Irish Books

This is one of those books that you can't stop reading, no matter how late it is. It makes you want to read another, and another...

It will whisk you away to a magical world! If you like romance, you will LOVE Irish Dreams!

"Irish Dreams" is the perfect book to warm your spirit whenever your having a cold, rainy type of day. I found myself wrapped up in the characters and really needed to know all would turn out OK in the end. Also, being somewhat old fashioned, I appreciate that this book avoids the "sleaze" factor you find in so many "modern" romances. This book is truly MAGICAL and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance literature.

The characters are well developed but what I liked mostly was the dialogue! As the main characters bantered back and forth, you could hear them in your head. You wanted to enter the book and get envolved. Sometimes, you wanted the strangle the female lead and sometimes you wanted to hold her. The book was fast paced and the bantering was firey and fun. I read the book in one sitting, which is very unusual. I have recommended this book to many family and friends. I can't wait for Ms. Hewitt Berry's next book.

Erin Maguire is a self-sufficient, fiery tempered young woman who travels to Ireland to visit the homeland of her grandfather and to come to terms with the recent death of her fiancé. On the plane trip she accidentally falls into the lap of Logan Tate, a photojournalist on assignment to Ireland. Thus begins a complicated and amusing dance of romance set against the beauty and magic of the Irish countryside.

Corrine Hewitt-Berry has succeeded in bringing together two people who are seeking the healing power of love but who stubbornly bump up against each other in spite of their mutual attraction. It is a delight to see their prejudices against each other while they fall more deeply in love. Against a vivid description of Ireland and its people, Hewitt-Berry weaves a romantic tale which left me eager to see this country and read her next book.

I have purchased a number of Irish fiddle materials over the last four years. I have played guitar for over 30 years and thought that I would try Irish fiddle. Of all the books and materials I have purchased, this is simply the best. The tunes are challenging, yet playable, (if you put some time in} even for a beginner. Mr. Cranitch's playing on the accompanying cassette is excellent, and the cassette makes for good listening on it's own. I would assume that an intermediate to accomplished violinist who wants to play Irish fiddle would find this book less challenging, but I am confident that he or she would enjoy it. For someone with no knowledge of the violin, it will be very challenging, and maybe discouraging. But, once you have the ability to play in tune in first position, and are comfortable and relaxed with your bowing, this is the book to buy.

I've seen this book at music stores but was reluctent to purchase it because it seemed a little expensive and also didn't include the cds. Maybe it's good not to rely too much on the cds with books like these but I have to admit I feel they are essential. It's like having a teacher giving you a run-through of not only how it sounds but also the feeling of how to play it. I see the top seller on amazon is the Peter Cooper book which I bought but was a little disapointed at what I thought was a bit of an uninspired interpretation of the tunes. I suppose that the fact that its on mel bay and is called the complete irish fiddle player gets it alot of attention but I wasn't all that crazy about it. What I do like is the Kevin Burke 20 Irish fiddle tunes on Homespun and my favorite right now is Ireland's Best Fiddle Tunes by Paul McNevin (Waltons Publishing) which has 110 fiddle tunes and 2 cds. Evidentally you can get this with or without the cds but I got the cd edition of course and it was about 30 bucks. I probably should apologize for getting off track of the book in review but I really need to have the cd or I'm not really interested. Oh, the McNevin book also has the guitar chords. This is the one to get, in my opinion. It doesn't look like amazon has it but I see now that although it's Waltons, an Irish publisher, it's evidentally being distributed through Mel Bay. McNevin also has a guide to learning the Irish fiddle for about the same price but I haven't checked that out.

I understand there is a CD or audio cassette with this book. Is it available through you?

Martha Bishop waltmart@mindspring.com

So you want to learn the Irish fiddle, eh? First find yourself a great teacher and start learning these tunes by ear! Second, pick up a copy of this book and the two CDs that go along with it--if you want to learn a tune on your own this book is a wonderful resource. All of the tunes (from reels to hornpipes to airs and everything in between) are written out with little more than the melody, so that you can personalize each one with ornamentation and bowing. Therefore, this book has a more authentic feel to it than many of the other books out there that seem to leave nothing to the imagination. Aditionally, the CDs offer a great sense of appropriate ornamentation and rhythm for many of the tunes. They are essential to truly making the most out of this book.
This book does offer an overview of basic fiddle technique and starts off with chapters on each seperate style of tune. The back section simply contains a wealth of tunes written out in standard musical notation. Honestly, I would recommend this book as a companion to lessons with a teacher, rather than a subsitute for them, in order to master the technical aspects of fiddle playing. But for most people this book will make a wonderfully comprehensive resource for building up your knowledge of very authentic Irish fiddle tunes. It is truly the best of its kind that I have ever used.

