Book Description
In this remarkably wide-ranging book Professor Lowenthal analyses the ever-changing role of the past in shaping our lives. A heritage at once nurturing and burdensome, the past allows us to make sense of the present whilst imposing powerful constraints upon the way that present develops. Some aspects of the past are celebrated, others expunged, as each generation reshapes its legacy in line with current needs. Drawing on all the arts, the humanities and the social sciences, the author uses sources as diverse as science fiction and psychoanalysis to examine how rebellion against inherited tradition has given rise to the modern cult of preservation and pervasive nostalgia. Profusely illustrated, The Past is a Foreign Country shows that although the past has ceased to be a sanction for inherited power or privilege, as a focus of personal and national identity and as a bulwark against massive and distressing change it remains as potent a force as ever in human affairs.
Customer Reviews:
The Past is our Remembrance and Imagination of it.......2006-03-22
This is an ambitious effort. It is a comprehensive effort to understand how Humanity relates to, and makes use of the Past. And a central focus is that Past which is in cultural monuments and great creations.
I admit that reading this book I felt overwhelmed and confused by the multiplicity of categories and uses, by the variety of learning and connections. I seemed to lose my inner checkposts, my way of measuring whether what was being said was true to my experience, or not.
And here I felt the strong distinction between the 'public memory' which as I understand it is by and large the subject of the work, and the kind of private individual memory through which we interpret and give meaning to our own lives.
For anyone interested in how we look upon the past.......2003-09-23
Almost encyclopedical in his treatment of Western cultures' relations to their past, Lowenthal gives the reader a roller-coster ride, from time travel fantasies to Viking logos in Minnesota. Lowenthal is more into exploring our relation to the past than debunking myths, thus being more open to the manifold ways we use the past than in his later book "The Heritage Crusade." One problem remains: Lowenthal's idea about the foreign-ness of the past, that we today have a different way of understanding the passing of time than our medieval ancestors, could have benefitted from more elaboration. Still, this is a masterpiece.
One terrific book.......1999-09-07
This book is a unique of study on how to understand history. I found it almost impossible to put down, and my reference point for touring historical sites and watching movies and televisons shows has been foreever altered. Highly recommended for its readability and fabulous bibliography and footnotes. A must read for anyone interested in history.
An excellent intellectual study of perception of the past.......1999-08-11
This book is a tough read, but a very informative look into why we view history in the way we do.
Average customer rating:
|
European Monetary Integration: Past, Present and Future (Elgar Monographs)
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Exports & Imports
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Money & Monetary Policy
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Theory
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Foreign Exchange
| Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| International
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1840645792 |
Book Description
This highly topical book examines the development and future prospects for economic and monetary union in Europe. European Monetary Integration examines the background to economic and monetary union from a historical perspective that distinguishes between national and supranational currency areas, and an optimal currency area theory. The gradualist transition process is also considered.
The authors, leading academics from five European countries, consider the principal economic policies to be followed in achieving economic and monetary union. The role of the European central banks and monetary policy is examined, along with fiscal policy in monetary union and the operation and policies of the labor markets. The authors discuss the economic relationships between the Euro area and other European economies including the transition and accession economies of Eastern Europe.
Average customer rating:
|
The European Monetary System - Past, Present and Future
P. Coffey
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Macroeconomics
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Money & Monetary Policy
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Public Finance
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Foreign Exchange
| Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 9024734460 |
Average customer rating:
- incredibly informative and interesting!!!
|
French Inside Out: The Worldwide Development of the French Language in the Past, the Present and the Future
Henriett Walter
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
French
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Linguistics
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Instruction
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Europe
| History
| Humanities
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Story of French
ASIN: 0415076692 |
Book Description
In this comprehensive introduction, Henriette Walter provides the reader with a panoramic view of the development of the French language in the past, present and future.
Customer Reviews:
incredibly informative and interesting!!!.......1999-09-10
Even if you don't speak French, this book is a fascinating history of language -- and much of it relates to English. I came away with a huge curiosity for more knowledge about the history of words! It's one of those books that has so many interesting facts you want to tell everyone around you.
