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.

You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke

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The definitive Sam Cooke bio
Honest You Do
Flawed, But Thought Provoking, Heartbreaking Biography
WELL PUT TOGETHER
Sent Me There!

You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke
Daniel J. Wolff , S. R. Crain , Clifton White , and G. David Tenenbaum
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0688124038

Amazon.com

Decades after his death, Sam Cooke's thrilling, seductive tenor remains one of the glories of American popular music. His compositions have inspired a multitude of covers, few of which manage to lay a finger on the original versions. And Cooke's vocal mannerisms--the melismatic swooping and yodeling he applied to key phrases--are still audible every time Aaron Neville opens his mouth (not to mention a host of other singers, from Rod Stewart to Aretha Franklin). Clearly, then, it was time for a full-dress biography, and Daniel Wolff has done a superlative job. He traces the singer's transformation from gospel prodigy, who hit the road with the Soul Stirrers at the tender age of 19, to secular star. Endlessly ambitious, Cooke never quite figured out how to juggle his sacred and profane instincts, and Wolff is particularly good on this balancing act, as well as on the racial politics of the music industry.

Book Description

In 1957, already one of the biggest stars in gospel music, Sam Cooke burst onto the pop scene with the number one hit "You Send Me," the first in a string of rock & roll classics. He quickly became one of music business's first African-American entrepreneurs, as well as a role model in the early years of the civil rights struggle. Then, at age thirty-three, he was found dead, shot through the heart in a seedy motel in south Los Angeles. The circumstances surrounding his death would remain a controversial mystery for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

The definitive Sam Cooke bio.......2007-09-24

I have referred this book to others so many times over the years since it's release, but I never wrote a review, until now....

I have read this book 5 times. Each time, I still get engrossed by the amazing life of Sam Cooke. If you really want to know this man's story - get this book. Get this book along with Erik Greene's "Our Uncle Sam". These two books will be ALL you need. Trust me - I have read them all. Wolff's book takes you from Sam's beginnings with the the Highway QC's...all the way up to the tragedy of Sam's untimely death. Sam's great nephew - Erik Greene, takes you through the aftermath and beyond with "Our Uncle Sam". One thing that I love about both books is that they completely decimate the "official" version of Sam Cooke's death.

I could say more - but it has already been said....everybody cant be wrong. Get the book - you won't be disappointed.

Honest You Do.......2007-01-28

For a long time this was the only available biography on Sam Cooke. Until Peter Guralnick released his excellent 'Dream Boogie' a few years ago.

When I first read 'You Send Me' it openened my eyes to a lot of things; unlike many of his contemperaries, here was someone in complete control of everything he did. Writing his own songs, pretty much producing them himself and above all one of the first black men to own and run his own record-label (SAR).

Of course it starts during his gospel days in which, not known by everyone, for a few years as a member of the Soul Stirrers he was the number 1 soul star around. Maybe not in religious fervor, but certainly with the female part of the church. Later his way with women would haunt him, even leading to his unfortunate death at age 33.

The book is well researched, provides nice insights into the songs and into his mind as well. His constant veering between wanting to play music for white and black, but always staying himself.

This is a great introduction to the man who 'created soul' and a must for every soul lover.

Flawed, But Thought Provoking, Heartbreaking Biography.......2006-06-01

You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke is a very good rendering of the life of the classic gospel/R&B/pop superstar whose life was tragically cut short with his death in 1964.

Here you get to see the talented, complex, and at times, troubled singer throught his beginnings singing with the Soul Stirrers, through his skillful crafting of his own solo career, and ending with the ongoing mystery surrounding his death in a flophouse motel at the hands of a woman who may have had other motives for killing Cooke besides self-defense.

The only problem with You Send Me is that it at times focuses too much on the minutiae of the gospel circuit that Cooke and the Soul Stirrers traveled and details of the publishing industry that many readers will not find interesting. But in the end, this book is well worth a read, and anyone interested in Sam Cooke should not be disappointed.

WELL PUT TOGETHER .......2005-10-20

THIS BOOK REALLY PUTS INTO PERSPECTIVE WHO SAM COOKE REALLY WAS AND HOW IMPORTANT HE IS TO AMERICAN CULTURE. IF THIS ISN'T REASON ENOUGH FOR A FULL LENGTH MOVIE THEN WHAT IS? BUDDY HOLLY HAS ONE,RICHIE VALENS HAS ONE, RAY CHARLES EVEN HAS ONE! COME ON MOVIE MAKERS THE STORY OF SAM COOKE HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED; LOVE, TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH. WILL SMITH WOULD MAKE A GREAT SAM COOKE!

Sent Me There!.......2005-02-06

This was a well researched and written book. I enjoyed it because it was packed full of history on music industry, the Civil Rights Era and The Man (Sam Cooke). This book sent me there. It was so descriptive, that I felt like I was actually there viewing the events as they unfolded.

