Customer Reviews (11)

Product delivered and recieved
Got my purchase as described, no surprises.
Happy with what I paid for.

Will buy from vendor again.

Excellent bookstore!
Coming from the Amazon Marketplace, I was very happy to see how swiftly the book shipped and arrived.Condition of the item was exactly as described.I would be happy to buy from them again!

A huge alarm clock for the citizen mind
I love this book. Since I have discovered it, I keep on recommending it to all my friends and to the people I care of. And I tell you, too: Run! Buy it, read it asap and keep it on your desk in everyday life.

I feel very ashamed about having come to know about this author so late andfound this book in particular only now: as far as I understand it was released in 1994!

So I explain you the reason why for this late enthusiasm for this book. I had the occasion to listen to a public speech about globalism of Mr. Raulston Saul last March at the Shanghai International Literary Festival. Raulston Saul was brilliant and entertaining, and seemed to have developed a lot of ideas I was thinking about myself, rather in loneliness, in the last years. However, having never heard of him and not read one of his many works I felt uncomfortable and didn't feel like meeting him and shaking hands after the speech. After reading this book I will regret that forever...
Back home I searched Amazon and bought his books in bulk. I haven't yet read all of them, of course, but I feel like an urgent need to recommend this book to everybody.

In the form of a dictionary, this book is a masterpiece of communication and a pleasure to read.
By an extraordinary sense of humour and an entertaining prose Mr. Saul shows us how many ideas are circulated in modern society in the form of truths and passively accepted,unveiling for us the subtle play of the technocrat elites behind them, thus exercising power and control, with the result to devoid our modern democracies of real participation and responsibility from the part of the citizens.

I have an economic background and I attended university in Italy during the fabulous Eighties, a time we were prepared only for growth and success. The Nineties proved quite different and I have always thought we were facing times with a set of tools (truths!) which simply no longer fit. We lived the Nineties thinking by ourselves `Maybe this is just lasting some years and then we are back to the Eighties'. But this has never happened.
What really strikes me is the early perception and warning - and the depth of it - of many issues of contemporary life by Raulston Saul. I have been thinking in my loneliness a lot of things alongRaulston Saul's lines but I always felt I missed the historical knowledge necessary to put many issues in the right perspective and demonstrate what my critical sense was able to outspeak in an almost wild way.
Now, I don't say I am today in the condition to check and verify all the facts quoted in the book - I still feel too ignorant and still need to investigate a lot of things - taken from the huge, multifaceted and wonderful culture of Saul -summarized and organized in the form of evidences of the aggressive common sense definitions given in the book. But I know it doesn't mind. This would be a lazy way to take Saul's clever book and right a manifestation of lack of doubt which is exactly what the author dislikes, that in fact the most important and revolutionary message of the book is "Citizen, set free your powerful ability to doubt as a mean to check other people assumptions, to get a better understanding of things, to participate in the decisions that shape our world and the life of the people who live in it".
Being overloaded of communication we have lost the habit to check what we are said also due to a lack of time. We leave in a time where brands guide us in our choices and help us to feel ensured about them to be right. We finish to make the same with ideas that circulate under brand names themselves. We tend to quote brands and to become lazy thinkers and we take for right the most advertised ideas. We become lazy also because so many important issues in contemporary life are put in such a complicated and technical way we often just give up to verify the truth, and just verify the brand that truth is labelled with.
Saul is such a great communicator. Using a Western philosophic approach in developing its definitions, putting them in an historical context in a very free and charming way,he makes us aware of so many common sayings, representing very clear interests of elites made blurred by difficult definitions and obscure technicalities,soldus as inevitable truth that time proved to be fashions.

So, even with a terrible delay, I tell I have enjoyed in particular the following entries: DOUBT, CIVILIZATION,the HOLY TRINITY - Late Twentieth Century (COMPETITION, EFFICIENCY and MARKET PLACE), Harvard School of Business and Chicago School of Economics, BUSINESS CONFERENCE, BALLROOM, DAVOS and ASPEN, HUMANISM, HAPPINESS, ECONOMETRICS, DUAL USE, ARMAMENTS, just to mention a few because many others are masterpieces as well.

Enjoy the book and the practice of the art of doubting.

Introduction to critical thinking
I picked this book up at a little bookstore out of curiosity, and have since named it the one of the most influential books I've ever read.

Some bookmarked definitions are :
Destiny: Being rewarded for cooperation
Intelleigence: The ruling elite's description of its own strengths
Dictionary: Opinion presented as truth in alphabetical order

I've always been a critical thinker, but this book helped accelerate that thought process to my current position as a smart ass college student.Get this book if you want to have your mind frazzled.

