Book Description
âIf I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.â So E. M. Forster famously observed in his Two Cheers for Democracy. Forster’s epigrammatic manifesto, where the idea of the âfriendâ stands as a metaphor for dissident cross-cultural collaboration, holds the key, Leela Gandhi argues in Affective Communities, to the hitherto neglected history of western anti-imperialism. Focusing on individuals and groups who renounced the privileges of imperialism to elect affinity with victims of their own expansionist cultures, she uncovers the utopian-socialist critiques of empire that emerged in Europe, specifically in Britain, at the end of the nineteenth century. Gandhi reveals for the first time how those associated with marginalized lifestyles, subcultures, and traditionsâincluding homosexuality, vegetarianism, animal rights, spiritualism, and aestheticismâunited against imperialism and forged strong bonds with colonized subjects and cultures.
Gandhi weaves together the stories of a number of South Asian and European friendships that flourished between 1878 and 1914, tracing the complex historical networks connecting figures like the English socialist and homosexual reformer Edward Carpenter and the young Indian barrister M. K. Gandhi, or the Jewish French mystic Mirra Alfassa and the Cambridge-educated Indian yogi and extremist Sri Aurobindo. In a global milieu where the battle lines of empire are reemerging in newer and more pernicious configurations, Affective Communities challenges homogeneous portrayals of âthe Westâ and its role in relation to anticolonial struggles. Drawing on Derrida’s theory of friendship, Gandhi puts forth a powerful new model of the political: one that finds in friendship a crucial resource for anti-imperialism and transnational collaboration.
Customer Reviews:
The next level.......2006-07-04
This wonderful book brings it all together on the thinking of a "politics of friendship", taking from Derrida, Nancy, Blanchot and others and moving forward, reawakening angles on our thinking of community, the promise of utopian thought... the kind of "immature" radical re-thinking of ethics and the political that those who would prefer generic identities and allegiances have always sought to push aside.
Definitely one of the best academic works I've read...ever.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read !.......2005-08-24
This book will grab your interest right from the prologue as in Claudia's own words she recounts the camping trip and the horror that followed. Claudia's vernacular "chosen family" etc. will ring a bell with those in the community. I felt as if I was listening to a friend speak of a terrible tragedy.
Claudia's wild trek out of the woods after the shooting, her vivid descriptions of it all made me ache..for her and Rebecca. Even though I knew the outcome I was still hoping that somehow it would be different......
I didnt' feel that Claudia was emotionless at all in the telling The very fact that she could speak of it, could put down in words that unbelievable tragedy speaks of her own courage and strength.
I found the book easy to read and the small breaks of the third person are actually a welcome respite from the terror.You can breathe a bit more before Claudia comes back to tell her story.
This is a page turner, real people that you come to care for and pray for and hope for a different ending.
I have never been camping and after reading this......I never will be!
Thank you Claudia for the strength to tell your story! Rebecca lives on!
Good enough to teach.......2005-02-18
I read this book several years ago for the very first time. Since then I've browsed through it over the years to remember how lucky I am that I was able to read it and live an activist life full of efforts to iradicate this type of violence. It was a quick read in some ways, because I didn't want to put it down; but then in some ways, it took a while to get through because I HAD to put it down. It shook me to tears. It's an emotionally charged piece of writing that is so descriptive, that I lost all concept of space and time once I started reading. I am currently a teacher at the 12th grade level and have included Brenner's story on my course syllabus in an effort to outrage and organize a new generation of peace-mongers. I hope that Claudia's story will touch them as deeply as it's touched me.
The Whole Truth.......2004-07-23
Hey, I haven't read this book, giving it a five anyways and I will read it someday, but I would like to inform all who actually read this book to read "The Whole Truth? A Case Murder on the Appalachian Trail" by H. L. Pohlman. It's a book on the same case, but in an unbiased and legal view. This book is meant to show the legal workings, but it also gives you a middle perspective of what actually happened, leaving you the decision of what actually happened.
Great read!.......2002-12-23
This book was a heart wrenching read. I could identify and feel for the characters. This is one find that all lesbians should have on their shelves, and that all people alike should read. The only complaint I have is that at times it seems like the main character is a little emotionless in her writing. Other than that, I would highly recommend this book.
