Indiana Books

I have always been fascinated with Albania. With lots of other things on my plate nowadays I haven't really had the time to read many books about this little country on the Adriatic. Once part of the Ottoman Empire, Albania declared its independence in 1912 only to find itself immediately beset by Greek, Montenegrin, and Serbian soldiers who all wanted a slice of the country for their own purposes. The total collapse of the Sublime Porte left Albanians scrambling for support from the Western European powers, but a majority Muslim population (a relic of Ottoman occupation) left many European leaders wary of supporting Albanian claims. Otto Von Bismarck sneeringly referred to Albania as a mere "geographic expression," and other powers seemed to implicitly support this view. World War I led to more troubles, more border partitions, and more problems with Balkan neighbors. The interwar period saw Albania experiment with western style government and monarchy under the leadership of Fan Noli and Ahmed Zogu, respectively. The Italians occupied the country in the late 1930s, leading to King Zog's ouster and clandestine warfare between Albania, Italy, and Germany. As the war ended, Enver Hoxha and his communist partisan forces triumphed over other Albanian liberation factions and took over the country. What followed was nearly fifty years of brutal Stalinist style communism. Today, Albania is working hard at restructuring their country.

"Albanian Identities: Myth and History" is a selection of essays about Albania taken from an academic conference held a few years ago. Included is research from well known Albanian scholars Bernd Fischer, Noel Malcolm, and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers along with contributions from a range of other researchers looking at Albanian myth through the eyes of the historian, sociologist, and anthropologist. As Schwandner-Sievers writes in her introductory essay to the collection, a central goal of this book is to "trace the context of their (myths) production and transformations, and to show how local and individual variations stand in contrast to the homogenous national claims of Albanian myths." Yes, if you cannot tell from the above quotation, the articles in this book are quite scholarly. It isn't as bad as it sounds, as the vast majority of the contributions to this effort are highly readable. You should have a background in Albanian history, however, because the writers assume you know about Enver Hoxha, Naim Frasheri, the Megali Idea, Bektashism, and the League of Prizren among many other people and places. In fact, if you don't understand the implications of using the term "Kosovo" versus "Kosova," you probably shouldn't read this book until you have a few survey texts under your belt.

My favorite essays in the book include Bernd Fischer's "Perceptions and Reality in Twentieth Century Albanian Military Prowess," M.J. Alex Standish's "Enver Hoxha's Role in the Development of Socialist Albanian Myths," Mariella Pandolfi's "Myths and New Forms of Governance in Albania," and "Youth NGOs in Albania: Civil Society Development, Local Cultural Constructions of Democracy, and Strategies of Survival at Work" by Nicola Mai. Another excellent article written by Roderick Bailey, "Smoke Without Fire? Albania, SOE, and the Communist 'Conspiracy Theory,'" attempts to explode the myths surrounding the role that British operatives played in Hoxha's rise to power after WWII. Mariella Pandolfi's research showing how western humanitarian organizations subvert Albanian political, economic, and social institutions through a type of "supra colonialism" not only resonates deeply with anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of Western European/Albanian relations, but should provide a dozen or so doctoral candidates with enough potential research topics to last the length of their scholarly careers. M.J. Alex Standish compares Enver Hoxha's self-promoting propagandistic emanations with descriptions of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and finds more similarities than differences. It is unfortunate I cannot summarize every article in this outstanding book, but hopefully the few I touched on will give you an idea of the types of topics covered in "Albanian Identities: Myth and History."

These are the cream of the crop, but every article is articulate, informative, and massively interesting. Other essays address themes of myth in the writings of Ismail Kadare, conspiracy theories in Albanian newspapers, the myths of religion in the formation of an Albanian national identity, and even how Albanian-Americans incorporated their homeland myths into their new lives in the United States. Nearly every article in this book was the equivalent of waking up early on Christmas morning to see what Santa left under the tree. The book takes great pains to emphasize that these articles are not attacking Albanian culture or attempting to denigrate the beliefs of various peoples. Instead, these scholars want to discover how myth manipulation can encourage violence, economically exploit people, and promote ultra nationalistic-expansionist ideas. In this respect, one hopes that a similar tome exploring Serbian and Greek myths is in the works since those two powers have caused much distress to the Albanians over the years. After all, by adopting the definitions about myth in this book we can see that Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic used the myths surrounding the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389 to launch an ethnic war against the Kosovar majority there in the 1990s.

"Albanian Identities: Myth and History" is an excellent addition to any Albania fan's library. About the only problem I had with the book as a whole is that the definition of myth is too narrow. Yes, myths do the things written about here, but they also fulfill a whole host of other important functions in people's lives. For example, many myths act as archetypes of virtuous behaviors such as bravery, honesty, charity, and the like. Is it possible to separate the various elements of myth? Can we look at only one, two, or three facets of myth while relegating the other parts into the background? Relevant questions, I think.

It's good to see Albion Fellows Bacon get some well deserved credit and attention for her hard work during her live. Although not as famous as her older sister, Annie Fellows Johnston, Albion probably did more for the needy. Very well wrote with lots of information I never knew existed.

Excellent book for beginning Algebra Students. It gives a review of previously learned information and throughly prepares the student for the next level in mathematics.

