Book Description
“Remember me when I’m gone”
just took on a whole new meaning.
The City is inhabited by the recently departed, who reside there only as long as they remain in the memories of the living. Among the current residents of this afterlife are Luka Sims, who prints the only newspaper in the City, with news from the other side; Coleman Kinzler, a vagrant who speaks the cautionary words of God; and Marion and Phillip Byrd, who find themselves falling in love again after decades of marriage.
On Earth, Laura Byrd is trapped by extreme weather in an Antarctic research station. She’s alone and unable to contact the outside world: her radio is down and the power is failing. She’s running out of supplies as quickly as she’s running out of time.
Kevin Brockmeier interweaves these two stories in a spellbinding tale of human connections across boundaries of all kinds. The Brief History of the Dead is the work of a remarkably gifted writer.
Download Description
Kevin Brockmeier is the author of The Truth About Celia, Things That Fall from the Sky, and two children’s novels, City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery. His stories have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The Georgia Review, The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and multiple editions of the O. Henry Prize Stories anthology. He is the recipient of a Nelson Algren Award, an Italo Calvino Short Fiction Award, a James Michener—Paul Engle Fellowship, three O. Henry Awards—one of which was a first prize—and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. He has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Good concept, execution eventually grows very boring.......2007-09-28
I just read a few of the recent reviews here; most of which liked it quite a bit. I think it would have made an excellent short story. The "two stories" running together was good - the living keeping the dead living in memory - but Laura's part was padded, redundant, tiresome, and poorly written eventually. (Other segments had the same feeling, but never as tiresome.) If it were much, much tighter the story would have kept one's interest. I found myself jumping many paragraphs later in the book re Laura because it was repetitive, eventually not realistic, etc. Again, the immediate story and concept fine, the execution not well done.
Original and Gripping Premise..........2007-09-21
...But don't expect a conclusive, cut and dry ending.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and though it had it's flaws it kept my interest throughout. The author nicely develops the concept of the City of the Dead populated by people who are still in the memories of those alive on Earth, and I was riveted by Lara's struggle for survival.
It's not typical, mainstream, formula writing- which is why the ending may leave some unsatsified. But not me. Though I am one who usually needs that conclusive, decisive, not open for interpretation ending, I didn't mind filling in the blanks in this case.
Keep an open mind and you'll enjoy this one a lot.
Runs out of Gas.......2007-09-15
Wonderful premise, interesting story, richly descriptive but it feels as though he got tired of writing without any idea how to end it and he just said, "To hell with it" and wrapped it up anyway he could. It has the feel that one gets when you look at abstract art; you know it is a mess but you think that there must be some deeper meaning because, well, somebody put it in a frame and put it on display.
The "Blinks".......2007-09-02
"The Blinks," a worldwide epidemic, has infected the human population. Its origin is unknown - only that it is the product of a Coca-Cola promotion gone horribly wrong. And as humanity ends, leaving the nations deserted, all that remains is the solitary Laura Byrd, struggling to survive alone in Antarctica, with only her memories of past human interaction to keep her company.
So begins the plot to Kevin Brockmeier's remarkable novel, The Brief History of the Dead. With steady and flowing prose, Brockmeier weaves a most original tale of a plausible and not-so-distant future, in which the apocalypse is a manmade occurrence.
Also unique in Brockmeier's work is the integration of the City, a place where the "living-dead," (those who have died, but can still be recalled in memory by the living who knew them), reside after they have passed on. The living-dead's lives continue as normal in the City, and they receive, in a sense, a second chance at life. Eventually, the only people left in the City are those remembered by Laura, due to the fact that she is the last person alive on earth. The chapters switch back and forth between Laura's lonely ordeal and the confusion of the City's denizens, who find their world to be, quite literally, shrinking.
Overall, this book is engaging; easy to read, but steeped in philosophical meaning. It explores the question of true death; if we leave an impression on those we left behind, have we truly left at all? Also explored is the affect of human dominion over an earth that it rarely respects, and the possibility of a world in which every culture vies to be the singular authority over all others.
Brockmeier's work can be viewed as a new-age classic, serving as a window to a prospective, believable world. A fresh, original plot makes The Brief History of the Dead the perfect addition to any summer reading list.
