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The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions)

T. S. Eliot

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Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The text of Eliot's 1922 masterpiece is accompanied by thorough explanatory annotations as well as by Eliot's own knotty notes, some of which require annotation themselves. For ease of reading, this Norton Critical Edition presents The Waste Landas it first appeared in the American edition (Boni & Liveright), with Eliot's notes at the end. Contexts provides readers with invaluable materials on The Waste Land's sources, composition, and publication history. Criticism traces the poem's reception with twenty-five reviews and essays, from first reactions through the end of the twentieth century. Included are reviews published in the Times Literary Supplement, along with selections by Virginia Woolf, Gilbert Seldes, Edmund Wilson, Elinor Wylie, Conrad Aiken, Charles Powell, Gorham Munson, Malcolm Cowley, Ralph Ellison, John Crowe Ransom, I. A. Richards, F. R. Leavis, Cleanth Brooks, Delmore Schwartz, Denis Donoghue, Robert Langbaum, Marianne Thormählen, A. D. Moody, Ronald Bush, Maud Ellman, Christine Froula, and Tim Armstrong. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes

Jacques Ellul

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Orwell's 1984 = fiction; Ellul's Propaganda = prophecy 5 out of 5 stars.
41 of 43 people found this review helpful.

Jacques Ellul is meticulous and thoughtful, so this book is occasionally dense and hard to follow. In addition, most of the examples and allusions will strike modern Americans as dated and obscure. Nonetheless, Ellul saw long ago where moderns were headed. He saw that authoritarian use of modern technologies would mesmerize, stultify, and reduce humans to thralls, just as Orwell and Huxley, in far more hysterical prose, had dramatized.

Orwell's electronic miracles monitored citizens directly or indirectly. Huxley's miracles were far more therapeutic or medical. But routine surveillance or treatment is inefficient and overwhelms any state that would depend on omniscience or envelopment. Ellul foresaw tools both electronic and human that would so condition subject-audiences that close monitoring and careful prescriptions would be unneeded.

Ellul also argued that this "Brave, New World" could not but subvert democracy and decency. Once the will of the citizen is not his or her own, then democracy in any meaningful sense is at least devalued and perhaps transformed into reassuring internment.

Perhaps Ellul's most important insight was that the educated believed themselves immune to propaganda when, due to their proclivity for reading and watching news and other governmental outflow, such "intellectuals" were actually far more vulnerable than masses who did not receive propaganda as often.

So turn off the set and log off the internet and settle in with a truly life-changing read.

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Native Rescuer 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

David Brainerd's recorded life speaks my heart and breath--my longings for my heavenly home. This is a must read for all as it washes away the deceiving beguilement of trendy Christianity.

Traveling through his pages of life, you witness his true mission that of only knowing Christ and Him crucified, 1 Corinthians 2:1-2. He was one of few who despised this vile world with its entertaining ways.

His soul displayed was that of a faithful, humble, loyal pastor who ministered to the natives in isolated areas of New England. He never set himself above these socially rejected ones who he found to be quite refreshing in contrast to snobbish white folk. He became known among fur trappers as "The man who trapped Indians with love."

Below are experts from David Brainerd's diary. The initial are the quotes of "His Heart." The following are observances of "His Natives."

His Heart:

"I know I long for God and conformity to His will, in inward purity and holiness, ten thousand times more than for anything here below."

"God was so precious to my soul, that the world, with all its enjoyments, was infinitely vile. I had no more value for the favor of men, than for pebbles."

"Spent the day mainly in conversing with friends; yet enjoyed little satisfaction, because I could not find but few disposed to converse on divine and heavenly things. Alas, what are the things of this world, to afford satisfaction to the soul! In secret, I blessed the God for retirement, and that I am not always exposed to the company and conversation of the world. Oh, that I could live in the secret of God's presence!"

His Natives:

"Discoursed from John 4:13, 14. There was a great attention, a desirable affection, and an unaffected melting in the assembly. It is surprising to see how eager they are to hear the Word of God. I have oftentimes thought that they would cheerfully and diligently attend divine worship twenty-four hours together if they had an opportunity so to do."

"I never saw any appearance of bitterness or censoriousness (being critical) in these, nor any disposition to `esteem themselves better than others.'"

Editorial Review:

David Brainerd Was An Early American Missionary To The Indians, And His Selfless Life Of Prayer Inspired Others. He Died Of Tuberculosis At The Age Of Thirty.

