Simon Schama's "Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations)" is an interesting foray into the murky realm of historiography. The book is comprised of two "tales:" that of General James Wolfe who (purportedly) meets his end at the Battle of Quebec in 1759 and that of George Parkman, a Harvard Professor who met a grisly end in 1849 - which Schama treats as an historical "murder mystery."

Critics of this work charge that Schama has engaged in historical chicanery by incorporating fiction into both accounts and has, thus, mucked up the waters of what is a proper "history." To this, Schama admits so much in his text and also admits to that being his point.

What is interesting is Schama's attempt to stake out a dividing line between what is "historical fact" and what is "historical fiction" and in so doing, obliterate that line. After all, historical fiction is based upon "historical fact" and many historians have written histories based upon "historical fact" that were modified or even overturned after those "historical facts" were proven to be inventions of fiction.

We have a certain reliance on a consistent historical past "reality" or else we run into an Orwellian 1984 reality of a constantly changing historical past. Yet, we can never be quite certain of the "facts" that make up our histories and as Schama puts it:

"... historians are left forever chasing shadows, painfully aware of their inability ever to reconstruct a dead world in its completeness, however thorough or revealing their documentation. Of course they make do with other work: the business of formulating problems, of supplying explanations about cause and effect. But the certainty of such answers always remains contingent on their unavoidable remoteness from their subjects. We are doomed to be forever hailing someone who has just gone around the corner and out of earshot." (p. 320)

"Dead Certainties" is an engaging and thoughtful piece of scholarship/literature that should be taken as such - and as such, it is not perfect.

A few years ago, I became a professional social scientist. As such, I became tangled in the beginning...what is truth? I never figured it out, but I had to go to work and earn a living so I took up the viewpoint that seemed most reasonable --material empiricism -- and began documenting my version of truth and getting it published.

In DEAD CERTAINTIES (UNWARRENTED SPECULATION), Simon Schama raises important questions about the truth of history. How do historians know what really happened? Well the truth is, they don't. At best, our reconstructions of the past are partial truths. They are partial truths because no one is free from prejudice. They are partial truths, because try as we might to be objective, we cannot help but place our own interpretation on "facts." They are partial truths because eye witnesses to history seldom know all the "facts." They are partial truths because language is alive and word meanings change over time. And, they are partial truths because eye witnesses often lie.

What really happened in the past times? In recent years, new historical practicioners have begun to revisit primary materials and attempt to piece together their version of what these documents tell them. This revisionist history has it's supporters, but in the end, who is to say their interpretations are free of bias and agenda?

In DEAD CERTAINTIES Schama revisits the story of Wolfe the British hero of the 1700's on the 'Heights of Abraham' in Canada. Probably every Canadian school child of my generation, plus a few Americans, remembers the words, "Wolfe the dauntless hero came and planted firm Britannia's flag on Canada's fair domain." I don't know if it's still politically correct to sing these words in Canada, but I believe at one time they were the words to the national anthem.

Everyone who's ever taken a course in art has probably seen a photograph of Benjamin West's monumental painting "The Death of General Wolfe." It is a magnificent painting of a beautiful young man in the last agony of life, looking toward a distant and dramatic horizon. The painting has inspired generations of Canadians to national patriotism. The painting supposedly depicts the last hour of General Wolfe. Schama says, "Not so fast." He then goes on to tell as best he can given the material at hand, what he believes happened on that fateful day when General Wolfe met his maker (maybe he did, maybe he didn't).

The book also contains a second "story" about a murder that took place in New England in the last century. This "story" reads like a detective fiction. Schama demonstrates though his own research who he thinks the real killer was. It is an excellent read even if you don't like history.

This book sheds a little light on historiography--how historians have framed history in the past and how they go about it today. The book should be required reading for anyone who wants to know more about history and how it is written.

This book explores the boundary between recounting the past and creating the past. The writing is beautiful, the ideas are well-delineated, and the examples are compelling. The book chews over common themes in historigraphy, but thus author makes them accessible to the general public. Wonderfully written and unforgettable, this book will certainly give you food for thought. And it will make a better reader of straight history.

Great starting point for anyone looking to discover the history of the Celts. This book is also accompanied by many illustrations and photos. I enjoyed reading it

I read the paperback edition of this book, but this account of the Celtic life and its interaction with the Roman Empire is much like a walk through a prominent museum. The sections are succinct and strike a fair balance between archeological/anthropological fact and general interest. The time frame and breadth of countries are far-reaching. However, I thought the author was adept at linking it all and keeping continuity in a "plot line" that spanned nearly a millenium.
The book is well illustrated and as much time can be invested in addressing the illustrations as reading the text. Essentially the book explains the provenance of those with Western European roots and underscores, again, how markedly the Roman Empire influenced what was to become modern Europe.

