Reviews (2)

Two Years In The Melting Pot
As of you always heard people saying America is the melting pot, or a salad bowl, well this book tells the story of a Chinese man learn what it is to be and how hard it is to adapted to another culture. As the heart broken story start with him leaving his home of his family and children are waiting for him when he get back from his educational journey. Nearing half of his life away, he have leave home many times some times even long and much more dangerous then this journey to America but everyone still strong, but the story, the author have his way of describing the sadness of leaving his home and his family.
Liu Zongren shown a lot of honesty in himself with other, and also the humor of how the author describe the ways that he adapted to the American ways with his many questions of the cultures he barely know and soon be leaving again. As the author dealing with cultures shock you will be drawn into the book and soon you will feel that you are dealing with the culture shock with the author also, the writing of Liu is very strong and it will attract you to the book as you read along.

two years in the melting pot
Are you interested to know how a Chinese person experienced cultural shock in the US ? Then this book is a MUST. No book that I have read about the Chinese (and I have read many indeed) has touched me as profoundly as this precious glimpse into the personal feelings (rarely shared with Westerners) experienced by a gentle Chinese man during his two year stay in the Chicago area during the early 1980s. His English is excellant and his literary style very expressive and easy to read. His honesty and humor can not fail to touch the soul of the reader. I am deeply grateful to Mr. Liu for sharing his thoughts and experiences with us. ... Read more

Book Description

Winner of the 1991 PEN/Jerard Fund Award, Talking to High Monks in the Snow captures the passion and intensity of an Asian-American woman's search for cultural identity. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Not her best
I would suggest that you read this only after reading The Strangeness of Beauty, which is a wonderfully written novel.

Grateful to Ms. Minatoya for sharing....Engrossing..........
I was reading "Growing Up Asian American" and had it for over a year. Recently I have been wanting to hear more from other Asian Americans and so, resumed reading the excerpts authors shared. I read Ms. Minatoya's story and was disappointed that there wasn't more! So the next day I went and bought Talking to High Monks in the Snow. And I have just finished reading it. It's one of those books that I come across infrequently, the kind that I absolutely MUST get to the last page before I go to sleep. Because of school I longed for the moments when I could sit and enjoy my newfound treasure, on trains, breaks, at home. Ms. Minatoya is subtle in her writing but it sure hits you when you're through with the sentence. I felt the pangs of pain and embarassment and degradation when she did. It brought back sad memories. The great thing though is that she isn't sappy and she doesn't want my pity just because I relate to her. Ms. Minatoya is eloquently matter-of-fact. With each section of her book, I was amazed more and more. I wished I went to all the places she has been to, Boston, Japan, China, Nepal, and done the things she has. Actually, I admire her because she was and probably still is BOLD and DETERMINED. She has gone to all these countries and actually lived and worked there, not just visit as a tourist. She has taught and communicated deeply with people in these countries. Thanks to Ms. Minatoya, I have this urge to start a club at my college. A reading and discussional group for Asian Americans and non-Asians. I feel that many in my school and city do not appreciate our rich heritage as much as I wish they did. A club that will teach and show through discussions, reading, and debate, the sincere, talented, proud people such as Ms. Minatoya. Talking to High Monks in the Snow is a truly wonderful book for Asians and non-Asians alike. Before I read it for the second time...Thanks Amazon for letting me share my thoughts!

Debbie Yeung ... Read more

Book Description

In 2002, as Sierra Leone prepared to announce the end of its brutal civil war, the distinguished anthropologist, poet, and novelist Michael Jackson returned to the country where he had intermittently lived and worked as an ethnographer since 1969. While his initial concern was to help his old friend Sewa Bockarie (S. B.) Marah—a prominent figure in Sierra Leonean politics—write his autobiography, Jackson’s experiences during his stay led him to create a more complex work: In Sierra Leone, a beautifully rendered mosaic integrating S. B.’s moving stories with personal reflections, ethnographic digressions, and meditations on history and violence.

