The 2003 Body Almanac: Your Personal Guide to Bone and Joint Health at Any Age

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Consumer text addresses the top 100 common problems and questions regarding the musculoskeletal system. Each ailment includes a definition of the problem or condition, the classic signs and symptoms, how it is treated, and advice on when to call a doctor. Focuses on benefits of regular exercise and outlines various exercise programs. Softcover.

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"An intriguing and illuminating account of Straight's crucial role in the most damaging spy ring of all time." (Phillip Knightley, author of Philby: KGB Masterspy)

The most damaging spy network of the Cold War, the infamous Cambridge Spy Ring, comprised several influential British citizens-and one American, Michael Straight. While a student at Cambridge University in the 1930s, Straight fell in with the circle of notorious spies, including the infamous Kim Philby. For the next several decades, Michael Straight led the secret life of a secret agent: While working at the State Department, he passed intelligence reports to a Russian agent; while running his family's magazine, The New Republic, he funded several Communist fronts; and while serving U.S. presidents, he continued to meet with Soviet agents around the world. Despite Straight's 1963 "confession" to the F.B.I. that his covert activity ceased in 1941, investigative journalist and author Roland Perry has unearthed a different story-the full and complete portrait of Michael Straight, last of the Cold War spies.

Book Description

The most damaging spy network of the Cold War-the infamous Cambridge Spy Ring-was comprised of several powerful and influential British citizens-and one American, Michael Straight. Born to a wealthy New England family, Straight attended Cambridge University in the 1930s, and there he fell in with the notorious circle of young men working for Soviet intelligence -Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, and Kim Philby, who was to become the most famous spy of the century.

For the next several decades, Michael Straight led a secret life: While working at the State Department, he passed intelligence reports to a Russian agent; while running his family's magazine, The New Republic, he funded several communist fronts; and while serving U.S. presidents, including John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, he continued to meet with agents around the world. Despite Michael Straight's 1963"confession" to the FBI that his covert activity ceased in 1941, investigative journalist and author Roland Perry has unearthed a different story. Incorporating material from exclusive interviews with Michael Straight, members of his family, and former KGB agents (Perry has been careful to corroborate all KGB-supplied information), as well as archival research from the CIA, FBI, and Soviet intelligence, Perry presents a full and complete portrait of Michael Straight, the last of the Cold War spies.

Customer Reviews:

Makes you wonder how America survived.......2006-09-20

When my grandparents were raising 6 kids on $25 a week (a good salary in the depression) Michael Straight was:

1. Receiving nearly $1,000 a week from his mother's trust fund.

2. Meeting with his soviet handler.

3. Dining with the Roosevelts.

4. Worming his way into sensitive posts thanks to his family's friendship with Franklin and Eleanor.

5. Telling his Soviet handler he had ten grand he didn't know what to do with (he gave it, and more, to communist party causes).

6. Hiding his career as a agent of Stalin from his mother so she wouldn't take him off the board of his trust fund (that would mean he wouldn't be unable to direct money in the fund to benefit communist front businesses).

7. Touring the country with ACLU founder Roger Baldwin to protect the "civil liberties" of workers (i.e. communist party members in the C.I.O. and other unions).

8. Ingrating himself further with the Democratic party by dumping thousands into a House race in Texas.

9. And on and on and on...

The writing is good, but rather detailed. The facts check out with the Yale Annals of communism series, books by Ronald Radosh and others.

Treason & Greed Explained.......2006-07-06

How treason and greed subverted American cold war efforts to limit and contain our enemies

Most interesting subject, not so interesting writing.......2006-01-27

I grudgingly worked my way through this book because the subject was most interesting. It's about Michael Straight, a cultured, intellectual, handsome, rich, educated American who, in England before the second World War, becomes deeply involved in spreading communism and ultimately spying for Stalin. Back in the U.S. during the war, he is connected with many of the most important political figures of the day, including the Roosevelts. He held relatively high government office at times, was an editor of the New Republic (which his family owned), was deputy of the National Endowment for the Arts in the sixties, knew the Kennedy's - the list is impressive, let alone considering that during much of this period he was spying for the Russians. A most interesting, and in its own way, impressive life. The book is also real eye-opener in terms of the infiltration of Soviet agents in many areas of American government, etc, in the forties and fifties. The research was exhaustive.

