Fairleigh Dickinson Books

I found this book to be very interesting, albeit only the first half. The historical accounts in the book are all footnoted to the original sources, and the author lets the events and laws speak for themselves.

The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam is required reading for any American.

The author writes, in detail, in a marvelously researched manner. The mistake that many people make is that Islam is only anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. For from it. Islam is anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Protestant, anti-Catholic, and anti-Buddhist, anti just about everything.

Even if there was no Israel, or the US was not an ally of Israel, radical Islam would still despise the USA.

When Islam despises you, your live is in danger.

This is a horrifying book. What is most horrifying is that it is non-fiction.

Why do Arabs attack Zionism? In this book, Bat Ye'or gives a surprisingly simple answer. I think she's absolutely nailed the cause of the problem:

"It is well known that the successful revolt of the colonized frequently traumatizes the colonizer. Vengefulness and hatred express the distress of the oppressor confronted by his victim's rebellion. An equality of rights with the inferior party humiliates the dominating group which, deprived of its superiority, seeks compensation in phantasms. Such reactions have been exhaustively analyzed in books dealing with the phenomenon of racism."

The author shows these attitudes in action, as various Arabs complain that the presence of Jews in Israel defiles the land, or that the land is all Arab, with Jews being mere "dhimmis." The liberation of the Jews is sometimes considered a crime against Nature, as we see Egyptian President Nasser call it "the greatest international crime that has been committed in the entire history of mankind."

The terms applied by Arab racists to Jewish dhimmis who sought freedom are now applied to Israel itself: insolent, arrogant, and needing punishment.

I think this book is one of the best at explaining why Arabs and Jews are at odds in the Middle East. And why they'll continue to be at odds until Arabs renounce such racism and until international applause for this racism quiets down.

Bat Ye'or explains the problems of being a dhimmi. A dhimmi lacks rights and is thus dependent on the good will of, um, real people. A dhimmi has no history; actually a dhimmi has no right to have a history, and real people write any history they please regarding dhimmis. And the author shows that although Zionism is more an Oriental phenomenon than a European one, the refusal to acknowledge Zionist history tends to lead to claims that Zionism is exclusively a European movement. In addition, she implies that the refusal of many Arabs to refer to Israel or to allow it to be on Arab maps is another symptom of the tendency to refuse dhimmis the right to a historical existence.

The author contrasts the outrage of many antizionist Arabs with the relative silence of some genuine victims: Jews who were expelled from Arab nations. She attributes some of this to a tendency of dhimmis, with their history of having been exploited, servile, and silent, to think in terms of gratitude and toleration rather than in terms of rights.

In this book, Bat Ye'or does a superb job of explaining the dhimmi condition. And I think we all ought to heed her warning that those who forget history are indeed condemned to repeat it.

This is the classic study of dhimmitude - the condition of non-Muslims who are permitted to live as permanent tributaries under the dhimma, a pact of submission to Islamic conquest. A profoundly moving human document, The Dhimmi is deeply challenging to the 'Andalusian myth', that Muslim relations with those of other faiths have been the epitome of peaceful coexistence. In The Dhimmi, Bat Ye'or provides her classical definition of the psychology of dhimmitude, which is of fundamental importance for understanding the current role of Islam in its full global context.

Dhimmi history is hard to study, in part because the conquerors have written their own version, and promulgated it with supreme moral self-confidence. It is also hard to access dhimmi documents, which are written in Greek, Latin, Farsi, Coptic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Armenian, Serbian, English, French, Hindi etc etc. A great strength of this book is it's very rich collection of translations from dhimmi and Arab documents.

A must read in these times.

This is a disturbing book which reveals what is described as a socially acceptable Islamic conduct against peoples who were classed as "inferior".

For the most part the book describes these peoples as Jews and Christians who were classed as "dhimmi". "Dhimmitude" being further elaborated as the religious, cultural, and political fate of non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, usually when their lands have been subject to Islamic conquest.

