Michigan Books

This is a great account of the Hidatsa Indians. Washington Matthews was able to preserve part of the Hidatsa language.

The Orestia trilogy is the tragic story of the awesome responsibility of a blood debt. In the first play, "Agamemnon," the title character returns victoriously from Troy to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, who having sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia so that a fair wind would blow the Achean army to Troy. In the middle play, "The Choephori" ("The Libation Bearers"), Orestes comes to Argos to avenge his father by killing his mother. After doing the bloody deed, Orestes is afflicted by madness and flees in terror from the Furies, the hideous spirits who hunt down and punish murderers. Thus the stage is set for "The Eumenides," the final play in the trilogy.

"The Eumenides" begins a few days after the end of the previous play, with Orestes seeking refuge at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. In a most unusual move for a Greek tragedy, the action then jumps ahead several years when Orestes, after years of wandering as a tormented outcast, arrives at Athens and throws himself on the mercy of the godess Athena. The Furies arrive, hot upon his heels, and demand he be punished for his act of matricide. However, Orestes insists that since he acted according to the dictates of Apollo, he is guiltless of the crime. This is a shocking declaration, especially for someone from the accursed house of Atreus. Athena convenes a special court to hear the case against Orestes, but they are unable to reach a verdict, leaving it to the goddess to decide his fate.

Ultimately, the Orestia is a celebration of the Athenian civilization that had created a democratic government and a system of trial by jury. That such a system could be perverted might be true, as the case of Socrates strongly suggests, but Aeschylus is comparing the system to the past to draw a strong distinction between vengeance and justice. The Orestia has great importance because of this theme, and not simply because it is the only surviving example of a Greek tragic trilogy. The climax of "The Eumenides" is rather strange for a Greek tragedy, since it ends on an exalted note of reconciliation and optimism. This is symbolized most by the transformation of the Furies into the Eumenides ("kindly ones"). But ultimately it is the Athenian legal system, where a new type of justice is tempered by mercy, that is being glorified in this triology. The tragic story of Orestes is simply the tale Aeschylus chooses to teach his lesson.

Book Review

Maintenance of Cultural Myths: The Case of Stalking
Every Breath You Take: Stalking Narratives and the Law. Orit Kamir, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2000.

I believe in vampires. There is no empirical data which I can use to prove their existence, but proof is unnecessary: what is important is that I believe. But how is it that an otherwise rational person harbors such a superstition? Those who snicker may ask why they are afraid of the dark, or sense icy digits brushing their necks when alone. Orit Kamir in Every Breath You Take, points to collective culture as the villain in such manifestations of the unconscious. Her subject is those who stalk, in a work which "... does not aim to define human categories or defeciences, but merely to better understand the social phenomenon as it is conceived"(2).
What is fascinating is the method she adopts to expose the phenomenon of stalking. Drawing from Sumerian and Hebrew myth, nineteenth-century English literature, and a century of film, Kamir works in a linear fashion and effectively demonstrates the cyclical and repetitive nature of the themes and motifs of stalking. She concludes, in a somewhat hasty manner, with a critique of the current California anti-stalking law, maintaining that what has occurred is a fusion of image with law.
Collective culture, states Kamir, creates and sustains the myths and dreams which, "like ghosts ... haunt our lives and alter our behaviour"(3). And although social behaviour is malleable, those shifting winds are drawn into a vortex by periods of moral panic: a public pre-occupation with a social phenomenon that is irrationally perceived as extremely threatening. These periods are unstable and impulsive, and prone to misconceptions, so that today "[by] addressing mythological images rather than social reality, the legislature did not adequately conceptualize the prohibited behaviour, and the `panicky' drafting rendered an imperfect law"(175). This is Kamir's conclusion, and the answer to her unstated question: how do our cultural constructs work upon us? What she reveals is the considerable gap between a fear of stalking constructed in the media and the reality of stalking such that the modern legal response is lacking in many respects.
With the fear of stalking comes the elements of social control derived from myth to validate oppression. So when Kamir discusses female then male stalking, there are striking contrasts. Kamir's central female subject is Lilit - counterpoint to Eve - who "subverts patriarchal sexual norms"(41) is feared and hated, yet secretly desired as she is both sexually independent and dangerous. By characterizing female stalking as dangerous, Lilit's independence, like the "witches" of Europe, is a rallying point, "which society and patriarchy could, and can, bank on when necessary to establish solidarity among men"(42). Apparently, what frustrates and elicits this reaction is the fact that Lilit never lets men control and objectify her - the hallmarks of male stalking.
Kamir asserts that male stalking is nourished to service the social order while female stalking is used both in dangerous times of social instability. In this light, male stalking or the unseen eye (appropriated from Lilit) is operating at all times and therefore in constant need of justification. Accordingly, most stalking narratives are structured by a patriarchal framework: first there is the strond, sexually initiating women who stalks a man (both Lilit and Alex in Fatal Attraction); second, a "Jack the Ripper" type serial killer who stalks a sexual, evil women whose moral vacancy invites punishment; and third, a monstrous male (Frankenstein, Dracula) stalks a weak, domestic Eve who is saved only if she is revealed to be a Virgin Mary type character. Themes in hand, men can remain wary of Lilit, destroying her mortal counterparts for moral failings, or reward chastity by driving of the beast. Yet though our cultural discourse is replete with these themes, in general, they have very little bearing on the type of stalking that occurs today.
Perhaps that is an inaccurate statement. When Kamir outlines the shortcomings of the current legislation in California, the prejudices mentioned above are readily apparent. To begin, there is the requirement that a threat be made against the complainant intended to place the target in "reasonable" fear of death or great bodily harm. This definition does not capture the type of stalking practiced by Ted Bundy or Allan Dershowitz who did not threaten, merely watched, or chose their victims without announcing their presence. Further, the adoption of an objective standard (the mythical "reasonable person") leads Kamir to state that once the prohibited behaviour is exhibited, "the victim's subjective feelings should make no difference and there seems to be no rational need to inspect them"(188). Presumably women can not sense danger in repeated, persistent attempts by men to invade their personal space; or may not realize that this behaviour may be permissible as part of the biological imperative. To solidify her criticism, and as a wonderful device to unite the work, Kamir quotes Nancy Ehreneich's determination that the "reasonable person" is a device for "importing a pre-existing societal consensus into the law"(191). Confusion and duplication in the current legal response to stalking thus reflects deeply imbedded cultural myths that women should be vulnerable to the male gaze, and should anticipate their fates as the logical conclusion of their promiscuous and non-male sanctioned behaviour.
Dislodging the dictates of the unconscious can not occur without an understanding how those images were formed - layer upon layer of myth and speculation - an Kamir is convincing in her treatment of stalking while pointing out that a critical analysis free from moral panic is crucial. But it will be an uphill battle, and while my crucifix reposes at home, I do occasionally carry garlic.

