John Milton Books

I suppose I could be thankful that this edition did not try to update Milton's English. The software that comes with it is just a .doc file; a hypertext document linking outdated words to definitions or mythic references to explanations would have been far more useful. The book itself is in a pleasing font, but the binding is weak and pages easily fall out.

This stunning epic poem of the fall of both Lucifer & man from God's good grace is full of all the self-indulgent goth agony to fuel a lifetime of bitter recrimination and despair. Woe is everybody!

Some parts of this book are good, some are boring. Its is very slow reading because of the heroic verse form. So be carefull.

Rating Paradise Lost on a 5-star chart is not even fair.Some books are not to be rated at all, `cos they do deserve more.Paradise Lost deserves your time and your mind.

I read Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass and "The Subtle Knife", the first two books of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is based around the idea of a second War in Heaven and another Fall. They are really incredible. While waiting for the third book to be released, I decided to read Paradise Lost, one of Philip Pullman's main inspirations and the source of a lot of the allusions. Paradise Lost is surprisingly readable for a book that was published in 1667. I understood it, even with the older edition I read which didn't have much of a readers' guide, and I'm only 15. Even though you don't always understand every word and every mythological allusion, you can always get the basic idea, especially with some help from the footnotes. If you read it alone, you might find it boring, but I would strongly recommend reading the His Dark Materials books first. They discuss a lot of the ideas in Paradise Lost. (Was Satan right to rebel against God?) Then when you read P.L., you will enjoy seeing where Philip Pullman got some of his ideas. You can't help but like the His Dark Materials books, then when you read Paradise Lost you understand them so much more. Everyone over the age of 14 should read them both.

If you are reading this I am assuming you have read Paradise Lost. If you have read Paradise Lost, and not read any other Milton, I suggest you do so because, a) it will give immeasurable insight to certain portions and ideas of PL, and b) Milton thoroughly addresses things which are startlingly prevalent in today's world - but this is a digression. I only ask if you've read other Milton to say that if you have, it is pretty easy to debunk the theory that Satan is the "good-guy".

Lewis, I think rightly, is on the side who think Satan is a bad guy, and not the hero of the work. It is a common tendency for readers who sympathize with Satan to place him as the hero of the work; but Satan only reflects the rebellion of human nature and estrangement from God. Do we empathize with Satan? Of course, and this is to be expected. We are fallen creatures, each with a little "Satan" in us. But I am getting preachy.

Lewis displays his methodical writing ability and analyzes certain historical, theological, psychological implications within PL. It is difficult to sum up, but Lewis reacts against the notion that Satan is the hero, corrects various misinterpretations (as he believes) other critics have attributed to the work, and so on.

Overall, if you're interested in reading criticism about criticism on PL, I would suggest this. And do not be afraid if you aren't extremely knowledgeable with the history of the Church and its doctrine. Lewis is informative without being overly pedantic (but keep in mind, he is a scholar).

As a man who spent the entirety of his childhood avoiding the repeatedly assigned Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (i got very good at making my tests look like i'd read it, as im sure many grade school students do when its assigned year after year, i think we even did it in high school), i always associated Lweis' name with BAD. And then i discovered Milton, and his Satan, and Lewis re-entered the picture.

His preface to Paradise Lost is largely a defense, mostly against the attacks of contemporary and irreverant poets like Pound and Eliot who criticized Milton extensively, especially for his Latinate syntax. Lewis engages Eliot specifically in one chapter that reads like a very wordy rap beef. If you ask me, Eliot, certainly the better poet, is out of his element in the crit ring, and Lewis smokes him good, at times you might shout "OHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Far as his approach to the poem, he lays out the foundation for a modern understanding of Milton, namely a reverence for ritual and heritage, and an appreciation of epic and narrative poetry. His chapters on Homer Virgil and Beowulf are valuable and enjoyable reads worth the price of admission themselves. His criticism is highly intelligent but never overwhelming or tangential, it is systematic and thorough while still retaining a smooth readability. Easily one of the most valuable studies of Milton to come out of the 20th century.

There are many approaches to criticism of Paradise Lost. None is more in the spirit of the poem as Milton wrote and intended than C. S. Lewis's Preface. Lewis's spirit is in harmony with Milton's and his Preface is a masterful explication of the greatest poem ever written. It is a delight to read and, as Lewis wished, urges one on to read the poem itself, with greater understanding.

This work is considered a classic of Milton criticism. I began the book with great expectations and must admit to being somewhat disappointed. Lewis sets out defining the 'epic' as genre, and explaining why Milton chose this form. He also traces the history of the Epic giving special emphasis on the turning point in the form made by the 'Aeneid'.He also outlines the stylistic peculiarities of Milton which helped give shape to his Epic. The latter part of the book is a discussion of the Themes of 'Paradise Loss' and considers among other things, the relation of Milton's work to the thought of Augustine, the role of Satan in the work, that of Adam and Eve. Lewis tends to the view that the Arian Milton did not attempt to force his own religious views on the Poem, but rather was concerned with the Poem's achieving its artistic and moral end.
There is an important chapter on 'Heirarchy' which shows how for Milton as for Shakespeare this is a key conception in their worlds. Lewis is a chamption of Milton's discipline, and shows how his stylistic brilliance created a continuous motion and form for the poem. The great Miltonian sentence in all its complexities is central here.
There is much to learn from this work about Milton, and also about Lewis.
I find that it did not however provide the kind of overall picture of the meaning of the Poem that I certainly thought it would.