Sadly needed in our society.......2001-03-09
American society has the rather unfortunate tendency to shun hate crimes legislation on the grounds that it would restrict an individual's right to freedom of expression and trivialize the First Amendment. Both assertions are clearly absurd, but the nasty allegations continue. In the greatest of ironies, the "pro-family" "pro-life" relgious right will oppose this legislation because it supposedly interferes with their political activities.
I challenge anybody to read this book and then still believe the lies and distortions popularized by the right wing.Hate crimes are meant to stigmatize both the indiviuals affected and the larger marginalized group of which they are members of. Supporters of hate crimes laws are not well-heeled elitists, they are (quite litterally) the most vunerable members of society who fear for their lives.
Brenner describes how she and her lover were enjoying a wonderful day in the mountains when the later was gunned down by a homophobic peeping tom. Although she survived and the physical injuries eventually healed, I could tell that it was still very emotionally hard for her. I applaud her for comming forward and retelling her story in the hopes that future generations of Americans will never have to personally experience the same fate.
Not supprisingly, Brenner became an anti-violence activist following this incident and has appeared before Congress urging passage of federal hate crimes measures. While her story did not recceive as much publicity as the later murder of Wyoming's Matthew Shepard, she helped personalize the face of hate crime victims.
Although it was her lover who was gunned down, Brenner realized that the day after that it could be somebody else's and the ugly pattern would continue until people of all sexualities started demanding an end to anti-gay violence and taught respect for different groups.
Average customer rating:
- Open your eyes and read this book
- To Thine Own Self Be True
- Ballsy
- Pandering
- A book for the 21st Century
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Anti-Gay (Sexual Politics)
Manufacturer: Freedom Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
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ASIN: 0304331449 |
Customer Reviews:
Open your eyes and read this book.......2005-08-01
This is not a book for the over-PC Queer activist crowd. Its meant for anyone who has felt alienated being an out and proud homosexual in the contemporary 'gay community' (in fact, the very term 'gay community' will sound like a misnomer after you read this book).
I liked all the essays in the book... however, it does ignore an important issue - the rampant racism in the gay community. I can't speak for the lesbians but any gay man of color like me can tell you from his own personal experience that 'white' is the gold standard in the gay community and the whole community is clearly segregated along ethnic and racial lines. The book does not address this topic head-on. This book also does not talk about the misogyny of some gay men (I mean the hatred directed towards heterosexual women and NOT women who are lesbians or bisexuals). However, its still a pretty good book. It raises issues that no one in the mainstream media has dared to raise far. It may not solve any problems or answer any questions but its still a start.
To Thine Own Self Be True.......2004-03-12
It is amazing, to say the least, the words and thoughts which approach, enter, modify, and explode upon one anothers' minds. One must simply face the fact that "LOVE" is the center "keyword" at hand here. No matter how fluent, grandure, and explicit we describe the facts that we deal with from day to day, each of us must face the simple yet complex truth of who and what we are. Each and every one of us are given the chance to love and to engulf life to the fullest extent. In no way could anyone honestly rebuke nor applaud the undertones nor obvious "overtones" stated within this publication. However, can anyone even begin to notice the eruption of anger and rebellion provided herein? Aside from the "truth" that the color, "red" institutes and demonstrates "anger", and aside from the truth that "ANTI" is not only a negative and irreprochable "sensation", how can anyone defend nor offend the cause and effect of the argument of this novel? Oh, how quite apparent is the anger which flows forth, only to begat more anger. To each his own and different taste. Personally, I, as well as millions of other avid readers, look forward to feeling a pleasant yet warm sensation upon each and every new highway that I venture upon beginning a new adventure with each and every of the literal thounsands of books that I have enountered, roads that I have traveled, and in some cases, such as this particular one, it could not be better described that I not only "traveled" a road, but it was a very uncomfortable and travailing road. So many positive points could easily have been tackled, with the verb, "tackled" being such a heavily overstated description which tends to paint the mere opposite of what both