5 comments about Chicken with Plums.

1. Drawn in bold black and white, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel illustrates the moving and disturbing life and last days of her uncle, Nasser Ali Kahn. He was a famous Iranian musician, loved for his virtuosity, and the sensitivity with which he played his beloved tar.
   
   It's a tale of how a man's happiness was gradually eroded by his culture, loss, suppressed feelings, and unrealizable expectations.
   
   The story starts with an older man in black walking down a city street. He encounters a slender woman with her grandchild. He hesitates. Asks if her name is Irane. She doesn't recognize him. Wonders how he knows her name. He, Nasser, apologizes and walks on to a friends business where he hopes to buy a replacement for his recently broken tar.
   
   We later learn that the broken tar had special meaning for Nasser. When he was a young man, the parents of the woman he'd fallen in love with forbade her to marry him because he was only a musician. Losing her plunged him into deep depression. He had difficulty playing. Nasser's tar master tried to console him by telling him, "To the common man, whether you're a musician or a clown, it's one and the same. The love you feel for this woman will translate into your music. She will be in every note you play." He then gave Nasser his own tar and instructed him to go on playing.
   
   From then on, Nasser's joy was his music. His playing thrilled his audiences
   
   Since childhood he'd been unable to meet the conventional expectations of others. His mother's, his brother's, his teachers', the parents of the woman he loved, his wife, his children.
   
   His mother urged him to marry a woman he didn't love so that he would forget his loss. Although the woman he married did love him, she resented his music. His children, influenced by their mother's attitude, became estranged from him. This drove him further and further into his music.
   
   After he failed to find another tar equal to his broken one, feeling that without that tar and his music there was nothing else he wanted, Nasser came to the conclusion, "To live, it's not enough to be alive." He decided to die.
   
   This where the novel really begins. Through Satrapi's masterful construction, we are able to piece together what we need to understand who Nassar was, and why he would make this tragic choice.
   
   Satrapi reveals Nasser's life and character by skillfully rearranging temporal events - picking up a incident, then dropping it, and then weaving it in later on in the story with new threads. She loops the past into the present, the future into the past. Sometimes, from frame to frame, she switches back and forth between the past and the present, showing how a character's unhappy memories and lingering hurt become emotional IEDs on the path to true understanding.
   
   There are many lenses through which to "see" another person, many ways in which to know them. At Nassaer's mother's funeral, a mystic tells him the story of five men in the dark trying to describe a whole elephant from the part each has touched. "We give meaning to life based upon our point of view," he tells Nasser. In Chicken With Plums, through characters and events, Satrapi gives us the whole elephant.
   
   As the novel progresses, Satrapi's drawings become more expressive and surreal, adding more decorative touches. Her work resembles animation, almost cartoonish, but her story has the depth of a great novel. She has the timing of a film maker, knowing just what to show when, and how to keep the mystery and tension to the end.
   
   Chicken With Plums has touched me deeply. It's a heart breaking story of love on many levels, fulfilled and unfulfilled. I believe Nasser died of a broken heart. Without Irane and without his music, he could not find a way to be in this world.



2. Having read Persepolis I and II, as well as Embroideries, I was excited to snatch up Chicken With Plums as well. And despite some of the negative reviews here (which almost dissauded me), I found this book one of Satrapi's most magical, perfect creations. It's quite different than the autobiographical, child-like Persepolis I, though readers of Persepolis II and Embroideries will recognize the general tone and style. That said, it's a work that takes you by surprise with its directness, honesty, and sheer invention.
   
   The book follows the last eight days of Nasser Ali Khan's life, as he decides to resign himself to death after his wife, in an argument, destroys his precious "tar"--an Iranian sitar-like instrument. He is a master musician, renowned throughout the country, and the great love affair of his life (despite one thwarted human one) was with this reciprocating instrument. Unable to find another tar to requite his passion, he loses all taste for life and its joys, and decides to stay in bed until Azrael, the Angel of Death, comes for his soul. While waiting, we get a series of flashbacks and flashforwards as he--and others--recount the stories and anecdotes that frame his life. Reading this book is like listening in on family stories around the dinner table, which by their very nature are fragmentary, interrputed, and from multiple points of view.
   
   Though a simple story, the manner of telling it is amazingly complex and mesmerizing. Satrapi's storytelling is at its most concise here, but so much is revealed about the very human passions that shape a life, and how blind we are even to the people we live with. This is a magical book, filled with Satrapi's beautiful characterizations of the people she knew and loved. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.



