History Books

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

The title of this memoir/literary criticism hybrid delivers exactly what it promises. A teacher dares to challenge an unimaginably oppressive Muslin regime, by reading "Western" classical fiction at a time when all thing "Western" was either illegal or openly despised. As Azar Nafisi strives to educate her students, we get a unique perspective on some of our beloved novels. How do you teach Lolita about the disturbing rape and forced captivity of a 12 year old, when the legal age for marriage in Iran is nine? How do you approach Gatsby when adultery is a crime, western excess is shunned and of all things you have to be worried about your veil slipping off when your gestures become too animated?

Nafisi handles all this in stride. Finding courage in her favorite heroines, and instilling passion in her students as all great teachers become accustomed.

The literary criticism, moments and theories alone are enough to make the book a worthwhile read for fellow lit junkies. The book is full of relatable moments as the students grapple with the literature and characters. A standout scene involves a stringent Islamic Revolutionary using an EE Cummings poem to woo his unrequited lady love. This setting is Tehran however so not all scenes are so light, there are doses of executions, rape, and shameless brutality, but Nafisi masterfully balances the tone; keeping the reader enthralled through several genres of storytelling.

You'll want to read this one as your favorite authors and novels inspire so many different women to pursue their own dreams even if at tremendous costs. In a word memorable.

I loved this book, although I started it three times (over a period of two years) before becoming thoroughly engaged. After that, I looked forward to getting back to it every day and made sure to set aside a time and place to enjoy it, without interruption, as it took my full focus. I read the book first, then listened to it on cd's (narrated beautifully by Lisette Lecat). After sixty years of loving books, this one ranks among my favorites and I will enjoy rereading it many times.

I picked up this book out of curiosity and wasn't sure what to expect. It reads easily, but there is actually quite a bit going on in these pages. I was pleasantly surprised to get so much out of one book. Nafisi effortlessly weaves her personal history and that of her girls into the larger story of the revolution in Iran. Not knowing much at all about the Middle East, it was a huge help to have the larger cultural/historical landscape explained. As if these threads were not enough, Nafisi decides to weave in one more - the relationship between literature, the Iranian revolution, and the personal lives of the girls. Best of all, I got the itch to revisit many of the classics mentioned in this book.

I slogged faithfully through this...it has been praised from there to here and everywhere, after all...but towards the end I laid it down & I just couldn't finish it. And that is a rarity for me.

I think the book lacks a true FOCUS. Perhaps the author is a good writer, perhaps the subject seems interesting, but somehow it never seemed to come together. And I am disappointed because I really wanted to like this book.

I'll be honest with you. I couldn't finish this book. It's though refreshing and draws a great deal of westerners' attention to the oppressive Iranian society and regime but hey the author has written a very boring book. Maybe because I know the Iranian society pretty well and therefore the book is boring to me. I am not sure but I have heard three of my friends (Canadians and Americans) who read this telling me that they had a hard time understanding this book or how boring it was. But all in all, this book was/is a necessary one to shed light on the problems of the Iranian society. 3 out of 5 stars

A wonderful, exciting, and vivid look at what life may have been like for and in the time of Guglielmo Marconi, (often cited as the inventor of but, more accurately, the first to successfully commercialize wireless communication). The author painstakingly reconstructs many events in Marconi's life and juxtaposes them against the life of the notorious English murderer Dr. H. H. Crippen using public records and letters.

The genius Marconi struggles for years to perfect his invention to the point where it can bridge the Atlantic and successfully compete with the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, making communication with ships making the voyage between the continents possible for the first time in history. Meanwhile, the life of the Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen is presented in shockingly sympathetic detail as the plain-looking and love-starved peddler of patent medicines meets the love of his life and attempts to get away with the murder of his gold-digging and unfaithful wife, culminating in a manhunt like none ever before seen.

The two stories come together as, in a flight that seems a haunting prelude to O. J. Simpson's nationally televised car chase, the entire world hangs on the reprinted wireless updates from the captain of the ship transporting the unsuspecting doctor and his mistress to America as British authorities slowly close the distance in another ship over the weeks of the journey.

I was thunderstruck by Devil In The White City, so why not Thunderstruck. Using a format that was so effective in Devil, Larson interweaves a story of murder back in the early 1900's with that of Marconi and the introduction of wireless communication.

