Book Description
Since the Holocaust, it has been almost impossible to hide large-scale crimes against humanity. In our communicative world, few modern catastrophes are concealed from the public eye. And yet, Ilan Pappe unveils, one such crime has been erased from the global public memory: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948. But why is it denied, and by whom? The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers an investigation of this mystery.
Customer Reviews:
Yet ANOTHER CASE of JEWISH SAVAGERY and HUMILIATION towards the"PALESTINIAN HOLOCAUST.".......2007-10-02
You will have to stop reading at times to wipe the tears coming from your eyes like Niagara Falls. Get a huge box of tissues for this gut-wrenching story of the daily brutal, humiliating and savage treatment against the women and children of Palestine. I started reading about the fate of the Palestinians with Carters book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter's book is a great and objective overview of the Palestinians Holocaust. Bush, Rice and Cheney will be rightfully humiliated in History books and in posterity for turning their backs and 'allowing' these atrocities to go on and on and on.... Right now as you read this review, The Palestinian Holocaust is in full terror. I'm 'not' giving up on the idea, that America will soon be "Good 'ole America again." Read this book.
What the U.S. Press Refuses to Show.......2007-09-30
A clear and concise view of the Palestinian holocaust, a view that the American media refuses to show.
Unspeakable evil finally expressed in words.......2007-09-26
The unspeakable evil that has been committed against the Palestinian people in 1948, and the unspeakable evil that is still being committed against the Palestinian people, has at last been expressed in words.
Amidst the vast zionist propaganda machine created to cover up horrendous atrocities, at last we have a book that gives us the truth. This book, with all its shocking details, is the best book I have read on the Palestine/Israel conflict, though it made very grim and painful reading. Ilan Pappe has given the world a wonderful gift in the writing of this book, one that could play a major role in bringing world peace, once all the facts that Pappe presents are known. His sources include the Israeli Archives and Ben Gurion's diaries, as well as eye witness accounts of what happened in 1948, and is continuing today.
If anyone wants to know what the conflict in the Middle East is all about, just read this book; every member of Congress, and every member of the general public should know how our billions of tax dollars that we send to Israel each year are being spent.
History you Must Know.......2007-09-15
If you have not read ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE you do not know the history of Palestine, nor can you understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As part of a new group of Israeli historians, Ilan Pappe reveals previously secret Israeli documents. The cleansing of Palestine of its Arab inhabitants began long before 1948, and continues today. Step by step the plans to cleanse the land, and the entire infrastructure with the cleansing details -- 1927 land surveys, The Red House, the Consultancy, Plan Dalet, Plan D -- is spelled out by Pappe. This is a painful read, but a necessary one to understand the Middle East.
Honest & Excellent.......2007-09-14
Very excellent book that shows part of the sufferings of Palestinians written by a very honest person
Book Description
History has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The “Atlantic Celts,” long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.
Customer Reviews:
Great Britain as New Euskaria.......2007-09-23
An excellent book, like being back in college and taking a fun course with a witty, funny and knowledgeable professor. I appreciated the linear format with thesis backed with evidence approach. As a precaution, just like college, there were many terms and ideas that went over my head, which meant having to do some additional homework to catch up with text, but well worth the detour. To this regard, the appendix and glossary were extremely valuable. I have always been fascinated with the origins of the Basque; why would they be the only non Indo-European, Sub-Saharan or Semitic language in all of Europe and the Mediterranean and why stuck in the middle of Pyrenees? My other linguistic quandry was the lack of celtic words in the English language and the lack of consistency between English and Dutch/German/Danish. Finally the technology catches up with speculative history and paints a different picture of Western Europe. It is human nature to embelish, pander to the audience or just plain preach propaganda. But blood doesn't lie and for me all the pieces of the puzzle came together in Mr. Oppenheimer's book. I have no doubt the thesis will be seminal in the re-writing of British History.
Difficult, but intermittently rewarding.......2007-08-07
Not the place to begin, but this book may reward advanced readers who can handle a popularized but scholarly work on the implications of recent findings in DNA. Earlier readers posting here frequently disparage this book's ponderous prose and its massive array of recondite DNA analyses. After reading more accessible, and considerably shorter (no coincidence!) works on genetics and anthropology by Spencer Wells and Bryan Sykes (for both authors, their two most recent books reviewed by me on Amazon), I felt ready to tackle Oppenheimer's work, despite its difficulty. While the time invested paid off in a better knowledge of the Celtic and British origin debate and the possible influence of Germanic cultural and linguistic influences preceding not only the Anglo-Saxon invasion but the preceding Roman occupation, Oppenheimer while he may be a better scholar than Sykes remains a less entertaining writer. Sykes can popularize his findings in "Blood of the Isles" & "Seven Daughters of Eve." He also can profit from them if you note the enterprise Oxford Genetics. As I commented when reviewing Sykes' "Blood," it remains curious that two geneticists both at Oxford do not even mention the other colleague in hundreds of pages of closely documented and meticulously referenced texts.
This apparent rivalry aside, Oppenheimer acknowledges very late in his text that names given to Rostov or Ian or Helena are merely "aides memoires" for R1B-11 or the like in an alphabet soup of markers all geneticists rely upon. Readers of both Sykes & Oppenheimer sniff disdainfully at this popularization, but surely both scientists and lay people need assistance in imagining "Eve" or "Lucy" or the "Ice Man" to make more personal the findings buried in blood types or bone samples. Oppenheimer carefully explains his reasons for clarifying relationships among these difficult classifications, numbering in the thousands by now. Much explanatory material on genetics here is relegated to appendices and a glossary; while Sykes & Wells integrate more definitions and analogies into their briefer, more readable books, Oppenheimer opts for density.
This can bore a reader. My eyes glazed over in the second hundred pages full of dull genetics. The first hundred, tackling the Celtic origins debate and guardedly based on scholars such as Simon James & Barry Cunliffe, and Iron Age archaeologists such as John Collis, argues a southerly direction into the British Isles for Celtic infusion, not the La Tene Danube-Central European homeland and its overland route for entry into the Isles. Personally, I'd have liked to have Bob Quinn's book "The Atlantean Irish" (reviewed by me) credited for its prescience regarding the Atlantic Celt "fringe" movement that Cunliffe and others have since fought to replace the Continental migration theories of the 19c. This vexed matter alone, building upon the past two decades of Celtic revision, or Celto-skepticism, could fill an entire book easily.
But, I did perk up eventually. This is more a reference book on a variety of unevenly covered but admittedly provocative topics. He writes clearly in places and dully in many others, depending it seems on his diligence vs. his enthusiasm! This is an arduous trek, but you need to weather this if your curiosity's aroused about this intellectual terrain that for the first time geneticists and linguists have entered to do battle over, not to mention archeologists and historians!
Advances in DNA may soon rely on its suggestions, or they may overturn its assumptions. But, Oppenheimer bravely piles all he has amassed for the benefit of science. It may be too clunky and over-ambitious, but he has done specialized researchers, armchair genealogists, and academics like myself needing a non-technical explanation of dozens of arcane debates all a service.
