John Milton Books

As I look over the reviews of the classic works of literature, I am appalled by how often I see the word boring being used. I guess it's because great books don't come with big screens, speakers and a joy stick. Welcome to the Millenium

This is arguably the single best work ever written in the English language -- or in any language. Milton sets out to 'justify the ways of God to man' - could there be a bigger task? And comes darn close. The story of God and Satan, Adam and Eve, Paradise Lost is the epic of mankind. Written in blank verse, it is thick and a bit tough to get through at first -- but as with all things, perseverance pays off and soon you'll be loving the verse.

Don't just read it once, though. This is one of those books that is better studied than read -- and there are lots of things you'll get the second, third, fourth time through that you won't the first.

Everyone should read this. That'd be a step toward Utopia.

And yes, I am Generation X.

this book was amazing. once i opened the front cover, i couldn't close it. i read the entire book in two days.

the scenery was incredible, and it contained the battles to match

I was confused by other people's reviews on this book and I'm sure other people have been as well. This is NOT John Milton's epic, but actually a collection of historical criticisms on this work. I ordered this book by accident, basing my decision on other people's comments, but luckily I was glad about what I found. So if you want a perspective of famous views on Paradise Lost, buy this book. But if you want to buy John Milton's classic (which I would recommend as well), buy another book.

Unreadable. This endless poem is so stuck in the "old time religion" that it is totally irrelvant to modern readers.

I loved this poem....I tell you I was rooting for Satan all the way...

its long and boring. i would never reccomend this book. it has no eloquence or anything, just words. anyone could've written that book. its impossible to understand. what type of book would make it self so hard to understand, so slow to read. thats not a good book, in my opinion. i digress.

To be honest, I have never a big fan of poetry, but John Milton's epic changed that. I only decided to read this book after religion(and anti-religion) discussions started to heat up in my school. When I read Paradise Lost, I quickly stopped thinking of it as a poem, but as an epic of astronomical proportions that identifies many truths about humanity. The reading can be rather difficult at times, but with Alastair Fowler's wonderful annotations, it is possible for readers of any level to comprehend and enjoy Paradise Lost.

Milton's sympathetic view of Lucifer in his rebellion against heaven is very insightful and compelling. I loved this poem, but I would only recommend it to readers of a slightly older age, as you have to be able to understand his blank verse writing to fully enjoy this epic.

_Paradise Lost_ will of course continue to be reproduced, but the content will essentially remain the same. The question is which of the countless number of editions to purchase. Fowler's editing and copious yet useful annotations are first rate for any single edition of PL. Though most publishers treat epic poetry as though it were pulp-fiction, Longman dignifies this volume in binding better than most hardcovers, for they have sewn its acid-free leaves in signatures. It is simply beautiful, and it is simply the best edition if one wants to study Milton's epic carefully.

many would argue this is correct, many prove themselves ignorant while trying to prove otherwise. this is a work of the ages; it contains an understanding that surpasses "eloquence". its subtle vision could only have come to a mind like Milton's, whose lack of physical vision helped him gain a keen insight into the mysteries of man. though there are many who will never understand this monumental masterpiece, Milton's Paradise Lost will continue to be read by intelligent inquisitors for ages to come. Fowler's annotations are lengthy and help to build Milton's image of our fall piece by piece. this is an excellent annotated version of (what i would argue is) the best work of literature ever written in any language (sorry shakespeare fans)...

I purchased this book after reading "Nathaniel's Nutmeg" by the same author. "Nutmeg" was so good that I wanted to read something else by Mr. Milton. "The Riddle And The Knight" wasn't what I thought it was going to be but it still turned out to be excellent. I thought it was going to be a pure exercise in scholarship but it is really a modern day travel book with a lot of the extensive research Mr. Milton did lightly sprinkled on at the appropriate places. Mr. Milton takes us to Constantinople, Cyprus, Syria, Jerusalem and The Sinai Peninsula in search of Sir John. He visits many monasteries and churches and talks with monks, scholars and knowledgeable laypeople. He examines carvings on columns and heraldic shields scratched on monastery walls and ceilings by crusading knights 700 years ago. He even finds a modern day Mandeville in the phonebook in the town where Sir John was from, to find out if the lady was any relation! (She thought the name sounded familiar but didn't really know anything about Sir John.) The book has a nice rhythm to it as it goes back and forth from medieval to modern times and Mr. Milton works some present day absurdities, such as the forcible division of Cyprus back in the early 1970's into a Turkish section and a Greek section, into the tale. Sadly, there is a run down quality to many of the once great towns and cities the author visited. But the book never veers too far from the two things Mr. Milton wanted to investigate: Did Sir John Mandeville really exist and did he really travel to the places he wrote about? I won't spoil the book by giving anything away but I will say I found Mr. Milton's research, explanations and conclusions convincing. This was a very interesting twist on the usual travel book and I found it well-worth reading.

