Book Description
This beautifully illustrated book features classic cars between the 1950s and the early 1990s.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful book although it doesn't live up to its title........2006-06-27
This book is very beautiful. It has great pictures of each car from different angles, a short description of each car and lots of comments about certain details.
Although this is a very nice book, it doesn't quite live up to its title, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the descriptions for each car is quite short so if you're interested in some specific cars, you'll need to look elsewhere for more complete information.
The other reason is the choice of cars included in the book, as well as excluded. It's obviously very difficult to choose among all the classic cars in history, but here, the term "classis car" seems to have a vague defenition. Here are some cars that are undoubtedly classics because they are of great historical importance, such as Mini Cooper, Citroen 2CV, some that are classics because they are among the most sought after exclusive cars in the world, such as Bentley, Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 365, etc. But there are also those that don't seem to be classics at all, that the writer himself says are bad, like Maserati Kyalami and Daimler Dart. How come these are included when certain other classics are excluded? I also wonder why there are no pictures of the early Lamborghini Countach but only the anniversary model, and why did they chose late convertible models of classics such as Morris Minor and Volkswagen?
These are just minor flaws and this is a very good book that I'm glad I own. But don't buy it expecting an "ultimate classic car book".
Beautiful Book, But Doesn't Live Up to It's Title.......2006-03-10
I thoroughly enjoyed looking at everything contained in Quentin Wilson's "The Ultimate Classic Car Book," but what it contains doesn't even come close to earning it the title, "Ultimate."
Don't get me wrong, it's a very good book and may well be worth your $18 (or whatever you can get it for "Used"). But as a person who owns a classic car and has been active in classic car circles for several years, a book doesn't earn the "Ultimate" designation when it doesn't include the bullet-nosed 1950 or '51 Studebaker, a 1913 Stutz, the Tucker, a '41 Lincoln Zephyr, a '55 Plymouth Belvedere, a '57 Chevy Nomad, or several others widely recognized as classics.
Yes, I realize that my little list there is heavily skewed to American cars, but Wilson's book is VERY heavily skewed to include more models than necessary from Rolls-Royce/Bentley, BMW, Datsun, MG, and a couple of others. Again, don't misunderstand -- those are all great cars that he has included. I simply don't think you can include so many of those, ignore other obvious classics that many of us would like to learn and see more about, and still call your book "Ultimate".
I know I'm obsessing a bit, but if I only had $20 to spend on such a book and bought it over the Internet, I would feel a little cheated upon seeing how much it leaves out. Just make sure you review it thoroughly above so that your expectations are on target.
NICE BOOK SLIGHT ERROR.......2004-08-15
STAR OF THE SCREEN
ON PAGE 92 WHERE BULLITT AND THE CHARGER ARE MENTIONED, IT EXPLAINS HOW THE CHARGER ALSO HAD MAJOR ROLES IN THE 1970s CULT MOVIE >VANISHING POINT. AND THE AMERICAN TELEVISION SERIES>THE DUKES OF HAZZARD.
THE CAR THAT PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN VANISHING POINT IS IN FACT A "CHALLENGER" NOT A CHARGER AS INDICATED.
FOR SOMEONE WHO IS DOING RESEARCH OR LOOKING TO LEARN ABOUT CARS AND MOVIES, THAT BIT OF INFORMATION IS SPECIFICALLY INACCURATE.
a thorough work that is well worth [the money].......2003-03-10
It seems Quentin Willson has made the ideal coffee table book. The Ultimate Classic Car Book groups together all shapes and sizes of classic cars from DeLoreans to Datsuns and Vegas to Volkswagens, and all with original and beautiful photographs wrapped in concise and precise text equavalent to about a page of novel. Willson does a very consistent job of presenting each car with basic facts and statistics along side special traits or other interesting items that make each car unique. One example of an interesting fact is the mention of the "Autronic Eye" available as an option on the 1959 cadillac convertible that would dim the headlights when an oncoming car approached. Willson also gives us insight into the cars by adding his own commentary. Examples of this can be found in his reference to the "Autronic Eye" as a mere marketing gimmick that never took off and his accusal that the stainless steel of the delorean was a "cynical marketing ploy." Even if you aren't interested in reading about the many classic cars of the world, this book is worth a purchase just for the full color meticulously crafted photographs and trivia. I would recommend The Ultimate Classic Car book to anyone interested in learning about automobiles of the past
For your eyes..........2000-07-10
What diferentiate this book from the others are the photos. We can see that all of them were taken exclusively to this book. For all the cars there are front/side/rear view photos. For some of them there are also top-views, that is hard to find in other sources.