Oppenheimer builds on this fact-laden if recondite foundation to posit that many of today's ancestors came to the Isles perhaps as early as around 15-7,500 years ago. The land bridge before the end of the last Ice Age became submerged allowed two major inflows of migration, from a Ukrainian-Moldavian refuge, and an Iberian refuge. The former provided a basis for North Sea movements added to later by Scandinavians, Saxons, Belgae, and other Continental peoples. The latter brought people in on the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish sides closest to the Irish Sea that opened up in the later periods of global warming. Germanic languages cannot have diverged in Old English so rapidly after the Saxon incursions, nor were (against the Welsh historian Gildas' spurious claims of Celtic "wipeout") the indigenous natives necessarily Celtic-speakers all prior to the landing of Hengist and his post-Roman mercenaries.
Percentages of genetic disruption rarely reach even the point of "decimation" of 10% in a handful of Anglian areas, according to genetic studies of inhabitants today in these long-stable regions of Britain. Simply and ineradicably, this persistent divide, genetically and perhaps linguistically, Oppenheimer proposes, persists in our DNA. This parallels the Germanic vs. Celtic division of languages in the Isles, the spine of mountains serving as an insular border between these two major routes for farming and colonization.
The hoary myth of a Celtic genocide by Teutonic overlords that inspired Arthur's last stand, it seems, proves more a "Dark Age" screed than plausible history. Granted that this early medieval era remains fraught with dangers for those reliant only on chronicles or a misleading archeological record, Oppenheimer here makes his boldest suggestion.
Probably the first to enter this fray as a geneticist, he confronts linguistic assumptions about the rapid spread and dialectal evolution in only a few centuries of Anglo-Saxon in post-Roman Britain. Germanic languages, he opines, might have become established long before Romans, let alone Saxons, entered into what was not necessarily a Celtic-dominated Brittania. Celts themselves, whatever this term means given the looseness of this pseudo-ethnic linguistic concept, did not rush en masse into the islands, and they too were perhaps the harbingers of not a massive demographic invasion but an elite influencing cultural and linguistic trends among the natives, who may date back ten thousand years before the arrival of Celtic-language speakers. Unfortunately, traces of any words that are pre-Celtic lurk rarely in the archaeological record, according to most experts. We lack a Rosetta Stone to decode whatever insular peoples spoke before Celtic languages became the norm among both the newcoming elite and the long-settled old-timers.
Therefore, Oppenheimer turns to DNA for clues. He challenges linguists who for a century have been indoctrinated to ignore searching for language origins. He argues that science can offer tentative solutions that account for a Germanic undercurrent that may not be that apparent on the surface, but which aligns with what we know about rates of linguistic change that may have begun as long ago as 3000 BCE (estimates differ) that can be calibrated with patterns of genetic migration.
His thesis? Most of the original British Isles inhabitants descend from a massive "founder population"-- maybe far more than three-fourths or more of those today living in some locales. Due to genetics and settlement patterns, most humans stick to one place for millennia. This conservatism therefore provides a solid bedrock. It cannot be eroded even by the waves of more recent, and tribally-named, intruders. While closer to us in time and in the historical record (however tenuous!), these famous warriors themselves often number in the low single-digits (5% often!) in terms of percentages of genetic "material" we British and/or Celts carry today.
All subsequent immigrations, whether Celt, Roman, Saxon, Angle, Jute, Viking, or Norman, Oppenheimer states in the closing line of his epilogue, diminish by their traces in the descendants of the majority who trace their roots to British-resident or Celtic-origin DNA today. Most of the origins of the British predate even the Celts. Oppenheimer concludes: "we are all minorities compared with the first, unnamed pioneers, who ventured into the empty, chilly lands so recently vacated by the great ice sheets." (421)
The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story.......2007-08-02
Oppenheimer has written the most comprehensive, well organized and complete description of the deep origins of the British peoples. At the present time it is easily the best of any other available title. The author is at the very edge of contemporary genetic studies. One of the book's strengths is its inclusion of many of the findings of other genetic researchers. It also contains supporting materials from other disciplines and classical writers.
I found the book to be well written, meticulously documented, illustrated with maps and other visual materials, and well organized for a work of its breath. It is written for the educated or self-educated reader and does presuppose some familiarity with basic genetics and dna structure. If a potential reader fears he/she does not have this background, I recommend purchasing a companion primer on dna or download materials from even Wikipedia. Most genealogists will have little trouble with the technical terms.
I have read critiques that this book gives no final answers. This is true but the author provides the best interpretation of British prehistory available from today's science and supporting disciplines. A good companion book to read with this book is Barry Cunliffe's Facing the Ocean: the Atlantic and Its Peoples.
Accessible, yet not dumbed down.......2007-07-28
For anyone interested in the early history of the British isles this book is a must. Oppenheimer gathered all the information concerning the genetic history of the British isles floating around on the internet, scholarly journals, academic works, etc., and having assembled it all, presents it a serious, yet very readable fashion. Like Sykes and other genetic scholars he used cutsy names to represent specific genetic lineages, but he doesn't force the reader to have to deal with a fictional account of prehistoric lives. Instead the names are easily remembered catch phrases for the aforementioned groups.
Sykes confirmed earlier arguments about ancient regional divisions between populations in the British isles, but rather than beat the Anglo vs. Celtic drum, he argues that the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh all came out of the same prehistoric mix of Iberian, Near Eastern, and Eastern European migrants. Sykes does not, however, argue against the validity of "Celtic" as an lable representing certain populations in Western Europe. Rather, we need to rethink the way in which we use the term.
Using a rational - if not 100% believable argument - based on linguistics, history, genetics and archaeology, Sykes also contends that the roots of the English language in what is now Eastern England might predate the Roman invasion. In other words the linguistic division between the Welsh and the English is not the result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, instead owing to more long-standing prehistoric social and cultural divisions.
Great Analysis.......2007-05-14
This book is incredibly insightful on a topic that few people know about. It accurately and convincingly dispels many rumors and genealogical cover-ups and gets right down to what is factual. That, in my opinion, is what is most important about a book that presents many important concepts in a objective manner. Forget about the fact that he happens to use "pet names," and that he can drone on a little. His contemporary Bryan Sykes, who wrote a book on exactly the same topic, does the exact same thing and comes to the same basic conclusions. In any case, the meat of the books, the facts, haven't been disputed as of yet.
Book Description
From the spread of the earliest hominids onwards, migration has been a major factor in human development. This fascinating study traces the connections among regions brought about by the movements of people, diseases, crops, technology and ideas.
