Books with author Pamela Johnson

Eminent historian Paul Johnson dazzles with a rich, succinct portrait of Mozart and his music As he s done in "Napoleon," "Churchill," "Jesus," and "Darwin," acclaimed historian and author Paul Johnson here offers a concise, illuminating biography of Mozart. Johnson s focus is on the music Mozart s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation. Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained copyist could write in a lifetime. Mozart s gift and skill with instruments was also remarkable as he mastered all of them except the harp. For example, no sooner had the clarinet been invented and introduced than Mozart began playing and composing for it. In addition to his many insights into Mozart s music, Johnson also challenges the many myths that have followed Mozart, including those about the composer s health, wealth, religion, and relationships. Always engaging, Johnson offers readers and music lovers a superb examination of Mozart and his glorious music, which is still performed every day in concert halls and opera houses around the world."

First published in 1976, Paul Johnson's exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude. In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Johnson has illuminated the Christian world and its fascinating history in a way that no other has. In "the best one-volume history of Christianity ever done," according to The Christian Century, Johnson takes off in the year 49 with his namesake the apostle Paul. Thus beginning an ambitious quest to paint the centuries since the founding of a little-known "Jesus Sect", A History of Christianity explores to a great degree the evolution of the Western world. With an unbiased and overall optimistic tone, Johnson traces the fantastic scope of the consequent sects of Christianity and the people who followed them. Information drawn from extensive and varied sources from around the world makes this history as credible as it is reliable. Invaluable understanding of the framework of modern Christianity - and its trials and tribulations throughout history - has never before been contained in such a captivating work.