"India: Art and Culture 1300-1900" is actually a 478-page catalogue for the exhibition "INDIA !" held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rather than call it a catalogue, which can sometimes conjure up a negative image and diminish the importance of this effort, it would be more appropriate and accurate to call this a definitive tome on Indian Art. This specialized book presents three hundred thirty-three works representing Indian art from fourteenth through the nineteenth century. Author's love for art and his expertise are very obvious to the reader in the scholarly text and references accompanying each piece of work. Recipedelights.com thinks that this book is perfect for libraries, professional artists, art students, art lovers or Indian art buffs.

Stuart Cary Welch is THE acknowledged expert on Indian art. This is probably the best and most important introduction to the subject. There are nearly 200 colour pages and the text is informative without presuming too much knowledge in the reader. There is a good glossary and index plus selected bibliography for each chapter which deals with art from each selected period. I so badly wanted this book to add to my Moghul/Rajastan book collection that I ordered it directly from Mapin Publishing Pvt, Ahmedabad, India. They shipped it + 2 others airmail to Australia without charging me the full postage. This book should be on EVERYONE'S coffee table because it's beautiful and enlightening and stimulating and gorgeous and, well, just THE BEST BOOK on Indian art

This is one of the finest reference books I have had the pleasure to read. It is easy to understand, no far out explanations. I believe this book should be on the shelf of any and all investigators, new or old. The table of contents was very informative. You are taken from the history of this disipline, all the way to case study. Nothing is missed and you can carry the book by yourself!! Credit was properly given to those that were first, there was no attempt to make one believe the editors were the "first" to discover this disipline. Photos often assisted text. I believe this is necessary for those investigators who do not see this as much as others. There was even a glossary !! EXCELLENT WORK ! I look forward to treating my eyes to the next book by James & Eckert

Anyone involved in law enforcement or Crimial Law will cherish this informative, well written text. It takes a very complicated, mind numbing subject and pilots the reader in an organized, comprehensible manner to a well rounded understanding of the subject. This one should be required reading for all law students and Criminal Law practitioners. A Masterpiece!!!

I wanted to get a better idea of life processes as related to biochemistry. I found this textbook very helpful in strengthening my understanding of the subject. The textbook is well organized and not too complicated. I have chemistry background and was able to learn what I hadn't in the past. Thank you.

Very concise and well organized. I was able to comprehend the subject material like never before. Been reading 1982 edition, as it only edition available for me at this time. I'd like to see a later edition.

The title is slightly misleading-it is ideas that are always in conflict. The measure of Justice is how those conflicts are dealt with. The transformational concept presented by Hampshire is that which side of the argument prevails is not nearly as important as the system used to determine which side prevails. He observes that there are always arguments to be made on each side of a difference of opinion whether it be pro or anti abortion or pro or anti assisted suicide or pro or anti welfare state or pro or con on ethnic cleansing. The important thing to a civilized society is that when decisions are made on these issues that both winners and losers in the debate accept the outcome peacefully rather than degenerating into violence. The measure of Justice is the willingness of the interested parties to accept the result peacefully rather than resorting to violence. If there is to be any hope of peace in the world it is through the kind of Justice that Hampshire describes, where parties in conflict are willing to trust institutions rather than war to eventually determine which side will prevail. As a measure of Hampshire's power of persuasion, he won me over even though I am quite conservative while he describes himself as a liberal who holds a number of opinions on social issues I strongly disagree with.

Like the superb book "A Darwinian Left" by Peter Singer, this is a marvelous discourse on one of the fundamental principles of our society -- for anyone who wonders about the meaning of life, both are fascinating excursions into the realm of new thought.

This book is founded on an image out of the Middle Ages -- when two men, wrapped from head to toe in gleaming steel, carrying wicked lances, mounted on massive horses, charged full speed at each other to settle disputes about truth and justice in the confrontational medieval way.

