Product Description
Inventing Ancient Culture is an exciting introduction to new approaches to the classics. There is a tendency for those interested in the broader field of cultural studies to claim that modern perceptions of self, modern affectivities, and modern societal and institutional structures date from the Enlightenment. This volume will vigorously challenge this misperception.

Contributors to the volume address issues including the extent of which cultural and social forms change through time, and the extent, or otherwise, of change in cultural systems since antiquity. ... Read more

Product Description
This title presents an insight into moral skepticism of the 20th century. The author argues that our every-day moral codes are an 'error theory' based on the presumption of moral facts which, he persuasively argues, don't exist. His refutation of such facts is based on their metaphysical 'queerness' and the observation of cultural relativity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Anti-Ethics
Roger Scruton says that J.L. Mackie's "Ethics" is "phenomenally overrated."Scruton, as usual, may have overstated his point, but I didn't like the book either.

Students and potential buyers should know that "Ethics" is NOT an introduction to ethics.Rather, it plunges the reader into the middle of often-pedantic analytic debates circa 1970, before thinkers such as Rawls, Singer and Finnis had resurrected ethical philosophy as a meaningful guide to action.Mackie rejected the idea of "objective" morality, whether theistic or utilitarian.For him, ethics was little more than applied psychology with a dash of conceptual analysis.It did not bind persons or tell us how to live well.All it did was solve "prisoners' dilemmas" and suggest ways to curb extreme kinds of selfishness that could destabilize society.

The first part of "Ethics" is still worthwhile (if only as a demolition job) for readers interested in meta-ethics.However, the book's fundamental shallowness is exposed as soon as it takes up concrete "first order" moral problems.Here, Mackie skates from issue to issue, considering none in detail.A total of three paragraphs is devoted to abortion.His proposal to kill "defective" newborns is advanced and defended in literally two sentences.The reader reels from the brevity, superficiality and arrogance of the discussions.

Bottomline:The student looking for an introduction to ethics would be shortchanged by Mackie's failure to consider schools such as Kantianism, virtue theory, or Thomist natural law.However, more advanced readers might appreciate his discussion of particular meta-ethical issues.Personally, I thought the book was a waste of time.

Good subjectivist moral philosophy
This is a well written, entertaining book.I did not find the arguments in the early part of the book on error theory and the "queerness" of object values convincing, but I do believe that different people have different values, which opens the door for a subjective moral philosophy.At this point, the book does an excellent job in developing and building the ideas behind just such a philosophy.This is the closest to "Humean" moral thought written in the 20th century that I have found (which I consider to be high praise).

A Classic of 20th Century Ethics Indeed...
It might be read as an introduction to Ethics, but it isn't one. It is rather one of the most important works in 20th century ethics.

Mackie's book was revolutionary since being the first one to combine anti-realism (no objectively prescriptive values in the world) with cognitivism (the meaning of ethical statements can be true or false). Most of the previous anti-realists were anti-realists mostly implicitly, only because of being non-cognitivsts. Mackie has a different view which in my opinion is much more closer to the truth. The book also contains his error theory (people have a disposition to see their value judgments as objective). While the reviewer cdtreyer as the mainstream tradition have concentrated on Mackie's error theory I think it is much less important than the denial of the objective values and the justification of the role of morality in quasi-contractual terms.

Mackie's views on positive morality are justified by quasi-contractual (he discusses Plato's Protagoras, Hobbes and Hume) means and would combine very well with evolutionary perspectives. The discussion on the content of normative views is just a brief sketch, but this isn't really what this book is about anyway. Anyone who claims that the contents of the first part of the book undermine the contents of the second should read chapter 5 again and again and again. That there are no objective values in the world does not mean that there can't be right or wrong - it simply must be (or rather already has largely been) invented and constructed.

If you are interested in ethics you simply need to read this small, but important book which, while not being an introduction is still quite simple and very elegantly written. Besides the main content you will also get to read a great discussion on the meaning of the good (in debate with the classical Geach-Hare discussion found in Philippa Foot's "Theories of Ethics"), discussion on the is-ought problem and its flawed Searlean solution (also found in Foots collection), a chapter on univerzalisability of moral judgments (contra Hare) and on the frontiers of ethics: voluntary actions, determinism, law, politics, religion.

A Classic of Contemporary Moral Philosophy
The first chapter of Mackie's Ethics:Inventing Right and Wrong is the locus classicus for error theories in contemporary meta-ethics.There he argues that ordinary moral discourse and thought involve an assumption that there are what he calls "objective values," and that this assumption is false.Consequently, ordinary moral thought and language are infected by an error that precludes any ordinary moral claims and thoughts from being true.

Mackie first argues for a cognitivist interpretation of moral language.In other words, he argues that ordinary moral claims purport to describe facts about the world.In particular, ordinary moral language and thought purport to describe facts about objective moral values.What are objective moral values?They have two defining characteristics:(i) mind-independent existence (think of how chairs, trees, people, and electrons exist), and (ii) "intrinsic and categorical prescriptivity":that is, they are such that the mere apprehension of them will motivate a person to act in a certain way.The former characteristic is the source of their objectivity; the latter is the source of their normativity.

But, he claims, we have good reason to think that no such things exist.Mackie's fundamental worry about these putative objective values is that these things are especially "queer," that they are unlike any other things we have good reason to think exist.As I understand Mackie, underlying his worries about the queerness of these putative entities is his perception of a tension in their nature.He appears to believe that the objectivity of these putative entities is in tension with their intrinsic and categorical action-guidingness.That is, it is unclear to Mackie how something that exists as a mind-independent part of reality could have the sort of influence on human behavior that these objective values are supposed to have.It is unclear how something could be both objective and normative.The things that scientists study and that we encounter in the everyday world simply don't have this sort of categorical action-guidingness built into them.So, given the naturalistic conception of the world that Mackie favors, we have good a posteriori reasons to doubt the existence of objective moral values.

But, if Mackie is correct about the nature of ordinary moral thought and language, this commits us to regarding ordinary moral thought and language as involving a very fundamental sort of error, an error of presupposing that objective moral values exist.Mackie then completes his error theory by providing an explanation of our tendency to make this error, to mistakenly suppose that ordinary moral thought and language involve our successfully coming to know about the sorts of things he claims don't exist.

