Cultural Books

Excellent book! Some events bring me back to my childhood years growing up in the Bay area.

Frank Chin's collection of essays is magnificent. The book is a course in itself on the authenticity of the Chinese-American experience in American culture. Chin's ideas are well researched, even scholarly in origin, but they are presented in ways that are eminently accessible. Each of the essays is provocative of the reader's thinking. I loved the essay on "Lowe Hoy & the 3 Legged Toad", for its exposition of strategy in Chinese social experience, and for its use of authentic Cantonese colloquialisms in his interviewees' speech.

I love the essays of Frank Chin. I just wished that the editor would put in "Racist Love" in this anthology. Anyway, this book is a treat because you'll have a commentary of Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR. Over and over again I've heard Chin mention how well ART OF WAR reflects Asian thinking. Well, it's now available to you guys, written by Frank Chin himself!

This book is a work of art. I loved every page of it. Thank you Mr. Chin

There is no question that when it comes to specific, focused cultural criticism, Frank Chin has the task nailed down. I don't know the time frame spanned by these essays, but in terms of content they cover all the bases. Any student of Asian-American history and culture can profit from Chin's sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes frightfully serious analysis of several aspects of the Asian-American experience. Chin deals with immigration/migration; gang subcultures; folk history and mythology; and others. But the thing that makes this book so impressive, beyond its coverage, is Chin's writing style -- fast and loose, comfortable and razor-sharp. The jacket describes him as a "literary gangster" -- never have I heard a more apt description of an author. He wrangles words from the oral histories he obtains and makes them work for him. But he is a respectful gangster -- the subjects of his interviews seem open, warm to him and to his neverending questions. The text can get heavy at times, but this is a function of the content it taps. A very, very powerful book.

The Cajun people have long been a subject of curiosity, and much has been written about their unique past. Since their existence, Cajuns have been studied by historians and romanticized by poets; however, there has been a dearth of serious historical work focusing on the recent transformation of their identity. Primarily a 20th century phenomenon for Cajuns, Americanization (the process by which a group or sub-culture becomes assimilated into the larger American identity) is the focal point of Bernard's The Cajuns.

Save for the introduction, which provides a quick historical overview of the Cajuns and perceptions of them through their existence, Bernard's tome consistently pairs each chapter to a corresponding decade, allowing the reader to follow the process of Cajun Americanization in a chronological fashion. Starting in the 1940s, chapter one discusses the effects of World War II on Cajuns in the military as well as those who remained back home. The decade of the 1950s, along with the cold war and global politics, and how these events affected Cajuns, makes up chapter two. In chapter three, the turbulent 1960s brings to light the changing mores and nationwide cultural shifts that Cajuns had to deal with, and how they were transformed by these changes. Chapter four reveals how Cajuns began to take back their identity in the 1970s through a number of initiatives. Finally, revitalization, expansion and exploitation of the culture and the resulting backlash in the 1980s and 1990s is explored in chapter five.

Bernard's examples of Americanization are numerous, stark and, in some cases, disturbing. Mostly isolated for around 200 years, the Cajuns enjoyed relative exclusion from the evolving American ethos. Indeed, early Acadian settlers into the Louisiana territory, whose descendants would later become Cajuns, had settled the prairies and bayous of modern day Louisiana even before it became part of the United States. And while one might presume that the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States was the beginning of the Americanization process, Bernard's research points to the events of the 20th century, fueled by war and the acceleration of technology, as the paramount period of the culture's alteration.

While technological advances such as rural electrification, the automobile, and television provided a vehicle for the Americanization process, the seminal event that fostered Americanization of the Cajuns was World War II. Young Cajun G.I.s returned to their homes in South Louisiana with a new found awareness of the world. Some of these "world-wise" Cajuns began to pursue formal education, start businesses, and participate in politics.

Nonetheless, many Cajuns had no such opportunities, and for them, Americanization was an assault on their identity. The very language they spoke became a target, as evidenced by public school efforts to intimidate Cajun French speaking students into learning and speaking English. Techniques such as spanking, humiliation and writing of lines were used in order to coerce children to abandon their native tongue and learn the lingua franca of a unified America. (My own father experienced such methods upon first attending public school in 1951.) The result of this attempted eradication of the Cajuns' language was that the affected generation became ashamed to speak their first language, and was reticent to pass this gift to their children.

