Saint The Books

I could not put this book down. Having family that fought on both sides in Southeast Missouri during the Civil War this book gave insights to the thinking on both sides.

Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand: The Renowned Missouri Bushwhacker, deftly edited by journalist and historian Kirby Ross offers an insightful look into the conflicted life of the Civil War guerrilla fighter Samuel S. Hidebrand. As an informative and ably researched interpretation and competently editing of the original memoir, Kirby Ross variably adds key bits of information relevant to our understanding of a Civil War soldier's intricate life. The Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand is highly recommended reading for scholars, historians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Civil War Studies.

A reprint of the original 1870 Autobiography, it has been reproduced in various formats the last couple decades. Ross has however, for the first time, edited the work that was written for Sam Hildebrand by boyhood friends, James W. Evans and A. Wendell Keith. For the most part, the 172 pages of text is as it was originally compiled. This is followed by endnotes of 90 pages with a bibliography and index. The true value of the book is in the endnotes.

Ross has skillfully researched and compared Hildebrand's claimed exploits with actual military data to prove statements in the Autobigraphy. He has used many obscure sources and obviously contributed much thought into proving the bushwhacker's tales written five years after the War. Hildebrand was not shy in his statements regarding the men he killed and why they met such a fate. Credit is due the author for his research into Missouri's Enrolled Militia units, Hildebrand's most frequent foe, as most writers do not have the tenacity to tackle this very difficult research.

A less researched area is the genealogy aspects of the story. Unfortunately, Hildebrand was not more candid about his family history while it has always held an interest to the genealogist
and casual reader who may claim a kinship to him. The author could have explored Hildebrand and others' genealogy without too much trouble. Some errors exist in not thoroughly scouring local probate, census and land records. Another drawback is the criticism of others' research, which may be valid but takes away from the main theme of the book---that is editing Hildebrand's version of his Civil War.

In conclusion, a very desirable book for the history on Southeast Missouri during the Civil War.

Although figures such as William C. Quantrill and Bill Anderson are better known today, Sam Hildebrand was an equally notorious Missouri bushwhacker in the southeast region of the state. Operating with a small group of followers (and often by himself), Hildebrand and his rifle "Kill-Devil" were a terror to local Unionist civilians, Vigilance Committee members, and pro-Union Missouri militiamen. Interesingly, some of his ops seem more akin to a Marine scout sniper (albeit alone rather than with a spotter) than a CW bushwhacker. He often scouted alone far from friendly refuge, lying in the woods for days seeking an opportunity to bag his quarry. Hildebrand managed to survive the war only to be killed attempting to escape from court officers holding him on assault charges.

Most 'authors' of edited memoirs simply add background information or short chapters intended to place the memoir in its proper historical context. Here, Kirby Ross has gone far beyond this and has created a book that should be a model for others to follow. It is really two books in one--the memoir and the notes. What makes this new edition important to the study of the Civil War in SE Missouri are the exhaustive notes researched and compiled by Ross. In his notes (which comprise nearly half the book) he takes the claims made by Hildebrand in his book and examines their validity using evidence from all available viewpoints. It is not unusual to see the author spend several pages on a single citation, providing extensive background context and excerpting articles, military reports, and letters from all sides that either support or contradict Hildebrand's story.

It is an impressive effort and is an exceptional addition to the literature of the war in SE Missouri, a place that today carries the deserved reputation of being associated with a dearth of serious scholarship. Ross is certainly doing his part to reverse this unfortunate trend. Highly recommended.

I love this book. Benjamin Nathans really captures the thoughts of an average russian man. I know this because im his close friend.
thankyou and good night

You should know that having been selected a Slavic Studies award it was not going to be all plot and laughs. Though if you read it with the right mindset, some of it looks like it was made-up by Myron Cohen. Probably the most interesting part of the scholarship brought up by Nathans was that once Russian Jews were allowed into law schools, they turned out to be recognized as the most expert in the law.

