Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers

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need to read it and 2 others

The Hypocrisy of the Crown ý an Indictment of a Dying Empire

The Hypocrisy of the Crown ? an Indictment of a Dying Empire

Found and Read this

FINALLY!

Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
George Witton
Manufacturer: Clock & Rose Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Breaker Morant (Masterworks Edition)

The Boer War 1899-1902 (Essential Histories)

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ASIN: 1593860161

Book Description

High quality reprint of Witton's scathing political indictment of the British Empire, originally published in 1907. The story was made into a movie in 1980, "Breaker Morant," starring Edward Woodward, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, and Jack Thompson. 240 pp. printed on cream acid-free paper. Illustrated with half-tone photographs. First Clock & Rose trade edition in paperback, preceded by a limited edition of 1,000, individually numbered, and first trade edition in hardcover. Published and printed in the USA. Mint condition.

Customer Reviews:

need to read it and 2 others.......2006-07-20

If you have sen the superb " Breaker Morant" movie and wanted more info on The Breaker, his companions, their actions and the court martial, there are very few books out there. This one, by G.R.Witton, one of the men court-martialed with Morant et al, would seem to be the choice to be the best and most complete. It is not, as Witton spends much of the book recounting his life before he met and served with Morant and Handcock et al...he was not present at their execution and the last part of the book recounts his 3 years in various prisons. Kit Denton has a decent book out (have read it...it suffers a tad from emotion).There is another by a Nick (cannot remember last name) that is scarce. I believe that you would have to read all three...and would be in for some surprises if all you know about Morant et al comes from the movie.

The Hypocrisy of the Crown ý an Indictment of a Dying Empire.......2004-02-21

Like many of us, I had seen the movie "Breaker Morant" and found it disturbing. Of course, I'd always wondered if it was actually true. I'd heard of a book, "Scapegoats of the Empire" that had supposedly been banned, but I had never seen a copy of it. Only by accident did I find out that Clock & Rose had published a facsimile edition. I hestitated to actually buy it, because the price is fairly steep, but I succumbed to my long-standing curiosity and took the plunge.

A couple weeks later the book arrived, and I opened the package wondering what I'd find within. To my delight, I uncovered an extremely well-made book, nicely bound, printed on cream paper, with a handsome sepia dustjacket. Already I was feeling much better, and I hadn't even read the book...

But, oh my goodness! What a story! An eyewitness retelling of the entire incident by one of the participants, the book is like a dagger plunged into the hypocritical heart of an empire on its last legs. For those unfamiliar with the incident, it occurred during the Boer war in South Africa just after the turn of the century, when a unit of the empire's troops comprised of British and Australian soldiers, ostensibly following orders, executed a number of Boer soldiers who had been taken prisoner in the field.

The incident became a cause celebrè, with everyone in power doing their best to distance themselves, and a court-martial resulted. Seven officers were tried, 3 Australian and 4 British. The British all were let go with dishonorable discharges; the three Australians were sentenced to death. Two were executed by firing squad in Pretoria, South Africa and the third, Lt. George Witton, had his sentence commuted to life in prison. Three years later, the British House of Commons overturned Witton's conviction, and he returned to Australia a free but deeply troubled man.

"Scapegoats of the Empire" is his story, a matter-of-fact recounting of the events as he recalled them, and it is in effect a scathing indictment of the supposedly "noble" institution of British Law, and of the men who ran the Empire. The book's extraordinarily relevant right now, in 2004, as we watch our own government going through contortions of self-justifcation over our latest (mis)adventures in Iraq.

There's nothing new under the sun: a must-read!

The Hypocrisy of the Crown ? an Indictment of a Dying Empire.......2004-02-21

There's nothing new under the sun: a must-read!

Found and Read this.......2002-08-27

I finally found a copy from the Univ. of Virginia via a book load service. I never *really* wanted to own it, just read it. It is simple and straight forward writing but the movie "Breaker Morant" tells 80-90% of what you will read in the book. Indeed the book was one of the primary resources for the movie "Breaker Morant". There are copies of the 1982 re-print around but IMHO they are not worth the ($$$) asking price. More like ($$$) but demand is what drives the price up. Same yourself the time and money, get a library load copy to read if you must. It is a good book to compare with the "Dreyfus Affair" in France or other past/future war crime trials. The 10-20% of the book that if different from the movie is the post trial period which goes over Wittons's life in jail and the appeal process. Huge public outcry in Australia and the UK was waht eventually set him free. That part of the book was interesting but not worth ($$$).
I am glad I read it before buying. I have seen some "originals" on the net for $5000+, there are only 7 original 1907 copies in the world. (Be very carefull) The rest were "lost" in a fire.

FINALLY!.......2001-05-14

I found a copy (1982 edition) after nearly 8 years of searching; being beaten to the punch on several occasions by other buyers. As far as writing is concerned, it is told in a very unrefined manner. Much detail is left out where a professional writer would elaborate. However, they are clear and direct words, and it is for that reason alone that the book is worth reading. Good luck in your search. This copy cost me US$500.00.

