Eastern University Books

Peace at any Price Peace at Any Price: How the World Failed Kosovo (Crises in World Politics)was recommended to me as probably the most authorative work on the UN work in Kosovo.

The authors were deeply involved on the ground there, and it shows in the depth and quality of the analysis.

The book contains an excellent description and chronology of overall events. It then moves into a deeper analysis and consideration of what happened, before a final (brilliant) conclusions section which is really what made this book so worthwhile for me.

Although Peace at any Price is a brilliant macro analysis of the Kosovo intervention, there are loads of examples and personal accounts which bring the analysis to life.

I read Peace at any Price alongside Joe Sacco's also excellent "Safe Area Gorazde" Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 and found that Sacco's work added an additional level of human and emotional understanding, on top of Mason's analysis of the events.

In the past decade, Kosovo has only ever hit the headlines because of violence and tragedy. Ethnic cleansing, war crimes, NATO intervention: these events dominated the news agenda for the first six months of 1999 and defined Kosovo's international reputation. Sadly, destruction is more telegenic than construction, and the important attempts to steer Kosovo towards a better future have received far less attention.

The authors' task is to tell the story of the UN mission that has administered Kosovo from the early days after NATO intervention through to - presumably - its imminent independence (conditional, supervised or however formulated). This is the first significant study of UNMIK, and succeeds brilliantly in illuminating its challenges, dilemmas and limitations.

From its uncertain first steps, by 2001 UNMIK oversaw the largest per-capita investment in peacebuilding that the world has ever seen. Yet the returns on that investment have been unimpressive, yielding a host of lessons that the "international community" urgently needs to learn if it is to succeed in elsewhere.

Paying particular attention to the orchestrated ethnic violence of March 2004, the authors convincingly portray an international community consistently unwilling to confront hardliners in the Kosovo Albanian community. This timidity is the source of the failure identified in the title, and has long-term consequences for Kosovo and its population.

As a ground-breaking study, the book almost inevitably left me wanting more. What could UNMIK realistically have achieved, given the timeframe and resources available? How much influence could a short-term mission - however well-resourced - really exert over Kosovo's long-term development? Social and political change is a long-term process, yet western politics - under the scrutiny of the 24-hour media - demands rapid results. Do we really have the stomach for the necessary long-term engagement, or are we content simply with the illusion that something is being done?

Necessarily, the authors have been more conservative in their aims, but in exploring UNMIK's successes and failures, they have rendered a great service to those who must grapple with these problems. We can only hope that future Donald Rumsfelds will choose to listen, and be willing to learn.

The author offers a fantastic view of the Japanese monarchy that is well worth the read. A wonderful historical take on the subject.

Kenneth J. Ruoff is an Associate Professor of Japanese History at Portland State University. Dr. Ruoff is the Director of the Center for Japanese Studies at the university.

Professor Ruoff received the 2004 Jiro Osaragi Commentary Prize for the Japanese translation of his book THE PEOPLE'S EMPEROR. The prize was given at a ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo January 27, 2005. The prize include an award of two million yen. Dr. Ruoff is the first foreigner to receive the Osaragi Prize.

Dale S. Wright's, Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism, is an important book--and not just for scholars but for Zen students/practitioners as well.

Using the classic Huang Po texts (especially John Blofeld's translation) as his touchstone, Professor Wright examines some of the most significant issues concerning the authentic message of Zen Buddhism.

His excellent book illumines many of the seemingly contradictory stances that have arisen due to the dynamic interplay between history and tradition, fact and fiction, as it has been transmitted to the West as well as through time itself.

After lucidly outlining his intentions in the introduction, Wright provides a wonderful lesson on "meditative reading" that reminds us of Moritmer J. Adler's revelations on the necessity of "active reading" for authentic communication--or should we call it transmission. In any case, his points are well taken. After all, Zen records are not mystery novels; they are the basic texts of a spiritual tradition that many people base their lives on.