Though the Revolutionary United Front (R.U.F.) ostensibly fought its war (1991–2002) against corrupt government, the people of Sierra Leone were its victims. By the time the war was over, more than fifty thousand were dead, thousands more had been maimed, and over one million were displaced. Jackson relates the stories of political leaders and ordinary people trying to salvage their lives and livelihoods in the aftermath of cataclysmic violence. Combining these with his own knowledge of African folklore, history, and politics and with S. B.’s bittersweet memories—of his family’s rich heritage, his imprisonment as a political detainee, and his position in several of Sierra Leone’s post-independence governments—Jackson has created a work of elegiac, literary, and philosophical power. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Mead and Benedict: Kinship of Women
I found this book extraordinary good reading. It reviews their lives during childhood and moves thru both Mead's and Benedict's lives until Benedict's death in 1948. The last chapter does provide information about what happened to the leading players in the lives of both women in later years. I found it much easier to read than Howard's book, which is completely different, with lots of stories about Mead but very difficult to follow chronologically. The author's background in psychology is evident and I recommend the book highly.

A Special Friendship and Bond
As a historian of anthropology, I looked forward to reading this book. The relationship between Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead has been subject to much speculation. No scholar has seriously analyzed the impact the relationship had on the two women in question or American anthropology in general. While several biographies are available about Benedict and Mead, none delve deeply into the relationship they shared throughout their lives. Having finished the text in question, I am torn. For, as a historical analysis of Benedict and Mead the text is superficial. The author, Hilary Lapsley, a New Zealand psychologist who teaches women's studies, has a tendency to skate above the surface and does not delve deeply enough into the respective controversies Benedict and Mead became embroiled in during their careers.

This critique however is rather specialized. For the vast majority of readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of the history of American anthropology will be impressed by a sympathetic portrait of two of the most influential women in anthropology to date. The fact that Benedict and Mead were lovers is now well known and their "friendship" is contextualized within women's studies, feminist psychology, and lesbian studies. The author, herself a lesbian, adds great insight into the nature of their relationship for she points out it was not condcuted in isolation. It is her examination of Benedict's and Mead's "friendship cirlces" that I found particularly insightful. By friendship the author is refering to the twentieth century version of what Carol Smith-Rosenberg called "the female world of love and ritual". The author also does not dwell too much on the sexual aspect of their relationship, a trap that might have sold more books but infringed on the dignity of Benedict and Mead.

In short, Lapsley's book is not a biography in any sense but a particularly personal portrait of two women, friends and lovers throughout their lives. As such, she sheds new light on their work and lives for both those interested in the history of anthropology and those with a general interest in Benedict and Mead. ... Read more

Book Description

All students and scholars are curious about the human faces behind the impersonal rhetoric of academic disciplines. Here twenty of America's most prominent sociologists recount the intellectual and biographical events that shaped their careers. Family history, ethnicity, fear, private animosities, extraordinary determination, and sometimes plain good fortune are among the many forces that combine to mold the individual talents presented in Authors of Their Own Lives. With contributions from women and men, young and old, native-born Americans and immigrants, quantitative scholars and qualitative ones, this book provides a fascinating source for students and professional sociologists alike. Some of the autobiographies maintain their reserve, others are profoundly revealing. Their subjects range from childhood, educational, and intellectual influences, to academic careerism and burnout, to the history of American sociology. Authors stands alone as a deeply personal autobiographical account of contemporary sociology. ... Read more

Book Description

At age 28, he was dean of Yale Law School; at 30, presidentof theUniversity of Chicago. By his mid-thirties, Robert Maynard Hutchins wasaneminent figure in the world of educational innovation and liberalpolitics. Andwhen he was 75, he told a friend, "I should have died at 35." Milton Mayer, Hutchins's colleague, and friend, gives an intimatepicture of theremarkably outstanding, and fallible, man who participated in many ofthiscentury's most important social and political controversies. He capturestheenergy and intellectual fervor Hutchins could transmit to others, andwhich theman brought to the fields of law, politics, civil rights, and publicaffairs. Rich in detail and anecdote, this memoir vividly brings to life both aman andan age. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A perfect memoir, aware of its pretensions but honest always
If you've never been exposed to the "Great Books" movement in higher education, you probably don't know who Robert Hutchins was. I only knew him as a dazzling champion of this almost-forgotten ideal of learning, as did his contemporaries. Milton Meyer showed me a man superhuman in his aims and yet tragically flawed. He espoused the Classics without being a true student of them, and yet was he not more Shakespearean than any of the professors he governed? Anyway, the book moved me. If you have any ability to be inspired by the story of an imperfect man, read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the leading public intellectuals of twentieth-centuryAmerica and a pioneering and brilliant social scientist, C. Wright Mills left alegacy of interdisciplinary and hard-hitting work including two books thatchanged the way many people viewed their lives and the structure of power in theUnited States: White Collar (1951) and The Power Elite (1956). Millspersistently challenged the status quo within his profession--as in TheSociological Imagination (1959)--and within his country, until his untimelydeath in 1962. This collection of letters and writings, edited by his daughters,allows readers to see behind Mills's public persona for the first time.

