Book Description
What are the new directions in ethnomusicological fieldwork? What do we see when we acknowledge the shadows we cast in the field? Will fieldwork continue as an integral part of ethnomusicological theory and method? Glancing forward and backward, the authors in this collection explore a range of issues that can help ethnomusicologists and those who study human experience and creativity to conceptualize the nature of fieldwork. This is the first book by ethnomusicologists to consider fieldwork as an issue-laden practice, rather than as a methodology requiring a prescriptive manual. The contributors challenge the very notion of fieldwork: its goals, the nature of knowledge gained, and the place of fieldwork in historical studies. Until now the focus in ethnomusicological writing and teaching centered around analyses and ethnographic representations of musical cultures. This book signals a new fieldwork, shifting the balance away from the data-collecting model toward an approach that is reflexive, humanistic, and experiential. It makes provocative reading for all fieldworkers, those in ethnomusicology as well as anthropology, sociology, folklore, area studies, linguistics, and other ethnographic disciplines.
Customer Reviews:
Good for students.......2000-10-17
An excellent book for raising issues and perspectives in the realm of fieldwork and ethnographic study. While at times a bit too self-indulgent, and lacking in corrective remedies to what ethnomusicologists see as problems of reflexivity within the field, it seems to me an excellent book for students looking at fieldwork. The chapters by Jeff Titon and Greg Barz are particularly noteworthy.
Book Description
From Daredevil to Dracula, from Batman to Brother Voodoo, from Howard the Duck to Stewart the Rat, Secrets in the Shadows: The Art & Life of Gene Colan is the ultimate retrospective on one of comics' all-time unique artists. Featuring rare childhood drawings, photos, recently-discovered wartime illustrations, and original art and sketches from throughout his nearly 60-year career, this book offers new insight on the inspirations, challenges, and successes that shaped Gene 'the Dean' Colan. Among the highlights are: A comprehensive overview of Gene's glory days at Marvel Comics! Marv Wolfman, Don McGregor and other favorite writers share plot/script samples and anecotes of their Colan collaborations! Tom Palmer, Steve Leialoha, and other noted artists show how they approached the daunting task of inking Colan's famously nuanced penciled pages! Plus: a new portfolio of never-before-seen collaborations between Gene and such masters as John Byrne, Michael Kaluta, and George Perez, and all-new artwork created specifically for this book by Gene Colan, who is still inspired by the Secrets in the Shadows.
Customer Reviews:
Gene 'the dean' Colan matters.......2006-07-04
I grew up on Daredevil in the 1980's. Miller, Mazzucchelli, Romita Jr. But, being the collector I was, I went back and bought up all the old books as well. Even then, as a young teenager, I was really impressed with the artwork in those old books. I had looked at other old comics and was never pulled in. The artwork always seemed so..."old". Gene's work never did. Sure, it was different than the newer books, but it still had a freshness and energy that most of the other old books lacked. So, yeah I've been a fan of Gene's Daredevil work for a long time.
It wasn't however, until I read this book that I truly had a deep appreciation for the work. Gene is a living legend, and deservedly so. Buy this book. Not only is it a testament to Gene, it give the reader a good look behind the scenes of how hard it was for comic artists before the dawning of "Image Comics".
I also HIGHLY recommend you check out Gene's website ([...]) He's still turning out AMAZING artwork. Many of his recent commissions are far and away nicer than most anything being published today.
Outstanding!.......2006-04-25
I have very little to add to what the other reviewers have already said. If you're a fan of Gene Colan, this book is a must-have. Even if you're not a big Colan fan, you'll learn a lot about the business of comics and how personalities and personal relationships affected the comics we grew up with. It's well written, well documented and contains a tremendous amount of research and (of course) lots of great art. (And if the author happens to read this, that very first New York comic convention was the SCARP Con in 1968 -- I, a geeky 17 year old, attended and met the gracious Mr. Colan who did a sketch of Iron Man for me, and drew dozens of sketches for other fans.) Highly recommended!
waiting for more !.......2005-10-27
A genuine great book,long awaited, about that somehow underated
cool gentleman of the sixties and seventies...but I long for more !
somehing perhaps like "Bernie Wrightson, a look back", or ... "The Gene Colan Collector" ???
And of course good editions of his masterworks.
Aniway, I'm happy for the moment !
ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREATS.......2005-09-08
Two characters come to mind when I think of Gene Colan...Doctor Strange and Dracula. They were two of my favorites when I began reading comics in the mid-1970's. I was fortunate to have two stores close to me that sold old back issues of comic books. I was able to put together quite a collection of silver age comics. Among my favorite comics was Gene's run on the original Doctor Strange series beginning with #169. These atmospheric, psychedelic stories were unlike anything I had ever seen. I had sold my collection in the 1980's but recently picked up that complete run all over again because I was still enchanted by the great Colan work on those books.