I am a Sam Cooke fan, but I did not know much about him. This book provided me with an in-depth look at the man from a personal and professional standpoint. His life was not picture perfect and his death is still surrounded by too much mystery. I appreciate the author revealing such sensitive info and in such a way that it did not tarnish my image of the singer.

This man's life had all the makings for a movie. The book left me not wanting for anything. I walked away full...no questions pending.

Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White

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Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White
Coming of Age with George Lewis, et. al.
Jealous
Gone With The Wind

Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White
Tom Sancton
Manufacturer: Other Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 159051243X

Book Description

Former Time Paris Bureau Chief and bestselling author Tom Sancton returns to the New Orleans of his youth and the music that shaped and guided his life.

Song for my Fathers is the story of a young white boy driven by a consuming passion to learn the music and ways of a group of aging black jazzmen in the twilight years of the segregation era. Contemporaries of Louis Armstrong, most of them had played in local obscurity until Preservation Hall launched a nationwide revival of interest in traditional jazz. They called themselves "the mens." And they welcomed the young apprentice into their ranks.

The boy was introduced into this remarkable fellowship by his father, an eccentric Southern liberal and failed novelist whose powerful articles on race had made him one of the most effective polemicists of the early Civil Rights movement. Nurtured on his father's belief in racial equality, the aspiring clarinetist embraced the old musicians with a boundless love and admiration. In a sense, they became his spiritual fathers and role models. Meanwhile his real father, who had first led the boy to the "mens" and shared his reverence for them, later recoiled in horror at the idea that his son might lose his way in the world of late-night jazz joints, French Quarter bar rooms, and a precarious life on the margins of society. The tension between the father's determination to control the boy's destiny and his son's abiding passion for the music is a major theme of the book.

The narrative unfolds against the vivid backdrop of New Orleans in the 1950s and '60s. But that magical town is more than decor; it is perhaps the central player, for this story could not have taken place in any other city in the world. Written several years before Katrina crashed into New Orleans and changed its face forever, Song for My Fathers seems all the more moving in the wake of that cataclysm. 16 pages of color.

Customer Reviews:

Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White.......2007-01-17

As a fan of New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, I ordered this book as soon as it became available, and consumed it immediately. Tom Sancton met all my expectations, and also provided me with recent history of my favorite musicians, the Olympia Brass Band. He honestly described people and an era that will never be recaptured, with love, and affection, but without guilding the lily. These were real people, shown by Sancton with all their warts, and I miss them all greatly. On a visit to the Preservation Hall recently, I enjoyed the music provided by all white musicians and one black drummer, but was so aware of the loss of those originals. The drummer's father, one of the Fathers described by Sancton, is now gone, and we cried on each other's shoulders, over the loss of a music that can be preserved, but musicians who can never be duplicated. I am just so appreciative to Tom Sancton for producing this book, especially now that Katrina has erased so many of his memories.

Coming of Age with George Lewis, et. al........2006-11-25

Sancton has written an outstanding account of his coming of age in 60's New Orleans while learning trad jazz clarinet from George Lewis and other "old mens" at Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. Whether you love New Orleans and trad jazz, or not I think you'll enjoy Sancton's memoir. His story of being an Uptown white boy spending a lot of time with black musicians in the a world apart from where most of his comtemporaries were growing up is nothing if not unique. Sancton's day job after a Harvard degree turned out to be a correspondent for Time Magazine. So, he can definitely turn a good phrase. In addtion to documenting his interactions with the musicians, Sancton also writes about race, culture, and history in New Orleans. He also explores his relationship with members of his family, especially his writer father, who has an interesting story of his own, probably the subject of another book.Just a delightful read.

Jealous.......2006-09-19

Jealous
Boy, am I jealous of this guy! He lived a dream life as a teenager.
Every musician that reads this will envy this story. Well written and boy am I jealous!

Gone With The Wind.......2006-07-27

Tom's is a touching and layered story; both a personal bio and a history of New Orleans Jazz and its creators. Tom pulls back the veil and introduces us, in a very personal way, to both his family and biological father, and to the "mens" as his jazz fathers called themselves. A tale of passages; Tom's from childhood to manhood; the mens' passage on to the great second-line in the sky, and, finally, the passage of a way of life for a whole region possibly passed into only the memories of people fortunate enough to have lived it, and a few graying pages. It is a poignant story told well and sure to be loved by all readers.

From Rage To Reason: My Life In Two Americas

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The book "From Rage to Reason"
Bravo! Janet!
startling
Janet, you did a great job
Amazing - Her Own Autobiography Makes Her So Unlikeable!

From Rage To Reason: My Life In Two Americas
Janet Langhart Cohen
Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0758203942

Customer Reviews:

The book "From Rage to Reason".......2007-05-14

I recieved the book very fast and it was in excellent condition.

