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Armageddon Revisited: A World War I Journal
Amos N. Wilder
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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ASIN: 0300055609 |
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As a young man, Amos Wilder, the distinguished New Testament scholar and poet, served as an ambulance driver and corporal in the Army`s 17th Field Artillery of the 2nd Division during World War I. His journals and letters home (including correspondence with his brother, Thornton Wilder) form the basis of this book of reminiscences about his experiences, one of the few wartime memoirs that eloquently articulates and interprets the common soldier`s point of view.
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Ceaseless Explorer: Conversations With Joseph Spies
Joseph R. Spies , and
Michelle Rogge
Manufacturer: University of South Dakota Pr
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ASIN: 0929925297 |
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CEASELESS EXPLORER: CONVERSATIONS WITH JOSEPH R. SPIES is the colorful biography of chemist, cat photographer, and animal advocate Dr. Joseph Spies. Born in South Dakota, Joseph Spies was placed in an orphanage by his father after his mother died. He rose above his rough beginnings to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry and publish over 80 articles in his field. Equally passionate about his hobby of photographing animals (particularly cats), he published five books of animal photography, including many award-winning photos. The book describes the many arresting events of his life--sheep herding in his youth, coping with his wife's Alzheimer's Disease, and finally, at the height of his world travels--sleeping out on the Arctic ice in his eighties. This biography explores what drove Dr. Spies to accomplish so much in his 90 years. The 250-page book includes 75 pages of Spies color and black-and-white photographs.
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- Dr. Breggin is refreshingly one-sided, in a land where medications RULE!
- Big Pharma quackery
- could have been better
- An excellent book if you are uninformed about the downsides
- Breggin is courageous and right on
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Talking Back To Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug
Peter Breggin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Similar Items:
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The Anti-Depressant Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox
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Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives
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Listening to Prozac: The Landmark Book About Antidepressants and the Remaking of the Self, Revised Edition
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Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications
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Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry"
ASIN: 0312956061 |
Amazon.com
Are you one of the thousands of Americans "listening to Prozac"? Chances are you at least know someone who is. It's time to take a closer look at this supposedly "safe" drug. Peter Breggin picks through the studies used to justify Prozac's safety, often uncovering flaws and shoddy science. He details the FDA approval process, including who on the panel was paid by whom. The key players and the details will surprise you.
Book Description
Millions of Americans are on it to treat everything from serious depression to shyness, obesity, PMS, and back pain. They've been told it has few, or no, side effects. But what is the dark side of Prozac? Has the FDA told you everything it knows about the drug's potentially dangerous side effects? What essential facts must you have if you are already taking Prozac, or are considering taking it? Find out:What Prozac's label won't tell youThe truth about serious and life-threatening reactionsCases of sexual dysfunction from Prozac, particularly in menIf Prozac can lead to violence, murder, or suicideThe panic and anxiety Prozac can cause-not cureWhat Prozac has in common with cocaine and amphetamines
Customer Reviews:
Dr. Breggin is refreshingly one-sided, in a land where medications RULE!.......2007-01-17
I was diagnosed with depression in 1997 and was prescribed Zoloft which I took for a year. Thanks to this book I was able to QUIT and have been drug-free for 10 years! Yes, the drugs "work" if chemically altering your mood is your goal in life! SSRIs act just like cocaine and other stimulants in the brain. They do the same mood-lifting things only without all the side ('fried') effects of major stimulants. (And they are just as hard to quit, with their own withdrawal symptoms!) IS THAT THE KIND OF CURE YOU WANT?
Or are you willing to listen to what your depression is telling you and CHANGE WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED IN YOUR LIFE? Depression does NOT come out of nowhere! It's a VALID REACTION to life, giving you ACCURATE SYMPTOMS of real distress, whether you choose to believe them or not! But in our day & age, it's not fashionable to ADMIT that we're not happy with our lives -- "I have everything I could want, why am I feeling like this?" We medicate ourselves instead because it's so much easier to say "I have a medical condition that requires medication", and by golly, the majority of people "feel better" when they're taking antidepressants! Amazing wonder drugs capable of fixing most 21st-century emotional woes!!
Look around, folks!! Should we accept that most of our friends and co-workers (and SELVES) are "ON MEDS!" just so we/they can have a decent life? It's the breakdown of families, of close-knit communities, of real relationships and friendships and meaningful human interactions which are driving this epidemic. We need more people learning the old forgotten skills of helping one another to COPE. But that's messy and inconvenient-- not the American way!!
