Book Description
Surveying American urbanization from the sixteenth century to the present, this well-rounded and well-written book blends social, political, economic, and cultural history perspectives to shed light on the ways in which diverse peoples have inhabited and interacted in cities. Highlights urbanization's constantly shifting nature—weaving insightful discussions throughout on adapting, and coping between people, the environment that they build, and the power structures that affect their lives. Includes discussions on ethnic and racial minority issues, women, African-Americans, Civil War, urban politics, boss politics and reform, and much more. Features exceptional illustrations throughout plus a fully annotated bibliography, and now covers social history, cultural history and government policy up to the end of the 20th century. For urban planners, historians, economists, and sociologists.
Customer Reviews:
Informative, but lacking in style and usefulness........1998-12-28
Prof. Chudacoff and Smith's book is concise in its discussion of events and personalities. In this sense it is an ideal _textbook_--but even though it is in its fifth edition it could use some editing! There are problems with textual flow and art, and in useful conclusions: saloons provided an outlet for "the musical expression of the black soul." Or how about the oft-mentioned but never defined or measured "rugged individualism" of Americans?
A dynamic account of American Urban History.......1998-09-18
Howard Chudacoff should be considered one of America's premier Urban Historians. Evolution of Urban Society provides an in-depth yet readable account of everyday life in Urban America. Organized by era, the concepts and problems of urban life are clearly presented.
Book Description
This history of the largest block women's organization in the United States is not only the story of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (DST), but also tells of the increasing involvement of black women in the political, social, and economic affairs of America. Founded at a time when liberal arts education was widely seen as either futile, dangerous, or impractical for blacks, especially women, DST is, in Giddings's words, a "compelling reflection of block women's aspirations for themselves and for society."
Giddings notes that unlike other organizations with racial goals, Delta Sigma Theta was created to change and benefit individuals rather than society. As a sorority, it was formed to bring women together as sisters, but at the some time to address the divisive, often class-related issues confronting black women in our society. There is, in Giddings's eyes, a tension between these goals that makes Delta Sigma Theta a fascinating microcosm of the struggles of black women and their organizations.
DST members have included Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Margaret Murray Washington, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and, on the cultural side, Leontyne Price, Lena Horne, Ruby Dee, Judith Jamison, and Roberta Flack. In Search of Sisterhood is full of compelling, fascinating anecdotes told by the Deltas themselves, and illustrated with rare early photographs of the Delta women.
Customer Reviews:
More than you can Imagine!.......2007-07-09
I am a memeber of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. I read this book the Summer before my Sophmore year at Texas A&M University-Commerce for enrichment. I was interested in Delta and wanted to know the background, history, and legacy. As a Delta I feel this book spreads more knowledge than you anticipate. It's informative, interesting, and beautifully written. I reccommend this book to everyone who is a Delta and anyone aspiring to become one, because this will broaden your horizons and give you and extended perspective and appreciation.
A Book To Keep.......2007-02-18
I loved this book. I went to the web site for Delta Sigma Theta Inc and learned that you should read this book if you are interested in the organization. I read this book and I did not put it down until it was completed. My sister who is a member of this organization was impressed to know that I was doing my homework and truly was interested in joining her organization. I can say that I have looked at all the other organizations out there and I have met members of them all but I know with out doubt that Delta Sigma Theta is the one for me. This book was well written easy to follow and had great photos detailing the history of the organization through out the 1900's. I also learned so much about how Delta Sigma Theta applied to become incorporated before AKA and was actually created by members of AKA and so many other details. This book is the best source of information for a person that is an outsider to this organization and though I have a sister who is a member she will not tell me anything , as she wants me to learn it for myself.
Looking into history.......2007-01-04
I thought this book was a very easy read. I really enjoyed the content. i highly recommend this for those just wanting to look into history.
Great book if your interested.......2006-06-23
This book is great if you're interested in how Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. came into existence, especially if you are interested in becoming apart of the organization. Another good book is The Divine Nine. Many people believe that there is animosity between DST and AKA because of the creation of DST. That is not so, and if you read this book you will find this to be true. Also, to dispel the complexion/color myth, if you look at the founders of both organizations you will see various, beautiful shades of brown, ranging from tan to sepia. There are pictures in The Divine Nine.
A wonderful Account of the History of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc........2006-01-25
The first time I read this book was Sophomore year of college at Clark Atlanta University. Once I began reading this book I realized that Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is an excellent example of what a sorority should be. The foresight of the founders to chart their own course and to consistently strive for excellence shines through even in the modern day activities of the sorority. Paula Giddings put her heart and soul into this book and it is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about sisterhood at its best. Although I am not a member, I will certainly make Delta Sigma Theta my first and only choice. Kudos to Ms. Giddings for a job well done!
Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and best-selling author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century.
In this brilliant #1 bestseller, "the most important columnist in America today" (Walter Russell Mead, The New York Times) demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Thomas L. Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
Customer Reviews:
The World is Flat.......2007-10-17
Friedman does not convince me that radical free trade is the answer to solving problems. While he does cover all the bases for the advancement of the technological revolution, Friedman is merciless in his analysis and does not allow for a lot of other factors to enter into his argument. I finished this book with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. I suggest that you read it but with a grain of salt.
A guide for the Globalized world.......2007-10-13
The World is Flat does a great job at describing the trend of globalization.
On one hand, globalization is raising the standard of living of many people around the world. Productivity and ingenuity are rapidly increasing as many new people and nations participate in the global market.