Bravo! Janet!.......2004-09-27

for having the courage to tell your story about your rise from the projects of Indianapolis to being a member of a power elite. Yours is a story of struggle, guts and determination to make a name for yourself. Your interracial marriages did create a lot of controversy in the elite, for they don't accept the idea of black/biracial black women marrying elite, upper class nonblack men such as your husband.

You made a name for yourself in modeling early on. I have to give it to you for having kept your face and figure, but that's not all. You have a mind of your own that sometimes conflict with the prevailing views of the establishment, which isn't too accepting of smart, assertive women like you. But then again times has changed.

All I have say is that you rose above it all.

startling.......2004-08-22

This is an autobiography so you'd expect Janet Cohen to present herself in a good light. She doesn't. Instead Cohen comes off as a very bitter, self absorbed woman who doesn't seem to have learned anything over the years.

Janet, you did a great job.......2004-08-18

Janet's book is very excellent, she deserves a standing ovation for a book well written. This book is so interesting and captivating. This is the first time, i have seen someone so clear-cut honest. Janet Cohen is a beautiful woman who deserved all the good things in life. She has broken down racial barriers like Oprah to become of the greatest African-Americans of this era. I strongly recommend this book to people who haven't read it.

Amazing - Her Own Autobiography Makes Her So Unlikeable!.......2004-08-10

This book is so mistitled on two accounts. First, I would agree with the reviewer below; "From Rage to Reason" was for me, too, "From Rage to Disgust." How can anyone who is writing their OWN story come off so nauseatingly unlikeable? The more you read, the more arrogant, self-centered, and disengenuous Janet Langhart Cohen becomes. Maybe it should be "From Rage to Sickenly Manipulative." Second, this is clearly not a book about "My Life in Two Americas." Her story is simply not about the experience of being black in America. Forget that she's white skinned with caucasain features, she is astonishingly and uniquely beautiful. Perhaps, in her case, the two Americas could more adequately be described as the "few privileged with astounding beauty and the rest of us ordinary-looking people." Now, I have a great admiration for beauty and nothing against a woman using it to her best advantage; we should all put our assets to their best use. But this woman has done nothing to help the plight, the image, the future hopes and dreams of anyone but herself. As the old saying goes, for some women beauty is the biggest disadvantage because they have no need or motivation to develope any skills beyond dressing well and flirting when necessary. Janet Cohen has not proved that race has been a disadvantage for her, only that beauty paired with selfish ambition can produce a hollow, grating, selfish personality. Her "blackness" is used as a convenient excuse when she doesn't get her way or people don't like. People don't like her, obviously, because she is unlikeable. This woman is a horrible role model for any young woman, black, white, or whatever.

Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women

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Life Changing Notes
I loved this book!!!!

Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393312062

Customer Reviews:

Life Changing Notes.......2003-11-19

This book exhibits the extreme skill and insight possessed by the editor, Dr. Patricia Bell-Scott. Joining a volume of similar works, the words in this book become more than a narrative or a story. They become a way to engage your innermost thoughts and emotions and not feel alone, isolated or ashamed.

This book is a source, a reference and a guide to feminist thought and qaulitative expression. It sits on my shelf as a handy reference when discussing and further exploring the rich, complex and beautiful lives of black women.

Excellence does indeed still exist in the scholarly world. Bravo!

I loved this book!!!!.......1999-04-13

What a wonderful opportunity to see into the lives of other African American women and to hear how they handle different life challenges and general occurences. It's rich in candor and honesty.

The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince: from contemporary letters, diaries and chronicles, including Chandos Herald's Life of the Black Prince

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One of the best primary sources of the Hundred Years War
A True Historical Account
Rock On

The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince: from contemporary letters, diaries and chronicles, including Chandos Herald's Life of the Black Prince
Richard Barber
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0851154697

Book Description

Edward of Woodstock, eldest son of Edward III, known as the Black Prince, is one of those heroes of history books so impressive as to seem slightly unreal. At sixteen he played a leading part in the fighting at Crécy; at twenty-six he captured the king of France at Poitiers; and eleven years later he restored Pedro of Castile to histhrone at the battle of Najera. His exploits were chronicled by Jean Froissart, but Froissart was writing three or four decades after the events he describes. There are other sources much closer to events, and it is on these that the present volume draws. Most immediate are the reports sent home by the prince's companions-in-arms and his own letters, which graphically convey the hardships and difficulties of campaigning, its dangers and sheer fatigue. These are followed by campaign diaries and the story of Crécy and other exploits of the prince's from Geoffrey le Baker's chronicle (c.1358-60), itself drawing on similar letters and diaries. Finally there is the chronicle of Chandos Herald, which shows the prince as he appeared to an English writer in the 1380s. Each of the sources is discussed in detail in the introductions to the extracts. RICHARD BARBER's books on the age of chivalry include 'The Knight and Chivalry, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, King Arthur: Hero and Legend' and 'Arthurian Legends'. He has also written the 'Companion Guide to Gascony and the Dordogne', the background to so many of the Black Prince's exploits, and the 'Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe'.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best primary sources of the Hundred Years War.......2007-04-29

Read this for graduate history course in medieval history.
Richard Barber's edited works of "The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince," is one of the best primary sources of the fourteenth-century. Unlike many historians' accounts, Edward's prose make for an engaging read. Edward's writings may be short on the type of battlefield details that modern historians yearn for; however, they are rich in explaining some of the tactical decision-making made by Edward III before and during the Crécy campaign.

