The complexity and problems in the lives of South Africans in the newly minted post-apartheid state are richly interpreted in Madumo, both by westerners like Adam Ashforth and Africans he has known in Soweto. Witchcraft is taken up by both westerners and South Africans as an active encapsulation of these struggles, and the relevance of witchcraft to a modern life and a modern future is debated.
As Ashforth says, "Despite the dawning of democracy, people were still suffering. Yet the task of interpreting the meaning of misfortune was becoming more complex." (9)

Madumo describes the conflict of a modern man trying to honor his ancestors: "the problem with us that we Africans, when life picks up and things are going smooth for us, we normally forget about our ancestors. Because we are trying to follow western culture." (24). The youth are ignorant of tradition, especially in an era of rural exodus, and a plethora of dangerously creative witchdoctors reflects this. The elder members of the society are still expected to govern and judge the plans of youth, however: one witchdoctor, Dr. Zonki, reflects that in the normal course of events, but especially with regards to witchcraft, Madumo must "approach the elders of [his] family and do this in the proper way" (199). This shows a more resilient side of ancestor worship, and witchcraft's role in preserving tradition, however shabbily.

The recent "deluge of witchcraft" (98-99) points out just how people use bewitchment to come to grips with living in a new South Africa. As a tool, it not only reinforces gender roles and traditional life, it has proven capable of innovation and has been profitable for many. It has also survived the secularism of the new South Africa; Dr. Zonki himself mixed potions for the fighting Inkatha in the hostel of Soweto, and yet has no trouble because of this past in the new pluralistic state. A space for the interpretation of social and physical ills, as attributable to malevolent forces outside of ones control, has survived the fall of apartheid as well.
"For all the talk of ubuntu, or 'African humanism' by the new African elite, on the streets of Soweto the practice of everyday life was tending ever more towards the dog-eat-dog"(232).

The new era puts blacks in conflict over housing and electricity, which are no longer free as a concession of the apartheid government against violence. The difficulty of everyday pursuits is reflected in the "university-thing" comments of Madumo's relatives, who are impatient with his pursuit of his new opportunities. These sentiments might be echoed by any working family struggling with a devalued Rand and the expensive prospect of academics (17). The rise in witchings and witch doctors is also related to the emergence of AIDS, which is sweeping the country.

Ashford notes that "none of the dispositions of professionals writing about Africa seemed to make much sense" (244). While I might agree with him, I want to hear more about how he sees the western tradition, which itself is based upon histories of occultism and itself has religions grounded in the invisible and the transubstantiated, as reflecting possible egress from the problems facing these South Africans. Should we come down upon "folk wisdom" which anchors witchcraft, or should we subscribe a movement towards the "folk wisdom" of Western modernity (245) which supports secularism and "enlightenment"? Ashforth gives us a detailed and localized view of witchcraft as an institution and inescapable fact of South African life, but the modern era and its changes are probably having an increasingly positive and liberalizing effect upon this tradition.

Although this is perhaps equally as much memoir of Ashforth as it is social history of Sowetan bewitchment,
the book is fairly straightforward, and the writing is succinct and modest. We may find ourselves wondering just how useful this book is, however, as something beyond candid reportage. Can we really understand what motivates the ongoing crisis of identity in Africa? Ashforth is right at least in that we should, because the implications of African demise will affect us all in coming years, from AIDS to terrorism. It is also worth considering, as this book does, what tradition can really do for people.

Although he is now a professor in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Adam Ashforth has spent much of the past ten years in Soweto, living there full time until the elections of 1994, and then going back for three months each year. He has friends there, so he goes to South Africa for his vacations. _Madumo: A Man Bewitched_ (University of Chicago Press) tells the story of one such friend, and the extraordinary lengths toward which friendship goes. It is a warm, generally happy book blending memoir, reportage, and sociology. It is steeped in witchcraft. Madumo, a friend from Ashforth's first stay in Soweto, has been thrown out of his house because a prophet of the Zion Christian Church told Madumo's younger brother that Madumo had used witchcraft to murder their mother, and Madumo had been thrown out of the family home.