Big Pharma quackery.......2006-03-14
Peter Breggin has done the world a favor by exposing the fraud and profit motives of the $20 billion dollar anti-depressant industry. Instead of respecting natural feelings over a wide-array of societal problems, people are instead being encouraged by corporate shamans to take the dope they push. Interestingly, the sellers of these drugs are free to make a fortune while cannabis sellers are put into prisons, and often prescribed the corporate drugs while they are incarcerated! I imagine that if Eli Lilly held a patent on marijuana, we'd see ads promoting pot use on tv tomorrow.
If people find some relief from Prozac, more power to them; but drug companies have applied marketing skills where what's more often needed is skilled therapy. ("New Dimensions Broadcasting" provides weekly interviews with healers that don't require manipulations of our brain chemistry). Predictably, drug-free approaches to mental health are given short shrift by Big Pharma. Everything from changes in diet, altered media consumption, meditation, political empowerment, community involvement and much else can provide the peace of mind so many are longing for in this maddening world. There's even a book that suggests philosophy could be used to think through our mental dis-ease ("Plato, Not Prozac"). I've purchased several copies of "Talking Back to Prozac" to share with people who are questioning the wisdom of taking powerful psychoactives, or putting their kids on them.
The work of Breggin and a growing number of Big Pharma critics came to mind when I read this headline from the March 9, 2006 issue of the satirical newspaper, "The Onion": Wonder Drug Inspires Deep, Unwavering Love of Pharmaceutical Companies. The story reads - "The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers. Pfizer executives characterized the FDA's approval as a 'godsend' for sufferers of independent-thinking-related mental health disorders. 'Many individuals lack the deep, abiding affection for drug makers that is found in healthy people, such as myself,' Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnel said. "These tragic disorders are reaching epidemic levels, and as a company dedicated to promoting the health, well-being, and long life of our company's public image, it was imperative that we did something to combat them.'"
could have been better.......2005-08-11
Dr. Breggin's book casts a very illuminating light on the flaws of the drug approval process in America and the shortcomings of the antidepressant Prozac. I am disappointed when reading others reviews though that most people are more intent on rating Prozac and not the book. The book is extremely one-sided. I was taught as far back as elementary school that essays should be constructed with Pro and Con arguments. The author, while pointing out many cases of individuals unhappy with the drug, fails to discuss anyone who's life has been positively affected by Prozac. As far as his citations go...they appear to be very selective...he backs up things here and there but if this were a scholarly work it would be rejected in the peer review process. He also makes many ridiculous claims that made me laugh...e.g "Although alcohol has been widely used throughout human society since before recorded history, only in the last decade have we begun to face the scope of its deadly impact on human behaviour and society" (Page 93 chapter 4, hardcover edition). I am fairly certain that people have known about alcohol's destructive effects for as long as it has been used....maybe Dr. Breggin just figured it out. The book started out well...but as I read more and more...the strength of his points began to be washed out by his fervor and he appeared to me to become more and more of a zealot than a person providing any sort of a fair, unbiased review of a drug...too bad...could have been a very good book.
An excellent book if you are uninformed about the downsides.......2004-08-26
This is a classic only because Peter Breggin does his homework. I am a biased reader because I am a Naturopathic physician who treats depression with homeopathic medicine (a far superior solution to drugs).
But my bias aside, I think the book has great merit because Breggin really raises good and sound questions about the so called science behind antidepressants. He makes the process of getting a drug passed explicit and shows how corrupt the process is. In addition, the often difficult process of getting questionable drugs off the market is explained. A process that is often at the expense of the patient and to the benefit of Big Pharma.
Breggin is not so great about coming up with solutions however. Deep longstanding depression is not always amenable to psychotherapy. At least those are a lot of the patients that I'm referred. People who have tried many things without success - therapy, counseling, drugs, etc.
I see homeopathy work with many, though of course not all, of these intractable cases. There must be other effective natural means to help people resolve deep seated depression as well. So this, in my mind is the major weakness in Breggin's books, he is not looking past his own nose about solutions.
Clearly drugs are not a true solution, but counseling on its own is often not enough either. Besides going to see a skilled homeopath (not so easy to find), people have also mentioned dietary changes, community support, friends, family, and other methods as being helpful. So that would be what would fill this book out and make it complete.
