Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power

Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
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How the non-west fights

ball teara of a book

Thorough

Carnage and Culture Delivers

Interesting, but not as good as his commentaries

Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
Victor Hanson
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0385720386
Release Date: 2002-08-27

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Many theories have been offered regarding why Western culture has spread so successfully across the world, with arguments ranging from genetics to superior technology to the creation of enlightened economic, moral, and political systems. In Carnage and Culture, military historian Victor Hanson takes all of these factors into account in making a bold, and sure to be controversial, argument: Westerners are more effective killers. Focusing specifically on military power rather than the nature of Western civilization in general, Hanson views war as the ultimate reflection of a society's character: "There is…a cultural crystallization in battle, in which the insidious and more subtle institutions that heretofore are murky and undefined became stark and unforgiving in the finality of organized killing."

Though technological advances and superior weapons have certainly played a role in Western military dominance, Hanson posits that cultural distinctions are the most significant factors. By bringing personal freedom, discipline, and organization to the battlefield, powerful "marching democracies" were more apt to defeat non-Western nations hampered by unstable governments, limited funding, and intolerance of open discussion. These crucial differences often ensured victory even against long odds. Greek armies, for instance, who elected their own generals and freely debated strategy were able to win wars even when far outnumbered and deep within enemy territory. Hanson further argues that granting warriors control of their own destinies results in the kind of glorification of horrific hand-to-hand combat necessary for true domination.

The nine battles Hanson examines include the Greek naval victory against the Persians at Salamis in 480 B.C., Cortes's march on Mexico City in 1521, the battle of Midway in 1942, and the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. In the book's fascinating final chapter, he then looks forward and ponders the consequences of a complete cultural victory, challenging the widespread belief that democratic nations do not wage war against one another: "We may well be all Westerners in the millennium to come, and that could be a very dangerous thing indeed," he writes. It seems the West will always seek an enemy, even if it must come from within. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times--from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes’s conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive--Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world.

Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values–the tradition of dissent, the value placed on inventiveness and adaptation, the concept of citizenship–which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers. Offering riveting battle narratives and a balanced perspective that avoids simple triumphalism, Carnage and Culture demonstrates how armies cannot be separated from the cultures that produce them and explains why an army produced by a free culture will always have the advantage.

Customer Reviews:

How the non-west fights.......2007-09-10

I thought I knew a little thing about history, until I got into this book. I had never even heard of Lepanto.

If you want to see what western civ is all about, look at how it fights its wars and you'll see what aspects of its culture are firmly rooted in survival since Salamis. I actually learned more about how other cultures fight than I did about the west:

- why the Persians never reconsidered their battle plans as the day unfolded at Salamis (the same reasons they lost so many at Thermopylae, most likely!)
- why Cannae didn't destroy the Roman republic,
- why the muslim army at Poitiers didn't learn from it's loss and fight better the next time,
- why the Aztecs never figured out a way to defeat Cortes, even when they had him cornered. This was way before smallpox did them all in a few years later.

Comparing non western militaries to western ones reads like a pee wee football team taking on the NFL. I have a much greater appreciation for my Dad's constant reminders to 'think critically' when making important decisions as I was growing up!

ball teara of a book.......2007-09-05

Still working my way through this great book. Learnt a lot from it. Lovely prose style that makes it easy to read with out patronising me. I would not have guesed he's a neocon (according to his Wikpaedia entry. Had not heard of this book before reading about it on AMAZON, so was ignorent of the impact it had after 9/11. Recomended to any history buffs.

Thorough.......2007-08-22

This book is filled with imagery and thorough in its descriptions of the people, places, and circumstances -- particularly the cultures -- of the battles. In reading this one book I gained a greater comprehension of lost civilizations and the advance of history than was ever taught in school, save Rome. You'll [re]discover Greece, Macedon, Persia, Byzantines, Carthage, Romans, Franks, Saracens, Mexicas, Aztecs, Ottomans etc...

It is far more gratifying than one might think to finally get a good understanding of what took place in past wars. One realizes just how momentous the occasions were -- you can almost feel the Earth move under your feet as the gears of history shift overnight, altering the course of human events forever. Hansen's tone is grave, battle-weary, but fueled by the strength of his argument: that Western culture and values give advantage to the peoples who live by them. It is certainly one of the most powerful reads you'll come across.

Carnage and Culture Delivers.......2007-05-30

Hanson's writing takes you an a journey; both informative and evocative. His arguments are well established; deserves to be listed among such seminal books as Hungtington's Clash of Civilizations. It's a must read for anyone interested in geopolitics or military events. Hanson also takes on and in my opinion, successfully debunks other theories and scholars, such as pulitzer prize winner Jared Diamond. An interdisciplinary delight that you won't want to put down.