Where the politicisation/allegations of racial prejudice, segregation, apartheid and indeed genocide have become quite common-place in the Middle East against the Jewish state, a book such as this is very timely in showing another side to the story. A book that reveals the painful, disturbing policy of prejudice, racial hatred and segregation of countless people who the book describes were classed as "inferior"on the basis of their religion alone.

Many examples are referred to in this study and many issues are discussed. The book draws a number of distinctions drawn and prejudices applied upon Jews and Christians who refused to accept and bow to Islam. Just by way of a single example, page 56 of this study deals with the "Invalidity of the Dhimmi's Oath".

With legal cases being dealt with under Quranic law, every case involving a Muslim and a dhimmi received a "peculiar" treatment in that a dhimmi was forbidden to give evidence against a Muslim. The Dhimmi's oath being deemed unacceptable in an Islamic court, which made it virtually impossible for any Muslim opponent to be condemned. To further any defence, the book describes that the dhimmi would be obliged to "purchase" Muslim witnesses, often at great expense.

This refusal of Muslim religious courts to accept such testimony of the dhimmi being based on hadiths which maintained that the infidels were of a "perverse and mendacious character because they deliberately persisted in denying the superiority of Islam". The same law preventing any Muslim from being put to death on account of an infidel.

This principle alone is further elaborated in this book with the example of the frequent accusations directed at Jews and Christians of having "blasphemed" the Prophet or Islam, an offence punishable by death. In such a case, the dhimmi was clearly in no position to contradict the testimony of a Muslim making the accusation and could therefore only save his life by conversion to Islam. (Although some exceptions have been recorded, this was the abiding principle nearly always adhered to.)

This is a classic study of this subject and it is not a "light" read, but a subject which demands attention. Thank you.

"All This Reading" is an essential addition to the libraries of Barbara Pym fans and an engaging introduction to Pym for new readers. The collection of essays features wise and sensitive insights into the theme of reading in Pym's books. Part I addresses this theme with a variety of topics, from "Love Like Bedsocks" to ". . . Metaphors of Aging and Death". Part II presents fascinating personal and literary encounters with Pym and her writing, including 'My First Reader' by Hazel Holt, Pym's long time friend and literary executor, and 'Barbara Pym as Comforter' by John Bayley, whose essay ends with a poignant personal note about the importance of Pym's novels to him and his wife, the novelist Iris Murdoch, who died in 1999.

The expertly compiled index by Hazel Bell, in addition to serving as the indispensable tool for locating references and topics, provides an revealing look at the wide range of motifs and people mentioned by Pym and her readers, from anthropology to writers and writing, from Jane Austen to Charlotte Yonge.

This is a book to keep close at hand -- readers will find themselves dipping into it repeatedly for diversion, instruction, entertainment, and contemplation.

Eudora Welty found Pym's novels to be "quiet, paradoxical and sad." I think she described them perfectly. All this Reading explores the life, novels and publication of Pym. The book comprises a series of essays by many distinguised contributors. Educated at St. Hilda's college, Osford, she joined the Wrens during WWII and was posted to Naples. Her novels draw on her circle of college friends and her military life. Her writing highlights the theme "only connect" from Howard's End by Forster.
In Katherine Ackley's essay, she suggests Pym's characters are devoted to literature. They recite passages from an Austen novel or a Donne poem. Literature is a source of comfort to them. In John Bayley's essay, he further seees Pym as a comforter. He expands upon Matthew Arnold's theme that great art calms and comforts us, and he cites Pym as such a writer. Bayley notes that Pym's confidence about the sexes comes "from her sense of the arbitrary, almost ruthless, way they join up."
In "A Life Ruined by Literature", Elisabeth Lenckos argues that reading is a central theme in Pym's novels. The related topics of reading, romance and redemption are central in her novels. In A Few Green Leaves, the heroine Emma Howick recalls Austen's Emma. She stars in her own drama of misplaced affection, rejection and humiliation before leaving romantic fantasy behind. Lenckos suggests that Pym's world is like Austen's where the gentlewomen of reduced circumstances in post-war England have moved from manor houses to village cottages, and work part time in gentile jobs as librarians, clerks and social helpers.. "Like Austen's heroines their desire is to find a loving partner with whom to share life...." Those who love literature will find the nineteen essays in All this Reading satisfy every taste in a fine collection.

