| 8-24-08 - OF CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS DREAM - I was living
in an apartment building and my son Ken came to visit.
When lunchtime came, we decided to go down to the basement where
they had a snack bar.
When we got down there, near the checkout was one of those turntable
rack with paperback books on it.
Ken started looking at the titles of the books, and he spotted a
book titled, "Of Captains and the Kings" by Taylor Caldwell.
For a paperback book, it was thick and I pulled it off the rack to
look at it. The cover was enticing - a picture of war with ships
blowing up in a long ago time period.
I kind of riffled through some pages and saw the tiny print and I
already knew her writing style. She writes in great detail.
By now, Ken was looking at a thinner book that was half the price,
but I didn't have enough money with me to buy both books.
I asked Ken which book he wanted and he chose, "Of Captains and
Kings," so I bought it for him.
When we got upstairs, I started thinking about Ken's reading
abilities in grade school and I remembered I had had to buy him comic
books to get him to to read at all when he was young.
So I had second thoughts about buying Ken the thinner book with the
larger print because it would be easier to read.
So I got some cash out of the dresser drawer and told Ken I was
going to go downstairs and buy him the other book also so his eyes
wouldn't get so tired from reading, "Of Captains and the Kings".
So I took the money and went down the stairs to the snack bar to buy
the other book.
Before I got to the door, I saw a whole set of clothing on the
floor, laying all askew and it looked like the swashbuckling guy's clothes
from the cover of the book, just melted from the inside out of the
clothing.
As I looked at the clothing, I started to have a vision of a chain
of white beads. I don't know exactly how many there were, but as I
looked at each bead, it divided into two, and I was compelled to look at
each bead and watch it divide into two and then I looked at the two, and
watched it divide into four.
This process kept going until the original beads had divided ten
times and I was having a harder and harder time keeping track of the
dividing beads. I knew they would all divide at least ten times.
A deep male voice in my head said to me, "How do we now that
radiation stops there?
NOTE: I've read most of her books in my younger days, but I
lost my fiction library from moving too many times in my life and I didn't
know if I had re-purchased the book. Strangely enough, the very next
day, I was cleaning, and I looked at a stack of books right by my
telephone in the living room and right there - on top of the pile was
"Of Captains and Kings" by Taylor Caldwell. (It has a wooden war
ship in the background behind pictures of the characters in the book.
The time period is 'the 1850's'.
|
Taylor Caldwell Biography and List of Works
Books by Taylor Caldwell |
Anglo-American novelist, a prolific author of popular fiction, who
often uses real historical events or persons in her writing.
Taylor Caldwell's best-known works include DYNASTY OF DEATH
(1938), an epic story about the intrigues and alliances of two
Pennsylvania families involved in the manufacture of armaments.
Her last major novel, ANSWER AS A MAN, appeared in 1980, and tells
a familiar story of a man who begins his rise to prestige and
power in the midst of the Depression.
Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell
a. k. a., Janet M. Reback (September
7,
1900–August
30,
1985) was an
Anglo-American
novelist and prolific author of popular fiction, also
known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner,
and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback.In
her fiction, she often used real historical events or
persons. Taylor Caldwell's best-known works include
Dynasty of Death (1938),
an epic story about intrigues and alliances of two
Pennsylvania families involved in the manufacture of
armaments, "Dear and Glorious Physician" (about St.Luke),
and "Captains and Kings". Her last major novel,
Answer as a Man, appeared in
1980.
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England, into a
family of Scottish background. Her family descended from the Clan
of MacGregor of which the Taylors are a subsidiary clan. In 1907
she emigrated to the Unites States with her family. At the age of
eight she started to write stories. In 1919 she married William F.
Combs and divorced in 1931. Between the years 1918 and 1919 she
served in the United States Naval Reserve. From 1923 to 1924 she
was A Court Reporter in the New York State department of Labor in
Buffalo, and from 1924 to 1931a member of the Board of Special
Inquiry at the Department of Justice in Buffalo.