The text is consice, yet informative, and includes summarised technical specifications.
Book Description
A treasury of Corvette memories - short stories, essays, tall tales, and reminiscences - all devoted to the Corvette and the special role it plays in our lives. The Corvette is an American icon revered around the globe. It is a household name, art on wheels, a fantasy in curvaceous fiberglass and chrome, a full-throttled declaration of independence, a poke in the eye to the status quo, an obsession, a religion, a way of life. If ever there was a legendary sports car, the Corvette is it. Stories by well-known and respected Corvette historians and celebrities, automotive journalists, authors, and others with a tale to share are complemented by fabulous period artwork and current photographs for a nostalgic look at Corvette's influence both on the road and off.
Customer Reviews:
EXCELLENT.......2004-05-19
Having been into old Corvettes since the mid 70's, I was excited to see such a large and cohesive collection of actual FACTS which are missing from some of todays Corvette publications. It also makes for good reading, as the stories unfold you are taken to "way back when". Of special note is the feature on #003, the oldest surviving Corvette.
A Great Way to Increase Your Corvette Pleasure!.......2003-10-16
The Corvette turned 50 this year. Yet it seems like this American icon has always been with us.
I belong to that huge majority, people who have always wanted to own a Corvette . . . but never have. I was delighted to see that this book even includes us. The first essay, "Ever Want to Buy a Corvette?," talks about all the "good" reasons why we never did buy one. I found myself there. That whetted my appetite to read about those who took the big step, and learn more about how it affected their lives.
The long and the short is that this book makes me want to own a Corvette more than ever. I hope I decide to act on that long delayed desire soon!
The book features wonderful photographs and artwork of the most gorgeous Corvettes, even showing some that have been over customized. I found my appreciation for the styling growing after I saw how little the design could be improved visually.
The essays come at the subject from every direction -- speed, buying, fixing up, sharing, and the effects on one's marriage. Less you think this is only a man's book, "Lifestyle of a Corvette Widower" will amuse you with the woman's version of the life of a man whose wife owns a 'Vette.
The book is also good on history, including a timeline of key events, tracking down one of the original cars and sharing the letter that saved the Corvette project from being scrapped in the early days.
My favorite essay was Martin Milner's about his days as an actor on "Route 66" when George Maharis and he drove their beautiful new Corvettes off to new adventures every week.
Although I cannot speak as a Corvette owner, I suspect that this book would make a great gift to someone who does indulge in that wonderful status.
Enjoy!
After you finish this wonderful book, be sure to go out for a drive (even if it's only a test drive) or a Corvette.
This Old Corvette.......2003-06-04
A timely book for the the 50th anniversary of the Corvette. The stories were entertaining and well done. The authors are some of the best known people in the Corvette world and ordinary Corvette owners as well. I have two copies of this book, one for my office and one for my home. I have recomended it to all my Corvette buddies around the country. You will not be disapointed.
Average customer rating:
|
Classic Car: The Ultimate Book About the World's Grandest Automobiles
Manufacturer: Classic Car Club of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Classic Cars
| Automotive
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Automotive
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0962786802 |
Average customer rating:
|
Ultimate Classic Cars: The World's Greatest Automobiles
M. Holmes
Manufacturer: Chartwell Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Automotive
| Nonfiction
| Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
Classic Cars
| Automotive
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Automotive
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Transportation
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0785823026 |
Book Description
Soothing Soaps gives readers all the easy steps for making soaps at home. Author of the best selling Soap Book,Sandy Maine, now turns her hands to the creation of beneficient soaps to help heal our bodies and minds. Recipes are lye free. The recipes include antiseptic soaps, poison ivy soaps,acne soaps,muscle healing,chicken pocks, bruises and emollient soaps.
Customer Reviews:
A great beginning book on making herbal soaps.......2004-04-24
I wanted some insight into how to incorporate herbs into my melt and pour soap, and I found this book very helpful. Contrary to what another reviewer said, not all melt and pour soap bases contain alcohol and fillers - it is possible to get m&p soap base that is composed of natural ingredients.
I was pleased to find information on different methods of preparing your own decoctions, tinctures and infusions from herbs, and also some basic information on gathering herbs.
I found this book to be very helpful to someone like me who didn't know anything about herbal soaps and didn't know where to start. I have already made several of the soaps and have been very pleased with them.
Not for beginers...........2001-09-03
I noticed that this book is lacking of showing how to work with the glycerine in order to make this soaps. I don't believe this book is for beginers in soapmaking. Other than that, it has nice photos!
Glycerin soap? Who knew!.......2001-01-05
I own another soap making book from Sandy Maine and enjoy it very much, so decided to try another one. After purchasing it from Amazon, I quickly realized that this book is strictly glycerine soaps. There was no indication of this from what I could tell. I wanted a book on actual soap making, not pre-made soap enhanced by botanicals. In summary, the title or book summary should mention that this book is about melt and pour soap only. Consequently, I returned the book.
Easy Variations for Melt and Pour Recipes.......2000-04-23
This is the 2nd book I have purchased by Sandy Maine. The pictures are wonderful as usual and the variations versatile and easy to follow. The resource guide is very helpful. She offers helpful information on the herbs used and explains how each used can benefit the user. It does not however, give a basic recipe for making the transparent soap as she did in an earlier book. I think at least one should have been included. This book is basically for melt-and-pourers.
Nice photos, but the recipes are marginal........2000-03-17
Better glycerin Melt & Pour soap recipes can be found for free on the Internet. As usual, this somewhat spacey author ignores known hazards of certain essential oils and recommends unqualified use of them. 'Baby's Bottom Repair Soap' made with chemical-based Melt & Pour glycerin and Balsam of Peru is a recipe for disaster. 'Balsam of Peru & Benzoin Anti-Itch Soap' is even worse. Think at least twice twice before making her 'Pine Tar Soap and Shampoo Bar'. All of the essential oils mentioned can be extreme sensitizers. Her New Age drivel on Sunshine, Moonbeam and Lightning Water products are totally over the edge. Basically, this book is for people who enjoy talking to plants.
Average customer rating:
|
The Perfect Country Cottage
Bill Laws
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Residential
| Building Types & Styles
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Style
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Design & Construction
| Home Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Home Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Style
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Small Homes & Cottages
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1558597840 |
Book Description
Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike.
Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork. Here, for the first time, she presented to the public the idea that the individual experience of developmental stages could be shaped by cultural demands and expectations. Adolescence, she wrote, might be more or less stormy, and sexual development more or less problematic in different cultures. The "civilized" world, she taught us had much to learn from the "primitive." Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.
Customer Reviews:
This book is a LIE!!!!!!.......2007-04-30
Please do not buy this book. It is a lie about Samoans. How could she have learned to speak well enough to comunicate with Samoans in 5 months.
watch "Margaret Mead and Samoa"
or read Derek Freeman's work against the book.
The book is all a lie!
Somwhere between Freeman's vitriol and an ameteur' s efforts.......2007-04-19
I was the Medical Director of American Samoa a few years after Mead's six
month in Ta'u, a village in the Manu'a group and spent over two years there. On my trips to Manu'a I found and talked to Chief Tufele and those Mead worked with. With two years study of Hawaiian I was able to converse with them quite easily. Mead studied Samoan for only six weeks in Pago Pago.
There are many errors and self-projections in the work of a 23-year old girl fresh out of college on her first field trip, but not enough to incur
Freeman's wrath. About half of his criticisms are not true.
