Scoundrel Time

Book Description

In 1952, Hellman joined the ranks of intellectuals and artists called before Congress to testify about political subversion. Terrified yet defiant, Hellman refused to incriminate herself or others, and managed to avoid trial. Nonetheless the experience brought devastating controversy and loss. First published in 1972, her retelling of the time features a remarkable cast of characters, including her lover, novelist Dashiell Hammett, a slew of famous friends and colleagues, and a pack of scoundrelsruthless, ambitious politicians and the people who complied with their demands.

Customer Reviews:

WHO is the scoundrel here?.......2006-05-29

Intellectual children, still fresh from their nurseries,
sip this revolting woman's non-stop deceit. Her utter
silence about her lover Otto Katz's torture and execution back
in communist Czechoslovakia, and her totally bogus JULIA say
it all. When she was not suing someone, she was confabulating
her own autobiography along the way. Funny, her career begins
as Hammett's fades. A HUAC plot, no doubt.

'Truth makes you a traitor... in a time of scoundrels'.......2005-09-12

`Scoundrel Time' is a harrowing, highly personal account of the events surrounding Lillian Hellman's appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, in 1952. It was, to put it mildly, a tricky situation. Although Hellman did not `cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions,' the damage to her life and career were extensive. Even though she was not a friendly witness the Committee didn't cite her for contempt. That did nothing to save her from being blacklisted, however. Beyond a revealing look at a life disrupted by a government that felt, as Garry Wills puts it in his extended introduction, `Hollywood must be censored politically if nation was to be protected ideologically,' Hellman details the post-hearing shake-out. Without a chance to work at home, and with work abroad hindered by an ever-suspicious government, Hellman would eventually lose her home, a number of fair-weather friends, while we all lost a decade's worth of plays and screenplays.

It's helpful to read Wills' introduction prior to Hellman's book. Wills writes that Hellman's scheduled appearance before the Committee `was especially dangerous because Miss Hellman was as little qualified to understand the Committee as it was to grasp her code of honor.' Wills supplies the context while Hellman concentrates on the emotions of someone undergoing a witch hunters' scrutiny. Wills rightly discerns an inability on Hellman's part to understand that Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, and others of their ilk were sincere Cold Warriors. All things considered Hellman displays a rather surprising dearth of rancor towards her persecutors, but she doesn't hide the fact that she considers them unscrupulous opportunists.

`Scoundrel Time' was published in 1976, shortly after the resignation of one of Hellman's persecutors, Richard Nixon. To paraphrase Jimmy Breslin, the good guys finally won and it must have given an odd sense of satisfaction to those who lives were disrupted by his rise to power. Hellman is a flawed and vulnerable character in this memoir, and all the more human for it.

a very personal view of a difficult time.......2004-06-23

Lillian Hellman was a decent person who was caught in a terrible cross wind and ruined. From a charmed life as a screenwriter, she fell to the bottom more quickly than she could have imagined possible. I found this to be the least successful of her series of memoires, in which she re-made herself and re-entered the spotlight as a good if not truly distingusihed writer. However, the topic is more focused than the other volumes, in particular focusing on the travials of her friend, Dashell Hammett. This is very moving. In fact, I found the best part of the book was the introduction by Garry WIlls, who is a truly first-rate political writer. His depiction of the time, made more vivid by his self-identification as a conservation, is chilling and comic at the same time - he recalls how Ayn RAND said that any film with Russians even smiling was propaganda and hence punishable by law!

Recommended, but there are better and far more comprehensive histories of the period.