Interesting, but not as good as his commentaries.......2007-04-08

The basic premise of his story is that Western civilization has prevailed in numerous battles over the past 2500 years. Hanson emphasizes that the cornerstones of this success are based on the inherent Western values of individualism and liberty.

I'm a big fan of Hanson's commentaries on current methods of warfare, and it was that basis that drove me to purchase and read this book. I'm not certain what motivated Hanson to write this tome, other than the fact that he's a military historian and this subject would appear to be the core of his research.

Hanson uses examples from history to provide a fact-base for Western success. These example battles range from the Battle of Salamis (Greeks and Persians), to the more recent Battle of Midway (United States and Japan) and the Tet Offensive (United States and Viet Nam).

After reading this book, I'm still not certain of the ideal audience. For example, the warfare enthusiasts can find plenty of alternatives that get into much greater detail about the tactics and weapons used. Meanwhile, the political science reader would probably find the deep discussions about battles a little mind-numbing.

[...]

Carnage and Culture Landmark Battles In the Rise of Western Power

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Carnage and Culture Landmark Battles In the Rise of Western Power
Hanson Victor Davis
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TOCOYW

Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power.(Book Review) : An article from: Joint Force Quarterly

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Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power.(Book Review) : An article from: Joint Force Quarterly
John Hillen
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Joint Force Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1666 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: Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power.(Book Review)
Author: John Hillen
Publication: Joint Force Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 39 Page: 116(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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The Western Way Of War. (Books).(Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power) (book review): An article from: Policy Review

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The Western Way Of War. (Books).(Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power) (book review): An article from: Policy Review
Woody West
Manufacturer: Hoover Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Policy Review, published by Hoover Institution Press on December 1, 2001. The length of the article is 2269 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 Western Way Of War. (Books).(Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power) (book review)
Author: Woody West
Publication: Policy Review (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
Page: 73(6)

Article Type: Book Review

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Love For Sale: A World History of Prostitution
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An Outstanding Survey Of Prostitution in World History

Illustrates an old catastrophe in a very modern way

Really a world historical survey of prostitution

Love For Sale: A World History of Prostitution
Nils Johan Ringdal
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
Human | Sexuality | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0802141846

Book Description

From the Whore of Babylon to Pretty Woman, the exchange of sex for money is often cited as the oldest profession. Now, eminent historian Nils Johan Ringdal delivers a magisterial, extremely readable world history of this most maligned—and most persistent—form of human commerce. Beginning with the epic of Gilgamesh, the Old Testament, and ancient cultures from Greece to India and beyond, Love for Sale takes the reader on a tour through the entire recorded history of prostitution up to the modern red-light district. It shows how different societies have dealt with prostitutes: ancient Greece, Rome, and India incorporated them into several social echelons, including the priestess class; their close relations with artists in 19th-century Europe made them muses to the modern sensibility; and the Victorians campaigned against them. Love for Sale closes with Sydney Biddle Barrows, the rise of the sex-workers' rights movement and contemporary "sex-positive" feminism, and a realistic look at the true risks and rewards of prostitution in the present day.

Customer Reviews:

An Outstanding Survey Of Prostitution in World History.......2006-08-07

Occasionally I read something that exceeds my highest expectations and "Love For Sale" is just such a book. It offers an excellent look at the history of prostitution from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day. Each chapter addresses a particular subject in a different historical era. For example, Ringdal discusses the well-educated and socially graceful prostitutes of classical Greece. These "high class hookers" provided both intellectual stimulation and sexual pleasure for Greek men in a society where most women were confined to domestic duties and hardly even allowed outside of the home. Other chapters include the Roman Empire, early Islam, China, India, the European Middle Ages, the American Wild West and the "sex positive" feminism of the contemporary sex worker's movement. Throughout the book Ringdal impresses with both his extensive knowledge and his perceptive insights on the history of the "world's oldest profession."

The current reality is that prostitution continues to exist thoughout the globe just as it has during the course of human history. Some countries, like the Netherlands, Germany and Costa Rica, have established enlightened public policies which have legalized prostitution, required regular AIDS tests and attempted to keep pimps out of the business. These sensible regulations have been helpful in protecting both the sex workers and the general public. In other countries, prostitution remains officially illegal but widely tolerated. This is true in most of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is only in the more extremist Muslim countries of the Middle East that prostitution is consistently and brutally oppressed. Unfortunately, here in the United Sates, with our Puritan/Victorian heritage, we continue to waste taxpayer money and police resources trying to stop the exchange of sex for money between consenting adults - a silly and pointless task that intrudes on personal freedom and has yet to be successfully achieved in the history of humanity.