However, and this is a real caveat, the writing was less than stellar. Perry was so caught up in docuenting all of Straight's connections with spies (it's as if the reader knows who all these spies were) and notable personalities of the times that he forgot to create any tension. If you're looking for a thriller, this ain't it. The writing is prosaic - there's no difference in the narrative style between his description of the manor where Straight lived in England and the fact that he might have provided the Russians and Chinese with information on U.S. military planning in Korea that led to the death of hundreds of U.S. troops. (Although it was most interesting to read about this from an historical perspective.) The writing is just plain bad in some places - it's as if the editors got tired of the book after a while (like I did), and stopped correcting obvious grammatical errors.

To sum it up - I give the book four stars for subject matter and research, and two stars for the writing.

The Crooked Straight.......2005-10-11

Roland Perry's "Last of the Cold War Spies" is certainly a good read. In relating the story of Michael Straight, the spy of the title, he portrays a spoiled rich young whippersnapper. Unlike his Cambridge colleagues who devoted their lives to Soviet espionage out of ideological conviction, Michael Straight seems to have bought his way into the KGB with generous capitalist donations. Indeed, Straight comes across as such a dilettante that one wonders what value he could have possibly had for that organization other than his money. Philby, it will be recalled, worked diligently in SIS; Burgess divided his efforts between the BBC and the Foreign Office, for which Maclean also toiled; Blunt was in MI5 during the war, and Cairncross worked for GC&CS and the Treasury. In other words, all of them had access to important information. Straight, according to Perry, flitted in and out of the State Department with such frequent rapidity that his access to information of interest seems at best to be ephemeral. Perhaps FDR, who ignored Straight's initial overtures for a position in government, had an insight to his character, which borders on the shallow to say the least.

I do not doubt that Straight was indeed a Soviet agent, but Perry, whose citations are a bit thin, is short on detail of what he actually accomplished for the Soviet Union. As a publisher of a patently ultra-liberal magazine, Straight did not even have a plausible cover, as the "real" Cambridge spies did. His cover story of researching a novel in the wilds of Colorado where the Government just happened to be building a secret installation makes Guy Burgess's hare-brained schemes (such as sending hot-air balloons over the grain fields in Hungary in hopes that they would catch fire) sound positively brilliant. Was the FBI of the McCarthy era really so thick that they didn't catch on to Straight before he "confessed?" For that matter, why confess at all?!

Whitney Straight, an agent of SIS, according to Perry, suspected his brother Michael in 1950, one year before Burgess and Maclean defected, an event that brought down Philby and the rest of the Cambridge ring. Perry, however, does not comment on this phenomenon. If true, it might indicate that SIS did indeed suspect Philby and his Cambridge friends by association, and subsequently set a trap for them (as Hamrick suggests in "Deceiving the Deceivers."). The author, however, sees nothing unusual in the chronology of the elder brother's suspicions.

Mr. Perry often compels his readers to undertake a leap of faith during the course of the narrative. For instance, his account of Straight's career in espionage is based on an assumption that Victor Rothschild and his wife Tess were also Soviet agents. The plausibility of such a hypothesis is founded upon their close friendship with Anthony Blunt from Cambridge days. Without any concrete documentation, however, the author seems to be pronouncing them guilty by association (rather McCarthyish!). Unlike Straight, who couldn't wait to spill the beans on both Blunt and Burgess, the Rothschilds did indeed remain friends with Anthony Blunt, even after he was publicly disgraced. Their loyalty to an old friend in adversity, however, seems commendable under the circumstances.

The Cambridge spies are said to have valued E.M. Forster's maxim, "If I had the choice of betraying my friend and betraying my country, I hope that I would have the guts to betray my country." Michael Straight seems to have had the guts to do both.

The Last, and Perhaps Most Successful Soviet Spy.......2005-09-03

The communist spy ring created in Cambridge (Philby, Maclean, Blunt, Burgess) were all British but one - Michael Straight. Straight was hansome, rich, and moved in the power circles in America. He visited Roosevelt and offered to become his personal secretary (what a job for a communist agent), but was turned down. Roosevelt instead got him a job in the State Department.

