ME PARECE UN LIBRO MUY CONMOVEDOR E IDEAL PARA REGALAR

Edward Hays has once again marveled us with his modern day parables to challenge man's soul. Every story has you pondering, trying to apply the message you've learned to your own "hermitage".

"History must be told through the eyes of people that have experienced it..." wrote Vine Deloria, Jr., American Indian author, in his 1972 book Of Utmost Good Faith.

Taking a similar documentary approach in his new book A RACE AT BAY, journalist Robert G. Hays looks to the past for some answers to understanding the cultural conflicts between the Native American Indians and the ever-expanding population of white settlers in America during the late nineteenth century.

Using well-selected editorials from the New York Times between 1860 and 1900, Hays skillfully focuses the reader's attention on the role of the press in defining and influencing public opinion on what the editorial writers called the "Indian problem."

But what was the Indian problem? To most non-Indians of that time, particularly economic opportunists and frontier settlers, the American Indian simply was in the way of national expansion and progress. Indians were either to be contai! ned or exterminated if efforts to "civilize" them failed. And civilization, as Hays amply illustrates, "was defined in the whites' terms."

Many Americans in the "civilized" eastern states of that time held the belief of the nineteenth century historian John Fiske that the race of aboriginal Americans could be identified by three cultural classifications: "barbarous," "savage," and "half-civilized." As Robert Hays points out the Times editorial writers also were not immune to these popular xenophobic expressions and added a few of their own like "greasy red men," "dusky savages," and "Lo." It is not surprising, therefore, that the editors of the Times used the typical "we/they" attitude in their otherwise critical reporting of the treatment of the American Indians.

A RACE AT BAY is well organized in eleven short chapters each presenting a topic that can be read in or out of s! equence of the others. Hays begins each of his chapters wit! h an insightful overview of his selected editorials. At the end of the book is a complete index that should prove particularly useful to readers who want to focus on selected issues within the same thread of discussion.

In one of his longest chapters Robert Hays covers the contentious topic on Indian policy--as debated and (re)defined by the U.S. Congress, as implemented by the Department of Interior, as discharged by the Department of War, and as defended or ridiculed by the New York Times as in the following editorial excerpt from May 22, 1870:

"There is a white problem to be dealt with along the whole of our vast frontier, in order even to get at our Indian problem...why the Russians and French and English have always succeeded better with the Indians than we have, is, not that they are more humane or more just than we are, or have more tenderness for the red race than we have, but that their system of governing the white race is different...they do not permit t! he sparse and half-civilized communities which collect on their frontier to govern themselves as we do under our Territorial system."

A clear, consistent, and equitable national policy for the American Indians was never realized then, and remains just as elusive today, as a Times editorial writer on October 7, 1879, admonishes with the question "What has Congress ever done to define the course of conduct which should be pursued toward the Indians?"

Perhaps the enigmatic answer lies in an old Indian quote: "The only promise that the Government kept with the Indian was the promise to take the Indians' land, and it did."

Harry Hay is one of the fathers of American gay rights. But this is not essentialist idol-praising. Hay was a big part of the big pre-Stonewall organization, Mattachine Society. He was a strong Communist, back when it was risky to be one. In addition, Hay knows a lot about gender theory and gay history and such. He's a sage. Will Roscoe has written a number of important gay books, especially concerning gay Native Americans. Basically, this is an important historical subject written by a strong gay author. You should peep this book if you can.

This is a solid and substantial work on all aspects of the study of gender from and archaeological perspective. The book is readable and well organized. Topics run the gamut from definitions of terms and issues through examples of gendered research to the narratives that result from gendered studies. It presents a wide variety of perspectives, but all soundly based in data. Excellent!

Joan McAfee's Riddle Of The Lost Gold is a superbly presented historical novel about Colonel George Armstrong Custer's mission at Fort Hays. Vividly characterized and dynamically written, Riddle Of The Lost Gold follows a persistent young teenager and her friend who seek to solve an enigma handed through generations since Custer's 1867 battle. An involving story for young adults and historical fiction buffs, Riddle Of The Lost Gold is enthusiastically recommended for school and community fiction collections for young readers.

