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.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

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Interesting read about Brendan the Navigator
a curiously flat book, but nevertheless enjoyable
ANOTHER GEM FROM FREDERICK BUECHNER
Love and learn.
A lovely mythical-mystical celtic view of christianity.

Brendan: A Novel
Frederick Buechner
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060611782
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Book Description

An acclaimed author interweaves history and legend to re-create the life of a complex man of faith fifteen hundred years ago. Winner of the 1987 Christianity and Literature Book Award for Belles-Lettres.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting read about Brendan the Navigator.......2007-01-18

This was a very interesting book. Brendan the Navigator was an Irish monk who is best known for the legend that he sailed to America around 500 BC. The book paints a very real feeling character as seen by his friend Finn. The author tries to take the legends about Brendan and make them feel as though they really happened. The other characters and environment come across as 3-dimensional, as if you could really feel the splashing salt water, the wrinkled tanned faces, etc.

The style of writing is a little hard to read at times as it is from the perspective of his friend Finn, as if he were really writing the story. Complete with bad grammar and strange sentence structure. I had to read some sentences a few times to get them right. It reminded me of Mark Twain.

The content was good and bad. The bad is some crude moments which might sour the story for some who don't wish to read such things. I would have preferred those moments no been there but having read them I can see why they're there and they do add to the character development. The good is that the characters do go through changes and growth as the years pass. The characters do seem real.

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars. I deducted 1 star due to the crude moments. Lawhead readers of his more recent stuff might really enjoy this book. In a way, it's following in the Patrick mold and it's maybe 40-50 years after him. Also, Bendan journeys to Wales and meets Artor (King Arthur), who tells him of the betrayal by Gwenhwyfar and Llenlleawg. (See the Pendragon series.)

Very interesting and I'm glad I read it.

a curiously flat book, but nevertheless enjoyable.......2003-07-02

The overviews represented above are fantastic, well-written and thorough. I enjoyed this book about St. Brendan despite the choice of narrator. I liked Buechner's evocation of the humanness of Brendan through the eyes of Finn, his loyal friend and companion. However, what I did not care for is the curiously flat quality of the book: a complete lack of understanding on Finn's part about spirituality and mysticism.

Perhaps this is where I am coming from (as one who likes mysticism) but I'd have been much more excited to see a book written from a mystic's point of view, with a mystical evocation and understanding of the world. Finn's point of view is unfailingly, extremely physical, and any thoughts about the spiritual world are tentative at best. The character of Finn struck me as spiritually childlike; this is not a criticism, just an observation.

In many ways, Finn is the perfect companion for Brendan, because he is low-maintenance, curious but not nosy, and he has a rather live-and-let-live attitude, which Brendan being Brendan needs. The writing in Mr. Buechner's book is first rate and the tie-ins with Gildas, Arthur, and Brigit were amazing, even if they were seen from such a prosaic everyman.

ANOTHER GEM FROM FREDERICK BUECHNER.......2002-03-27

This is the third of Buechner's works I have read, and I have loved and devoured them all. The author takes us breathtakingly into the life and times of Brendan, a 6th century Irish saint -- Brendan the Navigator, as he is known by many. The language, imagery and power of this novel is astonishing.

Brendan's story is related here by his long-time friend and travelling companion Finn -- excepting for a section of the book that deals with Brendan's first voyage, from whom Finn is excluded by the mishap of falling overboard as the ship leaves Ireland. This part of the story is related through Brendan's written accounts of that time.

Taken from his parents soon after he was born by Bishop Erc, a relation, and placed into the hands of the Abbess Ita for the purposes of his education and upbringing, Brendan seems destined for a rich spiritual life from an early age. Forever seeking to grow closer to God, he takes as a quest the search for the earthly Paradise -- Tir na nOg (The land of the Young) of Irish legend. He makes two sea voyages in search of this blessed land -- his adventures are many, as are the epiphanies experienced by him along the way. On his second voyage, legend has it that he may have reached as far west as Florida -- predating even Lief Ericsson's discovery of America by 400 years or so.

Brendan's spiritual struggles are even more arduous than his seafaring ones. An earth-bound human being, he is frought with contradictions -- as are we all -- and his battle to rationalize them with his deep-seeded faith is not one without its casualties, both within him and among his earthly companions. He is wracked by guilt and sorrow as a result of the choices he makes in his life -- and his search for meaning, and for ways to serve God, continue until his death.

On page 216-17 of the novel he comes to a seemingly simple thought -- but one that is deceiving in its simplicity, an all-encompassing flame burning at the spiritual heart of our life's purpose. He is in a conversation with a Welsh monk who is obsessed with transcribing the sins of the world to paper. Gildas, the monk, says 'When the Day of Judging comes, there'll be so many sinners running about some may escape the flames altogether. My work is to set their names down here with all their sins written after them so the angels don't let a single solitary one slip through their fingers.' Brendan is saddened by this focus on man's evil -- his work, as he sees it, is more to help the poor folk, to offer aid and succor where he can. The following portions of his conversation with Gildas is moving and poignant: '(God) wants each of us to have a loving heart. When all's said and done, perhaps that's the length and breadth of it...To lend each other a hand when we're falling. Perhaps that's the only work that matters in the end.'