I found the story of Marconi much more riveting than that of Dr. Crippen and the murder of his wife. I was disappointed in the uneveniess of the two storylines. Unlike in Devil where each of the stories warranted equal analysis and narrative, here the story of Dr. Crippen is undeserving of equal billing with that of Marconi. It is at best an aside to the Marconi story and their nexus is minimal and almost anti-climatic.

I would be interested in a better analysis of the Crippen crime, and its' ultimate trigger, if one exists. While Larson does a great job and is very detailed as to Crippen before the murder, we are left here with too many questions as to his method. I found myself underwhelmed by Crippen's lack of "neatness" as to the crime, and how easily became the obvious suspect. Finally, Larson fails to capture the sensationalism of his trial. Larson raised the bar with Devil and may be unfairly destined to have efforts to duplicate its compelling formula fall short by comparison.

Thunderstruck
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Eric Larson has an almost lyrical voice for historical non-fiction storytelling presenting historical fact in a style generally associated with works of fiction. After reading Larson's Devil In The White City, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America I was excited to get my hands on Thunderstruck. It was a disappointment. Larson chose Edwardian England and the dawning of the 20th century as the backdrop for his tale The period was ripe with growth and discovery. There was an innocence lost as, still reeling from the White Chapel murders, Londoners feared Jack the Ripper around every corner.

From this period of the dawning of the technical age, Eric Larson plucks two intriguing tales, each an enthralling bit of history in its own right. The first of these is Marconi's development of wireless communication. Larson skillfully lays out Marconi's life from childhood in Italy, his lack of formal education, his Irish mother's insistance that young Guglielmo learn English even at the expense of his native Italian, his eventual migration to England, his obsession with wireless communication, his lack of social savvy and the resultant failure of his romantic relationships.

And, while Larson unravels a tale of Marconi bouncing back and forth across the Atlantic in multiple failed attempts to transmit and receive timely wireless messages between Europe and North America he introduces a little known, but pivotal character in history ... Hawley Harvey Crippen.

Crippen, a mousey, bespectacled, little American, had the misfortune of marrying a young woman with loose social graces and high hopes. Their story follows the couple's circuitous and often tumultuous journey from America to England Where Mrs. Crippen, a failed actress in America believes she can find a better audience for her mediocre talents. She changes her name to Belle and, for a short time, becomes the belle of third class salons (theatres) about London. Although a failure as and actress, her exuberant personality makes her a darling among the theatre set nonetheless. But Belle's charm does not extend to her husband. She attempts to remake Hawley into her concept of what he should be, buying all of his clothes, orchestrating his life, and even renaming him Peter. Her own personal insecurities require him to be at her beckon call accounting for every moment he is not with her.

But, in the office of his patent medicine business, Hawley hires a secretary, Ethel La Neve, with whom he develops a romantic relationship. Bolstered by his romance with Ethel, Hawley stops worrying over Belle's threats to leave him. And, when one day she turns up missing, he explains her absence with a story of flight to America. But, before long he offers reports of Belle falling ill and, later, succumbing to her illness, and her friends start to question his story. When the theatre guild ladies go to the police, Hawley's cover begins to disintegrate and a global manhunt begins. Hawley and Ethel take flight, eventually boarding a ship in the Nederlands headed for America.

By this time, Marconi's wireless has found technical if not financial success as Marconi continues struggling to prove its worth and overcome competition from others working on similar radio wave advancements as well as the established cablegram. And the Marconigram proves to be the undoing of Hawley and Ethel when reports explode in the air with every snap of the telegrapher's signal on land and aboard ships crossing the Atlantic. When the lovers arrive in America, Assistant Commissioner McNaughton of Scotland Yard is there ahead of them.

Larson takes these two individually fascinating tales and, based on the one slender common link, attempts to intertwine them into one story. It seems almost as though he randomly interspersed chapters of two different short stories to make it big enough to call it a book. The result is a mish-mash of confusing chapters that flip-flop from one story to the other with no apparent connection, leaving the reader in a state of confusion with each new chapter.