While other reviewers have already touched on many key tenets of this fabulous little book, I may be able to enumerate or elaborate a little yet.

The real stuff of this book you must read for yourself, but I can at least adumbrate some general ideas he touches on.

1) A short, lucid, and highly informative introduction to epic _qua_ epic. Style, content, form, all the essentials. What makes Homer Homer: what it means. Where Virgil deviated: why it matters. Where Milton deviates: why it matters. &c.

2) Lovely interaction with contemporary "New Criticism." I. A. Richards meets the classical scholar (Chapter VIII).

3) Quintessential societal and philosophical criticism peppered _throughout_. You wouldn't think you'd be able to quote Lewis on the fatuousness of certain "sacred cow" tenets of "progressive modernity" in a book on Milton, but it's here--and moreover, each little epigrammatic jab is perfectly felicitous and apposite. Only Clive! Each one yields great laughter and reflection.

4) Some _excellent_ and _original_ universal literary criticism. It is my opinion that many excerpts of this book should be included in Literary Theory anthologies. He treats such overarching topics as reading, poetry _qua_ poetry, criticism _qua_ criticism, authorial intent, &c. &c.

5) His criticism of Milton's Satan is pretty much the coolest thing you'll ever read. I'll leave it at that: you must read it for yourself! I've read the chapter on Satan four times it's so good.

That's enough for now. Buy and read!

As other reviewers have written, this book is a great representation of Libertarian thought throughout the ages. This does not mean that these great writers AGREE with one another. In fact, Boaz collects essays that disagree with each other in certain detail, and that conflict with my own Libertarian-world-view on certain points. This is part of the beauty of the book. Boaz contrasts these ideas within a framework of a unified philosophy. The book 'hangs together' despite the differing interpretations.

A wonderful and beautiful collection of writings! Intelligent, prosaic, logical, spiritual, and even humorous!

This book does not claim to be complete and openly admits that the heritage of liberty is much larger, deeper, and fuller than any one book could possibly hope to contain. This book is a brief--if you can call it such--summary of libertarian thought; it is a collection of writings containing ideas that have strongly influenced the evolution of politics. This is an excellent resource for finding essential thoughts on liberty and gathering names of many great thinkers to pursue in your future academic endeavors.

If you are looking for a quick introduction to the principles and practices of the Libertarian Party, avoid this book; a good search engine and some basic research skills are all you need. If instead you're searching for a deeper understanding of the philosophy of liberty, then I can suggest no better starting point.

The book itself is a collection of short essays from a wide range of contributors to the libertarian tradition, from political economists and philosophers (such as Locke, Mill, and Adam Smith) to some perhaps more surprising sources (like the Old Testament and the Tao Teh Ching). These essays are grouped around broad themes - "individual rights", "free markets", "skepticism about power" - certainly a boon to students, but also an aid to the casual reader. Should a particular topic or thinker pique your interest, a lengthy essay called "The Literature of Liberty" catalogs the sources as it closes the book.

Whether reading this book will convince you to join the Libertarian Party, or send money to the Cato Institute, is a matter open to debate; indeed, some critics rightly point out elements of "big L" Libertarianism that are at odds with "small l" classical liberal thought. My own hope is that reading these essays will give you not only a better understanding of the founder's intent, but also a clearer vision of a better possible future - a freer, saner world. How we get there, if we get there, remains to be seen.

This collection of libertarian literature is a good first look at the wondrous world of anti-statist thought. It seems particularly apt for college students and other young people, yearning for meaningful ideas through the maze of collectivist propaganda.

Nevertheless, it does have one sin: it is at once too broad and too narrow. Too broad because it covers too much ground and, at times, complex arguments are deprived of part of their explanatory power. Too narrow, because there are some significant omissions. In particular, I would have liked to see more examples of contemporary anarcho-capitalist theory (e.g., David Friedman).

Notwithstanding that qualm, I found this volume extremely helpful.

This book is excellent for anyone who has interest in learning more about the Libertarian Party. The book is also great for mainstream libertarians who are serious about politics.

On a personal note: This book educated me on to why I should be a Libertarian, while outlining some political points of the parties beliefs:

- Free enterprise economics and free trade
- Individual freedom in areas such as gun rights
- immigration reform
- opposition to the military draft
- and it's favor of a strong national defense.

Teskey believes that the punctuation of the two editions of the poem to appear in Milton's lifetime has `no authority' (p. xii) as the blind poet left the punctuation to be decided by the person taking dictation. `I have therefore punctuated as lightly as possible, that is, only where for lack of a comma the reader would take a wrong turn and be forced to go back' (ib.).

This sounds innocuous, though one may doubt if Milton would have wished to preserve his readers from wrong turns that have to be corrected. In any case, Teskey's treatment of the punctuation does not correspond at all to the programme he announces here. Far from punctuating lightly, he mutiplies full stops, clogging the progress of the poem, and often cutting Milton's sentences into bleeding ungrammatical segments.

