The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

The White City is the name given to the world's Columbia Exposition that took place in Chicago. It was the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus's of the discovery of the new world.

Coming after the Paris Exposition that produced the Eiffel Tower, Chicago and the American people desired to have something that would at least rival or do one better than the French. It was a tall order. They chose to build a city on the lake. Some of the best architects of New York, Boston and Chicago were called upon to help. There were buildings set up for many of the states and several foreign nations. The main structure was called the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building. Its floor was thirty two acres in size. It was so massive that 140,000 could stand inside it at the dedication ceremony.

As for the challenge to the Eiffel Tower, At a steel engineer came up with a plan. They would build a giant wheel at Bethlehem Steel that would be the largest one piece casting ever. The axle and its fittings weighed 142,000 pounds. This was to be George Ferris's of the giant wheel. Daniel h. Burnham, the architect in charge of the fair was excited about the idea. Many people didn't believe Chicago could put on a show like Paris had. This Wheel that could hold 2000 people at a time might just do the trick.

Landscape architect Fred Olmstead, who had designed New York's Central Park and Greenway, was The chief designer in the Boston's for the fair and they called for the scenery, that would not be gaudy in any way but be pleasing to the eye. They didn't want a garden effect but overall the scenery, and they desired to have it ready by opening day is May 1, 1893.

Meanwhile there was a serial killer operating in and around the city of Chicago. The author goes back and forth between the exposition the progress and the work of The Devil in the White City. Chicago was a busy place and people went missing all the time.

The fair was plagued with such problems as labor disputes, wind damage, deaths and illnesses of those associated with its completion. Olmstead had to have others finish his work at the crucial time due to his sickness.

Politics was in style in the windy city during the high nineties. Union bosses were gaining importance but detectives weren't too numerous and crime was on the rise.

In honor of opening day, Francis Bellamy composed a pledge that the Bureau of Education decided to send to every school in the nation. This was the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag that we all remember and was used in classrooms everywhere. In that huge manufacturers ' Bldg., there was a band of 500 and a choir of 5,000. Still, the microphone was not yet invented. It was hard for everyone to hear the speakers on the podium.

The Ferris Wheel was a great hit and many new products were introduced at the fair. Western Electric's Alternating Current to Direct Current for use had outbid Edison's at the fair. It soon became the preferred electricity around the nation. Shredded Wheat was introduced there as Aunt Jemima was the firth in the products and Cracker Jacks. The first moving pictures were shown there is Edison's Kinetoscope.

The clever Chicago serial killer was eventually caught after they made a few fatal mistakes. Herman H Holmes had tortured and murdered about fifty unlucky souls. The deed was done in a house, known locally as the castle.

This is a story of Good and Evil living side by side. They were separate events that show the high nineties life and the actions of a madman "creating chaos at the turn of the century. Chicago was a busy place at that time and an interesting part of American history.

John Sprague is an American currently working in the Mideast. He enjoys writing and working on his websites in his free time. He has a new site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the Mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

"Ladies of Liberty" Book Review

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Early American history is normally taught with an emphasis on the old aristocratic male white Anglo-Saxon protestants. "Ladies of Liberty" is an attempt to add diversity heralded leaders in American history by putting women in the spotlight in a biographical book about early American leaders. Cokie Roberts also has an interest in early American women's history because she likes emphasizing the personal lives of leaders.

Cokie Roberts failed to write a feminist book. Her book still fits neatly into a version of American history that puts aristocratic men in the spotlight. Her book emphasizes women impacting history in traditional female roles such as supporters to men, advisers to men, teachers, and nurturers of children. The great idealistic mavericks who do not have the privileged background do not receive enough credit in this book.

This version of early American history fails to be feminist or egalitarian, but at least Roberts does tell a version of history that highlights personal lives and ties historical events and politics to the personal lives of citizens. This politically incorrect book is still enlightening and entertaining because of its focus on personal lives of important figures.

