Michigan Books

Detroit, Mo-town, city of automobile and industry, vibrant or dying? This book of wonderful poetry written by Detroit poets during the early and late 20th century is alive with feeling and emotion both specific to this working-class town and yet also universal in its appeal to the humanity and emotion in all of us. Detroiters and former Detroiters will recognize the people and places in these poems with specificity. They will have been there and lived these emotions. But so too will have anyone who has lived in any community that has felt the excitement and the hurt of change, both local and in society as a whole.
This book collects the poetry of over 100 poets with an enormity of diverse backgrounds and voices yet all with the common bond of having been a Detroiter. They reflect this yet also reflect a broader bond that we all have in our common humanity. The poems are generally short and easy to read. Pick up the book, flip it open to any page and begin reading. You will feel the honesty and clarity with which the poets write and likely these poems will stir up some very realistic feelings that have been buried deep within you. This poetry will help you to see within the soul of a city and its people whose microcosm may represent us all.

This poetry compilation achieves its goal by capturing whatever it means to be "Detroit". I sometimes close myself in a room and read loudly poems from this book to the wall just to remember what it feels like to live in an area not built on doubletalk (I live in Washington DC now).

I could never speak to whether this book would appeal to somebody who doesn't understand Detroit's turbulent life over the 20th century. I would certainly tell anybody who asked that they should at least flip through this book every so often because it tells the story of America, its pinnacles of glory and how they can get ripped right out from underneath without a moment's notice.

The poetry in 'Abandon Automobile' is beautifully visceral. There are no "thou"s or sappy sonnets about flowers in this book. It may seem simple and plain to people more accustomed to coffeeshop poetry, but it isn't once you let the words meld together. Much like Detroit is defined by what many people have done as a collective rather than what any particular individuals have done, these words together form Detroit. The language is practical, impassioned, riddled with strife and hope and somehow happiness. It has stories told through the grit of abandoned sidewalks that were once the busiest in the world, but now only support a couple averted-eye strangers passing one another.

Everyone I know who understands Detroit lives with an uneasy love / hate for it. It is the love of the automobile mixed with an utter disdain for what it has done to destroy its own city. This poetry captures that. The poems throw up an impassioned defense for all Detroit has quietly contributed to society and reveals a deep rooted frustration over its potential in a world that no longer cares about it.

Anyway - even if you've never found yourself saying 'Detroit' over and over until its images were wiped away and it settled deep in your throat as an entirely new and strange word, read this poetry. Some are better than most, but you'll find the really good ones and you'll find Detroit.

3.5.00 >! The title of this book is flushed stimulating to my constructive arrays thought interpretationals. >! Within effective dissolve i.e., the profound addressing to to emplode an sequence fort in examining memories about sports history. >! This is my mark to celebrate the existence of our the (GrEaT), baseball Player Mr. Vida Blue. >!

};

3.5.00 >! The title of this book is flushed stimulating to my constructive arrays thought interpretationals. >! Within effective dissolve i.e., the profound addressing to to emplode an sequence fort in examining memories about sports history. >! This is my mark to celebrate the existence of our the (GrEaT), baseball Player Mr. Vida Blue. >!

};

Written by an English teacher and lifelong friend of Canada's beloved, award-winning author Margaret Laurence, Alien Heart: The Life & Work Of Margaret Laurence is an inspirational evaluation of Laurence's works, drawing from insights into Laurence's life to foment a deeper understanding of her novels and short stories. Chapters follow Laurence from her girlhood to her passing in 1987, drawing deeply upon research as well as quotes and personal testimonies to weave the tapestry of her life. Enthusiastically recommended for fans and scholars of Laurence's books.

Written by an English teacher and lifelong friend of Canada's beloved, award-winning author Margaret Laurence, Alien Heart: The Life & Work Of Margaret Laurence is an inspirational evaluation of Laurence's works, drawing from insights into Laurence's life to foment a deeper understanding of her novels and short stories. Chapters follow Laurence from her girlhood to her passing in 1987, drawing deeply upon research as well as quotes and personal testimonies to weave the tapestry of her life. Enthusiastically recommended for fans and scholars of Laurence's books.