the author and the audience perform, as true writing and the act of "loving what one performs when doing so" can only be experienced when both the "reader" and the "composer" genuinely "love" their duties of doing such. In fact, it would have been and could very well have become such an easier task had this "reader" sensed even the most remote and clandestine "love and appreciation" for the subject that was written, perhaps even a pleasant sensation, which, if approached carefully and with an open yet "pleasant" mood at hand, the simple enactment of thinking of even such a "small yet pleasant thought" can and usually does transform our streams of consciousness to a manner in which even the least-experienced reader(s) (the MOST-experienced author(s) might even be astounded, as well!) could sense the warmness and light-hearted blend and, as is usually the case, even the most simple "warm thought" can be noticeably, yet strikingly obvious upon reviewing our written thoughts, even to the point that we find it so contagious that we pass it from our minds upon our formation of written words that we know and sense the very same results resonating from those who anxiously await to read what was once our own private thoughts. There's nothing much more satisfying that one could feel than a sensation of "completion", and more often than not, these wonderful feelings most often occur within both our writing minds, as well as those who wish to enquire into our thoughts and perceptions, most often, that is, when we choose to have a genuine interest and even the most simple "positive" mindset. This is respectfully one person's completion of his own particular mindset, though unfortunately and most obviously is far from a full, complete, and happy one and it truely is such a shame that one "chooses" to view life in such a negative way when there is so much to love about all of us --- so much that we could never begin to absorb the realities within ourselves, not to mention the wonderfulness within one another's lives. If everyone could see the love within themselves, harsh realities such as this could be avoided. There is much more to say and very little time to say, much less act upon it. From the moment we are born, we have the ability to love one another. Each makes his or her choice. There is no other explanation and those who deny this are denying our purpose for existing. Individuals may continue to coin phrases such as "homosexual", "faggot", "gay", etc.; however, "Love" is a simple "on/off" switch --- either you have it in your heart or you don't. Masking such a true and hallowed notion (and to some, "Reality!")...and to MANY a true emotion "three-dimensionally felt", is a simple manner which harms us all. We all have no excuse for denying the words and feelings which encompass us. Exchanging worse of hate, remorse, and defense lead us to nowhere but a bitter end. Let us all be loving and ... for us if noone else .... love one another and put a bitter end to such a futile war. May God bless each and every one of us. Amen.
Ballsy.......2001-12-19
It's funny how a book about why homos don't need to be `gay' is attacked for not being gay enough and for failing to offer us the New Mince Forwards. It's as if gays are too delicate and fragile to be exposed to self-criticism and dissent without being immediately soothed and reassured by a vision of The Emerald City. It's precisely because this book doesn't have anything to sell us that it is so refreshing. Odd how a book with `Anti-` in the title turns out to be CRITICAL, isn't it? The various books which have appeared in the US since 'Anti-Gay' (a UK book, please note) appeared have pretended to be critical but have all been way too gay. All of them have been written by pink snake-oil salesmen who want to convince us that they have patented the `right' way to be homo - e.g. Signorile and Sullivan squabbling over who should have the keys to the Gay Community pulpit. Their `critical' dimension has turned out to be mere moralism. Funnily enough, the most `political' statement in regard to contemporary homosexuality turns out to be an attempt, however unlikely, to free homo-ness from political imperatives (which anyway have just become a branch of consumer politics). 'Anti-Gay' does this with humour and wit, and also with real balls - an organ that sheep-like contemporary gays wouldn't know what to do with, besides shaving and hanging weights from.
Pandering.......2001-08-29
If you don't especially like modern gay culture and want a club to beat it down with, this is your book. I also like gay culture, so I was much less favorably inclined. On the whole, the book is humorless and fairly boring; the authors never really wrap their minds around the full implications of gay culture for modernity. The essays vary in quality, but most of them are competent. Only on occasion are they genuinely thought-provoking. Actually, a few of the "reviews" from other reviewers strike me as better critiques than anything in this book. As for the view that we are entering a "post-gay" age, that's pretty much whistling in the dark.
