Amazon.com
Mary Pipher, author of the bestselling and groundbreaking Reviving Ophelia, which charts the troubled passage of girls into adolescence, has nimbly covered yet another psychological passage: that into old age, which May Sarton called "a foreign country."
Pipher reveals that the greatest shame for today's elders--most of whom survived the Depression--is not being self-sufficient. The majority of them stoically prefer to keep their feelings to themselves, and this is why it's so difficult to convince older parents to accept or even discuss such issues as physical and mental health, finances, eldercare, or living wills. This directly conflicts with the openness of their children, who grew up in the era of "free love" and were influenced by society (and the advent of psychology in the 1950s and popularization of therapy) to talk frankly about emotions. While a boomer can easily talk with a friend about marriage difficulties or even surgery, an elder is likely to find admitting such "weaknesses" abhorrent.
Another Country includes excerpts of sessions with dozens of Pipher's psychology patients, interspersed with not-so-obvious advice for sensitively communicating with the elderly. Some interviews are grim: one woman hallucinated that rodents were running through her house; she was so desperate for company from her family, but too proud to ask them to stop by, that she invented her own visitors. But the breakthroughs in communication Pipher is able to accomplish, sometimes with the help of grandchildren as intermediaries, are startling and thoroughly encouraging. (For example, the animals the woman was imagining disappeared after she received company regularly.)
Pipher cared for her dying mother for a "horrid," guilt-filled year while this book was being written and says that she wanted "to help others in my situation feel less alone." She also aims to help each generation understand the other. In these goals she's succeeded brilliantly. Any adult struggling with issues with their parents, especially mortality, will find Another Country an indispensable source of suggestions and support. --Erica Jorgensen
Book Description
Mary Pipher's phenomenal New York Times bestseller-a book about us and our parents...
"[Pipher] ventures into communities and then returns to explain their truths and ways of being to the rest of us in clear, clean English. Totally accessible...[Another Country] is a compassionate...look at the disconnect between baby boomers and their aging parents or grandparents." -USAToday
There are more older people in America today than ever before. They are our parents and grandparents, our aunts and uncles and in-laws.They are living longer, but in a culture that has come to worship youth-a culture in which families have dispersed, communities have broken down, and older people are isolated. Meanwhile, adults in two-career families are struggling to divide their time among their kids, their jobs, and their aging parents-searching for the right words to talk about loneliness, forgetfulness, or selling the house.
Another Country is a field guide to this rough terrain for a generation of baby boomers who are finding themselves unprepared to care for those who have always cared for them. Psychologist and bestselling writer Mary Pipher maps out strategies that help bridge the gaps that separate us from our elders. And with her inimitable combination of respect and realism, she offers us new ways of supporting each other-new ways of sharing our time, our energy, and our love.
"In Another Country, [Pipher] observes that to grow old for many people in today's fragmented, age-phobic, age-segregated America is to inhabit a foreign country, isolated, disconnected and misunderstood."-New York Times
"Pipher explores how today's mobile, individualistic, media-drenched culture prevents so many dependent old people, and the relatives trying to do right by them, from getting what they need...her insights will help people of several generations."-The Washington Post
"[Pipher] wrote [Another Country] to help Boomers like herself better understand their parents and grandparents and to glimpse what might await them in their old age."-Chicago Tribune
"Mary Pipher urges baby boomers to stay in tune with their elderly parents' needs...With average life expectancy now in the mid-70s and 2 million Americans turning 65 each year-a number that will skyrocket as the baby boomer generation ages-the stakes are raised for families and societies alike."-People
"The author of Reviving Ophelia unflinchingly takes us into the heart of this largely uncharted territory."-Rocky Mountain News
"A field guide to old age, combining personal stories with social theory."-Boston Globe
"Dr. Pipher sees aging from a broader perspective. [She] emphasizes the need for the elderly to become elders-people who can help us find a deep structure for our communities-[and] she makes a persuasive case for roots."-Christian Science Monitor
"This is a book that thoughtful Boomers can embrace as their own...Another Country looks at issues like care-giving, death, generational relations and the resiliency many elders display in old age. It offers advice on improving our relationships with other generations and with understanding our own passing years."-St. Petersburg Times
"Rich in stories and full in details....For people wondering about their parents' or more poignantly, their own aging."-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"[Mary Pipher] comes across as neither saint nor scold. [Another Country is] not a how-to book, but a how-to-think book."-Minnesota Star Tribune
Customer Reviews:
Well worth reading.......2006-01-09
The author of the bestseller Reviving Ophelia this times takes us on a journey through the lives of our elders. Following the lead of Bernice Neugarten at the University of Chicago, she distinguishes between the "young-old" and the "old-old". This book focuses mainly on the later, telling the stories of people who are coping with loss and illness.
