Things Fall Apart

A review of: Things Fall Apart

A book written by: Chinua Achebe

I couldn’t get into this book, at all. Not even a little. If I was to make a list of the best one thousand books I’ve ever read, this one wouldn’t be on the list. In fact, if I was to make a list of the worst two books I’ve ever read, this book would take second only to My Life by Bill Clinton. The best part of the book was when Okonkwo finally did himself in. This is because I knew that the book was finally coming to an end, and that the mental torture would soon be over. The most difficult part of reading this book had to be staying awake while reading it. Seriously though, I could drink several glasses of coffee, swallow a couple bags of sugar, then start reading this book. I’d be out in minutes. Because of this… “Minor” setback, the book took quite a while to read, and I had to do most of my reading in very uncomfortable places.

In a couple of years, some kid is going to bring this book up to me, and be like “hey mister, what one thing do you remember most about this book, and how did it change the plot?” and I’m going to respond with something like: That book, eh? Yeah, I still remember good ol’ Okonkwo killing himself. Obviously it brought the book to an end, which is why I remember it most.

The title of the book could indicate that the authors writing skills are falling apart, however I think he would like us to believe that the real meaning behind the title, a well thought out one, I might add, is just that. Things fall apart. Ways of life fall apart, people fall apart, the Igbo fall apart. Nothing can stand forever, and time is the hardest test anything, and everything, will ever face. Time rips things apart.

I’m sure many ‘types’ of readers will enjoy this book, ones that don’t fall asleep easily and ones that are interested in the ways of life of those who don’t have a lot of technology. A reader that is, for the most part, the exact opposite of me.

I always wondered why they needed to take a young virgin, and a young male, in compensation for the death of this guys wife. What’s the young male for? I also wondered why he got in so much trouble for shooting at his wife, he didn’t actually hit her, what’s the big deal? And I thought Okownkwo’s father was a pretty cool guy. I wonder why Okownkwo couldn’t be the same.

The First Emperor : Selections From the Historical Records, A review

The First Emperor : Selections From the Historical Records. By Sima Quin with introduction by
Dawson and preface by Brashier (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)

The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records was written by multiple authors, none of whom are introduced. Not only are they not introduced, but their first names are not given, so it’s impossible to look them up. At first, this was cause for worry for me. Why would the authors not want their names known? Once I got into the book however, I realized it was likely just an oversight when producing an e-version of the book, as the book was rather well written. It’s unfortunate that I can’t figure out who the authors are, as I’d be interested in reading some of their other works, actually. The exception to this was Sima Quin, who was a renowned scribe in the Qin Empire.

The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records covers an excellent selection of Chinese (or really, pre-Chinese history I suppose). It begins with the birth of the first emperor. Covers his rise to power, covers some assassination attempts, the building of the great wall, and then includes a bunch of other supporting information. The book includes, for example, both the annuals of the Qin Empire, as well as thier Treatises. It also includes some other biographies of important players: the chief minister and two important rebels that are credited with bringing down the Qin Empire (Xiang Yu, and Chen Sheng). The Annuals talk a lot about the day to day operations of the Qin Empire, and through that it becomes possible to gain in insight into the daily lives of the government as well as what the government considers important.

I opted to read this book after watching the video on the First Emperor in class. I found it to be rather interesting and entertaining, and also finding a good book to read on serfdom is rather difficult, so I decided to read about China instead. After reading this, I’m likely to change my topic to something related to China, as this was a rather good and interesting read. To be entirely honest, I probably would have enjoyed a watered down version a little bit better. Some of the phrasing in this book was above my level just a tad, and I found myself using not only their supplied references but also a dictionary and Google far more frequently than I would have liked. I can’t really blame the book, because it is selections from Historical Records. The author simply picked which excerpts to include in the book, as well as wrote the preface and some supporting information throughout. The supporting information, while completely required to fully understand what exactly you’re about to read (as every chapter begins with some supporting information) seems a bit short, and I would have benefitted from having more information written in modern times available in the book. However, even considering that fact, being able to read some of the translated time-period writing gives a completely different insight into their time-period and this is invaluable. Some of the other references were also lackluster. The Author fails to explain what exactly Historical Records are, even though he references them throughout. The reader is left to assume that it isn’t explained in an attempt to not insult our intelligence, so I’m inclined to believe that the majority of the text is in fact translated from records of the actual Qin Empire. Also, another minor reference complaint is that the map at the beginning of the book is horrible. If I hadn’t had background knowledge on the topic, the map would have been entirely useless, and even with the background knowledge that I did have, the map was still nearly worthless.

Overall, I must say that The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records was a good read. It was not only very informative from what the modern author had to say, but also from a ‘getting inside the minds of the people of the time period’ perspective this read is invaluable. At one point, I wish I could find the page now, they make reference to a law that is being changed and state something to the extent of “And that’s how it will be for this generation, next generation, down to the ten thousandth generation” (Paraphrased from Qian) and just reading that line alone gave such an interesting insight into their minds. These people believed that they would exist forever, and it kind of puts all of their other actions into perspective.

Emergence of Christianity, A review

Emergence of Christianity. By Cynthia White. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007)

Cynthia White is the director and professor of the basic Latin program at the University of Arizona. She not only holds a Ph. D, but is also a prolific author. She has published at least twelve books; more than a few are related to the classical period. She is an expert on Roman history, as well as religious history, and in Emergence of Christianity she combines her difference areas of expertise to paint a clear picture on just how the religion emerged and expanded throughout the Roman Empire.

Emergence of Christianity focuses on explaining the histories of the Romans as well as the Jews, and how these histories combine to form one of the major religions of not only the time, but also of today. In the books own preface, the author implies that Christianity not only begins in Rome, but also takes it over by the time Christianity was given official sanction “in 391 C.E., Rome was no longer the seat of the ancient imperial empire but the primate see of a new Christian Empire” (White, xv). This is the point that the book argues throughout. White provides proof of this concept throughout the book, and details the struggle against and finally the acceptance of Christianity at all points in Roman history prior to its total acceptance.

My favorite part of this book is easily the many excellent references provided at the very beginning. It includes a chronological events section, which lists all of the major events that take place by year, as well as a list of not only the Roman emperors, but also the rulers of Judah. These references were very useful throughout reading the book, and I found myself revisiting them as I progressed through the timeline of the story. The book then begins with an excellent historical overview of the religious practices of the Roman Empire, followed up by what it calls a “Short History of the Jews” (White, 6). The histories provided in the beginning of the book set up the pretenses that need to be understood to be able to completely appreciate exactly how Christianity was able to take hold. Without this knowledge, I feel that I would have been asking why more often than not throughout the rest of the book. Still, even with all of these excellent references, some of the historical events can still be confusing. White provides the reader with even more information, by including photos of importance, biographies of the important people, and also early Christian documents. My only gripe is that all of the photos are left in the back of the book, rather than intertwined with the text, so I found myself scrolling to the end of the E-book to see the relevant photographs. The formatting of the book made it an easy read, which I enjoyed. The book is divided into clearly titled chapters, and the chapters are divided up into sections, which are then divided even further into subsections. I further enjoyed the way that the chapters are divided. Rather than just a typical chronological division, White instead divides the chapters by group. For example, chapter two is titled: “Jews and Christians: The Dynasty of Herod the Great” (White, 21) whereas chapter three is titled: “Romans and Christians: Constantine's Christian Monotheism” (White, 43). These chapters make not only finding what you’re looking for simple, but keep all the information around other relevant information. Finally, the book is included with a very well done index section. Regardless of what I was looking for, I could count on the index to have it properly, well, indexed. Overall, the book was masterfully compiled. The different chapters are basically stand-alone essays, and White even calls them as such on page 99 when she says “In these five essays we have traced the foundation and spread of Christianity” but the conclusion coupled with the pretext of historical knowledge given prior to chapter one, ties them all together perfectly.

Emergence of Christianity is not only an entertaining read, but is also a very informative one. Its complete explanation of exactly how Christianity came into power will be very helpful for when I write my final paper. I will probably need to find at least one more source, in order to understand some of the long term effects that the religion had on the empire itself, but then again the Christian influence remains huge to this day, and is likely the topic of many debates.