It should be noted that not every aspect of Americanization was brought about through coercion, however. Cajuns have readily accepted the economic advantages of becoming members of the American middle and upper class. Like their contemporaries in other parts of the United States, Cajuns drive SUVs and luxury cars, have mortgages, pay taxes, and invest in the stock market. From every external perception, they have become American. Yet in spite of this noticeable transformation, modern Cajuns have managed to negotiate a place for themselves in American society by maintaining cultural activities that project their inherent identity. Music, cuisine, religion and other institutions are the outlets used today to remind the world (and ironically, themselves) that they are still Cajun.

The reader will find, as I have, that Bernard's work is a unique prism from which to view contemporary Cajuns. No longer stereotyped as illiterate and poor French speaking people of bayous or prairies, Cajuns of the modern world are a composition of English and/or French speakers with surnames ranging from Arceneaux to Zerangue. And even while some may manifest no outward sign of their heritage, they are no less Cajun than a Vietnamese in Hanoi or a Chinese in Shanghai. Only time will tell if subsequent generations of Cajuns will keep at bay the ever-increasing tide of homogenous American culture, or be overcome by its powerful waves.

It is like he interviewed my grandparents. This book is incredibly accurate and covers the most dynamic period of the Cajun history. This book should be mandatory reading for young people from this area. His coverage of the old perceptions regarding the Cajun people are particularly humorous and his arguments for the dilution of the French traditions well stated. Informative read.

This book changed my life! Mr. Bernard does a great job of putting the culture in perspective. His history is accurate, interesting and inspiring. As a full blooded cajun, living outside of Louisiana, this book really hit home. I'm convinced I must return and learn the cajun french language and encourage the rest of the younger people in my family to do the same. Thanks for a great book.

In the 1940s, WASP schoolteachers across Louisiana were corporally punishing any students caught speaking Cajun French. Even though Cajun was the first language for most children, it was viewed as an impedement to progress that had to be weeded out of the state. By the 1990s, French natives recruited to teach in LA schools were told not to refer to Parisien French as "proper French," because this might imply that Cajun French was incorrect or wrong.
To explain the shift, Cajun author Shane K. Bernard leads his readers through decades of Cajun history, from WW2 to the present. At one end of his extensive book, LA's uniqueness is dissolving to homogenized America. Child actor Keith Thibedoux, who played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy, was so unaware of his heritage that he could only shrug when asked if he was Cajun. At the other end of the book, LA is in the midst of Francofete, a year-long, state-wide celebrationof French heritage, even as many LA residents were fast losing interest in preserving Cajun culture. "Where Did All the Cajuns Go?" one local newspaper asked.
Bernard examines how Louisiana Cajuns were impacted by national events by the Red Scare, local events like the completion of their state's stretch of Interstate 10, and the exploitation of their culture (Popeye's, for example, has done more to commercialize Cajun food than any other resteraunt). By the end of the book, Bernard's Louisiana readers must look in the mirror to find out where their state's Cajun, culture, and language are disappearing to.

When I first purchased Mr. Bernard's book, "The Cajuns: Americanization Of A People," I initially expected it to be a summary of the last few decades covering every festival, pilgrimmage to Nova Scotia, and Edwin Edwards. In other words, I expected it to be just like a lot of other things labeled Cajun these days: commercial. Although Edwards and Nova Scotia are covered in good detail, this book is anything but commercial. In fact, it can be utterly depressing at times.

When reading the book, one is introduced to a time period for Cajuns that is often glazed over or not even mentioned in Louisiana's colorful history. Most folks are told when the Cajuns landed in Louisiana and how the popularity of their food and "culture" brings loads of tourists and their money to the state. What we aren't told is how prejudice and hate almost forced this group into oblivion. Fortunately for us, this book brings these problems into focus.

To know that fellow countrymen ridiculed the Cajun soldiers for their weak English skills and considered them dumb isn't very good news. Things get bleaker as the decades pass. We are told how children are punished at school because they are speaking Cajun-French instead of English. We are given examples from prominent newspapers and other media in which Cajuns are considered backward, ignorant, stubborn, etc. We learn about the struggle over the term, "coonass," and how many people wear it as a badge of honor whereas others hate it entirely. We are told of how Cajuns are coupled with New Orleans, though New Orleans is one of the least Cajun places in Louisiana. Not only that, but it seems that Canadians and the French, with misguided good intentions, also looked down on Cajuns for their "broken" French language and attempted to repair it and give them a proper culture by introducing Parisian French in the classroom via CODOFIL.

