Washington University Books

The book is great if you really want to do a research paper on the musical history of Europe.

This book is an amalgam of flaws and flawed thinking. For starters, the title is a complete misnomer: only two musical traditions are extensively analyzed while hundreds of musical traditions -Native American, South American, Aborigine, Middle Eastern, Tibetan, Asian, etc. are ignored. Not to mention the fact that the animal world -bees, whales, birds- is skipped entirely. Most of the book is spent bashing European music and society with the music and social arrangements of the Venda tribe in Africa. More exasperating, Blacking's method of proving a point is often simply to state it: "it is reasonable to suppose that music ... is a species specific trait of man." What seemed like a very interesting thesis is, for the most part, finished with this statement!

We are treated to page after page of Venda music, and told such earth-shattering truths as when analyzing music, we have to take into consideration the society that produced it. Maybe this book can be forgiven for expecting this to be a momentous insight because it was written in 1974 before cross cultural studies were common. Reading this in 2002, Blacking is simply a preaching to a bewildered crowd of the converted.

Blacking also fails to make any distinction between songs composed for dance, for opera, for solo or choral performance, for ritual, for symphonies or any for any other type of music. He doesn't take into consideration that the inspiration for, say, blues, rock, and jazz, for classical and atonal Gregorian chanting may be quite different, that their functions may make for poor comparison. I lost the last of my tolerance for this book when, in the conclusion, Blacing decided to prove that purely musical considerations, such as "the logic of the melodic pattern" and tonal relationships, are not sufficient to analyze a song the Venda used to teach their children to count. Well, why should they be? This is the Venda version of Sesame Street ditties in which "on each half-note beat, a finger is grapsed and counted ... from the left little finger to the thumb ..." Who in the world would expect purely musical considerations to explain everything in such a pragmatic piece of work? Blacking utterly fails to take into account that virtually all of the Venda's music is of this sort-it serves a social or pragmatic function-whereas Western music has long since moved away from that into the realm of aesthetic expression.

Even the section of the book in which Blacking tried to decide whether there might be universal aspects to music was an abysmal disappointment because he fails in any way to expound on his idle musing that music may have universal elements.

By the time he gets to the conclusion, he will say a half dozen things about music that are either contradictory or simply hang there without any discussion, including the "hard task is to love, and music is a skill that prepares man for this most difficult task." He states this on page 103 (of 116) without any previous mention of love in the context of music. Nor will he go on to prove his point, instead he will briefly and tangentially discuss this before moving on to how music "may represent the human mind working without interference and therefore observation of musical structures may reveal some of the sturctual pinciples on which all human life is based." Indeed a revelation if only it weren't dropped on page 115 like paratrooper who finds himself utterly alone after the drone of the plane has faded into silence on the very next page. Perhaps the most absurd thing Blacking asserts in his conclusion is that "In order to create new Venda music, you must BE a Venda, sharing Venda social and cultural life from early childhood." It's no more absurd than the claiming that for an author to portray a believable male character, she must be a man.
"The chief function" -yet another chief function-"of music is to involve people in shared experiences within the framework of their cultural experience." Once again, he states this as if it were a self-evident truth and makes no attempt to sway anyone who might be skeptical. What about those of us who lean more toward the belief that music can be, if not a universal language, at least more mutually intellgible than, say, Turkish and German? In other words, the belief that a German musician can convey much much more with a musical composition than he or she can with a lecture given to a Turkish-speaking audience? Transcending culture, seems as much an element of music as perpetuating it. What a shame such a fascinating topic was given such unforgivably narrow treatment.

You are far better off reading what Mahler had to say about music (his are the most interesting quotes in this book) or, Igor Stravinsky's wonderfully concise and presented "The Poetics of Music."

Western Michigan University Professor John Blacking (1928-1990) prefaces his intended answer to the titular question, How Musical is Man?, with the qualification that this work - originally printed in 1973 - is "not a scholarly study, so much as an attempt to reconcile my experiences." With this in mind, the reader should not be surprised to find a self-indulgent speculative which walks a fine line between narrowly focused ethnomusicologic comparative (Western society versus the Venda tribe of South Africa) and a loosely organized philosophical reflection. Ultimately, Blacking presents an indictment of Western culture with relatively rare bibliographic references. The absence of an index or collective bibliography, combined with the restricted assessment, limits the text's use as a convenient or scholarly reference. Nevertheless, it retains value as a time capsule of perspective from a pioneering ethnomusicological researcher.
Blacking divides his discussion into four sections: I. Humanly Organized Sound; II. Music and Society and Culture; III. Culture and Society in Music; IV. Soundly Organized Humanity. Throughout, he raises further questions crucial to answering the overriding inquiry. He describes the first three chapters as an attempt to show how research in ethnomusicology may resolve myriad related questions. In the final chapter he endeavors to address why answering the question is essential. Somehow he never quite answers the question satisfactorily.
After an enigmatic opening with what appears to be a feeble attempt at numerologic humor ("Ethnomusicology ... It's seven syllables do not give it any advantage over the pentasyllabic `musicology.'"), Blacking's first chapter positions music as a species-specific sonic phenomenon we are compelled to organize and argues the need to look for patterns and relationships between musical and cultural behaviors. Blacking turns constantly, if monoptically, to his own experiences with the Venda tribe.
Blacking goes on to insist the question of man's musicality cannot be answered without first understanding the processes of cause and effect, such as the issue of who performs, sings and listens to music and why. Here he also aptly suggests the social setting may at times even supersede the music in a culture's perception and that it is essential to listen with the appropriate cultural ears. Again he turns largely to the Venda tribe for examples and even provides an illustrated calendar of Venda musical practice and an complicated diagram of musical and social relationships in the Venda society.
Ironically, while stepping on and off his societal soapbox, Blacking manages to critique the presumptive arrogance of narrowly focused Western musicologists and condemn the practice of apartheid, but he inherently accepts the Venda tribe's mutilation of women in their annual season of female circumcision. Contradictions abound.
The book contains several confusing segues into self-indulgent recollections and intermittent non sequiturs, such as in the ultimate paragraph: "Even falling in love may be more significant as a cognitive activity in which learned categories are realigned, than as an exertion of the sex organs or a hormonal reaction."
For a scholarly tome suitable for extended practical shelf life from this author, one might do well to forgo his philosophical prattling for his actual research originally printed in 1967, Venda Children's Songs: A Study in Ethnomusicological Analysis (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1995)
© G. Galván

This slim volume may be the be best single introduction to ethnomusicology we have. It is based on Blacking's fieldwork among the Venda, an agricultural people living in the African Transvaal. Blacking provides extensive musical examples and photographs covering children's music, ritual, spiritual possession, the musical calendar, etc. Unlike Westerners, who believe that only a few people are musical, the Venda believe that all people are musical and so all members of their culture actively make music.

John Blacking was an ethnomusicologist who spent two years living with, and studying the Venda, a tribe in South Africa. As opposed to Western classical music where the few (professional concert musicians) are revered by the many, and only a handful are regarded as "talented" while most believe they have no "talent," with the Venda, everyone is expected to be able to perform; no one is excluded. Music is their religion.

