Cultural Books

really comprehensive view of politics and life in haiti. useful tips for the traveler to Haiti including where to buy condoms!

You'll be fascinated, impressed, depressed, and delighted with Arthur's succinct introduction to the people, culture, and history of a small nation so very close to U.S. shores and U.S. history, yet so very far from our thoughts. From the joyful cover image to photos of brightly-painted buses to the clear maps and tips for travelers, Arthur delivers more than promised--as does Haiti herself. You'll come back for more, once you taste this brief introduction to the famed Hotel Oloffson, tap-taps and Vodou, rara and compa and rasin music, Sweet Micky & Boukman Eksperyans & Tabou Combo, the "little church" and "the flood," peasant movements and death squads, creole pigs and deforestation, poverty and structural adjustment, Toussaint Louverture & the slave revolution, the Duvalier dictatorship and the Tonton Macoutes, poetry and paintings. This book came just in time to enlighten & amaze students in my class on the prize-winning works of Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat. We all give this little book a two-thumbs-up!

This book is helping me to understand the situation of Haiti in historical context. Its information, format and pictures strike me as slightly out of date but it certainly will give you a background even if not covering the last few years. Since there aren't a lot of books like this one about Haiti I would recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about it but does not want to read a long in-depth tome.

Sometimes it's hard to be an American, and to look out at what we've done to the rest of the world.

Haiti will soon be celebrating its bicentennial of independence. As the second-oldest nation in the Western Hemisphere and the black nation with the longest uninterrupted history, it should by rights be rich, educated, forward thinking, and a bright light for the rest of the world. However, imperialist forces from abroad, including France, Britain, and most recently the United States of America, have colored its two centuries. Its people have been harangued by Castro's Cuba, Trujillo's Dominican Republic, Bush and Clinton's USA, and even the wildly corrupt Duvalier administration. Its land is stripped, its resources have been plundered, its cities are grossly overpopulated, and its seas are silted. And yet, somehow, Haiti survives.

In the wake of the 1991 coup that unseated President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the 1994 US-led UN invasion that restored him to power, much news was made. Haiti was front-page headliner material nearly every day, a prestigious international hot spot. Names were made and broken in political spheres around the Haiti issue. Debate ran high. And then everything just disappeared. Haiti merited a two-paragraph mention on page twelve if the paper needed filler, and then only in large papers that could dedicate themselves to foreign affairs. For most of us, even those of us who maintained our religious interest in the nation, an entire nation may just as well have dropped off the face of the earth.

British activist Charles Arthur, whose other works on Haiti include "A Haitian Anthology: Libète," identifies himself as a "Solidarity Activist." His latest book, "Haiti in Focus," is subtitled "A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture," and it lives up to that description admirably. For those interested, the available information is brought up to date through the middle of 2001. Arthur details the current political struggles surrounding the election of Aristide to another term in office; he lets us know about the struggle between Protestant missionaries and vodou adherents for control of the site at which the Haitian Revolution began; and he even gives us pointers on how to tour the country.

This slim, easy-to-read book is deceptively clear. It focuses on what Haiti is today, and on the forces that have made it so. Arthur posits no blame for what's happened to the country; yet observant reading serves to point out several recurrent patterns. Currently, the United States has been trying to micromanage the Haitian economy to the advantage of America, and indeed has been using the Monroe Doctrine as an excuse to do so for some time. This has been happening in force through the last century, though it can be traced overtly to 1862, when the US recognized the country's sovereignty, and more covertly back to Haitian independence, when the US refused to recognize a free black nation.

America is not alone in this treatment, however. Britain immediately recognized Haiti's independence, but apparently only for political advantage and access to the profitable plantations. When the plantation economy went the way of all flesh, Britain appears to have just walked away. France held recognition for ransom, offering it only when Haiti paid massive war indemnities that left the country in financial ruin from which it hasn't fully recovered. The United Nations and the Organization of American States have consistently tried to co-opt Haiti's foreign policy and dictate domestic positions, and the European Union, primarily under pressure from France, is now trying to horn in on Haitian self-determination. As Arthur explains, Haiti remains a small force, battered on all sides by winds it cannot satisfactorily resist.

