Benedict Books

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Very nice tool to have to reference many saints. I thought it would include ALL saints up to 2007 but I was mistaken- it is updated, edited up through Benedict XIV. The publishing date is 1897.

I used to live in St. Thomas, and traveled to the other Virgin Islands, as well as Montserrat, St. Kitts, Antigua and St Maarten/ St. Martin. This was far and away the best guide. Despite its scope, the Rough Guide was better at identifying the major attractions and conveying practical information than many of the specific island guides that I came across. It's very well edited.

The only caveat that I'd add is that it does need a bit of an update, especially with respect to departure taxes, taxi fares and Montserrat tours. Still, I couldn't recommend a better guide.

This volume from Ampleforth Abbey Press provides Morning, Evening and Night Prayers in a very simplified form as an introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours. It provides a serious of traditional prayers, stations of the cross, rosary, commendation of the dying, hymns in Latin and English etc.

Morning prayer follows a two week cycle and consists of a prayer, a psalm, a Scriptural reading, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and a concluding prayer. Evening prayer follows a one week cycle in the same pattern. Night prayer is unvarying - a prayer, a psalm, a reading, the Nunc Dimittis a concluding prayer and blessing with an optional antiphon to Mary.

An interesting touch is that each page has, in the position of a footnot, a proverb or statment for reflection.

This volume is exceptionally well printed and easy to use. It serves as an excellent starting point for praying of the psalms and Scripture.

This short and brief book gives a cursory look at the life and times of St. Sharbel. The chapters are very short (some are only a page long or so) but are very inspirational. The writing level and style is far from sophistocated and academic, and is very digestable. A good resource for those interested in the Maronite Rite Catholic Church and our saints.

THIS COLLECTION WERE CHOOSEN FROM THOSE APPEARING IN THE "NEW YORKER" DURING IT'S FIRST 15 1/2 YEARS OF PUBLICATION--FEBRUARY 1925---TO SEPTEMBER 1940.....THE COLLECTION IS A GREAT REVIEW OF SOME OF AMERIC'S GREAT WRITERS IN THE EARY 1900'S, AND DEAL WITH FACT AND FICTION---A WELL CHOSEN COLLECTION AND WORTHY OF STUDY, FOR THE WRITER OF TODAY.. ONE CAN ALWAY'S LEARN FROM THE OLD PROS.

I don't know how I missed knowing about Benedict all these years. She's been an award-winning novelist for two decades but I only just recently discovered her. This was her first novel, nominated for the National Book Award, and it's set during and just after Reagan's election in 1980 -- which seems like the Paleolithic now (Bush having brought us up to perhaps the Neolithic). Lexi Steiner is a New York girl transplanted to Southern California, an ambitious immigration lawyer whose best friend (alter ego, actually) is Nell, a writer. The two of them have followed each other around the country since college, being constantly together, sometimes sharing bedmates, and always telling each other absolutely everything. But at the age of twenty-nine, their shared life as "refugees" is beginning to wear thin; maybe love and caring about someone isn't such a bad idea after all. Then there's David Wiley, semi-fanatical hard-news reporter who's really tired of living in hotels and airports. Lexi and David get together for dinner at just the right moment in both their lives, and you sort of know where things are headed. But first they have to figure out how to be a couple, but it's like slow dancing: You just stand close together and move your feet a little. This is really a well-written story and even in her first novel, Benedict shows great expertise in character development. The unsettling thing is how different the times were in 1980, how "quaint" Lexi's and Nell's sexual adventures seem, how naive David's daughter, Louise, is at twelve and fourteen. It makes you realize just how far the country has backslid in the past decade; I expect high-top shoes and buggy-whips any day now. You forget what "liberal" used to mean, before the Right turned it into a swear-word. Terrific book, though.

A strange invasion is happening in Viriconium. In the wake of an eldritch fog smelling of lemons people are changing; reality is reshaping. This is Harrison's second installment in the Viriconium series, and though it stands alone, reading Pastel City first will increase empathy for several of the characters involved. I am sure this is a book with underlying themes and deep meanings; it read that way. I just don't know what they are. Harrison's writing is beyond me, and maybe that's why I like it so much-it challenges. Storm of Wings showcases unique and unforgettable characters blundering their way through barely explainable events in which most times they are as perplexed as the reader. I wholeheartedly recommend the entire Viriconium series to readers who enjoy bewildering science-fantasy. Harrison does not disappoint.

English explorer Benedict Allen decided sometime in the early 1990's to attempt a crossing by foot of the entire Amazon Basin. Starting his journey high in the Andes, he proceeds to walk, ride, float and, at times run for his life hundreds of miles all the way from Ecuador to the coastal plains of Brazil. Allen has a loose style somewhat reminiscent of Bruce Chatwin, and is refreshingly free of the obsessive need most writers of these types of books have to categorize every single plant, animal and insect he encounters.

Like Chatwin, he is more interested in a little bit of history and the modern people and places he encounters. And he does meet numerous outrageous characters and gets himself into some interesting jams. In fact it's not much of a stretch to say he's probably lucky to be alive. Close scrapes with drug runners, guerillas, lonely homosexuals and just plain crooks are a reoccurring theme here. Allen seems to escape by the skin of his teeth, at times literally with only the clothes on his back.

Armed with his relentless optimism and little else (including, amazingly, a compass) he manages to achieve his goal of meeting and studying with members of an jaguar worshiping Amazonian tribe and using his newly learned skills to navigate the jungle like a native. Altogether an exhilarating read, proof there is still plenty of adventure out there for those who wish to find it.

