Anthony Hopkins Books

This translation by Esolen is not as arcane as William Ellery Leonard's, just so you know. Too bad some of us like that arcane stuff. But what the hey, Leonard's is on the internet, and this book has one beautiful cover. If you like science, then you'll love Lucretius, because he makes a lot of good, scientific observations. Some aren't so scientific, like the idea that a woman can only be in one certain sexual position in order to be inseminated. Lucretius was a man of his day, though, you know? Even the great Charles Darwin wrote, in "The Descent of Man", that women certainly had smaller skulls than males. I've never researched this myself, but I've never heard it repeated.

The point is, just like there are some sound ideas, there are also some ideas here that are not only far-fetched, but totally incorrect as well. But of course I admire Lucretius -- and his predecessor, Epicurus (and his predecessor) -- because he really buckled down and looked out at the world, and inside himself, and showed in his logic the possible fortitude of the human mind. "De Rerum Natura" is historic and inspiring, and it sure is an easy read! I recommend buying this book! I'm proud to have it in my own library.

P.S. -- There is essentially no Latin included in this book.

How incredible it is to read a poet and philosopher from 60 B.C. writing on the derivation of the idea that atoms must exist and that there is conservation of matter in nature! These thoughts about "atomism" might have been lost except for their inclusion in a very good Latin poem. Although credit is given to Leucippus and Democritus for starting the idea of atomism, Epicurius and Lucretius were strong exponents of these ideas. This poem utilizes common observations to illustrate that the world about us is simply a combination of atoms and void. This had strong implications not only for the demise of the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses but also for how humans should live in the real world, and how they largely create their own misery. Lucretius loved life, speaks strongly against the fear of death, and promotes a rational calm life in which friendship is very important. The poetry is wonderful and powerful in itself. Two quotes from the early part of the poem speak clearly and dramatically to the modern reader: "When before our eyes man's life lay groveling, prostrate, crushed to dust under the burden of Religion (which thrust its head from heaven, its horrible face glowering over mankind born to die), one man, a Greek, was the first mortal who dared oppose his eyes, the first to stand firm in defiance. Not the fables of the gods, nor lightning, nor the menacing rumble of heaven could daunt him, but all the more whetted his keen mind with longing to be first to smash open the tight-barred gates of Nature....And yet your virtue and the hoped-for pleasure of a delightful friendship urge me to persevere in my work, to watch through the calm nights, seeking choice words, the song by which at last I can open to your mind such dazzling light that you may see deep into hidden things." This is a great and astonishing poem, translated powerfully by Esolen. The book has a 21 page introduction at the beginning and 49 pages of notes at the end to help the reader understand the place of this poem in the history of ideas.

How incredible it is to read a poet and philosopher from 60 B.C. writing on the philosophical derivation of the idea that atoms must exist, that they have some spin on them, and that there is conservation of matter in nature! These thoughts about "atomism" would have been lost except for the fact that Lucretius presented them in a very good Latin poem. Although credit is given to Leucippus and Democritus for starting the idea of atomism, Epicurius and Lucretius were strong exponents of these ideas. The poem utilizes common observations to illustrate that the world about us is simply a combination of atoms and void. This had strong implications not only for the demise of the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses but also for how humans should live in the real world, and how they largely create their own misery. Lucretius loves life, looks straightly at it, speaks strongly against the fear of death, and promotes a rational calm life in which friendship is very important. The poetry is wonderful and powerful in itself. Two quotes (I,62 and I, 140) in the early part of the poem speak clearly to the modern reader: "When before our eyes man's life lay groveling, prostrate, crushed to dust under the burden of Religion (which thrust its head from heaven, its horrible face glowering over mankind born to die) one man, a Greek, was the first mortal who dared oppose his eyes, the first to stand firm in defiance. Not the fables of the gods, nor lightning, nor the menacing rumble of heaven could daunt him, but all the more they whetted his keen mind with longing to be first to smash open the tight-barred gates of Nature"..."And yet your virtue and the hoped-for pleasure of a delightful friendship urge me to persevere in my work, to watch through the calm nights, seeking choice words, the song by which at last I can open to your mind such dazzling light that you may see deep into hidden things." This is a great and astonishing poem, powerfully translated by Anthony Esolen. Lucretius did not conceive of the idea that parts of atoms, i.e. electrons, might spread rapidly through the body, so his poem gets more labored in Book III where he deals with the relationship between the body, mind, soul, and spirit. However he did think the soul had to be made up of the very smallest atoms that could pass quickly to all parts of the body. If the modern reader substitutes "electrons" where he mentions "atoms" in reference to the soul, then Lucretius is not far off the mark. The book has a 21 page introduction and 49 pages of notes at the end to help the reader understand the place of this poem in the history of ideas. It should be required reading for biological scientists and physicians.