Anyone who has studied under a talmudic system will know that you must learn not only the law itself, but learn to read between the lines as to it's intent. Even the non-Jewish lawyers admitted that the Jewish lawyers were much more committed to their clients and their clients welfare. Many non-Jews hired Jews as apprentice lawyers because of their attention to detail.


From the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) awards committee:

Benjamin Nathans' masterful study provides a fresh look at an age old problem, the entry and integration of Jews into larger territorial, cultural and political communities. The book takes us, literally and figuratively, "beyond the pale" of Jewish life in late imperial Russia to the encounter of Jewish professionals and intellectuals with Russian civil institutions.

Through exhaustive and innovative research, from newly available archives to private family memoirs, Nathans brings to life key personalities and social interactions that redefine the Jewish presence in St. Petersburg, and in turn reshape ties to the other subjects of the empire and to Russian Jewry. Through these vibrant portraits of the Jewish-Russian encounter, the author paints a much larger canvas tracing a cultural world of understandings and misconceptions, a social existence beset by advances and setbacks, and a political discourse of emancipation and reaction.

This is a fascinating study of the Jews in Russia. The book description is accurate... it is a highly detailed and first rate work of scholarship. The only concern is that it is not casual reading-- it is an in-depth and comprehensive study that rewards the devoted reader.

Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia won the 2003 Wayne S. Vucinich book prize awarded annually by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) for the most outstanding monograph in Russian, Eurasian, or East European studies in any discipline of the humanities.

The book prize selection committee wrote the following about this volume:

Benjamin Nathans' masterful study provides a fresh look at an age old problem, the entry and integration of Jews into larger territorial, cultural and political communities. The book takes us, literally and figuratively, "beyond the pale" of Jewish life in late imperial Russia to the encounter of Jewish professionals and intellectuals with Russian civil institutions.

Through exhaustive and innovative research, from newly available archives to private family memoirs, Nathans brings to life key personalities and social interactions that redefine the Jewish presence in St. Petersburg, and in turn reshape ties to the other subjects of the empire and to Russian Jewry. Through these vibrant portraits of the Jewish-Russian encounter, the author paints a much larger canvas tracing a cultural world of understandings and misconceptions, a social existence beset by advances and setbacks, and a political discourse of emancipation and reaction.

This exemplary, insightful book, argued with balance and nuance and written with flair, provides an original interpretation of a central problem in Russian history and politics. More, the intellectual journey goes well beyond Russia to recast our understanding of broader, ever-present issues of identity, integration, and conflict.

For many people, the Bible is rather intimidating as a great unknown, sort of like North America before Lewis and Clark. This book gives a quick tour with enough background and details that people can have a picture of what they are dealing with, and be prepared for further study. I have given out twenty copies to friends so far, and people have been enthusiastic.

Sadly, 8 years in Catholic school didn't teach me even a fraction of what this book did about the contents of the Bible. This book explained the different sections and books in plain terms. Now I am actually inspired to read the Bible and learn what it's all about. The only additional thing I would have loved to see is why/how the different religions formed (Judaism, Catholic, Muslim, Protestants, etc). Thank You.

Written by Simon Jenkins, the founder of online community and "magazine of Christian unrest" shipoffools.com, The Bible from Scratch: Catholic Edition is a condensed, simplified run-through of what the Bible has to say in plain-terms English. Black-and-white cartoon illustrations add a visual dimension to the stories of the ancestors, saints, prophets, and historical figures related in the Bible. Covering both Old and New Testaments, The Bible from Scratch is accessible to readers of all ages, backgrounds, and faiths, even though as its title indicates, it presents a Catholic point of view. The Bible from Scratch is essentially a Cliff Notes version of the Bible with a small dose of cartoon humor added for good measure, enthusiastically recommended especially for anyone brand new to Biblical studies and in need of an easy-to-grasp overview.

This book is a great overview of the Bible, full of information and humour in equal portions. The best starting out guide to the reader who wants to figure out how the various parts of the Bible fit together and fit within history.

This is a superb book dealing with women who might well be forgotten.
The author has emphasized their heroism wihtout bravado.
He has also presented their spirituality without being sacharine.
A very good read. Highly recommended especially for the macho class.