3. I just finished Chicken with Plums, and I loved it. It has about a human condition. In this case a man, who is living a life that he felt he did not own, except his musical instrument, and the secret it held for him.
   It is deceptively simple, but it is deep in what it conveys to the reader.
   I noticed some readers felt that the book was not finished, or they were confused about it. However, I found it very clear, honest, and funny at times. It made me sad too. I wonder how many of us live a life like Nasser Ali Khan, the musician? The life that is not truly an expression of our hearts.



4. This is a story of a man who lives for music and a tragic love. It is a very simple yet wonderful tale of a man who doesn't seem to know how to live. He becomes a great musician but can't work and loses the love of his life due to his devotion to music. Without music and his memory of great love, he dies. The man's family, friends and relatives don't seem to count in his estimation of life. I found this book very moving and very touching. I think some reviewers took offense since it differs from her most famous book but this one holds its own and is very special. I highly recommend this book. It is very touching and the ending is just as tragic as the main character's life.



5. Marjane Satrapi, Chicken with Plums (Pantheon, 2006)
   
   Satrapi's fourth book gives us biography instead of memoir this time-- the story of her great-uncle Nasser Ali Khan, a musician who decides to die after his wife breaks his favorite instrument. We are taken through the final eight days of Khan's life, as friends, relatives, and his own consciousness try to change his mind.
   
   I admit that my somewhat cool reaction to the book is almost certainly a product of the complete overload of memoirs and memoir-like biographies with which the market is currently glutted; I'm relatively sure this will be my last one for a long, long while, save one series-memoir I'm in the middle of. I say this because it's certainly not a bad book; Marjane Satrapi is a witty writer, and no less here than in her other books; Chicken with Plums is as enjoyable as anything else she's done. I just couldn't get my head round it as much as it deserved. ***

5 comments about He Leadeth Me.

1. I started reading He Leadeth Me because I thought it might have some interesting thoughts on God and suffering, as a general concept. I had no idea, however, how very applicable Fr. Ciszek's hard-learned insights would be to my day-to-day life as the average American stay-at-home mom.
   
   The wisdom he learned after five years in solitary confinement and 20+ years at a Siberian slave labor camp is not just how to grow closer to God in the face of great upheaval and suffering, but how to know and live God's will in the face of the frustrating, the humdrum, and the mundane.
   
   I can't recommend this book highly enough to everyone -- whether you're experiencing great suffering or just frustrated by the daily grind, you will undoubtedly find Fr. Ciszek's story life-changing.



2. Just a fantastic book. I am not sure what I can add to further comments already added other than this book hit the spot for sincerity, truthfulness, and captivity of worthwhile imagination. I have just sent it to a friend that teaches English in Libya as I am assured that a wonderful book like this can only enhance her "desert experience" abroad as well.



3. Matthew Kelly (see [...]) recommended "He Leadeth Me" by Walter Ciszek, S.J., to me as it had a significant influence on him and his spiritual journey. The book has also had a profound influence on me - so much so, that I cannot get it out of my mind.
   
   In "He Leadeth Me," U.S. born Ciszek recounts his life as a Catholic priest who enthusiastically volunteered for preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments in communist Russia and ended up spending twenty three agonizing years in Soviet prisons, including five years of solitary confinement in Moscow's feared Lubianka prison and fifteen years of hard labor in Siberian prison camps.
   
   Upon his return to the US in 1963, as part of an exchange for two convicted Russian spies, Ciszek was asked over and over again how he survived. "He Leadeth Me" is his response. This book is about the faith he discovered and the simple truths he learned by trial and error. Truths he came to appreciate only after much anguish of soul and a great deal of prayerful reflection; truths that sustained him through the years of doubt and darkness, of hardship and suffering.
   
   The learned truth that threads its way throughout the book is that no one can know greater peace, no one can achieve a greater sense of fulfillment in his life than the man who believes in the truth of the faith and strives daily to put it into practice. "A spirituality based on complete trust in God is the surest guarantee of peace of soul and freedom of spirit."
   
   There are moments of crisis in every life, moments of anxiety and fear, moments of frustration and opposition, moments sometimes even of terror. Only by a lively faith can man live in peace among the tensions of the world. Faith is the fulcrum of our moral and spiritual balance - our powerlessness to solve the problems of evil, sin, injustice, suffering, and even death will not be a cause of despair or despondency when we have an unshakable trust and confidence in God.
   
