Irish-American Books

This version of the Bible is very easy to navigate. The search feature of the Kindle makes it a breeze. My only complaint is that commentary is right there in the text; it's not separated by anything to tell you "Scripture stops, comments begin", so it can sometimes be distracting when just trying to read the Bible. Otherwise, this was a good choice!

This is a well respected Catholic translation that has stood the test of time. The navigation for Kindle is better than any other book I have. The notes included in the text are very good too. It is in "thee, thou, ye" type of English. Some of the sentence structure is awkward at times. Overall I recommend this translation. Being a Catholic Bible in includes all the books of the Bible, just like the original King James did, up until the 19th Century.

This Kindle edition of the Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner Revision, was created to offer the user a bible with easy book and chapter navigation.

The "Table of Contents", on page three of the edition, lists all 73 books of this edition of the bible, and also has quick links to both the New and Old Testaments. Just select the book title you want to go directly to it. Once you are at the top of the book page, you can select the chapter you want in two clicks. You are there! Navigation links at the beginning of each book allow you to select any chapter you want, back up or forward to the previous or next book, respectively, or return "Home" to the "Table of Contents".

5 stars for formatting, sure, but I had no idea from the product description or reviews that there is commentary embedded directly into the text. I find it distracting and difficult to do a slow meditative reading of the scripture when there is something other than God's word present within the text - sometimes after every verse. At first I was completely taken aback. I probably have a dozen different bibles and translations (non eBook), including Douay-Rheims, and I've never seen such a thing. But yes, the formatting is absolutely vital for the Kindle.

I was very happy to see this in the Kindle store. This is the Gutenberg Project's Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, formatted VERY nicely for the Kindle!!! I've been using the version from [...] that is "formatted for Kindle" but isn't really. As another reviewer said, you had to read it straight through, like a novel. These book and chapter navigation links are wonderful and WELL WORTH the price! To the author of this Kindle edition: I see you have formatted a few other public domain books, including the KJV. If you're looking for suggestions about what to do next, please consider formatting the "Lives of the Saints" by Fr. Alban Butler. At the risk of sounding too enthusiastic, you've acquired a very happy customer!

This book is wonderful. The story is a classic example of the pain and hardship of coming to America. The graphics are beautifully done and combine both drawings as well as real pictures of the period. It brings the history of the period to life. Highly recommended.

Dreaming of America

Eve Bunting wrote the original copy of the true story Dreaming of America. This book is for kids in their middle childhood. The book was published by Bridge Water Paperbacks.
The main character is a girl, who is from Ireland, who's name is Annie. Annie and her two brothers, Philip and Anthony, are on their way to America on the SS Nevada. I have missed my mom and dad just like in the book. The most interesting thing in the book is Annie's 15th birthday present. The least interesting thing in the book is when Annie doesn't let Philip do something in their cabin.
I like this book because there are no unanswered questions or problems. I especially liked this book because they went to America on a boat! That's why I think you should read this book.

What an emotional, inspiring story of the first Ellis Island immigrant -- a girl from Ireland who journeyed to America with her two younger brothers. This award-winning book is graced with beautiful illustrations as well as rare historic photos. An involving story by Eve Bunting that is a tribute to all immigrants who have helped make America great.

Annie Moore didn't know what to expect when she boarded a ship for America, but she probably never imagined she'd be handed a ten-dollar gold piece when she arrived! Eve Bunting knows how to write for children, and she delivers a beautiful interpretation of what the journey to America might have been like for Annie. Archival photos of the actual ship's manifest, the ship Annie sailed on, and a photo of Annie herself make readers feel as if they are taking the journey along with Annie and her brothers. And Ben Stahl's gorgeous oil paintings complement the story perfectly, bringing the entire experience to life. If your ancestors immigrated to America, you've got to read this wonderful book!

There are many books about this subject that are worthy of praise, but this one doesn't fit into that category. Sloppily written and cheesily illustrated, it makes an important issue a virtual and convoluted cartoon. If you value your kids' sensibilities, don't give them cheesy tripe like this.

Some good essays, but most were undergraduate pieces from the 1950s,except the ideas were less compelling than they would have been in that era. Disappointing, but also revealing, because as always it would be better if poets just wrote poetry (unless your John Keats: see his letters) and stopped cluttering up the world with their prose.

Finch and Varnes have compiled and edited a groundbreaking and important book on poetry and its forms. Most outstanding is how the book is true to its title; it IS an exaltation of forms. Eclipsing Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms, this volume celebrates poetic expression in its polyvalent forms. The editors gathered short, pithy introductions to poetic forms (from dactyl metrics to the ghazal) used by practicing poets from the well-known (Billy Colins, Maxine Kumin) to the emerging (Vince Gotera, Tracie Morris). Accompanying the introductions are poetic examples of the forms. Most impressive is the range and eclecticism of topics: LANGUAGE poetry lies next to new formalist poetry lies next to slam poetry lies next to shaped poetry. In short, this book deftly and enthusiastically answers the question of where poetry stands at the beginning of the 21st century. Highest recommendation.

I LOVE this book and urge you to read it. In fact, I found it important enough to reference in my MFA poetry thesis:

"My attitude towards formal poetics echoes that of friends and colleagues Annie Finch and Kathrine Varnes, as detailed in their recent anthology An Exaltation of Forms: 'by including both exploratory and traditional forms. . . . [we] hope to open a discussion about form that cuts across poetic movements, which have for too long either ignored or distorted each others' insights and expertise' (2). In the spirit of Smith, both Finch and Varnes embrace this multiplicity of being, but they apply the concept to poetic form itself. I too find their willingness to consider organic form seriously a sturdy bridge between New Formalism and the more experimental and 'non-academic' schools of poetry. Such willingness to hear, to learn, and to understand can make poetry (and other cloven territory) stronger at its broken places."