I found myself being thrust out of the stories with every chapter, my mind doing a double-take at each new beginning, having to stop and review what I just read and trying to acclimate myself to the next chapter and the next. The ultimate effect is a sense of disequilibrium leading to a wholly unsatisfying reading experience and the most disconcerting fact is that Larson is far too forgiving of his own shortcomings in this book.

Despite the technical failure of Thunderstruck, however, I am sufficiently impressed with Larson's writing skills to want to read more of his non-fiction novels: Isaac's StormIsaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History; An Act of VengeanceAn Act of Vengeance; and even Lethal Passage Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun which is more a cry for social awareness than a simple historical tale.

Thunderstruck is well worth the read if only for the historical information it imparts. But, if you've not read any of Larson's work, Thunderstruck is not the place to begin. I would recommend,instead, Devil in the White City. And, when you do read Thunderstruck, be aware of its shortcomings.

This is not a quick, easy read. This one takes a lot of concentration, yet it was very interesting. History buffs will love it.

Larson seems to have devised a genre or writing style of his own making with this book and his earlier bestseller "Devil in the White City." The two works are similar in that they both tell the intersecting stories of a creator and a destroyer. In "White City," it was the architect Daniel Burnham and the serial killer H.H. Holmes whose stories were told in alternating chapters; in "Thunderstruck," it's the stories of Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless telegraphy, and suspected killer H.H. Crippen which are alternated until they intersect. The similarity of style between the two books is so uncanny that it could not be chance; Larson has intentionally created a "genre" of sorts for himself.

This one is perhaps even better than "White City." Marconi is infinitely more interesting than Burnham, and his creation is more interesting than the latter's architecture. Crippen is more of a sympathetic character than H.H. Holmes, although the latter is perhaps more fascinating because of his much higher body count. It's almost a wash between the two books, and I daresay fans of the earlier book will be pleased with this one, too. Personally, I've really been enjoying these "turn-of-the-century true crime books" (as I classify them), whether by Larson or others.

One more thing: persevere. The first 100 expository pages may drag, but soon you learn to care for the principals and the book then begins to really move. Stick with it.

Nobody has written as extensively on young adult ministry as Dan. This book cuts through the quick, and addresses the central reasons why this generation sees Christianity as the monolithic beast that the church has made it into, and better yet, how to overcome those obstacles. Christ never intended for His church to be so institutionalized, and in the process of the modern church movement, we (Christians) have become more church centered (building) than we have about soul centered. It has become more about religion than relationship, and Dan has opened the doors and the windows in an effort to bring a fresh change to the way that we can reach the next generation for Christ. Don't dumb down the message of the Gospel, but reveal it and make it approachable. More churches need to focus on reaching these young people, BEFORE they leave the church - NOT after they are gone. Roughly 70% of churched Christians who go off to college will stop attending church within their first 2 years of school. Most will never return. It's time to recognize that these young people need to be ministered to, and that our methods need to change in this new age. Wake up churches!! Dan's books will help you see how to reach them. Excellent book to help us see inside their minds and their hearts.

My perspectives of reviewing this book might be a little different... since I grew up in a Presbyterian church while going to an Episcopalian elementary school in Hong Kong. Then, when I moved to the states, I went to an Episcopal Church. However, that's not all... for the first 22 years of my life, I went to Chinese churches (the Presbyterian church in Hong Kong and a Chinese Episcopal Church in the states for 11 years each) before relocating to a Caucasian Episcopal church last year. While the churches are probably small in the author's view, I was mentally comparing and contrasting the 3 churches in my mind as I was reading.

Personally, I think this book is designed for clergies as well as young adult leaders. Because I got used to be treated as a young adult leader since 2004 through numerous young adult leaders events I went to (at local and national levels), I think this book does apply to me.

Anyway, I would say this book offers pretty good suggestions for non-ethnic churches. The only weaknesses are the following.

1. The solutions might not really work for these churches outreaching first generation young adults of minority descents with limited or no church background. I say that because they might have a language barrier with the rest of the members of these churches, which makes them sharing these problems more difficult than it already is. Can these churches do anything about it? The answer would be yes/no. Yes... if the community around the church is changing over time. No... if the church is only catering to a few individuals. This is not to say the church is dismissing these individuals. Rather, it's the fact that the church has no ability to cater to those needs at this time, especially if the individuals don't do their part in the process of getting helped.

