Book Description
This lavishly illustrated book shows the extended Romanov family in formal and informal poses and traces the last days of a dynasty as well as the beginnings of commercial photography.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-08-05
Although this book is advertised as a photo book, particuarly interesting for me was the information it gives about other, more obscure members of the Romanov family. Most photo's are accompanied by a paragraph discussing the family member involved, and this is especially helpful to me as a fan of woman's history when discussing Romanov Princesses who married into other European royal families. I believe these women, coming from the family they came from, were probably very formidable and interesting individuals in their own right, and I think it's a shame there is so little reading material available about them.
Nice collection of photos........2007-06-26
From the cover of this book I believed that I was purchasing a family album of JUST Tsar Nicholas II's immediate family. Although there is a whole chapter devoted to him and his children, this book is mostly filled with pictures of other Romanovs. The few pictures of Nicholas II and his children have been previously published.
The chapters of the book are as follows:
1. The Last Tsar
2. The Family
3. Marrying into the Family
4. Born Romanov
5. The Training of Princes
6. A Suitable Marriage
7. Family Ties
8. The Family at Work
9. The Family at Play
10. The Passing of the Tsar
11. War and Revolution
12. Full Circle
A Window Back in Time Through the Camera .......2006-11-10
This is a wonderful Zeepvat book. It is similar in nature to others she has written. Although I enjoyed the book a lot, some of the pictures had been previously published in other books and forums. I would have liked to have seen more pictures that had never been published about their day to day life at Livadia, Tsarskoe Selo and on board the Standart. What i am saying is that maybe more access could be granted to different photo albums than just the usual that are referenced in other books and this one as well.
Book Description
The Romanov dynasty reled Russia for a little over three hundred years and their story, ending with their tragic deaths, has exerted a lasting fascination. This new book is an album of pictures gathered by the author over many years.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing and annoying.......2006-04-22
The photographs included are absolutely amazing, most of which I had never seen before. If your interest in the Romanov Dynasty extends beyond Emperor Nicholas II, his wife and children, then this book is definitely for you. That said, the author relentlessly uses the title of "Grand Prince/ss" instead of Grand Duke/Duchess, which just grated on my very last nerve by the middle of the first section. If you can look beyond that, you're in for a wonderful treat.
A unique look at a priviledged world..........2006-04-21
When I ordered The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album by Charlotte Zeepvat from Amazon, I assumed that this book was primarily personal photographs taken by Tsar Nicholas II and his family. I was happy to discover how wrong I was! The Camera and the Tsars is a beautiful book that chronicles the lives of the Imperial Family in photographs, starting with Nicholas I. As Zeepvat writes, "by the mid-1850s the imperial family and the camera had embarked on a long and fruitful relationship." What makes this book a true treasure is that most of these stunning pictures have never before been published.
The Camera and the Tsars details not just the immediate family, but extended family as well. The author breaks the photos down into 12 chapters, including The Family, Born Romanov, The Family at Work, The Family at Play, and Marrying into the Family. Many of the photos are extremely rare, including one taken of the ladies of the court for the coronation of Nicholas II, a death-bed scene of Nicholas I, and a wedding photo of Grand Duchess Elizabeth, wife of Konstantin (Russian wedding photos weren't usually taken in the 19th Century). The pictures of family gatherings (with family members from all the Royal Houses of Europe) are fascinating. The Camera and the Tsars includes more pictures of Empress Alexandra smiling than in all the other books I've ever seen combined. And the photos of her immediate family (the last Tsar) will haunt the reader. The later Romanov's were shutterbugs and some of the photos are credited to them. But most are done by professionals and are works of art. Even today, photographs continue to be discovered after being "lost" for so many years.
My one complaint about Camera of the Tsars is that the author includes detailed narratives about the subjects in the photos, but she tries to put her own spin on things. I have always read that Grand Duke Sergei and his wife, Elizabeth of Hesse had a troubled marriage and that Sergei was a very difficult man. Zeepvat claims this perception was orchestrated by family members who disliked Sergei, and that "private letters now coming to light" prove that Elizabeth's marriage was not "one long martyrdom." Unfortunately, Zeepvat does not provide us with the source of this "new" information.
I think that the author should have stuck with descriptions and omitted her interpretations in a book of this nature.
Still, The Camera of the Tsars is an interesting book (especially for any serious Romanov collector), and provides a unique look into their very privileged world.
Very Good.......2006-02-23
I loved this book. It had many pictures I had never seen before.