Whether you are a hardcore formalist or convinced that "form equals fascism" (a position that I would gently urge you to reconsider), you will find many tools for the poetic toolbox in this book.

Keep an open mind, and a both-and rather than either-or mentality, and try the experiments that you find the most suspect. For me, it was Jena Osman's procedural poetry (pp. 366-78), which involved the seemingly inane exercise of circling words in a printed article, then using those words to build a draft of a poem. What I got was one of my strongest free-verse pieces!

For a book to cover a range of expertise and poetics including (but not limited to!) Dana Gioia, Shahid Ali, Marilyn Hacker, Allison Jospeh, Hilda Morley, Alice Fulton, Tim Steele, Tracie Morris, Bob Holman, Amiri Baraka, DJ Renegade, Sam Gwynn, and Charles Bernstein is nothing short of amazing. That Finch and Varnes came out with a book useful for creative writing workshops, individual writers, literary theorists, and general readers is a great gift to all of us who care about the art and craft of poetry.

An Exaltation of Forms is a revolutionary book! -Elizabeth Alexander

My new peer writing group is using An Exaltation of Forms to try out new forms. Everyone loves the book and says that it's far better than other books about forms they've seen. -Judith Barrington

An Exaltation of Forms offers a range of poetic styles, philosophies and approaches-an abundance of models. For example, it includes discussions of avant garde forms and even spoken word forms-- two forms/genres often under-represented.-Terrance Hayes

An Exaltation of Forms is wonderful! A confluence of so many streams could make an ocean. - Joan Retallack

Wow, this book has made quite an impression. There is nothing I can say to top what has been said already, but what I can do is add my two cents of approval. I actually prefer this book over Turco's Book of Forms. It reads better and explains the forms better. This books covers a wide variety of traditional and experimental forms of poetry. And Finch and Varnes pulled together a diverse group of poets, from R.S. Gwynn and Dana Gioia to Maxine Chernoff and DJ Renegade. From Anthony Hecht to Paul Hoover. There's Tim Steele, Jan Hodge, X.J. Kennedy, Agha Shahid Ali, Maxine Kumin, Charles Bernstein, adn Billy COllins. You get all styles of poets and poetry within. For any serious poet, this is a must have book. And it is loaded with great examples of each type it discusses.

As someone with a casual interest in the history of WWII, I found Warren Kimball's Forged in War to be a very informative and entertaining read. The author has drawn from a very large collection of sources to provide a detailed look at the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill as it evolved throughout the course of the war. This work allows the reader to view the war's major geopolitical decisions with greater understanding and appreciation. Despite what seems to be a slight pro-FDR bias, Kimball puts you in the minds of the two leaders, lets you see things from their perspective, and explains their often differing motives for diplomacy. Of particular interest are FDR and Churchill's dealings with Stalin that shaped the post-war world. The ideals of each man, from Stalin's axiom to FDR's notion of four global policeman and Churchill's spheres of influence, are fully explained by Kimball. Definitely worth reading

Warren Kimball, one of the nation's leading diplomatic historians, has written a fine dual biography of Roosevelt and Churchill that focuses on their partnership in coalition warfare during World War II. Kimball has spent most of his academic career writing on this period and has an expert's touch at providing good details that enliven the text and expert knowledge of the era. He argues that neither man was an ideal war leader---which as an American is easy to believe about FDR, a little less about Churchill---and while the Anglo-American coalition had interests that were at odds with one another (a big theme in current academic studies), they had interests that were identical. The glue of the alliance was the leadership the two men offered and there was nothing inevitable about the relationship. It could have easily gone the other way, which would have been in neither nation's interests. The two nations basically faced not one war, but three: 1) the United Kingdom and the United States versus Germany; 2) Germany versus the Soviet Union; and 3) the United States versus Japan.

In all three conflicts, it was in their mutual common interests to see that the Axis powers were defeated. The survival or victory of any Axis nation would be a very bad thing. Kimball argues at the end of his book: "Almost always, when faced with crucial choices about victory versus postwar political advantage, Roosevelt, Churchill, or both made the decision to keep the Grand Alliance together and to defeat the Axis. They could not solve all the political, social, and economic problems of the world, but they could lead their nations to victory and prevent a far worse set of problems.

"And they did" (p. 337).

Warren Kimball once again, with an adeptness uncommon among documentary-based historical narratives, weaves his way through the complexities of the Roosevelt-Churchill wartime partnership. As suggested by the title, Kimball frames for the reader a political and personal relationship that, although rife with an undercurrent of conflict, ultimately is hammered into the finest weapon of war. A picture immerges of two leaders, who despite the immense internal political and external military pressures of the war, never lost their edge in dealing with one another, let alone their common foes. Many internal skirmishes over the conduct of war policy are revealed in the author's apt analysis of the documents. The correspondence reveals that the duo often disagreed quite intensly about the conduct of the war and the way to win the peace at war's end. The careful reader will appreciate the pains professor Kimball undertook to reveal the many shades of the relationsip. The two statesmen did not always see eye to eye and frequently utilized subtle, to not-so-subtle methods of deception in order to force the other's hand or coax the other slowly but surely to eventually concurr. However, a final balance in the narrative is achieved by a paralleling focus on Roosevelt's and Churchill's shared mutual objectives. In the end it was Roosevelt's and Churchill's compatible visions of future that transended their differences in style, personal judgement and even national self-interest.