I have this fiddle book and it is very thorough. Matt is an excellent fiddle teacher. There is a CD and a cassette that goes with it, sold separately, usually at music stores. The CD is recommend so you can just hit the track button and replay a tune you're practicing rather than rewinding the tape cassette. Highly recommended for learning Irish fiddle.

Great book! Well-written tales of growing up Irish American; NYC based, but rang lots of Boston bells too.

Peter Quinn is a master storyteller and with his prose he tries to keep alive the enduring and rich legacy of Irish-American contributions to the history and foundations of American life.

The great Irish labor leader and 1916 rebel James Connally once said,"It's easier to explain socialism to the Irish than to explain the Irish to the socialists." I've always found depictions of Irish Americans--even more that the Irish in Ireland--to be riddled with stereotypes, both favorable and unfavorable. Why, I've wondered, couldn't anybody "explain" Irish Americans to their fellow Americans--i.e., capture all the confouding complexity of this people in their long day's journey from famine and rural serfdom to the top of the New World? Maybe no one story can ever capture the whole journey, but for me "Looking for Jimmy" comes as close as anyone will ever manage. I was deeply moved by this book, and though, unlike the author, I no longer have any association with organized religion (I describe myself as a "disorganized Christian"),I found his observations on faith to be filled with truth. If you're not Irish American but want to find out about them, read this book. If you are Irish American and want to find out about yourself, do the same.

A big fan of Quinn's historical fiction novels "Banished Children of
Eve" and "Hour of the Cat," I knew I was in the hands of an expert
author and historian in "Looking for Jimmy." Quinn gets personal in
this collection of essays about the Irish in America. As he shares
stories of his family, I'm reminded of my own, or the lack thereof.
The older generations didn't speak much about Ireland or the trials
and harsh tales of their immigration and integration into the new
world. Quinn notes the silence and dearth of artifacts. The phrase
"Watch the quiet ones" comes to mind. May as well say, watch the
Irish ones. Thankfully, Quinn is not quiet. He watches them all,
researches, studies and considers, takes account and conveys the story
and motivation of a people across generations.

It's all too common for modern society to neglect its ancestry. The
melting pot warrants, yet makes it harder to figure identity. Quinn
bravely and enthusiastically explores one important and special
ingredient in that pot, the Irish. He takes us to the movies with
James Cagney, to the legendary story of hero Michael Corcoran, to many
places the Irish permeated and permeate. What it means to be
American, has a lot to do with what it means to be every other
culture. Quinn's "Looking For Jimmy" helps us find him and appreciate
the Irish element in the fabric of America. If we're lucky, there's a
little bit of Jimmy in all of us.

This book answers the question once and for all; Are all the NY Irish dead and buried in Calvary Cemetary??? Not so.....Quinn's book riveted me from the first word written. So many of the reflections were identical to my own family and their experience in New York. The silence of our past, the quest for respectability, the fierce fidelity to the faith. I was torn between laughing and crying at the similarities.

Besides the magnificent analysis and brilliant prose, I appreciate Quinn's indebtedness to the parochial school system; I too am a product of a Christian Brothers high school, then Fordham (much to the dismay of my high school teachers, no Manhattan College in my future...my father had the Jesuits at Xavier and Georgetown)

If you are a New Yorker of Irish descent, this is a must read. Too few of my generation appreciate the sufferings and sacrifices of our ancestors; we have succeeded upon their shoulders. This book crystalizes that fact, and challenges us to keep faith with that past as we look to the future

Probably, the only reason I can not give this 5 stars is because I was spoiled by Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors." This is a sparkling piece of art. It is easy to see how Greek Mythology inspired Shakespeare. The Greek gods have human desires, impulses, and weaknesses. And often, their people suffer because of them. In this play, several characters are hindered (although unintentionally) by the bickering Oberon and Titania. It is easy to see the similarities between Zeus and Hera. The play also offers situation comedy, young lovers, frustrated parents, sparkling images, and a happy ending. CAUTION-ENTER THIS MYSTICAL WONDERLAND AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This was truely one of Shakespear's best plays. The way it was put into a movie was absolutely brilliant. I've seen few of his plays on film. But I bet even if I saw them all, A Midsummer Nights Dream would be my favorite along with Taming of the Shrew.