This book is entertaining because Cokie Roberts knows how to choose the great stories. But Cokie Roberts is not a great storyteller. Roberts rambles through her stories in a stream of consciousness fashion. She drones through some stories and cuts other stories short abruptly. She normally switches topics too quickly. Her writing style is confusing.

Roberts does not offer much insight in her book. Her level of analysis is not for the most serious readers. This is a book that is more for entertainment than enlightenment on American history. "Ladies of LIberty" does not offer a unique perspective.

Roberts narrates history with the usual lack of criticism of corrupt leaders that one can expect from an American history book. This book glorifies corrupt American leaders.

The most entertaining aspect of this book is how there is a very human portrayal of leaders who are corrupt and insane. Adding women to American history shows a human side of the powerful men in their lives, even if those men are weird and lack moral compasses.

The other entertaining aspect of this book is the gossipy nature of the narrations. The book only includes the best gossip from prominent women's correspondence at that time. "Ladies of Liberty" only shares the gossip that is relevant to understanding its cast of characters.

"Ladies of Liberty" is not a book for everyone. It is a book for readers with long attention spans that also appreciate unserious reading. It is geared towards readers who prefer women's entertainment because of its gossipy and intimate stories about women. Readers who only have time for the most relevant and enlightening historical reading will be disappointed by "Ladies of Liberty." Readers with short attention spans will not have patience for reading through this entire book.

Hemingway Adventure

This book will sell lots, many people, in fact, will probably get it for Christmas. They'll gleefully flick through it before Christmas dinner, read a few pages out loud while they unbutton their trousers for that lie-down after the trifle, and then toss it onto the coffee table as they nod off. And that's where it will stay. Until the Christmas tree comes down and all the useless presents are packed into the cupboard with the glass baubles. Because, although it has a nice glossy pages, is written by everyone's favourite traveller, and is the ideal gift for anybody who swears Hemingway is the best novelist of this century, it's hardly gripping stuff. Even for a coffee table book.

(A) in the case of loosely strung together selection of anecdotes, diary entries and extracts from the Hemingway's novels follow Palin and his BBC budget around the globe in pursuit of the legend. From Michigan to the American West, via Paris, Cuba, Spain, Africa and all the other well-trodden paths, Palin takes us Hemingway is a journey which left me thinking one thing: why Palin was thrown onto the same stage as Hemingway in the first place? What is the godfather of Monty Python doing hanging out with the Machiavelli of machismo? It's hardly as if they share a similar sense of humour or even a comparable way of interpreting was the world.

The journey is unoriginal, taking you past legends you've heard before, and to places and events you've already seen. It's Hemingway's to the world, the world they so brilliantly described in his own novels and, quite honestly, nobody does that better than the man himself. If you want to experience Hemingway, you should read Hemingway. Palin's attempts to describe what the literary legend saw are pleasant, but don't hold that same en ability to reconstruct a picture through words.

And is the subject of the pics one of the book's most irksome features, aside from the shameless soliciting of anything to do with Hemingway: (a piece of scrap metal from one of his plane crashes in Africa, an old buddy, a few moments boxing is his favourite bar stool matteriashop), is the infinite supply of "me in front of" pictures, as in "me in front of Hemingway's house.""me in front of the Eiffel Tower". If it wasn't for his contrived musing stare into the distance, while a copy of A Farewell To Arms hangs from his hands casually, the snaps would fit well into a Japanese tourist's Nikon scrapbook of "we have a world tour".

Is a thumbs-up note, at least it's better than the TV programme. And the writing is lucid and easy to read. But it won't teach you anything you didn't know didn't know anything about, unless you Hemingway to start with. It might leave you sometimes what's next on the cards though. The Road to Graceland?

Materials of this article can be very useful to school teachers of the literature.