Mills's letters to prominent figures--including Saul Alinsky, Daniel Bell,Lewis Coser, Carlos Fuentes, Hans Gerth, Irving Howe, Dwight MacDonald, RobertK. Merton, Ralph Miliband, William Miller, David Riesman, and Harvey Swados--arejoined by his letters to family members, letter-essays to an imaginary friend inRussia, personal narratives by his daughters, and annotations drawing onpublished and unpublished material, including the FBI file on Mills. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Wonderful Look At The Insights Of An Intellectual Titan!
No one has written with more verve and authority about the awesome and frightening capabilities of man than the late C. Wright Mills, a prominent and controversial sociologist who wrote such memorable tomes as "White Collar", an exploration of the emerging American Middle class in the early 1950s, and The Power Elite", a provocative examination of the nature of power, privilege, and status in the United States, and how each of these three critical elements of power and property in this country are irrevocably connected to each other. At last look, both books were still in print and are still used in both undergraduate and graduate sociology courses throughout the world. After fifty years, that in and of itself is powerful testimony to his enduring value as a scholar and an original thinker.

Here Mills focuses memorably on the qualities and uses of the sociological perspective in modern life, how such a scientifically based way of looking at, interpreting, and interacting with the larger world invests its user with a better, more accurate, and quite instrumental picture of what is happening meaningfully around him. For Mills, the key to understanding the value in such a perspective is in appreciating that one can only understand the motives, behavior, and actions of others by locating them within a wider and more meaningful context that connects their personal biographies with the large social circumstances that surround, direct, and propel them at any given historical moment. For Mills, for example, trying to understand the reasoning behind the sometimes desperate actions of Jews in Nazi Germany without appreciating the horrifyingly unique existential circumstances they found themselves in is hopelessly anachronistic and limited.

On the other hand, one invested with such an appreciation for how biography and history interact to create the meaningful social circumstances of any situation finds himself better able to understand the fact that when in a country of one hundred million employed, one man's singular lack of employment might be due to his persoanl deficiencies or lack of a work ethic, and be laid at his feet as a personal trouble, it is also true that when twenty million individuals out of that one hundred million figure suddenly find themselves so disposed and unemployed, that situation is due to something beyond the control of those many individuals and is best described in socioeconomic terms as a social problem to be laid at the feet of the government and industry to resolve. To Mills, it is critical to understand the inherant differences between personal troubles on the one hand, which an individual has the responsibity to resolve and overcome, and social ills, which are beyond both his ken or control. Indeed, according to Mills, increasingly in the 20th century one finds himself trapped by social circumstance into dilemmas he is absolutely unable to resolve without significant help from the wider social community.

Thus, for both psychological as well as social reasons, a person using the sociological perspective, or invested with what he called the "sociological imagination", is more able to think and act critically in accordance with the evidence both outside his door and beyond himself. Fifty years later, such a recognition of "what's what" and "who's who" based on the ability to judge the information within the social environment is as valuable as ever. This is a wonderful book, written in a very accessible and entertaining style, meant both for an intellectual audience and for the scholastic community as well. While it may not be for "everyman", any person wanting to better understand and more fully appreciate how individual biography and social history meaningfully interact to create the realities we live in will enjoy and appreciate this legendary sociological critique and invitation to the pleasures of a sociological perspective by one of its most remarkable proponents some half century ago.

Publisher responds to customer review
A customer review on this site states that the editors have changed the word "men" to "people" in the letters. As the publisher, we would like to place this statement in its proper context.

The unmarked edits only occurred in the Tovarich letters, those that were written to an imaginary Russian correspondent. Mills "made it clear [to his agent] that he wanted the Tovarich writings to be edited before they were published . . . his marginal comments included these instructions: 'very good, use it,' 'can't use this,' 'cut somewhat.'" And so, unlike for the rest of the letters, the editors "did not mark deletions with ellipses and occasionally changed the location of paragraphs, shortened a heading, or relaced a heading with a phrase that Mills had written in the text. Although we usually left the original references to men, boys, women, and girls in these essays, we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people.'"

In the rest of the letters, the only editorial changes were spelling corrections and occasional deletions (the latter are always marked with brackets).

