Book Description
*The Culture Clash is special. Written in Jean's inimitably informal yet precise lecture style, the book races along on par with a good thriller. *The Culture Clash depicts dogs as they really are - stripped of their Hollywood fluff, with their loveable 'can I eat it, chew it, urinate on it, what's in it for me' philosophy. Jean's tremendous affection for dogs shines through at all times, as does her keen insight into the dog's mind. Relentlessly she champions the dog's point of view, always showing concern for their education and well being. Without a doubt, Jean's book is the hottest doggy item on the market. Best Training Book Of The Year! (Maxwell Award)
Customer Reviews:
positive dog training.......2007-10-09
Great book on positive dog training! It was a very fast read, very interesting and gave a lot of insight to how many people treat their dog and how people actually should treat their dogs. The book explained how people generally are interpreting what their dogs are thinking to mean the wrong thing, and how we actually should read those behaviors. There are a lot of examples throughout the book on ideas for training dogs, and then a chapter on basic behavioral training at the very end.
One of the best books on positive dog training.......2007-09-20
I see lots of controversy in the reviews, but I think many of the negative reviewers have missed some important points in this volume, or perhaps have reacted emotionally to them. This is an excellent book on positive dog training - one of the best. If you want a close, mutually-respectful relationship with a well-behaved dog, this is really the way to go.
Jean Donaldson fully acknowledges that we can build close relationships with our animals and that the use of classical and operant conditioning are not the only methods that can be used for training. She simply shows that these approaches are the most effective ways, and the most scientifically-validated approaches for socializing and training dogs using positive methods. If you want to teach your dog good behavior or new behaviors, socialize it well and use positive behavior methods. You can still be emotionally close with your dog, but don't use your (or your dog's) emotions as the primary TRAINING tool--we all tend to respond more readily to consequences when we're learning. When applied properly, Donaldson's methods really do work with a very wide range of dogs and problems. Some reviewers may be unhappy because the currently-popular "pack theory" is not supported in this book. In my reading of it, however, I did not see Donaldson "slamming" pack theory, but merely stating that there's a lack of scientific evidence that it really works, and she offers a noncoercive method that DOES have solid science behind it. Through effective use of behavioral methods, as explained in this book, you can create a most satisfying relationship with your dog, and your dog will respect you. But at the same time, the training takes into account the unique characteristics of dogs. Dogs do not need to be subjugated in order to follow our leadership. (Actually, when you watch some of the "leader of the pack" trainers work, you'll also see them using a LOT of what Donaldson talks about. What Donaldson avoids are the aversive control measures that are sometimes employed by others.)
As a psychologist, I thought Donaldson's explanations of behavioral methods were very good, although they might be a bit technical or detailed for some. I train therapy dogs to work with children, and I also train children to interact positively with therapy dogs, and I really have no choice but to use positive methods. The kids learn how to be the leader for the dog, but we do it via all-positive methods, such as defined in this book.
I've trained a lot of dogs through the years using a variety of methods, and I've recently reviewed many training books in preparation for a book I've written about using dogs in play therapy, and I wholeheartedly endorse positive training methods as the means of training dogs for a wide range of roles: well-behaved pets, obedience, therapy work, and traditional working dogs (such as herding or hunting). Donaldson makes it clear how and why this works.
Some may want an easy manual of the "10 steps to training a dog," and this book is not organized that way. I think its aim is to educate the owner or trainer in a process, and how to apply that process to a wide range of situations and behaviors. Ultimately, understanding the material in this book permits owners/trainers much more versatility in the work they do with dogs.
I strongly recommend this book. To get the most out of it, put your preconceived notions on a back burner and really try to see what she is saying. She provides the most effective way of helping dogs learn our human ways (by requiring us to learn about their canine ways!), and ultimately, having a well-socialized and well-mannered dog can only deepen the loving relationships we have with our pets. We have 4 dogs (2 are rescues who came with some problems), and I'm as attached as ever to all of them, and a lot less frustrated when I'm trying to teach them something new!
It helped me tremendously.......2007-08-18
The most important thing to know is this: I like dogs, but I'm not a dog lover. I don't go to shows, I refuse to cook for dogs, and it disturbs me when people refer to dogs as their children. I live, however, with a partner who loves dogs and does all 3 things... We have two large, intelligent dogs from two different notoriously "willful" breeds. My partner's dog training coach loaned us a copy and I read it.
The book did a tremendous job of showing me how I was creating much of my own stress through my interactions with the dogs. The author's largest point is to not anthropomorphize dogs and assign motives to their behavior consistent with primate, rather than canine, drives and intelligence. It helped me tremedously understanding what was reasonable to expect and its helping us both in getting our dogs more consistently obedient.
It's a great book and since finishing it, I've realized that virtually everyone out there in the dog world (including me) romanticizes the behavior of dogs to the point that I'm amazed any dogs are successful as pets. If you decide to read this book, please give it a fair shot and read past the first time the author disagrees with one of your deeply held beliefs about dogs. I promise you that even if you disagree with the book, you will take away things worth considering.
Very detailed! Excellent book for beginning dog trainers.......2007-07-07
This book is very well-written. It gives LOTS of insight into the dog world. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it is a little too detailed. People who are just wanting some basic information for why Spot won't come when he's called should not get this book. I found it very insightful as I begin to train my pugs in obedience.
Some Good Info But Too Much Clutter.......2007-06-25
Frankly I wasn't able to read the book all the way through, I had trouble with the author spending a lot of effort unnecessarily slamming other training methods and theories, and in some instances talking down to the reader. Her theories should be able to stand on their own merits without bashing other theories. Organization is also lacking, often introducing things and then noting that follow up of the will occur later in the book. I tend to prefer starting on a subject and completing it within a given section. The chapters could generally stand some editing to allow the book to be used for easier reference by issue, given that this is for the most part a training guide.
While I agree with most of the author's training methods I also see the validity in other methods since there truly appears to no given method that out shines all of the others. I do like the positive reinforcement approach to dog training that most people are now practicing,and while the method presented is a good sound method of training dogs I don't see it being heads and shoulders above the rest. All in all this book could be a very good guide if it were made to be more positive, reorganized by content, and overall cut back by about 30%.
Amazon.com
Postville, Iowa (population 1,478), seems an unlikely place to find a sizable Jewish population, let alone an ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher population. It is, after all, in the heart of pork country, and the world headquarters of the Lubavitchers is far away in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. But when the Hygrade meat processing plant, just outside Postville, went belly-up, threatening the town with decline, Sholom Rubashkin bought it and turned it into a glatt kosher processing plant, complete with shochtim and a rabbinical inspectorate. By the late 1980s, "Postville had more rabbis per capita than any other city in the United States, perhaps the world."
