2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Find Books


Read the City


Win Free Books!


PowellsBooks.news


Interviews | January 24, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Ben Marcus: The Powells.com Interview



Ben MarcusBen Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of... Continue »
  1. $18.17 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    The Flame Alphabet

    Ben Marcus 9780307379375

spacer
Free Shipping!

Customer Comments

nigelbruce has commented on (1) product.

1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies
1421: The Year China Discovered America

nigelbruce, December 15, 2006

Superfically the book looks as if it might be a serious history: it has the form, a table of contents, quite a few endnotes, etc, however, if you check the sources against the text you will find they rarely support what he has written. They are just window dressing. The book is a fraud.

For a good inventory of the many problems with this book, which should correctly be listed as fiction, see www.1421exposed.com.

If you are interested in learnign the true history of these seven voyages in early 15th century China, start with Ma Huan, Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores, Beijing, 1433, translated from the Chinese Text, Edited by Feng Ch'eng-Chun, with introduction, notes and appendices by J.V.G. Mills (Cambridge Univ. Press). Ma Huan was on board for three of the voyages, including the 6th, and his commentaries are a first person account, primary evidence. He writes of nothing beyond the well documented theatre of operations. The volume also contains Mills' lengthy discussion of the Mao K'un, the fleet's sailing instructions. 715 places are identified and located, none beyond the well documented theatre of operations.

Mr. Menzies is an inventive story teller and his tale is just a fantasy, with phoney 'evidence' meant to deceive the uninformed reader.

If you are fond of the historical fiction genre pass on Menzies and get something by Gore Vidal, such as Burr, or Baudolino by Umberto Eco.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(20 of 39 readers found this comment helpful)



spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.