Average customer rating:
- Surprised- I thought I'd hate it
- Is Maureen Dowd necessary? When ignorance and arrogance collide
- Is ANYONE Necessary?
- A interesting title and lots of real good information
- "new" doesn't always mean new
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Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide
Maureen Dowd
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 042521236X |
Amazon.com
She may be smart, incisive, witty, and keenly observant but with the release of Are Men Necessary?--a series of pithy (some might say piqued) ruminations on the sexes--Maureen Dowd will never, ever be championed by guys. Not that she cares. Even those who seek to avoid her columns in the august pages of The New York Times are certain to stumble over her invective in syndication. Dowd, it often seems, is everywhere. So those seeking even more via this book should be warned: Are Men Necessary? not only asks the eponymous question; it seeks to answer it with myriad examples (some convincing, some not) drawn from the Toronto Star to Kenneth Starr, from Cosmopolitan to Condoleezza Rice. You can bet a lot of folks aren't going to relish the answer.
With hands on hips and eyes wide open, Dowd surveys gender relations in contemporary settings such as the workplace, the White House, the mall, and the media, comparing and contrasting as she goes. And while her secondary sources are endless--and, let's face it, the subject of gender inequality is not exactly new--Dowd manages to produce a fair share of bons mots. To wit, this pearl on the subject of plastic surgery and men: "I have yet to see a man come out of cosmetic surgery without looking transformed into some permanently astonished lesbian version of himself," Dowd quotes a source as saying. "It's terrifying. My friend's father had just his eyes done by the best, most highly sought-after cosmetic surgeon in New York City. And he doesn't look refreshed or well rested. He looks like he's being stabbed to death by invisible people." Dowd's generously dispersed anecdotes, though seldom as funny, are equally readable. In the end, though, one wishes Are Men Necessary? went beyond simply grocery listing examples of sexual disparity to offer concrete suggestions for change. Then again, maybe that's too great a task even for a woman like Dowd. --Kim Hughes
Book Description
Are men afraid of smart, successful women? Why did feminism fizzle? Why are so many of today's women freezing their faces and emotions in an orgy of plasticity? Is "having it all" just a cruel hoax?
In this witty and wide-ranging book, Maureen Dowd looks at the state of the sexual union, raising bold questions and examining everything from economics and politics to pop culture and the "why?" of the Y chromosome. These new writings will delight her devoted readers-and anyone trying to sort out the chaos that occurs when sexes collide.
Customer Reviews:
Surprised- I thought I'd hate it.......2007-10-06
I may be confused, am I giving 5 stars because it was a good read, or because Maureen Dowd is hot? I'm can't be sure, I am after all, a guy. I expected a feminist rant against men and was pleasantly surprised by the sensible, rational approach to the topics. I found myself thankful to be wired and plumbed as I am, and a bit more understanding of the frustrations my wife and other professional women- women in general, experience. I agree with a previous reviewer, I think Ms (Miss) Dowd needs a date. If my DNA strands weren't so darn long, I'd enthusiastically volunteer.
Is Maureen Dowd necessary? When ignorance and arrogance collide.......2007-09-11
To answer Dowd's question, one need only consider that half of all the people you know would not be alive today if it were not for the medical marvels invented by this unnecessary sex, just to look at a single area revolutionized by male creativity and ingenuity, those gifts that CANNOT be learnt parrot-fashion by the ungifted, no matter how hard they try. Let all of us who are grateful that half of our friends and family are alive and not dead express our posthumous gratitude to the men who saved us from the disaster of midwifery (50% mortality rate achieved by these Einsteins until finally men were allowed to participate, and a MAN came along, inventing the necessary equipment and techniques within decades, and teaching his life-saving techniques to these ungrateful wretches, who had only had six millennia to learn to do their job properly.) Thank you Peter Chamberlen, that every baby born feet forwards today is not condemned to die along with its mother like when women ruled midwifery. Dowd and half of her friends and family would not be with us today if these unnecessary men hadn't helped these ignorant women understand how their own bodies worked. If she would gladly accept the loss of all these people from her life, then I fully respect her decision that men are not necessary. If however, she has gladly made use of the medical wonders, from childcare to cancer treatment, that exist only through the genius of the male sex, then I call her an ungrateful, female chauvinist pig of the lowest kind, whose drivel can only be of appeal to those in a similar IQ range. Go away and make room for someone with something useful to say. And see how many days you can get by without making use of any inventions created by the unnecessary sex. I promise to do the same with female inventions.
Is ANYONE Necessary?.......2007-09-02
That's a totally irrelevant question and book title. No one is necessary; because God made man and woman for his own pleasure and desire. We're here because God wanted us here. Plain and simple. Secondly, women would not exist on the earth without men. No women ever born on the earth got here without a man. The first person on earth was a man and everyone else came from him.
A interesting title and lots of real good information.......2007-09-01
I listen to the book on DVDs. The author is a well know columnist. Her insighted to famous and infamous people of our world is very interesting.
She has to be a real woman, who enjoys being a woman and her wit and insight is very enlightening to all who read this intriguing collections of observations.
A must read for women of all ages, it tell the tale of wanting something and then when we have it the repercussions of having is not all that good.
"new" doesn't always mean new.......2007-07-31
Even though I ordered the item "New" from amazon, the book was obviously used, with wear on the binding.
Customer Reviews:
Educated Ignorance.......2006-09-26
Such a terrible mis-directed perversion of Mind. Well educated Ignorance. A true weaver of Stalinist theory. What a malignant waste of thought.
Necessary Reading.......2006-05-20
This Chomsky book, while tough to get through at points (have a dictionary on hand), is an absolute must if you are interested in learning how to "read" the mainstream news.
Facts are given and cited. And Chomsky, as always, asks readers to draw their own conclusions. I drew mine. This was the first book of his I read, but it wasn't the last.