"The World of the Celts" is an excellent if somewhat superficial survey of Celtic history. The narrative focuses on the period from the emergence of Celtic culture in the first millennium BC through the collapse of the western Roman Empire, but it also touches upon the preservation and revival of Celtic culture through modern times.

The book is at times a bit dry--it's more like an encyclopedia or a series of brief topical essays than a sustained narrative. Having said that, the subject matter is very interesting and the short "chapters" make the book easy to pick up and read as time permits.

The photographs and drawings are especially remarkable. They really helped me to appreciate the enormous artistic accomplishments of the Celts.

Very nicely done biography, Simon seems to be a meticulous, sympathetic critic of her subjects. While I enjoyed reading about this legendary figure in American philosophy and psychology, I ended up being less impressed by him than before. Such disenchantment is probably the hallmark of reading a good biography, as it necessarily brings the mighty down to fallible human dimensions. I had always wondered what it was about the James household that produced such a noteworthy novelist and such a thoughtful philosopher--it turns out that inept dysfunction is the source of this family genius. Their father, at least through Simons's interpretation, seems a very unlikable figure--a passive-aggressive tyrant who would constantly move his family from place to place rather than have them come to develop roots and mentors beyond his control. Sadly, this tactic generated in his family a doubt of self that could lead to such insights as those his two most prominent boys seemed to understand in all its nuances. While we may appreciate their hard-won insights, it doesn't seem any fun to have suffered through them as each of his children did for all their lives. The book provides a complex look at a figure who for all his knowledge remained an embattled, unsatisfied self-critic--like all the best thinkers, I suppose.

Of all the James biographies, I enjoyed this one the best. As a female English teacher, Simon has a triple advantage in understanding and conveying Jame's life as it might have been. For starters, her writing skills are simply amazing. The book was very clear and enjoyable to read. Secondly, Simon provides us with a portrait of James we rarely see: that is, James as husband and father. In the past, the role Jame's wife and sister played in the formation of his character and thought passed by completely unnoticed, or was ignored. As important as those two figures were in James life, they cannot be ignored. Lastly, Simon's own experiences as a university teacher may have contributed to her portrait of James as university professor - another aspect of James often overlooked. The result of this triple-advantage is one powerful biography, unlike anything ever written about this Philosopher. More than any book, this one provides the reader with a sense of who James really was as a person, and for that I gave it 5 stars.

The truly great men in early American history, in my humble opinion, are as follows:

Thomas Jefferson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
William James

Because of their intense individualism, idealistic views, and unique personalities, their writings, thoughts and ideas continue to affect western civilzation into the 21st century. Let me just say at the start - I'm not proposing a forum for argument, debating the worth and influence of one historical figure against another - these are men who have shaped my life in lasting ways - particularly the psychologist, philosopher and teacher, William James.

If you are interested in the works and life of this noble individual, ~Genuine Reality~ is a good place to begin. Linda Simon is an adept biographer and this book reflects her skill, understanding and love for the subject. It was refreshing to read a biography without the once fashionable 'psychoanalytical method' of interpreting history: inserting the Oedipus complex or hints of homoeroticism into the work. This method gets tedious and more reveals the biographer's mind than the subject. It is obvious that Simon wanted to approach James from a pragmatic perspective and she succeeded in showing James' life, warts and all, more specifically, however, his inspiring personality, compulsive curiosity and genuine love of life.

Similar to most people of genius, James' life was indeed a contradiction, at times almost enigmatic. He realized early on, that to rivet one's thought or perspective to a single dogma, to close one's mind to the infinite possibilities of existence, was to commit intellectual and spiritual suicide. Thus his thoughts are mercurial, bouncing from one possible view to another, always searching, investigating with an incessant vigour of a child. Following the works of Heraclitus, Henri Bergson, and aspects of Fredric Nietzche, James' 'Pluralism' is a philosophy of affirmation, transformation and becoming. Rallying against the Platonic and Aristotelian belief that fixity has more worth than change, he proposed that life or existence is not fixed at all but involved in an on-going state of flux: the operating word is change. And his life certainly reflects this perspective, as Simon writes:

"He was a scientist with a disposition of a philosopher and a philosopher with the perspective of an artist. He was convinced of his own essential complexity: certain that his public personality contradicted a hidden, more authentic self. He championed the new, he hungered for astonishment."