In 1931 she graduated from the University of Buffalo. In
collaboration with her second husband, Marcus Reback, she wrote
several bestsellers, beginning with Dynasty of Death. It
depicts two families who control a huge munitions trust, and the
entangled relations between the families. Caldwell had started to
write the story in 1934. After its publication the book attracted
wide attention when it was revealed, that behind the male
pseudonym was a woman. The story is continued in THE EAGLES GATHER
(1949) and THE FINAL HOUR (1944).
As a writer Caldwell was praised for her intricately plotted
and suspenseful stories, which depict family tensions, and the
development of the US from agrarian society into the leading
industrial state of the world. Caldwell's heroes are self-made men
of pronounced ethnic backgrounds, such as the German immigrants in
THE STRONG CITY (1942) and THE BALANCE WHEEL (1951). Her themes
are ethnic, religious and personal intolerance (THE WIDE HOUSE,
1945), the failure of parental discipline (LET LOVE COME LAST,
1949) and the conflict between the desire for power and money and
the human values of love and sense of family, presented in such
works as MELISSA (1948), A PROLOGUE TO LOVE (1962) and BRIGHT
FLOWS THE RIVER (1978).
In her later works Caldwell explored the American Dream and
wrote 'from rags to riches' stories, among them ANSWER AS A MAN
(1981). Caldwell's historical novels include THE ARM AND DARKNESS,
a fictitious account of Cardinal Richelieu, A PILLAR OF IRON
(1965),a fictional biography of the Roman senator and orator
Cicero, THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S (1941), a fictional biography of
Ghengis Khan. Religious themes are prominent in several works,
such as DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN (1959) about St. Luke, THE
LISTENER (1960), and DIALOGUES WITH THE DEVIL (1967), a study of
good and evil, in which Caldwell depicts a correspondence between
Lucifer and Michael, mixing in the dialogue old tales, a lost
continent, and theological speculations.
'"Childish raptures! said Lucifer, with scorn, his eyes
flashing like lightning. "Are we indeed whimpering and craven
children, or slaves? Can we be content with toys and little
deliciousnesses? Are we not mind, as well as emotion? And is not
the mind, of both angel and man, the noblest of possessions, and
worth exercising. It is in our minds that we approach the
closest of Him, Who is all Mind. Mind is the creator of all
philosophy, all order, all beauty, all satisfaction, but emotion
is the lowliest of the virtues, if it is a virtue at all. Mind
has in it the capacity to know all things, or, at least, the
minds of angels."'
(from Dialouges with the Devil)
During her career Caldwell's books have sold over thirty
million copies. She received several awards, among them the
National League of American Pen Woman gold medal (1948), Buffalo
Evening News Award (1949), and Grand Prix Chatvain (1950).
"Jason raised his eyes and smiled. God is good. He moves
mysteriously, as the priests say, but he has his ways, he has
his ways!
He is not the adversary of man. Man is, Jason thought. God is
not to be understood by man. He is just to be trusted."
(from Answer as a Man)
Caldwell was married four times. She was an outspoken
conservative and for a time associated with the anti-Semitic
Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, GROWING UP TOUGH, appeared in 1971.
Caldwell continued writing until 1980, when a stroke left her deaf
and unable to speak. She died in Greenwich, Connecticut on
September 2, 1985.
For further reading: In Search of Taylor Caldwell by J.
Stearn (1974); Twentieth-Century Romance & Historical Writers,
ed. by Lesley Henderson (1990); World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by
Martin S. Aeymour-Smith and Andrew C. Kimmens (1996, vol. 1).
|
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other covers - different from my copy printed in 1993
which was the 43rd edition
DVD Cover
In The Captains and the Kings (1976)
Caldwell takes on the global power brokers. In this book we find,
running through the story line, a description of the way the
international financiers and industrialists (all private
consortiums owned by an elite of the world's richest families and
persons) hijack governments around the globe; instigating wars and
gaining control over the warring countries through manipulation of
the enormous debts incurred during a war. Mentioned too is the
Council on Foreign Relations; and while a disclaimer states that
all persons portrayed in the book are fictional, it is clear that
the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as another major
organization of the globalists are both very real organizations.
Also described is the idea that political systems everywhere, and
certainly in the US, are almost totally dominated by the ruling
elite; and that no one even gets into the running for a major
political office unless the elite believes the person is under
their control. It is explained that this can be direct control;
e.g., the candidate takes a solemn oath to be true to that
organization above all others; or indirect control: the candidate
is known to have done something illegal or scandalous. The threat
of public exposure can then be used to bend the person to the will
of the elite. Politicians can also be compromised through a
"set-up".
When necessary the elite will play that hand (conform or
be ruined by the controlled media). It is further explained that
there have been a few who were not under the control of the elite
(back in the 40s and 50s) and who had some success on their own.
These individuals were not corruptible and in such cases very
dirty tricks were employed against them. There is a figure in the
book obviously symbolising JFK, who went along with the elitists
(his father's cronies), but who once in power went his own way -
resulting in his assassination.
The Captains and the
Kings was made into a TV mini-series that avoided all the
serious implications of the book and concentrated on being a
predictable sex-and-drama story.
EDITORS NOTE: Because of the article above, I was compelled to
look up the political groups mentioned. They didn't exist in the time
period of the book, but they existed during the time of the writing of the
book. For example:
The Council of Foreign Relations came into existence in 1921.
The Council on Foreign Relations ( CFR) is an
American
nonpartisan foreign policy membership organization founded in
1921 and based at 58 East 68th Street (at
Park Avenue) in
New York City, with an additional office in
Washington, D.C. Many believe it to be the most powerful
private organization to influence
United States foreign policy.
It publishes the bi-monthly journal
Foreign Affairs. It has an extensive website, featuring
links to its
think tank, The
David Rockefeller Studies Program, other programs and
projects, publications, history, biographies of notable directors
and other board members, corporate members, and press releases.
The Council's mission is promoting understanding of foreign
policy and the United States' role in the world. Meetings are
convened at which government officials, global leaders and
prominent members debate major foreign-policy issues. It has a
think tank that employs prominent scholars in international
affairs and it commissions subsequent books and reports. A central
aim of the Council, it states, is to "find and nurture the next
generation of foreign policy leaders." It established "Independent
Task Forces" in 1995, which encourage policy debate. Comprising
experts with diverse backgrounds and expertise, these task forces
seek consensus in making policy recommendations on critical
issues; to date, the Council has convened more than fifty times.[2]
The internal think tank is The David Rockefeller Studies
Program, which grants fellowships and whose programs are described
as being integral to the goal of contributing to the ongoing
debate on foreign policy; fellows in this program research and
write on the most important challenges facing the United States
and the world.
At the outset of the organization, founding member
Elihu Root said the group's mission, epitomized in its journal
Foreign Affairs, should be to "guide" American public
opinion. In the early 1970s, the CFR changed the mission, saying
that it wished instead to "inform" public opinion.
The earliest origin of the Council stemmed from a working
fellowship of about 150 scholars, called "The
Inquiry," tasked to brief President
Woodrow Wilson about options for the postwar world when
Germany was defeated. Through 1917–1918, this academic band,
including Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend Col.
Edward M. House, as well as
Walter Lippmann, gathered at 155th Street and Broadway in New
York City, to assemble the strategy for the postwar world. The
team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing
the political, economic, and social facts globally that would be
helpful for Wilson in the peace talks. Their reports formed the
basis for the
Fourteen Points, which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace
after war's end.These scholars then traveled to the
Paris Peace Conference, 1919 that would end the war; it was at
one of the meetings of a small group of British and American
diplomats and scholars, on
May
30,
1919, at the Hotel Majestic, that both the Council and its
British counterpart, the
Chatham House in
London, were born. Although the original intent was for the
two organizations to be affiliated, they became independent
bodies, yet retained close informal ties.
Some of the participants at that meeting, apart from Edward
House, were
Paul Warburg,
Herbert Hoover,
Harold Temperley,
Lionel Curtis,
Lord Eustace Percy,
Christian Herter, and American academic historians
James Thomson Shotwell of
Columbia University,
Archibald Cary Coolidge of
Harvard, and
Charles Seymour of
Yale.
The modern Illuminati came into existence in: 1776
Illuminati (plural of
Latin
illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name that refers to several groups,
both historical and modern, and both real and fictitious. Historically, it
refers specifically to the (Bavarian)
Illuminati, an
Enlightenment-era
secret society founded on May 1st, 1776, which was dedicated to the
systematic and stealthy conquest of nations, one by one, and ultimately
the entire world.[1]In
modern times it is also used to refer to a purported conspiratorial
organization which acts as a shadowy
power behind the throne, allegedly controlling world affairs through
present day
governments and
corporations, usually as a modern incarnation or continuation of the
Bavarian
Illuminati. In this context, Illuminati is often used in reference
to a
New World Order (NWO). Many
conspiracy theorists believe the Illuminati are the masterminds behind
events that will lead to the establishment of such a New World Order.
In more rare cases, the Illuminati might refer to a
gnostic elite who do not cooperate completely with the
Bavarian Illuminati's agenda of world domination, but like those
who do, they focus upon the belief that they are uniquely
empowered by their pseudo-Buddhist-like
enlightenment, similar to the
intelligentsia classes of today are empowered by their
education and intelligence. These are people who consider
themselves to have become illuminated and have achieved a
far greater mystical understanding of the universe than the vast
majority of the ignorant masses of the world. Many secret
societies and
mystical traditions are concerned with the attainment of this
kind of illumination or enlightenment via
occult practices, and with keeping its secrets to themselves
and their initiates, such as the
Rosicrucian Societies and
Martinist Societies.
The Bilderbergs came into existence in 1954:
The original Bilderberg conference was held at the
Hotel de Bilderberg, near
Arnhem in
The Netherlands, from
May
29 to
May
31,
1954. The meeting was initiated by several people, including
Joseph Retinger, concerned about the growth of
anti-Americanism in
Western Europe, who proposed an international conference at
which leaders from European countries and the United States would
be brought together with the aim of promoting understanding
between the
cultures of
United States of America and
Western Europe.Retinger approached
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who agreed to promote the
idea, together with
Belgian
Prime Minister
Paul Van Zeeland, and the head of
Unilever at that time, the Dutchman
Paul Rijkens. Bernhard in turn contacted
Walter Bedell Smith, then head of the
CIA, who asked Eisenhower adviser
C. D. Jackson to deal with the suggestion. The guest list was
to be drawn up by inviting two attendees from each nation, one
each to represent
conservative and
liberal (both terms used in the American sense) points of
view.
The success of the meeting led the organizers to arrange an
annual conference. A permanent
Steering Committee was established, with Retinger appointed as
permanent secretary. As well as organizing the conference, the
steering committee also maintained a register of attendee names
and contact details, with the aim of creating an informal network
of individuals who could call upon one another in a private
capacity. Conferences were held in France, Germany, and Denmark
over the following three years. In 1957, the first U.S. conference
was held in
St. Simons, Georgia, with $30,000 from the
Ford Foundation. The foundation supplied additional funding of
$48,000 in 1959, and $60,000 in 1963.
Dutch economist
Ernst van der Beugel took over as permanent secretary in 1960,
upon the death of Retinger. Prince Bernhard continued to serve as
the meeting's chairman until 1976, the year of his involvement in
the
Lockheed affair. There was no conference that year, but
meetings resumed in 1977 under
Alec Douglas-Home, the former
British
Prime Minister. He was followed in turn by
Walter Scheel,
ex-President of West Germany,
Eric Roll, former head of
SG Warburg and
Lord Carrington, former
Secretary-General of
NATO.
NOTE: John F. Kennedy was assassinated on my husband's birthday -
November 22, 1963. I sat on the floor in the living room watching
this happening on television, tears running down my face, with my three
oldest sons who were all babies at the time sitting on my lap while the
birthday cake was baking in the oven. It was terrible day for
everyone. I was never satisfied that Oswald killed him all by
himself, and I've collected dozens of books written by researchers to
prove that fact. See;
http://www.greatdreams.com/consp.htm |
BRIEF STUDY GUIDE
FROM:
http://www.bookrags.com/shortguide-captains-and-the-kings/The overwhelming theory
advanced in this novel is that the world is run by an
international, apolitical cabal of bankers. According to
the author's voice, the American Civil War was planned
in London in 1857 in order to raise vast sums of money.
This cabal of the "Elite" has no nationalistic
prejudices, for they are loyal only to each other and to
their banking interests.
NOTE:
1861/1865 Civil War Union Participants 2,213,000 -
Union Deaths in Service - 364,000
Confederate Participants* 1,000,000 -
Confederate Deaths in Service* 133,821
When Abraham
Lincoln
talked forgiveness for the
South and threatened the extravagant hopes for plunder
and profit from the vanquished land, he was eliminated.
When Garfield showed sympathy for the plight of
immigrant worker, he was
eliminated. McKinley did not want a Spanish-American War
(although his vice president did), and he too was
eliminated. When Rory Armagh, groomed for the
presidential nomination in 1912, decides to blow the
whistle.....
NOTE:
-
The assassinated presidents were Lincoln,
Garfield, and McKinley ....
On July 21, 1881
Garfield was boarding a train in
Washington DC when he was shot ...
www.greatdreams.com/prsdeth.htm
Joseph
Francis X. Armagh was thirteen years
old when his mother died on the ship
bearing them to America from the
Potato Famine. At home the Catholic
Irish were harassed by the hated
Sassenagh, but in the strange new
land, they were stripped of all
dignity. Joe vows to assume financial
responsibility
for his brother and infant sister,
entrusts them to a Catholic orphanage
and painfully makes his way into a
barbarically inhospitable and
prejudiced pre-Civil War America. He
is relentless in his climb upwards;
self-pity is as repugnant to him as
sentimentality, and compassion is an
insult.
On his way
to Titusville for the oil boom he is
adopted by a newly wealthy Irishman
who is impressed by the principled
youth and eventually makes him his
heir. He wisely diversifies his funds
and soon.....
Despite an
absence of literary
style (Caldwell is a
storyteller, not a
stylist), the raw
emotions of this
work grip the reader
and the
characterization,
although not
consummate in a
literary sense, is
satisfying to a
general audience.
Although there is a
certain looseness of
construction and
carelessness about
details (e.g., the
use of the term
muckraker before its
entrance into the
language, the Molly
Maguires described
as railroad
workers instead of
coal miners),
immediacy is
achieved by
references to issues
of the times and
occasionally by the
use of direct
quotations.....
One
theme
is
the
greed
of
those
who
have,
as
opposed
to
the
ignorance
and
credulity
of
those
who
have
not.
The
story
is
of
Joseph
Armagh's
revenge
on
a
world
that
forced
him
to
deny
his
own
identity
as
an
Irishman
and
as
a
"Roman"
(Catholic).
By
Joe's
own
characterization,
mankind
is
the
most
selfish
species
ever
"spewed
out
of
hell,"
and
the
novel
is
consistent
with
this
vision.
Joe's
ruthless
climb
to
the
top
is
a
joyless
quest
devoid
of
humor,
satisfaction,
or
empathy.
Because
the
inevitable
assassination
of
his
son
Rory
Armagh
is
accompanied
by
references
to
the
apocalyptic
vision
of
St.
John
the
Divine
who
foretold
the
enslavement
of
the
world,
there
is
as
well
a
lesson
in
the
implacability
of
Biblical
prophecy.
In 1976, a television miniseries of Captains and the Kings was made. Directed by Douglas Heyes and Allen Reisner, it starred Richard Jordan, Ray Bolger, Patty Duke Astin, Joanna Pettet, and Barbara Parkins. It was one of the first such miniseries, and, because another syndicate hastened to purchase Testimony of Two Men, Caldwell was the only author with the distinction of having two such miniseries going at the same time.
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The long dynastic saga was not a new undertaking for Caldwell. Her very first novel Dynasty of Death (1938) about the Bouchard clan who controls a huge munitions trust, became a three book trilogy.
Writing
As a writer Caldwell was praised for her intricately plotted and suspenseful stories, which depicted family tensions and the development of the U.S. from an agrarian society into the leading industrial state of the world. Caldwell's heroes are self-made men of pronounced ethnic background, such as the German immigrants in The Strong City (1942) and The Balance Wheel (1951). Her themes are ethnic, religious and personal intolerance (The Wide House, 1945), the failure of parental discipline (Let Love Come Last, 1949) and the conflict between the desire for power and money and the human values of love and sense of family, presented in such works as Melissa (1948), A Prologue to Love (1962) and Bright Flows the River (1978).
Later works
In her later works Caldwell explored the American Dream and wrote stories "from rag to riches" course of life, among them Answer as a Man (1981). Caldwell's historical novels include The Arm and the Darkness, a fictionalized account of Cardinal Richelieu; A Pillar of Iron (1965), a fictional biography of Cicero, the Roman senator and orator; and The Earth Is the Lord's (1941), a fictional biography of Genghis Khan. Religious themes were prominent in several works. Answer as a Man begins with the clamour of the bells of a little church and ends with renewed faith.
- "Jason raised his eyes and smiled. God is good. He moves mysteriously, as the priests say, but he has his ways, he has his ways! He is not the adversory of man. Man is, Jason thought. God is not to be understood by man. He is just to be trusted." (from Answer as a Man).
In the story Jason Garrity pins his hopes on the building of a luxury hotel, but Caldwell deals also with politics and history ("Hell! thought Jason. What can I, as a single individual, do to prevent calamity? Nothing. Taft is the safest man. He is not an imperialist, like Roosevelt. Nor a social fanatic like Wilson. I'll vote for Taft."). Dear and Glorious Physician (1959) was about Luke the Evangelist, and Dialogues with the Devil (1967) was a study of good and evil. Caldwell depicts in it a correspondence between Lucifer and Michael, mixing in the dialogue old tales, a lost continent, and theological speculations.
- —'"Childish raptures! said Lucifer, with scorn, his eyes flashing like lightning. "Are we indeed whimpering and craven children, or slaves? Can we be content with toys and little deliciousnesses? Are we not mind, as well as emotion? And is not the mind, of both angel and man, the noblest of possessions, and worth exercising. It is in our minds that we approach the closest of Him, Who is all Mind. Mind is the creator of all philosophy, all order, all beauty, all satisfaction, but emotion is the lowliest of the virtues, if it is a virtue at all. Mind has in it the capacity to know all things, or, at least, the minds of angels."' (from Dialogues with the Devil)
Writing career
During her career as a writer Caldwell's books sold over thirty million copies. She received several awards, among them the National League of American Pen Women gold medal (1948), Buffalo Evening News Award (1949), and Grand Prix Chatvain (1950). Caldwell was married four times altogether — the third time to William Everett Stancell, and the fourth and final time to William Robert Prestie, who was a follower of Subud (he died in 2002). She had two daughters, Judith and Mary (Judith died in 1979). She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion. Caldwell continued writing until 1980, when a stroke left her deaf and unable to speak. She died of pulmonary failure in Greenwich, Connecticut on September 2, 1985.
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-
Taylor Caldwell
- *novelist Willa Cather (My Antonia, O, Pioneers! or
any of her novels and short stories) See also Cora's Eng 104
Author Links (1): Cather ...
www.greatdreams.com/great_women_writers.htm
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