In the first chapter of his small yet very powerful book, Blacking writes that when he began to live with and study the Venda, he believed that music began and ended with Western classical music, but, that after two years of living and studying the Venda and their music, he no longer understood Western music. Put differently, his experience living with and studying the Venda forced him to question all prior beliefs he had both about Western music and assumptions underlying them. The Venda taught him that all people have talent or musical ability. It is only Western values or myths that create hierarchies of talent and ability. And that these underlying Western values and myths subjugate countless people, causing them to dismiss key aspects of their inherent human potential, because of widespread belief that it is pointless to pursue musical ambitions only a fortunate few possess, but most do not.

Blacking's book is important not only as an ethnomusicological study, but has, I think, universal application because its underlying theses directly question Western assumptions and myths that adversely affect people regardless of musical preference. The book forces one to think, to challenge values one might previously have taken for granted.

I have recommended John Blacking's How Musical is Man? to friends who thought themselves totally bereft of any musical ability or talent, who were highly reluctant to attempt anything musical.

Though the book has musical examples, it can be read and appreciated by those with absolutely no ability to read or play music.

Highly recommended.

Michi Weglyns' YEARS OF INFAMY refutes once and for all the idiocy that President Roosevelt's Executive Order # 9066 was a necessary means to make the U.S. secure. Mrs. Weglyn's book makes a shambles out of this thesis, and her book presents "chapter and verse" anecdtotes which refute the contention that somehow these innocent men, women, and children were somehow a threat to the U.S. during World War II.

Of partuclar note is Mrs. Weglyn's citation of the Munson Report which was issue on November 7, 1941. This report was based on government unwarranted spying and snooping of Americans of Japanese, the AJAs, and the report clearly stated that these people showed a "remakrable, even extrodinary degree of loyalty of this generally suspect ethnic group." Mrs. Weglyn examines the corrpution of legal standards and fair justice by both government officials and jurists. She is clear that, while these events took place in the 1940s, this is a systematic government policy any time when government officials see a chance to persecute a target minority any time they desire.

One should note that California officials were actively involved in persecuting AJAs as these cowards saw a chance to loot and dispossess AJAs, innocent people, of their wealth and property. This episode should be a warning to U.S. citizens who think they are safe.

Mrs. Weglyn proves that those Japanese who lost everything to an unjust government persecution were even criminalized after World War II. If these innocent people challenged the Almighty Government for the theft of their wealth and property, they could get ten year prison terms and fines of thousands if they did not cross every "t" and dot every "i." This is the way the government tries to cover their criminality.

What may anger those who still think the government criminals had any basis for this attack on basic civil liberties is the fact that many of these AJA's recovered from all the persecution and loss and recovered. Many of the AJAs became professionals who were successful after World War II was over.

There are some minor weaknesses in this book. For example, Mrs. Weglyn could have enhanced her book by extending her text to include the heroism of the all AJA units that were recruited during World War II. These men were the most highly decorated units during World War II and fought bravely while thier wives, children, parents, and loved ones suffered in concentration camps in the United States stretching from California to Arkansas. No less a figure than General Douglas Mac Arthur stated that without the AJA units intelligence work behind Japanese lines, his forces may not have been able to defeat the Japanese Empire during World War II. These men in the AJA units operated behind enemy lines gathering intelligence, posing as Japanese troops to free American prisoners of war, and providing outstanding intelligence that abled U.S. forces to defeat the Japanese. Someone may remember the all AJA unit, the 442nd, who freed "a good old boy" Texan unit in Europe. The AJAs had more casualities than the number of men they rescued.

Mrs. Weglyn could have also taken advantage of the illegal court activities that were used to justify the illegal acts of government to justify the mistreatment of innocent Americans. Peter Irons book titled JUSTICE AT WAR shows clearly just how unjust and illegal these forced internments were.

This book, YEARS OF INFAMY, is meant for thoughtful people. Those who worship the government and adore state policies should avoid this book as it may cause culture shock. They would read text and documents that would refute the adoring attitude that the government does no wrong. On the other hand, those who care about their civil liberties and wish to retain their wealth and property should carefully read this book. They will have a better insight of how government officials, adored by non-thinking public, can victimize innocent people until false pretenses.

Years of Infamy is a product of diligent research and passion. The use of words, such as "concentration camps" and "inmates" showed a strong bias. Michi Weglyn had the opinion that the internment process was unnecessary, and, rather than keep the country safe from sabotage, it only made thousands of people bitter, the author included. But though the author had an obvious bias, she represented both sides well. She noted that the government had intentions of keeping the country safe when internment began, and she also noted that, in this time of war, paranoia of sabotage and unpatriotic events caused a low tolerance in the authorities.

Weglyn supported her thesis well. She made known that many people objected to the internment, including Harold Ickes and Attorney General Clark in Chapter 2, the Quakers in Chapter 3, Norman Thomas in Chapter 7, and Ernest Besig in Chapter 10, among others. The U.S Government's want of revenge was specifically mentioned in Chapters 1 and 2, where she noted that Japan had kept Americans from returning home, and the U.S. Government decided to match (and multiply by 100) the hostage amount; it was generally echoed throughout the course of the book. She also made known that those who objected did know the true situation, which was racial prejudice.

Weglyn provided the reader with a large quantity of valid information. Approximately 25 pages of appendixes, 10 pages of photos, 30 pages of notes, a thorough bibliography, Dramatis Personae, and an index for quick reference proved a large amount of research. In every chapter, sections of personal accounts were included, and they made the book more personal, especially since Weglyn herself was interned. Also included is the perspective that many have never been given insight to: that of the internee. Before this book was published, many Japanese kept quiet, and very little of the relocation events are taught in public schools. Reading a book such as this could broaden one's historical horizons.

This book would be best suited to researchers or those with great interest in the time period. Much like a newspaper article, fact after fact is thrown at the reader. While that may derail the casual reader, one reading for informational purposes rather than enjoyment would find the book pleasurable.

Though the book has been out for over three decades, it is still regarded as one of the pillars of the redress movement, being one of the first of modern historical re-interpretations of the evacuation and relocation of the Nikkei on the West Coast during WWII, with her final revision in 1996 (Weglyn passed away in 1999 at the age of 72).

Several striking impressions make difficult an assessment that Weglyn was entirely ingenuous:

1. The title -- Her use of "infamy" and directing it against the man who made the word famous, and his Government; her use of "concentration camps," again an attempt to impugn United States leadership.

2. The cover photo -- The Manzanar plaque, with its most controversial wording, revealing the true premises of Weglyn's work. Yes, I do judge this book by its cover. Nearly every word on the plaque was decided by Nikkei activists, not historians, nor even the State of California, which had to eventually bow to political pressure. (A further sad development was H.R.135 in 1974.)

3. The Dedication -- Weglyn's book is dedicated to Wayne Collins, the civil rights lawyer who defended the renunciants at Tule Lake, and whom Weglyn feels excelled above all others at correcting "democracy's mistake." The whole renunciation issue, in which some 5,500 Nisei and Kibei signed away their American citizenship and thereby declaring their allegiance to the Emperor of Japan, is one of great controversy and division among Japanese Americans even today. Collins fought to undo their mistake, placing the blame partly on the United States ("duress") and partly on "private coercion and undue influence."

