ISBN: 0140140425
Godina izdanja: 1992
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Simon Schama - Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Penguin, 1992
333 str.
meki povez
stanje: vrlo dobro, potpis na poslednoj strani.

Like his The Embarrassment of Riches and the bestselling Citizens, Simon Schama`s latest book is both history and literature of immense stylishness and ambition. But Dead Certainties goes beyond these more conventional histories to address the deeper enigmas that confront a student of the past. In order to do so, Schama reconstructs -- and at times reinvents -- two ambiguous deaths: the first, that of General James Wolfe at the battle of Quebec in 1759; the second, in 1849, that of George Parkman, an eccentric Boston brahmin whose murder by an impecunious Harvard professor in 1849 was a grisly reproach to the moral sanctity of his society. Out of these stories -- with all of their bizarre coincidences and contradictions -- Schama creates a dazzling and supremely vital work of historical imagination.

Contents:
Pt. 1. The many deaths of General Wolfe. At the face of the cliff
In command
Deep in the forest
On the heights of Abraham
Pt. 2. Death of a Harvard man. Honest sweat : the blacksmith`s son
Income : the pedestrian
Enterprise : the janitor
Debt : skyrocket Jack
Taking stock : the prisoner and the public
Accounts rendered : lawyers, doctors and other solid citizens
Payment pending : the press, the preachers and the prisoner
Settlements : the legatees

Inspired by his research into the reality of General Wolfe`s death at Quebec, Schama is drawn towards the case of a gruesome murder in the family of Wolfe`s chronicler, Francis Parkman. What Schama reveals, however, is a history of stories.

From Publishers Weekly
In a virtuoso performance, Harvard historian Schama ( Citizens ) underscores the abyss between experiential knowledge of an event and historical interpretations of it. This was a BOMC and QPB alternate in cloth. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
`An infinitely beguiling book...a mind-teasing delight...Schama brings to bear an immense array of narrative elements.`

-- The New York Times Book Review

`Intriguing and provocative... Dead Certainties inspires us throughout to examine our own assumptions about history and fiction`-- Newsday

`A virtuoso performance... in Schama`s hands the past loses its remoteness and takes on the noise and clutter of experience....He has become one of the few contemporary historians who are read as much for themselves as for their subjects.`

-- Andrew Delbanco, New Republic
From the Inside Flap
Like his The Embarrassment of Riches and the bestselling Citizens, Simon Schama`s latest book is both history and literature of immense stylishness and ambition. But Dead Certainties goes beyond these more conventional histories to address the deeper enigmas that confront a student of the past. In order to do so, Schama reconstructs -- and at times reinvents -- two ambiguous deaths: the first, that of General James Wolfe at the battle of Quebec in 1759; the second, in 1849, that of George Parkman, an eccentric Boston brahmin whose murder by an impecunious Harvard professor in 1849 was a grisly reproach to the moral sanctity of his society. Out of these stories -- with all of their bizarre coincidences and contradictions -- Schama creates a dazzling and supremely vital work of historical imagination.
From the Back Cover
Like his The Embarrassment of Riches and the bestselling Citizens, Simon Schama`s latest book is both history and literature of immense stylishness and ambition. But Dead Certainties goes beyond these more conventional histories to address the deeper enigmas that confront a student of the past. In order to do so, Schama reconstructs -- and at times reinvents -- two ambiguous deaths: the first, that of General James Wolfe at the battle of Quebec in 1759; the second, in 1849, that of George Parkman, an eccentric Boston brahmin whose murder by an impecunious Harvard professor in 1849 was a grisly reproach to the moral sanctity of his society. Out of these stories -- with all of their bizarre coincidences and contradictions -- Schama creates a dazzling and supremely vital work of historical imagination.
About the Author
Simon Schama is the prize-winning author of seven acclaimed books. An art critic and essayist
for The New Yorker, he also writes and presents documentaries for BBC television. He is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University and lives outside New York City.


Nonfiction, History, 0140140425