Irish-American Books

Note: There are a couple Mormons who are angry over my negative reviews of books written in defense of the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.


This Princeton University Press book is essential for anyone who wants to understand the world that Joseph Smith came of age in. Because some of the symbols found on the Joseph Smith magic parchments come from Ebenezer Sibly's book, Curry's remarks are particularly interesting:

"Sibly was a prolific writer. His 'New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology (1784-8)--sometimes appearing as 'A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences--was the first major public statement on astrology for many years. It appeared in four parts, and ran to over a thousand pages; by 1817, it had already gone through twelve editions, and continued to be reprinted until 1826."

The fact that some of the symbols (found only in Sibly's book) found their way onto the Joseph Smith family magic parchments speaks volumes about the availablity of books in upstate New York in the early 1800s, particularly in the 1820s when Joseph Smith came of age (b. 1805--the Book of Mormon published in 1830).

See my review of "The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology,"
by John L. Brooke. It's about the life of the self-proclaimed English prophet Joanna Southcott, whose claims are an earlier mirror of those of Joseph Smith.

Your comments--positive or negative--are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Click here to read about "The Refiner's Fire."
The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 16441844

There will be quite a few Proverbs and Sayings in this book that you've heard before;and especially if 'your mother came from Ireland' or if any of your ancestors originated from the Emerald Isle.Despite that ,the overwhelming of them will probably be new to you. The Irish are so proficient with language,that they leave little doubt about the point they are making.There may be a few that might even baffle you;and then again it wouldn't be Irish,if you weren't left hanging sometime.
As a lover of sayings etc.,I was really taken by what they call Triads,as I've not come across these before.
Here's an example of a couple of the many in the book;
"The three most difficult things to teach:
a mule,a pig and a woman."
"Three things that leave the shortest traces:
a bird on a branch,a ship on the sea and a man on a woman."
" Three pair that never agree:
two married women in the same house,
two cats with one mouse
and two bachelors after the one young woman."
If you have read any Irish humor or words of wisdom you'll quickly see that nothing avoids their sharp tongue .It may well be that they invented the "Put-Down" in their early creative moments.

There are over 1100 Proverbs & Sayings in this little tome;and surely a most apt one for any occasion or comeback;and they are all organized by subject.
Here's a taste:

Evil....."The more you trample dung the more it spreads."
Fate....."He that is born to be hanged needn't fear water."
Futility."You won't make rope from the sand of the sea."
God......"The person not taught by God is not taught by man."
Laziness."You'd be a good messenger to send for death."
Health..."Beginning with a cough and ending with a coffin."
Leadership"After the chieftains fall,the fight seldom
continues."
Life....."Twenty years agrowing;twenty years at rest
twenty years declining;and twenty years when
it doesn't matter whether you're there or not."
Marriage.."Never make a toil of pleasure,as the man said
when he dug his wife's grave only three feet deep."
Men......."Some men are like bagpipes...
they can't speak till their bellies are filled."
Mother...."He is scant of news that speaks ill of his mother."

And finally one that shows Irish bluntness at its best;

Nature..."What can you expect from a pig but a grunt.

Not a large book;but still contains a wealth of Wit and Wisdom;and obviously very Irish.

Quakers influence in the English speaking world has been far greater than their numbers would indicate. This book was a fascinating read by an author who is not a Quaker himself. He became interested in Quakers (Society of Friends) through his research into the anti-slavery movement. But Friends have also had an immense impact on the world of commerce. We, in England and the U.S.A. don't barter/bargain because of the Quaker thoughts on fair-trade.

If you like history, you will enjoy this book.

This book is a beautifully written analysis of the way entrenched prejudice against blacks is connected to entrenched prejudice against women. Daileader is Professor of English at Florida State University. (I've taken her classes, she's a brilliant teacher.) In addition to this book, she is author of "Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage" (Cambridge UP), co-editor of John Fletcher's "The Tamer Tamed" (Revels Plays, 2006), and co-editor of a new book that isn't out yet, "Women and Others: Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Empire" (Palgrave, 2007). Read them all!

This collection has every old-fashioned poem, rhyme, old wives' tale and silly piece of literature that your mother ever recited for you. My mother knew these works from her own childhood, having been raised in large part by her grandparents - making these nuggets old even then (Depression-era). Last week, I read them to class of third-graders stuck inside for recess on a rainy day, saying, "Let's take a chance on this. I'll stop in 5 or 10 minutes if you want me to stop." After 10 minutes, not one student wanted me to stop, and most of them were giving me their full attention. That's the best review I can give to a book of children's literature.

A cautionary tale about the limits of political power, i.e. political power does not bring economic success.

a great book, well written, with tremendous lessons for today.

buy it. steal it. just get it.

colin flaherty

This is my favorite poetry collection book. It's small enough to take anywhere with you and has some of the best poems ever written. This is a must have for any poetry lover.

