Greece Books

There is little to add to the some of the excellent reviws previously listed. The documentation and bibliography is impressive as well as the author's willingness to discuss alternate interpretations of key historical events. The book is well written; but it is the numerous and well-drawn maps that I found particularly impressive.

My hobby is wargaming; and for those that share this hobby, this book is a gem. Think of it; 35 possible scenarios complete with maps ranging from Ancient Egyptian vs Ancient Syrian to Mondern Israelis vs Arabs...and even Armageddon itself. This can be considered either a "future" or a "fantasy" battle based upon your preferences. All of these battles could be gamed upon one large map or playing area stretching from Megiddo in the West to Mts Tabor, Gilboa, and Moreh in the East,\.

I had to do a presentation on megiddo for a class. This book was the most useful and interesting one that I had at my disposal.

History is a slight of hands artist of sorts. It tends to focus ones attention on the flashy action center stage while more important events are often happening in the wings. Its spotlight brings out in high relief the massive endeavor of the pyramids, the power and grandeur of the Roman empire, the longevity of Chinese culture, or the blood rituals of the Aztecs. In doing so it tends to neglect the margins, places where cultural synthesis and mere survival of local polities brings the real issues of life during the time into sharper focus. Eric Cline is a master at redirecting ones attention to precisely these issues of history. In The Battles of Armageddon he chronicles the "life" history of a region that was for most of that history on the margins of the action in the Middle East and in the world.

The Jezreel Valley and ancient Megiddo, the Armageddon of Revelation, are brought to center stage in this well researched and thoroughly entertaining book. Here the armies of the world have fought battles deciding the course of human history, and here too it is suggested that the final battle between good and evil will be fought in the future. All tolled, some 34 major battles have been fought in this valley, often if not usually between combatants who are foreign to the area.

In documenting the drama of conflict that has played itself out on this valley floor, Professor Cline has examined a wide variety of data recording human events in the area. He discusses the records of ancient Egypt, the Biblical texts, the cuneiform documents of Anatolia, Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia, the written material of both the Moslem and the Christian participants of the Crusades, French documentation of the Napoleonic wars in the Middle East, the Allenby diaries, letters, etc. for the World War I conflict with the Ottoman Empire, and the more recent evidence for the Arab-Israeli conflicts in the area. In short, he addresses an impressive collection of data and with it constructs an absorbing "biography" of the region, and in doing so brings the history of the world itself into sharper focus.

I found Cline's willingness to entertain alternative proposals for events of the Israelite conquest of the Levant particularly impressive. He does not seem wedded to any particular theme or version of early Biblical history, a fact which gives one confidence in his critical judgment with respect to early documents, both Biblical and extra-Biblical. Where he is uncertain of the order of or veracity of events or their documentation, he is willing to say as much. There is no effort to make the evidence appear more concrete than it is. He also seems to have no preferred "side" in the Arab-Israeli conflict at least as a historian and archaeologist--whether he has one as an individual is his own business. The author also sticks to historical information and its interpretation and only introduces archaeological data where it is pertinent to the discussion. He doesn't burden the amateur enthusiast with more detail than they are willing or able to imbibe. In short he doesn't slow down the "story" of the Jezreel which makes the volume more readable.

Although I certainly found the earlier history of the Valley of interest--my degree is in ancient history--I actually found Professor Cline's treatment of the era of the Crusades more engaging because I learned more. I also enjoyed the discussion of General Allenby's possible foreknowledge of the war between Thutmose III and the Canaanites at Megiddo an excellent demonstration of good historic detective work. (It was definitely a good illustration of the value of a thorough knowledge of history.) The bibliography of The Battles of Armageddon is a veritable who's who of historical and archaeological research since the 19th century, including authors of topical works, of edited collections and encyclopedias, and of journal articles. For anyone with a specific interest this would definitely be a good starting point for the pursuit of information on tangential topics. I will probably use it to help fill in my knowledge of the Crusades. Without doubt this book would appeal to anyone with an interest in history, particularly that of the Levant or of peripheral areas in general, or in political and military history. One might even use it to teach world history, as so many of the main "players" in the events of human activity have passed through this valley and left their mark on it. Definitely a work worth reading.

Professor Eric Cline's book here is one of the best works on the bloody and conflict ridden history of the City of Megiddo and its accompanying region, the Valley of Jezreel. Cline demonstrates how easily the name Megiddo had already been corrupted into Har Megiddo(or Mount of Megiddo) by the Roman era. This explains how it was later transcribed as 'Armageddon' by John The Apostle, who wrote the Book of Revelations. Cline documents the more than 30 battles which have raged in or around the Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley and chronicles many of the most decisive wars in history that occured here such as Napoleon's defeat of the Ottoman Turks at Aboukhir(July 1799) in the vicinity of..you guessed it! Megiddo, Sheshonq I's(the Biblical Shishak) assault against, and capture of, the Ancient Israelite cities of Beth Shan, Taanach and Megiddo in 925 BC which are all located in the same general area, Pharaoh Tuthmose III's stunning victory over the Prince of Kadesh at Megiddo in 1458 BC, and how more than three thousand and three hundred years later, the First World War British General Edward Allenby proceeded to virtually copy Tuthmose III's battle plan at Megiddo, catching the Ottoman Turks completely off guard in September 1918. The happy result, for Allenby, was the complete destruction of the Turkish Army in Northern Palestine and Syria, just 2 months before the end of World War One.

Professor Cline's excellent prose helps to explain why this book won the Biblical Archaeology Society's Award for the best New Book on Archaeology in 2001. Cline's view of the main reason why John decided to locate the Final Battle between Good and Evil at Armageddon--the same site where the last 'good' king of Judah, Josiah, fell in battle against Pharaoh Necho II in 609 BC--is quite persuasive. Equally intriguing is Cline's observation that the battle at Armageddon between Good and Evil was actually the penultimate(second last) battle in this series since a thousand years after this aforementioned battle, the Forces of Good and Evil will arise once again to do battle for the last time. However, this time the location was Jerusalem itself, as John writes in Revelations.

Cline's book makes an invaluable contribution towards our understanding of the strategic location of Megiddo as the gateway into both Syria and into the heart of Israel/Palestine; hence, its troubled history. As an Aside, Cline also documents the desperate struggles between Modern day Israel and the Arab states for control of this same area during the Wars of 1948 and 1967 where a breakthrough by the latter would have spelled disaster for the Jewish state.

For anyone interested in battles, ancient and contemporary, this book is for you. Cline invites those interested in the site of Armageddon as well as military history buffs into the world and circumstances of the Jezreel Valley. Destined to be a classic on ancient battles.

