John Milton Books

This compilation of the analogues to Paradise Lost, beginning with the Anglo-Saxon Genesis poem, makes a very useful tool for interpreting and understanding the tradition in which Milton was writing. I only wish it came out in paperback.

The Celestial Cycle is an indispensable resource for any serious student of Milton's Paradise Lost. After a substantial introductory survey, Kirkconnell provides translations of twenty-five 'analogues' in whole or in part, of the traditional theme of paradise lost. There is the Caedmonian Genesis, a Saxon alliterative retelling of the first three chapters of Genesis; Vida's Christiad is rendered briefly; Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata is partially given; Grotius' Adamus Exul is given complete, along with the Latin text - a treat. Grotius (who was a mere seventeen years old when he composed that work that so engrossed Milton) was perhaps Milton's primary early model for the theme; Salandra's Adamo Caduto; Vondel's Lucifer - another prime source for Milton. Part Two is a descriptive catalogue of these analogues; there are many other works. The book is not inexpensive, the font not the easiest to labor over for many hours, but well worth the price for those who, like myself, cannot get enough of Miltonic matter. These works deal with the paradise lost/fortunate Fall themes later taken up by Milton, read by him, and by him then elevated to the realm of truly divine poetry.

This volume includes most of the short poetry or one of the greatest of all English poets. Among the poems are what is considered the finest elegy in the English language ( Lycidas) the great verse - drama (Samson Agonistes) and what is without question one of the most moving poems in the English language( To his Blindness).
There are of course many editions and anthologies in which these poems are published and commented on extensively. 'Dover' provides the bare text itself as the minimum price.

Excluding the lengthy epic poems Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, this Dover Thrift edition provides nearly all of John Milton's poetry that you are likely to encounter, including the 45-page dramatic poem Samson Agonistes.

I recommend this Dover edition, but with some reservation. The price is low, the print is large and easy to read, but the footnotes are sparse. I relied on both a good dictionary for help with archaic words and on Thomas Bulfinch's "The Age of Fable" for aid in unraveling obscure poetic references to Greek and Roman mythology.

If you don't have some familiarity with Shakespeare or other 17th century poets or writers, you might consider an edition with more complete annotation. I suggest either the Oxford World's Classics "Selected Poetry" by John Milton (more extensive footnotes, but somewhat inaccessible in an appendix) or the Everyman edition, "Complete English Poems, Of Education and Aeropagitica" (footnotes at the page bottom, but the print throughout is a bit small.)

This anthology is ably introduced and annotated by Douglas Bush. The poems are put in their historical context, and in relation to Milton's overall development. The anthology contains 'Lycidas' ' Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regained.'It also contains some of Milton's great prose works.
Milton is for many the second English poet after Shakespeare. If today he seems less accessible than other giants of English poetry, primarily Chaucer and Wordsworth his work nonetheless has a majesty and depth and a musicality which at times overwhelms.

The Portable Milton has been in print more than fifty years. The collection is quite good, containing all of John Milton's major poems and most of his minor poems. Unlike some collections, the long poems Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and Comus are not abridged. The editor, Douglas Bush, has translated the few poems that Milton published in Latin. Milton's prose works include Of Education, Areopagitica, and three autobiographical essays.

In my copy (23rd printing, 1974) the font size is quite acceptable and easy to read. Reading Milton can be challenging and a major drawback to this collection is the absence of footnotes. However, the text does include a helpful 25-page glossary of less familiar words and proper names.

The 28-page introduction by Professor Bush is excellent and provides a firm historical, political, and religious foundation to the works of Milton. The discussion of Milton's evolving religious beliefs, especially as reflected in his epic Paradise Lost, was quite good.

You may want to consider alternative collections. Other choices, arranged by price, are below.

The Dover Thrift Edition, titled Selected Poems, is a bargain. Excluding the lengthy epic poems Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, this little book provides nearly all of John Milton's poetry that you are likely to encounter, including the 45-page dramatic poem Samson Agonistes. The footnotes are sparse.

I also like Selected Poetry (World's Classics, 1997) edited by Jonathan Goldberg and Stephen Orgel. This inexpensive book offers a nearly complete collection of John Milton's English poetry. The price is low, the font size is adequate, and best of all it offers extensive annotation, a real asset to most readers. The lengthy Paradise Lost has been moderately abridged.

Looking for an outstanding edition of Paradise Lost? I highly recommend the Norton Critical Edition of Paradise Lost, superbly edited by Scott Elledge. Examine the reader reviews and you will probably buy a copy.

I am not personally familiar with The Complete Poems and Major Prose of John Milton, edited by Merritt Y. Hughes, but it appears worth investigating. The reader reviews are quite favorable, but it is somewhat expensive.