On the other hand, many people and nations are being left behind. Also, the modernization of countries is straining Earth's resources.
There are very recent statistics and anecdotal stories in the book. He gives a fascinating tour of the business processes of several worldwide businesses such as Walmart, Dell, Wipro, and UPS.
The US is indeed in trouble. Its educational system is falling in proportion to other countries. We are distracted by wars and wasteful political games when we need to focus on empowering our people.
While he has considerable interactions with business, he also has personal stories of India's untouchables striving to have a better life. There are also examples of how people use flattening technologies on the internet, to express themselves.
We are approaching the world where individuals are on a level playing field with large media organizations. Of course this is good and bad. While one person can blog about corruption and inequities in his government, another can use it to spread seeds of hate and prejudice.
These groups that spread hate prey on inequity, lack of voice, and opportunity to participate in global progress that its members feel.
Michael Friedman lays a challenge that we must work smarter, collaborate more, and constantly improve our country and world. I hope that you read this book and, even if you don't agree with his views, strive to make the world a better place.
Friedman missed the key point.......2007-10-01
Friedman relies on personal anecdotes to generalize about a complex topic. His anecdotes are heavily biased, since he hangs around with captains of industry, who are big beneficiaries of laissez-faire globalization. He even justifies his approach with this quote: "One example is worth a thousand theories." Well, this topic is much too complex for such an approach. He is an entertaining (if very repetitive and self-absorbed) raconteur, but he misses the forest by spending over 600 pages congratulating himself for climbing a few low-hanging branches in the most obvious trees.
It is a mark of Friedman's approach and personality that he dates the beginning of "Flat World" phenomena to a few years ago, when he discovered them. He seems blissfully unaware of the long history of globalization. A few examples: 200 years ago, before refrigeration, North American entrepreneurs destroyed the English trade in domestic ice by building insulated ships and shipping New England ice to London (and even Calcutta); cheap water power and cotton in the US destroyed the British weaving trades 50 years later; 500 years ago, the takeover of Peruvian silver mines by Spanish entrepreneurs bankrupted silver production in Spain; there are countless examples of the effects of globalization from the Roman Empire's rise and fall as well (well-managed during the rise, disastrously so during the fall). Friedman's "born yesterday" myopia on this topic, and on the lessons of history, is puzzling.
Friedman glances by what is, in my mind, the central issue (e.g. the one that has the biggest impact on people): the different ways governments act and respond. He admits no expertise in economics, yet declares himself to be a Ricardian (without reflecting on the irony of a self-styled futurist relying on 200-year-old economic theory), and moves on. The rest of us, however, can learn a lot by looking at the differences and subtleties (or lack thereof) of governmental policies, a topic which is completely absent from Friedman's book. Asian countries, and to a lesser extent Western European countries, have created a regulatory environment that promotes a productive response in their own countries. Some examples:
If GM wants to sell cars in China or Europe, it is obligated to build a factory there, and transfer some of its technology to local partners. Intel has just announced that its next processor fab will be built in China; the economics of IC manufacturing is something I know quite a lot about, and labor costs are a negligible factor. Intel was forced to do this by Chinese economic policy, not by cheap Chinese labor. Ditto putting a previous Intel chip plant in Ireland when Intel started selling in volume in Europe. On the other hand, our own government has been a willing partner in the evisceration of American industrial and high-tech production. The governments of Asian and European countries shake their heads at our short-sightedness and short-term consumption greed.
I credit Friedman with making more people aware of this important topic. That earns him one star!
An enthralling read, realistic and optimistic at the same time.......2007-09-28
The world is a complex place, so we need guides.
And Thomas L. Friedman is an excellent guide!
Flat world is an enthralling read. Sure, we still
dont know how the twenty-first century will unfold,
but here we get some glimpses of the mega trends that might end up
being the essence of twenty-first century!
Among many good insights I enjoyed: CQ + PQ > IQ.
Curiousity and passion is more important than Intelligence, even though we obviously also need intelligence in 21st century, obviously!
So, Kids with curiousity and passion will do better than the kids who are merely intelligent - given that they have a certain base level of intelligence and skills. I could buy into that line of thinking!
So off we go to the 21st century - with realism and optimism. Not a small achievement for a book!
-Simon
a classic reader.......2007-09-28
I believe this book has received enought compliments I have no inention to add anymore.
Yet I strongly recomment it to be taken as a classic, a must, reader for those who stopped halfway of learning English, and scared away by their dull text books, or in want of a friendly language enviroment.
I have convinced my son and doughter that when, even before, they finished reading this book they will be thinking and writing English like an mother tongue.
And they took my word. They are now enjoying and reading faster and faster everyday.
Book Description
In this true story of our nation's love affair with firearms, Clayton E. Cramer debunks the myths and takes readers along a winding historical trail full of surprising revelations and riveting anecdotes, explaining the roots of America's gun culture.
Customer Reviews:
The Story of Guns in Early America.......2007-10-06
Clayton E. Cramer has an MA in history from Sonoma State University and has taught history in Boise State University. He published several academic books on history and firearms. His knowledge allowed him to reveal the lies in Bellesiles' book. The 'Acknowledgments' thank those who helped to make this book more entertaining. Cramer notes the changes from the Julian to Gregorian calendar in 1752. Cramer's discussion on Bellesiles' revisionist history begins this educational book. Bellesiles misquoted the historical record to provide false facts for his now discredited book (p.xii). Bellesiles used probate records that were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake (p.xv)! Another scandal was the dishonesty of university historians (p.xvi). [Upton Sinclair wrote a book in 1922 on corporate control of universities.] Cramer explains the difficulty of evaluating written records from 300 years ago (pp.xviii-xx).
