Life in Biblical Israel (Library of Ancient Israel)

Customer Reviews:

Life in Biblical Israel.......2006-10-23

Abstract

Life in Biblical Israel (King & Stager, 2001) is an attempt recreate the daily lives of the common people of Iron Age Israel during the pre-exilic period of 1200 to 586 B.C. The authors draw from a vast array of archeological sources, using the text of the Hebrew Scriptures as the main framework of reference for their presentation of life in Iron Age Israel.

The authors are exceptionally well qualified as they are subject matter experts in archeology, ancient Israelite culture and Biblical literature. Philip J. King is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Boston College, and he is currently Director of the Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications. Lawrence E. Stager is Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel, Harvard University. Professor Stager directs the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon in Israel.

Aspects Of Excellence

The text is not written to the layman per se, but presumes a level of academic skill on the part of the reader. That having been said, the section A Day in Micah's Household (King & Stager, 2001, p. 12-19) is a delightful read for the layman and scholar alike. This section is an "...imaginative account of life in Micah's household based on Judges 17-18." (King & Stager, p. 12).

The author's describe the aspects of daily life in meticulous detail. Little of what a common person would do in this exotic and bygone land seems to have been left out. Subjects from weddings to warfare, from baking bread to smelting bronze, are presented in concise synopsis; and always the authors relate the information to the Hebrew Scriptures.

The new insights, into daily life of the biblical Israelite, describe a culture and technology that is much more sophisticated than has often been depicted by non-canonical Church narratives and the secular media. Israel was at the crossroads of the main land route from Mesopotamia to Egypt. Thus Israel was an important segment of the main land bridge linking Europe, Asia and Africa. Judah, however, was a bit off the beaten path of the major international roadways; the Way of the Sea (Via Maris) and the King's Highway (King & Stager, 2001, p. 176). This geographical reality made Israel a strategic military holding, which helps to explain the constant warfare in the region. The roads brought not only conquering armies, but commerce, knowledge and exposure to outside cultures.

The technologies of the Israelites included sophisticated underground water systems of springs, pools, wells, cisterns, and underground tunnels carved in solid rock to supply their cities and agriculture. One of the most famous of these systems is the Gihon Spring which feeds Hezekiah's tunnel and the pools in Jerusalem (2Ki 20:20). International trade often used standardized shipping jars, these so called "Canaanite Jar's" were about thirty liters and were constructed to within a 10% tolerance (King & Stager, 2001, p. 146). The book includes many similar examples of a technology and culture well advanced from the simple nomadic/agricultural Israelite society that is often presented in our modern world.

A Predilection For Denial Of Scriptural Integrity

The authors do not hold to the inerrancy of scripture. They openly subscribe to the JEPD (Jaweh, Elohiym, Priestly and Deuteronomistic) authorship of the Hebrew scripture (King & Stager, 2001, p. 2-3). The authors do make a pretense of attempting to be scientifically objective. Their bias, however, comes out in various comments and presentations, and the book suffers fatally from this prejudice.

When reading an archelogical text that deals with biblical Israel, there is always an expectation of data that appears to discredit Scripture. Such data is seldom problematic to the Christian and Jewish faithful, as scientific "proofs" that repudiate scripture are themselves eventually repudiated as knowledge of the subject advances. The authors give several examples of such "proofs" being repudiated era." ; "... we find a number of correlations of biblical lore, contemporary extra biblical inscriptions, and archaeology that cumulatively lead us to reject the current notions of those critics who consider "biblical Israel" to be a late fiction created in the fourth-second centuries B.C.E. as an expression of the Jewish experience of that era.(King & Stager, 2001, p. 3).
"...in light of the foregoing, this can now be explained as an injunction for those who have accepted the Egyptian circumcision to "improve" on the ritual by undergoing a thorough removal of the foreskin." (King & Stager, 2001, p. 45).

Disparaging comments like "The preposterous patriarchal ages are the ideal not the reality." (King & Stager, 2001, p. 58) and "...in an example of fictive kinship, Perez is later identified as an ancestor of David..." can be accepted as an anticipated incubus when reading scientific texts. Unfortunately, the author's comments impugning the veracity of the Hebrew texts add nothing of value to the presentation of the subject matter. Indeed, these often tangential trajectories from the objective to the subjective bring the specter of lurking parochial underpinnings to the conclusions made by the authors.

The authors' stated intent was to elucidate the Biblical texts using contemporary extra biblical text and archaeology (King & Stager, 2001, p. xix). It is impossible to accept that the authors could keep their personal bias out of their postulations if they were unable to keep their personal bias out of their text. This bias is extremely unfortunate, for if the authors had been able to present their data objectively, such information could have been of incalculable value to the Church in understanding and truth testing.

Conclusion
A parochially nuanced presentation of objective data always becomes problematic in the acceptance of any of the postulates of any author.

Most of the work is scholarly and the pictures are informative, but read at your own risk.

too superficial.......2006-06-03

I purchased this book hoping to learn more of the daily life of ancient palestine. It is true that the book makes an extensive coverage of this subject ( food and its preparation, cereals, grains... how people dressed, jewelry, family order, houses and villages, etc. ) and with plenty of photographic material (in this the book excels many others ) but nevertheless it doesn't seem sufficient, on almost each of the chapters I was left with the feeling that the book lacked of something, maybe I expected it to be more centered on how life was organized, read the temple and the palace, economy is not really covered either. The style of the writters maybe considered very easy to follow, like if you were reading a tale, this may not necessarily be bad, on the contrary, but you may end wanting it to be more like other scholar works, more "dry". Read carefully the index and some excerpts and decide wether it is what you are looking for or not. Hope this review may help you.

A personal perspective.......2006-02-20

Very informative material for the Bible student or even anyone interested in the ancient past of the Holy Land. Good use of Scripture within to highlight archaeological relevance. The only drawback is the authors' subscription to the JEDP theory of Biblical authorship.

