Wilson Books

Contrary to conventional belief, the authors propose that roots of a financial crisis lie in microeconomic rather than macroeconomic factors. Their evidence is convincing.

This is a good book for anyone who wants to know why the past financial crises happened and how to cope with them from both the public and the private perspectives. The authors also present the "ten warning signs of a financial crisis" based on macroeconomic data that can be used as a guideline to predict a crisis in certain economy. But the problem is they cannot predict when it will happen.

The authors' objective to "offer some unique perspectives, case examples, and practical solutions, and an actionable, strategic blueprint that our clients can tailor to meet their specific needs" is well presented.

If you have no other book on financial crisis management, you must have this one.

The authors succinctly and clearly explain why economies in crisis do not behave the way economies normally do. They then identify key weaknesses in the financial sectors of crisis economies, and explain why they occur.

The book then goes on to provide a thorough and clear exposition on how crisis economies can be turned around, and what needs to be done, both politically and financially.

At this point the book turns to consider bank restructuring (a very specialised subject) and recovery of NPL portfolios in crisis economies. It concludes with recommendations for strengthening the international financial system to limit early economic collapse and prevent international financial contagion.

I really like this book, both as a guide for students, and a "how to" for CEO's and the financial sector. It is brilliantly clear and practical.

If you want to protect yourself and your organisation from financial crisis, or understand what happens when the economy you're operating in suffers collapse, get this book.

If you are interested in financial crises in emerging markets, or have to manage a company during one, you will learn from this book.

Two features make the book unique in the financial-crisis literature. First is real-world experience. While the authors are up on their economic theory, the book's real contribution is the fruit of years of practice. From poring over the innards of banks' loan books to working out a national re-structuring plan, these guys have actually done it, and done it in multiple nations. Until now, the theoretical works of academia and the IMF/World Bank have had the field pretty much to themselves. This book is a refreshing break, and a vital complement.

Second is that the book speaks not just to policymakers, but to the private sector. There's plenty of advice out there for central bankers and finance ministers for crisis-management; there hasn't been anything for corporate executives and bankers. This book fills that void. If I were a CEO managing during a crisis, I'd want this book on my nighttable.

Very timely. In today's world, managers should be worrying about how to anticipate and avoid financial crises. An important read for both proactive managers and investors.

Arthur McGill is a relative unknown in American theology.

His works have mostly been consigned to the "out-of-print" stacks. A quick Google search for "Arthur McGill" turns up only 1700 results, while Google Scholar weighs in at a whopping 47 and Google blogsearch turns up 7 results, 5 of which don't have to do with the author.

Imprecise measurements of a person's relative popularity, to be sure, but indicative nonetheless. McGill is firmly lodged in the back of the theology closets, piled behind tomes better known thinkers.

But popularity is no indicator of value, and in Death and Life: An American Theology, Arthur McGill has composed a gem that is worth serious reflection by theologians and laypersons alike.

This relatively short work--95 pages--is broken into two parts. In the first, McGill analyzes America's attitudes toward death, where death means not the biological end of man, but rather the "losing of life, that wearing away which goes on all the time." In the second, he articulates what he takes to be the Biblical understanding of death in this broader sense. Throughout, he is poetic and provocative as he works to tease out how American Christianity has been co-opted by a secular view of death and the resurrection.

His first section, while interesting, is simultaneously stimulating and problematic. He argues that the American view of "life" means "having." It is "always optimistic, always affirmative." Death is, in this sense, a disruption, a mangling of the normal. Poverty, sickness, disease and unanswered needs are abnormal and accidental. Wealth is a fundamental state of mind, not simply a fact. As a result, we work hard to become what McGill calls "the bronze people," people who maintain the appearance of life without having the substance of it. In doing so, we avoid the fundamental reality of sin and pain, a reality that is "intolerable." "The world is awful," writes McGill, "but Americans do not usually say so."

