History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

Average customer rating:

Quick, informative read for an American
Quirky--but intriguing--book
Wow
Great Read....
For any soccer fan...

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
Franklin Foer
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Soccer | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Sociology of Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0060731427
Release Date: 2005-07-05

Amazon.com

The global power of soccer might be a little hard for Americans, living in a country that views the game with the same skepticism used for the metric system and the threat of killer bees, to grasp fully. But in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, soccer is not merely a pastime but often an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans. New Republic editor Franklin Foer, a lifelong devotee of soccer dating from his own inept youth playing days to an adulthood of obsessive fandom, examines soccer's role in various cultures as a means of examining the reach of globalization. Foer's approach is long on soccer reportage, providing extensive history and fascinating interviews on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry and the inner workings of AC Milan, and light on direct discussion of issues like world trade and the exportation of Western culture. But by creating such a compelling narrative of soccer around the planet, Foer draws the reader into these sport-mad societies, and subtly provides the explanations he promises in chapters with titles like "How Soccer Explains the New Oligarchs", "How Soccer Explains Islam's Hope", and "How Soccer Explains the Sentimental Hooligan." Foer's own passion for the game gives his book an infectious energy but still pales in comparison to the religious fervor of his subjects. His portraits of legendary hooligans in Serbia and Britain, in particular, make the most die-hard roughneck New York Yankees fan look like a choirboy in comparison. Beyond the thugs, Foer also profiles Nigerian players living in the Ukraine, Iranian women struggling against strict edicts to attend matches, and the parallel worlds of Brazilian soccer and politics from which Pele emerged and returned. Foer posits that globalization has eliminated neither local cultural identities nor violent hatred among fans of rival teams, and it has not washed out local businesses in a sea of corporate wealth nor has it quelled rampant local corruption. Readers with an interest in international economics are sure to like How Soccer Explains the World, but soccer fans will love it. --John Moe

Book Description

Soccer is much more than a game, or even a way of life. It is a perfect window into the cross–currents of today's world, with all its joys and its sorrows. In this remarkably insightful, wide–ranging work of reportage, Franklin Foer takes us on a surprising tour through the world of soccer, shining a spotlight on the clash of civilizations, the international economy, and just about everything in between. How Soccer Explains the World is an utterly original book that makes sense of our troubled times.

Customer Reviews:

Quick, informative read for an American.......2007-09-23

Just finished up this amusing set of essays about soccer and how it relates to "globalization." The book isn't quite what it promises to be on the cover -- I mean, no real "theory" emerges. It's more just a set of observations relating to this particular author's travels around the world experiencing soccer in different locales and writing about it. The transitions between chapters are usually smooth but this is really 10 essays that all have to do with culture and soccer.

But they're fun to read. The author covers:

* Soccer in Serbia and how nationalist fans of Red Star Belgrade formed the nucleus of the Serb paramilitary forces created during the Milosevic regime (and the ties between the most notorious Serb thug, Arkan, and soccer -- I had no idea he ran the Red Star fan organization and then bought a soccer club),
* Celtic vs. Rangers and how the two clubs exploit Catholic/Protestant resentment
* How Tottenham became "Jewish" and the history of Jewish and Zionist soccer clubs (and other clubs like Tottenham associated with Jews and how it hurts them)
* Corruption in Brazilian soccer and why all the Brazilian teams are no good (it's not just because Brazil is less affluent)
* The results of a traditional Ukranian club recruiting several players from Africa
* The role of soccer in the rise of Berlusconi (once and perhaps future Italian prime minister)
* How soccer intersects with Iranian history and society
* The role of FC Barcelona in the Catalan nationalist movement over the years
* The overlap between Americans' attitudes toward soccer and those same Americans' attitudes toward globalization

I enjoyed learning more about these people and places through the lens of sport. As an American, it's interesting to be reminded how passionate some of the feelings are about these teams -- but I guess our media is a bit more ginger in covering the less politically correct aspects of how these teams have come to represent cultural resentments, etc., in so many places.

It's a bit like a P.J. O'Rourke book (without the ideology and with fewer punchlines) in the sense that it's a very first-person account of places you're never going to go, told by someone with a fresh set of eyes who lacks background but nevertheless sees a lot. And It's a pretty fast read -- about 250 pages but the pages are very narrow with larger print -- perhaps an effort to disguise just how short the book actually is.

Very much worth it. Whether a non-soccer-fan would enjoy it is more dodgy, but it's possible. And that's probably as good an endorsement as any.

Quirky--but intriguing--book.......2007-09-03

This is a quirky work; it ends up proving more satisfying than one might have imagined. The subtitle:"An Unlikely Theory of Globalization." That subtitle provides a takeoff point for the book. The author notes that (Page 5): "On my travels, I tried to use soccer--its fans, its players, and strategies--as a way fo thinking about how people would identify themselves in this new era."

He explores the role of soccer by a series of case studies of teams--in Serbia, Scotland, Brazil, England, Jewish teams, the Ukraine, and so on.

In the end, I am not sure how well he links these various nationalistic loyalties to teams with globalization.

However, this is an intriguing book that gets one to thinking about much larger issues.

Wow.......2007-06-22

This book is an amazing combination of football, history, and politics on an international level. It exceeded my expectations by far. If you like the above topics, then you shall enjoy it.

Great Read...........2007-06-15

As a first generation american (Italian/Polish) and a fan of football and politics I found Foer's book to be an intriguing read. I'd recommend it to anyone that either loves the game and would like to know more about the integration of the sport and religion/politcs as well as American detractors and novice soccer fans who'd like to know more about why the rest of the world is so infatuated with the game.

