Cultural Books

This is an excellent book for the student or a casual reader who wishes to learn the background of their ancestors who were transported to the Caribbean as indentured laborers. It is probably the best account that I have ever read and it comfirms some of the stories I heard from my mother and grandmother.It has led me to seek other books on the subject from other sources and even to become curious of the history of India from where my ancestors came, from their accounts, willingly in search of a better life, which they apparently found after the initial sacrifice. We their decendants further emigrated to the USA in search of better education and lifestyles which we in turn found, and are happy with. Now I am curious of the sacrifices they made to make all of this possible.

THIS IS A TRUE STORY OF THE PEOPLES THAT CAME TO THE ISLAND,I AM AN EAST INDIAN AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT I FINALY CAN HAVE A BOOK THAT RELATES TO MY EAST INDIAN ANCESTORS.AND IF LUCK HAS ITS WAY,KNOW THE NAMES OF MY GREAT GREAT GRAND PARENTS THAT JOURNEYED ACROSS THE VAST SEAS TO MAKE A HOME IN THE WEST INDIES.

THIS IS A TRUE STORY OF THE PEOPLES THAT CAME TO THE ISLAND,I AM AN EAST INDIAN AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT I FINALY CAN HAVE A BOOK THAT RELATES TO MY EAST INDIAN ANCESTORS.AND IF LUCK HAS ITS WAY,KNOW THE NAMES OF MY GREAT GREAT GRAND PARENTS THAT JOURNEYED ACROSS THE VAST SEAS TO MAKE A HOME IN THE WEST INDIES.

Look Lai has presented an in-depth analysis of Chinese and East Indian immigrants who migrated from their home countries and went to new lands in the West Indies where there worked in sugar plantations as indentured laborers. His hybridization thesis is refreshing and brings to light the different cultural experiences these immigrants had in the British colonies of Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana. I recommend this text to anyone interested in learning about the history of plantation labor in the 19th. century and about the tumultuous events that occurred. This author is the only one so far who has investigated the West Indian Chinese and East Indian cultures together and he has worked to put the text into its correct historical context. Easy to read. A must for those who want to read about how two races, Chinese and East Indians, had ethnic tensions within their own cultural backgrounds: the caste system delineated who was higher in rank and who was at the bottom for those who came originally from India, and the Hakka/Cantonese differences were pre-emminent. Look Lai proves that the precursor of events that took place, the British immigration laws, the indentureship system, the riot incidents, and the tensions among the white plantocracy and freed slaves and indentured laborers, paved the way for the political and economic problems of the 20th. century. I enjoyed the book tremendously. Henrietta Akit. B.A. Hons.in History, University of Western Ontario, Canada.

There is a paucity of political sociology textbooks available these days. The (2005) Handbook of Political Sociology is an excellent edited collection but does not provide the fundamentals for undergraduates.

Kloby's (2004, second edition) 'Inequality, Power, and Development: Issues in Political Sociology' introduces basic concepts and then grounds the approach in political economy. Readers are introduced to basic Marxian principles such as surplus value and imperialism.

He does a great job of explaining how old money (Rockefellers, etc.) got rich and juxtaposes that process next to the high levels of exploitation (including job fatalities) faced by railroad, steel, and oil workers who worked for the old money capitalists.

He goes over neoliberalism in the United States by covering rising income inequality. Not only does he cover rising income inequality, but he goes over its link to health insurance, economic growth, home ownership, the CEO pay explosion, union decline, strike decline, etc. He covers these major transformations/trends in American society. Following this is a chapter that links the first and second half of the book: corporate power plus globalization.

He covers the basics of corporate power, includes an analysis of the Enron scandal.

By chapter five, and this is somewhat unconventional, he introduces major theories in political sociology: pluralist, power elite, marxian structuralist. The following chapters cover development and world-system approaches as well as the Cold War.

At first I did not like that he waited until chapter 5 to introduce theory, but I think it actually works well because the first chapters provide students with concepts of power and historical political economy as well as the corporation.

There could be an expanded coverage of Foucault, surveillance, and the panopticon principle. He does mention COINTELPRO , but this should be expanded to include how racism operates.

Certainly the best political sociology textbook I've yet encountered.

"Few sociology texts extensively review global issues of inequality even as economic inequality grows prolifically and causes significant damage to the world's ethnic minority peoples across all geographic borders. However, Kloby's book accomplishes this feat by extensively reviewing the relationship between transnational corporate exploitation, the extensive reach of Western political institutions, and the alleged "free trade" or neo-liberal policies of the world's richest nation-states and international financial institutions.

Even for those of us who fail to include a political sociology course in our curriculums, this text is a necessity for introductory sociology courses, inequality courses, and criminology courses that dare to take a critical worldview of current socio-economic and political dynamics.

... this book is a necessity for any Introductory Sociology class, not simply political sociology classes. It should be mandatory reading for all sociology students at some point in their undergraduate curriculum and furthermore, a necessary adjunct to any graduate class. Jerry Kloby has spoken the truth in the fashion of Noam Chomsky and bell hooks..."

Read the full review at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3719/is_200407/ai_n9434774

Inequality, Power, and Development: Issues in Political Sociology, 2nd edition by Jerry Kloby (Humanity Books) More than ever before the world is being shaped by the interests of transnational corporations and their partners in global financial institutions such as the IMF and WTO. What are the consequences of such concentrated power for the great masses of people throughout the world? One clearly emerging pattern is the growing disparity between the developed nations and the rest of the world. In this excellent analysis of power distribution and its effects, sociologist Jerry Kloby presents data on the increase of wealth and income inequality, and argues that many of the policies pursued by the developed nations and transnational corporations have led to a deterioration of both living standards and the environment in many parts of the world. He also discusses a power shift in the United States that has weakened the working class.
Kloby creates a comprehensive picture of global society from many diverse events and trends-local and international, contemporary and historical. The many graphs and tables containing supporting data guide the reader toward a heightened understanding of the complex forces underlying contemporary developments. He also clearly explains the meaning and relevance of such sophisticated but important terms as neoliberalism, dependency, civil society, and social capital.
This fully revised and updated edition will have enduring value for students and scholars of sociology, political science, economics, and international relations.