Great beginning goes nowhere.......2007-08-25
It's an interesting read for about half the book, then you begin to suspect that the author isn't going to make much with what he's started with. There is a lot of extraneous information about cross-ice travel, and a fairly irrelevant street preacher, and some fantasy segments of "crossings." But it's mainly a good idea that needed better development, a frequent downfall with science fiction.
Average customer rating:
- Fiery Cross is very Fiery
- The Fiery Cross
- Historically Brilliant
- Wonderful Story - Can't Understand the Negative Reveiws?
- you can't put these books down!!!
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The Fiery Cross (Outlander)
Diana Gabaldon
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0440221668
Release Date: 2005-08-30 |
Amazon.com
The fiery cross, once used to summon Highland clans to war, now beckons readers to take up Diana Gabaldon's fifth installment in the Outlander series featuring the time-traveling Frasers. Historical fiction fans who have waited four long years since the publication of Drums of Autumn will thrill to Gabaldon's trademark detail and sensuality, both displayed liberally throughout the nearly 1,000 pages of The Fiery Cross. In this pre-Revolutionary War period, Claire Fraser and her husband, Jamie, have crossed oceans and centuries to build a life together in the bucolic beauty of North Carolina. But tensions both ancient and recent threaten not only Claire and James, but their daughter, Brianna, her new husband, Roger, and their infant son, Jemmy, as well as members of their clan. Gabaldon delivers on what she does best: poignant storylines, empathetic characters, meticulous detail, and searing passion. Savor every carefully chosen word, readers; it may be a long time until the next installment! --Alison Trinkle
Book Description
Crossing the boundaries of genre with its unrivalled storytelling, Diana Gabaldon’s new novel is a gift both to her millions of loyal fans and to the lucky readers who have yet to discover her.
In the ten years since her extraordinary debut novel,
Outlander, was published, beloved author Diana Gabaldon has entertained scores of readers with her heart-stirring stories and remarkable characters. The four volumes of her bestselling saga, featuring eighteenth-century Scotsman James Fraser and his twentieth-century, time-travelling wife, Claire Randall, boasts nearly 5 million copies in the U.S.
The story of
Outlander begins just after the Second World War, when a British field nurse named Claire Randall walks through a cleft stone in the Scottish highlands and is transported back some two hundred years to 1743.
Here, now, is
The Fiery Cross, the eagerly awaited fifth volume in this remarkable, award-winning series of historical novels. The year is 1771, and war is approaching. Jamie Fraser’s wife has told him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy—a time-traveller’s certain knowledge. To break his oath to the Crown will brand him a traitor; to keep it is certain doom. Jamie Fraser stands in the shadow of the fiery cross—a standard that leads nowhere but to the bloody brink of war.
Customer Reviews:
Fiery Cross is very Fiery .......2007-09-28
Loved this book. Just as I loved all her books.. I am anxiously awaiting the next one in the series. Sure hope there will be many more in this series. I feel like I know the characters so well. Excellent author.
The Fiery Cross.......2007-08-03
I am so disappointed. Trying to finish this book is like training for a marathon. Yes, I will be able to brag that I have finally finished it, but not without incredible pain. I am on page 560ish and I feel the book so far has been nothing more than monotonous wedding planning for a blind old aunt and her impotent fiance. Bet this wedding night is going to be exciting...NOT!!! Remember Jamie and Claire's first night together. Come on that is what got you hooked, isn't it? Yes, the historical backdrop gave us an out when asked "What is the book was about"?, but the passion and fire between these two characters is truly what made this series a success. Where has it gone? Even Claire's gorgeous daughter is a bore! This series, in my opinion, has become a case of "bait and switch". I hope this book is available on audio. Maybe then I can get through it and give book six a chance.
Historically Brilliant.......2007-07-28
Yep - this one is a HUGE read, but as I have stated in previous reviews, everything in it is necessary. Some whinge and whine that it drags on but personally I think it is superb - especially since I enjoy the historical element of these books not just the emotionally charged scenes.
When I read a Gabaldon book I want to see, hear, taste and smell everything Claire, Jamie, Bree and Roger do. I want to feel like I am sitting on their shoulder, becoming part of their Clan so to speak. And in the Fiery Cross, that is exactly what I got.
Take your time, read it at your own pace, and whatever you do DONT RUSH IT. The characters that become apparent in this one impact on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, so if you fly through this, you'll get lost in the next one.
