Irish-American Books

Whether you're new to Olaf Stapledon's work or a veteran reader, you will find much of interest in this volume. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and personal reflections are all here; Robert Crossley has done a wonderful job as editor. My personal favorites were the short story "The Man Who Became a Tree" and the essay "Interplanetary Man?" A true delight from start to finish.

Recently I have become quite acquainted with the work of Olaf Stapledon... no, I haven't read it all yet! But this was a terrific introduction. The Cordwainer Smith Foundation (of which I am a member) recently created an award for science fiction writers whose works are worthy of rediscovery. Olaf Stapledon was chosen by a distinguished panel of science fiction writers and editors to win the first award. So I read much of this book, among others. The range of Stapledon's mind is astonishing and beautiful, with wry humor and more than a little tragedy.

America's abhorrence of a large standing army in peacetime, and the officers, men, and camp followers who comprised the small constabulary Army of the nineteenth century, is the theme of Edward M. Coffman's excellent social history. Coffman's engaging chapters delve into the lives of "Officers," "Women and Children" and "Enlisted men." The book is arranged chronologically from 1784-1860 and 1865-1898 with those three themes revolving throughout. Since the focus here is the peacetime army, the author deliberately skips the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. The result is undoubtedly the best fusion of social and military history to date. Coffman points out, throughout its fledgling early history of administrative changes and budget cutbacks, living conditions within the institution remained deplorable. Supplies, uniforms and rations were inadequate. Likewise, living quarters and proper sanitation were always poor. The author cites a typical example where one bathtub was shared by 100 men. Predictively, drunkenness and desertion were a constant problem, however, Coffman shows that neither officers nor enlisted men were under paid for any significant length of time throughout the nineteenth century. The author injects facts, statistics, and demographics into an engaging and fast-paced narrative, that is difficult to put down. In his discussion of officers, Coffman covers many essential topics. These areas include: officer-rank & file relations, personal rivalries and career anxiety, as well as line-staff tensions and the emergence of professionalism within the officer corps. The role of West Point, education, and racism towards African-American soldiers are also adequately discussed. The most informative chapters are devoted to Women and children, and the vital role they played in the early peacetime army. The author describes the intricacies and significance of courtship and marriage, raising children in remote out-posts, and, the often forgotten role of other camp followers, such as laundresses and servants. Coffman also selectively incorporates the methods of comparative history, balancing the United States frontier army with its British and European counterparts. The author offers some insights into the correlation of pay scales, health standards, discipline, recruitment, and education. Accenting his plethora of sources arranged in copious notes, are the diaries and memoirs of several foreign observers who recorded their impressions of life within the scattered American Army. The author concludes that by the 1890's, however, living conditions across the board had improved, and the US Army was becoming a desirable career alternative just in time for its debut on the world stage. "Mac" Coffman destroys the notion that social historians make poor military historians and visa-versa. This classic is required reading for anyone seriously interested in American military history. Five-stars, Bravo!

"The Old Army" is a successful attempt to explore the men, the officers, the families, the training and the way of life of the peacetime Army from America's inception to the Spanish-American War. Volumes have been written about the Army during various wars and how volunteer forces contributed to the victories. Here, Edward Coffman discusses the the so-called caretaker Army that manned the lonely frontier outposts, and how it progressed to the organized machine it is today. Although it's a natural progression, it's not easy to see it without the strength of Coffman's narrative and his ability to balance deeply personal views of soldiers in the field with the major policies issued by the powers-that-be. Much reviled, maligned, and distrusted by the American public, the peacetime Army is truely the grandfather of today's modern military. Although many people credit the temporary wartime armies with that distinction, Coffman traces the struggles that the civilian and military leaders had to endure in order to produce an effective military. This excellent work contains revealing excerpts from personal journals that provide a clear view into this forgotten way of life ranging from reasons why people joined, deserted, and came back again. Coffman devotes a great deal of time to minorities, in the military, and wives and children of the soldiers to give us a well-rounded view of what garrison life was like. Coffman also discusses the real, but overlooked work of the early army: the building of forts, buildings, and public roads. Long considered a haven for misfits and incompetents, the Old Army deserves a deeper scruitiny. Coffman provides the kind of indepth study that has long been lacking. Coffman's ability to focus on the larger history of the Army while still providing illuminating anecdotes makes this fascinating reading.

