Good Natured: The Orgins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals

Amazon.com

In Good Natured Frans de Waal, ethologist and primatologist, asks us to reconsider human morality in light of moral aspects that can be identified in animals. Within the complex negotiations of human society, a moral action may involve thoughts and feelings of guilt, reciprocity, obligation, expectations, rules, or community concern. De Waal finds these aspects of morality prevalent in other animal societies, mostly primate, and suggests that the two philosophical camps supporting nature and nurture may have to be disbanded in order to adequately understand human morality. A theoretician, de Waal is meticulous in his research, cautious not to extrapolate too much from his findings, and logically sound in his arguments. He also writes with precision and a flair for the dramatic, carrying readers along with graceful ease and vivid examples.

Book Description

To observe a dog's guilty look.

to witness a gorilla's self-sacrifice for a wounded mate, to watch an elephant herd's communal effort on behalf of a stranded calf--to catch animals in certain acts is to wonder what moves them. Might there he a code of ethics in the animal kingdom? Must an animal be human to he humane? In this provocative book, a renowned scientist takes on those who have declared ethics uniquely human Making a compelling case for a morality grounded in biology, he shows how ethical behavior is as much a matter of evolution as any other trait, in humans and animals alike.

World famous for his brilliant descriptions of Machiavellian power plays among chimpanzees-the nastier side of animal life--Frans de Waal here contends that animals have a nice side as well. Making his case through vivid anecdotes drawn from his work with apes and monkeys and holstered by the intriguing, voluminous data from his and others' ongoing research, de Waal shows us that many of the building blocks of morality are natural: they can he observed in other animals. Through his eyes, we see how not just primates but all kinds of animals, from marine mammals to dogs, respond to social rules, help each other, share food, resolve conflict to mutual satisfaction, even develop a crude sense of justice and fairness.

Natural selection may be harsh, but it has produced highly successful species that survive through cooperation and mutual assistance. De Waal identifies this paradox as the key to an evolutionary account of morality, and demonstrates that human morality could never have developed without the foundation of fellow feeling our species shares with other animals. As his work makes clear, a morality grounded in biology leads to an entirely different conception of what it means to he human--and humane.

Customer Reviews:

Just a good book.......2007-06-10

I found the book to be highly readable and subject matter to be fascinating. This subject is no where near my field (which is history) but found that De Waal presents the material in way that is very accessible to anyone. De Waal has an entertaining writing style that keeps you absorbed in the reading without the effort I have found in other books on the subject.

It's very important for us to really look at where we come from and why we are what we are, and taking a look at our closest relatives is a good window into our minds. I found the analysis and the conclusions to be well formed and fairly presented. The evidence he gives for his conclusions is well documented and explained.

While I did have a few problems here and there, these did not detract from the overall readability and the pure enjoyment of the book. This was just a very enjoyable book that I would recommend to anyone, whether you have a deep interest in the topic or you're just looking for an interesting book to use up a few hours in the day.

Very important book, gives the good news about Darwinism.......2007-05-12

For some time now, we have been pounded with the bad news about Darwin. Life was shaped by a war of all against all. Evolution is survival of the fittest. People are incurably violent "killer apes" because Darwin made us killing machines.

This is all alot of nonsense, and always has been. It is important for a number of reasons, however. Among other things, many of the opponents of Darwin in the academic world are motivated by an understandable distaste for the "killer ape" school of thought. If Darwin says that people are no damm good, and that is built into our genes, then we reject Darwin.

But Darwin never said any of that stuff. Evolution by natural selection favors whatever promotes survival, under the conditions a species finds itself. It promotes being big and heavy, for whales in the ocean; it promotes being light and thin, for hummingbirds. It does not promote any one thing, in all circumstances.

It particularly does not promote unlimited aggressiveness, particularly among social animals. A very more useful strategy for survival is cooperation. De Waal makes the case that cooperation is built into us, by natural selection. He uses eminently Darwinian logic, and he knows the science.