The enterprise was a huge international success, with its kosher meats exported even to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Jewish population grew to 150, and they were rich. The town was saved, and the people were grateful. All's well that ends well? Not quite. The Hasidim kept to themselves, did things their own way, and basically had no interest in integrating into Postville. And why would they? Their laws are strict, their mission clear, their community defined by race and religion. They are not interested in watermelon socials or coffee klatches at the diner. Their little boys do not swim with their little girls, are not educated together, and do not go on play dates with goyim. Small-town Iowans, on the other hand, are very friendly. They know each other's news, they support each other's businesses, they wish each other Merry Christmas, they want you to feel at home. They don't like that the new townspeople stomp up the street hunched over, talking in a foreign language and looking straight through them when greeted. They really don't like it when one of the newcomers drives around town with a 10-foot candelabra strapped to his car playing music at full volume for eight consecutive winter nights. They don't actually know about menorahs or Hanukkah.
Into this comes secular Jew Stephen Bloom, a professor at the University of Iowa. By the time he arrived in Postville, the town was riven along religious lines. One of the townspeople was running for mayor on the sole platform of annexation of the land on which the plant stood. Rubashkin was threatening that he'd shut the plant and leave if that came to pass. Bloom closely considers both sides, and the result is a wonderful book. It is a fascinating tale of culture clash in the American heartland: the John Deere cap meets the black fur hat. It is a book about identity and community and what it means to be American. It covers all the things you aren't supposed to talk about at the dinner table--religion, politics, and even sex. It is full of suspense: Will the plant be annexed? Will the Jews leave? And it is also Bloom's exploration of his own sense of belonging. --J. Riches
Book Description
In 1987, a group of Lubavitchers, one of the most orthodox and zealous of the Jewish sects, opened a kosher slaughterhouse just outside tiny Postville, Iowa (pop. 1,465). When the business became a worldwide success, Postville found itself both revived and divided. The town's initial welcome of the Jews turned into confusion, dismay, and even disgust. By 1997, the town had engineered a vote on what everyone agreed was actually a referendum: whether or not these Jews should stay.
The quiet, restrained Iowans were astonished at these brash, assertive Hasidic Jews, who ignored the unwritten laws of Iowa behavior in almost every respect. The Lubavitchers, on the other hand, could not compromise with the world of Postville; their religion and their tradition quite literally forbade it. Were the Iowans prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable?
Award-winning journalist Stephen G. Bloom found himself with a bird's-eye view of this battle and gained a new perspective on questions that haunt America nationwide. What makes a community? How does one accept new and powerfully different traditions? Is money more important than history? In the dramatic and often poignant stories of the people of Postville - Jew and gentile, puzzled and puzzling, unyielding and unstoppable - lies a great swath of America today.
Customer Reviews:
For Everyone.......2007-07-16
What is cultural identity? Matzoh ball soup or holy scripture? John Deere caps or yarmulkes? Postville is a wonderful book because it isn't written as a traditional news report that pretends to be objective and removed from the subject at hand.
Stephen Bloom's book is worth reading because he makes clear that every observer brings predjudices and what Postville reveals is the author's discovery and coming to grips with his own set of beliefs. Are deeply religious people more moral than others? Are American values of freedom really available to everyone?
As an author of a memoir myself (Typo: The Last American Typesetter or How I Made and Lost 4 Million Dollars) that deals with culture clash in Iowa--I couldn't get a flat fixed on my rental car because "Men should know how to change a tire."--I can report that Bloom has nailed the difficulty outsiders have in small towns.
I have also seen first hand how people portrayed in a book will find the worst thing the book says about them and lock onto it. You can see that in the reviews of Postville here on Amazon. Jews think Bloom is an anti-semite. Iowans think he is a snarky city boy.
But Bloom does his best to show all sides of everyone in the story, which makes his narrative more, not less, believable.
Like the book The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust that talks about the poor reception for some European Jews by their bretheren in Israel, this book is honest.
Read it, and learn what Bloom has laid out so clearly: all of us are ready to blame someone else for our problems.
Bloom: Journalist, or Embarassed Jew?.......2007-04-17
Firstly, I enjoyed and was fascinated by Postville. Second, I'm a non-Orthodox, yet identifying Jew who hails from the Midwest and who attended University of Missouri-Columbia, quite similar to Iowa City. So yes, Bloom's descriptions were accurate and yes, the stereotypes are lived up to (feed commercials on TV, little in the way of ethnic culture). I also have had contact with ultra-Orthodox Jews; specifically, I have Lubavitch relatives. So I'm qualified to "judge", as it were, all sides involved, or at least no less qualified than Bloom.
Secondly, I too "came down on the side of" the Iowans. In fact, because of Bloom's descriptions of the Lubavitchers -- so antithetical to the behavior that I've come to expect from them -- I began to suspect that perhaps they were not actually Lubavitchers, but posing as Lubavitchers, or some sort of spinoff sect a la those Mormons you read about from whom the church hurries to disassociate itself. In any case, the Postville Lubavitchers certainly didn't resemble any Lubavitchers I've met.
Mostly, a seemingly trivial detail bugged me the entire way through; I say "seemingly", because it actually encapsulates (as does Bloom's stay in Iowa) what I call the American Jewish dilemma, i.e., must we be chained to an urban existence in order to remain Jewish? I'm referring to several instances wherein Bloom went out of his way to tell us that he ate treif food. Not just treif, as in "We stopped in at McDonald's for burgers on our way home", but specifically pork. The minute I read this, my respect for him dropped several notches. What was he thinking by deliberately spelling out to the reader his non-observance of kashrut? That this would endear him to gentile readers? This matter angered me far more than his unsavory descriptions of the Lubavitchers; while he can't control their behavior, he can control his own, or at least not "diss" Jewish observance from the rooftops.
The reviewer who pointed out that the locals' anger at the Lubavitchers' deserting their businesses for Wal-Mart may have been displaced anger at Wal-Mart was on target. After all, we all know what Wal-Mart is doing to small-town America's economy.
I also liked how Bookaholic put it regarding the Lubavitchers' behavior feeding into stereotypes. Indeed. However, the leap that some reviewers make to such behavior explaining anti-Semitism and pogroms -- whoa! That's forbidden territory. Don't even attempt to go there. That's where my intercultural tolerance ends, people. I had assumed that folks who read books are more incisive than that. Or do you, too, believe that an Easter newspaper headline reading "He Is Risen" is actually jounalism?
Read between the lines of this book and learn some of the reasons why Jews are hated.......2006-11-29
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America looks at how tensions gradually erupt between locals and hasidic Jews who opened a kosher slaughterhouse in a rural farming community. This book was written by a secular Jew from the west coast who had moved to Iowa to take a job as a university professor.
