Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance

Book Description

"A deeply moving and very disturbing story of a gross miscarriage of justice and an eloquent cri de coeur of Native Americans for redress, and to be regarded as human beings with inalienable rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution, like any other citizens.We pray it does not fall on deaf ears.America owes it to herself." (Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate)"For too long, both Leonard's supporters and detractors have seen him as a metaphor, as a public figure worthy of political rallies and bumper stickers, but very rarely as a private man who only wants to go home.I pray this book will bring Leonard home." (Sherman Alexie, author of Indian Killer)"It would be inadequate to describe Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings as a classic of prison literature, although it is that.It is also a cry for help, an accusation against monstrous injustice, a beautiful expression of a man's soul, demanding release." (Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States)"Listen to this fresh, brave voice, then inform yourself about the shameful case of Leonard Peltier." (Peter Matthiessen, author of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse)"This book takes the reader on an emotional and spiritual journey as Leonard Peltier's surprisingly hopeful reflections make the terrible injustice of his imprisonment for 24 years even more difficult to accept.Peltier's important journal details his trial and conviction which was based in part on admittedly false testimony and evidence so inconclusive that reasonable people everywhere have concluded that he should be granted clemency." (Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, and author of Mankiller)"Leonard Peltier's words reveal a wise man who has become freer than his captors, despite his false imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.His thoughts here remind us of our true mission as Indian people, as human beings here on this humble, beautiful planet.These thoughts cannot be captured or locked behind bars, or destroyed by gunfire.They fly free." (Joy Harjo, Muskoke poet and musician, author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky)"If you care about justice, read this brave book.If you care about the perpetuation of the white man's justice against the Native American, you must know the Leonard Peltier story." (Gerry Spence, author of Give Me Liberty!)AUTHORBIO: Leonard Peltier, who emerged as a Native American leader in the 1960s, was arrested in 1976in Canada and extradited.He has been in prison ever since, and is now confined at Leavenworth.This is his first book. Harvey Arden is the author and co-author of several books, including Wisdomkeepers and Travels in a Stone Canoe (both with Steve Wall) and Noble Red Man.He lives in Washington, DC.

Customer Reviews:

A work of fiction........2007-09-25

The rhetoric of the other reviews aside, Prison Writings would make for a compelling story had Peltier included some truth to support his allegations surrounding the events of June 26, 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.

By way of a brief background, Peltier was represented by capable and experienced counsel and during his trial the jury heard that FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams were following who they thought was another wanted person. They actually followed Peltier and two teenagers who began shooting at the agents who were then trapped and exposed in an open area. Peltier was joined by several others, including Dino Butler and Robert Robideau who also fired on the agents from another direction. Both Coler and Williams were severely wounded and unable to defend themselves. Peltier's jury heard that Peltier, Robideau and Butler went down to the wounded agents and shot them both in the face at point-blank range with a high powered rife. The jury believed the testimony they heard and Peltier was convicted for, among other things, aiding and abetting and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. He later received an additional seven year consecutive sentence for an armed escape from Lompoc federal penitentiary. (In a separate and earlier trial, Dino Butler and Robert Robideau were acquitted of the murders. However, this review relates specifically to how Peltier portrays the facts surrounding these events in Prison Writings. There is much more to the entire saga.)

It's important to place Prison Writings in its proper chronological context. Prison Writings was published in 1999. An important related book touted by Peltier and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) that "immortalizes Leonard Peltier," In The Spirit of Crazy Horse (ITSOCH) by Peter Matthiessen was first published in 1983 and in 1992. A film, Incident at Oglala (Incident), narrated by Robert Redford was released in 1992. Collectively, these sources, in addition to the many public statements made by Peltier, Butler and Robideau, demonstrate that Peltier is not only fabricating the history of his own case but knowingly lies about certain events.

There are many more, but for example:

The scene:
Peltier initially claimed he was in the AIM camp to the south of the Jumping Bull property, heard shots, responded and "I fired off a few shots above their heads, trying not to hit anything (p.125)." And also "I didn't see their agents die, had no hand in it..." (p.127). Yet in a CNN interview in October, 1999 Peltier admitted being there and told interviewer Mark Potter "I don't know, just two people laying there. I mean, the car door--the car door open and stuff."

The alibi:
For the better part of nearly two decades Peltier had offered only one alibi about who was responsible for the final killing shots to the agents' faces. He claimed that someone they all knew but would not identify (Mr. X), had driven to the reservation that day in a red pickup truck to deliver dynamite and that it was Mr. X who engaged the agents initially and then, once wounded and unable to defend themselves, killed the agents and drove off. In Incident Robideau is filmed pointing to the area where Mr. X murdered the agents and drove off in the red pickup truck. This claim was so far-fetched that not even Peltier's trial lawyers wanted to go near it, but they did their best to create confusion with the jury over the alleged red pickup truck. Matthiessen, although skeptical himself, spent a great deal of time on Mr. X in ITSOCH. However, in a 1995 interview with News from Indian Country, one of the three participants, Dino Butler, publicly said that the Mr. X story was a lie; "Well, there is no Mr. X. There was no man coming to our camp that day bringing dynamite." "To create this lie to show that someone else pulled the trigger." " That is totally false. Totally untrue. That never happened."

It should come as no surprise that Mr. X. and the red pickup are never mentioned in Prison Writings.

Aiding and abetting:
Peltier tries to convince the reader that the "vague crime of aiding and abetting" (p162) was somehow later added to the charge of murdering the agents. Yet, during one of the many appeals (one dealing with this specific issue in 1993), the appeals court stated that "Peltier's arguments fail because their underlying premises are fatally flawed. (A) the government tried the case on the alternative theories; it asserted that Peltier personally killed the agents at point blank range, but that if he had not done so, then he was equally guilty of the murder as an aider and abettor."

Preplanned assault:
Peltier lays the groundwork for claiming that according to a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the government "...had been gathering in the area for a preplanned paramilitary assault on the Pine Ridge reservation," (p.129) comprised of "...dozens, maybe hundreds..." (p.127) of law-enforcement personnel. The document (dated April 24, 1975) he refers to (the noted "sanctioned memo") says nothing of the kind and related to the 1973 takeover by AIM of Wounded Knee. Ironically this memo was still being circulated around FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. even after the murders of agents Coler and Williams with a date at the bottom of the memo of August 11, 1975. This memo is not even in the same universe as Peltier claims. This assertion was so outrageous even Matthiessen shied away from it by claiming after all his research that the initial shooting at the agents was spontaneous, neither a pre-planned government event nor premeditated ambush of the two agents. "...if there is another persuasive explanation of the location and position of their cars, I cannot find it." (ITSOCH p.544).

Further, it was well documented that when the agents were first pinned down in the open field, Agent Williams made desperate calls for help and assistance over his FBI radio. These transmissions were overheard by a number of individuals who all confirmed how quickly the shooting started, and ended, and that the nearest agent was about twelve miles away. That FBI agent, Gary Adams, responded with a BIA officer, the first two to even reach close to the scene. They were also shot at and had to back away to Highway 18 and await more assistance. In the meantime, Coler and Williams were murdered and Peltier and the others escaped.

Robideau:
Robert Robideau who has been assimilated and rejected by the Peltier organization several times over the years has made damning admissions. Robideau stated publicly on numerous occasions, and in emails to this reviewer, that he's the one who actually killed the agents:

"As far as I have ever been concerned the killing of the agents was justified..." "They were shot in the head at close range..." "I have no remorse..." "I am "Mr X" (which is no lie) and I did kill them with honor befitting a warrior, but they died like worms." "I thought I already told you that I killed the agents."

Of course Robideau has the constitutional protection against double-jeopardy, but this reviewer believes he is even too much of a coward to shoot two severely wounded and incapacitated human beings. But whether he killed the agents himself is immaterial; the Peltier jury heard and accepted the testimony that the three older Indians, Robideau, Butler and Peltier went down to the wounded agents and murdered them by shooting them both in the face.