The country is also riven internally. Though all involved want the country to flourish and thrive, wildly dissimilar ideas persist as to what would make this happen. Christian missionaries, primarily Catholic and Evangelical Protestant, have brought their faith to the country, but even Jesus Himself hasn't preserved the country. Aristide and his coalition have concrete ideas for how to use the government to resolve problems, but his plans are controversial and have stirred up strong negative feelings. Education is usually severely inadequate because of the lack of skilled teachers, disagreements over the importance of French, and the high cost of schooling in a poor nation. Meanwhile, poverty is swelling, illiteracy remains rampant, and nothing is being done about it.

However, in Arthur's estimation, Haiti remains a culturally vibrant land, a noble nation resisting the homogeneity of Western-styled "globalization." The native art, music, and religion of the land are the most African in the Western Hemisphere, and are a celebration of life in the face of poverty. A full-color photo spread in the middle of the book shows the beauty that accrues to everything in the country-the way a tap-tap driver will paint rainbows on the side of his vehicle; the way rara musicians will dance down the street during a festival. Though this is a country damaged and struggling, Arthur makes plain, this is not a country to give up on, not a country to permit to die.

This book is detailed enough to appeal to those intimately interested in Haiti, either those who appreciate the whole nation or those interested in one or two aspects. At the same time, it's clear enough in style and structure to reach out to readers who are being newly introduced to Haiti, and to those who know only the horror stories that recur in motion pictures and the news. Though it will date quickly, for the moment it stands as a strong primer for the condition that is Haiti and a land working for healing in a world that only wants to use it as a tool.

This is a nice book about Hank Aaron, the baseball player who broke Babe Ruth's home run record. It is also about an African-American man who managed to brake into Major League Baseball and endure threats from racist people who didn't like the fact he played. An inspiring story about overcoming people's bad attitudes and hatred while trying to achieve a goal.

The story Henry "Hank" Aaron begins right when you open Hank Aaron Brave in Every Way by: Peter Golenbock. Paul Lee colorfully illustrates every page. Hank's story from birth to the HR record is told in this great biography.
The book will inspire every young person to not give up. Hank's perseverance to make the majors will show kids that miracles can happen. Paul Lee's illustrations by there selves could tell the story. Pictures of Henry with his family are extremely artistic. Hank Aaron is a great example that hard work pays off. His mom said "Hank, try to be the best." He took that attitude all the way.
Hank Aaron: Brave in Every Way is a great read for people of all ages. People will admire Hank Aaron's talent and will. The pictures also help tell the story very well.

The story Henry "Hank" Aaron begins right when you open Hank Aaron Brave in Every Way by: Peter Golenbock. Paul Lee colorfully illustrates every page. Hank's story from birth to the HR record is told in this great biography.
The book will inspire every young person to not give up. Hank's perseverance to make the majors will show kids that miracles can happen. Paul Lee's illustrations by there selves could tell the story. Pictures of Henry with his family are extremely artistic. Hank Aaron is a great example that hard work pays off. His mom said "Hank, try to be the best." He took that attitude all the way.
Hank Aaron: Brave in Every Way is a great read for people of all ages. People will admire Hank Aaron's talent and will. The pictures also help tell the story very well.

it is a great biography that descibes hanks courage during a very difficult time in his carrer. however, hank overcomes all the negativity and becomes the all time home run record holder.

Causey is what anthropologists should be. His book is grounded, full of humanity, insightful, surprising, poetic, compassionate and a lovely read. He beautifully describes and explains something profound of a people through times of tremendous social and economic change. An extremely informative and humanistic look at a Sumatran cultural group in the midst of global pressures.

A first rate work and a wonderful read. This book was delightful to read. Right from the beginning of the book, I was drawn in. It's clear this is a scholarly work, well researched and carefully detailed. As a reader of more casual literature, I was agreeably surprised at the superior writing style of the author. I thoroughly enjoyed the experiences and anecdotes throughout the whole book. Anyone who enjoys reading about other cultures and other places would definitely enjoy reading this book. I stayed up to 1:00 am one night reading it. I look forward with real anticipation to future works from this author.

Like most working stiffs, I save up for a big vacation to some far away land and when it finally happens I get shuffled around from one tourist spot to the next. The culture presents itself for purchase and I buy.