Straight entered the Army during World War II and in his 'confession' in 1963 he said that he had stopped working for the Soviets when he joined the Army. In this book Mr. Perry presents pretty good evidence that this was not true and that Straight continued to work for the KGB until at least the late 1960's, and possibly until is death in 2004.

This is a new book, exhaustively researched and contradicts Straight's own book 'After Long Silence,' especially on activities since World War II. The interested reader should read both books. Mr. Perry further speculates from time to time on activities of which there are no records. These are, however, clearly marked as speculation.

Last Of The Cold War Spies : The Life of Michael Straight

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Last Of The Cold War Spies : The Life of Michael Straight
Roland Perry
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSYK40

Book Description

The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, an ominous date in history--only two years before the outbreak of World War II. He was nineteen years old and handicapped by astigmatism. After arrogantly fooling the medical examiners, he bluffed his way through flight training, encountering a series of flight training adventures which could have ended his career.

His luck continued when he was sent to Imperial India during an insurrection led by the infamous Faqir of Ipi. There he flew the Westland Wapiti, an open cockpit biplane of World War I vintage, and lodged in a battlemented mud and brick fort where the aeroplanes were pushed inside the walls at night to shield them from sniping Wazirs.

From the naivety, enthusiasm, and confusion of youth, Morley-Mower develops into a mature man who finds love, adventures, and himself while serving his country.

His fascinating account of army and air operations over the wild and lawless terrain of the Afghan border is filled with detail, immediacy and human interest. It is supported by diary entries, giving dates and descriptions of individuals who played prominent roles in the campaigns. It, therefore, provides a unique contribution to the military and political history of the period; a history almost entirely ignored by scholars because of the advent of a world war.

FLYING BLIND is a glimpse into a way of life during the last days of the British Empire in India, an era which ended after World War II. It deals with a period in the author's career before MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE: The Western Desert, 1941-42, in which he described his adventures as a Hawker Hurricane pilot during General Erwin Rommel's campaigns in Libya and Egypt.

When the war ended, his status as a pilot was revoked because of his eyesight but, taking advantage of a little used privilege, he appealed to King George VI to reinstate his flying career. He won.

Customer Reviews:

Flying Blind.......2005-05-24

As a pilot, I could identify/sympathize with Mr. Morley-Mower's flight training. A down to earth book that tells it like it was. This is a tale of an unasuming hero. A must follow on is his first book, Messerschmitt Roulette. Thank you Geoffrey.

Fascinating!.......2003-07-21

Great heroic story! Fascinating records of army and air operations over the treacherous terrain of the Afghan border. Shortly after the war, a pilot fights to keep his flying carrer with his appeals to King George VI! Does he win his? I'll save that for you!

Highly recommended reading for aviation history enthusiasts........2000-09-05

This account of army and air operations over the Afghan border in the last days of British rule in India will intrigue a wide audience, from those interested in books on early plane and biplane flight to readers of military accounts. The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, two years before World War II: his experiences in an antique plane provides a fine account of his adventures and close encounters.

Absolutely Top-Drawer, and Richer for the Re-Reading!.......2000-07-14

I could not put this book down. What I found remarkable about FLYING BLIND is that Geoffrey Morley-Mower has already written one of the most engaging and insightful memoirs of any veteran of the Second World War, MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE. Yet FLYING BLIND is, in many ways, an even more satisfying book. Here, in the second volume of his memoirs, we meet the man and the pilot on the cusp of living his dream: flying for the RAF on the distant edge of the British Raj. Morley-Mower's self-deprecatory wit, his elegant and understated prose, and his gift for narrative sustain FLYING BLIND with a verve rarely found in fiction, much less in military biographies. The men who fought the good fight in the Second World War are fading from us, but this book reminds us of their honor, valor, and above all, their humanity, in ways that few other books have. Geoffrey Morley-Mower's second volume of his memoirs, like the first, is reminiscent of William Manchester's outstanding remembrance of serving in the U.S. Marine infantry in the Second World War, GOODBYE DARKNESS. Like Manchester, Morley-Mower has no room for bombast and plenty of room for reflective, highly-charged prose. FLYING BLIND is a must-read for anyone interested in great writing. For military scholars, it is a jewel, as so few of the iron-backboned RAF heroes are still alive. Thank God Geoffrey Morley-Mower wrote this book, bless him. And, as Hemingway once said, good books never suffer in the re-reading. FLYING BLIND is richer in the re-reading. Enjoy.