That, in essence, is the basis of 'Justice is Conflict.' It's been the basis of Anglo-Saxon justice for at least a millennia, and for unknown hundreds of years before that. It's far from the idea that "might is right," instead it embodies that God is on the side of the just. Movies always depict it in that manner. From the meekest knight to the American fictional cowboy with a six-gun on his hip, justice always triumphs. It's a confrontational system of justice based on combat, as explained by Thomas Jefferson when he said he was not afraid to tolerate error "so long as reason is left free to combat it." The key word is "combat." Today, when lawyers challenge each other in court battles, they are staging a ritual re-enactment of those old jousts.

In contrast, the Navajo spirit of K'e emphasizes a consensus system of justice. The goal is not that God can be counted on to favor the just; instead, it is a search to find truth and thus assess blame properly. There's usually no clear "Guilty" and "Innocent" verdict; instead, blame is assessed on a proportional basis. In other words, even if you are guilty, perhaps you are only 90 percent guilty. Perhaps the other person did contribute somewhat to the problem. Perhaps the solution requires a compromise to achieve justice. Harmony, rather than win-loss absolutism, is prized.

Hampshire is undoubtedly correct in asserting that our society is based on the ethics of confrontation; he asserts this eternal "conflict" produced our modern world. He's very persuasive; and, as a friend used to say, "Interesting . . . if true." But, what was the situation a thousand years ago when Europe was the weakest and most backward region in the world. The question then, is whether transforming the direct confrontation system of justice into a careful and precise ritualized procedure made all the difference, or were other factors involved in European society becoming dominant.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Plato argued for the Navajo approach -- reason should be used to achieve agreement and harmony among warring ideas. That was at a time when society worshipped a pantheon of gods; two thousand years ago, the concept of a single God began to take hold. The same idea took hold in matters of justice; instead of a panopoly of truths, people began to seek one truth -- a person was either guilty or innocent, with no Mr. Inbetween. Justicfe became an all-or-nothing decision. Forget about the middle of the road, the only thing you find there are yellow stripes and dead armadillos. As Thomas Paine said in 1792 in 'The Rights of Man,' "moderation in principle is always a vice."

Hampshire, like Singer, goes to the heart of what makes our society tick -- perhaps. It's a book for readers who like to think about philosophy and the fundamental roots of our society. These books will make you think; for people who love ideas, Hampshire and Singer are two original thinkers. Both are eminently worth buying.

This is a great book. It should be a model of how historians approach the period. It is full of insightful detail such a quotes, vignettes and illustrations that illustrate Parr's life and her impact on society. The book is wonderful in striking a balance between the author's reflections on Parr's life, framing the historical times to give context and historical detail to support her conclusions.

So many books on the women of the English Renaissance seem to be written by little old ladies in Tropesshire, who rattle on about Virgin Queens, duty and stiff upper lips, that sort of tripe. The "see no evil, hear no evil, write no evil" school of history. Susan James's book is a refreshing departure from all that. I can only hope she takes on Elizabeth I as a subject after this book. A really modern, complete book on Elizabeth that has some semblance to historical reality has yet to be printed.

One, small detail, Susan James believe that Parr's daughter, Mary Seymour died before the age of two. She did not. She was placed in the home of another noble family. If she emails me, pfstreitz@aol.com, I'll tell her where Mary went.

This book has everything in it, from pillage and mayhem, royal murders, romance, sex and violence. And besides that, you're learning information never before published about the Tudor royal family. I thought Kateryn Parr was just a weepy widow who married a king and instead she turns out to be Scarlett O'Hara. What a surprise! A strong and well-presented book. Totally fascinating!