An artful yet compendious, vitriolic written declaration........2001-09-11

Desensitized for a long time to the stressful pain of the infamous McCarthy period, Scoundrel Time must have been a most cathartic memoir for Lillian Hellman to write; it is, of the autobiographical trilogy, the most unfeigned and succinct of the three books. Her voice resonates, echoes, and behind hers, the voices of other 'Red Scare' victims closely follow. This is not her book alone; it is a book belonging to a past, present and future generation of people who were, are, and regrettably will be, victims of slanderous tales and virulent gossip. Scoundrel Time searchingly delves into a dark time in our country when Freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly and Petitioning of government was on a gossamer threshold to nonexistence. This memoir was also clearly the most difficult one for Lillian Hellman to write, for as she herself says, "...I had a strange hangups and they are always hard to explain. Now I tell myself that if I can force them, maybe I can manage. The prevailing eccentricity was and is my inability to feel much against the leading figures of the period, the men who punished me. Senators McCarthy and McCarran, Representatives Nixon, Walter and Wood, all of them, were what they were: men who invented when necessary, maligned even when it wasn't necessary. I do not think they believed much, if anything, of what they said: the time was ripe for a new wave in America, and they seized their political chance to lead it along each day's opportunity, spit-balling whatever and with whoever came into view." (P.37) That 'new wave' hurt a lot of innocent people, human beings who were not spared the iniquitous rod of economic, career and social deprivation all because they, like Hellman, would not name names, who would not cede their code of conviction, honor and belief(s). The irony of this period is a true slap-in-the-face, for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the most revered parchments of this country were verbally shaken into dust by those who wanted to shout and search out communistic evils where none existed in the first place. Like the Civil War of 1861 - the period of McCarthyism, name dropping, The House Un-American Activities, The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, it turned brother against brother, friend into foe (Elia Kazan and Clifford Odets are perfect examples), rich people into poor. And in the end - the true tragedy is - nothing came out of the whole mess except a lot of miserable people who, by not subscribing to Truman's loyalty program or proposition of Americanism, sacrificed either their material luxury or worse, their character and integrity. Should a horrid 'craze' of this political and social nature (which really was a political subterfuge) ever arise in this land of republicism/democracy, I would subscribe to the very wise words of Lillian Hellman, "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions." (P.30)

Required Reading for the Art of Memoir & McCarthy Era.......2000-10-06

Lillian Hellman was one of the most gifted memoirists in the English language. (Read also her "An Unfinished Woman" and "Pentimento.") It is not merely the historical, political, social and personal content of her autobiographical works that elevates them to classics, but her uniquely mellifluous and dexterous command of language. The fact that she was a brilliant playwright has much to do with her gift. Scoundrel Time explores Hellman's and Dashiell Hammett's involvement in The McCarthy [Witchhunt for Communists] Hearings and particularly how she, with the help of good attorneys, got out of naming names and thus sending friends, acquaintances and Hollywood business associates to prison for treason. There has been some question regarding the "truth" in Hellman's memoirs, as there should be in any memoir, for memory is fickle and cannot be trusted--as Hellman herself admitted. Read this long essay on the McCarthy Era as a work of self-reflective art, as exploration of the nature of memory, as one historical document of thousands documenting how history indeed is written by the victor. Read it to better understand just how many people would send their friends and family to prison if pressured.

Pentimento, A Book of Portraits / Scoundrel Time

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Pentimento, A Book of Portraits / Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little Brown, 1973 / Little Brown, 1976
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0WEM8

The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett

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A Better Bennett Book
The Saintly Scoundrel fits right in
Interesting book about a shady character

The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett
Andrew F. Smith
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Other Denominations & Sects | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0252022823

Customer Reviews:

A Better Bennett Book.......2001-08-06

The bane of students of restoration history is that while there is an abundance of primary source material in specialized libraries, there is little straight forward history or biography available. This very readable straight forward bio on Dr. Bennett is an excellent starting place for students of the time and place and events of early Mormonism. I recommend it to those who are interested in taking the measure of Bennett. It remained refreshingly focused on Dr. Bennett and leaves to others the challenge of writing about the other players in these colorful and dramatic events.

The Saintly Scoundrel fits right in.......2000-06-05

Andrew F. Smith's fascinating peek into the wild and crazy life of the 1840's Western Frontier is a valuable piece of historical work. This work is neither pro-Mormon or anti-Mormon and the authors unbiased stance adds credibility to his work.