While the author certainly has issues of his own (he actually cites the scoutmaster mentioning Jesus Christ at his sons Boy Scouts meeting as an example of anti-semitism he has experienced in Iowa!) I don't think the most rabid Jew hater could have done a better job of making the Hasidic Lubavitchers look bad. After being taken under the wing of Lubavitchers who wanted to convert him, as a secular Jew, to their Hasidic sect, Bloom in the end exposes the Lubavitchers worst traits. From their petty haggling over prices in local stores over the smallest of items, to their racist attitudes towards "goyim" and "schwartzs", while simultaneously accusing anybody who disagrees with them of being anti-semitic, to their refusal to pay debts and honor contracts in business dealings and other bullying business practices, their importation of illegal immigrant riff raff to this once homogenous crime free town to cheapen their labor costs, even their cruel way of slaughtering animals to make the meat kosher are brought to light. All of these factors, along with the Hasidic Jews refusal to participate in the community other than by using it to make themselves rich, gradually over a period of time caused major tensions between multi-generational locals and the Lubavitchers. On the other hand he does show some of their admirable traits also, like being family oriented and their obsessivly strict adherence to preserving their own culture and customs.
Overall this a very good book that I would recomend to anybody interested in Jewish culture, or anybody that wants to delve into reasons why Jews, who seem to never be able to see the reasons themselves, are often disliked, throughout the world and history, by people of many races and cultures. You can also learn a lot about the tensions and infighting that goes on between secular Jews like Bloom and the Orthodox Jews too.
Disappointing in every way.......2006-09-29
Although the author purports to take an objective view of what he calls the clash of cultures in Postville, his portrait of the conflicts in the town are in no way nuanced or thoughtful. Clearly his ambivalence about his own religious identity has shaped his perception of life in Postville. The author has not taken the time to learn about the Orthodox Jewish traditions he so smugly and sanctimoniously dismisses as "guilt-producing." He manages to reduce his concept of meaningful Judaism to bagels, lox, and pastrami. By the end of the book I found myself wondering why he had bothered to identify himself as Jewish since his view of the religious traditions he derides seem so superficial to him. To me the book failed the basic test of intellectual honesty and clarity of thought. It was in addition, poorly written.
Badly written ant-Semitism.......2006-08-03
I found this book wholly disappointing. It was an extremely narrow and one sided view of not only the Lubavitch community but also Judaism itself. Like the author, I too am Jewish, however, I found the references to common day Jewish practices (such as donning tefillin) offensive, as this was seen as alien whereas in Judaism this is commonplace. Anyone who has had any contact with the Lubavitch community will find them nothing short of extremely hospitable, charitable and welcoming. With regard to their suspicion of the secular world: I think this book is proof, if it were required, that this type of suspicion is justifiable. In defence of the Postville community specifically, I'm amazed that there is little mention of the employment capabilities which the factories bring and the significant number of non-Jews employed by the family. I'm saddened that a Jew insecure as he must be with his own faith, feels it necessary to write a book like this. The book is at best badly written anti-Semitism and at worst a very dangerous attack on a religion to which Mr Bloom claims to belong, as is shown by some of the sadly anti-Semitic comments posted here. At this time in our history, Jews should be rallying to support each other instead of factionalising openly.
Book Description
When Confederate men marched off to battle, southern women struggled with the new responsibilities of directing farms and plantations, providing for families, and supervising increasingly restive slaves. Drew Faust offers a compelling picture of the more than half-million women who belonged to the slaveholding families of the Confederacy during this period of acute crisis, when every part of these women's lives became vexed and uncertain. Faust chronicles the clash of the old and the new within a group that was at once the beneficiary and the victim of the social order of the Old South.
Customer Reviews:
Roots of the "lost cause" mentality.......2007-07-31
Faust does not try to hide her sympathy for these women or admiration for those who were resourceful, nor does she pull any punches in revealing their selfishness. The point of the book, however, was not to solicit sympathy for upper class white women, but to illuminate their influence on the outcome of the war and on the mind of the south as it evolved after the war. The ladies deserve much of the credit--and blame--for the "lost cause" mentality that holds sway with many Southerners still today. For that insight alone we owe a great debt to Drew Gilpin Faust.
Academic But Still Interesting.......2006-07-13
Mothers of Invention is a very academic analysis of the impact of the civil war on the notions of role and gender long held by the upper class women of the old south. It rocked their world, that's for sure and it sounds as if they surely needed it. It is based on the contents of letters and diaries written by elite aristocratic women whose biggest concern about the war was that they were unable to attend social functions or obtain silk and satin for their dresses. Or that their husbands would die and not come back and restore their former way of life.
The subject of this book is a single class of women - rich, white, spoiled and utterly despicible. These women complainted bitterly of how the war effected their miserable self centered lives with little concern about the effects the war had on those who fought it and what they were experiencing. The war meant little more to them than a threat to their way of life.
Ms. Faust tries to portray her subjects as victims and prisoners of their circumstances but these women were anything but. They embraced the supposed chains that bound them and had little concern for the profound and widespread pain and suffering caused for millions of others as a result of the war they so glamorized and romanticized.
This book is rather tedious if you are not a fan nor speaker of that odd language known as academia (why in the world does she include long diary and letter passages in French?) But it has some very good moments and will give the reader new insight into how truly horrid those magnolia queens really were. Not even a feminist writer sympathetic to anything in petticoats can hide that fact; as much as she tries.
Well organized, but seems to be missing some material.......2005-03-06
The first thing to know when you pick up this book, is that first, it deals basically only with diaries and letters, and that probably only a woman interested in the history of women would be interested. The entire book is very...well, womanly. I did enjoy what I learned about Southern women (and believe me, it is ONLY slaveholding woman, as the title suggests), but I couldn't help but ask why Faust did not ever mention anybody over the age of about 30. If they don't have any records of any diaries of older women, she should have said so, because I was wondering about it the entire time. Basically it only covers how women felt about their husbands being gone (wanting protection, resorting to writing as comfort, scared about slave uprisings, etc) but hardly anything was said about SONS being gone. Where were they? And only a little bit more was said about fathers being gone. Over all, I did learn about women during the Civil War from the South, but only a very small portion of them. I would probably only recommend this book as an asset to research about women in the 19th century, or to anyone who wonders what else was going on in the country apart from the war.