"Hard Bargaining in Sumatra" isn't just a book by an affable scholar. It immediately took me into the home of a very different family, sat me on a 'fancy mat' and amused me with a narrative by the author to his Toba Batak friends. He told a story for their entertainment that might easily have described my own hapless first experience in an exotic culture. The family's reaction and the unfolding details of their work in the woodcarving-for-tourists trade was a pleasure to read.

I was continuously surprised at how clearly Causey expressed complicated, seldom-analyzed notions of place and identity. The relationship between tourist and vacation spot is alive and dynamic in a way I'd never imagined. The author's struggle to learn the skills of the woodcarver gave extra dimension to my understanding of this traditional craft. The friendship between the student/researcher and the teacher/subject made the dynamics of the familial roles and societal obligations disarmingly vivid and personal. The book enriched my understanding of a distant culture to a degree I could never have achieved by hopping a plane and wandering their marketplaces. When I saw a Toba Batak carving at an art museum a few weeks later, I had a wealth of feelings and observations that would never have occurred to me before. For me, reading this book was like the best kind of vacation. I learned a lot, felt a connection to the people and culture, and enjoyed the process.

"What happens when the homeland of one group is also claimed as the vacationland of another group?"

This question put by the author rather succinctly sums up a major theme of the book, and perhaps should be a guiding thought for all of us who ever take a vacation...anywhere.
Whether we are taking a "package" vacation or just winging it in a new location, we have an impact not only on the place we visit, the feeling of the place, the services it provides, and perhaps most importantly, the ART of the place. Souvenirs...mementos...folk art...all these tokens and totems that come from our vacation spot are evolving to meet our desires.

The author handles this idea and others in a very human and sensitive way, inviting us into his experience in Sumatra, Indonesia and filling our minds with the sense of the place: its smells, visuals, sounds, landscape and its people. It is easy to lose oneself in this book as if it were a novel or the travelogue, yet it tackles some very difficult issues without sounding preachy or judgmental. I have always been interested in, and sensitive to the general "sense" of a place. I can be easily spooked by the quality of light or the sight of long shadows in the afternoon. I found Dr. Causey to be a kindred spirit, as he has addressed this feeling (because it is at heart a "feeling") very poetically in his writing about Lake Toba.

There are many humourous vignettes within the book, as well as many parables and lessons.
It in indeed educational, and educational on a new level-it reaches right into the spaces between ideas and brings into being a hybrid way of looking. It is accessible, informative and heartfelt.
I would recommend this book to anyone - it can be read for sheer pleasure. But if you are planning to travel, and would like to get some ideas on developing a very diplomatic and culturally sensitive approach to your new destination, this is most certainly the book for you.
I nominate Dr. Causey for Goodwill Ambassador!

This book is a true rarity--a work of serious scholarship, written in a user-friendly, personal, poetic, eminently-readable style. You'd almost be fooled into thinking you were reading a romantic travel narrative, one of those popular memoirs à la "Under the Tuscan Sun" where a naive American goes off and has a life-transforming experience while in a foreign land. But as Dr. Causey relates his tales of the months spent with the Toba Batak in their remote, beautiful homeland in northern Sumatra, learning something about their culture, something about woodcarving, and a LOT about shopping, he also unfolds a series of subtle, complex observations about aesthetics, about colonialism and acquisition, and about the role of tourists / collectors in a market economy and their effect as both destroyers and saviors of traditional culture. Absolutely fascinating stuff, and certainly not just for students of anthropology--this is a book that should be read by art historians as well as by economists, as well as by anyone who simply enjoys a well-written tale of a beautiful place that they've never been...

I particularly admire "Hard Bargaining" for the lack of any tang of cultural superiority on Dr. Causey's part--he never assumes that he knows more than the people he's observing, or that since he has a Ph.D., his observations must be considered correct. He went there; he lived, he learned, he shopped; and he thought about it, hard, and critically, comparing the Toba Batak culture to our own, and letting the reader make the judgement calls, not the anthropologist. Very well done!

I had a hard time finding this and so glad I finally did. Its fantastic, simply beautiful. Nerburn is in a league all his own. I keep his books by my bedside.

When I picked-up this book from our best-reader Friend, who gave us a chapter from SIMPLE TRUTHS, I expected it to be equally as simply written! Not simple in the ways of writing or organized! Since his Prologue, entitled "A CANTICLE OF ECHOES, Kent grasped my attention with his first quote from a - Pueblo saying, "We do not own the land. We belong to it. And by our sweat & breath shall she know us, and welcome us upon our return."