While individual differences are always present, Pipher see trends among those in the "old-old" group, as well as among their families and children. Being able to anticipate and appreciate these commonalities, she believes, will ultimately be our best route to communicating with and honoring our elders.
She calls cultural differences between the generations time-zone problems. Some are obvious, such as differences in attitudes towards authority. Others seem obvious only when she points them out to us, such as the fact that our parents' generation was "pre-irony". Without recognizing these differences, we are bound to be frustrated with each other.
In what she calls "the saddest chapter in this book", the author compares the old-old to victims of chronic post traumatic stress disorder, people overwhelmed by inevitable multiple losses and threats. It is a uninviting concept, one we would prefer to discard or at least put a positive spin on.
Yet the trauma of old age can also be the catalyst for our ultimate growth and integration. Pipher tells us that "each of us will experience our ship going down...From our responses come the best and worst stories".
Even in her stories of those elders who end their lives bitter and aggrieved, there is sometimes healing in those who are left. Adult children reconcile with siblings and with themselves. Teenage grandchildren come into the circle.
And in many heartwarming stories of resilient, courageous elders, the author helps us come to appreciate the dignity and peace that can exist alongside the losses.
The book is practical as well. Facilities which have successfully integrated the care of the young and the old are described. Programs which have paired schoolchildren with elders come to life with personal stories. Tales of foster grandparents make us realize how little we have utilized these powerful resources so far.
There is much starkness here, but also much hope. Hope that we can do a much better job addressing the needs of the old-old members of our tribe. Perhaps the demandingness of our baby boomer generation will serve us well in this regard. We're all heading in the same direction.
Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders.......2005-08-19
This book is written in a readable style that holds your interest. I bought it to help understand my elderly father who is suffering from dementia, but I found it told me a lot about myself and what I will want and need in the next 20 years. Mary Pipher's insightful and easy to understand.
Another country: the tourist perspective.......2003-11-29
Not being "old-old" myself, with both parents dead, I picked up this book out of curiosity. Piper does not mince words. She says at the outset, "Old age is not for sissies," and she goes on to describe life as an old person in a country designed for the young. It's an apt metaphor: the old learn a new language and a new terrain.
Pipher offers creative solutions that are not always easy, as she herself is the first to admit. Not everyone is equipped to be a caretaker. And as a society we do not have the infrastructure to deal with the challenges that increase daily.
Ironically, she notes that having a purpose in life will keep us young longer: the 85-year-old woman with an overaged dependent son may seem indulgent to outsiders, but she has a reason to get up every day. Yet at the same time, challenging work and respect from the community -- the source of purpose for most of us -- will be denied by a society that worships youth.
Pipher seems to be selling us on the importance of caring for the elderly. It's a way our own children will learn respect for the family and for us, she says. Yet many of us will not have children of our own. Today something like one-third of households have only one member. Being single or childless is no longer "odd." And sometimes a parent disappears from a child's life, only to re-appear in a time of need. There's no basis for a relationship -- it's not about healing but about building a relationship with a stranger .
Pipher does not address these topics, but the thousands of midlife adults who face aging parents will say she's offered more than enough to benefit her readers.
Baby Boomers' Guide to Aging Parents.......2003-03-01
They raised us on Dr. Spock. Not the pointy-eared Nimoyian character on Star Trek! Dr. Benjamin Spock, the Baby Doc! And Mary Pipher has done for the children what Spock did for our parents - answered perplexing questions like "Why do they do that?" and "What can I do?"
Pipher's thesis is that "Knowing when people were born allows us to predict attitudes and behaviors. A person from a specific era will have a certain `collective consciousness.'" She explains that we dwell in "different cultural time zones." This explains, for instance, why Mom and Aunt Em save all those few tiny bites of leftover food that they then leave in the refridgerator to turn green - the hoarding tendencies wrought by the Great Depression and rationing on the Homefront during World War II.
I am currently moving my parents to an Assisted Living Facility and this book is an important resource. I highly recommend it. Reviewed by TundraVision.
Don't Wait Until Later....Read it Now!.......2000-10-04
I cried, I laughed and I sighed at the grim truths and revelations in Mary Pipher's book on aging and the place held in our society by our elderly citizens. I folded so many page corners over for review that the book looks like a favorite old cook book. I wish I had read this book before my parents entered old-old age. I was not raised with any grandparents nearby, so had no examples for what to expect and how to deal with and care for aging parents. Growing old with dignity and dealing with declining health and eventually death is the hardest passage of our lives. None of the other passages as individuals, parents or spouses can compare to these challenges. Adolescence, puberty, child-birth, child-rearing, divorce...all seem like a walk through the park in comparison.