Book Description
Thirteen essays by noted authorities, including Ferenc Glatz, Laszlo Szarka, Pal Peter Toth, and Judit Toth, cover such topics as the history of minority policies in Hungary, immigration and xenophobia from the middle to the end of the twentieth century, and the concept of the nation at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Book Description
Japanese Diasporas highlights the relationships of overseas Japanese and their descendents (Nikkei) with their 'home' and 'host' nations. Frequently abandoned by their homeland, and experiencing alienation in their host nations, the diaspora sought to carve out lives between two worlds. Examining Nikkei communities and Japanese migration to Manchuria, China, Canada, the Philippines, Singapore and Latin America, Japanese Diasporas offers new perspectives on sociopolitical and cultural issues of transnational migrants and diaspora communities in an economically intertwined world.
Average customer rating:
|
Leaving Scotland (Scotland's Past in Action)
Mona McLeod
Manufacturer: National Museums of Scotland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Ancient
| General
| London
| Medieval
| Norman
| Tudor & Stuart
Scotland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ireland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Rights & Liberties
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Emigration & Immigration
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0948636831 |
From the Publisher
The story of merchants, soldiers and adventurers from the early Middle Ages to the largescale emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries. (America has more emigre Scots than almost any other country.) Distributed by Woodstocker Books.
Average customer rating:
|
The Living Coast: Past, Present and Future
Richard Offen ,
Margaret Willes , and
James Parry
Manufacturer: National Trust
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Great Britain
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Travel with Pets
| Specialty Travel
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0707803594 |
Book Description
Now in paperback comes Jim Steinmeyer’s astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians. Lauded by today’s finest magicians and critics, Hiding the Elephant is a cultural history of the efforts among legendary conjurers to make things materialize, levitate, and disappear. Steinmeyer unveils the secrets and life stories of the fascinating personalities behind optical marvels such as floating ghosts interacting with live actors, disembodied heads, and vanishing ladies. He demystifies Pepper’s Ghost, Harry Kellar’s Levitation of Princess Karnak, Charles Morritt’s Disappearing Donkey, and Houdini’s landmark vanishing of Jennie the elephant in 1918. The dramatic mix of science and history, with revealing diagrams, photographs and magicians' portraits by William Stout, provides a glimpse behind the curtain at the backstage story of magic.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, If Interested In Magic.......2007-10-04
Fortunately I am as this is no laymen's book. I quite enjoyed it and found it full of the fragmented tidbits of information I am so fond of. A little technical at times - I was far more interested in some of the stories then in precise line drawings or sketches, though Steinmeyer is skilled at taking complex principles and breaking them down into simple line drawings. I wish it had been a bit more chatty but am glad i read it.
Good History, Easy Reading.......2007-10-04
This is a fun and easy read. Probably nothing new for serious fans of the history of magic but it is a good summary of the lives of some very special people in an interesting sub-culture.
For those buying the book to discover magical secrets, they will learn little other than the truth of the cliche that magic is all smoke and mirrors.
Not your average magic book.......2007-02-19
If you're looking for a book to teach you magic tricks, this is not the book for you. Granted, it describes how some grand illusions work (mostly those that aren't in use any longer), but the book is more about the history of magic. But don't let that turn you off. It's not the dry, boring history you'd find in a textbook. There are anecdotes, personal recollections, and much more. It's a very easy read, and it's absolutely fascinating.
An Instant Classic.......2007-01-11
This book is a classic. It is not only one of the best books on the history of magic ever written, but is also a rich portrait of both Victorian and Edwardian England. The magicians become full characters in Steinmeyer's hands. He shows us some of their secrets, yes, but in a full-bodied manner that keeps us mezmerized, even after we know how the trick was done. As a magician myself I fully agree that a trick is never the secret or sleight itself, but is how this sleight is used in an act of fantasy. Learning the "trick," as Steinmeyer says, IS like turning to the last page of a mystery novel. You may know the ending, but you will not appreciate the fullness of the story. This is easily one of my favorite books. I loved it so much I immediately ordered his other books. I started reading Art & Artifice next, and was greatly dismayed to learn that the entire book, word for word (except for a some rearranging and a few brief passages), appears in Hiding the Elephant! Unless you're a completist do not buy both Hiding the Elephant and Art & Artifice. Steinmeyer has plagiarized himself quite dramatically, as Hiding the Elephant is really just an expanded version of Art & Artifice.