In "Forged In War," Warren Kimball seeks to shed light on the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that was, well, forged in World War II. For those who are interested in what happens away from the battlefield, this book provides an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at cooperation between two Great Powers. After a brief discussion of the two major players and their characters, the book plunges into the meat of its subject, namely the political and military cooperation between America and Great Britain during and after the war. Essentially, the narrative is divided into three (somewhat overlapping) parts. The first segment covers the events leading up to the war and FDR's decision to enter it; the second, the struggles to defeat Germany and Japan; the third, the diplomatic maneuvering over postwar arrangements once the defeat of Germany had been assured. It's the third part that's most prominent, and also most interesting, as Kimball delves into a discussion of how the prosecution of the war effected, and was effected by, competing visions of the postwar world. The upheavals caused by wars tend to have a dramatic impact on the way the world looks after they're over, and "Forged In War" is a comprehensive examination of how Roosevelt and Churchill (and Stalin for that matter) attempted to exert their control over these upheavals. Although Kimball obviously has a certain level of admiration for Churchill and Roosevelt, he makes it clear that for both men practicality overrode principal; as Roosevelt said, he was not a Wilsonian idealist, and the same held true for Churchill. At the same time that the two Western leaders were finishing off Germany militarily, they were also positioning themselves to prevent Soviet domination of Europe at war's end. A central focus of the book is the massive series of formal and informal discussions that eventually culminated in the acceptance of Stalin's axiom: whoever liberated a conquered country got to impose on it their own political system. In this sense, probably the most impressive aspect of the book is the extent to which Kimball captures the intermingling of political and military considerations that can occur during wartime. Kimball has a straightforward and sometimes entertaining writing style that prevents his narrative from getting too bogged down in detail, so most should find reading this book pretty easy. For history buffs, "Forged In War" gets a high recommendation.

Forged in War is a well researched although often quirky history of Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II. As diplomatic history, this book is a good review of the key events during the war years, including the many conferences and meetings between Churchill, Roosevelt, and sometimes Stalin. Kimball reminds the reader that during the war Britain and the United States were allies with the Soviet Union. He correctly discourages the reader from using the Cold War as a prism for viewing the decisions of high strategy made during the war, while at the same time he reviews those key wartime decisions that were so important in shaping the postwar world.

Kimball uses various unnamed sources throughout his otherwise meticulously researched book. For example on page 10 at the end of a paragraph about how postwar leaders "exploited the Churchill legend" Kimball states: "Even one of those convicted in the Watergate affair during the Nixon years adopted as his public motto a Churchill admonition not to give way "in things great or small, large or petty." On the next page he refers to: "One student of international affairs, who by 1990 had become a regular contributor to the op-ed page of the New York Times . . . ." Such references to unnamed sources leaves the reader wondering why Kimball uses such sources at all, if he can't or won't name his source.

Kimball is a talented writer although he too often inserts comments that remind the reader when he is writing-in the 1990s-and by doing so he cheapens his narrative. One example is in reference to the Yalta Conference and its influence on postwar popular culture. "Fifty years after the Big Three met in the Crimea, a supermodel, appearing in a motion picture depicting her vacuous, if remunerative, occupation, specified the place of the conference in historical memory. Searching for a stark contrast between what she did and what was truly important, she quipped: 'I mean, the worst thing that can happen to me is I break a heel and fall down. This is not Yalta, right?'" (pp. 310-311) He then refers to this broken heel later in his text. The name of the supermodel is supplied in an endnote, however the reference is a strain on the narrative. Kimball would have done much better not to include such references at all, however they are laced throughout the book.

Despite such quirks in his narrative, Kimball still manages to deliver a good review of the leaders and their strategies for winning World War II. Churchill is depicted as loveable, immature, brilliant, drunk, determined, and loyal to his country and empire. Roosevelt is shown to be shrewd, duplicitous, patrician, informal, irreverent, and equally committed to his nation's interests. FDR constantly urges Churchill to abandon his colonies in favor of self-determination for those under British rule. Churchill is adamant in his desire to maintain the empire. Kimball completed a three-volume study titled Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence. He draws heavily on this research and includes choice quotes from the correspondence between the two wartime leaders. Kimball looks far beyond the Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence however, and gives the reader a comprehensive summary of both the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship and their independent actions as they led the world to victory over the Nazis. The book focuses on the war in Europe with fewer references to the war in Asia. Stalin is also prominent in this narrative as befits the leader of the nation who took the brunt of what Hitler's armies had to offer.

Kimball reviews all of the summit meetings of the war from the Atlantic Conference through Yalta. Churchill met with Roosevelt eleven times, with Stalin twice, and all three met on two occasions. The travel logistics and risks were enormous in these meetings, especially for the handicapped Roosevelt. Churchill too was not a young and strong man. Included among Churchill's many serious health problems is the story of when he nearly died of pneumonia after the Tehran Conference.

Kimball argues against putting excessive blame to "losing eastern Europe" at Yalta, reminding the reader that most of the postwar agreements, including the fate of eastern Europe, were already agreed to prior to Yalta. Those agreements were made with the Soviet Union when they were a desperately needed ally in the fight against Hitler. Churchill was especially worried about Stalin negotiating a separate peace with Hitler.

Even with his quirky writing style, Kimball managed to write an excellent history of Churchill, Roosevelt, and their wartime leadership that led to the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and set the foundation for the postwar world.

Ulster has been at the center of conflicts between Ireland and Britain for centuries: that's why a book such as Jonathan Bardon's A History Of Ulster is so important to understanding the origins of conflicts. Nine thousand years of social, political and economic changes from the Viking invasions to modern times are documented in a title first published in 1992 and here updated to add events since. A 'must' for any collection serious about Irish history.

This is indeed a comprehensive and engaging work--at times it is written with the thrilling verve of a novel, though it is rigorous history.

However, like the earlier edition, this 2001 edition stops in 1992, so you would be just as well served buying the earlier editions or reprints, which you can find used at much more reasonable prices. If you need a little more recent history, Bardon's "Shorter Illustrated History of Ulster" continues through 1996, so it provides a bit more of his typically insightful writing.

Marc Mulholland's "Northern Ireland: A Very Short Intro" is current to 2001, and is a pretty good book. Brian Rowan's "The Armed Peace" brings the reader up to late 2003; he is a BBC reporter who has lived in No. Ire. for years, and he is rigorously knowledgeable of the province's recent history--very informative, but not organized with the same linear simplicity that the non-expert may need. While it may be a bit sensational, his account is no more so than the area's actual history.

