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Editor's picks

• 

  Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination

  Book (Cambridge University Press)
  

  Rating (1 reviews):

  (5.0/5)

  

  Excellent sociology/anthropology, but also a nice e-book

  Assmann is a complex, eclectic, and brilliant scholar and this set of reflections is a more theoretical complement to his justly famous work on Egypt (well worth reading). In this 1992 book (only now translated into English) Assmann covers a lot of ground at a pretty high level, so what I would say is that this book is extremely worthwhile for anyone interested in the sociology and anthropology of cultural memory, and how it has been explored in thinkers like Weber, Scheler, Levi-Strauss, Halbwachs, and Geertz. Assmann's work stands proudly beside theirs, taking their insights and looking at them through the lens of ancient Egypt in addition to the Jews and Greece, productively. Egypt is the most novel contribution, at least to me.Perhaps Assmann's own list of those he sees exploring similar anthropological is the best way to pinpoint this book: "Johann Gottfried Herder and Karl Marx, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aby Warburg, Max Weber and Ernst Cassirer, Johan... 5/5 David Auerbach "waggish org" (new york) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cultural Memory and Early Civilization (Kindle Edition) Assmann is a complex, eclectic, and brilliant scholar and this set of reflections is a more theoretical complement to his justly famous work on Egypt (well worth reading). In this 1992 book (only now translated into English) Assmann covers a lot of ground at a pretty high level, so what I would say is that this book is extremely worthwhile for anyone interested in the sociology and anthropology of cultural memory, and how it has been explored in thinkers like Weber, Scheler, Levi-Strauss, Halbwachs, and Geertz. Assmann's work stands proudly beside theirs, taking their insights and looking at them through the lens of ancient Egypt in addition to the Jews and Greece, productively. Egypt is the most novel contribution, at least to me.Perhaps Assmann's own list of those he sees exploring similar anthropological is the best way to pinpoint this book: "Johann Gottfried Herder and Karl Marx, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aby Warburg, Max Weber and Ernst Cassirer, Johan... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , March 18, 2012

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  List Price: $29.99
  

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  Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives

  Book (Cambridge University Press)
  List Price: $34.99
  

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  The Price of Monotheism

  Book (Stanford University Press)
  

  Rating (4 reviews):

  (4.8/5)

  

  Important: needs to be read and discussed

  This book is an English translation of Asmmann's Die Mosaische Unterscheidung oder Der Preis des Monotheismus." The German title which emphasizes the "Mosaic Distinction" is meaningful in the book's context but might be confusing for American readers and this is probably the reason why the translator, Robert Savage, used only the subtitle. The book is, in essence, a reply to critics of Assmann's previous one "," which I have reviewed here in November 2001.Since the book clarifies some of the points the author had made previously it may be useful to read it in conjunction with Moses the Egyptian because it provides the context for the criticisms which were addressed here. Inasmuch as the current book refrains from using extensive Greek quotations it will also be easier to... 5/5 E. Rodin MD (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews, December 9, 2009

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  Monotheism ... and Its Consequences

  Many (if not most) people, upon reading Jan Assmann's earlier book, ," took him to be advocating a return to pagan religiosity. Our author specifically denies that several times in this text. But what drew readers to his 'Moses' book is apparently not what drove our author to write it. This book before us was written to set the record straight. Our author is interested in memory, specifically cultural memory. And not only memories that everyone acknowledges, but also ones that are repressed, like the memory of the specific forms of religiosity that came before the rise of monotheism and continually reappear at the edges of our western society, culture and history. In this review I would like to concentrate on what he thought to be some of the consequences of this turn to monotheism... 4/5 Joseph Martin "pomonomo2003" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Price of Monotheism (Paperback) Many (if not most) people, upon reading Jan Assmann's earlier book, Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism," took him to be advocating a return to pagan religiosity. Our author specifically denies that several times in this text. But what drew readers to his 'Moses' book is apparently not what drove our author to write it. This book before us was written to set the record straight. Our author is interested in memory, specifically cultural memory. And not only memories that everyone acknowledges, but also ones that are repressed, like the memory of the specific forms of religiosity that came before the rise of monotheism and continually reappear at the edges of our western society, culture and history. In this review I would like to concentrate on what he thought to be some of the consequences of this turn to monotheism... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , September 24, 2011

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  An Appetizing Prelude to a Review

  "Assmann has looked closely into the mirror of the ancient intangible with telling effect. Every student ... has something to learn from these pages, which will help cure us of intellectual myopia." Brian Fagan, The Los Angeles TimesViolent Legacy of Monotheism:Some religion critics argue that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent. Nelson-Pallmeyer writes that "Judaism, Christianity and Islam will continue to contribute to the destruction of the world until and unless each challenges violence in 'sacred texts' and until each affirms nonviolent power of God." This subject has been explored by two Jewish scholars, Regina Schwartz in, "," Susan Niditch's,... 5/5 Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews, November 17, 2009

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  List Price: $19.95
  

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• 

  Cultural Memory and Early Civilization

  eBooks (Cambridge University Press)
  

  Rating (1 reviews):

  (5.0/5)

  

  Excellent sociology/anthropology, but also a nice e-book

  Assmann is a complex, eclectic, and brilliant scholar and this set of reflections is a more theoretical complement to his justly famous work on Egypt (well worth reading). In this 1992 book (only now translated into English) Assmann covers a lot of ground at a pretty high level, so what I would say is that this book is extremely worthwhile for anyone interested in the sociology and anthropology of cultural memory, and how it has been explored in thinkers like Weber, Scheler, Levi-Strauss, Halbwachs, and Geertz. Assmann's work stands proudly beside theirs, taking their insights and looking at them through the lens of ancient Egypt in addition to the Jews and Greece, productively. Egypt is the most novel contribution, at least to me.Perhaps Assmann's own list of those he sees exploring similar anthropological is the best way to pinpoint this book: "Johann Gottfried Herder and Karl Marx, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aby Warburg, Max Weber and Ernst Cassirer, Johan... 5/5 David Auerbach "waggish org" (new york) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cultural Memory and Early Civilization (Kindle Edition) Assmann is a complex, eclectic, and brilliant scholar and this set of reflections is a more theoretical complement to his justly famous work on Egypt (well worth reading). In this 1992 book (only now translated into English) Assmann covers a lot of ground at a pretty high level, so what I would say is that this book is extremely worthwhile for anyone interested in the sociology and anthropology of cultural memory, and how it has been explored in thinkers like Weber, Scheler, Levi-Strauss, Halbwachs, and Geertz. Assmann's work stands proudly beside theirs, taking their insights and looking at them through the lens of ancient Egypt in addition to the Jews and Greece, productively. Egypt is the most novel contribution, at least to me.Perhaps Assmann's own list of those he sees exploring similar anthropological is the best way to pinpoint this book: "Johann Gottfried Herder and Karl Marx, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aby Warburg, Max Weber and Ernst Cassirer, Johan... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , March 18, 2012

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  List Price: $24.00
  

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  Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies (Cultural Memory in the Present)

  Book (Stanford University Press)
  List Price: $22.95
  

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  Operation Valkyrie

  Movie
  

  Rating (13 reviews):

  (3.4/5)

  

  "Mein Fuhrer, Colonel Von Stauffenberg."

  Jo Baier and company did an excellent job (better, I daresay, than Bryan Singer) of resurrecting a very dark period in German history that produced very few heroes--except, of course, the men who are the subject of the film.By now the story is well known. A disgruntled group of German SA officers, disgusted at the evil entity Germany had become and well aware that Hitler was driving their country into the ground, decide to assassinate one of history's most monstrous figures--Adolf Hitler. On July 22, 1944 a tall general with one eye and one hand decided to do just that while the rest talked. He placed a briefcase bomb next to the dictator and for various incidental reasons the blast killed many in the room but not the target. They were executed some 24 hours later.Sebastian Koch doesn't do the Tom Cruise "Superman With an Eye Patch" routine. He plays a patriotic and self deluded soldier whose contempt for Nazism and Hitler himself slowly grows into a heroic... 5/5 J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews, March 29, 2009

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  From the German Stance

  OPERATION VALKYRIE (originally titled STAUFFENBERG for its 2004 television release in Germany) is a condensed, powerful, and realistic telling of the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler by his own military supporters on 20 July 1944. Unfortunately now in the shadow of the highly touted VALKYRIE released this past year as the Hollywood version of the incident OPERATION VALKYRIE is getting little attention from viewers. Now that it is available on DVD perhaps it will gain the importance it deserves.For one aspect, the film is written, filmed and acted by Germans and the result is a different kind of felling than the later VALKYRIE: the tenor of the film suggests a growing lack of hope and a recognition of the insanity of Hitler by the a larger portion of the German populace than we have been lead to believe. It bears more a sense of reality than of a thriller movie.Sebastian Koch is wholly credible as Oberst Claus Graf Schenk v. Stauffenberg - a devoted... 4/5 Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews, July 19, 2009

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  Interesting German-Language Version Of The 20 July 1944 Plot.

  Having already seen "Valkyrie" in theaters, I thought I'd check out this version of the story, filmed in German, in 2004 (the 60th anniversary of the 2o July 1944 plot). The film does a good job of filling in some gaps and modifications to several details in "Valkyrie" (Stauffenberg's life 10 years prior to his first attempt to kill Hitler on 25 December, 1943, Witzleben arriving at the Benderblock and getting into a heated argument with Stauffenberg and Olbricht, Beck's failed attempts to kill himself, followed by his off-screen death), but is too short, at 90 minutes, to be an in-depth look at the men behind the conspiracy or, as another reviewer posted, at the other 14 previous attempts to kill Hitler (two or three of which were carried out by Stauffenberg). Personally, I thought that"Valkyrie" was a better film version, but it's no substitute for reading the extensive amount of material on the 20 July 1944 plot. Rated PG-13 for brief language and some violence. 3/5 HAMLET - See all my reviews This review is from: Operation Valkyrie (DVD) Having already seen "Valkyrie" in theaters, I thought I'd check out this version of the story, filmed in German, in 2004 (the 60th anniversary of the 2o July 1944 plot). The film does a good job of filling in some gaps and modifications to several details in "Valkyrie" (Stauffenberg's life 10 years prior to his first attempt to kill Hitler on 25 December, 1943, Witzleben arriving at the Benderblock and getting into a heated argument with Stauffenberg and Olbricht, Beck's failed attempts to kill himself, followed by his off-screen death), but is too short, at 90 minutes, to be an in-depth look at the men behind the conspiracy or, as another reviewer posted, at the other 14 previous attempts to kill Hitler (two or three of which were carried out by Stauffenberg). Personally, I thought that"Valkyrie" was a better film version, but it's no substitute for reading the extensive amount of material on the 20 July 1944 plot. Rated PG-13 for brief language and some violence. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , May 15, 2009

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  The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs

  Book (Harvard University Press)
  

  Rating (3 reviews):

  (4.7/5)

  

  The Egyptians and Ourselves

  This book attempts to reconstruct the ancient mind set of the Egyptians, in so far as possible, and relate it to our own. Assmann writes "ancient Egypt is an intellectual and spiritual world that is linked to our own by numerous strands of tradition." He discusses, for example, the influences of works such as "The Admonitions of Ipuwer" [13th cent.BC]on Bertold Brecht who used parts of it in his play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle". He explains the most important Egyptian philosophical concept "ma'at" or "connective justice" (illustrated in "The Eloquent Peasant" a Middle Kingdom work but holding "for Egyptian civilization in general" in terms of the ideas of both Karl Marx and Nietzsche. Most importantly he shows what the Egyptian state really stood for as opposed to the false images found in Old Testament propaganda that mispresents Eqypt as an oppressive slave state. "The Egyptian state." he says, "is the implementation of a legal order that precludes the natural supremacy of... 5/5 Thomas Riggins (NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews, October 13, 2005

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  Great book

  It is hard to imagine how transient and fleeting our civilization is. A hundred years has seen a shift from the Sand Creek massacre, where Christian priests were scalping Native American women and children to nominal civilization with universal suffrage. A thousand years ago Europe itself was in Dark Ages of barbarism and chaos. A modern day European has no connection to the Langobards, Alemani, Thracians and Visigoths. In contrast, the ancient Egyptians had known three thousand years of relative continuity and self-identity so that the people born in the New Kingdom could identify themselves with the texts, narratives and beliefs from the Middle and the Old. What made possible this amazing continuity? Who were these people and how did they look at life? Jan Assman, a Heidelberg University professor and one of the most eminent Egyptologists of our time has written a superb book on this topic, a book that addresses key elements of time, memory, free will and historical continuity... 5/5 kaioatey (Awatovi, AZ) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs (Hardcover) It is hard to imagine how transient and fleeting our civilization is. A hundred years has seen a shift from the Sand Creek massacre, where Christian priests were scalping Native American women and children to nominal civilization with universal suffrage. A thousand years ago Europe itself was in Dark Ages of barbarism and chaos. A modern day European has no connection to the Langobards, Alemani, Thracians and Visigoths. In contrast, the ancient Egyptians had known three thousand years of relative continuity and self-identity so that the people born in the New Kingdom could identify themselves with the texts, narratives and beliefs from the Middle and the Old. What made possible this amazing continuity? Who were these people and how did they look at life? Jan Assman, a Heidelberg University professor and one of the most eminent Egyptologists of our time has written a superb book on this topic, a book that addresses key elements of time, memory, free will and historical continuity... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , February 19, 2006

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  Deeply Theoretical

  Assmann is very theoretical but offers many different ways at looking at Anicent Egypt. His writing centers around memory in Egypt, since it Ancient Egypt really didn't follow a time line. This very indepth book and not a light read, but good none the less. 4/5 Deirdre Jones - See all my reviews, May 29, 2009

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  List Price: $27.00
  

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  Franz Schubert: Part-Songs

  Music (Globe)
  List Price: $17.99
  

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  Assmann Family Shield / Coat of Arms Mouse Pad

  Single Detail Page Misc (Family Crests Store)
  

  Full color Coat of Arms / Family Crest

  Mousepad Dimensions: 7.75 inches x 9.25 inches

  A great item for genealogy enthusiasts

  High quality polyester mouse mat

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  Krieg,Italien,Österreichisch- ungarische Strosstrupps,Flintsch ein,R Assmann,1917

  Home (HistoricalFindings)
  

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