Know Your History and Get Inspired

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Is history a mystery? Yes history is indeed mystery for those who don't know about the history. History is very interesting subject but unfortunately only few of us read history. In a wider sense reading history is essential for every human being. As everyone knows about his/her family i.e., his father and mother and ethnicity, so everyone should know about the history of human; that is from where we have come and how we have been able to make tremendous success and development over a period of centuries.

I was watching a movie inception and in that film, the writer described that when we are in a dream, we don't know the starting of a dream every time we end up in the middle of some situation, and that is true. It is true in real life as well; we don't have any memory about our origin and our first few years in this world. So we all kind of ended up in the middle of some situation. So are we all in a dream? According to that concept, in a dream we have to die in order to wake up from a dream, will any of us try to shoot him / her to wake up from this dream? It sounds crazy; but looking at it from religious point of view, it is true.

There is a concept of life after death i.e., there is a life after this life where there would be heaven and hell and people will go there after their demise, those who do good deeds will go to heaven and those who do bad deeds will suffer in hell. So we can say that this life is a big dream and reality will struck when we die, and the dreams we see in night are actually dreams within a dream.

Reading history is so important because through studying history, we can know more about ourselves i.e., from where we have come and how we have evolved to a civilized society. Study of history makes us more aware of ourselves, by studying history, we can know more about the advancement man has made and it also gives us inspiration to do more and achieve more.

Today we study novels with interest and we get involved as if it is happening in front of us, we read novels with interest because the stories in them are very exciting and have some great characters. But these characters and stories are not real.

You would be surprised to find that history books are more interesting than the novels; this is because in history books there are interesting stories and great characters and these are all real. These books are more interesting than novels because by reading these books we know that the stories and characters we are reading are real and the facts are real as well so we can get real inspiration from these books.

There are many famous personalities in history who have revolutionized the world and brought much advancement in the fields of science, politics and arts. By reading their biographies, we can get real inspiration and bring positive changes in our life.

Graduate in Public Administration.

Hope Quotes

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There is nothing like hope quotes to bring us away from the brink of despair in the midst of tragedy or depressing times. That is the idea (sort of) behind this man's book, though I think that his hope is of too much of a political slant and not enough of true hope for the world. To me true hope cannot be brought by the hope quotes of a political party or political opinion, or even by a great political philosopher. If it could, then wouldn't the hope quotes of the many, many politicians of this world's history have changed the world to a much better one than what we have now. Of course, on that logic one could argue that without the hope quotes that have already been given the world that it would be a much worse place, but that is a philosophical argument for another day.

While I understand the importance that politics have played in the history of both our culture and country and the world at large, and certainly hope quotes have been important, I feel that it would take something more than what everybody is already doing and relying on to change the world from the path that it is headed down to one that is more promising, more enlightening, and better for us all.

Perhaps part of that is because there has been left much room to doubt the authenticity of many of the world's hope quotes. While I don't doubt the sincerity of the hope quotes of most of the great thinkers, writers, and speakers of both our age and all previous ones, one can't help but wonder at times whether these hope quotes are inspired purely by a desire to be of use to one's people and to the world, or whether they are inspired by a fear of being obliterated by history's passing after one's death and the subsequent urge to prolifically create and share as many of these quotes as possible in the hope that the more one puts out there the longer one's memory will live in the hearts, minds, and historical annals of the people. Often, it seems, contributions to society originate in a weak human grasp at immortality.

Perhaps instead of pursuing immortality through personal history, like becoming famous, writing popular books, or single-handedly raising and destroying governments, we ought instead to be pursuing this eternal effect on the world by learning how to live and love appropriately. Perhaps by leaving an indelible legacy of love on the lives of those we touch during our brief existence we can mold them to do the same. Perhaps our own little words and actions of love can be the quotes that change the world. Not in a big, glamorous way, but in the way a thousand individual grains of rice pile together to tip the scale in their direction.

