Dulce

Were you surprised that money and power = corruption?

Reviewed: 02-21-25

The book relates a sad story of an institution turned to the dark side by money, clout, and the narcissism of its leaders. In its current American instantiation, it also shows that evangelical Protestants aren't the only ones working hard to tear down boundaries between church and state. The tale was interesting, but the narration made me feel like giving up on the book.

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Dry as Dust but So Important

Reviewed: 01-29-17

I became interested in the People's Republic of China almost 30 years ago, when I met a fellow grad student who was a Chinese citizen. He told me about his family's exile to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution and the confiscation of their possessions because his father was an intellectual. The few books that they were permitted to keep were soon gone, as they had to be used for toilet paper. My friend was five years behind in his education because the schools had been dismembered by the Red Guard. His father was imprisoned and was fortunate to survive.

Dikotter's book is an eye-opening account of this period. We knew nothing of it at the time; in fact, student radicals in the US were waving Little Red Books and extolling the virtues of Chairman Mao. While maybe--just maybe--not quite as evil as Hitler and Stalin, Mao was responsible for the mass murder of Chinese citizens not only during the Great Famine, but also during the Cultural Revolution. He mostly stood back and allowed the atrocities to be directed by others, but he was the guiding force. The destruction of higher education, indoctrination of young people into a crazed eliminationist ideology, and the hate-filled humiliation, torture, and murder of thousands upon thousands of intellectuals and ordinary people during the supposed "cleansing" of those "infected" by western ideas are Mao's legacy from these days.

Unfortunately, the book is overladen with lists, statistics, and extraneous detail. The narration is droning. I can't comment on the narrator's pronunciation of Chinese, but his reading is monotonous. I got through the book because its overarching content and message are so important. We were fools ever to believe that Communism could cure the evils of the world rather than create many of them.

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13 people found this helpful

An utterly engaging book

Reviewed: 06-08-16

Having read scores of recent works about WWII, I was dubious that I needed to read another. But Stargardt's book is a terrific addition to the literature and should not be missed. As others have said, it's not primarily a battlefield account, instead dealing with the attitudes and beliefs of a wide range of contemporary Germans living, voluntarily blinkered, during the war. The book is especially strong in dealing with the institutions that were responsible for molding the German worldview. Even before the war, Germans had been an "organizing" society, with citizens, especially those in the larger cities, tending to join multiple cultural, civic, and religious communities. This tendency was exploited by the Nazis, who understood how voluntary organizations could be manipulated to serve their purposes of ideological inculcation.

The Hitler Youth, the League of German Maidens, the various welfare and homeland defense organizations, and especially the churches, are examined in this light. Stargardt doesn't let any of these organizations--again, especially the churches--off the hook. Churches saw themselves, with very few exceptions, as a bulwark of the state. At their best, the churches simply ignored the mass extermination of the Jews. At their worst, they actively approved Hitler's "final solution." German citizens who were aware of the ongoing Holocaust--and Stargardt shows that the majority clearly were aware--chose not to consider the extermination of the Jews to be anywhere near the top of their most pressing concerns. The churches' willful abandonment of morality, the indoctrination of children in Nazi youth movements, and the power of the Nazi leaders' propaganda machine, encouraged otherwise rational people, heirs to a monumental cultural heritage, to reach this point.

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21 people found this helpful

Brilliant science fiction and much more

Reviewed: 07-13-15

Dan Simmons' masterpiece is a brilliantly written future-world science fiction novel, bewildering mystery, well paced adventure,and sometimes ironic comedy. But best of all, at least to me, it's also a profound meditation on how human beings, imperfect and morally ambivalent creatures, seek solace in various ways to the dilemma of pain, suffering, and mortality that are the inevitable cost of being in the world.

