Author Rebecca Haile explores family, identity in her childhood home - Redicovering Ethiopia
Held At A Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia
By Rebecca G. Haile Academy Chicago Publishers (paperback $ 17.95 978-0-89733-556-0)
EXPRESS
A PUBLICATION OF The Washington Post - WASHINGTON'S FREE DAILY NEWSPAPER
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Free Ride
Books: Rebecca Haile's 'Rediscovery of Ethiopia'
HOW DOES IT FEEL to straddle two cultures? What is the difference between people of the same blood, born in the same place but raised thousands of miles apart? Is home still home if it hasn't housed you in a quarter century?
In 1976, two years after Colonel Mengistu Haile-Mariam and his army, known as the Derg, overthrew Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, Rebecca Haile and her family were forced to leave the capital city of Addis Ababa. Rebecca Haile was 11 when her father was shot by the Derg and left paralyzed. The family moved to central Minnesota.
Twenty-five years later, Haile returned to the country of her birth "with all [her] Americanisms" in tow. She found a family that was as welcoming as they were three decades before, an enthrallingly rich history and frustrating social stratifications. She chronicles her trip in her new book, "Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia."
This week, Haile comes to Washington for two readings — Thursday at 7 p.m. at Olsson's Penn Quarter (418 7th Street NW) and Saturday at 2 p.m. at Sankofa Cafe and Bookstore (2714 Georgia Ave. NW). Before she arrived, Express asked Haile to discuss her trip home and how she feels about Ethiopia now.
» EXPRESS: Do you consider this book an autobiography? It provides a lot of the history of your time in Ethiopia.
» HAILE: No, I don't think of it as autobiographical. I laid out the history surrounding our departure as a way of explaining why we left and what I was thinking when I went back and why it had taken me so long to go back. But I didn't intend it to be an exhaustive story of myself and certainly not of my family.
» EXPRESS: Who did you write this book for?
» HAILE: When I returned, I didn't intend to write a book. I started taking notes for myself to make sense of the various issues that struck me — Issues such as identity mediation (What you think about when you have one foot in one culture and one in another?) and the question of memory (What is it that we remember, what stays the same, what do we carry with us, what has nothing to do with modern reality?). So I started out writing for myself.
When I turned it into a book, I was thinking of several things. It's only been in the last 30 years that Ethiopians have left Ethiopia. It occurred to me that what I was thinking about and the issues that I was struggling through would be relevant to a large and growing community of people — people born here or people who came here when they were very young.
Secondly, I'm interested in the humanization of Ethiopia. It's a country that people in the West, if we know it at all, we tend to know it through the headlines of poverty, famine and civil war. Not to deny that those things aren't very important in defining the modern nation — they are absolutely relevant and central issues. But that isn't all there is. There's also a country with its own unique and rich culture and history. It's a country full of actual ordinary people: Farmers, teachers, engineers, grandmothers, taxi drivers and church-goers.
» EXPRESS: D.C. has one of the largest Ethiopian populations in the world. Was that part of the reason you wanted to come to D.C.?
» HAILE: Absolutely. It's a natural place to do a reading. I had my first reading in New York last week. New York is where I live, and it also has a fairly good-sized Ethiopian community. But D.C. is definitely the biggest one, and I am looking forward to it. I've actually lived outside of that community. I've lived in places like Minnesota, gone to college in small towns where there haven't been big Ethiopian communities. So I'm really interested to see how this is received and the sorts of questions I'll get.
» EXPRESS: At the beginning of the book, you say you're uncertain whether you can still call Ethiopia home. How do you feel now?» HAILE: I feel that it is more available to me than I had realized. That the choice is more mine, if that makes sense. Through my family, which was incredibly welcoming both to me and of my husband, I came away feeling that there was room for me with all of my Americanisms.
» EXPRESS: How emotionally difficult was the trip home? Was it harder or easier than expected?
» HAILE: It was more emotional and greater than I expected. I'm not an incredibly emotional person, and because we left under such circumstances, I guess I intentionally or subconsciously kept my expectations low because I was fearful of what was going to happen.
It was just so emotional. Hanging out with my grandmother in her house again and just seeing this 90-some-year-old woman doing these rituals that I remembered from 25 years ago — they're exactly the same. Twenty-five years had passed like that and they were so happy to see us and [were] so loving and so thrilled. Then the opportunity to see a more modern Ethiopia through my uncle's work, which to me was so interesting. Then the chance to travel to the historic cities, which I had read about, but hadn't been to — and just seeing all that history.
» EXPRESS: Do you think the trip would have been different if it had been your father's trip instead of yours?
» HAILE: I would have to assume so. I don't think he feels the difference that I feel. His heart and mind are there always. He spent the same number of years abroad, but he spent his formative years there. His earlier choices were dedicated to his career choices, academic choices and religion. All his identity is there, and his professional work in the States has been about Ethiopia.
So I don't think he would feel any of the identity issues or cultural issues. He would never have this title "Held at a Distance," which for me, captures my relationship with Ethiopia. I tried to step back and I tried to look at it, and I have American eyes now. I don't know that he would have that same distance. I don't know that he would have written this book. I think he would have just felt at home.
» EXPRESS: Do you expect to return to Ethiopia again? And do you think other family members will return?»
HAILE: Yes. In fact, my younger sister has returned. She has gone. I think the government is repressive. It's not better than the one that was there then. So that's there. But I think people are going. I think people in my family — I don't know about my parents, but I think my generation will go.
» Olsson's, 418 7th St. NW; Thu., 7 p.m., free; 202-638-7610. (Gallery Place/ Archives-Navy)
Book Information: Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia
By Rebecca G Haile (paperback, $17.95 ISBN 978-089733-556-0)
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
from Publishers Weekly
Minimal Damage: Stories of Veterans H. Lee Barnes. Univ. of Nevada, $24.95 (200p) ISBN 978-0-87417-721-3
War shows its human face in former Green Beret Barnes's mostly successful collection about veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Mogadishu and Iraq trying to get on with their civilian lives after experiencing the horrors of battle. In "Punishment," a former army medic, counting down his last hours on death row (he killed a policeman), relives the time he saved the life of an enemy soldier during the Panama invasion. In the title story, a black Desert Storm veteran finds his ordinary existence turned upside down when the victims of a serial killer are found buried around his house. And in the novella, "Snake Boy," a heroin-addicted, homeless Vietnam vet is kidnapped by a snake-handling evangelist who cures the vet of his addiction and forces him to join his traveling show. In several of the stories, the veteran angle seems peripheral, but the strongest pieces exemplify the words of one character who tells his daughter that "all we can do is invent myths to smooth the harshness." The lives on display here do just that in stories told with understated compassion and unexpected flashes of humor. (Sept. 07)
Minimal Damage: Stories of Veterans H. Lee Barnes. Univ. of Nevada, $24.95 (200p) ISBN 978-0-87417-721-3
War shows its human face in former Green Beret Barnes's mostly successful collection about veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Mogadishu and Iraq trying to get on with their civilian lives after experiencing the horrors of battle. In "Punishment," a former army medic, counting down his last hours on death row (he killed a policeman), relives the time he saved the life of an enemy soldier during the Panama invasion. In the title story, a black Desert Storm veteran finds his ordinary existence turned upside down when the victims of a serial killer are found buried around his house. And in the novella, "Snake Boy," a heroin-addicted, homeless Vietnam vet is kidnapped by a snake-handling evangelist who cures the vet of his addiction and forces him to join his traveling show. In several of the stories, the veteran angle seems peripheral, but the strongest pieces exemplify the words of one character who tells his daughter that "all we can do is invent myths to smooth the harshness." The lives on display here do just that in stories told with understated compassion and unexpected flashes of humor. (Sept. 07)
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory (Interlink, 978-1-56656-686-5, 400 pages, $20.00)
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review.
An emeritus professor of theology with no previous interest in conspiracy theories, Griffin has dedicated himself since 2003 to the "9/11 truth" movement, a group committed to "exposing the falsity of the official theory about 9/11," and this book is a thorough, highly detailed attempt to do just that. As Griffin aptly notes, "the assumption that conspiracy theories are inherently irrational" has recently taken root in American culture, making any attack on the official government record instantly dismissible, but Griffin takes to the difficult task with solid reasoning and true zeal. All but the most dogmatic readers will find Griffin's evidence-from the inconsistencies between NORAD tapes and the 9/11 Commission Report to rigorous exploration into the physics of the collapse-detailed and deeply unnerving. For instance, Griffin considers the fact that firefighters were told, five hours before the fact, that building WTC 7 was going to collapse, despite "the fact that WTC 7 was not hit by a plane, that the available photographs show no large fires, and that fire had never caused a steel-frame high-rise to collapse." Another chilling passage looks at the Pennsylvania crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 through the testimony of those first to arrive, who were unanimous in finding "no recognizable plane parts, no body parts." For anyone who doubts the government's truthfulness regarding the WTC terrorist attack, this well-researched volume will give you a trough full of ideas to chew on.
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review.
An emeritus professor of theology with no previous interest in conspiracy theories, Griffin has dedicated himself since 2003 to the "9/11 truth" movement, a group committed to "exposing the falsity of the official theory about 9/11," and this book is a thorough, highly detailed attempt to do just that. As Griffin aptly notes, "the assumption that conspiracy theories are inherently irrational" has recently taken root in American culture, making any attack on the official government record instantly dismissible, but Griffin takes to the difficult task with solid reasoning and true zeal. All but the most dogmatic readers will find Griffin's evidence-from the inconsistencies between NORAD tapes and the 9/11 Commission Report to rigorous exploration into the physics of the collapse-detailed and deeply unnerving. For instance, Griffin considers the fact that firefighters were told, five hours before the fact, that building WTC 7 was going to collapse, despite "the fact that WTC 7 was not hit by a plane, that the available photographs show no large fires, and that fire had never caused a steel-frame high-rise to collapse." Another chilling passage looks at the Pennsylvania crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 through the testimony of those first to arrive, who were unanimous in finding "no recognizable plane parts, no body parts." For anyone who doubts the government's truthfulness regarding the WTC terrorist attack, this well-researched volume will give you a trough full of ideas to chew on.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Spinning Clio : Where History and Politics Meet
Political commentary with a historical perspective and vice versa. Friday, May 04, 2007
Review:
English History made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable by Lacey Baldwin Smith (Academy Chicago Publishers, 275 pages, Paperback, $17.95 ISBN 978-0-89733-547-8)
Smith is Professor Emeritus of History at Northwestern University and has written a number of books centering around the history of Great Britain. English History not being my bailiwick, I'd never read anything by him before. After reading his recent work, however, that will change.
Smith opens his book by noting that “history is not what happened in the past, but what today is worth remembering about the past.” Setting aside the historiographical discussion that such a comment can engender, he has written a fine work of history. Smith hits the high--and low--points of English History (note, it's "English" and not "British"-- Smith explains the difference) in a conversational and engaging way. It's as if you're your history professor's office hours were held at a kegger. In short, Smith injects a little humor and verve into his narrative, which is complemented by some very funny illustrations from Punch.
As a medievalist--and if historians are considered "dry," medievalists are downright parched--I found his take on the early medieval period in English history refreshing and funny. For instance, while describing how the Angles and Saxons came and conquered Celto-Roman Britain:
"The invaders proceeded over the years to divide Britain among themselves. The Saxons in the area of London broke up into the east, south and west Saxons--Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The urge to box the compass generated the splendid, but also apocryphal, story of a north Saxon kingdom called Nosex which naturally died out very rapidly, but doubtless inspired one of Britain's longest running plays: No Sex Please, We're British."
Keeping with a theme, Smith also explains the English resurgence after the Plague by explaining that "somewhere around 1485, the English started having more and better sex...rising from two to four million by 1600." He also takes the opportunity to weave in a zinger or two when he can. For instance, this observation about Elizabethan society:
"The family, over which the father was supreme, was seen as the Kingdom writ small. In learning obedience to and respect for their parents, Tudor children learned deference to authority on every level of society. Thus the inferior bowed to all forms of superiority, the freshman stepping aside for the senior, the bachelor of arts for the master of arts, the master of arts for the doctor of divinity or civil law, and all six for the professor, a way of life that high-ranking academics today regret has disappeared."
Indeed! But Smith's work isn't all wit and snark. He gives very concise and readable accounts of historical events and explains how one affected the other (eg; the reign of James I and the Glorious Revolution or the evolution of Parliament). Though there are chronological demarcations in the narrative, a narrative it is, not a patched together pop-encyclopedia of sequential--though disconnected--events. Smith does a fine job of moving the story of English history along in a coherent and entertaining way.