Gorgeous photographs! He catches cats doing fairly ordinary cat things against a breath-takingly beautiful backdrop of Greek scenery.

If you love cats, you got to love the photos in this book.

You don't have to be a feline fancier to enjoy the 28 gorgeous photos by Ron Nelson. The cats are, of course, irresistible - a jet black adventurer leaping from a white wall, a covey of the gentle creatures gathered around a blue fence or a black and white watchman perched high atop a pillar looking out to sea.

While the cats are irresistible so are the settings - Santorini and Antiparos. For me, Santorini is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. The result of an enormous volcanic explosion thousands of years ago Santorini is now blessed with astounding natural beauty. Three huge cliffs define the island as it slopes down to the gorgeous Mediterranean, and in the island's center is a magnificent lagoon. Needless to say the view from Santorini is spectacular.

I've not had the pleasure of visiting Antiparos however, if Ron Nelson's photos are any indication, it would be an estimable destination. It boasts a picture postcard harbor, wide sandy beaches, and clear sparkling water.

Cats of the Greek Islands is a delight for armchair travelers, animal lovers, and those who enjoy beautiful scenes.

- Gail Cooke

Ron Nelson's camera captures the soft details of some amazing cats living in the Greek Isles. Their fur seems to be especially healthy and their bright eyes seem to speak of happy days laying out in the sun, a life lived outdoors in the fresh air and a content spirit.

Each picture is framed on a white page to bring out the contrast of the white stone walls and sapphire waters glistening in the distance. Some kittens are found sleeping on windowsills outside windows with lace curtains while others find their home in a café or wandering along sun-drenched stone walls with foliage set against a background of mountains and cooling blue waters.

The photography in this book goes beyond capturing moments and has additional elements of artistic excellence.

My husband has always wanted a pure black cat and the one in this book really captured his interest in a variety of pictures including the one where the cat jumps off the wall and where it looks like it is meditating or observing the view. The tiny black-and-white cat will make you laugh as it seems to have found itself atop a large white stone pillar and is quite happy to sleep the day away far from the crowd.

All of the cats look especially well groomed, very pampered and happy to be living in Greece. Blue Cats is one of the most beautiful books on cats I've ever seen due to the additional artistic flair of the photography and the beyond gorgeous settings.

~The Rebecca Review

"Blue Cats" is a new offering from renowned photographer Ron Nelson. Nelson specializes in both human and animal imagery, mostly in Europe, and is one of the best photographers working today. Cats are both photogenic but notoriously difficult to photograph due to their individuality and unpredictability, but here Nelson makes it look easy.

Greece has some of the most stunning architecture, landscapes, and waterscapes in the world, and is also known for a large and gregarious cat population. In this book Nelson captures the natural beauty of Greece and the graceful four-footed inhabitants of the coastal areas. The composition of these photographs is delicate and artistic, yet playful and relaxing. I am especially fond of the photographs depicting cats in motion, especially the two photos (numbers 26 and 27) "Jump Across" and "Shadow of a Jump" taken in Oia, Santorini which are exquisitely composed: the study of lighting and shadow is excellent throughout the book, but peaks with "Shadow of a Jump" in my opinion.

This book is excellent for anyone who loves excellent photography, cats, or travel (especially with pristine water backdrops); it is beautifully conceived and printed, and would look great on any coffee table or in any library. I highly recommend this book, and hope to see more from Ron Nelson in the future.

When you get Bright Balkan Morning you are likely to open it up and then leaf through it, looking at the photographs. After a few minutes of this you'll remove the CD from the inside back cover and put it on. Then you continue looking at the photos while listening to the sounds.

That in itself is a rich and satisfying experience. But don't stop there. Read the text!

It tells of Roma (aka Gypsy) musicians who have cornered the market on live music in polyglot Greek Macedonia. While they are at the bottom of the social order, anyone who wishes a proper wedding, festival, or party of any kind hires these musicians. The musicians generally perform in trios, one playing a bass drum while the other two play the zurna - a double-reed woodwind found throughout Eurasia and Africa. Their repertoire is drawn from the peoples who live in the area, or passed through at one time, and is sometimes more Oriental, sometimes more European - whatever the customer wants.

Keil and Keil give detailed accounts of several performances - a baptism, a wedding, and a saint's day festival - tell the life stories of a dozen or so musicians & family, and recount the broad history of the Roma in the Mediterranean as well as presenting a more focused account of their sojourn in Greek Macedonia. Blau's photographs range from intimate portraits, to dancers in full party whirl, through street scenes jumbled or measured, to serene landscapes. Some of his shots are so strikingly composed - the cover image, for example - that the effect is both subjective (Blau's aesthetic) and objective (we're looking at things, out there, in the world). Steven Feld's soundscapes give us the living flow of sound. Not only do we hear the twin zurnas flying through drum rhythms, but dancing feet, shouts of joy and exertion, motors churning, sheep braying, and Stevie Wonder piped in through a tinny sound system.

Bright Balkan Morning is a milestone. See it, hear it, read it. Take pleasure in it.

This book is, in a word, extraordinary; so is the accompanying CD recording, which gives in addition to music of the Macedonian Romany people, a slice of their life in cafes and markets. One hears their daily activities, the sale of pita, and various wares, as well as juke boxes and street sounds as the Mahala awakens.

Mahala, for those unaware, is the village ghetto to which Rom people are generally confined, although the anthropologists who compiled this book do not seem to know that it is Arabic for ghetto, and the same word used in North Africa and other Middle Eastern Muslim nations to describe the Jewish and Christian ghettos in which those dhimmi groups are similarly confined. Dhimmis are the non-Muslim minorities in Muslim lands, and their treatment (and in Muslim nation remains) generally described and defined by the Islamic laws of jihad.

Unlike most other recent books about the Rom, this one contains a massive amount of research on the lives and music of these people, as they live it; but what I like the most are the oral histories that provide readers with a real sense of the hardships suffered by the Rom in Greek Macedonia. While the book mentions the great and disastrous Turkish invasion of Greece in 1922, it does not note the great massacre of an estimated 150,000 Christian Greeks and Armenians in Smyrna on the Aegean coast that year. This undoubtedly included some Rom, as the town was then (as now) central on the Turkish coast.

But without knowing it, the authors have demonstrated some of the ill effects of Muslim rule, for they do discuss, via oral histories, the great liberation experienced by Greek Roma in 1924, when Turks were repatriated to Turkey and 1 million Greeks from Turkey to Greece. The latter may have lost some territory, but she gained liberation from Muslim oppression.

As Greeks from Turkey poured into Greece, the town fathers in Jumaya, for example, and presumably everywhere else the Roma then lived in Greece, began to allow the Roma to go to school with Greeks. Beforehand, the Turks had imposed separation on non-Muslim peoples. But with Turks gone, Greeks exiled the old cast system too, thereby relinquishing the system that had helped imprison Greek Roma in lives without equal education. Now, suddenly, the Rom could attend the same school as everyone else.