I have not read this book yet but I am looking forward to it! I am sure anything that comes from Suzanne will be terrific! I wish she would write more. If anyone knows why she hasn't please let me know!

The companion book to an exhibition at the Whitney, which runs through June 1, is a work of art in itself. The lenticular plastic cover shimmers enigmatically; folded pages with elliptical cuts allow you to peer inside, propelling you through the book in search of what can be imperfectly glimpsed. It's an appropriate, teasing metaphor for this collection of installations, exhibits, and as yet unrealized projects, plus Blur from the Swiss Expo 02. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio ponder our obsession with display and call everything into question. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

This is a book of poetry that shocked me. This work of art is excellent. If you can't handle the truth in this world then you cannot handle this book. This book is very graphic in exploring the mind of a troubled poet. I was a former addict and I understand everything he is going through. This book hits home. This is a HOME-RUN!

This excellent introduction to the archaeology of Cape Cod can open up a whole fascinating world, for anyone who takes the time to read it. The technical, academic jargon of archaeology is kept to an absolute minimum, and what jargon exists is always painstakingly explained.

I'd like to make a few general comments. First of all, you should be aware that the printer made a small error in the table of contents. The foreword, introduction, and acknowledgments are numbered in the text with Roman numerals, but in the table of contents they were assigned "normal," Arabic numerals. For example, "17" is written in the table of contents as the page number for one prefatory section, as opposed to "XVII." This throws off the table of contents for the first couple of chapters. Please don't give up on the book as a whole because of this minor error -- you'd be making a big mistake. Just be careful, and spend 2 minutes with a pencil to correct the table of contents in your copy. For a second general comment, I'd just like to alert you to the fact that this book is almost exclusively devoted to pre-colonial, native American archaeology. There are a few pages about remains left by the early settlers, in the chapter on Wing Island in Brewster, but most of the book focuses on the pre-historic period.

The introduction and foreword are nice to read through. They contail some personal statements by two people who worked on the book, about the importance of maintaining a childlike sense of wonder, and childlike curiosity. This excitement and wonder is part and parcel of the book -- we encounter it again, periodically throughout the text, as we read about local students and Cape residents who participate in various excavations.

The whole book is peppered with a terrific selection of maps, illustrations, and photographs. All of them are in black and white. These visual aids really add a lot to the book, and help to make it more approachable. I'd like to particularly draw your attention to the two graphic chronologies, or timelines, on pages forty-one and forty-six. You might want to bookmark those pages, because you'll find yourself referring back to them quite a bit, to get your brain oriented in anthropological or geological time. One other useful section, that you might want to pay extra close attention to, is the historical overview of Cape Cod archaeology given on pages sixteen and seventeen -- and that's in Arabic numerals, not Roman.

Part One is designed as an overview of the topic as a whole. The chapters here explore the history of the field of study of archaeology on the Cape; an anthropological overview of early native peoples in the region; and a survey of local geological (pre-)history. The geologic chapter is a good one. It includes all kinds of maps, illustrating such phenomena as glaciers, dunes, forests, etc. Make sure you spend some time on these chapters. They will help you get much more out of the second part of the book, which focuses upon specific sites.

Part Two deals with sites at Upper Mill Pond, in Brewster; Sandy Neck, to the north of Barnstable; Pochet, "the dividing place," in East Orleans; and Wing Island, in Brewster. A final chapter tries to tie together what you've learned, in an effort to create a composite overview of daily life among the Nauset peoples of Cape Cod.

The book finishes up with a glossary of archaeological terminology (which is always very user-friendly, as I mentioned earlier); a bibliography for further reading, and an index.

If you enjoy this book, I would like to alert you to the existence of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. It's simple to find on the internet. They maintain a little museum, in Middleborough, which is a terrific resource for the archaeology of the entire state. If you'd like to specifically learn more about the archaeology of Cape Cod, try using your internet skills to find a website for the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. They're the folks behind this fine book.

Basically, I really liked this book, and I think you will too. Two thumbs up.