The Black Prince noted that Edward III's purpose for the invasion of France, which started the military action in the Hundred Years War, was to conduct a chevauchée, which was essentially a procession of the army through the countryside that pillaged as it traveled. Edward III then intended to use his superior mobility to make his escape up the coast to Flanders without having to fight a major battle with the numerically superior French forces. However, Crécy was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading English army of Edward III. The battle, which took place on just two days in August of 1346, was emblematic of the tactical successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt.

The book accounts the skill and courage that the Black Prince and his men fought with as they fended off several waves of French attacks on that day and the next day as well. The book has an excellent account about the sixteen-year-old Black Prince's baptism by fire in battle. "There he learnt that knightly skill which he later put to excellent use at the battle of Poitiers, where he captured the French king." Although heavily outnumbered, Edward III's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French. Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle state the over one-half million arrows fired by the English easily cut down the French cavalry. Thus, the longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, was responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle. Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the English losses of 150 to 1,000 total. Froissart sums up the mastery of the longbow men and the tactics they employed turning them into a weapon of mass destruction and a force multiplier. "They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle." The battle of Crécy taught all the armies of Europe that the longbow would reign as the supreme weapon in battle for the next 100 years.

Ten years later in 1356, and a few years after the ravages of the Black Death, the Black Prince conducted and won the most valuable battle of the Hundred Year's War, at Poitiers. The Black Prince won a stunning victory over King John II of France, culminating with the king being captured and killing and capturing of thousands of other French noblemen. Clearly, this action far surpassed the victory won at Crécy. France's military was decimated. The country was pushed to the brink of political collapse, and was left with a tremendous debt in both money and territory to pay for the king's ransom.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history.

A True Historical Account.......2003-05-20

I gave this book five stars for its originality. I loved that the author (who has a number of great works) pretty much steps back and allows the people of the 14th century to do most of the talking. After all, who better then them to tell their own story?
It was also interesting to read how the Black Prince's contemporaries viewed him. Which was not at all like the tyrant recent historians have made him to be. But this book was more then just about the Black Prince, it gave an insight into medieval warfare and what these soldiers truly lived.

Rock On.......2002-10-23

LONG LIVE THE PRINCE OF WALES.

THE BLACK PRINCE ALWAYS TRIUMPHS.

Book Description

Jimi Hendrix began musical life on the “chitlin’ circuit” in the mid-1960s, where he developed a fluid, funky guitar style, backing the likes of the Isley Brothers on the road. In 1966 Chas Chandler, formerly of The Animals, discovered him playing in Greenwich Village and shrewdly persuaded him to relaunch his career in London, from whence he could be manufactured as a pop-rock sensation and then sold back to America. The plan worked. He enjoyed instant success with hits like “Hey, Joe” and “Purple Haze.” His band, which included British rhythm section Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, was promoted as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, cutting three albums in quick succession in 1967 and 1968. Part of the successful series that includes Rolling Stones, U2, The Doors, and others in the strong-selling and well-established Stories Behind the Songs series, Voodoo Child includes a complete discography, 90 photographs, as well as a discussion of all of Hendrix’s live albums. Jimi Hendrix is very probably the greatest solo rock artist of all time and thirty-seven years after his death, he remains a best-seller. Certainly, if anyone personified the genre in its purest, most potent and inflammatory form, it was Hendrix.

Customer Reviews:

Very Interesting, Plenty of Information, and a Good Read!.......2004-05-08

I am a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix. I listen to his music every day, and it never gets old. I've listened to all of the essential albums (and many more) but have never actually read any book on him and his music. I saw this book in the music part of the book store. I quickly looked through the pages, and was very intrigued, since I'd never heard where he got his inspiration from. And I must say this book will intrigue you as well. It really fills in the gaps on some of Jimi's songs, such as on Castles Made of Sand. I didn't know that the first verse was about Jimi's mom and dad fighting and eventually splitting up. Or the second verse was about his troubled brother Leon. And the third verse was about Jimi's mom dying. These interesting facts and more are in this book. If you own a lot of Jimi Hendrix CDs out there, and you're asking yourself: How did he do that? Where did he get that idea for a song? or Who is that song about? Then buy this book. It's a very informative and an interesting read.

