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I don’t remember where I first encountered Asch. It was around 2012, when I ordered The Nazarene on Kindle and read it. I’ve since re-read it 3 more times, I found it so moving. Similarly with The Apostle, and Mary. Who would have thought an early 20th century observant Jewish author would write a series of well-researched fictional books (historical novels), together referred to as the “founders of Christianity” series. Unknown to most, Asch was well versed in what’s called “The Oral Tradition” or the Aggadah of the Jews. He used this knowledge to great effect in weaving many hundreds of stories of peoples and communities in first century Palestine - into these three magnificent books.
Historical novels, as a genre of course, vary widely in their faithfulness to history and accuracy. It is my clear impression that these are highly accurate and consistent with historical events; they are certainly consistent with both the Old and the New Testaments. The particular skill of Asch is to conform Biblical and historical events into the everyday lives of individuals (both historical and fictional) as they actually lived at this critical period of history. Many of the eternal elements of human nature are portrayed - credibly and beautifully.
I have come away with some important understandings which ring so very true. In large part, that’s because Asch wrote with a dedication to accuracy. His understanding arose not only from study of Torah (“The Law”) but also from tradition whose history was woven into every aspect of his own life, from birth through childhood and adulthood in Jewish ghettos in Poland. He has given me understanding far beyond the bare bones version I had from reform Jewish/secular upbringing.
The most powerful understanding I have from these three monumental books derives from the ancient Hebrews’ expectation of the Messiah. There is much discussion throughout these books as to the nature of the Messiah: was He to be temporal or secular? Of this world or the Kingdom of Heaven? A revolutionary or savior? For the Jews alone or for the gentiles as well?
In ways I find myself unable to yet articulate, I have some sense of the earliest cleavages which took place between Observant Jews and “Messianists” in Jesus’ time. There were many divisions between Jews already in existence. The divisions were both worldly (whether and/or how to defeat Roman occupation) and spiritual (those “strong in the law” vs. “unclean” Jews who failed to adequately observe the many, many burdensome strictures of the law). Divisions between Pharisees and Saducees were a continuous undertone.
Among these disputes, and woven throughout all three books, is the question of whether the Messiah was only for the Jews or for the gentiles as well. This was an especially divisive question among the most religious Jews of all schools of thought. One view said that strictly following Torah (the Law) kept Jews pure and at a safe distance from the “abominations” of the gentiles - idol worship, child sacrifice, prostitution/sexual perversions, etc. Since the Jews, they said, submitted to the burdens imposed by the law, they were “entitled” to the Messiah. Among other viewpoints (beyond the scope here), was the notion that the Jews’ observance of the law, was merely God’s way of using the Jewish people as the soil in which the Messiah might be born. These ideas are fleshed out repeatedly in all the books, and I find, very thought provoking.
The Apostle, the story of Saul, then Paul of Tarsus, is especially revealing of all the subtleties which lead to the great historical division between Christians and Jews. I have to say the totality of having read these books - again, many of the events take place in the mundane, everyday lives of the characters set in that time and place - has profoundly revised my understanding of history.
Landmark books make these curiosities possible by taking children along on the journey, whether signing the Constitution or laying rails on the transcontinental railroad. Along the way they meet people who changed or shaped our country.
Now considered vintage (because of their age), these books were the first among historical, non-fiction books written for the middle grade reader. They were originally published by Random House in the 1940s, 50s and 60s in two categories: American and World. There are 122 titles in the American series and 63 titles in the World series all penned by award-winning authors (for example C. S. Forester, Margaret Cousins, James Daugherty and Sterling North) individually contracted to write for the series.
Teaching history chronologically? Wanting to learn more details about the life of an inventor or reformer? Why not add some living books, real books about real events and real people, to your study?