He very frequently adds other punctuation marks where there are none in the original, and sometimes the effect of these is to obscure or distort the sense. He puts a comma in the middle of I, 9: `In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth', creating the confusing impression that `in the beginning' goes with `That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed' (I, 8), whereas the absence of the comma makes clear that it does with the following words as in Genesis 1:1. He puts full stops where the 1674 texts has semi-colons, sometimes bringing the poetry to an abrupt half and breaking its rhythm, as in I, 34: `Th'infernal serpent. He it was whose guile'; the abrupt three-word sentence is not Miltonic style. The full stop introduced in I, 78 leaves the following three lines isolated even though they do not form a sentence:

He soon discerns. And welt'ring by his side
One next himself in pow'r and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine and named
Beelzebub. (I, 78-81)

Milton is a grammatical writer, who does not leave incomplete sentences lying about. Beelzebub is the object of the verb `discerns', from which it is here brutally cut off.

There are some rare exclamation marks in the 1674 text, as in I, 75: `O how unlike the place from which they fell!' Teskey applies exclamation marks lavishly, giving a cartoon-like emphasis to Milton's lines. Examples: `Sad task!' (IX, 13)He even introduces italics for emphasis, something liable to alter radically the rhythm and sense of a passage.

So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate. _There_ plant eyes. All mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

The 1674 text has:

So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

Notice that by dividing the passage into three sentences, Teskey connects the closing `that I may see' only with the purging of mist, not with the more crucial `shine inward' and `there plant eyes'. The italicized `there' is meaningless, since it suggests that the Celestial light might be planting eyes elsewhere instead.

I could go on and on about Teskey's rushed revamping of Milton. I urge teachers NOT to used this flawed edition; Lewalski's edition with the original punctuation (Blackwell, 2007) or the richly annotated edition of Alistair Fowler are vastly preferable.

what joy to read galaxian epics, large in their characters, profound in their language, jumbo-gigantic in their theme! for this work concerns nothing more than the salvation of mankind, the source of all our toxica, the origins of reality's thrash of contradiction, decapitation of sense, the justice of God's infinite bewilderment and a host of other themes, some limpid, some latent. yet the true irony of this story, although milton eventually loses interest in him after his hallow triumph is greeted in inferno with the hiss of snakes, is that the author's sympathies, obsessions and fascination lies most in the character of satan! for did not milton jail-suffer at the hands of the restoration of the house of stuart? the blind english word-smith thus explores in depth this cosmic character of rebellion! for he himself most likely also from time to time longed to attack authority, shirk government decrees and restore to power the creed that he thought would best help mankind rose-flourish and ivory-prosper! here we witness satan's frustration, his nails of soul, his menace of catastrophe! here we read of satan's inappeasable torrent of rats as he witnesses adam in the garden, content, at ease, pax surrounding him and satan thus languishes, yearning for the former splendo-times he passed in celestium. and when adam does finally eat of the apple and is thus exiled from eden's rapture - what hiròshimum! what blight! for he laments his fall from grace in a torrent of mental cacophony and quickly sets about to blame eve for his slither among adders! but the work's most rubylicious feature is its language! how rarely do we encounter whole stories written in iambic pentameter verse! and milton embellishes his cosmic tale with all sorts of unexpected syntax, rioting images and flaxen parallels!

author of Lorelei Pursued and Wrestles with God

a riveting book for the philosophy of good and evil

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is the best work of literature in the English language, bar none. Christians and non-Christians alike should marvel at the vision presented by Milton. He is not a Satanist, as the Romantics would have you believe. Indeed, he is a devout Christian. This is what makes the work so extraordinary. Milton's vision of the astral world invokes various responses from the reader, all of them genuine and some contradictory. No matter who you are or what you believe, you will thoroughly enjoy this imaginary look into the events surrounding the fall of Lucifer and the beginnings of man in the Garden of Eden.

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till on greater Man
Restore us and regain the blissful seat
Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received.

This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after.

Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim.

John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king.

Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements.

Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n.

(Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!)

The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation.

A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course.

This edition includes more than 50 pages of Milton's other poetry, including sonnets; there are also extensive sections of the KJV biblical text that directly relates to themes in Paradise Lost. Dozens of essays of literary criticism, from the likes of Voltaire, Dryden, Blake, Keats and Wordsworth as well as contemporary commentators such as Bloom, Frye and Adams complete this critical Norton edition.

I hate to be the one giving the lowest (so far) review for a book, but I just can't give this book more than three stars. I am a pastor now, but was a teacher in a classical school for three years. I read every book I could find on teaching and the Seven Laws of Teaching was one of them.

I do not want to come across as condescending to the other reviewers, but I found this book to be so obvious and basic that it taught me nothing new. For example, one of the laws is for the teacher to know their subject matter. Really? I thought that I could fake it and my teenagers would never notice. Not that this "law" isn't true or even important, but this wasn't news to me. I can't imagine trying to teach pre-schoolers without knowing my material backward and forward.

The second law is that we should capture the attention of our students. Think about that for just a second. Can you think of a scenario where a thinking human being would be teaching without the attention of their students and they would think that is normal? Yes, I realize there are teachers out there who will drone on and on while the students text each other, eat their lunches and do about anything except listen. But are you one of those teachers? If not, then this law is not going to make you a better teacher.

