WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? - the great minds that brought us the English, American and French Revolutions? What were they reading? What did they mean by concepts such as democracy, republic, freedom, empire? Why did so many of them prefer Roman imperialism to Athenian democracy? How does a republic become an empire, or is the transition inevitable? Edward Andrew seems to have read every writer since Socrates. He leaves us exhausted, but convinced that the questions raised in these scholarly pages matter very much right now , and wondering whether the Canadian constitutional monarchy might have something to teach the "imperial republic to the south."
I've been waiting seven years for this novel - since Szanto finished his Conquests of Mexico trilogy. We're far from Mexico now, but again the sense of place is paramount, this time the islands off the west coast of Canada. The title, despite a matter-of-fact explanation, hints at underworld mythology and astrological geography. The narrative and characters, also matter-of-fact enough on the face of it, wander in and out of the mysterious levels of our "ordinary " lives. After I read this book once, I was not ready to put it down, so I read it again, right away
When Arthur Motyer brought together these email letters from three friends, two faced death from cancer and he was the one left behind. Arthur has always been a remarkable teacher, and in this little book his teaching is truly a life-and-death matter - all the more poignant now that he too has been, like "Everyman," commanded to go on a journey. We are privileged to be invited to bear him company.
