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2nd Quarter 2006 ~ NONFICTION Book Suggestions!

Collaborate in choosing our next NON-FICTION book for group discussion within this forum. A minimum of 5 posts is necessary to participate here!
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Mr. P

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Re: Reason & Christianity

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Quote:all but a few have been geared towards the question of what's wrong with religion.Gee...I wonder why?Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper
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Re: We Wish to Inform You...

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Both interesting suggestions. "Malcolm X" doesn't really fit with my suggestion, but then, it's only a suggestion, and no one has to stick to it. Both authors are deceased, so we'd have to find a secondary authority for the quarterly chat.Did a bit of quick digging, and here are some books that we might consider:Island at the End of the World, by Steven Roger Fischer, head of the Institute of Polynesian Languages and Literatures in Auckland, New Zealand, seems to be one of the most authoritative recent releases on Easter Island. I agree that we should avoid the mysticism angle, and this looks like a good pick to me.The problem with picking a book about Africa is that there's so much of Africa, and presumably a lot of diversity to contend with. I'll reiterate my suggestion for reading about Rwanda, "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families". I'll also suggest again a book that I suggested for a previous quarter, Martin Meredith's The Fate of Africa, although that one's a pretty hefty tome. Here are a few others that caught my eye.Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Childhood is by Moroccan scholar Fatima Mernissi. I've read Mernissi's "Islam and Democracy" and can attest to her intellect and the power of her writing. Nevermind the romanticized images of the Turkish harem -- this is about the Morrocan harem, which means it's about the family organization of an entire culture up to, and beyond, the 1940s.The Flame Trees of Thika is novelist Elspeth Huxley's account of her childhood in Kenya. I'm fairly certain that Huxley's no longer around to take part in an author chat, but the books is considered something of a classic, so it may be worth considering.
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Anthropology as Revolution

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Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams by David Graeber.Quote:This innovative book is the first comprehensive synthesis of economic, political, and cultural theories of value. David Graeber reexamines a century of anthropological thought about value and exchange, in large measure to find a way out of quandaries in current social theory, which have become critical at the present moment of ideological collapse in the face of Neoliberalism. Rooted in an engaged, dynamic realism, Graeber argues that projects of cultural comparison are in a sense necessarily revolutionary projects: He attempts to synthesize the best insights of Karl Marx and Marcel Mauss, arguing that these figures represent two extreme, but ultimately complementary, possibilities in the shape such a project might take. Graeber breathes new life into the classic anthropological texts on exchange, value, and economy. He rethinks the cases of Iroquois wampum, Pacific kula exchanges, and the Kwakiutl potlatch within the flow of world historical processes, and recasts value as a model of human meaning-making, which far exceeds rationalist/reductive economist paradigms. Graeber's anthropological project is in line with Mad's suggestion that we read a book that focuses upon a culture we know very little about. Graeber accentuates the role of value exchange and economic structures within a comparison of the North American Iroquouis and Kwakiutl folk, and segments of the Pacific islander communities. He also critically examines the last century of Anthropology, introducing us to its leading scholars, the cultures they explored, and the biases that shaped their conclusions. His agenda is clear: using anthropology to equip radical political and economic change. Edited by: Dissident Heart at: 1/28/06 11:33 am
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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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Just out of curiosity, DH, is this a book you're interested in reading, or one that you've already read?
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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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MA: Just out of curiosity, DH, is this a book you're interested in reading, or one that you've already read?I haven't read it yet, but thoroughly enjoyed Graeber's Fragments of An Anarchist Anthropology in which he challenges the professional bias in anthropology against advocating for the wealth of egalitarian, democratic, and participatory examples of social organization around the globe and across history. Maybe his challenge is misdirected (why should anthropologists support anarchist movements?), but the work he has done in the field makes anthropology, (for me at least) terribly exciting and politically valuable.Here is Fragments of An Anarchist Anthropology in its entirety. Edited by: Dissident Heart at: 1/27/06 3:27 pm
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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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Another culture that I'd like to read about is that of Byzantium, the culture that branched out of and outlasted Imperial Rome. This looks like the most accessible comprehensive view of the Byzantine Empire, so I thought I'd throw it out there for consideration:A Short History of Byzantium, by John Julius NorwichEditorial ReviewsAmazon.comThe Byzantine Empire, one of its most eminent students reminds us, lasted "for a total of 1,123 years and 18 days," which is an astonishing duration matched by only a few others. Condensing Norwich's three-volume history, this overview captures the splendor and strangeness of Byzantine rule, marked by family intrigues, constant warfare, political and religious strife, and personal ambition--a "somewhat lurid background," as Norwich modestly declares in passing. Norwich is a master of the telling vignette. In one, he writes of imperial guards made up of "Anglo-Saxons who had left their country in disgust after Hastings and had taken service with Byzantium." Facing a Norman enemy in southern Italy, these Anglo-Saxons exacted terrible vengeance until the Normans rallied under the leadership of a fearless woman, one Sichelgaita, and massacred their enemy. Norwich's book abounds in similarly surprising and absorbing episodes. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From School Library JournalA condensation of Norwich's three-volume study of the Byzantine Empire. It is the story of a civilization that flourished economically, militarily, and, most importantly, as a center for culture and the arts while the rest of Europe struggled through the Dark and Middle Ages. Despite the empire being the most powerful nation in Europe for over 1000 years, its history reads like a soap opera?with grand intrigue, despotic rulers, madmen, conquests, betrayals, religious schism, crusades, and eventual decline. The book is massive in scope and although every other ruler seems to be named either Constantine, Constantius, or Constans, the book is surprisingly easy to read. Detailed maps; charts showing the lineage of the major personalities; and lists of emperors, sultans, and popes help readers keep track of who was who and where the major events took place. An extensive index makes this book useful as a reference tool.Paperback: 496 pages
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Dissident Heart

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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible? brings voices from around the world working for radical, far reaching, revolutionary change. Quote:Book Description: The Movement of Movements charts the strategic thinking behind the mosaic of movements currently challenging neoliberal globalization. Leading theorists and activists
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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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Wait wait wait...This has NOTHING to do with Chomsky or "Nietz s che". You know you are only supposed to post about those two authors. Now cut it out Dissident or I will have to rally for you to be banned! Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper
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Dissident Heart

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Re: Anthropology as Revolution

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Mr. P: This has NOTHING to do with Chomsky or "Nietz s che".He he he....in a sense, it does. A project I am working on involves pitting Nietzsche and Chomsky as paradigmatic characters representing two fundamental approaches to human nature and the "good society". Chomsky represents much that is expressed in the anarchist, participatory, deeply democratic impulse towards "a new world is possible"; the kind of spirit captured in the A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible?suggestion. Nietzsche represents the real politik, hierarchical aristocratic model of elitist domination, where nothing changes and there is no alternative to the master/slave scenario of human interaction.But, this moves us from the purpose of this thread.....
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Re: We Wish to Inform You...

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Based on our current Average Daily Posts of 32 (found in the table at the bottom of our forums page) I think we should stick with only one nonfiction book during 2nd quarter of 2006. We'll be tackling a fiction selection too, but we don't have enough activity to warrant multiple nonfiction books.
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