puerile
The main problem with this book is that it's just not funny, although Saul tries so very hard to be. Ambrose Bierce he is not. Nor much of an incisive critic in the Frankfurt School vein either, though no doubt he wishes he had Adorno's acerbic wit. What the book ends up being, then, is a collection of half-baked observations written in workaday prose. The entries either are utterly pointless ("HAPPY HOUR: A depressing comment on the rest of the day and a victory for the most limited Dionysian view of human nature.") or take potshots at ideas and people far too complicated for Saul's facile understanding of the universe (the entry on Plato begins: "Brilliant novelist. Accomplished humourist. In spite of which he wasn't as much the author of Socrates as he would have wished"--okay, but who WOULD be, I wonder, since Socrates wrote no books himself? Would Saul argue that it'd be better to have no books at all purporting to summarize Socrates' thoughts than those by Plato?). This is exactly the sort of book written by someone who's told by his dull-witted friends once too often that he's so funny and smart he ought to write down his pensees for the benefit of mankind. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first book-length study of best-selling writer John Saul's psychological and supernatural thrillers. Author Paul Bail compares John Saul's novels to a cocktail: "[mix] one part Psycho, one part The Exorcist, a dash of Turn of the Screw, blend well, and serve thoroughly chillingly." Bail traces John Saul's literary career from his 1977 debut novel Suffer the Children--the first paperback original ever to make the New York Times best seller list--to his most recent novel, Black Lightning (1995). It features never-before-published biographical information, drawing on an original interview with John Saul, and a chapter on the history of tales of horror and the supernatural and how these genres have influenced Saul's fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Who Would Pay $50 for This?
I'm giving this five stars because I think that the idea is good and it's not the book's fault that it's price is insane, but I have to ask: Why would anyone pay $50 for a digital copy of a book??

Excellent Literary Companion & Biography
John Saul has been one of my favorite authors since I was a child.His spine tinglers are set in sleepy towns near major cities (e.g. Eastbury in THE GOD PROJECT and HELLFIRE which is a fictional suburb of Boston) where weird and shadowy things take place.His characters often appear virtuous, yet have a shadow side.He is at no loss for presenting macabre scenes in a plausible way, which makes the story in question all the more delightfully frightening.

Saul is different from Stephen King whereas King's stories, while scary are plainly works of fiction and the reader is aware of that at all times.Saul's spine tinglers on the other hand are subtle yet build in a literary crescendo.While his works are clearly fictional, they are plausible fiction and his characters remain in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.

This book gives excellent analyses of several of Saul's works.While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, keep in mind that it is a companion to Saul's books.Read it WITH Saul's books and not INSTEAD of Saul's books.

A "must read" for any John Saul fan...
If you enjoy the thrill and horror, the excitement and the plot twists of the talented John Saul, then you should read this book.Not only is it intriguing and informative, but it gives you real insight to the manhimself and where his inspiration comes from.The author, Paul Bail, haschosen a collection of Saul's work and has provided the reader with a realunderstanding of each selected novel.Not only is this book fascinatingfor Saul fans, it is a wonderfully written study for fans of the macabre. ... Read more

Product Description
Alex Lonsdale was one of the most popular kids in La Paloma, California.  Until the horrifying car accident.  Until a brilliant doctor's medical miracle brought him back from the brink of death.  Now, Alex seems the same.  but in his eyes there is a blankness.  In his hear there is coldness.  If his parents, his friends, his girlfriend could see inside his brain, inside his dreams, they would be terrified.  One hundred years ago in La Paloma, a terrible deed was done.  A cry for vengeance pierced the night.  That evil still lives.  That vengeance still waits.  Waits for Alex Lonsdale.  Waits for the...Brainchild. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

facorite john saul book
I didnt buy this book off here, i bought it a long time ago from the bookstore. But it has always stuck with me and remained my favorite story out of his writings. He does well getting into the mind of a youth, i found this story creepy,sad, and page turning.

SYFY
Wow, this book is Science Fiction, well done, realistic, and frightening. One can imagine this story being true to a degree. How many roads can you take me down, John.Another one of those read all night stories.Sometimes I wish I hadn't read the last chapter. Sometimes I want a happy ending.

Great Book
If you are a John Saul reader, you don't need a review. You already know how good he is. If you are not a reader already, then get this book and get started. You will be hooked like the rest of us already are.

Thanks a lot guys.
I just wanted to say that I was in the middle of reading this book, and I just wanted to see if people liked it.And you guys totally ruined the book for me be giving the story away.I tried not to read anything spoiler-like, but I guess it was unavoidable.In the future, try not to give away the ending in reviews for people like me who are in the middle!

Above Average
One of John Saul's better works follows his typical path involving youngsters, a curse, and mayhem.This novel is a little differant because John included a touch of scientific
evil to the plot.The ending is a bit weak which drags down the overall rating of the book, but the rest is well written and very engrossing. ... Read more

Product Description
Dr. Alan Severance wakes up one morning confined to a familiarhospital with no recollection of his arrival. Thus starts Recovery,Berryman’s semi-autobiographical tale of "the disease called‘alcoholism.’" This time, determined to free himself from hisdisease, Dr. Severance plunges into a rigorous plan forrecovery. Following the clinic’s advice he confesses his humiliations,defeats, and delusions in an attempt to purge himself and achievenormality. The novel is elevated above the ordinary by Berryman’ssharp wit and penetrating intelligence. An alcoholic and criticallyacclaimed Pulitzer prize-winning poet, Berryman jumped to his deathoff the Washington Avenue Bridge in 1972 in Minneapolis, abandoninghis own attempts to overcome alcoholism as well as the yet unfinishedRecovery. The resulting novel is a powerful portrayal of Severance’seternally indefinite attempts to free himself from the grip ofaddiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This is treatment?
Philistine that I am, I am not surprised to find myself out of my league when reading great poets; so when the first few chapters of this book of prose seemed incomprehensible I began to feel, once again, in over my head. I continued to read, however, and slowly I was able to make sense of what I was reading as the abstract language of a sick artist fell away to reveala concrete human plight.Ironically neither this book nor John's recovery reached a conclusion, the book was published unedited by the author, posthumously - unfortunately John ended his life and his struggle with alcohol shortly after the events that inspired the book took place.I was horrified by the few lucid descriptions of what life is like in a treatment center, an asylum run by the inmates (former inmates), where the cure was browbeating and humiliating confrontation. Having struggled with alcohol myself, I am grateful that I never checked into one of these indoctrination camps.But then again I am an unqualified critic in denial!