Let's not be hasty.......2006-09-13
In answer to "Mead's Samoa hoax has been exposed" (see below), which is based largely upon Derek Freeman's work.
Derek Freeman's work has also engendered debate, given its own problems. Both methodology and (inevitably) conclusions have been shown to be suspect. For instance: some of Mead's subjects survived long enough into old age to be questioned by Freeman, whereupon they stated that they lied to Mead regarding their past behavior. With what certainty can it be presumed that they are telling the truth now?
But I shan't go on. Suffice it to say that it is of little use to base a critique of one book (Mead's) based upon another of equally unsound and uncertain scholarship (Freeman's). It is simply dishonest of the writer of that review to attempt to discredit Mead by quoting Freeman, while (conveniently) omitting to mention that Freeman's work is not accepted either.
Without being able to either substantiate Mead or debunk her, her book remains fascinating for its own sake, more than for its admittedly tenuous conclusions, and is interesting not least for the insight that it gives into the nature of its author.
Mead's Samoa hoax has been exposed.......2006-02-23
In the unpaginated `Preface [to the] 1973 Edition', Margaret Mead stresses that her description of Samoan moeurs should be read as applying to conditions at the time of her research. She finds it needful to `shout' that advice because during her 1971 brief visit to Samoa, `young critics even asked me when am I going to revise this book and look unbelieving and angry when I say that to revise it is impossible'.
This is a reference to an abrasive session with students who told her that her description of fa'aSamoa (Samoan custom) was false and insulting. They were miffed by her styling Samoans `primitives' and her pronouncement that since anthropologists enjoy an `immense superiority', they can `master the fundamental structure' [of primitive society] . . . `in a few months' (p. 8). In keeping with this arrogance, Samoans attending university were told by their instructors that their experience of fa'aSamoa was not valid evidence against Mead's scientific study. And, as we've just seen, Mead refused to revise her book even when she knew that it is mistaken in many particulars.
For Samoans this patronizing manner was the familiar voice of the papalagi (the colonial power). Mead's hosts on her field trip, aware that she enjoyed the protection of the Pacific Fleet admiral and Boss of American Samoa, went to great lengths to provide reliable information. When they learned of what they call her luma fai tele (`shameless defamaton'), they could not comprehend how she could have betrayed their hospitality. They were also aggrieved that she deceived them about her marital status. For she accepted the title taupou (ceremonial virgin) although as a married woman she was ineligible. Then she disgraced the title by carrying on with Aviata, a young man regarded as a rake.
While Samoans long knew the mendacity of this book, its correction in academic circles commenced only with the 1983 publication of Derek Freeman's Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth (Harvard University Press). That event shook anthropology to its boots. Such was Mead's prestige that the popular mind identified her with anthropology. If her credibility was seriously questioned in respect to the most widely believed anthropological study ever published, the credibility of the profession was at risk. That is why Freeman was attacked with great ferocity, even by those who agreed with his critique.
Freeman's book initiated a reappraisal of Coming of Age in Samoa. Martin Orans and Freeman have recently published studies of her Samoa investigations based on her field notes. They confirm that Mead's account of Samoan sexual moeurs is a travesty. But they go beyond that. Mead recorded the accounts given by her informants, but by ignoring key facts, twisting others, and inventing still others, she contrived to represent Samoa as a free love duck pond. She also misrepresented the research she carried out. She was funded to conduct a study of adolescent girls; and she states that she spent `six months accumulating an intimate and detailed knowledge of all adolescent girls in the community'. Her field notes tell otherwise. She devoted her time to assembling ethnography; the funded study never got off the ground. She states that she conducted `all' her interviews with these girls in the Samoan language (`I spoke their language and ate their food'). Orans found however that her information on adolescent girls came from `English-speaking informants using English to communicate'. He notes that `no conversations in Samoan are recorded in any of the field materials'. This is consistent with Freeman's finding that the study of adolescent girls was not conducted at all.
Mead built her picture of free love by tossing off unsupported one-liners. The `inept lover is a laughing stock'. There are `no neurotic pictures, no frigidity' in Samoa. Masturbation `is a universal habit'. Homosexual activity is `very prevalent' and is regarded as `simply play'. `[Samoan] girls' minds were perplexed by no conflicts . . . [to have as] many lovers as possible and then to marry . . . these were uniform and satisfying ambitions'. The field materials do not show that Mead collected any evidence whatever about masturbation, homosexuality, or incidence of neuroticism and frigidity. She had but one informant about intimate sexual moeurs--an eighteen year old school teacher. In 1981 that person told Freeman that he had an affair with Margaret. Thus Samoa's alleged free love amounts to no more than a loose wife's gullibility to the pillow talk of her teenage lover. Such is the `science' that made this book famous.
Research on Mead's field notes clarifies a feature of this book that has puzzled many readers. It is the drastic and repeated inconsistency between Mead's descriptions of Samoan vigilance of virginity and punishments of straying girls, and the attribution of a casual attitude toward sexuality. What we now can see is that Mead patched her free love pillow talk into descriptions given to her by her adult informants.
How is that anthropologists for so long were taken in by a popular book? One part of the answer is that many weren't taken in. The controversy brought to light numerous statements to this effect. Thus Weston LaBarre wrote: "When I was a graduate student in anthropology at Yale in the late '30's, Mead's Sex and Temperament came out. Puzzled that even a big island like New Guinea should have had three tribes waiting to be discovered to prove her point about the non-biological nature of gender, I went to Edward Sapir with my puzzlement. He said laconically, `She's a pathological liar'. I was startled as much by what he said, as by the fact that an eminent anthropologist and chairman of a department should say this to a mere graduate student. But over the years, I have come to believe that this is literally the case." The next round in the evaluation of Mead's anthropology, we may hope, will collect and critically assess this largely unpublished expert opinion.
Hiram Caton
Editor, The Samoa Reader: Anthropologists Take Stock.
read it for yourself.......2005-12-28
Famous books in any academic discipline draw a lot of attention (thus making them famous). When negative, most such attention arises from personal jealously about the success of others, and given that Mead is a woman, she draws additional scorn from male academics (and their female supplicants). As a result, many myths develop and circulate around academic departments, and even worse, people rely on textbook (mis)representations in place of their own reading. I encourage anyone with serious interest in traditional Samoa and/or anthropology to read this book for themselves, consider Mead's evidence and analysis, and develop your own assessment. Clearly, most of the reviewers here have not read the book. By the way, I give the book four stars because it does have flaws, but read it and decide for yourself.
Product Description
A psychological study of primitive youth for western civilisation.
From preface "the first piece of work by a serious professional anthropologist written for the educated layman"
Product Description
Margaret Mead's lucid description of youth in a primitive society is rightly recognized as a classic scientific study. Its publication marked a breakthrough in the application of anthropological research to the problems of our own society. Each new generation of readers finds new perceptions in it.
Product Description
4 Titles By Margaret Mead : Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies Blackberry Winter : My Earlier Years Coming of Age in Samoa People and Places. four mmpb books.
Average customer rating:
- A Diatribe, but listen anyway
- Disappointing.
- Samoa vs Margaret
- romancing the samoa
- bloody brilliant
|
Coming of Age in American Anthropology: Margaret Mead and Paradise
Malopa'Upo Isaia
Manufacturer: Universal Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Cultural
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1581128452 |
Customer Reviews:
A Diatribe, but listen anyway.......2004-11-30
This is one hellova blast at Margaret Mead for her `slander' of the Samoan people and culture in her mega-bestseller, Coming of Age in Samoa: A Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. When I queried American Samoa's non-voting Congressman about Isaia's book, he told me: `I believe there has always been a consensus among Samoans . . . that Mead's work . . . is definitely an insult on Samoan culture . . . the older generation never seemed bothered by all this because many never had the opportunity for higher education . . . [but] I can attest to you that my generation definitely considers Mead's work as trash and an insult to the Samoan people'. The Congressman grew up in the Sixties, when Samoan radio talk shows derided Mead's use of their culture to promote relaxation of sexual morals in her own culture. She visited them, the story goes, as a `tourist on a study holiday', and, although she could scarcely speak the language, she was shown every courtesy. Then she had the hide to pretend to the white world that she knew all about those South Seas `primitives'. When Samoans began to enter white universities, and told anthropology instructors delivering the Mead line that she got it wrong, they were told to shut up because Mead was an expert and knew better.
The author belongs to the generation that grew up in the 1980s. In 1984, he heard Derek Freeman give a lecture on the then raging Samoa controversy at his school in Apia. On the spot (he told me) there was born in him a mission to vindicate Samoan honor. This book is the outcome.
Isaia deals with Mead's presumption of superiority by accepting the primitive label, among whom a `moron would not be disadvantaged' (yes, she said that). The moron calls on `distinguished minds' to explain his perplexities about Mead's contradictory statements on Samoan custom. This ploy is a fertile device for the irony and lampoon that provides the vehicle for his many criticisms of Mead's ethnography. Thus, perplexed as to how Samoan women could be promiscuous yet not fall pregnant, he finds the answer by looking at the question through the eyes of Western experts: the ovulation cycles of Samoan are determined by their primitive culture, so that the cycles are in non-functioning `tropical island holiday mode' (186). So it is that the experts discovered that `promiscuity itself is contraception'. (He's not making that up).
As a Samoan chief, Isaia thinks it is his duty to state his people's claims against the wrongs done. In creating a counterfeit Samoa, she stole their dignity, to promote her career, yet gave no compensation for this `unauthorized use of intellectual property' (133, 185). The chief demands: repudiation of Mead's travesty by the American Anthropological Association; the withdrawal of all titles and honors that were awarded for `the greatest fraud of the century'; the withdrawal from all libraries books that propagate Mead's `counterfeit' Samoa; and compensation for damages (248f). Nothing has nor will come of this, but it's an authentic expression of Samoan honor.
Mead's most disastrous pre-conception was, as she stated in Coming of Age, that `a primitive people without a written language presents a much less elaborate problem, and a trained student can master the fundamental structure of a primitive society in a few months'. (Yes, folks, she really DID write that). Primitives don't have interiority and therefore don't have hang-ups or mental illness. It's the flip-side of their easy-going manner. No strong attachments, no intense hates, no jealousy to speak of, hardly any competition. `No one', she declared, `suffers for his convictions, or fights to the death'.
The chief maintains that this preconception expresses colonial racism, which held that primitives are lower on the evolutionary scale than Caucasians. How does this sound to the primitives? Here's what he says: `In simple English, we are not to be trusted in friendship, can't be relied upon, and are not capable of being reliable partners whether personal or professional because, according to [Mead], we will not stand up for what we believe in, and won't stand up for what we believe is right and wrong . . . we are a society of cowards' (121). See what ya done, Margaret?
Where else did Mead go wrong? The chief says that Samoans wear a mask of affability and gracious manners that greet all who pass among them. Mead didn't look behind the mask to see the usual human range of emotions and cognitive complexity that her presuppositions said didn't exist. Thus she did not see the conflicted inner that expressed outwardly in the Mau revolt that was in process at the time of her visit. She didn't see the demands on self-control that the chiefly governance imposed on rivalry between young males. This system also exacted heavy costs from the adolescent girls. He spells out the conflicted state of Samoan sexuality, whose tension derives from unusually exacting demands for chastity and competitive male libidos seeking to deflower secretly eager virgins. Young males are conflicted because they are at the same time vigilant guardians of the sister's honor AND aspiring invaders of some sister's honor (141f). Mead claimed that Samoan custom was a `negative instance' disproving the universality of adolescent storm and stress. In reality, Samoa is a prime instance of it.