Several novels are excerpted here. And one prominent one isn't: Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_ which Gunn argues is a transition from the gothic but not yet fully in the camp of self-aware science fiction. Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney's _The Battle of Dorking_ is the first of those future war novels written by politicians and military men determined to influence public policy. Edwin A. Abbott's _Flatland_, still in print, is a charming tale of life and culture in a two-dimensional world. That incomparable giant of science fiction, Olaf Stapledon, is represented by a selection from _Star Maker_, narrated by a "cosmical mind" who views the life of the universe. (Though oddly, in this volume, Gunn barely mentions his importance to the genre. For that, you must consult volume two.) The title for the section on Richard Jeffries _After London; Or, Wild England_ is "The Craving for Catastrophe". It is a pastoral tale of a simpler life after an unexplained disaster has befallen the country.

That craving shows up in several more tales. Killer smog hits the city in Robert Barr's 1892 story "The Doom of London." "The Great Fog" of H. F. Heard wipes out worldwide civilization. Life gets extinguished on an alien planet in Arthur C. Clarke's much anthologized "The Star." "The Nature of the Catastrophe" in Michael Moorcock's story of that name is never really explained. An amalgam of newspaper excerpts and fiction, this story unfortunately shares the oblique prose and loose setting of his Jerry Cornelius novels. Not readable in its own right, it still gives you some idea of Moorcock's influence on the New Wave. Tanith Lee's "Written in Water" is a last woman on Earth tale. The world that may be destroyed by an artist in J. D. Beresford "A Negligible Experiment" is our own. The disaster of John Wyndham's "The Emptiness of Space" is a personal one. Its hero has survived a spell in cryonic suspension and fears his soul has left his body.

As you would expect, the anthology is full of several famous names. Not only are J. G. Ballard and Brian W. Aldiss present in earlier installments of this series, but they also are the only authors to get two stories in this volume. Ballard is represented by "The Voices of Time" (more disaster) and "The Drowned Giant". They serve as a good introduction to his passive protagonists and landscape motifs. If you don't like Ballard, these will do nothing to sway your opinion. The more versatile Aldiss has the witty "Working in the Spaceship Yards" and the decidedly downbeat "Appearance of Life" -- both in their own way dealing with problems of communication in the human species. Genre critic and defender Kingsley Amis shows up with the rather trite, but stylish, "Mason's Life", a short short story about the reality of some's dreams. Anthony Burgess works a new twist on the old cliche of a hack writer ripping off a famous writer via a time machine in "The Muse."

An interesting famous name is Rudyard Kipling who only wrote two science fiction stories though Gunn argues that his narrative techniques were so ahead of their time that, had he written more, he would be called the father of science fiction. Indeed, Kipling's "As Easy as A. B. C." is a bit too modern since his exposition is slick and glib and a bit obscure. Written in 1912, it wouldn't have seemed out of date in the 1950s. As for Wells, he is represented by his famous "In the Country of the Blind."

The second tier of fame, names already fading from the public mind, is well represented. Eric Frank Russell's "Hobbyist" puts a crashed scoutship on a planet with a frighteningly omnipotent and mysterious alien. John Brunner's "The Totally Rich" postulate that the rich really aren't like you and me. One hires a man to resurrect a lover from psychic traces he left on his environment. "The Happiest Day of Your Life" by Bob Shaw shows the downside of a really efficient educational system. James White puts his tailoring experience to good use in "Custom Fitting". It shows the importance of being properly dressed no matter the occasion or species. Christopher Priest's "An Infinite Summer" is about the havoc wrecked on one man's life by mysterious tourists who "freeze" people's lives for varying periods. Ian Watson's "The Great Atlantic Swimming Race" is the newest story in the book, but its satire on those great fundraising events of the 1980s like Live Aid already seems a bit dated.

Gunn rescues other names from obscurity. "A Corner in Lightning" by George Griffith outlines the dangers of trying to horde electricity. S. Fowler Wright's "The Rat" is a rumination on the dangers of immortality being bestowed on humans. "Mouth of Hell" by David I. Masson doesn't really go anywhere but most of it is an interesting exploration of alien geography. "The Power of Time" by Josephine Saxton is a neglected classic about a really ambitious construction project: relocating New York City to England. The characters of M. John Harrison's "Settling the World" set out to assassinate God. D. G. Compton's "It's Smart to Have an English Address" has a musician not at all comfortable with someone recording not only his performance but the sensations of performing.

