Happy On-Sale Date for THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD!

Today two brand-new books were born--or, perhaps more accurately, officially put on shelves at bookstores nationwide, with their Amazon pre-order buttons changed to allow customers to "buy it now." Hooray! In case you haven't been following our pre-publication coverage of these two great but extremely different titles, let me introduce you to them.

The Horses of St. Mark's: A Story of Triumph in Byzantium, Paris, and Venice
by Charles Freeman

A must-see for any tourist in Venice, the history of these four beautiful statues is even more interesting than one might think. They witnessed some of Western history's most significant events--the founding and sacking of Constantinople, the height of the Venetian republic and its fall, and Paris under Napoleon through the revolution in 1848. Making their way back to Venice, the rich backstory of these storied statues is a must-read for those interested in history, art, travel--or just interested in a fascinating tale that Charles Freeman, author of A.D. 381, brings vividly to life.


The Caretaker of Lorne Field
by Dave Zeltserman

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called The Caretaker of Lorne Field a "superb mix of humor and horror." The dark humor and noirish horror combine in this unique take on the genre--the tale of Jack Durkin, the ninth generation of the Durkin family, who has weeded Lorne Field for hundreds of years. He's stuck there until his son comes of age because he knows a monster will grow--one capable of destroying a country in weeks--if the field is left untended. Or will it? In the words of Locus Magazine, Zeltserman's "black comedy of errors ... invites comparison to stories by Kafka, David Prill, James Hynes, William Browning Spencer, and other authors who have mused on the dark side of daily breadwinning."

Book reviewing bloggers--interested in reviewing? Email Kate at kgales@overlookny.com for a review copy.

Happy reading, everyone!

THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

Charles Freeman's lively history of the world's most famous statues and their turbulent movements, The Horses of St. Mark's, is reviewed in Publishers Weekly: "After Napoleon triumphed over Venice in 1798, he demonstrated his strength by plundering the city-state’s greatest treasures, including a set of four Greek or Roman gilded copper horses (their precise origins are not known) adorning St. Mark’s loggia and sending them straight to Paris. According to Freeman (A.D. 381), the horses were prime booty, symbolizing wealth, cultural assets, and military prowess. Thus, they were periodically looted by history’s victors, going first to Constantinople and then to Venice after its defeat of the declining Byzantine capital in 1204. After Napoleon’s fall, Venice recovered the horses from Paris. Despite Freeman’s efforts, too much remains unknown about the horses (such as how Constantinople originally obtained them), and the statues become almost peripheral to the narrative of the political and cultural environments of the 13th to 19th centuries. Freeman supposes the horses may have inspired artists such as Paolo Uccello and Dürer, who visited Venice. Most compelling for devout lovers of art and European history, Freeman effectively and ironically juxtaposes the horses’ location (atop a church) with the violence that punctuated their role as “plundered plunder.”

New in Paperback: Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State

New in paperback this month is A.D. 381 by acclaimed historian Charles Freeman, author of The Closing of the Western Mind. In this groundbreaking book published by Overlook last Fall, Freeman argues that A.D. 381 was a pivotal turning point in the history of the Christian church.

It was AD 381 when Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical. It was the first time in a thousand years of Greco-Roman civilization free thought was unambiguously suppressed. Freeman argues that Theodosius's edict and the subsequent suppression of paganism not only brought an end to the diversity of religious and philosophical beliefs throughout the empire, but created numerous theological problems for the Church, which have remained unsolved. The year AD 381, as Freeman puts it, was a turning point which time forgot.

Praise for A.D. 381

"Exceptional. Of the many excellences in Freeman s book, not least are the eloquence, grace, and subtlety of argument with which he presents his case. Invaluable."- Library Journal

"Clearly written, well organized, and compellingly argued, A.D. 381 provides an absorbing window into one of the most important moments in the history of European thought." - Houston Chronicle

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 and "A Turning Point that Time Forgot"

A nice recommendation from Library Thing for Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: ""In AD 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical. It was the first time in a thousand years of Greco-Roman civilization free thought was unambiguously suppressed. Yet surprisingly, the popular histories claim that the Christian Church reached a consensus on the Trinity at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. Why has Theodosius's revolution been airbrushed from the historical record? In this groundbreaking new book, acclaimed historian Charles Freeman shows that the council was in fact a sham, only taking place after Theodosius's decree had become law. The Church was acquiescing in the overwhelming power of the emperor. Freeman argues that Theodosius's edict and the subsequent suppression of paganism not only brought an end to the diversity of religious and philosophical beliefs throughout the empire, but created numerous theological problems for the Church, which have remained unsolved. The year AD 381, as Freeman puts it, was "a turning point which time forgot."

More Praise for A.D. 381 by Charles Freeman

George M. Eberhart, senior editor of American Libraries, offers a critique of Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of a Monotheistic State: "A.D. 381 explores the crucial year of 381, when the Council of Constantinople ratified the edict of Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who decreed in 380 that the Nicene version of the Christian Trinity would become state religion in the east. . . Freeman points out that the Council's decision was far from democratic and in fact was a politically expedient move by the Nicene bishops to extend their power as Theodosius attempted to patch the cracks in the empire. This seemingly obscure decision had the effect of stifling free discussion of a spiritual matters and scientific knowledge for centuries to come and ushered in an orthodoz partnership of church and state that lasted until the Renaissance." - College and Research Library News, June 2009.

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 Reviewed in Houston Chronicle

Charles Freeman provocative new book, A.D. 381, is reviewed by Steven Alford in the Houston Chronicle: "In two books, The Closing of the Western Mind and A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State, Charles Freeman has sought to trace the process through which the West abandoned the Greek ideal of free, rational inquiry, replacing it with the assumption that orthodox Christianity was the only avenue for discovering truths about the world. With this transition, credulity replaced reason and blind adherence to orthodoxy replaced open speculation about the nature of spiritual and earthly life. The Closing of the Western Mind focused on the broad thesis that the Greek rationalist tradition had been destroyed by the politicization of the Christian church by the state, while A.D. 381 focuses more closely on the important transitions that took place in the relationship between Church and state in the last thirty years of the fourth century. . . Clearly written, well organized, and compellingly argued, A.D. 381 provides an absorbing window into “one of the most important moments in the history of European thought.”

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 Reviewed in ForeWord Magazine

ForeWord magazine offers a review of A.D. 381: "In A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State, the historian Charles Freeman pitches us into a world in which a magnificent diversity of opinion and extensive intellectual networking were quashed in 381, when Emperor Theodosius superseded Constantines Edict of Toleration. It stated, no one shall be denied freedom to believe as he deems best suited to himself. But after defeat at Adrianople in 378, when Emperor Valens died on the battlefield fighting the Goths, the Empire desperately needed a single supportive Church, not a divisive set of quarreling Christian communitiesand Theodosius was determined to create it. He decreed, all peoples shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans And he required acceptance of the single deity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as promulgated in the Nicene Creed. Demented and insane non-acceptors would be smitten by Divine Vengeanceand imperial hostility. American presidential debates pale beside the intensity of the early Churchs theological set-tos in which victory brought power and political prestige. Typically, Theodosius Council of Constantinople failed to promote doctrinal peace: the bishops screeched on every sidea mob of wild young menlike a swarm of wasps. Freeman brilliantly recreates the late-Roman, early medieval world: Origen, Eusebius, Augustine, Ambrose, and other theo-politicos are active players, not textbook figures, while tolerance has a moving voice in Themistius and Symmachus. All is set against an evocative presentation of power, politics, war, and Church-building in the late Roman world, often of surprising modernity."

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 in Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus reviews Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State: "In 381, Emperor Theodosius decreed that all subjects of the Roman Empire were required to believe in the Christian Trinity. That same year, the First Council of Constantinople brought together Christian leaders to codify this belief in the Trinity as correct and accepted doctrine. Historians have taught for centuries that the Christian church harmoniously and all but simultaneously came to the decision that the Trinity was indeed true and orthodox belief, but Freeman (The Closing of the Western Mind, 2003, etc.) emphatically disagrees. Debate over the Trinity and over the nature of Christ was still quite alive during this period, he asserts Theodosius, largely for reasons of state security, squelched this debate through official edicts, overlaid with a veneer of doctrinal concord through the Council of Constantinople. The author frames his argument as being about the freedom of intellectual debate and the free exchange of ideas. Before 381, he avers, the Greek tradition of open intellectual discourse and the Roman tradition of religious tolerance marked the empire and, indeed, all of the Western world. After 381, both traditions would be extinguished for more than 1,000 years. “The tragedy of Theodosius’ imposition and its aftermath lay in the elimination of discussion,” writes Freeman, “not only of spiritual matters but across the whole spectrum of human knowledge.” He stops short of passing judgment on Theodosius or any of the other personalities involved in this lively period. Instead, he hopes to see them in context, rather than as the two-dimensional characters history has long depicted. Questions remain, but Freeman does a good job in forcing a reexamination of this crucial turning point."

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 in Library Journal

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State gets a glowing notice in the current issue of Library Journal: "Freeman's exceptional book is a continuation and refinement of his The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason, in which he argued that the alliance of the Roman Empire with the Christian Church in the fourth century C.E. closed down a vibrant tradition of intellectual and religious toleration. The critical point was in the titular year when Emperor Theodosius I banned disagreement over the nature of the Trinity, making religious dissent a state crime for the first time. Theodosius's action was unfortunate, argues Freeman: proponents of the Nicene Creed (i.e., that the three parts of the Trinity were coequal in substance) could find little support in the Bible for their position; debate on the question was still lively. In the next century, Augustine nailed the lid on discussion with his forceful dismissal of reason: all articles of faith were above discussion. A.D. 381 is a well-argued and -documented study of the rise of the monotheistic state in the late Roman Empire and its aftereffects. Of the many excellences in Freeman's book, not least are the eloquence, grace, and subtlety of argument with which he presents his case."