Ancient History Books

Excellently written and dutifully researched, this is probably the best compilation of information on the anomalies of ancient Egypt and the best set of theories yet on how those anomalies came to be. It's also a great reference book; when dry Egyptologists and skeptics try to make light of the building of intricately and precisely built gargantuan structures in our ancient past, turn to the chapters on the hunter-gatherer state of existence of those who are generally accepted by the mainstream as having built said structures during the standard given time frame. Then turn to the pages that give you quotes and production times for the building and quarrying of similar structures by today's largest contractors. Scientists and skeptics will stutter alike, or give you an excuse much more ridiculous than the obvious conclusion that homo sapiens developed an advanced technology within the 500,000 years he had to do it in, before his history and most of the evidence of his architecture and science was destroyed some 11,600 years ago at the end of the last "Ice Age." After all, scientists want us to believe that everything that makes us modern was developed within the last 5000 years....what on Earth were we doing for all those hundreds of thousands of years before the mass extinctions and losses of entire continents around 11,600 B.C.? Our prehistoric ancestors were larger brained than us, stronger than us, and much heartier than us, and they had a lot more time than we did to develop technology. The most densely populated areas in which those people lived now lies under the sea, and we have only found the fossils of those prehistoric people who lived in the boon docks of the world, hundreds of years behind the level of civilization of their brothers who would have lived on the prime real estate of the coast. Conservative scientists tend to overlook the evidence that actually did survive the catastrophes of 11,600 years ago, but luckily Brennan has assembled a great bulk of the most well documented and factual portions of this evidence in just a few short books. I gave up on the highlighter just 20 pages in, because almost every sentence is profound.
Brennan does a wonderful job illustrating how technology can come into existence without the steps that are generally accepted as having to lead up to it with chapters on people such as Tesla and Keeley, who were hundreds of years before their time and whose knowledge seems to have almost come out of nowhere. Indeed, NASA has only touched on the technological advances made by Keeley's sonic tech a hundred years ago, and is currently accepting bids for private businesses to develop such things further.
Amazing and thorough evidence has been presented in this volume for some pretty far out theories to explain what the pyramids and certain chambers within them were actually used for, and yet I daresay the author provides a much more compelling case than the radicals like Z.S. and the closed minded conservative Egyptologists and skeptics.
Brennan is well-versed in the scientific method and totally lucid and logical in his thoughts, unlike many sensationalists who are theorizing on ancient Egypt's past. The author does not need to reach for aliens visiting from Niburu, at least in this offering, because man had enough time to develop a technology as advanced as ours at least five times over before the devastations of 11,600 years ago, which destroyed all of the prime real estate that man's biggest populations were inhabiting during those remote times.

I was a bit sceptical when I first approached this book but after the first few pages I was immersed in the wonderful theories presented by the author. The only reason that it does not recieve 5 stars is due to the fact that the author often times veers wildly off of the subject matter. A great read for History buffs with open minds.

This book was a pleasure to read. I want to learn more about Egypt after reading it. It includes notes and a bibliography-- very helpful for anyone planning to do more research. I highly recommend this book.

As an avid student of lost civilization and technology, I truly appreciated this entertaining yet serious book. It effectively discards conventional "knowledge", places in front of the reader a variety of mind-bending mysteries regarding ancient Egypt, and then proposes plausible and exciting answers. The book efficiently covers a lot of territory. It left me wanting more information on some subjects but provided ideas about further study, including the author's other books, which I have ordered and look forward to devouring soon. This was a all-in-all a very satisfying read for this lover of lost knowledge.

This biography on Roman Emperor Septimius Severus proves to be quite interesting and very informative. It revealed an Emperor who was not only very able but also quite ruthless. Being the first Emperor from Africa revealed how international the Roman Empire truly was back then. The book provides good material on this Emperor's life, his background and background of where he originated from. Its a must read for anyone who happen to be interested in this subject matter.

However, its not really for casual readers. The writing proves to be bit on the dry side and although the book packed with information, the story doesn't flow as well as it should. It had a dry textbook type of feel to it. If it wasn't for that, the book probably does deserved the five stars that other reviewers have awarded it.

Septimius Severus (A.D. 146-211) hailed from Lepcis Magna, an African city which traced its ethnic and linguistic roots to Phoenicia and Carthage. Some of his townsfolk still had names that sounded disturbingly like Hannibal. He rose through the Army to become Emperor, following the disastrous reign of idiot-Emperor Commodus and the assassination of Pertinax. The mere fact that an African from the once-hated Phoenician coast could ascend to the principate speaks volumes of how the Roman system had evolved from city-state to universal empire. The early chapers on Lepcis Magna are a fascinating study in how the Roman provinces worked, socially and economically, and how Rome interacted with the outside world (Lepcis Magna greatly profited from its trade with Sub-Saharan Africa.)

Birley's assessment of Septimius's reign is ambivalent. Septimius was a vast improvement on Commodus, and, at massive cost in blood and treasurer, restored internal stability. His campaigns in Mesopotamia and Scotland were spectacular. Birley makes a plausible case that Septimius's ancestors retained a modicum of stability until at least Severus Alexander (208-235), but really the first signs of the cycle of contested rule, internal bloodshed and barbarian invasion that blighted the mid third-century can all be seen in Septimius's reign.