   After great anguish, doubt, and repeated resistance by Ciszek, he submitted to the will of God realizing that every moment of our life has a purpose, that every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine or trivial it may seem in itself, has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding. No moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in God's plan. We need to strive to know God's will and to do it each day of our lives - working this out with constant effort and attention to just those persons and circumstances God presents to us each day. He expects no more of us, but He will expect nothing less of us, and we fail in our promise and commitment if we do not see in situations of every moment of every day of His divine will.
   
   God asks for the complete gift of self...absolute faith in His existence, His providence, His power to sustain me, and His love perfecting me. While it sounds all too simple, one quickly learns how difficult it is when they try to put it into practice. "Is this too simple or are we just afraid really to believe it, to accept it fully, to yield ourselves up to it in total commitment? This is the ultimate question of faith, and each must answer this for himself. But to answer it in the affirmative is to know peace, to discover a meaning to life that surpasses all understanding."
   
   "He Leadeth Me," first published in 1972, is a classic and continues as an all-time best seller. Ciszek has written a powerful testimony that will challenge your view of life and, possibly, a source of a transfiguration. "It is my hope, indeed my prayer that what I have learned and come to understand so slowly and painfully might be of service to others. God is a most patient teacher, even to the most stubborn of students."



4. I read this book on a retreat and had to buy it. The message of trusting in the will of God is so strong. No matter how many times I read this I know I will be helped each time.



5. Purchased book as gift for departing Catholic Father, I hope it is a good book as that was the image I hoped to convey. Sorry, I can't review contents for you, but there was no time for me to read it first.

5 comments about My Life with the Chimpanzees.

1. My 8 year old was assigned to do her monthly book report on a biography. She wanted to read about Abraham Lincoln... until she found out she had to dress up as the book's subject! Regrouping with a week to go and a driving vacation looming, I rushed to ...to find a children's biography available in audio download... and stumbled upon this gem. We all listened to the (abridged) audio version on the trip, and I do think that hearing it read by the author added a great deal. My daughter read the unabridged book with fascination when we got home, though I suspect she might have had more difficulty relating to the book had she not heard Jane Goodall speak her own words first. At any rate, the report (outfitted with khakis, a notebook, and a velcro-handed stuffed chimp) was a great success, and my daughter has met a role model of determination, compassion, and wisdom.



2. This book is a great introduction to Dr. Goodall, physical anthropology, and primatology. Because it is written by Jane, the insight into the lives of the chimpanzees and the environment in general gives us her own personal message of hope and preservation for all creatures and places.



3. I am an avid fan of jan goodall and her works. this book was very good on everything from descriptions to examples and issues that have faced chimpanzees, they are facing, and they will face. This book also delves into her personal life and explains tid bits along the way about why she is who she is and much much more. Only down side is that thier is not alot of pictures, would give five stars if would have included more pictures, but what can you say for the price?



4. I sent this to youth centers where many girls need strong female figure (I sent other things for the boys).Goodman is an amazing person.



5. The book was purchased for a project learning about Jane Goodall. Unfortunately for me, I didn't look closely enough before buying the book to realize it was written for young readers. Even though it wasn't appropriate for my college level project, I read through it anyway and found it to be an excellent book.

5 comments about Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography.

1. This is a must buy for history buffs and those fascinated by deranged leaders of other nations. Very Very in-depth. I would recommend this book to anyone.



2. If you own only one biography of Adolf Hitler, this is the one to own. It covers his life from his birth, through the abusive years with his father, through the loss of his mother, his years years as a aspiring artist in Vienna, his service in the first world war, his joining and making the Nazi Party into a powerful political party, the beer hall putsch, his time in jail, his seizure of power, his iron fist rule over Germnay, the war and finally his death.
   Very through, in-depth and its a pleasure to read for the chapters are broken into smaller sub-sections so you can read for 10-15 minutes or for hours if you want. Excellent biography of the sometimes genius, sometimes lucky and mostly insane fuhrer of Nazi Germany.



3. I got this book after spending a holiday in Austria, I wanted to know about Austria's most famous son... what was his childhood like, what made him tick and how did he overwhelm so many people. This is a BRILLIANT book. I haven't read any other history books since school and I can't put this down. It's a very long book but I'm flying through it because it's just so interesting. Toland manages to convey this crazy period in Europe's history in such an exciting way. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even vaguely interested in Hitler or WWII.