Average customer rating:

A Rough Path Through an Extraordinary Landscape.
An interesting and important book

The Scapegoat
René Girard
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801839173

Book Description

"[Girard's] methods of extrapolating to find cultural history behind myths, and of reading hidden verification through silence, are worthy enrichments of the critic's arsenal."--John Yoder, Religion and Literature.

Customer Reviews:

A Rough Path Through an Extraordinary Landscape........2002-03-19

Rene Girard proposes to change how we think about religion and history. To do so, he takes us through history, mythology, and the New Testament, pointing out facts we may not have noticed about group violence and how it justifies itself, and the way Jesus "subverts the dominant paradigm," as they say. Like a geologist pointing to a piece of land we have walked across since childhood, and explaining Plate Tectonics and the volcanic origins of familiar landmarks, the ground seems to shift under our feet as we look at familiar facts from these new points of view.

No doubt Girard gets carried away, and tries to explain too much. Simplicity is the curse of great intellects -- Marx thought love of money was the root of all motivation, Freud over-emphasized sex, and Ernest Becker proposed to explain all human neurosis in terms of fear of death. Similarly, Girard claims: "All human language, and other cultural institutions, in fact, originated in collective murder." All?

Perhaps Girard is mocking the positivists with his method. He gives a paltry handful of examples, links them together in the most tenuous way, and tells us he's "proven" the enormous sweep of his claims. I sympathize with the minimilist approach from an artistic standpoint, but I'm going to have to think through the data for a while to see if it really fits. Based on what I know of Chinese history, for example, I think the theory Girard gives in this book may have definite explanatory value. Last emperors of prior dynasties are usually depicted as villains, and the founders of new dynasties, who generally have blood on their hands, are justified, as part of Girard's theory predicts. But I doubt even his full theory will fit everything.

Girard seems to know what he's talking about, but sometimes he forgets to explain it adequately to his readers. He occasionally blunders into sentences like this: "Is it enough to justify our qualifying the interpretation that subverts the representation of persecution by revealing it as scientific?" Uh. . . No!

For all the book's occasional faults, however, I find it changing the way I see society. Consider, for example, what the experts have been telling us about Islam for the last few months, and the realities of what Mohammed actually did, in light of the following sentence: "Human culture is predisposed to the permanent concealment of its origins in collective violence." This is exactly what politicians, scholars, and the press have been doing in regard to early Islam.

The way in which Girard explains the phenomena of scapegoating also casts a great deal of light, it seems to me, on the extreme hostility manifest not only in the Muslim world, but even in the West, towards the state of Israel, recently. The Muslim world is in a turmoil, and the Jews have been set up, as so often before, as the scapegoats -- as Girard's theory predicts.

Girard depicts evil as a second-rate, taudry, and cowardly thing, and shows true heroism in all its beauty. His discussion of the Gospels and history is especially good. (In my book, Jesus and the Religions of Man, I describe other scapegoat phenomena from around the world, and relate them in a different but perhaps complementary way to the Gospels.)

The Scapegoat is, in short, well worth attention. While some of Girard's ideas may be out to lunch, he certainly offers insights here of real and paradigm-shifting value about the nature of man and the work of Christ.

An interesting and important book.......2000-12-29

This is seminal book of Girard's. In his investigation of myth he uncovers what he calls the scapegoat-mechanism, the tendency of society to collectively transfer guilt onto a sacrificial victim.

An introductory chapter on fourteenth century European anti-semitism leads into a discussion of various myths from around the world, all "texts of persecution." Girard's thesis, that basically all founding myths feature the sacrifice of an innocent victim, proceeds in good structuralist fashion: these tendencies are an innate part of human nature.

But he doesn't stop there. Taking a somewhat eschatological stance, midway through the book he continues to tackle what he calls the ultimate uncovering of the scapegoat mechanism: the death of Christ. His argument is, roughly, that Christ in his words and deeds, and finally in his self-sacrifice, demonstrates how he understands this inborn but not irredeemable human characteristic. The rest of human history thus unfolds towards a greater understanding (and Girard's work is part of this) of the irrationality of sacrifice--slowly we start to fulfill the promise of our humanity, and work towards a society in which no sacrifice will have to be made.

The most gripping chapter for me is that on Peter's betrayal. This is a truly remarkable reading of the wellknown biblical narrative, a reading that simultaneously redeems Peter (somewhat) and condemns all of humanity. Jesus, the ultimate innocent victim, understood this, as does Girard: if Peter fails, we all fail.

Customer Reviews:

Girard at his most brilliant.......2003-02-11

Over the course of his long career, Girard has moved from literary criticism to anthropology to Biblical exegesis. This work of comparative religion sees him at his clearest and most brilliant as he compares the Gospel readings of violence to mythological interpretations that conceal the role mimetic desire plays in our conflicts. Especially revealing is a late chapter on "the concern for victims," the absolute value of modern culture. But it is in the book's final pages, where Girard finally postulates the existence of a power superior to violent contagion, that I See Satan Fall Like Lightning becomes truly great. This is a work of superb intelligence, among the most powerful and thought-provoking I have ever read.

