Biography Books

The book is well organized and easy to use. The content is well researched and concise without feeling rushed and choppy. In stark contrast to most surveys of missiological history, the author actually keeps her audience's attention from front to back. Also a contrast to many missions biographies, Tucker finds the balance between a book that reads like fiction and one that reads like an encyclopedia, and is both entertaining and informative. It is undeniably a laudable effort. Logistically, the hard back is surprisingly light for its size and travels well in packs of many sizes without taking over all the space.

This is an excellent and engaging book about the history of Christian missions. It is composed of short biographies of missionaries (a few pages each) arranged in topical chapters (about certain areas of the world, or movements). This format makes it easy to pick up the book and read a few pages or chapters anywhere in the book.

The book covers missions from all over the world and from every denomination. It is refreshing to read the biographies because they show both sides of each missionary. Tucker writes about the accomplishments as well as the flaws of everyday missionaries and well-known heros alike.

I read parts of the original edition of this book earlier this year, which prompted me to buy my own copy. However I was disappointed to find some changes in the new edition. I don't have the original edition now, so I can't pinpoint all of the changes. I do know that a chapter I was looking forward to reading (about Bible translation) was gone.

Even so, this is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the history of missions. It would be a great addition to any church (or personal) library.

I received this book in a timely fashion, and I am very satisfied with my purchase.

From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions

I got this book for some ministry training--and it's a fantastic overview of Christian Missions all over the world. You can read sections at a time & not have to read the whole thing (it's large). It gives a great fly-by of these men & women. I encourage anyone interested in missions or world evangelism to check it out.

I am not a history reader but choice, but this book makes it easy to track the development of the major missional keys to the advance of the gospel from Jesus to now.

A good knowledge of the Bible, I think, is required to really follow and understand all the historical facts jammed into the middle of this small book. But if you don't know the Bible well and slog on through this book anyway you will still gain a general impression of how long, rich and complex the history of the development of the Bible is. It is actually many books written by many different people in different settings for different purposes. It has been significantly edited by other people. It is full of paradoxes. It is still changing (its meaning). That is it is inexhaustible (books like this and many others still written today prove that). For the author it is a scripture written by men; to others it is the word of God.

I quite liked parts of this book, but parts were appalling, in factual and discursive content. Karen Armstrong is a well respected religious writer, whose sincerity and efforts to bring different beliefs together in harmony cannot be doubted. All the more disappointing that she gets so much wrong in her latest effort.
One good test of a non-fiction work is to examine the dating of the source material quoted by the author. For the first part of the book, which deals with the Hebrew version of biblical accounts, her references tend to be from 20-25 years ago and are not in tune with latest scholarship. For instance she gets the dating of Abraham, and the Exodus wrong, talks about Palestine in the time of the Greeks, and says the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1942! Current thinking puts the Exodus around 1200 BCE and the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Armstrong clearly has a limited knowledge of the Qumran Community and so-called Essenes, indicated by her thinking that they did not have a coherent vision of beliefs, and continued to worship at the Temple. That is quite wrong. Their corpus of sectarian texts has a commonality of style and purpose and repeated cross referencing. They hated the Temple in Jerusalem and kept away from it.

As she moves into the Christian era, her scholarship becomes stronger, as one would expect from a former Catholic nun. One has to admire her breadth of knowledge of the New Testament texts and Christian history. If only she would refrain from being so dogmatic in some of her assertions, and admit of the lack of certainty on so many issues she seems to take as gospel. As the book progresses we drift more and more away from a Biography of the Bible into a highly knowledgeable, and often interesting dissertation, on commentary from outside sources. There are diversions into, what can only be described as backwaters of Bible evolution, like Kabbalah, which she, in my view, gives far too much prominence to. The Bible has certainly been an evolving creation, and she rightly comments that Talmudic studies continue this evolutionary process. I would contend that the Koran is an evolutionary development of the Bible and as such should have been a major consideration in assessing the Hebrew-Christian texts. From someone who has done so much valuable work in Muslim areas, in helping to bring ideas and people together this is an even more surprising omission.

Books by well-known authors tend to be viewed automatically as being as good as their predecessor. They should be viewed on their own merits, and this book is lacking in comparison to her previous works. It also reflects poorly on the editors of Atlantic Books as well as the back cover reviewers; Hugh MacDonald, of the Glasgow Herald; Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Sunday Times; Edward Norman, Literary Review. They are clearly not experts in this field, although one could equally blame their editors for asking them to review such a complex work. Would you ask a gereralist to review a book on gardening? Better to ask the gardening columnist, or if there isn't one, bring in an expert from outside.

This is a book that requires undivided attention as you read. The author is brilliant but sometimes it is hard for those less brilliant to grasp what she is saying. I have read it for a discussion group in which I was participating and it has helped me to grasp the content better because of a good leader and other group members.

"The Bible" by Karen Armstrong was a mental workout but I did enjoy her sweep of history and her eloquent and efficient manner of writing, I respect the amount of research she did, and found it scholarly and very confident in tone, interesting and bold. I even agree with some of it. For example, I know the Bible was misused to justify the Crusades, slavery, mistreatment of women, and other bad things. But I at also found many of Karen Armstrong's points unsupported and presumptuous. My view is that the Bible contains many apparent paradoxes that require keen spiritual insight and study to decipher.

