Amazon.com
Remarkably, given his importance in Western philosophy, there has never been a substantial English-language biography of Baruch (or, as he was later known, Benedictus) Spinoza (1632-1677) until now. Spinoza: A Life makes up for the lack, delving into the archival records of 17th-century Amsterdam to flesh out Spinoza's world in rich detail. The subject himself doesn't even appear until the third chapter; Nadler first provides historical background on the treatment of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and their eventual resettlement in the Dutch Republic. Later chapters explore Spinoza's relationship to the Jewish community and the possible reasons for his excommunication in 1656, as well as the emergence of his philosophical system. Academically rigorous without becoming ponderous, Spinoza: A Life is splendid both as biography and history, and a worthy introduction to Spinoza's philosophy.
Book Description
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also arguably the most radical and controversial. This is the first complete biography of Spinoza in any language and is based on detailed archival research. More than simply recounting the story of Spinoza’s life, the book takes the reader right into the heart of Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with Spinoza’s exile from Judaism, right into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual and religious world of the young Dutch Republic. Though the book will be an invaluable resource for philosophers, historians, and scholars of Jewish thought, it has been written for any member of the general reading public with a serious interest in philosophy, Jewish history, seventeenth-century European history, and the culture of the Dutch Golden Age. Spinoza: A Life has recently been awarded the Koret Jewish Book Award.
Customer Reviews:
Rationalist, existialist...or Vulcan?.......2007-06-06
Emotions are to be avoided, religion is inherently illogical, only rational philosophy can bring you contentment, free-will is a myth; these are the tenants of Spinoza and, yes, the credo of all Vulcans. All these years of trying to get a sense of Spinoza and 3/4 through the book the image of Mr. Spock came floating through the text. Think about it, if Spinoza was successful in changing the metaphysical paradigm of western civilization, we'd all be Vulcans today. Seriously, this is a good book for any serious Spinozists, and puts into context the genius and guts that was Spionza as well as the remarkable period of tollerance which was the golden age of the Dutch Republic. I would suggest reading Yirmiyahu Yovel's, "Spinoza and Other Heretics" for anyone interested in getting a sense of the Pre-converso environment of the Marranos.
Spinoza: A life.......2007-03-15
The book give a great details about the life during the inquisition time in Spain Portugal & Holland..
Is has a very good view about the terrible consequences of fanatics in the Catholic religion, and show why the world was intellectually almost paralyzed during the dark ages of the religion terror.
However, the book only give small inside about the wonderful philosophical thinking of Spinoza, is more a historic book than a philosophical one..
The most enlightened of Philosophers.......2006-09-19
Steven Nadler skillfully guides the reader not only through Spinoza's life but also through the turbulent times of the 17th century Holland. All the more useful ride to enable us to see the courage of an outstanding man, citizen, a brilliant philosopher who taught us that GOD is Nature and us. Great reading!
lost in facts.......2006-05-28
I simply could not relate to this book, a reaction which may or may not reflect an adequate idea.
By the name of Spinoza !.......2005-09-01
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), an early figure of European Enlightenment like a Netherlands Descartes or Giordano Bruno, - he fought with his publications for the inauguration of modern times, influenced by sober reason - but still caught in the historical context of a society, which was ruled by the dictatorial interests of confessions and government cabals.
During Spinoza's lifetime (only 45 years) Amsterdam probably has been Europe's most alive, free and multi-cultural large city - the true mother of Nieuw Amsterdam = New York. As freely however, that anyone could philosophize, whatever he liked to sermonize - no, that wasn't possible staying completely unpunished.
Many of the perforce secret supporters of Spinoza (publishers, booksellers, authors) landed in the prison or in banishing. Most glaringly is the story of the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt, who had protected Spinoza, providing him with food, money and legal support: A furious mob of Monarchists and Calvinists in 1672 got them out of prison and carried out a lynching court in the style of that time: they mangled the bodies and pulled out the hearts, showing them full of triumph to the audience - many of the members of the aristocracy, sitting in carriages. A very anarchistic version of almost forgotten Inca- and Aztec-rites. Only with strive Spinoza's friends could prevent him from posting a placard near the site of the massacre, reading ULTIMI BARBARORUM (You are the greatest of all barbarians).