Author M. Young pulls together the evidence concerning James I's alleged sodomy and leaves it to the reader to decide.

one letter, by King James himself to Robert Carr in 1615, complains about a number of issues, including: "I leave out of this reckoning your long creeping back and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber, notwithstanding my many hundred times earnestly soliciting you to the contrary." (Young, p. 43)

Villiers, on anticipating his return to England from his Spanish posting, told King James: "I cannot now think of giving thanks for friend, wife, or child; my thoughts are only bent on having my dear Dad and Master's legs soon in my arms." (Young, p. 47)

while King James did write about sodomy as a "horrible" crime in his Basilikon Doron, "Sex with subordinates was a prereogative of patriarchy, and James was the chief patriach of the whole realm." (Young, p. 48) "James could have been perfectly earnest in condemning sodomy while simultaneously engaging in what we today would call homosexual behaviour" (Young, p. 49)--because the "legal definition [of sodomy] was extremely narrow. It specified only one sex act between men, anal intercourse, and excluded all other genital sex acts." Furthermore, as James is said to be "a notorious hypocrite where swearing and drinking were concerned; he could simply have been the same where sodomy was concerned." (Young, p. 50)

Did James play the hypocrite, preaching one thing fr one side of his face while whispering something else to his favourites? Perhaps no one will ever know on this side of heaven. It won't hurt to read Young's arguments and decide for yourself.

This is a really great book, entertaining and readable, yet also informative and educational.
It discusses both the personal history of King James (of the King James Bible fame) and public perception of homosexuality during 16th and 17th Century England.

For readers not already well acquainted with King James, such as myself, the opening chapter establishes his history. And it does a good job -- not only did it enable me to follow the rest of the book, but subsequent histories I've read of King James didn't add anything surprising, meaning it was sufficiently thorough.

The next chapters examine the evidence that James had sex with his male favorites, what the court and subjects thought about it, along with the various terms, codes and historical analogies that James' contemporaries could discourse about sex between males.
Subsequent chapters discuss the relationship between homosexuality, effeminacy and pacifism vs. heterosexuality, masculinity and war, how James's homosexuality affected the reign of his son, Charles, and what contemporary and later writers said about James's sexuality, concluding with comments on the general history of homosexuality.

Fascinating book. It has an element of the tabloid (with juicy excerpts from James' love letters) while also very thought-provoking. I have purely a layman's interest in the subject, and I had no trouble following the author's language or arguments. For more serious historians and researchers, everything is very thoroughly footnoted and annotated.

I *HIGHLY* recommend it.

A very thorough and perceptive analysis of the Reign of James VI of Scotland, later to be James I of England. Patterson's depiction of James as a conciliatory force within British Christendom is well supported in this excellent period history. Articulate and intellectually stimulating.

Dr. Patterson's King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom is a significant contribution to the volume of works written about early 17th Century . The work shows that James tried to acheive an ecumenical union among the fractured states of Europe in a century that saw one crisis after another. The incredible amount of research that went into this book is clearly evident. This would make an excellent addition to anyone's library.

A very well- rounded introduction to a period of British history that should be better known. The author strikes a good balance between the political narrative and his coverage of the social, economic, cultural, and military developments of the age. This book should be accessible to anyone with a serious interest in this period in European history.