Intriguing, self-lacerating, hopeful novel of victory over addiction
John Berryman was working on "Recovery" when he died, and in these pages there is hope of some ultimate victory over addiction. In the character of Alan Severance is the thinly-veiled personality of the poet himself, self-deprecating and perfectionist, attempting to overcome despair in a hospitalized addict's routine of recognition and confrontation. It is by no means an uplifting triumph to acknowledge that he got this far in the struggle -- but that he got this far, and then despaired, says much about the power of alcohol to ruin even the power of hope. This novel will change any romantic notions the reader may have about art and the role of drugs in the life of any artist. ... Read more

Product Description
Argues that the rationalist political and social experiments of the Enlightenment have degenerated into societies dominated by technology and a crude code of managerial efficiency. These are societies enslaved by manufactured fashions and artificial heroes, divorced from natural human instinct. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

Stimulates further inquiry
Many reviewers here have misstated the author's thesis. He asserts that the western world has suffered from a dictatorship of reason for lo' 500 hundred years - and that this reliance on reason in the absence of common sense and morality is at the root of many of our problems and at the inability of our society to deal with problems. He does not assert that reason is not an essential tool.

The book is flawed, but not seriously. It is true that it seems to meander, and that it is not in the form of a traditional scholarly work. IN reference to the former, Ralston Saul is attempting to cover not just the 500 years since the founding of the Jesuits, (his historical marker for the birth of the religion of reason), but the entire history and culture of the western world. In truth, this is one of the strengths of the book as the portraits of historical figures that are painted only serve to excite and engender in this reader a spirit of historical interest and literary curiosity. Regarding the latter fault, for me, there are too few notes/citations. He does make many fairly controversial statements without substantial evidence. Given, he is trying to skewer one of the biggest of sacred cows, and forks quite a few smaller along the way. Even when notes are provided, they are typically not truly supporting works, but rather further signposts for independent inquiry. This all seems to be the author's attempt to walk his talk. He exhorts to question, not to provide answers.

I did not receive my order and I will not order again!
I did not receive what I had ordered and I am tired of this type of service and will not be ordering from Amazon any longer!

The Most Important Book I Have Read in a Decade
Saul's remarkable book tracks the journey from the ideals of the Age of Reason to their corruption in today's vastly compromised fragile Democracy.It was the intention of the French and American Revolution to protect the people from the excess of power.Saul offers " From the beginning of the Age of Reason, the law had been intended to protect the individual from the unreasonable actions of others, especially those in power.This involved regulating the proper relationship between ownership and the individual.Or between the state, the individualand the corporation."What was intended to protect the citizens has been misused and perverted into "Blind reason" - placing us at the mercy of multinational corporations and those addicted to power.Democracy becomes a thing of the past.What is lost is the practical, imaginative and reasonable.

Through Saul's vast historical knowledge he tells the tale of the powerful and those addicted to power --- CardinalRichelieu, Louis XIII, Bonaparte, Louis XVI, James Baker, Robert McNamara and so many others.His skill as a writer transforms the book into a page turner.I could not put it down.

This is a book that could seed a revolution -- and a return to the true roots of Democracy.

I'm over 13
How absurd!And from the opening page it is absurd.This presumptuous intellectual who cut no knowledge stands to rebuke a towering light that pointed the way out from Semitic superstition.When we see medieval pictures of animals hanging from trees apparently this had nothing to do with religion and all to do with philosophy.I THINK NOT.This book is a prime example of a stupid idea that sits on a false premise.Modern physics also is full of absurd abstractions.But what is the truth?The truth in justice hands sits in logic and Voltaire lead people out away from the absurdity of the wishful thinking of humanity in the love of universal justice in feelings , which changes every day.Not even a family can be run on such hopefulness.
A turgid load of nonsense.Marx would revere-but I'm not confused.
The state promotes this as a remedy for clear though-Its cancer for an ordered society.

T

Knife-sharp Analysis
This remarkable book is only just now beginning to reveal it's true value.
Admidst political upheavals and civil distress troughout the world, because of the financial crisis, you cannot but admire the knife-sharp analysis which the author gives. In retrospect it seems that he's had almost an uncanny vision of the disaster which loomed ahead for western societies. We are now on a brink of a financial collapse and this book is a must-read for everyone who wish to understand how the present situation came about. ... Read more

Product Description
John Saul, master of psychological and supernatural suspense, has created a terrifying serial thriller set in the New England town of Blackstone. From the old Asylum, an insidious evil has descended upon unsuspecting souls who fall within its looming shadow. Seemingly harmless gifts have been appearing for months at the homes of Blackstone's residents.

Each object has a dark, horrifying past.

Each marks the recipient with inescapable doom.