Prof. Birley has written the biographies of three Roman emperors: Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus and recently Hadrian. "Septimius Severus: the African Emperor" is his finest work thus far. His fluent narrative and relevant remarks make the life of Severus even more interesting. We follow Severus from his native town of Lepcis Magna (in today's Lybia), the member of a family of Phoenecian origin but Romanized for generations. Severus starts his career in an unremarkable way during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, giving us a glimpse of what life was for individual members of the senatorial class. We then follow Severus's life throughout the reign of Marcus's insane son Commodus, Birley giving the best treatment of his reign that I have ever seen in English. The events leading to the conspiracy to topple Commodus, resulting in civil war and Severus's acession as first Emperor for whom Latin was a foreign language, read like a first-class thriller, all the more fascinating because true. As emperor Severus shows himself to be competent and ruthless, and apparently somewhat disdainful and resentful of the traditional elites of Italian background, which led to his starting to convert the empire into a military dictatorship. On the other hand, his support of the great jurists Papinian and Paul make his reign one of the great ages of Roman jurisprudence, which was to have so much influence on Western law. Severus's military pursuits in Mesopotamia and Scotland are also vividly described. To be sure, the first chapters on the origins of Lepcis Magna are a bit slow, but all the rest is fascinating. I could not recomment this book more.

Anthony Birley does an outstanding job at presenting the life of a man who survived the insane rule of Commodus and founded a new imperial dynasty. Birley give one of the best accounts of the Empire under Commodus and the consipracy leading to his assassination. The brief rule of Pertinax is also delt with and the following civil war.

The begining section on the origins of Lepcis Magna are a bit slow. However, it provides a wealth of knowledge on what life was like in the Empire outside of Rome and Italy. Very few books manage to do this as well this one.

Showing the reign of Septimius Severus in great detail the reader can get an idea of how the 'Crisis of the Third Century' was to become almost inevitable. Septimius Severus favoring the soldiers over all else and his advise to his sons: "Be good brothers, grease the palm of the army and to hell with the rest."(not an exact translation of course) The life of Septimius Severus gives the reader a glimpse into what may have made Caracalla such a tyrant.

Ever wanted to read one book to know about the life of Shakespeare and the life of his plays? This is the only book you need. The world's preeminent Shakespearean scholar at long last presents his knowledgable views on Shakespeare's life and how the different ages, including ours, have appropriated Shakespeare for their own. The first 100 pages are straight-up biography, and a spot-on one at that, providing all of the facts that we know and wise, cautious speculation about what we don't. The following 300 pages illustrate how Shakespeare wrote what he did, and how each age has seen and transformed Shakespeare. Most impressive is that each chapter explores theatrical developments alongside textual and editorial innovations. Not ignored is Shakespeare's representations in visual art, music, and opera. A most impressive volume that is written in an easy to understand style. Any person could pick up this book and understand the history of Shakespeare for all time. Highly recommended as a companion volume is Prof. Wells's earlier exploration -Shakespeare: The Poet and his Plays. That volume discusses each individual play and the poems on an interpretative level, and a highly insightful level at that.

This is a physically beautiful volume. It's an oversize book printed on thick, glossy paper. It's filled with illustrations, both works of art and photographs, from Shakespeare's time to our own.

It's also packed with solid information that's easy to digest. Wells tells everything that's known about Shakespeare's life and speculates on additional possibilities. All that could have made a book by itself, but it's only about a third of this volume.

He also goes on to tell about the writing of the plays and their staging through the centuries. Something I've not seen elsewhere in one volume is a discussion of the many famous actors who've played the major Shakespearean roles.

Above all, this book goes down easily. It's perfectly easy to understand. There is no deep and esoteric Freudian, feminist, postmodern whatever discussion of individual plays or characters.

Stanley Wells' latest book combines two genres: Biography (Shakespeare), and History of Theatre (Shakespeare). It is a history of Shakespeare from his time to ours, including Shakespeare's life and subsequent theatrical performance, but excluding critical analysis and interpretation of the plays.

The first 100 pages present a minimalist biography of the great playwright - "minimalist" in the sense that Wells sticks close to the (relatively few) facts that are known, or can be judiciously inferred, about Shakespeare's life, avoiding any temptation to pad out or speculate where the facts will not stretch. I found this approach to be refreshing and useful; it clarified for me what is actually known about Shakespeare's life, versus what has been inferred (or imagined) in other biographies.

The remainder of the book deals with the history of Shakespeare in performance, from the playright's time down to the present day, both in England and (in less detail) abroad. The history of the original texts of the plays, their theatrical revisions (or mutilations), the theatres, producers, actors, and critical and popular responses (including Hollywood) are discussed. Given the potentially unlimited scope of this topic, Wells' treatment is brief, selective, and to the point (for example, Joseph Papp's seminal New York "Shakespeare in the Park" is given one sentence in the book.)

To summarize, Wells has, a bit unusually, combined a brief but thoughtful biography of Shakespeare, with an introductory history of Shakespeare in performance. It's a fluently written and engaging overview, and as such, I think that many Shakespeare aficionados, as well as students of the history of theatre, will want to have it.