The book is organized, in homage to the Canterbury Tales, as a series of stories told in first person or by the omniscient narrator by the handful of pilgrims on a dangerous quest. The range of Simmons' styles is masterful, and each story has a unique place in the overall structure. Without giving away any of the plot, I'll just say that the tales of the priest, the poet, and the Jewish scholar are sublime examples of the searches for consolation undertaken in various forms: existential courage, artistic struggle, and the Job-like endurance of the inexplicable actions of an unknowable God.

This is an often harrowing book. There is nothing glib or secure about the pilgrims' situations or tentative steps toward resolution. Simmons acknowledges throughout that our dual nature as human beings--at once spiritual and carnal, inspired simultaneously by love, self-absorption, the longing for transcendence, and lust--is not only tenuous but carries the seeds of its own destruction. But it ends on a wonderful, ironic note of hope.

The narration is very well done, with the exception of the female character. I didn't care for her brash "American" reading and thought it threw the book off balance. But it's not awful and shouldn't deter the listener from finishing this amazing book.

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Not the Neal Stephenson I love

Reviewed: 06-22-15

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend this book, especially when compared to others Stephenson has written. Overlong, tedious in many places, bizarrely violent to the point of sadism, unpleasant and uncomfortable listening, and in many places, unexpectedly badly written. There's a hint of the old Stephenson in the sometimes witty descriptions of the central computer game the rest of the story (loosely) surrounds, but too much of the book seems like Stephenson is attempting to channel Lee Child. Lee Child is funnier.

What was most disappointing about Neal Stephenson’s story?

The endless, slogging, unbelievable action tale of the interaction between the jihadists and Zula. Her torture, which isn't necessary for furthering the plot, is gratuitous and not for the squeamish.. Why does this constitute more than half of the book? It barely coheres with the much better story of T-Rain, the computer virus that launches the action, and the relationship among the international cast of players. The local color of China, British Columbia, Seattle, and the Philippines is well portrayed, as are some of the Asian and Russian characters. But the parts that stick in one's head are the scenes of ugly violence.

Have you listened to any of Malcolm Hillgartner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, and he's a good reader, although sometimes burdened with dislikeable books. He did a pretty good job of the various accents and didn't overdo the drama.

Did Reamde inspire you to do anything?

Vow not to read another new Stephenson book for a long time.

Any additional comments?

What is this obsession with the minutiae of guns?

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Didn't meet expectations, probably my fault

Reviewed: 06-11-14

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would only if the friend was more interested in abstract philosophy than in the lived experience of Christianity over time. This is my overall problem with the lecture series. It's probably unrealistic to expect from a philosophy/theology professor, but I missed the social context. It's often the WHY, not the WHAT, that makes religious development so interesting. E.g., what were the influences on Augustine that sparked him to fashion a theology that was relatively more "rational" than Dionysus's heavily mystical version in the east? How did ordinary Christians assume these theological changes into their worship and everyday experiences? In other words, how did theological developments come about and what differences did they make?

What was one of the most memorable moments of The History of Christian Theology?

Honestly, I was too disappointed overall to be struck by any individual moments.

What aspect of Professor Phillip Cary’s performance would you have changed?

I wish his lectures had been less extemporaneous and more structured. He was often repetitious in ways that didn't aid understanding. Also I sometimes found his informality about the subject matter a bit jarring.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, just didn't care for it.

Any additional comments?

None of my comments are meant to detract from Professor Cary's knowledge and his obvious love of his subject. He is erudite and enthusiastic; just not my cup of tea.

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12 people found this helpful

Even handed and absorbing overview

Reviewed: 06-08-14

What made the experience of listening to The Conservative Tradition the most enjoyable?

Prof. Allitt's rare talents as scholar and teacher are in full display. He is a charming lecturer, full of passion for his subject and flashes of humor. His erudition is no less obvious than his ability to discuss the subject matter in a way that will be comprehensible to everyone. I love his practice (throughout all his series) of illustrating major points with quotations from primary sources. He previews each lecture in a few sentences before he starts, which gives the listener a mental outline to follow. He is organized and as thorough as one could be in a survey course.

What did you like best about this story?