Much of the book has to do with the counter-witchcraft Ashforth helps Madumo hire, through a medicine man named Mr. Zondi. Madumo has to be washed with herbs and earth from Madumo's mother's grave. There is a ritual cutting of Madumo's hands and legs, with mercury rubbed into the cuts. A white hen is slaughtered in a pre-feast to assure the ancestors of goodwill and more to come. Other herbs induce vomiting, the sort of purgative that has been favored in folk medicine for centuries, but which makes Madumo seriously ill. Ashforth tells a surgeon friend about what Madumo is going through, and the surgeon explains the danger. The vomiting can cause dehydration, kidney failure, and bleeding from the esophagus. Ashforth seriously worries if he had been too simple-minded in endorsing the Zondi cure.

The treatments bring improvement for Madumo. The improvement can't promise him a new place in his family, or within the South African economy, however; the strange daily life and business ways of the Sowetan community are a constant theme in this unique memoir. The main theme is, of course, the pervasive belief in witchcraft, and Ashforth explains how as a form of belief in the supernatural it takes its place with other religious ideas as a way of trying to make sense of the world. Ashforth is often asked if he believes in witchcraft, and he resoundingly doesn't. But he also knows that there are no arguments persuasive enough to make believers think that Madumo's treatment is placebo any more than those who pray can be convinced that prayer is not a real interaction with the divine. Trying to argue Madumo out of his beliefs would have availed Ashforth nothing, while paying for the treatment did give his friend a new life. Thus the materialist harnessed counter-witchcraft to help a bewitched friend, and brought results.

Maduma is a young South African accused of using witchcraft to kill his mother - his act falls under the local police's special 'Occult-related Crimes Unit' and his friend, author Ashforth, helps him search for a solution. Spiritual and social issues blend in a fascinating biographical and cultural coverage.

If you are looking for a quick yet thorough coverage of this topic then this is the book for you. It is a relatively short book, coming in at 167 pages (not including bibliography but including notes section), yet it covers the whole spectrum of the national music of the Dominican Republic.

Mr Austerlitz covers the beginnings of this music all the way through to its current state. It also spends time on Merengue's development during the Trujillo era (a particularly interesting topic to anyone who studies the Dominican Republic).

Mr Austerlitz also does a good job of addressing the sociological issues that arise from music and manages to blend well the merengue of the campo with that of the salon.

A good read and it even comes with a CD with some very good campo (country) merengue. If you are looking for merengue at its roots then this CD should please you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.Introduction

PART 1: THE HISTORY OF MERENGUE 1854-1961. 2. Nineteenth-Century Caribbean Merengue. 3. Merengue Cibaeno, Cultural Nationalism, and Resistance. 4. Music and the State: Merengue during the Era of Trujillo, 1930-1961.

PART 2: The Contemporary Era, 1961-1995. 5. Merengue in the Transnational Community. 6. Innovation and Social Issues in Pop Merengue. 7. Merengue on the Global Stage. 8. Enduring Localism. 9. Conclusion

Let me know if you found this useful.

Up in Manhattan's Morningside Heights and its Dominican analogs all over the US, salsa is edged out by the magnificently manic beat of the merengue, whether stirred into Dominican rap and house (the most original as well as the least known versions of the genre) or in the tear-em-down accordion of Fefita La Grande. Austerlitz has all this and a lot more, all the way from the luckless Toma' back in the 1840s (read the book!)Austerlitz covers merengue from rural to hi-society in all its fierce joviality. Read this book and you'll know there's one good thing Trujillo did for the Dominican Republic!

John Storm Roberts

Enjoyed the insight into the history of Merengue and its cultural context. This book has a place on my bookshelf along with "The Latin Tinge" and "The Brazilian Sound."

The Republic of East L.A. is collection of stories set in a part of Los Angeles that even natives have not seen, do not know. Rodriguez has an eye for his culture and a sometimes imperfect way of telling a story that only adds credibility to the subjects he writes about.

That these stories have a rough edge, that they are not always perfectly told, is not important because they are poignantly told. Mostly they cross the barrio barrier for all to enjoy. Occasionally they don't. If you are interested in culture, speak Spanish or are familiar with Hispanic/American way of life, you will have no trouble. If you aren't, you will still find some of these stories worth a bit of a struggle. Especially "Pigeons." This tale about new Mexican immigrant prejudices against second generation Mexicans and vice versa is worth the entire ride through "East L.A."