Brendan passes through -- and witnesses -- much suffering, as well as joy, in his life. He has come to be honored and revered as a saint for the works he did, for the life he lived. He would have ridiculed this elevation, most assuredly -- to his final breath, he considered himself a 'black-hearted sinner' -- but his example is one that can be followed...not one of a perfect man (for none of us can claim that), but of one who reached beyond his imperfections to embrace those around him with the love that dwells within us.

Buechner's novel is a joy to read and experience -- uplifting and entertaining at the same time, full of spirituality, humanity and adventure.

Love and learn........2000-10-10

Brendan is the story of a sixth-century Irish monk's quest for "the land of the blessed" the terrestrial Paradise known in Celtic lore as "Tir-na-n-og". Buechner skillfully takes us to the doorstep of many rich and vibrant lands via Brendan's journeys... and lets us meet with a many-splendored cast of characters, none of which are superfluous. All of these places, and all of the characters play a vital role in both the building up and the tearing down of Brendan. Aside from the sheer beauty of this story, laced as it is with Buechner's unrivalled metaphors (all writers bow)... I feel there are many lessons in the book that further commend it to the realm of worthy reading.

It is a book which in the end asks us to come to terms with our own questions we would address to God. Whatever they may be. In the process, we may find that many of those questions have already been answered. Others (perhaps the greater part) never will be. This is normal. Life is mystery. From the book I think I've learned that our inner search for God can be as much selfishness and pride if it does not work itself out in a love for others and a willingness to extend our "selves" for the purpose of nurturing enlightenment in others.

For Brendan, this is a lesson learned in retrospect. And for all of us, I think there is an implication here that theoretical and practical spiritual truth is the fruit of a journey. Bitter if plucked too early; sweet if dropped when ripe. Towards the end of his life Brendan says (refering to God) "Perhaps we've given all but what he truly wants." And further "He wants us each one to have a loving heart."

It seems that after a life of privation, striving, abstinence, and self-inflicted penance, Brendan finds his greatest spiritual fulfillment comes through his simple practical interactions with common folk (regenerate and unregenerate). The narrator Finn tells us, "Every day and every weather he'd go tramping off in search of them he thought needed succor most." And further, "Then the same Brendan that once was wont to blather for hours on end of the wonders he'd seen would for a wonder sit silent as a stick while some poor soul spun out his own drab story."

At any rate, through Brendan's life we are afforded a glimpse of the truth that it is not primarily through our good works that we attain peace or favor with ouselves or with God. The life-long friend and narrator, Finn, concludes by saying that if he were Brendan's ultimate judge, "I'd sentence him to have mercy on himself. I'd sentence him less to strive for the glory of God than just to let it swell his sails if it can." Brendan is the story of a cold soul's migration to warmer climes. And back again. The confusion of the religious genius.

If I were some sort of ultimate judge, I'd sentence everyone to a reading of Buechner's book.

A lovely mythical-mystical celtic view of christianity........1998-01-06

Brendan,represents the best view of mystical Irish christianity I have ever read.It is a book to be felt through the soul and the senses,if you want to know the celtic spirit and it's special relationship to god.Brendan himself is a product of both a pagan heritage and a christian calling,he blends in his preachings a love of rich celtic myth and pride of place, with the mytics empathic love of god.This book is a celebration of life,for anyone who believes religion should be life affirming,loves the celtic spirit and sees earth as a gift of gods creative powers;to be celebrated,cherished,and cared for. .

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Not just a book for kids....
Joan of Arc
Diane Stanley does it again!
Wonderful for kids
A role model for girls

Joan of Arc

Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0688143296

Book Description

She was a child of wartime, for her country had long suffered under the twin horrors of invasion and civil war. At thirteen she began to hear the voices of saints. At seventeen she rode into battle and was proclaimed the savior of France. By nineteen she was dead--burned at the stake as a heretic. Almost five hundred years later she was declared a saint. This is her story, the story of Joan of Arc.

She was an illiterate peasant girl barely in her teens when the voices commanded her to leave her village, take up arms, and go to the aid of the young prince of France. Terrified, she protested--she was "Just a poor girl, who did not know how to ride or lead in war!" Still, she accepted her impossible mission and, during her brief and stunning career, faced hardship and danger, fought with unparalleled bravery, was twice wounded, and became a legend. The English, who began by mocking her as a foolish "cowgirl," soon came to fear her awesome power. The French were so inspired by this miraculous child that the tide of the dreadful war began to turn.

In the latest of her acclaimed series of picture-book biographies, Diane Stanley brings history to life through carefully researched, vivid narrative and sumptuous, gilded illustrations inspired by the illuminated manuscripts of the time. She takes readers to Joan's humble village of Domremy, to the splendid chambers where she first met the timid prince for whom she would sacrifice everything, to the battlefields where Joan fought so bravely, and to the dark and terrifying halls where she was condemned to die.

In this magnificent portrait of Joan of Arc, award-winner Diane Stanley once again reveals to young readers the richness and excitement of history.

Joan of Arc grew up during a time of invasion and civil war. At thirteen, she began to hear the voices of saints. At seventeen, she rode into battle. And by nineteen, she was burned at the stake as a heretic. Almost five hundred years later, she was declared a saint. In the latest of her acclaimed series of picture-book biographies, Diane Stanley tells Joan's story with a lively, carefully researched text and sumptuous, gilded illustrations inspired by the illuminated manuscripts of that time. In this glittering portrait of the illiterate peasant girl who became the savior of France, an award-winning author once again reveals to young readers the richness and excitement of history.

