Best Literary Genre History & Criticism
Formatted in an easy-to use A-to-Z layout, this guide is packed with information and thrilling comic book art and features more than 1,100 characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, and much more.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My 12 year old son got this book at our local library and then kept renewing it over and over again because he liked it so much."
"Got it as a gift for a friend and he loves it, he says the illustrations are from comics and so far every character is included, he is yet to find any character missing, and the illustrations are really nice."
"So far so good."
"Awesome encyclopedia for newcomers to DC comics or fanatics like me!"
"This book is so awesome!"
"I had no idea the history and detail of the superhero world."
"My brother received a marvel encyclopedia for his bday so I gave him this for Christmas."
"I purchased this book for my son as a birthday present."
One of The New York Times Book Review 's 10 Best Books of the Year Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls―the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. It was only in her sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that she turned to children’s books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteading―and achieving fame and fortune in the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American letters. “An absorbing new biography [that] deserves recognition as an essential text.... For anyone who has drifted into thinking of Wilder’s ‘Little House’ books as relics of a distant and irrelevant past, reading Prairie Fires will provide a lasting cure.... Richly documented (it contains 85 pages of notes), it is a compelling, beautifully written story.... One of the more interesting aspects of this wonderfully insightful book is its delineation of the fraught relationship between Wilder and her deeply disturbed, often suicidal daughter. We’ve long understood the Little House series to be a great American story, but Caroline Fraser brings it unprecedented new context, as she masterfully chronicles the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family alongside the complicated history of our nation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The Zumbro river runs under my porch and canoeing downstream takes me to South Troy where Laura and her cousins waded, and where baby Freddie is buried. But that book is dominated by Laura's narrative, and there's only so much that editorial commentary can correct or expound when entire facets of her life were simply omitted. Enter Caroline Fraser and "Prairie Fires," a biography of two women, a textual history of their work, and the historical context of their times skillfully interwoven as a narrative. The Prairie Queen, New York Review Books, circa 1994) to learn everything that can be known about Laura Ingalls Wilder, including her family, her daughter, her times, and even the natural history of the Midwest. Prairie Fires starts strong, with genealogical research harking back to the colonial Pilgrim era, then flashing forwarding to the Dakota War of 1862 (a skirmish of which wiped out the Dustin family just ten miles from my childhood home, six months *after* the mass-execution at Mankato). For me the book was literally a page turner, I couldn't put it down, took it on vacation, read it in every spare moment, several times hiding in the bathroom just to get to the end of a chapter. But Prairie Fires is not only about Laura, spilling a considerable amount of ink on her daughter Rose Lane, a very unflattering picture: selfish, immoral, manipulative, petty, mentally ill (manic depressive), dishonest, modestly talented, irreligious (flirting with Islam her whole life), plagiarizing, economically incompetent, politically hypocritical, casually anti-semitic. You will finish Prairie Fires in no doubt whatsoever about the absurdity of charges that Rose Lane ghost-wrote the LIW series, and you will wonder how it was possible for such a hack to ever make a dime as an author. Ms. Fraser seems generally in favor of collective politics, supportive of Roosevelt's New Deal programs, and bothered by Wilder's criticism thereof. She spends a great deal of energy detailing the misguided attempts by Laura's successors to corral her work into the Conservative/Libertarian cause, and in this she is somewhat successful. But her attempts to explain away the fundamental reasons why people like Laura Wilder resented the very New Deal programs intended to help them come across as feeble and condescending. But we hear again and again and again the litany of supposed hypocrisies: the homestead act was a Government Program after all, everyone necessarily took jobs off the farm, the bank where Laura worked administered Government Lending, the frontier was only open thanks to the Army, Pa cheated the Railroad, Almanzo lied on his Homestead Application... and that's about it. It's a mighty thin list to set against decades of hard toil, thrift and scrupulous morality, and it doesn't bear the weight of being Exhibit A in Wilder's Real Politics On Trial."