Breggin is courageous and right on.......2004-04-03
The negative reviews call Breggin unscientific, fear mongering, etc., but Breggin was just ahead of his time. In the past year, English regulators have warned against SSRI use (except Prozac)in youths and adolescents, basically due to the dangers Breggin warns of in this book. Recent headlines in the U.S. report the FDA is also recommending similar warnings about agitation and suicidality resulting from use of SSRI's in children and adults.A 2004 network evening news headline story recounted how a senior FDA scientist recently reviewed SSRI trials and concluded that suicidal ideation occurred twice as often in the SSRI group as in the placebo group (and then the FDA tried to suppress the public revelation of the conclusions of their own scientist).
The truth is the drug companies knew from the start that SSRI's pose serious dangers of agitation, akathisia and suicidality. It's been years since anyone on the inside seriously believed the Serotonin imbalance theory of depression. This information has been available all along and was deliberately suppressed by the drug companies. Now, ten years later, people are beginning to wake up, acting as though this is brand new news.
Go online to Prevention and Treatment, Volume 5, articles 22 through 32, published by the American Psychological Association, for extensive discussion of the fact that the FDA trials barely showed any difference between the SSRI's and placebo.
Better still, read Let them Eat Prozac, by David Healy, soon to be available in the U.S. Healy is a total psychiatric insider, an SSRI researcher and perhaps the world's leading authority on the history of the development of SSRI's. He's not an anti-psychiatrist. He's just pro-truth. He cites chapter and verse, and his conclusions are basically the same as Breggin's.
The negative reviewers simply miss the mark. To judge the value of Breggin's books, you need do one thing: List his specific factual claims, and then try to find in mainstream psychiatric literature any attempt to rebut those specific claims, point by point.
Not "he's dangerous," or "he's a zealot," or "he's unscientific," but actually point for point. For instance, Breggin charges that many Prozac patients in the FDA trials were also put on Benzodiazepines because Prozac alone made them so agitated they couldn't sleep. Look for mainstream psychiatry to a) state whether Breggin's claim is actually true, b) explain why that isn't a serious comment on Prozac, and c) answer Breggin's claim that where Benzo's were used, if the patients on Benzo's were excluded, the Prozac group was no more effective than placebo.
Healy makes many of the same specific points, and more. He exposes the systematic way the drug companies distorted their research and saw to it that both the scientific literature and popular promotional material contained the same distortions.
Breggin was right, and his critics, who accuse him of being shrill and unscientific, are describing themselves more than they describe Breggin.
Customer Reviews:
excellent cookbook.......2005-10-24
This is a great cookbook with many good recipes. Great illustrations and easy to follow instructions. I would highly recommend it.
Customer Reviews:
Williams Sonoma complete Pasta cookbook.......2002-07-14
I was so pleased when I received this cookbook. For the price it's just a great book. I have a cookbook collection and this is one of my all-time favorites. It is full of delicious , easy recepies and the photos are just beautiful. I would highly reccomend this to anyone looking for a pasta book. You wont be dissapointed.
Williams Sonoma complete Pasta cookbook.......2002-07-14
I was so pleased when I received this cookbook. For the price it's just a great book. I have a cookbook collection and this is one of my all-time favorites. It is full of delicious , easy recepies and the photos are just beautiful. I would highly reccomend this to anyone looking for a pasta book. You wont be dissapointed.
Easy directions, large pasta selections.......2002-02-28
I tend to associate Williams-Sonoma with snobbery, and was tentative about this book. However, the recipes are darn good and easy, nothing fru-fru. Making homemade is truly a snap, and now our family loves to make and eat it all the time. This book shows how to make all pasta shapes as well as pasta sauces, with every day ingredients.
Highly recommend to anyone who loves pasta!
Pasta Perfection.......2000-02-07
For those who adore pasta, this book is a bonus. For those new to the pleasure, this book will hasten the love affair. Straight forward text presentation, plus informative images, insure a number of memorable dining experiences.
When they say complete they mean it.......1999-10-07
A very useful book for both the beginners and advanced cooks. The beautiful photographs give you and idea on how the final dishes should look like,best of all, the book is fairly priced. One of the very best books in my collection.