The Obligation of Silence, Containing The Enemy, & Awaiting The Hidden Hand.......2006-01-08
"They who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness." ~ John Milton
This was released in 89', the end of the Reagan/Bush era, and offers an insightful outline of then-versus-now contrast. Many similar behind the scene names and fear-based strategies. The specifics have changed, yet the song unfortunately remains the same. Chomsky demonstrates our democracy's historical need of "containment of the enemy" [a populace in which free voices have the capacity to resound] through imposed and vested interests, and through a pervasive media propaganda model, which, as adjuncts of government, manipulate a collective turning of an onus blind eye from the crimes, atrocities, familar ideologies, preferences and prefabricated belief structures of the favored state.
As usual, the unyielding Chomsky wields an elementary punch of fact-packed, deep-impressioned, miles-back swing. It's quite astonishing to read such blatantly anti-democratic {compared to the widely adhered to definitions and perceptions of democracy} quotations from prominent historical political figures who formulate policies designed to advance and serve oligarchic interests through deceiving the people, and diminishing their capacity for involvement and of having a direct hand in the shaping of public policy.
"Necessary Illusions" is an essential read in the canon of what Chomsky refers to as necessary "intellectual self-defense courses" to counter Power's perilous necessary illusions which menace our representative form of government, human rights here and abroad, and, realistically, the fate of our species and the planet.
I love it. If Only I Could Read It!.......2002-12-04
I am influenced by Chomsky more than any other political philosopher (although he seems to encompass much more than a mere career categorization). I've studied him on and off for the past five years, and I find it harder and harder to rely on mass media (TV, radio, movies, increasingly more of the internet) for any information. It's like lost innocence. One can never look at these things the same after reading Chomsky.
In this book, he tackles these themes, but concentrates a great deal on U.S. international relations. The equation is basically this: corporations control the government and own the media. U.S. international relations are directly affected and influenced by the whims of multinationals; namely the desire for [inexpensive] production and [inexpensive] resources, exploiting civilians and foreign lands to achieve these means. The government is in the pocket of the corporations.
The ordinary American has little say. We may vote; but we vote for one party; solely representing the interests of the rich, and the huge corporations.
That's a bit of Chomsky in a nutshell. This book supports these arguments with EXHAUSTIVE research. I admit, I found it exhausting to read, but not from lack of interest. He is detailed; which makes his arguments valid. He uses countless examples, all supported by the contradictory historical actions and propaganda of U.S. foreign relations; where the government lies to the public via the media. There are so many quotes and supportive examples that the bibliography could be 40 pages long!
So, I love Chomsky. However I really don't like reading him; but I try. I find the easiest way to get the big picture of Chomsky's views is by watching the documentary, Manufacturing Consent, reading Z Magazine, and also "The Real Story" series of transcribed interviews with Chomsky.
Perhaps I'm just a lazy reader. However I think this book legitimizes many of Chomsky's views, in a dense, detailed, way. But without these supporting examples and quotes, his views couldn't be seen as valid.
Eyeopener for newcomers, disappointment for Chomskyites.......2000-07-25
On the whole, this book is disappointing and greatly inferior to Chomsky's similarly theme-ed Manufacturing Consent. Necessary Illusions amounts to little more than an updating of media duplicity in mainstream coverage of Central America and Israel. From the title, I expected a more systematic analysis of methods, mechanics, and reasons that operate behind media coverage. Instead, Chomsky offers a loose model of journalistic propaganda and a few methods for detecting its presence, viz. the Comparison Method. However, the model is neither detailed nor a really very useful one. Thus at a time when tv's propaganda function, for one, is becoming clearer to the public, Necessary Illusions fails to deliver much beyond the usual case studies familiar to Chomskyites. Important as this empirical work may be, especially for newcomers to Chomsky, what is needed is a more thorough-going model of how raw news gets processed into self-serving policy reinforcement. In short, a better model of the communication industry's ideological function.
It's surprising that someone as skilled at theorizing as Chomsky appears to shy away from this next logical step to his many invaluable case studies. Americans by and large recognise that despite being "free", the popular media is not to be trusted. Now we need be persuaded why this is so. Perhaps Chomsky doesn't want to risk credibility by pursuing more abstract formulations where researchable fact is less immediate. Whatever the reason, in this book he has clearly debunked some of America's most prestigious and self-serving institutions, which is always a worthwhile read.
Book Description
Despite the huge advances women have made in recent decades, their ambitions are still undermined in subtle ways. Parents, teachers, bosses, and institutions all give less encouragement to women than men, and women still grow up believing that they must defer to men in order be seen as feminine. If their ambition does survive into adulthood, too often those ambitions must be downsized or abandoned to accommodate “wifely” duties of household chores and child care. As a result, women--unlike men–continually have to re-shape their goals and expectations.
Yet expressing ambition, pursuing it, and getting recognition for one’s accomplishments is critical to identity and happiness. In this groundbreaking work, Anna Fels draws on extensive research and years of her psychiatriac practice to offer an original and deeply useful examination of ambition in women’s lives. In the process, she illuminates just what is necessary for women to articulate--and fulfill--their dreams.
Customer Reviews:
women and recognition.......2007-09-28
While reading this book I thought of every woman I know, and of the men in their lives. I wanted to send it to each of them, regardless of their stage in life or regardless of the ambitions that they may hold or struggle to hold. Fels argues that ambition is a fundamental human need, and so too is recognition of one's skills, talents, and ambitions. In contrast to most men, who often receive recognition in multiple areas of their lives, women are taught to give recognition to others, and rarely receive recognition for their own work and desires. She covers childhood through adulthood and intermixes empirical studies with her own experience as a psychologist. Touching often on the notion of career, Fels would seem to write for a middle class audience, but there is much here that transcends race, class and culture. I'd say it's a must read for all women wanting to find their way, and for the men who support them.
Ambition and Motivation.......2006-09-20
An excellent book, an engaging look at ambition in women's lives. Fels also provides significant insight into what motivates people in general. Highly recommended reading.
