Product Description
It took 23 years of armed struggle before Namibia could gain its independence from South Africa in March 1990. SWAPO's victory was remarkable in the face of an overwhelmingly superior enemy. How this came about, and at what cost, is the subject of this study which is based on unpublished documents and extensive interviews with a large range of the key activists in the struggle. The study should be of interest to everyone concerned with southern Africa. North America: Ohio U Press ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Must reading for travelers to Namibia
This book is must reading for those going to Namibia who want to learn more about Namibia's recent history, particularly the liberation struggle and all the various parties involved in it.You'll learn a lot about church influence, how SWAPO leveraged the international community, about tribes in Namibia, re SWAPO's treatment of Namibians in Angolan internment camps, about South African rule of Namibia, etc.
I'd recommend reading Ley's "Histories of Namibia" before this book. It contains direct interviews from some of the people Leys talks about in the "Liberation Struggle" book and helps one gather a stronger understanding of this period.
I learned so much from "Namibia's Liberation Struggle"! It's great history, political science - all in a very readable format.
Paul ... Read more

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From Roman times to the present, knowledge of plants and their cultivation have exerted a deep impact on cultural changes. This book highlights the religious, artistic, political, and economic consequences of horticultural pursuits. Far from a mere trade, horticulture profoundly affected Jewish and Persian mystical poetry and caused deep changes in Ottoman arts. It contributed to economic and political changes in Judea, Al Andalus, Japan, Yuan China, early modern Mexico, Europe, and the United States. This book explores the roles of peasants, botanists, horticulturists, nurserymen and gentlemen collectors in these developments, and concludes with a reflection on the future of horticulture in the present context of widespread environmental devastation and ecological uncertainty.

Product Description
Not many Indian artists recorded first-hand the way of life of the old-time buffalo hunters on the Great Plains.Here, for the first time in print, are presented the full-color drawings of pre-contact Yanktonai Sioux life by artist and teacher John Saul (1878-1971).Saul was born in a tipi on the banks of Crow Creek in what is now central South Dakota.His parents were members of the white Ghost band of Minnesota Sioux who were removed to Dakota Territory after the Minnesota Dakota Conflict of 1862.In their new home, the Yanktonai lived near the Lakota and Yanktons and so adopted many practices common to the tribes that had preceded them on the Plains.Considered by Lakota scholar Martin Brokenleg and American West historian Herbert T. Hoover to be of prime ethnographic significance, these water colors, sponsored by the Works Progress Administration in the early 1940's, depict traditional Sioux religious and social customs, including village games and the making of clothing, footwear, weapons, and parfleche containers. ... Read more

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Beyond the sparkling Hawaiian beaches, masked by the deceptive beauty of the rainforest, evil awaits sixteen-year-old Michael Sundquist and his mother, Katharine, an anthropologist who has come to the Islands to study the unusual skeletal remains unearthed on the volcanic flanks of Haleakala, Maui.

Yet far below the black depths of the Pacific a mysterious substance snakes through undiscovered fissures in the ocean floor, as nature itself seems to portend the terror to come.

Then, with the sudden, unexplained death of Michael’s friend, a disturbing truth dawns: the corporation that is funding Katharine’s dig has a far greater investment than she ever imagined – an investment in medical terror. And her son may be part of their hideous plan…
... Read more

Product Description
Saul

A fictional story based on the ancient records: Bible, Quran, Works of Flavius Josephus, Apocryphal Texts, Pseudepigrapha and Lost Bible books.A story that examines the special relationship between Jesus and Saul.

All our modern stories are compilations of compilations with a healthy mix of fabrication.The intent of SAUL is to unwind the story, remove the errors and exaggerations, and present a simple what-if.
... Read more

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The end of apartheid in South Africa has been widely viewed as the end of an era of African history. The Next Liberation Struggle is an indispensible guide to understanding how the resources of that era can be used to contribute to real liberation for the region and for the continent of Africa as a whole.

The Next Liberation Struggle integrates the concrete observations of a seasoned observer and participant in southern African liberation struggles with analysis of and reflection on the large question of the place of southern Africa within the global capitalist order and its capacities to contribute toward remaking that global order. It examines specific national developments in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, and Tanzania.At the same time, it shows throughout how the problems of each national context are linked by a common location in the global order, and argues for a collective regional response.