Ah yes, CODOFIL, if you aren't aware of them, you'll know quite a bit about them by the end of this book. Bernard hammers them pretty hard(justifiably) for their early actions in trying to "save" the Cajun culture. He also praises them for their actions in the 1990's. What really amazed me about this group in particular is that they merely asked for an apology from the English for exiling the Cajuns to Canada instead of attempting to sucker reparations out of the British government. Kudos to CODOFIL for taking the high road on that one.

Bernard's book isn't entirely bleak. He does mention many of the contributions that Cajuns have made to society. He tells us how many Cajuns served as translators during WWII. He talks about the colorful and crooked Edwin Edwards and how he used his "Cajun Power" to ultimately become governor of Louisiana. We learn about Zachary Richard, an amazing artist and a rebel. Dewey Balfa, Barry Ancelet, and numerous others are introduced to the reader as positive influences on society.

Although I haven't stated it yet, I am a Cajun. I grew up on the fringes of Acadiana in Allen Parish. I was brought up Baptist(I became Catholic in 2000), can't speak enough French(Cajun or Parisian) to save my life, and yet I have come face-to-face with some of the prejudices that Bernard mentions in his book(though not nearly as extreme as those before me). I've been called a "dumb coonass" before, even though I kept a 4.0 GPA throughout high school and graduated with honors from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA with a degree in Mass Communication. I was also referred to as "one of those Frenchmen" when I worked in Beauregard parish for awhile. At a technical training class in Dallas, TX, I was amazed at how I became a sort of spectacle to the rest of the guys in my group. They were amazed that I ate crawfish and could say a few cusswords in French. When we all went out together, I always managed to sit at the "ethnic" end of the table with the black guy, the Navajo guy, the Mexican guy, and the Spanish guy from Texas(He was very aggressive in letting everyone know that he wasn't Mexican). In essence, I was considered a minority by the group as a whole. It's funny how having an "un-American" accent can make one feel like an outsider. I didn't hate anybody for considering me an ethnic. Heck, I enjoyed it because I was the center of attention. I've been barraged by questions about gumbo, accordians, the Rayne Frog Festival, and even pet alligators! In other words, I have stared into the face of commercial Cajunism all over the United States. I've also come into contact with people who try very hard to distance themselves from their heritage in an attempt to seem more intelligent or better than their Cajun roots.

Being a Cajun is something that any man, woman, or child should take pride in. Granted, these days most of us probably listen to Top 40 radio or gangsta rap more than the Balfa Brothers or BeauSoleil, and we can't speak French very well, but we are still Cajun deep inside. I am proud of and love my heritage and this book solidifies that pride and love.

Highly recommended to folks who aren't Cajun and mandatory reading for those who are. This book is important for those of us who don't want to see our heritage die.

This book is very well researched, which pays off in the fun trivia department. The author has done all the hard work here. All you have to do is enjoy the fruits -- and California is full of them! This book takes you on a fantastic journey of a place you only think you know! Great for those who live there or dream of going there. This is one for the ages -- don't miss out!

I am a buff of California facts and trivia, but this book has unusual, fun, and quirky things about the state I never knew. I send it to my friends that are not from Califoria because they love reading about Hollywood and there's lots of great informaiton about movie stars. This book is fun to read, in fact, I leave it out on my coffee table and play trivia games from it with my friends.

Calling California Home is an absolute delight! It's full of fun and interesting facts about the great state, written with a wonderful, quirky sense of humor!

This book is so very cleverly written! It is loaded with tons of fun and informative historical facts about this great state that I am lucky enough to call home. I would love to read books about other states that were this much fun! Well done!

really fun! filled with lots of trivia that was interesting, and neat personal essays.

Lovely book with pictures that will stir memories in the hearts of all native Washingtonians and those who wish they were!

I was given a copy of this book for my birthday several years ago and spent hours pouring over its prose and its historical narratives. I never grow tired of this book.