Facts and Legends of the Village of Palm Springs: Witch of Tahquitz

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In 1919, the Constable of Palm Springs was a young man named Riley. The town was still a sleepy little hamlet before the age of celebrity came to its doorstep. The citizens were hard working earthy people who'd learned to live in a rugged climate amidst a tribe of mostly docile Indians. But there was a shadow lurking over the town and children would disappear under its cloud. Mainly the shadow stayed over Tahquitz canyon, hanging there as a warning not to enter. Legend says that when the shadow is in the canyon, all is safe, because the witch hides in its embrace. But on cloudy days or at night time when the shadow is everywhere, you must beware-for the witch is out!

In Riley's tale, he is asked to lead a posse into the canyon after the disappearance of a little Indian girl who is the daughter of a maid of one of the city's elite; an early auto mechanic named Zaddie Bunker.

Zaddie brings together a dozen or so city leaders to Lykken's General Store, now a historical site, where each person shares a story on their personal feelings or confrontations with the Witch. Newspaper man Randall Henderson tells the most gripping tale of how nearly 30 years earlier a little boy had been kidnapped and forced to eat his friend before he could escape. It appears a generation earlier a posse had formed to capture the Witch, which they thought they had, and ship her off to notorious Yuma Federal Prison in the middle of the desert wasteland. Unfortunately the stage coach she was on never made it and all of her cavalry dragoon escort mysteriously.

So Riley's posse takes off to catch the witch with half a dozen white settlers, an ancient Indian Medicine man (Pedro Chino) and a young Indian boy named Jesus. Along the way, Pedro tells the boy of even earlier events of the tribe and their interaction with the Witch. Her name is Mena and she was not always bad. Hundreds of years ago she had been brought forth by Spanish explorers in their quest for gold. She had called upon the gods for a chance to escape and a husband who would protect. The Mountain god answered, destroying the Spanish longboats searching as far north as a primordial Salton Sea in a hail of lightning. She swam ashore and slowly walked towards the tall mountain peak she could see ion the distance and when she saw the canyon and the Medicine Man Tahquitz who lived there, she knew she had found home.

For a long time she and her man helped the Cahuilla. But over time, there medicine turned bitter and their most famous spell of sucking the bad out of people began to draw the entire soul of their patients and in doing so prolonged their lives. Eventually, Mena tricked and killed Tahquitz, who continues to lie as an eternal spirit of the Cahuilla.

The posse finally reaches her camp site and kills her, though not without damage to their own group. One member, Big John, is left behind to watch the embers of the Witch burn, for this is the only true way to know she is dead. But before she is turned to ash he is chased away by coyotes and other animals.

Eric G. Meeks has authored several works. His latest book Witch of Tahquitz was written in the same sort of weird tales style that originally began Ray Bradbury's career. Some of his other works include:
The Author Murders: A Palm Springs Biblio-Mystery
Champagne Lady: Roberta Linn, Lawrence Welk's First Lady of Television
All of which are available on Amazon.com/EricGMeeks.

Eric G. Meeks is also a second generation rare book dealer, who these days, collects more Science Fiction than he sells. The Palm Springs area is home. He lives there with his wife, Tracey and their six children.

Mr Lincoln's Army

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Mr. Lincoln's Army is a great book about the great man that you should read if you are like myself interested in the life and times of President Abraham Lincoln.

An Illinois State Legislator and Illinois member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Married with 4 children, the man was actually born in Kentucky on February 12th,1809. He will move with family to Indiana when he is about nine.

He would finally arrive in Illinois when he was 21. The family originally in Kentucky was very well off, owning land titles... that were later stripped and lost in court. The family moves and losses such his mother at only 34 years of age begins, molding and forging the man that in short time must "Hold Together the Union."

Known to be articulate and affectionate was Lincoln. A young girl named Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y. once wrote Lincoln a letter suggesting he grow a beard to help him win the upcoming presidential election, as his face "was so thin" and "the ladies liked whiskers".

He would read and reply to this letter. He did in fact grow his whiskers and when passing through N.Y. on a train, he stopped and they met. They say an old man strained through the crowd to get to the president towing a young girl about 12 years old. Lincoln stooped down and they talked for several minutes. She would write Lincoln again in 1864 when she was 15, asking for advice and assistance. What a story she had to tell until her death in 1936 after years of interviews and events.