Each carries a shameful, secret history returning with a vengeance . . .

THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES

PART 6

Editor Oliver Metcalf has written a provocative article on the Asylum that implies there may be a curse on the town. The community is outraged, charging him with inflaming hysteria. More urgent is the mysterious disappearance of Rebecca Morrison. As Blackstone rallies to find the missing woman, a mysterious package arrives on Harvey Connally's front porch. The contents hold the ultimate, grisly key to the horrors of the Asylum. Now, at last, Oliver must confront the gruesome truth of the past--one that threatens to crush all the inhabitants of Blackstone in one final grip of terror. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Assumes Readers Can't Keep Track
With the publication of part six of this serial novel The Blackstone Chronicles are complete.Unfortunately the final volume was more like the fifth volume than the first four.After a strong start the story just did not go the distance.

Volume six, ASYLUM, finally reveals Oliver Metcalf's dark secret and clarified some of the subtleties from earlier volumes.Rebecca was finally found (by Oliver, no less) and the final death occurred, brought on by the final object, an antique straight razor.

The story was really over midway through the book.Much of the second half was just the author's way of making sure the reader made all of the connections they were supposed to.It was sort of like seeing a magic trick dissected.It lost the magic.

I had high hopes for this serial when it started, but there is little point to horror, or suspense, if the building tension goes nowhere.I recommend the series on the strength of the first four parts as they are worth reading.I just wish it was worth finishing.Combined into a single volume the rehashing in this part will really seem redundant.

"When it's time, you'll know what to do."
In this concluding volume of the Blackstone Chronicles, Oliver Metcalf, the editor of the Blackstone Chronicle, is given the last of the objects belonging to former residents of the long-closed Blackstone (NH) Asylum.All the previous objects, given out by a "dark figure" from the Asylum, have been responsible for mayhem in the lives of the recipients--suicides, deaths, grievous bodily injuries, explosions, fires, and demonic possessions.Oliver, attracted to Rebecca Morrison,has been seeking her since here disappearance in Volume 4 (In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief), and he suffers blinding headaches whenever he goes near the front of the Asylum.

(No spoilers.) When Oliver is given a mahogany box, he feels compelled to open it in his father's former office at the Asylum, where he was the superintendent.This time when Oliver approaches the front door, he has no blinding headache, feeling only a warmth emanating from the box, which looks familiar.When he opens it, he finds his father's tortoise-shell razor, covered with blood.Soon, and for the first time, he begins to remember the mysterious circumstances of his twin sister's death.Running parallel with this story is the story of the abducted Rebecca Morrison, who desperately hopes for rescue by a knight on a horse.

As the action--and the series--reach their climax here, the reader hopes that all the loose ends from previous volumes will finally be connected, that the questions about why the "dark figure" at the Asylum seeks vengeance on the children of the people who long ago engaged in torture at the Asylum will be answered, and that the "dark figure" will face the consequences of his crimes.

Though the ending answers some of the questions, it does not answer them all, and, unfortunately, it is not a surprise.(Volume Four provides enough revealing clues about the "dark figure" to make the conclusion inevitable.)Ultimately, after reading the six volumes, I was disappointed that the mysteries were not adequately connected and resolved, creating a final impression that in this series, violence and horror exist for their own sake. n Mary Whipple

Sixth and Final Part in The Blackstone Chronicles
"Asylum" wraps up The Blackstone Chronicles series with Oliver Metcalf's uncle, Harvey Connally, receiving a razor case that reveals the sources of tragedies occurring in Blackstone, New Hampshire--the item later resulting in Harvey's own death.

Meanwhile, after being abducted in part 4, Rebecca Morrison is still being held captive and possibly next to die. The ending to "Asylum"--or, rather, Rebecca's lamebrained excuses for her abductor--was aggravating. But still, compared to Stephen King's prior six-part serial series, I prefer The Blackstone Chronicles much more, mainly because this series is more suspenseful and horror-filled than "The Green Mile."

Though all six installments are sold separately--"An Eye for an Eye: The Doll" (#1), "Twist of Fate: The Locket" (#2), "Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame" (#3), "In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief" (#4), "Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope" (#5), and this one: "Asylum" (#6)--I'd recommend just buying the all-in-one novel; it's easier to read and less expensive that way.

Petered Out
This last installment left me totally iritated. After holding me spellbound for the first book, somewhat intrigued with books 2 and 3, a little too predictable with 4 and just mediocre with book 5, I expected at least some satisfying closure with the last book. NOT! The book didn't end so much as it just suddenly stopped-like the author realized he was running out of paper and had to rush it to a conclusion. It had a million hanging loose ends, a dumb climax, and [a poor] final scene. This could have been a great work in the tradition of Stephan King, if only the author spent more time developing the background stories of the original inmates or the character of Malcom Metcalf (i.e. the "sources and nature of the evil")...