"Wilder struggled to turn her family's pioneer story into the inspiring, heart-warming, heroic tale that fills the Little House books. And yet, Fraser's affection for the books and their author shows through her admission of their myopic worldview, omissions, and outright fabrications. My own grandmother was born in a log cabin in Wisconsin, and she married my grandfather, whose family homesteaded not far from Walnut Grove. When Wilder presents the pioneer story while minimizing or totally ignoring the plight of the displaced and murdered Native Americans, she is telling the tale as my family would have told it. Fraser expands the view to encompass what we must admit if we are honest: our success and wealth were built on the suffering of real people."
"I am a Wilder fan, having visited her home twice, taught her books many times, and been quotingly familiar with them since the age of seven. After all this valuable light brought to our subject, which is a rocky life covering nearly a century, one comes away, if anything, even more impressed by the resilience of Laura Ingalls. And she did it, in league with her daughter, beginning in later life, in a farmhouse, on Big Chief nickel tablets that are a handicap to write on, besides."
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope. His translations include Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays , Aeschylus’s Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer’s Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer’s Odyssey , and Virgil's Aeneid . His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Peter Green states in the introduction that he is following in the footsteps of Lattimore, to preserve as much of the poem in Greek--wording, sentence structure, meter, and so on--in English, but to also make it declaimable. There is the Fagles translation, in modern free verse, is wonderful to read aloud. The Fagles Odyssey was on Selected Shorts once, and for a long time after I insisted that there was no other worthwhile contemporary translation of Homer. Lombardo's translation is pretty common in colleges because of the price and the slangy presentation. In the Greek, the Iliad has "μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος" Quite literally, "Rage! The first word is the theme of the poem, the way it is directed first against Agamemnon, then toward the Trojans, and then tempered for a common moment of humanity, is the internal trajectory of the whole epic. Make it into readable English, and you wind up with a host of compromises where thousands of close translations might do. Go far enough you wind up with Girardoux's "The Trojan War Will Not Take Place," worthwhile on its own, but not really a "translation." The introduction includes a plot summary of the whole Trojan War, of which the Iliad only covers a small portion. There is also a synopsis of the poem keyed to the poem in the back matter to help find your place, an enlightening glossary of names and concepts to help you through your first read, and footnotes to inform the reader of context that has since been lost."
"With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad. -Translated by Robert Fagles, 1990. “Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another.”. -Translated by Samuel Butler, 1888. “Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks. Incalculable pain pitched countless souls. Of heroes into Hades’ dark, And let their bodies rot as feasts. For dogs and birds, as Zeus’ will was done. Begin with the clash between Agamemnon—. The Greek Warlord—and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stanley Lombardo, 1997. “Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss. and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion. for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. Begin it when the two men first contending. broke with one another—. the Lord Marshal Agamémnon, Atreus’ son, and Prince Akhilleus.”. -Translated by Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, 1963. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son of Achilleus and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achains, hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood the division of conflict Atrecus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.”. –Translated by Richmond Lattimore, 1951. “Sing, goddess, of Peleus’ son Achilles’ anger, ruinous, that caused the Greeks untold ordeals, consigned to Hades countless valiant souls, heroes, and left their bodies prey for dogs or feast for vultures. Zeus’s will was done from when those two first quarreled and split apart, the king, Agamemnon, and matchless Achilles.”. -Translated by Herbert Jordan, 2008. “An angry man-there is my story: the bitter rancor of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host. Many a strong soul it sent down to Hadês, and left the heroes themselves a prey to the dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfillment.”. -Translated and transliterated by W.H.D. Rouse, 1950. “Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring. Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing! That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign. The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain; Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore, Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore. Peleus’ son; His wrath pernicious, who ten thousand woes. Caused to Achaia’s host, sent many a soul. Illustrious into Ades premature, And Heroes gave (so stood the will of Jove). To dogs and to all ravening fowls a prey, When fierce dispute had separated once. The noble Chief Achilles from the son. Of Atreus, Agamemnon, King of men.”. -Translated by William Cowper, London 1791. “Achilles’ baneful wrath – resound, O goddess – that impos’d. Infinite sorrow on the Greeks, and the brave souls loos’d. From beasts heroic; sent them far, to that invisible cave*. That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave: To all which Jove’s will give effect; from whom the first strife begun. Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son*”. -Translated by George Chapman, 1616. “The Rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing through me. the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief. and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs. and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished. Begin at the time when bitter words first divided. that king of men, Agamemnon, and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stephen Mitchell. “Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus, ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions; many of the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades, those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made it their bodies, plunder for the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished__”. -Translated by Rodney Merrill. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus’ son, the accused anger which brought the Achaeans countless. agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades, causing them to become the prey of dogs. and all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled.”. -Translated by Anthony Verity. Antony does not attempt to be poetic. “Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing, O Muse, The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece. Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul. Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades. Ultimately sent; they on the battle plain. Unburied lay, to rav’ning dogs, And carrion birds; but had Jove decreed,”. -Translated by Edward Smith-Stanly 1862. “Sing, Goddess of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus-. that murderous anger witch condemned Achaeans. to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls. deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies. carrion food for dogs and birds-. all in the fulfillment of the will of Zeus”. - Translated by Professor Ian Johnston, British Columbia 2006. “The rage, sing O goddess, of Achilles, son of Peleus, The destructive anger that brought ten-thousand pains to the. Achaeans and sent many brave souls of fighting men to the house. of Hades and made their bodies a feast for dogs. and all kinds of birds. For such was the will of Zeus.”. - Translated by Barry B. Powell. “Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus’s son’s calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians countless ills many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs, souls of heroes, their selves left as carrion for dogs and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled from the first moment those two men parted in fury, Atreus’s son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Peter Green. “Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles.”. - Translated by Andrew Lang, M.A., Walter Leaf, Litt.D., And Ernest Myers, M.A. --------. Wrath–sing, goddess, of the ruinous wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles, that inflicted woes without number upon the Achaeans, hurled fourth to Hades many strong souls of warriors. and rendered their bodies prey for the dogs, for all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished; sing from when they to first stood in conflict-. Ateus’ son, lord of men, and godlike Achilles. We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes form position."
Best Children's Literary Criticism
A richly illustrated and expanded collector’s edition of Martin Gardner’s The Annotated Alice , including Through the Looking-Glass , to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This volume brings together Martin Gardner’s legendary original 1960 publication, The Annotated Alice ; his follow-ups, More Annotated Alice and the Definitive Edition ; his continuing explication through the Knight Letter magazine; and masterly additions and updates edited by Mark Burstein, president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. A rare, never-before-published portrait of Francis Jane Lutwidge, Lewis Carroll's mother Over 100 new or updated annotations, collected since the publication of Martin Gardner's Definitive Edition of The Annotated Alice in 1999 More than 100 new illustrations, in vibrant color, by Salvador Dalí, Beatrix Potter, Ralph Steadman, and 42 other artists and illustrators, in addition to the original artwork by Sir John Tenniel A preface by Mark Burstein, president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and all of Gardner's introductions to other editions A filmography of every Alice-related film by Carroll scholar David Schaefer. His most famous works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There; and The Hunting of the Snark.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"However, there are still some glaring mistakes, such as some formatting bugs in a few of the poems and spelling errors in places (such as at the start of Looking Glass, where some of the Ls are replaced with 1s - I guess a scanner did the 'writing here')."
"I loved fantasy and other-world stories, but this one seemed so random and topsy turvy, I couldn't fully engage with it."
"Alice's Adventures is a classic that never gets old."
"I was 10 or 11 the first time I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll."
"It will be fun to explore her world via this 150 Anniversary Annotated Deluxe edition."
"A classic children's book that never gets old."
"Playful poetry may be more amusing for adults."
"I really wanted to like this--the original illustrations are beautifully reproduced--but bizzarely, half the books are italicized in their entirety, making them pretty much unreadable."
Best Comic & Graphic Novel Literary Criticism
Formatted in an easy-to use A-to-Z layout, this guide is packed with information and thrilling comic book art and features more than 1,100 characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, and much more. Matthew K. Manning has contributed to over 40 books and comic books, including DK's Batman™: A Visual History , DC Comics: A Visual History , and DC Comics: Year by Year .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My 12 year old son got this book at our local library and then kept renewing it over and over again because he liked it so much."
"So far so good."
