Columbia Books

I arrived at this 1967 book after first reading Thomas Berry's more recent, deep-ecology books, DREAM OF THE EARTH (1990) and THE GREAT WORK (1999), both of which I highly recommend. While reading those books, I wondered if Berry's ecological views have a Buddhist influence, although any such influence was not explicit in his writing. The final paragraph of this book, however, possibly confirms Berry's Buddhist perspective.

This is a challenging, textbook introduction to Buddhism. Although the book's cover states this book is "aimed specifically at the general reader who knows very little about Buddhist tradition," it probably misses its mark. Rather, it seems aimed at a slightly more academic audience. Berry's writing here tends to be scholarly. He covers his subject in depth and in dense detail. He demonstrates a clear understanding of Buddhist history, texts, and dharma, including the concepts of suffering, impermanence, emptiness, nirvana, karma, and monastic life. Berry also approaches his subject with respect and admiration. He writes: "To be ignorant of Buddhism, is to be ignorant of a large part of man's spiritual, intellectual, and cultural formation . . .What Buddhism has done belongs to the highest moral, spiritual, intellectual and cultural achievements ever attained by man" (p. 183). This is the point, I think, of this rewarding Thomas Berry book.

G. Merritt

Building Democratic Institutions: Governance Reform In Developing Countries by G. Shabbir Cheema (a Senior Advisor on Governance working with the United Nations and an Adjunct Professor of Politics at New York University) melds political theory with the actual tools and practices needed to strengthen or rebuild democratic institutions and reform governance systems in third world countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Arab Region, and Eastern Europe. With the inclusion of illustrative and original case studies, Professor Cheema clarifies the links between governance, democracy, and human development, as he assess the conditions that must be present to make democracy effective, practical, and preferred. Building Democratic Institutions addresses both designs and practices relevant to core issues ranging from the strengthening of parliaments, electoral management bodies, and judicial systems, to combating corruption, reinventing governance in crisis situations, and the enduring values of inclusive democracy necessary for promoting responsiveness and accountability so fundamental for the existence of a free, able, and just society. Building Democratic Institutions is a vitally important addition to International Studies library collections and supplemental reading lists.

Cook argues that viewing public administration as an instrumental extension of the American political system is not only harmful for shaping policy, but disrupts the relationship between the public and regime. Interpreting and categorizing public agencies as an instrument, or a means to an end, has been the prevailing theme across the course of American political development. As a result of this understanding, and the lack of citizen control over public agencies, the public has developed ambivalent views about their relationship with this extension of government (xiv). This defies the philosophical foundation on which American government, in the liberal tradition of self-government, rests. It is because public administration has constitutive qualities, Cook asserts, that the instrumental view of public agencies can be harmful. If public agencies are an extension of self-government, then the myopic instrumental rational is amiss when considering how policies influence public perceptions about its role in governance, as well as its affect on the principles of society as a whole. Thus when this relationship between government agents and the public are considered, it is important to not only focus upon executing policy, but to try to make sense of the values under girding policy -or as Cook defines it - its constitutive rational (5). In this view, Cook calls for a reconsideration of the role of public administration.
In this book, Cook makes an excellent case for using different methods to explaining the development of Public Administration in American Politics. The critical eras Cook evaluates are the founding, Jacksonian, progressive, new deal, and post new-deal politics. This approach raises the bar in the study of Public Administration.

In 1885 the entire kingdom of Burma became a part of the British empire. Throughout the previous decade this had been anticipated, both by King Mindon (r.1852-78) and by the Buddhist clergy. In an effort to allay the widespread fear that both the national religion and the Burmese way of life would meet with extinction under British rule, the Monk's Tales were invented and told by the Thingazar Sayadaw (1815-86), one of the great monks of nineteenth-century Burma.

These tales, modeled on the traditional Burmese folk tale, dealt with the current problems and difficulties of the clergy and laity. The Thingazar Sayadaw usually introduced his tales into his short, informal addresses, inventing the tale on the spot to illustrate a point or give advice. So popular did these tales become that other monks imitated the Thingazar Sayadaw and told similar tales of their own. A sampling of these is given here, following the 57 tales and two groups of anecdotes and dialogues attibuted to the Thingazar Sayadaw.

