Book Description
American Visions offers a rich sampling of literature for writing classes with a multicultural perspective, exploring the historical context and contemporary relevance of major themes that have shaped our consciousness as a nation.
Book Description
Sixteenth-century Spanish soldiers described Peru as a land filled with gold and silver, a place of untold wealth. Nineteenth-century travelers wrote of soaring Andean peaks plunging into luxuriant Amazonian canyons of orchids, pythons, and jaguars. The early-twentieth-century American adventurer Hiram Bingham told of the raging rivers and the wild jungles he traversed on his way to rediscovering the âLost City of the Incas,â Machu Picchu. Seventy years later, news crews from ABC and CBS traveled to Peru to report on merciless terrorists, starving peasants, and Colombian drug runners in the âwhite goldâ rush of the coca trade. As often as not, Peru has been portrayed in broad extremes: as the land of the richest treasures, the bloodiest conquest, the most poignant ballads, and the most violent revolutionaries. This revised and updated second edition of the bestselling Peru Reader offers a deeper understanding of the complex country that lies behind these claims.
Unparalleled in scope, the volume covers Peru’s history from its extraordinary pre-Columbian civilizations to its citizens’ twenty-first-century struggles to achieve dignity and justice in a multicultural nation where Andean, African, Amazonian, Asian, and European traditions meet. The collection presents a vast array of essays, folklore, historical documents, poetry, songs, short stories, autobiographical accounts, and photographs. Works by contemporary Peruvian intellectuals and politicians appear alongside accounts of those whose voices are less often heardâpeasants, street vendors, maids, Amazonian Indians, and African-Peruvians. Including some of the most insightful pieces of Western journalism and scholarship about Peru, the selections provide the traveler and specialist alike with a thorough introduction to the country’s astonishing past and challenging present.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for the history of Peru.......2007-10-03
This is a great book for the history of Peru. The chronological order is perfect. All the essays are wonderful to read. I think I learned more about Peru with this book than any other.
The Peru Reader: Start Early!.......2007-01-09
What a wonderfully literate collection of writings which give the traveler (actual or armchair) both the information and flavor he needs to introduce him to this complex country. I started too close to my departure for Peru to read every word, but found myself unable to decide what to skip. What seemed a boring topic turned out to be fascinating! So, start early -- the book is pretty bulky to carry on your trip.
The Peru Reader: The best Peru travelers companion.......2006-06-29
I took this book to Peru on a trip to see the great archeological sites. I was blown awqy by the information I got from this book. Not only was I informed on so many topics but introduced to several brilliant Peruvian authors. The book was so strong I wept deeply over the history of the native peoples, I was amazed at the strength to survive under the most difficult political and cultural situations. The book was so well written that all the history and politics, not my usual reading, soaked in painlesssly, actually joyfully. I wish there were such a great book to take on every trip I go on, it enhanced my trip a million times over.
Hefty, in-depth anthology .......2004-12-19
Perhaps this book's overwhelming for a newcomer. But, if you have a basic knowledge of Peru already, this over 500-page collection of stories, chapters from academic books, poems, folktales, political reportage, popular journalism and interviews, and historical and anthropological coverage satisfies the need in English for a comprehensive starter for further research and reading on many topics.
Organised into chronological order, sections progress from pre-Inca, Inca, Conquest, Post-Conquest, Colonial and Republican periods into the 19c. These intersperse scholarly investigations with narratives. Then, politics, the Shining Path, the drug wars, the urban squatters turning land into new communities, activists among the feminist, evangelical, and gay communities, liberation theology and local leadership, and life among both villages and in Lima add chapters that comprise about half of the total text.
Most rewarding for me were the chronicles by the Incas after the Conquest, John Hemming's chapter on Atahualpa and Pizarro, folktales bookending the text from early and Amazon peoples, Steve J. Stern's analysis of post-Conquest creolisation and its discontents, Manuel Cordova's tale of life a century ago after he was abducted by Amazon indians, and the fascinating account by Catherine J. Allen from her The Hold Life Has all about coca-leaf ritual bonding. Anyone who associates coca only with cola or crack might learn a lot from this anthropological description of how chemicals sustain fellowship, and also force gatherings to acknowledge etiquette and social class distinctions--even under the influence!