4. The Preface -- "110,000 Japanese Americans... were driven from home and society and banished to desert wastes," a sweeping statement worthy of being the primary cause for rejecting the entire book, and is my primary reason for doubting Weglyn's frankness and her integrity as a thorough researcher. "Driven" is used for "forced" and "coerced," words commonly found in books of this caliber; "banished" is hardly appropriate in any literature discussing the topic; "desert wastes" is only used to conjur up the worst images in the minds of the readers -- all these words, of course, geared to put the United States leadership at the time in the worst light, and the Nikkei as innocent victims of terrible inhumanities.

5. The Introduction -- Written by novelist James Michener (d. 1997), once a naval historian during WWII in the South Pacific, whose 3rd wife was "Japanese." She was in a relocation center during part of the war -- she objected to her husband calling it a "concentration camp," saying that "it was not like a German concentration camp at all." Michener even remarked about her time there: "She was never shot at, never starved, never beaten, never barb-wired." With this background, it is puzzling why he tirades in the "Introduction" against US Government policies back then, calling some leaders "monomaniacal," "who engineered acts of terror against Japanese," "illegal acts" in a period of "hysteria" using "unconstitutional means." In fact, he contends all Americans were "bent on revenge" and "struck out blindly, stupidly." (It is remarkable in this "Introduction" he refrains from swearing.) However, he schizophrenically closes by saying "many concerned Americans... helped salvage our national honor" by not allowing the camps to become "hell holes of starvation and death." Such is the man who praises Weglyn's work.

6. Chapter 1 -- This chapter reveals the "eye-opening loyalty findings of Curtis B. Munson," a businessman who posed as a government official and relayed his messages to one John F. Carter, a newspaperman and one of FDR's secret sources. With a man of such impeccable credentials, a man considered by the FBI as naive and uninformed (even the CWRIC said he was an amateur), Weglyn begins her book. In fact, many other subsequent books will utilize the Munson Report with conclusive pride, specifically "Personal Justice Denied," heralding those famous words in the Report, "there is no Japanese problem," which, according to Weglyn, was "one of the war's best kept secrets." To her, this Report is the cornerstone of her book -- "the enormity of this incredible governmental hoax cannot begin to be fathomed without taking into consideration the definite loyalty findings of Curtis B. Munson."

Aside from these initial problems, the greatest detraction from the merits of this book is the ironic lack of pre-war intelligence documents which shed much light on this whole episode in the history of our great nation. Weglyn supposedly spent years "exhuming documents" of "once impounded papers." The Appendices in her book even include copies of a few of these original documents, but ironically, oddly, and regretably, no FBI, G-2 or ONI material, which is voluminous.

Finally, and most incomprehensibly, Weglyn has no personal interviews, that I have been able to ascertain, of McCloy, Bendetsen or even Myer, who would have been able to talk with her while they were still alive. They were, after all, some of the key players at that time, and most knowledgeable of many of the events then. She could have learned so much from them... so very much. One can only wonder at just how ingenuous Michi Weglyn was when she set out to tell the world her untold story.

"You may think that the Constitution is your security-- it is nothing but a piece of paper. You may think the statutes are your security-- they are nothing but words in a book. You may think that the elaborate mechanisms of government are your security-- it is nothing at all, unless you have sound and uncorrupted public opinion to give life to your Constitution, to give vitality to your statutes, to make efficient your government machinery."-- Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes

So opens Ms. Weglyn's haunting report on the Japanese-American (J-A) internment camps of WW2. No book has made me so nauseuous, to think that our country, our government, could betray its own citizens in such a way. The scarier thing-- we're only two steps from something similar happening again, despite all our "progress". As an Asian-American-- a Sansei whose mother survived the internment camps-- I will never feel safe again in my own country.

Ms. Weglyn's style is journalistic. She reports what she uncovers with an objective viewpoint. Her word-choice, especially with respect to summarizing government documents, makes the reading slightly awkward at times. But her use of "concentration camps" is accurate. J-A interned were treated less well than POWs-- since the internees were American citizens they were not protected by the Geneva Convention. Not only were they subjected to intolerable living conditions-- families sharing rooms, public facilities with no walls around the toilets, scarce food even for women and children-- they were subject to repeated psychological torture. All covered up under the "national security and political expediency" aegis.

Ms. Weglyn does not need to get outraged in her narrative. The stories and the details do that themselves. She very meticulously has gone through the governmental and public accountings to put together this recounting of a truly black mark on American history. After being told that the J-A were being moved as protection for themselves from an angry US public, the US Government *repeatedly* asked their J-A citizens Catch-22 questions about their loyalty. The J-As could not know who to trust-- they had already just been betrayed-- property, savings, possessions all taken from them. The only way out was to volunteer to serve in combat (women and children, too!), or to renounce citizenship and be deported to Japan. But those that answered loyally to the USA were deemed "liars" and possible spies, and those that just wanted to get out were felt to be traitors. It was a no-win that repeated itself again and again in camps where people were already being treated like slaves.

Literally, slaves. They were used to save various crops around California and the Pacific Northwest at less than penal rates of pay. They were called on for all sorts of manual labor tasks.

All while the government hushed up the atrocities of the camps while at the same time fanning the flames of anti-Japanese sentiment among public opinion. This despite government investigative reports that had explicitly stated that the J-A community was perhaps the most loyal in the country-- that not a single case of espionage or suspected espionage had turned up despite extensive investigation.

Then, when the internment camps were finally closed-- J-As feared to return to their homes. Feared the public hostility and racism they would face. Feared the poverty and homelessness after a lifetime of struggle and savings had been stripped away.

Lastly, Ms. Weglyn discusses the ongoing debate between J-A generations-- the Issei and Nisei still cling to a sense of better assimilation-- if only they had done more, they would have been accepted as more Americans. Honor demanded they submit to the outrageous demands of the governemnt as duty, and forgive their government in retrospect. Whereas the younger Sansei-- my generation-- say "Speak up, or be ignored. It is the land of free speech-- fight for your rights."

The government ignoring the reports of its service arms? Allegations of racial profiling? Public paranoia against certain people of color-- depending on whether they are Asians or Middle Eastern, depending on the circumstances? At the time she wrote the book, Ms. Weglyn pointed out that recent J-A esteem as the model minority for their hard work and dedication and loyalty had turned to fear and racism once again with the emergence of Japan as an economic superpower, particularly threatening the automaker industry in the 70s and 80s.

How quickly can your rights be taken away? Ask Wen Ho Lee, the Chinese-American nuclear scientist that spent 278 days in solitary confinement while being investigated for a crime he was ultimately absolved of. Non-Asian scientists who had committed similar transgressions as he spent not a day, and the ultimate traitor-- Caucasian-- not a one until his conviction.

"A country without a memory is a country of madmen."
--George Santayana (I found this quote myself.)

This is a must read, it covers americas darkpast which needs to be seen so it wont happen again.

On my scale of 10, I gave this book a rating as high as one (1) for the author's effort in searching for material and referencing it in extensive notes. As a history of the times, it rates a zero (0).
The author might have written the objectives of his book as:
"America did an abomination by building the atom bomb and killing brutally without compassion thousands of totally innocent Japanese. The instigator of this horror, American General Leslie Groves,had only one objective: to gain power over the most people he could, control them and maintain that control regardless of laws or ethics or safety. He recklessly endangered the entire planet and all of American culture solely for his own greed for power."
Then the author wrote the book in propagandese with distorting adjectives and selection of events to convince a reader that the author's view of "history" was The Truth .