This is one of my favorite, if not my VERY favorite of Shakespeare's works. It is certainly my favorite of the comedies and I do not hesitate to rank this as one of the greatest works of literature of all-time. By the way, I LOVE this play. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that...well enough of that. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of the funniest plays of all-time. I was literally laughing out loud during the performance of "The Most Lamentable Comedy..." at the play's end. The "dream" world within the forest is a magical fantasy world in which the humans are manipulated by faries to fall in or out of love. Within this world, in which most of the play occurs, the powers of the imagination are heightened and the characters are helpless against their imaginations, which guide everything they do and say. This is one of the play's major themes: the imagination. Even out of the "dream world" the characters are guided by their imaginations. Duke Theseus (the plays strongest critic of such a notion) even admits that in order to enjoy such a performance (as the one put on by the unforgettable Bottom, and his comrades-in-folly), one must use one's imagination. I honestly believe that this is Shakespeare at his best. I would recommend this work to anyone!

Anyone who has read this play will say that it was a riot. What's even better than reading it, though, is seeing it performed live. My face hurt because I was laughing so hard! But if you do read it, and you have that problem about understanding what it's saying, not a big deal! The flavorful but easy to read dialouge makes it simple to understand what's going on. But, you can always get the New Folger edition that has explanations of certain parts on the opposite page (very helpful for when Shakespeare makes a joke that doesn't make any sense to us now). This play is laugh-out-loud funny and almost anyone can enjoy it.

I disagree with the reader who said there is no substance in this play. Certainly, all works of good literature have substance, espcially this one. One of the great aspects of A Midsummer Night's Dream is the fantasy that the characters are led to believe. Compare this to As You Like It, where the only fantasy is the fantasy that characters want to believe.

The footnotes for each episode are by the far the best part of this book.

I was exposed to this series in reverse!! I read the books, then saw the BBC shows, and finally heard the BBC radio show. There are subtle and not so subtle differences in all the different media, but they are all pure Douglas Adams!!! The radio scripts are an essential, and clarify (At least for me they did) many things that were not co clear. Not everyone is drawn to the scripts of the favorite shows/broadcasts, but as I have all the scripts for the Monty Python shows, it works for me. Especially if you are a fan of "British" humor, most of which lies in the dialog, it is pure delight to read through these scripts!!

So, you've read the books... bought the tv series on dvd, gone through all the special features (including the comment captions on the film)... read the biographies... and hunted up collectors items on ebay. What next?

Get this book. "The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts" contains many scenes not in the books and, if you've already heard the radio series, many lines that were trashed for time. There is also commentary after each episode by Perkins and Adams.

Some things will seem eerily familiar, then zoom off into a completely different direction and, in my opinion, a better direction. Of course, some things are missing that make the books equally essential.

You can currently get this at a pretty good price used from amazon. Get it now before you can't get it at all.

Although it requires a fair amount of effort to sift through the directions and radio-style writing, the reward is some stuff that I, frankly, find much funnier than much of the Hitchhiker novel series. Recommended to anyone who wants a good laugh, and especially to Hitchhiker fans.

...life forms are required to use a seldom-exercised ability called "imagination" which, with effort, allows the user to paint a mental tapestry that is superior in many respects to any computer generated image or subjective image of perfection.

(takes a breath)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy goes on a bit about the relative superiority of radio as a medium that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain, but it also notes several references to various works that endure in a medium regarded as deader than the telegraph.

The Hitchhiker's Guide is not only proof that radio is still a viable medium for drama, but that Douglas Adams is a genius. The show, scripted week-by-week by DNA and Geoffrey Perkins was easily translated to books and television with minimal edits. Yes, the second series is a bit off the ultimate track, but it is quite original and the foot notes from Douglas and Perkins are very insightful. These footnotes exist as a log of what took place when it all began and, sadly, as the only memoir to them.

If you can find it, get it.