Having said that, we all need to read the book before our parents reach the old-old phase (although who knows exactly when that might happen). If you're in your 40's or 50's, chances are you should be reading this book. Although the book doesn't provide any recipes or procedures for dealing with the issues of the aging, it does provide valuable insights and suggestions into attitudes, fears, and concerns of both the aged and their care-givers.
We just assumed that mother would ask for help when she needed it, but her pride, reluctance to communicate and fierce need to be independent would not allow her to admit how needy and frail she had become. We finally discovered how badly she had deteriorated (although she still wouldn't admit it), and are still regretting that we didn't intervene sooner. She's now in a convalescent hospital, sometimes stoically accepting her condition, but sometimes angry, depressed and resentful. I'm sure I'll pick up the book and read it again as we find our way through this passage. And then when I become a young-old and finally an old-old, hopefully I'll be able to remember the valuable life lessons I'm acquiring now.
Book Description
Will Alexa and José solve the Mayan mystery?
Will you conquer the SAT?
With 1,000 SAT vocabulary words, this book holds the answers!
In this suspenseful sequel to The Marino Mission, teens Alexa and José reunite at the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple where they unearth intriguing clues about this ancient civilization. When they uncover a sinister scheme to sell priceless Mayan artifacts to the highest bidder, Alexa and José get caught up in the throes of a fast-paced jungle adventure that draws them into a heart-wrenching predicament.
Your predicament: You want to get a high score on the SAT. You'll uncover the secret in The Mayan Mission. It includes 1,000 SAT vocabulary words, including some tough, need-to-know words from The Marino Mission that are repeated. Together, the two action-packed adventures give you a strategy to master a total of 1,600 challenging words—painlessly, without memorizing mind-numbing lists. As the plot thickens, the vocabulary words become more challenging and your knowledge grows. Words are defined at the bottom of the page, so you don't have to flip back and forth. Creative exercises at the end of the novel reinforce the meaning and proper use of the words. If your mission is to prepare for the SAT, this is a great strategy!
Download Description
A novel approach to improving vocabulary and SAT I scores More than 2 million students take the SAT I every year, and a strong vocabulary is essential for a high score. A sequel to the popular The Marino Mission, The Mayan Mission is fast-paced fiction that incorporates 1,000 must-know SAT vocabulary words. In the action-packed adventure, Alexa and Jose uncover a sinister scheme to sell Mayan artifacts. As the plot thickens, the reader's vocabulary grows. It's a welcome alternative to mind-numbing vocabulary lists. To facilitate learning, the book provides definitions on the bottom of the same page as where the words appear. The book also includes vocabulary exercises so students can test their understanding of the vocabulary words. Karen B. Chapman, PhD (Mill Valley, CA), wrote The Marino Mission (0-7645-7831-6) and has a film treatment that has been optioned by Paramount Studios.
Customer Reviews:
Finally, a SAT novel that has a tough vocabulary.......2006-02-26
My Mom bought me five different SAT novels and after reading all of them, I can say that this was the only one that had a lot of vocabulary words that I didn't already know. This book was filled with hard words and didn't waste my time with words I knew back in fifth grade. I liked the tricky twosomes section in the back that points out the difference between similar sounding words like "aesthetic and ascetic" and "inimical and inimitable" and "ingenious and ingenuous". This was a great way to learn the really hard words.
A Lifesaver of a Book.......2006-02-17
I was in a total panic to learn this awesome vocabulary list of 250 words and happened on this great book. Thanks Dr. Chapman for getting me through it painlessly and quickly (or as you would probably say, with alacrity! At the same time I really enjoyed the story itself. Note that Dr. Chapman also wrote "The Marino Mission". I am reading that one next time just for fun.
A great way to learn a lot of words!.......2006-02-13
I purchased the Mayan Mission and the Marino Mission for my granddaughter because they were the only SAT novels that were written as a series, offering a strategy to acquire a lot of vocabulary words. I was delighted that my granddaughter actually seemed to enjoy these books and that she took the initiative to work her way through the exercises and learn an impressive total of 1600 words.
Average customer rating:
- a classic
- one of my favorite books
- Esp for anyone who has lost a parent when they were young,
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In Another Country (Contemporary American Fiction)
Susan Kenney
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140074074 |
Customer Reviews:
a classic.......2003-03-01
I have read thousands of novels in my life and I think this must be one of the top five. Written with an intensity of feeling that is both painful but uplifting, this book says more about what matters in life than any other work with which I am acquainted. I have reread it half a dozen times and keep extra copies to give as gifts. It is easily obtainable through the internet and at used book stores. I promise you will be rewarded in inumerable ways if you seek out this work of sublime genius.
one of my favorite books.......1999-12-21
This book was very moving. It makes you laugh and cry at the same time. The main charactor is easy to empathize with and the writing is superb. I wish it wasn't out of print because it is such an enjoyable book.