Credit for this work goes to its author who has accomplished the near to impossible - an engaging and personal history of Washington DC told through the destroyed architecture and the people behind the buildings and their creation. The illustrations are gorgeous, but its Goode's way with worlds that allows the reader to lose themselves in the history of the buildings profiled.

I would imagine that this type of book in the wrong hands would become an academic tome, dry and technical. Goode brings the people of the District to life for the reader, and compels the reader to look for more.

If the book fails, it is in the lack of a comprehensive map of the whole District of Columbia. If you are not familiar with the streets and layout of the city (itself genius) then the book can be confusing.

Ideally, I would suggest this as a gift to anyone interested in history, city planning, government or historical architecture.

Now in an updated second edition, Capital Losses: A Cultural History Of Washington's Destroyed Buildings by Washington history expert James M. Goode is a carefully presented documentation and chronicle of the great architectural and cultural edifices of Washington, D.C., which have been lost to the endless grind of urban renewal in the years prior to 1978. That was the year in which crucial preservation legislation was passed. Packed from cover to cover with black-and-white photographs, enhancing a text which is extensive in detail, history, unique historical insights, Capital Losses is an exceptional architectural tour and a unique resource offering a kind of "window" into the architectural past of the nation's capital.

As you pour over all the wonderful black and white images and run you eyes over the artistry and talent it took to create most of these long gone structures you can help, but pause and take a deep breath. This book has scholarly, exhaustively researched text that enlighens and educates the reader. I agree with one articulate reviewer that stated that the author did not make allowances for market forces and changing times, but having said that, I do believe that most of these buildings could have been saved and used for other purposes, I mean the retrofited old buildings in NYC and Boston, why not Washington. The destruction of so many buildings is unconscionable, and when you see the buildings that replaced them all you do is stare. I was not around in the sixties so i didnt witness the worst of this senceless destruction, but i know that here in Houston, even today, great old buildings are never totally safe, it's no wonder Europeans don't get us, as an American i don't get us either. Highly recommended..the book and perservation.

Unique and engaging, "Capital Losses" is a scrapbook chronicle of Washington, DC-- not as the "nation's capital," but as a collection of neighborhoods, people, and activities.

The book memorializes dozens of buildings lost to the wrecker's ball. Each edifice is featured in a one- to two-page chapter that includes splendid vintage photographs. The accompanying write-ups always discuss design elements, thanks to the authors' encyclopedic knowledge in this area. The story of each structure is then expanded into a discussion of the designers, builders, and notable inhabitants. "Capital Losses" is a survey of history, intrigue, gossip as well as architectural styles. That's what makes this book so fun.

The authors' sympathy for historic preservation is to a fault. Narratives hardly attempt to recognize the social, economic, and technological forces that so often make demolition inexorable. For example, the advent of central air conditioning initiated the doom of many hotel and office structures that could not be economically retrofitted. In addition, the post-war demise of downtown commercial areas also accelerated the decay and eventual destruction of many classic structures.

To be fair, an analysis of causal forces was not the intention of this volume. It pays homage to Washington's folksier history in an elegant manner. This is a wonderful coffee table book.

Very helpful as resource material though a bit stretched in it's assumptions of certain myths. All together a good read.

A Treasure Trove of Queer Esoterica!

This book is much more than an exhaustive reference relating to the personalities, events, processes and movements within the realm of gay and lesbian spirituality, it is a pure pleasure to read. The product of meticulous research, this encyclopedia offers detailed yet concise, cross-referenced entries and an index of attributes and traditions as an encouragement to both quick reference and casual browsing. Beyond its obvious usefulness to scholars, this work aims to inspire, entertain and empower, and it is hugely successful in that effort.

It tells a far different story than the exclusively heterosexual roster of saints, sages, demons, demigods and deities that we've all had to live with - and this pantheon is far more fascinating.

The 1,500-odd alphabetic entries ranging from "Aakulujjuusi" to "Zeus" reveal our history, deeply encoded in sacred texts and all-but-forgotten traditions. Just read the entries on the "World Homosexual Movement," the "Order of Chaerona," and the "Han Temple" and you'll realize quickly that we've barely begun to scratch the surface of our old queer race's involvement with the world of the spirit.

