Ferguson Books

As a journalism student, and with my school celebrating Lincoln's 200th birthday, this book proved to be a lot of fun. I recommend for any Lincoln enthusiast!

"Land of Lincoln" takes the reader on an entertaining journey in pursuit of the Long Shadow of Long Abe. This book is about the influence of Lincoln's Legacy on individual Americans.

With Author Andrew Ferguson, the reader visits Lincoln, people, places and things from a controversial new statue in Richmond, Virginia to a collector in California. Chapter by chapter we visit Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Abraham Lincoln Association, The Lincoln Forum, Lincoln Personators, collectors, business workshop facilitators, Springfield, Indiana and Hodgenville, Kentucky and many other places and people. Individuals such as Collector Louise Taper and Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams, for whom Lincoln seems to be a life role model, leave the reader in awe of their single-minded pursuit of Lincoln. Ferguson does an excellent job in explaining how the treatment of Lincoln has changed over the years, with special emphasis on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Ferguson writes in a tongue in cheek manner which adds humor to a work which is both entertaining and educational. As a boy in Illinois who grew up to be an Illinois lawyer, I have a fairly good familiarity with Lincoln, but I learned many things about his life and legacy. I did not know what to expect when I started this book, but enjoyed it from start to finish. I listened to parts dealing with Springfield and Central Illinois while driving through those areas. Ferguson's descriptions of family trips through Lincoln Land sound very familiar. I am glad that even professional historians have problems with less interested children, as do I. As he talked about taking his family through the same sites that he had visited with his parents I felt the satisfaction of having done the same. This book is a treat for anyone who grew up in the shadow of Lincoln, who visits his sites or who lives in the nation which he shaped.

I consider myself a Lincoln Buff that's still learning. I've lived in Illinois all my life and I've been down to Springfield several times in my 24 years. So when I was looking for a book that would solve my yearning for a book about Abraham Lincoln, I chose this one. Andrew Ferguson wrote a funny book about Lincoln in today's world and where he stands. But Lincoln means so many things to so many different people it's impossible to pin him down. Reading this book, I found out things that I didn't know, like that there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln and singer Perry Como in Gettysburg. Or that there was a Lincoln Heritage Trail.

Andrew Ferguson traveled all around the States viewing different ways the Lincoln name and legacy is being used today. He visited the woman who holds a lot of the Lincoln items, Louise Taper. Quite a few of her items are on loan to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Musuem and being there twice I can recall seeing her name there. He also visits the musuem before it opened, a meeting of Lincoln presenters, Lincoln haters, and a business workshop that uses Lincoln as its model. He also takes his family to Springfield, Indiana, and Kentucky to visit places that Lincoln lived before he was President. My absolute favorite part of the book came in the Postscript. It's a story of a man who works in the Springfield Hilton and someone who came to visit there. I won't give away the story but I thought it was beautiful and a great way to finish the book.

Overall, I thought the book was great. I did feel, though, that Mr. Ferguson had a slight negative view wherever he visited. It came across as jaded, maybe. He seemed to have a problem with at least one thing at each sight that he visited. Not every Lincoln sight is going to please everyone. He seems to take offense on what the musuem is. I personally think that the musuem is fantastic. I can see that maybe it's not to everyone's taste but I think it's still serving a great purpose. And with the Lincoln home in Springfield, I've never seen what it was like before it was owned by the Park Service so I can't comment on which is better. But I still think that the book was pretty good and it shouldn't be a book that a Lincoln buff or anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln should pass up.

This is a fun to book to read. Beyond that, it's hard to describe just what it is - part history, part travelogue, part research essay, part meditation. But it is this breezy back and forth that gives the book its strength. Ferguson's writing style is loose, anecdotal, engaging,and graceful. (His chapters on travelling with his teenage children will ring especially true to any history buff who has bribed their children to too many historical sights.) Think along the lines of Bill Bryson.

An easy recommend.

Where's Lincoln to be found these days? What shape is he in? What difference does it make? Andrew Ferguson's dormant interest and affection for the great man was shaken awake when the Richmond Sons of Confederate Soldiers went into public opposition of a new Lincoln statue to be unveiled. Sure, Richmond had been the Confederate capital, but how could anybody be against that in 2007? He set off to find out, and the resulting travelogue makes for one of the most interesting, enlightening and hilarious Lincoln reads in years.