Peter F. Stevens does an outstanding job in bringing to life the issues that permeated and greatly harmed the American armies of General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott from 1846 to 1848. At the core was American nativism, hatred and fear of newly arrived Catholic immigrants mainly from Ireland and Germany. Recruited nearly at the pier, these soldiers had no loyalty nor a real investment in their future as Americans. What loyalty they had was toward their Catholic faith. Meeting them in the army was a cadre of immigrant hating junior officers who often imposed discipline more severe than found in European armies. The result was the highest desertion rate of any war the United States ever fought. More important, the Mexicans took advantage of immigrant soldiers' unhappiness and formed the St. Patrick's Battalion, led by John Reily, that distinguished itself in battle against former comrades and messmates until their defeat and capture. The author shows how severe the courts martial were that resulted in the execution of fifty deserters and the lashing and branding of others including John Reily. That this series of events became a downside of Manifest Destiny and a forerunner of the Civil War becomes prominent in the text. This worthy book is a fine read, well researched, militarily and historically sound, and serves as a real contribution to the field of military and social American history.

a los martires irlandeses, nuestros hermanos de Hibernia ue sublevandose ante una injusta guerra, impuesta a un vecino debil y dividido, se unieron a este, luchando con coraje allado de los mexicanos, por cierto, hermanos de religion; la mayor parte de estos, los que sobrevivieron, aun marcados en el rostro por el vencedor, unos marcharon a Yucatan donde prosperaron, otros al istmo de tehuantepec en donde encontraron oficio y los demas por diversos rumbos de la geografia mexicano en donde dejaron su simiento, prueba de ello, son os numerosos apellidos irlandeses que encontramos a lo largo y ancho de nuestra patria...¡Gloria eterna a los martires irlandeses!

Throughout Mexico, one can hear of the legend of the SanPatricios, a battalion of soldiers in the U.S.-Mexico War that wasmade up almost entirely of deserters from the U.S. Army. Predominately Irish and/or Catholic, the San Patricios fought well for the Mexicans -- and they suffered for it significantly when the U.S. finally won the war.

Stevens does an excellent job of telling the story of the battalion, the history behind its foundation, and the punishment its members faced after the war. Adding to the interest of the story is the role that many of those in the U.S. Army during the U.S.-Mexico War went on to play pivotal roles in the U.S. and CSA armies during the Civil War.

An engaging history lesson of both the Mexican-American War and the Anti-Catholic/Immigrant prejudice of Nativists and West Pointers who would later be made famous by the American Civil War. This is as much a story of persecution by bigoted officers as it is an Order of Battle for the conflict. All the major battles of the war are covered with maps and detailed first hand accounts of what happened.

Well-educated and brilliant officers were of differing opinions about the legitimacy of the war, the treatment of German and Irish Catholics, and the tactics used on the field. It was surprising to me to read the correspondence of figures such as Grant, Lee, Sherman, Taylor, Scott, Bragg, and a host of others, illuminating their personal feelings on both sides of those issues and how the experience of the war changed the sentiments and conduct of many of those same officers. This would be reflected in the Civil War some 20 years later.

An intriguing example of the use of "flying batteries" as an innovative use of Artillery showed one of the reasons an outnumbered, and arguably out classed, military was able to defeat an enemy on foreign soil so far away from home.

The story revolves around the main character, the leader of the "San Patricos" and as a counterpoint, an established Irishman settled in the country and the Army. They both faced the same insults and persecutions, and the same offers and temptations to change sides and ironically, both men end up being promoted from enlisted men to commissioned officers in the two opposing armies.

I imagined at first that this would be a story of a man's internal conflict of having to choose loyalty to church over country; though a powerful theme of the book, this was not so much the case. The stronger case was made that the largest desertion rate in the history of the US Army occurred at a time when because of their nationality and religion, men were treated as less deserving of respect and dignity resulting in harsher treatment than "native born Americans". Punishments for identical infractions were much more degrading and humiliating for "foreigners" than for "Americans" in the same unit. A lesson in the effects of fair and equal treatment could not be stronger given to the American Army and indeed this did change. The disturbing part of this history is the undeniable cover up by first the Army and then the Government of the United States for over 120 years. This book should be on the required professional development reading list for Officers and NCOs alike.

Mr. Stevens writing puts emotion and personality to the characters and events described by using copious amounts of official Courts-Martial transcripts, Government Archives records of Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, and the United States. In addition he draws from the personal diaries, journals, and letters, of the men and women involved. He also cites official war correspondence from the officers of both sides, and newspaper articles of the day.