Esp for anyone who has lost a parent when they were young,.......1999-03-21
Knowing that I had lost my father in an accident when I was 8 my friend recommended the book to me. The author sadly really did lose her father when she was 12.
I could identify with so much -- I felt the writing was excellent.
I also really, really liked her book called "Sailing". It was constructed and written so very well. I wanted to see if the author has since written any more books and was sorry to see this book out of print.
Amazon.com
A novelist, essayist, playwright, and public intellectual, James Baldwin's writings on the subject of race in America undeniably made him one of the greatest African American writers of the 20th century. As the civil rights movement gained momentum in the two decades following World War II, Baldwin landed squarely in the public eye, and his prose communicated the hope and frustration of the fight for racial equality. In James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, editor Toni Morrison draws heavily on Baldwin's early work, including his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, as well as Giovanni's Room, which was praised by the New York Times for its "unusual candor ... and intensity." As pertinent today as it was some 30 years ago, the fiction found in this collection is powerful, eloquent, and a fitting tribute to a consummate writer.
Book Description
With burning passion, the authority of experience, and a sharp, epigrammatic wit, these essays articulate issues of race, democracy, and American identity. This edition--the most comprehensive gathering of Baldwin's nonfiction ever published--presents the complete texts of the landmark collections "Notes of a Native Son" (1955) and "Nobody Knows My Name" (1961); "The Fire Next Time" (1963), a classic analysis of America's racial divide; "No Name in the Street" (1972); and "The Devil Finds Work" (1976); and 36 more essays, including nine never before collected.
Customer Reviews:
A valuable edition of some of the best writings on race........1998-04-14
The Library of America is engaged in publishing definitive texts of the best-known writing in the U.S. Including James Baldwin in this series - and having Toni Morrison edit these volumes - has generated considerable critical review. It is remarkable that James Baldwin can still exercise so much hold over us. Both the fiction and the essays have a kind of raw power: it makes us realize how sensitive the nerve of "race relations" still is. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" - one of the early autobiographical stories - has already become an American classic. Baldwin's homosexuality and his ambiguous feelings towards the white establishment makes this a painful coming-of-age novel. There is no easy access to some one so at-odds with himself and his society - and no greater rewards for anyone interested in the literature of self-discovery. These are fine volumes. They are well worth owning and belong on the shelves of anyone interested in American literature. Not all collections are worth having. The Library of America - and these Baldwin volumes - are worth owning, and they are certainly worth reading.
Average customer rating:
- Homosexuality and Interracial relationships in a not so friendly time
- Sex and race in the American bohemia
- Interesting, Intense, Involving, Intelligent, Insightful, etc...
- Self-indulgent reiteration of what Baldwin's stated several times already
- Another Country
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Another Country
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
Baldwin, James
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Similar Items:
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
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Giovanni's Room
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Going to Meet the Man: Stories
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Notes of a Native Son (Beacon Paperback)
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Just Above My Head
ASIN: 0679744711
Release Date: 1992-12-01 |
Book Description
Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales,
Another Country is a novel of passions--sexual, racial, political, artistic--that is stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal America in the early 1970s.
Customer Reviews:
Homosexuality and Interracial relationships in a not so friendly time.......2007-07-31
I had to read this book for one of my classes in college and I was glad I was assigned to it. It touched basis on all political and talked about issues that still occure even to this day, even though it was written around 40 years ago. Bravo to the author and it's a good read with a nice plot.
Sex and race in the American bohemia.......2007-01-26
In an essay criticizing the works of Richard Wright, James Baldwin surveyed the field of African American literature and found much violence, but very little sex. As biographer James Campbell notes, "Another Country" is Baldwin's attempt to fill that perceived void; it has plenty of "sex" (from lust to romance), and it explores in particular an era in which the intersection of sex and race was increasingly capturing the public's attention.
The storyline concerns six people who are in some way connected to Rufus Scott, a jazz drummer whose suicide affects their lives in unpredictable and emotional ways. There are a straight white couple (the novelist Richard and his wife Cass), a mixed-race couple (Rufus's sister, Ida, and the writer Vivaldo), a gay couple (Eric and Yves), and an unexpected affair between two of the six friends.
