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Young Harry, an orphan from an impoverished council estate, becomes the link between starkly contrasting worlds: north and south, the deprived and the over-privileged, the powerful and the defenceless. With this compelling story of blackmail, media politics, corrupted innocence and redemptive love, Melvyn Bragg delivers an unforgettable portrait of modern life. ... Read more

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Britain during the Dark Ages is the setting for the fascinating story of Bega, a young Irish princess who became a saint, and her lifelong bond with Padric, prince of the north-western kingdom of Rheged. This dramatic, far-reaching tale brings to life a land of warring kings, Christians and pagans, and tribes divided by language and culture, illuminating a little-known yet critical period in British history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

incredulous
Sorry but I couldn't see the point of finishing this book when the only character I had any interest in was killed off one quarter of the way through. It was a struggle to get that far since I found everything so superficial. This is a great idea for a book but I felt Bragg was only scratching the surface.

irish orthodoxy
This is a good portrayal of Orthodox Christianity in the West before the Great Schism. The ascetic struggles of holy men and women formed the core of Christian spirituality in Ireland, as elsewhere in the West, before the corruption spread from Rome and turned the Church into a worldly organization bent on wealth and power. Just compare the saints portrayed in the book with holy men as described in modern Eastern Orthodox writers like Dostoyevsky; you will then get an idea of what the Christian faith is really about.

Incredibly Touching Story ofthe Celtic Church in the Dark Ages
Armed with careful scholarship and a deep insight into the personalities, tragedies and triumphs of his characters, Melvyn Bragg weaves an engrossing and remarkably authentic tale of the struggle to save Christianity in its original purity as it barely clings to life during the dark ages of the British Isles.This is an historic tale of true triumph through great tragedy of real people and the communities they served - or cruelly dominated - deftly mirroring the eternal struggle we all face between our dual natures of godliness and devilry.

The background and locale of the story is historical, as well as most of the characters Bragg summons from the dead pages of history.The protagonist herself is a mysterious and only partially mythical figure known as St. Bega.Her intense inner conflict between her most deserving earthly desires and her ideally pure devotion to God serves as a personal parallel for the historic struggle between Christianity and pagan ritual which had hitherto served, yet chained mankind to a barely sustainable earthly existence.

As in true life there are no pure heroes, only men and women doing the best they know how to do in the circumstances they find themselves.In the face-off between Bega, servant of the new "one God," and the priestess of the old gods of stone and sky, druids and druidesses are portrayed - quite accurately - as largely benevolent and wise stewards of an ancient magic, andwhose advice the sometime fanatical Christian monks and abbesses would have been better off to accept on occasion.The Celtic Church, though clearly superior in true devotion and spirituality, cannot match the necessary pragmatism of the falsely pious and worldy Roman church, whose demands that the Celtic church accede to the authority of Rome have much more to do with a raw lust for power than they do with saving souls.Indeed, the religious enemy is clearly not the pagan druids and priestesses, but the enmity between professed followers of Christ.

Finally, this is a story of sacrifice.True and noble sacrifice born of faith and love for one's fellow man no matter how undeserving they may be.This is not your Sunday School version of sacrifice where, in the end, God rewards the valiant with all the glory and worldy riches they had denied themselves in His service, but the true, Christly sacrifice where one gives up his or her most cherished dreams to bring about a better world for others.Then, finally perishing in the struggle, as they realize those dreams will be left forever wanting, the only reward they are left is a knowledge that such a sacrifice has been acceptable to God and has, indeed, brought a measure of divinity into a world which so desperately, though ignorantly, needs it.

Much Ado About Nothing
This is a novel about a love story and a hoped-for war of liberation.The oddity is that neither happens.The beginning and end are separated by hundreds of pages of christian drivel.

Alas and alack there is no rescue from characterization.The author begins with a bright, curious, sensual young woman who 'adopts' a religious vocation as an escape from an unwanted marriage.The entire book evolves around her vocation, unbelievable though it is from the 'get-go', and how she 'chooses' it over the love of her life (a taste of which we are given in a very few pages at the end of the book).