I Was Hoping For More.......2004-01-24

My 3 star rating isn't really a put-down. 3.5 is probably more accurate. The overall content and presentation are fine and there's alot of useful information in here. My problem with it is that I'd hoped to read a bunch of stuff I'd never seen elsewhere. But in fact, I didn't find much of anything that I hadn't already read elsewhere. Of the stuff that is here, some isn't even as detailed as you'll find in other books like Setting The Record Straight or Shadwick's Musician.

Dancing To A Black Man's Tune: A Life Of Scott Joplin (Missouri Biography)

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Cultural History
The Worlds of Scott Joplin

Dancing To A Black Man's Tune: A Life Of Scott Joplin (Missouri Biography)
Susan Curtis
Manufacturer: University of Missouri Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0826215475

Book Description

By using Scott Joplin's life as a window onto American social and cultural development at the turn of the century, this biography dramatizes the role of one brilliant African American musician in defining the culture of a still-young nation.

"Dancing to a Black Man's Tune renders Scott Joplin as a man and an artist whose musical genius served as his weapon in the struggle toward a whole America. Susan Curtis's book is more than biography, more than cultural history. It is a skillfully interwoven telling of Joplin's story within the mosaic of America's social and cultural evolution at the turn of the century."--John Hope Franklin

"If one is to know American culture and the place and 'trials and tribulations' of African American music in setting the foundation and flavor of American music, Dancing to a Black Man's Tune is, to date, the primary source."--Journal of American History

Customer Reviews:

Cultural History.......2006-08-29

Susan Curtis's passion is more for cultural history than for Scott Joplin. She says as much in her preface where she describes Scott Joplin as "the perfect vehicle for the questions I wanted to ask." I felt I was reading her cultural theories rather than a biography of Joplin. She pays little attention to his music. There are no musical examples. And most of his rags are not even mentioned.

As a book on the culture of his day this is a good read. However, for those who would prefer a book on and about Scott Joplin I would recommend Edward A. Berlin's book 'King of Ragtime'.

The Worlds of Scott Joplin.......2005-01-20

Scott Joplin (1868 -- 1917)was a great composer of the unique American music known as ragtime. Ragtime flourished from roughly 1900 -- 1920 when it faded into obscurity with the advent of jazz. It enjoyed a revival beginning in the 1970s with the movie "The Sting", several popular recordings, and the production of Joplin's opera Treemonisha. Ragtime is an enchanting American music, both lyrical and strongly rhythmical that has components of both classical music and jazz. I greatly enjoy playing Joplin's rags on the piano as well as the rags of his lesser-known but gifted colleagues, James Scott and Joseph Lamb.

A full account of ragtime and its place in American culture remains to be written. Susan Curtis's book, "Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin" is a start. Dr Curtis is Professor of History and American Studies and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. It is thus understandable that her book draws widely on American history and on relationships between African Americans and whites in attempting to understand Scott Joplin and ragtime.

Dr. Curtis discusses the important stages in Joplin's life and relates them to ongoing events in the United States with an emphasis on how African American - white relations impacted his music. She emphasizes, and necessarily so, the effects of slavery (one of Joplin's parents had been a slave) and of Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Dr. Curtis describes how African Americans remained on the outside of white America to a large extent. Still, African American music, ragtime in particular, had a great appeal for white Americans and led to the ideal of an inter-racial American culture.

But Dr. Curtis's book shows, I think, that African American -- white relationships resist any simple summary. Joplin surely suffered from the effects of slavery and the rise of Jim Crow and from discrimination throughout his life. But Dr. Curtis also points out the ways in which black and white people worked together, how white people helped Joplin, and how Joplin encouraged the work of white composers of "negro" music. Joplin received piano lessons as a child from a German immigrant who recognized his talent. His music gained attention, probably, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 even though it lacked official status. There was substantial efforts at inter-racial harmony in Sedalia, Missouri where Joplin settled after a lengthy period as a wandering musician. His music was published and supported by John Stark, a white entrepeneur and he received encouragement from other white critics. When he moved to New York City, Joplin befriended and assisted in the publication of rags by Joseph Lamb, a gifted white composer of the music. Thus there was a great deal of complex interaction between black and white people in the origins and development of ragtime.

The book includes considerations of Joplin's childhood in Texas, his years as a wandering musician, his life in Sedalia which saw the publication of "Maple Leaf Rag" and other early successes, and his final years in New York. The discussion is informed by a great deal of consideration of American history which sometimes causes the book to lose focus. Dr Curtis shows well how Americans were fascinated by ragtime, although the music was subjected to severe and frequently racist opposition, due to the vicarious opportunity it offered to escape late 19th Century Victorian conventions, particularly those sexual in nature, and to liberate oneself.