Without question, the Bible itself is a threatening document, and I am not at all surprised when the Bible is attacked, as it has been attacked for hundreds of years, since the Reformation and the almost simultaneous invention of the printing press made it widely available. I expect it will always be attacked in every way possible: through textual integrity, authorship, historicity, seemingly conflicting messages and modes of exegesis, a God that seems capricious and cruel, you name it. There are opposing books written by Christians and non-believers on each of those subjects and more. I had, in fact, more of a problem with HOW Karen Armstrong dismissed the Bible than with WHAT she actually said. She makes bold statements at times almost in passing and with little or no backup, not often crediting someone else or giving reasons for her conclusions. She does have some footnotes but they are usually not very explanatory or specific. I'll just give you a couple of brief examples. In the very first chapter of her book, she says that Hilkiah wrote Deuteronomy! This is the account, according to the text in Second Kings, where the Law is rediscovered by Hilkiah after centuries, and presented to King Josiah who implements sweeping reforms. Her claim is that the Deuteronomy section was out of sync with the rest of the Torah and logically must have been forged at that time as an effort to get Israel back on track spiritually. She just says that Hilkiah wrote it to promote reform, directly contradicting what the Biblical text says, and then she just moves on! Deuteronomy, according to my commentary, is very likely to be much older than Josiah's time because it addresses a united Israel before it divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, doesn't discuss the kings of the Promised Land, and warns of upcoming Caananite religions. Another example is when she claims that the prophet Daniel himself is a fictitious character, maybe because of the miracle in the Lion's den. But Jesus Himself refers to Daniel as a real prophet. Also, Daniel's survival in the lion's den was used as an example of facing death to defend your faith, and that would not have made sense if he was fictitious. The commentaries I read by the way do give opposing points of view and the reasoning for choosing one view over another.

It is a frequent and common illusion that Christians simply do not think; but, for me, faith is built on the historical evidence of the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ, the veracity of the Bible, and my own resulting faith experience (John 3:3 & Romans 8:16). I can't vouch for all Christians, and am sure that many Christians don't think about their beliefs, or distort and misuse what the Bible says, but I certainly hope that's not me.

For those who question God's existence, I would recommend something called Pasqual's Wager. You may have heard of him as a 17th century scientist and mathematician, and a kind of a godfather to calculus. His reasoning goes something like this: One should believe in God because if there is no God, then you've lost nothing but if there is a God and you don't believe then you've lost everything.

Anyway, that's how I see it.

The hopes and fears of all my years of Bible study have been met in this book!

Mostly it gave me a new appreciation for the strong influence of the Jewish faith and its practices of scriptural interpretation (exegesis and midrash) on the creation of the New Testament. It cleared up misconceptions I have long held (as a by-product of the commonly held Christian belief in the New Testament as fulfilment of the Old Testament, which indeed was the initial mindset of the New Testament authors) that the Jews have always been looking for a Messiah. According to Armstrong, this was only a minor theme in the Jewish scriptures until the period just before the advent of Jesus.

She also points out that the catalyst for writing of the New Testament was the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. That Zionism was originally a secular movement. And alerted me to the extremes American Christian fundamentalism is taking. Scary. But the book is well balanced by the hopes of many thoughtful religious scholars.

"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."

So begins ANGELA'S ASHES, Frank McCourt's amazing memoir of growing up in the direst poverty in Limerick, Ireland. The book opens in Brooklyn in 1935 when Frank, the eldest child, is only four. Frank's father, Malachy, has decided life in his native Ireland, hard as it may be, would be easier than life in Brooklyn. So, with his wife, Angela and their four surviving children - Frank, Malachy, and twins, Oliver and Eugene, (baby sister, Margaret has already died) - in tow, the McCourt family returns to Malachy's native Belfast.

One might think the return of a family member who's been gone for years would be an occasion for rejoicing. But this is Belfast and war is brewing, and as the reader soon realizes, Malachy's family is far worse off than the citizens of Brooklyn. After spending only one night in his family's small home, Malachy, Angela, and their children are sent packing - to Limerick, the town where Angela grew up.

Angela's family proves to be almost as unwelcoming as Malachy's, but the family does manage to find lodgings in "the lanes," a euphemism for the town's slums. And slums they are, make no mistake about that. There's no sanitary system to speak of, so the McCourt family finds summers and the almost unbearable stench almost as bad as winters when there's no coal to light the fire. The seemingly ever-present rain floods the McCourt's downstairs, forcing them to flee to the upstairs rooms, and the dampness of the River Shannon kills two more McCourt children and sends Frank to the hospital for months. Although heartbroken, the McCourt's accept their losses as simply their lot in a very, very difficult life.

The Protestant Malachy is shunned in Catholic Ireland and his northern accent makes it almost impossible for him to find work. When he does, he "drinks" his wages in the form of pints at the local pub before even going home, leaving his younger children with nothing but sugar water and the older ones lucky to get a potato for their dinner. Christmases consisted of a sheep's head, which Angela obtained from local charities.

ANGELA'S ASHES is a horrific, but beautifully written book, an episodic memoir rather than a traditionally plotted novel. This episodic quality however, takes nothing away from its ability to mesmerize and pull us into the world of pre-war Limerick. We sympathize with Frank as he endures a series of abusive teachers - until he finally encounters one who recognizes his intelligence. We empathize with him as he finds - then tragically loses - his first love. We chuckle (yes, chuckle, for ANGELA'S ASHES, grim as it is, contains humor aplenty) at his misplaced attempts to spread Catholicism, one of which provides quite possibly the book's funniest set piece.

Young Frank, during one of his first jobs must deliver a telegram to a Mr. Harrington, an Englishman who's understandably distraught over the death of his wife, Ann. When Frank knocks on the Harrington's door, Harrington is already drunk and asks Frank to watch over Ann's body while he makes a quick trip to the local pub for reinforcements.

Frank has obviously listened to his strict Catholic schoolmasters and he obviously cares about his fellow man. In a hilarious scene, Frank, not wanting Ann to suffer in hell because of her Protestantism, baptizes her a Catholic with sherry in place of holy water. Naturally, just as he's doing so, Harrington returns.

While ANGELA'S ASHES is filled with tragedy, harrowing events, and the direst of poverty, it's also filled with dignity, compassion, and genuine wit. This wit is, I think, what raises the book from a superbly written memoir to a genuine masterpiece and classic. But even though the book sometimes elicits a chuckle, more often than not, it brings a tear. One of the most harrowing images, for me, at least, was that of an always-hungry Frank voraciously licking the newspaper that had held his Uncle Pat's fish and chips.