There are many wonderful features of this book, including the photographs and the music CD at its end. But make no mistake, the oral histories are the best feature, making this one of the best books on the Rom I have read to date.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

In the rich and wonderful BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia (Wesleyan University Press. Includes a CD), Charles and Angeliki Vellou Keil write of how, since the earliest days of Byzantium, commentators have remarked, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, on the power of the Romani people to "steal your heart." With its stunning photographs by Dick Blau and its evocative CD produced by Steven Feld, this book is just one more instance of stolen hearts. The Romani, who are sometimes called gypsies, have stolen the authors' hearts and are well on their way to stealing my heart as well.

I urge you to buy this book. I say so as someone who almost never reads anything published by an academic press. I am definitely not an anthropologist or a social scientist of any kind. What I know about the raw and the cooked doesn't get very far beyond my kitchen, but I couldn't put BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING down. This book ought to be that rare thing: an academic book with popular appeal.

The easiest way into the riches of BRIGHT BALKAN MORNING are Blau's black-and-white photographs of the Romani playing their instruments for weddings, wrestling matches, and the little parades that apparently form wherever they go. When the dances started up, I have a feeling that Blau joined in, for these pictures just pulled me along. I could smell the perfume in the grandmother's handkerchief as she held it out to Blau and, through him, to me, as we all danced together. I could see the textures of the road when I took my place in the wedding parade; I could almost hear the sound of the zurna (a kind of outdoor oboe) being played in my ear.

Of course Steven Feld's CD brings the actual sounds to life. The CD begins oh so slyly by introducing Romani music emerging from the ambient sounds of twentieth-century Macedonia. The Romani are, if nothing else, great survivors of history's cultural wars, and you can hear so many diverse musical strains-from the Muslim to the techno pop. Eerily enough, the rhythm of the dauli (a two-headed bass drum) being played sounds exactly like the bass-drum pounding at a high-school football pep rally.

I wasn't as happy with the book's writing style, but then the authors seem to be wrestling with shaping this heartfelt information of theirs into all the requirements of academic publishing, and that struggle oddly mirrors the lives of the Romani. This sometimes awkward prose becomes just one more instance of the dance the Romani inspire everywhere they go as they blend in and out of the moment's culture.

--R. M. Ryan
Duncans Mills, CA

Last night I planned to read this book for just a few minutes before going to sleep. Hours later, instead of sleeping I was transformed into the world of the Balkan Roma musicians and their incredible culture! I simply couldn't put this amazing book down. I love the stories and interviews with the old musicians, the informative history of the Roma people and their culture, the full-of-life photos, and the CD with soundscapes. All these pieces combine to give the reader a great view of a people and their heritage, and one that has been largely overlooked in the past. I found the work ethic of the musicians described in this book to be very inspirational. To be able to play all kinds of requests for days on end is really something to admire. Musicians of any genre could learn a whole lot from reading about the musicians in this book. Years ago, these authors turned me on to the subculture of polka in the USA (and made a polkaholic out of me) with their super "Polka Happiness" book. They have clearly done it again - informed the world about an incredibly rich culture that was largely hidden from view.

This book responds to my interest in the social context of folk music and dance. The focus was on the lives of the people who make the music, in this case the Roma of Jumaya (Iriklia) in Greek Macedonia. The writers give you quite a rounded view, describing how the music is performed, at what kinds of events, how people relate to the music and each other, how the musicians see themselves and their occupation and how making a living as a Roma musician fits into Greek society. There is also a strong sense of history and how things have changed over time in many ways - the history of Roma in Greece and other Balkan countries, the specific history of Roma in Jumaya, and the stories of individual musicians and their families. The consistently positive way that the writers approach their subject is also refreshing - they describe how Roma have used music to survive and, in some cases, prosper, and how in doing so they have contributed to the multi-layered fabric of Greek-Macedonian ethnic identities.

What is especially interesting to me is the authors' view of how multi-ethnic society works in Greek Macedonia as compared to Bulgaria or Former Yugoslavia, and how the strategy of Roma musicians is different in these different countries. In Greek Macedonia the musicians play the music of all ethnic groups in order to maximize their flexibility and income. During multi-ethnic celebrations the musicians follow a strict policy of playing everyone's requests in the order requested, so that no one feels that they have priority. There is a fascinating description of an ethnically mixed wedding where the families have to adjust their various wedding traditions to accommodate each other, making it up as they go along to some extent.

The authors compare and contrast this with the approach taken by Roma musicians in other areas of the Balkans. In Kosovo in the 1980s the Roma musicians are said to have purposely selected music from traditions from other than Serbian and Albanian in order to avoid conflicts. In Bulgaria the wedding band tradition is described as leading to a new pan-Balkan "fusion" style which borrows from many cultures but still feels Bulgarian. Ultimately the motivation behind each strategy is the need of musicians to make a living.

The book is interesting reading from a North American perspective as well. Keil contrasts the multi-ethnic consciousness of Greeks, where the same person may have several types of ethnic and national identities simultaneously, with the concept of "multiculturalism" which he describes as slices of a pizza in which there are lots of ethnicities but everyone is either one thing or another. This raise the question of what is really going on in such immigrant nations as Canada and the United States.

The accompanying CD is a potpourri of sounds, including music of various types, and there is a section of the book describing the contents of the CD. Some of the track titles are Market Day in Jumaya, Afternoon at a Mahala Café, At Home in the Mahala, New Year's Party in Serres, Taverna Party at Nikisiani. The combination of the text, the many high quality black and white photos and the soundscape are successful in putting you into the experience, as much as this is possible. There was also a nice balance between Angeliki Keil's straight-forward and very readable reporting of the lives of the musicians and Charles Keil's more theoretical musings about ethnicity, the music and the role of the musicians. My only complaint about the book is its weight - it's printed on very heavy, glossy stock, no doubt adding to the quality of photographic reproductions, but it is so big and heavy that you pretty well have to read it sitting up. An alternate title could be, "Your Big Fat Roma Music Book."