The opening chapter in particular is one of Baldwin's most potent, combining both the violence of Wright's novels and the sex Baldwin felt was missing. The rest of the book is a rollercoaster of emotional highs and everyday life. The prose sours when Baldwin describes both the frayed lives of his characters and the steamy streets and seedy watering holes of Manhattan. And the lyrical treatment of Eric and Yves's relationship is especially affecting. The book was a huge best-seller when it was published, and I imagine it's this cutting-edge blend of controversy and passion that appealed to readers in the mid-1960s
But then there's the sex. By today's standard's, the descriptions are hardly explicit. Yet, unfortunately, these passages are so appallingly bad it's hard to believe that Baldwin wrote them: "He felt the bed throbbing beneath them, and heard it sing." "He began to gallop her, whinnying a little with delight, and, for the first time, became a little cold with fright...."--well, I'll spare you the rest.
It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss the book because of these scenes. The characters are both believable and unforgettable, the racial and sexual tensions are recognizably human, and the social milieu is still familiar to anyone who has lived near or in the bohemian neighborhoods of America.
Interesting, Intense, Involving, Intelligent, Insightful, etc..........2007-01-22
I just finished this novel and I have to say that I was blown away by Baldwin's writing. I disagree with one of the reviewers who wrote that this should be required text for high school or jr. high students. For one thing, the subject matter is way too mature for their brains to digest at such a young age. This is a novel for intelligent adults with an open mind. If you are a homophobe or have any racism residing in your heart then don't read this novel, because you will not enjoy it whatsoever. If I would have read this before the age of thirty I would not have liked it and probably wouldn't have finished reading it(this is unequivocally a very adult novel). That being said, you will be hard-pressed to find a more gritty, brilliant, fiercly told story than this one. I personally believe that the dialogue between the main charactiers is excellent and very real. As complex, flawed, and often times even repugnant the main characters are, you still can't help but to care about each one of them as if they were your friend or loved one. This is the beauty of this novel in my opinion - Baldwin's ability to really develop each character. This is definitely a novel that is character-driven and upon finishing the novel you can't help but feel a bit disheartened knowing that your time spent with them is now over. It leaves you yearning for more!
This is my first novel by Baldwin and I am off to the bookstore (sorry Amazon, I just can't wait) to purchase a few more (Go Tell It On A Mountain will be my next). He was such a brilliant, brave, unique writer who displays so much courage in his prose that it's impossible to not admire the man. Also, I really enjoy reading authors like this who paint a completely different picture of Americana than we are typically accustomed to (i.e. Kerouac, Bukowski, Vonnegut, etc...).
Overall, the book was great. Once you get into it (for me it started on page 1) it's very difficult to put down no matter how heavy and often times disturbing it can be. However, racism is always disturbing no matter how you slice it. Baldwin just doesn't slice it in thin easy to digest pieces that's all. So if you want to read a 'nice', 'sweet' interacial love story don't purchase this. However, if you want to challenge yourself and allow your mind to expand and actually THINK, then by all means this is the perfect book for you.
Self-indulgent reiteration of what Baldwin's stated several times already.......2005-12-01
If you follow the trajectory of James Baldwin's writing, you'll see that he established certain themes, then reiterated them in a variety of settings. His themes are pertinent and show great insight, but if you were to read two or three of his books, by the time you got to the third, you'd say, "O.k., I get it already."
Such is the case with Another Country. If you've read any Baldwin, thematically it's nothing you haven't heard before. But, his earlier novels were clearly stated, concise, and powerful as a result. This novel is an unbelievably bloated mess which easily could have been half the length and still gotten its points across. Every single scene goes on way too long, the dialogue between the characters is interminable and pedantic, and there is an element of melodrama better served in soap operas.
Baldwin has said that this was the novel that meant the most to him, which is further proof that artists aren't necessarily the best judges of their work. Go Tell It On The Mountain is a masterpiece and most indicative of Baldwin's considerable literary powers, and I would recommend you read that or Giovanni's Room, which is less powerful, but eloquent and substantial. Another Country is a slog that doesn't repay in substance the efforts necessary to get through it.
Another Country.......2005-03-18
I just finished reading Another Country. This book should be required reading for Jr. High or High School students. I was born in 1970 and didn't witness the civil rights movement. Many of my generation feel that racism is not a serious issue anymore. Though this book was written before I was born, some of the same thoughts and ideaology mentioned are still prevalent today. As an African American man, I know that racism still excist today as it did in the 60's. With Blacks, at times, as the perpetrators. This was the case with Ida. A black woman in a relationship with a white man. She new that this man loved her. She loved him, but the racial hatred that she had been exposed to in her life prevented her from seeing anything other than the color of Vilvado's skin.
Baldwin was certainly ahead of his time and Another Country is just as timely today as it was in the 60's and 70's.