As an "old school" libertarian myself, I appreciated Prof. Allitt's even handed treatment of the varieties of American conservatism, from the excesses of Ayn Rand and the Moral Majority to the more tempered neo-conservatism of Buckley and Podhoretz. He is never condescending to his subjects, which must have been a temptation at times. His review of Thatcher's administration was eye opening; my prior knowledge of most of the history really benefited from the nuance Prof. Allitt contributed.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the lectures about Thatcher. She saved the British economy with a few steely common sense laissez faire moves, which were despised in the short term but which were beneficial in the long term.

If you could give The Conservative Tradition a new subtitle, what would it be?

The Anglo-American drive to let common sense prevail. LOL!

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9 people found this helpful

Unbalanced, Unoriginal, Disappointment

Reviewed: 11-19-13

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The pacing is way off. The first part of the book describes the Yalta conference in excruciating detail, including anecdotes about the leaders that any reader of other histories would find familiar. When the book finally gets going on the important issues, after what seemed like hours on the minutiae of Yalta, it makes some interesting observations about the roles of the various foreign ambassadors in negotiating issues, on Truman's unpreparedness for office, on Stalin's immorality, and on Churchill's doggedly anachronistic imperial sympathies. Yet even here, most of the material would be familiar to any student of the period. The book doesn't seem to include original research.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The book needed a good editor to cut unimportant detail and elaborate sections that really move the history forward. But in the absence of original research, the book can't be more than a rehash of other, familiar works.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration was painful. There is a sing song quality to the reader's voice that is the same in every sentence. I couldn't listen to much more than a half hour in a sitting.

Was Six Months in 1945 worth the listening time?

I don't think so, at least not for someone who's done substantial prior reading on the topic. As a primer, it might be fine, if you can take the narrator's odd cadences.

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Very good introductory course

Reviewed: 10-08-13

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend this course to anyone who wants a broad overview of Victorian England. Prof. Allitt covers a LOT of topics, but none in very much depth. It's a great jumping off point to do further reading (listening). It's particularly useful that he quotes liberally from contemporary writers to give a sense of the culture. I wish a bibliography were included, though.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite lectures were on Gladstone and Disraeli. Prof. Allitt draws nuanced distinctions between them and we can see both sides of contemporary politics. While he describes the eccentricities as well as the accomplishments of both men, the portrayals don't veer toward caricature. Actually none of the people whom Allitt describes do--he seems to like the men and women he talks about and is sympathetic rather than condescending to their foibles.

What about Professor Patrick N. Allitt’s performance did you like?

I loved his teaching style. He's clear, not too redundant, and has a wonderful sense of humor about the material. His accent is engaging. All around, a terrific teacher.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but the topics fascinated me.

Any additional comments?

On a personal note, I appreciated Prof. Allitt's attention to Victorian religion. This is a topic that is often absent from historical overviews. He's thorough and even handed.

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22 people found this helpful

Creepy Gothic Story

Reviewed: 09-14-13

What did you love best about The Picture of Dorian Gray?

The fact that the writer directly engaged the moral issue, which can be summed up as, "Is it better to be beautiful than good?" Oddly he answers his own question in the conventional way, which is not what I was prepared for. It seems Gray gets his just punishment at the end. But along the way there is the idea that fate, accident, random occurrences also can determine one's outcomes. So this isn't a straightforward justification of the "wages of sin." I think Wilde was more subtle than that in his contemplation of art and aesthetic appreciation and their effects on human life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There isn't a single likeable character in the story. Dorian is immorality incarnate, Basil allows his appreciation of aesthetics to get in the way of his judgment, Sir Henry is a loathsome upper class idiot, and Sybil is a fool. But Dorian's development from a beautiful young innocent to a decadent monster is fascinating.

Which character – as performed by Michael Page – was your favorite?

The narration was very good and Page did all the characters well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but I learned more about the 19th century foppish British aristocracy--possibily Wilde's own circle--that I might have wanted.

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11 people found this helpful