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Handbook of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials and Nanocomposites is a major reference work that provides coverage on various emerging aspects of organic-inorganic hybrid materials and nanocomposites. These two-volume cover topics on molecular building blocks for preparing hybrid materials and nanocomposites, different synthetic routes allowing multifunctionality with a wide range of composition, sol-gel chemistry, processing and fabrication into ultrathin films, fibers, xerogels, spectroscopic characterization, mechanical, thermal, electronic, optical, catalytic and biological properties, polymer/metal interfaces, and their potential commercial applications. The handbook has been divided into two thematic volumes;

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1. Most up-to-date reference work summarizing pioneering research on organic-inorganic hybrid materials and nanocomposites.

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5. An essential resource for scientists, researchers, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, college and university professors working in the field of nanotechnology, organic-inorganic hybrid materials, nanocomposites, organic synthetic chemistry, materials science, sol-gel chemistry, silicon chemistry, ceramic engineering, solid-state physics, electronic and optical engineering, biomedical engineering, supramolecular chemistry, polymer science and engineering, nanosci

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VERY HELPFUL TO UNDERSTANDING JESUS IN HIS TIME

Wonderful, eye-opening

Mr. Chilton's Jesus

Strains the very limits of credulity

Author does not know

Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography
Bruce Chilton
Manufacturer: Image
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385497938
Release Date: 2002-02-26

Amazon.com

Bruce Chilton presents Rabbi Jesus as "the first comprehensive, critical biography of Jesus to date." Though historical Jesus scholars have "demolished the secularist myth that Jesus was a figment of faith," and have begun to describe his ministry in the context of first century Judaism, Chilton (a professor of religion at Bard College and an Episcopal priest) believes they have not gone far enough. He argues that Jesus was "an inspired rabbi with an exclusively Jewish agenda." Thus, "everything Jesus did was as a Jew, for Jews, and about Jews." Rabbi Jesus patiently explores these notions in a straightforward, accessible style, drawing on a wealth of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, and Syriac texts. Many of his arguments are new, and many of them are convincing. Most of them will also make the majority of both Christians and Jews sufficiently uncomfortable as to justify Chilton's striking description of his own work, taken from the book's Foreward: "I sometimes feel as if I am cross-dressing: transgressing basic categories that define who we are [as Christians and as Jews] and how we differentiate ourselves in the world." --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

Beginning with the Gospels, interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia, yet a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man has remained elusive. In Rabbi Jesus, the noted biblical scholar Bruce Chilton places Jesus within the context of his times to present a fresh, historically accurate, and revolutionary examination of the man who founded Christianity.

Drawing on recent archaeological findings and new translations and interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton discusses in enlightening detail the philosophical and psychological foundations of Jesus’ ideas and beliefs. His in-depth investigation also provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. Chilton shows, for example, that the High Priest Caiaphas, as well as Pontius Pilate, played a central role in Jesus’ execution. It is, however, Chilton’s description of Jesus’ role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, as a teacher of the Cabala, and as a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity.

Seamlessly merging history and biography, this penetrating, highly readable book uncovers truths lost to the passage of time and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium.

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Interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia -- from the Gospels to scholarly investigations by theologians and historians, to fictional portraits by novelists like Nikos Kazantzakis and Norman Mailer. Despite this long history, a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man and a teacher has remained elusive. Now, Bruce Chilton puts the pieces of the puzzle together in an extraordinary biography that sweeps readers into first-century Palestine and re-creates the world as Jesus knew it.

Chilton draws on recent archaeological findings to paint a vivid portrait of the social customs, political forces, and religious beliefs and practices of the period. Examining new translations and interpretations of ancient texts against this fresh, historically accurate background, he offers a revolutionary look at Jesus' early life and the philosophical and psychological foundations of the ideas he promulgated as a young man. Chilton provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. He shows, for example, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Galilee, not Nazareth or Bethlehem of Judea, and that the High Priest Caiaphas, not Pontius Pilate, played the central role in Jesus' execution. It is his description of Jesus' role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, a teacher of the Kabbalah, and a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God, however, that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity. By placing Jesus within the context of his times, Chilton uncovers truths lost to history and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium.