As always I cant praise this series enough - but, at the end of the day, your opinion will be the only one that matters to you, however I hope what I say helps you make the plunge and embark on this amazing story with the same gusto you got reading Outlander aka. Cross Stitch
Wonderful Story - Can't Understand the Negative Reveiws?.......2007-07-27
I guess I'm in the minority here but I loved the Fiery Cross. Drums of Autumn had really slowed down the story with not a lot of action and a good bit of the focus on Roger and Brianna who I didn't really care for at that point in the story. I missed Jamie and Claire....but the story shifted back to them in Fiery Cross. I have to admit the first 150 pages or so were boring. I thought they would never leave that Gathering but once they got back to Fraser's Ridge, the story started to unfold in classic Gabaldon fashion. As much as I disliked Brianna in the beginning, she and Roger both found themselves in Fiery Cross and proved their worth. Since I'm around the age of Jamie and Claire in this book, I loved the maturity their relationship had evolved to and understood some of the issues and pain they were dealing with as they aged. This book is filled with beautiful prose, detailed and fascinating history, action, intrique, near-death scenes and of course the most endearing love story I've ever read.
you can't put these books down!!!.......2007-07-26
i have read all of diana gabaldon's books at least twice and that was from the one's i checked out from the library. when i finished i decided to buy every single one for my own collection and plan to read them all over again.
this is one of the best series in print!
Average customer rating:
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La Cruz Ardiente/the Fiery Cross
Diana Gabaldon
Manufacturer: Salamandra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Book Description
Few groups in our history are as fascinating and mysterious as the Ku Klux Klan. Its story is one of violence, political manipulation and intrigue, absurdity, and mesmerizing organizational and propaganda skills. Through shrewd political tactics and powerful leadership, the Klan has often been a potent force, as it encouraged Americans to protect themselves from those they find "unacceptable." Its actions have made it one of the most feared groups in America. In The Fiery Cross, Wyn Craig Wade traces the Klan from its beginnings after the Civil War as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, to the present. Wade provides us with the history of the group, which has gone through a number of declines and renaissances over the last hundred years. We follow the Klan's resurgence in 1915 after D.W. Griffith's epic film The Birth of a Nation depicted Klan members as heroic saviors of the old Southern society, to the swearing in of President Warren G. Harding as a Klansman in the Green Room, and from the Klan's championing of white supremacy as a response to the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, to their present day activities, aligning themselves with a variety of neo-fascist and right-wing groups in the American West. Finally, Wade provides us with an assessment of the Klan's future. The Fiery Cross provides an exhaustive analysis and perspective on this dark shadow of American society. It is long overdue.
Customer Reviews:
the fiery cross.......2007-05-16
excellent book. The author was a personal friend of mine. I have his other book, Titanic. He took his research quite seriously and did an excellent job.
Not great, but not bad either.......2003-06-10
I believe that the other reviewers are being a little harsh. I have surveyed a good deal of the Klan literature, and found this book actually "fairly" good in comparison. Do I think that it is unbiased or totally accurate? - NO. But it is better than most current academic research, which when dealing with a topic such as this goes out of its way to condemn the Klan. From the standpoint of organizational history, this book is the best that I have come across. Wade's social analysis is suspect however. I do recommend it however, for anyone interested in the internal power struggles and organizational history of the Klan. The Klan literature which Wade includes is also fascinating.
This book is garbage........2003-03-30
With the exception of the appendixes, Wyn Wade has written a book so obviously biased in favor of anti-Klan propaganda tha he may as well have not done any research at all. A telling mark is the fact that Wade dedicated the book to his "Radical Republican" grandmother. Wade glosses over the horrors inflicted upon the White population of the South during the reconstruction, choosing instead to do everything but pin knighthoods on the carpetbaggers, scalawags, Yankee imperialists and their negro henchmen. Klans of later decades don't fair much better as Wade manages to portray them as either idiot yahoos or psychotics. Wade neglects to mention the many good deeds of the Klan and fails to differentiate between activity of legitimate members of the Invisible Empire and that of criminals hiding behind the orders hoods. Wade is a propagandist of the worst kind and, if there were any justice in the world, he'd be tarred and feathered and hung.