The depiction of Groves as a monster begins early in the book.
"Groves's ascendance, his early success at forging a cooperative venture among government, military, and corporate entities, signaled a broader campaign of expansion and control, into labor relations, into social relations, even into language. This last area is perhaps the most surprising and significant example of the District's imperial tendencies. One of its earliest manifestations was the naming of the program."
A full page is then devoted to explaining that the choice of "Manhattan" for the organization was not simply to avoid hinting at its purpose. "For him [Groves], the single most important concern lay with "security" (Groves's term subsuming secrecy and control of information), and he envisioned language as a potent weapon for duplicity."
The portrayal of Groves as the supreme tyrant continues throughout the book. General Groves as a hard driving decision maker who forced the accomplishment of an almost impossible job does not appear. And the reasons such a drive was felt necessary by all of us, the dread of Germany's building a nuclear bomb before we could and then the horror of the continuing slaughters of both US and Japanese forces in the jungles of the South Pacific and the prospect of worse to come with invasion, was ignored totally.

Two examples of the writer's distortions represent his propagandizing technique:
"New workers entering these factories found them to be confusing and sometimes terrifying warrens of piping, walls of analog dials, valves, and knobs, marked with Bakelite labels in the arcane language of the engineer."
Big,yes; terrifying, no. New workers did not wander into a building without orientation and explanation of where he or she was to work, go to the bathroom, eat. What's confusing? Any new job for the first day or so. But of course walls of stuff with Bakelite labels must be dangerous, especially in arcane language with words like "open" and "closed" and "pressure" and "temperature".
The second example of such writing tries to use a picture of a control room, in which I worked at one time, to show manipulation by the tyrannical Manhattan Engineer District. Here is Hales' description of the picture as he tries to show distortions created by the Manhattan District use of language: [The first sentence refers to a different picture taken for record at a trailer park at Oak Ridge.]
"This particular photograph is, itself, a document that reinforces the District's grammar -- though the way this grammar is imbedded in visual form is clearer in another equally prosaic picture, also made by Du Pont's official site photographer, Ed Westcott, to illustrate the workings of the K-25 master control room (Fig. 36). [Du Pont was not one of the Oak Ridge contractors, but maybe Westcott was delegated to make pictures of Oak Ridge for the record. I won't argue the point.]
"Reading the photograph as a distinct document, one can recognize the District's extension of written grammar into visual grammar. Yet the brilliance of the method manifests itself in the way the picture seems not to tell but to show . Even though, to a careful eye, it's an obviously managed, set-up picture, still the impression persists that the result is natural. The obsessional orderliness of the workplace seems incontrovertible. It seems simply to show the control desk with its banks of switches and the supervisor's desk with its paperwork, with everything lined up parallel and neatly diagonal to the walls filled with their workstation graph-paper plotters and their own cruciform arrangements of gleaming lights. The people too, are nicely symmetrical -- two men, two women; two engrossed in tasks, two awaiting orders. The desks are orderly, reassuringly so. Underneath the details is a message. Everything's under control in the control room."
The following three paragraphs add more suppositions to the explanation of the evil and manipulative intent of this photograph. "... as a staff photographer following orders." "Westcott has manipulated the circumstances..." "... bland, even lighting." "Even Westcott's work isn't really his." and more and more.
Then the long paragraph with the ridiculous clincher at the end:
"Behind Westcott's professionalism lies the repertoire of conventions he learned as he mastered the job of staff photographer. So also with the conventions learned by the architect-engineers of the master control room and transmitted to their plans: that the control room should have even, revealing lighting, and that such lighting came best from multiple panels in the ceiling, that the plotters for each K-25 cubicle should properly be lined up in even rows where they could be easily seen ."
That's nice: clear statements of the requirements for an informative photograph and a good control room. Then Hales continues in the same paragraph:
"(This arrangement is orderly, but it isn't necessarily intelligent; looking at the control panel of the Hanford pile for the first time in the fall of 1991, I was struck with an immediate and palpable anxiety, for each of the control stations looked like each of the others -- in a crisis, how could the operators, assured by the law of comparmentalization that they would never know the logic that lay beneath the dials, distinguish between one dial and the next in a row of some too identical dials? Equally so with the dials and plotters in this master control room.)"
Hales ascribes ignorance of their job to the operators of the Hanford works and lack of intelligence to the designers of the control rooms because he never worked in a control room, didn't know anything about it, and doesn't know what he is talking about .
I worked the K-25 control room in this picture. To work there I had to know the meaning of each line on the graphs and each light; the "indistinguishable dials and plotters" were arranged in exactly the order in which material passed from one "cubicle" to the next so the process details were clear and easy to see.
All this and more to pretend that the Corps of Engineers had invented a "new grammar" to control the thinking of their employees!
I have a picture taken by my beloved father of my brother and me on our little wagon when we were five and three. Here is my guess at Hale's probable description of my memorial of fun on the little red wagon.
"These two small children, both apparently male, are obviously terrified of the photographer. This fear is easily apparent to the careful observer from the way their mouths are partly open and their eyes are wide and staring at the camera. The photograph must have been staged in an attempt to record the likenesses of the children in case of accident. Obviously the older boy was forced on top of the younger one in the tiny wagon which must have been so small as to make injury to at least one of them likely. Such an injury may have made him amenable to the enforced duties he performed years by later making material for the atomic bomb."

I found some sections of this book fascinating, and others quite slow and tedious, hence the three star rating.

Be prepared: this is not quick reading!

I like how this book glorifies no one. It also talks about many "forgotten" victims of the Manhattan PRoject; those who were evicted from their property, the "underclass" workers, those who lived near Alamogordo and sufferred from nuclear fallout. I learned information about Gen. Groves and how he oversaw the project. It spoke also about the scientists, but not just about the scientists. This isn't a book about the making of the bomb; it's a book about the culture. At times it was slow---I skimmed about 100 pages at the beginning, which I very rarely do--- but there should be something for you in this book if you're interested enough in the topic to read this review! I found especially interesting the medical testing (or lack thereof), the radiation safety protoocols (or lack thereof) and the fallout (literal and sociological) of the Alamogordo test. These areas were fascinating to me. Also, while I already knew about Feynman's battle with the censors, it's fun to read again!

Beautifully written and by turns restrained and emotionally charged, this moral history of the Manhattan Project takes on what the others never mention-- all the smaller worlds created, destroyed or utterly changed as we entered the atomic age. Engrossing, packed with information spirited out of classified archives or found in the bottom of boxes, this book deserves the prizes it has won. Even the pictures are striking and remain on my mind long after I have closed the book.

We are constantly researching the Manhattan Project in an effort to locate surviving veterans. Mr. Hales' account of war-time life at Los Alamos, NM, Oak Ridge, TN, and Hanford, WA is first rate. I recommend it highly to anyone yearning for a full understanding of the circumstances surrounding the development of the atomic bomb. Michael Vickio, Exec. Dir. .............