I've spent the past year spending literally thousands of dollars on various books about ancient Greece. I wish to write about it, and I've read about 60 books so far on the subject. I found this book in a secondary book store, and as I've read so many specialty books, almost passed it up. Feeling the need to step back and get a more general perspective on how everything I'd been reading about fit in to the scheme of things, I bought it. Boy, am I glad I did. I've read many types of collections in my time from short stories to articles, and one never really thinks of the editor who put it all together. With this book, however, I was struck early on by the fluid and expert way the various articles and excerpts by varying archeologists went together as if it were all written by the same author. The choice of the little examples of ancient life, or the passing mention of a political outlook did a great job of illuminating whatever the excerpt was about, and since the excerpts had to be edited to fit the chapters, much credit must go to Mr. Nardo for his choices of passages as well as his choices of books to borrow from and his progression and layout of chapters. If you are starting study of Ancient Greece, there is no better place to start than this book. If you only want one book to get a general understanding of the greeks, this has to be the one. I've never seen this sort of thing done this well before. One thing that astonishes me is the price of it here on amazon, though, as I only paid 12 dollars for it at book store which had 3 of them in the Northgate mall in Chattanooga. Go figure.

As general reference books for students go, this is absolutely first rate. The author, who has written numerous smaller books on the subject, goes all out here, providing almost a whole library unto itself about the ancient Greeks, their history, institutions, ideas, etc. This should be on every educated person's shelf, not to mention every library shelf.

Historian Don Nardo edited this large compendium of articles by himself and other noted classicists about ancient Greek civilization. Extremely well-organized, thorough, and informational, the volume covers all aspects of Greek history and culture, each aspect covered in a separate chapter that begins with a helpful introduction by the editor. The articles themselves also have introductions providing brief backgrounds of the various contributors. A chronology, glossary, bibliography, and indexes, all quite large and useful (especially the bibliography, which is one of the best I've ever seen for ancient Greece), round out this first-rate volume, which I highly recommend to students and teachers alike.

Wow! For high school or college students doing research on ancient Greece, or for anyone interested in the ancient Greeks in general, this is an extremely comprehensive, well-organized, and useful book! It starts off with a general overview of ancient Greek civilization written by the editor, Don Nardo, who is a noted authority on the subject. Then there are dozens of articles witten by other well-known historians, each covering some aspect of Greek history or life. There's information on democracy and and how it came about, about Greek literature, about Greek theater, which started in Athens, about commerce and trade, and weapons and war, and lots more. In the back of the book are short biographies of important people and gods and Greek places, and a huge!! glossary, and best of all a really huge bibliography, that gives the reader plenty of ideas about where to go for more information (though it seems to me that only scholars would need to look furhter than this book). The price is kind of high, but students should be able to find the book in a nearby library. It will be well worth the effort!

I teach high school history, including a course on ancient history. I spend quite a bit of time on the Greeks and Romans, of course, and I have used a number of Mr. Nardo's small but superbly written and well-documented books in the past as supplementary materials to the regular text. His LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS, AGE OF AUGUSTUS, LIFE OF A ROMAN SLAVE, LEADERS OF ANCIENT GREECE, and several others have proved invaluable as sources of information for both my students and myself. Mr. Nardo's more recent COMPLETE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE, which I'm reviewing here, is easily the best single-volume overview of the ancient Greeks I ever seen for this age group. Though much larger and more comprehensive than his other books for young readers, this one is extremely well-organized, both chronologically and thematically. The essays he has chosen and edited are all clearly-written, highly informative, and each perfectly captures or illustrates an important aspect of Greek history or culture. Nardo's own quite fulsome chapter introductions are also very informative, well-written, and up-to-date. The appendices of this book also deserve special mention. The glossary is huge and accurate, the best available in any non-scholarly book about ancient Greece that I am aware of. The bibliography is also massive, again, the biggest and best I've seen outside of scholarly works. ... it is also proving a tremendous aid to me personally by giving me one, compact source from which to draw facts, topics, and ideas. Would that more professional historians took the time to write as much first-rate material for high school students as Mr. Nardo does.

I've been a fan of Rawlings since I first read her as a teenager. Reading her biography many years ago, I learned of her pride in her cooking. I didn't even know she'd issued a cookbook until I came across this edition!

Upon reading the book I was immediately reminded of the "Alice B. Toklas" cookbook. The structure and literary emphasis are much the same. Thus, for the same reason, it's a joy to read even if one doesn't cook!

However, like "Toklas", the recipes are also a treasure. Many of the recipes contain ingredients too exotic for the average cook, but many more are easily prepared. This can also be a pleasurable and valuable resource for those, like me, who enjoy reading and preparing recipes from old cookbooks. Our eating styles have changed enormously in the nearly sixty years since Rawlings wrote this book.

If you are a fan of Rawlings, buy the book whether you ever plan to cook any of its recipes. Its reasonable cost is a further bonus!

It is evident from her cookbook that Marjorie tasted of nearly everything and learned to make delicious dishes out of some very odd things: Poke Weed (on toast), Pot Roast of Bear, Smother-Fried Squirrel, Gopher Stew, Coot Surprise, Jugged Rabbit, a host of Pilaus, and an infamous blackbird pie. Of course this book is not simply a culinary freak-show. There are dozens of recipes for desserts, seafood, meats-found-at-the-A&P, jams, and soups, featuring ingredients of which we are all familiar and unafraid. She was proud to share them and claimed each recipe was nothing short of first-rate. Included among these is her piece de resistance, Crab A La Newburg, and the best Strawberry Shortcake ever. Accompanied by anecdotes of Florida rural living in the 1930s and 1940s, this book is a delight and an excursion from a mundane kitchen

As the other reviewer has mentioned, this is a collection of recipes, filled with anecdotes of central Florida life in the 1930s and 1940s. The recipes are fantastic and one wants to try all of them (although it may be difficult to prepare alligator-tail steak). And, what a pleasure it is to read a cookbook written by an accomplished author. You just keep picking it up.

A great read... both for the recipes and for a large dose of Marjorie Rawlings' folksy humor. Loved it from cover to cover.

A big fan of MKR, I stumbled over this little book at a booksale several years ago----it's paperback and coming apart from use, and the pure pleasure of reading Ms. Rawlings' commentary and recollections of living at Cross Creek. Her biscuit and hoe-cake recipes are worth the price, as they evoked memories of my grandmothers kitchen where it wasn't a meal without fresh, hot bread.
Highly recommended---even if you're not a cook!

I'm traveling at the moment and don't have "A Time of Gifts," by Patrick Leigh Fermor, but if I remember correctly he met Baron Heydte in Vienna while walking across Europe in 1934 and they became good friends. Later PLF was on Crete, serving in the British army when the Germans attacked by parachute. PLF was translating a captured German dispatch, noticed the name Heydte and asked a prisoner if it was his old friend. He had remembered the man as very anti-nazi, but surprisingly, it was. The von Heydte family had served in the military for centuries and when war came he felt he had to serve a regime he detested. Fortunately, the two men did not meet in combat. "A Time of Gifts," and it's sequel "Between the Woods and the Water," are both masterpieces, and cannot be too highly recommended. Later in the Crete campaign Leigh Fermor captured a German general and exfiltrated him to Egypt!