Such are the great stories told about Lincoln by Bruce Catton. However, the great man had to deal with so many challenges as soon as he arrives in the Presidency in on March 4th, 1861. Seven states have already seceded with 8 additional "border states" threatening secession.

Now he must build an army. Finding the correct officers and communicating the needs of the politicians and the people will prove extremely difficult. To the point that Union officers do not do their duty, and put the fight to the rebels. Read Mr.Lincoln's Army and follow Mr.Lincoln as strives to do the best he can do to hold he union together.

Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton. One of the finest books by one the best writers of American Civil War history.

My personal feelings are that we cannot thank Mr. Lincoln enough. Choices that were almost impossible to make had to be made. He did his best keeping the Union together. A terrible tragedy so many of America's youth from both north and south had to be sacrificed on the alter of freedom.

See this great book by Bruce Catton at http://thecivil-war.com/bruce-catton/. Civil War resources at http://thecivil-war.com/ including Civil War resources for teachers.

Ivory Simone Talks About Her Novel 'Havasu Means Blue Water'

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Author/Activist Ivory Simone has forged a gripping story that masters the importance of speech and dialogue relaying the emotions and strengths of the solid characters presented in the tale of Lyla Amir whose research for her master's thesis brings the past into the present.

'Havasu Means Blue Water' examines the long ago lynching of a black farmer and his wife but while this is the main foundation of the story we are introduced to subplots linked to the contemporary story of Lyla, her research and her life.

The story, past and present, of fictional Wilburn, AZ where the subjects of Lyla's research lived and died is both repellant and bittersweet. It is also where Lyla finds strength and an unexpected ally.

Ivory talks with us about writing 'Havasu Means Blue Water'

Lynnette Phillips - What inspired you to write Havasu Means Blue Water?

Ivory Simone - My family history. I grew up listening to my grandfather who told me stories about his grandfather--a black Indian who came out of slavery as a boy. I found a 1780s census record with my great-great-grandfather's name and background information. The record confirms my grandfather's oral history was correct. This family history took on new meaning when I worked for a Native American Tribe years later. Both of these invents laid the foundation for Havasu Means Blue Water.

LP - Does "havasu" mean blue water?

IS - Yes, it does. In the Mojave language it means "blue water". One of the characters in the story is a descendant of a Mojave tribe decimated by disease and other anti-Indian government policies.

LP --Why should readers buy your book?

IS -- It's a snapshot of the cultural wars we see in the Southwest--in places like my home state of Arizona. The inhabitants of the fictional town of Wilburn, Arizona are threatened by outsiders. They have a history of crushing groups who are different. However, the violence unleashed against outsiders is also used against the women and children of the town. Hate is a monster that's never satisfied. When it runs out of enemies to eat, it'll start devouring its own. Havasu Means Blue Water is a cautionary tale about the price a society pays for remaining passive in the face of racial and cultural intolerance.

LP -- "The legacy of injustice" will be the topic in two author Facebook chats that'll be held on July 10th and July 16th at 3:00 p.m. (EST). Why is this an important issue?

IS - I want people to think about what happens to a community when a grave injustice is allowed to fester. I want people to talk about what they can do to promote the healing of any festering wounds of injustice that divide and weaken their own communities. Justice is not optional--it's essential to the well-being of a community and its people.

LP -- The love between the two murdered victims, Mary Alice and Nathaniel Venerable, is central to the novel, why?

IS -- I believe love is the greatest force on earth. It's far greater than hate, far greater than the tyranny of violence. We first meet Mary Alice and Nathaniel as victims. However, I want readers to remember them for the deep love they shared. It's their love story that reaches out from the grave to influence the living, to propel events that bring about change.

LP -- Mother-daughter relationships are also explored quite a bit in the novel. The relationship between Lyla Amir, the heroine of the story and her mother and the relationship between Amber Goody and Bonnie Good, a dysfunctional daughter and mother--are both important threads in the plot. Why?

