Unpacking Duchamp is a highly innovative and breakthrough investigation into Duchamp's transformations of the conditions and status of twentieth-century art, art making, and art viewing. Judovitz approaches Duchamp's "oeuvre" from many interrelated angles, offering detailed and illuminating analyses of individual works, all the while contextualizing her discussions through considerable research and erudition. Her mode of inquiry is at once historical and philosophical -- perfect for the study of Duchamp. Intellectually refined, the book is clear, well-written, with many dashes of humor.

Unpacking Duchamp will appeal to culture critics, historians, and theoreticians, as well as to artists and writers. It is a must read for anyone interested in the contemporary conditions of art.

Dalia Judovitz has written a challenging, stimulating and exhaustively researched book on Duchamp. Her take on many aspects of Duchamp's career is fresh and imaginative, as for example in her close reading of his word play and ready-mades. After the comprehensive studies of Duchamp's ready-mades by Antin, Bauer, Caws, Compton, de Duve, James et al this is very impressive.

A key chapter on Art and Economics, cultural and economic value, as one Duchamp scholar observes, "opens up a whole new area of investigation. Her discussion of the Monte-Carlo Bond and the less well known Drain Stopper which she cleverly compares to Renaissance Art Medals will intrigue all those who are seriously interested in Duchamp.

This is a book to be read and re-read.

With so much of the literature available on Marcel Duchamp offering accounts that neither seem to fully resonate with the evidence of the work or with the spirit of the artist himself, I find Unpacking Duchamp to be a refreshing exception. Not only does this book live up to its title's promise of showing us how to "unpack" the master's enigmatic thinking, it does so with such wit and grace that I suspect even he would tip his hat to its author. Taking a body of his work that often appears overly difficult and elusive to enter into, Ms. Judovitz does the nearly impossible, gently prying it open in ways that are beautifully lucid, accessible, and free of jargon, yet, entirely up to the challenge of her ever-moving subject. She constructs readings of the work that go beyond analysis and interpretation to become aesthetic acts in their own right --- reciprocating one that generously enable her readers to enter into and perform their own Duchampian thinking, in ways that genuinely illuminate and bring it to life. This is potentially Duchamp's most important legacy to us but an aspect of his work that often seems poorly understood by many specialists.

In short, I'm extremely glad to finally have a book like this, and I look forward to rereading it in the future. If you are considering it, I would say that it's a challenging read, but one I would strongly recommend if you are at all interested in Duchamp or just interested in exploring an extraordinary mode of thought and creativity. While I do have some knowledge of twentieth-century art, this was not really essential to my appreciation of the book. Its interest and appeal should be broad-based and not limited to either an art audience or one of largely academic interests.

click on the thumbnail to view the book cover - see?

Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture of the book - see what I mean?

Well balanced, insightful review.

If you want to learn something about mind-body problem - this is the book for you!

Marine Biologist, Silvia Martinez was in charge of the University of San Diego shark project. She was happily surprised to find her ex-lover, Miguel Escudero, was the first officer of the ship her team was to use! But Silvia understood that her entire doctorate depended on the research she had to do, so romance was NOT first on her list! She had plankton to analyze and a team to hold together, even if one of them (Joe Scapino) was a major headache.

When Silvia and Miguel stumble upon an illegal poaching operation they knew their chances of escaping alive were slim!

**** Awesome story! Silvia helps Miguel come out of the dark ages and into the twenty-first century! Dalia Vargas does an excellent job of combining romance and science for a story that will knock your socks off! *****

Marine Biologist, Silvia Martinez was in charge of the University of San Diego shark project. She was happily surprised to find her ex-lover, Miguel Escudero, was the first officer of the ship her team was to use! But Silvia understood that her entire doctorate depended on the research she had to do, so romance was NOT first on her list! She had plankton to analyze and a team to hold together, even if one of them (Joe Scapino) was a major headache.

When Silvia and Miguel stumble upon an illegal poaching operation they knew their chances of escaping alive were slim!

***** Awesome story! Silvia helps Miguel come out of the dark ages and into the twenty-first century! Dalia Vargas does an excellent job of combining romance and science for a story that will knock your socks off! *****

Blue Moon is a gem of a book. Vargas does a terrific job of updating the classic tale of love lost and regained through works. If you're suffering from a broken heart, don't wait another minute. Get this book! Like the title character Miguel, it will give you courage to go back into shark-infested waters and find love once more.

"My Precious Legacy" is a story about the power of the human spirit. Author Vera Dalia provides her readers with a personal account of the crushing power of the Nazi occupation of her homeland during WW II. Dalia's story is a tale of victory and hope and the resiliency of the human spirit. Her story is told through the eyes of a child and her tale restores the sanctity of our humanity. My Precious Legacy is the memoir of a child and an important retelling of a portion of the history of Man's darkest hour.

