Minnesota Books

Sarah Wakefield, being an educated doctor's wife in 1862, had a lot more than many of the people who lived through the 1862 Uprising/Conflict, she was able to relate in a logical way what happened to her, without anger. She tells of the way she and her children were taken care of by Chaska and his family. How their lives were spared because of the Dakota family. Her words show another side of the story, how whites were saved by the Dakota. When many were saying they had been abused, Sarah told of care. When Chaska was hanged on 26th December she was understandably distressed, here was her saviour, who she had promised would be spared as she was, dead, through a quirk of fate. In 1997, I and another woman working on a Native American Committee to honor the dead of the conflict in Minnesota wrote to President Clinton asking for a pardon for Chaska, on Sarah Wakefield's behalf. Chaska's name should be cleared. It has been 136 years and he is still known as a man who abused women and children during a six week war. Read this story and if you feel the same way, please write to the President as well. Chaska saved Sarah's life, his name should at least be cleared of wrongdoing.Thank you.

The Amazon entry for this killer collection of works from American weirdo playwrights ought to include THEIR NAMES, not just those of the editors. They are Patrick Brian Smith, Martha Boesing, William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., Judy Maguire, Chris Cinque and Terrance J. Lappin. Buy the darn book and put on a play, why don't you?

Perfect old timey story for the kids. Brought back wonderful memories for my husband. Illustrations are beautiful. Beats Disney's version my a long mile!!!!!!

How much did American Protestants know about the Nazi persecution of Jews during WWII? Up until this book was published in 1980, the usual answer was "very little." Then Dr. Robert Ross, Ph.D., asked his own Protestant denomination what they had done to help the Jews. He was told, "We didn't know about it." Ross wanted to find out if that was really true. From that personal question about the role of his own church, came this groundbreaking study that broke the silence about a moral failure of titanic proprotions. Yes, they certainly did know, but most did nothing about it.

To conduct his study, Dr. Ross chose 50 national Protestant publications, ranging from the "Christian Century" (mainstream) to the "Arkansas Baptist" (fundamentalist). [A complete list of the publications used, with their denominational affiliations, is included in the book.] Then he and his graduate assistants went page-by-page through all the issues from 1933-1945. When I heard Dr. Ross speak in 1982, he told how, in some cases, the pages in the bound volumes were still uncut and stuck together. In all those years, NOBODY had gone through those library copies even once. Talk about denial!

So, what did Ross's team find? Detailed articles, editorials, paid ads, missionary reports, appeals for money and help, letters to the editors -- all focused on the persecution of the Jews. Dr. Ross quotes extensively from all this material, making this work a valuable source book in Holocaust studies for both Jews and Christians.

In the fall of 1933, Frederick Lynch, of "The Reformed Church Messenger," reviewed Adolf Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf", and noted that he "gives vent to his hatred of the Jews in many vitriolic passages" and duly notes his intention to rid Germany of them. Unfortunately, Lynch dismissed Hitler's hatred of Jews as a political ploy against communism, and felt that his antisemitism was "simply a part of his scheme to make a nation of only one blood, one race, one religion." The genocidal implications of such a Jew-free state seems to have escaped Mr. Lynch completely. In Dr. Ross's opinion, "Lynch had quite clearly succumbed to the Nazi propaganda that Hitler had saved Germany from communism and to the antisemitic slur that 'communist' meant 'Jew.'" (Ross, p. 19) Unfortunately, Lynch's review set the pattern for how many American Christians would view Hitler's persecution of the Jews throughout the coming war: as politicially justified anti-communist tactics. (Even into the in the 1960's in the USA, "Commie-Jew" was regarded as one word.)

Others Protestant writers in the 1930s believed the stories of persecution, but saw in them a fulfillment of Bible prophecies and therefore concluded that it was "God's Will" for the Jews to suffer. Ross attributes much of the Christian complancency to a tendency to see Jews as pawns of prophecy instead of flesh-and-blood human beings. In the rural areas especially, many of the readers had never met a living Jew, and knew of them only through Bible references. "The Jews", to many American Christians of that era, were a mythological symbol and not real people. This, according to Ross, led to moral inaction and failure to try to rescue them from Hitler.