Good, but a bit misleading.......2004-11-05
Reading this book, I got the impression that the author buys into the impression most people have of pre-war Southern women - the vapid Southern belle who basically did nothing until the war began, then suddenly she had to run the plantation. Not true! If one reads diaries and letters of the period, the daily running of the home was left to the women - managing the slaves (if the family owned any). Women handled a good deal more of the marketing and financial running of farms, especially, than is generally believed. Perhaps women weren't involved in politics, but the backbone of southern life was the home and that was the woman's province. Women proved their capability before and during the war by managing the homefront. As for refugees - the tales told by thousands of women who were forced to flee their homes are far in excess of the numbers suggested by the author. The worst atrocity of the war - the hundreds of women captured by the Union in Roswell, Georgia - is ignored. The author also suggests that support for the war by southern women waned as it went on, another questionable fact in light of the many diaries of the period and the tremendous outpouring of grief at the surrender. Most women couldn't bear to record the end of the Confederacy in their diaries and surviving letters are filled with bitterness. Still, this book is an excellent researcher. Also recommend Juanita Leisch's books on "Civil War Civilians" and "Who Wore What" although her fashion research should be taken with a grain of salt as it is theory only based on a sampling of period photos.
Excellent overview of elite women's Civil War experience.......2002-11-21
In "Mothers of Invention," Drew Gilpin Faust explores the ways in which the Civil War transformed traditional gender roles among middle- and upper-class southern women. Gilpin theorizes that Confederate women certainly were aware of the effect that government policies had on their lives-even if the leaders, at times, were not-and that women's views conscription, home defense, economic production and slavery influenced and, ultimately, undermined their support for the war.
Her key point seems to be that the war overturned the "social contract" in which elite women accepted subordination and dependence for male protection and privilege. Although men were off protecting their homes in the abstract sense, women were left to deal with the day-to-day realities of food shortages and an invading army occupying their homes.
Narrowing exceptions to the draft, the military's refusals to grant furloughs in times of great family need, and government policies regarding food requisitions especially galled women. Faust puts a particularly interesting gender perspective on the draft exemption for those owning 20+ slaves. Normally, this exemption is viewed solely in class terms: "Rich man's war, poor man's fight." Faust, however, brings attention to the fear that white women experienced being left alone to manage large slave populations without a man's help. Women feared murder and uprisings from a slave population that was growing increasingly rebellious. The priority ultimately given to equitably treating draft-age white men and the burden of managing slaves led to a decline in women's support for the slave system and for the Confederacy, she argues.
In addition to slave management, Faust explores other ways in which the war caused elite white women to step into traditional male roles. From the very beginning, secession and the war led to much greater involvement by women in the public sphere. Although politics had been considered the province of men, secession was a topic that no one could stop discussing-women included. The banding together of women to support the war effort also proved a new experience for southern women. Unlike their northern sisters, southern women typically had not been involved in social organizations before the war.
Faust's book includes a fascinating discussion about attitudes toward the refugee experience. In particular, she notes that becoming a refugee was the civilian equivalent of buying a substitute for the draft. A refugee, the term implied, had the money and connections to make a planned departure from home-often to protect property. In support of this view, she cites the diary of Mary Lee of Winchester, who disdained the term refugee in favor of "displaced person" to describe those fleeing with little in the face of the enemy.
"Mothers of Invention" contains one of the most interesting analyses of the hoop skirt that I have seen. Faust notes that the trend for full skirts, ultimately supported by hoops, coincided with the Victorian ideals of domesticity and women's separate sphere. The caged crinoline or hoop offered women a portable enclosed private space and the wide skirts symbolized a circle in which women were protected. In an era where upper-class women's sexuality was repressed, the style also hid and reformed female anatomy. The conspicuous consumption of fabric and the difficulty performing physical labor in these skirts made a class statement as well.
"Mothers of Invention" provides a good overview of the different ways that the war affected southern women's lives, including changes within the household, relations between husbands and wives, paid employment outside the home, the likelihood that young women would remain single due to the deaths of so many young men, religious views on the war, increased educational opportunities for women, dealing with Yankee men, etc. Her accessible writing style and use of interesting quotes and numerous pictures make this a relatively quick read. The book is well-organized with subheadings that make locating important points quite easy.
For those interested in exploring the southern woman's war experience, this book would be a good starting point for gaining some good general knowledge. Readers should keep in mind, however, that Faust is focusing on elite and middle-class women, and that the experiences and attitudes she describes do not reflect the lives of lower-class women.
Average customer rating:
- Universals Need Not Apply
- Bold admirable attempt worth reading
- A valiant try
- A Lesson for the Extremists
- Judaism, Globalization, and the Clash of Civilizations
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Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations
Jonathan Sacks
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
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ASIN: 0826468500 |
Book Description
The year 2001 began as the United Nations Year of Dialogue between Civilizations. By its end, the phrase that came most readily to mind was 'the clash of civilizations.' The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger caused by religious differences around the world. As the politics of identity begin to replace the politics of ideology, can religion become a force for peace?
The Dignity of Difference is Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's radical proposal for reconciling hatreds. The first major statement by a Jewish leader on the ethics of globalization, it also marks a paradigm shift in the approach to religious coexistence. Sacks argues that we must do more than search for values common to all faiths; we must also reframe the way we see our differences.
Customer Reviews:
Universals Need Not Apply.......2007-06-05
There's a lot to like about Sacks' book. For example, its appreciation/critique of globalization is persuasive. "Morality," Sacks reminds us, "belongs no less in the boardroom than the bedroom, in the market-place as much as in a house of prayer." No argument there.
The book discusses theology as much as economics. And in doing so it does not capitulate to relativism (as a cheese-ball title like "Dignity of Difference" might lead one to believe). How could one call the book "relativist" when for Sacks, "the human project is inescapably a moral project"? How could the book be dismissed as another vacuous plea for ambivalence masked as "tolerance," when Sacks insists "something far stronger than toleration is required" in order for us to survive?
Here is Sacks' recipe for the postmodern world: "Absent religious faith, add the failure of the 'Enlightenment project' to create a universal ethic, and the result is moral relativism - a way of thinking (or rather, refusing to think) about life choices that may be suited to a consumer culture, but one that is wholly inadequate... to the challenge of assertive ethnicities and exclusive belief systems."
Rather than accepting the recipe, Sacks insists on the missing ingredient of religious faith. Though the Enlightenment predicted that religion's "public roles was at an end... The strange fact was, however, that religion refused to die. What has emerged is, in George Weigel's phrase, the "desecularization of the world."
In other words, the lunar eclipse is over, and what do you know, the sun was there all along. Contrary to the claims of generations of European intelligentsia, God is not going away. Religion is back (even though it never really left). And therefore, as Sacks puts it, the book is a "a theological basis for respect for difference, based not on relativism but on the concept of covenant."
And so, deeply respectful of religion, Sacks then sets out to give us religious folks a lesson in successful twenty-first century planetary cohabitation. But he does so by establishing a, shall we say, "New Covenant" with all world beliefs.