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Complete Vegetarian Pasta Cookbook
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0785803564 |
Book Description
Enjoy pasta, one of the world's most popular foods, in all its myriad, versatile forms: noodles, ravioli, lasagne, soups and salads. You'll find recipes for fresh, homemade pasta, from Tagliolini with Asparagus and Zucchini to Sage Squares with Sage and Shallot Butter, Spinach Ravioli with Summer Tomato Sauce to Cannelloni Primavera with Pepper Sauce, as well as dishes based on widely available dried pasta, including soups such as Chicken and Farfalle Vegetable Soup, salads ranging from Creamy Shell Salad with Lobster to Garlic Lover's Penne and Chicken Salad, sauced specialties including Spinach Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce and Pasta Coils Carbonara and baked dishes such as Caramelized Onion and Pancetta Lasagne and Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon. In addition, pasta's close cousin, risotto, can be found as an appetizer, side dish or entree in such varied flavors as Fresh Herb and Parmesan Risotto, Supplì with Cheese and Porcini Mushrooms and Salmon Fillets on Zucchini Risotto.
These tempting dishes are among the more than 200 recipes gathered here in the Complete Pasta Cookbook. Created by renowned cookbook authors and teachers Michele Anna Jordan, Joanne Weir and Kristine Kidd, these recipes showcase pasta and risotto in all their infinite variety. Each recipe is accompanied by a beautiful photograph that shows exactly how the finished dish should look, along with a wealth of helpful hints and tips.
Customer Reviews:
Format way too large.......2005-12-27
If you like "coffee-table book" sized cookbooks, then this cookbook will be fine for you. Personally, I find the huge fomat of this book totally impractical for use in the kitchen. Even in an upright holder, it would probably get splattered eventually. Also, many of the recipes are for fresh pasta, which I just don't have time to make.
Of course, Williams and Sonoma always have great recipes, but I would recommend getting one of their smaller format pasta cookbooks, unless you love coffee table books with big, pretty photographs. Just not practical enough for me.
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100 Low Fat Pasta and Grain Recipes: The Complete Book of Food Counts Cookbook Series
Corinne T. Netzer
Manufacturer: Dell
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Binding: Paperback
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0440223377
Release Date: 1997-03-10 |
Book Description
One of six titles in Corinne T. Netzer's new The Complete Book of Food Counts Cookbook Series, 100 Low Fat Pasta and Grain Recipes takes its inspiration from Corinne Netzer's biggest bestseller, The Complete Book of Food Counts, by featuring healthy and delicious recipes complete with full nutritional breakdowns on calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, protein, and carbohydrates. Who would have thought we could afford to eat something as indulgent as Chicken and Ricotta Pizza with Tomatoes and Bell Peppers, while still keeping our waistlines--and our arteries--in shape? From Vegetable Couscous with Cilantro to old fashioned grits--this book has it all, and it's all good for you too! So if you want to eat well for both body and soul, get the cookbook that "counts."
Customer Reviews:
The Pet Guru.......2005-01-23
"The ancient Yogis and native American cultures honored the wisdom in nature. My dog Goodboy and cat Sarafina have taught me about being in the moment, forgiving, unconditional love, living a genuine life, and attaining a higher level of emotional intuitive intelligence. ~Bruce Eric Van Horn
Bruce Eric Van Horn's work has been featured on Animal Planet and the CBS Early Show. He has now written a book to highlight the link between human and animal health.
The first topic of concern is how stress causes health problems. A number of studies show a link between human and animal health. I know for a fact that just having pets lowers my stress level. Bruce shows how pet ownership can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and even add years to our lives.
Through reading this original and thoughtful book, you can learn about the emotional bond between humans, canines and felines. Did you know pets can often predict earthquakes or pinpoint the geographical location of their owners?
I love the pictures of the yoga poses because Bruce and his cats are doing the same downward facing dog pose and spinal twist. My cat always loves walking underneath me when I am doing the cat or cow poses.
There are instructions for doing yoga and all the pictures feature Bruce's lovable pets. He also addresses issues like separation anxiety, how pets can make assisted living facilities more humane and why walking a dog can be a meditative experience.