Just as McCourt does a fine balancing act regarding humor and despair, he also balances his characterizations so our view of the persons who inhabit ANGELA'S ASHES is never one-sided. This is particularly true regarding Frank's father, Malachy. In the hands of a lesser author, Malachy could have become nothing more than exasperating and ineffectual, which, of course, he is. But McCourt also shows us his father's charming side as well. As irresponsible as Malachy is, he obviously loves his children, and it was their father, more often than not, who comforted his sons. It was Malachy who nurtured Frank's appetite for stories, giving him the tale of Cuchulain, Ireland's great savior, and the Angel on the Seventh Step, the being who brought two new babies, Michael and Alphonsus, to Angela. Perhaps, because of Malachy, Frank somehow finds the strength to endure and nurture his own dreams. ANGELA'S ASHES is, in many ways, a Cinderella story, a story of triumph, although at first glance, it would seem to be anything but. More than anything, though, ANGELA'S ASHES is a perfectly written, deeply moving book. Although filled with tragedy and despair, in the end, it's a glorious book, one that becomes a part of the reader and continues to grow within him years after the last page is turned.

Was a gift for my daughter who rarely reads and she loves it. Read it through in a couple of days.

Frank McCourt has a way with words! His memoir of growing up poor in Ireland, with a drunk for a father and lazy, shiftless mother is written without malice. He and his brothers are left to their own devices to keep themselves fed, warm and clothed when Frank, the oldest is not even four years old. They live in a house where the main floor floods every year and they have to wade through the sewage to live in the remaining room upstairs until the water recedes. They grow so cold that they resort to tearing the walls apart for firewood. And yet his mother needs her cigarettes and his father needs his drink.

Frank's tenacity and humor in the midst of such misery is his salvation. And it is what makes this memoir so poignant. His own parents and grandparents, neighbors and the Catholic church leave Frank and his brothers to their own devices for survival. And they survive! And go to America. And it's a true story.

Frank McCourt chronicles the story of his life in the streets of Ireland, his family living a life of poverty and hard luck. Somehow, he is able to make what should be a bleak story uplifting with his wit, humor and straight-forward approach to telling a story. Sometimes he gives you TOO much of the story, things you would rather not have heard--but I guess this is because it is a memoir. There is a certain amount of haphazardness to his writings...there are many times where you have no clue where this is going. But, at other times, there is an effort to be sentimental about the few things he has in life, or the hope of better days ahead.

An interesting style McCourt uses to write the book, where he virtually uses no punctuation during the many dialogue scenes. He also has many, many run-on, wordy, and obtuse sentences that would probably have one of his master's in school up in arms. It took me awhile to get used to this "rambling" kind of style, and, as an English major, it almost had ME up in arms, but actually, after reading the book, the pace of book quickens because of this style. There was enough of a compelling and engaging story to care too much about punctuation, or lack thereof.

As far as content itself, McCourt's story was highly entertaining and somewhat touching. While the young Frank is at school, he meets one strict school master after another, and he deals with the peer pressure from some of his classmates. The young Frank tries to keep all of the disappointments and failures and embarrassments behind him by reminding himself that one day things will change for him in America. There are times when Frank goes to the library to escape the world, knowing that he can escape into a story: "It's lovely to know that the world can't interfere with the inside of your head." Frank also experiences some time in the hospital with fever and eye problems, and in his first visit he meets Patricia, a girl who teaches him poetry. When he gets separated from her for talking to her, it is one of Frank's saddest moments: "Nurses and nuns never think you know what they're talking about...You can't ask questions. You can't show you understand what the nurse said about Patricia Madigan, that she's going to die, and you can't show you want to cry over this girl who taught you a lovely poem which the nun says is bad." Frank also deals with the trials of being in a family with an alcoholic father who rarely comes up, spends up the family's earnings, and some other dysfunctional relatives. He keeps hope that one day things will change for the better.

While the story is highly engaging, one thing that irked me was the abruptness of the ending. Without giving too much away, the memoir just seemingly ends without any deep moment or thought. The incident with Frank and the woman--- is that suppose to be some momentous or life-changing event? It seemed kind of stupid to end the book right there. It also made the book seem a little uneven; after all, here is Frank preaching about how he wants to help his family in the future, and then what does he go and do in the book's conclusion?

Criticism aside, this is an enjoyable read, which I honestly didn't think would be possible based on what I had heard about the story. McCourt is able to intertwine humor and heart-break in a way I've never seen done before.

The author begins his memoir with the voice of a narrator: describing people, events, etc. But, from the first chapter he slowly transitions into a man remembering & than goes back to when he was a boy. The slideshow of imagery & the depth of details made this a great read, despite the often brutal sadness of the story.

The innocence of a young boy of say 8 or 9 is experienced here like in no other book I have read. The young boy finds himself talking with "the angel of the seventh step," & wishing to hear stories of his mythical hero "Cuchulain." When the boy learns something for the first time, so does the reader. While he ages, his vocabulary grows as does his views of the world around him which starts to make more sense to him, no matter how unsettling.

The reader feels Frankie's angst when his alcoholic father comes home drunk after drinking his paycheck away. The descriptions of the strict Catholic school alone where he was not allowed to even ask a question in class made it seem more like a prison than a place to seek "knowledge & comfort." The living conditions in the Limerick of the 1930's-40's Ireland were truly on a third world level. Their home would flood in Winter, & the many family homes they lived in when they could not afford their rent are gut wrenchingly vivid.

The most poignant emotions are from Frankie's mother Angela.
The reader can feel her desperation & frustration with her useless husband, who often failed to keep a job because of his boozing.
Her anguish that she could not clothe or feed her sons, & her other children who were "dead & gone," & her feelings of shame that she had to borrow & beg in order to keep her family alive leap off the pages.
The dialogue & story captures the imagination, one can feel the chill of damp air & the sickness it brings. This book has it all, the sorrow, heartache, want, humor, & slivers of hope.

I stopped reading this after I saw the cover where the author advertises that she is from bloomberg 'news'... which in my personal experience is notoriously loose with facts.

In my view the author should de-emphasize her background at bberg 'news'.

This book listed a lot of the players and how they got started and what decisions made them money. A straightforward read.