C. Wright Mills: Letters and Writings, A Brief Review
I have been eagerly awating the publication of these glimpses into Mills' 'personal' life. The book is organized, for the most part, chronologically. Its contents are mostly letters written by this most influental radical intellectuall of the cold war period. The letters (and autobiographical writings disguised as letters) reveal Mills to be as intense, focused, and dedicated to his social analysis as I, a student of his work, have imagined him to be. The writings are beautifully composed; Mills was indeed both a scientist AND an artist. His musings are inspiring for any student, scholar, or critical minded person who wants an insight into Mills "private" reflections. This book could also serve as a wonderful guide to a study of Mills' life-work, as we are given insight into his concerns and struggles during his writing process. I do have a complaint...his daughters, who have no doubt taken painstaking efforts to compose this work, have been so bold as to alter the language of his personal writings... "we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people'" (p. xiv). I think we are wise enough to realize that Mills language is a reflection of the social and historical context in which he lived...Regardless, we are lucky to have this invaluable resource that provides endless reflections into the life and though of C. Wright Mills. END ... Read more

Book Description

The Amazing Story of the British Evangelist Whose Heroic Efforts Touched Society's Greatest Evils

The expressions on the faces of the men, women, and children on the filthy, smelling streets of London's East End in 1865 told the sad story: for them, life would never change. They would always be poor, always hungry. No one would champion their cause.

As William Booth walked their streets, the British evangelist was deeply moved and revolted by the squalor. He knew he must dedicate his life to bringing new hope to these people. At that moment, the Salvation Army was born, and under its passionate and energetic founder began its growth into one of the most famous evangelistic agencies in the world.

The Biography of the Man They Loved to Call "The General"

Book Description

Known the world over for his work in early human origins, Richard Leakey was serving as director of Kenya's National Museums when in 1989 President Daniel arap Moi appointed him to run the country's Wildlife Conservation Department. The news stunned Leakey. He was suddenly in charge of an enormous bureaucracy whose responsibility was to oversee millions of square acres of parks and sanctuaries, and to protect the animals living in them. Like many other Kenyans, Leakey knew that the country's fabulous wildlife population was in very real danger, and in particular the elephant. By the late 1980s, the once numberless herds of elephants that roamed its savannas were dwindling fast, victims to poachers armed with automatic weapons, bureaucratic inefficiency, and the world's appetite for ivory.Extinction was more than a theoretical possibility.

Leakey quickly realized he had been given far more than a job; he had been thrust onto the front lines of a wildlife war, one that was being fought as fiercely in Nairobi's government offices as in the parks themselves. Extreme conditions called for extreme measures. One of his first orders of business involved an enormous warehouse of confiscated elephant tusks that were to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the proceeds used to buttress the demoralized and nearly bankrupt Wildlife Department. Rather than sell the tusks, however, Leakey decided to burn them. The bonfire flames captured the world's attention. The fight to save the African elephant was ignited.

Wildlife Wars is Leakey's inspiring and dramatic account of these turbulent times, indelibly capturing Kenya's struggle to balance the needs of its human population with the task of maintaining the world-famous parks that are its major source of revenue. He threw himself into his job: restructuring the department, firing non-performing personnel, securing funds for equipment, and building up a park police force that had both the will and the means to take on the poachers. By slow degrees he and his colleagues at Wildlife were beginning to turn the tide. But the cost of success was often high. As candid and controversial as its author, this memoir, co-written with Leakey family biographer and writer Virginia Morell, is testimony to one man's commitment to save African wildlife and to serve his country. Richard Leakey has survived threats on his life, political attacks, and a plane crash that cost him both legs. Today, unbowed, he remains one of Kenya's-and sub-Saharan Africa's-most passionate spokesman for conservation, political, and economic reform. Wildlife Wars reveals how deeply his passion runs. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Less About Elephants, More About Bureaucracy & Ego
No one should dispute Leakey's dedication to the wildlife and people of his native Kenya. This book, however, is a rather dull account of the political intrigue and manouvering Leakey faced from 1989 to 1994 when he was involved with Kenya's various wildlife services. Those in the field may value his insights and perseverance, but the average reader may find his grandstanding and, at times, painstaking defensiveness a bit hard to stomach. I'd much rather read a book by those out in the field (such as rangers) who saw the elephants every day and who would have many a tale to tell about fighting off poachers and dealing with tourists and natives. Leave this book for the bureaucrats in world wildlife agencies.

A wildlife conservation story to inspire
Dr. Richard Leakey has authored a compelling account of his time at the helm of Kenya Wildlife Services. The book recounts the bush war against poaching, and contains a very vivid description of Kenyan political life. Sadly - and ironically - the success of Dr. Leakey's management of KWS created a long list of political adversaries that eventually forced Leaky to resign from the post.