For Germany the last great airborne operation of World War Two was the battle for the island of Crete. This book provides a first person account of this operation from a German perspective and in itself is rare...as there are not many first hand accounts of German paratroopers in World War two.

The book reads well, but it's clearly written by a very well educated person with great historical interludes into the island's past and mythology. It's a nice book for a serious collector of first person memoirs. I wish the author had written about his other adventures in the war.

This is one of the rare times that I have read a book in two successive days and there is a good reason. The battle of Crete remains one of the least known episodes of World War II, but it is extremely significant since it marked the absolute zenith of the Wehrmacht's might, just before it embarked on the disastrous Operation Barbarossa. Nothing seems to escape from von der Heydte's attention: the historical background of Crete, the landscape of the island and the personalities of his own soldiers whom he describes with vivid pictures. Von der Heydte was a battalion commander of the dreaded and elite German paratroopers who assaulted Crete against its British, Australian, New Zealander and Greek defenders in May 1941, and although he didn't fight in the crucial Maleme sector but in the neighbouring Galata-Canea area, he witnessed the whole drama of the battle. The operation "Merkur" was the brainchild of German General Kurt Student who had taken every possibility into consideration but then everything turned out contrary to plans and expecations. The author describes in excellent detail the combat jump, the chaos of the first hours on Cretan soil, the fierce enemy resistance, the painful losses, the hunger, the thirst and the desperation of the first days when the battle was hunging on a balance, so that the Berlin radio made its first mention of the attack on Crete five days after the beginning of the battle! Here and there a paragraph is a real gem o literature proving that the baron's pen is at least as mighty as his sword. The chapter "The Dressing Station" is one of the best I have ever read. Humour, horror, human relationships, personal drama and the solitary burden of leadership in battle are interwoven in a marcellously told story, which does not omit the broader view from the Generals' aspect. Von der Heydte has written a real masterpiece of military literature, although he was fighting from the side of an evil regime.

I have read several first hand accounts of WWII, with a special emphasis on the German perspective. With this in mind, never have I encountered a book so well written as Baron von der Heydte's. The language is clear and very descriptive, allowing the reader to easily slip into the Cretan setting the author lays out. It is apparent that von der Heydte was a deep intellectual thinker as he frequently makes referencees to Greek mythology, and takes time out from the action to discuss his feelings on the morality and insanity of war. His description of the fighting on Crete is first rate and leaves little to be desired. What is also pleasing is that he relates his innermost feelings to the reader throughout the text, giving a truly human side the German fighting man. Little emphasis is placed on Nazism and I think this is a result of the deep intellectual that he was. He saw though much of the propaganda of the Third Reich, yet still performed his duties a proffessional German soldier. In Baron von der Heydte we find a very honorable man indeed, and one cannot help but admire his character. If you a looking for a rare, first- hand account by a fine soldier, do not pass this book up.

Baron Friedrich August von der Heydte's "Daedalus Returned" is a short (only 186 pp) yet dense and riveting personal account of the events leading up to and including the Fallschirmjaeger (German paratroop) invasion of Crete in 1941. The combat itself started with a daytime drop 20 May and ended on 27 May with the capture of Canea (Cretin capital) and evacuation of remaining British and Australian troops. It was by all accounts (both German and Allied) a complete success on the part of the German paratroopers - this the first of its kind capture of an island stronghold by lightly armed paratroops; triumphing over larger numbers of more heavily armed defenders. As other reviewers have noted, von der Heydte is a quite gifted writer; his prose flows with considerable ease and lilt. The prose presented in "Daedalus Returned" comes from a clearly educated man who not only has a way of recounting historical facts, but with flair achieved by few other soldiers of his or any other time. "Daedalus Returned" is not only a gripping war story told from a mid-level commander but also a tour of Greek mythology to some extent as von der Heydte introduces the entire story in the context of the Greek mythology surrounding Crete, its mythical minotaur and Daedalus, the Greek architect that supposedly built the great labyrinth that housed the minotaur. The title "Deadalus Returned" eludes to the paratroop drop of idealistic adventurers coming to Crete, a place where by legend Daedalus escaped the labyrinth by flight to survive the minotaur. Von der Heydte continues his mythological theme throughout the book, although the story from chapter 2 onward is focused on his troops and their activities.

While short and very focused in content, "Daedalus Returned" is a quick and compelling read worthy of the short time one will spend to read it. Anyone at all interested in airborne operations should read this book - it comes from a man who was quite anti-Nazi, an educated and idealistic paratrooper, who saw the promise of airborne troops and strove to prove his thesis in combat. "Daedalus Returned" could have been written by a British or American commander to describe similar activities of their airborne troops (e.g., a condensed version of Jim Gavin's book "On to Berlin"). It doesn't steep of German perspective, but rather of a soldier's perspective. Highly recommended; 5 stars.

This version of Aristotle's De Anima is the criticial edition by W.D. Ross. It does not contain an English translation nor does it contain Ross's commentary on the text, which is available in a larger edition. Nonetheless, it contains all the critical notes concerning textual differences of the manuscripts used by Ross. This text will be beneficial for anyone interested in working through Aristotle's De Anima in the original Greek, whether you are a serious student of Greek or of philosophy. Finally, this edition has a handy index to help you locate where Aristotle uses many of the Greek words in the text.

How will Virtual Reality and other new technology change you, the way that you feel, and the way that you react to your surroundings? One cannot even begin to answer this important question without first reading De Anima. This masterpiece reflects on the five senses, their relation to each other, and their relation to the 'common sense' (soul) that binds them. De Anima is a valuable insight into the fundamental mechanism that governs the way that we learn, act, and live. New technology is a sword that cuts both ways. Will we become inactive, lose our passion or even our humanity? Written centuries ago, this book will not give you any answers on a platter nor will the word Virtual Reality even be mentioned. This book is, however, filled with timeless wisdom that has survived the ages. De Anima will prove to be an indispensible tool for those who have a sincere desire to study the way that new technology is changing our senses and how these changes may affect the future of our noble race.

Aristotle's short but profoundly influential work, De Anima, is set within a
rich supporting text authored by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, the Penquin edition's
translator and editor, that absorbs almost three-fourths of this volume.
Besides his lengthy introduction, the editor provides a useful glossary
of translations, summaries before each chapter, copious endnotes, and a
short bibliography, but no index.