Want understand what Stephen Hawking and his colleagues are talking about, but have no idea about the history of cosmology? Then this is the book you're looking for.

This collection of texts taken from writings by Plato, Copernicus, Galilei, Ptolomy, Einstein, Hubble and other theorists discus what the universe is made of, how it works and (ultimately) what our place is in the Grand Scheme of Things, offering good insight into how our knowledge of the universe has developed over the last 40 centuries from Babylonian times to the 20th Century.

As this book was originally published in 1957 and reprinted in 1965, the latest theories are not included. It is therefore not a book for mathematicians or physicists interested in learning the latest theories, but rather a book for those interested in a well-written, general introduction to the field of cosmology.

July 7, 1999 I would like to take a minute to thank Audio Scholar for putting together this audio novel which consists of 4 essays on the theories of the Universe. I thoroughly enjoyed it as did my 17 month old son who gets to listen to them to as his bedtime stories. One night he kept me up until 2am until I turned the tape back on! Normally he just gets to listen from 8 - 10pm. I would like to encourage Audio Scholar to produce more of these types of edutainment audio programs on tape or CD. In many instances I wouldn't mind seeing the programs extend to 4 tapes or CD's. I love listening to scientific books on my way to work and also love to share them with my 17 month old son as his bedtime stories. My budget for this type of audio edutainment is $1,000 a year and the more science and physics books abridged the better. I would love to see the following subjects abrigded to audio for distribution through Amazon.com. Maths, sciences, physics, astrophysics, geology, any and all space related topics, gravity, unified field theory, electromagnetics, electronics, microproccessor design, optics, micro-optics, electro-optics, light and the theory there of, satellites, satellite orbital mechanics and related theory. I do not have time in my busy daily schedule to read very much, but do I have five hours a day to listen and learn. If you make it I will support it. Arnold D Veness

When I first picked this book up, it was just because I liked John Lott. I did not realize that, in a way, it is is a response to Freakanomics. Freedomnomics is great! Lott makes some great points and has the data to back it up. It's not hard to read either. I finished it in a few days, and I'm normally a fairly slow reader.

I'm all for countering claptrap like "Freakonomics" and I'm sure it's of value that economists take on arcane social issues with arcane data from arcane studies, but one grows weary of seeing the world through the lens of economics, which after all does not, despite the beliefs of some economists, encompass all of life. This book, like so many of its genre, makes the eyes glaze over, as it hammers on the obvious. In contrast to Freakonomics, this book doesn't attempt to impress with cleverness, which is a virtue, but since when does economics become the science of how policemen are selected and assigned to beats? Please go back to monetary and fiscal policy and the virtues of free trade. No one who is not an economist is going to think like an economist or arrive at a framework of action that satisfies an economist. This fact is what gives rise to books like this one in which, despite claims to objectivity, the ideology of the author precedes any analytical approach.

Factual evidence and complete rational analysis is a welcome change to the liberal agenda of main stream media.

Great read. Lott is the most thought producing and readable economist on the scene today. He goes places that other writers avoid.

One thing I like about Prof. Lott is that he does not try and be funny. I've read other books by economists and they try to be cute or witty or funny, but jokes usually fall flat.
Prof. Lott sticks to the facts and draws conclusions, and I appreciate that.

By making the embodiment of evil heroic Paradise Lost undermines our concept of the heroic. The poem does not represent evil as heroic. It represents the traditional virtues of the heroic as evil. Pullman has misread this completely and has framed the poem within this misreading.... "better to reign in hell than serve in heaven" is a fine line, noble, staunch, heroic, but it is also a lie as to the minions who hear it it collapses into "better to serve in hell than serve in heaven," which is facile.

Pullman's trilogy is very well written, but is, in part, a fleshed out misreading of Paradise Lost. That is fine, and I enjoyed reading it. But it is irritating when Pullman presents Milton as some kind of ally in this misreading, which Pullman does with this edition of Paradise Lost, and which Milton is not.

This is an excellent edition of "Paradise Lost" to own. The binding and dustjacket are nice, a red ribbon bookmark makes reading it handy, there are gorgeous illustrations before each chapter, as well as introductions by Philip Pullman before each chapter. To understand Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, it is essential to understand "Paradise Lost." Of course, Pullman has his own unique views on Milton's masterpiece, and not everyone will agree with them, but they are interesting to read in any case. Anyway, this is an essential read for anyone who wants a grasp of modern English literature.

No one but no one could resist the charm and beauty of Milton's Paradise Lost and Philip Pullman, best known for "His Dark Materials Trilogy" makes us fall in love with it all over again with his delightful introductions.