"The paths to salvation are many," Sacks explains. "There are multiple universes of wisdom, each capturing something of the radiance of being and drefracting it into the lives of its followers, not refuting or excluding the others, each as it were the native language of its followers, but combining in a hymn of glory to the creator." If the religions of the world therefore can just accept this idea (an idea which is arguably itself a religion) then there is hope.
Sacks' motivations are of course laudable. He doesn't want us to kill each other. Good for him. But here is his means of avoidance: God, Sacks writes, "has given us the means to save us from ourselves... we are not wrong to dream, wish and work for a better world." At such points the book, in my estimation, tends to degenerate into a well documented and sophisticated version of Can't we all just get along?
Despite my disagreements however I still can call Sacks' argument successful, because he is Jewish. He writes, "The God of the Israelites is the God of all mankind, but the demands made of the Israelites are not asked of all mankind." This is true enough. He concludes, "There is no equivalent in Judaism to the doctrine that extra ecclesiam non est salus, outside the Church there is no salvation."
But what if one is, while respecting the faith deeply, not "in Judaism"? What happens when the religion you profess is founded upon the fact that it is for everyone, as Christianity certainly is. In fact, one could make the case that the universal character of the Christian faith is the point of the New Testament (or at least of Luke, Acts, Galatians and Romans). Scholars often refer to the "sociological miracle" of the first century that resulted when the tribalized Roman world found unity in diversity in one new social body - the Church. The diversity that Sacks is seeking on a global scale may be contained by design within the Christian faith.
This ideal has of course often failed to be realized. But I don't see how anyone could convincingly argue that it's not in the charter. A Christian cannot follow suit [with Sacks' book], unless of course the charge to 'baptize all nations' actually reads 'baptize some nations' or the promise that 'every tongue shall confess and every knee shall bow' actually reads 'some tongues and some knees' or the assurance that 'Christ shall be all in all' actually reads 'Christ shall be some in some."
I can therefore read Sacks' book, learn from it, and strongly recommend it as a thoughtful perspective on globalization from a man both deeply intelligent and religious. But the very universal insistence that there can be no universal is a part I can't sign on to. Nor can a good Muslim. Nor can a good Marxist. And Christianity names itself among these as a universal religion with a truth to be offered to everyone.
Sacks says that "Unity in heaven creates diversity on earth." But a Christian does not believe in mere unity in heaven, but a diversity in heaven (the Trinty) that, strangely, can creates a unity on earth.
Sacks is concerned that we make space for one another in our dialogue, and this is of course a genuine concern. So much so that even God has followed Sacks' advice. If within the Trinity itself God has already permitted a diversity amidst Father, Son and Spirit - then there is no risk in humanity losing our distinctions (individually or even nationally) by participating in the life of this kind of God. To put it otherwise, if the "Absolute" is in itself diversified, then the postmodern prejudice against "Absolute Truth" has no beef with the Trinity.
The Trinitarian understanding of God is not that God is so "free" that he has to flex his infinite, absolute freedom leading to a Jean Paul Sartre's infuriated protest. God's freedom is well beyond the kind of smothering "divine" liberty that the existentialists abhorred. God is so free in fact that he can even give the different persons within his Godhead freedom - so free that he can even give his own creatures freedom to rebel against him. He is free enough to give them the choice to accept, or not accept his reconciling love.
Similarly, the Trinitarian understanding of God is not that God is so "powerful" that he has to flex his infinite, absolute power so mightily that it would threaten Nietzsche enough to have to compete - God is well more powerful than that. God has no need to be "macho" (which usually a sign of weakness anyway). Instead God is so powerful that he can become a creature among his creatures, allowing himself to be tried and condemned as a criminal before in a gesture of suffering love.
Such is the "freedom" and "power" of the Trinity. So free and powerful it can be bound helplessly to a cross. One might suggest a concept of God like that can afford to be universal.
I only wish there was room for such universality in Sacks' book.
Bold admirable attempt worth reading.......2007-03-19
Making world harmony a reality is a tall order and alliterated principles: control, contribution, compassion, creativity, co-operation, conservation, and conciliation are perhaps a bit `forced". But the deep and sincere thinking is much better than this might suggest. The title is more to the point; accepting the "dignity of difference" is entirely possible but for politicized extremists of every stripe (Faith) who ignore not only common principles but exclude any room at all for legitimate differences thereby proclaiming only they know divine will (the sin of `shirk' in Islam) and therefore there is no room for negotiation or compromise. This exclusivity is not unique to any faith or civilization except in the most delusional and arrogant self perception.
Perhaps empathy (compassion), a real sense of justice, and the space for what is essential to each faith are most important. The spirituality and morality of men of all faiths usually can provide toleration and conciliation - it is the politicians, ethnics, opportunists - and usually less spiritual individuals - who stop such developments.
This is a wonderful, even inspirational, book for people of good faith. But reactions, most of all from within the Rabbi's own faith so far, show the difficulty. Maybe psychology (as studied by books like "Blind Trust") needs to be integrated for a more actionable effective plan.
Now, a comment on limitations is required. Sacks remains idealistic and sometimes a bit superficial. He has not even reasonable agreement within his own community. There is little indicating real understanding of Islam in particular (perhaps this is much to ask in a short book). The discussion of education is lively but inadequate regarding quality versus quantity and the difficulty of opening minds. (The largely uncritical reading of "Clash" is itself an indication of limits of education.) It begs questions about why the oldest of the three faiths remains by far that with fewest adherents, and why a persecuted people now persecute others. The moral case for a market economy perhaps avoids too many of the negatives and how democracy evolves towards oligarchy without economic democracy. The critique of elements of globalism identifies but does not explain the role of that same capitalist "Washington Consensus". Greed and materialism more than empathy and generosity are characteristic of the present market economy. In general analysis is better than resolution of problems. Good will is not alone enough.
A valiant try .......2004-11-23
Rabbi Sachs is an intelligent and astute political thinker. His moral values his concern for the dignity of every human being his desire for peace in the world are felt strongly in the text.His overall prescription and hope is that the major civilizations of the world can through tolerant recognition and acceptance of each other bring great benefit to mankind as a whole. As an ideal prescription and formulation ' The Dignity of Differences' makes great sense.