Shakespeare For All Time by Stanley Wells (Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham, and General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare series) is an inherently fascinating and extensively informative biography and analysis of the life and work William Shakespeare, piecing together all that is known and much that is speculated about one of the greatest playwrights who ever lived. Illustrated with both black-and-white and color plates, and written in down-to-earth terms for all students and enthusiasts of Shakespeare's work (regardless of their level of familiarity with the plays themselves), Shakespeare For All Time is an excellent read and an especially recommended addition for personal, academic, and community library systems for offering informed and invaluable insights into the man and his plays.

First of all, Naydler's book is an outstandingly thorough and convincing argument that the Ancient Egyptian religion was a shamanic practice designed to bring on mystical experiences.

After several trips to Egypt and many hours spent inside of the ancient culture's temples and tombs, I was overwhelmed with the grandeur, scale, scope, artistry and FEELING of these sacred places. It was obvious to me that these folks were deeply steeped in mystical tradition. So I came back to the States seeking as much information as possible about ancient Egyptian religion. After many months of exploring the continuum of possibilities, I have to confess that I was very disappointed. On one side of the continuum were the extraordinarily dry and uninteresting and disconnected books such as "Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt" by Rosalie David; and on the other end of the continuum were the strange, seemingly unfounded and ungrounded books such as "Initiation in the Great Pyramid" by Earlyne Chaney. I was NOT looking for a book that simply confirmed my assumptions, instead I was looking for a book by a scholarly enthusiast. Naydler has fit the bill. His work uses as its source material the ancient Egyptians' own writings - the Pyramid Texts - so his work is grounded in reality. Yet, Naydler is also clearly a true believer in mystical experience as brought on by shamanic practice. Thus, his work has reinserted some of the passion into the scholarly landscape that clearly drove the Egyptians to erect such magnificent monuments. Bravo Jeremy Naydler.

I must also tell you that I was initially disappointed to discover that this book does not contain a full translation of the Pyramid Texts. After discovering this fact I bought my own copy of a full translation of the Pyramid Texts, as translated by R.O. Faulkner. Then as I would read a passage in Naydler I would go to the source material. What I was very pleased to discover is that while Naydler has not translated every passage for us, he has paraphrased all of the information where a direct translation was not provided. What is more, in his interpretations he often includes much background material on ancient Egyptian religion or on shamanic practice that is extremely helpful. So, in other words, Naydler's approach is a net win for the reader. My appreciation for Naydler was certainly enhanced by having Faulkner's translation of the Pyramid Texts right next to me at all times. Incidentally, I chose Faulker because of Robert Bauval's whole-hearted endorsement of him due to Faulkner's interpretation that the ancient Egyptians were more a star cult than a sun cult. Any time spent at all in the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt clearly demonstrates their obsession with stars much more so than the sun (also a star, by the way).

In addition to the above praise I must state that I very much appreciated that Naydler included a 3-D rendering of King Unas's pyramid and indicated always where a certain passage was written relative to the architecture of the Pyramid.

It is my sincere hope that this book hits the button on mainline Egyptologists and gets them to rethink the thinking and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.

Originally published in 2005, this book is some 480 pages thick. Some 330 pages are filled with regular text (including 131 figures), 85 pages with small print footnotes (including 4 figures). That makes the footnotes equalling more than a fourth of the regular text, part of them may be forgiven...

The author is taking neither the pyramids nor their texts as funerary or funerary only respectively. The focus is on the pyramid of Unas, with many references to other pyramids as well. He is not alone in the knowledge that the pyramids were used primarily/only for spiritual purposes, not tombs or referring solely to the afterlife. Instead as an initiation or renewal of initiation of a pharao for the well being of the entire kingdom. Hence, the hyroglyphs and vignettes are not describing the so-called afterlife of the pharao, but induced "near death" experiences of very much alive pharaos.

For a better overstanding of ancient Egyptian religion, Jeremy Naydler reasons to take the learning on ancient Egypt away from the realm of Egyptologists with their modern scientific attitude of culture references and give it to the mystics. Of any ages, as the Europeans of classic, medievil and later Imes up to the end of the 18th century hadn't been conditioned yet to belittle the ancient Egyptian religion and the knowledge of the latter representing the very roots of all the "world religions". The way of overstanding is the phenomenological approach, already taught by early 19th century Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The (universal) mystical message being: "Unless you make yourself equal to God, you cannot understand Him." Naydler goes further by suggesting the shamanic roots of the ancient Egyptian religion. Which makes perfect sense, I may say, as in: How else than ancient Egypt representing the "missing link" between shamanic religion and organised/world religion? Also the related so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts are to be seen in the light of this mystical reading of the pyramid texts.

In reading this book and the pyramid texts with it, Naydler invites us to actually learn from the Egyptians. For example that they considered a progression of Imes (time) a degeneration of history and human society. Considering the loss of a large section of society of mystic knowledge, but ever more constructs of separations ever more severely persecuted, they were perfectly right. As were the ancients from Mesopotamia, India, Persia and Greece who all adopted this view until the modern global society reversed that philosophy, bribed by technical advancement in most areas.

The author is only slightly repetitive. He obviously uses the progressive Imes frame of ancient Egypt without diving into that issue. Yet, he uses the Western rendered versions of ancient Egyptian names other than Khufu ("Cheops"). Likewise he provides occasional references only to modern Western derivations of ancient Egyptian sources such as the Christian concept of the ladder of virtues into heaven. Other references he leaves out, obviously not to overstrain the reader. (Some 150 pages are devoted to disconnecting old synapse links of faulty believes about the pyramid( text)s, before even starting with them.) For example he mentions the "running with the bull" by the pharao, but doesn't reference the later Spanish tradition of this. (Read about the connection in Egyptian Romany: The Essence of Hispania.)