For any soccer fan..........2007-05-29

As a follower of the Bundesliga, the stories and histories of the other leagues in Europe were fascinating! I especially enjoyed the Celtic/Ranger and Barca/Real stories that provided a much needed context to why these are two of the biggest rivalries in sports today. The political influence of some of these clubs is something to read...that power just doesn't occur here in the states. Overall, I thought the book was a great read for the new or casual fan, as well as the long time super-fan. A must read!

Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents

Average customer rating:

A practical approach to other cultures
Antropology is a must

Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents
Martin J. Gannon
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0761929800

Book Description

Click 'Additional Materials' for downloadable sample chapters

“In summary, this is a significant book . . . for a multitude of audiences, including scholars, practitioners, students, expatriates, travelers, and those who are simply interested in culture. . . . This book is also an ideal reference tool, since the metaphors are easy to remember yet rich in contextual value, and are presented in a logical structure for quick consultation. Overall, this book is enormously appealing, genuinely useful, and a worthy addition to any collection.”

—THUNDERBIRD INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW, 2002

In Understanding Global Cultures, Third Edition, the author presents the cultural metaphor as a method for understanding the cultural mindsets of a nation, a cluster of nations, and even a continent. This title emphasizes that metaphors are guidelines that helps such outsiders to quickly understand what members of a culture consider important.

New Features of the Third Edition:

Develops a cultural metaphor for the base culture of China (the Great Wall), showing how it influenced both a unifying cultural metaphor among the large Chinese Expatriate communities living in various nations (the Chinese family altar) and the cultural metaphor for Singapore (the Hawker Centers).
Provides a description of cultural metaphors for two continents, Africa and Australia
Groups cultural metaphors by book parts into overriding themes or general types of cultures such as Authority Ranking, Equality matching, Market Pricing, Cleft, and Torn.

Instructor’s Resources on the Web:

There is now a Web site where instructors can obtain over 100 concepts, applications, and exercises to enrich the learning experiences associated with the Third Edition. Visit the authors website at www.csusm.edu/mgannon, or click here.

Customer Reviews:

A practical approach to other cultures.......2007-05-15

This book uses metaphors as tools to engage with other cultures. And very useful tools they are, indeed. I have been using this book with students for several years now, and the biggest initial obstacle is that people mistake the metaphors for stereotypes. Once this obstacle is overcome, a very creative and productive examination of the reality of another culture can occur.

Antropology is a must.......2006-01-30

Very exciting journey using the strenght of metaphores. Just be careful that metaphores are a representation of reality, not exactly that!

Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public Worlds, V. 1)

Average customer rating:

too rosy of a picture
An ambitious attempt, and some provocative thinking
A waste of time
an academic antidote to academia
Required Reading

Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public Worlds, V. 1)
Arjun Appadurai
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0816627932

Customer Reviews:

too rosy of a picture.......2005-12-13

I am going to quote Aihwa Ong - Antrhopology Professor from UC Berkeley who criticized "Modernity at Large" since I cannot state it any better than her:

"When an approach to cultural globalization seeks merely to sketch out universalizing trends rather than deal with actually existing structures of power and situated cultural processes, the analysis cries out for a sense of political economy and situated ethnography."

Appadurai is essentially Thomas Friedman in a graduated sense for academia.

An ambitious attempt, and some provocative thinking.......2005-06-16

Appadurai's book, Modernity at Large, offers quite a few tools to help us think about that big fuzzy thing called "globalization." He coins quite a few words to describe multiply-constituted networks of culture - ethnoscapes, mediascapes, ideoscapes, financescapes, and technoscapes. All are different ways of looking at the global cultural flows that we're trying to describe, and all are strongly influenced by perspective, overlapping, and rapidly shifting (though the term doesn't quite capture the instability and mutability of global cultural flows).

A book like this, to be useful, should help us think about important problems in manageable, intelligible, and useful ways. Appadurai's book offers more than most in this line. His terms, such as the above, are interesting, and his willingness to theorize as well as analyze is valuable. The ways that he situates himself in his analysis is also illuminating and useful. For example, Appadurai describes a trip he and his wife made to a Hindu temple in Bombay. His wife asked about a Hindu priest that she had known before, and they were told that he was in Houston. The point isn't just that they went there and he came here. He's talking about trans-locality, and the production of locality beyond mere connection to a place. Not all Hindus live in India, and not all Indians have to live in India to maintain their Indian-ness. At the same time, Houston is Houston because of both the people and the landscape located there. But part of its identity as a place derives from the trans-local identities of some of its citizens - a "cosmopolitan" city where some citizens are both Indian and American. He does a better job than I'm doing here explaining his thinking about the contemporary experience of diaspora, which is an accomplishment in itself.

There are some flashes of real insight in this text - for me, some of his coinages were brilliant, and the comment that some trans-local modern ethnicities are forced into violent anti-statism through an inability to articulate their identity except through the language of nation and state also resonates - but overall, Appadurai tried to accomplish too much in one book. He finds himself saying things like "the details of this argument are beyond the scope of this chapter," and it seems like this happens too much. It would have been better to flesh out his thinking about the production of locality in greater detail, with more case studies. And some of his terms could use additional explanation - he doesn't seem to notice his own un-critical use of the term "cosmopolitan," and he pays remarkably little attention to literature and film after professing the importance of both in the global exchange of ideas (mediascapes and ideoscapes, as he calls them).

This is a strong book, with some real value, but I wouldn't recommend reading the whole thing all the way through. The table of contents, the index, and the chapter titles are useful signposts. It's the kind of book that might be most useful in small doses.

A waste of time .......2004-11-15

Obtuse and without meaning in the real world. Appaduarai needs to set foot on real soil and realize the world is not created, nor can it be defined behind ivy walls.

