Illinois Books

Kevin Witherspoon has captured the essence of this historical event in succinct and captivating terms. His writing is clear, readible, and enjoyble, while being informative. I found the history of the Olympics and how it came to be in Mexico City especially interesting. Most of us who saw this Olympics remember it mostly for the two Americans with their bowed heads and raised black-gloved fists. Witherspoon gives greater perspective to the meaning behind that one snapshot in time. A good read, worth your time and investment, with hoepfully more to come from this aspiring and gifted sports historian.

BENCHMARKS is a brilliant book of insightful, incisive, even FUNNY 30-year-old science fiction book reviews originally published in the pages of late, lamented GALAXY magazine. Budrys takes close looks at SF classics like Frank Herbert's DUNE, John Brunner's STAND ON ZANZIBAR, Ursula LeGuin's LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS, Philip K. Dick's THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, Larry Niven's RINGWORLD, Roger Zelazny's CREATURES OF LIGHT & DARKNESS, ISLE OF THE DEAD, & LORD OF LIGHT, Samuel R. Delany's EINSTEIN INTERSECTION & NOVA, Harlan Ellison's DANGEROUS VISIONS anthology, & 100's more, plus great overlooked classics -- & shows not only how & why these books succeed (or fail), but passes on priceless advice to would-be SF writers, & snapshots of how it felt 2 B an SF writer 30 years ago. A MUST 4 NE serious SF reader or writer! Budrys was the best book reviewer of his time in the SF magazines of the late 60's, late 70's & early 80s. 2 bad he isn't still reviewing, the modern SF scene could use the input....

This is an extremely important and readable book about two very important working-class writers. It is one of the finest efforts of its kind to begin to help us rediscover and recover working-class literature as well as to renew the importance of class in our national discussion.

Between Tedium And Terror" by Sy M. Kahn. Subtitled: "A Soldier's World War II Diary, 1943-1945". University Of Illinois Press, 1993.

The writing is excellent which is remarkable since it seems that the book is a verbatim copy of the diaries that Sy Kahn wrote, under stress, more than sixty years ago in the Pacific. The author has included some photo copies of his original, hand-written diaries, and the corresponding text appears to be an exact copy of what he had written during the war. As an engineer, I have written more than 35 technical papers for the IEEE, and I have never been able to go with the first draft. Most writers go through many drafts, and, even then, are not satisfied.

Sy Kahn barely mentions being born and raised in Manhattan (a small island in NYC), but goes directly to his subject matter, with his ship going under the Golden Gate Bridge, September 1943. The author evades a detailed description of basic training and gets directly to the heart of the matter: action in the Pacific. As he records in his introduction, writing and reading kept him sane over the next three years or so. As a result of his fidelity to his diary, we have this excellent book. He records that his outfit, the 244th Port Company, endured some three to four hundred air attacks, and being torpedoed and being shelled by shore guns. The frustration was that his outfit was not equipped to fire back and had to depend on others for their defense. "Thus we alternated between tedium and terror". (page xx).

There are quite a few introspective entries, as Mr. Kahn was a young man, growing up in a restrictive environment, which, while challenging him physically, did not challenge him mentally. He was always looking to learn, (Page 102: "I learned much from the many people I spoke with") and used reading as both a means of learning and as escape from the tedium of "hurry up and wait". Kahn laments the fact that he never knew what it was to be a civilian between the ages of 18 and 21, but, in his later years, ironically, he spends his time teaching college students in the same age bracket.

I liked this book, perhaps because I followed a path similar to Sy Kahn. Born and raised in Manhattan, a small island, I enlisted in the United States Navy after high school (in The Bronx) at the age of 17 years. I, too, could not see the big "E" on the eye chart. I spent much of my Navy time at Naval Air Station, Key West, which was hot enough to give me a nasty case of tropical boils. Unfortunately, I did not keep a diary. Sy Kahn has written a good book that fills in gaps in personal histories of individuals who fought in the Pacific in world War II.