I'm as a Vine Voice reviewer who received an advanced copy of this book I feel obligated to review it. I was expecting it to be a book about investment advice. I only gave it a cursory reading because it wasn't what I was expecting and I found it hard to follow.

Katherine Burton is a fine writer, who, for some reason not specified in this book, chose to apply her talents to a work that the back cover describes as a "page-turner...written in a wonderfully engaging style."

Translation: if you want to read upbeat profiles of men who all sound vaguely similar and if you don't care a whit about understanding how these high stakes games played in unregulated markets affect the global financial system, if you have never wondered why these men earned the big bucks or questioned whether they were worth those paychecks, then you will enjoy this book.

Under Burton's touch, these men are all rendered as kindly and wise souls, each with a pithy piece or two of advice to impart. They value the people who work for them, and they care about their clients. They are all brilliant and beneficent. In short, this is 200 pages of feel-good bedtime reading that will lull you into slumber with a smile on your face.

Hard-hitting investigative reporting this is not. Burton only lightly touches on the risks, and ignores the reckoning. Want to learn how Long-Term Capital Management, notorious hedge fund disaster of a decade ago, almost triggered financial armageddon? You're wasting your time, as Burton devotes only a few sentences, in passing, to LTCM. Nor does she explore the use of hedge funds as a tax shelter, or the fact that many hedge funds are incorporated outside the U.S., or that they engage in somewhat questionable investment strategies. And if she even mentions the fact that all her subjects are male, that you have to scour the book to find any women's names at all, I missed it.

This is a great book for developing a basic vocabulary of people and terms that you can drop when you're attending parties of other upwardly mobile fortune seekers. But if you want to find out what it's all about, there are many better sources.

I read this book carefully in its entirety, hoping for a contemporary analog to the classic Wizards trilogy so ably ushered into print by Jack Schwager (If you're interested in trading and haven't read these classics ~ even the weaker volume 3 ~ buy them now).

Perhaps having been influenced by the quality of Schwager's opus, I set the bar too high and became an easy mark for disappointment. I found myself grimacing again and again, and even saying to myself aloud, "Why didn't she ask the next, obvious question?"

Absent the probing questions that might have been asked of this glittering lineup of stellar performers, what we're left with is a series of personality profiles. The author's tepid prose skips like a stone across the placid surface of deep water. Untroubled by probing questions, the strategic and tactical aspects of hedge fund management remain undisturbed.

What we do read quite a bit of is descriptions of lobby and reception area decor found in the plush buildings where hedge fund operators spend much of their time. These breathless descriptions of decoration function as a trailing indicator showing that the author spent a lot of her time in waiting rooms rather than meeting with the subjects of her book.

It's valid to point out that the author isn't a markets practitioner but a markets journalist. Perhaps she felt that digging deeply would ruffle feathers of those she might wish to approach at another time as sources or for interviews? In any event, the resulting personality profiles wouldn't pass muster to appear in Bloomberg Magazine. The author is a Bloomberg reporter.

My wife purchased our copy of this book at one of the author's promotional appearances closely following publication. It was a professional forum, the room full of analysts and other practitioners. She commented that the author's replies to probing questions seeking elaboration were "uncertain, unsteady, and showed a lack of insight."

Go long Schwager's trilogy, between the covers of which you'll find a billion dollars worth of wisdom. Short this book by leaving it on the shelf.

Plutarch is able to create a Roman collective past through her great heroes of the past. this book is less history than it is favorable moral making through reliving the "glory days" but this work is important and one of the best sources we have for early Rome.

Plutarch in his "Lives Of The Noble Grecians And Romans" written around 100 C.E., sheds new light on Greek and Roman history from their Bronze Age beginnings, shrouded in myth, down through Alexander and late Republican Rome. Plutarch is the lens that we use today to view the Greco-Roman past; his work has shaped our perceptions of that world for 2,000 years. Plutarch writes of the rise of Roman Empire while Gibbon uses his scholarship to advance the story to write about its decline. He was a proud Greek that was equally effected by Roman culture, a Delphic priest, a leading Platonist, a moralist, educator and philosopher with a deep commitment as a first rate writer. Being a Roman citizen, Plutarch was afforded the opportunity to become an intimate friend to prominent Roman citizens and a member of the literary elite in the court of Emperor Trajan.

Plutarch's influence and enormous popularity during and after the Renaissance is legendary among classicist. Plutarch's "Lives", served as the sourcebook for Shakespeare's Roman Plays "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Coriolanus". By the way Plutarch is even the only contemporary source of all the biographical information on Cleopatra, whom he writes about in his biographies of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his nephew that there were three books every gentleman had to have familiarity with; Plutarch's "Lives", Livy's "History of Rome" and Virgil's Aeneid. In fact all the founding fathers of note had read Plutarch and learned much from his fifty biographies of noble men of Greece and Rome. When Hamilton, Jay and Madison write "The Federalist Papers" they use many examples of good and bad leadership traits that they read in Plutarch's work. His biographies are a great study in human character and what motivates leaders to decide and act the way they do, this masterpiece has proven to be still prescient today.

If you are truly interested in a classical education, put this book on the top of your list! I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.

Plutarch's biographies of 9 important political and military leaders give the reader an in depth insight into the workings of the Roman Empire. It is a gloomy picture of a world dominated by the wealthy patricians at home and by Roman generals and their foot folk at large.

Rome's democratic system consisted of two parties: the patricians (the wealthy aristocrats and landowners) represented by the consuls and the plebeians represented by the tribunes. However, the tribunes had to be unanimous. If one defected to the other party, the patricians controlled completely the political scene.