Cameron Gleadow

Written by the founder of the Lake Michigan Federation and the Executive Director at the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Evolution Of The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a scholarly discussion of the Canadian- American partnership regarding the Great Lakes, the negotiation behind the Great Lakes Agreement and its evolution, the transformation of the Great Lakes Regime, and more. In addition to the detailed and heavily researched survey of history that forms the main text, the entire Great Lakes Agreement of 1972 and its 1978 revision, along with copious notes, round out this down-to-earth environmental history. An excellent reference, as accessible to lay readers as well as students and professionals in environmental studies.

Lots of information about what to see and different attractions. Includes short descriptions of different places to go and things to see. I'll be visiting Mackinac in September, so we'll see how much it helps then....

Book Review: Exposing Electronics
edited by Bernard Finn, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC

Exposing Electronics is the second Volume of a series "Artefacts: Studies in the History of Science and Technology". (Artefact: a functional or decorative man-made object) "..historians are using technological artefacts in the study and interpretation of the recent past. Their work is largely pioneering, as they investigate approaches and modes of presentation."

While a delegate at IEEE Sections Congress in Washington DC, last year, a group of us were conducted around the exhibit "Information Age" in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History. Our guide was Bernard "Barnie" Finn, who is a curator and designer of "Information Age".

Our small group of electrical engineers heard a "behind the scenes" explanation of how the exhibits were put together with the rationale of attracting and holding the interest of the public of all ages. To us it was fascinating - not just a collection of original objects, but a story line threading through communications - telegraphy, telephony, digital, satellite; computation - calculating engines, data processing, real-time data bases; electronic devices - control, power, integrated circuits. The displays of artefacts were supplemented by photographs, posters, videos, and original films which helped our understanding of the motivations and needs of the engineers and scientists who built them.

"Why" are there museums and how do things end up displayed in museum exhibits? Exposing Electronics tells us about the "Information Age" exhibit and points out many of the problems in communicating the history behind the objects.

Why do we go to museums? The theory of learning is touched: What is the necessity of prior learning for vision? The role of the curator- `first helps visitors to see artefacts more clearly, then imbues those artefacts with symbolic values that come from their function and history.'

Exposing Electronics is worth having from many points of view.
It is a high quality publication 19cmx 24cm filled with interesting chapters, historical photographs and clear drawings of electronic devices - J.A.Fleming's valves; Wilhelm Cauer's calculating engines, Baaken's transistor devices, Boysel's microprocessor, Seymour Cray's supercomputers, I.I.Rabi's molecular beam apparatus.

The stories are those of our contemporaries and predecessors. The chapters have many notes which support the observations and conclusions, and invite further investigation.

The final chapter "Collectors and Museums" suggests the origins and uses of why we save, classify, index, record, things as a hobby, and how these collections can end up in museums. "Collectors help to shape museums, and therefore to shape the ways we present our cultural identities to ourselves and to others." The author notes that `Electricity is well represented in museums throughout the world.' and lists five pages of them around the world- one near you

Exposing Electronics Finn, Bud, Trischler eds. xiv+199 pp. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers 2000. Euro25 paper
ISBN 90-5823-057

© Roland Saam, February 2003

This is an important book, which contrasts two approaches to writing battle narratives: the "Face of Battle" method of John Keegan, and Kimberly Kagan's "Eye of Command" approach. Her examples are the Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus, and the Gallic War Commentaries of Julius Caesar. I did a longer review of this book in the Michigan War Studies Review, August, 2007.

This is the only edition of Pound's letters reprinting them, in their entirety, in facsimile. It includes an introduction by Watt setting the letters in their context (1956-58), evaluating Pound's contribution to American and English poetry, and dealing with his "treasonous" activities on behalf of Mussolini. In addition, it contains extensive scholarly notes, also by Watt, explicating Pound's many obscure references. BY ALL MEANS an essential addition to any library attempting to provide a comprehensive record of Ezra Pound. If I do say so myself. And I do.

Paul Hoover knows everything there is to know about the NY School. His essays on poets Mullen and Mackey are also original and clear. Read this book.

This book is very important to all students and professionals interested in the field of Human Ecology. The case studies are very well explained, and helpful to the understanding of the complexity of human ecology. It is a pleasant reading that gives insight for all persons interested in the field.