Our hero is more sympathetic yet more inept.He is unable to land the heroine, find someone else, or initiate his lifelong goal to liberate his country from invaders.

One is left to ponder what Mr. Bragg had in mind.

7th century Britain's way of life is under attack...
Melvyn Bragg's Credo is astonishing.It is so well researched and so well written that the characters live in your head long after you have closed the pages for the last time.

It's a classical battle; between the Pagansand the Christians, and between the Christian Celts and the ChristianCatholics, set in a violent and turbulent period of history.

What makesthis book is such memorable characters: Bega, the devout christian,destined to become a saint; the pagan woman whom Bega so despises, yet whois so human, Bega's "man", who's love she is prepared to forgo topersue her love affair with God.

Read this book.It will change youroutlook on life, love and religion.It is wonderful.This book has beenreprinted as "The Sword and The Miracle", but is also availableas "Credo" from Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Product Description
When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe. But throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even in the violence of nature, but between the pages of a book. In our digitised age of instant information it is easy to underestimate the power of the printed word. In his fascinating new book accompanying the ITV series, Melvyn Bragg presents a vivid reminder of the book as agent of social, political and personal revolution. Twelve Books that Changed the World presents a rich variety of human endeavour and a great diversity of characters. There are also surprises. Here are famous books by Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare -- but we also discover the stories behind some less well-known works, such as Marie Stopes' Married Love, the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -- and even the rules to an obscure ball game that became the most popular sport in the world ... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

12 Books
The choice of these 12 books could have been different, especialy if you're not born in UK. Anyway, every one is worth reading.

Interesting
This is a book of 12 essays on 12 British books, all of which indeed help change the world; however, to me they sound like voice overs for 12 programs in a first class TV series -- full of interesting information and anecdotes for people who are not familiar with these works but not daring or particularly enlightening for people who are. And regardless of Mr. Bragg's reasoning, I think all of the books would have been better served had they been put in chronologic order. To start with Newton's "Principia Mathematica" (1687), go to Marie Stopes' "Married Love" (1918) then to Magna Carta (1215) is not only jarring but humbles Stopes' work. At least for me.

Twelve of the thousands of books that have changed the world
Bragg is a book- lover who in his introduction tries to justify, for what many would probably need no justification, the idea that books have changed the world. He then goes on to explain why he has chosen the twelve particular books he has. He starts off with Newton's 'Principia' a work which certainly is one of the most important ever published. He tells the story of Newton's life and accomplishment in a few very clearly written pages. The Lincolnshire lad during the plague years of 1665-66 sat at home thinking twenty hours a day , and in doing so provided a new and basic understanding of the physical laws of the universe. His last selection is another of the world's most important, Shakespeare's 'Folios'. Here he takes great pains to explain why he has chosen a work of Literature . Imaginative literature he contends does not bring aboutsocial change but rather has importance in altering individual lives and consciousnesses. Among his other selections are works which no doubt have made major changes in the world, including 'The Magna Carta' ' The Origin of Species' 'The King James Bible' 'The Wealth of Nations' His other selections areMary Wollstonecraft's ' A Vindication of the Rights of Women' Faraday's ' Experimental Researches in Electricity' Richard Awkright's " Patent Specification for a Spinning Machine' ' The Rule Book of Association Football' ' Married Love' by Marie Stopes.
As I had never heard of Stopes before it was particularly interesting to read her story. According to Bragg she is a major figure in educating the world in the idea that women should not merely suffer sexual relations with their husbands but actually enjoy them. In another interesting chapter he explains how James Awkwright who was not a great inventor but rather a major entrepreneur created the innovation, the factory system which brought about the Industrial Revolution.
Bragg's does not say that these are the twelve books which have most influenced the world. Clearly most of them do not fit into that category. The book should haveperhaps been more honestly titled,'Twelve English or British books that changed the world' however parochial sounding that might be.He does explain why he includes some which are not really books, but rather 'documents' . He explains that he wanted to provide a lively read and selections from various areas of life. He provides summaries of the books, and traces their influence historically.
This is a readable, informative, enjoyable work if not an especially profound one.