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

Luis J. Rodriguez once again has painted a vibrant and complex picture of those who work, live, love and die in "The Republic of East L.A." Rodriguez's prose is straight-forward yet poetic as he tells us about the varied struggles of cholos/as, a budding journalist, a limousine driver, immigrants, working people, all sorts of gente. My favorite story is "Sometimes You Dance with a Watermelon," where forty-year-old Rosalba (an immigrant living in poverty and already a grandmother) needs to escape her crowded home to get a momentary bit of joy. She rouses her favorite granddaughter, Chila, and they drive to Grand Central Market where they buy a watermelon. Rosalba balances it on her head and starts to walk swaying "back and forth to a salsa beat thundering out of an appliance store." She and Chila get caught up in this joyous dance:

"Rosalba had not looked that happy in a long time as she danced along the bustling streets of the central city in her loose-fitting skirt and sandals. She danced in the shadow of a multi-storied Victorian -- dancing for one contemptuous husband and for another who was dead. She danced for a daughter who didn't love herself enough to truly have the love of another man. She danced for her grandchildren, especially that fireball Chila. She danced for her people, wherever they were scattered, and for this country she would never quite comprehend. She danced, her hair matted with sweat, while remembering a simpler life on an even simpler rancho in Nayarit."

This is a powerful, beautiful collection.

NOTE: This review refers to the paperback edition.

With The Republic of East L.A., Luis Rodriguez slyly suggests our largest barrio might be a separate country. The critically praised author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., Rodriguez writes less about geography in the City of Angels and more about an atlas of human hearts.

Twelve stories, twelve voices, The Republic of East L.A. surpasses the typical story collection with a unity of geography, culture, and artistic compassion. What Rodriguez achieves--if at a more modest level--invites comparison with James Joyce's Dubliners. Both have a felt history of community and honest portraits of characters caught in moral struggle.

Rodriguez's protagonists are satisfyingly complex. In the lead story, "My Ride, My Revolution," Cruz Blancarte, twenty-something (but closing in on thirty) plays in a rap-and-rock garage band. He inherits a yearning for political revolution from his chicana activist mom. He hustles a girlfriend, Bernarda, two inches taller than his five-six. And he drives a limo for a living, shuttling the chasms between the barrio and tonier sections of L.A. No Hispanic stereotyping here.

With a journalist's eye, Rodriguez enriches his stories with historical texture that reaches across decades and generations. Does that short-pants cholo beside the lowrider Chevy not echo the tattooed grandfather who had a pachuco past in the 1950s? Why did James A. Garfield High School lose its accreditation in the 1970s and then rocket to Stand and Deliver fame in the 1980s? Have we forgotten that in 1970 armed L.A. County Sheriff deputies in East L.A. attacked a crowd protesting the Vietnam War, leaving several dead, including Chicano journalist Ruben Salazar?

But story by story, Rodriguez's narrative focus is tighter than barrio history. Character struggle often plays out against the frame of la familia. "Shadows" is possibly the grimmest portrait. Rudy spirals downward into alcoholism, metaphorically melting into the sidewalk as a "shadow" person--so often did he pass out there. Rudy's suffering is not his alone. It's shared by la familia too: an abandoned wife, an abandoned child, and a father who stops caring about his son. Despite individual setbacks, la familia emerges in these stories as the common engine of survival, driven by an unstoppable work ethic.

"La Operacion" is an ambitious narrative of two parallel stories about the dream compelling so many Mexicans to cross our southern border. Working immigrant populations in the United States invariably send money back home to family and relatives. Thus, one story is set in East L.A.; one story is set in a small beneficiary village in the scenic Copper Canyon country of Mexico. After the glimpse of everyone winning in the "parallel economies" of both barrio and village, tragedy strikes in both places. La Migra, not unexpectedly, literally bulldozes the dream of the immigrants in East L.A. But surprisingly, the villagers' dream collapses too: The heavy hand of tourist development reaches out, destroying culture, a lifeway, and whatever else the dollars from up north had secured.

All twelve stories deserve comment, but the final story demands comment. "Sometimes You Dance With a Watermelon," is that rare event: pure storyteller magic. Told with economy and deft strokes, we get to know Rosalba, a grandmother who's still living a difficult life in her fortieth year. We see the arc of her life from leaving an obscure Mexican village to questioning now whether the sacrifices to be in Estados Unidos were worth it. Someday, some way, she wants to go back to her village. And yet as the matriarch of her own familia, she has few choices. Like Camus's Sisyphus, she can only keep moving.