Secrets in the Shadows is a combination biography and tribute to one of the all-time great comic artists, Gene Colan. Author Tom Field takes on a guided tour through Gene's life, beginning with his upbringing in New York and his first comic book work for Fiction House. Gene tells a story similar to many of his contemporaries such as John Buscema and John Romita, and their mass dismissal from Timely Comics. Gene would go on to DC and then back to what was now Atlas Comics. Atlas would then implode leaving Gene again out of work in the late 1950's and with a lifelong feeling of insecurity about the comic book business. As Gene explains this was a difficult time in his life as he was not only out of a job, but also had just gone through a divorce with his first wife.
Stan Lee would come beckoning again in the early 1960's as the Marvel Age was off and running. Gene quickly became one of Marvel's top artists and perhaps the only one whose style was so unique that he was not asked to pencil over Jack Kirby's layouts the way many other artists were. Field presents several conversations in the book between Gene and some of the people he worked with at Marvel. The first is a lengthy conversation from 2004 between Gene and Stan Lee. They talk about their first meeting at Timely in the 1940's. Gene mentions that Stan was wearing a beanie cap with a propeller...now that's something I'd love to see! They also discuss their creative process and how books were plotted and finished. Other conversations include Gene talking with his long-time inker Tom Palmer with whom he worked on so many great books over the years, and with Steve Gerber, the writer on Howard the Duck.
Gene worked on numerous titles at Marvel over the years, Daredevil, The Avengers, Captain America...But perhaps the title most associated with him was Dracula which had a remarkable 70 issue run in the 1970's. Colan's Dracula was dark and grim and his incredible use of light and shading gave the book a true horrific feel.
Gene would eventually leave Marvel in the early 1980's after several run-ins with then Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter. Shooter's tenure was marred by one controversy after another including his shameful treatment of Jack Kirby. Shooter was highly critical of Gene's work and harassed him with constant demands of changes. Gene would migrate to DC along with many other former Marvel staffers who had grown tired of Shooter including Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman. To be fair, Tom Field presents both sides in the Colan/Shooter situation. He allows Shooter to give his side of the story in which he feels he was doing what was right for the company and felt Gene was cutting corners with his work. Unfortunately Shooter's credibility is almost nil due to his run-ins with so many other artists and writers.
At DC Gene would work on Batman, Wonder Woman, Detective, and new projects such as Night Force and Nathaniel Dusk. Gene would find himself under attack again for his art, this time by John Byrne who was highly critical of Gene in a Comics Journal interview in 1982. Byrne would basically call Gene a cheat and say that 90% of the time you could not tell what was happening on the page. I credit Field for including this in the book. I would guess he knew that rather than be any kind of indictment against Gene, that it would make Byrne look like a jerk for making an unwarranted attack on a true legend. Cheat? Byrne is still giving every character that same weird looking, rectangular mouth for twenty-five years!
Gene would leave DC some years later after similar criticisms by then Editor Dick Giordano. Gene would strictly freelance from now on and even go back to work at Marvel (shooter has since been broomed himself). Today, Gene has found many new outlets for his work thanks to the internet. He's busy doing commissions for fans who truly appreciate his work.
Tom Field presents a portrait of a man who fits the nickname of "Gentleman Gene". Colan's volume of work over the last sixty years is awe-inspiring. It's great to see Gene finally getting the tribute he so justly deserves.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Great Stuff!.......2005-08-29
This piece covers the life-span career of GENE "THE DEAN" COLAN. From early drawings he did in his boyhood until his recent commissions. Lots of rare never seen before fotos and original art. From the early days at Timely and Atlas (later known as Marvel Comics), DC (Hopalong Cassidy), Marvel again with SUB-MARINER, IRON MAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, DAREDEVIL, and of course TOMB OF DRACULA and HOWARD THE DUCK. Conversations with Gene and his collegues Tom Palmer, Marv Wolfman, his wife Adrienne and many others. Even Jim Shooter about the conflicts that lead Gene Colan to leave Marvel for DC, where he did BATMAN and some other series starring WONDER WOMAN and SUPERMAN. What else can I say? If you like superhero comics and want to learn more about the persons behind them, buy this book, read and enjoy! This one is unique. Hopefully publisher TwoMorrows and author Tom Field will continue this with other great comic artist...