Mr. Harding is fairly well known in Michigan. When he does public speaking about his loved amphibians and reptiles, people respond well to him. This book shows the depth of his love for the natural world and his knowledge of these underappreciated creatures. Since there are relatively few amphibians and reptiles in the Great Lakes area you don't have to know 100s of different species. That alone makes identification easier. The high quality color photos and excellent descriptions in this book make identifications even easier.
Mr. Harding's text includes general biological information about the various creatures described in the book--frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, turtles, lizards and snakes. So, in addition to helping with identification, this book also helps the reader understand the biology and ecology of the animals. Though most people have little love for these animals, Mr. Harding's book will help us appreciate their places in the ecology and their biological functions.

Since there are so few books dealing with the amphibians and reptiles of the Great Lakes (is this the only one?), we are lucky that this one is truly excellent. Highly recommended to all people wanting to further their understanding of these creatures. Thanks to Mr. Harding for an exceptionally fine book.

Michigan is not a state that is well-known for its reptiles and amphibians, but if the whole drainage basin of the Great Lakes is taken into account, as it is in this book, we host a total of 33 amphibians (mostly salamanders!) and 42 reptiles (mostly snakes).

"Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region" starts with a preface on how to use this book, followed by a brief 34-page introduction to Herpetology. Most of 378 pages are taken up by descriptions of the 75 species of reptiles and amphibians that might be encountered by those of us who live near one of the Great Lakes. The color photographs and distribution maps are well-suited for species identification. I was able to recognize a pair of snakes that rove through a swampy area near our driveway as Northern Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis), a handsome species of garter snake. The frogs that are currently hopping through the lawn are Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica), not a brown variation of Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens), as I had originally thought.

Each of the species narratives is divided into the following sections: "Description;" "Confusing Species;" "Distribution and Status;" "Habitat and Ecology;" "Reproduction and Growth;" and "Conservation." The author stresses 'nonconsumptive' observation of these interesting creatures in their habitat, since many of the species are in decline. Newts seem to be especially vulnerable to degradation of their habitat and the author suggests conserving and protecting them by "creating ponds that are close to woodland habitats." I've lived in Michigan all of my live and have never seen any form of salamander, including newts, so I'll have to start looking more closely in and near the local woodland ponds. They are not for picking up, though. The author states that all members of the Salamandridae family have skins that "are well supplied with poison glands that help discourage predators."

"Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region" is a well-organized, well-written, and well-illustrated guide for all budding herpetologists or for those of us in the region who are curious about our natural surroundings.

Absolutely unique! Nothing else comes close to the coverage and expertise of the writer who was state hydrologist for the USGS.

This guide was originally published in 1985 and has been a valuable resource as I have wandered around Northern Michigan. It's details are as factual today as when first written. The details of every launch and entrance to each river is remarkable. I've fished many of the spots and have found the descriptives to be right on. I just wish I was a better fly fisherman. I keep this book with me and even make notes in it. I highly recommend this for any experience level.

The word "imperialism" today has become worn from misuse. Many of us have come to expect the word to signify that the speaker is a radical Marxist, or perhaps an embittered citizen of a defunct imperial power. Unfortunate indeed, because discussion of imperialism as a type of foreign policy decision has thereby been squelched.
But in 1902, when Hobson wrote Imperialism, it was not yet a term of odium. Imperialism was a foreign policy strategy advocated as a benefit to the colonial power and to the subjugated nation alike; one advocate referred to it as "...the greatest secular agency for good known to the world," and some of the greatest minds of the day--John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin, William Gladstone, Joseph Chamberlain and Alfred Milner--were "social imperialists," partisans of a mission to bring liberal institutions to the rest of the world, and create markets for British manufactured goods. More common by far were advocates of imperialism as an alternative to redistributive socialist policies, as an outlet for surplus population (Britain was widely regarded as being overpopulated), and as a backyard for flagship companies. Hobson was addressing these arguments without acrimony, and without assuming a radical agenda his readers were unlikely to share.

The fact that self-described socialists and lassez-faire dogmatics alike, in 1902, regarded "imperialism" as a means to their rival ends, shows that this was not merely a right-left debate, and Hobson attacks the idea of solving the problems of capitalist societies by making war on other nations. His analysis of imperialism and its allure for the industrialized world makes this one of the most revealing books on 19th century history. The effects of imperialism on the rest of the human race are spelled out with precision and clarity, as is his nuanced analysis of why it is doomed to fail. Hobson's forecasts of the future of imperialism is astonishingly prescient, especially his passage on China.

