Beck Books

Anyone who enjoys historic maps, particularly of colonial America, will be extremely glad they purchased this book. I have absorbed most of the print off the pages, being careful to leave the innumerable high resolution images in the book for future enjoyment. Many of the maps illustrated are of such rarity that one will rarely, if ever, see them elsewhere.

The book has 5 main sections:
1. Claiming the Land covers 40+ pages; the maps illustrated in this section "tell the story of how Europeans took possession of the land in the New World by royal claims by discovery and exploration, by companies comprised of private investors..., or by wealthy individuals asserting personal holdings. The obvious way... to substantiate ownership [was] by illustrating boundary lines on a chart or map."
2. Maps as Symbolic Objects covers 10 pages includes numerous engravings or portraits from the colonial era in which the subjects are holding or studying maps, or in which maps or globes can be seen in the background.
3. A Selection of Maps from the Colonial Williamsburg Collection is by far the largest section, covering about 268 pages. Just a few of the notable publishers or cartographers works included in this section are Ortelius, de Bry, Smith, Dudley, Senex, Moll, De Brahm, (John) Mitchell, Popple, Fry & Jefferson, Mouzon, Faden...WOW, I guess I shouldn't try to name them all.
4. The Atlas of John Custis, 1698 covers about 80 pages. A very thorough and fascinating history of this remarkable composite atlas is followed by a complete analysis of the 94 maps and charts contained therein.
5. Philip Lea and the Seventeenth-Century Map Trade covers almost 20 pages and provides an overview of the actual "business end" of the map trade in the 17th century, and a detailed look at Lea's business. This is a topic frequently (and unfortunately) overlooked in many historical map related texts.

Are there any flaws? Not really. I did notice that on several occasions the "detail" images of a section of a map offered no better resolution than the full map image. This is more a compliment to the quality of the full map images than an insult to the "details." I believe the author's intent was to draw attention to a particular component of the map with the "detail" images, not necessarily provide "Hubble" resolution.

I have no reservations at all in recommending this book, regardless of how many map books are already on your book shelf. The illustrations alone (I counted 482,185) are justification enough for purchasing the book. But I also found the accompanying text equally fascinating and edifying. Reading the book is not a chore or a bore, yet provides a tremendous educational experience. Oops, I didn't mean to imply that educational books are usually boring, but I guess I did. And no, there aren't really 482,185 illustrations, but there are a boatload, and they are of superb quality. Enjoy the book!

This well-illustrated little book, shorter than many New Yorker profiles, offers some very exciting insights into the nature of Warburg's mature thought through the lens of his earliest scholarly and personal experiences. Exquisite, granular detail about his daily life in Strasbourg and Florence. An essential companion to Roeck's later volume on the Warburg circle in Florence around 1900.

This book is a must have for ww2 fans who like a book with a combo of fast paced action and historical authenticity, that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

While the text dates from more than thirty years ago (1975), this study is so rich in its detail and so deep in its insights into the (many levels of) interaction(s) between 'Civilized' western and 'Wild' exotic cultures, that it will ever remain a classic study in its own right, I believe. But beyond that, it has not lost any of its worth when used as a tool to understand the manyfold and complex workings of the relationships between the 'Other' and the 'Self' from the fifteenth until (roughly) the eighteenth century.
The author follows a generally chronological path from the first ocean-travels onwards until about the eighteenth century. But his main goal is to make us see that colonial history is also - besides being spurred on by economical and political reasons - for a great part about how different peoples with very different cultures and ways of life come together, about the tensions caused by these relationships, and about the efforts to intellectually negotiate these tensions.
The author divides his study into Part One and Part Two, called 'The Overseas Stage' and 'The European Stage'. Each of these Parts are separated into other, different parts, namely, for Part One: 'I. World Experience and World Knowledge', 'II. Europeans and Indigenous Peoples: Forms of Encounter', 'III. Indigenous Peoples visiting Europe', and for Part Two: 'I. The Worldly Wisdom of Enlightened Science', 'II. The Sum of Knowledge', 'III. The Anthropological Discussion' and 'IV. The Overseas Inhabitants as Example and as Chalenge'. (Caveat lector: these English translations of the chapter headings are my own: the book itself is in German.)
Without trying to go into the many often almost overwhelming amount of details in the book, I believe I could here take the (dangerous!) gamble of simply saying (and thereby leaving out too many of the whole plethora of facts and insights!) that this book covers completely, and with staggering erudition, all of the important philosophical and anthropological aspects of the complex relationships between the western Self and the exotic Other. The book explains to us all of the manyfold and intricate ways in which - from the first engagements onwards, and branching out, via all kinds of interaction (practically, between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and intellectually, between European thinkers themselves) - the (idea of the) exotic Other, was 'explained' and given a place within the western intellectual frames of mind throughout the centuries.
This book is truly loaded with information and insights about the relationships - those being 'acted out' as well as those being 'thought out' on the basis of so many different reasons, be they practical or in intellectual - between the 'Civilized' peoples and the 'Wild' peoples as they developed and existed for more than four hundred years from the end of the fifteenth century onwards ... As such, this study is to be treasured as a veritable motherload of information, ideas and knowledge about a very wide and immensely interesting subject, which in a sense - however transformed the relationships between the Self and the Other may have been since then - lost none of its importance as a tool for reflexion about the many (often not so very objective!) ways in which we nowadays think about (the alterity of) the Other. This is one of those books that leaves one humble and truly gasping for breath in front of the enormous knowledge of facts and in front of the intellectual insight displayed. (So: 6 stars, actually.)