The literary offerings, poems, novel excerpts, and stories, are less intriguing, but worthwhile. I sense some of these--as with the Vargas Llosa chapter from his novel Conversations in the Cathedral--were a bit wrenched out of a more rewarding context.
I wish the past ten years, the downfall of Fujimori and the attempt by Toledo to stabilise a tottering state, could have been included in an updated edition, which could also look at the fate of Guzmán and his Shining Path cohorts. Life in the diaspora--a million Peruvians live abroad--would also be enlightening. But, until these hypothetical additions, this is a promising book for anyone curious about Perú. As the back jacket asserts, there's nothing like this in English--or Spanish.
Also recommended: Robin Kirk's The Monkey's Paw for 1980s/early 90s Peru; Gustavo Gorriti's history, translated by Kirk, on the Shining Path, and Vargas Llosa's memoir of running for president, Fish Out of Water; his novelisation of Guzman, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta; his mystery novel also set in this period, Death in the Andes.
This is a great book if you are intrested in Peru.......1998-10-24
This book tells about it all from all sorts of people from the conquiers to the Indeans plus the shing path and the Presedint
Book Description
Bordering all but two of South America’s other nations and by far Latin America’s largest country, Brazil differs linguistically, historically, and culturally from Spanish America. Its indigenous peoples share the country with descendants of Portuguese conquerors and the Africans they imported to work as slaves, along with more recent immigrants from southern Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Capturing the scope of this country’s rich diversity and distinction as no other book has doneâwith over a hundred entries from a wealth of perspectivesâThe Brazil Reader offers a fascinating guide to Brazilian life, culture, and history.
Complementing traditional views with fresh ones, The Brazil Reader’s
historical selections range from early colonization to the present day, with sections on imperial and republican Brazil, the days of slavery, the Vargas years, and the more recent return to democracy. They include letters, photographs, interviews, legal documents, visual art, music, poetry, fiction, reminiscences, and scholarly analyses. They also include observations by ordinary residents, both urban and rural, as well as foreign visitors and experts on Brazil. Probing beneath the surface of Brazilian realityâpast and presentâThe Reader looks at social behavior, women’s lives, architecture, literature, sexuality, popular culture, and strategies for coping with the travails of life in a country where the affluent live in walled compounds to separate themselves from the millions of Brazilians hard-pressed to find food and shelter. Contributing to a full geographic accountâfrom the Amazon to the Northeast and the Central-Southâof this country’s singular multiplicity, many pieces have been written expressly for this volume or were translated for it, having never previously been published in English.
This second book in The Latin America Readers series will interest students, specialists, travelers for both business and leisure, and those desiring an in-depth introduction to Brazilian life and culture.
Customer Reviews:
Primary Sources.......2007-01-06
An excellent collection of primary sources from Brazilian history. It strangely skips entire decades and periods which is its only shortcoming.
The Brazil Reader.......2006-02-12
I'm a capoeira instructor living in the United States. I wish all of my students would read this collection. It's a great introduction to the history, culture, and politics of Brazil. So much of life in Brazil is so different from life in the United States. So much of that difference is because of the history of each country.
This book starts at the beginning with discovery and the start of the slave trade. It continues through to modern history and politics of the country.
This book is money and time well spent.
Learn more at http://www.capsprings.com.
Short Pieces for Fun Reading.......2002-10-22
From exerpts of historical claims to letters from diplomats, from essays on slavery to descriptions of food, this book gives insights on the spirit and history of Brazil in easy to read snippets. A picture of a people emerges from original sources and non-academic evaluations that adds debth to what you will see when you go there.
I wish this book was in Portuguese.......2000-07-05
I brought this book in Los Angeles on the way back from a trip to Disney with my children. I finished it almost when I arrived home. The book has great insight and should be read by Brazilians, because it presents things as they are, not as they are supposed to be. Maybe the book will be públished in Brazil some day. I hope so.
A Unique Perspective, Generally Interesting.......2000-05-11
This book is a collection of short essays on Brazil. I found at least half to be quite interesting, though I probably skimmed about a quarter of them. Many of the essays frequently give a first hand account of life as a small farmer, favela resident or fisherman in Brazil. These essays capture and explain to the English reader the hopes, values and experiences of actual Brazilians. Most English readers gain their understanding of Brazil only second hand through academics or journalists. This book offers a fresh, reality based perspective on Brazil for English readers who haven't learned about Brazil outside of academia, the New York Times, or the beaches of Rio.