Inequality, Power, and Development: Issues in Political Sociology, 2nd edition by Jerry Kloby (Humanity Books) is an invaluable resource for the student or professor of social science that looks critically at global power and inequality. At once impressive for its breadth, depth and readability, this work speaks to audiences beyond the classroom and should therefore earn a more popular readership among activists, organizers and engaged citizens of diverse political orientation or interest.

The book begins with an introduction to the origins, rise and crises of capitalism and its attendant socio-political conditions along with theories of political economy that prepare the reader for a tour of economic inequality in the United States, corporate and state power, and global development.

The chapter that directly addresses the sociology of development provides an honest and cogent appraisal of the prevailing theoretical approaches to development in our time in a way that is potable for both high school and college students and rich enough for scholars of inequality and development.

Overall, Kloby's book is a grand and critical tour of US and global power relations in the 20th century and the present that concludes with valuable speculation about grassroots challenges to corporate, state and neoliberal hegemony.

The wealth of data and information that is invested in the work provides a valuable resource for classroom discussion and an unmistakable transparency to the skeptical reader. I have used Inequality, Power and Development in the classroom with great success and I will be sure to continue.

My title refers to Heidegger's characterization of many received views--typically, they are OK in a restricted context, but miss the boat in a broader sense. I like Szasz (even have had my own work compared favorably to his once--in a letter to Editor, Am J. of Psychotherapy, in response to a paper of mine on the false memory syndrome), but, like others have in the past, see him as going overboard in some ways. Just because the notion of mental illness is so flawed and indefensible, as are the various neurobiological explanations and interventions, that doesn't have to mean that, say, "schizophrenia", or criminal behavior, are just actions of bad faith, maliciousness, evil, etc. One does not have to see these "entities" either as "mental illnesses" or offer some simple, commonsense, nonclinical alternative. There is such a thing as early human development (including foetal development), and if a person's evolution is deeply flawed (as is so frequently the case in our society) then the inner and outer behaviors will be pathological as well.(The nature/nurture dichotomy is inane, not viable--the two factors are inextricably intertwined from the start in utero.) That is one of the seminal contributions of Freud, buttressed by 100 years of world-wide clinical exploration and experience. To understand "psychopathology" adequately, one needs to look into the problems more deeply than Szasz manages to do; notions re psychopathology and psychotherapy involve basic notions such as the nature of self, mind, thought, intent, perception, language, inner/outer boundaries, etc. These paradoxial and elusive notions can't be simplistically explained or dismissed. I've tried to address these matters over decades in numerous publications.

In _Ideology and Insanity_ Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry and libertarian activist, presents a view of the dark side of the psychiatric establishment. Szasz is known for being one of the originators of the anti-psychiatry point of view in the 1960s (along with such others as R. D. Laing) and is a noted libertarian in the school of such individuals as Karl Popper, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek. In this book, Szasz makes the rather odd, indeed astonishing claim, that mental illness is entirely a myth and rests on a misunderstanding of the nature of illness. Rather than viewing certain individuals as mentally ill and thus diagnosing them with particular mental disorders, Szasz argues that it is best instead to view these individuals as possessing problems in living. Szasz contends that the diagnostic labels used to categorize mental illness are in fact nothing more than stigmatizing slurs (despite the contention by psychiatrists to the contrary, or that "mental illness is an illness like any other"). Psychiatry has a long, bloody, and inglorious history, beginning perhaps with medieval manuals on witch-hunting (e.g. the notorious _Malleus Maleficarum_) often used to eliminate dissidents and heretics, and including Nazi experimentation, the authoritarian theories of Sigmund Freud, and communist totalitarian psychiatry. Indeed, Szasz tells the story of a certain poet who was found mentally imbalanced by a psychiatrist in the Soviet Union because "poetry did not constitute useful work" and thus held captive against his will in an asylum. Too often psychiatry has resorted to fascist brutality and cruelty, including coercion, outright fraud, lying, forced medication, forced incarceration in a mental hospital, forced electroshock and insulin treatments, forced confinement, and even dangerous psychosurgeries such as lobotomy. Szasz notes that much of the problem rests with the undefined role of the psychiatrist (or psychologist). Thus, the psychiatrist (or psychologist) is faced with a continual conflict of interests, is he primarily interested in the patient (as a doctor would be) or is he interested in protection of society from dissidence and persecution of deviancy. Too often the psychiatrist sees himself as an authoritarian figure, capable of bestowing a given label upon an individual for any reason at all (needing only to justify this with reference to the completely open ended categories of the _DSM_), and legally able to confine an individual against his will and recommend "treatments" which often amount to no more than tortures. Szasz examines the role of the psychiatrist in the government, in law, in the public schools, and at universities, and shows how each of these roles fundamentally rests on fraud and dishonesty. Psychiatrists (and psychologists) frequently violate so-called confidentiality in the best interests of an institution they serve (or an insurance company) for example so as to protect that institution from certain individuals declared insane. Szasz notes that much of what the psychiatrist does consists of an attempt to shift powers from the legal and judicial systems as well as societal and social responsiblities to a group of technocratic doctor/bureaucrats. It is this authoritarian/scientistic/collectivistic orientation of the psychiatrist that Szasz finds so alarming. While I believe Szasz would say that psychiatrists (and psychologists) can and do generally help people, he notes that their entire profession fundamentally rests upon an attribution error, fraud, and a conflict of interests. This is not to disparage the many good and caring individuals who enter these professions in an effort to help others. The arguments of Szasz are radical, in that even "illnesses" such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia which are now almost entirely believed to be biologically based, are argued by him to be based on mere convention. Frequently, by assigning these labels to individuals they are conveniently scapegoated, their rights denied them, and then they are thrown to the dogs of society and left to fend for themselves. This is a true travesty of justice and a great shame to our society. Szasz proposes an entirely individualist ethic which orients the psychiatrist towards the patient and which views man as autonomous and endowed with free will. I disagree with certain points of this ethic, in that I do not believe in a right to abortion or suicide etc., however I do note that psychiatry is frequently used merely to categorize those who are not like us. Szasz's orientation is secular and humanistic as well as atheist; however, he oddly mentions God quite a few times within his book. Also, I note that he makes little distinction between outright behaviors (which a psychiatrist may deem deviant) and reports of inner states (thoughts, moods, and feelings) which seem to play little role in his book. Indeed, most individuals who consult psychiatrists consult them voluntarily to help deal with thoughts or feelings which pose troublesome for them. Even individuals which are labelled schizophrenic by the psychiatric establishment (usually who are entirely harmless) may be able to identify their troubling thoughts and feelings. Perhaps schizophrenia merely consists in an alternative mode of perceiving the world. It is the authoritarian psychiatrist who declares the schizophrenic to be guilty of a "thought crime" and argues that his perception of reality has no validity. Szasz does not deny the existence of delusions, hallucinations, or illusions, but he merely questions their usefulness as determiners of "mental illness". Thus, all three occur commonly in life, even in the lives of so-called "normal" people. While there is much in this book that is controversial, it is sure to provide a great deal of concern for the individual living in the modern world as it increasingly comes to resemble that of 1984.