Drawing on examples from a wide range of geographical regions and thematic areas, Manning presents a graceful and dramatic narrative, including:
· earliest human migrations, including the earliest hominids, their development and spread, and the controversy surrounding the rise of homo sapiens
· the first domestication of major plants and animals
· the rise and spread of major language groups such as Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian/Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Ural-Altaic, and Amerindian
· examination of civilizations, farmers and pastoralists from 3000 BCE to 500 CE, highlighting such groups as Greeks, Phoenicians, Xiongnu, Huns and Scythians
· trade patterns including the early Silk Road and maritime trade in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean
· use of horses and boats, with focus on migratory groups such as Germans, Vikings, Turks, Arabs, Mongols, Arawaks and Caribs, Nilotes, Polynesians and Bantu
· the increasing impact of maritime and overland migrations on areas of life such as religion and family between 1400-1700
· the effect of migration on empire and industry between 1700-1900
the resurgence of migration in the later twentieth century, including movement to cities, refugees and diasporas
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The Struggle for Soviet Jewish Emigration, 19481967 (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies)
Yaacov Ro'i
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521390842 |
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In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli government on behalf of Soviet Jewish rights as a whole and emigration in particular. Ro'i convincingly argues that despite the efforts of Soviet Jewish groups to flourish in a steadfastly anti-Semitic system, by 1967 most had accepted that the only way of implementing their Zionist aspirations was to emigrate to Israel. However, without the extensive groundwork carried out in the period 1948-1967, it is doubtful if the mass emigration of the 1970s would have been possible.
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In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli government on behalf of Soviet Jewish rights as a whole and emigration in particular. Ro'i convincingly argues that despite the efforts of Soviet Jewish groups to flourish in a steadfastly anti-Semitic system, by 1967 most had accepted that the only way of implementing their Zionist aspirations was to emigrate to Israel. However, without the extensive groundwork carried out in the period 1948-1967, it is doubtful if the mass emigration of the 1970s would have been possible.
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- Comparison With Guns, Germs, and Steel
- Interesting Theory
- A landmark (but dated) study on the ecological dimension of European expansion
- Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism"
- Triumph of the pig, the rat, the dandelion, the smallpox virus... and the European humans who gave them a ride across the ocean
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Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 9001900 (Studies in Environment and History)
Alfred W. Crosby
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0521546184 |
Book Description
People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years. First Edition Hb (1986): 0-521-32009-7 First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33613-9
Customer Reviews:
Comparison With Guns, Germs, and Steel.......2007-10-04
In the first sentence of the prologue, Alfred Crosby defines his thesis for this book. He says: "European emigrants and their descendants are all over the place, which requires explanation." It is an interesting statement to ponder and an even more interesting one to answer. Crosby does so in a very readable, sometimes humorous style and with convincing arguments. Originally published in 1986, this has become a classic for those studying or just interested in environmental history. He delves into the subjects of not only the migrations of people, but also their animals, domesticated plants and diseases. Does this sound at all familiar? Jared Diamond took up the same subject in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel. One can't but help but compare them.
The first question to ask is Diamond's book is so popular and Crosby's not so well known? After all, Ecological Imperialism also won an award, the 1987 Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize given by Phi Beta Kappa, and justifiably so. It is solid scholarship presented in a manner accessible to anyone interested enough to pick up the book. In fact, I found it much more readable than Diamond's book, which presents so much information, it is a little hard to take it all in. Diamond expands upon several of Crosby's assertions--that not only the people from Europe successfully invaded the New World, but so did their plants, animals and germs.
A part of the history of the European invasions (or Neo-Europes as Crosby defines them) which Diamond does not cover are the attempts to settle in a new land that failed. Chapter 3 entitled The Norse and the Crusaders takes an interesting look at why the initial Norse settlements in "Vinland" did not work, and why the attempt to conquer the Holy Land for Christianity failed. In the first instance, the Norsemen came to Vinland, or what is today Newfoundland by way of Greenland, not directly from Norway. Their boats were not seaworthy enough to have made the journey directly across the Atlantic Ocean. Thus when the settlement in Greenland withered and died, so did the connection with Vinland. Crosby points out that ironically, because of the viability of the land, Vinland could have supported the colony in Greenland, but it was not possible the other way around.
These failures helped set the stage for what was to become one of the most important changes in human and ecological history. Crosby tells this story with interest and ease. Why then, has Diamond's book been so popular as opposed to Crosby's? Diamond's contains a lot more detailed information, although in my opinion this makes it more difficult to read. Diamond may have been more well known, having won the MacArthur Foundation fellowship prior to the publication of his book. But it may have been a matter of timing--the public was more interested in the topic at the time of publication, but probably there was also just some amount of sheer luck. Whatever the reason, you won't regret the time you spend with Crosby. It is a thought provoking and interesting read.
Interesting Theory.......2007-01-22
"Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion Of Europe, 900-1900"
by Alfred W. Crosby. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
The implication of this book's theory is that the Europeans succeeded in the "New" World due to the imperialistic strength of European flora and fauna. European cattle and European horses conquered the plains of both North America and Argentina, making them "neo-Europes". When Columbus introduced the pig, (either inadvertently or consciously), he knew that that the porcine animal species would "conquer" their local environment. The author's excellent writing follows this theme throughout his book, but, in my opinion, he spends too much time on New Zealand ... pages 217 to 268.
Yet, if the author's thesis is correct, the book becomes a disparaging comment on human efforts. For example, compare the Pilgrims' landing in 1620 with the landing of Hernando De Cortez (1485-1547) at Vera Cruz in 1519. The Pilgrims snuck ashore, onto that Rock in Plymouth, on a cold winter's day. There was no one to meet them, as the locals (or "indigenes" as Crosby likes to call them) had all been killed off by strange and new diseases. The diseases were probably brought over by Englishmen; otherwise where did Squanto, the Indian chief, learn his rudimentary English? (Just as my aside, if the Scots, who first settled in Ulster, Ireland and then came to North America, are known as Scots-Irish, why weren't the Pilgrims known as "Anglo-Dutch"?)
In February 1519, more than a century before the Pilgrims, Hernando De Cortez landed at the Rich Villa of the Holy Cross, Vera Cruz, with some 500-600 men, to face not thousands, but hundreds of thousands. To instill courage in his men, Cortez burnt his boats. The Spanish had to go forward and they conquered an empire. On the other hand the Pilgrims occupied a dead village. In both cases, European diseases were the deciding factor, but the achievement of either group was entirely different. Crosby's book treats them as if they were equal.
I believe that Alfred W. Crosby has hit on something that bears further investigation. In the late summer of 2004, I attended a wedding in Slovenia. As we drove through Germany, I noticed goldenrod by the sides of the corn fields. I asked and I was told that goldenrod was introduced as a flowering plant but was not doing so well in Europe. I wonder if Crosby's thesis was borne out by the lack of success of goldenrod ...and other American plants? Don't get me wrong: since I am allergic to goldenrod, I am happy it was NOT successful in German farm fields, but why?
A landmark (but dated) study on the ecological dimension of European expansion.......2006-07-16
Alfred Crosby is widely credited for popularising the ecological dimension of the history of imperial expansion. For this reason, and perhaps this reason alone, his book is worth a read.