You may also enjoy reading:
Making Travel with Pets Stress Free
Daily Yoga Class
Firm Footing in a Changing Marketplace
Enough is Enough
Soy Diversity
A Yoga for Healthy Living DVD and Video are now available.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Book Description
Embellish your quilts and design projects with three-dimensional flowers that are unique, fun, and easy to do. Appli-bond is a time-saving method that eliminates the need to finish fabric edges, resulting in quick and stunning floral creations. Create realistic flowers as you master curling techniques. Make washable, wearable flower corsages, too! Recommended for quilters and crafters of all ages and skill levels. Perfect for every project! 20 patterns to choose from and combine....10 traditional blocks - 10 Appli-bond flowers (for example, Water Lily floating on Lady of the Lake). AUTHORBIO: Joan, who was taught to sew on a Singer treadle machine by her grandmother, has been a quilter for many years. She has her own pattern company, Petal Play, which she operates from her home in Massachusetts. In addition, she has taught and lectured extensively throughout the country. She has appeared on television on the PBS show "Quilting from the Heartland" with Sharlene Jorgenson, and on the HGTV program "Simply Quilts" with Alex Anderson. REVIEW: Joan Shay has been making flowers bloom for years through her books on Appli-bond applique. In this her latest book, she goes a step further, combining her charming fabric flowers with traditional quilt designs, to make delightful hybrid creations...Beginning with good solid general instructions on quilt-making, the book goes on to provide detailed plans for 10 projects.
Amazon.com
The customary modern image of the New England Puritans is a dark one: the Puritans, religious dissenters who valued propriety and order, are seen as a witch-hunting, suspicious tribe, and their very name carries connotations of grimness and primness.
Thirty years ago, at the outset of his career as a historian, John Demos decided to reexamine that view in light of the evidence. Among the findings that he reports in A Little Commonwealth is the surprising discovery that the Puritans were not so, well, puritanical. They were not, Demos argues, especially consumed by ideology, and in their daily lives, "religion seems to figure in a somewhat haphazard and occasional way." The Puritans, he continues, had no unusual objections to sexuality or fun-seeking, except where such activities endangered social harmony--and the Puritans were indeed fiercely protective of group stability. Demos examines such documents as the transcripts of divorce proceedings to suggest that Puritan women enjoyed, if not equal rights, then better consideration than most women in other English colonies in the New World. He looks closely into the material culture of the Puritans, which shows some odd discrepancies: for instance, although few households possessed more than a single chair (usually reserved for the elderly), many contained elaborate wardrobes--for, Demos writes, "clothing was not only a good investment for a man of some means; it was also a way of demonstrating his standing in the larger community and of confirming his own self-image."
In questioning the view of the Puritans as a plain-dressing, plain-living, haunted, and repressed sect, Demos provides a close and intriguing look at the New England past. Reissued on the 30th anniversary of its first publication, A Little Commonwealth deserves a wide audience today. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The year 2000 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of A Little Commonwealth by Bancroft Prize-winning scholar John Demos. This groundbreaking study examines the family in the context of the colony founded by the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower. Basing his work on physical artifacts, wills, estate inventories, and a variety of legal and official enactments, Demos portrays the family as a structure of roles and relationships, emphasizing those of husband and wife, parent and child, and master and servant. The book's most startling insights come from a reconsideration of commonly-held views of American Puritans and of the ways in which they dealt with one another. Demos concludes that Puritan "repression" was not as strongly directed against sexuality as against the expression of hostile and aggressive impulses, and he shows how this pattern reflected prevalent modes of family life and child-rearing. The result is an in-depth study of the ordinary life of a colonial community, located in the broader environment of seventeenth-century America. Demos has provided a new foreword and a list of further reading for this second edition, which will offer a new generation of readers access to this classic study.
Customer Reviews:
I highly recomend it. .......2007-01-06
Although written in 1970 it provides an interesting look at every aspect of colonial life in New England. I highly recomend it for everyone interested in this period of history. Academic but not boring.
Dry Textbook, Requires Effort.......2006-12-22
Mr. Demos certainly did a tremendous amount of research in preparing this work, as his information is plentiful, organized, and lends support to his theories.
However, one should be warned that the writing style is quite dry, his refences to numbers and factoids are unending, and the entertainment quotient of the book is near zero. As a reference volume, there are plenty of interesting tables and charts to glean. As a flowing, historical piece that tells a story which brings the Old Colony's residents to life, it is lacking.