A very praiseworthy work!

This book is an exhaustive resource for information about almost everything pertaining to lgbt spirituality, from mythology to people involved in the gay/lesbian spiritual movements. This was a very affirming read, considering the "invisibility" of gay spirituality in modern religions. I'd especially recommend it for queer Pagans, because of the volume of pagan mythological figures discussed...it offers a different resource than the exclusively heterosexual myths and deities used by most pagan groups. Some of the entries will make you laugh...some will make you think...some will inspire you.

This is literally an encyclopedia of LBGT stuff! If you ever wanted to know anything about Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, or Transgender subjects, this is the only book you might ever need!

This book is much more than an exhaustive reference relating to the personalities, events, processes and movements within lgbt spirituality, it is a pure pleasure to read (or in my case, browse through). It tells a far different story than the exclusively heterosexual roster of saints, sages, demons, demigods and deities that we've all had to memorize - and this pantheon is far more fascinating. Just read the entries on the "World Homosexual Movement," the "Order of Chaerona," and the "Han Temple" and you'll realize quickly that we've barely begun to scratch the surface of our old queer race's involvement with the world of the spirit.

This book faithfully recreates the world of Frazier Robinson and the Negro Leagues. Outstanding and fascinating. It would make a perfect gift for any baseball fan. Paul Bauer inserts nothing between you and his subject. It is a must have book for any serious fan of the game.

This is a wonderful book that needed to be written. I had the opportunity to meet Frazier while living and I am so glad that his stories live on in this book. It brings back the memory of the time when players played the game for the love of the game and not for what they were being paid. And worrying about what deal they could acquire in the off season. Also in a time when color mattered over talent it should remind us that never again should we engage in human exclusion

This book tells how things realy were back then. When Mr.Robinson told his story, he did not sugar coat anything. You don't find this in alot of the other books that were written about the Nego Leagues. I highly recommend this to book to any baseball fan.

Being a baseball history buff (addict) for the past 42 years, I've read just about everything I could get my hands on. I cannot now think of an autobiographical book to which I could attach a higher recommendation that "Catching Dreams" by Frazier "Slow" Robinson. This true gentleman travelled the dusty roads that connected the sites of Negro League baseball during the 30's, 40,s and even the 50's. Although produced by the University of Syracuse press, there is no attempt to make the book erudite or complicate it with an assortment of exotic literary techniques and obscure words. Instead, the publisher and co-author, Paul Bauer have presented the story of Slow Robinson in language truly spoken by the man himself. When you read this book, you will feel that you are seated beside Mr. Robinson as he speaks with words, terms and expressions uniquely those of a man with little formal education, who gained his lessons in life on the fly and had to learn his own language. His ability to recall a voluminous list of names and anecdotal material from his experiences, and to relate them descriptively, suggest a man who would have had little trouble dealing with a formal post-secondary school education. His relationships with such Negro League stalwarts as Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Leon Day and Satchel Paige are detailed with humour, insight and compassion. He is forthright without offending his old friends, as in Ball Four by Jim Bouton. In his own words, his goal in life was to be remembered as a nice guy; he passed with flying colors. If you choose only one book to read on this subject, you simply cannot go wrong with Catching Dreams.

I consider myself a student of Negro League history, and I read virtually everything I can locate on the subject. I have also developed friendships with many of these players over the years, and many of them have written books/memoirs regarding their playing days. In speaking with these great pioneers of professional sport, one quickly surmises that certain "stars" spent a fair amount of time embellishing legends and perfecting the art of self-promotion once their playing days ended. A handful have even managed to parlay this ability into a modest supplement to their income via baseball memorabilia shows, and I sincerely hope this trend continues for all who have mastered it.

Truthfully however, this group comprises only a tiny percentage of the remaining Negro Leaguers (they're just the loudest, so they garner the most notoriety, I suppose). Should you attend any gathering of former players, you will notice that these "showmen" are generally shunned or otherwise discredited by their peers. That speaks louder than anything I could write here. While these spotlight-lovers' ability to spin a yarn surely brings furthered interest and financial benefit to personal appearances by ALL former players, it likely also speaks to the historical accuracy one can expect from their books.