In 1980, when Jane Nardin first came across the novels of Barbara Pym, as she remarks, `almost no literary criticism had yet been written' of Pym's work, while Dale Salwak, in his epilogue to All This Reading, records the `appearance since 1985 of twenty full-length book studies or anthologies, with more soon to arrive'. An extraordinary growth of interest, which is now further reflected in the publication of this stimulating collection of nineteen new essays. Part I examines the significance of reading in the novels; Part II is devoted to literary encounters and collaborations in Pym's life and works. Hazel Bell's index successfully draws together the threads running through the contributions by various hands, allowing the reader to trace, for example, references to spinsterhood in the essays of Frauke Elisabeth Lenckos, Katherine Anne Ackley, Barbara Everett, Helen Clare Taylor, Anthony Kaufman, Anne Pilgrim and Barbara Dunlap.

In attempts to pin down Pym's special quality as a novelist, she has been compared to, and with, a quite disparate list of writers, from Jane Austen to Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth von Arnim, E. M. Delafield and a whole host of other names, many listed by Lenckos in her introduction. Kaufman compares the rivalry of Belinda and Agatha in Some Tame Gazelle to the humour of E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia, and Everett commends Pym's `high originality' which sets her fiction `far above the intransigently reactionary ... Angela Thirkell'. Dunlap, tracing the influence on Pym of Charlotte M. Yonge, asserts that `Pym's fiction is steeped in the work of Yonge' (even the unusual name of the heroine of A Glass of Blessings, Wilmet, is borrowed from a very different heroine of Yonge's).

To what extent are Pym's novels autobiographical, and her well-read heroines reflections of herself? Orphia Jane Allen, writing on `Reading Pym Autobiographically', comments that `Pym was aware that she could permit herself to become like Leonora' (in The Sweet Dove Died), but Leonora represents only `one of the directions an aging, unmarried woman's life could take'. The most obvious incarnation of Pym's own personality is Belinda in Some Tame Gazelle, with her near-obsessive love of literary quotation. Pilgrim notes that, while Archdeacon Hoccleve and Bishop Grote quote aloud, sometimes not very felicitously, and Harriet `tends to be oblivious to literary references', Belinda `hardly ever quotes aloud, but silently recollects and meditates upon scores of passages, many of them quite obscure', and Nardin also finds significance in the fact that Belinda keeps her literary references to herself, `restrained by a sense of personal modesty and strict propriety at once pathological and deeply lovable'. In being made privy to Belinda's interior monologue, the reader is at the same time granted access to the author's own stream of consciousness.

As Ackley points out, Pym `often blurs the distinction between literature and life', suggesting in various ways that some of her characters have lives outside her fictional world. Dulcie in No Fond Return of Love, who cannot resist prying into people's lives, finds it `so much safer and more comfortable to live in the lives of others'. Pym's characters, says Ackley, `view the world as if they, too, were writers', and Nardin writes that `in Pym's novels, there is a tension between the impulse to read and the impulse to contextualize or interpret'.

The inner monologues of Pym's heroines reveal her own uncertainties and need for reassurance. Pilgrim comments on Belinda's habitual alternation between self-doubt, `expressed in her diffidence, timidity and constant anxiety', and self-confidence. Everett remarks on the unpretentiousness of Pym's early novels, and adds that the modesty of her approach `possibly worked to Pym's disadvantage during the period when her manuscripts were being rejected' and `makes her too easy to dismiss now'. Surveying the six earlier novels, she considers these thoroughly enjoyable but `probably minor art', while Quartet in Autumn is to her mind a major work. She finds Excellent Women the `most accomplished,... the most admirably competent', and has a kind word for An Unsuitable Attachment - it `has a first-rate cat and a wholly believable public library'.