There can be no doubt that Dr. Leakey has been the chief architect behind the saving of the African elephant from extinction by the hands of poachers. Dr. Leakey's work stands as one of the most important wildlife conservation achievements of all time. Finally, I believe Dr. Leakey is one of the - perhaps last? - great Kenyan patriots. This story inspires. If there were ever a Nobel Prize for bravery and commitment, surely it would be his.

Saving the elephants: the ultimate management challenge.
Anyone who has ever been to Kenya's extraordinary game parks to see the elephants, or dreamed of doing so, will be fascinated by this story of how these parks came to be the refuges they are and not the corrals for government-sanctioned poaching that they were. When paleontologist Richard Leakey took over the Department of Wildlife and Conservation in 1989, rampant corruption, theft, absenteeism, and a don't-care attitude were hallmarks within the department.

The Kenyan government lacked a real commitment to conservation, and the burgeoning population exerted pressure on national park borders, clearing land for farming and threatening wildlife, unimpeded. Poaching, patronage, a general ripoff mentality, and collusion between park rangers, politicians, blackmarketeers, and smugglers, were so interconnected and seemingly so ineradicable that the department resembled a many-headed hydra. Tribal rivalries within Kenya, a porous border through which Somalian thieves made forays, and a lack of agreement between Kenya and neighboring African countries about the best way to conserve animals made this one of the most daunting management challenges imaginable.

In prose that is as direct and to the point (and sometimes as self-congratulatory) as he is, Leakey tells how he managed a multimilliondollar corporation in a country in which everyone wants a piece of the pie, usually under the table. As Leakey tells of cleaning up the department and conserving the elephants, the reader also learns about the economics of the ivory trade, the tug-of-war between immediate political realities and long-term goals, the role of the World Bank in African development, and the politicking involved in deciding what is an endangered species under the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It's a fascinating tale, equally intriguing to the lover of wildlife, the student of management, and the East African history buff.

Great General Read and for Teaching Conservation Politics
Anything with the names Richard Leakey and Virginia Morell on the cover is guaranteed to be a worthwhile read. Like his equally brilliant and famous father Louis, Richard Leakey is not without controversial opinion. Though generally in agreement with the authors, I found this book challenging some of my basic assumptions about conservation. To that end the book provides an excellent point of departure for classroom discussions on major conservation issues of the day such as community roles in conservation, the effectiveness of National Parks in protecting wildlife and biodiversity, and the interplay between international, national and local needs and strategies. The book is an exhilarating, easy read and will appeal to a broad range of ages and cultural backgrounds.

magnificent
The text of the book,the determinatoin of the writer in combating poarching,the fight against corrupt elements within the industry i.e tourism and wildlife and above all the success of bringing this fight to the attention of the world all gives me the pleasure of praising this book. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Jewish immigrant comes of age
Kate Simon's little book will doubtless become a classic of the genre: memoir, coming of age, the immigrant experience, sexual awakening, life on the stoops in the Bronx...
Told unsentimentally and with a refreshingly straightforward style, Simon manages to convey both the sense and the essence of her unusual childhood to her readers.

Sometimes uncomfortable...
The frank portrayal of Simon's relationship with her father in this book is refreshing, as are many of the stories about daily life as a girl growing up Jewish in the Bronx after WWI. However, the parts dealing with sexual advances of older man and, in general, older people's sexual opportunism with younger people were things I found really disturbing. Simon tells these anecdotes well and evenly, but as a reader, I felt frustrated and helpless reading so much about the way the taboos of sexuality trapped kids into silence about their victimization.

An unintentionally poetic inspiring memoir
Good fortune was with me when I happened upon this book last year. It is now one of my all-time favorites and I went on to read the two books that chronologically follow this one. My only complaint is that Ms. Simon died before she had the chance to tell us every minute detail about her unextraordinary, extraordinary life. A Jewish immigrant household in the Bronx shaped Kate's wonderful and unique personality. She shares her childhood - engrossing tales of urban fairy tale embedded in the real world of poverty -with the aplomb of a grand story-teller. If only I could have met her. She is the baudy humorous glamorous grandmother we all wish was our own. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