Explosive!
I suppose this explosive ending to The Blackstone Chronicles is essentially why I like John Saul's writing so much.The suspense in this story is built beautifully, and I was truly on the edge of my seat.Themain character Oliver is now forced to face the reality of his dark past,and in the process finds healing and hope. After reading every BlackstoneChronicles, I was very satisfied with the ending. ... Read more

Product Description
In Revolutionary Traveller, John S. Saul draws on a series of his own occasional articles written over a span of forty years which, together with a linking narrative, serve to trace not only his own career as an anti-apartheid and liberation support movement activist in both Canada and southern Africa but also help recount the history of the various struggles in both venues in which he has been directly involved. He thus shapes a unique memoir, capped by some longer summary pieces on the global processes of empire and decolonization that he has witnessed and on the reading, listening, playing and family pleasures that have enlivened his life's passage. ... Read more

Product Description
While digging through his attic, Oliver Metcalf discovers a handkerchief with a beautifully embroidered ""R"" in one corner and gives it to Rebecca, but this handkerchief has a terrifying history and is about to take part in another nightmare, in the fourth of six-part serial. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Nothing To Sneeze At
The fourth volume of this serial novel opens as Newspaper editor Oliver Metcalf finds a hand embroidered handkerchief in some of the Blackstone Asylum files.He decides to give it to the Rebecca, the young woman he is trying to court.After the tragedy in the last volume, Rebecca is staying with her employer, the head librarian, and her employer's mother.The librarian has been using Rebecca as a servant and to take care of her chair-ridden mother.Rebecca refuses to complain.When she receives the handkerchief it is confiscated.The librarian gives it to her mother who refuses it so she takes it back.

The Handkerchief was made by an asylum inmate who was delusional.Now the holder of the handkerchief becomes delusional as well.Tragedy strikes again in the house Rebecca is staying at but she manages to survive.

Meanwhile Oliver has been looking into the history of the asylum.His father was the last director.He learns that his father was no more humane than previous directors and the knowledge he uncovers starts a series of blackouts as Oliver begins to remember something from his youth.

The book ends with the mysterious inhabitant of the asylum preparing the next gift for delivery.

The serial is really shaping up and I look forward to the next installments.Unlike Stephen King's serial, this one will have no trouble being collected in one volume.

"You are about to find out who runs this place, and it isn't you."
In this six-volume series set in Blackstone, New Hampshire, a "dark figure" has been drawn back to the long-abandoned Blackstone Asylum, which is being developed into a shopping mall.Having found the trove of personal objects which once belonged to residents of the Asylum, the "dark figure" begins to wreak vengeance by distributing them throughout the town, each "gift" resulting in horror.Here in Volume 4, John Saul once again uses Rebecca Morrison, the slightly handicapped survivor of a terrible accident which killed her parents, as the unwitting instrument of the horror which follows.

(No spoilers.)When Oliver Metcalf, editor of the local newspaper, searches through some old records in his attic, stored there because his father was the superintendent of the Asylum fifty years ago, he finds a beautiful handkerchief in the files.Since it has the letter "R" on it, he decides to give it to Rebecca, her first gift in a long time.When Germaine Wagner, the woman with whom Rebecca lives, appropriates it and gives it to her demanding, elderly mother, the stage is set for another tale of horror.

Once again, Saul begins the story by introducing a scene of torture in the Asylum.This time, however, he provides the name of one of the sadistic employees, making the action in this tale far more satisfying than in earlier ones because the developing horror seems directed and not simply random.As in previous novels, Oliver Metcalf is the victim of blinding headaches, fainting spells, and visions of horror related to the Asylum, and his own background, involving the mysterious death of his twin sister at the age of four, is introduced, though he has no memory of crucial events.

As the town begins to suspect that the "suicides" featured in previous novels may be connected to the Asylum, the series tension builds, not because of the gory tales but because the reasons for the horror and the choice of specific victims remain unclear.One wonders who is the "dark figure" and what has made him return--and who will be the next victim, and why.

This novel is the turning point in the series.The "dark figure" hints that he is beginning to recall events and a character disappears, though there is no reason to suspect that foul play has occurred.Though Saul develops the suspense connecting the novels slowly, it is clear that he has a grand finale planned. nMary Whipple

Part 4 in The Blackstone Chronicles
Three suicides have occurred so far in The Blackstone Chronicles, leading up to a possible fourth--or more (you'll just have to read it to find out)--in "In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief." After Rebecca Morrison's aunt died in the previous book, "Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame" (#3), she's left in the care of her demanding employer, Germaine Wagner, and her even more demanding, wheelchair-bound mother. When Oliver Metcalf, a newspaper editor who has feelings for Rebecca, gives her a present--an 'R'-initialed handkerchief--something horrible begins to happen in the Wagner home. The climax, not to sound morbid, is one of my favorite death endings among the six parts; and the story itself ends on quite a cliffhanger for Rebecca. It'll certainly have readers eager to read the next part: "Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope" (#5).

The tension builds...
This is the point in the Chronicles when the town of Blackstone is no longer a normal New England town. The citizens are beginning to worry, and I can clearly see the plot thickening and the climax beginning in thisbook. This is a good thing after reading the three extremely repititivetales that came before this one. This installment easily proves that thenext chronicle will be more suspenseful than the last.

This is like a roller coaster ride!
What fun this series is.This book, though similar in structure to the earlier ones, is different enough to keep me happily reading.A quick read where I'm totally into it! ... Read more

Product Description
We all grew up in Saul Steinberg’s America, a place he envisioned for us in his drawings and cartoons for The New Yorker—none more famous than his iconic image of a New Yorker’s view of the world. In this eccentric and unpredictable memoir, one of the twentieth century’s most intellectually nimble artists shares his view of the world, of America and his place in it.