Part I deals with Colonial America (1607-1775). America followed the English tradition of a militia, people armed for their protection against Indians and England's enemies (p.3). Gun ownership was required by the 18th century (p.4). Chapter 2 tells of the class and race prohibitions on gun ownership. Some whites were distrusted for religious reasons. Indians were banned from owning guns (Chapter 3) but acquired them through commerce. They were armed for their fights with other tribes (p.42). Chapter 5 tells of the probate records that record personal property; there are problems with these records (p.55). Ads in newspapers may be more reliable, as well as gunpowder import records (p.56). Chapter 5 lists the hunting practices. Murder rates were higher then (p.78). Fights occurred over political concerns (p.80), and tenant uprisings in NY. Pistols were common (p.83). So too were accidents (p.86). Part II documents the Revolutionary War. There are many detailed records on gun ownership. These chapters cover Guns in New England, the Middle Colonies, the South, and the Continental Army and Militias. "Guns were the great equalizers of social status" (p.166).
Part III covers the Early Republic (1783-1846). There are chapters on Militias, Ammunition, Pistols, Guns and Sport, and Guns and Violence. The militia system was superior to a regular army in three ways (p.178). They were low-cost, they were plentiful, and they were widespread. The militia was politically reliable (p.180)! There were arguments against a standing army (p.183). Gunpowder mills were common in most states (Chapter 11). Chapter 12 examines the availability of pistols in America. Hunting was very common and universal on the frontier (p.201). Violence was all too common because of an "honor culture" (p.224). Dueling was quite common, the laws against it nearly useless (a jury would not convict if it conducted honorably). "Regulators" enforced the laws (p.229). Violence was common, often because of slander (p.232). [No mention of the rate of violent death in England or Europe.]
The 'Epilogue' notes that America was a society where guns were common for military defense, defense of a home and family, as a symbol of citizenship, and for violence. Newspapers, law books, memoirs, travel accounts, and advertisements documented the common ownership of guns. The 'Bibliography' lists the Primary and Secondary sources (pp.244-255).
[Neither Bellesiles or Cramer tell how America was a peaceful refuge from the wars and oppressions of Europe.]
Who will debunk the debunkers?.......2007-07-28
Michael Bellisiles wrote a book that, for some reason, scared the NRA. Bellisiles argued that America's gun culture didn't develop until around the time of the Civil War. He did not argue that America does not have a gun culture. Why the right got so exorcized about whether gun lust has a 17th century or 19th century origin is beyond me. But anyway, Mr. Cramer, we are told, figures prominently in the anti-Bellisiles crusade. This is not a good omen. Yes, Bellisiles lost his post at Emory -- that's in the liberal stronghold of Georgia, folks, where their idea of a historian is Newt Gingrich (can you say 'political pressure?' I knew you could.) Yes the Bancroft prize was withdrawn (ditto). Does any of this lend credence to the claims of Mr. Cramer and his NRA allies that Bellisiles work has been revealed to be a complete 'sham' and discredited in toto? Not at all. The official disciplinary committee that backed his dismissal from Emory took issue with only a few items in Arming America, notably one specific chart of probate data that proved to be in error. The vast majority of professional historians though, however they may feel about the bits of Arming America that have been repeatedly challenged, concede that the vast bulk of this large book is accurate. That leaves Cramer more or less alone in trying to debunk the whole enchilada. As the other negative reviews here indicate, there's a lot of questionable assertion going on here. If Cramer draws different conclusions from the same facts Bellisiles notes, we might compare the logic behind the arguments. Both authors note that laws in early America encouraged gun ownership for the purpose of strengthening militias -- lest the Brits return etc., as they did in 1812. Cramer seems to think this proves guns were popular. Bellisiles argues that the fact people had to have all this coaxing to acquire guns indicates the public was not keen on acquiring them of their own accord. Did the laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s encouraging the addition of safety devices and improved fuel economy in automobiles indicate that these features were in demand, or the opposite?
I wonder how many of the folks who laud Cramer's expose of Bellisiles have actually read Arming America and compared the two cases, and how many only have Cramer's version of Bellisiles to go on. This seems to me a pretty common phenomenon on both right and left: we tend to take reports of someone else's supposed outrageous conduct for granted and join the outrage, without carefully examining whether the actual facts fit the outraged reporter's description.
Interesting ideological footnote: look at the Amazon 'Better together' feature that offers to pair the book on the page you're viewing with another similar book. For Armed America, Amazon suggests another pro-gun book. For Arming America, Amazon suggests... Armed America. Not a bad idea if was reciprocated, eh. So go ahead and buy this book if you're interested in the topic, but buy Bellisiles book as well, and try to think for yourself.
Good book, but it won't convince those who "know" it isn't so.......2007-07-16
A few years ago Michael Bellsiles wrote a book claiming that early Americans didn't own guns, didn't have them, and that historical documentation proved it. He was widely discredited even by many of his anti-gun peers when it was found that much of his research was false or totally inaccurate.
Clayton Cramer spent five years researching the same records Bellesiles "used" and found totally opposite results, guns were very common all over the colonies (the book covers a period from the 1600's to the 1840's). Divided into 3 sections, Colonial America, the Revolutionary war, and the early Republic- Cramer gives exhaustive detail on what America was really like. The author is even careful to note that sometimes a modern reader can't be sure just what some statements from the past meant.
