Wisconsin Books

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite poets...a book you should buy for your friends who say they don't like poetry because they don't understand it.

Daniels takes images from everyday urban life, including the task of making 30 burgers and 30 fries, a child catching crickets for pay from his mom, and Digger, Daniels' representation of a blue-collar worker, waiting up for his daughter on her first date. The title poem, a description of the workers in each department of a department store, is absolutely fantastic--Daniels at his disarmingly direct best. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Among the last islands to be discovered by man were the Seychelles - an isolated archipelago in the Indian Ocean 600 miles northeast of Madagascar. Thus the transformation of a completely wild to a largely tame landscape has been compressed into the scant two hundred years since these geologically unique granitic islands were first settled in 1770. Reconstructing this change, Dr. Sauer presents an historical account of the islands' coastal vegetaton and the shaping of its distribution patterns by natural enviroment and human activities.

Of all oceanic islands, the Seychelles may have had the longest time for vegetaton to develop by purely natural immigration and evolutionary processes. Professor Sauer traces his postulated list of over fifty aboriginal plant species mainly to arrival by regular, long-range sea dispersal. Historical plant introductions have more than doubled the number of coastal species, and he attributes nearly all of these plant immigrants to deliberate transfer from Mauritius.

Dr. Sauer's conclusions regarding the processes by which the Seychelles vegetation were derived is preceded first by an introductory sketch of the islands' natural setting. He then carefully traces the history of human intervention from obscure beginnings to the present. The historical account is strongly influenced by Professor Sauer's conviction that the interactions of plants and man are of tremendous importance to both natural and cultural history. Special consideration is given to the origin of the coconut, the rise of coconut plantations, their present domination both of the islands' economy and landscape, and the dangers inherent in a near monoculture being practiced today [circa 1967].

Present distribution patterns are characterized by photographs, transects, and maps of sample areas. Species distributions are given in detail and then generalized on the basis of both physiognomic classification and of natural and artificial vegetation types.
--- excerpt from book's dustjacket

This is an ambitious book, and one well worth reading. The effort to demonstrate the linkage of knowledge from the areas of biology and political science is a daunting task. Some may be unconvinced with Carmen's use of what he terms a constitutional approach, since it is different than standard views of this matter. Others may be put off with Carmen's dismissal of political science as a discipline. The reader will certainly know the positions that the author is taking; he is straightforward and unequivocal in his stances and some of his outspoken comments will surely not go down well with some proportion of the book's readers.

However, those who persevere and take seriously the contention that the worlds of genomics and politics cannot and should not be kept separate will find many thought-provoking arguments and new ways of looking at both human genomic research as well as the roots of human social and political behavior. In the final analysis, this is a book that will reward those who persist and read it all the way through. I recommend this book strongly.

The proverb occupies such a special place in the culture of a people that is has been a remarkably powerful tool in the hands of propagandists, whether for good or evil.
Mieder's work examines the political use of the proverb by Churchill, Hitler, and Truman, proverbial metaphors in political cartoons of the cold war, and, especially, the malevolent "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" and the ambiguous "No tickee no washee".
Extensive source notes, bibliography, and cross-indexes for names, subjects, and key words.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

This book is amazing. It covers in detail the sculpture of Polykleitos, a name that should be better known as it is actually his creation, the Doryphoros that makes up a large number of the surviving torsos from antiquity. The original in bronze was copied through the centuries with such frequency that the author can actually get an accurate idea of what it looked like by comparing the deatils of the surviving copies. The book covers all aspects of this celebrated sculpture with incredible detail, and the beautiful illustrations offer an entire course on classical sculpture and Greek aesthetics. The comparisons that he also makes to other famous athlete statuary both in marble and bronze is one of the most interesting and illuminating contributions of this encyclopedic work. This book is a must for all interested in classical art. We should be so lucky to have the author cover Phidias and Praxitles with the extraordinary expertise this volume demonstrates.

"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!

Anyone who enjoyed Wisconsin's 150th birthday will be delighted with this book. A wonderful collection of photos to reflect on as the millenium approaches!

This is the first book to analyse the theoretical and the political programmes developed by Left interpreters of post-industrial society such as Bahro and Gorz. Frankel examines the feasability of the new social relations and institutions advocated by eco-socialists, feminists, the Green movement and the peace movement. For example, will there be new democratic state institutions providing alternatives to existing welfare states and military-industrial complexes, or stateless societies based on a network of self-sufficient communes and co-operatives? How do the post-industrial utopians see the political transition to post-industrial socialism being accomplished? What is their relationship to parties, movements and strategies?

The book discusses the divergent approaches which have been made to problems associated with unemployment, social welfare, ecological crisis, post-modern cynicism, technocracy and militarism. The author seeks to demonstrate that the ideas developed by the thinkers concerned have to be taken with great seriousness by anyone interested in radical social change.

The Post-Industrial Utopians is not only an illuminating introducton to major issues troubling comtemporary theorists and activists. In offering a critical appraisal of the post-industrial utopians, Frankel develops an original perspective of his own concerning problems of political theory and practice today. He concludes with a positive set of feasible socio-political alternatives.
--- from book's back cover

Wisconsin author and farmer's market enthusiast Toni Streckert has compiled recipes from a series of local church and civic group cookbooks that, taken cumulatively, offer a kind of culinary window into Wisconsin traditions in "Potluck! Home Cooking From Wisconsin's Community Cookbooks". Enhanced with anecdotal stories, these are recipes that range from classic casseroles, to kugels, to mead loaf, to traditional desserts. There are also a great many new favorites that have made their way to Wisconsin tables. From Pepperoni Biscotti; Marinated Melon Salad; Trudy's Beef Burgundy; and Two-Sauce Lasagna; to Hot Sin Apple Bread; Sour Cream Chocolate Cookies; Zucchini Pie; and Dandelion Wine, "Potluck!" offers a wealth of good eating in celebration of Wisconsin's culinary heritage. All Wisconsin family and community library cookbook collections should include a copy of Toni Streckert's "Potluck!"

Proletpen: America's Rebel Yiddish Poets is an anthology which demonstrates how the language lived among the Jewish community in New York during the early 1900's. It was spoken not only for daily life but also expressed through the hearts of the youth among the immigrants in the form of poetry. What has been uncovered is the rich tapestry of early Jewish life in New York - which could have been washed away into oblivion. Both Amelia Glaser and David Weintraub deserve full recognition for their service to save its history. The translation done by Ms. Glaser maintains not only the uniqueness of the Yiddish language but also its poetic value as she translates the poems into English, even by recreating the rhyming scheme.

This anthology introduces 100 Yiddish poems by 39 American Yiddish proletarian writers from the 1920s to the early 1950s. Among them is Alexander Pomerantz, whose book, entitled "Proletepen", was published in Kiev in 1935.

Unlike its demographic comparison of a half century ago, when Yiddish speakers flourished, Yiddish has been revitalized thanks to Amelia Glaser and David Weintraub. Because of their efforts, Yiddish is not yet a dead language. In fact, the language persists like an old couple nursing their bygone days with words only they can locate at the bottom of their hearts.


Norimi G. Yamaguchi