A Romanian by birth, restless by inclination, Steinberg lived a peripatetic existence. In Reflections and Shadows, he introduces us to his family—his uncle Moritz, a sign painter, and his father (also Moritz), a bookbinder whose small factory produced cardboard boxes and ribbons for funeral wreaths. He tells us how he dodged the police in fascist Italy in 1940 and how he came to America, where he became a citizen, an officer in the U.S. Navy, and the foremost visionary satirist of his time.

No one has depicted America with all its strengths and foibles more enduringly than Saul Steinberg. In this playful meditation, based on a series of interviews with Aldo Buzzi that has never before been published in English, and interwoven with more than a dozen drawings, Steinberg delivers a laconic hymn to America: its baseball, its diners, and its exhibitionism. “It is stinginess,” Steinberg writes, speaking of his art and method, “that holds us back.” But he had none of that: the personality that emerges from these pages is capacious, acutely discriminating, full of serendipitous curiosities, and consistently engaging. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Steinberg and Borges
This is the delightful little memoir of Saul Steinberg,
translated from the italian by John Shepley. Its great value
is that it is the closest we will ever come to reading
the work of one of America's great literary talents.

Now it's become a pretty commonplace observation that
Steinberg is as appropriate a nominee for the literary
hall of fame as he is for the graphic artists'. This is
the little book that seals the deal. It turns out that
Steinberg's aphoristically-turnedphrases are as clear and
concise as his drawings. This book is sadly, all he wrote.

Steinberg did not intend this to be a personal disclosure-
he is a man who had his memoir written by somebody else. And
yet, it turns out that the very tightness of phrasing gives
the man away. What did he learn of Milan when he was there?
Not much. "My chief interest then was girls. .I was looking...
.to find myself through love."

There are a few drawings here, all of them small and printed
just well enough to make you wish they were printed better.
If you are amoung the unconverted and want to catch examples
of his drawingsee thewonderful exhibit at the Morgan
Library in New York or one of the greatcollections
(my favorite is Passport). Butfor true believers, Reflections
is Steinberg's literary lovesong, a book that puts him in the
company of Borges.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN
9781601640005

Musings on life and art
Published after his death in 1999, this is a meditation based on a series of interviews of Steinberg by Buzzi. Beginning with his childhood and youth in Romania, through his wartime experience in Italy and his maturity in the United States, Steinberg muses with an acute visual sense, appropriate for an artist. The book is illustrated with his drawings.

His ideas about influences on art are insightful. as he describes early photographers "inspired by the paintings of Delacroix and Ingres", to his thought that Bacon "clearly derives from the Polaroid". I was intrigued by his suggestion that the use of industrial paints in American art occurred because of poor artists used cold-water flats as studios, "and to make them livable they had to scrape and paint the walls, doors and windows, and floors . . . and this led them to work on a large scale, to use industrial paints, such as gold or silver on radiators, new materials". His description of the New York City taxi cab of the `40's as created out of Cubist elements, of the automobile influenced by Constructivism, Cubism, and "Fernandlégerism" makes one look at cars in a whole new light.

The title, Reflections and Shadows, comes from a section in which he discusses how what one sees in reverse in a reflection (in a mirror, in water) or shadow is often better - sharper, more intense - than the original. "If you look only at the reflection, and not at the reflecting part, you see a gratuitous reality that exists for you alone. For fun I throw a stone into the upside-down landscape, and seeing that the lower part moves I almost expect the upper part to move too."

If I quoted all my favorite parts of this book, I'd be typing almost the entire thing, so you'll have to go read it for yourself!

Delightful little book
The autobiographical musings of a New Yorker cartoonist told to his old friend, and filled with wit, humanity and philosophical gems. Stories of escaping from the fascist police in Italy, too lazy to brutally arrest people at the usual invisible ungodly hour. Or civic life in 1950s Washington, and the charming people who knew exactly how to be courteous and to dismiss those who didn't belong. Or the poor white in kentucky, like protagonists out of American fiction, whereas the bourgeoisie, respectable people, "always the same". And Magritte's discovery of multiple sources of light in a painting (sun, streetlamp, electric light inside a house, the moon, reflections of light. Or American gastronomy, in which "the taste of the nation are governed by the tastes of children". ... Read more

Product Description
His career as president of the First National Bank threatened by a troubling audit, Jules Hartwick is further disturbed when he receives a mysterious silver locket that, once opened, sets off a terrifying chain of events, in the second of a six-part serial saga. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

"I have something for you...to celebrate our being together."
In this second volume of the Blackstone Chronicles, author John Saul continues his account of the chaos that results when the abandoned Asylum in the small New Hampshire town of Blackstone is sold for development into a shopping mall.A lone, mysterious figure re-enters the Asylum one night and finds the personal artifacts which long ago belonged to the inmates.Distributing these objects to people who have some connection to the long-ago inmates, the mysterious figure ensures that their lives change--and not for the better.

(No spoilers.)After celebrating the engagement of his daughter Celeste to Andrew Sterling, Jules Hartwick, head of the Blackstone Bank, finds a package wrapped in pink paper on the seat of his car, with no card indicating the sender.Opening the package, he finds an antique locket, which he immediately believes has been sent to his devoted wife Madeline.When an image comes to him of Madeline in the arms of another man, he immediately suspects she has lover and goes to great lengths to try to prove it.