2. For ethnic churches (at least the Chinese ones I know)... while it's easier to cater those who can only speak a language that's not the dominant language in the church (like Mandarin or English for a mostly Cantonese speaking church), the language barrier could be a hard factor to ignore, too. While those churches would have an easier time making adjustments, in terms of adding certain services, the clergy would be forced more than ever to be stuck in the "prison" the author talked about. After all, not only he/she has to prepare one sermon, but several for one Sunday, if the clergy needed to do all the sermons by him/herself.

Having said that... the rest of what he said was pretty much right on the button, whether it's inside an ethnic church or not. In fact, I had the same feeling on quite a bit of things he mentioned throughout the book. So, overall, I would give it an 9 out of 10.

If there's one thing I could suggest Mr. Kimball to do, it would be spend some time visiting some ethnic churches. That would make his work even more well-rounded.

I do not like the title of this book but overall I like the book. I do not believe most non-Christians like Jesus. They like their perceptions of him, but their thoughts of him are not well-rounded. Most people I have talked to see him as a great teacher and example, a person of love and a person who sacrificed greatly for others. These things are true but are only part of the story. The people Kimball references are no different than any other people, they like Jesus as long as he doesn't offend them. But in time Jesus will offend a person, because he breaks down our pride and self-reliance through his actions and words. In John chapter 6 this very dynamic plays out. Jesus is very popular with the people in the beginning of the chapter but by the end many people turn away from following him. So many people in our culture may think they like Jesus, but when they hear a fuller presentation of who he is, they turn away. This may be the case with some of the people Kimball is referencing. Since they don't want to come right out and say they don't like Jesus, they blame the church when confronted with the cost of discipleship. There's no doubt the church can be abusive, narrow, and stuck in tradition. But people outside the church are not just a bunch of well-meaning people who have been confused by the church. They are rebels against God, whether they know it or acknowledge it. All Christians were once in the same place, rebels to the core.

Kimball does a good job of highlighting the way Christians are often misperceived by the culture as well as the way Christians often stand in judgment over the culture. His approach of relationships and love is good and should be an important focus of the efforts of believers to live their faith and share it with others.

We are using this book for our Young Marrieds & Singles class on Sunday mornings and it has been a good fit so far. There are a lot of things in it that are obviously going to make people uncomfortable but I think that they are things that all need to be said and understood if we are going to be able to reach today's generation.

Dan Kimball says he needs to edit The Bible by tearing out pages.

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind
I found the material to be very interesting and would have rate the book four stars; except that in reading the book the material is a bit too choppy to follow, chapters don't link together too well. Outside of that very interesting book.

This book is so well wirtten that it is ale to tell such a complicated issue in an easy to understand format. B.Handclow proves herself also as a formidable writer...

The Mayan Code is a book I found I was not able to put down. As I read I found places within my being relaxing in a way I have not felt before. This is a magical gift to the reader. Barbara Hand Clow writes in such way that brings understanding about the Mayan Calendar in easy to understand insights. I am grateful for the references she has given regards Calleman's work along with the many other book titles and authors mentioned thoughout the read. I look forward to reading more of her works and feel a great gratitude for the support given to me within the reading of this book.

As many many events in my life occur at an increasingly faster pace,going beyond coincidence, beyond karma and destiny, this book explains the reasons why the world consciouness is accelerating towards a higher dimension and why we need to understand and appreciate everything that is happening now, from a more profound point of view.Read it and grow, start becoming a believer.

The title sounds great, and the topic is fascinating. This reads more like a disorganized book report put together to meet a certain number of pages. The author continuously refers to Calleman, which makes it all that much worse. If I wanted to read Calleman, I would have bought his book and read it.

Her continued bantering about the American Evil Empire is rediculous. How did such an interesting topic become such a political book? The title should be more like I hate America, and I bring up some unorganized thoughts about the Mayan Calendar along the way.

Don't waste your money or your time. Read some other authors on this topic...

I often prefer fiction, yet this packs California wine history into an enjoyable read. It even educates about wines without being heavy handed. And we get to "taste" some intriguing vineyard personalities. For those in family businesses, there are valuable cautionary lessons as well. Definitely worth my money and my time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave an interesting insight into the power struggles within a family-owned wine business, the anguish of deciding to go public or not (IPO), and the importance of maintaining a relationship with parties critical to the success of such a buisness (suppliers, distributors, board members, etc.)