Kent begins: "We are children on this land a shadow on the still life of time.." Employing words as far more than commentary to his Pueblo saying. He measures words economically descibing past generations "whose arrival is scribed upon the line of history...(yet not adrift) on winds of story, or float upon the shrouds of myth!" I read in his brevity, layers of past, present & future!

From earlier pages he takes us back to BURIAL, "My home is over there. Now I remember it." - A Tewa song..."I am standing before a northern lake on a windswept point of land as a young Indian boy is lowered into the earth by his friends and family.

"It is a strange and lonely funeral-- they all are in their own way...In the Indians who made their home here-- like my young departed friend-- Something lives that invests this harsh land with spiritual values."

Kent never misses chances to relate the present back to the past history of his Northern Lands, even in his continued quoting of Indian Tribes: As in NATVITY: "What is life?...It is the breath of the buffalo in the winter time..." A Blackfeet death oration. After a gripping mysterious picture of a giant buffalo, Kent is at home with his short Essays based on, BLUE, JANUARY, URN, COPSE, GOOD FRIDAY, OFFERING, WIND. Poignant quotations are adopted from Sioux, Papago, Iroquois, Delaware & Crow Tribes. There are parallels between his essays based on tribal quotes and Haunting Reverence of Christian worship in all Nerburn's books... newly birthed from his majors of Religion and Art!

He refers to religion in MEMORY of TREES, "I see men but they look like trees, walking." Again in Solitudes: "The holy silence is God's voice." Golden treasures wait being discovered! Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood "Barbara377" (Fayetteville, GA United States)

I loved this book; it is about nature, spirituality and seeing things in a new way. The author helps one to see and feel what he is.....I have used many of his books as gifts...they are a forever treasure.

I found this book by accident. I liked the title and I love nature writing. But this isn't nature writing like anything I have ever read. This is some of the most beautiful poetry and storytelling I have ever read. It is the most spiritual nature writing I have ever read. This book took me to a place like prayer. Kent Nerburn is a genius.

My daughter needed this book for research of slavery. It was great for her and she learned alot!

I brought this book some time ago and just got around to reading it. Well, let me tell you that I can kick myself for not reading it sooner. You will get through this book so fast your head would spin because it is so interesting you will not want to put it down. John P. Parker, my hero.

John Parker's autobiography is an engrossing and often surprising account of the activities of the Underground Railroad. Parker was born and lived as a slave until buying his freedom and moving to Ripley, Ohio. There he joined forces with Rev. John Rankin in helping slaves cross the Ohio River and escape to Canada. His account is lucid, swift-moving, rambunctious, and highly literate. He describes the Ohio River Valley as "the Borderland," comparing it to the lawless, violent Scots/English border. The border, constantly raided by Abolitionists helping steal men, women, and children out of slavery and patrolled by slave-owning vigilantes intent on catching them, simmers in as treacherous a state of unrest and violence as any "Wild West" town at its worst. Parker never walks the streets of Ripley without a pistol, knife, and black jack in his belt. He never admits to working for the Underground Railroad, especially after passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, but pretty much everyone in the region knows that he does, putting his life in constant danger.

Parker's account abounds in hair-breadth escapes, heart-rending failures, and startling heroics. He also reveals aspects of the Underground Railroad that one never suspects but which seem inevitable after he describes them, such as the competition that developed between John Rankin's Ripley, Ohio branch of the Railroad and Levi Coffin's Cincinnati group. Parker insists that Coffin was merely the better publicist, not the better rescuer of the two. It's also clear that for Parker rescuing slaves was not merely a fierce moral imperative but also an activity touched with excitement, zest--even, strange as this sounds, fun. There is an element of sport to his activities, despite their grim, life and death seriousness. Parker is obviously bold, intelligent, crafty--good at what he does--and he relishes the hard-won triumphs of courage and guile that allow him to free his fellow slaves.

It's hard to say what place &qu! ot;His Promised Land" will take in American literature. It will not, I don't think, replace Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of an American Slave" as the country's premier account of the experience of slavery. It's not as powerful, relentless, or literarily self-conscious an account as Douglass's great work. But it may prove to be, for the Underground Railroad, what Sam Watkins's "Co. Aytch" is for the Civil War: perhaps the most engaging, colorful, and moving account by an 'ordinary extraordinary' man in one of this country's most agonizing and dramatic conflicts.