A third example of one of the laws is that the teacher should use language familiar to the student. Again, not trying to sound condescending, but is this news to you? I believe in using language that is sprinkled with challenging words so that they hear them in context and begin to build a stronger vocabulary. But obviously if they can't understand your vocabulary, you aren't going to reach them.

After the first three laws, they actually get much more enriching. Building on what students already know, arousing their desire to learn, learning being thinking ideas on your own and finally reviewing what has been learned to make it truly apprehended. These four laws are much more valuable, but there are other books that express them more powerfully than Mr. Gregory.

In my weekly podcast, Christian With A Brain, I discuss the role of education in the lives of believers and used The Seven Laws for reference. But, if you are like me and you believe that learning/teaching is more a product of relationship than the practice of principles, you will do better to purchase another book. I recommend: Teacher by Mark Edmundson - though he has a humanistic worldview, he taps into the art of teaching rather than the laws of teaching. Be warned though, Edmundson's book is a memoir, not a manual.

The author has excellent suggestions for becoming a good teacher but the book starts slow. At times the material seems to be in the most complicated form and could be better understood in plain, every day terms.

I really devoured this book. I found myself highlighting every paragraph and I even took notes. This is a wonderful look at teaching and how to utilize your skills to change lives, not just fill a young person's mind with information. Several of the quotes in the book have now become bold printed pages in my teaching notebook.

This author not only spoke from the perspective of an educator, but from the experience of a learner. Without that vital connection between the teacher and student, there indeed is little learning taking place. John Milton Gregory gave a wonderful description of the dynamics, the give and take, that must exist between the teacher and learner to ensure a real education. He explored the necessary efforts of both the learner and the educator and laid on them both the responsibility to engage. Wonderful book.

I have been teaching in the public schools for 19 years. I train other teachers. I am a mentor to new teachers. And yet, I learned so much from this book. I can't express how much I loved it other than to say, from this point forward, every teacher I meet will hear about this book. Every teacher in every institution should be required to read this before placing one foot in the classroom. My favorite quote from the book: It is only the unskilled teacher who prefers to hear his own voice in endless talk rather than watch and direct the course of the thoughts of his pupils. If you teach, read it!

When I first heard of As Always, Jack, I came here to learn more about it. Upon discovering it to be a slender volume of love letters, I knew immediately that I wanted to read it, and I couldn't wait. I opened the book to the first page sample page, and before I finished the third, I was already choked up and had tears in my eyes.

It was Emma Sweeney's sense of loss and longing that evoked my sympathy. Bereavement is difficult enough for adults to live with, but Emma was only ten years old when she was finally able to grieve for the father she would never know. I could empathize with her need to find any little scrap of information about him, to have any little thing to cling to, and how that desire became a driving force in her life. I commiserated with her proneness to idealize him, and her eventual adult awareness that he was the one person who would never, could never, hurt or disappoint her. He would always be perfect. His image would never tarnish. I suspect that sharing her father with the world helped to bring a measure of completeness to her life. I knew it would be a wonderful book because it was easy to see it was a labor of love.

While reading Emma's poignant introduction to the love letters her father wrote to her mother, Beebe, while they were separated during WWII, I expected the book to be bittersweet and full of longing. Instead, his letters are filled with the joyous certainty of a young man head over heels in love with a beautiful blonde he met at a dance just days before he shipped out. I probably noticed different things about Jack than others did because I saw him through an astrologer's eyes: he was an Aquarian whose life was archetypical of the sign. He made a career of aviation, liked to read his horoscope, had a quirky sense of humor, and an uncanny ability to see into the future. Even in death he was enigmatic, having disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. His last letter to Beebe stunned and left me tearful, full of wondering. Fortunately for us, and thanks to their daughter's love, Jack and Beebe Sweeney will live on forever.

I purchased this book for a friend of mine whose husband was also named Jack Sweeney. She is also his widow and the mother of his five sons. With so many similarities I couldn't resist getting this for her. After the book arrived I had time to glance through it myself and found myself reading it from cover to cover! It puts you back in time.
CL Pratt

Did you ever wish you could meet the perfect man, the kind of man who has a sense of humour, who is intelligent, who talks about his feelings, and who writes you the kind of love letters that not only make you feel gooier than a marshmallow but also restore your faith in all mankind? Well, Jack IS that man! As I read his letters, I couldn't help but fall wholeheartedly in love with him. In fact, I don't think any woman could read this and not fall in love with Jack. He's even dreamier than a year's worth of the R.E.M. stage of sleep.

Jack should have been a writer, if only he'd lived long enough. He had the gift of the gab in spades. His letters, written off the cuff, are better than the writing you find in books that writers have spent years refining and rewriting.

But most of all, Jack is a true romantic. Seriously, I think this is about the best love story I have ever read. If you have a soft spot in your heart for true romance, if you like nothing more than a love story, then all I can say is READ THIS BOOK! And the best thing about it is, Jack's not fictitious. He really lived. Knowing that there really are men like this in the world, who aren't just invented by some writer of fiction, will really gladden your heart, just as it did mine.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is definitely in my list of top ten books of all time.