Every woman should read this.......2005-07-18
I am not the author's friend, nor do I know the author. This is a true and unbiased opinion on this book.
Okay, now that we got that out of the way (I am always wary of five star reviews myself), I just have to say that this is a great book. I first bought the book thinking it was a book on teaching woman how to be more ambitious. I am a pretty passive person in general. I lack drive and motivation, but have big dreams for myself. Yep, I'm also pretty lazy. So I was looking for a book to jumpstart my psyche so I can go out there and get what I want. Well, I didn't get that from this book. What I got was an eye-opening experience on why woman do the things they do, what drives them to do it, and a brief history of women's accomplishments and hardships through the centuries. I could not put this book down. While reading, I felt compassion, anger, hope, devastation, and a slew of other emotions that I haven't felt in a long time. I was finally understanding why I do the things that I do, why I defer to men all the time and let some of them run my life. This is a deeply psychological book, and the way it is written reminds me of a professional research paper. What I'm saying is, you really have to follow closely and pay attention to get the most out of it. It is definitely for the serious reader. So please, whether you are a woman or a man, you will benefit much from reading this fine work.
Necessary Dreams, Ambition in Women's Changing Lives.......2005-06-04
It's time for another book response. (I do not like the term "review" - sounds too much like a school assignment.) I just finished reading "Necessary Dreams, Ambition in Women's Changing Lives" written by Anna Fels, published by Pantheon Books, New York. The author writes about how women perceive and cope with ambition and accomplishment. She works carefully first to establish a definition of ambition and then takes a good, hard look at the popular supposition that it "goes against the very nature of women". Then she does what for many will sound her credibility's death knell. She challenges current theories about the mind-set and needs of men.All 14 chapters seem to be a rewording of the same message; the message that she endlessly pounds home; the message that she relentlessly hammers into the reader's brain. Unless a woman is willing to risk the opprobrium society will heap on her should she dare to go against the prescribed norms, at some point in her life, she will be expected, for the sake of some other, to put her plans and dreams on hold, and thereby risk losing them entirely. Why should such a thing be expected of her? As a married couple's life progresses, for instance, there are several scenarios that could play themselves out to this conclusion. If the husband is offered a job in another city, the usual expectation is that the couple will move, for him to follow up on this great opportunity.She is generally expected to defer to him, no matter what her current state of affairs might be. "It has been suggested, for example, that women have a greater capacity for empathy than men, making it more painful for them not to gratify (italics my own) the wishes of others..." Fels cites studies and quotes research to prove that women actually have less difficulty pursuing their own goals and gratification when "they believe that their actions will not be known by male peers." This, of course, makes it nearly impossible for many a female not to place herself and her needs second to her husband, and for that matter, to damn near every male they encounter through life. She talks about the upsurge in the "wedding industry" , in spite of how many unions end in divorce, and suggests that this is so especially because it is the one day when a woman is entitled to expect that she will come first. After that, it is a downhill slide.What to do about affecting change in this state of affairs? Says Fels, many of the gains made by women in the last century have entailed losses for men, and these "commodities have not been relinquished without a bitter fight." Women's roles cannot be changed without having impact on the lives of men, but changed they must be. We can not turn back the clock on the gains made already, nor ignore the further work that needs to be done. Fels makes the point that if this change is to come about, a society-wide shift in values must take place. The "mandates of femininity" assume that a woman will subordinate her needs to those of others, particularly her husband. Despite the increasingly necessary participation of women in the workforce, no-one from the government to those husbands has been willing to assume the various costs involved in providing the labour-intensive housework and child-care that women traditionally did for "free". "Most men (and our government is run largely by men) believe that the work women do in the home is one of men's entitlements." Men would like to believe, says Fels that such work is "neither their problem nor their responsibility." Obviously, therefore, if such work has to be done, it falls to the women. The question is how to climb the ladder of success with a baby on your hip? After spending 255 pages convincing you it is damn near hopeless, she gives all of tow paragraphs - that's all, just two - to suggesting there is any light at the end of the tunnel. She tells women to look to the example of "Grey Power" and how seniors organizing themselves into a political lobby group with some clout should be their model and their hope for change.This is not a book that can be read lightly, not if you are a woman, or a man who genuinely cares about any woman. Our mothers, our daughters, our sisters and aunts, all are struggling under a yoke that might even seem not to be there at first glance. Here in our rich country, why should we believe anyone struggles under such a burden? There are so many women's stories to hear. Where should you start to listen? Why not start with the successful looking woman, the one dressed in Wall Street attire, holding an ice pack to her head? She'll be holding it against the bruise she got from banging her head on the glass ceiling.
Must read for ALL women.......2005-05-10
This book helped me understand a lot of what I and other strong, smart, ambitious women have been up against. And the incredible personal and professional roadblocks that are in our way. But it is a MUST read for all women because it does help you understand and make sense of this challenge. And it acts as your cheerleader as you forge forward in the light of all of these challenges. We are so grateful to have Dr. Fels' insights and her thoughtful examples to reflect on as we each create our own life. I will recommend this book to many of the women who ask me for advice and counsel on having an exciting career, a soulful relationship and healthy kids. Thank you.
Customer Reviews:
That reminds me of a story..........2007-07-17
This is a work of an exceptional and original genius.
"Mind and Nature" is both Gregory Bateson's most accessible and most difficult book. It is a deeply personal exploration of what has come to be called cognitive science from a brilliant man and great scientist who pioneered a deep synthesis of anthropology, language and communications, and biology over the course of a remarkable life. Be advised that it is more of a progress report on a lifelong quest than a coherent whole. If you have an enduring interest in cognitive science and you haven't read Bateson, you don't know what you are missing.