Pushes the edge of our knowledge of the Bible and Israel.......2003-03-06

There are many gems in this book that will explain otherwise difficult biblical texts. The authors are interested in using the latest archaeological data to shed light on the Scriptures (see, for example, King's earlier commentary on Jeremiah). It will take time for all of the information in this book to make it into popular biblical commentaries (it is cutting edge information, as the authors themselves are active archaeologists). This book is a concentrated collection of journal quality insights written at a popular level.

Before I bought this book, I heard one of the co-authors (Dr. Stager of Harvard) lecture on his contribution to the book. He is a master investigator of the ancient near eastern ideas of temple and garden. Stager brilliantly communicates how Israel's Temple and Garden Story relate to (and are informed by) their original contexts. Adjective fail me, I can only say that his work is staggering.

I would be remiss if I did not make this plug: the pictures alone are worth the price of the book. The book is printed completely on photo quality paper with full color images throughout.

This book is a must have for any student of archaeology, the Bible or Israel.

Review of Life in Biblical Israel.......2002-08-29

Though written for the layperson, this book is still an excellent resource for the scholar in Bible, ancient Near Eastern studies, or any study of culture. Life in Biblical Israel describes the setting of the Hebrew Bible, but not in terms of wars, leaders, and elite society. Professors King and Stager recognize, like Fernand Braudel and Annales historians, that a large part of society is often neglected by its own histories. Thus, they seek to describe how that silent majority lived their everyday lives. The authors of Life in Biblical Israel attempt to describe all of the aspects of the lifeways of the Israelites - how they produced their food, built their houses, procured water, defended their cities, organized their society, kept themselves healthy, expressed themselves through clothing, art, and music, and how they interacted with the divine.

For those skeptical of the Bible's credibility, the book may seem to be a simple attempt to draw archaeological correlations, that is artifactual evidence, for Biblical terminology. Certainly, the book does this, but not out of any theological or apologetic attempt to prove the Bible as accurate. Accepting that the archaeological record and the Bible provide two types of descriptions of the same society, King and Stager gather all of the information they can from both sources. The many photographs and drawings in the book show many examples from the archaeological source. A quick glance at the Scriptural Index at the back of the book shows how thoroughly the authors combed the Biblical text. At the same time, the authors use each source to supplement the defficiencies of the other. For example, artifacts can often be identified as to their uses, but they have no names in their native languages, and how they are used is often not known. King and Stager do an excellent job with the details of exactly how the ancient people accomplished what they did.

There have been very few other attempts to so document ancient Israel as a cultural and social entity. Previous works using both the textual and archaeological evidence in concert mostly have focused on one aspect of the culture, usually something relevant to the upper classes or the political or military establishment. Others have subsumed their archaeological and biblical discussion beneath other arguments, in which case they have reduced the amount of evidence and increased the number of conclusions to be drawn. King and Stager, on the other hand, have written a book which deals primarily with the culture of all of Israel as expressed through its material and literary remains; they have no other axe to grind, and they present more data and fewer conclusions. Instead they are working first and foremost to describe as best they can how people lived in the Iron Age in Israel.

This book will serve as an excellent textbook both in archaeology and Bible courses. It can also serve as a reference work both for the layperson and the scholar interested in either subject. Perhaps the best reason to use this book, however, is that it succeeds in its aim of portraying the details of ancient Israelite life. The many illustrations truly enable readers to visualize each aspect of the culture.

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Stunning !

magnificent

Absorbs the reader into the clash of culture past

History Comes Alive!

Bloodline of Kings: A Novel of Philip of Macedon
Thomas Sundell
Manufacturer: Crow Woods Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0966587189

Book Description

'A Bloodline of Kings' is a historical novel set in Macedonia between 383 and 356 b.c. The protagonist is Philippos (Philip of Macedon) who achieves security for Macedonia, which his father, King Amuntas, and his brothers failed to do. The family saga is complicated by the mother who was the lover and later the wife of a rival for the kingdom. Philippos is the father of Alexander the Great. He surpassed his son in his ability to rule the land he conquered, and set the stage for his son's conquests.

Customer Reviews:

Stunning !.......2005-09-02

An absolutely stunning book, extremely well written and researched about a man who's fame would be obscured by his more famous son.

The detail is impressive but never bogs the story down:the characters are well developed and the whole story is like an amazingly well woven and rich tapestry.

If you like historical fiction and/or ancient history, you'll love this book.

I really hope Mr. Sundell will someday continue the story with another book !

magnificent.......2003-04-07

So rare to see in historical fiction a work that gets the things right: the historical facts, the social atmosphere, and the characters. But this book achieved in all three...

My original decision to buy the hardcover copy of a previously unknown author was mainly because I am fascinated by Philip and Alexander of Macedon, while there are so many books about the son; the father has been relatively ignored by fiction writers.

This book turned out to be one of the best historical novels I have read (if not THE best). Because of the author's expertise in ancient warfare, I am not surprised to find the vivid account of battles and the military genius of Philip of Macedon. Beyond the military stuff, the book gives excellent description of the geological, religious, economical, and social realities of that era. This book brings me back in time more than 2,000 years ago, among the Macedonians and Greeks, I can feel and understand their environment, their beliefs, their everyday life, and their struggles; each men and women are creatures of their own time but have meanings for eternity. Among them the most vivid character of all is Philip of Macedon. This is the way a historical fiction should be: as accurate as historical textbook while at the same time vivid and fascinating as telling a great story. You feel you are there, as the history unfolds itself...

...The only problem? The book stopped at Alexander's birth. There are twenty more years of great battle and conquering that follows before Philip's death; I really hope this book has a sequel.

Absorbs the reader into the clash of culture past.......2002-04-12

Thomas Sundell's A Bloodline Of Kings is a superbly crafted historical fiction novel set in the fourth century B.C., and is the story of Philip of Macedon, who in many ways forever altered the world of the Greeks and set the stage for his legendary son Alexander. A riveting book of rivalry and kingship vs. Athenian democracy, A Bloodline Of Kings is filled with conflict from between two men to between disparate ways of life. A fascinating and involving novel that absorbs the reader into the clash of culture past, A Bloodline Of Kings is highly recommended reading from beginning to end!

History Comes Alive!.......2002-02-21

While Alexander the Great is widely known as a general and conqueror, his father, Philip, has remained a footnote. This novel takes that footnote and brings him to life. Philip is presented to us as an intelligent, thoughtful boy who grows to young manhood. But, more importantly, the entire spectrum of life in ancient Greece, the world of Macedonia and the tribulations and ambitions of those who ruled or wished to rule, are brought vividly to life.

These are more than history book characters. That's why I liked the book so much. They spoke and acted like real people. They loved and hated with an intensity that stayed with me.

Historical novels such as this one take history and present it with all the relevance of today, the panaromic view of a movie, and the incisiveness of cafe table gossip.

Book Description

New perspectives on three centuries of Indian presence in New England.

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The Prequel to Empire...
Great Introduction to the Roman Republic
An excellent quick overview of the Roman Republic
Fascinating coffee table reading
Bad proofing

Chronicle of the Roman Republic
Philip Matyszak
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0500051216

Book Description

This book in the Chronicles series examines the succession of kings, consuls, and tribunes who took Rome from a small fortified hilltop to the greatest empire of antiquity. Here we meet the builders of Rome—at times superstitious, brutal, and utterly uncompromising, they were also capable of acting with great honor and unflinching bravery. The Roman Republic was one of the most civilized societies in the ancient world, ruled by elected officials whose power was checked by a constitution so well crafted that it inspired the founding fathers of the United States of America.

Philip Matyszak describes fifty-seven of the foremost Romans of the Republic, spanning the centuries from its birth to its bloody death. In this history we see the best and worst of the Roman elite: Licinius Crassus, a kind father and loving husband who crucified captured slaves by the thousands, or Cato the Censor, upright and incorruptible, xenophobic and misogynistic. Some families run through this history—the proud Claudians, the cultured Scipios, the noble Valerians—while others make but a single appearance on the stage.

Illustrated with a wealth of pictorial and archaeological detail, together with firsthand anecdotes from contemporary writers, these personal histories provide an overview of the development and expansion of Rome, encompassing foreign and civil wars as well as social strife and key legislation. The biographies are supplemented by time lines and data files as well as special features highlighting different aspects of Roman culture and society. 320 illustrations, 110 in color.

Customer Reviews:

The Prequel to Empire..........2007-05-17

Many have forged analogies between the empire of ancient Rome and the modern United States. According to some, the current decline of the USA mirrors, or at least shares some salient features with, the decline and fall of Rome. Of course such analogies have one major flaw, namely, that Rome didn't fall until long after it became an empire with a dictatorial emperor at its helm. But before Rome saw the likes of Caligula and Nero, it was a Republic ruled by an elected Senate with an hierarchy of various offices. Roman citizens, rich land-owning men, had voting rights and were, relatively speaking, "free men." In essence, the Roman Republic was a limited democracy with officials representing the citizenry, governmental checks and balances, and codified laws. Most, if not all, of that changed when the Emperor Augustus, adopted heir of Julius Caesar, gained supreme power following the Battle of Actium. The current United States resembles the Roman Republic far more than the subsequent Roman Empire. As such, modern Americans have far more to learn from the 27 BC fall of the Roman Republic than from the 476 AD fall of the (western) Roman Empire. Analogies between the USA and Rome should then start, and hopefully end, with the ill-fated Roman Republic.

"Chronicle of the Roman Republic" provides a good starting point for learning about this influential ancient government. But it goes further. Before the time of the Roman Republic looms the time of pre-historic legend. Here history mingles with myth and facts remain hard to substantiate. Blame the Gauls. They sacked the then miniscule city around 387 BC and destroyed most of the records. All that remained were fables speckled with bits of fact. Better than nothing. The book opens in this murky fog in which gods influenced human behavior and lineage. Rome's first rulers, in the time of legend, were Kings, and the book starts with the eponymous fratricidal Romulus. This first section also covers, via text box inserts, the Sabine women, the Palatine, Vestal Virgins, The Twelve Tables, the Etruscans, and the end of the rule of kings during the reign of Tarquin the Proud following the rape of Lucretia and the subsequent uprising lead by Lucius Iunius Brutus. The rest of the book delineates the rulers, or elected Consuls, of the Roman Republic right up to the final Consul, Octavian, who became the Emperor Augustus. Along the way the book covers the general culture of ancient Rome, its enemies including the Gladiator Spartacus, three Punic wars, and the gradual dissolution of the Republic. Around 80 BC Sulla Felix figured out that a strong army could overturn the will of the Roman Senate. He used one to become dictator. Sadly, others followed this example, including the infamous Julius Caesar, with whom the book deals at length. After the section on the Ides of March, the book concludes "History has been kinder to Caesar than he deserves." The final section leads up to the total collapse of the Republic with luminous names such as Brutus, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Cicero, and Octavian. Civil war, conspiracies, and power struggles changed the 500 year old Republic into an Empire under the absolute rule of an Emperor.

"Chronicle of the Roman Republic" serves as the prequel to "Chronicle of the Roman Emporers," also published by Thames and Hudson. Together they cover the entire reign of Rome, from its founding in the 8th century BC to its demise in 476 AD. Rome often gets a bad rap as a barbaric and morally infantile regime, but it laid many of the foundations for what we now consider "free" societies. The books present the Roman story with accompanying eye-catching graphics, illustrations, and photographs. Throughout, the text remains accessible to newcomers and those just dabbling in Roman history. Ultimately, Rome's story provides an ominous example to modern day democracies. "Rule by the people," no matter how deeply cherished, remains forever vulnerable to power and brute force. Knowing the how and why behind an ancient toppled Republic, as revealed in these excellent volumes, may help prevent history from repeating itself in the present.

Great Introduction to the Roman Republic.......2006-09-17

The history of the Roman republic--a story about how one city in Italy overthrew a monarchy, conquered her neighbors, united Italy, defeated all her rivals in the Mediterranean, and descended into civil war and ultimately monarchy again--presents a formidable challenge to any beginner. The republic itself was a political entity so complex it bewildered foreigners and Romans alike. Its magistrates--a dazzling succession of consuls, suffect consuls, dictators, praetors, aediles, tribunes and special commissioners stretching over nearly 500 years--were too numerous for even the Romans (who were otherwise quite happy to list these sorts of things) to bother recording them all. Finally, the evidence of who these men were and what, when, where, and why they did what they did lies scattered across coins, temple inscriptions, grave markers, bronze tablets, pottery sherds, and written histories that as often seek to justify as to inform. To reconstruct this fragmentary and sometimes unreliable evidence into an integrated narrative is far too daunting for even the most intelligent and motivated student, which is why anyone interested in beginning to take up the task should begin with The Chronicle of the Roman Republic by Philip Matyszak.

Dr. Philip 'Maty' Matyszak, an Oxford-educated historian and author of Enemies of Rome from Hannibal to Atilla the Hun, Sons of Caesar: Rome's Julio-Claudian Emperors, and the eagerly-awaited Political Sociology of the Roman Republic from Sulla to Augustus, has written a highly-readable, entertaining, and informative chronicle of the leading magistrates of the Roman republic. In 231 pages, Matyszak narrates the lives of 57 Roman leaders, beautifully embellished with 293 illustrations (98 in color), including maps, military diagrams, photographs of modern sites, coins, gems, mosaics, portrait sculptures, ancient weapons, ships, household artifacts, inscriptions, and modern paintings depicting Republican themes (such as the deputation to Cincinnatus and the suicide of Cato).

After a brief introduction covering "Republican Virtues" and "The Rise of Rome", the Chronicle is organized into four parts: the regal period, the founding of the republic, the wars of expansion, and the era of Caesar. The basic units of each section are devoted to a single Roman leader, including the famous (Scipio, Marius, Sulla, Cicero, Caesar, Brutus), the should-be-famous (Poplicola, Camillus, Marcellus, Livius Drusus, Sertorius), the historically important (Appius Claudius, Flamininus, the Gracchi), the notorious (Flaminius, Galba, Saturninus, Clodius), the legendary (Romulus and Remus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Servius Tullius), and of course those figures of Roman virtus (Horatius Cocles, Cincinnatus, Regulus, and someone the author calls "Cato the Stoic") who defined the Republic for many generations of students. Helpfully, each of the 57 figures are placed on a proper timeline, and they are listed with basic genealogical facts, offices held, principal achievements, and manner of death. The sum of all this is like a highly approachable and chronologically arranged version of Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (or, if you prefer, National Geographic meets Broughton's Magistrates of the Roman Republic).

Strangely, although the Chronicle comes to an end, it does not actually have an ending--no epilogue putting these lives into an overarching context. This is regrettable. The author's introduction contains a number of interesting claims that attempt to name the essence of the republican character ("They were hard men -- prudish, superstitious, brutal, and utterly uncompromising. And they were also unflinchingly, sometimes suicidally, brave. ... They were intolerant of weakness, exploiting it in others and despising it in themselves. They won their wars simply because, to this arrogant nation, the concept of defeat was literally unthinkable") and to trace the causes of the decline of the republic ("conquered peoples and freed slaves were welcomed into the ranks of citizens. When this policy of inclusiveness changed, the consequences led directly to the fall of the Republic"). Yet by the end, we have so many examples of the sexually shameless, the irreligious, and even the compromising (Caesar, Clodius, and Cicero readily come to mind), what are we to make of the generalizations in the introduction? Here an epilogue would have been quite helpful.

To be sure, the Chronicle does provide much of the context needed to understand the lives of our republican leaders, but it does this using a strategy that yields mixed outcomes. The basic technique is one that has always enjoyed wide use in popular magazines and has now become ubiquitous in college textbooks--viz., the "special feature" cut-away, those little boxes of text on seemingly random topics that interrupt the narrative and divide one's attention. To be sure, it's very nice to have listed the principal historical sources (Livy and so forth), the offices of the Roman constitution, and the Twelve Tables. Also, discussing the Twelve Tables in the context of Appius Claudius the Decemvir, Roman roads in the context of Appius Claudius the Blind, and Stoicism in the context of "Cato the Stoic" certainly seems reasonable enough. However, the placement of many special features make less sense. For example, "Trade and the Roman Aristocracy" interrupts the discussion of Livius Drusus to no good effect, whereas it could have been quite useful when introducing the lex Flaminia or discussing Cato the Elder. Why, in the context of Tiberius Gracchus, we should learn how to don a toga still mystifies me, though in the context of his brother Gaius, the special feature on the publicani was quite apt. Again, the section on Pompey is strangely interrupted by a cut-away on gladiators (and not even because he mentions that Pompey had a real taste for the games), whereas the section on Crassus (who fought a whole army of gladiators) has only a small picture of an archaic one. For this cut-away strategy, it's hard to know whether to blame the author or not: sometimes editors can be such unconscionable populares.

Although the Chronicle is a very good introduction to the men, events, and society of the Roman republic, its biographical approach needlessly omits much regarding the moral and philosophical ideas that motivated these men. With the exception of the influence of Stoicism on Cato the Younger, one seldom gets the impression that the Romans thought very much or very deeply about where they were going, why they were going there, and what fundamentally they were fighting about. Then (as now) ideas mattered: at the root of many social conflicts was a culture clash (e.g., between Hellenism and the agrarian mos maiorum), and for the Romans whose civitas justified (at least in their own eyes) the annihilation of iron age tribes, it would have been nice to have heard a bit from the men who distinguished the Romans from such expansionist tribes as the Huns. The polymath Varro, the philosopher Lucretius, the poet Catullus, and comedian Plautus must have expressed what some of the leading Romans thought of themselves, their world, and their colleagues, and their voices must be considered at least as important as the method for donning a toga.