Mackie's book doesn't end here, however.Indeed, this is only the first chapter, and Mackie goes on to cover a wide range of territory in normative ethics and meta-ethics, along with a few issues in metaphysics (the existence of God and freedom of the will) that have some bearing on moral issues.In fact, despite his worries about the objectivity of morality, Mackie goes on to defend a substitute for morality, one that looks quite a bit like a broadly consequentialist moral theory, and he even weighs in on several controversial moral issues that are still with us.In short, in a little over two hundred pages of exceptionally clear prose, Mackie covers just about everything of interest in moral philosophy.

This book is, of course, essential reading for anyone interested in meta-ethics.Understanding some of the material and its importance may require some background knowledge, but enough of the book is more generally accessible that it also constitutes a good wide-ranging introduction to issues in both meta-ethics and normative ethics for a person with some background in philosophy (and perhaps for the general reader).Furthermore, the book, while not a work of history, is sufficiently informed about the history of the issues it discusses to provide the reader with an entry into study of the history of the subject.

If you're especially interested in Mackie's meta-ethical views, you should attempt to track down a copy of Morality and Objectivity (Ted Honderich, ed.), as it includes interesting and important reactions to Mackie's views by some major names (John McDowell, Simon Blackburn, R. M. Hare, Bernard Williams, et al.) in moral philosophy.

this is absolutely a good book
The startling thing is that this book even needs to be written.
There are no objective moral facts -- if you think otherwise,
then name one.Whatever you name, I deny it (I can safely
do this without knowing what you name, since I deny all
purported objective moral facts).What argument can you muster
that it IS an objective moral fact?Any valid argument must
be based on some other objective moral fact, which I in turn
deny.I may well agree with this or that moral statement,
but that's simply a matter of subjective views.Some moral
statements might be agreed to by every subjective human being
on the planet -- that does not make them objective.This is
quite different from such objective facts as that the sun rose
this morning -- this is not a question that is open to
deliberation, or opinion.One has no choice but to agree
with the raw facts of observation; they are forced upon us in
a way that is not true of any moral claim. ... Read more

Product Description
The gunfight at the OK Corrall was merely on e incident in the life of the most remarkable figure of the American West. In his 82 years, Earp was a buffalo hunter, d etective, prospector, saloon keeper and finally an advisor o n Hollywood Westerns. 'Amazon.com Review
Sorting through the innumerable legends about Wyatt Earp andhis brothers is a monumental task, but Allen Barra, a sports columnistfor the Wall Street Journal and a lifelong devotee of westernlore, has tried mightily to sort the fact from fiction to determineonce and for all if the Earps were heroes or villains. Judging by thecascade of films, books, and TV shows that have portrayed the Earpsand their pal "Doc" Holliday, some people simply can't get enough ofthe legends, and those folks will find Inventing Wyatt Earpfascinating.

The central event of the Earp story is the fabled gunfight nearTombstone's O.K. Corral, a violent eruption in a simmering feudbetween, believe it or not, frontier Democrats and Republicans. Barradelves deeply into the motivations of all the participants and thosewho would later tell their stories, and he deserves credit forconducting his prodigious research with skepticism. However, thethoroughness of Barra's approach is a double-edged sword: hisrelentless examination of Earp's life and the various accounts of itcan at times lead the narrative into a blinding sandstorm of minordetails. Nonetheless, for those with a strong interest in sorting outthe truth about the legends of Tombstone, this book is a valuablesource. --Robert McNamara ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

Fascinating analysis for Earp buffs
Having read Lake and Tertwiller, it was interesting to see the development of the legend from a mixture of lives, Virgil Earp, Bat Masterson, Wyatt and others that have come to represent the Earp legend today. Great read but inexplicably filled with simple typos.

Inventing Wyatt Earp
I consider this the definitive Wyatt Earp biography.Mr. Barra relies upon original sources for his research and in the process discovers many errors that have been attributed to Wyatt Earp's history over the years.As a result, the reader gets two stories for the price of one. We learn the real biography of Wyatt Earp as well as the story of the legend of Wyatt Earp, a very different thing.

It Doesn't Get Much Better...
I have been researching and reading about the Tombstone, AZ affair between the Earps, Doc Holliday, and the "Cowboys" for years. This book is an excellent means by which to understand the man who was Wyatt Earp, why and how he acted as he did, and what brought him to Tombstone. His relationships, quirks, and amazing courage as well as his keen sense of right and wrong, are well described within the covers of this book. I highly recommend it to all who are curious. The author has written one of the two best works ever written on this man! Wyatt's epitaph could easily have read..."Here Rests A Man!"

A MUST READ
For anyone interested in the American West, or the incidents that took place in Tombstone Az this is a must read. I have this as well as numerous others, and this coupled with Casey Tefertiller's bio of Wyatt Earp will give the reader all they really need. Very well done.

Very Good Indeed
This is very good bit of research and writing, an entertaining read.To me it is a companion work to Casey Tefertiller's Wyatt Earp biography.Both are great reads and both seem to let the facts, the research, lead them where they may. ... Read more

Product Description
Donald MacKenzie follows one line of technology - strategic ballistic missile guidance through a succession of weapons systems to reveal the workings of a world that is neither awesome nor unstoppable. He uncovers the parameters, the pressures, and the politics that make up the complex social construction of an equally complex technology.

Donald MacKenzie is Reader in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Highly recommended
This book is a great single source on the issues surrounding ballistic missile guidance. A very important read for analysts of missile technology, especially in the context of proliferation.

Only issue I had was that this book is getting dated. It would be great to have more information on Russian missile guidance in light of newly available sources. Likewise, I am curious to know whether the decline in the importance of the ballistic missile and rise of GPS-enabled weapons (like the TacTom) has opened the 'black box' permanently and reduced the most precise INS systems (like the beryllium baby) to a historical curiosity.

But if you are interested in ballistic missiles, don't let those musings discourage you from purchasing this book. It is well worth the price and your time.

One other note: I was worried when I opened the book and saw the name Bruno Latour staring back at me in the acknowledgements - a sure sign that the book would be irrelevant. However, I was able to ignore a lot of the history of technology jargon, references, and context - that seemed tacked on anyway, no doubt at the bequest of his advisor and/or mentor. The last few chapters seemed the most tacked on of all and I felt were only worth skimming.

Some of this analysis was actually very important - understanding that enhanced accuracy is a political and technological question, as well as the preferences of the corporations and labs involved, is very useful for evaluating proliferation trends.