Anyone that is big into Wine and has been to Napa knows Mondavi Winery is one of the biggest player in the Valley. It was very interesting to read how the winery came about and the split up of the family....Charles Krug winery.

An interesting in-depth review of a famous family, from success to downfall. This book navigates the ascendacy of this dynasty to the top of the California wine industry, hindered by the breakdown of personal relations and the final fiasco of the business. Sad, but fascinating.

THis is a great book about the early fine wine industry in California. The TV show "Falcon Crest" pales when compared to the real life story of the Mondavis. This book was a best-seller for a reason. Read it an enjoy.

Nice honest characters based on the history, as the author sees it in her mind.

Twice Amazon could not deliver to my address. Incidentally their head office is just about 15 block and 3 avenue from mine

Alison Weir does a fantastic job with blending history with drama. It's compelling, fun to read and historically accurate.

I read this book after reading Innocent Traitor (which I LOVED!!!!). Although this book is pretty good, it's not as good as her previous novel. I had always thought of Elizabeth as more certain of herself than she appeared here. True, I know that this novel is set during her youth, but I had always had the impression that Elizabeth was always wise beyond her years, even as a child. The part that bothered me the most was the section that dealt with Elizabeth's "pregnancy" by Thomas Seymour, which she lost. I know that Ms. Weir (as she points out in the Author's note at the end of the book) was playing the "what if" card, as most historical authors do, but that whole episode really irritated me.

The parts that I liked the best were the ones that dealt with Elizabeth asking about her mother, mostly to Kat Ashley, and Kat trying to reconcile to Elizabeth why her father killed her mother without forfeiting her own freedom. It was interesting to see a depiction of Elizabeth where she yearned for some sort of connection to her mother having no memory of her.

All in all a pretty good book, not great however.

It's a story that has been explored many times, both in fiction and non-fiction, but the early life of Elizabeth I continues to fascinate.

In "The Lady Elizabeth," Weir abandons the multiple first person narrative used in "Innocent Traitor" and adopts the omniscient third-person to tell the story of Elizabeth I, from early childhood until she became Queen. While I consider Weir to be a talented writer, she seems less confident using this narrative form. The novel starts off slowly - I found the first third of the book rather heavy going - and there are occasional, and distracting, changes in character point of view mid-page, sometimes mid-paragraph. Weir still has a tendency to write as if this is one of her biographies, so the narrative comes across as a little dry: telling, rather than showing.

As the novel progresses though, particularly as we move into Elizabeth's teen years and her time under the care of Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour (I use the term "care" very loosely, in the latter's case!), the pace picks up, and the writing seems more assured and vivid. Weir takes a big risk in exploring one of history's "what ifs" as part of her plot, which I found extremely confronting, and some readers who are fans of Elizabeth I may find it a bit much to take (I won't say any more than that, to avoid spoilers). Nonetheless, dramatically it works, and is handled with delicacy and an element of respect. I had a strong sense of Elizabeth as human being - despite her poise, intellectual precocity and wit, a vulnerable adolescent undergoing a traumatic experience, for which none of her formidable education has prepared her, and which, in the parameters of the novel, irrevocably shapes many of her attitudes and decisions as an adult. The novel proffers an interesting potential explanation for Kat Ashley's role and possible motives in the infamous Thomas Seymour saga, too.

To her credit, Weir also acknowledges in no uncertain terms that her fictional version of events is by no means accepted historical fact, and draws a firm distinction between her conclusions as an historian and the literary licence she has taken as a novelist.

Overall, "The Lady Elizabeth" is well-written and generally compelling, and once I got into it, I enjoyed it, despite its flaws (particularly in the early part of the novel). I'm in the minority, I think, but I prefer "Innocent Traitor" and think the author is more comfortable using the first person narrative voice. Nonetheless, Alison Weir shows great potential as a novelist.