The book i chose to read was "As always Jack" by Emma Sweeney". The book was reprinted not so long ago in April 2003. Written in the 1940's.
There are not many characters in the book, just Jack and Beebe and their daughter. This book is mostly written in letter form by Jack who is a 26 year old navy pilot. After about only two weeks of being together their relationship gets stronger and the eventually fall in love.

The theme of the book is a middle aged women ( daughter of Beebe and Jack) discovers her father past and relationship with her
dead mother. Its a very sad and sympathetic novel. Also it leaves you feeling curious. To me it was curious because you never find out what ever happen to Jack. After his plane being reported as missing and him being lost in the Bermuda triangle his wife assumes he is dead. But no one really knows how he died, for example if he drowned or died of hunger. There was a little bit of foreshadowing also. Such as when Jack wrote a letter saying that if he passed away during his journey to never forget who he was and that is all he wanted..To be remembered. To me this was foreshadowing because in reality he did pass away but at least Beebe new what he wanted after he had passed away.

My favorite character is Jack. He is miles away from Beebe but still keeps in touch with her by written to her continuously. He can be an inspiration or role model for middle age men, for his caring and loving even thought he won't be able to see his loved ones within months. It made me feel so sad reading those letters because he would inform to Beatrice that he has reached a different country and what he did their and who he met. But Beebe only wrote to him a few letters and to me that is not fair, because he took time to write those letters and she only replied to about 5 of them.

Their daughter never even got to meet her father or even get a chance to see what he looked like. There's was a small picture
she had but his face was so blurry in the picture she couldn't see her resemblance to him.
My favorite part of the book was when she finally found out that her father new she was going to be born and at least had a thought of her and how she would grow up to be. This brought a smile to my face because the daughter was always worried that her father didn't even know she existed or was going to exist. So now she didn't feel lost anymore she knew what her past was.
I strongly do recommend this novel because it puts you in an uncomfortable place you don't want to be in but it also lets you know how it was so many years ago and how it is not to grow up with a father and not even have a clue to who he was.

Sometimes I crave a simple, old-fashioned book. With nice people I'd like to meet. With only one plot, so I don't have to remember who's who in the cast. And with a moral that makes me feel good to be alive.

Not an easy book to find.

So I was happy to be alerted to the simple goodness of a short --- 179-page --- book of letters. The author of the book is Emma Sweeney, who is, of all things, a literary agent. The author of the letters is Jack Sweeney, the father she never knew.

The 45 letters tell of Jack's courtship of Beebe Mathewson. He is "Episcopalian, Democrat, Texan, Irish, bat right-handed, throw right-handed, detest cauliflower and sweet potatoes, and took an oath when I was five years old to devote my life to making blondes happy." Beebe is a blonde, from Coronado, California. They met shortly after the end of World War II, just 11 days before the Navy ships Jack off to Hawaii.

What we know at the beginning of the book: Beebe and Jack will marry. They will have four sons. A decade later, when Jack is a Navy pilot stationed in Bermuda, he will fly off one day and disappear. His plane will never be found. Months later, Beebe will give birth to one more child --- Emma.

It is one thing to know your father as a dim memory. It is quite another never to know him at all, to wonder what he was like, to be haunted by the possibility that he was never aware he was going to have a daughter. Emma Sweeney lived with those questions for decades. Then her mother died --- and in the back of a drawer, Emma found the letters her father wrote during their first separation.

These are letters of courtship, unlike any others collected from military men who have died. Jack starts slow and shy and carefully ironic: "I've never seen a more beautiful sight than you sitting across that table in candlelight, surrounded by filet mignons and profiteroles. Why couldn't I have met you when you were young?" (Beebe was then 23.) He is encouraged by her response: "This letter of yours was the biggest thing that's happened in my life since I left the USA." (Sadly, Beebe's letters have been lost.) He starts to let her into his life: golf, cards, reading, work, movies, silly jokes. And we, in turn, start to imagine what it's like to be on the receiving end of these letters --- you cannot help but think that this is a damn nice guy.

Within five months, he's closing hard: "I was brought up by the same kind of people you were, Beebe --- people who believe that when two people are married, they're the same as one person, and everybody else is on the outside." Well, if that isn't laying it on the line. Reading that, did your heart pound? Mine did.

The letters pile up, then stop abruptly --- for on the next page is a wedding announcement. There was no time for invitations; the wedding was held just three weeks after Jack's return from Hawaii. Because they knew. They just did. And Beebe and Jack were right; they were happy together. Right up to that moment in 1956 when he died.

Emma reads through the letters, and does some digging, and finds out one fact that her mother had never revealed to her. It will make you cry --- sudden, hot, brief tears. And you'll cry again when you read Jack's "last letter", written just a few days before his death. Which is just as it should be. A love story with a sad ending, and then a new chapter with a little girl....that's classic material.

I read such stylish, sophisticated, brilliant books. I stretch to understand them, to be worthy of them. And here is this slim volume, so simple, so tender. The point couldn't be more obvious. And yet it too is a stretch. Maybe a bigger one. Maybe a much bigger one.

When ordering this book I made note that it was available to ship immediately. When I was sent my confirming e-mail the ship date was not for 3 days after my order date. It didn't actually arrive for 2 weeks after that. Not that big of deal- except that my book club met on the day it arrived! Guess you need to REALLY plan ahead. Still haven't read it, as I'm on to the next club selection...