I found the most insightful sections of Dr. Curtis's book were those that discussed Joplin's relationship with the African American community of his day. When he experienced a degree of success, Joplin moved to New York City but failed in his efforts to gain acceptance by many of the African American musicians and intellectuals in Harlem. Dr Curtis suggests that Joplin had experienced for himself the poverty and difficulty of life in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War while many of the Northern African American leaders, such as W.E.B. DuBois, had themselves received excellent educationas and knew this life only at second-hand. The best section of the book for me thus was Dr. Curtis's treatment of Joplin's failed opera Treemonisha, on which he lavished a great deal of attention following his move to New York. This folk-opera, in dialect (Joplin wrote his own libretto) was probably autobiographical in nature and described life in the rural South following the Civil War. It was out-of step with the then-beginning Harlem Rennaisance. Dr Curtis shows how ragtime showed disagreements within the African American community as well as occupying an ambiguous position in promoting black and white relationships.

The tone of the book is rather dry and academic. I found this unfortunate, scholarly as the book is, in that any book on ragtime or on music, scholarly or not, needs to sing to be effective. I found Dr. Curtis gave too little attention to the purely musical aspects of ragtime. The book has an extensive bibliography, good notes, and shows thought. Dr. Curtis sees ragtime as a step in the direction of an American culture which transcends racial lines and is shared by all Americans. She points out that this is a goal and ideal which has proved elusive and is worth pursuing by Americans today. By writing seriously about Scott Joplin and about ragtime, Dr Curtis's book may take a step in that direction.

Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination (Key Contemporary Thinkers)

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A superb and accessible contribution to Fanon scholarship

Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination (Key Contemporary Thinkers)
Nigel C. Gibson
Manufacturer: Polity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0745622615

Book Description

Frantz Fanon was a French psychiatrist turned Algerian revolutionary of Martinican origin, and one of the most important and controversial thinkers of the postwar period. A veritable "intellect on fire, " Fanon was a radical thinker with original theories on race, revolution, violence, identity and agency.This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas and legacy of Fanon. Gibson explores him as a truly complex character in the context of his time and beyond. He argues that for Fanon, theory has a practical task to help change the world. Thus Fanon 's "untidy dialectic, " Gibson contends, is a philosophy of liberation that includes cultural and historical issues and visions of a future society. In a profoundly political sense, Gibson asks us to reevaluate Fanon 's contribution as a critic of modernity and reassess in a new light notions of consciousness, humanism, and social change.This is a fascinating study that will interest undergraduates and above in postcolonial studies, literary theory, cultural studies, sociology, politics, and social and political theory, as well as general readers.

Customer Reviews:

A superb and accessible contribution to Fanon scholarship.......2003-09-12

With the publication of Nigel Gibson's 'Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination' we now have a third good book on Fanon to go with Lewis Gordon's 1995 'Fanon and the Crisis of European Man' and Ato Sekyi-Otu's 1996 'Fanon's Dialectic of Experience'.

Gibson's prose is elegant and clear and his book is, by far, the best introduction to Fanon's life and work. But it does much more than this. Gibson explains Fanon's theorization of racism and anti-racism through existential and pyschoanalytic theory, his exploration of the promises and dangers of both Negritude and nationalist resistance to colonialism and his thinking about intellectuals, nationalism and humanism. In each case Gibson is able to draw on an understated but expert knowledge of the philosophical and historical contexts in which Fanon wrote as well as the realities of contemporary Africa. The key idea that runs throughout the book is that of the dialectic. Gibson argues, persuasively, that there is an `unstable, critical, and creative element' at the heart of Fanon's thought that seeks to move through apparently `absolute, irreconcilable contradictions' by working in a critical and actional mode for reciprocal and critical agency in the `fluctuating movement' of the objectified towards humanity. This kind of analysis is what we would expect from any responsible engagement with Fanon's work and Gibson develops it very well. But he goes further and makes an original and significant contribution to thinking about Fanon by showing that for Fanon this kind of progress requires the development of a fighting culture.

Gibson works with this idea throughout his book but deals with it most explicitly in a chapter on Fanon's theorization of the lived experience of resistance in the Algerian revolution. Gibson shows that for Fanon military strategies must be subordinated to the political task of bringing into being a `whole universe of resistances'. In Mexico the Zapatista army uses its guns only to create the space for politics and in Durban the movements against disconnections and evictions use their legal arsenal in the same way. In each case the refusal of an elite politics is premised on the desire to develop radically democratic alternatives that are just too large, too multiple and too immediate to be co-opted or mediated. Gibson goes on to show that for Fanon this process requires a constant defense of imagination and creation of the spaces and attitudes necessary for self-creating cultural regeneration. Gibson also explores, in illuminating depth, how Fanon sees the openness, fluidity and instability of this kind of social movement as the key to transcending the Manichean binaries of both colonialism and many responses to it. So for example if colonialism employs its medical technologies in its project of domination the colonized will often develop a deep suspicion of these technologies. But when, in Fanon's words, the doctor is `sleeping on the ground with the men and women of the mechatas, living the drama of the people' then, in Gibson's words `lived experience...liberates and transgresses the restrictive physical and mental boundaries of the colonial...order.'