Won't convince the skeptical.......2002-12-08

Overall, this is an interesting, concise presentation of the anthropological importance of the contents of biblical narratives as contrasted with the the other narratives close in proximity in the general sectarian milieu from which the Bible emerged. Though a certain way of thinking and approaching the texts is explored that is itself dynamic and inspiring, it fails to be more than merely rhetorically convincing. Strangly, Girard claims throughout his text that his observations and interpretations are neither apologetic or biased towards Christian interpretation but, rather, scientific. While it is plausible that the scientific side of his argument has been established in greater detail by those that endorse his theories about mimetic desire culminating violence in human societies and as the foundation of human society, it's not contained in these pages. Nonetheless, this still serves as an interesting introduction to Girard's ideas being both short and straightforward.

French Egghead Knows His Stuff.......2001-06-18

Not an easy book to summarize. Girard is a French egghead and former Stanford professor who believes to understand human behavior, we must first understand something he terms*mimetic desire*. . .with mimetic desire meaning that people only desire what other people have or what other people desire. Simply put, people imitate the desires of other people (role models). Further, this imitation leads to conflict (Girard terms this conflict *scandal*) which turns violent. This violence threatens to tear apart communities, and is only remedied when all rivals of mimetic desire unite against a single victim, and sacrifice that victim (a *scapegoat*). Girard identifies Satan as both the instigator of scandals, which cause the disorder, and the sacrifices of the victims, which then restore order. Hence, Girard answers Christ's famous question "how can Satan cast out Satan?" Satan causes disorder in the world, and then restores order in the world, in order to remain in control of the world. Girard demonstrates in this amazing book that human sacrifice is the very foundation of civilization (similar to The J Man's own theories as outlined in The Cain Theory of Civilization). Of course, the greatest example of the *single victim mechanism* is the crucifixion of Jesus. Jerusalem is on the brink of riot, but the masses imitate the murderous desire of the Jewish hierarchy toward Christ. So powerful is the violent contagion of this mimetic desire, even Jesus' disciples become infected (Peter's denial of Christ being the most famous example). The crucifixion of Christ, sanctioned by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, placates the mob and restores order. Hence, Satan believes once again his *single victim mechanism* will enable him to maintain control of the world, and also to defeat the Son of God. Satan, the Accuser, has accused Christ before the crowd, and the crowd has believed Satan's lie. They call for Christ to be put to death. Girard reveals Satan has used this tactic over and over again throughout human history. It is the cornerstone of the myths and false religions which hold the world in his bondage. But Christ defeats Satan at his own game, through the Resurrection. The Resurrection unmasks Satan as an impostor. Christ's innocence, revealed by the Resurrection, nails Satan's accusation to the cross, and publicly exposes it for the lie it is. Christ's resurrection frees His disciples from the violent contagion of mimetic desire, and they set about to take the Gospel to the world. As Paul wrote, it is the power of the cross "which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (I Corinthians 2:8). This is an academic text, not easy to read and not without its flaws (Girard is foggy on the exact nature of Satan, and is not a Bible literalist), but Girard's understanding of human behavior as the Bible reveals it, and Satan's ability to manipulate human behavior, make this an important book to read in an age when the violent contagion of mimetic desire unites the world again and again in near-planetary acts of *single victim mechanics* (Iraq, Serbia). . .with those acts seeming as test runs for the Apocalypse to come.

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Comprehensive introduction to Girard's work
Amazing . . . simply Amazing Stuff
The Key to All Mythologies
A Strong Introduction to a Visionary Thinker
Girard may just be the most profound thinker in 2500 years

The Girard Reader
Rene Girard
Manufacturer: Crossroad Herder
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824516346

Book Description

In one volume, an anthology of seminal work of one of the twentieth century's most original thinkers.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive introduction to Girard's work.......2003-02-11

One of the most interesting aspects of this good general introduction to the brilliant work of Rene Girard is the interview with editor James G. Williams, which touches on Girard's biography and his conversion to Catholicism. The other texts included here span the entirety of his long career as literary critic, groundbreaking anthropologist, and Biblical exegete. The texts address all facets of mimetic theory, from triangular desire to scapegoating, sacrifice, Satan, and the paradoxical place of Nietzsche in the history of mimetic anthropology.

Amazing . . . simply Amazing Stuff.......2002-08-01

In the academic landscape of victimization theories, deconstruction and post-modernism, here arises a singular voice that cuts to an all encompassing generative theory of civilization. It is a theory that explains why we buy Nike, why we go to war, and how we achieve peace. It would be better known in academia except this poor soul has the unfortunate timing of discovering a theory that objectively validates the truth of Catholicism, when Christianity (and even worse Catholicism) is out of vogue.

His theories have been described as "among the most profound intellectual discoveries of our time" and "a comprehensive vision of the psychological, sociological, political, and religious processes of sin and redemption"

If you are a thinker interested in social critique and a theory that has the power to restore Western Civilization - buy this book.