"Awesome encyclopedia for newcomers to DC comics or fanatics like me!"
"This book is so awesome!"
"I had no idea the history and detail of the superhero world."
"My brother received a marvel encyclopedia for his bday so I gave him this for Christmas."
"I purchased this book for my son as a birthday present."
"This was a gift for my ex husband and he absolutely loves it."
Best Drama Literary Criticism
It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more serious for high school actors, and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel as though you’ve been there in the rehearsal room, in the front row of the theater, and in the working offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast―the Broadway hit. Viertel combines a scholarly approach with a light touch that enables us to see anew familiar songs and musical theater moments we'd long taken for granted." "Viertel’s knowledgeable, engaging blueprint of [the] Broadway musical framework is instructive fun for cognoscenti and general readers alike." The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built is a delightful, accessible guide to why your favorite productions work. "Viertel articulates his rules of commercial success so lucidly that even seasoned hands will come away with a clearer understanding of why some shows work while others flop." "Viertel has written what will become a classic textbook on the architecture and construction of the American musical . What Harold Bloom did for Shakespearean exegesis and Peter Drucker for management, Viertel has done for theater: written a definitive work by raising the curtain and laying bare the work of playwrights, composers, librettists, choreographers, and directors." “Jack Viertel writes about the master craftsmen of the American musical, past and present, and reveals his own mastery on every page―his knowledge of the Broadway musical and of the intricate formula in the making of a show (or the breaking of it), and his passion for Broadway and the citizens who make the street come alive. “In The Secret Life of the American Musical , Jack Viertel, a Broadway producer and dramaturgical swami, has broken down Broadway’s greatest musicals into their constituent storytelling parts (a sort of anatomy of joy) and delivered a showstopper: one of the best-written, most illuminating, and most infectiously entertaining books on the genre I know. ‘It’s boffo!’ as they say on the Rialto.” ―John Lahr, author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh. By simultaneously (and brilliantly) embracing and deconstructing a beloved American art form, he brings us back to our most innocent selves, and all we can do is be grateful to him for reminding us of who we used to be.” ―Scott Rudin.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Jack Viertel's new book, "The Secret Life of the American Musical" is a stunningly informative book about the structure and success (or lack thereof) of modern day musicals. I must admit that my own experience of musicals is much more confined to those of the fifties, sixties and seventies, so when Viertel launches into musicals beginning thirty years ago to the present...well, those were quicker reads for me."
"Excellent book, a really nice companion piece to Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway that I finished last week."
"The author has a deep familiarity with musicals and provides excellent information along with his unique viewpoint."
"This is a great read for anyone who wants to open the machine and see how the gears fit together inside--enriched (to mix metaphors) by great Broadway stories and vivid portraits of Broadway personalities."
"Brilliant analysis of the musical."
"Highly advised to anyone considering writing musicals but also fun for just theater fans."
"Excellent look into the nuts-and-bolts of how musicals are built and how the art form has evolved over the years."
"The nuts and bolts of the American Musical but also filled with great stories."
Best Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology Literary Criticism
In celebration of of the 75th anniversary of this classic bestseller, this stunningly illustrated, beautifully packaged, larger-format hardcover edition will be beloved by fans of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology of all ages. She regarded as the high point of her life a 1957 ceremony in which King Paul of Greece named her an honorary citizen of Athens.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It's a classic for good reason."
"Required for freshman English class."
"Good book, but mine came with the spine bent ever so slightly diagonally that it drives me insane."
"This book gives you details about the gods that you didn't know you wanted to know!"
"Edith Hamilton's classic."
"Needed this For my English IS class and it provided spot on and flawless information over Greek mythology down to the core."
"books are great (and we ha to have it for school)."