There must be 100 portraits in here of all species of Lincoln people. Lincoln lovers, Lincoln haters, Lincoln cynics, Lincoln imitators, collectors, docents, committee people, statue people, and so on. The variety is no surprise. Lincoln was the quintessential American, and, love him or hate him, his story is forever bound up in the meaning of America. If the story of America is human nature set free, one can hardly wonder 140+ years after his death that many in this commercial republic would come to see Lincoln as brand name, as franchise, as business guru, as kitsch-slinger, and as reflection of ordinary screwballs who fancy that Lincoln was as common as they. Ferguson's character vignettes of these various Lincoln (and Mary) people are sometimes as short as a single sentence, but they're often laugh out loud funny. It seems the more attenuated a particular Lincoln purveyor's connection was to the real thing, the funnier--and more rapier-like was Ferguson's description. Ferguson was more than an honest Seeker here.:)

So, is there any real Lincoln left? Is he more than an eBay heading or a Disneyfied wax figure or another good reason for a sale? Ferguson had to search hard, but I think he found that the tablets are being handed down. Maybe in bits and pieces, and probably to fewer than before. And to whom, that can be surprising... two of the most endearing subjects in the book, the two who seemed to "get" Lincoln the most, were foreign born. One was a Thai couple who discerned that Lincoln was America's great man (and Jewish, to boot), and who honored him by setting out a fresh porkless meal daily in their restaurant in an Arab neighborhood in Chicago. And the other was a very old Czechoslovakian man on death's doorstep who travelled all the way to Springfield to honor Lincoln at his burial shrine. One supposes, though, that even the Lincoln jugglers and the clowns are somehow a little better off for the association. And isn't that something? That despite being chopped, sliced, diced, scrambled and pressed into a thousand understandings and uses, Lincoln still makes the world a better place?

Underneath the humor, this is a serious Lincoln book and a trenchant commentary on America's understanding of itself. I'll read it again, and I hope it gets a prize.

Excellent not only for his first book but I found it to be much more suspenceful then afew books by authors that have written books about the crazy killers a must read for any ony who like major suspence, a warning I finished it is 3 1/2 days in was that much of a nail bitter. So be prepaired to read late into the night.

This novel, despite some slow parts, was defintely a good read. In fact, I finished it in one day. It had interesting plot twists, even if they were a little unbelievable, and and I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what would happen next. My main criticism would be the elaborate descriptions of locations and the detailed history lessons, none of which I found interesting. I found it difficult to get thru those parts of the novel but I would say the rest was an interesting read even if it was a little over the top. We read books for their entertainment value so I can excuse a plot that is a little far fetched....it's what makes the novel fun. So while there are some slow parts and while the novel is a little ridiculous overall I would still recommend you give it a read. It's fun and entertaining and the end is worth the wait!!!

I can't even describe anything in this book because it's all shock after shock after shock. Full of surprises!

Be prepared though to not get anything done until you've finished this book because you won't stop turning pages, mystified and biting your nails!

Get this book!

Excellent not only for his first book but I found it to be much more suspenceful then afew books by authors that have written books about the crazy killers a must read for any ony who like major suspence, a warning I finished it is 3 1/2 days in was that much of a nail bitter. So be prepaired to read late into the night.

If the movie gods are paying attention, this twisted psychological thriller will soon be at a theater near you.
Fergusson is masterful at eliciting rich visuals from the printed word in a style best described as literary while weaving a sinuous story that draws you deep into the dank recesses of the perverse human psyche. I was as lured in and trapped by the writing in this novel as Bobby Cage was in the horrifying cage sequences. Fergusson snags you on the very first page and takes you on the convoluted psychological journey of two characters, each undergoing their own metamorphosis, a fascinating process to witness, and one so far from ordinary experience that it is freakishly captivating.
I understand that this novel is Fergusson's debut in suspense. Extraordinary. I can't wait for his next one. And the next.

As someone who's delved into the archeological aspects of the Book of Mormon, I've seen the steady increase of evidence relating to the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerica. When I first joined the church in 1971, there was some intriguing evidence from the Old World supporting the Book of Mormon, but virtually no evidence in the New World, except for scattered legends of a bearded white god who appeared and promised one day to return, and various other legends paralleling the stories in the Old Testament. I read Stan Larson's first book (written with Elder Hunter), and it was little more than a puff piece. Since that time, much has been learned about Mesoamerica, and it fits the Book of Mormon remarkably well (see John L. Lund's MESOAMERICA AND THE BOOK OF MORMON and the JOURNEY OF FAITH videos, which are incredibly well done and documented (they may be available on YouTube). As it is, there's no shortage in the world of disaffected Mormons (and disaffected Catholics, Baptists and politicians). What's really astounding is to see one reviewer here state: "According to the Book of Mormon, the people involved in these migrations established huge civilizations that stretched from sea to sea. They wrote extensively using Hebrew and Egyptian, domesticated horses and cattle, cultivated many Old World plants, traveled in chariots, and smelted many metals, including iron and steel." Such a distorted view either stems from gross ignorance or an intentional attempt to misdirect. For up-to-date developments on Mesoamerican research, check out the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS). Larson's book is hopelessly misleading, but if he still has an open mind, I recommend he take a longer, harder look at what he has concluded.