00-01 South Carolina Book Award Nomination Masterlist (Grds 3-8)

Customer Reviews:

Not just a book for kids...........2006-05-09

Once again, Diane Stanley has brought intriguing facts and interesting tidbits to a book about a well known character, Joan of Arc, which makes the reader interested and excited about the subject, no matter what age he or she might be. Joan was born an illiterate, peasant daughter of a leader in a French village during the time of the Hundred Years War between France and England. She was highly disciplined in Catholicism, and was often teased about it by her friends. At the age of thirteen, Joan began having visions, while in the family garden, of various Catholic Saints giving her distressing messages and that she needed to act in order to save the French Kingdom. Joan was so convinced and moved by these visions that she took on a life long task of saving the French kingdom, although a woman doing this would have been unheard of at the time. She was eventually captured by the Burgundies that occupied Northern France and handed over to the English for a ransom. She was put on trial by the church for dressing in men's clothing and for acting on her voices and visitations which should have only been heard by members of the clergy. She was found guilty, although she gave clever testimony and was not easily disrupted by tricky questioning, and eventually burned at the stake. Charles, the ruler that Joan help restore to the crown, made it his personal mission to have Joan's trial declared a mistrial sixteen years after her death. This act fueled by his guilt for not negotiating for her release from prison helped her to be declared a saint five hundred years later.
This book helps the reader realize that although Joan my have appeared unstable with her visions in modern times, she brought hope and life to a battle that was hopeless leaving many French residents in despair. A note at the end of the book indicates that there have been three theories behind Joan's visions, depending on where one's personal beliefs lie.
Included within the book are pronunciations of French names and places and a map, so the reader can follow the path taken by Joan. This book provides interesting and understandable information for readers of all ages, including adults that want a short but informative look into Joan of Arc's life.

Joan of Arc.......2005-05-14

Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc should be recommended for teens 13-16. I thought it was kind of hard to understand because I got 60% on this Accelerated Reader test. I didn't understand the Crowning of the Kings and Princesses very well. I would rate this a 6/10 in a rating.
It taught me about how some people can get so sick of things that you would do anything to save your country. This book is cool because of the pictures of the war.

Diane Stanley does it again!.......2002-04-12

A beautiful book! Diane Stanley carefully traces the life of Joan from her humble beginnings to her tragic end. The book even comes with a pronunciation guide to help those of us who haven't been to France. Although the language is at 8+ year old range, my 5 year old daughter loves it anyway!

Wonderful for kids.......2001-06-04

Not only was this an accurate portrayal of Joan of Arc's story, it was wonderfully written and illustrated. I would recommend it for anyone who is starting out in learning of the saint. It is educational and enjoyable for a child.

A role model for girls.......2001-01-12

This is a beautiful book that I purchased for a seven year old girl. I am a medievalist and the depictions in this book of the clothing, etc. are true to fact. The next copy I buy will be for myself as I collect good children's books on medieval times. Every year I publish of list of children's book on this time period that I recommend in our group's newsletter and this book is high on the list.

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Edgy, clear-eyed memoir of a love affair, horses, Rajneeshis, Western water and timber issues
An Intimate Tale in a Broad Landscape
Outside/inside
Americana Memories
West meets West

Geography of Saints
Penny Allen
Manufacturer: Zoland Books Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1581950284

Book Description

A delightful western memoir, for readers who love Pam Houston and Melissa Banks.

A Geography of Saints is a fascinating and clear-eyed account of the author's first year caretaking a horse ranch outside Saints, Oregon. In language as terse as Tom McGuane, as wondrous as Rachel Carson, Penny Allen tells of challenges both natural and human: the predations of clear-cut logging, how the cult of Rajneeshpuram took over the town of Antelope, the crucial and ceaseless importance of water on the desert, the odd security provided by a reclusive Vietnam vet "on patrol"; in the forest, and the highs and lows of a love affair conducted in Big Sky country.

"Allen is a writer of extraordinary talent. A gem of a book." -Mary Dearborn

"Allen sculpts prose that is physical, melodically clear, and mesmerizingly dangerous." -Katherine Dunn

"A wonderful portrait of life in the high desert of Oregon. A very inspiring book."-Gus Van Sant

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Penny Allen is a filmmaker and writer living in Paris. She has written articles and book reviews for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune. A Geography of Saints is her first book.

Download Description
A delightful western memoir, for readers who love Pam Houston and Melissa Banks.
Customer Reviews:

Edgy, clear-eyed memoir of a love affair, horses, Rajneeshis, Western water and timber issues.......2006-01-31
Penny Allen's memoir, A Geography of Saints, tells of a year in the life of two lovers who take a job caretaking a horse ranch on the eastern side of the Cascades in Oregon. What kept me turning the pages were her luminous and economical imagery and controlled tone, reminiscent of Annie Proulx. She maintains balance between several story lines involving struggles she and her lover have with clear-cutting, losing control of irrigation water, and with their inner landscapes. She handles sex and violence in vivid but restrained prose that left me in awe of the mare Coco, the Vietnam vet in the woods Buckner, the pedophile victim Billy, and Penny and her lover Peter. Allen's level stare takes us in concrete ways through an amazing collection of Western concerns over drying-up towns, weird newcomers to the high desert, and care for the land. An amazing book.
An Intimate Tale in a Broad Landscape.......2002-03-09
Set in a vivid and dramatic landscape, this memoir tells a story filled with honesty, humor, and courage. Allen observes with a keen eye. She takes on one of the great challenges for a writer, giving us not just the surface of the moments of a relationship but the deep undercurrents, both real and imagined, and succeeds with a grace that seems effortless. Allen's inner journey blends perfectly with the wild spaces, the free spirited horses, and the quirky human world, which is at once familiar, weird, and sobering.
Allen is an engaging guide and companion. We can only hope she shares more of her journey with us.
Outside/inside.......2001-10-25
I was very taken by this wonderful real-life novel. Even if the reality level is relatively high, the author manages to turn it into something that transcends the documentary, the journalistic. By mixing many atfirst sight totally unrelated elements, in the end it turns out to be a novel about spirituality in daily life, or about how to see meaning in it.
The location of the American North-West is much more than just an
impressive backdrop. The scenery in the broadest sense of the word, including the population, is subject and metaphor at the same time.
Penny Allen seems to focus on the "outside" of things, but interprets the "inside". All elements come together towards the very end, not only in a literary way, but in the way things sometimes do, in real life.
I read this book with a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. It is
introspective, but at the same time describes mundane and sometimes gruesome events that happen in the real world. And it's funny, if you share the author's sense of humor.
Americana Memories.......2001-08-24
Memoirs are the current hot genre. Often they depend on one big event for their oomph, or they putter along in a very interior manner. Penny Allen, a radical bohemian filmmaker now living in Paris, caretook a horse ranch in eastern Oregon, which would provide enough gist for most memoirist's mills. Perhaps Allen is lucky, perhaps she draws intense people and events to her, perhaps her filmmaker's gaze sees and frames life as most of us do not--certainly most of us wouldn't have emerged with such an amazing quilt of interlocking stories. Thoreau observed that most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and Allen's time on the high desert proves no exception. She finds these desperate lives and recounts them brilliantly, but after the regular weird folks come the hardcore character actors: the cult of Rajneeshpuram, the Vietnam vet "on patrol," the ghost, and more. With the constitution of a war journalist, she never averts her eyes, and she is willing to tell us exactly what she saw. --Hollis Taylor, Sydney, Australia
West meets West.......2001-07-20
A GEOGRAPHY OF SAINTS is as strikingly contradictory as the contemporary West. Penny Allen's diary-like account is freewheeling and contemplative, sweet and acerbic, tender and tough. It is a bravely public and intensely personal modern memoir which reveals that even in Paradise - especially in Paradise, perhaps - smugness begets arrogance and arrogance begets abuse. This is not, however, a cynical book. Ultimately, it affirms the cyclical nature of pettiness and largesse, love and loss, life and death, yielding an unsentimental, hard-won awareness that sad endings can be fresh starts.

Average customer rating:

A comparative review of two (very good) books about the same event

Decent read - but beware of quality issues!

VIVID DETAILS

A huge cloud of red-hot ash and gas shot down the mountain

Outstanding study of the 1902 disaster.

La Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelee, the Worst Volcanic Disaster of the 20th Century
Alwyn Scarth
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover

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The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster that Claimed 30,000 Lives

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ASIN: 0195218396

Amazon.com
When nature kills on a grand scale, it does so indiscriminately: a murderer may be spared and an orphanage destroyed. So it was with the May 8, 1902, eruption of Mount Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique, author Alwyn Scarth shows in La Catastrophe, his study of the event. The explosion, more specifically, its aftermath--a 300 mph burst of superheated gas as well as roiling mudflows and tsunamis--killed more than 28,000 people, sank a dozen seaborne ships, and reduced the city of Saint-Pierre to rubble. Scarth, after briefly delineating the island's geology and history, methodically describes the increasingly fraught days before the event and, with gruesome precision, the event itself. Most welcome are his many sidebars, including firsthand accounts by survivors, newspaper stories, and lists of widespread rumors (and their dispelling). As well, the book is amply and instructively illustrated. The prose is powerful and understated, and the book somberly thrilling and perceptive. Nor does it avoid ghastly ironies. A few months after the eruption, Scarth observes, "the ruins of Saint-Pierre suffered the supreme indignity of becoming an attraction for boatloads of tourists." --H. O'Billovich
Book Description
On May 8, 1902, on the Caribbean island of Martinique, the volcano Mount Pelee loosed the most terrifying and lethal eruption of the twentieth century. In minutes, it killed 27,000 people and leveled the city of Saint-Pierre. In La Catastrophe, Alwyn Scarth provides a gripping day-by-day and hour-by-hour account of this devastating eruption, based primarily on chilling eyewitness accounts. Scarth recounts how, for many days before the great eruption, a series of smaller eruptions spewed dust and ash. Then came the eruption. A blinding flash lit up the sky. A tremendous cannonade roared out that was heard in Venezuela. Then a scorching blast of superheated gas and ash shot straight down towards Saint-Pierre, racing down at hundreds of miles an hour. This infernal avalanche of dark, billowing, reddish-violet fumes, flashing lightning, ash and rocks, crashed and rolled headlong, destroying everything in its path--public buildings, private homes, the town hall, the Grand Hotel. Temperatures inside the cloud reached 450 degrees Celsius. Virtually everyone in Saint-Pierre died within minutes. Scarth tells of many lucky escapes--the ship Topaze left just hours before the eruption, a prisoner escaped death in solitary confinement. But these were the fortunate few. An official delegation sent later that day by the mayor of Fort-de-France reported total devastation--no quays, no trees, only shattered facades. Saint-Pierre was a smoldering ruin. In the tradition of A Perfect Storm and Isaac's Storm, but on a much larger scale, La Catastrophe takes readers inside the greatest volcanic eruption of the century and one of the most tragic natural disasters of all time.
Customer Reviews:

A comparative review of two (very good) books about the same event.......2006-02-04
This review is unusual in that it compares two books that were published nearly at the same time and both deal with the same event: the devastating 1902 eruption of Montagne Pelée volcano on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

The first of these books is Alwyn Scarth's "LA Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelée, the Worst Volcanic Disaster of the 20th Century", the second is Ernest Zebrowski's "The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster that Claimed 30,000 Lives", published just four months earlier. Both books mark the 100th anniversary of the eruption that virtually exterminated the town of Saint-Pierre along with nearly all of its inhabitants. Both fulfill an important mission: putting an end to the incredible amount and degree of misinformation veiling that tragic event to the present day.

The 1902 Montagne Pelée (commonly translated into Mount Pelée in the English literature) produced a phenomenon called pyroclastic flows (and/or surges), which had until then not been recognized by geologists - although today we know that they occur quite frequently. Just as I write this review (early February 2006), pyroclastic flows are spilling down the slopes of Mount St. Augustine volcano in Alaska. They were produced by nearly all the famous explosive eruptions in history, including Mount St. Helens (1980), Pinatubo (1991), Krakatau (1883), and Vesuvius (79 A.D.).

However, there was no common conscience of pyroclastic flows among scientists and people living on volcanoes in early 1902, when Montagne Pelée stirred and gradually came back to life. What was known at the time about volcanoes was limited to lava flows, ash falls, and tsunamis (the latter are rarely caused by volcanic eruptions). Often, eruptions were confused with earthquakes (which are a completely different geological process). So people in Saint-Pierre most worried about such things, and they had no means to know that Montagne Pelée held something else in store for them.

Many accounts about the 1902 events on Martinique blamed Governor Mouttet for the death of about 28,000 people in the eruption. Some writers accused him even to have posted troops on the roads exiting the threatened town to prevent the inhabitants from evacuating. Just the fact that Mouttet went to stay in Saint-Pierre the night before the tragic eruption says enough - he did not know, and there was no way of knowing, that the volcano would unleash a deadly pyroclastic flow the next morning.

Both Scarth and Zebrowski spend a lot of words and reasoning to clan the memory of Mouttet from these unjustified accusations. They do a lot of similar work concerning the vast amounts of contorted or false information regarding many other aspects of the 1902 events. There are, however, some significant differences between these two books.

Scarth has looked much more profoundly into the French sources of information, which Zebrowski - he himself admits in the introduction to his book that he is not too familiar with French - has done to a much lesser degree. Scarth's slightly higher degree of scrutiny does lead to a more precise result, which goes from the correct spelling of names (e.g., Mouttet's followup governor, whose correct name - as given by Scarth - was Lhuerre, not L'heurre as in Zebrowski) to the numbers of victims of the 1902 events: there were actually three eruptions in that year in the Caribbean that killed each more than 1000 people.

The first, on 7 May 1902, occurred on the island of St. Vincent, where the Soufrière volcano killed some 1560; only 18 hours later, Montagne Pelée snuffed out some 27,000 souls, and the same volcano killed another 1200 on 30 August that year. These numbers are those most likely to represent the real death toll - which is quite a few thousand less than those numbered by Zebrowski. Some of the most accurate scientific accounts of those events are cited in Zebrowski's bibliographic list but little of their information is used in his book. This is most notable in the case of T.Anderson and J.Flett (1903), who wrote a harrowing tale of the Soufrière (St. Vincent) eruption and witnessed one of the major eruptions of Montagne Pelée in July 1902. Interestingly, the most prominent scientist studying Montagne Pelée and its activity in that period was the French professor A. Lacroix, who is mentioned relatively briefly in Zebrowski's book. His monumental monograph "La Montagne Pelée et ses éruptions" (1904) is not even included in the bibliography, which does, however, refer to the less known and somewhat controversial "La Montagne Pelée après ses éruptions", published by Lacroix in 1908.

We find less errors of this kind in Scarth's book. This is partly due to the fact that Scarth has close relationships to volcanologists who have worked, and are working, on the 1902 Montagne Pelée eruption and its effects. Some of them are French. Im am certain that Scarth has indeed read through at least large portions of Lacroix' "La Montagne Pelée et ses éruptions". I know that book fairly well. It does not very much deal with the political and social turmoils preceding and following the eruption. But as for details concerning the eruption itself, and its tremendous effects on human beings and their environment, this is one of the most thrilling things to read - if one is familiar with French. Unfortunately, this makes it quite unaccessible to non-French readers, besides the fact that it is extremely difficult to find (Amazon France has a used copy "in correct state" offered for 995 Euros - more than 1000 US$)...

Without being too critical about the somewhat higher amount of flaws in Zebrowski's book, I find that in the end both Zebrowski and Scarth are definitely worth a read, also because they deal with very different details - so there is not all that much of a repetition there. Both do a precious effort to put things about the 1902 events into the right perspective. I hope that they will help to diminish the vast amount of misinformation currently in circulation.