A Classic Study that Redefined the Pilgrims.......2005-12-29
I first read this book while in graduate school during the late 1970s, and I am glad it has been reissued in this new edition. John Demos was one of a group of "new social historians" in the latter 1960s that made colonial New England his domain and reinterpreted what we know about the Puritans "from the bottom up." Including Kenneth A. Lockridge ("A New England Town," 1970), Philip J. Greven ("Four Generations," 1970), and a few others, these historians employed the analysis of legal documents, especially wills and probate records, to uncover the past of the more "ordinary" New Englanders. Concentrating on small units in their study--Demos on Plymouth, Lockridge on Dedham, and Greven on Andover--they also employed, for the first time, material culture analysis of buildings, the accoutrements of everyday life, and findings from historical archeology and anthropology to understand better the nature of colonial New England.
Previously, historians had relied heavily upon letters, diaries, sermons, autobiographies, and other writings to construct their portrait of the Puritans of the seventeenth century. Almost by definition, this documentary record skewed the account toward telling the story of New England's social and political elites. The use of these new materials transformed our understanding of this time and place in American history. It may be hard to appreciate how exciting this approach to American history seemed at the time. These historians, using both the tools of social science and measured statistical analysis, rescued from obscurity the everyday lives of the rank and file who settled New England. William Bradford, Cotton Mather, John Winthrop, and other elites remained significant, but the story was now so much broader and interesting. It was such a breath of fresh air! Many of us in graduate school at the time embraced their lead and sought to apply at least some of their methodologies to our own work.
"A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony" is one of the best of these "new social histories." John Demos unearthed, in some cases literally through archaeological excavations, the style of life present at Plymouth Plantation. In the process he transformed our understanding of these religious separatists. He makes some startling revelations, destroying many old myths about marriage, family, and lifestyle. The basic organizing unit, according to Demos, was the nuclear family. He inferred this from probate records, but he also noted that the small size of the houses forced the exclusion of extended families under one roof. He was criticized for this conclusion, but subsequent research seems to support much of what he wrote. He also found that children married later than had been previously believed, between 23 and 28 years, starting their lives apart from their parents after greater maturity. He also found that the typical family numbered between seven and ten children, had an infant mortality rate of one in ten, that twenty percent of women died in childbirth, and that a man aged 21 could expect to live until 69.2 years but a woman at age 21 had a life expectancy of only 62.2 years.
By far the most path-breaking part of "A Little Commonwealth" deals with Puritan childrearing and the formation of the child's character. During the first year, Demos argues, a baby would receive much nurturing and support. Tranquility was the objective. In the second year, the child was weaned, usually had to deal with a younger sibling, and most interesting underwent an effort to break the spirit and bend it to the will the parents. Taking place in a crowded house, this experience was traumatic to say the least, and Demos asserts that it led to a set of psychological issues that revolved not so much around sex as a "tight cluster of anxieties about aggression" (pp. 134-37). Demos makes the case that fear of aggression, conflict, and loss are the dominant themes of Puritan life in the seventeenth century. At the same time, the Puritan family could be warm and supportive, and joy and fun was also part and parcel of their existence.
Equally important, Demos helps overturn the longstanding stereotype of Puritans. H. L. Mencken once said that the definition of Puritanism was "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Demos pretty much destroys this idea in "A Little Commonwealth" as well. They liked to dress colorfully, have parties, dance, sing, and drink. Despite their traumatic upbringings, he thinks they were not so nearly repressed as previously believed.
This is a very important benchmark in the history of early America and still deserving of serious consideration 35 years after its first publication.
Life in Old Plymouth.......2005-08-12
In this study Demos examines family life as it was for the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower, before they joined with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The book is in three main sections: the physical setting (housing, furnishings, and clothing); the structure of the household (family connections, including servants); and individual development (childhood, coming of age, and old age). The most striking thing is how all aspects of communal life were controlled by the Court: although laws were not draconian, they spelled out how one was to conduct his or her life pretty thoroughly. Mess up and you would be punished. But it's also true that people were not that different back then, either: parents still cared for their children and worried about their futures by making provisions for them; families were at the core of society's welfare; even women were given rights denied them in the mother country. It's interesting that even these first settlers saw the American continent as a vast area just waiting to be colonized, and one of the biggest problems facing the authorities was how to keep settlers from wanting to spread out too far from Plymouth itself, thus weakening communal ties. A highly recommended book.