For the past four decades John S. Saul has been among the foremost radical analysts of the struggle for liberation in southern Africa.This volume brings together his recent writings on the region in the aftermath of the decade of globalization.

Customer Reviews (1)

flawed
given what i know of john ralston saul and the blurb on the back, i expected much better from this book. decrying corporatism, positing it as anew ruling morality, is genuinely interesting, but i don't think this is aninteresting way of presenting it.the story-line is conventional, thefemale characters stock and tiresome, and the morality tale unambiguous andpredictable.this book reminded me of nothing so much as of an ayn randpolemic, harsh words to be sure.while coming at a world view from adiametrically opposite perspective, the writing is similar in itsuninterestingness.like the idea, don't like the realization of same. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Got it in one
Having spent years living in Bangkok, with acquaintances who have been tortured in Laotian jails (yes really!), for me this book captures something of the dark underbelly of the region - displaying a depth of understanding which escapes many who visit briefly - those who stay long enough usually can't write so it remains undocumented.
By the way, I would love to know if his protagonist is based on the previous, aging, famously sexist writer for the Bangkok Post who goes under the pseudonym of the Nite Owl.I guess I'll never know.Hats off to JRS though - you have done what I suspected was not possible.

A must for dedicated Asiafiles!
The main character is a Canadian expat living in Bangkok who has almost, but not quite, "gone native".While the story line is excellent, what I find fascinating is the ancillary cast of characters and sub-plots, which move through Bangkok as the economy is beginning to spiral upwards (the book was written in 1988).Hookers, corruption & a business trip to Laos are all included in plot and dealt with extraordinary expertise on the topical subject matter.

Read this novel first and then follow up with Christopher Moore's "Gods of Darkness." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Whatwehavehereisafailuretounderstand

Like others in this series of presumptive books, MacMillan is long on knowledge, short on understanding and filled with the entertaining opinions of a columnist who is out to advance an idea more than to illuminate a subject.

Leacock was the quintessential Canadian;someone who loves Canada so deeply they cannot resist mocking their own self-absorption in a belief they feel must be in error, despite feeling absolutely justified in their beliefs.Like Americans, Canada was born with the Declaration of Independence on 1776;Canada is descended from the Loyalist faction who fled the United States after 1783 on the belief, "we must be right, or why else would we suffer so much?"

Ever since the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, Canadian nationalism is a belief that all benefits of the Thirteen Colonies can be gained without the mad excesses of Yankee rum, revolt and revision.Canada never accepted the 'Common Sense' of Thomas Paine;instead the intellectual goal is the pain of "Subdued Sense...if it's all right with you".

Leacock, as MacMillan shows again and again, deflated the temptation of pomposity based on ambition or achievement.'Sunshine Sketches ...' is the story of a small town, one of the richest per capita in Canada in 1912, that Leacock said should not become overly impressed with its brief good fortune.Mariposa is a metaphor for Canada, a warning about excess instead of caution.

In many ways, Leacock's fears and warnings foretold the history of Canada.

Perhaps MacMillan didn't know that Orillia (Leacock's Mariposa) produced some of the first Canadian automobiles, supplied much of the heavy mining equipment and supplies used to develop northern Ontario (ever hear of Carss mackinaws?) and was a prime resort for the wealthy (ever hear of Weir's Folly?).Leacock warned about being too fixated on this early and brief success;just as he cautioned Canada about the perils of the easy wealth produced by the "Dutch Disease" during the first half of the last century.

The book is neither a history nor a biography;instead, it's an assertion of Canadian nationalism.So much the better.These are books written with a point of view, and Canada is better for them even if they are better suited for television docu-dramas than for serious study.

For an American effort at describing the same perils, read 'Babbitt' by Sinclair Lewis.It's the same theme as 'Sunshine Sketches ...", but done without a hint of humour or, as Leacock wrote, without a kindly contemplation of life's incongruities. ... Read more

Product Description
The Company of Others is an extraordinary book about the transforming power of family and community on "vulnerable" individuals – the mentally challenged, the mentally ill, the elderly – and how these efforts enrich us as a society. Accompanied by beautiful photographs on each two-page spread, the stories told here are profoundly inspiring, giving hope to anyone who, because ofdisability, has been excluded from having a full and meaningful life. Co-published with the PLAN Institute. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helping Others Helps Everyone
Basically, this is a compilation of the stories of five different disabled people in Canada and how being involved in networking groups has helped their lives. It's very short, with small snapshots of daily life interspersed (literal and figurative) with background information about the five people upon whom the book focuses, as well as some information about their families and support groups.