I've always found biographies to be a bit on the dry/boring side, this one, however, is not. There was not a boring page in this book. I enjoyed it immensely and could barely bring myself to put it down. This biography covers Mr. Hopkins life from birth through his success in Silence of the Lambs. It gives you an in depth look at his youth/childhood/formative years, as well as following his every career move. It was definitely a worth while read.

An amazing depiction of Hopkins, I got what I wanted out of it! Unlike most biographies, this one was a keeper. It was a page-turner, especially if you are interested in Hopkins. I just wish it was more up to date!

This compilation of essays by perhaps the finest, most elegant poet writing on either side of the Atlantic has its faults. The first one to catch the eye is that the first two essays on the Sonnet repeat each other, word for word, in several places. But taking the work, which covers many subjects in addition to the "Melodies Unheard," which is saved for the last, as a whole, one can not help be struck by Hecht's depth of insight and urbanity of expression on each subject: from Sidney, to Elizabeth Bishop, to Moby Dick. It is simply impossible for a poetic mind to come away unmoved or without perspective shifted from the depths so adroitly explored here. My favourite example (And I suspect Hecht's as well, since it's the only chapter in the book on which he lavishes a full page reproduction of a Bosch painting in illustration of a part of a poem. Indeed, there are no other props of this sort in the entire collection.) is his explication of Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Man-Moth." I never thought very much of Ms. Bishop's poetry before reading this explication, so deep and fecund of insight. - But herein lies a sort of paradox inherent to most all these essays-I now appreciate "The Man-Moth" exceedingly but am even more overwhelmed by rereading Hecht's poetic explication of the poem. The same is true of Hecht on Moby Dick. I suppose this is a great compliment. But one wonders whether Ms. Bishop would have thought so. In any event, though disagreeing with Hecht in regard to a couple of minor nuances here and there, I would say to the already very select group considering the purchase of this book that it's well worth it. Maybe, if Bishop is a favourite poet of yours or Melville a favourite author, too well worth it. As Hecht avers in the last essay, "...our experience of poetry is no simple business." - Nor is our experience of Hecht.

REVIEWED BY HENRY TAYLOR ...