`Coriolanus' was a staunch defender of the ancient aristocratic laws.
`Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus' were tribunes of the plebs. The former proposed agrarian (land distribution) and the latter political (shunting the aristocratic Senate) reforms. The former was clubbed to death and the latter decapitated by the patricians.
A dictatorship, assuming all (life and death) powers, was heavily opposed by `Brutus'.
A very important and stabilizing factor in Roman life was religion (`Fabius Maximus': `fix people's thoughts upon religious matters to strengthen their confidence'). The augurs occupied a cardinal function, being sometimes pressed to pronounce inauspicious omens (`Marcellus'). One respected oracular instruction imposed the burying alive of a Greek and a Gaul man and woman. For the author this was absolutely not superstition. Plutarch was in no way a Lucretius.
Another important civil servant was the censor (`Cato the Elder"), who had the right to inquire into the lives and manners of all citizens.

At large, Rome was first on the defensive during the Punic wars (`Fabius Maximus' and `Marcellus'). But later, it went on an offensive spree, conquering the whole Mediterranean world. The vanquished cities and their inhabitants were partly offered as salary to their soldiers. The generals, like `Sertorius', pocketed enormous wealth in land, precious metals and slaves. With their big armies, they plotted and fought among themselves to grab as much power as possible within the empire.
A most appalling new low was reached with the agreement between the triumvirate `Mark Antony' - Lepidus - Octavius to put to death 300 senators and 2000 equites in order to seize their possessions and fill the war coffers of the triumvirs: `I can conceive of nothing more savage or vindictive than their trafficking in blood.'

Plutarch's dramatic presentation of the creation and barbarous functioning of the first world empire is an essential read for all those interested in the history of mankind.

This collection from Plutarch's Lives covers the rise of the republic and the begining of its disintegration. Some of the best of his Roman biographies are included here including Fabius Maximus, Marcellus, and Mark Antony. The struggle with Hannibal created some of the most memorable moments in Roman history and the lives of Fabius and Marcellus are our only sources for some of the details of that period. These men were great human beings whose example has served Western Civilization for two thousand years thanks to Plutrach's memorialization. For those interested in ancient history this modern translation is indespensible, but I would recommend this volume in particular to high school students as a door to undertanding character in the development of Western civilization. Besides the military heroes, we have in this volume the lives of great statesmen who deeply inspired the founding fathers of the American colonies (the Grachi) and we also have an example in Mark Antony of how power mongers can erode the fabric of a republic. This is a great volume and a great translation.

As a mother of a "tween" and teacher of Western Civ to jr. high aged kids, I think this should be required reading for all public schools. It is the perfect material for asking normative questions. Who cares what we are today; ask them what we *ought* to be!!

For detailed insight on the dynamics of the Cuban Revolution, the historical context, the complexity of events on an international scale, and Fidel Castro's strategic and political wizardry, look no further. This book is by far the best.

However, in depicting Che's "world" so brilliantly, and by dedicating a third of the book to his life before the Cuban revolution, Anderson has had to give up many details and, sadly, some intimacy. "The enormous gesture that was [Che's] life" (to quote the famous song) remains an... incomprehensible gesture. For that extra touch of colour and a more intimate portrait, I would highly recommend Paco Ignacio Taibo's "Ernesto Guevara, also Known as Che" (published in the same year). Not only does Taibo concentrate on Che the revolutionary, but also writes, essentially, through his protagonist's own writing. To quote Taibo, "Che's own words... There is no way to approximate that narrative tone, that incredible sincerity, and that caustic sense of humour."

Whilst Anderson dedicates many pages to Ernesto Guevara's fascinating youth, Taibo quickly gets to the Cuban Revolution. Every phase of Che Guevara's life as a revolutionary, including his two ill-fated ventures abroad, is covered in greater depth. Taibo's biography undoubtedly lacks the "scoops" contained in Anderson's book, as well as the vividly-described (and necessary) context; however, it is less "macho", and it offers a more detailed description of Che Guevara the man and thinker.

One important criticism I have regarding Anderson's book is that he sometimes seems to deliberately - and somewhat blatantly - select positive and negative points here and there in the name of "convenient" objectivity (i.e. to make the book palatable to a wider audience). In doing so he comes across as being rather self-conscious. Taibo, on the other hand, writes more spontaneously: he is less obsessed with objectivity at all costs, and more interested in the richness of his protagonist's life. But his book is by no means naïve: Taibo endeavours to portray Che Guevara as he would have been seen back then, rather than with the hindsight of today (which is what Anderson does).

Oddly, in Anderson's book there seems to be an entire passage missing on how the Cuban Missile crisis came about, almost as though it has been accidentally erased. And one passage bothered me; "Who was to blame for the shortages? The US trade embargo? The revolution's radicalization that had caused the... exodus of technicians, managers from the island? The incompetence of the revolution's leaders in attempting to convert a capitalist economy into a socialist one? Yes, all of these were contributing factors". Anderson, who otherwise dedicates so much time to the most intricate details, for some reason does not elaborate on this monumental statement.

Last but not least, the book has been poorly proofread. Spelling and syntax errors abound, some names are misspelled, and, in the final chapter, "Bolivia" has been mixed up with "Algeria". Given the high standard of writing, this is a terrible shame.

To conclude, both biographies are excellent. Although the crucial details are similar, the authors' perspectives couldn't be more different. For this reason the books beautifully complement each other.

For those interested in reading more, aside from Taibo's book, I would recommend Che Guevara's incredible Bolivian Diary. The much-awaited "Evocacion" by his widow Aleida March has just been released (yet to be published in English) and I would recommend this mainly for the poignant farewell poem that Che wrote to her shortly before he died (I am sure both Anderson and Taibo would have loved to get their hands on this). A short but moving account written by Che - "La Piedra" (about his mother's death) - is now freely available on the internet.

i didn't read this because i have an affinity for or dislike of che. i just don't care one way or another. i'm the kind of person that he said he despised. i read this to fill in some historical gaps. it's the kind of history book that i love reading i.e. extremely long on primary (first hand) source material and short on author subjectivity; as verifiable as possible and without agenda.

the largest factor in the success of the Cuban revolution was that it was lead by the two most dangerous types of individual in the world; those being the brilliant totally unprincipled power-hungry charismatic politician (Fidel), and the brilliant charismatic radical idealist revolutionary (che). together they effected a quantum synergy that ultimately endangered the entire world. when Khrushchev withdrew the nuclear missles ...