With only these two criticisms, however, I couldn't recommend either a better introduction to the Republic or a more enjoyable reference work for even the well-read Romanophile.

An excellent quick overview of the Roman Republic.......2006-03-03

This book is small enough, at fewer than 240 pages of text, that the reader is able to finish it quickly enough to obtain a good overview of the history of the Roman Republic that could not be easily obtained from a larger or more detailed text. The major historical figures are discussed in groups of three to five interacting contemporaries, their images are provided from sculptures and coins, and the historical and cultural contexts are provided at the proper level of detail so that the reader is not bogged down yet is given enough information to make the text useful. From the perspective provided by this book, I was amazed to learn of the seemingly constant little wars and battles, interspersed among the larger ones, some consuming the lives of tens of thousands of men. Hardly any of these men (there apparently are no Roman women acting on the political or military stage) were not involved in more or less overt political machinations and maneuverings, to say nothing of the assassinations of rivals. It's a wonder that some of them lived as long as they did. The author puts it all in good perspective.

Fascinating coffee table reading.......2005-02-24

This book is a truly enjoyable book, summarizing the history and mythology of the early Roman Empire. Unlike many works on the topic, it does not attempt to get too scholarly or erudite, but just puts out what is important. I particularly like the attitude of the author of pointing out areas which are more likely legend than fact, but illustrating their importance as a manifestation of what the Romans believed.

Chock full of modules, photos, drawings, and graphics, this is an ideal sourcebook that can be read in one long siting, from time to time, or simply as a resource. The best thing about the book is it contains numerous tidbits of Roman history that relate to the Modern World and convert into excellent cocktail party or watercooler talk. Wonder how the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold began ? Read the chapter on the Sabine Women. Curious about the naming of the months ? The derivation of a "sardonic grin" ? "candidate: ? I am just tipping the iceberg, here. Everything from the Punic Wars, to the operation of the Roman government, to how to wear a toga is in here. Enjoy and learn.

Bad proofing.......2005-01-22

Matyszak is an excellent and erudite author, and this is one of his best efforts. I am however, surprised that an obvious error was allowed to slip past the editors and into print. On page seven there is a photo of the Roman forum as seen through what is obviously the center arch of the Arch of Septimius Severus. The view, however, is described in the adjacent annotation as "...a view through the Arch of Tiberius...." There is not now, nor has there ever been, an Arch of Tiberius in the forum or anywhere else in Rome of which I am aware.

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity

Average customer rating:

how we came to be us
a misleading polemic, not a history
worth reading
And this mess won a Bancroft?
Not a history

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity
Jill Lepore
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375702628
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Amazon.com

In 1675, tensions between Native Americans and colonists residing in New England erupted into the brutal conflict that has come to be known as King Philip's War, named after Philip, the leader of the Wampanoag Indians. Jill Lepore's book is an evocative and insightful study of America's recollection and understanding of one of the bloodiest wars to take place on its soil.

Lepore, an assistant professor of history at Boston University, depicts the horrors of this conflict, from gruesome tortures to the massacre of women and children, so explicitly barbaric that the term "war" barely applies. An underlying theme of her narrative is that this unfortunate battle only served to strengthen the boundaries of cultural difference between the Native Americans and colonists, setting a rigid foundation for the many years of enmity between Indians and Anglos that would ensue.

Skillfully drawing on accounts of substance from participants on both sides, Lepore presents a balanced overview of the causes and effects of this conflict and the reverberations it would have over the centuries to follow, ultimately revealing that how a past event is interpreted is often just as important as the event itself.

Book Description

Winner of the the 1998 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award of the Phi Beta Kappa Society

King Philip's War, the excruciating racial war--colonists against Indians--that erupted in New England in 1675, was, in proportion to population, the bloodiest in American history. Some even argued that the massacres and outrages on both sides were too horrific to "deserve the name of a war."

It all began when Philip (called Metacom by his own people), the leader of the Wampanoag Indians, led attacks against English towns in the colony of Plymouth. The war spread quickly, pitting a loose confederation of southeastern Algonquians against a coalition of English colonists. While it raged, colonial armies pursued enemy Indians through the swamps and woods of New England, and Indians attacked English farms and towns from Narragansett Bay to the Connecticut River Valley. Both sides, in fact, had pursued the war seemingly without restraint, killing women and children, torturing captives, and mutilating the dead. The fighting ended after Philip was shot, quartered, and beheaded in August 1676.

The war's brutality compelled the colonists to defend themselves against accusations that they had become savages. But Jill Lepore makes clear that it was after the war--and because of it--that the boundaries between cultures, hitherto blurred, turned into rigid ones. King Philip's War became one of the most written-about wars in our history, and Lepore argues that the words strengthened and hardened feelings that, in turn, strengthened and hardened the enmity between Indians and Anglos. She shows how, as late as the nineteenth century, memories of the war were instrumental in justifying Indian removals--and how in our own century that same war has inspired Indian attempts to preserve "Indianness" as fiercely as the early settlers once struggled to preserve their Englishness.

Telling the story of what may have been the bitterest of American conflicts, and its reverberations over the centuries, Lepore has enabled us to see how the ways in which we remember past events are as important in their effect on our history as were the events themselves.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

how we came to be us.......2007-06-26

One of the most interesting, thought-provoking books I have read. The scholarship is impressive, the prose lucid, the presentation of a conflict that has more than two sides is commendably fair. The book is a real eye-opener. And it has the excitement of a detective story, as Lepore tracks changes in white American attitudes toward native Americans through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. I read this alongside Philbrick's recent bestseller Mayflower, which gives a very good running accout of King Philip's War, and look forward to reading other books about this crucial time in the country's history, a time when piety and violence started their enduring relationship.

a misleading polemic, not a history.......2006-11-26

It's said that the second historian was the first revisionist. In other words, to some extent any and every telling of history reveals as much about the historian as it does the history. But for as much as the telling of history is always interpretive, it is also entirely possible for an historian to confront, recognize, and largely neutralize her own interpretive biases; while she need not abandon or apologize for her point of view, nevertheless it is her responsibility to present all the relevant historical facts -- especially those that might cast doubt upon her interpretations and agendas -- and then argue her case with all of the relevant information on the table. That is the difference between interpretive history and deceptive or misleading polemic.