Brilliant.......2006-12-07

De Waal is brilliant, objective, careful in reaching conclusions, ethical, a good writer, and has a lot to say. He is very much aware of research in related fields, such as developmental psychology. He and others place great store on observation of animals in natural settings, but also use controlled experimentation, analogous to the type of studies psychologists are always performing on college students. While I think this was an outstanding book, I would acknowledge that the beginning is slower reading than the end: more focused on the necessary vocabulary, some of the controversies, more argumentative, a little redundant.

De Waal contrasts "lower" primates and chimpanzees so that we can better understand the evolution of morality, and such distinctions as that between learned adjustment and true empathy. Chimps will mourn, console, deceive; the alpha male will intervene in disputes where the only objective can be restoration of harmony. As all animals, their adaptive potential exceeds the range of behavior observed in natural settings. For example, in the wild, females do not usually spend much time with other adult females, whereas in captivity they do. In captivity, they may use their friendships/alliances to control overly aggressive males, and even influence who becomes the alpha male. While morality has a genetic basis, even in monkeys there is a cultural component. In one experiment, aggressive rhesus adolescents learned to be more tolerant after living with more peaceful stump tailed macaques for 6 months.

The adaptive potential of morality is that it fosters group cohesion, which for many species is essential for defense against predators, or to find or protect resources. This is not to deny that one basis of morality is the selfish gene: by helping kin, you are helping some of your own genes to survive, so "altruistic genes" tend to perpetuate themselves.

Morality among Primates.......2006-09-25

Good Natured is a book focusing on morality in the animal kingdom, specifically primates. Overall, I thought this was definitely a fairy easy and engrossing read. The book deals with the structure of primate societies and how they enforce morality, how deeply it extends through the primate family (de Waal primarily researches chimpanzees), and instances of love, guilt, aggression, deception from his own research and those of other primatologists. He also describes other philosophies and research into moral systems.

I like de Waals style: the studies he talked about were fascinating and he really keeps your interest. I guess the only negative is that the book is a little disjointed in places. For example, in the chapter on sympathy there is a section on deception. In the end he makes his own speculation on morality stretching across human boundaries and what he makes of the implications for treatment of primates and other animals. It's definitely a great read for anyone interested in the evolution of morality and primatology.

Clearly outstanding.......2005-10-22

I must say that this book has really helped me understand how monkeys, bonobos, and chimps live in both captivity and in the wild. In the same token it has also help understand how they all interact with each other, and sometimes I must admit that they seem to treat each other like humans treat one another.

Chapter Two in the book to me seemed to be the most interesting. De Waal with great detail writes about relationships within the species. How they accept handicap within the species and how they deal with an offspring's death.

Overall this book is outstanding and clearly understood. All chapters of this book even though this book is about primates, monkeys, etc., have a tie to human beings. I recommend this book to those individuals interested in learning the behavior and the nature of primates, monkeys, etc., but most of all those interested in learning the behavior and nature of humans, after all we did evolve from old world primates.

Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.(Review) (book review): An article from: Human Biology

Average customer rating:

Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.(Review) (book review): An article from: Human Biology
J. Michael Plavcan
Manufacturer: Wayne State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Human Biology, published by Wayne State University Press on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1465 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: Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.(Review) (book review)
Author: J. Michael Plavcan
Publication: Human Biology (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1999
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Volume: 71 Issue: 3 Page: 455

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Good Natured - The Origins Of Right And Wrong In Humans And Other Animals

Average customer rating:

Good Natured - The Origins Of Right And Wrong In Humans And Other Animals
Frans De Wall
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IVZDZ8

Book Description

The war on terrorism and the threat of chemical and biological weapons have brought a new urgency to already complex moral and bioethical questions. In the Wake of Terror presents thought-provoking essays on many of the troubling issues facing American society, written by experts from the fields of medicine, health care policy, law, political science, history, philosophy, and theology.

One of the first potential casualties of catastrophic circumstances is civil liberties. In the past, medical experiments conducted for national security purposes have violated ethical standards, and this book questions whether current policy provides sufficient safeguards against further abuses. It also focuses on public health issues, offering contrasting views on the extent to which civil authorities should be allowed to restrict freedom of movement in the name of national security and debating whether aggressive public health interventions improve public confidence and cooperation or detract from them.