This appealing hardcover version in red and black throughout with illustrations of the twelve engravings from the first illustrated edition published in 1688, plus a red ribbon marker is beautifully produced. It also boasts Philip Pullman's delightful and illuminating general introduction and an introduction on each of the twelve books of the poem.

This has to be one of the very best on the market which is an absolute delight to own even if you have hundreds of other versions. The twelve great books of poem of the biblical epic is a must for all classics lovers and Milton's Satan/Lucifer is still the most irresistible and charismatic Devil ever.

Paradise Lost is John Milton's epic poem about the fall of Lucifer and Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden. The audacity of Milton opening the poem with declareing that he's going to pursue things unattempted in prose or rhyme and to justify the ways of God to men is enough to get people reading to ifinity. The succsesfull attempt to tell the orgin of Hell and the story of Adam and Eve outside of the bible is a daring mission Milton puts himself through but comes out joyusly triumphant. This poem is such a significant moment in literature that it has become mentioned in various History Channel documentaries and has been put in many prestige formats.
If you see this book on this website, BUY IT IMEDEATLY!

Of course Milton's poem greatness one of greatest ten classics of English Literature. This edition is wonderfully easy to read with good paper, margins, typeface. This is not collectors quality but it will serve to be my libraries copy of Paradise Lost.
Loved the essay by Pullman.

This book was awesome! So much adventure and neat information. I liked how Giles Milton included his travels in following Sir John's book to find things -- it was like being on a scavenger hunt from the past. The only thing that would have made this a better book would have been some color pictures of the churches visited! It was a slight disappointment that the Mandeville book was not real...but a fun to follow!

A fairly irritating book about an important subject, this book is loaded with a collection of traveling non-sequiturs that are collated and vaguely related to findings of the author as he makes the same trip that Sir John Mandeville made starting in 1322. Mandeville wrote a book after his 34-year journey called The Travels that influenced many important people after him. For example, Christopher Columbus, influenced by Mandeville's book, proposed his voyage to the new world to Queen Isabella of Spain and was turned down. Months later, after Isabella had read Mandeville's book she was approached again by Columbus and she changed her mind, funding his history making voyage to the new world. Mandeville's book was used by many others as a reference for hundreds of years until somewhere in the 1800's when he and his book were discredited and Mandeville generally became known as a fraud, never having actually traveled to the places he claimed to have visited. In The Riddle and the Knight, Milton's trip to all the same places starts off with the promise of getting to the bottom of a very old debate, "Did Mandeville actually take the trip he claimed he took? By actually making the same trip today, what could be found to either prove or disprove Mandeville once and for all?" That's a great idea but the writer got bogged down including almost everything that happened to him on his 20th century journey whether it added to proving Mandeville's journey or not. On page 189, Milton is staying in a monastery in Egypt and two U.N. peacekeepers stumble upon the ancient institution. One of them is an American who is remarkably like Gomer Pyle. Halfway through this jewel, I paused and thought, "This episode will have no bearing whatsoever on what Milton is doing with his story." True enough, it didn't. It was simply a loud and colorful, intrusion into the quiet life of the monastery Milton was staying in. "What the heck. Let's put it in the book." Milton was fair in citing the frequent number of times that almost every ancient author would plagiarize one another and that Mandeville was not much different. Unlike the book's title, The Riddle and the Knight, any references to a riddle somewhere in the book were sparse, casual, and hugely unfulfilled. The author also missed the opportunity to properly observe that all early discoverers and travelers were at some point liars who all knew that keeping the attention of those who listened would sometimes require mention of the strange men foreign lands who have no heads, or really giant women from another distant land or strange elixirs that have remarkable healing powers. It's all part of giving the audience what they want or need to hear, from P.T. Barnum to Ripley's Believe It Or Not to the nightly news.

A fascinating read! The satisfaction comes not in finally putting to rest the historical debate whether Sir John Mandeville ever made his epic pilgrimmage but rather in going along with Milton as he makes his journey. Settle into your favorite armchair and take off on a most engaging travel narrative. Along the way you will decide for yourself the truth about Sir John's narrative, which is exactly the way all such quests should be pursued.

This book wears two faces: 1) a travel book, and 2) an attempt at some serious historical research. The author, Giles Milton, a professional writer/journalist, sets out to retrace the path of the legendary fourteenth-century traveler and writer, Sir John Mandeville. Milton's ostensible goal is to rehabilitate Mandeville's controversial reputation.