Catania (Sicily, Italy), 3 February 2006
Decent read - but beware of quality issues!.......2005-01-26
Spurred on by Scarth's great 'Vulcan's Fury: Man against the Volcano' and my interest in the Pelée disaster of 1902, I purchased this book from Amazon. First of all, Scarth really knows his business and, just as importantly, he knows how to convey it to the audience. However, there are some stylistic aspects that I have trouble with, most of all Scarth's preference for drama, as witnessed in sentences of the '... but little did he know that in a few days...' variety. Already present in 'Vulcan's Fury', it tends to become very annoying in this book. The story doesn't need it, and neither does the book.
The second problem is something that is hardly Scarth's fault, but Amazon sent me a real monday morning copy: low-res images, smeared print, unreadable text, moiréd photographs, the works. I don't know whether this is a unique problem, but you might want to check out this title in a book store - at least be aware of possible quality issues.
All in all a worthwile book, but I'd go with Ernst Zabrowski's 'The last days of St. Pierre' any day. However, it needs to be said that both authors put their emphasis differently, with Zabrowski giving a detailed picture of the days leading up to the May 8 eruption, and Scarth devoting more attention to the events following the disaster.
VIVID DETAILS.......2004-07-02
Loved this book, could not put it down, felt like I was there. I want to keep reading .
A huge cloud of red-hot ash and gas shot down the mountain.......2003-08-14
The volcano Mount Pelée, on the Caribbean island of Martinique did not behave according to scientific expectations. Almost 27,000 people died on the morning of May 8, 1902 because, according to this book's author, no one had ever heard of a nuée ardente (pyroclastic flow) until after the destruction of Saint-Pierre.
Instead of a relatively sluggish stream of lava, a heavy ash-fall, or the earthquake plus tsunami that many were expecting (including the scientific commission appointed by the island's governor), Mount Pelée exploded in a huge lateral blast of gas, dust, and rock. The superheated cloud raced down the side of the volcano with the speed of a hurricane-force wind and headed directly for the port of Saint-Pierre about five miles away.
At 8:02 A.M., May 8, 1902 a businessman in Fort-de-France (an hour's boat trip down the coast of Martinique) was talking on the telephone with a friend in Saint-Pierre. The businessman relates that his friend "...had just finished his sentence, when I heard a dreadful scream, then another much weaker groan, like a stifled death rattle."
Then there was silence. Nearly 27,000 people lay dead or dying at the other end of that telephone line, crushed by falling masonry, asphyxiated by the scalding breath of the nuée ardente, or incinerated in the resulting inferno. There were only two survivors in the city itself: a shoemaker; and a prisoner in a solitary confinement cell who happened to be sheltered in the lee of a hill at the edge of the city.
Alwyn Scarth, former Professor of Geography at the University of Dundee begins "La Catastrophe" with the founding of Saint-Pierre in 1635, and the slaughter of the indigenous Carib population. Unfortunately, the French settlers never paused to question the original inhabitants' choice of name for the mountain that loomed on their northern horizon. 'Mountain of Fire' was renamed 'Bald Mountain,' and the colonists moved on to develop an economy built on slaves, sugarcane and rum without questioning the lack of vegetation on Mount Pelée's summit.
Minor eruptions occurred in 1792 and 1851, causing occasional curious picnickers to struggle up the volcano's slope for a view of the new sulphur vents (soufrières) and hot springs.
Memories of those harmless volcanic sputterings contributed to a false sense of security among residents of Saint-Pierre when Mount Pelée began hurling columns of ash into the air and steaming torrents of mud down her slopes in the spring of 1902.
When "La Catastrophe" appeared in 2002, along with other, similarly-themed books that were hastened onto the shelves (and the remainder tables) during the centennial year of Saint-Pierre's destruction, its author separated himself from the pack by blaming the non-evacuation of the city on her residents' false sense of security, and on their ignorance of pyroclastic flows. He thoroughly debunks the myth presented by some of his fellow-authors, that the inhabitants of Saint-Pierre were forced to stay in town because of a pending election.
Professor Scarth has produced a meticulously-researched account of the "worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century." It is my favorite among the centennial publications, although I found his exposition of the history and sociology of Martinique to be a bit dry.
Here are some of the other myths he discredits while telling the story of this catastrophe:
* Saint-Pierre was never called 'the Paris of the West Indies'--at least not before the 1902 eruption.
* There were more than two survivors. Over a hundred people may have escaped alive from the August 8th nuée ardente, although only two from the city proper. Many of the survivors died shortly thereafter of their external burns and scalded lungs.
* Governor Mouttet was not a villain. He acted courageously in visiting Saint-Pierre on the eve of the eruption, and died believing that the volcano was harmless. The real villain of this story is the man who succeeded him. The new governor had little sympathy for his constituents, and refused to evacuate the still-inhabited villages lying closest to the volcano. Three months after the destruction of Saint-Pierre, Mount Pelée climaxed another period of eruption with a gigantic nuée ardente that claimed another 1085 victims.
* Don't be fooled by the photograph of the ruins on the back of the "La Catastrophe's" dustcover. Saint-Pierre is not a ghost city on the order of Pompeii. According to the author, "nowadays [it] is a hot and sleepy village of about 5000 people."
Outstanding study of the 1902 disaster........2003-08-06
It seems there has been a lot of attention focused on the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee and its destruction of Saint-Pierre recently, and this book stands out as a wonderful account of the events surrounding it. Alwyn Scarth is an exceptionally literate writer and provides a very frank and objective analysis of the events before and after the eruption as well as copious detail on the eruption itself. His writing style is dry at times, but it is enhanced by the occasional wry humor and his portraits of the people of Martinique, especially those of Father Mary and the captain of the cruiser Suchet.
Scarth presents a great number of original documents from a variety of sources (sometimes providing photos of originals such as French naval telegrams), and provides as many eyewitness accounts as possible. Although the eruption of Pelee is the subject of the book, Scarth spends a comparable amount of time on the society of Saint-Pierre and Martinique, particularly the apartheid-based social structure and contentious politics of the colony. He also makes an admirable attempt to show that past accounts that accuse Governor Mouttet of forcing citizens to stay in Saint-Pierre to vote are groundless, and he recounts the political arrogance of the post-eruption administration.
Scarth also refutes several myths about the eruption, especially the belief that Louis-Auguste Sylbaris was the sole survivor and that 30,000 people or more were killed (the likely number is several thousand fewer). He presents Saint-Pierre as a busy and modern colonial city, but vehemently disagrees with any romantic notions of a "Paris of the East Indies."
The geology here seems quite oriented to the European, and Scarth sometimes uses terms that may confuse Americans unfamiliar with volcanoes (he never equates the term 'nuee ardente' with the more common 'pyroclastic flow'), but his descriptions of the nature of stratovolcanoes and their nature is right on; he goes so far as to give Pelee a personality of sorts (describing the murderous volcano as sitting 'innocently under a clear blue sky' minutes after its terrible eruption) that seems to fit in well with the portraits of the other figures on Martinique.
Like many accounts of disasters, there is plenty of 'if only... if only...' here, but Scarth does not seek to blame anyone here: there was simply nothing most residents of Saint-Pierre could do about Pelee. They had no idea what it was capable of, few could afford to move even to other parts of the island, and the city of Saint-Pierre logically seemed the safest place on the island with all of its resources. Nobody knew what a pyroclastic flow was, and the greatest fear was of an earthquake of the type that had damaged the island's capital of Fort-de-France in the past. The only figure to get skewered is the governor who succeeded Mouttet for his awful handling of the terrified residents of La Morne Rouge and his miserable management of the refugees.
The images Scarth presents of the eruption are stark and morbid, and although he sometimes seems to revel in its destruction he never fails to commend the heroism of the survivors. Events slowly build to their climax as Ascension Day dawns and the volcano strikes Saint-Pierre down. The last paragraph is rather morbid, recounting the moment of shock just before the city's destruction, but it rightly illustrates the enormity of the moment as the hapless residents of Saint-Pierre realize something horrible is coming to scribe their names into history.
La Catastrophe is a fascinating read. It is objective, exceptionally detailed without becoming boring, and is a fine account of one of the forgotten tragedies of the modern era. Great for any fan of geology, history, or just those who enjoy stories of people coping with great hardship.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful picture on the cover