Writes Professor Roger Hainsworth, formerly of Adelaide University, South Australia: Students of English history will welcome this new volume in the New Oxford History of England series.1689-1727 is a very significant period for the history of the British people and indeed it proved important to many European people also for this reason: during it Britain became a great power and in the process the growing hegemony of France over western Europe was first confronted, fought against and finally halted. More of this later. Dr. Hoppit, although his eye is undimmed by romantic illusions about past eras, has a positive tale to tell. He writes that in late seventeen and early eighteenth century England "political discord was contained and then undermined. Warfare was endured and survived. Britain's empire was extended and its value increased. Population began slowly to grow. Many towns flourished. Agriculture, industry and commerce all showed signs of expansion .... society was not stagnant, it was on the move." This favourable assessment might have astonished contemporaries both at home and abroad. They still perceived England as politically unstable, riven by party ("faction"), and menaced by the apparently unbridgeable dynastic dispute between the Jacobite supporters of the exiled James II and then of his son (the Old Pretender) and the Whig and Orange Tory supporters of William III, Anne and the Protestant Succession (the Hanoverians). Meanwhile the British state was menaced by growing poor rates, menacing numbers of unemployed, seemingly endless foreign wars, and a growing mountain of debt: all presided over by a government which appeared more powerful and uncheckable every year and was backed by that worst of all English nightmares: a permanent army. Dr. Hoppit explores these fears and traumas incisively and expertly and makes it clearer than it perhaps has ever been made before why the positive developments prevailed and the worst fears ebbed away. The fundamental problem for historians of the period is to explain how England become a great power during the reigns of William III and Anne. Cromwell's disciplined army and a powerful navy had made England a great power fleetingly during the 1650s. However, there was no way to finance these prodigies on a long term basis. The restored Charles II almost went broke disbanding these extravagant instruments of power. England's resurgence in the two decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1689 astonished foreign observers who had believed, reasonably enough, that England's small population doomed it to the side-lines of European politics. In a long contest between Britain and France surely there could be only one result? England with Wales had only about 5.25 million in 1700. Scotland had 1.23 million and Ireland about 2 million. France, the most populous country in Europe (including Russia) had 22 million. These bare statistics proved deceptive. Although eighty per cent of England's population were rural dwellers, almost thirty per cent of the population were engaged in some form of industry. Manchester was then only a large village but Defoe estimated it provided "outside" employment to 40,000 weavers and allied trades. In fact England was the most urbanised country in Europe and if this was partly because ten per cent of the people lived in London her urbanisation was to increase hugely during the eighteenth century while London's population stagnated. Industrial strength and a powerful navy were gradually joined by a formidable army. During Anne's reign it would be led by one of history's greatest commanders who was also a remarkable diplomat and builder of alliances: the Duke of Marlborough. The financial problems of the mid seventeenth century were resolved by taxation passed freely if grumpily by the House of Commons which had now become a permanent institution of state rather than an irregular occurrence. The taxes funded that unusual novelty the National Debt which was partly managed by an enlarged Treasury assisted by an inspired creation, the Bank of England. The two great European wars of the period weakened the Continental powers, especially France, but left Britain stronger than when she entered them. Many speculated about this paradox but no great power seemed able to copy the method even supposing they understood it. All these matters receive due attention in this volume. So also does a range of other important topics: the remarkable growth of parliamentary government which in time would make possible the political peace of Sir Robert Walpole's long prime ministership during the 1720s; the decline into impotence of the Jacobites; the astonishing efflorescence of a print culture of books, newspapers and pamphlets; the slow decline of the Anglican hegemony in the face of stubborn Dissenters and ideas of religious tolerance; the extraordinarily rich burst of public and private building ranging from Wren's St Paul's to Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor's masterpieces (Castle Howard and Blenheim the best known of many); and the steady advance of pragmatic, experimental science. This last owed much to one man and in a fine passage Hoppit writes that the year his period ends is better defined not by the death of George I but by the death aged 84 of one of his subjects. Interred like a prince in Westminster Abbey with the Lord Chancellor, two dukes and three earls among his pall-bearers, he was Sir Isaac Newton. That indeed was the end of an era. This is a worthy addition to a very collectable series. There are the minor flaws often found when the author has to shoehorn a complex discourse into a confined space. Stylistic faults occasionally jar and infelicities of sentence structure ("there were those (such as Locke had done) who strongly argued ...") often require the reader to turn back to disentangle the sense. However, Dr. Hoppit's text is informative, interesting, thought-provoking and engrossing. He has explored the diverse facets of his subject with care and sensitivity to their nuances. All students of this significant period will be in his debt for decades to come. Had it been put in my hands when I was studying this period as an undergraduate I would have gnawed on it like a famished wolf.

