Book Description
Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
Customer Reviews:
The best of the best in Israel's history books.......2007-10-10
Anybody who wants to know about the history of the State of Israel,you should read this book.
A Comprehensive Work.......2007-06-27
It is very difficult to accurately and comprehensively analyse this work.
The fact is that Sachar go's out of his way to be even-handed, which leads to a dilemma in itself.
The truth is that one cannot be objective in a conflict where it is clear to any fair-minded and honest observer who the agressors are and always have been: The Jews peacefully returned to their ancient land, and for nearly a century the Arabs have been trying to drive them into the sea.
There are times when I am uncomfortable with the author's particularly unfair treatment of the Jewish freedom fighters- the Irgun and Lechi- whom he labels as 'terrorists'.
At the same time, he honestly appraises the history of the situation as he see's it, and does not like the malevolent 'new historians' and revisionists, like Chomsky, Finkelstein, Said, Lenni Brenner and Israel Shahak, go back and rewrite history to suit their own destructive and malicious agenda against Israel.
This is an honest appraisal, in which the author strives to be fair.
Though his commentary is not always to my liking, he sticks to the facts, except in cases like the so-called massacre of Deir Yassin, where he has accepted the 'official' version' of events, despite clear evidence that there had been no deliberate killing of Arab civillians by the Jews.
The author begins by outlining the beginnings of the Zionist movement, the work of pioneers such as Moshe Hess, Leo Pinsker, Moses Montefiore, Achad Ha'am, Theodore Herzl, Chaim Weizmann and Vladimir Jabotinsky. He describes their strugles to adapt to harsh terrain, in the land which had flourished two thousand years before, when their ancestors lived there.
He describes how sucessive waves of Jews returning to the Land of Israel, struggled to adapt, often, to the homeland that was being restored.
He writes of the purchase by the Jews from Arab absentee landlords. The book describes the revival of the Hebrew language, thanks to the efforts of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and of the the long tradition of discrimination and dhimmni status of the Jews, in the Holy Land, and Arab countries under Islamic domination.
We learn of the origins of Communist hostility to Zionism and the Israeli people, of the originally warm attitude to Zionism by forward thinking Arab leaders such as King Feisal of Syria, and the bloody pogroms by Arabs on Jewish communities in the Land of Israel in 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936-1939.
The truth is that a very large part of the Arab hostility to Zionism, and the returning Jews originated in the fear among the Arab aristocracy in the Holy Land, and elsewhere in neighbouring lands, that the egalitarian spirit of the Jews, the democracy and emphasis, on social justice and democracy would influence the Arab masses, and therefore threaten the powerbases of the Arab elites.
We read of Hitler's ally and Jew-hater Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini, one of the original founders of Islamic jihad against the Jewish people, and his impassioned preaching of venom and genocide against the Jews.
Much of the Arab hostility and agression towards the Jews of the then named 'Palestine' was encouraged by intense propaganda directed at the Arabs by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, this at a time when hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees where fleeing from Nazi Germany to the Holy Land.
The book also highlights the Balfour Declaration and how the British later reneged, under Arab pressure, on the promises to the Jewish people of restoration to their ancient land.
Many of the British actively assited the Arabs against the Jews, and the British blocked the netry of hundreds of thousands of Jews, attempting to enter 'Palestine' as an escape from Hitler's infernos.
The book discusses the persecution of Jews in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt, and their mass expulsion from these countries after they fled from the Arab states, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs from the countries they had lived in for centuries.
The book describes the miraculous survival of the Jews of Israel, during the Second World War, and their victories against overwhelming odds in the War of Independence, the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War.
The book describes how before the Six Day War, the Arabs had surrounded Israel ,and openly issued hideous threats of genocide against all the Jews of Israel, forcing Israel to fire the first shots in order to survive(after Nasser had closed the Straights of Tiran) , and of the decades of infiltrations into Israel of marauding Arab terror bands killing Israeli men, women and children, including the massacres of Jewish children at Kiryat Shmona and Ma'alot, by the terrorists of the 'Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine'. And we also read of the cowardly attack by Arab states on Israel, that started the Yom Kippur War, and the unpreparedness of Israel's leadership that was scared to strike first for fear of upsetting world opinion.
This was a tragic mistake that imperilled the Israeli nation, and led to many unnecesary deaths of Israelis.
The book also describes the other triumphs of Israel: the absorbtion of millions of Jews, the struggles of the Oriental Jews (Jews from North Africa and the Middle East)for equality, the admirable building up of Israel's welfare state, and the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann in the early 1960's.
He also reflect on the conflicts within Israeli society and, contrary to the allegations by an earlier reviewer, focuses much on the issues of Israeli Arabs.
The trial of Eichmann brought home the horrors of the holocaust, and the lessons derived by the holocaust, by emphasizing the dangers inherent towards a Jewish minority living among a non-Jewish majority, and the need for an ingathering of Jews from all parts of the world in a homeland of their own.
During a break in the court sessions of Israel's thirteenth Independence day, David Ben-Gurion referred to the Eichmnn trial in a speech:
"Here for the first time in Jewish history, historical justice is being done by the sovereign Jewish people. For many generations it was we who suffered, who were tortured, who were killed-and were judged...for the first time, Israel is judging the killers of the Jewish people...and let us bear in mind that only the independence of Israel could create the necesary conditions for the historic act of justice".
