This work shines light on several icons of African thought, who are usually quoted more than they are read. By drawing from sources as diverse as Cabral and Wiredu, he has given a powerful tool to researchers, and has made it possible for students to learn what thinkers have said, not just what critics feel. This is a unique anthology, and would be a great starting point for any serious work on thought by Africans or people of African descent. This work is not burdened with much contextual analysis of the works, and this reveals the power in many of these works. Several of these authors are deceased or available only after critical analysis, and it is valuable to read their own words . A long read, but one that warrants time and attention. A phenomenal work.

When I bought this book, I was attempting to catch the crest of a wave in philosophy, expecting a lot of mental activity in the wake of the death of Levinas (1906-1995) to help put my frame of values within the scope of current thought. But I'm more of a modern fragmentist~thinking through expectations is a realm of impossibilities, and not just for me. I had previously struggled with his TOTALITY AND INFINITY, which pits the urge to control multiplicty by having a system that defines a totality against the limitless possibilities offered by multiplicity itself. A reader may find that effort like a good game of chess: being able to visualize a strategy for winning keeps the sense of involvement high, but any attempt to be more involved than Levinas would obviously be a strain. When ALTERITY & TRANSCENDENCE becomes available in paperback, it might be a better guide for those who would like to see what values Levinas was pursuing. I could confine myself to a single page (177) in an interview published in 1985 for my efforts to comprehend the complexity of his answer to the idea, "To religion would belong the task of consolation, not of demonstration." Levinas took the opportunity to demonstrate the existence of an even greater evil. "The seducer knows all the ploys of language and all its ambiguities. . . . The most dangerous of seducers is the one who carries you away with pious words to violence and contempt for the other man." Instead of trying to create a clear distinction between religion and philosophy, Levinas showed an awareness of the ways of this world, where any dialectic is capable of being a threat to human freedom when it declares war on that for which it expresses disapproval. This is theology when it involves "the voice and 'accent' of God in the Scriptures themselves." As a modern fragmentist, I have hopelessly confused what is actually written there, but that tendency is as strong as the urge to associate The Beach Boys with songs about surfing.

While many of the articles in the collection Gay American Novelists lack a sufficient critical background to make them important contributions the the ever expanding field of gay studies, individual articles represent outstanding insights into the works of gay Ameican novelists, most notably Emmanuel Nelson's essay on the the works of James Baldwin, among others. Although the collection as a whole may be at best uneven in quality, the effort to create a sourcebook for information concerning gay American novelists was long overdue and will make a substantial contribution to the field.

traditional and political life in south africa is uncommun since many things happened there through many stages, this book is very usefull to depict some elements usefull to understand the changes that occures in africa...

This book includes a collection of stories and poems from evangelicals doing the work of God through helping others. You will be touched by the stories of compassion, human failures, and God's work in the world. They are heartfelt stories reflecting deep emotion.

this book not only shows evita life"s but also the life in argentine during her life, make us understant de quality and the customs of the argentinians society.Clearly it tries to put us in that time, and shows that her participation in the social,economical and political situation, considering that Evita was born in very low class, became to have so important role in the argentinian government, maybe more important that president Peron. She was loved by ones and hated by others, but she make her own history. It is a book that deserve to be readed not only as part of the history but also in order to see how is possible to have stron influence in the society coming from any social class.

The Soviet Union is history; it evaporated in just a few years, to the surprise of many.

Not everyone was surprised. Mr. Todd, a French historian, was not -- nor were those who have read this book.

Todd realized you had to analyze the S.U. in the same way as empires of the past -- places you cannot talk to, and whose records are incomplete and unreliable. And he examined the entire Soviet empire -- including its vassal states of Eastern Europe.

I won't try to summarize the whole book here. Suffice it to say that he describes why the Soviet Union was unstable, and what the causes of its downfall are.

Not everything carries over to the few remaining communist states, but some of it does. So this book will help you understand China, too.

This book is a true "first". Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie has, for the first time, presented a page of history from medieval times that is seldom seen outside the confines of academia. Mr. Ladurie has sifted through the detailed records of the Catholic Church and brought to life the ordinary folk of the the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth. The book does not focus on the religious aspect of the Cathars but on the social life of people who have never before been spoken for. It is easy to study the lives of kings, princes and popes, but the ordinary citizens of this age have never had a voice before. The book is in French and translations into English are not easy to find but well worth the effort and expense.

This is a very nice book! It is almost a five (but I have reserved five for books like "Crime and punishment", "Third policeman", "Master and margarita", "The overcoat" and so on).
The book is about loneliness. It is written with a lot of humor and melancholy.
The main character is walking the streets alone searching for friends. It is so desperate that it becomes ironic. You get the feeling he likes to be alone feeling sorry for himself....
I don't want to say more than that about the story. I guess that's about what the cover lets you know. I would say it is in Beckett style but I don't know if an expert would agree...
If you are a person inclined to feel you are all alone in this world. This book will definately cheer you up....making you feel you are not the only one!

Emmanual Levinas (1906-95) was a contintental philosopher, credited with introducing the thinking of Husserl and Heidegger to France. He was raised in the Lithuanian Jewish community, however, and that heritage became increasingly important to him in the 1930s, culminating in his study of the Talmud following WWII. The nine lectures collected in this volume were originally delivered by Levinas between 1963 and 1975. In the guise of commentaries on specific passages of Talmud, these lectures represent Levinas' attempt to "translate" the values and the concerns of the Talmud into the terms of 20th Century phenomenological discourse.

Levinas' main concern is with the ethical aspect of Judaism, and the universal role it (in its specificity) plays. Each lecture begins with a passage from the Talmud, which Levinas interprets line-by-line. Although the interpretation often strays far afield from the plain meaning (and even, sometimes, beyond the symbolic or didactic meaning) of the passage under consideration, I do not think that the rabbis would disagree with Levinas' conclusions. Most of the lectures ultimately turn to one's radical responsibility to and for the other. It is not enough to be good oneself: "the righteous are responsible for evil before anyone else is. They are responsible because they have not been righteous enough to make their justice spread and abolish injustice." (186) Levinas' interpretation of the story of the Gibeonites is particularly thought-provoking in these times: the Gibeonites demanded talion (a life for a life) for the wrongs done to them by Saul; in doing so, by failing to show mercy toward the other, they excluded themselves from Israel.

Although I found much to think about in these lectures and may reread them, they are *not* easy to follow and are often written in the almost impenatrable prose of 20th Century continental philosophy. The translator, Annette Aronowicz, provides a very useful introduction to Levinas, his thought in general, and what he is attempting to do in these lectures, but even with the introduction, I would not recommend this to someone who has no familiarity with philosophical discussion. Familiarity with the Talmud is not required.