Although this is a work of history, Bardon has made the book very readable and highly interesting all the way through. It is a difficult and complicated subject, yet he is objective and balanced, especially in the years from 1969 through 1992. Research and attention to detail as well as some interesting maps all contribute to making this the one of the best available books on Ulster to date.

Bardon presents the history of Ulster in bite-size segments. Back in Belfast, I used to read a few subchapters a night--even skipping around between centuries and subjects, I've still learned plenty from this book. If you are really interested in Irish history/politics, get this book. But you may want the hardback edition. My 914-page paperback version hasn't reacted well to travel and frequent reference use. And the index is fantastic.

Though originally a bit daunted by the length of the book, it is a very fine history and covers a tremendous amount of material. Ancient Ulster and its settlement through the Elizabethan Plantation, the United Irishmen, the Great Famine, and right into the early 1990's are well researched and written in a wonderfully readable style. Mr. Bardon covers all nine counties of the province of Ulster, not just the six counties comprising Northern Ireland, giving the entire region its full due. The best single-volume history of any of the four provinces of Ireland I've ever read.

Culleton's book is marvelously written and evokes the horrifying power of government agencies overrun with madness and the quest for power. If you like Joyce, Modernism, the history of small publishing ventures in the early 20th century, or even labor history /feminism, this is your book. A great read, and forgive the cliche, but I couldn't put it down. Even the acknowledgments are well-written and entertaining. Note especially her venture towards encountering the Bureau at 26 Federal Plaza with her lovely assistant, Rocco, in tow. The Larkin info on US labor history and Hoover's desire to have him locked up makes this reader proud to be a union member. Though Culleton has clearly done her research, her style is accessible and engaging. My last recommendation, put in a FOIA request for your own file...

Claire Culleton has done some really interesting research about the ways writers were harrassed by Hoover and the FBI. Anyone who believes that the FBI was and is a benevolent, helpful organization should read this book; the reviewer who thinks Culleton is unpatriotic clearly has not read it. It's shocking that there was a file on James Joyce -- who never even came to America! And it's horrifying that so many writers feared writing poltically radical work because they (rightly) thought that they were being watched.

Powerful research and a story well-told. I read it from cover-to-cover. Damned scary stuff.

Please do get and read this book, especially at this low price. It reveals first hand the hypocricy of the Freedom of INformation Act, which supplies no information. It is passionately and well written by a long time Joyce scholar (she wrote Names and Naming- which see) and early presented a solid case with evidence concerning the monopolization of our media by wealthy corporations for the interest of increasing profit rather than intelligence, soul and advancing our culture< in fact our media is America emerges as more tightly controlled, under Hoover's long reign, than any thing possible in any totalitarian state. THis book reveals early what Chomsky warns in Manufacturing Consent, etc., with engaging first hand report of her effort to discover why Joyce was discouraged and now nearly forgotten, his opus arising in the desert like mysterious pyramids whose structure and meaning and construction we can now merely squint at uncomprehendingly. Well, gee, thanks Mr. Hoover for enslaving our nation to ignorance!

Watch out for those who try to derail good scholarship--Culleton's book is worth a look. From the beginning, you can tell the author is invested in the truth, as you are, and digs to find it. I found this an exceptional read on all levels, and I'm in the field, but I also found it easily approachable and very inviting. It's really an interesting read, and it's thought provoking (if you care about this kind of matter, that is). But, if you don't care about the future of art, then buy a cake at Lipton's or a nice plant, and put it in the middle of the table . . .

I love Joe Campbell, and his analysis of Joyce's writing was a savior. But even that was not enough to warrant giving this book an above average rating. If you have analyzed or read Ulysses or Finnigan's Wake in the past you will probably enjoy the book more than I. But for a novice, this was an awfully tough read.

a great book. This a a thorough investigation on the roots of inspiration of the 20th century's greater novelist. A must!

Joseph Campbell's encounter with the writings of James Joyce proved a major turning point in his life. After graduate work at Columbia (where he specialized in the Arthurian cycle, writing his thesis on "The Dolorous Stroke" delivered to the Grail King), he went to Paris to study medieval philology and Old French and Provencal.

In 1927 Campbell purchased a copy of Joyce's Ulysses (which was banned in the United States), but could make neither heads nor tails of it. (I have to admit it is reassuring, given Campbell's intellectual reputation, to know that he too was stumped on occasion). Joe, full of exuberant confidence, tracked down Joyce's publisher, Sylvia Beach, at Shakespeare & Co., to express his "high academic indignation." Beach introduced Campbell to a body of work from diverse authors (Schopenhauer, Dante, Vico, etc.) that opened his understanding to what Joyce was doing. In Joe's own words, "...that was almost the end of my interest in medieval philology." During the period of Campbell's studies in Paris and in Germany, Joyce was publishing snippets of early versions of Finnegan's Wake as a work-in-progress, in the journal "transitions" - so Joe was able to follow the evolution of this protean opus long before it attained its final shape. Referring to these sketches, Campbell said, "That's what taught me. And there you have it. It's funny how it changed my career."

Campbell was so sold on Finnegan's Wake - which most American critics dismissed as impenetrable, a self-indulgent exercise in literary masturbation - that in 1944 he authored, along with Henry Morton Robinson, "A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake" - which remains influential in the field of Joycean criticism yet today. Anyone who spends any time with Campbell's work can't help but notice Joyce's influence on Campbell's thought: in fact, i'd go so far as to say an understanding of Joycean themes is essential to fully grasp Campbell's mythic perspective. That's not to say you won't "get Campbell" if you don't read Joyce - but both men are clearly swimming in the same ocean.