I strongly disagree with the Library Journal reviewer that this book is "not much of an addition to the author's previous work". Among his many works, this book is by far the clearest and best documented statement of his basic proposition that mental illness is a myth. Really, this is the book that his second and groundbreaking book "The Myth of Mental Illness" should have been.

I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Szasz in the mid-1990s, and I told him that I thought his best books were "The Manufacture of Madness" and "Insanity: The Idea and Its Consequences", in that order. He said that many people agree with me, but that he himself would reverse the order and put "Insanity" first. Who am I to argue?

For his brilliance, importance, and courage, Thomas Szasz is my greatest intellectual hero, followed by Karl Popper for similar reasons.

Thomas Szasz's writing career has been founded on reaching for the truth by smashing the false linguistic and conceptual idols of psychiatry. His "Myth of Mental Illness," published in 1961, still stands as one of the most clear and devastating indictments of modern psychiatry: a system it describes as being rife with hypocrisy and mendacity. There is no such "disease" as mental illness, or schizophrenia, or insanity, he argues (brilliantly).

In this book Szasz brings together and summarizes the logical and conceptual underpinnings of his arguments. It is a tour de force. His language is simple, direct, unequivocal. The influence of Karl Kraus (about whom has written a book) on the purity of his language usage is patent in his prose and thus the reader is never left in doubt about what Szasz means.

Szasz recognizes the difficulty of abandoning any broad and pervasive set of concepts with which we have been raised, regardless of how wrong or absurd the concepts may be. Those who toil in the field of mental health may reject all (or most) of his arguments on the basis of their daily contact with the mentally ill: to be shown that there is no such thing as "mental illness" is bound to cause a jolt to their tranquility. Yet it should be the goal of society to seek a universe in which the behavior of people is not mislabeled and where truth in language reigns. Szasz points us in the right direction. An excellent bibliography, references, and name and subject indices are part of the book.

i enjoyed this book immmensely. everyone should read, especally those of mixed heritage. the book helped me understand issues that i went through and showed me that i am not alone in my struggles as an interracial person.

Someone is finally getting past the superficial and looking deeply and objectively at factors that contribute to interracial peoples' race identities. Although the book focuses on black / white mixes, the information and experiences are relevant to all intercultural and interracial relationships. The book also sheds light onto many of the racial stereotypes and little-spoken of biases that pervade inter and intra-race relations in our society.

I wish I read this book while I was growing up. I would have understood my surroundings and myself much quicker and much better.

The book is a wonderful discussion of the factors that influence an interracial person's racial identity. Some books I have read on this topic were nothing more than an individual's reflections on the issue. Other books were too scientific and uninteresting. This book, however, is an incredible mix of excerpts from dozens of interviews with interracial people, as well as an on-point analysis of the import of what they are saying. The book also speaks to many things that interracial people think and feel, but seldom discuss with others.

I am glad someone wrote this book as it relates to far more than just black / white mixes. Indeed, it relates to any racial or cross-cultural mix.

As a parent of a mixed race child I have been troubled by the extreme lack of research and literature that addresses the adjustment of mixed race children. This book finally addresses this gap. The author highlights the unique emotional and social needs of interracial people. I found her discussion of experiences in the family, community, school and dating that help or undermine the adjustment of interracial children particularly helpful. I enjoyed hearing about their longings, ambitions, social lives and love relationships. I was also very pleased that she challenged some of the myths that have tainted the image of interracial people. The stories of the people the author interviewed are extremely poignant and so is the analysis and interpretation of their accounts. I learned a lot of new information from this book. Most of all, however, it helped me to better understand the needs of my child.