Never again can catastrophy allowed to overtake the Jewish people, and the Jewish people subjected to genocide, especially not in their own homeland.
In a hostile world, much of which wants Israel destroyed, Israel must and will survive...with the help of the Allmighty.
Long live the State of Israel!
An excellent reference.......2005-02-14
This book does a fine job of supplying a detailed history of Israel. It is over 1000 pages, not even counting the index or the huge bibliography.
Sachar's idea is to tell us what happened and why. That does not mean taking sides. It does not mean saying if the people involved were reasonable or moral in choosing the sides they did.
I can understand this approach. We all wish that we could always view relatively current events from the perspective of those who could see which side was being greedy, which side was simply immoral, or which side was being impractical. But we can't, so Sachar simply reports what happened as best he can. And I don't see how I can ask for more than this.
In addition, the simple retelling of what happened and why tells us plenty about how wise or moral decision-makers were. Let me give one example. Sachar has a hefty section on the response to the UN Partition Resolution of November, 1947. Britain refused to gradually transfer authority to a United Nations commission, explaining that this would result in "confusion and disorder." Britain did everything possible to avoid cooperating with those in the UN or the Jewish Agency. The six UN commission members were made unwelcome. They "were soon reduced to foraging for food and drink. They accomplished nothing."
Meanwhile, the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, simply regarded the Jews as enemies. As Sachar writes, Bevin claimed "that the whole Jewish 'pressure' was a gigantic racket run from America," that the Jews had stolen "half the place" (that is, half of the Mandate territory), and that "he would not be surprised if the Germans had learned their worst atrocities from the Jews." I think this ought to tell any perceptive reader plenty about Bevin.
On top of this, Sachar explains that Bevin and some important British officers were predicting an Arab military victory, and that the Arabs would have no difficulty taking over the whole country. Nowadays, some people appear to have forgotten all this and are pretending that everyone knew that the Arabs would be no match for the Jews, which is yet one more reason why we ought to read this book!
Sachar also tells us about the British swiping the entire contents of the Mandate treasury, to make sure the Jews got none of the money. At the same time, the British gave 300,000 pounds to the Supreme Moslem Council, an indirect subsidy of the Arab war effort. The British strictly enforced an embargo on Jewish immigration and Jewish weapons acquisition. Meanwhile, the British happily sold weapons to Iraq and Transjordan.
It is true that on April 1, 1948, the Jews decided to stop responding to Arab attacks in a purely defensive manner. With Jerusalem threatened, they did decide to take action to relieve the siege. But Sachar has already shown us that one reason the Jews were unable to try such a plan before then was that the British would have stopped them by force.
There is an enormous amount of information in this book. I recommend it to everyone who is interested in the topic, no matter what political views they may have.
Thorough and thought provoking.......2004-09-04
Very well-written, very informative, balanced view of the evolution and struggles that Israel has undergone.
I only wish it had an extra chapter to give similar perspective to the tumult of the past few years.
Great big book for a great little country.......2004-03-22
Besides being the heaviest book I've read in a very long time, A History of Israel, by Howard Sachar, is probably among the most useful anyone will find on that subject. Let's face it, in today's world the subject of Israel still comes up a lot, far more than one might expect for such a small country. And in an atmosphere in which fifty seven percent of people polled list Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, an educated person cannot afford to be ignorant on the matter.
Israel is a great country. And like all great countries (like most countries, actually) it has a right to exist. Its history extends back quite some time before its founding. If you doubt this, or know someone who does, than the early chapters on Zionism and Jewish migration into Palestine will be invaluable. Want to know just how the Jews came to inhabit the land? Was it a land grab? Theft? Acquisition by conquest? The answer is no, and you can get the details here.
What is Israel like? What is its culture? Economics? Daily Life? How about religion? They're Jews, but how devout are they? What power does the rabbinate have? What arts and sciences flourish, or fail to, in Israel? These are also covered, often, and in detail.
Israel has fought five major wars in its short life. Why? Who started them? How did Israel respond? Did these wars exist in a vacuum, or are they part of an ongoing antagonism against Israel from its Arab neighbors? What actually happened in the Six Day War? Just how did the occupation come to be? All of these issues are examined in detail.
Who runs Israel? What is the party structure? What do they believe? How does Israel relate to other countries, and how has this changed over the years? What about the United States? Is Israel really the fifty-first state? Again, these are all issues dealt with in detail.
The operative word here is detail. With over a thousand pages of small font text, Sachar can cover everything he wishes and go as deep as he desires. This is a history text, not a polemic essay. The point is to show Israel for what it is, avoiding the pitfalls that await anyone writing about the most controversial country every to exist. To the extant that Sachar has taken any sides, it would probably be with the Labor party and against the Likud party. As far as Israel's relations with the Arab countries go, he has stated things as they happen. It may be a surprise to many, but Israel has a really good record vis-à-vis the treatment of Arabs and they owe no excuses to anyone over their presence in the world.