The Key to All Mythologies.......2001-05-31

This is a remarkably complete introduction to Rene Girard's ideas. His key theory has the clarity and simplicity of a mathematical proof--desire is not an innate drive but a behavior we learn through imitation (mimesis). When we mimic our model's desire for the same object, violence breaks out. Through ritual scapegoating, human communities manage to divert this violence by directing it at a random victim (thus hiding its real source in mimetic rivalry). According to Girard, this mechanism is at work across all times and cultures, and shapes the plot of nearly every major novel. For those with a suspicion of grand unifying theories, his idea raises many questions. Even more controversial is his belief that Christianity brings an end to myth by exposing the scapegoat's innocence. Christ doesn't die as a sacrifice to God for human sin; instead, the crucifixion reveals the fiction at the root of all sacrifice--the victim's culpability. This helps to humanize one of Christianity's more troubling doctrines, but it also asks us to believe that the authors of the New Testament understood the workings of mimetic desire 2000 years before Girard articulated the theory. Read the book and come to your own conclusions. Whatever you decide, after reading Girard you'll look at myth and religion with new eyes.

A Strong Introduction to a Visionary Thinker.......2001-01-23

This is one book that takes time to fully digest. I first encountered Girard in 1998, and his work becomes more significant for me with each passing year. The basic ideas are pretty easy to grasp, but they have a nasty habit of reorienting any context you place them in. His scapegoat theory has something urgent to say to many disciplines: literature, religion, philosophy, psychology, and ultimately anthropology--Girard engages them all. His analysis of the Judeo-Christian scriptures is definitely the most illuminating that I have read, and there is evidence that his influence is spreading.

If you are looking for a thoughtful book that takes the Bible seriously without the tired liberal/conservative food-fight, this one won't disappoint.

Girard may just be the most profound thinker in 2500 years.......1998-11-23

I don't think there is any doubt that Rene Girard is the most profoud thinker in the past 2500 years. I go back that far to include his transcendence of both Plato and Aristotle. Translate his insight into the human condition into the waning years of the 20th century--the most murderous century in human history--and we may yet survive the 21st century with some measure of humanity. Thank God we have a thinker who empathizes the human condition and has the ability to articulate it. Right now, he is as close to the "second coming"`as we have.As one of Shakespeare's characters put it: "I thank God for you, sir!"

The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats

Average customer rating:

nice piece of middle-brow philosophy
Not really a manifesto, but still excellent!
If you can't laugh at this you might as well be dead or French,
Read at your own Risk...
the pointless rant of a phony redneck

The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats
Jim Goad
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684838648

Book Description

Culture maverick Jim Goad presents a thoroughly reasoned, darkly funny, and rampagingly angry defense of America's most maligned social group -- the cultural clan variously referred to as rednecks, hillbillies, white trash, crackers, and trailer trash. As The Redneck Manifesto boldly points out and brilliantly demonstrates, America's dirty little secret isn't racism but classism. While pouncing incessantly on racial themes, most major media are silent about America's widening class rifts, a problem that negatively affects more people of all colors than does racism. With an unmatched ability for rubbing salt in cultural wounds, Jim Goad deftly dismantles most popular American notions about race and culture and takes a sledgehammer to our delicate glass-blown popular conceptions of government, religion, media, and history.

Customer Reviews:

nice piece of middle-brow philosophy.......2007-03-30

If you've never sat through a college Sociology course or aren't a political junkie, The Redneck Manifesto will be a true revelation. Although I lean a little to the right and shy away from propaganda, Jim Goad had me wanting to grap a pitchfork and run down to City Hall to settle the score.

On the negative side, Goad over-sells every theory with example after example supporting his point of view. In many chapters I read the first 3 pages and skipped the next 20 because I'd already bought what he was selling.

Not really a manifesto, but still excellent!.......2007-02-22

While the title would seem to imply that this book is some kind of call to arms for poor white people, it is actually less a manifesto than a history lesson combined with Goad's own unique take on life in America. It lays out a version of American history that does not deny the validity of statements about our "racist past" but certainly makes the case that most whites who ended up in the New World had it pretty rough. He explains the virtually ignored topic of white slavery, the development of the word "redneck", and the utter contempt and bias the modern mainstream media has towards those unfortunate enough to be labeled as such. Alongside the history lesson Goad provides some insight into his views on religion, politics, and war, which are then usually tied into the book's redneck theme.

I found this book to be facinating and despite what some reviewers may think, largely correct in the conclusions it draws about the forbidden topic of anti-white racism in America. Goad even lists his sources so those who doubt the veracity of his claims can do their own research. I do agree somewhat with the reviewer who said that Goad's jokes grew tiring, but I think so mostly because the other material in this book is so important and interesting, not because I think Goad is a "pseudo-reformed urban liberal". Even if this were published as a pamphlet it would stil be worth purchasing. Goad's style may not be for everyone but on the whole this book deals with the topic in a serious though not pedantic manner. It is not intended for self-hating suburban whites, which is unfortunate since they are the people who need to read it the most!

If you can't laugh at this you might as well be dead or French, .......2007-01-26

Most reviewers have missed the most important dimension of this book: Jim Goad is an American prose stylist on parallel with H.L. Mencken, Florence King, and Mark Twain. What most have taken as a war cry is more properly viewed as wit.

This book is filled with hilarious metaphors, transitions, over-the-top prose and verbal darts. Those who have an ideological bone to pick with Goad, or wish to engage in rebuttal had first better check the mirror for where their self-importance and moral superiority meters are set. For Goad, arguing from below with the tools of pugnacious roustabout and the rhetorical and argumentative skills of a St. Aquinas will deploy his first haymaker quite easily: he's going to make you laugh very hard.

An uproarious Rabelaisian wonder of a book. A joy, a pleasure, a belly laugh, a bacchanal, a celebration, a hootenanny, a liberation, a nouvelle monde, a birth, a breakthrough, a backslap, a war whoop, a whimsy, a watershed, a wonder, a discovery, a delight, a treasure, a classic. Jim Goad's The REDNECK MANIFESTO: HOW HILLBILLIES HICKS AND WHITE TRASH BECAME AMERICAS SCAPEGOATS is as American as white lightening and as welcome as liberty and as classic as Menken's "The American Language." A significant and delightful contribution to American prose.

Get it today.

Read at your own Risk... .......2006-08-31

Finally a book on American history and sociology for which you don't need a box of NoDoz! Goad's writing, ranging from colorful to flat out vulgar, is nonetheless very insightful and informative. I would NOT recommend this book to the closed-minded, politially correct, or easily offended. For the rest of us, however, Goad will surely give you a reason to laugh out loud! Goad's rant on racism and the history of social order is hightly descriptive as he depicts a nation of "white trash" whose leisurely activity "manifests a need to FEEL something apart from a working life in which you're treated with all the warmth of a Plasticine toy robot." I was blown away by the historical stories and statistics of white slavery, submission, and opression. Goad reminds us that "White niggers have feelings too!" Ultimately, this book will truly prompt you to rethink your roots, whether they are white, black, hispanic, green, or purlple!

the pointless rant of a phony redneck.......2006-07-08

Jim Goad is a phony.

He isn't a southerner, and he is obviously clueless as to what a "redneck" is. That term comes from the Ulster Scots, the single largest ethnic group in America. Finding out about the Scots-Irish would have been the first thing this poser would have done, if he actually cared about the things he is writing about in this book. But defending rednecks and white trash from "scapegoating" isn't his real agenda.

No, Goad is nothing but a typical pseudo-reformed urban liberal. This book is just a pointless rant from a guy who doesn't really believe in anything. He's trying to be shocking and ironic by stating (some of) the obvious while showing off his ability to make juvenile and scatalogical jokes every other line (the book would be a third the length without all the overworked humor it contains, but then it would just be a pamphlet and would have never been published).

His kind is a dime a dozen these days. I wouldn't call Goad an Ann Coulter wannabe, but that's the general neighborhood he inhabits. Show this guy and his ilk some REAL political incorrectness, and they will whimper, put their tails between their legs and hide behind the couch. They're simply not serious people. They're just playing at being writers and thinkers and curmudgeons and misanthropes because they think it's cool.

Goad's true nature was made quite evident by the book that followed this one, a truly rancid piece of self-justification that has even less of a point than this book.

Don't waste your time with Goad. Read James Webb's great book "Born Fighting" instead; it's a real history of real rednecks, by a serious author.

Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers

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Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
George Witton
Manufacturer: Clock & Rose Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Breaker Morant (Masterworks Edition)

ASIN: 159386017X

Product Description

Witton's scathing political indictment of the British Empire during the Boer War, originally published in 1907. Illustrated with half-tone photographs. The basis for the movie "Breaker Morant".

Average customer rating:

Discovering Girard
Michael Kirwan
Manufacturer: Cowley Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1561012297

Book Description

Carton Qty

Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation

Average customer rating:

The power of the word speaks again
SUCH an important read!
okay, but not too revealing
Her Kampf
In a class with Tom Paine

Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation
Andrea Dworkin
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0684836122

Book Description

On Yom Kippur, Jews of antiquity would sacrifice two goats: one killed as an offering to a harsh and judging god, the other taken to the wilderness and turned loose, a carrier of the sins of the group. Throughout history, argues brilliant feminist critic Andrea Dworkin, women and Jews have been stigmatized as society's scapegoats.

In this stunning and provocative book, Dworkin brings her rigorous intellect to bear on the dynamics of scapegoating. Drawing upon history, philosophy, literature, and politics, she creates a terrifying picture of the workings of misogyny and anti-Semitism in the last millennium.

With examples that range from the Inquisition, when women were targeted as witches and Jews as heretics, to the terror of the Nazis, whose aggression was both race- and gender-motivated, Dworkin illustrates how and why women and Jews have been scapegoated and compares the civil inequality, prejudices, and stereotypes that have framed identity for both groups. Taking the state of Israel as a paradigm, Dworkin traces the growth of male dominance in societies both old and new -- resulting in the subordination of women and a racial or ethnic "other."

In Israel today, Palestinians and prostitutes are the new scapegoats: degraded, inferior, abject. Although the gentle Jewish martyrs of old have become modern Israeli warriors, women retain the stigmatized status of "weak Jews" who, when attacked, never fight back. This leads Dworkin to imagine a world in which women betray men of their own kind in order to develop and defend their own sovereignty. Ultimately, her book forces us to ask profound questions: Why do women continue to value their own lives less than those of the men they love? Where is the line between justifiable self-defense and violence? Both an impassioned plea for women to challenge and destroy the author- ity of the men in their own group and a startling work of history, Scapegoat will forever change how we think about the patterns of behavior and belief that give rise to domination and oppression.