Average customer rating:
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African American Performance and Theater History: A Critical Reader
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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African American Theatre: An Historical and Critical Analysis (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama)
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Black Theatre, USA: Plays by African Americans: The Recent Period, 1935-Today
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A Sourcebook of African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements (Worlds of Performance)
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The Theatre of Black Americans: A Collection of Critical Essays
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The Fire This Time: African American Plays for the 21st Century
ASIN: 0195127250 |
Book Description
African American Performance and Theater History is an anthology of critical writings that explores the intersections of race, theater, and performance in America. Assembled by two esteemed scholars in black theater, Harry J. Elam, Jr. and David Krasner, and composed of essays from acknowledged authorities in the field, this anthology is organized into four sections representative of the ways black theater, drama, and performance interact and enact continual social, cultural, and political dialogues. Ranging from a discussion of dramatic performances of Uncle Tom's Cabin to the Black Art Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, articles gathered in the first section, "Social Protest and the Politics of Representation," discuss the ways in which African American theater and performance have operated as social weapons and tools of protest. The second section of the volume, "Cultural Traditions, Cultural Memory and Performance," features, among other essays, Joseph Roach's chronicle of the slave performances at Congo Square in New Orleans and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s critique of August Wilson's cultural polemics. "Intersections of Race and Gender," the third section, includes analyses of the intersections of race and gender on the minstrel stage, the plight of black female choreographers at the inception of Modern Dance, and contemporary representations of black homosexuality by PomoAfro Homo. Using theories of performance and performativity, articles in the fourth section, "African American Performativity and the Performance of Race," probe into the ways blackness and racial identity have been constructed in and through performance. The final section is a round-table assessment of the past and present state of African American Theater and Performance Studies by some of the leading senior scholars in the field--James V. Hatch, Sandra L. Richards, and Margaret B. Wilkerson. Revealing the dynamic relationship between race and theater, this volume illustrates how the social and historical contexts of production critically affect theatrical performances of blackness and their meanings and, at the same time, how African American cultural, social, and political struggles have been profoundly affected by theatrical representations and performances. This one-volume collection is sure to become an important reference for those studying black theater and an engrossing survey for all readers of African American literature.
Average customer rating:
- A virtual life saver
- A powerful presentation.
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Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in US Women's History
Vicki L. Ruiz
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Born for Liberty
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Women and the American Experience
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Natives and Strangers: A Multicultural History of Americans
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When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America
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Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents
ASIN: 0415925177 |
Book Description
Since the publication of its first edition in 1990, Unequal Sisters has been considered one of the most influential and groundbreaking works in the field of women's studies. Bringing together a broad, multicultural view, it presents the best scholarship available on the issues of race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and class in its attempt to provide a more accurate and more inclusive history of women in the United States.
Now, featuring more than twenty new essays and works by a number of exciting young scholars, this third edition maintains the essential themes and strong emphasis on women of color of earlier editions, but will incorporate many new developments in women's history: emerging views on American women in global perspective, considerations of masculinity, explorations of women of privilege, and increased emphasis on lesbians and Jewish women. Addressing questions regarding the rise of multiculturalism its impact on women's history, political changes, and the hope for a more equitable future-Unequal Sisters continues to dominate the field of women's studies as an unequaled source of brilliant writing, groundbreaking scholarship, and timely commentary on what it means to be a woman in the United States today.
Contributors: Joyce Antler, Yamila Azize-Vargas, Mary H. Blewett, Jeanne Boydston, James F. Brooks, Elsa Barkley Brown, Antonia I. Castañeda, Ellen Carol DuBois, Cynthia Griggs Fleming, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Linda Gordon, Melanie Gustafson, Ramón Gutiérrez, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Nancy A. Hewitt, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Daniel Horowitz, Kumari Jayawardena, Susan Lee Johnson, Gail Paradise Kelly, Elizabeth Lapovosky Kennedy, Yolanda Chávez Leyva, Tessie Liu, Valerie Matsumoto, Joanne Meyerowitz, Alice Yang Murray, Annelise Orleck, Peggy Pascoe, Kathy Peiss, Theda Perdue, Barbara M. Posadas, Vicki L. Ruiz, Rickie Solinger, Brenda Stevenson, Rebecca Tsosie, Devra Anne Weber, Judy Yung
Customer Reviews:
A virtual life saver.......2001-06-01
Were it not for this book, I seriously doubt I would have passed my women's history course. The editors were able to compile an impresive selection of scholarship that explained what my instructor could not.