His approach to "meditative reading" is outlined with three basic points. First, it should be "thoughtful." That is, the reader needs to do what the author has done: think. Second, it should be "reflexive." In that the reader's own self-awareness must be functioning in the activity of reading. Third, the reader must be open to "self-transformation." If the reader is to actually learn anything, they must be willing to let go of old ideas.

The book opens with a discussion about the fact that the Huang Po text (as well as many of the records of the great Zen masters) does not come directly from the mind of Huang Po. Instead, this record is the result of thousands of "mediations."

Outlining just a fraction of the transformative conditions that have played out on this text, Wright mentions such factors as the motives of the original editor, P' ei-hsiu (former Prime Minister, former student of Tsung-mi). The elder monks at Kuang T'ang Monastery (who P' ei-hsiu invited to correct or add to the record). The various factors concerning "personal censorship" and the "internal editor." The general "attitude" toward texts in China at the time (for instance, it was common and acceptable to copy, amplify, add to, etc.). The fact that most copies were probably "hand copied," hence, were susceptible to mistakes, as well as "modification."

Professor Wright then demonstrates his own "openness" to reading. Rather than simply dismissing the texts as spurious fabrications, as some scholars might (and have), he approaches them through the Buddhist formula of "dependant origination."

Acknowledging our modern "romantic" notions for establishing the "authority" of texts, Write invites us to look deeper. He invites us to see how this kind of "communal authorship" might even prove more significant than could any historical account of the facts. Wright points out:

"In the gradual alteration of the manuscript we find the unfolding and transformation of the community's highest ideals."

Have you ever considered the authorship of the Heart Sutra, or the Avatamsaka sutra? Might their creation not be similiar to those of some of the classic Zen masters?

This is only a small peek at the rich harvest Professor Wright has presented in this profound examination of the texts, philosophy, message, and meaning of Zen Buddhism in the modern world.

Still unsure? Allow me to briefly mention a few more points that Professor Wright makes in this remarkable offering of "meditations."

He methodically, and systematically examines the vital role that reading has played in the history of Zen, as well as the profound significance that reading (or the lack of reading) has on Zen in the present day--and what it might mean for the future.

We are invited to explore the implications of the fact that the Zen teachings about "no dependence on words" are themselves "words" recorded in texts.

Dale S. Write examines the significance, meanings, and implications of the fact that the very masters that made admonitions regarding texts were themselves well read and often quoted texts as the ultimate authorities of their own teachings.

He also demonstrates the fallacy of the "explanation" by some that reading consists of some kind of "preliminary" stage to "authentic" Zen and, as such can be abandoned upon "actual" experience.

Dale S. Wright lifts the black/white arguments of the various schools of thought and finds much more than gray. Like the Zen master Dogen, he discovers (and presents) an infinite number of colors in those curious, and marvelous wonders of world literature--the records of the Great Zen Masters.

Dale Wright has engaged with the Zen Buddhist tradition with a powerful and sophisticated hermanuetic analysis. Based on Blofield's influential translation of Huang Po's Transmission of Mind he delivers a masterful exploration of Zen thinking. Zen's traditional claims to transcending words and concepts is closely scrutinized. Wright cleverly uses the Buddhist concept of dependent origination to add a further explanatory dimension to the role of language and its context in reading and understanding Zen. He rightly points out that Zen Buddhism is deeply intwined with language and that whilst Zen Koans are presentations of extra-ordinary human experience, their oddness is not meaningless cryptic, but instrumental in communicating insight gained through meditative practice using ordinary language in non-ordinary ways. The book challenges romantic and historicist conceptions of Zen which hold to something like a universial "spirit" or experience which transcends historic time and location. And it challenges the disembodied "objective" analysis of scientific approaches which set upon "facts" and "historical data" as though they can be simply "read" without reflection on the frames of interpretation of the observer. Instead Wright exposes the reader to an important dimension of reflexivity which comes with a post-modern sensibility. Zen emerges the wiser, without a romantic and naive sense of transcendence and a firmer understanding of importance of understanding the historical context of Zen writing. We are also reminded of how our own modern context colours how we make sense of Zen as well as nonsense of it.