Books Can and Do Change the World
Melvyn Bragg's "12 Books That Changed the World" is a wonderful read.

Within Bragg's title, it is important to that it doesn't say: THE 12 books that changed the world.However, it is certain that the books he quotes would be high up on most lists.His list eclectic and sometimes almost esoteric but includes such tomes as Newton's "Principia", Arkwright's patent for a spinning machine, the Magna Carta, the King James Bible, Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and, quixotically, the Rules of Association Football.There could be endless debate about what books should be in and what book should out.Bragg has placed a line in the sand.His choice is brilliant yet, at the same time, sure to generate argument.

Foe each of the twelve books, Bragg provides a brief synopsis of the work and its place in history.The reader comes away feeling enlightened without having been talked down to.Bragg has a writing style that is well paced.This is a book that can be read by any general reader with an interest in history and a love of books.

Let there be no doubt, books have changed the world.We may argue that some books deserve a high or lower reverence than another but we cannot argue about the true impact of books.To have not read is to be a poorer for that fact.Furthermore, it is a brave person who can argue against the King James Bible, the Magna Carta and the works of Darwin and Newton.These books did change the world.We may disagree with the benefit of that impact but we cannot deny that there was an impact.

I strongly recommend this work to lovers of English.Above all else, if Bragg's book shows nothing else, it is English that has become the world's language.
... Read more

Product Description
Melvyn Bragg's celebrated trilogy - THE HIRED MAN, A PLACE IN ENGLAND and KINGDOM COME - traces four generations of Tallentire history: from John in the rural Cumbria of 1898 to Douglas in the competitive and backbiting metropolis of the Seventies.From 'hired man' to media man worlds have been bridged, but the old ideals of success, freedom and happiness seem ever elusive as each Tallentire must come to terms with private uncertainty and pain. 'An uncommonly high talent.The people are "real" enough to leave footprints right across the page' Guardian ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Depressing psychological writing
Overall, if you want to read an author who chooses to make novels out of the meaninglessness of life, and want to come out of the reading experience depressed, here is your trilogy.

On the positive side, Bragg deals with the psychological side of life, especially male sensitivity, presenting many vignettes along the way. But his writing starts out "lumpy". He seems to hit his stride toward the middle of the first novel, "The Hired Man", and keep it through the second, "A Place in England".

But in the third, "Kingdom Come", he at times sinks into abstruse, difficult-to-decipher prose. I suspect the reader is supposed to think that is some kind of superior intellectual effort (like much of current poetry that is just a word-jumble; supposedly fabulous if you have some kind of superior intellect that can penetrate its mystery). The greatest value in these works lies in their exposure of everyday relationship woes, especially their genesis.

As the third novel progresses, Bragg presents an interesting character study of a fictional rock star. But overall, his writing strikes me as an attempt to capitalize on the synthesis of societal woes - to present these to the reader as if he, the author, had some great genius in his ability to see and describe them.

I love to read "series" novels, especially any with historical interest, as I enjoy getting to know the characters and families and learning about other times and places. But this trilogy disappoints. To me, the "lumpiness" of writing continues off and on throughout, and I never find myself fully engaged, as I usually am with series novels. ... Read more

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The story of an imposter and bigamist, who travels to the North where he marries "the maid of Buttermere", a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of a=early 19th century writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An entertaining read.
This page-turner manages to keep readers interested for most of its five hundred or so pages, however is not what one would call an excellent novel.Bragg's brilliant use of historical detail, from dialect to geography, certainly makes the story come alive.It also, however, gives the impression that it is a true piece of period literature, when in fact the novel's plot, in particular the frequent sex scenes, render it a typical Harlequin-type romance, which soon grows tiresome ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: The Adventure of English, on Giants' Shoulders, Credo, Cumbrian Trilogy, Twelve Books That Changed the World. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Adventure of English is a British television series (ITV) on the history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg as well as a companion book, also written by Bragg. The series ran in 2003. The series and the book are cast as an adventure story, or the biography of English as if it were a living being, covering the history of the language from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a truly established global language. In the television series, Bragg explains the origins and spelling of many words based on the times in which they were introduced into the growing language that would eventually become modern English. A DVD set of the mini-series was released on 2 June 2009 with an overall runtime of 405 minutes. ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1605839 ... Read more

