In truth, I have been reading the works of Guy de Maupassant for years.
However, this is the first time I have had the opportunity to read all his works. Maupassant was the master of the short story, and a most descriptive writer. Reading his stories transports one back in time to the late 1800s in France (my favorite era in history).
England may have been the greatest world power during that epoch, but it was France, especially Paris, which set the cultural standards. Maupassant influenced a number of later authors, including Leo Tolstoy, O. Henry, Somerset Mongham, and Henry James.
Frederick Nietzsche praised him, saying, “I cannot at all conceive in which century of history one could haul together such inquisitive and at the same time delicate psychologists as one can in contemporary Paris: I can name as a sample – for their number is by no means small, ... or to pick out one of the stronger race, a genuine Latin to whom I am particularly attached, Guy de Maupassant."
Guy de Maupassant's strangely beautiful stories vary from uplifting explorations of moralistic living, through humorous parodies of the middle classes of 19th century France and their foolish attempts to better themselves, right through to the most critical revelations of the baseness of human existence, often revealed in the self-same stories. They are at once depressing and uplifting, cynical and idealistic, humorous and thought-provoking. The one thing that each story has in common is that it leaves the reader with a new insight into the human condition. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk
Though the title was somewhat misleading, Elain Pagel’s book contained a wealth of information not only on the demonization of non-Christian cultures through the centuries, but also on how historical events, like the Jewish Roman Wars of the 1st/2nd Century C.E., affected the writing of the Bible.
By way of example, the Pharisees were a relatively minor sect while Jesus was alive, but by the time the Bible was being cobbled together, they had become much more powerful, and this is why they were referenced so often in the New Testament.
I found Pagel’s information about how the Bible was constructed as interesting as how the dominant faction Christian associated first the Jews, then the Pagans, and, finally, other subversive Christian sects with Satan.
From the National Book Award-winning and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of The Gnostic Gospels comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition.
"Arresting...brilliant...this book illuminates the angels with which we must wrestle to come to the truth of our bedeviling spritual problems." —The Boston Globe
With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan’s story into an audacious exploration of Christianity’s shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike.
Having always been fascinated by the outlaws of the depression era – Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, etc. – when I came across this book I had to read it.
King did a good job in his research and his writing is excellent. He doesn’t paint Floyd out to be Robin Hood-like hero, nor a complete villain. He manages to provide a nuanced portrait of Floyd and placed him squarely in a historical context. King also speaks to the social bandit mythology that surrounds Floyd today. Recommended reading.
Charles Arthur Floyd, better known as Pretty Boy Floyd (1904-1934), was one of the last of the so-called Robin Hood outlaws in the tradition of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and John Dillinger. He engaged in numerous bank-robbing exploits across the Midwest until federal agents and local police shot him down near East Liverpool, Ohio, on October 22, 1934-a feat which helped build the image of the modern FBI. This detailed account of his life, crimes, and death makes extensive use of FBI reports, government records, local newspapers, and contemporary journalistic accounts. Neither highly intelligent nor polished, Floyd relied on…
This book is a bit of a departure for me, as I specialize in Arizona’s territorial history, but Edna Loftus’ story was so tragic I could not resist telling it. Edna rose to fame in the first decade of the 1900s in London and Paris as a showgirl, model, and actress. She had the world at her feet and hobnobbed with the crème de la crème of Europe. After two bad marriages, she found herself alone in California with no means of support. Institutionalized patriarchy, classism, and religious intolerance destroyed her life. By the time she died in 1916, Edna was eking out a living as a prostitute and part owner of a brothel in San Francisco Tenderloin District.
