Iowa Books

Thanks to Gordon McEwan, the enigmatic Pikillacta site in the Cusco Valley is now better understood. His logic and reasoning for its purpose, use, and function fits well with the known facts.

McEwan lays out an easy-to-read and well-referenced description of the Wari Empire in Chapter 1. One does not need to be an archaeologist to appreciate his writing. I enjoyed Chapter 2 on Pikillacta and its architecture with many first-class figures and photographs.

Somehow, in Chapter 3, McEwan is able to describe his many years of excavations at Pikillacta in a way that makes one feel that he/she is there and with a writing technique that allows a layman to experience the thrill and excitement of disco very. Armchair archaeological travelers will enjoy Chapter 3.

Chapter 4 tells the reader about the minute details of the architecture and construction, even to the extent that the floor construction methods are understood. The average reader will enjoy McEwan's step-by-step explanation of how he computed the labor needed to construct Pikillacta; so much that one wonders when the Wari had time for anything else.

A very special treat in McEwan's work is Chapter 5, which was written by Dr. Alfredo Valencia Zegarra, a well-known and highly experienced Peruvian archaeologist. This chapter describes the Wari water development related to Pikillacta with details on the many long canals and aqueducts. Valencia then goes into the capability for food production from the irrigated lands.

Mary Glowacki, in Chapter 5, tells us about the pottery from Pikillacta. She provides drawings of the pottery to help the reader enjoy the chapter and to learn how to identify difference types of pottery. Glowacki goes on in Chapter 7 to discuss time dating of Pikillacta using radiocarbon techniques, along with ceramic data. She pinpoints some Wari presence in Cusco in the 6th century and extensive activity in the 7th century when Pikillacta was commenced. The 8th century saw continued building at Pikillacta and additional building in the Lucre Basin. Glowacki writes that while Pikillacta grew, other parts of the Cusco area felt the impact of the Wari. She describes the primary base of operations and interaction with the Tiwanaku Empire at Yanamancha.

Then, according to Glowacki, Wari activity at Pikillacta showed construction ceased and numerous doorways were sealed to prevent access. Finally, Pikillacta was totally abandoned, perhaps as late as AD 1155.

Chapter 8 covers the human skeletal remains found at Pikillacta with description of craniums, dental conditions, and general estimate of the age of the individual at death.

In Chapter 9, the subject of arsenic bronze is described, along with the metal artifacts found by the excavators that included needles and tupus.

McEwan pulls it all together in his Chapter 10 conclusion. Here, McEwan states that Pikillacta was built at the command of the Wari, construction began around AD 600, and occupation likely existed between AD 550 and 1100. He describes kinship and ancestor worship. McEwan emphasizes the importance of ancestors and the need to care for mummies because they were responsible for food, clothing, water supply, land tenure rights, health, and fertility.

McEwan describes the famed two sets of turquoise-colored stone figurines found by looters in 1927. Each set was comprised of 40 figurines dressed in distinctive costumes and headgear. A photograph shows one of the remarkable sets. He also, in his own words, opines on the experience of being conducted into the Pikillacta complex and losing all sense of direction.

The 1995 discovery of Huaro that is 17 kilometers east of Pikillacta on an ancient highway is mentioned and described as a major regional center. He has made a case for the function of Pikillacta as being a center for the worship of lineage ancestors and a repository for hostage lineage heads (mummies) and huacas.

McEwan concludes in Chapter 10 that evidence for interaction of the Wari with the Tiwanaku is slim, but that there was 500 years of Wari imperial domination in the Cusco region that surely had a major impact on the formation of the Inca state.

Overall, this book on Pikillacta by Gordon McEwan and his talented contributors is good reading; it tells a fascinating story of ancient Americans; and it provides the results of a long and distinguished field and office effort at revealing the reason and function of a very important Andean archaeological site in the Cusco Valley.

McEwan's book is valuable to the Peruvian people in many ways; it helps them better understand their rich heritage. For practical economic purposes, it should help the National Institute of Culture in the development of Pikillacta as an important tourist attraction. The site is spectacular in its size, form, and setting. It has lots of potential, along with nearby Tipon and Chokepukio, to provide additional major attractions in the Cusco area.

What I like about Pikillacta is that it represents a major Wari state in the Cusco area. It helps one to realize that the Inca had a lot of help in creating their empire; they had much to borrow from their predecessors.

I recommend McEwan's book for armchair travelers, amateur archaeologists, and serious Andean scholars. It provides a platform for an additional round of studies of the Wari influence on the formation of the Inca state and the building of Inca Cusco.

Josephine Herbst's neglect is an incredible injustice. She is truly one of the most perceptive novelists of the century. This volume is especially valuable for its insights into the motivations of a character trying to take advantage of rising capitalism in the reconstruction era. This is the historical novel as serious literature. The first in a trilogy about the Trexler family it should be ranked with Dos Passos' U.S.A. and Farrell's Studs Lonigan as some of the most insightful literature of the thirties.