State seeks to mobilize particular nationalist discourses to produce good citizens - citizens who only take what they can afford and are obedient and docile in the face of the systematic and often violent exclusion of the poor from the means to life. Citizens, who, in other words, wait patiently for things to get better while they get worse. The World Bank, and its academics, journalists and NGOs, seek to mobilize a universalizing set of discourses to produce The Poor - a universal category of people
whose material circumstances are a consequence of the venality of other poor people, inefficiencies on the part of the state and the delusion that they are victims of larger structural forces. Overcoming this delusion and developing entrepreneurship and survivalist organizations that offer mutual support are presented as the only grounds for hope. As these ideological pincers close more tightly the courage and imagination recommended by Fanon and very eloquently explored by Nigel Gibson become ever more necessary and generative.

Nigel Gibson has made a superb and accessible contribution to the study of Fanon. There is no better introductory text and this book is also essential reading for the serious Fanon scholar. But don't let that rare achievement fool you into assuming that the rest of the titles in Polity's Key Contemporary Thinkers series are of equal value. Valerie Kennedy's book on Edward Said is miserably and irredeemably stunted. So it goes.

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Real People

Conservatives give this a look, here's why...

Keep on Cooking!

"Bet you're wondering how I knew, 'bout your plans . . ."

Political Gumbo

Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in America
Donna Brazile
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 074325399X

Amazon.com

Harvard professor, Washington power broker and former Gore 2000 campaign chair Donna Brazile's life might make for a pretty entertaining Hollywood movie if an actress could be found gutsy enough to take on such a complex and intimidating leading role. From humble blue-collar Louisiana beginnings as one of nine children, Brazile went on to organize voter registration drives, marches to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr., and ultimately national political campaigns. In her memoir Cooking With Grease, Brazile shares candid perspectives on her employers and causes. And while Mike Dukakis and Dick Gephardt fans will be pleased to know their men are included, it is the insights on the charismatic preacher/activist/presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and Al Gore, whom Brazile insists won the controversial 2000 election, that make this a must read for devotees of modern political history. Her accounts of being backstage in the Gore camp shed valuable light on the tense political climate of that year's election and post-election recount mess in a way that only a select few from either the Bush or Gore campaigns could legitimately offer. Still, none of the candidates shine quite so brightly in this book as the author herself. Washington is, after all, operated, with a few exceptions, by moneyed white men and for a black woman from a humble background to succeed requires determination, a quick wit, and a powerful intellect. As Brazile climbs the political ladder, those qualities come in to sharp relief. But while Cooking With Grease is inspirational, and Brazile really ought to be auctioning the film rights if she hasn't already done so, it doesn't preach, inspiring by example rather than exhorting the reader to follow Brazile's own course of action. --John Moe

Book Description

Cooking with Grease is an inspiring, behind-the-scenes memoir of the life and times of a tenacious political organizer and the first African-American woman to head a major presidential campaign.

Donna Brazile fought her first political fight at age nine -- campaigning (successfully) for a city council candidate who promised a playground in her neighborhood. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she committed her heart and her future to political and social activism. By the 2000 presidential election, Brazile had become a major player in American political history -- and she remains one of the most outspoken and forceful political activists of our day.

Brazile grew up one of nine children in a working-poor family in New Orleans, a place where talking politics comes as naturally as stirring a pot of seafood gumbo -- and where the two often go hand in hand. Growing up, she learned how to cook from watching her mother, Jean, stir the pots in their family kitchen. She inherited her love of reading and politics from her grandmother Frances. Her brothers Teddy Man and Chet worked as foot soldiers in her early business schemes and in her voter registration efforts as a child.

Cooking with Grease follows Donna's rise to greater and greater political and personal accomplishments. But each new career success came with its own kind of heartache, especially in her greatest challenge: leading Al Gore's 2000 campaign, making her the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign.

Cooking with Grease is an intimate account of Donna's thirty years in politics. Her witty style and innovative political strategies have garnered her the respect and admiration of colleagues and adversaries alike -- she is as comfortable trading quips with Karl Rove as she is with her Democratic colleagues. Her story is as warm and nourishing as a bowl of Brazile family gumbo.

Customer Reviews:

Real People.......2006-10-24

I had the chance to meet Ms. Brazile at a college graduation. She was the commencement speaker and I found her surprisingly down to earth and a good natured. The book adds to my opinion of her. As a woman in a man's world, she handled herself in good fashion.
Pick it up and enjoy!

