Written as a response to sladerous accusations of lying and insincerity, Cardinal Newman composed one of the best autobiographies in the English language. To properly defend himself, he develops the history of his religous opinions from his earliest memories, through Oxford movement and finally to his conversion to the Catholic Church. Along the way he gives the reader some of the best prose that has been employed to descrbe religious experience. The book concludes with a point-by-point refutation to the arguments of Rev. Kingsley, that incidentally contains some of the best arguments against Sola Scriptura and other guiding principles behind Protestantism.

After publication, Newman's Apologia helped raise the esteem of Catholics in the eyes of the English people and helped make him a Cardinal. I whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone looking for a moving spiritual autobiography.

There are few autobiographies as moving and eloquent as Newman's "Apologia." This is his "defense" of his life's choice to leave the Church of England and "go home to Rome." It's a moving testament to an individual's struggle with spiritual issues and theological dogmas and how they inform our lives. I know of no other spiritual autobiography of such importance other than Augustine's "Confessions."

Yet, for all these superb reasons to read this spiritual autobiography, perhaps there is one "secular" reason to read Newman: His command of the English language. Newman has an excellent command of rhetoric, logic, and exposition that makes him a stellar example of Victorian belle letters.

I'd recommend the Norton Critical Edition over the Penguin edition, obviously, not for the "translation," but for the criticism that helps put the issues involved in context for the 20th century reader.

since the "Confessions" of St. Augustine of Hippo 1600 years earlier.

In this book, John Henry Newman, in order to defend himself from (rather unfair) charges of insincerity, outlines the history of his spiritual development, from his beginnings as a liberal thinker, to his conversion to the Evangelical wing of the Church of England, to his ordination as an Anglican priest, to his gradual move toward Catholic thought, practice and worship in the Church of England, to his leadership in the so-called "Oxford Movement" and its call to holiness and Catholicity in the Church of England, and finally to his ultimate submission to Rome.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Cardinal Newman theologically; whether one can accept his particular conclusions is not important to the enjoyment of this book. It is an honest account of a spiritual journey, written by an articulate man, which should prove inspirational to all persons of faith, and to all on a spiritual pilgrimage.

First off this is in no way one sided...
I have read every chapter of said material and here is my opinion based on careful research of 'redemption'.

Redemption is not a con, not a joke, not a scheme to generate money... the fact of the matter is it could change the world.. HOWEVER, there are many who have had unfortunate circumstances as a result of MISINTERPRETING this book, among other mistakes... I have noticed that there are those who get into redmption to get out of jail, and get out of trouble. While this has , at least in theory, had some success, there are MANY men who have had their lives destroyed and sentenced to double or more the time they were looking at.. Redemption is not a game. You have to know exactly what to file but also when NOT to file it and file something else... This being said, the odds are not in ones favor if he lacks time and resources to make a very good study of commercial law, the ucc, and common law etc.. THIS BOOK IS NOT ENOUGH, and should be accompanied by basic education in economics, ACCOUNTING, business, negotiable instrument law, and something called conditional acceptance. If you think this is the ticket to getting out of jail think again..some have lost their lives on that mistake .. HOWEVER, there is some truth in what's being offered..although the accuracy of these authorS compared with a few others I have in mind is certainly debatable..... some leading figures in this field have accused these authors with not teaching "true redemption" and being behind in the current thread of knowledge. I have had people not read anything but watch a video and think they have it down.. THIS IS ABSURD! REDEMPTION IS NOT UNLIKE ANY OTHER FIELD OF STUDY IN THAT IT TAKES YEARS TO MASTER>> Understand this and you will have success if your heart is true.. Lawyers, police, government employees, and too many others who have 'literally sold their soul to the devil for the inside track and a few easy bucks' can never become free. If you are one of the above ..do yourself a favor and get out before even thinking of reading this or any other related book...or else you will suffer on the job and in your personal life. If you plan on buying the book..be prepared to study 'boring' material such as accounting if you want a chance at using the knowledge therein.