A must read for the student of Irish-American and Vietnam history. Goes into detail of the anti-Catholic/anti-emmigrant climate of America in the the 1840's. A story of America's first war of agresssion against another independent nation, shows the beggings of Americas imperialistic wars.A good companion text for istorians of America's involvement in South East Asia,"if we do not learn from history we are cursed to repeat it."

W.H. Auden is truly, as noted by editor Edward Mendelson, a twentieth century poet. Auden had a firm grasp on the essence of contemporary politics and culture and possessed a knack for bringing a reader into his world. This selection spans the entire body of Auden's work, and contains several early poems which are hard to find, as Auden refused to have them republished in later collections of his work. It is a good introduction to Auden, but I recommend reading it along with Collected Shorter Poems 1927-1957, as that contains the revisions that Auden made to his poems over time, in his fervor for complete honesty in his work.

While Mendelson's selection is well put together and a good representation of Auden's early craft, the revised poems are generally much stronger (though often bleaker in tone). Many changes, such as the famous revision of September 1, 1939 to read "we must love one another and die" rather than "we must love one or die" were made to reflect the author's shifting attitudes. However, other poems improve significantly with Auden's editing, and if this book is the only Auden you read, you'll miss out on the full depth of his power as a poet.

Auden wrote much poetry in many different forms. He was a very learned poet with strong connection to English poetic tradition. Among his most known poems are those which are also my favorites,"Musee des Beaux Arts", "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" and "September 1,1939". The concluding stanza of this last poem gives a good idea of the special colloquial power of Auden's rhyme and rhythm.

"Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

In that poem also contains the great stanza, " Lest we should see we are/ Lost in a dark haunted wood/ Children afraid of the night/ Who have never been happy or good."
Auden was too a considerable critic of Literature, an outstanding Anthologist, a man-of- letters in a true sense.
I do not know the range of his poetry well, but the anthology pieces are filled with memorable lines.
Edward Mendelson, a well- known Auden scholar, in this work presents a number of original poems which Auden as he was wont to do improved for the worse.

For many of us,the poems that we read in childhood and adolescence are those that stick with us the most. When I was fifteen, I bought this volume and promptly fell in love with Auden's poetry. His work showed a restlessness with the social and political state of his world, and I found that I could connect with it both intellectually and emotionally. To this day, I can revisit this book's pages feeling like I am visiting a childhood friend. Auden expressed some feelings I shared with him, and I was moved by his ability to express them better than I ever could: with frankness, wit, and grace. A must for any literary enthusiast (or any curious fifteen-year-old, for that matter).

The poetry is splendid -- Auden is a brilliant, sensitive, musical and entertaining writer -- and the selection is fairly representative. Mendelson prefers Auden's later poems to his earlier ones, so the twee middle-aged sequences "Bucolics" and "Horae Canonicae" are included complete, while most of "Twelve Songs" (which has some terrific love poems like "Fish in the unruffled lakes", "Funeral Blues" and "Tell me the truth about love") is not. Still, there is enough in here, esp. in the first two-thirds of the book, to give you a fair enough taste of Auden's verse to entice you to buy his Collected Poems.

(You'll still need the Selected; it has a couple of good poems that Auden decided not to republish, and superior versions of some early poems.)

I can do little more than echo the other reviewers here. This is all a 'selected poems' shoud be: introductory and selective. Yes, "Funeral Blues" is missing. But no one can complain about what is here, which includes "In Time of War", the great sonnet sequence; "The Quest", another long sequence; and the entirety of THE SEA AND THE MIRROR, which is based on Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST. If you are, however, only interested in his love poems, I'd have to steer you toward TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE, a nice little chapbook containing only those.

My own personal experience with this book may be relevant. It has served to introduce me to one of the finest poets of the last century and sparked a desire to read THE COLLECTED POEMS, also edited by Mendelson, to see how Auden re-wrote thirty of the brilliant poems here included. I'm continuing on my voyage; hope you are starting on yours.

This book is the definitive history of the riding families -- the Border Reviers. It is a long scholarly look into the nature of these complex and determined families that does not pass judgment or apply modern values in the assessment of their history and deeds. This is not for the casusal reader. It uses a fair amount of old English spellings and can be an effort to decifer at times. However Fraser MacDonald combines this along with his natural story telling ability to make you feel as if you are on a foray across the border and it keeps you coming back for more. If you are a student of Border history or are lucky enough to have one of the riding names, make the effort to read this book. It has no equal in its treatment of the subject.