3 or 4 star rating
Although the first half of the book is really boring, the second half makes up for the slow and banal start. The first half focuses on Japanese-American tribulations during the Pearl Harbor era, which through composition and writing style, certainly not topic, is a miserable read. The book doesn't begin to redeem itself until the author goes into his own personal struggles of sexual identity, which is great because most books that I've encountered in Asian-American issues usually goes into differences in food, domestic tribulations, or are too scholastic to enjoy on a personal level. On this point I felt it was a great read despite the first half. Though in hind sight, the first half seems integral for the continuity of which the book is based on; how history and experiences leave a residue of meaning that dissolves into reoccurring memories; these memories that keep coming back to shape our lives-these traces of identities. In this aspect it was hard for me to rate this book, which I struggled between a 3 or 4 star rating. I will say however, that it is a definite must read for any one who is familiar with Asian-American issues. Thank you David Mura for having the balls to write this book; it was worth the whole production despite the criticisms.

Mura makes an unflinching appraisal of many important issues
David Mura's book, as the subtitle suggests, spans some fairly heavy issues. For more than a few readers in my Asian American Literature class, this book was a little too explicit, but for anyone in search of a frank and personal account of the sansei experience, this may be it. Mura discusses the problems he inherits through his inculcation of the model minority myth, and the mantra on which he was raised: "Act like everybody else and you will BE like everybody else." The book charts Mura's dawning consciousness of his racial identity, as well as his deep addiction to promiscuity and pornography--an addiction that Mura identifies as stemming from the standards of white beauty trained in him since boyhood. His discussion of what pornography does to the male psyche are particularly interesting, and his assessment of his addiction in terms of his racial identity is not one that I have heard anywhere else.

The book certainly met with criticism from those who would rather emphasize race unity for the fact that by the end, Mura seems to distill every aspect of his life and his identity into a race issue. However, it was equally applauded in my class for the same issues. The explicit nature of the book seemed as much a pro as a con in discussion as well. Whatever the case, this is book that sparked a great deal of controversy at my university, and generated a great deal of conversation. If you are interested in the Asian American experience, this is certainly worth the read. You will have opinions about this book, I can guarantee you that, and no matter what they are, you will find plenty of people willing to argue them with you.

A must-read for Asian American men
I'm an American of Korean descent (2nd generation), born and raised in the Deep South. I bought this book two years ago, based on Mura's reputation and a sense that this book would speak to my emerging consciousness as an Asian American male. It sat on my shelf for 2 years until last week, and now I can see why. This is a painful read.

Other reviewers have branded this book as "self absorbed" and "tedious," which to me are the characteristics of the journey towards wholeness and healing. Read it if you are Asian or love someone who is.

All Asian-American men should read this book
Sometimes I felt that this book did not have much relevance to me. Then Mura really foes into discussing the struggles of Asian-Americans today. Problems of fitting in, and sexual stereotypes. His description of the Asian male being this country's eunuch really hit home. He put words to very deep, very vague feelings that I have carried and that a lot of asians growing up in this society probably have as well.

A not so wonderful confessional by a not so wonderful guy.
Mr. Mura leaves much to be desired with this literary piece. At times extremely frustrating, at others poignant, Mura's vision of the world might be judged simply as lacking in any type of insight into the world that surrounds him, but incredibly intuitive at describing issues arising out of his personal emotions and relations. There is danger here, pedantic rants at the treatment of Japanese-Americans in American history and contemporary culture are presented without mention of the xenophobia and the abuse of other Asian nationalities by the "home" archipelago. And yet the occassional awareness of the absurdity of his formed cosmology saves Mr. Mura's work, the descent from the fictional renderings of the internment camps that his forefathers endured to the sexual frustration of a spoiled, egotistical privileged Asian-American from the Chicago suburbs who found love in the cornfields of Grinnell, make this a story of a relatively interesting person who has not/ will not make much of a mark on the world. While I disagree profusely with Mr. Mura's commentary on racial dynamics in middle America, I read the book from cover to cover and feel little remorse for the time spent. It is rare that Asian-American Grinnell alumnists get a chance to gain this much access into the life of a fellow student; it is unfortunate that this is our one opportunity. ... Read more

Book Description

A compelling biography of a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, an eminent Chicago-trained sociologist, and a pioneering race relations leader. ... Read more

Book Description

Stuart Hall has been an inspirational figure for generations of academics. His early work on the media, his influential use of Gramsci in understanding Britain in the late 1970s, his unique and influential analysis of Thatcherism, and more recently his work on race and new ethnicities, have helped to make universities places where ideas and social commitment to change can co-exist. This collection invites a wide range of academics who have been influenced by Hall's writing to contribute not a memoir or a eulogy but an engaged piece of social, cultural or historical analysis which develops the field of thinking opened up by his enormous contribution.