There are several good stories in this anthology that are rarely anthologized. Arthur Conan Doyle's 1913 story "The Horror of the Heights" anticipates some of the work of Charles Fort. Peter Phillips' "Dreams Are Sacred" is at the head of a long line of stories where people enter the dreams of others to manipulate their symbols and restore the dreamer to sanity. "Made in the U. S. A." is a slick 1953 story from J. T. McIntosh about Freudian psychology, divorce, and androids. Brian Stableford's "And He Busy Not Being Born" has a protagonist who is bothered enough about the prospect of his inevitable demise that he does something about it -- and becomes transformed.

The Road to Science Fiction: Vol. 5 is an incredible collection of some of the best works of British Authors in Science Fiction. Included are works by Clarke, but also by 30(or so) other authors. It was interesting to me that the collection was 30 stories, yet I had only read one of them. The highlight of this book for me is the short story, "The Hobbyist". It was a very exciting and chilling tale that leads you through many "clues" before you get to see the big picture. There are tales from the late 1800's all the way up to the publish date of the book. It does a good job of showing how British authors have progressed in a much more limited market than we have had in the US. I recommend this book highly to any sci-fi fan.

This is a first rate book on poetry. Its breadth is satisfying large, but more importantly its originality and insight are enormously rewarding. Like most any good book on poetry, it uses prosody effectively to help the reader see and hear things in the poems themselves. Anyone interested in poetry-not just devotees of free verse-will find much in this book to enjoy. It has that rare quality of actually teaching you something about things you thought you might have already known, so that when you turn again to read familiar poems, they are likely to reveal more about themselves. Also, this book is written with enormous clarity and good sense.

This is a first rate book on poetry. Its breadth is satisfying large, but more importantly its originality and insight are enormously rewarding. Like most any good book on poetry, it uses prosody effectively to help the reader see and hear things in the poems themselves. Anyone interested in poetry-not just devotees of free verse-will find much in this book to enjoy. It has that rare quality of actually teaching you something about things you thought you might have already known, so that when you turn again to read familiar poems, they are likely to reveal more about themselves. Also, this book is written with enormous clarity and good sense.

Professor Knox offers a splendid overview and critique of contemporary Oscar Wilde criticism. She illustrates how "-ism-guided" approaches tend to utilize Wilde for their own agendas rather than trying to come to terms with the contradictory and fascinating nature of his oeuvre. This book is a must read for any Wilde scholar as well as for advanced students pursuing work on Wilde or on approaches to literature.

I greatly enjoyed both the thorough examination of many important Wilde critics of the 1990s and the sensible point of view. The author defends clear writing and makes a forceful defense of biographically and psychologically based criticism, enlisting Wilde's own remarks in her argument. Her criticism of literary jargon is occasionally biting, and justifiably so. This is a book not for the politically correct, but rather the openminded scholar or student of literature. It is safe to say that Wilde himself would have enjoyed it.

Enright should be given some sort of award by that lot over the Atlantic lake whom we broke ties with a little over 200 years ago. For his book on death is simply...beautiful. How he managed to cull so many varied and poignant accounts of and perspectives on death from literary (and non-literary) sources is nothing short of astounding. Of course, Enright has already won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Is there also a gold medal for Death over there? If so, he is thoroughly entitled to it. It's rare that a literary work is such a page-turner as this one is. Everyone will have their favorite passages. My two are Bede's comparing life to the quick flight of the sparrow in through one end of the lord's hall and out the other in the twinking of an eye, with ignorance as to its plight both before and after; and the Ashanti saying, "Every time an earth mother smiles over the birth of a child, a spirit mother weeps over the loss of a child."-But, as I say, these are but two drops in an ocean of fine thoughts and sentiments and imaginings.-Recommended reading for all mortals!

beautiful book for those who ponder the realms and possibilities of death. Opens the mind to intense thought and imagination.