There are a lot of footnotes (unfortunately he gives no indication of just how hard it is for the average person to get at the original documents to read them, he does mention that Bellesiles usually reported just the opposite of what sommething actually said in print.) and a 12 page bibliography to back up his statements.
My worst problem with the book was that the few included photographs are too dark, hard to get any detail from them. It's a good fascinating book that I don't regret owning, it just won't convince anyone who doesn't believe it is true.
Excellent scholarly work.......2007-05-13
This is definitely a book for people who enjoy history through original sources. Mr. Cramer brings together a wealth of material that many "professional" historians can't seem to be bothered with.
Guns and Apple Pie--You left out Baseball and Mom, Mr. Gun Nut!.......2007-05-11
The title alone is so over the top and ridiculous as to invite uncontrollable laughter. Cramer is the almost perfect incarnation of the type "Creepily gun obsessed loner" of which we see many poorer examples in the cheerleading reviews posted here.
Really, these people are to be pitied, lonely and frightened little boys trying to be men and failing so utterly, caressing their rifles in the darkness in the absence of human warmth and comfort, fantasizing psychotically about being John Wayne or Rambo and constantly being drawn back to the cruel truth that they are merely anti-social, hateful, angry, psychologically unbalanced hermits, many of whom will never know emotionally real human companionship, and who are far more likely to use their guns to intimidate or kill their family members or blow their own brains out than to heroically defeat Evil in the form of a 15 year old kid trying to steal a ten speed bike off their front porch at night. What a sad bunch.
Book Description
In the early 1960s, computers haunted the American popular imagination. Bleak tools of the cold war, they embodied the rigid organization and mechanical conformity that made the military-industrial complex possible. But by the 1990s—and the dawn of the Internet—computers started to represent a very different kind of world: a collaborative and digital utopia modeled on the communal ideals of the hippies who so vehemently rebelled against the cold war establishment in the first place.
From Counterculture to Cyberculture is the first book to explore this extraordinary and ironic transformation. Fred Turner here traces the previously untold story of a highly influential group of San Francisco Bay–area entrepreneurs: Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth network. Between 1968 and 1998, via such familiar venues as the National Book Award–winning Whole Earth Catalog, the computer conferencing system known as WELL, and, ultimately, the launch of the wildly successful Wired magazine, Brand and his colleagues brokered a long-running collaboration between San Francisco flower power and the emerging technological hub of Silicon Valley. Thanks to their vision, counterculturalists and technologists alike joined together to reimagine computers as tools for personal liberation, the building of virtual and decidedly alternative communities, and the exploration of bold new social frontiers.
Shedding new light on how our networked culture came to be, this fascinating book reminds us that the distance between the Grateful Dead and Google, between Ken Kesey and the computer itself, is not as great as we might think.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2007-09-03
In lucid, incisive and engaging prose, Fred Turner tells the fascinating story of how innovative modes of working and thinking (born from the World War II military industrial complex) cross-pollinated with hippie counterculture (through the imagination and particular cultural anxieties of Stewart Brand) to produce the current ubiquitous mode of conceiving a world-wide networked reality.
The book isn't a hatchet job of Stewart Brand; but neither is it a celebration of him and his mythology.
It is a sharply-observed, consistently critical look at the ways in which Stewart Brand and his (almost overwhelmingly white, male and privileged) cohort built a particularly powerful ideology, narrative and network around themselves, with very real physical, political, environmental, industrial and ideological consequences.
Damn interesting, and a pleasurable read--Turner's sense of humor and irony are employed subtly but to very enjoyable effect.
An Important book about a major influence of the 60's through the 90's.......2007-05-22
As someone who was deeply and profoundly influenced by the WEC, WER, and the WELL, I found this to both reinvigorate the excitement of the different eras it discusses and, also, to tie them together and provide fresh insights. After I finished it I looked around my office and realized how much of my thinking was influenced by Steward Brand and his experiments. Easily 30% of the books in my library were originally recommended in either the Catalog or the Review. I was also an early WELL subscriber and a `Maniacal' Whole Earth Review subscriber so almost everything mentioned here I could relate to.
It may devolve into `professor-speak' at times but it is well worth it. If you want to know about one of the critical components of both the `counter culture' of the 60's and the internet revolution of the 90's this is a must read.
Interesting but too academic.......2007-05-21
Interesting people and times are covered in this book. The hippie counterculture, Whole Earth Catalog, computer bulletin boards morphing into The Internet, Wired magazine, etc. A good deal of information you probably didn't know, so it may give you a slightly different perspective of this time. Why did these early computer geeks think computers would change society and give power to all the people?
The down side is that it sometimes reads as if it was written by a college professor; but it was! To much theoretical framework for my taste. Still, if you are interested in this time, read the book. You can easily skip the tedious stuff.