I ordered this book after seeing an interesting reference to it in an article in Smithsonian Magazine. I am so very glad I did.It is an amazing book, a very rare combination of thought provoking historical narrative, and Indiana Jones-ish excitement. I only wish it had been ten times as long-I would have devoured it. If I hadn't read the preface, which gives the background, I would have thought it was fiction, and pretty darn nail biting fiction at that.
I have given quite a bit of thought to this book, wondering what I would have done, given the same situation, and concluded that you can only hope you would be strong enough to rise to the circumstances, but fear is a powerful deterrent.I am giving my copy to the history department chair at my daughters' high school, and will ask them to consider making it a part of the curriculum.

Many of the information out there on Hispanic marketing is repetitive and basic. This book digs deep into the cultural issues that frame the topics that concern marketers. It provides insight for the non_hispanic that will leverage their marketing skills with knowledge of a culture that otherwise seems like a big puzzle with too many parts.

Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective is a book that should be required reading for anyone trying to reach the lucrative Hispanic market. Before reading this book and "Marketing to Hispanics: A Strategic Approach to Assessing and Planning Your Initiative," I had with limited success targeted the Hispanic market for my company. I had even gone as far as learning Spanish to help me. But nothing has helped me understand and reach the Hispanic market more than these two books. Each book is packed with resources, tools, and information that will help any business executive or business owner reach the Latino market.

This is truly a pioneer work in the field of Hispanic Marketing. The author really disects the theory and uses case studies to illustrate his points. Highly recommended in a field that is still in an infant stage and relies heavily on empiric information. His analysis goes beyond the 'business' aspect of Hispanic Marketing giving it a cultural perspective.

Steamshovel Press ally Childress does an off-the-wall finale to his "Lost Cities" series, which documents his picaresque adventures around the world. Previous "Lost Cities" books have been geared toward specific world locations, like North Africa, Asia, North and Central America, etc. This one takes on "Armageddon," although it begins at the Megiddo fortress, site of several great battles mentioned in the Bible and where legend has it the battle of Armageddon will begin. The most interesting chapter is entitled "Lawyers, Guns and Money", detailing Childress' legal adventures, including those shared with Steamshovel's Kenn Thomas. Thomas and Childress were taken to court by the former roommate of David Ferrie, Lee Harvey Oswald's albino pilot pal.

I was saddened to learn that "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon" would be the last book in the popular Lost Cities Series by my friend and publisher David Hatcher Childress. (David is the Head Honcho at Adventures Unlimited Press who published my 1998 book "HAARP, The Ultimate Weapon of the
Conspiracy"). I have always been an armchair archeologist (well, at least since the third grade). As such I have repeatedly found vicarious delight in tramping the globe with David in these books. Many reviewers have called him "the Real Indiana Jones" -- which I won't deny, except to point out that, on the rare occasions when he's home, he hangs his Fedora in Illinois.

My favorite thing about this series of books written by David Hatcher Childress is that he is an unaffected, unpretentious writer - which is to say, he writes like he talks. Each book reads like a conversation with David. It is easy to imagine one's self in the World Explorer's Club HQ in Kempton, Illinois, as I was earlier this year, listening to David recount his latest adventure in some exotic location, his voice soft with
understatement, his eyes twinkling at his little jests. I can clearly see him, at several points in the story, getting up and pointing out some artifact on the Club House walls, which are festooned with mementos of member's treks about the globe. "Oh! This," he says, touching a strange black object of iron chains and colored glass, "This is a lantern I picked up in a bazaar in Cairo last month." He achieves the same effect in his books by profusely illustrating them with photos and diagrams, facsimiles of ancient manuscripts, and the like.

In "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon" David invites you to tag along with him as he sets out on his wildest adventure yet, in search of the Apocalypse and The End Times! The story opens with you waking in your sleeping bag with flies crawling over your face somewhere in a Middle Eastern desert on the road to the Hill of Megiddo, the site of the legendary fortress in northern Israel where Armageddon is prophesied to start. It's a long hitchhike around the world from there; David leading you from one adventure to the next -- from mysterious tunnels running for hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles beneath South America, to ancient cities in the deserts of China, to legends of worlds before our own.