These are only some examples of the many rich insights provided by All This Reading. Further pleasures are provided in the second part of the volume, such as the reproduction in the essay by Paul De Angelis of Pym's letters to him of 1978-9, almost up to the time of her death in January 1980, and of A Year in West Oxfordshire, Pym's contribution to Ronald Blythe's anthology Places of 1981.

Janice Rossen's essay, `Philip Larkin: Barbara Pym's Ideal Reader', discusses the crucial role played by `virtually the only fellow writer with whom she discussed her work in progress'. Larkin's influence and advice were clearly of great importance to her: not only was he able to give her very specific and practical advice, but he was a writer of established reputation who treated her as an equal and gave her `constant reassurances that her work was of extraordinary value'.

And not least, there is an account of thirty years of friendship and collaboration by Hazel Holt, Pym's literary executor, who tells us that she no longer reads Barbara Pym. `I don't need to. ...once you've read the novels, she is with you forever.'

In my opinion "All This Reading" is the best collection of essays written about Barbara Pym to date. The articles are all well written and full with insights, yet are diverse in their apprach. As a doctorate student writing a dissertation on Barbara Pym I find the articles very useful For example it was illuminating to read two totally opposing, but well thought of, views by John Bayley and Ellie Wymard,regarding
Pym's attitude to organized religion. Yet, the essays are general and interesting enough for any one who is interested in Barbara Pym.
I highly recommend "All This Reading".

Orna Raz
Israel

I have been a big fan of Williams' work for years, and have been waiting for someone to champion the later plays. While Saddik's argument acknowledges that not all of Williams' later plays were as sophisticated as the earlier ones, she acknowledges his right to experiment and very intelligently analyzes the form of some of his best later work. Bravo!

This book presents Williams' later works in a completely different light, for they are seen as a progression of a genius, not as a stifling of one. It is only unfortunate that Williams himself is not around to read this deeply insightful piece of work.

Informative piece of writing giving a whole new and different outlook on Tennessee Williams' later works. Dr. Saddik is able to give a in depth perspective on the later works of the playwright. Often misunderstood by critics and never quite reaching the acclaim of his earlier works, this book is able to show the reader just what was happening throughout this famous playwright's life. An excellent read!

This was an exceptionally interesting book about both Tennessee William's life and work and the theater world at the time. It provides an insightful discussion of how expectation shaped the career of a great author, as well as fascinating autobiographical details. A fun read!

Anyone who undertakes a study of Civil War medicine must begin with this introduction to the literature. Virtually every important publication about the subject is included. The annotations are brief but informative (and occasionally humorous---see the author's reviews of his own works).

I am familiar with many Civil War bibliographies and I find that this is the place to go if you want to find out something about Civil War medicine.

This is a very interesting list of works about medicine during the Civil War. The author has the knack of getting the essence of some very complicated publications. I found that this bibliography enabled me to enter the whole field.

This is a masterful political and economic study of the Revolution, from the point of view of a Signer of the Declaration of Independence who was an advocate of the middle and working classes. It contains economic, social and political ideas still worth considering. Abraham Clark represents a proud and unique tradition in America in which the idea of equality is central. He feared tyranny in the form of the wealthy gaining power over the poor, and institutions over the individual. As the author states, he fought every form of privilege: social, military, economic or political. His economic vision and ability made him a major player in shaping our new country.

This is a masterful study of the political and economic undercurrents of the American Revolution. Abraham Clark, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey, was an advocate for the middle and working classes. He fought against privilege in every form, often pitting himself against the most powerful, and wealthy, leaders of the Revolution. He feared that America would establish a country in which the domination of the poor by the wealthy would continue. He was also concerned that "new sources of tyranny" would "arise from American centers of power." His economic ideas and initiatives centered on "leveling the playing field" and are still worth considering. Most of his work was in this area, both on the national and state level. Called an "excentric genius" by one of his enemies, Clark's actions were extremely popular among the people of his district. He was held publicly accountable for every major bill which passed during his tenure in the state legislature. As a member of Congress, he was an ardent supporter of James Madison's policies and measures in the area of commerce.