I have read literally a dozen or more books about the atomic projects both in the United States and Germany. Unlike most books on the subject, Atomic Spaces, glorifies no one. It tells the story like it really was. It goes into the social, economic, racial, and moral cost of the project. It puts into perspective the relationship between the military, the government, big buisness, and the American people for this last half of the twentieth century. In no uncertain terms it demonstrates the true cost of entering the atomic age.

Although the outcome was "successful," I wonder if the true price of the atomic age was worth it? It certainly came with a high price tag, much, much more than money.

This book is a must read in order to see the real Manhattan Project and not the glorified picture presented by so many other authors. This is a really great book, about a really great endeavour, done by the average man with his usual weakness.

In the nearly two decades since "Pacific Salmon Life Histories" was written by Groot and Margolis, much more research on salmon has been done, and that research is well summarized in this book, with appropriate references. Quinn writes for his fellow scientists, but technical jargon is kept to a minimum, so the product is accessible to any reasonably intelligent reader.

I disagree with an earlier reviewer who faulted Quinn for not inveighing more against dams. Quinn could as well be faulted for failing to note the threat to wild salmon through disease transfer from rampant salmon aquaculture in British Columbia [e.g., M. Krkosek et al., Science v318:p1772 (2007)], but such criticisms miss the point. The job of a scientist in writing a book for fellow scientists is to summarize what research has been done and what it implies. In any case, near the end of the book, Quinn notes

"Given the high fishing rates, habitat loss and degradation, careless transfers of fish among basins, overzealous hatchery propagation, and other stressors, the remarkable thing is not that salmon are in danger but that they still persist at all....their chances of recovery are good if we would only take our collective foot off their neck."

and

"Salmon are important to many of us, in so many ways. They are our food, our recreation, our symbol and inspiration, and a critical component in the ecosystems that we value and depend on. If we dedicate ourselves to ensuring that they continue to play these roles, I believe the salmon will do the rest. If we preserve habitat they will use it, and if we restore habitat and make it accessible, they will find it."

You can tell where his heart is.

I am currently an Undergrad at the University of Washington and had the opportunity to study under Professor Quinn in Alaska for a number of weeks this summer. While the book may not be best suited to sit down and read cover to cover, it is a very valuable reference for academics looking into topics pertaining to pacific salmonids. I can say with certainty that Tom sees writing as a process that is never finished (the art of rewriting), and science is as well. It is unrealistic to try to find a book containing every relevant detail on such a hot and emerging topic as salmon, but this book comes as close as any in recent times.

This is a great resource for people that want to learn about the ecology and behaviour of salmon.

I wish it went a little more into the effects of dams and hatcheries on salmon ecology and behavior.

On the face of it, this text is positioned to become the definitive reference on the state of our understanding of Pacific salmon, a rich and complex topic with huge implications for environmental policy. It is sponsored by the American Fisheries Society, the semi-official academic organization that pays attention to these things. The author is a respected academic with deep understanding of the topic. And the book itself is beautiful. As a coffee table book it deserves four stars. The writing style is accessible, and the text covers many hundreds of current research studies.

So, what's the problem? Like Oakland, there is no there there. Instead of a guided tour through the state of our understanding of salmon, we get what amounts to an unstructured core memory dump. Studies are cited, summarized, and dropped for the next pretty bauble. There is little in the way of integration of the huge knowledge base that is out there. Quinn awkwardly fluctuates between an academic and vernacluar style (in his defense, accessible writing on complex academic topics is hard to do).

But Quinn's most bizarre transitions come when he mentions a a few seminal works on Pacific Northwest salmon extinction, simultaneously genuflecting in their general direction and edging away from their implications. Quinn's conscious avoidance of the issues at the heart of the controversy over salmon extinction is the most troubling part of the text, and the main reason I think this book is unworthy of the subject. There is a reason for this. His research center at the University of Washington is largely funded by the government agencies and electric utilites responsible for salmon extinction in the Columbia river basin. Understandably, it does not behoove Quinn to take a definitive stand on these issues. But it belittles him that he does not openly acknowledge what the issues are, and clearly present the evidence we have.

In approving Columbia River development in 1937, the US Fisheries Comissioner ignored a half-millenium of evidence that dams make salmon go extinct, saying that it was a complicated issue requiring more scientific study. Seventy years later, hundreds of salmon stocks on the Columbia and Snake rivers are extinct, and all are in jeopardy. Yet Quinn apparently believes that the solution is...more scientific study. Basic questions - how big do salmon get? How many did there used to be? What is the evidence that modifying or removing dams will or will not help salmon survive? - is either buried in the detritus of multiple studies, or entirely absent.

The big problem with public policy is that you always have to make critical choices with imperfect knowledge. Inaction in dynamic systems like climate and species ecologies is a choice, and repurposing science as a passive excuse for inaction often guarantees a bad outcome. In his unwillingness to engage controversy, Quinn has, unfortunately, avoided relevance.

This book is the best modern reference to the ecology of west coast salmon. Quinn makes good use of the advances of the last decade and shows good judgement in selecting topics to discuss. I'm a fisheries biologist writting a salmon book so I know the subject and the difficulty of writing in an engaging and informative manner. I recommend the book highly.
A caution: this book is not for beginners.

A carefully researched and balanced account of this tragic time. Well written and detailed, Vickery provides the definitive document of the early years of the People's Republic of Kampuchea. Any serious student of Cambodia should read this book.

If there is ever a study of all the shameful efforts to belittle the crimes of communism, this book will occupy a prominent place. Vickery claims that there were only 740,000 deaths under the Khmer Rouge during 1975-9. How does he reach this number, which is half the size of other estimates and only a third of the true figure? He combines a low population count of 7.1 million in 1975 with a massively inflated sum of 6.7 million in 1979, producing a demographic decline of only 400,000. No credible source has given such a drastic underestimate.

In the 15 years since this book was first published, Vickery has made no effort to include the demographic studies which refute his conclusions. He has nothing to say about Marek Sliwinski's analysis, which calculates a death toll of 1.84-1.87 million ("Le Génocide Khmer Rouge: Une Analyse Démographique," p57). He has nothing to say about the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has shown that 1.5 million were massacred and 2-3 million killed overall (Craig Etcheson, "Quantifying Crimes Against Humanity in Cambodia," online). In short, this new edition contains nothing to inform the reader that Vickery's claims are indefensible.

Vickery derides what he calls the "Standard Total View" of Cambodia, namely the assumption that the Khmer Rouge carried out a systematic campaign of genocide in pursuance of their fanatical Marxist ideology. In place of the Standard Total View, he claims that the Khmer Rouge leadership "did not foresee, let alone plan," the bloodbath which they inflicted: "They were petty bourgeois radicals overcome by peasantist romanticism" (p287). His conclusion is based on oral testimony gathered from 92 Cambodian refugees in a Thai refugee camp during 1980. Only nine of these interviewees are women and just one is a peasant. Given that the book purports to explain the motives and conduct of the Cambodian peasants, this is a shocking lapse from accepted standards of scholarship.

Unfortunately for Vickery's position, the Standard Total View is clearly correct. Had Vickery devoted space to Lenin's misnamed policy of War Communism, he would have been able to cite the research of numerous economic historians who agree that it was a conscious effort to eliminate the market economy, resulting in a famine which killed 5 million people. Had Vickery explored other examples - such as Mao's Great Leap Forward, in which 30 million died - he could have explained why the Khmer Rouge described their plan as the "Super Great Leap Forward." He might have seen that the division of the population into class categories - some of which are targeted for destruction - is consistent with other Marxist revolutions and cannot be attributed to peasant populism. But research of this kind can hardly be expected in a work of political dogma.

