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Book reviews for "Joseph,_Henry" sorted by average review score:

Joseph Andrews and Shamela
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press (1988)
Authors: Henry Fielding and Douglas Brooks-Davies
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Joseph Andrews and Shamela
Romping good fun and sharply satirical. Fielding has none of the puritanical prejudices of his contemporary and rival Samuel Richardson.Rather he gives a graphic, humourous and insightful glimpse of eighteenth century rural shannanigans. Both stories are to some extent a response to Richardson's goodie goodie novel Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, Shamela in fact so much so- mimicking then epistulatory narrative and burlesquing the characters and style of the original novel- that you'll miss most of the jokes unless you've read Richardson first. Jospeh Andrews is far more substantial and rewarding containing the full range both of Fielding's humour and social concerns. Vividly presenting the self-serving cynicism of English society his particular speciality lies in puncturing pomposity by comically abrupt opposistions between what his characters preach and practise. Detached, sarcastic and well-read Fielding somehow manages to mix slapstick with Homer, blend eupheimism with innuendo and mangle anyone that he has a grudge against. A novel of the road- if you liked this, you'll love Tom Jones.

Funny!
I loved this book. The adventures of Joseph Andrews are colourful and riotous. Highly recommended! Shamela, however, is a lesser work. It is a bawdy caricature of Samuel Richardson's "Pamela". Amusing, but slight.


Black Man Emerging: Facing the Past and Seizing a Future in America
Published in Hardcover by W H Freeman & Co (1999)
Authors: Joseph L. White, James Henry III Cones, and James H. Cones
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Miles To Go Before We Sleep
Black Man Emerging: Facing the Past and Seizing a Future in America is a seminal text on the issues facing black men today.


Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Published in Paperback by Hippocrene Books (1998)
Authors: Henry Joseph Scott, Joseph Scott, and Lenore Scott
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nice reprint of 1968 edition
This book provides a history of Egyptian writing, scribes, hieroglyphs, grammar, numbers and gods. It also includes an interesting section of English-hieroglyphs vocabulary. The authors tell the readers about the decipherment of the ancient language and its importance. Well illustrated, this is a wonderful introductory book, for new students.


Group Portrait: Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, and H.G. Wells
Published in Paperback by Carroll & Graf (1990)
Author: Nicholas Delbanco
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An interesting perspective on five literary greats
Thanks for scholars like Nicholas Delbanco who hunt down biographical details that enrich our knowledge of famous authors lives. Here is a book that offers a savory meal for the literary gourmet. Henry James liked donuts. Stephen Crane chain smoked. Conrad the English stylist spoke with a thick Polish accent. Ford Madox Ford embellished his recollections with untruths. H. G. Wells treated offers of help with cocky independence.

The author contends that for a certain interval these men associated with and admired each others literary accomplishments. "South of London in 1900, a galaxy of talent assembled that beggars in accomplishment anything the English language has since produced." He provides quotations and photographs that demonstrate social intercourse between the big five. Between the initial overview and the concluding summary, three chapters provide respectively a view of Stephen Crane on a visit to England to meet the other masters of ficti! onal prose, a study of the collaboration between Ford Madox Ford and Joseph Conrad, and an examination of one of English literature's most famous disputes - James vs. Wells.

I found the book informative and interesting and recommend it to any admirer of any of the five writers singularly or in combination. About those we admire our curiosity is insatiable. Did Shakespeare like his eggs over easy or sunny side up? We have his Hamlet, his Lear, isn't that enough? Some might say no. We have Crane's "Open Boat", Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", Ford's *Good soldier, James' *Ambassadors, Wells' *Time Machine*. Still, it's natural to inquire about the virtues, quirks, and foibles of their creators. *Group Portrait* gives us a taste of the traits that rounds out these illustrious authors.

A sad epilogue to which Mr. Delbanco refers in his lead chapter is that this literary summer was so brief. Crane died in 1900. Eventually the other associations wither! ed. By 1906 the friendship between Conrad and Ford had coo! led. *Boon* published in 1915 dissolved Wells' ties to James with its ridicule of the latter. For a while there was Camelot albeit a loose confederacy of brilliant writers. A genius needs a tough ego to sustain him for the long haul to fortune and fame. An alternate lesson from *Group portrait, perhaps one not intended, but nevertheless patent, is that collaboration must eventually give way to ego.


The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams: And, an Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (Oxford World's Classics)
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press (1999)
Authors: Henry Fielding, Douglas Brooks-Davies, Tom Keymer, and Thomas Keymer
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unreservedly recommended
So I was getting ready to reread Don Quijote (1605)(Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616) in the excellent Burton Raffel translation and as I was looking for information about the book and author, saw repeated references to Fielding's Joseph Andrews. I'd read his Tom Jones a couple of years ago and found it kind of tough sledding, but when I stumbled upon this one at a library book sale for a quarter, it seemed a stroke of destiny.

The parallels with Don Quijote are readily apparent. First of all, the book consists of a series of humorous travel adventures; second, the travellers involved seem too innocent to survive in the harsh world that confronts them. When Joseph Andrews, the naive footman of Lady Booby, deflects the amorous advances of both her Ladyship and Slipslop, the Lady's servant, he is sent packing. Upon his dismissal, Joseph, along with his friend and mentor Parson Adams, an idealistic and good-hearted rural clergyman, who essentially takes the physical role of Sancho Panza but the moral role of Quijote, sets out to find his beloved but chaste enamorata, Fanny Goodwill, who had earlier been dismissed from Lady Booby's service as a result of Slipslop's jealousy. In their travels they are set upon repeatedly by robbers, continually run out of funds and Adams gets in numerous arguments, theological and otherwise. Meanwhile, Fanny, whom they meet up with along the way, is nearly raped any number of times and is eventually discovered to be Joseph's sister, or maybe not.. The whole thing concludes with a farcical night of musical beds, mistaken identities and astonishing revelations.