Rosalba and her nine-year-old granddaughter Chila walk down to Grand Central Market in the heart of L.A. There Rosalba buys a watermelon, which Chila can't carry. Then Rodriguez kicks the story up another level, for something akin to Joycean epiphany. Rosalba balances the watermelon on her head as she learned in the village, and festive music in the air, she dances. To not spoil this literary treat for you, no more should be said. Read the story. Better yet, read all of The Republic of East L.A.

Heart of Darkness is a novel focused with strong imagery and the concepts of darkness and light as "darkness" is the heart of man while the "light" can be civilization as a whole. I found this book somewhat discriminating in the beginning but as a whole it has a very clear statement. I can see how it is one of the greatest novels but to me Marlow, the main character, has no character as he becomes obsessed with Kurtz and can instantly become him but does not. After finding what he is looking for, Marlow is still filled with the darkness. Even though I thought this book was somewhat interesting, I would not recommend it because I did not agree with Marlow's or maybe even Conrad's view of the Congo jungle and life in it with the darkness.

Conrad is among the most influential writers of our time, and his masterwork Heart of Darkness proves this. The concepts introduced in this book laid the groudwork for a new outlook on humanity, and his predictions to modern society, specifically the business world, are unparalleled. Read this book and it will give you a new view on the world.

Joseph Conrad is NOT for everyone! So many people have had their attention-span shortened by MTV, Television and the Disney version of the TITANIC (hint... the boat doesn't sink and everybody erupts in a unrecorded song from MARY POPPINS), that people have forgotten how great it is to read a well written book with piercing insite,memorable characters, and a haunting theme. The skill of the true wordsmith has thanklessly fallen by the wayside, evidenced by the fact that Stephen King is considered a literary genius (see H.P. Lovecraft for a true genius in both word and plot). If we were to turn off the electronics and allow our pure powers of imagination to work, then Conrad would be abundant treat to our senses. All of his books are fantastic, but HEART OF DARKNESS holds a special fascination for most people who read it. Not to digress, but the Turner Production of "Heart of Darkness" with Tim Roth is very good and I have always loved "Apocolypse Now" (saw it 15 times in the theater). The story is a journey of the soul, as much as it is pure adventure. It is a wake-up call for those who have forgotten what it is to care and become aware of how their lives move forward (and sometimes don't). The setting of a forgotten Africa, wedged and pierced by European superpowers is both mysterious and frightening. We see this now-lost land through the eyes of a naive man, not grounded nor necessarily wise in the ways of the world. The opening reference of the French warship bombarding the forrested coasts shows the overall blindness of the countries who seek to reap the wealth of the land's bounty... throwing artillery shells onto the coast and cannot see if they are hitting anything! The river and its trading stations connect the European desire for money and profit and the harsh reality of the Africa they cannot explain. The mission is to reach the elusive Kurtz, a brilliant mind and man who has been silenced. Now the Naive agent seeks the worldly-wise man who Africa has driven mad! What I loved about the journey is Conrad's ability to chronicle not only the countryside but the people who are drawn into this lust for ivory and money. In this case, the journey is the deal. What this edition gives us is a wonderful addition... Conrad's real-life experiences as the short-lived captain of a steam boat in the Congo. At the time, Conrad considered himself more of a sailor than a novelist, and his notations reflect the factual and relatively dull specifics of his duties. Still, one gets an acute sense of how his mind works and (later) how he turned these terse, and unexciting notes into possibly one of the greatest short stories in the history of the English Language. HEART OF DARKNESS can be a matter of patience. It does not move quickly, in places, but if one slows down and allows the story to stimulate, and inform, then it is time well spent! There is time for video stimulation (TV, VHS, etc) and there is time to find an overstuffed chair and allow the best film maker ever made, your own mind, to transport you to a place long burned away by commercial interests and "progress". Take the journey and let your soul speak back to you afterwards!

This book has wonderful pictures and gives an excellent overview from ancient to post modernism art. The descriptions are pretty brief though, and do not go into great detail on any particular artist. However, it's an excellent book to get a general idea of the evolution of western art. The book covers significant art movements, and some minor ones as well.

This is a textbook from my college art history class. A lot of cool pictures. A good general overview of western art history. But don't expect a detail description of famous artists like Picasso, Monet, etc.

This is a great book, contanis many color pictures and excellent information. I recommend you to buy this book. It's perfect!!!