Of course, Prison Writings suggests none of this but hides behind fabrications and outright lies to further the folklore surrounding Peltier and perpetuating The Myth.

What it does do however is firmly establish that Peltier did not remove himself from the scene of the crime.

Prison Writings is self-serving drivel and should not be used to document in any fashion what happened that June day at Pine Ridge. Anyone interested in going beyond The Myth should spend some time reviewing the very detailed appeals that cover every aspect of this case.

[...]

Read the Government documents!.......2007-09-14

After all is said and done, just read the thousands of pages that the U.S. government, through the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and court records, was forced to release about this case. It is their own words about their own deliberate withholding of evidence, fabrication of evidence, deliberate perjured testimony and numerous other violations of U.S. law, rules of evidence, and other assorted felonies.

Manifesto, Memoir, History, and the Fate of Mankind.......2007-08-09

Leonard Peltier, United States Prisoner 89637-132, has been imprisoned since 1977 for the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Lakota Indians during the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Most likely the scapegoat for the deaths during a blundered surveillance attempt, Peltier has been a cause celeb during the final throws of every president since Jimmy Carter as many supporters - including the U.S. Prosecutor that put him in jail in the first place - come together to call for his parden.

There are other sources for an in-depth understanding of the events that led to his imprisonment such as Peter Mathiesson's *In the Spirit of Crazy Horse* and the Robert Redford film *Incident at Oglala*. But Prison Writings is a must read in any study of not only the Wounded Knee incident, but the American Indian Movement as a whole and native issues throughout the country.

This book weaves Peltier's life as a prisoner in the U.S. prison system with his account of the events of 1973 and his views on the state of affairs for Native Americans as a whole. Peltier's life evolved from an aimless youth on the reservation to a political activist, and at times it seems that his life sentence is a natural extension of this progression - as if his destiny was to suffer for the cause.

When you look at the evidence of all that transpired at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the years that followed, including what happened to other activists such as Annie Mae Aquash, and the now revealed manipulation of evidence by the FBI and the all-out war against Native American activism in the 1970s, Leonard Peltier's *Prison Writings* become somewhat of a manifesto and call for a better future.

Innocent yet in prison.......2007-06-08

This is a true story of an Indian who is in prison
just because he's an Indian. I real eye opener and
interesting facts about the Indians here today.

A must-read!!.......2007-05-17

Words fail me when I try to describe this book, just as words fail me when I try to describe my feelings about this man, Leonard Peltier.

This is a moving, touching, powerful book that will evoke emotion in the coldest of hearts. I still wonder why it took me so long to finally read it. I'm so glad I did.

Suzanne Whitaker

Prison writings: my life is my sun dance.: An article from: Wind Speaker

Average customer rating:

Prison writings: my life is my sun dance.: An article from: Wind Speaker

Manufacturer: Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00098JDVU
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Wind Speaker, published by Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA) on November 1, 1999. The length of the article is 920 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Prison writings: my life is my sun dance.
Publication: Wind Speaker (Newsletter)
Date: November 1, 1999
Publisher: Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA)
Volume: 17 Issue: 7 Page: 18,31

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance

Average customer rating:

Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance
Leonard; Arden, Harvey; Horse, Chief Arvol Looking; Clark, Ramsey Peltier
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTAFYS

Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance (ISBN: 0312203543)

Average customer rating:

Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance (ISBN: 0312203543)
Leonard Peltier
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O94SFU

Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance (Review Copy)

Average customer rating:

Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance (Review Copy)

Manufacturer: St. Martins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HJGRSS

Book Description

Selections from the best writings of southern women who experienced the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Whispers from the Grave.......1996-08-20

The Women of the Confederacy speak. Culled from journals, diaries and published memoirs of the most cruel war of all, a Civil War, these women tell of hardships endured and unbelievable savagery on both sides. If this book was fiction it would be a good read. As eyewitness accounts it is a great read. Experience the horrors, the insights, the frame-of-mind of a violent time from our past. This book will enrich you