A collection of touching stories based on Vera Dalia's return to the land of her birth (Czechoslovakia) to find out what happened to friends and relatives left behind at the time of the Holocaust. The book represents the culmination of a ten year effort to memorialize on paper the deeds of some vary courageous individuals who risked everything to help their Jewish neighbors escape persecution and certain death at the hands of the Nazi. Dr. Dalia shares her reflections as she meets the survivors of a horrific time for Jews and others during World War Two. Thank you Vera for sharing.

For a novel based on harsh realism, I found the character of Tina to be sureal. Mid-way, she filled many pages and I became bored with her situation. By the end, I decided that if she had been omitted entirely, she wouldn't have been missed. On the other hand, Aunt Mattie and Uncle Tom had the potential to be very strong characters, not only in the lives of Darlene and the children but most especially for Earl, for whom I felt some sympathy. He struck me as being mean and cold simply for the sake of not knowing any better. Mattie came on the scene too late, and in my opinion, dumped a lot of revelations and insight into the story that (at that point) was already complex. She was distracting when I wanted to focus on the other characters - I found myself wondering "where have you been? why now?". Overall, I really liked this novel and look forward to future work by this author. Highly recommended.

So far I've found this very enjoyable. The characters are interesting and unpredictable. I don't see the story as being so much about weather and poverty as it is the unstated emotional needs of this family. Any woman that's ever felt unappreciated can relate, in some aspects, to Darlene.
For the record, I found The Book of Ruth (Jane Hamilton) terribly depressing. Enough so, that I have not since sought any other of her novels. I do suggest Amy and Isabelle (Elizabeth Strout).

I loved it. Found it at library by chance. Beautiful writing. Totally real characters and landscape. One or two events seemed somewhat over the edge, at first - but when i think about it -life is often that way. Sid was a totally heartbreaking character. An awesome writer!

"We come here to seek peace for a part of the world that in the long memory of man has known far too much hatred, anguish and war...We seek peace, real peace. And by real peace I mean treaties. Security. Diplomatic relations. Economic relations. Trade. Investment. What we seek is a Middle East where normal men and women lead normal lives..."

The quotation cited exemplifies the American vision, as stated by former U.S. President George Bush at the Madrid Middle East Peace Process in 1991. This vision, one that voiced the need for peace and security in the Middle East, marked a turning point in the bilateral Arab-Israeli peace process. Not only did it legitimize the United States to interfere in the region, but it also provoked a new type of process, one that invited regional cooperation to aid in the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This process was known as multilateral cooperation, and it sought to establish a regional framework for Arab-Israeli peacemaking and to address region-wide issues of the present and of the future. In her book, Beyond the Handshake: Multilateral Cooperation in the Arab-Israeli Peace Process, Dalia Dassa Kaye addresses two central questions pertaining to the multilaterals. Why did such an unprecedented regional cooperation emerge? What forces can account for the varied level of successes of these multilaterals? In answering these questions, Kaye assesses the evolution of the multilateral process, as well as its success on a global level.
The Arab-Israeli conflict has been exclusively a bilateral process, that is, it has been contained between powers specifically involved in the conflict. However, its setbacks in recent years have forced the world to realize the need for a greater regional role in the process. Led by the United States (hence, the American vision), the world has realized that Israeli inclusion into the region is vital and necessary to the stability of the Middle East. Therefore, in order for this inclusion to occur, multilaterals must ensue, and a sense of regional cooperation must be established. Kaye recognizes the presence of multilateral cooperation pre-Madrid, however noting that lack of participation and cooperation made all efforts far from successful. "Before the Madrid and Oslo peace process, Arab-Israeli economic cooperation remained limited and largely theoretical..."(39). However, Kaye also states that pre-Madrid regional cooperation did lay the groundwork for these issues. The ideologies established before would in turn be partly responsible for the establishment of the multilaterals.
Kaye takes a mainly constructivist approach in explaining the evolution of the multilateral process. "The constructivist method can explain why such processes originate by showing that even if a powerful player is necessary to create new institutions, one must understand why the power holds particular interests that lead to this outcome..." (20). Therefore, the second central question of the book is brought to surface; What force or forces can account for the varied level of successes of the multilaterals? Kaye suggests that the powerful player responsible for the creation of this new type of process was not simply the United States. Instead, the multilateral peace track was founded and fostered by a small group of policy elites within Washington D.C. This group sought to establish an interactive, dynamic process in which the widest scope of regional participation would be involved. This was made possible due to the altered international and regional ideologies resulting after the Madrid and Moscow Conferences of 1991-2. In this constructivist view, this American policy elite sought to preserve peace and security in the Middle East by fostering the Arab acceptance of Israel. If cooperation were instilled in the region, the bilateral peace treaties would hopefully stand a better chance of being successful.
The unprecedented result of the multilaterals was a multitude of regional forums, all addressing issues pertaining to the Middle East. Kaye, in exemplifying the second part of her thesis, investigates the success of these multilaterals and regional forums that addressed issues pertaining to the Middle East. These issues included the question of regional security cooperation, economic cooperation, and water and environmental cooperation.
The establishment of the ACRS (Arms Control & Regional Security) served to facilitate the process of peace and security of the Middle East. It aimed to instill common understandings among regional participants about the nature and purpose of regional arms control. "While ACRS parties debated a variety of arms control and regional security measures, these debates did not always fall along the Arab-Israeli fault line, and thus contributed to one of the Americans' overall peace process purposes of normalizing Israel..." (101). However, because arms control and security encompass such a vast array of parties, one must take into account the complexities that would result from the amount of interests involved. Therefore, while the ACRS made considerable progress in terms of regional security cooperation, it was, in the end, a failure.
The multilaterals were far more successful in terms of economic and water & environmental cooperation. This was "because the regional parties were able to move beyond politicized aspects of the process and reach common understandings about the value of cooperation in this issue area..."(156). The main reason for such a strong consensus among the multilaterals is the shared connection between regional cooperation and the need for globalization. This common ideology has provided incentive for regional cooperation and has allowed for the success of economic cooperation in the Middle East. The water and environmental cooperation has proved to be the least controversial issue, and though regional commitment to the issue must be developed and strengthened, its progress and success is almost inevitable.
Kaye continuously notes that the progress of the multilaterals is not necessarily affected by the setbacks that have occurred in the bilateral Arab-Israeli peace process. While the success of regional cooperation in the Middle East is still questionable, the progress of such a process must be noted. In fact, Kaye argues that the question is not whether this cooperative process has been successful; rather the greater concern should lie with the evolution of the multilaterals. One must remember that regional cooperative processes such as these were unthinkable prior to the 1990s.
The book successfully addresses the two central questions brought forth by Kaye concerning the origin and cause of the multilaterals and its subsequent evolution. She is careful not confuse the reader with the different paths of the bilaterals and multilaterals and specifically discusses the regional cooperative process in the Middle East. Kaye successfully guides the reader through the evolution of the multilaterals in a crisp and organized manner. Her conclusion of its success is not biased; rather, she emphasizes the idea of multilateral cooperation as a process rather than an outcome. For this reason, her book is an exemplary piece of clear and concise writing.