Smith concludes the book with an extended treatment of the British royalty--"The Royal Soap Opera." He covers the breadth of the more personal shenanigans of English royalty, plumbing the depths and climbing the peaks, and shows that royal peccadilloes are a constant. Commenting on the leveling of the contemporary Royal Family, he offers that "what us eating at the soul of Kingship is not moral outrage, but boredom." Like the rest of the entertainment industry, if the progeny of Elizabeth II don't give the press enough scandalous fodder, what is left?
Overall, I found that Smith's English History lived up to the rest of it's title, especially the Pleasurable part. Go out and get it--you'll learn something between chuckles.
Political commentary with a historical perspective and vice versa. Friday, May 04, 2007
Review:
English History made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable by Lacey Baldwin Smith (Academy Chicago Publishers, 275 pages, Paperback, $17.95 ISBN 978-0-89733-547-8)
Smith is Professor Emeritus of History at Northwestern University and has written a number of books centering around the history of Great Britain. English History not being my bailiwick, I'd never read anything by him before. After reading his recent work, however, that will change.
Smith opens his book by noting that “history is not what happened in the past, but what today is worth remembering about the past.” Setting aside the historiographical discussion that such a comment can engender, he has written a fine work of history. Smith hits the high--and low--points of English History (note, it's "English" and not "British"-- Smith explains the difference) in a conversational and engaging way. It's as if you're your history professor's office hours were held at a kegger. In short, Smith injects a little humor and verve into his narrative, which is complemented by some very funny illustrations from Punch.
As a medievalist--and if historians are considered "dry," medievalists are downright parched--I found his take on the early medieval period in English history refreshing and funny. For instance, while describing how the Angles and Saxons came and conquered Celto-Roman Britain:
"The invaders proceeded over the years to divide Britain among themselves. The Saxons in the area of London broke up into the east, south and west Saxons--Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The urge to box the compass generated the splendid, but also apocryphal, story of a north Saxon kingdom called Nosex which naturally died out very rapidly, but doubtless inspired one of Britain's longest running plays: No Sex Please, We're British."
Keeping with a theme, Smith also explains the English resurgence after the Plague by explaining that "somewhere around 1485, the English started having more and better sex...rising from two to four million by 1600." He also takes the opportunity to weave in a zinger or two when he can. For instance, this observation about Elizabethan society:
"The family, over which the father was supreme, was seen as the Kingdom writ small. In learning obedience to and respect for their parents, Tudor children learned deference to authority on every level of society. Thus the inferior bowed to all forms of superiority, the freshman stepping aside for the senior, the bachelor of arts for the master of arts, the master of arts for the doctor of divinity or civil law, and all six for the professor, a way of life that high-ranking academics today regret has disappeared."
Indeed! But Smith's work isn't all wit and snark. He gives very concise and readable accounts of historical events and explains how one affected the other (eg; the reign of James I and the Glorious Revolution or the evolution of Parliament). Though there are chronological demarcations in the narrative, a narrative it is, not a patched together pop-encyclopedia of sequential--though disconnected--events. Smith does a fine job of moving the story of English history along in a coherent and entertaining way.
Smith concludes the book with an extended treatment of the British royalty--"The Royal Soap Opera." He covers the breadth of the more personal shenanigans of English royalty, plumbing the depths and climbing the peaks, and shows that royal peccadilloes are a constant. Commenting on the leveling of the contemporary Royal Family, he offers that "what us eating at the soul of Kingship is not moral outrage, but boredom." Like the rest of the entertainment industry, if the progeny of Elizabeth II don't give the press enough scandalous fodder, what is left?
Overall, I found that Smith's English History lived up to the rest of it's title, especially the Pleasurable part. Go out and get it--you'll learn something between chuckles.
Publishers Weekly
4/23/2007
* MIRAGE: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.
Cynthia Barnett. Univ. of Michigan, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 9780472115631
In recent decades, severe droughts in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, along with shrinking aquifers, dried-up lakes and sluggish rivers in the Southeast have induced bitter East Coast fights over what was once an exclusively Western concern: water scarcity. What happened? Barnett, the long-time environmental reporter for Florida Trend magazine, answers that question in a rigorous look at the relentless pressure of development and burgeoning human populations on natural water supplies, particularly in the wetlands of Florida. Chapter by chapter, Barnett documents the enlarging sinkholes, loss of ancient lakes, pollution of water tables and river systems, aquifer mining and negligent politics that have led to Florida's perpetual water crisis-including a disastrous shift in weather patterns. Considering such crises elsewhere in the U.S., Barnett finds that successful allocation agreements are rare, lessons learned are quickly forgotten and an ever-growing population spells more trouble to come. Though it may lack popular appeal, this comprehensive and well-referenced volume does feature appearances from well-known figures like Walt Disney, Jeb Bush and Hurricane Katrina, and should become vital reading for citizens and policymakers as global concerns over water scarcity grow. (Apr.)
4/23/2007
* MIRAGE: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.
Cynthia Barnett. Univ. of Michigan, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 9780472115631
In recent decades, severe droughts in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, along with shrinking aquifers, dried-up lakes and sluggish rivers in the Southeast have induced bitter East Coast fights over what was once an exclusively Western concern: water scarcity. What happened? Barnett, the long-time environmental reporter for Florida Trend magazine, answers that question in a rigorous look at the relentless pressure of development and burgeoning human populations on natural water supplies, particularly in the wetlands of Florida. Chapter by chapter, Barnett documents the enlarging sinkholes, loss of ancient lakes, pollution of water tables and river systems, aquifer mining and negligent politics that have led to Florida's perpetual water crisis-including a disastrous shift in weather patterns. Considering such crises elsewhere in the U.S., Barnett finds that successful allocation agreements are rare, lessons learned are quickly forgotten and an ever-growing population spells more trouble to come. Though it may lack popular appeal, this comprehensive and well-referenced volume does feature appearances from well-known figures like Walt Disney, Jeb Bush and Hurricane Katrina, and should become vital reading for citizens and policymakers as global concerns over water scarcity grow. (Apr.)
Publishers Weekly
May 7, 2007
Gin Before Breakfast: The Dilemma of the Poet in the Newsroom
W. Dale Nelson. Syracuse Univ., $24.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-8156-0888-2
Nelson (Who Speaks for the President: The White House Press Secretary from Cleveland to Clinton), who spent 40 years as an Associated Press reporter, contemplates the chasm separating poetry and journalism, observing, "Newspaper stories tell us about names and titles, distances and populations, fatality totals and investigations. Poems tell us about ourselves." Exploring influences of one form on the other in this insightful study, he profiles famous and obscure British and American poets who labored as journalists. Poets had been told to avoid journalism as they would "gin before breakfast," said Archibald MacLeish, who landed his job with Fortune because "Luce... believed it was easier to turn a poet into a business journalist than to make a writer out of a bookkeeper." Analyzing the lives and language of Coleridge, Poe, Kipling, Sandburg and others, Nelson finds a few, notably Hart Crane and Dylan Thomas, were ill-suited for journalism, but many benefited. With Whittier's antislavery poems, poetry and journalism merged: "Whittier the editorialist and Whittier the poet had come together triumphantly," Nelson concludes. "The concreteness that is important to journalism can help avoid the vagueness that sometimes afflicts poetry, and fresh metaphors can serve the newspaper writer as well as the poet." Illus. (July)
May 7, 2007
Gin Before Breakfast: The Dilemma of the Poet in the Newsroom
W. Dale Nelson. Syracuse Univ., $24.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-8156-0888-2
Nelson (Who Speaks for the President: The White House Press Secretary from Cleveland to Clinton), who spent 40 years as an Associated Press reporter, contemplates the chasm separating poetry and journalism, observing, "Newspaper stories tell us about names and titles, distances and populations, fatality totals and investigations. Poems tell us about ourselves." Exploring influences of one form on the other in this insightful study, he profiles famous and obscure British and American poets who labored as journalists. Poets had been told to avoid journalism as they would "gin before breakfast," said Archibald MacLeish, who landed his job with Fortune because "Luce... believed it was easier to turn a poet into a business journalist than to make a writer out of a bookkeeper." Analyzing the lives and language of Coleridge, Poe, Kipling, Sandburg and others, Nelson finds a few, notably Hart Crane and Dylan Thomas, were ill-suited for journalism, but many benefited. With Whittier's antislavery poems, poetry and journalism merged: "Whittier the editorialist and Whittier the poet had come together triumphantly," Nelson concludes. "The concreteness that is important to journalism can help avoid the vagueness that sometimes afflicts poetry, and fresh metaphors can serve the newspaper writer as well as the poet." Illus. (July)
-- Publishers Weekly, 4/23/2007
NONFICTION
BIG MEDICINE FROM SIX NATIONS
Ted Williams. Syracuse Univ., $29.95 (256p) ISBN 9780815608639
Native American healer Williams (1930-2005) shares incredible stories of vision quests, songs of power and the healing abilities of Indian Medicine in the follow-up to his much-lauded 1976 title, The Reservation. A member of the Tuscarora Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Williams gives the unitiated a fascinating glimpse through the Longhouse door into Iroquois history and spiritualism. The reader learns of the Peacemaker, who founded the Iroquois Confederacy; of Hiawatha, who cured all psychological illness; of the Great Law of the Great Peace; and of the Thanksgiving Address that starts and ends each ceremonial event. Williams explains how Indian Medicine is a cross-discipline ability—at once physical, spiritual and psychical—to tap into and use the energy of the universe. Many of these short tales involve the supernatural world: witches, ghosts, scrying, shape shifting, energy spots and healing by hands; for instance, Williams relates the time he healed his own back—broken in an encounter with a falling tree—with energy from his hands. Williams provides many such compelling, campfire-story glimpses into everyday events of Iroquois society that modern Americans would consider something close to miraculous. This enjoyable read will prove both challenging and heartening for those with an open mind. (Apr.)
NONFICTION
BIG MEDICINE FROM SIX NATIONS
Ted Williams. Syracuse Univ., $29.95 (256p) ISBN 9780815608639
Native American healer Williams (1930-2005) shares incredible stories of vision quests, songs of power and the healing abilities of Indian Medicine in the follow-up to his much-lauded 1976 title, The Reservation. A member of the Tuscarora Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Williams gives the unitiated a fascinating glimpse through the Longhouse door into Iroquois history and spiritualism. The reader learns of the Peacemaker, who founded the Iroquois Confederacy; of Hiawatha, who cured all psychological illness; of the Great Law of the Great Peace; and of the Thanksgiving Address that starts and ends each ceremonial event. Williams explains how Indian Medicine is a cross-discipline ability—at once physical, spiritual and psychical—to tap into and use the energy of the universe. Many of these short tales involve the supernatural world: witches, ghosts, scrying, shape shifting, energy spots and healing by hands; for instance, Williams relates the time he healed his own back—broken in an encounter with a falling tree—with energy from his hands. Williams provides many such compelling, campfire-story glimpses into everyday events of Iroquois society that modern Americans would consider something close to miraculous. This enjoyable read will prove both challenging and heartening for those with an open mind. (Apr.)
Monday, April 02, 2007
DON'T COUNT THE BOOKSTORES OUT
by Bruce J. Miller
The news that the owner of Publishers Group West was bankrupt hit the bookselling and publishing community like a ton of bricks and mortar, with many small publishers worrying that the capricious pestle of fate would grind them to powder in another kind of mortar. For weeks that was the story everyone was talking about.
While word of Borders Group Inc.'s plans for changes in its business model (see Wall Street Journal, "Borders' Business Plan Gets a Rewrite" By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG) didn't create as much conversation in independent bookselling circles it pointed up once again the corrosive effect of online sales on bookstores. Borders announced it would attempt to sell books themselves rather than through Amazon.com.
As Liz Murphy of the Learned Owl Bookshop in Hudson, Ohio recently pointed out to me, the independents had "learned how to deal with competition from the chains," but the acceleration of online sales is a more difficult problem. The Learned Owl and others like it continue to have strong sales, but in the present environment no "over the counter" booksellers, chain or independent, are jumping for joy.
The Miller Brothers remember when the discounter Crown Books first opened, and the best argument to Indies for ordering from university and literary presses was "the chains won't have it." It was a strong argument that often won the day.
Then came Amazon, a sexy listing service that included virtually everything from heavily promoted Big-Press trade books to the most obscure scholarly titles. The fact that Amazon's profit on book sales was virtual mattered not to those who chose to click on an icon rather than walk across the street to order from their local store or check their "stacks," to borrow a phrase from the old-fashioned library.
So, many of us felt resigned to the idea that one could not kill the Beast--not with excellent service, not with inventory, and certainly not with discounts--who can compete with a triumphant technology?