4. 
   An interesting and well writen historical work .Toland tells it lik it was with no embelishments . Amasing how one man could lead a nation into the depravity of the worst human abuse the world has ever seen .



5. Adolf Hitler: The definitive biography. John Toland, 1976.
   This biography forms a very interesting historical narrative. It presents a lively account of the smoldering resentment and visceral hatred of Jews and Bolsheviks that consumed the mind of the subject individual. Based on archival records, unpublished diaries, notes, memoirs and recorded interviews with over 250 former participants, John Toland provides a masterful compilation of the major events, speeches, conversations, decisions and their consequences that marked the career of Adolf Hitler. As a youth, he drifted aimlessly in Vienna. By 1914, he became ecstatic about volunteering for military service. About the end of the Great War, he was temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack. At that point, about half way through his life, he heard "supernatural voices" summoning him to enter politics and save Germany. In a meteoric rise to supreme power as leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) party, he became a fanatical dictator. The Fatherland, The Fuhrer, Lebensraum (implying aggressive Germanic territorial expansion)are key words here. He galvanized the populace into frenzied support of his governing policies; then embarked on total war that soon reached global proportions. Early territorial conquests accompanied by an unprecedented slaughter of countless millions constituted Hitler"s "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem as he saw it. After the fortunes of war had turned irrevocably against him he married his mistress in a bunker in Berlin. Two days later they both committed suicide. As Toland puts it: "The flag fell where he fell and when he died so did National Socialism and the Thousand Year Reich. Because of this his beloved Germany lay in ruins".

2 comments about Getting Away with Murder (Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards)).

1. This book is a very good buy and very interesting read. This book follows a young boy named Emmett Till. This book is based on real facts and was considered the cause of the beggnining of the civil rights movement. This read will not only give you real facts and info, but will bring a tear to your eye and really think about what life was like during this time period.



2. I do recommend this book because there is still racism in the United States of America today and many people need to stop because nobody wants to be insulted because of there race. The books plot was how people were treated back in the 1940's and 50's and gave me many reasons why not to be a racist. I would not like to read another book by Chris Crowe again because this book was extremely sad. This book is perfect for people that are trying to improve themselves and are trying to put themselves in someone else's shoes way back when.

5 comments about I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon.

1. Zevon had a lot of time left to get his story down before he died, so this oral history cum bio is unusually rich with comments from most of those who knew him best. A wife beater, alcoholic, drug addict and sufferer from several mental illnesses, including OCD, Zevon's wacked out, excessive life is nonetheless fascinating, at least in this account by his ex-wife. I've never looked into his music beyond "Werewolves," but this very long tome made me want to, which is always the point of these musical life chronicles. Zevon knew that death would make his work a lot more valuable. He was right. But at least he certainly got the most out of things while he was here on the planet. Makes you kind of envious, in a darkly bizarre way. Well worth reading for fans of rock bios and, of course, those few Zevon fanatics.



2. As Billy Bob Thornton says at the close of this book, it's astounding to me when someone says they aren't familiar with Warren Zevon's music. I was 18 when I became a fan. I had never heard lyrics so challenging and one of the wonderful things about this book is that it sheds some light as to how Warren came up with some of those lyrics. Crystal Zevon has emerged from the task of writing this book as a wonderful writer - this couldn't have been an easy book to write. Popular music is laden with artists of little or no substance - we simply don't have enough music from people as talented as Zevon was. I had the pleasure of seeing Zevon live twice and this book made me go back and look at more of his music. It's a tough read at times -Warren could be hard to like, yet this book is an incredibly written, interesting look at an artist I'll always admire and appreciate the work of. On a closing note, I find myself wishing there was some live concert videos of Warren's tours available - he was incredible the two times I saw him.



