The title says it all as this cogent work opens with a declaration of independence from sociobiology, and proceeds to a reexamination of social evolutionary thinking, the idea of 'evolution' in free fall. Ay there's the rub, what does the free floating concept of (social) evolution really mean, and what is its true relation with organismic evolution? This question has never found an answer, because even the theory of organismic evolution is incomplete. To escape the clutches of E.O. Wilson is not to escape those of S. J. Gould, and the assumptions of basic Darwinism still bedevil analysis even as the banishment of all ideas of progress simply compounds the confusion. For the idea of progress in the docket of ideology, in addition to its excision from all discussion of random evolution, leaves all in confusion. We should a more complex theory to explain progression in one form, as macroevolution, and the individual's actions, as freedom,in another, as a sort of microevolution. In any case, we are still 'looking for the answer',without the gimmicks of sociobiological reductionism and this book explores a host of interesting avenues in a liberating, though eclectic mix of themes from Veblen to Marx. Very stimulating work, and some real nose-thumbing at the Social Darwinist plot thickener from the right wing Darwin gang. Still, one is left with the question, where is the theory? A more universal history might give us the clue to an answer.

An excellent book, finally Banjamin on photography and cinema is available in english. Reading his essay on Chaplin is extremely illuminating concerning the question of the passage from silent film to sound film. His concept of critique, as well as his concept of "making history" lies in this text.

I just loved Sour Land! It was a nice break from all the sugar coated books that most kids read. Sure, the end is sad. But I think that is was the real world is like, full of disapointments, deaths, horible sicknesses, and whatever might come your way. So, reading this book might prepare kids for stuff that is going to get in there way of live one day. I have to tell you that I have always wanted to read a book that had a plot of an adult's book, but was writen for kids. I found that book, I read that book, and I loved that book!

This book, coupled with How to Study by Kornhauser, is a great way to get the basics. Readers will learn everything they need to know, including outlining form, studying for all subjects, etc. Also, it teaches time management, and offers some suggestions for time management. The best thing about this book is its in-depth direction and examples of correct and incorrect form. This is most definitely worth the 10 dollars or so.

I recieved this book from Mr. Armstrong after I lost my parents in a plane crash in 1988. I was one of his students at Kent School. This is an excellent account of losing a loved one and the depression that follows. Armstrong takes you through his heart breaking story of the death of his wife. He is left alone to raise their children. It tells of his depression and how he overcame the tragedy.

I thanked him for helping me through the hardest part of my life. It woke me from the depressive slumber and help pull me back to reallity. It is an excellent book for anyone who has suffered a loss.

William Armstrong invested much time and energy into this book. Factual, including an outiline of Parkers life and accomplishments. Armstong includes many pictures and historical references. Highly recommended for anyone interested in New York State History or the Seneca Indians. Ely Parker rose above the prejudices of society and became a man of both worlds. Hurray for Armstrong, who has developed a book worthy of The Last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois.

Professor William Coaldrake is a lecturer in University of Melbourne Australia, one of the best architecture school in the world. Born in Japan, he has studies and investigated to great length about Japanese traditional architecture, and had participated in rebuilding projects in Japan. He also appears in a Discovery Channel documentary about the Japanese Samurai and Castles. In this book, you will learn the unique process of traditional architecture, the carpenters, and their tools and buildings. A great read for anthropologists, historians, architects and the general public who wants to discover the unique traditions in Japanese architecture.

I loved the book! As an adult, I enjoyed the story. It was a great portrayal of early life in New England and the underlying theme of change was well done. I envision the book as a great story to be read to young children as well as a wonderful book for a school age child to read. What a great holiday gift this will be!

LIfe on the Color Line was about a child who grew up with the knowledge of thinking that he was white but was really black. He experienced several difficulties throughout his life because of this. Gregory Williams was forced to choose between black and white friends. Gregory's father was in the picture but never really set any good examples and his mother left him at a young age. Growing up with someone else being the mother figure in his life was very difficult for him. Miss Dora treated him and his brother as though they were her own flesh and blood. Even with all the bad experiences and wrong decision making, in the end Gregory completed the novel with a very successful life. He became married, had two children of his own and had a degree in law. I did not give the book 5 stars because throughout the book it talked about his brother's life as well as his. Towards the end of the book, they never spoke on how he became blind in very much detail or how his life ended like they talked about with Gregory.

Very few people in America could have imagined a life like Greg Williams had. His life and experiences were so unique that there couldn't have been a more appropriate title than "Life on the Color Line." The blatant racism he encounters all through his childhood and teenage years while trying to just grow-up and be a normal kid is something that American should be ashamed of when remembering this time in our history. Anyone that thinks racism wasn't THAT bad back then should read this book, reading about his perspective should definitely change their mind.

Greg started growing up as a young white boy in Virginia. His life was pretty normal for him and his "white" family at that time. His father successfully passed as white, even though he had black blood running through his veins. He had a couple of successful business ventures, the most notable of which was a booming cafe/diner, which of course adherred to the laws of segregation. Greg's mother was white in the true sense of the term, and she seemed to care for her children deeply as any mother should.