Conservatives give this a look, here's why..........2006-05-24

"Cooking With Grease" will be interesting for any political junkie though obviously liberals will enjoy it far more than conservatives. Brazile gives a highly detailed inside look at how Democrats approach elections but a problem is her writing style, which sometimes obscures critical points. As she discusses Eleanor Norton's campaign, she says a tax problem was resolved thusly: "We decided to just write a check, no matter what the amount was..." Now doesn't that sound like the campaign paid the candidate's back taxes? In another case, she is describing the fact that the campaign staff is tense and needs some time for relaxation. She explains that campaigns are "notorious for sexual escapades and relationships." Then they (Brazile and Tony Coelho) plan a party for the campaign workers and "[t]he kids got down all night and so did Tony and I." Doesn't that seem to imply that she and Tony had an affair. Yet another passage left me scratching my head: "I decided to help Craig, the former campaign manager, line up clients to continue helping me out with my new duties." Does this mean she sent business Craig's way in order to increase his revenues so he would be available to help her in her campaign duties? I am sure she would be appalled to have given these impressions but couldn't she write more clearly?
Also, can someone get this woman a dictionary and explain to her that the word "literally" is not a contraction of "like, totally" as in a situation that was "literally down to the wire."
Conservatives will have a hard time getting through this book; I know I did. Brazile has a vision of America where people are perpetual victims in need of protection from the evil rich. She believes poverty and homelessness are uniquely Black issues (God help the White politician who says that.) She adores the electoral process until anyone other than Democrats want to play. For example, she boasts of her ability to assemble large crowds on short notice but derides Republicans for "bringing in people to create a mob-like atmosphere."
Brazile, or someone much like her, will be running Democratic campaigns in the near future. It will pay to understand how they think and what their tactics are like.
P.S. In true liberal fashion, my library copy has been annotated in pen.

Keep on Cooking!.......2005-05-28

This is a wonderful, informative book that tells it like it is. I've always enjoyed watching Ms. Brazile on CNN and her book made me like her even more. This memoir is so powerful and inspiring that it will make you want to run for public office, or at the very least, go out and register to vote!

Ms. Brazile is obviously a woman of passionate convictions and strong will--she would have had to be to fight her first successful political fight at the age of nine! A triumphant story about a woman who grew up poor only to become the first African-American woman to head a major presidential campaign, this should be a must-read for all high school and college students. Add it to your collection!

"Bet you're wondering how I knew, 'bout your plans . . .".......2005-04-01

Brazile is incredible. I am a fan of her. She is a movie star (sorry for the analogy, Donna) just for whom you would see the movie. Up from poverty, Harvard, the really high rollers! Wise, insightful person. I caught her at the Dade County Book Fair last November and was mesmerized. So there you are you Republican Goose Stepping, sexists! But . . . .

Too much rhetoric about the evil empire. If you can only win by telling the world that there's a conspiracy from the industrial, military, oil companies and facists in the TV studios hiding behind the bulk of the Rathers and the Brokaws, there's something wrong. We're adding 2+2 and coming up with 7. Come on. There's a problem. Let's solve it. Let's talk. You have all those states in the middle and they're all the same color. It may irritate you. May make you livid. But let's not use that tired rhetoric from the sixties. Please.

I remember a video of Al Gore in the 2000 campaign accepting a bag of money from a Buddist Monk somewhere in California. Later he said he didn't know what it was (probably not a baloney sandwich bag lunch Al) and still later he was confused as to why he was there in the first pace. But the thing I remember was the look on his face. You want to see the same look? Dig up in the archives the picture of Gary Hart in 1988, 20 points ahead of his closest candidate competitor, sitting on the yacht in the Atlantic with the breathtaking Donna Rice on his lap. It's the look of . . . is that a camera?

So I am a huge fan of Ms. Brazile and I root for her and if she ever makes it to Ann Arbor, I'm there. I just find it tedious for our National electorate ON BOTH SIDES to throw Molotov Cocktails at eachother, and then deny it.

Brazille is brilliant although she's still spinning. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Political Gumbo.......2005-02-06

The 2000 Presidential election was a devastating experience for the Democratic Party and for the country. Voting irregularities and dirty politics blazed the trail to the White House for George W. Bush. As the Democrats struggled to recover from an election that was ultimately decided by the United States Supreme Court, Donna Brazile, the manager of the Gore-Lieberman campaign, pondered her political future. She had made history as the first black person to head a major presidential campaign, now it was time to pick up the pieces and decide what was next in her life. Ultimately she would turn to her humble beginnings for support and guidance.

Donna Lease Brazile was born December 15, 1959, in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of nine children in a poor working class family that was low on money but rich in pride and intelligence. She started her illustrious political career at the age of nine and never looked back. Donna went from registering people to vote in her neighborhood to planning marches to have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday declared a national holiday. However, her key role has been twofold: to get out the black vote during elections and to make sure that the black vote is not taken for granted by the Democratic party. She takes the political process very seriously and wants to bring the same keen awareness to others.

COOKING WITH GREASE: Stirring the Pots in American Politics by Donna Brazile is the true story of an enterprising and determined woman whose passion for politics and for her people propelled her to lead a major campaign. She is a great storyteller and the fact that each chapter was named after a tasty New Orleans dish made reading this book even more enjoyable. I am very inspired by the author's story and I am much more motivated to become a part of the political process.

Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

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