This Parallel Text volume by Oxford covers eight versions of the Apocryphal texts:

The Greek Text
The King James Version
Douay Old Testament
Holy Bible by Ronald Knox
Today's English Version
New Revised Standard Version
New American Bible
New Jerusalem Bible

What most people who hold fast to the King James Version of the Bible don't realise is that the Authorised Version of 1611 contained the books of the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments, and that these were later removed by printers and denominational/sectarian leaders for various reasons. Apart from Roman Catholic bibles in the United States, most bibles did not contain the apocryphal books, and Protestants in particular are only now coming to rediscover these hidden treasures. Indeed, the word 'apocrypha' comes from the Greek word meaning 'hidden things'.

The Apocrypha consists of 18 texts, books or additions to other books (such as Daniel or the Psalms). The ambiguity of their status comes from the disparity of ancient Hebrew versus Greek copies of the scriptures, the Judaic/Hebrew canon as opposed to the Septuagint. There are introductory essays (each only a few pages in length) that give the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Protestant and Evangelical views of the apocryphal texts, written by scholars from each of those traditions, which range from automatic acceptance/inclusion (Orthodox) to fairly clear rejection (most Protestant and Evangelical).

John Kohlenberger, the general editor of the volume, also includes an essay he wrote about the texts and translations. Kohlenberger includes a chart that shows the spectrum of deuterocanonical/apocryphal acceptance across the 'big three' lines of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox; he also gives an introduction to sources of the English bible, discussion of the Vulgate and detail on each of the major translations incorporated.

All of these texts are included in this book, laid out in quadrant format, four to a page, with all eight texts/translations laid out in each two-page spread. Because of the space requirements, the text is very small, and there are few if any notes throughout the text (hence, while it is good for study to have the parallels, this is not in fact a study bible).

A good aid for scholars.

So often we act as if the only Bible canon dispute was between Catholics and Protestants. We leave the Orthodox with no complete Bible as the editions of "Bible with Apocrypha" have only the Catholic/Protestant books. This book includes texts for both Greek and Slavonic Orthodox and the one "appendix" accepted by the Greek Orthodox.

So the articles prefacing the texts are written as dogma rather than history or theology ... who cares? At least now I can have a truly complete parallel Bible for Bible studies.

Footnote: I am not Orthodox but some texts accepted only by the Orthodox as canonical appear as antiphons in Catholic liturgy.

Having grown up in Orange County, California I must say that the region discussed in this book is quite literally a world away. But I am drawn to it. My grandparents constantly told stories of the little college town of New Concord and how they met there after World War I and how they used to take long walks and swim in the lake there on summer evenings. Because of this book I have yearned to learn more about where my grandparents fell in love; to discover the town and the college and walks they used to take. I hear autumn there is something to behold. A great work of history that binds the generations together...

This work is an amazing example of local history at its best. The author has done a wonderful job of weaving the story of a small town and of a region with the greater saga of the civil war. A delightful read!

Dr. Christianson approaches seemingly (in my mind) totally seperate topics and demonstrates how giving was influenced by contemporary literature and actually fed a class system in very many ways still in place today.

Well written and thought provoking

Dr. Christianson does a great job of showing the relationship philanthropy and literature played in both England and America. A great read for the intellectual and neophyte alike.

It's beautifully fitting that this collection of Kermode's essays begins with "Poet and Dancer Before Diaghilev." Kermode moves with balletic grace and alacrity through subjects ranging from Parisian salon culture of the '20s to Don DeLillo, often using the written word (Yeats, Stevens) as a point of departure for further critical and cultural adventuring. Pieces of My Mind is a pure pleasure from start to finish -- a generous testament to Sir Kermode's love and wonder for many, many things.

Kermode's collection of essays demonstrates a brilliant mind scanning the diverse subjects to which it was led by curiosity and passion. As a literary critic, Kermode is an exemplar of the creative possibilities of theory-- rather than operating in one single mode, he adopts freely as he sees fit from a range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. These essays prove the value in a commitment to following personal interests rather than fashionable academic mandates and to wearing critical perspectives as a mask: for the sake of entertainment, flashes of enlightenment, and personal freedom. With a passion for literature, and for thinking about literature's bearing upon itself, Kermode writes beautifully and clearly. He carries literature beyond its own formal bounds, without subordinating it to 'larger', 'more serious' concerns (such as Philosophy, Politics or History) though acknowleding its interactions with these disciplines. More specifically, Kermode shows a consistent concern with hermeneutics and narrative as code, returning again and again to an interest in the New Testament that appears even before his well-known "The Genesis of Secrecy".