Author loves his subject.......2007-01-10
This is a very enjoyable book on the history of magic and how the great illusions were achieved. The author has an obvious love for his subject and has put a great deal of thought into recostructing the secrets of lost illusions e.g. The disappearing donkey.
Book Description
"A vivid, insightful account....Told with wit and warmth."—Kirkus Reviews
Through ten examples of ingenious experiments by some of psychology's most innovative thinkers, Lauren Slater traces the evolution of the century's most pressing concerns—free will, authoritarianism, conformity, morality. Beginning with B. F. Skinner and the legend of a child raised in a box, she takes us from a deep empathy with Stanley Milgram's obedience subjects to a funny and disturbing re-creation of an experiment questioning the validity of psychiatric diagnosis. Previously described only in academic journals and textbooks, these often daring experiments have never before been narrated as stories, full of plot, wit, personality, and theme.
Customer Reviews:
Personalizing Psychology.......2007-04-11
This book provided insights into what was on the minds of those who both designed these experiments and those who participated in them. Karen Slater writes from a wealth of experience and a fresh outlook on the development of psychology and those who participated it.
Opening Skinner's Box.......2007-04-11
Very well written. A page turner. Great experiments disected to be relevant for everyday experiences. Makes one think about today's society in a different light and rethink one's belief system.
if this was marketed as fiction.......2006-11-09
I'd give it five stars. Slater is an outstanding writer. Unfortunately, you can't believe a word she says. She's confessed to being a pathological liar, which may be a lie or just may be the truth. In any case, it shouldn't be the task of the reader to have to keep teasing out which is which. Writers should strive to tell the truth, at least when it comes to a nonfiction psychology book. But the line between fiction and nonfiction has gotten blurry, and books are marketed wherever their editors believe they will sell.
I noticed this tendency while reading "Prozac Diary." An account of seeing seven swans in an early draft (published in Survival Stories) had morphed into an encounter with a dust devil and the swans were nary to be found anywhere. So what really happened? Other accounts - jumping a black stallion without reins or stirrups at a camp struck me as fantasy - what reputable camp would put inexperienced preteen girls on a stallion? This is a scenario more suitable for a Walter Farley book.
When more than a few sources in a book like "Opening Skinner's Box," rise up and complain that they have been misquoted and misrepresented, it is hard not to believe them. However, much of what Slater discovers about the psychologists and their experiments is fascinating. She does draw astute conclusions about human nature. However, she has a tendency to approach her interview subjects with the impudence of a child and the insolence of a teenager. Had she maintained a more professional attitude, it would have been easier to take what she said at face value, rather than feeling sorry for how the subjects were portrayed.
However, at times, her conclusions weren't personal enough, at least when it came to disclosing key information. Knowing that she takes Prozac (something she does not mention in this book), it was awfully hard not to see her conclusions about the drug as simply personal fears writ large.
Also, her interview with Bruce Alexander neglected to mention that he is her father-in-law. Such knowledge puts a different complexion on the entire chapter. It also explains why he gets described as good looking, while other psychologists wind up being depicted unstable and unattractive. For example, she mentions over and over that Harry Harlow had a lisp, though his speech defect turns out to explain nothing about his personal or professional behavior. So why focus on it at all?
But if you enjoy her writing style, I'd recommend reading the book, few psychologists write so well for a general audience.
New Psychology Student.......2006-07-28
I was required to buy this book for a entry-level college psychology class. So far I have read about 5 chapters (experiments). Each experiment is broken down into it's own chapter, with a total of around a dozen chapters. I've enjoyed the book so far and would recommend it.