Into the Heart is a book written by Kenneth Good, an anthropologist. Good went to the rainforests in Brazil to live among the Yanomama. He went there to study their way of life. He discovered how different these people are from the people in the United States.
Their diet consisted of what they hunted and things they planted. They worked very hard and lived off the land. These people never complained no matter how bad a situation was. Unlike our society, the only transportation they had was by foot, they slept either outdoors or in houses with large open rooms with many people, and they did not have medicine or doctors.
During his stay, Good learned the lifestyle of the Yanomama. He learned their ways and accepted the things they did. While there, he met a very young Yanomama girl. He gradually fell in love with her. Even though they had major cultural differences, the two of them left the rainforest and came to the United States where they were married.
This is an excellent book to read. There was suspense not knowing what was going to happen next. It was extremely interesting to see how other people in the world live as compared to our own traditions. Plus it had some romance mixed in by the marriage of this couple from totally different cultures. I would recommend that everyone read this very interesting book.

An anthropologist spends many years (multiple trips) amongst the Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon, who had had very little contact with civilization, and only a limited amount of its goods (e.g. some matches, a few better axes). He eventually marries one of the tribe, who returns to the United States with him. Anthropologist's faculty advisor is a real villain. The account is personal, rather than scholarly, although Good did write scholarly papers, and he refrains from much abstract analysis or generalization. The Indians have strong human emotional attachments for children, and family, and are not very violent, but the society is very sexist, tribes are prone to get mad at other tribes, and there isn't much concept of an abstract morality. It is a utilitarian morality, and tribe members are not likely to stick their necks out to protest unfair treatment to others. Disapproval does carry weight.

This is a truly remarkable book, much different from most anthropological literature. Although Good sets out to do a very mainstream anthropological study, he gets drawn in to the community, and what ensues is a fascinating tale, a touching love story, and hopefully, a major change in people's beliefs about so-called "primitive tribes". As Good becomes more and more frustrated with the competitive and stuffy world of academia and more connected to his Yanomama tribe, he truly begins to change his life. Remarkable!

EAGERLY DEVOURING EACH LEAF OF LITERATURE IN KENNETH GOOD'S INTO THE HEART, READERS ARE CATAPULTED INTO MYSTICAL, UNSEEN EXPANSES WITHIN THE VAST AMAZON RAIN FOREST. WE READERS VIRTUALLY BECOME AN ANTHROPOLOGIST'S TRAVEL COMPANIONS AS GOOD EXPLORES A LAND BLANKETED WITH A PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE YANOMAMI. CIVILIZATION IS RARE IN SUCH VIRGIN TERRAIN, NEIGHBORING THE PIRANHA-INFESTED ORINOCO RIVER. YET, INTO THE HEART, PUMPING WITH THE LIFE-BLOOD OF SURVIVAL, EXPOSES HOW ONE PRIMITIVE CULTURE SUBSISTS WITHOUT A SPARK OF TECHNOLOGY OR MODERN CONVENIENCE. RAYS OF INSIGHT EMANATE CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS AS WE REALIZE THAT A DISTANT VENEZUELAN COMMUNITY SHARES CERTAIN QUALITIES THAT INTERCONNECT ALL HUMAN BEINGS, HOLISTICALLY. INSTITUTIONS, SUCH AS MARRIAGE, AND KINSHIP RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE YANOMAMI EXEMPLIFY CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES. OTHER UNIQUE ASPECTS DIVERGE FROM THIS INTEGRATED OUTLOOK, HOWEVER. IMAGINE SPORTING ONLY A MERE LOINCLOTH OR DRINKING A POTION, ITS KEY INGREDIENTS BEING YOUR LATE GRANDFATHER'S ASHES. tHOUGH CULTURE-SHOCKED INITIALLY, THE HEIGHTENED COGNIZANCE WE HAVE ACHIEVED THROUGH THIS EXOTIC TRUDGE THROUGH THE AMAZON OVERSHADOWS ANY HARDSHIPS WE HAVE ENDURED. GOOD'S JOURNEY INTO THE HEART HAS FOREVER IMPACTED MY LIFE. WE DEPART FROM THIS MEMORABLE EXCURSION WITH OUR DWELLINGS CARPETED BY GIGANTIC ANTS, OUR TOES NIBBLED BY RAVENOUS VAMPIRE BATS, AND OUR BODIES STRICKEN WITH STRAINS OF MALARIA. AS PASSENGERS ON THIS UNFORGETTABLE VOYAGE, WE READERS HAVE ABSORBED A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL FIELDWORK. FOR MORE THAN A DECADE WE HAVE WATCHED AN ANTHROPOLOGIST FULLY EXAMINE A CULTURE DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN. THROUGH KENNETH GOOD, MANKIND ACROSS THE WORLD HAS BEEN INTRODUCED TO THE YANOMAMI, A REMARKABLE PEOPLE WHO BOLDLY LEAD US INTO THE HEART OF HUMANITY.

This book is simple to read, and is a great introduction to the profound mystical teachings- the science of the soul, the key to the mysteries of the universe. Study it well, in a practical way, and see the transformation within.

This book is a preview of the teachings of Samael Aun Weor. It quickly gives information that is pertinent to our lives and can be implemented by anyone. After reading it, you will find yourself wanting to know more.

Gnosis is a Greek word for 'direct, experiential knowledge'. This is a loving and very powerful introduction to the study and practise of Gnosis.

The book is divided into nine short lessons, each of which includes an invigorating daily practise as a conclusion. Some of the lessons include "The Power of Thought", "The Law of Karma", "Money", "Mental Action", "Meditation and Intoxication", and "Death'.