Women's accheivements struggles and setbacks could not be properly examined unless one made a serious committment to understanding the interrelated issues of race, class, disability and sexual orientation in relation to gender and the predominant traits of the larger society. While the early women's history movement has been faulted for being predominantly middle class heterosexual and white, this book attempts to build a more complete future by giving a voice to the issues.
I wish everybody had access to this substantive piece of literature because it provides an excellent introductory and supplementary framework for research and even political organizing. While primarily intended for use in history courses, I believe it could be adapted for political science, sociology or even psychology.
A powerful presentation........2000-04-06
The third edition of this superb multicultural reader in U.S. women's history provides an essential work of powerful resources blending voices new to this edition with excellent feminist perspectives. Unequal Sisters includes over twenty new essays written by women in the six years since the last edition, with contributors ranging from Joyce Antler and Ellen Carol Dubois to Vicki L. Ruiz. A powerful presentation.
Average customer rating:
- A must for contemporary subculturalists
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The Subcultures Reader 1E PB
Ken Gelder
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415127289 |
Amazon.com
First coined in the 1940s, the term "subculture" has been applied to society's most interesting, and, often, most inventive elements. Through a collection of articles written over the last 50 years, this book traces both the history of the academic study of subcultures and the history of subcultures themselves. While you'll find the usual assortment of articles on punk rock, street gangs, and Star Trek fans, what is perhaps most interesting are the articles from the early days of "subculture studies." Two of the highlights include a piece by Paul G. Cressey on 1930s taxi dancers and their opinions on race and class, and an article by Howard Becker on the language and attitudes of jazz musicians in the early '60s. The 55 selections in this volume offer a rich spectrum of subcultures and the academic responses they have evoked.
Book Description
Subcultures--social groups organized around shared interests and practices can take many forms. From the 1950s juvenile delinquent as portrayed by Elvis, James Dean and Marlon Brando to Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle, from 1970s punk rockers Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten to 90s angst-ridden Kurt Cobain and Henry Rollins, from fans of Star Trek to the current crowd of internet surfers, subcultures define themselves in opposition to others-- workers, "achievers," "squares" and the "mainstream." They also differentiate among themselves and in doing so, create hierarchies of participation, knowledge and taste. Subcultures carve out their own territories, in both public and private spaces.
Arranged in a similar manner to Routledge's successful Cultural Studies Reader, all essays have been specially selected and edited for inclusion, and are grouped in sections, each with an editor's introduction. The general introduction maps out the field of subcultural studies, illustrating how subcultures have been explored from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including social history, anthropology, cultural studies and media.
The Subcultures Reader brings together the most valuable and stimulating writings on subcultures, from work of the early work of the Chicago School to the present work being done by theorists such as Simon Frith, Marjorie Garber, Dick Hebdige and Lawrence Grossberg. It provides an essential guide to the field, enabling readers to understand how subcultural studies developed, the range of work it encompasses, and the future direction for the study of subcultures.
Contributors:Howard Becker, Marcos Becquer, Gary Clark, John Clarke, Albert K. Cohen, Phil Cohen, Stanley Cohen, Paul G. Cressey, Douglas Crimp, Barbara Ehrenreich, Wendy Fonarow, William Foote Whyte, Simon Frith, T.R. Gyvel, Marjorie Garber, Jose Gatti, Paul Gilroy, Kevin Goffman, Milton Gordon, Lawrence Grossberg, Elizabeth Hess, John Irwin, Gloria Jacobs, Henry Jenkins, Dave Laing, George Lipsitz, Angela McRobbie, Peter Marsh, Kobena Mercer, Robert E. Park, Geoffrey Pearson, Ned Polsky, Elisabeth Rosser, Gayle Rubin, Will Straw, Peter Stallybrass, Samuel Surace, Sarah Thornton, Andrew Tolson, Ralph Turner, Stephen A. Tyler, Robert Walser, Alison White, Jock Young.