I've seen this referred to as the first modern novel; I'm not sure why, in light of it's obvious debt to Cervantes. But it does combine those quixotic elements with a seemingly accurate portrayal of 18th Century English manners and the central concern with identity and status do place it squarely in the modern tradition.

At any rate, it is very funny and, for whatever reason, seemed a much easier read than Tom Jones. I recommend it unreservedly.

GRADE: B+


Hypertension Primer: The Essentials of High Blood Pressure
Published in Paperback by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers (2000)
Authors: Joseph L. Izzo, Henry R. Black, and American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure Research
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A great book to get things clear
This is a great book because it sets thing clear for the student, the researcher, and the doctor. Although nowadays it is hard to be up-to-date without a journal on the specific subject we are interested in, this book does the best to explain the basics of hypertension and the ultimate advances that have been made on the subject, at least by the year it was published. It's easy to understand and it's very well structured so as to find the theme we are looking for as fast as possible.


Joseph Smith an American Prophet
Published in Hardcover by Deseret Books (1989)
Authors: John Henry Evans and John H., III Evans
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An honest man
This book covers Joseph Smith's personal, political, and religious life. When you are finished reading it, you cannot deny that Joseph Smith was an honest man.


Palladio's Architecture and Its Influence: A Photographic Guide
Published in Paperback by Dover Pubns (1980)
Authors: Joseph C. Farber and Henry Hope Reed
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Excellent Introduction to the Life & Works of Palladio
I became acquainted with the works of Palladio after taking an art history class that focused on the relevant time period. I was impressed with his designs but a little surprised that Palladio is not given much recognition by those outside of the world of architecture. This book helps, at least in some ways, to set things right.

This book includes a brief biography on Andrea Palladio with insight on his _The Four Books of Architecture_. It also mentions the introduction that many Americans have to Palladian architecture-Thomas Jefferson. The scope of his influence on Jefferson is evident simply by looking at Monticello and the University of Virginia.

The authors divide Palladio's works into three categories: villas, palaces and churches. They also include Palladian designs in England, Scotland and America. Each design is profiled with pictures and given roughly 2 - 4 paragraphs of description. The information provided is easy to read but not so simplistic that it seems superficial. The photographs are excellent and often show fascinating detail. Unfortunately though, all photos are b/w and sometimes color would have been helpful. That reason and the basic nature of the text caused me to rate this at four stars rather than five. Experts and scholars should look elsewhere unless they are only after the illustrations. For students and casual observers, this book is a fantastic way to begin learning about Palladio.


Party Leaders; Sketches of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John Randolph, of Roanoke, Including Notices of Many Oth
Published in Hardcover by Ayer Co Pub (1972)
Author: Joseph Glover Baldwin
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Party Leaders;Sketches
Written in 1854 and published the next year,this book is fascinating in providing personal sketches of distinguished Americans Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson,Henry Clay and John Randolph with many references to other prominent men who were their contemporaries. The author's
analysis is interesting not only in the spirited description of the individuals profiled but in his comparison of each of them with their political antagonists. The unique perspective he brings a man whose life overlapped some of these figures is worth a read for history or politics buffs. His admiration and defense of some he buttresses with argument. His passion is clear.
His oratorical style is typical of the time yet conveys a vivid impression of his subjects, and reminds one of a time before soundbites and simple words geared to a mass audience.


Henry David Thoreau
Published in Hardcover by Greenwood Publishing Group (1993)
Author: Joseph Wood Krutch
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OK, but not the best Thoreau biography
I had read and enjoyed other essays by Joseph Wood Krutch before I ventured on to this biography of Henry David Thoreau, and I must admit that I was surprised and disappointed. The writing is fine, the essence of Thoreau appears, the major life details are all there, and Krutch is obviously familiar with his subject matter. But whenever he quotes the naturalist, he never includes specific citations locating those words. How frustrating for any reader who is enticed here by a turn of phrase or an idea and wants to pick up _Walden_ or Thoreau's _Journal_ to find them for himself / herself! If other sources or friends like Ralph Waldo Emerson or Ellery Channing are quoted, no further information on origin is provided. We have no clue where Krutch found those communications. He wasn't in Concord in the mid-1800s, so he must be repeating words written in other documents or published works. For the casual reader, maybe this major omission is not a problem. If you just want the basics of Thoreau's life and philosophies and writings, then maybe this volume is enough for you. But with no citation notes and no credits and no bibliography, I found it wasn't enough for me.


If you are sincerely interested in the man who is most often identified with Walden Pond and with the concept of civil disobedience, then pick up one of the classic biographies of him -- either _The Days of Henry Thoreau_ by Walter Harding or _Thoreau_ by Henry Seidel Canby. Those two volumes are a little longer and more extensive than Krutch's (especially Canby's), but they will serve you better. I believe they serve Thoreau better as well.

Knowing Thoreau: A Rich Assessment of His Mind and Character
Joseph Wood Krutch, professor and conservationist, paints a word portrait of one of the great minds of American literature. Using source material from Henry David Thoreau's better known works, including Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, as well as depth materials from Thoreau's Journals, Krutch lets us inside Thoreau's thoughts and character. "Rich and full bodied", "an ornament of contemporary American criticism", and "brilliant" characterize the reviews from Dell Publishing, Saturday Review, and Commonweal. Rich and full bodied because Krutch carefully weaves a deepening apprehension of the dimension of the man through carefully selected examples of the way Thoreau's mind and thought process worked. An ornament because few critics capture the spirit let loose here. And brilliant because the book is packed with new information and insights. For any fan of Thoreau, and of good contemporary criticism, this is must reading.


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