In this last Lost Cities book David really cuts loose. You'll find him musing on the rise and fall of civilizations and the forces that have shaped mankind over the millennia; including wars, invasions and cataclysms. In his comfortable, at ease before a roaring campfire style, David discusses such unsettling subjects as ancient wars of the past -- including evidence for
ancient atomic wars -- and relates that dim past with the present, and the much prophesied apocalyptic future.

Like a good roller coaster "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon" is a fun and scary ride. When I was a child all the rides at Disneyland required tickets, and the "E" ticket rides were the best. "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon" is definitely an "E" ticket ride!

Steamshovel Press ally Childress does an off-the-wall finale to his "Lost Cities" series, which documents his picaresque adventures around the world. Previous "Lost Cities" books have been geared toward specific world locations, like North Africa, Asia, North and Central America, etc. This one takes on "Armageddon," although it begins at the Megiddo fortress, site of several great battles mentioned in the Bible and where legend has it the battle of Armageddon will begin. The most interesting chapter is entitled "Lawyers, Guns and Money", detailing Childress' legal adventures, including those shared with Steamshovel's Kenn Thomas. Thomas and Childress were taken to court by the former roommate of David Ferrie, Lee Harvey Oswald's albino pilot pal.

David Childress' A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon is not your standard travel guide, nor is it for the faint of heart; the voyages so compellingly described within it pages are as much metaphorical as physical, for it charts mankind's heedless path toward self-destruction in the past, present, and future. From the legendary fortress Megiddo in Israel, where Armageddon is prophesied to start, to Namibia and Botswana in 1979, to the Final Stand of the Knights Templar and the space-based Death Star, A Hitchhiker's Guide to Armageddon pulls out all the stops in a chilling, brutal tour of humanity's most precipitous failings. Especially recommended for anyone with an interest in reading or writing apocalyptic literature.

I found this book to be enlightening. Mirande's analysis is fresh and applicable not only to Latino men but to other men of color as well. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to develop a different way of re-imaging masculinity.

HOMBRES Y MACHOS has helped me understand my life because my father was Mexican (born in the US of parents born in Mexico), and about half of my family is now of Mexican heritage. I find it interesting that though the Hispanic population is now the largest so-called minority group in the United States, there are so few books available regarding the masculinities of Hispanic culture.

HOMBRES Y MACHOS describes that, contrary to the Anglo-Saxon model of the stoic muscleman, macho Hispanic men are typically colorful, loud, and emotionally expressive. I found this description to be a breath of fresh air because in my late teens I became loosely involved in the movement sometimes known as the men's movement. This movement focuses on combatting the stoic macho male model and introducing men to their emotions. I found this bewildering because, in my experience, the more macho the man the more emotionally expressive (my father, Arthur Olivo, who was very macho, had no shame about dancing, singing, crying, etc.). I came to realize that though I am not biologically Mexican - the father I refer to in this review was technically my step-father - I needed books that addressed the Hispanic male experience because that was also *my* experience.

Finally! HOMBRES Y MACHOS is the book I had been looking for. It helped me understand myself, my life, and it gave me a vocabulary, a framework, within which to perceive my journey. And it helped me understand what is perhaps the most complicated issue of my life: why my Mexican father did not consider me his step-son, but told people I was his biological son. As HOMBRES Y MACHOS details, fatherhood in Mexican culture is far more embracing than what is commonly thought of in Anglo-Saxon culture. According to the author, my father's approach to me as his son has precedent in Mexican culture. Just knowing this fact put a big piece of the puzzle in place.

I am so thankful to Alfredo Mirande for writing HOMBRES Y MACHOS and therefore aiding me in my journey of self-understanding, as well as in understanding the men I have grown up around.

Thank you!

Andrew Parodi

I read this for a sociology class on mexican Americans and could not put it down. Mirande weaves both qualitative and quanitative analysis to examine how Hispanic and Latino men really act.

Too much of the mass media assumes that the lazy, super-macho, virulent and violent Hispanic man is the cultural norm rather than the exception. Mirande shows that subjugation has more often than not introduced those elements into this culture, rather than the other way around. Because family is very important in the Chicano culture, these men are more likely to spend time with their children than Anglo men.