So although the book is formidable and very, very long, it is clear and relevant to today's world. If you'd like to get past the shouting and name-calling and really find out about the country, this is the place to look.
Book Description
In this bold, original and persuasive book, Anthony W. Marx provocatively links the construction of nations to the construction of racial identity. Using a comparative historical approach, Marx analyzes the connection between race as a cultural and political category rooted in the history of slavery and colonialism, and the development of three nation states. He shows how each country's differing efforts to establish national unity and other institutional impediments have served, through the nation-building process and into their present systems of state power, to shape and often crystallize categories and divisions of race. Focusing on South Africa, Brazil and the United States, Marx illustrates and elucidates the historical dynamics and institutional relationships by which the construction of race and the development of these nations have informed one another. Deftly combining comparative history, political science and sociological interpretation, sharpened by over three-hundred interviews with key informants from each country, he follows this dialogue into the present to discuss recent political mobilization, popular protest and the current salience of race issues. Anthony W. Marx is Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and has been a Visiting Professor at Yale University
Customer Reviews:
The 'race' to build 3 nations.......2001-04-04
In looking at race it's necessary to get perspective. Travel opens up new vistas. We perceive ourselves one way, others around the world see things differently. What countries come to mind when you think about racism? South Africa definitely; but now that the country has majority rule, it's immediately less racist. Austria, Japan and Yugoslavia also come to mind, but they're not multiracial societies. That Anthony Marx has chosen to compare racial policy in Brazil, South Africa and the US, seems to confirm the widely held world view that the US is one of the most racist nations in the world. Is this true? What do these three nations have in common in their history of segregation?
Marx states that the US and South Africa practiced policies of segregation principally for the purpose of "state and nation building". He argues that in both cases the ruling white elite were faced with crises; problems of prosperity and national order. In South Africa, following the Boer War of 1899-1902 there was no chance of unity among Afrikaners and British settlers. In the US, the experience of Radical Reconstruction following the Civil War, was, for some, akin to rubbing salt into fresh wounds. Marx states that in order to achieve accomodation among whites, blacks were made scapegoats. It's not surprising then to learn that the 1870's were when the first Jim Crow laws were passed in the US and the early 1900's saw the first South African Apartheid acts.
Where does Brazil fit in? Marx says that racism is as prevalent there as it is here but it's characteristics are different. There is a pervasive preferrence for 'whiteness', seen in attempts to 'Europeanize' the country through encouragement of immigration from the continent. Brazil however did not institutionalize racism as South Africa and the US did; interracial marriages were never illegal in Brazil. Also, because of multiple color categories of Brazilian citizens there was no possibility of the emergence of rigid, 'caste-like', color classifications that developed here. South Africa had 'coloreds' but they were caught in political 'no-mans-land' in the battle between the bantu majority and white minority.
It's an interesting and thoroughly reasoned proposition that Marx developes and expounds on in his book. The comparisons between the US and South Africa are nothing new, but the addition of Brazil as a counterpoint to the others is rather unique.
Making Race and Nation: One step foward, one step back.......2000-03-24
Anthony Marx's comparative study on the construction of race in the United States, Brazil and South Africa is promising if one wants a general historical overview about how race was constructed in each setting. Marx emphasizes how each state, in its own process of state building, constructed racial/racist ideologies to unify the white power structure at the expense of Blacks. He explores the institutions of colonialism, slavery and apartheid to make his case. He also explores how the ideology of black nationalism emerged as unifying response among Blacks to resist white domination. The book is a good read, however his historical account is completely male biased. Marx fails to consider the role gender played in the construction of these racial ideologies. His account is state-centered, which effectively excludes other important social and political factors in the formation of race identity. This becomes painfully clear in the chapter on Black racial identity, mobilization and reform in the U.S. Also, Marx relies too heavily on secondary sources, which dampens the reliability of his analysis.
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African American History (Magill's Choice) 3 Vol. set
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ASIN: 1587652390 |
Book Description
What kinds of civic ties between different ethnic communities can contain, or even prevent, ethnic violence? This book draws on new research on Hindu- Muslim conflict in India to address this important question. Ashutosh Varshney examines three pairs of Indian cities--one city in each pair with a history of communal violence, the other with a history of relative communal harmony--to discern why violence between Hindus and Muslims occurs in some situations but not others. His findings will be of strong interest to scholars, politicians, and policymakers of South Asia, but the implications of his study have theoretical and practical relevance for a broad range of multiethnic societies in other areas of the world as well. The book focuses on the networks of civic engagement that bring Hindu and Muslim urban communities together. Strong associational forms of civic engagement, such as integrated business organizations, trade unions, political parties, and professional associations, are able to control outbreaks of ethnic violence, Varshney shows. Vigorous and communally integrated associational life can serve as an agent of peace by restraining those, including powerful politicians, who would polarize Hindus and Muslims along communal lines.
Customer Reviews:
Biased and incorrect historically... must be at least sympathetic to their co-citizens.......2007-07-31
Mr. Ashutosh has taken a very controversial subject but the high ground he had to take with integrity in dealing with such a sensitive subject is missing.
He is blaming Muslims for the riots. Nothing can be further than the truth. Muslims are not in power hence can do nothing with no administration and police support. They don't make policies nor laws and have practically no say in any thing. One wonders how one can orchestrate riots that Mr. AShutosh is accusing the Muslims of. Defies logic.