John Mandeville's writing of 1370 proved pivotal in the flurry of exploration that followed in the wake of 1492. His assertion that the world was a globe (flying in the face of accepted dogma) and that it was possible to travel by sea to the Far East, was THE incentive that drove the expeditions of hundreds of explorers and merchants.
Later, the book was ridiculed as hokum, but Giles Milton felt there were enough grains of truth in the manuscript to warrant more research, which he does in his usual comprehensive manner.

The result is a very readable unravelling of the mystery, shrouded as it was by the interfering pens of earlier 'editors'. Given the extent of the tinkering, we may never know the truth behind the 'Travels', but Mr milton uncovers enough evidence to show that Mandeville almost certainly DID travel to the Levant, but casts doubt on the veracity of his claims to have travelled to the Far East. The latter is understandably not well-researched, given the ambiguity of the literary data and lack of physical evidence, so only 4 stars.

However, in South America 300 years later, Drake describes strange people with almost identical characteristics to Mandeville's 'imaginary' creatures - are we being swayed by modern interpretations of medieval descriptions? We may never know, but this uncertainty and the nuggets of truth unearthed by Mr Milton's research in the Middle-East prompted me to order a copy of the 'Travels', so I could judge for myself whether Mandeville was an early Munchausen or a true visionary.

A worthwhile read to stimulate your imagination.

Giles Milton, a professional writer/journalist, sets out to retrace the voyages of the legendary fourteenth-century writer, Sir John Mandeville. His reasons for doing so are manifold: 1) to gather material for a book; 2) a personal religious experience; 3) to rehabilitate the good name of Mandeville; and 4) frankly, to enjoy himself hugely. The first and fourth can be judged successful. The second only Milton knows. The third reason is most interesting.

Just who was Sir John Mandeville? Simply put: the alleged author of one of the most famous late-middle-age/early-renaissance books. Although the book is still in print (see the reviews of the Penguin Classic, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville), it is now relative obscure. From about 1350 to 1800 it was one of the most influential books, 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. Having seen similar arguments on whether Shakespeare really wrote Shakespeare, I started out viewing the Mandeville controversy with a jaundiced eye. Now I must admit the case against Mandeville is much stronger - stronger, but not conclusive either. This is where Giles Milton can be of help.

Giles Milton seems to have convinced himself that: 1) yes, Sir John Mandeville really did exist, 2) yes, he did write the book, 3) he may or may not have actually undertaken the voyages of the first part of the book, but certainly not those of the second part, and 4) Mandeville lied a lot, but it was for a most worthy cause. Are Milton's arguments for a real John Mandeville convincing? Only partially. His principal evidence is a barely legible inscription (an epitaph) in St. Albans Abbey. But 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 times? What are their opinions regarding its authenticity?

Milton's book is entitled, The Riddle and The Knight. The knight is Sir John, but what is the riddle? Namely this: why the second half of the book is so different from the first? The first part is more or less believable, the second utterly fantastic. Milton's proposes that the entire Travels is an allegory on religious intolerance. The second half is intended to show that creatures, appearing to us quite monstrous, can nevertheless be pious. Conclusion: we must not judge "savages" - too harshly. Hmm...maybe, just maybe.

Gems in Milton's book are some woodcuts taken from a 1481 edition of Mandeville. (Penguin should have included these.) These by themselves make getting the bookworthwhile. But in addition there is plenty of food for thought. Read the book and form your own opinions.