"In an interview with Che a few weeks after the crisis, Sam Russell, a British correspondent for the socialist Daily Worker, found Guevara still fuming over the Soviet betrayal. Alternately puffing a cigar and taking blasts on his asthma inhaler, Guevara told Russell that if the missiles had been under Cuban control, they would have fired them off." page 545.

this is a great history book.

i love revolutionary people. with out them we would still be slaves. with out revolutionaries like malcom x or
martin l.king we might not have civil rights. this book will take you from before che was born all the way past his death covering every thing. this book is huge. it covers everything and includes a lot of great photos. i see a lot of people wearing his t-shirt in san diego but the people dont know who he is so thats what made me buy the book. he was a communist and nothing wrong with that. its just a form of gov. that he lived under and was his choice. just like americans.democracy is a form of gov. we live under and is our choice. do you hate poor communist who live on the streets? i dont. what about a person living under democracy who is poor living
on the streets. do you hate that person? no its silly. just because the governments dont like one another dont meant the people have to follow. so what im saying is whether che is communist or not i love him for what he fought for. many people stood up against america for its wrongs. so why not che guevara. america is wicked and is destructive world wide and he was there to try and stop etc. get the book its great.ALSO CHE BELIEVED IN THE BLACK CHRIST. SEE NOT ALL OF THE WORLD LOOKS AT JESUS AS A WHITE PERSON. IN SOUTH AMERICA WHERE HE IS FROM MOST PLACES LIKE GUATEMALA BELIEVE IN THE BLACK CHRIST AS HE DID AND I
THOUGHT THAT WAS VERY INTERESTING.

One of my favorite books. Doesn't fall prey to the halos of the commie left OR the devilhorns of the gusano right.

This was a really well written bio on the man. It is historically well researched with plenty of good first-hand accounts. I think the writer did a poor job balancing some of the Latin geopolitical realities ofthe time. It is important to understand that not everyting written in books is nescessary concrete fact and there are other interpretations. This was a leader of a revolution who murdered people. He authorized bank robberies and executions. This is by no means someone that should be looked up to, but I believe that is exactly what John Anderson does. I would not tell anyone to avoid this book. I think it was definitely worth the read, but take it with a grain of salt and read it critically.

It is a good strong chronicle of Latin American sentiment at the time. It is very poor in that it always paints a picture of the evil Americans, when the reality was far different. He did not talk about the corrupt influences in Latin America enough when he directed a lot of scorn towards the US government at the time. I am not arguing that he shouldn't have, I am arguing that he should have been a little more objective.

As for all those out there sporting 'Che' T-shirts, and flags, I would highly recommend they do a little more research into the man they love so much. There is a good chance they will not like what they see.

Many adults have suffered great hardships in their childhood, even being sent away. This now successful man had a horrible beginning. One can feel the isolation he felt when he was "dumped" off at the age of 3.
A good book to restore your belief that you can make your life different.

This book was easy to read and understand. It should be read by every young person in children's home, in the foster system, in juvenile detention, and those with an incarcerated parent. Even those of us who never suffered any of those hardships, can learn an important lesson in forgiving those who have hurt us.

Wonderful book. Would recommend this book to any age group. Very touching and inspiring story.

I really enjoyed this book. Being from Chicago as well, I felt an ever closer connection to the author and his story. I had a real hard time putting it down and I had to keep tissue close by whenever I was reading it. As a Mother, it was especially heart wrenching to read some of the thoughts and emotions the author experienced as a child. Such wonderful writing and expression - always feeling the emotion the author was sharing. I would highly recommend it! I passed it onto a friend after I was done with it - so the enjoyment could be passed on!

Having been in the service of serving abandoned, behaviorally disturbed children and adolescents for 32 years, I was able to reminisce and find memories explicity tied to this book. The messages are accurate, profound, and direct. The chapters relive one man's story but the themes are multiplied by the number of kids in care from yesterday to the present and the stories are wide and varied. There are many stories in the lives of children from both yesteryear to this present day and age.The names change and the faces are different but the broken body and mind are still evident today. When one reads this book you become acutely aware of why behavior, emotion,identity, can go awry. All of the clinical terminology which labels children in placement existed then and still does today. What is remarkable and I have seen it over and over is that there are those who "will" to live, who "will" to grow, who never give up. Out of all the chaos emerges a Rob Mitchell and there are numbers upon numbers who, in spite of the many abuses and neglect, rise to become vibrant creative human beings like he has. This is a story of one of them. And, of so many of the children I have seen rise out of their pathology and into health, I have also seen a remarkable closeness to an abiding faith. Rob Mitchell is a man of that faith. Castaway Kid is just one of many castaway kids. What a wonderful read.
David Carlson MSW, LCSW

For anyone who pretends to understand the issues of race, poverty, and family, this book is a must read. It lays bare the underbelly of American experience by shining a bright light on discrimination, segregation, the failure of the social systems and the consequences of alcoholism, as well as physical and emotional abuse on children. While the author's situation is understandably frightful while he was a young child, this is nevertheless no maudlin tale. It is recounted sincerely and without the unnecessary pulling of heartstrings. The reader's empathic response needs no teasing out when presented with the straightforward portrayal of the author's upbringing. The fact that this story unravels in Muncie, Indiana, rather than somewhere in the South might come as a surprise to those who believe that the black/white race issue is mostly a regional problem.

This author was able to rise above his difficult childhood, attend college, attend law school and eventually become the Dean of a law school. I have heard him speak in person and to hear him tell some of these same stories in his own voice is downright chilling. Riveting, gripping, and intensely human.

I highly recommend this book.

this is such an amazing book that really flips the perceived norms of race. so many things happened to this boy as he was growing up that it is a miracle that he was sane enough to write a coherent memoir. there were so many times that literally moved me to tears. i emphatically recommend this book, you won't regret it.