A select few didn't go the Barnum route -- they were who they were, they did what they did, and, while proud of their accomplishments on the diamond with arguably the greatest ballplayers of ANY era, they continued to live as they always had after their baseball careers ended. I am thankful when any player publishes a book, but when one of these select players leaves a record of what they saw, heard, accomplished and/or overcame, free of hyperbole, that book takes on a "treasured" status on my bookshelf. More than just a treasure, CATCHING DREAMS is flat-out the best of the genre. Buy it, read it, and learn something. I wouldn't recommend it this highly if it wasn't this good. It is.

Kudos to Paul Bauer for his efforts in faithfully documenting what was said and getting it published. I was fortunate enough to know Mr. Robinson well, and this book is an accurate representation of his character and personality -- it's honest, accurate, and self-effacing. You could waste time and money on lesser efforts by better-known players, or you could read something that captures the feel of a private audience with the author (with the added bonus that it's all TRUE!). I knew him well enough to know. I find myself wishing everyone else could have, too. Trust me. Buy the book.

Please find and read books by these authors, too:

Wilmer Fields (another honest account), Monte Irvin (yet another honest account), Effa Manley (difficult to find, but remarkable), Kevin Keating/Michael Kolleth (guide to the Negro League autograph collecting hobby, exhaustively researched and thoroughly enlightening), Phil Dixon/Patrick J. Hannigan (also hard to find, but still the best collection of negro league photos ever, and also well-researched).

the first time i recieved this book it took me about 2 weeks to read it all the way through and i would have to say this is a great book for people are seeking more knowledge about all aspects of what rastafarI is from its origan till its current standings it covers the tip of all subjects that flows on through rastafarian teachings and wisdom comming from someone who knew not much about rastafaI before reading this book i give it a 10 because it gives you info on lots of subjects discussed on rastafarI but leaves much for your mind to want to continue to search out more for yourself

This is the best book I've read on the subject. It is complete and gives the views of various scholars both Rasta and non-Rasta. I keep it as a resource and have read it 3 times.

A very large wealth of information on the rastafarian movement. A very scholarly anthology. Read it three times over and learn more each time! Will use for years.

Chanting Down Babylon is a welcomed addition to the growing literature on Rastafari. This reader sucessfully brings together most of the scholars studying Rastafari, as well as Rastafarians themselves, providing an important insight into Rastafari. The inclusion of articles addressing biblical hermeneutics as well as Rastafari theology begins to fill an important gap in Rastafari scholarship. A real treasure for those interested in learning about Rastafari for the first time, and for those who wish to expand their knowledge of this important religious movement.

I found this work to be one of the most complete on the study of the the Rastafarian movement.The information is well presented and is cohesive and highly informaive. This work is ideal for the new convert or anyone who wants a thorough examination of the faith. I highly recommend it.

I eagerly bought it as soon as I discovered it. Really fun book and worth getting it (esp used) for the insight into Timothy Leary and early 90's "Cyber" edge culture.

a variety of the treasured libertarian-laden articles and essays of Dr. Tim, displayed with interesting graphics and text. A little color with so many photos would have been nice but for twenty bucks you get a lot of Leary in a big book.

A great synopsis that should turn on a few more people to the Leary magic.

Essential for the Leary collection.

i like tim leary's style. he keeps jumping in time, changing moods. one minute he's an entertainer, the next a philosopher. the next, a psychologist talking about his harvard psychedelic research project. he must have been at least 70 when he wrote this book, and it's very up-to-date. i can identify with a lot of what he's talking about it. somehow, being a very old man has not affected his abilities to see the spice in life. there are pitfalls of course. he gets monotonous at times, repetative. but overall it's a good book. . .also, i don't think it's intended to be read from cover to cover. feel free to jump around. jump around.

A wonderful feast for the mind and soul. If more of our books were like this, we wouldn't need--or even want--television!

Leary does it again! That brilliant Irish neuronaut has once again travelled far into the future of humanity and come back to the past to tell us all about it. It is the first fun and scientific analysis of cyber-culture ever written. What's astounding about this book is that Leary conceptualizes Cyberia like no one before or since has done, with crystal-clear vision, irreverent wit, and razor-sharp insight. Many of his ideas in this book, and it was written a few years ago, have already diluted into the popular culture through magazines, television, and movies. This book is not just about psychedelic drugs, virtual reality, and questioning authority. It epitomizes the philosophy of the future which we are creating in the present. It is a manual of the future written by one man who has seen it. Forget Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Esther Dyson, when we look at computers today, and what they are fast becoming, remember that Tim Leary has been telling us all about it decades ago.