Book Description
Book Review by New York Times Best Selling Author Ellen Tanner Marsh Shadow Fields By D. F. Whipple What happens when you wake up from the American Dream to find that you are actually living in an American nightmare? Can reality ever be as good as all you had hoped for? In D. F. Whipple's wild original debut, Shadow Fields, we're about to find out. Jack Maguire has it all: charm, power and enough money made on Wall Street to live like a king. But things are definitely not what they seem. His wife Jennifer, for instance, is so plagued by her past that she soon sinks into the brink of madness. His daughter Anne is depressed and suicidal. And Jack's favorite anodyne, work, just isn't doing the job for him all of a sudden. How can Jack live when the only dreams he has now are broken ones? As satirical as Thomas Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities and as inventive as Nabokov, Whipple has great fun poking holes into Wall Street sacred cows. His prose is diamond-hard and shining with meaning, and his characters are so alive and rich, you'll swear you know them personally. But Whipple is after more important things than creating mere satire. This is a tough reexamination of lives in the balance, careers on the make or break, and the casual way in which we sell our souls to achieve what we only think we want. Blistering, funny and deeply moving, this cautionary tale tells us to be careful for what we wish for, because getting it may not make us happy. At least not as happy as this richly satirical novel does.
Download Description
Control. Jack wanted it back. It was ripped away long ago. So this life of Wall Street-a realm where reality and myth intertwined-had taken its toll. On his body. On his soul. After December, he felt besieged, and it was all random and meaningless, and Jack knew he was falling into the abyss.
Jack Maguire has it all: money, power, charm, and the ability to overcome any challenge. Until today. Suddenly Maguire, the CEO of Taylor Drake and one of the most powerful businessmen in America, finds himself helpless-desperate for bearings. Working ninety hours a week is no help; in fact, the harder he works, the deeper he sinks. His wife, Jennifer, has grown distant. Anne, his teenaged daughter, is depressed. And worst of all, a tragedy struck on Christmas Eve. After years of camaraderie and laughter, Jack now suffers alone-a winner overwhelmed with loss. Wry, heartfelt, and deeply poetic, Shadow Fields explores the nature of opposites-life and death, success and failure, hope and fear-but ultimately asks whether these are opposites at all. Indeed, Jack Maguire cries out for an answer, and in the process, he speaks for everyone.
Customer Reviews:
Shadow Fields.......2007-05-29
From the moment I opened this book, I knew I would want to know everything there is to know about Jack's life. I felt every pain and victory with him. The writing is truly glorious. Thank you D.F. Whipple!
Stephanie D.
A gem--read it!.......2007-05-28
If you have ever heard someone describe seeing Springsteen at the Stone Pony *before* Greetings from Asbury Park, or saw LeBron play basketball in high school, you can get a sense for how I feel having read D.F. Whipple's Shadow Fields. The book is beautifully written, not just engaging but engrossing. That it comes without the hype of a major publishing house makes it even more delicious.
Shadow Fields tells the story of Jack Maguire, a man on the fast track who gets to the top and wonders what he has sacrificed and whether he should change course. But this is a fresh take on this not uncommon story.
I'm no literary critic, so I can't delve too deeply here, but the highlights of the book for me were the characters and their conversations, which are vivid and oh-so-real; the examination of the marriage, which will have anyone in a relationship doing some soul-searching; and the fact that I did not want to put this book down.
The book also passes my other tests: I will give it to friends confidently; and I will read it again myself to delve deeper into some of the important themes.
Look--I'm rooting for Whipple, in part because he is not backed (yet) by the big publishers. I just ordered Snooker Glen, his second novel, although I wonder if an author who scores big with his first novel can possibly nail the second as well.
And I recommend this book highly. You will enjoy reading it, and it will get you thinking. And someday, we'll all boast about how early we were aboard Whipple's career.
Shadow Fields.......2007-01-27
Who can recall that vivid, altering moment when the confluence of events converge to define one's life course? The trajectory is announced, crystallized...defined. When is that second when the whispered voice of encouragement and self affirmation adjusts to an audible volume, undismissable with its intent? It morphs into a propellant for self confidence...self belief...an embracing escort to the next test. It becomes the impenetrable fiber woven for the vicissitudes of life...not dismissable! D.F. Whipple conducts those pivotal Doylestown scenes with a musical mastery...balancing the "turn of the phrase" with the staccato of anticipation and a sensitive , controlled tempo, until the accelerando vibrates towards its ultimate , exuberant release. I felt present for Jack Macguire's defining moment on those Doylestown Shadow Fields, realizing at once the transforming message of self insight and self affirmation. An invaluable read for life students, who approach the raised bar...no matter what the goal....n'importe! A Shadow Field is there for us all.