I learned about this book in an article in the Baton Rouge newspaper. LSU has assigned it as summer reading for many of their students and a group is working to get others in Baton Rouge to read it as well. At our church's partnership group with a local African-American church we decided to read it as a group project, and I'm glad we did. Williams' memoir tells the fascinating story of a young man who is born into the lower-middle class white world of suburban Virginia only to learn when he is about six years old that his father is the son of a mixed-race couple from Muncie, Indiana. Circumstances resulting from this news takes the boy, his father and his brother to Muncie where they live among their African-American (or colored as they were called in the 1950s) family. Billy's (or Greg) father Tony (or Buster) is an alcoholic, which makes life no less difficult as he's scorned by his white classmates and, with his white skin and Caucasian features, standing on shaky ground in his own colored community. A good-hearted woman named Dora raises the two boys as her own, as their birth mother spurns her now-black children. Dora's kindness and Greg's determination to do more than survive are inspiring.

I had the unusual pleasure of hearing him speak at a public function when this book first came out. In fact, that's how I got my free copy. The story of this man's life is simply amazing. That came through in his honest and heart-felt reflection of the hardships he's had to overcome growing up. I've lived in San Francisco most of my life, attending public school with the normal cross section of the city's diverse ethnic crowd. I can say with a degree of certainty that I'm culturally aware of the African American experience. So it is with a bit of sadness that I regret not having met more people with Williams' ambition and determination when I was younger. To be fair, the circumstances in which his life unfolded would probably be hard to duplicate in this day and age, especially in San Francisco. But regardless, I truly believe young blacks of today, regardless of where they may live can draw inspiration from his story. We all still face a huge amount of inequality and injustice in our society today. With such polarization along political and religious lines in our national conscience as I'm writing this, it is critical to remember that race still matters. The other day, the biology department chair at my school presented a slide show of New Orleans where here Alma Mater was severely damaged by Katrina a year ago. She's a parasitologist with a Ph.D from Tulane University. The contrast between the French quarter/downtown and the poorer residential areas are striking. Those who've read Williams book would immediately draw parallels with the stark geographic division along racial lines of Muncie, Indiana - where Williams grew up. How many other cities in America are New Orleans waiting to happen? If something unthinkable should happen in Muncie today, how will the citizens of that city fare today? Will the impoverished blacks of Hunter's point/Bayview in my own city suffer the same fate as those of the lower 9th ward when the "Big One" strikes California? If more of my fellow black San Franciscans can aspire to be like Williams and strive to lift themselves and their community out of poverty and strife, we just might have a chance at doing better. One can hope.

Life on the Color Line should be required reading for every American, especially anyone who wants to put their life's problems in perspective.

This is the most moving book I have read in a long time and I read a lot! William's account of his childhood truly woke me up to how fortunate I am to have the life I have, despite losing my mother at age 20. No one should have to endure the painful struggles of racism, poverty, rejection, parental neglect and abandonment that Williams did, as well as a dysfunctional family to top it off. Whether Williams dated black girls or white ones, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

Life on the Color Line contains many harrowing scenes. One that stood out for me was when William's white maternal grandmother refuses to pass along her daughter's messages to her children after she has left the family. She calls her own grandchildren "niggers" and refuses to let them live with her in a nice section of Muncie only a few minutes away from the black ghetto where they reside with a family friend Miss Dora.

One question that remains unanswered after reading this book is why William's mother only took her younger children with her when she left her husband. Why did she leave Gregory and Mike with their alcoholic father? It doesn't make sense that she would take some of her children to safety with her, but not all of them. The only explanation I can come up with is that Greg's mother figured her older boys were mature enough to fend for themselves. Towards the end of the book, their mother's inability to understand what kind of life she left her boys to leave left me wanting to throw rocks at her and give that woman a good beating.

I am in awe of the author's maturity, courage, and sheer will power that enabled him to overcome all these obstacles. His experiences put my own life in perspective.

I borrowed this book from the library, and now that I've reached the last page, I will definitely be buying it on Amazon!

While this book has many innovative ideas in it, it makes perfect sense. It is easy to read, although so full of great thoughts and inspirational concepts that I had to slow the pace just to digest it. It speaks to the heart and the process of reading is healing in itself. I highly recommend it to anyone searching for their hearts desire, or just plain looking for answers.

A purported running dialog with the Christ figure with commentary/amplification by the author interspersed throughout the dialog. This is an extremely worthwhile read, being a "clarification" or "re-statement" of what the Christ's original doctrine was -with elucidation of that doctrine. That original doctrine dovetails nicely with expositions found in The Conversation With God series, Course in Miracles, and even the Seth material (which supporters would say should happen if all these sources are indeed different perpsectives on "truth"). There are enough additional and further clarifications in this work to make it absolutely a "must" for readers interested in this genre. The author's work "the Keys of Jeshua" is also a must read, being a "how to" put the principles into action in life to achieve a different life experience. This work belongs in one's special tomes on "truth and living".

As one who has been committed to the Path for a LONG time, I feel confident in saying that the new version of Love Without End is the
most complete Spiritual Teaching you will ever find.

Each sentence is a Gem ... that you could mediate on for quite awhile.

I have read this book (and marked it up really good!) at least six times.

A Miracle of LOVE indeed...

Gratefully,

Dr. David Kamnitzer

I find this book to be packed with information on the nature of reality. Unlike my experience with many books on spirituality, I find myself returning to this book again and again. The truths that Jesus reveals in modern American English hit home whether he is explaining the nature of the heart, the physics of the universe or the ten commandments. Here is revealed both the deep love of Jesus for all people and an unflinching guide to all of life. All of this is presented free from dogma, free from religiosity, and free from condemnation.

The warmth, love, compassion, wisdom and joy that radiate from this book is, at times, overwhelming! For me, this is a book that one must keep so that it can be referred to time and again, as I simply am not spiritually advanced enough to get most of the information on a first, second and maybe even third pass. I hope to hear Glenda speak some day and I'd love to see her painting up close and personal. Buy the book and cherish it!