Everything was perfect for Greg and his family until misfortune hits and the veil is pulled off the charade of his father's false life. In a poetic justice type of moment the father's life in Virginia is devastated and shaken literally back to his roots. It looks initially like Greg and his brother Mike will stay with their mother in Virginia, but they have to tag along with their father back to Indiana where all 3 of their lives are changed forever.

Back in Muncie, Indiana, the book almost splits into 3 separate interesting stories: Greg's life, his brother Mike's life, and the father's. Their struggles bring a new meaning to tough times. Greg and his brother now have to blend into the black community which isn't easy, all while they are summarily rejected by the white community, and most painful of all an apparent rejection by their mother.

There are a lot of negatives in their lives now dealing with their living situation, and ... people which are almost laughable. One situation that stands out are the two school officals that get upset at his expressing any interest in white girls, but then the same people are angry when he is marching with a black girl during graduation. However, through all the negativity there is one person that shows how powerful Christian love can be as she adopts them and tries to keep them on the right path.

Greg and Mike's experiences and ongoing fight with racism hardly let you put the book down. I couldn't wait to see how they were going to handle each new situation. Once in a while there is a true story comes along that rivals any fiction, this is one of them!

I am a 19 year old college student. I picked this book up not knowing what to expect. This book took me to a place that I could not imagine anyone ever having to go. Imagine living a happy life with all of the privileges of being white. Imagine your life taking an unexpected twist and all that you ever knew is gone, including your identity. This is the life of Gregory and Mike Williams.

Greogory and Mike were two white kids with not a worry in life until their alcoholic father beat their mother one time too many. She left the kids with their father and fled scared for her life. After their father's business diminished, they had to move to Munchie, Indiana and learn the horrid truth of their lives, they were now known as "colored" in white skin.The father that they had been led to belive was Italian, was really a black man that crossed over trying to make a better life for himself and his children. I wanted to cry as the boys went through trials and tribulations no child should have to suffer. They didn't have a mother or father to rely upon, their "white" family disowned them, and they had to fend for themselves just to have something to eat. I cried in many place because I couldn't imagine living a life like this and surviving.

I commend Mr. Williams for this masterpiece and letting us in on his life. I will not take any of the things I had for granted after reading this masterpiece of an autobiography. Thank you Mr. Williams for making me appreciate my life.

Shakespeare's play, "Othello" is usually recognized as one of his "great" tragedy's (with Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth). It certainly has a quite exciting plot and great poetry. If you have not yet had an oportunity to read this great work, I recomend it strongly. It is still an intelligent treatment of race, family and civic duty, and sex. It also has one of the most interesting bad guys around - Iago.

I read it in the Arden edition, edited by Honigmann. Honigmann argues that Othello has a strong claim at being Shakespeare's greatest tragedy and makes a strong case for the work. He has a good introduction that gives a quite balanced and clear overview on many topics regarding this play, from the "double" time method Shakespeare uses, overviews of the various characters, as well as a the stage history. Amazingly, he can be remarkably balanced, even when he is talking about his own views. While he is a decent writer, Shakespeare is better... In the text itself, he gives quite ample footnotes to help explain the language, why he picked particular readings, as well as where themes came from...

Like all scholarly Shakespeare editions, the notes are in danger of overloading the text. This reader, however, recognizes the distance between myself and Shakespeare and so I find it comforting to be able to look at the notes when I have questions. At times his "longer notes" were awkward, but there is no easy way to handle this amount of material.

Othello relects the true meaning of a tragedy both in its content and its structure.Tragedy is 'a story of exceptional calamity produced by human actions, leading to the death of a man in high estate.'The downfall of Othello is caused by his own actions, rather than by his character, or rather the two work in unison to create the stage for his downfall.
This is what captured my attention when I read this play.It is very profound to realize the fact that Shakespeare uses Iago to set this stage on which Othello is a mere player.
I love the character of Iago. His total confidence, the superiority that he feels when psychoanalysing human nature, his rational thinking and intellectualism sways the reader to think: 'Wow, this is a compelling and sophisticated man we're dealing with here!'
However, my admiration of Iago does not in anyway undermine my love of Othello. His poetic and calm demeanor makes the reader feel the pity and terror for him when he falls from grace (catharsis). Yet, we are made to understand that the reason why he is made to appear a gullible and ignorant fool to some readers is that he does not have any knowledge of a delicate, domesticated life. Venetian women were foreign to him. This tragic flaw in Othello added to the circumstances used by Iago to destroy him.
The meaning, and hence the tragedy of the play is conveyed through the use of Shakespeare's language, style, literary devices and imagery. Without these dramatic effects, readers would never be able to enjoy the play as much, although the dialogue is at times difficult to decipher.
I thoroughly enjoyed Othello and it is my hope that more people find it enticing as I have. I would be delighted to contribute more of my reviews to that effect.

