A profound and well-documented book about the origin of religion, its meaning and use in society and causes for the declining interest in religion in our time. The system Girard explained at its best, but not as readable as some of his other books on the subject.

This book takes the form of a dialogue between Girard and two psychiatrists, Jean-Michel Oughourlian and Guy Defort. If you are already familiar with Girard's work concerning the relationship between mimetic desire and violence, sacrificial rites and scapegoat, then you will find this book indispensible. If you have an opinion -- pro or con -- about Christianity, you will want to read this book. The title of the book is a quote from Mathew 13, 35, and not without purpose. Here, Girard discusses in depth the nature of Christianity, the most sacrificial religion, in terms of the theories he's been formulating over the years. The whole business of murder and deification permeates much of primitive Mediterranean religions -- Abel and Cain, Romulus and Remus, etc -- and the sacrifice of Christ and subsequent deification follows the same pattern of displacing mob guilt. Biblical exegesis, certainly, but much more than that. This book and Girard's work as a whole helps one to understand above and beyond the question of either sentiment or faith why Christianity as a religion still holds sway in this secular age, and from where it derives its staying power. A real milestone in intellectual detective work, it will cause you to hear a wake-up call. And in stereo, too, if you read also his good friend Michel Serres' book ROME: The Book of Foundations.

It has been now about 20 years since I first read the original version of this fascinating work, as it was published in France. Reading it again today I still have the same feeling of witnessing a major breakthrough in our understanding of thelink between human nature, civilization and religion, a landmark of the highest caliber. Only now can I detect its influence in the French intellectual establishment - the 70s being not very favorable to a work that sheds an unexpectedly new and enhancing light on Christianity (yet certainly more unsettling for the religious establishment, I believe.) As a scientific, I was striken at first by the simplicity and the precision of the mimetic theory and its startling ramifications into the phenomenons of victimization mechanisms, sacralization, religion and foundations of civilization - all of it displaying a clarity and logic that I was more accustomed to find in "hard" sciences, I must say... I advise newcomers to Girard to start with this book which is the most synthetic. A must read for all modern westerners.

Stephen Bann's Parallel Lines focuses on printmakers and photographers in 19th century France, when practices of printmaking and photography began changing. This considers relationships between painting, printmaking and photography during the period and how new technologies enhanced these mediums.

A book on Paul Delaroche by Stephen Bann is necessary to understand the Romantic movement following the Neo-Classical period pioneered by J L David. A Frenchman, his most famous paintings surprisingly are on English history, chiefly his The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, The Princes in the Tower, and Cromwell and Charles I.
His few forays into Napoleonic memorabilia resulted in two fine paintings of Napoleon in his Study and Napoleon at Fontainbleu, and the later Napoleon crossing the Alps, an uninteresting painting, even if somewhat historically more accurate than David's earlier heroic depiction of Bonaparte crossing the St Bernard Alps, calmly mounted on an unconvincing charger.
The author has made a very informed attempt to flesh out Delaroche's psyche through thematic discoveries in his paintings.
One error that I found was that Henri-James Guillaume Clarke was never Marshal under Napoleon, but was Duc de Feltre and Minister of War under Napoleon. He was created Marshal under the Bourbon Restoration.
The end result is a very illuminating biography on an unremarkable artist whose style was outmoded. Delaroche was lauded in his lifetime - a protégé of Horace Vernet and possibly Jean L. Gros, he continued on in the tradition of history paintings but without the flair of David. He has been eclipsed by his other more famous contemporaries, Ingres and Delacroix, who are most closely connected with the Romantic movement and he has been largely ignored in this century.

Stephen Bann's book is a true joy and a work of art. Paul Delaroche was one of the great artists of the 19th century, but has never obtained the position in modern day, art history books he so rightly deserves. Bann analyzes works such as "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" and "The Young Christiam Martyr." Bann's examination is thorough and fair. So little is written on Delaroche, that it is a joy to find such a complete study. The color plates are stunning. A very well written book.