An excellent record of an amazing life.......2006-11-26
Stewart Brand is a high-IQ Zelig, who has been a catalyst of so many important developments throughout the last 4 decades of the 20th century. This volume is more scholarly, and more revealing of the social forces at work, than Markoff's What the Dormouse Said. It focuses with great intensity on Brand, due to Turner's unique access to Brand's diaries in the Stanford Library. SB is shown to have been central to far more moments of incipient Renaissance than anyone since Lou Salome, friend of Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud: He joined Ken Kesey as an original Prankster, was the videographer for Engelbart's 'mother of all demos,' then linked up all kinds of communes (including Ant Farm) while founding and editing the Whole Earth Catalog. Besides all the events already mentioned, Turner dives deeply into the WELL, which was the primordial "virtual community", co-founded by Brand. With his vision of power as drawn from network affiliations, Brand then built a consulting company called the Global Business Network, which used scenario planning as a form of "corporate performance art", by fusing countercultural norms with the needs of corporate board rooms. Turner does a fairly good job posing critical questions about how the privileged white male perspective defined the unfolding story. He flags the problem of this privilege, but isn't able to concretely identify how it could have been solved. Read this book to learn how SB helped create the world we live in, and deployed his unique social entrepreneurial skills to stay in the center of the game.
What one person can turn on within these vast systems within which we vibrate .......2006-10-26
Like one of his teachers and friends Buckminster Fuller, Stesart Brand is an archetypal example of the American individualist- inventor the man who Thoreau said ' hears the sound of his own drummer'. Paradoxically the super- individualist Brand is also perhaps the single person most responsible for making ordinary Americans connect with, show concern with the various systems cyber-systems, eco-systems, communications - systems we are moving within.
In this informed, detailed, and extremely well- written survey of the career of Brand, Fred Turner also provides a insightful and exciting look at America 's cultural, and especially 'alternative culture ' development from the sixties through the nineties. Brand meets up on his travels with 'Edge's' John Brockman, with Ken Kesey with whom he is a Merry Prankster, with Bucky Fuller who tries to help his projects,with Kevin Kelly of the 'Wired' world, with many of those seeking new ways of making the Technology connect with communal frameworks that will enable ( at least this is one of Brand's goals) the individual to truly be an individual .
Brand's most famous contribution 'The Whole Earth Catalogue' which was certainly one of the major cultural influences upon the Environmental Movement, and incidentally the Hippy Culture of the Sixties , told us the way we could get anything we needed to make our way into the rapidly changing future. Brand's work as editor and thinker also contributed to the World Wide Web to come, and the name and concept 'personal computer' is also one of his contributions.
This is an important work to read not only to learn about decisive moments in the life of a remarkable individual, but to better understand the world- in- the -making we are a part of.
Book Description
One of our most influential anthropologists reevaluates her long and illustrious career by returning to her roots—and the roots of life as we know it
When Elizabeth Marshall Thomas first arrived in Africa to live among the Kalahari San, or bushmen, it was 1950, she was nineteen years old, and these last surviving hunter-gatherers were living as humans had lived for 15,000 centuries. Thomas wound up writing about their world in a seminal work, The Harmless People (1959). It has never gone out of print.
Back then, this was uncharted territory and little was known about our human origins. Today, our beginnings are better understood. And after a lifetime of interest in the bushmen, Thomas has come to see that their lifestyle reveals great, hidden truths about human evolution.
As she displayed in her bestseller, The Hidden Life of Dogs, Thomas has a rare gift for giving voice to the voices we don’t usually listen to, and helps us see the path that we have taken in our human journey. In The Old Way, she shows how the skills and customs of the hunter-gatherer share much in common with the survival tactics of our animal predecessors. And since it is “knowledge, not objects, that endure” over time, Thomas vividly brings us to see how linked we are to our origins in the animal kingdom.
The Old Way is a rare and remarkable achievement, sure to stir up controversy, and worthy of celebration.
Customer Reviews:
A passionate, thoughtful view of the Bushmen's hunter-gatherer culture.......2007-02-06
Thomas, anthropologist and author of such diverse bestsellers as "The Hidden Life of Dogs," and two excellent pre-history novels, "Reindeer Moon" and "The Animal Wife," began her writing career with the study, "The Harmless People," based on her youthful sojourn among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen may be the only people who ever lived without war. But more on that later.
With "The Old Way," she returns to the subject of that first book - a title that has been in print since 1959. Marshall first encountered the Ju/wasi, one of the five groups of Bushmen, in 1950 when she was 18, on the first of several Kalahari trips with her parents and brother.
Her father, a founder of Raytheon, was a highly organized, take-charge sort of person, with versatile skills. Her mother, a former ballerina turned teacher, became a noted anthropologist over the course of these (and more) trips, and her brother devoted most of his life to the Bushmen.
In the 1950s the Ju/wasi maintained their ancient nomadic culture in near isolation. Except for bits of metal they obtained in trade and used for arrowheads, the Ju/wasi made everything they needed from local material. They did not farm and had no domestic animals, but obtained all their food from hunting and gathering. They were the last people on earth, says Thomas, to follow the "Old Way," a way of life that depends on knowledge handed down one-to-one from generation to generation. The Old Way depends on intimacy between habitat and humanity.
Thomas' book is not a scientific study or a memoir, but a bit of both, as well as a celebration and lament for a culture now gone. It's also a thoughtful reflection on how the Old Way shaped our species from the time we came down out of the trees and stepped on to the Savannah.
Water, says Thomas, controlled the size of human hunter-gatherer groups, and that remained true among the Ju/wasi. Rain was scarce, and water holes passed down through families. Though children were betrothed young, they did not cohabit until the girl reached menarche - about age 17 - and the average age for bearing a first child was 19.
Similarly, though no birth control was used, women bore children about four years apart and seldom had more than four. This was just what could be sustained, without starvation or overburdening the mother or group.