This book is about the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, and related topics. The book could use some updating with more historical information about the topic addressed. For example, the Pledge was the origin of the stiff-arm salute that was adopted later by the National Socialist German Workers Party. The early salute for the Pledge of Allegiance was the straight-arm salute. Francis Bellamy was the author of the Pledge (1892) and cousin to Edward Bellamy, author of an international bestseller that launched the nationalism movement. Edward's book was translated into every major language, including German. Francis and Edward were both self-proclaimed socialists in the Nationalism movement and they promoted military socialism. They wanted government to take over all schools and impose robotic chanting to flags. When the government granted their wish, government schools imposed segregation by law and taught racism as official policy. That behavior even outlasted German National Socialism. The Pledge's early right-arm salute was not an ancient Roman salute, and the 'ancient Roman salute' myth came from the Pledge. In addition to the notorious salute, American socialists (e.g. Edward Bellamy teamed with the Theosophical Society) also bear some blame for the notorious symbol usd by the National Socialist German Workers Party on its flag. While Edward and the Theosophical Society worked together, the same symbol was used by the Society. It was used as alphabetical symbolism for socialism, and adopted later by German socialists as their flag symbol. Although an ancient symbol, it was altered for use as overlapping S-letters for 'socialism.' It was deliberately turned 45 degrees counter clockwise and always oriented in the S-direction. Similar alphabetic symbolism is still visible as Volkswagen logos. People were persecuted for refusing to perform robotic chanting to the national flag at the same time in the USA and Germany (to the American flag, and to the German symbol flag). All of the above are modern discoveries (do a web search for "stop the pledge") by a different writer, America's leading authority on the Pledge of Allegiance (the author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets").

For anyone interested in understanding the evolution of the U.S. flag as the preeminent symbol of the United States, Dr. Guenter's book is required reading. He traces the origin of the flag and its changing meaning from the Revolutionary War, to the flag's baptism in the Civil War, and eventually to the canonization the "proper" treatment of the flag in the adoption of the Flag Code in the 1920s. Highly recommended.

This book is worthwhile for much more valuable information than its title may suggest. It's an excellent survey of the second American etching revival, which took place in printmaking during the early Twentieth Century. Well documented, easy to read, and chock full of fascinating information about the remarkable etching advocate Jaques, it also tells a great deal about the activities of a host of other printmakers. The volume's four appendices, copious notes, extensive bibliography, and index make this book a reference well worth the price to scholars of American printmaking history.

This is the first full-length study, and likely to remain the definitive one, of the Chicago Society of Etchers, incorporated in l9l0 under its chief architect, Bertha E. Jaques (l863-l94l). Together they played a profound role in developing popular American artistic taste in the first half of the 20th century, both by inspiring other societies and by making the best prints available to a broad and receptive public. In its 47-year life the CSE would exhibit at least 40,000 prints across America, whose impact has been unevaluated and uninvestigated until Patterson's study.

Most interesting and admirable is the analysis of the CSE's unwavering resistance to modernism, despite expectable criticism and the formation of a rival, alternative group, the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. Supporters of the CSE could always rely on the Society to produce traditional, academic, and representational works--would that more artistic groups were unwilling to cave in to the ephemeral, the anarchic, and the chaotic in all areas of American life. This stance produced friction with the Chicago Art Institute, and its break with that facility in the early '30's was a serious setback, although the CSE continued to function as late as l956.

Two striking features of this work are the ninety-two black and white and eight color illustrations of beautifully reproduced etchings and prints, and the straightforward, expository prose of the text which integrates the history of the Society in the social and economic settings of the World War, the Twenties, and the Depression Era. The final chapter is devoted specifically to Bertha Evelyn Jaques, a talented artist in her own right, who was an inspiration to thousands.