Lepore accomplishes only polemic here, then, in that she presents as supporting evidence for her biases only her own highly questionable interpretations of the semantics of the colonists' own writings on King Philip's War. She is hermeneutically daft, asserting a self-contained truth within those writings that is simply absurd. Texts (especially in the case of the very personal diary entries, private letters, and firsthand accounts that constitute the overwhelming majority of the colonists' writings on King Phillip's War) do not and cannot contain some absolute, inescapable meaning that imposes itself upon the reader. Texts communicate their real meaning only when referred to the indigenous contexts (social, political, religious, philosophical, linguistic, psychological, etc.) that produced them; when removed from those contexts and read in ignorance of them, the reader must of necessity substitute the contexts and agendas of her own experience for the authentic contexts, so that the texts will appear to have radically different meanings than they really do -- they will seem to mean whatever the interpreter wants them to mean.

And what does Lepore want the Puritans' writings to mean? What is her agenda here? Essentially, it is portray the Puritan colonists of 17th century Massachusetts as despicable hypocrites. Now, as I said, if that's her agenda and her bias, that's fine; but it is acceptable for her to present the conclusions born of that agenda and bias as history only on the condition that they are argued in light of all the evidence that might call them into question. Lepore fails on this count. Again, she confines the supporting evidence she provides for her theses to her own highly speculative interpretations of the colonists' writings; as other reviewers have noted here, then, this book is much closer to deconstructionist literary criticism than it is to history. She misses the forest for the trees: she makes no attempt to check her interpretive biases against the broader historical narrative that is the context of King Phillip's War.

For example, in 1622 the natives around the Jamestown settlements in Virginia attempted to eradicate the presence of the colonists, through a surprise act of genocide that followed eight years of peaceful coexistence. The attack ultimately resulted in the deaths of two-thirds of the roughly 1200 colonists in Virginia at the time, and sent a powerful shock through the other New World colonies and their groups of sponsors across the Atlantic. The natives committed their genocide at Jamestown only two years after the Plymouth colony was founded; it is unquestionable, then, that from the earliest years onward the Massachusetts colonists' attitudes toward their native neighbors would have been colored (and rightly so) by a great deal of suspicion and mistrust in light of the knowledge of what the Virginia natives had done to the Jamestown settlers -- only fifty years before King Phillip attempted essentially the same thing. Yet Lepore never once mentions the genocide in Virginia, and does not recognize its immense significance for the relations of the English and the natives in Massachusetts fifty years later.

To name another example, Lepore offers no analysis whatsoever of the nature of the Puritan faith of the Massachusetts colonists, and how that faith affected their conduct in the war. She does mention their faith in a non-specific way, when it serves to imply a monstrous hypocrisy on the part of the colonists; but never is an astute or sympathetic understanding of their religion presented, and since the early Massachusetts colonies were communities of an almost monastic fervor, devotion, and asceticism, Lepore simply ignores an immensely important factor in their motives and reasoning during King Phillip's War. In its place, she asserts that the colonists fought to preserve their "Englishness;" in support of this idea, she presents some diary entries and editorials of the day in which the colonists wrote of their fear of becoming like the savages, should their common life in the New World continue in the direction they thought it was headed. But it seems perfectly clear to me that Lepore has grossly misinterpreted those writings. The colonists did not actually think that their assimilation into the native culture and way of life was real possibility: the warning that they might "become like the savages" was not a cultural apprehension of theirs, but rather the sort of hyperbole so often used in Christian homilies and catechisms and pastoral essays intended to exhort the faithful. The Massachusetts Puritans were not afraid of becoming Indians. They were afraid of losing their faith, losing the Christian path through life that they had sacrificed so much to preserve. They were afraid of any compromise or waning of the Christian zeal and austerity of their near-monastic lives. After all, it was in order to preserve the Christian life that they had left England in the first place, decades earlier: they had first settled in Holland after the English anathematized them, and then left for the New World when they saw their faith diluted by worldly comforts and distractions while living on the Continent. So to me, the idea that they fought the natives in King Phillip's War to defend their "Englishness" is simply preposterous. Englishness was something they had willingly left behind to purse their religion, and played no more of a role in most of their lives and motives than that of superficial, sentimental cultural orientation. I think it's deceptive for Lepore even to pose the question, "why were the English really fighting?" as though it requires some subtle expert analysis: the colonists fought the natives because the natives were trying to kill them... it's as simple as that.

There are many more examples of Lepore's highly selective consideration of the historical record, and highly questionable reasoning and interpretation. But it is not possible to argue them satisfactorily in a review such as this, of course: to respond adequately I would have to write a book of my own (as I've already made a good beginning of doing), taking Lepore point by point. One thing I'll grant her is that she presents her source material openly, with no attempt to conceal certain passages that might be interpreted any number of other ways than those she has chosen. But again, the biases and misunderstanding that a 21st century American will inevitably bring to any reading of texts produced by 17th century Puritans render any approach to understand their conduct of King Phillip's War solely by a consideration of those documents a myopic, naïve, misguided effort, and doomed to failure.

worth reading.......2005-10-03

Life in 17C North America involved war -- a brutal reality dutifully recorded from contemporary sources by the author and a very few others. It's a saga that permeates the foundation of this nation, and demands examination.

All were perpetrators, all were victims. Who was right?

This work is a valuable account of King Phillip's War (1675). Read it and judge for yourself.