"A dynamic book by a penetrating thinker. Bruce Chilton has added enormously to the contemporary development of Jesus scholarship by placing Jesus inside the Jewish tradition that illuminates both his words and his deeds. This volume will be a major contributor to the growing Jewish-Christian rapprochement that will be so essential to the development of both faith traditions."
   JOHN SHELBY SPONG, WILLIAM BELDEN NOBLE LECTURER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR OF LIBERATING THE GOSPELS: READING THE BIBLE WITH JEWISH EYES

"Once again Professor Chilton shows his imaginative power in challenging the received wisdom about the historical Jesus. His new book, Rabbi Jesus, is sure to be a catalyst for much discussion and controversy in the years ahead. One can only be grateful for his fresh and innovative views on the teacher from Nazareth."
   JOHN MEIER, PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, AUTHOR OF A MARGINAL JEW, VOLUMES I AND II

"The most original approach to the life of Jesus since David Friedrich Strauss's The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, published in 1835. Chilton's biography offers the first authentically Christian Jesus -- and therefore the most profoundly Judaic Jesus ever."
   JACOB NEUSNER, DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, AND RESEARCH PROFESSOR OF RELIGION AND THEOLOGY, BARD COLLEGE

"Bruce Chilton's Rabbi Jesus offers an imaginative yet very informed and plausible account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Chilton's masterful knowledge of Jewish Palestine and Jewish custom and his penetrating insight into the development and meaning of Jesus' teaching and experience of God form the backdrop of a compelling and stimulating narrative. Readers will find it hard to put this book down!"
   CRAIG A. EVANS, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, GRADUATE PROGRAM IN BIBLICAL STUDIES, TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY, BR

Customer Reviews:

VERY HELPFUL TO UNDERSTANDING JESUS IN HIS TIME.......2007-09-10

I suppose the fact I am an engineer causes me to carefully select the historical Jesus books I read in order to be confident the author is worthy of the subject. I try to take nothing for granted. I read this book three times, underlining passages, etc. I rarely do that with any book. This book was worth the effort.

This author makes it clear he has not written something to conform to religion, but rather to conform to recorded facts of history. Since there are not enough recorded facts available for any author to be certain of every aspect of his understanding of Jesus, this author uses his own logic to fill in the blanks between researched facts, and most often makes clear when assumptions are used. I found this book to be just right for me, because it helped me to tie together the other reading I have done. The search for the "real" Jesus never ends, but this book was a big step forward, and I thank the author for it.

Wonderful, eye-opening.......2007-06-26

I enjoyed this book immensely. Jesus came alive for me as a real person in the context of his time and his community. The author has the unique skills needed to accurately interpret the life and times of Jesus as recorded in the original language as well as to identify where the original intent was distorted in later interpretations. There are insights provided here not to be found anywhere else.

Mr. Chilton's Jesus.......2007-02-10

Only if you can conjure up an image of a fat, bald-headed guy that for most of his unhappy life had no clue what his purpose on earth was all about will you enjoy this book.

Strains the very limits of credulity.......2007-01-31

I purchased this book because, as a person from an indigenous group of the Middle East/North Africa region who has studied at an institutional level the three Abrahamic-desert religions, I was interested in learning more about the Jewish culture and traditions of Yesua'/Yeshua/Jesus. I expected and hoped to read an account that placed Jesus and his Jewish followers, friends, and family in their original Middle Eastern cultural context. However, in Bruce Chilton's Rabbi Jesus, I got far more than I bargained for.

Here is a breakdown of Chilton's goals and methods: Chilton is not only, like me, interested in highlighting Jesus' indigenous Jewish culture, but in challenging the veracity and alleged biases of the four canonic Gospels and their writers--indeed, in redefining Jesus' ministry and theology in a manner that refutes "traditional" (his word) Christian teachings. His sources include non-canonical early Christian writings and the written and oral Rabbinic literature (Mishnah, Talmud, and Targumim) of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D./C.E. Note that Chilton's "creative" (publisher's word) depiction of Jesus and his teachings contradicts the basic tenets (as expressed in the Nicene Creed) of all major Christian denominations, whether Orthodox (both Eastern and Oriental), Catholic (both Roman and Eastern rite), or Protestant (both "mainstream" and Evangelical). For example, Chilton categorically rejects Jesus' virgin birth, divinity, and (literal, that is, corporeal) resurrection.