Hobson was a pioneer of the underconsumptionist theories, theories later advanced by Keynes, Samuelson, and Tobin. Underconsumption presupposes that mature economies are unlikely to be be able to consume all that they produce; as a result, more capital accumulates, the marginal return on that capital declines, and stagnation sets in. But while Hobson was a seminal mind in economics, this is not an economics book--it is overwhelmingly a historical survey of ideologies, propaganda and the harsh reality, a disciplined yet creatively assembled explanation of how the needs of industrial Britain were so woefully met by imperial dogma. With the terrifying triumph of neo conservative ideology in our era, it is an extremely relevant book for contemporary citizens of America, and of the world.

When a powerful country invades another with the express intention of changing their culture or system of government, there are several things that can happen. The invasion can be military, economic or various combinations of both. In the first case, the invaded country can mount armed resistance until the invaders eventually leave. For the second case, a small percentage of the natives can adopt the ways of the invaders and become the ruling class while the majority simply continues their lives. In the third case the invaded country can assimilate the ways of the invaders into their culture, becoming a synthesis. All three cases have happened in response to the policy that we now know as imperialism.
In the century since this book was written, imperialism has become somewhat of a derogatory term, so it is avoided when describing modern actions. The strategy advocated by the American group known as neo-cons is a modified version of what the European countries did a century ago under the banner of imperialism. Their policy is that the United States invades a Middle Eastern country and imposes a local democratic government. The country then becomes a powerful role model for others in the region and they also adopt a democratic government. Once democracy becomes the norm, the countries will be transformed into modern states that are friendly to the west.
Those who adhere to that thought should have read this book first. Hobson is very non-judgmental about the motives of people who advocated imperialism, but he is not restricted in his conclusions regarding the results. When the powerful states carved up Africa and Asia between them, imperialism was touted as an effective way to change the world for the better. Many of the best minds in the west supported imperialism as an effective way to increase the standards of living of the subjugated peoples. It was also considered as a way to provide outlets for the excess population and energy of the subjugators. However, in only a few cases were the results anywhere close to what was intended. One hundred years later, Africa still foments with tribal conflicts, with democracy a hypothetical rather than a reality.
Hobson also demonstrates a great deal of insight into what the future could bring. His statement on page 313, " . . . the pressure of working-class movements in politics and industry in the West can be met by a flood of Chinese goods . . . " On page 317 he also mentions the possibility of Japan embarking on an Asian version of Manifest Destiny and adopting an imperialist policy in Asia. In some sense he predicted the rise of the Empire of Japan and the current situation with the Peoples Republic of China rising to the status of a great economic power.
Although he occasionally adopts the terminology and arrogance of European cultural supremacy over "the natives", Hobson has written a well-balanced treatise on how imperialism was viewed and justified at the time it was the global norm. His statements on the results should be required reading for policy makers and business people who are required to deal with other cultures.

Trotsky once wrote that of the three great tragedies in life- hunger, sex and death- revolutionary Marxism, which was the driving force behind his life and work, mainly concerned itself with the struggle against hunger. That observation contains an essential truth about the central thrust of the Marxist tradition. However, as Trotsky demonstrates here, Marxist methodology cannot and should not be reduced to an analysis of and prescription for that single struggle. Here Trotsky takes on an aspect of the struggle for mass cultural development.

In a healthy post-capitalist society mass cultural development would be greatly expanded and encouraged. If the task of socialism were merely to vastly expand economic equality, in a sense, it would be a relativity simple task for a healthy socialist society in concert with other like-minded societies to provide general economic equality with a little tweaking after vanquishing the capitalism mode of production. What Marxism aims for, and Trotsky defends here, is a prospect that with the end of class society and economic and social injustice the capacity of individual human beings to reach new heights of intellectual and creative development should flourish. That is the thought that underpins Trotsky's work here as he analyzes various trends in Russian literature in the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917. In short, Marxism is certainly not a method to be followed in order to write great literature but it does allow one to set that literature in its social context and interrelatedness.