What contribution does this book have to make to the continuing controversy? Speaking as one who has been looking at it and writing about it for two decades, the most telling comment is that the `experts', including Freeman, have ignored this book. And why? Because it doesn't conform to the canons of scholarship! In other words, the ethnographers have been incapable of considering Isaia's book as piece of Samoan culture, worthy of the ethnographer's attention. And why not? Maybe it's the persistence of the colonial habit of denying that `primitives' have minds capable of saying anything.
Disappointing........2001-08-22
An amateurish diatribe, poorly written and poorly argued. Highly subjective and controversial. Published by an "on-demand" publisher, akin to self-publishing. The premise is interesting: the "refutation," by a member of the community, of findings in an anthropological study of that community, published more than 50 years ago. I was hoping for something objective and well-reasoned; however, the author simply engages in polemics. The author extends the idea of intellectual property rights to members of a culture, with the culture being the "intellectual property." Surely that is a dubious proposition? Last I heard, a culture cannot be legally copyrighted... When the author rails against anthropologists, he is picking the wrong target. Anthropologists are generally the most sympathetic, the least racist, and the least likely to say bad things about another culture, of all professions in the world. I think the author is also reacting to old attitudes and old habits of speech that were perhaps more common and more accepted in the U.S. 80 years ago, when Mead wrote her paper, but no longer are today. I am going to reread Mead's book this weekend, very carefully; I haven't read it for a long time.
Samoa vs Margaret.......2000-05-25
This book sure proves one thing--Margaret didn't have a clue about Samoan dignity! Here we are, 75 years after her field trip, and STILL Samoans are mad as hell about her making them out to be 'animals'. The Chief really sticks to the anthropology professor for letting Mead's trashy story pass unchallenged. When Derek Freeman tried to set the record straight, they got real mad because he was giving the profession a bad name! Anyway, the Chief proves that Margaret got just about everything wrong. It's a nice sidelight that the Chief says that just about all the Samoan words and phrases in her book are the kind that children use. What a fraud that woman was!
romancing the samoa.......2000-05-21
It's all about culture. What she fails to do though is to discuss what creates culture that we are socially constructed therefrom. Her key subject of youthful sexual relations is in great question and one should read Freeman to see a different view of the romantic tribe that Mead tried to capture in words by visiting only 5 months in which her informants lied about sexual relations that she based her ethnology on. Freeman is a more objective view if that is possible. And more importantly listen to the Samoa themselves above all so-called intellectuals. It is their culture and history afterall - not Freeman's or Mead's interpretation of it. With regard to Mead, she has her conclusion set even before she has started her study and this taints her work, but worth reading nevertheless for historical purpose - but not necessarily for facts.
bloody brilliant.......2000-03-27
Malopa'upo Isaia-all i will say is: Great book! BLOODY BRILLIANT!
Average customer rating:
|
COMING OF AGE IN SAMOA
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H4I1XW |
Average customer rating:
|
COMING OF AGE IN SAMOA
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I10GGE |
Books:
- The Ultimate Collector's Encyclopedia of Cookie Jars: Identification & Values
- The Vernor's Story: From Gnomes to Now
- Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An Illustrated Reference to Over 2000 Models
- Treasure Chests: The Legacy of Extraordinary Boxes
- Treasure Hunting for Fun and Profit (Treasure Hunting Text)
- U.S. Flea Market Directory, 3rd Edition: A Guide to the Best Flea Markets in all 50 States (U S Flea Market Directory)
- United States Air Force Scrapbook (Military Scrapbook Series)
- United States Paper Money Errors: A Comprehensive Catalog & Price Guide (U.S. Paper Money Errors)
- Virus: My Search for the Origins of AIDS
- Warman's Depression Glass Field Guide: Values And Identification (Warman's Field Guides)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Panel One: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers
- Ike's Final Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality
- Fire Retardancy of Polymeric Materials
- Keeping Faith: A Novel
- It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God
- James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, Shorter Fiction
- Living With A Brother Or Sister With Special Needs: A Book for Sibs
- Wallbangin': Graffiti and Gangs in L.A.
- Figure sketching school
- Thalamocortical Assemblies: How Ion Channels, Single Neurons and Large-Scale Networks Organize Sleep