The Kluxing of America.......2003-02-25
In this book Wyn Wade has given us a very good overview but not an extremely detailed look at the Ku Klux Klan. That is not to say that he has not done his research for he has found lots of material. The simple fact is that a book of this length cannot possibly cover the subject in any great depth. That would require a book at least twice this long, and probably three times as long. This book was obviously not intended to be a Shelby Foote type narrative of the Klan, but the basic survey that it is.
Wade has done a good job with the post reconstruction Klan, but he tends to take revisionist history a bit too far. One thing that puzzles me is that he refers to Tennessee as the, "the only border state" that left the Union. Many historians refer to the Volunteer State as a border state even though it was surrounded by slave states on all sides, so I can let that part of the statement slide. I have never however heard of Tennessee referred to as a border state without at least Virginia and Arkansas also receiving that label. It's not a big thing I realize, but it did bug me.
After reconstruction, Wade takes the reader to the history of D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation", the movie that made the rebirth and rise of the post World War I Klan possible. Then he traces the new Klan through its phenomenal growth to its demise. Wade then moves on to the Cold War anti-Communist Klan, the Civil Rights era Klan, the David Duke Klan, and today's Aryan crowd. He does a fine job of bringing out the personalities of various Klan leaders and giving the lowdown on various politicians who, while not Klansmen themselves, were more than happy to court Klan support. He also does an outstanding job of telling the story of Klan violence, with special attention to the victims.
Wade ends this fascinating book with the story of the groups that have been organized to oppose the Klan and the FBI campaign that brought the Klan to its knees. Finally, Wade warns the reader that the Klan is still out there and should never be pronounced dead. The Klan has proven its resilience again and again he warns and his excellent book will give the reader many reasons to be wary of the men behind the masks.
A Klan Book That Makes Sense.......2002-11-13
The Fiery Cross is the best one-volume history of the Ku Klux Klan I have read. I have always had a hard time accepting the claims of the academics that historically, Klan membership in America was a civic-minded, even virtuous impulse on the part of ordinary citizens. (How the academics manage to say this in view of the Klan's anti-ethnic activities has always stumped me.) Wyn Craig Wade reveals the historic KKK in all its aberrant glory. Of special interest, I believe, is his chapter on the KKK's triumph in Indiana during the 1920s. It seems anomalous that this landlocked midwestern Hoosier empire, rather than some southern state, was the KKK's major stronghold during the decade it reached its greatest national prominence. Wade explains how KKK organizers skillfully exploited Indiana's penchants for organized religion, joining clubs, and arrogance. At one point, thousands of people accepted as true a rumor that the Pope was going to relocate the Vatican to Indiana. Why? Simply because Indiana was the most desirable real estate on earth.
Average customer rating:
- A Treat for Civil War Buffs
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From the Flame of Battle to the Fiery Cross: The 3rd Tennessee Infantry With Complete Roster
James Van Eldik
Manufacturer: Yucca Tree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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Regimental Histories | Civil War | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1881325474 |
Book Description
The United States has been fascinated by its Civil War for over one hundred years, but much of the attention has been given to the eastern theater and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The 3rd Tennessee was a part of the Confederate Army from the war's beginning until its surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina.
From the Flame of Battle to the Fiery Cross provides a unique look into a single unit during the Civil War. Recruited from a four-county area in central Tennessee, this all-volunteer regiment was composed of some of the best human material then available and acquired an admirable combat record. The 3rd participated in some of the western theater's most sanguinary battles: Fort Donelson, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga, as well as the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. Its encounters at Chickasaw Bayou and Raymond were among the fiercest small-unit actions to be found in the war.
This close-up view of company and regiment action provides a radically different perspective than broad-brush accounts of battles and campaigns. The study also provides detailed analysis of the impact events had on the internal workings within the regiment, that is until the last year of the war when continuous action made adequate record keeping impossible.
The enlisted 3rd's prison experience at Camp Douglas, Illinois, is contrasted with that of the officers' at Fort Warren, Massachusetts.
This study is based on primary sources--the 3rd Tennessee Rollbook, written accounts by regimental soldiers, and officer reports by the regiment's commander, their more senior officers, and by their enemies in blue. How the battles looked, sounded, and felt from the perspective of the men fighting comes through in comments taken from their diaries and letters.