Use your time to read something of importance and let Appadurai die on the vine, he may impress other sycophantic scholars with his labeling and vocabulary but you don't need him.

an academic antidote to academia.......2004-07-31

The great strength behind Appadurai's book Modernity at Large is that he breaks out of the binary thinking that many new historians engage in. Instead, he offers what he coins landscapes, five different threads that weave together and influence one another to form our communities, imagined or otherwise. His ideas of how the imagination and imagined communities affect us build on the established works of others, especially Benedict Anderson, but his approach is very down to earth and accessible without pandering to a lowest common denominator. The book is dense, and not something to absorb in one sitting; it savours like a fine wine.

An excellent book, especially for students wanting to research deterritorialization and the transnational public sphere but are intimidated or frustrated with assigned texts.

Required Reading.......2002-04-10

This brilliant book makes a fundamental contribution to how globalization works. It is required reading not just for anthropologists but for economists, political scientists and others trying to grapple with the rapidity of cross-national economic, cultural and demographic flows in the contemporary world.

We the People: A Call to Take Back America

Average customer rating:

We Need More Thom Hartmans
Blind leftest propaganda
big story told in accessible language
Very Informative
Outstanding and well thought out explanation of the 'real' conservative agenda!

We the People: A Call to Take Back America
Thom Hartmann , and Gene Latimer
Manufacturer: Coreway Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Practical Politics | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1882109384

Book Description

America faces its greatest threat since the Civil War. The worst fears of the Founders are being realized, as powerful corporate interests have taken over our culture and representative government. We the People now face a fundamental choice: take back our country . . . or do nothing, and become victims of tyranny and empire.

Thom Hartmann, the acclaimed author of Unequal Protection and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, tells a compelling story -- of how a government of, by, and for the people has been replaced by corporate domination. Through brilliant analysis and imaginative illustrations, this fully graphic book illuminates the central dynamics of American politics.

He reveals the forgotten history of the Founders' intent and the devious way that corporations came to possess "human" rights. He explains what the Boston Tea Party actually was, what constituted the Second American Revolution, and how "corporatists" disguised as conservatives are looting assets from We the People's common ownership through privatization schemes.

Most importantly, the book issues a call to action from citizens who want to restore true democracy, and liberty and justice . . . for all.

Customer Reviews:

We Need More Thom Hartmans.......2007-09-23

A very unique format for a serious book. Thom Hartman again tries to teach us how important the middle class is for the survival of this country. The middle class has to start grass roots movements to take back our country from the megacorporations.

Blind leftest propaganda.......2007-08-17

This lefest propaganda of lies is just as insulting as a book of conservative propganda lies. People like this are such an insult to our country. Hartmann takes whatever comes out of a conservatives mouth and turns it completely around. Attack after attack on policies that work. For example wire tapping and intercepting mail which is pretty necessary considering the fact that it was proven on september 11th that terrorists are capable of planning,hijacking planes and killing thousands of Americans inside our country under our noses. Bushes policy of wire tapping and etc have foiled numerous terrorist plots after 9/11 saving hundreds and even thousands of lives . Anyway, i didnt want to get into anything detailed... The point is people like this on the left and the right are poisoning the minds of the ignorant and the naive and making it harder to work together for a better America. If you actually like this book and give it a high score then you are pretty blind and narrow minded.

big story told in accessible language.......2007-08-17

Thom Hartmann is a genius. I had my doubts about the graphic novel format, but, hey, it works! This book tells a huge story-- the intentional dismantling of our government, the theft of our commons, the destruction of our democracy-- in clear, straight-forward, accessible language. Buy it! Buy it new! Give it to friends, to teenaged children, to Republican uncles.

Very Informative.......2007-02-06

I like the contents of the book, but don't like the fact that the pictures are in cartoon fashion. I believe this takes away from the seriousness of the contents.

Outstanding and well thought out explanation of the 'real' conservative agenda!.......2006-07-10

Explaining the original intentions of the Founders in regards to corporate personhood and the conservative agenda to turn America into a new feudal society, all in graphic novel form? --Priceless.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book! It is exceptionally well thought-out in its argument that America is headed for a new type of feudalism, where a rich elite control the 'commons' and the rest of us are doomed to serfdom and acceptance of corporate power and influence. The book uses amusing and compelling graphics and well-cited examples to illustrate it's arguments. But, of course, if you've ever listened to Thom Hartmann's radio show, you know he's the real deal! Best of all, Hartmann stresses that all is not lost, and that with concerted effort and grassroots action--which he details--all of us can help to bring America back on the right track and make our nation one that lives up to the words of its founding.

Buy this book and learn...then act!

Material World: A Global Family Portrait

Average customer rating:

A beautiful achievement
What Blather!!
Eye-Opening View of Other Cultures
Life Changing!
A Beautiful and Important Work

Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Peter Menzel , Charles C. Mann , and Paul Kennedy
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Portraits | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0871564300

Amazon.com

In honor of the United Nations-sponsored International Year of the Family in 1994, award-winning photojournalist Peter Menzel brought together 16 of the world's leading photographers to create a visual portrait of life in 30 nations. Material World tackles its wide subject by zooming in, allowing one household to represent an entire nation. Photographers spent one week living with a "statistically average" family in each country, learning about their work, their attitudes toward their possessions, and their hopes for the future. Then a "big picture" shot of the family was taken outside the dwelling, surrounded by all their (many or few) material goods.