Contributors include: Michele Barrett, Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, Nestor Garcia Canclini, James Clifford, Paul Gilroy, Henry Giroux, Lawrence Grossberg, Gail Lewis, Angela McRobbie, Doreen Massey, David Morley, Bill Schwarz, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Charles Taylor, and Lola Young. ... Read more

Book Description

Shere Hite_s ground breaking Hite Reports have had a profound and lasting influence on generations of readers. Dr. Hite writes here for the first time about growing up in rural Missouri, the early American feminist movement, her private life, and sexual identity. The Hite Reports, showing an increasing depth to her controversial theories, have been translated into 15 languages and published in 35 countries, receiving numerous academic and professional awards and honors.

"A revolutionary whose theories on sex and love ring true with so many women."_Joan Smith, Guardian

Book Description

In an expanded edition of her history of American women activists, Judith Nies has added biographical essays on feminist Bella Abzug and civil rights visionary Fannie Lou Hamer and a new chapter on women environmental activists. Included are portraits of Sarah Moore Grimké, who rejected her life as a Southern aristocrat and slaveholder to promote women's rights and the abolition of slavery; Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who led more than three hundred slaves to freedom on the Underground Railway; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the first woman to run for Congress, who advocated for women's rights to own property, to vote, and to divorce; Mother Jones, "the Joan of Arc of the coalfields," one of the most inspiring voices of the American labor movement; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who worked for the reform of two of America's most cherished institutions, the home and motherhood; Anna Louise Strong, an intrepid journalist who covered revolutions in Russia and China; and Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, who fed and sheltered the hungry and homeless in New York's Bowery for more than forty years. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Absolutely Marvelous and Inspiring
I absolutely loved this book. It was inspiring and moving and informative and beautifully written. I read every word, and was moved to tears several times. One of the true revelations was the piece about Bella Abzug, as I'd fallen prey to the media's image of her as a crazy broad with a hat! It was great to learn about the 'whole' Bella. The Charlotte Perkins Gilman chapter was also highly educational, as I'd only known her through The Yellow Wallpaper. But every chapter was fascinating, from the one on Mother Jones to the heart-wrenching story of Fannie Lou Hamer. I found myself reading passages aloud to my husband frequently, and he was equally moved and impressed.

Thanks to Judith Nies for writing it, and for so beautifully telling the moving stories of these heroic women. Bravo, bravo, bravo....

Fills a gap in the history books
Were you, like me, alwaays vaguely aware of Mother Jones, but ignorant of exactly who she was and what she did? This book filled some important gaps in my general knowledge, and inspired me with the stories of women who were able to see through the injustices of their time (slavery, unfair labor practices, denying women the vote, polluting, etc.) and work toward a boader view of justice and dignity, often at great personal cost. Nies is a thoughtful and measured writer, letting her own anger at injustice shine through these women's stories rather than using her subjects to advance her own agenda. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

In the swamps of Asmat in West New Guinea, Tobias Schneebaum-traveler, writer, painter, explorer-finds the way of life that suits him best. Secret Places reels readers into a world of storytellers and sorcerers, cannibals and carvers, a place where Schneebaum discovers his soulmates and his own soul.

Looking back at a life of wild adventure, Schneebaum seeks in Secret Places to intertwine the varied strands of his experience, pondering the parallel universes of his experience as a gay Jewish New Yorker and his years among the Asmat. The result illuminates both worlds-as when he juxtaposes the Asmat celebration of the spirits of the dead with a New York City plagued by AIDS and its own sad spirits.

"Once in a great while a truly original person like Tobias Schneebaum comes along. Everyone, including the primitive peoples he lives among, recognizes it instantly. Each new work is a demonstration of his remarkable spirit. May we all join in and celebrate his latest."-Edward Field, author of A Frieze for a Temple of Love

"Tobias Schneebaum's Secret Places is a wonderful, riveting memoir, filled with insight, startling honesty, and extraordinary glimpses into the spirit and life of the Stone Age-now almost vanished from the earth. It is a remarkable book."-Robert Klitzman, author of A Year-Long Night

"Schneebaum offers an entirely new and fresh form of ethnography-poetic, passionate, and personal. Secret Places distills his life's work into a compelling narrative and celebrates his love affair with Asmat. This is a gay ethnography that employs an artistic and forensic vision, as well as an excellent ear, in the creation of a fluent and complex account. What is so remarkable about the work is that Schneebaum manages to weave detailed and challenging anthropology and visual research into a tale of personal discovery. Few ethnographers can boast such an achievement."-Nick Stanley, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, University of Central England