Customer Reviews:
A must for contemporary subculturalists.......1999-02-27
Gelder and Thornton have pulled together a book that I could have based my entire senior thesis upon as the sole source. Most subculture studies anthologies rely too much on the British school of thought. While that was the seminal work in the field, there's been a *few* more developments since the sixties :) Gelder and Thornton realize this, and draw from almost a full century of subculture studies. Each progression in the field is grouped into a new chapter, with a cohesive introduction section. Some chapter will take a serious sociologist to manage full appreciation - the "sociologese" can get thick when individual authors are trying to obscure the fact that their thesis is a "stretch" to put it mildly. But the book on the whole is a great resource for anyone involved in subculture studies - a good range, considerable depth, and reader-friendly organization for those not yet versed in the particulars of the field.
Book Description
American Cultural Studies: A Reader shows how the burgeoning field of Cultural Studies has been taken up and developed in the United States. The book is a panorama of great writing and powerful ideas illustrating a particularly American response to questions of power and identity in the politics of culture. More than forty selections from key figures in the 'New Journalism', cultural theory, the social sciences, humanities, and visual arts are gathered together in seven sections, each one introduced by helpful contextualising notes. The book also includes illustrations that serve to extend the themes of each section in visual terms. An introductory chapter explains the editorial selection and offers a new account of Cultural Studies and American Studies in relation to American culture. The Epilogue then goes on to suggest new ways of doing Cultural Studies, and of thinking about America in particular, via the Internet.
Customer Reviews:
Native American Voices: A reader.......2002-08-06
This reader is a great resource for teachers at all levels. It proved to be a great help in my curriculum planning.
Excellent for any reader looking for general overview.......1999-05-09
Native American Voices may be the only volume that emits from "Native Country" encompassing the western hemisphere. From the Inuit and Athapascan near the Polar Rim to the Mapuche and Tierra Del Fuego, this volume winnows articulation from a variety of common dialogues. Often we are presented with great philosophy; sometimes we are greeted with prophacy. But, always there is the warning that the lives of the Native People have been assaulted and drastically altered, and if we, the Native Nations, do not reverse ourselves and adhere to the wisdom and the knowledge of our forefathers, we may, along with "civilization," perish. Perusing Native American Voices, we are presented with a scurry of tribal activity that cautions the Elders to guide the youth, and for the youth to listen and to employ that wisdom with respectful enthusiasm. From the British Domain down through California, piercing the Dakotas, entering the realm of the Iroquois Confederacy and southward, there is the cry of political injustice, and that taking the Tribal Laws of great Native Nations and using them for the benefit of the invading masses is not an act of righteousness. In Native Ameircan Voices we hear the weeping of women and children and the clash of swords as the invading hordes rush to attach a people armed only with kindness. WE are witness to the attack. We are also a spectator in the arena where native multitudes are marched in to be baptized in the name of God. Moments later, the baptized are beheaded. Native American Voices is often a requirement in my classes. The students wonder why there were never taught "this" in American and World History in high school. They, too, worry about the value of life in the future. But, thanks to the labors of special people likeLobo and Talbot, the Native People will not fade into the sunset. On page 477, Philip Deere succinctly states the determination of the Native Nations to continue, "We are a people that are made and placed here for a purpose. Through many struggles, through many years of struggle and sufferings we refuse to die." Highly recommended.
Artist information........1999-04-29
For information on the cover art, chapter heading art, as well as other art by Parris Butler, give him a call at River of Dreams Fine Art (510) 527-5687, ex. 2.
Book Description
Terry Teachout, one of our most acute cultural commentators, here turns his sharp eye to every corner of the arts world-music, dance, literature, theater, film, TV, and the visual arts. This collection gathers the best of Teachout's writings from the past fifteen years. In each essay he offers lucid and balanced judgments that invariably illuminate, sometimes infuriate, and always spark a response-the mark of a critic whose thoughts, however controversial, cannot be ignored. In a thoughtful introduction to the book, Teachout considers how American culture of the twenty-first century differs from that of the last century and how the information age has altered popular culture. His selected essays chronicle America's cultural journey over the past decade and a half, and they show us what has been lost-and gained-along the way. With highly informed opinions, an inimitable wit and style, and a genuine devotion to all things cultural, Teachout offers his readers much to delight in and much to ponder.