Excellent Book With New Information.......2006-02-23
This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the Romanovs. It has many unpublished photographs and draws upon newly discovered family correspondence that debunks many long-held perspectives that almost always originated from the very few family members who published autobiographies in English--and seem to blame certain family members for their unhappiness in their own lives or needed to sell books. For instance, Grand Duchess Ella & Grand Duke Serge had a deeply connected marriage and profound love for one another--their marriage was never an empty sham as others later claimed, Ella was a deeply loved woman by everyone who knew her and her niece Marie's savage references to her seem to be a way to blame her Aunt for her own father's desertion of her family because she could not bear to blame him directly, Grand Duchess Marie chose to marry a Prince of Sweden on her own and was never forced to marry him, Grand Duchess Olga chose to marry Duke Peter of Oldenburg and her mother was as surprised as everyone else by her choice given Peter's reputation, etc. And equally interesting is the focus on other, barely-known branches of the family and their lives and accomplishments.
And just a note--as a Russian I can tell you that for reasons that are not entirely clear, the term Grand Duke/Grand Duchess is a mis-translation in English and French of the Russian title Grand Prince/Grand Princess that dates back to when Peter the Great first created the title...and it seems that Russian Grand Princes of the time traveling in England and France were fine being referred as Grand Dukes. Grand Prince and Grand Princess is the direct translation from Russian to English, and the translation from Russian to German also distinguishes between Grand Prince/Grand Princess, and the German title Gross Herzog which translates directly into English as Grand Duke. Grand Dukes existed only in Germany and Luxembourg and were sovereigns that ranked below Kings and above reigning Dukes. Grand Princes/Grand Princesses existed only in Russia and were of "Imperial" rank...although they were not reigning sovereigns. There seems to be an effort underway to correct this historic and centuries-old mis-translation, but it is of minor historical importance.
Wonderful book except for irksome error........2004-07-09
I do not have much to add to my review that hasn't been said by the other reviewers. However, Zeepvat refers throughout the book to the members of the Russuan royal family as 'Grand Prince' and 'Grand Princess'! In all my extensive readings of the Romanovs I have never seen anything but 'Grand Duke' or 'Grand Duchess', indeed, this is how certain family members referred to themselves in their memoirs. That said, this is still a wonderful book to add to any royal collection.
Book Description
Many books have been written about the success of the West, analyzing why Europe was able to pull ahead of the rest of the world by the end of the Middle Ages. The most common explanations cite the West’s superior geography, commerce, and technology. Completely overlooked is the fact that faith in reason, rooted in Christianity’s commitment to rational theology, made all these developments possible. Simply put, the conventional wisdom that Western success depended upon overcoming religious barriers to progress is utter nonsense.
In
The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium.
In Stark’s view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and nonsecular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason: While the world’s other great belief systems emphasized mystery, obedience, or introspection, Christianity alone embraced logic and reason as the path toward enlightenment, freedom, and progress. That is what made all the difference.
In explaining the West’s dominance, Stark convincingly debunks long-accepted “truths.” For instance, by contending that capitalism thrived centuries before there was a Protestant work ethic–or even Protestants–he counters the notion that the Protestant work ethic was responsible for kicking capitalism into overdrive. In the fifth century, Stark notes, Saint Augustine celebrated theological and material progress and the institution of “exuberant invention.” By contrast, long before Augustine, Aristotle had condemned commercial trade as “inconsistent with human virtue”–which helps further underscore that Augustine’s times were not the Dark Ages but the incubator for the West’s future glories.
This is a sweeping, multifaceted survey that takes readers from the Old World to the New, from the past to the present, overturning along the way not only centuries of prejudiced scholarship but the antireligious bias of our own time.
The Victory of Reason proves that what we most admire about our world–scientific progress, democratic rule, free commerce–is largely due to Christianity, through which we are all inheritors of this grand tradition.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Reason?.......2007-10-03
"Professor Stark is still a lonely voice in the academic wilderness, calling for us to embrace reason ... and honor the faith that has supported it for 2000 years." - reviewer
The tenets of Christian faith are antithetical to reason. The Bible as THE word of God, a fall from perfection in Eden that necessitated the death of a divine savior centuries in the future, the virgin birth, vicarious atonement by a divine savior resulting in the redemption of sinners from punishment required by the commission of original sin, resurrection from death of both savior and believers, and ascension into heaven of a living being are not the products of reason, but of melting-pot traditions of ancient tribal worldviews. The embrace of reason is a terrific idea; such tenets, however, aren't the products of reason, so it's difficult to see how belief in them as the basis for Christian faith could have led to a triumph of reason in the world at large---except through creative minds leaving them behind, and/or personally reinterpreting them in modernist ways while institutional creeds are left intact. As for the triumph of capitalism, its ultimate accomplishment may well prove to be the destruction of the planet.