While I've not finished reading this treasured piece of work I know that I plan on keeping my signed copy and will buy more as gifts. I'm a 40-year-old woman who easily falls into the workaholic mode. It's refreshing to curl up with the most well-written, moving biography I've ever read.

A beautifully written novel of the pressured, wonderful life of a major Spanish/Catalan composer and his artistic era (1885-1915).

I was enchanted by the story of Enrique Granados. He was, I believe, both a tragic and an heroic character. But the tragic nature of the man is what will continue to haunt me: everything that he did to himself or that fate dealt him, the irony suffusing his relationships with the women in his life to the absent-mindedness that caused him to lose a telephone number at the worst possible time.

Milton's writing style is quite intriguing, combining as it does a pleasing pace with an obvious love for his subject, both the person and his place and time. Moreover, the scale of Milton's research, bringing life to every nook and cranny of the narrative is astounding! I found myself re-reading certain passages just to be able to nearly smell, as well as to see and hear, what was being described. I listened to the CD with fascination.

Granados' music is certainly worthy of Milton's book, and, I believe, vice versa!

-- John Martinson, Houston, Texas

"I just finished the book, as the wonderful music of Granados played in the background. I love the book. I was reluctant to finish it for a very long time, preferring to have multiple endings in my head--I did like the ending--it fit their lives together after going through so much. The book is superb--the way characters were developed and stayed true to your vision of them--the descriptions of the characters, and the way they looked in the moment added so much to the reading. And you didn't overdo it--I was never tempted to skip over descriptive passages the way I usually do. The story line was lovely and compelling--I hope some day that it is a movie. Having real artists and musicians of the time as part of the story added to the book's authenticity. You added wonderful touches of mystery which lead to the multiple endings I imagined--which one of the loves would he end up with--or someone new? I liked that the book was so romantic--I appreciated that even though Granados was somewhat of a cad, he wasn't cruel, and always managed to come off as a gentleman. Thank you for the wonderful story and music--both enriched my life."

Marie Scheer, Coon Rapids, MN, USA

I sent for this product many weeks ago and have received nothing. My email to the seller went unanswered. This is my first disappointment with using Amazon.com for book purchases; I hope it will be the last.

I took a course on /Paradise Lost/ this past semester. It's such a fruitful read. I get excited just thinking about it. If you are a huge geek like me about any of the following things, I recommend biting the bullet and reading this poem:
*the Bible, particularly Genesis
*the classics
*Philip Pullman's /His Dark Materials/ series. (Read them together! It makes the reading of each piece so much richer! I suggest this to Milton scholars as well.)
*feminist/gender studies
*any literature or popular culture that addresses the fall from grace after Milton does
*anything else you can think of to be geeky about

You could read /Paradise Lost/ through the lens of pretty much any interest, it's that dense. Of course that means it's a bit challenging, but it's worth spending time studying. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I needed this book for a graduate course on Milton in a hurry. The bookstore ran out of copies and the professor insisted on this Norton critical edition. No other would do. It was brand new at a great price (better than the bookstore) with really fast shipping. I'm really satisfied with this purchase.

It is a laborious read, but John Milton's Paradise Lost is worth it. First published in 1667, Paradise Lost remains, many contend, the greatest poem ever published in English, and Milton is deemed second only to Shakespeare among the pantheon of English writers. When reading Milton, be prepared for hundreds of references to Greek and Roman mythology that few of us (myself included) are familiar with as well as works saturated in biblical references and allusions and much obscure vocabulary. Happily, this Norton Critical Edition includes hundreds of notes--footnotes, so there is no disruptive flipping back and forth! This edition also offers dozens of critical essays on Paradise Lost, some dating back to its publication, a couple of Milton's prose works and an extensive glossary. Whether reading for pleasure or for (school) credit, this NCE of Paradise Lost is a godsend.

I ordered this text to help write a paper, and it has ended up serving as my primary text for my research. The text is at least as good as any of the other editions I have looked at, the footnotes are top-notch, and the critical articles are some of the siminal works. My only gripe is that there are no visual markers in the text for the footnotes, they are simply at the bottom of the page, signified by line number. Because of this, I sometimes don't realize that there are footnotes on a particular line, but this is a minor problem.

Milton's great epic poem was written "to justify the ways of God to men", thus telling the story of Lucifer's expulsion from Heaven and Adam's subsequent banishment from Eden. The classic representations of idyllic Eden, fiery Hell, and glorious Heaven are as rich now as when they were first created in 1667.

Paradise Lost is a very complicated, yet rewarding, Epic poem. It is by far the best of its kind in the English language, and where it lacks in original conventions, it more than makes up for it in its pure power of poetry. For those readers of translations who are unable to enjoy Homer's Greek, Virgil's Latin or Dante's Italian, Paradise Lost can offer them a unique chance to enjoy an epic poem in its original vernacular.

However, you must bear in mind that Paradise Lost is one of the most difficult pieces of poetry to read, and is by no means as simple as reading a translation of Homer or Virgil. The language is lexically dense, with complex grammar structures at times. These hurdles will be found considerably easier for experienced readers of Shakespeare, and those who are already aware of common traits of epic poetry.