I found the book quite a boring retelling of one mans (Thomas Stuart Ferguson) faltering faith. A faith which he based on inaccurate data to begin with. It seems that his faith was about as strong as ... well it wasn't very strong at all it seems ...

I was floored to see a man (Dr. Stan Larson) with a PHD from Burmhingham University, writing this kind of book - one would think that there would be much more worth-while topics to not only spend your time, but also your money on. Fortunately I did not have to spend my money on this book - I received it as a complementary copy from the author himself - had the greatest time shredding it - do you know that a really big shredder can gobble nearly 50 pages at a time? That bit of information ranks right up there with the best of what this book has to offer.

A dissappointing read.

Stan Larson does a masterful job telling the fascinating story of Thomas Stewart Ferguson.

When the "Book of Abraham" papyri translated by Joseph Smith came to light in the 1960s, Thomas Stewart Ferguson, the great defender of the Book of Mormon, sent copies of the papyri to four experts in ancient Egyptian writing. He did not tell them he was a Mormon or that the papyri had anything to do with Mormonism. Here is what Ferguson concluded:

"Since four scholars, who have established that they can read Egyptian, say that the manuscripts deal with neither Abraham nor Joseph--and since the four reputable men tell us exactly what the manuscripts do say--I must conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian--hieroglyphics."

Before he lost his faith, Ferguson wrote "One Fold and One Shepherd"(Books of California, San Francisco, 1958), a display of bogus or equivocal archaeological "evidence" for the Book of Mormon. Ferguson, who died a non-believer, would never know that his earlier book would be resurrected in a most disreputable way.

Four years after Ferguson died, an edited edition of his book was published under the title "The Messiah in Ancient America" (Book of Mormon Research Foundation, Provo, Utah 1987).

When Dr. Paul R. Cheesman of BYU wrote the forward, he had no shame and did not even mention Ferguson's loss of faith. Dr. Cheesman said, "(This) book should reinstate Thomas Stuart Ferguson as a source of enrichment in the fields of study concerning Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon."

The reader unfamiliar with Ferguson's loss of faith would never know the significance of the word "reinstate." Those who did could only shake their heads in dismay, wondering why reinstatement was necessary if Ferguson died a believer?

See my review of Cheesman's "These Early Americans" for more examples of Cheesman's dishonorable "scholarship." Click here: THESE EARLY AMERICANS External Evidence of the Book of Mormon

There are many recent examples of "Lying for the Lord." See "By the Hand of Mormon," by Terryl L. Givens. Click here: By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion

See my reviews of books by Hugh Nibley and John L. Sorenson. Click here:
Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 5) Since Cumorah: The Book of Mormon in the modern world
An Approach to the Book of Mormon (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 6)

Especially see my review of "Echoes and Evidences for the Book of Mormon," a recent classic example of lying for the Lord. Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon

See my one-star reviews of Books by Mormon authors and my listmania reviews.

Your commments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks.

This book by Stan Larson does present an interesting story of Ferguson, a lawyer who had a hobby in archaeology. However, Ferguson was nothing more than that - a hobbyist in archaeology. Indeed, his historical and archaeological method would make many of those trained in these areas blush. Indeed, his cointribution to the Book of Mormon was minimal, if any, even when he did write favourably for its antiquity, such as the errant books, full of errata, he did with Bruce Warren.

The real "meat" of the book lies in the so-called archaeological tests for the Book of Mormon. However, Ferguson's tests are often times ignorant of the Book of Mormon, are contradicted by modern scholarship, and even ethnocentric. FOr example, bellows are mentioned as an anachronism in the Book of Mormon. However, bellows are only mentioned in an Old World context, not a New World context, in Bountiful (probably Wadi Sayq in Oman) in 1 Nephi 17. Bellows have been found in areas in the Old World pre-dating the Book of Mormon volume, so any charge of such representing an anachronism is a non sequitur.

Furthermore, "grapes" are mentioned as an anachronism. However, types of grapes have been known to be native to ancient Mesoamerica, as botanists have noted, and are referred to as "vitis." Again, the mention of grapes in the Book of Mormon is errant.

Much more could be said about the mistakes contained in this text. I would suggest one to read John L Sorenson, "An ancient American setting for the Book of Mormon" (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Books, 1985), as it deals well with the issue of Book of Mormon material culture, and in an even more scholarly manner than Larson does in this text, as did Ferguson who he cites.

I welcome sincere feedback at Robert.S.Boylan@nuim.ie

Ferguson was a broken man when he died. He searched for decades for any eveidence that would confirm the Book of Mormon. All he got was heart ache. There is no evidence for Joe Smith's Book of Mormon, because it only exsited in Joe Smith's mind. In the end Mr. Ferguson was left to say " Joseph Smith, I hate that Phoney Bastard". The Mormon Church once gave vast amounts of cash to search for any evidence to substantiate the Book of Mormon. Now all they are left with is a void of facts that never will substantiate anything claimed by Joe Smith and his "modern revelation", the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has been proven to be a complete fraud, nothing more than a work of 19th century religious fiction that eminated from Joe Smith and probably a few other conspiritors.

I WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH THIS BOOK I ORDERED ONE FOR A FRIEND WHO IS AN AUSTRALIAN DESIGNER.SHE IS OVERJOYED WITH IT AND STATES THAT THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PAGE THAT SHE DIDNT FIND FASCINATING AND I CAN ASSURE YOU SHE IS A VERY DISCERNING PERSON SO FOR THAT SORT OF ACCOLADE THE HIGH STANDARD OF THIS BOOK IS VERIFIED

I love having the chance to learn from the best, which is what I get with such great books as this one . Thank you Amazon Books..........

Bunny Williams has a great eye and this book is chalk full of great photos. Great inspiration for any designer.

Once I knew that Bunny Willams would be coming out with this book, I had no doubt that I would buy it. I proudly own and display both of her other books and find myself looking through each of them again and again. I happened to be in the library and noticed Point Of View there, so I decided to check it out before ordering from Amazon. It was sheer luck that I was able to look through and read this book before purchasing it! I so wanted to like this book but it was very disappointing to me. There is nothing, and I mean nothing practical in any of the pages of this book. I love to shop and feel that I have a beautiful and well loved home, but the houses in this book were beyond inspirational. It smacked of affluence at it's most over the top and displayed excessive consumtion of any object to fill every single table, space, etc. I found the rooms to be over-decorated even knowing and appreciating Ms. Williams style. I didn't see room on any of the tables to even put a cup of coffee! The rooms lacked any editing and there was much too much everywhere! The houses appeared to be enormous by any standard and crammed full of "stuff". Who could possibly be inspired to create several seating areas in one room to seat 8 people in each grouping. Come on! Way too much money sometimes equals absolutely no restraint.

What I did like was the writing. I also enjoyed the rooms which showed a television in them because so often these remain hidden. The reality is that everyone watches some TV. An Affair with a House was hard to top, I'll say that as well. Bunny and John's style seemed more personal there and the adorable pups in all the pictures were heart warming.

I wanted to like this book, darn it. But I didn't. Please look before purchasing. Sorry.

Bunny Williams is a significant figure in the realm of interior design, a distinguished apostle of a style that she learned from Sister Parish; and Williams' prior book AN AFFAIR WITH A HOUSE was tremendously inspirational to homeowners of both the aristocracy and the bourgeousie. Much was expected of this new book POINT OF VIEW, and while there are things to be learned from a close reading of the text, the dark photographs detract and indeed render the book less significant than it could have been.

-E.P. League

The only index for this book that is viewable online is the index of a previous edition. Maybe the indexs are the same, but I bought the wrong edition because of the index confusion.

I got my book dirt cheap and fast and in excellent condition. Can't want more than that!!!!!

Chances are you're buying this book for a class. So what. READ IT. ENJOY IT. The editors of Norton have done the hard work for you--they've sifted through thousands and thousands and thousands of poems and found the ones that are the most moving, profound, revolutionary, intelligent, touching, startling, unique, and ground-breaking. All you have to do is READ THEM.
And let's say that you fancy yourself as someone who "just doesn't get poetry." Fear not, once you've gone through this book you will "get" poetry. It will be under your skin, in your heart, in your mind. Relax.

It's required for a lot of college classes and then becomes a good bookshelf book.

This anthology is great - but be aware that this is the shorter fifth edition of the Norton Anthology of Poetry. I haven't looked at the two fifth editions closely to compare them, but if you are buying this for a class (or for personal enjoyment), just be aware, it's the SHORTER edition.

I am a mom of a large family, and I love this cookbook.The recipes are **great**,I also like the stories (and the history of some of the dishes) that come with the recipes.These are Down Home Style recipes that use things we have on hand in our kitchens and pantries.All the recipes I have tried in this book have turned out well, and my family loved them.GREAT Southern Soul Food Cookbook.My Grandma taught me how to cook and some of these remind me of her recipes (of course none were ever wrote down, she knew what to put in them though, and how much). Enjoy!!

I use this book all the time. The author infuses authentic soul food recipes with tales of her and our rich cultural heritage. From sumptuous buttermilk biscuits to delicious sweet potatoe pie, the recipes are easy to follow. Every recipe I've made in this book has turned out delicious. This is also a great gift for newlyweds.

I don't like this book at all because the recipes are not good at all.

This book was full of food that if you eat on a regular will probable cause heart problems, high blood pressure and high colestoral. Let find a better way to eat black people.We are not slaves any more we have options.

