The Measure of Times Past: Pre-Newtonian Chronologies and the Rhetoric of Relative Time

Book Description

In this extraordinary work, Donald J. Wilcox seeks to discover an approach to narrative and history consistent with the discontinuous, relative time of the twentieth century. He shows how our B.C./A.D. system, intimately connected to Newtonian concepts of continuous, objective, and absolute time, has affected our conception and experience of the past. He demonstrates absolute time's centrality to modern historical methodologies and the problems it has created in the selection and interpretation of facts. Inspired by contemporary fiction and Einsteinian concepts of relativity, he concludes his analysis with a comparison of our system with earlier, pre-Newtonian time schemes to create a radical new critique of historical objectivity.

Book Description

In the early 1800s, when once-powerful North American Indian peoples were being driven west across the Mississippi, a Shawnee prophet collapsed into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he told friends and family of his ascension to Indian heaven, where his grandfather had given him a warning: "Beware of the religion of the white man: every Indian who embraces it is obliged to take the road to the white man's heaven; and yet no red man is permitted to enter there, but will have to wander about forever without a resting place."

The events leading to this vision are the subject of A Spirited Resistance, the poignant story of the Indian movement to challenge Anglo-American expansionism. Departing from the traditional confines of the history of American Indians, Gregory Evans Dowd carefully draws on ethnographic sources to recapture the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of four principal Indian nations--Delaware, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Creek. The result is a sensitive portrayal of the militant Indians--often led by prophets--who came to conceive of themselves as a united people, and launched an intertribal campaign to resist the Anglo-American forces.

Dowd also uncovers the Native American opposition to the movement for unity. That opposition, he finds, was usually the result of divisions within Indian communities rather than intertribal rivalry. In fact, Dowd argues, intertribal enmity had little to do with the ultimate failure of the Indian struggle; it was division within Indian communities, colonial influence on Indian government, and the sheer force of the Anglo-American campaign that brought the Indian resistance movement to an end. An evocative history of long frustration and ultimate failure, A Spirited Resistance tells of a creative people, whose insights, magic, and ritual add a much-needed dimension to our understanding of the American Indian.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Expansion of a Traditional Topic.......2004-09-24

Public school teachers like Tecumseh. He's one of those "Noble Redmen" (along with Chief Joseph, Cochise, Osceola, etc.) that social studies teachers and textbooks always include. However, most elementary, junior high, even high school teachers know little of Native American history in any serious depth. We tend to jump from the culture group to the heroic individual and the terminal event (e.g., battle, treaty) with no stops inbetween. "A Spirited Resistance" provides a excellent context for events of the late colonial, revolutionary, and early national eras of U.S. history. In a modest 200 pages, Dowd provides an intellectual background that makes possible a deeper understanding of figures such as Tecumseh & Black Hawk and events such as the battles of Fallen Timbers & Tippecanoe. I strongly recommend the book, not only to teachers but to history buffs in general.

A Revisionist History of the Native Quest for Unity & Power.......1997-09-06

In his book, A Spirited Resistance, Gregory Evans Dowd sheds new light on a familiar subject, the Native American plight during Colonial and early American history. Through reinterpretation of historical events and a close examination of native spirituality, Dowd argues that Native Americans struggled for and nearly achieved intertribal unity in their fight against Anglo domination from 1745-1815. While most scholars, and even the general public, consider Native Americans to be an extremely religious people, historians focus on more secular factors to define native motivations and the underlying causes of events. Dowd builds on the work of other historians who focus on a narrow subject to create a new broader view that he categorizes as a "New Cultural History" (Dowd xxiii). In so doing, Dowd's work becomes an excellent companion text for classic works such as Jennings' three-volume masterpiece.

Dowd concludes that nativist movements ultimately succeeded and failed because of opposition by accomodationist factions. He supports this seemingly contradictory statement through extensive research and persuasive examples. Nativist prophets and adherents gained followers because they could point to the failures of accomodationist policies. While the movement started on the fringes of various tribes, it spread until it almost achieved dominance. The natives fulfilled some of their aims, but they remained unable to eliminate the opposition within. As Anglo efforts increased, the accomodationists restrengthened their monopoly on Native American followers. As Dowd says, the opposition doomed the nativist movement. The great tragedy, of course, is that both movements failed to safeguard the native lands and lifestyles.

