Owens Books

This book was easy to read to my nieces and nephews and I enjoyed the flow of the book. It was also easy for them to read it. Very educational and would recommend it to parents as an aid to teach children about other children in different parts of the world.

As many academics and progressives have noted, Western logic is filled with rigid dichotomies: good/bad, black/white, powerful/powerless, Christian/"heathen", male/female, virtue/vice. In this book, Dr. White shows how the French struggled to deal with the children of African women and the French men that impregnated them and left. What to do with people that are black and white? Can we deem them black OR white? Can we put them in middle-management jobs and give them limited power? What will the Africans say when we made all these babies but talk about celibacy as a Christian, European virtue in a condescending manner to them? These are all areas that Dr. White tries to uncover.

Through no fault of the author's, this book is painful to read in many instances. It's filled with all these eugenicist comments about mixed-race people being infertile and sickly with no evidence to back it up. Though the Africans are not enslaved as in the Americas, they are still treated as less than human. Dr. White briefly comments that though biracial children were under the care of clergy, they were also in lice-infested quarters where tuberculosis and other diseases were rampant. Honestly, I think the chapter on eugenics should have come before the chapters on orphanages and employment. As worthy as this book is, be prepared to be upset.

Please also note that this book is a top-down discussion: the ideas of white Frenchmen is the focus, not the concerns of Africans, whether biracial or monoracial. On the one hand, the French probably left a lot of evidence in their bureaucratic files for Dr. White to uncover. Further, their ideas are the ones rich with academic and policy-based analysis. Dr. White's tenure board may want to see all of that. Nevertheless, we are speaking of a period when many Africans, again both monoracial and biracial, could read, write, and be expressive for themselves. This book suggests that there were many m'etis societies and then never says much about them. I am not sure whether to fault the author, but I do think other academics have plenty of room to pick up where he left off.

In the United States' earlier years, interracial sex was rarely consensual, usually involving the rape of black women by white male masters. Antimiscegenation laws and unpunished lynchings then deterred much race-mixing. In this book, however, Dr. White shows how race-mixing was mutually beneficial. African women served as translators for French men and taught them how to survive in the hot environment. This unoppressive joining of two groups is so different from the United States, at least historically, that it almost seems novel.

I doubt that this is a translated text. Though based in Britain, Dr. White must be fluent in French and was knowledgeable about France and Francophone West Africa. His strong cross-cultural wisdom shines throughout the book.

Francophiles will love this book. It's filled with accented French names and fancy-sounding French social organizations. Unfortunately, some of French's exoticism is lost as words in names are smashed together and letters get put in the lower case. When LeRoux becomes Leroux and de la Vignette becomes Delavignette, it just doesn't feel like the French that excited me in junior high school.

At least in African-American studies texts, many phenomena start in West Africa and make their way to the "New World." However, Dr. White illustrates how the gray area of multiraciality was not solved in West Africa until late in the 20th Century. That controversy was solved centuries ago in the Caribbean and in the United States with its hypodescent rule (i.e., "one drop of black blood makes you black"). This book was a first for me where patterns were reversed.

This book should be read alongside many others. Dr. White freely admits that Ann Stoler has covered the French on their Eurasian children and that Hyam has wrote about sexuality in the British Empire. This book covered whites in Africa, but if you want to know about blacks in France, see Stovall's "Paris Noir." Robert Aldrich discusses colonialism and homosexuality in his powerful book.

This book is a must-read for those interested in multiracial people or mixed-race couples. It will truly make you want to learn more on the various subjects it presents.

If you're like me you have a difficult time wrapping things. Some people don't have the patience to do so, and admittedly I'm one of those people! You can't deny the beautiful and original flower designs on this particular giftwrap paper, so I recommend you buy and use it whenever you have to wrap a gift for someone. So what if you don't do a good job wrapping it- it's the thought that counts.

As I looked through the library, I noticed there was hardly anything on a Paramedic. In this book it takes Paramedics own experience and delivers it in an interesting and moving way. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in becoming a Paramedic or enjoys reading.

I have found that students can benefit greatly from working through Owen's short chapters on central Christian topics. He is always clear and focused. This is a great tool for teaching how to read Theology intelligently.

Dr. Richard Daniels' work is as pastoral as it is scholarly. He mines the depths of John Owen, and his Puritan contemporaries, and from them presents the reader with a clear and beautiful portrait of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church would do well to pay careful attention to such great teachers of the past and thereby avoid many of the false teachings and heresies that are so prevalent today. I would like to commend Dr. Daniels for his outstanding work and encourage anyone interested in the teaching of John Owen or simply in having a clearer understanding of the Christian faith to consider reading this book.

Sincerely,
Jeremy D. McEntire

I'm a brazilian medical student and about 2 years ago I was recommended this book from a Pediatrics Professor, long after his classes were over I still insisted on buying it and didn't regret. It's contents are more than excelent as well as the format of the book itself. Loads of pictures, loads of colors. Simply Fantastic!

Organizing meetings can be a bit of an arduous task when the amount of participants reaches nearly two thousand. "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide" introduces a new concept for businesses to follow known as open space technology, where groups can self-organize in a short amount of time. To implement the technique into one's business, "Open Space Technology" lays out a step by step guide including all the resources one needs to get ideas off the ground. The third edition features a survey of open space technology's current usage around the world and an updated list of resources. A highly recommended book for both personal and community library business collections.

This book is the best source of information on the pottery produced by J.B. Owens. Well written with good descriptions of the various lines produced by this company.

This book is for those who wish to Know God and deeply. No playing here. This is a very slow read. A great meditation book also.