A book for the 21st Century.......1999-11-08
Finally, I book to take on the "Gay Orthodoxy" of the 70' and 80' and the nihilism of the 90's.I am not surprised that our self styled "Gay leaders" are offended.
Average customer rating:
- Rating the Title and the Cover
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Why Buddhism? The Evil of Religion
Joseph T. Arellano
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1412008646
Release Date: 2006-06-30 |
Customer Reviews:
Rating the Title and the Cover.......2005-11-20
I saw the book. I didn't read it. So review-reader beware. That being said, this book appears to take a very unecumenical tone, focusing in several chapters on the evil of theism and the error of believing that Jesus is God (taken from what is said in the back). Not wanting to judge this book by its cover, I would still ransom to say that it is very surprising and unseeming for a Buddhist book to say such stuff in such a manner, even if only on the cover. But perhaps the contents justify such, though I wouldn't want a first time reader of Buddhist material starting with this text. There are a lot more representative texts available free online. But perhaps a more critical hardline buddhist (if there is such a thing) would benefit from such a book. Perhaps.
Book Description
While several books have discussed the need for anti-oppressive school environments, few have addressed actual research for teachers to turn to as resources for classroom practice. Kumashiro draws on interviews with queer activists as a starting point for discussion of different models of reading and challenging oppression. It is through these personal stories that the complex theory and methodology Kumashiro presents gains particular relevance for creating actual pedagogical practice.
Customer Reviews:
Award winning book.......2003-12-22
Winner of the RESILIENT RESISTANCE:THE MYERS OUTSTANDING AWARDS 2003!
Kevin K. Kumashiro, director of the Center for
Anti-Oppressive Education, El Cerrito, CA.,
Kumashiro is first and foremost an educator. He is committed to
empowering educators to deal with anti-oppressive techniques and strategies in the everyday classroom situation. In Troubling Education he highlights the negotiations necessary to introduce sensitive subjects.
Kumashiro interviews activists and makes us question ourselves and the role we play in contributing to social problems and bringing about social change.
The book was easy to read and hard to put down. I hope he writes more on the subject!!!
Amazon.com
Janet Halley provides a close reading and provocative history of the 1993 revisions to the U.S. military's antigay policy. Possibly most shocking is Halley's account of how Congress and the Department of Defense rebuffed the Clinton administration's attempted compromise policy based on a status/action distinction. Halley shows how the status/action distinction has completely collapsed; self-identification as gay is taken to indicate a propensity to engage in gay acts--and consequently as equal grounds for discharge.
Ironically, as Halley notes, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund itself had "argued that sodomy was a necessary element of gay life" in an amicus brief in Bowers v. Hardwick, the landmark 1986 Supreme Court decision denying privacy protection to homosexual sex. Hardwick is at the heart of Halley's argument; as many have noted, the Georgia statute in question applied to all acts of sodomy, both heterosexual and homosexual. The Supreme Court, however, directed its opinion only at homosexual sodomy and, as Halley puts it, "in their hands, sodomy and homosexual persons became metonyms of one another," establishing the foundation for the military's misnamed "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
This is a dense, thought-provoking little book, certainly worth looking at for anyone interested in the legal and political aspects of the issue of gays in the military. Ultimately, her analysis suggests, political and intellectual bad faith have resulted in an unconstitutional policy that exposes all military personnel (not just homosexuals) to intense sexual scrutiny and restricts both their speech and acts. --Julia Riches
Book Description
In Don’t Janet E. Halley explains how the military's new anti-gay policy is fundamentally misdescribed by its common nickname, âDon't Ask/Don't Tell.â This ubiquitous phrase, she points out, implies that it discharges servicemembers not for who they are, but for what they do. It insinuates that, as long as military personnel keep quiet about their homosexual orientation and desist from âhomosexual conduct,â no one will try to pry them out of their closets and all will be well.