The Trachtenberg article tells us that online book sales rose from 2% to 13% of the market from 1998--2006. I cannot argue with his contention that "traditional book retailers are shrinking" while "online and nonbookstore retailers are gaining." But I'm quite certain that the average book reader would be shocked to learn that, even now, all online sales from all sources constitute a relatively small percentage of total book sales. Not only that, but the American Booksellers Association figures show a resurgence of new independent stores opening, a small but significant counter-trend.
And that brings me to my main point: there are many people out there who love bookstores, and the more interesting and unusual the mix of titles, the farther that love will go. The juxtaposition of books from Random House and trade books from, say, Duke University Press, can only delight those who love to pick from the stacks. A bookstore that carries a mix of scholarly and small press titles will impress the browsing public and ultimately make up in sales and customer loyalty what the store may have lost in discount points.
Last week I called on Read Between the Lynes (the owner is Arlene Lynes) in Woodstock, IL. I emerged from the store just as three women, two in their late 40's, one in her 20's, were walking towards the coffee shop next door: "oh look!" said one of the women, "a bookstore!" The three of them were genuinely surprised and delighted, and they went in to take a look.
by Bruce J. Miller
The news that the owner of Publishers Group West was bankrupt hit the bookselling and publishing community like a ton of bricks and mortar, with many small publishers worrying that the capricious pestle of fate would grind them to powder in another kind of mortar. For weeks that was the story everyone was talking about.
While word of Borders Group Inc.'s plans for changes in its business model (see Wall Street Journal, "Borders' Business Plan Gets a Rewrite" By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG) didn't create as much conversation in independent bookselling circles it pointed up once again the corrosive effect of online sales on bookstores. Borders announced it would attempt to sell books themselves rather than through Amazon.com.
As Liz Murphy of the Learned Owl Bookshop in Hudson, Ohio recently pointed out to me, the independents had "learned how to deal with competition from the chains," but the acceleration of online sales is a more difficult problem. The Learned Owl and others like it continue to have strong sales, but in the present environment no "over the counter" booksellers, chain or independent, are jumping for joy.
The Miller Brothers remember when the discounter Crown Books first opened, and the best argument to Indies for ordering from university and literary presses was "the chains won't have it." It was a strong argument that often won the day.
Then came Amazon, a sexy listing service that included virtually everything from heavily promoted Big-Press trade books to the most obscure scholarly titles. The fact that Amazon's profit on book sales was virtual mattered not to those who chose to click on an icon rather than walk across the street to order from their local store or check their "stacks," to borrow a phrase from the old-fashioned library.
So, many of us felt resigned to the idea that one could not kill the Beast--not with excellent service, not with inventory, and certainly not with discounts--who can compete with a triumphant technology?
The Trachtenberg article tells us that online book sales rose from 2% to 13% of the market from 1998--2006. I cannot argue with his contention that "traditional book retailers are shrinking" while "online and nonbookstore retailers are gaining." But I'm quite certain that the average book reader would be shocked to learn that, even now, all online sales from all sources constitute a relatively small percentage of total book sales. Not only that, but the American Booksellers Association figures show a resurgence of new independent stores opening, a small but significant counter-trend.
And that brings me to my main point: there are many people out there who love bookstores, and the more interesting and unusual the mix of titles, the farther that love will go. The juxtaposition of books from Random House and trade books from, say, Duke University Press, can only delight those who love to pick from the stacks. A bookstore that carries a mix of scholarly and small press titles will impress the browsing public and ultimately make up in sales and customer loyalty what the store may have lost in discount points.
Last week I called on Read Between the Lynes (the owner is Arlene Lynes) in Woodstock, IL. I emerged from the store just as three women, two in their late 40's, one in her 20's, were walking towards the coffee shop next door: "oh look!" said one of the women, "a bookstore!" The three of them were genuinely surprised and delighted, and they went in to take a look.
PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY 4-2-07
Boombox
Gabriel Cohen. Academy Chicago, $15.95 paper (230p) ISBN 978-0-89733-558-4
Cohen's impressive second novel abandons the gritty waterfront of his Edgar-nominated debut, Red Hook, in favor of a rapidly gentrifying nook a few stops up the F train line.
Shortly after 9/11 in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill, Jamel Wilson, a 16-year-old father and high school dropout who finds a sense of pride in his fast food gig, wants to listen to music in his courtyard, but his recreation is a profound irritation to his demographically diverse neighbors, each with domestic dramas of their own.
Carol Fasone lives with her racist mother and Bosnian husband, Milosz, whom she's putting through engineering school.
Mitchell Brett, a bored accountant, and his attractive but troubled wife, Kristin, are trying to have a child.
Grace Howard, a West Indian lady, is a workaholic at a downtown insurance company hoping for a big promotion and some romance.
Jamel's mother, Melba, sells real estate and struggles to keep Jamel off the streets.
But when tempers flare over the loud music, the cops are of little help and the situation turns volatile. Despite an unsurprising climax, Cohen's tight plot, complex characters and vibrant cityscape create a convincing slice of urban life. (July)
Boombox
Gabriel Cohen. Academy Chicago, $15.95 paper (230p) ISBN 978-0-89733-558-4
Cohen's impressive second novel abandons the gritty waterfront of his Edgar-nominated debut, Red Hook, in favor of a rapidly gentrifying nook a few stops up the F train line.
Shortly after 9/11 in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill, Jamel Wilson, a 16-year-old father and high school dropout who finds a sense of pride in his fast food gig, wants to listen to music in his courtyard, but his recreation is a profound irritation to his demographically diverse neighbors, each with domestic dramas of their own.
Carol Fasone lives with her racist mother and Bosnian husband, Milosz, whom she's putting through engineering school.
Mitchell Brett, a bored accountant, and his attractive but troubled wife, Kristin, are trying to have a child.
Grace Howard, a West Indian lady, is a workaholic at a downtown insurance company hoping for a big promotion and some romance.
Jamel's mother, Melba, sells real estate and struggles to keep Jamel off the streets.
But when tempers flare over the loud music, the cops are of little help and the situation turns volatile. Despite an unsurprising climax, Cohen's tight plot, complex characters and vibrant cityscape create a convincing slice of urban life. (July)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Library Journal, 4/1/07
Haile, Rebecca G. Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia. Academy Chicago. May 2007. c.200p. ISBN 0-89733-556-2 [ISBN 978-0-89733-556-0]. pap. $17.95. AUTOBIOG
Haile's memoir traces her family's emigration from Ethiopia to the United States in the mid-1970s, a journey that led to her return 25 years later. The author's father was an academic who served in the Ethiopian parliament after the coup that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie. However, he was persecuted under the new regime, which forced him and his family (Haile was 11 years old at the time) to flee to the United States and eventually to central Minnesota. The book is chiefly about Haile's return to Ethiopia, as she attempts to reconcile and process the harsh realities and issues that still plague the country and her relatives who continue to live there. This engaging read provides a compelling face to the story of Ethiopia today, a country of 75 million people and with an immigrant representation across the United States. The book is also a good companion piece to Barak Obama's Dreams of My Father, which also explores African family history. Haile, a graduate of HarvardLawSchool living in New York City, includes a helpful glossary of Ethiopian words and phrases and notable historic figures. Recommended for public or academic libraries with strong African history or biography collections.-Joslyn Jones, Oak Park P.L., IL
Haile, Rebecca G. Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia. Academy Chicago. May 2007. c.200p. ISBN 0-89733-556-2 [ISBN 978-0-89733-556-0]. pap. $17.95. AUTOBIOG
Haile's memoir traces her family's emigration from Ethiopia to the United States in the mid-1970s, a journey that led to her return 25 years later. The author's father was an academic who served in the Ethiopian parliament after the coup that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie. However, he was persecuted under the new regime, which forced him and his family (Haile was 11 years old at the time) to flee to the United States and eventually to central Minnesota. The book is chiefly about Haile's return to Ethiopia, as she attempts to reconcile and process the harsh realities and issues that still plague the country and her relatives who continue to live there. This engaging read provides a compelling face to the story of Ethiopia today, a country of 75 million people and with an immigrant representation across the United States. The book is also a good companion piece to Barak Obama's Dreams of My Father, which also explores African family history. Haile, a graduate of HarvardLawSchool living in New York City, includes a helpful glossary of Ethiopian words and phrases and notable historic figures. Recommended for public or academic libraries with strong African history or biography collections.-Joslyn Jones, Oak Park P.L., IL
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
African American Environmental Thought
Foundations
Kimberly K. Smith
March 2007
264 pages, 6 x 9
American Political Thought
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1516-2, $29.95
African American intellectual thought has long provided a touchstone for national politics and civil rights, but, as Kimberly Smith reveals, it also has much to say about our relationship to nature. In this first single-authored book to link African American and environmental studies, Smith uncovers a rich tradition stretching from the abolition movement through the Harlem Renaissance, demonstrating that black Americans have been far from indifferent to environmental concerns.
Beginning with environmental critiques of slave agriculture in the early nineteenth century and evolving through critical engagements with scientific racism, artistic primitivism, pragmatism, and twentieth-century urban reform, Smith highlights the continuity of twentieth-century black politics with earlier efforts by slaves and freedmen to possess the land. She examines the works of such canonical figures as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Alain Locke, all of whom wrote forcefully about how slavery and racial oppression affected black Americans’ relationship to the environment.
Smith’s analysis focuses on the importance of freedom in humans’ relationship with nature. According to black theorists, the denial of freedom can distort one’s relationship to the natural world, impairing stewardship and alienating one from the land. Her pathbreaking study offers the first linkage of the early conservation movement to black history, the first detailed description of black agrarianism, and the first analysis of scientific racism as an environmental theory. It also offers a new way to conceptualize black politics by bringing into view its environmental dimension, as well as a normative environmental theory grounded in pragmatism and aimed at identifying the social conditions for environmental virtue.
Smith’s work offers a new approach to established writers and thinkers and shows that they justly deserve a place in the canon of American environmental thought. African American Environmental Thought enriches our understanding of black politics and environmental history, and of environmental theory in general. Because slavery and racism have shaped the meaning of the American landscape, this body of thought offers us fresh conceptual resources by which we can make better sense of our world.
“Thoroughly researched and well-informed, this extraordinarily rich and well-written study reveals hitherto neglected aspects of Black American life and thought.”—Wilson J. Moses, author of Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent
“A terrific book that fills an important gap in political theory and offers fresh interpretations of such figures as Douglass, Du Bois, and Locke.”—Lawrie Balfour, author of Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy
“An arresting, insightful, and compelling look at environmental thought through the eyes of African Americans.”—Carolyn Merchant, author of The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History
KIMBERLY K. SMITH is associate professor of political science at Carleton College and author of Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition: A Common Grace (see page 53) and The Dominion of Voice: Riot, Reason and Romance in Antebellum Politics, winner of the Merle Curti Award.
Foundations
Kimberly K. Smith
March 2007
264 pages, 6 x 9
American Political Thought
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1516-2, $29.95
African American intellectual thought has long provided a touchstone for national politics and civil rights, but, as Kimberly Smith reveals, it also has much to say about our relationship to nature. In this first single-authored book to link African American and environmental studies, Smith uncovers a rich tradition stretching from the abolition movement through the Harlem Renaissance, demonstrating that black Americans have been far from indifferent to environmental concerns.
Beginning with environmental critiques of slave agriculture in the early nineteenth century and evolving through critical engagements with scientific racism, artistic primitivism, pragmatism, and twentieth-century urban reform, Smith highlights the continuity of twentieth-century black politics with earlier efforts by slaves and freedmen to possess the land. She examines the works of such canonical figures as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Alain Locke, all of whom wrote forcefully about how slavery and racial oppression affected black Americans’ relationship to the environment.
Smith’s analysis focuses on the importance of freedom in humans’ relationship with nature. According to black theorists, the denial of freedom can distort one’s relationship to the natural world, impairing stewardship and alienating one from the land. Her pathbreaking study offers the first linkage of the early conservation movement to black history, the first detailed description of black agrarianism, and the first analysis of scientific racism as an environmental theory. It also offers a new way to conceptualize black politics by bringing into view its environmental dimension, as well as a normative environmental theory grounded in pragmatism and aimed at identifying the social conditions for environmental virtue.
Smith’s work offers a new approach to established writers and thinkers and shows that they justly deserve a place in the canon of American environmental thought. African American Environmental Thought enriches our understanding of black politics and environmental history, and of environmental theory in general. Because slavery and racism have shaped the meaning of the American landscape, this body of thought offers us fresh conceptual resources by which we can make better sense of our world.