While intertribal unity may have eluded the natives during the time and regions that Dowd's book covers, the work foreshadows later efforts--both the failed Great Plains movement to expel the whites during the late nineteenth century and the current native activists' efforts for equality and improved conditions. Beginning in the 1960's, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began massive efforts to unite Indians all across the nation to regain their lost power. Dowd's text illustrates how important intertribal unity is for the sacred power to return. (Rebecca McMurrin)

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A spirited resistance; the North American Indian struggle for unity, 1745-1815.
Gregory Evans Dowd
Manufacturer: Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins UP, [
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OUTN0O

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A Spirited Resistance: the North American Indian Struggle for Unity 1745-1815
Gregory Evans David
Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins Univ Press, Baltimore
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RZMNVC

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A Spirited Resistance: the North American Indian Struggle for Unity 1745-1815

Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins Univ Press, Baltimore
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I9EA0Y

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An interesting - yet imperfect - overview of death & dying

Poorly written book on a fascinating subject

The Great Taboo Exposed

Don't fear the reaper.

When We Die : The Science, Culture, and Rituals of Death
Cedric Mims
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books
Death | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312264119

Amazon.com

We'd like to think that only depressed teenage poets and heavy-metal gods are obsessed with death, but let's face it--we're all interested in the great equalizer. Microbiologist and world traveler Cedric Mims writes, "We should accept it and talk about it more than we do--as we have done with the once taboo subject of sex." To that end, he has written When We Die: The Science, Culture, and Rituals of Death and started the conversation with wit and grace. Covering the physical facts and metaphysical beliefs concerning our last exits, Mims shows us that not all is dark and dreary, or even peaceful, on "the other side."

The broad, largely untouched topic offers much fascinating material: cannibalism, organ transplants, mummification, and euthanasia all receive their due. Mims explores questions such as "Are corpses dangerous?" and "Who owns a dead body?" from many perspectives, drawing on his extensive reading and travels to create an intricate mosaic of answers. Though written almanac-style, with facts and stories loosely grouped into chapters, When We Die still possesses a cohesion that makes reading straight through as much fun as browsing. Taking care neither to offend nor to give in to the rigorous solemnity normally weighing on such discussions, Mims takes death out of the goth closet, dusts off the romance, and shows us how it really is. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

An unusually comprehensive study of death as both a social and scientific phenomenon, When We Die is as frank as it is informed. This far-reaching discussion considers mortality from the personal and the universal perspective, generously citing past and present poets and physicians from a diverse and telling range of traditions. Mims, who for two decades served as Professor of Microbiology at London's Guys Hospital, brings a humane, inquisitive, and learned sensibility to his topic. "This book is a light-hearted but wide-ranging survey of death, the causes of death, and the disposal of corpses," writes Mims. "It tells why we die and how we die, and what happens to the dead body and its bits and pieces. It describes the ways corpses are dealt with in different religions and in different parts of the world; the methods for preserving bodies; and the ways-fascinating in their diversity-in which corpses or parts of corpses are used and abused." The volume also explores such crucial death-based notions as the afterlife, the soul, and the prospect of immortality. By way of the book's main focus, Mims continues: "We should take a more matter-of-fact view of death [and] accept it and talk about it more than we do-as we have done with the once taboo subject of sex." This is a work that any student of social anthropology will find equally enlightening and essential.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting - yet imperfect - overview of death & dying.......2005-06-02

In "When We Die," Biology Professor Cedric Mims provides a succinct overview of all things macabre. He touches upon standard death and dying subjects such as embalming, burial, cremation, organ donation, and bereavement, as well as more unusual topics, including cannibalism, cellular suicide, mummification, compostoriums, acid baths, and necrophilia. No stone is left unturned in his discussion of death, dying, and "the science, culture, and rituals of death."

As much as I enjoyed "When We Die," it was not without its flaws. For starters, it doesn't seem as though the book was properly edited. I wouldn't go as far to say that Mims is a BAD writer, but it could have been better. His misuse of commas, for instance, is atrocious. He also tends to have trouble transitioning between topics. Some of the awkwardness probably stems from the fact that Mims lives in England and spent some time in Australia and Africa. His phraseology can be clumsy and cumbersome, and I'm willing to bet that it's due to cultural differences. The book was initially released in the UK, and it doesn't appear to have been "cleaned up" for its US edition. Spelling and word usage differences remain intact, when his editor really should have changed them in the US version to reflect his new audience.

Additionally, I found some of his statements to be questionable, while other claims were just plain incorrect. For example, he says that $6 million, "spent over 10 years," is enough to clean all the water in third world countries and eliminate deaths due to diarrhea (that estimate seems awfully low, no?). He also refers to the 1978 Jonestown massacre as a "mass suicide" (despite overwhelming evidence that many members were murdered outright), and makes the dubious claim that, "in all cases [of sensational homicides] the murderer is mentally deranged." Taken together, these errors made me question the rest of the information Mims included in "When We Die." Though he does list 4+ pages of references, he does not use footnotes in his text - so it's usually impossible to tell what information he pulled from which sources.