The book provides sidebars offering statistics and a brief history for each country, as well as personal notes from the photographers about their experiences. But it is the "big pictures" that tell most of the story. In one, a British family pauses before a meal of tea and crumpets under a cloudy sky. In another, wary Bosnians sit beside mattresses used as sniper barricades. A Malian family composed of a husband, his two wives, and their children rests before a few cooking and washing implements in golden afternoon light. Material World is a lesson in economics and geography, reminding us of the world's inequities, but also of humanity's common threads. An engrossing, enlightening book. --Maria Dolan

Book Description

We are witnessing the emergence of a unified world economy, as exemplified by NAFTA and GATT, that will, in theory, make goods available at cheaper prices, create new jobs throughout the world, raise standards of living, and benefit the average family. However, population growth and resource exploitation will also affect these potential benefits as patterns of consumption change. In stunning photographs and text, Material World demonstrates the present context for the emerging global economy, what it means to be "statistically average," by displaying families in more than thirty nations outside their homes - with all their possessions in view.
Among the 350 stunning images are those of a family in lush Samoa juxtaposed with a Kuwaiti family and the two Mercedes-Benzes parked outside their desert home; a family in Iceland posing with their treasured string instruments while a family in Sarajevo huddles outside their bullet-ridden apartment. The text describes what it means to be "average" in each of thirty very dissimilar cultures and the impact of each way of life on the local environment. Statistical information about each country accompanies the photo-essays so that readers can easily compare one culture with another.
Material World is a fascinating portrait of multicultural diversity and a preview of emerging issues raised by the impact of the global economy on the cultural heritage of the human community.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful achievement.......2007-08-30

"Material World," written during the 1990 U.N. International Year of the Family, is a major achievement and, although it can seem dated in areas, is still timely and relevant for our world today.

Profiling 30 families from across a wide spectrum of the 183 U.N. member states, "Material World" depicts these families' struggles and triumphs in words, pictures, and statistics. Many of these vignettes are uplifting--the Cuban family holding on to each other as their nation suffers through communism--and many are very saddening--the three Carballo children sleeping in fear of being robbed each night. It is highly useful in perspective building and also a good way to see how others live elsewhere in the world. It is not going to make one "proud to be an American," but it is also not an "America-bashing" book. "Material World" demonstrates very powerfully the old proverb: 'It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.'

The Albanian family, with its minute amount of belongings; the Brazilian family, struggling to survive the slums; the Mexican sisters, window shopping before getting the very special treat of an ice cream bar--all exemplify this ideal. The children are in particular very inspiring, rising as they do above the conditions many sadly live in. This is their life, their daily bread--and in a powerful example, they make the most of it.

"Material World" is inspiring, beautiful, and still timely, even over ten years after its publication.

What Blather!!.......2007-08-20

This book is an attempt to shame Americans for living in the land of plenty. So what we have more stuff than other folks do! Most of the world is hobbled by war and bad government so people have less wealth than Americans. But I'm not losing any sleep over it. The Sierra Club is a political organization and this book is just that. . . politics. Read the part about American family ... "the legacy of slavery" and the "uneven distribution of wealth". What pure hooey!

Eye-Opening View of Other Cultures.......2007-05-13

Photos showing the possessions - all of them, great and small - and daily life of families from around the world are supplemented by text and factoids backing up the photos. The purpose of this book isn't to make materialistic Americans feel guilty, but the book is certainly thought- and discussion-provoking. This book will be appreciated most by older children and adults, but even my 6-year-old "got it." Viewing a photo of the complete contents - what little there were - from the home of an Albanian family, he asked, "Where's the rest of their stuff?" Honey, that's it. And that's the point.

Life Changing!.......2007-04-20

This is one of the most meaningful books I've ever read. It changed the way that I think about the world, about my own belongings. Incredible and a must have.

A Beautiful and Important Work.......2007-03-10

The photographs that are highlighted in "Material World" reveal people and their possessions, people from many countries, rich and poor. To see how many others in the world live gives us only a glimpse of our good fortune here in the U.S. A valuable and timely book.

Average customer rating:

Too boring to read
this book is something else.....
Other Worlds

Victims of Progress
John Bodley
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0767405056

Book Description

This compelling account of the effect of technology and development on indigenous peoples throughout the world examines major issues of intervention: social engineering, economic development, self-determination, health and disease, and ecocide. Victims of Progressprovides a provocative context in which to think about civilization and its costs.

Customer Reviews:

Too boring to read.......2007-10-02

I had to buy and read this book for a class in school, and I can say, it is probably the most boring book that I have ever read. I cannot stand to read it, the information is good, but its just written in such a bland and biased way, the author sounds like a total hippie who thinks we should all still be living in tribes in the forest.

this book is something else............2004-02-25

i think - it is impossible to write a book with such a great subject more boring and annoying than Bodley did.....the telephone book seems more appealing to me.........

Other Worlds.......2003-09-11

This book is amazing in what it achieves - a thorough, comprehensive view of expansive, global civilization and its affects on local, indigenous, autonomous peoples around the world. Bodley clearly and succinctly summaries the last two and a half centuries of colonial and imperial expansion, the people who resisted and continue to resist that expansion, and the negative consequences of being incorporated (usually by force) into large, impersonal, irresponsible nation-states. A must read for anyone who wishes to step outside our consumer-frenzied, totalitarian culture of domination and see what other worlds were and are possible.

Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (Public Planet)

Average customer rating:

Our moment in history
Terror and the fear of 'difference'

Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (Public Planet)
Arjun Appadurai
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Human Geography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0822338637

Book Description

The period since 1989 has been marked by the global endorsement of open markets, the free flow of finance capital and liberal ideas of constitutional rule, and the active expansion of human rights. Why, then, in this era of intense globalization, has there been a proliferation of violence, of ethnic cleansing on the one hand and extreme forms of political violence against civilian populations on the other?