The Appendices are invaluable, with complete lists of Presentation Prints of the CSE, Exhibiting Members, and the Years and Cities where their work appeared. The notes and bibliography will be the starting point for any researcher or devotee of the subject, reflecting the wide-ranging and exhaustive work which went into compiling this remarkable volume. A more complete review may be found in Bibliophilos, VIII, No. 2 (Summer 2003), l24-l26.

Besides crucial information and data, the analyses are great, comments very well put. Great resource!

Johnson and Stam have compiled what is perhaps the definitive commentary on Brazilian cinema, offering thorough explications of the most important films from several different periods and styles. The book also discusses in detail tropicalism, anthropophagy, and other background elements that are integral to achieve an understanding of Brazilian cinema. Though some of the concepts may seem daunting, they are explained clearly and in a historical context, making it an excellent reference for students (either of Brazil or film in general). While some of the same articles appear in Cinema Novo X 5, Brazilian Cinema covers a wider range of subjects. If you are interested in Brazilian films, it is a must-read.

Possibly the Can Can is the least documented of all Art Forms with at the moment just one book and only available as an import here in England.There is also a total lack of video material the nearest being the film THE MERRY WIDOW BALLET,for which I created a special photo album along with all my others on a communities page.
Can Can is all about pictures and this book has plenty.
Now with the new MOULIN ROUGE film on release this book should stand an even better chance.
But a price of £27 here in England is not going to attract many potential customers

A true labor of love, Price's book combines thorough research with light-hearted, affectionate prose to trace the evolution of the cancan and its impact on female empowerment, shifting sexual roles, and even ladies' underwear. Throw in never-before-seen photos and illustrations, and what you have is incontrovertible proof that the cancan may be the most fun you can have with your clothes on...

Although I have not personally read this book, I was taught its content by the author. He is Head Of the English Department at Southampton University in England and is an absolute genius. He has a way of explaining the literature, drama and culture of the Medieval period in a way that is both clear and amusing. He brings the period to life and draws cross-historical comparisons which bring it right up to date. If you want to understand Medieval Literature, Drama and Culture, whether for study or personal interest, buy anything you can get hold of that was written by this man. Your money will certainly not be wasted. At the risk of repeating myself, he is a genius.

Often texts like this one end up being dry, boring writing that one must plod through in hopes of getting some insight that doesn't dissect beyond recognition the literature it is examining. Happily, such is not the case with McGavin's 'Chaucer and Dissimilarity'. Examining primarily Chaucer's works 'House of Fame' and 'Troilus and Criseyde', McGavin proceeds to draw comparisons and contrasts, including looking out toward the Pearl-poet and Chaucer's magnum opus, the Canterbury Tales.

McGavin looks at different devices, such as the imago, the similitudo, and exemplum. The imago he describes as being the literary equivalent of a painting such as that of saints, kings or even abstractions -- there is a recognition, but no true likeness for comparison, so the dissimilarity and similarity are both impossible to fully grasp in many ways.

With regard to similitudo, the uses of similies can be important in setting up dissimilarities for poetic or dramatic effect. McGavin says that Chaucer tends against the norms for use of similies, creating a give-and-take dialectic between similies and context.

Many works of writers of Chaucer's era, and in one possible interpretation Chaucer's work itself, are capable of being classified as examples of exemplum, an example or standard by which others, including real life situations, are to be judged. McGavin argues that Chaucer destabilises his characters and situations in key ways so that, while they might seem to be exempla, they in fact fail to be standards because of the key interplay of dissimilarities. Whereas in many cases of exempla, the audience are comparing their own lives with the work they are reading, This often becomes difficult with Chaucer's work,

McGavin states that 'reading dissimilarity is an activity which Chaucer insists upon at all levels of his mature work.' The understanding of this is crucial to deep, mature comprehension of the stories, the devices in the stories, the contexts, and the subtexts in Chaucers major works.

More work with the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's most famous and widely-read work, would be welcome here. The book ends with a good index and a generous bibliography of primary and secondary texts.