Skinner's box...or Pandora's box?.......2006-06-05
Focusing on the ten most controversial psychological experiments of the 20th century, Lauren Slater takes us on a thrill ride to litterally the cutting edges of psychological theory.
She gives us the experiements themselves, to be sure, but in some cases, so much more too. For example, though the Stanley Milgram experiment (the one where students were instructed to clinically shock actors giving "incorrect" answers to test human obediance) is commonly known, Slater gives additional insight into Milgram's haunted holocaust memories.
Though Armenia and the cultural revolution and the Khmer Rouge and Rawanda should have provided the historical information, Milgram's test demonstrated in the staid clinical laboratory, human obediance can quickly spark into a conflagration of burning atrocity.
Or psychology's cutting edge itself? Labotomy. We see its birth in the mind of a Spaniard eager to make his mark. We see its decline as drug companies come to learn that...for a price...that can achieve like results.
Benevolently, Slater chose B.F. Skinner as her title subject, bevevolent because after her examination, Slater found Skinner's motivations to be benevolent in nature. This is a diagnosis she makes for psychology itself.
However, Slater, after her tour of the three individuals and their tests so far described and the seven others she discusses, permits the reader to their own conclusions. And interestingly, while she briefly mentions the great Peter Schaefer play "Equus" she doesn't quote it's final, climactic monologue.
In his final speech, the treating psychologist in Equus notes that his "cure" of his patient has been merely to move the patient from one set of problems to another. Like Freud before him, the psychologist waxes philosophical about the value of making someone merely "mildly depressed."
And this psychologist asks: "What way is this? What dark is this? I cannot call it ordained of God. I cannot pay it so much hommage."
Like the horse that WAS tethered to his patient's imagination, the psychologist concludes: "There is this chain in my mouth...and it never comes out."
Perhaps the Lauren Slater of one hundred years from now will give us a much happier book reprising the greatest psychological experiments of 21st century.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa Society on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 1337 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: Stupid human tricks.(Open, No Skinner's Box: Great Psychologigal Experiments Of The Twentieth Century)(Book Review)
Author: Ana Marie Cox
Publication:
American Scholar (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Volume: 73
Issue: 2
Page: 149(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
|
Bull River: a new Wildlife haven. : An article from: Endangered Species Bulletin
Robert M., III Lee
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Audiobooks
| Automotive
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Crime & Criminals
| Current Events
| Economics
| Education
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Government
| Holidays
| Law
| Philosophy
| Politics
| Social Sciences
| Transportation
| True Accounts
| Urban Planning & Development
| Women's Studies
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nonfiction
| HTML
| Formats
| e-Docs
| Formats
| Books
ASIN: B000BLBUGQ
Release Date: 2005-09-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Endangered Species Bulletin, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2005. The length of the article is 903 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: Bull River: a new Wildlife haven.
Author: Robert M., III Lee
Publication:
Endangered Species Bulletin (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 30
Issue: 1
Page: 18(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings (Hist Atlas)
- The Revolutionary War Quiz and Fact Book
- The Routledge Atlas of the First World War: The Complete History (Routledge Historical Atlases)
- The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and Philosophy of Right (Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks)
- The Ruins: Or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires: And the Law of Nature.
- The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century (Canto)
- The Structure of Being in Aristotle's Metaphysics (The New Synthese Historical Library)
- The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt
- The Timetables of American History
- The Vietnam War Almanac
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution
- Magician: Apprentice
- Leave Myself Behind
- How to Draw and Sell Digital Cartoons
- History: Fiction or Science
- Introduction to General, Organic and Biochemistry
- ON THE ROADS OF WAR: A Soviet Cavalryman on the Eastern Front
- 400 Years of Fashion
- In Cold Blood
- The Molecular biology of the yeast saccharomyces, life cycle and inheritance
The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History
On Collective Memory (Heritage of Sociology Series)
Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States
How Societies Remember (Themes in the Social Sciences)
Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis
