Michigan Books

This is a great collection of essays from the blogosphere covering tech topics and some integrating tech into very funny stories.

This is written pretty much as the who's who amongst bloggers for 2006-2007.

Great bedtime reading.

Superb collection of tech essays with some emphasis on the information technology/internet side of things. Nicely touches on the human element (social networking) and the changes that connected computers have brought to this aspect of human behavior. Very funny in parts.

This book contains twenty six essays on black culture and how it has moved from Africa to the United States and from there to the world. It is specifically oriented to the performing arts, loosely defined to include everything from gospel music to sports to television series. The contributors are an eclectic mix of scholars (mostly), critics and practicing artists who express their own views about black culture.

The writers, like people everywhere offer a diverse set of views from their own perspectives. In these times the influence of Black culture in areas like popular music and sports that even these writers have a hard time defining things like Black Music. Music for instance that started as black has found homes in other cultures as diverse as Gospel groups in Australia and Broadway.

This book could be used for readings in Black studies, or by anyone interested in the differentiation in Black performing arts.

This is not a collection of essays celebrating the tremendous influence of black culture around the world.

Instead, as Tricia Rose states in the Foreword, "The traffic in black culture to which this volume is dedicated is tethered to the trafficking in black bodies on which these cultural exchanges are based. They share several disheartening characteristics: similar trade routes, unequal forms of exchange, and often, a soulless focus on capital gain." But she adds, "Despite the troubled ground on which these traffic patterns are set, a good deal of black culture emphasizes sacrifice for the larger good and a steadfast commitment to affirmation and confirmation against relentlessly long odds."

I suspect that if the 26 contributors - an international and interdisciplinary mix of scholars, critics, and practicing artists - met together in a room, they would not reach consensus on exactly what constitutes "black culture" or "appropriation" or "authenticity." But therein lies the book's strength; there is no company line here, but rather a dynamic, thought-provoking discussion.

Racial "hybridization" and public perceptions are a common thread, as in Caroline Streeter's "Faking the Funk? Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and (Hybrid) Black Celebrity."

Others explore the commodification - or "trafficking" - of black culture. It is not addressed as a simple matter of whites exploiting blacks. As Kennell Jackson notes in "The Shadows of Texts: Will Black Music and Singers Sell Everything on Television?" the sort of collaboration taking place between black artists and television ad creators "reminds us that in late capitalism black cultural material often travels in commercial contexts with collusion of the makers of cultural products."

It's impossible to sum up this diverse collection in a few paragraphs. Suffice to say I think it provides much food for thought to anyone interested in cultural studies, African American Studies, vernacular culture or the arts in general.

The book came out too early to address Dave Chapelle's rationale for terminating his show, which he summed up to Oprah as discomfort over "the white guy laughing." Here's hoping the second edition includes something by or about him, since it would be a perfect fit.

Women have held an important place in the history of archaeology. Sadly, many these women have been all but erased from scholarly discussions - such as the role Getrude Bell played in founding the Baghdad Museum. That is, until now. The biographies gathered in this volume are an inspiration for modern adventurers, female archaeologists and even your 'ordinary' woman. These pioneering Victorian women helped shape our 21st century, Western understanding of the world and their voices can now be heard.

The book Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists contains the biographies of twelve female archaeologists who worked and achieved great success in the field of archaeology before, during or after World Wars I and II. Although this book examines only female archaeologists, these women were not just the top female archaeologists of their time. Instead, these people (who just happened to be female) were among the top, pioneering archaeologists (male or female) in their fields and their knowledge, research, excavations, and methods have added significantly to modern archaeology.

This book is multileveled. The contributing author's describe in various amounts of detail important contributions, excavations, and personal research undertaken by these archaeologists before, during, and after the war years. Since, much of this work is either unpublished or underpublished, such information is a fascinating slice of little known archaeological history.

Furthermore, this book also examines how women of the time felt and dealt with important life changing events and issues such as the tragedies of war, suffrage, marriage, and family. Many of these views and answers are entertaining, somewhat shocking, and extremely enlightening.

Moreover, this book also gives insight into the way archaeologists lived, worked, and died during the early years of this field. In these days, when many complain about the poor wages and working conditions of archaeology or the needless destruction of archaeological sites, it is interesting to note how far the field of archaeology has really come in the last one hundred years.

Peter Blum served as the official Strohs historian for many years and this book shows the depth of his knowledge. What is truely remarkable is that his knowledge was not limited to his former employer. Reading this book, one truely gets a sense of Detroit's unique and bumpy history of beer. For my Pfeiffer Beer web page, I contacted Peter for research. Even though it was just prior to his passing, he was very generous with his time and even helped me find some of his original source material. I asked him if he had to leave anything out of the book due to space and he replied that "It's all in there!" So, you can trust that by getting this book you'll be exposed to all that Mr. Blum had to offer on the subject - and that's quite a lot! Thanks Peter.