Download Description

On Yom Kippur, Jews of antiquity would sacrifice two goats: one as an offering to a harsh and judging god, the other turned loose in the wilderness as a carrier of the group's sins. But throughout history, says Andrea Dworkin, women and Jews themselves have served as society's scapegoats. From the Inquisition, when women were targeted as witches and Jews as heretics, to the Nazi assault on Jewish and female bodies, these groups have been doomed to the twin fates of slaughter and exile.

In Scapegoat Dworkin draws on history, literature, philosophy, and politics to create a series of pairings -- homeland/home, pogrom/rape, Palestinians/prostitutes -- that elucidate the misogyny and anti-Semitism of the past millennium's atrocities. Sure to incite debate, Dworkin presents a startling new view of how Nazism waged war on the female body. She offers a profound indictment of Israel's "scapegoating" of the Palestinians and critiques the supremacy Israeli men exert over Israeli women. Most provocatively, she imagines a world in which women betray the men of their ethnic/racial groups to fight for their own rights. Dworkin's exploration of when and how scapegoats themselves use violence will shock and disturb -- and no reader will look at the world the same way again.

Customer Reviews:

The power of the word speaks again.......2006-12-22

Andrea Dworkin first opened my eyes in 1978 in the pages of Woman Hating, and she can still stretch my mind until it hurts!

Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel and Women's Liberation would have been better titled The Holocaust of the Jews and Violence Against Women: A Study of Comparisons.

There is no liberation for the women in this book, nor is women's liberation even defined - but violence against women certainly is, and nobody can put violence against women in context like Andrea Dworkin. The sad part is that her writing has become so academic that the very women who could benefit from this book couldn't possibly follow it - it's mind bending, as we used to say in the sixties. Poor, oppressed, exploited women don't have the time or the energy to untangle the philosophy and the logic Dworkin has taken such pains to evolve - only college professors do. They thrive on it.

Andrea Dworkin changed my life by showing me the nature of my own oppression, so that I could find my way out of it. The nature of oppression and exploitation is also known, in psychiatrist's terms, as projection. The perpetrator blames the victim for their own suffering even as he cracks the whip. So do survivors take on the role of perpetrator if they manage to avoid any effort at healing their own wounds. So does Israel take on the role of Fascist in the ever present PTSD of the history of their own suffering.

How do we end the violence? By breaking the cycle. How do we break the cycle? Certainly not by invasion, colonialization, and war. Dworkin names the violence no one dares to name, i.e. the use of prostitution in Nazi concentration camps by both Nazis and Jews alike. And yet, no matter how horrific the stories of suffering may be, only Dworkin had the courage to tell that one, which even the most articulate Jew would rather remained invisible, hidden in shame, those women and their courage and their suffering never counted.

This book should be mandatory reading in all upper level women's studies courses, with much food for thought, discussion and hopefully, action.

It appears Dworkin never learned about Project Monarch. One wonders what she would have said about that.

SUCH an important read!.......2006-03-20

This work took Dworkin NINE years to complete. And it really shows when one sits down to read it. It is incredibly well researched; indeed, most of the book is quotes from others and then Andrea's questions--tough questions--regarding them. Make no mistake however, you will not get the same information simply by reading the works of others; Andrea only picks the best of the best sources to quote, and the questions she asks are brilliant.

I absolutely cannot say enough good things about this book. It was the first Andrea Dworkin book I completed. Now, I can't wait to get my hands (or rather, eyes) on another one. :-)

okay, but not too revealing.......2001-03-07

I've been a fan of Dworkin ever since I read her "Letters from a Warzone". She's a brilliant polemicist. "Scapegoat", though, was a little too bland. There is nothing truly radical or revelatory about it, unless the reader is an extremist already. She dealed a little with the issue of the Palestinian becoming the "new scapegoat", but didn't go as far as many other authors have. For someone that has critiqued the construction of gender, I find it odd that she hasn't critiqued the construction of race. Instead, she embraces the idea of race and, in my mind, just reinforces racial divisions.

All of this aside, it still had a number of enjoyable parts. It was not, however, as interesting and important as previous books she has written.

Her Kampf.......2001-02-15

Andrea Dworkin has been building to this book for quite some time and now, with Scapegoat, we finally get to see the depths of her dementia. Like Adolf Hitler, Ms. Dworkin scapegoats a hated group and blames everyone but herself for all the problems she has helped to perpetuate upon the world. There really isn't anything of value in this propagandist's nightmare, other than the fascinating use of Jews and Isreal to make her frightening point: Dworkin seems to think 'liberation' and 'seperation' are synonymous and essentially calls for a bloodbath to reason her private, petty delusions. I suspect the title of this book was almost the title of my review.

I give Scapegoat three stars because Dworkin finally seems to come into her own here, stating her long running point more eloquently, and more lucidly kicking off her gender war.