In fact, this book does an excellent job of demonstrating how often it has been female prostitutes who have managed to obtain a certain degree of freedom, self-determination and financial independence in patriarchal societies. Meanwhile, more "honorable" women have often been forced to rely economically on their husbands and to submit to the social control of their male dominated societies. In this sense, prostitutes have been strong and fearless women unwilling to submit to the yoke of authority and tradition that required females to live homebound and as second class citizens. Of course, Ringdal is smart enough to know that life for the typical hooker is far from glamorous or easy. So he does also cover the hardships and exploitation these woman have suffered at the hands of pimps, slave traders and abusive customers. But the truth that emerges is that prostitutes are just people, like the rest of you, seeking out the best financial opportunity available to them. Ringdal neither glorifies them or condemns them. Rather he presents them simply as people worthy of respect and fair treatment as they attempt to make a living the best way they know how - just like the rest of us.

Illustrates an old catastrophe in a very modern way.......2004-07-24

This is a very recent look at an old topic. The author, Nils Johan Ringdal, has written about Germans and the Norwegian police in World War II, but has been collecting information about prostitution for so long that the final 30 pages of the books are references, ending with a page of movies. People who have hoped that condoms might be useful to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases will wonder what the Los Angeles police were thinking in 1990 when Gloria Lockett, now an activist, bought twelve dozen condoms in a drugstore, walked outside, and the police "grabbed her purse and shook it upside down. Then they punctured every single condom, one by one, pushing the knife down into the latex membrane, slowly and with great enjoyment. Gloria got her purse back, along with a pile of useless rubber." (p. 401). This book does not have an index, but the short "Quotes and References" for each chapter at the end of the book includes the King James English Bible verses used in Chapters 2, Patriarchs and Priestesses, and 7, Repentant Sinners, with a few references from the Qu'ran for Chapter 9, Muhammad's Women. There is no Table of Contents for finding anything at the beginning of the book, but pictures appear between pages 150 and 151, just before Chapter 11, Celestial Whores, and between pages 310 and 311. The page facing 311 shows most of the world for two maps, "The origin and early spread of prostitution 3000 B.C. - 1000 B.C." and "Migration of Prostitutes 1914" (European women and Japanese women, loosely taken from Ronald Hyam). The second map shows four arrows pointing directly at Shanghai, one of which is from San Francisco, but the arrow in the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco is labeled "To Hong Kong from Shanghai." Page 311 itself is interesting for the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turks. "When the grand harem of Constantinople closed down in 1909, 370 wives and attendants and 127 eunuchs became homeless. The deposed sultan was allowed to take a few favorites into exile in Salonica. The others were set free."

This book is highly aware that "Sex and reproduction, happiness and security, have, to an almost absurd degree, become themes of public debate in Europe and the U.S., though the discourse is political and not moral. Hypocrisy and ambiguous argument rule the day." (p. 3). Trying to find a frame of reference that recognizes any individual's rights is far less clear than opting for personal viewpoints: "Nobody has the right to sex, either unpaid or in exchange for payment: If nobody wants to sell sex, it is a crime to force anyone to do so. But when men or women do want to sell their bodies, they should have that full right without encountering punishment or discrimination. If the client behaves decently, the relationship between the sex buyer and the sex seller must be considered a purely private transaction." (pp. 3-4). Striving to find limits that satisfy political economy and the ethical interests of people who avoid such activity as a matter of principle make this a tough issue in the field of philosophy, and Chapter 4, Greek Liberalism, begins with the philosopher Socrates drinking hemlock "surrounded by his young male admirers, such as the young Phaedon of Elis, who had just purchased his freedom from a brothel." (p. 52). Possibly Socrates was not the greatest Greek, since "Solon founded Western democracy." (p. 54). "But Solon is also the father of the sex industry, and his sexual reforms were closely linked to his other reforms." (p. 55). "The sex industry quickly became a lucrative supplemental income for Athens and stole an important section of the market from the previously very popular Ephesus in Asia Minor, where a more old-fashioned, temple-related prostitution was still practiced." (p. 55). The emphasis, "Men dominated Greek urban society," (p. 55) is in contrast with the earlier period studied by Johann Jacob Bachofen, Lewis Morgan, and the Communist Friedrich Engels. "Bachofen argued that humankind had shifted away from the promiscuous freedom of the horde, through matriarchy, to patriarchy, a form of society that he considered to have developed in Mesopotamia, with Jewish, Egyptian, Roman, Indian, and Chinese variants." (p. 5). The mixture of cultures is particularly noticeable in the field of prostitution. "Many feel that foreign and racially different prostitutes are tangible symbols of a world that is becoming a moral cesspool." (p. 385). This kind of history is likely to promote the belief that law itself is an intellectual cesspool when it attempts to deal with such situations by locking people up to stifle economic activity in a world where guys make most of the money, but supporting women and children is a low priority, as Socrates was partly condemned for not spending his time at work making money. The quality of Socrates' questions might be considered a higher intellectual level than the modern economic observation, "As the demand for cheap prostitutes grew and recruitment failed, the vacancies had to be filled with imported foreign labor." (p. 384). This is now a very large field for the number of people employed, and transportation is one of the conveniences of a global economy. This book reflects all that perfectly.