I compiled this chronological listing of Landmark books for two reasons. First, we have always intertwined the teaching of American and world history, reading a piece of historical fiction or biography and posting a representative picture on our time line which stretches the length of our hallway. Most recently, however, we joined a small living history co-op which teaches world history chronologically, focusing on a specific time period each year. We were curious if any of the books we had on our shelves would fit into our upcoming school year. We thought of our Landmark books.
Having a shelf full of Landmark books, I decided to arrange them chronologically (as best I could) so we can research and read from the time period which we will be studying. For those children in my family who prefer the “this looks interesting” method of learning, this chronological listing will be used as reference, should he or she try to place a specific event or person on our family timeline.
Americans do not learn history because we have forgotten how to tell history. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the American Historical Association, a majority of both conservatives and leftists viewed history as just a collection of facts forced upon them in high school and college. History cannot be a cure for social ills unless it is learned well. But when history is taught as dry facts, many students rightfully tune out.
For history to remedy poor political thinking or restore national identity, it must become an exciting, living story that holds deep meaning for our children. Children have not lost interest in compelling stories, nor have they stopped wanting to emulate charismatic characters. My 3-year-old wears his medieval knight costume like a second skin. If we want our high schoolers and college students to take seriously the lessons that history can teach, they must first fall in love with the story of history before they even open their first textbook. //
Unfortunately, you cannot walk to your nearest bookstore and pick up a Landmark box set. Even most libraries no longer carry them. They are scattered around private collections, used book stores, and eBay. Some of the titles can be found digitized on various websites. Several homeschool blogs list out the titles in chronological order. At least one small press has started reissuing individual titles in the Landmark series, but with 200 titles in the series, many more publishing houses and homeschool programs should join the effort. Influencers who want to help America rediscover its history should promote the series. Libraries, especially school libraries, should purchase them for their catalog.
“Men’s lives are changed in odd ways without their realizing it. A boat missed, a talk with a stranger, a thoughtless choice at the crossroads to turn right instead of left, or a knock on a door, and not only can a man’s living be altered but history can be given a new course.” This offhand remark from Landmark author John Mason Brown in his telling of Daniel Boone could be a motto for the series. A child’s reading of good history could change their life — and our nation.
Raymond I. Smithjr
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Drumbeat, a well researched and objective historical novel.
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Beginning with an apolitical description of the German u-boat navy prior to WW2, its development and deployment in the Atlantic and the tragic consequences of an inept and unprepared outmoded U.S. Navy,,, through the naivete' and politically mismanaged response of the early military leadership...The U.S. experienced losses far greater than at Pearl Harbor. The author takes us on a thrilling excursion in to both sides of the battle in a very balanced presentation of the behind the scenes as well as the in the thick of the encounters. A good read difficult to put down until finished.
KP57 George
5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
German Submarines controlled the East Coast in 1942
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Excellent; well done research, amazing how unprepared America was for submarine attacks off our East Coast and how highest ranking naval officers let their anti-British feelings deny relevance of British provided intelligence. Thus unfortunately for many reasons our government felt it was necessary to deny the attacks took place and many ships were sunk and many men died.
To all those who say they don’t care about the culture war, Erick Erickson has only one response: "The Left will not let you stay on the sidelines. You will be made to care."
Now the former Editor-in-Chief of RedState.com joins with Christian author Bill Blankschaen to expose the war in America on Christians and all people of faith who refuse to bow to the worst kind of religionsecularismone intent on systematically imposing its agenda and frightening doubters into silence.
The author of the Mitford Years series married at 14, protested segregation, and wrote her first book at 57. //
The idea for Father Tim came in a vision of sorts as Mitford unfolded in her mind. Aware that a Baptist preacher conjured too many negative literary stereotypes, Karon crafted him as an Episcopalian, she said. His life began as a weekly serial publication in the local Blowing Rocket newspaper of Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Karon drew the illustrations. They paid her with a free copy of the 10-cent paper.