McGill is almost right on this point. Reality is not awful--goodness is. It is goodness that we hate and avoid, a tactic which drives us to believe that the perversion is the deepest reality when it is still a perversion. The world is not awful--it is good, but the sort of good that is demands the redemption and defeat of sin. Sin is the lesser reality--goodness the higher.

While equally provocative, McGill's second section is somewhat more successful. Despite continuing his error of making sin "a matter...of our basic identity," McGill demonstrates how Jesus' identity comes from outside of himself and how as Christians, we must "die" and discover that our identity comes from outside of ourselves, from God. We must let go of the "tecnique of having," of possessing ourselves and cultivate a posture of gratitude and acknowledgment that our being is in God, not in us.

What compels us to possess ourselves, our possessions and our relationships? The fear of death, in which we refuse to acknowledge that all that we have is God's, not ours. This fear of death is conquered in the resurrection which "discredits one fearful possibility--that perhaps there is some fatality in the world, or some historical agency, some cosmic necessity or some other power which will disengage us from God's constituing love, which will establish itself as the source of our identiy, and which will thus give us an identity that will be marked by loss, disintegration, and death."

What does having an "ecstatic identity" look like? For one, it is a position of worship to the Father. Because the Father "engenders and communicates life," He is worthy of worship. It is in the death of Jesus that the Father is glorified. John 15:8 claims that the Father is glorified by the bearing of "fruit," which is what happens when Jesus dies on the cross. It is as a result of this self-giving act that Jesus is to be worshipped. When we acknowledge our own position of dependance and need, then we are prepared to worship the Father and the Son, whose "identity does not depend on and does not consist in the life which he holds onto and the life which he offers....Without detriment to his true self, [Jesus] can give away everything of himself."

It is at this point that McGill demonstrates how the message of Scripture is in tension with the spirit of our age. If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must give out of our abundance to the point where we too are in need, as it is in his position of need and dependance that the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. In perhaps the most personally challenging part of McGill's work, he argues that the love of neighbor demands the impoverishment of ourselves--that we have more in order to give more away, even to the point of poverty.

McGill's work is never perfect--he is at points repetitive and at other points obscure. His notion of "reality" could be improved significantly by the resources of Augustinian or Thomistic thought. At points I wanted him to be more clear in his writing. But the subtitle "An American Theology" perfectly captures is project in this work. By setting his theologizing in the context of American beliefs and values, he attempts to convict the reader as much as instruct. In this, he is highly successful.

McGill's work seems to be forgotten, but it should not be. By approaching Christianity and our culture through the lens of death, he is able to drive beneath the surface of our lives to the heart of our fears, our desires and our actions. Death and Life: An American Theologyis 95 pages of theologizing that is worth any Christian's time.

This book is absolutely amazing, as the other reviewers have already pointed out. I would like to add that the book is a pretty easy read and does not require a great deal of prerequisite theological knowledge, so it is accessible even to new explorers of the Christian faith. That doesn't mean it sacrifices content; the book offers fresh insights for even the well-educated Christian.

My one problem with the book is that the argument for his diagnosis of what he calls the "bronze people" is somewhat weak and not entirely convincing. The second part of the book, however, where he begins to discuss the idea of a decentralized and dispossed identity, is very good and makes up for all the deficiencies in the first part.

This book offers fresh ways to think about the nature of sin, worship, atonement, and other concepts central to the Christian faith. I only wish that someone would expand on the ideas presented here.

This thin book is packed with unique insights about how American society "worships death" by giving death and growing old the ultimate power over almost everything we do. McGill argues that we must live from an "ecstatic identity," receiving all as gift and grace, even suffering and death. He writes this book like a novel, with multiple references to pop culture and literature to make his point. One of the best, most challenging theology books I have ever read for a general population. Enjoy!