Included is the Civil War and post-war career of the first commander of the 3rd Tennessee, John C. Brown, and the origin of the Klu Klux Klan--a college fraternity-style prank to amuse bored returning veterans that quickly became something quite different.
A Roster of over 1,000 men who served in the 3rd Tennessee is included with a brief account of each man's service record.
Customer Reviews:
A Treat for Civil War Buffs.......2003-12-24
Definitely a new spin and fresh look at what it was like in a Southern infantry. The book is interesting, factual and mesmerizing!
Average customer rating:
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The Fiery Cross
Diana Gabaldon
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0099710013 |
Customer Reviews:
Bolan combats racism.......2000-05-01
This book contains all the action of Pendleton's other adventures, but the theme is racism. While his books are great adventures, his view of current social situations is excellent.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Average customer rating:
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The Fiery Cross
John Oxenham
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0548096465 |
Average customer rating:
- Paths of the Fury
- intresting concept
- Science-fantasy! Oh, yeah!
- The cliff hanger to beat them all
- Good, but not his best.
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Path of the Fury
David Weber
Manufacturer: Baen
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Customer Reviews:
Paths of the Fury.......2007-01-09
Excellent fast paced book, top notch story, hope he writes another one soon!!
intresting concept.......2007-01-04
very well written, which is the most important thing, u can get invloved in the story
Science-fantasy! Oh, yeah!.......2006-11-13
Alicia DeVries is a strong woman to begin with. When she follows her grandfather into the military, she is cybernetically enhanced to near super-human strength and speed. She is disillusioned by a real FUBAR that costs more than ninety percent of her platoon their lives and retires to live with her family on a remote planet. Without giving away the plot, something happens that leaves her more dead than alive; HOWEVER,she survives and works to exact vengeance, assisted by Tisiphone, the last of the Furies. Along the way, they link up with an AI ship. This makes Alicia truly super-human. Without being boringly detailed about the battles, Weber gives enough information to keep adventure fans involved. He also maintains enough of Alicia's humanity and vulnerability to keep her an interesting person and not just an angry killing machine.
The cliff hanger to beat them all .......2006-07-31
Other reviews point out that this story is a good one, so I will just leave it at that. What I would like to draw attention to is the real mystery in the story: the Fury. Tisiphone is the mystery, a genuine, mythological (the oxymoron is intentional) being straight out of ancient Greece. She knew Zeus and Hera, Mars and Athena and all the rest.
Weber has created a real mystery here. If we accept Tisisphone and her sisters, what happened to the rest of the pantheon? Are they still out there, lurking among the homeless like bag people that have the potential to fry you with an irritable lightening bolt? Folklorists, archaeologists and and anthropologists, as well as Classicists will want to know.
Good, but not his best........2006-04-15
If you liked HH then this is a good book, but not quite as
good as HH. I thought the concept of the mythical Fury was cool and well done. It seemed somewhat arbitray as to when the Fury had the power to do amazing things and when it did not have the power to fix problems of it's own creation. A good book, but the ending left me flat. It's a good enough book that I'll buy the next in the series when it comes out in paper back.
Book Description
Before storm sirens, before the Weather Channel, before Doppler Radar, a tornado "dropped out of a troubled May sky and twisted its way into our lives forever." On the evening of May 20,1957 three communities south of Kansas City, Missouri were destroyed by a seventy-one mile, F-5 twister. This monstrous storm left in its path five hundred injured, forty-four dead and over a million dollars worth of property damage.
Nothing defines a community more than its reaction to disaster. Caught In The Path is a story of fear and courage, suffering and resiliency. The hardest hit area, four year old Ruskin Heights, was the first post-war tract housing development in the Kansas City area. Like so many of their generation, its residents, mostly first time home buyers in their twenties and thirties, came to Ruskin to raise their baby-boom families with the optimism of the fifties. When the tornado scattered their dreams along its path, they came back, and changed a housing development into a community.
Author Carolyn Glenn Brewer's family was among those caught off guard by the tornado. Most of the houses on her block were leveled to the foundation. She combines her story with extensive interviews from nearly one hundred survivors and period media coverage. The narrative flow of this book reads like fiction, but makes the tornado, and the summer that followed, pulse with reality.
Customer Reviews:
I too, was there!.......2006-03-15
I haven't thought about this tornado in some years, but was reminded about it a few days ago, by someone I've recently met, who was also there.