Contributor Laszlo Andor and editor Martin Summers review the implementation of economic reforms in Eastern Europe. They present a strong critical analysis of the effect of economic reforms on the people in the post Soviet bloc countries. In great detail, they cover the fight to implement Western financial investment policies in order to break communist political legacies. The authors express their dissatisfaction with the results of reforms in the last decade. This is an important book for individuals who want another perspective on the rush to implement western financial policies globally. However, the book assumes some strong background knowledge of the region's political history and the financial concept of globalization. We [...] recommend this book to anyone who does business in Eastern Europe or who is intrigued by the politics of economic reform.

Written from a populist perspective, Market Failure does well to analyze the disasters that have overtaken Eastern Europe. The authors have done a good job in relating the political developments in the region to the economic crisis there, and the social breakdown that followed the regression from socialism to capitalism. The decision to focus on food, in one chapter, as an indicator of overall well being (or misery in this case,) was also very apt, and shows up clearly the fallacies of the market fundamentalists who believed that 'shock therapy' and Hayek-Friedman style capitalism were the solution to Eastern Europe's problems. The authors are also on the ball when they compare Eastern Europe's plight to that of the Third World, and when they point out that realpolitik would dictate that E. Europe is inside NATO and outside the EU. However, the authors fail in their advice on two counts. Their analysis of the collapse of the Soviet Bloc is somewhat faulty - it was more a case of a party elite selling out socialism in favour of capitalism, (and whipping up and exploiting popular discontent in order to do so,) than a popular revolt, (see the book Revolution from Above for an indication of this happening in Russia.) Secondly, their suggested solutions to the problems of Eastern Europe, which derive from the theories of Bakunin, Chayanov, E.F. Schumacher, and other naive leftists, is simply not feasible in the age of global capitalist imperialism. In short, they fail to appreciate that Eastern Europe has a simple choice - either the 'free' market or Stalin. In 1989 they made the wrong choice. They're suffering for it now.

Reviewed by Andrew Kilmister in Labour Focus on Eastern Europe, no. 59, 1998 (re-printed with permission): László Andor and Martin Summers, Market Failure: Eastern Europe's "Economic Miracle" (Pluto Press 1998) pp. vi + 209, ISBN 0 7453 0886 4 (pb), £9.99.

Up until now there has been no general overview of economic developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR since 1989 written from the left. This book aims to fill that gap. Written by Laszlo Andor, a lecturer at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences associated with the Hungarian Left Alternative grouping, and by Martin Summers who has worked on Eastern Europe for the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development and the New Economics Foundation, it represents a searing attack on the management of economic policy in the region over the last decade. Those determining this policy, both from inside the region as neo-liberal politicians and from outside as economic advisers, are described by Andor and Summers as "Market Maoists" who are undertaking a "Great Bourgeois Cultural Revolution". Like Mao in the Great Leap Forward of 1959 the Market Maoists have substituted an idealist revolution based on a schematic plan for an analysis of concrete realities. This book is designed to outline the effect of this revolution on the peoples of the region and to suggest alternatives. Andor and Summers begin by outlining the context within which transition in Eastern Europe has taken place, with a special focus on the role of the international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. They compare the activities of these institutions and related `experts' with their roles in other regions, notably Latin America, and argue that differing institutional policies, for example those propounded by Jacques Attali during his period in charge of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have been systematically sidelined. They then move on to discuss the effect of price liberalisation and associated monopolistic exploitation and the reasons for the collapse of production in the early 1990s. This is followed by an account of privatisation and the formation of a "noveau nomenklatura" through the privatisation process and associated corruption. Later chapters deal with agriculture and rural development, inequality both within the region and between Eastern and Western Europe and political developments in the East on both the left and right. The book concludes with an examination of possible alternatives to the Market Maoist approach. Andor and Summers write well and one very attractive feature of their book is the genuine passion and anger about what has been done in the area which shines through their writing and differentiates it from the vast bulk of what has been written on this subject, especially in conventional textbooks. Another strong feature of their account is its range, as detailed above. The book covers a large amount of issues in a relatively short space. However, this also brings with it certain costs. While there are a number of very telling and suggestive statistics, for example on the dramatic decline in food production, they remain illustrative and there is little space for more detailed analysis. This is especially telling in the sections on inequality where it would have been good to have had some more specific information on the growth and nature of divisions within Eastern Europe since these have been largely ignored in more orthodox accounts. There are also costs associated with trying to cover such a wide range of countries within a single account. In particular there is no real discussion of the extent to which the former Soviet Union exemplifies a distinctively different pattern of transition from that in Eastern and Central Europe. In many ways the most interesting aspect of Andor and Summers' account is their analysis of alternatives. They consider a very diverse set of perspectives here. When writing about privatisation they draw a distinction between Anglo-American capitalism and that practiced in Japan and Germany. The implication is that the Eastern European privatisation programmes are the result of opting for an Anglo-American model and that this was a mistake compared to the Japanese-German alternative. In their final chapter Andor and Summers discuss a number of more specific alternative policy proposals. One of these is that put forward in 1991 by the Polish economist Marek Gruchelski. This was essentially a policy of work sharing, with each worker working every second day to preserve employment during the transition. It would have been interesting to have related this more explicitly to the current debates in Western Europe, particularly France and Italy, on the shorter working week. Other models discussed include the Scottish Community Business movement, Chinese Township and Village Enterprises and credit unions. Finally the authors argue for increased co-operation within Eastern Europe, at least to the level of a payments union. The range of alternatives analysed here shows two strengths of the book; firstly, the insistence throughout that the Market Maoist model with its disastrous consequences was not an inevitable response to the crisis of Stalinist planning and secondly, the authors' willingness to consider concrete issues of policy as well as to describe problems. However, their sheer range and the obvious conflicts that exist between some of them also indicate that this book can only be a start in initiating a critical discussion of the orthodox approach to the East European transition. Andor and Summers would surely be the first to recognise this: they conclude by writing that `if this short book has helped to educate the reader about the nature of the problems we all face and stimulated further informed reflection and committed action, then it will have served its purpose' (p. 191). It is to be hoped that the book will have this effect and will encourage an overdue investigation of possible ways forward in Eastern Europe that will also convey lessons for those opposing Market Maoism in other parts of the world.