Also interesting was the section on GLBT chicanos and how culture influences acceptance of sexuality. Despite the predominance of catholicism in Latino communities (which usually disapproves of homosexuality)evidence presented in the book suggests that their culture's concept of sexuality is more fluid than the anglo counterpart. Furthermore, the author notes the 'Top' male in lovemaking is generally accepted in society while the passive one is the only person who is not regarded as a real man.

Doctor Mirande goes boldly where no Chicano has gone before: to provide a positive revisionist analysis of the term "macho." Using anecdotal evidence from his own childhood to flesh out his sociological study, Mirande shows that he is not an apologist, but rather an academic that is interested at finding the truth behind the myths instead of merely buying into them. The results of the studies were surprising, even for him! In the burdgeoning area of men's studies, this text should prove indispensable

Six years ago, I wrote my first review for Amazon, of Richard N. Frye's "Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement". Frye's work, concentrating mostly on the 10th and 11th centuries, described in detail how Turkic-speaking nomads combined with Iranian city dwellers and Arab bringers of a new religion to create a new synthesis in Islam in Central Asia, particularly in the city of Bukhara. That syncretic Islam later became most instrumental in the development of the Muslim faith in the Indian subcontinent. Levin's THE HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOLS OF GOD mainly describes the condition of music and musicians in the 1990s in the modern republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. That same Richard N. Frye provides a strong endorsement on the back cover. I too find that this volume is a worthy successor in the on-going "project" of bringing Central Asian history and culture before Western eyes. The musical world of Central Asia still involves synthesis and syncretism---between the West and tradition, between new conservatism and older tolerance, between Soviet atheism and local spirituality, between Islam and older religions which we might label shamanistic, and between so-called ethnic groups like Uzbeks and Tajiks.

Levin travelled around the region with a musical companion, Otanazar Matyakubov, who provided endless contacts and insights. Together they interviewed and listened to all the varied performers of Central Asian music, from a female pop singer to humble performers of classical styles, from healers in remote villages who used music in their rituals to performers at schmaltzy Jewish weddings in the transplanted Bukharan Jewish community in Queens, New York. Levin describes the surroundings in which he found each musician, tells of his travels in decrepit cars between ancient cities or by donkey through the dramatic mountain scenery of remotest Tajikistan. While a certain amount of detail may be of interest chiefly to fellow ethnomusicologists, those specialized observations are spaced throughout the text in such a way that the non-professional reader never feels overwhelmed. Levin provides a number of excellent photographs, maps, and most importantly, a brilliant CD which illustrates all the styles and instruments he discusses. The effect of 70 years of Soviet policies is often mentioned, and a reader can deduce the results of this assault on local culture, though I would have liked more direct comment. Moscow's insistence on creating discrete "nationalities" created virulent brands of Uzbek and Tajik (and so many other) nationalism where none had existed. It created separate, ethnic-based countries where none had ever existed. It even created "Uzbek" and "Tajik" music out of a formerly seamless Central Asian tradition. This Soviet policy ultimately resulted in the squeezing out of Bukharan Jews-prominent in the Central Asian musical world for centuries---because they were deemed insufficiently "Uzbek" by newly nationalistic authorities.

In short, this is one of the best books of ethnomusicology I have ever read. It would be of interest to anyone trying to learn more about Central Asia and must be required reading for anthropologists concerned with the area. THE HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOLS OF GOD also brings the region to life and underlines the difference between the materialistic, narrowly nationalistic present and the past in which musicians played out of devotion and love of God without trying to fit into some culture apparatchik's idea of "national music".

Mr. Levin writes about cultural survival and cultural decay in Transoxiana, as seen from the vantage point of traditional musicians. Combining his own traveler's tales with detailed but accessible musicological analysis, he examines the role of the traditional performing arts in the modern world of Uzbekistan, and the way that they have been subverted by the Soviet and successor governments. Engagingly written, without condescension towards the reader or the people of whom he writes, this book will reward readers interested in the cultural life of the region.

Mr. Levin has truly accomplished something noteworthy in this book. It is perhaps the best book from the often boring realm of ethnomusicological research that I have read in recent years. The breadth of understanding and acute cultural awareness brought out in the book is fantastic. It should find an audience among music scholars as well as the average reader, especially given the uncomplicated way Levin tells his tale. The addition of the CD to the book is truly complimentary unlike many of the other "multi-media" gimmicks so often offered to entice the buyer. This book is essential for anyone who seeks a clarity in writing about the musics of another culture.

