Eras Books

Those who have a passion for understanding the often complex, and sometimes, ambiguous, relationship between slavery and freedom in the colonial world will be pleased to read Anthony Parent's new work - Foul Means. This well written and exhaustively researched work discusses the aforementioned dilemma in Virginia from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century. The central argument is that the planter elite in Virginia, or "great planters," established America's racial dilemma. Modifying traditional colonial arguments, the author advances the thesis that planters were not conscious of their actions. "The analysis," contends Parent, "challenges the generally accepted belief that the shift to racial slavery was an `unthinking decision' on the part of a wide variety of aspiring planters who were responding to market and labor forces." (2) According to Parent, they knew that slavery was a pivotal cog in the colonial power wheel, and they carefully and consciously leveraged all available resources to tilt the balance in their favor. As for motivation, the planters were inspired by the ever shifting economic tides that existed between the New and Old Worlds.

The author emphasizes the importance of labor in the early American south and in England. The crown initially supported servitude in the colonies as means to promote and encourage economic development in the New World, but as Parent carefully articulates, the English economists came to realize the pitfalls of this arrangement. Charles II implemented this philosophy and "promoted the slave trade to preserve English labor for England." (60) The development of the slave trade became, in essence, more economically and lawfully viable for the crown.

Continuing with a tightly weaved chronological narrative, Parent discusses the role of tobacco as an impetus for class divisions in, and outside of, colonial Virginia. The lower prices of tobacco prompted the planters to look elsewhere for economic fervor. In short, they "promoted slavery as a remedy for the troubled tobacco economy." (81) The theme that planters were opportunists who monopolized each, and all, opportunities to suppress threats is well articulated by the author, and it is evident that their calculated manipulations shaped colonial America. Furthermore, their economic well being became a euphemism for freedom and the planters became so enmeshed with "white society in 1705," that they were "prepared to preserve racial slavery to the death." (129)
Highlighting the significance of slave rebellions, Parent is one of the first scholars to illuminate that insurrections "threatened the order of Virginia society." (172) He pays particular attention to the Chesapeake Rebellion and ties it to the dual role Christianity played in the early seventeenth century. Initially viewed as a way of controlling slaves and Indians, it later became a catapult (i.e., rumors of Christianity leading to emancipation) for prompting slaves to rebel against the white Virginia society. This interesting and insightful approach, paints a clear picture of how religion and freedom were interconnected entities in colonial society.

The only somewhat troubling portion of Parent's narrative was his constant referral to the ruling class in Virginia as the "great planters." They were not "great" in the pejorative sense, and perhaps the author struggled to label them. But were they really great at all? These elitist, such as William Byrd, had a large hand in creating an environment which supported and embraced racism. The lasting consequences of their actions have colored and corrupted American society for centuries. Why not assign a more appropriate title to these men, such as "economic tsars," or "colonial corrupters?"

The complexities of Parent's narrative touch on a wide array of facets, and in sum they advance a novel paradigm in colonial history. He convincingly demonstrates how slavery emerged in early Virginia history. Academics and peers should applaud Parent for this highly readable and carefully argued account of colonial history. This work should be required reading for all history students and economic historians.

"Foul Means" is a powerful expose' of the history of slavery in the Virginia Commonwealth. Because of its importance in earlier American history, one can say, "As Virginia goes, so goes America." Thus, in many ways this book traces the course of slavery throughout the thirteen colonies and beyond and provides a moving picture of the ruthlessness involved in the enslavement of an entire race.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction .

This book is really useful to me for the color patterns in the fabric as well as the colors for period fashion. Also, hairstyles, hats, and even shoes are detailed enough to reference for my own illustrations.

The original journal, "Petit Courrier des Dames", was for the wealthy and fashionable woman. It was so popular in Paris that the English translated it for the fashionable Englishwomen who looked to France for the latest styles. The plates feature fashions for both wealthy women and men with captions that generally state the type of material used or some brief descriptive detail
(ie: "Rice-straw hat, jaconet dress, French cashmere shawl. [No. 835; September 25, 1831.]")

Pictures show costumes front and back views, standing and seated (mostly the women). There is 1 plate of young boys' costumes, 5 of Gentlemen, and the rest are of Ladies with 1 small collection of bonnets.

Each page offers two separate costumes.

There is a two page Introduction that explains the original French source material for Dover's edition, brief summary of characteristics of Men's, Children's and Women's fashion in the Romantic Era, and a compact glossary of materials and garments now with a loose English equivilent material.

The one tiny issue I have is that the edition I received sported a different cover than the pink one above. The interior content is the same.

This book is a great resource for the re-enactor or costumer. It can be considered primary documentation, as it is directly reprinted from the original. There's a very handy glossary in the front, in case you are not already familiar with mousselain-de-soie. I wish I could make every dress in the book--it's so hard to choose only one of these delightful gowns!

I found this biographical dictionary convenient to use. It provides the reader with a rich cultural overview of the ancient world.
The entries are organized for quick, concise reference.
The well developed chronology was useful.

From Polis To Empire: The Ancient World c. 800 B.C. - A.D. 500 is a dictionary of biographies featuring notable and influential figures of the ancient world. From Alexander the Great to Zoroaster, and including countless lesser-known rulers, mathematicians, historians, and more, From Polis to Empire, deftly edited by Andrew Traver (Assistant Professor of Ancient and Medieval History, Southeastern Louisiana University), not only presents the lives of history's spokespersons but through them, a snapshot of life in the ancient world. An excellent, scholarly reference highly recommended for academic and community library collections, From Polis To Empire is also fascinating for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in antiquity to simply browse through.

This excellant book should be read with its four accompanying volumes to obtain a detailed and elegant account of the Royal Navy during the Fisher era.

This is one of a set that analyzes the Royal Navy during WWI. Marder is a world class naval historian. His books are readable and interesting. He tells a tale that is occasionally sad as he describes a Royal Navy that tries, and at Jutland fails, to live up to its Nelsonian traditions. All in all, great history and worth the study. Accompanied by good maps.

As a sales professional who is trained as an engineer, and sells technical products, I really enjoyed the detailed explanations of how to transform from a typical "vendor" to a bona fide business resource to your customers. The detail on customer research, the techniques on performing a "knowledge call", all are a foundation to successful sales.

Typical sale techniques such as presentations are improved, and the process of obtaining business information and using it to your advantage is detailed. This stuff works! Jerry details the entire sales process, interconnecting all of the aspects to increase your percentage of winning.

It's witty, amazingly informative, and practical. Of course we need to change our mind-sets from vendors to business resources. Did I know that before I read this? I know it now and that's all that matters. AND, he tells you HOW! I am the owner of a new business so it is imparative that I succeed or I don't eat. I will not send this to my competition to be sure. I have the upper hand just for reading this book. I highly recommend this to any vendor-unless you are my competition!

This is a sequel to The Ravishing of Lesley (also known as the Days of Florville) and it is an even hotter read, describing Lesley's continuing training and erotic enslavement. Pain and pleasure are intertwined masterfully--I have read no book (not even story of O) that does it better. Lesley and the other girls in the story are the most sensual, submissive and erotic women I've ever read of. Anton and the other male masters are attractive, masterful and delightfully sadistic. The writing is restrained and powerful. For fans of very erotic female submission and male domination it doesn't get any better than this.

If your weak of heart this book is not for you. The genere is S/M well developed, Felicia Plessey take you inside of vortex of lust and hot sex.
The steamy pages can not permit you to put down the book.
I highly recommended to read with your lover in your side!!!!

As a Georgia native and an amateur historian, I was shocked by my own level of ignorance about the history of Georgia Gold Rush. While there has been a great deal of literary and historical attention given to the forced removal of the Cherokee nation from Georgia and the tragic journey of the Trail of Tears, there has been relatively little recent scholarship devoted to the historical events that precipitated that exile and the utter disregard shown to the Cherokee people as well as their private property by speculators, the state of Georgia and the Federal government in concert. I highly recommend this volume for the general reader of US and southern regional history as well as for Georgians who are willing to develop a more complex appreciation of their state's history.

This book offers a fascinating look into the world of 1830s-era
Philadelphia and its environs. There is interesting material
here on the history of immigration, the Irish in America, railroad construction, epidemiology, ghosts and folklore. The core of the book is a story about Irish railroad workers in Chester County that was largely unknown until the authors began studying it (they obtained a historical marker for it from the Commonwealth's Historical Commission in 2004). In addition, there are interesting ghost stories that will make for better than average Halloween reading.

This remarkable new book is a must read for Irish-American history. A reconstruction of the fate of an immigrant Irish work crew who died of cholera (and possible violence) while building the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in rural Chester County in 1832 is the main focus. The story of the tragic deaths of 57 young Irish immigrants is combined with much fascinating detail concerning Irish and Irish-American history of the time. The much neglected history of the P and C Railroad is handled very well as is the discussion of the pandemic of Asiatic Cholera in North America. There is even a evocatively described ghost story. Readable, yet scholarly, this is an incredible book.

This book consists of 2 parts. The first part "Cause, Principle and Unity" is about his theory of an infinite universe. While you may either agree or disagree with him on certain points, I think (maybe you, too) will find the idea of a "world-soul" intriguing. This part consists of 5 dialogues.

The other part comprise two essays, one on magic and the other is his treatise on bonding in general. This part presents some ideas which I think would be interesting not just to magicians but anybody who wants to know and wonder, from a philosophical point of view, what magic is and bonding in general.

Any student of philosophy is likely to enjoy this book (either the first or second or both).

Giordano Bruno is not only a writer of marvelous wit and virtuosity, and the only one since Plato to breathe life into the philosophical dialogue, but also a thinker of great consequence, imagination and purity. While he is generally seen to stand at the threshold between the medieval and the modern, cabilistic magic and scientific rationality, it is wrong to regard him merely as an anticipation of Leibniz and Spinoza. In certain respects, indeed, he goes farther in freeing thought from the residues of Scholasticism, and if his understanding of the coincidence of absolute potentiality and absolute actuality as the ground of Being points the way to Schelling, the freer winds of his thinking, with its wondrous openness towards the possibilities of the body as the possibilities of life, make him a kindred spirit of Nietzsche.

This book was the book that opened my eyes to the intelligibility of Christianity and the spiritual gifts that can be found therein. I was quite a skeptic before reading this book. But, being a woman of my times, he spoke straight to the "hermeneutical gap" that exists for so many of us growing up in the postmodern philosophical paradigm.

Peters spoke at my seminary a few years after I got my hands on this book. A gifted Lutheran and a man who luckily does not have his head in the sand concerning contemporary plights and religious thought.

This book is easily one of the best overviews of the history of theological thought currently available. It is especially useful in that Dr. Peters is one of the first to grapple with post-modern theological thinking and its implications. Dr. Peters is particularly insightful in his explication of prolepsis, the idea that God is drawing us all toward a future which God has envisioned. There will be much food for thought here, especially for those seeking some support of orthodoxy without closing the door to other theological trends. I have not only found it helpful for my own study, but have used it to help answer tough questions from my parishioners