At the core of James' view of life is to maintain a continual openness to our existence: attempt to create a kind of vital joy to life's infinite possibilities. In other terms, do not sit back and merely observe, but get your hands dirty, engage, and life will give back to you many fold.

~Genuine Reality~ is an important contribution to American history. Linda Simon is a genuine biographer with transparent humility, more concerned with presenting her subject as it is, rather than trying to show off her knowledge, wit and writing skills. All too often, biographer's egos get in the way: they become so involved in revealing their intellectual capacity, the subject of the biography falls by the wayside. Not so with this text.

This book is an intimate portrayal of a great man's life: his interesting and unusual family, his work and relationships, and his sometimes-underrated contribution to philosophy. Out of all of James' writings, there is a line that showed me, in essence, the true character of the man:

"Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and Not be found out. I will do two things I Don't want to do."

This biography is recommended without reservation.

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories is a classic example of the way society's turn to political correctness can in turn ruin our cherished tales. The storyline is altered which takes away from the ending and leaves the reader thinking "this story was much better the first time I heard it."

Loved this! Could not put it down...and the three pigs...can we ever think the same about that great story from our youth again?! So what if the endings have been changed, it just gives the point added strength that when we become so obsessed with "correctness" what we get is not always the best and meaning then does indeed become lost. Hope to get more "spin" on tales that I grew up with!

In a time when everything is trying to become politcally correct, it's not amazing that this book, "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories" came out earlier. This book takes the politically incorrectness attitude of our beloved children stories and rewrites them in a witty manner parallel to that of one of Dennis Miller's Rant. I mean the ability to take the cute three little pigs and turn them into an oppressed society of quadreped swine who liberate themselves from the tyrannical strangle hold of the wolf shows character but saterizes our please-everyone society that is just a facad for a totalitarianism, capitalistic, imperialistic nation that plans to put the world in a testicular, death grip that turns you blue triggering every nerve ending. Or maybe it's just a hilarious book. That's just what I think; I could be wrong

This was an excellent reading of this classic in Christian spirituality. The book itself is one of the foundations of contemplative prayer and was written for the more advanced. Even for us children in contemplation it is wonderful. The only problem with this tape is that it is abridged. This is such an important book it should be available in its complete state. (Publishers please read or listen to the intiial warnings of this unknown author).

I believe that this is a very important book

This book is trying to get the big picture, and William O. Douglas climbing mountains is one of its dramatic themes. The most interesting part of the book for me was how much trouble Justice Douglas could create for the rest of the U. S. Supreme Court and those who believe that law ought to conform to their ideal of an orderly administration of justice. In the middle of June, 1953, Justice Douglas issued a stay of execution for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, thinking, "The Rosenbergs' indictment, trial and sentence had been under the wrong law, the Espionage Act of 1917. ... And under the Atomic Energy Act, a judge could impose the death penalty only on the recommendation of the jury and only with a showing that the offense had been committed with intent to injure the United States." (p. 306). Then "Justice Douglas left Washington and headed west by car, thinking that his stay would remain in effect until the full Court could hear arguments during the fall term." (p. 307). Justice Robert Jackson "suggested that his stay was an attempt to play to his liberal constituency with a popular solo performance." (p. 299). Justice Jackson's law clerk, William H. Rehnquist had written a three-page memorandum in which the political context was considered:

... the public opinion which has voiced itself in favor of the Rosenbergs is not even properly called `left-wing' in the sense that the respectable liberal group in this country is behind it. It is a tiny minority of lunatic fringers and erratic scientist-sentimentalists. (p. 303).

Justice Jackson was willing to hear the Rosenberg case so "the Court would save itself embarrassment and put to rest any doubts about the fairness of the Rosenberg trial" (p. 303) when Douglas had threatened to issue a memorandum "agreeing with the Court of Appeals that some of the conduct on the United States Attorney was `wholly reprehensible'," (p. 302) but Douglas wasn't willing to act in the case until he found some reason to believe that the Rosenbergs might be able to win. On June 19, "When it was clear that a Court majority would not uphold the stay under any conditions, Justice Burton cast his vote with the majority, making the vote six to three." (p. 310). The Court's decision was, "The Atomic Energy Act did not repeal or limit the provisions of the Espionage Act. Accordingly, we vacate the stay entered by Mr. Justice Douglas on June 17, 1953." June 19 must have been a Friday, because "Out of respect for the Jewish Sabbath, the scheduled execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg on the evening of June 19 was moved up from the original 11:00 p.m. time" so it was all over by 8:16 p.m. (p. 311). Justices Black, Frankfurter and Douglas wrote dissenting opinions which "made a shambles of the majority's easy conclusions." (p. 311). That should be pretty easy to do, for anyone who was born with a brain and isn't afraid to be considered one of the lunatic fringers.