PROOF OF THE INERTIA OF HISTORICAL CONTINUITY.......2005-07-02
I found the book to be informative, but not particularly revealing. After reading such books as OLD JULES, by Mari Sandoz (his daughter), and A BEAUTIFUL CRUEL COUNTRY, by Eva Antonia Wilbur-Cruz, as well as comparing my life's experiences with those of the Colony (not to mention my own Ms. entitled IT IS EASIER TO FORGIVE THAN TO FORGET, about mother's childhod, her marriage, and the raising of four boys alone during the Great Depression) what impresses me most is the continuity of life styles from one generation to another subject, of course, to the influences of the community in which lives are lived.
I have a degree in History from SFSU that I attended in the 70s, and I agree with what appear to be conclusions of Academics on the subject of mingling disciplines. I believe that the truth of history is best described when there is such a comingling. I came to the conclusion that Historical Continuity is more a matter of emotion than of logic (that cannot be ignored), and that if we can relate emotionally to the vital situation of those about whom we read, we will become better informed. There is little value in repeating what the author reports except as it differs from the values and norms of our own lives. Then, faced with consequential differences, we must adjust our minds to pass judgment based on reality laced with understanding. In the end, we may well discover that given the same circumstances our lives would differ less from those of the past than we think. There are some who proclaim that life is a gift, but I would argue, as might the residents of THE LITTLE COMMONWEALTH, that it is more a duty to perform. How well one performs that duty depends upon our duality; our individuality versus the demands of the community into which we just happened to have been born. I found myself relating my own life experiences, to those of the members of the COMMONWEALTH, and except for the religious severity of the witchhunt imported from Europe, found that I had little difficulty appreciating their situation.
Customer Reviews:
A Little Commonwealth.......2004-07-08
I really did not care much for it it put me to sleep.
Average customer rating:
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Samuel Palmer: Life and Art
Raymond Lister
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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- Must read.
- A Family History - well worth the effort.
- A truly amazing story
- Simply the best Holocaust narrative.
- MOSAIC
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Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations
Diane Armstrong
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
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ASIN: 0312305109 |
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Although it has the epic sweep and emotional depth of a 19th-century novel, Diane Armstrong's absorbing family memoir centers around the 20th-century Holocaust that consumed the lives of six million European Jews. She begins with the dramatic moment in 1890 when grandfather Daniel Baldinger divorced his childless first wife because, the devout orthodox Jew explained, "if I can't doven in shule beside my sons, I won't have fulfilled my duty to God." Those sons and daughters (Daniel's second wife bore 11 children) came to maturity as the Nazis were exterminating Jews, often with the enthusiastic assistance of the Baldingers' Polish neighbors. Armstrong's father changed his name to Henryk Boguslawski, and her parents spent the war with baby Diane (born in 1939) pretending to be Catholics; their siblings employed other desperate tactics to escape the anti-Semites' grasp.
Armstrong seamlessly weaves a narrative history of those terrible years with the first-person recollections of her elderly parents, aunts, and uncles. This mosaic is further enriched by the meditations of Diane and her cousins, who scattered after the war with their surviving parents to Canada, the United States, Israel, and Australia (where Armstrong still lives). Giving their children a Jewish identity poses a challenge for Diane and her equally secular husband, and the book closes movingly with their son's fiancée telling them she wishes to convert: "Your religion has continued for thousands of years, and so many Jews have died because of it," Susan tells her in-laws. "I don't want to be the one to break the continuity." Armstrong's memoir vividly conveys that continuity, even as it is threatened by political events and personal conflicts. Her skillful blending of vibrant individual voices across the generations makes this memoir a touching tribute to the healing powers of storytelling as well as to the unquenchable human spirit. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
Beginning in Krakow, Poland, in 1890, and spanning more than 100 years, five generations, and four continents, Mosaic is Diane Armstrongs moving account of her remarkable, resilient family. This richly textured portrait follows the lives of Lieba and Daniel Baldinger and their 11 children from the turn of the century through the Holocaust to the present, and comes to a powerful climax with the authors search for her heritage. With the language of a great storyteller and the eye of an historian, Armstrong illuminates the triumphs and tragedies of this extraordinary family.
Customer Reviews:
Must read........2007-02-04
A well written and researched true story. Many, who have grown up after the holocaust, will find it hard to imagine what people went through only a generation ago . Diane was fortunate enough to have many members of her extended family survive (though they have scattered around the world in their effort to do so) and we are fortunate she has written the story of their survival. Readers that are fearful of books about the holocaust that have gruesome details can easily read the book as it is more a book about survival.
