Wolf's treatment of a so ideological subject, peasant wars, shows all the tallent and capacity of a intellectual who worked mainly in the US, although he was born in Austria. This fact helps us to understand a littlle more of his work as an anthropologist aware of the importance of a renewed history. Eric Wolf left Europe after an experience in the nazi's concentration camp in World War II. In this camp, he met and had classes with Norbert Elias. Some people say this is a fundamental fact on Wolf's career, because, as we can see, the problematic of power undergoes all along his opus. In Peasant Wars, Eric, worried about the US involvement in the Vietnam conflict, tries to understand how peasant people get involved with revolution. In order to understand this fact, Eric studies six cases of peasant revolution in the twentieth century: Mexico, Russia, Nigeria, China, Vietnam and Cuba. As the analysis goes through, we can almost smell the tallent of Eric, because although he were a marxist, the study don't fall in dogmatism. This book is essential to all the people who wants to understande the contemporary world.

Marcos Mota, Department of History, University of Brasilia

This is a charming book. This makes a nice introduction to extended family (albeit canine), friendship and helping each other in times of need. It also provides a discussion point or lesson in the shortsightedness of setting a particular value on something and not appreciating true worth. These lessons are engagingly delivered in a story children and adults can relate to. The illustrations are colourful and rich in detail. This book also provides a periferal look at another people, time and culture through the illustrations and setting of the story. This book makes a wonderful gift for a child that has a Ukrainian ancestry and heritage. It is unique and one they can be proud of.

Extremely wordy, and immensely poetic. These are attibutes which would make for a great read were one reading an overely dramatic piece of fiction, but which when incorporated into factual writing merely reduce the credibility of the fact. This is, ofcourse, not to mention the reduction of the readability of the book, and the ability of the reader to follow what "the heck" he(Wolf) is trying to say! The first seven chapters are incredibly rough, and by the time one reaches the last chapters, one is left gasping for life.

From the outset Wolf forces the reader to conceptualize with bold metaphors the complex socio-economic forces that have created and destroyed the first market societies in Meso-America. For example, in his account of the pre Colombian development of the area, small markets had continued to form large, "centripetal galactic systems" like the ones around Teotihuacan, Cholula and the Peten until the centers somehow failed. At that point, the "centrifugal" forces allowed the "satellite systems" to slip away, becoming basic "planetary systems," that functioned in "regional isolation." However, then inevitably the process of specialization, the division of labor and the creation of surplus began building towards yet another cycle of cohesion. "In this way, galaxies," he concludes, "... yield to solar systems, until another key area can generate power for a new metabolic cycle of integration." The metaphorical approach is a useful introduction to the problem of diverse development within the area, but the individual examples of social integration and disintegration are not analyzed in any detail. The bibliography is good but in need of up dating.

No one could invent a history more interesting than the actual events in Mexico and Guatemala. Wolf tells the story in a comprehensive way and with great flourish. This is one of the best single volumes I know about the precolonial era and the conquest; the later chapters are less significant. The book does require a pretty high degree of literacy, but it is worth the effort.