Customer Reviews:
A mind of his own .......2006-09-11
I know Teachout's work primarily from the musical criticism articles he frequently writes in 'Commentary'. A recent one was on the first American classical composer of distinction, Louis Gottschalk.
The sense is that a great deal of research goes into each of his articles, and that research is in turn translated into a clear and comprehensible narrative which the reader can greatly enjoy.
Teachout is the kind of writer who while having a clear and well- defined taste does not harangue the reader, or work at his conversion.
It is a pleasure to read his pieces, and to learn from them.
Temperate Criticism.......2005-04-28
I was surprised to learn that Terry Teachout had written a biography of H. L. Mencken, given that Teachout's criticism contains little of the contempt and derision characteristic of Mencken's work. Possibly the connection between the two is the lure of playing the role of curmudgeon. But Teachout more than Mencken affirms the definition of critic -- someone who judges, not someone who destroys.
Balanced judgments are what people like to read. Edmund Burke, in a similar vein, wrote that "men of intemperate minds cannot be free." Radio, TV, and the internet bombard us daily with intemperateness born not from the difficult search for truth but from the desire to get attention, to provoke, or to score points. Critics with standards face the equally discouraging, leveling forces of a democratic culture. Amid the mindless pop music and TV shows, there is often little to cheer about.
Teachout reminds me to some degree of Joseph Epstein. Both hail from the Midwest. Both believe in critical standards and measured judgements and demonstrate them in a writing style that is conversational without becoming formless, mean, or vindictive. Teachout has a broader range of critical interests than Epstein. He is more willing to engage with popular culture, scorned by Clement Greenberg and Dwight McDonald as "middlebrow." He is less willing than either Greenberg or McDonald to herald the end of western civilization simply because of a hip-swinging truck driver from Tupelo. At the same time, he writes about opera, dance, and classical music -- subjects it would be difficult to categorize as middlebrow -- in a way that is comprehensible rather than condescending.
Teachout's subjects lean toward distinctly American voices: Willa Cather, Tom Wolfe, Chuck Jones, Bill Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Aaron Copland, and Whit Stillman. His judgements about Norman Mailer and Camille Paglia are dead on. I wish his fine essay on Alison Krauss ("the voice of an angel") had been included. I would also like to read his take on the music of Pat Metheny, a fellow Missourian whose music transcends its genre.
I enjoyed his personal essays as well, especially the elegy for Woody Herman in which Teachout reflects on his own youthful ambition and experience playing jazz bass. To the degree that something useful can be gleaned from these experiences, they are more than mere nostalgia. Like the rest of the essays here, they teach us something about art and criticism and the wisdom from which they spring.
The End of Post-Modernism; and the Return of Mid-Cult?.......2004-05-15
If you are not already familiar with the work of the critic Terry Teachout, this fat, satisfying collection of his writing will turn you into a fan who keeps a lookout for his reviews (like me.) He started out as a musician but soon revealed a startling range of mastery of writing about theater, dance, literature and the movies. He is known as a conservative, although he strikes me as much more moderate in temperament than many of the more well-known red-hot leftists who write about the arts. And he's cosmopolitan enough for his writing to appear in the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" as well as "National Review" and "The New Criterion." In the introduction he declares what he has deciphered about the culture in the last 15 years: that strange time of "post-modernism" where no one believed that anything was real except the self, was ending in the 1990's even before the cataclysmic shock of 9/11. And that expired, unlamented "middle-brow" culture that existed before the 1960's may in fact point a way out of the morass.
Teachout has an informal conversational style that nevertheless displays his great learning (very lightly.) Unlike a lot of critics, particularly self-conscious post-modernists, he is a lot of fun to read. It appears Teachout owes much of his allegiance to the great Modernist tradition that produced jazz, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Willa Cather; and the popular culture of Ed Sullivan, Chuck Jones, Dawn Powell, Frank Sinatra and Tom Wolfe. (Wolfe could be considered Teachout's Godfather or grey eminence.)