A delightful book full of delicious recipes with clear instructions, family histories and a whole new vocabulary of odd expressions and descriptions of food. I also bought the more famous "Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook" (Sylvia has a famous restaurant in New York), but I actually prefer this one slightly more, although both are absolutely wonderful. Sylvia's book is larger, more colourful and has more photos than this unassuming book by Sheila Ferguson, but the recipes for both books are just as mouth-watering; Sheila's book has a delicious recipe for "Red Devil's Food Cake" and Sylvia has a similar one called "Red Velvet Cake", for example. It's just that "Soul Food" by Ms. Ferguson has a few more unusual and unknown recipes in it, like her recipe for "Fergy's Fried Chicken". Most of the recipes look delicious and it all depends on the skill of the cook attempting these gems I guess, but I think both books are great references on this style of cooking and both are equally perfect. I would just be more likely to give Sylvia's cookbook as a gift because it is more elegant and I'd probably keep "Soul Food" for myself. No, come to think of it, I'd keep both.

believe me, for this exam you don't need any book, especially this book, as long as you had some basic aknowledge on database theory. this book is too heavy and useless. the trescender is VERY GOOD!

This book not only covers what you'd need to know for the exam, but puts an emphasis on 'learning' the material. Its case study approach for every few chapters really tests the readers' understanding of what is covered.

The book would go through a concept or two, and puts the focus back on the case study and how the concept applies there.
Tip : Try to come up with the application of the concept on the current case study before reading the actual concept application section.

I hadn't come across this book until this past year, and I wish I had it earlier. It sits on my shelf where it will be helpful now and in the future. Thank you, Cornish, et al.

No cert book hits the nail on the head for 100% of the questions or covers all the material covered by the cert test, but this book does a fairly good job.
Additionally this book is does a great job of presenting how software design SHOULD go. (But never does) Anyway, great for newbies to IT and a general ref. and review for the more experienced. Kinda dry in spots for the experienced developer.
Bright spot is the test on CD that comes with the book. EXCELLENT practice exam. Every bit as useful for review as the ones I pony up cash dollars for.

As a MCP who's completed 70-100 I can wholeheartedly recommend you buy this book as an (excellent) primer into the world of Solution development. Wonderful cases and exercises make this book worth your time (if not for the sake of the exam). It also has a good sense of humor and doesn't bore you to death with facts (unlike some MS Press books I could name) Anyways, my recommendations are that you study the exam (with this book) and then forget all there is to know about it. Then, focus on Chapter 10. It is the ONLY chapter you will need. The rest is irrelevant (if somewhat useful) exam preperation material. I advise you acquire a Transcender demo so that you acquaint yourself with the special way you are tested. Don't worry the built-in Exam Gear software is fabulous and will show you how to use the exam software. All in all from a technical standpoint this book deserves a C+.

One more thing, do not buy the MS Press 70-100 exam preparation book, it has nothing, NOTHING to do with this exam.

What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?

He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He does not bring up the 1776 Masonic Illuminati order of Adam Weishaupt with alleged connections to Mayer Amschel. And he dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are 19th, 20th, and 21st century Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.

According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.

Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?

Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.

It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".

Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?

the book had some good pictures, however prof Ferguson not once, but on numerous occasions, claims to refute the story of how Nathan brilliantly deceived the London Stock Exchange players after the battle of Waterloo, earning $40 billion (2007 prices) in one day. A bit jealous I suppose.

Verdict: Ignore the anti-semitic propaganda and the book is worth a look.

[Also see: Fritz Springmeier's Bloodlines of the
Illuminati]. Ferguson, who teaches at a Northea-
stern University in the US, did yeoman work here
on at least defusing some of conspiracy talk about
how fools like Bernard Piper-Collins claim Roths-
childs alledgedly control ALL things.The Rothschilds
never ran the bank of England, the gentile Baring
Bros. did. They are however a very corrupt family.
Author Ferguson did excellent work here.

Those who already know Niall Ferguson do not need any praise for the books he writes: a few years ago I chanced to read his excellent "The Cash Nexus" and this led me to "The Pity of War" and finally to "The House of Rothschild".

Ferguson is a scholar who loves challenges: not just challenging arguments, but also challenges in the sheer volume of sources and research, and finally challenges to the reader in presenting controversial theses (I think specially of those advanced brilliantly, and contentiously, in "The Pity of War" - see my review if interested).

This last effort is mainly an attempt to unveil the Rothschild mythology, restoring an historically accurate perspective both of the family saga and of the banking and financial European history from 1798 to 1848.

The book is a masterpiece for many reasons: not just story of a family (circumscribed to the male members), not just story of a great banking institution in the past two centuries, but also comprehensive financial history of the first half of XIX century... "a rich and nuanced portrait" as the book leaflet reads - that reveals and hides, but also creates an appealing and fascinated image of those turbulent years.
So, it can appeal the history buff, and all those readers interested in financial history (and speculative bubbles) as well as those interested in biography and cultural history.