This is a must read for all people. Each story is a personal glimpse, on an intimate level with the struggle to survive in a racist society. Some stories made me laugh out loud and some brought tears to my eyes. I am one of the authors. I had no idea how many others had felt my pain. Wish I could purchase a book for everybody I know.

Each essay spoke right to me. Some whispered and others shouted, but I knew exactly where the sound was coming from. Mind you, those hurts and slights may have happened quite awhile ago, but the memories seemed to have shaped (and are shaping) some extraordinary individuals. Will be giving this book to many people and genuinely hoarding my first edition copy.

Arline Lorraine Piper, author of the award-winning story, "The Question," in CHILDREN OF THE DREAM, captures the essence of the anthology in her extremely modest description of herself. "If I am at all extraordinary," she says, "it is in my willingness to expose my truth to myself, so that my truth can also be accessible to you. But this effort on my part to be ruthlessly honest with myself will only have full significance for you if it empowers you to the same honesty with yourself...." Welcome to the victors' tales, stories not merely of survival and overcoming, but of ultimately prevailing. With enormous range, across class, color, gender, age, lifestyles and experience, the stories in ruthless, honest remembering. For a nation suffering from collective amnesia where race is concerned, CHILDREN OF THE DREAM is a powerful cure. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, sometimes subtle, sometimes in-your-face, each vignette is its own reminder of exactly how things on the race front got to be the way they are. This is a dialogue on race, voiced by people on the street, telling it the way it always has been and, regrettably, still is. CHILDREN OF THE DREAM is one more piece of evidence contradicting the popular, simplistic notion that there is one authentic Black experience. For instance, even though it happens to be my own story, not all African Americans grew up in single parent homes in the ghetto struggling to make ends meet. Dawn Bennett-Alexander's "(R)Evolution of Black and White" humorously, yet compellingly, makes just this point and Staajabu's "255 Sycamore Street" and Robert E. Penn's "War" go on to reinforce it. CHILDREN OF THE DREAM is a book for the entire family. Any young adult, for instance, can relate to the two 19-year old Bennett-Alexander sisters who share their experiences from markedly different perspectives in "The Black Experience" and "Betrayal in Black and White." When their baby sister, 9-year old Tess Alexandra, weighs in with her clear-eyed essay, "'Mixed' Emotions," even the youngest school-age child can hear and understand her voice. And as if that weren't enough, I dare you to remain unmoved after reading Antoine P. Reddick's brave but heartbreaking "All the Black Children" and then flip to Toure's "Blackmanwalkin," a young man's joyful tribute to his father. Finally, for those who think virulent racism is a thing of times past, apartheid lives well and prospers next door, on the bus, in school. Laurel Holliday has done something quite extraordinary. Once again, in this her last in the "Children of Conflict" series, she has stepped back and made it possible for readers to hear, without filters, the enormously varied voices of ordinary people speaking as the experts they are on growing up, in this instance, Black in America. CHILDREN OF THE DREAM offers readers the gift of entering the 21st century less ignorant, less divided, less mean-spirited, less smug, more generous, more hopeful, more sensitive, more empowered to face the clear and still present truth about racism's destruction. Make no mistake though. As one of the contributors to the anthology, I assure you that we do not point fingers, seek sympathy, or even threaten retribution. Rather, we have laid open pieces of our lives so you can see how we are all shaped, for good and bad, by the same forces. As with all gifts, you may take these or leave them. But for the wise ones, who desire a new, empowered, awakened way of racial being, the choice will be perfectly obvious

As a reader from outside America, this book was a revelation about a society which has so much to offer the world and yet often sells its own citizens short. Anyone, black or white who has ever experienced racism anywhere in the world will recognise themselves in these stories. It would be invidious to name specific writers from the collection, there is not a bad story in it which is to the credit of all the contributors but also to the work of Laurel Holliday who has brought yet another fine collection of stories by ordinary people to the reading public. What makes this collection exceptional is that it deals not only with racism by whites oppressing blacks, but the equally significant evil of blacks who seek to denigrate their brothers and sisters for 'not being black enough'. This is something which is recognisable to all who live in areas of racial or sectarian conflict. I wish that this book could be made compulsory reading for every school child, along with previous Laurel Holliday collections dealing with Palestine/Israel, Ireland and the victims of WW2 and the Holocaust. Read this book, it really will change the way you think!