Defense of Western Civilization.......2007-09-30
In an era of post-modernism and cultural relativism, Rodney Stark's thesis that because Christianity accepted reason and logic, commerce and freedom were able to take root and flourish in Western Europe.
The Christian God was not like Zeus sitting on Mt. Olympus ruling the world based on a whim. He is immutable or unchanging. Because the Christian God was immutable, its adherents saw coherency and consistency in their world. Think of it this way. The world's other great belief systems emphasized mystery, obedience, or introspection. Their world view did not include a perfect, unchanging God. The world could change on a whim. Science can not take root in a universe without coherence and consistency. That's the difference with the Christian God. As a result, the people of the Middle Ages began to become forward-thinking and predicative. Science was able to discover immutable laws that control the physical universe such as the Laws of Thermodynamics. The world was rational.
This rationality and reason also fostered the development of democracy and capitalism. Stark correctly points out that St. Augustine approved of commerce. In this world of rationality, the recognition of natural rights such as life, liberty and property occurred. This formed the basis of Western Civilization. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson essentially borrowed from John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690)--the rights accorded by "Nature and Nature's God." In the Declaration, these are described as "unalienable" rights. Western Civilization's sense of individualism would not exist without Christianity.
While post-modern, secularists will decry Christianity and all the evils they contend it portends, the reason they can is because of it. Stark makes the case eloquently and logically shattering myths along the way.
Outstanding description of the role of rational theology.......2007-08-02
Professor Stark, a Baylor University social sciences professor, has written a book that should complement recent works by men like Jared Diamond or Victor Davis Hanson, in explaining why the West, and especially why particular forms of Christianity have led to unique successes for its adherents around the present world. Stark has written to especially critique ideas in the famous book, the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Instead he argues that Christianity in general has led to forms of government and capitalism that have met with rounds of worldwide success.
Stark backs up his thesis with example and statistical analysis to show why western Christianity's core beliefs, that man knows God by further investigation and expanision of knowledge and that diversification of ideas and roles led to spin off ideas among industry, the family and government throughout Europe.
Reason for Stark is a direct child of Christianity. Greek philosophy may have had a lot to say about reason, and with the rise of Islam, much of Greek thought may have been preserved, but it was the special combination of Christian faith using reason, which led to things unforeseen in the world. In actuality, Irish monks had more access to ancient writings, often by a ration of 8:1 than did Islamic scholars. And what the Middle and Far East may have had in raw knowledge, they were able to do less with more because there was not application for reason in their faith, unlike western Christianity.
Two areas of history receive excellent examination by Stark: the middle ages, which according to his analysis, proved to be more rational and better equipped to handle the world than the later Renaissance, was the creator of international finance, multiple practical technological inventions and free institutions which later faded away as the high middle ages embraced reason without faith.
Finally, Stark compares and contrasts British North America with Latin America to attempt to show why these two regions are so different in wealth, general freedom and technological innovation. Probably the book uses statistics at its best with its comparison between feudal Latin America and capitalistic Anglo America. Because Christianity was separated from the state, the church flourished in ways it never did in the south, in active members and in influence on society. Stark attirbutes the economic output of Anglo America largely to the embrace of rational theology that began centuries ago, that ran through northern Italy, the low countries, Britain and later America and the rest of the Anglo nations.
Stark does not cheer lead for any particular side, but is very effective to show through his research that reason, Christianity, democratic reforms and capitalism are usually inseparable from each other. The author closes by asking if capitalism needs Christianity in today's world, and whether globilization has made capitalism's reliance on rational theology relevant. The conclusion is that they are forever linked, as evidenced by the explosion in the growth of the Christian faith and rational theology as the same time as globilization has spread the blessings of capitalism and freedom.
Great book that places many opinions in one package........2007-07-29
The book has few original ideas or beliefs, but it takes many opinions of many authors and places them in a book that appeals to people in today's society.
I would recommend it to anybody that wishes to educate themselves. The book takes common misconceptions to Western dominance of the modern world and reveals the true roots of western dominance.
It is a great tool useful in understanding how the economic and religious history of the Western world were and are related.