My sense is that this book it is a major landmark in the meeting between Western Philosophy and Buddhism. The complexity of the hermanuetic circle of understanding something like Zen, I suspect, means we have many more rounds to go. My sense is that, like Zen, this complexity trangresses the boundaries of language in ways we are yet to grasp. Zen's lack of reflexivity and historic resistence to critical reflection are great limitations, and yet western linguistics too does not fully appreciate how words themselves can be brimming with emptiness. There is work to be done on both sides and hopefully this book will serve as the basis for a mutually beneficial dialogue.

Overall, Dale Wright has written an important piece in understanding the rich vein of knowledge that Zen inquiry uncovers. It links into to new developments in the cognitive sciences which, as the late Francisco Varela suggests, opens up a door to a new mode of human experience that has hardly been explored in the West. Wright explains how our language, not only needs to develop in radical ways to meet this marvelousness Zen experience, but even just to begin the inquiry. It is essential reading for anyone taking eastern philosophy seriously.

I recieved the book as fast as i was promised, in a great shape. Thanks alot, i would highly reccommend this seller.

Alfarabi is one of the greatest philosophers to walk the earth since Plato and Aristotle left the sublunary world! This must seem an outrageous statement given how little Farabi is read, taught, or even translated here in the West. But what we today do not realize is: first, how Farabi defined the limits of medieval thought and, secondly, how those limits became part of the modern world. In this note I would like to start out by giving a brief indication of this.

Farabi is the first philosopher (that we know of) to notice that the world that philosophy inhabited was no longer the 'natural cave' that Plato spoke of in the Republic. Today, thanks to our reading of Nietzsche, it is almost a commonplace to refer to Christianity (and also, by extension, Islam, Liberalism and Socialism) as a 'Platonism for the people'. Farabi, by realizing that philosophy had in his time become lost (or forgotten), decisively leaves the ancient world (i.e., the natural cave) behind and enters, whether cheerfully, fearfully or cautiously we will never know, a world (specifically, the world of medieval monotheism) in which the shadows on the wall of the cave are no longer simply those thrown by 'natural', that is, pre-philosophical, customary religion and law (i.e., nomos); but rather these shadows are now (since the rise of the first 'Platonism for the people') -at least in part and in varying degrees- philosophical artifacts. So, how does philosophy behave once a (ahem) philosophical 'theory of everything' arises? That was the question that Farabi faced; and that was a question neither Plato nor Aristotle ever faced...

Now, philosophical esotericism in Antiquity was always concerned with the individual; it ultimately wanted to free the individual from his thralldom to nomos or sophistry and bring him to philosophy. But Farabi faces a situation in which everyone (i.e., the Christians and Moslems of his time) already knows the Truth and has God on their side. Farabi must establish and defend the continued necessary existence of philosophy in the face of an all-knowing, all-powerful God. After all, why would those who possess a Revelation search for Truth when it is here, in front of them, in the 'Religion of our People'? Farabi's "Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle" demonstrates the great skepticism genuine Philosophy has for Truth and the self-assured (but ultimately sophistical) holders of Truth by, in part, resorting to (or inventing) Platonic political esotericism.

In order to counteract the 'strong' illusions on the walls of this cave (i.e., monotheism) Farabi proposes, in the 'Attainment of Happiness', a fidelity to method that is (perhaps) unprecedented in the ancient world. This fidelity to method, of course, is intended, as Farabi indicates, to ensure a singularity of outcomes. (Fundamentally, Descartes will later use method for the same reason.) Now, the fact that the 'school' Farabi heads (the Islamic Philosophers, - that is, the Falasifa) disappears down the gullet of history is no reason to think that the story ended there. Averroes who, for the purposes of this brief note, can be identified as the last of the great 'Aristotelian' Falasifa, had an immense, but subterranean, impact on Western philosophy. Indeed, after Aquinas lost the good fight for a (moderate) 'Latin Aristotelianism', a 'radical Averroism' would eventually triumph in the West. (This 'Averroism', however, was in fact blind to the 'religious philosophy' of Averroes, that is, they had never seen his 'Decisive Treatise', and therefore went too far in the direction of secularism.) Before the rise of this 'Latin Averroism', however, a form of Kalam (Islamic Speculative Theology) would rule the Western world. But eventually this anti-rational, 'God's Will' theology of Scotus and Ockham is overthrown by the new secular philosophies best represented by Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza. These last are the genuine, but by no means merely direct, heirs of radical Latin Averroism. And this early-modern secularism eventually became the modern Enlightenment which continues its transformation of the world even today. But post-modernity is only the latest skirmish in the 'jihad of the falasifa' which may have ultimately begun, however much it has changed over time, in the thought of one man - Farabi.