It gets 3 stars for being well written . However , the facts are mostly just
speculation. There really isn't much in the way of concrete evidence that
beyond a reasonable doubt ties Cy Oggins to much of anything . He's a fringe
shadowy character in his own story .It's essentially all circumstantial.The
tragedy is how he and countless others have been seduced by communism and then betrayed by it .

Andrew Meier writes non fiction in a way that lets us be intrigued yet actually comprehend the complexity of the topics he discusses. Like with Black Earth he wrote an incredibly readable analysis of the fall of Russia by writing the truth. Once again he shares his vision wisely and with great detail.

Andrew Meier's intriguing and well thought out story is outstanding. Very intertwined and developed, he has a very credible, and well researched take on this period of Russian US history. I could not put the book down, finished it in 2 day's, slow reader only reason. But that's fast for me, very. I'm so intrigued with the story, and it's beautifully crafted writing style. I WOULD HIGHLY recommend it!

"The Lost Spy" by Andrew Meier is above all, a masterpiece of research, and story telling. The author takes the reader into a dark but fascinating labyrinth of idealism, espionage, and...murder.

Jaded by labor disputes, union battles with striking workers, social unrest, anti-Semitism, and college politics mixed with America's entry into World War I, an intelligent young man named "Cy" Oggins... becomes lost in a diabolical world.

"Cy" Oggins is seduced and mesmerized by the hallucinatory utopia espoused by Communism and the Soviet Union's "Great Social Experiment." Oggins, like so many of the others from the "Lost Generation" follow the flute of the Bolshevik Pied Piper and down the streets and alleyways of "No Return."

Oggins weaves in and out of various Communist organizations until by 1928 or, 1929 "Secret Agent" Oggins was like "Bur Rabbit" in the Uncle Remus Story; stuck to the "Tar Baby," with no way out.

"Cy" Oggin's radical Communist and revolutionary leanings were metastasized with his marriage to wife, and fellow revolutionary...Nerma. The couple was every bit as rabid in their missions as Kim Phillby, Richard Sorge, Morris and Lona Cohen, and Julius Rosenberg (to name but a few).

Oggins and his wife start their quest in New York and on to Germany, Paris, China, and (Manchuria/Manchukuo) and then eventually, Moscow.

Despite his numerous "duty stations" the reader can not help but wonder, just how important "Cy" really was to ..."The Center." Sometimes the reader gets the impression that Moscow was simply "toying" with this American communist (traitor to his own country). His work in China (on the ruins of Sorge's organization), was probably his most demanding and beneficial to Moscow overall. None the less, he was apparently being "shadowed" throughout his illustrious career. Either, the Soviets simply did not trust him (because he was an American?), or...felt he was a "double agent" for the American Secret services.

Despite his services to Stalin and the Kremlin, "Cy" Oggins was arrested by the NKVD in 1939, became prisoner #568 at the infamous Lubyanka, sentenced to over 8 years at a Russian Gulag, and eventually... murdered by the Soviet people's decree in 1947.

The author's description of his incarceration at the Lubyanka and Gulag is every bit as descriptive as Alexander Solzhenitsyn's, "One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich."

There is some speculation that "Cy" was in fact, a "double agent" (especially by the Russians). The U.S. Government did attempt to help negotiate his release both politically, and economically. However, it would appear this was done more to try and find out exactly what he knew than a valiant attempt to "bring him in from the cold."

The author's research into Oggins past affiliations, and exposure of his radical history would appear to make him an unlikely candidate (in my opinion), for a "Double Agent" like Kim Phillby, or even Sidney Reilly. U.S. Intelligence operations during the 1920's and 1930's were much more simplified (compared to the Soviets) who were at that time, infiltrating the entire United States and its government agencies. "The Haunted Woods" by Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassilieve gives the reader a good example of this fact.

"The Lost Spy" is an outstanding piece of investigative journalism and a real asset to any historian. A tremendous and exciting read that should be enjoyed and experienced by anyone interested in history, politics, and society as a whole. The icy winds of the "Cold-War" are still blowing, and what occurred during the time of "Cy" Oggins is still going on.

A SUPERB BOOK ......"DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!"

This story of the life and fate of an American radical who spied for the USSR and was rewarded with his liquidation by the Stalinists can be appreciated on many levels. First, it is an exciting spy story, better than any fictional account. Secondly, it is a devastating expose of American radicalism in the first half of the twentieth century. Finally, and here one can be misunderstood, it is the story of the Jews' fascination with Communism and the nemesis that resulted.

American radicals were so disenchanted with American life in the first part of the 20th Century that they were easily taken in by Communism. Many of them were not in impoverished circumstances and suffered most probably from various infantile psychological disorders. The experience of the New Left in the second half of the 20th Century confirms that radicalism is a serious disorder. Jews in particular, in Europe and America, were drawn to Communism because of the Jewish experience of persecution by Christian and ex-Christian societies. They had more justifiable reasons for radicalism. But they also suffered more than non-Jewish radicals. Fascism exploited the Jewish attraction to Communism and made them its special victims. The Communists could count on the help of Jewish comrades but could also break out into anti-Jewish persecution when convenient. Communism pretended to abolish religious and ethnic hatred but nothing was farther from the truth.

The subject of this book, Cy Oggins, was Jewish as were so many of his Communist associates and handlers. Even the diabolic Communist doctor who murdered him for Stalin was Jewish. This corroborates the thesis of Yuri Skezkine in his pathbreaking book "The Jewish Century," namely that despite periodic outbreaks of Stalinist anti-Semitism the Jews did better under Bolshevism in the USSR than any other group and remained loyal to the Soviet system for a very long time. It has been in the interest of neoconservative Zionists to claim that the Communist regime persecuted and targed the Jews but this is obviously untrue. But anti-Semitism was increased among all the victims of Communism by the knowledge that many, but not most, Jews were favorable to the Bolsheviks. Zionism and Communism were deadly enemies in the quest for Jewish allegiance and it is not clear which ism did the Jews more damage.

In the end, radicalism is an evil outgrowth of infantile disorders and we should all be vigilant against it no matter what form its takes and no matter where.

This is an exciting book with many valuable lessons to discover.