THE WAR THE WOMEN LIVED: FEMALE VOICES FROM THE CONFEDERATE SOUTH

Average customer rating:

THE WAR THE WOMEN LIVED: FEMALE VOICES FROM THE CONFEDERATE SOUTH
Sullivan Walter
Manufacturer: J.S.Sanders
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J5033A

Average customer rating:

The War the Women Lived: Female Voices from the Confederate South.
Walter, ed. Sullivan
Manufacturer: J.S. Sanders c
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KIRTZQ

Book Description

Nearly fifteen years ago, in The End of Nature, Bill McKibben demonstrated that humanity had begun to irrevocably alter and endanger our environment on a global scale. Now he turns his eye to an array of technologies that could change our relationship not with the rest of nature but with ourselves. He explores the frontiers of genetic engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology-all of which we are approaching with astonishing speed-and shows that each threatens to take us past a point of no return. We now stand, in Michael Pollan's words, 'on a moral and existential threshold,' poised between the human past and a post-human future. McKibben offers a celebration of what it means to be human, and a warning that we risk the loss of all meaning if we step across the threshold. Instantly acclaimed for its passion and insight, this wise and eloquent book argues that we cannot forever grow in reach and power-that we must at last learn how to say, 'Enough.'

Customer Reviews:

The Simple Life.......2007-07-28

McKibben has turned simplicity, primitivism and that universal longing railed against almost every aspect of modern American life - television, marketing, the environment, capitalism, education and now biotechnology with its evil twins, nanotech and artificial intelligence. He continues issuing dire warnings that the race is imperiled if we continue down our current paths. I think he would prefer extinction over transformation, something he sees with every genetic advance or scientific breakthrough. Except, of course, those he deems "allowable". Here, he is concerned about the genetic haves vs the have-nots - you know, the group with money will outperform those with less, an idea as old as society. In Bill Land folks just accept their fate and never change, accepting their lower status for lack of access to the techy gizmos of the Rich & Famous.

Here's the rub - it's a subjective matter of limits and definitions. Which of the following would he reject? Knee, hip, heart or liver replacement, cataract lenses, magnets in the brain to forestall epilepsy, regulators to pump blood, implants to kill cancer cells. The real question is what he thinks about using biotech letting the blind see, the deaf hear and the paralyzed walk. Is removal of pain with replacement joints "anti human"? Again, this is a matter of opinion (for him, not the poor victims). Lately, he has been warning that immortality may be around the corner in one form or another. He insists that death is a vital part of life, something that gives us our "humanity. " No, death is the termination of human life, good or bad. As one panelist at a symposium recently told him, he didn't mind if Bill wanted to die - he just didn't want to be told he had to also.

His real concern is genetic engineering and again we face the problem of who decides limits. He appears to "OK" some physical improvements but mental or emotional ones are taboo. We hear the usual red herrings - slippery slope arguments that if this happens then that will follow, designer babies, folks so smart they don't consider themselves human, people who won't know if they or a machine is "thinking", drugs to keep us happy or make into robots for "them", that nameless group that tells us to do bad things (probably fat, evil business types smoking cigars).

He has expressed dissatisfaction with the Industrial Age. We've become machines instead of frolicking through fields and woods. In better days, neighbors talked and relatives lived together. They would head out daily - mom to spend the day washing, dad & junior to hunt for dinner, sis sewing a new dress by hand. Technology has made our lives qualitatively better and easier, we live twice as long as just a few years ago and yet he has an array of statistics "proving" that we were happier before all this newfangled techno stuff. Could it be the hysterical unscientific news media with its "fear of the week"? You know, sharks, bird flue, Ebola, anthrax, mad cow, mad dog, hurricanes, "the environment", heat, cold, traffic, subliminal advertising....the list is endless as are those who think earlier ages were pastoral and peaceful. This is not only bad reading but also bad pleading.