Definitely too much would have been the gender concept. Mystics eliminate all constructs of separations, all dualisms. The gender construct is no exception. Yet, today's mainstream is blinding it this intensely that Naydler would have lost the very most readers. Many references to gender bending are still included, some of them unavoidably so as they are part of the pyramid texts. We hear about the male pharao drinking the milk from the nipples of "Isis" (female) and Horus (male). Even though metaphorical, there is such a thing as male lactation. The pharao's bones transform into ones of falcon godDESSES. In spiritual and sexual prowess, we are told, he merges with Min (male), depicted with an erection. A godDESS named Mowe is defined as possibly being the personification of semen, while Atum (male god) takes the form of Mafdet (female). And the pharao says to Ra (male, as much as "he" may be male with no concept of gender): "I will love you with my body."

I concur with Naydler that the pyramid texts have to be seen as mystical for the LIVING pharao, not funerary. Yet, he fails to mention that mystics do not believe in the construct of death anyway. In other words, when the pharao really passes on, the texts are largely valid the same way, other than that certain rituals to be performed by a BODILY living pharao cannot be performed anymore. This train of thought would probably have confused the non-mystic reader too much, who has to get convinced that the ancient Egyptians didn't "deny death" in these supposed funerary texts. As the thought behind this current orthodox Egyptologists' approach is wrong indeed.

The upper line is: This is a very good, in fact a very informative and important book. Be sure not to leave it at that, but to read further progressive/mystic/African centered books on ancient Egypt, her strong influence on the later ancient and the modern world, as well as books on mysticism in general and Egypt specifically. A good start is The Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ, but also other books by Muata Ashby, such as Egyptian Yoga Vol. 1:: The Philosophy of Enlightenment which references e.g. Ani's Book of the Dead in a mystical context.

Jeremy Naydler has rescued the deep wisdom of Egypt - experiential insight into the deeper reality and how we can travel there for initiation and empowerment - from the Egyptologists. For all of us who have long suspected, or remembered, that the palace tombs and pyramid texts of Egypt are about much, much more than funerary arrangements, here is ringing confirmation that the Egyptians traveled beyond the gates of death while very much alive, not only to bring back first-hand knowledge of the afterlife, but to enter into sacred union with the gods and enthrone their power in the body, and so acquire the spiritual and sexual potency to marry the worlds. Shamanic Wisdom of the Pyramid Texts is a splendid melding of fine scholarship and passionate engagement with themes that are vitally important to us today. It is must reading not only for lovers of Egypt, students of shamanism and religion, and modern practitioners of soul travel, but for all of us who hunger for the real history of humanity's encounters with the more-than-human

"The trance state is actually the real perception of mankind. It is just that it has been consigned to oblivion by a grand-scale cover-up strategy."--Holger Kalweit, German psychologist and author of Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men

A masterpiece of scholarship! Indeed I have found no other single text today that confirms my own musings on this point: The oldest and wisest are the shamans of every culture. Why? It is because as we healers of every tradition realize, "The psychotherapist listens, the shaman speaks!" In other words, the shaman has knowledge based upon the ability to see via the mind's eye in trance the aura and soul travel multi-dimensionally to correct the dysfunction at its source: the energy field. This skill separates the true medicine people from the charlatans in fact. So, when are schools, licensing agencies, and insurance companies going to start distinguishing between the two medics with a test focused on who can -- and cannot -- see into the invisible realms of spirit? I can't wait to watch the fireworks on that day that this legislation becomes a reality in our modern world ... can you?

Dr. Harper is author of Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century and the DVD Science of Soul: The End-Time Solar Cycle of Chaos in 2012 A.D.

I read this along with Mr. Casson's "The Ancient Mariners"; it was an excellent accompaniment to that volume, which is lacking the abundant illustrations that are included in this book. Along with providing a complete, unbroken (as we know it) timeline of the evolution of shipping and development of ancient men-of-war such as the Trireme, Quinquereme, sixes, sevens, etc. the greater gift of this book as I see it is it will teach people how to look at the art. With every single example in this book are numerous references to fine detail that the artists included which are picked out and described by Mr. Casson. One of the first things I learned in Art History was that the living conditions contemporary to a society are ALWAYS reflected in the art, which is why there are so many sculptures and mosaics referenced here. Another unexpected thrill from this book was the absolutely fabulous color plates included, depicting among other things some of the finest photography I have ever seen of the Greek red figure/black figure vases. All the photos, with very few exceptions, are top notch. Absolutely one of the most enjoyable books I have found in quite some time.

I checked out this book from the library, and am enjoying it so much that I'm buying a copy. If you love practical, how-it-was-done histories, you'll really like this book. The chapter on triremes is my favorite so far, partly because of the description of these amazing ships, and partly because of the accounts of deeply stupid naval blunders on the part of the greeks. Best of all, there are tons of pictures, including reconstructions of several ancient ships. Neat book! Buy it!

This book is essencial to everyone interested in ships. Also every reader interested in history, from casual to scholar will find in it a valuable resource to understand the origin and evolution of seafaring until the end of the middle ages. It fills a huge gap sadly existing in every history book.