If there is anything negative to say about this book it is its length, which is just long enough to tantalize without fully going into a system of analysis. As the other reviewers have already noted, McGill critiques traditional metaphysics that understand life and being as essentially "persistance," or form (eidos). In fact, though not explicitly mentioned, McGill thinks that systems of metaphysics or ontology that are set up a priori and then used to analyze the cross always come up empty. And rightly so, because if the Christian system is correct, then the magnitude of the ontology of the Cross shows that if "existence" or "man" or "God," are to mean anything, they will only mean what they mean in relation to this event. So that, while we may take a traditional stance and attempt to ontologize the cross with it, if the cross and the crucifixion are true, then they will modify the traditional conception.

This is indeed the result that McGill sees. He doesnt consider "being," or "life," as persistance, or inherently opposed to death, but rather all forms of existence include death within them. That is to say, my existence in relation to God is continual only becuase I continue to recieve myself from God at every moment (what McGill and others like Pannenberg term ek-stasis or ecstatic relationality, essentially recieving onesself from outside the self from others) In fact, the ultimate irony is if I attempt to procure security for my continued existence I break the cycle of continual recieving, and so ironically in an attempt of self-preservation, I have eliminated the very possibility.

McGill takes this conclusion from Christ's life, seeing in Christ's self-consciousness not conciousness of himself per se, but immediately of the Father, so that in knowing Himself He knows immediately God. Christ then comes to die (McGill adopts the Johannine Christic quotation that a seed must die to bare fruit) peacefully giving himself, so the essential power and life of God is in self giving/self-recieving to communicate and engender life. Hence the very basis of self-identity is self-dispossession and constant recieving, rather than hypostatically contained being.

McGill contrasts this to what he calls "The Bronze People," namely those in society who attempt frantically for perpetual youth through beauty products. In this instance McGill rightly notes that the irony of this position is that it is inherently negative rather than positive. What he means by that is "perpetual youth," is not so much a positive attribute (i.e. being actually perpetually young) as much as it is a deliberate self-deception and avoidance.

In fact, this frames what McGill sees as the technique of "having," and the method of "avoidance," that is, when problems arise we attempt to secure our identity against change by taking into our posession goods and things and skills that we have "power," over and so may cope with disaster. Hence part of our consumer ethos is undeniably based upon a type of anxiety that seeks identity as self-posession or inherent wealth (McGill disturbingly notes the economic metaphores that go along even with love, e.g. I must "attract," someone, that is, I must have inherent wealth to be attractive to them) This is, of course, disasterous that we even teach our children that failure is merely incidental rather than essential, so that they themselves engender this idea of trying harder to achieve sucess, or knowledge, or whatever object/idea may be utilized to guard against failure and death.

Even further, he traces an conceptual path that links two commonly held and represented notions of death: 1.) that death itself is a type of hypostasis, that is an entity, obscure and cryptic, that kills and strikes at us, he terms this the "demonic," view of death. Secondly, it seems taking a cue from Niel Postman's "Amuzing Ourselves to Death," that the 2.) view is that death is represented (especialyl by the media) as inherently unexpected and unnatural (hence the bronze peoples strive to avoid perpetual signs of decay...it is telling how plastic surgery, cosmetics, and fashion are at an all time high. Not necessarily that these are bad in themselves or generally, merely that they reflect a certain socio-economic belief system.)

Briefly, I did have some problems with this book. Firstly, as another reviewer poited out, McGill's analyses of the Bronze People is not entirely convincing, and it seems to certain extents that McGill is almost deluding himself as to the actual intensity of his descriptions of this ignorance of death's inherent part of life. This may or may not be due to the fact that it was written almost twenty years ago (at least the original essays) and so media conceptions of death, with 9/11, and the many tsunamis and hurricanes, that death is now becoming more of a regularity in life. There could be other sociological factors as well, but the main point is, is that despite the profundity of the analysis, it must be taken with a grain of salt.