This collection brings 17 of Mary Hunter Austin's short works together for the first time in book form, and the selection is wonderful. From the likes of "An Appreciation of H.G. Wells, Novelist," to "Regionalism in American Fiction," these essays typify her work. They also expand the understanding of literary and social conditions during her lifetime. Austin's writings place her as one of the finest American essayists of the early Twentieth century. Also, once again Reuben Ellis and Southern Illinois University Press have performed a great service with this collection by another great author.

this book makes me think of how horrible i am for being a white person. I want to be black

WORD IS BORN

I read Sophocles Antigone for graduate Humanities class. It is an essential reading to understand Greek Tragedy. It is also a foundation stone of literature in studying Western Civilization.

Antigone, daughter of Oedipus in 3-cycle play, faces capital punishment for burying her brother who rebelled against Thebes. Obeying instincts of loyalty of love and the divine law, she defies Creon, the King and her uncle. Creon says laws of states outweigh all other laws, and family loyalty, when he finally relents it's too late.

Over the centuries there has been a great deal made about the conflicts played out in the play, law of state vs. law of goods, personal vs. state duties. Loves knowledge vs. state knowledge. Greek understanding of tragedy- Aristotle lays down understanding of Greek tragedy. He based it on Sophocles. Tragedy- most important thing for tragedy is plot, it is all essential. Tragedy defined as- is imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude in language embellished with incidents arousing pity and fear ant to the audience it accomplishes catharsis of such emotions. Every tragedy must have six parts that determine its quality. 1. plot 2. character 3. diction 4. fault 5. spectacle and 6. melody.

According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history or poetry; it is one of the highest expressive forms because it dramatizes what may happen. History is a narrative that tells you what has happened tragedy shows what is possible. History deals with particulars, tragedy deals with the universal. Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain and shows how the world operates. It frames human experience in universal discourse, tragedy is central in this effort. Tragedy arouses pity and fear in audience because we can envision ourselves caught in this cause and effect chain. Plot most important feature, the arrangement of incidents, the way incidents, and action is structured. Tragedies outcome depends on the outcome of these cause and effect changes not on being character driven. Plot must be whole, beginning middle and end. Beginning must have a motivation that starts the cause and effect chain of events must be a center or climax that is caused by earlier incidents. There must be an end some kind of closure caused by earlier events in tragedy. This is all part of the complication of the tragedy all must be connected. You can't have a dues ex machnia in a superior tragedy.

In tragedy, the hero or heroine walks knowingly towards the fate that is written and can't be changed. Unity of action plot must be structurally self-contained, each action leading invariably to the next without outside intervention. The worst kinds of plots are episodic, like a Jerry Seinfeld sitcom, can't be something about nothing, must have unity of action. Magnitude, quantatively meaning length, and quality of action, it must be serious. Must be of universal significance, depth, and richness. Character- most important feature is the fatal flaw. Motivations of characters are important but character is there to support the plot. Character must be a prosperous renowned personage. Change of fortune from good to bad will really matter and bring fear and pity to the audience. In ideal tragedy, the hero will mistakenly bring about his own downfall. Because they make a mistake, because knowledge of our selves is always partial, we can't have complete knowledge of ourselves. Hall quotes Descartes in the article, "The limited error prone perspective of the individual. Subject is always imperfect and human and these limitations include our ability to know in any reliable way ourselves." The fact that we as subjects, as agents can never fully know ourselves means that we are always prone to error, error is the essence of the tragic hero, tragedy is the essential drama of human subjectivity.

What is Hegel's understanding of concept of tragedy? He revises Aristotelian principals and logic. Immensely influential German philosopher, he writes about; tragedy in the Aesthete 1820-29, he proposes, "the suffering of the tragic hero are merely the means of reconciling the opposing moral clients." According to Hegel's account of Greek tragedy, the conflict isn't between good and evil, but between competing goods, all is good. Between two entirely ethical worlds that clash and can't come together. Both characters have an ethical vision or belief that they have to follow it is there one-sidedness of their vision that clashes with the one-sidedness of the other character. Both sides of contradiction are justified. Conflict of irreconcilable justifiable ethical worlds, ethical visions. Just as his dialectic must lead to an ultimate synthesis, so to must tragedy lead to a synthesis. This is dramatized in the death of the tragic actor, which becomes the synthesis. Hegel says; "the characters are too good to live." They are too good to live in this world. What is interesting is that Hegel so wants to correct moral imbalances his emphasis is on moral balances.