This book is is packed with fantastic information that couldn't be more timely! If you are a true patriot, this book is for you. Explains the ways that the government has deceived us into believeing that our name is their property and how we can take our name and our sovreignty back. I have read this book from cover to cover and I cannot find one place where the information has been wrong! A masterpiece of extensive investigational work!! Truly brilliant!! If you can own only one book (with the exception of the Scriptures)...THIS is the one to own! When this information gets out, it's curtains for the (unconstitutional) orthodox judicial system!!!! Book will pay for itself in the first use. In a word: The information exposed in this publication is unstopable!!!I know, I have used it successfully!!!

Take it from the guy who just canceled (thanks to procedures explained in the book) a... [large] debt on the credit card. This book really shows you the way out of debt and to be free. I've read it at least 5 times, followed all procedures exactly as described and got unbelievable results. But you gotta know what are you doing. In addition to that, I've learned some very interesting and valuable things by reading the Uniform Commercial Code by itself which, by the way, helps to understand how banks, lawyers and other "juristic persons" are capable of foreclosing on unsuspected people. In my case, it worked so well that I've helped some other people to do the same thing. The result: 2 canceled student loans with the total of [a lot of money], at least 30 credit cards debts...and other unsecured loans. No bad info on the credit reports, just "Thank you" letters from banks and financial institutions.
Buy it and read it, but you have to undestand it in order for you to act to be financially free.
If you find it difficult to use there is always help available.

On the opening page of "Bucking the Tiger," Bruce Olds gives fair warning of his love for wordplay, and the form his novel is going to take, and if you're not ready for bricolage, collage, or pastiche, you're not ready for this book. Mr. Olds tells the story of gentleman, gambler, gunslinger, Doc Holliday by using just about every literary device he can get his hands on. There are lists informative, monologues instructive, histories illuminating, "facts astronomical, solemn or comical." Infectious, and had there been a way to connect a PowerPoint between the bindings I think Mr. Olds would have done it.

Even with all the wild technique, "Bucking the Tiger," is a biography (of sorts, maybe a "mytho-biography" would be more like it,) a love story, an adventure both meta and physical, a treatise (on poker, gunslinging, and death,) and ultimately rather touching.

I recommend this book for a story interestingly told, and for a shower of language and verbal effects that were quite refreshing.

Mr. Olds goes for it, mixing present day idiom, old time-y western vernacular and a few words that are exotics. However the somteimes borderline stylings are used in an effective telling of an interesting tale. I do wonder how in describing Holliday's first kill, he selected "invaginating" to describe what the knife did to the victim. The victims guts can invaginate the blade, but not vice versa. Anyway, so what if Old's does seem to over work things a little at times, it's worth it for having a story that weaves together 19th century text book accounts of disease etiology with Doc's gambling rules and the rememberances of colorful characters.

Jason

Readers who demand a simple, chronologically linear narrative, please apply elsewhere. "Bucking the Tiger" is a fever dream of a novel, kaleidoscopic in its fragmented vision and very nearly hallucinatory in its voices. There is nothing straightforward about this book, an ambitious labyrinth largely made up of first person observations from Doc himself and Big Nose Kate and Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson and Dodge City whores and TV cowboy show heroes. Even Thomas Berger's Jack Crabb makes a walk-on appearance under another name. The Doc Holliday within its pages is something of a Gilgamesh in ancestry, one third man and two thirds cinematic image. In the Gunfight (almost) at the OK Corral segment - hands down, the best recreation of that event I have ever read - picture Val Kilmer in the starring role. And from that starting point, Olds delves deep into the mind of Holliday. When you pick up this book, prepare to be dazzled by pyrotechnics and perhaps occasionally daunted by its determinedly literary demeanor. Just don't expect Louis Lamour.