But as a realistic assessment of where Mankind is and what precisely is going on within these Civilizations there is something lacking here. Any consideration of the present world situation which aims at providing some new and better direction has to look realistically at the character and goals of the major civilizations. The value of recognizing and tolerating others which Rabbi Sachs so rightly promotes is at this historical moment not the note which Islamic Civilization is ready to hear. In Huntington's Clash of Civilizations he spoke about an arc of confrontation in the world in which Muslim countries in thirty some odd places are engaged in aggressive violent behavior against neighbors. Islamic fundamentalist terrorism denies the fundamental premise of all that Rabbi Sachs is trying to teach. There is an assymetry between the Civilization which has to be recognized if there is going to be real progress toward a better world. Rabbi Sachs has made a valiant and admirable try here in offering a better way for the world. Unfortunately this does not address the ' threats' of the moment , threats of terror and violence, also by states which can bring disaster to Mankind. Let us hope and pray that Mankind will get in some years time into the position where all civilizations will recognize and tolerate the legitimate place of others.
A Lesson for the Extremists.......2004-10-26
I am an American who teaches overseas, and I think that this book clearly illustrates the problem facing our various countries today: as the author states, we "narrowcast," meaning that we seek out those who are like us, communicate with those individuals, and then pronounce ourselves correct without ever truly seeking a diverse opinion.
The political faultlines we walk today are a perfect example of what happens when we stop talking to each other and only desire positive feedback. This book, however, is not for any standard reader: it appeals, I believe, more to moderates than someone of a strident ideological background. If you blindly follow an extremist path in a political party or religion, I think this book could radically change your mind about said path, but you need to approach the book with as open a mind as possible.
I write this only a few days before the next U.S. presidential election, which has been the ugliest since I came of voting age in '92. I wish both candidates and their quislings would read this fine book.
Judaism, Globalization, and the Clash of Civilizations.......2003-01-24
As an International Relations major in college, I spent four years debating and writing about Samuel Huffington's warning of a "clash of civilizations." Then, it seemed that globalization and the United States' increasing role as the hegemonic superpower of the world were discussions limited to academia. In the years since, our world has become much smaller, we have been introduced to the "axis of evil," terrorism has penetrated our own borders, and a vocal anti-globalization effort has gone mainstream. Now, the chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth has proposed that we borrow values from Judaism to avoid the clash of civilizations, seeking an alternative to religious coexistence through his notion of the ethics of globalization.
Much of the Jewish media's coverage of Sacks' book has focused on his criticism of Israel's stance in the current conflict with the Palestinians. However, looking past this critique (only a short section of the book treats this subject), one finds a novel argument about how people of different nationalities and faiths can coexist in the new world. Sacks argues that religion does not have to lead to a clash between rival civilizations, but rather can be used to generate tolerance. In our politically correct society, we often look for ways to put our differences aside and search out our commonalities, and we feel the need to be all-inclusive in our dialogue efforts. Sacks challenges us by asking whether this "dialogue" is doing any good, or if we would be better served to embrace our differences. Monotheism doesn't mean there's only one way to God, he argues, rather, it's the belief that the unity of God creates diversity.
Our global borders have clearly shrunk, as evidenced by African children eating McDonalds and sipping Coke while wearing Nike shoes and watching MTV; and, we must now ask what the implications of globalization are to us as Jews. Sacks ingeniously looks to the Torah for insight into the great debates about globalization, the clash of civilizations, and the campaign against terror. He divides his book into seven moral principles (all beginning with the letter C) needed to make world harmony a reality: control, contribution, compassion, creativity, co-operation, conservation, and conciliation. We, in the Jewish community, have a long history of striving to attain these core moral imperatives, labeling them as acts of tikkun olam, repairing the world.
In this post-September 11 world of great uncertainty, we must not be too quick to label globalization, which Sacks argues has compromised human dignity, as wholly positive or negative. For every story of a Jew living in a remote part of the world once removed from Jewish existence and now able to participate fully in Jewish life due to vast technological advances, there is a story of how globalization has infused a community with American/Western values to the point that its own identity and cultural differences are forgotten.
As American Jews, there are many issues that drive our feelings about globalization and anti-globalization (most notably Israel), but we must not fall prey to oversimplifying the arguments of those in either camp. At a time when religious values seem to be dividing us, this book is a fresh perspective that charges us to use those values for good. With the current state of world affairs, the very least we could do is try.
Book Description
The definitive biography of legendary punk band the Clash, and the first to draw on original interviews with the band
The only internationally successful, million-selling group to emerge from the late seventies London punk scene, the Clash set out to change the world with a potent mix of politics, iconic imagery, and blazing rock 'n' roll. It was an agenda mirrored in the Clash's music, which swiftly evolved from ferocious punk rock to incorporate reggae, ska, funk, jazz, soul, and hip-hop. Passion Is a Fashion draws on over 70 interviews with the key participants in the story-roadies, producers, friends, and fans-and conversations with the Clash: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon. The first book to give real insight into what went on behind the scenes during the Clash's ten-year career, it charts the Clash's picaresque progress through the days of the early punk scene and their groundbreaking Rock Against Racism gigs, to the arduous touring, to their break out in America, and the making of the classic London Calling album, all the way to the band's eventual dissolution and the sudden, sad death of frontman Joe Strummer. Gritty, compelling, and above all authoritative, Passion Is a Fashion is the biography the Clash has long deserved.
Customer Reviews:
Passion for The Clash.......2007-09-07
A great,detailed and thorough history of The greatest Punk band ever. This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in the origin of contemporary rock music. The author delves into the personal history of the band members from childhood on. Pat Gilbert obviously has a passion for The Clash as every band today should and probably does. This book is an amazing overview, easy to read and impossible to put down. I bought this for myself but my 14yr. old son "permanently borrowed" it from me, reading it like crazy(he's not fond of reading) and I couldn't be happier.
Thank you Pat Gilbert for writing this awesome book!!!!!
Book Satisfaction.......2007-02-28
Very efficient with delievery and a book in excellent condition. I thank you .Our son reads alot and we were pleasently surprised in ALL areas of this transaction.
Absolutely Terrific!!!!.......2007-02-20
I am a new fan of the clash and just fell in love with them one day. Wanting to know more about this band, I bought this book and was blown away!! I honestly couldn't put the thing down. It really gives an insightful history of the band and really made me like them even more. If you love the clash this book is worth every cent. Buy it!!!
AMAZING!!!.......2006-11-12
I just got it a week ago. I CANNOT put it down. Well written and a lot of great facts that I never knew about. For example: Did you know that Joe Strummer's first guitar was actually originally owned by Pete Townshend?
Very impressive book - welcome to 1970s South London.......2006-06-02
This review applies to the 2004 hardcover edition. I knew a reasonable amount about The Clash before reading this book but the author here opened my eyes to a number of things and helped to confirm some of my ideas and reject others.
This is an academic book in the sense that any university sociology or history department type would or should respect the high standard of scholarship here - painstaking research involving interviews with a large number of band friends, business associates and childhood and youth buddies - and objective and intelligent analysis throughout. Although the research is detailed and Gilbert takes the subject matter seriously, the writing is still lively and captivating.