“Thoroughly researched and well-informed, this extraordinarily rich and well-written study reveals hitherto neglected aspects of Black American life and thought.”—Wilson J. Moses, author of Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent
“A terrific book that fills an important gap in political theory and offers fresh interpretations of such figures as Douglass, Du Bois, and Locke.”—Lawrie Balfour, author of Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy
“An arresting, insightful, and compelling look at environmental thought through the eyes of African Americans.”—Carolyn Merchant, author of The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History
KIMBERLY K. SMITH is associate professor of political science at Carleton College and author of Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition: A Common Grace (see page 53) and The Dominion of Voice: Riot, Reason and Romance in Antebellum Politics, winner of the Merle Curti Award.
Monday, March 19, 2007
PICK OF THE LISTS: BRUCE MILLER, MILLER TRADE BOOK MARKETING SPRING, 2007—PRESENTED MARCH, 2007 at the Midwest Booksellers Association meeting, Brookfield, WI.
1. THE LORDS OF FOLLY A Novel by Gene Logsdon ISBN: 0-89733-557-0 / 978-0-89733-557-7 $16.95 PAPER, Academy Chicago Publishers APRIL
This hilarious first novel by the prolific non-fiction writer Gene Logsdon is set in rural Minnesota in 1953. The Oblates of St. Joseph are more interested in farming, the healing powers of peat moss, and helping a local bootlegger than in the vows they are working toward at Ascension Seminary near Shakopee. But underneath the mayhem and merriment cultivated by “the most troublesome class in seminary history” lies a darker world of bewilderment about sex and sanity. What should they be doing with their lives, they ask each other. It is the resolution of the question—who the hell is sane in this crazy world?—that brings their adventures to a surprising and triumphant conclusion.
2. DREAM NOT OF OTHER WORLDS Teaching in a Segregated Elementary School, 1970 by Huston Diehl ISBN: 0-87745-996-7 / 978-0-87745-996-5 CLOTH $24.95, University of Iowa Press 260 pages APRIL
A fascinating account of a young woman’s experience teaching 4th grade black students in rural Louisa County, Virginia in 1970. The school’s superintendent, like the author, was white, but their attitudes couldn’t have been more different. The super assured her he didn’t expect her to teach “those children” anything. But she persisted, not only teaching to the best of her ability despite discouraging words, but learning about her own prejudices and potential through her students.
“This poignant book is a needed reminder that the days of Jim Crow and the malignant lie of ‘separate but equal’ are not that long ago and that the tragic legacy of that era is unfortunately still with us today.”—Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone and author of Fist Stick Knife Gun and Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America
3. AMERICAN POETRY NOW, Pitt Poetry Series Anthology Edited by Ed OchesterISBN 0-8229-5964-X PAPER $27.95, University of Pittsburgh Press, 416 pages MARCH
The University of Pittsburgh Press began publishing its poetry series in 1967. For 30 of those 40 years Ed Ochester has been the series editor. The stylistic range and accomplishment of this diverse group of poets reflects the vitality of poetic form in contemporary America. Among the 47 poets whose work is represented here: Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Billy Collins, Wanda Coleman, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Edward Field, Daisy Fried, Ted Kooser, Etheridge Knight, Peter Meinke, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Reginald Shepherd, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and Muriel Rukeyser.
4. SUBCOMMANDER MARCOS, The Man and the Mask by Nick HenckISBN 978-0-8223-3995-3 PAPER, $24.95, Duke University Press, 488 pages AUGUST
Subcommander Marcos made his debut on the world stage on January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. At dawn, from a town-hall balcony he announced that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation had seized several towns in the Mexican state of Chiapas in rebellion against the government; by sunset Marcos was on his way to becoming the most famous guerrilla leader since Che Guevara. Subsequently, through a succession of interviews, communiqués, and public spectacles, the Subcommander emerged as a charismatic spokesperson for the indigenous Zapatista uprising and a rallying figure in the international anti-globalization movement.
In this, the first English-language biography of Subcommander Marcos, Nick Henck describes the thought, leadership, and personality of this charismatic rebel spokesperson. He traces Marcos’s development from his provincial middle-class upbringing, through his academic career and immersion into the clandestine world of guerrillas, to his emergence as the iconic Subcommander. Henck reflects on what motivated an urbane university professor to reject a life of comfort in Mexico City in favor of one of hardship as a guerrilla in the mountainous jungles of Chiapas, and he examines how Marcos became a conduit through which impoverished indigenous Mexicans could communicate with the world.
5. BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS, The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair by Lisa D. Schrenk ISBN 0-8166-4836-0 / 978-0-8166-4836-8 CLOTH, $35.00, University of Minnesota Press, 7 ½ x 10 ½ 368 pages, 170 halftones, 26 color JUNE
This is the first in-depth look at the architecture of the second Chicago World’s Fair.From the summer of 1933 to the fall of 1934, more than 38 million fairgoers visited a 3-mile stretch along Lake Michigan, home to Chicago’s second World’s Fair. Millions more experienced the Century of Progress International Exposition through newspaper and magazine articles, newsreels, and souvenirs. Together, all marveled at the industrial, scientific, consumer, and cultural displays, many of which were housed in fifty massive and colorful exhibition halls, the largest architectural project realized in the United States during the Great Depression.
Richly illustrated, BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS explores the pivotal role of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair in modern American architecture. The fair’s pavilions incorporated recently introduced building materials such as masonite and gypsum board; structural innovations (for example, the first thin-shell concrete roof and the first suspended roof structures built in the United States); and new construction processes, most notably the use of prefabrication. They also featured curiosities like the giant, constantly operating mayonnaise maker and the glass-walled House of Tomorrow, which had no operable windows.
Schrenk shows how the halls’ designs reflected cultural and political developments of the period, including the expanding relationships between science, industry, and government; the rise of a corporate consumer culture; and the impact of the Great Depression.
6. 100 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS, With tested recipies and full color by Michael KuoISBN 978-0-472-03126-0 PAPER, $24.95, University of Michigan Press, 7 x 10, 296 pages, 269 photos JUNE
With a dash of humor and a dollop of science, Michael Kuo selects the top 100 mushrooms best suited for cooking. Like Kuo's very popular book Morels, 100 Edible Mushrooms is written in the author's inimitable, engaging, and appealing style, taking the reader on the hunt through forest and kitchen in search of mycological pleasures and culinary delights.
Kuo describes in detail how to identify each species, where and when to find them, and how to cook them in creative and delicious recipes. The mushrooms presented in the book are the most often eaten varieties, and a description of the button mushrooms found in the grocery store is included. All of the mushrooms have at least one full-color illustration and some several more to aid in identifying and distinguishing look-alike and nonedible species. An indispensable book for mushroom hunters, naturalists, and cooks.
7. PATROLLING BAGHDAD, A Military Police Company and the War in Iraq by Mark R. DePue ISBN 978-0-7006-1498-1 CLOTH, $34.95, University Press of Kansas 320 pages APRIL
The first MP company assigned to patrol the heart of Baghdad, the 233rd (from Springfield, Illinois) was a key part of the American occupation forces from April 2003 to April 2004. Charged with helping rebuild the city’s police force—not just reopening stations but training a new force to replace its corrupt and hated predecessors—these men and women waged a “military police war” while witnessing all of the larger conflict’s central themes, from the shortcoming of prewar planning to ongoing security problems, from media coverage to humanitarian efforts.
DePue recounts the 233rd’s actions in the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the inevitable clash of cultures, along with lootings, shootings, roadside and police station bombings, and the inevitable bureaucratic bumbling. Here are the horrors of firefights and summary executions and the drama of the UN bombing. Here too is the untold side of the war, as these volunteers on their own initiative reopened Baghdad schools and took under their wing a Catholic orphanage for handicapped children located in the heart of the city.
Based on extensive interviews with the unit’s members and others associated with their mission, DePue’s eye-opening account also covers what it was like for the 26 women of the unit, how a romance blossomed between two MPs, and how support groups back home—with the help of the Internet—helped families cope with worry over loved ones.
8. DREAMING BASEBALL, A Novel by James T. Farrell, ISBN 978-0-87338-897-9 CLOTH, $28.00, Kent State University Press 328 pages MARCH
Much like author James T. Farrell, Mickey Donovan—the main character in Dreaming Baseball—grew up on the South Side of Chicago dreaming of becoming a star for the White Sox. Donovan’s childhood dream came true in 1919 when he made the team. Despite the fact that he spent most of his rookie season on the bench, it was truly a magical year—until the Black Sox scandal turned it into a nightmare.
James T. Farrell dreamed of one day playing second base for his hometown Chicago White Sox, but, failing that, he became one of America’s great novelists. Farrell loved the game of baseball with the same passion he brought to the celebrated Studs Lonigan trilogy. In the 1950s Farrell signed an agreement with A. S. Barnes to write two baseball books. The first book published from this deal was My Baseball Diary, in 1957, still considered one of the very best fan books on baseball. The second baseball book was to be a novel about the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal. Though several draft s of the novel were written, it remained unpublished—until now.
Editors Ron Briley, Margaret Davidson, and James Barbour worked with the various manuscript drafts to see Farrell’s vision to print as Dreaming Baseball.
9. BEWARE OF CAT, And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier by Vincent Wyckoff ISBN 0-87351-582-X / 978-0-87351-582-5, CLOTH, $22.95, Minnesota Historical Society Press, MARCH, 204 pages
One sunny day on his postal route, Vincent Wyckoff crosses the path of an elderly gentleman whistling for his lost parakeet. The old man is upset, and Wyckoff moves down the block slowly, looking high and low, hoping to spot the little bird. He reaches the man’s house and offers sympathy to his wife, who smiles sadly and says, “We haven’t had that bird for twenty-five years.” Letter carriers like Wyckoff walk through the same neighborhood each day, observing the lives and routines of its residents. They learn its stories, make connections between people, and, in many ways, become the common thread that connects neighbors to one another. Along Wyckoff’s mail route, Native American children teach him about totems. He finds assistance for a reclusive chain-smoking book collector who can’t maintain his property. He delivers a much-delayed registered letter mailed from Saigon in 1976.
Over the years, Wyckoff sees the neighborhood of blue-collar retirees change as a diverse group of younger people move in and raise their families.Celebrating the triumphs in everyday life and demonstrating the danger of trusting first impressions, Beware of Cat reveals the inner workings of an ordinary place of extraordinary interest.
10. FROM CRIB TO KINDERGARTEN, The Essential child Safety Guide by Dorothy A. Drago, M.P.H. ISBN 0-8018-8570-1 / 978-0-8018-8570-9 PAPER, $15.00, Johns Hopkins University Press, MAY, 208 pages
In childhood, the occasional bump or scrape comes with the territory. But serious injury is another matter, creating anxiety for even the most experienced parent. Fortunately, unintentional injury can be prevented. In this essential guide, an eminent child safety specialist explains how to reduce the risk of childhood injury at home—and beyond. Her tips help protect children from birth to age five—those who are most vulnerable to serious injury.
She describes how to provide a safe environment during the daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, playing, and traveling. The major hazards and potential injuries associated with each activity are identified along with the age when the child is at greatest risk. Illustrations, checklists, and summary charts complement the text and put valuable lessons and critical information at parents’ fingertips. From Crib to Kindergarten is an indispensable “how to” for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters, and daycare providers.
11. ROGUES, WRITERS, AND WHORES, Dining with the Rich & Infamous, or A Stock of Scrumptious Stories from the Centuries (with scores and scores of recipes) by Daniel Rogov ISBN 1 59264 172 5 / 978 1 59264 172 7 CLOTH, $24.95, The Toby Press, MAY, 250 pages
Food has been a favorite literary topic since the time of Epicurus. If Homer is to be believed, Odysseus spent as much time in feasting as he did in warfare; the characters in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales devoted as much time to dining as they did to fornicating; and Rabelais' Gargantua would have been little more than an oversized oaf had it not been for his magnificent dining habits. Throughout history, numerous famous and infamous men and women have contributed in their sometimes perverted but almost always intriguing ways to the world of gastronomy. The stories of those people, their culinary habits and the dishes either created by them, named after them or cherished by them, are the subject of this book. Kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, chefs and restaurateurs, novelists and composers, generals and courtesans--all have had dishes named after them. Follow the fortunes and discover the recipes of over sixty rogues, writers and whores, from Apicius to Zola. Written by Daniel Rogov, one of the most charming and knowledgeable food and wine writers today, the book is lavishly illustrated by Yael Hershberg.