5 Good Books to Read About - Historical Novels

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1. The Egyptian by M. Waltari

Ancient Egypt has been a favorite destination of many tales and also some serious historical research. Mika Waltari put a great deal of effort in producing a novel which bears no errors in depicting the life of Egyptian people at that time - even scientific historians acknowledge he did a good job.

The main character, royal physician Sinuhe, tells a story of the rise, rule and fall of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a member of the 18th Dynasty. The story is being told retrospectively in exile and is based on an Egyptian "Fairy Tale" called The Story of Sinuhe.

Waltari did a wonderful job not only by his description of general life in Ancient Egypt, but also by including his imagination; he managed to come up with a story of a monotheistic Pharaoh who was constantly threatened by the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and eventually overthrown for his beliefs.

2. The Count of Monte Christo by A. Dumas

The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo are the two most popular books from this French writer. Both historical novels, both filled with adventure, noble men and both are based on the events in the early 19th century that occurred in France.

The year is 1815. A young man named Edmond Dant?s is betrayed by his foes and imprisoned, only to emerge 14 years later with plans for revenge - but he has to make some friends first and so he is returning favors to those who have been kind to him before.

Dant?s disguises himself as Count Monte Cristo and unrecognized by his old enemies, executes a different revenge on all of them. He then leaves for an unknown location with his new lover, leaving justice and plots behind him.

3. The Name of The Rose by U. Eco

An Italian monastery faces a series of mysterious deaths. Although they have been officially classified as demonic possessions, there is one person who strongly disagree - William of Baskerville, a guest in the monastery who originally went there to attend a theological dispute.

William, along with his apprentice Adso of Melk, uses logic and reasoning to solve the problem - something pretty much unheard of in the 14th century. The Name of The Rose very closely monitors a scholastic method of investigation - open mind, facts and observations, intuition and empirical approach.

Umberto Eco came up with an interesting story of reason beating religious beliefs on the religion's home stadium. But don't worry, this novel is not offensive in any way, so you should read it regardless of your beliefs.

4. The King Must Die by M. Renault

Old Greece is another perfect background for historical novels. Mary Renault gladly took the opportunity and wrote about the adventures of a Hellean hero named Theseus. He traveled across various places in the ancient Greece:

TroizenCorinthEleusisAthensCreteNaxos

Renault focuses on creating an acceptable story from the archeological and historical point of view, rather than repeating the old Theseus myth.

Theseus encounters many adventures during his travels. He grows up in Troizen and then sets of to gather life experience. He comes from royal blood and has gods Poseidon and Apollo watching his steps.

The King Must Die is similar to The Egyptian in one way - it contains excellent and plausible historical point of view on the lives of regular citizens.

5. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis is a Latin term for "where are you going?". Sienkiewicz set this novel in Rome under the rule of despotic and half-mad Emperor Nero.

The main storyline spins around the love of a Christian women Ligia and a Roman patrician Marcus Vincius. Fictional characters (like both main protagonist) nicely mix with real historical ones, such as Nero, Claudius Petronius (the Arbiter of Elegance) or Tigellinus, the prefect of the mighty and influential Praetor Guard.

Sienkiewicz is famous for his catchy writing and Quo Vadis stands at the top of his works.
Conclusion

You have to admire the work and effort authors put in good historical novels; it's a bit harder than general fiction, because you have to do your homework and provide readers with solid facts and only then you can add your own tweak of the reality.

However, when successful, the result is an outstanding piece of literature - and the 5 books I'm recommending were more than successful. I hope I've extended your wish list and...

Thank you for reading!

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Critique Of John R Green's Book: "A Short History Of The English People"

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Norseman, Roman, German, and French incursions imprinted the primitive Picts, Jutes, Anglia, and Celtic enclaves found in the Isles early history. Early Maps and Generational Tables reflect the ascent and decline of influence and dynastic successions. Indicatively, the names Great Britain and England find their nominative substance in Angevin territories bridging the channel, along with Brittany in Western France.