Fear of Small Numbers is Arjun Appadurai’s answer to that question. A leading theorist of globalization, Appadurai turns his attention to the complex dynamics fueling large-scale, culturally motivated violence, from the genocides that racked Eastern Europe, Rwanda, and India in the early 1990s to the contemporary âwar on terror.â Providing a conceptually innovative framework for understanding sources of global violence, he describes how the nation-state has grown ambivalent about minorities at the same time that minorities, because of global communication technologies and migration flows, increasingly see themselves as parts of powerful global majorities. By exacerbating the inequalities produced by globalization, the volatile, slippery relationship between majorities and minorities foments the desire to eradicate cultural difference.

Appadurai analyzes the darker side of globalization: suicide bombings; anti-Americanism; the surplus of rage manifest in televised beheadings; the clash of global ideologies; and the difficulties that flexible, cellular organizations such as Al-Qaeda present to centralized, âvertebrateâ structures such as national governments. Powerful, provocative, and timely, Fear of Small Numbers is a thoughtful invitation to rethink what violence is in an age of globalization.

Customer Reviews:

Our moment in history.......2007-03-01

"Fear of Small Numbers" by Arjun Appadurai offers an exceptionally astute and often original analysis on the topic of violence and globalization. Drawing on his extensive knowledge gained over an impressive career as a scholar, consultant and activist, Mr. Appadurai brings an unique and internationalist perspective to bear on the subject. Written with a high degree of intelligence, clarity and conciseness, Mr. Appadurai's book convincingly explains how much of today's violence is tied to economic and social forces that are peculiar to our moment in history, thereby providing much-needed insight into how we might begin to address and resolve the problem of violence in our time.

Mr. Appadurai contends that globalization has created mass uncertainty by demolishing the state's ability to control its own economic destiny; as a consequence, the production of cultural cohesion has gained greater importance than ever for the nation state's bid to retain relevancy. Unfortunately, the globalization game can easily destabilize national borders and upset the state's attempts at social cohesion by creating mass unemployment and encouraging inflows and outflows of destitute workers. Under these conditions, the downtrodden can sometimes become scapegoats for the nation's failures; in extreme cases, the poor and disenfranchised may become victims of violent purges that are driven by the majority population's heightened social and economic anxieties.

However, Mr. Appadurai believes that terrorism constitutes the truly nightmarish side of globalization. Mimicking transnational corporations by organizing themselves in flexible, decentralized production networks, terrorist groups threaten the survival of the nation state. Terrorist rage is often directed at the U.S. as a consequence of its perceived cultural and economic hegemony as well as for its frequent exercise of military power around the world, especially in the Middle East. Mr. Appadurai points out that suicide bombers attempt to make political statements by personalizing themselves and their victims in deliberate and pointed contrast to the anonymous mass violence inflicted by U.S. air bombing campaigns. While Mr. Appadurai understands that some of these outsider perceptions of the U.S. may be difficult to accept, we probably need to acknowledge the author's point about how the unequal distribution of wealth and the sometimes indiscriminate and reckless deployment of U.S. power may be contributing to political destabilization and violent backlash if we wish to address some of the root causes of terrorism in a meaningful way.

Mr. Appadurai goes on to discuss how the rise and fall of the BJP in India illustrates how political struggle can coalesce around ideas of cultural identification and exclusion. We learn how relatively small segments of the population can challenge legal and religious doctrines in a manner that can seem threatening to the majority population, elements of whom sometimes lash out violently against perceived threats in ideologically motivated attacks. On the other hand, the author finds hope in the many grass-roots activist networks around the world who are working for positive socioeconomic change. Mr. Appadurai believes that such organizations can create a much-needed "third space" for democratic deliberation and decision making, thereby helping the global economic system to work towards just ends.

I give this timely and important book the highest possible rating and recommend it to everyone.

Terror and the fear of 'difference' .......2006-07-03

Appadurai draws on his former work on globalization in Modernity at Large, to propose a set of exciting and innovatively original reflections on the agendas set by post-September 11. The way terrorism is a sequel to former globalizing tendencies, and has been used in local contexts to deal in a discriminating way with 'difference', and 'minorities', is set against larger issues, such as the question of the role of the territorialized nation-state, and deterritorialized global terror. The interest of his approach resides in the fact that it considers a wide range of examples from South Asia to Europe, and the US, thus making the more evident how reductive - to say the least- are views of contemporaneity derived from Huntington's Clash of Civilizations. Appadurai is a genuinely original thinker, an exception in a world which sees a daily proliferation of repetitive and obvious approaches to such issues. An inspiring book I strongly recommend!

The New Imperialism (Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies)

Average customer rating:

Provocative
American Empire on a New Course?
Right on the money, though tough reading.
Pure lies

The New Imperialism (Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies)
David Harvey
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0199278083

Book Description

People around the world are confused and concerned. Is it a sign of strength or of weakness that the US has suddenly shifted from a politics of consensus to one of coercion on the world stage? What was really at stake in the war on Iraq? Was it all about oil and, if not, what else was involved? What role has a sagging economy played in pushing the US into foreign adventurism and what difference does it make that neo-conservatives rather than neo-liberals are now in power? What exactly is the relationship between US militarism abroad and domestic politics? These are the questions taken up in this compelling and original book. Closely argued but clearly written, 'The New Imperialism' builds a conceptual framework to expose the underlying forces at work behind these momentous shifts in US policies and politics. The compulsions behind the projection of US power on the world as a 'new imperialism' are here, for the first time, laid bare for all to see. This new paperback edition contains an Afterword written to coincide with the result of the 2004 American presidental election.

