Anthology Sources Books

The twenty-one short stories, poems, essays and other writings that make up this collection are considered by editor Douglas A. Anderson as the sub-title states The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction. Though this reviewer has some doubts about that assertion, the entries are well written and entertaining from a who's who of literature (Dickens, Tolkien, Grahame, Stevenson, Wells, Potter, Clarke and Kipling, etc) even though the authors were in many case key players (no novels are included which in my opinion would be more likely to be influential). The contributions are excellent with the little notes prefacing them adding to the fun as Mr. Anderson explains the author's link to C.S. Lewis. The anthology provides a glimpse into the science fiction-fantasy short writings that were out there prior to Narnia, written in the early 1950s. As he did with the equally delightful TALES BEFORE TOLKIEN, Mr. Anderson provides a strong, enlightening and fun to read compilation; hard to resist "a never before published story" The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood by Roger Lancelyn Green (Lewis' biographer) that inspired THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE.

Harriet Klausner

I have only received this book and have not read it, however, in what I have reviewed this is a well researched and studied book and I shall enjoy working with it.

An excellent book containing many of the best writings of our country's political heritage. Professor Gienapp does what is needed in this type of introductory book: He has chosen text wisely and started each selection of Abraham Lincoln's work with a short but helpful introduction.

There is a reason Lincoln is our greatest president. This book is perfect for one who would like to gain a direct understanding into this fact.

The three views of women announced in the title are expressed in three poems written in France, surely by men, sometime before 1328. The texts of the three poems, two in the Francien dialect of medieval Paris and one in Anglo-Norman, are included, along with ample notes and solid English translations. These are not long poems; they are only 176 lines, 96 lines, and 149 lines -- a few pages each. They are all three examples of the 'popular' genre of French poetry called "dit," meaning simply 'saying,' and they are all anonymous. Most of the book in hand consists of two extended essays, the first, by Wendy Pfeffer, addressing their literary structures and linguistic attributes,and the second, by Gloria Fiero, analyzing their historical context, examining the degree to which they represent authentic perceptions of women in the Middle Ages, whose perceptions, and on what basis.

One of the three dits is virulently misogynist. Le Blasme des Fames can be translated 'The Vices of Women.'
Le Bien des Fames counters with 'The Virtues of Women,' and represents a defense of women that most modern feminists will find unsatisfactory, since the chief virtue of women appears to be that the Virgin Mary was one. The third dit - La Contenance des Fames, 'The Behavior of Women' - is perhaps less overtly misogynist than paternalistically condescending. Fiero's essay does a fine job of identifying whose point of view might be exemplified in each poem. Both the attitude of the Church and the general 'scientific' paradigms of the era, based on the authority of Aristotle and Galen, get their share of 'credit' for the disdain for women felt by the educated class, chiefly clerics. By contrast, Fiero suggests, the semi-literate nightly classes and the largely illiterate commoners may have held quite different notions of womanhood. It was, of course, also the age of chivalry, of hyper-idealization.

Here's a sample of Anglo-Norman French, from Les Blasmes des Fames:

Femme est huan esstace,
Le jour se muce, la nuyt est wace.
Femme est funteine desur la veie
Ke tuz receit e tuz avoie;
Femme est marchie de tele nature,
Tut tens bate e tut tens dure;
Femme est taverne qe faute,
Ki ke vienge e qi qe vaute.

Need a translation? Get the book!

Vincent Carretta's _Unchained Voices_ is a masterful anthology of black writers of the 18th century. This compilation--which includes well-known authors such as Phillis Wheatly and Olaudah Equiano, as well as more obscure writers like George Liele and Belinda--is invaluable to scholars of early American, African, and African-American literature. From criminals to Indian captives, the writers in Carretta's anthology illustrate the diversity of the African experience in the English-speaking world of the 18th century. Carretta's introduction and notes are brilliant, his attention to detail and tireless scholarship a model for other academics. While an excellent book for classroom use (I assign it in my survey courses of African-American literature), this anthology will also appeal to readers interested in beginnings of African-American literature.

If you have ever been interested in the campaign waged by the women's suffrage movement at the beginning of the last century, then this book is the one for you. Packed full of hard to track down literature written about and by and against the women's movement, it's essential reading. The book is well-structured; the introduction giving you enough background to the suffrage campaign without overloading you with information. Once you're into the book, the short stories, poems and novel extracts will give you a taste for this fascinating time period. Brilliant!

The book came within a short time, and I was very pleased and have now finished reading it.

Thank you for good service.

The Women of the Confederacy speak. Culled from journals, diaries and published memoirs of the most cruel war of all, a Civil War, these women tell of hardships endured and unbelievable savagery on both sides. If this book was fiction it would be a good read. As eyewitness accounts it is a great read. Experience the horrors, the insights, the frame-of-mind of a violent time from our past. This book will enrich you

Aptly edited by the collective efforts of T.M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd M. Owen, and Paul Russell, The Welsh King And His Court is a massive compendium of essays filled with meticulous discourse of the Welsh royal household and the governmental roles of those officers charged with upkeep of horses, sleeping quarters, meals, etc. Primary source texts are presented in English translation, and the essays are written at a college reading level. The Welsh King And His Court is a scholarly text that combines deep thought with multi-level analysis of historical politics. An intriguing and recommended historical study, with a very helpful glossary, abbreviation list and index.

The book tried to tell the story of muslim civilization, culture, practices and belief through out the muslim world from the point of view of notable Muslims..