As a play, "Othello" encompasses many things but more than anything else it is a study of pure evil. Although Othello is an accomplished professional soldier and a hero of sorts, he is also a minority and an outcast in many ways. As a Black man and a Moor (which means he's a Moslem), Othello has at least two qualities, which make him stand out in the Elizabethan world. He is also married to a Caucasian woman named Desdemona, which creates an undercurrent of hostility as evidenced by the derogatory remark "the ram hath topped the ewe".

Othello's problems begin when he promotes one of his soldiers, Michael Cassio as his lieutenant. This arouses the jealousy and hatred of one of his other soldiers, Iago who hatches a plot to destroy Othello and Michael Cassio. When Cassio injures an opponent in a fight he is rebuked, punished, and subsequently ignored by Othello who must discipline him and teach him a lesson. Iago convinces Desdemona to intervene on Cassio's behalf and then begins to convince Othello that Desdemona is in love with Cassio.

This is actually one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays to watch because the audience sees the plot begin to unfold and is tormented by Othello's gradual decent into Iago's trap. As with other Shakespeare plays, the critical components of this one are revealed by language. When Othello is eventually convinced of Cassio's treachery, he condemns him and promotes Iago in his place. When Othello tells Iago that he has made him his lieutenant, Iago responds with the chilling line, "I am thine forever". To Othello this is a simple affirmation of loyalty, but to the audience, this phrase contains a double meaning. With these words, Iago indicates that the promotion does not provide him with sufficient satisfaction and that he will continue to torment and destroy Othello. It is his murderous intentions, not his loyal service that will be with Othello forever.

Iago's promotion provides him with closer proximity to Othello and provides him with more of his victim's trust. From here Iago is easily able to persuade Othello of Desdemona's purported infidelity. Soon Othello begins to confront Desdemona who naturally protests her innocence. In another revealing statement, Othello demands that Desdemona give him "the ocular proof". Like Iago's earlier statement, this one contains a double meaning that is not apparent to the recipient but that is very clear to the audience who understands the true origin of Othello's jealousy. Othello's jealousy is an invisible enemy and it is also based on events that never took place. How can Desdemona give Othello visual evidence of her innocence if her guilt is predicated on accusations that have no true shape or form? She can't. Othello is asking Desdemona to do the impossible, which means that her subsequent murder is only a matter of course.

I know that to a lot of young people this play must seem dreadfully boring and meaningless. One thing you can keep in mind is that the audience in Shakespeare's time did not have the benefit of cool things such as movies, and videos. The downside of this is that Shakespeare's plays are not visually stimulating to an audience accustomed to today's entertainment media. But the upside is that since Shakespeare had to tell a complex story with simple tools, he relied heavily on an imaginative use of language and symbols. Think of what it meant to an all White audience in a very prejudiced time to have a Black man at the center of a play. That character really stood out-almost like an island. He was vulnerable and exposed to attitudes that he could not perceive directly but which he must have sensed in some way.

Shakespeare set this play in two locations, Italy and Cypress. To an Elizabethan audience, Italy represented an exotic place that was the crossroads of many different civilizations. It was the one place where a Black man could conceivably hold a position of authority. Remember that Othello is a mercenary leader. He doesn't command a standing army and doesn't belong to any country. He is referred to as "the Moor" which means he could be from any part of the Arab world from Southern Spain to Indonesia. He has no institutional or national identity but is almost referred to as a phenomenon. (For all the criticism he has received in this department, Shakespeare was extrordinarlily attuned to racism and in this sense he was well ahead of his time.) Othello's subsequent commission as the Military Governor of Cypress dispatches him to an even more remote and isolated location. The man who stands out like an island is sent to an island. His exposure and vulnerability are doubled just as a jealous and murderous psychopath decides to destroy him.

Iago is probably the only one of Shakespeare's villains who is evil in a clinical sense rather than a human one. In Kind Lear, Edmund the bastard hatches a murderous plot out of jealousy that is similar to Iago's. But unlike Iago, he expresses remorse and attempts some form of restitution at the end of the play. In the Histories, characters like Richard III behave in a murderous fashion, but within the extreme, political environment in which they operate, we can understand their motives even if we don't agree with them. Iago, however, is a different animal. His motives are understandable up to the point in which he destroys Michael Cassio but then they spin off into an inexplicable orbit of their own. Some have suggested that Iago is sexually attracted to Othello, which (if its true) adds another meaning to the phrase "I am thine forever". But even if we buy the argument that Iago is a murderous homosexual, this still doesn't explain why he must destroy Othello. Oscar Wilde once wrote very beautifully of the destructive impact a person can willfully or unwittingly have on a lover ("for each man kills the things he loves") but this is not born out in the play. Instead, Shakespeare introduces us to a new literary character-a person motivated by inexplicable evil that is an entity in itself. One of the great ironies of this play is that Othello is a character of tragically visible proportions while Iago is one with lethally invisible ones.