12. THE SPACE OF FREEDOM, Apartment Exhibitions in Leningrad, 1964—1986 Richard Waller, ed. ISBN 978-0-9765047-3-1 PAPER, $29.95 58 illus., 46 color, one map 8.5 x 10 FEBRUARY 108 pages
For the Russian nonconformist artists of the 1960s through the 1980s, a room or an apartment - whether one's own or someone else's - was a departure point into the world of art, a world free of limitations. An apartment, while limited in space, opened up a world of infinite space - the entire cosmos. The transformation of those apartments was accomplished by covering their walls from floor to ceiling with the art of unofficial artists who were forbidden to show their works in exhibiton halls and museums of the Soviet Union.This volume illustrates works from the Museum of Nonconformist Art, St Petersburg, Russia, to focus on both the artwork shown in communal apartments and on the exhibition space of the apartments themselves as a significant part of the history of Russian art. It includes pieces by the most important figures in the history of these exhibitions and in the history of nonconformist painting
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1. THE LORDS OF FOLLY A Novel by Gene Logsdon ISBN: 0-89733-557-0 / 978-0-89733-557-7 $16.95 PAPER, Academy Chicago Publishers APRIL
This hilarious first novel by the prolific non-fiction writer Gene Logsdon is set in rural Minnesota in 1953. The Oblates of St. Joseph are more interested in farming, the healing powers of peat moss, and helping a local bootlegger than in the vows they are working toward at Ascension Seminary near Shakopee. But underneath the mayhem and merriment cultivated by “the most troublesome class in seminary history” lies a darker world of bewilderment about sex and sanity. What should they be doing with their lives, they ask each other. It is the resolution of the question—who the hell is sane in this crazy world?—that brings their adventures to a surprising and triumphant conclusion.
2. DREAM NOT OF OTHER WORLDS Teaching in a Segregated Elementary School, 1970 by Huston Diehl ISBN: 0-87745-996-7 / 978-0-87745-996-5 CLOTH $24.95, University of Iowa Press 260 pages APRIL
A fascinating account of a young woman’s experience teaching 4th grade black students in rural Louisa County, Virginia in 1970. The school’s superintendent, like the author, was white, but their attitudes couldn’t have been more different. The super assured her he didn’t expect her to teach “those children” anything. But she persisted, not only teaching to the best of her ability despite discouraging words, but learning about her own prejudices and potential through her students.
“This poignant book is a needed reminder that the days of Jim Crow and the malignant lie of ‘separate but equal’ are not that long ago and that the tragic legacy of that era is unfortunately still with us today.”—Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone and author of Fist Stick Knife Gun and Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America
3. AMERICAN POETRY NOW, Pitt Poetry Series Anthology Edited by Ed OchesterISBN 0-8229-5964-X PAPER $27.95, University of Pittsburgh Press, 416 pages MARCH
The University of Pittsburgh Press began publishing its poetry series in 1967. For 30 of those 40 years Ed Ochester has been the series editor. The stylistic range and accomplishment of this diverse group of poets reflects the vitality of poetic form in contemporary America. Among the 47 poets whose work is represented here: Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Billy Collins, Wanda Coleman, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Edward Field, Daisy Fried, Ted Kooser, Etheridge Knight, Peter Meinke, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Reginald Shepherd, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and Muriel Rukeyser.
4. SUBCOMMANDER MARCOS, The Man and the Mask by Nick HenckISBN 978-0-8223-3995-3 PAPER, $24.95, Duke University Press, 488 pages AUGUST
Subcommander Marcos made his debut on the world stage on January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. At dawn, from a town-hall balcony he announced that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation had seized several towns in the Mexican state of Chiapas in rebellion against the government; by sunset Marcos was on his way to becoming the most famous guerrilla leader since Che Guevara. Subsequently, through a succession of interviews, communiqués, and public spectacles, the Subcommander emerged as a charismatic spokesperson for the indigenous Zapatista uprising and a rallying figure in the international anti-globalization movement.
In this, the first English-language biography of Subcommander Marcos, Nick Henck describes the thought, leadership, and personality of this charismatic rebel spokesperson. He traces Marcos’s development from his provincial middle-class upbringing, through his academic career and immersion into the clandestine world of guerrillas, to his emergence as the iconic Subcommander. Henck reflects on what motivated an urbane university professor to reject a life of comfort in Mexico City in favor of one of hardship as a guerrilla in the mountainous jungles of Chiapas, and he examines how Marcos became a conduit through which impoverished indigenous Mexicans could communicate with the world.
5. BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS, The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair by Lisa D. Schrenk ISBN 0-8166-4836-0 / 978-0-8166-4836-8 CLOTH, $35.00, University of Minnesota Press, 7 ½ x 10 ½ 368 pages, 170 halftones, 26 color JUNE
This is the first in-depth look at the architecture of the second Chicago World’s Fair.From the summer of 1933 to the fall of 1934, more than 38 million fairgoers visited a 3-mile stretch along Lake Michigan, home to Chicago’s second World’s Fair. Millions more experienced the Century of Progress International Exposition through newspaper and magazine articles, newsreels, and souvenirs. Together, all marveled at the industrial, scientific, consumer, and cultural displays, many of which were housed in fifty massive and colorful exhibition halls, the largest architectural project realized in the United States during the Great Depression.
Richly illustrated, BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS explores the pivotal role of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair in modern American architecture. The fair’s pavilions incorporated recently introduced building materials such as masonite and gypsum board; structural innovations (for example, the first thin-shell concrete roof and the first suspended roof structures built in the United States); and new construction processes, most notably the use of prefabrication. They also featured curiosities like the giant, constantly operating mayonnaise maker and the glass-walled House of Tomorrow, which had no operable windows.
Schrenk shows how the halls’ designs reflected cultural and political developments of the period, including the expanding relationships between science, industry, and government; the rise of a corporate consumer culture; and the impact of the Great Depression.
6. 100 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS, With tested recipies and full color by Michael KuoISBN 978-0-472-03126-0 PAPER, $24.95, University of Michigan Press, 7 x 10, 296 pages, 269 photos JUNE
With a dash of humor and a dollop of science, Michael Kuo selects the top 100 mushrooms best suited for cooking. Like Kuo's very popular book Morels, 100 Edible Mushrooms is written in the author's inimitable, engaging, and appealing style, taking the reader on the hunt through forest and kitchen in search of mycological pleasures and culinary delights.
Kuo describes in detail how to identify each species, where and when to find them, and how to cook them in creative and delicious recipes. The mushrooms presented in the book are the most often eaten varieties, and a description of the button mushrooms found in the grocery store is included. All of the mushrooms have at least one full-color illustration and some several more to aid in identifying and distinguishing look-alike and nonedible species. An indispensable book for mushroom hunters, naturalists, and cooks.
7. PATROLLING BAGHDAD, A Military Police Company and the War in Iraq by Mark R. DePue ISBN 978-0-7006-1498-1 CLOTH, $34.95, University Press of Kansas 320 pages APRIL
The first MP company assigned to patrol the heart of Baghdad, the 233rd (from Springfield, Illinois) was a key part of the American occupation forces from April 2003 to April 2004. Charged with helping rebuild the city’s police force—not just reopening stations but training a new force to replace its corrupt and hated predecessors—these men and women waged a “military police war” while witnessing all of the larger conflict’s central themes, from the shortcoming of prewar planning to ongoing security problems, from media coverage to humanitarian efforts.
DePue recounts the 233rd’s actions in the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the inevitable clash of cultures, along with lootings, shootings, roadside and police station bombings, and the inevitable bureaucratic bumbling. Here are the horrors of firefights and summary executions and the drama of the UN bombing. Here too is the untold side of the war, as these volunteers on their own initiative reopened Baghdad schools and took under their wing a Catholic orphanage for handicapped children located in the heart of the city.
Based on extensive interviews with the unit’s members and others associated with their mission, DePue’s eye-opening account also covers what it was like for the 26 women of the unit, how a romance blossomed between two MPs, and how support groups back home—with the help of the Internet—helped families cope with worry over loved ones.
8. DREAMING BASEBALL, A Novel by James T. Farrell, ISBN 978-0-87338-897-9 CLOTH, $28.00, Kent State University Press 328 pages MARCH
Much like author James T. Farrell, Mickey Donovan—the main character in Dreaming Baseball—grew up on the South Side of Chicago dreaming of becoming a star for the White Sox. Donovan’s childhood dream came true in 1919 when he made the team. Despite the fact that he spent most of his rookie season on the bench, it was truly a magical year—until the Black Sox scandal turned it into a nightmare.
James T. Farrell dreamed of one day playing second base for his hometown Chicago White Sox, but, failing that, he became one of America’s great novelists. Farrell loved the game of baseball with the same passion he brought to the celebrated Studs Lonigan trilogy. In the 1950s Farrell signed an agreement with A. S. Barnes to write two baseball books. The first book published from this deal was My Baseball Diary, in 1957, still considered one of the very best fan books on baseball. The second baseball book was to be a novel about the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal. Though several draft s of the novel were written, it remained unpublished—until now.
Editors Ron Briley, Margaret Davidson, and James Barbour worked with the various manuscript drafts to see Farrell’s vision to print as Dreaming Baseball.
9. BEWARE OF CAT, And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier by Vincent Wyckoff ISBN 0-87351-582-X / 978-0-87351-582-5, CLOTH, $22.95, Minnesota Historical Society Press, MARCH, 204 pages
One sunny day on his postal route, Vincent Wyckoff crosses the path of an elderly gentleman whistling for his lost parakeet. The old man is upset, and Wyckoff moves down the block slowly, looking high and low, hoping to spot the little bird. He reaches the man’s house and offers sympathy to his wife, who smiles sadly and says, “We haven’t had that bird for twenty-five years.” Letter carriers like Wyckoff walk through the same neighborhood each day, observing the lives and routines of its residents. They learn its stories, make connections between people, and, in many ways, become the common thread that connects neighbors to one another. Along Wyckoff’s mail route, Native American children teach him about totems. He finds assistance for a reclusive chain-smoking book collector who can’t maintain his property. He delivers a much-delayed registered letter mailed from Saigon in 1976.
Over the years, Wyckoff sees the neighborhood of blue-collar retirees change as a diverse group of younger people move in and raise their families.Celebrating the triumphs in everyday life and demonstrating the danger of trusting first impressions, Beware of Cat reveals the inner workings of an ordinary place of extraordinary interest.
10. FROM CRIB TO KINDERGARTEN, The Essential child Safety Guide by Dorothy A. Drago, M.P.H. ISBN 0-8018-8570-1 / 978-0-8018-8570-9 PAPER, $15.00, Johns Hopkins University Press, MAY, 208 pages
In childhood, the occasional bump or scrape comes with the territory. But serious injury is another matter, creating anxiety for even the most experienced parent. Fortunately, unintentional injury can be prevented. In this essential guide, an eminent child safety specialist explains how to reduce the risk of childhood injury at home—and beyond. Her tips help protect children from birth to age five—those who are most vulnerable to serious injury.
She describes how to provide a safe environment during the daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, playing, and traveling. The major hazards and potential injuries associated with each activity are identified along with the age when the child is at greatest risk. Illustrations, checklists, and summary charts complement the text and put valuable lessons and critical information at parents’ fingertips. From Crib to Kindergarten is an indispensable “how to” for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters, and daycare providers.
11. ROGUES, WRITERS, AND WHORES, Dining with the Rich & Infamous, or A Stock of Scrumptious Stories from the Centuries (with scores and scores of recipes) by Daniel Rogov ISBN 1 59264 172 5 / 978 1 59264 172 7 CLOTH, $24.95, The Toby Press, MAY, 250 pages
Food has been a favorite literary topic since the time of Epicurus. If Homer is to be believed, Odysseus spent as much time in feasting as he did in warfare; the characters in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales devoted as much time to dining as they did to fornicating; and Rabelais' Gargantua would have been little more than an oversized oaf had it not been for his magnificent dining habits. Throughout history, numerous famous and infamous men and women have contributed in their sometimes perverted but almost always intriguing ways to the world of gastronomy. The stories of those people, their culinary habits and the dishes either created by them, named after them or cherished by them, are the subject of this book. Kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, chefs and restaurateurs, novelists and composers, generals and courtesans--all have had dishes named after them. Follow the fortunes and discover the recipes of over sixty rogues, writers and whores, from Apicius to Zola. Written by Daniel Rogov, one of the most charming and knowledgeable food and wine writers today, the book is lavishly illustrated by Yael Hershberg.