A major area of concern is preparedness for future terrorist attacks. Chapters are devoted to ethical issues involved in the development, distribution, and rationing of vaccines and antidotes; resource allocation and medical triage; the moral duties of emergency health workers and other first responders; and the obligations of private entities such as managed care organizations and pharmaceutical companies. Contributors also address the implications of terrorism for our health insurance system and the role of genetic advances in bioterrorism. Underlying all of these issues, the authors argue, is the need to maintain a spirit of social solidarity, which can in turn only be achieved if preparations are publicly acknowledged and generally regarded as both prudent and fair.

In the wake of terror: medicine and morality in a time of crisis [A book review from: Social Science & Medicine]

Average customer rating:

In the wake of terror: medicine and morality in a time of crisis [A book review from: Social Science & Medicine]
S. Andes
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000RR0KTC

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:

In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis.(Book Review): An article from: Southern Medical Journal

Average customer rating:

In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis.(Book Review): An article from: Southern Medical Journal
Ronald C. Hamdy
Manufacturer: Southern Medical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000822YD6
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Medical Journal, published by Southern Medical Association on January 1, 2004. The length of the article is 435 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: In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis.(Book Review)
Author: Ronald C. Hamdy
Publication: Southern Medical Journal (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Southern Medical Association
Volume: 97 Issue: 1 Page: 113(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis (Basic Bioethics)

Average customer rating:

In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis (Basic Bioethics)
Ford Rowan
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQY092

Book Description

Up-to-date coverage of vanadium research—in two accessible, self-contained volumes Vanadium in the Environment brings together the contributions of leading experts on the chemical and toxicological aspects of vanadium exposure and its effects on aquatic and terrestrial environments, human health, and wildlife. This initial volume focuses on chemistry and biochemistry, while Part Two concentrates on health effects and toxicology in living organisms. Topics in this first volume include:

History, occurrence, and uses of vanadium
Vanadium in the atmosphere
Chemistry of relevance to vanadium in the environment
Water quality criteria for vanadium
Spectroscopic methods for the characterization of vanadium complexes
Bioaccumulation and transfer of vanadium in marine organisms
Structure, function, and models of biogenic vanadium compounds
Catalytic effects of vanadium on phosphoryl transfer enzymes
Bioactivity of vanadium compounds on cells in culture

Book Description

The first comprehensive review of the theory and practice of one of today's most powerful optimization techniques.

The explosive growth of research into and development of interior point algorithms over the past two decades has significantly improved the complexity of linear programming and yielded some of today's most sophisticated computing techniques. This book offers a comprehensive and thorough treatment of the theory, analysis, and implementation of this powerful computational tool.

Interior Point Algorithms provides detailed coverage of all basic and advanced aspects of the subject. Beginning with an overview of fundamental mathematical procedures, Professor Yinyu Ye moves swiftly on to in-depth explorations of numerous computational problems and the algorithms that have been developed to solve them. An indispensable text/reference for students and researchers in applied mathematics, computer science, operations research, management science, and engineering, Interior Point Algorithms:

Derives various complexity results for linear and convex programming
Emphasizes interior point geometry and potential theory
Covers state-of-the-art results for extension, implementation, and other cutting-edge computational techniques
Explores the hottest new research topics, including nonlinear programming and nonconvex optimization.

Customer Reviews:

A rigorous account of Interior Point Methods.......2000-01-13

Yinyu Ye is one of the exponents of Modern Day Interior Point Methods. He is responsible for a class of interior point methods called "Potential Reduction Methods", and you will find a good account of it in this book.

If you are looking for an introduction to interior point methods, I would rather recommend the books by Roos, Vial and Terlaky and Stephen Wright (in that order).

However Yinyu Ye's book certainly deserves a "looking over", if you wish to gain a mastery of interior point methods.

Yes Good ! But !.......1999-08-14

Our times are as much complex as this book is. Of course Luenberger instinct and intiution is missing. But this book has taken a lot of the spirit of Luenberger way of writting and it should because the writer probably had this great man as a teacher. Unfortunately each paragraph is only C0 continue with the others. For instance chapter 4 seems to be independent of Chapter 3 despite the writer generous attempts to prevent us against. Couldn't it have been more illustrative in Karmarkar's algorithm for instance to be mentioned in a straight-forward manner that we first find a feasible point then find the analytic center of Omega which is a central-path point. Then we place the objective line passing this point, then minimizing to the analytic center of omega(z) then when |pk| < n < 1 then we have an 9/10 analytic center of it then we move the line to this center and then do the same job. The 'deeper cut' that is described does not convince because the movements of the objective line are fewer than other iterartions. Concluding this book should be treated as a guide to a wonderful new world. But theories of Interior - Point MUST be made more easy. I am sure that there exist Proofs and theorems that are more "simple" and thus more "reliable". Lets hope that a new Luenberger is on his way...

Interior Point Algorithms: Theory and Analysis.(Review) (book review): An article from: IIE Transactions

Average customer rating:

Interior Point Algorithms: Theory and Analysis.(Review) (book review): An article from: IIE Transactions
Yin Zhang
Manufacturer: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00099O0CG
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from IIE Transactions, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on March 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1444 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: Interior Point Algorithms: Theory and Analysis.(Review) (book review)
Author: Yin Zhang
Publication: IIE Transactions (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1999
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Page: 275

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This is the first of two volumes presenting all seven parts of Francis Parkman's monumental narrative history of the struggle for control of the American continent. Thirty years in the writing, Parkman's "history of the American forest" is an accomplishment hardly less awesome than the adventures he describes. This volume begins with the tragic settlement of French Huguenots in Florida, then shifts north as explorers like Samuel de Champlain map the wilderness and wage savage forest warfare against the Iroquois; resolute Jesuits attempt to convert the Indians and suffer captivity, torture, and martyrdom in the wilderness; conflict rages in French Canada between religious extremists and fur traders. Dominating all is the fiercely indomitable La Salle, whose obsession with colonizing the Mississippi Valley leads to vast treks across the western prairie and assassination in a lonely Texas swamp.

Customer Reviews:

A Homeric work.......2005-10-02

Parkman's (multi-volume) account the of the struggle of France and England for North American dominance remains the classic history. It is commodious in scope, majestic in vision, and equal with Thucydides in tragic magnitude. Parkman describes what North America once was (with invaluable discriptions of natives), and what still lies below the surface of what we've become.

There are other valuable sources. Morison [The Northern Voyages 500-1600 (1971), The Southern Voyages 1492-1616 (1974), Samuel de Champlain (1972)]. Anderson (Crucible of War) and Eccles (The French in North America). None are as eloquent as Parkman, though Morison's Voyages are equally worthy.

The Homeric Tale of North America's Founding.......2004-09-10

Francis Parkman is one of those titans of history writing, with a stature equal to that of Gibbon, Carlyle, Prescott, Herodotus, Thucydides and Churchill. His tales of the first colonial wars thus assume a mythological status, and the main protagonists of this, the second part of the Library of America volume - Frontenac, Montcalm and Wolfe - are all larger than life.

The story of Count Frontenac is set against the era of Louis XIV and his drawn-out continental wars against William of Orange and the English. Frontenac proves an adroit military commander, dealing sharply with the Iroquois, and even more decisively with the English colonists of North America. One cannot help but have goosebumps reading Parkman's matchless prose as Count Frontenac departs Canada after his first spell as governor: "When [Frontenac] sailed for France, it was a day of rejoicing to more than half the merchants of Canada . . . but he left behind him an impression, very general among the people, that, if danger threatened the colony, Count Frontenac was the man for the hour."

The story of Wolfe and Montcalm, and the final collapse of New France in 1759, has assumed the same proportions as Hector and Achilles. This is largely, if not solely, due to Parkman's magisterial account of the fall of Quebec; indeed, so stark is his influence today that a modern biographer of Bouganville (Montcalm's deputy) simply - and, I think, very appropriately - related the Plains of Abraham saga by block-quoting Parkman.