How does one review and "objectively" critique-with language-a book about the nature and the limitations of language? If you've ever heard the phrase, "the map is not the territory" you will understand and appreciate and possibly even "feel" its deeper meaning by the time you have finished reading this book. True, as another reviewer stated, _Levels_ is not a primer of General Semantics but it is a fluid, easy to read introduction to Count Korzybski's incredible exploration into the nature of language and its impact on human perception at so many levels. Count Korzybski was a mathematician who understood that physicists use mathematics to describe physical events and phenomena. Therefore, there was a one to one correspondence between numbers and reality. This was not the case between language and reality. In addition to describing actual events, language can be used to generate lies, fictions, illusions, ideas. General Semantics explore this phenomenon and its impact on human perception and behaviors. Professor Weinberg is by far the most lucid of Korzybski's "students". After finishing _Levels_ I became so interested in GS that I got my hands on Korzbyski's _Science and Sanity_ a much tougher read. But much easier to follow after reading Weinberg. Essentially, as humans we experience events, objects, actions, and the universe. But we share our experiences and communicate them with language. Language is a man-made tool. As such it is as flawed as its creators. For example on any given day I can go outside, walk to the park. There I will see and hear a boy throwing a stick to his dog. The dog retrieves the stick and returns it to the boy. I can attempt to describe this experience with more and more infinite detail but I will never be able to convey my exact experience to anyone. What sensations raced through my mind moment by moment as I witnessed these events? What colors did I see, what smells did my nose alert to, what weather conditions did my skin feel, what sounds traveled through my ears into my brain, what memories did these experiences elicit, how did these memories color my experience at the moment? What words did I select to describe my experience and why? Do static words ever suffice to describe fluid experiences satisfactorily? This is Proustian stuff but dissected brilliantly by Weinberg. And this occurs in the opening chapters! Now consider. I just gave you words, a "map", about a boy and a dog, not "the" experience, the territory, the actuality. Did the "experience" as described actually happen? I wrote a map, but is the "territory" a mere fiction? Consider this thesis: Our social and personal mental conditioning, including neurosis and possibly psychosis (?)-some "mental illnesses" at any rate- may be the results of our inability to distinguish words from actual events, to a confusion of "the map with the territory." Consider: We make inferences, speculations and generalizations-"maps"-based on past experiences. These past experiences are legitimate "territory". They happened. But what is the result of behaving as if the "maps" are the "territory"? We now act out under the impression that our speculations, our generalizations and beliefs derived from past experiences are actual. They are in fact mere ideas, our preconceptions, our prejudices and our biases. And we behave using these as our guides into the future.

The above is a loaded paragraph;Weinberg explains it all for you. Were this book to be written with a nineties title, I would call it _Reality for Dummies._ The second half of the book is heady stuff and pushes the envelope into describing Zen. For a better intro to Zen I prefer Alan Watt's _The Book on the taboo against knowing who you are_. (A book I read twenty years ago and have been contemplating reviewing but a book better to experience than review...) Weinberg's chapter headings make sense and their logic grasped as one reads the final sentences of that particular chapter! By the time one has read and grasped the first one hundred and twenty pages I can guarantee that your IQ will have increased by at least 5 points. How this dynamic happens eludes me to this day. As Weinberg and Korzbyski would say, it is something that must be experienced... In a further mind-blowing vein Weinberg (and Korzybski) debunk 2000 years of Western philosophies. Essentially, these philosophies may be linguistic traps and do little to illuminate the human condition. Very seditious reading... It is too bad that this book is not better known or popularly read. Perhaps it is a sign of the times. I would hope that in the future this book would not only be rediscovered and appreciated for the cultural treasure that I found it to be but would become recommended reading in every high school. The college, academic experience would be so much richer. For those who end their academic experiences at high school, I would think that this book would greatly expand their life appreciation skills. A final, personal anecdote: after reading this book I found it easy to segue into Gary Zukav's _The Dancing Wu Li Masters._ Enjoy.

This book has a lucid, plain style that explains general semantics well. Adherents of general semantics seek "consciousness of abstracting," an awareness derived from science of human limitations.

Chapter headings include: Introduction, Some Basic Concepts, Some Limitations of Language, The Abstracting Process, Some Consequences of Process Thinking, Consciousness Of Abstracting, The Value Of Values, Semantitherapy, Religion, and Structure And Function In Cybernetics And General Semantics.

The author says that the book is not intended as a general semantics primer, but I recommend it highly for the beginner, as well as for the more advanced student