Andrew Kilmister.

We have heard of the crisis in Russia for many years; however, like most tragedies of great magnitude, this situation is difficult to truly imagine. "Moscow Days" provides tangible descriptions of the plight of everyday Russians to which the average western reader can relate. It brings the impact of the dissolution of the Soviet system, and the unleashing of unrestained "capitalism" down to a quotidian level. Reading this book provided me with a greater appreciation of the ramifications of the economic and political crisis confronting Russia as well as, paradoxically, an understanding of how people are surviving the midst of this castastrophe.

While the above probably makes this book sound like a depressing reading experience the author's sardonic wit, and often mordant humor, makes this a palatable learning experience. Dutkina leaves you with a tremendous amount of respect for the resiliance of the Russian people and their stoic response to an ever changing situation which they find themselves largely impotent to affect.

I found this book reminiscent of the Croatian author,Slavenka Drakulic's works "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed" and "Balkan Days". While bright and witty, unfortunately Galina Dutkina does not have the literary prowess of Drakulic. Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile and important read, particularly in light of how ignorant the average American is of the devastation confronting the Russian people.

I empathize with her constant fear of the crimes of the many against ordinary citizens. It could not have been easy for Ms. Dutkina to be so open about the problems in Moscow these days and to write with such intelligent restraint that the book provides important albeit unpleasant information without demonizing the Russian people or becoming pedantic.

A fantastic eloquently written account of contemporary Moscow that also manages to convey the psyche of ordinary muscovites far more perceptively than anything that I have ever read. It's like being hit by a brick. Breathtaking and achingly painful in its delivery it makes incredible reading.

Living and working as an expat in Moscow it opened to me a completely different way of viewing Russia. Maybe I was blinkered, but I owe a great debt to the author for showing me what I should have been seeing with my eyes and ears every day of the week but filtered by my western upbringing refused to see and refused to hear.

I can't recommend this book highly enough (Catherine A. Fitzpatricks translation is exceptional).

This series is still nothing more than an Army soap opera, but this particular book is saved from my fiercer wrath because it deals with one of my own personal areas of intrest (the Cold War as it effected sub-Saharan Africa) which is usually unreported and ignored. At least Griffin put the effort in to know the background and some of the players involved in the chaotic atmosphere that was post-colonial Africa, even if the story is as syrupy as the rest of the series.

Excellent. All his war storied I have read over and over, sitting and laughing a great deal, and feeling for the problems of dealing with the military, as I know them. Great adventure, too.

This is yet another great book in the Brotherhood of Arms series. The characters are great and I got a real feel for military life.