Of course some of us read the book shortly after it was published in HC in 1998. Thus my remarks. I note other reviews, many critical, tie this work to completely unrelated savagery that occured after 1998. They seem to be frantically trying to revise history.

This book has nothing to do with 9/11/01. Those who interpret it as such should seek a competent analyist and a suitable drug regimen.

And this mess won a Bancroft?.......2005-07-03

The Bancroft is the history profession's Pulitzer, so I was looking forward to being edified. What I got instead was an impenetrable tome consisting mainly of fashionable deconstructionist babble about how war is defined among different cultures. I read and read and never found a coherent narrative about what this war was supposed to be about or what it had to do with American identity.

Perhaps this "language of academe" impressed the Bancroft committee, itself made up of pedants, but to the common reader, whom the academy putatively serves, this thing is worthless. I have the feeling that these guys began reading, and when their eyes started to glaze over they said, "My kind of history!"

Not a history.......2004-10-14

For those interested in the story of this war, go elsewhere. It is not here.
The book is a speculation on the motivation of participants in the cultural conflict, and its consequences. I did not like the frequent suppositions-often they seem to be a figment of the authors imagination though no doubt founded in her vast knowledge of the subject. It just doesn't hold up as an historian's analysis.

To Defend Your Empire and the Faith:: Advice on a global strategy offered c. 1590 to Philip, King of Spain and Portugal, by Manoel de Andrada Castel Blanco ... Press - Liverpool Historical Studies)

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To Defend Your Empire and the Faith:: Advice on a global strategy offered c. 1590 to Philip, King of Spain and Portugal, by Manoel de Andrada Castel Blanco ... Press - Liverpool Historical Studies)

Manufacturer: Liverpool University Press
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Towards the end of the sixteenth century, King Philip, ruler of the conjoint global empires of Spain and Portugal, received advice from many quarters, not least with regard to the attacks on the empires by other west European nations. Manoel de Andrada Castel Blanco, an obscure cleric who had worked in Brazil and Africa and who lamented the marine disasters and enemy incursions of the previous half-century, wrote c.1590 a tract of advice which has remained unpublished until the present annotated edition. His proposals for the defense of the imperial sea routes, which include references to localities as far apart as Bahia, Aden, Siam and Magellan Strait, make him one of the earliest global strategists. The tract, despite its patent defects of thought and presentation, gives the reader something of the "feel" of the period as it was experienced by those Iberians who, although outside the imperial administration, were capable of grasping the intense excitement of novel global venture and the inevitable accompanying anxieties and alarms.

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Important Work Available Again At Last!

Philip the Bold: The Dukes Of Burgundy
Richard Vaughan
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
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ASIN: 085115915X

Book Description

Boydell & Brewer does a major service by the simultaneous reissue of Richard Vaughan's studies of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Four distinguished scholars add extra value by contributing an introductory chapter for each ducal reign, surveying its historiography since the original publication... The story, which Vaughan tells with verve, has its full share of dramatic turns(:) this is much more, though, than simply a narrative history; Vaughan's meticulous explorations of the administrative and financial structures that underpinned ducal authority, and of the court and its culture, are integral to his exposition (...) His achievement remains monumental. There are no comparable, modern, in-depth studies of these four larger-than-life players on the late medieval European stage, in English or in any other language. They are, besides, eminently readable. Maurice Keen, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTWhen in 1363 the duke of Burgundy died without an heir, the duchy returned to the French crown. John II's decision to give it to his fourth son, Philip, had some logic behind it, given the independence of the inhabitants; but in so doing he created the basis for a power which was to threaten France's own existence in the following century, and which was to become one of the most influential and glittering courts of Europe. Much of this was due to the character of Philip the Bold; by marrying the daughter of the count of Flanders, he inherited the wealth of the great Flemish towns in 1384, and the union of the two great fiefdoms to the north and east of France under one ruler meant that the resources of the duke of Burgundy were as great as those of the kingdom itself. From 1392 onwards, he was at loggerheads with the regent of France, his brother Louis, duke of Orleans, and this schism was to prove fatal to the kingdom, weakening the administration and leading to the French defeat by Henry V in 1415. Richard Vaughan describes the process by which Philip fashioned this new power, in particular his administrative techniques; but he also gives due weight to the splendours of the new court, in the sphere of the arts, and records the history of its one disastrous failure, the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. He also offers a portrait of Philip himself, energetic, ambitious and shrewd, the driving force behind the new duchy and its rapid rise to an influential place among the courts of Europe.

Customer Reviews:

Important Work Available Again At Last!.......2002-12-17

Vaughan's series of books on Valois Burgundy have long been a staple for anyone interested Burgundian history and culture. After a long stretch of being out of print, and very difficult to find, these new editions are sure to be welcomed by many historians. Added to Vaughan's work is a fantastic new introduction written for the 2002 edition by Malcolm Vale (another historian I would readily recommend).
While these works may be older, and more recent work has been done on Burgundy, Vaughan's scholarship is still first-rate. A must for the bookshelf of anyone interested in Valois Burgundy, or Northern Europe in the late 14th and 15th centuries.

John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition (Ireland House Series)

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Indispensable prime source material published

John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition (Ireland House Series)
Philip Fennell , Marie King , and Terry Golway
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Voyage of the Catalpa: A Perilous Journey and Six Irish Rebels' Escape to Freedom

ASIN: 0814727484
Release Date: 2006-02-01

Book Description

”It's a story of rescue from the high seas as Pawling residents Philip Fennell and Marie King take readers to 1876 and the voyage of the Catalpa. John Devoy and his crew had a daring mission in mind: rescue six Irish political prisoners from the Australian coast and, in one bold move, inspire millions of Irishmen and Irish Americans. The story is gathered from the personal diaries, letters and reports from those involved in the maritime adventure.”
—Poughkeepsie Journal

"For the Irish and the Americans, for the historian and for the political analysts among us, [John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition] is a work brimming with relevance and meaning. Few will want to miss an opportunity to have it on their shelves."
—The West Australian Newspaper