The book, first published in 1986, revolutionised the way we think about European imperial expansion into the New World. How a few hundred disoriented Europeans armed with spears and misfiring guns managed to overwhelm entire Inca and Aztec civilisations in the early sixteenth century, for example. Crosby convincingly casts aside traditional political or military explanations by attributing the astonishing Portuguese and Spanish victories to bacteriology: how diseases such as smallpox and measles that the Europeans unwittingly carried with them wiped out thousands of New World inhabitants, severely crippling their defences.
The larger point that Crosby drives across is a profound one. Historical events - in this case, European expansion and imperialism - can be explained predominantly by ecological factors. In the clash of `biotas' between the Old and the New World, the Old World won. Convincingly. Hence the presence not just of Europeans in the Americas, but also of pigs and dandelions. According to this thesis, ecology shaped European expansion; creating `Neo-Europes' in the New World that facilitated European migration, precipitating the `Caucasian wave' from the 1820s to the 1930s. Unlike in most other histories, in Crosby's ecological history, humans form the backdrop and inexorable ecological forces take centre-stage.
Refreshing as this perspective is, the way that Crosby has rendered it is problematic in on a number of accounts. By excluding humans from the picture; or at best relegating human developments to the sidelines, Crosby emerges with a dangerously reductive picture of historical development. Deterministic ecological explanations cannot alone account for European expansion - after all, we must not forget that the first European transoceanic voyages were motivated by curiosity rather than necessity. More problematic is the book's implicit assumption that ecological influence was unidirectional. In concentrating on explicating the Old World's ecological victory over the New, Crosby neglects to examine the influence that New World ecology had on the Old.
Nonetheless, Crosby's work remains a landmark study that deserves a read. Moreover, it packs a punch as a piece of writing - its lucid narratives and provocative assertions laid out with the bold and elegant strokes of a master-artist. Yet Crosby's work is also increasingly a dated study that has been qualified over and over by new works in the field, or in the related field of environmental history. Those interested in the subject should by no means stop at Crosby's book.
Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism" .......2006-04-10
Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism"
In his book, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, Alfred W. Crosby investigates the roots of European domination over the western world. He calls the places where early Europeans settled "Neo-Europes" with special emphasis on North and South America , Australia , and New Zealand . In his prologue he ponders whether Europeans dominated their environment and other cultures because of their technology, or whether the consistent "success of European imperialism has a biological, [and] an ecological, component.". Crosby 's thesis is that Europeans were successful imperialists because wherever they went their agriculture and animals thrived; and the indigenous populations and local ecosystems collapsed under their biological advance.
Crosby begins at the beginning, discussing the one big continent, Pangaea, supposed to have existed in pre-history and the slow development of life forms other than reptilian, in particular Homo sapiens. The break up of Pangaea (this hypothetical super-continent) caused the "the decentralization of the process of evolution," that is, when the land cracked apart flora and fauna were spilt between the newly created continents. That continental split is the reason similar species are found in Europe and North America.
Eventually Crosby brings the reader up to the end of the Ice Age. Ten thousand years ago humans were exploring the islands of the Eastern Atlantic including Australia . Once on these islands humans domesticated plants, piled up mounds of garbage, spread disease, and hunted animals into extinction. Normally the despoilment of indigenous flora and fauna occurs over tens of thousands of years. In locations where humans arrived with mature hunting skills a sudden extinction of local plant and animal life occurred. These sudden prehistoric, or Pleistocene, overkills were the first concentrated impact humans had on virgin ecosystems.
The virgin ecosystem of Porto Santo Island was the destination of Portuguese settlers during the 1400s. Porto Santo Island was completely uninhabited and filled with untouched flora and fauna. One Portuguese ship captain brought a mother rabbit and her babies to the island. The rabbits loved Porto Santo and thrived in the island environment. So much so that soon the settlers were blasting away at the rabbits in an attempt to exterminate the entire local rabbit population. It seems the rabbits could not determine the difference between the crops meant for human consumption and the crops meant for bunny consumption. The rabbits won in this instance and for a time the settlers moved elsewhere, "defeated by their own ecological ignorance."
The experience of Spanish invaders in the Canaries showed them that no matter where they went, even if they could not out-fight their opponents, Europeans could dominate their enemies anyway. "In all these [new] places, the newcomers would conquer the human populations and Europeanize entire ecosystems." The Spanish learned from their experiences in the Canaries that their livestock and crops would succeed in these new environments; they also learned they could easily defeat the local natives without traditional warfare. The various "plagues" and "sleeping sicknesses," which the Spanish called peste and modorra, killed off and weakened natives who had no natural immunity to ailments common to the Spanish. In essence, sore throats and colds were the winning weapons of the conquerors; it was the flu that subjugated the Canaries.
The unfortunate natives of the Canary Islands , the Guanches, did not survive their meeting with the Spanish sailors. These previously isolated people died rapidly from dysentery, pneumonia, and venereal disease. According to Crosby "few experiences are as dangerous to a people's survival as the passage from isolation to membership in the worldwide community that included European sailors, soldiers, and settlers." When the Spanish conquered the Canaries the Guanches lost their land and therefore their livelihood. Some Guanches joined the Spanish army and went to fight in the Americas ; the Spanish sold others into slavery. The majority of Guanches however died of disease and the entire population became extinct.
Unlike the Guanches of the Canaries, the Maoris of New Zealand did survive despite great odds. When invaded by Europeans the Maoris assumed they would become extinct. European rats annihilated the Maori rat, an animal that was a food staple for the natives. The Maori fly might have help ward off the incursion of sheep that quickly destroyed the local flora, but invading European houseflies wiped out the local flies. Clover took over where ferns had been, and the Maori waited for their own extinction. The Maori population hit bottom in 1890 but then began a mysterious recovery and 280,000 people claim to be Maori by 1981.
In the 1500s Europeans arrived in the Americas with horses, technology (weapons), domesticated plants (crops), farm animals, germs, insects, diseases, weeds, and varmints. The garbage piled up by farmers encouraged varmint populations (mainly mice and rats) which spread disease and attacked human food supplies. Crosby devoted an entire chapter to the spread of weeds around the world. Weeds are not specific plants. "Weed" is a general term applied to a plant that spreads rapidly and encroaches on other plants. The study of where specific weeds appeared and when, aids in tracking population movements. The weeds brought by Europeans were actually another unintentional imperial victory. Weeds repaired damaged top soils and provided feed for livestock. " Rye and oats were once weeds." "Weeds are the Red Cross of the plant world; they deal with ecological emergencies." "Weeds thrive on radical change, not stability. That, in the abstract, is the reason for the triumph of European weeds in the Neo-Europes..." Weeds were resilient and thrived in soils laid bare by European plows, and damaged by drastically altered ecosystems.
European populations exploded in the Americas and Australia . What distinguished these Neo-Europes were the large food surpluses they generated. Neo-Europes led the world in food production "relative to the amount locally consumed." Other cultures actually produced more food per capita and per hectare, but the Neo-Europes exported more food than any other society. Especially successful exports from Neo-Europes were wheat, soybeans, pig products, and beef. Europeans consistently chose to settle in temperate climates where their animals and crops thrived. This was prudent and logical, it would have made no sense for Europeans to settle in torrid climates where their livestock would have suffered, and their favorite crops could not be grown.