IS -- I'm a daughter and a mother of daughters. A daughter's relationship with her mother helps determine the type of women she'll grow-up to be. I wanted to show how certain acts and omissions mothers/women make in their lives shape the women their daughters become.

LP -- Lyla Amir is an unusual heroine. She's an Arab-American of mixed parentage (her mother is African-American) investigating the murder of a black farmer and his wife. Her heritage is one of the story lines that adds tension to events that unfold in the novel. Why did you make her Arab-American.

IS -- Lyla Amir's heritage is important because I believe Arab Americans now understand what Black Americans already know--what it feels like to be an undesirable "other". Lyla self-identifies as black but she has racially ambiguous features. This presents problems for her when she goes to Wilburn. It's her Arab heritage that becomes the source of hatred and conflict for her.

LP - The question of identity is also one of the issues Firestone Matise, the descendant of Mary Alice and Nathaniel Venerable, faces, too. Why?

IS -- I think people are quick to label others based on appearance alone. I wanted to challenge the notion we can know a person's history based on his or her racial profile. Racial stereotypes get in the way of Americans' ability to form positive relationships with one another. The browning of America will make such thinking a liability in the future. I believe that's a good thing in the long run

LP -- What do you want readers to know about Ivory Simone?

IS - I'm a writer and poet who dreams a lot. I have a vivid and active dream life that makes my journey in the world fascinating and sometimes strange.

LP -- What's it like living in Bangkok, Thailand?

IS -- There's never a dull moment. More importantly, I'm able to move about in relative safety and ease.

Thank you, Ivory, for talking with us and for your wonderful novel 'Havasu Means Blue Water'

Lynnette Phillips offers Book Marketing services as both a Coach and Consultant and also Professional Editing services. She has authored several Book Marketing and Self-Publishing Guides. She also maintains two blogs http://lynnettesbookworld.blogspot.com/ and http://lynnettesbookmarketing.blogspot.com/. You may reach her by email at laphillips52@gmail.com

(c) Copyright 2011 by Lynnette Phillips All Rights Reserved
Article may be reprinted freely as long as the author bylines and info box are included. The article itself may not be altered.

History Offers a View of Nature

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Living in upstate New York, I've acclimated to this 2011 winter's zero degree weather by reading books inside the warmer house, with a kitty on my lap. I've just finished reading:

• The History of God, by Karen Armstrong
• A People's History of the World, by Christ Harman
• The Stuff of Thought, a history of language, by Steven Pinker

It's only a coincidence the books fall into the genre of history, but they fascinatingly complemented one another, keeping my interest piqued.

Karen Armstrong's research into the knowledge of God and its impact on the worlds three main religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, severed theology from eternity. Theologies are human-made and fluctuate as often as the weather. The History of God seemed to agree with my opinion that outmoded doctrines and restrictive traditions bring disrepute to religions. Armstrong warns against fundamentalism and encourages faith-a faith and audacity to exchange human ideologies for transcendent views of God, reality.

Harman's book, A People's History of the World, is fat, pregnant with social and political history apparently forming and reforming human nature. Discourses on religion and God are scattered throughout the book, pointing to the probability that the people's way of life, health, and systems of government indirectly mimic their concept of God, some good, some not so good.

Reading Pinker's The Stuff of Thought was like scuba-diving. It required serious exertion and concentration; resisting a ponderous oxygen tank from pulling you backward; remembering to breathe counter-intuitively through your mouth, and, abstaining from immediate verbal expressions when glimpsing an awesome view, in order not to swallow a mouthful of salty water. The history of language is entirely different from the history of words and Pinker analyzed language from many perspectives, concluding there is no complete adequate language to convey truth. Pinker is amazingly practical, humorous, and realistic.

I recommend The History of God to readers who are interested in reconciling religion to God. Religion can be beneficial when not mistaken for truth.

I recommend A People's History of the World to readers on the verge of escaping the prison of repeating deadening past activity.