De Lauretis's book is one of the most influential in the field of feminist film theory. An incredibly comprehensive study, it engages deeply notions of desire, fantasy, and identification. It is useful as both a theoretical and a political text, weaving a personal struggle with feminism and film practice throughout her semiotic analysis of the process of film.

Very interesting for every one that has interest in the time and topic. Many of the issues are still relevant today (especially in light of the attacks on the "Jewish neo-cons"); it also touches a broader topic: what is the underlining moral campus of US foreign policy? Reminding that the concept bringing freedom to nations around the world was invented by some of the founding fathers and not GWB.
One problem, the writer is to judgmental, especially in light of her knowing the end results of the actions (or mostly non actions), of the characters on stage at that tragic and dark time.

This is simply an exceptional and recommended work for graduate and undergraduate students alike. Given the scope and complexity of the texts involved, as well as predelineative agendas and hostility from other traditions, the writing is lucidly informative, succinct, and relevant most of all.

Paramount is the mention of the burgeoning identity of anglo-continental thinking indebted to the Husserl and Frege affinity, as well as the Heidegger and Wittgenstein affinity. Notably, Zalta, Ortiz-Hill, and Follesdall among others have written extensively about these associations between two traditions, dare I say analytic and continental, whose identities are being reformed today.

In light of this, this book forges ahead with identifying a growing and newly thriving continental philosophy that is deflationary realist (ala Dreyfus) and directed towards theories of reference, philosophies of mathematics and logic, and philosophy of mind. All of which are distinct within US academic activity of Villanova, Memphis, Stanford, Berkeley, Brown, and the lower tiers of say Northern Arizona University or East Stroudsburg University.

Concluding, this book is extremely provocative in the sense that it identifies an extremely contemporary scene of thinking that has gained much momemtum (see the new journal of "Mind" for example) and it has come to my attention that something of a full circle has undergone within the last generation of late twentieth-century thinking; with the death of Lewis many analytics and continentals meet on the same ground in non-perjorative metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and epistemology in an issue drivem, rather than ill genered sense. Perhaps now, after a century, we have come again to "philosophy" rather than notorious titles for philosophical geography.

This historical and sociological study of Buddhism in the U.S. from 1844 to 1912 provides insight not only into American Buddhism but also into American culture in the Victorian period and the interactions between new religious movements and the values and beliefs of the dominant culture. The book is academic but not obtuse, and it's relatively engaging.

Tweed explores in detail the ways in which European-American converts to and sympathizers with Buddhism in the Victorian period both dissented from the dominant culture and also consented to it, and he observes that to be successful, a new or transplanted religious movement needs to be different but not too different from the dominant culture. Tweed argues that Buddhist adherents and sympathizers shared a number of basic Victorian American values and beliefs that Buddhism, as it was then understood, seemed to contradict: theism; individualism (a label that Tweed actually uses for two distinct things: the belief in a substantial and immortal self and an emphasis on self-reliance); optimism (a belief in the basic goodness and inevitable progress of individuals and history); and activism (an emphasis on moral action to uplift individuals and reform societies). In contrast, Buddhism was seen as atheistic, nihilistic, pessimistic, and passive. Although some Americans attracted to Buddhism were able to reject theism and the belief in a substantial self, very few were able to relinquish their commitments to optimism and activism, and they rejected interpretations of Buddhism as pessimistic and passive. Tweed finds that two major sources of Buddhism's appeal during the Victorian period were the perception that Buddhism was more compatible than Christianity with science and the perception that Buddhism was more tolerant than Christianity and Victorian culture toward religious and cultural outsiders.

Tweed also provides an interesting typology of Euro-American Buddhist adherents and sympathizers in Victorian America: the "esoteric," "rationalist," and "romantic" types.

Also recommended: "Buddhism in America" by Richard Hughes Seager.

This edited volume is a landmark for scholars of religion. The useful introductory essay plots the course of theories of "sacred space" as they have operated for the last 75 years or so. The remaining essays are far more focused--providing case-studies that broadly develop two major points. First, sacred space is often contested space; and, second, there are many kinds of sacred space in America.

While essays moving from Native American land rights to Pagan environmentalism to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum could feel out-of-sorts, this is not the case. There is a structure to the volume and its concerns--a hallmark of a good collection--since all of the essays ask: What is American sacred space?

All students of religious studies should own this text, and it will be enjoyable reading (thought not without its challenges) for non-specialists, too. If it stirs your curiosity, the rich works cited lists with each essay will help encourage further study.

Any collection strong in American popular culture and history will welcome AMERICAN SWEETHEARTS: TEENAGE GIRLS IN 20TH CENTURY POPULAR CULTURE. There are plenty stereotypes of 'stupid teen girls' and AMERICAN SWEETHEARTS gets to the bottom of these images by exploring them in American pop culture through teen narratives and the producers who created them. Chapters begin the study in 1930 and conclude in 1965, with each survey how social and cultural changes contributed to the evolving image of girls, from Nancy Drew to Gidget. American History, Popular Culture, and Women's Studies collections will be enriched by this survey.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

This book is a wonderful guide through traditional Amish life as lived by children. The photographs are wonderfully done and give a true feeling for the daily life of young Amish children and their unique lifestyle. I loved it!