Milton's use of language is majestic, boasting an impressive metre. The poem is lavished with many famous quotes that have become ingrained into everyday English, with such examples as "Pandemonium" and "All hell broke loose". Paradise Lost is, without a doubt, a must read for any intellectual English reader.

Like all epic poetry Milton's piece of art is highly indebted to Homer's conventions, with typical imitations of the Iliad's list of warriors and the Odyssey's garden of Alcinous. But Milton's debt to the Classics manifests itself as a representation of learned study, (with links to such writers as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Plato, Shakespeare and Spenser), therefore it does not so much as pilfer from great literature, as it instead endeavours to become a part of it.

Paradise Lost offers the epic reader a new form of subject, not just the usual heroes and large battles, but a theme which captivates the reader - the devils fall and man's respectively. The rebel Angels' descent from heaven to hell and Adam's from Eden to a desolate "outside" world, captivate the reader with an intriguing theme: the loss of innocence and the fall into experience. Why must Man sin? What is his relationship to Satan's loss of grace? And where does God's image of himself measure with his own maker? Milton's poem may lack the great Achilles and the gleaming towers of Troy, but it does offer much intellectual food for thought.

This Penguin edition is a rare find of value for money, it is not particlularly inexpensive, but come on ... please bear in mind the tiny price tag on this book - for less than half the price of a DVD you can own the English language's greatest poetic feat!

It is the Miltonic Satan that really comes to the forefront of this poem. The cunning fallen angel, who decides that "All good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my Good" (IV.109-10), is as appealing to the reader as Marlowe's "Nun-poisoning" Barabas the Jew. It is with some guilt that this present commentator must own to rooting for this most infamous baddy throughout the poem. With a display of wit almost as sharp as Ovid or Nonnos, Milton indisputably gives his best lines to God's antagonist. This Devil is not just a superficial evil being, but instead a complex character; one that feels remorse for his fall, love for his close friends, and a harrowing jealousy of Man. What we are given by Milton's villain is not just a rewarding psychological study of Christianity's Devil, but also a commentary upon our own ignoble actions.

Paradise Lost is extremely esoteric, requiring one with an affluent knowledge of vocabulary and an ability to recognize allusions made to the Bible.

In 1667, blind, thought to be at the end of his life, Milton composed one of the greatest epics in the English language. Much debated, much imitated, there no epics yet written that have equaled Paradise Lost. Milton wrote in blank verse (poetry without rhyme)that continues to amaze readers with his grasp of what the English language could do; only Shakespeare had a keener grasp.

Divided in to twelve books, Paradise Lost starts off showing us a vision of hell quite different of Dante's in that Hell is described not so much a place but an environment one's self creates.("The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.)Throughout the first four books we see the fall, Heaven, Hell, all through Satan's perspective. The last eight books are centered on the parents of mankind Adam and Eve. Reader may find their own intentions and philosophies on life brought to the surface in reading this book; look to finding which side one sympathizes with: Heaven, Hell, or Adam and Eve? Milton shows his genius in getting each side's thought processes to the forefront. I remember in book X relating with Adam and Eve in their debate following the fall.

Readers may find the language difficult, but if they have prepared themselves by reading a little of Shakespeare and a little of John Donne, it will be considerably easier. Don't allow the language to daunt you, it's worth it!

As to which edition to buy, you have two options: if you're poor, (like me) you'll probably want to go with the Penguin edition; it has good notes, and the introduction is okay. If you have a bit more cash on you go with the Norton Critical Edition edited by Scott Elledge; it has excellent notes, and includes a wide body of analysis on Milton by many different authors.

It's been a long time since I have come across a book that speaks to me so deeply. I will probably read this several more times. I recommend this to all readers that have the courage to plunge headlong into seventeenth century prose.

It is impossible to rate a classic like this. This epic poem about the Garden of Eden spans everything from the Creation of the world to the war in Heaven to Satan's fall into Hell, and also touches on the entire history of Israel. The poem is absolutely beautiful, and Adam and Eve are presented in such a way as to seem truly innocent before the fall and prone to sin after the fall (though they are also much wiser). Everything, from Satan's temptation to Adam and Eve being consumed by lust immediately after eating the fruit, is portrayed in a very remarkable and real way.

This work is supremely enlightening, especially for Christian readers. Milton retains a touch of Classical mythology, yet integrates it in such a way as to fit into the Christian story. With this poem, Milton successfully equated himself with such masters of the epic as Homer and Virgil (which was his aim, as declared in book one). I cannot praise this epic or its sublime effect enough , so I will content myself by saying that this is one poem that everyone should read, for both its scholarly and its religious value.