Dalia Nieves Albert is an excellent poet. This book portrays her excellence and dominance of poetry. It is absolutely wonderful

If you are into lots of empty flowery words with no strong story or interesting characters then perhaps you will enjoy this book, otherwise stay clear. Overall impression, this book is merely colorful waffle. Very disappointing.

In light of the ever-raging immigration debate, "Flora's Suitcase" could not be published at a better time. The locales, conditions and ethnicities may be different than those of today, yet this is a beautifully personal, instructive immigrant tale that defies time. Flora is a woman in 1930s Cincinnati. Though she owns a bright spark of independence, she nonetheless marries Dovid after a brief, rather unromantic courtship. Dovid is a man of time and place. His extended family is forced to flee Stalinist Russia, a migration that eventually takes the extended Grossenberg family to Columbia. It's a sorry lot for Flora. She's stuck in a Third World country with a remote husband, a growing family and a pool of Grossenberg sisters who not only reject her independence, but attempt to subvert her because of it. Flora must fight these conditions and the restrictions on women to find her freedom. In some ways, "Flora's Suitcase" is another chapter in the lonely, oppressed women's genre. In the capable hands of author Dalia Rabinovich, however, it becomes much more than that. Intriguing about Rabinovich is her ability to meld so many different styles and genres seamlessly. "Flora's Suitcase" is part immigrant tale, part Jewish saga, part chick story and part Third World exploration. Rabinovich throws in a dose of magical realism to boot, then wraps it all in the voice of Jewish classics. What remains is a spartan, detached narrative that packs emotional punch. This style allows the story to roam freely. Whether Flora is being mistaken by peasants for a saint, or being asked by Dovid to give their daughter to a childless relative, Rabinovich never falls prey to melodrama, nor do such spectacular events seem implausible. This is a skilled new writer very much worth following.

Flora's Suitcase provides the essential experience for the reader of fiction--it transports you to another world and fills it with fascinating people and places. The story moves seamlessly from straightforward narrative to a flowing dream logic where anything is possible, and where characters and places reveal their mysteries in unexpected ways.

The writing is both colorful and economical. I found it fast moving but rich in detail. If you enjoy Garcia-Marquez or Cynthia Ozick, or value new, interesting literary voices, I happily recommend this book.