Washington University Books

I Used This Book On History Project. It Was Great.

Of all the current history books on the Asian American experience, Roger Daniels' book "Asian America" still stands out as the most scholarly, the best thought-out and the most clearly presented. While this is not to deny the achievements of Asian American historians such as Ron Takaki (whose "Strangers From a Different Shore", and "Iron Cages" remain classics), Daniels' book presents a more systematic account of the social and historical context for the Chinese and Japanese experience in the US. He has an undoubted talent for presenting historical data with rigor, sensitivity, and skill.

I recommend this volume to all my students who are doing papers on Chinese or Japanese American topics, but it is also useful for anyone who wants to understand the development of the particular version of US race ideology during the late 19th and early-mid 20th centuries.

Highly highly recommended

By far this is Swindler's best work (see also his "Dentition of Living Primates') - the way this book is set-up makes it incredibly easy to use and visually pleasing as well. This oversized volume follows the regional dissection (wonderfully rendered in black and white by Charles Wood) of Papio anubis and Pan troglodytes on one side and Homo sapiens and the accompanying text on the other. When performing multiple primate dissections or comparing structures this is a definite bonus. This is the only volume that I know of that approaches primate anatomy in this way - W.K. Gregory's "Anatomy of the Gorilla" comes close (esp. with the oversized fold-outs of the upper & lower limb done life size) - but doesn't provide the comparitive detail that Swindler & Wood do.

I have used this text many times both in the lab and in the classroom and heartily endorse it for anyone working in anatomy, animal sciences, primatology, and physical anthropology. This book is worth its weight in gold and you will find yourself constantly referring to it.

Also useful in this text are the charts at the end of the book covering the musculature and innervation in each genus - priceless in itself. In fact I do not know of another comparitive source for that information - I would often use these charts as handouts in classes. This is a volume that you'll never regret having - you will find yourself using it more often than you thought.

27 years after it was first published an "Atlas of Primate Gross Anatomy" remains the definitive text on catarrhine anatomy. The primary focus of the atlas is the regional anatomy of the baboon with comparative references to Pan and Man (Homo sapiens sapiens). All regions are covered with special emphasis placed on the limbs. The text is clearly written and well referenced by Dr. Swindler and beautifully illustrated in both carbon dust and pen and ink techniques by Charles Wood. This is a mandatory reference book for primate anatomists and veterinarians and is highly recommended for many specialty courses in primatology and human evolutionary anatomy.

The author is justly proud of his brother "Bernie Whitebear". The book provides many facts and stories of Whitebear's accomplishments in fighting for Indian rights. Many of these facts can be be authenticated by going on-line and reading newspaper articles from that time.

I knew Bernie Whitebear while I was a teenager in Seattle and he was the first Urban Indian leader I had met. Over the course of time, I found him to be a person who mentored youth and he was a visionary in a very enlightening period for Urban Indians in Seattle. His perseverance and dedication is a testament to his character and reading the book written by Lawney, his brother, about their upbringing makes all the pieces in the puzzle fit and make sense. He came from a humble background (perhaps "poor" as far as wealth) but also one that was rich in morals, values, traditions and culture. This book was a very good read.

I am lucky to have Professor Morrissey for my Photography class in Rhode Island and his book has really touched me and made me look at my photos in a different way. He truly is one of the most sincere people I have met with amazing talent behind the lens.

There are several books with moving and important photographs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This one is a welcome addition as it focuses on the veterans and visitors to the Wall. Mr. Morrissey has obviously spent much time at the Wall and captures the feelings well.

Charles Birch is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney and draws upon his years of research and thought in the philosophy of biology and the relationship of science and religion to provide a seminal rethinking of both science and religion allowing each field to expand its unique contribution to our study and understanding of life in Biology And The Riddle Of Life. Birch argues that while biology has an impressive history of explaining the objective, measurable aspects of life, it has not been able to deal effectively with life's subjective phenomena. What is need to address the issues surrounding a search for meaning in life must include seeking answers to such questions as what it is to be alive, experience pain, to be in love, is God necessary as an explanatory principle for life (and if so, is it a naturalistically understood deity, or an interventionist supernatural deity). Highly recommended reading for students of biology, philosophy, and religious studies, as well as the nonspecialist general reader with an interest in the conjunction of science and religion, Biology And The Riddle Of Life is scholarly, insightful, articulate, engaging, and at times iconoclastic.

Charles Birch is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney and draws upon his years of research and thought in the philosophy of biology and the relationship of science and religion to provide a seminal rethinking of both science and religion allowing each field to expand its unique contribution to our study and understanding of life in Biology And The Riddle Of Life. Birch argues that while biology has an impressive history of explaining the objective, measurable aspects of life, it has not been able to deal effectively with life's subjective phenomena. What is need to address the issues surrounding a search for meaning in life must include seeking answers to such questions as what it is to be alive, experience pain, to be in love, is God necessary as an explanatory principle for life (and if so, is it a naturalistically understood deity, or an interventionist supernatural deity). Highly recommended reading for students of biology, philosophy, and religious studies, as well as the nonspecialist general reader with an interest in the conjunction of science and religion, Biology And The Riddle Of Life is scholarly, insightful, articulate, engaging, and at times iconoclastic.