These lessons are clear and moving; they are about modern life here and now, without any ambiguous spiritual chatter at all.

To share, here is the opening paragraph from Lesson One:

"It is necessary to be successful in life. If you want to be successful, you should begin by being sincere with yourself: recognize your own errors. When we recognize our errors we are on the path to correcting them. Everyone who corrects his own errors is inevitably successful. The businessman who daily blames others for his own failures and never recognizes his own errors will not be successful. Remember that the greatest criminals consider themselves to be saints. If we visit a penitentiary we will prove to ourselves that none of the criminals consider themselves guilty. Almost all of them say to themselves, "I am innocent." Don't make the same mistake. Have the courage to recognize your own errors. Thus will you escape greater evils."

This chapter (which is a few paragraphs longer), ends with a simple exericse called "An exercise to control your anger".

I hope you enjoy this book.

In this book Samael takes the reader through nine lessons on diverse psychological and philosophical teachings.

It is mainly a book for people who wish achieve success in their life. He talks to you on a one-on-one level.

LESSONS INCLUDE:
-An Exercise to Control Anger, The Power of Thought, Mental Force, Concentration of the Mind, The Law of Karma, Favorable Circumstances, The Descent of Cosmic Vibration, Prana, The Names of the Tattwas, Tattwic Timetable, Properties of the Tattwas, Money, Clairvoyance, Alcoholism, Initiation, Intoxication, Death, Psychology of the Drunkard, The Home, Alcoholic Larvae, Osmotherapy, Treatment, Mental Relaxation, Concentration, Meditation, Contemplation, The Universal Mind, Imagination and Will, Mental Action, Mental Epidemics, Mental Hygene, Origins of the Universal Mind...and an Appendix and Epilogue entitled Vegetarian Diet and How to Make the Light Within Ourselves.-

A great book to give as a gift and essential for anyone wanting to learn to live a better and happier life.

A perfect manual for living!

An Introduction to Japanese Society is a book no serious student of Japan (or East Asia generally) can afford to pass up. It affords an unflinching and incisive look at the nature of Japanese democracy by a Japanese scholar who pulls no punches. While quite a few Western scholars have characterized the Japanese elementary school classroom, for example, as less authoritarian than its American counterpart, Sugimoto contends that authoritarianism is pronounced but subtly pervasive throughout Japanese society. Instead of accentuating top-down coercion by authorities, as Korean and Chinese societies do, Japanese authoritarianism is more subtle, relying heavily on indirect controls such as small group pressures, extensive surveillance, moralistic ideologies, positive reinforcements, mythologies of benevolent leadership, and pleasant rituals to mask underlying and potentially coercive power. As Sugimoto persuasively demonstrates, "Japanese friendly authoritarianism does not normally exhibit its coercive face." But when all else fails, it can and does exercise the full measure of its power. Sugimoto's book should inspire more Western scholars to take a closer look at the informal mechanisms of control in Japanese society. If Sugimoto is right, Japan has far to go before it becomes a full-fledged democracy.

In a world of Inside/Outside, it is refreshing to get a view form the inside. YOSHIO SUGIMOTO'S "An introduction to Japanese society" is probably the most functional addition to the limited number of books which give a wide-ranging coverage of Japanese society fit for an preliminary Japanese society course, and more sophisticated students will find much in it as well. As a counterpoint to myriad of books and thesis, which show Japan as culturally homogenous, and predominantly white collar, Sugimoto zeroes-in on Japan's multiculturalism and class distinctions which he posits are more akin to other highly industrialized societies. The Japanese "everyman" (term mine) he posits from the get-go is not a highly educated "salaryman" working for a large company, but rather older woman with less education maybe working for a smaller company or family firm. What is important to note is that Japan, with a dropping birth rate, aging population and more emphasis on individualism in education and work, Japan might be even more like other countries.

Sugimoto manages to cover a large selection of the essential issues that affect Japanese society at present time and its historical development. Furthermore, Sugimoto presents a balanced perspective of the weaknesses and strengths of the Japanese system. In Chapter 2, dealing with the issue of "stratification", Sugimoto explains that while class distinctions have become less apparent in the post-war period, inequality is actually on the rise. Chapter 3, Sugimoto discusses regional disparities, the positions of minorities, regional variations, and the influence of Tokyo on the more peripheral regions of the country. This section is insightful as it is pedagogical - Sugimoto's treatment of ethnic diversity is clear, concise and balanced.

Chapter 4 deals mainly with the economy. Sugimoto examines the rupture between those permanently employed in the large corporations, and those with less secure jobs in small enterprises. Chapter 6, focuses on women's exclusion from the permanent employment sector of the job market (either by exclusion through education or other means), despite what might seem like equal opportunities legislation. Chapter 7 engages in the discourse of discrimination, namely that against Koreans. Burakumin, the Ainu in Hokkaido, and Japan's now substantial number of foreign immigrant workers. Perhaps the most important chapter in dispelling the homogeneity myth, this chapter explores what is apparently a long and complex discourse of race and race relations in Japan.

Most interesting to Sociologists and Japanese Studies majors is Chapter 8 on the Japanese establishment, and the close and often dubious 3 way links between bureaucrats, politicians and business leaders. For a more detailed but less compelling dissertation of this issue, you can also examine MIKISO HANE'S EASTERN PHOENIX - JAPAN SINCE 1945. Chapter 9 leads in with "Internationalization" and is clearly related to the discussion of popular culture, which includes karaoke, pachinko, the sex industry as well as new religions. For those looking for a Japan textbook, this is looks to be the definitive account of a sociological experiment with it's primary focus in stratification. It does cover a lot and from my discussion above, looks to be a long book. It is not. Much like MIKISO HANE'S book it is well worth the read.