My second criticism is (although based on a minute portion of his book) based upon what almost seems to be a critique of the church's buying into this idea of "avoidance," that the marks of death should be removed and resisted from situations where they are present. Now, in light of the rest of McGill's argument,s this does make some sense, and the church (viz a viz McGills understanding of being and life) should approach other need not with a position of faux "un-neediness" that is, as an entity with all the answers, but rather with humility and expression of its humble need. That said, McGill's criticism is ambiguous at best, and I for one had trouble with mcGill's conception of just what the church should look like. Should we not erase signs of decay? Should we not engender some inherent value? Does not now Christ and His Spirit dwell in us so that despite our neediness we now have a center of inherent value that at the same time is constantly recieived?

This brings me to my third criticism. It seems that McGill has somewhat overstated his position on ecstatic identity, that is constantly recieving ourselves from another. This is, of course, a brilliant theory when taken moderately. However there are certain times when McGill seems to have the person devolve into merely a passive relation of need.

It seems implausible on many grounds that we merely constantly recieve ourselves from God because just who is recieving if the act of recieving is the full extent of our identity? Do we not have to precede this giving to some extent in order to recieve at all? McGill's implicit answer is that since God so irreducibly precedes us that His act of Giving posits us as a being that recieves, so that we would not have to precede the constant act of recieving because our priority over recieving is itself gift that cannot be preceded. This is an acceptable answer that both respects the priority of the person (which must exist to receive, and so doesn't dissolve into the relation itself) while also maintaining the idea of reception and gift (in that our preceding is itself a creation and gift of God as a positing of identity itself), but it then brings up the problem that if our very existence is described as gift in this sense, one has to wonder why merely existing as the identity given (which McGill would reject as a form of concupiscence) is not then a form of receiving? Why, if the basic underlying core of our identity is gift, should not the living of this identity be reception of the gift so that no further reception is needed?

Again, these questions are implicitly answered by McGill's understanding of the crucifixion, that the only true response to gift is not acceptance and self posession of the gift, but rather, taking a cue from Jesus steadfastly setting Himself towards the cross, that the very act of recieving reorients our awareness of identity into a constant recieiving from the gift giver. How radically this would alter how we deal with eachother! That in recieving from someone, this does not nullify my neediness to that person, but sets up continual and repeated neediness to them, and vice versa, those who recieve from me now constantly receive. This on the surface sounds like a violent system of dependency that many Feminists and Marxists would dismiss as empty and inherently moving towards hegemony and struggle. But the beauty of the system is that it basis itself not on our strength (which would indeed lead to hegemony) but on the constant reception of Christ's love, so that our neediness and constant reliance upon eachother is a function of our reliance upon the ultimate Source. So what then is exactly my compaint to McGill? It is that I had to extract this argument, that it, while in some areas a glimmer of its light shines forth, for the most part is vaguely implicit (more explicit in the last chapter, but nonetheless...)

The same criticism is level at his explanation of Jesus' self consciousness being outside of himself. Again I understand and wholly support what McGills apparent intentions were, that we should not draw a boundary around ourselve and label everything else "not me," but rather, "I am by virtue of a constant recieving. My "I am" exists by virtue of a recieving that constantly comes from beyond myself." But nonetheless McGill doesn't outline how this applies to the Father? Is the Father in Himself ultimate source and so the ultimate giver of gifts while Himself being un-needy? Again, the implicit answer given by McGill is that the Father makes Himself dependant on the Son, and so in Giving the SOn the gift of the SPirit, the Father is now reliant upon the Son giving the gift back through a new cycle of dependance that culminates in the cross. But again this is speculative as McGill doesn't go into it.

These are small complaints however, and McGill should be applauded for his enormous contributions. I can only hope that this line of thinking is taken seriously in the coming theological discussions. For more detail on McGill's thought, I recommend his "Suffering, a Test of Theological Method."

Deep and emotional. I think everyone could identify themselves within the words of each poem.

A great women's read. The author related many poems to things going on in my life now. I would recommend this book for every woman.