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Word count: 4675. ... Read more

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Der Erwerb des Buches enthält gleichzeitig die kostenlose Mitgliedschaft im Buchklub des Verlags zum Ausprobieren - dort können Sie von über einer Million Bücher ohne weitere Kosten auswählen. Das Buch besteht aus Wikipedia-Artikeln: Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, Rosalie Wilkins, Baroness Wilkins, Jeremy Clarkson, Lena Martell, Robin Merrill, Craig Ferguson, David Frost, Russell Brand, Garry Birtles, Wendy Beckett, Victoria Coren, Ron Atkinson, Kristiane Backer, Paula Yates, Roger Black, Richard Hammond, Kerry Dixon, Patrick Moore, Michael Barrymore, James May, Anne Robinson, Tony Dorigo, Bear Grylls, Garry Bushell, Tommy Langley, Mark Lawrenson, Pat Nevin, Richard Quest, Graham Norton, Tony Hart, Charlotte Uhlenbroek, Walley Barnes, Richard Fairbrass, Shona Fraser, Raymond Baxter, Clive Walker, Stephen Mulhern, Simon King, Keith Allen, Becky Anderson, Anthony McPartlin, Andy Goldstein, Noel Edmonds, Tim Dixon,. Online finden Sie die kostenlose Aktualisierung der Bücher. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (* 6. Oktober 1939 in Wigton, Cumberland, England) ist ein britischer Autor, Drehbuchautor, Fernseh- und Rundfunkmoderator und Life Peer. Bragg wurde in Wigton als Sohn von Mary Ethel Park, einer Schneiderin, und Stanley Bragg, einem Lagerverwalter, der später Maschinist wurde, geboren. Er besuchte die Nelson Thomlinson Grammar School in Wigton. Er studierte Moderne Geschichte am Wadham College der Universität Oxford, wo er mit einem Master of Arts abschloss. Er begann 1961 seine Karriere als Trainee bei der BBC und verbrachte seine ersten zwei Jahre beim Radio beim BBC World Service, später beim BBC Third Programme und beim BBC Home Service. Er trat in das Produktionsteam von Huw Wheldons Kulturmagazin Monitor bei BBC Television ein. Seine Arbeit als Autor und Fernsehmoderator begann er 1967. 1971 war er Moderator von In The Picture (Tyne Tees). Von 1973 bis 1977 präsentierte er 2nd House bei der ...http://booksllc.net/?l=de&id=5329243 ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: The Hired Man, the Soldier's Return, a Place in England, Kingdom Come. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Hired Man is a novel by Melvyn Bragg, first published in 1969. It is the first part of Bragg's Cumbrian Trilogy. The story is set predominantly in the rural area around Thurston (Bragg's name for Wigton), from the 1890s to the 1920s, and follows the life of John Tallentire, a farm labourer and coal miner. John is the father of Joseph Tallentire, the central character of Bragg's A Place in England, whose son, Douglas Tallentire, is the central character of Kingdom Come. The Hired Man is not just a novel. In 1984 it was also made into an award-winning musical when Bragg collaborated with Howard Goodall. The musical has been refined over time, including a new song Day Follows Day which was introduced for the 2003 revival at the Salisbury Playhouse. It features characters John and Emily Tallentire, and two periods in their lives. The first opens with a Hiring Fair, where John is employed by Pennington, a local farmer. Emily also has an affair with Pennington's son, Jackson. John finds out while on a hunting trip with his brother, Isaac, and returns and knocks out Jackson. Emily is torn between the two men. Act 2 begins with May and Harry (John and Emily's children). May is a very naïve 16-year-old and Harry is a brave and sometimes foolish 13-year-old. Time passes, and World War I disrupts the country, John, Isaac and Jackson all serve in the armed forces. Isaac loses his leg and his life is saved by Jackson. After Isaac's return, Harry also enlists. He dies in the war, along with Jackson. Emily finally declares her love for John in a beautiful duet. John goes to work in the mines, and Emily dies during a pit acci...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4168494 ... Read more