Bateson's starting point is, "How is it possible for the same evolutionary forces that shaped our survival as a species failed to shape our minds?" The answer, of course, is that it is not. It ought to be self-evident that the phenomenon that we call the "mind" is shaped by natural selection. Bateson does not claim to understand all the implications of this empiricist stance, his focus instead is on how to start asking the right questions about the mind and cognition. For instance: What is learning? What is play? (Is it true that only mammals play? Why is that?) If you think about it, these are phenomenon central to the human experience and there is no one that discussed them more insightfully than Bateson does here (and in "Steps...".
I find myself returning to this book again and again over the years. Its effect on me has been profound. I am sure I will never understand more than a small part of what Bateson is trying to tell me here, but the feeble fraction that I do understand is remarkable. The wisdom that animates this book has shaped many of the foundational notions of my life. It is full of life lessons.
And that reminds me of a story about the time I incorporated one of Bateson's teaching parables from this book into a speech I had to give not too long ago....
Inspiration Beyond Imagination!.......2006-08-17
Gregory Bateson, one of the greatest minds in Anthropology and husband to Margaret Mead, has given us an incredible perspective through which to grow individually as well as collectively. At a time when our world suffers, "Mind and Nature" provides the reader with new perspectives on a balanced co-existence with our Planet and all Her species! Having contributed to visionary thinking about how we perceive our world, Bateson has added to the brilliant body of work which includes new looks at schizophrenia, dolphin communications and Nature Herself! A must read for those who wish to find ways to contribute to the desperate change of perspectives that facilitate a harmonious co-existence with Mother Earth, and more importantly, new ways to view the Self!
You're Smarter Than You Think You Are.......2006-03-30
Sit in on a lecture by an engaging and knowledgable prof and you can expect to pick up a few tidbits. You certainly don't expect to come away knowing everything the prof knows. The subtitle of this book is about what Bateson knows, but you don't need to know any of that (or be particularly interested in it) to read this unusual book. My subtitle would be: You're Smarter Than You Think You Are."
I read this book in a Bantam mass market edition after sampling a piece of it in some science magazine (maybe Discover). Gregory Bateson was a renaissance man (which is one of the delights in reading him), the former husband of anthropologist Margaret Mead, and best known for the double bind theory of schitzophrenia, included as an essay in The Ecology of Mind. That theory may not sound well-known at all, but it's the basis of family counseling and why we talk about dysfunctional families (instead of just individuals). And we've all been in situations that are double binds, or as these no-win situations are known in everyday jargon: "damned if you do, damned if you don't".
Bateson wrote this book as metafiction, which is to say he talks about the book in the book, and he includes a handful or metalogues with his daughter, Catherine Bateson, herself now a writer for such magazines as Smithsonian, although he made them up. These metalogues reflect on ideas in the book and widen the feedback loop, as it were, to include the reader. They are relaxed and leisurely and not meant to be persuasive.
My experience reading this book was that it changed the way I saw everything. That sounds like an over-reaching claim or a self-help book gone wild, but the reason is, as Bateson points out, that many of our educations are simply based on gathering information, like Number Five in the film Short Circuit, with no help at all on how to think about it.
I certainly didn't understand everything in this book. But then, if you already understand and agree with everything in a book, why read it? What I did glean was a few tidbits from an engaging and knowledgeable prof who gave me not just more to think about but ways to think about it, and the happy realization that we're all smarter than we think we are.
The most important book on epistemology there is.......2005-08-18
Gregory Bateson is one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. This is one of his last books and it deals with matters of epistemology. The thinking preserved within its pages is profound yet most of the time down to earth. There Bateson parts company with most formal epistemologists, the majority of whom are utterly confused, at least in their way of exposition. You do not need to be an expert logician to understand Bateson's thinking; he is the expert and tutors you through the straights of Scylla and Charybdis with the outmost comfort and safety. From this fantastic journey you will definitively be enriched.
This book is one of his most important. It is a testament of his view of science and coming from a person who helped revolutionize more scientific fields than the average person has even heard of it should be taken seriously. In its pages Bateson tells us what science is and how it should be properly exercised. Given the confusion and nihilism that have followed on the pseudoscientific revolutions of postmodernism and decostructivism (read Focault, Derida or Judith Butler for instance) such readings are necessary if at times disturbing. Not all ways of doing science are equal and many of them are based on logical confusion. Bateson is clear on that point. On page 24 he tells us "Some tools of thought are so blunt that they are almost useless". Self-evident to most people this maxim needs to be restated and taken seriously, especially within the social sciences that have only succeeded in making minor steps since the time of Aristotle. In this book we learn the why of this unfortunate situation. The question is if anybody wants to listen...
Still Bateson is not in any way preaching like some untouchable headmaster, unlike many other philosophers of his rank (read Jerry Fodor for instance). He is aware of the difficulties and obstacles involved and most of the time keeps his voice low. He also is not a techno-freak like many of the newest cognitive scientists, modern rationalists or evolutionary psychologists though he is one of their intellectual fathers. Instead he often talks of the need of a holistic approach, of looking out for the pattern which connects mind to nature and nature to the universe, and warns against the dangers of degrading the ecosystem and turning our backs to the fellow living creatures of this, still wonderful, planet.
If you only read one book on the history of science or on epistemology make this one your choice. You wont regret it. It is a cybernetically quided misile which will hit you on the head, and change you forever. To the better that is.
Gregory Bateson's Masterpiece.......2002-12-10
Gregory Bateson is difficult to "get" but incredibly rewarding once you do understand him. The number of concepts he deals with in this masterwork is amazing; the number that are still relevant more than twenty years after publication is stunning. Mind and Nature will some day be seen as one of the most important books of the Twentieth Century.