Nonetheless, "When We Die" is a fascinating and largely enjoyable read. Serious scholars may want to pass this one by, but it's an interesting and manageable discussion for laypeople.

- Kelly Garbato

Author & ePublisher, Peedee Publishing / Hot Dog!, LLC
Contributor, Always Remembered

Poorly written book on a fascinating subject.......2004-08-21

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the subject is fascinating, and Mims delves into many aspects of it: religious, ethical, archaeological, medical, etc. On the other hand, it is extremely poorly written. It reads as if it has not yet gone through an editor. Actually, mistakes like "This treatment costs at least $120,000 dollars" make me think it may *not* have, at least not a competent one. And consider this passage on suicide:

"The very careful, practical suicide may use multiple methods. An extreme example would be blowing one's brains out as one drives a car (with the exhaust directed into the car) over a cliff, having taken an overdose beforehand."

A lame attempt at humor, and badly constructed at that. Makes you wonder how much care was given to the research conducted for the book. At any rate, it's bad for Mims' image, and hence for the book's.

"When We Die" might be worth picking up at a deep discount as a quick overview of the subject, but I can't recommend it at full price.

The Great Taboo Exposed.......2002-06-10

Death is one of the great taboo subjects- you can't get the real story because no one wants to speak frankly bout it. The subject is just to profound. You feel like a teenager trying to find out what sex means. You eventually find out what that means thru study and experimentation-separating fact from fiction. But with death you only get to experiment 1 time-hard to separate wheat from chafe. If you have an interest in life's 2nd greatest landmark(after birth), I couldn't recommend this book more. Mr Mims is a very entertaining writer and seems to cover every imaginable aspect of death. His style is staight talking, stripping the subject of it's mystery. Some of things he covers include the mechanics of dying and burial, forms of suicide, what most people can expect to die of, how death is different that sleep, the hazards of immortality, how embalming works, forms of mummification,crime & how rhe police obtain clues from corpses,the religious side death, and the possibility of the after life. I know this sounds pretty deep but it's very readable. Of particular interest were these little side articles...human relics in Christian Churches(8 churches claim to have Jesus' foreskin),the commercial use of Egyptian mummies in the 19th century, the body snatchers of England,and human sacrifice among the Aztecs. It's an excellent book.

Don't fear the reaper........1999-08-27

This book is wonderful. I learned something on every page. If you read one book on death this year, read this one. Better than an episode of Quincy.

WHEN WE DIE: THE SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND RITUALS OF DEATH

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WHEN WE DIE: THE SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND RITUALS OF DEATH
Cedric Mims
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J3JPMW

When We Die: Thye Science, Culture, and Rituals of Death

Average customer rating:

When We Die: Thye Science, Culture, and Rituals of Death
Cedric Mims
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTJUQM

Customer Reviews:

A visual journey through the Asian wildlife world.......2001-03-12

Wild Asia: Spirit of a Continent is a beautiful oblong title providing a visual journey through the Asian wildlife world based on an international television series by the Natural History New Zealand. Enjoy color photos and a variety of writers who focus on their regional knowledge of Asia, from the Arctic tundra to central Asia. An exceptional visual display blends with nature insights.

Vivacious Beauty.......2001-02-22

This book was a great buy for me. Although it is very general as animals and plants go, it opens up the wonder of Asia to the reader. Its pictures are extremely magnificent; they are the main focus of the book. It is said a picture tells a thousand words, and it is very true for this book. The color and great shots are just as good as it gets, next to being there.

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Coasting: The Sea Lion and the Lark
Neville Peat
Manufacturer: Longacre Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

There is a new presence on New Zealand's southern coast.

Neville Peat, one of our finest observers of the natural world, takes us on a journey from Otago to the subantarctic and follows the life and migration of a sea lion. With the taut and accurate prose of a scientist, and the lyrical sense of an artist, Peat's compelling style lures us into gaining an immense amount of information.

In a work that is deeply intimate and wonderfully expansive, Peat takes us well beyond the physical. He delves into the emotional origins of myth, and reveals an impassioned respect and understanding of the close relationship between humans and animals.