3. I saw Warren Zevon twice. In 1995 at a Peoria show the last song was "Werewolves" and a fight broke out as two bikers, who tried to get on stage, were hustled out a side-door by security. The rest of the biker gang followed to join the mayhem but Warren just kept singing "ahooooo". 1n 2000 I saw him Philadelphia and in between songs he was engaging in self-deprecation about some movie in which he was involved. In a totally supportive way I yelled "that's ok, Warren, we still love you". He stopped, stared down at me (apparently he stared a lot at people) and then growled in a very harsh tone, "how can you love me, you don't even know me"....if I hadn't been so stunned into speechlessness I would have said' well, it's not unconditional, M-F-er. But, my musical hero had crushed me and I was too hurt by the tone of his words....apparently he did that a lot to people, although ultimately he was right: I didn't know him......
   Thanks to this remarkable book, by the only woman he married, I feel like I got to know WZ a lot better but the story is not always pretty. He was a tortured, and torturing, soul but his ability to have friends and lovers (and this fan, too) find forgiveness is undeniable. Crystal Zevon captures all this along with the painful dissent into hell that alcoholism can take its victim (and those who know him or her). She said in the conclusion that she went through a range of emotions in writing it. A mark of a good writer is when they can elicit emotions in the reader and she certainly did that for me: anger, disgust, love, humor, compassion, etc.. ....When I ordered the book I was expecting a traditional biography but the technique of interviews and diary entries works very well. A chronological thread is achieved by arranging chapters according to his discography although dates for the corresponding time periods in his life would help the reader with a timeline. In some cases I found some of the interviews almost repetitious. One of my favorite things about the book was learning how many of those classic compositions that Warren penned (many with others) came into being.
   So what else did I learn? His family background includes a gangster father and Morman mother. He worked with the Everly Brothers as their musical arranger. He was fond of self-recorded porn. The "lean" and the "stare" were ways he used space and silence to get people's attention (or disarm them). He had a love of books and a fondness for the life of luxury, i.e. Four Seasons hotels and Prada fashion. Spain was a very special time in his life. He had a wide circle of literary friends he cultivated and with some of whom he played music. He hit women and friends and had obsessive-compulsive disorder, leading to lots of gray clothes. He began drinking again after the diagnosis and was under the influence when he sang "Knockin on Heavens Door" on the last album. His career seemed on the ropes until his diagnosis when he went on to make his greatest record (and finally get the recognition he deserved)....but more importantly, he got to see his grandchildren before he was gone from us.
   When he died I figured I would always have a spot where I would keep WZ in my "heart for awhile". After reading this book, he'll be there for a long while and I'll hold his memory a lot closer. I look forward, however, to more Zevon music when his son's Jordan's album comes out in April. I am sure his father's good influences will be there. From the book, it sounds like Jordan's come to grips with the bad influences (and Warren had plenty of those).



4. Very sad tale about a guy who's talent ne'er waned, even when he was drinking, drugging or sexing himself to death. Took a lot of people with him, most of whom are quoted here, and you really find out what it was like to be close to him.
   
   Reason I gave it 4 stars: The one thing missing that the writer could never have known was what Zevon's rising and falling star looked like from the outside, and how it affected the rockin' culture as a whole. A lot of that perspective gets covered as a matter of course, but some of it is missing simply because almost everyone interviewed was very close to ground zero.
   
   That's also what makes this book so riveting, and I think it had to be written this way. Best stories: When Waddy Wachtel first meets Zevon when trying out for the Everly Brothers band, and when Zevon wants to play a Spice Girls tune when subbing for Paul Schaefer on Letterman.
   
   Lastly, one previous reviewer notes, very accurately, that it's repetitive and grim. Well, that's exactly what active addiction ultimately becomes, and that's what we're being let in on here.



5. Fascinating! Great insights from the people who knew him - interesting to hear from so many different types of people - writers, singers, actors and just plain old characters. Especially interesting for long-time Warren Zevon fans, but an interesting read for anyone. Couldn't put it down!

5 comments about Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival.

1. If you believe, as the author of this book does, that jaguars live in packs, you are not informed enough to go on a jungle excursion.
   Yossi Ghinsberg considered himself a "backpacker" (not a tourist) and a "Man of Action." He went in search of the "Jungle Experience" and found it. Every decision he made was bad; every choice he made was wrong. The first bad decision he made was to go into the jungle ill equiped with few survivor skills, relying on his "guide" to provide what he would need. The second mistake he made was by far the worst- he talked two friends into accompaning him on his fateful jouney.
   I just finished reading a book about true heroism in the face of death entitled "Miracle in the Andes" about a group of young men who find themselves lost in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. They made intelligent decisions and correct choices and managed to survive. For them, Yossi's harrowing time in the Jungle would be like a walk in the park.



2. This book gets a 3 on quality, but a 5 on easy read. It makes great airplane reading, or other times when you don't have quiet chunks of time for deeper reading.
   