Alliances were complex, all going to foster the strength of the group. Survival depended on group cohesion and the force of their culture went into strengthening those bonds, subsuming, smothering, the desires of the individual.
The sharing of food, for instance, had little to do with who actually killed or gathered the food and the complex system was worked out before the gathering or hunting trip began. Periodic dances also reinforced ties and helped to dispel repressed tensions.
Repression was the usual means of maintaining harmony. Temper tantrums, even among children, were frowned upon - for one thing childish noise could attract predators. Arguments flared, of course, but were almost always settled without violence.
War, to the Ju/wasi, was unknown. Not because they were right thinking pacifists, but because they had developed the perfect weapon to make war - or murder - unthinkable.
The Ju/wasi had only one real weapon - the poisoned arrow. It was all they used to hunt (though they finished off game with a spear). The poison was invariably fatal. A man who settled an argument with a stab from an arrow couldn't take it back - but he would have days to watch his victim die. And the victim, facing certain death, would be perfectly healthy for a day or more and quite capable of wreaking revenge.
The lack of suitable weapons, and even more, the lack of any kind of shield, convince Thomas the Ju/wasi have never known war. She makes a convincing case.
By the 1980s, however, the Ju/wasi were being forced into villages. Many of those Marshall knew as children are now dead - killed in fights, often fueled with drink. Today, alcohol and violence have decimated the Ju/wasi.
While the book's conclusion is wrenching, most of it is a celebration of their intricate culture. Marshall captures the imagination with anecdotes - many from her old journals - that illustrate the matter-of-fact resourcefulness of a people who know the intricacies of all the plants and animals of their desert home.
Some of her anecdotes simply demonstrate the odd commonalities of humanity: "Although I will eventually learn enough !Kung to stumble along in the language...at this point I am at the stage where the Ju/wasi either address me in baby talk or raised voices, or both."
She describes gathering trips that take all day, but don't get going until mid-morning, baffling her own Yankee work ethic. Until she realizes the wisdom of waiting until lions and other nighttime predators are well and truly asleep.
The lion stories are horrifically thrilling. She describes a lioness coming to the edge of their small encampment and roaring threateningly: "The roar was so deep and so loud that it had no direction. It seemed to be coming from anywhere, everywhere." Yet, scary as they were, the lions never hunted or preyed upon the Bushmen.
Marshall does not try to provide answers for all her questions. Some things are "unknowable." This eloquent, passionate book does foster a sense of wonder at our own evolution. Though we've traded much of our intimacy with the earth for modern civilization, Marshall shows how many traces of the Old Way linger on in our blood.
A Treasure.......2007-01-19
I have all her books but two and I have been a fan for years and years. Starting with reindeer moon and then The hidden life of dogs, Tribe of Tiger, Certain Poor Shephards and everything else except Warrior Tribesman and The Harmless People which I plan to order. The books I have ordered or which were bought for me online were ordered by my best friend. I hope Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes many more books. If I did not already have the most wonderful mother, I would wish that she was my mother. I really love her view of life, people and animals and nature. She is my favorite author of all time and I would'nt even loan her books to anyone else for fear of losing them. Keep it up EMT I'm forever your fan and I will always reread your books.
Beautiful and rare.......2007-01-16
I first heard of the Bushmen through National Geographic's Genographic Project (Spencer Wells "The Journey of Man") which found genetic evidence suggesting Bushmen are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, peoples in the world--a "genetic Adam" from which all the worlds ethnic groups can ultimately trace genetic heritage. Within the face of a Bushmen one can see all the genetic expressions of the world (Asian eyes, African nose, Indian skin, etc..) So I was delighted when this new book appeared by bushmen expert Elizabeth Marshall Thomas who, along with her brother and parents, were one of the first westerners to live with and scientifically document the Bushmen in the 1950s (when Elizabeth was a teenager). Her parents and brother went on to become famous Bushmen experts and proponents in their own careers.
Older members of the Bushmen tribe were valued and respected for their wisdom, likewise Elizabeth is passing down her knowledge and experience for later generations. The Bushman way of life she saw in the 1950s, perhaps as old as 150,000 years, no longer exists - all it took was one generation and the long unbroken chain known as "The Old Way" has disappeared. It is the same sad story told the world over from Native Americans to Tibet to Eskimos. Yet Elizabeth reveals a deeper lesson, which is the "myth" that the Bushmen ever wanted it any other way - they want the comforts of modernization, just as we would prefer not to hunt and gather food each day. Bushmen want to travel, see the world, be a part of wider humanity, and for that we can celebrate and welcome all they have to teach. This book provides that introduction.
Gift.......2007-01-15
After reading the super review on Amazon of this book, we ordered it for our son as a Christmas gift. He is a college senior Anthropology major. He was glad to have it and read it on the way home from FL to AZ. He said the book was very insighful and a good read.
A cautionary tale writ large.......2007-01-12
In "The Old Way: A Story of the First People", Elizabeth Marshall Thomas gives us a compelling tale of how the people of the tribes of the Kalahari have survived in an inhospitable land for some 150,000 years and in doing so, she also gives us vital clues on the survival of the human tribe in general. Thomas takes the reader on a journey with the Ju/Wasi as they live in the Nyae Nyae region and, through her telling of their tale, shows us meaningful and poignant examples of how to deal with interpersonal realtionships and the difficulties that arise therein.
