute and be so shocked by what he witnesses that he must be helped to the door. We see human beings making their nighttime bet with New York City. Some of these stories are tragic, some comic, but all paint a resilient metropolis of the night. In New York, uniquely among the world's great cities, the hours of darkness have always brought opposites together, with results both creative and violent. This is a book that is filled with intrigue, crime, sex, violence, music, dance, and the blur of neon-lit crowds along ribbons of pavement. Technology, too, figures in the drama, with such inventions as gas and electric light, photography, rapid transit, and the scratchy magic of radio appearing one by one to collaborate in a nocturnal world of inexhaustible variety and excitement. New York Night will delight history buffs, New Yorkers in love with their home, and anyone who wants to see how human nocturnal behavior has changed and not changed as the world's greatest city has come into being. New York Night is a spellbinding social history of the day's dark hours, when work ends, secrets reveal themselves, and the unimaginable becomes real. "

Customer Reviews:

An unusual, enjoyable history.......2006-06-07

In recent years there's been a spate of unusually good books dealing with the history of New York City: Burrows and Wallace's "Gotham", Luc Sante's "Low Life", and now Mark Caldwell's "New York Night". These books supplement one another beautifully: the first deals with straightforward early history, the second with the activities of miscreants, the third with the mystique of "New York night," when the underground economies kick in, when the most memorable and colorful events in the city's history took place beneath the radar of polite society.

The book begins on a dishearteningly overheated note, with Caldwell discussing the aesthetics of the New York skyline pre- and post-9/11. But soon Caldwell moves into straightforward historical mode, and from there on out, it's a quick and immensely enjoyable read.

Caldwell's historiography is not particularly unusual: he illuminates social trends through individual anecdotes, many of which will already be familiar to students of New York history. The book's real innovation comes through Caldwell's juxtaposition of anecdotes that shed new light on one another: accounts of theater merge with descriptions of the economics of liquor and prostitution, and the overall impression is of the interconnectedness of such topics. Perhaps more importantly, Caldwell has an eye for the bizarre: his renderings of various lurid theater premieres made me laugh out loud, not to mention his memorable descriptions of the Stonewall riot. Plenty of eyewitness accounts go a long way toward fleshing out the reality of New York's past.

The final strength of Caldwell's book is that it's no elegy for a vanished city of which we'll never see the likes again, but a matter-of-fact history. The wondrous and bizarre still lurk in the dark corners of New York night, and they always will, Caldwell implies.

History As it Should be Written.......2006-04-18

What a wonderful book this is! Mark Caldwell strikes the perfect balance between entertainment and information as he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through more than 350 years of New York City history. But this is, by no means, a dry recital of names, dates, and accomplishments. Caldwell explores the life of New York City that begins when the sun goes down. Along the way we meet unforgettable characters such as George Templeton Strong, Ned Buntline, Madame Restell, Earl Carroll, Billie Holiday, and Walter Winchell as we travel from Fort Amsterdam to the discos and night clubs of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. The book is well-researched and well-written.

A City's Passions .......2005-09-27

Revealing a city's intrigues is quite a job, and New York's would seem impossible, but Caldwell is plainly up to the job. He makes events( famous and not so) vivid and lyrical, and the people who make those events unforgettable. Sometimes bizarre, sometimes touching, this history of the world's most exciting place after dark is gorgeously written in a funny and sensitive way. Nicely researched. I liked it.

magical history.......2005-08-24

By virtue of an almost unimaginable amount of research going back to the mid-seventeenth century and continuing to 2004 Caldwell has constructed a magical and fascinating story of New York City. This book is an instant classic.

Night Stalks the Mansion: A True Story of One Family's Ghostly Adventure

Average customer rating:

Great quick read!
Could not put it down!
Night Stalks The Mansion
good read
a good read, a true haunting

Night Stalks the Mansion: A True Story of One Family's Ghostly Adventure
Constance Westbie , and Harold Cameron
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811732088

Book Description

Now in paperback, this true story recounts a Philadelphia family's encounter with a supernatural presence in their eighteenth-century mansion. After experiencing footsteps at night, opening doors, strange sounds and activity that centered around the library, they investigate, unearthing the mansion's tragic past and changing their beliefs about the supernatural world. Winner of the 1977 National Writers Club Award for Nonfiction.

Customer Reviews:

Great quick read!.......2007-09-17

Every Fall I love to read ghost stories, and this is a good one. Not too scary, but very touching and poignant. I read it in one day...couldn't put it down.

Could not put it down!.......2007-09-07

A huge thank you to the author for reprinting his family's true account of living with the paranormal and how they dealt with it! I would not have wanted to live in that house! You will not be able to put this one down! Well written.

Night Stalks The Mansion.......2007-07-20

When I read the first page of "Night Stalks The Mansion" I was hooked.
I could not put down the book. A well written spine chilling true story that made me feel as though I was there. Image how difficult it must have been to turn footsteps, a few bumps in the night(not to mention smells) into a hair raising story. Maybe it is easier for those who have experienced
some of the same activity (as I have, but not in that particular house) can instantly be transported back nearly 50 yrs ago to a perfect memory and still have the hairs on the back of your neck rise up. Great read.

good read.......2007-03-21

This is definitely a good read. It is a little sad, but very intriguing. I like the way it was written. It was not a scary book, a little creepy at times, but you can definitely turn the lights out after reading this one. It focuses more on seeking the cause behind the haunting. I really liked the family in the book as well, you did not get the impression that they were dysfunctional and seeking attention. I would recommend this one.

a good read, a true haunting.......2007-02-01

I purchased this book about 20 years ago, and have reread it a few times over the years, each time thinking it just as good. The events are told matter of factly and sound very plausible. But it also reads like a novel, meaning that the writing is good. Most "true haunting" stories today are very poorly written and edited, and/or they go into demonistic extremes. This is just a classic haunted house, fascinating, a bit spooky, something you'd like to read about on a windy night but not necessarily live with. I didn't even know this was back in print and came across it on Amazon looking up another ghost story, and thought I'd give it the "Recommended" that is its due. Well written, well edited, and a good haunting story. Wish there were more like it around to buy.

Family Math Night: Middle School Math Standards in Action

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Family Math Night: Middle School Math Standards in Action
Jennifer, Ph.D. Taylor-Cox , and Christine Oberdorf
Manufacturer: Eye on Education,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Family Math Night: Math Standards In Action