The Book of Mormon and the Arabian Peninsula

Good but unnecessary ***

A "must read" for apologetics

FARMS eats humble pie?

Lehi in the Wilderness: 81 New Documented Evidences That the Book of Mormon Is a True History
George Potter , and Richard Wellington
Manufacturer: Cedar Fort
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555176410

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful picture on the cover.......2006-01-08
If it weren't for the beautiful picture on the cover, this book would certainly achieve a Rating no higher than Zero.

And now for my review of the book:

Whatever.
The Book of Mormon and the Arabian Peninsula.......2005-12-22
If it were all a fraud, the Book of Mormon would have NO evidences supporting its claims. Like all works of fiction, all its unique places would be non-existent, and so forth.

However, this book has demonstrated that the Book of Mormon is far from a work of 19th centiry fiction by an uneducated farmboy and/or a group of conspirators (e.g. Sidney Rigdon et al).

The authors show that the detail of the Arabian Peninsula in the text, still derided by critics as impossibilities (e.g. see the book "Mormon claims answered") are strong evidences of the text's authenticity, with Shazer, Nahom, the River of Laman and Valley of Lemuel and Bountiful all being in the right location, all consistent with the detail of the first book in the volume, the First Book of Nephi.

This book is a must for Book of Mormon evidences, as it shows that the only logical conclusion is that the author of First Nephi could only be an individual that made the journey described in the text - that is, the author was Nephi, not Jpsep Smith nor anyone else from 1830 America.
Good but unnecessary ***.......2005-02-27
I've flipped through this book and others like it and their nice. A pretty good read, but I wouldn't suggest it to people unfamiliar with, new to, our outside of the Church. The reason is simple: why do you need physical, scientific evidence for something that cannot be proven with such? Spiritual knowledge will never be supported or confounded by means the rest of the world relies on, namely evidence, proof, and human-based logic. If you want to read a book about the Church, read the Book of Mormon itself and not a book about it. When you are converted, then read this. It may or may not increase your faith, but have a foundation in the language of the Book of Mormon. And that is faith.

Overall: 6 out of 10.
A "must read" for apologetics.......2005-02-13
"Lehi in the Wilderness" is written from a Mormon perspective and with the understanding that it is a fact that Lehi was a real prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is a true history. Those outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do not make that same assumption.