Blessed among women is the latest volume from the finest interpreter of holiness in life we have, Robert Ellsberg. He has edited the writings and written about such living icons of our time as Dorothy Day, Charles deFoucauld, Carlo Caretto, to note but a few. His award-winning volume, All Saints, gave us a porrtrait of a holy man or woman each day for a year from across the centuries and the communities of faith. It remains one of the best gifts for spiritual reading for any occasion. In The Saints' Guide to Happiness he dug deeply into the holy life: the tools of sanctity, the struggles, questions, the ways in which people have lived a godly life. I have used this with great profit in my undergradute courses. Now, Blessed Among All Women takes us into the personalities, the lives, the accomplishments of holy women all too often overlooked and ignored. Using the Beatitudes as a framework he presents to us remarkable but not always familiar women of valor such as poet and Carmelite Jessica Powers, martyr of the concentartion camps and writer Etty Hillesum, theologian and mystic Adrienne von Speyer and social activist Cornelia Connelly, among dozens more martyrs, prophets, teachers, and reformers. This is but one more gift to our spiritual lives, for our spiritual reading and most of all to our imitation.
Fr. Michael Plekon, priest in the Orthodox Church in America, Professor, City University of New York, Baruch College, Sociology/Anthropology, Program in Religion & Culture

If you're like me, your childhood was saturated by mawkish tales of holier-than-life saints who were always going around suffering martyrdom with eyes piously turned heavenward. The sheer unreality of such stories inhibited me from taking saints seriously until Robert Ellsberg's 1997 book _All Saints_ awakened me to the fact that saints, both "official" and "unofficial," are ordinary people who manage to love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly with God in extraordinary ways. They're not other-worldly fictions. They're brothers and sisters whose examples help awaken us to our own sainthood.

In his new _Blessed Among All Women_ Ellsberg continues his exploration by offering nearly 150 new vignettes of women saints (again, "official" as well as "unofficial") who have been touched by God and whose witnesses in turn touch us. The vignettes are organized into eight sections that correspond not only to the eight Beatitudes, but also to different approaches to God: contemplative enclosure, gospel-based activism, penitence, mysticism, artistic creativity, and so on. Some of the women Ellsberg writes about are traditional figures: Clare of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena. Others are less conventional but totally deserving of our consideration: the four girls martyred in 1963 at the bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the "witches" of Salem, and Karla Faye Tucker, executed by the state of Texas in 1998.

Ellsberg's treatment of the saints in _Blessed_ is loving and insightful, with no hint of false piety or sentimentalism. Moreover, he's sensitive to the fact that the spiritual journeys of women saints are often complicated by cultural assumptions about gender, and that many were (and are) persecuted because their fierce devotion to God led them down paths that violated conventional gender norms (the Beguine saints are tragic examples of this) as well as conventional religious sensibilities.

All in all, a fantastically inspiring, thought-provoking book. Highly recommended.

Robert Ellsberg has another extraordinary book here. As with "The Saints' Guide to Happiness" and "All Saints," he has done obviously extensive research in learning of well- and not-so-well-known people who have heard how God was prompting them to a mission. This time, the spotlighted people are women who discerned that prompting and the book tells how they moved forward with it.
Ellsberg has a marvelous gift of taking the details of rarely wonderful lives and compacting those details while also making them totally readable, fascinaing and inspiring. The women about whose lives he has written are remarkable.
No matter what your gender, if you are looking for spiritual inspiration, this book is well worth considering.

This book has reflections and prayers for any sort of loss, which is a natural part of life. I have given this book as a gift to many different people in many different life situations and stages of loss. I find it very comforting and hope they do also. From loss of job, to loss of a loved one, relationship, your own health, or your own life, it is a moving and healing book. I highly recommend it.

from Spiritual Life, Winter 1994: this book "suggests that many types of loss are really invitations into new life. Guntzelman, a nurse and psychologist, says that however puzzling 'Blessed are they who grieve' seems when we are mourning, the only way we 'will be comforted' is to say yes to the losses life presents, let go, and move on."

from Church, Winter '94, p. 45:"provides faith-based reflections using prayers, stories, exercises of the imagination and commentary. Topics include losses connected to aging, relationships, jobs or roles, death of loved ones, dreams, hope, and expectations. This book can be used by parish bereavement groups as well as by individuals."