Spinoza's family, Jewish, harassed by the Inquisition, had escaped Spain like thousand others to find refuge in the Netherlands, which showed more toleration. Spinoza's first thinking results, which regarded the Bible as an historical writing collection of different humans (thus by no means written by God), led him to be excommunicated from the Dutch community of Portuguese Jews. The autocratic Sephardim rabbinical leadership wrote 1656 in beautiful calligraphic letters: "As to the judgement of the angels and statement of the holy we banish, curse, bewitch and condemn Baruch de Spinoza. Beware of operating with him verbally or in writing, beware of proving him the smallest favor, beware of reading his books..."
The remainder of his life (like an early forerunner of the famous Anne Frank, who was hidden by Amsterdam citizens from Nazi pursuance) Spinoza hid mostly in small grave chambers of rooms and he lost all the wealth of his family business. Secretly he was supported by friends. Additional he earned money by lens grinding (but the sharpening of glass caused an early death: the inhaled dust destroyed his lungs). Convinced of the correctness of his thinking he as long as possible continued writing, persistently and annoyingly - however anonymous.
He did not want to die in public at stake like his forerunner Giordano Bruno in Rome 1600. Spinoza was fascinated by the hypothesis of a Pantheism, first developed by the efforts of Giordano Bruno. In his "Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect" he defined God as ruled by the same causes like nature ("deus, siva natura"). At that time neither the Jews nor the Christians had been ready to accept such dogmatic changes or at least to tolerate such opinions (which of course weakened the religious authorities).
A large city is - today like at that time - characterized by the fact, that trends in different parts of the society are not simultaneous. The aristocratic, bourgeois, working class or religious circles always have different speeds. The intellectual circles, sympathizing with Spinoza, seemed to live already in the 18th century.
Because Spinoza, inspired by Hobbes, also risked to formulate basics of a democratic society, he came immediately into conflict with the Netherlands Orangists, who controlled the state. The mob, brought to a level of puppets as well by the princes as by the clerical - the mob was not enlightenmentable by the shy and sensitive considerations of a cautiously hidden publisher.
We would have to thank Spinoza (if it would be possible) for his persistance, which helped to develop modern constitutions of states and stabilized the opinion, that a religion must not be monopolized, but, in the contrary, has to follow individual interpretations as well. With regard to September Eleven and the US-reaction against fundamentalist assaults we faster could decide, how to response. I think: not using military, but using reason: no religion should lead us to a Crusade or a "Reverse Crusade" anymore. Monopolizing trends of denominations should be stopped. By the name of Spinoza!
Product Description
This Elibron Classics edition is a reprint of a 1880 edition by C. Kegan Paul & Co., London.
Book Description
Most readers of Spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist, or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the Ethics, argues Steven B. Smith in this intriguing book. Offering a new reading of Spinoza's masterpiece, Smith asserts that the Ethics is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed among the great founding documents of the Enlightenment. Two aspects of Smith's book distinguish it from other studies. It treats the famous "geometrical method" of the Ethics as a form of moral rhetoric, a model for the construction of individuality. And it presents the Ethics as a companion to Spinoza's major work of political philosophy, the Theologico-Political Treatise, each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Affirming Spinoza's centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book will be of value to students of political theory, philosophy, and intellectual history.
Customer Reviews:
A Clear, Concise Introduction.......2007-06-03
Professor Smith's book is a good general introduction to Spinoza's great work of metaphysics, Ethics Demonstrated in a Geometrical Order. However, the emphasis is on the moral rather than the metaphysical implications of the work. For more traditional treatments on the topic, Lloyd's commentary in the Routledge Guidebook series and the new book by Nadler are to be recommended. Bennett's study of the Ethics is still the best, in my opinion, but it is definitely not for beginners.
The strength of this book is in how it relates Spinoza to other important philosophers. There are excellent discussions of Spinoza vis-a-vis Descartes, Hobbes, Jacobi, Machiavelli, and especially Leo Strauss. I don't know if Smith is a "Straussian," but his book is dedicated to Joseph Cropsey, so I suspect that he is at least a fellow traveler.
I would have preferred more discussion and analysis of Spinoza's metaphysics, but this is not the book Smith chose to write. Freedom is a highly contentious concept in Spinoza's philosophy, and Smith is a lot more sympathetic to Spinoza than I would be. Smith makes a valiant effort to defend Spinoza, but for me Spinoza's avowed hardcore determinism makes the whole idea of real freedom somewhat dubious.
I do side with Smith contra Bennett regarding Spinoza's atheism. It is not intellectually honest to take a common word like "God" and twist the meaning to suit one's purposes. If one is to do this, then it becomes mandatory to give strong reasons for the new definition. Spinoza does not do this. His notion of God is misleading, and he should have used the word "nature" in every instance. I suspect the obvious accusations of atheism from his fellow citizens may have dictated his choice. But this doesn't really explain it, since he knew he would be dead when the Ethics was published. Maybe Spinoza was a mystic. But a "rationalist mystic" is surely an oxymoron! Greater thinkers than I will have to solve this conundrum.
the way to freedom.......2005-05-31
"Spinoza's Book of Life" leads the reader through the basic teachings of Spinoza's Ethics and his Theological-Political Treatise. It demonstrates that Spinoza's intention was to free people from their unconscious and irrational passions so that they could learn to truly be themselves. Spinoza shows people how to look after their own interests rationally rather than being run aground by uncontrollable emotions like hope, fear and anger. He wanted people to live life fully, by exercising their "active" intelligence rather than being controlled "passively" by events and things around them. This highest form of active freedom also leads people to love God (defined as the whole scheme of nature and the harmonious intelligence behind it) and to be useful to one another. Politically, it encourages the growth of a well-designed commonwealth run by ordered reason. In a world where people increasingly think "freedom" just means letting unreason and passion run riot, Spinoza's way of freedom is needed now more than ever. This book does an excellent job of describing how Spinoza envisioned the operation of that freedom, both individually and in the operation of a political commonwealth.
Customer Reviews:
INTERESTING, CHALLENGING TEXT ON SPINOZA.......2006-09-08
Baruch Spinoza is one of the best known 17th century thinkers, as his philosophy of secularism was far ahead of his time. This book aims to create the world at the time through conversations with Baruch and through depiction of the meanders of his life.
His community was of Spanish/Portuguese Jews who fled to Holland. There we know that Baruch was excomungated from the Jewish community, but it is not clear why. Baruch's philophy empashized pure reason as a way to achieve salvation, and not the major religions of the time. His questioning of the existence of a deity were too much for his time, and the book presents such occurences by imagining such a situation.
This is an interesting book, but I am not sure this would be a good intro duction to Spinoza. There is too much that the book takes for granted that the reader knows; this book is recommended to those familiar with Spinoza's philosophy and wanting a better feel for what it must have been like at the time to hold such thoughts. Not for the beginner.