This book is a many faceted report on the state of music in the Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union, especially Uzbekistan. The author did his Ph.D. research in ethnomusicology in Tashkent on traditional court music called Shash maqam in 1977-1978. At the time, Levin was not as interested in this music as he had expected, which he later attributed to the Soviet cultural policies which extinguished the spark of vivacity from the Uzbek music. This book details many of the author's subsequent travels to Central Asia in search of traditional musicians who managed somehow to develop their unique talents within the stifling socialist milieu.

Levin provides much information about the artists, their music, and their poetry, which can all be heard on the accompanying CD. In the text itself, he rarely describes the instruments played by the musicians, referring to them merely with their local names. However, descriptions of the instruments can be found in the glossary at the end of the book, which I unfortunately didn't notice until I had finished reading. Occasionally, Levin's musicology terms get a little too thick for the general reader, but on the whole, the book is quite accessible.

The strongest aspect of the book is its description of the culture history of music in the Soviet Union. In my own brief travels to the Soviet Union, I was struck by how many people there were acquainted with classical music--how an appreciation of classical music stretched across the entire society. I never saw the dark side of this, however. In this book, Levin describes how centralized state policies governed even the field of music, changing and obliterating centuries' old traditions.

Its hard to describe what I love most about this book... the glimpse into a often-ignored slice of a misunderstood culture on a forgotten continent... the fierce strength of Hawa, the woman who tells the stories... her humor, her joy, her wisdom. In the end though, what kept me turning the pages was the sheer inventiveness and mastery of language. The transcription faithfully captures the amazing things that can happen when english escapes its shackles: this woman, who speaks 10 languages, mixing their vocabulary and construction together, is a masterful communicator and a mesmerizing storyteller. The book is extensively footnoted for explication, but I found Hawa's constructions simultaneously unique and obvious in the best way, and unfailingly charming.

One piece of advice: Read the stories first and the introduction last. Although it ultimately adds a lot of interesting and useful background, the first third of Chernoff's intro is so riddled with opaque anthropological jargon as to provide an unintentionally hilarious-- in a sort of Pale Fire-esque way-- counterweight to Hawa's graceful, lively and quicksilver stories of living "the life".

Buy this book-- read this book-- tell your friends about this book.

A wonderful inside look at modern life in Ghana. Not to be missed by anyone who loves or wants to know more about contemporary Africa. A refereshing approach, easily read, full of detail and color unavailable elsewhere. The author's commitment to the culture and people of Ghana shines through in the colorful translations and brilliant editorial work required to piece together the main character's story.

Read this book in two days. Couldn't put it down. The main character lives in a culture with few options for women. While the choices she makes may be appalling to the typical American, and while her profane language may at first cause dismay, once you get to know her, her intelligence, a certain grace, sense of fairness, sense of irony, strength and courage make you love her in spite of her chosen life. All the while you are intrigued and trying to understand her, she is slying educating you on the realities of current West Africa in a way that a textbook never could. Excellent book. Don't miss it.

John M. Chernoff's Hustling is Not Stealing is a unique and highly enjoyable insight into a woman who too often would be viewed in stereotypes or lost in statistics about the hand-to-mouth existence of people in what used to be called the Third World. Chernoff focuses upon the life of one woman, Hawa, describing her as small, cute, and a gifted storyteller. She becomes vividly real as she tells her tales of life as a bar girl, doing what she needs to do to survive -- and with great humor and style! Chernoff begins with a comprehensive and fascinating introduction, which places Hawa's experience in the broad context of African realities, also explaining his own years in Africa as a student of ethnomusicology and of the social milieu in which Hawa's adventures take place. The reader is drawn in, sometimes laughing, sometimes appalled, often both at the same time. Hawa is often hassled by poverty or by those seeking to exploit her. But she laughs her irresistible laugh -- hee hee hee -- and gets her own back. She is no victim! As she travels through Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso, one gets a sense of excitement and fun, despite the hard times and dangers. Hawa comes off as a very admirable woman, and Chernoff's book is a real pleasure. His valuable scholarship is matched by his humanity. As you peek into Hawa's world, she comes vividly and unforgettably to life and becomes a friend. This book is priceless! I loved it!