This book is commendable for its conception but is flawed in its premise and execution. The problem is there are too many fingers in the pie. I would have liked to read about one historian's perspective on all the films reviewed. Instead, each film was addressed and compared to historical recollections by a different author. There is no uniformity of thought or perspective. For instance, I am sure that if Stephen Ambrose had reviewed TORA! TORA! TORA! he may have seen that film in a much more favorable light than did Akira Iriye. One can speculate to infinitum. It is possible to find and read countless books on a given historical topic. The point I am making is that each author has the ability to bring different perspectives or interpretations of historical record that may result in different conclusions of events or more importantly ideas. If you were to ask an auditorium full of historians what was the most important factor contributing to the start of the Civil War I am sure you may get at least five good answers. Perhaps the idea that a film conveys is more important than the accuracy of each step that led to that idea. I think that SPARTACUS is an important film not as a representation of a historical record but for the idea that the inherent rights of human beings to live free is a notion worth dying for. Kirk Douglas as SPARTACUS stated something to the effect that he would never stand by and see two men battle and die just for the amusement of other men. There is something very noble about that statement and to the visuals on the screen that precipitated that assertion. To touch a chord of emotion from the audience is really the magic of the cinema. I never once ever thought that the purpose of the cinema was to teach history. For the audience the main purpose of the cinema is to be entertained and if you take it a few more steps perhaps come away with an idea or spark of imagination. That's the beauty of the cinema.

This is a very interesting and useful book but I don't exactly like the overall point of view that it takes on motion pictures. It takes many historically based films and critiques them by comparing what is on the screen to actual historical events. Each chapter is devoted to one film (in most instances) and is critiqued by a different authority. The one constant that I see running throughout this book is that history does not make for good motion pictures if you are gazing through the eyes of the historian. That disturbs me. Motion pictures are a business as well a legitimate art form. If a historically based movie gets your interest as well as entertains you then perhaps that movie has fulfilled its purpose. The movie is the catalyst. It is up to you to dig up the history book and see what was recorded. And if you dig up a second history book it is very possible that those same events may be recorded slightly different. I liked the critique by Sean Wilentz on "THE BUCCANEER: Two Films" where he states that they stand somewhere in between fact and fiction. Akira Iriye is too critical of TORA! TORA! TORA! When you recall that particular motion picture, that's the one that stands out as a film that tried to get all the facts correct. Americans and Japanese respective of their home countries directed it. Iriye's criticism is almost ludicrous trying to state that inflections in the voices of some of the actors actually distorted the true meaning of their words. In light of PEARL HARBOR (2001) Akira Iriye is way off mark. Marshall De Bruhl's words about THE ALAMO are redundant and superficial. THE ALAMO was John Wayne's screen fulfillment of the legend. THE ALAMO is a great American film and it perpetuates that legend till this day. I liked what Stephen E. Ambrose had to say about THE LONGEST DAY. Ambrose recognizes that half the duality of filmmaking is a business. His approach and comments are very insightful and well written. As seen by James H. McPerson GLORY comes off best. It deserves it. "PAST IMPERFECT" is a good book but I just wish there were more input from the filmmakers.

When you're both a student of history and a movie buff, as I am, it can be difficult to sit and watch a film that presumes to have an accurate historical context without fighting the urge to evaluate it and pick holes in it. And I'm not the only one. This is a collection of analytical essays, most of high quality, by experts (not all of them historians) analyzing and critiquing individual films: Stephen Jay Gould on _Jurassic Park,_ Antonia Fraser on _Anne of the Thousand Days,_ Thomas Fleming on _1776,_ Dee Brown on _Fort Apache,_ William Manchester on _Young Winston,_ and numerous others. Sticking to those films about which I have some knowledge of the historical events they claim to portray, most are right on the money. James McPherson, commenting on _Glory,_ points out that while the context and general atmosphere are very well done, and the costuming and so on are exact, there are still deliberate historical errors for the sake of drama; none of the soldiers in Col. Shaw's 54th Massachusetts were ex-slaves, for instance, all of them having been recruited from among the state's free black population. And Catherine Clinton does an excellent job taking the wind out of _Gone with the Wind_'s mythical sails. There's a great deal of good information and criticism here and it's a compliment to say that nearly any of these essays will start an argument.

I too read this book when I was about 9 and really enjoyed it. Then I discovered, by reading an article in Arizona Highways magazine, that a movie had been made of "Brighty". I saw the movie, and read the book to my daughter when she was 9.