Poetics of the Hive is a gracefully written inquiry into the ways in which a ubiquitous metaphor has shaped our understanding, over time, of what it is to be human. The book is no mere catalog of insects in literature, as fascinating as that is in its own right; the author proposes a new theory of poetic reworking, an "evolutionary biology" of the minor literary forms that makes a major contribution to our understanding of the creative process. Hollingsworth's ambitious but responsible scholarship, which will appeal to the educated layperson as well as the specialist, is rarely found in literary studies these days and should serve as a recuperative model. In sensitive readings of representative works ranging in time from the Iliad to A. S. Byatt's Morpho Eugenia, he shows how literature has formed the images we think and see by-the "bread of the mind"-images occurring so commonly that we've ceased to wonder at their origin and meaning, or even to question their "naturalness." After reading this book, you will see your own examples everywhere, and see them anew.

In clear but evocative prose, Hollingsworth examines how the metaphor of people as insects has been used variously to figure human scope and limits, from the bitter poignancy of our relation to the gods "as flies to wanton boys" to the ironic power of Balzac's Rastignac poised above the "humming hive" of Paris, a power we reenact when exploring the electronic "hive" of the Internet. One of the most interesting chapters discusses the use of social insects to depict Africans (Conrad), aliens (Wells and Star Trek's Borg), and dinosaurs (Crichton) as possessing a threatening, inexplicably intelligent Otherness. This alienating device, however, appears as frequently in the form of the cockroach to represent the existential plight of alienation from oneself, as by Kafka and al-Hakim. This book has helped me to think about how the languages of literature and film are derived from our shared visual experience-such as peering into an anthill or carelessly crushing a "bug" beneath a shoe-but given rich cultural and historical significance. As an English teacher, I also prize this book for showing me how "the classics" are relevant to our own moment, how they exert continuing influence upon contemporary writers from diverse cultures.

I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in literature, film, or psychology-or anyone who values fine writing and fresh thinking. The high quality of the writing is matched by the book's physical beauty, making it well worth the asking price.

This is the 8th edition of what was, in its first edition, Herbert Jacob's and Kenneth Vines' Politics in the American States. From student to professor, I have used many of the editions (and still have all except the first edition). This incarnation, edited by Gray and Hanson, lives up to its legacy.

The comparative state politics approach is viewed by some as old hat and old fashioned. However, this text is anything but. The comparative analysis of variation across the states in government institutions (legislatures, parties, courts, interest groups, etc.) is illuminating, pointing out what factors shape the variation. The text will provide students with a wealth of information on the nature of the basic institutions across the American states.

After considering governmental institutions, the book explores policy areas within and across the states--from fiscal policy to health and welfare programs to education to economic and social regulation to economic development and infrastructure. Once more the variation across the states is depicted and then the individual chapter authors strive to explian the variation.

Those who address the substance of this volume will have a much better sense of politics and policy in the American states. I remember reading the first edition as a text while I was an undergraduate student; I read the proofs of the second edition while a graduate student (studying the subject with Ken Vines); I have used the text as an instructor. And the 8th edition lives up to this work's tradition.

"Portrait of America" was a popular video documentary series in the mid-eighties, a product of collaboration between Superstation/Turner Broadcasting Corporation and Ambrose Home Video. Well-researched, each video is divided into 5 segments covering most unique historical, social, and cultural aspects of each state. Watching such an interesting documentary, each being roughly about 50 minutes long, without advertisements and other interruptions seems to be a privilege in these days!

The workbook really brings out the important points to remember from the text. It also ensures that the students begin to be able to pick out legal issues on their own. I highly recommend it as a companion when using Hamilton's text.

This book provided an excellent introduction into the basic principles of prairie reconstruction. The book is concise, informative, well-written, and leaves the reader with a new appreciation of the prairie habitat. I purchased this book as an introduction to establishing prairie habitat on my own farmland, which is currently in the government "CRP" and "wetland restoration" programs. It enhanced my education and helped focus my efforts.

This book provides a good, concise overview of health issues of lambs and pregnant ewes. Though written for a British audience, much of the book applies to North American sheep as well. Very useful pictures and straightforward information, including likely prognoses...always helpful when managing an ill animal.

Let's just put it this way, I read the whole book in one sitting. In fact, I couldn't put the book down. The author wrote short histories and included recipes to go along with the family history. Of course along the way, she told some mighty funny stories, especially about how one of her sisters managed to set the out house on fire. Really funny. I haven't laughed so hard while reading a book in sometime. A definite buy --- even if I haven't tried her recipes. Most recipes are common to Scandinavian cooking and Scandinavian American cooking.

I absolutely love this book and I am just reading it through for the second time. The grammar and format take a bit to get used to but the descriptions of her time homesteading are just fascinating. I am encouraged by her stories of living in a sod house and raising children there. She perseveres and then finds her "voice" in the politics of the time. Wonderful read!