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Chapters: William Henry Bragg, Melvyn Bragg, Jonathan Boucher, John Woodcock Graves, Robert Atkinson. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 29. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: University of LeedsUniversity College London Royal InstitutionSir William Henry Bragg OM, KBE, PRS (2 July 1862 10 March 1942) was a British physicist, chemist, mathematician and active sportsman who uniquely shared a Nobel Prize with his son William Lawrence Bragg - the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics. The mineral Braggite is named after him and his son. Bragg was born at Westward near Wigton, Cumberland, the son of Robert John Bragg, a merchant marine officer and farmer, and his wife Mary née Wood, a clergyman's daughter. When Bragg was seven years old, his mother died, and he was raised by his uncle, also named William Bragg, at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was educated at the Old Grammar School there, at King William's College on the Isle of Man, and having won an exhibition , at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1884 as third wrangler, and in 1885 was awarded a "first" in the mathematical tripos. In 1885, (at the age of 23), Bragg was appointed Elder Professor of Mathematics and Experimental Physics at the University of Adelaide, and started work there early in 1886. Being a skilled mathematician, at that time he had limited knowledge of physics, most of which was in the form of applied mathematics he had learnt at Trinity. Also at that time, there were only about a hundred students doing full courses at Adelaide, of whom less than a handful belonged to the science school, whose deficient teaching facilities Bragg improved by apprenticing himself to a firm of instrument makers. Bragg was an able and popular lecturer; he encouraged the formation of the student union, and the attendance, free of...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=396459 ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Books by Melvyn Bragg, Novels by Melvyn Bragg, the Adventure of English, the Hired Man, on Giants' Shoulders, the Soldier's Return, a Place in England, Credo, Kingdom Come, Cumbrian Trilogy, Twelve Books That Changed the World. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Adventure of English is a British television series (ITV) on the history of the English language presented by Melvyn Bragg as well as a companion book, also written by Bragg. The series ran in 2003. The series and the book are cast as an adventure story, or the biography of English as if it were a living being, covering the history of the language from its modest beginnings around 500 AD as a minor Germanic dialect to its rise as a truly established global language. In the television series, Bragg explains the origins and spelling of many words based on the times in which they were introduced into the growing language that would eventually become modern English. A DVD set of the mini-series was released on 2 June 2009 with an overall runtime of 405 minutes. ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1605839 ... Read more

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Written in 1908, this is Lawrence's first novel and one that he found himself compelled to write and rewrite, to pour himself into, in order to prove himself to himself. Begun when he was 21 and published in 1911, it shows many of Lawrence's major themes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

never sent!
I ordered this book and it was never sent.I replied to the sender and they said they would look into this and I have nothing since.

Only for Lawrence die-hards
This was Lawrence's first published novel in the UK, and represents the writer's early experiment in the quest for an established style.

Far too much descriptive detail, and too little narrative, to be considered anenjoyable read. It is however interesting to note the early appearance ofthemes that were to dominate later Lawrence works. In particular, thenature-civilisation dichotomy, which became a Lawrence trademark, isapparent here in the relationship between the cultured, educated narratorand his best friend, the raw-boned but affable farmer, George.

Readerswishing to introduce themselves to Lawrence would be better advised tostart with thebook published two years later, and that marked thebeginning of his literary reputation: "Sons and Lovers" ... Read more

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the sword and the miracle, 1st edition, melvyn bragg ... Read more

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frontis., 19 color and 16 b&w photos"The Wizard of Oz was my very first literary influence," writes Salman Rushdie in his account of the great MGM children's classic. At the age of ten he had written a story, "Over the Rainbow," about a colorful fantasy world. But for Rushdie The Wizard of Oz is more than a children's film, and more than a fantasy. It's a story whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults, where the weakness of grown-ups forces children to take control of their own destinies. Rushdie rejects the conventional view that its fantasy of escape from reality ends with a comforting return to home, sweet home. On the contrary, it is a film that speaks to the exile. The Wizard of Oz shows that imagination can become reality, that there is no such place like home, or rather that the only home is the one we make for ourselves. Rushdie's brilliant insights into a film more often seen than written about are rounded off with a typically scintillating new short story, "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers," about the day when Dorothy's red shoes are knocked down to $15,000 at a sale of MGM props.Amazon.com Review
While Salman Rushdie has treasured The Wizard of Ozsince his boyhood, the movie's idea of returning "home" hashad a special resonance for him as an adult. In this lovelyappreciation of the MGM classic, Rushdie does not dwell upon hiscontinual flight from any "home" after writing TheSatanic Verses. But his affinity for Dorothy and her predicamentcomes through in his analysis.

This is a marvelous little book, full of wonderful tidbits about themaking of The Wizard of Oz. Rushdie also talks about themovie's contrast of black and white and color, order and disorder,good and evil. The volume ends with "At the Auction of the RubySlippers," a surrealistic short story in which Rushdie meditateson the value of fantasies like The Wizard of Oz. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A gem
I first read this via the New Yorker version. For the first time I understood why this film, underneath its surface glitter and sentimentality, is haunting, bleak and beautiful. Read it and see the film again as if for the first time.

Quite Nice
It's impossible to separate The Wizard of Oz from the deep emotion it inspires. The movie rapidly plunges a viewer back into childhood fears/dreams and the context in which one first saw it.

But by handing this topic to the improbable figure of Salmon Rushdie, an essay follows that persaudes open minds of how deeply personal and specific a movie becomes after one cathects it. For that I found the piece to be a revelation; as a way of opening a topic one thought as so general as to reject non-approved non-mass narratives; the deeply personal nature of a reading of a film; and the beauty/value of film writing to offer readers thoughtful personal associations. It changed the way I wrote about film.

This is the exact opposite of bad film-writing in which some self-christened film snob sits on his throne, beknighting utterly safe products because of their good taste and high production values, while appealing to some non-existant "objective" set of criteria. Inevitably the jackass will use the word "masterpiece" which is how you know he's a bad writer; Whenever you see the word in a review, just substitute "Don't question me, or my inability to use language to persaude you of this film's merit!"

P.U. You can keep the ninety percent of film writing that issues from that horrid, unpromising foundation. Rushdie's reminiscences go back to his childhood in India, which is both the last place you'd imagine a strong reading of this most American film to come from, and miraculously, yes, a vivid, strong analysis of The Wizard of Oz.

Rushdie the essayist and Rushdie the storyteller in one volume...
Watching a film armed with a "remote control zapper" can yield insights unknown to the non-stop viewer. After all, freeze frames, with their enviable power to stop time, allow for far more than infinitesimal nanoseconds of reflection. Using the "pause" trigger in this way arguably transforms it into an educational tool.

Salman Rushdie, who usually frolics in literature's realm, applies this method to one of America's most beloved and taken for granted films, 1939's "The Wizard of Oz." Many in the US have let this film sink into their collective cultural unconscious without questioning its presuppositions, implications and logic. Rushdie, wielding his wireless time control device, cuts to the essence. Insights spew from the paragraphs. Almost immediately, he equates the film's story, mood, and themes to the "Bollywood" movies he grew up on in India. One exception to this comparison remains the film's secular sub themes. He summarizes, "nothing is deemed more important than the loves, cares, and needs of human beings." It also had enduring literary influence on his very first and later works.