(First, let's remember Brighty was a burro, not a donkey or a mule.There is a difference--) And yes, the burros were hard on the environment, but thanks to Cleveland Amory, a lot of them were airlifted out of the GC to be adopted--not shot on sight as the National Park Service was doing to remove them.

Teddy Roosevelt was a great president and instrumental in protecting our wild spaces, but he and Uncle Jimmy Owens had a skewed view of mountain lions. Because of the "sportkilling" of these animals--dozens of them, by Jim and Teddy, along with others-- the mule deer population of the North Rim of the Canyon exploded, and many deer starved to death lacking sufficient forage to go around.

I know, I know, it was a different time. However, if you are going to address the environmental impact of burros, you better mention the environmental impact of the killing of masses of mountain lions for trophy and sport, Teddy Roosevelt included. It does disturb me that the book portrayed the lion as a horrible, scary and aggressive animal, when in reality (like most predators) they are shy and retiring, unless you corner them or threaten their young.

If teachers continue to read this book to their classes (and they should) I hope they allow for student discussion about how ideas on the environment and wild animals have changed since the book was written, as well as the historical time it was placed in. Reality checks are incredibly important for true understanding.

This book was on my bookshelf as a child (I am Australian). I never read it and later passed it on. Now, 35 years later, I have just visited the Grand Canyon, USA, recognised the cover of the book at a gift shop, and read it on the flight home to Australia. It appealed greatly to me because of the fun-loving, free-spirited nature of the burro. I could identify Brighty's journeys with our stay at Grand Canyon and my walk down part of Bright Angel Train, and the book certainly created feeling and atmosphere which enhanced our short visit to this incredible and beautiful place. The illustrations in the book gave me great pleasure also, and I felt those who enjoy reading children's books would enjoy it as I did. I was interested to read the comments by one reviewer, though, on the environmental impact of burros.

I'm an early childhood educator and have a particular interest in children's literature. While wandering through an abandoned parochial school library, Brighty of the Grand Canyon caught my eye. I brought it home and read it cover to cover. Brighty is a sweet, loving, and endearing character. Kids as well as adults will get caught up in Brighty's world. I'm sad to find out that burros were such a destructive force in the Grand Canyon. But after reading the book, I am hoping to take a vacation out to the Grand Canyon to see Brighty's statue. Check out the Grand Canyon's website for more information on Brighty.

Well-written and well-researched, with a lovely romantic touch. It would be nice to have a sequal to it, and also to resolve the question which has been raised of whether or not they were married, as Ms. Elder stated in several interviews.

I enjoyed this book as I have few others. The story of Kate had me completely captivated and I could not put it down. I knew little of this fascinating woman before reading the book, but Jane Candia Coleman makes her live. She makes it so believable and real that I could almost feel myself on the trail to Dodge with Kate and Doc. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history.

Jane Coleman has written a wonderful book on Kate Elder. Most importantly, even though the book is clearly labeled historical fiction, Jane's sources and research makes even the fiction ring true, and presents new facts as it goes. I normally don't read fiction but could not put down Doc Holliday's Woman. George Laughead Jr., President, Ford County Historical Society, Dodge City, KS (it goes without saying that Karen Holliday Tanner's book, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, is also a must-read for anyone interested in the Old West--but everyone else has already said that!)

This book was very concise, helpful, and to-the-point about each topic in its content list. The items are (for the most part) helpful tips that are boiled down from more complex strategies for the games discussed. A few of the items are redundant and/or are just too common sense to be part of the numbered title. But most are appropriate, important, and well described. I would have liked more general detail on money management and casino details, but it's a good beginner's primer on many games and a good supplement to other more thorough books.

Walter Thomason who wrote the excellent "21st Century Blackjack" has assembled a who's who of gambling writers to give tips on all the games. The book works! Anyone interested in a quick-hit course in casino gaming will do well to buy this book. A very good job.

