Witch Hunt: A History of Persecution by Nigel Cawthorne

Good information but told in a repetitious manner that wore this reader down

A witch burning

Cawthorne's Witch Hunt: A History of Persecution is a recounting of the witch hunt craze that infected not only Salem, Massachussets, a topic with which most Americans have a least a passing familiarity, but throughout Europe to a much, much larger degree. The back of the back says that this book "...examines this persecution and the religious hysteria which inspired it." To me the use of the word examination implies that the author will interpret this hysteria and make observations and insights throughout the reading. Cawthorne does not do anything close to this, with the exception of a brief, four page introduction. Rather, he recounts witch trial after witch trial, often going into great detail about the tortures used and the indictments brought against the accused witches.

While this is an impressive bit of research, the book felt half-done. It was as if Cawthorne had written up his research notes and then had to hurry off to write something else before he added his own touches. What he leaves us with is more than 200 pages of torture, false accusations and descriptions of supposed orgies between witches and Satan. The first dozen times I read about them, I was interested. By the 50th time, they become most wearisome. Not that they were not horrific stories, but there was just no analysis, no synthesis. This is not so much the work of a historian than a gathering of research.

So, what does this book do well? It is a wonderful resource for someone wanting to know basic facts about the ways that the Spanish Inquisition and the Witch Hunts physically tortured and financially abused their victims. I'll keep it as a resource for my world history classes just for those topics.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

Reviewed May 22, 2005.

This book can be found here on Amazon: Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution

An Open Letter on Translating (Kindle) by Martin Luther

A piece of history, yet still accessible

Originally published in 1530.

I should note that I am a lifelong Lutheran and Martin Luther is one of my personal heroes, despite his numerous flaws.

An Open Letter on Translating is a September, 1530 letter to Luther's critics concerning his translation of the Bible from Latin into German. This was very controversial at the time and it led to a lot of disagreement (even wars) over who should be allowed to read the Bible and who should interpret its meaning.

Luther defends his translation in his very best combative style. He correctly notes that not all turns of phrases translate literally from one language to another. He notes, along with a liberal dose of insulting names for his opponents, that he and his team of translators did a lot of research and took great care to make his translation accessible and accurate.

Martin Luther
(1483-1546)

What is perhaps most amazing is that this document is immensely readable for anyone conversant with the issues of the Reformation, even though it is nearly 500 years old. His irreverent style won over many of the common folks of his day and made him the Western world's first international bestselling authors.

The letter veers off topic towards the end and meanders into a general criticism of indulgences and entreaties to saints which is why I only give it 4 stars.

It can be found on Amazon.com here: An Open Letter on Translating by Martin Luther.

Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead

"It is a tale ... full of sound and fury; signifying nothing." -Shakespeare

Published in 2007 by Algonquin Books

The above quote tells quite a bit about Olmstead's Coal Black Horse. It is garnish and flair, it is pretty words and gruesome descriptions of the horrors of war, but it is a story without a point, except to say that life is without value and, eventually, someone will end yours and it will all be over.

Olmstead borrows heavily from the styles of Howard Bahr and Stephen Crane to create this book. From The Red Badge of Courage he borrows the stylistic device of never quite letting the reader what battlefields or locations the book is set in - that is until he suddenly tells you that it's in Gettysburg. How Robey avoids tens of thousands Confederate soldiers stacked up along the Potomac River (they massed there for days waiting for flood waters to go down) is a mystery to me. Why Olmstead decides to tell the reader the battlefield at that moment is a mystery as well.

Civil War dead scattered on a battlefield

From Bahr he borrows many of the same style of battlefield descriptions - the chaotic glimpses of a battle that remind me of quick movie cuts. The poetic descriptions of awful destruction, brutality and inhumanity are powerful, and reminiscent of Bahr. But, Olmstead lacks Bahr's ability to tell a story. Coal Black Horse plods along and eventually becomes a dark, depressing novel. It starts with death and ends with 2 murders and two attempted murders and no one seems to care about any of it. No love. No joy. Just dreary existence.

I note in the back cover that Olmstead received an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) grant to write this book. If this is what we are paying for with government-provided grants, than I suggest we stop. Certainly he can write this stuff on his own. Others write much better works and without government assistance.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on May 26, 2009.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Coal Black Horse.

On the Decay of the Art of Lying (kindle) by Mark Twain

Not Twain's best work.

Twain (1835-1910) says that On the Decay of the Art of Lying was an essay written in 1885 for a $30 prize for the "Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford". Twain notes that he did not win a prize for this essay.

The essay focuses on the lost art of lying. Twain discusses different kinds of lies, situations in which people lie and why all lies are not bad.

The essay is sometimes funny but mostly sounds like an old stand up routine about good lies and bad lies.