Bateson does not just tell us what he knows -- he shows us, using marvelous examples from nature that you will never forget. He gives beautifully clear -- on the sixth or seventh reading for some people -- descriptions of learning-by-the-individual and evolution-by-the-group as ***essentially similar fusions of analogic and digital (or energy and pattern) integrations.***
Learning-by-the-individual is "somatic" and benefits the survival of the individual, but ***that*** survival in turn becomes the evolutionary driving force for the group because the genes of the individual are passed on in the germ (genetic) line of the species. Mind and Nature are an essential unity. But what's more, the processes by which both mind and nature work are the SAME: Whether individual learning or group evolution, some pattern-preferencing mechanism "selects," from a set of cast-up possibilities, some qualities of some kind. The selecting mechanisms can ONLY select from those cast-up possibilities. When those qualities have survival value, they get passed on.
Far more than just a re-statement of Darwin, the essential unity of Mind and Nature described by Bateson has vast implications for our understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe. We are as one with Nature, as one with the way of the Universe. Each of us in our individual being, learning our individual lessons, goes through exactly the SAME process of stochastic learning as the greater group, the species. It's not just trial and error: We can ACTIVELY CO-EVOLVE with the messages of our world. What those messages are, Bateson teaches in stunning clarity: Modern systems thinking and complexity theory as maturing (yet still not mature) arts truly starts with Bateson's analysis. Bateson may not have added a great deal to this synthesis, but his analysis has made available to countless thinkers the wisdom of the systems thinking paradigm and the evolutionary imperative.
The message Bateson sends is that to survive intelligently as humans we must better combine imagination with rigor. We must use our abilities as conscious beings to courageously imagine better futures, to go where angels fear to tread, fraught with danger though that may be. Only then can we make the world better. Until we imagine new ideas, until we bring our unique contributions into being as 'possibilities,' the forces of evolution cannot act on them. Our jobs are to be truly and deeply human: We must add our unique selves, our Minds, to the possibilities of the Universe, while balancing our beings within the constraints of Nature's flows of energy and pattern. Only the longest-term survival patterns ultimately have survival value, and we best get with it as intelligently, and as soon, as we are able.
Product Description
The imperialists know the only way you will voluntarily turn to the fox is to show you a wolf. In eleven speeches and interviews, Malcolm X presents a revolutionary alternative to this reformist trap, taking up political alliances, women's rights, U.S. intervention in the Congo and Vietnam, capitalism and socialism, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent M/X compilation.......2005-08-29
This collection of writings and speeches by Malcolm X deals with the last year of his life and contains some really interesting material. M/X goes off on some ideas that would still make many people squirm, such as his idea that "Any Black person who registers as a Democrat or a Republican is a traitor to his people." What Black politican today would say this? He also stresses that the main thing for African-Americans to do is to undo the damage to the self-esteem of Black people done by slavery and Jim Crow (another capital idea seldom heard-but needed to be said-today). He warns against reactionary picketing against foolish and symbolic issues and bluntly states that if it's an idea that you aren't worth dying for, then you shouldn't demonstrate at all!
Ideas tof this kind are seldom heald even from so-called "militant" leaders of today, who thrive on theatrics and shock value as opposed to concrete ideas for the betterment of the masses. I also like his take on white liberals ("John Brown should be your standard") although I disagree to an extent with a few ideas (such as his take on Rev. Bruce Klunder, a Cleveland martyr) but one does not have to agree with someone 100% to recognize sincerity and brilliance. Read it and think!
Some excerpts.......2005-04-17
I think the best way to describe this great book is a few excerpts.
"... by any means necessary. That's our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary."
"We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out."
"Those who claim to be enemies of the system were on their hands and knees waiting for [Democratic president] Johnson to get elected because he's supposed to be a man of peace; and he has troops invading the Congo [in Africa] right now and invading Saigon [Vietnam]...."
"This political, economic, and social system of America was produced from the enslavement of the black man and that particular system is capable only of reproducing that out of which itself was produced."
"No, you have got no friends in Washington, D.C.... You've got friends in Africa, friends in Asia, friends in Latin America."
"[The] thing that I would like to impress upon every Afro-American leader is that no kind of action in this country is ever going to bear fruit unless that action is tied in with the overall international struggle."
(In one of his speeches, Malcolm read the founding statement of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) which he led, adding his own comments. Malcolm didn't write the statement himself; it was developed by a committee of the new group.)
"[quoting OAAU] 'A first step in the program to end the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the [New York city] schools the Board of Education will not include in its [desegregation] plan be turned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.'"
"[quoting OAAU] 'The [Black] community must ... wage an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.'"
"Wherever you have organized crime, that type of crime cannot exist other than with the consent of the police, the knowledge of the police and the cooperation of the police.... [Criminals] pay the police off so that they will not get arrested. I know what I'm talking about - I used to be out there."
"[quoting OAAU] 'We propose to support and organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.' We don't support any black man who is controlled by the white power structure."
I also recommend "Malcolm X Talks to Young People". (See my review.)
I recommend the ads in the back of the book. Pathfinder Press is defined by a political goal, not commercial success. It aims to provide a platform for revolutionary leaders speaking in their own words. If you like one book, you will probably like others.
A great book!.......2003-10-22
This wonderful biography on Malcom X is an intriguing book talking about Malcom's life and greatest triumphs. It describes his life as a child, on the streets, in prison, and as a leader. It told me almost everything I wanted to know about his life, with a some interesting tidbits to keep it from getting boring, but not too many so it isn't a foot thick. The book starts out nicely, with a story about when Malcom made sure that a young African American man captured by the police is kept in good health. Although, after reading this grabbing article, the book slows down a little bit, don't stop, because ahead of you is a fun and informative novel containing everything you wanted to know about this wonderful leader.
A first hand look at the man himself.......2003-09-02
I recommend this book to anyone who is curious as to who Malcom X is. It is not a biography, but a collection of interviews and speeches that reveal the essence of a natural born leader. Malcom X lived in a time where his people where treated as second class citizens, where every genuine attempt to counter the mistreatment of blacks was met with opposition, either by supremacist groups or the Government's inability to protect the rights of his people.
