People and Society Books

Efe pygmies: Archers of the African Rain Forest is a sumptuously illustrated tome that will long grace my coffee table. The main part of the book - a subtle photographic study depicting the Efe subsisting precariously but harmoniously in the depths of the Ituri forest - is preceded by a brief but fascinating scene-setting section of white-on-black text.

The author presents vivid visual and verbal images of his subjects making baskets, carrying hunting nets, filing their teeth, smoking tobacco, playing music, dispatching a net-caught antelope, touchingly expressing grief at the death of a newborn, and fleeing from their leaf huts into the night beneath a cracking and crashing, lightning-weakened tree.

Skillful, intimate photography makes us yearn for the easy laughter and simplicity of these gentle, peaceful people, yet we are simultaneously made aware of the dangers and discomforts they must constantly face.

It is a fitting tribute to a people as "primitive" and untouched by global culture as any on earth, and the precariousness of their independence. Moreover, it is a compelling and persuasive insight into our own hunting and gathering origins, and the thoughts, feelings, and reactions we all share as part of the human family.

While William Wheeler's book may not lead us to put on treebark loin cloths and chase wildlife through the forest, it is an evocative portrayal of another culture, one that can teach us something about how to live surrounded by danger and dark forces and yet keep on reverentially singing, laughing, and living for the moment.

Although the Efe are clearly too humble and happy a people to bother sending missionaries to us for our edification, this beautiful and moving book affords a glimpse of what such a mission might convey.

As I wrote the index for this book, I'd find that I was wrapped up in the story so much that I was crying; I'd have to go back to re-read sections so I could index it. It's very disturbing, but very well written. I highly recommend it for all people, so we'll learn not to repeat these atrocities.

I got the book in excellent condition and it is very good to read, I would recommend to anyone that would like to order a book. Very good service.

Compiled, written, and edited by Michael Frasetto (Religion Editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica), Encyclopedia Of Barbarian Europe: Society In Transformation presents a wealth of up-to-date information concerning the figures, places, events, laws, ideas, and social orders of the late ancient period down through the Middle Ages in Europe. Nearly 200 entries are organized alphabetically in order to offer an extensively researched, "user friendly" portrait of how men and women of the era once lived, and how European society itself evolved over the centuries. Encyclopedia Of Barbarian Europe is a core addition to any dedicated academic or community library European History reference collection.

I used this book as a text for my university level Cultures of Oceania class, an introduction to the Pacific and Australia. This was an excellent introduction for students having no knowledge of the area. It gave them a wide, comprehensive view of the many challenges faced by contemporary Pacific and Australian Koori peoples. It provided thought provoking issues that engaged my students and encouraged them to think about communities outside of their locality.

Each chapter is written by a different scholar, introducing the cultural area, the people and their interaction with foreign forces. It frames up the most pertinate issues and the people's reactions and solutions to the foreign influences. Each chapter provides a series of questions to provoke reflective thought, a list of websites and related videos. I plan to use this book again this semester, it is a very useful and informative resource.

I have to say I have only read the portions of this book available on Google books. I can't afford the whole thing. But if you have a budget for this and want to know how our country managed to get duped into the Iraq War, this book reads as if it could have been written yesterday.

How did a nation known for its support of human rights end up accepting torture and Guantanemo? From page 32: "A double-standard of values is deliberately created--one for the citizens, one for the enemy. All citizens can be forced to take sides, to identify themselves with a certain enemy perception, or face the alternative of being stigmatized as saboteurs and traitors of the fatherland. Doubts and ambivalence are no longer tolerated. Enemy images are therefore the most powerful instrument for enforcing internal consensus and disciplining a society."

From Iraq to immigration issues to the co-opting of religion for nationalistic purposes, this 1997 title is not a look backwards so much as an unwitting prophecy of what was to come and what may yet await us if we fail to wake up to its lessons.

Henrik Ibsen is the father of modern drama and his 1882 drama "An Enemy of the People" ("En folkefiende") was one of his more controversial works. In the play Dr. Stockmann discovers that the new baths built in his town are infected with a deadly disease that requires they should be closed until they can be repaired. However, the mayor of the town (the Burgomaster), who is Stockmann's brother Peter, rejects the report and refuses to close the baths because it will bring about the financial ruin of the town. When Dr. Stockmann tries to make his case to the people of the town, the mayor counters by pointing out how expensive it would be to repair the baths and dismisses the doctor for having wild, fanciful ideas. At the public meeting Dr. Stockmann is declared "an enemy of the people" by the Burgomaster.