Until England and Scotland were united under a single king in March 1603, the border between them was, unsurprisingly, a natural place for strife and disorder. The two countries had been at war intermittently for centuries, and many armies had passed back and forth across the border counties. Fraser's history covers the last hundred years of the border, from 1503 to 1603, a period during which the decayed (and astonishingly corrupt) administration could never cope with the local gangs -- known as "reivers" -- who terrorized the district with cattle theft, murder, and arson.

The book is very well-organized. Fraser starts with a few pages on the long historical background, then takes about half the book to cover the reivers by topic: chapters on arms and armour; on reiving technique; on the key families and their alliances; on cross-border relations; on the administrative structure. Fraser gives a lot of details, and plenty of quotes from the original sources (with the original spellings!).

This painstaking coverage sets up the second half of the book perfectly: one hundred and forty pages that cover the history of the border chronologically through the sixteenth century. With the details in hand, the second half is easy to follow and put in context; the writing is also clear and entertaining.

The last section of the book details the uncompromising way in which King James I destroyed the reivers in a few short years after 1603. It is a startlingly bloodthirsty story: Fraser includes quotes from blanket pardons that King James issued to some of his enforcers, which essentially say "whatever murders you did, I'm sure it was in a good cause, and you're absolved".

There are separate chapters on some of the most famous events, notably the raid on Carlisle Castle that freed Kinmont Willie. Fraser is at some pains to dispel the romantic ideas that cling to stories of the borderers -- as he points out, they were essentially a Mafia, with little of Robin Hood about them. It's clear, though, that he finds their adventurousness and style endearing and fascinating; and he writes about them so well that you are likely to feel the same way.

MacDonald Fraser brings to the history of the Anglo-Scots border reivers all the exuberance and attention to detail that made his name in the Flashman novels. Readers looking for more gloriously politically-incorrect adventures from the Victorian age won't find them here, but this book does repay the extra effort needed from the reader. The Steel Bonnets is the most entertaining yet informative serious works of history I have read.
The story of the Anglo-Scots border is a complex and a bloody one. MacDonald Fraser manages to understand, without condoning, the hard men who fought and died, rode and raided across the border between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. He untangles the knotted threads of their family ties and feuds and reveals their part in the wider relations between England and Scotland prior to the union of the Crowns in 1603. He dives into the dusty depths of the written records and brings them back to us red in tooth and claw.
At a time when the border between England and Scotland looks as though it may become an international, rather than a domestic border once more, this book should be of relevence to all with an interest in and love of these two nations.

I was born in Carlisle, England. The second big town of the border area other than Berwick. My father is from Longtown, Cumbria which is right next to the debateable land and I have the last name of Crozier. This book was like reading about my own history and explained a whole lot of things about my home town and the people I grew up with. Just in my neighborhood, there were Armstrongs, Taylors, Littles, Nixons, Grahams and many other Reiver names.
This is a very scholarly book and exceptionally well written. The author must have done an incredible amount of research to put this together. I read it twice, the second time noting how many references to Croziers(Crosers) there were. My father's family name is in there 26 times. Along with the Armstrongs, Nixons and Eliots, we were considered the worst of the worst of the reivers. Maybe not something to be proud of, but interesting. According to my mother(God rest her soul)her paternal grandfather was the illegitmate son of the Duke of Buccleugh(you'll hear a lot about the Scotts of Buccleugh, many of whom had the same name of Walter, including the famous one), so I have Reiver blood from there too. Fascinating book especially if you have a surname that might go back to that part of the world and those times.
What I have written here is just a taste of the whole book. A little heavy going at times, but so good that I have read it twice already and now use it as a research tool.

As a newcomer to Scottish Border history I found the many forces and families influencing events very confusing. George MacDonald Fraser has written a remarkable book in which he creates order and logic from a very complicated period and at the same time has written a book which is etremely readble.

It essential reading for anybody interested in border history and will no doubt be quoted extensively by writers who follow.

True to the topic, it transports you right there. Historical and old, but still current.

I thought this book was one of the best books Ive ever read it describes how people feel and view the world from inside themselves but can never express this externally or even realise they are thinking these things themselves.

For me It depicts how inadequate we all are men and women, when it comes to Love, and expressing it and sharing it. it flumoxes us all, Its too big for us, "the chickens had more sense"....pass the worms please.

Written about a South African farm. this book depicts the story of a family and how they interact throughout the book. The most striking dynamic in the book is the relationships of the women in it. It portrays female existence in a realistic light even for today. The story has a lot of character to it, and I would recommend it highly for teachers who want to teach about feminism.

Although I had to read this book for a college class, I would read it again in a second, I feel that I can only gain more and more from this book through rereadings. Its plot is at times disjointed to the style of the author and the message she is attempting to convey, so for those who are looking for a strongly Dickensian or "feel good" read, this is most likely not the book for you right now. But for me, from an analytical and heartfelt standpoint, the subtlety of the book and its beauty and its truth made me tear up a little bit. I'm currently writing a paper on Waldo and his artistic and personal growth throughout the novel, so maybe I'm a little biased, but although Lyndall is an incredibly interesting and advanced character, I think Waldo is often glossed over as merely suffering from a religious crisis of faith, and, being a man, not deserving of attention in this novel of the "New Woman". But Waldo ultimately reaches a place of amazing peace and understanding, and the lives of Waldo and Lyndall intertwined together is truly beautiful.

"Story of an African Farm" is a difficult work to describe. It must be read several times, and carefully pondered before all of its secrets are unlocked.

Ostensibly, the book revolves around the lives of three children (and, later, adults) who live in the Karroo plains of South Africa. The main focus, however, is on two of the characters - Waldo, the earnest and deeply curious son of the German farmkeeper, and Lyndall, the beautiful, outspoken and rebellious orphan who suffers all her life for her ideals.

The book itself is semi-autobiographical. Waldo represents Schreiner's journey from fanatical, childlike faith to bitter skepticism, who reaches a watershed of sorts when he hisses to Lyndall 'There is no God - none!'. Lyndall, on the other hand, embodies Schreiner's frustation with her station as a woman - barred from the upper echelons of society, and her inability to find a mate who is both her intellectual match and willing to accept her as an equal. "I want to love", she whispers to the grave of Waldo's father, "I want something great and pure to lift me to itself."

There are many other themes that flesh out the subtext of this extraordinary book - the tragedy of solitude, that ultimately, all humans are alone in the cosmos. "Dear eyes", the dying Lyndall whispers to her mirror, "they will never part us."

Readers who expect a narrative will be dissapointed. What narrative there is serves only to undersore the book's many themes. Often, the flow of the story is out of sequence, or devoid of context, and deliberately so. Roughly, the book is divided into three sections - the first introduces us to the characters as children, and reveals their innermost thoughts. The second, and shortest section is entitled "Times and Seasons". It is somewhat of a summary of what has gone before, dealing mostly with Waldo's journey from Christian fanaticism to dispairing atheism, and foreshadows some of what is to come. The third, and longest section, covers the lives of the characters as adults, and is by far the most powerful, and moving piece of the book.

The reader who is looking for mindless action is advised to pick up the latest Tom Clancy novel, or whatever passes for literature these days. Those who are willing to put aside all preconceived notions, and have their cherished beliefs challenged are invited to read this book. The search for truth is endless. But this book is a perfect place to begin.

First of all the potential reader should know that this book was published in 1917, so the 'Modern' in the title refers to the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the earliest part of the twentieth century.

Secondly, the author omits mention of most of the ghost story authors from that period who are still popular today, e.g. J. S. Le Fanu (first ghostly tale published in 1838) and M. R. James (first collection of stories published in 1904). She also leaves out most of Victorian ladies whose ghost stories are still in print today, e.g. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, E. Nesbit, and Mrs. Riddell.

I would classify this book as an overview of the literature of supernatural fantasy and horror (including a Byronic poem about a vampire). The ghost story as defined and brought to its peak by Victorian and Edwardian authors, receives only brief mention in the chapter, "Modern Ghosts."

Scarborough begins with the Gothic Romance, of which she says: "The mysterious twilights of medievalism invited eyes tired of the noonday glare of Augustan formalism. The natural had become familiar to monotony, hence men craved the supernatural. And so the Gothic novel came into being."

'Gothic' is used to designate the eighteenth-century, pseudo-medieval novel of horror. The author begins with Horace Walpole's, "The Castle of Otranto"--if you are at all fond of Regency romances, you are bound to run across a heroine who is reading Walpole's tale of mad monks and haunted castles, or Mrs. Radcliffe's horrific "Mysteries of Udolpho." These novels depicting "decaying castles with treacherous stairways leading to mysterious rooms, halls of black marble, and vaults whose great rusty keys groan in the locks"--plus a heroine who wanders through spider-webbed corridors at midnight--did not have much staying power. According to Scarborough, Jane Austin finally gave this genre the kiss of death when she satirized their gloomy, overwrought style in "Northanger Abbey," which remained unpublished until after her death in 1818. "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" describes many gothic romance peculiarities in detail, while having a certain amount of gentle fun with them.