Whether read as history or historiography, Parkman remains a giant.

Dated history, still highly readable........2004-06-20

Yes, Francis Parkman's use of 19th century venacular and grammar can be a little offputting to a 21st century reader. Also, his prudish Victorian attitudes about what is appropriate to be written can come across as silly. However, Parkman wrote history with the skill of a novelist. His narrative histories are among the best written works in all of American literature.

As others have noted, these books are not "politically correct" in their description of the American Indian. Francis Parkman did write with an agenda. In the late 19th century, Parkman was offended by what he saw as the popular romanticism of the American Indian. (A trend that has continued to this day with the American Indian routinely being presented as a "New Age Eagle scout with a bent for ecology" in both our popular culture and even in our schools.) Thus, Parkman attempted to write what he saw as the "historical" or "correct" portrayal of the American Indian- one that could be ruthless, barbaric, and extremely cruel and he backed up his opinion with numerous historical examples.

Parkman saw himself as a neutral narrator- a "I'm just writing down the facts" type of historian. And he does describe examples of European barbarism and their genocidal strategies against the natives to go along side of his "Injun massacre" portrayal of the American Indian. Yet Parkman wrote with obvious biases and his description of the American Indian tribes is too simplistic. Partly, this is because of Parkman's own racial prejudices, but also it is because of his limitations as a historian. Parkman's history is just a straight narrative with almost no analysis.

For instance, Parkman describes the Iroquois Confederacy's destruction of the Hurons in the late 1640's in terrific detail, but he doesn't really explain why the Iroquois were so determined to crush the Hurons. To Parkman, the answer was simple the Iroquois were primitive savages, who reveled in large scale murder and destruction, so there is no reason to analyze why they attacked and destroyed an ancient enemy. Yet modern research, using the same sources Parkman had access too, has shown that there were very logical reasons why the Hurons were targetted for destruction by the Iroquois- the Hurons because of their location near the entrance of the Ottawa River controlled the beaver trade from the upper Great Lakes and the Iroquois wanted that plum for themselves because in order to survive in the world of the Europeans tribes needed something to bargain with and beaver pelts were that something. Parkman because of his prejudices just could not see Indian tribes being that rational in their decisions to go to war.

Time has definitely exposed Parkman's limitations as a historian. Yet his two volume history of England and France in North America still remains extremely readable and entertaining- his description of entering an Algonquin wigwam is a perfect example of his talent as a master narrator.

[Also, it's pretty sad to see Robert Gould Shaw, a kinsman of Parkman's and to whom the first book of this history was dedicated too, being referred to as "the guy" who Matthew Broderick played in the movie "Glory."]

Massive work on France in North America.......2004-04-27

Francis Parkman was apparently a real workhorse, and something of a fixture in Boston society also. The first book of this series is dedicated to (among others) the guy played by Matthew Broderick in the movie Glory of some years ago. The four books reprinted here represent a century or so of the history of New France. The work as a whole is somewhat deceptively titled "France and England in North America" when the focus of the work is pretty much exclusively on New France.

There are really four separate books here. "Pioneers of France in the New World" is divided into two portions. One tells the story of the short-lived French settlement in Florida, the other part recounts the work of Samuel de Champlain in what became known as Canada, and recounts the fateful decision of Champlain to take the side of the local Huron Indians against their perrenial enemies, the Iroqouis. "The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century" recounts the activities of that sect in their missions which tried without much success to convert the various tribes to Catholicism. "LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great West" tells the story of that individual, and his exploration of the Mississippi valley, the Great Lakes, and Texas, where he was killed, and also includes an account of the travels of Marquette and Joliet, discoverers of the Mississippi river. "The Old Regime in Canada" is more of a description of the colony than an account of events in it, though in the early pages of the work, there is an account of various incidents in the era just after the previous volume. Most of the book contains a description of society, culture, government, church, and economy in the late 17th century, though, and that's the focus of the work.