The problem is they have been sidelined from all departments of Indian and State Governments as a matter of State Policies. They have been singled out for discrimination in all walks of life. Without State Policy helping them to be driven out of the mainstream this could not happen.
Muslims are also Indians and must not be discriminated at any cost. Their presence must be made to be felt in all Government and Private services, only then can we say that we are a great secular democracy. They are a sizable chunk of the Indian population. Rajiv Gandhi at least had realised the need to uplift Muslims and was thinking in the right direction until Narasimha Rao took over and derailed the process yet again.
The problem is Muslims do not read the constitution and take people like Narasimha Rao and Narender Modi to courts.
I plead with Mr. Ashutosh to be more sympathetic to their co-citizens and understand their needs and plight. It hardly matters what religion one propheses in a secular India. Or does it?
Book does not deserve schlorship.......2007-04-30
Mr. Varshney seems to have some agenda with this book.This book with it emphasis tries to blame muslims for the instigators of all riots . May I suggest another book called "The production of Hindu muslim violence "by Paul Brass . This book is more balanced and deals very well the real issues of riots . Infact Mr. Varshney was so critical of this book that he misquotes the authors intention and harshly critisizes his schlorly work in his review with the Times of India.In reply, Mr. Brass posts his objections and analysis about criticism from Mr. Varshney in a poignant and subtle manner.
Groundbreaking research.......2004-06-03
I've worked and taught in the field of peacebuilding for 25 years and consider this book the single most important research that has been done in the field. Varshney breaks new ground in conducting indepth research into why some cities in India into fell into violence and some did not during times of high national tension.
He presents clear and extremely useful findings about what is useful and what is not useful in resisting violence. Specifically, his research shows that creating structures that bring people together to work for a common cause or benefit(such as Hindu-Muslim traders cooperatives, joint community development committees, peace committees, etc.) has a marked effect in reducing violence.
I present Varshney's findings in a variety of settings worldwide and find audiences always highly responsive. My students love the book and find Varshney's ideas so clear and insightful that the often refer back to him later.
This book in my view is an example of scholarship at its best: well-designed, provocative, clear in its conclusions. On top of that is it unusually lucid in writing style. I consider it a "classic" - a book that will endure for many years and that deserves to be on the shelf of any serious student of ethnic or religious violence.
You can read the first and last few chapters and get the real benefits of the book.
Ron Kraybill
Professor of Conflict Transformation
Eastern Mennonite University
Disappointing!.......2003-04-24
Varshney had the opportunity to examine the Hindu-Muslim divide in India using fresh glasses, and he has failed at it. His book is a litany of hackneyed generalizations and simplistic arguments.
a work of excellence.......2002-10-01
Varshneys research is particulary impressive because of the concise research method that he upholds. I am pleased that he has studied both peaceful and violent cities--giving his research model a basis for comparison. I have purchased 20 copies of Ethnic Conflict and Civic life and have circulated the work among my friends. Varshney's work gives us hope for world peace. this is the work of utter genius. very impressive research. particulary interesting was his intricate methodology of janwars in conflict. I highly recomment this book.
a beintot,
julliette
Book Description
As Louisiana and Cuba emerged from slavery in the late nineteenth century, each faced the question of what rights former slaves could claim. Degrees of Freedom compares and contrasts these two societies in which slavery was destroyed by war, and citizenship was redefined through social and political upheaval. Both Louisiana and Cuba were rich in sugar plantations that depended on an enslaved labor force. After abolition, on both sides of the Gulf of Mexico, ordinary people--cane cutters and cigar workers, laundresses and labor organizers--forged alliances to protect and expand the freedoms they had won. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, Louisiana and Cuba diverged sharply in the meanings attributed to race and color in public life, and in the boundaries placed on citizenship.
Louisiana had taken the path of disenfranchisement and state-mandated racial segregation; Cuba had enacted universal manhood suffrage and had seen the emergence of a transracial conception of the nation. What might explain these differences?
Moving through the cane fields, small farms, and cities of Louisiana and Cuba, Rebecca Scott skillfully observes the people, places, legislation, and leadership that shaped how these societies adjusted to the abolition of slavery. The two distinctive worlds also come together, as Cuban exiles take refuge in New Orleans in the 1880s, and black soldiers from Louisiana garrison small towns in eastern Cuba during the 1899 U.S. military occupation.
Crafting her narrative from the words and deeds of the actors themselves, Scott brings to life the historical drama of race and citizenship in postemancipation societies.
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A psychoanalyst at the University of Virginia, Vamik Volkan tries to apply the wisdom of his profession to the problem of international conflict resolution. He offers a new vocabulary that illuminates concepts such as nationalism and ethnic pride in helpful ways, and is always careful to connect his theories to lessons from the real world. And as a native of the strife-torn island of Cyprus, Volkan knows his subject intimately. Blood Lines lacks an overarching thesis, but it also rewards readers with details and observations not to be found elsewhere. Those who enjoyed Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order or Robert Kaplan's Ends of the Earth will appreciate Blood Lines.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Interethnic Violence.......2007-07-28
If a reader wants to know why Rwanda, Bosnia and others conflicts happened - and still will continue to happen -, this is the book. In this book Volkan simply give us a thorough understanding related to massive agression. A book that mainly but not limited to, political psychology, psychodynamic theory, social psychology, sociology, political science, foreing relations, history students should read.