I was very little at the time, turning three-years-old just a few months before. Even though I was very young, I remember CLEARLY that day and the events that have stayed with me forever.
My dad had loaded us up in the car to take my mom, me and my brother (he was only 6 months old at the time) to do some shopping at the Ruskin Heights shopping center. After getting something to eat, my mom took me into a store to try on some shoes. (I remember those little black patent leather Mary Janes, and remember wanting them badly! Oh...and I'm still a shoes hound today.) While we shopped, my dad was waiting outside in the car with my brother, and was watching the sky, as was typical for people to do at that time, since weather forecasting was certainly no science back then. And he had a healthy respect for our locality, known as tornado alley.
He said as he watched, he felt very uneasy. He said the sky didn't look right him. As the clouds quickly turned to greenish black and began to circulate, he KNEW we were in trouble and we had to get out of there IMMEDIATELY. He ran into the store, and I CLEARLY remember him yelling for my mom and me. I was petrified at the look on his face. I remember her protesting...she wanted to buy me my shoes! He said if we didn't get out of there that instant, we were going to be in big trouble. I remember a couple of people were looking at us, kind of standing there frozen, as my dad was saying to LEAVE NOW. I remember my parents RUNNING out of that store, and my feet sort of flying out behind me as they had grabbed me and ran. We piled into the car and drove back home as FAST as possible. As we were driving away, stuff started flying around everywhere, and some debris hit the car as my dad drove us out of the area like a crazy person. I remember my mom screaming. We lived in the area, and I remember going immediately into our storm shelter when we got back home, even though we weren't in the path of the tornado. It seemed then like we were huddled in there for hours, but I'm sure it wasn't too long at all.
I found out later the store we were shopping in was FLATTENED in the tornado, and I'd heard some people were killed there...which we likely would've been had we stayed there shopping.
Reading this book after all these years has brought back the memories like they happened yesterday. Interestingly, I've had recurring tornado dreams almost all my life (probably because of that storm) and just found out a couple of months ago, that my brother does, too! I'm amazed that even though both of us were so young...and he was just a baby at that time...we both have vivid memories of what happened that day.
Have got to read it!.......2005-10-30
I really think this is a must read for those that face disaster, natural or man-made, or anyone who is obsessed with the weather ;). I found it to be a bit thick, as far as style is concerned, if it weren't for the personal accounts, it would have read a bit too much like fiction, at a risk of making it less "real" to posterity. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book and I found it inspiring as much as anything, but I grew up with the tale of the tornado. My father was in this tornado, and told me the story of it throughout my childhood- often by request, as I was always terrified and fascinated by tornadoes, I dread every spring here in tornado alley, but saw "twister" opening day- with my dad! I guess this tornado kind of bonded my dad and me, almost 30 years after the fact, because it always made me feel safe on stormy spring nights with the sirens going off that if the "big one" didn't get him, then whatever was out there now wouldn't either, and I was safe too. The story goes that he was watching a western on tv after dinner, and that my aunt and grandma were in the kitchen cleaning up. My grandfather had gone outside to have a smoke and "do some cloud watching", as there was not really a weather prediction system then, most people in these parts instinctively knew when to watch, and what to watch for. My grandfather seemed to know the sky was up to no good, and after a while of watching the clouds he turned to my dad in the family room, and told him in a grave voice to go get his mother and sister (sign of the times, he put a ten year old boy in charge of his mother and older sister), and to tell them to get in the car. I guess they gathered a few things, and the family dog, and got in the car and sped away. My dad says that they did not have a basement, and although they say never to try and outrun a tornado, my grandpa must of known which way it was goin to go, because, my dad says, after they had been in the car not more than a few minutes he looked out the back of the car to see nothing but blackness dropping down behind them. They got away, and when they came back the next day, their house was incredibly still there! It was one of maybe two houses still standing in that immediate area, the neighbors houses on both sides were destroyed. He said the neighbors to the right would not have survived but they thought that my grandparent's had a basement and had gone over to take refuge, it was all over before they could leave, and it was only because of that they survived, as their house was leveled. My family was lucky, but my dad's third grade teacher died in the storm. I'm glad that a book has been written that can teach people the lessons of this tornado, that in the face of tragedy all is not lost, that people can rebuild, sometimes for the better. But I hope that people do take it seriously, not just as a bit of sensationalism.
