Illinois Books

Now, there's no empirical way to prove the above statement, but given the dominance of social-science conventions in writing on African history, "Magomero" is an obvious front-runner. Landeg White is a gifted literary stylist, and this book often reads like a novel (when someone says that, make sure they're not thinking of "Finnegan's Wake"). It is a study of a village in southern Malawi (colonial Nyasaland) over 100+ years, but it is much more than that too.

White's sense of drama is aided by some highly dramatic personages who figure prominently in his story. The most famous is missionary-explorer David Livingstone, a perennially fascinating, complex and influential shaper of the continent's destiny. He visited Magomero, site of the ill-fated Universities' Mission to Central Africa, frequently on two expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s. White perceptively examines the ambiguities of Livingstone's antislavery crusade, not least the paradox of purchasing slaves in order to free them---thus inadvertently stimulating the market. But John Chilembwe is just as interesting: a Malawian Protestant minister and protonationalist who studied in the USA, founded an independent mission, and eventually died leading a doomed rebellion against British rule in 1915. The later chapters are not as event-oriented, but the lucid accounts of cash cropping and womens' work are probably more representative of daily life in the colonial era, and a major contribution to social and economic history.

"Magomero" does not have detailed source notes (they tend to scare off the mass audience White aims for here), but references to scholars' names without the titles of their works ensure that only specialists can swiftly identify White's sources. The other problem is that the author's own account of villagers' accepting his presence and explanation of his research is awkwardly unconvincing; it would be more credible in the words of Malawians themselves, without assuming that they care about associations with long-dead muzungus (Europeans). These minor faults aside, this is the most enjoyable scholarly book I've come across in nearly 20 years in African Studies. For more on the area's history, see E. Mandala, "Work and Control in a Peasant Economy" and M. Vaughan, "The Story of an African Famine." G. Shepperson & T. Price, "Independent African," a classic on Africa, tells the Chilembwe story with great depth and sensitivity. For an authentic Nyasaland account based on oral data from participants in the Rising, see G.S. Mwase, "Strike a Blow and Die."

I was there when this book had it's lauch. My grandfather's picture is prominently displayed on one of the pages and a few of his quotes as well as mention of my great grandmother singing.

The tales bring me back to the greatest generation and the life my grandparents endured. A majority of the memories are from one Adirondack Woodsmen but many of their stories and songs are fantastic. Straight from the early 1900's and taken shortly before most of these men passed on.

If the author is still alive and reads this thank you. Do you still have the tapes from your interviews? I'd love to hear my grandfather on tape!

Inger Stole's book is an incredibly important tale of a forgotten history, the period in the 1930s when organized citizens stood up to and attempted to limit the power and influence of corporate propaganda in the form of the then nascent and now dominant corporate advertising industry. That fight was lost, as have been most important battles since against the intrusion of corporations into genuine culture and civil society. I hope this is the first of regular future books by Inger Stole who has an important place beside Klein, Ewen, Nader, McChesney and other critics of corporate power over our daily lives as citizens.

This book assumes a working knowledge of both Latin and Greek. The introduction is in English; the rest of the commentary is in Latin. The fables, life of Aesop and sayings of Aesop overlap in Greek and Latin. I was once hanging out at a monastery library and I stole into a dark closet where many old books donated by dead priests and nuns were piled up in boxes waiting for kingdom come. In one of the boxes (once belonging to a nun) I found a Greek reader that was published and inscribed in 1904. In the book were many Aesopic fables which I felt were quite satisfying. It's too bad that you can't find simple non New Testament Greek readers like that today. Aesopica is my favorite book. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative check out Babrius and Phaedrus published by Loeb Library, ISBN 0674994809.

"African American Foodways: Explorations Of History And Culture" compiled, organized and edited by academician and food history expert Anne L. Bower covers African American cuisines ranging from West African fare, to Caribbean influences, to South American traditions, to contemporary fusion dishes using 'soul food' ingredients that had their origins in American slavery. The seven knowledgeable contributors draw from history, literature, sociology, anthropology, and African-American studies to illustrate and demonstrate how food's material and symbolic values have contributed to African American cultural identities for almost five hundred years. Of special note is Anne Bower's own contribution, 'Recipes for History: the National Council of Negro Women's Five Historical Cookbooks'. "African American Foodways" is a model of modern and seminal sociological scholarship, as well as a welcome and highly recommended addition to academic and community library American History, Culinary History, Popular Culture, and African-American Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

The authors enable readers to weave African American Vernacular English into standard English in such as way as to imagine that such mingling can be the basis for powerful writing by those who ordinarily use AAVE, unlike many of us who have not developed an "ear" for it.

This text is a mind-opener, and yet compelling in its presentation.

Between the 1890s and the mid 1920s, a million people moved into the coal fields of Kentucky,Southern West Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia. Between a quarter and a third of these people, including my grandparents who went to the US Coal and Coke (US Steel)company town of Gary West Virginia, were African Americans.

Given that since the end of the coal boom in the 1920s, the depression, mechanization of the mines after WWII in a way that hit Black miners the hardest, most of these Black people and most of the whites have moved away since the 1940s. However, this is an important part of the heritage of both African Americans and working people. This book provides the history of African Americans in Eastern Kentucky in the old cold camps of Benham and Lynch near Cumberland Kentucky and the national organizations they and their descendants formed to keep their heritage alive.

There is a lot of overall discussion of the problems all miners faced finding unity against the companies fighting for a union, as well as the battles Blacks in the coal fields waged against Jim Crow in the mines and in Kentucky in general. The book also talks about the special bonds of pride that Black miners forged and how that heritage remains strong for those who have moved away and their children.

I bought this book for school and it came to me quickly. It was in great condition, i had no problems!

This work is intensive and through. The contributions of the 13 anthropologist are long lasting and extremely significant. They are and have been key personalities in the African American culture.

I was very disappointed to find no other reviews of this interesting book...get with it, this is worth reading, and worth discussing widely.

I came to Yarbrough's book because I'd been puzzling over how, supposedly, rational people could reach such different conclusions from the same data. Just saying, "well, you are not from my culture, so you will NEVER understand!" seemed to be an horribly unsatisfying communication failure. After reading Yarbrough, I have a much better understanding of the trap we have stumbled into, which hinges on believing that there are Cultures (whose foundational assumptions creates a false groundings, below which no further discussion can proceed) and that Language is some "thing" not a process that changes the world even as we are making our discussions.

I've read very lightly in postmodernism, and make no claim to understand it, however, I am heartened by the pathway he has found, which may show a way out; a way, simply, to leave the conundrums behind and start talking with each other to make a world that may better meet our needs. This pathway starts with the process of trying to understanding the conditions in our--at most(?) one shared world-- which prompts another's statements and then striving to be able to predict what they will say next, which is the first indication of understanding. If he is right, and if we are able to leave behind the poisonous beliefs that hold us captive, and if we are able take to heart this new way of writing and talking with each other, then there can be a very rich life after postmodernism, and after our obsession with culturalism and multiculturalism, too.