A Great Read.......2007-01-10
Shadow Fields is a great read!! Jack is a captivating character with struggles that are well storied by D.F. Whipple. The flow of the story was excellent and the writing superb. No part of the story was left unfinished and I was left with a seamless vision of the characters portrayed. I'd highly recommend buying the other book by D.F. Whipple, Snooker Glen.
Shadow Fields.......2006-08-09
D.F. Whipple's poetic development of a young man in total control of his environment, effortlessly setting and achieving his goals, is eloquent and beautifully constructed. Jack Maquire's fast-paced life and meteroric rise in the most demanding pressure cooker, Wall Street, contrasts sharply with his almost melancholy awareness of 'the true meaning to love and life.' While his inner struggle for Balance ensues, his values and beliefs are shaken to the point of collapse.
Wonderful insight from Mr. Whipple; I loved all the switch-backs; a great read!
Book Description
The Shadow Side of Fieldwork draws attention to typically hidden or unacknowledged aspects of ethnographic research that nevertheless shape knowledge, texts, and methodologies. These are the invisible, unspoken, elusive, and mysterious areas where life and research overlap, private experiences and formal ethnography blur, and research boundaries seem to dissolve.Containing essays by such varied luminaries as Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Vincent Crapanzano, this book penetrates the many shadows in ethnographic field encounters. The authors recount personal and professional challenges that lead them to confront the complex sources or paradoxical nature of their insights. By turning attention to the shadow sides of fieldwork and thoroughly exploring what they find there, the writers, as responsible researchers, hope to deepen confidence in ethnographic knowledge. The Shadow Side of Fieldwork helps students and scholars to understand the submerged influences inherent in their research, and is essential reading for anyone involved in ethnographic fieldwork.
Book Description
The tale of Paul Stoller's sojourn among sorcerors in the Republic of Niger is a story of growth and change, of mutual respect and understanding that will challenge all who read it to plunge deeply into an alien world.
Customer Reviews:
neither anthropology nor shamanism.......2003-09-19
In this book, Paul Stoller, an ambitious graduate student, tries to make sense of social life of Songhay-speaking people in the eastern Niger. The Songhay have once possessed the largest empire in African history; their formidable magician-king Sunni Ali created an elaborate and effective administrative system extending all the way up to Timbuktu and even Morrocco and, as Stoller shows in this book, Sunni Ali's memory is still very much alive in contemporary Niger.
The book follows Stoller as he wanders around Songhay villages trying to document social mores. He quickly finds what M. Mead never did - that polling and questionnaire techniques he was taught in the US do not work with the Songhay. In Niger, a direct question typically elicits an outright lie; effective field work consists of listening and participating whereas direct interrogation is counter-productive. Stoller then falls into the hands of a local "sorko", or magician-healer, who offers to teach him the secrets of the trade. At this point, the author is faced with the question: should one maintain, in bona fide anthropological work, classical aims of "objectivity" and "impartiality" or should one immerse oneself totally and completely into indigenous life, risking drowning into it and being forever lost to science? Stoller does neither: he is awed by the power and mystery of the secrets that he is witnessing yet at the same time he seems to be unable to comprehend the most elementary laws of indigenous shamanic practices. Thus, like the proverbial deer facing headlights of a car, Stoller is is constantly paralyzed by incomprehension and fear.
For me, the book provides more evidence for the hypothesis that the "Western paradigm" is just one of many, and not that empowering at that. If we start to tinker with our paradigm by "apprenticing" to cultures based on hard, merciless and pragmatic obsession with spiritual power (such as the Songhay) we are in for a tough ride. Stoller was; he ran away and I do not blame him.
On the other hand, the dialogues in this book are great and often funny and the book is a must read for anyone contemplating visiting Niger, Mali or Burkina Faso.
An enthnographer enters the world of the Sorcerers........1997-10-08
I chanced upon this book a few years ago, and consider it a real find. Paul Stoller gives a edge-of-the-seat account of his fieldwork amoung the Songhay of Niger. Very readable, detailed, and often humerous. It raises many questions about the nature of anthropological fieldwork.