Change Your Way of Thinking
This is a hallmark book, and not solely to those interested in the history of ballistic missile guidance systems (though it would be difficult for others to discover). Mr. MacKenzie's real contribution is to examine how theories compete, contend and clash, and how the "intellectual community" finds and/or accepts them. A careful reading of the book, with only a modicum of knowledge of the subject, could change the way one thinks about every aspect of life.

I found it brilliant and revelatory, and I have recommended it to many people who sought to have their conceptual conciousness raised, as was mine.

One of the few scholarly journals this "academaholic" would ever recommend to a general (though well-read) audience.

Keep a copy around for some deserving late teen ager whose mind is in full bloom - you will find yourself rewarded.

Recommended for Targeteers by nervegas.com
This is one of those very odd specialty books that always has you wondering who is the real audience.

The author has done an excellent job of researching the topic, and appears to be from the missile guidancecommunity (or at least aerospace).His style is dry, but frank.

The booktraces the US experience in missile guidance technology, then analyzes thesequence ofRFP to field test to reveal the sociological dynamics of atechnology.

For the information revolution, and a society that isbecoming increasingly more technological, this book is an early example ofwhat will likely be reproduced elsewhere for othertechnologies.

Throughout the book, the author debates what is accuracy. Traditionally, the Circular Error Probability (CEP) has been used, but somebelieve that a bias displaces the actual aiming point, and thus reduces themeaning of the CEP.Not addressed in this book is the debate concerningintelligence assets to support deep and strategic strikes, which accountsfor many peoples belief in an accuracy bias.The author's bias arguementis along different lines than that used today, and is not well developed(the author argues against it).

The arguement being addressed is howcredible is a nuclear deterent if systems are perfected to hit a testtarget on a Pacific island where all the navigational variables are known. This arguement is revisited by more recent books dealing with smartweapons; weapons which contractually meet their requirements to hit targetsin arid Nevada, but appear incapable of doing likewise in a misty Europeanbattlefields.

The author does present an interesting sociological modelthat has a wide application:the certainty trough.This model impliesthat those with the greatest confidence in a technology are well informedon it, and between those that develop the technology, and those that knowlittle about it.

While dealing only with strategic ballistic missiles,the author's approach to technological sociology is well worth reading andapplying to current day arguements with other weapon systems. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Based on the author’s experience in the world of inventing and promotion, HardcoreInventing offers the kind of advice you can only learn from experience: how to developing an idea into an invention, how to build a prototype for show, how to safeguard intellectual property, how to market both strategically and and in “guerilla" mode, how find investors, and much more. And all of that is based on his IP 3“Tacitical Method” which breaks everything down to Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Inspiring book that gives you helpful ideas
This book is packed with helpful information and stories. It's an amazing book- really inspiring. I love to read about creative people and to apply some of what made them successful to my own life.

Clear, easy to follow advice
The last reviewer did a great job of breaking down this book into detailed sections, so I won't repeat that, but I do want to say that I found it very clearly written, with advice that is super easy to follow. No fancy jargon here, just real info inventors can use. Also, Rob Yonover has a good conversational tone that makes his own stories and experiences fun to read about--and they sparked some ideas too. I like books that give real, concrete steps I can follow. This definitely does that. Totally recommended.

One of two books I highly recommend to the inventor who wants to transform his or her idea into something that makes money!

When I cruise through B&N and spot a book that might be helpful to my SCORE-dot-org clients I usually take the necessary steps to write a book review for it. These days I am being a little more particular as to what I will review since I am tiring of the activity. But I could not let this book slide by. In my humbe opinion it is a great companion book to Invent Yourself Rich: 16 Secrets for Creating Million-Dollar Inventions which I read and wrote a review for a few years back.

The instant book has five parts broken into twenty chapters and three appendices as follows:

I. Invent (1-8)
II. Protect (9-11)
III. Promote (12-14)
IV. Profit (15-20)
V. Appendices (A-C)

0. Introduction
1. Success story - The Rescue Streamer Technology
2. Identifying & solving the problem
3. How nature inspired my inventions
4. Scour your brain
5. Making your idea a reality: Inventor's logs, prototypes, & marketing evaluations
6. Build a show prototype
7. Name your invention
8. Checklist - Is your idea feasible, marketable & financially viable?
9. Safeguard your intellectual property - Paranoia can be good
10. Step-by-step guide from disclosure to patent - Etch it in stone
11. Alernatives to utility patents
12. Get your invention out there
13. Find investors: Targeted strikes & mobilizing the troops
14. Protect yourself from fraudulent promotion companies
15. Licening
16. Manufacturing
17. Marketing
18. The home entrepreneur - Bottom-feeding
19. Venture Capitalists & angel investors
20. Critical crossroads
A. Useful Web sites
B. Suggested reading
C. Sample agreements & letters

The book is not written by an attorney nor a business consultant. It's written by an inventor who wants to share his experiences in getting his invention (Rescue Streamer Technology) patented and profitable. He's also probably written it as a marketing tool for his invention. If I had not read the book, then I would never have heard of his invention.

This book is probably more detailed and a little bit more informative than the book I read a few years back. It gives another perspective - so I highly recommend anyone interested in the subject get both books and become very informed on the topic. 5 stars! ... Read more

Product Description
The invention of flight craft heavier than air counts among humankind'sdefining achievements. In this book, aviation engineer and historian John D. Anderson, Jr., offersa concise and engaging account of the technical developments that anticipated the Wrightbrothers' successful first flight on December 17, 1903. While the accomplishments of theWrights have become legendary, we do well to remember that they inherited a body of aerodynamics knowledge and flying machine technology. How much did they draw upon thislegacy? Did it prove useful or lead to dead ends?

Beginning with the earliest attempts at flight, Anderson explains how Leonardo daVinci firstbegan to grasp the concepts of lift and drag which would be essential to the invention of poweredflight. He describes the many failed efforts of the so-called "tower jumpers," from Benedictinemonk Oliver of Malmesbury in 1022 to the eighteenth-century Marquis de Bacqueville. He tellsthe fascinating story of aviation pioneers such as Sir George Cayley, who in a stroke of geniusfirst proposed the modern design of a fixed-wing craft with a fuselage and horizontal and verticaltail surfaces in 1799, and William Samuel Henson, a lace-making engineer whose ambitious"aerial steam carriage" was patented in 1842 but never built. Anderson describes thegroundbreaking nineteenth-century laboratory experiments in fluid dynamics, the building of theworld's first wind tunnel in 1870, and the key contributions of various scientists and inventors insuch areas as propulsion (propellers, not flapping wings) and wing design (curved, not flat).Healso explains the crucial contributions to the science of aerodynamics by the German engineerOtto Lilienthal, later praised by the Wrights as their "most important" predecessor.