Ota Benga

The Pygmy in The Zoo A review by Dan Schobert

It has been well said that 'ideas have consequences. It was the idea of evolution which, early in the 20th century, placed a human being behind zoo bars.

The account is detailed in: Ota Benga, The Pygmy in the Zoo by Phillips Verner Bradford and Harvey Blume. (1992, St. Martin's Press)

The story is how the paths of two men crossed in the late 19th century. One was ex-missionary turned explorer, Samuel Verner and Ota Benga, estimated to be about 28 years old in 1906 and described as being 4'11" and weighting some one hundred pounds. By definition a pygmy is a short person, a dwarf, though some people would choose to view these people as being less than human, a creature not quite evolved to full human status.

Verner grew up in a prominent southern family and had visions of becoming an adventurer, not unlike Robinson Caruso. He traveled to the Congo as a missionary but changed his vision when he saw the possibility of adventure, even with financial reward. The idea that he could gain some riches came on the heels of an intense desire by many in this country to develop the science of Anthropology. There were attempts to exhibit people like Ota in fairs and elsewhere, supposedly representing early stages of man in a long evolutionary history. It was into this turn of events that Ota Benga fell a (perhaps) willing victim. During one of Verner's trips into the African interior, he came upon Ota and brought him along to this country. Eventually Ota became part of an exhibit at the Bronx Zoo.

One of the few photographs show Ota holding an Orangutan, in an African setting. Ota was not said to represent a stage of evolution but it was implied. This incensed a number of black ministers in the New York City area who initiated a campaign which eventually had Ota released and placed into an orphanage for black children. Keep in mind he was an adult, perhaps over 32 years old. Later he attended school in Virginia where in died in 1916, at his own hand.

Squeezed between these 280 pages, Bradford and Blume present little glimpses of the atrocities visited upon many in the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium in his search for wealth.. This story, written in part by Verner's grandson, does not apologize for the treatment Ota received. There is an apparent contempt for the ministers who felt 'Darwinism was a Christian fraud.' More than anything, Ota Benga is an account of what happens when people start from the wrong point. Wrong ideas always give wrong results. An apple tree does not produce oranges.

Verner attempted to reconcile his missionary concerns with those he thought to be true from Darwin. According to these authors, "To Verner, there was no contradiction." Apparently Verner, no student of the Bible, was a Theistic Evolutionist.

In all fairness, this story is very interesting though sad and provides some insights into events long past. The idea that someone, an actual human being, would be put on exhibit in a zoo is incredible, but the question revolves around the more basis concern: what does it mean to be human?

This question was being asked in the days of Ota Benga and is still being asked today, largely by those who endorse abortion.

. May 17, 2001

I picked up this book not expecting it to be true. The author does a good job of illuminating the lives of many people in and around the main character Ota Benga. This book also expertly portrays the cultural and political environment that raped Africans in the Belgian Congo, and oppressed them in Anglo-America. I highly reccomend this for your own library if you are an honest student of history.

A remarkable story of a heroic pygmy caught up in western society and western prejudices. Recommended as a good read.

If you like returning to yesteryear and remembering spending Saturday mornings and afternoons watching your favorite heros do battle with the evil villians, you will love going thru this book. It is a great addition to the video " The Republic Pictures Story". You will be able to find date of your favorite cliffhanger serials releases, how long they actually ran and even if there were sequals. Go visit with your heros like Commander Cody, Zorro, Jungle Girl and the G-men. Have fun returning to the Saturday morning serials from Republic Pictures.

The introduction to this book gives the most concise and to the point evaluation of Republic Pictures that I have read so far. Author Hayes also explains what happened to the still beloved "Thrill Factory," a company whose style of B-movie making was second to none. The remainder of this handsome volume is a listing of all the company's serials in order of appearance, the good, the bad and the indifferent, each accompanied by McFarland's usual generous dollup of illustrations. But unless you have the serials on video tape, you won't know what exactly they were about. The reader quickly feels like someone who has remained in the movie theater after everyone else has left and the lights are being turned on. The credits just roll on and on, from Executive producer HERBERT I. YATES to Wrangler TRACY LAYNE. But keep this book at the ready while you crank up the olde vcr for the first chapter of JUNGLE GIRL starring the beautiful but doomed Frances Gifford and you will learn who actually donned Miss Gifford's jungle garb to swing through those vines (it was, of course, stunt-woman Helen Thurston).

i was very impressed with this book. i wish he would write one for each studio