   The main character of this story is a bit of a dope, and it is hard to feel sorry for him at times. He comes off as a bit hard-hearted, and he makes some crazy mistakes and decisions (I would probably make them too, though!).
   
   Compared to some of the better true-life adventure books out there, I was not impressed. Still, the story had some educational merit. It might keep me from wandering around in the Amazon.



3. Very simplistic in structure, making for a very easy read. Picks up adventure-wise around the 5th chapter and it is hard to put down. May be difficult for the animal lover at first, because of the treatment of the dog, but keep going.



4. A well-written, engrossing tale. I had a difficult time putting it down for any length of time. Not only is the story interesting, it is told with compassion. After two quick days of part-time reading, I'm already looking for another similar book. Enjoy the book.



5. This book is a must read for anyone interested in travel. It was an absolute page turner. I read this book in one week. I just could not put the book down. Normally it takes me about a month to finish a book but this was just simply an amazing read from start to finish. The writer Yossi Ghinsberg told his story in an honest and inspiring way.This is what I call a true test of survival. You feel you are in there in the jungle with him through the tough and thin and every experience is re-told in such a way that you feel you too are experiencing it. I loved this book. I have recommended this book to my best friends.

5 comments about The House of Rothschild: Volume 1: Money's Prophets: 1798-1848.

1. Those who already know Niall Ferguson do not need any praise for the books he writes: a few years ago I chanced to read his excellent "The Cash Nexus" and this led me to "The Pity of War" and finally to "The House of Rothschild".
   
   Ferguson is a scholar who loves challenges: not just challenging arguments, but also challenges in the sheer volume of sources and research, and finally challenges to the reader in presenting controversial theses (I think specially of those advanced brilliantly, and contentiously, in "The Pity of War" - see my review if interested).
   
   This last effort is mainly an attempt to unveil the Rothschild mythology, restoring an historically accurate perspective both of the family saga and of the banking and financial European history from 1798 to 1848.
   
   The book is a masterpiece for many reasons: not just story of a family (circumscribed to the male members), not just story of a great banking institution in the past two centuries, but also comprehensive financial history of the first half of XIX century... "a rich and nuanced portrait" as the book leaflet reads - that reveals and hides, but also creates an appealing and fascinated image of those turbulent years.
   So, it can appeal the history buff, and all those readers interested in financial history (and speculative bubbles) as well as those interested in biography and cultural history.
   
   The essay definitely has also - obviously maybe - a literary dimension: because in describing the five brothers Ferguson uses those same "colors" used by contemporaries, a literary dimension that cannot but appeal and enrich the more serious economic investigation: for Nathan the "meteoric" larger than life Napoleon-like image (passion for risk, high stakes on the table and the ruthlessness of a general), for James that richly colored literary portrait (full of mid-tones) we have been used by writers like Balzac, Zola and Stendhal (the mix of secretiveness and candid frankness, detachment and savoir vivre), for the others three brothers the age-old mythologies of Midas and the wandering Jew (specially in the portrait of the German and Austrian branch: they seem consciously prisoners of the Jewish stereotype in their inability to enjoy life and relax).
   
   Every reader interested in the story of the House of Rothschild want to know the why and how a middle class Jewish family confined in the Frankfurt ghetto was able in just one generation to become the richest family in the world.
   Ferguson's study is very good in the pars destruens, that is in taking down and unveiling the old mythologies (like the Waterloo myth, or the Hesse Kassel myth), less good in the pars construens that is substituting a coherent explanation. The surviving accounts are of course too tiny to cast light, and the accounting techniques used by the family in the early days too backward to be critically useful.
   So the impression is that of an unending race over speed limits, a sheer willingness to accept often uncalculated risks and to play for the highest stakes and at the same time an impressive luck (or God's favor) that stuck contemporaries (always expecting the meteoric rise of Nathan to end like the parallel story of Napoleon).
   So was their preeminence produced only by chance?
   Yes and no. Chance - according to Ferguson - played a striking role in the early stages - the building up, but consolidation and enlargement were due to specific attitudes of the family: solidarity between brothers, their informative network, their ability in cultivating diplomacy and - not least - to the fact that the family systematically reinvested in the business about 96percent of the net income produced (unlike - say - the Barings brothers, that in 1816 had almost the same size)
   