For nearly sixty years Campbell followed in Sylvia Beach's patient, helpful footsteps, presenting ever wider audience with clues to enrich the reader's experience and understanding of Joyce's work. Besides the Skeleton Key (which is the first book to list Campbell as author, five years before the appearance of "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" - which itself was tentatively titled "How to Read A Myth"), JC wrote essays and delivered lectures on the subject, many of which have been collected in Campbell's "Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: Joseph Campbell on the Art of James Joyce," originally published by the Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF) in 1993.

The JCF released a new edition of "Mythic World, Modern Words" in late 2003. Edited by Joycean scholar Edmund L. Epstein, this volume has three major divisions, each examining one of Joyce's novels - "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," "Ulysses," and "Finnegan's Wake" - along with other bits and pieces by Campbell on the subject, including an enlightening question and answer session that concludes the book.

I love it!

The re-release is in every way superior to the original volume. The book is more compact, easier to handle, with a beautiful cover design of Andrea del Sarto's renaissance painting, "Daedalus and Icarus." Whereas chapter headings in the original volume looked more like titles typed at the top of the page of a college manuscript, in the current volume they are better designed and better placed

...but, most important to me, is the inclusion of an index (!), absent in the original volume.

There are so many Campbell gems buried in the pages of "Modern Worlds, Mythic Words" that the binding of my original volume is falling apart, so many times have I flipped through the pages in search of an ideal yet elusive quote. The index in the updated volume makes all the difference!

If you enjoy Joyce, "Mythic Worlds, Modern Words" is an ideal companion volume - but even if you've never read Joyce and never plan to, it's still an excellent survey of the work of the man critics claim is the most important author of the 20th century - and provides clarity and insight into Joseph Campbell's mythic perspective.

Here are a couple examples of thought provoking passages:

"In the field of consciousness research - and also in physics and astronomy - we are breaking past the cause-and-effect, mechanistic way of interpreting things. In the biological sciences, there is a vitalism coming in that goes much further toward positing a common universal consciousness of which our brain is simply an organ. Consciousness does not come from the brain. The brain is an organ of consciousness. It focuses consciousness and pulls it in and directs it through a time and space field. But the antecedent of that is a universal consciousness of which we are all just a part." (p.286)

or this gem, commenting on a passage from Joyce's Ulysses:

"Joyce says we are all in this vibration. The miracle of the Incarnation is the Magnificat of each one of us: Florry Christ, Stephen Christ, Zoe Christ, and so on - we are all particles of the Christ. Very frequently, you know, Joyce brings out key thoughts in a totally contrary kind of language and situation. So his essential message here - and this is the Gnostic message - is that the face of god is the face before you: your friend, a stranger, whomever." (p.151)

Much food for thought here!

From his first encounter with Joyce's writings in Paris in 1927, Campbell remained deeply involved with the works of Joyce. He gave many lectures on Joyce, frequently read from his works, and published a number of articles on Joyce's works. This book provides a survey of Campbell's Joycean studies by conflating his articles and representative lectures, from his obituary notice on the death of Joyce in 1941 to lectures delivered within a few years of Campbell's death. Also included, in the "Dialogues" section, is a selection of Campbell's responses to questions from members of the audience at some of his lectures. Questions from listeners seemed to fire Campbell, and some of these exchanges provide a deeper insight into the material presented in the formal lectures. This book contains both elementary material and advanced analysis of the work of Joyce; it is, therefore, both an introduction to Joyce's major works and a major contribution to Joyce criticism. The whole provides a representative portrait of Joseph Campbell as a critic of Joyce. 304 pp. (From the back cover).

This informed and informative survey of the late Joseph Campbell's published writings and lectures on James Joyce will serve as both an introduction to Joyce's major works and as a critical survey of his literary, spiritual and psychological leanings. Mythic Worlds, Modern Worlds has been long out of print: its return to print will delight Joyce fans and Campbell readers alike.

Magical realism has long been associated with Latin American literature and film. Aldama (University of Colorado, Boulder) examines its connections to other cultures as well. In five chapters, plus an introductory discussion of terminology and a coda, he emphasizes the need for precision in distinguishing between aesthetics and ontology while analyzing the films of Dash and Kureishi, the novels of Rushdie, and the Chicano/a narratives of Acosta and Castillo. Aldama posits the importance of storytelling techniques: parody, mimesis-as-play, rebellion, self-reflexivity, and the subaltern voice of the trickster/picaro. Citing such authors as Cervantes and Garcia Marquez as models, he stresses the need for imaginative writers and artists to question the effects of globalizatoin and consumptoin in the modern world. Joining a literature that includes Aldama's edited volume Arturo Islas: The Uncollected Works (2003) and related studes by such critics as Seymour Menton and Edward Said, this thought-provoking analysis should inspire further inquiry and discussion. Summing up: Recommended-all libaries serving upper-division undergraduates and above. Essential-researchers in the fields of comparative literature and film.
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

I've just finished reading this nuanced and rich study of magical realism and finally understand not only how it differs from realism and the fantastic, but also how the make-believe of fiction has been confused with real facts that enable real politics. An excellent book for scholars and creative writers alike.

This book is a must for serious scholars working on magic realism, postcolonialism, American multiethnic literature, and globalization. Aldama begins by offering a helpful overview of the critics who have observed and theorized magic realism (or magicorealism, as he dubs it). Even more usefully, he interrogates those theories, explains his own fresh take on the subject, and trains his critical lens specifically and in depth on a spectrum of magic realist works of fiction and film--some already canonical, some just beginning to come under academic scrutiny. Though written in a complex and theoretically sophisticated style, this book is appropriate for advanced undergraduates. A valuable contribution to an important field.