12. THE SPACE OF FREEDOM, Apartment Exhibitions in Leningrad, 1964—1986 Richard Waller, ed. ISBN 978-0-9765047-3-1 PAPER, $29.95 58 illus., 46 color, one map 8.5 x 10 FEBRUARY 108 pages
For the Russian nonconformist artists of the 1960s through the 1980s, a room or an apartment - whether one's own or someone else's - was a departure point into the world of art, a world free of limitations. An apartment, while limited in space, opened up a world of infinite space - the entire cosmos. The transformation of those apartments was accomplished by covering their walls from floor to ceiling with the art of unofficial artists who were forbidden to show their works in exhibiton halls and museums of the Soviet Union.This volume illustrates works from the Museum of Nonconformist Art, St Petersburg, Russia, to focus on both the artwork shown in communal apartments and on the exhibition space of the apartments themselves as a significant part of the history of Russian art. It includes pieces by the most important figures in the history of these exhibitions and in the history of nonconformist painting
Bruce Miller
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Sunday, March 18, 2007
March 16, 2007
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10 Questions: First Gentleman? Posted by Katie Couric
(AP)We've never had a First Gentleman in the White House before -- but with Hillary Clinton running for President, it just might happen. We thought it would be interesting to hear from somebody who’s got some experience in the field: Dan Mulhern, husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mulhern is a Harvard-educated lawyer, motivational speaker, and the author of a recent book, Everyday Leadership. He lives in Lansing with his wife and three children, and Dan Mulhern is the subject of this week’s 10 Questions.
1.As the husband of Governor Jennifer Granholm, you are Michigan’s first First Gentleman. Do you see your role as different from a First Lady’s?
My role is different less because I am a man than because I am the particular person I am. Each first spouse gets to mold the role, and that’s one of the best things about this role. There is perhaps one difference due to gender. As the first first gentleman, I can celebrate the election of my wife as Michigan’s first female governor, and help claim that victory of equality and opportunity for all of us – women and men included. And I can show that men can do this with pride, intelligence, and love.
2. You’ve done a lot with your job—from encouraging volunteerism, to starting leadership seminars for state employees, to serving as chair of the Spouses’ Council of the National Governors Association. But do you also do the traditionally “female” tasks of decorating the governor’s mansion and putting together the menus for official dinners?
I do the traditionally female tasks of being the hands-on lead partner in raising our three kids, and my wife has been a tremendous partner in that. When the first spouses’ conversations turn to decorations and menus, my first instinct is to pull out my transporter and yell, “Beam me outta here, Scotty.” I am largely inept on house details, so I delegate the decisions and try to help with the implementation.
3. In between college at Yale, and law school at Harvard, you were a community organizer and high school teacher—and more recently, you were a leadership consultant in Detroit. You also have three kids. Are you still working full-time as First Gentleman—and how do you balance all of your corporate, government, and family responsibilities?
I have recently begun a nightly guest-talk radio show on leadership and do some paid public speaking outside Michigan, but I largely quit my business and kept just one paid client in Michigan. (I don’t want to give ammunition to Jennifer’s opponents or distract from her important work with charges of conflict of interest, so I have chosen not to do work for pay in Michigan.) I am an active --some would say hyperactive -- volunteer. But I put the family first. Jennifer and I schedule regular date nights. I coach the kids. And hard as it is I just say no to an awful lot of invitations that I’d love to say yes to. 4. The governor just won a very tough re-election campaign last year. To what extent have you advised her on political strategy? My main focus on the campaign was to help Jennifer in the way I helped executive clients as a business coach: I would listen, reflect back ideas, and work to make sure my wife’s policies and strategies were aligned with who she is and what her values are. And I was one voice on an exceptional team of advisors.
5. Is there skepticism among voters that the First Gentleman is pulling the strings in the background?
Anyone who has viewed Jennifer Granholm knows very clearly that she is, with due respect to Springsteen, The Boss. The rest of us do our best to help her and keep up!
6. Are you disappointed that your wife can’t run for president because she was born in Canada? Do you think “natural born citizen” should be redefined to allow immigrants to run?
Jennifer Granholm would be a tremendous president, and Michigan is fortunate in challenging times to have her completely and totally dedicated to her job. The constitutional prohibition works in her favor because it keeps down distraction and second-guessing about her motives. She is focused on what’s best for Michigan -- period. As far as the policy matter, I think that immigrants, like converts to the faith, often have greater conviction than those of us born to our country or faith. I say let them run and let voters decide.
7. Has anything changed in Michigan as the result of having a woman as governor? Do you think women are more accepted in leadership positions?
I love watching the eyes of young girls when they meet Jennifer. It seems to me they are not just seeing her, but they see themselves reflected in her. They could be governor, and that is awesome! What a great country that keeps opening doors to people. We have a ways to go when it comes to women in high level executive positions, but I think Jennifer has helped widen and smooth that path.
8. Did you ever consider running for office yourself? Might you do so in the future?
I used to think about it a lot when I was younger. Now, I am thrilled to be able to serve as I do. I enjoy doing my daily radio show on leadership and writing a weekly column called “Reading for Leading” (You can listen to the show or get a free subscription to the newsletter right here.) And I have enjoyed writing my book Everyday Leadership. In my career I have always tried to ask two questions: What is God asking of me? And: What is my world asking of me? How can I best serve? And I’ll keep asking that and try to live fully in every stretch of the road I’m allowed to walk.
9. What do you and the governor plan to do after her term is up in 2011?
Take a real vacation. After our honeymoon twenty-one years ago we’ve never gone away for more than a week. We will enjoy’s Jack’s high school years. And, we’ll use the talents God has given us to give back to others. Maybe the Peace Corps. Maybe working together to revive my consulting business. But trying to keep making a difference in whatever we do.
10. There's obviously been speculation about what role former President Bill Clinton might play if Senator Clinton were elected president next year. Any words of wisdom?
Me? Give advice to Bill Clinton?!?! Come on! He has had extraordinary, unbelievable opportunities to impact on the world, and I hope and assume he will continue to play on a worldwide stage. Yet I hope and wish for him that amidst all of that vital activity, he might also focus on and exult in the incredible opportunity to serve his wife. Being “first gentleman” is an invitation to a certain old-fashioned nobility. I know that this role has made me a better dad, husband, and person. I would wish the same for President (Bill) Clinton. 9:49 AM : March 16, 2007Read more posts in 10 Questions E-mail this post Printable version
Next Post Previous Post
10 Questions: First Gentleman? Posted by Katie Couric
(AP)We've never had a First Gentleman in the White House before -- but with Hillary Clinton running for President, it just might happen. We thought it would be interesting to hear from somebody who’s got some experience in the field: Dan Mulhern, husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mulhern is a Harvard-educated lawyer, motivational speaker, and the author of a recent book, Everyday Leadership. He lives in Lansing with his wife and three children, and Dan Mulhern is the subject of this week’s 10 Questions.
1.As the husband of Governor Jennifer Granholm, you are Michigan’s first First Gentleman. Do you see your role as different from a First Lady’s?
My role is different less because I am a man than because I am the particular person I am. Each first spouse gets to mold the role, and that’s one of the best things about this role. There is perhaps one difference due to gender. As the first first gentleman, I can celebrate the election of my wife as Michigan’s first female governor, and help claim that victory of equality and opportunity for all of us – women and men included. And I can show that men can do this with pride, intelligence, and love.
2. You’ve done a lot with your job—from encouraging volunteerism, to starting leadership seminars for state employees, to serving as chair of the Spouses’ Council of the National Governors Association. But do you also do the traditionally “female” tasks of decorating the governor’s mansion and putting together the menus for official dinners?
I do the traditionally female tasks of being the hands-on lead partner in raising our three kids, and my wife has been a tremendous partner in that. When the first spouses’ conversations turn to decorations and menus, my first instinct is to pull out my transporter and yell, “Beam me outta here, Scotty.” I am largely inept on house details, so I delegate the decisions and try to help with the implementation.
3. In between college at Yale, and law school at Harvard, you were a community organizer and high school teacher—and more recently, you were a leadership consultant in Detroit. You also have three kids. Are you still working full-time as First Gentleman—and how do you balance all of your corporate, government, and family responsibilities?
I have recently begun a nightly guest-talk radio show on leadership and do some paid public speaking outside Michigan, but I largely quit my business and kept just one paid client in Michigan. (I don’t want to give ammunition to Jennifer’s opponents or distract from her important work with charges of conflict of interest, so I have chosen not to do work for pay in Michigan.) I am an active --some would say hyperactive -- volunteer. But I put the family first. Jennifer and I schedule regular date nights. I coach the kids. And hard as it is I just say no to an awful lot of invitations that I’d love to say yes to. 4. The governor just won a very tough re-election campaign last year. To what extent have you advised her on political strategy? My main focus on the campaign was to help Jennifer in the way I helped executive clients as a business coach: I would listen, reflect back ideas, and work to make sure my wife’s policies and strategies were aligned with who she is and what her values are. And I was one voice on an exceptional team of advisors.
5. Is there skepticism among voters that the First Gentleman is pulling the strings in the background?
Anyone who has viewed Jennifer Granholm knows very clearly that she is, with due respect to Springsteen, The Boss. The rest of us do our best to help her and keep up!
6. Are you disappointed that your wife can’t run for president because she was born in Canada? Do you think “natural born citizen” should be redefined to allow immigrants to run?
Jennifer Granholm would be a tremendous president, and Michigan is fortunate in challenging times to have her completely and totally dedicated to her job. The constitutional prohibition works in her favor because it keeps down distraction and second-guessing about her motives. She is focused on what’s best for Michigan -- period. As far as the policy matter, I think that immigrants, like converts to the faith, often have greater conviction than those of us born to our country or faith. I say let them run and let voters decide.
7. Has anything changed in Michigan as the result of having a woman as governor? Do you think women are more accepted in leadership positions?
I love watching the eyes of young girls when they meet Jennifer. It seems to me they are not just seeing her, but they see themselves reflected in her. They could be governor, and that is awesome! What a great country that keeps opening doors to people. We have a ways to go when it comes to women in high level executive positions, but I think Jennifer has helped widen and smooth that path.
8. Did you ever consider running for office yourself? Might you do so in the future?
I used to think about it a lot when I was younger. Now, I am thrilled to be able to serve as I do. I enjoy doing my daily radio show on leadership and writing a weekly column called “Reading for Leading” (You can listen to the show or get a free subscription to the newsletter right here.) And I have enjoyed writing my book Everyday Leadership. In my career I have always tried to ask two questions: What is God asking of me? And: What is my world asking of me? How can I best serve? And I’ll keep asking that and try to live fully in every stretch of the road I’m allowed to walk.
9. What do you and the governor plan to do after her term is up in 2011?
Take a real vacation. After our honeymoon twenty-one years ago we’ve never gone away for more than a week. We will enjoy’s Jack’s high school years. And, we’ll use the talents God has given us to give back to others. Maybe the Peace Corps. Maybe working together to revive my consulting business. But trying to keep making a difference in whatever we do.
10. There's obviously been speculation about what role former President Bill Clinton might play if Senator Clinton were elected president next year. Any words of wisdom?
Me? Give advice to Bill Clinton?!?! Come on! He has had extraordinary, unbelievable opportunities to impact on the world, and I hope and assume he will continue to play on a worldwide stage. Yet I hope and wish for him that amidst all of that vital activity, he might also focus on and exult in the incredible opportunity to serve his wife. Being “first gentleman” is an invitation to a certain old-fashioned nobility. I know that this role has made me a better dad, husband, and person. I would wish the same for President (Bill) Clinton. 9:49 AM : March 16, 2007Read more posts in 10 Questions E-mail this post Printable version
EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP
Everyday Leadership offers strategies to improve leadership skills, improve results, and gain greater satisfaction in these hectic times. It speaks to the everyday leader, whether that person is a CEO, a principal, a pastor, or a mom or dad.
Daniel Mulhern, advisor to Fortune 500 companies,
acclaimed speaker, and the husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, immediately sets a warm and personal tone as he recalls his wife’s acceptance speech for the nomination of Michigan attorney general.
Instead of getting to hear the nominee’s address, Mulhern finds himself changing their one-year-old son’s diaper in a bathroom of the conference center. In this revealing moment Mulhern finds an instructive mix of humor, frustration, and enlightenment.
It was, he says, a chance to learn about the “unusual three-way intersection where leading, serving, and being human all meet. This book is about that intersection in the lives of human leaders.”
Everyday Leadership brings the art of management down to earth, presenting stories that illuminate some of the best ideas about real human leadership. It offers practical steps to achieve the goal of leading well in our lives through creating a vision, communicating that vision, and living it.
Daniel Granholm Mulhern is the “First Gentleman” of the State of Michigan. In addition to the personal support and counsel he offers his wife, Governor Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, Dan contributes his services, spearheading leadership development and being a model for the nation in offering a governmental work place that is a “great place to do great work!” He also serves as Chairman of the Michigan Community Service
Commission, which promotes and coordinates volunteer efforts across the state.