Customer Reviews:

Provocative.......2006-05-23

Picking up on a few key theoretical points not included in other reviews. Harvey is pressing an academic point within the broad Marxian tradition-- a point which also has broad practical consequences for confronting imperialism's latest incarnation. A central contention is that the capitalist world has been experiencing a crisis of overaccumulation since about 1973, as evidenced by a lack of opportunities for profitable investment (for which, by the way, he offers no statistical data, but which is not at issue here). Growth prior to the 1973 watershed, he argues, was driven by expanded reproduction with the US exercising hegemonic authority as a result of its WWII reorganization of old European colonialism. However, for various reasons (chiefly Vietnam era inflation) this regime broke down. At that point, he argues, the much-marginalized neo-liberal thinking of von Mises and von Hayek began to get a sympathetic hearing and commenced its long march through the institutions of the capitalist world. This new strategy utilizes neo-liberal measures, such as trade and finance liberalization (IMF, World Bank, GATT, et al.) to force open hitherto closed or regulated foreign markets, thereby helping to employ surplus capital. A related tool is to force devaluation upon a target economy, enabling foreign investors to buy cheaply and improve opportunity for increased profit margins. Thus, in broad outline, a new form of imperialism has arisen, one that remains similar to its classic colonial predecessor in that it still seeks to relieve accumulation problems at home by shifting profitability problems abroad, sometimes forcibly so.

Harvey descibes this new imperialism as accumulation by dispossession, a controversial description since dispossession in classic Marxist thinking is supposed to be restricted to the primitive forms of accumulation of times gone by. Still, the evidence is considerable given the wave of privatization of formerly public assets (water and education, in particular) in many parts of the world, (think also of recent attacks on Social Security). Indeed, these institutional measures inside and outside the US, do in fact resemble the classic "enclosues" of capital's earlier, more primitive stage. Recent attacks on formerly state-sponsored economies such as Yugoslavia's and Iraq's amount to further cases in point. But, again, this revived dispossession need not depend on military invasion; the subtler form attacks through the avenues of capital markets and state-sponsored privatization. Though the current period is dominated by dispossession, Harvey points out that accumulation by reproduction still continues. In fact, he asserts, the two are `organically' related and `dialectically' connected, for which however he offers scant elaboration.

The practical upshot of imperialism by dispossession is to force a shift in anti-imperialist thinking away from the familiar strategies that challenged the pre-1973 expanded reproduction regime. That earlier response stressed organizing the proletariat into a political force in order to seize state power in behalf of socialist principles. Movements outside that exclusive strategy were considered secondary at best, and counter-revolutionary at worst. Though this effort failed in its primary task, the author points out that it's hard to conceive of Europe's social democracies or America's New Deal as taking place without the single-minded drive of communist party politics. However, these methods are now clearly inadequate for confronting neo-liberalism and its capacity to bypass both organized labor and state power (consider neo-liberalism's sabotage of France's Mitterand in his effort to deepen socialist programs in the 1980's). Instead, current forms of resistance are much more diverse and localized, as evidenced by Mexico's Zapatista movement or Bolivian resistance to water privatization schemes. If there's a central rallying cry among these diverse groups, it's opposition to `globalization', at least in neo-liberal form. Generally, the central challenge facing anti-imperialists, as Harvey sees it, is to combine the wisdom of former strategies with the developing modes of today-- a not inconsiderable task, to say the least.

All in all, this is a stimulating read. There is much to digest, especially in grappling with the theoretical aspects. It's important to point out that Harvey approaches the topic as a critical observer and not as an economist, a fact which some may count as a fault since many of the conclusions rest on economic data. Still and all, the work remains an important prism for examining current trends.

American Empire on a New Course?.......2005-12-08

Excellent book...

D. Harvey places in context the recent developments in US foreign policy. He wrote this book before April 2003 yet, he could still easily see through the smoke screen arguments of WMD, democracy!

Concerning Iraq, Harvey argued that the main goal of USA was regime change and to establish a client state there to control the oil reserves & routes of Middle East. He reminds the US had plans set up for a conflict with Iraq much before the first Gulf War.

Harvey notes the existence of a US empire was long recognized by leftists long ago. It was only after 9/11 when the conservatives started also to recognize this empire and in fact argued for the benefits of one. During Clinton years, this American empire was more like the old Ottoman Empire, a tolerant one with light footprints. Now, it is more like the hard-pressing Roman Empire, trying to change cultures wholesale, not satisfied with only the consent of governments. Most Americans don't understand this, but the pressure by USA in less developed countries in fact causes only resentment and anger there.

He also speculates the war may be a method to distract Americans from rebelling against the government because of deteriorating conditions in economy.

Overall, it is an easy short read containing substantial arguments.

Right on the money, though tough reading........2005-07-08

In the last thirty years or so, there has been a growing body of thought and literature in the world that America is the next Empire, maybe not in the Roman mold, but surely as powerful as the old English empire. Contributions to this train of thought have come from numerous corners; peace activists protesting the Vietnam War, anti-globalization groups protesting US corporations, French farmers protesting McDonalds, Muslim scholars and clerics throughout the world, and isolationists within American politics. These groups and their arguments have tended to emphasize the how of empire; how America came to empire, how it is an Empire, and of course, how we will fall like other Empires. This book tries to give a why, and does so from the oldest of corners opposing the American Way: socialism, and the writings of Marx and his followers. As such, it does an impressive job within a very short number of pages.

To be brief, this book proposes several points. First, America has gradually turned into an empire over the last fifty years. As evidence, the author points to the dozens of military bases the US has around the world. American now has more military installations in more places than any other nation that has ever existed. Many of these bases are located in countries that are not democratic; i.e. the citizens of these countries did not vote to invite America's military in. The only possible conclusions are that the local government stays in power through America's support (financial or otherwise), or are outright puppet governments.