Naturally he develops a militant stand against the injustice, as every other measure seemed futile. The militancy undeniably made him notorious in the media circles and he was often misunderstood of misquoted by the establishment. By objectively reading his words as they are transcribed, one cannot help but agree that he is indeed a revolutionary philosopher and activist, unafraid and eager to change his views as he learns more about the struggle for universal human rights.
This is a must read for people who are curious to learn more about the real civil rights struggle, a stark contrast from the rosy pictures that are painted every year in Febuary.
Profile of a Racist Icon.......2003-05-02
This book does not deserve any stars, not due to its technical profficiency as the book is well written.
However this work does nothing to condemn the racist, anti-white attitude taken by the subject, or the subjects links with international black supremacist regimes and terrorist organisations.
Those who fail to condemn racism, including black racism, are condoning it - the author has therefore taken the moral low ground.
Book Description
In her first new work since The Vagina Monologues, her Obie Award-winning smash hit, Eve Ensler tells the story of two American women, a Park Avenue psychiatrist and a human rights worker, who go to Bosnia to help women confront their memories of war and emerge deeply changed themselves. Necessary Targets is a groundbreaking play about women and war—about the violence of dark memories and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.
Melissa, an ambitious young writer, and J.S., a successful but unsatisfied middle-aged psychiatrist, have nothing in common beyond the methods they have been taught to distance themselves from other people. As J.S. begins to feel compassion for the women whose tragedies she has been sent to expose, she turns on Melissa, who finds safety in control. In an unexpected moment of revelation, J.S. and the women she is supposedly treating find a common ground, a place to be taught and a place to learn.
Necessary Targets has been staged in New York by Meryl Streep, Anjelica Huston, and Calista Flockhart, and performed in Sarajevo with Glenn Close and Marisa Tomei.
Customer Reviews:
A Mother Goddess for A Care-Hungry World.......2004-11-11
I was fortunate enough to see this play performed live, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was already an Eve Ensler fan, having performed myself in a college production of The Vagina Monologues, but I am also a harsh theatre critic, attending 8 or more professional productions a year (for the last 15 years) and often finding them lacking. Neccessary Targets is one of the best plays I have ever had the honor of finding myself engaged in. The characters are female archetypes we are all famillar with, and yet they each have their own unique stories. During the course of the play, they find themselves stomping bravely or furiously down paths they never even supposed were out there, hovering just off the beaten track...leaving the geographically familliar for the foreign, the psycholgically comforting for the disruptive, finding peace in sorrow, and joy in chaos. For anyone wishing to expand their understanding of how women in the global South or women in war-torn nations subsist psychologicaly--this is your play. Eve Ensler is a goddess. In this play, her creations range from an elderly woman who longs for her long-gone beloved cow, to a teenage mother, unwilling to acknowledge the loss of her newborn infant, from an uptight/urban therapist who needs to learn how to feel compassion and forget about wrinkle-free clothes, to a freedom-fighting hiking-boot-wearing all 'round adventurer with an intense insecurity complex. It's a must read and a must see.
Words can never describe war, but Ensler comes close.......2002-03-12
My first read left me disappointed because I thought it was a flimsy account of war, but finally Necessary Targets began to grow on me. I think it's ingenious that Ensler tells the story from an American perspective. As an American woman, I've never spent a single day or night in the midst of a warzone--and bombs and shells are a minute portion of what Bosnian women endured. Melissa's distance and J.S.'s transformation make it very clear how removed we Americans can be from the attrocities of war. Ensler is right--we only think about the bombs, bloodshed, and battles. Because the media tends to ignore the drudgeries and aftermaths, we do as well. Maybe I thought at first that this play was missing the noisy, concrete aspects of war. But it's the abstract--the emotional and mental damage--that people need to consider. Ensler brings that aspect of war hauntingly close with this play.
The untold horrors of war - told here.......2002-01-07
I was introduced to Eve Ensler through "The Vagina Monologues." That book is one of the most moving and vital books I've read in a long time. I eagerly grabbed "Necessary Targets" thinking it would have the same emotional impact as one of her previous monologues about the horrible acts performed against women in war. I hate to admit it, but I was very disappointed in "Necessary Targets." Until the last 15 pages of the play, I was unable to really find a connection with any of the women portrayed. I tried again and again and even felt guilty for feeling nothing. I would still recommend this play for the overall message Ensler presents and the play's themes. It is educational and eye-opening concerning the horrors of war that no one likes to talk about. Please, also consider picking up a copy of "The Vagina Monologues," by far Ensler's best work to date. You won't regret it.
Of women and war.......2001-11-12
Eve Ensler's "Necessary Targets" is a thought-provoking play. In her introduction, Ensler notes that, in 1993, she traveled to the former Yugoslavia in order to interview female war refugees. This play evokes the lives of those displaced women.
The play deals with two American women: Melissa, a writer and trauma counselor, and J.S., a psychiatrist. They travel to Bosnia and hold group sessions with several women, of various ages, who have become refugees as a result of the wall. Their conversations are at times tense, funny, or painful.
"Necessary Targets" is a compelling depiction of a cross-cultural encounter. Throughout the play there was, in my mind, a question: Are Melissa and J.S. helping these women, or merely exploiting them to further their own agendas? Also interesting is Ensler's exploration of perceptions of the U.S. and Americans held by people from other nations.
In her introduction, Ensler notes, "When we think of war, we think of it as something that happens to men in fields or jungles." Thus, this play is a valuable window into the female world of war.
Eve Ensler for President.......2001-07-10
Eve Ensler has struck again & I hope to find more of her stuff soon. Although not as good as "The Vagina Monologues" (a fantastic must-read!), "Necessary Targets" is still a touching story (in play format). Just the sheer joy of knowing that Eve Ensler is out there somewhere made me read this book.