Ruskin Revisited.......2004-06-25
The book was perhaps more interesting since I have not been back to Ruskin. I was also a classmate of Judy Hembree and others in the book. We did not dwell on the tornado aftermath in the 60s, but now realize that it shaped our reaction to crisis.
Nice read.
Great content, could have used better editing.......2004-05-30
This book is a gripping and compelling story of the May 20 1957 tornado in the words of the survivors 20-30 years later. It has personal interest to me as a life-long Kansas City resident, tornado obsessor and '50s buff. In the mid to late 1980s, I resided in apartments which were adjacent to the railroad tracks and just south of the Ruskin shopping center. I figuratively could not put the book down once I started. My only criticism would be the large number of spelling and grammar errors.
A roaring success!.......2001-12-28
I came across this book on a visit to St. Louis and grabbed it. It may just be the best book ever written about a tornado--it's riveting start to finish and the spotlight is on people and their lives. It's a great movie in print with a terrific plot, memorable characters and a lot of heroism mixed in.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Progressive, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2006. The length of the article is 2092 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Iran's nuclear path.(The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys Through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies )(Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran)(Brief article)(Book review)
Author: Amitabh Pal
Publication:
The Progressive (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 70
Issue: 3
Page: 48(5)
Article Type: Book review, Brief article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The highly regarded translation that honors the authentic Chinese spirit of the Book of Changes
• Places new emphasis on the intricate web of interrelations among the names and sequence of the sixty-four hexagrams
• Includes historical information on the events out of which the I Ching was born
• Introduces several new methods of divination
For more than 3,000 years the I Ching has been the most important book of divination in the world. Revered by billions of Chinese as the Classic of Classics and consulted as a source of ancient wisdom, it has been embraced by the West in the last 50 years but has always been translated by Westerners who brought their own cultural biases to the work, distorting or misunderstanding its true meaning.
In The Complete I Ching Master Alfred Huang has restored the true essence of the I Ching by emphasizing the unity of Heaven and humanity and the Tao of Change, and, even more important, by including translations of the Ten Wings, the commentaries by Confucius, that are essential to the I Ching’s insights. Previous English translations have either given these commentaries a minor place in the book or have left them out altogether. But the Chinese say that the I Ching needs the Ten Wings to fly. Restored to their central place in the book by Master Huang, the I Ching at last flies in English.
Customer Reviews:
Alfred Huang's Complete I Ching.......2007-09-04
Alfred Huang is a tai chi master and Taoist professor living on the Island of Maui, Hawai'i. His two books (The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang published by Inner Traditions and Complete Tai-Chi: The Definitive Guide to Physical & Emotional Self-Improvement published by Charles E. Tuttle) are both scholarly works. The approach taken by Master Huang's translation of the I Ching ("yijing" in the currently accepted romanization of Chinese called pinyin) is different from the Wilhelm-inspired tradition. Most such books, following the Wilhelm template, have provided interpretation as part of their translation. The Chinese text of the I Ching is even more imagery oriented -- more inscrutable, to some -- than most such translations tolerate. The strength of that imagery is its ability to inspire personal insights. Master Huang's book presents a careful transposition of Chinese images of the I Ching into English, with as little elaboration as possible. He then provides his own separate interpretative ideas and comments, but the text of King Wen and the Duke of Zhou are rendered as closely as possible to the original Chinese metaphors. Huang's book also introduces more detail regarding the nature of the names of the gua (3-line trigrams or 6-line hexagrams), implications of their ideographs, and nuances of their meaning. It is a scholarly, ground-breaking work that should capture the interest of Western readers. Additionally, Huang has introduced the concept of the Tao of I that is inherent, although not expressed directly, in the I Ching. He also explains how the sequence of the gua is not random but has coherence, representing a recurrent cycle. Huang explains how the I Ching describes the unity of Heaven and Humanity and further explains in some detail how specific aspects of each gua are associated with his interpretation of the history of King Wen and the Zhou Dynasty. The Complete I Ching is a carefully researched and meticulously translated rendering of the original Chinese text that should be appreciated for the accuracy of its metaphorical imagery.
The I Ching.......2007-07-06
The Complete I Ching is the most comprehensive I ching book on the market. Huang's explanations are detailed and easy to understand. I would encourge any one interested in the I Ching to buy this book.