Sir John Mandeville was the alleged author of one of the most famous early-renaissance books. From about 1350 to 1800, his "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" was incredibly popular and influential, rivaling the Bible and Euclid's Elements. Then, about 1800, scholars began to question whether "Mandeville wrote Mandeville" -- or indeed whether there ever was such a man. His book is still in print (see Penguin Classic, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville), and is even making something of a comeback,

Mr. Milton is a good writer, and as a travel book his work is quite entertaining. Minimally, it gives us a chance to compare the Middle-East-now with what it was in Mandeville's time. For those who like travel books, that might be enough to make the book worthwhile. Some woodcuts taken from a 1481 edition of Mandeville are real gems. (Penguin should have included these.)

But as serious historical research I have problems with the book. Mr. Milton tries to convince us that Sir John Mandeville really did exist. The historical evidence he presents is weak, at best, and consists chiefly of a barely legible epitaph in St. Albans Abbey. But even here some rigorous scholarship is missing. (What is the earliest mention of this epitaph? To whom is it attributed? Have other scholars noted the inscription, and at what dates? What are their opinions regarding its authenticity?)

My overall impression is that Mr. Milton was not able to gather the evidence he was hoping for, and so had to temporize. I was particularly disappointed that the second edition does not address any of these weaknesses.

What a disappointment . After reading one of Milton's other books I was excited to get this for Xmas. The book is a soft introduction to some of the history of both the Middle Ages, the Middle East, but thats it . I felt that the author had stumbled onto a possible winner but in the end it didnt pan out but had to publish a book to justify his travels ( and perhaps his advance ). Best I can say about the book is the bibliography. This alone was worth one star , otherwise I would have only given a rating of one star. Not a recommended buy

It's fine, to a point, to modernize spellings of certain words, provided it doesn't alter the pronunciation (changing "Sion" to "Zion" is a no-no). However, the editors of this volume have also chosen to modernize punctuation to the point that it screws up the rhythm. For example, the contraction "th'Aonian mount" that appears in the opening of Paradise Lost becomese "the Aonian", as if modern readers wouldn't be able to figure it out on their own. This kind of meddling adds extra syllables to lines, screwing up Milton's metre and also insulting the intelligence of readers. If you want a really fine edition, shell out some extra cash for the Hughes volume.

Milton's greatness is evident not only in his greatest work 'Paradise Lost' but also in 'Samson Agonistes' and the finest elegy in the language , " Lycidas".It is present in his sonnets and shorter pieces also , and " On His Blindness" is one of the great poems of world - literature.
Milton is a poet of the ear, and there is a powerful music in his verse. His tremendous learning may complicate his poetry for the modern reader, but there are depths in his lines for those who truly probe them.

This everyman's edition does not seem to the edition rated below by others because this has footnotes and not endnotes./ In addition to a wondeful introduction it also contains Aereopagetica and on education which i did not expect from the title. I was pleasanly surpiused by this organzation of the book. Thise works give a good overview of the works, =. Please excuse typos i have a neurologic disease.

I don't like the endnotes vs. footnotes which are very hard to access and deal with, and I don't like the way the apostrophes are taken out and the words are 'modernized' as it breaks up the flows and rhythms of the works.

The anonymous review from "reader from the UK" has a slight whiff about it, I can't help but think - does the reviewer work at the publishers? I wouldn't quite go as far as he/she has in my praise. This is a good version, if not exactly the best. The poetry of course is unchallengeable - it's what's been done with the poetry that is important. The text is clear and easy to read; the notes are put at the back of the book, which is always a mixed blessing, but is probably the only practical option with a decently-annotated Milton. This version is cheaper than the definitive Fowler and Carey versions, and probably better for the non-specialist reader. The notes are good enough, but I would like more narrative guidance (in Paradise Lost particularly); occasionally some of his notes feel incomplete or unclear, and sometimes he leaves things out which I myself would have liked him to have mentioned or which I've seen mentioned (or reinterpreted) by someone else. I would also prefer a longer and more detailed introduction. But mostly the version is good, and is probably the first stop for most readers wanting to get to grips with Milton. My advice is only to go on from here, to other sources to give you a more detailed background.

This book came recommended by my sister, who is a Presbyterian minister. I was looking for a way to include scripture in our daily lives but felt that the traditional devotional books were too structured for DD yet. I have found that reading these stories brings the Bible to life for her and I'm learning a great deal too. I would recommend this for any families and even those without children for learning the scripture and Bible stories in a way that make them interesting and memorable.

I originally bought this Bible beacuse the reviews said it had wonderful pictures and included stories that other bibles left out (such as women in the old testament.) I thought the pictures were really wonderful, but was very disappointed with most of the interpretation of the stories. There is much liberty taken with the stories and I find it to be more creative writing than accurate re-telling of the bible stories. For example, why is it important to include in the story of Jesus' birth "It hurt when the baby came out of Mary, and she cried. Joseph cried, too."