This, her second book about the individuals of the Ju/Wasi, tells of the traditions of hunting and gathering that are vital to their survival, and of the dire consequences that result when they are prevented from pursuing and passing on those traditions to their children. Thomas also reminds us of how, when people from so-called developed countries meddle in the affairs of countries and people we don't fully understand, even the best of intentions can go awry.
Her descriptions of the dances and singing she witnesses moved me deeply, and seemed to stir long-forgotten memories of a time when we all sat huddled in a circle in the night, telling tales and sharing the lore that helped us to survive the spirits and predators lurking in the cold darkness beyond the glow of our small fires. By interweaving and illustrating her study of the Ju/Wasi and the Nyae Nyae region in which they lived with vignettes of the individuals of the tribe, Thomas brings us to a mirror in which we can glimpse our own ancestor's struggles for survival, no matter where that may have been.
"The Old Way: A Story of the First People" is a well-written and passionate book, and one that contains many lessons we would be well advised to re-learn and hold close to our hearts as we sruggle to find a means to continue to survive in an increasingly complex world.
Average customer rating:
- A start to a very ambitious project
- Very Broad
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A Social History of American Technology
Ruth Schwartz Cowan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Similar Items:
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Major Problems in the History of American Technology (Major Problems in American History)
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Technology Matters: Questions to Live With
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American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970
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The Machine in America: A Social History of Technology
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Programming Windows, Fifth Edition
ASIN: 0195046056 |
Book Description
For over 250 years American technology has been regarded as a unique hallmark of American culture and an important factor in American prosperity. Despite this American history has rarely been told from the perspective of the history of technology. A Social History of American Technology fills this gap by surveying the history of American technology from the tools used by the earliest native inhabitants to the technological systems -- cars and computers, aircraft and antibiotics -- we are familiar with today. Cowan makes use of the most recent scholarship to explain how the unique characteristics of American cultures and American geography have affected the technologies that have been invented, manufactured, and used throughout the years. She also focuses on the key individuals and ideas that have shaped important technological developments. The text explains how various technologies have affected the ways in which Americans work, govern, cook, transport, communicate, maintain their health, and reproduce. Cowan demonstrates that technological change has always been closely related to social development, and explores the multiple, complex relationships that have existed between such diverse social agents as households and businesses, the scientific community and the defense establishment, artists and inventors. Divided into three sections -- colonial America, industrialization, the 20th century -- A Social History of American Technology is ideal for courses in American social and economic history, as a correlated text for the American history survey, as well as for courses that focus on the history of American technology. It offers students the unique opportunity to learn not only how profoundly technological change has affected the American way of life, but how profoundly the American way of life has affected technology.
Customer Reviews:
A start to a very ambitious project.......2007-04-01
Ruth Cowan attempts to show how technology has developed since the colonial days through the present trends of biotechnology. This is a daunting task and it is pulled off as well as can be expected. There is a lot of information to be found here but a great deal more is missing. This book is still the best general overview on the history of technology and while more can be done this is a good start. If you want to understand how technology shaped our society you can't go wrong with this book.
The early chapters on the colonial economy are very well done and tightly analyzed. After that it starts to spread apart a little and the technology jumps around. The transportation revolution chapter is one of the more disappointing for me. While she does a decent job on the railroads she completely misses the significance of the canals on the early development in America. Her chapters on innovation and technological systems provide nice summaries of the relevant literature. Most of the chapters leading up to the twentieth century are filler that really don't address too many technological issues. The automobile chapter tries to do an amazingly quick history of cars and a lot gets left out in the process with even more wrong. The communications chapter does a better job of showing the evolution while looking at the technologies. The history of the military-academic-industrial complex provides an interesting look at how the Manhattan Project and NASA changed the way technology was developed. Cowan does a very good job on this particular topic and it is probably her best chapter in the later part of the book. The final chapter is on biotechnology and covers genetic corn, birth control and penicillin. These advancements while important are not really given justice.
Very Broad.......1999-07-30
Very broad overview of American technology starting with the beginning of the United States all the way through fairly current biotechnology. There are a few good stories in here and the second half is by far the best. I really liked the sections on the railroad, the automobile, radio communication, penicillin, and the section on the birth control pill was by far the best. Is it true that doctors and researchers weren't allowed to talk about birth control till past the early 1950's in the United States? Here's an interesting quote...
"In short, by 1880 if by some weird accident all the batteries that generated electricity for telegraph lines had suddenly run out, the economic and social life of the nation would have faltered. Trains would have stopped running; businesses with branch offices would have stopped functioning; newspapers could have not covered distant events; the president could not have communicated with his European ambassadors; the stock market would have to close; family members separated by long distances could have not relayed important news to each other. By the turn of the century, the telegraph system was both literally and figuratively a network, linking together various aspects of national life- making people increasingly dependent on one another."
Y2K, ay?
Book Description
John Kantner traces the evolution of Pueblo society in the American Southwest from the emergence of the Chaco and Mimbres in the AD 1000s through the early decades of contact with the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Based on a diverse range of archaeological data, historical accounts, oral history and ethnographic records, this introduction for students of the Pueblo Southwest is vital reading for any archaeologist concerned with the origins of early civilizations.
Customer Reviews:
The "Old Ones" -- from Origins to Spaniards .......2007-10-10
Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Wuptaki are three of the best known of the Indian ruins that dot the landscape in the high desert country of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. To this day it is difficult to comprehend how these Indians thrived in a region of short hot summers, little rain, and poor soil -- and not only fed themselves but left behind spectacular monumental buildings. Adding to the mystery is their sudden abandonment of their major sites in the 1100s and 1200s.