Book Description
Susan Palwick, author of the remarkable Flying in Place, now returns with a compelling new novel of a family cast out of an idyllic realm, learning to live in our own troubled world. With its richly imagined portrayal of a lost culture, complete with poetry and fables, traditions and customs, and its searing yet sympathetic view of own society as seen through new eyes, The Necessary Beggar is an compelling examination of humanity and the redemptive power of love, in the spirit of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land.
Lémabantunk, the Glorious City, is a place of peace and plenty, of festivals and flowers, bejeweled streets and glittering waterfalls. But it is also a land of severe justice. Darroti, a young merchant, has been accused of an unforgiveable crime – the brutal murder a highborn woman. Now, in keeping with the customs of their world, his entire family must share in his punishment – exile to the unknown world that lies beyond a mysterious gate.
Passing through that gate, and grieving for the life they leave behind, Darroti and his family find themselves in a harsh and hostile land – America just a few years hence, a country under attack in a world torn by hatred and warfare. Unable to explain their origin, they are rapidly remanded to an internment camp in the Nevada desert, along with thousands of other refugees. There they endeavor to make sense of this ill-fated land where strange gods are worshipped, and living things like flowers and insects are not respected.
After Darroti, unable to bear his disgrace, takes his life, the rest of the family escapes to the outside world. There, each tries to cope in their own way. Timbor, the head of the clan, troubled by the restless spirit of his departed son who comes to him in dreams, does his best to preserve the old ways, and avoid conflict with the outsiders. His eldest son Masofo, who calls himself Max, is lured by the worldly temptations of this new world, while his second son, Erolorit, strives to make a decent life for his family.
But it is Timor’s granddaughter, Zamatryna, who is the quickest to adjust to this strange new world. It is she who is the first to learn its language, to adopt its customs, to accept this place as her new home. And, as the strain of adapting themselves to this new life begins to tear the family apart, it is Zama, sustained by the extraordinary love of an ordinary young man, who finds a way to heal their grief and give them new hope.
Customer Reviews:
Unnecessary Inconsistency.......2007-06-09
This it is the type of book that epitomizes the term "mixed reviews." Some will love its allegorical social commentary and message of love and redemption, but others will find only contrived methods and sappy melodrama. I found myself swinging wildly between these two camps while reading the novel, which indicates a further problem with its inconsistency. Granted, the basic premise is pretty good, as people from some sort of parallel universe, with a much different human society, are exiled to our world and forced to adapt under trying circumstances. But unfortunately, Susan Palwick does little with this premise beyond the trite and predictable. First, the characters' homeworld, Gandiffri, is a thinly-constructed allegory for a pure and simple human society, and was surely created only to provide obvious contrasts with our world. This contrived sense of difference then makes the first half of this book extremely tiresome as the characters, and especially the leading lady Zamatryna, embark on longwinded and incredibly predictable discussions with their American friends about differences in customs and religious beliefs. This is the old "outside observer" device in fantasy/sci-fi that not only has been done to death for decades, but it's also been done much better.
The second half of the book gets more interesting, for a while, although this is where sheer melodrama weighs the story down. On the good side, there is one very readable and empathetic episode told in a flashback, the story of Darroti and Gallicina, but this merely sheds light on the weaknesses of the main storyline. Palwick tries to develop her characters but keeps writing herself into corners, finding escape in implausible coincidences and contrived plot devices - especially two different miraculously generous benefactors. Most importantly, as Zamatryna comes of age, the story strangely turns from predictable social commentary to clumsy chick-lit self-discovery, and the climax to the story dissolves into contrived melodrama as hardships and crises pile up suspensefully, but in the end all the characters experience implausibly rosy conclusions. And all of the above is built around the aforementioned message of love and redemption, which some readers will find little pleasure in trying to digest. Overall, this book is a fairly successful reading experience, and you're likely to stay interested to the end, but all the contrivances and inconsistency fail to go anywhere truly rewarding. [~doomsdayer520~]
very interesting but somewhat a lil unbelieveable.......2006-03-29
I thought the idea was exvellent, being sent through a portal to another world as punishment wow. But when you find out the truth, all the romance it doesn't add up. Why would anyone kill themslelf over something so stupid. Zama was so smart and had a great personality, but falling for a jock hmmm. I enjoyed this book but not one of my favorites, could have been written better
An incredible book.......2006-02-27
I read this book in one long sitting, staying up most of the night to do so. The story, which is told without ostentation, grows in power as it progresses. It depicts struggles -- and answers to them -- in a realistic and unflinching way without ever giving way to bathos, and the end is both unexpected and yet necessary given what came before. When I finished the book I felt deeply satisfied. The novel resonated for me on many levels, and continues to do so months after I first read it.
Necessary Reading.......2006-01-14
At its heart, Susan Palwick's The Necessary Beggar, is a rather simple story of a family from a parallel world trying to make a go of things in our world. Palwick's exiles arrive in Reno, Nevada, through a shimmering blue portal. They are not adventurers or heretics or invaders, but a simple family exiled for a crime of passion committed by the son of the narrator. The family is a good one that adheres to the teachings of its culture. They live by beliefs (an odd mix of Western and Eastern philosophies) that many of us would find admirable, beliefs that are often incompatible with their environment. Palwick's book, though, succeeds on a number of levels, creating a rich tapestry of themes. It is a mystery story, a ghost story, an adventure story, a coming of age story, and a story of romance.
A lovely book.......2006-01-13
Susan Palwick's "A Necessary Beggar" is a work of extreme richness, both fascinating and moving. The highly believable and convincing parallel-dimensional culture she has created would float a whole series of novels if she were inclined to write them, and yet, in a sense it's merely the "back story". The main story, told with a huge emotional range from deliciously wry satire to heart-rending pathos is about humanity and inhumanity. We see from the outside and the inside what xenophobia, religious intolerance, and unfeeling, unimaginative bureaucracy mean in the immigrant experience, as well as how the good in people (of whatever ethnicity) can overcome this. By the end of the novel I was almost cheering with delight. And Mike, yes this could make a movie-of-the-week on the Lifetime channel, but so could "The Scarlet Letter"! Don't confuse openness to feeling with sentimental wallowing.