A must read book for both men and women. Kit Wilson goes indepth with her poetry. She is the next Poe.

A great inspiring poetry book. I would recommend it for anyone to read and collect. Kit Wilson is my favorite author.

This book grabbed me from the first chapter and never let go. Very well written and a bit twisted, which made you wonder where it was going to go next. You won't be disappointed!

Lyndsey Barrett disappears after being gang raped by eleven members of a cricket team. In the years to follow the members begin to meet with violent deaths. A thrilling novel about revenge. It was a definite page turner.

Lindsey Barratt's parents couldn't make it to her graduation from the Academy of Theatre and the Performing Arts, so she took the train home. Lindsey sees a bunch of young men, the Winstanton School's cricket team, in one of the cars and she feels it'll be safe traveling with them. She is wrong. The team is high on drugs and all eleven members have at her in a gang bang that leaves her close to death.

A few days later she disappears from the hospital, never to be heard from again. The police are baffled and without her, they have no case against the young men, who were going to get off anyway as they are all from wealthy families. In fact the cops seem to be doing everything they can to make it appear to be Lindsey's fault. However there is one intreped reporter, Julie Adams, and one copper, Frank Illife, who believe in her innocence.

Flash forward several years. One by one the members of that cricket team are dying by either suspicious acidents or out right murder, till there is only one left, the ring leader and no it's Illife's job to protect him, a man he knows is guilty and probably deserves whatever fate awaits him. But who is doing the killing. Is it revenge? Has Lindsey returned? Is it her mysterious sisters? Someone else? Theories abound in this thriller that is too tense for words. This is a ripping good read, one you don't want to miss. There are well drawn people in this book that will live with you long after you close the pages for the final time. And the ending is a good as gold surprise that you'll not see coming.

Andy Raven, Raving United Fan

the book was intriguing enough that i could'nt put it down till the last page. a great read

This book is an excellent resource on dolphins, and the photographs are incredible. There are descriptions of all kinds of dolphins, from the well-loved bottle-nose to the lesser-known river dolphins. A must have for anyone who loves dolphins and wants to learn more about them!

Ben Wilson (a seasoned and experienced marine zoologist), presents Dolphins Of The World, a beautiful and visually fascinating tour of these majestic aquatic animals, combining stunning full-color photography with in-depth details concerning the lives of dolphins and the unique challenges they face. A most enjoyable read which would be fully accessible to everyone, Dolphins Of The World offers little-known secrets and an immense amount of respect for these intelligent mammals of the sea.

This is a must have book for any dolphin lover. It is in full-color with numerous full-page photographs of dolphins by various photographers. It is also packed with many fascinating facts on these intriguing & beautiful creatures. Information is given on the dolphins' origins, physiology, intelligence, eating habits, birth, & death. The lives & characteristics of oceanic, river, and coastal dolphins are also detailed. Next, environmental issues & research as well as the authors' personal experiences with dolphins are discussed. Wonderful photographs show many different species of dolphins in a wide variety of situations. A great illustrated chart showing over 30 dolphin types in also included. Many dolphins shown are quite unusual like the pink Boto & Atlantic spotted dolphin. A chart in the back gives details on the attributes & location of each one.

I have met Dr Wilson in person, and this book echoes his enthusiam and vast knowledge of dolphins. Dr Wilson is not only a profound scholar and a real boffin, but an excellent writer also.

His vivid pictures and lurid writing bring the pages to life and hold you in total awe of this exciting topic. This book will appeal to the layman and scientist alike.

