No comments about Ruth Benedict. (Leaders of Modern Anthropology Series).

5 comments about Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (Haymarket Series).

1. I grew up in central Oklahoma and can identify with many of the themes Ms. Dunbar-Ortiz writes about in Red Dirt. I think anyone who is on a journey of self-discovery or is attempting to reconcile his or her past will enjoy this book as much as I did. I rarely read literature about Oklahoma that makes me proud to be an "Okie" - this book does just that.



2. if you like books about the old way of living,you will love this book. it brings back memories of my childhood...



3. ...
   The best of autobiographical works are those that convey, in the telling of one life story, larger truths than those we experience as individuals. To accomplish this feat with seeming effortlessness, as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has done with Red Dirt, is to create not only a valuable historical record, but a literary work that is a pleasure to read. Employing the finest storytelling skills, Dunbar-Ortiz lovingly recollects her youth in Oklahoma and the family dynamics she experienced "growing up Okie" during the mid-20th-century. In the process, she touches upon a host of social issues--among them racism, sexism, and economic disparity--that have plagued the U.S. since its earliest days. Perhaps most importantly, she offers one resounding voice from among a vast population--namely, the white underclass--that consistently has been underrepresented in historical texts, and misrepresented in popular culture. Exploding the notion of 'poor white trash,' Dunbar-Ortiz offers three-dimensional alternative as she reconstructs through her personal memoir the history and struggles of the frontier settler class and its descendants. As we move into the next century, Red Dirt is a text of vital significance to our collective humanity



4. This book was my introduction to Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz. I read it before I learned more about her and her career as an activist for the past 40 years. She reflects on her life from birth until her move to California. She grew up in rural Oklahoma during some of the worst years ever. These were the years that shaped her, the launching pad of her feminist, anti-family, pro-socialist, anti-war, ... efforts.
   
   The reader can learn a good bit about the Socialist movement in Oklahoma in the early 1900's, the Green Corn Rebellion and the patriotic surge that accompanied World War I.
   
   Roxanne's grandfather, one of the less 'disfunctional' family members was a Socialist and strongly pro-labor and imparted his views to her. She remembers him fondly. It appears that her abusive alcoholic mother influenced her ideas about the family and church. She had very little to say about her mother or father that is not negative. Considering these influences, the dire poverty of her early childhood, and her marriage 'up' the social ladder her views on things are not too surprising. Simple - yes, but undeniably true, at least in part. And that does not take away from her drive, talent and desire to make a positive change in the world.
   
   You can learn more about Roxanne at her website, reddirt.com.
   
   I think I will read Outlaw Woman, the next volume of her story.



5. I could not put this book down. It is an engaging book. I read it for some background research on John Steinbeck and the Grapes of Wraths. If you have read Steinbeck's masterpiece you have to read Red Dirt. I think Roxanne's memoir completes the story of the Joads. The psyche of the "Okie" comes alive and the drive of Roxanne to break away and then come to terms with it is fascinating. I loved this book so much that I use it for the Ethnic studies classes that I teach. I believe that to understand different ethnic groups we all have to understand what makes White America tick. This book delivers a much-needed look at the class divide among white America and no matter how much the poor whites have been abused by their richer cousins they still stand by their side. Why? Because they are white. This was a great ride

No comments about From a Town on the Hudson: A Japanese Woman's Life in America.

1 comments about Moved by Love: The Memoirs of Vinoba Bhave.

1. Vinoba Bhave (1940-1982) lived a simple life devoted to non-violence, engaged spirituality, and to the power of love. In his Introduction to Bhave's engaging memoirs, Satish Kumar observes that, as one of modern India's great spiritual leaders and social reformers, "Bhave was a man of great purity" (p. 13). Visionary that he was, Bhave recognized that he was a man who belonged "to another world than this, one that may seem very strange. For I claim that I am moved by love, that I feel it all the time" (p. 17).

   Bhave's fascinating life may be organized as follows. Broadly speaking, during his first twenty years, Bhave accumulated knowledge. During the next twenty years he accumulated the power to observe his religious vows. He then devoted the final period of his life to "accumulating love" (p. 88). In its 272 pages, MOVED BY LOVE first paints a touching picture of Bhave's parents, and then follows Bhave on his long walks through India, supporting Gandhi by offering non-violent resitance to the British Raj in 1940, and later persuading landlords to give more than four million acres of their land with India's poor. Bhave believed that "land is for everyone, like air, water, and sunlight" (p. 157). "What am I doing in all this?" Bhave asks midway through the book. "What do I want? I want change. First, change of heart, then change in personal life habits, followed by change in the structure of society" (pp. 134-5).

   These are the memoirs of a social activist who lived with one foot in his inner world, and the other foot constantly engaged in the outer world. "I have had very sacred experiences," Bhave tells us, "for I have become aware of the great purity of heart to be found among ordinary people, and have realized what a strength this is to our country. It is the foundation upon which, if we will, we may build a strong nation" (p. 121).

   G. Merritt

No comments about One Barber's Story: From Sicily to America.

5 comments about Travels in the Maya World.

1. Anyone curious or confused by the ongoing conflict in Chiapas will find everything he or she needs to know, among many other things, in this really enjoyable, highly readable book. I recommend it for both veterans and first timers.



2. Mystery, enigma, consternation...all words associated with the Maya. This book, however, sees them in more intimate, more reasonable and more logical form. A wonderful travel book, great descriptions of the Maya World, but also a sensible approach to their culture. Be sure to read "The Other Side of Yesterday, the China-Maya Connection", by the same author. Thought provoking and exciting!



3. This is a fantastic book, really well written. It is also fun, funny and unusual. It sees things most people don't see. It notices and it describes and it informs. I loved it and am planning to give it to friends as a gift.



4. The forward by Jacqueline Larralde de Saenz is really terrific, very loving and detailed. I liked it. It brings the reader right into the book and the author's point of view, from the vantage point of this highly respected anthropologist. Highly recommended reading.



5. I just finished reading this stunning book and  I must complement the author on her expertise as a writer.  I wish I had her command of the English language.  The book is reminiscent of John L. Stephens who Edgar Allen Poe considered one of the best writers of the 19th century. Her lyrical pursuit of the Maya includes valid academic observations and transports the reader to a magical world of moist scent and dappled light. A pure delight.
    

2 comments about Taxi from Hell: Confessions of a Russian Hack.

1. I've read this book in Russian (Russian version is called "Yellow Kings"), and now eager to read it in English. Book is very interesting and author's style is perfect. And, more important - book describes real life, with it humorous and sad moments. I'm Russian and when I first went to NYC - I saw the city the same "way" as the author did...



2. This is a true view behind the yellow curtain of the taxi staging lot at any major airport in the states. And how owners and drivers interact.

No comments about Georg Simmel (Key Sociologists).

No comments about Emile Durkheim.

No comments about Sigmund Freud (Key Sociologists).