The Bright Ages.......2007-06-10
In the Acknowledgments, Rodney Stark says he intends this book for the general reader. If he means the casual reader, I'd say not quite. It's a bit too textbooky. I found myself engrossed by his thesis, and then kept reading to find evidence of it, of which there is plenty. Once he actually got into the nuts and bolts of Capitalism, and the history thereof, I got somewhat bogged down.
What I mainly learned from this book, to quote a Firesign Theatre record title, is that everything I know is wrong. I'm one of the few who learned the wrong things almost from their original sources, having read them in classes at college. These wrong things are generally believed, but most people never actually read these sources. One of them is that Capitalism arose from the Protestant work ethic after the Reformation. The other is the sustaining myth of the modern world, the Enlightenment (who named it that?) invention of the Dark Ages. What else didn't I know? That slavery was virtually wiped out of Europe by the end of the tenth century, and that when it returned in the New World, the pope excommunicated anyone who trafficked in slaves. The Enlightenment writers didn't mention that fact, since they were slave owners.
For me, the word "Capitalism" summons up the sort of abuses that Chesterton was always arguing against. But Stark, in very lengthy passages, explains its theory so that even this reader, with zero economic prowess, can grasp it. He shows that it can only flourish in a relatively free society, hence the "Western Success" of the subtitle. He also considers the paradox of "religious economies", concluding that state- established churches stagnate, while religious belief thrives in an environment of freedom and pluralism. The common core underlying that belief in the West is that the Creator has made a reasonable world that can be discovered by reason, a radically liberating idea that led to "Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success" in the Bright Ages.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on June 2, 2006. The length of the article is 638 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Is Christianity the root of all progress? Author provides useful information, but his conclusions are shaky.(The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success)(Book review)
Author: Darrell Turner
Publication:
National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 2, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42
Issue: 31
Page: 16(1)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Catholic Insight, published by Thomson Gale on May 1, 2007. The length of the article is 899 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success.(Book review)
Author: Joseph Thompson
Publication:
Catholic Insight (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 15
Issue: 5
Page: 41(1)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success.(Book review): An article from: Independent Review
Thomas E., Jr. Woods
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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ASIN: B000PWR48Y
Release Date: 2007-09-27 |
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This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 1779 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success.(Book review)
Author: Thomas E., Jr. Woods
Publication:
Independent Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 11
Issue: 4
Page: 613(4)
Article Type: Book review
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This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Thomson Gale on February 1, 2006. The length of the article is 2261 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: What "Dark Ages"?(The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success)(Book review)
Author: Michael Novak
Publication:
New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 24
Issue: 6
Page: 67(4)
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This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 2136 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: What Hath God wrought?(The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom Capitalism, and Western Success)(Book review)
Author: Algis Valiunas
Publication:
First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 162
Page: 44(5)
Article Type: Book review
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Book Description
Maintaining the perception of fairness and equal access during elections assures the legitimacy of a democratic system. The U.S. in particular prides itself on its open and honest voting laws and procedures. However, the extraordinary closeness of the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore triggered a rare scrutiny of the election process. This highly disputed contest revealed problems with ballot design and order; access to the polls; voting machines; absentee, military, and overseas ballots; election laws and the Electoral College; and judicial oversight of the voting process. It brought to light issues regarding political polling in general, exit polls in particular, media projections and reporting, and even the election night "calling" of outcomes. Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform centers on what can and should be learned about the processes of voting. Using the 2000 presidential election as a starting point, this collection of essays puts forth a constructive effort to learn from what transpired and to offer potential solutions for the future. Featuring work by leading academics and participants in the real-world drama of the 2000 election, it examines the legal, political, and institutional problems of administering elections in the U.S. The book begins and ends with questions about the prospects and possibilities for reform. It takes a consistently pragmatic approach that recognizes both the constraints on and the opportunities for change in America's elaborate constitutional and political structures. Providing a useful mix of quantitative and qualitative data, Rethinking the Vote is ideal for undergraduate courses in American politics, American elections, public opinion and voting behavior, American political thought, campaigns and elections, presidential politics, and media and politics.
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- Small acreage turned into fishing and shooting paradise
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Will's Shoot Revisited
Will Garfit
Manufacturer: Quiller Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1904057616 |
Customer Reviews:
Small acreage turned into fishing and shooting paradise.......2006-08-30
As a college student, Will Garfit bought about 70 acres of gravel pit wasteland near Cambridge, England. Over the last 30 years or so, he has turned it into an award-winning shoot, fishery, and nature preserve. The details probably won't be that helpful to most American readers, but as a small landowner who lives in Oklahoma, but travels often to the UK, I found it interesting and motivational.
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- The Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (Civil War Library)
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