Circulation surged. But despite the local acclaim, Karon struggled through 11 publishing house rejections before Lion, a small Christian press, accepted At Home in Mitford. Two novels followed, as she used all her marketing skills to self-promote the books. But there was no national market for wholesome stories of simple characters, let alone with a Christian theme, Karon told World magazine. People preferred Stephen King.
“I don’t give you much of a ride. I just give you sort of a float!” Karon stated. “A lot of people tell me that my books put them to sleep, and I consider that a huge compliment.”
Rex Stout is an American Mystery writer who has written multiple books. Most of them were set in the state of New York. He was born in Noblesville, Indiana in 1886 but later on his parents moved the family of nine children to Kansas. Being a teacher, Stout’s father inspired him to read and by the time he was four years old, he had read the entire bible. Stout went to Topeka High School, Kansas, and later the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He worked in the Navy in US between 1906 and 1908 and afterwards for the next four years, he worked at several jobs including one at a cigar store.
Rex was appointed to the board of American Civil Liberties Union in 1952 and served one term. While there he assisted in beginning the Marxist Magazine. He also founded and later served as president at Vanguard Press, from 1926 to 1928 then as its vice president until 1931. Being a renowned Murder Mystery author, several of his books went on to be adapted for film, radio and television. He was head of Writers’ War Board at the time of the second world war, a radio celebrity and later on actively promoted world federalism. He was also president of the Authors Guild and of the Mystery Writers of America. He ultimately received the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award in 1959.
The front cover is a shot of the 2.55 gigawatt Oconee plant in South Carolina. These three reactors were built for 356 million dollars between 1967 and 1974. That is $1141 per kilowatt in 2024 dollars. Oconee can produce reliable, on-demand, zero pollution, very low CO2, electricity at less than 3 cents/kWh in today’s money. These plants and their sisters have operated for over 60 years, harming exactly nobody from radiation. They are licensed to operate intothe 2050’s.
Between 1970 and 2025, technological progress should have reduced the real cost of nuclear power. Instead the current cost of nuclear plants in Europe and North America is more than $15,000/kW, more than 13 times the cost of Oconee. Thanks to its insane energy density, nuclear power should consume far less of the planet’s precious resources than any other source of electricty while producing nearly no pollution and very little CO2. Instead nuclear is a prohibitively expensive flop.
This little book explains why this auto-genocidal tragedy happened, and what we can do about it. Nuclear’s problems are entirely man-made. What is man-made can be man-unmade. If we adopt the regulatory reforms that this book lays out, the providers of nuclear power will be forced to compete with each other and new entrants on a level playing field, in which case the inherent cheapness of fission power combined with technological advances will push the cost of nuclear electricity back down to its should-cost.
Edward J. Willett and Austin D. Swanson
Modernizing the Little Red Schoolhouse: The Economics of Improved Education
After writing/co-authoring/translating three very highly regarded history books, and selling them in three languages all over the world in five figure numbers, I was dissapointed how the entry barrier to history writing did not always appear to be orientated towards writing facts, and sometimes more about pretending how complicated the whole process was.
It IS extremely difficult, but, it is NOT complicated.
If you REALLY do want to write a history book, and its keeping you awake at night, here is one method which works.
How to Write a History Book_V1-0Download
Big anniversaries are coming up in 2026: 200 years since the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, 250 since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 250 since Adam Smith published “The Wealth of Nations.”
But an anniversary this month deserves special attention, too — Dec. 16 marked 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, one of the greatest novelists who’s ever lived.
She’s still read today, and millions of people who’ve never so much as peeked into the covers of “Pride and Prejudice,” “Sense and Sensibility” or “Emma” know Austen’s stories from their film and television adaptations. //
Like the Declaration of Independence and “The Wealth of Nations,” her works have stood the test of two centuries and more for a reason.
They are grounded in truths about human nature, and those truths are expressed in ways that enchant as well as instruct.