The Kindle version is very short - only 86 locations which equals about 12 regular pages.

I rate this essay 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: On the Decay of the Art of Lying by Mark Twain.

Reviewed on May 28, 2009.

Old Testament Legends being stories out of some of the less-known apochryphal books of the old testament (Kindle) by M.R. James

Sometimes interesting, mostly tedious

Originally Published in 1913  

M.R. James has collected additional stories from the Old Testament era. None of these is included in the canon books. These are not stories from the Apocrypha but even more stories. In times past, some churches actually treated some of these stories as scripture.

According to M.R. James, some of these are quite ancient and some are newer. The stories are arranged chronologically and feature Adam, Eve, Cain, Abraham, Job, Joseph ,Jeremiah and Solomon. A new, non-Biblical character is Ahiker, advisor to the King of the Chaldeans.

The stories about Adam and Eve mostly concern how they deal with being sent from the Garden of Eden. The story of Job is a re-telling of his book in the Bible, but it is more satisfying than the original.

M.R. James (1862-1936)

The story of Solomon is very bizarre. Solomon uses a ring to control demons in order to build the Temple. Abraham gets a lot of attention in these stories and we get to read stories about him as a young man and as an old man. There is a long story about Joseph (the interpreter of dreams) and a young woman that conspires to marry him.

The problem with these stories is the writing. They were written in a style that mimics the King James version, which was the par for the course for Biblical translation when M.R. James wrote this book. But, it's just makes some of these stories even more difficult to enjoy reading.

There is one more issue with this Kindle version. Many times the capital "C" is actually replaced with a capital "G". So we have Gain and Abel and the Gaananites. It's no big deal, especially since I paid nothing for this version, but just be aware of it if you choose to read these stories.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Old Testament Legends.

Reviewed May 29, 2009

Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion (Kindle edition) by Mark Twain

Story of a trip by Mark Twain to Bermuda - starts fairly weak and ends strong

First published in 1877 by The Atlantic.

The title of this essay has it right - these are just a series of stories about a trip that Twain (1835-1910) and some friends took to Bermuda from New York City. Twain wrote this for "The Atlantic" in 1877 and his wry style makes him an excellent travel companion.

In reality, Twain's story of the trip is the story of the people he meets along the way. Most of the stories are humorous, some are duds and about an equal number are quite funny. I won't forget the story about the town with the cat situation for quite a while.

Twain on Bermuda:

"We never met a man, or woman, or child anywhere in this sunny island who seemed to be unprosperous, or discontented, or sorry about anything. This sort of monotony became very tiresome presently, and even something worse. The spectacle of an entire nation groveling in contentment is an infuriating thing."

Twain on modern communication:

"The Bermudians are hoping soon to have telegraphic communication with the world. But even after they shall have acquired this curse it will still be a good country to go to for a vacation, for there are charming little islets scattered about the enclosed sea where one could live secure from interruption. The telegraph-boy would have to come in a boat, and one could easily kill him while he was making his landing."

Can you imagine what he'd say about cell phones, text messages and Twitter?

I rate this essay 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion by Mark Twain.

Reviewed May 29, 2009.

Thank God for the Atom Bomb by Paul Fussell

The works of a brilliant essayist are a joy to read.

Originally published in 1988.

I admit, I was attracted to Thank God for the Atom Bomb because of the title. Our library had it featured on its web page with some excerpts and I was intrigued. I was not disappointed.

The title essay is simply brilliant. It is also caustic, blunt and nuanced. I'll refer to it before the next time I teach about World War II.

There are two more essays on World War II. I found the two essays on George Orwell to be most interesting. His commentary on the differences between tourism and travel reminded me of the Twain essays I've been reading lately. "Taking It All Off in the Balkans" is the account of his visit to a nudist resort in the former Yugoslavia - very funny and (I've got to say it) revealing.

Paul Fussell

Two essays were just not interesting to me, being mainly about poetry and I find myself unable to muster the interest to read poetry, let alone read extensive commentary on it. I skimmed those.

The essay on the 2nd Amendment ("A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.") comes off as a poorly-researched rant as opposed to the well-researched arguments made in the Atom Bomb essays. It stands out in this collection for that reason.

The other oddball essay is my 2nd favorite (after the title essay). Fussell went to the Indy 500. Try to imagine an East Coast college professor who writes about poetry standing around Indy's infamous snakepit and the guys with the "Show us your t*ts" signs. Fussell's comments are quite observant and show that he really spent some time walking around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and getting a feel for racing in general. Having just attended my 24th Indy 500 six days ago I was especially interested in his comments. I would be most interested in seeing Fussell's thoughts at having more racial diversity in the fields and 3 women in the race nowadays.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This collection can be found on Amazon.com here: Thank God for the Atom Bomb by Paul Fussell

Reviewed on May 29, 2009.