Unlike more widely read, fully formed, straightforward books by Aristotle,
such as Politics and Ethics, De Anima asserts cryptic ideas and advances
viewpoints that seem quite strange today. The editor's Introduction addresses
such potential impediments for the Aristotelean neophyte and amplifies
problematic issues of interest to philosophers of any acquaintance. Aristotle's
subject is a general "principle of life" intrinsic to all plants and animals,
not any contemporary notion about the soul (psyche) suggested by its English
title, On The Soul. Aristotle's soul includes his psychology and topics such
as sensation and thought. Lawson-Tancred argues that Aristotle is indifferent
to the issue preoccupying epistomologists and psychologists during recent
centuries, Descartes's division of subjectivity into the body and mind. He claims
that Aristotle is concerned with general features of life, not with purely human
issues like consciousness. In discounting consciousness, Aristotle concurs with
anti-Cartesian positivists, but Lawson-Tancred argues that when Aristotle
says the soul is substance, he really means it, contradicting physicalist
contentions that it is an epiphenomenon or a list of special attributes.
Aristotle's soul is substance, but Aristotle rejects reducing the soul's
properties to the body's material.

Teleology is explanation implicating final causes, e.g., things fulfill
purposes for which they were created. Scientists reject creation and
ultimate purpose, and censure Aristotle for his teleological explanations.
Regarding the soul, however, Aristotle suggests that to understand biological
phenomena, the arrangement of material and its relationship to functions it
performs is key. Recent rethinking about Aristotle's functionalism has
reinvigorated his status in modern biology. Theologians generally view Aristotle's
work favorably, especially his emphasis on built-in purpose and final causes.
Lawson-Tancred recounts Aristotle's powerful influence on intellectual history
from his immediate successors, to assimilation in the neo-Platonic West, through
incorporation by Islamic and Christian theologians, connections that made
De Anima so important for over 2000 years.

Lawson-Tancred also discusses Aristotle's personal history and intellectual
development; his mentor, Plato, and their mutual influence; ideas of
other philosophers that Aristotle encountered, and De Anima in context
of his other works. He concludes by criticizing the interpretations of

Aristotle by the philosophers Brentano and Wilkes. Lawson-Tancred helps
the reader to understand many ideas, but two essential concepts Aristotle
developed elsewhere are prerequisite to understanding De Anima:
entelechy (entelecheia) and substance (ousia). Substance or essence is the
fundamental reality of existence. Form, Matter, and their composite
are types of substances. Matter is the inanimate, elemental substrate of
which things are composed, e.g., earth made into a statue. Form is the
structure and function outlined by a formula (logos), e.g., a statue artfully
shaped to resemble a woman. Things exist either in actuality (putting
to use) or potentiality (unexploited capacity). Form is actuality;
Matter is potentiality. Aristotle's theory is that Form combines with
Matter following the the Form's plan to actualize potential. Entelechy
is the possession of this intrinsic goal that is realized when Form and
Matter combine. Thus, Aristotle's teleological approach is called "Entelechism."
Aristotle uses entelechy repeatedly to describe the soul, as the following
summary of De Anima shows.

In Book I, Aristotle describes his subject: the soul, "the first
principle of living things," and considers its relation to intellect,
emotion, etc. He comments on other philosophers's works: whether
the soul is material, and what kind; its characteristic features
(it moves, senses, and lacks body); how it produces bodily movement;
etc. He criticizes theories that the soul is quantity or harmony or
participates in the whole universe. He concludes that the soul lacks
motion and is not material nor made of elements. Instead, the soul
comprises several faculties: e.g., cognition, appetite.

Book II begins with an important formulation: the soul is the "form of
the living body which potentially has life" (the organism's first actuality).
Having a soul distinguishes living from inanimate objects. The soul's
nutritive faculty is essential for all organisms, but animals have the
faculty of sensation, separating them from plants. Thus begins a hierarchy
of faculties from nutrition to intellect. In sensation, the sense organ
and sense-object, like the soul and body, participate in the Form/Matter
relationship. The sense organ receives the object's Form, not its matter,
in Aristotle's words, "as the wax takes the sign from the ring without the
iron and gold." He discusses each of the five senses, and makes a famous
distinction among perceptual elements (special, common, incidental).

Aristotle concludes discussing sensation in Book III by proposing functions
of the perceptive faculty that integrate individual senses. Imagination,
a faculty producing imagery, mediates between sensation and intellect.
Aristotle's remarks about intellect are among his most renowned, fecund,
and difficult. He describes the intellectual faculty, which includes thinking

and supposition, with the same physiological approach of his sensory theory.
The organ of thought receives the Form of the thought-object to realize thinking.
He calls the intellect a repository of Forms and distinguishes the active from
the passive intellect, providing inspiration for Thomas Aquinas's psychology.
Aristotle concludes with a discussion of motivation, i.e., what puts the
organism into action.

No other work contains a psychological theory like that presented in De Anima,
excepting Aquinas's derivative. Its resemblance to attribute (behaviorist)
theories of the mind cannot obscure Aristotle's radically different foundation.
His Form-Matter and Actuality-Potentiality concepts are not explanatory, only
a framework for inquiry. Its relevance, as Lawson-Tancred notes, to modern
psychology depends upon identifying an empirical approach to Aristotle's Form.
Aristotle's proposal that life has, or is, a principle provides an alternative
point of departure for scientists who find contemporary materialist dogma lacking
direction. De Anima, one of the most important books ever written, and long
neglected by scientific psychology, still puts life in an eternal debate.

I read these works for a graduate seminar on Aristotle.

Soul- De Anima Latin for Greek word Psuche=Life. It is a Phenomenology of Life. Living things are Aristotle¡¦s primary interest. Renee Descartes says thinking is only aspect of soul, not life. For Descartes the soul is the mind. Aristotle classifies features of living things. A soul can¡¦t be a body, (like a corpse). Psuche=life is a living form of the body, the phenomenon of life. Capacity to live is what he means. Ergon=function or work, thus when he talks about soul it is a body¡¦s function. Thus, a corpse is a deactivated body. Dunamis=capacity, Energia= actuality, thus both words are active words and can be seen as ¡§activating capacity.¡¨ Like a builder while building a house, past potential but not actual until the house is complete.
Entelecheia=¡¨living things have their ends inside them.¡¨ A living being has an end in itself.

What is the soul? Psuche= soul is being working toward ends of a self-moving body having the capacity to live. This is another way of talking about desire (like an animal that is hungry). Desire-animals have this as we do. Orexis=desire. The phenomenology of desire is to be motivated towards something that is lacking at the time, hunger, etc. Pleasure and pain.
Desire and action there are 3 kinds of desire.

1. Appetite like hunger and sex.
2. Emotion-like love not on crude level as appetite.
3. Wish-desire of the mind, (I want a good job).

All three strive towards something that is lacking. ¡§Desire is movement of the soul.¡¨ Human life is a set of desires. Human desires are more complicated. Desires clash like dieting and appetite.