RALPH WILLIAMS
Business as Usual, During Alterations
Throughout most of recorded history mankind has lived within an economy of scarcity. Only in the last half-century have technological developments made an economy of abundance possible, at least in the West and Japan. The costs involved in this process were high, not only in terms of human exploitation but also in more subtle ways. For example, the explosion of available consumer goods has produced considerable confusion, part of the "future shock" phenomenon of being surrounded by so much diversity that it is difficult to enjoy any of it.
Because technological change has been so rapid, entire industries have been created and wiped out almost overnight. The resourcefulness often shown by the businessman to these
developments has been little short of amazing-the transition from a literally "horse-powered" transportation system to the automobile and from the blacksmith to the mechanic are but
examples.
"Business as Usual, During Alterations" presents members of the business community facing the greatest crisis in the history of economic relationships. Competition is supposed to be the essence of the Free Enterprise System (at least on paper)-but it was never supposed to be like this.
Mike Woodruff has been a pastor for over 40 years. During that time, an increasing number of people have been captured by conspiracy theories, overwhelmed with anxiety or seething in anger. 5 years ago, Mike embarked on a journey to understand what was happening.
He discovered the primary forces reshaping the news and the necessary practices for staying sane in a 24/7 news cycle. On The News will explain what’s happened since the Cronkite era and then offer a pathway for you to navigate this strange new world.
The late, great Dr. Petr Beckmann was editor of the great journal Access to Energy, founder of the dissident physics journal Galilean Electrodynamics (brochures and further Beckmann info here; further dissident physics links), author of The Health Hazards of NOT Going Nuclear (Amazon; PDF version) and the pamphlets The Non-Problem of Nuclear Waste and Why “Soft” Technology Will Not Be America’s Energy Salvation. (See also my post Access to Energy (archived comments), and this post.)
I just came across another favorite piece of his and have scanned it in: Economics as if Some People Mattered (review of Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher), first published in Reason (October 1978), and reprinted in Free Minds & Free Markets: Twenty-Five Years of Reason (1993). Those (including some libertarians and fellow travelers) who also have a thing for “smallness” and bucolic pastoralism should give this a read.
Small is Beautiful is the title of a book by E.F. Schumacher. It is also a slogan describing a state of mind in which people clamor for the rural idyll that (they think) comes with primitive energy sources, small-scale production, and small communities. Yet much–perhaps most–of their clamor is not really for what they consider small and beautiful; it is for the destruction of what they consider big and ugly.
… The free market does not, of course, eradicate human greed, but it directs it into channels that the consumer the maximum benefit, for it is he who benefits from the competition of”profit-greedy” businessmen. The idea that the free market is highly popular among businessmen is one that is widespread, but not among sound economists. It was not very popular in 1776, when Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published, and it has not become terribly popular with all of them since–which is not surprising, for the free market benefits the consumer but disciplines the businessman.
If the free market is so popular with business, what are all those business lobbies doing in Washington? The shipping lobby wants favors for U.S. ships; the airlines yell rape and robbery when deregulation from the governmental CAB cartel threatens; the farmers’ lobby clamors for more subsidies. What all these lobbies are after is not a freer market but a bigger nipple on the federal sow.
Petr Beckmann
- Hammer and Tickle Hammer and Tickle $ 12.00
- The Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear The Health Hazards of Not Going Nuclear $ 15.00
- Access to Energy - 5 Volume Set Access to Energy - 5 Volume Set $ 199.00
- Fancy Napkin Foldings Fancy Napkin Foldings $ 8.00
- Musical Musings Musical Musings $ 20.00
- A History of Pi A History of Pi $ 16.00
- The Non-problem of Nuclear Waste The Non-problem of Nuclear Waste $ 8.00
- Orthogonal Polynomials for Engineers and Physicists Orthogonal Polynomials for Engineers and Physicists $ 39.00
- Radiation by an Antenna With Non-Gaussian Phase Errors Radiation by an Antenna With Non-Gaussian Phase Errors $ 8.00
- Electromagnetic Feilds and VDT-itis Electromagnetic Feilds and VDT-itis $ 8.00
- The Radiation Bogey The Radiation Bogey $ 8.00
The British historical novelist C. S. Forester is best known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower, whose rise from midshipman to admiral and peer during the Napoleonic Wars is told in a series of twelve novels, beginning with ‘The Happy Return’. Two of the Hornblower novels, ‘A Ship of the Line’ and ‘Flying Colours’, were jointly awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938. This comprehensive eBook presents Forester’s collected works, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 2)
Please note: the eBook is only for sale to customers living in or visiting Canada, China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and any other 50 year countries due to copyright restrictions.