The Monk's Tales have the brevity and bite of fables mellowed with good humor. They combine exotic background with homely detail, thus offering the Western reader both a picture of Burma in the nineteenth century and an understanding of the basic good sense, gaiety, and gentleness of the Burmese people and the Buddhist clergy. These tales may be read for pleasure as may the tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. But such characters as those who appear in "The Hungry Man from the Hills," "The Shaven-Head Who Preferred Pork to Cabbage," "The Village Which Liked Long Sermons," "The Old Widow and the Thief," "The Abbot Who Missed His LayBrother," "The Haughty Ferryman," "The Son-in-Law Who Talked Like an Advocate," and "Master Doll Who Journeyed to Ragoon To Sell Tobacco Leaves," illustrate timeless truths about human nature, which today's reader can apply to existing people and situations.
--- from book's dustjacket

As a child growing up in Butte I loved the Columbia Gardens. Its no longer here, but this book brings back so many positive memories. Its a must read for anyone who was fortunate enough to visit the golden place on the hill called the Columbia Gardens

Rick Scott
San Diego, California

This book was one of the first to look closely at how Chinese Communism really worked, rather than guessing based on readings of Mao's works and Party propaganda. Barnett interviewed at great length emigres who had just come from China to Hong Kong to form a picture of how the bureaucracy worked in a central ministry and at three different levels of local government. Despite the small number of interviews conducted, most of Barnett's findings have held up quite well over time. Many of the party and government structures he described still exist, even in the New New China.

There is no central argument to the book, the goal was simply to describe and understand how China really worked. As such, the book probably is best treated as a reference work.

Richard Bulliet's, Camel and the Wheel, is a seminal example of social history from the perspective of an animal. In the vein of the French Annales school of Marc Bloch and Ladurie, Bulliet traces the origin of the camel in North America (!), tracks how it got to the Middle East, how it came to be the favourite beast of the Arabs and how it helped to facilitate the lightening Muslim conquests in the 7th century that brought all of North Africa, Spain, the Levant, Iran, and Sind under Muslim control by 711 C.E. Bulliet lays out some surprising discoveries in the realm of camel saddles and explains why they carry the key to the Arab conquests. Significantly, Bulliet posits a brilliant counter-intuitive theory for the disappearance of the wheel from the Middle East for the better part of a millenium--a theory that is no longer even questioned. Readers will find intriguing and superbly documented responses to some of these crucial issues. A veritable historical "who-dunnit", Camel and the Wheel is an entertaining and enlightening read!

As those of you who read my reviews know, I'm always on the lookout for strange and different cookbooks. I came across this one at a church rummage sale in Portland a while back and as usual, I put it in a a box littered with dozens of other cookbooks waiting to be picked up again someday when I couldn't think of anything to make for dinner or was just looking for something different.

That happened yesterday. I reached into that box and pulled out several cookbooks. Flipping through this one I found a recipe for Fruit Jerky. Well, I've got a beef jerky eating hubby who is starting to show those love handles, so I figured if I could get him to make the switch, I'd be doing both of us a favor. Really, nobody likes those love handles, do they?

I made the jerky out of peaches and I've gotta say, Hubby Dub loved them. Of course, he said he isn't giving up the jerky made out of beef, but we'll see about that, I'll just keep plenty of the fruit jerky around and toss the moo moo cow stuff whenever I see it. Let's see what he has to say about that.

Anyway, five stars from me for this book. And in case you're wondering, there are plenty of other fine recipes in this nice little book like the Sweet and Sour Chicken on page 48. That was such a simply sumptuous meal. Go Campfire Girls, Go

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

This book helps me to get a first a view of Canada-Quebec relations history in a very lively way which never bored me although I was discovering the subject. It shows the "problematique" of the subject and by presenting the different point of views it enables the reader to appreciate its complexity.

The cannery village tells of the many cannery locations on the British Columbia coast. It tells of a life style that employed many people, but changed shortly after the second world war. This is an interesting page in our B. C. history.