First off, WHY THE HELL IS THIS THE FIRST REVIEW ON SUCH A VOLUME AS IMPRESSIVE AS THIS!?!?!? Alexander Pope was definatley in the top five of greatest English poets (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth) and to read his works is like sipping a glass of fine wine, wearing a cool powdered wig, lying back on a sofa listening to Handel. Pope was the coolest hepcat in the hood. He was so great, an age was named after him in 18th century English literature-THE AGE OF POPE (1712-1744)-roughly

But, getting to the point, this is a very comprehensive volume of Pope's prime work. Of course, it's Signet-the best reasonably priced books you can buy. Not only does this great volume contain the complete 5 canto version of The Rape of the Lock (1712-1717), the Essay on Man (1734), Essay on Criticism (1711), The Dunciad (1728) and many more of his brilliant verse satire, the finest of the Neoclassical period (1660-1784).

Author Sternlicht has provided a concise yet thorough guide to the ever-changing story of modern American drama. Included is an overview of American theatre, stretching back to the nineteenth century, and reviewing trends and influences to the present time (2001). This is quite helpful as a basis for more thorough appreciation of the 78 playwrights discussed in the book.

Sternlicht has divided the eras of modern American drama into the early 20th century -- covering such playwrights as Eugene O'Neill, Maxwell Anderson, S.N. Behrman, Lillian Hellman, Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, and more; the World War II generation of playwrights, led by the great Tennessee Williams and including segments on William Inge, Garson Kanin, Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Ossie Davis, James Baldwin, Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon, and more; Post-World War II playwrights Edward Albee, Lorraine Hansberry, Jack Gelber, Imamu Amiri Baraka, Lanford Wilson, Terence McNally, Sam Shepard, and others; and the New Dramatists (also post-World War II, but with a different weltanschaung): August Wilson, Albert Innaurato, David Mamet, Marsha Norman, Harvey Fierstein, Wendy Wasserman, Suzan-Lori Parks, Migeul Pi~nero, and more.

Within each section is an overview of the historical/cultural influence of the times in which the playwrights lived and worked.
This background is quite helpful for understanding the playwrights' works; all of the major plays of each author are discussed. Short plot outlines for each play are provided, as well as a short critical analysis. This is true even for the lesser-known playwrights, who are not given short shrift, even if only one of their works has been a success on the stage. Audience and critical reaction to each play are touched on as well.

All in all, this is a very thorough guide; it would be particularly useful in college and high school libraries and drama/lit. classes, and could also serve as a reference for young adult students.
Sternlicht has included some lesser-known as well as some very recent playwrights who may not be covered as thoroughly (when at all) in other publications of this type. In addition, this new (2002) book is recent enough to include gay and lesbian drama and well as feminist drama.

The book is very readable in its own right. Sternlicht has a direct and concise style which never rambles. There's nothing superfluous or padded in it; it is pure information presented in a well-organized manner, and the treatments of the playwrights are sympathetic overall.

A selected critical biography and very good index round out the book.

*Reading the Family Dance: Family Systems Therapy and Literary Study* Edited by John V. Knapp and Kenneth Womack

The development in recent years of the intersections between the family and literary study continues to emerge as one of the most productive and illuminating arenas of contemporary critique. As an interpretative mechanism, family systems therapy (fst) provides scholars and readers alike with a revelatory social psychology for evaluating the nature of the
familial structures that often mark our textual experiences. In addition to addressing the family dynamic through which a given literary character develops a fully realized sense of self, family systems therapy allows readers to examine the patterns by which characters function in their larger intimate systems, whether those systems be social, institutional, or even global.

*Reading the Family Dance: Family Systems Therapy and Literary Study* offers a collection of original essays that reflects both the substantial critical interest in this important contemporary field of inquiry, as well as its wide range of forays into such disciplines as feminism, gender studies, ethnicity, race, and cultural studies. Divided into three
descriptive sections, Reading the Family Dance includes interdisciplinary essays that address various literary works in terms of family systems therapies respective approaches to our understandings of the self, the family, and the world. The essays in this volume range through much of the imaginative literature in English, including British works, ethnic and
canonized American texts, and even the translation of a Brazilian novel; although many of the works analyzed in this collection were published in the twentieth century, Reading the Family Dance features essays devoted to Shakespeare and to various works of nineteenth-century fiction as well.

The volume begins with John V. Knapp's comprehensive and wide-ranging introduction to family systems therapy and literary study. In addition to providing readers with an intellectual history of the discipline, Knapp establishes a contemporary scholarly foundation for the ensuing collection. The essays by Kenneth Womack, Rosemary Babcock, Gary Storhoff, and Lee Ann De Reus included in the volume's first section, "The Self:
Family Systems Therapy and the Quest for Identity," examine a host of issues related to the development of the self, including the onset of personal identity, sibling differentiation, and interpersonal communication.

In the volume's second section, "The Family: Family Systems
Therapy and the Discourse of Community," the essays by Joan I. Schwarz, Steven Snyder, Jerome Bump, Sara Cooper, and John V. Knapp discuss the vocabularies of community that assist families as they develop into functional units or, conversely, into dysfunctional factions. In Reading the Family Dance's final section, "The World: Reading Family Systems Therapy in Extremis," the essays by Todd F. Davis, James M. Decker, Marco
Malaspina, and Denis Jonnes explore the ways in which our culture often manifests itself in larger family systems. The essays in this section examine the ethics of these larger communities through their analyzes of Hollywood's entertainment culture, Renaissance-era family dynamics, and America's postwar family system.