Some of my favorite essays in this volume are: "Norman Mailer: Forgotten But Not Gone", a stinging take-down of Mailer's tattered reputation. "Stephen Sondheim's Unsettled Scores" in which Teachout proclaims "Sweeney Todd" the greatest American opera. "That Wascally Professor", his joyous analysis of the great old Warner Brother Looney Toons. "The New New Music", about the death of serialism, atonality, and the recovery of melody (and sanity) in classical music. "My Friend Nancy", his touching memoir of the too-soon deceased cabaret singer Nancy LaMott. "Tolstoy's Contraption", about how possibly the best writers today are not writing novels but making independent films (Whit Stillman, Darren Aronofsky, Kevin Smith, etc.) "Scoundrel Time", the definitive internment of the disgusting Lillian Hellman. "Seven Hundred Pretty Good Books", a nostalgic tribute to the fast-fading memory of the Book of the Month Club. Well, I could go on and on. Ther's also witty, insightful considerations of Camille Paglia, Tom Wolfe, John Steinbeck, Elvis, David Helfgott, John Sayles, Whittaker Chambers, 'The Sopranos"... This book is a feast, and if you are a fan of popular culture you can't afford to miss it.
Passionately Argued, Highly Reasoned Criticism.......2004-04-12
This is criticism at its best, passionate, reasoned, engaged and engaging, grounded in strong values and beliefs. In the introduction to this volume, Terry Teachout notes that his only formal artistic training is in music. When he discusses other art forms, he says it as a "more or less will-informed amateur, not a practitioner." Still, the breadth and depth of his criticism is impressive: Teachout's interests include music, dance, literature, theatre. film, television and the visual arts. Teachout's insights help the reader to gain new dimensions of understanding and appreciation for familiar works; and he communicates his enthusiasm for the unfamiliar in a manner that makes the reader want to seek out the works he's celebrating.
It's also a pleasure to read someone who leaves no doubt where their opinions lie. In his piece on mentally ill pianist David Helfgott, he doesn't shrink from describing what he sees as Helfgott's exploitation by his wife and others as a "sin." His look at Norman Mailer ("Forgotten But Not Gone") is as devastating an assessment of the celebrity author as was H.L. Mencken's famous obituary for William Jennings Bryan after the three-time presidential candidate dropped dead immediately following the Scopes trial. Teachout, by the way, is author of an excellent biography of Mencken. It's clear that he's learned from, and is following in the footsteps of, the best.--William C. Hall
Book Description
Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, The Costa Rica Reader brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country’s past and present. It characterizes Costa Rica as a site of alternatives and possibilities that undermine stereotypes about the region’s history and challenge the idea that current dilemmas facing Latin America are inevitable or insoluble.
This essential introduction to Costa Rica includes more than fifty texts related to the country’s history, culture, politics, and natural environment. Most of these newspaper accounts, histories, petitions, memoirs, poems, and essays are written by Costa Ricans. Many appear here in English for the first time. The authors are men and women, young and old, scholars, farmers, workers, and activists. The Costa Rica Reader presents a panoply of voices: eloquent working-class raconteurs from San José’s poorest barrios, English-speaking Afro-Antilleans of the Limón province, Nicaraguan immigrants, factory workers, dissident members of the intelligentsia, and indigenous people struggling to preserve their culture. With more than forty images, the collection showcases sculptures, photographs, maps, cartoons, and fliers. From the time before the arrival of the Spanish, through the rise of the coffee plantations and the Civil War of 1948, up to participation in today’s globalized world, Costa Rica’s remarkable history comes alive. The Costa Rica Reader is a necessary resource for scholars, students, and travelers alike.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Sociological Reading.......2007-02-13
I love sociology. This is a great reader presenting different points of view of a complex society. So you know a little about me to judge the (short) review...I've done immersion study in CR and am a master's level student in the us. US born. Also over 40.
A study at democracy through turmoil.......2006-08-19
By using variouus annotations on short stories the reader lives through many people which have helped create this nation. Events are told in first person that give realism to both their suffering and accomplishments. Interesting information about the United States influence/involement in the Central American zone and the indirect effect on Costa Ricans gives pause to think about current events.
Books:
- Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind
- Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition)
- Beauty and the Beast
- Best of Flair
- Bible Codes Revealed: The Coming UFO Invasion
- Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride
- Blues People: Negro Music in White America
- Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer
- Burlesque and the New Bump-N-Grind
Books Index
Books Home
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