Bloodlines.......2007-03-21
Blood Lines, From Ethic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism was written by Vamic Volkan, founder of the Center for the Study of Mind and Interaction. His group, including former diplomats, historians, and psychoanalysts, has been employed by administrations such as the Soviet government to solve ethnic conflicts and study relations between ethnic people. The author uses his experience as a psychoanalyst in crisis situations in providing comprehensive options for conflict resolution
This book addresses questions such as "why are they compelled to take revenge for the wrongs inflicted on their ancestors or others belonging to their bloodline?" Written in a well organized fashion, the start of a new chapter reveals a new situation of ethnic conflict in areas such as Estonia, Romania, and Cyprus. In examining each ethnic group the author not only speaks of the present but gives a concise history of that group making it possible to understand what is meant Conflict not only includes tensions between two ethnic groups but the removal of bodies from a cemetery used by both ethnic groups, visits to a Palestinian orphanage and more. With that, the author provides theories and analogies to explain the people's reactions. One example of an analogy is the equation of an ethnic group to a tent. The tent represents the identity of that ethnic group. This identity consists of a complete history of what that ethnic group has been through such as victories and defeats in wars, atrocities done to them, and even includes myths that people have about them. The tent is held up by poles, the poles representing the leader of that group. Depending on the shape of the tent, those inside may "rally around the pole" being indifferent to whether the leader has a positive or negative effect upon the group. Such are the examples the author gives.
"Bloodlines" offers a different perspective on ethnic conflict solving than most books propose. A psychological perspective is innovative and the author does a good job explaining what it means giving many examples and using analogies. For those who are skeptical on this type of perspective and who wonder how a psychological perspective, usually addressing one or at most a few people, can serve to address a whole ethnic group, the author does well in explaining how certain aspects such as myths and fears can apply to every ethnic group while other aspects can only apply to ethnic groups that have been through a particular event such as genocides for example. Also, the fact that he gives numerous concrete examples in such an array of situations shows that his theory is a credible one.
Although not necessary, it would have been nice if the author had explained why his theory is more valuable than other theories that have already been offered in the past. It would also have been nice if he had proposed solutions for future conflict solving.
This is a well written book that can be read by any individual whether for study or enjoyment. It gives a sufficiently detailed background of each conflict for one to understand how their current identity has been formed and how an ethnic group could feel resentment for another even hundreds of years after a certain act of injustice has passed while showing what needs to be done for positive developments in the relation to occur.
Diagnosis: Ethnicity, identity, violence and terror.......2007-03-19
"Bloodlines" provides riveting description and analysis of the psychology of ethnic conflict and its driving forces of psychology of identity, cleanliness, and trauma. The manipulation by leaders has driven much of the history of both ethnic and international violence. Ironies of pride and order coupled with hate belie extreme simplification. The example of disinterring corpses to segregate cemeteries reminds one of the Crusades against the Cathar heresy when bones were disinterred to be burned to powder.
Volkan's constructive interest is conflict resolution and gaining something approaching civility between enemies as in Latvia and Cyprus in particular. The detailed human examples and insights add to the story. Yet the difficulty provides less than complete optimism.
Leaders, intelligentsia, and masses are mobilized to reconstruct an often myth based identity when crisis or attack challenges - often leading to revenge and violence.
There is not something so vague and general as a "clash of civilizations' operating (and identity conflict and vicious violence within civilizations is often every bit as brutal) so much as a driving force of narrower identity and trauma with more specific enemies. These forces can be easily manipulated by opportunistic or hateful politicians. Historical amnesia, denial, and failure to sufficiently study and understand these issues merely increase their virulence and incidence.
Volkan's "Blind Trust" also rewards study. It is probably of value to an even larger range of readers interested in history, social psychology and politics.
If you put an "ethnic enterpreneuer" on the couch..........2001-04-24
...or better yet, several, you get something mirroring Volkan's work. Trained as a psychoanalyst, Vamik Volkan brings this unique perspective to the analysis of ethnic conflict. Particularly insgihtful is his recounting of his interviews with Abdullah Ocalan, the now-jailed leader of the PKK...Kurdish Workers Party. Volkan's study of ethnic pride, mobilisation, and terrorism and violence examines the problem of ethnic conflict upon a myriad of levels, focusing upon upper-level leadership, mid-level elites (i.e. intelligentsia), and grassroots behaviours.