While this Bible story book retells many common and uncommon Bible storeis, there are three major drawbacks. First, the author takes liberty to add to and enhance many of the stories (while he admits to this on the appropriate pages, it is hard for children to understand the difference of story and truth). Additionally, the author mentions the word "sex" twice - once in the story of Hagar and once in the story of David & Bathsheba. Further, the author summarizes the book of Song of Songs, which while it is biblical, is not appropriate for children. These factors make this NOT a "family" story Bible. We do not recommend this story Bible for your family.

This is a charming version of the Bible for the family to read together--adults reading to kiddies too young to be able to read, for instance. It is the best version that I've seen for small children who have to be read to, and has good illustrations. Our 14 months old will sit down and "read" it aloud, looking over the pictures, for her own benefit. She favors the scenes with animals. I liked it because it tries to cover Old and New Testaments both and seems to touch on all the books of the Bible in a simplified way.

This is an excellent Bible particulary for folks of the Reformed/Presbyterian Tradition. The stories are told using real images and language -- it's not sugar-coated nor is the theology compromised by using a slightly elementary vocabulary. The illustrations are vivid and hold attention -- all in all, it's an excellent family Bible!

I recently became interested in TR. This book brought forth the life stories of two political giants and made sense of their lives together. Though they lived a great portion of their lives in different realms, ultimately the focus of this book, presidential politics, and esspecially foreign policy, bright the two adversaries together. Cooper does a great job demonstraiting their importance to the "American presidency," and esspecially the shaping of twentieth century foreign policy.

"John Milton Cooper...blends these contrasting and kindred elements into a masterful portrait of two of our most intriguing presidents," David Kennedy in the New York Times Book Review, November 20 1983. TR and Wilson are often considered to be the same, especially in the in the domestic realm. The New Freedom was simply an extension of New Nationalism. But Cooper espouses the differences through analysis of both important domestic debates and the politics of war and internationalism. For anyone interested in studying Roosevelt, Wilson, and the Progressive era this book is an important read.

This is a poor book. Indeed, it is often a bad book. Cooper's idea of a biography comparing Roosevelt and Wilson is a conceit that does not come off. This biography has all the genre's vices. Complex movements like Progressivism are clumsily personalized. Although Cooper is mildly critical of his heroes (particularly their criticisms of each other) he ignores their worst aspects. On Wilson and race: "Wilson belived that blacks were not innately inferior to whites and would eventually, probably in two or three centuries, achieve a measure of economic and political, if not social, equality." (210) I challenge anyone to read Wilson's papers and come up with so emollient a verdict. On Roosevelt's artistic appreciation: "...Roosevelt based his cultural views upon wide cultivation and genuine reflection." (87) Now considering that Roosevelt considered Duchamp trash, viewed the Kreutzer Sonata as obscene and sniffed that James, Dickens, Gorky and Zola were not gentlemen, I beg to differ.

Admirers of Roosevelt's foreign policy will not be burdened by any mention of atrocities in the conquest of the Philippines. In fine bipartisan tradition the faked elections in Nicaragua and the massacres in Haiti under Wilson's rule are not mentioned either. Be it Wilson's refusal to pardon Eugene Debs or the dark genocidal streams in Roosevelt's racism, the conservative, reactionary or just downright rotten opinions (on unions, immigration, Mexico, anti-hyphenation) are either ignored or equivocated to death in Cooper's account. Considering America's size, wealth and security, its rise as a world power was almost inevitable after 1865. As such a strictly biographical approach reveals very little. Both presidents were skilled administrators, and especially skilled in belittling liberal causes when they weren't popular, taking credit for them when they were, and trimming one's sails with the conservative tide. As a result they are bestowed the honor and glory that belongs to better and braver men. But one remembers that American history would not be too different if they had never lived and one also remembers not to put one's faith in princes.

This is a great work of scholarship dealing with two of the most important figures of the early 20th century. Cooper is able to bring out the differences in the approaches that both men had in setting the US political agenda in the early 20th century. Cooper is always a great treat to read. I must say that the title is somewhat interesting. When looking at Roosevelt or Wilson who is in fact the warrior and who the priest?

When I picked this up, I thought: hey, why not two bios for the effort of one? Why not indeed: you can't delve deeply enough into these two substantial and complex lives in this context. THere is some useful comparisons made of their careers, but it is way way too ambitious. While you do get many of the factual basics, which were indeed interesting, neither of these past Presidents comes alive.

REcommended only for the facts. Look for flavor and pyschological depth elsewhere.