In this captivating account of travel by sea, the author provides the origins of the boat, the vessel, the trireme and the supergalley. He writes about the importance of this means of communication and travel in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Widely illustrated in black and white, the book includes a short bibliography albeit with very useful titles. Recommended for its wealth of information.

"Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power" - A cross-cultural comparative analysis of the evolving relationship between cosmovision and state power from the ancient world until the present.

A cross-cultural comparative analysis assembled out of archaeological sites the author has visited, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" uses an entertaining anecdotal writing style to teach a few basics of astronomy without being didactic. Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings have shaped civilization from the very beginning, and their story paints a provocative portrait of humanity. The sky our ancient ancestors saw has influenced the establishment and alignment of monuments and whole cities, authorized wars, sanctified empires, and solidified society. Ancient astronomers were responsible for knowledge so valuable their services have been commissioned by Emperors & Kings in every epoch of history and on every continent of the earth.

"Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings'" focus is primarily on the world of the ancients however, parallels between ancient and contemporary cultures are emphasized throughout. Modern society is in mourning over the loss of wholeness that "The Center of the World" had once given us, 'what "cosmovisions" can guide us across this wilderness of contemporary affairs?' Secularization was meant to temper influence and limit power yet, news headlines tell us of theocratic agendas still accountable for political unrest the world over. Even thousands of years later, increased globalization and current events demonstrate that we continue to confront issues raised by power from the skies.

Skywatchers - Ideological reactions to the sky are from perceptions made through a physiological and earth-bound frame of reference.

Shamans - Human cultures evolve ideological explanations of the physical universe to create social cohesion.

& Kings - Power from the sky authorizes social control. Contemporary people are haunted as deeply by their myth-bound minds as the ideologies of the ancients were haunted by their earth-bound view of the sky.

"Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" investigates the cultural evolution of societies from the end of the last Ice Age, through the end of the Second World War, ultimately arriving at the global conflicts of today. Edwin Krupp's intimate knowledge of more than 1,700 ancient sites worldwide, guides a journey of discovery leading from our most ancient ancestors to our future selves. An eclectic romp through history with all its ideological forces laid bare, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" is history shown through the lens of archaeoastronomy, but it may as well be a biography of humanity's confrontation with consciousness where, the sky plays the recurring main character. From the Venus warfare of the ancient Maya, to the fate of modern political states, "Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings" is a thorough and rational interdisciplinary analysis, with an optimistic message for our future.

Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings finally dusted down again by Edwin C. Krupp ! Ancient Skywatchers are taken for serious again, by someone who is able to follow the rythm of the celestial bodies down to their oldest paths -- Shamans disappeared into the shadows of history, revisited today and listened to - and Kings emerging to have their importance and message understood. Krupp blows the dust off knowledge that has been pushed aside by technology and laughed at by modern man, who took old wisdom for superstition. And who forgot to look up at the sky and note down its numbers and ways. Krupp is very able to fresh-up our view and draw our attention again to matters that will always form an important part of our daily life and our year-around existence. - Miss Leon (A.M.) Kloezeman
Friday 21 september 2001

The title of my review is the subtitle to E.C. Krupp's book, 'Skywatchers, Shamans, and Kings'. This serves to illustrate the point that in many civilisations, the roles of priests, scholars, scientist/researcher, astronomer/astrologer, and healer were often mixed, and generally closely related to the centre of power.

Even today, the fact that the Queen of England appoints bishops who (many of them) also sit in the legislative body, is demonstrative of the hold-over that this kind of power has been through history.

Drawing from the archaeological, historical and literary records of many old civilisations, Krupp's text goes from China (where early dynasties invested heavily in astronomical observation) to the Mayan Empire (where likewise whole towns were devoted to the maintenance of a priesthood that in turn maintained a calendar). These in addition to the Hopi and other Native Americans, African tribes, Pacific islanders and other cultures have found astronomical observation necessary for the proper interpretation of signs, too, and thus the astronomers become shamans and wield power.

Krupp discusses the sociology and politics of power alongside the scientific and archaeological data he presents. In his chapter 'Plugging Into Power', for instance, he goes into a linguistic analysis of the word `power' and talks about the pitfalls of those who exercise power and authority while also discussing the ceremonial rites and attributes of artifacts of particular cultures.

'No less an authority than the Smithsonian Institution asserts...that the most powerful person in each village of the Yupik Eskimos of southwest Alaska was the shaman. Like all shamans, he moved between this world and the spirit world to cure illness and influence the weather. He persuaded the sea mammals, the fish, and the game birds to return in their proper seasons, and he mobilised the ceremonial life of the community. Yupik communities were small. They relied almost exclusively on hunting, and most of the time each family operated independently. The shaman was their contact with the spirits and the one most familiar with the requirements. To deal with spirits, he had to go to their neighbourhoods, and that meant knowing how the universe was organised.'

Of course, in more developed societies, the shaman becomes the priest, who begins to take on prerogatives of power, particularly when there is a leader who can be easily influenced by religious ideas.

'Power to modify the behaviour of the king, no matter how well it may be contained, retains the risk of exploitation,' Krupp writes in the chapter entitled Enlightened Self-Interest and Ulterior Motives. However, often as not, shamans and priests were agents of renewal, rebirth, managers of the life cycles of the communities, and healing powers (particularly important in times without mechanical clocks, calendars, or modern medicine).