In telling the dramatic story of the Wright brothers' many experiments at Kitty Hawk as theyraced to become the first in flight, Anderson shows how the brothers succeeded where othersfailed by taking the best of early technology and building upon it using a carefully planned,step-by-step experimental approach. (They recognized, for example, that it was necessary tobecome a skilled glider pilot before attempting powered flight.) With vintage photographs andinformative diagrams to enhance the text, Inventing Flight will interest anyone who hasever wondered what lies behind the miracle of flight. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good fun
I've enjoyed this book over the years, both personally and professionally. It's a great book for students who come to the library to do historic patent and invention projects.

Excellent
I got this as a gift for a friend who is an Engineer and holds many patents of his own.He loves this kind of stuff and thought this was a fantastically fun, interesting and informative book!

Past 100 years re-introduced
It is for certain that the world has taken gigantic leaps and bounds during the past one hundred years, making up what we know as the 20th century.Author Stephen Van Dulken successfully summarizes the major historical events and technological breakthroughs, starting with the year 1900 and leading up to 1999, in his enlightening book Inventing the 20th Century.It is an easy, fast, read keeping the reader continuously amused with numerous ground-breaking discoveries and the stories behind them.

Dubbing the 20th century as the age of `energy,' Van Dulken crafts a highly entertaining text, giving us a brief glimpse of 100 influential inventions categorized by decade.During this century, we journeyed into space with invention of the jet engine, split an atom, created the transistor radio, cloned a sheep, and came up with the ideas of wind and solar energy.

Each invention is introduced with a one page description of the how the idea came about, describing the patent process, as well as, a facing page of very interesting diagrams.The inventions are prefaced by a two page, stirring, historical, summary of the decade from around the world.Unfortunately, the majority of the history and inventions mentioned in the book are primarily focused in North America and Europe. Understandably, as the international super-powers, resources were more prevalent, as Phillips acknowledges in the introduction.However, it would be nice to see some inventions coming from less powerful areas of the world.

As a whole,Van Dulken does a suburb job of giving the reader a panoramic view of the 20th century, re-introducing us to the past 100 years with an emphasis on the creative ideas people have developed.From the invention of the television to the Post-it note, each has impacted the world greatly.Van Dulken has re-invented our history through his book, allowing the reader to visualize how certain innovative ideas have come into existence, some changing throughout the years while others remaining static. Ultimately, we are challenged to meditate on technology and the exciting future before us.Where will we be after the next 100 years? We will just have to wait for Van Dulken's next fascinating book.

100 Inventions that shaped the world?Hardly.
The subtitle to Van Dulken's "Inventing the 20th Century" is "100 inventions that shaped the world." True, the airplane, jet engine, automatic transmission, and microchip, among others, certainly have changed the world.But I find it hard to accept that Silly Putty and the Slinky fall into that category.His 100 inventions include many other inventions of questionable worth and pedigree, including several British ones that few Americans would recognize. In many instances the inventions cited by patents were not the ones that turned into the products that we are now familiar with, and his discriptions were often difficult to follow, in part because the auther writes more like a patent attorney than a historian or storyteller. The stories of many of the most significant inventions were already well known to me ---- their stories have been better told in other books, articles or documentaries that I've seen or read over the years. The more obscure inventions were not presented in any more exciting manner. The fault may have been in the author being limited by the format of one or two pages of narrative for each invention. The overall effect was that of a bland, incomplete and unsatisfying meal. You're left feeling hungry but without a desire to consume any more.

"Intellectual Capital" with Global Impact
This is one of those rare books which is as entertaining as it is informative. Van Dulken selects and discusses "100 inventions that shaped the world", organizing his material within ten chapters to correspond with the ten decades of the 20th century:

1900-1910 (e.g. aeroplane, air conditioning, and the vacuum cleaner)

1910-1919 (e.g. Formica®, neon lighting, and the self-service supermarket

1920-1929 (e.g.the bread slicing machine, power steering, and television

1930-1939 (e.g. the jet engine, the photocopier, and radar

1940-1949 (e.g. the ballpoint pen, the computer, and the transistor

1950-1959 (e.g. the geodesic dome, the microchip, and Velcro® fasteners)

1960-1969 (e.g. implantable pacemaker, the mouse, and the Workmate® workbench) 1970-1979 (e.g. the artificial heart, Post-it® notes, and the smart card)

1980-1989 (e.g. cellular phones, genetic fingerprinting, and the video game)

1990-1999 (e.g. cloning animals, fuel cells, and programmable materials)

Van Dulken discusses ten different inventions in each of the ten chapters, providing detailed descriptions as well as explanations of the historical context in which each was devised and by whom. In the Introduction by Andrew Phillips, the reader is told that the inventions highlighted in this book "have benefitted people of virtually every nation. Some have helped combat the despair of disease, poverty, excessive (even unendurable) labour. Other inventions -- though less illustrated by this book --have contributed to the ravages of war. What comes forth so often, however, from the examples described here is the individuality and initiative which characterizes so many inventors who helped change the world between 1900 and 1999." Quite true. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Mokyr's The Lever of Riches and Novak's The Fire of Invention. ... Read more

Product Description
Inventing Our Selves proposes a radical new approach to the analysis of our current regime of the self, and the values of autonomy, identity, individuality, liberty and choice that animate it.It argues that psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and other "psy" disciplines have played a key role in "inventing our selves," changing the ways in which human beings understand and act upon themselves, and how they are acted upon by politicians, managers, doctors, therapists and a multitude of other authorities.These mutations are intrinsically linked to recent changes in ways of understanding and exercising political power, which have stressed the values of autonomy, personal responsibility and choice.The aim of this critical history is to diagnose and destabilize our contemporary "condition" of the self, to help us think differently about the kind of persons we are, or might become. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Genuinely inventive
Nikolas Rose has got to be one of today's top sociologists. This book which compiles some of his work up to the mid 1990s is testament to the novelty and thoroughness of his research and is definitely an enjoyable read for anyone interested in Foucauldian thought and scholarship. Cutting across conventional histories and representations of the field of psychology and its relationship to power and the social, Rose argues the contemporary significance of psychology lies in its relationship to the question of government in modern society. This book is a fabulous complement to his other books, Powers of Freedom and Governing the Soul, and his array of articles.