Keep up the good work Ben Bunny

This is a superb biography of the leading American non-academic intellectual of the mid-20th century. Like Gore Vidal today, Wilson never took a professorship at a university, never attended graduate school, never became a slave to literary lynch mobs. This is the story of the leader of a dying breed of independent literary scholars, journalists, and men of letters who dominated our tastes and the tastes of publishers for a solid 50 years. Wilson was the sort invited to the White House (Can you imagine a New Yorker magazine book critic dining at the White House today?), but made his name celebrating the Russian Revolution. He thought Susan Sontag a light weight. Having studied Greek, Latin, and French in school, he taught himself to read Russian, Hebrew and Hungarian in middle-age. His friendship with Nabokov and his marriage to Mary McCarthy ended badly, and one doubts he will fair well in universities today where literature is considered too elitist a subject for our young bohemian scholars who prefer reading the letters of illiterate peasants and the diaries of felons. Wilson attended the Hill School and Princeton University; his generation's parents had already figured out the public schools were no place for the young.

Edmund Wilson was the dominant literary critic of the 20th century. A brilliant scholar and writer, he was a problem drinker at best and a disaster in his relationships with women (see his four marriages and many love affairs). It is fair to sum up his life as a personal battlezone and a professional genius.

Mr Dabney was a friend and editor of Edmund Wilson's later literary accomplishments. He utilizes his personal knowledge, Mr. Wilson's extensive diaries/essays/books/reviews and other's written perceptions of him to create an exhaustive and definitive account of his life.

Mr. Wilson seems to have been as careless in his personal affairs (money management was unknown to him) as he was careful with his writing. An early advocate of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Joyce, he became a political leftist during the Depression and an isolationist due to his experiences during World War I. The reader is referred to Mr. Wilson's classic account of the cost of war, "Patriotic Gore." The reader will not be bored by this well-written and colorful life of Edmund Wilson.

Edmund Wilson was for forty years , from the thirties to his death in 1972 the most important literary critic in America. A passionate champion of modernism in Literature he in his pioneering volume 'Axel's Castle' introduced to the American public Joyce and Proust. A college classmate, rival and critical conscience for F. Scott Fitzgerald he also contributed to the promotion and understanding of Fitzgerald's work. As a cultural critic in his monumental work on the Russian Revolution 'To the Finland Station' he showed his great skill in biographical writing, and his capacity for flawed historical judgment. A person with a tremendous appetite for work, a great creative energy (Despite his addiction to alcohol) he late in life studied, learning Hebrew to do so, the Dead Sea Scrolls and wrote an important volume about them. He too late in life published his opionated and forceful journal ' Upstate' In an early novel ' Hecate County' he revealed a sexual frankness unusual for its time. Most importantly though he was a passionate lover of Literature( American Literature especially) and the kind of critic whose writing was not meant for a jargoned academia but for the broad public. His work on Civil War Literature ' Patriotic Gore' is another of his outstanding critical efforts.
This tremendous record of literary and cultural achievement is as Dabney so methodically and painstakingly evidences compromised by a personal life and character less than admirable. Wilson was an uncertain friend,and a poor husband to his four wives. His most famous marriage to the writer Mary McCarthy did have the redeeming element of producing his only son, Reuel, but was a 'nightmare'. Wilson was quick to anger,and a master of verbal abuse. Even with those he genuinely admired and championed most notably Nabakov he eventually quarreled bitterly with.
With all this the story of his life and work is dramatic, interesting, filled with meetings with the central cultural and creative people of his time.
His life and work raise and do not answer the question, more extremely perhaps raised by the life and work of a more famous American writer who Wilson did not incidentally think much of , Robert Frost- i.e. how the writer can be so good, while the person so less than admirable.
Nonetheless, for all those interested in the literary life, in American cultural history this volume is an invaluable 'must'.

A superb review of Wilson's life and work, one which translates to a superb review of 20th century American literature in general. A bit heavy on the Princeton origins of Wilson and friends; but, what the hell, not a bad place to begin a writing life. A very good "read".
Arthur Bloom

I met Stephanie E. Wilson in February, during my book tour to Atlanta. Our paths crossed as I was packing up my books, and she began to set up the table for her books. We chatted, exchanged books, and went on our merry way.

Though she and I write VERY different styles, I'm upset with myself that I hadn't picked this book up sooner.