Customer Reviews:
This book is not meant ...........2006-07-31
to be rushed through while reading it. It is a book meant to be savored, thought-upon and reflected upon. This book is haunting in its thoughts and language as the author travels the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains. It is also a book on the re-introduction of the Red Wolf back into its natural habitat. It is also a book that explores the history of the Cherokees, who used to roam over the land and lived off the vast wealth of the forest, mountains and rivers before driven off in the unnatural (or perhaps natural) stem of progress. It is a reflective book meant to be savored over a period of time, as the language of the author is dense, lyrical and very thoughtful. It is a beautiful book. It is a sad book. It is a book meant to capture a time now lost to the mists of time.
I picked this book up while visiting the Great Smoky Mountains last September. Out of the pile of books I bought then, this was the first one I picked up and I put it down after a month since it was too much to read in the midst of a crazy lifestyle. I picked it up again several months later to savor the words and thoughts of this author. Then I put it down again. This last few days, I picked it up since I have a craving to go back to the Mountains and teach my children what has happened in the past and what may happen in the future ~~ and I finished it in two days.
Christopher Camuto is a wonderful naturalist writer and a keen observer. I have only been to the Great Smoky Mountains once and we did your basic touristy things simply because my boys were too young to even hike the regular trails. That doesn't mean that we're not going to eventually because we do want to in the future. We want our children to preserve their heritage, what is left of it. We want them to see the magical wonder of being so close to nature and see the natural beauty of this world. And reading this book helped confirm that "want." Camuto goes back and forth from talking about the Red Wolf program in the Great Smoky Mountains, the Cherokee visions and his own observations while hiking along forgotten trails. They all tie together in a beautiful book that is sure to be treasured.
Need an introduction to Mother Nature and her history? I think you should start with this one. It's an unforgettable journey back through the mists of time.
7-30-06
Have you ever read a book............2005-04-15
Have you ever read a book that you loved reading so much you could not stand to finish? Another Country was such a book for me. I have felt so alone for so long as I have both loved my time in the outdoors and equally mourned the loss of it. Every time I pass a mountain and see the red-dirt scar of a new home perched atop it, every time I see a wooded lot scalped completely clean of all life for a new development, I mourn. Christopher Camuto has helped me feel less alone and helped me more completely appreciate the oft-ignored gift of beauty, variety, and history that the land, the Cherokee, and the wolf give us.
Another Country: Journeying Toward the Cherokee Mountains.......2001-06-27
I've searched for years for just the right book that sums up my feelings for lost wilderness and finally found it with this book. I find Mr. Camuto's contrast with William Bartram's descriptions of the mountains both startling and sad. I've walked these mountains for over 30 years and in just the last 10 have I begun to realize the tragic consequences of overdevelopment and urban sprawl. Mountains and streams once largely clean and pristine now are considered off limits for fishing and drinking and I wonder why we have no love for the complexity of our natural environment. Like a Sand County Almanac, Chris Camuto has begun a modern discussion of the land ethic. An ethic our country, I fear, has so far refused to acknowledge or accept.
Another Country-Journeying Toward The Cherokee Mountains.......2001-01-02
Another Country is a search for the soul of a land almost destroyed. Christopher Camuto writes a powerful narrative describing his exploration of the Cherokee homeland in the appalachians. He seeks communion, a connection he can sense in what is left of the natural landscape and wildness around him. It is as elusive as the dying Cherokee myths, as tangible as the arrowheads and village sites he finds. Camuto refers to the Appalacians as the Cherokee Mountains, their former nomenclature, because it is to the Cherokees they really belong. The rape and exploitation of their land parallels the rape and exploitation of their culture. Camuto's search for a wildness, that now remains only in remnants, is set in counterpoint to the reintroduction of the red wolf into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The most important clan animal of the Cherokee, it is symbolic of the differences between the Cherokee and the early Europeans. One revered its wildness and sought to preserve it. The other despised and killed it. One honored the wolf's home, seeking harmony with the land and its spirits. The other saw something untamed that must be destroyed. The author's journey begins as the wolves are being set free. Like many of the members of this first Canus Rufus release who step beyond their shrinking boundaries, Camuto confronts the vestiges of civilization at almost every turn. Set against continual references to Native-American mythology, and the history of the area, Camuto's book allows the reader to share his insight into the Cherokee view of the world. Unlike many who write about early culture, he does not attempt to steal it as his own. His statement that he is not Cherokee and thus can never totally understand, adds credibility to the objectiveness of his observations. It also demonstrates humbleness of endeavor, a bow of respect to the Cherokee nation. The book is firmly rooted in place as it combines the ethereal with the tangible landscape. Those who cherish wildness and honor those first here, will also treasure this book. In many ways , it is a sad obituary, lamenting that which was, as it examines what is left. The reintroduction of the red wolf represents one small, but hopeful, step in the restoration of that which is lost.