Carrying the torch for a certain Foucault
For those who are interested in Foucault's concept of "governmentality," and for those who are uncomfortable with liberal humanism's triumphal celebration of "freedom," please check out this book.If there is one question Rose wants to answer in this book, it seems to me to be the following: how can social control take place in our contemporary world, where we are thought of as autonomous subjects?Rose suggests that "freedom" has not, in fact, triumphed over "coercion" and "discipline" in our contemporary age - rather, he argues that discourses on freedom and individual autonomy set up the conditions in which bodies can be territorialized and controlled in new ways.He argues toward this conclusion not through an analysis of state disciplinary practices or "pastoral power" (as Foucault did), but rather through an analysis of the "psy" disciplines, which include psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, etc.

Rose writes in a clear and straightforward manner - his text is relatively free of the type of jargon and self-indulgent prose one typically finds in "critical theory" texts.I found the book very accessible, and read it quickly.

My research intersects with exactly these types of questions and problems, so I absolutely loved this book.In fact, upon completion I immediately ordered another of his texts.

Simply superb
Nikolas Rose writes a powerful and thought provoking work that radically alters how the work of the "mental health" professional can be understood, detailing its critical relevance for each of us. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

3.5 Stars: Parts of the Book a Must-Read, Other Parts Omissions or Repetitions of Previous Books
I read the 2001 edition of the 1997 book. This is a compilation book of essays by the author written as responses to lectures, keynote addresses and discussions with her friends between 1989 and 1995. The content is mostly about the 1980s. To a large extent, she is concerned with other authors' work (most of all Cheikh Anta Diop) than her own original thoughts in this essay collection. The title mentioning Africa is a bit misleading as well. It is actually about the Igbo within Nigeria. There is more about the African diaspora in the West, most of all Canada and the UK, than about any other society WITHIN Africa. Which doesn't necessarily mean bad. On the contrary, her analysis of racism in Western feminist groups of varying skin colors is very true and one of the best I have read. My point is, don't expect a book about generally Africa.

Another criticism is the repetitiveness. Of both, within this book among some of the essays as well as with the previous book, Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society which itself is an elaboration of the yet previous Afrikan Matriarchal Foundations: The Igbo Case.

I am also flabbergasted reading all those racist vocabulary such as "race", "mulatto" and the n-word, coming from THIS author. In her recurring lists of society's struggles such as class and gender, "sexuality" gets included a lot, yet it remains the only one in these lists, which she does NOT elaborate on. To the point that I am not even sure, what exactly SHE is really referring to.

So much for the subtractions, which prevent me from giving this book all five stars. Taking that into account, this book is well worth to be read, if you haven't read one of the other of her books mentioned. Even if you have, the chapters on racism within the Western feminist scene and sexism within African state systems is worth the book alone. (How to control women in traditional Africa? Provide them with official organisations and give them posts therein, which have to answer to the government.) Also Africa's subjugation under the European state system of dominance and power gets tackled here.

You may also be interested in Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy and Return to the African Mother Principle of Male and Female Equality.

Goes beyond the matriarchy/patriarchy divide
She also describes " 'dual-sex' systems, 'each sex manages its own affairs and women's interests are represented at all levels" which I found much more eye opening than what you would expect from the title.

The book is well written and gets its point across clearly, without suffering too badly fromthe repetition inherent in a collection of reprinted essays.

I only give it four stars since there were a number of places in which I felt that she reached conclusions too quickly or that the conclusions themselves reached beyond the evidence presented, which is likely a result of the short essay format.

That said, I've already ordered one of her other books, since the ideas presented here were interesting enough for me to want to know more.

If you only read one African studies book, ever...
Read this!Amadiume teaches about ancient matriarchal cultures in Africa, and the diverse and well-respected roles of women in Africa before colonialism.

Traditional African religions were often woman-centered ornon-preferential with regard to gender.Amadiume chronciles the"masculinization" of religion, dating from the intriduction ofChristianity and Islam.

I had the privilege of taking a class withProfessor Amadiume at Dartmouth where we used this book.It is absolutelyfascinating reading, even for someone like myself who had no background inAfrican studies. ... Read more

Product Description
Do you dream of huge profits from your inventions?

Anyone who has ever had an idea for an invention has probablyfantasized about getting a patent and making millions of dollars offit. Realistically, it's not that easy. Taking your idea andtransforming it into reality is one of the hardest things you couldever try to do. Realizing commercial success makes the whole processdoubly difficult. Failure is all too easy unless you have a guide toshow you how.Inventing Made Easy: The Entrepreneur's Indispensable Guide toCreating, Patenting and Profiting From Inventions is your personalguide to creativity, driving an inspiration from concept to reality,inventing, prototyping & market testing leading to validation andfinally business start-up and marketing for sales and success.

This no-holds-barred book tells it like it is. Authors and veteraninventors Tom Bellavance and Roger Bellavance educate the novice aswell as the established inventor about many of the perils and pitfallsinherent to the process. The authors blend years of inventingexperience with credible authority and a passionate belief in everyinventor's potential.

It's as if you are getting insider information from a bestfriend. This book teaches how to light the fires of your creativity todream up winning ideas. The authors take you step-by-step through themaze known as the patent process. You can explore your options as youread about the many ways to make money with your inventions. Thisbook's savvy marketing tips teach you how to successfully promote andsell your products.

Inventing Made Easy really shines as a source of information onstarting up a small business and selling an invention. It furtherexplores powerful and proven ways to help the aspiring entrepreneurobtain sales and commercial success from an invention.

Jam-packed in this book and in its voluminous appendices are listingsof inventing resources. Profoundly valuable and not easily gathered,they alone are well worth the cost of the book. This book brims withhundreds of hours of research at your fingertips.

This comprehensive reference is the only book you'll need to create,patent and market your invention successfully. With theirstraight-from-the-hip narrative, free of the heavy technical jargontypical of the many books on the subject, the Bellavances become your"mentors" throughout the process. In this comprehensive resource,you'll learn how to:

Make your creativity flow to mega-generate ideas.

Safeguard (through proper documentation) and patent your idea.

Protect yourself from industrial espionage and patentinfringement.