Farabi changes Philosophy because the world that philosophy inhabited had irrevocably changed. The merely customary Nomos of classical antiquity was replaced by Revealed Law. But why was that a problem? Hadn't philosophy itself a hand in the rise of the monotheistic 'Platonisms for the People'? Yes, philosophy did have a hand in it. (Now, whether Plato intended to remake the world in this manner is another question, one which I will not address here.) But it is only too obvious that the various (at best) squabbling or (at worse) warring factions among the monotheists (Christianity/Islam, Catholic/Orthodox, Sunni/Shia, e.g.) were certainly not intended by the philosophers. This is, in part, the reason behind the great innovation of the 'Attainment of Happiness': Farabi teaches that one method, not one Truth, leads to one result. This single-minded pursuit of a single behavior is intended to moderate, and eventually end, the countless internecine conflicts of the various monotheistic sects.

Where the ancient philosophical schools had always practiced some form of 'soulcraft' on their students Farabi only wants to elicit a common, and therefore 'correct', behavior. The ancient study of philosophy generally culminated in some sort of truth. Of course, a given student might never reach the culminating truth. But the practice of philosophical soulcraft would, or so it was hoped, improve any student. Before Farabi philosophy always at least attempted to address the soul or psyche of individuals; after him, and to an ever increasing degree, philosophy addresses behavior by teaching one method, and philosophy thus purposefully addresses World-History; that is, philosophy is from this point on self-consciously making the future...

Now, this book is a tryptich, it begins with 'Attainment of Happiness', it has 'The Philosophy of Plato' in the middle, and it ends with 'The Philosophy of Aristotle'. We are to understand that the 'Attainment of Happiness' is Farabi's original contribution to Philosophy. This book was, in medieval times, referred to as 'The Two Philosophers'; in reality it could have been (and indeed should have been) referred to as the 'Three Philosophers'. - I mean by this that, according to our author, after Plato & Aristotle there is only Farabi. I recommend reading the book first in the traditional order: Farabi, Plato, Aristotle, and then reading it in chronological order, Plato, Aristotle, Farabi; and finally, reverse the chronological order, Farabi, Aristotle, Plato. This last, btw, has the virtue of allowing one to view the history of philosophy as Farabi himself saw it: that is, himself, Aristotle, Plato.

But reading this book chronologically, from Plato to Farabi, also has its merits. So we begin with Plato. Farabi, swimming in the wake of the results of Platonic esoteric caution, exaggerates the importance of Politics in his explication of Plato in order to counteract the even greater incaution of Revealed Religious Law. It is, unfortunately, often necessary to counter one exaggeration with another. In a storm (and History, may the gods help us, is a storm!) one always finds oneself steering in this, that and/or some other direction in order to simply stay on course. Farabi, towards the end of the `Philosophy of Plato', alludes to the methods and ways of Timaeus, Socrates and Thrasymachus. These three are masks (or signs) of the three fundamental things the philosopher can speak about: Cosmos (or Theology), the individual Soul or Psyche, and the City (or Politics). Philosophy, in Itself, can perhaps be defined as the mixture of these three ways, in their proper measure at the proper time. I leave it to the discerning reader of the `Philosophy of Plato' to determine which of these three ways Farabi elects to emphasize here. Keep in mind that in another work, for instance "On the Perfect State", Farabi may well choose to proceed in a (somewhat, if not entirely) different manner...