Book Description
Military and defense-related procurement has been an important source of technology development across a broad spectrum of industries that account for an important share of United States industrial production. In this book, the author focuses on six general-purpose technologies: interchangeable parts and mass production; military and commercial aircraft; nuclear energy and electric power; computers and semiconductors; the INTERNET; and the space industries. In each of these industries, technology development would have occurred more slowly, and in some case much more slowly or not at all, in the absence of military and defense-related procurement. The book addresses three questions that have significant implications for the future growth of the United States economy. One is whether changes in the structure of the United States economy and of the defense-industrial base preclude military and defense-related procurement from playing the role in the development of advanced technology in the future, comparable to the role it has played in the past. A second question is whether public support for commercially oriented research and development will become an important source of new general-purpose technologies. A third and more disturbing question is whether a major war, or the threat of major war, will be necessary to mobilize the scientific, technical, and financial resources necessary to induce the development of new general-purpose technologies. When the history of United States technology development in the next half century is written, it will focus on incremental rather than revolutionary changes in both military and commercial technology. It will also be written within the context of slower productivity growth than of the relatively high rates that prevailed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s or during the information technology bubble that began in the early 1990s. These will impose severe constraints on the capacity of the United States to sustain a global-class military posture and a position of leadership in the global economy.
Customer Reviews:
mythology debunked: The military and technological innovation.......2006-05-22
This book is about military R&D and procurement and technology development (forget the first title chosen by the publisher's marketing department; rather use the author's subtitle that tells you exactly what to expect).
It is an important, thorough, dispassionate, and easy to read book all in one.
Vernon Ruttan, distinguished economist of technological change has struck again and addressed a topic that is as explored little by scholars as it is ideologically and politically laden. Proponents try to justify any military expenditures with the (uncertain) promise of civilian "spin-offs" (in addition to ex ante declared military requirements --remember "star wars"?), and critics always highlight failures (remember nuclear powered aircrafts?) as well as excessive costs of military technologies ignoring their early life cycle nature of almost one-of-a-kind technology and the indeed substantial (even if often unplanned or unintended) civilian application potentials.
Vernon Ruttan reviews through seven careful case studies of socalled general purpose technologies the history and the economic implications of a number of military technologies that have yielded far reaching civilian applications with enormous economic and social significance: interchangeable parts in rifle manufacturing that give birth to the socalled American "system of manufacturing" (and invented in Army armories rather than in Eli Whitney's "lab"), military aircraft and propulsion systems (jet engines in particular), nuclear power (reactors), computers and semiconductors, the internet (in case you did not know, it all started with military R&D money), and finally the space industries (satellites).
What makes this book so eminently readable is its succinct and dispassionate review of all what we know about these technologies: their origins, the role of the military R&D and procurement in its development as well as how they spread out to civilian applications and the economic significance of their applications. Few succeed as formidably as Vernon Ruttan in condensing voluminous literature into a clear and understandable summary within less than 200 pages (a formidable achievement in itself in our present times of 600 plus pages monographs). Throughout his analysis he remains objective, clear headed and with analytical rigor, at times even with candor. There is no better book than this one to dispel any one-sided claim about the importance/usefulness of military R&D and procurement.
My personal principal take-away from Ruttan's analysis (from his highly original counterfactual history for computers, semiconductors and the internet) is that despite the enormous importance and significance of the military in the development of all the technologies reviewed, we would have gotten them anyway even without the military - even if substantially later and perhaps less highly developed. The only exception seems to be nuclear power, which in all likelihood would not be around without the military (and which many would agree is a mixed blessing at best). But judge for yourself. The reading is easy and fun, and the analysis worth every of your minutes!
Arnulf Gruebler, IIASA and Yale University
Average customer rating:
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Necessary and Unnecessary Utopias: Socialist Register 2000 (Socialist Register)
Leo Panitch , and
Colin Leys
Manufacturer: Monthly Review Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Communism & Socialism
| Ideologies
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General
| Political Science
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Socialism
| Political Doctrines
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ASIN: 1583670211
Release Date: 1999-12-01 |
Book Description
"The Socialist Register is compulsory reading for people who refuse to be resigned to the idea that there can be no alternative to our unacceptable society."
--Daniel Singer, author of Whose Millennium?
When mainstream commentators talk about the future, they tend to predict dire doomsday apocalypses or spin wild techno-fantasies. In spite of their radically hi-tech edge, these futuristic scenarios usually assume that current social structures will persist.
Necessary and Unnecessary Utopias points toward a very different way of thinking about the future. While rejecting schematic blueprints, this book reasserts the need for a bold and revolutionary social imagination, one aimed at saner ways of living and more rational ways of organizing society.
Taking up such vital topics as work and its structure, democracy and the state, localism and internationalism, relations between the sexes, and technology and its social uses,
Necessary and Unnecessary Utopias makes the case that a socialist vision of the future remains not only realistic but necessary.
More than one dozen internationally celebrated scholars, including Terry Eagleton, Frigga Haug, Johanna Brenner, Kate Soper, Carl Boggs, and Norman Geras, are contributors.
Books:
- Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe
- Biology: Life on Earth (7th Edition)
- Bird Songs
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- Concepts and Applications of Finite Element Analysis, 4th Edition
- Data Analysis: A Bayesian Tutorial
- Detection, Estimation, and Modulation Theory, Part I
- Developmental Juvenile Osteology
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush
- The Upanishads
- The Persistence of Memory: A Novel
- The Cutting Garden
- The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
- Systems Thinking, Systems Practice: Includes a 30-Year Retrospective
- The New American Story
- I'm Only One Man
- The Magatama Doodle: One Man's Affair With Japan, 1950-2004
- Farragut: America's First Admiral