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Spinoza His Life and Philosophy
Frederick Pollock
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
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ASIN: 1432619632 |
Book Description
1880. A history of the life of Benedict de Spinoza, one of the most important of the post-Cartesian philosophers in the second half of the 17th century. He made significant contributions in virtually every area of philosophy, and his writings reveal the influence of such divergent sources as Stoicism, Jewish Rationalism, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Descartes, and a variety of heterodox religious thinkers of his day. Spinoza was one of those great men who made himself famous by views that were unusual and unknown to common souls. His father was a Portuguese Jew and because he did not have the means to help his son in business, he allowed Spinoza to study Hebrew literature. Due to the inadequacy of answers to questions voiced to his teacher, Spinoza began to read scripture over and over again, penetrated its obscurity, laid bare its mysteries and brought daylight to the clouds behind which he found truth. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
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Civil War Battle Flags of the Union Army and Order of Battle
Manufacturer: Knickerbocker Press
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ASIN: 1577150074 |
Amazon.com
Mike Davis peers into a looking glass to divine the future of Los Angeles, and what he sees is not encouraging: a city--or better, a concatenation of competing city states--torn by racial enmity, economic disparity, and social anomie. Looking backward, Davis suggests that Los Angeles has always been contested ground. In the 1840s, he writes, a combination of drought and industrial stock raising led to the destruction of small-scale Spanish farming in the region. In the 1910s, Los Angeles was the scene of a bitter conflict between management and industrial workers, so bitter that the publisher of the Los Angeles Times retreated to a heavily fortified home he called "The Bivouac." And in 1992, much of the city fell before flames and riot in a scenario Davis describes as thus: "Gangs are multiplying at a terrifying rate, cops are becoming more arrogant and trigger-happy, and a whole generation is being shunted toward some impossible Armageddon." Davis's voice-in-a-whirlwind approach to the past, present, and future of Los Angeles is alarming and arresting, and his book is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary affairs. --Gregory MacNamee
Book Description
The hidden story of L.A. Mike davis shows us where the city's money comes form and who controls it while also exposing the brutal ongoing struggle between L.A.'s haves and have-nots.
Customer Reviews:
The Cassandra of Post-Liberal America at his best.......2006-10-24
This book is an outstanding synthesis of architectural and urban studies, political and intellectual history, and good-old marxist polemics. The major lesson to draw from this book is that LIBERALISM IN AMERICA IS OVER. This is exemplified most profoundly in the chapter entitled "The Hammer and The Rock," where Davis makes the case that the LAPD's wars on drugs, gangs, and other things a racist might associate with inner-city youth amount to a neo-colonial occupation of poor (mostly colored) LA. This chapter is also widely credited with anticipating the 1992 uprisings.
As to the complaints others have lodged against Davis fact-checking and his general tone: these charges are at best specious and at worst libel. First of all, the book is impeccably documented and annotated, having been originally published by a reputable academic publisher (Verso). Second, his general point of political orientation and critique is unapologetically leftist. Not leftist as most American's (mis)understand the term --- i.e. hopelessly naive, pacificist, "tolerant," and so on --- but leftist in the venerable tradition of Marx and Engels, where it is assumed that there is ultimately no war but class war and never too much to know about the problems with ruling class methods of exploitation under capitalism. This means that Davis compensates for the paucity of justice in the world by injecting his rhetoric with equal helpings of sarcasm, irony, and, above all, humanity.
If you prefer books that find the Aristotelian "happy medium" between competing perspectives, this is not a book for you. If, on the other hand, you want to read a prophetic work of history that exemplifies what the application of good scholarship can be, this is your book.
The Dystopian Utopia.......2006-10-07
This is a sociopolitical analysis of the dark side of the supposed Los Angeles promised land. It's often quite interesting in itself, though it meanders into academic obtuseness, sanctimonious sour grapes, and a lack of validity to the rest of the world. Mike Davis is a fine muckraker as he uncovers the unique and often bizarre cultural-economic-sociological-political structures of L.A. This applies especially to the sickening power of the real estate and development industries, and the forced and hyperbolic local obsession with maintaining upper-middle class lifestyles at the expense of the most horrific and downtrodden ghettos imaginable. This book nearly achieves victory with chapters 4 and 5 - two powerful manifestos, respectively, on the class separation quietly implemented by architects and planners, and the violent oppression of the lower classes by a hubristic law enforcement complex.
