The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug For Troy | Laura Amy Schlitz | Humor and Humanity     books:     The Hero Schlieman...   The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug For Troy Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick, 2006 - 80 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image  for more information click here        highly recommended Archaeologist? Mythmaker? Crook? This engaging, illustrated biography of Heinrich Schliemann ? a nineteenth-century romantic who most believe did find the ancient city of Troy ? reveals him to be a fascinating mixture of all three. From the time Heinrich Schliemann was a boy ? or so he said ? he knew he was destined to dig for lost cities and find buried treasure. And if Schliemann had his way, history books would honor him to this day as one of the greatest archaeologists who ever lived. But a little digging into the life of Schliemann himself reveals that this nineteenth-century self-made man had a funny habit of taking liberties with the truth. Like the famous character of his hero, the poet Homer, Schliemann was a crafty fellow and an inventor of stories, a traveler who had been shipwrecked and stranded and somehow survived. And Heinrich Schliemann was determined to become a legend like Homer ? but in his own time. Following this larger-than-life character from his poor childhood in Germany to his achievement of wealth as a merchant in Russia, from his first haphazard dig for the city of Ilium to his final years living in a pseudo "Palace of Troy," this engrossing tale paints a portrait of contradictions? a man at once stingy and lavishly generous, a scholar both shrewd and reckless, a speaker of twenty-two languages and a health fanatic addicted to cold sea baths. Laura Amy Schlitz weaves historical facts among Schliemann's fanciful recollections, while Robert Byrd's illustrations evoke his life and times in wonderful detail. Along the way, THE HERO SCHLIEMANN gives young readers food for discussion about how history sometimes comes to be written ? and how it sometimes needs to be changed.  for more information click here What a Find This is first and foremost a good story, well told, with a style lively and lucid enough to engage all readers, not just kids. It is well-researched, well-documented and just plain captivating. Both text and illustrations (Robert Byrd)have a gentle humor that almost make the reader unaware of how much information is being presented. By portraying Schlieman honestly but with sympathy, Amy Schlitz very likely will inspire young readers to believe they too can follow their dreams wherever they lead. (My first review for Amazon, and I don't know either author or illustrator. I just admire the book.)  for more information click here Humor and Humanity Schliemann, Laura Schlitz notes wryly, had "lie" in the middle of his name. With wit and feeling, she brings to life his entertaining true adventures--and his entertaining lies. He is real, and very human: Brilliant. Arrogant. Maddening. Improbable. And very, very lucky. We get to see his triumphs and his flaws, to root for him and be appalled by him, to enjoy his life and be saddened by his death. This is for children with an interest in archaeology, history, Greek mythology--or just a great story. It is so well told that it may spark new interests: It tells a bit about Homer, the Illiad, and the Odyssey; it contains an easy, amusing explanation of "stratification"--the layers that archaeologists must dig through, and the history contained in each; and there are notes on the bibliography to guide readers who want to know more. Robert Byrd's fanciful illustrations capture the grandeur and humor perfectly.  for more information click here Dishonesty pays well! " The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake." Alan Greenspan- Dishonesty ----------------------------------------------------- The "... hot headed, touchy, and dreamy..."[pg. 61] egomaniac, "Storyteller, archaeologist, and crook -- Heinrich Schliemann left his mark upon the world."[72] thanks to his vivid "... imagination changed archaeology forever."[pg.72] through misrepresentation of facts which paid off handsomely. "I have had more luck than foresight in my life," he admitted. It could also be said that he made his own luck."[72.] "... his enemies simply could not stand him. They were disgusted by his romaticism, his boasting, his hysterical excitement... a shrill and vulgar little man."[pg. 56.] He was offensive: -- with regard to the meeting of his second wife "The Engastromenos family was excited by the prospect of having a millionaire in the family..." [pg. 38]. "When Heinrich spoke to her alone he asked her point-blank, 'Why do you wish to marry me?' Sophia replied, 'Because my parents have told me that you are a rich man!'"[pg. 38]. Infuriated, he pondered that "truth hurts." In the marriage, the much younger Sophia was wise in thought "...Henry was a genius and that geniuses were not quite like other people." -- Instead of carefully sifting through the mound, layer by layer, he decided to dig out vast trenches -- rather as if he were removing slices from a cake... And so he dug, violently and impatiently. Frank Calvert advised him to proceed with care, to sift through what he was throwing away, but Heinrich was not a cautious man. He wacked away at the mound as if it were a pinata. Modern archaeologists do not dig like this. They remove the earth gently and keep detailed records of what they find. If they find an artifact that isn't what they're hoping to find, they don't discard the artifact: they change their ideas. Instead of looking for something, they examine whatever comes to light. Heinrich, ofcourse, was looking for Homer's Troy. 'Troy.. was sacked twice,' modern archaeologists remark, 'once by the Greeks and once by Heinrich Schliemann.' It is generally agreed that Schliemann did more damage than the Greeks." [pages 40-41.] --"The admission 'I shared Frank Calvert's opinion' changed gradually to 'Frank Calvert, the famous archaeologist... shares my opinion...' Eventually Heinrich who admitted that he was 'a braggart and a bluffer,' made the discovery sound as if it were his alone." [pg. 35.] Had this book or one similar to it, accompanied my forced reading in middle school of The Illiad, it may have been less an ordeal. Teachers, think about including interesting extra reading material when having your students read The Illiad (and the like), lest you loose them! Graverobber mentality, scary man, scary book!  for more information click here the hero schlieman a childrens book. Very nice. I found the author a little too cynical about Schleimann who was a reall romantic A Real Hero? This is about an awful man, but what a man! He's devious, deceptive, lucky, pathetic, poor, brilliant, then rich--wow. His real life was amazing, but I want to read about heroes, and he's NOT heroic. There's nothing wrong with the author's writing ability, but she picked such a loser of a man to write about that I wasn't rooting for him. Can I recommend this book? Only if you're really interested in ancient Troy. reviews: page 1, 2 products you might be interested in search for books the dreamer, dreamer, hero, schliemann, troy, who      toavi.com    web randomly chosen VHS: Inspector Morse (Collection Set 5)