”The New York authors, each a descendant of a pardoned Fenian prisoner, have recounted the adventure by valuably editing a series of original records including Devoy's diary, the ship's logbooks, and reports from Devoy's men. . . . The use of Devoy's journal, written eighteen years after the event, passionately captured the balancing act required to juggle doggedly-held differing attitudes, internal feuds, empty gestures and frustrating politics.”
—Australian Journal of Politics and History

The story of John Devoy's 1876 Catalpa rescue is a tale of heroism, creativity, and the triumph of independent spirit in pursuit of freedom. The daily log on board the whaling ship Catalpa begins with the typical recount of a crew intact and a spirit unfettered, but such quiet words deceive the truth of the audacious enterprise that came to be known as one of the most important rescues in Irish American history. John Devoy's men rescued six Irish political prisoners from the Australian coast, allowing millions of fellow Irishmen and American-Fenians, many of whom secretly financed the dangerous plot, to draw courage from the newly exiled prisoners.

Philip Fennell and Marie King tell the story from John Devoy's own records and the ship's logbooks. John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition includes an introduction by Terry Golway and the personal diaries, letters, and reports from John Devoy and his men.

Customer Reviews:

Indispensable prime source material published.......2006-08-05

The story of the Catalpa Rescue has been written about before. Over the years most books and articles on the famous rescue of the six Fenian military prisoners from Fremantle prison in Australia were pulp fiction style stories with the omissions and errors usually found in this genre. This includes the recent Peter Stevens' book "The Voyage of the Catalpa" and, the book Stevens got much of his information from, William Laubenstein's "Emerald Whaler," both of which ought to be called historical novels. Only one book until the Fennell-King publication, Sean O'Luing's out of print but excellent work, "Fremantle Mission," was actually written by an expert Fenian researcher. O'Luing drew heavily on the sources that Fennell-King have made available to us in their publication. The Fennells, who have spent many years researching the Catalpa rescue, have provided us a complete legible copy of the articles titled "The Story Of The Catalpa Rescue" from John Devoy's 1904 Irish-American nationalist newspaper, "The Gaelic American" along with significant excerpts from the minutes of a United Brotherhood (Clan na Gael) convention held in September 1877 in Cleveland (from the Catholic University of America archives) wherein a mutiny charge against Thomas Brennan, a Clan member who was part of the rescue team, was investigated.
John Devoy, editor of the Gaelic American, was the man who planned, raised the funds, and executed the mission. John Devoy had at his disposal his diary and his collection of Clan na Gael documents to refresh his memory as he writes. Many interesting episodes that are nowhere else in print come to light as Devoy describes his part in the planning and financing of the voyage. Heretofore only available on microfilm reels, the Fennells make these prime sources available to the ordinary reader. Devoy's articles include the report of the man chosen to lead the rescue mission, John Breslin. This report made to the Clan na Gael membership recounts his management of the actual rescue at Fremantle and John King's personal report of his part in the mission. King was an ex prisoner and Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood (IRB) man from Australia who boarded the Catalpa along with the rescued men for the voyage back to the United States. The footnotes given by the Fennells bring us up to date on the latest Catalpa Expedition research. As an Irish-American history researcher who has struggled through these micofilms, I find this book indispensable, as it will be for anyone interested in the Fenians, the Clan Na Gael or Irish American history.
Michael Ruddy, Union City, TN author of "Irish Army in America" (Civil War Times April 2003).

With the Heart of a King: Elizabeth I of England, Philip II of Spain, and the Fight for a Nation's Soul and Crown

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terrific historical account

With the Heart of a King: Elizabeth I of England, Philip II of Spain, and the Fight for a Nation's Soul and Crown
Benton Rain Patterson
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312348444
Release Date: 2007-02-06

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terrific historical account .......2007-02-11

King Philip II of Spain was also the King of England when his wife devout Catholic Mary sat on the throne. Like his spouse he loathed the Reformation and tired to end its pervasive insurrection while also building a powerful empire. When Mary Tudor dies, which means her widow is no longer an English monarch, her half sister Protestant supporter Elizabeth I becomes ruler of England. Philip proposes marriage, but she rejects his offer. Instead she challenges his Catholic ways with her Protestant ways leading her nation into being a rival maritime superpower until by 1588 he sends his powerful armada to conquer England.

This is a terrific historical account of how personal alliances were amongst the sixteenth century European monarchies. In some ways the tome feels like a romance novel as the widower pursues his former sister-in-law who rejects his advances. However, their dysfunctional relationship represents the war between Catholic and Protestant domination of Europe and the New World. Well written and fun to read, Elizabethan aficionados (sorry Philip but history is written by the winner) will appreciate this insightful look at the latter half of the sixteenth century when national conflict was personalized.

Harriet Klausner

Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy (History of Valois Burgundy)

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Fantastic Work - Available Again At Last!

Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy (History of Valois Burgundy)
Richard Vaughan , and Graeme Small (introduction)
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0851159176

Book Description

Under Philip the Good, grandson of the founder of the duchy's power, Burgundy reached its apogee. Professor Vaughan portrays not only Philip the Good himself, perhaps the most attractive personality among the four great dukes, but the workings of the court and of one of the most efficent - if not necessarily the most popular - administrations in fifteenth-century Europe. The complex diplomatic history of Philip the Good's long ducal reign (1419-1467) occupies much of the book, in particular Burgundy's relations with England and France. The central theme is Philip the Good's policy of territorial and personal aggrandisement, which culminated in his negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor for a crown. And due attention is given to the great flowering of artistic life in Burgundy which made Philip's court at Dijon an important cultural centre in the period immediately preceding the Renaissance. All this is based on the close study of the considerable surviving archives of Philip's civil service, and on the chronicles and letters of the period.Philip the Good provides a definitive study of the life and times of the ruler whose position and achievements made him the greatest magnate in Europe during what has been called 'the Burgundian century'.

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Fantastic Work - Available Again At Last!.......2002-12-17

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