In 1008 pages, the author reveals a short history of the Anglo Saxon; revealingly, its introduction was written in 1888. With biographical assistance from eras much more ancient than Shakespeare, Chaucer, Homer, or even Ovid, Green chronicles those influences shaping the ethics, ethos, and law construct among English speaking peoples. With candor, he describes the cruelty, debauchery, and chicanery associated with Great Britain's rise as a world leader; indeed, it was a reflection of mankind's propensity to the course, vulgar, and licentious liberties common among those who used the sword and mace to control equally undisciplined values. Though England's Kings and Court are exposed in their most basic appetites, Green remarks: "I have drawn greater attention to the religious, intellectual, and industrial progress of the nation itself than has, so far as I remember, ever been done in any previous history of the same extent."

John Green died before his work could be fully edited. To bring his ambitious endeavor to fruition, his wife, Alice, labored on to finish his massive elaboration.

Development of the expansive United Kingdom is drawn in laborious detail; simultaneously, an introduction to English mechanics, in its purest form, can be perused in this copious demonstration of intellectuality. The book is highly recommended as an introduction to English skills; but amidst such linguistic elegance, readers must endure unending banality from the era's repeated power struggles and unconscionable inhumanities. Still, with over one-half million words, the book represents a formidable history of English speaking peoples.

Incongruously, we find Wyclif's Bible translative efforts honored, along with Tyndale's; yet, no mention was made of King James' translation effort to design a book 'easy to be understood.' King James, though he was crude and unscrupulous, was responsible for the most far-reaching literature to affect Anglo Saxon minds - though the result did not in the least alleviate symbol and number mysteries in the ancient and cryptographic Bible accounts. Even now, those secretive writings, unanswered for 2000 years, remain hidden to all but the most studious exegete. Neglected in the King James translation, as was King James' considerable effort neglected by John Green, these mysteries have since been unraveled beyond contest.

The only fault accused Mr. Green's considerable work is his neglect to the one truly great literary work accredited to English speaking peoples, the King James Holy Bible.

Ben Winter, particles physicist, Bible scholar, and author of "THE GREAT DECEPTION: Symbols And Numbers Clarified," reveals there 'is' something new under the sun -- that is, for modern Bible students. He addresses correctness of language and true intent of the major Bible topics: solves Bible mysteries, defines Gog and Magog, reveals Daniel He-goat's surprising identity, and dares to number the all important Ten Ages. Sign up for FREE book critiques at http://www.winterbriar.com/ and view more articles in blog format at http://blog.thegreatdeception.net/.

Oaxaca, Cuna Y Destino De La Civilizacion Americana: Asserts Zapotec Culture Cradle of Mesoamerica

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Oaxaca, Cuna y destino de la Civilizacion Americana is an impassioned plea for recognition of ancient Zapotec culture in the state of Oaxaca, south central Mexico, as the cradle of Mesoamerican society. As such, the treatise contends, it constitutes one of the world's six great founding civilizations.

To buttress his proposition, author Juan Arturo Lopez Ramos cites key evidence which supports the contention that Oaxacan settlement should be credited with developing the continent's earliest known system of writing, calendar, cultivation, and first great city-state, Monte Alban. He bases his thesis on the fruits of primarily archaeological investigation by national and international researchers.

Background to Lopez Ramos' Knowledge and Investigation Regarding Oaxaca and its Pre - History

Lopez Ramos was born in the Mixteca district of Oaxaca. He studied in Mexico at the Instituto Politecnico National, and did his graduate work at the Antigua Universidad de Alcala de Henares, in Madrid, Spain. He then returned to Oaxaca to embark upon a career in politics. As both Secretary of Tourism, and member of congress, he gained exacting knowledge of Oaxaca, having had the opportunity to visit virtually all regions of the state. In addition, as a prominent politician he had occasion to meet with scores of academics working in the state over the course of more than two decades. He would inevitably be kept abreast of research in such diverse areas of inquiry as history, geography, anthropology and archaeology, botany and zoology, and linguistics, to name but a few.