An Interesting Alternative.......2007-07-03
I used the Wilhelm translation for years until the book got so beat up that I had to trash it. This is an interesting alternative, but I still prefer Wilhelm. There's too much space devoted here to analyzing the the structure of the hexagram. And the different sources of material that are integrated into the text are put together in a somewhat confusing way. In general, it's a nice alternative, but I'd still go to Wilhelm first. I think most people will find Wilhelm more accessible.
One thing you discover if you compare translations is that the original text can mean MANY things. That's part of the beauty of this book.
Watered-out.......2007-02-03
I started out with John Blofield's translation of the I Ching in 1979, but soon discovered the superiority of the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. I also acquired the 18th century James Legge translation. Since then I have added about ten other editions to my library, before making my own private translation a few years ago, checking out the Chinese wording by means of a dictionary and pondering on the reasons for the way the text has been variously translated. So satisfying was this little exercise in terms of establishing an individual understanding of the metaphoric guidance of this suggestive oracle, I have hardly even opened the last I Ching bought on Amazon, the intriguing but not very accessible one by Rudolf Ritsema...
As for the present title, I can only say it is almost as bad as the pretty derailed "poetic" interpretation by Kerson Huang from 1987! The rave reviews of this feeble and watered-out version only goes to show how the transmission of knowledge of the good seems to get blotted out every now and then, so that history may repeat itself with everyone groping for the way anew. As for the "official" review, printed on the book and restated above, about its superiority 'in almost every respect' to the older ones, I can only say: it is rather the other way around. It is inferior in almost every respect. At least compared with Richard Wilhelm's work, it does not stand a chance. It also lacks quite a bit of canonical material found in Wilhelm.
This so-called master says in the foreword he felt depressed by the Western translations upon arriving in the United States. As he freely admits to having had extensive help in polishing his English, I am not so sure he really got his reading of the "Western" versions right to begin with!
As I glanced at a few hexagrams before realizing this work represented a pretty shallow understanding of the material, I immediately noticed that it is rather the "master" himself who seems to be guilty of depressing readings of the original, for instance the last sentence of the commentary on the judgement to chapter 3, "Difficulty in the Beginning". Whereas the Wilhelm translation stresses the work to be done in a time of initial uncertainty, Huang actually says the work may, possibly, be of no avail! So who's reading is the more depressing?
Also, by leaving out the part about "difficulty" from the hexagram title, Huang actually weakens the meaning of this hexagram as it speaks of the problems this blade of grass (the little person) has in breaking through the soil to reach any standing in the external world, making his inconsistency all the more glaring.
So, as at least one other wide-awake reviewer has correctly noticed, this was just hype and not at all the best beginner's I Ching on the market, to say nothing about its claim of being the complete edition. The hardbound book looked nice though, if that is what you want for your bookshelf.
As a beginner's I Ching it is decent, you get familiarized with the hexagrams and so is worthy of 2 stars out of 5 (meaning "acceptable" but not really that good). But why would anyone want this volume, compared with Richard Wilhelm's German work so carefully rendered in English by Cary Baynes, Carl Jung's official translator?
This was just a "new translation" for the sake of bringing something new to the market, and so reminds me of Henry Wei's effort of the late 80s. That one was at least not falsely titled "complete" but restricted itself to the claim of being "the authentic" version. It came and went and did really nothing to advance the state of things since Whincup's altogether too literalistic translation made the most noise at that time.
This really is the definitive translation.......2006-06-09
Addressing one of the reviewers who says that people love this book just because he is a non-Westerner -- that is not the case with this book. The author, Alfred Huang, is clearly able to bridge the Chinese *culture* with that of the Western culture, which is essential if you're going to use this book for advice and get anything meaningful out of it.
There was another reviewer who mentioned a pre-Confucian version of the I-Ching. I'm now curious, and will explore this. It should be noted though, that Dr. Yun-Lan Fung wrote in A Short History of Chinese Philosphy (1948) that Confucius was a conservative. He apparently descended from the Shang dynasty royals, and was upholding the traditions already made old in his times. How much of this was Dr. Fung's political spin, or even Confucius's political spin, I do not know.
The important thing is that Alfred Huang brings the Western reader into the ancient Chinese culture, thus making the advice rendered from the I-Ching effective.
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