At first I was worried that this simply would be an attempt to raise money for the organization that funded the book and assisted some of the people featured (PLAN), but the further I read the more I realized that not all of the five people were being helped by this particular organization and, even if they were, so what? Clearly lives of the disabled are enhanced when they live as "normally" as possible and interact with non-disabled people, and of course this is the case for people beyond the five mentioned in this book.

Also, the best part, for me, was reading about how for the people who are supposed to be "helping" the featured disabled ones mentioned the reverse is the case: interacting with the disabled made their lives better. I couldn't help but get just a little emotional while reading this; I feel encouraged when I read about people who selflessly help others simply for the sake of doing do. ... Read more

Product Description
John Saul, author of nineteen bestselling novels of chilling suspense, now gives us a serial thriller set in the small New England town of Blackstone, where the inhabitants are caught in the grip of unrelenting evil. Strange gifts are appearing in the most unlikely places: on doorsteps, in cars, glittering on a flea market table.

Each object bears an unspeakable history.

Each brings an ominous power to harm.

Each reveals another thread in the tightly woven web of . . .

THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES, PART 5

When attorney Ed Becker spots the carved antique dresser in a dusty attic, he takes it to restore. Then his young daughter, Amy, makes a curious discovery: Inside one of the drawers she finds a set of old pictures and a stereoscope, an old-fashioned device that allows you to see images in three dimensions. Oddly, one of the photos resembles their house, where Eds grandmother lived long ago. But the scenes inside the stereoscope also bring to vivid life some terrifying memories, eerie images that seem all too real. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Starting to Lose It
The fifth volume of the Blackstone Chronicles, DAY OF RECKONING: THE STEREOSCOPE, was somewhat disappointing.It lacked the substance and clarity of the earlier volumes.

The objects in the earlier volumes had much more to do with the story than the stereoscope does in this volume.A doll, a child's only possession, makes people possessive.A locket belonging to a paranoid patient; makes the holder paranoid.A lighter involved in a burning death causes the holder to try and burn people.A handkerchief belonging to a delusional woman causes delusions.But not the stereoscope.This viewing device belonged to a young boy who reveled in killing things.Use of the stereoscope does not bring about any such terror.

After the events of the previous volume, Oliver is still looking into the past of his family and the asylum.Rebecca, the woman he loves has not been seen since she ran from the house in fright.Ed Becker, the attorney, comes into possession of the stereoscope when he finds it in a dresser he bought.The pictures are of his home several generation ago.Ed, who successfully defended quite a few murderers, begins to have disturbing dreams that seem to come true.Ed eventually suffers from an accident and the mysterious personage haunting the series prepares for the final volume by preparing a bloodstained knife.

I hope the concluding volume will be more like the first four and not like this one.We will have to wait and see.

"He could feel the presence of someone or something...They were everywhere."
Volume V of the Blackstone Chronicles continues the tales of vengeance wreaked by an unknown "dark figure" on the citizens of Blackstone, NH, following their decision to turn the long-closed Blackstone Asylum into a shopping mall.Terrible things have occurred inside the Asylum's walls, and someone does not want these horrors to be forgotten.Having discovered the closet where the personal "treasures" of former inmates have been stored, the "dark figure" begins giving artifacts to people in the town, creating havoc and changing lives forever.

(No spoilers.) A stereoscope in a mahogany case becomes the gift for Ed Becker, who discovers that the three-dimensional photographs that come with it are Victorian photographs from his own house.Ed, a civil lawyer in Blackstone, was formerly a defense attorney in Boston, and he now finds himself having nightmares, several of which come true.In some, he is assailed by the victims of killers whom he has defended, and soon he and his family become part of a living nightmare.

At the end of this novel, the reader still has many questions. Blood-drenched rooms, sudden explosions, unexplained attacks on seemingly innocent people, and wholesale destruction, all of which have filled the novels so far, continue in this novel, accompanied also by scenes of the torture which characterized "treatment" at the Asylum.At this point, however, any shock effect from the first few novels hasworn off, dulled by repetition and lack of resolution.The victims are usually one or two generations removed from the events in the Asylum, and not directly responsible for what happened there, so one wonders why the figure emphasizes the "sins of the father" and punishes the children or grandchildren.