Best Gothic & Romantic Literary Criticism
In her Introduction, Spacks considers Austen’s life and career, the continuing appeal of Pride and Prejudice , and its power as a stimulus for fantasy (Maureen Dowd, writing in The New York Times , can hold forth at length on Obama as a Darcy-figure, knowing full well her readers will “understand that she wished to suggest glamour and sexiness”). Reading Pride and Prejudice with Spacks as a guide illuminates the richness of Austen's historical context, as the annotations draw attention to important material that might initially be missed...This beautifully produced and informative guide to reading Austen's brilliant and beloved novel in its historical context will be a welcome addition to the library of anyone who has read, or plans to read, Pride and Prejudice more than once...Both specialists and fans will find it a great pleasure to read, learn from, and argue with Spacks's annotated edition of this classic novel. So interesting and comprehensive are Spacks's notes on Austen, she could conceivably even introduce the author to a few male readers who might otherwise have veered away from all the bonnets and ruffles...Spacks is fascinating on the topic of Austen, and especially on the author's deft use of dialogue and observation to layer dense levels of meaning into her stories, the notes do open up new vistas of enjoyment and understanding, especially for those approaching the goings-on at Longbourn for the first time...Spacks's notes can be invaluable...For history buffs and period fetishists, who must surely comprise some significant part of the audience for historical romance, this annotated Pride and Prejudice is a treasure trove...This edition should prove equally refreshing to even the most ardent of Miss Bennet's amateur readers. A treat for the legions of Jane Austen enthusiasts, Pride and Prejudice: The Annotated Edition is an oversized volume packed with period illustrations and notation, illuminating the text and the life of Austen. [A] handsomely produced annotated edition...Spacks' annotations are illuminating...The dozens of illustrations--a watercolor of Austen by her sister, for example, and images of late 18th-century drawing rooms--add a layer of visual delight and edification to the clarifying notes Spacks offers. Austen's most famous novel needs no introduction, but it does benefit from the hundreds of loving notes--historical references, vocab tips, and more--provided by Austen scholar Patricia Meyer Spacks.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I already own a few copies of Pride and Prejudice so I didn't need another but this was too cute to pass up."
"So sitting on the shelf, it just looks like a cheap paperback with a plain black spine."
"She writes in a sophisticated way, with a great setting and characters. Definitely a book everyone needs to read."
"Mr. Darcy was considered to be a very prideful and arrogant man by those who lived in Hertfordshire; which in fact he was shy and uncomfortable around strangers."
"I came to Pride and Prejudice relatively spoiler free, and although it did not engage my emotions like Sense and Sensibility did, and it started out slowly for me, I was soon enthralled by Austen's characters, their witty observations and the story of prejudiced Elizabeth Bennett and proud Mr. Darcy. Kate Reading was a pleasant reader with the ability to distinguish characters with slight variations of pitch and tone and a knack for playing up the novel's most sardonic moments."
"I have read Pride and Prejudice several times, and still love Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy!"
"Being one of the most loved novels of all time I rather expected more."
"This is a review solely of the kindle version free version that I downloaded and not the actual story of Pride and Prejudice. The reason for this is because I never finished this copy."
Best Historical Event Literature Criticism
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Several times during the narrative the author confuses the cardinal directions, for example, saying that the Caspian Sea is west of the Don River."
"The steppe has been a cultural highway, and among its passengers have been domestication of the horse, the idea of the chariot, artistic trends, religions, crops, the plague, pilgrims, diplomats and pillaging armies. However, some of the text concerns events in the more developed regions such as the long confrontations between the Romans/ Byzantines and the various empires based in Iran; the book is quite good on these, There's also a lot of Chinese history. Bothe these can be a bit tedious but reading about them in parallel so to speak helps one realize the continuity and connectedness of it all, rather than the usual consideration in isolation of each other."
"In broad historic terms, Sir Barry shakes the kaleidoscope through which world (or at least Eurasian) history is viewed, from a series of discrete eras to a very long term view, and from a series of individual cultures to the way in which those cultures were tied together by the steppes. For an American or European reader, the traditional view of Eurasian history is that of one center of civilization giving way to another (the Fertile Crescent, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe), a sort of updated Whig version of history that culminates with "the west". It's tempting to say that Sir Barry gives us a new way of looking at world history, but it's not accurate: this isn't world history: it excludes the whole western hemisphere, most of Africa, and much of non-Chinese Asia."
"This book is especially interesting because it deals with the Silk Road and all the cultures it touched."