This is a superb book, written in a wonderfully analytic fashion. Herein, a valuable foundational framework is offered for the understanding of ethnic conflict: relevant for students and scholars of conflict, and also for the person who wishes to attempt to make some sense of ethnic warfare.
ozler.......2000-03-25
I find this book too much informative
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Perennial Struggle, The: Race, Ethnicity, and Minority Group Politics in the United States
Michael C. Le May
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Case Management: Integrating Individual and Community Practice (2nd Edition)
ASIN: 0130205478 |
Book Description
Comprehensive, easy to read, and exceptionally well organized, this book provides an in-depth look at race and ethnic relations from a variety of social and cultural perspectives. Understanding the relationships between race and ethnic relations and minority group politics helps to provide a critical understanding of American politics in general. The book uses historical examples as well as current experiences of ethnic groups , to illustrate the complexity of the "melting pot" of groups and minority subcultures in America. The book begins by discussing basic terminology and concepts then moves to theories and processes of assimilation and adaptation, and the factors which may inhibit or speed up their progress. Public policy is discussed in great detail, particularly the role the public policy plays in placing minority groups in minority status. In turn, the book also deals with how minority groups use public policy to cope with and modify that status.For anyone interested in American or minority politics, or who would like to consider an alternative organization of traditional political discussions.
Book Description
Why arenÂ't Hispanics succeeding like Asians, Jews, and other immigrant groups in America? Herman Badillo's answer is as politically incorrect as the question: Hispanics simply donÂ't put the same emphasis on education as other immigrant groups.
As the nationÂ's first Puerto RicanÂ-born U.S. congressman, the trailblazing Badillo once supported bilingual education and other government programs he thought would help the Hispanic community. But he came to see that the real path to prosperity, political unity, and the American mainstream is self-reliance, not big government. Now Badillo is a champion of one standard of achievement for all races and ethnicities.
In this surprising and controversial manifesto, you will learn:
* Why Hispanic cultureÂ's trouble with education, democracy, and economics stems from Mother Spain and the “five-hundred year siesta” she induced in Latin America.
* Why the Congressman who drafted the first Spanish-English bilingual education legislation now believes that bilingual education hurts students more than it helps.
* Why “social promotion” — putting minority studentsÂ' self-esteem ahead of their academic performance and then admitting them to college unprepared — continues to this day, despite the systemÂ's documented failures and injustices.
* How self-identifying as “Hispanic” or “white” or “black” undermines achievement, and what lessons we can learn from Latin American countries, where oneÂ's race is irrelevant.
With Central and Latin America exporting a large portion of their poor, Hispanics are on the way to becoming a majority in the United States... but one with all the problems of a minority culture.
BadilloÂ's solution to this problem relies on traditional values: hard work, education, and achievement. His lessons are important not only for Hispanics but for every American.
Customer Reviews:
Conflicting look at Hispanic Educational Success.......2007-02-12
I was exposed to this book during an interview with Mr. Badillo on CNN which encouraged me to purchase it. While I think he makes some valid points, HIspanic Culture is far too diverse with too many different socio-economic class groups and national identities to tag them all with the label of failure. As a Chicano, a Fronterizo and coming from a family of educators, I agree with some of the points made in this provocative book and I feel it will create some interesting discussions. Still, while I have witnessed first hand the apathy and outright neglect towards education in too many familes, I have also seen the humblest parents make extreme sacrifices to educate their offspring and guide them into becoming productive citizens. For these familys, Mr. Badillos' assertions will be not only hurtful but outright insulting. Nevertheless, there are far too many children who are raised with no structure, little guidance and they easily become slaves to the popular culture or the culture of the streets. It is a historical tragedy that has played out in other ethnic groups who arrived to this nation of opportunity. The difference is that Hispanics are far too diverse and have arrived in such large numbers that generalizing is too convenient and plays into the contemporary politics of the far right and their agenda of perpetuating the Hegemonic Culture of WASP America. I still recommend that all of us need to read his book because we cannot deny what is far to prevelent among our children and threatens to label all of us as a failed culture. It's time we define ourselves or risk letting other define who we are!
Sergio S. Guerrero Jr.
El Paso, Tejas
Badillo's myopic, neo-conservative view of a multi-ethnic/racial problem.......2007-02-09
A very simplistic view of a social problem that exists across the board for just as many non-Hispanic Americans. Thus, the premises are flawed and the proposed solutions, illogical. This book is full of hasty generalizations and founded on traditional American prejudices. I give the book an F for its faulty analysis and the author one star for his purported objectiveness and optimism.
REALITY HURTS IF YOU REMAIN UNEDUCATED BY CHOICE.......2007-02-06
This book is an eye opening manifesto that reminds us all that we have not, and will not make it, as a people, without the will to win; the detmination to get there; and the hard work and creativity to stay on a path that will furnish us with opportunities to succeed. America is about "opportunities", and not necessarily "equality." If you expect to be equal, Russia is still around -- go there; in America, you have to kick the door down with hard work and cajones to get ahead.
Our Hispanic community is smart; great; and, capable of winning any battle. The socialism of Venezuela; Cuba; and other Spanish speaking countries is just a "momentary illusion" that hides the true poverty and lack of imagination of these countries, and ignores the hard work that Hispanic Americans must thrive on to excel in this country. So, don't just whine and curse the USA for its "tough love"; embrace it and help each other, including your children, to succeed by avoiding laziness; learning the American language and customs; avoiding drugs and alcohol; stopping having children just "because"; GETTING AN EDCUCATION any way you can; nOt being a whiner; and praying to GDO for his GRACE and guidance. La revolucion continua, el Pueblo Hispano apenas tiene que saber quien es el enemigo verdadero -- "la ignorancia que sigue la falta de educacion y la pereza!!"