The author set the story in the greater context of the era which helped this reader conclude that "The Saintly Scoundrel"- John C. Bennett fitted right in with all the other "scoundrels" of the time, including Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, James Jesse Strang, Sidney Rigdon, et. al.

Interesting book about a shady character.......1998-02-04

Dr. Bennett was indeed a person of questionable morals and ideas, perfect for Mormonism in its Nauvoo, Ill. period. Not well-known in the present Mormon church, he presented quite a thorn in its side after leaving it. First book I've come across that gives a detailed account of his life. His book "History of the Saints" has been torn apart as a book full of lies, but history has proven at least some of it's contents as being factual. Clint Lauricella

Three: An Unfinished Woman, Pentimento, Scoundrel Time

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Three: An Unfinished Woman, Pentimento, Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0316355119

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SCOUNDREL TIME

Manufacturer: LITTLE,BROWN & CO.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HF1CFK

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Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NVFH40

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Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NWXEIA

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Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OU7WH0

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Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Quartet Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0553200577

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Scoundrel Time
Lillian Hellman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0SAFS

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Flawed but interesting

Best book I have ever read

Exceptionally good of its kind

Mind blowingly good

The zoo vs. the monastery, Aristotle vs. Plato

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud
Peter Watson
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Civilization & Culture | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060935642
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Book Description

Peter Watson's hugely ambitious and stimulating history of ideas from deep antiquity to the present day—from the invention of writing, mathematics, science, and philosophy to the rise of such concepts as the law, sacrifice, democracy, and the soul—offers an illuminated path to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves.

Download Description

In this hugely ambitious and stimulating book, Peter Watson describes the history of ideas, from deep antiquity to the present day, leading to a new way of understanding our world and ourselves.

The narrative begins nearly two million years ago with the invention of hand-axes and explores how some of our most cherished notions might have originated before humans had language. Then, in a broad sweep, the book moves forward to consider not the battles and treaties of kings and prime ministers, emperors and generals, but the most important ideas we have evolved, by which we live and which separate us from other animals. Watson explores the first languages and the first words, the birth of the gods, the origins of art, the profound intellectual consequences of money. He describes the invention of writing, early ideas about law, why sacrifice and the soul have proved so enduring in religion. He explains how ideas about time evolved, how numbers were conceived, how science, medicine, sociology, economics, and capitalism came into being. He shows how the discovery of the New World changed forever the way that we think, and why Chinese creativity faded after the Middle Ages.

In the course of this commanding narrative, Watson reveals the linkages down the ages in the ideas of many apparently disparate philosophers, astronomers, religious leaders, biologists, inventors, poets, jurists, and scores of others. Aristotle jostles with Aquinas, Ptolemy with Photius, Kalidasa with Zhu Xi, Beethoven with Strindberg, Jefferson with Freud. Ideas is a seminal work.

Customer Reviews:

Flawed but interesting.......2007-08-22

One must give Peter Watson credit where credit is due; he is not shy when it comes to examining topics of enormous scope, or at the very least craft titles that imply that this is his aim. Unfortunately, far from examining thought "from fire to Freud" Watson's work is of far more limited dimension, instead examining European cultural evolution from the early Middle Ages forward. His text examines several topics to understand their influence and development on civilization. His examination, however, proves too often limited, failing to look far enough to embrace the full range of his field. Most disappointing is his tendency to bifurcate ideas into two competing camps, and ignore the vast nuance in the middle.

For example, Watson divides thought into two opposing spheres : the physical (scientific or natural) world and the spiritual (religious). While it is true that this dichotomy exists in the West -- interestingly forced on the physical camp by the Church - far from inevitable, the division is a historical artifact created by social context. Those enchanted by Watson, and they are legion, will retort that his is not interested in the possible, but the actual, and even then only what occurred in (western) Europe. Yet even here, Watson ignores alternatives. Judaism, which Watson gives only so much attention as suits his goals, long embraced a notion of the co-existance and even integration of these two concepts. Many rabbis examined the physical world and sacred texts and sought reinterpretation of the former when they conflicted with the latter (two prime examples being Nachmanidies of Spain and Maimonidies of Egypt, two of the most significant sages of Jewish history). Watson might likewise have considered the ancient Greeks like Aristotle who sought to understand the spiritual through they physical.