Steven Johnson gets draw a clasical Snow's Story like a fiction but anchored to the reality throught tree "dramatic lines":

1. The comming of a epidemiology like a new science.

2. The borning of geographic inference. How we can infer what happen in the micro world trough the macro world.

3. A case of honestity betwen ancient believes performer and a science man.

Those tree treadsare weaved by the story with presence of tautness moments and characters take the good side or de bad side in diferent moments.

The story is simple but well workred. A terrific dreadful sillnes apears in London, a bunch of corpses flood the streets. Nothing knows that to do. Church performer says that the gulty is the miasma. Miasma is a very strange conccept that does not means although nothing, buy can be seen like a phantom that travels by air taking amay litle pieces of sickness. The miasma can be produced by a god desicion. Who say that is Henry Whithead whose name would look have been taked from a fiction.

An anestesiologist apears in scene. He beginings to arrange the geografic information ponting each one of the dies, one point in the died person home. This hero is John Snow whose name looks like from fiction too.

Both persons debate about. But the stronger is the religious man. Trhough the worked maps, Snow get convince to Whitehead. Whitehead convince easely to goverment. And goverment close the water bombs getting in this way the victory over siknes the other character named cholera.

Is a good book but the map that present is just a part of the complet work. This book is good for teacheing, for enterteinement and for general culture too.

This was the first book I purchased for my Kindle, based on a friend's recommendation (who had read the print version). I found it a very enjoyable read, and it will be especially appealing to those interested in epidemiology, statistical graphics, and medical history.

However, if you care at all about annotations and such, I recommend you get it in print, not as a Kindle e-book. The book has very extensive notes at the end. I have to believe that these notes are numbered, and that there are superscripts in the main text of the printed version that reference these notes. However, in the Kindle edition, there are no links to these notes (even though such linking is possible), and there is no way to associate a given end note with a location in the text. I doubt that I would have interrupted my reading to follow many such notes, but I certainly would have done so a FEW times on topics of particular interest to me, and the inability to do so is a big loss.

The Kindle edition also includes the complete index, minus page numbers, and again with no links. This is not as big a problem, as one can use the search feature to find those locations.

What I wonder now is if this lack of linkage to end notes is the norm for Kindle books, or whether The Ghost Map is unusual in that respect. I suppose I will be pretty leery of reading nonfiction in this format in the future. This e-book cost me less than the printed form -- but I also received significantly less.

Another general note on the book is that it is disappointing that it does not display the second version of Snow's map (with voronoi boundaries) that is discussed in the conclusions. It would seem that this would be the "title map" so it is a curious omission.

Interesting retelling of the London Cholera outbreak in 1854, and how a physician and a pastor working on the edges of their disciplines solved the mystery and drew the "ghost map" of deaths which pointed to the source of the disease.

Bogs down when Johnson generalizes to the benefit of modern cities to the economy, the environment, and world health. Yeah, maybe, but I'm not sure Johnson proves the point or rather I'm fairly sure that Johnson over-reaches the evidence to try to prove his point.

Edwin Tufte references this map extensively in his book Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative as a positive example of the power of proper visual display of information.

My first introduction to John Snow and his work surrounding the cholera epidemic of the 1850's was during a microbiology class I took 5-6 years ago. John Snow is largely credited with the discovery of the causative nature of cholera and the resulting changes in civic sanitation and waste management. My appetite was only whetted then and wasn't fully satiated until after I read this intriguing account by Steven Johnson. More than just a telling of the events and resolution of the cholera epidemic of 1850's London, this book casts light on the political and social context of the times that made Mr. Snow's efforts even more noteworthy. Today we take for granted the germ theory of disease, but in Victorian London during the cholera outbreak of the 1850's the prevailing belief was that disease was caused by unhealthy air. Mr. Johnson's account of the obstacles faced by Mr. Snow in proving the true nature of the cholera's transmission is fascinating. This is a very good read for those interested in science and history.

The difficulty in reading about centuries past is adopting the mindset of those who lived then; how can we, with our 21st century knowledge, grasp a world in which people washed their babies' diapers next to the local drinking supply and thought nothing of it? Yet, Johnson weaves such a detailed picture of London life at the time that the commonplace miscomprehensions held by both the academics and uneducated are understandable. Johnson's greatest narrative gift is capturing the extent of the devastation and its commonplace nature in 19th century London, where people lived with the constant threat of epidemic.
The last fifth of the book is given over to Johnson's theorizing about the future of city planning, trying to tie it into the work of the pioneering researchers of the cholera outbreak. This non sequitur weakens the overall book, but only slightly. The mystery is real, the medical discoveries ingenious and Johnson's research and narrative compelling.