Anthony Hecht, one of the very few finest poets of the past 50 years, is also one of the most learned, wide-ranging, perceptive, and engaging critics. Now 80, he has gathered in this new collection, "Melodies Unheard," 18 essays, most of them done in the past five years in response to invitations and assignments of various kinds, from centenary observances to pieces for The New York Review of Books.
As to his subtitle, he remarks in his Introduction, "What, I have asked myself, is the critic trying to do? And there are plenty of answers. But perhaps we might begin with the urge governing Poe's Auguste Dupin: to solve a mystery. Not infrequently this means discovering that there was a mystery to be solved in the first place, because no one had noticed any need for scrutiny."
Though he does not say so explicitly, Mr. Hecht appears also to be concerned with "mystery" in the sense of skill, craft, or art; this older usage appeared often in the indentures of apprentices, bound for a period to learn the mysteries of , say, tailoring. Near the end of his Introduction, he says, "No poet examines someone else's poem, especially a major poem or a large body of poetry, without hoping to learn something from such scrutiny; and, moreover, to learn something he can put to his own personal use."
It is an inspiring and humbling object lesson for any serious reader to behold the thoroughness with which Mr. Hecht opens his powers of perception to the variety of texts he encountered in the course of writing these pieces. He has his preferences, to be sure; he understands that meter and rhyme have been integral to poetry for centuries, and that to dispense with them is to incur serious risks. It must be noted, however, that he is no knee-jerk enemy of free verse; one of the best pieces here is a penetrating and highly favorable consideration of Charles Simic, whose unmetrical surrealism Mr. Hecht praises for its resonance and responsibility.
Collections of separate critical pieces can sometimes seem too miscellaneous, whatever the brilliance or persuasiveness on display in the individual essays. Mr. Hecht has addressed this matter with unusual thoughtfulness and diligence, and the result is a solid book rather than an assemblage of book parts.
First, his Introduction takes up some points not dealt with to his satisfaction in the essays. For example, early in an essay chiefly concerned with the opening of T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," Mr. Hecht mentions "the bedeviling topic of Eliot's anti-Semitism, which I must leave for another time." He makes short work of William Empson's attempt to make Eliot out as a decent fellow of his time who had no problem with some of his time's notions, and just slightly longer work of Eliot's own claim that he was not an anti-Semite and never had been.
Anti-Semitism arises again in a discussion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Mr. Hecht's treatment of it is notable for its patient use of a remarkable amount of Biblical knowledge, and for its tact with personal reminiscences of direct encounters with wounding prejudice.
Second, the book concludes with an essay called "The Music of Formsþ" which appears to have been written for the collection; it is not mentioned in the acknowledgments of editors and lecture venues. It is here that Mr. Hecht is most clearly distressed at what seems to him the shrinking audience for such delicacies of technique as he explores in the rest of the book. For years, he tells us, it was his habit, following some exposition of metrical terminology and example, to ask his undergraduate students to locate for him the place where the dialogue of Romeo and Juliet shifts from prose into verse. It didn't last:
"After a certain number of years I gave up asking my classes this question, which obviously embarrassed them and discouraged me, for it became transparently clear that the overwhelming majority of my students were quite simply deaf to almost all metrical considerations and that my introductory lecture on the topic was purposeless and wasteful. And I reluctantly concluded that there are many who are not so much mystified by meter as completely oblivious to it."
One who has repeatedly urged students to observe line-ends when quoting poetry in critical papers can but agree with this assessment. However, it seems always to have been the case that those to whom matters of precision and beauty of language are matters of great importance - of life and death, as we sayþ - are greatly outnumbered by those to whom such matters are of no importance. Mr. Hecht strikes a firm balance between taking pessimistic notice of this situation, and considering that Milton's "fit audience though few" is entirely deserving of the best effort he can muster.
Thus Mr. Hecht proceeds, with grace, urbanity, good humor, and vast erudition, to consider certain literary works from the past eight centuries, and to shed light on their techniques and on a few instances of obscurity.
Among the poets treated are Shakespeare, Philip Sidney, A.E. Housman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Wilbur, and Yehuda Amichai. There are also essays on aspects of "Moby-Dick," and on the prose of Seamus Heaney. The approaches range from close explication of text to sweeping historical surveys. Throughout, the style and manner are those of a deeply knowledgeable and polished conversationalist, grateful to be in the presence of the works he understands so well. Care for poetry and its traditions has seldom been so memorably exemplified.

This is a copy of what I believe is the first translation of Tasso into English from 1600. Translated within roughly 50 years of the original the translator keeps the rhyme scheme of the Italian and in doing sacrifices accuracy of meaning. However, in comparing this work to several more recent translations I actually prefer this on a line by line basis as the more recent translations sacrifice poetics to keep meaning. The real problem with this edition is that it has no footnotes, no introduction, nothing but the translated text itself. If you do not know something about epic poetry, Virgil (who is often referenced or imitated by the poet), Tasso's personal history and the first crusade you will be lost and there is nothing here to help you.

The fame of Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata was known far and wide during the Renaissance but sadly, it is far from everyday reading today. This work, describing in twenty masterful cantos the taking of Jerusalem during the first crusade, is one of the masterpieces of epic poetry; in the same lofty realms as Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno.

The poem is largely fantasy, although it draws many of its characters from the historical record, along with some of the geography and a modicum of history. While the modern view of the crusades is that of a dark hour in church history, full of bigotry and inhumanity, Tasso paints it as a glorious adventure, in the full romantic, chivalric tradition. Surprisingly, however, he makes the characters of the Islamic defenders of Jerusalem very human, rendering them in a remarkably (for the time) sympathetic light. While the poem has strong religious overtones, it is clear that Soliman, Argante, Clorinda and Armida are all characters who are motivated by chivalry and love, and not necessarily by religion. The poem was written in the Renaissance, but it still contains numerous strong female characters. from Clorinda, the Muslim warrior princess who is slain by Tancred during a battle in which neither recognizes their lover, to Armida, the sorceress who steals Rinaldo away from the Christians in Circe-like fashion, loving him and hating him all at once.