Avoid being victimized by invention promotion firms.

Find a manufacturer and set up licensing deals.

Exploit proven marketing outlets and techniques to promote andsell your products.

Profit from your invention with your own business.

You can avoid many of the pitfalls and problems that cause manyinventors to fail. Inventing Made Easy shows readers how totake full control of the inventing process. With it, you possess thetools to invent and blaze a bold path to success. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Successful Inventing is Not so Easy
This book has been written by two experienced inventor-entrepreneurs who share the knowledge they have gained in the school of hard knocks. While the title is a great eye-catcher for book store displays, they quickly point out that inventing may be easy -- but successful inventing is not.

The book is written plain and simple for the first-time inventor, while still offering much advice that can benefit the experienced inventor or entrepreneur. It covers the field from the first glimmer of an idea to the merchandising of a market-ready product.

Typical of their insights is that "Many experienced inventors feel, for the most part, design patents are a waste of time and money unless the design is incredibly distinctive". Many novice inventors have been scammed by outfits that do not explain the difference between design and utility patents.

On the subject of patent searches, they give the addresses of locations where you can do your own preliminary search. They, however, recommend a professional search and note "if your patent search is not comprehensive, it is next to worthless". They also note several ways to protect yourself during the patent search stage.

One of the valuable suggestions given in the book is to use news releases to promote your invention. The author's note that something on the order of 75 percent of the stories in our newspapers are based on news releases and that they are almost free! Some twenty tips are given on how to write a news release. A sample release is included.

Ever notice that some products are only marked patented while others also have the patent number? The writers discuss the pros and cons of which way to mark your product.

If you attempt to submit an idea to a corporation, many will ask you to sign a "waiver". They comment "These infamous agreements are toxic to inventors". They advise you to see your patent attorney before signing anything.

While there are some respectable invention brokers, the vast majority of those that advertise on radio or television can only be described as sharks. The authors list eight questions that must be asked if you even think of dealing with an invention promotion group.

On the subject of raising money by seeking out venture capitalists, they cite the very poor odds. In one four year period only 4,000 awards went to 275,000. They note networking is the key to locating "angels" (informal investors such as accountants, doctors, etc.). If you decide to set up your own business, there are five basic routes you can go: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, S corporation, and LLC (limited liability corporation). They give the advantages and disadvantages of each of these routes.

If your product becomes a success in the marketplace, patent piracy may make its appearance in the form of lower-priced imported imitations. The legal cost of fighting a patent infringement case is, for the small business operator, prohibitively costly. Here the authors give an interesting option, treat the infringement as a "golden marketing opportunity". Take you case to the public. America loves the underdog and by creating publicity by the means they suggest the infringer may have second thoughts.

The book is up-to-date and gives guidelines for setting up a Web site on the Internet. Radio and TV advertising are discussed. This includes QVC and the Home Shopping Network. Mention is made of how large firms hog shelves at retail outlets by buying shelf space. (Currently the U.S. Senate is holding hearings regarding this "slotting fee" practice.) Cautions are given for dealing with packaging companies and warehousing firms. They advocate JIT (just-in-time) inventory management and share a hard earned lesson whereby one of the authors wound up with 65,000 Emergency Call Police banners in storage!

Chapter 7, "Patents: the Joke Is On Us" is a must-read. It takes the position that for the small entity "your patent is next to worthless" in that you have to sue to protect it and it creates a "false sense of security". Blame falls on "the Patent and Trademark Office, big industry, the judicial system, and lawyers". Also discussed are the PTO scandals and the "maintenance fee trap". Suggestions for curing the evils of the U.S. patent system are given.

An eight section appendix gives the addresses of helpful inventor associations across the nation, addresses of Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries, patent office fees, Better Business Bureaus, and more.

Some may be taken aback by the authors' frank opinions and realistic views, but if you are putting blood, sweat, and tears into an idea, isn't that better than the over optimistic mind-candy some books offer?

Practical and frank
The authors give a broad description of the patent process, as well as tips and considerations to market the developed ideas. Other interesting topics include the basics of marketing and bussiness development. I particularly like the poignant remarks on the reality of patent laws, which are designed to protect the rich and powerful instead of the poor and average; expect to be dissapointed if you do not have the money to sue someone for infringing your ideas.

Inventing -- realistically
This book is a great dose of reality about the inventing, patenting, and marketing process.The authors don't hold back on the truth about what to expect from patent "protection."They're generous about sharingtheir experiences and letting us benefit from their mistakes and hardknocks.Their comments about the realities of trying to get shelf space inthe retail market kept me from making a big mistake in my marketing plan,and I'm working around the problem. My only reason for giving this bookonly 4 out of 5 stars is that the second section of the book (100 of 250pages) containing sample inventions and appendices, such as inventorsassociations and government addresses,could have been left out, loweringthe cost of the book.The appendix data changes so rapidly, theinformation would be more valuable if available on a web site. The materialin the rest of the book, however, was very valuable and not available inother inventors books I've read, so I'd recommend reading this book to findout what to expect -- realistically -- from the patenting and marketingprocess. ... Read more

Product Description
As far back as we know, there have been individuals incapacitated by memories that have filled them with sadness and remorse, fright and horror, or a sense of irreparable loss. Only recently, however, have people tormented with such recollections been diagnosed as suffering from "post-traumatic stress disorder." Here Allan Young traces this malady, particularly as it is suffered by Vietnam veterans, to its beginnings in the emergence of ideas about the unconscious mind and to earlier manifestations of traumatic memory like shell shock or traumatic hysteria. In Young's view, PTSD is not a timeless or universal phenomenon newly discovered. Rather, it is a "harmony of illusions," a cultural product gradually put together by the practices, technologies, and narratives with which it is diagnosed, studied, and treated and by the various interests, institutions, and moral arguments mobilizing these efforts.