Forgotten history.......2000-10-02
I've hiked and fished the Southern Highlands for years, especially the area in and around the Smoky Mt. National Park. Reading Another Country has shown me this place in a completely new light. He compares these mountains at one point to a palimpsest--a scraped-over parchment on which old texts leave faint traces. This book records Camuto's efforts to track these traces, which of course are quickly vanishing if not already gone. By giving these mountains back their ancient names, by telling stories the Cherokee told their children about their homeland, by delving into the natural and human history of the places he walks, by honoring the memories of the ones who are gone, and by contextualizing the beleaguered efforts to bring the red wolf back to its former ground, Camuto opens up layer upon layer of meaning for us who seek out the last wild places without always knowing why. An unforgettable book.
Product Description
The third anthology by Jeff Cooper, shottist, author, philosopher, moralist and political commentator. Covers a variety of subject from war to guns to hunting to historical biography.
Book Description
In the 1960s, Mississippi was the heart of white southern resistance to the civil-rights movement. To many, it was a backward-looking society of racist authoritarianism and violence that was sorely out of step with modern liberal America. White Mississippians, however, had a different vision of themselves and their country, one so persuasive that by 1980 they had become important players in Ronald Reagan's newly ascendant Republican Party.
In this ambitious reassessment of racial politics in the deep South, Joseph Crespino reveals how Mississippi leaders strategically accommodated themselves to the demands of civil-rights activists and the federal government seeking to end Jim Crow, and in so doing contributed to a vibrant conservative countermovement. Crespino explains how white Mississippians linked their fight to preserve Jim Crow with other conservative causes--with evangelical Christians worried about liberalism infecting their churches, with cold warriors concerned about the Communist threat, and with parents worried about where and with whom their children were schooled. Crespino reveals important divisions among Mississippi whites, offering the most nuanced portrayal yet of how conservative southerners bridged the gap between the politics of Jim Crow and that of the modern Republican South.
This book lends new insight into how white Mississippians gave rise to a broad, popular reaction against modern liberalism that recast American politics in the closing decades of the twentieth century.
Book Description
This important book examines the various reactions of German intellectuals to the unification of Germany and explores their peculiar role in defining national identity since 1945. Clearly and elegantly, Jan-Werner Müller assesses the development of German political thought in the decades after World War II, considers some of the continuing blind spots among German writers and thinkers, and explains why unification created a crisis for many intellectuals.
Customer Reviews:
Cooly courageous, deadly accurate and enriching........2000-10-20
What an astonishing ride. This is the complex, profound story of some of the world's most famous intellectuals thinking their way through the shock of post-war Germany and reunification. Locked in frivolous abstractions, their theories were in every detail dramatic, exquisite failures. Terrified of the people they pretended to care about, with almost no instrumental understanding of real-world economics or culture, they blustered and strutted through a sewer of dirt-stupid intellectual tribalism. Not only has Jan-Werner Muller clarified the seriousness of the events, he has introduced some bright new minds to the English-reading world.
Book Description
America's leading historian on Korea offers a nuanced analysis that demolishes familiar generalizations.
Depicted as an insular and forbidding police state with an "insane" dictator at its helm, North Korea —charter member of Bush's "Axis of Evil" —is a country the U.S. loves to hate. Now the CIA says it possesses nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as long-range missiles capable of delivering them to America's West Coast.
But, as Bruce Cumings demonstrates in this provocative, lively read, the story of the U.S.-Korea conflict is more complex than our leaders or our news media would have us believe. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Korea, and on declassified government reports, Cumings traces that story, from the brutal Korean War to the present crisis. Harboring no illusions regarding the totalitarian Kim Jong Il regime, Cumings nonetheless insists on a more nuanced approach. The result is both a counter-narrative to the official U.S. and North Korean versions and a fascinating portrayal of North Korea, a country that suffers through foreign invasions, natural disasters, and its own internal contradictions, yet somehow continues to survive.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful book and a fresh unbiased look into Korea.......2007-05-28
Don't be fooled by all of the negative reviews from walking-talking Ugly American stereotypes who advocate a war lead by madmen who seriously entertained the idea of rendering large swaths of the Korean peninsula uninhabitable with nuclear fallout, this book is a wonderful look into a remote, impoverished weak country whose affairs Americans seem to think they're entitled to meddle in for some reason. Mr. Cumings carefully makes his points (There were so many footnotes and citations that they almost became an irritant while reading the book) to demonstrate how consistently wrong western governments have been with their policies from their knee-jerk assumptions that Kim Il-Sung and his regime were Soviet puppets (Thoroughly disproven to even the most warped warmonger now) straight on down to their half-baked theories about them having a desire to sign their own death warrant by selling nuclear arms to terrorists. Even though many reviews here claim Mr. Cumings is an apologist for North Korea that just makes it clear that most of them didn't even bother to read the book since he states several times how reprehensible he finds the current government to be.