You should see the criticism of other philosophers inherent in the way Farabi here discusses Plato: Thus the ways of some other ancient philosophers (e.g., Parmenides or Pythagoras) would then be, from the viewpoint of Plato, or perhaps I should say the 'Plato' of Farabi, an immoderate privileging of the 'way of Timaeus'. Another point to note is that of these three (i.e., Cosmos, City, Soul) the only one that the philosopher can fundamentally effect is the City. This is simultaneously a great danger and (perhaps) an even greater opportunity. In either case, it should really surprise no one that philosophy winds up here, in our post-modernity, thinking it has made (or will make) everything in the City... I want to add that for those who continue to insist upon the alleged 'Neoplatonism' of Farabi this essay, 'The Philosophy of Plato', must always remain a great scandal to them. We should never stop being amazed by the fact that in this essay Farabi can't even bring himself to mention the Platonic Ideas! As an aside I will point out that this can also be said of the 'Platonist' (really, the Farabian) Leo Strauss. In fact it has been said, by one of the greatest students of Strauss - Stanley Rosen. Now, Rosen isn't at all happy about this but this unhappiness is the result of his expecting Strauss to behave like a Platonist when Strauss is in fact a Farabian. Well, enough of this digression...

Regarding Aristotle I can only mention, in these brief remarks, that just as Farabi's Plato barely discusses 'Metaphysics' so too Farabi's Aristotle barely discusses politics. Farabi says Plato's discussion terminates (i.e., finishes) but near the very end of the Aristotle essay Farabi says "we do not possess metaphysical science." One can perhaps understand this to mean that, properly speaking, 'metaphysical" investigation is endless while Plato, in fact, exhausted the study of philosophical anthropology and politics. In closing I should say that in order to properly understand the philosophy of Farabi (i.e.,"The Attainment of Happiness") we need to see how he intends to utilize the results of Plato's investigations in order to secure foundations that support unending metaphysical research. The 'Attainment of Happiness' ends with Farabi assuring us that Plato and Aristotle "intended to offer one and the same philosophy." We should add that this was Farabi's intention too.

Farabi is the least read of the great philosophers. Begin your study here.

I sent for this book because of my interest in knowing more about the Balfour Declaration than just that it opened a possibility for a Jewish homeland. In this thoroughgoing and apparently fair book I found so many parallels with our situation in Iraq that I abstracted it. It is packed with many interesting and important details that make the book emminently readable and lay bare the roots of the enduring Arab-Israeli confrontation.

This book is a well-written and detailed history of the British mandate rule of Palestine (1920-1947). She is a careful historian who supports her prose with ample references. The tale she tells is a sad one and chronicles the systematic colonial expulsion of Palestinians from their land. Some British were even-handed but the weight of Ms. Shepherd's evidence demonstrates a bias against the Arabs. This is a most timely book because of the continuing struggle of the Palestinians for a fair deal. The facts presented should be considered by Israeli negotiators involved in the so-called "peace process".

I have been reading books by Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969) since I was a regular subscriber to The New York Review of Books and read in an article by Milan Kundera that his form of intellectual existentialism was much more comic than anything Sartre managed to write. One of the few things I learned reading the New York Review of Books was that praise for comedy of that kind was extremely rare. I had been reading philosophy for most of my life and only considered Nietzsche a master of irony, in the form of "many lies tell the poets," and not just the poets lately. Gombrowicz had written a comic novel, FERDYDURKE, in Poland in the 1930s. Most of his novels were written in Argentina after World War II in Polish and were published in Paris.