After The USA entered WWII in 1942, censorship on both sides made it more difficult to get info about what was happening to the Jews under Hitler. Nevertheless, reports about the deportations, slave labor camps, gas chambers and and death marches DID get through and was published in many of the Protestant publications. One group that consistently published paid ads about the atrocities was the International Hebrew Chrstian Alliance, which did missionary work to convert Jews to Christanity. Their U.S. fundraiser ads tried to appeal to universal Christian brotherhood by saying, in effect, that these converted Jews were now fellow Christians now and deserved to be helped the same as any other Christians. While these ads might strike some readers (including myself) as rather self-serving, nevertheless, they *did* include detailed descriptions and photos of the atrocities against Jews.

All in all, Dr. Ross's study proved beyond a doubt that plenty of information about the Holocaust was readily available to American Protestants throughout the entire Hitler era, provided they bothered to read the publications of their churches. In the final chapter, "Too long have we Christians been silent," Ross addresses the moral failure of his own religion to come to the aid of Jews under Hitler. He comes to the conclusion that, although the prtess reported far more about the Holocaust than was previously believed, the reality of it all had not sunk in. "In the end," writes Ross on the last page, " editors and writers seemed unable to cope with something as unreal, even unimaginable, as the mass slaughter of millions of people... They could report this madness, this unreality, but, beyond the reporting and even beyond the expressed shock and horror over the discvery of the death camps, there remains the waful pall that hangs over this entire episode in modern history."

This book had the shock effect that its author intended, and became a minor bestseller in Holocaust studies circles. It shattered forever the illusion that American Christians didn't know about the Holocaust, and laid bare the moral question, still debated to this day: If they did know so much, why did they do nothing?

This book starts with William Gibson's 1984 novel 'Neuromancer' as being the genesis of Cyberpunk. Mr. Gibson takes some offense at this as there were others before him. In fact you might consider Frankenstein as the start, although to be sure 'cyber' hadn't been invented then. Numerous other science fiction novels have something with computer enhancement to a human, even if it is only with 'smart' prostheses replacing a lost arm.

This book traces the transformation of cyberpunk from a literary movement into a multimedia cultural phenomenon. He traces the development of cyberpunk into comic books (Deathlok), film (Robocop - but how could he have missed Darth Vader?), and into other areas.

Highly recommended to those interested in social theory from an interdisciplinary approach. His topic is the improvisatory element that is present in all genres of music performed by humans. But he uses that model to help us consider human action, agency, and knowledge in a much wider arena.

There is much here; from an introduction to the physics and neurophysics of noise, sound, and music to an exploration of virtual reality and media theory, the questionable basis of audiophile absolutism, comments on the man/machine interface which explore the notion of the machine as mediating device versus instrument, and more.

This is a wide-ranging exploration of epistemology, Deleuze and his reading of Kant's faculties and how Kant's non-critical approach to the faculties binds them to common sense. (See Deleuze's monograph, Kant's Critical Philosophy: The Doctrine of the Faculties. Also Deleuze: A Critical Reader (Blackwell Critical Readers); especially the intro by Paul Patton and the chapter by Daniel W. Smith.)

I would have liked to have seen more from Evens on the nature of the musical score and its relationships to the modern or postmodern notion of the text, although he does a good job of clarifying the difference between the musical score and the performed sonic event as timbre. He cites the work by Jean-Charles Francois which is excellent in this regard.

He does speak to agency and the author/composer site, but I would be interested to hear more about how his ideas fit with the Foucault/Derrida/Searle notion of the concept of the author, the relationships between the roles of performer and audience in music, the role of the reader in text theory, reader response theory, Burke, etc.

His explication of Kant and Deleuze's reading of Kant is very good. (Deleuze said he liked to read earlier philosophers as though he came at them from behind and in this act created new monsters.) Good bibliography for further reading.

He cites Stockhausen: "the more we go into the microcosm, the more we have to describe what we are observing in terms of the tools we are using." On another axis, the more we go into the silos of knowledge, the more we have to rely on 'experts' and the more the philosophy of science replaces epistemology, or perhaps we should say that knowledge is now legitimated by scientists not philosophers.

Evens speaks to the notion of 'high' art and the role of elite criticism in this regard, echoing the power/knowledge lessons from Foucault.

Terrific book and very Deleuzian in that it creates new concepts. Given the nature of improvisation inherent in all human performance, how does this relate to other notions of improvisation as autonomous action governed by dispositions as Bourdieu's habitus or the other register of constitutive performativity of Austin, as it was expanded by Derrida and Butler into the constitution of identity?