I recommend The Stuff of Thought to people who value the open-mindedness of an educated engaging author.

My conclusion: History serves as a window into nature. But readers must decide which nature. Trying to understand the human nature is as promising as understanding falling snow. Admittedly, snow is no longer considered a miracle but is now known as a component of the water cycle. But this knowledge is plagued by human concerns. Too little snow causes droughts. Too much snow is a pain to deal with on the roads. Knowledge of the human nature is not satisfying.

The human struggle against concerns, hunger, suffering, and mind-numbing traditions cease only as I use history as a window into the spiritual nature. And, I did find evidence of spirituality in these good reads! Bravery, balance, insight, hindsight, compassion, morality, reform, honesty, integrity were not only obvious, but also inspiring, to the point I felt the reality of the spiritual nature.

Cheryl Petersen advocates spiritual thought before action. Cheryl blogs at http://www.healingsciencetoday.com/.

In This Hospitable Land Written By Lynmar Brock, Jr

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A spectacular history lesson telling how families in Europe, specifically those from Belgium and France, existed during WWII. The story is fiction but based on true facts and true people in their desperate struggle to keep their families alive and safe. The struggle to keep ahead of the Nazi's when the war started for those living in Belgium became an hour to hour situation, never knowing for sure which way the German's were heading, but always knowing that their search for Jews was the German's utmost goal. Hitler had spread the word down to all his commands to capture anyone that was Jewish or even part Jewish. They would then transport them to interment camps where, depending on their age, sex, and value to helping the Nazi's, they were killed or kept to work for the Nazi's.

Andre' Sauverin was a professor at the Free University in Brussels. Andre' and his family were from a Jewish family and he knew they would be targeted by the Nazi's because of their looks. Immediately the bombings started forcing all that could reach a shelter into the nearest place of safety, even though it might be only a crude place. In those first days the rush to flee the city became of the utmost urgency. Andre' and his brother Alex gathered their families and started the exodus towards France where they thought they would be safe for a while. All modes of transportation were jammed as were the roads with many fleeing their homeland to keep their families safe as long as possible. Andre' and Alex gathered their families and took their old Buick with a trailer attached behind for all their goods for which they had space. Their long travel was extremely difficult as they negotiated many mountain passes and trails. The days were long and the nights longer. Andre' and Alex laid out the best possible methods of travel to get their families through each day hoping for a safe place to stay at night and for some food to keep them nourished. They took what little food they had but it didn't last long. Some nights they were fortunate to find shelter, and even more rare, some food. Churches along the route helped tremendously as many pastors were a part of the resistance slowly being organized to resist the takeover of their nation. The problem was knowing who to trust and who would turn you in.

The trek by any means available from public transportation where available, to scarce automobiles, to horse-drawn carts, to walking was used while trying to avoid the German's and those that the German's made part of a controlling police force to assist in capturing Jews. Those in local governments were told they must help enforce the German law in all of Belgium, some willingly and many not so. The travels through Belgium and eventually France were long and hard.

They took the less traveled roads to avoid capture. Andre' had to leave to return to check on the Free University and his fellow professors. When he got there he was told that the university was closed for safety sake and all were to leave the area. The family had a stash of diamonds that they hid not knowing if those diamonds might save their lives some day or obtain food when all other sources were depleted.

Eventually they had to hide the Buick in an old barn and they continued on to race against time. They were advised many times where to go and who to trust but life was so hard as they, and many other refugees from Belgium felt insecure as they were continually notified that the German's and those helping them were searching the areas near where they traveled. The families were split apart, even some of each family had to go elsewhere thus breaking up Andre' and Alex's families even more.

The story has to be read fully to understand what these brave people went through in wartime. So many times when you thought you were safe you would hear of atrocities in nearby towns that thankfully you escaped this time. I thank Lynmar Brock, Jr. so much for giving us this story of brave people and how they existed as a family. As with every family there are deaths, illness, growing pains, maturity, reaching out to each other for help, and all other things that normally occur in lives but these were not normal lives at all.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman of a book supplied by The Amazon Vine Program