February
6 x 9, ca. 248 pages
Cloth 978-0-472-09772-6 $50.00S £31.95 CNDL 56.00
Paper 978-0-472-06972-9 $22.95T £14.95 CNDL 26.00
(CL 0-472-09972-8; PB 0-472-06972-1)
The University of Michigan Press
Everyday Leadership offers strategies to improve leadership skills, improve results, and gain greater satisfaction in these hectic times. It speaks to the everyday leader, whether that person is a CEO, a principal, a pastor, or a mom or dad.
Daniel Mulhern, advisor to Fortune 500 companies,
acclaimed speaker, and the husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, immediately sets a warm and personal tone as he recalls his wife’s acceptance speech for the nomination of Michigan attorney general.
Instead of getting to hear the nominee’s address, Mulhern finds himself changing their one-year-old son’s diaper in a bathroom of the conference center. In this revealing moment Mulhern finds an instructive mix of humor, frustration, and enlightenment.
It was, he says, a chance to learn about the “unusual three-way intersection where leading, serving, and being human all meet. This book is about that intersection in the lives of human leaders.”
Everyday Leadership brings the art of management down to earth, presenting stories that illuminate some of the best ideas about real human leadership. It offers practical steps to achieve the goal of leading well in our lives through creating a vision, communicating that vision, and living it.
Daniel Granholm Mulhern is the “First Gentleman” of the State of Michigan. In addition to the personal support and counsel he offers his wife, Governor Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, Dan contributes his services, spearheading leadership development and being a model for the nation in offering a governmental work place that is a “great place to do great work!” He also serves as Chairman of the Michigan Community Service
Commission, which promotes and coordinates volunteer efforts across the state.
February
6 x 9, ca. 248 pages
Cloth 978-0-472-09772-6 $50.00S £31.95 CNDL 56.00
Paper 978-0-472-06972-9 $22.95T £14.95 CNDL 26.00
(CL 0-472-09972-8; PB 0-472-06972-1)
The University of Michigan Press
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
PUBLISHED 2005 BY KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Under Kilimanjaro
by Ernest Hemingway
Edited by Robert W. Lewis and Robert E. Fleming
2005, 472 pp
Cloth ISBN (10) 0-87338-845-3
ISBN (13) 978-0-87338-845-0
Leather ISBN (10) 0-87338-870-4
ISBN (13) 978-0-87338-870-2
Cloth, $34.00
Leather (Limited Edition), $75.00
An American literary treasure
“The sun was not up but that was because of the flank of the mountain it had to rise over and the light was gray but good and Ngui and I were walking through the grass that was wet from the dew. He walked ahead because he knew where the bait had been hung and I watched the trees and his back and the trail his black legs made through the wetness of the grass. We walked silently and the cold wet of the new knee-high grass against my legs was cold and pleasant. Ngui carried the old Winchester pump gun and I carried the Springfield and the only noise that I heard from myself was the light slopping of the tea in my stomach.”
— Under Kilimanjaro, by Ernest Hemingway
Accompanied by his fourth wife Mary, famed American novelist Ernest Hemingway spent several months in late 1953 and early 1954 on his final safari in Kenya. Their time there came to an abrupt end in early January 1954 when they sustained serious injuries from two near-fatal plane crashes in east Africa. While recovering, and back home in Havana, Hemingway wrote his “African book,” which is, by turns, an adventuresome, comedic, and thoughtful recounting of his final safari. In Under Kilimanjaro “Papa” colors real people and events with his lively imagination as he demonstrates his inimitable style, his deft wit, and his intelligent curiosity in this autobiographical novel about the land and people he came to love.
Completed in 1956, Under Kilimanjaro is part handwritten and part typed, with many of the pages heavily edited in Hemingway’s hand. He then left this manuscript, along with those for A Moveable Feast, Islands in the Stream, and The Garden of Eden, in a safe-deposit box in Cuba, often referring to them as his “life insurance” for his heirs.
Under Kilimanjaro is the last of Hemingway’s manuscripts to be published in its entirety. Editors Robert W. Lewis and Robert E. Fleming believe that “this book deserves as complete and faithful a publication as possible without editorial distortion, speculation, or textually unsupported attempts at improvement. Our intent has been to produce a complete reading text of Ernest Hemingway’s manuscript. . . .Working on it was both a privilege and a responsibility. . . .Readers of this remarkable work will experience the mingled pleasure of revisiting the familiar and discovering the new.”
To its readers, Under Kilimanjaro reveals a mature, tender, happy, and reflective Hemingway and offers a compelling, deliberately paced, subtle story of a place and time as only Ernest Hemingway could write it.
Under Kilimanjaro
by Ernest Hemingway
Edited by Robert W. Lewis and Robert E. Fleming
2005, 472 pp
Cloth ISBN (10) 0-87338-845-3
ISBN (13) 978-0-87338-845-0
Leather ISBN (10) 0-87338-870-4
ISBN (13) 978-0-87338-870-2
Cloth, $34.00
Leather (Limited Edition), $75.00
An American literary treasure
“The sun was not up but that was because of the flank of the mountain it had to rise over and the light was gray but good and Ngui and I were walking through the grass that was wet from the dew. He walked ahead because he knew where the bait had been hung and I watched the trees and his back and the trail his black legs made through the wetness of the grass. We walked silently and the cold wet of the new knee-high grass against my legs was cold and pleasant. Ngui carried the old Winchester pump gun and I carried the Springfield and the only noise that I heard from myself was the light slopping of the tea in my stomach.”
— Under Kilimanjaro, by Ernest Hemingway
Accompanied by his fourth wife Mary, famed American novelist Ernest Hemingway spent several months in late 1953 and early 1954 on his final safari in Kenya. Their time there came to an abrupt end in early January 1954 when they sustained serious injuries from two near-fatal plane crashes in east Africa. While recovering, and back home in Havana, Hemingway wrote his “African book,” which is, by turns, an adventuresome, comedic, and thoughtful recounting of his final safari. In Under Kilimanjaro “Papa” colors real people and events with his lively imagination as he demonstrates his inimitable style, his deft wit, and his intelligent curiosity in this autobiographical novel about the land and people he came to love.
Completed in 1956, Under Kilimanjaro is part handwritten and part typed, with many of the pages heavily edited in Hemingway’s hand. He then left this manuscript, along with those for A Moveable Feast, Islands in the Stream, and The Garden of Eden, in a safe-deposit box in Cuba, often referring to them as his “life insurance” for his heirs.
Under Kilimanjaro is the last of Hemingway’s manuscripts to be published in its entirety. Editors Robert W. Lewis and Robert E. Fleming believe that “this book deserves as complete and faithful a publication as possible without editorial distortion, speculation, or textually unsupported attempts at improvement. Our intent has been to produce a complete reading text of Ernest Hemingway’s manuscript. . . .Working on it was both a privilege and a responsibility. . . .Readers of this remarkable work will experience the mingled pleasure of revisiting the familiar and discovering the new.”
To its readers, Under Kilimanjaro reveals a mature, tender, happy, and reflective Hemingway and offers a compelling, deliberately paced, subtle story of a place and time as only Ernest Hemingway could write it.
NEW FROM THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Nation-Building
Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq
edited by Francis Fukuyama
Forum on Constructive Capitalism
$55.00 hardcover (s)
0-8018-8334-2
January 2006 232 pp.
$21.95 paperback (s)
0-8018-8335-0
January 2006 pp.
Best-selling author Francis Fukuyama brings together esteemed academics, political analysts, and practitioners to reflect on the U.S. experience with nation-building, from its historical underpinnings to its modern-day consequences. The United States has sought on repeated occasions to reconstruct states damaged by conflict, from Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War to Japan and Germany after World War II, to the ongoing rebuilding of Iraq. Despite this rich experience, there has been remarkably little systematic effort to learn lessons on how outside powers can assist in the building of strong and self-sufficient states in post-conflict situations.
The contributors dissect mistakes, false starts, and lessons learned from the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq within the broader context of reconstruction efforts in other parts of the world, including Latin America, Japan, and the Balkans. Examining the contrasting models in Afghanistan and Iraq, they highlight the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as a cautionary example of inadequate planning.
The need for post-conflict reconstruction will not cease with the end of the Afghanistan and Iraq missions. This timely volume offers the critical reflection and evaluation necessary to avoid repeating costly mistakes in the future.
Contributors: Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution and Stanford University; James Dobbins, RAND; David Ekbladh, American University; Michèle A. Flournoy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Francis Fukuyama, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Larry P. Goodson, U.S. Army War College; Johanna Mendelson Forman, UN Foundation; Minxin Pei, Samia Amin, and Seth Garz, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; S. Frederick Starr, Central Asia–Caucacus Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; F. X. Sutton, Ford Foundation Emeritus; Marvin G. Weinbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Author Information
Francis Fukuyama is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of The End of History and the Last Man (1992) and State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (2004). Dr. Fukuyama is director of SAIS's International Development Program, member of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and chairman of the editorial board of The American Interest.
Nation-Building
Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq
edited by Francis Fukuyama
Forum on Constructive Capitalism
$55.00 hardcover (s)
0-8018-8334-2
January 2006 232 pp.
$21.95 paperback (s)
0-8018-8335-0
January 2006 pp.
Best-selling author Francis Fukuyama brings together esteemed academics, political analysts, and practitioners to reflect on the U.S. experience with nation-building, from its historical underpinnings to its modern-day consequences. The United States has sought on repeated occasions to reconstruct states damaged by conflict, from Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War to Japan and Germany after World War II, to the ongoing rebuilding of Iraq. Despite this rich experience, there has been remarkably little systematic effort to learn lessons on how outside powers can assist in the building of strong and self-sufficient states in post-conflict situations.
The contributors dissect mistakes, false starts, and lessons learned from the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq within the broader context of reconstruction efforts in other parts of the world, including Latin America, Japan, and the Balkans. Examining the contrasting models in Afghanistan and Iraq, they highlight the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as a cautionary example of inadequate planning.
The need for post-conflict reconstruction will not cease with the end of the Afghanistan and Iraq missions. This timely volume offers the critical reflection and evaluation necessary to avoid repeating costly mistakes in the future.
Contributors: Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution and Stanford University; James Dobbins, RAND; David Ekbladh, American University; Michèle A. Flournoy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Francis Fukuyama, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Larry P. Goodson, U.S. Army War College; Johanna Mendelson Forman, UN Foundation; Minxin Pei, Samia Amin, and Seth Garz, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; S. Frederick Starr, Central Asia–Caucacus Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; F. X. Sutton, Ford Foundation Emeritus; Marvin G. Weinbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Author Information
Francis Fukuyama is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of The End of History and the Last Man (1992) and State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (2004). Dr. Fukuyama is director of SAIS's International Development Program, member of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and chairman of the editorial board of The American Interest.
Monday, October 31, 2005
NEW: revised edition FROM THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum photographs by Michael Berenbaum, edited by Arnold Kramer, revised edition $29.95 paperback 0-8018-8358-X November 2005 260 pp. 250
"The World Must Know by Michael Berenbaum is a skillfully organized and clearly told account of the German Holocaust that consumed, with unparalleled malevolence, six million Jews and millions of innocent others—Protestants, Catholics, Poles, Russians, Gypsies, the handicapped, and so many others, adults and children. This important book, a vital guide through the unique corridors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. merits the widest of audiences."—Chaim Potok, author of The Chosen and The Promise
The World Must Know documents the compelling human stories of the Holocaust as told in the renowned permanent exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Drawing on the museum's extensive collection of artifacts, archives, and eyewitness testimonies, and augmented with more than two hundred period photographs, this book serves as an enduring reminder of the moral obligations of societies and individuals.
This second edition is enhanced with new insights and updates based on archival information that had been inaccessible to researchers until after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes of Eastern and Central Europe. It includes new photographs, redrawn charts, a new section on the Holocaust in Greece, an updated bibliography, and a new foreword by the museum director.
Published on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
"An excellent choice for those who are not well acquainted with the subject or who need a concise synopsis; it will inspire readers to visit the museum and will enhance the experience of those who do."--Library Journal
Michael Berenbaum has served as president of Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, as deputy director of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, and as project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the author of A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of Its Survivors (Bulfinch, 2003).