Book Description: Magical realism has become almost synonymous with Latin American fiction, but this way of representing the layered and often contradictory reality of the topsy-turvy, late-capitalist, globalizing world finds equally vivid expression in U.S. multiethnic and British postcolonial literature and film. Writers and filmmakers such as Oscar "Zeta" Acosta, Ana Castillo, Julie Dash, Hanif Kureishi, and Salman Rushdie have made brilliant use of magical realism to articulate the trauma of dislocation and the legacies of colonialism that people of color experience in the postcolonial, multiethnic world. This book seeks to redeem and refine the theory of magical realism in U.S. multiethnic and British postcolonial literature and film. The author engages in theoretically sophisticated readings of Ana Castillo's So Far from God, Oscar "Zeta" Acost's Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Shame, The Satanic Verses, and The Moor's Last Sigh, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust, and Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi's Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. Coining the term "magicorealism" to characterize these works, Aldama not only creates a postethnic critical methodology for enlarging the contact zone between the genres of novel, film, and autobiography, but also shatters the interpretive lens that traditionally confuses the transcription of the real world, where truth and falsity apply, with narrative modes governed by other criteria.

Reviews:
"In this exciting new book, Frederick Luis Aldama has done an outstanding job of remapping 'magical realism"--Werner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University.

"Frederick Luis Aldama offers a vigorous revisionary perspective on postcolonial literature and, more specifically, on the much discussed phenomenon of magicorealism. He has a commanding knowledge of postcolonial theory, and he performs a welcome critical task in demonstrating how it tends to confuse the confines of the academy with the contours of the real world, textuality with ontology. Aldama himself is a political critic, but he sanely argues that the arena of any serious politics is the world of living people and not a text"--Robert Alter, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley and author of Canon and Creativity.

"Providing a lucid and cogent critique of the tendency in contemporary criticism to ontologize "magical realism," a tendency that implicitly articulates a relatively simple mimetic relationship between "magical realism" and various postcolonial cultures, Frederick Aldama instead posits a theory of what he calls "rebellious mimetics" that introduces a complex aesthetic and political mediation in that relationship. In doing so, he weaves together a series of excellent analyses of novels and films by authors and artists as diverse as Salman Rushdie, Ana Castillio, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Julie Dash, and Hanif Kureishi. This is a very significant contribution to the study of this genre"--Abdul R. JanMohamed, Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley.

"In this insightful and forceful study of magical realism, Aldama successfully argues that a true postethnic and postcolonial criticism should not (con)fuse the world with the text. His commentaries on Castillo, Dash, Kureishi, Acosta, and Rushdie force the readers to see these artists' magicorealist works in a new light, thus revealing all of their splendid and contradictory complexities. Aldama's book is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the intricacies of magical realism and the vitality of this genre in contemporary European postcolonial and ethnic American literature and scholarship"--Emilio Bejel, Professor of Spanish American Literature, University of Colorado at Boulder and author of Gay Cuban Nation.

"Through a study of the playful narrative techniques of writers and film-makers such as Dash, Garcia Marquez, Rushdie and Kureishi, Frederick Luis Aldama offers a powerful critique of those who view magical realism as either a means toward postcolonial resistance or as a depiction of some exotic real world. Proposing a "postethnic" approach, Aldama argues convincingly that a reader's or viewer's understanding of the aesthetic dimensions of what he calls "magicorealism" can lead to greater political understanding than older, more ideologically oriented interpretations"--Herbert Lindenberger, Avalon Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, Stanford University.

"It is rare that we come across a truly great book, one in which fierce intelligence asserts itself in pages that truly matter. Such a book assigns us the task of reordering what we have taken as true on the promise of an understanding more profound. In such a book, we are guided by extraordinary vision, by an author with keen insight. In the rarest of occasions, we read words that are wise, words that make broad connection and interrogate a range of thought that afterwards we deem necessary. Postethnic Narrative Criticism is such a book; Frederick Aldama is such an author"--Alfred Arteaga, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

This work offers a highly valuable rethinking of magical realism, one that assesses previous work in new ways, one that extends the historical reach of arguments about magical realism, and one that brings a new level of sophistication to arguments about it"--Carl Guitierrez-Jones, Professor and Chair, University of California, Santa Barbara.

This book can only be convincing to those who have no knowledge of the long and by now tedious debate concerning Magical Realism in the field of Latin American literature. What some reviewers call his "innovative" posture is actually based on one of the most conservative and oldest understandings of Magical Realism, Seymore Menton's, articulated in the 1960s. He basically skips over the latest and best criticism by Latin Americanists concerning Magical Realism. He brushes off complex and interesting arguments made by Alberto Moreiras in the space of one paragraph. There is no mention of Moses Valdez who also has written a serious scholarly essay on the topic. Aldama dismisses without confronting in any sustained way the monumental anthology on Magical Realism put out by Lois Parkinson Zamora in recent years. He creates the neologism "magicorealism" or "magicoreelism" (when talking about film) but gives no substantial critical reason for the creation of these terms; At least not one that coherently distinguishes it from any myriad of definitions already available and used when talking about the old term "Magical Realism". There is a lot of confusing argumentation and a lot of neat sounding words that may confuse and convince those who don't know any better of the "greatness" of his argument. However there is nothing here of any real substance. It is little more than a barely re-written dissertation (his dissertation was on a similar topic) that some how made it into press at UT Austin. For any one interested I direct them to Menton's monumental work on the topic, followed by Moreiras, and then the Parkinson Zamora anthology and Moses Valdez's article. All of these people are conversant in the topic, they write in a way that is, for the most part clear and interesting in terms of the theoretical debate.

I loved this book. As an Irish exile in Britain I always buy new Irish women's fiction (Binchy, Scanlan, Kelly, McCarthy and so on), but this book surpasses a lot of the usual fare.

Yes, the twins' relationship is dealt with exteremly well, with a lot of unexpected insights. The part which appealed most to me was Darcy's 'school project,' which develops into the correspondence with Alex the American academic. I guessed extremely on in the correspondence how this might turn out, but Prone was not by any means predictable in achieving that outcome. A truly breathtaking twist!

My only complaint: the book ended too quickly. I wanted to see more of Alex and Darcy at the end, and hear more conversation between them.

Racing the Moon (I still can't figure out the reason for this title) is a book about two Irish fraternal twin sisters, Sophia and Darcy. From a very young age, Sophia is established as the prettier one, the more competent one, the more likeable one, while the overweight Darcy--who in reality is just as smart and competent as her sister--fades into the background. Their parents dote on Sophia, from her desire to become fluent in the Irish language to her long-range career plans, while their father in particular despairs of Darcy's choices in life.

Yet it is Darcy who is the star of the novel. Her wit and intelligence are showcased through her long-term correspondence with an American graduate student as part of a longitudinal study on relationships. Although Darcy and her ersatz pen pal, Alex, can never meet, much of Darcy's life unfolds via her increasingly detailed letters to her confidante. Darcy does have other relationships, from the ever-developing, complex relationship with her twin to a near-miss love affair, but it is in her letters, faxes, and emails to Alex that we get to know her best. Although the majority of the book is narrated from Darcy's perspective, occasionally, there is a shift to Sophia's point of view, which is a bit unnerving but probably necessary to provide the requisite insight into her character (in a few instances, the perspective of the twins' mother is featured as well).

The main action of the novel follows the twins from their teenaged years until their late 20s; family, career, and romance all factor into their individual development. The end of the book contains such a surprise that only the most astute of readers is likely to pick up the subtle clues which precede it. Although this certainly adds interest to the story, it also brings it to a fairly abrupt halt, leaving many questions unanswered. Yet I believe that most readers will not be disappointed, as they will have enjoyed the ride and gotten to know the characters enough to supply their own answers.

I read this book in one sitting on a train journey, and couldn't put it down. It was utterly captivating, and I love the characters of Alex and Darcy.

The way in which Alex and Darcy meet - the teenage Darcy has to correspond with an American academic because her school has asked her to take part in the US university's reseach project - is ingenious, and the letters between the dry and dusty researcher and the teenager are hilarious. Prone makes much fun out of Darcy piercing the pomposity of this guy she knows only by initials.

As Darcy grows up, she sees Alex much more as a friend, but because of the rules of the research they must never meet or exchange any identifying information. This is both fascinating and intriguing as an examination of what makes friendships, and whether it is possible to have as a close friend someone you have never met.

The other characters and events in Darcy's life are also very well portrayed, as a study in growing up; Prone makes excellent use of her knowledge both of the US and of Ireland.

The denouement is sheer brilliance. My only regret is that I felt the book finished too soon.

This book has left me wanting more. Not many books do this for me. I felt the relationshop between the sisters was very cleverly written. Who could fail to like Darcy? ? A very real person. Also Sophia - at the beginning I disliked her - then I continually liked and disliked her - I still can't make up my mind. I have given four stars because I was frustrated that we did not discover more about Alex and Darcy. I hope a second book with these characters is written.

Darcy and Sophia King are non-identical twins born in Dublin, in a very normal family. Their father Robert is a pathologist at a local medical centre, and their mother Colette lives through her love for her husband.

The novel focuses on the evolution of this family during one generation, seen through the eyes of Darcy, a young rebel who suffers from being the twin of a perfect girl loved by her parents, her teachers and her peers. Darcy feels so far from a perfection she tends to despise that her relationship to her sister develops in a mixture of sisterly love and sometimes heinous jealousy.

Their differences increase as the chapters go by.

Sophia (pretty, polite and discreet), reveals a vulnerable side that she hides under the appearance of a woman who perfectly controls her life. From unhappy experiences to success, she admits that she's rarely physically alone but that she lives in an emotional loneliness against which she can't struggle. Darcy invariably fights weight problems and suffers from only being "Sophia's sister". It is only through separation caused by Darcy's international carrier that the two sisters finally get closer.

Although one can't talk about an epistolary book, the story centres around the correspondence between Darcy and an American sociologist, Alexander Carbine Brookstone, who's thirteen years older than she is. Despite the age difference, their relationship evolves into genuine friendship, and Darcy takes refuge in the letters, faxes and, later on, emails that she exchanges with him. Her rebellion, her lack of confidence, her relationship to her sister, to her parents, to her boyfriend, and her frustration regarding her weight explode in this correspondence. Reassured by the idea that she will never meet Alex, she confides her most secret emotions and her thoughts about the world around her, in a way that is alternatively tender, defiant and hilarious.

The biggest quality of this enthralling novel is a confident writing style and a quick pace which doesn't leave room for boredom. It gives life to the characters in a completely exceptional way. The relationships between the protagonists are amazingly real, and page after page, their evolution manifests itself very naturally, whether it's through Darcy's letters to Alex or through Sophia's diary. Terry Prone has masterfully succeeded in making each sentence a fascinating discovery -- even the (side-splitting) description of Darcy's fridge contents is enchanting. This book depicts complex characters and carefully avoids stereotypes and shortcuts. Identifying with Darcy is extremely easy, not because she's an empty shell in which anyone could fit (Darcy is anything but an empty shell!), but because Racing the Moon pulls the reader into her life and -- a rare phenomenon in literature -- makes one forget that she's a fictional character. Darcy is the woman next door, she's someone you pass on the street every day, she's that girl sitting at the back of the room. To everyone, she's quite mundane. In truth, she's exceptional.

A must-read!

In this book, Worster extends Karl Wittfogel's theory of the hydraulic society to the United States - - a task that Wittfogel, despite having emigrated to the US, never attempted. Since Wittfogel emphasized the authoritarian consequences of large-scale irrigation system, so too does Worster, finding an authoritarian "empire" in the American West.

Certainly there are authoritarian elements of western agriculture, especially in the treatment of farmworkers by large farms and corporations. Worster mentions this, but oddly enough does not give this issue as much attention as one would expect.

Worster gives much more attention to the symbiotic relationship between landowners and the water engineers at the Bureau of Reclamation. Like most relationships between government and business, this represents a conspiracy against voters and consumers. That said, it doesn't seem any more hierarchical or autocratic than any other area of regulation, and Worster doesn't really make that case.