This book is a very interesting discussion of world cultures from a perspective often overlooked by historians generally, and Western historians particularly. It has a great bibliography for those inclined to further research.

I was expecting more of a philosophical and historical treatise, building on the idea that shamans (priests, etc. . .) used the sky to enhance their influence on ordinary people. While that idea is stated, it is not really proven. It is, however, supported by amazing anecdotal descriptions of ancient societies and their relationship to the sky.

There is no great reasoning or logic here, but there is a great collection of related observations.

"Small Talk" has less vocabulary than other Jazz Chants books, and thus is good for true beginners. Chants are wonderfully empowering for students; they make students feel fluent right away, as well as starting them down the road of acquiring the rhythmn and intonation so particular to American English. Great concept!

These chants not only demonstrate the intonation and rhythm of American English, they are American culture at its best. If you have been speaking American English all your life, you hear yourself and laugh because the small talk chants are so typically American. I have used the chants and worksheets with beginners and intermediate students in the upper elementary grades. The students have enjoyed them and the worksheets that go with them. At first, it's hard for everyone, but the students get the hang of it and look forward to new ones.

From the first moment I heard these everyday conversations put to classic jazz music, I knew that I would be using Jazz Chants as long as I was involved in ESL. As the author of American Accent Training, I use Jazz Chants in conjunction with Dr. Seuss for a well-rounded accent program. The songs are catchy, and students find that the rhythms and patterns become ingrained in their memories far more effectively than with text study. They are constantly amazed that "Americans really talk this way!" and "I can actually hear the speech music!" Mere words cannot convey what a wonderful series of exercises this is. Carolyn Graham is a musical genius.

I am a Korean MATESOL student studing in the US. I have heard that Grahamn's Jazz chant is very good ESL source,and I have used her chants in my classes in Korea. The Jazz chant is very helpful in teaching rhythm and flow that English cotains. However the Jazz chants I have used before was just chants. They didn't have any guide lines. However,what drove me to attempt to write review of this book is that while I was looking for a book for pronunciation micro teaching, I happened to find this book in the library(Actually I didn't know this book was what my professor recommanded in class until I went over my notebook couple of minutes ago!) This book is very well organized and presents clear lesson points. It is definately wonderful to teach oral skills to English learners with fun. Not only does this book present chants but also has written exercises. I strongly recommand this book to ESL/EFL teachers.

Prof. Colaiaco teaches in the Great Books program at NYU. His experience teaching high-level undergraduates shows in this book, which is very accessible to the educated non-specialist who wants to know why Socrates is so important.

The book is organized chronologically, following the events of the trial as they are presented to us in the dialogues of Plato. The style is clear and concise. There are copious footnotes, 670 of them in 227 pages, but they are all pertinent and they do not interfere significantly with the narrative flow. There is an extensive bibliography, almost as valuable as the narrative itself, for those interested in pursuing further study of Socrates.

Prof. Colaiaco deeply admires Socrates, holds him up as the first example of principled opposition by the individual to arbitrary state power. He is disappointed by Socrates' provocation of the jury into sentencing him to death, and in Socrates' refusal to accept exile as an alternative. Yet Colaiaco shows that the outcome was inevitable, given the desperate political situation of Athens at the time, and Socrates' stubborn lifelong mission to save the souls of his fellow citizens.

Colaiaco notes that the jury was obligated to make a decision that was in the best interest of the Athenian polis, not in the best interest of justice. This illustrates just how different Athenian legal and political ideas were from our own, even though Athens was a democracy. Under the Athenian legal system, the law was whatever the Athenian jury, chosen by lot, said it was on the day it rendered its verdict, and there was no appeal. Our concept of justice as "equality before the law" did not come into existence until some generations later, and then not in Athens, but in Rome.

I was disappointed that Prof. Colaiaco didn't comment on Socrates' last words, telling Crito to sacrifice a cock to Aesclepius. Socrates was no doubt being ironic, as always, but what did he mean? That his soul had been healed? That he was "cured" finally of the "illness" of life?

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the sources of the Western tradition we all share.

Related reading:

Gregory Vlastos: "The Historical Socrates and Athenian Democracy" in his book "Socratic Studies". This is aimed at the specialist, is more demanding than Colaiaco, but just as interesting.

I do not recommend I.F. Stone's book on Socrates [...] If you must read Stone, read Colaiaco and Vlastos first.

A.E. Taylor's "Socrates" is [...] dated, but still interesting.

This book is an excellent study of the trial of Socrates in its historical and cultural context. Unlike other studies, this book presents both sides of what the author conceives to be a tragic collision of values between the philosopher and Athens. The book is distinguished by excellent prose, clear and insightful analysis, and cogent arguments. This book is invaluable for anyone who wants to better understand Plato's APOLOGY and CRITO, which are dramatic re-creations of Socrates' trial, condemnation, and imprisonment. The author succeeds in transporting the reader back into the world of ancient Athens.
This book is suitable for the general reader as well as scholars. Many works, designed primarily for scholars, depict Socrates as a series of abstract arguments, depriving him of the humanity and passion that made him a great philosopher. Having read I.F. Stone on the trial of Socrates, which distorts the philosopher, presenting him as an authoritarian anti-democrat, I welcome Colaiaco's book for its presentation of a more objective view.
Unlike other studies which take either the side of Socrates or Athens, the author's approach is a balanced one. The reader is led to respect Socrates, the philosopher as hero who maintained his integrity until the end, and at the same time understand why the Athenians were threatened by his radical critique of their fundamental values. A glance at the table of contents will reveal that the book offers an enlightening intellectual history of Athens during the decline of its glory.
This book makes excellent reading for anyone interested in better understanding one of the greatest trials in history.