Best Horror & Supernatural Literary Criticism
The Conspiracy against the Human Race is renowned horror writer Thomas Ligotti's first work of nonfiction. Should the human race voluntarily put an end to its existence? Do we even know what it means to be human?
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A must-read for anyone struggling with thoughts of existantialism and/or a fan of horror."
"This book was almost painful to read, but surprisingly engaging and entertaining."
"Bill Hicks once said you never hear his point of view in the news."
"Much of what is explained here is very interesting and I would say I responded to it, agreed with it, or saw his point...but didn't buy in all the way."
"Any repulsion I experienced, any resitance, denial or refutation to what I read was instantly exposed as the very conspiracy I was being confronted with in reading this zen like arrow to the heart of my own convoluted quasi-existence. Human conscousness is a double dead ended cul de sac, a disater, a blunder of nature so horrifying that only it's demise is a valid decision for the most ruthlessly altruistic and reasonable."
"Post-existential philosophy by a so-called weird fiction writer."
"I felt that Ligotti made interesting points and a strong case, while going through all the possible arguments and counter-arguments for the most basic questions about the nature of consciousness, life and reality."
Best Humor Literary Criticism
Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is a seminal examination of comics art: its rich history, surprising technical components, and major cultural significance. “If you read, write, teach or draw comics; if you want to; or if you simply want to watch a master explainer at work, you must read this book.” (Neil Gaiman). “Cleverly disguised as an easy-to-read comic book, Scott McCloud’s simple-looking tome deconstructs the secret language of comics while casually revealing secrets of time, space, art and the cosmos!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"McCloud has amazing insight into art and how to create interesting stories as well as communicate through drawing."
"Helpful for not just understanding comics, but also the concepts of semiotics."
"This is quintessential reading for anyone looking to get into the medium."
"Excellent book selection for learning the history of comics!"
"I was amazed at all the things I learned, starting with a definition of comics, a brief history of comics (they are really old!"
"This book is an incredible read for anyone interested in comic books."
"Scott McCloud effectively informs the reader of the logistics of comic books through a comic book-textbook hybrid."
"I consider this book as important as Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit and The Illusion Of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson."
Best Mystery & Detective Literary Criticism
The Sherlock Holmes Book , the latest in DK's award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series, tackles the most "elementary" of subjects — the world of Sherlock Holmes, as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. "All in all, it's an absolute stunning resource for any Sherlock fan, and a perfect companion to offer any new reader of the original Doyle stories." "[A]n encyclopedic, illustrated exploration of the entire canon of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of Sherlock and Dr.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is laid out to give an overview of Doyle himself and narratives on major characters - Sherlock, Watson, Moriarity, Lestrade. There are some good pieces on the influence that Doyle's writings and characters continue to have on his readers and other writers as well."
"I bought this for a student who loves Sherlock Holmes."
"If you're a Holmes fan you need this in your library."
"Gave this as a gift."
"Purchased for my wife."
"Great book for all fans of Sherlock."
Best Nature Literature Criticism
In his passionate, luminous novels, David James Duncan has won the devotion of countless critics and readers, earning comparisons to Harper Lee, Tom Robbins, and J.D. Duncan claims that each person owns scores of river teeth and that they have the potential to guide, wound, and withstand time's erasure.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Duncan's writing, his story telling, is wonderful."
"Bought for a class, this book makes nonfiction writing interesting for those of us who would've never read the genre otherwise."
"A collection of poignant stories, intriguing and entertaining."
"So many wonderful word journeys within this volume of stories."
"I found the stories and essays relating to the authors experience and spiritual insights relating to nature to be very profound."
"That is the way these short stories that go from a person's youth to his mature years."
"great read when fishing is slow."
"Wonderful Pacific Northwest Writer who captures the culture and spirituality of the regions natural places."
Best Poetry Literary Criticism
A Little Book on Form takes up the central contradiction between poetry as genre and the poetics of the imagination. A Little Book on Form brilliantly synthesizes Hass’s formidable gifts as both a poet and a critic. It began as a series of notes and reading lists for a seminar I was invited to teach at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop in the winter of 1995. . For the second half of the class, I asked each student to make a presentation on an idea of form in some discipline or craft other than poetry. There were talks on the formal ordering of 1970s disco albums, form in the photographs of Cartier-Bresson, the building of a wooden canoe, and of a computer program, the plots of films noir, and the architectural design of mosques.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"So excited to read this book."