The wind also aided European imperialists. When faced with strong winds the Portuguese marinheiros, true sailors, did not turn around and go home or sit sail-less in the water until the winds changed. Marinheiros would "sail around the wind." Sailors would tack close enough to the contrary wind to keep moving and then find a wind that they could use to continue their course. The Portuguese who perfected this "crabwise slide" called it the volta do mar, literally "going back to the sea." This understanding of winds allowed marinheiros to sail out on trade winds and back home on the westerlies.
Smallpox was the big killer of the Aztecs and the Incas in Peru ; the Huron and Iroquois in Mexico ; and the Amerindians of the United States . Crosby claims the victories of the Conquistadors over the Amerindians were "in large part the triumphs of the virus of smallpox." Besides smallpox Europeans brought dysentery and influenza; those epidemics killed almost the whole indigenous population of North America . In effect, the domination over ecology and culture by European invaders was more of a biological accident, than a well-executed military takeover.
Virgin soil epidemics spread through populations who had no prior contact with European diseases. These populations had no immunity to protect them. Virgin soil epidemics had many dramatic consequences. First, the epidemics effectively committed genocide, killing entire populations of native people around the world. Second, certain diseases (measles, influenza, tuberculosis) effected people fifteen to forty years of age more than others. These young adults were responsible for most of the labor involved in supplying food, procreation, raising children, and defending the society. The third and fourth effects of virgin soil epidemics were cultural optimism on the part of the conquerors, and cultural fatalism on the part of the conquered. When Europeans arrived and slew their rivals without raising a sword they believed that God must be on their side and this belief affirmed the rightness of their imperialistic actions. When the indigenous people died by the hoard from mysterious ailments they developed a fatalistic view of their own destiny and supposed the white man's Gods were the more powerful.
Ecological Imperialism is interesting, occasionally humorous, and easy to read. Crosby accomplishes his goal of writing a big book. This author presents a convincing and encompassing explanation for the incredible success of European imperialists. The book leaves the reader with more questions. How aggressively imperialistic were the original conquerors if all they had to do was show up and their opponents fell to the wayside? Crosby argues convincingly that Europeans were triumphant because the places they chose to conquer had ecosystems and indigenous populations that surrendered to the biology of the invaders.
Triumph of the pig, the rat, the dandelion, the smallpox virus... and the European humans who gave them a ride across the ocean.......2006-02-26
The most impressive and pleasant aspect of this new approach to world history is the non-anthropocentric perspective Crosby adopts. He tells the story of the expansion of a tightly connected group of European organisms, which includes humans alongside with other domesticated animals, crops, weeds, viruses and bacteria.
The book shows that humans were the leading elements in this great expansion beyond Europe and across the oceans - but they would not have managed to successfully invade, occupy and dominate vast areas of the planet such as America, Australia and New Zealand if they had not been supported by a powerful combination of fauna, flora and germs. In fact, often enough these supporting organisms even took the lead in making the "new-found" territories hospitable for Europeans. Once they had arrived to faraway lands with similar climatic conditions as Europe - but with much less people, germs, domesticated animals and plants - the horses, pigs, cows, sheep, bees, rats, weeds and endemic diseases carried by European vessels began spreading quickly in these totally unexposed areas, and thrived mainly by destroying the native organisms.
Another important point developed by Crosby is that this apparently aggressive invasion and occupation of other continents was actually the consequence of a long process started many thousands of generations before, and of which Europeans were totally unaware. They were simply the ones most prepared and willing to cross unknown oceans (in fact, for centuries they had to painfully learn all about winds and currents - for which many a vessel with all its human and non-human crew had to be sacrificed) and settle down many 1000 of kilometres away from their original home, because the "old continent" had become overpopulated, deforested and overgrazed. Their "ecological imperialism" was in the end part of their struggle to survive and reproduce (to the disadvantage of other human and non-human organisms).
Thus, Crosby urges his readers to think of this propagation of certain humans and their accompanying flora, fauna and germs in detriment of others as a natural phenomenon. In fact, he often compares the European ecological expansion with an "avalanche" or a "bursting dam", i.e., something that had to inevitably happen given the circumstances. In this scenario, it becomes clear that these organisms were vehicles for a great "biological revolution" (in the words of the author), where humans were the spearhead of the movement - but hardly the all-knowing, dominant, free agents they mostly imagine(d) themselves to be.
Book Description
England's seventeenth-century colonial empire in North America and the Caribbean was created by migration. The quickening pace of this essential migration is captured in the London port register of 1635, the largest extant port register for any single year in the colonial period and unique in its record of migration to America and to the European continent. Alison Games analyzes the 7,500 people who traveled from London in that year, recreating individual careers, exploring colonial societies at a time of emerging viability, and delineating a world sustained and defined by migration.
The colonial travelers were bound for the major regions of English settlement--New England, the Chesapeake, the West Indies, and Bermuda--and included ministers, governors, soldiers, planters, merchants, and members of some major colonial dynasties--Winthrops, Saltonstalls, and Eliots. Many of these passengers were indentured servants. Games shows that however much they tried, the travelers from London were unable to recreate England in their overseas outposts. They dwelled in chaotic, precarious, and hybrid societies where New World exigencies overpowered the force of custom. Patterns of repeat and return migration cemented these inchoate colonial outposts into a larger Atlantic community. Together, the migrants' stories offer a new social history of the seventeenth century. For the origins and integration of the English Atlantic world, Games illustrates the primary importance of the first half of the seventeenth century.
Customer Reviews:
Migration and early America.......2007-05-26
A Ph.d. dissertation by Alison Games "that turned into a book," Migration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World introduces a novel approach to studying English Colonial history. Insisting that migration played a more significant role in early Atlantic regional and national settlements than previously thought, the author explores and amalgamates common threads to modify previous notions on the origins of English cultural norms in colonial America. Based heavily on the 1635 London Port register, the author chronicles the migration patterns of over 7500 Englishmen and women who moved to the New World.
After establishing a rather dense narrative in the introductory chapters, we learn, in depth, about the travel patterns and challenges of those who braved the Atlantic world. "A spectrum of experience," notes Games, "characterized early colonial settlements, and the intent of my approach is to delineate both the variety of colonial societies and the common processes by which they were formed." (10) The discussions of the aforementioned vignettes are dispersed successfully among several geographic regions such as New England, the Caribbean, and the Chesapeake.
The author provides extensive research of church registers, court records, and other primary sources to advance a careful argument that "common processes" of Old World travelers established the foundations of early American family life. She also correctly highlights the fact that movement between the New and Old World was hectic, and in constant motion, with migrants moving several times once they entered colonial America. The only exception to this argument, which Games downplays, is the large contingent of migrants who moved directly to New England from the Old World and settled there.