A naturist's bias on germline genetic engineering.......2007-07-01

McKibben has some valid points and questions regarding germiline genetic engineering, unfortunately his stong naturist bias diminsh his credibility. He extensibly quotes scientists and experts on the matter, at the end what they say fits his idea that genetics and technlogy will be the apocalyptic executor.

Take for example three pages from his book were he uses the research work by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to demonstrate that genetic enhancement will not make people happier.

McKibben's claim that "What if you were thinking, in the back of your head, Is it really me doing this? Is it my programming? Am I losing myself, or is that feeling merely an artifact of my engineering? And those are precisely the sorts of thoughts that would rise in your mind because, in some ways, the whole point of flow experiences is to know yourself better" is emotional extortion, as if he is trying to scare people away from germline engineering. Either he doesn't understand the neurobiology of flow or he's just using a quote to fit his agenda, or both.

Flow is a term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to describe a mental state characterized by lack of self-awareness and sharp concentration on the task at hand, not worried on how things are going or what the outcome will be. People engaged on this state perform at their best. Under flow action and awareness merge into one, lack of self and thinking creates a sense of deep relaxation and joy seems to arise by itself. Flow is also known as "the zone" by some athletes.

Characteristics of flow resemble meditation experiences. Zen meditation is a relaxed attentive state, on which the practitioner clear his or her mind of thinking. "Meditation then becomes several things other than a way to relax, physically and mentally. It becomes a way of not thinking, clearly, and then of carrying this clear awareness into everyday living" . Meditation is intrinsically rewarding and joyful. The mental state under flow and mediation are equal, the difference is that "flow" occurs during an activity while meditation is passive. Nevertheless mental clarity and intrinsic joy are the same.
In conclusion McKibben is putting thoughts on the head of somebody who doesn't exist and then he claims that these very thoughts will keep this individual from experiencing flow, thus preventing him from getting to know him-self better. Clearly he is projecting and scenario that doesn't exist but fits his purpose to plant the seed of doubt and fear on the minds of potential germline users. As for flow he doesn't understand that the insight arises after the experience not during it.

McKibben may have some valid points against germline but his strong naturist bias makes him to force facts to fit his purpose. Even more, he has a pessimistic opinion on the technology that doesn't meet his preferences; treadmills with electronic read-outs are ok. Had he been born fifty years earlier he would' written a book on the evils of running machines that prevent people from breathing fresh air at the risk of lung diseases.

Good Overall Explanation .......2007-06-27

The Strong point about this book is that it poses thought provoking questions. The author has really thought about this subject and where the field of genetics may lead us. The book provides some good explanations of the terms and types of research currently being carried on. He shows that by the time the nation starts legislating procedures it is generally too late. The author does bring up some pretty good predictions that society may be forced to deal with. The compulsion to fix detrimental hereditary diseases is really a forgone conclusion, Cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy etc, but will Genetic engineering rapidly go the route that plastic surgery traveled, from repairing hideous disfigurements to cosmetic [...] augmentation and facial makeovers. The author makes a very good point, if IQ or athletic ability can be increased by genetic tweaking and everyone is doing it for their kids, do you want your kid to be the only natural kid getting below average grades with below average athletic ability. The book definitely accomplished its purpose with this reader. I appreciate the ideas and societal situations this author has brought into the book and I have thought about it many times since I finished the book. Definitely worth a second read in the short-term future. The title is unfortunate, it sounds as if the author wants no more genetic progress, but the author wants to enjoy his "humanness" . He asks that society consider the big picture when dealing with limits to genetic engineering