This slim volume (printed in German) is packed with illustrations of bronze daggers from the Bronze age to Celtic times.

One not acquainted with these objects with be truly amazing at the forms these daggers took, the many of the bronze age daggers though assembled in a very utilitarian fashion have the appearance of objects coming from another planet. They should be of great interest to the art historian.

All of them are portrayed in line drawings which are incredibly beautiful and are presented in a chronological fashion and through charts that show the evolution of their aesthetic and technology.

Although the book is in German even those who will not even attempt to translate the book I believe will find this book fascinating.

Once again the Praehistorische Bronzefunde series does it again providing up to date information on the artifacts of the cultures of Europe. There are many who have read books on the Celts and the Bronze Age but much of that information is second hand. For those of you who fall into that category I invite you to try the Praehistorische Bronzefunde series as the next step in your education.

For the student of archeology, the Bronze Age and the Celts. This particular volume also makes for a great coffee table book.


Highly recommended

Jim Connell "Hallstatt Prince"

Once again the PBF series does it again in the study of fibulas found in Eastern Europe..

As I had said in a previous review in a book on fibulas they were pins (perhaps the original safety pin) used for both holding clothes together and for decoration.

From some burials we can gather that some decorated themselves very elaborately with fibulas.

Fibulas changed in appearance so much one wonders just how fashion conscious people of the Bronze Age and Celtic times were so the study of fibulas might make for an interesting study in any of those who are interested in the history of trends in fashion.

The title is bit deceiving as the fibulas covered are found in a range from the Balkans to upper Eastern Europe. It shows not only the influence of the movement of the Celts but of trade as many Celtic fibula types were coveted by other cultures of the ancient world.

In typical Praehistoriche Bronzefunde fashion the book is filled with illustrations including a fold out in the back showing a time line through the years from Bronze Age to middle La Tene times and the fibulas that were created during those times. Included as well are illustrations of bronze finds, such as axe heads, found in places where the fibula were found buried.

Very helpful are the numerous maps showing the location of various fibula types.

This book should be of great interest to anyone interested in archeology.

Jim Connell "Hallstatt Prince"

Nothing much ever happens to Digory during his forest walks until one day he finds a dragon's tooth, prompting the village to think he is a dragon slayer. When he's made a knight and sent to search other dragons to slay, Digory finds himself in trouble and out of his depth in this engaging tale.

Dr.Beck was my professor in Bible College. I loved his teaching then, and I still love the teaching he has written in this great book. I have bought 4 of his books so far and given them out to some of my friends. If you are looking for Jesus you will find that in this book many references of Him in the Old Testemant.

Jerry Gentile

Excellent, everything is laid out for you and then some, I ended up buying the whole set. Worth every penny.

William Carey is known as the father of the modern missionary movement. From a self-educated cobbler to a genius in linguistics, his place in missionary history is undisputed. However, the wife he took to India with him did not thrive in this adopted country as William did. She suffered from terrible homesickness, months of disabling dysentary and the death of a child. Within three years of arriving in India, she was suffering with mental illness and she died in India never having recovered her sanity. James Beck has given a facinating picture
of her life.