From the beginning, I could relate. Wilson couragously admits, ". . . when I am not feeling positive, pleasant and upbeat, I stay home. It is during these times that I have to protect myself from myself." From this point forward--she pulled me in with her admittance to not being perfect, yet her ability to cope mentally and physically, while offering brief parables to enlighten the reader.

I could definitely see this book being used in various yoga courses, retreats, and the everyday person who needs to understand that they are not alone.

I hope our paths cross again.

--
Stephen Earley Jordan II, author of "Beyond Bougie"

I could not put the book down. It is amazing what can be accomplished when you tell your story, which leads to the healing of your soul.

This book is beautiful. It is a wonderful piece of heaven. It is honest and gives insight into the authors heart and soul. This work inspires from inside out.

From page one; i was engulfed in a peaceful aura. Every page offered me enlightment to my inner self. I laughed, I cried when I confronted Myself. I'll use this book as a reference guide to Peace within.

At last! Here is a scholarly and revolutionary approach to looking at white world imperialism and black political, economic, social, and psychological reactions to that imperialism. Dr. Wilson breaks new ground with an airtight analysis of the system of global white supremacy. With skill and grace, he describes how the Afrikan mind has been damaged and reassembled by the oppressors. This book is a must read for anyone interested in freeing their mind. You should watch "The Matrix" right after reading this book!

Excellent book. Besides the facts in the book, it teaches you to think objectively instead of subjectively.

I've read every one of his books and seen all of his dvds. Dr. Wilson is on an intellectual level by himself. I recall him saying once that there is nothing like a good theory to guide behavior. This book - and all his other works - are filled with good and necessary theories to guide the behavior of African people. In 'Falsification' he delineates step by step how Euro society has remade the Black person into an imbecilic slave. If our group is ever going to progress - which at times seems highly unlikely - we must understand this book completely. It literally is the only way to build up psych defenses in a society that is maintained on pathological normalcy. Read everything he's ever written and any dvd you can get your hands on will give you the over-standing that's indispensable.

This is the most absurd, ridiculous, and utterly insane book I've read in years! I hardly know where to start with this review. Let's see here.....ah yes, lets start with the notion the author offers that Europeans "caused" Africans to degenerate into imbecilic slaves. Laying pure and bile-spitting fantasy aside, its important to note that the slave trade was basically run by Arabs and Jews acted as brokers and middle men to bring the human merchandize to various Courts in Europe and to the developing holdings in the "New World".

Essentially, slave trading worked like this: The traders would enter a village and speak to the chieftain. They would offer the Chief various trade goods in exchange for people the chief wanted to get rid of. For the most part, the chief would exchange the prisoners he'd captured in wars with other African tribes. Such prisoners were slated for use in tribal entertainment and consumption ( tortured to death and then eaten - cooked or raw, depending upon mood ), but naturally the chief would conclude that the regularly slated tribal blood theatrics and barbecue could be preempted in favor of obtaining trade goods that he and the tribe could really use, but which they had no access to except via the traders.
Now, if prisoners of war were in short supply, the chief would offer individuals of his own tribe - his own people - to the traders in exchange for the goods they were offering him. These individuals of the chief's tribe were either people he personally didn't like, or the various idiots, misfits, kooks, lay-abouts, and those with abrasive hard-to-get-along-with personalities, etc. In other words, the chief would use the opportunity of obtaining unique and essential trade goods needed for improving the tribe's standard of living to get rid of the two-legged garbage in his society.
And heck, who wouldn't? It would be like members of some highly-advanced species from somewhere out in Space arriving here on earth and offering us technology that was utterly fantastic in our view in exchange for being allowed to take rapists, murderers, child molesters, drug pushers, etc. back to their planet with them! I mean, how many seconds would it take us to say "SURE! TAKE THE WHOLE LOT! AND PLEASE COME BACK SOON! WE'LL HAVE A LOT MORE FOR YOU JUST LIKE THIS BUNCH!".