Vickery is so determined to absolve communism that he even considers it "fortunate" that "those who predicted a predominance of agrarian nationalism over Marxism in China and Vietnam were mistaken" (p290). He does not mention that the good fortune of the Chinese people includes the slaughter of tens of millions through massacre, slavery and forced famine (Washington Post, July 17-18, 1994). Nor does he inform his readers that North Vietnam massacred 50,000-100,000 before reunification, with over 300,000 starved to death (Robert F. Turner, "Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development," pp142-4); or that its post-war crimes included the massacre of perhaps 200,000 South Vietnamese (Al Santoli, ed., "To Bear Any Burden," pp272, 292-3); and the mass expulsions that drowned at least 200,000 boat people (San Diego Union, July 20, 1986). The facts being inconvenient, Vickery simply deletes them from history.

Those who wish to read a discussion of the Khmer Rouge period by responsible experts should consult Craig Etcheson, "The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea;" Karl D Jackson, ed., "Cambodia, 1975-1978: Rendezvous With Death" or Jean-Louis Margolin, "Cambodia: The Country of Disconcerting Crimes" in Stephane Courtois, ed., "The Black Book of Communism" (pp577-636). The history of scholarly apologetics on this subject is discussed in Sophal Ear's online thesis, "The Khmer Rouge Canon: 1975-1979 - The Standard Total Academic View on Cambodia."

Vickery's book has been frequently characterised as a 'denial literature' by the right yet the book contains an extensive records of the barbarity of the Khmer Rouge - particularly the Eastern zone massacres of 1978 which left the now well-known mounds of human bones in their wake. Similarly, Vickery praises the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge and argues that the Vietnamese-backed regime which replaced it was a vast improvement for the Cambodian people. This is hardly consistant with the argument that he is a Cambodian 'holocaust denier', and in stark contrast to the US and other western governments (and China) which supported the Khmer Rouge after their overthrow, as chronicled by Vickery in the book's two last chapters.
However, the casualty count of 700'000 - based on CIA data - is too low. Neither does the thesis of a 'peasant revolution' explain the nature of the Khmer Rouge regime. The Pol Pot government was led by a new ruling class drawn from the party, and were fundamentally an urban regime exploiting the Cambodian workers and peasants. This is consistent with other Stalinist regimes but not with Marxism, which states that peasants would be allowed to retain their land until they choose to join co-operatives voluntarily (see Engels' writing on the peasant question). However, all these arguments are within the realm of honest debate without the need for hysterical accusations of holocaust denial.
Where Vickery is right is in characterising the eastern zone as relatively more benign area of Cambodian and as the centre of opposition to Pol Pot. Ben Kiernan in his 1994 history argues the same and praises Vickery's work on this subject (if not others). Also - and part of the book mainly ignored by those on the right - is the book's situation of the Khmer Rouge directly in the history of Cambodia with it's attendent social discontent ,oppression and revolts, in the first chapter, and the vicious US-backed war and bombing in the second (in which more bombs were dropped on Cambodia in six months of 1973 than Japan during all of WW2). This is in contrast to the conservative interpretation that locates the crimes of the Pol Pot solely in Marxism-Leninism.
Vickery's book is a useful antioote to Cold War propaganda but should be read with some caution and alongside more recent works.

I read a number of books, trying to understand what Pol Pot was all about. Most make him out to be satan incarnate, or otherwise incomprehensible. This is the one book that made the history of his regime reasonably comprehensible to me. Highest recommendation.

Michael Vickery, always ready and perhaps even ever-anxious to attack anyone else who has studied Cambodia, shares some unique insights and valuable experience gained in Cambodia in the 1960s. While most of the arguments about the goings on inside Cambodia during the DK and PRK eras are now dated, readers can still learn much from "Cambodia 1975-1982". Early into this book, Vickery very cleverly uses passages from Bun Chan Mol's excellent book "Chareut Khmer" to catch off guard those readers who assume crimes against humanity in Cambodia began in the DK era. That passage alone makes the book worthwhile.

This was a great buy. Product came in on time and in perfect condition. On top of that, I had a great deal!

It is not easy to find books on intermediate Vietnamese, in Europe you don't find books like this in the bookstores, well...except in the UK and France. So finding one like this, that is readily available, was fantastic.

I have previously completed a bunch of books on beginner's Vietnamese and was looking for some good intermediate material.

This book is exactly what I was looking for:
+ ALOT of reading material
+ variety in exercises
+ ALOT of cultural information
+ large vocabulary build-up

Did I mention this book is huge?

This is a strong, comprehensive book, but really intended for classroom use. It lacks answers for all the activities and the reading sections. I think the idea is that you'll learn through the context, but if you are studying alone, this isn't easy.

I had already lived in Vietnam for two years, and I'd done an additional year of self-study before tackling this book. Still, right from the beginning there was a lot of new material. I'm about halfway through the book and feeling bogged down with the vocabulary at this point, and now looking for more options/books to try and supplement. Unfortunately, this is one of the only texts for intermediate speakers available in the USA, so there are very few choices of supplemental or alternative material available.

I found this book helpful to make progress with my Vietnamese. This book is your typical classroom book. It's great if you have a partner to do the exercises (I had a tutor, since I couldn't take the class). I especially enjoy listening to the dialogues on the audio CDs and try to understand the language as it is spoken in real life.

The book is divided into about 20 chapters plus a couple review chapters (personally I don't think the review chapters are necessary and the same vocabulary is repeated on the summary pages, which makes the book much longer, thicker and heavier); each chapter contains relevant vocabulary, dialogues, and exercises. The downside of the book for me is that it's somewhat Americanized Vietnamese (for Vietnamese people living in the US) except for the Vietnamese proverbs at the end of each chapter (which are a bit hard to understand without someone explaining it to you); having spent half a year in Vietnam, there is some vocabulary that is completely useless in Vietnam (like fast-food, vacuum cleaner, etc.). Many dialogues are also setup more for a typical American life style, not the current Vietnamese life style. Also, there is one guy on the CD whose pronounciation is pretty sloppy and simply not very good. All in all, the CDs are a strong point, though, and the book has been quite useful.

I have been learning Vietnamese for over five years have not followed any structured course or school, and this is the discipline approach I need. I have only been through Chapter 1, and it has a lot of new vocabulary with an emphasis on verbs. The vocabulary used is from North Vietnam and the Southern equivelents are not given. I like the info on Vietnamese culture in the exercises, and each chapter has some ca dao (Vietnamese proverbs) to learn. The CDs sound like a few college students gathered around a tape recorder, and the sound quality could be better. The listening exercises are challenging, with both North and South speakers represented. The CD does not give the English eqivalents to the dialog or vocabulary. Pure and fast Vietnamese only. Amazon says the book is only 19 pages but it is actually 400. Very comprehensive. I look forward to improving my Vietnamese with this book. Another good book at this level is Intermediate Spoken Vietnamese.

This book is an excellent account of a man who learned from his mistakes in his early life and used those experiences to control himself and attain recognition as one of the most accomplished men in history.