The world lost a very special person on February 8th, 1998. I remember hearing of his death the day after it happened and it was the first time I felt truly sad at the passing of someone I had never met. Julian Simon was an economist who studied a broad range of issues but he will most certainly be remembered for his breakthrough work in population economics, showing that population growth correlates with increases in human well being, not decreases. Simon turned doomsayers like Thomas Malthus on their heads and was dubbed the "doomslayer" in a Wired Magazine interview about a year before his death.

Although Simon died well before publication, his wife, Rita, was able to put together this book, working from about 900 (!) pages of manuscript that Julian wrote before his death. Unfortunately, the book seems to suffer a bit from poor editing and typographical mistakes, but that's a minor nit. I'm not a fan of biographies in general, so much of the childhood years bored me, but the chapters on his career and research are fascinating and, alas, way too short. I couldn't help but get the feeling that there were mounds of interesting anecdotes on his career and research that were left out for space reasons. It's too bad; most people who would read it would be most interested in that part. Fortunately, unlike some other autobiographies written by economists, Simon does discuss how he evolved in his thinking over the years

The book covers all the areas that Simon is well known for, including population studies, immigration, treatment of depression, advertising and the mail order business and, of course, Simon's brilliant idea for solving the problem of overbooked planes. This last item was a stroke of genius and Simon deserves a place of honor for that alone. The solution came to him in the mid-sixties, but it wasn't until 1978, when an economist was appointed head of the Civil Aeronautics Board that it was put into use. Simon was baffled as to why it took so long, but an obvious explanation never occurs to him: the airline industry was a heavily regulated, government-enforced cartel, so there was less of an incentive to innovate.

These are for the most part very short capsule reviews of shows in New York City in the 1950's and 60's. Many of the artists represented are relatively unknown (at least to me) so this allowed me to focus on Mr. Schuyler's responses themselves. And that's what so many of these reviews are - open-eyed responses to things seen, free of theory and so nearly timeless. Just as a snapdragon might appear in one of his poems written on a day in his life, so a dash of paint appears in one of his reviews written on a day in his life.

I bought this book because I was trying to teach myself enough to become a Financials Developer. This still MIGHT be the right book for me. However, this is not a step by step guide to the installation. In addition, the book assumes some familiarity with accounting systems.

For those critics of you out there who think that this book was not this or not that, especially the reader from Port Arthur in Tasmania, I suggest you buy an Oracle Reference Manual or Users guide. Get real! This book gives a great introduction to the core Oracle Applications and I believe it was well done. It introduces the business and Functional side to Oracle Financials. For those pretentious readers who can't spell Oracle read the cover "Oracle Financials Handbook" - "Planning and Implementing the Oracle Financial Applications Suite" No where does it say Technical Reference Manual. I'd like to see these half baked consultants write ANYTHING half as good. Well done David and Graham. If anyone cares to discuss this work email me and we'll "CHAT"

Firstly, I have to admit I'm a friend of the primary author David James, but I think they did a great job. Some of the negative reviews have been unfair. A book like this can't possibly be all things to all people. It doesn't cover HR, Payroll, or the core Manufacturing modules - that's why it's the "Oracle Financials Handbook", not the "Oracle Applications Handbook". It's definitely not a reference book or technical manual - you get those from Oracle Corporation anyway. What this book does do, is give an excellent background to real-world implementation of the Financials modules at a functional level. It's great for beginners and the more advanced, but I would defy even the gurus to read it and say they haven't learned from it.

I actually tried to talk David out of the whole endeavour almost three years ago, not because I didn't think he was qualified, but because I didn't think it was possible to write such a book covering all the Financials modules. I think he'd admit he underestimated just how much work it would be. That's one reason why a book like this hasn't been written before - there is just so much information to cover, unless you resort to wholesale cutting and pasting from the manuals and other people's papers.

I think the book is very impressive. I know David's skills, and I know how hard he worked to put everything together, and update it as the product evolved. I would recommend it to anyone working on a Financials implementation.