There are many problems in the text concerning the interpretation of the Book of Mormon and applying the text to the physical locations in the Arabian Peninsula.

Overall, the book contains entirely too much supposition to warrant serious consideration as "evidence" for the Book of Mormon. The dialogue is bogged down with consistent terminology such as "could have been," "might have," "should be," "if this were," and various other sundry phrases which are merely prerequisites to injecting presumptions concerning the possibility that Lehi actually existed on the Arabian Peninsula.

The photographs ARE remarkable, good choices in the effort to provide supports for the Book of Mormon account, and I appreciated the amount of references provided in each chapter, making it easier to research the material.

It's a "must read" for apologetics.
FARMS eats humble pie?.......2004-08-10
I have been devouring this very interesting and compelling book. The authors are credible, thorough, and humble in their discussions and conclusions. The reader is easily transported back to Lehi's time and circumstances - making the scriptural record even more fascinating. This one may be worth praying about and could easily become a fundamental adjunct to Book of Mormon studies. It would be great if this could be made into a documentary.

Shalom

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A Faith Massage full of Archaeological Errors

It will help you focus on a more specific view

Interested in ancient American cultures and/or Mormons?

Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life
John L. Sorenson
Manufacturer: Research Press (UT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0934893284

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A Faith Massage full of Archaeological Errors.......2007-04-29
I'll admit that this book has a lot of pretty illustrations, but the comparisons to the Book of Mormon are so general as to apply to any culture.

Further, Sorenson is disingenuous. He writes about the Bonampak murals that "some believe the body paint my explain the different hues." "Some believe"? Dah! No anthropologist of any repute believes otherwise. By not stating this fact, Sorensen has greatly mislead the uniformed reader.

For example, all you have to do is study a good reproduction of these Maya murals, you will see the discoloration within the same person's body. The beautiful green feathers of the headdresses of many figures are clearly water damaged, light green turning into dark green. The murals are 1200 years old, afterall.

Here is something else Sorenson did not mention. The modern Maya so closely resemble the people depicted in the murals that they could serve as models for the murals. This remarkable fact is listed in all reputable texts on the Maya--along with pictures of Modern Maya standing by the Murals.

I could go on, but I'll just note a couple other things. Maya babies are born with a blue spot at the base of their spine (also Asian babies). This "Mongolian Spot" was not mentioned by Sorenson.
If you look through the book, almost all of the pictures show Maya paganism, not Book of Mormon Christianity.

Also, I have been told by many Mormons that the Maya had nothing to do with the Book of Mormon--that the Book of Mormon took place somewhere else. Sorenson is reviving a long refuted idea that has been abandoned by almost all Mormon scholars.

Because such books are so easily refuted (the footnotes often do not check out), writers like Sorensen do a great disservice to their own religion. Remember Milton R. Hunter's "horse" at Chichen Itza that turns out to be the damaged feather of a "jaguar-serpent." (See Archaeology and the Book of Mormon, by Hunter. Hunter's picture of this so-called "horse" was also in hardback copies of the Book of Mormon for about twenty years).

Other readers will remember the many false citations in Paul R. Cheesman's book, "These Early Americans" (example, p. 65, where Cheesman says an Indian gave Pizarro an "iron hatchet." In the source listed (Helps, "The Life of Pizarro, p. 123), it says the exact opposite. Cheesman also left out the key word "Castillian" (Spanish) in referring to the animals in Mexico after the Spanish conquest. The meaning is thus changed.

Your comments on this or my other reviews are appreciated. Thanks. Click on the following link, then scroll down to find my one-star review of "Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon." Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon

See also: "The Mound Builders: The Archaeology of a Myth," an essential book by Robert Silverberg. Click here: Mound Builders

Another fascinating book that debunks the crackpots is Robert Wauchope's "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians." Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents Myth Method in the

Your comments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks.
It will help you focus on a more specific view.......2002-07-14
This is a terrific book and helps as a way of refocusing the view of how you think about the culture described in the Book of Mormon. If you are a believer, ... it helps to make things more specific and yet less cut and dried. Just like real life.
If you aren't a believer, and in fact if you actively disbelieve the Book of Mormon, that is OK too. You will get a more specific look at the vision of things you actively disbelieve.
In either case it is a helpful and valuable book, as are all of Sorenson's works.
Interested in ancient American cultures and/or Mormons?.......2000-03-30
The title describes exactly what this book is. Sorenson takes us into his world as a socio-cultural anthropologist, helping us understand what the different archeological and historical remains can tell us about the many aspects of the everyday lives of ancient peoples. The book is intentionally simple, you won't find in depth hypothosis' or commentary, but it is written at a level beneficial for newcomers as well as for those who already know much about ancient American culture. A small section of each topic cites Book of Mormon references that may be relative to the subject matter. Sorenson's intent is not to validate the history in the Book of Mormon through archeological discovery, but rather to help us understand the cultures that were a part of, or influenced, the peoples in that book-much like knowing about ancient Jewish culture helps us better understand the events in the New Testament. This book has added an important aspect to my study of the Book of Mormon, and as a visitor to ruins in Mexico, added life and meaning to what I saw there.

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The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee: Nate Saint (Trailblazer Books #24)
Dave Jackson , and Neta Jackson
Manufacturer: Bethany House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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