George Washington is probably a pretty tough person to write a biography about. He wasn't really an intellectual and there are not voluminous writings by Washington with insights into his personality like historians have for a Thomas Jefferson, or a James Madison.

This biography is very even and insightful about the personality and life of George Washington from his upbringing, his early military career, the Revolution, and of course his Presidency. Washington emerges as a somewhat vain man but one who, over time, appears to have gained wisdom with age and experience.

The primary quibbles I have with this biography is the author at times may make too many leaps of judgement about Washington's motivations and personality without enough evidence to support it. Secondly, there is not a lot of in-depth analysis about Washington's generalship or his decision making process as an army commander and President.

For example, did the wily Alexander Hamilton manipulate an overmatched President to get his way on economic policy, or was Washington, if not fully understanding Hamilton's scheme, fully in charge and in agreement with it? While the author seems to think it's the later-he doesn't really offer evidence to prove it.

Also at times it appears Washington was a bumbling over achiever who things ended up working out well for in then end, especially his early military career and early in the Revolutionary War (sometimes by Washington deflecting blame on to others). The same could be said about his Presidency. At the same time Washington appears to have become more mature and a better decision maker as he grew older and gained more experience. More could have been said on these matters.

But overall, this is a well done one-volume biography.

In an apparent attempt to present a balanced view of Washington, Ferling attempts to psychoanalyze the first president and goes far afield of the materials he has. Often his conclusions are pure conjecture and he frequently criticizes "other historians" for thier conclusions and then draws his own unsubstantiated conclusions.

Ferling does provide a nice historical accounting of events and details during Washington's life. However, he frequently tries to determine the mindset of Washington and here he repeately fails. Often these attempts are little more than cheap shots. He even criticizes the President for not writing his feelings in his diary when he found that a relative was dying, saying that Washington was afraid to appear "unmanly." This is little more than the insertion of 20th century thoughts and values into an 18th century mind. It does little to shed light on Washington and much to shed light on Ferling's mindset.

Undoubtedly there are biographies which are equally detailed without the repeated and distracting psychoanalysis.

This book was an assigned text in one of my college classes, and that's how I came to read it. I originally wanted to read Flexner's or Randall's biography of Washington, but Ferling's version didn't disappoint me.

What struck me about this biography is its objectivity. Ferling neither romanticizes about Washington as a demi-god, nor does he try to debase him. In the first hundred pages or so, I felt that Ferling was rather harshly critical of Washington, but by the end of the book, I felt that Ferling had highlighted many of Washington's good qualities as well. Ferling doesn't sugar-coat Washington's faults, but he doesn't ignore Washington's remarkable achievements, either. I liked how Ferling contrasts the brash young Washington of Fort Necessity with the mature Washington of Valley Forge. The father of our country certainly wasn't born with the dignity that later was his trademark, and it was interesting to see how Washington developed his character over the years. This gave me a more realistic admiration of Washington than I previously had.

An excellent biography about a tremendous historical figure.

Ferling writes a comprehensive story of one of the greatest persons in history. Although it is long (500 pages) it is well-written and very readable. He avoids the tendency in recent years to drag Washington down to a common level, and yet the author is honest with his subject's faults. The book contains a helpful index and not a few illustrations. This reviewer holds a graduate degree in history and currently teaches college history.

Kudos to the marketing team at Amazon. Out of the blue they sent me an email notifying me of a sale on a text that I have needed for years. It was a great price so I bit. It turns out that the book is like new. I am a happy camper.

This key for PNW flora is the key used by Washington State University. Text is scientific in nature, and is not intended for pleasure reading. An excellent but complex key, it follows a standard dichotomous (two choices for each step) format. Although not intended for the layman, the text includes a good glossary and has helpful black and white illustrations. This book would not be a good introduction to dichotomous keying as it is designed for the serious botanist.

Contains excellent illustrations. The terminology and abbreviations may be confusing to some. Needs to be updated as some of the family nomenclature has been changed. I wouldn't recommend this for the average "what's this plant" person.

This botany key is used by University of Idaho's botany classes. It is still "the" book reached for by the professional in the work force. Afterall, what else is there that is so comprehensive? However, it is in need of revision due to changes in genus and specie names since its fifth printing of 1981.

EXCELLENT first-book to reach for when needing proper scientific terminology. Does include some common names in the descriptions. Extremely detailed and uses extensive abbreviations. I used this book in Univ. of Idaho botany classes in the 1980's and still use it in my daily job now (year 2000). However, it does indeed need to be updated for current terminology and names, including lower-case spellings.

Joseph Taylor's award-winning history of the Northwest salmon crisis is the best book to date on this important topic. No other study is as well researched or beautifully written as MAKING SALMON. Taylor, who teaches environmental and Western United States history at Iowa State University, traces the historical decline of salmon runs throughout the Pacific Northwest, focusing primarily on Oregon. His argument--that while many have claimed to speak for salmon, most have actually articulated their own needs instead--takes the current debate beyond the politics of blame. Understanding the complex social and environmental history of the "salmon crisis," he argues, is essential to thinking more clearly about the future of our region's fisheries. Most impressive is his critique of the role hatcheries have played in diminishing Northwest salmon runs. Science and technology, he concludes, have not always saved nature from human abuses. Abundant illustrations, detailed maps, and a rich bibliography round out the book. There are many titles that explore the decline of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. None address the issue as artfully and intelligently as MAKING SALMON. It is required reading for anyone who cares about the future of Northwest salmon or the people who depend upon them.

There's your text books on salmon, and there's required reading.
Of the 300-odd salmon titles, Making Salmon is one of those you
must read. Like First Fish, First People, Making Salmon is about
the human side of the fishery, its evolution and confabulation
as a fought-over resource. Absolutely fascinating history, you
realize right away that nobody has an absolute moral high ground
in the salmon debate. Everything is allied against its survival,
and yet magically, miraculously, the salmon continue to return.
Like Mountain in the Clouds, put Making Salmon on your booklist.

As long as man has lived in the Pacific Northwest he has exploited the salmon. In this thorough history of the travails of the pacific salmon, Joseph Taylor does not hesitate to mince words or point the finger of blame, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Native Americans, commercial fishermen, loggers, farmers, sport fishermen, politicians, the states, the feds, the hatcheries, and others, all share the responsibility for the decline of these great fish.

Although focusing on Oregon, MAKING SALMON is easily transferable anywhere Pacific salmon exist, from California to Alaska. Extremely well documented, (fully a third of the book is taken up with notes and other addenda) MAKING SALMON takes the reader step by step through the last two centuries of development in the Northwest and what that has meant to the salmon fishery there. Taylor paints an excellent history of failure and simplistic answers to a complex problem. What comes through, as most intriguing, is the resiliency of the salmon. They somehow manage to survive despite our best efforts to save them. Resiliency should not be confused with immortality however.

Not always an easy read, MAKING SALMON nonetheless remains essential to anyone wishing to better understand the plight of the Pacific salmon or who is interested in the fine detail of what happens when man and nature collide.