Unfortunately, the book fails as a whole due to the typical weaknesses of academic writing. The separate chapters probably originated as distinct research projects that are only categorically associated with the main thesis, and the reader may wonder why each passing subject belongs in the book. This applies most to the chapter on the L.A. Catholic Archdiocese, which is of especially dubious usefulness. Meanwhile, Davis is a classic detached academic who thinks he's writing a book for the masses, but can't stop trying to impress a few other professors. Thus we have the standard long-winded and obtuse professorial writing style, complete with continuous namedropping of other obscure intellectuals, vast postmodernist statements about vague connections between disparate social phenomena, and turning the names of social thinkers into adjectives (with the recurring suffix "-ian") to describe passing concepts. Davis also can't stop making up his own terms for one-time use in impressing academia, like "squirearchy," "cryogenized," or "monolithicity." And just try to digest the following statement from a discussion about the history of the L.A. jazz scene - "...seeking through introspection and experiment to fashion a hegemonic alternative to the deracination..." Perhaps Davis has managed to impress his colleagues with all this useless gobbledygook, but he has failed with the interested reader. And any audience will be ultimately disappointed with how Davis merely complains about all of L.A.'s problems without offering any (even high-level) solutions, while also forgetting to explore how any of this analysis can be applied to other cities or environments with similar problems. [~doomsdayer520~]
Factually lacking.......2005-10-31
Mike Davis, in an interview, admitted that he does not let the facts stand in the way of his arguments. City of Quartz demonstrates this tendency to the fullest. In a previous work, Davis pulled a passage out of a work of fiction and cited it as fact. He shows similar inventiveness in this work, citing studies that were never conducted, inventing interviews, and displaying a creativity with statistics that would be admirable if it weren't for the frightening fact that many who have read this work found it "incisive."
Those who applaud this work do so because it supports their politics. Those who attack it do so because it does not. I tried to remain neutral while reading, but when I read the book I found the inaccuracies to completely outweigh any points made by Davis. His purposeful and methodical deception does more harm than good to his cause.
For more information on this work, see an article at:
(...)
I would steer clear of Mike Davis and his blatant distortions of the truth.
Not a book to be quickly written off.......2005-04-28
I'd just like to offer a voice of temperance after reading a number of the reviews here. The boogeyman mentions of Davis' "Marxist" leanings are worthy of the McCarthy hearings. The mock citations of the type "All the other books I read in the field are much better" are proof of the reviewers' pretentiousness rather than a comment on the value of Davis' book. And, the ad hominem attacks against Davis are unfortunate and probably fueled by the envy of the young and non-published towards Davis as a productive scholar who doesn't seem like he's going away anytime soon. All of which is to say, forget the negative reviews and give City of Quartz a read. It was an insightful, even shocking, book when I read it years ago and continues to make for a solid supplement to a lived experience and a wide-range of contrasting readings on L.A. (as well as a good antidote against the boosterism and dreamy-eyed tripe that often goes around about our city).
Antiquated representation of LA.......2004-12-30
This book presents a very antiquated and negatively biased view of LA. I am left doubtful if many of the scenarios in the book were as "bad" as the author leads the reader to believe.
It is naive on the part of the author to separate the actual problems of LA from other large American cities, and present them as mutually exclusive to LA.
This book panders to a seemingly worldwide hatred of LA, and a kind of love affair with the notion of a eventual LA apocalypse.
What a disappointment that the author investigates no deeper than what the popular opinion of Los Angeles is, and panders to this misconception.
Book Description
A fully updated edition of Mike Davis's visionary work.
No metropolis has been more loved or more hated. To its official boosters, "Los Angeles brings it all together." To detractors, LA is a sunlit mortuary where "you can rot without feeling it." To Mike Davis, the author of this fiercely elegant and wide-ranging work of social history, Los Angeles is both utopia and dystopia, a place where the last Joshua trees are being plowed under to make room for model communities in the desert, where the rich have hired their own police to fend off street gangs, as well as armed Beirut militias. In City of Quartz, Davis reconstructs LA's shadow history and dissects its ethereal economy. He tells us who has the power and how they hold on to it. He gives us a city of Dickensian extremes, Pynchonesque conspiracies, and a desperation straight out of Nathaniel West—a city in which we may glimpse our own future mirrored with terrifying clarity.