Giles Milton sheds light on one of the interesting , but little understood, questions of the history of exploration: why didn't people believe Marco Polo when he got back from China? The answer sadly is that people thought that John Mandeville had got there first. His book of - largely invented stories - of the East was both more exiting and more credible to its readers than Marco Polos more accurate account of his travels. Milton's book tells what is currently known of Mandeville and then describes his own attempts to follow in Mandevilles footsteps. This works up to a point - Milton is an engaging travelling companion and he turns over some interesting aspects of lands travelled by medieval pilgrims. It is likely that Mandeville did get as far east of his English home town of St Albans as Jerusalem. This part of his book is not however what interested his readers in the 14th century so much as his fantastic tales of the East. These tales of Prester John, monopods and other bizarre Asian tribes were so widely accepted that Mandeville influenced Eurpean thinking on the East, just at the time when the world was expanding for European explorers. I would have liked more on the parts Mandeville had made up - where did he get his ideas from? Having said this frauds always have a certain interest, not least for the light they show on those they deceived. Lovers of travellers tales and historical curiosities will enjoy this book.

This book was quite a bit different to the other two books of Milton's that I have read so far (the others being 'Nathaniel's Nutmeg', and 'Big Chief Elizabeth') - and I have to say it was rather unexpected. For this, his first book is really a travellers tale cum history. I think the surprise of this rather threw me at first. I didn't really expect or want to read a travel book - and yet as I continued reading I got to enjoy it, and then got thoroughly drawn into it - for really this is a historical mystery more than anything, and Milton knows how to hold us all in glorious suspense.

Milton traces the origins, sources and remaining evidence of Englishman Sir John Mandeville's book of travels written in the middle of the fourteenth century. Mandeville purports to have visited a great many places through the middle east on a pilgrimage (from Turkey, through Syria to Jerusalem). In the second part of his book he talks of the travels which took him further through India, China and into the Southern Asian Islands. This in an age when circumnavigation of the globe was thought impossible and only a few people had ventured as far as China. It was a phenomenal claim and Mandeville's book formed the basis for a great many of the later explorers travels - such as Sir Walter Raleigh.

Milton states many of the problems he had researching Mandeville's trip right from the start. One of the biggest of these is that Mandeville never described any of the routes he took, only the places he arrived at - and then great wodges of the descriptions he used for these places were cobbled together from other printed sources which he would have had access too at the time. So Milton set out to visit the places which Mandeville had been, to look for proof that he had been there - a hard task to undertake some 650 years later. Milton interseperses his description of the modern journey with tracts from Mandeville as well as other supporting evidence discovered in archives in Britain. It is all woven together into an incredibly compelling travel mystery.

Did John Mandeville really make these journeys?, Did he even really exist? And if he did where on earth did he die? Milton answers all these questions, and unlike Sir John Mandeville, Milton knows that the satisfaction of travel is in the journey - not just the destination.

You must read it if you want to know a little about the hypnosis realities. I am sure you will be surprised about what you will learn in this book

This book is a great choice. It is perhaps the best of the four volume set. Gives an excellent overview of Erickson's approach to hypnosis.

This is a excelent book for those ones that want to know some deep knowledge about hypnosis.
With this book you are not going to learn how to do hypnosis, but you will understand some of the presupositions that are known in hypnosis.

This is the best starting book for anyone who wants to delve into hypnosis. But it is often available as used book only and is the first in a 4-vol set. But soon (sometime in early 2006), there will be a 8-vol (yes, 8 books in a set) set in a single CD that also comes with audio and bonus video and at $75!

Back about this book... It tells you experiments and findings of tests conducted on hypnotized subjects and how they react to suggestions by the "hypnotizer" and also what happens when they are told to do things (while in trance) that they would not do in normal consciousness.

The sections on Trance and Suggestions are excellent; perhaps the best OVERVIEW of trance and how suggestions work.

Much of the material is suitable for a hypnotherapist to use in a pre-talk to trance induction.

This book is truly a scholarly tome for academia. It is intended for the true biblical researcher. Lay people, those taking Bible classes in church, etc, will find no practical value or use for this book in those studies. However, this is an execllent resource for the professional Bible researcher, educator, or clergy members with a background in this type and depth of study.

The Critical Edition of Q : A Synopsis Including the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mark and Thomas.

This is an exceptionally clear and easy to use book.

The section on the history of "Q" research is a splendidly clear and concise review of the work done today and would bring you up to speed very quickly.

The layout of the synopsis in 8 columns is actually a great deal easier to understand than at first glance and quickly becomes user friendly.

The Synoptic Gospels, Q and other canonical texts are paralleled in Greek with the gospel of Thomas being paralleled in Coptic. Q is translated into French, German and English with the parallels of Thomas being translated into Greek, French, German and English.