In a class with Tom Paine.......2000-10-01

Just as Orwell was roundly attacked by the liberal left for daring to suggest that Stalin was as bad as Hitler, so Dworkin seems to arouse the ire of the left as thoroughly as the right! I have never seen such vitriolic reviews as those she receives. Yet her analyses of social problems -- femininist or otherwise -- are breathtaking in that you find yourself constantly saying -- Of course! That's why -- And in this she has the same effect as Tom Paine when he wrote Common Sense and The Rights of Man. Yet we live in very different times, when any form of criticism of the status quo is repressed, minimalized or mocked and Dworkin has received a barrage of heavy duty artillery. Powerful people have said how much they hate her. Newspaper proprietors insist that their papers carry no mention of her unless it is to attack her. People are fired (I know this from experience) for daring to suggest her analysis of pornography, for instance, is about the most coherent understanding of the problem we all face, especially those of us who are parents of young children. She also provides a constitutional means of dealing with pornography, and that is why people find her so dangerous -- she doesn't moralise about 'filth' and violence. She suggests the deep causes and she proposes solutions. Apparently, this makes people very angry, especially, I suspect, those with vested interest in pornography. Dworkin supports the First Amendment and knows how to attack pornography. What's wrong with that ? This new book is almost light reading compared with Intercourse, say, or even the relentless Mercy, but it asks a question we should all be asking -- how does a gun culture develop from an idealistic republic overthrowing oppression and the power of the gun ? Her answer is weary in a way -- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Just as dedicated internationalists supported Zionism, so does Dworkin the feminist suggest that women should take up the gun and fight for their own nation state. It's a visionary text, like many of her books, but it is extraordinarily stimulating in the questions it raises and the answers it proposes. A large percentage of this book is source reference and as usual Dworkin has quoted chapter and verse for every statement she makes. People were shocked of her reports of obscenities performed by Israeli soldiers before disgusted Palestinian women, to disperse a demonstration. Exactly the same tactics were described by the women of Greenham Common, England, when they were part of the Peace Camp trying to stop American nuclear missiles being sited in the UK. The British soldiers behaved identically. This has a lot to do with male confusion between aggression and sexuality and maybe that's why nobody wants to debate the issues Dworkin raises. Thank goodness for the internet, Amazon books, and a chance for ordinary readers to voice their enthusiasm and support for one of the grand, eloquent voices of our age. Mary Morris, Austin, Texas

Scapegoat Complex: Toward a Mythology of Shadow and Guilt (Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts)

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Ancient Rite? Or Daily Activity?

Scapegoat Complex: Toward a Mythology of Shadow and Guilt (Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts)
Sylvia Brinton Perera
Manufacturer: Inner City Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Personality | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Psychoanalysis | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0919123228

Customer Reviews:

Ancient Rite? Or Daily Activity?.......2005-05-30

I have often, among people in our culture, heard the ancient practice of human sacrifice deemed horrific: the product of people closer to animals than the civilized beings we are now. But the truth is, we're still doing it today.
In The Scapegoat Complex, the second book from Sylvia Brinton Perera, Jungian Analyst and C.G. Jung professor, we see it is so. The practice of Scapegoating, or sacrificing a being as a symbol of casting out sin, has not been left behind. Rather it has evolved along with our species into a more sophisticated, less conspicuous, perhaps far more dangerous practice. Rather than carrying out acknowledged rituals among and for the public, we have begun subconsciously attaching our shadows to those we then hold far from us, thus cleansing ourselves of the sin. We may worship different gods these days, and in some different ways, but the act of ridding is still alive and still hurts many of those among us.
Perera, as a practitioner, is largely concerned with the act of scapegoating within the family framework. She uses plenty of case notes to keep her writing vivid and describes some interesting modes of healing. At the heart of the solution, as with all therapy, is understanding. Of course with scapegoating, this solution is particularly challenging, and important, because the entire point of scapegoating is the refusal to understand - to in a way, attach the painful side of truth to a person or being other than oneself rather than to try to understand the truth at all.

" There are several ways of treating anomalies. Negatively we can ignore, just not perceive, or perceiving we can condemn. Positively we can deliberately confront the anomaly and try to create a new pattern of reality in which it has a place" (32).

Perera writes a readable and convincing book on a topic we speak little about. Relevant today, certainly, and probably far into the future, I see it as a point of reference for all kinds of conflicts within as well as without the family structure; in politics certainly, in education, publishing, and our social lives.
As always, the hope is to evolve. We stopped with the pyramids and the sacrificing of the virgins and all that, maybe for this unconscious business it's just a matter of time. Or maybe we'll revert, I could see that happening. Coming next fall to FOX: it's Sacrifice, the hot new reality show where one contestant wins a million dollars and then is offered up to the volcano god, still in their bikini. Imagine just the sponsorship dollars alone.

Average customer rating:

Is there a winner here?
The Scapegoat
Have you ever thought ...
Psychological realism at its best
A must read

The Scapegoat
Daphne du Maurier
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 081221725X

Book Description

"Someone jolted my elbow as I drank and said, 'Je vous demande pardon,' and as I moved to give him space he turned and stared at me and I at him, and I realized, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined, that his face and voice were

Customer Reviews:

Is there a winner here?.......2007-04-02

Never have I wished for a person with questionable values to be the winner or try to solve an unsolvable problem. It would be worse if there were not a child involved! No one should give away anything in this intriguing novel. As good as Rebecca, and I never heard of it until now. Start reading and you're hooked. I bet you don't put it down very often until you arrive at the final end. A great book club discussion!