In this new edition, Davis provides a dazzling update on the city's current status.
Customer Reviews:
city of quartz , new edition.......2007-09-19
City of Quartz, the original version, is an excellent book on the history of Los Angeles until 1989, well readable, informative and incisive, a must-read even if some people take offense at views which are neither mainstream nor conservative.
When you finish the book you are very curious as to how that author would write about the years since 1989.
That book still needs to be written.
But in an extensive foreword to this new edition many aspects of the most recent history of the most fascinating metropolis on the planet are touched, the Watts riots and whatnot; obviously there is much more and whoever follows what Davis writes in journals about Katrina-torn New Orleans and other hot topics, google his books !, can't wait until a new, extensively updated "City of Quartz" will be out.
Should be shelved in Poli-Sci or Opinion but not History.......2007-05-22
I got this book thinking it was about the social history and architecture of Los Angeles.
Although City Of Quartz does touch upon various events in LA history, it does so only to use those events as a springboard for the author's political writings. Reading it, I got the impression that ANY American city would have brought forth the same opinions.
To sum up: "Wealthy people, Corporations, the Police, and Conservatives are BAD GUYS and are ALWAYS in the wrong. Poor people, Unions, Criminals and Liberals are GOOD GUYS and are ALWAYS in the right. And don't you people realize that the cost of one stealth bomber could pay for 10000 public housing units!?"
The author is certainly entitled to his opinions, but with such a cut-and-dried world view the book quickly becomes boringly predictable. Page after page of "The rich are oppressing the poor, the Whites are oppressing Minorities, the Police are oppressing criminals..." stated as facts - no need for debate - no discussion as to WHY the author feels this way - just a long laundry list of political grievences, and in the end - very little about L.A. history.
If you're interested in Mr. Davis's opinions, this book might be worth a read. But if you're looking for a history book about Los Angeles, look elsewhere.
a great piece of history.......2007-03-26
I knew very little about L.A. This book is actually a history book. I just loved it and it answered many questions I had.
Radical history of Los Angeles.......2007-02-26
Davis is well-known in radical circles as a popular writer on various issues relating to labor movements and the like. This is essentially a history of the city of Los Angeles and its surroundings from a radical perspective. It's quite well-done and very informative (at least to an ignoramus like me), but Davis goes overboard now and then in seeing a conspiracy to repress the poor behind everything. He also has the tendency to call historical incidences of repression a "holocaust" (he actually uses this word multiple times for different things), which I don't like being used in this manner. Aside from that though, it's a welcome different approach from the usual hagiographic or hip postmodern analyses of conglomeration cities like LA. There's not much more I can say about it, as whether you like his left-wing critical vignettes or not will be mostly a matter of taste - judge it for yourself.
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Sixties Sandstorm: The Fight over Establishment of a Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 1961-1970
Brian C. Kalt
Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
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ASIN: 0870135597 |
Book Description
The 1,600 people who lived in the proposed park area feared not only that the federal government would confiscate their homes, but that a wave of tourists would ensue and destroy their beloved and fragile lands. In response, they organized citizen action groups and fought a nine-year battle against the legislation. Sixties Sandstorm is not a book about dunes as much as it is a book about people and their government. It chronicles the public meetings, bills, protests, and congressional interactions that led to the signing of the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Act in 1970. The Dunes park fight is a case study of the politics, the legislative process, citizen response to the expanded role of government in the 1960s, and the rise of the environmental movement in America during that decade. Since Hart's legislation was made law, millions of Americans have traveled to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore. Few imagine what the area would look like today if not for the efforts of people like Senator Hart. On the other hand, few appreciate the sacrifice of the landowners who-not always willingly-gave up their property in this place where, as one resident put it, "stars are closer to the earth than anywhere else in the world
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