David Colbert

This was really a remarkable read: collecting first-person accounts from pre-colonial times to the 1990 in America. This compiles journalism, correspondence, treatises, memoirs, and other primary sources. Some things that stood out for me were the disappointing first suffragette congress (they decided to have a panel of men run it) to Sojourner Truth's fiery speech to the same body a decade later, The rise of Texas and its loss by Mexico, the predatory hell of Andersonville prison, the show more methodical invention of basketball for non-athletes, Gutzon Borglum's desire to see a carved Indian head gazing at the (not yet) completed Mt. Rushmore figures, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry out of the internment camps and the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare, locked in with barricaded cops at Stonewall where a lot of specie was thrown (in mockery of the notorious system of payoffs – earlier dubbed “gayola” – in which police chiefs leeched huge sums from establishments used by gay people), and the final 1994 entry about email exchanges with Bill Gates - a medium that already seems quaint. show less

Subtitled The Amazing Myths, Legends, and Facts Behind the Masterpiece, this book was obviously put together with the audience in mind that has been only now exposed to Tolkien's work through the latest film treatment. For instance, the final chapter discusses Frodo's actions in Mordor and since Peter Jackson, at least, has not put his vision of this on the silver screen, the chapter is segmented off as a "spoiler." Author David Colbert knows how to do these books, as he wrote the successful show more The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter. However, even the would-be Tolkien scholar and hardcore fan with well-worn and well-known copies of all the books will find this tome interesting. The index, bibliography and glossary make for handy entrances to the book, laid out like an encyclopedia. Colbert initially places the Tolkien mythology into the greater sphere of ancient European and Near Eastern mythology. This is pretty tenuous and could be good fodder for heated debate among those that appreciate Joseph Campbell as much as J. R. R. Tolkien. The inspiration from Tolkien's knowledge of ancient English and North European lore is well-trodden ground for the initiated, but this presents it in an easy to read manner with plenty of line drawings that will be entertaining for any reader, whether they just saw the movie or can quote Gandalf chapter and verse. show less

This book is a "compendium" of some of the mythological sources J.K. Rowling draws on for the Harry Potter books - although it only covers through Goblet of Fire. I'm at a bit of a loss as to why this book needs to exist (other than to cash in on Potter-mania). It might be appropriate for ten-year-old Potter fans or thereabouts, but anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Greek mythology shouldn't waste their time - there may be one or two new bits of trivia to pick up, but it's not show more worth wading through the rest of the superficial and often silly treatment of mythological and literary sources, and everything that's here can be found in better-researched, better-written, and more interesting form elsewhere. show less

I don't know what it is about the author's style exactly that screams "I'm writing condescendingly! For children!" but it certainly is a bit hard to take (for the record, I hated that sort of thing with a passion when I *was* a child). However, I did find the book informative and interesting. The information pertaining to Tolkien seemed to be well researched, accurate, and some of it was new to me. It was well-indexed and the bibliography and notes were impressive. However, I noticed a show more couple of surprisingly basic errors in matters of general information: misidentifying the Egyptian god Aten as Ra (and a bas-relief as "hieroglyphs") in a caption and citing March 25th, the date of Sauron's defeat, as "the traditional date of Good Friday" (because as we all know, March 25th is *always* a Friday... not) rather than the Annunciation, or as Tolkien would have thought of it, Lady Day. The author loses a star and a half for these basic errors of fact, and for the unbearably twee style; on the whole however, the book is worth reading and keeping. show less