In a peripheral exploration, Games expounds on colonial Puritanism and discusses the rise of church membership in the New World. The former focuses on spiritual modifications, or simply changes, that distinguished colonial Puritans from Old World Puritans. These arguments, however, seem more suited, and appropriate, for a study of colonial religious practices and developments. The marriage that Games makes between Puritanism and migration is not explicitly clear to the reader. In fact, these arguments would contrast nicely with Barry Levy's study of Quakerism and the relationship of the modern American household.
Another distraction in this work is the overabundance of statistics that tend to bog down the reader. While useful and relevant to advancing secondary arguments, the author seems to deploy statistical evidence in way that negates her main themes about migration. Along the same lines, the work would have benefited from more research on the geographic origins, and familial ties, of travelers prior to their departure from London in 1635. The author does touch on this some, but the reader is left wondering if there was a more pronounced historical connection between familial origin in the Old World and settlement in the new World.
Nonetheless, this work provides a new paradigm, and a neglected approach, to studying early English migration and its impact on the New World. The author also provides clear evidence that travel patterns played an important, sometimes subtle and other times dramatic, impact on travelers' destiny in colonial America. The work, however, falls short of convincing the reader that migration patterns were the main historical ingredient for determining settlements in the Atlantic region. This work is most appropriate for those who have a keen understanding of colonial history and an interest in migration history.
The making of the English Atlanic world.......2002-09-26
A scholarly investigation into the Atlantic voyages and destinations of those listed in the 1635 London Port Register. The author follows their careers in the extant colonial and English records before and after their voyages. Excellent insights into the English colonies in New England, Virginia, Bermuda, and Providence Island in the Caribbean.
Questions of why these travelers left, how they traveled, what they found when they arrived, how they prospered or failed, and those that returned to their homeland or traveled to other colonies are all dealt with. Excellent sections on the age and sex compositions of the different destinations under study and the effects of this on their colonial development.
Lots of information on the flight of the puritans from Archbishop Laud and the different gathered church societies they established in the puritan colonies. The continuous migration over the life cycle of these English travelers within England, to London, across the Atlantic and within and between colonies is the ongoing theme of the book.
outstanding work of original research.......2001-11-12
This book by Alison Games, based on her PhD dissertation if I am to understand correctly, is an outstanding piece of original research. Games successfully combines her torturous mining of the archives of the UK, Bermuda, US & elsewhere, with a good understanding of statistics, with intellectually honest speculations about the data (where it exists & where it does not, carefully showing where each hold), with a comprehension of the sweep of history in which this work fits, with a fine writing style. This book is denser than most colonial history, but it is worth pushing through that density for the unique insights the history carries with it & the stimulation of mind the book provides to the reader. Fundamentally, as Games shows, history is about ordinary human beings. The aggregation of their actions is what makes something worthy of the historians attention. In Games work, we can see the individual actions of UK "citizens" in the 1500s & 1600s in making the trek to colonies. This book should be on anyone's required reading list for understanding what happened in the British colonies early-on.
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From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry
Mitchell G. Bard
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
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Book Description
From 1984 to 1991, Israel conducted a series of dramatic rescues, bringing thousands of Ethiopian Jews to the state of Israel. Codenamed Operation Sheba, this effort involved various covert means, including large-scale airlifts and exchanges for arms, to save these Jews from intolerable conditions in Ethiopia and the Sudan. But as dramatic and uplifting as this effort was, there are still troubling questions about why it took so many years for Israel to act on behalf its African compatriots. This is the complete story behind the Israeli rescue of the Jews of Ethiopia--how tragedy was turned into triumph. These rescue operations represented the culmination of complex political maneuvering in Israel and illustrated what Israeli resolve can accomplish when Jewish lives are endangered. It was an inspiring effort--as William Safire wrote at the time, "thousands of black people are being brought to a country not as slaves, but as citizens." On the other hand, there is much to deplore how long it took for the leaders of Israel to recognize and take action to save this ancient African branch of the Jewish Diaspora, known as the Falasha. The reasons are the result of the complex intersection of Israeli geostrategy, pressure from the American Jewish community, and Ethiopian domestic politics, as well as racism and debates about the "Jewishness" of the Falasha community.
Book Description
The Jews of Iraq constituted one of the oldest and most deeply rooted Jewish communities in the world. But in the early 1950s most of them left for Israel, under circumstances that remain the subject of heated controversy.Iraqi Jews: A History examines the role of this community, highlighting the critical years of the late 1940s - after the establishment of the state of Israel - when deep rifts began to appear Iraqi society. The sad sequence of events that finally led to the mass exodus of Jews in the 1950s was marked by dishonesty on all sides.An honest, impartial and well-documented account of a formerly well-integrated and vibrant community, Iraqi Jews: A History is a landmark in the political and social history of the Middle East.
Customer Reviews:
An important scholarly work.......2006-04-20
First a correction: The full title of this book is Iraqi Jews: A History of Mass Exodus. This is *not* a general history of Iraqi Jews; rather it specifically and exhaustively addresses the causes and repercussions of the exodus of Jews from Iraq in the period directly after the creation of the state of Israel.
The Jewish population of Iraq, and particularly of Baghdad, constitutes one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. In 1948, the Jewish population numbered well over 100,000. In the 1957 census, slightly less than 5,000 remained. Today, the number of Jews remaining hovers around 100, mostly elderly, holdouts.
Shiblak, using a wealth of sources, examines the pushes and pulls which created this mass exouds and gives a wealth of information regarding its demographic repercussions.
For those hoping for polemics (and this, like all issues relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict, is a point of polemical debate), Shiblak will certainly disappoint. Even the polemically minded, however, will find it hard to resist the wealth of statistical materials he provides. For the casual reader, this short, but very dense, work may be too much of a good thing. It is not a particularly easy read. On the other hand, for serious students of the Arab-Israeli conflict or of the Middle East, this is an invaluable contribution and well worthy of consideration.
Book Description
This book chronicles the story of a group of individuals caught at a crossroads and targeted in the cross fires of history. In 1933 events in their native Germanic lands presented them with a "Hobson's choice"-leave if you can or die! Their lives were saved because Turkey was discarding the society and culture inherited from the Ottomans' derelict and shattered empire while recognizing and addressing the need to modernize its society, culture, way of living, and system of higher education. Using a collection of third-party archival documents, cotemporaneous family and collegial correspondence, memoirs, oral histories, photos, and other surviving evidence Arnold Reisman documents the fears, the courage, the heartaches, and the determination of these brilliant people as well as their contributions to shifting established paradigms in several fields of knowledge. He also speculates about Turkey's inabilities to fully capitalize on these emigres' legacy. The book is intended for lay readers interested in history of the 20th Century, history of science, history of Turkey, the Holocaust, and in a case study of post-Islamic national development. "This book adds to our knowledge of an important aspect of the Holocaust, and of the behavior of Nation States in the modern world of woe and grief." - Sir Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill's official biographer and a leading historian of the modern world. He is the author of The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. "This book should be on the 'must-read' list of books about World War II and the years preceding it." - Dr. Israel Hanukoglu, Former Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel. Currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology, College of Judea and Samaria, Ariel, Israel. "This book involves five major topics: science, history, politics, economics, and the arts. It is the earliest comprehensive essay in the English language, on the German émigrés who, while taking refuge in Turkey after 1933, contributed to the modernization of its higher education, and to the implementation of research activities and social reforms." - Prof. Dr. Feza Günergun, Chair for History of Science, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, Beyazit-Istanbul, Turkey.