"There probably aren’t enough open questions in Hass’s book, but God knows there are abundant quotations of poetry drawn from Hass’s broad knowledge of world poetry."
"He starts with the basics of form, 1, 2, 3, and 4-line poetry, or stanzas. He devotes long chapters to popular forms in English poetry, sonnet, ode, and elegy."
"Hass goes on to explore several forms and genres, including overviews and a more extensive examination of the sonnet form and its development since the 13th century, and a short section on the villanelle and sestina as forms adopted by Victorian poets from medieval French and Provencal poetry, He then presents several very interesting sections on development of genre poetry including the ode and the elegy and how the changing modes of thought during the development of these genres are reflected in their underlying structures."
"So that – trinity, for example – mystery begins here.”. Scattered throughout this freshly conceived book on poetry forms, little notes let us in on the poet’s actual thoughts in real time as though we’re passionately engaged in a lively discussion about a topic we all love."
Best Political Literature Criticism
Combining the best of Hitchens's polemical punch and intellectual elegance in a tightly woven and subtle argument, this book addresses not only why Orwell matters today, but how he will continue to matter in a future, uncertain world.Christopher Hitchens, one of the most incisive minds of our own age, meets Orwell on the page in this provocative encounter of wit, contention and moral truth. Christopher Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"George Orwell has been labeled, recruited, insulted, folded, excluded, misunderstood, and watered down. The failure of government to see events in the proper light or sometimes to lie outright to protect itself and its goals. While I would also suggest NINTEEN EIGHTY-FOUR,signet classic ct311 (paperback) I would say that the novel has overshadowed some of the other great NONfictional works of his and I would, if I was you, try to expand on your knowledge of his ideas - as I am doing right now."
"Especially in a world where we are living with extra high levels of political correctness, we need to be reminded that George Orwell dealt with that issue."
"In defense of Orwell, Hitchens pulls out all his big reverberating guns of literary criticism and biographical detail. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve into the biography of the great writer, the political polemics of his thoughts, the arguments against and for the world of Orwell's inner mind. As for me, I consider this work to be a masterful cynical retributive reaction against all the many millions of words written on Orwell (more than he ever got to write in his lifetime.)."
"I can't say that, like Orwell's essays, this was a joy to read; but if there are really people so enslaved to current groupnonthink as to suspect GO of being invalidated by the thoughtcrimes against accusations of which Hitch here defends him capably, then it was worth writing and will be worth reading."
Best Religious Literature Criticism
Happy 90th birthday (10/14/16), to one of the world's most beloved icons of literature, Winnie-the-Pooh! In which it is revealed that one of the world's great Taoist masters isn't Chinese--or a venerable philosopher--but is in fact none other than that effortlessly calm, still, reflective bear. Is there such thing as a Western Taoist?
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Insightfully true to the original."
"Great book, simplifies philosophy in a humorous way."
"I first read this book at time of publication."
"gr8 book."
"It was a gift for son and absolutely loves it!"
Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Literary Criticism
In this beautifully illustrated compendium of all things Outlandish, Gabaldon covers the first four novels of the main series, including: • full synopses of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn • a complete listing of the characters (fictional and historical) in the first four novels in the series, as well as family trees and genealogical notes. • a comprehensive glossary and pronunciation guide to Gaelic terms and usage. • The Gabaldon Theory of Time Travel, explained. • frequently asked questions to the author and her (sometimes surprising) answers. • an annotated bibliography. • essays about medicine and magic in the eighteenth century, researching historical fiction, creating characters, and more. • professionally cast horoscopes for Jamie and Claire. • the making of the TV series: how we got there from here, and what happened next (including “My Brief Career as a TV Actor”). • behind-the-scenes photos from the Outlander TV series set. For anyone who wants to spend more time with the Outlander characters and the world they inhabit, Diana Gabaldon here opens a door through the standing stones and offers a guided tour of what lies within. For nine years, four books, and nearly 4,000 pages, Diana Gabaldon has entranced readers with her talent for historical authenticity, dramatic plot lines, and strong characters in the Outlander series.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Perfect for when you want to jog your memory without having to read the whole book over."
