Marpingen : Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a Nineteenth-Century German Village

Rating:
Summary: Involving storytelling with a concrete base of fact.
Review: Some of us are blessed with opportunities. One of mine was to hear many lectures from this work's author, David Blackbourn, in college. He is tall, somewhat thin, with big hands and akward limbs. When he lectures, he moves from one side of the podium to the other, pausing only to look at the ceiling in search of just the right word, the right description for a riot in the Rhineland or a bourgeouis household in Berlin. As many of you might know, describing these scenes as they really were, but yet also emphasizing the important trend, is a difficult task. Blackbourn has that gift. It was evident in his lectures, in his hands swinging across the podium, even in the dramatic pauses to seek that right word. Finally he has shared that excitment with a reading audience. I do not want to imply that his previous books lacked excellence. As any student of the field knows, his Peculiarities of German History has quickly become a basic text. I would recomend all his writing. But he had never told an exciting story. In a sense, he did not live up to his potential. Marpingen is a moment in a career. Still on the verge of ever greater academic accomplishment, Blackbourn has left us a synthesis of two valuable things; outstanding intelligence and literary skill. For that reason it is the rarest of rare academic works. A study enjoyable to the beginer and revealing to the expert. I recomend it to everyone who does not have the opportunity of hearing him lecture.

Rating:
Summary: Involving storytelling with a concrete base of fact.
Review: Some of us are blessed with opportunities. One of mine was to hear many lectures from this work's author, David Blackbourn, in college. He is tall, somewhat thin, with big hands and akward limbs. When he lectures, he moves from one side of the podium to the other, pausing only to look at the ceiling in search of just the right word, the right description for a riot in the Rhineland or a bourgeouis household in Berlin. As many of you might know, describing these scenes as they really were, but yet also emphasizing the important trend, is a difficult task. Blackbourn has that gift. It was evident in his lectures, in his hands swinging across the podium, even in the dramatic pauses to seek that right word. Finally he has shared that excitment with a reading audience. I do not want to imply that his previous books lacked excellence. As any student of the field knows, his Peculiarities of German History has quickly become a basic text. I would recomend all his writing. But he had never told an exciting story. In a sense, he did not live up to his potential. Marpingen is a moment in a career. Still on the verge of ever greater academic accomplishment, Blackbourn has left us a synthesis of two valuable things; outstanding intelligence and literary skill. For that reason it is the rarest of rare academic works. A study enjoyable to the beginer and revealing to the expert. I recomend it to everyone who does not have the opportunity of hearing him lecture.

Rating:
Summary: a classic in its field
Review: This entire bookis devoted to alleged apparitions in Marpingen in the Saar. The apparitions were never accepted by an official Church study--tho never publicly condemned by any bishop. It is a fascinating account, and even though this is a very balanced book, I found myself attracted toe the people who believed in the validity of the visions. The heavy-handed effforts of Bismarck's Kulterkampf to stifle the innocent faith of the believers was part of what attracted me. The visionaries all went into convents, and did not live long. The main one made a written retraction--which was not made public at the time. This is a very carefully researched, heavily-footnoted book, and certainly a classic in the subject. There is amulti-page bibliography, listing many books which I would like to read.

Rating:
Summary: a classic in its field
Review: This entire bookis devoted to alleged apparitions in Marpingen in the Saar. The apparitions were never accepted by an official Church study--tho never publicly condemned by any bishop. It is a fascinating account, and even though this is a very balanced book, I found myself attracted toe the people who believed in the validity of the visions. The heavy-handed effforts of Bismarck's Kulterkampf to stifle the innocent faith of the believers was part of what attracted me. The visionaries all went into convents, and did not live long. The main one made a written retraction--which was not made public at the time. This is a very carefully researched, heavily-footnoted book, and certainly a classic in the subject. There is amulti-page bibliography, listing many books which I would like to read.