Walter Thomason and other experts such as Frank Scoblete, Henry Tamburin, and John Grochowski have written a very good book. Each piece of advice is short and to the point. The book is very well designed and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get a good grounding in most of the games.

Westervelt gives a perspective to the civil war that is rarely seen - not an officer or 'fighting troop' member, he reports the on-going facts ajnd rumors as he sees (and hears) them. As an engineering unit, his Company was not one of those frequently heard from, making this volume especially valuable to scholars and Civil War buffs alike.

Gives out of the ordinary view of things from perspective of engineer. No heroic battle scenes, but the 'real' stuff of daily suffering that is universal to soldering, no matter what war or time. Drawings add to the first person narrative. If you have a Civil War buff on your gift list, add this to your shopping list - it's an undiscovered treasure!

I purchased this wonderful book for my father, a Civil War buff. The book is well researched and interesting. The details are amazing. My father read and re-read this fine book. I highly recommend it.

Pentland communicates in complicated jargon that only Gurdjieffians understand. Thus, only Gurdjieffians will have any use at all for this book.

this is a very good book worth exploring. an earlier review gave this book two stars and made reference to this material having lost its freshness. not true. the ideas are the same and still allow the reader to think more carefully about life.

it is alway easy to find excuses not to read...don't ignore the truth.

Lord Pentland directed the Gurdjieff Work in the US for a great many years until his death. This book offers some of his insights collected at group meetings, where he was responding orally to queries from people of varying levels of understanding. His responses are NOT "formative ramblings", as one reviewer of limited understanding suggests, but flow directly from Lord Pentland's presence in the moment of response. This is a wonderful book, particularly for those involved in the Gurdjieff Foundation who are familiar with the formof a group meeting. Those who are not may be put off by the format, unless they take the trouble to establish a contemplative state in preparation.

I picked this up on impulse. I'm interested in the work of Henry J. Darger. But I was not taken by this book at all. Ashbery flows a lot of beautiful verbiage together. But it's incomprehensible at a first reading and I'm not going to spend more time trying to root anything out of it. It seems like a lot of surrealist automatic writing. There were occasional images that would surface in an appealing way like, "count the dogs as furniture as otherwise there will be no chairs," but few of the images recurred enough to give any sense of narrative or unifying theme. I bet Darger's naive literature is a lot more fascinating than this.

Predictable surprises -- and a few unpredictable ones -- inhabit this volume, a single long poem loosely based on the illustrations of Henry Darger. There are chuckleworthy phrases that rattle about the brain with a happy insouciance for several days after one has read the thing. "The oxymoron gets his rocks off" and "pink shrouds fell on the pansy jamboree." And we like going for the ride, even if we get a little dizzy and a little seasick. The "androgynous truths" bubble perkily to the surface, in a verbal universe where what matters matters as much as what doesn't matter. We know a few of the magician's tricks, but there are always a few swerves and slides which we can't anticipate. The honey drips from a blighted bough -- or is it a bright and sprightly bough? -- and the housepets lap the gruel in their gaily-coloured bowls, and the narrator stands back and lets it all happen. As with anything by Ashbery, there are unwholesome things and things from which the reader runs away, but we marvel at the ingenuity nonetheless.

I, too, have always admired but never been bowled over by John Ashberry's work. With this work I am convinced he is our greatest American poet. Since I am familiar with Henry Darger's pictures and style, Ashberry's imagery seems natural even as it is surreal. The two share an aesthetic of using common cultural artifacts and twisting them so that even though you're staring right at them, you no longer recognize what you're seeing. It is a dream language, and Ashberry has never been so adept at navigating that territory. The poetry, like Darger's paintings, mix the pastoral and the apocalyptic, the innocent and the decadent with such unsettling virtuostic ease that you're not sure which is which. If I had to pick a poetry to compare it to, I might pick Blake--both for the lyric sweetness and hinted threats of "Innocence and Experience," and the cultural commentary/prophecy of his later, longer work. If, like me, your experience with Ashberry's work has left you shrugging, this os the place to start. I don't read much poetry anymore--this will reaffirm your faith in it.