Movements Books - Page 7

The Jewish State: A Century Later, Updated With a New Preface

Alan Dowty

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Editorial Review:

As the fiftieth anniversary of Israeli statehood approaches, along with the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the World Zionist Organization, the question of what is meant by a "Jewish" state is particularly timely. Alan Dowty takes on that question in a book that is admirable for its clarity and its comprehensive interpretation of the historical roots and contemporary functioning of Israel.
Israeli nationhood, democracy, and politics did not unfold in a social or political vacuum, but developed from power-sharing practices in pre-state Jewish communities in Palestine and in Eastern Europe. Dowty elucidates the broad cluster of cultural, historical, and ideological tenets which came to comprise Israel's contemporary political system. He demonstrates that such tenets were not arbitrary but in fact developed logically from Jewish political habits and the circumstances of time. Dowty illustrates how these traditions are balanced with those of ideology and modernization, and he provides an integrated, sophisticated analysis of the Israeli nation's formation and present state.
Dowty also proposes thoughtful answers to puzzles regarding the strengths and weaknesses of Israeli democracy in responding to the challenges of communal divisions, religious contention, the country's non-Jewish minority, and accommodation with the Palestinians. The Jewish State will be invaluable for anyone looking for that one book that gives an intelligent overview of both Israel today and of its origins.

Shattering Silence

Begona Aretxaga

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Subjects -> History -> Europe -> Ireland -> Troubles
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> Ireland -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very interesting 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

As a strong reader with a great interest in the "Troubles", I've read many books, by T. P. Coogan, P. Taylor, M. Dillon and others. I found most of them very interesting, but I was amazed by the overwhelming "shattering silence" about women. For instance, in 519 pages of Coogan's "The Troubles", one of the most important IRA women, Mairead Farrell, well known far beyond the Irish borders, gets only 11 lines.

While I was reading these books I wondered why the writers seemed so little interested in highlighting the actual women's role in the "war". In their researches women are seen and interviewed (when they are interviewed)just as mothers, wives, sisters, never as women with their own life, stories, experiences, dreams, their own struggle or political involvement.

Begona Aretxaga gives us a convincing answer about the roots and the meaning of this silence. She fills the gap between the Myth of Mother Ireland and the real life of the real women in the North, and, in so doing, she offers an excellent contribution in women studies in Ireland, beyond the stereotypes that sometimes affect mainstreaming feminism. But she also offers a helpful key to understand the "Truobles" as a whole. Her arguing about "the parallel between the struggle of republican women for recognition and voice within the republican movement, and the struggle of republican movement for recognition and voice within the arena of Northern Ireland politics", as well as about the issue of decommissioning, helped me in understanding the full, underlying meaning of what was going on along the difficoult months following the Good Friday Agreement.

In Aretxaga's words, "this book is an ethnography of unrecognised and misrecognized nationalist working-class women" as political subjects, and it's very useful to people who wish to know more about gender and violence in Northern Ireland thruogh the last 30 years. But because of its analysis of the interlocking systems of inequality of colonialism, class and gender, I recommend it to everyone interested in getting a better comprehension of the complexities of the Troubles and of the ongoing, difficoult, sometimes disheartening, peace process.

Editorial Review:

Presents a feminist ethnography of the violence in Northern Ireland, providing an analysis of a political conflict through the lens of gender. The case in point is the Catholic resistance to British rule in Northern Ireland. During the 1970s, women in Catholic/nationalist districts of Belfast organized themselves into street committees and led popular forms of resistance against the policies of the government of Northern Ireland, and, after its demise, against those of the British. This text argues that these practices were an integral part of the social dynamic of the conflict and had important implications for the broader organization of nationalsit forms of resistance and gender relationships.

Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern

Prasenjit Duara

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Extensively researched and annotated 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Sovereignty And Authenticity: Manchukuo And The East Asian Modern by Prasenjit Duara (Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago), is a technical and advanced study of imperialism, nationalism, modernity, tradition, government, and exploitation with an especial and illustrative focus on Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in northeast China that lasted from 1932 to 1945. Extensively researched and annotated, this critical and scholarly discourse delves both into the nuanced intricacies of history and the fascinating mass psychology mechanisms of society and government, Sovereignty And Authenticity is an impressive and strongly recommended work of World War II era history.