I would not hesitate to recommend this work to anyone who is studying in this field or has an interest in it.

A master work which starts off slowly and then fizzes into unexpected space. Pregnant with insight.

This newest updated version of Q is a MUST read for all!

Informative and thought provoking;for all serious thinkers..... this book clearly settles the case....once and for all.

Mike in Melbourne,Fla.

well, this book has my favorite drawings of gustave dore , but the priting quality is really bad , you better get pictures from somewhere. or may be look for another published version may be ...

Dore, known perhaps best for his woodcuts of Dante's "Divine Comedy", was not only a fantastic illustrator, but a prolific one as well, producing scores of woodcuts for great literature, including "The Holy Bible" and "Orlando Furioso". Before there were movies, a person could look at these pictures for motion, excitement, and dramatic storytelling.
This is a necessary companion to "Paradise Lost", a great work in its own right. Dore's illustrations clarifies, vivifies, and expands on the reading experience. The pictures are brilliantly reproduced here at a small cost to the consumer. The book stands alone for great artwork and is worth the minimal price.

This is with out a doubt the best of Gustave's biblically inspired works. His mastery is proven by creating a visually stunning and poetic world of a time long ago but not forgotten. It's hard to remember what I used to imagine when I thought of the Garden of Eden or the descension of the fallen angels must've been like prior to reading this work.

It is amazing how such complex woodcuts could be done! Some of these are used in books. An example is the book cover illustration of the book "Raising Hell: A Concise History of the Black Arts and Those Who Dared Practice Them" (ISBN: 0399522387).

If you like to see high standard of woodcuts, get this book.

Fish's approach to texts, including statutes and the US Constitution (he is perhaps better known for jurisprudence than for lit crit) moves the text off the page, and into the class -- the interpretive community. But this is always a tricky move, and the way Fish executes it leaves us with no glue to prevent the fissioning of "interpretive community" into factions of one, just so many obstreperous individuals with nothing more to say to each other, because each has his own (mutually contradictory) inward disposition, a self-reinforcing dogmatism in the light of which all evidence is interpreted.

This is not law nor is it literature. This is the chaos of competing autisms.

The way out of this chaos would take us through history. It would involve the realization that history is not simply a collection of texts. The execution of King Charles I was not a sentence in a book, "King Charles was beheaded today," but was a real fleshy neck on a real block, as an axe swung through its downward arc. As a literary theorist, literary critic, and legal theorist, Fish has consistently dismissed the importance of such physical extra-textual events. It is no wonder that the texts become insubstantial if the world in which they are written is rendered insubstantial, too, so all we have is a group of graduate students sitting around in our own day gabbing about their own gabbling.

The outline of Fish's acerbic standing often eclipses his critical innovations (nearly 35 years ago now) in the invention of reader-response theory in his reputation setting initial study of Milton in Surprised by Sin. Now he returns to study of Milton in this magisterial book. Fish is popularly known for inadvertently setting off the most embarrassing scandal in the science wars when Alan Sokal's hoaxing contribution to Fish's journal, Social Text was denounced by Sokal as a paradoy of postmodernist cant. Fish's own pathetic comeback dampened the brief hegemony of postmodernist political trends. Fish is also a controversial legal theorist (The Trouble with Principle) and a glib combatant in the culture wars (There's No Such Thing as Free Speech and It's a Good Thing, Too), but it is as a reader of John Milton that he first made his most enduring mark, with 1967's Surprised by Sin.In the wake of the Sokal disaster, Fish has left the demoralized English department of Duke University for the University of Illinois, Chicago where he has returned his attentions to his once-revolutionary reader-response criticism in this surprisingly jargon free study, How Milton Works. This book concentrates on the whole range of Milton's oeuvre in prose and poetry. Fish asserts that the core of Milton's significance is richly theologically, in that "there is only one choice to be or not to be allied with divinity." In various chapters Fish reworks the rich mythic structure of Paradise Lost to show how the Fall that separated Satan from Heaven parallels Adam and Eve loss Eden. So the meaning of human existence is the attempt to find restoration in the Divine image. This is perhaps ironically the single foundation of meaningful action, politics, individuality, and poetry, including Milton's own. It is obvious that not all readers of Milton will so easily agree with Fish's premises or conclusions but it is likely to quicken Milton study as his earlier study did. Also his painstaking close readings and carefully wrought arguments, enough so that perhaps many will be encouraged to return and read anew this most British of our poets. The rich architecture of Milton's epics, it abstract phrasing and taut moral reach and ambivalence that is at once immobile in its traditionalism and radical in it modernism makes Fish's readings and argument another milestone in Milton studies.