The fantastical breathes throughout the poem, with enchanted woods that bleed when cut, secret fortresses, hermits with magical staffs, and the Islands of the Blessed. In spite of the wide-ranging plot, the depth of character and the integration of the story are modern in their effect. I literaly hung on every line and read it the way I might have read Tolkien in my youth. (Indeed, I suspect Tolkien may have used Tasso as source material). There is, of course, a vast wash of blood shed with helm-splitting, dismembering accounts of medieval combat, told as if it were a children's tale. The descriptions of siege warfare are rendered with an eye that seems to have been intimately familiar with the craft, each tower, tortoise and mangonel exquisitely described. The geography of the Holy Land and the coast of North Africa seem likewise familiar to the author, although he becomes a little confused beyond Gibraltar. There is a paen to Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, included as a prophecy in Canto Fifteen, but the New World seems to consist largely of heavenly islands. One disconcerting factor is that Tasso's patronage by the house of Este places repeated effusive passages concerning the house's future greatness in the mouths of the crusaders. This patronage is responsible for the central role played by Rinaldo, a scion of the house of Este.

The book itself is a fine trade paperback on high quality paper. The translation, by M. Esolen is at once high-sounding, noble and very readable. Each stanza is rhymed but there is little or no sense of hatchet-made versification. Esolen eschews the use of archaic language and inverted grammar for the sake of rhyme, delivering a steady cadence and dependable style that lend grace and dignity to the poem. Poetic translation can be tough but Esolen pulls this off nicely. I haven't read the original Italian so I can't speak to the veracity of the language but it reads very well in English. The book also contains brief notes on the translation, an introduction, presumably by the translator, the "Allegory of the Poem" presumably by Tasso - although the text does not say, and a terminal scholarly apparatus including a dramatis personae, extensive end notes, a bibliographic essay and an index.

I can not give too high a praise to this book. It is probably the most exciting and interesting piece of literature I have read from prior to the 17th century. I read it as I would a novel, racing forward to try to catch the plot. Now, after being left breathless, I feel the need to read it again, immediately; to savour its many heroic moods and revel in its beautiful metaphors. Alas, I have too much else to do, but I am sure that I will one day return and spend some enchanted time with Godfrey, Tancred, Clorinda and company.

I am perplexed at the negative reviews of this translation (if they were even about this translation). I find it remarkable. A verse translation of an epic in ottava rima is obviously a difficult thing, and I think that Esolen does a fantastic job. The poem itself, while horrendously inappropriate as a template for international relations in the twenty-first century, is a stunning accomplishment. Tasso's painterliness is first class, and his skill as an allegorist is sublime. In good Miltonian fashion he makes the evil and wayward figures the most appealing. As for the wizardry...Tasso is the best thing since Merlin.

Let's be clear on what I am reviewing...I am reviewing Jerusalem Delivered as published in hardcover by IndyPublish. This poem is also available in paperback as published by John Hopkins Univer. Press, and it is that version of the poem that first captured my attention. The John Hopkins paperback is a translation by A.M. Esolen and, in my humble opinion, it is magnificent in almost every way -- good introductory material on the original poet (Tasso) and the poem itself, great translation, good endnotes, nice packaging. The only draw back to the John Hopkins-published book is that it is a paperback, and after reading the poem I had to have a hardcover for my budding library. After months of searching I stumbled across the subject of this review...the IndyPublish hardcover version of Jerusalem Delivered. Where to start...? Firstly, the translation is (I think) that of Edward Fairfax, written in the late 1700s (perhaps...?). I prefer Esolen's, but the Fairfax is good. I get the feeling reading the Fairfax that the translator often tried too hard to force the rhymes, often employing punctuation to emphasize the rhymes and creating a very sing-song and, at times, tiring la-te-la-te-la-te-doe-doe. But, it is for the most part still a good read if you can break the sing-song cycle.