Theory aside, the book tells its story well. Unfortunately for Worster, he's competing with a masterpiece, Mark Reisner's "Cadillac Desert", and he covers essentially the same ground. (Reisner's book was published a year later.) Without Reisner, I'd have given this book four stars and recommend for general readers interested in this particular corner of human experience. But Reisner tells the story so well that Worster's book has to stand or fall on the theoretical apparatus - - and this just isn't convincing. As a result, I think that "Rivers of Empire" will really only be interesting for specialists.

I can count on two hands the number of truly pathbreaking works of history published since 1980. "Rivers of Empire" is one of them, and must reading for anyone who seeks to understand the history of this critical region of the United States.

Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas, has been producing outstanding history of the American West and environmentalism for more than a quarter century. When the so-called "New Western History" was avant-garde in historian circles in the early 1980s he was dubbed one of the "Gang of Four" who transformed the field of study--the others being Patricia Nelson Limerick, William Cronen, and Richard White. Worster's work, as well as that of the other three historians, was indeed pathbreaking, and "Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West" is by far his most influential publication. It demonstrates well why Worster was one of the "Gang of Four."

In "Rivers of Empire" Worster argues that the core reality of the American West is its aridity. To make it suitable for large-scale human habitation required the complete transformation of the region; Americans harnessed the rivers and brought water there, irrigating the land and creating great cities. As Worster writes, "The ecological and social transformation of the Great Valley is one of the most spectacular, and more revealing episodes of the American West" (p. 11). The organization and structure of every institution associated with the West reflected the need to control the environment. It brought profound changes to both the region and the people who lived there. This is the story that he tells in this superb book.

Ironically, the supposed individualistic and democratic westerners willingly conspired with the government to create a hydraulic civilization under the suzerainty of the federal government. In order to flourish in the arid West Americans had to build an agricultural system that was dependent upon large-scale government-managed waterworks--productive (for irrigation) and protective (for flood control). This not only made the West habitable, it brought urbanization and wealth there as well. Ancient Egypt first engaged in this type of civilization, and became a dominant power in the process. But always, there were winners and losers in this situation and those left out harped on the inequities of the system. In the American West the "Sagebrush Revolution" of the latter twentieth century pitted the presumably individualist West against the organization and power of the federal government. Ironically, the very organization and power that had created the modern American West was under attack from those who had so benefited from it.

Worster notes that the dominant myth of the West needs to be replaced with a more realistic understanding. He asserts that it is best understood as a story "of people encountering difficult environments, of driving to overcome them through technological means, of creating the necessary social organization to do so, of leading on and on to indigenous bureaucracy and corporatism" (p. 11). He is so right.

This is a wonderful book. Don't miss it!

'Rivers' presents an extensive yet accessible history of Western development based on the author's unique 'hydraulic' thesis -- a hybrid framework that adds an environmental dimension to traditional socio-economic analysis. Essentially, the idea is that the relationship between humans and environment dictates social structure. Whether or not one buys the theory on the strength of this book alone is beside the point. The importance of 'Rivers' lies in its singular, alternative perspective that, when combined with others, reconstructs a more complete story of the West. With that understanding, the reader may appreciate this work without being bothered by its occasional lapses into the kind of flat ideological analysis that seems inevitable in social histories like this.

'Rivers' offers a number of invaluable insights. Contrary to the idealized vision of the West as the last hope for freedom and democracy, the West birthed a rigid, hierarchical society combining big capitalism with big government. Yet the reason behind this was not the environmental condition of aridity per se, but the romantic capitalistic notion of the desert as something to be subdued and exploited. On an even broader level, therefore, 'Rivers' begins to shed light on the dynamic interplay between the relationship between human and nature and the relationship between humans themselves. In the end, this work's highest value may lie in its contribution to the development of this critical but still largely ignored point.

However, while I appreciate other reviewers' passion, Marc Reisner has a broader scope in that book, covering the aquifer-driven irrigation of the High Plains as well as the river-fed irrigation of the Southwest.

Plus, his book has a 1993 revised edition, making it newer and more informative.

Above all, though, as a journalist, rather than an academic. Reisner is simply the better writer. His book is more of a story than "Rivers of Empire," and reads that way, as well as having the broader and more updated coverage.

Indeed, with an older-style typeface (at least in hardcover), Worster's book looks much more dated.

For somebody new to this subject, this is still a very solid four-star book. But, having read and re-read "Cadillac Desert," in that context, I rate "Rivers of Empire" at 3.5 stars.

'Rivers' presents an extensive yet accessible history of Western development based on the author's unique 'hydraulic' thesis -- a hybrid framework that adds an environmental dimension to traditional socio-economic analysis. Essentially, the idea is that the relationship between humans and environment dictates social structure. Whether or not one buys the theory on the strength of this book alone is beside the point. The importance of 'Rivers' lies in its singular, alternative perspective that, when combined with others, reconstructs a more complete story of the West. With that understanding, the reader may appreciate this work without being bothered by its occasional lapses into the kind of flat ideological analysis that seems inevitable in social histories like this.

'Rivers' offers a number of invaluable insights. Contrary to the idealized vision of the West as the last hope for freedom and democracy, the West birthed a rigid, hierarchical society combining big capitalism with big government. Yet the reason behind this was not the environmental condition of aridity per se, but the romantic capitalistic notion of the desert as something to be subdued and exploited. On an even broader level, therefore, 'Rivers' begins to shed light on the dynamic interplay between the relationship between human and nature and the relationship between humans themselves. In the end, this work's highest value may lie in its contribution to the development of this critical but still largely ignored point.

One interesting point from Hawai`i: the author's suggestion of a new model based on sustainable, locally governed and accountable communities is very reminiscent of the ahupua'a system of ancient Hawai`i.