It is not so much the contradiction itself that I find at fault; I'm always ready to debunk a long-held supposition or two. And, in fact, Chilton does succeed in fully orienting Jesus in an indigenous Jewish culture, hence the two stars. The reader predisposed to endorse (or dismiss) Christianity as a "White man's religion" and Jesus and his followers as Hellenized Mediterraneans will be left in no doubt of the religion's deep roots in Middle Eastern and Judaic beliefs and practices. Chilton states in his acknowledgments that he never meant for this to be a scholarly book, but rather, a popular one. In fact, he has written other works that are scholarly and include due citations and academic references.

But good heavens, he has taken this reader's sizable stores of charity and, not only depleted them, but strained the very limits of my credulity.

Other reviewers have, quite rightly, chastised Chilton's many sweeping, poorly substantiated claims that amount to little more than conjecture. These claims range from the intriguing but ultimately unverifiable--Jesus and John the Baptist were engaged in a mystical study of "the Throne" and "Chariot" of God's Kingdom--to the stuff of unqualified fiction (e.g. Mary and Joseph were irresistibly attracted to one another and hopped in bed at first glimpse). Yes, they are the inferences of a clergyman who teaches and publishes at the university-level and who reads several Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman languages, but they are inferences and conjecture all the same.

But I won't lie to you: Chilton's breathless, energetic prose has high entertainment value, if only because it is often supremely silly. I needn't remind you that, having cheerfully resigned himself to writing a "popular" book, Chilton hasn't bothered with the usual line-by-line parenthetical or foot/endnote citations demanded by academia. The book instead is written in the immediate past-tense, third-person POV of popular English-language fiction. Chilton occasionally drops in the (MUCH-needed) qualifiers "it seems that," "it may have been that," and even "I have come to the conclusion that," but not often enough; if he qualified every unverified statement, ¾ of the book would consist of qualifiers!

Have a look at some of these prose-gems: "But when Caiaphas was in the zone, fully engaged in the sacrifical act, he hardly noticed the Pharisees yelling" (218, paperback); "[Jesus's] paunch was gone. He was fit, lean, his face etched by the sun" (225, in one of Chilton's myriad references to Jesus's apparently fluctuating physique); "[Jesus] had lucked into a sweet situation...He had come from the poor mud villages of Galilee and had jumped class" (120, and my personal favorite).

But what bothers me about Chilton's book in light of his current status as an Episcopalian/Anglican priest is the marked absence of any supernatural force, whether manifest in Jesus, or in the Judaic sacrifices at Temple, or even of a general godhead. I operate under the assumption that the world is "more than we know," and I take that approach when studying the claims of the various world religions. Chilton has, in this book, stripped the New Testament (and even ancient Judaic narratives) of every supernatural ascription: Jesus raised Lazarus from a "near-death" state that no one noticed before they before they wrapped him up and put him in a cave for four days; the many demon-possessed people Jesus exorcised of unclean spirits were all crazies; Jesus didn't calm the storm with his words--rather, the boat had "drifted into" a calm spot; the "more than five hundred" witnesses to Jesus after his crucifixion were all tapping into the same mystical visionary technique Jesus had taught them through transcendent Kabbalic meditation rituals. Likewise, Chilton's traditional (non-mystical) Jews appear as superstitious townsfolk making fervent, bloody obeisance to a remote non-deity--not the deeply spiritual faithful of G-d who pioneered the world's enduring monotheistic tradition.

It strains the limits of my credulity that a Christian clergyman could believe in so many earthly coincidences and en-masse psychosomatic maneuverings, none of which, in Chilton's "theology," have a supernatural source. (The same goes for people who say Muhammad didn't receive any teachings from Allah, and the Black Hills of South Dakota aren't really a spiritual center for the Lakota Creator--I don't have any insider info proving such accounts false, and in the case of Christianity, neither does Chilton). Further, it strains the limits of sound scholarship to, using cobbled-together bits and pieces of various texts and oral traditions, leap to inferences which, when we get right down to it, are no more than the author's own wishes or inventions.