Second, this is not an empire built on the control of land and the founding of colonies in say the English mold, but instead is an empire built on opening up consumer markets for American corporations and controlling non-renewable natural resources such as oil, again for domestic consumption. The first part of this argument is self-evident; America has no colonies in the most literal sense and our ambassadors in most countries are holed-up in concrete fortresses instead of prancing around like local kings of the hill. The second part of this argument is also as self-evident, to those whose eyes and ears are open. Specifically, America's aid, money, attention and soldiers often end up in places that are either important trade posts (Suez and Panama Canals), have oilfields (the entire Middle East), or have a large business community which we do business with (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany).

Third, America has made this transformation to the ignorance of most of its citizens, but to the alarm and suspicion of almost everyone else. This is probably the most important point of this book. Pull over any American on the street, give her a map of the world and ask her to point out all the countries which have been militarily attacked (bombed, invaded, occupied, etc...) by the US since 1900 (excluding the two World Wars). She should answer Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and might recall North Korea, Somalia and Serbia. She will probably leave out Haiti, Cuba, Panama, Philippines, Libya and Mexico, and will surely be unawares of Russia (US troops invaded during the Russian Revolution), Cambodia (secret bombings ordered by Nixon during the Vietnam War) and China (prior to World War II). No other nation in the history of the world has intruded upon the soil of so many other countries as has the USA. If this does not qualify America as an empire, than nothing can.

Fourth, this growth of empire has been fueled by the same historical reasons and processes that fueled the growth of the British Empire, the Nazis, the Roman Empire, and other great empires. War serves as a way to divert the public attention from domestic troubles; usually economic. To be exact, the fruits and costs of war alleviate various economic pressures that could doom a nation's leadership if otherwise left to fester. The centuries prior to England's Age of Empire was marked by a stratification of English society. Most of the livable land in England passed into the ownership of a small, wealthy minority. You were either born into it or outside of it. Those born into it were not going to give up wealth to their less privileged brethren, so colonial expansion provided a way by which those born outside of it could achieve wealth and status in life. Population growth was relieved by sending people off to other lands. The poor benefited because emigration kept the labor pool small, thereby keeping up wages. The rich benefited because English colonies provided an outlet for their produced goods, and a source of natural resources (e.g. tea from India) and cheap labor (cotton from the American south). Similarly, war and the resulting influence of other countries economic and political policies help the US economy grow.

Fifth, all of this is not unexpected. The path America has taken was described over a century ago by Karl Marx and his followers as the path all capitalist countries take. After the end of the Cold War, intellectuals the world over concluded that Marxist thought was over; relegated to the trash heap of history. Actually, the historical processes described my Marx have played themselves out numerous times in the 20th century.

Sixth, the current Bush administration marks a watershed in the history of America, akin to the rule of Augustus in Rome. Specifically, the latter's rule marked the official transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire. The Bush administration, with either the consent or ignorance of the American electorate, have quickly exited the numerous treaties it had bound itself to in the previous five decades, has openly called out enemies to oppose, and has invaded two countries (so far). As such, the span from 2001 - 2008 is when America, in the eyes of others, has decided to transform from world leader to world bully, akin to the transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire.

Seventh, like all empires, America clothes its actions abroad (i.e. foreign policy) in morals and ethics, but they are mostly driven by self-interest. The author does not argue this point fully, primarily because it is elaborated elsewhere. This keeps the page count down, but reduces the impact and persuasiveness of the book. In response to the other (incredibly ignorant) review for this book, I will take up this argument here.

a. In World War II, the US declared war on the Nazis ONLY AFTER they declared war on the US. If the US was such a high-minded nation as the other review implies, America would have declared war on Germany the moment Nazi troops entered Poland. Related to this, millions of Jews tried to flee Europe during the 1930's and 1940's. Many of them tried to enter the US. The US rejected most of them and only allowed in those with political connections, those with money, and those with training in quantum physics, nuclear physics, weapons technology (Einstein, Oppenheimer, etc...), and others that could help US science and technology. If the US was such a moral nation, it would have allowed in all the Jews. We, America, defeated the Nazis because they declared war on us, and posed a mortal threat to us. This is no different and no better than one street gang eliminating another street gang that steps on its turf.
b. During the Cold War, the US intervened militarily in other countries to prevent the spread of communism. This was often and usually done without the explicit consent of the populations of the host countries. Vietnam is a prime example. Throughout the 1960s, the US military frequently held secret, mock elections in villages throughout South Vietnam. The Communist candidates nearly always won, even when the US-backed candidates had more funding and resources to bribe the electorate. Why? Because the Communist candidates offered what the people wanted. This is why there was never an election in South Vietnam during the US occupation. America did not care about what the South Vietnamese wanted; we only cared about what we wanted.
c. During the Cold War, the US provided aid to other countries that publicly supported the fight against communism. An example is South Africa. As long as the white government publicly opposed communism, the US government and US corporations turned a blind eye towards apartheid. It was only the civil rights movement, and especially black activists that brought this to a halt in the 1980s.

These and other experiences in countries around the world prove beyond a doubt that America did not care about liberty, justice, freedom and democracy in other countries, but only that they oppose communists. The question then begs as to why America was so interested in opposing communism. This leads to the last point argued in this book. Every empire needs an opposite; Greece had Persia, Rome had Carthage, the English had first the Spanish and then later Napoleon. We had communists. Communists are bad for business because they believe in communal, non-transferable rights to everything, which is anathema to the concept of individual, transferable ownership of anything, the basis of capitalism and business. Who runs America? Not civil rights leaders like Caeser Chavez or Martin Luther King Jr. Not progressive politicians like Eugene Debs or Ralph Nader. No, America is run by businessmen (current and ex) and those who cater to business interests. It was Robert McNamara, JFK and others connected to the business world who led America and its naïve president LBJ into Vietnam, not those who were fighting for freedom and liberty like MLK Jr. or Malcolm X.