You will find no Deconstructionist or other fashionable literary criticism here. Quite the contrary. Here Trotsky uses his finely tuned skill as a Marxist to great effect as he analyzes the various trends of literature as they were affected (or not affected) by the October Revolution and sniffs out what in false in some of the literary trends. Mainly, at the time of writing, the jury was still out about the prospects of many of these trends. He analyzes many of the trends that became important later in the century in world literature, like futurism constructivism, and others- some of which have disappeared and some of which still survive.

The most important and lasting polemic which Trotsky raised here, however, was the fight against the proponents of `proletarian culture'. The argument put forth by this trend maintained that since the Soviet Union was a workers state those who wrote about working class themes or were workers themselves should, in the interest of cultural development, be given special status and encouragement (read: a monopoly on the literary front). Trotsky makes short shrift of this argument by noting that, in theory at least as its turned out, the proletarian state was only a transitional state and therefore no lasting `proletarian culture' would have time to develop. Although history did not turn out to prove Trotsky correct the polemic is still relevant to any theory of mass cultural development.


One of the results of the publication of this book is that many intellectuals, particularly Western intellectuals, based some of their sympathy for Trotsky, the man and fallen hero on his literary analysis and his ability to write. This was particularly true during the 1930's here in America where those who were anti-Stalinist but were repelled by the vacuity of the Socialist Party were drawn to him. A few, like James T. Farrell (Studs Lonigan trilogy), did this mostly honorably. Most, like Dwight MacDonald and Sidney Hooks, etc. did not and simply used that temporary sympathy as a way station on their way to anti-Communism. Such is the nature of the political struggle.

A note for the politically- inclined who read this book. Trotsky wrote this book in 1923-24 at the time of Lenin's death and later while the struggle for succession by Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev was in full swing. While Trotsky did not recognize it until later (nor did others, for that matter) this period represented the close of the rising tide of the revolution. Hereafter, the people who ruled the Soviet Union, the purposes for which they ruled and the manner in which they ruled changed dramatically. In short, Thermidor in the classical French revolutionary expression was victorious. Given his political position why the hell was Trotsky writing a book on literary trends in post-revolutionary society at that time?

This is simply one of the most important books of the 20th Century. Trotsky wrote this book at the request of Lenin who edited it. They saw fighting against those who wanted to impose a so-called "proletarian" culture as the official culture of the Soviet Union, as a threat to a real Marxist understanding of culture. Judging culture by its explicit politics, rather than by its expression of human life, Trotsky explains, is as far from Marxism as you can get. Trotsky explains that even some of the most reactionary minded writers have create some of the most stirringly real and vibrant literature, how to road to real socialism will come by giving working people full and free access to the best and the worst of the literature and art that capitalism has produced. No one who reads this book will think that the garbage that passed for cultural theory in the Soviet Union under Stalin and his successors or under Mao and his successors has anything to do with socialism or Marxism

The life of the maid is not only well told by the author, but the translator, the late Albert Guerard (himself an historian and critic of great stature), has included an introduction and notes about the life, and the thoughts of Michelet that are important to the modern reader.

This short work is well worth owning. Anyone interested in France, the Middle Ages, the Hundred Years War, or the life of an important woman in Christendom will find this, now classic work, a gemstone.

this is the most inspiring book i have ever read. It told about Joan's religous life and human life. This book I recomend to everybody above 15.

This is a book that integrates many disparate themes into a surprisingly coherent whole. It is, first and foremost, a systems approach to social science. But it is more than that. It is also a unifying evolutionary framework and a plausible world view. It provides an intuitively satisfying integration of biological, mental and social processes. It is also well written. And I would have to agree with the reviewer who called it one of the best books he had ever read. It is truly a little jewel.

This is one of the best books I have read in my life. A picture of man's mental scenery by a very accute observer. A short book written with a lot of wisdom. An inspiring source of ideas and understanding for people for whom knowledge is important!

This is an extremely good book that contains a series of lectures delivered to lay audience by this great physicist. It reveals the deep meaning behind the mathematical symbols and equations in modern physics. It's incomparable in this regard. The book is very easy to understand. The writing flows smoothly and beautifully. Great metaphors comes out effortlessly, one after another. It is very enjoyable reading.

This book started me on physics, way way back. I wish it were in print gain.