La malicia indigena siempre ayuda a los hijos de Dios que destinan el suceso del pueblo Andino por su trabajo fuerte y educacion!!
Great Book. Identifies The Core Problem With Hispanics In The USA........2007-01-22
As a former school teacher, this book was refreshing to read. From first hand experience, my worst students were always the hispanic kids. I felt more like a baby sitter with them. They were constantly absent and had no interest in learning (for the most part). Naturally, many dropped out. The hispanic kids in my classes were usually disruptive and interfered with the white and Asian students who generally were eager to learn. Another thing is that the hispanic kids would always mark their desks & books with graffiti, showing they have no respect for anything. My advice would be to separate the hispanic kids from the others because the hispanics severely interfere with standard coursework and thus hold the entire class back.
Failures always find excuses, and this is book of excuses.......2007-01-13
This is yet another impassioned conservative rant about everything that's wrong with America, liberals and life in general; in brief, America is racist, rotten and repulsive, and would be vastly improved if it was more like Ruerto Rico.
Personally, I worked for the only Mexican-American to be elected governor of Arizona; he faced many tougher situations than anything described by Badillo, but he always had the attitude "if one door is closed in your face, there's another one open somewhere."
Gov. Raul Castro has a true and abiding love for America, Arizona and Mexico. I have never heard him speak disparagingly about Arizona, America or the opportunities he found in this country. Like state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, University of Arizona Vice President Frank Felix, Ted Valdez (Valdez Transfer), Sen. Tony Gabaldon and many others, they succeeded because they believed in themselves.
The vast difference between them and Badillo is they never became nattering nabobs of negativism (to use a Republican term for those who do not obey the conservative line) who blame the government or anything else for setbacks they encounter. They all achieved greater success than I, a Gringo; probably because they are smarter, and they worked harder.
Badillo is a good match for Linda Chavez, a Spanish-American with prolific contempt for Mexican-Americans, who he quotes generously. (It's an insult to call a Spanish-American a Mexican-American; they are Spanish, and justly proud of it. They consider themselves a world above Mexicans, just as Mexicans consider themselves a world above "los Indios".) Racism? I've seen it again and again, first hand and blatant, in Mexico and in New Mexico. Badillo thinks it's a Gringo-only habit.
Worst of all, Badillo fails to understand and appreciate positive attributes of Hispanic culture which do not necessarily fit into North American attitudes. However, one must first understand their own culture before adopting or criticizing a new lifestyle. He offers no evidence of such understanding.
Badillo complains about Hispanics remaining outside of North American culture. He needs to consider the Irish after 1848, who were far poorer than any Mexicans, were more Catholic and spoke a foreign language. Yet they integrated seamlessly into North American society, and are still proudly "Irish". Badillo needs to ask, "Why them and not us?"
When it comes to not integrating into American society, it's the Canadians who remain the most stubborn and un-converted outsiders of all immigrant groups. Once again, "Why them more than us?"
The fault for failure, as William Shakespeare once wrote, "lies within ourselves."
Yet, he blames so-called "liberal" policies for Hispanic failures. If he's right, and government is truly that powerful, then all solutions are found in government. If he's wrong, our successes or failures lie within ourselves, not with a "patrone" or the government. Every successful Hispanic I've met knows that simple fact. Only the failures blame government, or "los Gringos", or being forsaken by God, or whatever other excuse is handy and popular.
Failures always find excuses, and someone else to blame. Success always realizes that every time a door is closed, another is opened somewhere else.
Book Description
Offers a systematic, theoretical, and structural framework for more accurate appraisal of the relative nature and influence of governing institutions and of past, present, and recurring developments on African-American and American Politics generally. It's a dynamic systematic appraisal of how African Americans fare within the prevailing theoretical, structural, and functioning patterns of the American political and governmental system. Offers new materials on Black Political participation and voting behavior, e.g., who votes in the Black community; the role of race, class, and gender in Black politics; the role of the economy in shaping the Black vote; the Black evaluations of their representatives in Congress. Comments on the changing nature and structure of
African-American participation and influence in Congress and the Presidency: e.g., the Congressional Black Caucus and the overall relative role and participation of Blacks in congress and in the Clinton Presidency and Administration.
Book Description
-- History Today
Customer Reviews:
One of the best books on Azerbaijan.......2006-01-21
Tadeusz Swietochowski represents the region and relations between the countries in a very objective way, basing the statements on actual facts and deep understanding of the political situation in the region.
I thought I knew a lot about Azerbaijan, but after reading the book, I realized how many other things were happening in the history of this contry and specifically in its relations with Russia.
Russian and a Divided Azerbaijan.......2001-08-14
Azerbaijan, Swietochowski rightly notes, is "the quintessential borderland," being Turkish and Iranian, Sunni and Shi`i, Muslim and Christian, Russian and Middle Eastern, European and Asian. He also notes its other points of interest. Falling under Russian rule from 1804 on, Azerbaijan stands out as the first part of the Middle East brought under the rule of a modern European colonial power. Having been divided into two parts (Russian and Iranian) since 1828, it is the nation that has by far the longest endured the strains of split development.