This book is part history and part ethnography, and it includes a detailed account of everyday life in the treatment of Vietnam veterans with PTSD. To illustrate his points, Young presents a number of fascinating transcripts of the group therapy and diagnostic sessions that he observed firsthand over a period of two years. Through his comments and the transcripts themselves, the reader becomes familiar with the individual hospital personnel and clients and their struggle to make sense of life after a tragic war. One observes that everyone on the unit is heavily invested in the PTSD diagnosis: boundaries between therapist and patient are as unclear as were the distinctions between victim and victimizer in the jungles of Southeast Asia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

perposterous!
I am a clinical social worker who suffered in the past from debilitating PTSD.Due to great strides by my colleagues in psycho-therapeutic work and EMDR, I can testify that PTSD is very real and not an illusion.If you have any cluster of symptoms close to PTSD, don't waste your money on this book.Go find a certified EMDR therapist who can really help you heal.

response
This book is an extraordinarily honest attempt to think outside the institutional box and look for a more complex set of truths.Allan Young was grappling with the experience of seeing the creation of a diagnosis through a political and economic process.He was looking at how that process actually marginalized the people so diagnosed, and limited the resources and attention they received, after being pigeon-holed as having "PTSD".Dr. Young was in no way trivializing the terrible experiences or the suffering experienced by the veterans; on the contrary, he was saying that this diagnosis and the way the diagnosis shaped their treatment was not necessarily either helpful or in their best interests.The negative reviewers of this book either didn't read it or got it exactly backwards.This book is/was a groundbreaking attempt to show that psychiatric diagnoses do not necessarily match the actual experiences of the sufferers, or respond to their real suffering in a helpful way.

Effects of severe trauma are real, not imagined
Anyone who refuses to understand the horrible effects of being severely traumatized cannot possibly know how to treat the problem he does not believe exists.Thankfully, it appears Mr. Young has not been a soldier who has witnessed the death and mayhem of others around him, a soldier who has been a prisoner of war, a witness to the Twin Towers falling on 9/11/01 or a child growing up in a home where domestic violence, rape and incest are an everyday problem.Thankfully, Mr. Young was probably not one of the children or school staff who witnessedthe Columbine shootings.Thankfully, he was probably not a Floridian who suffered through four hurricanes in the summer of 2004.Mr. Young believes PTSD sufferers blame their psychological problems on their abuser or abusers.Yes, if the trauma causing the effects of PTSD were the result of an abuser, we do blame the abuser.If an animal is beaten since birth, whose fault is it the animal cowers?Unless the animal is taken from that environment and placed in a loving home, the animal cannot heal.PTSD sufferers do not want to suffer.We want healing.We need understanding eyes, not judgmental pointing fingers.I do not believe every person who suffers trauma experiences PTSD.Yet, there are those of us who do suffer from trauma.PTSD is a name for very real psychological problems.PTSD is not a label mental health professionals casually diagnose.Anyone who espouses to Mr. Young's kind of thinking is simply ignorant of others suffering.In his bio at Amazon, he credits living with African Americans as an eye-opening experience.Why did he have to live with African Americans before he could understand their culture?Did he not have a single African American contact before his Portland experience?If he could not understand African Americans before living with them, he certainly cannot understand the plight of a PTSD sufferer with an open-mind to their severe pain.Readers of this review, please do not read Mr. Young's unprofessional ideas in this book without talking to PTSD sufferers yourself.The real data is from the PTSD sufferer.

In reponse to my intemperate fellow Bostonian
This is a groundbreaking study of a "condition" whose popularity has grownway out of proportion to the limited evidence for its validity as aclinical entity.PTSD fits a profession's need for a "serious" mentaldisorder that requires psychotherapy as its primary mode of treatment, at atime when medications have come to be seen as the primary treatment frommost Axis I psychiatric disorders.Just as importantly it meets the needsof patients who need a "reason" (or perhaps a "culprit") to account fortheir misery other than the mere fact of being ill.However, close studyof the condition itself reveals that there is nothing intrinsic whichdistinguishes it from garden variety depression with prominent anxiety andintrusive rumination.It has been known since time immemorial that suchconditions will arise independently of the issues which may occupy theminds of their sufferers.But now, as a consequence of thesocio-historical milieu into which PTSD was born, it has become the favoreddiagnosis for those who see their emotional troubles as the responsibilityof someone else.In this book the nature of that historical milieu is welldescribed. Professor Young has broken a powerful taboo in opening thistopic up for discussion, and his remarkable work of scholarship deservesthe highest praise.

E puor si muove
Young ideas' are not new. Many psychologists and psychiatrists workingwith persons in extreme situations have arrived to the same point: PTSD isan ethnocultural invention of Euro American Psychiatry. The so-called"PTSD-symptoms" are frequent. The syndrome is a construct. AllanYoung collects evidence in passionate but scientific way. This book is amust for all students of mental health science that want to give to theirprofession a wider scope than just what one can get from a cookbook ofeuroamerican diagnosis that blinds more than helps as DSM-IV. Life is muchmore than DSM-IV and this book contributes to seeing that in an excellentmanner. ... Read more

Product Description
Starting in childhood, Thomas Alva Edison was full of curiosity (how did eggs hatch?) and always inventing (what science experiments could he do in the basement?) His interest in telegraphs helped him invent a transmitter to improve telephone communication, and his fascination with electricity led to the invention of the lightbulb--and networks of devices to send electricity throughout New York City. More than 1,000 of Edison's inventions, including the movie camera, movie projector, copy machine, and phonograph, have made our world a safer, brighter, and better place.

... Read more

Product Description
As he examines the changing views of Leonardo since the sixteenth century, A. Richard Turner both gives the reader a cultural history in brief of western Europe during this period and provides a context for examining Leonardo's relevance to our own ways of perceiving and interpreting the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An in depth look atDa Vinci
Not a book for a reader to explore Davinci for the first time--but more of an advanced look at the style and creativity of the subject. The most interesting analysis of the book is the fact that Davinci could not help himself to learn and explore. He was driven to it almost to the point of addiction. Even when the church got in his way he figured out to circumvent the obstacles.

A Philosophical Look At The Maestro
This book attempts to summarize the vast amount of information that has been written about Leonardo during the 500 or so years since his death.I bought it after seeing the author on the A & E Biography episode about Leonardo.

On the show the author indicated that Leonardo was not at all like a modern scientific thinker.

I think people can relate to Da Vinci more easily than they can to someone like Einstein.Einsteincould not have painted the Mona Lisa but then Leonardo didn't invent the theory of relativity either.

But the Mona Lisa is something that theaverage guy on the street can relate to while the theory of relativity can only be understood mainly by scientists.

Da Vinci may not have been somuch a genius as someone who did many things well and had a very active andenergetic mind. He represents as much the spirit of achievement as actualachievements.He seemed to have so much mental energy that learning was something he simply had to do.It was not optional for him.