Stanley Fish takes an extremely hard line in this at-least-twenty-years-in-the-making study. Besides the terrific close readings, what's most amazing here is Fish's suggestion that Milton (as either the most or at least the second-most important writer in the English language) might actually have known what he was doing. The fact that this is today a radical stance is a comment on the bizarre orthodoxy of current critical thinking. One of the most hillarious set pieces of this book is a too-true list of "What Liberals Believe," after which Fish points out that Milton believes exactly none of these things. By the end of the book I was ready -- despite being a committed atheist -- to join the Creator's angelic hordes in a rousing chorus of "Amen!"

MYTHS & TEXTS provides a drama play of the mind temple which is posed at a point of watershed where human evolutional trends of literary, spiritual. religious, cultural, anthropological, and philosophical quests converge in word of poetry and represented in condensed forms. It also opens the access to the postmodern world of open space that we either knowingly or unknowingly are posed in. Where the vista is cosmic, mind is never lost but most expanded though inwardly. Sailing along, you'll find that not only the mountain but the Universe is your mind.

(P.S.: A thorough study and thesis was written but unpublished.)

Gary Snyder is a poet whose body of work spans his entire life. In "Myths and Texts" Snyder shows the upward slope of his evolution as a poet. His voice is distinct and drives the form of his words. His cadence is practically one with the surrounding nature of the mythologies he constantly creates and re-creates. The imagery is easy to visualize due to Snyder's connection with nature.

MYTHS & TEXTS provides a drama play of the mind temple which is posed at a point of watershed where human evolutional trends of literary, spiritual. religious, cultural, anthropological, and philosophical quests are converged and depicted in condensed forms. It also opens the access to the postmodern world of open space that we either knowingly or unknowingly are posed in. Where the vistas is cosmic, the mind is never lost but most expanded inwardly. Sailing along, you'll find that not only the mountain but the the Universe is the mind.

(P.S.: A thorough study and thesis was written but unpublished. It can be reached through contact.)

I remember when I was younger; I loved reading classic literature in comic form. It was often the impetus to get me to actually go out and find the book and read it so I could get the full benefit of all the things that were left out of the graphic version. However, I found that reading the graphic version often primed me to see the story in my head as I read based on the artist's vision. With Graphic Classics: Jack London instead of a novel you have eleven short stories each adapted and illustrated by various authors and artists. Some stories are heavily illustrated with the art work taking the weight of the storytelling others have one or two drawings to set the stage for the story.

In each case the artwork and narrative dovetail to set the scene and tell the story. The artwork differs for each story reflecting the 'feeling' of the tale -- rough, noir, light-hearted, polished, fantastical -- the art sets the stage for the story.

For myself, I liked some of the stories and others left me a bit upset with the author. That's, however, not a fault of the editor, the artists, or those who adapted the story -- it's the fault of Jack London. I've read most of his novels and as I get older I have less tolerance for his low opinion of women -- most of the time his male characters see women as a tool to be used rather than another human being. For example, "The Wit of Poportuk" is the story of a young native American girl who is raised and schooled at a convent who wishes to marry a man of her own choice. She escapes Porportuk's schemes to marry her several times -- outwitting him and running away. Although the main character is El-Soo, the story is named for Poportuk and his revenge after her last escape.

Otherwise, the stories are what you'd expect of Jack London -- adventure, comedy, observations on the human condition, and daring do. Included in this volume are "The Red One", adapted by Tom Pomplun and illustrated by Mark Nelson, about an adventurer who risks it all to find out what makes the bell-like sound that he hears coming from the interior of the land. "Jan the Unrepentant" drawn by Hunt Emerson is a comic tale of two men who are trying to hang a third for the murder of their friend -- only the friend may not actually be dead. Other stories are "To Kill A Man", "Just Meat", "The Handsome Cabin Boy", "That Spot", "War", "The Francis Spaight", "How I became a Socialist" which is really an essay but very interesting reading, "Moonface", and "A Thousand Deaths".

Overall, this is a great introduction to Jack London and his stories. While for all ages, it's a great way to get reluctant readers a taste of literature in a format they can appreciate.

Think of Jack London, and the image springs to mind of racing dog packs racing over icy Alaskan landscapes, fighting fang and fur in a primitive struggle for life. On the reading list of almost every American school system, "The Call of the Wild" is a classic of American literature.

And there it stops. Aside from "The Call of the Wild," I was totally ignorant of Jack London's works. I never knew his clever since of humor, or his ability to delve into mystery and unknown lands. He always seemed an author very much grounded in hard reality.

Graphic Classics has again taken a treasured author and produced some fantastic adaptions of his lesser-known yarns. Editor Tom Pomplun has a great eye at matching artistic style to the tone of the story that makes each collaboration a treat. He also picked a wide selection of London's stories, showing a breadth of talent that most readers were not aware of.

This collection features:

The Red One - A classic pulp adventure tale featuring head-hunters, native romance and a massive, unearthly artifact that pules with an ominous sound. This one would have been right at home in Weird Tales. Artists Mark A. Nelson keeps the art rough and realistic, just the way it should be.

Jan, the Unrepentant - A very funny little short story about a group of rascals, and frontier justice. Hunt Emerson gives it just the right comedic touch.

To Kill a Man - This one has almost a Sherlock Holmes feel to it, dealing with a thief and a woman who has to learn if she has what it takes to kill a man. Nice moody adaptation by Rod Lott.

Just Meat - The hard reality of what it means to be human, as a pair of thieves divvy up their loot. Onsmith Jeremy takes a cartoony approach that suits the tone.

The Wit of Poportuk - Now this feels like Jack London. A beautiful Indian maiden is desired by a poor man, whom she loves, and a rich man, whom she hates. Her will proves to be stronger than both of them, but there is a power that even she must bow to. Arnold Arre gives the yarn exactly the edge it needs.

The Handsome Cabin Boy - After the last hard-edge tale, this one is another comical piece, adapted from an old folk song about a cabin boy who is a girl who is a boy who is a...a good laugh at the end, with some good Victorian-style illustrations by Anne Timmons

That Spot - A dog story! Another funny piece about the toughest and laziest dog of the Yukon. Nick Miller draws a clever adaptation.

War - A text-and-pictures adaptation. Hard-edged and sorrowful, with lovely pictures by Peter Kuper.

The Francis Spaight - A true tale of the high seas, and what men are capable of when the chips are truly down. John W. Pierard gives it a taste of salty hell.

How I Became a Socialist - A personal essay on how Jack London became a socialist against his very will. Another text-and-pictures adaptation, with art by Spain Rodriguez

Moon Face - A dark and funny story about a man who is so happy that people want to kill him, because they just can't stand someone who smiles that much. Milton Knight brings his usual flair to this one, and it is just right for his talents.

A Thousand Deaths - A mad scientist tale of a man who kills his son over and over again, bringing him back to life each time all in the name of science. J. B. Bolivert's unique style is really great on this one, which is quirky and calm considering the subject matter

Samuel Johnson famously quipped that Paradise Lost is a book that the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. The same may be said for this expensive, lengthy and largely incomprehensible (to me at least) book. It purports to be about the predicament of Milton's irony, which sounds promising and motivitated me to take it on, but after a few agonizing chapters, I put it down and have not taken it up since. I think I get the general sense of what Silver's thesis is about, but it is sure imperfect. The problem is Silver's writing style which is insensitive to the reader, or at least those not steeped in academe. An example from the Introduction: "But if allegory can effectively bowdlerize the sense of a text, the presumption of irony can just as easily deracinate it, since irony argues an ambivalence or instability of meaning with something like the same metamorphic effect as allegory, and very likely the same ulterior motive-our desire not to be made uneasy by the order of truth Milton is thought to assert in Paradise Lost." This is writing worthy of the most obscure philosophers. I puzzled over this sentence and many other similar ones struggling to tease out the meaning, but with little success even with the aid of a dictionary. My English 101 prof would have circled this sentence with a red pencil and summoned me to his office. I gave the book a rating of three stars for the sense that probably lurks there (at least according to other reviews by respected scholars) as well as the benefit of the doubt that it might be writ larger than I can intellectually handle.

This reading of Milton's irony has the great virtue of not explaining "what Milton meant," which is a silly thing for a book of literary criticism to do anyway. Instead, Silver makes an argument about Milton's subtlety that is, itself, enacting its own ironies and complexities. Sets the standard for Miltonists.