When it comes to certain concepts Watson plainly tortures his topic to reach desired conclusions. Thus he imagines Freud's examination of the unconscious as on the continuum of the notion of the soul, yet this is at best forced. While it is true that Freud postulated a division between mind and body - not surprising given the technology available to him - but far from a notion of rote ritual, he developed a theory based on observation and imagined it being refined over time by experimentation. Even a cursory comparison of this with religion reveals the extreme limits of the comparison.

This brings us to the place where Watson succeeds, and in my opinion shines. His examination of the notion of the controlled experiment, that instead of being limited to observations as they occur people can create things to observe in order to test hypothesis, is nothing short of brilliant. This concept may be the driving force of the creation of modern science, a concept that allowed humanity to tame the atom and journey to the stars. Despite its other short comings, this makes Watson's book worth reading and presents an idea worthy of further consideration.

Best book I have ever read.......2007-04-24

To read history as an evolution of ideas and inventions instead of a series of battles/wars or moving from one political machination to the next was most satisfying. Even more refreshing was to read a history that includes eastern as well as western innovation with many interesting asides and anecdotes. I've sent copies to my children and brother-in-law!

Exceptionally good of its kind.......2007-04-01

This book is the best single volume of the history of ideas that I have ever encountered. It has rich content, plenty of bibliographic detail for following up specific ideas, and is beautifully written.

Mind blowingly good.......2007-03-25

Do you want to know everything about history but just don't have the time to read all the classics and the right "must read" novels and written works from Plato to Darwin (or perhaps like me you dont have the trained intellect to digest a lot of these works)? This book is the solution. It satisfied my massive curiousity of all ideas of man from the hunter gatherers through to Freud, and the best part was that it was an absolute joy to read. A two fold joy in that it is not overtly taxing due to Watson's ability to put ideas (and their context) forward in the most succinct fashion, and secondly the sheer scope of this book consistently amazed me. So many things I didn't know which have had such an important effect on mankind, and so many of the myths now explained. I read this book over the space of about 8 months. As I work full time and with a small child I dont get all the reading time I would like, but I found I also needed some time after reading a few chapters to absorb the enormity of some of the information contained therein. I was compelled to write this review after reading one of the final chapters (on Darwin's evolution) and I had the sensation of my mind literally expanding!! If you have a thirst for knowledge of the history of mankind and its ideas I can offer you no better reading, and as a supremely added bonus it is an absolute pleasure. I have only three chapters to go and I am already worrying myself as to what will take its place once I have finished it! Thank you Mr Watson you have increased my understanding of man exponentially. I look forward to your next publication.

The zoo vs. the monastery, Aristotle vs. Plato.......2007-02-05

Given that all the reviewers to date have given this a perfect 5 stars, I must say that I agree with minor qualification, yet not enough to lower this to 4 stars. Anyone with the hubristic ambition to survey the best (and a bit of the worst) that has been thought by a few and known by some if not many deserves acclaim for what seems to me what must have been most of a life's work! Watson keeps an amazingly even-handed control for the vast stretches he covers, and the book, although a careful reader can glimpse his own preferences within the history of ideas, does prove arguably open-minded to the forces that seek, as the book gains momentum, to shut down individual conscience and personal liberty in the service of protecting a cause, a deity, or a system.

He reminds us how thin is our civilized veneer. Iconoclasts in early medieval Byzantium nearly obliterated the beauties of earlier Christian art. Prejudice and stupidity prove powerful eradicators of goodness and beauty. "That certain works of Cicero should survive in one copy, and that under the layer of a palimpsest, emphasises how fragile civilisation is." (257) The failure of Christianity to stem modernity is shown much later in the ant-modernist papal campaigns of the 19c to be rooted in a very Christian assertion of individual conscience above dictatorial authority. The success of Islam today, contrarily, he explains, lies in its success in the 19c to combat its own secularizing and liberalizing dissidents. So, he provocatively muses, which faith is in healthier shape today?