Greek tragedy is great reading for people interested in aesthetics, history, psychology, and philosophy.

This book is a must for psychoanalytical psychotherapists. Rosine LeFort clearly displays her unconditional love and genuine concern for these two very disturbed children. LeFort's work is truly brilliant and beyond her time. She is comfortable within herself and Nadia (psychotic patient) is aware of this, which is one of the reasons why she eventually allowed the Other to enter into her world. LeFort's research went beyond and endured the frustration and futility of Autism and made the reader more aware of how disturbing the Autistic position really is.

this is great for our parents and grandparents who so want information aboout their past and we as childrean adn grandchildren sometimes are unable to obatian such info.

thanks

George O. Kent's book Bismarck And His Times details the path taken by Prussia that gradually led that nation to unification with other German states under Prime Minister and later Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. That path, however, did not lead the unified Germany towards political maturity, and led to its defeat in two world wars, notoriety for perpetuating the most shocking atrocities publicized in the world, and its division into two countries until eventual reunification in 1990. As a result, Bismarck's achievements were reanalyzed, with post-World War II assessments revealing considerable rust on the "Iron Chancellor"'s facade. Kent is one of those historians, arguing that Bismarck and his foreign and domestic policies were to blame for this tragedy, and the German nation, as well as the North German Confederation that preceded it, "was conceived too narrowly and maintained too rigidly for too long".

Consider the constitution of the North German Confederation created by Bismarck in 1866, a lopsided hybrid of an absolute monarchy and a constitutional state, with the executive and upper house holding most of the power. There was the Prussian king--later the Kaiser of Germany--and the members of the Upper House composed of representatives from the North German states. On the other side was the Reichstag, whose members were elected by male property owners, whose powers were limited to pass or defeat bills introduced by the king or Bismarck; the Reichstag could not introduce bills. In addition, the chancellor could not be brought down by a vote of no-confidence from the lower house, resulting in the dissolution of the government. Bismarck created this constitution mainly to benefit himself and to ensure the power of the king and God.

His defensive foreign policy, such as the three wars with Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870), consolidated his power and that of Prussia at the expense of antagonizing and alienating certain countries. His alliance with countries was tied less to the Second Reich's interests than to his political survival. Bismarck's intrigues with Austria-Hungary and Russia led a train of in what was described as "the finest example of diplomatic deception".

Bismarck may have been a master tactician and strategist in his foreign agenda before 1871, but the opposite holds true in his domestic policies. He "was unable to tolerate opposing points of view, however sincere, and always considered opposition to his policies as personal attacks, motivated by selfish or group interests". To him, the word "loyal opposition" was a contradiction in terms.

Therein lies the problem. Bismarck was energized by having foes to fight and vanquish, as he did with the Danes, Austrians, and French. In his struggles against the Catholics and the Social Democratic Party, he appeared not to shift gears--he just kept on fighting when he should have switched gears into peace mode, or better still, rest on his laurels and retire.

What brought his downfall was his lust for power that went to such an extreme, that in the face of being dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was prepared to set events that would bring victory to the SDP, Catholic Center, and hardline Conservatives, whose policies were counter to the Kaiser's, in the 1890 elections. He would then convince the princes of the Reich's constituent states that the empire had undergone political paralysis. A military coup, on the pretext of a Social Democrat uprising, would follow. SDP leaders would be arrested, martial law would be declared, and the Reichstag dissolved. Germany would then become a military dictatorship.

Kent's book has successfully depicted the flaws of Bismarck's mindset, in which he placed his personal political survival before the interests of the political entities he governed, and that is the rust that tarnished the image of the "Iron Chancellor."