New York Times Magazine journalist Heard uncovers some truly memorable manifestations of millennial fervor in this quasi-ethnography. There’s the Pentecostal Mississippi dairy farmer who believes that his all-red heifer is a sign that a new temple will be established in Jerusalem, ushering in the endtime; there is also the Israeli rabbi who, with similar millennial expectations, traveled to America to check out the “apocalypse cow.” There are the radical “Gaiaists” who claim that Mother Nature has grown tired of humanity’s abuses and is about to unleash a series of cataclysms to kick us off the planet; these followers plan to be the only ones prepared to survive earth’s attack. Heard calls these well-meaning survivalists “Swiss Family Robinson with a Rambo complex.” Then there are the UFO “contactee” groups, including the southern California—based (where else?) Unarians, who await the 2001 arrival of the “tall, wise, and kindly Space Brothers,” benevolent beings sent to assist earthlings on the road to enlightenment. If there’s a surprising thread among these groups, it’s that most of them are looking forward to the apocalypse. Not all are prophets of doom; many are just ordinary folks who expect to greet the coming age with great joy. Heard does a fine job of outlining some of the paradoxes of their widely variant forms of prophecy belief. His writing is as crisp and snappy as the book’s title, though a few of his assertions aren—t fully supported by his research. (Some facts also need checking, such as his claim that “hundreds” died in the Oklahoma City blast.) Heard comes down rather unsympathetically on many of his interviewees, repeatedly utilizing pejorative and uninformative words like “hoodoo” to describe their millennial beliefs. Still, on balance, he gives their social grievances an eloquent airing. Overall, a humorous and well-written attempt to understand our ongoing fascination with the apocalypse.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-393-04689-3
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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