Customer Reviews:
In depth information about a little known topic.......2007-02-02
This book is about the story of the German-Jewish professors that were displaced by the [..]and were invited to come to Turkey by Ataturk's government. About 150 of them came in the 1933-1938 time frame. Some stayed for a few years, many stayed for 10 years or more. Some have stayed until retirement.The book, about 470 pages long and illustrated with many photographs and other material, is a really well-researched investigation into * the world circumstances that made this episode possible* the individuals who arranged the mechanics of this immigration* the personal life stories of these very capable scholars* how they adapted to life in Turkey* how they impacted Turkey's university education and modernization* the nature of the support and non-support they received from the government and the people This was a subject I had fleeting knowledge about. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which greatly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the subject. It also provided yet another illustration of the vision and genius of Ataturk in making deft use of every opportunity to improve his nation. It triggered in my mind the thought that Turkey probably had a second similar opportunity at the time of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, when top tier scientists in select fields could have easily been induced to come to Turkey. Unfortunately, political cadres in charge at the time had nowhere near Ataturk's vision. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is very readable and has many details that our generation can relate to. An interesting trivia is that Einstein was one month away himself from coming to Turkey within these group of scholars, when he received an offer from Princeton.
WOWW.......2007-01-01
A fascinating read.
I am very involved with genealogy, so I really enjoyed the memoirs.
The structure of the book was different and refreshing.
Highly recommended especially for college library, international studies and Turkish history shelves........2006-12-10
Written by Arnold Reisman Ph.D., who has served as Visiting Scholar in Turkey at both Sabanci University and the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey's Modernization: Refugees from Nazism and Ataturk's Vision is enlightening true story of how the Turkish Government of Mustafa Kernal Atatuk and Ismet Inonu accepted German and Austrian Jews, and took advantage of these victims of racial prejudice and persecution to aid the Turkish Republic's progress in academic, scientific, and medical undertakings. Tracing the lasting impacts of builders, preservers, creators, social reformers, healers, and scientists, as well as the problems they encountered, the turbulence caused by World War II and their attempts to emigrate to the U.S., Turkey's Modernization is a fascinating parable of how Turkey capitalized upon the best and the brightest - as well as of its stumbling blocks, such as its cultural predispositions for encouraging talented scientists to be content as hired hands rather than strike out and forge new businesses. Highly recommended especially for college library, international studies and Turkish history shelves.
Compelling!.......2006-09-26
Arnold Reisman's book, Turkey's Modernization, was a history lesson of the best kind. I have read a number of books on the Nazi takeover of various countries. Yet, I had never experienced the joy of learning how Turkey welcomed those expelled from Germany.
In 1933, when Hitler came to power, he decided to dismiss all Jewish professors from German colleges and universities. Geniuses of technology, physics and the arts fled into Turkey's waiting arms and began its well-deserved modernization.
The "emigres" (renowned scientists, architects and artists) are responsible for some of the most magnificent structures in Turkey still standing today. These brave professors taught Turkish students and were revered by most in the country. Of course, they had to deal with jealousy from Turkish professors for a number of reasons. Some of the emigres were paid a higher salary and enjoyed various perks, yet this was all deserved. It certainly couldn't heal a people
who were devastated at having to leave their homes and families to chart an unknown territory. Yet, thank God they did! Hitler's lost was absolutely Turkey's gain!
These professors were too many to be named in this review. You must read this book in order to understand and celebrate the contributions of these refugees from Nazism. They were saviors to Turkey and the students they benefited.
Turkey's Modernization was a book I couldn't put down. It should be required reading for all who are history majors and any who can enjoy a story of lemons turned into lemonade.
Armchair Interviews says: Another unique view of history most do not know.
Refuge and its reward .......2006-09-25
The convergence of two historical developments are at the center of this book. First , is the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany. Second, is the creation of modern Turkey, and its effort to develop a first- rate set of academic institutions. This convergence meant that a number of leading German and Austrian academics were invited in the years 1933-1939 to teach and help establish their disciplines in Turkey. Among these are some figures of world - reputation including Erich Auerbach, the author of one of the greatest of all works of Literary Criticism, 'Mimesis' the leading figures of the 'Berlin Group' the philosopher Hans Reichenbach, the mathemitician aerodynamist and positivist philosopher Richard von Mises, the positivist philosopher Carl Hempl, the composer Paul Hindemith, the theatrical producer Carl Ebert,and the astrophysicist Findlay Freundlich. One of the first scientists and a major figure in expediting the whole process was the pathologist Philip Schwarz. All in all close to three - hundred distinguished academics and their family members made their way to Turkey during this time. The effect of their efforts amounted to nothing less than a total transformation of the higher education system in Turkey, in the sciences, humanities, and arts, but also in public health, library, legal, engineering and administrative practices.
Reisman provides a thorough documentation and often moving narrative of this process, including his telling of many of the individual stories of the academicians involved. In the background he provides an overall history of modern Turkey and brings this up - to- date even providing an explanation of the current situation of the academic world in Turkey and why the original reforms carried out by these academicians have not always had the results desired.
This is a large book impressively researched and very clearly and movingly written.
I could not recommend it more highly.
Amazon.com
To future generations, the late 20th century may come to be known as the time of the DPs: Displaced Persons. Migration and refugeeism are raising inflammatory issues from unified Germany to the Tex-Mex border. Into this whirlpool of half-truths, sermons, prejudices, and fears dives Hoover Institution economist and syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell. It is not necessary to agree with all of Sowell's views to admire his imposing attempt to arrive at a theory of migration and culture. Or to succumb to his fascinating tales of how immigrants from Germany, Japan, China, and other countries have coped--and excelled--on strange new shores.
Customer Reviews:
Stare the facts in the face.......2007-10-11
Hooray for Thomas Sowell again. This books brings you in contact with the essential facts of people migrations and more...
He covers the German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Jewish and Indian migrations. Cultures are not equal was one of the main conclusions I received from this book.
As a result of this book I have found a deeper respect for the cultures mentioned in the book. I also see that the lives built by these people was built from pure grit and toil.
How does my culture affect my future? How does my culture affect my economic well-being? These are all questions I have come to ask as a result of reading this book.
This book is the second book in a series. The series is as follows:
1) Race and Culture
2) Migration and Culture
3) Conquest and Culture
and a 4th related book called Affirmative Action an Empirical Study
This book has shaped my personal view of immigration, emigration and minorities. I now can base my views on historical facts rather than popular or polarizing news articles.