This little book collects some speeches of then-Cardinal Ratzinger in the late 1980s and early 1990s, concerning what are now obviously some of his key concerns as pope: the continued viability of European culture, and its derangement by a variety of intellectual currents in the past few hundred years.

Ratzinger of course is an intellectual, and believes ideas are important and effect the behavior of individuals and nations in a concrete manner. He focuses not only on Marxism, but also on relativism, science, rationalism, and secularism among other currents. In this respect, his grasp of present affairs much more resembles a modern European Catholic intellectual such as Milosz rather than John Paul II. His take is also somewhat cooler; he sees opportunities in situations some Catholics would dismiss as hopeless. But he also poses broad, provocative questions: is what is now called "terrorism" really a natural outgrowth of post-Enlightenment "intellectual terrorism"? are there good reasons some in Latin America turn to a Marxist rather than a European democratic model? are modern nation-states which reject faith anything more than mass barbarian hordes?

The style is not polemical or preachy, but what one would expect from a dispassionate group of intellectuals in discussion. Ratzinger speaks the Catholic position not in the nature of a sermon but as a necessary ingrediant without which, he maintains, no dialogue worth the meaning of the word can continue.

While obviously not tailored to a mass audience, nor even focusing on an audience of believers, the book obviously sets forth long-held views which the present pope will continue to hold. The book is also rather revealing regarding both his somewhat academic methodology, and his confidence in dialoguing with peers on that level.

I play poker at Foxwoods. I'm glad it exists and that Skip Hayward was successful in his deceptive efforts to build this casino. So I'm biased.
Jeff Benedict does an excellent job of explaining the history of Foxwoods and the tribe that formed it. It is, to be sure, not a complete tale, however, as there are clear gaps in the narrative. The "founder" of Foxwoods, Skip Hayward, clearly has a story to tell about his tribe. It's omission is a glaring one. Benedict explains this by noting that Hayward refused to be interviewed. Even so, I wanted some greater balance in the telling of the tale. It left me curious about the other side of the story.
The bottom line is that Benedict does an excellent job of telling the story of Foxwoods conception that rests dirty and unseen beneath the glitz, the profit and the popularity. he tells it in an engaging and persuasive manner. Now, when I sit for hours playing poker I have something to think about other than the folded cards.

Jeff Benedict, you have done some amazing research in putting your book together. My husband and I, FULL BLOODED NAVAJO INDIANS, even read the bibliography. Completely familiar with government issues, we can see how these non-Indians fell though the cracks to become what they are today. It is embarassing to hear people call themselves American Indian when they are not. Our people have 4 directions, have come through 4 worlds and have 4 sacred mountains, and to that effect, have 4 grandparents contributing to the culture of each of us. Past the 1/4 "blood quantum" one need not be considered a Navajo. The same should be true of all American Indian tribes. If you are 1/16 Indian, you are 15/16 something else. You cannot contribute to our people. You do not know what extreme poverty is like. Your "reservation" is to you a tax-free haven. Whereas ours is also tax free, it is for many a prison of unemployment, alcoholism, abuse and depression. I am not saying that you need to experience these things to be an American Indian, but you do need to understand what many of us come from and live through. I implore Congress to look into the geneology of these people. If these "Pequots" have made a false claim, I hope that they are made to return what they have wrongfully taken.

An absolute tour de force!!

If you really want to see how "our" government really works, you owe it to yourself to read Mr. Benedict's book.

An historical account, full of details and documentation, of how a number of imposters, steadfastly supported by negligent and naive legilators and judges were able to create an enterprise that just boggles the mind.

I dare anyone to read this book and walk away with anything but disgust over how State and Federal governments operate. I defy anyone to believe that the Ledyard Pequots have any right to claim they are a tribe, based on clear criteria described by the Federal Government but never applied in this case.

Kudos to Mr. Benedict on this masterpiece.

As a writer I was at Foxwoods on that day in February '92 when they opened their doors, covering the event for WIN Magazine. As a poker player living an hour away I have been there countless times since. I thought I knew more than most people do about Foxwoods, but this book opened my eyes quite a bit. Is it all true? Or even largely true? I will wait until another "tell all" surfaces to decide. In the meantime this is a fascinating read about an incredible happening, both in gambling and in government. If Benedict writes a sequal, or a new edition of the original, I would appreciate better documentation . . . particularly where he quotes people or tells us what they are "thinking".

When I tell people I live 25 miles from the worlds largest casino they think I must live in NJ or Nevada. No. Right here is Connecticut the Pequot nation has built a facility that is really hard to believe.

This beautiful structure seeps out of the earth and towers over the surrounding hills. It is pretty. It is unique. It is a smashing success. But everyone in CT wondered and now everyone everywhere wonders if this business is legit or not. Jeff Benedict has certainly planted a seed of doubt in this book.

Although much of the book is bogged down with more details than you may want to know the basics are pretty easy to understand. Are they really Indians? Do they deserve what they have? Can it happen in other places? Who knows.

The Mashantucket Pequot tribe has a reservation of some 2000 acres. Twenty years ago this area was woods. But can a group of self proclaimed Indians claim this area and build what has become the largest casino in the world? Yes because they did it. But how it happened will probably infuriate you. A collection of screw ups, political favors, politicians with no sense of ethics and fear of turning down yet another minority group finally got the Pequots what they want.

Read this and other books about Ledyard CT to be totally disillusioned with government on a local and federal level.