But he doesn't like the "cloying" ending and asks the almost heretical question: who would want to return to THAT Kansas? Those of us who absorbed the movie as children of course wanted, empathetically, to see Dorothy return to the safety of her parents and home. But, Rushdie argues, Dorothy's gray scale Kansas is no paradise: her parents seem impotent in the face of Miss Gulch's (aka "Wicked Witch of the West") threats against Toto (who annoys Rushdie; and in yet another probable heresy to fans, he writes, "Toto: that little yapping hairpiece of a creature, that meddlesome rug!"). So why would she want to return? Rushdie would have preferred a Dorothy who outgrows Kansas and remains in fully actualized Technicolor splendor. In the film she grows up and... goes back. Obviously, Hollywood did not want to encourage runaway fantasies. And the "there's no place like home" mantra delivers the much disseminated Great Depression message that "everything's okay. What you have is just fine." Still, he has a point about the ending's "mixed message." Longtime "Oz" fans may not appreciate this rumination, but Rushdie has never been one to please for the sake of pleasing (as his work and life more than manifest).

Rushdie includes other revealing tidbits. For one, simple geometric shapes symbolize home and safety, while the shapeless and twisted stands for evil. Not only that, the movie presents, like the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" of today and the stage melodramas of yesterday, a strict visual and moral dichotomy of good and evil. The Good Witch Glinda's famous quote, "only bad witches are ugly," crystallizes this idea as only sound bites can. A tragedy was also averted: the producers almost removed "Over the Rainbow." Rushdie candidly calls this, "proof positive that Hollywood makes its masterpieces by accident, because it simply does not know what it is doing." In a sad revelation, the cast didn't seem to have any fun during the filming. Margaret Hamilton was injured, as was her double, and felt ostracized. Philandering Munchkins took Hollywood by storm. The film also resembles a postmodern "authorless text" by virtue of its voluminous screenwriters and recuttings. In spite of this, Rushdie heaps praise on the virtues of the film. He even calls it "art." Rushdie's deconstruction somehow makes the film more accessible and poignant. It emerges from this short essay, which also appears in Rushdie's2002 non-fiction collection "Step Across this Line" (though without pictures), as a strong and in no way emasculated masterpiece.

A short story was appended to the essay. Rushdie calls it a fictionalized account of the auction of the ruby slippers (a pair of which sold in 1970 for $15,000). It is much more than that. In near Vonnegut style, the story explores the less than desirable aura and implications of crazed fandom. The setting seems to be the future and the present; part macabre science fiction, part first person narrative description. It also appeared in Rushdie's 1994 short fiction collection "East-West." Like nowhere else, the best of both worlds collide in this tiny British Film Institute book. It showcases both Rushdie the essayist and Rushdie the storyteller. Those looking for a quick glimpse of one of today's most discussed authors may want to start here.

Because it's a fun read.
This is an excellent comprehensive on the MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz.Rushdie is able to go into the innate symbolism of the film without becoming overly-sentimental or dry.He relates his own story growing up in the 1940's when the film first toured, and how it affected people during the war time.He then goes into the approaches to how the film was directed, the transitions from black and white to color, the personalities behind the actors and how it is the film remains irreplaceable to this day.This is a great book to pass on to a friend in the hospital, to cheer them up, or give to someone for a birthday.If you are a film-buff or collector of Oz, you will want a copy of this book.Pages are smooth and shiny, loaded with photos.

for a film class
I really enjoyed this book. I had to read it for a film analysis and aesthetics class, along with many other BFI books, and it was my favorite one. I would have read it even if I weren't in the class -- Rushdie offers a personal take on a classic movie, and his reading (one that says youth is constantly looking for a technicolor world far away from their grounding, drab home life) is one easily relatable. I recommend it to any fan of Rushdie's, The Wizard of Oz and/or film. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent reading
I and my wife are history buffs who enjoy books about WWII. So many of the WWII books cover the main facts of this war. What was so refreshing was this book covers the individual lives that were caught up in this war. From diaries and letters, we see exactly what people were thinking and how they felt about the events unfolding around them. Very insightful, especially from the vantage point of looking back.
Highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys WWII history and personal accounts. An excellent read. ... Read more