Given Chilton's antipathy toward the idea of Jesus-as-divine savior of the world, it remains unclear to me why indeed Chilton is still pursuing a vocation as a Christian priest. From what I understand of the Messianic/Christian religion, Jesus's divinity and resurrection are the central rallying points. It seems apparent to me (there go my qualifiers) that Chilton would be better served by joining a liberal and/or mystical branch of Judaism that would accept Yeshua as one in a line of Jewish prophets, and as one who was trying to bring about a revolution in understandings of Jewish purity and ritual sacrifice.

I recommend Rabbi Jesus to individuals already well-read in ideologically diverse academic studies of Christianity and Judaism and who will not take as "gospel-truth" everything they read either in religious texts themselves (Bible, Torah), or in alternative-creative reinterpretations (such as this one) of world religions. I cannot recommend this book to university students doing Religion or Divinity school research projects (unless it is on Jesus Seminar-type phenomena); nor can I recommend it to non-Christians interested in learning more about Christian doctrine or mainstream Christian beliefs about Jesus. Finally, there exist more measured, more adeptly written books for Middle Eastern Christians, Muslims, and Jews looking for reconciliatory literature stressing the three religions' common cultural roots--Feiler's "Abraham," for example.

Author does not know.......2006-12-09

It is very clear that the author does not know of whom he writes. Bruce Chilton has Jesus imbraceing Judaism before Judaism even existed. Althought it is true that Judaism came from the oral teachings of the Pharisees, Jesus condemed the teachings of the Pharisees. It is clear that the author does not know what he is talking about and is fabricating a story. Book should be listed as Fiction!

Rabbi Jesus, an Intimate Biography: The Jewish Life and Teaching That Inspired Christianity. (Book Review). (book review): An article from: Catholic Insight

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Rabbi Jesus, an Intimate Biography: The Jewish Life and Teaching That Inspired Christianity. (Book Review). (book review): An article from: Catholic Insight
Ann Wilson
Manufacturer: Catholic Insight
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Catholic Insight, published by Catholic Insight on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 492 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rabbi Jesus, an Intimate Biography: The Jewish Life and Teaching That Inspired Christianity. (Book Review). (book review)
Author: Ann Wilson
Publication: Catholic Insight (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: Catholic Insight
Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Page: 38(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography. The Jewish Life and Teaching That Inspired Christianity

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Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography. The Jewish Life and Teaching That Inspired Christianity
Bruce Chilton
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QXQB8Q

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MODEL SHIPWRIGHT #121: Issue 121 (Model Shipwright)
John Bowen
Manufacturer: Conway Maritime Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Models | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Ships | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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MODEL SHIPWRIGHT #122: Issue 122 ("Model Shipwright")

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ASIN: 085177928X

Book Description

This quarterly journal, since its launch in 1972, has been regarded as the world's leading ship modelling publication. The mixture of articles, reviews, news and comment from modelmakers world-wide provides the best and most detailed information available anywhere, and is enhanced with authentic plans, clear diagrams and many photographs.

Although the miniature ships are the most important feature of the journal, with articles explaining how individual models were researched and constructed, the other aspects of model making have not been forgotten - dioramas, modelling techniques, tools, and recent events are all covered. Each issue of the journal comes complete with a free large-scale modeller's draught with accompanying modelling notes, illustrations and specifications for a featured vessel.

Book Description

Informed and driven by his experience as an upper-middle-class African American who lives and works in a predominately white environment, provocative author Lawrence Otis Graham offers a unique perspective on the subject of race. An uncompromising work that will challenge the mindset of every reader, Member of the Club is a searching book of essays ranging from examining life as a black Princetonian and corporate lawyer to exploring life as a black busboy at an all white country-club. From New York magazine cover stories Invisible Man and Harlem on My Mind to such new essays as "I Never Dated a White Girl" and "My Dinner with Mister Charlie: A Black Man's Undercover Guide to Dining with Dignity at Ten Top New York Restaurants," Graham challenges racial prejudice among White Americans while demanding greater accountability and self-determination from his peers in black America.

"In Member of the Club. [Graham writes of] heartbreaking ironies and contradictions, indignities and betrayals in the life of an upper-class black man." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"Lawrence Graham Surely knows about the pressures of being beholden to two very different groups." --Los Angeles Times

Lawrence Otis Graham is a popular commentator on race and ethnicity. The author of ten other books, his work has appeared in New York magazine, the New York Times and The Best American Essays.