POLISH MEMORIES, published in a Polish language edition, Wspomnienia Polskie, in 2002, translated into English in 2004 by Bill Johnston for Yale University Press, is based on a typescript that has a few gaps. The flap at the front of the book says these sketches were written for Radio Free Europe during his years in Argentina. There is no date at the beginning, but within the text the dates run from July 4, 1960, to August 30, 1961. His DIARY contains many reactions to the literature being produced in the Polish language during his life. POLISH MEMORIES attempts to explain how well he knew many Polish writers and those who invited them to solons or café tables. The section dated February 6, 1961, starts with "I cannot recall how I first met Bruno Schulz." (p. 113). When his CINNAMON SHOPS was published, Bruno was still a modest schoolteacher in Drohobycz. "He remained such a browbeaten provincial teacher till his tragic death in a German camp." (p. 113). The people in Poland were vulnerable to that kind of influence from outside their borders. The main narrative ends with Witold Gombrowicz reaching Vienna on a train just after Hitler's Anschluss. One of the last characters described was a Nazi spy, which was not obvious until his interaction on the train with Nazi guards was a bit too easy to understand.

The book starts with Gombrowicz's boyhood. What could possibly be wrong with being a Polish country bumpkin who hates school, where he only has a knowledge of Polish and French and is uninterested in learning anything else? Mainly he notices that the schools put so much emphasis on things that are Polish that any knowledge of anything beyond the end of their Polish noses gets crowded out. When Witold has the opportunity to study in Paris in 1928, he does not like the museums because people trying to appreciate great art look so stupid. He walks at night and finds people in a café that he can talk to, usually by opposing their manner of speaking, the reasons they like Paris, or whatever.

Back in Poland as a young writer, he `became known as "the King of the Jews," since it was enough for me to sit down at a table to be surrounded by hordes of Semites; at the time they were my most gracious listeners' (p. 178) in the Ziemianska Café where he became acquainted with a lively group. Joined there by the Nazi spy, "Mr. Brochwicz-Kozlowski, a journalist and author of a volume of short stories, I welcomed him with friendly interest, because he was a groveling coward and a hysterical desire to rise to the top and prey to a sense of his own weakness, arrogant and fainthearted, a slyboots and a ham" (p. 186) and "I found it rather hard to believe that he might be working for Hitler, since it turned out that his mother was evidently, visibly Jewish." Gombrowicz believed that Polish squires had a coexistence with Jews that had lasted for centuries:

One of my cousins, gifted with a sense of humor not infrequently found among the gentry, would converse with his Israelite not on the verandah but from a second-floor balcony, so that he could yell down at the merchantr standing in front of the house: "What are you trying to tell me, Moishe?!" I imagine that many people would see this as a typical manifestation of the gentry's pompousness; but I think that my cousin, in turning himself into a proud master and the merchant into a poor "Moishe," was making a rather profound joke--for he was mocking himself as much as the Jew, and turning the very attitude of the gentry toward the Jews into something grotesque. (p. 177).

We live in a very comic society, where legal protections are likely to fail in the case of anyone who might actually benefit from having some rights. Comedy has become a very deep manner of reacting to what modern society confronts, if we could just figure out what it is, besides comic.

Gombrowitz's memoirs. less obtuuse then the diary. less eccentric and charming also, but truthfull and quiet insightfull in many small quirky ways into phycological depths that are not usually developed in this culture

This book, as far as I can tell, remains to this day one of the best written and most comprehensive reports on what was happening during the 18 or so months from the creation of Solidarity movement in Poland in August 1980 to the imposition of martial law on December 13, 1981. And the library of books on this subject, as far as English language is concerned, isn't big anyway.

First reason - the author was right where the action was, literally. And, unlike many other foreign correspondents, he did not limit himself to shallow, superficial observations calculated for fast print; he went further. He managed to get in touch with many Solidarity activists, on various levels, and through participation (as an observer) in meetings as well as conversations and interviews succeeded in getting more in depth description of what exactly was happening and explanation why and for what purpose.

Reporting of events, as important as it is in itself, was not the only feature of this book. Timothy Garton Ash also offers quite in depth, even if at times controversial, analysis of events and critical portraits of some key players in the political events - on both sides of the political 'barricade'. The characteristic of Wojciech Jaruzelski, the head of Polish government at the time (both Prime Minister and First Secretary of "PZPR" the Communist Party), particularly stands out as original and convincing.