What makes Da Vinci interesting is the unique combination of artistic and scientfic interests that he had.Some of Leonardo's notebooks were recovered relatively recently from a historical point of view so the idea of da Vinci as a Renaissance genius is a pretty new idea.

At the end the book he attempts to maybe clarify and expand on the earlier material so that Leonardo can be re-invented hopefully more accurately for our era.Infact if Leonardo da Vinci had never existed someone probably would have invented a fictional person like him.Someone who knew basically everything which of course Leonardo did not but people sometimes like to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Quite a bit is said about the Mona Lisa.The Mona Lisa appears to be a self portrait by Leonardo, not of hisphysical life as Leonardo, but of his soul.Old, peaceful, content,mysterious.

It also talks about a painting of some guy with snakes crawling out of his head which was mistakenly (?) attributed to Leonardo for many years.Leonardo had some problems.

The author expresses some resentment that the fields related to the humanities are held in low esteem these days by some people.The author's writing style indicates he's into philosophy.This is not a book for someone trying to get a general idea of what Leonardo was interested in and why he is considered by some to be a genius.It's more about understanding the maestro from a philosophicalpoint of view.

Plato: Apology

Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives through Progression Therapy

The Atlantis Dialogue: Plato's Original Story of the Lost City, Continent, Empire, Civilization

Edgar Cayce's Atlantis

A lively look at Leonardo in fact and myth.
Unlike just another standard biography ormonograph, this book makes a useful contribution to the already crowded arena of Leonardo studies. The black-and-white illustrations are barely adequate, but thereis a particularly helpful bibliography. Recommended for art history facultyand advanced students. ... Read more

Product Description
Inventing Paradise captures the personal and artistic encounters of Henry Miller and Lawrence Durell with Greek culture on the eve of World War II, recalled by a literary companion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautifully written
A writer of outstanding repute in all his endeavors (translator, novelist, critic), Keeley has temporarily left aside all that academic stuffto write one of the five most beautiful books I have read in the past twentyyears. Greek and Anglo literati like Seferis, Durrell and Miller come alivefor us in these pages and special features of their work are examined withnew depth. There are also some minor writers who serve as attractivebackround to, and greatly enrich,the larger story. In his finalparagraphs, Keeley hints that he might have a first person narrative instore for us covering a subsequent generation of philhellene writers. Let'shope he makes good on this almost-promise.

An enlightening book about the Generation of the Thirties
An interesting book about Henry Miller/Lawrence Durrill and the "Generation of the Thirties"-Greek poets that include Seferis, and painters such as Ghikas.

The book is exactly what the NY Timescalls it--a combination of literary history/critique, and cultural history.It tries to provide a deep understanding of the poetry from the decadebefore World War 2.It dispells the notion that Greece only has offeredthe world Homer & Pericles.Seferis, for example, won the Nobel Prizein Literature. ... Read more

Product Description
Founded in the final years of the Enlightenment, the Louvrewith the greatest collection of Old Master paintings and antique sculpture assembled under one roofbecame the model for all state art museums subsequently established. Andrew McClellan chronicles the formation of this great museum from its origins in the French royal picture collections to its apotheosis during the Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. More than a narrative history, McClellan's account explores the ideological underpinnings, pedagogic aims, and aesthetic criteria of the Louvre. Drawing on new archival materials, McClellan also illuminates the art world of eighteenth-century Paris. ... Read more

Product Description
Burns tells the story of artists in American society during a period of critical transition from Victorian to modern values, examining how culture shaped the artists and how artists shaped their culture.Focusing on such important painters as James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux, Winslow Homer, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, she investigates how artists reacted to the growing power of the media, to an expanding consumer society, to the need for a specifically American artist type, and to the problem of gender. ... Read more

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"I take...an outward route, arguing that the Agrarian project was and must be seen as a willed campaign on the part of one elite to establish and control 'the South' in a period of intense cultural maneuvering. The principal organizers of I'll Take My Stand knew full well there were other 'Souths' than the one they touted; they deliberately presented a fabricated South as the one and only real thing."

In Inventing Southern Literature Michael Kreyling casts a penetrating ray upon the traditional canon of southern literature and questions the modes by which it was created. He finds that it was, indeed, an invention rather than a creation. In the 1930s the foundations were laid by the Fugitive-Agrarian group, a band of poet-critics that wished not only to design but also to control the southern cultural entity in a conservative political context. From their heyday to the present, Kreyling investigates the historical conditions under which literary and cultural critics have invented "the South" and how they have chosen its representations. Through his study of these choices, Kreyling argues that interested groups have shaped meanings that preserve "a South" as "the South."

As the Fugitive-Agrarians molded the region according to their definition in I'll Take My Stand, they professed to have developed a critical method that disavowed any cultural or political intent or content, a claim that Kreyling disproves. He shows that their torch was taken by Richard Weaver on the Right and Louis D. Rubin, Jr., on the Center-Left and that both critics tried to preserve the Fugitive-Agrarian credo despite the severe stresses imposed during the era of desegregation.

As the southern literary paradigm has been attacked and defended, certain issues have remained in the forefront. Kreyling takes on three:

1. reconciling the imperatives of race with the traditional definitions of the South;
2. testing the ways white women writers of the South have negotiated space within or outside the paradigm; and
3. analyzing the critics' use and abuse of William Faulkner (the major figure of southern literature) as they have relied on his achievement to anchor the total project called Southern Literature.

Michael Kreyling, a professor of English at Vanderbilt University, is the author of several books, including Eudora Welty's Achievement of Order and Author and Agent: Eudora Welty and Diarmuid Russell. ... Read more

Product Description
Fiesta San Antonio began in 1891 and through the twentieth century expanded from a single parade to over two hundred events spanning a ten-day period. Laura Hernández-Ehrisman examines Fiesta's development as part of San Antonio's culture of power relations between men and women, Anglos and Mexicanos.

In some ways Fiesta resembles hundreds of urban celebrations across the country, but San Antonio offers a unique fusion of Southern, Western, and Mexican cultures that articulates a distinct community identity. From its beginning as a celebration of a new social order in San Antonio controlled by a German and Anglo elite to the citywide spectacle of today, Hernández-Ehrisman traces the connections between Fiesta and the construction of the city's tourist industry and social change in San Antonio. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book
Perhaps the greatest book ever written.I would recommend to anyone who loves to see how diverse a culture can be within the same city at the same event.The writer captures the essance of the great event we call "Fiesta De San Antonio" ... Read more