Editorial Review:

In this powerful and provocative book, Prasenjit Duara uses the intriguing case of Manchukuo--the Japanese puppet state in northeast China from 1932-1945--to explore how such antinomies as imperialism and nationalism, modernity and tradition, and governmentality and exploitation interacted in the post-World War I period. He argues that Manchukuo, as a transparently constructed nation-state, offers a unique historical laboratory for examining the utilization and transformation of circulating global forces mediated by the East Asian modern. With its sweepingly original theoretical and comparative perspectives on nationalism and imperialism, this book will be essential reading for all those interested in contemporary history.

The New American Revolution: Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists

Tammy Bruce

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Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The New American Revolution A controversial and powerful manifesto for twenty-first-century American Patriots "It's time to swing back the curtains and invite the light in. And that light is American Nationalism, perennially shunned by the Left, condemned by Socialists, and without any special interest group fighting for its rebirth. It has no legitimate advocates. And yet it is the very idea that will save not only our nation, but the rest of the world as well," declares Tammy Bruce. With this remarkable book, the bestselling author, activist, and independent pundit pulls no punches, illustrating how a new American revolution is upon us -- a revolution based on American Nationalism and Individualism. Grounded in reason, classical philosophy, and hard-earned experience, Bruce explores the dramatic shift in American attitudes since the tragedy of September 11. She illustrates how in our effort to take this nation back from nihilistic extremists, American Nationalism, individualism, gun ownership, the tearing down of liberal institutions, personal activism, and knowing the enemy are the new tools for today's Patriot. The "Hate America First" ideology has prevailed for far too long, says Bruce, and she now offers a powerful prescription to reverse the moral and cultural decay wrought by Leftist extremists for four decades. This power to stem the tide resides squarely within the reawakened American founding concept of "E Pluribus Unum", or "Out of Many, One." It is this ingrained individualist spirit of the average American that makes this country thebest nation on earth, and now fuels the noble fight against the scourge of the Collectivist Left. In a positive framework with empowering ideas, insight, and tools for direct action, Bruce has captured a watershed moment in American history.

Sibling Society

Robert Bly

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his phenomenal bestseller, Iron John, Robert Bly captivated the nation with the wisdom embedded in a thousand-year-old fairy tale, creating both a cultural movement and publishing history.Now, in Silbling Society, Bly turns to stories as unexpected as Jack and the Beanstalk and the Hindu tale of the Ganesha to illustrate and illuminated the troubled soul of our nation itself. What he shows us is a culture where adults remain children, and where children have no desire to become adults—a nation of squabbling siblings.Through his use of poetry and myth, Bly takes us beyond the sociological statistics and tired psychobabble to see our dilemma afresh. In this sibling culture that he describes, we tolerate no one above us and have no concern for anyone below us. Like sullen teenagers, we live in our peer group, glancing side to side, rather than upward, for direction. We have brought down all forms of hierarchy because hierarchy is based on power, often abused. Yet with that leveling we have also destroyed any willingness to look up or down. Without that ”verticle gaze,” as Bly calls it, we have no longing for the good, no deep understanding of evil. We shy away from great triumphs and deep sorrow. We have no elders and no children; no past and no future. What we are left with is spiritual flatness. The talk show replaces family. Instead of art we have the Internet. In place of community we have the mall.By drawing upon such magnificent spirits as Pablo Neruda, Rumi, Emily Dickenson, and Ortega y Gasset, Bly manages to show us the beautiful possibilities of human existence, even as he shows us the harshest truths. Still, his probing is deeper and more unsettling than the usual cultural criticism. He finds that our economy’s stimulation of adolescent envy and greed has changed us fundamentally. The Superego that once demanded high standards in our work and in our ethics no longer demands that we be good but merely ”famous,” bathed in the warm glow of superficial attention. Driven by this insatiable need, and with no guidance toward the discipline required for genuine accomplishment, our young people are defeated before they begin.It is the young and disenfranchised who are most victimized by the sibling culture, our children and out elders and those marked as ”not us” by race and economic circumstance. In a phrase common to the ancient stories Bly uses to illustrate his themes, it is these people who we all to easily ”throw out the window,” but it is also these disenfranchised who will be waiting for us on the road ahead to claim their due.A wake-up call, an inspiration, brilliantly original, The Sibling Society will capture the imagination and enliven our nation’s cultural debate as no other book in years.

Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism

Elaine H. Kim

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent Anaylsis 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Professor Kim is simply amazing in this book and you can see why she is regarded as one of the leading experts in the field of Asian Studies, Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies. Particularly helpful is the voice that Prof. Kim gives to the disenfranchised in historical books. They say historical books are written by conquerors. Nationalist movements that succeed generally give credit to the one who takes the credit as the conqueror, but we have to remember that there are many people before him (or her) who remain silent because they were in the stage of struggle and suffering, rather than victory. There should be more historical studies like this.

Editorial Review:

Dangerous Women addresses the themes of Korean nationalism and gender construction, as well as various issues related to the colonialization and decolonialization of the Korean nation. The contributors explore the troubled category of "woman," placing it in the specific context of a marginalized and colonized nation. But Korean women are not merely configured here as metaphors for an emasculated and infantilized "homeland;" they are also shown to be products of a problematic gender construction that originates in Korea, and extends even today to Korean communities beyond Asia. Representations of Korean women still attempt to confine them to the status of either mother or prostitute: Dangerous Women rectifies that construction, offering a feminist intervention that might recuperate womanhood.

The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful Shape the World

Deyan Sudjic

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Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Architecture -> Building Types & Styles -> General
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Architecture -> Building Types & Styles -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From one of the world's premier architecture critics, a groundbreaking dissection of how the colossal egos of the powerful and wealthy determine what actually gets built--of the real reasons why we build.

Architecture critics most often write about buildings as a form of art, promulgating an "auteur theory" of architecture that focuses on the dazzling brilliance of the big names, such as Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry, and underplaying the role of the wealthy and powerful in forcing the architects' hands. Deyan Sudjic puts forth a boldly contrarian view. Architecture must be understood as an expression of power and as a weapon, or form of propaganda, that is used in ways both subtle and grandiose as a means of achieving and maintaining power--of carving a legacy out of glass, steel, and stone.

While most architecture books focus on a certain building or a specific architect, The Edifice Complex takes a wide-angle look at a fascinating range of buildings and large-scale building schemes--both the impressively effective and the disastrously ill conceived. In a lively and wonderfully accessible narrative style, Sudjic takes readers behind the scenes of the stories of the great political manipulators of architecture in the twentieth century, from the great dictators of fascism--Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin--and their megalomaniacal plans for rebuilding Berlin, Rome, and Moscow, to power-broker businessmen such as Nelson Rockefeller; and from the "theme park" propaganda of the presidential libraries to the vainglorious symbolism of Saddam Hussein's Mother of All Battles Mosque. While some leaders have used architecture as a means of consolidating control over a nation, others have employed architecture to shape a new national identity, as Ataturk did to a large degree of success in Turkey and the shahs attempted and failed to do in Iran.

But what of the architects? Sudjic also examines the role they play in lending their talents to these efforts, from those who have all too willingly aided and abetted, such as Albert Speer, to those who have courted the powerful while remaining true to their art, such as Mies van der Rohe.

The Edifice Complex offers a brilliant reinterpretation of the role of buildings in our lives and of the age-old question why we build.

These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory

Thomas A. Desjardin

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> Civil War -> Campaigns -> Gettysburg
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> Civil War -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Separating Fact From Fiction 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

My first thought was "Oh no! Another book about the Battle of Gettysburg." As a resident of the bustling tourist town and frequent battlefield "stomper" I decided to give it a go.
From Thomas Desjardin's introduction, to the very end, he dispells many of the myths about the Battle of Gettysburg, many myths that are still told today. Desjardin reveals how history and memory often conflict and how many of the battlefield legends came to be. A refreshing look at a much written about topic!

Editorial Review:

Ever since the guns of Gettysburg fell silent, and Lincoln delivered his famous two-minute speech four months after the battle, the story of this three-day conflict has become an American legend. We remember Gettysburg as, perhaps, the biggest, bloodiest, and most important battle ever fought-the defining conflict in American history. But how much truth is behind the legend? In These Honored Dead, Thomas A. Desjardin, a prominent Civil War historian and a perceptive cultural observer, demonstrates how flawed our knowledge of this enormous event has become, and why. He examines how Americans, for seven score years, have shaped, used, altered, and sanctified our national memory, fashioning the story of Gettysburg as a reflection of, and testimony to, our culture and our nation.