Children Of The Dream A review by Gunter David Ft. Washington, PA

In the age of the status quo between black and white in American, when the races have social contact mainly at work, rarely at home, Children Of The Dream: Our Own Stories Of Growing Up Black In America makes a vital contribution. For how are we to know about each other, except by reading of inner thoughts and feelings, since most of us don't openly talk to each other?

This book is filled with memoirs of Afro-Americans struggling to come to terms with the color of their skin in a white world. But unlike other books having covered the same terrain, this volume describes the experiences of children, as told by adults looking back. The hurts, the wounds, but also the hopes and triumphs are recounted in the first person. They make for deeply personal stories, both revealing and informative.

Among the most moving is the very first in the book, "The Question" - a recollection by Arline Lorraine Piper of how her grandmother fed hungry white men during the Depression, when her own family had little to spare. "Sticks And Stones And Words And Bones" by Amitiyah Elayne Hyman, tells of relationships with white neighbors. There is sadness and a sense of loss in "My First Friend (My Blond-Haired, Blue-Eyed Linda)" by Marion Coleman Brown, on the theme of how children are taught to hate. And then there is "White Friends" by Bernestine Singley, a bitter indictment of both black and white social values.

The book is the latest in editor Laurel Holliday's "The Children Of The Conflict" series. Her introductions of each story beautifully set the scene. The pictures of the authors as children provide an illuminating touch.

Pierre Clastres (1934-1979) was one of the most respected and insightful anthropologists of his day. Chronicle Of The Guayaki Indians (ably translated and with a foreword by Paul Auster) is a vivid and compelling account of his first fieldwork in the early 1960s which included an encounter with a small, unique, and now vanished Paraguayan tribe -- the Guayaki. Clastres followed the Guayaki in their everyday lives, determined to record every detail of their history, ritual, myths, and culture. In doing so he had also created a monument of political anthropology which would commemorate a Native American peoples that was to swiftly pass from scene. Chronicle Of The Guayaki Indians is an important addition to any serious anthropology and Native South American studies reference collection.

This is a wonderful book and as Auster's points out in the preface it's impossible not to love it. But this is also a sad story about our time. Clastres felt that, how tribes and ancient cultures are doom to dissapear. In a way this book is written with a heart full of melancholy.

Contrary to the above reviews, the Guayakí have not "disappeared." At present, they are rarely referred to as "guayakí" (it is offensive to them), favoring the name "Aché." Their semi-nomadic subsistence is sadly gone, but many aspects of the culture continue in the Aché communities. For a physical anthropological study of the Aché-Guayakí and a brief history of the contact, check out Kim Hill and Magdalena Hurtado's "Aché Life History." Its out-of-print and hard to find but provides an interesting, albeit academic, complement to Clastres' work.

an anthropological tour de force that breaks your heart as you witness firsthand the cultural and material desecration of this once proud and self-sufficient tribe. their view of life and death seems the direct opposite of our western way of thinking, and one can only hope that they are right in the end. much credit must be given to the author--and novelist/translator paul auster-- who uncovered the lost, sad truths of this forgotten world. the writing is candid, pure,lyrical, incandescent, potent and non-academic. a haunting, haunting book--it literally speaks truth and wisdon from the grave.

I was stunned when I first read this book. No point of detail, from the first period of a tribeswoman to stories tales and legends of the Indians, is missed. Pierre Clastres takes the reader with him on a journey which took place in the early 1960's to find a people and place which have now past. His subtle evocation and immersion in a sense of place by concentrating on day to day detail of the indians life is breathtaking. It is worth noting that the translator is the writer Paul Auster, who carried out this translation in the mid seventies when he was impoverished. Due to a series of misadventures his translation was lost and if it was not for it re-emerging almost by accident then it may never have seen the light of day. Paul's illuminating and inspired telling of this aspect of the story is worth reading in itself and is a beautiful piece of writing.