As in the preceding novel, An Eye for an Eye: The Doll, the author juxtaposes scenes of horror at the Asylum with present day scenes from the lives of Blackstone's inhabitants, the same characters appearing and reappearing throughout the series.In this novel, the opening scene involving Lorena, a paranoid woman at the Asylum who comes to possess the locket, is far more horrifying (and gory) than any previous Asylum scenes have been.

Oliver Metcalf, the editor of the local newspaper, connects all six of the novels.Oliver, subject to blinding flashes of pain as he uncovers old photographs and records for a commemorative piece on the history of the Asylum, suffered the same pains when the wrecking ball broke through a wall of the Asylum in the previous novel.Born in the Superintendent's Cottage, he is the son of the previous Superintendent, though at this point in the series the reader has few clues about the Asylum and its administrators, other than incidents of cruelty exhibited toward the inmates by unnamed people.

As in the first volume, the story moves along quickly and inevitably, the primary question being how far Jules Hartwick will go in his accusations of infidelity.Once again, the characters are not developed fully enough to make this a "character-driven" horror novel, the Gothic shock evolving more from the amount of cruelty than from our knowledge of the individuals and our surprise at their behavior. n Mary Whipple

Part 2 in The Blackstone Chronicles
"Twist of Fate: The Locket," the second part in The Blackstone Chronicles, begins and ends with gory eviscerating scenes, the prologue being more shocking, in my opinion, of a mental patient at the Asylum being gutted to remove a silver locket, which later comes into play. The middle part of the story is bloodless, as it closely follows Jules Hartwick, president of the First National Bank of Blackstone, as he stresses over an audit, then becomes severely paranoid after finding the above-mentioned heart-shaped locket that he believes is a sign of his wife's infidelity. This is a good serial addition to the six-part Blackstone Chronicles, preceded by "An Eye for an Eye: The Doll" (#1) and succeeded by "Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame" (#3), "In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief" (#4), "Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope" (#5), and "Asylum" (#6). As a whole, "The Blackstone Chronicles" is one of my favorite John Saul books.

Twist of Fate: The Locket
A new curse has come upon Blackstone. Jules Hartwick finds a locket in his wifes car. He becomes very jealous and nervous thinking everyone is after him. Could the locket have something to do with the way he is acting or did he just have a nervous breakdown. Is Jules so insane he might kill? To find out you should read this book. It is one part of a great mystery unfolding in Blackstone. Who will be the next vivtim to this insanity that has befallen Blackstone.

This one was *even* better than the first (also good!).
I read this in a couple of days, and I must say that the schmuck who wrote the review below ("Not Again!" was the title) was full of it.This book is only similar to the first because it has another gift beingsent out to someone.Otherwise, it is *totally* different than the first,and is even pretty *scary* at times.I eagerly await #3, which I take willbe even better.I can tell newcomers to this serial book this much: DO NOTLISTEN TO THE BAD REVIEWS OF BOOKS!

Refreshing, yet repetitive
Judging from the Chronicle that preceded "The Locket," I was prepared for another "unscary" tale. I was pleasantly suprised.Unlike the first tale, this one built the intriguing plot beautifully, andI was very often in suspense. The idea of jealously driving a person tomurder is terrifyingly worth reading about.However, this story is almostidentical in nature to the first one, and I found some of the charactersbeing a little too ignorant of their surroundings, and that made the storya bit unrealistic. But all in all, "The Locket" is a veryrefreshing tale. ... Read more

Product Description
Revised and updated, with a new introduction, "The Collapse of Globalism" is 'a triumph...reminding us what the global economy really is - something that humans have created...This is the start of a new debate' - "Forbes". Globalization, like many great ideologies before it, is dead. Despite the almost religious certainty with which it was conceived, nation states have not become extinct, international trade has not created real wealth that has spread across society and many dictatorships have not changed into democracies. In this groundbreaking book, the distinguished philosopher John Ralston Saul examines where we go from here. As the hope of global prosperity fades and the problems of immigration, terrorism and the collapsing economy cause the world's nations to rethink their relationships, Saul's exhilarating investigation into the collapse of globalism is essential - and timely. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

They say everything you read is true, except the stuff you have personal experience of
Having waded through Saul's previous drivel, On Equilibrium, and seen what passes for analysis in his mind, I had a sinking feeling when I heard that his latest book cites New Zealand as a prime example of the failure of globalism. (Note that it's "globalism" rather than the commonly used term "globalisation" - Saul's solution to every problem is to redefine it as something that he feels comfortable attacking, even if that new definition is meaningless to everyone else.) A quick browse through the parts of this book that deal with New Zealand pretty much confirmed my low expectations. He clearly believes that the only sources of `truth' about the New Zealand economy are left-wing academics like Jane Kelsey, who long ago gave up the pretence of doing any real economics (and by `real' I mean having at least a passing acquaintance with the scientific method) and whose complaints about the reforms essentially boil down to: "why couldn't we have done it more like Australia?" (which is both a hopeless display of ignorance about what Australia actually did, and a perfect example of the insecure, resentful attitude that this country needs to break out of if it wants to have any kind of identity over the long term). Sloppy fact-checking - at one point he quotes Reserve Bank Governor "Dan" Brash - betrays the fact that he hasn't done his homework. Instead, he unquestioningly accepts statements that amount to no more than wishful thinking. The post-reform economy was not widely branded as a failure (leaving aside, as Saul does, the question of how you define a "failure" in the first place), and the Labour government elected six years ago (many of whom were involved in the reforms in the first place) hasn't made any discernable step away from this philosophy. Now, I know it's not fair to review a book without reading all of it, but if I know that one of its key pieces of supporting evidence is garbage, how can I expect the rest of it to be any better?