Another polemic from Bruce Cumings.......2007-05-27
Bruce Cumings is, sadly, one of the foremost scholars of Korea in the US. In some sense, he is the American apologist for the Kim regime. He states in another work that it would be good had the Kim regime gained control of the whole peninsula. Then, perhaps, they would have moderated in the sense that China and Vietnam had moderated.
It is an outlandish suggestion, as China and Vietnam are still controlled by Communist parties who are effective at quashing all dissent. It is hardly a moderate stance.
He gushes about North Korea's health care, housing, and all the rest. He glosses over the appalling human rights abuses of the Kim regime. One could very easily imagine him playfully holding up cards in the stadium at the latest North Korean mass games. He really should not be taken seriously as a scholar of Korea. He is to Korean scholarship what Ward Churchill is to ethnic studies.
Can't get facts straight.......2007-01-09
First Bruce Cumings states (paraphrasing) that Bush was appointed president by the Supreme Court. Keep in mind that the S.C. simply forced Florida to abide by its own election laws and to quit changing the game to give Gore more votes.
Next, Cumings says that the war in Iraq is illegal. Never mind that the US Congress authorized force and the United Nations voted in favor of "serious consequences" for Iraq's unwillingness to work with UN inspectors.
So... if Cumings can't even get these two basic facts straight on RECENT American history, how can we trust him to cover 50 years of Korean history without laughing at his wild assertions?
An iconoclastic look at the mysterious Hermitic Kingdom.......2006-11-03
After North Korea's first (and confirmed) nuclear test on October 9 2006 the interest on this country has soared and this book is a good start for anyone asking questions about the North Korean regime. Although I expected more "inside information" about the conditions of everyday living in North Korea, Mr Cumings does a fine job presenting this country not simply as a member of the famous "axis of evil" but as another choice of communal life which has deep roots in the Korean history and ethics. I was shocked to learn that North Korean youths are obliged to serve eight years in the military (and take their first leave after the sixth year!) but equally amazing were the statistics which prove that North Korea was at a better economic position than the South, until the beginning of the 1980s. The author does not hide the fact that Kim Jong Il (and Kim Il Sung before him) behaves and lives like a king in a very poor country, sending his children to Swiss schools and purchasing very expensive Italian and German sport cars but he denies that the regime faces the danger of imminent collapse or that we must ecpext it to "explode or implode" in the next years. Altogether this book will change many of your established (and rather distorted) views on North Korea and is a very useful tool to understand the current situation and perhaps the future of the Korean Peninsula.
Cummings, please tell me your not this gullible.......2006-08-20
One common thread that I've noticed in studying communism and communist countries is the masterful use of propoganda. And in this book Cummings seems to have fallen for it; hook, line, and sinker. He saw the dazzling city of Pyong-yang (where only privaleged North Koreans are allowed to live, and the majority are not even allowed to enter - maybe that's why he saw "no one ill-clad, hungry, no beggars, no drug addicts...") Did it ever occur to him that maybe he was just seeing what his guides wanted him to see? If Kim Jong Il wants his country to be thought of as a "paradise," and if there were starving people, gulags, torture chambers, etc., would he show them to foreign visitors?
A previous reviewer mentioned "The Aquariums of Pyong-yang," which is listed in the Recommended Reading section. I'd also recommend "The Eyes of the Tailless Animals" by Soon Ok Lee. Both books were written by North Koreans who each experienced both the privaledges and the horrors their country has to offer.
Books:
- Backyard Livestock: Raising Good, Natural Food for Your Family, Third Edition
- Barnyard Dance! (Boynton on Board)
- Beef Production Management and Decisions (5th Edition)
- Big Red Barn Board Book (rpkg)
- Biological Wastewater Treatment (Environmental Science & Pollution) (Environmental Science and Pollution Control Series, 19)
- Chicken Tractor: The Permaculture Guide to Happy Hens and Healthy Soil
- Color Drawing: Design Drawing Skills and Techniques for Architects, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers
- Communities and Ecosystems: Linking the Aboveground and Belowground Components (MPB-34) (Monographs in Population Biology)
- Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home
- Einstein: His Life and Universe
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