"Love her books, every one, read them over and over again and still can't get enough of them."
"This book helps put all of the marvelous characters together in an easy to use edition."
"If you LOVE Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER books and TV series this is a MUST HAVE!!!"
"good show to Collection >> very comprehensive."
"review of story and how scenes were done- I am an Outlander fan - a great addition to my collection."
"Gabaldon explains all very well."
"DG's books are complicated and this is a great companion book to the incredible story she gifted us."
Best Short Story Literary Criticism
Here is Ernest Hemingway’s first published story and a classic by William Faulkner, who admitted in his biographical note that he began to write “as an aid to love-making.” Nancy Hale’s story describes far-reaching echoes of the Holocaust; Tillie Olsen’s story expresses the desperation of a single mother; James Baldwin depicts the bonds of brotherhood and music. Moore writes that the process of assembling these stories allowed her to look “thrillingly not just at literary history but at actual history — the cries and chatterings, silences and descriptions of a nation in flux.” 100 Years of The Best American Short Stories is an invaluable testament, a retrospective of our country’s ever-changing but continually compelling literary artistry. For the centennial celebration of this beloved annual series, master of the form Lorrie Moore selects forty stories from the more than two thousand that were published in previous editions. Moore writes that the process of assembling these stories allowed her to look thrillingly not just at literary history but at actual history the cries and chatterings, silences and descriptions of a nation in flux.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"On the whole, the stories selected for this collection are good, some are superb, and others left me shaking my head in puzzlement as to why they were included. It's easy to pull things apart but, for this review, I will focus on those stories I loved, some of which I may have read previously and others that are new to me but I will never forget. The collection is arranged chronologically and there is a short description of each time period with a focus on the types of stories that were prominent during that era. Written in the aftermath of World War II, the concept of shared terror is explored, along with the power of strength and connection. What touched me most in this story is its examination of the connections made without words - some through music, some through the collective unconscious, and some through inner promises we make to ourselves. As a clinical social worker, I have not read anything that comes close to examining the inner world of a child/woman trying to make sense of an irrational life. The child spends her life wondering what her mother might have been like, what is the true essence of her father, and what comprises her own sense of self."
"While exceptional, it is just a smidge less exceptional that The Best American Short Stories of the 20th Century."
"Large, heavy volume of fantastic stories."
"Exceptional collection."
"Great collection of the classics and the new."
"A good collection to keep close at hand for whenever you have an hour for a really good story."
"Great Book for my college student!!!"
"Wonderful reading from start to finish."
Best Womens Literature Criticism
From the author of Men Explain Things to Me , a personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy – a fitting companion to Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award In this exquisitely written new book by the author of A Paradise Built in Hell , Rebecca Solnit explores the ways we make our lives out of stories, and how we are connected by empathy, by narrative, by imagination. The catalyst for the latest spiraling inquiry by Lannan Literary Award–winning creative nonfiction master Solnit is her mother’s Alzheimer’s.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a big fan of RS's essays and well aware she can write circles around most people."
"Not only is this on my list of "all-time favorite" books, I have bought this for 7(!!)."
"While this is a lyrical and unique book- half memoir, half literary/cultural criticism - I did not connect with much of the author's issues related to her mother, or former boyfriend, or friend in crisis, or her own disease."
"Rebecca Solnit doesn't disappoint."
"I did enjoy some of the threads more than others."
"Basically it is a memoir, but takes in a world of ideas and thankfully ties them together in the end."
"This book, for me, is a different side of the fabulous Rebecca Solnit, who is my go-to for so many things historical or related to social action."
"With a deft hand, Solnit weaves the doors and windows through which she travels into a mesmerizing story. She had decided early on to never refuse an adventure, and she shares a few she had taken as relief and growth as the burden of her mother grew. Somehow, the author successfully weaves the story of Frankenstein and the history of his creator into a meaningful, and even necessary, part of her own discourse. It challenges the reader to evaluate one's own internal script and to open for the constant change of every context."