¡§All humans desire to know.¡¨ This is the first line of the Metaphysics. Knowledge examined in terms of distinction between matter and form, perception has to do with intelligible form. Perception takes in visible form of something without the matter. Like imagination, an animal and human can do this. All knowledge starts with perception thus memory. Ultimate knowledge is intelligible form from visible form but mind is also using abstractions, this is a human capacity only. Humans use language to do this. Animals have image of a cat, word ¡§cat¡¨ is an abstraction for us. True knowledge organizes language.

Seing<³being seen. Two beings, seer and seen, this is act of vision it is only one actuality and two potentialities. In effect, Aristotle is saying that the capacity to see can only be actualized by seeing something. However, he goes the other way as well; something seeable only actualizes its seeability by being seen. One actuality, two potentials, the potential to see, the potential to be seen. In the modern world since Descartes, it is spoken as two actualities, the mind, and the outside world and there is a split between the two, two actualities, the mind as a separate thing and the object as a separate thing being seen. This is the source of the classic problem of skepticism. When there is seeing obviously you have two beings, the seer and the seen, but the act of vision is one actuality. Aristotle does not have this skeptical problem because he seems to stipulate this idea of single actuality and the whole point of the capacity to know is meant to hook up with things known. The whole point of knowable things is to be known by knower¡¦s, that is what he means by one actuality, thus there is no split between the mind and the world. There is no purely inside and outside. It isn¡¦t that minds are in here and the world is out there, and we might wonder about how they hook up. The nature of things and the nature of the mind are meant to hook up. Thus, Aristotle is not a radical skeptic like Descartes or Hume. Act of seeing the desk is joint actuality of seer and seen.

Actual hearing and actual sounding occur at the same time. Berkeley¡¦s famous question¡K¡¨If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? For Berkeley, to be is to be perceived. Aristotle answers Berkeley¡¦s question that it does make a sound, but you have to have the capacity to hear, it is a joint venture. The mind and the world are not separated like for Descartes. Aristotle doesn¡¦t buy the idea that ¡§everything in my mind can be false¡¨ like the skeptics argue, Aristotle would say this is impossible. Getting things true and false are part of what the mind has to do, but the possibility that the whole mental realm could be put into question is impossible. Thus, he doesn¡¦t have to answer the question put to skeptics. ¡§If you are right that there is a radical doubt about the possibility of our knowledge hooking up with reality, why would the human situation ever come to pass in this way that it is possible that we could be totally wrong.¡¨ The skeptics answer we are not sure that we are wrong, they are saying we can¡¦t be sure that we are right. If that were the case then Aristotle can say, well is this a recipe for the human condition? One can be skeptical about this or that, but not about everything.

Aristotle moves from perception to thought. The thinking of the world and world to be thought is actualization. Nous=highest capacity of intellect for Aristotle. Mind is potential and until it thinks isn¡¦t actualization. The implication of this the world wants to be known according to Aristotle. The world also activates our desire. One actualization of two potentialities. Taking in form without matter that is what knowledge is. A knowing soul cannot be separation from the body. The mind has built in capacity to understand for Aristotle, no actual knowledge until intellect engages with objects. ¡§Actually thinking mind is the thing that it thinks. In this respect the soul is all existing things.¡¨ Soul is capacity to think the world in the passage.

I recommend Aristotle¡¦s works to anyone interested in obtaining a classical education, and those interested in philosophy. Aristotle is one of the most important philosophers and the standard that all others must be judged by.

This book is something that everyone who is interested in truth and beauty should read. Every other philisophical writing is a mere foot note to this book and this particular edition is so accurate that it doesn't leave you wondering why.

Two millenia ago and counting Xenophanes observed that people tended to worship dieties culturally similar to themselves.

And so, people of India worshiped Indian born deities; people of Egypt worshiped Egyptian deities and Greeks worshiped Greek deities.

According to Xenophanes, the process demonstrated the inherently mythical nature of faith.

In Veyne's brilliant the point is made that perhaps another view is possible: that truth has a relativistic quality.

And also: that perhaps Xenophanes was being unduly dismissive.

In other words, we need not endow our myths we mutually exclusive truth. So your truth and my truth can be different but still...well...true.

Viewed this way there's a certain political correctness to Veyne's approach. If in creating our cultural deity we recognize the divine in ourselves, maybe after all, that's not such a bad thing.

There are 2 kinds of books: those that provide you with knowledge, and those that provide you with a method of understanding. Most of books belong to the first category; but they’re useless if you don’t know how to understand them. Books of the second type are rare and priceless: once you’ve read one of them different perspectives, closed before, open before you. Few of us have seriously thought what hides behind the common concepts of our time: truth, causality, science, knowledge, etc. We use these words mechanically, without thinking, without understanding that these notions are historical, not eternal.
Books like that of Paul Veyne make a “revision” of foundations of our thinking, providing us with another scheme of thinking, radically different from the common-sense one. And, as P.Veyne says, “two schemes are better than one”.
Behind the seemingly narrow and specialised title “Did Greeks believe in their myths?” really hides a philosophical essay on the nature of our world-view. What is truth, and is it possible that there’re many “truths”, not just one? Did the concept of truth in modern sense exist in ancient times? When did modern history begin and what’re its methods? What is myth, and isn’t our science (Einstein, Freud, etc.) also based on its own myth? What is the sociology of truth, and its social distribution? What is faith, and its relation to power? How should we read ancient cosmogonies? Is myth a way of thinking, or a kind of knowledge, or something else? When did the notion of “historical time” appear, and are other concepts of time possible?
All these questions are brilliantly addressed in this little book, and are masterfully answered. Buy this book and read it attentively: it’s worth your time!:)

A must have book for the serious scholar of classical mythology. Veyne follows the French school of Structuralism so the reader needs to be familiar with this method of scholarship to evaluate his interpreations and logic. Whether or not you agree with Veyne, you should be aware of his work. Wissing does a good job of translation the often difficult to decipher academic French.

Paul Veyne in this work attempts to look at the different conceptions of truth that have existed in different times. Not always has the standard for truth been verifyability. In the end, in a remarkably poignant chapter, he explains how our own notions of truth may explain our inability to break out of the fishbowl of modern life, inhibiting our conceptual imaginations, our ability concieve new structures and visions for our life. The analysis is very Nietzschean and should be read by anyone who attempts to write history as it clarifies just what is at stake with the prefered methodology.

Paul Veyne in this work attempts to look at the different conceptions of truth that have existed in different times. Not always has the standard for truth been verifyability. In the end, in a remarkably poignant chapter, he explains how our own notions of truth may explain our inability to break out of the fishbowl of modern life, inhibiting our conceptual imaginations, our ability concieve new structures and visions for our life. The analysis is very Nietzschean and should be read by anyone who attempts to write history as it clarifies just what is at stake with the prefered methodology.