I myself was actively involved in the Solidarity movement at that time and I can testify to the general accuracy of the statements contained in this book. No particular story, account of an event or critical analysis strikes me as improbable or outright false. Last but not least what also helps the book considerably is its lively, captivating narrative. It is, simply, a good read.

If the aim of the author was to bring Poland, its contemporary history and predicament closer to an English speaking reader, he graciously succeeded. I deem this book an essential reading for anyone who wants to get closer understanding of contemporary Poland and also some understanding of how it was like to live under the Communist rule in those years. Very highly recommended.

Timothy Ash was sent to Poland in August 1980 to cover a strike by workers in a Gdansk shipyard. He ended up covering a 16 month struggle for national independence which ended when the Polish Army declared a State of War and crushed the Solidarity movement in December 1981. His account is compelling, human and covers not only events in Warsaw, but other Solidarity centres and strikes around Poland. This book is a wonderfully rich introduction to contemporary Poland and the events and attitudes that have shaped Polish thinking since the war. If you are interested in reading about the Polish struggle for independence this is the book for you.

I found this book to be very insightful and well documented. Having done my own research on Slovakia (and Czechoslovakia) during the 20th century, and being the son of a Slovak major general who saved Jews from deportation, fought in the Slovak National Uprising, directly served under President Edvard Benes between 1945 and 1948, and escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1948 to continue his fight against totalitarianism, I have gained a fairly good grasp and understanding of the events that Slovakia and her people experienced in the 20th century. I have many family members still living in Slovakia with whom I regularly communicate and have visited there on numerous occasions, including during the period of communist rule. From all that I have come to understand about Slovakia's history and present-day struggles, I find that Dr. Cohen's analysis and focus is precise. Her only failure throughout her doctorial thesis is making a connection between Slovakia's long history of foreign occupation and oppression and the passive, pastoral character and nature of her people that has made her an easy victim and target over the centuries. It can be argued that this passive character is a consequence of centuries of external oppression or a manifestation of something deeper that has been at the core of the Slovak character since the 9th century.

Dr. Cohen's analysis of the events of 1938-1948 are right on target. She is thorough in addressing both sides of the arguements that have been proffered mitigating and condemning the actions of the Tiso government during the Second World War. Her conclusions regarding the reasons for revisionist history on the part of the fascists and communists since 1948 are insightful and accurate. While most of the German nation has embraced its shame for its actions during the Second World War, most of the Central and Eastern European countries, including the republics of the former Soviet Union, have done all they can to deny their shame. Like before the Second World War, within Slovakia there are three major political and philosophical forces that remain ardent enemies--democrats (capitalists and social-democrats), fascists (national socialists) and communists (Marxists, but not Stalinists). Dr. Cohen astutely considers the past and ongoing influence of these three forces, as fluid as they are, and categorically ascribes their individual roles to present-day problems. Unfortunately, her study ends in 1999 and much has developed politically, economically and philosophically in Slovakia since then, viz., a distinct and deliberate shift in political alignment from heavy-handed communist-styled central government of the former Soviet Union to U.S.-styled democracy and capitalism. This shift is as massive of a shift in political philosophy that any nation can possibly make after 50 years of totalitariam rule. The closest modern-day similarity would be the fall of the Taliban government or the Baathists in Iraq followed by adoption of democratic and capitalistic principles.

In light of this massive shift, there is no doubt there exists an ongoing struggle in Slovakia, and others like her, between remnants of former political systems and philosophies. I have often informed Slovaks that it will take at least two generations under democracy and capitalism to rid themselves of the former modus cogitandi et operandi that continues to plague them. I believe Dr. Cohen in her doctorial thesis has more than touched on the surface of this struggle. It would be of great and important benefit for anyone wishing to understand the ongoing struggle the people of Slovakia to study Dr. Cohen's book. To date very little modern history of Slovakia is written that is not revisionist--and even less is found in English. I would recommend the following reading for accurate information on Slovakia:

Jozef Lettrich, History of Modern Slovakia (1955, reissued 1985), is a standard work up to World War II. Peter Vlcko, In the Shadow of Tyranny (1973, army officer and eye-witness to events of 1939-1948). Interwar Slovakia is the subject of R.W. Seton-Watson (ed.), Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey (1931), a classic text. Slovak nationalism is covered by Peter Brock, The Slovak National Awakening (1976); Joseph A. Mikuš, Slovakia, A Political History: 1918-1950, rev. ed. (1963; originally published in French, 1955); Dorothea H. El Mallakh, The Slovak Autonomy Movement, 1935-1939: A Study in Unrelenting Nationalism (1979); and Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia: The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987 (1988).

While this book is a case study of post-communist Slovakia, it has great relevance for thinking about the Taliban and other such seemingly ideological regimes in other parts of the world. How deep really is the ideology of Muslim fundamentalism? Is it much more opportunistic than we think? Read this fascinating book to help you reflect on these and other questions.

As the aphorism "when the pupil are ready, the master appears" states, this is a book for those who recognize the superiority of inner wisdom, and the inner teacher, to any outer form or image! By revealing the messages enclosed in this book, this I believe, is the bridge that the author of this book is crossing.

This is THE MOST heart soothing book I've read. It is like a child talking to her Father. I cried at some points it was soooo beautiful. I couldn't put it down! In school, in the car, at work. . . EVERYWHERE! She is a gifted and special woman to have such delicacy and such eloquence in her writing. It shouts out "ALLAH". She has been taught by the best!

Starret concise work stands out amongst a sea of books written
about religion (esp. Islam) in the Middle. While the unsecular
character of Mid. East Societies, in this case Egypt, and their
affinity by so-called violent religiosity has been attributed to a
primitive mentality of the people, cynical demagoguery by politi-
cians, angst-ridden youth, disillussionment of the middle-aged,
poverty, anti-Western hysteria, and rage arising from political im-
potence and failure, Starret gives an alternative account that is
actually convincing. He does this by drawing the roadmap between
the sensationalist events such as revolutions and assassinations
by examining how the religious citizen is constructed through
national discourse, with a specific focus on the development of
Egypt's educational system from Muhammad Ali's transformation
of the kuttab to later permuations under the British, Nasser,
Sadat, and onward. The result is a highly believeable account of
the salience of religion and religious conflicts [of all sorts,
not just the less-interesting, violent ones] in the country inte-
grated with the national changes in thinking with regard to such
subject as mass media, religious authority and the market. Thus,
the works offers numerous keen insights into the reproduction of
Islamic religiosity and its transformations in Egypt today through
the various interplays between power and public culture. His
anthropological-historical approach is a fresh and welcome one.

An editorial criticism of the book as whole: the Arabic throughout
is atrociously transliterated. I ended up making notes in the
margins of my copy to make phrases written in Latin script intelli-
gible. Particularly, iDaafa constructions are not written, hard-
letters are not distinguished from soft letters, long and short
vowels are not differentiated, and sometimes letters are just out-
right confused (e.g., dhaal and Zaa'). With relatively standard-

ized options of Arabic transliteration out there,this book is just
sloppy and amateurish in its final edit. Perhaps this won't
bother those who are ignorant of Arabic; however, for those who
are familar with the language, it's a continually frustrating
blemish.

By focusing on education, Starrett shows that political ands socio-economic issues alone are insufficient in explaining the rise of islamic revivalism. The combination of increased literacy and Islamic awareness made possible by the spread of public education, in which religion has played a principal role, and its functionalization to serve the purposes of social engineering has made Islam a matter of increasing socio-political concern. The proliferation of Islamic affordable literature and media from official and private sector sources. The scope of religious discourse among non-specialists has widened and the Islamic establishment no longer holds a monopoly on this debate which is presently characterized by a variety of viewpoints. Starrett speaks of a new Islam now taking shape in Egypt as a result of the mass proliferation of Islamic publications and spread of literacy and communications media. Education's particular role in this process has been to create the demand for more religious information and from more sources as the religious discourse widens.