The book first traces the childhoods, youth days and former bands of all members individually which is fascinating and well researched. A lot of this information would be new to even the diehard fans. It's fascinating to read about and see a picture of Mick Jones' gran's 18th floor council flat in South London overlooking the Westway - where Mick "practised daily in my room" according to the song Stay Free. We also get to learn about Mick's close friend, also written about in Stay Free, who in real life did serve time for a bank robbery offence.
The art-school beginnings and the "squatting days" in early 1970s London (living in vacated houses under the Westway without paying rent) and the members' pre-Clash bands are well documented. Overall, Gilbert does an excellent job in helping the reader recreate in his/her mind the world of 1970s South London where the Clash story was played out. That is one of the book's great strengths in my opinion.
The book demolishes some punk myths, but keeps others alive. Firstly, the book demolishes the cherished idea that The Pistols and The Clash were working-class lads who met up, decided to form a band, and sing about social and political topics. There is some element of truth in that idealised view. However, the bands' respective managers, Malcolm McLaren of The Pistols and Bernie Rhodes of The Clash, clearly manufactured the bands to a certain extent based on their personal visions of what they wanted to achieve. Joe clearly understood this and was willing to co-operate with Rhodes to achieve common goals - but Mick was less supportive, being more of a traditional old-time rocker.
Gilbert clearly describes the social changes affecting Britain in the late 70s - the rise to power of the Thatcher right-wing government and the first wave of West Indian immigrants into London (and especially Brixton). We see how all band members had a genuine and sincere desire for racial harmony - they were fascinated by Jamaican reggae music and later New York hip hop. The bands' involvement in anti-racism gigs and sharing the stage with acts such as Bo Diddley and Micky Dread were extremely influential in contributing to the unity of the streets.
Another Clash myth that the book does not debunk but strengthens is their closeness to the fans and genuine warmth they felt towards the fans and vice-versa. However, the bitter infighting and bad vibes involving Joe, Mick and Paul often seemed to take the joy out of their lives and the book exposes this fully. It ultimately led to Mick's sacking at the hands of Joe, Paul and Bernie.
Other highlights are detailed descriptions of the recording sessions that led to each album and brief song-by-song descriptions (however, the focus on the actual music is fairly brief - the book is more a study of people and society).
Producer Guy Stevens' drunken chair-smashing antics during the London Calling sessions are hilariously recounted. His crazy energy probably contributed to the eclectic joy that London Calling produced. The details of the football games during the London Calling sessions are also interesting. The orange mohawked Japanese guys they met playing football in the London park - who knew every note of every Clash song (and Joe's cynical reaction to them, in contrast to the other band members) - also is humorous in my opinion.
Lastly, we are also are given a rare insight into The Clash Mark II. The three young band members who replaced Mick and Topper are all interviewed. Naturally they were dissapointed with certain aspects of the Mark II experience - but they don't seem bitter and it doesn't seem that they were treated totally badly (at least not by the band - by Bernie Rhodes maybe). In my opinion "This is England" (from 1985) ranks in The Top 3 Clash songs of all time. Good to get an insight into this less-publicised and once-denied stage of the band's existence. It almost makes me want to go out and buy Cut the [...]!!
I enjoyed my trip to the world of South London that Gilbert offered and South London became a better place I'm sure due to the huge influence of Joe, Mick, Topper and Paul. Stay free...
Book Description
Megawattage sound systems have blasted the electronically enhanced riddims and tongue-twisting lyrics of Jamaica's dancehall DJs across the globe. This high-energy raggamuffin music is often dissed by old-school roots reggae fans as a raucous degeneration of classic Jamaican popular music. In this provocative study of dancehall culture Carolyn Cooper, Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, offers a sympathetic account of the philosophy of a wide range of dancehall DJs: Shabba Ranks, Lady Saw, Ninjaman, Capleton, Buju Banton, Anthony B, Apache Indian. She demonstrates the ways in which the language of dancehall culture, often devalued as mere 'noise,' articulates a complex understanding of the border clashes that characterise Jamaican society. Cooper also analyses the sound clashes that erupt in the movement of Jamaican dancehall culture across national borders.
Customer Reviews:
Carolyn Cooper--Dancehall's Cultural Theorist.......2006-12-16
Carolyn Cooper continues to be the most insightful thinker writing on the implications of Jamaican dancehall culture for the politics of gender and globalization. While Cooper focuses heavily on local Caribbean dancehall in her book, she weaves a narrative applicable to political theory and cultural studies internationally. Cooper is a folk philosopher who has been at the center of much heated debates over the last decade due to her position privileging folk life and Jamaican indigenous language--patois--over high brow theory. Cooper did not need Immanuel Kant to know that articulating the gulf between theory and practice many times revolves around disputes over competing political languages. Cooper and Kant converge insofar as they each attempt to develop universal laws of culture, of which some elements are a priori and others specific to the realm of experience.
Cooper's 1989-1990 JAMAICA JOURNAL essay "Slackness Hiding from Culture: Erotic Play in the Dancehall" was the first scholarly analysis of Jamaican dancehall culture. Since the publication of that essay, an explosion in literature on dancehall ensued. Cooper expanded the central argument of that essay into a book released a few years later entitled NOISES IN THE BLOOD. Cooper's current text under review, SOUND CLASH (2004), is an investigation into Jamaican dancehall culture at large. To study local Jamaican dancehall is to study dancehall's impact outside the island. Hence, Cooper devotes the latter third of the text to dancehall in places such as Barbados and Great Britain. Nevertheless, a majority of the work deals with interrogations into the lyrics of key musical figures in Jamaican dancehall including Ninjaman, Lady Saw, Capelton, Buju Banton, and Anthony B, and the ways in which those figures reflect wider concepts of the self, gender relations, power, and freedom.
The notion of "slackness" serves as an overarching subtext throughout. The chapter on Lady Saw is quite simply a must read, as are chapter 2 comparing the classical reggae lyrics of Bob Marley to the dancehall DJ Shabba Ranks and chapter 9 explicating dancehall in the South Asian Diaspora via the rhymes of British DJ Apache Indian (born Steve Kapur). Lady Saw in particular has been maligned by Jamaican bourgeois society much the same way that heretical European women had been marginalized by men historically in their respective cultures. Yet Lady Saw is the ultimate folk philosopher who has managed to use her lyrical prowess to destabilize conventional notions of womanhood, thus transform our understanding of concepts through the epistemological slackness she wields. As Cooper observes, "Lady Saw's brilliant lyrics, reinforced by her compelling body language, articulate a potent message about sexuality, gender politics, and the power struggle for the right to public space in Jamaica...It encompasses the cunning strategies that are employed by outspoken women like Lady Saw who speak subtle truths about their society" (p. 123).