Development of the Thesis of Oaxaca as the Cradle of Mesoamerican Civilization

Lopez Ramos begins his analysis by distinguishing development in Mesoamerica from Old World civilizations, noting that the latter had the advantage of being in relatively close proximity to one another and therefore the ability to adopt or assimilate the cultural progress of their neighbors. By contrast, Mesoamerican civilization developed in isolation and therefore independent of outside influences.

After summarizing how Oaxaca was instrumental in the development of Mesoamerica by virtue of developments in astronomy, engineering, agriculture and social organization, the author sets up Oaxaca as the geographic center of Mesoamerica, noting its climatic, physical and biological diversity, and how as a consequence the state stands apart from other regions in Mexico. He emphasizes the quantity and broad array of vegetation and animal life in the state, and of course its ethnic and cultural diversity. Oaxaca's unique position, in all of the foregoing respects, was therefore conducive to the development of a grand civilization.

The reader is provided with a review of the evidence of the earliest human occupation in Oaxaca (i.e. the rock shelters and pictographs found between Yagul and Mitla, contributing to the area's recent UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site), and the inhabitants' crucial advancement through the domestication of squash, pepper, beans and corn. Campsites became villages, and through village life developed rudimentary adobe housing, industry (i.e. ceramics) and social structure including the earliest ritualistic behavior and governmental function.

The book truly shines where Lopez Ramos advances his contention by illustrating that it was the Zapotecs and not the Olmecs, and it was in the central valleys of Oaxaca and not in Chiapas, Tehuacan, Teotihuacan, Veracruz or in other areas, where several indicia (aside from cultivation) of a great civilization first arose. Much of the evidence derives from the excavation at San Jose Mogote in the Etla valley, a settlement pre-dating others.

Lopez Ramos acknowledges that the origins of pottery are in four areas, the oldest sites being San Jose Mogote and Tehuac?n. But by comparing evidence at the two sites, he concludes that it was at San Jose Mogote where the first ever pottery workshop contained in a village, is encountered. The site also bears witness to the earliest use of consciously selected or tooled stones, and the first public buildings - constructed using deliberate astronomical orientation. The existence of a tombstone at San Jose Mogote, with the oldest writing in Mesoamerica, sets Oaxaca apart from anything similar found in the Olmec region of Veracruz or elsewhere. He then notes the antiquity of the calendar found at the same site, and that its complexity and accuracy exceed that of calendars of European societies of that era.

Using detailed description, Lopez Ramos asserts the importance of Monte Alban, the first great city-state on the continent. He notes its significant advancements over the course of its extensive occupation, and indeed its grandiosity. He quotes archaeologists Damon E. Peeler and Marcus Winter who conclude that Zapotec astronomy played a major role in the design of Teotihuacan.

The author makes his case in a convincing manner, citing the research results of several academics who have worked in Oaxaca for decades. He does so in a highly informative, convincing, and in most cases readable and understandable fashion even for those of us without maximum proficiency with the Spanish language.

Lopez Ramos Provides the Reader with a New or Renewed Appreciation of Oaxaca

In the course of the power-point presentation promoting his book, Lopez Ramos cites the likes of D.H. Lawrence, Guadalupe Loaeza, Danish architect Jorn Utzon, and others who have marveled at Oaxaca and in some cases noted its influence throughout the modern world - just to ensure that even if you don't entirely accept his thesis, from reading the book you'll come away with a new or renewed appreciation of the state, and more particularly its central valleys.

Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.

Alvin Starkman has a masters in anthropology and law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Now a resident of Oaxaca, Alvin writes, takes couples and families to the sights, is a consultant to documentary film companies working in southern Mexico, and owns Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com/ ), a unique bed and breakfast experience providing accommodations which combine the comfort and service of a four star hotel, with the personal touch of quaint country inn style lodging.

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.