Mincing Mammon's minions
"Gimmie that old time religion" ran the gospel classic. Since the early 1970s, says Saul, a new religion has emerged, displacing existing dogmas. It's called "Globalism". Globalism lacks a deity, but provides us with a fresh dogma - "borderless commerce". The ranks of its apostles view the world through a "prism of economics". The new liturgy claims that open, unfettered world "trade" will overcome restrictive government policies, grant peace, freedom, prosperity and will last forever. It will redeem the world of its ills by considering issues through this restrictive prism. It sees humanity as driven solely by economic self-interest. It applies that view to business, government and society in general. It is Mammon in all his finery and power.

]Saul's sprightly prose leads us through a chronology of the rise of Globalism, citing some of its most profound proponents along the way. He describes the methods used in creating the "global market". The prophets are known to all who took Economics 101 - Milton Friedman, Samuel Brittain and Robert Norvick. Globalism's converts, following their initiation, tended to remain out of sight, however. Saul notes the irony of an "open" system doing so much so quietly and with so little fanfare. Part of the reason for this covert manner was that avoiding publicity was important to its advocates. While quietly lobbying for "deregulation" or arranging multi-billion dollar mergers, the Globalists operated away from public scrutiny. Knowing the general populace would bear the brunt of paying for their dealings, keeping people ignorant of the impact was important. "Smooth waters and continuity" was the theme of those who avoided confronting reality. No dissent meant acceptance. Saul sees this approach as "management" of problems, not realistic leadership.

Globalism has achieved much, according to Saul. There have been shakeouts of inept or corrupt government-run programmes in many countries. Giant corporations girdling the planet have been established. The movement of material and products has been eased. Work has been given to those who might have never known what a factory was or what it produced. "Agribusiness" was an unknown term in the 1970s - it's a commonplace, now. Products on your table arrive from far away places. The shop's shelves are weighed down with a confusing variety of goods, whether grocery or clothing or electronics.

These accomplishments have come at a price. The transnationals move goods within themselves, creating an artificial trade picture - and an artificial state as a by-product. The maneuvers have led to grand fortunes. The 358 richest people have assets exceeding the combined incomes of countries containing 45 per cent of the world's population. People are dealt with as replaceable machines and community and human values have been shed. If jobs aren't easily exported, labour is invited to relocate. There are 17 million Muslim workers living among 450 million Europeans. These workers face lack of acceptance, an uncertain status and, often, downright hostility. Recent events in London indicate how long this condition has been running without solution.

Throughout the book, New Zealand is offered as the optimum case study. By the onset of Globalism, this island nation had "led the world in women's rights and public programmes". In the early 1980s that Pacific nation endorsed and implemented the gospel of Globalism into their economy and government. "Privatizing" was quietly instituted. The tax burden smoothly shifted from the top levels to the bottom. Over the years social programmes were dismantled, resources drained away by outsiders and the infrastructure fall into foreign ownership. The situation far exceeded the "branch plant" economy often bemoaned of here in Canada. Dissatisfaction on many levels brought a change in government. That turnover heralded a disavowal of Globalism's tenets. The new government had the sense not to attempt any disruptive shifts. The return to a realistic structure has been at a sedate pace. The result is achievement of what Saul calls "positive nationalism". New Zealand was a model for the West in the last century. It has become one again in the new one.

While the 1970s are viewed as a stagnant period, the 1990s displayed lively activity. Globalism seemed to have accomplished its goals. Many crowed of its "victory" over "narrow nationalism". There were a few disturbing signs. One, voiced by a newly elected French President, was his announcement that he was powerless in the face of forces that had destabilised oil prices, brought inflation and increased unemployment. It was the first signal that Globalism had triumphed over civil authority. The triumph wasn't complete, however. The Asian Fiscal Meltdown, which brought cries of "crony capitalism" and "false promises", was quickly quelled. Stability was restored by the Malaysian government striking a new chord. It refused to accept that the crisis was an economic one affecting the nation. Instead, Mohamed Mahathir decreed that the problem was a national one with economic overtones. It was the first sign of the resurrection of the nation-state. While the Globalist choir lamented the betrayal of their programme, two observers in the loft watched with interest - India and China.

Saul describes how a new rise of the nation-state should work. It's not an abrupt restoration. Too many forces exist and many people remain to be convinced it should take place. After New Zealand, the best example is the European Union's acceptance of Spain as a member. China and India follow as models. India, however, has shown how to keep the managers hatched by Globalism at bay and retain its independence. India also realistically deals with economic problems as national issues. Where the first publication of the Davos economic forum declared that "nationalism is indefensible", Saul argues that "positive nationalism" is the mechanism for retrieving us from the vacuum resulting from the collapse of the Globalism balloon. There are no other solutions visible.

This is a book that is needed. And needs to be read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada] ... Read more