A Family History - well worth the effort........2004-04-29
Excellent account of life in pre-WW2 Poland and the devastating years of the war itself. What is so remarkable is that the survival rate of this family was comparatively high compared to other Holocaust stories - mostly as a result of a family that saw the terror coming, and fleeing outside of the eventual jackboot sphere, with Diana's immediate family living precarious daily lives through their sheer wits in Nazi occupied Poland. How remarkably easy reflect our own lives against these - just to be grateful and marvel at the human spirit, read and be grateful.
A truly amazing story.......2002-07-17
First i'd like to thank Ms. Armstrong for writing such a wonderful and powerful book. I could really relate to it and i'm sure many readers have as well. Ms. Armstrong writes so well that it is never a struggle to keep track of the abundance of family members, which can sometimes turn a book sour. Her chronicle of her family will make you ponder about your past. I HIGHLY recommend it! It is a stunning read.
Simply the best Holocaust narrative........2001-10-19
I absolutely loved "Mosaic: A Chronicle of 5 Generations". I have read many Holocaust memoirs & oral histories, but none have moved me as Diane Armstrong's book has.
The strength of "Mosaic" is it's breadth and it's protagonists, the author's family. The central family, that of Daniel & Lieba Baldinger & their 11 children is augmented by cousins on the maternal side (the Spira's) as well as the family of Ms. Armstrong's mother, the Bratters. Although Poland is the setting for the first 30 years or so, as WWII beckons the scope becomes the entire continent of Europe as the now-adult children of Daniel & Lieba pursue their lives.
The majority of the family is caught in Nazi-controlled Poland & thru various ruses attempts to escape being deported to the death camps. These are the most thrilling sections of "Mosaic" because Ms. Armstrong's writing is so vivid that the reader can feel the never-ending fear that she & her family lived with for years. While she & her parents live as Catholics in a small Polish village, her aunt & young cousins are standing behind a wardrobe for days at a time in Krakow; we experience both types of anxiety as well as many others as the author recounts the many ruses various family members undertook to survive.
There were family members outside of Poland during WWII as well. With 2 uncles in France, another uncle who moved his family from Belgium thru Spain to finally end in Rio de Janeiro & various aunts & cousins everywhere from Andorra to Tel Aviv the reader is treated to a kaleidoscope of war experiences. The post-war years & family diaspora is dealt with in detail also.
What makes "Mosaic" especially memorable for me is that nobody is a "hero" or does "historic deeds" at any point in the book. While most Holocaust memoirs are by individuals who somehow stood out from the crowd, this account is of the members of that crowd, the folks who by simply surviving without compromising themselves became heroes. It is a marvelous reminder that everyone has a story worth telling.
The final chapter, in which Diane Armstrong & her daughter Justine return to Poland & reunite with the priest who befriended & helped her family shines with joy & compassion. I truly hope that Father Roman Soszynski had the opportunity to read this book. I hope that you will read it as well.
MOSAIC.......2001-07-31
Gripping, exciting, and suspenseful reading. Great factual writing with immense feeling. Diane Armstrong took me back to my own childhood. I lost my then nineteen-year-old sister as well as grand parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends from school to the holocaust. It was painful as well as joyous to read. The book brought back memories and filled in some necessary gaps from my own past. A reader of a book which I wrote sent me MOSAIC all the way from Australia to the USA. I am very grateful to her. This book encompasses five generations of the author's families including detailed explanations of Jewish traditions then and now. For those of you who escaped the holocaust, you will be able to relate with it. For all others, it will be an eye-opening experience.
Books:
- Benjamin Cason Rawlings: First Virginia Volunteer for the South (Army of Northern Virginia Series, 5th V)
- Blondie: A Biography of Lieutenant-Colonel H G Hasler Dso, Obe, Croix De Guerre, Royal Marines
- Boy Scouts on Old Superior (Or: The Tale of the Pictured Rocks)
- Broken Wings of the Samurai: The Destruction of the Japanese Airforce
- Cavalier in the Wilderness: The Story of the Explorer and Trader Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
- CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
- Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn 1772-1853 (Studies in Maritime History)
- Damn Cold and Starving: A Soldier's Reflection As a World War Ii Prisoner
- Dear Poppa: The World War II Berman Family Letters
- Delayed Letters From Korea: Thirty Five Korean War Veterans Reveal Their Unique Stories of America's Least Known War
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