Miguel Llora

This book should be required reading for any introductory course for Japanese Studies. Sugimoto presents a very unbiased view of Japanese society, and covers many different aspects, such as gender, hierarchy (the vertical society), and education that play daily roles in the maintaining of the structure and implement of Japanese ways. Excellent reading for anyone with an interest in Japan, necessary reading for any student of Japanese Studies.

While no book is able to entirely encapsulate a culture, Yoshio Sugimoto's "An Introduction to Japanese Society" manages to showcase the ethnic and economical diversity alongside pop culture and "Friendly Authoritarianism," something that one can see every day in Japan. Scholarly in tone, this is a competent book for serious students of Japan, who want more than can be offered by "culture" books and such.

An impressively wide examination, each of the ten chapters examines a particular face of Japan. Economic class and stratification, varieties in work and labor, diversity and unity in education, minority groups and gender stratification, almost every possible angle is seen. Popular and folk culture are examined in detail, with the "Four Japanese Phenomena" described as manga, pachinko, karaoke and the sex industry. As someone who has spent considerable time in Japan, I can assure that these four areas have more impact on modern Japan than the tea ceremony and the Japanese garden!

Although it is packed with information, "An Introduction to Japanese Society" is also small enough as to not be intimidating. It is only an introduction, but it should be a gateway to those seeking insight into a fascinating culture.

Hannes Artens is the author of The Writing on the Wall, the first anti-Iran-war novel.

At one of my discuss and book signing events for The Writing on the Wall I had the privilege to share the stage with Erlich. His enviable ability to explain the most complex intricacies of Iranian politics in just a few concise, laconic sentences, almost adopting the proverbial Spartan reputation for austerity to his illustrations, and yet enriching them with such a compelling storytelling and personal anecdotes, that the suspenseful excerpt I had read from my novel before paled in comparison, already fascinated me back then (right after the event I immediately set off to revise my script's flow). This clarity and conciseness in analysis and style is what may appeal most to novices to the intricacies of U.S.-Iranian relations, thus rendering The Iran Agenda the perfect introduction to the subject.

Contrary to many of us who write about Iran these days - guilty as charged - Erlich, a seasoned field veteran who has reported on Middle East crises for NPR, Radio Deutsche Welle, Mother Jones, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Dallas Morning News - to just a name a few - has frequently shuttled in and out of to Iran over the last years - once even accompanied by actor turned activist Sean Penn. Drawing upon this wealth of resources and experiences, Erlich provides us with a manifold kaleidoscope of impressions and insights from the bazaars of Tehran, a former traditional stronghold of the supporters of the Revolution where the harm caused by U.S. sanctions and international embargos is felt most these days, to the back yard offices of courageous NGOs and civil advocacy groups, to the mountain fortresses of Kurdish insurgents, and finally to the world of make-believe of 'Tehrangeles', where the exile community keeps plotting on schemes for regime change as realistic as Dick Cheney's (they're perceived so out of touch with how people in Iran really feel that they don't even receive funding from the State Department, who usually pours out the horn of plenty on every dubious diaspora group they get aware of).

It is in describing this triangular relationship between the indigenous Iranian opposition, the pipe dreams of Ahmed Chalabi-wannabes and the exile entourage of Reza Pahlavi, craving to trade their suburban Washington DC mansions for Niavaran Palace, and the U.S. employing PJAK (Party of a Free Life in Kurdistan, the Iranian PKK equivalent) and MEK (the Mujahideen e-Khalq, officially designated a terrorist organization by the State Department) as proxies in their covert war against the invidious Mullah regime where The Iran Agenda is at its strongest and offers some valuable, new insight to even versed pundits of U.S.-Iranian relations. In fact, Erlich's book is the first to problematize and discuss in greater detail Washington's utilization of Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilize the regime and actively finances splinter groups to launch terrorist attacks against Tehran, killing dozens of innocent civilians (this dirty covert war, reminding one of the CIA's activities in 1970 Cuba, was first uncovered in a 2006 The New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh). In assessing these forms of regime change Erlich and the Iranian human rights activists he has interviewed, most prominently Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and independent journalism-icon Akbar Ganji, are equally clear and unsparing:

"Every opponent of the Iranian opposition that I spoke to criticized the disastrous impact of U.S. policies. When the United States periodically threatens military attacks, funds dissidents, and sponsors terrorism, the administration helps fuel anti-American nationalism, said Ganji.

"'Passing this [(85 million), part of the Iran Freedom and Support Act, N.B. H.A.] budget has made our work much more difficult and the work of the democratic forces much more cumbersome in Iran,' Ganji told me.
"Shirin Ebadi explained that Iranian activists also opposed unilateral U.S. economic sanctions that began under Jimmy Carter. The sanctions prohibit most trade, investment, and many cultural exchanges. 'Economic sanctions hurt people more than the government,' said Ebadi."

Beside the book's enlightening inroads into the maze of Iranian politics and the neocons' pathological traumas with the Islamic Republic, Erlich, who has earned quite a reputation as a forceful critic of corporate media in his first book, Target Iraq. What the News Media Didn't Tell You, also mercilessly reckons with his peers' coverage of Iran. In light of American corporate media having degenerated into court writers of this administration and the current Republican candidate, together with Vice President Cheney utilizing his actual Middle East "peace trip" to heavy-handedly beat the war drums again, Erlich's frankness about the media's role in distorting the public's picture of Iran as a bunch of crazed Mullahs trying to get their hands on a doomsday weapon, are more important now than ever. His tireless efforts to confront us with the other, the real Iran, and the cursory outline of the about-to-unfold drama's major actors in Tehran and Washington make The Iran Agenda a strongly recommended contribution, both as a first overview for curious beginners, but also in offering close observers some interesting facets they may not have been aware of yet.