What I'm saying here is, no African tribe was ever sorry to see the traders arrive. Slavery was the basis for the only real economic activity across the entire African world for centuries. No one had to go to Africa with nets and chase people through the jungle to catch them as slaves as depicted in "Roots" and other Politically Correct trash fiction of today. Hey, slavery got so popular in Africa, Blacks began selling slaves to each other! Many still do so today! Last I heard, you could purchase an adult human being in the Northern Sudan for approximately $12.00 US! Think I'm making this up? Check with ANY international "Human Rights" organization and ask them about slavery being practiced in Africa today and see what they tell you. Of course our Politically Correct media is VERY CAREFUL not to mention anything about this to the public who are constantly being trained into thinking that the planet is one big "Global Village" just filled with wonderful people and love, light, happiness, rainbows, and so on!
So, you can forget about this book's nonsense about the victimization of African populations by terrible Europeans. Its just rubbish. Africa peoples adored the institution of slavery - period! But for some ( prisoners of tibal warfare and social misfits ) slavery was bad news, but even for the prisoners slavery was better than being tortured to death for entertainment and then being eaten by their captors!
Like I said, the fact that various African tribes used slavery as a sort of social garbage disposal is nothing terrible. The tribes happily obtained goods they could use and profit by, and at the same time got rid of all the useless, stupid, lazy, criminal, and deranged individuals within their tribes. No one on earth could logically fault anyone for being happy with that sort of an arrangement!

No, this book is just brimming to overflowing with positions based on the standard "whining resenter spews out hate" perspective. The content of this book can either be taken as the most appalling example of bizarre illogic and blatant stupidity, or it can be read with a view toward humor stemming from noting just how ridiculous some authors can get. I chose to read this printed foolishness from the humorous angle, and boy did it pay off! I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a long time. Its as good as watching a slap-stick motion picture!

As for the author, its amazing why he chooses to live in a European inspired, White society? Why not return to Africa and get to work making the wonderful peoples there understand how fantastic and superior they really are? No, instead of doing that sort of noble work, this author simply gives clownish lectures which are then assembled into clownish books which hardly anyone will read and which no one in their right mind can possibly take seriously.
Ho hum.

Feathers and Fools brings the point home in an easy to understand and comprehend. A MUST read for all children. As Rogers and Hammerstein said in South Pacific, "You have to be taught, carefully taught from the time you are six or seven or eight...to hate."

Feathers and Fools speaks so positively about the innocence of trust and the terrible destruction of fear. It is a very deep story so simply told. The images are beautiful.

Once again Mem Fox has captured an essential humancondition. Like so many of her previous picture books, Feathers andFools, lyrically pulls us into a story rich with meaning. We use this allegory in our Unit of Inquiry focusing on 20th Century Conflicts. Students are full of observations which they apply to history and to their personal lives. Perfect for use in IB-PYP schools. The beautiful illustrations by Nicholas Wilton successfully augment this tale of fear and new beginnings.

This book is great. I would recommend this book to everyone. In this book the swans and peacocks are enemies. This book is for all ages. The peackocks and swans had a fight, but some swans flew away. If you like great illustrations read Feathers And Fools by Mem Fox.
By: Lauren M.

A good introduction to the topic. The book is accessible to a general reader as well as of interest to a more specialist audience. It is one of the first books on this subject. A major asset is that it is very well ilustrated with colour images - it also has a useful annotated bibliography. A very useful and interesting book to be recommended to anyone interested in the subject.

My need is review this book because I am writing my tesis of grade for the University.

My need is review this book because I am writing my tesis of grade for the University.

This is a brave, colorful, probing collection of the transnational and localbinds we are in, worked out in wonderful contexts from the tradition-based Taiwan to the wacky cyborg turf of Robocop explored by Jonathan Beller, A vade mecum for the postmodern condition as it goes global,