Not so, reveals Halley. In order to work through the steps by which the new law was ultimately drafted, she opens with a close reading of the 1986 Supreme Court sodomy case which served as the legal and rhetorical model for the policy revisions made in 1993. Halley also describes how the Clinton administration’s attempts to offer Congress an opportunity to regulate conductâand not statusâwere flatly rejected and not included in the final statute. Using cultural and critical theory seldom applied to explain the law, Halley argues that, far from providing privacy and an assurance that servicemembers' careers will be ruined only if they engage in illegal conduct, the rule activates a culture of minute surveillance in which every member must strictly avoid using any gesture in an ever-evolving lexicon of âconduct that manifests a propensity.â In other words, not only homosexuals but all military personnel are placed in danger by the new policy. After challenging previous pro-gay arguments against the policy that have failed to expose its most devious and dangerous elements, Halley ends with a persuasive discussion about how it is both unconstitutional and, politically, an act of sustained bad faith.
This knowledgeable and eye-opening analysis of one of the most important public policy debates of the 1990s will interest legal scholars, policymakers, activists, military historians and personnel, as well as citizens concerned about issues of discrimination.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant analysis of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.......1999-09-11
Halley not only carefully dissects the military's current policy toward gay and lesbian members, revealing its legal shortcomings and moral hollowness, she takes prominent public figures to task for supporting such a policy. The book is short, the argument dense, her conclusions inescapable. A necessary book.
Book Description
An impassioned condemnation of anti-gay religious extremism enveloped in a call to spiritual discernment, The Pharisees Amongst Us identifies the religious leaders and collaborators in the campaign against homosexuals and homosexuality as equivalents of Pharisees, religious rigorists who demanded adherence to spiritually-empty laws, antagonists of the Christ, to whom Christ routinely referred as hypocrites. Citing numerous examples of what he refers to as biblical contortionism and behavior that starkly contrasts Christ's teachings by the likes of Jerry Falwell, Dr. Laura, James Dobson and Lou Sheldon, author, Rod Brannum-Harris charges the anti-gay campaign is rooted in ignorance of the divinity and spiritual oneness of all creation, God's unbounded, creative genius and God's all-encompassing, unconditional love.
Book Description
By combining autobiographical accounts with qualitative and quantitative research on queer students of different racial backgrounds, the essays collected here not only trouble the ways we think about the intersections of race and sexuality, they also offer theoretical insights and educational strategies to educators committed to bringing about change. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Customer Reviews:
Great project, complex subject, poor results.............2001-08-31
This book is an anthology about the school experiences of young gay men and lesbians of color. It is an important intervention in that this group is twice as removed from mainstream educators' radars. It annihilates the pure fallacy that all the gays are white and all the people of color are straight. However, this project is all over the place. Academic readers will hate the "uhm"'s and "like"'s of the personal student narratives. Non-academic readers will be turned off by the high-level jargon of the scholars. Many people will especially be lost after reading Kumashiro's introduction. The uncritical use of the word "queer" is very problematic as well. Some articles are great (McCready, for example); some are the definition of terrible (Shen-Hayes). I think those interested in gays and lesbians of color will want to buy this book. Still, they should be aware that it could have been better.
a mixed bag for a complicated subject.......2001-08-16
This book intends to be a resource for those who want to explore the educational issues facing GLBT students of color. The anthology is divided into academic writers coming up with theories on the matter and vignettes from gay students of color describing their experiences. It brings up many common topics from which LGBTPOC students often have to endure: being the only person of color in gay-straight alliances, dealing with same-race peers who say no one of their background could be gay, coming out to immigrant parents when there is no word for "gay" in one's home-spoken language, etc. In general, the point of the book is to get educators to think of students who are twice removed from mainstream school radars and whom many don't even think exist. However, there may be too many cooks in this rather short anthology. With much effort, Kumashiro attempts to explain why this anthology does critical work without trying to state that racism and homophobia are the worse or only injustices facing students. Nevertheless, his words are bogged down in inpenetrable language and many readers are going to (wrongly) stop reading the book after his introduction. The non-elite, non-academic readers are going to be bored and confused by the writings of the academics. The academics are going to be dismissive of all the "uhms" and "likes" of the young gays of color. IN ADDITION, READERS WHO DON'T COME FROM LEFT-WING, POSTMODERN SETTINGS WILL BE INSTANTLY HORRIFIED AT EVERY AUTHORS' UNCRITICAL USAGE OF THE TERM "QUEER". There are superb pieces here, such as McCready's exploration of why black males haven't joined a California gay student group. Still, there are hollow, poorly stitched-together pieces such as Chen-Hayes' article on multiracial families. Education is a hodgepodge field that draws from multiple disciplines anyway. Thus, I don't know where Kumashiro's project falters on its own or what. But this was a difficult effort on an important topic. Fans of writings from gays and lesbians of color still should add this to their collection. The work cited pages in all the articles point to other (better?) sources that readers will want to find as well.