An in-depth comparison of parallel experiences.......2007-09-10
With his usual detailed analysis and commentary, Thomas Sowell takes a look at the experiences of 6 groups that have migrated to different areas of the world over the centuries. He pays particular attention to the economic success these groups have had, and possible reasons for this success. He gives credible explanations for what these groups have accomplished, though he gives more attention to some of these groups than to others. While allowing for a variety of differences in their experiences, Dr. Sowell does extract some shared qualities within these groups: a strong work ethic, financial prudence, and the establishment of an economic niche based partially on the unwillingness of native-born groups to perform certain jobs. Moreover, he points out that, with respect to several of these groups, their success in their adopted nations has often aroused the jealousy and anger of native-born groups (i.e., the Chinese in Southeast Asia and the Indians in East Africa). To this end, Dr. Sowell argues that such resentment often stems from disparities between the achievement of these immigrant groups and that of native-born groups. He cites some examples of this resentment being taken to unfortunate extremes (i.e., the expulsion of the Indians from Uganda and anti-Chinese pogroms in Malaysia), and how the resentment came back to injure the native-born population (especially in Uganda). This is a refreshingly candid look at comparative immigrant experiences, as told by a great writer.
Good overview of histories of migrant ethnic groups in often historically ignored settings.......2007-03-05
This particular title provides an overview of the histories of migrant groups of German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Jewish, and Indian ancestry.
The book specifically provides an account of major demographic trends and political events that have occurred to the migrant groups through stretches of history, both in their home countries as well as their destinations. This account provides clues for the reasons behind the migrants' departures, their selection of particular destinations, and the characterized attitudes and skills that the migrants brought with them to where they settled.
The demographic component of this history is summarized by Sowell's hypothesized cultural attributes, backed by an impressive compilation of statistical evidence from the most accurate sources available to someone studying the topic in the modern era.
The book notes some of the major effects of the migration and subsequent settlement (or return sojourney) on both the migrants and the other ethnic groups living in close proximity to the migrants.
This book provides an historical overview of groups that many people may not have heard of. For myself, learning about the history of such groups as the Volga Germans, the Sephardim in Holland, the Italians in Argentina, the Japanese in Peru, the Chinese in the Carribean, and the Indians in Eastern Africa was an eye-opener.
The one potential drawback to this book lies in its uneven accounting of major political events for a few ethnic groups. The book covers the political history of the Sri Lankan conflict and the Jews in Western/Germanic/Slavic Europe some detail, but I would have liked to learn more about the Chinese in Southeast Asia (though the book includes a brief summary of the political events surrounding the formation of Singapore).
A few groups I would have liked to learn more about are not included, either, such as the Germans in the Hapsburg Empire and the Japanese in Manchuko/Manchuria. Still, considering the amount of research, composition, and revision that writing a book of this size and scope must have required, I can't fault the author for the work he did do.
The cultural characteristics that Sowell attributes to different groups of migrants (and supports with evidence) provide some food for thought as well. He provides examples of cultural attitudes and subsequent behaviors that may help or hinder economic development in specific industries, and backs up his fairly common-sense theories with evidence. (A few notable examples are how Jews succeeded in textiles but failed in agriculture, and how Southern Italians were noted as hard urban workers but rarely entered entrepreneurial positions.)
If you are looking for a more detailed history of specific events, this book may not be for you. But as an overview of specific groups, this book does a more-than-admirable job.
Thoughtful, Persuasive Examination of Migrants Across the Globe.......2006-07-08
Distinguished Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell's "Migrations and Cultures: A World View" is the most thoughtful, articulate examination of immigration across the globe which I've encountered (Though, I might add, that I am not surprised that this book is truly exceptional, given Sowell's keen interest in - and superb scholarship on - this very subject, which I came across for the first time years ago in his earlier book "Ethnic America: A History".). Sowell traces the immigration histories of six Eurasian peoples: Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews and Indians (from the Indian subcontinent, NOT the Americas). He contends that the relative success of these peoples as migrants owes more to their cultural capital (the set of beliefs and practices taken from their ancestral homelands) than to the economic capital of their new countries. It is a compelling argument which he demonstrates repeatedly, tracing the migration patterns of each of these peoples across the globe. Furthermore, it is an argument which is well-reasoned, fully supported by ample data, noting for example, the degree to which Indian migrants from different parts of India have been able to accrue wealth for themselves and their descendants in far-flung regions such as East Africa, Caribbean islands, and the United States (For example, he observes that Guajaratis, migrants from the Indian state of Guajarat, are far more likely to become successful entrepreneurs than those from other Indian states, since Guajarat has had a long history of successful entrepreneurship; in a similar vein, he compares and contrasts the relative economic fortunes of Western European Jews with those from Eastern Europe, noting that the former were more likely to become successful, due to a much stronger entrepreneurial tradition in Western Europe.).
I believe "Migrants and Cultures: A World View" should be read here in the United States by a wide readership, since Sowell's arguments deserve to be considered seriously in the ongoing debate over illegal immigration. Furthermore, much to his credit, Sowell suceeds in presenting an objective view of immigration, especially here in the United States, in which he notes that the relative cultural capital of emigrant peoples has had a more important influence on their relative success than our liberal, fairly progressive laws on economic and personal freedom. Sowell concludes his book with an intriguing observation on the effectiveness of educating foreign-born "sojourners" here in the United States and other Western democracies in the hope that they would return to their home countries with our knowledge, skills and attitudes on economic and political freedom; he contends that the rise of what he regards as managerial and technological capital via multinational corporations, has lessened the need for human capital transfers via "sojourners" (Written just as the internet was rapidly emerging, I suspect that Sowell in an updated edition of this book, might make a more persuasive argument by citing the successful existence of the internet.). If my interpretation of Sowell's closing arguments is correct, then I predict that he would not share such an optimistic view of contemporary and future American immigration presented in journalist Michele Wucker's recently published book "Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right".
Migrations and Cultures.......2006-03-09
Dr. Sowell has again done a masterful job of presenting information on the status of minorities, both historically and geographically, which is usually not included in the debate about the situation of the minorities in the United States. His insights are very useful and should be included in every high school and college curriculum.
Books:
- The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City
- The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
- The Frontiersmen: A Narrative
- The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History
- The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me
- The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living
- The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
- The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
- The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
- The Next World War: What Prophecy Reveals About Extreme Islam and the West
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities
- The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible: The A-to-Z Guide To Feeders, Seed Mixes, Projects, And Treats
- How to Buy Real Estate for at Least 20% Below Market Value, Volume 1
- Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World
- Magic Item Compendium
- The Castle in the Forest: A Novel
- People, Land and Time: An Historical Introduction to the Relations between Landscape, Culture and En
- Real-Resumes for Restaurant, Food Service & Hotel Jobs: Including Real Resumes Used to Change Ca
- iPod and iTunes Hacks: Tips and Tools for Ripping, Mixing and Burning
- Keys to Choosing a Financial Specialist
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
The Power of Israel in the United States
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