A chapter on European supernatural literature is followed by the aforementioned chapter on "Modern Ghosts." The author makes much of the effect Poe, Balzac, Hoffmann and other Romantic supernaturalists had on the nineteenth century English and American ghost story. Balzac in particular exerted a strong influence over Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author of "The Haunters and the Haunted," and progenitor of that infamous opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night..." (yes, that Bulwer-Lytton). Other stories that the author selects for discussion depend more on the Romantic tradition of insanity, gruesome decline, and horrid death to spark them along, rather than a purely supernatural mechanism. (As a matter of fact, Scarborough even published a novel in which the heroine was driven mad by the wind.)

She also expends a great deal of print on Spiritualism (which was already on the decline when this book was written), and the mystical, folkloric pantheism of such writers as W.B. Yeats ("The Celtic Twilight") and Algernon Blackwood ("Ancient Sorceries").

Scarborough draws heavily upon Romanticism, Spiritualism, and folklore for her chapters on "The Devil and His Allies," "Supernatural Life (which contains an excellent exposition on the legend of the Wandering Jew)," and "The Supernatural in Folk-tales."

"Supernatural Science" is the only really dated chapter in this book, with its discussions of hypnotism, the Fourth Dimension, uncanny chemistry, and students who exchange eyeballs. Even here, the author provides interesting commentary on A. Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Arthur Machen (whom she despises), and Ambrose Bierce, among other authors who were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century (and still are).

"The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" should appeal to anyone who is interested in the evolution of fantasy and horror literature. Try "Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood" by Jack Sullivan or "Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story" by Julia Briggs if your interest is more focused on literature that is entirely devoted to ghosts.

A very cool find... a friend gave me a copy as a birthday gift... so many different stories by authors I had never read... plus the author, Scarborough, has this cute concise way of writing. My fav chapter was on "The Devil and His Allies."

Ever wonder where Horror Fiction came from? How has it progressed from the beginning Gothic story to the stuff it is made of today? This book will answer your questions.

A must have for the speculative fiction lover, this book covers every genre from the early gothic to the ghost stories of the 20th century. First published in 1917, Dorothy Scarbouough covers it all, the madness and the horror of the 18oo's.

I'm glad I discovered this book, it will remain a favorite for years to come.

My bookshelves are filled with anthologies, the favorites being ones that contain some of the more obscure stories. What a pleasure to find this book! Scarborough lists some writers I have never heard of and set me scurrying online. She writes in a pleasant, easy style.

This is the latest in Lethe Press's series of reissues of works on the occult. 'The Supernatural In Modern English Fiction' was written in 1917 by Dorothy Scarborough. Given that the series has been uneven so far I did not have high expectations for this volume, and have only now discovered that it is a veritable treasure trove of books and literary history. It covers the period from Horace Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto' and other Gothic romances straight through to the author's own present times in the early 20th Century.

This makes for a literal cast of thousands. I was quite surprised to discover that horror and fantasy were a major part of the world's literary output from the very beginnings of popular literature. From Walpole, Maturin, and Shelley right through to Doyle, Machen, and Blackwood it was indeed a crowded stage. And Scarborough manages to present most of these efforts in a readable and well-organized fashion. Initially we are given a historical approach, but then the themes are taken up separately. Ghost stories, the demonic, the wandering Jew, rebirth, the afterlife, folk tales, and even 'scientific' monsters each get their turn in the sun.

As I've indicated Scarborough writes without any of the boring academic tone which often haunts this kind of material. This makes this volume an entertaining way to hunt down new reading material as well as a help in steering one's way through book stall accretions with a steady hand. Keep a pencil and a piece of paper handy while reading this book, you are bound to find things of interest.

My only regret is the lack of a bibliography. Scarborough is quite up front about this. In addition to the 3,000 or so titles that she drew upon for the book, there was an even larger additional number that she felt should be provided to the reader/researcher. There simply was no room at the inn. Unfortunately, to our loss, the bibliography promised as a second volume never materialized. There is, however, a good index, which will have to serve in it's stead.