Amazon.com
North America's largest wildcat stalks a landscape of myth, fear, and isolation. Most people--even ardent outdoors enthusiasts--will never see one. "In eleven years of hiking, boating, guiding, and exploring," says writer Pam Houston, "I've come face to face with nearly every North American game species"--except a mountain lion. But as we encroach increasingly on their habitat, the tally of sightings goes up, along with stories of attacks on humans and even deaths. The essays that make up Shadow Cat introduce us to the animal and the controversies that surround it. Divided into three parts, the collection covers natural history, eyewitness accounts (from biologists, hunters, and admirers), and the complex, sometimes nasty politics surrounding Felis concolor, variously known as cougar, catamount, panther, puma, painter, and mountain lion. Noted conservation writer Ted Williams exalts in the animal's population comeback after decades of persecution; Rick Bass tells of his own history with a legendary lion in the Yaak Valley of Montana; and Chris Bolgiano puzzles over improbable sightings in the East. The collection's true high moments arrive, however, in skillful editing that reveals an interconnected community of cat fanciers and the complicated ethics they navigate in their avocations. In "Eat of This Flesh," celebrated environmental writer David Quammen (Song of the Dodo) sits down to a meal of stir-fried lion, chewing over some difficult ethical questions: "I will let the butcher do all of my killing. I will destroy habitat, but not animals. I will eat stir-fried shrimp, stir-fried beef, even stir-fried elk, but not stir-fried lion. Huh?" In the next piece, E. Donnall Thomas Jr.--doctor, writer, bow hunter, and the chef in the previous essay--serves up a taste of the hunt, musing,
No matter how many times I stare up into an evergreen canopy and see a mountain lion, I doubt that I will ever become accustomed to the experience, and to tell the truth, I hope I never do. Tawny and graceful, the cat looks as if it belongs on another continent, if not another planet.
As coauthor Elizabeth Grossman explains in her introduction, "these powerful predators have, in many ways, become emblematic of the debate over [preserving] wildness and wilderness"--a debate that more and more is binding those who would hunt a lion with those who would protect it. Such ironies seem almost appropriate. The whiskered face that emerges in Shadow Cat is of a regal yet inscrutable predator, one threatened by habitat loss, public misapprehension, and its own uncanny ability to survive. --Langdon Cook
Customer Reviews:
It worked.......2007-07-11
I have recently become intrigued by the Cougar and found this book. In general, the essays were not too political or preachy, but filled instead with a shared love of this predator and its place in our imagination. I could do with a little less of the "I am part of the esoteric tiny society of humans special enough to enjoy this spot on earth..since I'm here first I will smugly vilify anyone else who thinks their SUV belongs here" sentiment. Of course, this sentiment is a natural reaction to polulation explosion and necessary, but it was little thick in spots.
A terrible book on lions........2000-03-06
If you want a terrific book on mountain lions, then please read Soul Among Lions by Harley Shaw. I have read every book on lions and his is the only one worth reading. Most of the authors in Shadow Cat are easterners who have moved to Montana or California, displacing numerous wildlife species with their cabin in the wilderness and who have never even seen a lion, let alone have any kind of authority to provide insight into any aspect of lion ecology. The book is biased toward anti-hunting and environmentalism and doesn't portray an accurate picture. If you are a granola who likes to blame loggers and hunters for your own ineptness then you may like this book. They let Wayne Pacelle have the parting shot in this book, and well if that doesn't throw up a big red flag then you're probably dumb enough to want to read Shadow Cat.
An anthology of cougar lore........1999-09-02
A sleek, golden mountain lion sizes up the reader from the cover of "Shadow Cat". Intelligent, probing eyes pierce your soul. This is an anthology of cougar lore: natural history, cat encounters, and conflicts. Do you want something different? Sample David Quammen's description of a meal preparation. The main course: cougar flesh. Shadow cat offers the perspectives of hunters and conservationists, ephemeral recollections and sensation. Variety it has.
Excellent book, but Houston, we have a problem.......1999-08-25
Some anthologies are glued together, others are woven. This text is a wonderful tapestry of insightful, well written essays that address a controversial topic without relying on platitudes. There is one strand that is out of place, however, and while I normally think bad literature is best left ignored, I have to inquire why Pam Houston was included here? Her fiction is shallow, and when put to the test here, in essay form, it is apparent that she cannot write one honest line, cannot turn an original phrase that does not rely on her own substantial ego. The real meditations here are from Elizabeth Marshall, David Quammen, Rick Bass. Here is contemporary nature writing at its best.
Average customer rating:
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Bright skies and dark shadows
Henry M Field
Manufacturer: Books for Libraries Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0836952804 |
Books:
- Shawls and Scarves: The Best of Knitter's Magazine (Best of Knitter's Magazine series, The)
- Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps
- Ship of Fools
- Slick
- Something Happened
- Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq
- Straight from the Horse's Mouth: How to Talk to Animals and Get Answers
- Strangers in the Night
- Summer At Willow Lake (Lakeshore Chronicles)
- Surfacing
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