"Modest candor, forceful and lucid writing, extraordinary abundance of information-these are the qualities of Schneebaum's saga. And for once the term is exact: these voyages of exploration and discovery, both in the remote world and in the remote self, are on an heroic scale. They are indeed fascinating, and to my mind indispensable."-Hayden Carruth, author of Beside the Shadblow Tree

"Schneebaum's compelling memoir seamlessly intertwines the life of an extraordinary anthropologist with the extraordinary art and culture of the Asmat of New Guinea."-Serena Nanda, author of Neither Man nor Woman ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Increased My Sense of Awe
In travels through faerie sanctuaries and other exotic lands, I've enjoyed the company of many unusual personalities. One of the most memorable is Tobias Schneebaum. Reading his latest book, Secret Places, has increased my sense of awe at the uniqueness of this man.

Toby's fame results largely from a brief encounter (an unpleasantly personal encounter) with cannibalism in the 1950s. His free-wheeling explorations of the Amazon region, searching for a life more meaningful than accumulating money and possessions, led to an extended visit with the little-known Akarama tribe. Toby bonded strongly with the indigenous tribal men, who had little or no experience of modern culture. He found himself embraced as a temporary memory of the tribe, and was included both in headhunting expeditions and same-sex celebrations of body and spirit. On one occasion, a traditional ceremony culminated in eating the heart of a captured warrior from a neighboring tribe; it would have been impolite (and probably dangerous) to decline.

His first book chronicling these and other adventures, Keep The River On Your Right, was published in 1969, and the book soon became a cult classic. Schneebaum became a rather unlikely, and somewhat notorious, celebrity. (Recently, the story has been retold and updated in a fascinating documentary film of the same name, now available on DVD and video - highly recommended.)
Toby's latest book, Secret Places, is one of a series of gay and Lesbian autobiographies from the University of Wisconsin Press. About half the book consists of detailed and fascinating stories of Toby's adventures with the Asmat people of New Guinea. It is probably no coincidence that he describes Asmat stories and myths as "not following any particular pattern. They do not have a beginning; they do not have an ending." My perception may be colored by the way I met the author a few years ago at a dinner party in New York, but to me, the book reads like a transcribed dinner conversation. Unlike any other autobiography I've read, the style is remarkably non-linear. For example, details are often repeated from prior pages as if brand new, as they might be in casual conversation. I found this loose approach unusual, and most enjoyable.

Jumping forward and backward in time and space, incorporating stories of his religious Jewish childhood, of New York friends succumbing to mid-80s AIDS, of aboriginal lovers in faraway lands, of missionaries bringing permanent change to ancient cultures, Toby regales the reader with episodes of his remarkable life. He is struck by the similarity between Catholic communion - eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ - and ritual cannibalism - eating the body and drinking the blood of conquered warriors. He chronicles a multinational company's bull-in-china-shop destruction of untouched wilderness among the Asmat, in an oblivious attempt to drill oil where only water exists. And he mourns the inevitable shift in artistic style among Asmat woodcarvers, from subtle hand-tooled techniques passed down from uncountable generations, to pretty but "soulless" items more easily sold to tourists for easy packing in their luggage or shipping home as excess baggage.
Toby's book is a small but generous gift, offering a glimpse into cultures and climes few will ever experience (and none will experience in the state of preservation that still existed at the time of his youth). It is thrilling to read about Toby's apparently fearless adventures, to enjoy them vicariously through his memoirs. Don't miss this book, and if you ever get the chance to hang out and chat with 80-something Tobias Schneebaum, it will be time well spent.

Reviewed By Mountaine in
White Crane Journal
A Journal on Gay Spirituality ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first full-length account of the life and ideas of Mary Douglas, whom many consider to be the most influential British social anthropologist of the modern era. Richard Fardon covers Douglas' family background, education and early research before providing an analysis of two of her most important works: Purity and Danger (1966) and Natural Symbols (1970). The final section deals with Douglas' often controversial forays across disciplinary boundaries--into Old Testament studies as well as the fields of economics, religion and risk analysis in contemporary societies.

An indispensable aid to further research, Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography offers a significant contribution to the history of social anthropology in the second half of the twentieth century and will surely remain the definitive work on its subject for years to come. ... Read more