A theocratic democracy? by Tim Redmond, Thursday September 20, 2007, San
Francisco Bay Guardian Online.

My old friend Reese Erlich is remarkably optimistic about Iran, which is a pleasant perspective. I'm glad somebody is.

In his insightful, if sometimes choppy, new book, The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis, he offers an alternative view of a nation and a culture that has been either ignored or demonized by the mainstream press for more than 30 years. His basic thesis -- that US policy toward Tehran is moronic, driven by foolish politics, bad information, and greedy geopolitical aims -- is hard to dispute. His subtext -- that there's real hope for democracy in Iran -- is a bit of a tougher sell.

Erlich has done what few US journalists ever do: he's visited Iran, repeatedly, and taken the time to meet not just with government officials and activists but with ordinary Iranians. Almost across the board, they condemn the United States and support the Islamic state.

We're presented with "liberal" politicians -- which might be a bit of a stretch -- and radical activists, including Marxists, who offer a vision of a democratic Iran. Me, I'm dubious about any hope for theocratic democracy; as a proud atheist, I think that separation of church and state -- strict, inviolable separation -- is essential for any functioning democracy.

But Erlich's willing to give other cultures and ways of thinking a break, which is one of the main reasons he's such a good reporter. And in The Iran Agenda he presents a picture of a nation far more complex than the caricatures we've seen depicted by the administration and the evening news.

That's the real value of this book: you get a sense from a veteran journalist of what you've been missing all these years. Erlich tries to sort out the ethnic geopolitics of Iran and explain which groups are aligned with whom (and why the United States supports some of them). It's all somewhat dizzying, but that's part of the point. This situation is more complicated than most American opinion makers are willing to admit.

And for all that, it's a good read.

Journalist Reese Erlich grew up in Los Angeles just south of UCLA. As a child he used to walk up Westwood Boulevard toward Westwood village, past a stockbroker's office and the Crest movie theater. At the time there was no Tehrangeles. The Westwood legal offices I visited last year to fix my Iranian passport mess used to house the ultra-right-wing John Birch Society. As an aborigine of sorts, Erlich has no grievances against the Iranians who have colonized the Westwood of his childhood. On the contrary, he seems to delight in the cultural upgrade. His latest book, The Iran Agenda: the real story of U.S. policy and the Middle East crisis, should however give the American reader a nostalgic lump in the throat. Not because of old memories of a neighborhood now transformed; but because this seasoned journalist writes in a tradition now mostly abandoned by the US media. Trustworthiness.

Erlich identifies his sources by name, and gives references which independently corroborate his statements. By contrast the average American's perception of Iran has been largely defined by "unidentified sources." The Iran Agenda begins in the real Tehran bazaar where Erlich--along with actor Sean Penn and columnist Norman Solomon--had put their journalistic "boots on the ground" to report on the Iran situation. Erlich mentions other American reporters in Iran, but he observes, "Most American reporters I met saw Iran as an evil society and a danger to the United States. While many expressed disagreement with President Bush's policies, they believed Iran was developing nuclear weapons that threatened America. In short, their views tracked the political consensus emanating from Washington. Rather than proceeding from reality, they filtered their reporting through a Washington lens. When a Washington official makes a statement, even a false one, the major media dutifully report it with few opposing sources."

Of course this is not news to we Iranians. The value of The Iran Agenda is its usefulness as a tool of argument in discussions with curious Americans who ask us to be their tour guides on the Iran subject. Most educated Iranians carry an overall knowledge of the Iran-US quarrel, from Mossadegh's overthow, to the hostage crisis, to the US Navy's shooting down an Iran Air passenger jet. The Iran-Iraq war, NPT, human rights violations, student protests, worker's union discontent, Ganji, Ebadi, Ossanlou, are all swimming somewhere in our data base. But it takes a professional like Erlich to organize these floating facts into an engaging story with a strong moral. To undo years of skilful propaganda, equal skill is needed. And Erlich is certainly a talented story teller.

While he informs us that the Kurdish PJAK guerrillas are funded by the US and Israel, Erlich simultaneously evokes a feeling of action and travel reminiscent of the colorful adventures of Tintin:

"The PJAK camps are located in inhospitable terrain. During winter months, the snowy roads are accessible only on foot or by tractor. Luckily the snow hadn't yet blanketed the area, and we drove up easily--if slowly--over winding dirt roads. Suddenly, young women in green pants in the distinctive Kurdish head scarf were walking along the road. They were female guerrillas. PJAK claims its troops are almost 50 percent women."

Erlich's very brief history of the Kurds updated me on some interesting statistics. For example, I was under the impression that Kurds were mostly Sunnis. This is true in general, but in Iran 50% of this minority is Shiite. This figure makes a difference in my thinking on the Kurdish issue.

Erlich goes on to remind his readers of other ethnic minorities, the Azeri, Baluchi and Arab Iranians, who could destabilize the Iranian regime. Little of this is intelligently discussed in the US media. For obvious reasons even the Iranian media tend to keep the lid on news of ethnic unrest.

Not all of Erlich's criticism targets mainstream media. He has harsh words of advice for Iran's exile media in his native Westwood backyard. He mentions Amir Taheri's infamous false report about a Majils law requiring Iranian Jews to wear a yellow stripe on their clothing. "With each phony or exaggerated story," Erlich warns, "the LA newscasters and commentators [who continued to play the story long after it was falsified] think they are helping the popular struggle against the Iranian government. But repeated over time, the distortions discredit the exile media and, by extension, all exile opposition." Erlich describes another, bitterly funny incident--the Hakha affair-- as being "something right out of the Keystone Kops." I can't find a web link that explains this fiasco nearly as well as Erlich's narrative.