Detroit has had breweries in its history! Blum, an exec at Stroh's for many years, is an authority on the history of Stroh's and its competitors. Anybody interested in breweriana will find this an invaluable guide to ads, labels, and other collectibles from Detroit-area breweries. (The Stroh company provided many of the beautiful color illustrations used in the book.) Oh, that Motown were still Strohtown!

This is wonderfully informative and well written book! It takes the reader on a fascinating journey of the mysterious House of David, and allows you to take an exciting ride into the lives of a rare and wonderful group of individuals that very well may have accomplished more than any small group in America. The book is on display at the House of David Museum and is used as a reference guide for those that stop in for a visit or to learn more about this fabulous religious colony. Mr. Adkin lived in the area of the House of David, and had the fortune of becoming familiar with many of those that still survived at the House of David Grounds in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The book is the best to date in regards to telling the complete, unbiased story of this great piece of American history!

This history of the House of David is objective, informative, and very well documented. The author conducted interviews with members, ex-members, and people who were in one way or another had interactions with the group and has many first hand stories included in the book. I enjoyed reading about all the things the group was involved in, made, invented, and the impact they had on the surrounding area and America as a whole.

The pictures included in the book enhance the text by giving faces to associate with some of the people involved in the group.

A fascenating history of one prophet, two cities, and the many good people who lived the religion. Well done, Mr. Adkin!

I am completely enthralled by the wonderful world of Political-Economic perspectives on the human body. Just think about how horrible it would be if the right wing masses started opening McDonlalds in 3rd world countries throughout the world. The horror ! ! !

Tom Leatherman is a genius......His psychic abilities are amazing. He is so damn smart, he can actually read poeples minds. His life has been dedicated to these studies, and just think where mankind would be if we could'nt identify the "barrirers" to prenatel care among the poor suffering minorities of South Carolina. What would we do if he had not studied the dietary changes of the Mayan poeple.

I say hooray to this book and hooray to all of the life changing work professor leathermen is working on.

BRAVO ! ! !

This is an attempt by biological anthropologists to bridge what they see as the ever increasing gap between cultural/symbolic/postmodern approaches to anthropology and biological/medical/scientific approaches. This divide is apparently destroying many departments and is moving both of the two approaches away from what makes anthropology distinctive as a field (its comprehensivity). The merging of theories is great for an early (and I hear solitary) attempt at this and the case studies are fascinating and maybe not quite as brilliant as the earlier post would have it. Still, this is a must read for people who are concerned with where anthropology is going.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Northwest Indiana and/or the South Chicago suburbs. I use it as a reference when exploring the "Region". I have also used it as a gift for friends that grew up here and have since relocated.

I went to a book signing when this book was first printed, a few years ago and purchased this directly from a store and had it signed by Ken Schoon. I have lent it to several family members, who swore they'd return it and I had to retrieve the book from their house. If you're from the NW Indiana, you'll be amazed at the detailed facts about the area and even specific landmarks that still exist today, like "Ridge Road" in Hobart, was the ridge of lake michigan, where the indians had a path. Stuff like that. I highly suggest this book.

Whether you are a diehard sports fan or just another Detroit area citizen, you will love this book. I especially enjoyed the coverage of the RedWings and Steve Yzerman, but I also loved going back in time to find out about all the great moments in Detroit sports history.

Whether you are a diehard sports fan or just another Detroit area citizen, you will love this book. I especially enjoyed the coverage of the RedWings and Steve Yzerman, but I also loved going back in time to find out about all the great moments in Detroit sports history.

This is the most accurate and thorough book on Charlie Parker's music, and contains an excellent, concise account of his life. Unfortunately, my textbook supplier says it's out of print.

Woideck's excellent _A Charlie Parker Companion_ is my other favorite book on the subject -- also out of print! I have wanted to use these two books in popular graduate seminars I teach on Parker's music, but haven't been able to obtain them.

I have the honor of being one of Carl Woideck students in his various jazz related classes at the University of Oregon and I can say without a doubt that this man knows his jazz. This book is an extension of who Charlie Parker was to his music and to the public -- filled with many personal insights about the man and his legend. This book is truly a must for any fan of Bird or popular music in general.

I RATE THIS BOOK 5 STARS BECAUSE IT IS A GREAT BOOK FOR BOTH THE BEGINNER AND THE ADVANCED ESL LEARNER OR STUDENT. AS AN ENGLISH MAJOR, I LIKE READING AND SKIMMING THROUGH THE PAGES OF GRAMMAR BOOKS AND WHAT NOT THAT I COULD GET MY MIND TO ABSORB INFO, AND THIS BOOK DOES EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO GET OUT OF A GREAT TEXT---LEARN AND LET IT STAY THERE IN THE PERSON'S BRAIN. THIS DEFINITELY IS A GREAT TEXT.

I use this book with my adult ESL students. It is clearly written and extremely effective in reinforcing English grammar in an intelligent fashion. The content level is perfect for Non-English speaking older students. It addresses issues that a more mature student can relate to such as Geography or Current Events to cement a grammar concept rather than using balloons or puppies. It,also, employs different techniques and examples to do the same thing. I feel that my students are more interested in learning by using this book and that often the content encourages other English speaking activities.