This is a most enlightening book. It treats all aspects of the Holy Grail. The book traces the Grail from its most remote Celtic roots, through its early English history, and demonstrates how middle eastern thought came to influence the subject. The references cited by John Matthews are as impressive as they are extensive. The book is well written, scholarly, and entertaining. It is replete with meditative exercises designed to involve one in the Grail mystery, and benefit both oneself and the world by its uplifting and healing rays.

R. Alan Culpepper is most noted for his ground breaking literary study of John's Gospel, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel. This new work is not a verse by verse commentary, but rather an overview of the Gospel and letters of John. It is very good on the Gospel of John, but sketchy on the Johannine letters (only one chapter out of ten). His introductory material concerning the author and situation of the Gospel is a bit one-sided with little or no imput from any evangelical perspective, but it does introduce some of the problems associated with these issues. Chapter four, "The Gospel as Literature" with its theory of anagnoriseis or recognition scenes, is an excellent chapter when it comes to understanding the flow of this Gospel. Graphs and maps and sidebars seem to be the "in" feature of many new commentaries, sometimes overwhelming the actual commentary itself. Culpepper's sidebars are very judicious and actually very helpful.From a literary perspective this is certainly one of the best introductory commentaries overviewing John's Gospel around (again, the section on the Johannine letters is perhaps too brief).

Of all the books printed on the legend of the Holy Grail, this one has the best variety of artwork from the history of the myth. This book was also used by the prop makers of Henry Jones Sr.'s grail diary in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

From Abd al-Rahman III to zygian, this book is a wonderful resource of people and terms regarding ancient and medieval warfare up through the 1500's. It lists battles and wars, heroes, great commanders as well as ordinary fighting men. Some of the more important subjects are detailed in longer, separately boxed articles. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating is due to its lack of illustrations. Otherwise, a great book.

This guide is a must if you are planning to travel on your own. It provides all the basic information about eating, housing, archeological and religious sites and geographical features. But, the real worth of this handbook is the detailed information and maps showing you how to get to specific sites. There are also small detail maps of the sites themselves. This book also has the best geopolitical background information of any guidebook I have read. Such information is critical in understanding the people and in helping the traveler to avoid trouble.

I think it is a well written commentary. It gives good insights into the thoughts and culture of the OT period. It is not filled with the usual boring stuff. I think you will enjoy it

This is an interesting book of essays on John Ford's Westerns. A number of topics are covered, such as Ford's use of music, the relationship between Ford and Frederick Remington's image of the West, the way Ford depicts different ethnic groups in his films.

By and large, the authors are sympathetic to John Ford (a good thing in my mind) and they clearly appreciate the movies. I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 since there is some repetition among the different authors. (For example, everyone is compelled to discuss the last scene of "Fort Apache.") Still, it is a pleasure to read a jargon-free academic book on Ford's Westerns.

I am especially impressed by the innovative comments made on the Lockean theory on property by the author. While many philosophers have categorized the Lockean liberal theory as individualistic, the author has successfully enlightened us to reconsider Locke's theory. Through the critical analysis on Locke, the author concludes with two important points. First, Locke was not successful to justify private ownership by the notion of equality in the State of Nature. Secondly, based on the discovery that Locke failed to justify private property, the author put forward that the Lockean theory, though at the first glance be classified as individualist, "Locke's service as an apostle of individualism was merely part of his service as an apostle of collectivism." (p.318)

Great reproductions: gorgeous glowing colours in all their glory. Plodding text, though. Some good scholarly work - and for the first time Millais' later paintings are being taken with the seriousness they deserve. But that's about it really. We still get told the ol' story for the most part.

Buy it for he pictures (well worth it), for the information (worth it), but not the ideas (there aren't that many).

John Matthews' "The Mystic Grail: Challenge Of The Arthurian Quest" is a 96 page trade paperback. Published in 1997 by the Sterling Publishing Co. of NY, this work concerns itself with the allegorical holy grail of Celtic legend and Medieval romance. Beginning with Taliesin's poem of the Cauldron of Annwn and Chretien de Troyes' "Perceval, or The Story of the Grail", Matthews takes us on the quest for, if not the grail itself, then the reasons behind the legends and the actual quests for this object of antiquity. Unlike many analysts of the Arthurian quests for the grail, Matthews does not leave us with the trite answer that 'the meaning of the quest is not in it's achievement, but rather the lessons learned along the way' (which is true, but not the entire answer), but goes further, analyzing how the achievement - or lack thereof - in the quest changes the lives of those who seek it. The book contains not only quotes from the original tales, but also reproductions of early prints and lavish color reproductions of Medieval and Rennaisance grail art. This is a must for anyone interested in the subject of the Holy Grail and/or the Arthurian romances.