Customer Reviews:

White? Think you're totally free of bias & prejudice?.......2007-07-09

Every W.A.S.P (I resemble that remark) should read this book.

Excellent, well written and somehow the author brings humor to a topic that in all seriousness is not funny.

Remarkable set of essays. . . .......2007-03-24

I too found Graham's book insightful and quite succinct for the most part. Graham displays a remarkable ability to step out of the trappings of his (exceedingly) privileged life to see how the other half lives. In so doing he exposes the vicious and endemic racism that rages virtually unchecked among many wealthy (and otherwise) whites when they think they are out of earshot and cannot be held accountable. This is never more true than in his first and most famous essay, where he dons the persona of a humble busboy working at an exclusive,all-white country club. On the other side of the tracks, he makes a daring pilgrimage to Harlem, living for a time in a vermin- and crime-infested tenement. Miraculously adopting a Clark Kent-Superman change of clothing and affect, he pays a visit to an enclave of rich black Harlem residents who have the means to send their kids to private schools and have their shopping done elsewhere, virtually disconnected from the surrounding blight. Here he manages to lift the veil of class that separates upper-, middle- and lower-class Blacks. Even while indicting well-to-do Blacks for their seeming indifference to those less fortunate, Graham manages to suggest that those in dire predicaments bear a modicum of responsibility for their own plight. In this last essay, Graham's tour of Harlem makes an appropriate bookend of a journey that is a sobering (and ultimately dismaying) assessment about race, class and culture in America.

Insightful.......2007-01-09

An interesting read about Graham's life experiences as a privileged Black man in America. I particularly liked his essays about his time at Princeton, his treatment at New York's finest restaurants, and the types of Black people in the workplace. I wonder, though, whether the author was trying to evoke sympathy from his readers with his oh, they treated me badly, I was ignored spiel or whether he genuinely expected to be treated differently because of his status and affluence. Graham's ideas regarding affirmative action and Black leadership were thought-provoking. All in all, a good read about life from the Graham perspective.

Jack and Jill.......2005-12-07

1. An excellent read.
2. Classic.
3. A JackandJill-US.com must-have.
4. Inside the black upper class.

ELITIST BLUES.......2005-07-11

Lawrence Graham once again makes his readers confront and reflect upon the angst of being a member of the Black elite in a society that still rejects them. He challenges Black leaders, people and civil rights organizations to become more relevent in reaching out to a new generation in the post civil rights era. He also attacks the underlying myths of affirmitive action, reminds us that in white elitist America racism is alive and well and that Black people have their own set of prejudices.
Overall Member of the Club is a good selection of his articles that rightfully throws light on those areas that Blacks talk about behind closed doors. The fact of America being racially polarized is a given and it is odd that the author comes across as being naive to this fact.
As a member of the Black upper middle-class who has punched all of the "right" tickets the author does come across as a whiner. His incessant need to be accepted by white America come across throughout the entire text and drags it down. What is it that Graham wants? What is his vision for African-Americans? How should African-Americans of means define themselves in the struggle for both equality as well as individual self-fulfillment? These are the questions that are not addressed in his book.
Member of the Club could be titled the Black Elitist Sings the Blues for certainly you hear the blues of a brother trying to make it in a society that has done him wrong.

Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World

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Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World
Lawrence Otis Graham
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K7ALV6

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Member of the Club : Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World
Lawrence Otis, Not Illustrated Graham
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OE9N8M

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The Essence of the Utah Wilderness Lands.......2003-04-30

A worthy anthology of short stories paying tribute and articulating the spirituality of the wild public domain lands of Utah. Anyone who has spent time hiking, camping, or otherwise experiencing the unique deserts and mountains will enjoy and relate to the stories shared by contributors who are various well-known icons from diverse backgrounds promoting a land conservation ethic. The good writing really makes the places come alive. This book was prepared in an effort to tell the story and promote the protection of the wild lands of Utah. I have experienced living in and enjoying these lands first hand. The book hits the mark - it inspires a similar awe of the actual natural experience of these lands even in a mining engineer like myself. The book reinforces the true reality that many of these lands deserve strict protection for the enjoyment of those who seek wilderness, solitude, and a temporary recess from the insane.

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