Really a world historical survey of prostitution.......2004-04-20

Norwegian historian Nils Johan Ringdal traces the history of what is, if not the oldest profession, at least the most notorious, and covers just about everything: he begins with world literature's first lady of the night, found in the 4,000-year-old epic of Gilgamesh, includes a chapter on the nature of the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, shows how ancient Greece and Rome incorporated prostitutes into several social echelons, and how the rise of the courtesan in nineteenth-century Europe shaped literature (e.g Zola's Nana), fashion, arts, and modern sensibility. It tells the stories of the British Empire's campaigns against prostitution in India, and of the "comfort women" who served the armies in the Pacific theater of World War II. It closes with the rise of the sex-workers' rights movement and "sex-positive" feminism, and a look at risks and rewards of prostitution in the present day. Nevertheless, Ringdal's tone is so matter-of-fact that at times it seems more like a recital than a narration.

Ringdal illustrates prostitution's pragmatic benefits, which have dwindled only recently with the sexual revolution (with the advent of birth control and the women's movement, prostitution has lost its basic functions as a pastime and a training ground for young men; even so, women willing to have sex for money continued to fill pragmatic roles up to the present).

Book Description

The intense urbanization and industrialization of America's largest city from the turn of the twentieth century to World War II was accompanied by profound shifts in sexual morality, sexual practices, and gender roles. Comparing prostitution and courtship with a new working-class practice of heterosexual barter called "treating," Elizabeth Clement examines changes in sexual morality and sexual and economic practices.

Women "treated" when they exchanged sexual favors for dinner and an evening's entertainment or, more tangibly, for stockings, shoes, and other material goods. These "charity girls" created for themselves a moral space between prostitution and courtship that preserved both sexual barter and respectability. Although treating, as a clearly articulated language and identity, began to disappear after the 1920s and 1930s, Clement argues that it still had significant, lasting effects on modern sexual norms. She demonstrates how treating shaped courtship and dating practices, the prevalence and meaning of premarital sex, and America's developing commercial sex industry. Even further, her study illuminates the ways in which sexuality and morality interact and contribute to our understanding of the broader social categories of race, gender, and class.

Customer Reviews:

How we came to be a dating nation.......2007-01-12

This is a really in-depth and interesting study into the sexual and moral changes that occured in the United States during the first 50 years of the 20th century. I was taken with the level of scholarship, clear exposition, and insightful connections that the author brings to the whole subject of how gender/sexual roles evolved during this period. Although it is an academic book, it is nonetheless, an enjoyable and informative one.
J. W. Showalter, Ph.D.

Love for Sale - A World History of Prostitution

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Love for Sale - A World History of Prostitution
Nils Johan Ringdal
Manufacturer: Grove Press, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VZTVDQ

The Blackwinged Night: Creativity in Nature and Mind
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Trite, bewildering, only slightly illuminating

There are books that say the same thing much better.

Deeper than Dreams...

The Blackwinged Night: Creativity in Nature and Mind
F. David Peat
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0738204919

Book Description

An insightful look into the essence of creativity and the connections between the human imagination and the origins of the universe.

"David Peat is exceptionally well qualified to write about creativity, because he combines being a physicist with a wide knowledge of the arts. The book is packed with illuminating insights." -Anthony Storr, author of The Dynamics of Creation, Churchhill's Black Dog, and Music of the Mind

What does the creation of matter in the universe have to do with humanity's creative spirit? What is the connection between, art, literature, and music, and mathematical formulae and scientific theories? Taking an overarching scientific view of the universe and our place in it, scientist-philosopher F. David Peat explores the profound similarities and connections between the Universe's "creativity," which reveals itself in the laws of nature, and the creativity of human consciousness.

Brilliant and wide-ranging in its scientific and humanistic sweep, The Blackwinged Night explores the very essence of the creative spirit and the way it animates the physical world, giving us the power to experience beauty-whether gazing into the night sky, listening to Bach's B-minor Mass, or creating ourselves something extraordinary and new.