Average customer rating:
- A Solid & Satisfying Read on Every Level
- Among the best of all gay novels
- Been there
- Simply one of the Best "Gay" Novels written
- Poetic writing, poignantly storyline
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American Studies
Mark Merlis
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0395689929 |
Customer Reviews:
A Solid & Satisfying Read on Every Level.......2004-10-21
American Studies is a boldly crafted debut novel about gay generational changes and connections, betrayal and loyalty, moving ahead, and individual identity. The novel revolves around the theme of healing on several levels. Reeve is 62 and hospitalized after a severe beating by a hustler. He feels his sex life, his dignity, and everything he held sacred - those very things which defined him - are all gone. Over the four day span of this novel, Reeve gradually regains his footing, adapts, and rebuilds his life. Most importantly he recognizes that he is a survivor. Much of this realization occurs in his detailed reminiscing about Tom, an early mentor of his who killed himself when his exposure as a homosexual as well as his betrayal by a lover combined to undermine his world. Reeve also gets a renewed zest for life by the hunk in the adjoining hospital bed. American Studies is a book of incredibly strong characterization abundant in insights and displaying a skilled interweaving of stories. It also contains interesting gay history, a strong narrative, and even some great laughs along the way. Merlis has created a real gem!
Among the best of all gay novels.......2003-07-27
American Studies, very sadly out of print at the moment (but surely not for long), is one of the great gay novels of the 20th century. Narrated by a gay man in hospital after being beaten by a trick, the novel tells the story of F.O. Matthiessen, a great American literary critic who committed suicide in 1950 after being outed and ostracized at Harvard, where he taught for more than twenty years. Most importantly, though, Merlis writes like an angel, every sentence beautifully made, charming, amusing, and moving. It is as perfect as a novel can be.
Been there.......2003-06-02
I'm lesbian, not gay but I have mant gay friends.and being 73 now I lived thru the McCarthyite era, the witch hunts, being scared to go to gay bars which were likely to be raided (REALLY!) and the fear of losing your job if you were discovered. It was a chilling time and the author tells it like it was. We HAVE come a long way, baby!! Read this book to discover how it was like to be gay/lesbian back in the Dark Ages when homosexuality was a psychiatric disorder. BORN TOO LATE!!
Simply one of the Best "Gay" Novels written.......1999-01-29
There seldom comes into my reading life a book as fine as this one. I read a lot of books, and frequently try new authors being published for the first time. This book completely blew me away. The author has such a wonderful command of our language - using phrases and words to their best advantage. He exhibits such an intense ability to get inside his characters - to be able to give them feelings that are so easily conveyed to his reader. I laughed at times, I cried at times. This is one of those fine examples of books that you don't want to finish - you simply sigh at the end and wish for more.
Poetic writing, poignantly storyline.......1998-08-05
Merlis' story is so beautifully crafted, that it can be read just for the appreciation of the language alone. The literary device he uses takes him from the present, where he is recovering from a vicious attack from someone he brought into his home, to the past, where he ruminates on his first romantic involvement with an erudite, but inhibited professor, battling the McCarthyism of the Fifties. At the center of the dilemma is having to live in a world that has no tolerance, let alone respect, for age, individualism or political integrity. This is a rare treat. Compelling story, mesmerizing language. You'll laugh out loud at times and at times you'll have tears in your eyes. Watch this writer.
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- Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
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- Beany Malone Series - 14 Book Set (Beany Malone)
- Black Womanist Ethics (American Academy of Religion Academy Series ; No. 60)
- Black Working Wives: Pioneers of the American Family Revolution
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