Such startling juxtapositions characterize this book. So affordable, and a wealth of a liberal education for an infinitesimal fraction of college tuition. This book taught me far more than decades of on-and-off reading ever has or ever could about how ideas and people and events build and connect and clash. By the way, only a couple of superficial errors marred the entire text, an amazing feat considering the amount of data amassed. It took me over a month to read, and each chapter (36 plus intro and conclusion) a substantial part of an evening, but what reward for so little of my own labor.

My own favorites among hundreds of those introduced were Alex Ferguson, a skeptical philosopher from the Scottish Enlightenment who denied we can advance very far at all through our historical treadmill; Robert Owen, the proto-socialist and radical British advocate for labor rights and secular inquiry; Max Weber's separation into knowledge by personal religious or spriritual experience vs. science and technological progress able to be shared by us all; William James' pragmatism; and Karl Marx if only for his pithy quote that sums up his concept of alienation so well: workers have no control over their conditions or their product, and 'are forced to operate "well within their capabilities."' (567) [His earlier book examined the 20c separately; "Ideas" stops around 1900.] Watson shows his own bias, I suppose, in favor of the liberal stance and the challenging rejoinder over the conservative posture and the defensive pose, but what reader would not want this-- for it shows a quick and generous human mind grappling with the same weighty ideas we must as we follow Watson's lead-- in favor of an inert summary of names and dates?

You may expect from my quick picks that the bulk of the book is thus given over to early modern history and ideas, but these concepts serve more as the capstone which is supported by centuries of earlier thinkers. While he does seem to whirl past much in medieval times, the comparative paucity of extant information compared to more recent times does make this pace understandable. The book does build upon earlier ideas, and the ideas of course gain heft as centuries follow one another and later thinkers learn from and contend against one another. Watson sums up the three most influential ideas in our common historical inheritance: the soul, the idea of Europe, and the experiment. These do not assume the Plato-Charlemagne-Newton sort of trichotomy that you might think; nor is the narrative so neatly divided.

The concluding chapter shows how these ideas all meshed around the later 19th c and pressures of Marx, Freud (both are shown in contemporary perspective for their failures as well as accurate observations; Freud's negative reputation among many today I found eye-opening and arguably far too little popularized!) and above all Darwin. The break of the outside, verifiable, quantifiable, and accessible realm with the inner, transient, insubstantial, and perhaps perpetually inaccessible mind-soul-spirit serves as this book's climactic assertion. He argues that Aristotle, in effect, is to be chosen over Plato. Watson closes by backing those who would side with observing from our human window the actions of the zoo rather than those of the monastery. That is, he turns us back after 740 pp. to our dim and irretrievable origins far more ancient than the oldest artifacts recorded here. He doubts that we can grasp whatever swirls about inside of ourselves, and he seems to deny any ultimate attainment of knowledge about what lies beneath our surface. Like his scientific and rational and secular forebears, the triumph of modern man, Watson seems to agree, lies in how we connect on the exterior to one another, for only there can we all agree to common connections and attain shared satisfactions.

Book Description

How do public laws, treaties, Senate confirmations, and other legislative achievements help us to gain insight into how our governmental system performs?

This well-argued book edited by Scott Adler and John Lapinski is the first to assess our political institutions by looking at what the authors refer to as legislative accomplishment. The book moves beyond current research on Congress that focuses primarily on rules, internal structure, and the microbehavior of individual lawmakers, to look at the mechanisms that govern how policy is enacted and implemented in the United States. It includes essays on topics ranging from those dealing with the microfoundations of congressional output, to large N empirical analyses that assess current theories of lawmaking, to policy-centered case studies.