Writings in English on Azerbaijan are meager and not of the highest quality. Russia and Azerbaijan improves matters by helping to make sense of the country's history, but its account is limited to coverage of the northern (i.e., Russian) part and to a dry, top-down history (for the Russian imperial period the author relies inordinately on literary magazines).
Current interest in Azerbaijan stems from its dramatic return to history as a vital pivot between Russia, Turkey, and Iran; as a newly important oil exporter; and as the Armenians' opponent in a vicious war since 1988. Contemplating the Turkish-Iranian rivalry for influence over independent Azerbaijan, the author foresees Turkey connecting Azeris to the larger world; but Iran, because of its Islamic emphasis and its inclusion of souther Azerbaijan, will have a greater impact on their evolving national identity.
Middle East Quarterly, December 1995
Thorough, objective, and well-researched........1998-10-23
Bravo! Finally a history of this republic that is well-written for the historian and the novice alike. Swietochowski is very objective in his approach, and systematic in the presentation of his research. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to know more about the two Azerbaijans and Russian involvement in the Caucasus.
Substantial addition to understanding of Azerbaijani problem.......1998-03-11
Reviewed by VICTOR KIRILLOV in International Relations, Volume XIII, No 1, - April 1996 -
The author's expertise on the complicated issues of both Russian and Middle Eastern history, politics, economy, culture and languages is beyond doubt. Indeed, while reading the book one cannot escape the impression that Tadeusz Swietochowski knows a great deal more than he writes about. Out of respect for his readers he carefully and skilfully selects the most salient and convincing facts and events to enable a better understanding of his subject matter which is not widely known to Western, and not only to Western, audiences.
Thus, he correctly points out that the Treaty of Turkmanchai signed on 10 February 1828 between Russia and Iran constituted a momentous event in the history of Transcaucasia, and, in particular, in the history of the Azeri people, that is of the natives of Azerbaijan. For the Azeris, the conquest of their earlier semi-independent Khanates by Russia and Iran, finally provided for in the 1828 Treaty, meant a partition of their land and people that has lasted to this day. `The international aspect of Azerbaijan's division', the author remarks, `created a delicate balance of power in one corner of the turbulent Middle East, a situation resembling that of nineteenth-century East Central Europe, where maintenance of a partitioned Poland ensured lasting peace among Russia, Austro-Hungary and Germany'. Internally, the two Azerbaijans, the Iranian one to the south of the Araxes, and the Russian, later Soviet and now independent Azerbaijan to the north of it, were put on different tracks of historical development. The author's coverage of Russian and later of Soviet policy in Azerbaijan is a splendid piece of research into a subject which has only been lightly covered by Russian and Soviet authors themselves. Given all the dark and bright sides of Russian colonial rule, there is one feature, as Mr Swietochowski rightly assumes, which stands out: Russian and Soviet domination contributed to the Azeris' development into an independent nation with political, cultural and religious aspirations running contrary to the deep-rooted beliefs of their Southern relatives in Iran. The process of historical differentiation has gone so deep that even the most radical nationalists in the last days of the former Soviet Azerbaijan hesitated to advance the slogan of unification of the Azeri nation. The Programme of the People's Front of Azerbaijan, adopted in June 1989, merely provided for the restoration of economic, cultural and social ties between the divided nation and the creation of direct human contacts between relatives and friends.
Pan-Turkic and Muslim sentiments in the former Soviet Azerbaijan certainly exist, and they are scrupulously analysed by the author. Extreme bitterness over the dramatic events in Azerbaijan's conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabagh especially contributed to the rise of anti-Western and anti-Russian feelings in Baku. Yet, even at the peak of the crisis these feelings did not become dominant in Azerbaijani society. This is one of the principal explanations of the seemingly paradoxical fact of the recent reappearance of former Soviet nomenclatura rulers on the political scene and the virtual collapse of the nationalistic People's Front. It also explains, at least partly, the reasons lying behind the relative international stability of the new independent Azerbaijan which has found itself at the very epicentre of Russian-Turkish-Iranian geopolitical rivalry. The author also gives other well-founded reasons for that. Until now neither Iran nor Turkey has expressed any desire to fill the power vacuum in Transcaucasia created by Russia's retreat. Iran is obviously reluctant to incorporate six million well-educated, Turkic-speaking people from the former Soviet Azerbaijan, fearing that this might dramatically change the character of the Iranian state itself. For its part, Turkey fears any distraction from its goal of integration with Europe. Meanwhile, both states as well as Russia restrict themselves to securing strategic and economic advantages in Azerbaijan without incurring undue burdens.
Finally, as the author concludes, the people of Azerbaijan itself, `are apt to take guidance from their ancient political heritage: moderation and compromise'. There, he believes, `extremism locks a fertile ground, and its avoidance has been understood as the essence of the community's survival'.
Based on original sources that include Azerbaijani, Russian, Polish, British and American archives, this elegantly written book by American scholar Tadeusz Swietochowski, who already enjoys a high reputation as a researcher of both Middle Eastern and Russian history and politics, substantially adds to our knowledge of the fascinating problems and developments in this region of the world.
VICTOR KIRILLOV
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