God Makes the Rivers To Flow: Sacred Literature of the World

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

God Makes the Rivers To Flow 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is a delightful book and very relaxing to just pick up and read an excerpt at a time.
I would recommend this book.

Support on the path of life... 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I cannot praise this book enough... it has helped and sustained me so much in my life. Even in times of emotional turmoil, when I picked the book up and opened it at random - it gave me words I needed to hear. It offers a meaningful selection from all the religions. The book is intended as an aid to meditation, but truly it offers more than this. I hope others will benefit from the loving intention upon which the book has been created. (Makes a wonderful gift too, for a young person just starting out in life who may have need of its sustainance.)

Editorial Review:

Chosen for their universal spiritual appeal, literary merit, and recognized wisdom, these selections are perfect subjects for meditation and daily inspirational reading. Drawing from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Native American sacred literature, this expanded third edition serves as a useful reference and guide to world mysticism. Included are Easwaran's criteria for choosing personally transformative passages, tips on memorization, and suggestions for further reading.

Nightwood (Faber Fiction Classics)

Djuna Barnes

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Admired by T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Graham Greene, and Dylan Thomas, Djuna Barnes was the most influential and prolific female writer in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s. The Modern Library is proud to include--for the first time--her most critically acclaimed novel, Nightwood, which was praised by The Washington Post Book World as "a masterpiece of modernism." Dorothy Allison, author of the National Book Award-nominated novel Bastard Out of Carolina, has written an Introduction especially for this edition, in which she defends Nightwood as a lesbian classic.
        
First published in the United States in 1937, Nightwood is a novel of bold imagining and passionate, lyrical prose. Described by the author as the soliloquy of "a soul talking to itself in the heart of the night," the novel creates a dreamlike world in which time ceases to exist and in which human beings transform into animals. At Nightwood's center are the love affairs of Robin Vote--a character based on Barnes's lover, Thelma Wood. Robin marries Felix Volkbein, an eccentric aristocrat, whom she meets in Paris, and whom she abandons years later for the American Nora Flood. But Nora cannot contain Robin, either, and Robin in turn deserts her for the larcenous Jenny Petherbridge. Rich in irony and symbolism, Nightwood brilliantly depicts the all-consuming power of erotic obsession in language that twists and turns, drawing the reader into a labyrinth of meaning and revelation. This edition also includes T. S. Eliot's Introduction to the 1937 American edition.
        
Elizabeth Hardwick wrote, "Djuna Barnes is a writer of wild and original gifts. . . .To her name there is always to be attached the splendor of Nightwood, a lasting achievement of her great gifts and eccentricities---her passionate prose and, in this case, a genuineness of human passions."

Quest for Love: True Stories of Passion and Purity

Elisabeth, Elliot

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Textbook This is Not 4 out of 5 stars.
24 of 26 people found this review helpful.

If you're looking for a book about Elisabeth Elliot's personal quest for love, then this text is not what you are looking for. Quest for love is a compilation of stories and excerpts about those who are now in the Faith who have searched for love at some point in the breadth of their lives. Not all the stories end happily in a romantic sense, and not all of them are model relationships. They are all real however, and Elliot leaves us with a bit of observation and application at the end of every chapter.

If you've read my other review under the book Passion and Purity, then you know that I really do enjoy reading about other peoples' lives. I sincerely want to stress the fact that the examples given to us in this book are not all great examples of what a godly relationship ought to be. In my opinion, Elisabeth Elliot has done a great job in giving us glimpses in not-so-exemplary relationships so that we might learn from other peoples mistakes. What you see here is a lot of life testimony regarding the pain and personal anguish that results in a broken world through the means of human relationships.

Elisabeth Elliot puts forth challenging questions and the occasional quotation of scripture. She offers insightful observations of what may or may not have been done correctly in a relationship. She also offers insight into situations in life that may not result in relationships at all. It's a pretty well rounded book, and it doesn't glamourize Christian relationships, nor does it assume that all Christian relationships are okay. You see some very destructive and painful occurences in here, and it is absolutely worth the read.

I guess the only reason that I gave the book four stars is because I wish that there were more letters from those who God chose to remain single. Love doesn't always have to be relegated to human relationships as the triune God is a very lovable and relational person. I'd give this book a 4.5 if I could, but we live in a broken world, so nothing is ever perfect;-).

Editorial Review:

Beloved author Elisabeth Elliot challenges you to embrace a radical view of singleness and dating. Brimming with true stories, this book is an excellent, guide for those on the "quest for love.

What's the Difference?: Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible

John Piper

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

According to John Piper 1 out of 5 stars.
16 of 62 people found this review helpful.

Although the Bible says not to love the world and its imperfect ways, John Piper is apparently quite comfortable with the worldly definition of men and women: that is, that men are meant to be leaders over women. You know, there's a reason that Christ told us not to be worldly; the world, ever since the beginning, has had its own way of distorting God's perfect design and His plans for a peaceful life for us. The definition of women as followers and men as leaders is a classic example of one of these distortions, and yet why do so many believe it?

Piper seems to think that women naturally need men to be in charge of them and that men naturally hate women leading or teaching them. As an example, he gives us the image of a female umpire over a male baseball team and calls this unnatural. I can see why this would be unusual, but unnatural? Women have been educated teachers for centuries; in fact, that used to be one of the few professions we were allowed, and now suddenly we shouldn't teach anyone with male organs? Even if it's just teaching young boys to play ball? If a man hates the idea of being taught by a woman simply because she IS a woman, his reaction is caused by a sexist society or upbringing that has lead him to think female leadership is unnatural, not by some natural instinct that tells him it's wrong. I almost find it amusing how Piper assumes that such male pride is a God-given trait. Such discrimination needs to be eliminated, not encouraged as normal and healthy.

Piper also seems to think that women are born with a natural need to follow and truly flourish when they follow men. Submission is no more inborn than sexism; girls who believe it's their lot in life to follow a man have been taught to think so. On the other hand, if you raise a boy and a girl, treat them equally and give them all the same opportunities, you can bet that by the time college comes around, your daughter will NOT turn to you and say, "Well, rather than going to college, I guess it's time for me to find a man that I can happily obey till the day I die!" No, girls do not come up with such ideas on their own; we are born, as men are, with a natural desire to lead our own lives.

Now, granted, I have read Piper's sermons on marriage and I actually loved a great deal of what he had to say. Unlike some authors, Piper doesn't believe that husbands may command their wives, or that wives must be silent or speak in robotic tones when questioning their spouses choices. His portrayal of marriage was actually more of a partnership than I originally thought and I saw no real disrespect for women in it. The main problem I have with Piper's theology is not namely the issue of women in marriage, but of women in general. His tendency to preach against them being equal in leadership to men is what I find to be contradictory to God's design. In his own way, Piper greatly honors women (he also proves this by featuring women as heroines very often in his poetry). I just wish, on the subject of women being leaders, he would look a little further and deeper.

Editorial Review:

The topic of manhood and womanhood is still strongly debated and still greatly impacts our society. For Christians, there is no doubt that the Bible must be the last word. But what does it teach about true manhood and womanhood? And how does its teachings affect our roles in the home, the church and the wider society? Noted pastor, author and Bible scholar John Piper looks at these important questions in a positive, sensitive light--with conclusions that encourage men and women to live out their unique differences in a fulfilling, godly way.

Complete Poems and Plays,: 1909-1950

T. S. Eliot

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Still Point of the Turning World 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I'm not at all rating this book five stars; that's my rating for T.S. Eliot's plays. This book was the typical library edition and has everything wrong with it: the cover of an old, wise Eliot (why not a young maverick one?), "Complete" in the title when it's not at all complete, big, heavy, hardback and way too literary looking for the passing reader to crack the cover.

But look how much T.S. Eliot you already know. The Wasteland may be a maddingly obscure poem sequence built around a book by Jessie Weston, but Pete Townshend used the idea in a song: "Teenage Wasteland." You know from another song that T.S. Eliot, in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" said that life was measured out in coffee spoons. We all know that Old Possum's Book of Practical...plays out dramatically in a musical titled for the last word of that book...Cats. You could have tackled (or rather relaxed with) his most famous poem sequence, Four Quartets and the accompanying readers' guide by Thomas Howard.

But for all those bits of poetic imagery, you still might not stumble on the plays. I've never seen one of Eliot's plays put on, but they make wonderful reading. As an astute reviewer suggested, don't get this volume, which leaves out two of the five plays (or six if you include "Choruses from the Rock," which is not among the best). That reviewer also provided the helpful advice to track down the Faber edition which really does have all the plays. Some of them, notably Murder in the Cathedral, are available in single editions. But don't miss The Confidential Clerk, The Cocktail Party and The Elder Statesman for a great reading experience.