Unfortunately, the IndyPublish hardback comes with absolutely no notes, introductory or otherwise. The cast of characters in the poem is very large, the scenes and settings shift, the action ebbs and flows, ...I believe that in order to appreciate the Fairfax as presented by IndyPublish you must have prior and intimate knowledge of the poem (cast, scenes, settings, history, etc) prior to reading. Call me a simpleton (you don't really need to, it's just an expression), but I found the notes and introductory material essential to provide context and full appreciation for Tasso's accomplishment. Without the knowledge and context, a non-scholar like myself might find the Fairfax to be a somewhat interesting but confusing and very long poem written in Elizabethan English about many people mentioned by name with whom the reader is not familiar...the reader may appreciate the art, but would miss much of the fullness of the poem provided by ready access to commentary, etc.

Now, a comment about presentation. I am not familiar with IndyPublish but I visited their web page and, if I understand their mission, it might be a neat idea...and I can understand why this edition of Jerusalem Delivered might not as fancy-shmancy (ok, maybe I am a simpleton) as some other books. The outer appearance of the IndyPublish J.D. reminds me of an un-labeled Baptist hymnal...it is bland. But, hey, you don't buy books because of flashy covers (...do you?). What I found very detracting was the formatting of the text itself. For example, in canto 1 each 8-line stanza is center justified, for canto 2 each stanza is left justified, for canto 3 each is right justified, for canto 4 each is centered, and in canto 5 the stanzas alternate between center and left justified and the left-justified stanzas are not centered in the page. Folks, this poem has 20 cantos, each of about 100 to 130 stanzas...switching the formatting from canto to canto, even within some cantos, is extremely distracting...and, in my opinion, results in a product that looks amateurish, like somebody was trying out the new desktop publishing software and wanted to sample all of the justification options again and again and again and again. Keep your Dramamine handy, its a bumpy ride. Also, individual stanzas in some cantos are broken across pages...maybe the first two lines of a stanza on the bottom of one page and the next six lines at the top of the following page. These 8-line stanzas are each singular units, the building blocks of the poem...they should be left whole! Like individual movements in a symphony...didn't you hate flipping the album over when side 1 was done but the music continued no side 2? Or, how about when your 8-track tape faded and changed tracks right in the middle of your favorite song? Freebird was meant to be heard in its full 18-minute glory, can't we give Tasso the same respect?!?!

It is what it is. I suppose the fact that I wish it was something different is hardly Tasso's fault; nonetheless, I have mixed emotions regarding this poem.

First of all, let's be honest here: Jerusalem Delivered has a worldview which just about everyone reading today is going to find totally repulsive: Christians--good; Pagans--bad. Utterly and absolutely. True, Tasso's pagans (ie, Muslims) are occasionally praised, and his Christians sometimes stray, but really, let's not fool ourselves: this doesn't really amount to anything. Although Tasso's life was endlessly conflicted, here he is trying his hardest to write from a good, Christian viewpoint. I wasn't expecting the civilized urbanity of Ariosto or anything, but this is really a bit much. The climax of the poem, with Christians unapologetically slaughtering, pillaging, and raping (no, seriously--check book XIX, verse XXX)--all without a hint of disapprobation from Tasso--is pretty stomache-turning. You could *try* to argue that the scene is meant as some sort of subtle criticism in itself, but I really don't think you'll find any textual evidence for this. Contrast this with the sacking of Biserta in Orlando Furioso--surely that poem's darkest moment--and the difference becomes obvious. I realize that some people will dismiss my criticisms as nothing more than political correctness run amuck, and, ..., maybe it is, but I make no apologies. As a fairly serious reader, I'm accustomed to simply accepting things in literature that run totally counter to my own ideology, but being, alas, a mere human, there IS a limit. I want to stress that this only became irksome to me towards the poem's end, but it definitely affected my opinion of the work as a whole.

Even if one is capable of totally submerging one's own biased, twenty-first-century view, however, the fact remains that the poem is frequently...well, sort of boring. I think few would argue that, poetically, the best part of the poem, by quite some margin, is the account of Rinaldo's not-so-brutal imprisonment in Armida's bower. This is where Tasso really lets himself go, giving in, I think, to his real poetic instincts. Otherwhere, however, things get a bit less interesting. The battles, its true, have a certain icy, Homeric grandeur, but a little of that--even in Homer himself--goes a long way, and when the two teams aren't duking it out, we're made to deal with the characters, which can be trying. Like many writers, Tasso makes his villains much more interesting that his heroes: Argantes is surely one of the greatest epic villains ever, with his single-minded, unquenchable fury easily rivalling the Wrath of Achilles itself; Clorinda, in spite of a disheartening but inevitable last-minute change of heart, is one of your more badass woman warriors, if not quite up to the standards of Ariosto's Marfisa; and Armida is a femme fatale with few rivals. So that's all well and good, but the focus, unavoidably, is on the heroes. Let's cut to the chase: Godfrey is incredibly boring, in spite of a truly feeble effort by Anthony Esolen to defend him. And, while Rinaldo and Tancredie do have their own crises which elevate them a little above the pack, most of the Christian host is pretty faceless.