Little new information is revealed here.(Some people will already suspect the identity of the "dark figure.")Characterization is still weak, with the "dark figure" simply selecting the object from the Asylum storehouse, giving it to someone, and letting events unwind on their own.This figure has too little direct involvement in the unfolding events to make him a really terrifying force, and since he shows no cleverness or overwhelming sense of thwarted justice, the reader develops little understanding of him.With a huge number ofissues still unresolved, the author will be hard-pressed to develop a satisfying conclusion to this series. n Mary Whipple

Extremely Disappointing
As I was expecting, the tension DID build in this installment of the Chronicles, but entirely too quickly.Yes, I did find this tale terrifying, but the rush-rush pace of the plot left "TheStereoscope" very unsatisfying. However, this story cannot beforgotten in the twisted web of the Chronicles because it reveals majoraspects of the intriguing plot.

Five down, one to go
Arghh, still the same as the other installments, but a little better written than parts one and two and on par with three and four. Now let's see how he finishes it.. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent combination of psycoanalysis and biblical theory
Sanford's book, though now out of print, was widely enough printed to be easily found at used book stores.For anyone interested in literary analysis of the bible, Sanford presents a fresh perspective through a Jungian lens.By looking at each character's motivations, Sanford finds archetypes that are extremely informative.Moreover, his study serves as fine evidence as to why people have found this text compelling for millennia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wonderful Book
I'm dismayed by the low rating of this book.I enjoyed it immensely, particularly the part about Jean Moulin, the French Resistance leader who was an astonishing individual.I love Saul's books because he offers fascinating and little known examples from history while making angry but spot on points about the decline of our culture.I wish he wrote more.

A Brilliant Tour de Force
This is quite possibly the best book Saul has written to date. His writting style is lucid and in a sense, quite remarkable. He examines the central aspects that make us human and examines them in comparison to history. Highly Recommended.

An insightful book; deeper than it looks
John Ralston Saul's latest book carries on a theme that runs through Voltaire's Bastards and The Unconscious Civilisation: reason, deprived of memory, imagination, common sense and other human qualities, inevitably leads to disaster.Whereas Saul's previous books depicted the disaster (e.g. a chapter on the international arms trade, `The Flowering of Armaments' in Voltaire's Bastards) this book focuses on a remedy to unchecked reason- 6 human qualities, which balance one another.These are: Common Sense, Ethics, Intuition, Imagination, Memory & Reason.
Initially I found this book fluffy reading; it lacks the detailed, fact-filled, and societally oriented argumentation that makes up Voltaire's Bastards. With time and reflection I have come to see wisdom in Saul's approach; the book is encourages us to rethink society through our own lives and with our own qualities. As Donald Rumsfeld lectures about invading Iraq, Reason listens to his arguments while Memory sees Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983. Witnessing the slow pace of the United Nations, Ethics worries that humanitarian aid is being delayed, but Common sense remains calm, knowing that compromise comes slowly or not at all.
I highly recommend this book.

Thought provoking
John Ralston Saul has the ability to identify the core matters that affect how people experience the world.His exploration of the six dimensions of human-kind that underpin our humanity is often provocative, and always stimulates the thinking of the reader.But he uses many words, and doesn't choose them particularly well.It's a difficultread and would have benefited from more careful editing.It is, however, very topical in relation to the impending American onslaught on Iraq.He identifies the fear of uncertainty as a key motivation for the adeherence to ideologies (such as those that guide the Bush Administration).Fear of uncertainty (Saul says) is an obstruction to thought - it's easier to embrace the simple guidance of (especially) conservative (and insular) ideology that America uses to protect it from an uncertain world.And that is what makes the book so topical.
A difficult read, but worth it. ... Read more

Product Description
A widely respected commentator on South African affairs offers an important analysis of revolution and counter-revolution in the countries of Southern Africa today. Saul's previous works on Africa include Socialist Ideology and t he Struggle for Southern Africa and The Two-Edged Sword: The Struggle for Liberation in Namibia and Its Legacy (with Colin Leys). ... Read more