All of the chapters take a Congress-centered perspective on macropolicy while still appreciating the importance of other branches of government in explaining policy accomplishment. The Macropolitics of Congress shines light on promising pathways for the exploration of such key issues as the nature of political representation. It will make a significant contribution to the study of Congress and, more generally, to our understanding of American politics. Contributors include E. Scott Adler, David Brady, Charles M. Cameron, Brandice Canes-Wrone, Robert S. Erikson, Grace R. Freedman, Valerie Heitshusen, John D. Huber, Ira Katznelson, Keith Krehbiel, John S. Lapinski, David Leblang, Michael B. MacKuen, David R. Mayhew, Nolan McCarty, Charles R. Shipan, James A. Stimson, and Garry Young.

Book Description

Like a bright blue seam incised deep in solid rock, the Escalante River binds the fir forests of Utah's High Plateau with the barren deserts of the canyonlands region in the newly designated Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. To this wild landscape, naturalist Thomas Fleischner brings both emotional engagement and a wealth of knowledge. With unabashed passion and patient and learned observations, Fleischner presents what he calls a "guide to understanding" this relatively unknown landscape. Integrating personal narrative and natural history,SINGING STONE is ideal for curious visitors to the national monument as well as students of environmental studies. Fleischner's background as a conservation biologist and former park ranger, a professor of environmental studies, and a naturalist in the Escalante region for almost twenty years has provided him with a deep reservoir of experience and knowledge. The book's first three chapters survey the unique geology, flora and fauna, and human history of the region. Chapters four and five trace the more recent impacts of human activities--grazing and wilderness recreation--and explore the shifts in cultural values and public policy that have occurred as a result. Examining these topics in the context of a specific landscape offers a lens through which these changes, now the topic of examination and controversy throughout the New West, can be clearly seen and, hopefully re-evaluated.

Customer Reviews:

Gloriously okay!.......2005-10-01

Without a doubt, the Escalante River is worth writing about. It's a thin ribbon of shallow, silty water that winds a crooked course among some of the most beautiful slickrock and sandstone walls this side of Mars. It's got reeds, arches, beaver dams, sunlight, and the remnants of forgotten people. It's one of the most amazing places on earth, and it deserves volumes written in praise of it.
That said, that's what this book's about.
So, it's got to be at least okay, right?
Don't worry. It is.
It's okay.
It's got a good chapter on touring Glen Canyon Dam, a nice piece on the mystery of missing artist Everett Ruess, and some good descriptions of the rocks and plants and wildlife.
It does drag on at points, though--as slow and muddy and meandering as the river the author's writing about.
...But maybe that's what he was going for.

Informative and interesting.......2004-06-02

I read this book about a month before I visited south central Utah for a hiking vacation. One of my destinations was the Escalante area. My vacation was more enjoyable because I knew a lot of the landmarks and names associated with the area from the book. When I had finished reading this book, I wished it had been longer. That is an indication to me that this was a "good" book.

This book "sings" the virtues of the Escalante area!.......2000-12-27

I truly enjoyed all aspects of this book. My husband and I hiked the Boulder Mail Trail in October and purchased several books on the area so I could learn more about it. This book included personal hiking narratives that I could relate to and touched on important issues facing the West - such as cattle's effect on the environment and tourism. It helped fill in some blanks on my knowledge of the area. I'd also recommend the book by Jerry C. Roundy titled "Advised Them To Call The Place Escalante".

Delightful Natural History of the Escalante.......2000-04-24

Thomas Lowe Fleischner was an Outdoor Education instructorbringing city folk into the Escalante for many years before writingthis book. It is well written and entertaining, and provides a wealthof information in the realm of natural history: plants, animals, ecology, geology plus the pre-historic and historic human history of the area. A very nice book that will enrich your visits to the Escalante. END

Delightful Natural History of the Escalante.......2000-04-24

Thomas Lowe Fleischner was an Outward Bound instructor bringing city folk into the Escalante for many years before writing this book. It is well written and entertaining, and provides a wealth of information in the realm of natural history: plants, animals, ecology, geology plus the pre-historic and historic human history of the area. A very nice book that will enrich your visits to the Escalante.