Clarifying his own agenda in writing The Iran Agenda, Erlich says, "...I personally don't trust mainstream politicians, lobbyists, and think tank gurus to resolve anything soon. Nor do I trust the clerics in Tehran to stop their belligerence. A pro-peace, pro-democracy movement exists within Iran. I think people in the United States need to build one as well." It seems Westwood had earthy, smart people long before Iranians arrived.

In his opening pages of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis, Reese Erlich introduces you to the people of Iran and immediately makes you feel comfortable with them. You quickly get his sense for both the simplicity of their world and the complexity of the situation there. His discussions of the U.S.-Iranian relations since the 50's are historical and straightforward, free from the typical spin-and-bias of today's reporting. Despite the fact that his book brings you to the reality of just how far astray U.S. foreign policy has gone, it is an extremely enjoyable read.

Erlich makes sense out of all the forces that are present, be they global, regional or internal. He easily moves between religious histories, petroleum politics, ethnic minorities and media credibility with an objectivity that is rarely found in today's rush to war. His descriptions of blatant and alleged covert activities of several of the players makes one realize that there are many forms of `terrorism' currently being employed by our leaders to manipulate today's public opinion. His closing thought could not be more prophetic -

`If the governments of the United States and Iran won't make peace, the people of our two countries must.'

Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East...

Iron Cages American History from the days after the revolutionary war to the Spanish American War during a time when the country grew in size, population, and importance. Takaki looks at these issues showing American philosophy of moving westard and expanding trade. He focuses on the race relatted issues of the period such as the roles of Native Ameiricans, Blacks and Chinese in this country.

Takaki explores race and it relation to the economic intent of the majority. He uses people such as Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Rush, Roosevelt, and others to illustrate differing ideas in dealing with the race problems. Excelent book for those who want to understand where racist ideals originated from and how these same ideals are still played out today.

I was privileged to be Ronald Takaki's student at the University of California, Berkeley when he was completing his research on this insightful, wonderfully enlightening work. The course he taught from his research was the most meaningful, stimulating, truly inspirational I have taken in my many years as a student. Dr. Takaki is not only intellectually incandescent, but is a profoundly humane and compassionate man. As a high school social studies teacher, I have included Dr. Takaki's premises and conclusions in every class I teach and never fail to see the same sort of epiphanies in my students that I, myself, experienced. Dr. Takaki makes entirely comprehensible the paradigm of racism, sexism and elitism which has so long prevailed in our society; and his observations are as pertinent and contemporary today as they were a quarter of a century ago. A marvelous book!

Professor Takaki picks up where Max Weber left off, in that he illustrates how white men of means - those "culture makers" of early American society, effectively raised the American level of technical rationalization to not only oppress Africans, Asians, Mexicans, and Native Americas, but how that heightened level of rationalization ultimately subsumed those "culture makers" themselves. (He briefly illustrates how this animus was turned toward women in helping to define what white men were not.) He connects the ascendency of technical rationalization to the rationalization employed by a religious ethic that stresses religious salvation through work and the suppression of natural instincts. His study is not accusatory; it is illustrative.

By use of diaries and works culled from the deepest annals of history, Professor Takaki points out and points to the vulnerability, ambivalence, befuddlement and powerlessness felt and experienced by the founding fathers, who looked to build a moral nation - one not mirroring the licentiousness and dissipation of Great Britain. The very mores, however, advanced by the founding fathers, in twisted and convoluted turns, gave rise to the very "profligacy" and "luxury" that threatened the infant nation. It is from this point forward where the Professor effectively links the oppression of black slavery to other forms of white racial animus experienced by those groups not labeled, or hesitantly so, as white and particularly male.

Joel Kovel's White Racism: A Psychohistory is both a good and interesting follow-up read.

I'm a Taiwanese myself. Even though the content of this book is not new to me, it still provides a fantastic read for me personally and I can imagine it'd be more fantastic for someone wishing to know more about Taiwan. Because Taiwan is so isolated in the international arena, books such as this one is highly recommended for the average person. The only aspect I did not like about this book is the first part of this book's title: "Is Taiwan Chinese?". I'd just like to inform readers that all the population in Asian countries (east, north and south east) all originated from China. So basically everyone is Chinese, so it doesn't just apply to Taiwan. It is like saying: Is Australia British? Nevertheless, a rather informative book for all.

"The "one China" policy officially supported by the People's Republic of China, the United States, and other countries asserts that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it." The Description of this book is Misleading.

United States acknowledged China's claim but do not agree with "Taiwan is a part of China". United states position is the resolution shall be peaceful.

At last, a book that covers an aspect of Taiwanese history and culture not often discussed until recent years: the Taiwanese people are a hybrid people. Many have some Plains Aborigine blood (traced on the maternal side). But, with cultural stigma, many Plains Aborigines and part Plains Aborigines forfeited their identity and were absorbed by "Han" identity. I've been waiting for a book in English to discuss this area and am glad Melissa Brown published this book.

If - like me - you are interested in the title's answer, Ms.Brown's is the book! Quoting some of her words: " Many events are completely unknown to us, many events are known only through extremely biased perspectives, and many events are so contradictorily reported that is difficult to reconstruct even a chronological sequence of what occurred". And - believe me! - Ms. Brown interviewed people - in Taiwan ( living there) and interviewed people - in China !!! We are talking about an Stanford University Professor. Congratulations and thanks to Amazon .