Making Salmon is the definitive work on the problems facing the salmon fishery of the Pacific Northwest. For as long as man has lived he has exploited the salmon. Joseph Taylor takes the reader on a journey through time as he leads us step by step through the decline of these once great fish. There is plenty of culpability to go around. Foresters, developers, commercial fisherman, native Americans, even sport fishermen all come in for their share of blame. Although focusing on Oregon, Taylor's work is easily transferable anywhere salmon swim, from Alaska to California.

Extremely well documented (fully a third of the book is taken up with notes and other addenda) Making Salmon is occasionally dry but never dull. What is most dramatic about this story is the resiliency of the salmon. Time and time again they manage to survive despite our best efforts to save them!

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of dams, hatcheries, consumption or conservation, you will find merit in this work. Making Salmon is a must read for anyone interested in the rivers and fisheries of the Northwest.

Mr. Taylor accurately identifies most of the causes of the salmon population crisis facing Washington state, Oregon, Alaska, and British Columbia. And he is dead on in his assessment of the impact of farm fisheries on salmon ecology.
The book grossly understates, however, the impact of logging on salmon habitat. Without canopy to cool streams, temperature-sensitive salmon simply cannot spawn successfully. And let's not overlook the role that clear-cutting plays in causing erosion, sedimentation, and flooding. It's true that salmon ecology can still suffer from genetic contamination by farm fish, point-source and non-point-source pollution, illegal overfishing on the high seas, legal overfishing in fresh water, damming, and overuse of water by irrigators and developers. But let's not downplay the egregious impact of logging.

The man and his "competitors" were not above your common grave diggers. They simply dug and hauled treasures and historic artifacts out of their resting places and rubbed a people and the land of their heritage.

Shame on those who consider them true archeologists.

Aurel Stein was not without his faults. From all indications, he believed in the white man's burden, and probably would have tolerated fascism for its efficiency except for the realization that Hitler's brand of it included anti-Semitism, and Stein was Jewish. Even the subtitle of the book, Pioneer of the Silk Road, is Eurocentric: there were already people living in the areas Stein explored, members of tribes Stein seems to have had no interest in or ability to differentiate among. Stein was the first white archaeologist in the area, and he did open up new methods of what can only be called archaeological plunder. Stein felt that if he hadn't taken those antiquities, there was a good chance they would have been destroyed where they were. He didn't know they'd sit unviewed in the British Museum for almost a hundred years after he took them. The real crime is that they are not now given back to China to help right past injustices. Stein's racial and cultural attitudes were a product of his time. He was too stuck in the framework of his own culture to be able to judge any other culture except by the standards of his own. Annabel Walker acknowledges Stein's shortcomings and yet brings him to life as an interesting, sympathetic individual. He loved his family and friends and dogs dearly, but beyond that, he loved the great Asian wildernesses that he roamed in, often at extreme peril. Walker evokes those places, makes us see them as he did. Walker shows us the "pluck", as Stein liked to call it, of the man, as well as his determination to shape his life as he wanted it, to pursue what interested him. He died the way he lived, in action, pursuing his dream even in his old age. Annabel Walker writes with insight and equanimity. Her research is painstaking, her writing style enjoyable and thought-provoking.

It is only through the work and people like Aurel Stein that we can retain knowledge of the past which otherwise would be forgotten and lost in the hands of specialized predators and thieves. Well written book.

This review addresses two questions: 1) why read a lengthy biography(s) of Sir Aurel Stein who, though famous in his lifetime and a continuing giant in scholarly circles, is today little known to the general public; and 2) which of the two biographies written about Stein should one read: Jeanette Mirsky's "Sir Aurel Stein--Archaeological Explorer" or Annabel Walker's "Aurel Stein--Pioneer of the Silk Road." (Both are available through Amazon.com.)

As to the first question, Stein was the pioneering and dominant archaeologist in the re-discovery during the early 20th century of the ancient civilizations of the eastern Silk Road. The desert and mountain areas he worked in western China and its borderlands with India and Tibet were among the most physically challenging on the planet. And his various projects in life extended well beyond that into India, Pakistan, Persia, and Syria. So a biography of Stein is both an immersion in ancient history and its resurrection, and a tale of adventure and exploration--though, let it be said, it is adventure without theater, because Stein (and thus perforce his biographers) in his writings focused not on the many perils he encountered but on the scientific results he achieved. The adventurous life and amazing fortitude of the man nonetheless come through between the lines.

The other, perhaps greater, reason to read a biography of Aurel Stein is not what he discovered, but who he was: his was the life fully lived. He remained active, healthy, and fully engaged until his death in Kabul in 1943 at age 81 on the verge of yet another archaeological expedition, and he lived his entire life vigorously and focused on a set of themes and projects for investigation which made that life amazingly productive, unified, and successful. It's what we all wish for ourselves--and from which many or most of us fall short. So this is a "feel good" story of human striving and great accomplishment. Until the modern era, we often read biographies of "great men" less for the particulars of the events they molded than for the models of character these people offered of how to live a good and significant life. An account of Stein's life is highly impressive and vicariously comforting in that regard, irrespective of your interest in the archaeology of the Silk Road.

As to the second question, there are two biographies from which to choose (itself a tribute to Stein, since few archaeologists are deemed fit subjects by even one biographer.) Jeanette Mirsky deserves great credit as his pioneer biographer. But Annabel Walker's is the book to read first. If it hooks you on Stein, then you will also find Mirsky's worthwhile, since it in some ways complements Walker's.

The two authors take different approaches. Walker's is a classic biography of external analysis which sorts the evidence. It is deep in insight, and moves quickly as a page-turner because Stein was always looking to the next project, which evolved logically out of his last endeavor or from new opportunities he encountered and exploited. His life thus follows a logical and linear but fascinating trajectory with a real sense of momentum. It's a sophisticated adventure story with a great spirit of unity and drive, and Walker captures that and with much insight smoothly analyzes the transition points (i.e., what lead to the next phase or episode) in a fast-paced but thorough account.

Mirsky's book is half devoted to excerpts from Stein's letters--which were voluminous, highly literate, and have been remarkably well preserved. The other half of her book is Mirksy's narrative framework of analysis (which in some cases exceeds even Walker's perceptiveness of Stein.) So with Mirsky you have part analysis, and part Stein in his own words. This has advantages and disadvantages. It gives you a more direct feel for Stein's character in his own words, and through his letters covers some topics more deeply than Walker does, such as Stein's tactics in dealing with Chinese officials, the British bureaucracy's view of their headstrong employee (he was nominally a school inspector in India but continually sought special dispensation to focus on archaeological projects), and his generosity towards his subordinates.

But Mirsky's attempt to mix analytical narrative with letter excerpts on a number of occasions lapses into more trivial detail from Stein's letters than necessary (Mirsky's book at 547 pre-index pages is no more complete in essence than Walker's at 355 pages), and at some points (particularly accounts of Stein's early life), it misses the forest for the trees and produces some confusion, in part due to failure to provide adequate editorial notes to explicate some of the names/incidents recounted in Stein's letters. Neither book, unfortunately, comes anywhere close to providing adequate maps with which to follow Stein's many journeys. But Walker's book is slightly better than Mirsky's in that regard.

Bottom line: read Walker's book first. It is enough. But if you like this man as much as I did and get "hooked," you will much enjoy Mirsky's book and a more direct exposure to Sir Aurel Stein in his own words and to some of Mirsky's very insightful observations as a follow-on.