Columbia Books

Editors Foner & Garafola fearlessly navigate the sacred and jealously guarded minefield of dance history resulting in text and images arranged as a work of art in itself.

This story was very intense. The setting was such a peaceful pleasant mountain valley, I was totally blown by the constant sense of danger and tension that pervaded the entire story. I felt for the main character, Daniel, as he dealt with his family responsibilities and his own sense of honour in a drug-soaked environment. His friends were crazy and believable. This small rural community was both normal and wierd at the same time. I felt torn between loving these people and pitying them in their choice of lifestyle. I never knew what the outcome would be until the final pages. I was very satisfied with the story, but also it made me think. Anyone, no matter what their beliefs or age would find this suspense tale compelling.

A stunning account of Ruskin's life and work, written with wisdom, poetry, and breadth. My favorite book on Ruskin!

As a long time "fan" of the art of Canada's Emily Carr, I was anxious to read more of her writings. Through these letters to "friends", we, the reader, are given another side of Emily Carr. So much has been written about her irascible personality as she grew older; her intolerance, her feistiness. But in these letters I heard echoes of loneliness, insecurity and the fear of aging and growing sick that we all share about our own futures. I am not sure she would have liked having these letters published but I think reading these letters can give an insight that genius is not always confident or happy...that each of her paintings was like a child that she wanted everyone to love and understand. We read about her daily struggle to find a place to live, to relate to people, to just survive. This is what we read in "Dear Nan". The book saddened me that it was obvious that Emily Carr died alone with no one near her for comfort. It made me question the quality of her friends, and if they were truly friends. I think every reader of this book will examine their own lives, be they artists or just human beings because this book is really about friendship.

This is an excellent and well-researched survey of US-Israeli relations between 1953 and 1962. Ben-Zvi recounts how at first the US Government sought to contain the supposed Soviet threat to the Middle East by uniting the nations of the region, and saw Israel as a hindrance to this.

But the anti-colonial revolutions of 1957-58 destroyed this policy. The US Government moved to support `moderate' Arab regimes against Arab nationalism. In April 1957, President Eisenhower sent the US 6th Fleet to help King Hussein of Jordan, and $30 million aid, after Hussein had dismissed the elected Government and declared martial law. Eisenhower then got Turkey, Iraq and Jordan to mobilise their armed forces against Syria, after nationalist forces gained power there.

In July 1958, the Iraqi people overthrew their pro-British Government. The US Government sent 14,000 troops to Lebanon to threaten Iraq, also to prevent revolution in Lebanon. The British Government sent 2,200 paratroops to Jordan to help Hussein: Israel allowed them to fly their troops in through Israeli airspace. This convinced the US Government that it should support Israel.

In August 1962, President Kennedy decided to sell Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel, hoping it would then let the US inspect Israel's nuclear weapons facilities at Dimona and would allow 100,000-150,000 Palestinians to return home. Israel rejected both proposals, yet still got the Hawks.

This set a pattern for the next 35 years: Israel received huge military and economic support, but made no policy concessions. The US Government developed Israel as its military proxy in the Middle East, however unpopular this made Israel, and the USA. The costs to the region have been enormous: regular wars, the continual repression of the Palestinians, lack of political and economic progress. But this policy finally failed in the Gulf War, when the USA had to keep Israel out of the coalition against Iraq, for fear of wrecking it.

Imagine being bored with what is going to happen to you. What does it take to bore people to death with the very means by which they can change their circumstances for the better? McGerr details the gradual development of what essential amounts to the boredom of an increasing number of Americans with the political system. He contrasts what turn out to be significant shifts in emphasis in the way we do politics especially from after the civil war that shows voter apathy is not something new. He does this in a way that avoids being boring itself. He does all the footwork and research and develops the narrative nicely.

Giele is offering the best explanation going of why the suffrage movement succeeded when it did by highlighting the two strong bases for women's suffrage and showing the degree to which they diverged outside of this issue. She brings together scholarship arguing for one side of the other and convincingly argues that both were necessary to success. An important work.

In this essay, French intellectual Alain Finkielkraut sketches an intellectual history of multiculturalism, and -surprisingly- finds its roots in two right-wing countercultural movements of the 19th Century: the volkisch ideology of German Europe (epitomized here by Herder), and the reactionary Catholic thought of writers like Joseph de Maistre and Donoso de Cortes. Both of these ideologies were explicitly anti-universalist and anti-democratic and both developed in reaction to the ideas of the Enlightenment and specifically the French revolution.

Fundamentally, these thinkers all denied that Man is a universal category. Rather, each "volk" and its culture is unique. As such, cultural difference is ultimately more important than individual rights.

(Is this starting to sound familiar?)

In the words of de Maistre: "I do not know the Man as such. Never have. I have known Poles, French, English. Thanks to Montesquieu I am aware of the existence of the Persians as well, but I have never known the Man."

Finkielkraut convincingly demonstrates how these racist 19th Century ideas corrupted 20th Century social science, and eventually led to the 21st Century ideology of multiculturalism. He suggests, persuasively, that this view of humanity as a collection of "peoples" is inescapably racist and collectivist, no matter how it is sugarcoated.

Ever heard the phrase "reasons of state"? Here is the princeps woork on it. Phillipe Augustus used it, Richelieu read it, sure Henry KIssinger read it, just did not cite it...can;t have an opinion on political science without this medieval gem.

If you're new to Deleuze, do yourself an immense favor and pick up this book. I was first introduced to Deleuze's oeuvre through my studies of postmodern philosophy, but I was never able to comprehend his ideas with any sort of certainty. Initially, I jumped right in with "A Thousand Plateaus", but quickly realized that this was going nowhere fast. Deleuze seems to operate completely by his owns rules - rules that he doesn't (in my readings anyway) every simply explain. The Deleuze Dictionary addresses this very issue in the introduction, which states that he was fundamentally against nailing down specific definitions for any of his key concepts such as "Becoming" or the "Refrain".

I should point out that this book doesn't necessarily make Deleuze "easy" to understand. It doesn't simplify to an extreme, but it does separate issues and concepts into discrete sections, thus making them easier to digest. There is still the problem that many of the definitions are defined, in part, by other definitions which can lead you all over the place. I suggest starting with the entry for "Becoming" and then seeing where that leads you.

After going through a number of entries, I began to reread "A Thousand "Plateaus" and things began to make sense in a new way. I highly recommend this book to anyway new to Deleuze. It's very frustrating when reading a sentence containing three or four concepts that you don't understand and are not clearly explained. The Deleuze Dictionary will greatly improve your understanding and will serve as an introduction to his many diverse topics of interest. Highly recommended.