This is a justly famous work, though Parkman doesn't age as well as you might imagine. He uses strange usages of various words, with somewhat interesting grammar at times, also. The view of the Indians is particularly awkward, and very politically incorrect. He repeatedly refers to them as "savages" for instance, and has little use for their religious beliefs or culture. His view of Catholicism is also characteristically negative, which isn't a surprise in that he wrote in 19th century New England.

Given the clumsy language and the interesting viewpoints, I believe this book is anyway very valuable, and I enjoyed it. There is the issue of it being 1500+ pages, so I wouldn't recommend this book to the faint of heart. Given that this is only the first of two volumes, and that the second one is 100 pages longer, this is a considerable investment of time, even for the prodigious reader.

A Titanic Achievement.......2002-02-21

This multi-volume edition of Parkman's magnum opus might appear initially daunting, as it covers more than 1,200 pages of material. Suffice it say, however, that the rewards are entirely worth the effort of fording your way through this majestic work.

Parkman triumphed over numerous personal disabilities (extremely poor eyesight and recurring pain in his limbs), to produce some of the most important and transcendent histories of the 19th century, works that secured him a place in the American Pantheon, beside Prescott and Bancroft. He has been interpreted both as an example of literary Romanticism by some, and as a supreme pessimist by others. His objective as an historian was to "while scrupulously and rigorously adhering to the truth of facts, to animate them with the life of the past, and, so far as might be, clothe the skeleton with flesh." This notion is reflected repeatedly throughout these volumes. His style is highly descriptive, borrowing as it does from his numerous treks to the sites he writes of. The Jesuits, trappers, governors, nuns and explorers he depicts come across as flesh-and blood, breathing, human beings, engaged in real activities. He has little place for abstraction, and never dwells overlong on minutiae. The ramifications of particular pacts or treaties, for instance, are subordinate to actual events and places. When he takes the reader into an Indian log-house, he/she can practically taste the smoke as it permeates the air.

When it comes to Native Americans, Parkman is far from sentimental. In fact, he bridled at the notion, common in 19th Century Romanticism (particularly Rousseau and even more conspicuously in Chateaubriand's ), of the Indian as noble savage. Parkman's earlier book on the Oregon Trail stemmed in part from his experiences amongst the Sioux on the Western Plains. The Indians depicted in these pages are, for the most part, more savage than noble. The Iroquois are especially ferocious in their raiding parties and in their methods of reprisal. Those who fell victim to their wrath were in for days and nights of unspeakable torture. Parkman describes these scenes almost too vividly. But as he himself would note,
"Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time." There are some academics that would argue that Parkman is not as objective as he would like us to think. He has a fairly consistent Protestant, Bostonian, Brahmin bias as regarding Catholicism, for instance. His view of Native Americans is hardly what could be termed politically correct. However one may feel about his viewpoint, one can not dismiss his power of depiction, or the scope of his genius and enterprise. When taking into account the fact that he produced volume upon volume of history, under the most debilitating circumstances, there can be no denying that he qualifies, as perhaps no one else, as "The American Gibbon." For the reader who wants to relive history at its most vivid, Parkman provides the goods. He paints in realistic detail the struggles, adventures and misadventures, the faith and foibles, great tribulations and monumental victories of an exceedingly noteworthy cast of characters. There are the infinitely stoical, but often-scheming Jesuits. There is the monomaniacal, driven, but honest-dealing and ultimately tragic figure of LaSalle. Champlain is another noteworthy figure, truly heroic in stature. The most heroic figure, however, may after all be Parkman himself. Shaped as he was by the notions of greatness fostered by such writers as Carlyle, it was a state he strove consciously to achieve. This collection, along with others in the Modern Library series, indicates that he achieved his goal. Thanks to The Modern Library for making authors such as Parkman accessible once more.

Average customer rating:
Francis Parkman : France and England in North America : Vol. 1: Pioneers of France in the New World, The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, The Old Regime in Canada (Library of America) Vol.1
David Levin Francis Parkman
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KBJGYA

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books