The author surveys the knowledge and theories about the ancient peoples who became the modern day Pueblo Indians. He follows the development of the Anasazi and Mogollon traditions from their beginnings thousands of years ago until the 1700s, after the arrival of the Spaniards. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photos, maps, and charts and 25 sidebars that take up interesting topics such as cannibalism, construction methods, domestic animals, ballcourts, burials, and leadership. The emphasis is on thoroughness as the author briefly describes the findings and gives a hearing to the theories of hundreds of archaeologists and other scholars. The bibliography runs to more than 30 pages.
There is much of environmental determinism here for in the climate of the Southwest small changes in the weather made all the difference in the lives of the inhabitants. Scholars have meticulously reconstructed temperature and precipitation records for the last 2,000 years and the author attempts to correlate the rise and fall of Indian cultures with precipitation and temperature averages.
"Ancient Puebloan Southwest" is probably a bit too dense for the casual reader, but offers those interested in archaeology and the Southwest a thorough and up-to-date account of the Anasazi the Mogollon and the proto-historic Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande Pueblos.
Smallchief
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Soldiers and Society: The Effects of Military Service and War on American Life (Grass Roots Perspectives on American History)
Peter Karsten
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
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ASIN: 0313200564 |
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In this book, Karsten examines the consequences of American military life from the Revolutionary War to the present. Soldiers and Society contains two major sections. A long introduction, containing the author's survey and general conclusions, comprises the first section. The rest of the book is made up of source material--graphs, tables, and first-hand contemporary accounts. Karsten uses statistics extensively for comparative purposes.
Book Description
An encyclopedic look at several dozen of the most well known "people" of literature, television, mythology, and film.
From detectives and criminals (Dick Tracy, Perry Mason, and Norman Bates) to the greats of theater (Hamlet, Shylock, Romeo, and Juliet), the book covers and uncovers the history and influences of major characters of fiction.
The three writers use a variety of styles and approaches, (one essay is told from a canine's point of view), and the tone ranges from scholarly to open comedy.
Customer Reviews:
A great concept-- but not particularly well done.......2007-05-19
I read a review of this book in a magazine, and I was intrigued by the concept: Michael Hart's "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" deals with actual people; wouldn't it be possible and useful to do the same with fictional characters? Yes, it would, but, unfortunately, the authors don't execute the concept very well.
The problem for me isn't the rankings. After, all, they're admittedly subjective, and in the end, they don't matter that much any way. The thing that I found jarring at first-- and then grating as I read on-- was the uneven quality of the essays. I suspect that this was in part due to the simple fact that there are three co-authors. It would be very difficult to coordinate the styles and lengths of the essays.
More seriously, though, they clearly didn't attempt to coordinate the point of the essays. That is, some of them are straight biographies. Some are pop-cultural analyses of the significance of the characters. Some are political screeds. Some are failed attempts to be cutsie, best illustrated by the essay supposedly written by an author's dog. Many of the essays read as though they were responses to homework assignments that were written at the last second by a student hoping that his teacher will mistake generalities and clever wordplay for content.
Now, this isn't to say that I hated the book; in fact, I actually liked it. It's just that it disappointed me. With a little more authorial discipline-- or maybe stronger editorial control-- it could have been a GREAT book.
So, in summary, I think it's worth reading, and it's entertaining, but I believe it could have been so much better.
Okay Bathroom book........2007-03-21
My sister bought me this book and I was really excited to read it because my friends and I would sit around and discuss topics such as this. It appears that a group of people took advantage of an idea most of us have had and did not deliver anything more than essays that remind me of papers I wrote 3 hours before they were due. Sometimes I never understood why they thought the character was influential, sometimes their influence seemed extremely exaggerated and sometimes I was not sure whether they undertsood influence. The only reason I gave the book 2 stars is because it reignited my desire to have discussions a=on topics such as this.
Don't Get It..........2007-02-16
A list that includes such potentially fleeting charactors as Buffy The Vampire Slayer as high as #44 and the demotion of a universally recognised near 70 year old charactor such as Superman to #64 is highly doubtful in its seriousness or its intention.
I don't believe they would write the same list even 12 months from now.
A bathroom is where this book belongs........2007-02-05
I found the book title to be very fascinating and looked forward to reading about people who have shaped our society and ourselves. What I found was self-indulgent humor that was not particularly funny and in fact often times trite. Were the authors drunk when they wrote this?! It's full of side bars and I guess what they consider jokes; though none were funny. The #24 person they listed was Odysseus who they claim tried to avoid the Trojan War by pretending to be insane; that plan having failed, he tried to join the Air National Guard in Texas. The book eventually wound up being a politial satire to slam our government I guess.
Then the authors suggest having a St. Lupercalia'a Day in which we have a day to celebrate orgies to keep the clergy happy. What?! Are you kidding me? This book is completely inappropriate. It would have been a wonderful book if the authors could have kept from drinking while writing it.
Could have been better.......2007-01-09
I had read an article that excerpted some of the essays in this book and loved the concept. It's fascinating that 101 of the most influential people who have shaped our society were not even real people. However, this book was a bit of a disappointment. After reading through 2 or 3 articles, I just skimmed the rest. To be honest, the title was much more compelling than the essays were.
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- Global Sociology: Introducing Five Contemporary Societies
- Go Figure!: A Totally Cool Book About Numbers (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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