Still, all told, the poetry is enough to recommend Tasso. Because, occasional bouts of tedium notwithstanding, Tasso is a truly great poet. I'd even go so far as to say that--although I think I'd enjoy hanging out with Ariosto far more than with Tasso, and although Orlando Furioso is a far more enjoyable (and, let's face it, just plain BETTER) poem than Jerusalem Delivered--in terms of sheer poetical prowess, Tasso wins. Which is why it's so important to read his work in a good translation, which in turn is why it's essential to stay as far away from Anthony M. Esolen as possible. Your other, better, choice is Edward Fairfax's Elizabethan translation: Esolen may be more stricly faithful to the original, but he also has a tin ear, capturing only a middling portion of Tasso's sturm und drang. I suppose he would moderately acceptable if there was no other choice, but thankfully, there is: Fairfax's poetry is electifying, and well worth the time to search out. I'm a little baffled to see the high praise that Esolen is receiving from many (he should translate Ariosto? Please...as if there's a chance in hell he could do better than Barbara Reynolds). So, to put an end to this lunacy, I would like to end this review with a side-by-side comparison between the two. XVI, XIV.

Esolen:
Look at the chaste and modest little rose
sprung from the green in her virginity!
Half open and half hid; the less she shows,
the less she shows to men, the lovelier she.
Now she displays her bold and amorous
bosom, and now she wilts, and cannot be,
the same delight which was the longing of,
a thousand girls and a thousand lads in love.

Fairfax:
The gently-budding rose (quoth she) behold,
The first scant peeping forth with virgin beams
Half ope, half shut, her beauties doth up-fold
In their dear leaves, and less seen fairer seems,
And after spreads them forth more broad and bold,
Then languisheth and dies in last extremes:
For seems the same that decked bed and bow'r
Of many a lady late and paramour.

I certainly hope that settles that.

It's al between our eyes. And Andy is willing to share his personal experience with human interactions together with the world. He has created several methods to develop a higher quality of life, this book is one of his better works.

I read the original biography by Quentin Falk, a showbiz hack and mediocre writer, several years ago and remember it only as a very superficial treatment of a very complex man. This new update contains too much spin control by Hopkins' ex-wife and not enough insight into the man himself (or seemingly input from him) to make it worthwhile. Hopkins is a great actor and a very intriguing man, he deserves a more in-depth analysis of both his work and his persona than Falk can provide.

This book is simply amazing, a real page turner. You can't stop reading it until the last page and then you're left gagging for more. Anyone who wants to know anything at all about Anthony Hopkins should read this NOW! It's given me real inspiration, and has made me realise I can do anything I want to if I try hard enough. I loved Anthony Hopkins before, but now I love him even more.He's amazing!

Anthony Hopkins, being, in my opinion, one of the greatest actors, deserves more in a biography than this. The book is basic and tells you information, but in trying to make it unique, the author bores you, confused you, and makes you less interested in reading it.

This is probably one of the most well-written books that I have seen in a long time. The pictures are amazing and the story is wonderful. I have always been a fan of Anthony, and this book is enough to convince anyone. Highly recommended.

Arms & Armor of the Greeks is a clearly and concisely written book, which fulfils its purpose very well. Snodgrass provides an adequate and entertaining look at the equipment of a Greek soldier, however, the book is intended for historians and masochistic college students. Snodgrass makes continuous literary references (particularly to the Iliad) and sites battles as examples without explaining their outcome or tactics. To a person without proper schooling in Greek history, the book is as useful as a book on the intricacies of object oriented programming would be to someone who had only superficial knowledge of Windows„· or a book on major to minor chords in fugues would be to someone who listened exclusively to rap music. Though the book is not terribly complicated, it is useless to anyone who cannot put it in context.
Although Snodgrass presents all of his points in chronological order, however, within the chapters, and sub-sections are disorganized. A chapter might explain the evolution of helmets, then the use of a particular type of shield, then horse armor, and then go back to helmets. The chapters are mildly schizophrenic, though it may have been unwieldy to discuss each piece of armor in a separate chapter. Helmets should be discussed together, swords should be discussed together, and so on.
Much of the information in the book is based on assumptions from literature. Weapons and armor may be unearthed but they do not provide enough facts to warrant a definite thesis on their use. Snodgrass must rely on historians like Thucydides who wrote with a particular bias or may have recalled things incorrectly. Given this disability, Snodgrass maintains a fair amount of objectivity. Thankfully, Snodgrass does not fall into the trap of applying modern tactical theory to ancient warfare as in The Roman Army at War by Adrian K. Goldsworthy, The Medieval Knight by Stephen Turnbull, or the footnotes on almost any translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
In the chapter regarding Mycenae, Snodgrass is forced to draw almost exclusively on the artifacts found in the shaft graves or tholos tombs. Tablets written in Linear B serve more as inventory lists for the noble houses and little can be learned from them pertaining to the use of the equipment. Works by Homer were written at the end of the Greek Dark Age (approx. 800BC) and reflect the tribal society of the time rather than the strict hierarchy of Mycenae that they are supposed to. Even with his dearth of sources, Snodgrass manages to create workable theories as to the use of the equipment found from that era.
Snodgrass does an excellent job of explaining the evolution of arms and armor in ancient and classical Greece. Every point he makes has at least one collaborating source (usually fairly obscure) and appears valid. The evidence is presented in a clear and chronological method that allows the reader to easily transition from one type of equipment to the next. With the exception of the chapters on Mycenae and the Dark Ages, the book is very well supported. The conclusions made by the author so sound, Arms & Armor of the Greeks is commonly used as a textbook. Since equipment dictates tactics, understanding the arms and armor used by ancient soldiers is key to understanding the sweeping changes in warfare and politics during that time. The citizen-soldier hoplites revolutionized Greek society by allowing small farmers to fight alongside the great estate owners.
Not only is Arms & Armor of the Greeks informative, it manages to keep the attention of the reader despite the possibility of being extremely dry. The book is short, concise, and easy to read making it well worth its price.

Arms and Armour of the Greeks is a wonderful work of scholarship, combining sometimes-scarce archaeological evidence with historical texts and ancient artwork to provide a compelling chronology of the arms of the ancient Aegean. Intended mainly for college students and other scholars, Snodgrass has nonetheless presented the information in such a fashion as to make it good reading for the interested layman. He begins with an introduction to the difficulties encountered in researching and writing on this topic, such as the dearth of direct evidence, not to mention the problems associated with accurately identifying what little there is. He then launches into a brief discussion of the archaeological methods used in the study of the subject, from excavation to correlation with ancient texts. Snodgrass has organized the book usefully and logically, flowing chronologically from the Mycenaeans in the sixteenth century BCE through the Hellenistic Period of Alexander the Great and his successors 1200 years later. Chapter One starts off with the excavations of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, and the rich finds discovered there by Schliemann (15). This sets up a recurring theme in the book, as much of the archaeological evidence seems to be excavated from the graves of warriors, especially the nobles. He then takes the reader to the rest of the Aegean a century or so later, still at the height of Mycenaean power. This includes an interesting discussion on the relationship and influence of the Cretans and the people of the mainland. This is where Snodgrass comes into his own, using ancient texts and artwork to try and get a glimpse of the equipment in use at the time. Quotes from the Iliad lend a sense of continuity to the discussions, as they are included in several places throughout the book. After the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, there was a period known as The Dark Age (35). Snodgrass notes that there are no examples of the art of writing from approximately 1200 to 750 BCE (35). He qualifies this, however, by saying that, although finished later in the eighth century, the Homeric Epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, incorporate many earlier elements (35). Snodgrass here brings up the argument over how historically accurate the Iliad is, stating that although much of the armor and weapons may be described with less than complete accuracy, there is some consistency. This is demonstrated by the statement, "In Homer, swords and spearheads are without exception said to be of bronze when the metal is specified" (37). While his descriptions of the weapons and armor, some coming from direct evidence, others educated speculation, are informative, they tend to be a little dry. An interesting aside, however, are his ongoing discussions of the importance of the bow, from its popularity on Crete to the Classical Athenian' and Spartan's almost total deprecation and avoidance of this useful weapon. Snodgrass now comes to the age of the hoplite, the foot soldier that will dominate Mediterranean warfare for over 300 years (49). This comprises not only his (the hoplites') panoply, or complete set of armor and weapons, but also the strategies and tactics that made him so successful. There is a large amount of space in this section, Chapter 3, dedicated to the depiction, on vases and sculpture, of the Homeric heroes in full or partial hoplite panoply. This helps to show how these heroes of the Trojan War were thought of not just as archaic characters in a story, but as contemporaries and models for the modern warrior. The author also includes a short definition of the phalanx, or tightly packed square of massed infantry (49), although he goes into greater depth on this formation later in the book. Also in this chapter, we are also treated to a discussion of the other types of soldiers in use at this time. These included light infantry and cavalry, most of whom seem to have been be mercenaries or, in the case of light infantry, those citizens too poor to afford hoplite armor (77). The rest of the book continues the discussion on the hoplite, and the evolution of his arms, armor, and tactics through the centuries. The book concludes with a discussion of the phalanx and cavalry charge as used by Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. Overall, Arms and Armour of the Greeks is an enjoyable and informative work. It is at times a little slow in its development, but Snodgrass has made it entertaining enough to be read for its own sake, without making it seem either immature or unnecessarily heavy.

Michael Feeney Callan's biography of Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins is not your typical cut-and-paste "and then he starred in..." movie actor bio. Rather it's an erudite, in-depth, psychological profile of a wonderfully talented actor whose professional and personal life has been ruled - and crippled by - lifelong feelings of insecurity.

Hopkins' inner demons were created early on. An only child born in wartime Wales he grew up insulated and withdrawn, a bit of a dreamer with few friends. A demanding, workaholic father combined with all of the above to produce feelings of insecurity that plagued him most of his life. Pretty much of a failure academically, a chance visit to a local theatre group sparked the seemingly one and only passion in his life, acting.

Callan spends 400-odd pages detailing Hopkins' tortured development as an actor and human being. There are obvious career highs - a featured player with Olivier's National Theatre in the early '60s, his big break opposite Katherine Hepburn in THE LION IN WINTER, eminently watchable performances in films like A BRIDGE TOO FAR, ELEPHANT MAN and THE BOUNTY, his definining moment-in-the-sun in 1991's SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and so on.

Yet, as a person, Hopkins rarely seemed to enjoy any of it for long, his inner demon - which he labeled 'His Majesty the Monstrous Baby' -undermining whatever professional and personal achievements occurred. Hopkins' alcoholism didn't help matters along the way, which included a number of marriages and squandered friendships. Hopkins has apparently triumphed over his inner devils but...

Callan's book is not an easy read. He is a masterful writer but the subject is depressing with the endless top-of-the-world/hitting-bottom cycles of Hopkins' life. A more selective use of material from interviews Hopkins gave over the years and and fewer reminiscences from his fellow actors and friends would have made Callan's points more effectively.

Movie fans should take a look at ANTHONY HOPKINS, A THREE ACT LIFE. By book's end, you definitely know Anthony Hopkins...but with knowledge comes sadness. It's such a pity that this talented individual led the sad life described in this book.

This is the first of its kind, African -Americans,religion has hinder a honest discourse on the subject of sex its refreshing to read,it challenges the way we have view and define sexuality and spirituality. I would recommend this book to every minister and congregations(especially African-Americans) that are serious about making an impact on todays world.

This book was very useful in its time but is now quite out of date. The translation included in it is that of "The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis," which is now more profitably read in the new translation of Ecrits: A Selection (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2002).

'All speech is demand, the demand for love.'

Jacques Lacan was much more than a psychoanalyst. In his investigations of language and his twenty year long seminar in France, he explored a realm of topics interesting to scholars in a variety of fields: sexuality, language, the self, the unconscious. Probably his most groundbreaking work - partially contained in this volume - concerns the importance of language as expressing our desire, our need for love - a desire, by the way, that can never be fulfilled and results in pain and frustration.

Anthony Wilden provides a decent translation, but all translations of Lacan's work - like the writings of Derrida - face a very difficult task. Highly recommended...

Good research and background details, but bogged down in several spots for me. A bit wordy, didn't find any additioanal personal insights than other previous works.