The first part of the book is essentially a long essay on the way myth and cult interact. It is important to note that this is a philological book and it can appear pedant. The thesis in the first section is still crucial to pre-Christian religious studies today, but some of the polemics against other thinkers within it are quite dated.

The second part of the book covers the historical development of both the Dionysus myth and cult. Otto unravels several popular and scholarly misreadings of the Dionysus myth. You may want a Attic/Koine Greek lexicon and alphabet guide near you if you feel so inclined, but most untranslated words can be figured by context with few exceptions.

I well also note that this is an excellent translation from the German; Robert B. Palmer's introduction is very helpful in contextualized this work in the history of Philology and religious studies.

This book is written in two parts. The first is an essay about the use of Cult practices as a source for the substance and interpretation of myth. The second (and longest) describes the myths themselves.

I have only read the second part. Ottos description and interpretation of the myths surrounding Dionysus is poetic and, and at times borders on the sublime. His impact is emotional as well as intellectual, and I came away feeling that I knew the God of whom he writes. This must say something for both the passion of the author for his subject and the skill and sympathy of the translator.

The book is well (exhaustively ?) documented. Only one thing was irksome. Reference is constantly made to words from the original Greek using greek characters with no transposition into english characters (for a non-classically trained person such as myself). While the commentary surrounding these texts usually explains their meaning and impact, I have had to learn the Greek alphabet and buy a classical greek dictionary (Langenscheidt) to verify and fully understand the commentary. Even so, the book is otherwise beautifully accessible for a lay person such as myself.

Water F. Otto's Dionysus: Myth and Cult is a difficult but extremely rewarding study not only of the god Dionysus but of myth and cult as well. The book is divided into two parts. The first looks at the meaning of myth and cult and their relationship, the second attempts to arrive at the essential characteristic of Dionysus. By no means should you skip the first part. In it Otto lays the groundwork for his penetrating analysis of the god. It is a scintillatingly brilliant and illuminatingly original exposition of the meaning and origins of myth and cult. Anyone interested in Greek religion or for that matter liturgy alone, should read it. Although written over forty years ago it will still challenge and startle. Otto is gifted with a poetic depth of perception and gnomic expressiveness worthy almost of Heraclitus. For example at one point he states: "The more alive this life becomes, the nearer death draws, until the supreme moment-the enchanted moment when something new is created-when death and life meet in an embrace of mad ecstasy."

Otto holds that "The true visage of every true god is the visage of a world." In the second part he sets about discovering the form or visage of Dionysus. This he brilliantly lays out in chapters dealing with every aspect of the god. Chapters include: The Vine, The Somber Madness, Dionysus and the Element of Moisture, Dionysus and the Women, and Dionysus and Apollo. I will not attempt to recount his conclusions. Get the book and read them in Otto's lapidary language. Don't be put off from reading this book if you don't know Greek. While there are a fair number of untransliterated words, you can understand the meaning of the sentences from the context. However, be aware that this is not "lite" reading but a serious study that requires and will repay thought. The book itself is a handsome, sturdy paperback with glued signatures.

Walter F. Otto's literary tribute to Dionysos is a masterpiece of mythic spirit and proportions. Plunging into the paradoxical realm of the god, he explores the divine drama of the deity and his various roles as conqueror, deliverer, Lord of Souls, God of Wine and vegetative nature, his special relationship with the Feminine, the maenad priestesses of his cult and his consort, Ariadne. He presents a work of love and immediacy that is clearly born of an intimate connection with this complex god and his cult. Irresistibly readable.

The author brings the immediate experience of Dionysus to the reader. In the first part, a general context is laid out. In the second, the stories of Dionysus are told, of a living presence. This immediacy makes the essay both powerful and compelling.

I read this book three times and never get tired of it. It impressed me both as a teenager and as an adult when I could better appreciate the force of Nikos Kazantzakis' messages. Once you start reading his novels, you won't want to stop until you have read more. His range of topics is impressive.

I read this a number of years ago. It is not a paen to freedom, but a description of the hatred between the Cretans and the Turks made virtually unabateable by regligious prejudice and historic experience.

Today, it informs my view of the unabateable hatred in the Middle East.

The book is excellent. The characters are larger than life in their strengths and in their flaws--from the Homeric captains to the pitiful (not pitiable) Hadji, the Muslim fool unable to resist Captain Michaelis' demand to drink and who thereafter spreads dung on his head in further self-abasement and repentence.

Wonderful character development, a plat that moves and develops well, and an ending leaving food for thought in the early 21st Century on planet Earth.

In the island of Crete the Teacher was born. In the island of Crete where his people remained under Turkish occupation for more than two centuries. Is there a diamond in the greek history which cannot be linked to Crete? Incredulous one might remain to extreme stories described-imagined by Kazantzakis, but then let this "Thomas" read into the history of the Cretans, their constant revolts against Othoman occupation, their "aposyrsis" to the mountains where their life displayed the attrocious but noble feature of Freedom. Was/is it really the Turks? No, Kapetan Michalis was not the man to enjoy peace, war and fighting were his nature, there abolished he the tornment of having been given life. Kazantzakis shares: I asked my mother, "How was my grandfather?" "Like your father only darker." "What did he do? " "He fought." "And where there was no war?" "He smoked his pipe and looked at the mountains."

It is the nature of man, the nature of the warrior who restrained from life, restrained because life he has been given , choses he to continue by fighting... It is in this isolation of the self, in this denial of peace that man reaches the crest of alienation, the crest of silent freedom, Death...

This book is incredible. It is an accurate portrayal of Greeks because it was written by a Greek. "Freedom or Death" is too good to be out of print. This is one of Kazantzakis' best novels, even better than "Zorba." It needs to be put back into print, by gum!

Nikos Kazantzakis is one of the most under appreciated authors of the 20th century. The fact that this book, arguably his greatest work, is out of print is a prime example of that fact. Many readers have come to the mistaken conclusion that this book is primarily about the Greek, more specifically Cretan, struggle for freedom from Ottoman rule. The subject of this book is far greater. This book is truly about man's struggle for freedom from his own shortcomings. Some may even argue that Kazantzakis is seeking not only to define his own struggle, but also to understand his father. Captain Mihalis (The primary character in the books) is patterned after the author's own father.

I've had the opportunity to read this edition, and Greek editions of this book numerous times over the years, and have never grown tired of this book. I've come away with something new after each reading. I typically find myself conserving pages (reading slower) towards the end of this book because I don't want it to end. This is one of those books that will haunt you after you've read it.