   The book will be also hugely helpful to readers interested in European history, casting a different - unusual to most readers - light in the inner mechanism of the early XIX century European politics.
   As for the nature of the Restoration, often liquidated by historians as a narrow and backward attempt to turn back the clock to pre-revolutionary times, Ferguson shows how different in reality was this period from the Ancien Regime and how the seeds of modernity were well present and working: the sheer preference of the banking institution for financing representative-backed monarchies, the consolidation in Jewish emancipation all over Europe, but also the frailty of arch-conservative governments (not just the case of Spain, but also of the Holy Alliance) compared to more pragmatic approaches.
   A rather under-developed theme is the rise of modern anti-Semitism: Ferguson - unlike most scholars - indicates the first traces in France well before the Affaire Dreyfus and hints how the irresistible rise of the Rothschild family (with their devotion to Judaism) was very instrumental in consolidating anti-Jewish mythologies (out of a sense of envy but also perceived in France especially as a alien "evil" power).
   
   As a reader interested also in financial themes, I was truly fascinated by those chapters dedicated to the bond and stock markets, particularly those regarding the default of Spanish and Portuguese consols.
   The Rothschild were the first bankers to export the financial facilities, long enjoyed in Great Britain, to Continental Europe and were decisive in creating a retail market for bonds and stocks.
   But the most interesting part is the one dealing with financial speculation, bubbles and defaults. Most remarkable is the feeling of a déjà vue: if you substitute Spain and Portugal with Argentina, you will observe striking similarities both in price, negotiations and very likely in the final outcome. Nihil sub sole novi, or at least it seems so.
   
   This is a book I greatly enjoyed.
   I cannot but recommend it to every reader interested in serious history.
   That is not to say that it is perfect: I was - as many other reviewers - incensed by the lack of bibliography (shame on Penguin), but on the average it is an outstanding achievement.
   
   Likewise, if you happen to be interested in the argument, you may be interested in other works I chanced to read about the same themes:
   - Muhlstein, Anhka - "James de Rothschild", this is a book I read long time ago, but it was more a biography in the classical way and as far as I remember, I found it rather inconsequential
   - Chancellor, Edward - "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" - a colorful and well-informed essay focusing specially on the XIX century. There are chapters dedicated to defaulting bonds in the XIX century as well as to the railway stocks bubble in the United Kingdom.
   - Conor Cruise O'Brien - "The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism". I have many works dedicated to Sionism and Judaism, but this is the most concise and clear exposition of the birth of anti-Semitism in Western Europe in late XIX century.
   
   You are most welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
   Thanks for reading.



2. I have to start out by saying overall I enjoyed the book but I would only rate it as an average book. It is a little too detailed and didn't keep my interest from one chapter to the next. It would have been better if it left out 150 pages or so. I found myself doing a lot of skiming over what I would say was boring filler in the book. You can learn a lot about the type of business that that Rothschilds were in but not a lot of how they went about doing it.
   
   After reading this it seems that the Rothschilds were in the business of making large loans to governments and then packaging these loans as bonds and selling them to the public. They were as much bond and commodity traders as they were bankers, which I found interesting. There are numerous quotes from letters written back and forth between family members that will give you a sense of their personalities. The family history is very detailed so if this is the kind of thing you are interested in then you will probably enjoy the book more then I did.



3. [Also see: Fritz Springmeier's Bloodlines of the
   Illuminati]. Ferguson, who teaches at a Northea-
   stern University in the US, did yeoman work here
   on at least defusing some of conspiracy talk about
   how fools like Bernard Piper-Collins claim Roths-
   childs alledgedly control ALL things.The Rothschilds
   never ran the bank of England, the gentile Baring
   Bros. did. They are however a very corrupt family.
   Author Ferguson did excellent work here.



4. the book had some good pictures, however prof Ferguson not once, but on numerous occasions, claims to refute the story of how Nathan brilliantly deceived the London Stock Exchange players after the battle of Waterloo, earning $40 billion (2007 prices) in one day. A bit jealous I suppose.
   
   Verdict: Ignore the anti-semitic propaganda and the book is worth a look.



5. What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?
   
   He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He does not bring up the 1776 Masonic Illuminati order of Adam Weishaupt with alleged connections to Mayer Amschel. And he dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are 19th, 20th, and 21st century Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.
   
   According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.
   
   Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?
   
   Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.
   
   It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".
   
   Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?

No comments about The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

No comments about Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists.