by Richard Subber | Jan 6, 2026 | Reflections, Tidbits
be thankful for more than the leftovers…
“They [the godless Yankees] had…
invented a holiday called Thanksgiving,
which Ruby had only recently got news of,
but from what she gathered its features to be,
she found it to contain the mark of a tainted culture.
To be thankful on just the one day.”
from Cold Mountain
by Charles Frazier (b1950)
New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997
356 pages
Winner of the U. S. National Book Award for Fiction
p. 141
Ruby always set her mind straight.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
“The beginning is always today.”
(quote, Mary Shelley)
so get started…
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many waters: more poems with 53 free verse poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
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by Richard Subber | Jan 4, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, History, Human Nature
the work of mortal men and women…
Book review:
The Rise of Christianity:
A Sociologist Reconsiders History
by Rodney Stark (1934-2022)
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996
246 pages
The rise of Christianity in the centuries after the life of Jesus relied on the work of mortal women and men.
Stark offers a patient and compelling description of how Christianity spread from Nazareth in Galilee and became a powerful force throughout the known Greco-Roman world before Emperor Constantine embraced the faith early in the 4th century AD.
This is not a “religious” book. The words “bible,” “hymn,” “communion,” “priest,” “Pope,” and “prayer” are not in the index. The Rise of Christianity acknowledges but does not dwell on the doctrinal aspects of the Christian faith in the early years.
I wouldn’t presume to summarize Stark’s account of the sociological, emotional, and political factors that enabled the rise of Christianity.
You may find it surprising and valuable to know that the new religion appealed to both the rich and the poor, that women were the majority of first converts, that women held leadership positions in the early churches, and that the Christian commitment to help one another notably enabled the Christian communities to do better in surviving the plagues that killed so many people in the early centuries (the pantheons of non-Christian gods were conspicuously unhelpful).
Stark says: “Finally, what Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity. In this sense, virtue was its own reward.” (p215)
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 52 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
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by Richard Subber | Jan 1, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry
The Book of Days
The dawn’s early light can be pleasure enough for the whole day.
There are words enough to tell the story of “the temptation of day to come.”
It is my delight to write some of them for your delectation.
Lazing…
Arched across the vault,
these vapors linger,
barely nudged by breezes of the night,
these lazy smears of dawn,
they do not hide,
nor reach for higher sky,
but mark impending day…
July 13, 2024
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
1491 by Charles Mann (book review)
…lost American legacies
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many waters: more poems with 53 free verse poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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