On Nationality (Oxford Political Theory)

David Miller

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

good philosophical discussion of nationality 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book contains a good discussion of nationality and its consequences for our daily lives. Miller discusses different philosophical positions on nationality, namely ethical universalism vs. ethical particularism and conservative nationalism vs. liberal nationalism. He believes that nationality can serve many constructive purposes, including keeping us together as an (imagined) community plus giving a basis for trust within a state. Miller recognizes the problems inherent in nationality - for instance the never-ending problems of supporting national self-determination as a doctrine - although he claims that nationality and nationalism are not equivalent. He argues that we should make nationality as non-ethnic as possible to include all members of the nation.

Miller does falter when it comes to the ethics of nationality in international relations, claiming that we should sponsor a 'friendly rivalry' between nations and help other nations help themselves without realizing how such a position can lead towards violating his belief in the inherent right for all nations to exist. At the end of the book he also supports the right of a state to offer protection to its national culture to prevent the McDonaldization of the world's cultures, something that can end up being quite illiberal in response to something many authors (like Anthony Smith) believe has been blown out of proportion. Nonetheless this book is quite generally quite convicing and is thus valuable reading for students of political theory and nationalism alike.

Editorial Review:

Nationalism is a dominating force in contemporary politics, but political philosophers have been markedly reluctant to discuss, let alone endorse, nationalist ideas. In this book, David Miller defends the principle of nationality, arguing that national identities are valid sources of personal identity; that we are justified in recognizing special obligations to our co-nationals; that nations have good grounds for wanting to be politically self-determining; but that recognizing the claims of nationality does not entail suppressing other sources of personal identity, such as ethnicity. Finally, he considers the claim that national identities are dissolving in the late twentieth century. This timely and provocative book offers the most compelling defense to date of nationality from a radical perspective.

The Promise Of American Life

Herbert Croly

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Stunning Statement of How We might Effect Change for the Better 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I first read Herbert Croly's 1909 book, "The Promise of American Life" while in graduate school in 1980. I recognized then that it offered a powerful, seminal, and motivating statement for the Progressive movement then dominating the United States. It presented a manifesto for change in a time when Americans felt keenly that the nation had "run off the rails" and set on course a liberal tradition that reached fruition in the "New Deal" of the 1930s and the "Great Society" of the 1960s. On recently rereading it I find it speaks to the America of the early twenty-first century as well, for his statement of the problems of the nation remain valid and his prescriptions for resolving them still offer hope for the future.

For Croly the individualistic, libertarian America of the agrarian eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was gone, swept away by the forces of the industrial revolution, urbanization, centralization, and modernity. He advocated a new political consensus that included as its core a form of Hamiltonian nationalism, but with a sense of social responsibility and care for the less fortunate. Since the power of big business, trusts, interest groups, and economic specialization had transformed the nation in the latter part of the nineteenth century, only the embracing of a counterbalance to this power would serve the society of the future. Croly pressed for the centralization of power in the Federal Government to ensure democracy, a "New Nationalism." As Croly wrote, "the traditional American confidence in individual freedom has resulted in a morally and socially undesirable distribution of wealth" (p. 22). He argued for a national government that was more rather than less powerful than it had been, as a bulwark against overbearing self-interest, greed, corruption, and unchecked power. At the same time, Croly valued the individual motivated by civic virtue and "constructive individualism" and urged all to pursue this objective.

In sum, despite his emphasis on state power for good, Croly's public philosophy is as much a plea for preserving and cultivating individuality in a time of consolidation as it is a call for a renewed American nationalism. Croly's ideas seem even more appropriate for the early twenty-first century than they were for when first written a century ago. Corporatism, greed, and self-interest currently offer no less a threat than in Croly's time. His prescriptions still hold: collective action through a strong, democratic government.

"The Promise of American Life" is a powerful, evocative statement of the potential of humanity to remake the world into a much better place through cooperative action. Its lessons are still useful a century after its publication.

Editorial Review:

One of the most important books to emerge from the Progressive era, The Promise of American Life offered a blueprint for a modern activist government that had enormous impact on intellectuals coming of age before World War I.