Customer Reviews:

Trite, bewildering, only slightly illuminating.......2007-02-07

Throughout the 230 pages of Peat's musings I often came to the questions, "Who is he writing this for?" and "why am I continuing on with this?". Often, it seemed just as I was once again considering putting the book down for good, I'd come to some gem of insight or information that would keep me going for another 20 or so pages. Still, the insights were seldom original, but instead reminders of something I'd read before -- "Ah yes, maybe I should go read THAT again." And seldom were these gems enough for me to leave the day's reading inspired or my thinking altered. (Not even "a millionth of an inch" to quote Peat's quoting of Beat writer Gary Snyder.) You want to read about creativity as the meeting of Dionysus and Apollo? Go to Nietzche's Birth of Tragedy, or even its Cliff Notes. You want to find the connection between quantum physics and Eastern Mysticism there are many New Age pop books that will explain it if not much better, at least leaving you with that buzz of sustained inspiration. The entire sections on the Big Bang and Science and the Void, I nearly skipped from bewilderment and impatience. (Why did he need to pepper us with algebraic formula's about angular momentum and evidence for "neutrinos?") The section on Language, however, was by far the most insightful and thought-provoking section of the book, perhaps followed by Creativity and the Body. For those two sections, it was possibly worth the time trudging through to get there. If you buy the book and get bogged down, I'd recommend just skipping to those two chapters.

I began the book already wondering if we've chewed the word "creativity" into an overworked and overused piece of triteness. Between the first sentence, "We are all creative," to the moment on page 212 where he writes the anthropomorphic, "The universe is freely giving out energy because it wants to sing for joy," I became convinced of it. And even then, if you are one to be inspired by such sentiments, you, too, may possibly leave the book disappointed.

There are books that say the same thing much better........2001-12-02

To start with I am not generally a science reader, but I thought that the relationship of science and creativity would be interesting. This book caused reactions in me ranging from decent enjoyment (few and far between) to a revulsion for its trite, simplistic conclusions on creativity in life. To be fair I found the chapter on language very interesting and thought Peat did an excellent job in explaining certain scientific theories in a basic understandable manner. However his conclusions on "creating the curve and story of your life" have all been said before, and Peat seems singularly unrealistic and (I think I said this before) TRITE. In addition he occasionally goes quite far afield with his examples, and his attempts at figurative language are sickeningly clumsy (almost purple prose if you know what I mean, it's apparent he's trying much too hard to prove his creative writing ability). This book has very little to say that's new, and if you're looking for something about the joy, creativity, and meaning of everyday life, (which is basically what he is trying to prove) try someone with more skill and knowlege of how to craft glistening prose and who also thinks a little more deeply (Annie Dillard is forever wonderful).

Deeper than Dreams..........2001-09-21

This is an excellent book, one of those very few that manage to be both disarmingly simple yet profound at once. Peat is a past-master at grasping the most arcane and difficult theories. He has studied and written on chaos theory, the science of complexity, fractals, quantum mysteries, David Bohm's implicate order, and subjects of special interest in the art world. Simultanously, he has translated these ideas into digestible portions for the intelligent layman reader. He is the best of the bunch when it comes to science writing and he is also very knowledgeable about the higher echelons of the current art world.

In this book, however, I got the impression he wrote just for himself. He does not bother to explicate complex theories or even to give references for many of the facts and phrases which well up in him. Instead, he just uses his background in science and the arts to make this beautiful pure statement on the varied expressions of creativity, from the human to the universal. Indeed, his book edges into the metaphysical by implying that the Supreme Ultimate behind all things is in fact creativity itself -- the first creative act being the creation of form out of the infinite creative potential of the void. (If anyone wants more excruciating detail about how such creativity could manifest itself, they may need to read A. N. Whitehead.) Peat notes that creative chaos, the Dionysian, begins the furor of all creative inspiration, but also that this phase must be followed by the long period of laborious, ordered endeavour to find appropriate form for this initial inspiration, that is, the Apollonian. He compares this pattern among many of his current favorite art forms as well as in the creative dynamics of Nature as revealed through science.

The result is, well, beautiful and moving and, yes, inspiring. I truly appreciated the idea that a sort of blind creativity is the "Prime Mover" beyond the forms of reality. To deny creativity it is to become unconscious and moribund. But creativity is not novelty; it often means seeking new depths in the old or reexperiencing current patterns as though for the first time, as in, for example, human relations.

The book is a short, easy read, but one that demands full--creative--attention if one is to comprehend its implied depth. Highly recommended.

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