The essay definitely has also - obviously maybe - a literary dimension: because in describing the five brothers Ferguson uses those same "colors" used by contemporaries, a literary dimension that cannot but appeal and enrich the more serious economic investigation: for Nathan the "meteoric" larger than life Napoleon-like image (passion for risk, high stakes on the table and the ruthlessness of a general), for James that richly colored literary portrait (full of mid-tones) we have been used by writers like Balzac, Zola and Stendhal (the mix of secretiveness and candid frankness, detachment and savoir vivre), for the others three brothers the age-old mythologies of Midas and the wandering Jew (specially in the portrait of the German and Austrian branch: they seem consciously prisoners of the Jewish stereotype in their inability to enjoy life and relax).

Every reader interested in the story of the House of Rothschild want to know the why and how a middle class Jewish family confined in the Frankfurt ghetto was able in just one generation to become the richest family in the world.
Ferguson's study is very good in the pars destruens, that is in taking down and unveiling the old mythologies (like the Waterloo myth, or the Hesse Kassel myth), less good in the pars construens that is substituting a coherent explanation. The surviving accounts are of course too tiny to cast light, and the accounting techniques used by the family in the early days too backward to be critically useful.
So the impression is that of an unending race over speed limits, a sheer willingness to accept often uncalculated risks and to play for the highest stakes and at the same time an impressive luck (or God's favor) that stuck contemporaries (always expecting the meteoric rise of Nathan to end like the parallel story of Napoleon).
So was their preeminence produced only by chance?
Yes and no. Chance - according to Ferguson - played a striking role in the early stages - the building up, but consolidation and enlargement were due to specific attitudes of the family: solidarity between brothers, their informative network, their ability in cultivating diplomacy and - not least - to the fact that the family systematically reinvested in the business about 96percent of the net income produced (unlike - say - the Barings brothers, that in 1816 had almost the same size)

The book will be also hugely helpful to readers interested in European history, casting a different - unusual to most readers - light in the inner mechanism of the early XIX century European politics.
As for the nature of the Restoration, often liquidated by historians as a narrow and backward attempt to turn back the clock to pre-revolutionary times, Ferguson shows how different in reality was this period from the Ancien Regime and how the seeds of modernity were well present and working: the sheer preference of the banking institution for financing representative-backed monarchies, the consolidation in Jewish emancipation all over Europe, but also the frailty of arch-conservative governments (not just the case of Spain, but also of the Holy Alliance) compared to more pragmatic approaches.
A rather under-developed theme is the rise of modern anti-Semitism: Ferguson - unlike most scholars - indicates the first traces in France well before the Affaire Dreyfus and hints how the irresistible rise of the Rothschild family (with their devotion to Judaism) was very instrumental in consolidating anti-Jewish mythologies (out of a sense of envy but also perceived in France especially as a alien "evil" power).

As a reader interested also in financial themes, I was truly fascinated by those chapters dedicated to the bond and stock markets, particularly those regarding the default of Spanish and Portuguese consols.
The Rothschild were the first bankers to export the financial facilities, long enjoyed in Great Britain, to Continental Europe and were decisive in creating a retail market for bonds and stocks.
But the most interesting part is the one dealing with financial speculation, bubbles and defaults. Most remarkable is the feeling of a déjà vue: if you substitute Spain and Portugal with Argentina, you will observe striking similarities both in price, negotiations and very likely in the final outcome. Nihil sub sole novi, or at least it seems so.

This is a book I greatly enjoyed.
I cannot but recommend it to every reader interested in serious history.
That is not to say that it is perfect: I was - as many other reviewers - incensed by the lack of bibliography (shame on Penguin), but on the average it is an outstanding achievement.

Likewise, if you happen to be interested in the argument, you may be interested in other works I chanced to read about the same themes:
- Muhlstein, Anhka - "James de Rothschild", this is a book I read long time ago, but it was more a biography in the classical way and as far as I remember, I found it rather inconsequential
- Chancellor, Edward - "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" - a colorful and well-informed essay focusing specially on the XIX century. There are chapters dedicated to defaulting bonds in the XIX century as well as to the railway stocks bubble in the United Kingdom.
- Conor Cruise O'Brien - "The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism". I have many works dedicated to Sionism and Judaism, but this is the most concise and clear exposition of the birth of anti-Semitism in Western Europe in late XIX century.

You are most welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
Thanks for reading.

I have to start out by saying overall I enjoyed the book but I would only rate it as an average book. It is a little too detailed and didn't keep my interest from one chapter to the next. It would have been better if it left out 150 pages or so. I found myself doing a lot of skiming over what I would say was boring filler in the book. You can learn a lot about the type of business that that Rothschilds were in but not a lot of how they went about doing it.