The surest way to get past 600 is by reading an actual USH textbook. I highly recommend the American History A Survey by Alan Brinkley.

I didn't buy this to pass any tests. I have been reading David McCullough's book John Adams and watching the DVDs too. And I wanted a way to "move around" within US Revolutionary War history quickly when I had questions about what was happening (or had or was going to happen). So regular history books would be way too detailed. I got what I wanted with this book: Helpful "Timelines" and short essays that cover the main events of each phase and period of the war that can be read quickly and are well-written and hence easy reading too. Also, it's great to have the whole sweep of US history in one book that I can dive into at any point and not only get interested, but invest a little time to get a good understanding of what was happening. So it's useful as a reference book too.

I bought this book in May to prepare for the June SAT II in US History and it was amazing!!! Before opening the book, I took a practice test through the OFFICIAL SAT SUBJECT TEST BOOK published by the College Board. I scored a 650 or 660, or something low like that. I was a little agitated because I bought a book for the AP US History Exam and read through that entire tome. Anyway, after recieving the book 2 weeks before the test, I read it cover to cover and took all of the 3 practice tests. Though the highest I recieved on the practice tests was a 690, I somehow pulled a 750 on the real SAT II. This book definately helped a lot and went into great dept on post-WWI. The main reason to purchase this book definately lies in the chapter reviews. They are great and give you the exact knowledge you will need for the test. Also, with review questions at the end of each chapter, the knowledge stays in your head and you retain all of the information. Two of the chapter review questions were word for word on the actual test! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to recieve a 700+, because with just a small amount of backround knowledge in US History you can learn all that it takes to ace the exam!!! A+, 5 stars, and my highest recommendation!!!

I will make this short and sweet.
I bought both this book as well as the barons sat US history book.
This one dominates in that it makes it 10 times easier to understand. Barron's has a lot of unnecessary info but it is much more thorough in basically all the reading. BUTT it is many times more boring and often very hard to read and understand.
I read this book about 3 times (takes about like 3-4 hours, short read!!), did the tests and skimmed over the barrons and amazingly got a 760!!! it was weird cus on the practice tests in this book, i score no higher than 720. the barrons tests are RIDICULOUSly hard!!!! might be good just for info review. If your like me, where if the reading gets to complex then you tune out, get this one!!! Barrons is unnecessarily cus i did not learn anything from that to be honest..
*make sure you memorize the ammendments,acts,court cases, and important election dates......which leads to (down)

BUY the sparknotes flash cards!! They work pretty. welll i thought soo.
good luck kids!!!

The book has its moments , but overall the humor is too contrived. The jokes are obvious and predictable. I think the writers at The Onion do a much better job of political satire/humour. You should read "Our Dumb Century" which is far more humorous and insightful.

Fantastic book! I'm a huge fan of Jon Stewart (I hope he reads this!!).
The professor's comments were interesting, necessary, but could have been more 'in line' with the text, that is, more humorous. Sometimes they were too long, in my opinion.
Love the picture on the cover too. Overall, this book must be read.

This book is hilarious satire, and it reminds me of why I used to love the Daily Show. The show always did a great job of satirizing current events, and this book picks up where the show left off, satirizing things that don't fall so neatly into the "current events" category. It is probably funnier if you have at least some knowledge of American and World history, because you just won't get some of the jokes if you don't. Also, I'd like to add that you can enjoy this book even if you aren't a left-leaner, because it was written before the 2004 election - in other words, before Jon Stewart sold out his comedic integrity for partisanship and changed his show from picking on America to picking on Republicans.

I'll make it quick. It is a book, which makes you at least giggle, or laugh aloud from the first to the last page. It is a great satiric masterpiece, on the american policy, of the new century !!! Do not forget to buy two dice. That is the only thing NOT included in this book. Have fun.

Just like a book from Barnes & Noble. Perfect Quality. No issues. No complaints. Delivered before it was supposed to be and arrived early. Great!