A graceful guide containing valuable historical and cultural description of Socrates' Athens, James Colaiaco's well informed and sometimes provocative exploration of an ancient conflict between democracy and dissidence evokes the scene and sense of the great philosopher's trial. It is a welcome addition to the literature on Socrates' trial and imprisonment that will enliven the modern debate over civil disobedience.

The main thing about philosophy in ancient Greece is that it produced the ultimate account of the case which is the subject of SOCRATES AGAINST ATHENS by James A. Colaiaco. It has the Notes, Selected Bibliography, and Index of a scholarly work, and the last page of the Index shows more pages listed for Leo Strauss than for I. F. Stone. There are even more entries in the Index for Friedrich Nietzsche than for Stone and Strauss, which shows an awareness of the larger philosophical questions involved. All the information in this book is an outstanding background for understanding what Nietzsche was trying to explain in Section 340 of THE GAY SCIENCE, called, "The dying Socrates." Nietzsche was impressed by the last moment of Socrates' life.

`Whether it was death or the poison or piety or malice--something loosened his tongue at that moment and he said: "O Crito, I owe Asclepius a rooster." '

Colaiaco puts so much emphasis on "the moral claim that one's duty to obey God is superior to one's duty to obey the state" (pp. 1-2) that the final words of Socrates must seem much more sarcastic after reading this book than for anyone who has merely shared I. F. Stone's interest in Athens as an origin of judicial process, democracy, and free speech. I. F. Stone's THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES (1988) hardly mentions Nietzsche and Gregory Vlastos, but his knowledge of Greek language and culture provide an interesting political background for understanding Stone's imaginative chapters, "How Socrates Easily Might have Won Acquittal," and "What Socrates Should Have Said."

In fact, the trial put so much emphasis on Socrates' failure to observe the customs of ordinary Athenians, having his last words call for a sacrifice to the god of health might seem to be a continuation of the point Socrates was making in the conclusion of his argument at his trial. "Surely, he presumes, unable to resist one final barb against his accusers, philosophers would not be executed for critical activity in the underworld." (Colaiaco, pp. 184-185). Colaiaco accepts Socrates' willingness to participate in a death sentence as the ultimate triumph of philosophy over the judgments of this world, though his own acceptance of this judgment is hedged by the comment, "Significantly, he omits any mention of a possible encounter with Achilles, the Homeric warrior-hero whom he, as philosopher-hero, superseded." (p. 184). On the scale of truth in philosophy and politics, this could be some indication of why modern politicians have so little expectation of being confronted by philosophers, as Hitler hardly ever heard anything from Martin Heidegger.

This book is a detailed analyasis of Aristophanes plays, their themes and their political, if we must say it- cultural, sigfigance on Athenians and the larger Greek world. This book is so interesting because a philosopher is anyalysis the works of art and then comaparing them with his intimate knowledge of classical political philosophy. The highlight is how well Aristophanes does in depecting accurately the life of 'the' philosopher, the philosopher par excellance- Socrates. If you have a favourable prejudice towards Socrates, you may not like this book because Strauss is rigourous in his insistence on detailing the real Socrates, the famous natural philosopher who is fascinated by insects and what they can tell him about the whole of life, even morality. Morality seems to be a distant, almost unimportant concern to the natural philosopher Socrates. But nay, it is this very point where Aristophanes' perspective on Socrates falters and it is why poetry cannot comprehend philosophy. Strauss subtly argues only a philosopher, like Socrates and Plato, can be the ultimate judge of good and evil. Where Aristophanes is dependent upon the city for approval, and looks to the city for his poetry, although he claims to be the originator of it, Socrates looks beyond the city, philosophy is concerned with the transpolitical.

While the introduction, conclusion and first essay (on "Clouds") is apparently anchored in an argument between philosophy and poetry, the further Strauss leaves "Clouds" behind, the more we see through his close reading of the plays, in a way we never do from the younger Plato, the cultural disintegration of Athens under the assault of the war. Euripides, not Socrates, emerges at the real opponent and comedy triumphs over both tragedy and philosophy as the best teacher. This brings us close to an historical experience so often lost in classical studies, particularly in political philosphy, the madness in the streets of Athens and the fully-formed, transcendent characters which emerge with the comic treatment. These are not the spoiled aristocratic youth clustered around Socrates or the sophists (Plato's real enemies - not the poets). These are the men and women at the corner bar. This book makes you wish Strauss had done a "Hobbes and Shakespeare." His evident enjoyment of his subject leaks through with increasing intensity the further he seems to drift from his dichotomy. Could it be Strauss wished to remind his followers, ever so gently, to, like, lighten up and read a good comedy, even in the Greek some labor so hard to acquire? The book at least raises two questions: how did the bold Aristophanes avoid capital punishment? why did the ironic, diplomatic Socrates accept his?