From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye. This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it. Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal. He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail.

_The Boys of Boise_ is a must-read for anyone with an interest in GLBT history and a classic piece of investigative journalism in its own right. (Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.)

The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read.

John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955. Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s.

The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.

Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today? The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community. There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.

The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources. While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized. It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.

The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

If you enjoy skillfully-crafted character studies, this is the perfect book for you. You will fall in love with the town and people depicted in this excellent read. My only disappointment with this book was that it ended. I found myself missing the characters and wishing I had lived then and could have known them in person. My daughter actually introduced me to the book when it was on her required reading list for an English class when she was in high school. It is a book worth having in your collection to read over and over again every few years. When you read it again, it's like meeting up with an old friend who you haven't seen in years, but can converse with like you had never been apart.

Captivating book that grabs you on the first page and doesn't let you go! Realistic tales of love and loss that hit close to home. Wonderful when read with her autobiographical collection of essays "Chain of Hands".

I like reading the book. This book contain all basic information about the Hmong culture. I highly recommended all Hmong and nonHmong who are interesting about Hmong culture to read this book. The author Patricia Symonds have come to understand and experience the Hmong Culture well.

I came to this book after reading several recent ethnographies, and went on to more. This book stood out as a high peak between the others. Symonds actually tells, in wonderful detail, how the White Hmong of north Thailand are born, negotiate life, and finally die and receive burial. She presents the Hmong through their own words--both individual stories and sacred texts. One high point of the book is the material on childbirth--hard to study in the field, and rarely reported. Another high point is the text and translation of the entire White Hmong burial chant, which is the most sacred of texts and includes the Hmong cosmology. A sustained, striking poem, it must be darkly powerful and chillingly beautiful when shamans chant it over the deceased.
One virtue of this ethnography is that it complements existing (mostly male-written) Hmong ethnographies by presenting a female-centered view; White Hmong society is quite gender-separate, and a male ethnographer would not have had the insights into birth and its rituals.
Symonds tells us enough about herself to allow us to understand her situation, but is not obtrusively "reflexive." She contexts the Hmong in Thai politics, but never loses her focus on the Hmong. (This in contrast to some recent ethnographies I have read, in which anthropologists blow their own expertise--ethnography--and try with conspicuous lack of success to be political scientists instead.) She tells us what she thinks is happening, thus fulfilling anthropological responsibilities, but does not bury her material under floods of speculative "interpretation," again in contrast to some recent works I have had to read. Like Nicholas Tapp (oft cited herein), she actually lets the Hmong speak and act, and thus we have the enormous benefit of their words, views, and deeds. This is an extremely valuable corrective to the mere-victim or mere-backdrop status that the Hmong, like other minority peoples, have had in so much of the literature. The Hmong experience, like all human experience, is precious to us all, and this book presents an impressive amount of it. I hope young ethnographers will read and learn.

This book is fantastic! It covers Carnival celebrations from all over the world. The history is detailed but not dull, and the pictures are vibrant and lively. I recommend this book to anyone that has been to (or wants to attend) a Carnival celebration and anyone that is interested in the stories/histories of the celebrations.

In the forward to the vibrant, sumptuous and well-researched ¡Carnival!, Joyce Ice, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA), notes that festivals "as cultural phenomena never fail to intrigue and captivate us as human beings, whether we are casual observers, researchers, or participants." Edited by Barbara Mauldin, curator of Latin American folk art at MOIFA, ¡Carnival! does indeed intrigue and captivate as we are plunged-through essays, photographs and illustrations-into the fascinating and diverse celebration of this important and lively Christian festival. ¡Carnival! focuses on communities in Spain, Mexico, Switzerland, Haiti, Bulgaria, Italy, the United States, Bolivia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago. A varied and highly-qualified stable of historians, folklorists, anthropologists, linguists and curators offer well-researched and insightful essays that demonstrate how one festival could evolve into wonderfully diverse (yet similar) pre-Lenten celebrations. Colorful photographs and illustrations capture the sizzle and sass of the parades and costumes that take center stage in each of the cultures represented in this book. ¡Carnival! was almost a decade in the making and it shows. Meticulous yet soulful, scholarly yet enchanting, ¡Carnival! delights and amazes as much as it reminds us of the astonishing diversity of the world's cultures. [The full review first appeared in Southwest BookViews.]

This book is a must read for anyone working with Chicano/Chicana students in schools. Prof. Pizarro's insights come from real experience "in the field," and his analysis is one that you'll want to consider.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about Chicana/o youth in education.