The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum photographs by Michael Berenbaum, edited by Arnold Kramer, revised edition $29.95 paperback 0-8018-8358-X November 2005 260 pp. 250
"The World Must Know by Michael Berenbaum is a skillfully organized and clearly told account of the German Holocaust that consumed, with unparalleled malevolence, six million Jews and millions of innocent others—Protestants, Catholics, Poles, Russians, Gypsies, the handicapped, and so many others, adults and children. This important book, a vital guide through the unique corridors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. merits the widest of audiences."—Chaim Potok, author of The Chosen and The Promise
The World Must Know documents the compelling human stories of the Holocaust as told in the renowned permanent exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Drawing on the museum's extensive collection of artifacts, archives, and eyewitness testimonies, and augmented with more than two hundred period photographs, this book serves as an enduring reminder of the moral obligations of societies and individuals.
This second edition is enhanced with new insights and updates based on archival information that had been inaccessible to researchers until after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes of Eastern and Central Europe. It includes new photographs, redrawn charts, a new section on the Holocaust in Greece, an updated bibliography, and a new foreword by the museum director.
Published on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
"An excellent choice for those who are not well acquainted with the subject or who need a concise synopsis; it will inspire readers to visit the museum and will enhance the experience of those who do."--Library Journal
Michael Berenbaum has served as president of Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, as deputy director of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, and as project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the author of A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of Its Survivors (Bulfinch, 2003).
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
The New York Times
November 15, 2004 EDITORIAL OBSERVER
Why the Democrats Need to Stop Thinking About Elephants By ADAM COHEN
If George Lakoff had his way, the Kerry campaign would have run a commercial attacking the "baby tax." Dr. Lakoff, a Berkeley linguistics professor and Kerry campaign adviser, wanted to divide the interest on the national debt by the number of Americans born each year. The result, $85,000 per newborn, say, would have been handed to a baby in the form of a bill, and the baby would have started to cry. That, Dr. Lakoff says, "frames" the issue "in a way people can understand."
"Framing" is a hot topic among political junkies and in the blogo-sphere right now, thanks to Dr. Lakoff. In "Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate," his surprise best seller, Dr. Lakoff argues that Republicans have been winning elections because they have been better than Democrats at framing issues - from taxes, to abortion, to national security - in ways that resonate with core American values.Dr. Lakoff has been stepping out of the classroom lately to lecture everyone from the Senate Democratic caucus to "living wage" advocates on how to use linguistics to craft a more effective message.
"Framing" alone won't give the Democrats the White House, or the Senate and House. But Dr. Lakoff's theories offer the Democrats a road map for going forward.
The title "Don't Think of an Elephant!" comes from a classic experiment Dr. Lakoff conducts in Cognitive Science 101. He tells his students not to think of an elephant, and he has yet to find one who has managed it. Thinking about elephants is the frame, and negating it simply reinforces it. This was the problem, he says, with President Richard Nixon's famous declaration, "I am not a crook."
Trying not to think of elephants, Dr. Lakoff suggests, sums up the Democrats' plight. Since Republicans have framed the key issues, Democrats cannot avoid being on the losing side. Take taxes. Republicans have succeeded in framing the issue as "tax relief," a metaphor that presents an affliction, and that predetermines who are the heroes - tax opponents - and villains. Taxes are, of course, necessary even for programs Republicans back, like the military, and simple economics dictates that we cannot keep cutting taxes and maintaining spending forever.
But the Democrats are hard-pressed to make these points once the frame is "tax relief."It is not by accident that "tax relief" presents taxes in moral terms, as a calamity in search of a cure. Values, Dr. Lakoff argues, are the key to framing campaign issues. Democrats have an unfortunate tendency, he says, to see campaigns as product launches, believing that if they roll out a candidate with the best features, or positions on issues, voters will support him.
Republicans understand that people vote their identity, not their self-interest - that they seek out candidates whose values appear to match their own.After the election, pundits made much of the influence of a few "moral" issues, like gay marriage and abortion, on the outcome. But Dr. Lakoff argues that values play an important role in almost every campaign issue.
The Republicans' success has been driven in large part, he argues, by their ability to frame less morally charged subjects in terms of core values. He is impressed by a line from President Bush's last State of the Union address: that we do not need a "permission slip" to defend America. It reframed multilateralism, once a widely accepted foreign policy principle, as weakness and national infantilization.As Dr. Lakoff sees it, Democrats need to start framing issues in terms of their own values, which, he insists, are no less popular with the American people than the Republicans' values.
This project will, however, take more than spin and sloganeering. On many subjects, he argues, the Democrats suffer from what he calls "hypocognition" - more simply, a lack of ideas. Republicans have been working for the past 40 years, since the defeat of Barry Goldwater, in well-financed think tanks, on developing conservative ideas that voters will rally around. The Democrats, he says, need to start catching up.One frame Dr. Lakoff likes, which he believes could become a progressive wedge issue, is "poison-free communities."
The Republicans' war on government regulation has left industry increasingly free to spew toxins into the air and water, despite the harm it is doing to the public. Keeping people healthy is a core progressive value, but it is one that many swing voters and Republicans share. Few people want their children poisoned by mercury in the name of a theory about the appropriate size of government.Framing can also deflect the other side's charges.
Dr. Lakoff argues that the Democrats should fight the Republican campaign for "tort reform" by recasting it. Rather than debate over frivolous lawsuits, he says, they should talk about protecting people from law-breaking corporations and negligent doctors. When Republicans talk about greedy trial lawyers, he says, Democrats should talk about - and he really needs a better phrase here- "public protection attorneys."
For all of his good insights, Dr. Lakoff can get a little too caught up in his own frame. His intense focus on language leaves too little room for other attributes of a successful campaign, like a charismatic candidate or a strong field operation. Just as professional campaign managers have given too little thought to his frames and hypocognition, he has a tendency to undervalue what they do. The least compelling part of his book is a commercial he suggests Democrats use on taxes. His script begins, "Taxation is paying your dues, paying your membership fee in America." That quickly reframes the issue to: "Where did I put the remote?"
November 15, 2004 EDITORIAL OBSERVER
Why the Democrats Need to Stop Thinking About Elephants By ADAM COHEN
If George Lakoff had his way, the Kerry campaign would have run a commercial attacking the "baby tax." Dr. Lakoff, a Berkeley linguistics professor and Kerry campaign adviser, wanted to divide the interest on the national debt by the number of Americans born each year. The result, $85,000 per newborn, say, would have been handed to a baby in the form of a bill, and the baby would have started to cry. That, Dr. Lakoff says, "frames" the issue "in a way people can understand."
"Framing" is a hot topic among political junkies and in the blogo-sphere right now, thanks to Dr. Lakoff. In "Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate," his surprise best seller, Dr. Lakoff argues that Republicans have been winning elections because they have been better than Democrats at framing issues - from taxes, to abortion, to national security - in ways that resonate with core American values.Dr. Lakoff has been stepping out of the classroom lately to lecture everyone from the Senate Democratic caucus to "living wage" advocates on how to use linguistics to craft a more effective message.
"Framing" alone won't give the Democrats the White House, or the Senate and House. But Dr. Lakoff's theories offer the Democrats a road map for going forward.
The title "Don't Think of an Elephant!" comes from a classic experiment Dr. Lakoff conducts in Cognitive Science 101. He tells his students not to think of an elephant, and he has yet to find one who has managed it. Thinking about elephants is the frame, and negating it simply reinforces it. This was the problem, he says, with President Richard Nixon's famous declaration, "I am not a crook."
Trying not to think of elephants, Dr. Lakoff suggests, sums up the Democrats' plight. Since Republicans have framed the key issues, Democrats cannot avoid being on the losing side. Take taxes. Republicans have succeeded in framing the issue as "tax relief," a metaphor that presents an affliction, and that predetermines who are the heroes - tax opponents - and villains. Taxes are, of course, necessary even for programs Republicans back, like the military, and simple economics dictates that we cannot keep cutting taxes and maintaining spending forever.
But the Democrats are hard-pressed to make these points once the frame is "tax relief."It is not by accident that "tax relief" presents taxes in moral terms, as a calamity in search of a cure. Values, Dr. Lakoff argues, are the key to framing campaign issues. Democrats have an unfortunate tendency, he says, to see campaigns as product launches, believing that if they roll out a candidate with the best features, or positions on issues, voters will support him.
Republicans understand that people vote their identity, not their self-interest - that they seek out candidates whose values appear to match their own.After the election, pundits made much of the influence of a few "moral" issues, like gay marriage and abortion, on the outcome. But Dr. Lakoff argues that values play an important role in almost every campaign issue.
The Republicans' success has been driven in large part, he argues, by their ability to frame less morally charged subjects in terms of core values. He is impressed by a line from President Bush's last State of the Union address: that we do not need a "permission slip" to defend America. It reframed multilateralism, once a widely accepted foreign policy principle, as weakness and national infantilization.As Dr. Lakoff sees it, Democrats need to start framing issues in terms of their own values, which, he insists, are no less popular with the American people than the Republicans' values.
This project will, however, take more than spin and sloganeering. On many subjects, he argues, the Democrats suffer from what he calls "hypocognition" - more simply, a lack of ideas. Republicans have been working for the past 40 years, since the defeat of Barry Goldwater, in well-financed think tanks, on developing conservative ideas that voters will rally around. The Democrats, he says, need to start catching up.One frame Dr. Lakoff likes, which he believes could become a progressive wedge issue, is "poison-free communities."
The Republicans' war on government regulation has left industry increasingly free to spew toxins into the air and water, despite the harm it is doing to the public. Keeping people healthy is a core progressive value, but it is one that many swing voters and Republicans share. Few people want their children poisoned by mercury in the name of a theory about the appropriate size of government.Framing can also deflect the other side's charges.
Dr. Lakoff argues that the Democrats should fight the Republican campaign for "tort reform" by recasting it. Rather than debate over frivolous lawsuits, he says, they should talk about protecting people from law-breaking corporations and negligent doctors. When Republicans talk about greedy trial lawyers, he says, Democrats should talk about - and he really needs a better phrase here- "public protection attorneys."
For all of his good insights, Dr. Lakoff can get a little too caught up in his own frame. His intense focus on language leaves too little room for other attributes of a successful campaign, like a charismatic candidate or a strong field operation. Just as professional campaign managers have given too little thought to his frames and hypocognition, he has a tendency to undervalue what they do. The least compelling part of his book is a commercial he suggests Democrats use on taxes. His script begins, "Taxation is paying your dues, paying your membership fee in America." That quickly reframes the issue to: "Where did I put the remote?"
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Library Journal calls him Big House, too -
GAINES, CLARENCE E. WITH CLINT JOHNSON. They Call Me Big House. Blair. 2004.c.307p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-89587-303-6. $21.95.
SPORTSCollege basketball disciples speak the names Dean Smith, Lute Olson, and JimPhelan with reverence. They, along with a few other hardwood gods, likeBobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski, are worshipped for their high number ofcareer wins. One peer who never gets talked about in the trivia breaks oftelevised sports is Clarence Gaines, of Winston-Salem University. As theonly black coach on the list for years, he was often treated-as if in afootnote. But his autobiography reveals an astute and stoic coach, cognizantof the importance of sports in the larger context of life. Gaines isactually humble, decent, affable, and kind, so his book is remarkablyunaffected and smooth. He doesn't need to fake it, as do lots of retiredcoaches. Gaines's approach and mastery of the game come through as well, andthe reader is treated to genuine insight and a probative history of the gamerather than bland coaching aphorisms. An interesting story of a brilliantcoach, of sports and men in the segregated South, and of pure basketball.Highly recommended for all collections.- James Miller, Springfield Coll., MA
GAINES, CLARENCE E. WITH CLINT JOHNSON. They Call Me Big House. Blair. 2004.c.307p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-89587-303-6. $21.95.
SPORTSCollege basketball disciples speak the names Dean Smith, Lute Olson, and JimPhelan with reverence. They, along with a few other hardwood gods, likeBobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski, are worshipped for their high number ofcareer wins. One peer who never gets talked about in the trivia breaks oftelevised sports is Clarence Gaines, of Winston-Salem University. As theonly black coach on the list for years, he was often treated-as if in afootnote. But his autobiography reveals an astute and stoic coach, cognizantof the importance of sports in the larger context of life. Gaines isactually humble, decent, affable, and kind, so his book is remarkablyunaffected and smooth. He doesn't need to fake it, as do lots of retiredcoaches. Gaines's approach and mastery of the game come through as well, andthe reader is treated to genuine insight and a probative history of the gamerather than bland coaching aphorisms. An interesting story of a brilliantcoach, of sports and men in the segregated South, and of pure basketball.Highly recommended for all collections.- James Miller, Springfield Coll., MA
Kerry Won...
Greg PalastNovember 04, 2004
Excerpted from TomPaine.comTo read the article in full, click here: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
Greg PalastNovember 04, 2004
Excerpted from TomPaine.comTo read the article in full, click here: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
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