Derai / The Singing Stones (Ace Double H-77)

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Derai / The Singing Stones (Ace Double H-77)
E. C. Tubb , and Juanita Coulson
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HDMUS0

History: Fiction or Science? Dating methods as offered by mathematical statistics. Eclipses and zodiacs. Chronology Vol.I

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? Dating methods as offered by mathematical statistics. Eclipses and zodiacs. Chronology Vol.I
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621074
Release Date: 2007-03-19

Product Description

History: Fiction or Science? is the most explosive tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by solid scientific data. The book is well-illustrated, contains over 446 graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays, which never cease to amaze the reader. Eminent mathematician proves that: Jesus Christ was born in 1153 and crucified in 1186 The Old Testament refers to mediaeval events. Apocalypse was written after 1486. Does this sound uncanny? This version of events is substantiated by hard facts and logic - validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources - to a greater extent than everything you may have read and heard about history before. The dominating historical discourse in its current state was essentially crafted in the XVI century from a rather contradictory jumble of sources such as innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts whose originals had vanished in the Dark Ages and the allegedly irrefutable proof offered by late mediaeval astronomers, resting upon the power of ecclesial authorities. Nearly all of its components are blatantly untrue! For some of us, it shall possibly be quite disturbing to see the magnificent edifice of classical history to turn into an ominous simulacrum brooding over the snake pit of mediaeval politics. Twice so, in fact: the first seeing the legendary millenarian dust on the ancient marble turn into a mere layer of dirt - one that meticulous unprejudiced research can eventually remove. The second, and greater, attack of unease comes with the awareness of just how many areas of human knowledge still trust the three elephants of the consensual chronology to support them. Nothing can remedy that except for an individual chronological revolution happening in the minds of a large enough number of people.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

The Singing Stone
Paul Bass
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1419650483
Release Date: 2006-11-03

Average customer rating:

The Singing Stones

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I5WL72

Average customer rating:

The healing gift of an important storyteller
Readable, though not enjoyable.
Not of Whitney's usual quality

The Singing Stones: A Novel
Phyllis A. Whitney
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

Romantic Suspense | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books

Gothic | Romance | Subjects | Books

Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

Romantic Suspense | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0345480341
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Book Description

Despite her misgivings, child psychologist Lynn McLeod returns to Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to help ten-year-old Jilly, her ex-husband Stephen's child. But what she finds at the secluded household are more questions. And the danger that threatens both Stephen and Jilly soon closes tightly around Lynn. And all the while, the soft, hypnotic sound in the wind--the eerie yet beautiful music of the Singing Stones--lures Lynn into a realm of mystery, murder, and dormant passion. And, perhaps, to the key to her own destiny....

Customer Reviews:

The healing gift of an important storyteller.......2004-05-20

The SINGING STONES stand in the Blue Ridge Mountains liek old men, shrieking through the night. A troubled young girl, Jilly, ignored by her wheelchair bound father, Stephen, and her movie star mother, Oriana Devi. A pair of amateur psychics, Julian and Vivian, deeply into reincarnation, attempt to aid little Jilly with their strange, eerie advice. Meanwhile on a nearby horse farm a lovely chatelaine, Neryl, is married to the unapproachable and nasty Everett, but she's having an affair with a handyman a la Constance Chatterley. Into this mix of personalities comes our heroine, Lynn MacLeod, once married to Stephen long ago, before Jilly's birth or even the arrival of the alluring dancer, Oriana. Lynn has a lot of lessons to learn about growing up and also who she was in a past life. Can she save Jilly before the curse of the singing stones sets in?

If you have a heart for romantic suspense, you've probably already read a dozen or more by America's answer to Daphne du Maurier, Phyllis A. Whitney. In "The SINGING STONES" we learn that a simple thing like a tiny slab of rose quartz is good for a broken heart. This advice has probably saved many lives, I know it has helped mine. I go to sleep with a smile on my face and "The SINGING STONES" turned over on its side by the night stand. Whitney is one of America's greatest treasures.