The only other play I know that reads this well is J. M. Barrie's original play of Peter Pan. Murder in the Cathedral is notable because it falls in the Church of England (Anglican) tradition of putting on plays at the Canterbury Festival. Charles Williams also wrote plays related to this event (Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury), as did Dorothy L. Sayers (The Zeal of Thy House, The Devil to Pay). All of which is to say that there is a lot of great dramatic writing to be rediscovered as reading as well as performance (see also my review of Christopher Fry's plays A Phoenix Too Frequent and The Lady's Not for Burning). Many Sayers readers are also aware that she wrote the first radio play for the BBC on the life of Jesus (and updated it to common language), as well as essays on her experience dealing with the Gospel accounts in dramatic form. The best known of these is "The Dogma is the Drama," available in various collections.

Editorial Review:

This omnibus collection includes all of the author’s early poetry as well as the Four Quartets, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and the plays Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party.

God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards

John Piper

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A Word of Warning About Piper's Emphasis 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 28 people found this review helpful.

This is a general comment on Piper's books. I deeply appreciate the work of John Piper--especially his emphasis on missions and on living God-centered, Christ-exalting lives of worship. And I am Augustinian, so I love Piper's theology and am thrilled that he has become so popular. But I do want to provide a warning. Piper's main emphasis is (and you'll read this over and over again) "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied (or delighted) in Him." This is a biblical and wonderful proposition that Piper became aware of through the writings of Jonathan Edwards. To Edwards, this proposition was one small part of his theology.

But Piper has taken this idea, which he calls "Christian Hedonism," and built his whole life and ministry around it. The problem is that if you read enough Piper, you will begin to focus on the FEELING of being delighted in Christ, rather than on Christ Himself. And when your feelings don't match what you want them to be, you will become disheartened. (And let's face it, few of us have the emotional intensity of John Piper.) At that point, your feelings (of being delighted in God) become the object of your desires and, thus, an idol. Yes, they are feelings TOWARD God--but those feelings are NOT GOD. And when the focus of your life has become your emotions, it has deceptively become an idol.

I know Piper fights against this tendency. But I'm afraid he is often unsuccessful. The fact is, the Christian life is not going to be one of unending joy in God. Read the Psalms to see how often the psalmists cry out in agony and desperation and sadness to the Lord. Read Romans 7 to find out how tough and discouraging the Christian life can really be.

According to Piper, our happiness in God should be the driving motivation in our life. But when Christians are inevitably not overflowing with delight in God, then under Piper's framework, the only solution is to seek that feeling of joy rather than just do our duty. There are times when duty and obligation (which Piper hates) are the only motivations for the Christian to be obedient and live a life of faith. I agree wholeheartedly with Piper that delight in God is a much better motivation for the Christian than duty. But when that delight is not there, we still must be faithful and obedient, and we can't always wait on our feelings to drive us on toward the prize.

Read Piper's books. And enjoy his passionate and Christ-exalting preaching. But beware and repent when your emotions--rather than the Triune God Himself--become the focus of your life.

Editorial Review:

Half Edwards and half Piper, this book brings the God-entranced passion of Jonathan Edwards into the twenty-first century. Piper demonstrates the relevance of Edwards's ideals for the personal and public lives of Christians today through his own book-length introduction to Edwards's The End for Which God Created the World. An

Discipline: The Glad Surrender

Elisabeth, Elliot

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This book challenged and changed my life 5 out of 5 stars.
45 of 46 people found this review helpful.

This book cuts right to the chase for the Christian. Elliot puts forth the truth with a punch. I was personally challenged on how I live my life. As I read and reread this book it focused me on what is really important and that changed my life for the better. I refer to this book often and quote it more times than I can count. Excellent investment for any Christian wanting to grow and mature.

Editorial Review:

In our age of instant gratification and if-it-feels-good-do-it attitudes, self-discipline is hardly a popular notion. Former missionary and beloved author Elisabeth Elliot offers her understanding of discipline and its value for modern people. Now repackaged for the next generation of Christians, Discipline: The Glad Surrender shows readers how to -discipline the mind, body, possessions, time, and feelings -overcome anxiety -change poor habits and attitudes -trust God in times of trial and hardship -let Christ have control in all areas of life Elliot masterfully and gently takes readers through Scripture, personal stories, and lovely observations of the world around her in order to help them discover the understanding that our fulfillment as human beings depends on our answer to God's call to obedience.