Those of us who have been south of the United States know parts of Latin America fit a stereotype of how tropical countries look. In my case, the stereotype's from old black-and-white movies on television and foreign films. In Latin America, I found the lush greenery I was expecting to find. What I didn't know was quite a bit of it wasn't native. Instead, much of what I thought of as typically tropical was brought in from somewhere else. That's why today's Latin America has bamboo, bougainvillea, citrus, hibiscus, mango, oleander, poinsettia, sugarcane and tamarind!

When did this happen? Jill Casid pinpoints the SOWING EMPIRE activities of the 18th century. During that time, England and France built rival empires in the Caribbean. The English in Jamaica and the French in Saint-Domingue quickly controlled labor, land, technology, trade and transportation. How? They moved things, plants and people around in ways tying Caribbean colonies to the English and French mother countries. They brought some equipment to cut down forests, clear land, and build roads and plantations. African slave labor did the rest. Everything was held in place by non-native plantings and plantation landscaping.

Sugarcane from Java and Tahiti became big cash crops for the Caribbean. Elm, lemon and oak trees lined roads and marked off plantations. Gardens grew and town markets sold apples, artichokes, beans, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, figs, lettuce, melons, onions, peas, radishes, strawberries, and turnips. None of all this was native.

Successful plantation owners also owned land in their native countries. They hired landscapers to clear these lands, plantation-style, for artificial lakes and such non-native greenery as banana, cherry and pineapple trees. The most famous English landscaper was Lancelot Brown. Colonial landowner, imperial fortune-holder, and English title-holder became one through the Caribbean sugarcane trade. So Brown tried to mix foreign and familiar, non-native and native so comfortably it was as if the English landscape always looked that way. But the result was the same as in the colonies. Having money meant changing the landscape and planting costly non-native greenery. It also meant ordinary people lost their land and their forest and water rights.

The writing style's a bit academic. But the author organizes the facts, the examples and her interpretations well. She includes helpful diagrams, as well as telling art from the times. It's interesting how beautifully non-native plants fit into the Caribbean. It's also interesting how scientists, planters and landscapers became so sure of what should be grown when, where and why. The book's history. But its concerns can still be timely. For don't we worry about what to grow when and where? In our case, though, isn't the why more in terms of current and future diversity and well-being?

This book was in brand-new condition, arrived safely and quickly. I appreciate it ~ I'll be back!

Deftly edited by David Backes, Spirit Of The North: The Quotable Sigurd F. Olson collects the words of wisdom and insights of conservation activist and writer Sigurd F. Olson (1899-1982) whose many honors include the highest possible from the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Izaak Walton League. A moving and poignant testimony, Spirit Of The North is an impressively memorable and inspiring compendium of reflections upon the power and beauty of nature, and of man's duty to help preserve the natural world, the higher philosophical issues concerning who we are, and what truly has meaning in our lives. "Final victory always goes to those who keep fighting for a worthwhile ideal in spite of reverses."

This booklet does a fine job of describing Minnesota's Split Rock Lighthouse. Using pictures, drawings and interviews, the author gives an accurate picture of the history and functions of this historic structure. Besides the lighthouse there is also the fog signal building.

The storms of 1905 on Lake Superior made the need for a new lighthouse apparent. Numerous ships were destroyed or damaged that year during the shipping season. And over 100 lives were lost on the Great Lakes in 1905 due to ships crashing on the rocks or sinking in the storms.

In 1907, Congress approved funding for the construction of a lighthouse and fog signal at Split Rock. Construction began in 1909 and finished in 1910.

Mr. Hall does a good job of describing several of the men who worked at Split Rock prior to WWII. And he also recounts many of the stories of the children of the lighthouse keepers. They lived in the homes built next to the lighthouse.

Mr. Hall also gives a thorough and accurate description of the technology used to create an effective and timely light in the tower.

"...the opening of the North Shore highway in 1924" was the seminal event in making the lighthouse a major tourist attraction. Once the lighthouse was accessible, the tourists came to see it. According to the author, Split Rock received "...five times as many visitors as any other station" in the U.S. Lighthouse Service.

Split Rock's fog signal ceased operations in 1961. And the lighthouse followed in 1969. But the tourists have continued on.

In summary, Mr. Hall gives a very well done survey of Split Rock Lighthouse. Its construction, history and people are all covered here.