This book follows the typical Strauss pattern: In the first few pages he makes a blanket statement (in this case, Aristophanes is a reactionary; in Thoughts on Machiavelli it was, Machiavelli is evil), then follows it up will a torturous and nuanced analysis of the thinker's ideas until you begin to wonder: In what way is Aristophanes a reactionary or Machiavelli, evil. He tells you the picture is black and white, then he brings you in so close that it all turns gray. Be this as it may, Plato's Symposium and Republic (especially Republic X where Socrates bans the poets from his just city) tells only half the story (philosophy's side). In this book Strauss tells the other half (poetry's side). In essence, Symposium and Republic (and to a certain extent, Phaedo) make up Plato's case as to why philosophy should be the teacher of public morality instead of poetry. Strauss' book takes Aristophanes' eleven existing plays and presents his opposing arguments, his defence of poetry and attack on philosophy. Interesting read for we who sit the other side of Plato's Republic (i.e. Medieval Christendom, where there is no longer any contest between Thomas Aquinas and Dante Aligheri).

In this book Leo Strauss takes Aristophanes depiction of Socrates as a serious political attack. No longer is Aristophane's attack rationalized away as a mistake as it is ussualy done by many authors (e.g. that he mistook Socrates as a Sophist) or that Socrates was an easy target for riducule because of his 'ugly' looks. Strauss, writes that Aristophanes personally knew Socrates (unlike for example Aristotle), and as seen in the Platonic dialogue 'The Symposium' he was also a good friend of Socrates. Thus, Aristophanes attack on Socrates is not done out of hate, rather it was done in friendship. The same kind of friendship that we also see in Plato's Republic, where Socrates attacks Thrasymachus while at the same time becoming his friend. What Aristophanes depicts in his play 'The Clouds' is a "young" Socrates, one who does not know yet the wisdom of respecting a city's Gods. The Socrates that we all know and like, emerges much later and it is the Platonic Socrates, not the Socrates that Aristophanes knew. The Aristophenian Socrates had yet to learn his 'lessons'. Strauss is not biased against the profane language found in Aristophanes plays and does not view Aristophanes any less of a wise man for it. Indeed, Strauss seems to share some of the same convictions in regards to Aristophanes as Friedrich Nietzsche. In Nietzsche's book Beyond Good and Evil, one reads: "As for Aristophanes-that transfiguring, complementary spirit for whose sake one forgives everything Hellenic for having existed, provided one has inderstood in its full profundity all that needs to be forgiven and transfigured here-there is nothing that has caused me to meditate more on Plato's secrecy and sphinx nature than the happily preserved petit fait that under the pillow of his deathbed there was found no "Bible", nor anything Egyptian, Pythagorean, or Platonic-but a volume of Aristophanes. How could even Plato have endured life-a Greek life he repudiated-without an Aristophanes? (section, 28)

William Bodri does a good job in comparing Eastern vs Western thought/practices in the human science of gaining freedom, peace, liberation, enlightenment or the several other names of this experiential state. He talks about Samadhi and explains that it is just not seculor to practioners in Indian and China. The myths and dogmas that have kept humans in check have also turned us from the internal truths. This is an excellent book and doesn't step on anyone's toes. Williams' straight forward writing style is only second to his keen eye and roaring heart. Anyone interested in cultivation should read this book.

Bodri does an excellent job of discussing Eastern ideas in a way that is easy for Westerners to accept and understand. He uses the case of Socrates as a jumping point into a whole array of Eastern/Buddhist themes, including no-self and emptiness (dependent origination), impermanence, meditation (Samadhi), wisdom (Prajna), and enlightenment. While Bodri is not unique in discussing these topics, his discussion of them is the most useful and appropriate to a western audience. As Bodri points out, there are fundamental differences between the eastern and western approaches; ironically, Bodri takes a western, intellectual approach in criticizing western traditions, and pulls it off quite well. I found Bodri's writing to be much more attuned to my (western) mode of thinking. Bodri is much more understandable, and thus more useful, to the mainstream western audience. Granted, as Bodri would probably admit, intellectualizing about the differences between East and West, as Bodri does, cannot actually lead to wisdom. As he writes, "words are words until they are crystallized into actions." However, by showing the inadequacy of words themselves, Bodri more effectively inspires the reader to take the next step towards enlightenment than any other author I've read.

The Author goes to the root of the western civilization and brings out its long lost jewel - that the truth is NOT "out there", but in our heart. (The same thing can be said for the devil, that is if you believe he exists :) After reading this book, you will see that the original western philosophers and the eastern sages are not that different 2500 years ago. The vast difference we see today is a result of both westerners and easterners losing their roots and getting caught in the dazzling modern civilization. This book also contains insights into religion, philosophy and science. Highly recommended for anyone, no matter where you are from and what you do.

Society has often divided the history of philosophy into Eastern and Western thought. However, in "Socrates and the Enlightenment Path," William Bodri presents a convincing argument that Socrates was one of the rare people to have blended the two genres. Bodri systematically analyzes writings about Socrates and the writings of Eastern philosophy (including those about the Buddha and Confucius) in an attempt to determine whether or not Socrates achieved the highest levels of Eastern philosophy's enlightenment.
Yet, this text is not exclusively about Socrates and his ideas. Rather, it is an informative text on philosophy in general and mankind's search for clarity. Bodri searches many different texts and disciplines to determine that the truly great thinkers of our world have defied the boundaries of East and West to discover the oneness of true reality.