A landmark work of over 100 scholars, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution provides unique line-by-line analysis explaining every clause of America's founding charter and its contemporary meaning. Second edition completely revised.
- An unprecedented collaborative work of 114 leading scholars, with over 200 original essays
- Completely revised, nine years following the original landmark work
- Foreword by Edwin Meese III, 75th Attorney General of the United States
The reviewer begs the reader’s indulgence for combining a book review with an appreciation of the author. Yes, Leonard Read is my guide and inspiration, and I was thrilled to learn of the republication of Government: An Ideal Concept (FEE, 1997, $12.95 paperback). This book is to me much like the fruits of scripture.
In 1982, I wrote to Read asking if he still believed what he had written in 1954. His reply: Just the other day I re-read Government: An Ideal Concept. Today I wouldn’t change a word of it. All of my books have been consistent with this book you like.
I have read all of Leonard Read’s books; they are consistent. Read is constant in character and consistent in thought. Given his premises, his freedom philosophy, as he called it (to disassociate himself from the anarchists who had appropriated his earlier use of libertarian), is consistent and corroborated by history. Read has grasped and described a natural law.
In Government: An Ideal Concept, he limits himself to basics and a few clear examples. Other issues and secondary points he leaves for other books, other writers. The argument of this work is logical, consistent, and neither circular nor abstruse.
Read is never a polemicist but warns against provoking antagonism with unnecessary personal attacks and criticisms of error, when what is needed is self-improvement and demonstration of truth. Although he says Government: An Ideal Concept is an essay in clarifying his own thinking, he writes with the authority and serenity of someone already possessed of a truth.
Not at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 nor when Read wrote Government: An Ideal Concept, says Read, was there any well-defined . . . principled, spelled-out ideal theory of government or liberty. The founders attempted to limit government, but lacking was a well-defined theory or positive rationale as to why limitation.[1]
Read was familiar with political and philosophical ideas from earliest writings to the present. Yet he was convinced that extant theories of liberty and government were inadequate and that this lack would have to be supplied before American society could secure the Blessings of Liberty cited in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution.
Read’s plan is to try to justify government, an effective but surprising strategy for one who sees that government, the immune system of society, designed to protect from internal and external dangers, has itself grown unhealthy, and, by proliferation, become an agent of social dysfunction. He seeks to understand the healthy state of government in society as the ideal—a key word in this book’s title. Properly limited government, he asserts, because it is necessary, must be a positive good rather than a necessary evil.
Fundamental to Read’s theory of limited government is his analysis of social versus individual problems, and the role of force and coercion in society. By definition, government is organized force. It monopolizes the legal use of force in those geographical, social, and economic areas under its jurisdiction. Read posits, Man’s purpose on earth is to come as near as possible in his lifetime to the attainment of those creative aptitudes peculiarly his own. He then explains why all of creative human emergence can only be a personal, voluntary undertaking. This leaves those actions of man which impair the source of creative energy and stifle its exchange, and also the actions which are parasitic on the flowing energy as the only social problem. To remove these inhibitory actions, it is necessary to restrain aggressive force and/or penalize those persons who indulge in it. Read explains why force can only restrain, never create. Therefore, the only proper use of force is to restrain aggressive use of force and fraud.
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