"The Mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n" (book 1, 254-255)

Milton himself accurately assessed his likely readership as being 'few'. No wonder. I haven't verified this, but I believe Dr Johnson's comment on reading Paradise Lost was something like 'This is not even English'. I do recall T S Eliot's two famous onslaughts on him for much the same reason, and Eliot's description of the Miltonic idiom as 'a lingo of his own based on English', which I would call exactly right, only I don't see that as a criticism. To me Milton is a drug. I love sound, I love language and I know Latin poetry (Greek as well, but that is more important for the mythology than the poetry). I also know my bible pretty well, as atheists often do. For me, Paradise Lost is about two things -- first to justify the ways of God to men, and second that incredible lingo. I'm not sure how anyone who does not have a good knowledge of Latin, its poetry in particular, can really appreciate Milton's idiom. Eliot makes a song and dance over certain of its features, one I remember from Samson being about the moon

'Hid in her vacant interlunar cave', about which Eliot acutely observes that the word 'interlunar' is not necessary to the sense. Sure it's not. Offhand from Paradise Lost I could quote

'Of light the greater part by far he took
Transplanted from her cloudy shrine', where you can say the same about 'transplanted', and there are hundreds of such instances. This is a very characteristic way that Latin poetry in general expressed itself, and Eliot has got the wrong end of the stick by not understanding that. Much of Milton's vocabulary is also half-Latin, e.g. 'complicated' meaning knotted and countless other such. I can never unknow my Latin, thank God, and so I can never be sure just what Milton' poetry, as opposed to his theology, conveys to those who read him without it.

When I had Milton forced down my throat, my unhearing ears (maybe even my 'blind mouth') at school (I did not pursue English further but went for Greek and Latin), the orthodox view appeared to be that Satan was some great piece of 'characterisation'. To this day that interpretation means nothing to me. Milton is all about sound and language, not characters. God, Satan (Ariel does not get anything to say), Adam, Eve, Ithuriel and the whole mighty harlequinade are all just talking the great Miltonic talk, like the author himself between the speeches. The thought creates the tone of the talk, and the tone creates the characters. In the early books Satan is the focus, in the later Adam and Eve. They sound different because they think differently. This is not drama or anything resembling drama.

Milton justifies the ways of God to me very well. I was brought up religious and I am at home with theological argument. Milton's argument is strong given his base position as an intense believer, and it is what underpins the terrific strength and the unremitting concentration of his whole apocalyptic vision. To me God is just a hypothesis and that is as far as I can go with him, and to me poetry is far more significant than theology. I have read a load of pretentious hot air about what poetry is, but the remark that illuminated the issue to me more than all the rest of it was by Housman in an address on Swinburne, when he said 'poetry is a tone of voice, a way of saying things'. Bingo. Spot on. Paradise Lost to me is all one mighty voice talking 'in divers tones' as Tennyson has it.

On a lighter note, did you know that the word 'backside' is used in Paradise Lost? You will find it at III/494 as part of his attack on Catholicism. This is a particularly memorable passage, and I say that not as an atheist but as someone who appreciates humour. My memory of Milton outside of Paradise Lost is lengthening, though I plan to refresh it, but at the moment it is the only instance of anything that could even possibly be seen as humour in Milton. I choose to forget everything I have seen described as 'humour' in Comus.

This book is a very informative book. It breaks things down for the average person to understand, but still gives plenty of statistics and facts to make it relevant to anyone.
I challenge anyone to read this book with an open mind and still believe in national health care.

I learn that Ideal Health Care might be more effective than Univerisal Health Care. In addition, Manage Care & Single Payer Care have too many pit falls.

I spent a few months reading various writings on health care systems and trying to clean up the trash heap that is all Wikipedia articles on the topic. I thought I had a good grip on what was going on around the world. I was wrong.

Lives at Risk presents a crystal clear picture of the health care industry in the US, UK, and Canada. It exposes the economic and political factors that have caused decreasing performance and increasing costs in all three countries. Finally, Lives at Risk makes a recommendation for a way to do things better.

This book lays it all out in short, easy chapters supported by copious references for those who want to know more.

this is very interesting book providing a huge amount of useful data about different health systems in the world, although the presentation is scattered, irregular and according to the Authors` design, more than to a planned and rational description. Their interpretation of the data provided is not always acceptable. They use the old tactic of attributing something false to the enemy to attack it. They create a "myth" about national health sysems whcih nobody ever stated or believed and they used it to show the weakness of NHS. After completing the book I was even more convinced of the benefit of health systems such as those existing in Europe and in canada compared to the US. Their critique by the Authors might indeed be useful in spotting their limitations ( obody says they are perfect) and correcting them

Goodman and associates provide a valuable alternative look inside the single-payer, national, universal access health systems of Europe and Canada. This book is long overdue.

I teach a college class in comparative health systems that contrasts the U.S. health system with those of other nations and I use this book as an alternative text. I warn students that it is a polemic; Goodman is on a mission. But since the great mass of academic texts are written by professors in love with Europe and in contempt of the U.S. failure to insure 43 million citizens, this book is a welcome splash of cold water in the face.

The problem is that neither Europe nor the U.S. have solved moral hazard. As long as government, or our tax-subsidized employer, is pre-paying our healthcare, and we can leave your wallet at home and demand all the tests and treatments we are allowed, we are in trouble. It is a big Las Vegas buffet and we are all high-rollers pigging out and over-eating because the tab is on the house.

The result will be disaster in Europe as the aging population increases its demands on a limited supply of younger workers. The disaster in the U.S., with Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid already on track to consume the entire federal budget, is well publicized.

Goodman solution is a revamped Health Savings Account (HSAs) that make each of us responsible.

Whether agree that HSAs are the answer, or prefer some other approach, read this book. Racing to establish universal entitlement is a recipe for univeral disaster.