Review: Dead Certainties
Redactionele recensie - Kirkus ReviewsHere, Schama (Citizens, 1989, etc.; History/Harvard) compellingly re-creates two historic deaths, both linked to the Parkman dynasty of Boston, and by these contrasting re-creations explores ""the teasing gap separating a lived event and its subsequent narration."" The first narrative is of the death of General James Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham during the historic Battle of Quebec. Relying on much primary source material, Schama tersely narrates the death of Wolfe from three perspectives: that of an eyewitness, that of fashionable painter Benjamin West (whose portrayal of Wolfe's death was less influenced by a concern for verisimilitude than by a desire to emulate classical models), and that of historian Francis Parkman (who, the author shows, tended to invest Wolfe with his own nervous sensibility and high-strung qualities). Then comes the story of a more obscure death--the alleged murder of George Parkman, uncle of the historian, at the hands of George Parkman's friend and debtor, George Webster. Here, forsaking reliance on historical documentation for a looser, more novelistic approach, Schama tells how Parkman hounded the hapless Webster over some debts, how Parkman disappeared, and how a man who detested Webster discovered the grisly remains of a corpse in the cellar of the medical school in which Webster taught. The agonizing tale of the trial, conviction, and execution of Webster reveals how the judicial process compelled acceptance of one of the competing versions of the truth. Schama laces together the two narratives with an insightful meditation on the essential elusiveness of historical truth and on the need for creative invention in historical scholarship and writing. An imaginative, spellbinding work that reminds us that history is more art than science.
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Stephen Tuck - GoodreadsAn intricate book about the structure of the past and how we relate to it, with overtones that seem to be drawn from the work of Hayden White. It really needs to be read twice, though, to understand ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Amanda - GoodreadsWhile Schama has clearly done his research for his writing, I don't really think that Dead Certainties can be considered history. This book reads like a novel, and should be treated as a sort of ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Chandler - GoodreadsRead this mostly for the account of the infamous 1849 Webster murder trial. It is "fiction" yet takes historical documents into account in the writing which was informative as to legal history on a subject I find quite interesting. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Smcleish - GoodreadsOriginally published on my blog here in October 2001. A death forms the centre point of each of the two parts of this book. The first is a famous death, that of General Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Charlotte - GoodreadsThis is an exceptional, though controversial, book which discusses history in terms of imagination, using circumstantial evidence to piece together stories of the past. It highlights the difficulties ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Jeffrey Williams - GoodreadsSimon Schama uses some interesting literary devices in this work. Using one narrow thread of historiographical evidence to weave a story of a murder at Harvard with a French-Indian War battle and art ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Jacqueline - GoodreadsSort of history. Some of it is imagined, all of it based on documentary evidence. This is the best sort of history, that brings you an interesting and complicated story which requires filling in some ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Jaimie - GoodreadsThe first story in this book, about the death of General Wolfe in the French and Indian War, is painfully boring. The second story, about the murder of a Harvard professor in the late 1800's, is pretty captivating. I hope I finish it by the time I'm tested on it Monday. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations
Gebruikersrecensie - Edward - GoodreadsThis was a fascinating book about one of the countries earliest homicides to capture the public's attention. The book reads like a novel, but is in fact non fiction. It starts off discussing a famous ... Volledige recensie lezen