In all, this is a great book to read, though the text is tough and hard to work through.

Pure lies.......2005-06-20

Let us examine the argument herein:
1) The U.S is an empire
2) U.S interests conspire to dominate the world bank, the IMF and the U.N to push american interests.

Let us see how this was done. In 1941 when the Nazis had overun all of Europe and the Japanese tried to take over Asia, America dared to be an evil imperialist by opposing Nazism, after all Nazism was actually 'anti-colonial'.

When the Russians took over Eastern Europe and ensalved their own people and those of 15 other nations America dared to stand up for its imperial interests and defend Europe and the world. Instead America should have done nothing and let the world all end up like North Korea so that every nation can end up like cambodia where 1/3 of the population is killed and 1/3 put in a Gulag.

In the 2000s when Militant Islam went on a rampage in Europe, in Nigeria, the Phillipines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sudan, Israel and India, slaughtering innocents, America dared to retaliate when 3000 of its citizens were killed.

This is the empire of America. The WTO and IMF bail out starving nations, helps build dams and infrastructure and that is bad. Yes America is an empire and if these are the sins America is accused of then America must keep going full steam ahead, and keep opposing religious fundamentalism, Nazism and th enslavement of the world.

Seth J. Frantzman

The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating

Average customer rating:

Left me hungry for more!
A useful and timely collection
Culture through the lens of food - and vice versa

The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating
Melissa Caldwell
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Food Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0631230939

Book Description

Food is an important and endlessly fascinating lens for social and cultural analysis -not only for anthropologists, but also for scholars of history, literature, cultural studies, political economy, and public policy. The subject is a central idiom for understanding cultural practices and for teaching about culture on many levels. The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating is a collection of readings that uses the study of food as a vehicle for addressing broad themes that are emerging in social anthropology: globalization, capitalism, market economies, and consumption practices.The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating offers an ethnographically informed perspective on the ways in which people use food to make sense of life in an increasingly interconnected world. It includes studies from eleven countries across five continents on such hot topics as sushi, fast food, gourmet foods, and food scares and contamination.

Customer Reviews:

Left me hungry for more!.......2007-05-20

The book makes an interesting case using good evidence for most of it's text.

Susanne Friedberg argues that in spite of egalitarian origins to transform the world, the organic/natural foods revolution begun in the 1960's has done little to eradicate the conditions in other countries--where tainted food is a defacto way of life for people. The most careful washing cannot fully eliminate everything every time.

However, ongoing disparities in America where people on public assistance cannot presently afford to eat healthy--regardless of how much they want to also needed to be addressed in Warren Belasco's essay on how the hippies introduced organic food. Low-income people do not necessarily have to contend with the same degree of food impurity as overseas, but are also subject to economic disparities in their access to healthy food. They ironically remain stuck with the brands the hippies and their present day counterparts shun because it IS the cheapest to purchase with the resources they do have and the organic companies have not found a way to make the American dollar stretch further. Why should only certain groups of people be able to eat safe and healthy food?

The editor and her contributors are empathetic to the subject matter--which I have not previously seen in other anthologies. Yet, they mostly present it with a critical perspective, demanding that the reader examine previous assumptions about the relationship between food and politics--and our own personal relationship.

A useful and timely collection.......2005-10-20

Despite the fact that, through some oversight, the editors neglected to include any of my own writing in the collection, it is the state-of-the-art in the cultural anthropology of food. I will definitely be using it as a basic text in my food and culture class. The chapters include contributions by many of the best people working in this growing subfield, and they really show how much the field has changed in a relatively short period. It has a good balance of cultural analysis, political-economy and culture history. I plan to supplement it with Lien and Nerlich's "The Politics of Food" collection from Berg, which is more issues-oriented and has more on food safety, the politics of localism, and fast/slow conflicts.

Culture through the lens of food - and vice versa.......2005-08-15

This book is a collection of essays that were previously published in journals such as "Foreign Affairs" and "journal of consumer culture." The authors are anthropologists, political scientists, and historians among others. Most essays focus on one piece of food item, brand or food related issue (such as McDonalds, green beans, or Mad Cow disease) and examines this issue within the context of a country (such as China, Burkina Faso, or the U.K.) The essays are academically written, but highly readable and they give interesting and unique information about the country as well as the food issue in question within the context of the country. The overall theme of many of the essays seemed to be that food influences culture, and culture interprets food so that the influence is two-way. Some of the articles were fascinating to read. For example, I enjoyed learning about how McDonalds in China was accepted into the local culture, and how its meaning in China is significantly different from that in the USA. I liked learning about the functions served by Indo-Pak grocery stores in Indian communities, of how sushi became a well known product across the world, and how and why French chocolatiers opposed Belgian ones. The most interesting article to me was one about the reactions to genetically manipulated crop in the USA and Europe, and how these reactions affect those in developing countries in adverse ways. Even if I did not know anything about the country in question, the book gave sufficient background information about the country and the issue to make it interesting and exciting. While reading about one product or issue, I found that I learned a lot about the country and its people.

The essays differed in their approaches to the issues. I guess this reflected the backgrounds of authors (whether they were anthropologists or political scientists). For example, there were two articles about McDonalds in China where the writings mainly focused on how McDonalds was accepted and interpreted in China, without a discussion of any health implications of these changes. As someone who read Fast Food Nation, I was saddened by the seemingly unquestioned acceptance of junk food into foreign countries and was curious to know the most recent developments if any. This issue was more prominently discussed in essays written by political scientists. One author discussed the implications of fast food for Mexican diet, and rising health concerns traced to changes in diet, which I found interesting and important.

All in all, this is one ver