A vital warning which may not be taken .......2007-04-17

This book opens in a very interesting way. McKibben gives his account of a marathon he participated in. Primarily he writes about his own struggle when he reached the point where his training and his adrenaline push were no longer enough. He writes about the moments in which he had to be totally concentrated in going on, a test of his own human strength, will, courage.
He then goes on to imagine what it might be like in the future should it be able to program human beings in such a way as to make them free of suffering from fatigue, and exhaustion. He suggests what certain kinds of technological improvements might do is to not simply provide the individual racer or marathoner with incredible speeds in today's terms but in fact cancel out the whole activity of racing.
In a sense this question the question of how technological improvements may deprive the human situation and even human nature and character of its meaning is at the heart of this book.
McKibben's main claim is that we must be able to know when we have gone far enough, and not go beyond it to a Pyrrhic victory . McKibben in this sense connects with bio- ethicists one of the most prominent of whom is Leon Kass in suggesting that in order to remain human we may have to limit our own hunger for overcoming our own limitations. We may have to stop ourselves from developing in areas where we have traditionally dreamed of developing.
One problem however which may be insurmountable is the competitive character of human beings. Also , human greed may play a part in pushing humans to seek their own advantage and profit at the expense of not simply their own humanity, but humanity as a whole.
My own sense is that McKibben has a very wise and important, perhaps even vital message for humanity- but that the likelihood of humanity taking it is truly questionable.

What is so natural about nature?.......2006-11-25

If you look at man as part of some divine plan then you can suppose that there is something inviolable in the status quo. This is the old argument that says things like if man were meant to fly then he would have been born with wings. McKibben may vehemently deny that this is his stance but in essence that is what it boils down to.

On the other hand if you look at the world the way it really is, what you see is an evolutionary process ruled by the law of survival of the fittest. To even call it "natural" selection is to create a bias that suggests that what took place is in some sense globally optimal. It is not. What takes place at any stage is an incremental improvement. To see the limitations all one has to do is to consider all the genetic defects that people can be born with.

What is natural is to use our intelligence to try to make improvements, to build airplanes to allow us to fly and create medicines and surgical procedures to repair and enhance. The one advantage that the ordinary evolutinary process has is that it is gradual. If at some point a defect is introduced, it will be weeded out with minimal damage. The great danger posed by improvements introduced by man is that we could introduce changes that have highly deleterious "side effects." But this is simply to provide a word of caution, not to abandon the whole enterprise of technological enhancement.

Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age

Average customer rating:

Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age
Bill McKibben
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965015173

Enough. (Bookshelf).("Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age")(Book Review) (book review): An article from: OnEarth

Average customer rating:

Enough. (Bookshelf).("Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age")(Book Review) (book review): An article from: OnEarth
Sarah D. Scalet
Manufacturer: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008DP3SS
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from OnEarth, published by Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 502 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Enough. (Bookshelf).("Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age")(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Sarah D. Scalet
Publication: OnEarth (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2003
Publisher: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Page: 39(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Everything to lose.(Book Review): An article from: American Scholar

Average customer rating:

Everything to lose.(Book Review): An article from: American Scholar
Chris Mooney
Manufacturer: Phi Beta Kappa Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000821WI4
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa Society on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1953 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Everything to lose.(Book Review)
Author: Chris Mooney
Publication: American Scholar (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2003
Publisher: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Page: 145(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

At first sight just a small brown bird, the dunnock's unobtrusive appearance belies its extraordinary behaviour and mating patterns. In this book Nick Davies gives a full account of the mating systems of the dunnock or hedge sparrow, Prunella modularis, which include pairs, a male with two females, two males with one female, and several males with several females. Detailed observations, elegant field experiments, and DNA fingerprinting are combined to show how this variable social organization from selfish individuals competing to maximize their own reproductive success. Further experiments reveal how the cuckoo may thwart the dunnock's parental efforts. David Quinn's exquisite drawings provide a visual summary of the birds' behaviour. All students of ecology, evolution, and animal behaviour will want to be familiar with this work, which addresses the wider issues of the influence of ecology on mating systems and the evolutionary significance of conflict within and between species. This is the third volume in the Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution, and the first in this series to tackly behavioural ecology. Nick Davies is a Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Cambridge and co-editor with J. R. Krebs of the leading text in the field, Behavioural ecology: an evolutionary approach.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books