To really appreciate this particular Ibsen play you have to look at it in the context of his previous dramas, because they all represent a conflict between the playwright and his critics. In 1879 Ibsen's play "A Doll's House" ("Et dukkehjem") was produced, wherein the character of Nora pretends to be a silly little wife in order to flatter her husband, who is revealed to be a hypocritical fraud. The idea that a woman would leave her husband and children was seen as being outrageous and basically obscene. Ibsen upset his audience and critics even more in his next play, "Ghosts" ("Gengangere"), an 1881 drama that again attacks conventional morality and hypocrisy. The topic is of congenital venereal disease but the true subject is moral contamination. Mrs. Alving has buried her husband, a degenerate who has left behind a son dying from syphilis and an illegitimate daughter who is probably going to end up being a prostitute. The play ends with Mrs. Alving having to decide if she should poison her son to put him out of his misery or let his agonies persist.

Again, Ibsen was attacked for outraging conventional morality. The following year after "Ghosts" the playwright responded with "An Enemy of the People" and the character that is most identified with representing Ibsen on stage in Dr. Stockmann. The allegory is quite plain when the play is considered within the context of Ibsen's work during this period, although while Stockmann is portrayed as a victim there is a sense of destructiveness to his behavior. At the end of the play Stockman has decided to leave the town, but then changes his mind to stay and fight for those things he believes are right.

As is the case with most of Ibsen's classic works, "An Enemy of the People" speaks to larger issues than those in conflict in the play. The debate is over the bad water pipes at the new baths, but the true conflict is over the clash of private and public morality. Dr. Stockmann is by far the most idealistic of Ibsen's characters, and that fact that he is opposed by his own brother, the Burgomaster, harkens back to Genesis and the fight between Cain and Able. As was the case with "Ghosts," there is an ambiguous ending where what happens next can be seen as going either way given your own inclinations as a member of the audience.

Both of the Stockman brothers are flawed. Dr. Stockman's idealism is at odds with the practical realities of the world in which he lives while the Burgomaster ignores ethical concerns. Ultimately, Ibsen is not forcing us to choose between the two but rather to reject both in terms of some middle ground. The Burgomaster is certainly old school, believing those in authority get to make all the decisions and that the people must subordinate themselves to the society. But he was the one who made the mistake of putting the new water pipes in the wrong place, so even his claims that he is looking out for the welfare of the community are dishonest. Dr. Stockman argues for individual freedom and the right of free expression, but his attempt to fix the problem ignores any effort at persuasion or building public support. He also seems to take pleasure in be able to show that his brother made a mistake. Still, in the end we have to favor the doctor over the mayor because his integrity is clearly stronger, while still recognizing that his idealism is tragically flawed.

Every Day Life is a short play, that consist of four friends hanging out together discussing social and economic issues that plagued their genre. Amongst the seriousness of their discussion, they also found humor in it as well. It was an era when hip-hop was the best thing since Martin Luther King-and marijuana was the best way to cope with problems, the hype of the music industry, and the pitfalls of possibilities.

I thought the play was pretty good. My favorite characters were C and E. The two of them kept me laughing. At times, the jargon was a bit much and took me aback, but I was able to keep up... I loved the fact that I was able to visualize these four men sitting around getting high and talking smack, while the world passed them by. But, that's the way it is in every day life. I think this play would make for a very good short film.

Reviewer: Wanda
Review: 5 Stars

Taken from GhostWriter Literary Reviews! June Reviews

This is a wonderful book. Nothing crazy -- like so many other arthritis books I've owned (and later tossed in the trash). These exercises can be done by anyone and I have found them to be extremely helpful. They help with dexterity and swelling and I have far less pain. Everyone with arthritis will benefit from this book.

This really is one of the best academic books on fandom, if not the best. Hills has a remarkable ability to read in, through, and around established theory, and yet also has a nice knack of forcing theory to account for grounded realities. Each chapter boldly approaches fandom from the standpoint of an existing binary in fan studies, and as a result, the book shatters through multiple impasses (and sillinesses) in established work to date.

Fan studies is such a maligned sub-discipline in a field (that of cultural and media studies) that all too often prefers mea-culpa lashing of the media body, and that prefers disgust with or pity of the fan to any actual attempt to understand him/her. But the strength of a book like this defies critics of the sub-discipline. Indeed, I don't think it's too much to say that fan studies really comes into its own with this book. Hills has opened up ground for future work, through careful reading of past work and a sense of what is tragically missing.

As such, I would highly recommend this. If you are looking for empirical work, this is not your book (although Hills reads others' empirical work well), but if you want a macro picture of how all that work fits together, this is it.