While exploring changing coastal habitat - blending ancient beliefs, local history, legend and the natural sciences - Peat encounters a number of remarkable individuals along the way; sea dogs, old salts, and a mysterious drifter who follows the winds and tides. Here we gain the naturalist's sense of wonder, and the philosopher's contemplation of the mysterious presence we call nature.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful and fascinating book.......2002-05-07

Wild Rivers: Discovering The Natural History Of The Central South Island by Dimedin-based New Zealand guidebook writer and nature photographer Neville Peat and Brian Patrick (entomologist, botanist, and Otago Museum general manager) is a gorgeous, 142 page volume filled from cover to cover with full-color nature photography showcasing the Central South Island of New Zealand. The informative and reader friendly text reveals a wondrous journey through the history of rock, unique ecosystems, and illustrates wide variety of natural settings from coast to icy mountaintops. Wild Rivers is a beautiful and fascinating book, and as close as any reader can get to the natural wonder of New Zealand short of actually going there!

Reports From A Wild Country: Ethics for Decolonisation

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Reports From A Wild Country: Ethics for Decolonisation
Deborah Bird Rose
Manufacturer: University of New South Wales Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Australia | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books

New Zealand | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0868407984

Book Description

Reports from a Wild Country explores some of Australia's major ethical challenges. Written in the midst of rapid social and environmental change and in a time of undertainty and division, it offers powerful stories and arguments for ethical choice and commitment. The focus is on reconciliation between Indigenous and "Settler" peoples, and with nature.

Book Description

The harrowing true story of the Burke and Willis expedition team who took on the Australian wilds 150 years ago--and lost.

They departed Melbourne's Royal Park in the summer of 1860, a misfit party of eighteen amateur explorers cheered on by thousands of well-wishers. Their mission: to chart a course across the vast unmapped interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the northern coast. Months later, only one man returned alive--with tales of heroism, hardships, and lost opportunities that were by turns terrifying and darkly comic.

Drawing its title from one of the few remaining traces of the expedition, The Dig Tree combines the danger of Sebastian Junger with the irony of Bill Bryson to relive the tragic journey of these completely initiated adventurers. The cast of characters includes the expeditionleader; a reckless, charming Irish policeman known for getting lost on his way home from the pub; an eccentric nature enthusiast from Germany; an alcoholic camel handler; and a rogue American horse-breaker who is just in it for the money. For nine harrowing months, their quest for glory shifts from idiocy to perseverance and then inexorably toward tragedy. The nightmare culminates in a last haunting message left behind a group of desperate and dying men--the word DIG carved into what is now Australia's most famous tree.

The Dig Tree follows this compelling journey through a forgotten corner of history to examine a daring expedition that came unbelievably close to success only to let it slip away.

Customer Reviews:

The best account l have read on the Burke and Wills expedition.......2005-12-03

The late Sarah Murgatroyd has written a well researched and poignant account of this tragic expedition. Though l hesitate to use the word expedition, as it was poorly led and planned, perhaps a mad rush in the bush is a better description. Many times as a child l used to gaze at the statue of Burke and Wills, (Melbourne is my home town), when l visited the Museum and wondered how they died and why was that statue there. My schoolbooks portrayed them as tragic heroes, but l felt sorry for John King as these books seemed to minimize his achievement of survival

This book finally gives King the credit he deserves for his amazing survival and the tenacious ability he displayed to achieve this. Unfortunately his health was broken by the experience and he suffered much mental angiush for the remainder of his short life. This anguish, l suspect, derived from the charade he was forced to be a part of upon his return to Melbourne.

He was very critical of the Exploration Committee on the way back to Melbourne after his rescue but was stunned by the reception he received in Victoria on the way back to Melbourne where he was lauded as some type of hero. It was just too much for this quiet and unassuming man. He had to play along and hold his true thoughts about the Exploration Committee to himself. He was up against too much public emotion and powerful interests to upset the applecart, l also believe he felt very guilty about his survival.

This book captures the vastness and emptiness of the Australian interior and yet also describes the beauty of the outback. I have lived in the outback myself while working at remote weather stations. The description of the climate, landscape and vegetation of the part of the outback that the expedition traversed is concise and correct.

This book also gives an account of the expeditions of the explorer; the very able and resourceful John Macdouall Stuart and gives him the credit he richly deserves as a an explorer and a surveyor.

Almost makes it.......2003-05-27

Like the trek it describes, 'Dig Tree' is almost successful. There's no denying that a lot of research went into this book, and in some ways, that's what holds it back. It's almost like Ms Murgatroyd is afraid to leave anything out.
The book also has too many editorial gaffes--wrong tenses, left out words--they're minor, but annoying. Whether or not they are the author's is beside the point, they should have been caught.
I'd certainly keep this on my Burke & Wills shelf--but the classic for me is Alan Moorehead's 'Cooper's Creek.'
Although I doubt Moorehead had access to all that Murgatroyd did, he still manages to tell the story with a great deal more panache.