After reading this it seems that the Rothschilds were in the business of making large loans to governments and then packaging these loans as bonds and selling them to the public. They were as much bond and commodity traders as they were bankers, which I found interesting. There are numerous quotes from letters written back and forth between family members that will give you a sense of their personalities. The family history is very detailed so if this is the kind of thing you are interested in then you will probably enjoy the book more then I did.

Niall Ferguson is a professor of political and financial history who has written other well-received, albeit controversial, books. My feeling after reading this book was rather mixed.

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This, I think, is where things become more complicated than the book suggests. Did England found the Bank of England and establish the other institutions that allowed the United Kingdom to become the global hegemon in order to become a global hegemon? Or did Parliament and the Bank of England etc. arise to meet other needs, and prove far more useful than originally foreseen? I strongly believe the latter to be true: Britain, as an island nation, had no neighbors, and was an (after 1066) invasion-proof distance from France. These factors almost certainly allowed the United Kingdom to generate a merchant class far more influential than its counterparts on the continent, engage in more maritime trade, and devote less to military spending than did land-locked nations that faced war at any time. In time, this merchant class, and the practice of dividing risks and participating in syndicates to conduct foreign trade almost certainly led to the culture and institutions that led to the Bank of England. Of course, if the Bank of England and the like did not arise as much from conscious policy decisions as from circumstances, it would seem more expedient to focus on the circumstances that led to the BofE and Britain's broad and deep credit markets, rather than on arcane policy decisions.

The rest of the book is an exhaustively documented look at the relationship between the health of various states and various financial indicators, such as debt, the presence of the gold standard, unemployment and the like. Some of the ideas may be provocative to some, but are very well-founded, and well worth reading, others less so. They are, however, not presented in a focused manner, and many of them are more advanced as "working hypotheses" than exhaustively proven. I believe that case studies examining multiple variables would have been more informative than attempts to reduce complex situations to a single variable.

Somewhat jarring is that some of the Ferguson's facts are wrong: in Chapter 12 he suggests that Switzerland succumbed to the Nazi tide, three pages later we learn that the opposite happened. To emphasize the importance of bullion he goes into the details of the movie based on Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger," but gets them wrong: the idea was not to sneak off with Fort Knox's gold - a logistical impossibility - but rather to render it radioactive and hence untradeable. At least one somewhat complicated book that Ferguson endorses is so flawed that its own author has repudiated it; this shouldn't happen in a polemic whose credibility is based on the author's ability to get his facts straight.

To sum up, parts of this book are quite interesting and stimulating, other parts less so. Having read this book, I personally would not choose to read it again.

This book is a fascinating read for everyone who is interested in the application of economic theory to world history. Reviewing and rejecting economic determinist theories like marxism, the political business cycle and imperial overstretch, Ferguson advances his own argument. It is war that brought us modern finance, bureaucracy and democracy. The outcome of war cannot be predicted with accuracy, but the nation that can finance it at least costs has a comparative advantage. Ferguson skillfully applies modern expectations theory to his historical account. He argues that military hegemony can spread good institutions around the globe as happened under British rule. You can disagree with his plea for benevolent imperialism in an age in which nations want to determine their own future. Moreover, it is questionable whether war `pays', since the costs of war exceeded revenues in most cases as Ferguson points out. But, this did not stop nations and groups from waging war.

I originally picked up this book to see how Ferguson's economic views relate to his views of imperialism (Colossus, and Empire). What I discovered was little different than I expected; that the burden of warfare and imperialism on national treasuries in Europe actually HELPED to develop today's financial systems. This financial system (i.e. the bond market) gave these powers, such as Britain, the ability to extend their power, resulting in world supremacy. In putting forth this theory, he seems to overlook, or at least withhold, alternative ways that the financial sector developed.

With viewpoints and summaries aside, the book was a laborious read. It does, of course, cater to the reader interested in economics, but it is hardly a popular read that the average layperson would want to pick up. Yet while his economic theories - and history - are masked in complicated research and developed theories, the suggested agenda is less objective: it sends the message that overstretch is a myth, that warfare is not totally negative, and that world supremacy depends on a flexible financial apparatus. These implications, certainly, are open to debate, and as the opener to this angle of the debate, it is valuable.

Niall Ferguson has written an excellent book from a generally objective point of view full of intriguing arguments backed up by extensive statistical analysis. The part that seems to have received the most attention is his discussion of great power "overstretch" and it is the part that also caught my attention especially since I read it with the benefit of hindsight.

He wrote this book in the year 2000, just before 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. In the last chapter of his book he argues that great powers do not fail because they are overstretched but rather because they are overly reluctant to wield their enormous power.

He says that "there is no economic argument against" a policy to establish democratic institutions where they are lacking even if "by military force" since it would not be "prohibitively costly." In particular, he mentions the desirablity to violently overthrow Saddam Hussein using the war against Germany and Japan and our subsequent successful imposition of democratic institutions on these two countries as examples in support of his thesis.

His final sentence is this: "Perhaps that is the greatest disappointment facing the world in the twenty-first century: that the leaders of the one state with the economic resouces to make the world a better place lack the guts to do it." Meaning the use of military intervention where needed.

Judging from what happened after Ferguson's book was published, someone in the future Bush administration must have read it.

When we invaded Iraq, we showed the world that we have the guts but the results have been morally and economically dismal. The invasion has certainly been and continues to be very costly and we seem to be in cul-de-sac from which there is no good way out. And Iraq is not the world. It was just one country among many in dire need of radical transformation.

One point Ferguson seems to have missed is that all countries are not like Germany and Japan.

Are our problems in Iraq because the idea of an invasion was good but the execution was incompetent; or was it a bad idea to begin with; or is it actually going well? Is this feeling of "overstretch" just an illusion?

I, for one, would certainly like to hear what the author has to say now that six years have passed.

It would be a mistake to emphasize the word "cash" in this book's ambivalent title without giving equal weight to the word that follows, "nexus." A nexus is the bond between two disparate things and, indeed, this is a book about the intersection of power and money. Its thesis, to the frustration of economic determinists everywhere, is that while money matters, other things matter more, at least when it comes to the cultural chessboard of international politics. One might quibble that author Niall Ferguson underemphasizes the extent to which competition for economically vital scarce resources leads to war. The other caveat is that he refers to the U.S.'s reluctance to go to war with a pre-Iraq state of mind. Yet, the author is an accomplished historian who capably supports his arguments. He manages overall to portray economic history in all its rich nuance, detail and complexity. His premise that war, not economics or politics, is the great engine that has driven the evolution of the modern welfare state is as enlightening as it is chilling. We highly recommend this book to the lay reader with a developed interest in history, politics and, especially, economics. However, a warning is in order: Those who only read the headlines may find this just a little too deep.

Guru Bruce Schneier teams with fellow guru Niels Ferguson to explain the practical implementaion of cryptography.

In his first book, Applied Cryptography, Schneier dissected how cryptography worked. But there was a lot of hand-waving, such as "Alice implements a secure RNG" which worked for theoretical knowledge of cryptography, but weren't of much use to a programmer who needs to design something. Practical Cryptography is the "in depth" sequel to Applied Cryptography, and explains in detail a lot of the nuts and bolts of actually implementing good cryptography.

From the very first pages, authors emphasize the need for public algorithms and peer review. Yet, the book is full of suggestions that appear first time in the book. They even take time to give fancy names to their new proposals. It is typical to see things like "While writing this chaper we came up with this new random number generator...". Well, the authors could have used some of public scrutiny they are so fond of.

The authors are extremely biased against algorithms designed by others. For example, they bend over backwards to blow some generic weaknesses of AES out of proportions. They even add a scary story of a bored PhD student offhandedly breaking AES. I think this not only unfair but also a bit unethical to direct generic critisism to a design and then pretent it does not apply to their own.

They must be really pissed off when their own algorithm was beaten by AES in the NIST competition.

The book is useful if all you want is a light reading about security and you can manage to read it with a grain of salt.

As one other reader pointed out this book can be called Applied Cryptography Light. It is true, it gives you more theory and very little math. I did not like this book by itself since I was interested in actual implementation and i wanted to see full algorithms and math. I did end up buying Applied Cryptography and those 2 books combined provide an excellent reference. I was not able to give more than 3 stars since I did not feel i got any knowledge out of this book to be able to apply it in real life except reading: "Cryptography is hard, you might need to hire an expert..." while I want to become an expert myself one day!

This book really does explain the practical side of cryptography and writing cryptographic software.

The authors take the readers with them as they design a secure communication system using existing algorithms and standards. You look over the shoulders of two experts in the field as they make decisions (e.g. AES vs. Serpent vs. Twofish) and explain them (e.g. AES is the IBM of algorithms, Serpent is the most secure, and Twofish is fast like AES but without the vulnerabilities).

There is an entire chapter devoted to "Implementation Issues" which includes some of the best information on software design I have ever read. In addition to the cryptography related information, the authors point out some flaws in traditional software development methodology. In fact, this book should be required reading for every computer science student and every practicing software engineer.

If you have had trouble understanding cryptography and cryptographic algorithms in the past, this book will fill in the gaps. The book very well written, which is a rarity in the field of cryptography. If you are a crypto-phile, you can actually read this book for entertainment.

This can be an annoying book for a serious developer, but I do know Writing a secure cryptosystem is very hard. People should be aware that it is hard, and they are likely to make mistakes. It isn't something that should be attempted lightly. If you are doing some actual work, it's not a good one. The book does not cover sufficient mathematic knowledge, and the edit is bit horrible as well. The authors chose to support their own algorithm shedding less light on AES and even RSA. That really made me stop reading this book.
The author's other book "Applied Cryptography" is still my favorite.