Cooper devotes time in the Introduction to rebutting criticisms leveled against her by other dancehall commentators, one of whom is Norman Stolzoff. Stolzoff is the author of another seminal text on Jamaican dancehall, WAKE THE TOWN AND TELL THE PEOPLE (2000)--a book that I suggest readers interested in Cooper's work should also consult. Wherever you stand on the debates between Cooper and her critics, you must take those conversations as a healthy indicator of the increased awareness about dancehall and the reality that the principles of those living dancehall inside and outside Jamaica offer their own notions of universalism. In closing, I highly recommend SOUND CLASH to all those seeking to understand how a cultural form of life can indeed change the very way we view politics, theory, the world, and ourselves.
Book Description
A Great Books Foundation anthology for book discussion groups, including questions for discussion. Since 1947, the publications and shared inquiry method of the Great Books Foundation have helped people around the world organize and maintain thriving book discussion groups. Over the years, countless people have attested that the intellectual exchange fostered by their Great Books groups has been one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives. This is one of nine volumes in the Great Books Foundation's 50th Anniversary Series, inaugurating the next half-century of thoughtful discussion about outstanding works for literature. Each volume consists of short works by classic and modern authors from around the world, and includes prose, poetry, and discussion questions for each selection as well as questions for two novels recommended for book discussion groups.
Customer Reviews:
Clashes of Culture.......2000-06-20
Who would have expected this from the Great Books Foundation? It's a surprisingly eclectic, contemporary anthology of anthropology, fiction, and poetry worth reading and discussing with a book group. Questions are included for two novels that are NOT printed in this book.
Book Description
As a first-generation British-born black, Don Letts quickly learned to assimilate aspects of Jamaican culture into inner-city urban London life. Leaving school, he gravitated to Chelsea's King's Road, inhabiting the fashion world alongside Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.
As resident DJ at the fledgling punk club The Roxy, Letts pumped a roots-reggae soundtrack to a predominantly white audience that included members of The Clash and the Sex Pistols, forging a link between the two clashing cultures.
A chance meeting provided him with a Super-8 movie camera, the result of which was released as
The Punk Movie and set Letts on a career of influential videos featuring Sex Pistols, Pil, the Slits, The Clash, Bob Marley, and even the -platinum-selling Musical Youth. His feature films include
Dancehall Queen, the Grammy Award-winning
Westway to the World-his documentary on The Clash-and
Clash on Broadway. He has recently directed feature documentaries for the BBC on Sun Ra and Gil Scott-Heron.
Alongside The Clash's Mick Jones in Big Audio Dynamite, Letts pioneered dance culture and sampling techniques, hanging out with Africa Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and the cream of the New York City hip-hop scene.
Admired by Fellini, a friend of Bob Marley and John Lydon, and a documentarian of The Clash, Don Letts has never pigeonholed himself. This book is a firsthand account, told in Letts' own words-it's highly visual, revelatory, irreverent, entertaining, and staunchly individual.
Average customer rating:
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The Clash of Cultures: Managers Managing Professionals
Joseph Raelin
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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Book Description
Revised and expanded for it's 25th Anniversary, Barnga is the classic simulation game on cultural clashes. Participants experience the shock of realizing that despite their good intentions and the many similarities amongst themselves, people interpret things differently from one another in profound ways, especially people from differing cultures. Players learn that they must understand and reconcile these differences if they want to function effectively in a cross-cultural group. New features and enhancements include:
* Improved game design is simpler for those with limited experience playing card games.
* Group sizes standardized to avoid confusion during the game play.
* New rules allow for games with as few as two players.
* Partnership play permitted, enabling reflection on the impact of moral support from others.
* Redesigned handouts reinforce the idea that everyone is playing by the same rules.
* Different tournament formats raise new types of communication problems.
* Expanded debriefing section.
Customer Reviews:
Simulation Gaming.......2007-02-17
This book contains all you need to run one of the most successful simulation games ever devised. The book includes photo-copiable signs for use in the game and all you need provide are a few decks of cards. Unlike most activities of this order, the game is a relatively simple one in which different groups of students play cards with each other use different rules. At first, students playing the game are baffled, then annoyed, then even hostile toward one another.
The game is an excellent way to promote discussion of how our pre-conceptions lead to cultural misunderstandings.
Greg Strong, English Professor, Tokyo
Barnga.......2006-02-25
Very complete -- certainly all you need to create this experiential learning, and in several languages. I simple, yet effective exercise.
Not mcuh here.......2005-09-20
This is basically a card game. There are several variations and learners play the game silently in groups with each group having slightly different rules. As learners move to differen tables they have a diffucult time adjusting to the new rules since no verbal communication is permitted.
Learners are supposed to realize that their frustration at not knowing the rules is similar to not knowing the rules of different cultures. I found this entirely unsuitable for my language students because they already know that different cultures can lead to conflict and because I'm not interested in running a silent class.
Great for the Board Room and College Classroom.......2001-01-28
I'm a college professor who also does diversity training. I use BARNGA in my corporate trainings as well as in my college classroom. Everyone loves it! The simulation is an excellent way of driving home the idea that every environment (an institution, a business, a classroom) has unwritten rules that we assume have been communicated to the uninitiated. When the new person experiences problems, we all too often attribute the problem to a lack of skills rather than to a lack of knowledge about the "rules." This game is a great deal of fun and allows the facilitator to engage the participants in some serious discussion afterward about diversity. Excellent! Get it today! You won't be sorry.
Frighteningly Enlightening.......2000-02-16
I was first introduced to BARNGA by playing the game at a diversity conference held in the Bay Area, CA. I was surprised at how ruthless and unforgiving I was to the people who entered my little community. I made them play my way and never took the time to understand their point of view or the rules that they knew. I am a student, 18 years old and i wish this concept had been introduced to me earlier. I didn't think that I had any prejudices but I do and BARNGA made me realize them.
Books:
- The Echo Maker: A Novel
- The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics)
- The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
- The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program
- The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Signet Classics)
- The Last of the Mohicans (Bantam Classics)
- The Light in the Forest
- The Monkey Wrench Gang (P.S.)
- The Monster of Frankenstein
- The Once and Future King
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Warrior of the Light: A Manual
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
- Occupational Outlook Handbook 1994 95
- Paddington at Large
- Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation
- The Outsiders
- The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and Gods
- 21st Century Game Design
- Offshore Financial Services Handbook, Second Edition
- Smartstart Your Louisiana Business
Don't Shoot the Dog!
The Other End of the Leash
Dogs are from Neptune
On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals
The Power of Positive Dog Training