From sea to sea . . . almost.......2003-01-15

Australia's desolate interior evokes much legend. Dominating the legends are the traverses of European explorers in the region. Among these legends, that of Burke and Wills retains a lofty status, one Sarah Murgatroyd may have forever toppled. She has given the tradition of explorer heroics a strenuous airing with this book. Few reputations are left unsmirched, but her real assault centres on the incompetence of the expedition's leader, Robert O'Hara Burke.

The author relates how Burke left Melbourne, Victoria, in 1860 with several ambitions, muddled instructions and devoid of capabilities to manage the task. Behind his straggling team were a cabal of businessmen intent on extending Victoria's borders. Beyond that, they also hoped to initiate a telegraph line route to Asia, thence to London. In competition with Adelaide to the west, both cities had sponsored expeditions to traverse the continent from south to north. Others had made the attempt, but the travails of crossing a land intolerant of blundering had thwarted them all. Burke was aware of a major competitor in the figure of Charles McDouall Stuart who had nearly succeeded before turning back. Burke, among other things, saw the enterprise as a race - which he intended to win.

Murgatroyed demonstrates how that aspect, among others, doomed the expedition from the beginning. Burke's undue haste led to launching the trek at the worst time of year. He quarreled with subordinates, sacked members of the team and scorned delays occasioned by scientific studies. His fatal error was in dividing the group, ultimately leaving most of his companions behind to make a dash to the northern sea. It was the fragmenting of the expedition that led to conflicting priorities and delays. In the end, not able to actually observe the sea, three survivors of the dash north returned to the rendezvous point to find the word "Dig" carved in a tree. It wasn't enough to save the two leaders surviving the journey.

In analysing Burke's actions, Murgatroyd contrasts them with others, some having set out to rescue the lost venturers. As she points out, the business leaders of Melbourne enhanced the already general view that the only thing considered more "heroic than a successful explorer was a dead one." Melbourne now had two in Burke and his subordinate William Wills. The legend of their heroism was almost manufactured by those who'd sponsored the expedition. The hagiography surrounding the pair has persisted in strength for over a century.

Murgatroyd dispels that idolatry effectively. She cannot be faulted for viewing the past with modern eyes as some are led to do. As a journalist's account, the book is not footnoted, although she provides a good reading list. Her style is open and forthright, keeping the reader close to the events related. She speculates but little, and her judgements are conveyed in sharp contrast. Various persona are portrayed in scathing terms. Even those driven by events escape but narrowly. Her account will dismay some, but none sink into ennui. Her rendition of a complex story makes excellent reading. Her loss to journalism is severe.

Superb book about Australian exploration.......2002-12-29

The book describes the (unfortunate) journey of Burke and Wills and gives a good overview of other explorers of Australia. The author has a great ability to recreate mid-19th century Australian life and views. Overall, this is a superbly researched book that captivates the reader.

An excellent read that both informs and entertains. Ideal for anyone who has interest in Australia, Australian history or exploration. It may not be that interesting for those without these interests

A compelling, heartbreaking story.......2002-10-30

Sarah Murgatroyd does a terrific job of assembling a compelling story of a doomed expedition across Australia. She carefully pulls together pieces from diaries, old news accounts, and official records, and even throws in insights into human and camel physiology when necessary.

The story moves along with interesting characters and sometimes heartbreaking events. Importantly, Murgatroyd grounds everything in historical research, giving her account valuable credibility.

If there's a weakness in this book it is only because the author does so well bringing the reader close to the events. You want the book to go one further step and recreate the conversations among the explorers, but of course it cannot do that.

Book Description

Gliders are an important--though seldom seen--group of marsupials whose long-term survival prospects are being seriously threatened by land-clearing and the logging of Australia's old-growth forests. This book deals with all six species of Australian gliders, which range in size from the tiny 12 gram Feathertail Glider to the 1.3 kilogram Greater Glider. This extraordinary group of animals possess a fascinating array of adaptations to their nocturnal and gliding existence, including eyes that act like a built-in rangefinder to help judge gliding distances, elongated limbs and specially developed toepads to help grip branches when landing, and a padded pouch to protect the young when mothers finish a glide and land on a tree trunk. The book describes the biology and ecology of some of Australia's most remarkable animals and touches on such diverse topics as the origins of gliders, their behavior, how to study gliders, and their conservation.

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Bats (New Zealand Wild)
Alina Arkins , and Len Doel
Manufacturer: Reed New Zealand
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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