Of the many books on grief, this is outstanding because it places grieving in the context of character growth. It is especially significant for Christians in its emphasis on grieving as a spiritual experience. It gives practical guidelines for the process of grieving. I will be using it as a main reference book for a seminar on grief.

This little book is great. It provides beautiful and simple prayer services for different ocassions. This is a must for families interested in developing a family spirituality and family traditions. I highly recommend it. I often give it, together with a blessing cup, as a wedding gift.

I really like this book. It has been a wonderful spiritual tool for my family. The way it ties scripture and prayer to different events in our lives helps us see God more fully. It is a comfortable way to pray together and to bring our cares to God as a family. I have already purchased this book to give to others.

Having grown up using prayers from this book to start and bless important meals, I now pass the book on to friends. The book, coupled with a chalice to pass following the prayer selected, makes a great wedding or other celebratory gift. There are prayer rituals for practically every significant life event you can think of. Recently my husband and I reflected on the prayer in times of natural disaster following the Katrina hurricane. It's a great family tradition to use the Blessing Cup prayers.

I am part of a large family with many of us attending different Christian churches. We have begun a tradition of offering a cup of blessing (Kiddush, from the Passover Meal) when we get together for a family event. This tradition allows to all "commune" together, uniting us in Christian love. The Blessing Cup is a perfect source of prayers for many occasions. I would recommend this tradition and the book to all families!

This is an older view of Halloween. It gives an excellent overview of Halloween and gives a splendid idea about the spooky goings on during the late 1800s and early half of the 1900s. I recommend it.

Hallowe'en aficionado number one right here. Skeleton Jack was based on me. I thought there was nothing I didn't already know about my holiday, but apparently I missed a few things from the turn of the century.

Be prepared though. This book is wonderful as a chunk of history re-printed in the glow of a new millennium, but it's also dated in some ways of thought. That the people of Better Days Books left the text intact instead of editing it is very admirable. You'll be reading history as it was written, not as it has been changed to be.

Sadly, despite being very educational and exciting, Ms. Kelley is a rather poor author. The text is brief on subjects and jumps around considerably. Still an enjoyable read, but I found myself wanting more on subjects that only received a mention.

Overall, for the very reasonable price of this paperback, you can't go wrong. If you're even the slightest bit interested in how Hallowe'en was celebrated in and around the author's time, as well as speculation on customs from long before her time, definitely purchase this book.

Tara Conrad praised this book very well in her review, so I won't rehash the reasons The Book of Hallowe'en is a great work of folklore and fun. I do want to point out, though, that her review refers to the Better Days Books edition, which is considerably cheaper and has an awesome cover. It's the same book on the inside, so save yourself a few bucks! This review will likely populate to all editions of this book by all publishers, so please note that the Better Days Books edition has "Lulu.com" listed as publisher (I don't know why) on the product page. But you'll know you're there when you see the cover - an adorable Halloween owl sitting atop an old-fashioned, round-eyed jackolantern. And a list price of $13.95!

Attention Wiccans and pagans! The Book of Hallowe'en is probably the best history of the Samhain holiday ever compiled. Ruth Edna Kelley really did her homework, and the literal centuries of folklore gathered in this book, from all over Europe and America, is a priceless source of information every person with a magickal inclination should have in their library.

I was so thrilled to discover that this book is back in print! My grandmother owned a copy, and I read it over and over again at Halloween when I was a little girl. It is the ultimate history of the Halloween holiday, from ancient times to the early Twentieth Century. The author, Ruth Edna Kelley, was herself just 25 or so when the book was originally published in 1919. I'm not a very good review writer, but I wanted to let anyone who is considering buying this book know that this is a very nice edition, and the cover is just adorable. Everything I remember from childhood is there, except for a few blurry black and white pictures that were never very exciting to begin with. What makes this book great are the words, the accounts of how Halloween was celebrated in various countries, especially the Victorian Era games people played at parties, including about a dozen "tests" for discovering the name or seeing the face of your true love in a vision. I am crazy for anything having to do with this era, and re-reading The Book of Hallowe'en after all these years was like stepping backward in time and really being there. The accounts are so vivid, it really makes you want to just live now the way they did then. With this book, you could accomplish it. Everything you would need to have an authentic Victorian Halloween party today is right here. Best of all, it's just $13.95. I've seen used copies selling on Amazon for over a thousand dollars! I'm just tickled, really! This is a great book!

All of David Ridges books are so helpful in studying the Scriptures. Passages that I never understood come clear with his commentary and scriptural references. His books are easier to use because the Scriptures are right there along with the explanation, instead of having several other books to go through and use as reference. I highly recommend this and his other Scripture study books. -P. Martin

I am constantly thinking "I had never thought of that!" on most every page. The depth of this book has me craving more. I will be buying all of David J. Ridges "made Easier" series as I work my way through the scriptures again. THis is a must have in your library. I especially reccommend it for converts!!

I've had problems following not only the Book of Mormon, but other scriptures (Bible, etc.)

This series (Book of Mormon Made Easier) has been a major blessing. I am now able to understand what is going on and am able to gain a much greater knowledge.

David Ridges method of presenting this material has made it easier for me to enjoy the Book of Mormon.

This book has been very informative and helpful in understanding the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon, and the 3 volumes of The Book of Mormon Made Easier has given me a greater understanding of these scriptures.

Eugenia Price is a very spiritual writer with a lotof love to go around.I've read everything I can get by her and even went to her island about 4 years ago and toured around the island right down to the cemeteries where some of the characters were buried.A very fascinating book, as are all her books.

Would like information about the rest of the triogy series

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this wonderful lady's memoir. I have been reading her books for years and lost track of her for a while. I read the book she wrote to her readers and it was copyrighted in 1992. What I'm wondering - what is her very latest book? Doing a calculation, I think she must be in her mid-80's and I wonder if she and Joyce are still part of the famous Islanders on our favorite vacation spot, St. Simon's?. Thank you.

This book was captivating. The characters were well defined, the descriptions were vivid, the plotline was rivoting. I was completely swept away with Anne and John's love story and with Anne's love of her homeland and family. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

As the other reviewers have said this work is a classic and is worth its weight in gold. While I am not a fan of only having classic works in electronic format, if a student wishes to have a copy at a lower price the $100 "Welcome to the Catholic Church" CD carries the entire commentary as part of its collection. Students of Franciscan University in Steubenville should seek the Catechetics Department for discounted copies.

My friend has borrowed volume I and I'm afraid he may never give it back... There is so much that is subtle in the Gospels that is brought to light. I've never seen anything else like it. I'm shocked that this work was ever permitted to go out of print.

I am so glad this book is back in print! Can you imagine how valuable a Bible commentary written by early Christians themselves would be? Well, this comes very close! St. Thomas Aquinas himself compiled this opus from sermons and commentaries on the Gospels written by the early Church Fathers. He arranged their thoughts in such a way that they form a continuous commentary on each Gospel, verse-by-verse. How I wish Aquinas had done this with the rest of Sacred Scripture as well! It's pricey, but well worth it for the serious Bible scholar.

I stumbled across this series in a used bookstore, flipped through a few pages, and realized I was reading a virtual roundtable discussion of the Gospels among the greatest theologians ever to grace the Catholic Church. I paid a high price for the set, but I could not walk away.

The exegesis is mind-boggling. I cannot recommend enough that the serious student of Catholicism do whatever he or she can to get their hands on the only work that Aquinas was known to carry around with him.

What a spectacular shame that not only was this series kept from English translation until the 19th century, but now this re-issue is no longer in print even in the UK. I feel like I've found a buried treasure...