Readable, though not enjoyable........2000-10-30

I finished this book about an hour ago, and I am left with a feeling of numbness. The book seemed shallow, the characters uninteresting, and I feel that so much potential available to the storyline was left untouched. Most of the book was rather predictable, and where it wasn't predictable, it certainly wasn't surprising.

I'm glad that I didn't buy this book; it was given to me by someone else. I don't feel it's really worth the money. The book wasn't exactly a waste of time, but I could have spent that time reading a more valuable piece of literature.

Not of Whitney's usual quality.......1999-06-27

For some reason this book was not as enjoyable as Whitney's others. I found several aspects of the ending too easy to predict. And no child talks the way Jilly does. If you haven't read Whitney, start with The Turquoise Mask, Dream of Orchids, or Rainbows in the Mist first. If you prefer historical rather than contemporary novels, try Sea Jade or The Trembling Hills. Fun!

Jingles: How to Write, Produce and Sell Commercial Music

Average customer rating:

Jingles: How to Write, Produce and Sell Commercial Music
Al Stone
Manufacturer: Writers Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0898794137

Average customer rating:

Singing Fir Tree
Martin Stone
Manufacturer: Putnam Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0399222073

Average customer rating:

my starter book
overly romanticized, but good
Awsome Book
I Didn't Enjoy the Ending
One of the best books I have ever read.

The Singing Stone
O. R. Melling
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0670808172

Customer Reviews:

my starter book.......2003-12-08

Sadly for me I never had the easy access of a `Harry Potter' book to get me into reading. I had to find a book on my own, and this was hard for some one who as a child didn't read. I had no bestseller list to tell me what to pick out. Instead I got into a frustrated argument with my mother and picked a random book of the shelf, did a really bratty thing when I slammed it down on the counter and said, "Fine! This one!" This was the best argument I ever had with my mother, because I devoured this book in one day, which was something my family was quite surprised it. My imagination was drawn into this book and I was entranced by the mythology, the romance and the conflict. Sure there are problems with this book, the ending left me confused with the visual images of characters fighting. But it is a story that stole my imagination and strapped it in for a wild ride. And for that, I recommend it. Plus it's a great way to get into studying Irish mythologies.

overly romanticized, but good.......2003-02-03

An interesting read for young adults, Melling combines Celtic myth with a romantic quest of epic proportions. Kay and Aherne are appealing and strong female characters and their bond forms the center of the novel. The action is fast-paced and the main characters suitably heroic.
I found, however, that the Celtic world was VERY romanticized, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the preponderance of "ivory and diamond" and the impossibly attractive main characters were a little too much for my taste. Also, Melling appropriates Celtic history/myth and twists it into her own invention (saying that "this is the way the story SHOULD have been"). Nevertheless, this is an imaginative story and quality fiction for younger readers.
If you enjoy this, I recommend "The Hunter's Moon", which I prefer to "The Singing Stone" and which gives the reader a keen longing to see Ireland.

Awsome Book.......2003-01-18

I read this book for my school book report for the 8th grade and i just loved it, i was even willing to pay for it by saying that i had lost it and cso i couldnt return it, it was just so amazing, it caught my attaention in the first page and it went uphill from there on until the end where i found it was a little dissapointing but still a great book and I have suggested it to all my friends that are into good books, i give it a deserving 5 stars

I Didn't Enjoy the Ending.......2002-06-30

For a novel study, I was forced into reading "The Singing Stone," by Orla Melling. I thought it would be an excellent book due to the fatasy atmosphere, which I am really in to. Well, as I began to read the book, I believed it ws very good, (hence the 3 stars) but near the end the author of this complicated book seems to have rushed the conclusion of it. ... The last few chapters of the book seem unbelievable and extremely stupid. In conclusion, my expectations of this book, "The Singing Stone" were not met, surprisingly!...

One of the best books I have ever read........2000-07-31

I thought the book was brilliant with really interesting carachters and a really satisfying ending. I only wish O. Melling could write Kay and Aherne into another book...

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