The Scapegoat.......2005-09-29

Apparently,'The Scapegoat' is not one of Ms. DuMaurier's more popular novels, and having just finished reading this curious and frustrating book, I think I see why. While I had to admire DdM's undeniably virtuosic technical achievement, I can't say that it gave me the same pleasure I usually derive from reading her books. Certain aspects of the plot, most obviously the non-filial resemblance between the narrator John, and Jean de Gue' I found just too far-fetched to swallow. How could his family have had no idea that this was not the man they knew? Even if their looks were identical, would the British John's French be completely unaccented? Other personal traits and idiosyncrasies would surely reveal themselves to a close family member. I felt I was asked to suspend far too much disbelief in this regard. On a moral level, I can't say that I cared at all for how the imposter falsely manipulated everyone with whom he came into contact during his week at St. Gilles, though I have to say I found no one in the household to be a particulary sympathetic character, and was never really bothered about their ultimate fates. I found the hothouse atmosphere of St. Gilles to be stifling and claustrophobic, and looked forward to the scene shifting to Villars and the verrerie, where I could breathe a bit of fresh air. Though John may have possessed more 'tendresse' than his non-attendant double, I still found him cold, manipulative and never fully human. There were times during my reading of 'The Scapegoat' when I thought I could just not finish the book, the action remaining stagnant for long stretches, and the characters just too trying on my nerves. What redeemed it all for me in the end was DdM's consummate use of language and single-mindedness in stitching her story through to the end. Perhaps an eventual rereading will prove enlightening, as I may just not have 'gotten' it the first time through.

Have you ever thought ..........2005-06-15

This is my second book of Du Maurier. I was intrigued by the-Prince-Pauper thingy but with more weight on the issue that caused the charade. Although I can't say I like the ending but I feel it is the true way to end this story. Not a simple type of ending where everybody get all they wanted, the good characters win over the bad. It belongs to the whole story, adding the irony. Each character was in grey zone, no one was all white or black.

The issue of family and people relationship played the circumstances over the exchange of John and Jean, the 2 look-alike person but with very different background. John, the loner, had no family ties, as the narrator. While Jean, a father, lives with a sick mother, a silent sister and a troubled family of his brother to deal with. While John felt himself as a spectator of life, Jean complained about his demanding family. Was it only the family's fault or Jean's himself who caused the oppressive situation?

All things were started from inside oneself. It is like throwing a stone into a pool effect. What you think, which will come out as words / action will affect all the people around you. What you think a good decision does not always give the same impression to other people because each person has her/his own perception, unique way of viewing a problem.

You would just feel as conceited as the characters you were reading. A thoughtful story.

Psychological realism at its best.......2005-05-27

The theme of the living double or strange twin is not uncommon in literature. In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's, The Double, (1846) Mr. Golyadkin believes he sees himself on a train, haunted by this manifestation, he becomes obsessed with meeting himself, chasing this figure endlessly through the streets of St Petersburg. Many have commented that this nightmarish story is ultimately about the fear of confronting one's darker nature, the terrible "other", and if viewed in totality, could well lead to death.

In The Scapegoat, du Maurier explores a similar theme, where the protagonist, John, a very English and staid history lecturer of French culture, one evening meets his exact double in the train station at Le Mans. John is bored, searching for some connection to life, a meaning to his empty existence. Jean de Gue, however, has a full life, a member of an aristocratic family, a wife, child and a century's old business and the many problems that come with so many connections and responsibilities. He's not happy with this life and wants only to escape. Both men have dinner, drink too much, and John wakes up the next morning to find his cloths and belongings vanished, and Gaston, the driver and head servant, ready to drive him (John) back to the Chateau, St Giles. John decides to play the role of Jean de Gue's scapegoat, though in a few days, finds himself inextricably involved, emotionally and otherwise, in de Gue's affairs and family.

Du Maurier is an excellent writer. John's journey into the world of his double is strangely intriguing, as he narrates his deceptions and observations, and how easily he falls into the role. No one in the family suspects his masquerade, though he comes very close to revealing himself many times. The repressed emotions and history of du Gue's family runs deep and hold numerous dark secrets. I found myself rushing through the tale to discover these secrets and what John will do next. The plot sounds outlandish on the surface, but this is psychological realism at its best, causing this reader at least, to become obsessed with how the story finally resolves itself - and it is not disappointing.

These characters certainly come from another time and another place. Jean de Gue's daughter, Marie-Noel, is a deeply religious child who experiences visions and loves her father beyond words. My thought was that if any of the family would see through John's deceptions, it would be the child. This young child, through her innocence, is the only voice of truth in the house, and her antics and precocious dialogue speaks of another time - a truly unique and memorable character.

This is a masterful piece of literature, a unique thriller that will be just as fascinating and entertaining for readers a hundred years from now.

A must read.......2005-04-21

This book is so much fun I couldn't put it down. If you are a fan of Rebecca you have to read this book!!!!

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